Caligula

Gaius Caesar Caligula, Claudius - Roman Emperor of the Julio-Claudian kind, who ruled in 37-41 years. Genus. August 31. 12 g. + 24 January. 41 пЁ.
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Gaius Caesar, nicknamed Caligula, Tiberius accounted nephew. His grandfather, Friends, was the younger brother of the Emperor, and his father - the famous and highly beloved by the Romans Germanicus - was adopted by Tiberius on the orders of August. As a child, Guy always lived with his parents in the military camps. His nickname 'Caligula' ( 'Sapozhok') he was obliged to joke Legionnaires, because growing up among the soldiers, dressed in an ordinary soldier.

Terrible blow befell the family of Germanicus later, passed the Gaya side. Together with his father he made in 19 g. trip to Syria. Coming back from there after the death of his father, he lived first with her mother, Agrippina, and then in Libya, his great-grandmother, when she died at 29 g., it is still the lad, made a commendable speech over the body with the rostral rostrum. Then he went to live with his grandmother Antonia. Nineteen years, 31 g., he was summoned to Tiberius on Capri: while he is in the same day, put on a toga adult and first shaved off his beard, but without any celebrations, however accompanied by a majority of his brothers. By this time his elder brother, Nero, has been killed, and his mother and another brother were in prison. At Capri, many cunning or force trying to steal from him an expression of discontent, but he never succumbed to temptation: he seemed to be completely forgotten about the fate of their neighbors like them, nothing happened. And all that had to suffer for himself, he bore with such an incredible sham, that the justice of it was said: 'did not exist a better servant of the emperor and the worst'. But even then he could not restrain his natural ferocity and viciousness. It is with eager curiosity was present at the torture and executions, oppressed, and at night in the false hair and long dresses wandered the taverns and dives with great pleasure dancing and singing on stage. Tiberius is readily admitted, hoping to tame his fierce temper. The astute old man saw through him and repeatedly predicted that Guy lives to destroy themselves and everyone and that in it he nourishes viper for the Roman people and the Phaeton to the whole world round.

. Later Guy married Yunii Klavdille, daughter of Mark silane, one of the noblest of the Romans
. He was appointed to the position augurs his brother's friends, but before the initiation introduced to the rank of pontiff. This was an important recognition of his kindred feelings and emotional instincts: the house of Tiberius had been deprived of every other kind of support, and Guy got more and more hope for a legacy. To even stronger foothold in it, . he, . after Junius died in childbirth, . came into contact with Enniey Neviey, . wife Makron, . who headed the Praetorian cohorts; her he promised, . that would marry her, . when the power reaches, . and gave this oath and receipt,
. Through her, he crept into the credibility of the Makron and then is believed to have wasted Tiberius poison. The dying man was still breathing when Guy told to remove his ring, it seemed that Tiberius resisted. Then Guy ordered covered him with a pillow and his hands gripped his throat; freedman who cried at the sight of the crime, he immediately sent to the cross.

So he reached power in response to the best hopes of the Roman people. He was the ruler of the most coveted and most provinces and for the army, where many remember him a baby, and for the whole of the Roman crowd, who loved Germanicus and regretted it almost ruined the genus. Therefore, . when he stepped out of Mizena, . then, . despite, . that he was in mourning, and accompanied the body of Tiberius, . people on the way met his huge jubilant crowds, . the altar, . victims, . with lighted torches, . naputstvuya his good wishes, . calling it 'Svetik', . and 'Golubchik', . and 'doll', . and 'darling child',
. And when he came to Rome, he immediately was assigned to the supreme and full authority by unanimous verdict of the Senate and ransacked the curia of the crowd, contrary to the will of Tiberius, who had appointed him co-heirs of her minor grandson.

. Caligula himself was doing all possible to bring to his love of people
. Tiberius, with bitter tears, he paid tribute to the laudable speech before the assembly and solemnly buried. Immediately, he then went on Pandateriyu and the Pontine Islands, hurrying to gather the dust of the mother and brothers, approached them with reverence the remains, placed them in boxes with their own hands and with great pomp, brought to Rome. In their memory, he established an annual memorial ceremonies. After that, the Senate resolution he immediately appointed his grandmother Antonia's all the honors, . what had commended once Libya, . widow of Augustus his uncle, . Claudia, . took as his comrades in the consulate, his second cousin Gemellus Tiberius (Tiberius' own grandson) on the day of his adulthood fathered and raised the head of the youth,
. He pardoned convicts and exiles on all charges, left over from past times. Officials, he allowed the freedom of the court and even made an attempt to restore the people's congresses. He eased taxes and many victims of the fire to reimburse their losses. Twice he arranged nation-wide distribution of three hundred sesterces to each Roman. He arranged many times and all kinds of spectacle for the amusement of all the people. In the first year Guy has completed construction of the temple of Augustus, Tiberius began to build, but never finished, despite the fact that the rules of the twenty-odd years. When Ai began to build a water supply from the field Tibura.

. But the made-good to them in any way could not outweigh the heavy load of atrocities and follies, which were marked by the remaining years of his autocracy.

. Grandmother Antonia, who raised him, he suddenly took a dislike to, and began to treat and many hurts and humiliations (as some believe - and the poison) consigned to the grave
. After his death he did not give her any honor and admire the rest of the dinner at her funeral pyre.

. Second cousin and adopted son of Tiberius, he suddenly put to death in 38, accusing him that he smelled of medicine and that he took an antidote before they appear on his feast (Suetonius: 'Caligula', 9-16, 21, 23)
. Praetorian Prefect Macron, gave him power, he forced to commit suicide (Dion: 59, 10), and his wife and his mistress Enniyu ordered the execution of. Similarly, he brought to the suicide of father-force behind the fact that he did not want to swim with him in the stormy weather in Pandateriyu for the remains of his mother. Uncle Claudius, he left alive only to amuse myself.

With all her sisters, he lived in a criminal context, and at all dinners are alternately sat on the bed below him, and the wife - above its. They say one of them, Drusilla, he deprived of virginity as a teenager, and grandmother Antonia, at which they grew up, once caught them together. Then she handed over Lucie Cassius Longinus, a senator of consular rank, but Guy took it from her husband, kept open as a legitimate wife, and even appointed her successor during the illness of his property and power. When 38 g. she died, he established a mourning that death was considered a crime to laugh, swim, have dinner with his parents, wife or children. And he himself, unable to endure grief, the night suddenly disappeared from Rome, crossed the campaign reached Syracuse, and with the same vehemence returned with regrown his beard and hair. Since then all his oaths of the most important subjects, even in the assembly before the people and the troops, he uttered only the name of the divine Drusilla. The other two sisters he loved so passionately and not honored not so much: more than once, he even gave them to the amusement of their pets, and then hypocritically condemned for corruption, accused of intending to kill him, referred to the Pontine Islands.

. On the marriage it is hard to say that they were indecent: the conclusion, termination or stay married
. Libya Orestillu to marry Gaius Piso, he came to congratulate, but then ordered to take it from her husband and a few days later dismissed, and two years later sent into exile on suspicion that it was during this time met again with my husband. Lolly Peacock, . wife Guy Memmi, . konsulyariya and commander, . he summoned from the province, . hearing, . that her grandmother was once a beautiful, . immediately divorced her husband and took his wife, . and after some time let, . forbade her to continue to associate with anyone whatsoever,
. With his last wife, Caesonia, he met a 39 g. Although she was not no beauty, nor youth, and has given birth to another man's three daughters, he loved her hotter and longer than the entire total for its sensuality and extravagance. Sometimes he even showed her naked with a friend. In the name of the same wife he had not honored her before she gave birth to him, and in one and the same day, declared himself a husband and father of her child.

. Many regard it was also shamelessly provocative, because no one eminent woman he left in peace
. Usually, he invited them to dinner with their husbands and, when they passed his bed, examined them carefully and deliberately, as a slaver. Then he at first desire to leave the dining room and summoned the other, . which most pleased him, . and returning, . even with traces of pleasure on his face, . loudly praised or scolded her, . listing in detail, . that good or bad he found in her body.,

. His public acts were a mixture of ridiculous and evil farce eccentricities
. He seemed set out to mix with the mud all, what used to be proud of the Romans, mock tradition and customs, exaggerating them to an incredible degree. Start with the fact that he had given a lot of nicknames: it was called and 'pious', and' son 'camp', and 'father of the army', and 'Caesar's good and great'. Not content with this, . he announced, . that he decided to deify himself during his lifetime, . without waiting for the court of posterity, . and ordered the cause of the Greek images of the gods, . glorified and worship and art, . among them, even of Olympian Zeus, . - To remove from their heads and replace their,
. Palatine palace, he went to the forum and the temple of Castor and Pollux turned in his foyer and often stood there between the statues of the twins, taking divine honors from visitors. His divinity, he devoted a special temple, where his statue in full growth. He appointed the priests and the chief priest forced to send one by one the richest citizens.

War and military affairs, he took up only once in 39 g. unexpectedly for all. Guy riding in Mevaniyu look at the source and the grove Klitumna. Then he was reminded that it is time to replenish surrounding his squad Batavian bodyguard. Then it occurred to me and take a hike in Germany, without delay, . called together from all over the legions and auxiliary troops, . Performing with great severity a new universal set of, . Having prepared many stores, . as never been seen, . he journeyed,
. He then moved rapidly and quickly, . so that the praetorian cohorts had sometimes contrary to the customs vyuchit banners on mules, . to catch up with him, . then suddenly slow and lazy, . when the stretcher was carried eight, . and people from neighboring towns had to sweep the road in front of him and spray dust,
. Arriving at camp, . He wanted to show himself commander active and strict: legates, . which belatedly brought auxiliaries, . dismissed with disgrace, . senior centurions, . many of whom stayed a few days before his retirement, . stripped of their titles under the pretext of decrepitude and impotence, . and the rest reprimanded for greed and to halve their salaries vysluzhennoe,
. However, during the whole campaign he had done nothing: only when, under his protection fled with a small detachment of Amini, . son of the British king Kinobellina, . exiled father, . he went to Rome magnificent dispatch, . if he conquered the island, . and told the messengers did not get off the chariot, . yet to arrive directly to the forum, . the door of the Curia, . that only in the temple of Mars, . before the entire Senate to allocate it to the consuls,
. And then, as the fight was not with anyone, he ordered several of the Germans from their crossing of the Rhine, to hide there, and after breakfast the day of despair noisily proclaim the approach of the enemy. Everything was executed: then he was the closest companions and a detachment of Praetorian cavalry rushed to the nearby woods, and cut off from the trees, branches and trunks decorated like trophies, he returned by torchlight. Those who did not go after him, he abused for cowardice and pusillanimity, and satellites, and participants awarded victory wreaths. On another occasion he told a few boys to take the hostages out of school and secretly send them forward, and he suddenly, leaving a garden party feast, with the cavalry threw them in chains and brought back. Part of it, he proposed to take a seat at the table, without removing the armor, and even said, encouraging them, known verse of Virgil:

. Be strong and keep yourself for future success.

. At the same time he was an angry edict absentia decried the Senate and the people for what they enjoy mistimed peers, circus, theater and relaxing on the beautiful villas, when Caesar fights among so many dangers
. Finally, . as if to end the war, . He built an army on the coast, . and yet, . when no one knew or suspected, . he thinks to do, . suddenly ordered all the collecting shells in helmets and the folds of garments - is, . he said, . Ocean mining, . he sends the Capitol and the Palatine,
. In memory of the victory he built a high tower. The men, he pledged a gift of one hundred denarii each, and, if it were boundless generosity, he exclaimed: 'Come along now happy, go the same rich! " Then he turned to concerns about the triumph of. Not content with the barbarian captives and defectors, he picked out the inhabitants of Gaul's highest and, as he said, are suitable for the triumph of. Trireme, where he went out into the ocean, was ordered to deliver almost all of Rome by land. But, before leaving the province, he decided to decimate the legions of those who rioted after the death of Augustus, for what they had in the siege once himself, a baby, and his father, Nick Germany. But seeing that the soldiers are preparing to resist, he fled with rallies in Rome. Returning, he showered the Senate for alleged threats that he was denied a triumph, and the envoys of the Senate, which came out to meet him, said a loud voice: 'I will come, but I'll come, and with me - that's who' - and patted the hilt of the sword, hanging on the belt. Thus, canceling or postponing his triumph, he joined a standing ovation in the capital on the day of his birth.

The same grim buffoonery can be seen in many of his actions. Through the Gulf between Bayyami and Puteolanskim dam, the width of three thousand six hundred paces, he ordered the bridge. For this purpose he collected from all over cargo ships (which led to even starvation, as no more ships for the haulage of grain), put them on the anchors in two rows, piled them on an earth mound and align along the lines of the Appian Way. On this bridge he rode two days back and forth with his retinue Praetorian. According to many, Guy invented this bridge, in imitation of Xerxes, which caused such excitement, blocked much narrower Hellespont. Senators who have held the highest positions and dressed in a toga, he was forced to flee for his chariot ne several miles, and at dinner to stand at his bedside, gird cloth, like slaves. In the theatrical performances he gave gifts passes ahead of time that the mob took the place of riders, and then made fun watching their quarrels. The gladiatorial games he suddenly instead of the usual pomp deduced emaciated animals and squalid decrepit gladiators. When the rise in price the cattle that fed the wild animals for circuses, he had to throw them at the mercy of criminals, avoiding for the prison, he was not looking who to blame, but simply ordered, standing in the doorway, pick up all 'from bald to bald'. Many notable people he executed the most brutal way just because they do not swear by his genius, accusing them of 'treason'. With one senator who did not wish to be present at the execution of her son and pleaded ill health, he sent a stretcher. He sent the soldiers on the islands, so they killed all the exiles, saying that he envies the life they lead - serene and contented little 'real life philosophers'. One senator, who had gone for treatment and had still not returned to Rome, despite frequent reminders, Guy ordered the killing, saying that if does not help hellebore, you need phlebotomy. He declared that those who publicly declared in his co-heirs of his property and still continue to live, just mock him, and many ordered poison. He often lamented the fact that the government he would soon be erased from memory, since there has been nothing grand - not the defeat of the troops, nor hunger, nor plague, nor fire, nor even an earthquake. However, as it turned out, he lamented about this in vain. Clothing and footwear was often struck its absurdity. Time and again he went out to the people of color, pearl-embroidered coats, with sleeves and wrists, and sometimes - in silks and women's veils, wearing sandals or something in buskins, the soldiers' boots, and even in women's shoes. Many times he appeared with gilded beard, holding a lightning bolt or a trident. A triumphal robe he wore constantly, even before his campaign.

In the luxury he has surpassed his wedge of the most lavish spenders. He invented unheard ablutions, unusual dishes and feasts - bathed in fragrant oils, hot and cold, and drank the precious pearls dissolved in vinegar. He kept saying: 'We must live or modesty, . or Caesar! " He ordered to build liburnskie galleys in ten rows of oars, . with a Pearl stern, . with colored sails, . huge bathrooms, . porticoes, . banquet chambers, . even with vineyards and orchards of all kinds: feasting in them in broad daylight, . it is the music and singing sailed along the coast of Campania,
. Building you villas and country houses, he forgot about every common sense, thinking only about how to build what to build, it seemed impossible. Thus, less than a year he squandered a tremendous legacy of Tiberius - two billion seven hundred million sesterces (and by some accounts, even more). Then he turned to the most criminal means, not disdaining any atrocity in order to usurp other people's money. He declared illegal wills, . forced to buy for fabulous prices all utensils, . remaining after the big sights, . sitting as a court has awarded to the confiscation of all, . without regard to their guilt (say, . that he had once denounced the verdict of forty-one people on various charges, . then boasted to Caesonia, . awakening after a nap, . many cases he remade, . while she was resting),
. Taxes he collected new and unprecedented: so he imposed a duty all edible goods sold in the city, the porters were paid one-eighth of the daily earnings of a prostitute - the price of one relations. Do not stop it and to direct robbery. It was said that once he was playing dice with friends and lost. Then he left the palace, he saw two riders passed by, ordered to seize and deprive them of property, and then returned and continued the game.

From Art Guy most studied eloquence, and indeed it has reached great success. He easily found the words and thoughts, and the desired expression, and his voice came up to the back row. However, with a special passion he studied the art of another kind, variety. He fought as a gladiator combat weapons, . the driver appeared in circuses everywhere aligned, . and singing and dancing since he was enjoying, . that even in the popular spectacles could not resist, . not to sing along to the tragic actor, and not a second before everyone's eyes on the movements of the dance,
. His swift horse he loved so much that he built a stable of marble and ivory manger, said that if he had not been killed, certainly would have made his horse a consul.

. Among these follies and robberies, many were ready to do away with the princes, but success had fallen to the lot Hereya Cassius, tribune praetorian cohorts
. It was known that Guy always made fun of him, then calling sissy babnem and then appointing him as the password of the word 'Priapus' or 'Venus', the offering of gratitude for something to hand to kiss, folding and moving it indecent manner. Conspirators attacked Gaya at a time when it is accompanied by several senators walked down the narrow passageway toward the theater. The first blow made Chorea, breaking his neck, then the other struck him more than thirty wounds. Hacked to death and his wife Caesonia and daughter smashed her head against the wall. Corpse Princeps was something like half-burnt and buried in the garden (and later buried him more worthy of returning from exile sisters). Power was handed over to Caligula's uncle Claudius (Suetonius: 'Kali-hum', 19, 22-31, 35-36, 38-41, 43-49,52-59).