The Twelve Caesars

First published in hardback and export and airside trade paperback in Great Britain in 2012 by Atlantic Books, an imprint of Atlantic Books Ltd.

Copyright © Matthew Dennison, 2012

The moral right of Matthew Dennison to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Hardback ISBN: 978-1-84887-683-5
Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-84887-684-2
E-book ISBN: 978-0-85789-780-0

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For my parents, with love

‘It is a man’s pleasures, yes his pleasures, which tell us most about his true worth, his
gravitas
and his self-control. No one is so dissolute that his work
lacks all semblance of seriousness; it is our leisure which betrays us... One of the chief features of good fortune is that it permits us no privacy, no concealment, and in the case of emperors, it
flings open the door not only to their homes but to their private bedrooms and deepest retreats; every secret is exposed and revealed to rumour’s listening ear.’

‘That old passion for power, which has ever been innate in man, increased and broke out as the Empire grew in greatness.’

Introduction
: Death of Julius Caesar by Alexander Zick © Bettmann / Corbis

Julius Caesar
: Statue of Caesar © Osa

Augustus
: Bronze statue of emperor Caesar Augustus © Only Fabrizio

Tiberius
: Statue of Tiberius © Toni Sanchez Poy

Gaius Caligula
: Gaius Caligula, Emperor of Rome by Antonius © Stapleton Collection / Corbis

Claudius
: 18th Century Engraving of Claudius © Chris Hellier / Corbis

Nero
: Marble head of Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus © Lagui

Galba
: Servius Sulpicius Galba Roman emperor, murdered by Otho, Mary Evans Picture Library

Otho
: Marcus Salvius Otho Roman emperor, Mary Evans Picture Library

Vitellius
: Male bust representing the emperor Vitellius © Marie-Lan Nguyen / Wikipedia Commons

Vespasian
: Titus Sabinus Vespasianus, Roman emperor, Mary Evans Picture Library

Titus
: 19th century engraving of the Roman Emperor Titus, iStockphoto

Domitian
: Ancient bronze Roman coin Domitian © Paul Picone

In the interests of readability and accessibility, I have tried wherever possible to restrict footnotes to a minimum. To this end, I have not provided specific notes on
quotations from Suetonius’
Lives of the Caesars
: the present account simply contains too many. All unattributed quotations therefore are from Suetonius. In each instance, I have made
use of the translation by J.C. Rolfe first published in London by William Heinemann in 1914 – still, almost a century later, distinguished by its combination of accuracy, elegance and
charm.