No More Learning

. . he was willing to espouse one so much his junior in years, he replied, after deliberating the question, that he was. 3 And when this was done, Pius designated him as his colleague in the consulship, though he was still only quaestor, gave him the title of Caesar,38 appointed him while consul-elect one of the six commanders of the p147 equestrian order39 and sat by him when he and his five colleagues were producing their official games, bade him take up his abode in the House of Tiberius40 and there provided him with all the pomp of a court, though Marcus objected to this, and finally took him into the priesthoods41 at the bidding of the senate. 4 Later, he appointed him consul for a second term at the same time that he began his fourth. 5 And all this time, when busied with so many public duties of his own, and while sharing his father's activities that he might be fitted for ruling the state, Marcus worked at his studies42 eagerly.

6 At this time he took Faustina to wife43 and, after begetting a daughter,44 received the tribunician power and the proconsular power outside the city,45 with the added right of making five proposals in the senate. 46 7 Such was his influence with Pius that the Emperor was never quick to promote anyone without his advice. 8 Moreover, he showed great deference to his father, though there were not lacking those who whispered things against him, 9 especially Valerius Homullus,47 p149 who, when he saw Marcus' mother Lucilla worshipping in her garden before a shrine of Apollo, whispered, "Yonder woman is now praying that you may come to your end, and her son rule. " All of which influenced Pius not in the least, 10 such was Marcus' sense of honour and such his modesty while heir to the throne. Legamen ad paginam Latinam 7 1 He had such regard for his reputation, moreover, that even as a youth he admonished his procurators to do nothing high-handed and often refused sundry legacies that were left him, returning them to the nearest kin of the deceased. 2 Finally, for three and twenty years he conducted himself in his father's home in such a manner that Pius felt more affection for him day by day, 3 and never in all these years, save for two nights on different occasions, remained away from him.

For these reasons, then, when Antoninus Pius saw that the end of his life was drawing near, having summoned his friends and prefects, he commended Marcus to them all and formally named him as his successor in the empire. He then straightway gave the watch-word to the officer of the day as "Equanimity," and ordered that the golden statue of Fortune, customarily kept in his own bed-chamber, be transferred to the bed-chamber of Marcus. 48 4 Part of his mother's fortune Marcus then gave to Ummidius Quadratus,49 the son of his sister, because the latter was now dead.

5 Being forced by the senate to assume the government of the state after the death of the Deified Pius, Marcus made his brother his colleague in the empire, giving him the name Lucius Aurelius Verus Commodus and bestowing on him the titles Caesar and Augustus. 6 Then they began to rule the state on p151 equal terms,50 and then it was that the Roman Empire first had two emperors, when Marcus shared with another the empire he had inherited. Next, he himself took the name Antoninus, 7 and just as though he were the father of Lucius Commodus, he gave him the name Verus, adding also the name Antoninus; he also betrothed him to his daughter Lucilla,51 though legally he was his brother. 8 In honour of this union they gave orders that girls and boys of newly-named orders52 should be assigned a share in the distribution of grain.

9 And so, when they had done those things which had to be done in the presence of the senate, they set out together for the praetorian camp, and in honour of their joint rule promised twenty thousand sesterces apiece to the common soldiers and to the others53 money in proportion. 10 The body of their father they laid in the Tomb of Hadrian54 with elaborate funeral rites, and on a holiday which came thereafter an official funeral train marched in parade. 11 Both emperors pronounced panegyrics for their father from the Rostra, and they appointed a flamen for him chosen from their own kinsmen and a college of Aurelian priests55 from their closest friends.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 8 1 And now, after they had assumed the imperial power, the two emperors acted in so democratic a manner that no one missed the lenient ways of Pius; for though Marullus, a writer of farces of the time, irritated them by his jests, he yet went unpunished. 2 They gave funeral games for their father. 3 And p153 Marcus abandoned himself to philosophy, at the same time cultivating the good-will of the citizens. 4 But now to interrupt the emperor's happiness56 and repose, there came the first flood of the Tiber — the severest one of their time — which ruined many houses in the city, drowned a great number of animals, and caused a most severe famine; 5 all these disasters Marcus and Verus relieved by their own personal care and aid. 6 At this time, moreover, came the Parthian war, which Vologaesus planned under Pius57 and declared under Marcus and Verus, after the rout of Attidius Cornelianus, than governor of Syria. 58 7 And besides this, war was threatening in Britain, and the Chatti59 had burst into Germany and Raetia. 8 Against the Britons Calpurnius Agricola60 was sent; against the Chatti, Aufidius Victorinus. 61 9 But to the Parthian war, with the consent of the senate, Marcus despatched his brother Verus, while he himself remained at Rome, where conditions demanded the presence of an emperor. 10 Nevertheless, he accompanied Verus as far as Capua,62 honouring him with a retinue of friends from the senate and appointing also all his chiefs-of‑staff. 11 And when, after returning to Rome, he learned that Verus was ill at Canusium63 he hastened to see him, after assuming vows in the senate, which, on his return p155 to Rome after learning that Verus had set sail, he immediately fulfilled. 12 Verus, however, after he had come to Syria, lingered amid the debaucheries of Antioch and Daphne and busied himself with gladiatorial bouts and hunting. 64 And yet, for waging the Parthian war through his legates, he was acclaimed Imperator,65 13 while meantime Marcus was at all hours keeping watch over the workings of the state, and, though reluctantly and sorely against his will, but nevertheless with patience, was enduring the debauchery of his brother. 14 In a word, Marcus, though residing at Rome, planned and executed everything necessary to the prosecution of the war.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 9 1 In Armenia the campaign was successfully prosecuted under Statius Priscus, Artaxata being taken, and the honorary name Armeniacus was given to each of the emperors. 66 This name Marcus refused at first, by reason of his modesty, but afterwards accepted. 2 When the Parthian war was finished,67 moreover, each emperor was called Parthicus; but this name also Marcus refused when first offered, though afterwards he accepted it. 3 And further, when the title "Father of his Country" was offered him in his brother's absence, he deferred action upon it until the latter should be present. 68 4 In the midst of this war he entrusted his daughter,69 who was about to be married and had already received her dowry, to the care of his sister, and, accompanying them himself as far as Brundisium, sent them to Verus together with p157 the latter's uncle, Civica. 70 5 Immediately thereafter he returned to Rome, recalled by the talk of those who said that he wished to appropriate to himself the glory of finishing the war and had therefore set out for Syria. 6 He wrote to the proconsul,71 furthermore, that no one should meet his daughter as she made her journey.

7 In the meantime, he put such safeguards about suits for personal freedom — and he was the first to do so — as to order that every citizen should bestow names upon his free-born children within thirty days after birth and declare them to the prefects of the treasury of Saturn. 72 8 In the provinces, too, he established the use of public records, in which entries concerning births were to be made in the same manner as at Rome in the office of the prefects of the treasury, the purpose being that if any one born in the provinces should plead a case to prove freedom, he might submit evidence from these records. 9 Indeed, he strengthened this entire law dealing with declarations of freedom,73 and he enacted other laws dealing with money-lenders and public sales.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 10 1 He made the senate the judge in many inquiries and even in those which belonged to his own jurisdiction. With regard to the status of deceased persons, he ordered that any investigations must be made within five years. 74 2 Nor did any of the emperors show more respect to the senate than he. To do the senate honour, moreover, he entrusted the settling of p159 disputes to many men of praetorian and consular rank who then held no magistracy, in order that their prestige might be enhanced through their administration of law. 3 He enrolled in the senate many of his friends, giving them the rank of aedile or praetor; 4 and on a number of poor but honest senators he bestowed the rank of tribune or aedile. 5 Nor did he ever appoint anyone to senatorial rank whom he did not know well personally. 6 He granted senators the further privilege75 that whenever any of them was to be tried on a capital charge, he would examine the evidence behind closed doors and only after so doing would bring the case to public trial; nor would he allow members of the equestrian order to attend such investigations. 7 He always attended the meetings of the senate if he was in Rome, even though no measure was to be proposed, and if he wished to propose anything himself, he came in person even from Campania. 8 More than this, when elections were held he often remained even until night, never leaving the senate-chamber 9 until the consul announced, "We detain you no longer, Conscript Fathers". Further, he appointed the senate judge in appeals made from the consul.

10 To the administration of justice he gave singular care. He added court-days to the calendar until he had set 230 days for the pleading of cases and judging of suits, 11 and he was the first to appoint a special praetor in charge of the praetor of wards,76 in order that greater care might be exercised in dealing with trustees; for previously the appointment of trustees had been in the hands of the consuls. 12 As regards guardians, indeed, he decided that all youths might have them appointed without being obliged to show cause therefor, whereas previously they were appointed p161 under the Plaetorian Law,77 or in cases of prodigality or madness. 78

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 11 1 In the matter of public expenditures he was exceedingly careful, and he forbade all libels on the part of false informers, putting the mark of infamy on such as made false accusations. He scorned such accusations as would swell the privy-purse. 2 He devised many wise measures for the support of the state-poor,79 and, that he might give a wider range to the senatorial functions, he appointed supervisors for many communities80 from the senate. 3 In times of famine he furnished the Italian communities with food from the city; indeed, he made careful provision for the whole matter of the grain-supply. 4 He limited gladiatorial shows in every way, and lessened the cost of free theatrical performances also, decreeing that though an actor might receive five aurei, nevertheless no one who gave a performance should expend more than ten. 5 The streets of the city and the highways he maintained with the greatest care. As for the grain-supply, for that he provided laboriously. 6 He appointed judges for Italy and thereby provided for its welfare, after the plan of Hadrian,81 who had appointed men of consular rank to administer the law; 7 and he made scrupulous provision, furthermore, for the welfare of the provinces of Spain, which, in defiance of the policy of Trajan, had been exhausted by p163 levies from the Italian settlers. 82 8 Also he enacted laws about inheritance-taxes,83 about the property of freedmen held in trust, about property inherited from the mother,84 about the succession of the sons to the mother's share, and likewise that senators of foreign birth should invest a fourth part of their capital in Italy. 85 9 And besides this, he gave the commissioners of districts and streets power either themselves to punish those who fleeced anyone of money beyond his due assessment, or to bring them to the prefect of the city for punishment. 10 He engaged rather in the restoration of old laws than in the making of new, and ever kept near him prefects with whose authority and responsibility he framed his laws. 86 He made use of Scaevola also,87 a man particularly learned in jurisprudence.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 12 1 Toward the people he acted just as one acts in a free state. 2 He was at all times exceedingly reasonable both in restraining men from evil and in urging them to good, generous in rewarding and quick to forgive, thus making bad men good, and good men very good, and he even bore with unruffled temper the insolence of not a few. 3 For example, when he advised a man of abominable reputation, who was running for office, a certain Vetrasinus, to stop the town-talk about himself, and Vetrasinus replied that many who had fought with him in the arena were now praetors, the Emperor took it with good grace. 4 Again, in order to avoid taking an easy revenge on any one, instead of ordering a p165 praetor who had acted very badly in certain matters to resign his office, he merely entrusted the administration of the law to the man's colleague. 5 The privy-purse never influenced his judgment in law-suits involving money. 6 Finally, if he was firm, he was also reasonable.

7 After his brother had returned victorious from Syria, the title "Father of his Country" was decreed to both,88 inasmuch as Marcus in the absence of Verus had conducted himself with great consideration toward both senators and commons. 8 Furthermore, the civic crown89 was offered to both; and Lucius demanded that Marcus triumph with him, and demanded also that the name Caesar should be given to Marcus' sons. 90 9 But Marcus was so free from love of display that though he triumphed with Lucius, nevertheless after Lucius' death he called himself only Germanicus,91 the title he had won in his own war. 10 In the triumphal procession, moreover, they carried with them Marcus' children of both sexes, even his unmarried daughters; 11 and they viewed the games held in honour of the triumph clad in the triumphal robe. 12 Among other illustrations of his unfailing consideration towards others this act of kindness is to be told: After one lad, a rope-dancer, had fallen, he ordered mattresses spread under all rope-dancers. This is the reason why a net is stretched them to‑day.

13 While the Parthian war was still in progress, the Marcomannic war broke out, after having been postponed for a long time by the diplomacy of the men who were in charge there, in order that the Marcomannic p167 war92 might not be waged until Rome was done with the war in the East. 14 Even at the time of the famine the Emperor had hinted at this war to the people, and when his brother returned after five years' service, he brought the matter up in the senate, saying that both emperors were needed for the German war. Legamen ad paginam Latinam 13 1 So great was the dread of this Marcomannic war,93 that Antoninus summoned priests from all sides, performed foreign religious ceremonies, and purified the city in every way, and he was delayed thereby from setting out to the seat of war. 2 The Roman ceremony of the feast of the gods94 was celebrated for seven days. 3 And there was such a pestilence,95 besides, that the dead were removed in carts and waggons. 4 About this time, also, the two emperors ratified certain very stringent laws on burial and tombs, in which they even forbade any one to build a tomb at his country-place, a law still in force. 5 Thousands were carried off by the pestilence, including many nobles, for the most prominent of whom Antoninus erected statues. 6 Such, too, was his kindliness of heart that he had funeral ceremonies performed for the lower classes even at the public expense; and in the case of one foolish fellow, who, in a search with divers confederates for an opportunity to plunder the city, continually made speeches from the wild fig-tree on the Campus Martius, to the effect that fire would fall p169 down from heaven and the end of the world would come should he fall from the tree and be turned into a stork, and finally at the appointed time did fall down and free a stork from his robe, the Emperor, when the wretch was hailedº before him and confessed all, pardoned him.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 14 1 Clad in the military cloak the two emperors finally set forth, for now not only were the Victuali and Marcomanni throwing everything into confusion, but other tribes, who had been driven on by the more distant barbarians and had retreated before them, were ready to attack Italy if not peaceably received. 2 And not a little good resulted from that expedition, even by the time they had advanced as far as Aquileia, for several kings retreated, together with their peoples, and put to death the authors of the trouble. 3 And the Quadi, after they had lost their king, said that they would not confirm the successor who had been elected until such a course was approved by our emperors. 4 Nevertheless, Lucius went on, though reluctantly, after a number of peoples had sent ambassadors to the legates of the emperors asking pardon for the rebellion. 5 Lucius, it is true, thought they should return, because Furius Victorinus, the prefect of the guard, had been lost, and part of his army had perished;96 Marcus, however, held that they should press on, thinking that the barbarians, in order that they might not be crushed by the size of so great a force, were feigning a retreat and using other ruses which afford safety in war, held that they should persist in order that they might not be overwhelmed by the mere burden of their vast preparations. 6 Finally, they crossed the Alps, and pressing further on, completed all measures necessary for the defence of Italy and Illyricum. 97 7º They then decided, at Lucius' insistence, that letters should first be sent p171 ahead to the senate and that Lucius should then return to Rome. 8 But on the way, after they had set out upon their journey, Lucius died from a stroke of apoplexy98 while riding in the carriage with his brother.

The Life of Lucius Verus

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] Most men, I well know, who have enshrined in literature and history the lives of Marcus and Verus, have made Verus known to their readers first, following the order, not of their reigns, but of their lives. 2 I, however, have thought, since Marcus began to rule first and Verus only afterwards1 and Verus died while Marcus still lived on, that Marcus' life should be related first, and then that of Verus.

3 ºNow, Lucius Ceionius Aelius Commodus Verus Antoninus2 — called Aelius by the wish of Hadrian,3 Verus and Antoninus because of his relationship to Antoninus4 — is not to be classed with either the good or the bad emperors. 4 For, in the first place, it is agreed that if he did not bristle with vices, no more did he abound in virtues; and, in the second place, he enjoyed, not unrestricted power, but a sovereignty on like terms and equal dignity with Marcus, from whom he differed, however, as far as morals went, both in the laxity of his principles and p209 the excessive licence of his life. 5 For in character he was utterly ingenuous and unable to conceal a thing. 5

6 His real father, Lucius Aelius Verus (who was adopted by Hadrian), was the first man to receive the name of Caesar6 and die without reaching a higher rank. 7 7 His grandfathers and great-grandfathers8 and likewise many other of his ancestors were men of consular rank. 8 Lucius himself was born at Rome while his father was praetor, on the eighteenth day before the Kalends of January,9 the birthday of Nero as well10 — who also held the throne. 9 His father's family came mostly from Etruria, his mother's from Faventia. 11

2 1 Such, then, was his real ancestry; but when his father was adopted by Hadrian he passed into the Aelian family,12 and when his father Caesar died, he still stayed in the family of Hadrian. 2 By Hadrian he was given in adoption to Aurelius,13 when Hadrian, making abundant provision for the succession, wished to make Pius his son and Marcus his grandson; 3 ºand he was given on the condition that he should espouse the daughter of Pius. 14 She was later given to Marcus, however, as we have related in his life,15 because Verus seemed too much her junior in years, 4 while Verus took to wife Marcus' daughter Lucilla. 16 He was reared in the House of Tiberius,17 5 and received instruction from the Latin grammarian Scaurinus (the son of the Scaurus18 who had been Hadrian's teacher in grammar), the Greeks Telephus, Hephaestio, Harpocratio, the rhetoricians Apollonius, Caninius p211 Celer,19 Herodes Atticus, and the Latin Cornelius Fronto, his teachers in philosophy being Apollonius20 and Sextus. 21 6 For all of these he cherished a deep affection, and in return he was beloved by them, and this despite his lack of natural gifts in literary studies. 7 In his youth he loved to compose verses, and later on in life, orations. And, in truth, he is said to have been a better orator than poet, or rather, to be strictly truthful, a worse poet than speaker. 8 Nor are there lacking those who say that he was aided by the wit of his friends, and that the things credited to him, such as they are, were written by others; and in fact it is said that he did keep in his employ a number of eloquent and learned men. 9 Nicomedes was his tutor. He was devoted to pleasure, too care-free, and very clever, within proper bounds, at every kind of frolic, sport, and raillery. 10 At the age of seven he passed into the Aurelian family,22 and was moulded by the manners and influence of Marcus. He loved hunting and wrestling, and indeed all the sports of youth. 11 And at the age of three and twenty he was still a private citizen23 in the imperial household.

3 1 On the day when Verus assumed the toga virilis Antoninus Pius, who on that same occasion dedicated a temple to his father, gave largess to the people;24 2 and Verus himself, when quaestor,25 gave the people a gladiatorial spectacle, at which he sat between Pius and Marcus. 3 Immediately after his quaestorship he p213 was made consul, with Sextius Lateranus as his colleague, and a number of years later he was created consul for a second term together with his brother Marcus. 4 For a long time, however, he was merely a private citizen and lacked the marks of honour with which Marcus was continually being decorated. 26 5 For he did not have a seat in the senate until he was quaestor, and while travelling, he rode, not with his father, but with the prefect of the guard, nor was any title added to his name as a mark of honour save only that he was called the son of Augustus. 27 6 He was fond of circus-games no less than of gladiatorial spectacles. And although he was weakened by such follies of debauchery and extravagance, nevertheless Pius retained him as a son, for the reason, it seems, that Hadrian, wishing to call the youth his grandson, had ordered Pius to adopt him. Towards Pius, so far as it appears, Verus showed loyalty rather than affection. 7 Pius, however, loved the frankness of his nature28 and his unspoiled way of living, and encouraged Marcus to imitate him in these. 8 When Pius died, Marcus bestowed all honours upon Verus, even granting him a share in the imperial power; he made him his colleague, moreover, when the senate had presented the sovereignty to him alone. 29

4 1 After investing him the sovereignty, then, and installing him in the tribunician power,30 and after rendering him the further honour of the consulship, Marcus gave instructions that he be named Verus, transferring his own name to him, whereas previously he had been called Commodus. 31 2 In return for this, p215 Verus obeyed Marcus, whenever he entered upon any undertaking, as a lieutenant obeys a proconsul or a governor obeys the emperor. 3 For, at the beginning, he addressed the soldiers32 in his brother's behalf as well as his own, and in consideration of the joint rule he conducted himself with dignity and observed the moral standard that Marcus had set up.

4 When he set out for Syria,33 however, his name was smirched not only by the licence of an unbridled life,34 but also by adulteries and by love-affairs with young men. 5 Besides, he is said to have been so depraved as to install a cook-shop in his home after he returned from Syria, and to repair thither after Marcus' banquets and have all manner of foul persons serve him. 6 It is said, moreover, that he used to dice the whole night through, after he had taken up that vice in Syria, and that he so rivalled Caligula, Nero, and Vitellius in their vices as to wander about at night through taverns and brothels with only a common travelling-cap for a head-covering, revel with various rowdies, and engage in brawls, concealing his identity the while;35 and often, they say, when he returned, his face was beaten black and blue, and once he was recognised in a tavern even though he had hidden himself. 7 It was his wont also to hurl large coins into the cook-shops and therewith smash the cups. 8 He was very fond also of charioteers, favouring the "Greens". 36 9 He held gladiatorial p217 bouts rather frequently at his banquets, and after continuing the meal far into the night he would fall asleep on the banqueting-couch, so that he had to be lifted up along with the covers and carried to his bedroom. 10 He never needed much sleep, however; and his digestion was excellent.

11 But Marcus, though he was not without knowledge of these happenings, with characteristic modesty pretended ignorance for fear of censuring his brother. 5 One such banquet, indeed, became very notorious. This was the first banquet, it is said, at which couches were placed for twelve, although there is a very well-known saying about the proper number of those present at a banquet that "seven make a dinner, nine make a din". 37 2 Furthermore, the comely lads who did the serving were given as presents, one to each guest; carvers and platters, too, were presented to each, and also live animals either tame or wild, winged or quadruped, of whatever kind were the meats that were served, 3 and even goblets of murra38 or of Alexandrine crystal were presented to each man for each drink, as often as they drank. Besides this, he gave golden and silver and even jeweled cups, and garlands, too, entwined with golden ribbons and flowers out of season, golden vases with ointments made in the shape of perfume-boxes, 4 and even carriages, together with mules and muleteers, and trappings of silver, wherewith they might return home from the banquet. 5 The estimated cost of the whole banquet, it is reported, was six million sesterces. 6 And when Marcus heard of this dinner, they say, he groaned and bewailed the fate of the empire. 7 After p219 the banquet, moreover, they diced until dawn. 8 And all this was done after the Parthian war, whither Marcus had sent him, it is said, either that he might commit his debaucheries away from the city and the eyes of all citizens, or that he might learn economy by his travels, or that he might return reformed through the fear inspired by war, or, finally, that he might come to realize that he was an emperor. 9 But how much good all this did is shown not only by the rest of his life, but also by this banquet of which we have just told.

6 1 Such interest did Verus take in the circus-games that frequently even in his province he despatched and received letters pertaining to them. 2 And finally, even at Rome, when he was present and seated with Marcus, he suffered many insults from the "Blues,"39 because he had outrageously, as they maintained, taken sides against them. 3 For he had a golden statue made of the "Green" horse Volucer,40 and this he always carried around with him; 4 indeed, he was wont to put raisins and nuts instead of barley in this horse's manger and to order him brought to him, in the House of Tiberius,41 covered with a blanket dyed with purple, and he built him a tomb, when he died, on the Vatican Hill. 5 It was because of this horse that gold pieces and prizes first began to be demanded for horses, 6 and in such honour was this horse held, that frequently a whole peck of gold pieces was demanded for him by the faction of the "Greens".

7 When Verus set out for the Parthian war, Marcus accompanied him as far as Capua;42 from there on he gorged himself in everyone's villa, and in consequence he was taken sick at Canusium, becoming very ill, so that his brother hastened thither to see him. 8 And p221 now in the course of this war there were revealed many features of Verus' life that were weak and base. 9 For while a legate was being slain,43 while legions were being slaughtered, while Syria meditated revolt, and the East was being devastated, Verus was hunting in Apulia, travelling about through Athens and Corinth accompanied by orchestras and singers, and dallying through all the cities of Asia that bordered on the sea, and those cities of Pamphylia and Cilicia that were particularly notorious for their pleasure-resorts. 7 And when he came to Antioch, there he gave himself wholly to riotous living. His generals, meanwhile, Statius Priscus, Avidius Cassius, and Martius Verus44 for four years conducted the war until they advanced to Babylon and Media, and recovered Armenia. 45 2 He, however, gained the names Armeniacus, Parthicus, and Medicus; and these were proffered to Marcus also, who was then living at Rome. 3 For four years, moreover, Verus passed his winters at Laodicea, his summers at Daphne, and the rest of the time at Antioch. 46 4 As far as the Syrians were concerned, he was an object for ridicule, and many of the jibes which they uttered against him on the stage are still preserved. 5 Always, during the Saturnalia and on holidays he admitted his more pampered slaves to his dining-room. 6 Finally, however, at the insistence of his staff he set out for the Euphrates, 7 but soon, in order to receive his wife Lucilla, who had been sent thither by her father Marcus,47 he returned to Ephesus, going there chiefly in order that Marcus might not come to Syria with p223 her and discover his evil deeds. For Marcus had told the senate that he himself would conduct his daughter to Syria. 8 Then, after the war was finished,48 he assigned kingdoms49 to certain kings, and provinces to certain members of his staff, to be ruled, 9 and returned to Rome for a triumph,50 reluctantly, however, since he was leaving in Syria what almost seemed his own kingdom. His triumph he shared with his brother, and from the senate he accepted the names which he had received in the army. 51 10 It is said, furthermore, that he shaved off his beard while in Syria to humour the whim of a low-born mistress;52 and because of this many things were said against him by the Syrians.

8 1 It was his fate to seem to bring a pestilence with him to whatever provinces he traversed on his return, and finally even to Rome. 53 2 It is believed that this pestilence originated in Babylonia, where a pestilential vapour arose in a temple of Apollo from a golden casket which a soldier had accidentally cut open, and that it spread thence over Parthia and the whole world. 3 Lucius Verus, however, is not to blame for this so much as Cassius, who stormed Seleucia in violation of an agreement, after it had received our soldiers as friends. 4 This act, indeed, many excuse, and among them Quadratus,54 the historian of the Parthian war, who blames the Seleucians as the first to break the agreement.

5 Such respect did Verus have for Marcus, that on p225 the day of the triumph, which they celebrated together, he shared with his brother the names which had been granted to himself. 55 6 After he had returned from the Parthian war, however, Verus exhibited less regard for his brother; for he pampered his freedmen56 shamefully, and settled many things without his brother's counsel. 7 Besides all this, he brought actors out of Syria57 as proudly as though he were leading kings to a triumph. The chief of these was Maximinus, on whom he bestowed the name Paris. 8 Furthermore, he built an exceedingly notorious villa on the Clodian Way,58 and here he not only reviled himself for many days at a time in boundless extravagance together with his freedmen and friends of inferior rank in whose presence he felt no shame, but he even invited Marcus. 9 Marcus came, in order to display to his brother the purity of his own moral code as worthy of respect and imitation, and for five days, staying in the same villa, he busied himself continuously with the examination of law-cases, while his brother, in the meantime, was either banqueting or preparing banquets. 10 Verus maintained also the actor Agrippus, surnamed Memphius, whom he had brought with him from Syria, almost as a trophy of the Parthian war, and named Apolaustius. 59 11 He had brought with him, too, players of the harp and the flute, actors and jesters from the mimes, jugglers, and all kinds of slaves in whose entertainment Syria and Alexandria find pleasure, and in such numbers, indeed, that he seemed to have concluded a war, not against Parthians, but against actors.

p227 9 This diversity in their manner of life, as well as many other causes, bred dissensions between Marcus and Verus — or so it was bruited about by obscure rumours although never established on the basis of manifest truth. 2 But, in particular, this incident was mentioned: Marcus sent a certain Libo,60 a cousin of his, as his legate to Syria, and there Libo acted more insolently than a respectful senator should, saying that he would write to his cousin if he happened to need any advice. But Verus, who was there in Syria, could not suffer this, and when, a little later, Libo died after a sudden illness accompanied by all the symptoms of poisoning, it seemed probable to some people, though not to Marcus, that Verus was responsible for his death; and this suspicion strengthened the rumours of dissensions between the Emperors.

3 Verus' freedmen, furthermore, had great influence with him, as we related in the Life of Marcus,61 namely Geminas and Agaclytus. 4 To the latter of these he gave the widow of Libo in marriage against the wishes of Marcus; indeed, when Verus celebrated the marriage ceremony Marcus did not attend the banquet. 5 Verus had other unscrupulous freedmen as well, Coedes and Eclectus and others. 6 All of these Marcus dismissed after Verus' death, under pretext of doing them honour, with the exception of Eclectus, and he afterwards slew Marcus' son, Commodus. 62

7 When the German war broke out, the two Emperors went to the front together, for Marcus wished neither to send Lucius to the front alone, nor yet, because of his debauchery, to leave him in the city. 8 When they had come to Aquileia,63 they proceeded to cross the Alps, though this was contrary to Lucius' p229 desire; for as long as they remained in Aquileia he did nothing but hunt and banquet while Marcus made all the plans. 9 As far as this war was concerned, we have very fully discussed in the Life of Marcus64 what was accomplished by the envoys of the barbarians when they sued for peace and what was accomplished by our generals. 10 When the war in Pannonia was settled, they returned to Aquileia at Lucius' insistence, and then, because he yearned for the pleasures of the city, they hastened cityward. 11 But not far from Altinum, Lucius, while in his carriage, was suddenly stricken with the sickness which they call apoplexy, and after he had been set down from his carriage and bled, he was taken to Altinum,65 and here he died, after living for three days unable to speak.

10 1 There was gossip to the effect that he had violated his mother-in‑law Faustina. And it is said that his mother-in‑law killed him treacherously by having poison sprinkled on his oysters, because he had betrayed to the daughter66 the amour he had had with the mother. 2 However, there arose also that other story related in the Life of Marcus,67 one utterly inconsistent with the character of such a man. 3 Many, again, fastened the crime of his death upon his wife, since Verus had been too complaisant to Fabia, and her power his wife Lucilla could not endure. 4 Indeed, Lucius and his sister Fabia did become so intimate that gossip went so far as to claim that they had entered into a conspiracy to make away with Marcus, 5 and that when this was betrayed to Marcus by the freedman Agaclytus, Faustina circumvented p231 Lucius in fear that he might circumvent her. 68

6 Verus was well-proportioned in person and genial of expression. His beard was allowed to grow long, almost in the style of the barbarians; he was tall, and stately in appearance, for his forehead projected somewhat over his eyebrows. 7 He took such pride in his yellow hair, it is said, that he used to sift gold-dust on his head in order that his hair, thus brightened, might seem even yellower. 8 He was somewhat halting in speech, a reckless gambler, ever of an extravagant mode of life, and in many respects, save only that he was not cruel or given to acting, a second Nero.
9 Among other articles of extravagance he had a crystal goblet, named Volucer after that horse of which he had been very fond,69 that surpassed the capacity of any human draught.

11 1 He lived forty-two years,70 and, in company with his brother, reigned eleven. 71 His body was laid in the Tomb of Hadrian,72 where Caesar, his real father, was also buried.

2 There is a well-known story,73 which Marcus' manner of life will not warrant, that Marcus handed Verus part of a sow's womb which he had poisoned by cutting it with a knife smeared on one side with poison. 3 But it is wrong even to think of such a deed in connection with Marcus, although the plans and deeds of Verus may have well deserved it; 4 nor shall we leave the matter undecided, but rather reject it discarded and disproved, since from the time of Marcus onward, with the exception of your Clemency, Diocletian Augustus, not even flattery, it seems, has been able to fashion such an emperor.

The Life of Avidius Cassius

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] Avidius Cassius is said, according to the statements of some, to have belonged to the family of the Cassii, but only on his mother's side. His father was Avidius Severus,1 the first of the family to hold public office, who at first commanded in the ranks,2 but later attained to the highest honours of the state. 2 Quadratus3 mentions him in his history, and certainly with all respect, for he declares that he was a very distinguished man, both indispensable to the state and influential with Marcus himself; 3 for he succumbed to the decrees of fate, it is said, when Marcus had already begun to rule.

4 Now Cassius, sprung, as we have said, from the family of the Cassii who conspired against Gaius Julius,4 secretly hated the principate and could not brook even the title of emperor, saying that the name of empire was all the more onerous because an p235 emperor could not be removed from the state except by another emperor. 5 In his youth, they say, he tried to wrest the empire from Pius too, but through his father, a righteous and worthy man, he escaped detection in this attempt to seize the throne, though he continued to be suspected by Pius' generals. 6 Against Verus he organized a genuine conspiracy, as a letter of Verus' own, which I append, makes clear. 7 Extract from the letter of Verus:5 "Avidius Cassius is avid for the throne, as it seems to me and as was well-known in the reign of my grandfather,6 your father; I wish you would have him watched. 8 Everything we do displeases him, he is amassing no inconsiderable wealth, and he laughs at our letters. He calls you a philosophical old woman, me a half-witted spendthrift. Consider what should be done. 9 I do not dislike the man, but look to it lest you take too little heed for yourself and for your children when you keep in active service a man whom the soldiers are glad to hear and glad to see. " [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 2 1 Marcus' answer concerning Avidius Cassius: "I have read your letter, which is that of a disquieted man rather than that of a general, and one not worthy of our times. 2 For if the empire is divinely decreed to be his, we cannot slay him even should we so desire. Remember what your great-grandfather7 used to say, 'No one ever kills his successor'. And if this is not the case, he will of himself fall into the toils of fate without any act of cruelty on our part. 3 Add that we cannot judge a man guilty whom no one has accused, and whom, as you say yourself, the soldiers love. 4 Furthermore, p237 in cases of treason it is inevitable that even those who have been proved guilty seem to suffer injustice. 5 ºFor you know yourself what your grandfather Hadrian said, 'Unhappy is the lot of emperors, who are never believed when they accuse anyone of pretending to the throne, until after they are slain'. 6 I have preferred, moreover, to quote this as his, rather than as Domitian's,8 who is reported to have said it first, for good sayings when uttered by tyrants have not as much weight as they deserve. 7 So let Cassius keep his own ways, especially as he is an able general and a stern and brave man, and since the state has need of him. 8 And as for your statement that I should take heed for my children by killing him, by all means let my children perish, if Avidius be more deserving of love than they and if it profit the state for Cassius to live rather than the children of Marcus. " Thus did Verus, thus did Marcus, write about Cassius.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 3 1 But let us briefly portray the nature and character of the man; for not very much can be known about those men whose lives no one has dared to render illustrious through fear of those by whom they were overcome. 2 We will add, moreover, how he came to the throne, and how he was killed, and where he was conquered. 3 For I have undertaken, Diocletian Augustus, to set down in writing the lives of all who have held the imperial title9 whether rightfully or without right, in order that you may become acquainted with all the emperors that have ever worn the purple.

4 Such was his character, then, that sometimes he seemed stern and savage, sometimes mild and gentle, often devout and again scornful of sacred things, addicted to drink and also temperate, a lover of eating p239 yet able to endure hunger, a devotee of Venus and a lover of chastity. 5 Nor were there lacking those who called him a second Catiline,10 and indeed he rejoiced to hear himself thus called, and added that he would really be a Sergius if he killed the philosopher, meaning by that name Antoninus. 6 For the emperor was so illustrious in philosophy that when he was about to set out for the Marcomannic war, and everyone was fearful that some ill-luck might befall him, he was asked, not in flattery but in all seriousness, to publish his "Precepts of Philosophy";11 7 and he did not fear to do so, but for three days discussed the books of his "Exhortations" one after the other. 8 Moreover, Avidius Cassius was a strict disciplinarian and wished to be called a Marius. 12

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 4 1 And since we have begun to speak of his strictness, there are many indications of what must be called savagery, rather than strictness, on his part. 2 For, in the first place, soldiers who had forcibly seized anything from the provincials he crucified on the very spot where they had committed the crime. 3 He was the first, moreover, to devise the following means of punishment: after erecting a huge post, •180 feet high, and binding condemned criminals on it from top to bottom, he built a fire at its base, and so burned some of them and killed the others by the smoke, the pain, and even by the fright. 4 Besides this, he had men bound in chains, ten together, and thrown into rivers or even the sea. 5 Besides this, he cut off the hands of many deserters, and broke the legs and hips of others, saying that a criminal alive and p241 wretched was a more terrible example than one who had been put to death. 6 Once when he was commanding the army, a band of auxiliaries, at the suggestion of their centurions and without his knowledge, slaughtered 3,000 Sarmatians, who were camping somewhat carelessly on the bank of the Danube, and returned to him with immense plunder. But when the centurions expected a reward because they had slain such a host of the enemy with a very small force while the tribunes were passing their time in indolence and were even ignorant of the whole affair, he had them arrested and crucified, and punished them with the punishment of slaves, for which there was no precedent; "It might," he said, "have been an ambush, and the barbarians' awe for the Roman Empire might have been lost. " 7 And when a fierce mutiny arose in the camp, he issued forth clad only in a wrestler's loin-cloth and said: "Strike me if you dare, and add the crime of murder to breach of discipline". 8 Then, as all grew quiet, he was held in well deserved fear, because he had shown no fear himself. 9 This incident so strengthened discipline among the Romans and struck such terror into the barbarians, that they besought the absent Antoninus for a hundred years' peace, since they had seen even those who conquered, if they conquered wrongfully, sentenced to death by the decision of a Roman general.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 5 1 Many of the stern measures he took to put down the licence of the soldiers are recorded in the works of Aemilius Parthenianus,13 who has related the history of the pretenders to the throne from ancient times even to the present. 2 For example, after openly beating them with the lictors' rods in the forum and p243 in the midst of the camp, he beheaded those who deserve it with the axe, and in numerous instances cut off his soldiers' hands. 3 He forbade the soldiers, moreover, to carry anything when on the march save lard and biscuit and vinegar, and if he discovered anything else he punished the breach of discipline with no light hand. 4 There is a letter concerning Cassius that the Deified Marcus wrote to his prefect, running somewhat as follows: 5 "I have put Avidius Cassius in command of the Syrian legions, which are running riot in luxury and conducting themselves with the morals of Daphne; concerning these legions Caesonius Vectilianus has written that he found them all accustomed to bathe in hot water. 14 6 And I think I have made no mistake, for you too know Cassius, a man of true Cassian strictness and rigour. 7 Indeed, the soldiers cannot be controlled except by the ancient discipline. You know what the good poet says, a line universally quoted:

'The state of Rome is rooted in the men and manners of the olden time. '15
8 Do you take care only that provisions are abundantly provided for the legions, for if I have judged Avidius correctly I know that they will not be wasted. " The prefect's answer to Marcus runs: 9 "You planned wisely, Sire, when you put Cassius in command of the Syrian legions. 10 Nothing benefits Grecianized soldiers like a man who is somewhat strict. 11 He will certainly do away with all warm baths, and will strike all the flowers from the soldiers' heads and necks and breasts. 12 Food for the soldiers is all provided; and nothing is lacking under an able general, for but little is either asked or expended. " [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 6 1 And p245 Cassius did not disappoint the expectation that had been formed of him, for he immediately had the proclamation made at assembly, and posted notices on the walls, that if any one were discovered at Daphne in his uniform he would return without it. 16 2 Regularly once a week he inspected his soldiers' equipment, even their clothes and shoes and leggings, and he banished all dissipation from the camp and issued an order that they would pass the winter in their tents if they did not mend their ways; and they would have done so, had they not conducted themselves more respectably. 3 Once a week there was a drill of all the soldiers, in which they even shot arrows and engaged in contests in the use of arms. 4 For he said that it was shameful that soldiers should not be trained, while athletes, wild beast fighters and gladiators were, for the soldiers' future labours, if familiar to them, would be less onerous.

5 And so, having stiffened military discipline, he conducted affairs in Armenia and Arabia and Egypt with the greatest success. 17 6 He was well loved by all the eastern nations, especially by the citizens of Antioch, who even acquiesced in his rule, as Marius Maximus relates in his Life of the Deified Marcus. 7 And when the warriors of the Bucolici did many grievous things in Egypt, they were checked by Cassius,18 as Marius Maximus also relates in the second book of those he published on the Life of Marcus.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 7 1 Finally, while in the East,19 he proclaimed himself p247 emperor, some say, at the wish of Faustina,20 who now despaired of Marcus' health and was afraid that she would be unable to protect her infant children by herself, and that some one would arise and seize the throne and make away with the children. 2 Others, however, say that Cassius employed an artifice with the soldiers and provincials to overcome their love for Marcus so that they would join him, saying that Marcus had met his end. 3 And, indeed, he called him "the Deified,"21 it is said, in order to lessen their grief for him.

4 When his plan of making himself emperor had been put into effect, he forthwith appointed prefect of the guard the man who had invested him with the imperial insignia. This man was later put to death by the army22 against the wishes of Antoninus. The army also slew Maecianus, in whose charge Alexandria had been placed; he had joined Cassius23 in the hope of sharing the sovereignty with him, and he too was slain against the wishes and without the knowledge of Antoninus.

5 For all that, Antoninus was not seriously angered on learning of this revolt, nor did he vent his rage on Cassius' children or on his kin. 6 The senate, however, pronounced him a public enemy and confiscated his property. 24 But Antoninus was unwilling that this should be forfeited to the privy-purse, and so, at the bidding of the senate, it was delivered to the public treasury. 7 And there was no slight consternation at Rome; for many said that Avidius Cassius would advance on the city in the absence of p249 Antoninus, who was singularly loved by all but the profligates, and that he would ravage it like a tyrant, especially because of the senators who had declared him an enemy to the state and confiscated his property. 8 The love felt for Antoninus was most clearly manifested in the fact that it was with the consent of all save the citizens of Antioch that Avidius was slain. 9 Antoninus, indeed, did not so much order his execution as suffer it; for it was clear to all that he would have spared him had it been in his power. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 8 1 And when his head was brought to Antoninus he did not rejoice or exult,25 but rather was grieved that he had lost an opportunity for showing mercy; for he said that he had wished to take him alive, so that he might reproach him with the kindness he had shown him in the past, and then spare his life. 2 Finally, when some one said that Antoninus deserved blame because he was so indulgent toward his enemy and his enemy's children and kin, and indeed toward every one whom he had found concerned in the outbreak, and added furthermore, "What if Cassius had been successful? " the Emperor said, it is reported: "We have not worshipped the gods in such a manner, or lived such lives, that he could overcome us". 3 Thereupon he pointed out that in the case of all the emperors who had been slain there had been reasons why they deserved to die, and that no emperor, generally recognized as good, had been conquered or slain by a pretender, 4 adding that Nero had deserved to die and Caligula had forfeited his life, while neither Otho nor Vitellius had really wished to rule. 26 5 He expressed similar p251 sentiments concerning Galba also, saying that in an emperor avarice was the most grievous of all failings. 27 6 And lastly, he said, no rebels had succeeded in overcoming either Augustus, or Trajan, or Hadrian, or his own father, and, although there had been many of them, they had been killed either against the wishes or without the knowledge of those emperors. 7 Antoninus himself, moreover, asked the senate to refrain from inflicting severe punishment on those men who were implicated in the rebellion; he made this request at the very same time in which he requested that during his reign no senator be punished with capital punishment28 — an act which won him the greatest affection. 8 Finally, after he had punished a very few centurions, he gave orders that those who had been exiled should be recalled. 29 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 9 1 The citizens of Antioch also had sided with Avidius Cassius, but these, together with certain other states which had aided Cassius, he pardoned, though at first he was deeply angered at the citizens of Antioch and took away their games and many of the distinctions of the city, all of which he afterwards restored. 2 To the sons of Avidius Cassius Antoninus heº presented half of their father's property,30 and his daughters he even graced with gold and silver and jewels. 3 To Alexandria, Cassius' daughter, and Druncianus, his son-in‑law, he gave unrestricted permission to travel wherever they liked. 4 And they lived not as the children of a pretender but as members of the senatorial order and in the greatest security, as was shown by orders he gave that not even in a law-suit should they be taunted with the fortunes of their family, and by his convicting certain people of personal affront who p253 had been insulting to them. He even put them under the protection of his uncle by marriage.

5 If any one wishes, moreover, to know the whole of this story, let him read the second book of Marius Maximus on the life of Marcus, in which he relates everything that Marcus did as sole emperor after the death of Verus. 6 For it was during this time that Cassius rebelled, as a letter written to Faustina shows, from which the following is an extract:31 7 "Verus told me the truth about Avidius, that he desired to rule. For I presume you heard what Verus' messengers reported about him. 8 Come, then, to our Alban villa, so that with the help of the gods we may prepare for everything, and do not be afraid. " 9 It would appear from this that Faustina knew nothing of the affair, though Marius Maximus, wishing to defame her, says that it was with her connivance that Cassius attempted to seize the throne. 32 10 Indeed, we have also a letter of hers to her husband in which she urged Marcus to punish Cassius severely. 11 A copy of Faustina's letter to Marcus reads: "I shall come to our Alban villa to‑morrow, as you command. Yet I urge you now, if you love your children, to punish those rebels with all severity. 12 For soldiers and generals have an evil habit of crushing others if they are not crushed themselves. " [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 10 1 Another letter of this same Faustina to Marcus reads similarly: "When Celsus revolted,33 my mother, Faustina, urged your father, Pius, to deal righteously first with his own kin, and then with strangers. 2 For no emperor is righteous who does not take thought for his wife and children. 3 You can see how young our son Commodus is; our son-in‑law Pompeianus34 is an elderly man and a foreigner besides. p255 4 Consider well what you will do about Avidius Cassius and his accomplices. 5 Do not show forbearance to men who have shown no forbearance to you and would show none either to me or to your children, should they be victorious. 6 I shall follow you on your way presently; I have not been able to come to the Formian villa because our dear Fadilla35 was ill. 7 However, if I shall fail to find you at Formiae, I will follow on to Capua, a city which can furnish help to me and our children in our sickness. 8 Please send the physician Soteridas to Formiae. I have no confidence in Pisitheus, who does not know how to treat a young girl. 9 Calpurnius has brought me a sealed letter: I shall reply to it, if I linger on here, through Caecilius, the old eunuch, a man to be trusted, as you know. 10 I shall also report through him, in a verbal message, what Cassius' wife and children and son-in‑law are said to be circulating about you. "

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 11 1 From these letters it can be seen that Faustina was not in collusion with Cassius, but, on the contrary, earnestly demanded his punishment; for, indeed, it was she who urged on Antoninus the necessity of vengeance when he was inclined to take no action and was considering more merciful measures. 2 The following letter tells what Antoninus wrote to her in reply: 3 "Truly, my Faustina, you are over-anxious about your husband and children. For while I was at Formiae I re-read the letter wherein you urged me to take vengeance on Avidius' accomplices. 4 I, however, shall spare his wife and children and son-in‑law, and I will write to the senate forbidding any immoderate confiscation or cruel punishment. 5 For there is nothing which endears a Roman emperor to p257 mankind as much as the quality of mercy. 6 This quality caused Caesar to be deified and made Augustus a god, and it was this characteristic, more than any other, that gained your father his honourable name of Pius. 36 7 Indeed, if the war had been settled in accordance with my desires, Avidius would not have been killed. 8 So do not be anxious;

'Over me the gods keep guard, the gods hold dear my righteousness. '37
I have named our son-in‑law Pompeianus consul for next year. "38 Thus did Antoninus write to his wife.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 12 1 It is of interest, moreover, to know what sort of a message he sent to the senate. 2 An extract from the message of Marcus Antoninus: "So then, in return for this manifestation of joy at our victory, Conscript Fathers, receive my son-in‑law as consul — Pompeianus, I mean, who has come to an age that were long since rewarded with the consulship, had there not stood in the way certain brave men, to whom it was right to give what was due them from the state. 3 And now, as to Cassius' revolt, I pray and beseech you, Conscript Fathers, lay aside your severity, and preserve the righteousness and mercy that are mine — nay rather I should say, yours — and let the senate put no man to death. 4 Let no senator be punished; let the blood of no distinguished man be shed; let those who have been exiled return to their homes; let those who have been outlawed recover their estates. 5 Would that I could also recall many from the grave! Vengeance for a personal wrong is never pleasing in an emperor, for the juster the vengeance is, the harsher it seems. 6 Wherefore, you will grant pardon to the sons and son-in‑law and wife of Avidius Cassius. For that matter, p259 why should I say pardon? They have done nothing. 7 Let them live, therefore, free from all anxiety, knowing that they live under Marcus. Let them live in possession of their parents' property, granted to each in due proportion; let them enjoy gold, silver, and raiment; let them be rich; let them be free from anxiety; let them, unrestricted and free to travel wheresoever they wish, carry in themselves before the eyes of all nations everywhere an example of my forbearance, an example of yours. 8 Nor is it any great act of mercy, Conscript Fathers, to grant pardon to the wives and children of outlawed men. 9 I do beseech you to save these conspirators, men of the senatorial and equestrian orders, from death, from proscription, from terror, from disgrace, from hatred, and, in short, from every harm, and to grant this to my reign, 10 that whoever, in the cause of the pretender, has fallen in the strife may, though slain, still be esteemed. "

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 13 1 The senate honoured this act of mercy with these acclamations:39 2 "God save you, righteous Antoninus. God save you, merciful Antoninus. 3 You have desired what was lawful, we have done what was fitting. We ask lawful power for Commodus. Strengthen your offspring. Make our children free from care. No violence troubles righteous rule. 4 We ask the tribunician power40 for Commodus Antoninus. We beseech your presence. 5 All praise to your philosophy, your patience, your principles, your magnanimity, your innocence! You conquer your foes within, your prevail over those without, the gods are watching over you," and so forth.

6 And so the descendants of Avidius Cassius lived unmolested and were admitted to offices of honour. p261 7 But after his deified father's death Commodus Antoninus ordered them all to be burned alive, as if they had been caught in a rebellion.

8 So much have we learned concerning Avidius Cassius. 9 His character, as we have said before,41 was continually changing, though inclined, on the whole, to severity and cruelty. 10 Had he gained the throne, he would have made not a merciful and kind emperor but a beneficent and excellent one. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 14 1 For we have a letter of his, written to his son-in‑law after he had declared himself emperor, that reads somewhat as follows: 2 "Unhappy state, unhappy, which suffers under men who are eager for riches and men who have grown rich! 3 Marcus is indeed the best of men, but one who wishes to be called merciful and hence suffers to live men whose manner of life he cannot sanction. 4 Where is Lucius Cassius,42 whose name we bear in vain? Where is that other Marcus, Cato the Censor? Where is all the rigour of our fathers? Long since indeed has it perished, and now it is not even desired. 5 Marcus Antoninus philosophizes and meditates on first principles, and on souls and virtue and justice, and takes no thought for the state. 6 There is need, rather, for many swords, as you see for yourself, and for much practical wisdom, in order that the state may return to its ancient ways. 7 And truly in regard to those governors of provinces — can I deem proconsuls or governors those who believe that their provinces were given them by the senate and Antoninus only in order that they might revel and grow rich? 8 You have heard that our philosopher's p263 prefect of the guard was a beggar and a pauper three days before his appointment, and then suddenly became rich. How, I ask you, save from the vitals of the state and the purses of the provincials? Well then, let them be rich, let them be wealthy. In time they will stuff the imperial treasury;43 only let the gods favour the better side, let the men of Cassius restore to the state a lawful government. " This letter of his shows how stern and how strict an emperor he would have been.

The Life of Commodus

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

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

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

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

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

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