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often saying, "that a man ought either to be a good economist or an emperor."
plains raised to the height of mountains with a vast mass of earth, and the tops of mountains levelled by digging;
Those who lived any considerable time after making such a will, he said, were only making game of him; and accordingly he sent many of them poisoned cakes.
repeatedly walked over great heaps of gold coin spread upon the spacious floor, and then laying himself down, rolled his whole body in gold over and over again.
The other parts of his body were much covered with hair. On this account, it was reckoned a capital crime for any person to look down from above, as he was passing by, or so much as to name a goat.
He was crazy both in body and mind, being subject, when a boy, to the falling sickness.
He was not insensible of the disorder of his mind, and sometimes had thoughts of retiring to clear his brain 453. It is believed that his wife Caesonia administered to him a love potion which threw him into a frenzy. What most of all disordered him, was want of sleep,
sometimes all in silks and (287) habited like a woman;
sometimes in the sort of shoes used by the light-armed soldiers, or in the sock used by women,
One Columbus coming off with victory in a combat, but being slightly wounded, he ordered some poison to be infused in the wound,
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.
Whilst he was at sacrifice, he was bespattered with the blood of a flamingo.
ran their swords through his privy parts.
His wife Caesonia was killed with him, being stabbed by a centurion; and his daughter had her brains knocked out against a wall.
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.
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.
he expended, in less than one year, besides the current revenue of the empire, the sum of 21,796,875 pounds sterling,
He likewise often declared that he would, some time or other, if possible, restore the ancient government. In this account, I suppose, some have ventured to affirm that Augustus was jealous of him,
Antonia, frequently called him "an abortion of a man, that had been only begun, but never finished, by nature."
And when she would upbraid any one with dulness, she said, "He was a greater fool than her son, Claudius." His grandmother, Augusta, always treated him with the utmost contempt, very rarely spoke to him, and when she did admonish him upon any occasion, it was in writing, very briefly and severely, or by messengers.
His sister, Livilla, upon hearing that he was about to be created emperor, openly and loudly expressed her indignation that the Roman people should experience a fat...
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where he passed his time in the lowest society; by which means, besides his former character of a dull, heavy fellow, he acquired that of a drunkard and gamester.
As he was entering the Forum for the first time with the fasces, an eagle which was flying that way; alighted upon his right shoulder.
shouted that they would have one master, naming Claudius, he suffered the soldiers assembled under arms to swear allegiance to
he even exceeded the punishment appointed by law, and condemned them to be exposed to wild beasts. 489
A woman refusing to acknowledge her own son, and there being no clear proof on either side, he obliged her to confess the truth, by ordering her to marry the young man 490
he was stopped in the middle of the Forum by the mob, who so abused him, at the same time pelting him with fragments of bread,
He completed some important public works, which, though not numerous, were very useful. The principal were an aqueduct, which had been begun by Caius;
But the combatants on board the fleets crying out, "Health attend you, noble emperor! We, who are about to peril our lives, salute you;"
and running along the shore of the lake with tottering steps, the result of his foul excesses,
and declared to their advocates, that he would always give judgment against the freedmen, in any suit at law which the masters might happen to have with them.
and that if any one chose to kill at once, rather than expose, a slave, he should be liable for murder.
Those who falsely pretended to the freedom of Rome, he beheaded on the Esquiline.
He exonerated for ever the people of Ilium from the payment of taxes, as being the founders of the Roman race;
He banished from Rome all the Jews, who were continually making disturbances at the instigation of one Chrestus 528
The religious rites of the Druids, solemnized with such horrid cruelties, which had only been forbidden the citizens of Rome during the reign of Augustus, he utterly abolished among the Gauls 529
He concluded treaties with foreign princes in the forum, with the sacrifice of a sow, and the form of words used by the heralds in former times.
But in these and other things, and indeed the greater part of his administration, he was directed not so much by his own judgment, as by the influence of his wives and freedmen; for the most part acting in conformity to what their interests or fancies dictated.
Valeria Messalina, the daughter of Barbatus Messala, his cousin. But finding that, besides her other shameful debaucheries, she had even gone so far as to marry in his own absence Caius Silius, the settlement of her dower being formally signed, in the presence of the augurs, he put her to death.
"As I have been so unhappy in my unions, I am resolved to continue in future unmarried; and if I should not, I give you leave to stab me."
and that in future liberty should be given for such marriages, which until that time had been considered incestuous.
He lost Drusus at Pompeii, when he was very young; he being choked with a pear, which in his play he tossed into the air, and caught in his mouth.
Claudia, who was, in truth, the daughter of Boter his freedman, though she was born five months before his divorce, he ordered to be thrown naked at her mother's door.
Being entirely governed by these freedmen, and, as I have already said, by his wives, he was a tool to others, rather than a prince.
he put to death Appius Silanus, the father of his son-in-law, and the two Julias, the daughters of Drusus and Germanicus, without any positive proof of the crimes with which they were charged, or so much as permitting them to make any defence.
He condemned to death five and thirty senators, and above three hundred Roman knights, with so little attention to what he did, that when a centurion brought him word of the execution of a man of consular rank, who was one of the number, and told him that he had executed his order, he declared, "he had ordered no such thing, but that he approved of it;" because his freedmen, it seems, had said, that the soldiers did nothing more than their duty, in dispatching the emperor's enemies without waiting for a warrant.
He was outrageous in his laughter, and still more so in his wrath, for then he foamed at the mouth, and discharged from his nostrils. He also stammered in his speech, and had a tremulous motion (323) of the head at all times,
It is said, too, that he intended to publish an edict, "allowing to all people the liberty of giving vent at table to any distension occasioned by flatulence," upon hearing of a person whose modesty, when under restraint, had nearly cost him his life. XXXIII. He was always ready to eat and drink at any time or in any place. One day, as he was hearing causes in the Forum of Augustus, he smelt the dinner which was preparing for the Salii 540, in the temple of Mars adjoining, whereupon he quitted (324) the tribunal, and went to partake of the feast with the priests. He scarcely ever left the
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While in this condition, a feather was put down his throat, to make him throw up the contents of his stomach.
He set no bounds to his libidinous intercourse with women, but never betrayed any unnatural desires for the other sex.
