The destruction of Messalina shook the imperial house; for a strife
arose among the freedmen, who should choose a wife for Claudius, impatient
as he was of a single life and submissive to the rule of wives. The ladies
were fired with no less jealousy. Each insisted on her rank, beauty, and
fortune, and pointed to her claims to such a marriage. But the keenest
competition was between Lollia Paulina, the daughter of Marcus Lollius,
an ex-consul, and Julia Agrippina, the daughter of |