6 February 2009

Image of an Emperor: Caligula


"He was very tall in stature, of a pale complexion, ill-shaped, with very slender neck and legs, sunken eyes and hollow temples, a broad and furrowed forehead, his hair thin, and the crown of his head bald. The other parts of his body were very hairy. On this account, it was reckoned a capital crime for any person to look down from above, as he was passing by, or so much as name a goat. His countenance, which was naturally stern and frightful, he purposely made more so, composing it in a mirror into the most horrible contortions".


[Suetonius, Caligula, 50]

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Colinus