Within this setting Suetonius' epic Twelve Caesars turns away from the questions of how individuals cemented their control on power and instead highlights the question of whether the man was himself a good or bad ruler.
Claudius
"He stole away to a balcony hard by and hid among the curtains which hung before the door. as he cowered there, a common soldier, who was prowling about at random, saw his feet, intending to ask who he was, pulled him out and recognised him; and when Claudius fell at his feet in terror, he hailed him as emperor"
The question that has been asked about Claudius's rule has always been whether he was a good or bad ruler. An effective administrator who actually showed an interest in the rule and running of his Empire, or a weak-willed man governed by freedmen and poor choice in wives?
The passage above of Claudius is one of the most famous about him, the ruler who was found cowering behind a curtain but it illustrates something more about the assassination of Gaius Caligula. There does not seem to have been any plan after the assassination of the previous Emperor. no man waiting in the wings. Claudius, despite his many faults may have turned out to be an effective administrator, but it was the army (and in particular a Praetorian Guard) not wishing to lose their status that saw him elevated to the purple to begin with.
In the future many men would rebel with the aim of the Principate, but this is one of the rare cases when an unprepared man was thrust to the very pinnacle of Roman power.
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| Nero |
"But after he had been thrown from the car and put back in it, he was unable to hold out and gave up before the end of the course; but he received the crown just the same"
Nero is often pointed to (along with Gaius) as one of the worst of Rome's Emperors. Barely seventeen when he rose to power, the first five years of Nero's rule are often pointed to as an age of sensible and wise rule. However as he became more independent and got rid of advisors whom looked to control him, his true nature was revealed.
The above exert is from Nero's tour of Greece where he competed in their many great festivals and games, insisting they be hosted whether is was the right year or not. Obviously Nero winning when he didn't even finish the course is ridiculous, but a wonderful illustration of what the Emperor now was, a supreme king in all but name, ruling his Mediterranean Empire. A man you did not mess with or insult. A man who won, even if he lost.
Galba
"Although their officers had promised them a larger gift than common when they swore allegiance to Galba in his absence, so far from keeping the promise, he declared more than once that it was his habit to levy troops, not buy them"
Galba was the first to rise to power in the Year of the Four Emperors, and the first to fall from it. The Year of The Four Emperors is a chaotic back and forth jostling for power among different fractions of the army.
The above passage shows Galba's mis-calculation in the power of the army of the modern Roman empire. By dismissing the army and refusing to pay the bounty they had come to expect he as good sealed his fate. Galba ruled for a mere seven months. Suetonius's Life of Galba is brief, reflecting his short reign, but shows that when it came to ruling the empire, it was the army that could make you or break you.
Otho
My father Suetonius Laetus took part in that war, as a tribune of the equestrian order in the Thirteenth legion. He used often to declare afterwards that Otho, when when he was a private citizen, so loathed civil strife, that at the mere mention of the fate of Brutus and Cassius at a banquet he shuddered"
Otho was the second ruler in the Year of the Four Emperors and there is little to say. He ruled three months and his accession was curtailed by the northern legions rebelling before he had even taken office. Defeated in battle, he committed suicide and Vitellius, the third emperor in a year took his place,
The passage above had been chosen for different merits than merely the insight into Otho's psyche. Suetonius was told this story by his father, a man who had been there at the time. Laying on a couch of an evening, enjoy dinner, Suetonius probably heard this story he would roll his eyes and wonder why he was being told it again, as we all do at our parents stories.
However, what it points to is the time when Suetonius will not just be repeating other written histories and his favourite bon mots and tall tales, we are approaching a point where Suetonius was an eye witness to the wise rule, excess and final demise of his Twelve Caesars.
Thanks for Reading
James
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