Woods: Kaiserism and Heredity 



349 



believe the worst that has been said 

 about them. The same idea is gained 

 from reading H. F. Pelham's "Early 

 Roman Empire" in the Quarterly Re- 

 z'iezv for April, 1905.^ 



Caligula, who. on his accession, was 

 but twenty-five years old, began his 

 reign very promisingly and ruled in a 

 sensible manner for about eight months, 

 when a sudden sickness overcame him, 

 and ever afterwards his nature was 

 changed. It is highly probable that this 

 disease was a severe form of epilepsy, 

 a malady from which the great Julius 

 Caesar is know to have suffered. Such 

 is the opinion of Baring-Gould, whose 

 characterization of Caligula is pre- 

 sented in the following excerpts, taken 

 from that writer's comprehensive work, 

 "The Tragedy of the Caesars." It may 

 be said in passing that the picture 

 drawn by Professor Quidde was no 

 more sensational than the one con- 

 tained in this seemingly impartial work 

 by Baring-Gould. 



"Now, Caius Caligula we know suf- 

 fered from both the worst form of this 

 disorder [epilepsy] as well as from 

 the less serious ; and there can be little 

 question that the sickness mentioned by 

 the historions, but unfortunately not 

 described by them, was a violent attack 

 of epileptic fits, which when they passed 

 left Caius in a measure deranged. 

 Surely this table speaks for itself." 

 [Baring-Gould has here inserted a 

 small chart showing insanity in six 

 members of the family. The relation- 

 ships of these six and others of the 

 family are shown on the chart, page 

 350, of this journal.] 



"Whatever his malady was, the 

 prince rose from it very much changed, 

 if not in disposition at all events in 

 conduct. If hitherto he had worn a 

 mask, with convalescence he cast it 

 aside ; if for a period of a few months 

 Ije had rejoiced in the favor of the 

 people, and had striven to retain it, he 

 now found a pleasure in striking awe 

 into their hearts, and in dissipating 



every particle of the affection he had 

 inspired. 



"He began to suffer from want of 

 sleep ; he seldom obtained more than 

 three or four hours rest in the night 

 and then could not sleep soundly, as he 

 was disturbed with frightful dreams, 

 fancying that old Ocean conversed with 

 him in roaring tones. Unable to be 

 quiet when sleep forsook him, he would 

 sit up in bed the prey to wild fancies, 

 schemes and terrors, or ramble about 

 the porticos of the palace, looking out 

 for the approach of day. 



THE TYRANT 



"Almost from the moment that he 

 arose from his sick-bed, Caius behaved 

 in a manner the reverse of his previous 

 conduct. Some of his actions were cer- 

 tainly those of a madman, but he had 

 intervals of sense, though he never 

 again returned to the amiable mood of 

 the first stage of his imperial career. 

 To describe in a few words the change 

 that took place in liim, Suetonius says 

 that at first he acted as a prince, after- 

 wards as a monster. 



"At the time of his sickness he had 

 drawn up his will in which he consti- 

 tuted his second sister, Drusilla, to 

 whom he was devotedly attached, heir- 

 ess of his property and of the empire. 

 He snatched her away from her hus- 

 band and associated her with himself in 

 a manner that gave rise to scandal. She 

 had been united to Cassius Longinus by 

 Tiberius, but Caius apparently after his 

 sickness, divorced 1 er from Longfinus 

 and married her to a creature of his 

 own, M. Lepidus, and then took her 

 from Lepidus and startled even dis- 

 solute Rome by the declaration that he 

 proposed marrying her. This relation 

 — even in Rome, not squeamish as to 

 moral scandals — was regarded as one 

 crying out to heaven for vengeance. 

 . . . On medals and on cameos, the 

 heads of Caius and Drusilla appeared 

 together ; and it is possible that he 

 would have carried his daring purpose 



1 A review of the works of nine different writers on Roman history. 



