No More Learning

Thus, he reasoned, no plunder would pass to the enemy, should fortune bring some disaster. 8 All these stern measures, however, worked to his disadvantage in times so slack as those of Commodus. 9 For even if there was no one who seemed to his own times a sterner general, those measures availed to damage him rather during his life than after his death, when both envy and malice were laid by.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 11 1 On all his campaigns he took his meals in front of his tent and in the presence of all his men, and he ate the soldiers' own fare, too; nor did he ever seek shelter against sun or against rain if a soldier was without it. 2 In time of war he assigned to himself and to his slaves or aides as heavy burdens as were borne by the soldiers themselves, expounding to the soldiers the reason therefor; for in order that his slaves might not be without burdens on the march while the soldiers carried packs and this seem a grievous thing to the army, he loaded them with rations. 3 He took an oath, besides, in the presence of an assembly, that as long as he had conducted campaigns and as long as he expected to conduct them, he had not in the past and would not in the future act otherwise than as a simple soldier — having before his eyes Marius and such commanders as he. 4 He never told anecdotes about anyone save Hannibal and others such as he. 5 Indeed, when some one wished to recite him a panegyric at the time that he was declared emperor, he said to him: "Write praises of Marius, or Hannibal, or any pre-eminent general now dead, and tell what he did, that we may imitate him. 6 For the praise of the living is mere mockery, p457 and most of all the praise of emperors, in whose power it lies to kindle hope or fear, to give advancement in public life, to condemn to death, and to declare a man an outlaw. " He added that he wished to give satisfaction in his life-time, and after his death to be praised as well.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 12 1 His favourites among his predecessors were Augustus, Vespasian, Titus, Trajan, Pius, and Marcus; the others, he averred, were either puppets or monsters. Among the characters of history he admired most of all Marius, Camillus,45 Quinctius,46 and Marcius Coriolanus. 47 2 And once, when asked his opinion concerning the Scipios, he replied, it is said, that they were rather fortunate than forceful, as was shown by their home-lives and by their youth, which, in the case of both, had not been conspicuous at home. 3 All men are agreed that he proposed, had he gained the throne, to correct all the evils which Severus, later, either could not or would not correct; and this he would have accomplished without any cruelty, or rather even with mercy, but yet the mercy of a soldier, not weak or absurd and a subject for mockery.

4 His house, still called by the name of Pescennius, may still be seen in the Field of Jupiter. 48 Within, in a certain room with three compartments there stands his statue, carved in Theban marble,49 depicting his likeness, and given him by the common people of Thebes. º 5 There is preserved, besides, an epigram in Greek which, rendered into Latin, runs as follows:

p459 6 "Glorious Niger stands here, the dread of the soldiers of Egypt,
Faithful ally of Thebes, willing a golden age.
Loved by the kings and the nations of earth, and by Rome the all golden,
Dear to the Antonines, aye, dear to the Empire too.
Black is the surname he bears, and black is the statue we've fashioned,
Thus do surname and hue, hero and marble, agree. "
7 As for these verses, Severus refused to erase them when this was proposed by his prefects and masters of ceremonies, and said, besides: 8 "If indeed he was such a man, let all men learn how great was the man we vanquished; if such he was not, let all men deem that such was the man we vanquished; no, leave it as it is, for such he really was. "



The Life of Clodius Albinus

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] After the death of Pertinax, who was slain at Albinus's advice,1 various men were hailed emperor at about one and the same time2 — by the senate Julianus at Rome, and by the armies, Septimius Severus in Illyricum, Pescennius Niger in the East, and Clodius Albinus in Gaul. 3 2 According to Herodian, Clodius had been named Caesar by Severus. 4 But as time went on, each chafed at the other's rule, and the armies of Gaul and Germany demanded an emperor of their own naming, and so all parts of the empire were thrown into an uproar.

3 Now Clodius Albinus came of a noble family,5 but he was a native of Hadrumetum in Africa. 4 Because of this, he applied to himself the oracle in praise of Severus, which we quoted in the Life of Pescennius, p463 for he did not wish it to be interpreted as "the worst is the White One," which is contained in the same line in which Severus is praised and Pescennius Niger commended. 6 5 But before I discourse on his life and his death I should relate the manner in which he became ennobled.

2 1 There is a certain letter7 which Commodus sent Albinus once, on naming his successor in office, in which he bade him assume the name of Caesar;8 of this letter I append a copy:

2 "The Emperor Commodus to Clodius Albinus greeting. I wrote you once officially about the succession to the throne and your own elevation to honour, but I am now sending you this private and confidential message, all written with my own hand, as you will see, in which I empower you, should emergency arise, to present yourself to the soldiers and assume the name of Caesar. 3 For I hear that both Septimius Severus and Nonius Murcus are speaking ill of me to their troops, hoping thereby to get the appointment to the post of Augustus. 4 You shall have full power besides, when you thus present yourself, to give the soldiers a largess of three aurei apiece. You will get a letter which I am sending to my procurators to this effect, sealed with my signet of an Amazon,9 which you will deliver to my stewards when the need arises, that they may not refuse your demands on the treasury. 5 And that you may received some definite symbol of an emperor's majesty, I authorize you to wear both at the present time and at my court the scarlet cloak. 10 p465 Later, when you are with me, you shall have the imperial purple,11 though without the embroidery in gold. 12 For my great-grandfather Verus,13 who died in boyhood, received this from Hadrian, who adopted him. "

3 1 Albinus received this letter, but he utterly refused to do what the Emperor bade. For he saw that Commodus was hated because of his evil ways, which were bringing destruction upon the state and dishonour upon himself, and that he would sometime or other be slain, and he feared that he might perish with him.

2 There is still in existence the speech he made when he accepted the imperial power — some say, indeed, by Severus' wish and authorization — in which he makes allusion to this refusal. 3 Of this speech I append a copy: "It is against my will, my comrades, that I am exalted to empire, and a proof of it is this, that when Commodus once gave me the name of Caesar, I scorned it. Now, however, I must yield to your desire and to that of Severus Augustus, for I believe that under an upright man and a brave one the state can be well ruled. "

4 It is an undeniable fact, moreover, and Marius Maximus also relates it, that Severus at first intended to name Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus as his successors, in case aught befell him. 14 5 Later, as it happened, in the interest of his growing sons, and through envy of the affection in which Albinus was p467 held, and most of all because of his wife's entreaties, he changed his purpose and crushed both of them in war. 6 But he did name Albinus consul, and this he never would have done had not Albinus been a worthy man, since he was ever most careful in his choice of magistrates.

4 1 To return to Albinus, however, he was a native of Hadrumetum, as I have said before,15 but he was both of noble rank there and traced his descent from noble families at Rome, namely the Postumii, the Albini, and the Ceionii. 16 2 The last of these families is among the noblest to‑day, for you, most puissant Constantine, have exalted it and shall exalt it further, though it gained its greatest prestige by the favour of Gallienus and the Gordians. 3 He was born at Hadrumetum in a modest home, in slender circumstances,17 and of righteous parents, Ceionius Postumus and Aurelia Messalina, and he was their first-born son. 4 When taken from his mother's womb, unlike the common run of infants, who are red at birth, he was very white in hue, and for this reason he was named Albinus. 5 The truth of this is proved by a letter which his father wrote to Aelius Bassianus, then proconsul of Africa, and, as it seems, a kinsman of the family. 6 The letter of Ceionius Postumus to Aelius Bassianus: "A son was born to me on the seventh day before the Kalends of December, p469 and so white was his body at birth that it was whiter than the linen clothes in which we wrapped him. 7 I acknowledged him, therefore, as one of the family of the Albini, who are common kin to you and me, and bestowed upon him the name Albinus. And now remember, I pray you, our country, yourself, and me. "

5 1 All his boyhood, then, Albinus spent in Africa, where he got a fair education in Greek and Latin letters. And even at that time he showed signs of a haughty and warlike spirit, 2 for at school, it is said, he used often to recite to the children:

"Madly I seized my arms, though in arms there lay little reason. "18
3 And he repeated again and again the words, "Madly I seized my arms".

4 It is said that his rule was predicted by a number of omens that occurred at the time of his birth. For instance, a snow-white bull was born, whose horns were of a deep purple hue. And he is said to have placed these, when tribune of the soldiers, in the temple of Apollo at Cumae, and when he made inquiry of the oracle there concerning his fate, he received a response, it is said, in the following lines:

"He shall establish the power of Rome though tumult beset her,
Riding his horse he shall smite both Poeni and Galli rebellious. "19
5 And, indeed, it is well known that he conquered many tribes in Gaul. 20 He himself always believed, moreover, that the prediction "he shall smite the Poeni" referred to him and Severus, because Severus was p471 a native of Africa. 6 There was another indication of his future rule besides these. A peculiar custom was observed in the family of the Caesars, namely, that the infants of this house should be bathed in tubs of tortoise-shell. Now when Albinus was a newly born infant, a fisherman brought as a gift to his father a tortoise of enormous size, 7 and he, being well versed in letters, regarded the gift as an omen and accepted the tortoise gladly. He then gave an order that they should prepare the shell and set it apart for the child for use in the hot baths that are given to infants, hoping that this gift portended noble rank for his son. 8 And again, although eagles appear but rarely in the region in which Albinus was born, on the seventh day after his birth, at the very hour of a banquet in honour of the bestowal of his name, seven young eagles were brought in from a nest and placed as though in jest about the cradle of the child. Nor did his father scorn this omen either, but commanded that the eagles be fed and guarded with care. 9 Still another omen occurred. It was customary in his family that the bandages in which the children are wrapped should be of a reddish colour. In his case, however, it chanced that the bandages which had been prepared by his mother during her pregnancy had been washed and were not yet dry, and he was therefore wrapped in a bandage of his mother's, and this, as it happened, was of a purple hue. For this reason his nurse, jestingly, gave him the name Porphyrius. 10 These were the omens that betokened his future rule. There were others besides these, but he who desires to learn what they are may read them in Aelius Cordus,21 for he relates all trivial details concerning omens of this sort.

p473 6 As soon as he came of age he entered military service, and by the aid of Lollius Serenus, Baebius Maecianus and Ceionius Postumianus, all his kinsmen, he gained the notice of the Antonines. 2 In the capacity of a tribune he commanded a troop of Dalmatian horse; he also commanded soldiers of the First and the Fourth legions. 22 At the time of Avidius' revolt he loyally held the Bithynian army to its allegiance. 3 Next, Commodus transferred him to Gaul;23 and here he routed the tribes from over the Rhine and made his name illustrious among both Romans and barbarians. 4 This aroused Commodus' interest, and he offered Albinus the name of Caesar24 and the privilege, too, of giving the soldiers a present and wearing the scarlet cloak. 25 5 But all these offers Albinus wisely refused, for Commodus, he said, was only looking for a man who would perish with him,26 or whom he could reasonably put to death. 6 The duty of holding the quaestorship was in his case remitted. This requirement waived, he became aedile, but after a term of only ten days he was despatched in haste to the army. 27 7 Next, he served his praetorship under Commodus, and a very famous one it was. For at his games Commodus, it is said, gave gladiatorial combats in both the Forum and the theatre. 8 And finally Severus made him consul at the time when he purposed to make him and Pescennius his successors.

7 1 When he at last attained to the empire he was well advanced in years, for he was older, as Severus himself relates in his autobiography,28 than Pescennius Niger. 2 But Severus, after his victory p475 over Pescennius, desiring to keep the throne for his sons, and observing that Clodius Albinus, inasmuch as he came of an ancient family, was greatly beloved by the senate,29 sent him certain men with a letter couched in terms of the greatest love and affection, in which he urged that, now that Pescennius Niger was slain, they should loyally rule the state together. 3 The following, so Cordus declares, is a copy of the letter: "The Emperor Severus Augustus to Clodius Albinus Caesar, our most loving and loyal brother, greeting. 4 After defeating Pescennius we despatched a letter road Rome, which the senate, ever devoted to you, received with rejoicing. Now I entreat you that in the same spirit in which you were chosen as the brother of my heart you will rule the empire as my brother on the throne. 5 Bassianus and Geta send you greetings, and our Julia, too, greets both you and your sister. To your little son Pescennius Princus we will send a present, worthy both of his station and your own. 6 I would like you to hold the troops in their allegiance to the empire and to ourselves, my most loyal, most dear, and loving friend. "

8 1 This was the letter that he gave to the trusted attendants that were sent to Albinus. He told them to deliver the letter in public; but, later, they were to say that they wished to confer with him privately on many matters pertaining to the war, the secrets of the camp, and the trustworthiness of the court, and when they had come to the secret meeting for this purpose of telling their errand, five sturdy fellows were to slay him with daggers hidden in their garments. 30 2 And they showed no lack of fidelity. For they came to Albinus and delivered Severus' letter, and then, when he read it, they said p477 that they had some matters to tell him more privately, and asked for a place far removed from all who could overhear. But when they refused to suffer anyone to go with Albinus to this distant portico, on the ground that their secret mission must not be made known, Albinus scented a plot 3 and eventually yielded to his suspicions and delivered them over to torture. And though at first they stoutly denied their guilt, in the end they yielded to extreme measures and disclosed the commands that Severus had laid upon them.

4 Thus all was revealed and the plot laid bare, and Albinus, now seeing that what he had merely suspected before was true, assembled a mighty force and advanced to meet Severus and his generals. 31 9 In the first engagement, indeed, which was fought with Severus' leaders,32 he proved superior. Later Severus himself, after causing the senate to declare Albinus a public enemy, set out against him and fought in Gaul, bitterly and courageously but not without vicissitudes of fortune. 2 At last, being somewhat perturbed, Severus consulted an augur, and received from him the response, according to Marius Maximus, that Albinus would in truth fall into his power, but neither alive nor dead. And so it happened. 3 For after a decisive engagement, where countless of his soldiers fell, and very many fled, and many, too, surrendered, Albinus also fled away and, according to some, stabbed himself, according to others, was stabbed by a slave. At any rate, he was brought to Severus only half alive. 33 4 So the prophecy made before the battle was fulfilled. Many, moreover, declare that he was slain by soldiers who asked Severus for a bounty for his death.

p479 5 According to certain writers, he had one son, but according to Maximus, two. At first Severus granted these pardon, but later he killed them, together with their mother, and had them cast into running water. 34 6 Albinus' head was cut off and paraded on a pike, and finally sent to Rome. With it Severus sent a letter to the senate, in which he reviled it bitterly for its great love for Albinus,35 inasmuch as his kinsmen, and notably his brother,36 had been heaped with illustrious honours. 7 Albinus' body lay for days, it is said, before Severus' headquarters, until it stank and was mangled by dogs, and then it was thrown into running water.

10 1 With regard to his character there is great divergence of statement. Severus, for his part, charged him with being depraved and perfidious, unprincipled and dishonourable, covetous and extravagant. 37 2 But all this he wrote either during the war or after it, at a time when he merits less credence, since he was speaking of a foe. 3 Yet Severus himself sent him many letters, as though to an intimate friend. Many persons, moreover, thought well of Albinus, and even Severus wished to give him the name of Caesar,38 and when he made plans for a successor, he had Albinus foremost in mind.

4 There are extant, besides, some letters of Marcus concerning Albinus, which bear witness to his virtues and character. 5 One of these, addressed to his prefects and dealing with Albinus, it were not out of place to include: 6 "Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to his prefects, greeting. Albinus, one of the family of the Ceionii,39 son-in‑law of Plautillus, and a native of p481 Africa, but with little of the African about him, I have placed in command of two squadrons of horse. 40 7 He is a man of experience, strict in his mode of life, respected for his character. He will prove of value, I think, in the service of the camp, and I am certain he will prove no detriment. 8 I have ordered him double ration-money, a plain uniform but one befitting his station, and fourfold pay. Do you urge him to make himself known to the state, for he will get the reward that he merits. "

9 There is also another letter, which Marcus wrote about Albinus in the time of Avidius Cassius, a copy of which reads as follows: 10 "Albinus is to be commended for his loyalty. For he held the soldiers in check when they were wavering in their allegiance and were making ready to join Avidius Cassius,41 and had it not been for him, they would have done this. 11 We have in him, therefore, a man who deserves the consulship, and I shall name him to succeed Cassius Papirius, who, I am told, is now at the point of death. 12 But this, meanwhile, I would not have you publish, lest somehow it come to Papirius or to his kin, and we seem to appoint a successor to a consul who is still alive. " 11 These letters, then, prove the loyalty of Albinus,42 as does this fact besides, that he sent a sum of money wherewith to restore the cities that Niger had ravaged. He did this, also, to win their inhabitants more easily to his cause.

2 Now Cordus, who recounts such details at length in his books, declares that Albinus was a glutton — so much so, in fact, that he would devour more fruit than the mind of man can believe. 3 For Cordus says that p483 when hungry he devoured five hundred dried figs (called by the Greeks callistruthiae), one hundred Campanian peaches, ten Ostian melons, twenty pounds' weight of Labican grapes, one hundred figpeckers, and four hundred oysters. 4 In his use of wine, however, Cordus says he was sparing, but Severus denies this,43 claiming that even in time of war he was drunken. 5 As a rule, he was on bad terms with his household, either because of his drunkenness, as Severus says, or because of his quarrelsome disposition. 6 Toward his wife he was unbearable, toward his servants unjust, and in dealings with his soldiers brutal. For he would often crucify legionary centurions,44 even when the character of the offence did not demand it, and he certainly used to beat them with rods and never spared. 7 His clothing was elegant, but his banquets tasteless, for he had an eye only to quantity. As a lover of women he was noted even among the foremost philanderers, but of unnatural lusts he was innocent, and he always punished these vices. In the cultivation of land he was thoroughly versed, and he even composed Georgics. 45 8 Some say, too, that he wrote Milesian tales,46 which are not unknown to fame though written in but a mediocre style.

12 1 He was beloved by the senators47 as no one of the emperors before him. This was chiefly due, however, to their hatred of Severus, who was greatly p485 detested by the senate because of his cruelty. 2 For after he defeated Albinus, Severus put a great number of senators to death, both those who were really of Albinus' party and those who were thought to be. 48 3 Indeed, when Albinus was slain near Lugdunum,49 Severus gave orders to search though his letters to find out to whom he had written and who had written to him;50 and everyone whose letters he found, by his orders the senate denounced as a public enemy. 4 And of these he pardoned none, but killed them all, placing their goods on sale and depositing the proceeds in the public treasury.

5 There is still in existence a letter from Severus, addressed to the senate, which shows very clearly his state of mind; whereof this is a copy: 6 "Nothing that can happen, O Conscript Fathers, could give me greater sorrow than that you should endorse Albinus in preference to Severus. 7 It was I who gave the city grain,51 I who waged many wars for the state, I who gave oil to the people of Rome,52 so much that the world could hardly contain it, and I who slew Pescennius Niger and freed you from the ills of a tyrant. 8 A fine requital, truly, you have made me, a fine expression of thanks! A man from Africa, a native of Hadrumetum, who pretends to derive descent from the blood of the Ceionii,53 you have raised to a lofty place; you have even wished to make him your ruler, though I am your ruler and my children are still alive. 9 Was there no other man in all this senate whom you might love, who might love you? You raised even his brother to honours;54 and you expect to receive at his hands, one a consulship, another a praetorship, and another the insignia of any office whatever. 10 You have failed, moreover, p487 to show me the spirit of gratitude which your forefathers showed in the face of Piso's plot,55 which they showed Trajan, and showed but lately in opposing Avidius Cassius. This fellow, false and ready for lies of every kind, who has even fabricated a noble lineage, you have now preferred to me. 11 Why, even in the senate we must hear Statilius Corfulenus proposing to vote honours to Albinus and his brother, and all that was lacking was that the noble fellow should also vote him a triumph over me. 12 It is even a greater source of chagrin, that some of you thought he should be praised for his knowledge of letters, when in fact he is busied with old wives' songs, and grows senile amid the Milesian stories from Carthage that his friend Apuleius wrote and such other learned nonsense. " 13 From all this it is clear how severely he attacked the followers of Pescennius and Albinus. 14 Indeed, all these things are set down in his autobiography,56 and those who desire to know them in detail should read Marius Maximus among the Latin writers, and Herodian among the Greek, for they have related many things and with an eye to truth.

13 1 He was tall of stature, with unkempt curly hair and a broad expanse of brow. His skin was wonderfully white; many indeed think it was from this that he got his name. 57 He had a womanish voice, almost as shrill as a eunuch's. 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.