Mithridates, king of the Iberians; was defeated in a conflict with a Roman army. Despairing of his life he begged that a hearing be granted him to show cause why he should not be summarily executed or led in the procession of triumph. This right having been accorded him Claudius received him in Rome, standing on a tribunal, and addressed threatening language to him. The king throughout replied in an unabashed manner and concluded his remarks with "I was not carried to you, but made the journey: if you doubt it, release me and try to find me." [-33-] She [sc. Agrippina] quickly became a second Messalina, and chiefly because she obtained from the senate among other honors the right to use the carpentum at festivals. [A.D. 50 (a. u. 803)] Subsequently Claudius applied to Agrippina the additional title of _Augusta_. When Claudius had adopted her son Nero and had made him his son-in-law (by disowning his daughter and introducing her into another family so that he might not have the name of uniting brother and sister), a mighty portent occurred. All that day the sky seemed to be on fire. Agrippina banished also Calpurnia, one of the most distinguished ladies in the land, or perhaps even caused her death (as one version of the story reports), because Claudius had admired and commended her beauty. [A.D. 51 (a. u. 804)] When Nero (for this is the name for him that has won its way into favor) was registered among the iuvenes, the day that he was registered the Divine Power shook the earth for long distances and by night struck terror to the hearts of all men without exception. [-32-] [While Nero was growing up, Britannicus received neither honor nor care. Agrippina, indeed, either drove away or killed those who showed any zeal in his behalf. Sosibius, to whom his bringing up and education had been entrusted, she caused to be slain on the pretext that he was plotting against Nero. After that she delivered the boy to the charge of persons who suited her and did him all the harm she could. She would not let him visit his father nor appear before the people, but kept him in a kind of imprisonment, though without bonds.] Dio, 61st Book: "Since the prefects Crispinus and Lusius Veta would not yield to her in every matter, she ousted them from office." [A.D. 51-52] [-33-] [No one attempted any kind of reprisal upon Agrippina, for, to be brief, she had more power than Claudius himself and gave greetings in public to those who desired it. This fact was entered on the records.] She possessed all powers, since she dominated Claudius and had made sure of the devotion of Narcissus and Pallas. (Callistus, after rising to great heights of influence, was dead.) [A.D. 52 (a. u. 805)] The astrologers were banished from the entire expanse of Italy, and their disciples were punished.