Cassius Dio
Roman History
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Book LIX
The following is contained in the Fifty-ninth of Dio's Rome:—
1. About Gaius Caesar, called also Caligula (chaps. 1-6).
2. How the shrine of Augustus was dedicated (chap. 7).
3. How the Mauretanias began to be governed by Romans (chap. 25).
4. How Gaius Caesar died (chaps. 29-30).
Duration of time, remainder of the consulship of Gnaeus Acerronius and
Pontius Nigrinus, together with three additional years, in which there
were the following magistrates (consuls) here enumerated:—
A.D.
38
M. Aquila C. f. Julianus, P. Nonius M. f. Asprenas.
39
C. Caesar Germanicus (II), L. Apronius L. f.
Caesianus.
40
C. Caesar (III).
41
C. Caesar (IV), Cn. Sentius Cn. f. Saturninus.
These are the stories, then, that have been handed down about Tiberius.
His successor was Gaius, the son of Germanicus and Agrippina, who was
also known, as I have stated, by the names of Germanicus and Caligula.
Tiberius, to be sure, had left the empire to his grandson Tiberius as
well; but Gaius sent his will to the senate by Macro and caused it to
be declared null and void by the consuls and the others with whom he
had arranged matters beforehand, on the ground that the testator had
not been of sound mind, as shown by the fact that he had permitted a
mere boy to rule over them, who did not yet possess the right even to
enter the senate. Thus Gaius at the time promptly deprived the lad of
the throne, and later, in spite of having adopted him, he put him to
death. It availed naught that Tiberius in his will had expressed the
same purpose in a number of ways, as if this would lend it some force,
nor yet that it had all been read at this time by Macro in the senate.
But, of course, no injunction can have any weight against the
ingratitude or the might of one's successors. Thus Tiberius suffered
the same treatment that he had accorded to his mother, with this
difference only, that, whereas he had discharged none of the
obligations imposed by her will in the case of anybody, his bequests
were paid to all the beneficiaries except his grandson. This, in
particular, made it perfectly plain that the whole found with the will
had been invented on account of the lad. Gaius, it is true, need not
have published it, as he surely was not unacquainted with the contents;
but inasmuch as many knew what was in it, and it seemed probable that
he himself in the one case or the senate in the other would be blamed
for its suppression, he chosen rather to have it overthrown by the
senators than to keep it concealed. At the same time, by paying all the
bequests of Tiberius, as if they were his own, to every one else, he
gained with the multitude a certain reputation for generosity. Thus, in
company with the senate, he inspected the Pretorians at drill and
distributed to them the money that had been bequeathed them, amounting
to a thousand sesterces apiece; and he added as much more on his own
account. To the people he paid over the forty-five millions bequeathed
to them, and, in addition, the two hundred and forty sesterces apiece
which they had failed to receive on the occasion of his receiving the
toga virilis, together with interest amount to sixty sesterces. He also
paid the bequests to the city troops, to the night-watch, to those of
the regular army outside of Italy, and to any other army of citizens
that was in the smaller forts, the city guard receiving five hundred
sesterce per man, and all the others three hundred. And if he had only
spent the rest of the money in a fitting manner, he would have been
regarded as a generous and munificent ruler. It was, to be sure, his
fear of the people and the soldiers that in some instances led him to
make these gifts, but in general they were made on principle; for he
paid the bequests not only of Tiberius but also of his
great-grandmother, as well those left to private citizens as the public
ones. As it was, however, he lavished boundless sums upon actors (whose
recall he at once brought about), upon horses, upon gladiators, and
everything of the sort; and thus in the briefest space of time he
exhausted the large sums of money that had accumulated in the treasury
and at the same time convicted himself of having made the earlier
gifts, also, as the result of an easy-going temper and lack of
judgment. At all events he had found in the treasury 2,300,000,000 or,
according to others, 3,300,000,000 sesterces, and yet did not make any
part of it last into the third year, but in his very second year found
himself in need of vast sums in addition.
He went through this same process of deterioration, too, in almost all
other respects. Thus, he had seemed at first most democratic, to such a
degree, in fact, that he would send no letters either to the people or
to the senate nor assume any of the imperial titles; yet he became most
autocratic, so that he took in one day all the honours which Augustus
had with difficulty been induced to accept, and then only as they were
voted to him one at a time during the long extent of his reign, some of
which indeed Tiberius had refused to accept at all. Indeed, he
postponed none of them except the title of Father, and even that he
acquired after no long time. Though he had proved himself the most
libidinous of men, had seized one woman at the very moment of her
marriage, and had dragged others from their husbands, he afterwards
came to hate them all save one; and he would certainly have detested
her, had he lived longer. Towards his mother, his sisters, and his
grandmother Antonia he conducted himself at first in the most dutiful
manner possible. His grandmother he immediately saluted as Augusta, and
appointed her to be priestess of Augustus, granting to her at once all
the privileges of the Vestal Virgins. To his sisters he assigned these
privileges of the Vestal Virgins, also that of witnessing the games in
the Circus with him from the imperial seats, and the right to have
uttered in their behalf, also, not only the prayers annually offered by
the magistrates and priests for his welfare and that of the State, but
also the oaths of allegiance that were sworn to his rule. He himself
sailed across the sea, and with his own hands collected and brought
back the bones of his mother and of his brothers who had died; and
wearing the purple-bordered toga and attended by lictors, as at a
triumph, he deposited their remains in the tomb of Augustus. He
annulled all the measures that had been voted against them, and
recalled such as were in exile on their account.Yet, after doing all
this, he showed himself the most impious of men toward both his
grandmother and his sisters. For he forced the former to seek death by
her own hand, because she had rebuked him for something; and as for his
sisters, after ravishing them all he confined two of them on an island,
the third having already died. He even demanded that Tiberius, whom he
called grandfather, should receive from the senate the same honours as
Augustus; but when these were not immediately voted (for the senators
could not, on the one hand, bring themselves to honour him, nor yet, on
the other hand, make bold to dishonour him, because they were not yet
clearly acquainted with the character of their young master, and were
consequently postponing all action until he should be present), he
bestowed upon him no mark of distinction other than a public funeral,
after causing the body to be brought into the city by night and laid
out at daybreak. And though he delivered a speech over it, he did not
say so much in praise of Tiberius as he did to remind the people of
Augustus and Germanicus and incidentally to commend himself to them.
For Gaius invariably went so by contraries in every matter, that he not
only emulated but even surpassed his predecessor's licentiousness and
bloodthirstiness, for which he used to censure him, whereas of the
qualities he praised in the other he imitated not one. Though he had
been the first to insult him and the first to abuse him, so that
others, thinking to please him in this way, indulged in rather reckless
freedom of speech, he later lauded and magnified Tiberius, even going
so far as to punish some for what they had said. These, as enemies of
the former emperor, he hated for their abusive remarks; and he hated
equally those who in any way praised Tiberius, as being the other's
friends. Though he put an end to the charges of maiestas, he
nevertheless made these the cause of a great many persons' downfall.
Again, though, according to his own account, he had given up his anger
against those who had conspired against his father and mother and
brothers, and even burned their letters, he yet put to death great
numbers of them on the strength of those letters. He did, it is true,
actually destroy some letters, but they were not the originals
containing the absolute proof, but rather copies that he had made.
Furthermore, though he at first forbade any one to set up images of
him, he even went on to manufacture statues himself; and though he once
requested the annulment of a decree ordering sacrifices to be offered
to his Fortune, and even caused this action of his to be inscribed on a
tablet, he afterwards ordered temples to be erected and sacrifices to
be offered to himself as to a god. He delighted by turns in vast
throngs of men and in solitude; he grew angry if requests were
preferred, and again if they were not preferred. He would display the
keenest enthusiasm about various projects, and then carry out certain
of them in the most indolent fashion. He would spend money most
unsparingly, and at the same time show a most sordid spirit in exacting
it. He was alike irritated and pleased, both with those who flattered
him and with those who spoke their mind frankly. Many who were guilty
of great crimes he neglected to punish, and many who had not even
incurred any suspicion of wrong-doing he slew. His associates he either
flattered to excess or abused to excess. As a result, no one knew
either what to say or how to act toward him, but all who met with any
success in this respect gained it as the result of chance rather than
of shrewd judgment.
This was the kind of emperor into whose hands the Romans were then
delivered. Hence the deeds of Tiberius, though they were felt to have
been very harsh, were nevertheless as far superior to those of Gaius as
the deeds of Augustus were to those of his successor. For Tiberius
always kept the power in his own hands and used others as agents for
carrying out his wishes; whereas Gaius was ruled by the charioteers and
gladiators, and was the slave of the actors and others connected with
the stage. Indeed, he always kept Apelles, the most famous of the
tragedians of that day, with him even in public. Thus he by himself and
they by themselves did without let or hindrance all that such persons
would naturally dare to do when given power. Everything that pertained
to their art he arranged and settled on the slightest pretext in the
most lavish manner, and he compelled the praetors and the consuls to do
the same, so that almost every day some performance of the kind was
sure to be given. At first he was but a spectator and listener at these
and would take sides for or against various performers like one of the
crowd; and one time, when he was vexed with those of opposing tastes,
he did not go to the spectacle. But as time went on, he came to imitte,
and to contend in many events, driving chariots, fighting as a
gladiator, giving exhibitions of pantomimic dancing, and acting in
tragedy. So much for his regular behaviour. And once he sent an urgent
summons at night to the leading men of the senate, as if for some
important deliberation, and then danced before them.
In the year that Tiberius died and Gaius succeeded to the rule, he at
first showed great deference to the senators on an occasion when
knights and also some of the populace were present at their meeting. He
promised to share his power with them and to do whatever would please
them, called himself their son and ward. He was then twenty-five years
of age, lacking five months and four days. After this he freed those
who were in prison, among them Quintus Pomponius, who for seven whole
years after his consulship had been kept in jail and maltreated. He did
away with the complaints for maiestas, which he saw were the commonest
cause of the prisoners' present plight, and he heaped up and burned (or
so he pretended) the papers pertaining to their cases that Tiberius had
left, declaring: "I have done this in order that, no matter how
strongly I may some day desire to harbour malice against any one for my
mother's and my brothers' sake, I shall nevertheless be unable to
punish him." For this he was commended, as it was expected that he
would be truthful above all else; for by reason of his youth it was the
thought possible that he could be guilty of duplicity in thought or
speech. And he increased their hopes still further by ordering that the
celebration of the Saturnalia should extend over five days, as well as
by accepting from each of those who received the dole of grain only an
as instead of the denarius that they were wont to give the emperor for
the manufacture of images.
It was voted that he should become consul at once by the removal of
Proculus and Nigrinus, who were then holding the office, and that
thereafter he should be consul every year. He did not accept these
proposals, however, but instead waited until the actual incumbents had
completed the six-months' term for which they had been appointed, and
then became consul himself, taking Claudius, his uncle, as colleague.
The latter, who had previously belonged to the knights and after the
death of Tiberius had been sent as an envoy to Gaius in behalf of that
order, now for the first time, though he was forty-six years of age,
became consul and a senator — both at the same time. In all this, now,
the conduct of Gaius appeared satisfactory, and in harmony with this
was the speech which he delivered in the senate on entering upon his
consulship. In it he denounced Tiberius for each and every one of the
crimes of which he was commonly accused and made many promises
regarding his own conduct, with the result that the senate, fearing
that he might change his mind, issued a decree that this speech should
be read every year.
Soon after this, clad in the triumphal dress, he dedicated the shrine
of Augustus. Boys of the noblest families, both of whose parents must
be living, together with maidens similarly circumstanced, sang the
hymn, the senators with their wives and also the people were banqueted,
and there were spectacles of all sorts. For not only all kinds of
musical entertainments were given, but also horse-races took place on
two days, twenty heats the first day and forty the second, because the
latter was the emperor's birthday, being the last day of August. And he
exhibited the same number of events on many other occasions, as often
as it suited him; previously to this, it should be explained, not more
than ten events had been usual. He also caused four hundred bears to be
slain on the present occasion together with an equal number of wild
beasts from Libya. The boys of noble birth performed the equestrian
game of "Troy," and six horses drew the triumphal car on which he rode,
something that had never been done before. In the races he did not give
the signals himself to the charioteers, but viewed the spectacle from a
front seat with his sisters and his fellow-priests of the Augustan
order. He was always greatly displeased if any one stayed away from the
theatre or left in the middle of the performance, and so, in order that
no one should have an excuse for failing to attend, he postponed all
law-suits and suspended all mourning. And thus it came about that women
who had lost their husbands were allowed to marry before the regular
time, unless they were pregnant. Furthermore, in order to enable people
to come without formality and to save them the trouble of greeting him
(for before this all who met the emperor in the streets always greeted
him), he forbade them to greet him thus in the future. Any who wished
to might come barefoot to the games; in fact, from very ancient times
it had been customary for those who held court in the summer to do
this, and the practice had been frequently followed by Augustus at the
summer festivals, but had been abandoned by Tiberius. It was at this
time that the senators first began sitting upon cushions instead of
upon the bare boards, and that they were allowed to wear hats at the
theatres in the Thessalian fashion, to avoid discomfort from the sun's
rays. And at any time that the sun was particularly hot, they used
instead of the theatre the Diribitorium, which was furnished with tiers
of benches. These were the acts of Gaius during his consulship, which
he held for two months and twelve days; for he surrendered the
remainder of the six-months' period to the men previously designated
for it.
After this he fell sick, but instead of dying himself he caused the
death of Tiberius, who had assumed the toga virilis, had been given the
title of Princeps Iuventutis, and finally had been adopted into his
family. The complaint made against the lad was that he had prayed and
expected that Gaius would die; and he destroyed many others, too, on
this same charge. Thus it came about that the same ruler who had given
Antiochus, the son of Antiochus, the district of Commagene, which his
father had held, and likewise the coast region of Cilicia, and had
freed Agrippa, the grandson of Herod, who had been imprisoned by
Tiberius, and had put him in charge of his grandfather's domain, not
only deprived his own brother, or, in fact, his son, of his paternal
inheritance, but actually cause him to be murdered, and that without
sending any communication about him to the senate. Later he took
similar action in numerous other cases. So Tiberius perished on
suspicion of having been watching his chance to profit from the
emperor's illness. On the other hand, Publius Afranius Potitus, a
plebeian, perished, because in a burst of foolhardy servility he had
promised not only of his own free will but also under oath that he
would give his life if only Gaius should recover; and likewise a
certain Atanius Secundus, a knight, because he had announced that in
the same event he would fight as a gladiator. For these men, instead of
the money which they hoped to receive from him in return for offering
to give their lives in exchange for his, were compelled to keep their
promises, so as not to be guilty of perjury. Such, then, was the cause
of these men's deaths. Again, Gaius' father-in-law, Marcus Silanus,
though he had made no promise and taken no oath, nevertheless took his
own life because his virtue and his relationship made him displeasing
to the emperor and subjected him to extreme insult. Tiberius, it seems,
had held him in such honour that he always refused to try a case on an
appeal from his decision and referred all such cases back to him again;
but Gaius heaped all manner of abuse upon him, even though he had such
a high opinion of him that he called him a "golden sheep." Now Silanus
on account of his age and rank had been accorded by all the consuls the
honour of casting his vote first; and to prevent his doing so any
longer, Gaius abolished the custom whereby some of the consuls vote
first or second according to the pleasure of those who put the
question, and established the principle that such persons like the rest
should cast their votes in the order in which they had held office. He
furthermore put away Silanus' daughter and married Cornelia Orestilla,
whom he had actually seized during the marriage festival which she was
celebrating with her betrothed, Gaius Calpurnius Piso. Before two
months had elapsed he banished them both, claiming that they were
maintaining illicit relation with each other. He permitted Piso to take
with him ten slaves, and then, when he asked for more, allowed him to
employ as many as he liked, merely remarking, "You will have just so
many soldiers, too, with you."
The next year, Marcus Julianus and Publius Nonius of those previously
designated became consuls. The regular oaths to support the act of
Tiberius were not taken and for this reason are not in use nowadays,
either; for no one reckons Tiberius among the emperors in connexion
with this custom of the oaths. But as regarded the acts of Augustus and
of Gaius, they took all the oaths as usual, as well as others to the
effect that they would hold Gaius and his sisters in greater respect
than themselves and their children; and they offered prayers for them
all alike. On the very first day of the new year one Machaon, a slave,
climbed upon the couch of Jupiter Capitolinus, and after uttering from
there many dire prophecies, killed a little dog which he had brought in
with him and then slew himself.
The following good and praiseworthy acts were performed by Gaius. He
published, as Augustus had done, all the accounts of the public funds,
which had not been made public during the time that Tiberius was away
from the city. He helped the soldiers to extinguish a conflagration and
rendered assistance to those who suffered loss by it. As the equestrian
order was becoming reduced in numbers, he summoned the foremost men in
point of family and wealth from the whole empire, even from outside of
Italy, and enrolled them in the order. Some of them he even permitted
to wear the senatorial dress before they had held any office through
which we gain admission to the senate, on the strength of their
prospects of becoming members later, whereas previously only those, it
appears, who had been born into the senatorial order were allowed to do
this. These measures gave satisfaction to everybody; but when he put
the elections once more in the hands of the people and the plebs,
thereby rescinding the arrangements that Tiberius had made regarding
them, and abolished the tax of one per cent., and even, furthermore, he
scattered tickets at a gymnastic contest that he arranged and
distributed a great number of gifts to those who had secured them,
these actions, though delighting the rabble, grieved the sensible, who
stopped to reflect, that if the offices should fall once more into the
hands of the many, and the funds on hand should be exhausted and
private sources of income fail, many disasters would result.
The following acts of his met with the censure of everybody alike. He
caused great numbers of men to fight as gladiators, forcing them to
contend both singly and in groups drawn up in a kind of battle array.
He had asked permission of the senate to do this, so that he was able
to do anything he wished even contrary to what was provided by law, and
thus put many people to death, among others twenty-six knights, some of
whom had devoured their living, while others had merely practised
gladiatorial combat. It was not the large number of those who perished
that was so serious, though that was serious enough, but his excessive
delight in their death and his insatiable desire for the sight of
blood. The same trait of cruelty led him once, when there was a
shortage of condemned criminals to be given to the wild beasts, to
order that some of the mob standing near the benches should be seized
and thrown to them; and to prevent the possibility of their making an
outcry or uttering any reproaches, he first caused their tongues to be
cut out. Moreover he compelled one of the prominent knights to fight in
single combat on the charge of having insulted his mother Agrippina,
and when the man proved victorious, handed him over to his accusers and
caused him to be slain. And the man's father, though guilty of no
crime, he confined in a cage, as, indeed, he had treated many others,
and there put an end to him. He held these contests at first in the
Saepta, after excavating the whole site and filling it with water, to
enable him to bring in a single ship, but later he transferred them to
another place, where he had demolished a great many large buildings and
erected wooden stands; for he despised the theatre of Taurus. For all
this he was censured, because of the expense and also of the bloodshed
involved. He was blamed likewise for compelling Macro together with
Ennia to take their own lives, remembering neither the affection of the
latter nor the benefits of the former, who had, among other things,
assisted him to win the throne for himself alone; nor did the fact that
he had appointed Macro to govern Egypt have the slightest influence. He
even involved him in a scandal, in which he himself had the greatest
share, by bringing against him among other charges that of playing the
pander. Thereupon many others were executed, some after being sentenced
and some even before being convicted. Nominally they were punished
because of the wrongs done to his parents or to his brothers or the
others who had perished on their account, but in reality it was because
of their property; for the treasury had become exhausted and he never
could have enough. Such persons were convicted on the evidence not only
the witnesses who appeared against them but also of the papers which he
once declared he had burned. Others, again, owed their ruin to the
emperor's illness of the preceding year and to the death of his sister
Drusilla, since, among other things, any one who had entertained or had
greeted another, or even had bathed during those days, incurred
punishment.
Drusilla was married to Marcus Lepidus, at once the favorite and lover
of the emperor, but Gaius also treated her as a concubine. When her
death occurred at this time, her husband delivered the eulogy and her
brother accorded her a public funeral. The Pretorians with their
commander and the equestrian order by itself ran about the pyre and the
boys of noble birth period the equestrian exercise called "Troy" about
her tomb. All the honours that had been bestowed upon Livia were voted
to her, and it was further decreed that she should be deified, that a
golden effigy of her should be set up in the senate-house, and that in
the temple of Venus in the Forum a statue of her should be built for
her, that she should have twenty priests, women as well as men; women,
whenever they offered testimony, should swear by her name, and on her
birthday a festival equal of the Ludi Megalenses should be celebrated,
and the senate and the knights should be given a banquet. She
accordingly now received the name Panthea, and was declared worthy of
divine honours in all the cities. Indeed, a certain Livius Geminius, a
senator, declared on oath, invoking destruction upon himself and his
children if he spoke falsely, that he had seen her ascending to heaven
and holding converse with the gods; and he called all the other gods
and Panthea herself to witness. For this declaration he received a
million sesterces. Besides honouring her in these ways, Gaius would not
permit the festivals which were then due to take place, to be
celebrated either at their appointed time, except as mere formalities,
or at any later date. All persons incurred censure equally whether they
took offence at anything, as being grieved, or behaved as if they were
glad; for they were accused either of failing to mourn her as a mortal
or of bewailing her as a goddess. One single incident will give the key
to all that happened at that time: the emperor charged with maiestas
and put to death a man who had sold hot water. After allowing a few
days to elapse, however, he married Lollia Paulina, after compelling
her husband himself, Memmius Regulus, to betroth her to him, so that he
should not break the law by taking her without any betrothal. But he
promptly put her away, too.
Meanwhile he granted to Sohaemus the land of the Ituraean Arabians, to
Cotys Lesser Armenia and later parts of Arabia, to Rhoemetalces the
possessions of Cotys, and to Polemon, the son of Polemon, his ancestral
domain, all upon the vote of the senate. The ceremony took place in the
Forum, where he sat upon the rostra in a chair between the consuls;
some add that he used silken awnings. Later he caught sight of a lot of
mud in an alley, and ordered it to be thrown upon the toga of Flavius
Vespasian, who was then aedile and had charge of keeping the alleys
clean. This action was not regarded as of any special significance at
the time, but later, after Vespasian had taken over the management of
affairs at a time when everything was in confusion and turmoil and had
restored order everywhere, it seemed to have been due to some divine
prompting, and to have signified that Gaius had entrusted the city to
him outright for its improvement.
Gaius now became consul again, and though he prevented the priest of
Jupiter from taking the oath in the senate (for at this time they
regularly took it individually, as in the days of Tiberius), he
himself, both when he entered upon office and when he relinquished it,
took the oath like the others from the rostra, which had been enlarged.
He held the office for only thirty days, though he allowed his
colleague, Lucius Apronius, a term of six months; and he was succeeded
by Sanquinius Maximus, who was prefect of the city. During these and
the following days many of the foremost men perished in fulfilment of
sentences of condemnation (for not a few of those who had been released
from prison were punished for the very reasons that had led to their
imprisonment by Tiberius) and many others of less prominence in
gladiatorial combats. In fact, there was nothing but slaughter; for the
emperor no longer showed any favour even to the populace, but opposed
absolutely everything they wished, and consequently the people on their
part resisted all his desires. The talk and behaviour that might be
expected at such a juncture, with an angry ruler on one side, and a
hostile people on the other, were plainly in evidence. The contest
between them, however, was not an equal one; for the people could do
nothing but talk and show something of their feelings by their
gestures, whereas Gaius would destroy his opponents, dragging many away
even while they were witnessing the games and arresting many more after
they had left the theatres. The chief causes of his anger were, first,
that they did not show enthusiasm in attending the spectacles (for he
himself used to arrive at the theatres now at one hour and now at
another, regardless of previous announcement, sometimes coming before
dawn and sometimes not until afternoon, so that they became tired and
weary waiting for him), and again, that they did not always applaud the
performers that pleased him and sometimes even showed honour to those
whom he disliked. Furthermore, it vexed him greatly to hear them hail
him as "young Augustus" in their efforts to extol him; for he felt that
he was not being congratulated upon being emperor while still so young,
but was rather being censured for ruling such an empire at his age. He
was always doing things of the sort that I have related; and once he
said, threatening the whole people: "Would that you had bone a single
neck." At this time, when he displayed his usual exasperation, the
populace in displeasure ceased to watch the show and turned against the
informers, for a long time and with loud cries demanding their
surrender. Gaius became angry and gave them no answer, but committing
to others the conduct of the games, withdrew into Campania. Later he
returned to celebrate the birthday of Drusilla, brought her statue into
the Circus on a car drawn by elephants, and gave the people a free
exhibition for two days. On the first day, besides the horse-races,
five hundred bears were slain, and on the second day as many Libyan
beasts were accounted for; also athletes competed in the pancratium in
many different places at the same time. The populace was feasted and a
present was given to the senators and their wives . . . .
At the same time that he was perpetrating these murders, apparently
because he was in urgent need of funds, he devised another scheme for
getting money, as follows. He would sell the survivors in the
gladiatorial combats at an excessive valuation to the consuls,
praetors, and others, not only to willing purchasers, but also to
others who were compelled very much against their will to give such
exhibitions at the Circensian games, and in particular he sold them to
men specially chosen by lot to have charge of such contests (for he
ordered that two praetors should be chosen by lot to have charge of the
gladiatorial games, just as had formerly been the custom); and he
himself would sit on the auctioneer's platform and keep raising the
bids. Many also came from outside to put in rival bids, the more so as
he allowed any who so wished to employ a greater number of gladiators
than the law permitted and because he frequently visited them himself.
So people bought them for large sums, some because they really wanted
them, others with the idea of gratifying Gaius, and the majority,
consisting of those who had a reputation for wealth, from a desire to
take advantage of this excuse to spend some of their substance and thus
by becoming poorer save their lives. Yet after doing all this he later
put the best and the most famous of these slaves out of the way by
poison. He did the same also with the horses and charioteers of the
rival factions; for he was strongly attached to the party that wore the
frog-green, which from this colour was called also the Party of the
Leek. Hence even to-day the place where he used to practise driving the
chariots is called the Gaianum after him. One of the horses, which he
named Incitatus, he used to invite to dinner, where he would offer him
golden barley and drink his health in wine from golden goblets; he
swore by the animal's life and fortune and even promised to appoint him
consul, a promise that he would certainly have carried out if he had
lived longer. In order to provide him with funds, it had been voted
earlier that all persons still living who had wished to leave anything
to Tiberius should at their death bestow the same upon Gaius; for, in
order to appear to have the right to accept inheritances and receive
such gifts in spite of the laws (inasmuch as he had at this time
neither wife nor children), he caused a decree to be issued by the
senate. But at the time of which I am speaking he seized for himself,
without any decree, absolutely all the property of those who had served
as centurions and had after the triumph which his father celebrated
left it somebody else than the emperor. When not even this sufficed, he
hit upon the following third method of raising money. There was a
senator, Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, who had noticed that the roads during
the reign of Tiberius were in bad condition, and was always nagging the
highway commissioners about it, and furthermore kept making a nuisance
of himself to the senate on the subject. Gaius now took him as an
accomplice, and through him attacked all those, alive or dead, who had
ever been highway commissioners and had received money for repairing
the roads; and he fined both them and the men who had secured contracts
from them, on the pretence that they had spent nothing. For his
assistance in this matter Corbulo was at the time made consul, but
later in the reign of Claudius, he was accused and punished; for
Claudius not only failed to demand any sums that were still owed, but,
on the contrary, took what had been paid in, partly from the public
treasury and partly from Corbulo himself, and returned it to those who
had been fined. But this took place later. At the time of my narrative
not only the various classes already named, but also practically
everybody else in the city, was being despoiled in one manner or
another, and no one who possessed anything, whether man or whom, got
off unscathed. For even if Gaius did permit some of the older people to
live, yet by calling them his fathers, grandfathers, mothers, and
grandmothers, he not only milked them while they lived but also
inherited their property when they died.
Up to this time Gaius had not his always spoken ill of Tiberius before
everybody, but also, far from rebuking others when they denounced him
either privately or publicly, had actually taken delight in their
remarks. But now he entered the senate-chamber and eulogized his
predecessor at length, besides severely rebuking the senate and the
people, saying that they did wrong in finding fault with him. "I myself
have the right to do this," he said, "in my capacity as emperor; but
you not only do wrong but are guilty of maiestas as well, to take such
a tone towards one who was once your ruler." Thereupon he took up
separately the case of each man who had lost his life, and tried to
show, as people thought at least, that the senators had been
responsible for the death of most of them, and all by their votes of
condemnation. The evidence of this, purporting to be derived from those
very documents which he once declared he had burned, he caused to be
read to them by the imperial freedmen. And he added: "If Tiberius
really did do wrong, you ought not, by Jupiter, to have honoured him
while he lived, and then, af repeatedly saying and voting what you did,
turn about now. But it was not Tiberius alone that you treated in a
fickle manner; Sejanus also you first puffed up with conceit and
spoiled, then put him to death. Therefore I, too, ought not to expect
any decent treatment from you." After some such remarks as these he
represented in his speech Tiberius himself as saying to him: "In all
this you have spoken well and truly. Therefore show no affection for
any of them and spare none of them. For they all hate you and they all
pray for your death; and they will murder you if they can. Do not stop
to consider, then, what acts of yours will please them nor mind it if
they talk, but look solely to your own pleasure and safety, since that
has the most just claim. In this way you will suffer no harm and will
at the same time enjoy all the greatest pleasures; you will also be
honoured by them, whether they wish it or not. If, however, you pursue
the opposite course, it will profit you naught in reality; for, though
in name you may win an empty reputation, you will gain no advantage,
but will become the victim of plots and will perish ingloriously. For
no man living is ruled of his own free will; on the contrary, only so
long as a person is afraid, does he pay court to the man who is
stronger, but when he gains courage, he avenges himself on the man who
is weaker."
At the close of this address Gaius restored the charge of maiestas,
ordered his commands to be inscribed at once upon a bronze tablet, and
then, rushing hastily out of the senate-house, proceeded the same day
to the suburbs. The senate and the people were in great fear as they
recalled the denunciations that they had uttered against Tiberius and
at the same time pondered over the contrast between the words they had
just heard from Gaius and his previous utterances. For the moment their
alarm and dejection prevented them from saying a word or transacting
any business; but on the next day they associated again and bestowed
lavish praise upon Gaius as a most sincere and pious ruler, for they
felt very grateful to him that they had not perished like the others.
Accordingly, they voted to offer annual sacrifices to his Clemency,
both on the anniversary of the day on which he had read his address and
on the days belonging to the palace; on these occasions a golden image
of the emperor was to be carried up to the Capitol and hymns sung in
its honour by the boys of the noblest birth. They also granted him the
right to celebrate an ovation, as if he had defeated some enemies.
These were the honours they decreed on that occasion; and later, on
almost any pretext, they were sure to add others. Gaius, however, did
not care at all for that kind of triumph, as he did not consider it any
great achievement to drive a chariot on dry land; on the other hand, he
was eager to drive his chariot through the sea, as it were, by bridging
the waters between Puteoli and Bauli. (The latter place lies directly
across the bay from the city of Puteoli, at a distance of twenty-six
stades.) Of the ships for a bridge some were brought together there
from other stations, but others were built on the spot, since the
number that could be assembled there in a brief space of time was
insufficient, even though all the vessels possible were got together —
with the result that a very severe famine occurred in Italy, and
particularly in Rome. In building the bridge not merely a passageway
was constructed, but also resting-places and lodging-room were built
along its course, and these had running water suitable for drinking.
When all was ready, he put on the breastplate of Alexander (or so he
claimed), and over it a purple silk chlamys, adorned with much gold and
many precious stones from India; moreover he girt on a sword, too a
shield, and donned a garland of oak leaves. Then he offered sacrifice
to Neptune and some other gods and to envy (in order, as he put it,
that no jealousy should attend him), and entered the bridge from the
end at Bauli, taking with him a multitude of armed horsemen and
foot-soldiers; and he dashed fiercely into Puteoli as if he were in
pursuit of an enemy. There he remained during the following day, as if
resting from battle; then, wearing a gold-embroidered tunic, he
returned in a chariot over the same bridge, being drawn by race-horses
accustomed to win the most victories. A long train of what purported to
be spoils followed him, including Darius, a member of the Arsacid
family, who was one of the Parthians then living in Rome as hostages.
His friends and associates in flowered robes followed in vehicles, and
then came the army and the rest of the throng, each man dressed
according to his individual taste. Of course, while on such a campaign
and after so magnificent a victory he had to deliver a harangue; so he
ascended a platform which had likewise been erected on the ships near
the centre of the bridge. First he extolled himself as an undertaker of
great enterprises, and then he praised the soldiers as men who had
undergone great hardships and perils, mentioning in particular this
achievement of theirs in crossing through the sea on foot. For this he
gave them money, and after that they feasted for the rest of the day
and all through the night, he on the bridge, as though on an island,
and they on other boats anchored round about. Light in abundance shone
down upon them from the place itself, and abundant light besides from
the mountains. For since the place was crescent-shaped, fires were
lighted on all sides, as in a theatre, so that the darkness was not
noticed at all; indeed, it was his wish to make the night day, as he
had made the sea land. When he had become sated and glutted with good
and strong drink, he hurled many of his companions off the bridge into
the sea and sank many of the others by sailing about and attacking them
in boats equipped with beaks. Some perished, but the majority, though
drunk, managed to save themselves. This was due to the fact that the
sea was extremely smooth and tranquil both while the bridge was being
put together and while the other events were taking place. This, too,
caused the emperor some elation, and he declared that even Neptune was
afraid of them; as for Darius and Xerxes, he made all manner of fun of
them, claiming that he had bridged a far greater expanse of sea than
they had done.
This was the end of that bridge, but it also proved a source of death
to many; for, inasmuch as Gaius had exhausted his funds in constructing
it, he fell to plotting against many more persons than ever because of
their property. He held trials both alone and together with the entire
senate. That body also tried some cases by itself; it did not, however,
possess final authority, and there were many appeals from its verdicts.
The decisions of the senate were made public in the usual way, but when
any persons were condemned by Gaius, their names were published, as if
he feared people might not learn of their fate otherwise. So these were
punished, some in prison and others by being hurled down from the
Capitoline; and still others killed themselves beforehand. There was no
safety even for such as were banished, but many of them, too, lost
their lives either on the road or while in exile. There is no need of
burdening my readers unnecessarily by going into the details of most of
these cases, but one or two of them call for special mention. Thus,
Calvisius Sabinus, one of the foremost men in the senate, who had just
returned from governing Pannonia, was indicted together with his wife
Cornelia. The charge against her was that she had made the rounds of
the sentries and watched the soldiers at drill. These two did not stand
trial but despatched themselves before the time fixed. The same course
was taken by Titius Rufus, who was charged with having declared that
the senate thought one way and voted another. Also one Junius Priscus,
a praetor, was accused on various charges, but his death was really due
to the supposition that he was wealthy. In this case Gaius, on learning
that the man had possible nothing to make his death worth while, made
the remarkable statement: "He fooled me and perished needlessly, when
he might just as well have lived."
One of these men tried at this time, Domitius Afer, came near losing
his life for an extraordinary reason, and was saved in a still more
remarkable manner. Gaius hated him in any case, because in the reign of
Tiberius he had accused a woman who was related to his mother
Agrippina. Hence Agrippina, when she afterwards met Domitius and
perceived that out of embarrassment he stood aside from her path,
called to him and said: "Fear not, Domitius; it isn't you that I hold
to blame, but Agamemnon." At the time in question, Afer had set up an
image of the emperor and had written an inscription for it to the
effect that Gaius in his twenty-seventh year was already consul for the
second time. This vexed Gaius, who felt that the other was reproaching
him for his youth and for his illegal conduct. Hence for this action,
for which Afer had looked to be honoured, the emperor brought him at
once before the senate and read a long speech against him. For Gaius
always claimed to surpass all the orators, and knowing that his
adversary was an extremely gifted speaker, he strove on this occasion
to excel him. And he would certainly have put Afer to death, if the
latter had entered into the least competition with him. As it was, the
man made no answer or defence, but pretended to be astonished and
overcome by the ability of Gaius, and repeating the accusation point by
point, praised it as if have were a mere listener and not himself on
trial. When the opportunity was given him to speak, he had recourse to
entreaties and lamentations; and finally he threw himself on the ground
and lying there prostrate played the suppliant to his accuser,
pretending to fear him more as an orator than as Caesar. Gaius,
accordingly, when he saw and heard all this, was melted, believing that
he had really of whelmed Domitius by the eloquence of his speech. For
this reason, then, as well as for the sake of Callistus, the freedman,
whom he was wont to honour and whose favour Domitius had courted, he
gave up his resentment. And when Callistus later blamed him for having
accused the man in the first place, he answered: "It would not have
been right for me to keep such a speech to myself." Thus Domitius was
saved by being convicted of being no longer a skilful orator. On the
other hand, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, who was superior in wisdom to all
the Romans of his day and to many others as well, came near being
destroyed, though he had neither done any wrong nor had the appearance
of doing so, but merely because he pleaded a case well in the senate
while the emperor was present. Gaius ordered him to be put to death,
but afterwards let him off because he believed the statement of one of
his female associates, to the effect that Seneca had a consumption in
an advanced stage and would die before a great while.
He immediately appointed Domitius consul, after removing those who were
then in office because they had failed to proclaim a thanksgiving on
his birthday (the praetors, it is true, had held a horse-race and had
slaughtered some wild beasts, but this happened every year) and because
they had celebrated a festival to commemorate victories of Augustus
over Antony, as was customary; for, in order to invent some ground of
complaint against them, he chose to pose as a descendant of Antony
rather than of Augustus. Indeed, he had announced beforehand to those
with whom he regularly shared his secrets, that whichever course the
consuls followed they would certainly make a mistake, whether, that is,
they offered sacrifices to celebrate Antony's overthrow or refrained
from sacrificing in honour of Augustus' victory. These were the
reasons, then, why he summarily dismissed these officials, first
breaking in pieces their fasces; whereupon one of them took it so much
to heart that he killed himself. As for Domitius, he was chosen as the
emperor's colleague, nominally by the people, but actually by Gaius
himself. The latter had, to be sure, restored the elections to the
people, but they had become rather lax in the performance of their
duties because for a long time they had not transacted any business in
the manner of freemen; and as a rule no more candidates presented
themselves than the number to be chosen, or, if ever there were more
than were required, the outcome was arranged among themselves. Thus the
democracy was preserved in appearance, but there was no democracy in
fact; and this led Gaius himself to abolish the elections once more.
After this matters went on in general as in the reign of Tiberius; but
as regards the praetors, sometimes fifteen were chosen and sometimes
one more or one less, just as it happened. Such was the action he took
regarding the elections.
In general his attitude was one of envy and suspicion toward everything
alike. Thus he banished Carrinas Secundus, an orator, for delivering a
speech against tyrants as a rhetorical exercise. Again, when the lot
fell upon Lucius Piso, the son of Plancina and Gnaeus Piso, to become
governor of Africa, he feared that arrogance might lead him to revolt,
especially as he was to have a large force made up of both citizens and
foreigners; hence he divided the province into two parts, assigning the
military force together with the Numidians in its vicinity to another
official, an arrangement that has continued from that time down to the
present.
Gaius had now spent practically all the money in Rome and the rest of
Italy, gathered from every source from which he could in any way get
it, and as no source of revenue in considerable amount or practicable
to collect could be found there, and his expenses were pressing him
hard, he set out for Gaul, ostensibly because the hostile Germans were
stirring up trouble, but in reality with the purpose of exploiting both
Gaul with its abounding wealth and Spain also. However, he did not
openly announce his expedition beforehand, but went first to one of the
suburbs and then suddenly set out on the journey, taking with him many
actors, many gladiators, horses, women, and all the other trappings of
luxury. When he reached his destination, he did no harm to any of the
enemy — in fact, as soon as he had proceeded a short distance beyond
the Rhine, he returned, and then set out as if to conduct a campaign
against Britain, but turned back from the ocean's edge, showing no
little vexation at his lieutenants who won some slight success — but
upon the subject peoples, the allies, and the citizens he inflicted
vast and innumerable ills. In the first place, he despoiled those who
possessed anything, on any and every excuse; and secondly, both private
citizens and cities brought him large gifts voluntarily, as it was made
to appear. He murdered some men on the ground that they were rebelling,
and others on the ground that they were conspiring against him; but the
real complaint was one and the same for the whole people — the fact
that they were rich. By selling their possessions himself, he realized
far greater sums than would otherwise have been the case; for everybody
was compelled to buy them at any price and for much more than their
value, for the reasons I have mentioned. Accordingly, he sent also for
the finest and most precious heirlooms of the monarchy and sold them
off by auction, selling with them the fame of the persons who had once
used them. Thus he would make some comment on each one, such as, "this
belonged to my father," "this to my mother," "this to my grandfather,",
"this to my great-grandfather," "this Egyptian piece was Antony's, the
prize of victory for Augustus." At the same time he also explained the
necessity of selling them, so that no one could persist in pretending
to be poor; and thus he made them buy the reputation of each article
along with the thing itself.
In spite of all this he did not secure any surplus, but kept up his
customary expenditures, not only for other objects that interested him
— exhibiting, for example, some games at Lugdunum — but especially for
the legions. For he had gathered together two hundred thousand troops,
or, as some say, two hundred and fifty thousand. He was acclaimed
imperator by them seven times, as his whim directed, though he had won
no battle and slain no enemy. To be sure, he did once by a ruse seize
and bind a few of the foe, whereas he used up a large part of his own
force, striking some of them down one at a time and butchering others
then masse. Thus, on one occasion, when he saw a crowd of prisoners or
some other persons, he gave orders in the famous phrase, that they
should all be slain "from baldhead to baldhead." At another time he was
playing at dice, and finding that he had no money, he called for the
census lists of the Gauls and ordered the wealthiest of them to be put
to death; then, returning to his fellow-gamesters, he said: "Here you
are playing for a few denarii, while I have taken in a good one hundred
and fifty millions." So these men perished without any consideration.
Indeed, one of them, Julius Sacerdos, who was fairly well off, yet not
so extremely wealthy as to become the object of attack on that account,
was slain simply because of a similarity of names. This shows how
carelessly everything was done. As for the others who perished, there
is no need of my naming over most of them, but I will mention those of
whom history requires some record. In the first place, then, he put to
death Lentulus Gaetulicus, who had an excellent reputation in every way
and had been governor of Germany for ten years, for the reason that he
was endeared to the soldiers. Another of his victims was Lepidus, that
lover and favourite of his, the husband of Drusilla, the man who had
together with Gaius maintained improper relations with the emperor's
other sisters, Agrippina and Julia, the man whom he had allowed to
stand for office five years earlier than was permitted by law and whom
he kept declaring he would leave as his successor to the throne. To
celebrate this man's death he gave the soldiers money, as though he had
defeated some enemies, and sent three daggers to Mars Ultor in Rome. He
deported his sisters to the Pontian Islands because of their relations
with Lepidus, having first accused them in a communication to the
senate of many impious and immoral actions. Agrippina was given
Lepidus' bones in an urn and bidden to carry it back to Rome, keeping
it in her bosom during the whole journey. Also, since many honours had
been voted earlier to his sisters manifestly on his act, he forbade the
awarding of oj distinction to any of his relatives.
He sent a report about these matters to the senate at the time, just as
if had escaped some great plot; for he was always pretending to be in
danger and to be leading a miserable existence. The senators, on being
apprised of it, voted him an ovation among other things, and they sent
envoys to announce their action, choosing some of them by lot, but
directly appointing Claudius. This also displeased Gaius, to such an
extent that he again forbade the bestowing of anything involving praise
or honour upon his relatives; and he felt, besides, that he had not
been honoured as he deserved. For that matter, he always counted as
naught all the honours that were granted to him. It irritated him to
have small distinctions voted, since that implied a slight, and greater
distinctions irritated him also, since thus the possibility of further
honours seemed to be taken from him. For he did not for a moment wish
it to appear that anything that brought him honour was in the power of
the senators, since that would imply that they were his superiors and
could grant him favours as if he were their inferior. For this reason
he frequently found fault with various honours conferred upon him, on
the ground that they did not increase his splendour but rather
destroyed his power. And yet, though he felt thus, he used to become
angry with them if it ever seemed that they had voted to him less than
he deserved. So capricious was he; and no one could easily suit him.
Accordingly, he would not, for these reasons, receive all the
above-mentioned envoys, affecting to mistrust them as spies, but chose
a few, and sent the rest back before they reached Gaul. And even those
whom he admitted to his presence he did not deign to treat with any
respect; indeed, he would have killed Claudius, had he not felt
contempt for him, inasmuch as the latter, partly by his nature and
partly by deliberate intent, gave the impression of great stupidity.
But when another embassy was sent out larger than before (for he had
complained among other things of the small size of the first) and
brought word that many marks of distinction had been voted to him, he
received them gladly, even going forth to meet them, and for this very
action he received fresh honours at their hands; but this happened
later.
Gaius now divorced Paulina, on the pretext that she was barren, but
really because he had got tired of her, and married Milonia Caesonia.
This woman had formerly been his mistress, but now, since she was
pregnant, he desired to make her his wife, so that she should bear him
a one-month's child. The people of Rome were disturbed by this
behaviour, and disturbed also because many trials were being brought
against them, as a result of the friendship they had shown toward his
sisters and toward the men who had been murdered; even some aediles and
praetors were compelled to resign their offices and stand trial.
Meanwhile they also suffered from the hot weather, which became so
extremely severe that awning were stretched across the Forum. Among the
men exiled at this time Ofonius Tigellinus was banished on the charge
of having had improper relations with Agrippina.
All this, however, did not distress the people so much as did their
expectation that Gaius' cruelty and licentiousness would go to still
greater lengths. And they were particularly troubled on ascertaining
that King Agrippa and King Antiochus were with him, like two
tyrant-trainers. Consequently, while he was consul for the third time
none of the tribunes or praetors ventured to convene the senate. (He
had no colleague, though this was not, as some think, intentional, but
rather due to the fact that the consul designate died and no one else
could be appointed in his stead on such short notice in the emperor's
absence.) Of course the praetors, whose office it is to perform the
duties of the consuls in their absence from the city, ought to have
attended to all the necessary business; but, fearing it might appear
that they had acted in the emperor's place, they performed none of
those duties. The senators, nevertheless, went up to the Capitol in a
body, offered the regular sacrifices, and did obeisance to the chair of
Gaius that was in the temple; furthermore, in accordance with the
custom prevailing in the time of Augustus, they left money, acting as
though they were giving it to the emperor himself. The same course was
followed the next year also; but at the time of the events just
narrated they assembled in the senate-house after these ceremonies,
though no one had convened them, and yet transacted no business, but
merely wasted the whole day in laudations of Gaius and prayers in his
behalf. For since they had no love for him nor any wish that he should
survive, they went to greater lengths in simulating both these
feelings, as if hoping in this way to disguise their real sentiments.
On the third day, which was the day devoted to prayers, they came
together in response to an announcement of a meeting made by all the
praetors in a joint notice; nevertheless, they transacted no business
on this occasion or later, until, on the twelfth day, word was brought
that Gaius had resigned his office. Then the men who had been elected
for the second portion of the year succeeded to the position and
administered the duties of their office. Among other votes passed was
one providing that the birthdays of Tiberius and Drusilla should be
celebrated in the same manner as that of Augustus. The people connected
with the stage also exhibited a festival, furnished a spectacle, and
set up and dedicated images of Gaius and Drusilla. All this was done,
of course, in response to a message from Gaius; for whenever he wished
any business brought up, he communicated a small portion of it in
writing to all the senators, but most of it to the consuls, and then
sometimes ordered this to be read in the senate.
While the senators were passing these decrees, Gaius sent for Ptolemy,
the son of Juba, and on learning that he was wealthy put him to death
and . . .
(How the Mauretanian began to be governed by Romans.)
And when he reached the ocean, as if he were going to conduct a
campaign in Britain, and had drawn up all the soldiers on the beach, he
embarked on a trireme, and then, after putting out a little from the
land, sailed back again. Next he took his seat on a lofty platform and
gave the soldiers the signal as if for battle, bidding the trumpeters
urge them on; then of a sudden he ordered them to gather up the shells.
Having secured these spoils (for he needed booty, of course, for his
triumphal procession), he became greatly elated, as if he had enslaved
the very ocean; and he gave his soldiers many presents. The shells he
took back to Rome for the purpose of exhibiting the booty to the people
there as well. The senate knew not how it could remain indifferent to
these doings, since it learned that he was in an exalted frame of mind,
nor yet again how it could praise him. For, if anybody bestows great
praise of the extraordinary honours for some trivial exploit or none at
all, he is suspected of making a hissing and a mockery of the affair.
Nevertheless, when Gaius entered the city, he came very near destroying
the whole senate because it had not voted him divine honours. He
assembled the populace, however, and showered quantities of silver and
gold upon them from a lofty station, and many perished in their efforts
to grab it; for, as some say, he had mixed small pieces of iron in with
the coins.
Because of his adulteries he was frequently styled imperator as well as
Germanicus and Britannicus, as if he had subdued the whole of Germany
and Britain.
Living in this manner, he was bound to become the object of a plot. He
discovered the conspiracy and arrested Anicius Cerealis and his son,
Sextus Papinius, whom he put to the torture. And inasmuch as the former
would not utter a word, he persuaded Papinius, by promising him his
life and impunity, to denounce certain others, whether truly or
falsely; he then straightway put to death both Cerealis and the others
before his very eyes.
When he had ordered Betilinus Bassus to be slain, he compelled Capito,
the man's father, to be present at his son's execution, though Capito
was not guilty of any crime and had received no court summons. When the
father inquired if he would permit him to close his eyes, Gaius ordered
him to be slain, too. Then Capito, finding his life in danger,
pretended to have been one of the conspirators and promised to disclose
the names of all the rest; and he named the companions of Gaius and
those who abetted his licentiousness and cruelty. Indeed, he would have
brought many to destruction, had he not gone on to accuse the prefects
and Callistus and Caesonia, and so aroused distrust. He was accordingly
put to death, but this very deed paved the way for Gaius' own
destruction. For the emperor privately summoned the prefects and
Callistus and said to them: "I am but one, and you are three; and I am
defenceless, whereas you are armed. If, therefore, you hate me and
desire to kill me, slay me." As a result of this affair, he believed
that he was hated and that they were vexed at his behaviour, and so he
suspected them and wore a sword at his side when in the city; and to
forestall any harmony of action on their part he attempted to embroil
them with one another, by pretending to make a confidant of each one
separately and talking to him about the others, until they understood
his purpose and abandoned him to the conspirators.
He also ordered the senate to meet and pretended to grant its members
amnesty, saying that there were only a very few against whom he still
retained his anger. This statement doubled the anxiety of every one of
them, for each was thinking of himself.
Now there was a certain Protogenes, who assisted the emperor in all his
harshest measures, and was always carrying around two books, one of
which he called his sword and the other his dagger. This Protogenes
entered the senate one day as if on so other business, and when all the
members, as was their natural, saluted him, and were extending their
greetings, he darted a sinister glance at Scribonius Proculus and said:
"Do you, too, greet me, when you hate the emperor so?" On hearing this,
all who were present surrounded their fellow-senator and tore him to
pieces.
When Gaius showed pleasure at this and declared that he had become
reconciled with them, they voted various festivals and also decreed
that the emperor should sit on a high platform even in the very
senate-house, to prevent anyone from approaching him, and should have a
military guard even there; they likewise voted that his statues should
be guarded. Because of these decrees Gaius put aside his anger against
them, and with youthful impetuosity did a few excellent things. For
instance, he released Pomponius, who was said to have plotted against
him, inasmuch as he had been betrayed by a friend; and when the man's
mistress, upon being tortured, would not utter a word, he not only did
her no harm but even honoured her with a gift of money. Gaius was
praised for this, partly out of fear and partly with sincerity, and
when some called him a demigod and others a god, he fairly lost his
head. Indeed, even before this he had been demanding that he be
regarded as more than a human being, and was wont to claim that he had
intercourse with the Moon, the Victory put a crown upon him, and to
pretend that he was Jupiter, and he made this a pretext for seducing
numerous women, particularly his sisters; again, he would pose as
Neptune, because he had bridged so great an expanse of sea; he also
impersonated Hercules, Bacchus, Apollo, and all the other divinities,
not merely males but also females, often taking the rôle of Juno,
Diana, or Venus. Indeed, to match the change of name he would assume
all the rest of the attributes that belonged to the various gods, so
that he might seem really to resemble them. Now he would be seen as a
woman, holding a wine-bowl and thyrsus, and again he would appear as a
man equipped with a club and lion's skin or perhaps a helmet and
shield. He would be seen at one time with a smooth chin and later with
a full beard. Sometimes he wielded a trident and again he brandished a
thunderbolt. Now he would impersonate a maiden equipped for hunting or
for war, and a little later would play the married woman. Thus by
varying the style of his dress, and by the use of accessories and wigs,
he achieved accuracy inasmuch diverse parts; and he was eager to appear
to be anything rather than a human being and an emperor. Once a Gaul,
seeing him uttering oracles from a lofty platform in the guise of
Jupiter, was moved to laughter, whereupon Gaius summoned him and
inquired, "What do I seem to you to be?" And the other answered (I give
his exact words): "A big humbug." Yet the man met with no harm, for he
was only a shoemaker. Thus it is, apparently, that persons of such rank
as Gaius can bear the frankness of the common herd more easily than
that of those who hold high position. The attire, now, that I have
described was what he would assume whenever he pretended to be a god;
and suitable supplications, prayers, and sacrifices would then be
offered to him. At other times he usually appeared in public in silk or
in triumphal dress. He used to kiss very few; for to most of the
senators, even, he merely extended his hand or foot for homage.
Consequently the men who were kissed by him thanked him for it even in
the senate, and this in spite of the fact that he kissed actors every
day in plain sight of everybody. And yet these honours paid to him as a
god came not only from the multitude, accustomed at all times to
flattering somebody, but from those also who stood in high repute.
The case of Lucius Vitellius is in point. This man was neither of low
birth nor lacking in intelligence, but, on the contrary, had made a
name for himself by his governorship of Syria. For, in addition to his
other brilliant achievements during his term of office, he forestalled
Artabanus, who was planning an attack on that province also, since he
had suffered no punishment for his invasion of Armenia. He terrified
the Parthian by coming upon him suddenly when he was already close to
the Euphrates, and then induced him to come to a conference, compelled
him to sacrifice to the images of Augustus and Gaius, and made a peace
with him that was advantageous to the Romans, even securing his sons as
hostages. This Vitellius, now, was summoned by Gaius to be put to
death. The complaint against him was the same as the Parthians had
against their king when they expelled him; for jealousy made him the
object of hatred, and fear the object of plots. Gaius, of course, hated
all who were stronger than himself, and he was suspicious of all who
were successful, feeling sure that they would attack him. Yet Vitellius
managed to save his life. He arrayed himself in a manner beneath his
rank, then fell at the emperor's feet with tears and lamentations, all
the while calling him many divine names and paying him worship; and at
last vowed that if he were allowed to live he would offer sacrifice to
him. By this behaviour he so mollified and soothed Gaius, that he not
only managed to survive but even came to be regarded as one of Gaius'
most intimate friends. On one occasion, when Gaius claimed to be
enjoying converse with the Moon, and asked Vitellius if he could see
the goddess with him, the other, trembling as in awe, kept his eyes
fixed on the ground and answered in a half whisper: "Only you gods,
master, may behold one another." So Vitellius, from this beginning,
came later to surpass all others in adulation.
Gaius ordered that a sacred precinct should be set apart for his
worship at Miletus in the province of Asia. The reason he gave for
choosing this city was that Diana had pre-empted Ephesus, Augustus
Pergamum and Tiberius Smyrna; but the truth of the matter was that he
desired to appropriate to his own use the large and exceedingly
beautiful temple which the Milesians were building to Apollo. Thereupon
he went to still greater lengths, and actually built in Rome itself two
temples of his own, one that had been granted him by vote of the senate
and another at his own expense on the Palatine. It seems that he had
constructed a sort of lodge on the Capitoline, in order, as he said,
that he might dwell with Jupiter; but disdaining to take second place
in this union of households, and blaming the god for occupying the
Capitoline ahead of him, he hastened to erect another temple on the
Palatine, and wished to themselves to it the statue of the Olympian
Zeus after remodelling it to resemble himself. But he found this to be
impossible, for the ship built to bring it was shattered by
thunderbolts, and loud laughter was heard every time that anybody
approached as if to take hold of the pedestal; accordingly, after
uttering threats against the statue, he set up a new one of himself. He
cut in two the temple of Castor and Pollux in the Roman Forum and made
through it an approach to the palace running directly between the two
statues, in order, as he was wont to say, that he might have the
Dioscuri for gate-keepers. Styling himself Jupiter Latiaris, he
attached to his service as priests his wife Caesonia, Claudius, and
other persons who were wealthy, receiving ten million sesterces from
each of them in return for this honour. He also consecrated himself to
his own service and appointed his horse a fellow-priest; and dainty and
expensive birds were sacrificed to him daily. He had a contrivance by
which he gave answering peals when it thundered and sent return flashes
when it lightened. Likewise, whenever a bolt fell, he would in turn
hurl a javelin at a rock, repeating each time the words of Homer,
"Either lift me or I will thee." When Caesonia bore a daughter only a
month after her marriage, he pretended that this had come about through
supernatural means, and gave himself airs over the fact that in so few
days after becoming a husband he was now a father. He named the girl
Drusilla, and taking her up to the Capitol placed her on the knees of
Jupiter, thereby hinting that she was his child, and put her in charge
of Minerva to be suckled.
This god, now, this Jupiter (for he was called by these names so much
at the last that they even found their way into documents) at the same
time that he was doing all this was also collecting money in most
shameful and dreadful ways. One might, indeed, pass over in silence the
wares and the taverns, the prostitutes and the courts, the artisans and
the wage-earning slaves, and other such sources, from which he
collected every conceivable tribute; but how could one keep silent
about the rooms set apart in the very palace, and the wives of the
foremost men as well as the children of the most aristocratic families
that he shut up in those rooms and subjected to outrage, using them as
a means of milking everybody alike? Some of those who thus contributed
to his need did so willingly, but others very much against their will,
lest they should be thought to be vexed. The multitude, however, was
not greatly displeased by these proceedings, but actually rejoiced with
him in his licentiousness and in the fact that he used to throw himself
each time on the gold and silver collected from these sources and roll
in it. But when, after enacting severe laws in regard to the taxes, he
inscribed them in exceedingly small letters on a tablet which he then
hung up in a high place, so that it should be read by as few as
possible and that many through ignorance of what was bidden or
forbidden should lay themselves liable to the penalties provided, they
straightway rushed together excitedly into the Circus and raised a
terrible outcry.
Once when the people had come together in the Circus and were objecting
to his conduct, he had them slain by the soldiers; after this all kept
quiet.
As he continued to play the madman in every way, a plot was formed
against him by Cassius Chaerea and Cornelius Sabinus, though they were
tribunes in the pretorian guard. There were a good many, of course, in
the conspiracy and privy to what was being done, among them Callistus
and the prefect.
Practically all his courtiers were won over, both on their own account
and for the common good. And those who did not take part in the
conspiracy did not reveal it when they knew of it, and were glad to see
a plot formed against him.
But the men who actually killed Gaius were those I have named. Chaerea
was an old-fashioned sort of man to begin with, and he had his own
special cause for resentment. For Gaius was in the habit of calling him
a wench, though he was the hardiest of men, and whenever it was
Chaerea's turn to command the guard, would give him some such watchword
as "Love" or "Venus." Now an oracle had come to Gaius a short time
before warning him to beware of Cassius, and, supposing that it had
reference to Gaius Cassius, governor of Asia at the time, because he
was a descendant of the Gaius Cassius who had slain Caesar, he caused
him to be brought back as a prisoner; but the man whom Heaven was
really indicating to Gaius was this Cassius Chaerea. Likewise an
Egyptian, Apollonius, foretold in his native land the actual fate of
Gaius; for this he was sent to Rome and was brought before the emperor
the very day on which the latter was destined to die, but his
punishment was postponed until a little later, and in this way his life
was saved.
The deed was done on this wise. Gaius was celebrating a festival in the
palace and was producing a spectacle. In the course of this he was both
eating and drinking himself and was feasting the rest of the company.
Even Pomponius Secundus, consul at the time, was taking his fill of
food as he sat by the emperor's feet, and at the same time kept bending
over continually to shower kisses upon them.
For Chaerea and Sabinus, pained as they were by the disgraceful
proceedings, nevertheless restrained themselves for five days. But when
Gaius himself wished to dance and act a tragedy and for this purpose
announced three more days of the entertainment, the followers of
Chaerea could endure it no longer, but waiting merely till he went out
of the theatre to see the boys of exalted birth whom he had summoned
from Greece and Ionia ostensibly to sing the hymn composed in his
honour, they intercepted him in a narrow passage and killed him. When
he had fallen, none of the men present kept kind off him, but all fell
to stabbing him savagely, even though he was dead; and some even tasted
of his flesh. His wife and daughter were also promptly slain.
Thus Gaius, after doing in three years, nine months, and twenty-eight
days all that has been related, learned by actual experience that he
was not a god.
Now he was spat upon by those who had been accustomed to do him
reverence even when he was absent; and he became a sacrificial victim
at the hands of those who were wont to speak and write of him as
"Jupiter" and "god." His statues and his images were dragged from their
pedestals, for the people in particular remembered the distress they
had endured.
All the soldiers of the Germanic corps fell to rioting and quarrelling,
with the result that there was some bloodshed.
The bystanders recalled the words once addressed by him to the
populace, "Would that you had but one neck, and they showed him that it
was he who had but one neck, whereas they had many hands. And when the
pretorian guard became excited and began running about and inquiring
who had slain Gaius, Valerius Asiaticus, an ex-consul, quieted them in
a remarkable manner; he climbed up to a conspicuous place and cried:
"Would that I had killed him!" This alarmed them so much that they
stopped their outcry.
All those who in any way acknowledged the authority of the senate, were
true to their oaths and became quiet. While the scenes just described
were being enacted around Gaius, the consuls, Sentius and Secundus,
immediately transferred the funds from the treasuries to the Capitol.
They stationed most of the senators and plenty of soldiers as guards
over it to prevent any plundering from being done by the populace. So
these men together with the prefects and the followers of Sabinus and
Chaerea were deliberating what should be done.
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