Sam Morril

So possibility number one, obviously, and this I'm sure is the case for some of the stories, is that they're just not true. That they're either propaganda or they're literary formulae or they are... you know, sort of folk urban myths, rather like there are loads of urban myths about politicians today that people believe, aren't there?

I mean, you know, Boris Johnson, David Cameron, you know, Donald Trump, whoever it might be. There are lots of stories that people tell and swap, but we know ourselves that there might be a kind of metaphorical truth to them, but no literal truth.

I mean, you know, Boris Johnson, David Cameron, you know, Donald Trump, whoever it might be. There are lots of stories that people tell and swap, but we know ourselves that there might be a kind of metaphorical truth to them, but no literal truth.

I mean, you know, Boris Johnson, David Cameron, you know, Donald Trump, whoever it might be. There are lots of stories that people tell and swap, but we know ourselves that there might be a kind of metaphorical truth to them, but no literal truth.

Yeah, that makes total sense.

Yeah, that makes total sense.

Yeah, that makes total sense.

And that's purely because of the order of Suetonius' biography, is it? That Suetonius basically says it's after that. But I suppose it's more likely, isn't it, that he's politically either emboldened or more insecure after he knows that people have been flirting with his successor.

And that's purely because of the order of Suetonius' biography, is it? That Suetonius basically says it's after that. But I suppose it's more likely, isn't it, that he's politically either emboldened or more insecure after he knows that people have been flirting with his successor.

And that's purely because of the order of Suetonius' biography, is it? That Suetonius basically says it's after that. But I suppose it's more likely, isn't it, that he's politically either emboldened or more insecure after he knows that people have been flirting with his successor.

I don't think he's mad. Which matches what we know of 20th century dictators. I mean, Hitler, Stalin and so on. They may have been horrendous, but they're not clinically insane. It's too easy to say they're mad, basically. It lets them off the hook.

I don't think he's mad. Which matches what we know of 20th century dictators. I mean, Hitler, Stalin and so on. They may have been horrendous, but they're not clinically insane. It's too easy to say they're mad, basically. It lets them off the hook.

I don't think he's mad. Which matches what we know of 20th century dictators. I mean, Hitler, Stalin and so on. They may have been horrendous, but they're not clinically insane. It's too easy to say they're mad, basically. It lets them off the hook.

A nasty piece of work.

A nasty piece of work.

A nasty piece of work.

And part of this is the assault on a series of conventions and taboos, presumably. So you talked before about him, the stuff with the gods or demanding that he's worshipped as a god. Or, most obviously, the story that goes right back to when he was on Capri with Tiberius, that he dresses as a woman.

And part of this is the assault on a series of conventions and taboos, presumably. So you talked before about him, the stuff with the gods or demanding that he's worshipped as a god. Or, most obviously, the story that goes right back to when he was on Capri with Tiberius, that he dresses as a woman.

And part of this is the assault on a series of conventions and taboos, presumably. So you talked before about him, the stuff with the gods or demanding that he's worshipped as a god. Or, most obviously, the story that goes right back to when he was on Capri with Tiberius, that he dresses as a woman.

And this is about him taking the taboos that mean so much to the established senior, you know, blue-blooded people and ripping them up and presumably delighting the mob, as it were, in doing so. There's something almost kind of punk about it.