Claudius the God and His Wife Messalina

With the same brilliance that characterized his classic
, Robert Graves continues the tumultuous life of the Roman who became emperor in spite of himself and his handicaps.
reveals the splendor, vitality and decadence of the Roman Empire through the eyes of the wry and bemused Claudius who reigns as emperor for thirteen years. The crippled Claudius describes himself as the fool of the royal family, whom none of his ambitious and blood-thirsty relatives considered worth the trouble of killing. Once in the throne, however, he finds himself at last at the center of the political maelstrom.