Queen Caesar (Suet. Iul . 22.2)?

Abstract Suetonius’ Life of Divus Iulius is (i) rich in material on the sexual activities of Caesar and (ii) rich in material that transmits contemporary perceptions of Caesar by his opponents: chapter 22 provides an instance in which these two come together. Caesar boasted to a packed senate that, in the case of his enemies, insultaturum omnium capitibus (‘he would come down on the heads of all of them’). This article presents a philological study of Caesar’s initial insult and of the interjection of an unnamed senator that this would not be easy ulli feminae (‘for any woman’) and examines rhetorically Caesar’s final response in Suria quoque regnasse Samiramin magnamque Asiae partem Amazonas tenuisse quondam (‘in Syria too Semiramis had reigned and the Amazons had once controlled a large part of Asia’). Suetonius’ overall presentation of Caesar in the Life is key to his inclusion and interpretation of Caesar’s words, revealing a uniquely dark sense of humour for Rome’s first emperor.