No More Learning

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 34 1 It may perhaps seem strange to some, revered Constantine, that such a scourge as I have described should ever have sat on the throne of the emperors, and, moreover, for nearly three years. Such was the lack at that time in the state of any who could remove him from the government of Rome's majesty, whereas a deliverer from the tyrant had not been wanting in the case of Nero, Vitellius, Caligula,115 and other such emperors. 2 But first of all I ask for pardon for having set down in writing what I have found in various authors, even though I have passed over in silence many vile details and those things which may not even be spoken of without the greatest shame. 3 But whatever I have told, I have covered up as best I could by the use of veiled terms. 4 Then too I have always believed that we must remember what Your Clemency is wont to say: "It is Fortune that makes a man emperor". There have indeed been unrighteous rulers and even very base ones. 5 But, as Your Piety is wont to declare, men must look to it that those be worthy of the imperial office whom the power of Fate has called to the destiny of being emperor. 6 Furthermore, since this man was the last of the Antonines and never again did one of this name appear in public life as emperor, the following fact must also be mentioned, in order that no confusion may arise when I shall begin to tell of the two Gordians, father and son, who desired to be called p175 after the family of the Antonines: in the first place, they had not the surname but only the praenomen of the Antonines; 7 in the second, as I find in my books, their name was Antonius, and not Antoninus. 116

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 35 1 So much concerning Elagabalus, the details of whose life you have wished me, though unwilling and reluctant, to gather together from Greek and Latin books and to set down in writing and present to you, inasmuch as I have already presented the lives of earlier emperors. 2 Now I shall begin to write of emperors who followed after. Of these the most righteous and the most worthy of careful narration was Alexander (who was emperor for thirteen years, whereas the others ruled but for six months or at most for one or two years), the most distinguished was Aurelian, but the glory of them all was Claudius, the founder of your family. 117 3 About this man I fear to tell the truth in writing to Your Clemency, lest I may seem to the malicious to be a flatterer; but yet I shall be delivered from the envy of evil men, inasmuch as I have seen that in the eyes of others also he was the most illustrious. 4 To these rulers must be joined Diocletian, father of the golden age, and Maximian, father of the iron,118 as they commonly say, and all the others down to the time of Your Piety. But as for you, 5 O revered Augustus, you shall receive honour in the many and more eloquent pages of those to whom a more kindly nature has granted this boon. 6 To these emperors we must add Licinius and Maxentius, all whose power has been made subject to your sway,119 writing of them, however, in such a way p177 that full justice shall be done to their prowess. 7 For I will not, as is the wont of many writers, detract from the greatness of those who have been vanquished, since I perceive that if, in writing of them, I shall tell the whole truth concerning the noble qualities which they possessed, it will but enhance your glory.

The Life of Severus Alexander
Part 1

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] After the murder of Varius Elagabalus — for thus we prefer to call him rather than Antoninus, for, plague that he was, he showed none of the traits of the Antonines, 2 and his name Antoninus, furthermore, was expunged from the public records by order of the senate1 — for the curing of the human race the imperial power passed to Aurelius Alexander. 2 He was born in the city of Arca3 and he was the son of Varius,4 the grandson of Varia,5 and the cousin of Elagabalus himself. The name of Caesar had been bestowed on him by the senate previously, that is, after the death of Macrinus;6 3 now he was given the name of Augustus, and it was further granted him by the senate that on the same day he should take the title of Father of his Country, the proconsular command, the tribunician power,7 and the privilege of making five proposals to the House. 8

4 Now lest this quick succession of honours may seem precipitate,9 I will set forth the reasons which p181 moved the senate to grant and the Emperor to accept them. 5 For it befitted neither the senate's dignity to bestow all of them together, nor yet a good prince to seize upon so many honours at one time. 6 But the soldiers had now grown accustomed to appoint their own emperors, often in a disorderly fashion, and also to change them at will, sometimes alleging in their own defence that they had taken action only because they did not know that the senate had named a ruler. 7 For they had chosen as emperors Pescennius Niger, Clodius Albinus, Avidius Cassius, and, in earlier years, Lucius Vindex and Lucius Antonius;10 and they had chosen even Severus too, after the senate had already named Julianus as prince. 11 And thus were sown the seeds of civil wars, in which it necessarily happened that soldiers enlisted to fight against a foreign foe fell at the hands of their brothers. 2Legamen ad paginam Latinam For this reason, then, the senate hastened to bestow all these honours on Alexander at the same time, as though he had long been emperor. 2 To this, moreover, must be added the great desire of the senate and people for Alexander,12 now that they had been delivered from that scourge who had not only sullied the name of the Antonines but brought shame upon the Roman Empire. 3 Indeed, they vied with one another in bestowing on him all manner of titles and powers. 4 He, then, was the first of all the emperors to receive at one time all insignia and all forms of honour, commended to them, as he was, by the name of Caesar, earned some years previously, but commended still more by his life and morals. He had won great favour, too, from the fact that Elagabalus had tried to slay him, but without success because of the resistance of the soldiers p183 and the opposition of the senate. 13 5 All these considerations, however, would have availed him little, had he not shown himself worthy that the senate should honour him, that the soldiers should be eager for his preservation, and the voice of all good citizens name him their prince.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 3 1 Alexander, then, the son of Mamaea (for so he is called by many),14 had been nurtured from his earliest boyhood in all excellent arts, civil and military. Not a single day, indeed, did he allow to pass in which he did not train himself for literature and for military service. 2 His teachers were:15 during his early childhood, Valerius Cordus, Titus Veturius, and Aurelius Philippus (his father's freedman who afterwards wrote his life); 3 while he lived in his native town, the Greek grammarian, Neho, the rhetorician Serapio, and the philosopher Stilio; and when he was at Rome, the grammarian Scaurinus (the son of Scaurinus16 and a most famous teacher), and the rhetoricians Julius Frontinus, Baebius Macrianus, and Julius Granianus, whose exercises in rhetoric are in use today. In Latin literature, however, he was not very proficient, as is shown by the orations which he delivered in the senate, and also by the speeches which he made before the soldiers or the people. 4 And indeed he did not greatly value the power to speak in Latin, although he was very fond of men of letters, fearing them at the same time, lest they might write something harsh about him. 5 Indeed, it was his wish that those whom he found worthy of the privilege should be informed of all p185 that he did, both officially and in his private life, and he even gave them information himself if they chanced to be absent at the time, begging them that if it were true, they should include it in their books.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 4 1 He forbade men to call him Lord,17 and he gave orders that people should write to him as they would to a commoner, retaining only the title Imperator. 2 He removed from the imperial footwear and garments all the jewels that had been used by Elagabalus,18 and he wore a plain white robe without any gold, just as he is always depicted, and ordinary cloaks and togas. 3 He associated with his friends19 on such familiar terms that he would sit with them as equals, attend their banquets, have some of them as his own daily guests, even when they were not formally summoned, and hold a morning levee like any senator with open curtains and without the presence of ushers, or, at least, with none but those who acted as attendants at the doors, whereas previously it was not possible for people to pay their respects to the emperor for the reason that he could not see them.

4 As to his physique, in addition to the grace and the manly beauty still to be seen in his portraits and statues, he had the strength and height of a soldier and the vigour of the military man who knows the power of his body and always maintains it. 5 Besides this, he endeared himself to all men; some even called him Pius, but all regarded him as a holy man and one of great value to the state. 6 And when Elagabalus was plotting against him, he received in p187 the temple owing to the Praenestine Goddess20 the following oracle:

"If ever thou breakest the Fates' cruel power,
Thou a Marcellus shalt be. "21
5 1 Legamen ad paginam Latinam He was given the name Alexander because he was born in a temple dedicated to Alexander the Great22 in the city of Arca, whither his father and mother had chanced to go on the feast-day of Alexander for the purpose of attending the sacred festival. 2 The proof of this is the fact that this Alexander, the son of Mamaea, celebrated as his birthday that very day on which Alexander the Great departed this life. 23 3 The name Antoninus was proffered him by the senate, but he refused it, although he was connected with Caracalla by a closer degree of kinship than the spurious Antoninus. 24 4 For, as Marius Maximus narrates in his Life of Severus, Severus, at that time only a commoner and a man of no great position, married a noble-woman from the East, whose horoscope, he learned, declared that she should be the wife of an emperor;25 and she was a kinswoman of Alexander, to whom Varius Elagabalus, as a matter of fact, was a cousin on his mother's side. 5 He refused also the title of "the Great," which, because he was an Alexander, was offered to him by vote of the senate.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 6 1 It will not be without interest to re‑read the p189 oration in which Alexander refused the names of Antoninus and "the Great," which were offered him by the senate. But before I quote it, I will insert the acclamations of the senate,26 by which these names were decreed. 2 Extract from the City Gazette;27 On the day before the Nones of March,28 when the senate met in full session in the Senate-Chamber (that is, in the Temple of Concord,29 a formally consecrated sanctuary), and when Aurelius Alexander Caesar Augustus had been requested to proceed thither and, after at first refusing for the reason that he knew that action was to be taken with regard to his titles, had finally appeared before the senate, 3 the following acclamations were uttered: "Augustus, free from all guilt, may the gods keep you! Alexander, our Emperor, may the gods keep you! The gods have given you to us, may the gods preserve you! The gods have rescued you from the hands of the foul man, may the gods preserve you forever! 4 You too have endured the foul tyrant, you too had reason to grieve that the filthy and foul one lived. The gods have cast him forth root and branch, and you have they saved. The infamous emperor has been duly condemned. 5 Happy are we in your rule, happy to is the state. The infamous emperor has been dragged with the hook,30 as an example of what men should fear; justly punished is the voluptuous emperor, punished justly he who defiled the public honours. May the gods in Heaven grant long life to Alexander! Thus are the judgments of the gods revealed. " Legamen ad paginam Latinam 7 1 And when Alexander had expressed his thanks the acclamations arose again: "Antoninus Alexander, may p191 the gods keep you! Aurelius Antoninus, may the gods keep you! Antoninus Pius, may the gods keep you! 2 Receive the name Antoninus, we beseech you. Grant to our righteous emperors this boon, that you should be called Antoninus. Purify the name of the Antonines. Purify what he has defiled. Restore to its former glory the name of the Antonines. Let the blood of the Antonines know itself once more. 3 Avenge the wrongs of Marcus. Avenge the wrongs of Verus. Avenge the wrongs of Bassianus. 4 Worse than Commodus is Elagabalus alone. No emperor he, nor Antoninus, nor citizen, nor senator, nor man of noble blood, nor Roman. 5 In you is our salvation, in you our life. That we may have joy in living, long life to Alexander of the house of the Antonines! The temples of the Antonines let an Antoninus consecrate. The Parthians and the Persians let an Antoninus vanquish. 6 The sacred name let the consecrated receive. The sacred name let the pure receive. May the gods remember the name of Antoninus, may the gods preserve the honours of the Antonines! In you are all things, through you are all things. Hail, O Antoninus! "

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 8 1 After these acclamations Aurelius Alexander Caesar Augustus spoke: "I thank you, O Conscript Fathers, and not now for the first time, both for the name of Caesar and for the life that has been spared to me, and also because you have bestowed on me the name of Augustus, the office of Pontifex Maximus, the tribunician power, and the proconsular command, all of which you have conferred on me without precedent on a single day. " 2 And when he p193 had spoken, they cried out: "These honours you have accepted, now accept also the name Antoninus. 3 Let the senate be deemed worthy of this boon, let the Antonines be deemed worthy. Antoninus Augustus, may the gods keep you, may the gods preserve you as Antoninus! Let the name of Antoninus appear again on our coins. Let an Antoninus consecrate the temples of the Antonines. "

4 Then Aurelius Alexander Augustus spoke again: "Do not, I beseech you, O Conscript Fathers, do not force upon me the necessity of so difficult a task, that I should be constrained to do justice to so great a name, when even this very name which I now bear, albeit a foreign one, seems to weigh heavily upon me. 5 For all illustrious names are burdensome indeed. Who, pray, would give the name of Cicero to one who was dumb, or Varro31 to one who was unlearned, or Metellus32 to one who was undutiful? And who would endure — though this may the gods forfend! — that the man who failed to live up to the tradition of his name should continue to dwell amid the most illustrious forms of honour? " Legamen ad paginam Latinam 9 1 Again the same acclamations as above. Again the Emperor spoke: "How great was the name, or rather the divinity, of the Antonines, Your Clemency remembers well. If you think of righteousness, who more honest than Verus? If of bravery, who more brave than Bassianus? 2 For on Commodus I have no wish to dwell, who was the more depraved for this very reason, that with those evil ways of his he still held the name of Antoninus. 3 Diadumenianus, moreover, had neither the time nor the years, and it was only through his father's p195 artifice that he seized upon this name. "33 4 Again the same acclamations as above. Again the Emperor spoke: "Surely, not long ago, O Conscript Fathers, when that filthiest of all creatures, both two-footed and four-footed, vaunted the name of Antoninus, and in baseness and debauchery outdid a Nero, a Vitellius, and a Commodus, you remember what groanings arose from all, and how in the gatherings of the populace and of all honourable men there was but a single cry — that he was unworthy to bear the name of Antoninus, and that by such a plague as he that great name was profaned. " 5 When he had spoken, there were again acclamations: "May the gods avert such evils! We fear them not with you as our emperor. We are safe from them with you as our leader. You have triumphed over vice, you have triumphed over crime, you have triumphed over dishonour. 6 You will add lustre to the name of Antoninus. We foresee it surely, we foresee it clearly. From your childhood on we have esteemed you, now too we esteem you. " 7 Again the Emperor; "It is not that I shrink, O Conscript Fathers, from accepting this revered name merely because I fear that my life may fall into vices which will cause me to feel shame for the name; but I do not desire to take a name which, in the first place, belongs to a house that is no kin to me, and, in the second, I fell assured, will weigh heavily upon me. " Legamen ad paginam Latinam 10 1 And when he had spoken, there were acclamations as before. Again he spoke: 2 "If indeed I take the name of Antoninus, I may take also the name of Trajan, the name of Titus, and the name of Vespasian. " 3 And when he had spoken, there were acclamations: "As you are now Augustus, so also be Antoninus. " Again the p197 Emperor: "I see, O Conscript Fathers, what impels you to bestow upon us this name also. 4 The first Augustus was the first founder of this Empire, and to his name we all succeed, either by some form of adoption or by hereditary claim. Even the Antonines themselves bore the name of Augustus. 5 Likewise the first Antoninus gave his name to Marcus and also to Verus by a process of adoption, while in the case of Commodus it was inherited, in Diadumenianus assumed, in Bassianus simulated, but in Aurelius it would be a mockery. " 6 And when he had spoken, there were acclamations: "Alexander Augustus, may the gods keep you! May the gods in Heaven look with favour upon your modesty, your wisdom, your integrity, your purity! Hence we can see what an emperor you will be, and hence we esteem you. 7 You will be a proof that the senate can choose its rulers with wisdom. You will be a proof that the choice of the senate is the best of all. Alexander Augustus, may the gods keep you! Let Alexander Augustus consecrate the temples of the Antonines. Our 8 Caesar, our Augustus, our emperor, may the gods keep you! May you be victorious, may you prosper, and may you rule for many years! " Legamen ad paginam Latinam 11 1 Alexander the Emperor spoke: I perceive, O Conscript Fathers, that I have obtained my desire, and I count it as gain, feeling and expressing the deepest gratitude. And I will endeavour to make the name which I bring to this office so famous that it will be coveted by future emperors and be bestowed upon the righteous in testimony of your loyalty. " 2 Thereupon there were acclamations: "O Great Alexander, may the gods keep you! If you have rejected the surname Antoninus, accept then the praenomen of p199 'the Great. '34 O Great Alexander, may the gods keep you! " 3 And when they had cried this out many times, Alexander Augustus spoke: "It would be easier, O Conscript Fathers, to take the name of the Antonines, for in so doing I should make some concession either to kinship or to a joint possession in that imperial name. 4 But why should I accept the name of 'the Great'? What great thing have I done? Alexander, indeed, received it after great achievements, and Pompey after great triumphs. 5 Be silent then, O revered Fathers, and do you in your greatness hold me as one of yourselves rather than force upon me the use of the name of 'the Great. ' " Legamen ad paginam Latinam 12 1 Thereupon they cried out "Aurelius Alexander Augustus, may the gods keep you! " and all the rest in the usual manner.

2 When the senate had adjourned after the transaction of much other business on that same day, the Emperor returned home in the manner of one celebrating a triumph. 3 For he seemed much more illustrious for refusing to receive names which did not belong to him than if he had received them, and he obtained from this refusal a reputation for steadfastness and mature dignity, since, though but one single man, or rather youth, he could not be moved by the persuasions of the entire senate. 4 Nevertheless, although the entreaties of the senate could not persuade him to take the name of either Antoninus or "the Great," the troops conferred on him the name Severus35 on account of his great strength of spirit and his marvellous and matchless fortitude in the face of the soldiers' insolence. 5 This won him p201 profound respect in his own time, and great renown among later generations, especially since it came to pass further that he was given this name on account of his courageous spirit; for he is the only one of whom it is known that he dismissed mutinous legions, as I shall tell at the proper place,36 and, moreover, inflicted the harshest punishments on soldiers who chanced to commit any deed which could seem unlawful, as we shall also relate in its own place. 37

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 13 1 The omens that predicted his rule were as follows: First, he was born on the anniversary of that day on which, it is said, Alexander the Great departed this life; secondly, his mother bore him in a temple dedicated to Alexander; and thirdly, he was called by Alexander's name. Furthermore, a dove's egg of purple hue,38 laid the very day he was born, was presented to his mother by an old woman; and from this the soothsayers prophesied that he would indeed be emperor, but not for long, and that he would speedily succeed to the imperial power. 2 Furthermore, a picture of the Emperor Trajan, which hung over his father's marriage-bed, fell down upon the bed at the time that Alexander was born in the temple. 3 We must add, moreover, that a woman named Olympias acted as his nurse — this was also the name of the mother of Alexander the Great — 4 and it happened by chance that he was reared by a certain peasant named Philip — which was the name of Alexander's father. 39 5 It is said that on the day p203 after his birth a star of the first magnitude was visible for the entire day at Arca Caesarea,40 and also that in the neighbourhood of his father's house the sun was encircled with a gleaming ring. 6 And the soothsayers, when they commended his birthday to the favour of the gods, declared that he would some day hold the supreme power, because some sacrificial victims were brought in from a farm of the Emperor Severus, which the tenants had made ready in order to do honour to the Emperor. 7 Also, a laurel sprang up in his house close to a peach-tree, and within a single year it outgrew the peach, and from this the soothsayers predicted that he was destined to conquer the Persians. 41 Legamen ad paginam Latinam 14 1 The night before he was born his mother dreamed that she brought forth a purple snake, 2 and on the same night his father saw himself in a dream carried to the sky on the wings of the Victory of Rome which is in the Senate-Chamber. 3 And when Alexander himself consulted a prophet about his future, being still a small child, he received, it is said, the following verses, 4 and first of all, by the oracle

"Thee doth empire await on earth and in Heaven"
it was understood that he was even to have a place among the deified emperors; then came

"Thee doth empire await which rules an empire"
by which it was understood that he should become ruler of the Roman Empire; for where, save at Rome, is there an imperial power that rules an empire? This same story, too, is related with regard to some Greek verses. 5 Moreover, when at his mother's bidding he turned his attention from philosophy and music to p205 other pursuits, he seemed to be alluded to in the following verses from the Vergil-oracle:42

"Others, indeed, shall fashion more gracefully life-breathing bronzes,
Well I believe it, and call from the marble faces more lifelike,
Others more skilfully plead in the court-room and measure out closely
Pathways through Heaven above and tell of the stars in their risings;
Thou, O Roman, remember to rule all the nations with power.
These arts ever be thine: The precepts of peace to inculcate,
Those that are proud to cast down from their seats, to the humbled show mercy. "
6 There were many other portents, too, which made it clear that he was to be the ruler of all mankind.

His eyes were very brilliant and hard to look at for a long time. He was very often able to read thoughts and he had an exceptional memory for facts — though Acholius43 used to maintain that he was aided by a mnemonic device. 7 After he succeeded to the imperial power, while still a boy, he used to do everything in conjunction with his mother, so that she seemed to have an equal share in the rule,44 a woman greatly revered, but covetous and greedy for gold and silver. 45

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 15 1 When he began to play the part of emperor, his first acts to remove from their official posts and p207 duties and from all connexion with the government all those judges whom that filthy creature had raised from the lowest class. Next, he purified the senate and the equestrian order; 2 then he purified the tribes46 and the lists of those whose positions depended on the privileges accorded to soldiers,47 and the Palace, too, and all his own suite, dismissing from service at the court all the depraved and those of ill-repute. And he permitted none save those who were needed to remain in the retinue of the Palace. 3 Then he bound himself by an oath that he would not retain any supernumeraries, that is, any holders of sinecures, his purpose being to relieve the state of the burden of their rations; for he characterized as a public evil an emperor who fed on the vitals of the provincials any men neither necessary nor useful to the commonwealth. 4 He issued orders that judges guilty of theft should never appear in any city, and that if they did, they should be banished by the ruler of the province. 5 He gave careful attention to the rationing of the troops, and he inflicted capital punishment on tribunes who gave any privileges to soldiers in return for tithes of their rations. 48 6 He issued instructions that the chiefs of the bureaux and those jurists who were most learned and most loyal to himself,49 of whom the foremost at that time was Ulpian,50 should examine and arrange in order all state-business and all law-suits, and then submit them to himself.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 16 1 The respective rights of the people and the privy-purse he provided for in innumerable just laws, p209 and he never formally issued an imperial order save in conjunction with twenty of the most learned jurists and at least fifty men of wisdom who were also skilled in speaking, his purpose being to have in his council as many votes as were requisite to pass a decree of the senate. 51 2 The opinion of a man would be asked and whatever he said written down, but before anyone spoke, he was granted time for inquiry and reflection, in order that he might not be compelled to speak without due thought on matters of great importance. 3 It was his custom, furthermore, when dealing with matters of law or public business, to summon only those who were learned and skilled in speaking,52 but when matters of war were discussed, to summon former soldiers and old men who had served with honour and had knowledge of strategic positions, warfare, and camps; and he would also send for all the men of letters, particularly those versed in history, and ask them what action in cases like those under discussion had been taken by previous emperors, either of the Romans or of foreign nations.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 17 1 Encolpius,53 with whom Alexander was on most intimate terms, used to say that the Emperor, whenever he saw a thieving judge, had a finger ready to tear out the man's eye; such was his hatred for those whom he found guilty of theft. 2 It is told, furthermore, by Septimius, who has given a good account of Alexander's life, that so great was his indignation at judges, who, although not actually found p211 guilty, yet laboured under the reputation of being dishonest, that, even if he merely chanced to see them, he would vent all the bile of his anger in great perturbation of spirit and with his whole countenance aflame, so that he became unable to speak. 3 Indeed, when a certain Septimius Arabianus, who had been notorious because of accusations of theft, but had been acquitted under Elagabalus, came with the senators to pay his respects to the Emperor, Alexander exclaimed: 4 "O Marna,54 O Jupiter, O ye gods in Heaven, not only is Arabianus alive, but he comes into the senate, and perhaps he is even hoping for some favour from me; does he consider me so foolish and so stupid? "

In greeting him at his levees it was customary to address him by his name only, that is, "Hail, Alexander". 55 Legamen ad paginam Latinam 18 1 And if any man bowed his head or said aught that was over-polite as a flatterer, he was either ejected, in case the degree of his station permitted it, or else, if his rank could not be subjected to graver affront, he was ridiculed with loud laughter. 2 At his levees he granted an audience to all senators, but even so he admitted to his presence none but the honest and those of good report; and — according to the custom said to be observed in the Eleusinian mysteries, where none may enter save those who know themselves to be guiltless — he gave orders that the herald should proclaim that no one who knew himself to be a thief should come to pay his respects to the emperor, lest he might in some way be discovered and receive capital punishment. 3 Also, he forbade any one to worship him, whereas Elagabalus had begun to receive adoration in the manner of the king of the Persians. 4 Furthermore, p213 he was the originator of the saying that only thieves complain of poverty — their purpose being to conceal the wickedness of their lives. 5 He used also to quote a well known proverb about thieves, using a Greek version which is rendered into Latin thus: "Whoso steals much but gives a little to his judges, he shall go free. " The Greek, however, is as follows:

"Who much has thieved, through payment small shall be absolved. "
19 1 Legamen ad paginam Latinam He always chose his prefects of the guard subject to the authorization of the senate56 and the senate actually appointed the prefect of the city. Once he even appointed as second prefect of the guard57 a man who had tried to avoid the appointment, saying that it was the reluctant and not the seekers of office who should be given positions in the state. 2 He never appointed anyone to the senate without consulting all the senators present; for it was his policy that a senator should be chosen only in accordance with the opinions of all, that men of the highest rank should give their testimony, and that, if either those who gave testimony or those who subsequently expressed their opinion had spoken falsely, they should be degraded to the lowest class of citizens, the sentence being carried out without any prospect of mercy, just as if they had been found guilty of fraud. 3 Moreover, he never appointed senators except on the vote of the men of highest rank in the Palace, asserting that he who created a senator should himself be a great man. 4 And he would never enrol freedmen in the equestrian order, for he always maintained that this order was the nursery for senators.

p215 20 1 Legamen ad paginam Latinam So considerate was he that he would never have anyone ordered to stand aside, always showed himself courteous and gracious to all, visited the sick, not merely his friends of the first and second degrees,58 but also those of lower rank, desired that every man should speak his thoughts freely and heard him when he spoke, and, when he had heard, ordered improvement and reform as the case demanded; 2 but if anything was not done well, he would reprove it in person, though without any arrogance or bitterness of spirit. He would grant an audience to any except those whom persistent rumours charged with dishonesty, and he would always make inquiries concerning the absent. 3 Finally, when his mother Mamaea and his wife Memmia,59 the daughter of Sulpicius, a man of consular rank, and the grand-daughter of Catulus, would often upbraid him for excessive informality, saying, "You have made your rule too gentle and the authority of the empire less respected," he would reply, "Yes, but I have made it more secure and more lasting. " 4 In short, he never allowed a day to pass without doing some kind, some generous, or some righteous deed, and yet he never ruined the public treasury.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 21 1 He gave orders that few sentences should be pronounced, but those that were pronounced he would not reverse. He assigned public revenues to p217 individual communities for the advancement of their own special handicrafts. 2 And he loaned out public money on interest at four-per‑cent,60 but to many of the poor he even advanced money without interest for the purchase of lands, the loans to be repaid from their profits.

3 His prefects of the guard he would promote to the rank of senator61 in order that they might belong to the class of The Illustrious62 and be so addressed. 4 Previous to his time such promotions had been made rarely, or, if made at all, had been of short duration; indeed — as Marius Maximus says in many of his biographies — whenever an emperor wished to appoint a successor to the prefect of the guard,63 he merely had a freedman take him a tunic with the broad stripe. 5 Alexander, however, in wishing the prefects to be senators had this end in view, namely, that no one might pass judgment on a Roman senator who was not a senator himself. 64

6 He knew all about his soldiers, wherever he might be; even in his bed-chamber he had records containing the numbers of the troops and the length of each man's service, and when he was alone he constantly went over their budgets, their numbers, their several ranks, and their pay, in order that he might be thoroughly conversant with every detail. 7 Finally, whenever there was anything to be done in the presence of the soldiers, he could even call many of them by name. 8 He would also make notes about those whom he was to promote and read through each memorandum, actually making a note at the same time both of the date and the name of the man on whose recommendation the promotion was made.

9 He greatly improved the provisioning of the p219 populace of Rome, for, whereas Elagabalus had wasted the grain-supply, Alexander, by purchasing grain at his own expense, restored it to its former status. 65 Legamen ad paginam Latinam 22 1 In order to bring merchants to Rome of their own accord he bestowed the greatest privileges on them,66 2 and he established anew the largess of oil which Severus had given to the populace67 and Elagabalus had reduced when he conferred the prefecture of the grain-supply on the basest. 68 3 The right of bringing suit,69 which that same filthy wretch had abrogated, he restored to all. 4 He erected in Rome very many great engineering-works.
70 He respected the privileges of the Jews and allowed the Christians to exist unmolested. 71 5 He paid great deference to the Pontifices, to the Board of Fifteen,72 and to the Augurs, even permitting certain cases involving sacred matters, though already decided by himself, to be reopened and presented in a different aspect. 6 Whenever he discovered that the praises accorded to a returning provincial governor were genuine and not the result of intrigue, he would always ask the man to ride in his own carriage with him when on a journey and also help him by means of presents, saying that rogues should be driven from public office and impoverished, but that the upright should be retained and enriched. 7 Once, when the populace of Rome petitioned him for a reduction of prices, he had a herald ask them what kinds of food they considered too dear, and when they cried out p221 immediately "beef and pork" 8 he refused to proclaim a general reduction but gave orders that no one should slaughter a sow or a suckling-pig, a cow or a calf. As a result, in two years or, in fact, in little more than one year, there was such an abundance of pork and beef, that whereas a pound had previously cost eight minutuli,73 the price of both these meats was reduced to two and even one per pound.

23 1 Legamen ad paginam LatinamWhen soldiers brought charges against their tribunes he would hear them with attention, and whenever he found a tribune guilty, he would punish him in proportion to the degree of his offence, leaving no prospect of pardon. 2 In gathering information about any person he would always use agents whom he could trust, and it was his practice to employ for this purpose men whom no one knew, for he used to say that every man could be bribed. 3 He always had his slaves wear slaves' attire, but his freedmen that of the free-born. 4 He removed all eunuchs from his service and gave orders that they should serve his wife as slaves. 5 And whereas Elagabalus had been the slave of his eunuchs,74 Alexander reduced them to a limited number and removed them from all duties in the Palace except the care of the women's baths; 6 and whereas Elagabalus had also placed many over the administration of the finances and in procuratorships, Alexander took away from them even their previous positions. 7 For he used to say that eunuchs were a third sex of the human race, one not to be seen or employed by men and scarcely even by women of noble birth. 8 And when one of them sold a false promise in his p223 name75 and received a hundred aurei from one of the soldiers, he ordered him to be crucified along the road which his slaves used in great numbers on their way to the imperial country-estates.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 24 1 Very many provinces which had previously been governed by legates were transferred by him to the class which was ruled by equestrian governors,76 and the provinces which were under proconsuls were governed according to the wish of the senate. 2 He forbade the maintenance in Rome of baths used by both sexes — which had, indeed, been forbidden previously77 but had been allowed by Elagabalus. 3 He ordered that the taxes imposed on procurers, harlots, and catamites should not be deposited in the public treasury, but utilized them to meet the state's expenditures for the restoration of the theatre, the Circus, the Amphitheatre, and the Stadium. 78 4 In fact, he had it in mind to prohibit catamites altogether — which was afterwards done by Philip79 — but he feared that such a prohibition would merely convert an evil recognized by the state into a vice practised in private — for men when driven on by passion are more apt to demand a vice which is prohibited. 5 He imposed a very profitable tax on makers of trousers, weavers of linen, glass-workers, furriers, locksmiths, silversmiths, goldsmiths, and workers in the other crafts, and gave p225 orders that the proceeds should be devoted to the maintenance of the baths for the use of the populace, not only those that he had himself built,80 but also those that were previously in existence; 6 he also assigned certain forests as a source of income for the public baths. In addition, he donated oil for the lighting of the baths, whereas previously these were not open before dawn and were closed before sunset. 81

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 25 1 Some writers have maintained in their books that Alexander's reign was without bloodshed. 82 2 This, however, is not the case, for he was given the name of Severus by the soldiers because of his strictness,83 3 and his punishments were in come cases much too harsh.

He restored the public works of former emperors84 and built many new ones himself, among them the bath which was called by his own name85 adjacent to what had been the Neronian 4 and also the aqueduct which still has the name Alexandriana. 86 Next to this bath he planted a grove of trees on the site of some private dwellings which he purposed and then tore down. 5 One bath-tub he called "the Ocean" — and he was the first of the emperors to do this, for Trajan had not done this87 but had merely called his tubs after the different days. 6 The Baths of Antoninus Caracalla he completed and beautified by the p227 addition of a portico. 88 7 Moreover, he was the first to use the so‑called Alexandrian marble-work, which is made of two kinds of stone, porphyry and Lacedaemonian marble,89 and he employed this kind of material in the ornamentation of the open places in the Palace. 8 He set up in the city many statues of colossal size,90 calling together sculptors from all places. 9 And he had himself depicted on many of his coins in the costume of Alexander the Great,91 some of these coins being made of electrum92 but most of them of gold.

10 He forbade women of evil reputation to attend the levees of his mother and his wife. 11 According to the custom of the ancient tribunes and consuls he made many speeches throughout the city. 26Legamen ad paginam LatinamThrice he presented a largess to the populace,93 and thrice a gift of money to the soldiers, and to the populace he also gave meat. 2 He reduced the interest demanded by money-lenders to the rate of four-per‑cent94 — in this measure, too, looking out for the welfare of the poor — 3 and in the case of senators who loaned money, he first ordered them not to take any interest at all save what they might receive as a gift, but afterwards permitted them to exact six-per‑cent, abrogating, however, the privilege of receiving gifts. 4 He placed statues of the foremost men in the Forum of Trajan,95 moving them thither from all sides.

5 He held in especial honour Ulpian and Paulus,96 whom, some say, Elagabalus made prefects of the p229 guard, others, Alexander himself. 6 Ulpian, it is related, was a member of Alexander's council97 as well as chief of a bureau,98 but both of them are said to have sat on the bench99 with Papinian. 100

7 Alexander also began the Basilica Alexandrina,101 situated between the Campus Martius and the Saepta of Agrippa,102 •one hundred feet broad and one thousand long and so constructed that its weight rested wholly on columns; its completion, however, was prevented by his death. 8 The shrines of Isis and Serapis103 he supplied with a suitable equipment, providing them with statues, Delian slaves,104 and all the apparatus used in mystic rites. 9 Toward his mother Mamaea he showed singular devotion, even to the extent of constructing in the Palace at Rome certain apartments named after her (which the ignorant mob of today calls "ad Mammam")105 and also near Baiae a palace and a pool, still listed officially under the name of Mamaea. 10 He also built in the district of Baiae other magnificent public works in honour of his kinsmen, and huge pools, besides, formed by letting in the sea. 11 The bridges which Trajan had built he restored almost everywhere, and he constructed new ones, too, but on those that he restored he retained Trajan's name.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 27 1 It was his intention to assign a peculiar type of clothing to each imperial staff, not only to the various ranks — in order that they might be distinguished by their garments — but also to the slaves as p231 a class — that they might be easily recognized when among the populace and held in check in case of disorder, and also that they might be prevented from mingling with the free-born. 2 This measure, however, was regarded with disapproval by Ulpian and Paulus, who declared that it would cause much brawling in case the men were at all quick to quarrel. 3 Thereupon it was held to be sufficient to make a distinction between Roman knights and senators by means of the width of the purple stripe. 106 4 But permission was given to old men to wear cloaks in the city as a protection against the cold, whereas previously this kind of garment had not been used except on journeys or in rainy weather. Matrons, on the other hand, were forbidden to wear cloaks in the city but permitted to use them while on a journey.

5 He could deliver orations in Greek better than in Latin,107 he wrote verse that was not lacking in charm, and he had a taste for music. He was expert in astrology, and in accordance with his command astrologers even established themselves officially in Rome108 and professed their art openly for the purpose of supplying information. 6 He was also well versed in divination, and so skilled an observer of birds was he that he surpassed both the Spanish Vascones109 and the augurs of the Pannonians. 7 He was a student of geometry, he painted marvellously, and he sang with distinction, though he never allowed any listeners to be present except his slaves. 8 He composed in verse the lives of the good emperors. 9 He could play the lyre, the clarinet, and the organ, and he could even blow the trumpet, but this he never p233 did openly while emperor. Moreover, he was a wrestler of the first rank, 10 and he was great in arms, winning many wars and with great glory.

28 1 Legamen ad paginam Latinam He held the regular consulship only three times,110 merely entering upon the office and on the first legal day111 always appointing some one else in his place. 2 As a judge he was especially harsh towards thieves, referring to them as guilty of daily crime, and he would pronounce most severe sentences on them, declaring that they were the only real enemies and foes of the state. 3 When a clerk at a meeting of the imperial council brought in a falsified brief of a case, he ordered the tendons of his fingers to be cut, in order that he might never be able to write again, and then banished him. 4 Once a certain man, who had held public office and had at some time been accused of evil living and theft, sought by means of undue intriguing to enter military service and was admitted because he had paid court to certain friendly kings; but immediately thereafter he was detected in a theft, even in the very presence of his patrons, and was ordered to plead his case before the kings, and his guilt being established he was convicted. 5 Thereupon the kings were asked what penalty thieves suffered at their hands, and they replied "the cross," and at this reply the man was crucified. So not only was the intriguer condemned by his own patrons, but also Alexander's policy of clemency, which he particularly desired to maintain, was duly upheld.

6 In the Forum of Nerva112 (which they call the p235 Forum Transitorium) he set up colossal statues of the deified emperors, some on foot and nude, others on horseback, with all their titles and with columns of bronze containing lists of their exploits, doing this after the example of Augustus, who erected in his forum113 marble statues of the most illustrious men, together with the record of their achievements. 7 He wished it to be thought that he derived his descent from the race of the Romans, for he felt shame at being called a Syrian,114 especially because, on the occasion of a certain festival, the people of Antioch and of Egypt and Alexandria had annoyed him with jibes, as is their custom, calling him a Syrian synagogue-chief and a high priest. 115

The Two Maximini

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] Lest it should be distasteful to Your Clemency, great Constantine, to read the several lives of the emperors and the emperors' sons, each in a separate volume, I have practised a certain economy, in that have compressed the two Maximini, father and son, into one single book. 2 And from this point onward I have kept this arrangement, which Your Holiness wished also Tatius Cyrillus,1 of the rank of the Illustrious, to keep in his translation from Greek into Latin. 3 And I shall keep it, indeed, not in one book alone, but in most that I shall write hereafter, excepting only the great emperors; for their doings, being greater in number and fame, call for a longer recounting.

4 Maximinus the elder2 became famous in the reign of Alexander; but his service in the army3 began p317 under Severus. 5 He was born in a village in Thrace bordering on the barbarians, indeed of a barbarian father and mother, the one, men say, being of the Goths, the other of the Alani. 4 6 At any rate, they say that his father's name was Micca, his mother's Ababa. 5 7 And in his early days Maximinus himself freely disclosed these names; later, however, when he came to the throne, he had them concealed, lest it should seem that the emperor was sprung on both sides from barbarian stock. 6

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 2 1 In his early youth he was a herdsman and the leader of a band of young men, a man who would waylay marauders and protect his own folk from forays. 2 His first military service was in the cavalry. 7 For certainly he was strikingly big of body, and notable among all the soldiers for courage, handsome in a manly way, fierce in his manners, rough, haughty, and scornful, yet often a just man.

3 It was in the following way that he first came into prominence in the reign of Severus. 4 Severus, on the birthday of Geta, his younger son, was giving military games, offering various silver prizes, arm-rings, that is, and collars, and girdles. 5 This youth, half barbarian and scarcely yet master of the Latin tongue, speaking almost pure Thracian, publicly besought the Emperor to give him leave to compete, and that with men of no mean rank in the service. 6 Severus, struck with his bodily size, pitted him first against sutlers — all very valorous men, none the less — in order to avoid a rupture of military discipline. 7 Whereupon p319 Maximinus overcame sixteen sutlers at one sweat, and received his sixteen prizes, all rather small and not military ones, and was commanded to serve in the army. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 3 1 The second day thereafter, when Severus had proceeded to the parade-ground, he happened to espy Maximinus rioting in his barbarian way among the crowd, and immediately ordered the tribune to take him in hand and school him in Roman discipline. 2 And he, when he perceived that the Emperor was talking about him — for the barbarian suspected that he was known to the Emperor and conspicuous even among many —, came up to the Emperor's feet where he sat his horse. 3 And then Severus, wishing to try how good he was at running, gave his horse free rein and circled about many times, and when at last the aged Emperor had become weary and Maximinus after many turns had not stopped running, he said to him, "What say you, my little Thracian? Would you like to wrestle now after your running? " And Maximinus answered, "As you please, Emperor. " 4 On this Severus dismounted and ordered the most vigorous and the bravest soldiers to match themselves with him; 5 whereupon he, in his usual fashion, vanquished seven at one sweat, and alone of all, after he had gotten his silver prizes, was presented by Severus with a collar of gold; he was ordered, moreover, to take a permanent post in the palace with the body-guard. 6 In this fashion, then, he was made prominent and became famous among the soldiers, well liked by the tribunes, and admired by his comrades. He could obtain from the Emperor whatever he wanted, and indeed Severus helped him to advancement in the service when he was still very young. In height and size and proportions, in his p321 great eyes, and in whiteness of skin he was pre-eminent among all.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 4 1 It is agreed, moreover, that often in a single day he drank a Capitoline amphora8 of wine, and ate forty pounds of meat, or, according to Cordus,9 no less than sixty. 2 It seems sufficiently agreed, too, that he abstained wholly from vegetables, and almost always from anything cold, save when he had to drink. 3 Often, he would catch his sweat and put it in cups or a small jar, and he could exhibit by this means two or three pints of it.

4 For a long time under Antoninus Caracalla he commanded in the ranks of the centuries10 and often held other military honours as well. But under Macrinus, whom he hated bitterly because he had slain his Emperor's son,11 he left the service and acquired an estate in Thrace, in the village where he was born, and here he trafficked continually with the Goths. He was singularly beloved by the Getae, moreover, as if he were one of themselves. 5 And the Alani, or at least those of them who came to the river-bank,12 continually exchanged gifts with him and hailed him as friend.

6 When Macrinus and his son were slain, however, and he learned that Elagabalus was reigning as Antoninus' son,13 he went to him, being now of mature age, and besought him to hold the same opinion of him that his grandfather Severus had done. But he could have no influence with that filthy man. 7 For Elagabalus is said to have made sport of him p323 most foully, saying, "You are reported, Maximinus, to have outworn at times sixteen and twenty and thirty soldiers; can you avail thirty times with a woman? " 8 And when Maximinus saw the disgraceful prince beginning thus, he left the service. 9 In the end, however, the friends of Elagabalus retained him, lest this also be added to Elagabalus's ill-fame, that the bravest man of his time — whom some called Hercules, others Achilles, and others Ajax — had been driven from his army. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 5 1 Under this filthy creature, therefore, he held only the honour of a tribuneship; but never did he come to take the Emperor's hand and never did he greet him, but during the whole of three years he was always hastening from one place to another; 2 now he was occupied with his fields, now with resting, now with feigned illnesses.

3 On the death of Elagabalus, as soon as he learned that Alexander was proclaimed emperor, he hastened to Rome. 4 And Alexander received him with marvellous joy and marvellous thanksgiving; indeed, in the senate he used expressions like these: "Maximinus, Conscript Fathers, the tribune to whom I have given the broad stripe,14 has taken refuge with me — he who could not serve under that foul monster, and who, under my deified kinsman Severus, was what you know him to have been by report. " 5 He at once made him tribune of the Fourth Legion,15 which he p325 himself had formed out of recruits,º giving him his promotion with the following words: 6 "I have not entrusted veterans to you, my most dear and loving Maximinus, because I feared that you cannot root out the faults that have grown in them under other commanders. 7 You have fresh recruits; after the pattern of your habits, your courage, your industry, make them learn their service, so that from yourself, who are one, you can make me many Maximini, men most desirable for the state. "

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 6 1 Having therefore accepted the legion, he immediately began to train it. 2 On every fifth day he had his men parade in armour and fight a sham battle against one another. Their swords, corselets, helmets, shields, tunics, in fact all their arms, he inspected daily; 3 indeed, he himself provided for their boots, so that he was exactly like a father to the troops. 4 And when certain tribunes remonstrated with him, saying, "Why do you work so hard, now that you have attained a rank where you can become a general? " he replied, it is said, "As for me, the greater I become, the harder I shall work. " 5 He was wont also to join the soldiers at their wrestling, and he stretched them on the ground by fives, sixes, and sevens, though now an old man. 6 Now every one became jealous, and one insolent tribune, a man of great size and proved courage, and therefore the bolder, said to him, "You do nothing very great, if you vanquish your own soldiers, being a tribune yourself. " Maximinus replied, "Would you like to fight? " 7 And when his opponent nodded assent and advanced against him, he smote him on the breast with the palm of his hand and knocked him flat on his back, then said, "Give me another, and this time a real tribune".

p327 8 He was of such size, so Cordus reports, that men said he was six inches over eight feet in height;16 and his thumb was so huge that he used his wife's bracelet for a ring. 9 Other stories are reported almost as common talk — that he could drag waggons with his hands and move a laden cart by himself, that if he struck a horse with his fist, he loosened its teeth, or with his heel, broke its legs, that he could crumble tufaceous stone and split saplings, and that he was called, finally, by some Milo of Croton, by others Hercules, and by others Antaeus.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 7 1 When these things had now made him a distinguished man, Alexander, a good judge of great worth, to his own destruction put him in command of the entire army. 17 Everyone, everywhere, was pleased — tribunes, generals, and men. 2 So now Alexander's whole army, which had fallen into a lethargy to a great extent under Elagabalus, Maximinus brought back to his own standard of discipline. 3 And this, as we have said, proved a very serious thing for Alexander — a very good emperor, to be sure, but one whose youth from the very beginning could readily make him an object of contempt. 4 For when he was in Gaul, and had pitched camp not far from a certain city,18 of a sudden the soldiers were incited against him — some say by Maximinus, others say by the barbarian tribunes —, and as he fled to his mother he was slain, while Maximinus had already been hailed emperor. 19 5 And, indeed, some say the cause of Alexander's death was one thing, others say another. For some maintain that Mamaea was the prime cause, p329 as she wished her son to leave the Germanic war and go to the East, and on that account the soldiers broke out in mutiny. 20 6 Others say that Alexander was too strict and had wished to discharge the legions in Gaul as he had done in the East. 21

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 8 1 However that may be, after Alexander was killed, Maximinus was the first man from the body of the soldiers and not yet a senator to be acclaimed Augustus by the army without a decree of the senate,22 and his son was made his colleague. 23 And about the latter we shall tell later on24 the few things that we know. 2 Now Maximinus was always clever enough not to rule the soldiers by force alone; on the contrary, he made them devoted to him by rewards and riches. 3 He never took away any man's rations; 4 he never let any man in his army work as a smith or artisan, which most of them are, but kept the legions busy only with frequent hunting. 5 Along with these virtues, however, went such cruelty that some called him Cyclops, some Busiris,25 and others Sciron,26 not a few Phalaris,27 and many Typhon28 or Gyges. 29 6 The senate was so afraid of him that prayers p331 were made in the temples both publicly and privately, and even by women together with their children, that he should never see the city of Rome. 7 For they kept hearing that he hung men on the cross, shut them in the bodies of animals newly slain, cast them to wild beasts, dashed out their brains with clubs, and all this for no desire for personal authority but because he seemed to wish military discipline to be supreme, and wished to amend civil affairs on that pattern. 30 8 All of which does not become a prince who wishes to be loved. As a matter of fact, he was convinced that the throne could not be held except by cruelty. 9 He likewise feared that the nobility, because of his low barbarian birth, would scorn him, 10 remembering in this connection how he had been scorned at Rome by the very slaves of the nobles, so that not even their stewards would admit him to their presence; 11 and as is always the way with fatuous beliefs, he expected them to be the same toward him now that he was emperor. So powerful is the mere consciousness of a low-born spirit. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 9 1 For to hide the lowness of his birth he put to death all who had knowledge of it, some of whom, indeed, were friends who had often pitied him for his poverty and made him many presents. 2 And never was there a more savage animal on earth than this man who staked everything on his own strength, as though he could not be killed. 3 Eventually, indeed, when he almost believed himself immortal because of his great size and courage, a certain actor, they say, recited Greek verses in a theatre p333 while he was present, the sense of which in Latin was this:

4 And he who cannot be slain by one, is slain by many.
The elephant is huge, and he is slain!
The lion is brave, and he is slain!
The tiger is brave, and he is slain!
Beware of many together, if you fear not one alone.
5 And this was recited while the Emperor himself was present. But when he asked his friends what the clown on the stage had said, they told him that he was simply singing some old verses written against violent men, and he, being a Thracian and a barbarian, believed them. 6 He suffered no nobleman at all to be near his person, ruling in this respect precisely like Spartacus31 or Athenio. 32 7 He put all of Alexander's ministers to death in one way or another and disregarded his directions. 33 8 And while he held Alexander's friends and ministers under suspicion, he became more cruel.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 10 1 And now when he had already taken on the life and character of a wild beast, he was made still harsher and more savage by a revolt which Magnus, a certain man of consular rank, plotted against him. 34 2 This man had entered into a conspiracy with a number of soldiers and centurions to stab Maximinus, p335 wishing thereby to get the imperial power for himself. It was a conspiracy of this sort: Maximinus wished to make a bridge and cross over against the Germans, and it was resolved that the conspirators should cross over with him and then, breaking the bridge behind them, surround Maximinus on the barbarians' side and kill him, while Magnus seized the throne. 3 For Maximinus had begun waging all manner of wars — and very valiantly, too — as soon as he had been made emperor, inasmuch as he was skilled in the art of war and wished, on the one hand, to guard the reputation he had already won, and, on the other, to surpass in everyone's eyes the glory of Alexander, whom he had slain. 4 For this reason, even as emperor he engaged his soldiers in exercise every day, and, indeed, himself appeared in armour and demonstrated many points to his army with his own hand and body. 5 But about that revolt it is asserted that Maximinus himself invented it in order to make an occasion for barbarity. 6 At any rate, without judge, prosecutor, or defence he put all of them to death and confiscated their property, and even after slaying over four thousand men he was not yet content.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 11 1 There was also in his reign a revolt of Osroënian bowmen,35 who rebelled against him through love of Alexander and regret for his loss, having agreed among themselves that Maximinus had certainly slain him; nor could they be persuaded otherwise. 2 They accordingly made one of their number, a certain Titus, whom Maximinus had already discharged from the army, their general and emperor. 3 Indeed, they girt him with the purple, furnished him with royal pomp, and barred access to him like the soldiers of a king, p337 all, it must be said, against his will. 4 But while this Titus was sleeping at his home, he was slain by one of his friends, Macedonius by name, who resented his preferment above himself, and so betrayed him to Maximinus and brought the Emperor his head. 5 And at first Maximinus gave him thanks, but later on, hating him as a traitor, he killed him. 6 Through these events, then, he became fiercer day by day, as wild animals grow more savage with their wounds.

7 After these events he crossed over into Germany36 with the whole army and with the Moors, Osroënians, Parthians, and all the other forces that Alexander took when he went to war. 37 8 He took these eastern auxiliaries with him chiefly for the reason that no forces are more useful against Germans than light bowmen. 9 And truly Alexander had constructed a splendid war-machine, and Maximinus, they say, greatly added to it. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 12 1 He marched, then, into Germany across the Rhine, and throughout thirty or forty miles of the barbarians' country38 he burned villages, drove away flocks, slew numbers of the barbarians themselves, enriched his own soldiers, and took a host of captives, and, had not all the Germans fled to the swamps and forests, he would have brought all Germany under Roman sway. 2 He himself did much with his own hand, especially when he rode into a swamp39 and would have been cut off by the Germans had not his men extricated him as he was mired with his horse. 3 For he had that barbaric rashness which p339 made him think that even the emperor always owed the help of his own hand. 4 In the end, a sort of naval battle was fought in the swamp, and very many were slain.

5 And when he had thus conquered Germany,40 he despatched a letter,41 written to dictation, to the senate and people at Rome, the purport of which was this: 6 "We cannot, Conscript Fathers, tell you all that we have done. Throughout an area of forty or fifty miles we have burned the villages of the Germans, driven off their flocks, carried away captives, killed men in arms, and fought a battle in a swamp. And we should have pushed on to the forests, had not the depth of the swamps prevented our crossing. " 7 Aelius Cordus says that this oration was entirely his own; 8 and it is easily believed. For what is there in it of which a barbarian soldier were not capable? 9 He wrote likewise to the people, to the same effect but with greater respect, this because of his hatred of the senate, by which, he believed, he was mightily despised. 10 He gave orders, furthermore, for pictures to be painted and hung up before the Senate-house, illustrating the conduct of the war, in order that the art of painting, too, might tell of his exploits. 11 But after his death the senate caused this pictures to be taken down and burned.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 13 1 There were many other wars and battles in his reign, and from them all he always returned triumphant with immense plunder and numerous captives. 2 We have an oration of his, sent to the senate, whereof this is a sample: "In a short time, Conscript Fathers, I have waged more wars than any p341 of the ancients ever did. I have carried away more plunder than a man could hope for, and I have brought back so many captives that the lands of Rome scarce suffice to hold them. " The rest of the oration is unnecessary for this narrative.

3 Germany now being set at peace, he went to Sirmium42 with the intention of waging war against the Sarmatians;43 indeed in his heart he desired to bring all the northern regions up to the Ocean under Roman sway. 4 And he would have done it had he lived, so Herodian says;44 though Herodian was always well disposed to Maximinus, through hatred, as far as we can see, of Alexander.

5 But by this time the Romans could bear his barbarities no longer — the way in which he called up informers and incited accusers, invented false offences, killed innocent men, condemned all whoever came to trial, reduced the richest men to utter poverty and never sought money anywhere save in some other's ruin, put many generals and many men of consular rank to death for no offence, carried others about in waggons without food and drink,45 and kept others in confinement, in short neglected nothing which he thought might prove effectual for cruelty — and, unable to suffer these things longer, they rose against him in revolt. 46 6 And not only the Romans, but, because he had been savage to the soldiers also, the armies which were in Africa rose in sudden and powerful rebellion p343 and hailed the aged and venerable Gordian47 who was proconsul there, as emperor. This rebellion came into being in the following manner. 48

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 14 1 There was a certain imperial steward in Libya, who in his zeal for Maximinus had despoiled every one ruthlessly, until finally the peasantry, abetted by a number of soldiers, slew him, after overcoming those who out of respect for Maximinus defended the agent of the privy-purse. 49 2 But soon the promoters of this murder saw that they must seek relief through sharper remedies, and so, coming to the proconsul Gordian, a man, as we have said, worthy of respect, well-born, eminent in every virtue, whom Alexander had sent to Africa by senatorial decree, and threatening him with swords and every other kind of weapon, they forced him, though he cried out against it and cast himself on the ground, to assume the purple and rule. 3 In the beginning, it is true, Gordian took the purple much against his will; but later, when he saw that this course was unsafe for his son50 and family, he willingly undertook to rule, and at the town of Thysdrus51 he, together with his son, was proclaimed Augustus by all the Africans. 4 From here he went speedily to Carthage with royal pomp and guards and laurelled fasces, and sent letters to the senate at Rome. And the senate, after the murder of Vitalianus,52 the prefect of the guard, received these with rejoicing because of their hatred for Maximinus,53 5 and proclaimed both the elder and p345 the younger Gordian Augusti. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 15 1 Then all the informers and accusers and Maximinus' friends were put to death, and Sabinus, the prefect of the city, was beaten by the populace and slain.

2 And when this had been done, the senate, now fearing Maximinus all the more, openly and freely proclaimed him and his son enemies of the state. 54 3 It next despatched letters to all the provinces, asking their aid for their common safety and liberty; and all of them gave heed. 4 Lastly Maximinus' friends and administrators, generals, tribunes, and soldiers were everywhere put to death. 5 A few communities, however, remained loyal to the public enemy; these betrayed the messengers who had been sent to them and promptly handed them over to Maximinus by means of informers.

6 The following is a specimen of the letters that the senate sent out:55 "The senate and Roman people, now beginning to be delivered from a most savage monster by the two princes Gordian, to the proconsuls, governors, legates, generals, tribunes, magistrates, and several states, municipalities, towns, villages, and fortified places, with prosperity, which they are just now beginning to regain for themselves. 7 With the help of the gods we have obtained the proconsul Gordian, a most righteous man and eminent senator, as emperor. We have given to him the title of Augustus, and not only to him, but also, for the further safeguarding of the state, to that excellent man Gordian his son. 8 It is now your part to unite, that the state may be made secure, that evil doings may be repelled, and that the monster and his friends, p347 wherever they be, may be hunted down. 9 We have pronounced Maximinus and his son enemies of the state. "

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 16 1 This was the senate's decree: After they had assembled in the Temple of Castor and Pollux56 on the sixth day before the Kalends of July,57 Julius Silanus, the consul, read the letter which had been received from Africa from Gordian the proconsul, emperor and father of his country: 2 "Conscript Fathers, the young men, to whom was entrusted Africa to guard, against my will have called on me to rule. But having regard to you, I am glad to endure this necessity. It is yours to decide what you wish. For myself, I shall waver to and fro in uncertainty until the senate has decided. " 3 As soon as the letter was read the senate forthwith cried out:58 "Gordian Augustus, may the gods keep you! May you rule happily; you have delivered us. May you rule safely; you have delivered us.