Life of Caligula
infra se uicissim conlocabat uxore supra cubante. Ex iis Drusillam uitiasse uirginem
praetextatus adhuc creditur atque etiam in concubitu eius quondam deprehensus ab Antonia
auia, apud quam simul educabantur; mox Lucio Cassio Longino consulari conlocatam
abduxit et in modum iustae uxoris propalam habuit; heredem quoque bonorum atque
imperii aeger instituit. Eadem defuncta iustitium indixit, in quo risisse lauisse cenasse cum
parentibus aut coniuge liberisue capital fuit. Ac maeroris impatiens, cum repente noctu
profugisset ab urbe transcucurrissetque Campaniam, Syracusas petit, rursusque inde
propere rediit barba capilloque promisso; nec umquam postea quantiscumque de rebus, ne
pro contione quidem populi aut apud milites, nisi per numen Drusillae deierauit. reliquas
sorores nec cupiditate tanta nec dignatione dilexit, ut quas saepe exoletis suis prostrauerit;
quo facilius eas in causa Aemili Lepidi condemnauit quasi adulteras et insidiarum aduersus
se conscias ei nec solum chirographa omnium requisita fraude ac stupro diuulgauit, sed et
tres gladios in necem suam praeparatos Marti Vltori addito elogio consecrauit.
each of them in turn below him, while his wife reclined above. Of these he is believed to
have violated Drusilla when he was still a minor, and even to have been caught lying with
her by his grandmother Antonia, at whose house they were brought up in company.
Afterwards, when she was the wife of Lucius Cassius Longinus, an ex-consul, he took her
from him and openly treated her as his lawful wife; and when ill, he made her heir to his
property and the throne. When she died, he appointed a season of public mourning, during
which it was a capital offence to laugh, bathe, or dine in company with one's parents, wife,
or children. He was so beside himself with grief that suddenly fleeing the city by night and
traversing Campania, he went to Syracuse and hurriedly returned from there without
cutting his hair or shaving his beard. And he never afterwards took oath about matters of
the highest moment, even before the assembly of the people or in the presence of the
soldiers, except by the godhead of Drusilla. The rest of his sisters he did not love with so
great affection, nor honor so highly, but often prostituted them to his favorites; so that he
was the readier at the trial of Aemilius Lepidus to condemn them, as adulteresses and privy
to the conspiracies against him; and he not only made public letters in the handwriting of all
of them, procured by fraud and seduction, but also dedicated to Mars the Avenger, with an
explanatory inscription, three swords designed to take his life.