Deed — 2 authors face each other below

death of Claudius

kind: death · 54 CE — the editor’s frame · 4 mentions across 4 episodes of the record — counted by the house’s first pass receipt — the deed shelf, first pass receipt — the witness index

The emperor's death by the mushroom dish, and the succession of Nero.

Where the accounts part — the record’s own argument; the witnesses below carry the receipts

Suetonius: 'That Claudius was poisoned is the general belief, but when it was done and by whom is disputed' — and he serves the variants. Tacitus names the artisans: Locusta prepared it, the eunuch Halotus served it, and when the mushrooms moved too slowly the physician Xenophon finished the work with a poisoned feather. Nero's own epitaph on the affair — mushrooms are 'the food of the gods' — is preserved by Suetonius as confession by joke.

The regnal line — the editor’s table of years, never the record’s voice

Anchored at 54 CE on the editor’s table of years .

· 54 CE — date secure ·

13 October 54 CE; both authors place it amid Agrippina's arrangements for Nero's succession.

The accounts, side by side — each witness in its own words; every quote is the served record’s, linked to its episode

Suetonius · 2 accounts

44 the principal narrative The disputed mechanics, catalogued: whose hand, which dinner.

That Claudius was poisoned is the general belief, but when it was done and by whom is disputed. Suet. Claud. 44

The Deified Claudius · J. C. Rolfe, 1913

33 in passing The successor's laugh line as the tradition's verdict.

he used afterwards to laud mushrooms, the vehicle in which the poison was administered to Claudius, as “ the food of the gods,” Suet. Nero 33

Nero · J. C. Rolfe, 1913

Tacitus · one account

12.66–12.67 the principal narrative The poisoning as court procedure: the specialist, the taster, the physician.

Locusta by name, who had lately been condemned for poisoning, and had long been retained as one of the tools of despotism. Tac. Ann. 12.66

this man, it is supposed, introduced into his throat a feather smeared with some rapid poison Tac. Ann. 12.67

The Annals · Alfred John Church & William Jackson Brodribb, 1876

Who stands in this deed — standing in the same episodes; counted by the house’s first pass

Claudius — a candidate entry Agrippina — a candidate entry Britannicus — a candidate entry Nero — 1 episode shared

Doors to the sister houses

logoi — the words

No door is cut to the word-house from this room yet. logoi.health keeps the words meanwhile.

mythoi — the stories

No door is cut to the story-house from this room yet. mythoi.health keeps the stories meanwhile.

The record here: The Histories, Herodotus — Godley, 1920–25 · Parallel Lives, Plutarch — Perrin, 1914–26 · 166 works · 12,119 episodes served

lives · deeds · times · the shelf