His madness grew. He executed without trial

his principal supporter, a praetorian.

He also offed his cousin. ‘Sharing’s vile,’

Caligula said. ‘I’m feeling terpsichorean.

I twitch and dance and flash a winner’s smile

to dazzle my darling horse, who’s my historian.’

He used public funds erecting towering walls

and labelled false the senate’s warning calls.

Caligula Unbound (Alan Reynolds, 2020)