History of the Roman Empire weather. Claudius ordered the suspension of further attacks across the Rhine, setting what was to become the permanent limit of the Empire's expansion in that direction. In 43, he resumed the Roman conquest of Britannia that Julius Caesar had begun in the 50s BC, and incorporated more Eastern provinces into the empire. In his own family life, Claudius was less successful. His wife Messalina cuckolded him; when he found out, he had her executed and married his niece, Agrippina the Younger. She, along with several of his freedmen, held an inordinate amount of power over him, and although there are
Agrippina the Elder to Augustus, a significant factor in the marriages of the emperors and princes of the dynasty. The Annals repeatedly has Agrippina competing for influence with Tacitus simply because she is related to Augustus biologically. Tacitus presents Agrippina as being kindred to aristocratic males, and has her reversing gender roles, which showcases her assumption of male "auctoritas" ("authority") with metaphors of her dressing and undressing. In an example of Agrippina assuming "auctoritas", he says: Using the above epithet, ""(femina) ingens animi"" ("..[a woman], great for her courage"), he assigns a haughty attitude to Agrippina that compels her to explore the affairs