Gaius in power (Spring, second half)

Topic 4: Gaius ("Caligula") in power (AD 37–41)

Prescribed debate: The character of Gaius.

Background and accession

• Background:
  • Born AD 12, the son of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder.
  • Nicknamed "Caligula" ("little boot") by the soldiers on the Rhine, because he wore miniature army boots as a child.
  • His mother and brothers were destroyed under Tiberius. He survived on Capri.
• Accession (March AD 37):
  • Tiberius' will named Gaius and his grandson Tiberius Gemellus joint heirs.
  • With Macro's support, the senate annulled the will and gave Gaius all powers.
  • Gemellus was adopted and then killed (late AD 37 or 38).
• The early "honeymoon":
  • Suetonius, Gaius 13–14: there was enormous joy, and 160,000 sacrificial victims were offered in three months of thanksgiving.
  • He honoured his family's memory and recalled exiles.
  • He restored elections to the people (Dio 59.9), though this was later reversed.
  • He published the imperial accounts.
  • He gave cash gifts (congiaria) and lavish games (Gaius 18–20).

The turning point and the sources' presentation of his character

• Illness: Gaius fell seriously ill in October 37 (Philo, a contemporary). After this, the sources describe a change.
• Suetonius, Gaius 22: "So much for Gaius the emperor; the rest of this history must deal with Gaius the monster."
• Allegations:
  • Incest with his sisters, especially Drusilla, who was deified in AD 38 after her death (Suet. Gaius 24, not prescribed; Dio 59.11).
  • Executions on whims and cruelty, e.g. making parents attend the executions of their sons (Suet. Gaius 27–30). Suetonius says he wished "the Roman people had but one neck" (Gaius 30).
  • Extravagance: Suetonius says that in less than a year he squandered the 2.7 billion sesterces Tiberius had left (Gaius 37). There was a bridge of boats across the Bay of Baiae (Gaius 19).
  • Absurd military expeditions: the German and British campaign of 39–40, with the soldiers ordered to collect seashells as "spoils of the Ocean" (Suet. Gaius 46, not prescribed; Dio 59.25).
  • The horse Incitatus: the plan to make him consul (Suet. Gaius 55, not prescribed).
• Seneca:
  • On Anger 3.19: Gaius flogged and executed senators and equestrians by torchlight.
  • On Firmness 18: Gaius' insults, e.g. to Cassius Chaerea.
  • Seneca was a contemporary who was nearly executed by Gaius, so he is hostile.

Relations with the senate, equestrians and people

• The senate:
  • Good relations at first. Then, in AD 39, he attacked the senate in a speech, praised Tiberius, and revived the treason trials (Dio 59.16).
  • The conspiracy of Lepidus and Gaetulicus (AD 39) led to executions and the exile of his sisters Agrippina and Livilla.
  • Humiliation of senators: e.g. making them run beside his chariot (Suet. Gaius 26).
• Equestrians: he added a fifth panel (decury) of jurors and increased the number of equestrians (Suet. Gaius 16). Yet he was assassinated by praetorian officers, i.e. equestrian tribunes.
• The people:
  • Popular at first, with games and handouts.
  • Later burdened with new taxes (Suet. Gaius 40) and alienated by cruelty and insults at the games.

Administrative changes

• Began two aqueducts, the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus (AD 38), completed by Claudius.
• Harbour works at Rhegium.
• Abolished the 1% (or ½%) sales tax in Italy.
• Restored elections (temporarily).
• Split command in Africa: separated the legion from the proconsul's control.

Religion and the imperial cult

• Divine pretensions:
  • He demanded worship as a god, appeared dressed as gods and goddesses, and set up a temple to his own numen with a golden statue and priests (Suet. Gaius 22; Dio 59.26–28).
  • He extended the palace to the Temple of Castor and Pollux, making them his "doorkeepers" (Suet. Gaius 22).
• Outside Rome: the order to place his statue in the Temple in Jerusalem (AD 40). It was delayed by the Syrian governor Petronius and by Agrippa I (Philo, Josephus).
• Interpretation:
  • These may be Hellenistic-style ruler-cult claims, stated aggressively.
  • Or deliberate mockery of senatorial flattery (Winterling).
  • Or signs of megalomania.

The assassination (24 January AD 41)

• The killers: stabbed in a passageway at the Palatine Games by Cassius Chaerea and Cornelius Sabinus (praetorian tribunes), with other conspirators including senators and possibly freedmen (Suet. Gaius 56–58; Josephus AJ 19).
• Chaerea's motive (Suetonius 56): Gaius had mocked Chaerea by giving him obscene watchwords, such as "Priapus" and "Venus".
• Victims: his wife Caesonia and infant daughter were also murdered (Suet. Gaius 59).
• Josephus, AJ 19: gives the fullest account, possibly from Cluvius Rufus. It includes the senate's debate about restoring the Republic after the murder.
• Significance:
  • The Praetorian Guard proved decisive in making and unmaking emperors.
  • The senate's dream of restoring the Republic proved unrealistic.

Debate: the character of Gaius

• "Mad" emperor (the ancient tradition): Suetonius; Seneca; Philo (who reports his erratic behaviour during the Jewish embassy of AD 40). Possible illness, e.g. after the illness of 37.
• A rational autocrat:
  • Anthony Barrett (Caligula: The Corruption of Power, 1989) sees an inexperienced, irresponsible young man corrupted by absolute power, but not clinically insane.
  • Aloys Winterling (Caligula: A Biography, 2011 in English) argues that his "madness" was a deliberate strategy to humiliate the aristocracy and expose the double-speak of the Augustan system. Example: taking senators' flattery literally (making the horse a priest or consul, the temple to himself).
• Source problems:
  • The sources are hostile, senatorial and late.
  • Suetonius uses topical rubrics (virtues, then vices).
  • Contemporaries (Seneca, Philo) had personal grudges.
• Judgement: cruel, extravagant and provocative. Whether "mad" or politically calculated, his autocracy openly exposed the reality of imperial power, and that cost him his life.

Glossary

Term	Definition
Caligula	"Little boot": Gaius' childhood nickname from the army camp.
Congiarium	A cash handout to the people.
Numen	Divine power or presence.
Damnatio memoriae	(Modern term) The official condemnation of memory: statues destroyed, names erased. After Gaius' death, the senate considered it and his coins were melted down (Dio 60.22, approximately).
Praetorian tribune	An officer of the Praetorian Guard.

Exam technique: 30-mark essay on Augustus, Tiberius and/or Gaius (the Spring assessment)

Example question: "How far did Gaius' relations with the senate differ from those of Tiberius?"

• Similarities: both had early respect followed by breakdown; both revived treason trials.
• Differences:
  • Tiberius' distance versus Gaius' open humiliation.
  • Tiberius refused divine honours; Gaius demanded them.
• Sources: Tacitus Ann. 3.65 and 1.72; Suetonius Tib. 26–31 and Gaius 22–30; Dio 59.16. Evaluate each.
• Judgement: for example, they differed in style more than in substance. Both exposed the senate's powerlessness.

Self-test

Q1: Who assassinated Gaius, and when? A: The praetorian tribunes Cassius Chaerea and Cornelius Sabinus (with others), on 24 January AD 41, during the Palatine Games.

Q2: What happened to Tiberius' treasury under Gaius, according to Suetonius? A: He squandered the 2.7 billion sesterces in less than a year (Suet. Gaius 37).

Q3: What is Winterling's interpretation of Gaius? A: That his apparent madness was a deliberate strategy to humiliate the senatorial aristocracy and expose the hypocrisy of the Augustan system of pretended Republicanism.

Q4: What did Gaius do in AD 39 that changed relations with the senate? A: He made a speech attacking the senate, praised Tiberius, and revived treason trials (Dio 59.16). This followed the Lepidus–Gaetulicus conspiracy.

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