she was barren, but really because he had had enough of her, and married
Milonia Cæsonia. She had formerly been his mistress, but now as she was
pregnant he chose to make her his wife and have her bear him a child a
month later. The people of Rome were disturbed by this behavior and were
still further disturbed because a number of trials were hanging over
their heads as a result of the friendship they had shown for his sisters
and for the men who had been murdered: even some ædiles and prætors were
compelled to resign their offices and stand trial.--Meantime they also
suffered from the excessive heat. This grew so extremely severe that
curtains were stretched across the Forum.--Among the men exiled at this
time Ofonius Tigillinus was banished on the charge of having had a
_liaison_ with Agrippina.
[-24-] All this, however, did not distress the people so much as their
expectation that the cruelty and licentiousness of Gaius would go to
still greater lengths. They were particularly troubled on ascertaining
that King Agrippa and King Antiochus were with him, like two
tyrant-trainers.
[A.D. 40 (_a. u._ 793)]
As a consequence, while he was consul for the third time no tribune nor
prætor dared to convene the senate. For he had no colleague; though this,
as some think, was not intentional, but the regular appointee died and no
one else in so short a period of time as was available could be brought
forward in the comitia to fill his place. Moreover, the prætors who
attend to the affairs of the consuls, whenever the latter are out of
town, ought to have administered all business pending. But at this
period, in order not to appear to have acted for the emperor, they
performed none of their duties. The senators in a body ascended the
Capitoline, offered their sacrifices, and did obeisance to the chair
of Gaius located in the temple. Furthermore, according to a custom
prevailing in the time of Augustus, they deposited money, [14] making a
show of giving it to the emperor himself. Their practice was similar also
in the following year. At the time of the events just narrated they came
together in the senate-house after these proceedings, without any person
having convened them, but accomplished nothing, wasting the whole day in
laudations of Gaius and prayers in his behalf. Since they had no love
for him nor any wish that he should survive, they simulated both these
feelings to all the greater extent, as if hoping in this way to disguise
their real sentiments. On the third day devoted to prayers they came
together in response to an announcement of a meeting made by all the
prætors in a written notice: still, they transacted no business on this
day nor again on the next until on the twelfth day word was brought that
Gaius had resigned his office. Then at last the men who had been elected
for subsequent service succeeded to the position and administered the
business that fell to them. It was voted among other measures that the
same honors should be given to the birthdays of Tiberius and of Drusilla
as to that of Augustus. The actor folk also celebrated a festival,
provided a spectacle, and set up and dedicated images of Gaius and
Drusilla.--This was in accordance with a letter of Gaius. Whenever he
wished any business brought up he communicated in writing a small portion
of it to all the senators, but most of it to the consuls, and then
sometimes ordered this to be read in the senate.--So much for the
transactions of the senate.
[-25-] Meanwhile Gaius sent for Ptolemæus, the son of Juba, and on
ascertaining that he was wealthy put him to death and a number of others
with him. Also when he reached the ocean and was to all appearances about
to conduct a campaign in Britain and had drawn up all the soldiers on the
beach, he embarked on the triremes but after putting out a little from
the land he sailed back again. Next he took his seat on a high platform
and gave his soldiers the watchword as if for battle, while the
trumpeters urged them on. All of a sudden, however, he ordered them to
gather the shells. Having secured these "spoils" (you see he needed booty
for the celebration of his triumph) he became immensely elated, assuming
that he had enslaved the ocean itself; and he gave his soldiers many
presents. The shells he took back to Rome for the purpose of exhibiting
the spoils to the people there as well. The senate did not see how it
could remain inactive in the face of this procedure, inasmuch as it
learned he was in an exalted frame of mind, nor yet again how it could
praise him. For, when anybody bestows great praise or extraordinary
honors for a small success or none at all, that person becomes suspected
of making a mock and jest of the affair. Still, for all that, when
Gaius entered the City he came very near devoting the whole senate to
destruction because it had not voted him divine honors. But he contented
himself with assembling the populace, upon whom he showered from a raised
position quantities of silver and gold. Many perished in the effort to
seize it; for, as some say, he had mixed small knife-blades in with the
coin.
As a result of his adulteries he repeatedly received the titles of
imperator and Germanicus and Britannicus no less than if he had subdued
Gaul and Britain entire.
Since this was his manner of life, he was destined inevitably to be
plotted against. He was on the lookout for an attack and arrested
Anicius Cerealius 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 safety and immunity) to denounce
certain persons (whether truly or falsely); he then straightway
put to death both Cerealius and the rest before his very eyes.
There was a Betilienus Bassus whom he had ordered killed, and
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 enquired if he would allow him
to shut his eyes, Gaius ordered him to be slain likewise. He, finding
himself in danger, pretended to have been one of the plotters and
promised that he would disclose the names of all the rest; and he
named the companions of Gaius and those who abetted his licentiousness
and cruelty. He would have brought destruction upon many persons,
had he not by laying further information against the prefects, and
Callistus and Cæsonia, aroused distrust. So he was put to death, but
this very act paved the way for the ruin of Gaius. 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: hence, if you hate and desire to kill me, slay me at
once." The general consequences were that he came to regard himself
as an object of hatred, and believing that they were vexed at his
behavior he harbored suspicion against 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 one with another by pretending to
make a confidant of each one separately and talking to him about the
rest until they obtained a notion of his designs and left him a prey
to the conspirators.
The same emperor ordered the senate to convene and affected to
grant its members amnesty, saying that there were only a very few
against whom he still retained his anger. This expression doubled the
anxiety of each one of them, for everybody was thinking of himself.
[-26-] Another person, named Protogenes, assisted the emperor in all his
projects, and carried continually on his person two books, of which he
called the one "sword" and the other "dagger." This Protogenes once
entered the senate as if on some indifferent business and when all, as
was to be expected, saluted and greeted him, he darted a kind of sinister
glance at Scribonius Proculus and said: "Do you, too, greet me, though
you hate the emperor so?" On hearing this all those present surrounded
their fellow senator and tore him to pieces and voted [some festivals
to Gains as also] that the emperor should have a high platform in the
senate-house to prevent any one's approaching him, besides enjoying the
use of a military guard even there. [They resolved further that his
statues should be guarded.
Pleased at this Gaius laid aside his anger toward them and with a buoyant
spirit promised them some money. Pomponius, who was said to have plotted
against him, he released, inasmuch as he had been betrayed by a friend.
And, as the man's mistress when tortured would not utter a word, he did
her no further harm and even gave her an honorary gift of money. Gaius
was praised for this partly through fear and partly sincerely, and] as
some called him hero and others god, he fairly went out of his head. Even
before this he was in the habit of demanding that he be given superhuman
regard and said that he had intercourse with the Moon Goddess and was
crowned by Victory. He also pretended to be Jupiter and took this as a
pretext for having carnal knowledge of various women, especially his
sisters. Again he would often figure as [Neptune, because he had bridged
so great an expanse of sea, or perhaps as] Juno and Diana and Venus.
[He would impersonate Hercules, Bacchus, Apollo, and all the other
divinities, not merely males but also females.] As fast as he changed the
names he would assume all the rest of the attributes that belonged to
them, [so that he might seem to resemble them]. Now he would be seen in
feminine guise, holding a wine-cup and thyrsus, again with masculine
trappings he would carry a club and lion-skin: [or perhaps a helmet
and shield]. He would make up first with smooth chin and later on as a
bearded man. Sometimes he wielded a trident and on other occasions he
brandished the thunderbolt. He would array himself like a maiden equipped
for [hunting or] war, and after a brief interval would come forth as a
woman. Thus he could make changes with careful attention to details by
the variety of his dress and by what he attached to or threw over it, and
he was anxious to appear to be anything rather than a human being [and
an emperor]. Once a certain Gaul, espying him on a, high platform
transacting business in the guise of Jupiter, laughed aloud. Gaius
called to him and asked: "What do I seem to you to be?" And the other
answered--I shall tell his exact words--: "A big pack of foolishness." Yet
the man met no dire fate, for he was a shoemaker. Persons of such rank as
Gaius can bear the frankness of the common herd more easily than that of
those who hold high position.--Now this was the attire he would
assume whenever he pretended to be some god; and there were suitable
supplications, prayers, and sacrifices offered to it. [-27-] Otherwise,
he usually appeared in public in silk and triumphal dress. Very few were
those whom he would kiss. To most of the senators even he extended his
hand or foot for homage. Consequently the men who were kissed by him
thanked him for it even in the senate, though all might see him kissing
dancers every day. [And these divine honors paid him came not only from
the many, accustomed at all times to flatter, but from those who really
pretended to be something.]
Take the case of Lucius Vitellius, not of low birth nor without sense, a
man who, on the contrary, had become famous by his governorship of Syria.
In addition to his other brilliant exploits as an official he spoiled
a plot of Artabanus in that region. He encountered the latter, who had
suffered no punishment for Armenia, already close to the Euphrates and
terrified him by his sudden appearance. He then induced him to come to
a conference and finally compelled him to sacrifice to the images of
Augustus and Gaius. Furthermore he made a peace with him that was
advantageous for the Romans and secured his children as hostages. This
Vitellius, then, was summoned by Gaius to be put to death. The complaint
against him was the same as the Parthians had against their king whom
they expelled. Jealousy made him the object of hatred, and fear the
object of plots. [For every power stronger than himself Gaius entertained
hatred, and he was suspicious of whatever was successful, feeling sure
that it would ultimately attack him.] But Vitellius saved his life by
somehow presenting himself in such a way as to appear of less importance
than his reputation would lead one to expect. He fell at the emperor's
feet shedding tears of lamentation, all the time saluting him frequently
as divine and paying him worship; at last he vowed that should he survive
he would sacrifice to Gaius. By this behavior he so mollified the
offended monarch and won his good-will that he not only managed to
survive but came to be regarded as one of his lord's most intimate
friends. On one occasion Gaius declared he was enjoying converse with the
Moon Goddess, and when he asked Vitellius if he could see the goddess
with him, the other kept his eyes fixed on the ground, as if overcome by
amazement. In a half whisper he answered: "Only you gods, master, may
behold one another."--So Vitellius from these beginnings, later came to
surpass all others in adulation.
[-28-] [Gaius gave orders that in Miletus of the province of Asia a
certain tract of land should be set apart for his worship. His avowed
reason for choosing this city was that Diana had preempted Ephesus,
Augustus Pergamum, and Tiberius Smyrna. The truth of the matter, however,
was that he had conceived a desire to appropriate to his own use the
large and extremely beautiful temple which the Milesians were building to
Apollo. Thereupon he went to still greater lengths and built actually in
Rome itself one temple of his own that was accorded him by vote of the
senate, and another at his private expense on the Capitoline.] He also
planned a kind of dwelling on the Capitol, in order, as he said, that he
might live in the same house with Jupiter. However, he disdained taking
second place in this union of households and found fault with the god for
occupying the Capitol before him: accordingly, he hastened to construct
another temple on the Palatine and by way of a statue for it thought he
should like to change that of Olympian Jove so as to resemble himself.
This he found impossible, for the boat built to bring it was shattered by
thunderbolts, and loud laughter was plainly heard as often as any persons
approached the pedestal to take hold of it. So after hurling threats at
the obdurate image he set up a new one of himself.--The temple of the
Dioscuri in the Roman Forum he cut in two and made through it an approach
to the Palatine running right between the statues, to the end (these
were at all events his words) that he might have the Dioscuri for
gate-keepers. Assuming the name of Dialius [15] he attached Cæsonia his
wife, Claudius, and other persons who were very wealthy to his service as
priests, receiving from each one two hundred and fifty myriads for this
honor. He also consecrated himself to his own service and appointed his
horse a fellow-priest. Dainty and expensive birds were daily sacrificed
to him; he had a contrivance by which he defied the thunder with
answering peals and could send 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."
[16] [When thirty days after her marriage Cæsonia brought forth a
little daughter, he pretended that this, too, had come about through
supernatural means and gave himself airs on the fact that in so few days
after becoming a husband he was a father. He gave the child the name of
Drusilla, and taking her up to the Capitol placed her on the knees of
Jupiter, with the implication that she was his child, and put her in
charge of Minerva to be suckled.] This god, then, this Jupiter,--[he
was called by the latter name so much that it even found its way into
documents,--at the same time that all this took place was collecting
money in most shameful and most frightful ways.] One may, to be sure,
[leave out of account the wares and the taverns, the brothels [17] and
the courts, the artisans and the wage-earning slaves] and other such
sources from [every single one of] which he gathered funds; but how can
one escape mentioning 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 these rooms and foully abused,
sparing absolutely no one in his greed for such victims, meeting with no
resistance from some [who wished to avoid showing any displeasure] but
seizing others quite against their will? [Yet these proceedings did not
displease the mob very much, but they rather delighted with him in his
licentiousness and in the fact that] he also would throw himself on the
heap of gold and silver collected from these persons and roll in it.
[When, however, after enacting severe laws in regard to the taxes he
inscribed them in exceedingly small letters on a tablet which he then
hung up aloft so as to make sure that it should be read as little as
possible and that many through ignorance of what was bidden or forbidden
should make themselves liable to the penalties thereof, the people
straightway ran together excitedly into the hippodrome and raised fierce
shouts.]
Once the people had come together in the hippodrome and were objecting
to his conduct, and he had them cut down by the soldiers. In this way he
imposed silence upon them all.
[A.D. 41 (a. u. 794)]
[-29-] As he continued to show insanity in every way, a plot was formed
against him by Cassius Chairea and Cornelius Sabinus, though they were
holding tribuneships in his pretorian guard. A number were in the
conspiracy and privy to what was being done, among whom were Callistus
and the prefect.
Practically all of his courtiers were interested, both in their own
behalf and for the common good. Any who did not take part in the
conspiracy still refused to reveal it, though they knew of it and were
glad to see a plot formed against him.
But the men who actually killed Gaius were those mentioned. It is worth
noting, besides, that Chairea was an old-fashioned sort of man and had a
private cause for anger. Gaius was in the habit of nicknaming him "sissy"
(though he was the hardiest of men) and whenever it came the turn of
Chairea to command would give him some such watchword as "yearning" or
"Venus." Again, an oracle had a short time before warned Gaius to beware
of Cassius. The former, supposing that it had reference to Gaius Cassius,
governor of Asia at the time, because he was a descendant of that Cassius
who had slain Cæsar, had him brought as a prisoner. The person whose
future conduct the divinity was really indicating to the emperor,
however, was this Cassius Chairea. Likewise a certain Egyptian,
Apollonius, foretold in his native land what happened to him. For this
speech he was sent to Rome and was brought before the emperor the day on
which the latter was destined to die; his punishment was postponed till a
little later, and in this way his life was saved.
The deed was done as follows: Gaius was celebrating a festival in the
palace and was attending to the production of a spectacle. In the course
of this he was himself both eating and drinking and was feasting the rest
of the company. Pomponius Secundus, consul at the time, was taking his
fill of the food as he sat by the emperor's feet, and at the same time
kept continually bending over to shower kisses upon them. Gaius himself
decided that he wanted to dance and act as a tragedian. The followers of
Chairea could endure it no longer. As he went out of the theatre to see
the boys of most noble lineage whom he had imported from Greece and Ionia
to sing the hymn composed in his honor, the conspirators wounded him,
then intercepted him in a narrow passage and killed him. When he fell to
the ground none of those present would keep his hands off him but they
all savagely stabbed the lifeless corpse again and again. Some chewed
pieces of his flesh. His wife and daughter were immediately slain.
So Gaius, who accomplished all these exploits in three years, nine
months, and twenty-eight days, learned by actual experience that he was
not a god.
Now he was openly spurned by those who had been accustomed to
do him reverence even when absent. His blood was spilled by persons
who were wont to speak and to write of him as "Jove" and "god."
His statues and his images were dragged from their pedestals, for the
people in particular retained a lively remembrance of the distress they
had endured.
All the soldiers in the Germanic division raised an outcry and their
remonstrance extended to the point of indulging in slaughter.
Those who stood by remembered the words once spoken by him to the
populace: "How I wish you had but one neck!" and made it plain to him
that it was he who had but one neck, whereas they had many hands. And
when the pretorian guard, filled with consternation, began running about
and demanding who had slain Gaius, Valerius Asiaticus, an ex-consul, took
a remarkable mode of bringing them to their senses, in that he climbed
up to a conspicuous place and cried out: "I only wish I had killed him!"
This alarmed them so that they stopped their outcry.
All such persons as in any way acknowledged the authority of the
senate obeyed their oaths and became once more quiet.--While the
overthrow of Gaius was thus being accomplished, the consuls Sentius
and Secundus forthwith transferred the funds from the treasure-chambers
to the Capitol. They stationed most of the senators and
plenty of soldiers as guards over it to prevent any plundering being
done by the populace. So these men in company with the prefects
and the circle of Sabinus and Chairea deliberated as to what should
be done.
[Footnote 1: Emended by Boissevain from the "four" of the MS.]
[Footnote 2: Boissevain restores the MS. "ten" in place of the "twelve"
of Robert Estienne.]
[Footnote 3: Compare Suetonius, Life of Gaius, chapter 15.]
[Footnote 4: This sentence is unintelligible and doubtless the MS. is
corrupt. No editor has offered a wholly satisfactory emendation, though
by comparing Book Sixty, chapter 4, the sense would seem to require: "no
one, in taking the oath, mentions the name of Tiberius in the number of
the emperors."]
[Footnote 5: Reading (with Boissevain) [Greek: exoruxas] for [Greek:
dioruxas].]
[Footnote 6: This predicate is supplied on the suggestion of Boissevain.
In the MS. an evident gap of a few words exists.]
[Footnote 7: Adopting the emendation of Bücheler, [Greek: ieraes
eichosin].]
[Footnote 9: Boissevain remarks that this sentence may be interpreted to
mean "All persons incurred equal censure whether they showed pleasure
at [decrees passed in her honor], as being grieved [at her death], or
behaved as if they were glad [that she had become a goddess]," but adds
that the text is open to suspicion.]
[Footnote: 10 Reading [Greek: up] (a suggestion of Boissevain's) in place
of [Greek: hép] Compare Book Sixty-one, chapter 16.]
[Footnote 11: Inserting with Bekker [Greek: alla chai asebeite.]]
[Footnote 12: This expression is obscure. Fabricius thought it contained
a reference to the Palatine Games, and Boissevain queries whether we
should read "at the _spectacles_ belonging to the Palatium."]
[Footnote 13: This is a quotation of the speech made by Achilles to the
heralds whom Agamemnon despatches to the hero's hut in pursuance of the
threat previously uttered that he (Agamemnon) will take Briseis, favorite
of Achilles, in lieu of Chryseis, surrendered to her father. (From
Homer's Iliad, Book I, verse 335.)]
[Footnote 14: Sc. "in it"? (Boissevain)]
[Footnote 15: According to Boissevain, this is very probably a MS. error
for _Jupiter Latiaris_.]
[Footnote 16: From Homer's Iliad, Book Twenty-three, verse 724.]
[Footnote 17: Reading (with Reiske) pornas for ornas]
DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY
60
Claudius is made emperor: his faults and excellencies (chapters 1-7).
He restores their kingdoms to Antiochus, to both the Mithridates, to
Agrippa, to Herod, and enlarges the size of the same (chapter 8).
The Chatti, Chauci, Mauri are overcome (chapters 8, 9).
Certain regulations: the harbor of Ostia: Lake Fucinus to empty into the
Tiber (chapters 10-13).
Assassinations instituted: crimes of Messalina and the freedmen (chapters
14-18).
Britain is partially subdued (chapters 19-23).