§53Ex disciplinis liberalibus minimum eruditioni, eloquentiae plurimum attendit, quantumuis facundus et promptus, utique si perorandum in aliquem esset.
Of the liberal studies, he paid the least attention to erudition, but the most to eloquence, being however eloquent and ready, especially if he had to declaim against someone.
irato et uerba et sententiae suppetebant, pronuntiatio quoque et uox, ut neque eodem loci prae ardore consisteret et exaudiretur a procul stantibus.
When he was angry, both words and ideas were supplied to him, as well as pronunciation and voice, so that through his ardor he could not stand in the same place and was heard by those standing far away.
peroraturus stricturum se lucubrationis suae telum minabatur, lenius comptiusque scribendi genus adeo contemnens, ut Senecam tum maxime placentem 'commissiones meras' componere et 'harenam esse sine calce' diceret. solebat etiam prosperis oratorum actionibus rescribere et magnorum in senatu reorum accusationes defensionesque meditari ac, prout stilus cesserat, uel onerare sententia sua quemque uel subleuare, equestri quoque ordine ad audiendum inuitato per edicta.
When about to declaim, he would threaten that he was going to draw the weapon of his nightly study, so despising the smoother and more elegant style of writing that he said Seneca, who was then highly popular, composed "mere declamations" and was "sand without lime." He was also accustomed to write replies to the successful speeches of orators, and to devise accusations and defenses of great defendants in the senate, and, according as his pen had succeeded, either to oppress or relieve each one by his vote, having also invited the equestrian order by edict to listen.
§54Sed et aliorum generum artes studiosissime et diuersissimas exercuit.
But he also practiced with the greatest zeal other arts of the most diverse kinds.
Thraex et auriga, idem cantor atque saltator, battuebat pugnatoriis armis, aurigabat extructo plurifariam circo; canendi ac saltandi uoluptate ita efferebatur, ut ne publicis quidem spectaculis temperaret quo minus et tragoedo pronuntianti concineret et gestum histrionis quasi laudans uel corrigens palam effingeret.
A Thracian gladiator and a charioteer, and at the same time a singer and a dancer, he used to fight with real weapons and drive chariots in circuses built in many places; he was so carried away by the pleasure of singing and dancing that he could not even refrain at public spectacles from singing along with the tragic actor as he declaimed, and openly mimicking the actor's gesture as if praising or correcting it.
nec alia de causa uidetur eo die, quo periit, peruigilium indixisse quam ut initium in scaenam prodeundi licentia temporis auspicaretur.
Nor does he seem to have proclaimed a night-festival on the day he perished for any other reason than to inaugurate his first appearance on the stage under the license of the hour.
saltabat autem nonnumquam etiam noctu; et quondam tres consulares secunda uigilia in Palatium accitos multaque et extrema metuentis super pulpitum conlocauit, deinde repente magno tibiarum et scabellorum crepitu cum palla tunicaque talari prosiluit ac desaltato cantico abiit.
Moreover, he sometimes danced even at night; and once, having summoned three men of consular rank to the Palatine at the second watch, while they were fearing all things and the worst, he placed them upon a stage, and then suddenly, with a great clatter of flutes and clappers, he leapt out dressed in a cloak and a tunic reaching to his ankles, and having danced through a song, he departed.
atque hic tam docilis ad cetera natare nesciit.
And yet this man, so quick to learn in other things, did not know how to swim.
§55Quorum uero studio teneretur, omnibus ad insaniam fauit.
Truly, those by whose interest he was held, he favored them all to the point of madness.
Mnesterem pantomimum etiam inter spectacula osculabatur, ac si qui saltante eo uel leuiter obstreperet, detrahi iussum manu sua flagellabat.
He used to kiss Mnester the pantomime actor even during the spectacles, and if anyone made even a slight noise while he was dancing, Caligula ordered him to be dragged out and flogged him with his own hand.
equiti R. tumultuanti per centurionem denuntiauit, abiret sine mora Ostiam perferretque ad Ptolemaeum regem in Mauretaniam codicillos suos; quorum exemplum erat: 'ei quem istoc misi, neque boni quicquam neque mali feceris. ' Thraeces quosdam Germanis corporis custodibus praeposuit.
To a Roman knight who was making a disturbance, he announced through a centurion that he should depart without delay to Ostia and carry his letters to King Ptolemy in Mauretania, the copy of which was: "To him whom I have sent to you, do nothing either of good or of evil." He placed certain Thracian gladiators in command of his German bodyguards.
murmillonum armaturas recidit.
He reduced the armor of the murmillo gladiators.
Columbo uictori, leuiter tamen saucio, uenenum in plagam addidit, quod ex eo Columbinum appellauit; sic certe inter alia uenena scriptum ab eo repertum est.
To Columbus, who was victorious but slightly wounded, he put poison into his wound, which from this he called "Columbinum"; at least, it was found so written in his own hand among other poisons.
prasinae factioni ita addictus et deditus, ut cenaret in stabulo assidue et maneret, agitatori Eutycho comisatione quadam in apophoretis uicies sestertium contulit.
He was so addicted and devoted to the Green faction that he constantly dined and stayed in their stable, and at a certain banquet he bestowed twenty hundred thousand sesterces upon the charioteer Eutychus as a parting gift.
Incitato equo, cuius causa pridie circenses, ne inquietaretur, uiciniae silentium per milites indicere solebat, praeter equile marmoreum et praesaepe eburneum praeterque purpurea tegumenta ac monilia e gemmis domum etiam et familiam et supellectilem dedit, quo lautius nomine eius inuitati acciperentur; consulatum quoque traditur destinasse.
For his horse Incitatus, for whose sake he used to command silence in the neighborhood through soldiers on the day before the games, lest he should be disturbed, besides a marble stable and an ivory manger, and besides purple blankets and collars of gems, he also gave a house, a household of slaves, and furniture, so that those invited in the horse's name might be received more sumptuously; it is also reported that he had intended to designate him for the consulship.
§56Ita bacchantem atque grassantem non defuit plerisque animus adoriri.
Thus, as he was raging and running riot, the courage to attack him was not lacking in many.
sed una atque altera conspiratione detecta, aliis per inopiam occasionis cunctantibus, duo consilium communicauerunt perfeceruntque, non sine conscientia potentissimorum libertorum praefectorumque praetori; quod ipsi quoque etsi falso in quadam coniuratione quasi participes nominati, suspectos tamen se et inuisos sentiebant.
But when one or two conspiracies had been detected, while others hesitated from lack of opportunity, two communicated their plan and carried it out, not without the complicity of the most powerful freedmen and praetorian prefects; for they themselves also, although falsely named as if participants in a certain conspiracy, nevertheless felt that they were suspected and hated.
nam et statim seductis magnam fecit inuidiam destricto gladio affirmans sponte se periturum, si et illis morte dignus uideretur, nec cessauit ex eo criminari alterum alteri atque inter se omnis committere.
For indeed, having immediately led them aside, Caligula caused great resentment by drawing his sword and declaring that he would die voluntarily if he also seemed worthy of death to them, nor did he cease from then on to accuse one to the other and to set them all against one another.
Cum placuisset Palatinis ludis spectaculo egressum meridie adgredi, primas sibi partes Cassius Chaerea tribunus cohortis praetoriae depoposcit, quem Gaius seniorem iam et mollem et effeminatum denotare omni probro consuerat et modo signum petenti 'Priapum' aut 'Venerem' dare, modo ex aliqua causa agenti gratias osculandam manum offerre formatam commotamque in obscaenum modum.
When it had been decided to attack him at noon as he left the spectacle at the Palatine games, Cassius Chaerea, a tribune of a praetorian cohort, demanded the chief part for himself, whom Gaius had been accustomed to brand with every insult as already elderly, soft, and effeminate, and sometimes to give him "Priapus" or "Venus" when he asked for the watchword, and sometimes, when he was returning thanks for some reason, to offer him his hand to kiss, formed and moved in an obscene manner.