Was he crazy?

>>518575
Define crazy.

>>518638
Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

>>518673
That's just dumb as hell

>>518703
Define dumb, define hell

>>518710

This is essentially why Socrates was never invited to a lot of parties.

He was most certainly batshit insane. His mother had him take mercury treatments as a child.

The question isn't whether he was off his rocker, it was how cruel it made him. The Romans (And basically every other society) posthumously attributed sexual misconduct to people they didn't like (Caesar's enemies accused him of being the sub in a relationship with Augustus; Augustus' enemies would accuse him of being the sub in a relationship with Caesar), and had a tendency to smear the shit out of people they didn't like. Nero suffered a particularly extreme case of this. A moody twat got turned into a literal minion of Satan and a portion of Revelations can be summed up as "Nero came back".

As far as the citizens of Rome were concerned he was more or less benevolent and the only times he really negatively impacted the Roman populace was when he decided to start a massive construction project that would decrease the amount of grain moved to Rome. Coincidentally, a massive famine Caligula could not have foreseen occurred shortly after the project started, leading to starvation.

Of course for basically everyone else involved in Roman politics he was an absolute nightmare. A courtier who had a lisp was frequently mocked. Whenever he would kneel to kiss Caligula's ring, the emperor would quickly make a masturbatory gesture in his face. What caused his demise was that he wanted to move the capital to Egypt and declare himself a god. The bullied courtier, with the help of others, bumped off Caligula. The conspirators then threw the courtier under the bus.

He was the only sane man in the empire.

>>518673
>Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

I'm not sure that would get anyone sectioned, so I doubt it's a useful metric outside of eg political rhetoric.

>>518732
>A courtier who had a lisp was frequently mocked. Whenever he would kneel to kiss Caligula's ring, the emperor would quickly make a masturbatory gesture in his face.

There was the whole showing up at a guy's wedding and literally walking off with his bride, marrying her, ditching her a few weeks later and specifically prohibiting her from re-marrying that guy. As well as instructing his executioners to "make them feel that they're dying".

>a portion of Revelations can be summed up as "Nero came back".

There is a reason for this, though, and historical revisionism is likely not it.

>>518805
>make them feel that they're dying
That's metal as fuck

>>518841

For pure entertainment value, Caligula and Commodus are hands down the most value for money. Like, you want to imagine Caligula was just taking the piss (he wasn't, he was obviously nuts, but it's fun to imagine).

>last words of Nero
Oh! What an artist the world is losing in me!

>last words of Marcus Aurelius
Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit.

>>518575
He was actually quite cunning in his rise to power, and appointing his horse as senator was actually an insult to the senate meaning that the senate had fuck all power and was pathetic

No, he was a little kid and his political enemies slandered him after assasinating him

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>>518732
IIRC some historians are claiming now that most of the stories about Caligula were made up by his enemies in the senatorial class

>>518881
>>last words of Marcus Aurelius
>Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit

That was Augustus, no?

>>518673
The definition of insanity is not being sanitary, and the generalizations of the homeless became associated with the word.

>>518881
>last words of Caligula
I still live!

By the way, did you guys read Camus' play about him ?
It's the only document I accept as a truthful account of his principate.

>>518916
I thought it was Marky Mark.
Google tells me you're right, though, my bad.

>>518928
I've read it and recently saw it in Vienna, it's great. Especially the HORSE DICK.

Last words of Vespasian:

>Oh! I think I'm becoming a god!

Now THAT guy was taking the piss. I can just see the twinkle in his eye.

>>518952
Huh, weird... I don't remember any HORSE DICK.

>>518977
While we're on the topic of great last words, Voltaire was obviously shitposting excessively his whole life, but his last words take the cake.
>priest asks him to denounce Satan and return to the flock
>"Now, now my good man. This is not a time for making enemies."

>>519024

>Either those curtains go, or I do.

-Oscar Wilde

[spoiler]Apocryphal but eh, print the legend.[/spoiler]

>>519033

Yeah I've noticed this before, relatively new to /his/, how come spoilers don't work here?

>>519033
I've heard that one with "wallpaper", and also that he died sipping Champagne in Paris, saying "Ah, I am dying beyond my means."

>>519039
Well, look at it that way, what would you spoil, meaningfully? [spoiler]The Senate kills Caesar[/spoiler]?

>>519052
>Well, look at it that way, what would you spoil, meaningfully?

I'm kind of used to using spoiler tags as a sort of updated version of parenthesis, really. Sort of halfway between brackets and a footnote - you can read the complete sentence relatively unbroken, and with minimal effort you can see whatever parenthetical offshoot is attached, simultaneously or afterwards, as you choose.

But it's no big deal.

>>519061
Yeah, I know what you mean, but strictly speaking mootykins would see that as abusing the spoiler function.

>>519083

I suppose in a sense it risks undermining the original purpose, yeah.

>>519112
Personally I wouldn't be opposed to spoilers on /his/ or any other board, but if you've ever been on /a/ you know how silly it can get.

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>>518575
Better question, was he crazy?

He was what you would call.... um... an absolute madman.

>>518928
>>518952

>Camus' plays

into the trash

>>519052
I AM THE SENATE

>>519135
He castrated a boy and married him, so maybe

>>519468
What' s crazy about that ?

>>518732
Suetonius claimed he was pretty normal until suffering a very serious illness in young adulthood. He at least thought the illness had affected Gaius' mental state.

>>521677

That's typical of people who suffer from schizophrenia. They grow up normal-ish, but then they hit puberty or adulthood and completely fall apart. Not in the "depression" way but in that they're suddenly doing crazy, off-the-wall things that don't make sense to normal people.

>>519465
"Not yet."
- Black Senator Guy

>>521873
Albertus gaius barbo

>>519459
Go away Jean-Paul.
>>518575
What is that thing on his head ?

>>518805
>. As well as instructing his executioners to "make them feel that they're dying".
Might have just been hearsay but apparently when the conspirators gathered to end him Chaerea told them the exact same thing word for word

>>522214
Is that why his last word was "vivo!"?
That's amusing.