Murder
On January 24, 41, Julia Drusilla and her parents were at the imperial palace complex on Palatine Hill in Rome. A conspiracy to assassinate Caligula and replace him with his uncle, Claudius, had been in discussion for some time and that day had been decided for the event. While Caligula was addressing an acting troupe of young men during a series of games and dramatics held for the Divine Augustus, the Praetorian Guard, led by Cassius Chaerea, stormed the imperial complex.
The cryptoporticus (underground corridor) where this event would have taken place was discovered beneath the imperial palaces on the Palatine Hill. By the time Caligula's loyal Germanic guard responded, the emperor was already dead. A few hours later, Empress Caesonia was fatally stabbed by Lupus, a tribune especially sent by Chaerea to murder the two remaining family members. Seeing this, one-year-old Drusilla jumped upon her mother's assassin and bit and kicked him. As a result, she was murdered by "having her brains knocked out against a wall."
Read more about this topic: Julia Drusilla (daughter Of Caligula)
Famous quotes containing the word murder:
“One murder makes a villain, millions a hero. Numbers sanctify, my good fellow.”
—Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977)
“Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks;
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father forty-one.”
—Anonymous. Late 19th century ballad.
The quatrain refers to the famous case of Lizzie Borden, tried for the murder of her father and stepmother on Aug. 4, 1892, in Fall River, Massachusetts. Though she was found innocent, there were many who contested the verdict, occasioning a prodigious output of articles and books, including, most recently, Frank Spiering’s Lizzie (1985)
“I walk toward one of our ponds; but what signifies the beauty of nature when men are base? We walk to lakes to see our serenity reflected in them; when we are not serene, we go not to them. Who can be serene in a country where both the rulers and the ruled are without principle? The remembrance of my country spoils my walk. My thoughts are murder to the State, and involuntarily go plotting against her.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)