[-21-] Gaius had now spent practically all the money in Rome and the rest of Italy, gathered from every source from which he could in any way get it, and as no resource that was of any value or practicable could be found there, his expenses became a source of great annoyance to him.  Therefore he set out for Gaul, declaring hostilities against the Celtae on the ground that they were showing some uneasiness, but in reality his purpose was to get money from that region and Spain, where wealth was also abundant.  However, he did not make an outright declaration of his destination, but went first to one of the suburbs and then suddenly started on his journey, taking with him many dancers, gladiators, horses, women, and the rest of the rout.  When he reached the section he had in view he did no damage to any of the enemy;—­as soon as he had proceeded a short distance beyond the Rhine he turned back, and next he started apparently to conduct a campaign against Britain, but turned back from the ocean’s edge, showing no little vexation at his lieutenants because they won some slight success;—­among the subject peoples, however, and among the allies and the citizens he wrought the greatest imaginable havoc.  In the first place he despoiled property holders on any and every excuse, and second, individuals and cities brought him “voluntarily” large gifts.  He kept on murdering victims, alleging that some were rebelling and others conspiring.  The general complaint against them all was that they were rich.  The fact that he attended to the selling of their possessions in person enabled him to obtain far greater sums than would otherwise have been the case.  Everybody was compelled to buy them, under all sorts of conditions and for much more than their value, for the reasons I have mentioned.  Accordingly, he sent also for the finest and most precious heirlooms of the government and auctioned them off, selling with them the fame of the persons who had once used them.  He would make some comment on each one, such as “This belonged to my father,” “this to my mother,” “this to my grandfather,” “this to my great-grandfather,” “this Egyptian piece belonged to Antony—­became a prize of Augustus.”  Meantime he incidentally showed the necessity of selling them, so that no one dared to appear to be indigent, and he sold with each article some valuable association.

[-22-] In spite of all this he did not secure any surplus.  He kept up his expenditures both for the objects that regularly interested him, producing some spectacles at Lugdunum, and also for the army.  For the number of soldiers he had gathered amounted to twenty myriads, or, as some say, to twenty-five myriads.  Seven times was he named imperator by them (just as pleased him), though he had won no battle and slain no enemy.  To be sure, he did once by a ruse seize and make prisoners a few of the latter, but it was his own people whom he wasted most, striking some of them down individually and butchering others