No More Learning

He was easily roused, his anger was terrible, his rage relentless. In his pleasures he was changeable, for he sometimes craved wine and sometimes abstained. 2 He had a thorough knowledge of arms58 and was not ineptly called the Catiline of his age.

p489 3 We do not believe it wholly irrelevant to recount the causes which won Clodius Albinus the love of the senate. 59 4 After Commodus had bestowed upon him the name of Caesar, and while by the Emperor's orders he was in command of the troops in Britain, false tidings were brought that Commodus had been slain. Then he came forth before the soldiers and delivered the following speech: 5 "If the senate of the Roman people but had its ancient power, and if this vast empire were not under the sway of a single man, it would never have come to pass that the destiny of the state should fall into the hands of a Vitellius, a Nero, or a Domitian. Under the rule of consuls there were those mighty families of ours, the Ceionii, the Albini, and the Postumii,60 of whom your fathers heard from their grandsires and from whom they learned many things. 6 It was surely the senate, moreover, that added Africa to the dominions of Rome, the senate that conquered Gaul and the Spains, the senate that gave laws to the tribes of the East, and the senate that dared to attack the Parthians — and would have conquered them, too, had not the fortune of Rome just then assigned our army so covetous a leader. 61 7 Britain, to be sure, was conquered by Caesar, but he was still a senator and not yet dictator. Now as for Commodus himself, how much better an emperor would he had been had he stood in awe of the senate! 8 Even as late as the time of Nero, the power of the senate prevailed, and the senators did not fear to deliver speeches against a base and filthy prince and condemn him,62 p491 even though he still retained both power of life and death and the empire too. 9 Wherefore, my comrades, the name of Caesar, which Commodus now confers on me, I do not wish to accept. May the gods grant that no one else may wish it! 10 Let the senate have rule, let the senate distribute the provinces and appoint us consuls. But why do I say the senate? It is you, I mean, and your fathers; you yourselves shall be the senators. "

14 1 This harangue was reported at Rome while Commodus was still alive and roused him greatly against Albinus. He forthwith despatched one of his aides, Junius Severus, to replace him. 63 2 The senate, however, was so much pleased that it honoured Albinus, though absent, with marvellous acclamations, both while Commodus still lived and, later, after his murder. Some even counselled Pertinax to ally himself with Albinus, and as for Julianus, Albinus' influence had the greatest weight in his plan for murdering Pertinax. 64 3 In proof, moreover, that my statements are true, I will quote a letter written by Commodus to the prefects of the guard, in which he makes clear his intention of killing Albinus; 4 "Aurelius Commodus to his prefects, greeting. You have heard, I believe, in the first place, the false statement that I had been slain by a conspiracy of my household; in the second, that Clodius Albinus has delivered an harangue to the senate at great length — and not for nothing, it seems to me. 5 For whoever asserts that the state ought not p493 to be under the sway of one man, and that the senate should rule the empire, he is merely seeking to get the empire himself through the senate. Keep a diligent watch then; for now you know the man whom you and the troops and the people must avoid. "

6 When Pertinax found this letter he desired to make it public in order to stir up hatred against Albinus; and for this reason Albinus advised Julianus to bring about Pertinax's death.



The Life of Antoninus Caracalla

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 1 1 The two sons left by Septimius Severus, Geta and Bassianus,1 both received the surname Antoninus,2 one from the army, the other from his father, but Geta was declared a public enemy,3 while Bassianus got the empire. 2 The account of this emperor's ancestors I deem it needless to repeat, for all this has been fully told in the Life of Severus. 4 3 He himself in his boyhood was winsome and clever, respectful to his parents and courteous to his parents' friends, beloved by the people, popular with the senate, and well able to further his own interests in winning affection. 4 Never did he seem backward in letters or slow in deeds of kindness, never niggardly in largess or tardy in forgiving — at least while under his parents. 5 For example, if ever he saw condemned criminals pitted against wild beasts, he wept or turned away his eyes, and this was more than pleasing to the people. p5 6 Once, when a child of seven, hearing that a certain playmate of his had been severely scourged for adopting the religion of the Jews, he long refused to look at either the boy's father or his own, because he regarded them as responsible for the scourging. 7 It was at his plea, moreover, that their ancient rights were restored to the citizens of Antioch and Byzantium, with whom Severus had become angry because they had given aid to Niger. 5 8 He conceived a hatred for Plautianus6 because of his cruelty. And all the gifts he received from his father on the occasion of the Sigillaria7 he presented of his own accord to his dependents or to his teachers.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 2 1 All this, however, was in his boyhood. For when he passed beyond the age of a boy, either by his father's advice or through a natural cunning, or because he thought that he must imitate Alexander of Macedonia, he became more reserved and stern and even somewhat savage in expression, and indeed so much so that many were unable to believe that he was the same person whom they had known as a boy. 2 Alexander the Great and his achievements were ever on his lips, and often in a public gathering he would praise Tiberius and Sulla. 3 He was more arrogant than his father; and his brother, because he was very modest, he thoroughly despised.


[image ALT: A bust of a man of about 35, with curly hair and a fierce and wary expression. It is a contemporary portrait of the emperor Caracalla. ]

A contemporary portrait, in the Stanza degli Imperatori in the Capitoline Museums in Rome, is identified as that of Caracalla.

4 After his father's death8 he went to the Praetorian Camp9 and complained there to the soldiers that his brother was forming a conspiracy against him. And p7 so he had his brother slain in the Palace,10 giving orders to burn his body at once. 5 He also said in the Camp11 that his brother had shown disrespect to their mother. To those who had killed his brother he rendered thanks publicly, 6 and indeed he even gave them a bonus for being so loyal to him. 7 Nevertheless, some of the soldiers at Alba12 received the news of Geta's death with anger, and all declared they had sworn allegiance to both the sons of Severus and ought to maintain it to both. 13 8 They then closed the gates of the camp, and the Emperor was not admitted for a long time, and then not until he had quieted their anger, not only by bitter words about Geta and by bringing charges against him, but also by enormous sums of money, by means of which, as usual, the soldiers were placated. 9 After this he returned to Rome and then attended a meeting of the senate,14 wearing a cuirass under his senator's robe and accompanied by an armed guard. He stationed this in a double line in the midst of the benches 10 and so made a speech, in which, with a view to accusing his brother and excusing himself, he complained in a confused and incoherent manner about his brother's treachery. 11 The senate received his speech with little favour, when he said that although he had granted his brother every indulgence and had in fact saved him from a conspiracy, yet Geta had formed a most dangerous plot against him and had made no return for his brotherly affection. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 3 1 After this speech he granted p9 those who had been exiled or sent into banishment the right of returning to their fatherland.

From the senate he betook himself to the praetorians and spent the night in the Camp. 2 The following day he proceeded to the Capitolium; here he spoke cordially to those whom he was planning to put to death and then went back to the Palace leaning on the arm of Papinian15 and of Cilo. 16 3 Here he saw Geta's mother and some other women weeping for his brother's death, and he thereupon resolved to kill them; but he was deterred by thinking how this would merely add to the cruelty of having slain his brother. 4 Laetus,17 however, he forced to commit suicide, sending him the poison himself; he had been the first to counsel the death of Geta and was himself the first to be killed. Afterwards, however, the Emperor frequently bewailed his death. 5 Many others, too, who had been privy to Geta's murder were put to death, and likewise a man who paid honours to his portrait.

6 After this he gave orders that his cousin Afer should be killed, although on the previous day he had sent him a portion of food from his own table. 7 Afer in fear of the assassins threw himself from a window and crawled away to his wife with a broken leg, but he was none the less seized by the murderers, who ridiculed him and put him to death. 8 Pompeianus too was killed, the grandson of the Emperor Marcus, — he was the son of his daughter and that Pompeianus18 who was married to Lucilla after the death of the Emperor Verus and made consul twice by Marcus p11 and placed in command of all the most important wars of the time — and he was killed in such a way as to seem to have been murdered by robbers. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 4 1 Next, in the Emperor's own presence, Papinian was struck with an axe by some soldiers and so slain. Whereupon the Emperor said to the slayer, "You should have used a sword in carrying out my command. "19 2 Patruinus,20 too, was slain by his order, and that in front of the Temple of the Deified Pius,21 and his body as well as Papinian's were dragged about through the streets without any regard for decency. Also Papinian's son was killed, who was a quaestor and only three days before had given a lavish spectacle. 3 During this same time there were slain men without number, all of whom had favoured the cause of Geta,22 and even the freedmen were slain who had managed Geta's affairs. 4 Then there was a slaughtering in all manner of places. Even in the public baths there was slaughter, and some too were killed while dining, among them Sammonicus Serenus,23 many of whose books dealing with learned subjects are still in circulation. 5 Cilo, moreover, twice prefect and consul, incurred the utmost danger merely because he had counselled harmony between the brothers. 6 For not until after the city-soldiers24 had seized Cilo, tearing off his senator's robe and pulling off his boots, did Antoninus check their violence. 7 After this he committed many further murders in the city, causing many persons far and wide to be seized by soldiers and killed, as though he were punishing a rebellion. p13 8 He put to death Helvius Pertinax,25 substitute consul,26 for no other reason than because he was the son of an emperor, 9 and he would never hesitate, whenever an opportunity presented itself, to put to death those who had been his brother's friends. 10 He often delivered insolent invectives against the senate and against the people, issuing proclamations and publishing harangues, and he even declared that he would be a second Sulla.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 5 1 After doing all this he set out for Gaul27 and immediately upon his arrival there killed the proconsul of Narbonensis. 28 2 Thereby great consternation was caused among all who were engaged in administering Gaul, and he incurred the hatred felt for a tyrant; and yet would at times assume a kindly demeanour, despite the fact that by nature he was very savage. 3 After many measures directed against persons and in violation of the rights of communities he was seized with an illness and underwent great suffering. Yet even toward those who nursed him he behaved most brutally. 29

4 Then he made ready for a journey to the Orient,30 but interrupted his march and stopped in Dacia. In the region of Raetia31 he put a number of the natives to death and then harangued his soldiers and made p15 them presents quite as though they were the troops of Sulla. 5 He did not, however, as Commodus had done,32 permit his men to call him by the names of the gods, for many of them had begun to address him as Hercules because he had killed a lion and some other wild beasts. 6 Yet he did call himself Germanus33 after defeating the Germans, either in jest or in earnest, for he was foolish and witless and asserted that had he conquered the Lucanians34 he should have been given the name Lucanicus. 7 At that time men were condemned to death for having urinated in places where there were statues or busts of the Emperor or for having removed garlands from his busts in order to replace them by others, and some were even condemned for wearing them around their necks as preventives of quartan or tertian fever.

8 Then he journeyed through Thrace accompanied by the prefect of the guard. While he was crossing over from here into Asia the yard-arm of his ship broke and he ran great danger of shipwreck, so that, together with his bodyguard, he had to climb down into a lifeboat. From this he was taken up into a trireme by the prefect of the fleet and so was rescued.

9 He took wild boars in great numbers and once he even faced a lion — an occasion on which he prided himself, writing to his friends and boasting that he had attained to the prowess of a Hercules.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 6 1 After this, turning to the war with the Armenians and Parthians, he appointed as military commander a man whose character resembled his own. p17 2 Then he betook himself to Alexandria,35 and here he called the people together into the gymnasium and heaped abuse on them; he gave orders, moreover, that those who were physically qualified should be enrolled for military service. 3 But those whom he enrolled he put to death, following the example of Ptolemy Euergetes,36 the eighth of those who bore the name Ptolemy. In addition to this he issued an order to his soldiers to slay their hosts and thus caused great slaughter at Alexandria.

4 Next he advanced through the lands of the Cadusii and the Babylonians37 and waged a guerilla-warfare with the Parthian satraps, in which wild beasts were even let loose against the enemy. 5 He then sent a letter to the senate as though he had won a real victory38 and thereupon was given the name Parthicus;39 the name Germanicus he had assumed during his father's lifetime. 40 6 After this he wintered at Edessa41 with the intention of renewing the war against the Parthians. During this time, on the eighth day before the Ides of April, the feast of the Megalensia42 and his own birthday, while on a journey p19 to Carrhae43 to do honour to the god Lunus,44 he stepped aside to satisfy the needs of nature and was thereupon assassinated by the treachery of Macrinus the prefect of the guard, who after his death seized the imperial power. The accomplices in the murder were Nemesianus,45 his brother Apollinaris, and Triccianus,46 who was serving as prefect of the Second Legion, the Parthian,47 and commanded the irregular cavalry. Marcus Agrippa,48 too, the commander of the fleet, was privy to it, as well as many members of his staff acting on the instigation of Martialis. 49

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 7 1 He was slain in the course of a journey between Carrhae and Edessa,50 when he had dismounted for the purpose of emptying his bladder and was standing in the midst of his body-guard, who were accomplices in the murder. 2 For his equerry, while helping him to mount, thrust a dagger into his side, and thereupon all shouted out that it had been done by Martialis.

3 Now since we have made mention of the god Lunus, it should be known that all the most learned men have handed down the tradition, and it is at this day p21 so held, particularly by the people of Carrhae, that whoever believes that this deity should be called Luna, with the name and sex of a woman, is subject to women and always their slave; 4 whereas he who believes that the god is a male dominates his wife and is not caught by any woman's wiles. 5 Hence the Greeks and, for that matter, the Egyptians, though they speak of Luna as a "god" in the same way as they include woman in "Man," nevertheless in their mystic rites use the masculine "Lunus. "

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 8 1 Many, I know, have told the story of Papinian's death,51 but in such a way as to show that they did not know its cause, and each has given a different version. I, however, have preferred to record a variety of opinions rather than to remain silent about the murder of so great a man. 2 It is generally reported that Papinian was a close friend of the Emperor Severus — related to him, some say, through his second wife,52 — and that he had given instruction along with Severus under Scaevola's53 direction and later succeeded Severus as pleader for the privy-purse. 54 3 It is further reported that Severus had particularly entrusted him with the care of his two sons, and for this reason he had always tried to reconcile the brothers Antoninus, 4 and had even pleaded with Bassianus, when he accused his brother of treachery, not to put Geta to death; and for this reason he, together with Geta's supporters, was killed by the soldiers, not only with the consent but even with the encouragement of Antoninus. 5 Many, again, relate that Bassianus, after killing his brother, commanded Papinian to explain away his crime p23 for him in the senate and before the people; to which Papinian replied that it was not so easy to defend fratricide as to commit it. 6 There is also the story that Papinian refused to compose a speech in which, to improve the murderer's case, the brother was to be attacked; and that in his refusal he had declared that to accuse an innocent man who had been murdered was a second act of murder. 7 All of which does not accord with facts; for the prefect of the guard may not compose speeches, and, besides, it is well established that Papinian was killed for being one of Geta's supporters. 8 It is further related that Papinian, when, seized by the soldiers, he was being haled to the Palace to be put to death, foretold the future, saying that whoever should succeed to his position would be an utter fool did he not take vengeance for this brutal attack on the prefecture. 9 And this actually came to pass; 10 for, as we have previously related,55 Macrinus murdered Antoninus; then, after he had been acclaimed emperor in the camp, together with his son, he gave the latter, who was called Diadumenianus, the name Antoninus,56 for the reason that an Antoninus was earnestly desired by the praetorian guard.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 9 1 Bassianus lived for forty-three years57 and ruled for six. 2 He was borne to the grave with a public funeral. He left a son, who afterward received, like his father, the name Antoninus — Marcus Antoninus Elagabalus;58 for such a hold had the name of the Antonines that it could not be removed from the thoughts of the people, because it had taken root in the hearts of all, even as had the name of Augustus.

p25 3 His mode of life was evil and he was more brutal even than his cruel father. He was gluttonous in his use of food and addicted to wine, hated by his household and detested in every camp save that of the praetorian guard; and between him and his brother there was no resemblance whatever.

4 Among the public works which he left at Rome was the notable Bath named after himself,59 the cella soliaris60 of which, so the architects declare, cannot be reproduced in the way in which it was built by him. 5 For it is said that the whole vaulting rested on gratings of bronze or copper, placed underneath it, but such is its size, that those who are versed in mechanics declare that it could not have been built in this way. 6 And he left a portico, too, named after his father61 and intended to contain a record of his achievements, both his triumphs and his wars. 7 He himself assumed the name Caracallus, taken from the garment reaching down to the heels,62 which he gave to the populace and which before his time had not been in vogue. 8 Hence at this present day, too, the hooded cloaks of this kind, affected especially by the Roman plebs, are called Antonine. 9 He also constructed a new street63 at the side of his bath (that is to say, the Antonine Bath), one more beautiful than which it were hard to find among all the streets of Rome. 10 He brought the cult of Isis to Rome and built magnificent temples to this goddess everywhere, celebrating her rites with even greater reverence than they had ever been celebrated before. 11 In all this, however, it is a source of wonder to me how it can be p27 said that it was he who first brought the rites of Isis to Rome, for Antoninus Commodus celebrated them too, and he even carried about the statue of Anubis and made all the ritualistic pauses. 64 Perhaps, however, Bassianus merely added to the renown of the goddess and was not actually the first to bring her to Rome.

12 His body was laid in the tomb of the Antonines,65 in order that the resting-place which had given him his name might also receive his remains.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 10 1 It is of interest to know the way in which they say he married his stepmother Julia. 66 2 She was a very beautiful woman, and once when she displayed a considerable part of her person, as it were in carelessness, Antoninus said, "I should like to, if I might," whereupon, they relate, she replied, "If you wish, you may; are you not aware that you are the emperor and that you make the laws and do not receive them? " 3 By these words his violent passion was strengthened for the perpetration of a crime, and he contracted a marriage, which, were he in truth aware that he made the laws, it were his sole duty to forbid. 4 For he took to wife his mother (by no other name should she be called), and to fratricide he added incest, for he joined to himself in marriage the woman whose son he had recently slain.

5 It is not out of place to include a certain gibe that was uttered at his expense. 6 For when he assumed the surnames Germanicus,67 Parthicus,68 Arabicus,69 and Alamannicus70 (for he conquered the Alamanni too), p29 Helvius Pertinax, the son of Pertinax, said to him in jest, so it is related, "Add to the others, please, that of Geticus Maximus also"; for he had slain his brother Geta, and Getae is a name for the Goths, whom he conquered, while on his way to the East, in a series of skirmishes.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 11 1 Many omens predicting Geta's murder occurred, as we shall relate in his biography. 71 2 For although Geta was the first to depart from this life, we shall none the less follow our usual plan, that the first to be born and the first to begin his rule shall be the first to be described.

3 On that occasion, moreover, when the soldiers hailed him as Augustus though his father was still alive,72 because it seemed to them that Severus, now afflicted with a disease in his feet, could no longer rule the Empire, Severus, it is said, when the plot of the soldiers and tribunes was crushed, had thought of putting him to death; this, however, was opposed by the prefects, who were men of great influence. 4 Some, on the other hand, say that the prefects wished to have him killed, but Severus refused, for fear that the severity of the act might be misrepresented as a piece of mere cruelty, and that, whereas it was in reality the soldiers who were guilty, the young man might pay the penalty for an act of rash folly with the stigma of a punishment so severe — namely, of seeming to have been put to death by his father.

5 Nevertheless, this emperor, the most cruel of men, and, to include all in a single phrase, a fratricide and committer of incest, the foe of his father, mother, and brother, was raised to the rank of the gods73 by Macrinus, his slayer, through fear of the soldiers, especially of the praetorians. 6 He has a temple, he has a p31 board of Salii, he has an Antonine brotherhood,74 he who himself took from Faustina not only her temple but also her name as a goddess — 7 that temple, at least, which her husband had built her in the foot-hills of the Taurus,75 and in which this man's son Elagabalus Antoninus afterwards made a shrine, either for himself or for the Syrian Jupiter (the matter is uncertain) or for the Sun. 76

The Life of Antoninus Geta

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] I am well aware, Constantine Augustus, that many besides Your Clemency may raise the question why I should also write the life of Geta Antoninus. With regard to this man, before I tell of his life, or rather of his death, I will set forth the reason why his father Severus gave to him too the name Antoninus. 1 2 For there is not much to relate in the life of a man who was removed from human affairs before he could take the imperial power conjointly with his brother.

3 Once when Septimius Severus asked about the future and prayed that it might be revealed to him who should be his successor when he died, he learned from a dream that an Antoninus would succeed him. 4 Whereupon he went at once to the army and gave Bassianus, the elder of his sons, the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. 2 5 After this, when it was brought to his mind either by fatherly reflection, or, as some relate, by Julia his wife, who was skilled in dreams, that by this action he himself had cut off his younger son from any chance of reigning, he ordered that Geta, his younger son, should also receive the name Antoninus. 6 And so he always gave him this name in p35 letters to members of his household, writing, whenever he chanced to be absent from home, 7 "Give greetings to the Antonines, my sons and successors". But all his fatherly care was of no avail, for he was succeeded by that son alone who had first been given the name Antoninus. So much about the name Antoninus.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 2 1 Now Geta was named after either his uncle3 or his paternal grandfather,4 concerning whose life and habits Marius Maximus has written at sufficient length in the first section5 of his Life of Severus. 2 He was given the surname Antoninus, moreover, because Severus purposed that every emperor from that time onward should be called Antoninus, just as they were called Augustus. 6 This he did out of love for Marcus, whom he always called his brother,7 and whose studies in philosophy and training in letters he always sought to imitate. 3 Some say, however, that it was not only in honour of Marcus that Severus gave his son the name Antoninus, since this was Marcus' name by adoption only,8 but also in honour of him who bore the surname Pius, Hadrian's successor, I mean; 4 and, furthermore, the Severus gave it because it was this emperor who raised him from a pettifogger in the law courts to the post of pleader for the privy-purse,9 and the way to great advancement had been opened up to him by the happy augury of an appointment by Antoninus to the first step in his career, or rather his first public office; 5 and at the same time because no prince seemed to him more auspicious for lending p37 his name, than the one whose personal name had now been borne by four of the emperors. 10

6 With regard to this same Geta, Severus, on learning his horoscope — a study in which, like most Africans, he was very proficient11 — is said to have made the remark: 7 "It seems to me strange, my dear Juvenalis,12 that our Geta is destined to be a deified emperor, for in his horoscope I see nothing imperial. " Now Juvenalis was his prefect of the guard. And Severus was not mistaken. 8 For when Bassianus had killed Geta and was in fear of being branded as a tyrant because of his act of fratricide, he was told that his crime could be mitigated were he to give his brother the appellation of the Deified; he then remarked, it is said, 9 "Let him be deified provided he is not alive. "13 Accordingly, he placed him among the deified emperors and so came back into favour with a good reputation, fratricide though he was.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 3 1 Geta was born in the consulship of Severus and Vitellius on the sixth day before the Kalends of June at Mediolanum14 — though some have related otherwise. He was the son of Julia, whom Severus married because he found out that her horoscope showed that she should be the wife of a king,15 while he was still only a subject, though he held even then an excellent place in the state. 2 Immediately after Geta was born some one announced that a purple egg had been laid by a hen in the palace. 3 This egg was then brought in, and Bassianus his brother, seizing it, dashed it upon the ground, as a child would do, and broke it; whereupon Julia, it is said, exclaimed in jest, "Accursed fratricide, you have killed your brother". 4 But this, p39 which was said as a jest, Severus took more seriously than any of those who were present, though afterwards all who were there testified to it as uttered by divine inspiration. 5 There was also another omen. For on the very day and at the very hours when Geta was born, there was born on the farm of a certain plebeian named Antoninus, a lamb which had purple wool on its forehead; thereupon the owner, learning from a soothsayer that after Severus an Antoninus should reign, interpreted the prophecy as referring to himself, but fearing any indication of so great a destiny, he thrust a knife in the lamb. 6 And this too was a sign that Geta should be killed by Antoninus, as became later abundantly clear. 7 There was, moreover, as was later shown by the outcome, another important prediction of the crime which indeed came to pass. 8 For when Severus was making ready to celebrate the birthday of the infant Geta, the sacrificial victim was slain by a boy named Antoninus. 9 At the time no one looked for a hidden meaning in this or commented upon it, but later its importance was understood.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 4 1 As a youth, he was handsome, brusque in his manners though not disrespectful, incontinent in love, gluttonous, and a lover of food and of wine variously spiced. 2 There is quoted a famous remark of his in his boyhood; for when Severus was planning to kill the men of the opposite factions16 and said to his family, "I am ridding you of your enemies," Bassianus gave his approval, even declaring that should he be consulted, their children too should be slain, but Geta, it is said, asked how large was the number of those to be put to death. 3 When his father informed him, he asked again, "Have they p41 parents, have they kinsmen? " And when answer was made that they had, he remarked, "Then there will be more in the state to mourn than to make merry at our victory. " 4 And he would have carried his point, had not the prefect Plautianus,17 or rather Juvenalis,18 stood out against him in the hope of proscriptions, for which they became enriched. They were also encouraged by the great brutality of Bassianus. 5 He, in the course of his argument, urged, half in jest half in earnest, that all those of the opposite factions be slain together with their children; whereupon Geta, it is said, exclaimed, "You, who spare no one, are capable even of killing your brother" — a remark which received no attention then, but afterwards passed for an omen.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 5 1 In his literary studies he held fast to the ancient writers. He was ever mindful of his father's sayings, always regarded by his brother with hatred, more affectionate than his brother toward their mother, speaking with a stammer though his voice was melodious. 2 He was very fond of bright clothing — so much so, in fact, that his father would laugh at him. Whatever he received from his parents he used for his own adornment, and he never gave presents to any.

3 After the Parthian war, his father, who was then at the height of his glory and had named Bassianus partner in the imperial power, gave Geta the name of Caesar19 and, according to some, of Antoninus also.

4 It was a common practice of his to propound puzzles to the grammarians, asking them to characterize the cries of the different animals, as for example: 5 the lamb bleats, the pig squeals, the dove p43 coos, the hog grunts, the bear growls, the lion roars, the leopard snarls, the elephant trumpets, the frog croaks, the horse neighs, the ass brays, the bull bellows; and in proof he would cite the ancient writers. 6 His favourite books were the works of Serenus Sammonicus,20 addressed to him by Antoninus. 7 He was accustomed, moreover, to have skilful slaves serve meals, and especially dinners, according to a single letter of the alphabet, as, for instance, one in which there were 8 goose, gammon,21 and gadwall,22 or, again, pullet, partridge, peacock, pork, poisson, pig's-thigh, and other kinds of food beginning with this letter, or pheasant, farina, figs and so forth. For this reason he was considered a good comrade, even in his youth.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 6 1 After the murder of Geta, those soldiers who had not been bribed received the news of the fratricide with anger, and all declared they had sworn allegiance to both sons and ought to maintain it to both. 23 They then closed the gates of the Camp and for a long time the Emperor was not admitted. 2 And not until he had quieted their anger by bitter words about Geta and by giving them great sums of money, was Bassianus able to return to Rome. 3 Next, Papinian and many others besides, who had either desired concord or had been partisans of Geta, were killed;24 men of both senatorial and equestrian rank were slain while in the bath, or at table, or in the street, and Papinian himself was struck down with an axe, whereupon Bassianus found fault that the business had not been done with a sword. 4 At last matters came to the point of a mutiny among the city-troops;25 Bassianus, however, brought them to order with no light hand, and their tribune was put to death, p45 as some relate, or, as others, sent into exile. 5 Yet Bassianus himself was in such fear that he entered the Senate-house wearing a cuirass under his broad-striped tunic and thus clad rendered an account of his actions and of the death of Geta. 26 6 It was at this time, too, it is said, that Helvius Pertinax, the son of Pertinax, afterwards killed by Bassianus,27 remarked to the praetor Faustinus, who was reading aloud and had uttered the titles Sarmaticus Maximus28 and Parthicus Maximus, "Add to these also Geticus Maximus," that is to say, Gothicus. 7 This remark sank deep into the heart of Bassianus, as was afterwards proved by his murder of Pertinax, and not of Pertinax alone, but, as we have said before, of many others as well, far and wide and with utter injustice. He suspected Helvius, moreover, of aspiring to the imperial office, merely because he was loved by all and was the son of Pertinax the Emperor — a combination none too safe for any man content to remain a commoner.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 7 1 The funeral of Geta was too splendid, it is said, for a man supposed to have been killed by his brother. 2 He was laid in the tomb of his ancestors, of Severus, that is, on the Via Appia at the right as you go to the gate;29 it was constructed after the manner of the Septizonium, which Severus during his life had embellished for himself.

3 Antoninus also planned to slay Geta's mother, his own step-mother,30 because she mourned for his brother, and with her the women whom on his return from the Senate-house he found in tears. 4 He was, moreover, so cruel that he lavished his favours particularly on those whom he had destined for death, p47 so that his favour was viewed with more fear than his anger. 5 It seemed, indeed, strange to all that he himself wept for the death of Geta whenever he heard his name mentioned or saw his portrait or his statue. 6 Such, however, was the caprice, or rather the bloodthirstiness, of Antoninus Bassianus, that he slew, now the partisans of Geta, and now his enemies, according as chance threw them in his way. As a result, Geta was the more regretted.


The Life of Opellius1 Macrinus

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] The lives of such emperors, usurpers or Caesars, as held their throne for no long time lie hidden away in darkness, because, in the first place, there is nothing in their private lives worth telling, since they would have remained totally unknown had they not aspired to the throne; and, in the second place, not much can be said about their sovereignty, because they did not hold it long. None the less, we shall bring forward what we have discovered in various historical works — and they shall be facts that are worthy to be related. 2 For there is no man who has not done something or other every day of his life; it is the business of the biographer, however, to relate only those events that are worth the knowing. 3 Junius Cordus,2 indeed, was fond of publishing the lives of those emperors whom he considered the more obscure.
4 He did not, however, accomplish much; for he found but little information and that not worth noting. He openly declared that he would search out the most trivial details, as though, in dealing with a Trajan, a Pius, or p51 a Marcus, it should be known how often he went out walking, when he varied his diet, and when he changed his clothes, whom he advanced in public life and at what time. 5 By searching out all this sort of thing and recording it, he filled his books with gossip, whereas either nothing at all should be said of petty matters or certainly very little, and then only when light can thereby be thrown on character. It is character, of course, that we really want to know, but only to a certain extent, that from this the rest may be inferred.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 2 1 Now after the murder of Antoninus Bassianus,3 Opellius Macrinus, who was his prefect of the guard and had previously been the steward of his private property,4 laid hold upon the imperial power. Though of humble origin5 and shameless in spirit as well as in countenance, and though hated by all, both civilians and soldiers, he nevertheless proclaimed himself now Severus and now Antoninus. 6 2 Then he set out at once for the Parthian war7 and thus gave no opportunity either for the soldiers to form an opinion of him, or for the gossip by which he was beset to gain its full strength. 3 The senators, however, out of hatred for Antoninus Bassianus, received him as emperor gladly, and in all the senate there was but the one cry: 4 "Anyone rather than the fratricide, anyone rather than the incestuous, anyone rather than the filthy, anyone rather than the slayer of the senate and people! "8

5 It may perhaps seem to all a matter for wonder p53 that Macrinus wished his son Diadumenianus9 to receive the name Antoninus, when he himself, it was reported, was responsible for the murder of an Antoninus. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 3 1 Concerning this matter I will relate what has been recorded in books of history. The priestess of Caelestis10 at Carthage was wont, when inspired by the goddess, to predict the truth. Now once, in the reign of Antoninus Pius, she was foretelling the future to the proconsul, who, according to custom, was consulting about the public welfare as well as his own hopes of power, and when she came to the emperors she bade him in a loud voice count the number of times she said Antoninus. Then, to the amazement of all, she uttered the name Antoninus eight times. 2 All interpreted this to mean that Antoninus Pius would reign for eight years, but he exceeded this number and those who had faith in the priestess, either then or later, felt sure that her words had some different meaning. 3 And in fact, if all who bore the name Antoninus be counted, this will be found to be their number. 4 For Pius first, Marcus second, Verus third, Commodus fourth, Caracalla fifth, Geta sixth, Diadumenianus seventh, Elagabalus eighth — all bore the name Antoninus; 5 while the two Gordians, on the other hand, must not be placed among the Antonini, for they either had only their praenomen or were called Antonii, not Antonini. 11 6 Hence it came about that Severus called himself Antoninus, as most writers relate, and Pertinax too and Julianus, and likewise Macrinus;12 7 and the Antonines themselves, who were the true successors of Antoninus, used this name p55 rather than their own personal names. Thus some have related it. 8 Others, however, assert that Macrinus gave the name Antoninus to his son Diadumenianus merely for the purpose of removing the soldiers' suspicion that he himself had slain Antoninus. 9 Others, again, declare that so great was the love for this name that the people and soldiers would not deem a man worthy of the imperial power did they not hear him called by the name Antoninus.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 4 1 Now with regard to Macrinus himself, many of the senators, when the news had been brought that Varius Elagabalus was emperor,13 and when the senate had hailed Alexander as Caesar, related such things as to make it clear that he was ignoble, low, and base. 2 In fact, such statements14 as these were made by Aurelius Victor, surnamed Pinius:15 3 that Macrinus under the reign of Commodus was a freedman and a public prostitute, engaged in servile tasks about the imperial palace; that his honour could be purchased and his manner of life was base; that Severus had even dismissed him from his wretched duties and banished him to Africa, where, in order to conceal the disgrace of his condemnation, he devoted himself to reading, pleaded minor cases, engaged in declamation, and finally administered the law; 4 further, that through the support of his fellow-freedman Festus, he was presented with the golden ring,16 and under Verus Antoninus17 was made pleader for the privy-purse. 18 5 But not only are these statements reported as doubtful, but others are made by various authors, which also we will not fail to relate. For many have said that he fought in a gladiatorial p57 combat, received the honorary staff,19 and then went to Africa; 6 that he was first of all a huntsman in the arena, then a notary, and after that a pleader for the privy-purse — an office from which he was advanced to the very highest honours. 7 Then, when prefect of the guard, after his colleague was banished, he slew his emperor, Antoninus Caracalla,20 employing such treachery that it did not appear that the Emperor had been slain by him. 8 For by bribing the imperial equerry and holding out great hopes, he caused the report to spread that the Emperor was killed by a conspiracy of the soldiers, because he had incurred their displeasure through his fratricide or his incest. 21

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 5 1 Then he seized the imperial power at once and advanced his son Diadumenianus to a share in it, immediately ordering the soldiers, as we have said before, to give him the name Antoninus. 2 Next, he sent back Antoninus' body to Rome to be laid in the tomb of his forefathers. 22 3 He charged the prefect of the guard,23 formerly his colleague, to perform the duties of his office, and particularly to bury Antoninus with all honour, providing a funeral train worthy of a monarch; for he knew that Antoninus had been greatly beloved by the people because of the garments which he had presented as gifts to the plebs. 24 4 There was also the further reason, that he dreaded a soldiers' uprising, fearing that if this occurred he might be barred from the power, which he had purposed to seize but had accepted with a show of reluctance. Such, indeed, is the way of men, for they say that they are forced to accept what they get for themselves, even through crime. 5 Macrinus p59 moreover, feared also his colleague, lest he too might desire to rule; for all hoped that he would, and, had he received the support of a single company of soldiers, he himself would not have been unwilling. All, indeed, would most gladly have had him because of their hatred for Macrinus on account of his evil life or his humble origin, for all former emperors had been noble in birth. 6 Furthermore, he emblazoned himself with the name of Severus,25 although not connected with him by any tie of kin. 7 Hence arose the jest, "Macrinus is as much as a Severus as Diadumenianus is an Antoninus". Nevertheless, in order to prevent an uprising among the soldiers, he at once presented a donative26 to both the legionaries and the praetorians, rewarding them more liberally than was customary, and as a man would who sought to mitigate the crime of having slain the emperor. 8 Thus did money, as often happens, avail a man whom innocence could not have availed. For Macrinus kept himself in power for some time, though addicted to every kind of evil. 27

9 He then sent the senate a letter relating the death of Antoninus, in which he gave him the title of the Deified, at the same time clearing himself of guilt and swearing that he knew nothing of the murder. Thus to his crime (as is the manner of evil men) he added perjury — an act with which it well became a scoundrel to begin.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 6 1 It is of interest to know what manner of oration that was in which he cleared himself when writing to the senate, for thus his shamelessness may be understood, and the sacrilege with which this evil p61 emperor began his reign. 2 Passages from the speech of the Emperors Macrinus and Diadumenianus:28 "We could have wished, O Conscript Fathers, to behold Your Clemency, with our beloved Antoninus safe and riding back in triumph. For then indeed would the state be happy and all of us be joyous, were we under the rule of an emperor whom the gods had given us in the place of the Antonines. 3 But inasmuch as an uprising of the soldiers had prevented this from coming to pass, we would inform you, in the first place, of what the army has done concerning ourselves, 4 and, in the second, we decree for him to whom we swore our allegiance the honours of a god, as is indeed our first duty. For the army has deemed no one a more worthy avenger of the murder of Bassianus than his own prefect, whom he himself would certainly have charged with the punishing of the conspiracy, could it have been in his power to detect it while yet alive. " 5 And farther on: "They have offered me the imperial power, O Conscript Fathers, and for the time being I have accepted its guardianship, but I will retain its governance only if you also desire what has been the desire of the soldiers, to whom I have already ordered a donative to be given as well as all other things, according to the custom of emperors. " 6 Likewise, farther on: "To my son Diadumenianus, who is known to you, the soldiers have given both the imperial power and the name — for they have called him Antoninus — that he might be honoured, first with this name, but also with the office of monarch. 7 And this act we beseech you, O Conscript Fathers, to approve with all good and prospering auspices, in order that you may still have with you the name of the Antonines, which p63 you so greatly love. " 8 Likewise, farther on: "For Antoninus,29 moreover, both the soldiers have decreed divine honours and we decree them, and we request you — though by our power as emperor we might command you — to decree them also, and we ourselves shall dedicate to him statues, two on horseback, two on foot clad in the garb of a soldier, and two seated clad in civil garb, and likewise to the Deified Severus two, clad in the robes of a triumphant general. 9 These measures, O Conscript Fathers, you will order to be carried out in accordance with our dutiful solicitation in behalf of our predecessors. "

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 7 1 So, when this letter had been read to the senate, contrary to the general expectation the senate not only received with pleasure the news of Antoninus' death30 but expressed the hope that Opellius Macrinus would be guardian of the public liberty, first of all enrolling him among the patricians, though he was a man without ancestry31 and had been only a short time before the steward of the emperor's private property. 32 2 This man, though he had been merely one of the pontifical clerks (whom they now call the Minor Pontifices),33 the senate made Pontifex Maximus,34 decreeing him also the surname Pius. 35 3 Nevertheless, for a long time after the letter was read there was silence, for no one at all believed the news of Antoninus' death. 4 But when it was certain that he was slain, the senate reviled him as a tyrant, and forthwith offered Macrinus both the proconsular command and the tribunician power. 36

p65 5 Now to his son, previously called Diadumenianus, he gave the name Antoninus (after he had himself assumed the appellation Felix)37 in order to avert the suspicion of having slain Antoninus. 6 This same name was afterwards taken by Varius Elagabalus also,38 who claimed to be the son of Bassianus, a most filthy creature and the son of a harlot. 39 7 Indeed, there are still in existence some verses written by a certain poet, which relate how the name of the Antonines, which began with Pius, gradually sank from one Antonine to another to the lowest degradation; for Marcus alone by his manner of life exalted that holy name, while Verus lowered, and Commodus even profaned the reverence due to the consecrated name. 8 And what can we say of Caracalla Antoninus, and who of this youth Diadumenianus? And finally, what of Elagabalus, the last of the Antonines, who is said to have lived in the lowest depths of foulness?

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 8 1 And so, having been acclaimed emperor, Macrinus assumed the imperial power and set out against the Parthians with a great array,40 eager to blot out the lowliness of his family and the infamy of his early life by a magnificent victory. 2 But after fighting a battle with the Parthians he was killed in a revolt of the legions, which had deserted to Varius Elagabalus. 41 He reigned, however, for more than a year.

3 Though defeated in the war which Antoninus had waged — for Artabanus exacted a cruel revenge for the death of his subjects — Macrinus, nevertheless, at first fought stoutly. But later he sent out envoys and sued for peace, which, now that Antoninus was p67 slain, the Parthian granted readily. 42 4 Thereupon he proceeded to Antioch and gave himself over to luxury and thus furnished the army just grounds for putting him to death and taking up the cause of the supposed son of Bassianus, Elagabalus Bassianus Varius, afterwards called both Bassianus and Antoninus. 43

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 9 1 Now there was a certain woman of the city of Emesa,44 called Maesa45 or Varia; she was the sister of Julia, the wife of Severus Pertinax the African,46 and after the death of Antoninus Bassianus she had been expelled from her home in the palace through the arrogance of Macrinus — though Macrinus did grant to her all her possessions which she had gathered together during a long period. 2 This woman had two daughters, Symiamira47 and Mamaea,48 the elder of whom was the mother of Elagabalus; he assumed the names Bassianus and Antoninus, for the Phoenicians give the name Elagabalus to the Sun. 49 3 Elagabalus, moreover, was notable for his beauty and staturea and for the priesthood which he held, and he was well known to all frequented the temple, and particularly to the soldiers. 4 To these, Maesa, or Varia as she was also called, declared that this Bassianus was the son of Antoninus, and this was p69 gradually made known to all the soldiers. 50 5 Maesa herself, furthermore, was very rich (whence also Elagabalus was most wasteful of money), and through her promises to the soldiers the legions were persuaded to desert Macrinus. 6 For after she and her household had been received into the town51 by night, her grandson was hailed as Antoninus and presented with the imperial insignia.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 10 1 When the news of this was brought to Macrinus, then encamped near Antioch, marvelling at the audacity of the women and at the same time regarding them with contempt, he sent Julianus the prefect52 with the legions to lay siege to them. 2 But when Antoninus was shown to these troops, all turned to him in wonderful affection, and, killing Julianus the prefect, they all went over to him. 3 Then, having a part of the army on his side, Antoninus marched against Macrinus, who was hastening to meet him. A battle was then fought,53 in which, as a result of the soldiers' treachery to him and their love for Antoninus, Macrinus was defeated. He did, indeed, escape from the battle together with his son and a few others, but he and Diadumenianus were afterwards slain in a certain village of Bithynia,54 and his head was cut off and carried to Antoninus.

4 It should be recorded, furthermore, that the boy Diadumenianus is said to have been made merely Caesar and not Augustus,55 for many have related p71 that he had equal power with his father. 5 The son also was slain, having gotten from his power only this — that he should be killed by the soldiery. 6 For in his life there will be found nothing worthy of being related, save that he was annexed, as a sort of bastard, to the name of the Antonines.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 11 1 Macrinus, in his life as emperor, was, in spite of all, rather rigid and stern, thinking that so he could bury in oblivion all his previous career, though in fact this very sternness of his presented an opportunity for criticising and attacking him. 2 For he wished to bear the names Severus and Pertinax,56 both of which seemed to him to connote harshness, and when the senate conferred on him the names Pius and Felix, he accepted the name of Felix but refused that of Pius. 57 3 This refusal, it seems, was the cause of an epigram against him, written by a certain Greek poet and not without charm, which has been rendered into Latin in the following vein:

4 "Play-actor agèd and sordid, oppressive, cruel, and wicked,
Blest and unrighteous at once — that was the thing he would be.
Righteous he wished not to be, but yet would gladly be happy;
But this which nature denies, reason will not allow.
Righteous and blessèd together he might have appeared and been surnamed,
Unrighteous, unblessèd too, now and forever is he. "
5 These verses some Latin writer or other displayed in the Forum together with those which had been p73 published in Greek. On hearing them, Macrinus, it is said, replied in the following lines:

6 "Had but the Fates made the Grecian as wretched a poet as this one,
Latin composer of verse, gallows-bird aping a bard,
Naught had the populace learned and naught learned the senate; no huckster
Ever had tried to compose scurrilous verses on me. "
7 In these lines, which are much worse even than the other Latin verses, Macrinus believed that he had made adequate reply, but he became no less of a laughing-stock than the poet who tried to translate from the Greek into Latin.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 12 1 Macrinus, then, was arrogant and bloodthirsty and desirous of ruling in military fashion. He found fault even with the discipline of former times and lauded Severus alone above all others. 2 For he even crucified soldiers and always used the punishments meted out to slaves, and when he had to deal with a mutiny among the troops, he usually decimated the soldiers — but sometimes he only centimated them. This last was an expression of his own, for he used to say that he was merciful in putting to death only one in a hundred, whereas they deserved to have one in ten or one in twenty put to death. 3 It would be too long to relate all his acts of brutality, but nevertheless I will describe one, no great one in his belief, yet one which was more distressing than all his tyrannical cruelties. 4 There were some soldiers who had had intercourse with their host's maid-servant, who for some time had led a life of ill-repute. Learning of their offence through one of his spies,58 5 he p75 commanded them to be brought before him and questioned them as to whether it were really true. When their guilt was proved, he gave orders that two oxen of extraordinary size should be cut open rapidly while still alive, and that the soldiers should be thrust one into each, with their heads protruding so that they could talk to each other. In this way he inflicted punishment on them, though neither our ancestors nor the men of his own time ever ordained any such penalty, even for those guilty of adultery. 6 Yet in spite of all this, he warred against the Parthians,59 the Armenians,60 and the Arabs who are called the Blest,61 and with no less bravery than success.

7 A tribune who allowed a sentry-post to be left unguarded he caused to be bound under a wheeled waggon and then dragged living or dead all through the entire march. 8 He even reproduced the punishment inflicted by Mezentius,62 who used to bind live men to dead and thus force them to die consumed by slow decay. 9 Hence it came about that even in the Circus, when general applause broke forth in honour of Diadumenianus, some one cried out:

"Peerless in beauty the youth,"
"Not deserving to have as his father Mezentius. "63
10 He also put living men into walls, which he then built up. Those guilty of adultery he always burned alive, fastening their bodies together. A slave who had fled from his master and had been found he would sentence to a combat with the sword in the public games. 11 A public informer, if he could not make good his accusation, he would condemn to death; if he could make it good, he would present p77 him with his reward in money and send him away in disgrace.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 13 1 In the administration of the law he was not without wisdom, and he even determined to rescind all decisions of earlier emperors, in order that judgments might be rendered on the basis of the law and not of a decision; for he used to say that it would be a crime to give the force of law to the whims of Commodus and Caracalla and other untrained men, when Trajan had always refused to render decisions in response to petitions, in order that rulings which might seem to have been made out of favour might not be applied to other cases.

2 In bestowing largesses of grain he was most generous, while in gifts of money he was niggardly. 3 But in flogging his palace-attendants he was so unjust, so unreasonable, and so cruel, that his slaves used to call him Macellinus64 instead of Macrinus, because his palace was so stained with the blood of his household-servants that it looked like a shambles. 4 In his use of food and wine he was most gluttonous, sometimes even to the point of drunkenness, but only in the evening hours. For if he had breakfasted even in private with great simplicity, he would be most extravagant in his dinner. 5 He used to invite literary men to his banquets, as though he would perforce be more sparing in his diet if conversing about liberal studies.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 14 1 But when men thought of his old-fashioned niggardliness and saw the savagery of his ways, they could not bear that so malodorous a man should have the imperial power, and most of all the soldiers, who remembered many deeds of his that were most cruel and sometimes even most base. So, forming a plot, p79 they murdered him and his son,65 the boy Diadumenianus, surnamed Antoninus, of whom it was said that he was Antoninus only in his dreams — 2 a saying which gave rise to the following verses:

"This we beheld in our dreams, fellow-citizens, if I mistake not:
How that the Antonine name was borne by that immature stripling,
Sprung from a father corrupt, though virtuous truly his mother;
Lovers a hundred she knew and a hundred were those whom she courted. 66
Lover was also the bald-head, who later was known as her husband;
Pius indeed, aye Marcus indeed, for ne'er was he Verus. "67
3 These lines have been translated from Greek into Latin. In the Greek they are very well written, but they seem to me to have been translated by come commonplace poet. 4 When they were read to Macrinus he composed iambics, which have not been preserved but are said to have been most delightful. 5 They were, for that matter, destroyed in that same uprising in which he himself was slain, when all his possessions were overrun by the soldiers.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 15 1 The manner of his death, as we have previously related,68 was the following: After the army went over to Elagabalus Antoninus, Macrinus fled, but he was defeated and killed in a rural district of Bithynia,69 while his followers were partly forced to surrender, partly killed, and partly put to flight. 2 So Elagabalus achieved glory because he was thought to have avenged his father's death,70 and so established p81 himself on the throne, which he disgraced by his enormous vices, his extravagance, his baseness, his feasting, his arrogance, and his savagery. He, too, was fated to meet with an end corresponding to his life. 71

3 These are the facts we have learned concerning Macrinus, though many give different versions of certain details, according to the character of each man's history; 4 these we have gathered together from many sources and have presented to Your Serenity, Diocletian Augustus, because we have seen that you are desirous of learning about the emperors of former times.

The Life of Diadumenianus

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] The life of the boy Antoninus Diadumenianus1 who, together with his father, Opellius Macrinus, was proclaimed emperor by the army2 when Bassianus had been slain through the treachery of Macrinus, contains nothing memorable, save that he received the name of Antoninus and that there befell him astonishing omens signifying that his reign would be but a short one — and so it really came to pass. 2 Now as soon as it became known among the legions that Bassianus was slain, great sorrow beset the hearts of all, for they thought, because they had not an Antoninus at the head of the state, that with Bassianus the Roman Empire would come to an end. 3 When word of this was brought to Macrinus, who by this time was emperor, he became afraid that the army would turn to some one of the Antonines, many of whom, being of the kin of Antoninus Pius, were among the leaders. 3 He therefore gave orders at once to compose an harangue, and then bestowed upon his son, this lad, the name Antoninus. 4 His harangue:4 "You behold me, Comrades, now advanced in years, and Diadumenianus still a lad, whom, if the p85 gods are gracious, you will have for many years as your prince. 5 Furthermore I perceive that there still remains among you a great yearning for the name of the Antonines. And so, since the nature of human weakness seems to leave me but a short space of life, with your sanction I bestow upon this lad the name Antoninus, and he for long years to come shall be in your eyes an Antoninus indeed. " 6 Outcries of the soldiers: "Macrinus, our Emperor, may the gods keep you! Antoninus Diadumenianus, may the gods keep you! 7 An Antoninus have we all for a long time desired. Jupiter, Greatest and Best, grant long life to Macrinus and to Antoninus. Thou knowest, O Jupiter, that no man can conquer Macrinus. Thou knowest, O Jupiter, that no man can conquer Antoninus. 8 An Antoninus we have, and in him we have all things; an Antoninus, indeed, have the gods granted to us. Worthy of his sire is Antoninus, aye worthy of the Empire too. " [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 2 1 Macrinus the Emperor spoke: "Accept, therefore, Comrades, in return for the bestowal of the imperial power, three aurei for each one of you, and for the bestowal of the name Antoninus five aurei for each,5 together with the advancements prescribed by custom, but at this time doubled. The gods will grant that such gifts shall be often bestowed upon you, but we shall give you every five years what we have deemed right to give today. " 2 Thereupon the child himself, Diadumenianus Antoninus, the Emperor, spoke: "I bring you thanks, Comrades, because you have bestowed upon me both imperial office and name; and inasmuch as you have deemed us worthy, both my father and myself, to acclaim us Emperors of Rome and to commit the state to our keeping, 3 my father, for his part, will p87 take good care not to fail the Empire, and I, moreover, will strive earnestly, not to fail the name of the Antonines. For I know that it is the name of Pius and of Marcus and of Verus that I have taken, and to live according to the standard of these is difficult indeed. 4 Meanwhile, however, in return for the imperial office and in return for my name, I promise you all that my father has promised and as much as he has promised, doubling all advancements, even as my revered father Macrinus has promised here in your presence. " 5 Herodian, the Greek writer, omits these details and records only that Diadumenianus as a child received from the soldiers the title of Caesar and that he was slain along with his father. 6

6 Immediately after this harangue a coin was struck at Antioch bearing the name of Antoninus Diadumenianus, but coinage with the name of Macrinus was postponed until the senate should give command. 7 Moreover, despatches announcing the bestowal of the name Antoninus were sent to the senate. 7 In return, it is said, the senate readily acknowledged his rule — although some think they did so only out of hatred for Antoninus Caracalla. 8 8 Now Macrinus, as emperor, purposed in honour of his son Antoninus to present to the populace mantles of a reddish hue, to be called 'Antoninian' as Bassianus' Gallic mantles had been. 9 For it was more fitting, he said, that his son should be called Paenuleus or Paenularius,10 than that Bassianus should have been called Caracalla. 9 He also issued an edict, promising a largess11 in the name of Antoninus, as the edict itself will prove. p89 10 The text of the edict: "I would, Fellow-citizens, that we were now present in person; for then your Antoninus himself would give you a largess in his own name. He would, furthermore, enroll boys as Antoniniani and girls as Antoninianae,12 that they might extend the glory of so dear a name"; and so forth throughout.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 3 1 When he had done all in this fashion he gave orders that the standards in the Camp and the colours should be called Antonine and he had statues of Bassianus made of gold and of silver;13 and ceremonies of thanksgiving were celebrated for seven days in honour of the naming of Antoninus.

2 The boy himself was beautiful beyond all others, somewhat tall of stature, with golden hair, black eyes, and an aquiline nose; his chin was wholly lovely in its modelling, his mouth designed for a kiss, and he was by nature strong and by training graceful. 3 And when first he assumed the scarlet and purple garments and the other imperial insignia used in the camp, he was radiant as a being from the stars or a dweller in heaven, and he was beloved of all because of his beauty. This much there is to be said concerning the boy.

4 Now let us proceed to the omens predicting his imperial power — which are marvellous enough in the case of others, but in his case beyond the usual wont. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 4 1 On the day of his birth, his father, who then chanced to be steward of the greater treasury,14 was inspecting the purple robes, and those which he approved as being brighter in hue he ordered to be carried into a certain chamber, in which two hours later Diadumenianus was born. 2 Furthermore, whereas it usually happens that children at birth are p91 provided by nature with a caul, which the midwives seize and sell to credulous lawyers (for it is said that this bring luck to those who plead),15 3 this child, instead of a caul, had a narrow band like a diadem, so strong that it could not be broken, for the fibres were entwined in the manner of a bow-string. 4 The child, they say, was accordingly called Diadematus, but when he grew older, he was called Diadumenianus from the name of his mother's father, though the name differed little from his former appellation Diadematus. 5 Also they say that twelve purple sheep were born on his father's estate and of these only one had spots upon it. 6 And it is well known, besides, that on the very day of his birth an eagle brought to him generally a tiny royal ring-dove, and, after placing it in his cradle as he slept, flew away without doing him harm. Moreover, birds called pantagathi16 built a nest in his father's house. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 5 1 And about the time of his birth, the astrologers, on reading his horoscope, cried out that he was both the son of an emperor and an emperor too, just as though his mother had been seduced — as, indeed, public gossip maintained. 17 2 Moreover, when he was walking about in the open country, an eagle bore away his cap;18 and when the child's comrades shouted out, the bird set it upon the statue of a king on a royal monument near the farm-house in which his father then lived, fitting it close to the head. 3 This seemed portentous to many and a sign of an early death, but later events showed it to be a prediction of glory. 4 He was born, furthermore, on the birthday of Antoninus,19 at the same p93 hour as Antoninus Pius and with the stars in almost the same positions. Wherefore the astrologers said that he would be both the son of an emperor and an emperor himself, but not for long. 5 On the day of his birth, which was also the birthday of Antoninus, a certain woman, who lived near by, cried out, it is said, "Let him be called Antoninus". Macrinus, however, was afraid and refused the imperial name, both because none of his kin was called by this name and at the same time because rumours concerning the significance of his horoscope had already spread abroad. 6 These omens and others, too, occurred, or so numerous writers have related, but the following one is especially worthy of note. As Diadumenianus was lying in his cradle, some say, a lion broke its chains and dashed about savagely, but when it came to the cradle of the child it only licked him and left him unharmed; but when the nurse — the only person who chanced to be present in the open place in which the child was lying — threw herself at the lion, it seized her in its teeth and she perished.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 6 1 These are the details concerning Antoninus Diadumenianus which seem to be worthy of mention. His life, indeed, I should have combined with the achievements of his father, had not the name of the Antonines constrained me to publish a special discussion of the life of this boy. 2 And in fact the name of the Antonines was at that time so greatly beloved, that he who had not the prestige of this name did not seem to merit the imperial power. 3 Wherefore some also think that Severus and Pertinax and Julianus should be honoured with the praenomen Antoninus,20 and that later on the two Gordiani, p95 father and son, had Antoninus as a surname. 21 4 However, it is one thing to assume this as praenomen and another to take it as an actual name. 5 In the case of Pius, for instance, Antoninus was his actual name and Pius only a surname. Moreover, the true name of Marcus was Verissimus,22 but when this was set aside and annulled, Antoninus was conferred on him not as a praenomen but as his name. 6 So the original name of Verus was Commodus,23 but when this was annulled, he too was called Antoninus not as a praenomen but as a name. 7 Commodus, however, was given the name Antoninus by Marcus, and on the day of his birth he was so enrolled in the public records. 8 As for Caracalla Bassianus, it is well known that he was called Antoninus on account of a dream beheld by Severus, which revealed that an Antoninus with fore-ordained to be his successor,24 and that he was given the name in his thirteenth year, when, it is said, Severus conferred on him also the imperial power. 9 Geta, moreover, who, many aver, was not called Antoninus at all, was given the name, it is generally said, with the same intention as Bassianus — namely that he might succeed his father Severus;25 but this never came to pass. 10 After him, the name Antoninus was given to this very Diadumenianus, in order, it is generally said, that he might thereby find favour with the army, the senate, and the people of Rome, since there was a great yearning for Bassianus Caracalla.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 7 1 There is still in existence a letter written by Opellius Macrinus, father of Diadumenianus, in which he boasts, not so much that he attained to the imperial power, having previously held second place in the Empire,26 as that he had become the father of p97 one bearing the name Antoninus, than which no name was then more illustrious — no, not even that of the gods. 2 But before I insert this letter, I wish to include some verses directed at Commodus, who had taken the name of Hercules,27 in order that I may show to all that the name of the Antonines was so illustrious that it was not deemed suitable to add to it even the name of a god. 3 The verses directed against Commodus Antoninus are as follows:

Commodus wished to possess Hercules' name as his own;
That of the great Antonines did not seem noble enough.
Nothing of common law, nothing of ruling he knew,
Hoping indeed as a god greater renown to acquire
Than by remaining a prince called by an excellent name.
Neither a god will he be, nor for that matter a man.
4 These verses, written by an unknown Greek, some unskilful poet has rendered into Latin, and I have thought it right to insert them here for the purpose of showing to all that the Antonines were deemed greater than the gods as a result of the love felt for the three emperors, a love which has enshrined their wisdom, kindness, and righteousness — righteousness in the case of Pius, 5 kindness in the case of Verus, and wisdom in the case of Marcus. I will now return to the letter written by Opellius Macrinus:28

"Opellius Macrinus to his wife Nonia Celsa. The good fortune to which we have attained, my dear wife, is incalculable. Perhaps you may think I allude to the imperial power, but this is nothing p99 great and Fortune has bestowed it on even the undeserving. 6 No! I have become the father of an Antoninus; you have become the mother of an Antoninus. Blessed indeed are we, fortunate is our house, and noble the meed of praise now at length attained by this happy empire! 7 May the gods grant, and kindly Juno too, whom you revere, both that he may achieve the deserts of an Antoninus, and that I, who am now the father of an Antoninus, may be deemed worthy in the sight of all. " [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 8 1 This letter indicates how much glory he thought he had gained from the fact that his son was called Antoninus.

2 Yet in spite of all, Diadumenianus was killed with his father in the fourteenth month of their reign,29 not, indeed, for any fault of his own, but because of his father's harsh and tyrannical rule. 3 Nevertheless, I find in many writers that he himself was cruel beyond his years, and this is shown by a letter which he sent to his father. 4 For when certain men had fallen under the suspicion of rebellion, Macrinus visited upon them the most cruel punishments in the absence, as it chanced, of his son; but when the latter learned that the instigators of the rebellion had indeed been put to death, but their accomplices, among whom were the military governor of Armenia30 and the governors of Asia and Arabia, had, on account of a long-standing friendship, been sent away unharmed, he addressed, it is said, the following letter to his father, sending an identical one to his mother also. A copy of this letter I think, for the sake of history, should be inserted:

5 "Augustus the son31 to Augustus the father. You do not seem, my dear father, to have kept close enough to your usual ways or to your affection for p101 me; for you have spared the lives of men engaged in a plot to seize the imperial power, either in the hope that if you spare them now they will prove more kindly disposed to you in the future, or else believing that because of an ancient friendship they ought to be sent away unharmed.