Quotes from Suetonius

Julius Caesar] rode a remarkable horse, too, with feet that were almost human; for its hoofs were cloven in such a way as to look like toes. This horse was foaled on his own place, and since the soothsayers had declared that it foretold the rule of the world for its master, he reared it with the greatest care, and was the first to mount it, for it would endure no other rider. Afterwards, too, he dedicated a statue of it before the temple of Venus Genetrix.

I was much inclined to abolish for ever the practice of allowing the people corn at the public expense, because they trust so much to it, that they are too lazy to till their lands; but I did not persevere in my design, as I felt sure that the practice would some time or other be revived by some one ambitious of popular favour.

He [Caligula] also refused to examine a report supposedly concerning his own safety, on the ground that nobody could have any reason to hate him

Tu enim, Caesar, civitatem dare potes hominibus, verbo non potes.

Hail, Emperor, we who are about to die salute you.

Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.

So much for the Emperor; the rest of this history must deal with the Monster. —IV:22

On reflecting at dinner that he had done nothing to help anybody all day, he uttered these memorable and praiseworthy words: "Friends, I have lost a day.

Some people are slow to do what they promise; you are slow to promise what you have already done.

Hail, Caesar, those who are about to die salute thee. -

The die is cast. -

He answered some governors who had written to recommend an increase in the burden of provincial taxation, with: 'A good shepherd shears his flock; he does not flay them.

Let us go whither the omens of the Gods and the iniquity of our enemies call us. The die is now cast." XXXIII.

Even as a young officer he was such a hard drinker that his name, Tiberius Claudius Nero, was displaced by the nickname 'Biberius Caldius Mero'—meaning: 'Drinker of wine with no water added'.

Alea iacta est

In einem freien Staat müssen Zunge und Meinung frei sein.

Upon the whole, he added nothing to his own happiness by all the dangers, the fatigues, and the perpetual anxiety which he had incurred in the pursuit of unlimited power.

About this time he had the sarcophagus and body of Alexander the Great brought forth from its shrine, and after gazing on it, showed his respect by placing upon it a golden crown and strewing it with flowers; and being then asked whether he wished to see the tomb of the Ptolemies as well, he replied, "My wish was to see a king, not corpses.

An informer's word was always believed. Every crime became a capital one, even the utterance of a few careless words.

When the governor ordered him to travel around the district courts to administer justice and he arrived at Gades, he noticed the statue of Alexander the Great at the temple of Hercules and groaned as though disgusted with his own idleness—he had done nothing worth remembering at an age when Alexander had already conquered the world. He

As for Gaius, he has no more chance of becoming emperor than of riding a horse dry-shod across the Gulf of Baiae.

Acting on a praetor's complaint, he had a comedian named Hylas publicly scourged in the hall of his own residence; and expelled Pylades not only from Rome, but from Italy too, because when a spectator started to hiss, he called the attention of the whole audience to him with an obscene movement of his middle finger.

Punishment was meted out to the Christians (from AD64), a group of individuals given over to a new and harmful set of superstitions.

Nam si violandum est jus, regnandi gratia Violandum est: aliis rebus pietatem colas. Be just, unless a kingdom tempts to break the laws, For sovereign power alone can justify the cause.