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Several ancient sources (Seneca, Suetonius, Tacitus, Cassius Dio) present Emperor Claudius as incapable of controlling his addiction to wine, food and gambling, and of mastering his passions: love, cruelty, fear, anger, as much as his emotions, especially when he acts as an orator. But these sources also underline his inconsistency and his versatility (uarietas animi), and a form of self-forgetfulness and insensitivity. Moreover, Claudius doesn’t have control over his own body and over the way he walks and speaks. All these observations convey an image of Claudius as a prince who lacks the decus and dignitas essential to a man of his rank, whose conduct and speeches are often incomprehensible, and who suffers from a disturbed emotional behavior. While he belongs to the series of tyrannical princes established by historiography, Claudius thus constitutes a kind of unique case.