§9Caligulae cognomen castrensi ioco traxit, quia manipulario habitu inter milites educabatur.
He acquired the nickname Caligula from a camp joke, because he was brought up among the soldiers in the costume of a common soldier.
apud quos quantum praeterea per hanc nutrimentorum consuetudinem amore et gratia ualuerit, maxime cognitum est, cum post excessum Augusti tumultuantis et in furorem usque praecipites solus haud dubie ex conspectu suo flexit.
How much strength he acquired moreover among them in terms of love and favor through this custom of upbringing was especially recognized when, after the passing of Augustus, he alone, without doubt, turned back by his mere presence the soldiers who were mutinying and rushing headlong into madness.
non enim prius destiterunt, quam ablegari eum ob seditionis periculum et in proximam ciuitatem demandari animaduertissent; tunc demum ad paenitentiam uersi reprenso ac retento uehiculo inuidiam quae sibi fieret deprecati sunt.
For they did not cease until they noticed that he was being sent away because of the danger of the mutiny and entrusted to the nearest city; then at last, turning to repentance, they stopped and held back his carriage, begging off the hatred they had brought upon themselves.
§10comitatus est patrem et Syriaca expeditione.
He also accompanied his father on the Syrian expedition.
unde reuersus primum in matris, deinde ea relegata in Liuiae Augustae proauiae suae contubernio mansit; quam defunctam praetextatus etiam tunc pro rostris laudauit.
Returning from there, he lived first with his mother, and then, after she was banished, in the household of his great-grandmother Livia Augusta; when she died, though still wearing the toga of a boy, he delivered her funeral oration from the rostra.
transitque ad Antoniam auiam et undeuicensimo aetatis anno accitus Capreas a Tiberio uno atque eodem die togam sumpsit barbamque posuit, sine ullo honore qualis contigerat tirocinio fratrum eius.
He then moved to the home of his grandmother Antonia, and in his nineteenth year, summoned to Capreae by Tiberius, on one and the same day he assumed the toga of manhood and shaved his beard, without any of the honors that had fallen to his brothers at their coming of age.
hic omnibus insidiis temptatus elicientium cogentiumque se ad querelas nullam umquam occasionem dedit, perinde obliterato suorum casu ac si nihil cuiquam accidisset, quae uero ipse pateretur incredibili dissimulatione transmittens tantique in auum et qui iuxta erant obsequii, ut non immerito sit dictum nec seruum meliorem ullum nec deteriorem dominum fuisse.
Here, tempted by all kinds of snares of those who would elicit or force him to make complaints, he never gave any occasion, having so completely forgotten the downfall of his family as if nothing had happened to anyone, passing over what he himself suffered with incredible dissimulation, and showing such great obsequiousness toward his grandfather and those around him, that it was not without reason said of him that there was never a better slave or a worse master.
§11naturam tamen saeuam atque probrosam ne tunc quidem inhibere poterat, quin et animaduersionibus poenisque ad supplicium datorum cupidissime interesset et ganeas atque adulteria capillamento celatus et ueste longa noctibus obiret ac scaenicas saltandi canendique artes studiosissime appeteret, facile id sane Tiberio patiente, si per has mansuefieri posset ferum eius ingenium.
Yet even then he could not restrain his savage and shameful nature, but eagerly attended the trials and punishments of those condemned to death, and by night, disguised in a wig and a long robe, frequented taverns and adulterous encounters, and most zealously pursued the theatrical arts of dancing and singing, Tiberius willingly permitting this, if only by these means his wild nature might be softened.
quod sagacissimus senex ita prorsus perspexerat, ut aliquotiens praedicaret exitio suo omniumque Gaium uiuere et se natricem p(opulo) R(omano), Phaethontem orbi terrarum educare.
The most sagacious old man had so thoroughly seen through this that he sometimes openly declared that Gaius was living for his own ruin and that of all men, and that he was rearing a water-snake for the Roman people and a Phaethon for the whole world.
§12Non ita multo post Iuniam Claudillam M. Silani nobilissimi uiri f(iliam) duxit uxorem.
Not long after, he took to wife Junia Claudilla, daughter of the most noble Marcus Silanus.
deinde augur in locum fratris sui Drusi destinatus, prius quam inauguraretur ad pontificatum traductus est insigni testimonio pietatis atque indolis, cum deserta desolataque reliquis subsidiis aula, Seiano †uete suspecto mox et oppresso, ad spem successionis paulatim admoueretur.
Then, destined for the office of augur in place of his brother Drusus, before he could be inaugurated, he was transferred to the pontificate, a remarkable proof of his piety and natural disposition, when, the court being deserted and stripped of its other supports, Sejanus being suspected and soon after crushed, he was gradually brought closer to the hope of succession.
quam quo magis confirmaret, amissa Iunia ex partu Enniam Naeuiam, Macronis uxorem, qui tum praetorianis cohortibus praeerat, sollicitauit ad stuprum, pollicitus et matrimonium suum, si potitus imperio fuisset; deque ea re et iure iurando et chirographo cauit.
To confirm this the more, having lost Junia in childbirth, he seduced Ennia Naevia, the wife of Macro, who then commanded the praetorian cohorts, promising her marriage also if he should gain the empire; and concerning this matter he bound himself both by oath and by a written document.
per hanc insinuatus Macroni ueneno Tiberium adgressus est, ut quidam opinantur, spirantique adhuc detrahi anulum et, quoniam suspicionem retinentis dabat, puluinum iussit inici atque etiam fauces manu sua oppressit, liberto, qui ob atrocitatem facinoris exclamauerat, confestim in crucem acto.
Having ingratiated himself with Macro through her, he attacked Tiberius with poison, as some believe, and while he was still breathing, ordered his ring to be taken off, and because Tiberius showed signs of holding onto it, ordered a pillow to be thrown over him, and even squeezed his throat with his own hand, immediately crucifying a freedman who had cried out at the atrocity of the deed.
nec abhorret a ueritate, cum sint quidam auctores, ipsum postea etsi non de perfecto, at certe de cogitato quondam parricidio professum; gloriatum enim assidue in commemoranda sua pietate, ad ulciscendam necem matris et fratrum introisse se cum pugione cubiculum Tiberi dormientis et misericordia correptum abiecto ferro recessisse; nec illum, quanquam sensisset, aut inquirere quicquam aut exequi ausum.
This is not far from the truth, since there are some authors who record that he himself afterwards confessed, if not to the completed, at least to the once-contemplated parricide; for he boasted continually in recounting his own piety, that to avenge the death of his mother and brothers, he had entered the bedchamber of the sleeping Tiberius with a dagger, and, seized with pity, had thrown down the weapon and withdrawn; and that Tiberius, though he had perceived it, did not dare either to investigate or to take any action.
§13Sic imperium adeptus, p(opulum) R(omanum), uel dicam hominum genus, uoti compotem fecit, exoptatissimus princeps maximae parti prouincialium ac militum, quod infantem plerique cognouerant, sed et uniuersae plebi urbanae ob memoriam Germanici patris miserationemque prope afflictae domus.
Having thus obtained the empire, he made the Roman people, or I should say the whole human race, masters of their wish, being the most longed-for prince to the greater part of the provincials and soldiers, because most had known him as an infant, and also to the entire urban plebs because of the memory of his father Germanicus and pity for a nearly ruined house.
itaque ut a Miseno mouit quamuis lugentis habitu et funus Tiberi prosequens, tamen inter altaria et uictimas ardentisque taedas densissimo et laetissimo obuiorum agmine incessit, super fausta nomina 'sidus' et 'pullum' et 'pupum' et 'alumnum' appellantium;
And so, as he moved from Misenum, although in the guise of a mourner and following the funeral of Tiberius, yet he advanced amid altars, victims, and burning torches in a most dense and joyful crowd of those who met him, who, besides auspicious names, called him "star", "chick", "baby", and "foster-child";