What do you think?
Rate this book
'Because of his baldness and hairiness, he announced it was a capital offence for anyone either to look down on him as he passed or to mention goats in any context.'
The biography of the brutal, crazed and incestuous Roman Emperor Caligula, who tried to appoint his own horse consul.
Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (c.70-130 CE)
Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars is also available in Penguin Classics.
The biography of the brutal, crazed and incestuous Roman Emperor Caligula, who tried to appoint his own horse consul.
Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions.
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (c.70-130 CE)
Suetonius's The Twelve Caesars is also available in Penguin Classics.
58 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 2014
58 people are currently reading
1,549 people want to read
About the author
Suetonius
521books226followersGaius Suetonius Tranquillus, commonly known as Suetonius (ca. 69/75 - after 130), was a Roman historian belonging to the equestrian order in the early Imperial era. His most important surviving work is a set of biographies of twelve successive Roman rulers, from Julius Caesar until Domitian, entitled De Vita Caesarum. Other works by Suetonius concern the daily life of Rome, politics, oratory, and the lives of famous writers, including poets, historians, and grammarians. A few of these books have partially survived, but many are entirely lost.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 151 reviews
September 16, 2023
Caligula by Suetonius is one entertaining read. It is worth mentioning the author here, as he writes in a style that anyone would find accessible and entertaining.
Biographer of the first twelve Caesars, Suetonius, is the most utilised source of the life of Caligula (b. 12 AD d. 41AD) There are others, mainly Tacitus and Dio Cassius, but in the case of Tacitus his work is incomplete, and Dio wrote a few centuries later. Suetonius was a secretary for emperor Hadrian (reign 117AD � 138AD � he’s one of my favourites) and had access to all the records of previous Emperors. One thing about Suetonius that makes his work so accessible to anyone, is his writing. It is sensationalist, it almost reads like a London daily tabloid rag. It is said, he also relied on gossip and other informal sources, but historians (or the ones I listen to anyway) suggest he is an excellent source.
Gaius Caesar or, Caligula (emperor # 3), was well-bred to be sure, having direct links to both the Julio and Claudian bloodlines. Hi father was the pin-up boy Germanicus, who was touted to be Emperor one day, but a suspicious death in Syria put paid to that. Agrippina was Caligula’s Mum, Augustus his great grandad, Livia his great grandmother. Talk about royal blood!
Unfortunately, his two older brothers were executed, probably by the taciturn, perverted Tiberius (emperor # 2) � in fact, as a late teenager, Caligula was put under the care of Tiberius on the island of Capri. Sounds nice doesn’t it? Not until you know what went on in Tiberius� lair � it really sounds like a horrible place to be. After his mum, Agrippina, was exiled and killed, this poor young lad was left with three younger sisters. All of whom he was later to have sex with. However, he was particularly devoted to Drusilla � to the point of deifying her.
"The love of Caligula’s life � his sister Drusilla"
The first third of this biography covers Caligula’s childhood and the early part of him being emperor. He was initially popular, largely due to the unpopularity of the detested Tiberius. But things started to turn rotten soon into his brief four-year reign when he became uber-cruel and increasing extravagant with the Empire’s money.
Suetonius writes, only on page 20 of 50:
”So much for Gaius (Caligula) the emperor; the rest of this history must deal with Gaius the Monster�
What follows is quite simply a litany of atrocities. I won’t detail any of them here, many of you will be aware of much of his behaviour, but there will be others you will learn about fir the first time. If you want to know the details you may want to read this biography, it is as interesting as it is shocking.
"Let them hate me, so long as they fear me"
Caligula was eventually killed by a mob of elites, in a stabbing frenzy. It seems Caligula’s total disrespect for the Senate and other powerful people was too much. His uncle, Claudius, succeeded him � reluctantly. It’s interesting to note that Caligula, liked to keep Uncle Claudius around his court, as a butt for practical jokes � his uncle had a bad limp, a speech impediment and was a bit of a nerd.
If you read this, I know you won’t regret it.
Simply brilliant.
5 Stars
Fun Fact Those of you who are interested, may note Caligula, as emperor #3 - and Tiberius as #2 - meaning Augustus was #1. Where does that leave Julius Caesar? Well he wasn't an emperor, merely a dictator - the joint was still a republic when he was large and in charge. But he paved the way for Augustus' impressive reign, perhaps the most impressive reign of all?
Biographer of the first twelve Caesars, Suetonius, is the most utilised source of the life of Caligula (b. 12 AD d. 41AD) There are others, mainly Tacitus and Dio Cassius, but in the case of Tacitus his work is incomplete, and Dio wrote a few centuries later. Suetonius was a secretary for emperor Hadrian (reign 117AD � 138AD � he’s one of my favourites) and had access to all the records of previous Emperors. One thing about Suetonius that makes his work so accessible to anyone, is his writing. It is sensationalist, it almost reads like a London daily tabloid rag. It is said, he also relied on gossip and other informal sources, but historians (or the ones I listen to anyway) suggest he is an excellent source.
Gaius Caesar or, Caligula (emperor # 3), was well-bred to be sure, having direct links to both the Julio and Claudian bloodlines. Hi father was the pin-up boy Germanicus, who was touted to be Emperor one day, but a suspicious death in Syria put paid to that. Agrippina was Caligula’s Mum, Augustus his great grandad, Livia his great grandmother. Talk about royal blood!
Unfortunately, his two older brothers were executed, probably by the taciturn, perverted Tiberius (emperor # 2) � in fact, as a late teenager, Caligula was put under the care of Tiberius on the island of Capri. Sounds nice doesn’t it? Not until you know what went on in Tiberius� lair � it really sounds like a horrible place to be. After his mum, Agrippina, was exiled and killed, this poor young lad was left with three younger sisters. All of whom he was later to have sex with. However, he was particularly devoted to Drusilla � to the point of deifying her.
"The love of Caligula’s life � his sister Drusilla"
The first third of this biography covers Caligula’s childhood and the early part of him being emperor. He was initially popular, largely due to the unpopularity of the detested Tiberius. But things started to turn rotten soon into his brief four-year reign when he became uber-cruel and increasing extravagant with the Empire’s money.
Suetonius writes, only on page 20 of 50:
”So much for Gaius (Caligula) the emperor; the rest of this history must deal with Gaius the Monster�
What follows is quite simply a litany of atrocities. I won’t detail any of them here, many of you will be aware of much of his behaviour, but there will be others you will learn about fir the first time. If you want to know the details you may want to read this biography, it is as interesting as it is shocking.
"Let them hate me, so long as they fear me"
Caligula was eventually killed by a mob of elites, in a stabbing frenzy. It seems Caligula’s total disrespect for the Senate and other powerful people was too much. His uncle, Claudius, succeeded him � reluctantly. It’s interesting to note that Caligula, liked to keep Uncle Claudius around his court, as a butt for practical jokes � his uncle had a bad limp, a speech impediment and was a bit of a nerd.
If you read this, I know you won’t regret it.
Simply brilliant.
5 Stars
Fun Fact Those of you who are interested, may note Caligula, as emperor #3 - and Tiberius as #2 - meaning Augustus was #1. Where does that leave Julius Caesar? Well he wasn't an emperor, merely a dictator - the joint was still a republic when he was large and in charge. But he paved the way for Augustus' impressive reign, perhaps the most impressive reign of all?
November 28, 2018
“Thus far we have spoken of him as a prince. What remains to be said of him, bespeaks him rather a monster than a man.� The Roman historian Suetonius wrote these words about ancient Rome’s most notorious emperor � Caligula. Reading the life of Caligula and his reign as the most powerful man in the world (less than a 4 year reign, from age 25-28 when he was assassinated) is one unforgettable experience. Since my primary interest is philosophy and not history, I will spare readers the gory details of his cruelty and sadism and offer my reflections linked with several quotes from the text I find particularly insightful.
"Having thus secured the imperial power, he fulfilled by his elevation the wish of the Roman people, I may venture to say, of all mankind; for he had long been the object of expectation and desire to the greater part of the provincials and soldiers, who had known him when a child; and to the whole people of Rome, from their affection for the memory of Germanicus, his father, and compassion for the family almost entirely destroyed." --------- The bitter irony is the Roman people and senate were overjoyed when Caligula finally became emperor after years of hardship and suffering under Tiberius. Gaius Caesar Caligula was primed to lead the population in a return to the golden age of Caesar Augustus.
Initially, Caligula performed admirable acts but then metamorphosis: a 25 year old man became a monster. Amongst his monstrosities, Suetonius relates, “He change the form of government from imperial to regal and began to arrogate to himself a divine majesty. He ordered all the images of the gods, which were famous either for their beauty, or the veneration paid them, among which was that of Jupiter, to be brought from Greece, that he might take the heads off, and put on his own." ---------- Ha! Having all the sculptures of the gods undergo a modest change: their heads become your head. Too bad Caligula didn’t take his mythology seriously or he would have known a human taking on the status of the gods has serious consequences.
"He also instituted a temple and priests, with choicest victims, in honor of his own divinity. In his temple stood a statue of gold, the exact image of himself, which was daily dressed in garments corresponding with those he wore himself. The most opulent persons in the city offered themselves as candidates for the honor of being his priests, and purchased it successively at an immense price. The victims were flamingos, peacocks, bustards, guinea-fowls, turkey and pheasant hens, each sacrificed on their respective days." ---------- And what is the use of being a god if you don’t have your very own temple and priests offering you sacrifices?
"He had thoughts too of suppressing Homer's poems: "For why," said he, "may not I do what Plato has done before me, who excluded him from his commonwealth?� He was likewise very near banishing the writings and the busts of Virgil and Livy from all libraries; censuring one of them as "a man of no genius and very little learning;" and the other as "a verbose and careless historian."" ---------- Well, my goodness; invoking Plato in an attempt to banish the poets and stifle the historians. This wish to remove criticism and creativity is true of all tyrants, ancient or modern, since tyrants recognize the giants of literature and history are, in a way, the true rulers of the people.
"In building his palaces and villas, there was nothing he desired to effect so much, in defiance of all reason, as what was considered impossible. Accordingly, plains raised to the height of mountains with a vast mass of earth, and the tops of mountains leveled by digging; and all these were to be executed with incredible speed, for the least remissness was a capital offense." �---------- The ultimate egotism: creating a personalized world accommodating your every whim. A world Caligula-ized.
"He was crazy both in body and mind, being subject, when a boy, to the falling sickness. When he arrived at the age of manhood, he endured fatigue tolerably well; but still, occasionally, he was liable to a faintness, during which he remained incapable of any effort. He was not insensible of the disorder of his mind, and sometimes had thoughts of retiring to clear his brain. What most of all disordered him, was want of sleep, for he seldom had more than three or four hours' rest in a night; and even then his sleep was not sound, but disturbed by strange dreams; fancying, among other things, that a form representing the ocean spoke to him. Being therefore often weary with lying awake so long, sometimes he sat up in his bed, at others, walked in the longest porticoes about the house, and from time to time, invoked and looked out for the approach of day." ---------- No matter how much power Caligula wielded over others, there was one person he could not control: himself. Turns out, if Caligula actually had the wisdom to listen to his dreams, he would have quickly recognized his evil as evil. Big, big mistake - not listening to your dreams.
“For this favorite animal, besides a marble stable, an ivory manger, purple housings, and a jeweled frontlet, he appointed a house, with a retinue of slaves, and fine furniture, for the reception of such as were invited in the horse's name to sup with him. It is even said that he intended to make him consul.� ---------- One of the many reasons Romans, especially the senators, judged Caligula mad: the young emperor’s desire to make his horse the head of the senate.
"It is difficult to say, whether weakness of understanding, or corruption of morals, were more conspicuous in the character of Caligula. He seems to have discovered from his earliest years an innate depravity of mind, which was undoubtedly much increased by defect of education. He had lost both his parents at an early period of life; and from Tiberius' own character, as well as his views in training the person who should succeed him on the throne, there is reason to think, that if any attention whatever was paid to the education of Caligula, it was directed to vitiate all his faculties and passions, rather than to correct and improve them." ---------- Even in ancient times it was recognized how both nature and nurture played their part in forming a person. Suetonius sees how Caligula falls short on both counts: a basically twisted mind further corrupted by losing his parents at an early age and very bad education.
Suetonius available on-line:
December 31, 2021
For someone with such an interesting reputation, this was so boring. The structure of it is very bland, with events in Caligula's life merely described one after another without any emotion. Stabbing someone is glossed over, debauchery and hedonism are summed up in one line. It could have been so much more exciting, but instead is bogged down in the driest writing style imaginable.
May 28, 2018
"I have swords as well as islands."
- Caligula
Vol 17 of my Penguin . Contains Suetonius' chapter on Caligula (Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) from his classic The Twelve Caesars. Julius and Augustus might be more important Caesars, but no one was as crazy as Caligula. Suetonius' mini-biographies of the Caesars is a mix of political/military biography and gossip tatler, so his skills and approach work perfectly with Caligula's reputaton for tyranical incest, cruelty, and debauchery.
One has to be a bit careful with Suetonius (especially with his style and approach) since he was writing about 80 years after Caligula's death. Some of the more fantastic things about Caligula (making a horse a consul, sleeping with his sisters) might just also be manufactured by his enemies. That isn't saying Caligula was a great man, but perhaps he isn't as bad as everyone says (including Suetonius or Graves). Life isn't a movie staring John Hurt.
- Caligula
Vol 17 of my Penguin . Contains Suetonius' chapter on Caligula (Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) from his classic The Twelve Caesars. Julius and Augustus might be more important Caesars, but no one was as crazy as Caligula. Suetonius' mini-biographies of the Caesars is a mix of political/military biography and gossip tatler, so his skills and approach work perfectly with Caligula's reputaton for tyranical incest, cruelty, and debauchery.
One has to be a bit careful with Suetonius (especially with his style and approach) since he was writing about 80 years after Caligula's death. Some of the more fantastic things about Caligula (making a horse a consul, sleeping with his sisters) might just also be manufactured by his enemies. That isn't saying Caligula was a great man, but perhaps he isn't as bad as everyone says (including Suetonius or Graves). Life isn't a movie staring John Hurt.
April 17, 2016
“Let them hate me, so long as they fear me.�
This was terrifying, terrifying because a man such as this actually had control of an entire Empire. How could such a thing happen? His peers clearly noticed he wasn’t exactly normal. I wonder if power sent him mad or madness sent him to power. People were clearly afraid of this guy. Who in their right mind would sit down to dinner, and watch a round of torture for entertainment?
"Everything that Gaius said and did was marked with equal cruelty, even during his hours of rest and amusement and banquetry. He frequently had trials of torture held in his presence while he was eating or otherwise enjoying himself, and kept an expert headsman in readiness to decapitate the prisoners brought in from jail."
But that’s the point. Caligula wasn’t in his right mind. From incest to praying for disaster, so his reign would have something memorable to mark it with, Caligula did it all. Murder, death threats and torture were his hobbies. Criticising his most recent sexual partner’s performance at dinner parties in which their entire family was invited was just an easy laugh for him. Stealing the wealth of the aristocracy, by forcing them to name him as their heir, was just a way of staying in power. He even punished his subordinates for carrying out his exact orders, and killed others for failing to do so. How could anybody win with this guy?
All in all, it wasn't a very good time to be alive in Rome. Caligula must have been a truly impossible man to serve under. Nobody was safe during his reign. He even proclaimed himself a God. The last paragraph of this biography says it all for me:
“On the night before his assassination he dreamed that he was standing beside Jupiter’s heavenly throne, when the god kicked him with the great toe of his right foot and sent him tumbling down to earth.�
This is a really interesting account. It’s not really impartial, but judging by the material, it would be hard to be. Caligula was just too absurd. Men like him are why Rome fell. It almost felt, at times, that Suetonius was attempting dry humour. I certainly laughed, even if it was in a benign way, at the ridiculousness and evilness of Caligula. He’s a man that should never have been in power.
Penguin Little Black Classic- 17
The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection.
This was terrifying, terrifying because a man such as this actually had control of an entire Empire. How could such a thing happen? His peers clearly noticed he wasn’t exactly normal. I wonder if power sent him mad or madness sent him to power. People were clearly afraid of this guy. Who in their right mind would sit down to dinner, and watch a round of torture for entertainment?
"Everything that Gaius said and did was marked with equal cruelty, even during his hours of rest and amusement and banquetry. He frequently had trials of torture held in his presence while he was eating or otherwise enjoying himself, and kept an expert headsman in readiness to decapitate the prisoners brought in from jail."
But that’s the point. Caligula wasn’t in his right mind. From incest to praying for disaster, so his reign would have something memorable to mark it with, Caligula did it all. Murder, death threats and torture were his hobbies. Criticising his most recent sexual partner’s performance at dinner parties in which their entire family was invited was just an easy laugh for him. Stealing the wealth of the aristocracy, by forcing them to name him as their heir, was just a way of staying in power. He even punished his subordinates for carrying out his exact orders, and killed others for failing to do so. How could anybody win with this guy?
All in all, it wasn't a very good time to be alive in Rome. Caligula must have been a truly impossible man to serve under. Nobody was safe during his reign. He even proclaimed himself a God. The last paragraph of this biography says it all for me:
“On the night before his assassination he dreamed that he was standing beside Jupiter’s heavenly throne, when the god kicked him with the great toe of his right foot and sent him tumbling down to earth.�
This is a really interesting account. It’s not really impartial, but judging by the material, it would be hard to be. Caligula was just too absurd. Men like him are why Rome fell. It almost felt, at times, that Suetonius was attempting dry humour. I certainly laughed, even if it was in a benign way, at the ridiculousness and evilness of Caligula. He’s a man that should never have been in power.
Penguin Little Black Classic- 17
The Little Black Classic Collection by penguin looks like it contains lots of hidden gems. I couldn’t help it; they looked so good that I went and bought them all. I shall post a short review after reading each one. No doubt it will take me several months to get through all of them! Hopefully I will find some classic authors, from across the ages, that I may not have come across had I not bought this collection.
March 23, 2015
Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, aka Caligula (Latin for “little soldier’s boot�, a childhood nickname), if he’s known by anyone today, it’s for being the maddest emperor of Ancient Rome - and there were a few mental bastards! The impression stems from incidents like trying to make his horse head of the Senate and thinking he was a god who could talk to the sea.
This short book in Penguin’s Little Black Classics series, celebrating Penguin’s 80th anniversary, is an extract from Suetonius� The Twelve Caesars, translated by Robert Graves. Though writing 80 years after Caligula’s death, a lot of what we know about the emperor’s short four year reign comes from Suetonius as all of the primary sources have been destroyed.
While his reputation is uniformly negative overall, it seems the first few months of his reign were surprisingly positive. The people were happy to see him as ruler after the cruel Tiberius. But something about Caligula changed and he quickly became a sadistic, brutal and vicious tyrant, hellbent on bankrupting Rome, having far too much sex with anyone and everyone’s wives, including having incestuous relations with his three sisters, and killing anyone on a whim.
A bald man, excessively hairy elsewhere, and prone to making snarling faces to frighten people, Suetonius makes clear Caligula was not a handsome man, who had any good-looking men who crossed his path executed for making him look bad! But then he didn’t need reasons for killing - boredom was frequently cited as motive enough.
And though his erratic behaviour might be attributed to a chronic insomnia (he could only sleep a maximum of three hours a night) and epilepsy, Suetonius hints that the mysterious treatment of an illness from Caligula’s first year is what exacerbated and/or caused the sudden personality change from benign ruler to the very definition of absolute power corrupting absolutely.
This is a shallow criticism as Suetonius was a first century writer and I’m reading this two millennia later, but I found the writing style to be a bit dry and unengaging. Suetonius has no sense of telling a story even though he’s writing narrative history. He just lists things, one after the other. And while they are shocking details, reading them one after the other as they’re presented makes them seem less so just because it’s so unrelenting. Informative yes, but not terribly enjoyable and not an effective way of conveying the material - that’s just me though.
It’s interesting that Caligula shared some similarities with his more famous ancestor, Julius Caesar: both were epileptics who were assassinated by being stabbed to death dozens of times, and both assassinations were led by a man named Cassius.
Caligula’s a fascinating historical figure mostly because of his breathtakingly insane actions, which is why his name is synonymous with madness today. It’s unimaginable how decadent and destructive a ruler could have been allowed to carry on as long as he did, and yet he was. The Romans were a smart bunch but they were really quite dumb when it came to selecting their rulers (I wonder if our descendants will look back at our time and think the same thing - George W Bush was re-elected)!
Suetonius� account of Caligula is a brief and informative look at this bizarre man’s life. That said, I much prefer the translator Robert Graves� own fictional depiction of Caligula from his novel, I, Claudius.
This short book in Penguin’s Little Black Classics series, celebrating Penguin’s 80th anniversary, is an extract from Suetonius� The Twelve Caesars, translated by Robert Graves. Though writing 80 years after Caligula’s death, a lot of what we know about the emperor’s short four year reign comes from Suetonius as all of the primary sources have been destroyed.
While his reputation is uniformly negative overall, it seems the first few months of his reign were surprisingly positive. The people were happy to see him as ruler after the cruel Tiberius. But something about Caligula changed and he quickly became a sadistic, brutal and vicious tyrant, hellbent on bankrupting Rome, having far too much sex with anyone and everyone’s wives, including having incestuous relations with his three sisters, and killing anyone on a whim.
A bald man, excessively hairy elsewhere, and prone to making snarling faces to frighten people, Suetonius makes clear Caligula was not a handsome man, who had any good-looking men who crossed his path executed for making him look bad! But then he didn’t need reasons for killing - boredom was frequently cited as motive enough.
And though his erratic behaviour might be attributed to a chronic insomnia (he could only sleep a maximum of three hours a night) and epilepsy, Suetonius hints that the mysterious treatment of an illness from Caligula’s first year is what exacerbated and/or caused the sudden personality change from benign ruler to the very definition of absolute power corrupting absolutely.
This is a shallow criticism as Suetonius was a first century writer and I’m reading this two millennia later, but I found the writing style to be a bit dry and unengaging. Suetonius has no sense of telling a story even though he’s writing narrative history. He just lists things, one after the other. And while they are shocking details, reading them one after the other as they’re presented makes them seem less so just because it’s so unrelenting. Informative yes, but not terribly enjoyable and not an effective way of conveying the material - that’s just me though.
It’s interesting that Caligula shared some similarities with his more famous ancestor, Julius Caesar: both were epileptics who were assassinated by being stabbed to death dozens of times, and both assassinations were led by a man named Cassius.
Caligula’s a fascinating historical figure mostly because of his breathtakingly insane actions, which is why his name is synonymous with madness today. It’s unimaginable how decadent and destructive a ruler could have been allowed to carry on as long as he did, and yet he was. The Romans were a smart bunch but they were really quite dumb when it came to selecting their rulers (I wonder if our descendants will look back at our time and think the same thing - George W Bush was re-elected)!
Suetonius� account of Caligula is a brief and informative look at this bizarre man’s life. That said, I much prefer the translator Robert Graves� own fictional depiction of Caligula from his novel, I, Claudius.
December 8, 2015
Robert Graves' translation is superb, a fine piece of writing.
This slim tome of only 58 pages is an exuberant piece of work and has what a number of these slim tomes are missing, which is the "Need to read the rest of this classic piece".
To some this may seem a rushed and condensed work that leaves many questions, good, then it has worked it's magic.
Caligula's madness was supreme, (especially if you like the classics):
He wanted to supress Homers poetry, have Virgil's work removed from the library as "A man of little knowledge and even less skill", along with Livy considered "A wordy and innacurate historian".
Would go into a rage if Agrippa was mentioned or praised. Hmm that's what is called a serious dislike of your grandfather.
Such a pleasure to read, makes one want to read more about the people and events.
This was to be a four star rating but deserves better.
This slim tome of only 58 pages is an exuberant piece of work and has what a number of these slim tomes are missing, which is the "Need to read the rest of this classic piece".
To some this may seem a rushed and condensed work that leaves many questions, good, then it has worked it's magic.
Caligula's madness was supreme, (especially if you like the classics):
He wanted to supress Homers poetry, have Virgil's work removed from the library as "A man of little knowledge and even less skill", along with Livy considered "A wordy and innacurate historian".
Would go into a rage if Agrippa was mentioned or praised. Hmm that's what is called a serious dislike of your grandfather.
Such a pleasure to read, makes one want to read more about the people and events.
This was to be a four star rating but deserves better.
January 28, 2022
Pēdējā laika politiskie notikumi kaut kā pavilka uz Kaligulas biogrāfijas lasīšanu. Traks valdnieks, kurš nolēma nāvei tūkstošus. Sounds familiar...Kā reiz teica Lords Aktons - "vara samaitā un absolūta vara samaitā absolūti".
March 27, 2017
"So much for Gaius the Emperor; the rest of this history must needs deal with Gaius the Monster."
Men that one might call strange or besides themselves can suddenly become dangerous and scary when in power. The Roman emperor Caligula was one of those. In this Little Black Classic we are presented the exciting and terrifying biography of a man who pronounced himself a god.
Caligula was both physically and mentally ill, but what defines him is his sheer madness. He had a violent temper, a sense for cruelty and made use of a brutal language. Many of his actions described in this book made me shudder. He would let men be killed for all kinds of made up reasons, would go home with women on their day of marriage (to other men) and torture people just for the fun of it.
"His prosperity of his own reign, he said, would lead to its being wholly forgotten, and he often prayed for a great military catastrophe or for famine, plague, fire or at least an earthquake."
If you are interested in the Roman Empire or Caligula specifically, this book gives just the right amount of insight. As far as I can judge I'd call this a great translation as well, considering Suetonius was a first century writer, it read fluently and easily.
In 2015 Penguin introduced the Little Black Classics series to celebrate Penguin's 80th birthday. Including little stories from "around the world and across many centuries" as the publisher describes, I have been intrigued to read those for a long time, before finally having started. I hope to sooner or later read and review all of them!
Men that one might call strange or besides themselves can suddenly become dangerous and scary when in power. The Roman emperor Caligula was one of those. In this Little Black Classic we are presented the exciting and terrifying biography of a man who pronounced himself a god.
Caligula was both physically and mentally ill, but what defines him is his sheer madness. He had a violent temper, a sense for cruelty and made use of a brutal language. Many of his actions described in this book made me shudder. He would let men be killed for all kinds of made up reasons, would go home with women on their day of marriage (to other men) and torture people just for the fun of it.
"His prosperity of his own reign, he said, would lead to its being wholly forgotten, and he often prayed for a great military catastrophe or for famine, plague, fire or at least an earthquake."
If you are interested in the Roman Empire or Caligula specifically, this book gives just the right amount of insight. As far as I can judge I'd call this a great translation as well, considering Suetonius was a first century writer, it read fluently and easily.
In 2015 Penguin introduced the Little Black Classics series to celebrate Penguin's 80th birthday. Including little stories from "around the world and across many centuries" as the publisher describes, I have been intrigued to read those for a long time, before finally having started. I hope to sooner or later read and review all of them!
July 30, 2020
Read all my reviews on
Suetonius and I go way back. In Latin class, we were forced to watch these less than inspiring documentaries on Roman Emperors that were filled with quotes from, among others: Suetonius. As such, I was looking forward to reading this Little Black Classic. Also, because if there ever was a mad man in power, it has to be Caligula, who allegedly planned to make his horse a consul in order to ridicule the senate (which would be one of the least cruel things he did).
It made an interesting read. It is of course written quite some time after his death and as such it is flavored in the politics of that time, but it is absolutely clear how cruel the man was and how unfit a ruler.
~Little Black Classics #17~
Suetonius and I go way back. In Latin class, we were forced to watch these less than inspiring documentaries on Roman Emperors that were filled with quotes from, among others: Suetonius. As such, I was looking forward to reading this Little Black Classic. Also, because if there ever was a mad man in power, it has to be Caligula, who allegedly planned to make his horse a consul in order to ridicule the senate (which would be one of the least cruel things he did).
It made an interesting read. It is of course written quite some time after his death and as such it is flavored in the politics of that time, but it is absolutely clear how cruel the man was and how unfit a ruler.
~Little Black Classics #17~
February 7, 2017
Horrifying, but also weirdly fascinating. It's sort of amazing that Caligula was tolerated as emperor as long as he was (nearly four years), given the level of his vicious, flamboyant insanity, but according to Suetonius he was initially quite popular among the common people and the military. He started by staging some spectacularly extravagant performances and making some dramatic shows of sympathy for wronged Roman citizens, and it required truly egregious behavior to exhaust the tolerance of his supporters. But he was up to the task and then some. Unrestrained lechery, exhibitionism, sadism, egomania, paranoia... Suetonius tells us that
Furthermore, Suetonius tells us that, always desperate for the spotlight,
One wonders whether it was ultimately his erratic savagery or his sheer ludicrousness that inspired the tribunes and Praetorian prefects who ultimately murdered him. Likely both, I suppose. Anyway, Suetonius's narrative, offered here as No. 17 in Penguin's “Little Black Classics� series and extracted from Robert Graves's translation of Suetonius's , is appalling but... lively.
”He nearly assumed a royal diadem then and there, transforming an ostensible principate into an actual kingdom. However, after his courtiers reminded him that he already outranked any king or local ruler, he insisted on being treated as a god � arranging for the most revered or artistically famous statues of the gods, including that of Jupiter at Olympia, to be brought to Greece and have their heads replaced by his own.... He established a shrine to his own godhead, with priests, the costliest possible victims, and a life-sized golden image, which was dressed every day in clothes identical with those that he happened to be wearing.�
Furthermore, Suetonius tells us that, always desperate for the spotlight,
”Anger incited him [Caligula] to a flood of verbiage; he moved about excitedly while speaking, and his voice carried a great distance. At the start of each speech he would threaten to 'draw the sword which he had forged in his midnight study'; yet he so despised more elegant and melodious styles that he discounted Seneca...
Gaius [Caligula] practiced many other arts � most enthusiastically too. He made appearances as a Thracian gladiator and a charioteer, as a singer and a dancer; he would fight with real weapons and drive chariots in the circuses that he had built in many places. Indeed, he was so proud of his singing and dancing that he could not resist the temptation of supporting the tragic actors at public performances, and would repeat their gestures by way of praise or criticism. On the very day of his death he seems to have ordered an all-night festival so that he could take advantage of the free-and-easy atmosphere to make his stage debut. He often danced even at night, and once, at the close of the second watch, summoned three senators of consular rank to the palace; arriving half-dead with fear, they were conducted to a stage upon which, amid a tremendous racket of flutes and castanets, Gaius suddenly burst, dressed in a shawl and an ankle length tunic; he performed a song and dance, and disappeared as suddenly as he had entered.�
One wonders whether it was ultimately his erratic savagery or his sheer ludicrousness that inspired the tribunes and Praetorian prefects who ultimately murdered him. Likely both, I suppose. Anyway, Suetonius's narrative, offered here as No. 17 in Penguin's “Little Black Classics� series and extracted from Robert Graves's translation of Suetonius's , is appalling but... lively.
February 14, 2016
This is a snippet from his famous work "The Tweleve Caesars," and I enjoyed going back and reading my favourite of his Caesars, but again, the translation lacked. Since I have already read another translation of this work, this one fell very short. But, I adore that they chose Caligula. He believed himself to be a god, and among the Caesars, he was the most insane. We are introduced at first to all the good things he did, and then we get to what he will be remembered the most: "So much for Gaius the Emperor; the rest of this history must deal with Gaius the Monster." Bad translation or not, this can be read and appreciated nonetheless.
March 5, 2018
Let them hate me, so long as they fear me.
Sweet mother of all that is good and pure - a promising start, a 25-year-old hailed by his people as the new savior, and then nearly four years of complete terror, whimsical executions, depravity, tons of money squandered on self-absorbed undertakings. An endless source of all kinds of cruel acts due to the corruption begotten by absolute power. A creature beyond human understanding.
Oh yeah, fine writing, Suetonius. I'll get back to you.
March 05, 18
February 9, 2021
A delightfully foppish emperor
August 11, 2020
As usual, Suetonius makes a good job of giving us an extremely detailed memoir of the character being discussed, although it lacks in some regards such as when dealing with rumors and fantastical stories as though they were through. Nonetheless, a most interesting read on one of history's most horrible and monstrous Emperors.
March 21, 2021
[4]
Importantes datos sobre uno de los emperadores más llamativos del Imperio Romano. Sin embargo, Suetonio demoniza demasiado la figura del propio Calígula y pierde a mi parecer credibilidad. De todos modos, una fuente a tomar en cuenta, mucho más informándome como estoy para una novela sobre este personaje.
Importantes datos sobre uno de los emperadores más llamativos del Imperio Romano. Sin embargo, Suetonio demoniza demasiado la figura del propio Calígula y pierde a mi parecer credibilidad. De todos modos, una fuente a tomar en cuenta, mucho más informándome como estoy para una novela sobre este personaje.
February 8, 2024
Oof next time I say I want to time travel to Ancient Rome remind me not to go when Goat Man Little Boots is in power, yikes!
May 24, 2016
An excerpt, or collection of excerpts (I couldn't tell if they were consecutive or not) from Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars or The Twelve Caesars.
On the whole I was a bit disappointed with this. I am sure that when I was at school we read about the debauchery of Caligula in Classics class, and it was all booze and orgies, murders and incest. I was looking forward to a highlights package condensed into 60 pages.
What was delivered was more of a potted history - his family background, yes - a whole lot of murders, a bit of sister-shagging (only the youngest one), and some more murders, but it wasn't particularly engaging. I think they really missed a trick, and could have done a lot better with selecting the excerpts, and/or some heavy editing.
Still 3 stars of five, but could have been so much more.
The best part was quoted on the title page: Because of his baldness and hairiness, he announced that it was a capital offence for anyone either to look down on him as he passed or to mention goats in any context. ... Goats?
On the whole I was a bit disappointed with this. I am sure that when I was at school we read about the debauchery of Caligula in Classics class, and it was all booze and orgies, murders and incest. I was looking forward to a highlights package condensed into 60 pages.
What was delivered was more of a potted history - his family background, yes - a whole lot of murders, a bit of sister-shagging (only the youngest one), and some more murders, but it wasn't particularly engaging. I think they really missed a trick, and could have done a lot better with selecting the excerpts, and/or some heavy editing.
Still 3 stars of five, but could have been so much more.
The best part was quoted on the title page: Because of his baldness and hairiness, he announced that it was a capital offence for anyone either to look down on him as he passed or to mention goats in any context. ... Goats?
March 6, 2016
For me, Caligula will always be John Hurt dancing. That scene, from I Claudius where Hurt prances in front of Derek Jacobi and two other politicos that mini-series has influenced how I see Livia and Claudius. So Caligula is John Hurt.
This Penguins Little Classic is Suetonius� chronicle of Caligula, and thorough Suetonius� history does rely on rumor and story, it is still a good read. Even today, it still speaks largely to politics. More importantly, Suetonius seems to be puzzled, as most people are, when looking at the two Caligulas � the good that everyone and the nut. This is something that we still puzzle over today � Ben Carson seemed far more normal when he was a simple brain surgeon. Now, well.
Suetonius is part gossip mag, part sex tape (without the blue dress) and part wonderment.
This Penguins Little Classic is Suetonius� chronicle of Caligula, and thorough Suetonius� history does rely on rumor and story, it is still a good read. Even today, it still speaks largely to politics. More importantly, Suetonius seems to be puzzled, as most people are, when looking at the two Caligulas � the good that everyone and the nut. This is something that we still puzzle over today � Ben Carson seemed far more normal when he was a simple brain surgeon. Now, well.
Suetonius is part gossip mag, part sex tape (without the blue dress) and part wonderment.
October 28, 2018
Shelving this as non-fiction? Debatable.
Thanks to some really interesting secondary texts and seminar discussions, I'm now low-key obsessed with Emperor Caligula and whether he was truly as mad as Suetonius describes him to be. I mean, most of his "senseless" actions (his horse, anyone?) can be rationalized pretty easily when looking at the bigger picture.
I'm not saying that he was in actuality a great guy - he was definitely a cruel and brutal tyrant - but maybe, just maybe we shouldn't trust a biography that was written about 80 years after his death and includes sources like "my grandfather told me".
Thanks to some really interesting secondary texts and seminar discussions, I'm now low-key obsessed with Emperor Caligula and whether he was truly as mad as Suetonius describes him to be. I mean, most of his "senseless" actions (his horse, anyone?) can be rationalized pretty easily when looking at the bigger picture.
I'm not saying that he was in actuality a great guy - he was definitely a cruel and brutal tyrant - but maybe, just maybe we shouldn't trust a biography that was written about 80 years after his death and includes sources like "my grandfather told me".
March 14, 2023
positivt overrasket!
føles lidt som at læse en god omgang sladder,
kan se ud fra noter i den samlede udgave at man nok får mere ud af teksten hvis man læser om kejserne i rækkefølge så skal genlæse Caligula når jeg engang tager mig sammen til at læse hele Suetonius <3
føles lidt som at læse en god omgang sladder,
kan se ud fra noter i den samlede udgave at man nok får mere ud af teksten hvis man læser om kejserne i rækkefølge så skal genlæse Caligula når jeg engang tager mig sammen til at læse hele Suetonius <3
December 12, 2024
“Caligula would have bluuuuushed� ~M*rrisey
Caligula was an odd one fr
Caligula was an odd one fr
Read
January 22, 2024knew a guy in secondary school named gaius as well. he was an incredible asshole. never has there been a more satisfying (and petty) indulgence than reading this and imagining that Suetonius was talking shit about that particular guy.
April 22, 2025
Couldn't help but skip to the Caligula chapter while reading Suetonius' The Lives of the Caesars before finishing the whole book.
"At a rather elegant dinner he suddenly roared with laughter and when the consuls, who were lying nearby, politely asked him why he was laughing, replied: 'Why else than because just a nod on my part would be enough to have either of you slaughtered at once?' Among his other jokes, he once asked the actor Apelles, when he was next to a statue of Jupiter, which of them was the greater and when Apelles hesitated to answer, he had him flayed with scourges, praising the quality of his voice, as he cried out for mercy, as delightful even when groaning. Whenever he kissed the neck of a wife or a mistress, he would add: 'This lovely neck would be severed the minute I gave the order.' Indeed, from time to time he would exclaim that he might even have to use torture on his own Caesonia to find out from her why he loved her so very much."
"At a rather elegant dinner he suddenly roared with laughter and when the consuls, who were lying nearby, politely asked him why he was laughing, replied: 'Why else than because just a nod on my part would be enough to have either of you slaughtered at once?' Among his other jokes, he once asked the actor Apelles, when he was next to a statue of Jupiter, which of them was the greater and when Apelles hesitated to answer, he had him flayed with scourges, praising the quality of his voice, as he cried out for mercy, as delightful even when groaning. Whenever he kissed the neck of a wife or a mistress, he would add: 'This lovely neck would be severed the minute I gave the order.' Indeed, from time to time he would exclaim that he might even have to use torture on his own Caesonia to find out from her why he loved her so very much."
October 18, 2015
Suetonius is one of the greatest biographers. Honestly, who cares about objective studies and accuracy when you can have Sutonius' entertaining tales?
June 14, 2020
It's too nuts, you couldn't make it up.
October 6, 2020
A fascinating history from an almost contemporary source. From the way it was written it seems that it was written a generation or two after Caligula's Assassination, so unlikely to be completely accurate but a better source than many of the ones out there.
I think everyone knows a little about the story of Caligula, and this builds on that and offers some background on his family and his rise to Emperor, as well as detail about his many exploits, tantrums, forays, etc.
Hardly riveting, but interesting.
I think everyone knows a little about the story of Caligula, and this builds on that and offers some background on his family and his rise to Emperor, as well as detail about his many exploits, tantrums, forays, etc.
Hardly riveting, but interesting.
April 3, 2021
just a bunch of people mistreating women and killing everybody they see in sight
I do know many forms of torture now because of this book so my knowledge has expanded and I will be a tiny tiny tiny bit harder to beat in trivial pursuit.
would be a 1 star but the writing was splendid
I do know many forms of torture now because of this book so my knowledge has expanded and I will be a tiny tiny tiny bit harder to beat in trivial pursuit.
would be a 1 star but the writing was splendid
December 20, 2018
"So much for Caligula as emperor; we must now tell of his career as a monster." :)
Страхотен Светоний.
Страхотен Светоний.
January 28, 2019
Shockingly concise and clear and whilst full of gossip and clearly biased views when it comes to the Senate vs emperor, it's one of the better histories of Caligula I've come across and certainly the most complete.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 151 reviews
Can't find what you're looking for?
Get help and learn more about the design.