Cassius Chaerea is portrayed sympathetically in Robert Graves' "I, Claudius" novels as having had a long and distinguished career in service of Rome, including being the only surviving officer of the massacre at Teutoburg Forest. He later serves under Caligula, whom he protected in his youth. Chaerea insists that he killed Caligula for the Republic's sake, and Claudius sympathizes with him. Chaerea is foretold in the Sibyl's prophecy to be "the horse" that will kill Caligula, as Caligula rode on Chaerea's shoulders as a child. As he did in fact according to Suetonius, the new Emperor Claudius decides he must have Cassius Chaerea executed, not so much for the murder of the insane Caligula, but for ordering the murder of Caligula's wife and infant child.