This page is for tropes that have appeared in I, Claudius (the novels, not the series).
For the rest:
- Rain Dance: In Claudius the God, a Roman commander whose troops are lost in the desert follows his native guide's advice to invoke the local rain god. It works.
- Raised by Grandparents: After her parents' divorce, Antonia, Claudius' daughter, is raised by her namesake Antonia, Claudius' mother.
- Really Gets Around: Julia and Messalina, the latter taking it to absurd levels. Narcissus compiles a list of people she slept with while married to Claudius. The first draft contains 54 names, but it's later extended to 155.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Augustus, Germanicus and Claudius. Tiberius begins his reign as this, but becomes more and more depraved as time goes by.
- Red Light District: During Caligula's Triumph, the soldiers sack the Roman neighborhood where most of the brothels are located.
- Reluctant Ruler:
- Claudius is not willing to become emperor, and he only accepts when he's told his wife Messalina and his unborn child will be in danger if he refuses.
- Tiberius pretends to be this when the Senate offers him the throne after Augustus' death.
- Remarrying for Your Kids: After Messalina's death, Claudius brings up the subject of his young children Britannicus and Octavia, who have been left without a mother. His friend Vitellius suggests him to remarry for their sake, and when he doesn't reject the idea, his freedmen inmediately start looking for a new prospective wife.
- Remember the New Guy?: Herod Agrippa gets a brief mention at the very end of I, Claudius, where he saves the audience of the Palatine Hill theatre from Caligula's German guards after the latter's death, and becomes one of the main characters in Claudius the God, where it is revealed that he was in fact present during many of the events of I, Claudius but was not mentioned there. Claudius lampshades this in the introduction to Claudius the God, and handwaves this by stating that Herod ultimately wasn't that important character in the story until the death of Caligula.
- Restrained Revenge: When Claudius becomes emperor, he finds the records of the trial of Agrippina:his sister-in-law Agrippina and his nephews Nero and Drusus, in which the names of those who testified against them are written. Instead of having them killed or exiled, Claudius summons the witnesses to palace, has them read their false testimonies and then burn them with their own hands.
- Revenge by Proxy:
- After Sejanus' downfall, his three innocent children are executed as well.
- Also, after Herod Agrippa's death, his two young daughters are raped by a mob.
- Camilla, Claudius' young betrothed, is poisoned by an unknown woman. Livia claims her murder was a vengeance against the girl's uncle, but it is hinted that Livia herself might have been behind it.
- Revive the Ancient Custom: Claudius, having written a history of Roman religion, makes a habit of reviving old ceremonies that he thinks are picturesque.
- Romancing the Widow: After Claudius' father's death, Flaccus tries to marry his widow, Antonia. While Antonia is fond of him, she thinks they are Better as Friends.
- Rousing Speech:
- Parodied in I, Claudius, where Claudius meets historians Livy and Pollio. Pollio criticizes Livy for writing that generals gave rousing speeches before battles, and tells that Julius Caesar before the decisive battle with Pompey (where Pollio was present) didn't do anything of the sort; instead, he did funny skits involving a radish.
- In Claudius the God, Claudius prepares a grand speech in Livy's style before an important battle in Britain; when he finds himself in front of the troops, he forgets it entirely, and comes up with a much more easygoing, jocular speech (without a radish though).
- Royal Inbreeding: The Julio-Claudians practice this to consolidate power. Livia and Augustus had no children of their own, but Livia makes sure that every descendant of Augustus's is married to a descendant of hers. As a result, multiple prominent couples in the story (including Germanicus & Agrippina and Drusus & Livilla) are first-cousins. It gets even more pronounced as it goes, with Caligula sleeping with his sisters and Claudius marrying his niece (though in Claudius's case, the marriage is not consummated).
- Royally Screwed Up: The Julio-Claudians. Claudius recalls an old folk song that says his family's (the Claudians) tree produces good and bad apples, but the bad outnumber the good; the best include his father, Drusus, and his elder brother Germanicus; the worst include his grandmother Livia, his uncle Tiberius, his older sister Livilla, his nephew Gaius Caligula, and great-nephew Nero.
- Ruling Couple: Augustus and Livia. Germanicus/Agrippina and Sejanus/Livilla have shades of this trope, although they never end up becoming Emperor and Empress. Claudius gives both Messalina and Agrippinilla a high degree of political influence, although neither gets to become as powerful as Livia.
- Sadist Teacher: Cato, Claudius' first tutor.
- Safe, Sane, and Consensual: Mnester claims he was coerced into having affair with Messalina, and shows the marks of the whip on his back as proof, but Narcissus points out that the scars are not deep enough, meaning they are the result of consensual BDSM. Mnester is then sentenced to death for his adultery with the emperor's wife.
- Scarpia Ultimatum: Tiberius' favourite M.O. He forces the wives, daughters and sons of senators to have sex with him, threatening to have their loved ones charged with treason and executed. On one occasion, he sets his eyes on the daughter of a senator; the senator's wife offers herself in her daughter's stead, and after the ordeal, she kills herself.
- Screw Destiny: Britannicus is told that Nero will become emperor, and that it will inevitably lead to his death if he stays in Rome, but he wants to prevent it, and insists that Claudius allow him to legally become an adult in order to face Agripinilla and Nero. Claudius indulges him, fully knowing that Britannicus won't be able to prevail.
- Self-Imposed Exile: In two separate instances (about ten years apart), both Marcus Agrippa and Tiberius voluntarily ask for, and receive, permission to leave Rome to reduce tensions between rival factions supporting other potential heirs of Augustus (Marcellus in Agrippa's case, Lucius Agrippa Caesar and his brother Gaius in Tiberius's). Tiberius also wanted to get away from his wife Julia (the daughter of Augustus, whom he'd married for political reasons but whom he hated; in the television series, it is presented as the main reason for the exile, and that it wasn't voluntary).
- Seppuku: What Roman generals (like Quinctilius Varus of the "WHERE ARE MY EAGLES!" fame) were expected to do after losing battles. Another form of ritual suicide (by opening a vein) was also available to people facing political disgrace, or to people who had simply grown tired of life. In general, an honorable death-by-suicide could save everyone a lot of trouble—for example, a condemned traitor would usually forfeit his property, leaving his family destitute. (Of course, when doing this, it's always handy to have one's treacherous wife standing by to gut-stab you should you chicken out at the last minute...)
- Shaming the Mob: Germanicus uses this to put down the mutiny of his troops on the Rhine.
- Sexless Marriage:
- Claudius and Agrippinilla. Since he only married her for political reasons and actually loathes her, he tells her right away that there won't be any intimacy between them. Agrippinilla doesn't mind.
- Claudius' second marriage to Elia, Sejanus' sister, remains unconsummated for several years, until she realizes Sejanus' political position is becoming less secure and allows Claudius to impregnate her; she believes, correctly, that being the mother of Tiberius' nephew's child will protect her if Sejanus falls.
- After a few years of normal married life, Messalina manipulates Claudius into allowing her to sleep in a separate bedroom and stop having sex altogether, convincing her she's asexual. It's all a lie: she just wants freedom to take as many lovers as she wants.
- Claudius also alleges that Augustus and Livia were this, with Augustus being impotent when he wanted to be intimate with Livia out of guilt that he had in effect stolen her from her first husband (which in reality was Livia's idea). To compensate Livia covertly gives him young women to satisfy him instead.
- Sexual Extortion:
- One of Caligula's more nefarious hobbies is forcing himself upon other men's wives and daughters by threatening to have their husbands and fathers executed if they don't submit.
- Messalina tries to pull this off with Appius Silanus, but it doesn't work.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story:
- Herod Agrippa's secret plot to rebel against the Roman Empire comes to naught with his abrupt death.
- The same can be said about Claudius' plan to save Britannicus life during Nero's reign, and to have the Republic restored. Britannicus refuses to go along, and even if he had, it's doubtful he would have been able to succesfully return to Rome and re-establish the republican system in the crisis of 68.
- Shared Family Quirks: Claudius claims that fondness for pets is a family trait, citing Augustus' favourite dog, Tiberius' "dragon without wings" (probably a Komodo dragon), Caligula's horse Incitatus, and several others.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Implied to happen at the very end of Claudius the God. The clowns in question are minor characters Augurinus and Baba, two guys who made a living giving theatricals in the back streets of the Rome where they parodied Claudius and his wives. Claudius forbids Agrippinilla from having them killed, stating that so long as he lives their lives are to be spared; Agrippinilla agrees to let them live only exactly so long, to the very hour. Seneca's "The Pumpkinication of Claudius" mentions Claudius and some Augurinus and Baba dying "in the same year quite close to each other"; and their deaths are implied to be first sign of Agrippinilla and Nero's tyranny being completely unrestrained after the death of Claudius.
- Shown Their Work: Graves translated many classical works into English, including one of the major sources for the life of Claudius. Much of the novel's material can be traced to Roman authors such as Suetonius and Tacitus, and the prose style deliberately invokes the style of something that has been translated faithfully from Latin.
- Sibling Rivalry:
- Drusus, Germanicus' second son, is jealous of Nero, his older brother (not to be confused with the future emperor).
- Averted with Germanicus himself and his first cousin and adoptive brother Castor. Even though there were many reasons for them to be politically opposed, they are on very friendly terms.
- Slipping a Mickey: Claudius is informed some of his soldiers want to wreak havoc in Rome after his Triumph, just like they had done after Caligula's. Instead of confronting them and risking bloodshed, he gives them drugged wine with the instructions to drink it only after the parade. The soldiers end up sleeping for hours, waking up only after the Triumph celebrations are over, and Claudius manages to avoid trouble.
- Son of a Whore: Calpurnia is not only a prostitute, but the daughter of a prostitute.
- So Proud of You: After completing his conquest of Britain, Claudius has a dream in which his beloved brother Germanicus tells him how proud he is.
- Spare to the Throne: Claudius is very far down the Imperial line of succession. No one expects him to really amount to anything.
- Speech Impediment: Claudius' stammer, which is caused mostly by stress. When he becomes emperor, it almost disappears.
- The Starscream: Sejanus and Livilla want to overthrow Tiberius. Unfortunately for them, Tiberius gets wind of this and decides to strike first.
- Stopped Caring: Claudius gives this impression after Messalina dies. He makes little effort to reign in Agrippinilla and Nero, actually doing his best to make the latter worse, and doesn't avenge Calpurnia when she's murdered. When his work on the Fucine lake comes crashing down, he finds it hilarious. He actually still cares about the future of the Empire; his plan is to let Agrippinilla and Nero destroy everything he built to make the people realize that monarchy is bad. To be able to bear that, he has to take a stoic attitude to things. As he writes:Yet I am, I must remember, Old King Log.
I shall float inertly in the stagnant pool.
Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out. - Stutter Stop: The young Claudius occasionally breaks through his stutter at emotionally intense moments. Later, after training himself out of his stutter (but still keeping it in public as part of his Obfuscating Disability) he is able to invoke the trope at will.
- Suicide Is Painless: Cocceius Nerva decides that he had lived enough, so he simply stops eating and eventually dies.
- Successful Sibling Syndrome: Claudius' brother Germanicus is far more successful and popular than him. Claudius doesn't resent him for that.
- Take a Third Option: Messalina tries to seduce her stepfather, Appius Silanus. When Appius refuses, she threatens to have him executed by Claudius. Instead of giving in and sleeping with her, or keep refusing and end up possibly accused of treason by Messalina, he decides to assassinate Claudius (and fails).
- Taking the Kids: Claudius' grandfather threatens to divorce Livia and take sole custody of their sons Tiberius and Drusus (something Roman law allowed) if she keeps trying to convince him to restore the monarchy.
- Taking You with Me: Invoked by one of the men involved in Scribonianus' failed rebellion against Claudius who, after being sentenced to death, accuses the commander of the Praetorian Guard of being part of the plot. The commander is found guilty and dies with the other conspirators.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Livia's preferred M.O. for removing inconvenient obstacles is to taint their food with a slow-acting poison to bring on what looks like a sudden illness, then continue administering the poison through the victim's doctors in the guise of treatment until they die.
- Tangled Family Tree: An example of Truth in Television; the convoluted relationships (both through blood and through marriage — not to mention adoption and intermarriage between cousins and other first-degree relatives) between all the Julio-Claudians are extremely complex. Claudius devotes the better part of a chapter to helping the reader untangle his relations. Historian Mary Beard, in her book SPQR, goes so far as to state that the family tree is so complex that it's virtually impossible to draw out a visual representation of it.
- Tell Me About My Father: In his youth, Claudius speaks to a lot of people who knew his father Drusus, trying to gather enough material to write his biography. One of them hints that Livia was involved in his death; shortly after that, Livia herself stops Claudius from finishing his work, making him suspect she really did kill him.
- Thanatos Gambit: Claudius lets Nero succeed him, despite knowing that he's a horrible person, because he believes that Nero's cruelty will be so shocking that the Romans will depose him and finally restore the Republic of their own free will. As we know with the benefit of hindsight, this doesn't work.
- The Un-Favorite: Claudius is this both to his own mother and to the whole imperial family.
- The Teetotaler: In his last years, Tiberius' bad health forces him to stop drinking, something that puts him in a even fouler mood.
- Thicker Than Water: Thoroughly averted. Almost every character ends up betraying and/or killing a family member. Even Claudius has two of his nieces put to death for conspiring against him.
- This Is Unforgivable!: After Claudius hears what happened to Sejanus' children (see Loophole Abuse) he says to himself: "Rome, you are ruined; there can be no expiation for a crime so horrible."
- Treacherous Advisor:
- Hermann is this to Varus, before leading the German tribes in open rebellion.
- Sejanus to Gaius.
- Practically all of Claudius' freedmen, except for Narcissus.
- Tyrannicide: Caligula's death, although the larger plot to restore the Republic after his death fails.
