In the same consulship, Agrippina, who was terrible in her hatred
and detested Lollia, for having competed with her for the emperor’s
hand, planned an accusation, through an informer who was to tax her
with having consulted astrologers and magicians and the image of the
Clarian Apollo, about the imperial marriage. Upon this, Claudius,
without hearing the accused, first reminded the Senate of her illustrious
rank, that the sister of Lucius Volusius was her mother, Cotta Messalinus
her granduncle, Memmius Regulus formerly her husband (for of her marriage
to Caius Caesar he purposely said nothing), and then added that she
had mischievous designs on the State, and must have the means of crime
taken from her. Consequently, her property should be confiscated,
and she herself banished from Italy. Thus out of immense wealth only
five million sesterces were left to the exile. Calpurnia too, a lady
of high rank, was ruined, simply because the emperor had praised her
beauty in a casual remark, without any passion for her. And so Agrippina’s
resentment stopped short of extreme vengeance. A tribune was despatched
to Lollia, who was to force her to suicide. Next on the prosecution
of the Bithynians, Cadius Rufus, was condemned under the law against
extortion.

Narbon Gaul, for its special reverence of the Senate, received a privilege.
Senators belonging to the province, without seeking the emperor’s
approval, were to be allowed to visit their estates, a right enjoyed
by Sicily. Ituraea and Judaea, on the death of their kings, Sohaemus
and Agrippa, were annexed to the province of Syria.

It was also decided that the augury of the public safety, which for
twenty-five years had been neglected, should be revived and henceforth
observed. The emperor likewise widened the sacred precincts of the
capital, in conformity with the ancient usage, according to which,
those who had enlarged the empire were permitted also to extend the
boundaries of Rome. But Roman generals, even after the conquest of
great nations, had never exercised this right, except Lucius Sulla
and the Divine Augustus.

There are various popular accounts of the ambitious and vainglorious
efforts of our kings in this matter. Still, I think, it is interesting
to know accurately the original plan of the precinct, as it was fixed
by Romulus. From the ox market, where we see the brazen statue of
a bull, because that animal is yoked to the plough, a furrow was drawn
to mark out the town, so as to embrace the great altar of Hercules;
then, at regular intervals, stones were placed along the foot of the
Palatine hill to the altar of Consus, soon afterwards, to the old
Courts, and then to the chapel of Larunda. The Roman forum and the
Capitol were not, it was supposed, added to the city by Romulus, but
by Titus Tatius. In time, the precinct was enlarged with the growth
of Rome’s fortunes. The boundaries now fixed by Claudius may be easily
recognized, as they are specified in the public records.

In the consulship of Caius Antistius and Marcus Suilius, the adoption
of Domitius was hastened on by the influence of Pallas. Bound to Agrippina,
first as the promoter of her marriage, then as her paramour, he still
urged Claudius to think of the interests of the State, and to provide
some support for the tender years of Britannicus. “So,” he said, “it
had been with the Divine Augustus, whose stepsons, though he had grandsons
to be his stay, had been promoted; Tiberius too, though he had offspring
of his own, had adopted Germanicus. Claudius also would do well to
strengthen himself with a young prince who could share his cares with
him.”

Overcome by these arguments, the emperor preferred Domitius to his
own son, though he was but two years older, and made a speech in the
senate, the same in substance as the representations of his freedman.
It was noted by learned men, that no previous example of adoption
into the patrician family of the Claudii was to be found; and that
from Attus Clausus there had been one unbroken line.
The Annals by Tacitus