Caligula, Claudius, Nero
Spent the last hour reading Will Durant’s account of three Roman emperors, The Story of Civilization vol. III. The writing style is as lucid as the content of the story is disturbing, displaying aspects of able rule and extremes of cruelty. Here are some excerpts.
Gaius Caesar Germanicus (Caligula or Little Boot) emperor AD 37 to AD 41
He announced that he would follow the principles of Augustus in his policy and would cooperate respectfully with the senate in everything. He distributed among the citizens the 90,000,000 sesterces that Livia and Tiberas has bequeathed him, and added a gift of 300 sesterces to each of the 200,000 recipients of state corn….. He promised low taxes and rich games.
A quiet life and responsible labor might have steaded him, but the poison of power made him mad. Sanity, like government, needs checks and balances; no mortal can be omnipotent and sane.
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. emperor AD 41 to AD 54
Caligula had left the empire in a dangerous condition…. The Praetorians, coming upon the apparently imbecile Claudius hiding in a corner, proclaimed him as imperator. He was now 50 years old. His relatives looked upon him as a feeble-minded invalid; his mother, who had inherited Octavia’s gentleness, called him “an un-finished monster,” and when she wished to stress a man’s dullness she would term him, “a bigger fool than my Claudius.” Scorned by all, he lived in safe obscurity, absorbed in gambling, books and drink.
He spoke Greek well, and wrote several of his works in that language. He had a good mind; perhaps he was sincere when he told the Senate that he had pretended stupidity in order to save his head.
He surprised everyone by showing will and character as well as learning and intellect….. From that great height he fell because he had built a government too complex for his personal supervision.
Nerō Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus emperor AD 54 to Ad 68
The cognomen Nero meant in the Sabine tongue, valiant and strong. The chief authors of his education were Chaermon the Stoic, who taught him Greek, and Seneca who taught him literature and morals but not philosophy. Agrippina forbade the last on the ground that it would unfit Nero for government. The result was creditable to philosophy.
Nero made the usual obeisance to the Senate, modestly excused his youth…and announced that he would keep only command of the armies—a highly practical choice for the pupil of a philosopher. The promise was probably sincere, since Nero kept it faithfully for five years–that quinquennium Neronis which Trajan later accounted the best period in the history of the imperial government.
Nor could religious belief encourage Nero to morality; a smattering of philosophy had liberated his intellect without maturing his judgment…. His instincts inclined him to excessive eating, exotic desires, extravagant banquets where flowers alone cost 4,000,000 sesterces.
Nero himself was now a god…. He was now at twenty-five, a degenerate with swollen paunch, weak and slender limbs, fat face, blotched skin, curly yellow hair and dull gray eyes.
And so it goes… as Kurt Vonnegut might have concluded.
