But few men had a head strong enough to resist
vertigo when they saw themselves so elevated above other men. The
majority of the emperors profited by their tremendous power only to
make their names proverbial: Tiberius, Nero, Domitian by their
cruelty, Vitellius by his gluttony, Claudius by his imbecility. One
of them, Caligula, was a veritable fool; he had his horse made consul
and himself worshipped as a god. The emperors persecuted the nobles
especially to keep them from conspiring against them, and the rich to
confiscate their goods.
2. _Disorder._--This overweening authority was, moreover, very ill
regulated; it resided entirely in the person of the emperor. When he
was dead, everything was in question. It was well known that the world
could not continue without a master, but no law nor usage determined
who was to be this master. The Senate alone had the right of
nominating the emperor, but almost always it would elect under
pressure the one whom the preceding emperor had designated or the man
who was pleasing to the soldiers.
After the death of Caligula, some praetorians who were sacking the
palace discovered, concealed behind the tapestry, a poor man trembling
with fear.
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