philology, but applied himself with assiduity to the study of eloquence,
being indeed in point of enunciation tolerably elegant and ready; and in
his perorations, when he was moved to anger, there was an abundant flow
of words and periods. In speaking, his action was vehement, and his
voice so strong, that he was heard at a great distance. When winding up
an harangue, he threatened to draw "the sword of his lucubration,"
holding a loose and smooth style in such contempt, that he said Seneca,
who was then much admired, "wrote only detached essays," and that "his
language was nothing but sand without lime." He often wrote answers to
the speeches of successful orators; and employed himself in composing
accusations or vindications of eminent persons, who were impeached before
the senate; and gave his vote for or against the party accused, according
to his success in speaking, inviting the equestrian order, by
proclamation, to hear him.
LIV. He also zealously applied himself to the practice of several other
arts of different kinds, such as fencing, charioteering, singing, and
dancing. In the first of these, he practised with the weapons used in
war; and drove the chariot in circuses built in several places. He was
so extremely fond of singing and dancing, that he could not refrain in
the theatre from singing with the tragedians, and imitating the gestures
of the actors, either by way of applause or correction. A night
exhibition which he had ordered the day he was slain, was thought to be
intended for no other reason, than to take the opportunity afforded by
the licentiousness of the season, to make his first appearance upon the
stage. Sometimes, also, (288) he danced in the night. Summoning once to
the Palatium, in the second watch of the night [458], three men of
consular rank, who feared the words from the message, he placed them on
the proscenium of the stage, and then suddenly came bursting out, with a
loud noise of flutes and castanets [459], dressed in a mantle and tunic
reaching down to his heels. Having danced out a song, he retired. Yet
he who had acquired such dexterity in other exercises, never learnt to
swim.
LV. Those for whom he once conceived a regard, he favoured even to
madness. He used to kiss Mnester, the pantomimic actor, publicly in the
theatre; and if any person made the least noise while he was dancing, he
would order him to be dragged from his seat, and scourged him with his
own hand. A Roman knight once making some bustle, he sent him, by a
centurion, an order to depart forthwith for Ostia [460], and carry a
letter from him to king Ptolemy in Mauritania. The letter was comprised
in these words: "Do neither good nor harm to the bearer." He made some
gladiators captains of his German guards. He deprived the gladiators
called Mirmillones of some of their arms. One Columbus coming off with
victory in a combat, but being slightly wounded, he ordered some poison
to be infused in the wound, which he thence called Columbinum. For thus
it was certainly named with his own hand in a list of other poisons. He
was so extravagantly fond of the party of charioteers whose colours were
green [461], that he supped and lodged for some time constantly in the
stable where their horses were kept. At a certain revel, he made a
present of two millions of sesterces to one Cythicus, a driver of a
chariot. The day before the Circensian games, he used to send his
soldiers to enjoin silence in the (289) neighbourhood, that the repose of
his horse Incitatus [462] might not be disturbed. For this favourite
animal, besides a marble stable, an ivory manger, purple housings, and a
jewelled frontlet, he appointed a house, with a retinue of slaves, and
fine furniture, for the reception of such as were invited in the horse's
name to sup with him. It is even said that he intended to make him
consul.
LVI. In this frantic and savage career, numbers had formed designs for
cutting him off; but one or two conspiracies being discovered, and others
postponed for want of opportunity, at last two men concerted a plan
together, and accomplished their purpose; not without the privity of some
of the greatest favourites amongst his freedmen, and the prefects of the
pretorian guards; because, having been named, though falsely, as
concerned in one conspiracy against him, they perceived that they were
suspected and become objects of his hatred. For he had immediately
endeavoured to render them obnoxious to the soldiery, drawing his sword,
and declaring, "That he would kill himself if they thought him worthy of
death;" and ever after he was continually accusing them to one another,
and setting them all mutually at variance. The conspirators having
resolved to fall upon him as he returned at noon from the Palatine games,
Cassius Chaerea, tribune of the pretorian guards, claimed the part of
making the onset. This Chaerea was now an elderly man, and had been
often reproached by Caius for effeminacy. When he came for the
watchword, the latter would give "Priapus," or "Venus;" and if on any
occasion he returned thanks, would offer him his hand to kiss, making
with his fingers an obscene gesture.
LVII. His approaching fate was indicated by many prodigies. The statue
of Jupiter at Olympia, which he had ordered to be taken down and brought
to Rome, suddenly burst out into such a violent fit of laughter, that,
the machines employed in the work giving way, the workmen took to their
heels. When this accident happened, there came up a man named Cassius,
who said that he was commanded in a dream to sacrifice a bull to Jupiter.
The Capitol at Capua was (290) struck with lightning upon the ides of
March [15th March] as was also, at Rome, the apartment of the chief
porter of the Palatium. Some construed the latter into a presage that
the master of the place was in danger from his own guards; and the other
they regarded as a sign, that an illustrious person would be cut off, as
had happened before on that day. Sylla, the astrologer, being, consulted
by him respecting his nativity, assured him, "That death would
unavoidably and speedily befall him." The oracle of Fortune at Antium
likewise forewarned him of Cassius; on which account he had given orders
for putting to death Cassius Longinus, at that time proconsul of Asia,
not considering that Chaerea bore also that name. The day preceding his
death he dreamt that he was standing in heaven near the throne of
Jupiter, who giving him a push with the great toe of his right foot, he
fell headlong upon the earth. Some things which happened the very day of
his death, and only a little before it, were likewise considered as
ominous presages of that event. Whilst he was at sacrifice, he was
bespattered with the blood of a flamingo. And Mnester, the pantomimic
actor, performed in a play, which the tragedian Neoptolemus had formerly
acted at the games in which Philip, the king of Macedon, was slain. And
in the piece called Laureolus, in which the principal actor, running out
in a hurry, and falling, vomited blood, several of the inferior actors
vying with each other to give the best specimen of their art, made the
whole stage flow with blood. A spectacle had been purposed to be
performed that night, in which the fables of the infernal regions were to
be represented by Egyptians and Ethiopians.
LVIII. On the ninth of the calends of February [24th January], and about
the seventh hour of the day, after hesitating whether he should rise to
dinner, as his stomach was disordered by what he had eaten the day
before, at last, by the advice of his friends, he came forth. In the
vaulted passage through which he had to pass, were some boys of noble
extraction, who had been brought from Asia to act upon the stage, waiting
for him in a private corridor, and he stopped to see and speak to them;
and had not the leader of the party said that he was suffering from cold,
he would have gone back, and made them act immediately. Respecting what
followed, (291) two different accounts are given. Some say, that, whilst
he was speaking to the boys, Chaerea came behind him, and gave him a
heavy blow on the neck with his sword, first crying out, "Take this:"
that then a tribune, by name Cornelius Sabinus, another of the
conspirators, ran him through the breast. Others say, that the crowd
being kept at a distance by some centurions who were in the plot, Sabinus
came, according to custom, for the word, and that Caius gave him
"Jupiter," upon which Chaerea cried out, "Be it so!" and then, on his
looking round, clove one of his jaws with a blow. As he lay on the
ground, crying out that he was still alive [463], the rest dispatched him
with thirty wounds. For the word agreed upon among them all was, "Strike
again." Some likewise ran their swords through his privy parts. Upon
the first bustle, the litter bearers came running in with their poles to
his assistance, and, immediately afterwards, his German body guards, who
killed some of the assassins, and also some senators who had no concern
in the affair.
LIX. He lived twenty-nine years, and reigned three years, ten months,
and eight days. His body was carried privately into the Lamian Gardens
[464], where it was half burnt upon a pile hastily raised, and then had
some earth carelessly thrown over it. It was afterwards disinterred by
his sisters, on their return from banishment, burnt to ashes, and buried.
Before this was done, it is well known that the keepers of the gardens
were greatly disturbed by apparitions; and that not a night passed
without some terrible alarm or other in the house where he was slain,
until it was destroyed by fire. His wife Caesonia was killed with him,
being stabbed by a centurion; and his daughter had her brains knocked out
against a wall.
LX. Of the miserable condition of those times, any person (292) may
easily form an estimate from the following circumstances. When his death
was made public, it was not immediately credited. People entertained a
suspicion that a report of his being killed had been contrived and spread
by himself, with the view of discovering how they stood affected towards
him. Nor had the conspirators fixed upon any one to succeed him. The
senators were so unanimous in their resolution to assert the liberty of
their country, that the consuls assembled them at first not in the usual
place of meeting, because it was named after Julius Caesar, but in the
Capitol. Some proposed to abolish the memory of the Caesars, and level
their temples with the ground. It was particularly remarked on this
occasion, that all the Caesars, who had the praenomen of Caius, died by
the sword, from the Caius Caesar who was slain in the times of Cinna.
* * * * * *
Unfortunately, a great chasm in the Annals of Tacitus, at this period,
precludes all information from that historian respecting the reign of
Caligula; but from what he mentions towards the close of the preceding
chapter, it is evident that Caligula was forward to seize the reins of
government, upon the death of Tiberius, whom, though he rivalled him in
his vices, he was far from imitating in his dissimulation. Amongst the
people, the remembrance of Germanicus' virtues cherished for his family
an attachment which was probably, increased by its misfortunes; and they
were anxious to see revived in the son the popularity of the father.
Considering, however, that Caligula's vicious disposition was already
known, and that it had even been an inducement with Tiberius to procure
his succession, in order that it might prove a foil to his own memory; it
is surprising that no effort was made at this juncture to shake off the
despotism which had been so intolerable in the last reign, and restore
the ancient liberty of the republic. Since the commencement of the
imperial dominion, there never had been any period so favourable for a
counter-revolution as the present crisis. There existed now no Livia, to
influence the minds of the senate and people in respect of the
government; nor was there any other person allied to the family of
Germanicus, whose countenance or intrigues could promote the views of
Caligula. He himself was now only in the twenty-fifth year of his age,
was totally inexperienced in the administration of public affairs, had
never performed even the smallest service to his country, and was
generally known to be of a character which (293) disgraced his
illustrious descent. Yet, in spite of all these circumstances, such was
the destiny of Rome, that his accession afforded joy to the soldiers, who
had known him in his childhood, and to the populace in the capital, as
well as the people in the provinces, who were flattered with the delusive
expectation of receiving a prince who should adorn the throne with the
amiable virtues of Germanicus.
It is difficult to say, whether weakness of understanding, or corruption
of morals, were more conspicuous in the character of Caligula. He seems
to have discovered from his earliest years an innate depravity of mind,
which was undoubtedly much increased by defect of education. He had lost
both his parents at an early period of life; and from Tiberius' own
character, as well as his views in training the person who should succeed
him on the throne, there is reason to think, that if any attention
whatever was paid to the education of Caligula, it was directed to
vitiate all his faculties and passions, rather than to correct and
improve them. If such was really the object, it was indeed prosecuted
with success.
The commencement, however, of his reign was such as by no means
prognosticated its subsequent transition. The sudden change of his
conduct, the astonishing mixture of imbecility and presumption, of moral
turpitude and frantic extravagance, which he afterwards evinced; such as
rolling himself over heaps of gold, his treatment of his horse Incitatus,
and his design of making him consul, seem to justify a suspicion that his
brain had actually been affected, either by the potion, said to have been
given him by his wife Caesonia, or otherwise. Philtres, or love-potions,
as they were called, were frequent in those times; and the people
believed that they operated upon the mind by a mysterious and sympathetic
power. It is, however, beyond a doubt, that their effects were produced
entirely by the action of their physical qualities upon the organs of the
body. They were usually made of the satyrion, which, according to Pliny,
was a provocative. They were generally given by women to their husbands
at bed-time; and it was necessary towards their successful operation,
that the parties should sleep together. This circumstance explains the
whole mystery. The philtres were nothing more than medicines of a
stimulating quality, which, after exciting violent, but temporary
effects, enfeebled the constitution, and occasioned nervous disorders, by
which the mental faculties, as well as the corporeal, might be injured.
That this was really the case with Caligula, seems probable, not only
from the falling sickness, to which he was subject, but from the habitual
wakefulness of which he complained.
(294) The profusion of this emperor, during his short reign of three
years and ten months, is unexampled in history. In the midst of profound
peace, without any extraordinary charges either civil or military, he
expended, in less than one year, besides the current revenue of the
empire, the sum of 21,796,875 pounds sterling, which had been left by
Tiberius at his death. To supply the extravagance of future years, new
and exorbitant taxes were imposed upon the people, and those too on the
necessaries of life. There existed now amongst the Romans every motive
that could excite a general indignation against the government; yet such
was still the dread of imperial power, though vested in the hands of so
weak and despicable a sovereign, that no insurrection was attempted, nor
any extensive conspiracy formed; but the obnoxious emperor fell at last a
sacrifice to a few centurions of his own guard.
This reign was of too short duration to afford any new productions in
literature; but, had it been extended to a much longer period, the
effects would probably have been the same. Polite learning never could
flourish under an emperor who entertained a design of destroying the
writings of Virgil and Livy. It is fortunate that these, and other
valuable productions of antiquity, were too widely diffused over the
world, and too carefully preserved, to be in danger of perishing through
the frenzy of this capricious barbarian.
FOOTNOTES:
[377] A.U.C. 757.
[378] A.U.C. 765.
[379] A.U.C. 770.
[380] A.U.C. 767.
[381] A.U.C. 771.
[382] This opinion, like some others which occur in Suetonius, may
justly be considered as a vulgar error; and if the heart was found
entire, it must have been owing to the weakness of the fire, rather than
to any quality communicated to the organ, of resisting the power of that
element.
[383] The magnificent title of King of Kings has been assumed, at
different times, by various potentates. The person to whom it is here
applied, is the king of Parthia. Under the kings of Persia, and even
under the Syro-Macedonian kings, this country was of no consideration,
and reckoned a part of Hyrcania. But upon the revolt of the East from
the Syro-Macedonians, at the instigation of Arsaces, the Parthians are
said to have conquered eighteen kingdoms.
[384] A.U.C. 765.
[385] It does not appear that Gaetulicus wrote any historical work, but
Martial, Pliny, and others, describe him as a respectable poet.
[386] Supra Confluentes. The German tribe here mentioned occupied the
country between the Rhine and the Meuse, and gave their name to Treves
(Treviri), its chief town. Coblentz had its ancient name of Confluentes,
from its standing at the junction of the two rivers. The exact site of
the village in which Caligula was born is not known. Cluverius
conjectures that it may be Capelle.
[387] Chap. vii.
[388] The name was derived from Caliga, a kind of boot, studded with
nails, used by the common soldiers in the Roman army.
[389] According to Tacitus, who gives an interesting account of these
occurrences, Treves was the place of refuge to which the young Caius was
conveyed.--Annal. i.
[390] In c. liv. of TIBERIUS, we have seen that his brothers Drusus and
Nero fell a sacrifice to these artifices.
[391] Tiberius, who was the adopted father of Germanicus.
[392] Natriceus, a water-snake, so called from nato, to swim. The
allusion is probably to Caligula's being reared in the island of Capri.
[393] As Phaeton is said to have set the world on fire.
[394] See the Life of TIBERIUS, c. lxxiii.
[395] His name also was Tiberius. See before, TIBERIUS, c. lxxvi.
[396] Procida, Ischia, Capri, etc.
[397] The eagle was the standard of the legion, each cohort of which had
its own ensign, with different devices; and there were also little images
of the emperors, to which divine honours were paid.
[398] See before, cc. liii. liv.
[399] See TIBERIUS, c. x.; and note.
[400] The mausoleum built by Augustus, mentioned before in his Life,
c. C.
[401] The Carpentum was a carriage, commonly with two wheels, and an
arched covering, but sometimes without a covering; used chiefly by
matrons, and named, according to Ovid, from Carmenta, the mother of
Evander. Women were prohibited the use of it in the second Punic war, by
the Oppian law, which, however, was soon after repealed. This chariot
was also used to convey the images of the illustrious women to whom
divine honours were paid, in solemn processions after their death, as in
the present instance. It is represented on some of the sestertii.
[402] See cc. xiv. and xxiii. of the present History.
[403] Ib. cc. vii. and xxiv.
[404] Life of TIBERIUS, c. xliii.
[405] See the Life of AUGUSTUS, cc. xxviii. and ci.
[406] Julius Caesar had shared it with them (c. xli.). Augustus had
only kept up the form (c. xl.). Tiberius deprived the Roman people of
the last remains of the freedom of suffrage.
[407] The city of Rome was founded on the twenty-first day of April,
which was called Palilia, from Pales, the goddess of shepherds, and ever
afterwards kept as a festival.
[408] A.U.C. 790.
[409] A.U.C. 791.
[410] A.U.C. 793.
[411] A.U.C. 794.
[412] The Saturnalia, held in honour of Saturn, was, amongst the Romans,
the most celebrated festival of the whole year, and held in the month of
December. All orders of the people then devoted themselves to mirth and
feasting; friends sent presents to one another; and masters treated their
slaves upon a footing of equality. At first it was held only for one
day, afterwards for three days, and was now prolonged by Caligula's
orders.
[413] See AUGUSTUS, cc. xxix and xliii. The amphitheatre of Statilius
Taurus is supposed to have stood in the Campus Martius, and the elevation
now called the Monte Citorio, to have been formed by its ruins.
[414] Supposed to be a house, so called, adjoining the Circus, in which
some of the emperor's attendants resided.
[415] Now Puzzuoli, on the shore of the bay of Naples. Every one knows
what wealth was lavished here and at Baiae, on public works and the
marine villas of the luxurious Romans, in the times of the emperors.
[416] The original terminus of the Appian Way was at Brundusium. This
mole formed what we should call a nearer station to Rome, on the same
road, the ruins of which are still to be seen. St. Paul landed there.
[417] Essedis: they were light cars, on two wheels, constructed to carry
only one person; invented, it is supposed, by the Belgians, and by them
introduced into Britain, where they were used in war. The Romans, after
their expeditions in Gaul and Britain, adopted this useful vehicle
instead of their more cumbrous RHEDA, not only for journeys where
dispatch was required, but in solemn processions, and for ordinary
purposes. They seem to have become the fashion, for Ovid tells us that
these little carriages were driven by young ladies, themselves holding
the reins, Amor. xi. 16. 49.
[418] Suetonius flourished about seventy years after this, in the reign
of Adrian, and derived many of the anecdotes which give interest to his
history from cotemporary persons. See CLAUDIUS, c. xv. etc.
[419] See TIBERIUS, c. xlvii. and AUGUSTUS, c. xxxi.
[420] This aqueduct, commenced by Caligula and completed by Claudian, a
truly imperial work, conveyed the waters of two streams to Rome,
following the valley of the Anio from above Tivoli. The course of one of
these rivulets was forty miles, and it was carried on arches, immediately
after quitting its source, for a distance of three miles. The other, the
Anio Novus, also began on arches, which continued for upwards of twelve
miles. After this, both were conveyed under ground; but at the distance
of six miles from the city, they were united, and carried upon arches all
the rest of the way. This is the most perfect of all the ancient
aqueducts; and it has been repaired, so as to convey the Acqua Felice,
one of the three streams which now supply Rome. See CLAUDIUS, c. xx.
[421] By Septa, Suetonius here means the huts or barracks of the
pretorian camp, which was a permanent and fortified station. It stood to
the east of the Viminal and Quirinal hills, between the present Porta Pia
and S. Lorenzo, where there is a quadrangular projection in the city
walls marking the site. The remains of the Amphitheatrum Castrense stand
between the Porta Maggiore and S. Giovanni, formerly without the ancient
walls, but now included in the line. It is all of brick, even the
Corinthian pillars, and seems to have been but a rude structure, suited
to the purpose for which it was built, the amusement of the soldiers, and
gymnastic exercises. For this purpose they were used to construct
temporary amphitheatres near the stations in the distant provinces, which
were not built of stone or brick, but hollow circular spots dug in the
ground, round which the spectators sat on the declivity, on ranges of
seats cut in the sod. Many vestiges of this kind have been traced in
Britain.
[422] The Isthmus of Corinth; an enterprize which had formerly been
attempted by Demetrius, and which was also projected by Julius Caesar,
c. xliv., and Nero, c. xix.; but they all failed of accomplishing it.
[423] On the authority of Dio Cassius and the Salmatian manuscript, this
verse from Homer is substituted for the common reading, which is,