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having been able, he met such an end. (9) And his friends and relatives were unjustly destroyed. So much so that the senate was depleted, so that it was not even sufficient for the annual elections. And once, when urged by his friends, he uttered this ancient saying: When I am dead, let the earth be mingled with fire. And he often called Priam blessed, because he perished with his fatherland and his kingdom. (10) Thus, then, he administered his rule, employing dreadful cruelty, abominable greed, and shameful love of pleasure. And having campaigned against the Persians, he returned on terms of a treaty. Suidas v. Tiberius. "But being excellent in his youth and having come to old age, he suddenly changed to a worse disposition, so that he was thought to be insane and driven by a demon to every unholy deed and madness and frenzy, not only in things according to nature, but also in things contrary to nature, and in all injustice and tyranny. And so, having fallen into wickedness, he ends his life." Suid: Tiberius, son of Octavius, emperor of the Romans, administered his rule rashly and foolishly, employing dreadful cruelty, abominable and lawless greed, and shameful love of pleasure; for he himself refused all campaigning, but through his generals he warred against his enemies stingily and lazily *. And being of an evil character, there were some allied kings whom he deceitfully deprived of their own realms; of whom Archelaus was the king of the Cappadocians, whom, having summoned to him with mild and flattering words, he no longer permitted to return home, but declared Cappadocia a province, and commanded the greatest of the cities there, formerly called Mazaca by its inhabitants, to bear its name from himself; which in our time is named after Caesar. Nevertheless, having advanced to a great old age, he dies.

80 Exc. De ins.: That Herod who beheaded the Forerunner, having become swollen, was judged for 8 months, and was slain with a sword in his own bedchamber, with his wife, as they say, being complicit.

81 Ibid.: That in the time of the emperor Tiberius, the Lord Jesus, being 33 years old, was accused by the Jews of overthrowing their glory, and introducing another, new one. And gathering together, all of them in Jerusalem, they stirred up a revolt against him, pouring out blasphemies against both God and Caesar. From there taking courage, and seizing him by night, they handed him over to Pontius Pilate the governor; who, whether through fear of the crowd, or through the promise of money, having found no cause, ordered him to be crucified. And when he was crucified, there was a great earthquake and darkness over all the earth. And having tasted death, he rose from the dead on the third day, and was taken up into the heavens. Many who saw and wrote have become witnesses.

82 CAIUS CALIGULA.

Exc. De virt.: That Gaius became a most foul and unholy man. And

having gathered together such a torrent of evils, he overshadowed the shortcomings of Tiberius. For what Augustus acquired over a long time, this man squandered in a single day. And having become the most adulterous of men, he would take women who were betrothed and married. And having rebuked his own nurse for her folly, he brought her to the necessity of a voluntary death. And he had relations with his sisters and engaged in unlawful unions, so as to become the father of an unholy offspring born to him from one of his sisters. And he arranged for temples and sacrifices to be made to him as to a demigod.

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δυνηθεὶς, τοιοῦτον ἔσχε τέλος. (9) Φίλοι δὲ αὐτοῦ καὶ συγγενεῖς ἀδίκως διεφθείροντο. Ὡς τοσοῦτον ἐκλεῖψαι τὴν σύγκλητον, ὥστε μηδὲ ἐς τὰς κατ' ἔτος ἀρχαιρεσίας διαρκεῖν. Παρακαλούμενός τέ ποτε ὑπὸ τῶν φίλων τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ἀρχαῖον ἐφθέγξατο· Ἐμοῦ θανόντος γαῖα μιχθήτω πυρί. Πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τὸν Πρίαμον ἐμακάρισεν, ὅτι μετὰ τῆς πατρίδος ἀπώλετο καὶ τῆς βασιλείας. (10) Οὕτω τοίνυν τὴν ἀρχὴν διῳκήσατο, φοβερᾷ μὲν ὠμότητι, μυσαρᾷ δὲ πλεονεξίᾳ, αἰσχρᾷ τε ἡδυπαθείᾳ χρησάμενος. Καὶ στρατεύσας κατὰ Περσῶν ἐπὶ συνθήκαις ὑπέστρεψεν. Suidas v. Τιβέριος. «Ἄριστος δὲ ὑπάρχων ἐν νεότητι καὶ πρὸς γῆρας ἐλθὼν αἰφνίδιον εἰς τὴν χείρονα μετεβλήθη γνώμην, ὥστε καὶ παραφρονεῖν αὐτὸν νομισθῆναι καὶ ὑπὸ δαίμονος ἐλαύνεσθαι πρὸς πᾶσαν ἀνοσιουργίαν τε καὶ μανίαν καὶ οἰστρηλασίαν, οὐ μόνον ἐν τοῖς κατὰ φύσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς παρὰ φύσιν, καὶ ἐν πάσῃ ἀδικίᾳ καὶ τυραννίδι. Οὕτω δὲ μεταπεσὼν εἰς κακίαν καταστρέφει τὸν βίον.» Suid: Τιβέριος, Ὀκταβίου υἱὸς, βασιλεὺς Ῥωμαίων, ἐμπλήκτως καὶ ἀνοήτως τὴν ἀρχὴν διῳκήσατο, φοβερᾷ μὲν ὠμότητι, μυσαρᾷ δὲ καὶ ἀθέσμῳ πλεονεξίᾳ, αἰσχρᾷ τε ἡδυπαθείᾳ χρησάμενος· στρατείαν μὲν γὰρ ἅπασαν αὐτὸς ἠρνήσατο, διὰ δὲ τῶν ὑποστρατήγων γλίσχρως καὶ ῥᾳθύμως τοῖς ἐναντίοις προσπολεμῶν *. Κακοήθης δὲ ὢν ἔστιν οὓς τῶν συμμάχων βασιλεῖς τῶν οἰκείων ἀρχῶν ἀπάτῃ μετελθὼν ἀφείλετο· ὧν Ἀρχέλαος ἦν ὁ Καππαδόκων βασιλεὺς, ὃν ἠπίοις καὶ θεραπευτικοῖς καλέσας ὡς ἑαυτὸν λόγοις, οὐκέτι πρὸς τὴν οἰκείαν ἀπονοστῆσαι συνεχώρησεν, ἀλλ' ἐπαρχίαν τὴν Καππαδοκίαν ἀπέφηνε, καὶ τὴν μεγίστην τῶν τῇδε πόλεων, Μάζακα ἔμπροσθεν ὑπὸ τῶν ἐποίκων ὀνομαζομένην, ἀφ' ἑαυτοῦ φέρειν τὴν προσηγορίαν ἐπέταξεν· ἥπερ δὴ καθ' ἡμᾶς Καίσαρός ἐστι ἐπώνυμος. Ἐς γῆρας δὲ ὅμως μακρὸν προελθὼν θνήσκει.

80 Exc. De ins.: Ὅτι Ἡρώδης ὁ τὸν Πρόδρομον ἀποκεφαλίσας, γενόμενος ἐμπληθὴς, ἐκρίνετο μῆνας ηʹ, καὶ κατὰ τὸν αὐτοῦ κοιτῶνα ἀνῃρέθη ξίφει, συνειδυίας, ὥς φασι, καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ.

81 Ibid.: Ὅτι ἐπὶ Τιβερίου τοῦ βασιλέως γενόμενος ὁ Κύριος Ἰησοῦς ἐτῶν λγʹ, ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων κατηγορεῖτο, ὡς καταλύων αὐτῶν τὴν δόξαν, καὶ ἑτέραν ἀντεισάγων καινήν. Καὶ συναχθέντες ἅπαντες ἐν Ἱεροσολύμοις, στάσιν ἐκίνουν κατ' αὐτοῦ, βλασφημίας καταχέοντες εἴς τε τὸν Θεὸν καὶ τὸν Καίσαρα. Ἐντεῦθεν παρρησίαν λαβόντες, καὶ κρατήσαντες αὐτὸν ἐν νυκτὶ, παρέδωκαν Ποντίῳ Πιλάτῳ τῷ ἡγεμόνι· ὅστις εἴτε διὰ δειλίαν τοῦ πλήθους, εἴτε δι' ἐπαγγελίαν χρημάτων, μηδεμίαν αἰτίαν εὑρηκὼς, ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν σταυρωθῆναι. Καὶ σταυρωθέντος αὐτοῦ, σεισμὸς ἐγένετο μέγας καὶ σκότος ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. Γευσάμενος δὲ θανάτου, ἀνέστη ἀπὸ τῶν νεκρῶν τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ, καὶ ἀνελήφθη εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς. Μάρτυρες γεγόνασι πολλοὶ θεασάμενοι καὶ συγγράψαντες.

82 CAIUS CALIGULA.

Exc. De virt.: Ὅτι ὁ Γάϊος μιαρώτατός τις καὶ ἀνοσιώτατος ἐγένετο. Καὶ

τοσοῦτον ὁρμαθὸν κακῶν συνειληφὼς ἐπεκάλυψε τὰ τοῦ Τιβερίου μειονεκτήματα. Ὅσα γὰρ τῷ Αὐγούστῳ ἐν πολλῷ χρόνῳ περιεποιήθη, οὗτος ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ ἀπεκτήσατο. Μοιχικώτατός τε ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος καὶ γυναῖκας ἡρμοσμένας καὶ γεγαμημένας ἐλάμβανε. Τήν τε ἑαυτοῦ τιθήνην ἐπιτιμήσας ἀνοίας ἐς ἀνάγκην ἑκουσίου θανάτου κατέστησεν. Ἐχρῆτο δὲ καὶ ταῖς ἀδελφαῖς καὶ παρανόμων ἐκοινώνει μίξεων, ὡς καὶ πατὴρ ἀνοσίας καταστῆναι γονῆς ἐκ μιᾶς αὐτῷ τῶν ἀδελφῶν ἀποκυηθείσης. Ναούς τε καὶ θυσίας ὡς ἡμιθέῳ γίνεσθαι παρεσκεύαζε.