His sister Livilla execrated the mere notion of his ever becoming emperor.

Augustus, his grandfather by adoption, took pains to keep him as much out of sight as possible, as a wool-gathering[26] and discreditable member of the family, denied him all public honours, and left him a most paltry legacy.

Tiberius, when looking out for a successor, deliberately passed him over as a man of deficient intellect.

Caius kept him as a butt for his own slaps and blows, and for the low buffoonery of his meanest jesters.

If the unhappy Claudius came late for dinner, he would find every place occupied, and peer about disconsolately amid insulting smiles.