Voltaire anticipated Bonaparte with the position "could history please have some credible villains?": https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1064250n/f48.image.r=...

[Just as I believe Bonaparte could easily have had ulterior motives in attacking a pro-republican Tacitus, I believe christian monks could easily have had ulterior motives in bothering to make copies of only the most sensational descriptions of roman emperors — especially considering Nero Claudius "never let a crisis go to waste" Caesar Augustus Germanicus had it coming, having framed them for the fire and all]

Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc7HmhrgTuQ