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ao. Caligula gave severat shows abroad - Athenian Games at Syracuse, and miscellaneous Games at Lyons, where he also held a competition in Greek and Latin oratory. The loser, it appears, hadio present the winners with prietes and mahe speeches prat sing them: while those who falled miserably were forced to erase their entries with elther sponges or their own longues - at the threat of being thrashed and Bung into the Rhone. 2I. He completed certain projecis neglected by Tiberius: namely, the Temple of Augustus and Pompey's Theatre; and began the construction os an aqueduci in the Tibur districi, and of an amphitheatrenear the Enclosure. His successor Claudius finished the aqueduci; butwork on the amphitheatre was abandoned.) Caligula rebust theruinous walis and temples of Syracuse, and among his other projecis were the restoration of Polycrates's palace at Samos, the completionos Didymaean Apollo's temple at Ephesus, and the bullding of a cityhigh up in the Alps. But he was most deeply interested in culting a canat through the Isthmus of Corinth, and sent a leading centurion
aa. So much for Caligula the Εmperor; the rest of this history mustneeds deat with Caligula the Monster. He adopted a variety of tities: such as 'Pious', 'Son of the Camp', 'Father of the Army', 'Caesar, Greatest and Best of Men'. But whenonce, at the dinner table, sonae foreigia tangs who had come to payhomage were arguing whicli of them was the most nobiy descended, Caligula interrupted their discussion by decla ing Homer's line:
Nay, let there be one master, and one tangi
And he nearly assumed a royal diadem then and there, doing awaywith the preteiice that he was merely the chies executive os a republic. However, after his courtiers reminded hina that he already outranked any king or tribal chiestatia, he insisted on bcing troated as a god sending for the most revered or artisti catly famotis statues of the
Greek deities including that of Juppiter at Olympia), and having
their heads replaccd by his own. Nexi, Caligula extended the Palace as far as the Forum; converted the stirine of Castor and Pollux into a vestibule: and would ostensiand beside these Divine Brethren to be worshipped by ali visitanis,some of whom addressed hini as 'Latian Juppiter'. He established a stirine to himself as God, with priesis, tiae costilest possibi e victinas,
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citigens tried to gain priesthoods here, either by influence or bribery. Flamingoes, peacocks, black grouse, guine liens, and pheasants were offered as sacrifices, each on a particular day of the monili. When the
and somelimes raising his Volce in anger. Once he was overtieard
threatening the god: 'Is you do not rai se me up to Heaven I will castyou down to Heli.' Finalty he anno ced that Juppiter had persuadeditam to sitare his home: and theres ore connected the Palace with the Capitol by throwing a bridge across the Temple of the God Augustus: after ich he began bullding a new house inside the precincts of the
23. Because of Agrippa's plebeian origin Caligula loathed being described as his grandson, and would fly into a rage is anyone me
tioned him, in speech or song, as an incestor of the Caesars. Henursed a fantasy that lais mollier had been born of an incestuous unionbetween Augustus and Julia; and not content with thus discrediti gAugustus's name, cancelled the annuat commemorations of Agrippa's
victories at Actium and off Sicily, declaring that they had proved theruin of the Roman people. He called his grea grandmother Livia Augusta a 'she Ulysses', and in a letter to the Senate dared describeber as of low birth - 'her maternat grandiather Aufidius Lurco havrigbeen a mere army sergeant from Fundi' - although the public record sshowed Lurco to have held high ossice at Rome. When his paternalgrandmother Antonia begged him to grant her a private audience heinsisted on tining Macro, the Guards Commander, as his escort. Unk d treaiment of this sori hurried her to the grave though, according to sonae, he accelerated the process with poison aiad, when
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that Silanus, a notoriousty bad sallor, could not face the Voyage; andyo g Tiberius's breath sinessed os medicine taken sor a persistent cough which was gaining a hold on his lungs. Caligula preserved his uncte Claudius malaly as a buti sor practical jokes. 24. It was his habit to commit incest with each of his three sistersin turn and, at large banqueis, when his wise reclined above him, placed them ali in turn below him. They say that he ravished his sister Drusilla be re he came of age: their grandinother Antonia, at whoseliouse they were both staying, caught them in bed together. Later, helook Drusilla frona her husband, the e Consul Lucius Cassius Longinus, quite unashamedly treating her as his wisse: and when hesed dangero ly ill lest Drusilla ali his property, and the Empire too. At her death he made it a capital offence to laugh, to bathe, or to dine with one's parenis, wives, or clii ldren while the period os publicmourning lasted; and was so craged with gries that he suddenlyrushed froni Rome by night, drove through Campania, took ship to Sicily, and returned just as impetuousty without having shaved or cut
against him - openly producing letters in their handwriting acquired by trichery and seduction) and dedicasing to Mars the Avenger thethree swords with whicli, the accompinying placard alleged, they had meant to kill him. 23. It would be hard to say whether the way he got married, theway he dissolved his marriages, or the way he bellaved as a liusband
was the most disgracessit. He attended the wedding ceremony of Gaius Piso and Livia Orestilla, but had the bride carried off to his own home. Aster a sew days, however, he sent her away, and two years later banished her, suspecting that she had returned to Piso in the intervat. According to one account he told Piso, who was reclining opposite him at the wedding ferat: 'Hands offmy wisel ' and took herhome with him at once: and announced the nexi day that he hadtaken a wise in the style of Romulusiand Augustus. Then he suddenlysent to Greece sor Lollia Paulina, wise of Gaius Memmius, the con-
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He na med the child Julia Drusilla: and carried her around the templesos ast the goddesses in turn be re finalty enti usting her to the lap of
become Emperor. Their Very loyalty and nearness to his earn ed them crus deallis. Nor was he any more respeciful or considerate in his desings withthe Senate, but made some of the highest officials run for miles beside his chariot, dressed in their gowns: or wait in stiori linen tunics at the
Caligula liked to stir up troubie in the Theatre by scaltering gist
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the other one over therei' Someone had sworn to figlit in the arenais Caligula recovered froni his illaess: Caligula sorced tum to sulflthis Oath, and walched his swordplay closely, not letting hina go untdhe had won the match and begged abjectedly to be released. Another fellow had pledged himself, on the fame occasion, to commit sulcide: Caligula, finding that he was stili alive, ordered his to be dressed in wreatlis and filleis, and driven through Rome by the Imperiat flaves -
Caligula made parenis attend their sons' executions, and when one
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to the wild beasts, shouted that he was innocent: Caligula broughthim bach, removed his longue, and then ordered the sentence to be
28. Once Caligula asked a returned exile how he had been spendingliis time. To Balter hi in the man answered: 'I prayed continuousty to the gods for Tiberius's death, and your accession; and my prayer Wasgranted.' Caligula theres ore concluded that the new batch of exiles must be pr ing for his own death; so he sent agenis from istand toisland and had them ali hilled. Being anxious that one particular senator should be torn in pieces he persuaded some of his colleaguesto challenge his as a public enemy when he entered the House, stabhim with their pens, and then hand him over for lynching to the restos the Senate: and was not satisfied untii the victim's limbs, organs, and guis had been dragged through the streeis and heaped up at his seel. 29. Caligula's sinage crimes mere malched by his brutes language. He claimed that no personat trait made him feel prouder than his inflexibili ' - by which he must have meant 'bragen impudence'. As though mere deasness to his grandmother Antonia's good advice were not enough, he told her: 'Bear in mind that I can treat anyone exactly as Ι pleasel' Suspecting that young Tiberius had taken drugsas prophylactics to the polson he intended to administer, Caligulascossed: 'Can there reatly be an antidote against Caesar ' And, onbanishing his sisters, he remarhed: 'I have swords as wess as istands.'One e praetor, taking a mental cure at Anticyra, made frequentrequesis for an extension of his sick leave: Caligula had his inroat cui, suggesting that is hellebore had been of so litile benest over solong a period, he must necd to be bled. When signing the executionlist he used to sq: 'Ι am clearing my accounts.' And one day, after sentencing a number of Gaias and Greeks to die in the fame balch, heboasted of haring 'subdued Gallo-graecia'. 3 o. The method of execution he preferred was to iustici numerous smail Wounds, avolding the prisoner's vitat organs: and his familiarorder: 'Mahe him feel that he is dyingi' soon became proverbial. Once, when the wrong man had been Esed, owing to a confusion ofnames, he anno ced that the victim had equalty deserved death: andositen quoted Accius's line:
Let them hate me, so long as they fear me.
He would indiscriminately abuse the Senate as haring been friends of
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Sejanus, or informers against his mollier and brothers at this possit producing the papers which he was supposed to have burnedi): and exclaim that Tiberius's crueity had been qui te justifed since, with somany accusers aboui, he was bound to belleve their charges. The ighis earned his constant displeasure for spending their time, or solle compla ed, at the play or the Games. On one occasion the peoplei cheered the wrong team: he cri ed angrily: 'I wish ali you Romanshad only one neckl' When a shout arose in the amphitheatre forTetrinius the Bandit to come out and fght, he said that ali those whocalled for hian were Tetriniuges too. A group of net-and-trident gladiators, dressed in tunics, put up a very poor show against the fi vemen-at-arnas with whom they were malched: but when he sentencedihem to death for cowardice, one of them sei ged a trident and killedeach of his opponenis in turn. Caligula then publicly expressed his horror at what he called 'this most bloody murder', and his disgustwith those who had been able to stomach the sight. 31. He went about complaining how bad the times were, and particularly that there had been no public disasters like the Uarus massacre under Augustus,I or the collapse of the amphitheatre at Fidenae under Tiberius.* The prosperity of his own rei gn, he said, would lead to iis being wholly forgoiten, and he osten prayed for agreat military catastrophe, or sor famine, plague, fire, or at least an
I. See Augustus 23. a. See Tiberius 4o.
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33. He played a prank on Apelles, the tragic actor, by striling a pose beside a statue of Juppiter and asking ' hici, of us two is thegreater ρ' When Apelles hesitated momentarily, Caligula had himssogged, commenting on the musical quality of this groans for mercy. He never kissed the neck of his wife or mistress without saying 'Andinis beautifes throat will be cut whenever Ι please.' Sometimes he eventhreatened to torture Caesonia as a means os discoVering why she wasso devoted to him. 34. In his insolent pride and destructiveness the made malicious
attacks on men os almost every epoch. Needing more room in the
Capitol cour ard, Augustus had Once shisited the statues of certain celebrities to the Campus Martius; these Caligula dashed to theground and shattered so completela, inscriptions and ali, that theycould not possibly be restored. Aster this no statue or bust of anytising person could be set up without his permission. He toyed withthe idea os suppressing Homer's poems - for he might surely cla mPlato's privilege of banishing Homer froni itis republic As for Virgiland Li', Caligula came very near to having their works and busis removed from the libraries, cla ing that Virgil had littie knowledgeand less stati: and that Livy was a wordy and inaccurate historian. Itseems, also, that he proposed to abolisti the legat profession; at any rate, he osten swore by Hercules that no lamer's advice would everthwart his wis. 33. Caligula deprived the nobi est men at Rome of their ancient semila emblems - Torquatus tost his goiden collar, Cincinnatus his lock of hala, and Gnaeus Pompey the famous sumame 'Great'. Heinvited Mng Ptolemy to visit Rome, welcomed him with appropriate
hono s, and then suddenly ordered his execution - as mentionedabove - because at Ptolemy's entrance into the amphitheatre duringa gladiatorial show the fine purple cloah which he wore had attracted
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universat admiration. Any good-looking man with a fine head ofhair whom Caligula ran across - he himself was bald had the bach of lais scalp brutalty shaved. One Aesius Proculus, a leadi g-centurion's son, was so well-bili and haiadsonae that people nictaamedhim 'Giant Cupid'. Without warning, Caligula ordered Aesius to bedragged from his seat in the amphitheatre into the arena, and malchedfrst with a Thracian net-fghter, then with a man-at-arnas. Though Aesius won both combais, he was thereupon dressed in rags, ted fellered through the streeis to be jeered at by women, and finalty executed: the truth being that however low anyone's fortune orcondition might be, Caligula always found sonae cause for en'. Thus he sent a stronger man than the then Sacred Gng of Nemi tochallenge him, after many years of ossice - because this king, or priestos Diana, was by tradition a fugitive flave who had killed his predecessor with a sword. A chario figliter called Parius drew such tremendous applause sor freeing his flave in celebration os a victoryat the Games that Caligula indignantly rushed froin the amphitheatre.
the steps, at the bottoni of which he complained that the mostpowerfui race in the world seemcd to take greater notice of a gladiator's trising gesture than of ali their dei sed emperors, or even theone stili among them. 36. He had not the stightest regard for chasti ty, et ther his own orothers', and was accused of homosexuat relations, both active and passive, with Marcus Lepidus, also with Mnester the actor, and varioussoreim hostages; moreover, a yo g man os consular family, Valerius
Catullus, revealed publicly that he had ei oyed the Emperor, and thatthey qui te wore orae another out in the process. Besides incest with his sisters, and a notorious passion for the prostitute Pyrallis, he madeaduances to almost every well-known married woman in Rome:
his couch, as a purchaser might assess the value os a flave, and even
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publicly registered, divorces in the name of their absent husbands. 37. No parallel can be found for Caligula's se setched extrava-gances. He invented new kinds os ballis, and the most utinatural dishes
bread and goiden meat: and would remarh that Caesar alone could not afford to be frugal. For severat days in succession he scatterediargesse froin the roos of the Julian Basilica: and bulli Liburniangalleys, with ten banks of Oars, jewelled poops, multiacoloured satis, and with huge ballis, colonnades and binqueting halis aboard - notio mention growing vines and apple-trees of different varieties. In these vesseis he used to take earl morning cruises along the Campanian coast, reclining on his couch and listening to songs and choruses. Villas and count -houses were run up for him regardi essos eXpense - in faci, Caligula seemed interested only in doing the apparently impossibie - whicli ted him to construct moles in deep, rough water far out to sea, drive tunneis inrough exceptionalty hard rocks, resse flat ground to the height of mountains, and reduce moun
38. When bainrupi and in need offunds, Caligula concentraled onwickedly ingenious methods of raising funds by false accusations,
auctions, and taxes. He ruled that no man could inherit the Romancilietensilip acquired by any ancestor more remote than his fallier: and when confronted with certificates of citigensilip issued by Julius Caesar or Augustus, rejected them as obsolete. He also di fallowed ali property returns to whicli, for Whatever reason, later additions had