Seneca - College of Stoic Philosophers

58 SENECAwere the subjects of contemptuous ridicule atthe Court. Claudius, said Gallio, in allusion tothe hooks with which the bodies of condemnedcriminals were drawn down the steps of theGemoniae and flung into the Tiber, had beendragged to heaven with a hook.^ Nero exclaimedthat now it was clear that mushrooms were foodfor the gods and Seneca produced his famous;jeu cV 'esprit under the title of the Apocolocyntosisor Pumpkinification of Claudius.'In this satirical medley of prose and versethe arrival of Claudius at the gate of heaven withdragging foot and perpetually shaking head isdescribed ;his reception by Hercules, who,accustomed as he is to monsters, is so perturbedby the sight of this one that he has to look closelybefore he can distinguish'a sort of man,' andbelieves himself at odds with a thirteenth labour ;the delight of Claudius on hearing himself addressedin Greek, and the hopehe derives therefrom ofbeing able to add his own histories to the libraryof heaven ;the debate in heaven on his admission,and his expulsion at the instance of Augustus,who makes his maiden speech on the occasion.Next we hear of his descent to the infernal regions,under the escort of Mercury, by way of Rome, wherethe sight of his own funeral taking place amidgeneral rejoicings makes him understand forthe first time that he is dead ;of his delight onhis arrival in hell to find himself in the midstof old friends, and his discomfiture at the unexpectedreply to his inquiry by what good fortune»Dion, Ix. 35.