Caligula

An excerpt, or collection of excerpts (I couldn't tell if they were consecutive or not) from Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars or The Twelve Caesars.

On the whole I was a bit disappointed with this. I am sure that when I was at school we read about the debauchery of Caligula in Classics class, and it was all booze and orgies, murders and incest. I was looking forward to a highlights package condensed into 60 pages.

What was delivered was more of a potted history - his family background, yes - a whole lot of murders, a bit of sister-shagging (only the youngest one), and some more murders, but it wasn't particularly engaging. I think they really missed a trick, and could have done a lot better with selecting the excerpts, and/or some heavy editing.

Still 3 stars of five, but could have been so much more.

The best part was quoted on the title page: Because of his baldness and hairiness, he announced that it was a capital offence for anyone either to look down on him as he passed or to mention goats in any context. ... Goats?