The elderly Roman emperor Claudius writes his memoirs, telling of the history of the Roman empire through his own period of rule. It begins as Augustus is emperor, and his scheming wife Livia will stop at nothing to make her son from a previous marriage Tiberius the next emperor. This conflict sets the stage for a long period of intrigue and double-crosses among the Roman elite, all of it witnessed by Claudius, whose limp and stammer cause everyone to think him simple-minded and thus leave him alone. But Claudius in fact posesses a very keen intellect, and is determined to see justice be done and Rome returned to a Republican form of government.

George Baker playing Tiberius is actually three years older than Si?n Phillips playing his mother, Livia.

[on Claudius]


Livia:
That child should have been exposed at birth.

Anachronisms: Augustus thanks the poet Horace for his performance. Roman soldiers enter to inform Augustus of the slaughter his troops faced at the Teutoburg Forest. Horace died in 8 B.C. and the incident in the forest occurred in 9 A.D.