No More Learning

8 You have heard that our philosopher's p263 prefect of the guard was a beggar and a pauper three days before his appointment, and then suddenly became rich. How, I ask you, save from the vitals of the state and the purses of the provincials? Well then, let them be rich, let them be wealthy. In time they will stuff the imperial treasury;43 only let the gods favour the better side, let the men of Cassius restore to the state a lawful government. " This letter of his shows how stern and how strict an emperor he would have been.

The Life of Commodus

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] The ancestry of Commodus Antoninus has been sufficiently discussed in the life of Marcus Antoninus. 1 2 As for Commodus himself, he was born, with his twin brother Antoninus, at Lanuvium — where his mother's father was born, it is said2 — on the day before the Kalends of September, while his father and uncle were consuls. 3 Faustina, when pregnant with Commodus and his brother, dreamed that she gave birth to serpents, one of which, however, was fiercer than the other. 4 But after she had given birth to Commodus and Antoninus, the latter, for whom the astrologers had cast a horoscope as favourable as that of Commodus, lived to be only four years old. 5 After the death of Antoninus, Marcus tried to educate Commodus by his own teaching and by that of the greatest and the best of men. 6 In Greek literature he had Onesicrates as his teacher, in Latin, Antistius Capella; his instructor in rhetoric was Ateius Sanctus.

7 However, teachers in all these studies profited him not in the least — such is the power, either of natural character, or of the tutors maintained in a palace. For even from his earliest years he was base and dishonourable, and cruel and lewd, defiled of mouth, moreover, p267 and debauched. 3 8 Even then he was an adept in certain arts which are not becoming in an emperor, for he could mould goblets and dance and sing and whistle, and he could play the buffoon and the gladiator to perfection. 9 In the twelfth year of his life, at Centumcellae,4 he gave a forecast of his cruelty. For when it happened that his bath was drawn too cool, he ordered the bathkeeper to be cast into the furnace; whereupon the slave who had been ordered to do this burned a sheep-skin in the furnace, in order to make him believe by the stench of the vapour that the punishment had been carried out.

10 While yet a child he was given the name of Caesar,5 along with his brother Verus,6 and in his fourteenth year he was enrolled in the college of priests. 7 Legamen ad paginam Latinam 2 1 When he assumed the toga,8 he was elected one of the leaders of the equestrian youths,9 the trossuli, and even while still clad in the youth's praetexta he gave largess10 and presided in the Hall of Trajan. 11 2 He assumed the toga on the Nones of July — the day on which Romulus vanished from the earth — at the time when Cassius revolted from Marcus. 3 After he had been commended to the favour of the soldiers he set out with his father for Syria12 and Egypt, and with him he returned to Rome. 13 4 Afterward he was p269 granted exemption from the law of the appointed year and made consul,14 and on the fifth day before the Kalends of December, in the consulship of Pollio and Aper, he was acclaimed Imperator together with his father,15 and celebrated a triumph with him. 16 5 For this, too, the senate had decreed. Then he set out with his father for the German war. 17

6 The more honourable of those appointed to supervise his life he could not endure, but the most evil he retained, and, if any were dismissed, he yearned for them even to the point of falling sick. 7 When they were reinstated through his father's indulgence, he always maintained eating-houses and low resorts for them in the imperial palace. He never showed regard for either decency or expense. 8 He diced in his own home. He herded together women of unusual beauty, keeping them like purchased prostitutes in a sort of brothel for the violation of their chastity. He imitated the hucksters that strolled about from market to market. 9 He procured chariot-horses for his own use. He drove chariots in the garb of a professional charioteer,18 lived with gladiators, and conducted himself like a procurer's servant. Indeed, one would have believed him born rather to a life of infamy than to the high place to which Fortune advanced him.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 3 1 His father's older attendants he dismissed,19 and any friends20 that were advanced in years he cast aside. p271 2 The son of Salvius Julianus, the commander of the troops,21 he tried to lead into debauchery, but in vain, and he thereupon plotted against Julianus. 22 3 He degraded the most honourable either by insulting them directly or giving them offices far below their deserts. 4 He was alluded to by actors as a man of depraved life, and he thereupon banished them so promptly that they did not again appear on the stage. 5 He abandoned the war which his father had almost finished and submitted to the enemy's terms,23 and then he returned to Rome. 24 6 After he had come back to Rome he led the triumphal procession25 with Saoterus, his partner in depravity,a seated in his chariot, and from time to time he would turn around and kiss him openly, repeating this same performance even in the orchestra. 7 And not only was he wont to drink until dawn and squander the resources of the Roman Empire, but in the evening he would ramble through taverns and brothels. 26 8 He sent out to rule the provinces men who were either his companions in crime or were recommended to him by criminals. 9 He became so detested by the senate that he in his turn was moved with cruel passion for the destruction of that great order,27 and from having been despised he became bloodthirsty.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 4 1 Finally the actions of Commodus drove Quadratus and Lucilla,28 with the support of Tarrutenius p273 Paternus, the prefect of the guard,29 to form a plan for his assassination. 2 The task of slaying him was assigned to Claudius Pompeianus, a kinsman. 30 3 But he, as soon as he had an opportunity to fulfil his mission, strode up to Commodus with a drawn sword, and, bursting out with these words, "This dagger the senate sends thee," betrayed the plot like a fool, and failed to accomplish the design, in which many others along with himself were implicated. 4 After this fiasco, first Pompeianus and Quadratus were executed, and then Norbana and Norbanus and Paralius; and the latter's mother and Lucilla were driven into exile. 31

5 Thereupon the prefects of the guard, perceiving that the aversion in which Commodus was held was all on account of Saoterus, whose power the Roman people could not endure, courteously escorted this man away from the Palace under pretext of a sacrifice, and then, as he was returning to his villa, had him assassinated by their private agents. 32 6 But this deed enraged Commodus more than the plot against himself. 7 Paternus, the instigator of this murder, who was believed to have been an accomplice in the plot to assassinate Commodus and had certainly sought to prevent any far-reaching punishment of that conspiracy, was now, at the instigation of Tigidius,33 dismissed from the command of the praetorian guard by the expedient of conferring on him the honour of the broad stripe. 34 8 And a few days thereafter, Commodus accused him of plotting, saying that the daughter of Paternus had been betrothed to the son of Julianus35 with the understanding p275 that Julianus would be raised to the throne. On this pretext he executed Paternus and Julianus, and also Vitruvius Secundus, a very dear friend of Paternus, who had charge of the imperial correspondence. 9 Besides this, he exterminated the whole house of the Quintilii,36 because Sextus, the son of Condianus,37 by pretending death, it was said, had made his escape in order to raise a revolt. 10 Vitrasia Faustina, Velius Rufus,38 and Egnatius Capito, a man of consular rank, were all slain. 11 Aemilius Iuncus and Atilius Severus, the consuls,39 were driven into exile. And against many others he vented his rage in various ways.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 5 1 After this Commodus never appeared in public readily, and would never receive messages unless they had previously passed through the hands of Perennis. 40 2 For Perennis, being well acquainted with Commodus' character, discovered the way to make himself powerful, 3 namely, by persuading Commodus to devote himself to pleasure while he, Perennis, assumed all the burdens of the government — an arrangement which Commodus joyfully accepted. 4 Under this agreement, then, Commodus lived, rioting in the Palace amid banquets and in baths along with 300 concubines, gathered together for their beauty and chosen from both matrons and harlots, and with minions, also 300 in number, whom he had collected by force and by purchase indiscriminately from the common people and the nobles p277 solely on the basis of bodily beauty. 5 Meanwhile, dressed in the garb of an attendant at the sacrifice, he slaughtered the sacrificial victims. He fought in the arena with foils, but sometimes, with his chamberlains acting as gladiators, with sharpened swords. By this time Perennis had secured all the power for himself. 6 He slew whomsoever he wished to slay, plundered a great number, violated every law, and put all the booty into his own pocket. 41 7 Commodus, for his part, killed his sister Lucilla, after banishing her to Capri. 8 After debauching his other sisters, as it is said, he formed an amour with a cousin of his father,42 and even gave the name of his mother to one of his concubines. 9 His wife,43 whom he caught in adultery, he drove from his house, then banished her, and later put her to death. 10 By his orders his concubines were debauched before his own eyes, 11 and he was not free from the disgrace of intimacy with young men, defiling every part of his body in dealings with persons of either sex.

12 At this time Claudius also, whose son had previously come into Commodus' presence with a dagger, was slain,44 ostensibly by bandits, and many other senators were put to death, and also certain women of wealth. 13 And not a few provincials, for the sake of their riches, were charged with crimes by Perennis and then plundered or even slain; 14 some, against whom there was not even the imputation of a fictitious crime, were accused of having been unwilling to name Commodus as their heir.

p279 6 1 Legamen ad paginam Latinam About this time the victories in Sarmatia won by other generals were attributed by Perennis to his own son. 45 2 Yet in spite of his great power, suddenly, because in the war in Britain46 he had dismissed certain senators and had put men of the equestrian order in command of the soldiers,47 this same Perennis was declared an enemy to the state, when the matter was reported by the legates in command of the army, and was thereupon delivered up to the soldiers to be torn to pieces. 48 3 In his place of power Commodus put Cleander,49 one of his chamberlains.

4 After Perennis and his son were executed, Commodus rescinded a number of measures on the ground that they had been carried out without his authority, pretending that he was merely re-establishing previous conditions. 5 However, he could not maintain this penitence for his misdeeds longer than thirty days, and he actually committed more atrocious crimes through Cleander than he had done through the aforesaid Perennis. 6 Although Perennis was succeeded in general influence by Cleander, his successor in the prefecture was Niger, who held this position as prefect of the guard, it is said, for just six hours. 7 In fact, prefects of the guard were changed hourly and p281 daily, Commodus meanwhile committing all kinds of evil deeds, worse even than he had committed before. 8 Marcius Quartus was prefect of the guard for five days. Thereafter, the successors of these men were either retained in office or executed, according to the whim of Cleander. 9 At his nod even freedmen were enrolled in the senate and among the patricians, and now for the first time there were twenty-five consuls in a single year. Appointments to the provinces were uniformly sold; 10 in fact, Cleander sold everything for money. 50 He loaded with honours men who were recalled from exile; he rescinded decisions of the courts. 11 Indeed, because of Commodus' utter degeneracy, his power was so great that he brought Burrus,51 the husband of Commodus' sister, who was denouncing and reporting to Commodus all that was being done, under the suspicion of pretending to the throne, and had him put to death; and at the same time he slew many others who defended Burrus. 12 Among these Aebutianus was slain, the prefect of the guard; in his place Cleander himself was made prefect, together with two others whom he himself chose. 13 Then for the first time were there three prefects of the guard, among whom was a freedman, called the "Bearer of the Dagger". 52

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 7 1 However, a full worthy death was at last meted out to Cleander also. For when, through his intrigues, Arrius Antoninus53 was put to death on false charges as a favour to Attalus, whom Arrius had condemned p283 during his proconsulship in Asia, Commodus could not endure the hatred of the enraged people and gave Cleander over to the populace for punishment. 54 2 At the same time Apolaustus55 and several other freedmen of the court were put to death. Among other outrages Cleander had debauched certain of Commodus' concubines,56 and from them had begotten sons, 3 who, together with their mothers, were put to death after his downfall.

4 As successors to Cleander Commodus appointed Julianus and Regillus, both of whom he afterwards condemned. 57 5 After these men had been put to death he slew the two Silani, Servilius58 and Dulius, together with their kin, then Antius Lupus59 and the two Petronii, Mamertinus and Sura,60 and also Mamertinus' son Antoninus, whose mother was his own sister;61 6 after these, six former consuls at one time, Allius Fuscus, Caelius Felix, Lucceius Torquatus, Larcius Eurupianus, Valerius Bassianus and Pactumeius Magnus,62 all with their kin; 7 in Asia Sulpicius Crassus, the proconsul, Julius Proculus, together with their kin, and Claudius Lucanus, a man of consular rank; and in Achaia his father's cousin, Annia Faustina,63 and innumerable others. 8 He had intended to kill fourteen others also, since the revenues of the Roman empire were insufficient to meet his expenditures.

p285 8 1 Legamen ad paginam Latinam Meanwhile, because he had appointed to the consulship a former lover of his mother's,64 the senate mockingly gave Commodus the name Pius;65 and after he had executed Perennis, he was given the name Felix,66 as though, amid the multitudinous executions of many citizens, he were a second Sulla. 2 And this same Commodus, who was called Pius, and who was called Felix, is said to have feigned a plot against his own life, in order that he might have an excuse for putting many to death. 3 Yet as a matter of fact, there were no rebellions save that of Alexander,67 who soon killed himself and his near of kin, and that of Commodus' sister Lucilla. 68 4 He was called Britannicus by those who desired to flatter him, whereas the Britons even wished to set up an emperor against him. 69 5 He was called also the Roman Hercules,70 on the ground that he had killed wild beasts in the amphitheatre at Lanuvium; and, indeed, it was his custom to kill wild beasts on his own estate. 6 He had, besides, an insane desire that the city of Rome should be renamed Colonia Commodiana. 71 This mad idea, it is said, was inspired in p287 him while listening to the blandishments of Marcia. 72 7 He had also a desire to drive chariots in the Circus, 8 and he went out in public clad in the Dalmatian tunic73 and thus clothed gave the signal for the charioteers to start. 9 And in truth, on the occasion when he laid before the senate his proposal to call Rome Commodiana, not only did the senate gleefully pass this resolution, but also took the name "Commodian" to itself, at the same time giving Commodus the name Hercules, and calling him a god.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 9 1 He pretended once that he was going to Africa, so that he could get funds for the journey, then got them and spent them on banquets and gaming instead. 2 He murdered Motilenus, the prefect of the guard, by means of poisoned figs. He allowed statues of himself to be erected with the accoutrements of Hercules;74 and sacrifices were performed to him as to a god. 3 He had planned to execute many more men besides, but his plan was betrayed by a certain young servant, who threw out of his bedroom a tablet on which were written the names of those who were to be killed.

4 He practised the worship of Isis and even went so far as to shave his head and carry a statue of Anubis. 75 5 In his passion for cruelty he actually ordered the votaries of Bellona to cut off one of their arms,76 6 and as for the devotees of Isis, he forced them to beat p289 their breasts with pine-cones even to the point of death. While he was carrying about the statue of Anubis, he used to smite the heads of the devotees of Isis with the face of the statue. He struck with his club, while clad in a woman's garment or a lion's skin,77 not lions only, but many men as well. Certain men who were lame in their feet and others who could not walk, he dressed up as giants, encasing their legs from the knee down in wrappings and bandages to make them look like serpents,78 and then despatched them with his arrows. He desecrated the rites of Mithra79 with actual murder, although it was customary in them merely to say or pretend something that would produce an impression of terror.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 10 1 Even as a child he was gluttonous and lewd. 80 While a youth, he disgraced every class of men in his company and was disgraced in turn by them. 2 Whosoever ridiculed him he cast to the wild beasts. And one man, who had merely read the book by Tranquillus81 containing the life of Caligula, he ordered cast to the wild beasts, because Caligula and he had the same birthday. 82 3 And if any one, indeed, expressed a desire to die, he had him hurried to death, however really reluctant.

In his humorous moments, too, he was destructive. 4 For example, he put a starling on the head of one p291 man who, as he noticed, had a few white hairs, resembling worms, among the black, and caused his head to fester through the continual pecking of the bird's beak — the bird, of course, imagining that it was pursuing worms. 5 One corpulent person he cut open down the middle of his belly, so that his intestines gushed forth. 6 Other men he dubbed one-eyed or one-footed, after he himself had plucked out one of their eyes or cut off one of their feet. 7 In addition to all this, he murdered many others in many places, some because they came of his presence in the costume of barbarians, others because they were noble and handsome. 8 He kept among his minions certain men named after the private parts of both sexes, and on these he liked to bestow kisses. 9 He also had in his company a man with a male member larger than that of most animals, whom he called Onos. 83 This man he treated with great affection, and even made him rich and appointed him to the priesthood of the Rural Hercules. 84 Legamen ad paginam Latinam 11 1 It is claimed that he often mixed human excrement with the most expensive foods, and he did not refrain from tasting them, mocking the rest of the company, as he thought. 2 He displayed two misshapen hunchbacks on a silver platter after smearing them with mustard, and then straightway advanced and enriched them. 3 He pushed into a swimming-pool his praetor prefect Julianus,85 although he was clad in his toga and accompanied by his staff; and he even ordered this same Julianus to dance naked before his concubines, clashing cymbals and making grimaces. 4 The various kinds of cooked vegetables he rarely admitted to his banquets, his purpose being to preserve unbroken the succession of dainties. 5 He used to bathe seven and p293 eight times a day, and was in the habit of eating while in the baths. 6 He would enter the temples of the gods defiled with adulteries and human blood. 7 He even aped a surgeon, going so far as to bleed men to death with scalpels. 86

8 Certain months were renamed in his honour by his flatterers; for August they substituted Commodus, for September Hercules, for October Invictus, for November Exsuperatorius, and for December Amazonius, after his own surname. 87 9 He had been called Amazonius, moreover, because of his passion for his concubine Marcia,88 whom he loved to have portrayed as an Amazon, and for whose sake he even wished to enter the arena of Rome dressed as an Amazon.

10 He engaged in gladiatorial combats,89 and accepted the names usually given to gladiators90 with as much pleasure as if he had been granted triumphal decorations. 11 He regularly took part in the spectacles, and as often as he did so, ordered the fact to be inscribed in the public records. 91 12 It is said that he engaged in gladiatorial bouts seven hundred and thirty-five times. 92

13 He received the name of Caesar on the fourth day before the Ides of the month usually called October, which he later named Hercules,93 in the consulship of Pudens and Pollio. 94 14 He was called Germanicus95 on the Ides of "Hercules" in the consulship of Maximus p295 and Orfitus. Legamen ad paginam Latinam 12 1 He was received into all the sacred colleges as a priest on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of "Invictus," in the consulship of Piso and Julianus. 2 He set out for Germany on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of the month which he later named Aelius, 3 and assumed the toga in the same year. 4 Together with his father he was acclaimed Imperator on the fifth day before the Kalends of "Exsuperatorius," in the year when Pollio and Aper served their second consulships, 5 and he celebrated a triumph on the tenth day before the Kalends of January in this same year. 6 He set out on his second expedition on the third day before the Nones of "Commodus" in the consulship of Orfitus and Rufus. 7 He was officially presented by the army and the senate to be maintained in perpetuity in the Palatine mansion,96 henceforth called Commodiana,97 on the eleventh day before the Kalends of "Romanus," in the year that Praesens was consul for the second time. 8 When he laid plans for a third expedition, he was persuaded by the senate and people to give it up. 9 Vows98 were assumed in his behalf on the Nones of "Pius," when Fuscianus was consul for the second time. 10 Besides these facts, it is related in records that he fought 365 gladiatorial combats in his father's reign. 11 Afterwards, by vanquishing or slaying retiarii,99 he won enough gladiatorial crowns to bring the number up to a thousand. 100 12 He also killed with his own hand thousands of wild beasts of all kinds, even elephants. And he frequently did these things before the eyes of the Roman people. 101

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 13 1 But, though vigorous enough for such exploits, he was otherwise weak and diseased; indeed, p297 he had such a conspicuous growth on his groin that the people of Rome could see the swelling through his silken robes. 2 Many verses were written alluding to this deformity; and Marius Maximus prides himself on preserving these in his biography of Commodus. 3 Such was his prowess in the slaying of wild beasts, that he once transfixed an elephant with a pole, pierced a gazelle's horn with a spear, and on a thousand occasions dispatched a mighty beast with a single blow. 4 Such was his complete indifference to propriety, that time and again he sat in the theatre or amphitheatre dressed in a woman's garments and drank quite publicly.

5 The Moors102 and the Dacians103 were conquered during his reign, and peace was established in the Pannonias,104 but all by his legates, since such was the manner of his life. The provincials in Britain,105 Dacia, and Germany106 attempted to cast off his yoke, 6 but all these attempts were put down by his generals. 7 Commodus himself was so lazy and careless in signing documents that he answered many petitions with the same formula, while in very many letters he merely wrote the word "Farewell". 8 All official business was carried on by others, who, it is said, even used condemnations to swell their purses. Legamen ad paginam Latinam 14 1 And because he was so careless, moreover, a great famine arose in p299 Rome, not because there was any real shortage of crops, but merely because those who then ruled the state were plundering the food supply. 107 2 As for those who plundered on every hand, Commodus afterwards put them to death and confiscated their property; 3 but for the time he pretended that a golden age had come,108 "Commodian" by name, and ordered a general reduction of prices, the result of which was an even greater scarcity.

4 In his reign many a man secured punishment for another or immunity for himself by bribery. 5 Indeed, in return for money Commodus would grant a change of punishment, the right of burial, the alleviation of wrongs, and the substitution of another for one condemned to be put to death. 6 He sold provinces and administrative posts, part of the proceeds accruing to those through whom he made the sale and part to Commodus himself. 7 To some he sold even the lives of their enemies. Under him the imperial freedmen sold even the results of law-suits. 8 He did not long put up with Paternus and Perennis as prefects;109 indeed, not one of the prefects whom he himself had appointed remained in office as long as three years. 110 Most of them he killed, some with poison, some with the sword. Legamen ad paginam Latinam 15 1 Prefects of the city he changed with equal readiness. He executed his chamberlains with no compunctions whatever, even though all that he had done had been at their bidding. 2 One of these chamberlains, however, Eclectus by name,111 forestalled him when he saw how ready Commodus was to put the chamberlains to death, and took part in a conspiracy to kill him. 112

3 At gladiatorial shows he would come to watch and stay to fight, covering his bare shoulders with a purple p301 cloth. 4 And it was his custom, moreover, to order the insertion in the city-gazette113 of everything he did that was base or foul or cruel, or typical of a gladiator114 or a procurer — at least, the writings of Marius Maximus so testify. 5 He entitled the Roman people the "People of Commodus,"115 since he had very often fought as a gladiator in their presence. 116 6 And although the people regularly applauded him in his frequent combats as though he were a god, he became convinced that he was being laughed at, and gave orders that the Roman people should be slain in the Amphitheatre by the marines who spread the awnings. 7 He gave an order, also, for the burning of the city,117 as though it were his private colony, and this order would have been executed had not Laetus,118 the prefect of the guard, deterred him. 8 Among other triumphal titles, he was also given the name "Captain of the Secutores"119 six hundred and twenty times.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 16 1 The prodigies that occurred in his reign, both those which concerned the state and those which affected Commodus personally, were as follows. A comet appeared. 2 Footprints of the gods were seen in the Forum departing from it. Before the war of the deserters120 the heavens were ablaze. On the Kalends p303 of January a swift coming mist and darkness arose in the Circus; and before dawn there had already been fire-birds121 and ill-boding portents. 3 Commodus himself moved his residence from the Palace to the Vectilian Villa122 on the Caelian hill, saying that he could not sleep in the Palace. 4 The twin gates of the temple of Janus123 opened of their own accord, and a marble image of Anubis124 was seen to move. 5 In the Minucian Portico125 a bronze statue of Hercules sweated for several days. An owl, moreover, was caught above his bed-chamber both at Lanuvium and at Rome. 6 He was himself responsible for no inconsiderable an omen relating to himself; for after he had plunged his hand into the wound of a slain gladiator he wiped it on his own head, and again, contrary to custom, he ordered the spectators to attend his gladiatorial shows clad not in togas but in cloaks, a practice usual at funerals,126 while he himself presided in the vestments of a mourner. 7 Twice, moreover, his helmet was borne through the Gate of Libitina. 127

8 He gave largess to the people, 725 denarii to each man. 128 Toward all others he was close-fisted to a degree, since the expense of his luxurious living had drained the treasury. 9 He held many races in the Circus,129 but rather as the result of a whim than as p305 an act of religion, and also in order to enrich the leaders of the factions. 130

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 17 1 Because of these things — but all too late — Quintus Aemilius Laetus, prefect of the guard, and Marcia, his concubine, were roused to action and entered into a conspiracy against his life. 2 First they gave him poison; and when this proved ineffective they had him strangled by the athlete with whom he was accustomed to exercise. 131

3 Physically he was very well proportioned. His expression was dull, as is usual in drunkards, and his speech uncultivated. His hair was always dyed and made lustrous by the use of gold dust, and he used to singe his hair and beard because he was afraid of barbers.

4 The people and senate demanded that his body be dragged with the hook and cast into the Tiber;132 later, however, at the bidding of Pertinax, it was borne to the Mausoleum of Hadrian. 133

5 No public works of his are in existence, except the bath which Cleander built in his name. 134 6 But he inscribed his name on the works of others; this the senate erased. 135 7 Indeed, he did not even finish the public works of his father. He did organize an African fleet, which would have been useful, in case the grain-supply from Alexandria were delayed. 136 8 He jestingly named Carthage Alexandria Commodiana Togata, after entitling the African fleet Commodiana Herculea. 137 9 He made certain additions p307 to the Colossus by way of ornamentation, all of which were later taken off, 10 and he also removed its head, which was a likeness of Nero, and replaced it by a likeness of himself, writing on the pedestal an inscription in his usual style, not omitting the titles Gladiatorius and Effeminatus. 138 11 And yet Severus, a stern emperor and a man whose character was well in keeping with his name, moved by hatred for the senate — or so it seems — exalted this creature to a place among the gods139 and granted him also a flamen, the "Herculaneus Commodianus," whom Commodus while still alive had planned to have for himself.

12 Three sisters140 survived him.
Severus instituted the observance of his birthday.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 18 1 Loud were the acclamations of the senate after the death of Commodus. 2 And that the senate's opinion of him may be known, I have quoted from Marius Maximus the acclamations themselves,141 and the content of the senate's decree:

3 "From him who was a foe of his fatherland let his honours be taken away; let the honours of the murderer be taken away; let the murderer be dragged in the dust. The foe of his fatherland, the murderer, the gladiator, in the charnel-house let him be mangled. 4 He is foe to the gods, slayer of the senate, foe to the gods, murderer of the senate, foe of the gods, foe of the gods, foe of the senate. 5 Cast the gladiator into the charnel-house. He who slew the senate, let him be dragged with the hook; he who slew the guiltless, let p309 him be dragged with the hook — a foe, a murderer, verily, verily. 6 He who spared not his own blood, let him be dragged with the hook; 7 he who would have slain you,142 let him be dragged with the hook. You were in terror along with us, you were endangered along with us. That we may be safe, O Jupiter Best and Greatest, save for us Pertinax. 143 8 Long life to the guardian care of the praetorians! Long life to the praetorian cohorts! Long life to the armies of Rome! Long life to the loyalty of the senate!

9 Let the murderer beº dragged in the dust. 10 We beseech you, O Sire, let the murderer be dragged in the dust. This we beseech you, let the murderer be dragged in the dust. Hearken, Caesar: to the lions with the informers! Hearken Caesar: to the lions with Speratus! 144 11 Long life to the victory of the Roman people! Long life to the soldiers' guardian care! Long life to the guardian care of the praetorians! Long life to the praetorian cohorts!

12 On all sides are statues of the foe, on all side are statues of the murderer, on all sides are statues of the gladiator. The statues of the murderer and gladiator, let them be cast down. 13 The slayer of citizens, let him be dragged in the dust. The murderer of citizens, let him be dragged in the dust. Let the statues of the gladiator be overthrown. 14 While you are safe, we too are safe and untroubled, verily, verily, if in very truth, then with honour, if in very truth, then with freedom.

15 Now at last we are secure; let informers tremble. That we may be secure, let the informers tremble. That we may be safe, cast informers out of the senate, the club for informers! While you are safe, to the lions with informers! 16 While you are ruler, the club for informers!

p311 19 1 Legamen ad paginam Latinam Let the memory of the murderer and the gladiator be utterly wiped away. Let the statues of the murderer and the gladiator be overthrown. Let the memory of the foul gladiator be utterly wiped away. Cast the gladiator into the charnel-house. 2 Hearken, Caesar: let the slayer be dragged with the hook. In the manner of our fathers let the slayer of the senate be dragged with the hook. More savage than Domitian, more foul than Nero. As he did unto others, let it be done unto him. Let the remembrance of the guiltless be preserved. Restore the honours of the guiltless, we beseech you. Let the body of the murderer be dragged with the hook, 3 let the body of the gladiator be dragged with the hook, let the body of the gladiator be cast into the charnel-house. Call for our vote, call for our vote: with one accord we reply, let him be dragged with the hook. 4 He who slew all men, let him be dragged with the hook. He who slew young and old, let him be dragged with the hook. He who slew man and woman, let him be dragged with the hook. He who spared not his own blood, let him be dragged with the hook. 5 He who plundered temples, let him be dragged with the hook. He who set aside the testaments of the dead, let him be dragged with the hook. He who plundered the living, let him be dragged with the hook. We have been slaves to slaves. 6 He who demanded a price for the life of a man, let him be dragged with the hook. He who demanded a price for a life and kept not his promise, let him be dragged with the hook. He who sold the senate, let him be dragged with the hook. He who took from sons their patrimony, let him be dragged with the hook.

7 Spies and informers, cast them out of the senate. p313 Suborners of slaves, cast them out of the senate. You, too, were in terror along with us; you know all, you know both the good and the evil. 8 You know all that we were forced to purchase; all we have feared for your sake. Happy are we, now that you are the emperor in truth. Put it to the vote concerning the murderer, put it to the vote, put the question. We ask your presence. 9 The guiltless are yet unburied; let the body of the murderer be dragged in the dust. The murderer dug up the buried; let the body of the murderer be dragged in the dust. "

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 20 1 The body of Commodus was buried during the night, after Livius Laurensis,145 the steward of the imperial estate,146 had surrendered it at the bidding of Pertinax147 to Fabius Cilo,148 the consul elect. 2 At this the senate cried out: 3 "With whose authority have they buried him? The buried murderer, let him be dug up, let him be dragged in the dust. " Cincius Severus149 said: "Wrongfully has he been buried. And I speak as pontifex, so speaks the college of the pontifices. 4 And now, having recounted what is joyful, I shall proceed to what is needful: I give it as my opinion that the statues should be overthrown which this man, who lived but for the destruction of his fellow-citizens and for his own shame, forced us to decree in his honour; 5 wherever they are, they should be cast down. His name, moreover, should be erased from all public and private records,150 and the months151 should be once more called by the names whereby they were called when this scourge first fell upon the state. "

The Life of Pertinax

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] Publius Helvius Pertinax was the son of a freedman, Helvius Successus by name, who confessed that he gave this name to his son because of his own long-standing connection with the timber-trade, for had conducted that business with pertinacity. 2 Pertinax himself was born in the Apennines1 on an estate which belonged to his mother. The hour he was born a black horse climbed to the roof, and after remaining there for a short time, fell to the ground and died. 3 Disturbed by this occurrence, his father went to a Chaldean, and he prophesied future greatness for the boy, saying that he himself had lost his child. 2 4 As a boy, Pertinax was educated in the rudiments of literature and in arithmetic and was also put under the care of a Greek teacher of grammar and, later, of Sulpicius Apollinaris;3 after receiving instruction from this man, Pertinax himself took up the teaching of grammar.

5 But when he found little profit in this profession, with the aid of Lollianus Avitus, a former consul4 and his father's patron, he sought an appointment to a command in the ranks. 5 6 Soon afterwards, in the p317 reign of Titus Aurelius,6 he set out for Syria as prefect of a cohort,7 and there, because he had used the imperial post without official letters of recommendation, he was forced by the governor of Syria to make his way from Antioch to his station on foot. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 2 1 Winning promotiona because of the energy he showed in the Parthian war,8 he was transferred to Britain9 and there retained. 2 Later he led a squadron10 in Moesia, and after that he supervised the distribution of grants to the poor on the Aemilian Way. 11 3 Next, he commanded the German fleet. 12 His mother followed him all the way to Germany, and there she died, and her tomb is said to be still standing there. 4 From this command he was transferred to Dacia13 at a salary of two hundred thousand sesterces, but through the machinations of certain persons he came to be distrusted by Marcus and was removed from this post; afterwards, however, through the influence of Claudius Pompeianus, the son-in‑law of Marcus,14 he was detailed to the command of detachments on the plea that he would become Pompeianus' aide. 15 5 Meeting with approval in this position, he was enrolled in the senate. 6 Later, when he had won success in war for the second time, the plot which had been made against him was revealed, and Marcus, in order to remedy the wrong he had done him, raised p319 him to the rank of praetor16 and put him in command of the First Legion. 17 Whereupon Pertinax straightway rescued Raetia and Noricum from the enemy. 18 7 Because of his conspicuous prowess in this campaign he was appointed, on the recommendation of Marcus, to the consulship. 8 Marcus' speech has been preserved in the works of Marius Maximus; it contains a eulogy of him and relates, moreover, everything that he did and suffered. 9 And besides this speech, which it would take too much space to incorporate in this work, Marcus praised Pertinax frequently, both in the assemblies of soldiers and in the senate, and publicly expressed regret that he was a senator and therefore could not be made prefect of the guard. 10 After Cassius' revolt had been suppressed, Pertinax set out from Syria19 to protect the bank of the Danube, 11 and presently he was appointed to govern both the Moesias and, soon thereafter, Dacia. And by reason of his success in these provinces, he won the appointment to Syria.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 3 1 Up to the time of his administration of Syria, Pertinax preserved his honesty, but after the death of Marcus he became desirous of wealth, and was in consequence assailed by popular gibes. 20 2 It was not until after he had governed four consular provinces and had become a rich man that he entered the Roman senate-chamber, which, during all his career as senator, he had never before seen, for during his term as consul he had been absent from Rome. 21 3 Immediately after this, he received orders from Perennis to retire to his father's farm in Liguria,22 where his father had kept a cloth-maker's p321 shop. 4 On coming to Liguria, however, he bought up a great number of farms, and added countless buildings to his father's shop, which he still kept in its original form; and there he stayed for three years carrying on the business through his slaves.

5 After Perennis had been put to death, Commodus made amends to Pertinax, and in a letter asked him to set out for Britain. 23 6 After his arrival there he kept the soldiers from any revolt, for they wished to set up some other man as emperor, preferably Pertinax himself. 7 And now Pertinax acquired an evil character for enviousness, for he was said to have laid before Commodus the charge that Antistius Burrus and Arrius Antoninus were aspiring to the throne. 24 8 And certainly he did suppress a mutiny against himself in Britain, but in so doing he came into great danger; for in a mutiny of a legion he was almost killed, and indeed was left among the slain. 9 This mutiny Pertinax punished very severely. 10 Later on, however, he petitioned to be excused from his governorship, saying that the legions were hostile to him because he had been strict in his discipline. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 4 1 After he had been relieved of his post, he was put in charge of the grants to the poor. 25 Next he was made proconsul of Africa. 2 During this proconsulship, it is said, he suppressed many rebellions by the aid of prophetic verses which issued from the temple of Caelestis. 26 Next he was made prefect of the city, 3 and in this office, as successor to Fuscianus,27 a very stern man, Pertinax p323 was exceedingly gentle and considerate, and he proved very pleasing to Commodus himself, for he was . . . 28 when Pertinax was made consul for the second time. 4 And while in this position, Pertinax did not avoid complicity in the murder of Commodus, when a share in this plot was offered him by the other conspirators.

5 After Commodus was slain,29 Laetus, the prefect of the guard, and Eclectus, the chamberlain, came to Pertinax and reassured him, and then led him to the camp. 6 There he harangued the soldiers, promised a donative,30 and said that the imperial power had been thrust upon him by Laetus and Eclectus. 7 It was pretended, moreover, that Commodus had died a natural death, chiefly because the soldiers feared that their loyalty was merely being tested. 8 Finally, and at first by only a few, Pertinax was hailed as emperor. 31 He was made emperor on the day before the Kalends of January, being then more than sixty years old. 32 9 During the night he came from the camp to the senate, but, when he ordered the opening of the hall of the senate-house and the attendant could not be found, he seated himself in the Temple of Concord. 33 10 And when Claudius Pompeianus, Marcus' son-in‑law, came to him and bemoaned the death of Commodus, Pertinax urged him to take the throne; Claudius, however, seeing that Pertinax was already invested with the imperial power, refused. 11 Without further delay, therefore, all the magistrates, in company with the consul, came to the senate-house, and Pertinax, who had come in by night, was saluted as emperor.

p325 5 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] Pertinax, on his part, after his own praises had been recited by the consuls and Commodus had been execrated in the outcries of the senate,34 returned thanks to the senate in general, and in particular to Laetus, the prefect of the guard, through whose instrumentality Commodus had been slain and he himself declared emperor.

2 When Pertinax had returned thanks to Laetus, however, Falco, the consul, said: "We may know what sort of an emperor you will be from this, that we see behind you Laetus and Marcia, the instruments of Commodus' crimes". 3 To him Pertinax replied: "You are young, Consul, and do not know the necessity of obedience. They obeyed Commodus, but against their will, and as soon as they had an opportunity, they showed what had always been their desire. " 4 On the same day that he was entitled Augustus, at the very hour at which he was paying his vows on the Capitolium, Flavia Titiana, his wife, was also given the name of Augusta. 35 5 Of all the emperors he was the first to receive the title of Father of his Country on the day when he was named Augustus. 36 6 And at the same time he received the proconsular power and the right of making four proposals to the senate37 — a combination which Pertinax regarded as an omen.

7 And so Pertinax repaired to the Palace, which was vacant at that time, for Commodus had been slain in the Vectilian Villa. 38 And on the first day of his reign, when the tribune asked for the watchword, he gave "let us be soldiers," as if reproving the former reign for its inactivity. As a matter of fact, he had really used this same watchword before in all his p327 commands. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 6 1 But the soldiers would not tolerate a reproof and straightway began making plans for changing the emperor. 2 On this same day also he invited the magistrates and the chief men of the senate to a banquet, a practice which Commodus had discontinued. 3 But, indeed, on the day after the Kalends of January, when the statues of Commodus were overthrown,39 the soldiers groaned aloud, for he gave this same watchword for the second time, and besides they dreaded service under an emperor advanced in years. 4 Finally on the third of the month, just as the vows were being assumed, the soldiers tried to lead Triarius Maternus Lascivius, a senator of distinction, to the camp, in order to invest him with the sovereignty of the Roman Empire. 5 He, however, fled from them quite naked and came to Pertinax in the Palace and presently departed from the city.

6 Induced by fear, Pertinax ratified all the concessions which Commodus had made to the soldiers and veterans. 7 He declared, also, that he had received from the senate the sovereignty which, in fact, he had already assumed on his own responsibility. 40 8 He abolished trials for treason absolutely and bound himself thereto by an oath, he recalled those who had been exiled on the charge of treason, and he re-established the good name of those who had been slain. 41 9 The senate granted his son the name of Caesar, but Pertinax not only refused to allow the name Augusta to be conferred on his wife but also, in the case of his son, said: "Only when he earns it". 42 10 And since Commodus had obscured the significance of the praetorian rank43 by countless appointments thereto, Pertinax, after securing the passage of a decree of the senate, issued an order that those who p329 had secured the rank of praetor not by actual service, but by appointment, should be ranked below those who had been praetors in reality. 11 But by this act also he brought on himself the bitter enmity of many men. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 7 1 He gave orders for the taking of a new census. He gave orders, too, that men convicted of lodging false accusations should be punished with severity, exercising, nevertheless, greater moderation than former emperors, and at the same time ordaining a separate punishment for each rank in case any of its members should be convicted for this offence. 2 He enacted a law, moreover, that an old will should not become invalid before the new one was formally completed, fearing that some time the privy-purse might in this way succeed to an inheritance. 44 3 He declared that for his own part he would accept no legacy which came to him either through flattery or by reason of legal entanglements if thereby the rightful heirs and the near of kin should be robbed of their rights, and when the decree of the senate was passed, he added these words: 4 "It is better, O Conscript Fathers, to rule a state that is impoverished, than to attain to a great mass of wealth by paths of peril and dishonour". 5 He paid the donatives and largesses which Commodus had promised,45 6 and provided with the greatest care for the grain-supply. And when the treasury was drained to such a degree that he was unable to put his hands on more than a million sesterces,46 as he himself admitted, he was forced, in violation of a previous promise, to exact certain revenues which Commodus had remitted. 7 And finally, when Lollianus Gentianus,47 a man of consular rank, brought him to task for breaking his promise, he excused himself on the ground that it was a case of necessity.

p331 8 He held a sale of Commodus' belongings, even ordering the sale of all his youths and concubines, except those who had apparently been brought to the Palace by force. 48 9 Of those whom he ordered sold, however, many were soon brought back to his service and ministered to the pleasures of the old man, and under other emperors they even attained to the rank of senator. 10 Certain buffoons, also, who bore the shame of unmentionable names,49 he put up at auction and sold. 11 The moneys gained in this trafficking, which were immense, he used for a donative to the soldiers. 50 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 8 1 He also demanded from Commodus' freedmen the sums wherewith they had been enriched when Commodus held his sales. 51 2 In the sale of Commodus' goods the following articles were especially noteworthy: robes of silk foundation with gold embroidery of remarkable workmanship; tunics, mantles and coats; tunics made with long sleeves in the manner of the Dalmatians52 and fringed military cloaks; purple cloaks made for service in the camp. 3 Also Bardaean hooded cloaks,53 and a gladiator's toga and harness finished in gold and jewels; 4 also swords, such as those with which Hercules is represented, and the necklaces worn by gladiators, and vessels, some of pottery, some of gold, some of ivory, some of silver, and some of citrus wood. 5 Also cups in the shape of the phallus, made of these same materials; and Samnite pots for heating the resin and pitch used for depilating men and making their skins smooth. 6 And furthermore, carriages, the very latest masterpieces of the art, made with entwined and carven p333 wheels and carefully planned seats that could be turned so as to avoid the sun at one moment, at another, face the breeze. 7 There were other carriages that measured the road,b and showed the time; and still others designed for the indulgence of his vices.

8 Pertinax restored to their masters, moreover, all slaves who had come from private homes to the Palace. 9 He reduced the imperial banquets from something absolutely unlimited to a fixed standard,54 and, indeed, cut down all expenses from what they had been under Commodus. 10 And from the example set by the emperor, who lived rather simply, there resulted a general economy and a consequent reduction in the cost of living; 11 for by eliminating the unessentials he reduced the upkeep of the court to half the usual amount. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 9 1 He established rewards for the soldiers, paid the debt which he had contracted at the beginning of his reign, and restored the treasury to its normal condition. 2 He set aside a fixed sum for public buildings, furnished funds for repairing the highways, and paid the arrears in the salaries of very many men. Finally, he made the privy-purse capable of sustaining all the demands made upon it, 3 and with rigorous honesty he even assumed the responsibility for nine years' arrears of money for the poor55 which was owed through a statute of Trajan's.

4 Before he was made emperor he was not free from the suspicion of greed,56 for he had extended his own holdings at Vada Sabatia57 by foreclosing mortgages; 5 indeed, in a line quoted from Lucilius58 he was called a land-shark. 59 6 Many men, moreover, have set down p335 in writing that in those provinces which he ruled as proconsul he conducted himself in a grasping manner; for he sold, they say, both exemptions from service and military appointments. 7 And lastly, although his father's estate was very small, and no legacy was left him, he suddenly became rich.

8 As a matter of fact, however, he restored to everyone the property of which Commodus had despoiled him, but not without compensation. 9 He always attended the stated meetings of the senate and always made some proposal. To those who came to greet him or who accosted him he was always courteous. 10 He absolved a number of men whose slaves had assailed them with false charges, and punished severely those who brought the accusation, crucifying all such slaves; and he also rehabilitated the memory of some who had died.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 10 1 A plot was attempted against him60 by Falco the consul, who, being eager to rule, made complaint in the senate. 2 He, in fact, was believed by the senate, when a certain slave, on the ground that he was the son of Fabia and . . . 61 of the household of Ceionius Commodus, laid a baseless claim to the residence on the Palatine and, on being recognised, was sentenced to be soundly flogged and returned to his master. 3 In the punishment of this man those who hated Pertinax are said to have found an opportunity for an outbreak. 4 Nevertheless, Pertinax spared Falco, and furthermore asked the senate to pardon him. 62 5 In the end Falco lived out his life in security p337 and in possession of his property, and at his death, his son succeeded to the inheritance. 6 Many men, however, claimed that Falco was unaware that men were planning to make him emperor, 7 and others said that slaves who had falsified his accounts assailed him with trumped-up charges.

8 However, a conspiracy63 was organized against Pertinax by Laetus, the prefect of the guard, and sundry others who were displeased by his integrity. 9 Laetus regretted that he had made Pertinax emperor, because Pertinax used to rebuke him as a stupid babbler of various secrets. 10 It seemed to the soldiers, moreover, a very cruel measure, that in the matter of Falco he had had many of their comrades put to death on the testimony of a single slave. 64 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 11 1 And so three hundred soldiers,65 formed into a wedge, marched under arms from the camp to the imperial residence. 2 On that day, it was said, no heart had been found in the victim when Pertinax performed a sacrifice, and when he tried to avert this evil omen, he was unable to discover the upper portion of the liver. And so on that day the great body of the soldiers remained in the camp. 3 Some, indeed, had come forth from the camp in order to act as escort to the emperor, but Pertinax, because of the unfavourable sacrifice, postponed for that day a projected visit to the Athenaeum,66 where he had planned to hear a poet, and thereupon the escort began to return to the camp. 4 But just at that moment the band of troops mentioned above arrived at the Palace, and neither could they be prevented from entering nor could their entrance be announced to the Emperor. p339 5 In fact, the palace-attendants67 hated Pertinax with so bitter a hatred that they even urged on the soldiers to do the deed. 6 The troops arrived just as Pertinax was inspecting the court-slaves, and, passing through the portico of the Palace, they advanced as far as the spot called Sicilia and the Banqueting-Hall of Jupiter. 7 As soon as he learned of their approach, Pertinax sent Laetus, the prefect of the guard, to meet them; but he, avoiding the soldiers, passed out through the portico and betook himself home with his face hidden from sight. 8 After they had burst into the inner portion of the Palace, however, Pertinax advanced to meet them and sought to appease them with a long and serious speech. 9 In spite of this, one Tausius, a Tungrian, after haranguing the soldiers into a state of fury and fear, hurled his spear at Pertinax' breast. 10 And he, after a prayer to Jupiter the Avenger, veiled his head with his toga and was stabbed by the rest. 11 Eclectus also, after stabbing two of his assailants, died with him, and the other court-chamberlains 12 (his own chamberlains, as soon as he had been made emperor, Pertinax had given to his emancipated children)68 fled away in all directions. 13 Many, it is true, say that the soldiers even burst into his bedroom, and there, standing about his bed, slew him as he tried to flee.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 12 1 He was a stately old man, with a long beard and hair brushed back. His figure was somewhat corpulent, with somewhat prominent abdomen, but his bearing was regal. He was a man of mediocre ability in speaking, and suave rather than kindly, nor was he ever considered ingenuous. 2 Though friendly p341 enough in speech, when it came to deeds, he was ungenerous and almost mean — so mean, in fact, that before he was made emperor he used to serve at his banquets lettuce and the edible thistle in half portions. 3 And unless someone made him a present of food, he would serve nine pounds of meat in three courses, no matter how many friends were present; 4 if anyone presented him with an additional amount, moreover, he would put off using it until the next day, and would then invite a great number of guests.