account of visiting the emperor in 40 AD on an embassy on behalf of the Jews of Alexandria. He was at his ‘garden estates’ (horti) on the edge of Rome, and – according to Philo – the envoys were forced to trail around after him as he inspected his property (‘examining the men’s rooms and the women’s rooms … and giving orders to make them more costly’) and commissioned the ancient prototype of window-glass. ‘He ordered the windows to be filled up with transparent stones resembling white crystal which do not hinder the light, but which keep out the wind and the heat of the sun.’

In the midst of this imperial Homes and Gardens scene, Philo hints at the difficulties of doing business with Caligula and at theoutcome desired by the emperor. Tiberius, however, insisted that the Senate decide important issues of policy without making clear to them what his own view was. He then became angry ‘when they reached decisions counter to his wishes’. Ultimately, relations between the emperor and the traditional governing class broke down so badly that Tiberius spent the last decade of his reign on the island of Capri, governing Rome from a distance and through a series of more or less vicious henchmen.

Caligula also resisted imperial double-speak, but – according to Winterling – in a subtly different way. He tried to fight the ambiguity of political communication that had become the norm in the imperial regime and to counter not only its insincere flattery and apparent emptiness, but also its