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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Gam3rBlake, post: 8025836, member: 115909&quot;]It’s true Suetonius didn’t exactly paint him in a great light. But I also believe it’s possible that he was biased as many Roman historians were. Even my favorite historian Livy was biased.</p><p><br /></p><p>Most of the craziest things Suetonius says are hearsay. Like how would he know what was going on in the palace? For example being pelted with olive pits or woken by jesters?</p><p><br /></p><p>That sounds to me like something heard on the streets and repeated assumed to be true. Rumors.</p><p><br /></p><p>It’s like Dr. Irving said: “He was never popular or well liked.”</p><p><br /></p><p>A lot of the criticism also doesn’t sound like much of a deal. “He was inconsistent in temper”, for example. That could be said about Julius Caesar too. But no one would argue that Caesar was incompetent. He is the complete opposite “absolutely competent”.</p><p><br /></p><p>However a lot of the criticism makes me wonder if the Roman people actually believed his “simple” masquerade. He played a lot dumber than he really was so as not to seem a threat to Caligula who tended to execute all threats both real and imagined. I mean look what he did to his sisters Drusilla, Livilla and Agrippina. Not to mention Gemellus (Tiberius’s grandson).</p><p><br /></p><p>Perhaps he played his role too well for so many years that it stuck in the average Roman’s mind and because they probably didn’t have access to him as Emperor they assumed he was indeed simple minded.</p><p><br /></p><p>Then there is the fact that he reigned for so many years as Emperor. In a time of palace intrigue and political backstabbing I don’t think it’s possible to survive for long without being both clever and canny. There is always someone who thinks they should be Emperor and that the current Emperor needs to go.</p><p><br /></p><p>He saw that happen to Caligula and I’m sure he would’ve been totally aware that it’s how he became Emperor in the first place so why couldn’t he be replaced too?</p><p><br /></p><p>In many ways I think Claudius had a mindset similar to Himmler (mentally not morally) in that he knew how to appoint the right person to the right job where they would excel. A wise ruler knows that he/she doesn’t know everything and listens to the counsel of those who know more than he/she. It’s the bad rulers who think they know everything and listen to no one.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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