"Virtually everything known about Caligula comes from hostile sources that portray him as a bloodthirsty maniac. Even allowing for exaggeration, there is no doubt that he never hesitated to torment or kill the common people, the ruling elite, or even his own family. His destructive reign was ended by assassination."

"Caligula ascended the imperial throne as the young darling of the Romans — and ended his four-year reign with a reputation as an insanely cruel tyrant. Capricious, politically inept and militarily incompetent, sexually ambiguous and perversely incestuous, he went from beloved prince to butchered psychopath in a reign that quickly slid into humiliation, murder and madness."

"The life of Caligula demonstrated how much the imperial system created by Augustus, whilst preserving the trappings of the Republic, had actually concentrated absolute power in the hands of one man. Caligula stripped away the veneer of constitutional restraint and flaunted his total authority over his subjects in the most capriciously horrific manner. Caligula personifies the immorality, bloodlust and insanity of absolute power."

"I am nursing a viper for the Roman people, and a Phaëthon for the whole world."

"He devised a novel and unheard of kind of pageant; for he bridged the gap between Baiae and the mole at Puteoli, a distance of about thirty-six hundred paces, by bringing together merchant ships from all sides and anchoring them in a double line, afterwards a mound of earth was heaped upon them and fashioned in the manner of the Appian Way. Over this bridge he rode back and forth for two successive days... know that many have supposed that Gaius devised this kind of bridge in rivalry of Xerxes, who excited no little admiration by bridging the much narrower Hellespont; others, that it was to inspire fear in Germany and Britain, on which he had gardens, by the fame of some stupendous work. But when I was a boy, I used to hear my grandfather say that the reason for the work, as revealed by the emperor's confidential courtiers, was that Thrasyllus the astrologer had declared to Tiberius, when he was worried about his successor and inclined towards his natural grandson, that Gaius had no more chance of becoming emperor than of riding about over the gulf of Baiae with horses."

"But in the eighth month a severe disease attacked Gaius who had changed the manner of his living which was a little while before, while Tiberius was alive, very simple and on that account more wholesome than one of great sumptuousness and luxury; for he began to indulge in abundance of strong wine and eating of rich dishes, and in the abundant license of insatiable desires and great insolence, and in the unseasonable use of hot baths, and emetics, and then again in winebibbing and drunkenness, and returning gluttony, and in lust after boys and women, and in everything else which tends to destroy both soul and body, and all the bonds which unite and strengthen the two; for the rewards of temperance are health and strength, and the wages of intemperance are weakness and disease which bring a man near to death."

"You [Caligula], O most wretched of men! having filled every continent and every island with good laws, and principles of justice, and wealth, and comfort, and prosperity, and abundance of other blessings, you, wretched man, full of all cowardice and iniquity, who have emptied every city of all the things which can conduce to stability and prosperity, and have made them full of everything which leads to trouble and confusion, and the most utter misery and desolation."

"But the madness and frenzy to which he gave way were so preposterous, and so utterly insane, that he went even beyond the demigods, and mounted up to and invaded the veneration and worship paid to those who are looked upon as greater than they, as the supreme deities of the world, Mercury, and Apollo, and Mars."

"Sive ergo Graeci sive alii se dicant Petro ejusque successoribus non esse commissos: fateantur necesse est, se de ovibus Christi non esse, dicente Domino in Joanne, unum ovile et unicum esse pastorem."

"Unam sanctam ecclesiam catholicam et ipsam apostolicam urgente fide credere cogimur et tenere, nosque hanc frmiter credimus et simpliciter confitemur, extra quam nec salus est, nec remissio peccatorum,"

"Porro subesse Romano Pontifici omni humanae creaturae declaramus dicimus, definimus et pronunciamus omnino esse de necessitate salutis."

"In hac ejusque potestate duos esse gladios, spiritualem videlicet et temporalem, evangelicis dictis instruimur. […] Uterque ergo est in potestate ecclesiae, spiritualis scilicet gladius et materialis. Sed is quidem pro ecclesia, ille vero ab ecclesia exercendus, ille sacerdotis, is manu regum et militum, sed ad nutum et patientiam sacerdotis."

"Orandum est ut sit mens sana in corpore sano."

"Nam qui dabat olim imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, panem et circenses."

"Cantabit vacuus coram latrone viator."

"Quanto delphinis ballaena Britannica maior."

"Nam si tibi sidera cessant, nil faciet longi mensura incognita nervi, quamvis te nudum spumanti Virro labello viderit et blandae adsidue densaeque tabellae sollicitent, autos gar ephelketai andra kinaidos."

"Summum crede nefas animam praeferre pudori et propter vitam vivendi perdere causas."

"Nobilitas sola est atque unica virtus."

"Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes?"

"Nunc patimur longae pacis mala, saevior armis luxuria incubuit victumque ulciscitur orbem."

"Hoc volo, sic jubeo, sit pro ratione voluntas."

"Vitam impendere vero."

"Nemo malus felix."

"The question is not put how far extends His piety, but what he yearly spends; Quick, to the business; how he lives and eats; How largely gives; how splendidly he treats; How many thousand acres feed his sheep; What are his rents; what servants does he keep? The account is soon cast up; the judges rate Our credit in the court by our estate."

"Hic vivimus ambitiosa paupertate omnes."

"Haut facile emergunt quorum virtutibus opstat res angusta domi."

"Nil habet infelix paupertas durius in se, quam quod ridiculos homines facit."

"What's Rome to me, what business have I there? I who can neither lie, nor falsely swear? Nor praise my patron's undeserving rhymes, Nor yet comply with him, nor with his times?"

"Me nemo ministro fur erit, atque ideo nulli comes exeo."

"Nemo repente fuit turpissimus."

"Dat veniam corvis, vexat censura columbas."

"Poena tamen praesens, cum tu deponis amictus turgidus et crudum pavonem in balnea portas. hinc subitae mortes atque intestata senectus; it nova nec tristis per cunctas fabula cenas: ducitur iratis plaudendum funus amicis."

"Probitas laudatur et alget"

"Semper ego auditor tantum? numquamne reponam Vexatus totiens rauci Theseide Cordi?"

"Difficile est saturam non scribere."

"Fati valet hora benigni."

"Indica tigris agit rabida cum tigride pacem perpetuam, saevis inter se convenit ursis."

"Multi committunt eadem diverso crimina fato: Ille crucem sceleris pretium tulit, hic diadema."

"The best way to keep good acts in memory is to refresh them with new."

"Fronte capillata, post est occasio calva."

"Woman is a violent and uncontrolled animal, and it is useless to let go the reins and then expect her not to kick over the traces. You must keep her on a tight rein [...] Women want total freedom or rather - to call things by their names - total licence. If you allow them to achieve complete equality with men, do you think they will be easier to live with? Not at all. Once they have achieved equality, they will be your masters ..."

"[A]s Cato said of the statue: So many statues in that Forum of yours, may it not be better if they ask, Where is Cato's statue?""

"The overseer should be responsible for the duties of the housekeeper. If the master has given her to you for a wife, you should be satisfied with her, and she should respect you. Require that she be not given to wasteful habits; that she does not gossip with the neighbours and other women. She should not receive visitors either in the kitchen or in her own quarters. She should not go out to parties, nor should she gad about."

"These are the duties of the overseer: He should maintain discipline. He should observe the feast days. He should respect the rights of others and steadfastly uphold his own. He should settle all quarrels among the hands; If any one is at fault he should administer the punishment. He should take care that no one on the place is in want, or lacks food or drink; in this respect he can afford to be generous, for he will thus more easily prevent picking and stealing."

"The accounts of money, supplies and provisions should then be considered. The overseer should report what wine and oil has been sold, what price he got, what is on hand, and what remains for sale. Security should be taken for such accounts as ought to be secured. All other unsettled matters should be agreed upon. If any thing is needed for the coming year, it should be bought; every thing which is not needed should be sold. Whatever there is for lease should be leased."