Executions under Claudius: Seneca's "Ludus de Morte Claudii"

Abstract

T HE MALICIOUS PASQUINADE known as the Ludus de morte Claudii or the Apocolocyntosis, ascribed by tradition to the philosopher Seneca, has long exercised the ingenuity of scholars. The glaring contradiction between this skit and the flatteries heaped on Claudius in the Ad Polybium has prompted some to deny the authenticity of one or the other of these pieces. It seems today that the Ludus (as I shall style it for brevity's sake) has won acceptance from many distinguished scholars as genuinely emanating from the pen of Seneca.1 Although the question of authorship is important, I prefer to devote most of this paper to the question-what is the purpose of the Ludus? I agree with Scramuzza that, More than a humorous skit, the Apocolocyntosis seems then to be a party manifesto. This aspect of the problem should not be lost sight of in appraising its contribution to the history.2 I focus attention on one particular aspect of the Ludus. In addition to the usual mockeries of Claudius' physical and alleged mental deficiencies, his Lyons origin, his extensions of the citizenship, and devotion to pettifogging lawyers,3 there are quite a number of specific references to people executed in his reign. If we accept the standpoint of Scramuzza, these references ought to have been deliberately selected by the author of the skit for some purpose. These individual cases all lead up to the prosecution of Claudius under the Lex Cornelia before Aeacus, where he is charged with having executed thirty-five senators, two hundred and twenty-one Roman knights, and a multitude of others (occisos senatores xxxv, equites R. ccxxi, ceteros oca 4agaOos re KOVLS rE); the accusation is brought by Pompeius Pedo.4 My purpose is to examine each of these individual cases, document them where possible from Tacitus, Suetonius, and Dio, and try to establish why the author selected them.