352 



The Journal of Heredity 



a sister of Caligula and mother of Nero. 

 Also the mother of Caligula, Agrippina 

 "the VAder," was, according to Baring- 

 Gould, "probably half insane." If we 

 are to trust the rather condemnatory 

 Jacobv, she was "sul)ject to uncontrol- 

 able fits of anger." Other members of 

 the family considered by Baring-Gould 

 to have been insane are Drusus. the 

 brother of Caligula, Agrippa his aunt, 

 and Julia, his grandmother, who is 

 characterized as exhibiting "moral 

 paralysis." All accounts agree as to 

 the .shamelessness of Julia's life. In- 

 deed she is one of the most notorious 

 women mentioned in Roman history. 

 The insanity that ran in the family, the 

 epilepsy ( inherited i)erhai)s in the com- 

 bined strains from Julius Caesar), the 

 concentration of the family degeneracy, 

 in the pedigree, in the persons of the 

 above three — Caligula. Agrippina "the 

 Younger." and Nero — combine to make 

 a very strong case for causation through 

 defective germ-plasm. But it is not 

 by any means the concatenation of in- 

 sanity and moral depravity shown in 

 the pedigree of Caligula that compels 

 us to conclude that his exaggerated 

 traits were the product of inborn de- 

 fects ultimately traceal)le to the chromo- 

 somes of germ-cells. All our modern 

 discoveries in heredity point toward the 

 far-reaching ])rinci])le of segregati(jn 

 of unit characters, more or less definite. 

 and sufificiently clear-cut in outline, or 

 in the nature of their substance, to be 

 spoken of as traits. Here good char- 

 acters alternate with bad. If environ- 

 ment were the chief cause of the de- 

 pravities of some of the members of the 

 Claudian and Julian branches of the 

 house of Caesars (shown on the chart ) 

 we should not expect to find their close 

 relatives failing entirely to exhibit any 

 such defects. 



VIRTTOL'S .MKMIU:i<.S OF Tllli lAMII.V 



Nero Caesar, uncle of Nero and 

 brother of Caligula, is characterized a^s 

 milcl, easy-going ;m(l unauibitious. Ik- 

 is a coiilra^f to his noforiniis kinsmen, 



and in character he resembles his 

 father, (jermanicus. his uncle Claudius 

 and his grandfather Nero CiaucHus 

 I3rusus. The chart shows that a num- 

 ber of the women in both branches of 

 the family were, as far as can be 

 known, Iwth normal and virtuous. 



The old idea that degeneration in 

 families is due to the environment in 

 which they have lived has got to be 

 given up. The modern view that ac- 

 (|uire(l traits are not transmitted is 

 enough in itself to negative such a no- 

 tion. But the principles of the trans- 

 mission of hereditary traits, as we un- 

 derstand them today, explains much 

 that has happened in human history — 

 pure transmissions, combinations, seg- 

 regations, all oliedient to the law of 

 averages. It would seem that nearly 

 all the misery brought into the world 

 by Caligula and Nero came about be- 

 cause a defective royal strain was al- 

 lowed to perpetuate its kind. If roy- 

 alty and its culmination. Caesarism. 

 are to be feared, how very important it 

 must be to guard against the formation 

 of such breeds, before their existence 

 has made their control impossible. Ty- 

 rants work insidi(jusly. '1 he growth of 

 their power is gradual and their own 

 subjects seldom notice the conditions 

 imposed. Exploitation of the masses 

 is easy, for man is n'ltnrally an exploit- 

 able animal. The fashion of obedience 

 becomes established, so that, more and 

 more, all individualism is discouraged, 

 and command from a superior in rank 

 is the touch-spring of action. 



The latest Caesar has seemingly been 

 eliminated, but Caesarism will rise 

 again as long as the laws of heredity 

 continue to act. Power will seek to 

 mate with power and the majority of 

 mankind will remain as an expl<tital)le 

 mass. No laws of man can change the 

 laws of nature. The best that man can 

 do is so to direct these laws oi nature 

 that the dangerous breeds shall be kept 

 at a mim'mum. The e\il influences of 

 the baser elements, and the need for re- 

 striction of undesirable elements among 

 ll'.c pc. cr ■•!-t>ses linvt.' ))-en wiili-lv rec- 



