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This article takes a discourse pragmatic approach to the Latin text of the Tabula Lugdunensis. The speech by the emperor Claudius from 48 CE is known for its syntactical complexities. By explaining Claudius’s Latin, I aim to illustrate that a discourse pragmatic approach is more fruitful than a strictly syntactical analysis. First, I discuss the outline of the speech, addressing the way in which both the organisation at the text level and Claudius’s actio may have helped his live public in processing the speech. Then, I use the concept of discourse act to approach Claudius’s actio and segmentation of his speech at the sentence level. I make a distinction between central, orientational, supporting and digressive discourse acts to analyse the nature of the sequences in Claudius’ brief biographies of Numa, Tarquinius Priscus and Servius Tullius.