The Third Century Crisis

Cassius Dio, Histories, 72.33-35 (DC 72.33-35)

(This portion of Cassius Dio's work is very fragmentary) 33 Now if Marcus had lived longer, he would have subdued that entire region [Germania]; but as it was, he passed away on the seventeenth of March, not as a result of the disease from which he still suffered, but by the act of his physicians, as I have been plainly told, who wished to do a favour. 34 When now he was at the point of death, he commended his son to the protection of the soldiers (for he did not wish his death to appear to be due to Commodus), and to the military tribune who asked him for the watchword he said: "Go to the rising sun; I am already setting." After his death he received many marks of honour; among other things a gold statue of him was set up in the senate-house itself. This then was the manner of Marcus' death. Marcus was so godfearing that even on the dies nefasti he sacrificed at home. In addition to possessing all the other virtues, he ruled better than any others who had ever been in any position of power. To be sure, he could not display many feats of physical prowess; yet he had developed his body from a very weak one to one capable of the greatest endurance. Most of his life he devoted to beneficence, and that was the reason, perhaps, for his erecting a temple to Beneficence on the Capitol, though he called her by a most peculiar name, that had never been heard before. He himself, then, refrained from all offences and did nothing amiss whether voluntarily or involuntarily; but the offences of the others, particularly those of his wife, he tolerated, and neither inquired into them nor punished them. So long as a person did anything good, he would praise him and use him for the service in which he excelled, but to his other conduct he paid no attention; for he declared that it is impossible for one to create such men as one desires to have, and so it is fitting to employ those who are already in existence for whatever service each of them may be able to render to the State. And that his whole conduct was due to no pretence but to real excellence is clear; for although he lived fifty-eight years, ten months, and twenty-two days, of which time he had spent a considerable part as assistant to the first Antoninus, and had been emperor himself nineteen years and eleven days, yet from first to last he remained the same and did not change in the least. So truly was he a good man and devoid of all pretence. 35 His education was of great assistance to him, for he had been trained both in rhetoric and in philosophical disputation. In the former he had Cornelius Fronto and Herodes for teachers, and, in the latter, Junius Rusticus and Apollonius of Nicomedeia, both of whom professed 's doctrines. 2 As a result, great numbers pretended to pursue philosophy, hoping that they might be enriched by the emperor. Most of all, however, he owed his advancement to his own natural gifts; for even before he associated with those teachers he had a strong impulse towards virtue. 3 Indeed, while still a boy he so pleased all his relatives, who were numerous, influential and wealthy, that he was loved by them all; and when , chiefly for this reason, had adopted him, he did not become haughty, but, though young and a Caesar, served Antoninus most loyally throughout all the latter's reign and without giving offence showed honour to the others who were foremost in the State. 4 He used always to salute the most worthy men in the House of , where he lived, before visiting his father, not only without putting on the attire befitting his rank, but actually dressed as a private citizen, and receiving them in the very apartment where he slept. He used to visit many who were sick, and never missed going to his teachers. 5 He would wear a dark cloak whenever he went out unaccompanied by his father, and he never employed a torch-bearer for himself alone. Upon being appointed leader of the knights he entered the Forum with the rest, although he was a Caesar. 6 This shows how excellent was his natural disposition, though it was greatly aided by his education. He was always steeping himself in Greek and rhetorical and philosophical learning, even after he had reached man's estate and had hopes of becoming emperor. 36 Even before he was appointed Caesar he had a dream in which he seemed to have shoulders and arms of ivory, and to use them in all respect like his other members. 2 As a result of his close application and study he was extremely frail in body, though in the beginning he had been so vigorous that he used to fight in armour, and on the chase would strike down wild boars while on horseback; and not only in his early youth but even later he wrote most of his letters to his intimate friends with his own hand. 3 However, he did not meet with the good fortune that he deserved, for he was not strong in body and was involved in a multitude of troubles throughout practically his entire reign. But for my part, I admire him all the more for this very reason, that amid unusual and extraordinary difficulties he both survived himself and preserved the empire. 4 Just one thing prevented him from being completely happy, namely, that after rearing and educating his son in the best possible way he was vastly disappointed in him. This matter must be our next topic; for our history now descends from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust, as affairs did for the Romans of that day. Anonymous, Epitome de caesaribus (Epitome of the Caesars), 16-28 (Epit. Caes. 16-28)

16. Antonius ruled eighteen years. 2. He showed himself to possess all virtues and a celestial character, and was thrust before public calamities like a defender. For indeed, if he had not been born to those times, surely, as if with one fall, all of the Roman state would have collapsed. 3. Since there was never rest from arms, and wars were raging through all Oriens, Illyricum, Italy, and Gallia, and there were earthquakes not without the destruction of cities, inundations of rivers, numerous plagues, species of locusts which infested fields, there is almost nothing by which mortals are accustomed to be vexed with the most serious difficulties that is able to be described which did not rage while he was ruling. 4. I believe that it has been bestowed by divine providence that, when the law of the universe or nature produces or something else unknown to men, they are appeased by the counsels of honest men as by the remedies of medicine. 5. With a new kind of benevolence, he admitted his own kinsmen, Lucius Annius Verus, to a share of imperium. This is the Verus who, while journeying between Altinum and Concordia, died, in the eleventh year of imperium, as a result of a surge of blood, a disorder which the Greeks call apoplexy. 6. He was a poet, mostly of tragedies, studious, of a rugged and lascivious character. 7. After his demise, Marcus Antoninus controlled the state alone. From the beginning of his life, he was extremely placid, so much so that from infancy he changed his expression neither from joy nor sorrow. Of philosophy and Greek literature he was a student [most expert]. 8. He allowed more illustrious men and his ministers alike to host banquets in the same splendor as did he himself. 9. When, with the treasury exhausted, he did not have the funds which he applied to the soldiers and did not wish to inflict anything on the provincials or senate, he removed by a confiscation made in the Forum of material of regal splendor, golden vases, crystalline and murrine goblets, and his own wife's silken and golden apparel, numerous ornaments of gems, and through two continuous months an auction was held and much gold was collected. 10. After a victory, however, he refunded the purchase prices to buyers who wished to return what had been bought. 11. In his time, Cassius, seizing a tyranny, was killed. 12. He himself was consumed by disease at Bendobona in the fifty-ninth year of his life. 13. When the announcement about his death reached , with the city convulsed with public lamentation, the senate gathered in the senate house, wrapped in mourning garb, weeping. 14. And what is scarcely believable about Romulus, all in common consent presumed that Marcus had been received into heaven. In his honor temples, columns, and many other things were decreed. 17. Aurelius Commodus, son of Antoninus, and himself called Antoninus, ruled thirteen years. 2. What he was going to become, in the very beginning, he revealed. For when he was being advised by his father in his will not to allow the barbarians, who were now exhausted, to regain strength, he had responded that, although negotiations could be completed over a period of time by a live man, nothing could to be completed by a dead man. 3. He was quite fierce with sexual desire and greed, with cruelty, faithful to no one, and more savage toward those whom he had exalted with most splendid honors and enormous gifts. 4. So depraved was he that he often battled with gladiatorial weapons in the amphitheater. 5. Nevertheless, Marcia, of freedman stock, prevailed on this man by her beauty and meretricious arts, and, when she had thoroughly gained control of his mind, offered a drink of poison to him when he was emerging from the bath. Finally, his throat crushed by a very strong wrestling instructor who had been let loose on him, he expired in the thirty-second year of his life. 18. Helvius ruled eighty-five days. Compelled to imperium, he drew "Resister and Submitter" as a sort of cognomen. 2. Having risen from a humble origin, he advanced to the urban prefecture, was made imperator, and, by the viciousness of Julianus, was cut down with many wounds at the age of sixty-seven. His head was carried about the entire city. 3. By this death, there perished a man who is an example of human vicissitude, who, through all types of labor, reached the heights, to such a degree that he was called the "Pillar of Fortune." 4. For he was the product of a freedman father among the Ligurians on a humble estate of Lollius Getianus, in whose prefecture it was most happily fated that he become a client, and he became a teacher of the letters which are taught by grammarians. He was more pleasing than beneficial, hence men called him by the Greek name ["Smooth-talk"]. 5. Never was he drawn to vengeance by injuries he had received. He was a lover of simplicity, he presented himself as a common man by means of his speech, his dining, and his demeanor. 6. To him in death was decreed the name "Divine;" for his praise, there was acclaimed with repeated ovations until voices failed: "With Pertinax in control, we lived secure, we feared no one. To a dutiful father! To the father of the senate! To the father of all good men!" 19. , by birth of Mediolanum, ruled seven months. He was a man of the nobility, very skilled in law, factious, reckless, eager to rule. 2. At this time, near Antioch, Niger Pescennius and, at Sabaria in Pannonia, were made Augusti. 3. By this Severus, Julianus was led to the secret baths of the palace and, with his neck stretched out in the fashion of the condemned, was decapitated and his head placed on the rostra. 20. Septimius Severus ruled eighteen years. 2. He eliminated Pescennius, a man of utter baseness. Under him Albinus, too, who in Gallia had made himself Caesar, was slain near Lugdunum. 3. Severus left as successors his own sons, Bassianus and . 4. In Britannia he extended a wall over a distance of thirty-two thousand paces, from sea to sea. 5. Of all the men who had lived before him, he was the most warlike. He was relentless in character, persevering to the end toward everything to which he had turned his attention. To whom he was well disposed, he exhibited a goodwill singular and abiding. He was thrifty when it came to his needs, lavish in largess. 6. Toward friends and enemies he was equally passionate, inasmuch as he enriched Lateranus, Cilo, Anullinus, Bassus, and several others -- and with buildings worthy of note, particular examples of which we see which are called the "House of the Parthians" and the "House of Lateranus." 7. To no one, in his reign, did he permit offices to be sold. 8. He was sufficiently educated in Latin literature, erudite in the Greek language, more at ease with Punic eloquence, inasmuch as he was born near Leptis in the province . 9. When he was unable to endure the pain of all his limbs, especially of his feet, in place of a drug, which was being denied him, he too avidly fell upon a meal large and of very much meat; since he was unable to this, he was overcome by the indisposition and breathed his last. 10. He lived sixty-five years. 21. Aurelius Antonius Bassianus , Severus' son, was born at Lugdunum and ruled alone six years. 2. He was called by the name Bassianus from his maternal grandfather. But since he had brought very many garments from Gallia and had made ankle-length tunics and forced the urban population to enter dressed in such clothing for the purpose of saluting him, he was from this garment given the cognomen Caracalla. 3. His own brother Geta he destroyed, on account of which he was punished with madness by the railing of the Dirae, who, not without merit, are called Furies. From this madness he later recovered. 4. After he viewed the body of Alexander of Macedon, he ordered himself to be called "the Great" and "Alexander," having been drawn by the intrigues of flatterers to the point that, with fierce expression and neck turned toward his left shoulder (which he had noted in Alexander's face), he reached the point of conviction and persuaded himself that he was of very similar countenance. 5. He could not control sexual desire, for in fact he married his own stepmother. 6. While making a trip to Carrhae, near Edessa, he retired to nature's obligations and was killed by a soldier who was following him as if for the purpose of attendance. 7. He lived almost thirty years. His body was brought back to Rome. 22. , with his son Diadumenus, were made imperatores by the army, ruled fourteen months, and were cut down by the same army, because Macrinus began to check military luxury and increased pay. 23. Aurelius Antonius Varius, also called Heliogabalus, son of Caracalla from a cousin, Soemea, who had been secretly defiled, ruled two years and eight months. 2. The grandfather of his mother Soemea, Bassianus by name, had been a priest of Sol, whom the Phoenicians where he was living used to call Heliogabalus, whence the infamous Heliogabalus was named. 3. When he had come to Rome in the accompaniment of an enormous number of soldiers and the expectation of the senate, he contaminated himself by means of every lewdness. He turned toward himself a desire for debauchery which, through a defect of nature, he had not been able to attain, and ordered that he be called by the feminine name Bassiana, instead of Bassianus. A vestal virgin, as if in marriage, he joined to himself, and, after self- emasculation, he dedicated himself to the Great Mother. 4. He made Marcellus, his own cousin, who afterward was called Alexander, Caesar. 5. He himself was killed in a military insurrection. 6. His body was dragged through the streets of the city in the fashion of the corpse of a dog, to the accompanying soldierly jesting of people calling him a puppy-bitch of unrestrained and crazed lust. Finally, since the narrow opening of a sewer would hardly accommodate the body, it was dragged all the way to the Tiber and, after a weight was attached lest it ever rise again, was tossed into the River. 7. He lived sixteen years and from what had transpired was called Tiberinus ["the Tiberine"] and Tractitius ["the Dragged"]. 24. ruled thirteen years. Good for the state, he was wretched for [himself]. 2. Under his rule, Taurinius, who had been made , on account of fear, threw himself into the Euphrates. 3. Then Maximinus, too, when many from the army had been corrupted, took the rule. 4. Alexander, in fact, since he had seen that he had been deserted by his attendants, exclaiming that his mother had been the cause of his death, covered his head and, in the twenty-sixth year of his life, offered to an approaching assassin a neck stoutly tensed. His mother, Mammaea, so constrained her son that those very morsels, if they survived a meal or lunch, would be served again, although [half-eaten, at another] banquet. 25. Julius , from the soldiery, ruled three years. 2. While hunting down the wealthy, guiltless and guilty alike, near Aquileia, by an insurrection of the troops, he was butchered with his child, a daughter, to the accompanying military jest that a whelp from inferior stock must not be kept. 26. In this man's reign, two Gordians, father and son, seized the and were destroyed one after another. 2. In the same course, too, and seized power and were eliminated. 27. Gordian, a grandson of Gordian from a daughter, was born at Rome to a most illustrious father, and ruled six years. 2. Near Ctesiphon, when the troops were incited to insurrection by Philip, the praetorian prefect, he was killed in the twenty-first year of his life. 3. His body, placed near the borders of the Roman and Persian empire, gave to the spot the name "Gordian's Sepulchre." 28. Marcus Julius Philip ruled five years. 2. At Verona he was killed by the army, the middle of his head cut through above his teeth. 3. Moreover, his son Gaius Julius Saturninus, whom he had made a partner in his power, was killed at Rome, entering the twelfth year of his life, of so harsh and dour a character that from as early as the age of five by precisely no contrivance of anyone was he able to be reduced to laughing; and, during the Secular Games, although still of tender age, his face averted, he made note of his father too wantonly roaring with laughter. 4. He (Philip) rose from humble station, from a father who was a most noble commander of brigands.

Eutropius, Brevarium, 8.9-23, 9.1-3 (Eutr. Brev. 8.9-23, 9.1-3)

9. After him reigned MARCUS ANTONINUS VERUS, a man indisputably of noble birth; for his descent, on the father's side, was from Numa Pompilius, and on the mother's from a king of the Sallentines, and jointly with him reigned Lucius ANTONINUS VERUS. Then it was that the commonwealth of Rome was first subject to two sovereigns, ruling with equal power, when, till their days, it had always had but one emperor at a time. 10. These two were connected both by relationship and affinity; for Verus Antoninus had married the daughter of Marcus Antoninus; and Marcus Antoninus was the son-in-law of , having married Galeria Faustina the younger, his own cousin. They carried on a war against the Parthians, who then rebelled for the first time since their subjugation by Trajan. Verus Antoninus went out to conduct that war, and, remaining at Antioch and about Armenia, effected many important achievements by the agency of his generals; he took Seleucia, the most eminent city of Assyria, with forty thousand prisoners; he brought off materials for a triumph over the Parthians, and celebrated it in conjunction with his brother, who was also his father-in-law. He died in Venetia, as he was going from the city of Concordia to Altinum. While he was sitting in his chariot with his brother, he was suddenly struck with a rush of blood, a disease which the Greeks call apoplexis. He was a man who had little control over his passions, but who never ventured to do anything outrageous, from respect for his brother. After his death, which took place in the eleventh year of his reign, he was enrolled among the gods. 11. After him MARCUS ANTONINUS held the government alone, a man whom any one may more easily admire than sufficiently commend. He was, from his earliest years, of a most tranquil disposition; so that even in his infancy he changed countenance neither for joy nor for sorrow. He was devoted to the Stoic philosophy, and was himself a philosopher, not only in his way of life, but in learning. He was the object of so much admiration, while yet a youth, that Hadrian intended to make him his successor; but having adopted Antoninus Pius, he wished Marcus to become Titus's son- in-law, that he might by that means come to the throne. 12. He was trained in philosophy by Apollonius of Chalcedon; in the study of the Greek language by Sextus of Chaeronea, the grandson of Plutarch; while the eminent orator Fronto instructed him in Latin literature. He conducted himself towards all men at Rome as if he had been their equal, being moved to no arrogance by his elevation to empire. He exercised the most prompt liberality, and managed the provinces with the utmost kindness and indulgence. Under his rule affairs were successfully conducted against the Germans. He himself carried on one war with the Marcomanni, but this was greater than any in the memory of man, so that it is compared to the Punic wars; for it became so much the more formidable, as whole armies had been lost; since, under the emperor, after the victory over the Parthians, there occurred so destructive a pestilence, that at Rome, and throughout Italy and the provinces, the greater part of the inhabitants, and almost all the troops, sunk under the disease. 13. Having persevered, therefore, with the greatest labour and patience, for three whole years at Carnuntum, he brought the Marcomannic war to an end; a war which the Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Suevi, and all the barbarians in that quarter, had joined with the Marcomanni in raising; he killed several thousand men, and, having delivered the Pannonians from slavery, triumphed a second time at Rome with his son Commodus Antoninus, whom he had previously made Caesar. As he had no money to give his soldiers, in consequence of the treasury having been exhausted for the support of the war, and as he was unwilling to lay any tax on the provinces or the senate, he sold off all his imperial furniture and decorations, by an auction held in the forum of the emperor Trajan, consisting of vessels of gold, cups of crystal and murrha, silk garments belonging to his wife and himself, embroidered with gold, and numbers of jewelled ornaments. This sale was continued through two successive months, and a great quantity of money was raised from it. After his victory, however, he gave back the money to such of the purchasers as were willing to restore what they had bought, but was by no means troublesome to any one who preferred to keep their purchases. 14. He allowed the more eminent men to give entertainments with the same magnificence, and the same number of attendants, as himself. In the display of games after his victory, he was so munificent, that he is said to have exhibited a hundred lions at once. Having, then, rendered the state happy, both by his excellent management and gentleness of disposition, he died in the eighteenth year of his reign and the sixty-first of his life, and was enrolled among the gods, all unanimously voting that such honour should be paid him. 15. His successor, LUCIUS ANTONINUS COMMODUS, had no resemblance to his father, except that he fought successfully the Germans. He endeavoured to alter the name of the month of September to his own, so that it should he called Commodus. But he was corrupted with luxury and licentiousness. He often fought, with gladiator's arms, in the fencing school, and afterwards with men of that class in the amphitheatre. He died so sudden a death, that he was thought to have been strangled or despatched by poison, after he had reigned twelve years and eight months after his father, and in the midst of such execration from all men, that even after his death he was styled "the enemy of the human race." 16. To him succeeded PERTINAX, at a very advanced age, having reached his seventieth year; he was appointed to be emperor by a decree of the senate, when he was holding the office of prefect of the city. He was killed in a mutiny of the praetorian soldiers, by the villany of Julianus, on the eightieth day of his reign. 17. After his death SALVIUS JULIANUS seized the government, a man of noble birth, and eminently skilled in the law; he was the grandson of that Salvius Julianus who composed the perpetual edict in the reign of the emperor Hadrian. He was defeated by Severus at the Milvian bridge, and killed in the palace. He lived only eight months after he began to reign. 18. SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS then assumed the government of the ; a native of Africa, born in the province of Tripolis, and town of Leptis. He was the only African, in all the time before or after him, that became emperor. He was first praefect of the treasury, afterwards military tribune, and then rose, through several offices and posts of honour, to the government of the whole state. He had an inclination to be called Pertinax, in honour of that Pertinax who had been killed by . He was very parsimonious, and naturally cruel. He conducted many wars, and with success. He killed , who had raised a rebellion in Egypt and Syria, at Cyzicus. He overcame the Parthians, the interior Arabians, and the Adiabeni. The Arabians he so effectually reduced, that he made them a province; hence he was called Parthicus, Arabicus, and Adiabenicus. He rebuilt many edifices throughout the whole Roman world. In his reign, too, Clodius Albinus, who had been an accomplice of Julianus in killing Pertinax, set himself up for Caesar in Gaul, and was overthrown and killed at Lyons. 19. Severus, in addition to his glory in war, was also distinguished in the pursuits of peace, being not only accomplished in literature, but having acquired a complete knowledge of philosophy. The last war that he had was in Britain; and that he might preserve, with all possible security, the provinces which he had acquired, he built a rampart of thirty-two miles long from one sea to the other. He died at an advanced age at York, in the eighteenth year and fourth month of his reign, and was honoured with the title of god. He left his two sons, Bassianus and Geta, to be his successors, but desired that the name of Antoninus should be given by the senate to Bassianus only, who, accordingly, was named Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus, and was his father's successor. As for Geta, he was declared a public enemy, and soon after put to death. 20. MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS BASSIANUS, then, who was also called CARACALLA, was a man very much of his father's disposition, but somewhat more rough and vindictive. He erected a bath of excellent construction at Rome, which is called the bath of Antoninus, but did nothing else worthy of record. He wanted ability to control his passions; for he married his own step-mother Julia. He died in Osdroene, near Edessa, while he was planning an expedition against the Parthians, in the sixth year and second month of his reign, having scarcely passed the forty-second year of his age. He was buried with a public funeral. 21. OPILIUS MACRINUS, who was captain of the praetorian guards, and his son DIADUMENUS, were then made emperors, but did nothing memorable, in consequence of the shortness of their reign; for it lasted but a year and two months. They were both killed together in a mutiny of the soldiers. 22. After these, MARCUS AURELIUS ANTONINUS was made emperor, who was thought to be the son of Antoninus Caracalla. He was however priest of the temple of Heliogabalus. Having come to Rome with high expectations on the part of the army and the senate, he polluted himself with every kind of impurity. He led a life of the utmost shamelessness and obscenity, and was killed at the end of two years and eight months in a tumult of the soldiers. His mother Soëmia, a native of Syria, perished with him. 23. To him succeeded AURELIUS ALEXANDER, a very young man, who was named Caesar by the army, and Augustus by the senate. Having undertaken a war with the Persians, he defeated their king Xerxes with great glory. He enforced military discipline with much severity, and disbanded whole legions that raised a disturbance. He had for his adviser, or secretary of state, , the compiler of the law. He was also in great favour at Rome. He lost his life in Gaul, in a tumult of the soldiery, in the thirteenth year and eighth day of his reign. He testified great affection for his mother Mammaea.

BOOK 9

1. AFTER him MAXIMIN came to the throne, the first emperor that was elected from the army by the will of the soldiers, no approbation of the senate being given, and he himself not being a senator. After conducting a successful war against the Germans, and being on that account saluted Imperator by his troops, he was slain by Pupienus at Aquileia, together with his son who was then but a boy, his soldiers forsaking him. He had reigned, with his son, three years and a few days. 2. There were then three emperors at the same time, PUPIENUS, BALBINUS, and GORDIAN, the two former of very obscure origin, the last of noble birth; for the elder Gordian, his father, had been chosen prince by the consent of the soldiery in the reign of Maximin, when he held the proconsulship of Africa. When Balbinus and Pupienus came to Rome, they were killed in the palace; and the empire was given to Gordian alone. After Gordian, when quite a boy, had married at Rome, he opened the temple of Janus, and, setting out for the east, made war upon the Parthians, who were then proceeding to make an irruption. This war he soon conducted with success, and made havoc of the Persians in great battles. As he was returning, he was killed, not far from the Roman boundaries, by the treachery of Philip who reigned after him. The Roman soldiers raised a monument for him, twenty miles from Circessus, which is now a fortress of the Romans, overlooking the Euphrates. His relics they brought to Rome, and gave him the title of god. 3. When Gordian was killed, the two PHILIPS, father and son, seized on the government, and, having brought off the army safe, set out from Syria for Italy. In their reign the thousandth year of the city of Rome was celebrated with games and spectacles of vast magnificence. Soon after, both of them were put to death by the soldiery; the elder Philip at Verona, the younger at Rome. They reigned but five years. They were however ranked among the gods.

Zosimus, Historia Nova (The New History) 1.7-21 (Zos. NH. 1.7-21)

The Five Good Emperors

7. After him several worthy sovereigns succeeded to the empire: , Trajan, and afterwards Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and the brothers Verus [Marcus Aurelius] and Lucius, who reformed many abuses in the state, and not only recovered what their predecessors had lost, but made likewise some new additions. Commodus (180-192) & Pertinax But Commodus, the son of Marcus, on becoming emperor, addicted himself not only to tyranny, but to other monstrous vices, until his concubine Marcia assumed the courage of a man and put him to death, and the empire was conferred on Pertinax. But the imperial guards being unable to submit to the strictness of his discipline, which caused them to mutiny and to murder him, Rome was on the point of becoming a seat of anarchy and disorder, while the praetorian soldiers, who were intended for the protection of the palace, attempted to deprive the senate of the power of appointing a sole ruler. And the empire being now put up as it were to sale, Didius Julianus, at the instigation of his wife, assisted by his own folly, produced a sum of money with which he purchased the empire; and exhibited such a spectacle as the people had never before witnessed. The soldiers who raised him to the dignity, by violence put him in possession of the palace and all that it contained. But he was called to account and deprived of life by the very men who were the means of his exaltation, nor was his life more than a momentary golden dream. Septimius Severus (193-211) 8. At his removal, the Senate consulted whom to elect Emperor, and fixed on Severus. But Albinus and Niger pretending a right to the throne at the same time, a furious civil war broke out between the competitors; the cities being divided between the different parties. On this great commotions were excited in Egypt and the eastern parts of the empire, and the Byzantines, who espoused the cause of Niger, and entertained him, were ready for the most dangerous enterprises, until he was vanquished by Severus and killed. After him Albinus likewise took leave of the empire and the world together, and thus the sole power now devolved on Severus. He therefore applied himself to the correction of the enormities that had sprung up, punishing severely the soldiers that had murdered Pertinax, and delivered the empire to Julianus. Having done this, and regulated the army, he marched against the Persians, and in this expedition took Ctesiphon and Babylon, over-ran the Arabians, called Scenites from their dwelling in tents, conquered the principal part of Arabia, and performed many other great achievements. He was besides inexorable to delinquents, and made public distribution of the property of those who were guilty of any heinous offence. Antoninus (Caracalla) (211-217) 9. Having adorned many cities with sumptuous edifices, he declared his son Antoninus emperor, but at his death left his other son Geta co-heir with him in the government, appointing for their guardian Papinianus, a person eminent for his strict justice, and for his ability in the knowledge and interpretation of the law, in which he excelled every Roman either before or since his time. But this worthy man in a short time, became odious to Antoninus, because he used his utmost endeavours to frustrate a design which he had discovered, formed by Antoninus against his brother Geta. He resolved therefore to remove this obstacle, and concerted with the soldiers the destruction of Papinianus. This being effected, and his hands at liberty, he slew his brother, whom his own mother could not save, though he fled to her for protection. 10. But not long after Antoninus was remunerated for the murder of his brother, and it was never known who was the person that killed him. The soldiers at Rome then chose for emperor Macrinus, the prefect of the court; while those in the east set up Emisenus, who was related to the mother of Antoninus. Each army was now so tenacious of its choice, that a civil disturbance arose between them, and while the supporters of Emisenus Antoninus were bringing him to Rome, those of Macrinus advanced from Italy. The two armies engaging at Antioch in Syria, Macrinus was so completely routed, that he was compelled to fly from the camp, and was taken and put to death between Byzantium and Chalcedon. 11. Antoninus, after this victory, punished all that had espoused the cause of Macrinus as enemies, and led so dissolute and shameful a life, and held such frequent communication with magicians and jugglers, that the Romans, unable to endure his excessive luxury, murdered him, tore his body in pieces, and proclaimed Alexander emperor, who likewise was of the family of Severus. He, though very young, gave such signs of a good disposition, as inspired the people with hope that he would prove a mild ruler. He made Flavianus and Chrestus prefects of his court, men not only well acquainted with military affairs, but excelling in the management of civil business. But Mamaea, the emperor's mother, placed over them Ulpianus, as an inspector of their conduct, and indeed as a partner in their office, he being an excellent lawyer, and knowing not only how to regulate present affairs, but to provide prudently for the future. This gave such offence to the two soldiers, that they secretly planned his destruction. When Mamaea understood this, she prevented their design by putting aside the conspirators, and making Ulpianus the sole prefect of the court. But afterwards becoming suspected by the army, for reasons which I am unable to state, there being many various reports concerning his inclination, he lost his life in a tumult, which the emperor himself could not prevent. 12. The soldiers after this event, forgetting by degrees their former regard for Alexander, appeared unwilling to put his commands in execution, and in order to avoid being punished for their negligence, excited public commotions, in which they promoted a person, named Antoninus, to the empire. But he, being incapable of sustaining so weighty a charge, declined, it. They chose in his stead Uranius, a man of low and servile condition, whom they immediately placed before Alexander, drest in purple, by which they intended to express more strongly their contempt for the emperor. Alexander, finding himself surrounded with so many difficulties, became changed, both in bodily constitution, and in disposition; and was infected with an insatiable avarice, amassing riches with the utmost solicitude, which he confided to the care of his mother. Maximinus Thrax (235-238) 13. While his affairs were thus unfortunately situated, the armies in Pannonia and Moesia, which were far from respecting him previously, now became more disposed to revolt, and being therefore determined on an innovation, raised to the empire Maximinus, the captain of a Pannonian troop. Having collected all his forces, he marched into Italy with the utmost speed, thinking it the safest to attack the emperor by surprise. But Alexander, who was then in the vicinity of the Rhine, having received intelligence of their intended revolt, proceeded to Rome without loss of time. He offered pardon to the soldiers and to Maximinus upon the condition that they would desist from their attempt; he could not however appease them, and therefore desperately exposed himself to death. Mamaea his mother, and the prefects, who issued from the palace to allay the tumult, were likewise murdered. Maximinus. thus became well established in the throne, but the people universally regretted the change of a moderate emperor for a cruel tyrant. Maximinus was of obscure birth, and therefore on his exaltation to the imperial dignity, his excessive insolence in his new authority eclipsed those good qualities with which nature had endowed him. He thus became intolerable to all men, not only doing injuries to those that were in honourable offices, but being guilty of the greatest cruelties in the exercise of his power, bestowing favours only upon sycophants who laid information against quiet persons, by charging them with being debtors to the imperial treasury. At length he went so far as to murder persons out of avarice, before he heard them plead in their own defence, seized on the towns as his own, and plundered the inhabitants. Gordian I & II (238) 14. The nations subject to the Romans being unable to endure his monstrous cruelty, and greatly distressed by the ravages he committed, the Africans proclaimed Gordianus and his son, of the same name, emperors, and sent ambassadors to Rome, one of whom was Valerianus, a man of consular rank, who afterwards himself became emperor. This was highly gratifying to the senate, which deliberated how to remove the tyrant, inciting the soldiers to revolt, and reminding the people of the injuries they sustained as well in their individual capacities, as in that of members of so mighty a state. Having thus agreed how to act, they selected out of the whole senate twenty persons who understood military discipline, and out of that number appointed two, Balbinus and Maximus, to hold the chief command, and proceeded towards Rome, being ready for an insurrection. 15. But Maximinus, hearing of their intention, marched with great speed towards Rome, with the Moors and Gauls that were under his command, and on the way laid siege to the garrison of Aquileia, because they closed their gates against him. His own party, at length consulting the public benefit, with great reluctance consented to those who wished to put him to death, and he was thereby reduced to such extremity, as to be under the necessity of making his son a petitioner in his behalf, supposing that his tender age would abate their anger and incline them to compassion. But at this they became more enraged, and after they had murdered the boy in a most barbarous manner, they dispatched the father likewise; on which one of them cut off his head, and carried it to Rome, as an evidence and a trophy of their victory. Being thus delivered from all their apprehensions, they waited for the arrival of the two emperors from Africa. 16. These princes being wrecked in a storm, the senate conferred the supreme direction of affairs on Gordianus, the son of one of them. In his reign, the Romans relaxed a little from their former melancholy, being treated by the emperor with plays and other amusements. But awaking as it were from a profound sleep, they formed a secret conspiracy against the emperor, instigated by the counsel of Balbinus and Maximus, who incited some of the soldiers against him. This being detected, the heads of the conspiracy, and many of the accomplices, were put to death. 17. Soon after this, the Carthaginians became discontented with the emperor, and attempted to substitute Sabianus in his place; but Gordianus raised a force in Africa, which quickly caused them to submit. Upon this they delivered up the intended usurper, solicited pardon for their offences, and were freed from the danger that hung over them. Meanwhile Gordianus married the daughter of Timesicles, a man in high estimation for his learning, and appointed him prefect of the court; by which he seemed to supply the deficiency of his own youth in the administration of public affairs. (244-249) 18. Having secured the empire, he was in continual expectation that the Persians would make an attack on the eastern provinces, Sapores having succeeded in that kingdom to Artaxerxes, who had restored the government to the Persians from the Parthians. For after the death of Alexander the son of Philip, and of his successors in the empire of the Macedonians, at the period when those provinces were under the authority of Antiochus, Arsaces a Parthian, being exasperated at an injury done to his brother Teridates, made war upon the satrap of Antiochus, and caused the Parthians to drive away the Macedonians, and form a government of their own. The emperor therefore made all possible preparations for marching against the Persians. Although he appeared in the first battle to have obtained the victory, yet the confidence of the emperor in the success of this enterprize was considerably diminished by the death of Timesicles, the prefect of the court. Philip being chosen in his place, the. emperor's popularity in the army was gradually dissipated and. vanished. Philip was a native of Arabia, a nation in bad repute, and had advanced his fortune by no very honourable means. 19. As soon as he was fixed in his office, he aspired at the imperial dignity, and endeavoured to seduce all the soldiers that were disposed to innovation. Observing that abundance of military provisions was supplied, while the emperor was staying about Carrae and Nisibis, he ordered the ships that brought those provisions to go further up the country, in order that the army, being oppressed with famine, might be provoked to mutiny. His design succeeded to his wish; for the soldiers, under pretence of want of necessaries, surrounded Gordianus in a violent manner, and having killed him, as the chief cause of so many perishing, conferred the purple on Philip according to their engagement. He therefore made peace with Sapores, and marched towards Rome; and as he had bound the soldiers to him by large presents, he sent messengers to Rome to report that Gordianus had died of a disease. On his arrival at Rome, having made the senate his friends, he thought it most politic to confer the highest preferments on his near relations. From this motive he made his brother Priscus general of the army in Syria, and entrusted the forces in Moesia and Macedonia to his son-in-law Severianus. 20. Thinking that he had by these means established himself in the possession of the empire, he made an expedition against the , who had plundered all the country about the Ister. When an engagement took place, the Barbarians not being able to withstand the impetuous charge of the Romans, fled into a castle in which they were besieged. But finding that their troops, who were dispersed in various directions, had again rallied in a body, they resumed their courage, and sallying from the castle attacked the Roman army. Being unable to bear the brisk onset of the Moors, the army solicited for peace, to which Philip readily assented, and marched away. As there were at that time many disturbances in the empire, the eastern provinces, which were uneasy, partly, owing to the exactions of exorbitant tributes, and partly to their dislike of Priscus, their governor, who was a man of an intolerably evil disposition, wished for innovation, and set up Papianus for emperor, while the inhabitants of Moesia and Pannonia were more inclined to Marinus. The Rise of 21. Philip, being disturbed by these events, desired the senate either to assist him against such imminent dangers, or, if they were displeased with his government, to suffer him to lay it down and dismiss him quietly. No person making a reply to this, Decius, a person of illustrious birth and rank, and moreover gifted, with every virtue, observed, that he was unwise in being so much concerned at those events, for they would vanish of themselves, and could not possibly long subsist. And though the event corresponded with the conjecture of Decius, which long experience in the world had enabled him to make, Papianus and Marinus being taken off, yet Philip was still in fear, knowing how obnoxious, the officers in that country were to the army. He therefore desired Decius to assume the command of the legions in Moesia and Pannonia. As he refused this under the plea that it was inconvenient both for Philip and himself, Philip made use of the rhetoric of necessity, as the Thessalians term it, and compelled him to go to Pannonia to punish the accomplices of Marinus. The army in that country, finding that Decius punished all that had offended, thought it most politic, to avoid the present danger, and to set up a sovereign who would better consult the good of the state, and who, being more expert both in civil and military affairs, might without difficulty conquer Philip.

Orosius, Seven Books Against the Pagans, 7.15-21 (Oros. 7.15-21)

15. During the nine hundred and eleventh year of the City, Marcus Antoninus Verus, the fourteenth emperor in succession from Augustus, came to the throne with his brother Aurelius Commodus. They occupied it jointly for nineteen years and were the first to govern the state on terms of equal authority. They waged war against the Parthians with admirable bravery and success. Vologesus (III), the king of the Parthians, had invaded Armenia, , and Syria, and was causing frightful devastation. Annius Antoninus Verus proceeded to the battle front and there, after performing great exploits with the aid of his energetic generals, captured Seleucia, an Assyrian city of four hundred thousand inhabitants situated on the Hydaspes River. He and his brother celebrated the victory over the Parthians by a joint triumph. Shortly afterward, while sitting with his brother in a carriage, Verus choked to death during an attack of a disease that the Greeks call apoplexy. Upon the demise of Verus, Marcus Antoninus became sole ruler of the state. During the Parthian War, however, persecutions of the Christians arose for the fourth time since 's reign. These persecutions were carried on by the emperor's order with great severity in and in Gaul, and many of the saints received the crown of martyrdom. A plague now spread over many provinces, and a great pestilence devastated all Italy. Everywhere country houses, fields, and towns were left without a tiller of the land or an inhabitant, and nothing remained but ruins and forests. It is said that the Roman troops and all the legions stationed far and near in winter quarters were so depleted that the war against the Marcomanni, which broke out immediately, could not be carried on without a new levy of soldiers. At Carnuntium,Marcus Antoninus held the levy continuously for three years. This war was undoubtedly directed by the Providence of God, as is clearly shown by many proofs and especially by a letter of that very grave and judicious emperor, Antoninus. Numerous barbarous and savage tribes, that is to say, the Marcomanni, the Quadi, the Vandals, the Sarmatians, the Suebi, in fact the tribes from nearly all of Germany, rose in rebellion. The Roman army advanced as far as the territories of the Quadi. There the enemy surrounded it; but on account of the scarcity of water the army was in more immediate danger from thirst than from the enemy. Publicly calling upon the name of Christ, certain of the soldiers with great constancy of faith poured forth their souls in prayer. Immediately there came so heavy a shower that the Romans were abundantly refreshed without suffering harm. The barbarians, however, became terrified by the incessant bolts of lightning, particularly after the lightning had killed many of them, and they took to their heels. Attacking from the rear, the Romans slaughtered them to the last man and thus won a most glorious victory. With a small band of raw recruits but with the all-powerful aid of Christ, they had outdone nearly all the achievements of the past. Several authors also state that a letter of the emperor Antoninus still exists in which he acknowledges that the thirst of the army was relieved and the victory won because the Christian soldiers had invoked the name of Christ. This emperor associated his son Commodus with him in the government. He remitted the arrears of tribute in all the provinces and ordered all the accusing evidence of indebtedness to the treasury to be piled up and burned in the Forum. He also modified the severer laws by new enactments. Finally, while staying in Pannonia, he died of a sudden illness. 16. In the nine hundred and thirtieth year of the City, Lucius Antoninus Commodus, the fifteenth in succession from Augustus, succeeded his father on the throne. During his reign of thirteen years, he conducted a successful war against the Germans. However, he became thoroughly depraved as a result of scandalous excesses and obscenities; frequently he fenced in public exhibitions with the weapons of gladiators, and often he encountered wild beasts in the arena. He also put to death a great many of the senators, especially those who, he noticed, were most prominent by reason of birth and ability. The punishment for his crimes was visited upon the City; lightning struck the Capitol and started a fire which, in its devouring course, burned the library that the fathers had founded in their enthusiasm for learning, and also other buildings adjoining it. Another fire, breaking out later in Rome, leveled to the ground the Temple of Vesta, the Palace, and a large part of the city. Adjudged when alive an enemy of the human race, Commodus, who incommodedeveryone, was strangled to death, so it is said, in the house of Vestilianus. After Commodus, the Senate proclaimed the elderly Helvius Pertinax emperor. He was the sixteenth ruler in succession from Augustus. Six months after his accession he was slain in the Palace at the instigation of the jurist Julianus. The latter thereupon seized the imperium; but in the course of a civil war he was soon defeated by Severus at the Mulvian Bridge and killed seven months after he had begun to rule. Thus Pertinax and Julianus between them occupied the throne for only one year. 17. In the nine hundred and forty-fourth year of the City, Severus, an African from the town of Leptis in Tripolis, gained the vacant throne. He wished to be called Pertinax after the emperor whose murder he had avenged. He was the seventeenth emperor in succession from Augustus and held the throne for eighteen years. A cruel man by nature, he was continually harassed by wars, and he had to struggle hard to maintain his strong rule. At Cyzicus he defeated and killed Pescennius Niger, who had set himself up as a usurper in Egypt and Syria. When the Jews and the Samaritans tried to rebel, he put them down with the sword. He conquered the Parthians, the Arabians, and the Adiabeni. He harassed the Christians by a severe persecution, the fifth since Nero's reign, and in various provinces many of the saints received the crown of martyrdom. Immediate vengeance from Heaven followed this wicked and presumptuous action of Severus against the Christians and the Church of God. Straightway the emperor was compelled to hasten, or rather was brought back, from Syria to Gaul for a third civil war. He had already fought one war at Rome against Julianus, and another in Syria against Pescennius, and now a third was stirred up by Clodius Albinus, who had made himself Caesar in Gaul.Albinus had been an accomplice of Julianus in the murder of Pertinax. In this war much Roman blood was shed on both sides. Albinus was overthrown at Lugdunum and lost his life. The victorious Severus was drawn to the British provinces by the revolt of almost all of his allies. Having recovered part of the island after a number of stubbornly contested battles, he determined to shut if off by a wall from the other tribes that remained unsubdued. He therefore constructed a large ditch and a very strong rampart extending from sea to sea, a distance of one hundred and thirty-two miles. These works he fortified at frequent intervals by towers. Severus died of a disease at the town of York in Britain. Two sons survived him, Bassianus and Geta. Bassianus, who assumed the name of Antoninus, took possession of the throne. 18. In the nine hundred and sixty-second year of the City, Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus, also known as Caracalla, the eighteenth emperor in succession from Augustus, obtained the principate. He held it for almost seven years. In his way of life Caracalla was harsher than his father, and the most uncontrollable of men in his lust, as is evident from his marriage to his stepmother Julia. In the course of a difficult campaign against the Parthians, he was surrounded by the enemy between Edessa and Carrhae and killed. Following him as the nineteenth emperor in succession from Augustus, Opelius Macrinus, the praetorian prefect, seized the supreme power with the aid of his son Diadumenus. He was slain, however, a year later in a mutiny of the soldiers at Archelais. In the nine hundred and seventieth year of the City, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the twentieth emperor in succession from Augustus, obtained the supreme power. He held it for four years. This emperor, who was priest of the Temple of Heliogabalus, was remembered for nothing but his notorious profligacy, crimes, and utter vileness. He and his mother were killed at Rome during an uprising of the soldiery. In the nine hundred and seventy-fourth year of the City, Aurelius Alexander, the twenty-first emperor in succession from Augustus, was proclaimed emperor by the will of the Senate and the soldiers. For thirteen years he ruled with a deserved reputation for fair dealing; incidentally his mother, Mamea, who was Christian, made it her concern to receive instruction from the presbyter Origen. Immediately after his accession Alexander undertook a campaign against the Persians and in a great battle won a decisive victory over Xerxes, their king. He employed Ulpian as his legal adviser and showed the greatest self- restraint in his administration of the state. He was nevertheless killed in a mutiny of the soldiers at Mainz. 19. In the nine hundred and eighty-seventh year of the City, Maximinus, twenty-second in line from Augustus, became emperor. He was elected not by the will of the Senate but by the army, after he had waged war successfully against the Germans. He instituted a persecution against the Christians, the sixth since the time of Nero. But soon, that is, in the third year of his reign, he was killed by Pupienus at Aquileia. His death also brought the persecution to an end. His chief reason for instituting a persecution against the priests and clergy, that is, against the doctors, was the fact that his predecessor, Alexander, and the family of the latter's mother, Mamea, were Christians; another very important motive was his dislike of the presbyter Origen. In the nine hundred and ninety-first year of the City, Gordian, the twenty-third emperor in succession from Augustus, was proclaimed emperor. He reigned for six years. Pupienus, the slayer of Maximinus, and his brother Balbinus, who with him had usurped the supreme power, were shortly afterward murdered in the Palace. According to Eutropius,Gordian, still a mere boy, opened the gates of Janus before setting out for the Parthian War in the East. I do not remember that any writer has stated whether anyone, after the time of and Titus, closed them. Cornelius , however, does report that they were opened a year later by Vespasian himself. After winning mighty battles against the Parthians, Gordian was treacherously killed by his own men, not far from Circessus on the Euphrates. 20. In the nine hundred and ninety-seventh year of the City, Philip, the twenty-fourth emperor in succession from Augustus, was proclaimed emperor and shared his throne with his son Philip. He occupied it for seven years, the first of all the emperors who was a Christian. The third year of his reign was the occasion of the thousandth anniversary of the founding of Rome. This anniversary year, more memorable than any that had gone before, the Christian emperor celebrated with magnificent games. There is no doubt that Philip gave this devout thanksgiving and honour to Christ and to the Church, since no author mentions any procession up to the Capitol nor any sacrifice of victims according to the usual custom. The father and the son died in different places, one in the course of a mutiny of the soldiers, the other as a result of the treachery of Decius.