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of the Senate, the institution was inevitably weakened by the ever-present
and growing power of the imperial office. In his final years, Tiberius
enjoyed the sophisticated company of Greek scholars, including the
Alexandrian astrologer Thrasyllus. In March of ad 37, he tried to reach
Rome one last time, but at Misenum across the bay from Capri, Tiberius
fell into a coma and died at the age of 79.
His successor was Gaius Caesar, almost 25 years old (born in ad 12),
who was the son of the popular hero Germanicus, the nephew and adopted
son of the late emperor, and one of the few members of the Julian family
left alive after the many intrigues and plots during the years before Tiberius’
death. His familiar name, Caligula, which means “Little Boot,” was given
to him when he was still a child on campaign with his father, because his
mother, Agrippina, used to dress him in a miniature military uniform
complete with little leather boots, or caligulae (Suetonius, Life of Gaius 9).
The smooth transition was ensured by Naevius Sutorius Macro, prefect
of the Praetorian Guard, “who thus launched their career as emperor
makers” (Grant, 280). With the support of the soldiers and the devotion
of the spectacle-starved common people at Rome, Caligula began his reign
auspiciously, initiating public games, cash distributions, tax cuts, and election
reforms. He played to Roman patriotism by announcing future military
campaigns in Germany and Britain. He gratified the upper classes
with his general respect for the Senate, and by discontinuing treason trials,
recalling political exiles, and publishing banned books. In an attempt to
reconcile his famously dysfunctional family, Caligula adopted his cousin,
Tiberius Gemellus, son of Drusus the Younger and the late emperor’s
grandson, as his son and heir, and awarded honors to his three sisters and
to his uncle Claudius (born in 10 bc), the younger brother of Germanicus,
who had survived to middle age because he was considered a half wit.
However, a few months after beginning his rule, Caligula suffered a
serious illness, perhaps some sort of mental breakdown, which Suetonius
claims left him completely unhinged, and led to the chronic dementia that
plagued the rest of his brief and brutal reign (Life of Gaius 22–58). So
Caligula became the notorious despot described by the ancient sources, as
he surrendered to absolute megalomania and indulged in outrageous acts
of extortion, adultery, incest, torture, and murder. Among his victims
were several members of the patrician class and his own family, including
his adopted son and heir, Tiberius Gemellus, who was executed on the
pretext that Caligula thought he had taken an antidote to poison. By
ad 39, the crazed emperor was insulting senators and noblemen by
making them worship him as a living god, and by appointing his horse,
42 THE ROBE (1953)