Gaius Sallustius Crispus Passienus be the end of Agrippina's villainy, for Claudius' wife, Messalina, correctly perceiving the threat from Agrippina, attempted to have Lucius assassinated, in order to ensure the succession of Britannicus, her own son by the emperor. The attempt failed, and, after procuring Passienus' death, Agrippina worked to bring about the downfall of Messalina. She then seduced her uncle, the emperor, becoming his wife, and persuaded Claudius to adopt Lucius, naming him his heir in preference to his own son. Agrippina then procured the emperor's death, placing her son, now the emperor Nero, on the throne; he soon disposed of Britannicus. Agrippina
Roman emperor of the Empire, thought of Julius Caesar as the first Emperor. At the end of the Roman Republic no new, and certainly no single, title indicated the individual who held supreme power. Insofar as "emperor" could be seen as the English translation of imperator, then Julius Caesar had been an emperor, like several Roman generals before him. Instead, by the end of the civil wars in which Julius Caesar had led his armies, it became clear that there was certainly no consensus to return to the old-style monarchy, but that the period when several officials, bestowed with equal power by