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He killed that Lepidus, the lover, the beloved, the husband of Drusilla, whom he had honored exceedingly and promised he would have as a successor to his rule; and he banished his own sisters to the Pontian islands, on the grounds that they had been debauched with him; and he has done many other such things. Then, having cast out Paulina, on the pretext that she was barren, but in truth because he had grown tired of her, he married Milonia Caesonia, with whom he had previously committed adultery, and then wished to have her as his wife 3.19, since she was with child, so that she might bear him a child in thirty days. Those in Rome were disturbed by these things, and were disturbed also because very many lawsuits were brought against them for their friendship toward his sisters and toward those who had been murdered, and they expected that both the cruelty and the licentiousness of Gaius would increase still more if the time of his rule should become longer. And while they were so disposed toward him, he, having summoned Ptolemy the son of Juba because he was rich, killed him as well. Living in this manner, he was sure to be plotted against. And he detected the plot, and having arrested Anicius Cerealius and his son Sextus Papinius, he tortured them; and when he revealed nothing, he persuaded Papinius, by promising him safety and immunity, to denounce some men either truly or falsely, and he immediately killed him and the others before his own eyes. And he compelled the father of one of those being killed to be present at his son's execution; and when the man asked if he might close his eyes, he ordered him to be slaughtered as well. But the one in danger pretended to be one of the conspirators, and promised to reveal all the rest, and he named the companions of Gaius and the accomplices of his licentiousness and cruelty. And he would have destroyed many, if he had not also been disbelieved for slandering in addition the prefects and Callistus and Caesonia. And so he died, but for Gaius this very thing 3.20 prepared his destruction. For having called the prefects and Callistus to him in private, he said, "I am one, but you are three; and I am unarmed, but you are armed. If, then, you hate me and wish to kill me, slay me." From that time, believing he was hated and that they were vexed by his actions, he suspected them, and wore a sword even in the city, and he set them against each other, so that they might not be of one mind, by speaking to each one alone as if to his most trusted friend about the others, until they understood his scheme and delivered him over to the conspirators. While the senators were terrified because they had not condemned certain men, a certain Protogenes, who assisted Gaius in his most difficult tasks, so that he even carried about two books, one of which he called the sword, and the other the dagger, entered the senate-house, and while all were greeting him, as was natural, he gave a harsh look to one Scribonius Proclus, saying "And you greet me, when you so hate the emperor?" When those present heard this, they surrounded their fellow senator and tore him to pieces; at which Gaius was pleased and said that he was reconciled to them. And as they flattered him, some calling him a hero, others a god, he became terribly arrogant. For even before he demanded to be considered more than a man, and pretended to consort with the Moon and to be Jupiter, and for this reason especially he made it his pretext to have intercourse with his sisters, and he played the part of all the gods, even the female ones, and became Hera and Artemis and Aphrodite, and to go with the change of names 3.21 he also changed his whole appearance, so that at one time he was seen as effeminate, carrying a mixing bowl and a thyrsus, and at another time as masculine, clad in a club and a lionskin, and again was shown as smooth-shaven or bearded. He both wielded a trident and brandished a thunderbolt, and he resembled a huntress-maiden, and then played the woman again, and was meticulously adorned with dress and attachments and accessories, and wished to appear to be anything rather than a human emperor. And once a certain Gaulish man, seeing him giving judgment on a high throne in the guise of Jupiter, laughed. Learning, then

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Λέπιδον δ' ἐκεῖνον τὸν ἐραστήν, τὸν ἐρώμενον, τὸν τῆς ∆ρουσίλλης ανδρα, ον ὑπερετίμησε καὶ διάδοχον εξειν τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐπηγγέλλετο, εκτεινε· καὶ τὰς ἀδελφὰς τὰς οἰκείας ὡς ἐκείνῳ συμφθαρείσας εἰς τὰς Ποντίους νήσους ἀπήγαγε· καὶ αλλα πολλὰ τοιαῦτα πεποίηκεν. ειτα τὴν Παυλῖναν ἐκβαλών, προφάσει μὲν ὡς μὴ τίκτουσαν, τὸ δ' ἀληθὲς οτι διακορὴς ἐκείνης ἐγένετο, Μιλωνίαν Καισωνίαν εγημεν, ην πρότερον μὲν ἐμοίχευσε, τότε δὲ καὶ γαμετὴν 3.19 ἐσχηκέναι ἠθέλησεν, ἐπειδὴ ἐν γαστρὶ εσχεν, ιν' αὐτῷ παιδίον τέκῃ τριακονθήμερον. Οἱ δ' ἐν τῇ ̔Ρώμῃ ἐταράττοντο μὲν ἐκ τούτων, ἐταράττοντο δὲ καὶ οτι δίκαι σφίσι πλεῖσται ἐπήγοντο ἐπὶ τῇ πρὸς τὰς ἀδελφὰς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ τῇ πρὸς τοὺς πεφονευμένους φιλίᾳ, προσεδόκων δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ πλεῖον τήν τε ὠμότητα τοῦ Γαΐου καὶ τὴν ἀσέλγειαν αὐξήσειν, εἰ ὁ τῆς ἀρχῆς αὐτοῦ χρόνος πλείων γένηται. καὶ οἱ μὲν ουτω διέκειντο πρὸς αὐτόν, ὁ δὲ καὶ τὸν Πτολεμαῖον τὸν τοῦ ̓Ιόβα παῖδα μεταστειλάμενος ὡς πλουτοῦντα κἀκεῖνον ἀπέκτεινε. Τοῦτον δὲ τὸν τρόπον βιοὺς πάντως ἐπιβουλευθήσεσθαι εμελλε. καὶ ἐφώρασε τὴν ἐπίθεσιν, καὶ συλλαβὼν ̓Ανίκιον Κερεάλιον καὶ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ Σέξτον Παπίνιον ἐβασάνισε· καὶ ἐπεὶ μηδὲν ἐξελάλησεν, ἀνέπεισε τὸν Παπίνιον, σωτηρίαν αὐτῷ καὶ αδειαν ὑποσχόμενος, κατειπεῖν τινων η ἀληθῶς η ψευδῶς, καὶ ἐκεῖνον αὐτίκα καὶ τοὺς αλλους ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς αὐτοῦ ἀπέκτεινεν. ἑνὸς δὲ τῶν κτεινομένων καὶ τὸν πατέρα παρεῖναι κατηνάγκασε τοῦ υἱοῦ φονευομένου· πυθόμενόν τε εἰ μύσαι αὐτῷ ἐπιτρέπει, καὶ ἐκεῖνον σφαγῆναι προσέταξεν. ὁ δὲ κινδυνεύων προσεποιήσατο ἐκ τῶν ἐπιβεβουλευκότων ειναι, καὶ τοὺς λοιποὺς πάντας ἐκφῆναι ὑπέσχετο, καὶ ὠνόμασε τούς τε ἑταίρους τοὺς τοῦ Γαΐου καὶ τοὺς συνεργοὺς τῆς ἀσελγείας καὶ τῆς ὠμότητος. καὶ πολλοὺς αν ἀπώλεσεν, εἰ μὴ καὶ τοὺς ὑπάρχους καὶ τὸν Κάλλιστον καὶ τὴν Καισωνίαν προσδιαβαλὼν ἠπιστήθη. Καὶ ὁ μὲν ἀπέθανεν, τῷ δὲ Γαΐῳ τὸν ολεθρον 3.20 αὐτὸ τοῦτο παρεσκεύασεν. ἰδίᾳ γὰρ τοὺς ὑπάρχους τε καὶ τὸν Κάλλιστον προσκαλεσάμενος "εις εἰμι" εφη, "τρεῖς δὲ ὑμεῖς· καὶ γυμνὸς μὲν ἐγώ, ὡπλισμένοι δ' ὑμεῖς. εἰ ουν μισεῖτέ με καὶ ἀποκτείνειν θέλετε, φονεύσατε." ἐξ ἐκείνου δὲ μισεῖσθαι νομίσας καὶ αχθεσθαι τοῖς πραττομένοις ἐκείνους, ὑπώπτευε σφᾶς, καὶ ξίφος κἀν τῇ πόλει παρεζώννυτο, καὶ συνέβαλλεν αὐτοὺς ἀλλήλοις, οπως μὴ συμφρονῶσι κατὰ μόνας ἑκάστῳ ὡς πιστοτάτῳ διαλεγόμενος περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν, μέχρις ου συνέντες τὸ ἐπιχείρημα προήκαντο αὐτὸν τοῖς ἐπιβουλεύουσι. Τῶν δὲ βουλευτῶν, οτι μὴ κατεψηφίσαντό τινων, περιφόβων οντων, Πρωτογένης τις πρὸς τὰ χαλεπώτατα τῷ Γαΐῳ ὑπηρετῶν, ωστε καὶ βιβλία δύο περιφέρειν ων τὸ μὲν ξίφος, τὸ δ' ὠνόμαζεν ἐγχειρίδιον, εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ συνέδριον, καὶ πάντων δεξιουμένων αὐτόν, οια εἰκός, δριμύ τι προσέβλεψεν ἑνὶ Σκριβωνίῳ Πρόκλῳ, εἰπών "καὶ σύ με ἀσπάζῃ, μισῶν ουτω τὸν αὐτοκράτορα;" ἀκούσαντες δὲ τοῦτο οἱ παρόντες περιέσχον τὸν συμβουλευτὴν καὶ διέσπασαν· ἐφ' ῳπερ ησθη ὁ Γάιος καὶ εφη κατηλλάχθαι αὐτοῖς. Θωπευόντων δ' αὐτὸν καὶ τῶν μὲν ηρωα, τῶν δὲ θεὸν ἀποκαλούντων, δεινῶς ἐξεφρόνησεν. ἠξίου μὲν γὰρ καὶ πρότερον ὑπὲρ ανθρωπον νομίζεσθαι, καὶ τῇ Σελήνῃ συγγίνεσθαι καὶ Ζεὺς ειναι ἐπλάττετο, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μάλιστα ταῖς ἀδελφαῖς προεφασίζετο μίγνυσθαι, καὶ πάντας θεοὺς ὑπεκρίνετο, καὶ τὰς θηλείας αὐτάς, καὶ Ηρα καὶ Αρτεμις καὶ ̓Αφροδίτη ἐγίνετο, καὶ πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὀνομάτων μετάθεσιν 3.21 καὶ πᾶν τὸ σχῆμα μετήμειβεν, ὡς ποτὲ μὲν θηλυδρίαν ὁρᾶσθαι αὐτὸν καὶ κρατῆρα καὶ θύρσον φέρειν, ποτὲ δὲ ἀρρενωπὸν καὶ ῥόπαλον καὶ λεοντῆν ἐνημμένον, καὶ αυθις λειογένειον η πωγωνίαν δείκνυσθαι. τρίαινάν τε ἐκράτει καὶ ἀνέτεινε κεραυνόν, παρθένῳ τε κυνηγετικῇ ὡμοιοῦτο, καὶ ἐγυναίκιζεν αυθις, καὶ τῇ στολῇ καὶ τοῖς προσθέτοις καὶ περιθέτοις ἀκριβῶς ἐποικίλλετο, καὶ πάντα μᾶλλον η ανθρωπος δοκεῖν αὐτοκράτωρ ἐβούλετο. καί ποτε ἰδών τις αὐτὸν ἀνὴρ Γαλάτης ἐπὶ δίφρου ὑψηλοῦ ἐν ειδει ∆ιὸς χρηματίζοντα, ἐγέλασε. μαθὼν ουν