Tensions

Abstract Late in ad 37 there seems to have been a shift in the mood of the new reign. Three prominent people are put to death, Tiberius’ grandson, Gemellus, who had been adopted by Caligula, Marcus Silanus, a prominent figure in the senate and father of Caligula’s first wife, and most significantly, Macro, Caligula’s chief supporter. No clear indication emerges of why they should have died, but one assumes some sort of conspiracy. In the following year, ad 38, Caligula’s favourite sister, Drusilla, died. He was grief-stricken and had her declared a goddess. Caligula seems to have courted popular support by reforming the election procedures and abolishing the sales tax. Tensions became serious in the following year, ad 39. At some point Caligula entered the senate and denounced the members. He also reinstituted the hated treason trials. The consuls in office in August of that year were dismissed, A number of prominent figures were put to death, the most notable being Gaetulicus, a powerful military commander on the Rhine, who was executed in October for plotting against the emperor. Most extraordinary was the implication of Caligula’s two surviving sisters, Agrippina the Younger and Julia Livilla, along with Lepidus, husband of the third late sister Drusilla. Lepidus was executed and the other two were exiled. Whether Lepidus was involved in a plot with Gaetulicus is far from clear.