Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/622

 616 CALIGULA CALIPH three hours out of the 24, often paced the halls of the palace all night calling for the coming of day, and talked of secluding himself from the world or of taking poison. His excesses took the most violent and unnatural forms. He caused Tiberius Gemellus to be put to death on a frivolous pretext ; and those of his friends who had vowed to give their lives for him were forced to kill themselves in order to carry out their vows to the gods. His thirst for blood increased with the number of his victims. He put the worn-out gladiators to death, because their maintenance was a bur- den to the state. And when there were no criminals to be thrown to the wild beasts in the arena, he ordered victims to be taken at random from the spectators, and had their tongues cut out that they might not make a disturbance by their outcries. When taking his meals he would sometimes order men to be put to torture before his eyes. He removed the awnings from the amphitheatre, that he might enjoy the spectacle of the crowds sitting in the hot summer sun. He found a pretext in the celebration for the battle of Actium to convict the consuls of treason, for on one side he belonged to the family of Augustus, the victor, and on the other to that of Antony, the vanquished. He built a bridge of boats three miles long between Baise and Puteoli, and when it was opened he caused numbers of those whom he had invited as spectators to be thrown into the sea. His cruelty was equalled by his voluptuousness, obscenity, and impiety. He committed incest with his three sisters, Julia, Agrippina, and Drusilla. The first two he banished as guilty of adultery; he deified the last after her death, punish- ing both those who mourned and those who rejoiced for her, since it was equally impious to mourn for the dead woman who had be- come a goddess, or to rejoice for the goddess when the woman was dead. He would some- times appear in public as a god, arrayed as Ju- piter, Bacchus, or Apollo, or even as Venus or Diana. He built a temple to himself as Jupiter Latiaris, in which was a golden statue of him- self, of life size and in his usual attire. The wealthiest citizens were compelled to purchase the honor of officiating as priests. Sometimes he acted as his own priest, and made his horse, whom he raised to the consulship, his colleague. In a short time he exhausted the immense treas- ures left by Tiberius, and resorted to every means for raising money. He established a public brothel in his own palace, and when his daughter was born publicly begged money for her by way of gifts. Having exhausted Eome and Italy by his extortions, he turned his eyes elsewhere. In the year 40 he marched to Gaul, under pretext of a war against the Ger- mans, but really to extort money from the wealthy inhabitants. Executions became as frequent in Gaul as they had been in Italy. After this predatory campaign he led his army to the seashore, as if he would cross over to Britain, but having put to sea returned without landing. The troops were drawn up in battle array on the seashore, and at a given signal were ordered to fill their helmets with shells, which he called the spoils of the subju- gated ocean. Returning to Eomo, he acted with- even greater cruelty than before. Hav- ing no German captives to exhibit at his tri- umph, he had a large number of Gauls dressed up to simulate Germans, and caused them to be scourged and beheaded, as though they were enemies taken prisoners in battle. His rage was unbounded because the honors which the senate had decreed to him were unworthy of a god, which he claimed to be ; and he was on the point of ordering the slaughter of half the senate and more than half the equestrian or- der, when his career was cut short, four months after his return to Eome, and in the fourth year of his reign. Cassius Chserea, a tri- bune of a prajtorian cohort, and 'others, con- spired to put him to death. According to some he was killed near the theatre, accord- ing to others in his own palace, while he was hearing some boys rehearse the parts which they were to perform in the theatre. His fa- vorite wife, Milona Cassonia, whom he had threatened with torture in order to force her to divulge how she had made him love her, re- mained by the corpse, and when the murder- ers returned bade them kill her, so that she might die with her husband. She was put to death, along with her infant daughter. The corpse of Caligula was taken at night by his friends, half burned, and hastily buried. His sisters, whom he had banished, came back, and had the remains disinterred, completely burn- ed, and the ashes honorably disposed of. CALIPH (Arab, fchalif 'or Jchalife, successor), the title of the spiritual and temporal successors of Mohammed. The prophet seems to have made no provision for the future administration of the affairs of state, and died without naming his successor. Immediately after his death (632) three rival parties appeared. At the head of the first was Omar, who demanded the election of Abu Bekr, Mohammed's father-in-law, fore- seeing that he himself would succeed. The second party was headed by Ali, son-in-law and general of the prophet, who declared for himself. The third party consisted of the Medinites, who demanded the election of one of themselves. Abu Bekr, then a very old man, was chosen. Under him the scattered portions of the Koran were collected into one volume. Before his death he appointed sev- eral electors who he knew would declare for Omar. On Omar's assassination, Othman suc- ceeded to the caliphate. Under his weak rule dissensions and factions were instigated by Ali and his friend, who declared that the prophet would return to earth, and that Ali, having been his vizier, had been left as his regent. All's supporters are known as Shiahs or Shiites. Othman was finally murdered, and Ali was chosen caliph. After suppressing the re-