[Born at Antium, in Latium, A.D. 12. Died at Rome, A.D. 41. Aged 29.]
Son of Germanicus and Agrippina. His real name was Caius Cæsar, but
called Caligula by the soldiers, from his wearing in his boyhood small
caligæ or soldier’s boots. Passed his boyhood in his father’s camp in
Germany. On the death of Tiberius he became Emperor, and for a time
ruled wisely. On recovering, however, from a severe illness, he
perpetrated acts of horror characteristic of a madman. He murdered the
innocent for his amusement, and married and dissolved his marriages in
the most shameless manner. His favourite horse he raised to the
Consulship, and he deified himself. After passing three years in raving
crime and folly, he was struck down by the conspirator’s sword.
[From the marble in the Gallery of the Emperors, of the Capitoline
Museum. Busts of Caligula are very rare, because, like those of
Commodus, they were as far as possible destroyed, on account of his
atrocities. He is said to have had a complexion of repulsive paleness.
Suetonius alludes to his thin lips and expression of confirmed
dissimulation.]