Caligula | Page 7

some
prodigious work. But for myself, when I was a boy, I heard my

grandfather say [418], that the reason assigned by some courtiers who
were in habits of the greatest intimacy with him, was this; when
Tiberius was in some anxiety about the nomination of a successor, and
rather inclined to pitch upon his grandson, Thrasyllus the astrologer
had assured him, "That Caius would no more be emperor, than he
would ride on horseback across the gulf of Baiae."
XX. He likewise exhibited public diversions in Sicily, Grecian games
at Syracuse, and Attic plays at Lyons in Gaul besides a contest for pre-
eminence in the Grecian and Roman eloquence; in which we are told
that such as were baffled bestowed rewards upon the best performers,
and were obliged to compose speeches in their praise: but that those
who performed the worst, were forced to blot out what they had written
with a sponge or their tongue, unless they preferred to be beaten with a
rod, or plunged over head and ears into the nearest river.
XXI. He completed the works which were left unfinished by Tiberius,
namely, the temple of Augustus, and the theatre (265) of Pompey [419].
He began, likewise, the aqueduct from the neighbourhood of Tibur
[420], and an amphitheatre near the Septa [421]; of which works, one
was completed by his successor Claudius, and the other remained as he
left it. The walls of Syracuse, which had fallen to decay by length of
time, he repaired, as he likewise did the temples of the gods. He formed
plans for rebuilding the palace of Polycrates at Samos, finishing the
temple of the Didymaean Apollo at Miletus, and building a town on a
ridge of the Alps; but, above all, for cutting through the isthmus in
Achaia [422]; and even sent a centurion of the first rank to measure out
the work.
XXII. Thus far we have spoken of him as a prince. What remains to be
said of him, bespeaks him rather a monster than a man. He assumed a
variety of titles, such as "Dutiful," "The (266) Pious," "The Child of the
Camp, the Father of the Armies," and "The Greatest and Best Caesar."
Upon hearing some kings, who came to the city to pay him court,
conversing together at supper, about their illustrious descent, he
exclaimed,
Eis koiranos eto, eis basileus. Let there be but one prince, one king.
He was strongly inclined to assume the diadem, and change the form of
government, from imperial to regal; but being told that he far exceeded
the grandeur of kings and princes, he began to arrogate to himself a

divine majesty. He ordered all the images of the gods, which were
famous either for their beauty, or the veneration paid them, among
which was that of Jupiter Olympius, to be brought from Greece, that he
might take the heads off, and put on his own. Having continued part of
the Palatium as far as the Forum, and the temple of Castor and Pollux
being converted into a kind of vestibule to his house, he often stationed
himself between the twin brothers, and so presented himself to be
worshipped by all votaries; some of whom saluted him by the name of
Jupiter Latialis. He also instituted a temple and priests, with choicest
victims, in honour of his own divinity. In his temple stood a statue of
gold, the exact image of himself, which was daily dressed in garments
corresponding with those he wore himself. The most opulent persons in
the city offered themselves as candidates for the honour of being his
priests, and purchased it successively at an immense price. The victims
were flamingos, peacocks, bustards, guinea-fowls, turkey and pheasant
hens, each sacrificed on their respective days. On nights when the
moon was full, he was in the constant habit of inviting her to his
embraces and his bed. In the day- time he talked in private to Jupiter
Capitolinus; one while whispering to him, and another turning his ear
to him: sometimes he spoke aloud, and in railing language. For he was
overheard to threaten the god thus:
Hae em' anaeir', hae ego se; [423] Raise thou me up, or I'll--
(267) until being at last prevailed upon by the entreaties of the god, as
he said, to take up his abode with him, he built a bridge over the temple
of the Deified Augustus, by which he joined the Palatium to the Capitol.
Afterwards, that he might be still nearer, he laid the foundations of a
new palace in the very court of the Capitol.
XXIII. He was unwilling to be thought or called the grandson of
Agrippa, because of the obscurity of his birth; and he was offended if
any one, either in prose or verse,