Then he suddenly sent to the provinces for
lollia paulina, wife of gaius Memmius, the
consular army commander, because somebody
had remarked that her grandmother was once a
famous beauty; but he soon discarded her, for
bidding her ever again to sleep with another
man. Caesonia was neither young nor beautiful
and had three daughters by a former husband,
besides being recklessly extravagant and utterly
promiscuous, yet he loved her with a passion
ate faithfulness and often, when reviewing the
troops, used to take her out riding in helmet,
cloak, and shield. For his friends he even pa
raded her naked, but he would not allow her
the dignified title of wife until she had borne
him a child, whereupon he announced the mar
riage and the birth simultaneously. He named
the child Julia drusilla and carried her around
the temples of all the goddesses in turn before
finally entrusting her to the lap of Minerva,
whom he called upon to supervise his daugh
ter’s growth and education. What he regarded
as the surest proof of his paternity was her vio
lent temper: while still an infant, she would try
to scratch out her little playmates’ eyes.
Suetonius, from lives of the Caesars. Born
Gaius Caesar in 12, Caligula as a boy received
his nickname, meaning “Little Boot,” from the
soldiers serving in the legions his father Germanicus
commanded. Becoming emperor at the age of
twenty-five, he distinguished himself as a despot
by killing the prefect of the praetorian guard in 38
and ordering the construction of a bridge of ships
stretching across the Bay of Naples—a distance of
almost two miles—in 39. After a few conspiratorial
plots, a tribune of the praetorian guard assassinated
Caligula in 41.
