I don't really understand what Claudius means when he says, "I take all the young men whom I see before me; that they are senators should cause no more regret than Persicus feels—a most noble man and my friend—when he reads among the images of his ancestors the name of Allobrogicus..."
Why would he feel regret that the men before him are senators? Because these senators are young men? Because he is saying what he is saying in front of the Senate, and they may not agree with him? Because some of the senators are foreigners/Gauls/what have you? I think I'm missing some context.
Also, when he says, “It is now time, Tiberius Caesar Germanicus, to reveal to the conscript fathers where your speech is leading: for now you have come to the farthest borders of Galiia Narbonensis,” is he speaking figuratively? Is this a quip about his going off topic?
Lastly, based on my interpretation of these two passages, I get the vibe that he is kind of witty and perceptive. Something I wouldn't expect from the stuttering, socially awkward Claudius that so many speak of. Do you agree with me?
This is the very first time I've looked at Claudius' speech, and I'm not very familiar with ancient sources, so these may be silly questions. If anybody can share some insight with me I'd really appreciate it!
Thanks!
I suspect your confusion stems from a simple failure to read carefully, or perhaps there is an issue with your translation. For clarity I grabbed the Latin in the CIL:
tot ecce insignes iuvenes quot intueor non magis sunt paenitendi / senatores quam paenitet Persicum nobilissimum virum ami/cum meum inter imagines maiorum suorum Allobrogici no/men legere
Look! How many notable youths I see that ought not be more regrettable as senators than it is regrettable that Persicus my most noble friend reads the name "Allobrogicus" among the images of his ancestors.
Claudius is not expressing regret about the young men being senators; he is rejecting any regret on that account and saying anyone who does regret them is misguided. The change of the object of regret from the iuvenes to Persicus is just parallel construction.
The second line (actually the previous line in the text) is a little more complicated. Some people think it's actually an interjection from the crowd, as Davis. I find that a little hard to swallow, but there are so few speeches we have preserved that I'm not sure we can pass judgment on this particular case.
In his last statement, Claudius was speaking of bringing in elites from the city of Vienne, which if you look, is indeed at the far border of Narbonensis. The sentence does work figuratively to redirect Claudius back to the matter at hand. He had veered into an attack against Valerius Asiaticus, from Vienne, and after the interjection, if it was an interjection, he returns to the matter of membership of the senate.
As for whether he is witty and perceptive, I think the general consensus is he is rambling and pedantic. That's in comparison to Tacitus' version of this speech. I don't know if that is the right judgment but I think that's what people usually say. Griffin wrote a couple of articles about these two speeches in the 80s which might be useful.
