RE-READ FROM BEGINNING: Remember that "I, Claudius" scene where Livia tells him that

[zazen]

1. you think Obama's choosing Hillary because she'll be more despised than he is?

That's the rationale Livia gives Claudius for the astrologer's prediction--that it's Tiberius' vanity that will cause him to choose Caligula to succeed him.

But then there's always the Oracle Claudius visited in the beginning of the series, who prophesied that what will 'be given thee, is something all desire but he."

Let's focus on that instead. (Of course, his successor was Nutso, but I'll ignore that part of history).

I'm such a nerd I actually own the 13-part VHS series as well as the streaming one on Amazon! Love me some _I, Claudius,_ which HBO/BBC bought and was supposed to remake in 2013 but nothing has come of it yet. Hard to top the acting in the first one, though the production values were a step up from high school.