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wished to be called Claudius outright. And once when a great fire was spreading through the city, he joined him in the relief effort. 3.35 So Claudius, being vexed at the things that were being done, which were now coming to his knowledge, and whenever he met Britannicus, treating him kindly, could not bear what was happening, but prepared to depose her and to enroll his son among the youths of military age and to declare him his successor. But when Agrippina learned of this, she hastened to forestall him with poison before any such thing could be done. When that poison had no effect, both because of the wine, which Claudius always drank in great quantities, and because of the other regimen, which all rulers generally use for their own protection, she sent for a certain Locusta, a poisoner notorious for this very thing, who had recently been convicted; and having prepared through her another inescapable poison, she put it into one of the so-called mushrooms, and while she herself ate from the others, she contrived for him to eat from the one which contained the poison, it being the largest and finest. And so he, being thus plotted against, as if he had become very much sated with drunkenness, which also often happened at other times, was carried out of the banquet; but, overcome by the poison, he died during the night, being able to neither say nor hear anything, having lived sixty-three years, two months, and thirteen days, and having ruled for thirteen years, eight months, and twenty days. And Agrippina did these things after sending Narcissus to Campania, ostensibly to use the waters there for his gout; for she would never have been strong enough to have done such a thing while he was present; such a guardian of his master did he happen to be. And when Claudius died, he too was immediately destroyed, after having had the greatest power. But before he was slain, he performed a splendid deed. 3.36 For all the secret papers of Claudius which he had, both against Agrippina and against certain others, since he was in charge of his correspondence, he burned beforehand. And he was slain beside the tomb of Messalina, which, having happened by chance, seemed to have come about for her retribution. However, a comet star was seen for a very long time, and a bloody drizzle and a thunderbolt fell upon the bodyguard's standard, and some other things occurred which were reckoned as signs of Claudius's death. While he was reigning, Theudas also appeared, whom the divine Luke mentions in the Acts, and Josephus in the nineteenth book of the Antiquities records that he was a sorcerer who deceived many, until Fadus the procurator of Judea sent a squadron of cavalry and killed many of those with him, and took many captive, and after Theudas himself was taken captive, he cut off his head. And Simon the magician, having come to Rome during the reign of this emperor, deceived many of the inhabitants of Rome with sorceries and won them over. And Justin, the philosopher and martyr, makes this clear in his apology to Antoninus on behalf of our doctrine, writing these things: "And after the ascension of the Lord into heaven, the demons put forward certain men saying that they were gods, who not 3.37 only were not persecuted by you, but were even deemed worthy of honor; one of whom was Simon the Samaritan, from the village of Gitta, who in the time of Claudius Caesar, through the working of demons, performed magical feats in your royal city of Rome and was considered a god and has been honored with a statue by you, standing in the Tiber river between the two bridges, with the Latin inscription ‘Simoni Deo Sancto’;” which when translated into Greek means ‘To Simon the holy god.’ And Peter first visited Rome in the time of Claudius, sowing in it the saving proclamation and illuminating the minds of those in it with the light of truth, so that many of the Romans believed and were so captured by the teaching of the chief of the apostles that they were not content with his words alone, but also used entreaties to Mark the apostle, who was a follower of Peter, to set forth for them a written record of the teaching of the chief apostle, and they themselves became the cause of the writing of the Gospel according to Mark. so he relates these things

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Κλαυδίῳ αντικρυς ὀνομάζεσθαι ηθελε. καί ποτε πολλοῦ τὴν πόλιν ἐπινεμομένου πυρός, πρὸς τὴν ἐπικουρίαν ἐκείνῳ συμπαρεγένετο. 3.35 ̔Ο γοῦν Κλαύδιος ἀχθόμενος τοῖς δρωμένοις τοῖς τέως εἰς γνῶσιν ἰοῦσιν αὐτῷ, καὶ τῷ Βρεττανικῷ ὁπότε ἐντύχοι φιλοφρόνως συγγινόμενος, οὐκ ηνεγκε τὰ γινόμενα, ἀλλ' ἐκείνην τε καταλῦσαι καὶ τὸν υἱὸν ἐς τοὺς ἐφήβους εἰσαγαγεῖν καὶ διάδοχον ἀποδεῖξαι παρεσκευάζετο. γνοῦσα δὲ ταῦτα ἡ ̓Αγριππῖνα προκαταλαβεῖν αὐτὸν φαρμάκῳ πρίν τι τοιοῦτον πραχθῆναι ἐσπούδασεν. ὡς δ' ἐκεῖνο οὐδὲν ὑπό τε τοῦ οινου, ον πολὺν ἀεὶ ὁ Κλαύδιος επινεν, ἐξειργάσατο, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς αλλης διαίτης, ῃ πάντες ἐπίπαν οἱ τὸ κράτος εχοντες χρῶνται πρὸς φυλακὴν ἑαυτῶν, Λουκούσταν φαρμακίδα τινὰ περιβόητον ἐπ' αὐτῷ τούτῳ νέον ἑαλωκυῖαν μετεπέμψατο· καί τι φάρμακον ετερον αφυκτον σκευάσασα δι' αὐτῆς, εἰς ενια τῶν καλουμένων μυκήτων ἐνέβαλε, καὶ αὐτὴ μὲν ἐκ τῶν αλλων ησθιεν, ἐκεῖνον δὲ ἐκ τοῦ τὸ φάρμακον εχοντος, οντος μεγίστου τε καὶ καλλίστου, φαγεῖν παρεσκεύασε. καὶ ὁ μὲν ουτως ἐπιβουλευθείς, ὡς ὑπερκορὴς σφόδρα τῇ μέθῃ γενόμενος, οπερ καὶ αλλοτε πολλάκις ἐγένετο, ἐκ τοῦ συμποσίου ἐξεκομίσθη· κατεργασθεὶς δὲ τῷ φαρμάκῳ μετήλλαξε διὰ τῆς νυκτὸς μήτ' εἰπεῖν μήτ' ἀκοῦσαί τι δυνηθείς, ζήσας ετη ἐπὶ τρισὶν ἑξήκοντα καὶ μῆνας δύο καὶ ἡμέρας τρισκαίδεκα, αὐταρχήσας δ' ἐνιαυτοὺς δεκατρεῖς μῆνάς τε ὀκτὼ καὶ ἡμέρας εικοσι. Ταῦτα δὲ ἡ ̓Αγριππῖνα πεποίηκε τὸν Νάρκισσον εἰς Καμπανίαν προπέμψασα, ὡς τοῖς υδασιν ἐκεῖ πρὸς τὴν ποδάγραν χρησόμενον· οὐ γάρ ποτε παρόντος ἐκείνου τοιοῦτόν τι δεδρακέναι ισχυσεν αν· τοιοῦτος τοῦ δεσπότου φύλαξ ἐτύγχανε. θανόντος δὲ τοῦ Κλαυδίου καὶ αὐτὸς εὐθὺς διεφθάρη, μέγιστον δυνηθείς. πρὸ δὲ τοῦ σφαγῆναι εργον λαμπρὸν 3.36 διεπράξατο. τὰ γὰρ γράμματα τοῦ Κλαυδίου οσα ἀπόρρητα κατά τε τῆς ̓Αγριππίνης καὶ καθ' ἑτέρων τινῶν εχων, οια τὰς ἐπιστολὰς αὐτοῦ διοικῶν, απαντα προκατέκαυσεν. ἐσφάγη δὲ παρὰ τῷ τῆς Μεσσαλίνης μνημείῳ, οπερ ἐκ συντυχίας συνενεχθὲν εδοξεν εἰς τὴν ἐκείνης τιμωρίαν γενέσθαι. ωφθη μέντοι κομήτης ἀστὴρ ἐπὶ πλεῖστον, καὶ ψεκὰς αἱματώδης καὶ σκηπτὸς ἐς τὸ δορυφορικὸν σημεῖον ἐνέπεσε, καὶ ετερ' αττα συνέπεσεν α σημεῖα τῆς Κλαυδίου τελευτῆς ἐλογίσθησαν. Τούτου γοῦν βασιλεύοντος καὶ Θευδᾶς ἐγένετο, ου καὶ ὁ θεῖος Λουκᾶς ἐν ταῖς Πράξεσι μέμνηται, καὶ ὁ ̓Ιώσηπος ἐν τῷ ἐννεακαιδεκάτῳ λόγῳ τῆς ̓Αρχαιολογίας ἱστορεῖ γόητα αὐτὸν οντα πολλοὺς ἀπατῆσαι, εως Φάδος ὁ τῆς ̓Ιουδαίας ἐπίτροπος ιλην ἱππέων πέμψας πολλοὺς τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν ἀνεῖλε, πολλοὺς δ' ἐζώγρησε, καὶ αὐτοῦ δὲ τοῦ Θευδᾶ ζωγρηθέντος τὴν κάραν ἀπέτεμε. Καὶ Σίμων δ' ὁ μάγος ἐπὶ τούτου τοῦ βασιλέως τῇ ̔Ρώμῃ ἐπιδημήσας πολλοὺς τῶν τὴν ̔Ρώμην οἰκούντων γοητείαις ἠπάτησε καὶ ἐσφετερίσατο. δηλοῖ δὲ τοῦτο ̓Ιουστῖνος ὁ φιλόσοφός τε καὶ μάρτυς ἐν τῇ πρὸς ̓Αντωνῖνον ὑπὲρ τοῦ καθ' ἡμᾶς δόγματος ἀπολογίᾳ γράφων ταῦτα "καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάληψιν τοῦ κυρίου εἰς οὐρανὸν προεβάλλοντο οἱ δαίμονες ἀνθρώπους τινὰς λέγοντας ἑαυτοὺς ειναι θεούς, οι οὐ 3.37 μόνον οὐκ ἐδιώχθησαν ὑφ' ὑμῶν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τιμῆς ἠξιώθησαν· ων εις καὶ Σίμων ὁ Σαμαρεὺς ὁ ἀπὸ κώμης Γιττῶν, ος ἐπὶ Κλαυδίου Καίσαρος διὰ τῆς τῶν δαιμόνων ἐνεργείας δυνάμεις μαγικὰς ποιήσας ἐν τῇ πόλει ὑμῶν τῇ βασιλίδι ̔Ρώμῃ θεὸς ἐνομίσθη καὶ ἀνδριάντι παρ' ὑμῖν τετίμηται ἐν τῷ Τιβέριδι ποταμῷ μεταξὺ τῶν δύο γεφυρῶν ἱσταμένῳ, γράμμασιν ἐπιγεγραμμένῳ ̔Ρωμαϊκοῖς Σίμωνι δέῳ σάγκτῳ·" οπερ ἐξελληνιζόμενον Σίμωνι θεῷ ἁγίῳ δηλοῖ. Καὶ ὁ Πέτρος δὲ ἐπὶ Κλαυδίου πρῶτον ἐπεδήμησε τῇ ̔Ρώμῃ, τὸ σωτήριον κήρυγμα ἐγκατασπείρων αὐτῇ καὶ τῷ φωτὶ τῆς ἀληθείας καταυγάζων τὰς διανοίας τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ, ὡς καὶ πολλοὺς πιστεῦσαι τὼν ̔Ρωμαίων καὶ ουτως ἁλῶναι τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ τοῦ κορυφαίου τῶν ἀποστόλων ὡς μηδὲ τοῖς λόγοις αὐτοῦ ἀρκεσθῆναι μόνοις, παρακλήσεσι δὲ καὶ πρὸς Μάρκον χρήσασθαι τὸν ἀπόστολον ὀπαδὸν οντα Πέτρου, εγγραφον αὐτοῖς τῆς τοῦ κορυφαίου διδασκαλίας ἐκθέσθαι ὑπόμνηνα, καὶ αὐτοὺς αἰτίους γενέσθαι τῆς τοῦ κατὰ Μάρκον εὐαγγελίου συγγραφῆς. ουτω ταῦτα ἱστορεῖ