No More Learning

5 Without further delay, he appointed as prefect of the guard that Flavius Juvenalis whom Julianus had chosen for his third prefect. 36

p385 6 Meanwhile at Rome a mighty panic seized both soldiers and civilians, for they realized that Severus was advancing under arms and against those who had declared him a public enemy. 7 The excitement was further increased when Severus learned that Pescennius Niger had been hailed emperor by the legions in Syria. 8 However, the proclamations and letters that Pescennius sent to the people and senate were, with the connivance of the messengers who had been sent with them, intercepted by Severus, for he wished to prevent their being published among the people or read in the senate-house. 9 At the same time, too, he considered abdicating in favour of Clodius Albinus, to whom, it appeared, the power of a Caesar37 had already been decreed at the instance of Commodus. 10 But instead, he sent Heraclitus to secure Britain38 and Plautianus to seize Niger's children,39 in fear of these men and having formed a correct opinion about them. 11 And when he arrived at Rome, he ordered the guard to meet him clad only in their undergarments and without arms; then, with armed men posted all about him, he summoned them, thus apparelled, to the tribunal. 40

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 7 1 Severus, armed himself and attended by armed men, entered the city and went up to the Capitol;41 thence he proceeded, still fully armed, to the Palace, having the standards, which he had taken from the praetorians, borne before him not raised erect but trailing on the ground. 2 And then throughout the whole p387 city, in temples, in porticoes, and in the dwellings on the Palatine, the soldiers took up their quarters as though in barracks; 3 and Severus' entry inspired both hate and fear, for the soldiers seized goods they did not pay for and threatened to lay the city waste. 4 On the next day, accompanied not only by armed soldiers but also by a body of armed friends, Severus appeared before the senate, and there, in the senate-house, gave his reasons for assuming the imperial power, alleging in defence thereof that men notorious for assassinating generals had been sent by Julianus to murder him. 42 5 He secured also the passage of a senatorial decree to the effect that the emperor should not be permitted to put any senator to death without first consulting the senate. 43 6 But while he was still in the senate-house, his soldiers, with threats of mutiny, demanded of the senate ten thousand sesterces each, citing the precedent of those who had conducted Augustus Octavian to Rome and received a similar sum. 44 7 And although Severus himself desired to repress them, he found himself unable; eventually, however, by giving them a bounty he managed to appease them and then sent them away. 45 8 Thereupon he held for an effigy of Pertinax46 a funeral such as is given a censor,47 elevated him to a place among the deified emperors and gave him, besides, a flamen and a Helvian Brotherhood, composed of the priests who had previously constituted the Marcian Brotherhood. 48 9 Moreover, he himself was, at his own command, given the name Pertinax;49 although later he p389 wished it withdrawn, for fear that it would prove an omen.

8 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] Next he freed his friends from debt. He then settled dowries on his daughters and gave them in marriage to Probus and Aetius. As for his son-in‑law Probus, when he offered to make him prefect of the city, Probus declined, averring that it meant less to him to be prefect of the city than son-in‑law to the emperor. 2 However, he immediately appointed each of them consul and made each rich. 3 Soon thereafter he appeared before the senate, and bringing in accusations against the friends of Julianus, caused them to be outlawed and put to death. 4 He heard a vast number of lawsuits, and magistrates who had been accused by the provincials he punished severely whenever the accusations against them were proved; 5 and finding the grain-supply at a very low ebb, he managed it so well that on departing this life he left the Roman people a surplus to the amount of seven years' tribute.

6 And now he set out to remedy the situation in the East, still making no public mention of Niger. 7 None the less, however, he sent troops to Africa, for fear that Niger might advance through Libya and Egypt and seize this province, and thereby distress the Roman people with a scarcity of grain. 50 8 Then, leaving Domitius Dexter as prefect of the city in place of Bassus, within thirty days of his coming to Rome he set out again;51 9 and he had proceeded from the city no farther than Saxa Rubra52 when he had to face a great mutiny in his army, which arose on account of the place selected for pitching camp. 10 Then his brother Geta53 came at once to meet him, but merely received orders to rule the province already p391 in his charge, though Geta had other hopes. 11 Niger's children, who were brought to him, he treated with the same care that he showed his own. 54 12 Previous to this, he had sent a legion to occupy Greece and Thrace, and thereby prevent Niger from seizing them. 13 But Niger already held Byzantium, and now wishing to seize Perinthus too, he slew a great number of this force and accordingly, together with Aemilianus,55 was declared an enemy to the state. 56 14 He next proposed joint rule with Severus; this was rejected with scorn. 15 As a matter of fact, Severus did promise him an unmolested exile if he wished it,57 but refused to pardon Aemilianus. 16 Soon thereafter Aemilianus was defeated by Severus' generals at the Hellespont58 and fled first to Cyzicus and from there to another city, and here he was put to death by order of Severus' generals. 17 Niger's own forces, moreover, were routed by the same generals. 59 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 9 1 On receipt of this news Severus despatched letters to the senate as if the whole affair were finished. And not long afterwards he met with Niger near Cyzicus,60 slew him, and paraded his head on a pike. 2 Niger's children, whom he had maintained in the same state as his own,61 he sent into exile after this event, together with their mother.

3 He sent a letter to the senate announcing the victory,62 but he inflicted no punishment upon any of p393 the senators who had sided with Niger,63 with the exception of one man. 4 Towards the citizens of Antioch he was more resentful, because they had laughed at him in his administration of the East and also had aided Niger with supplies. 5 Eventually he deprived them of many privileges. The citizens of Neapolis in Palestine, because they had long been in arms on Niger's side,64 he deprived of all their civic rights, 6 and to many individuals, other than members of the senatorial order, who had followed Niger he meted out cruel punishments. 7 Many communities,65 too, which had been on Niger's side, were punished with fines and degradation; 8 and such senators as had seen active service on Niger's side with the title of general or tribune were put to death.

9 Next, he engaged in further operations in the region about Arabia66 and brought the Parthians back to allegiance and also the Adiabeni — all of whom had sided with Pescennius. 10 For this exploit, after he returned home, he was given a triumph and the names Arabicus, Adiabenicus, and Parthicus. 67 11 He refused the triumph, however, lest he seem to triumph for a victory over Romans; and he declined the name Parthicus lest he hurt the Parthians' feelings.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 10 1 And then, just as he was returning to Rome after the civil war caused by Niger, he received news p395 of another civil war, caused by Clodius Albinus,68 who had revolted in Gaul. 69 It was because of this revolt that Niger's children and their mother were later put to death. 70 2 As for Albinus, Severus at once declared him a public foe, and likewise those who, in their letters to him or replies to his letters, had expressed themselves as favourably inclined to him. 3 As he was advancing against Albinus, moreover, and had reached Viminacium71 on his march, he gave his elder son Bassianus the name Aurelius Antoninus72 and the title of Caesar,73 in order to destroy whatever hopes of succeeding to the throne his brother Geta had conceived. 4 His reason for giving his son the name Antoninus was that he had dreamed that an Antoninus would succeed him. 5 It was because of this dream, some believe, that Geta74 also was called Antoninus,75 in order that he too might succeed to the throne. 6 Others, however, think that Bassianus was given the name Antoninus because Severus himself wished to pass over into the family of Marcus. 76

7 At first, Severus' generals77 were worsted by those of Albinus;78 but when, in his anxiety, he consulted augurs in Pannonia, he learned that he would be p397 the victor, and that his opponent would neither fall into his hands nor yet escape, but would die close by the water. 8 Many of Albinus' friends soon deserted and came over to Severus; and many of his generals were captured, all of whom Severus punished. 11 Meanwhile, after many operations had been carried on in Gaul with varying success, Severus had his first successful encounter with Albinus at Tinurtium. 79 2 Through the fall of his horse, however, he was at one time in the utmost peril; and it was even believed that he had been slain by a blow with a ball of lead, and the army almost elected another emperor. 80 3 It was at this time that Severus, on reading the resolutions passed by the senate in praise of Clodius Celsinus, who was a native of Hadrumetum and Albinus' kinsman,81 became highly incensed at the senate, as though it had recognized Albinus by this act, and issued a decree that Commodus should be placed among the deified,82 as though he could take vengeance on the senate by this sort of thing. 83 4 He proclaimed the deification of Commodus to the soldiers first, and then announced it to the senate in a letter, to which he added a discourse on his own victory. 5 Next, he gave orders that the bodies of the senators who had been slain in the battle should be mutilated. 6 And then, when Albinus' body was brought before him, he had him beheaded while still half alive,84 gave orders that his head should be taken to Rome, and followed up the order with a letter. 7 Albinus was defeated on the eleventh day before the Kalends of March.

p399 The rest of Albinus' body was, by Severus' order, laid out in front of his own home, and kept there for a long time exposed to view. 8 Furthermore, Severus himself rode on horseback over the body, and when the horse shied, he spoke to it and loosed the reins, that it might trample boldly. 9 Some add that he ordered Albinus' body to be cast into the Rhone, and also the bodies of his wife and children.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 12 1 Countless persons who had sided with Albinus were put to death,85 among them numerous leading men and many distinguished women, and all their goods were confiscated and went to swell the public treasury. Many nobles of the Gauls and Spains were also put to death at this time. 2 Finally, he gave his soldiers sums of money such as no emperor had ever given before. 3 Yet as a result of these confiscations, he left his sons a fortune greater than any other emperor had left to his heirs, for he had made a large part of the gold in the Gauls, Spains, and Italy imperial property. 4 At this time the office of steward for private affairs86 was first established. 5 After Albinus' death many who remained loyal to him were defeated by Severus in battle. 6 At this same time, however, he received word that the legion in Arabia had gone over to Albinus. 87

7 And so, after having taken harsh vengeance for Albinus' revolt by putting many men to death and exterminating Albinus' family, he came to Rome filled with wrath at the people and senate. 8 He delivered a eulogy of Commodus before the senate and before an assembly of the people and declared him a god; he averred, moreover, that Commodus had been unpopular p401 only among the degraded. 88 9 Indeed, it was evident that Severus was openly furious. After this he spoke about the mercy he had shown, whereas he was really exceedingly blood-thirsty and executed the senators enumerated below. 89 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 13 1 He put to death without even a fair trial the following noblemen: Mummius Secundinus, Asellius Claudianus, 2 Claudius Rufus, Vitalius Victor, Papius Faustus, Aelius Celsus, Julius Rufus, Lollius Professus, Aurunculeius Cornelianus, Antonius Balbus, Postumius Severus, Sergius Lustralis, 3 Fabius Paulinus, Nonius Gracchus, Masticius Fabianus, Casperius Agrippinus, Ceionius Albinus, 4 Claudius Sulpicianus, Memmius Rufinus, Casperius Aemilianus, Cocceius Verus, Erucius Clarus, 5 Aelius Stilo, Clodius Rufinus, Egnatuleius Honoratus, 6 Petronius Junior, the six Pescennii, Festus, Veratianus, Aurelianus, Materianus, Julianus, and Albinus; the three Cerellii, Macrinus, Faustinianus, and Julianus; 7 Herennius Nepos, Sulpicius Canus, Valerius Catullinus, Novius Rufus, Claudius Arabianus, and Marcius Asellio. 8 And yet he who murdered all these distinguished men, many of whom had been consuls and many praetors, while all were of high estate, is regarded by the Africans as a god. 9 He falsely accused Cincius Severus of attempting his life by poison, and thereupon put him to death; next, he cast to the lions Narcissus, the man who had strangled Commodus. 90 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 14 1 And besides, he put to death many men from p403 the more humble walks of life, not to speak of those whom the fury of battle had consumed.

2 After this, wishing to ingratiate himself with the people, he took the postal service91 out of private hands and transferred its cost to the privy-purse. 3 Then he caused the senate to give Bassianus Antoninus the title of Caesar and grant him the imperial insignia. 92 4 Next, when called away by the rumour of a Parthian war,93 he set up at his own expense statues in honour of his father, mother, grandfather and first wife. 94 5 He had been very friendly with Plautianus;95 but, on learning his true character, he conceived such an aversion to him as even to declare him a public enemy, overthrow his statues,96 and make him famous throughout the entire world for the severity of his punishment, the chief reason for his anger being that Plautianus had set up his own statue among the statues of Severus' kinsmen and connections. 6 He revoked the punishment which had been imposed upon the people of Palestine97 on Niger's account. 7 Later, he again entered into friendly relations with Plautianus, and after entering the city in his company like one who celebrates an ovation,98 he went up to the Capitol, although in the course of time he killed him. 8 He bestowed the toga virilis on his younger son, p405 Geta, and he united his elder son in marriage with Plautianus' daughter. 99 9 Those who had declared Plautianus a public enemy were now driven into exile. Thus, as if by a law of nature, do all things ever shift and change. 10 Soon thereafter he appointed his sons to the consulship; also he greatly honoured his brother Geta. 100 11 Then, after giving a gladiatorial show and bestowing largess upon the people, he set out for the Parthian war. 12 Many men meanwhile were put to death, some on true and some on trumped-up charges. 13 Several were condemned because they had spoken in jest, others because they had not spoken at all, others again because they had cried out many things with double meaning, such as "Behold an emperor worthy of his name — Pertinacious in very truth, in very truth Severe".

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 15 1 It was commonly rumoured, to be sure, that in planning a war on the Parthians, Septimius Severus was influenced rather by a desire for glory than by any real necessity. 101 2 Finally, he transported his army from Brundisium, reached Syria without breaking his voyage, and forced the Parthians to retreat. 102 3 After that, however, he returned to Syria in order to make preparations to carry on an offensive war against the Parthians. 4 In the meantime, on the advice of Plautianus, he hunted down the last survivors of Pescennius' revolt, and he even went so far as to bring charges against several of his own friends on the ground that they were plotting to kill him. 5 He put numerous others to death on the charge of having asked Chaldeans or soothsayers how long he was p407 destined to live; and he was especially suspicious of anyone who seemed qualified for the imperial power, for his sons were still very young, and he believed or had heard that this fact was being observed by those who were seeking omens regarding their own prospects of the throne. 6 Eventually, however, when several had been put to death, Severus disclaimed all responsibility, and after their death denied that he had given orders to do what had been done. Marius Maximus says that this was particularly true in the case of Laetus. 103 7 His sister from Leptis once came to see him, and, since she could scarcely speak Latin, made the emperor blush for her hotly. And so, after giving the broad stripe104 to her son and many presents to the woman herself, he sent her home again, and also her son, who died a short time afterwards.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 16 1 When the summer was well-nigh over, Severus invaded Parthia, defeated the king, and came to Ctesiphon; and about the beginning of the winter season he took the city. For indeed in those regions it is better to wage war during the winter, although the soldiers live on the roots of the plants and so contract various ills and diseases. 2 For this reason then, although he could make no further progress, since the Parthian army was blocking the way and his men were suffering from diarrhoea because of the unfamiliar food, he nevertheless held his ground, took the city, put the king to flight, slew a great multitude, and gained the name Parthicus. 105 3 For this feat, likewise, the soldiers declared his son, p409 Bassianus Antoninus, co-emperor;106 he had already been named Caesar107 and was now in his thirteenth year. 4 And to Geta, his younger son, they gave the name Caesar,108 and called him in addition Antoninus,109 as several men relate in their writings. 5 To celebrate the bestowal of these names Severus gave the soldiers an enormous donative, none other, in truth, than liberty to plunder the Parthian capital,110 a privilege for which they had been clamouring. 6 He then returned victorious to Syria. 111 But when the senators offered him a triumph for the Parthian campaign, he declined it because he was so afflicted with gout that he was unable to stand upright in his chariot. 7 Notwithstanding this, he gave permission that his son should celebrate a triumph; for the senate had decreed to him a triumph over Judaea because of the successes achieved by Severus in Syria. 112

8 Next, when he had reached Antioch, he bestowed the toga virilis upon his elder son and appointed him consul as colleague to himself; 9 and without further delay, while still in Syria, the two entered upon their consulship. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 17 1 After this, having first raised his soldiers' pay, he turned his steps toward Alexandria, and while on his way thither he conferred numerous rights upon the communities of Palestine. 113 He forbade conversion to Judaism under heavy penalties and enacted a similar law in regard to the Christians. 2 He then gave the Alexandrians the privilege of a local senate, for they were still without any public council, just as they had been under their own kings,114 and were obliged to be content with p411 the single governor appointed by Caesar. 115 3 Besides this, he changed many of their laws. 4 In after years Severus himself continually avowed that he had found this journey very enjoyable, because he had taken part in the worship of the god Serapis, had learned something of antiquity, and had seen unfamiliar animals and strange places. For he visited Memphis, Memnon,116 the Pyramids, and the Labyrinth,117 and examined them all with great care.

5 But since it is tedious to mention in detail the less important matters, only the most noteworthy of his deeds are here related. 118 He discharged the cohorts of the guard119 after Julianus was defeated and slain; he deified Pertinax against the wishes of the army;120 and he gave orders that the decisions of Salvius Julianus should be annulled,121 though this he did not succeed in accomplishing. 6 Lastly, he was given the surname Pertinax, not so much by his own wish,122 it seems, as because of his frugal ways. 123 7 In fact, he was considered somewhat cruel, both on account of his innumerable executions124 and because, when one his enemies came before him on a certain occasion to crave forgiveness and said "What would you have done? ",125 8 Severus was not softened by so p413 sensible a speech, but ordered him to be put to death. He was determined to crush out conspiracies. He seldom departed from a battle except as victor. 126 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 18 1 He defeated Abgarus, the king of the Persians. 127 He extended his sway over the Arabs. He forced the Adiabeni to give tribute. 128 2 He built a wall129 across the island of Britain from sea to sea, and thus made the province secure — the crowning glory of his reign; in recognition thereof he was given the name Britannicus. 130 3 He freed Tripolis, the region of his birth, from fear of attack by crushing sundry warlike tribes. And he bestowed upon the Roman people, without cost, a most generous daily allowance of oil in perpetuity. 131

4 He was implacable toward the guilty; at the same time he showed singular judgment in advancing the efficient. 5 He took a fair interest in philosophy and oratory, and showed a great eagerness for learning in general. 6 He was relentless everywhere toward brigands. 132 He wrote a trustworthy account of his own life, both before and after he became emperor,133 in which the only charge that he tried to explain away was that of cruelty. 7 In regard to this charge, the senate declared that Severus either should never have p415 been born at all or never should have died, because on the one hand, he had proved too cruel, and on the other, too useful to the state. 8 For all that, he was less careful in his home-life, for he retained his wife Julia even though she was notorious for her adulteries and also guilty of plotting against him. 134 9 On one occasion,135 when he so suffered from gout as to delay a campaign, his soldiers in their dismay conferred on his son Bassianus, who was with him at the time, the title of Augustus. Severus, however, had himself lifted up and carried to the tribunal, summoned 10 all the tribunes, centurions, generals, and cohorts responsible for this occurrence, and after commanding his son, who had received the name Augustus, to stand up, gave orders that all the authors of this deed, save only his son, should be punished. When they threw themselves before the tribunal and begged for pardon, Severus touched his head with his hand and said, "Now at last you know that the head does the ruling, and not the feet". 11 And even after fortune had led him step by step through the pursuits of study and of warfare even to the throne, he used to say: "Everything have I been, and nothing have I gained".

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 19 1 In the eighteenth year of his reign, now an old man and overcome by a most grievous disease, he died at Eboracum in Britain, after subduing various tribes that seemed a possible menace to the p417 province. 136 2 He left two sons, Antoninus Bassianus and Geta, also named by him Antoninus137 in honour of Marcus. 3 Severus was laid in the tomb of Marcus Antoninus,138 whom of all the emperors he revered so greatly that he even deified Commodus139 and held that all emperors should thenceforth assume the name Antoninus as they did that of Augustus. 4 At the demand of his sons, who gave him a most splendid funeral, he was added by the senateº to the deified. 140

5 The principal public works of his now in existence are the Septizonium141 and the Baths of Severus. 142 He also built the Septimian Baths in the district across the Tiber near the gate named after him,143 but the aqueduct fell down immediately after its completion and the people were unable to make any use of them.

6 After his death the opinion that all men held of him was high indeed; for, in the long period that followed, no good came to the state from his sons, and after them, when many invaders came pouring in upon the state, the Roman Empire became a thing for free-booters to plunder.

p419 7 His clothing was of the plainest; indeed, even his tunic had scarcely any purple on it, while he covered his shoulders with a shaggy cloak. 8 He was very sparing in his diet,144 was fond of his native beans, liked wine at times, and often went without meat. 9 In person he was large and handsome. His beard was long; his hair was grey and curly, his face was such as to inspire respect. His voice was clear, but retained an African accent even to his old age. 10 After his death he was much beloved, for then all envy of his power or fear of his cruelty had vanished.

[image ALT: A marble bust of an old man with curly hair and a curly shaggy beard. It is a portrait of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus. ]

[image ALT: A marble head of an old man with curly hair and a curly shaggy beard. It is a close-up of a portrait-bust of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus. ]

Contemporary portrait-bust in the Stanza degli Imperatori in the Capitoline Museums in Rome,
identified as that of the emperor Severus.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 20 1 I can remember reading in Aelius Maurus, the freedman of that Phlegon145 who was Hadrian's freedman, that Septimius Severus rejoiced exceedingly at the time of his death, because he was leaving two Antonini to rule the state with equal powers,146 herein following the example of Pius, who left to the state Verus and Marcus Antoninus, his two sons by adoption; 2 and that he rejoiced all the more, because, while Pius had left only adopted sons, he was leaving sons of his own blood to rule the Roman state, namely Antoninus Bassianus, whom he had begotten from his first marriage,147 and Geta, whom Julia had borne him. 3 In these high hopes, however, he was grievously deceived; for the state was denied the one by murder,148 the other149 by his own character. And in scarcely any case did that revered name150 long or creditably survive. 4 Indeed, when I reflect on the matter, Diocletian Augustus, it is quite clear to me p421 that practically no great man has left the world a son of real excellence or value. 5 In short, most of them either died without issue of their own, or had such children that it would have been better for humanity had they departed without offspring. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 21 1 As for Romulus, to begin with him, he left no children who might have proved useful to the state, nor did Numa Pompilius. What of Camillus? Did he have children like himself? What of Scipio? 151 What of the Catos, who were so distinguished? 2 Indeed, for that matter, what shall I say of Homer, Demosthenes, Vergil, Crispus,152 Terence, Plautus, and such as they? What of Caesar? What of Tully? — for whom, particularly, it had been better had he had no son. 153 3 What of Augustus, who could not get a worthy son even by adoption, though he had the whole world to choose from? Even Trajan was deceived when he chose for his heir his fellow-townsman and nephew. 154 4 But let us except sons by adoption, lest our thoughts turn to those two guardian spirits of the state, Pius and Marcus Antoninus, and let us proceed to sons by birth. 5 What could have been more fortunate for Marcus than not to have left Commodus as his heir? 6 What more fortunate for Septimius Severus than not to have even begotten Bassianus? — a man who speedily charged his brother with contriving plots against him — a murderous falsehood — and put him to death; 7 who took his own stepmother to wife155 — stepmother did I say? — nay rather the mother on whose bosom he had slain Geta, her son;156 8 who slew, because p423 he refused to absolve him of his brother's murder,157 Papinian, a sanctuary of law and treasure-house of jurisprudence, who had been raised to the office of prefect that a man who had become illustrious through his own efforts and his learning might not lack official rank. 9 In short, not to mention other things, I believe that it was because of this man's character that Severus, a gloomier man in every way, nay even a crueller one, was considered righteous and worthy of the worship of a god. 10 Once indeed, it is said, Severus, when laid low by sickness, sent to his elder son that divine speech in Sallust in which Micipsa urges his sons to the ways of peace. 158 In vain, however. . . . 11 For a long time, finally, the people hated Antoninus, and that venerable name was long less beloved, even though he gave the people clothing (whence he got his name Caracallus)159 and built the most splendid baths. 160 12 There is a colonnade of Severus at Rome,161 I might mention, depicting his exploits, which was built by his son, or so most men say.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 22 1 The death of Severus was foreshadowed by the following events: he himself dreamed that he was snatched up to the heavens in a jewelled car drawn by four eagles, whilst some vast shape, I know not what, but resembling a man, flew on before. And while he was being snatched up, he counted out the numbers eighty and nine,162 and beyond this number of years he did not live so much as one, for he was an old man when he came to the throne. 2 And then, after he p425 had been placed in a huge circle in the air, for a long time he stood alone and desolate, until finally, when he began to fear that he might fall headlong, he saw himself summoned by Jupiter and placed among the Antonines. 3 Again, on the day of the circus-games, when three plaster figures of Victory were set up in the customary way, with palms in their hands, the one in the middle, which held a sphere inscribed with his name, struck by a gust of wind, fell down from the balcony163 in an upright position and remained on the ground in this posture; while the one on which Geta's name was inscribed was dashed down and completely shattered, and the one which bore Bassianus' name lost its palm and barely managed to keep its place, such was the whirling of the wind. 4 On another occasion, when he was returning to his nearest quarters from an inspection of the wall at Luguvallum164 in Britain, at a time when he had not only proved victorious but had concluded a perpetual peace, just as he was wondering what omen would present itself, an Ethiopian soldier, who was famous among buffoons and always a notable jester, met him with a garland of cypress-boughs. 5 And when Severus in a rage ordered that the man be removed from his sight, troubled as he was by the man's ominous colour and the ominous nature of the garland, the Ethiopian by way of jest cried, it is said, "You have been all things,165 you have conquered all things, now, O conqueror, be a god. " 6 And when on reaching the town he wished to perform a sacrifice, in the first place, through a misunderstanding on the part of the rustic soothsayer, he was taken to the Temple of Bellona, and, in the second place, the victims provided him were black. 7 And then, when p427 he abandoned the sacrifice in disgust and betook himself to the Palace,166 through some carelessness on the part of the attendants the black victims followed him up to its very doors.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 23 1 In many communities there are public buildings erected by him which are famous, but particularly noteworthy among the achievements of his life was the restoration of all the public sanctuaries in Rome, which were then falling to ruin through the passage of time. And seldom did he inscribe his own name on these restorations or fail to preserve the names of those who built them. 2 At his death he left a surplus of grain to the amount of seven years' tribute,167 or enough to distribute seventy-five thousand pecks a day, and so much oil,168 indeed, that for five years there was plenty for the uses, not only of the city, but also for as much as of Italy as was in need of it.

3 His last words, it is said, were these: "The state, when I received it, was harassed on every side; I leave it at peace, even in Britain; old now and with crippled feet, I bequeath to my two Antonini an empire which is strong, if they prove good, feeble, if they prove bad. " 4 After this, he issued orders to give the tribune the watchword "Let us toil," because Pertinax, when he assumed the imperial power, had given the word "Let us be soldiers". 169 5 He then ordered a duplicate made of the royal statue of Fortune which was customarily carried about with the emperors and placed in their bedrooms,170 in order that he might leave this most holy statue to each of his sons; 6 but later, when he realized that the hour of death was upon him, he gave instructions, they say, that the original should be placed in the bed-chambers p429 of each of his sons, the co-emperors, on alternate days. 7 As for this direction, Bassianus ignored it and then murdered his brother.
[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 24 1 His body was borne from Britain to Rome, and was everywhere received by the provincials with profound reverence. 2 Some men say, however, that only a golden urn171 containing Severus' ashes was so conveyed, and that this was laid in the tomb of the Antonines,172 while Septimius himself was cremated where he died.

3 When he built the Septizonium173 he had no other thought than that his building should strike the eyes of those who came to Rome from Africa. 4 It is said that he wished to make an entrance on this side of the Palatine mansion — the royal dwelling, that is — and he would have done so had not the prefect of the city planted his statue in the centre of it while he was away. 5 Afterwards Alexander174 wished to carry out this plan, but he, it is said, was prevented by the soothsayers, for on making inquiry he obtained unfavourable omens.

The Life of Pescennius Niger

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] It is an unusual task and a difficult one to set down fairly in writing the lives of men who, through other men's victories, remained mere pretenders, and for this reason not all the facts concerning such men are preserved in our records and histories in full. 2 For, in the first place, notable events that redound to their honour are distorted by historians; other events, in the second place, are suppressed; and, in the third place, no great care is bestowed upon inquiries into their ancestry and life, since it seems sufficient to recount their presumption, the battle in which they were overcome, and the punishment they suffered.

3 Pescennius Niger, then, was born of humble parentage, according to some, of noble, according to others. His father was Annius Fuscus, his mother Lampridia. His grandfather was the supervisor of Aquinum,1 the town to which the family sought to trace its origin, though the fact is even now considered doubtful. 4 As for Pescennius himself, he was passably well versed in literature, thrifty in his habits, and unbridled in indulgence in every manner of p433 passion. 2 5 For a long time he commanded in the ranks,3 and finally, after holding many generalships,4 he reached the point where Commodus named him to command the armies in Syria, chiefly on the recommendation of the athlete who afterward strangled Commodus;5 for so, at that time, were all appointments made.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 2 1 And now, after he learned that Commodus had been murdered, that Julianus had been declared emperor, and then, by order of Severus and the senate, put to death, and that Albinus, furthermore, had assumed in Gaul the name and power of emperor,6 Pescennius was hailed imperator by the armies he commanded in Syria;— though more out of aversion to Julianus, some say, than in rivalry of Severus. 2 Even before this, during the first days of Julianus' reign, because of the dislike felt for the Emperor, Pescennius was so favoured at Rome, that even the senators, who hated Severus also, prayed for his success, while with showers of stones and general execrations7 the commons shouted "May the gods preserve him as Emperor, and him as Augustus". 3 For the mob hated Julianus because the soldiers had slain Pertinax and declared Julianus emperor contrary to their wishes; and there was violent rioting on this account. 4 Julianus, for his part, had sent a senior centurion to assassinate Niger8 — a piece of folly, since the attempt was made against one who led an army and could protect himself, and as though, forsooth, any sort of emperor could be slain by a retired centurion! 5 With equal madness he sent out a p435 successor for Severus when Severus had already become emperor; 6 and lastly he sent the centurion Aquilius,9 notorious as an assassin of generals, as if such an emperor could be slain by a centurion! 7 It was similarly an act of insanity that he, according to report, dealt with Severus by issuing a proclamation forbidding him to seize the imperial power, so that he might seem to have established a prior claim to the empire by process of law!

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 3 1 What the people thought of Pescennius Niger is evident from the following: when Julianus gave circus-games at Rome, the people filled the seats of the Circus Maximus without distinction of rank, assailed him with much abuse, and then with one accord called for Pescennius Niger to protect the city10 — partly out of hatred for Julianus, as we have said,11 and partly out of love for the slain Pertinax. 2 On this occasion Julianus is reported to have said that neither he himself nor Pescennius was destined to rule for long, but rather Severus, though he it was who was more worthy of hatred from the senators, the soldiers, the provincials and the city-mob. And this proved to be the case.

3 Now Pescennius was on very friendly terms with Severus at the time that the latter was governor of the province of Lugdunensis. 12 4 For he was sent to apprehend a body of deserters who were then ravaging Gaul in great numbers,13 5 and because he conducted himself in this task with credit, he gained the esteem of Severus, so much so, in fact, that the latter wrote to Commodus about him, and averred that he was a man indispensable to the state. 6 And he was, indeed, a strict man in all things military. No soldier under his command ever forced a provincial p437 to give him fuel, oil, or service. 7 He himself never accepted any presents from a soldier, and when he served as tribune he would not allow any to be accepted. 8 Even as emperor, when two tribunes were proved to have made deductions from the soldiers' rations,14 he ordered the auxiliaries to stone them.

9 There is extant a letter written by Severus to Ragonius Celsus, who was then governor of Gaul:15 "It is a pity that we cannot imitate the military discipline of this man whom we have overcome in war. 10 For your soldiers go straggling on all sides; the tribunes bathe in the middle of the day; they have cook-shops for mess-halls and, instead of barracks, brothels; they dance, they drink, they sing, and they regard as the proper limit to a banquet unlimited drinking. 11 How, pray, if any traces of our ancestral discipline still remained, could these things be? So, then, first reform the tribunes, and then the rank and file. For as long as these fear you, so long will you hold them in check. 12 But learn from Niger this also, that the soldiers cannot be made to fear you unless the tribunes and generals are irreproachable. " [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 4 1 Thus did Severus Augustus write about Pescennius.

While Pescennius was still in the ranks, Marcus Antoninus wrote thus to Cornelius Balbus about him: "You sound the praises of Pescennius to me, and I recognize the man; for your predecessor also declared that he was vigorous in action, dignified in demeanour, p439 and even then more than a common soldier. 2 Accordingly, I have sent letters to be read at review in which I have ordered him placed in command of three hundred Armenians, one hundred Sarmatians, and a thousand of our own troops. 3 It is your place to show that the man has attained, not by intrigue, which is displeasing to our principles, but by merit, to a post which my grandfather Hadrian and my great-grandfather Trajan gave to none but the most thoroughly tried. "

4 Again, Commodus said of this same man: "I know Pescennius for a brave man, and I have already made him tribune twice. 16 Presently, when advancing years shall make Aelius Corduenus retire from public life, I will make him a general. " 5 Such were the opinions that all men had of him. And in truth Severus himself frequently declared that he would have pardoned him had he not persisted. 17

6 Finally, Commodus appointed him consul,18 and advanced him thereby over Severus, greatly indeed to the latter's wrath, since he thought that Niger had gained the consulship on the recommendation of the senior centurions. 7 Yet in his autobiography19 Severus says that on one occasion, when he had fallen sick and his sons had not yet reached an age when they could rule, he intended, if anything by any chance should happen to him, to appoint Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus as his heirs to the throne, even these two men who in time became his bitterest enemies. 8 From this it is evident what Severus thought of Pescennius. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 5 1 But if we may believe Severus, Niger was greedy for glory, hypocritical in his mode of life, base in morals, and well advanced in years when he attempted to seize the empire — for which p441 reason Severus inveighs against his ambition, just as if he himself came to the throne young! For though he understated the number of his years, after ruling eighteen years he died at the age of eighty-nine. 20

2 Now Severus dispatched Heraclitus to secure Bithynia and Fulvius to seize Niger's adult children. 21 3 Nevertheless, although he had already heard that Niger had seized the empire, and although he himself was on the point of setting out to remedy the situation in the East, he made no mention of Niger in the senate. 4 In fact, on setting out, he did only this — namely, send troops to Africa, fearing that Niger would seize it and thereby distress the Roman people with a famine. 22 5 For such a plan was possible of accomplishment, it seemed, by way of Libya and Egypt, the provinces adjacent to Africa, for all that it was no easy journey either by land or sea. 6 As for Pescennius,23 he slew a multitude of distinguished men and got control of Greece, Thrace, and Macedonia, while Severus was still on his way to the East. He then proposed to Severus that they two share the throne between them; 7 whereupon Severus, because of the men whom Niger had slain, declared him and Aemilianus enemies to the state. Soon after, Niger gave battle under the leadership of Aemilianus and suffered defeat from Severus' generals. 8 Even then, Severus promised him safety in exile if he would lay down his arms. Niger, however, persisted and gave battle a second time, but was defeated;24 and in his flight while near the lake at Cyzicus he was wounded and was thus brought before Severus, and presently he was dead. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 6 1 His head was paraded on a pike and then sent p443 to Rome. His children were put to death, his wife was murdered, his estates were confiscated, and his entire household utterly blotted out. 2 All this, however, was done after news of the revolt of Albinus was received,25 for before that Niger's children and their mother had merely been sent into exile. 3 But Severus was exasperated by the second civil war, or rather the third,26 and became implacable; 4 and it was then that he put countless senators to death27 and got himself called by some the Punic Sulla, by others the Punic Marius. 28

5 In stature Niger was tall, in appearance attractive; and his hair grew back in a graceful way toward the crown of his head. His voice was so penetrating that when he spoke in the open he could be heard •a thousand paces away, if the wind were not against him. His countenance was dignified and always somewhat ruddy; 6 his neck was so black that many men say that he was called Niger on this account. The rest of his body, however, was very white and he was inclined to be fat. He was fond of wine, sparing in his use of food, and as for intercourse with women, he abstained from it wholly save for the purpose of begetting children. 29 7 Indeed, certain religious rites in Gaul, which they always by common consent vote to the most chaste to celebrate, Niger himself performed. 8 On the rounded colonnade in the garden of Commodusa he is to be seen pictured in the mosaic among Commodus' most intimate friends and performing the rites of Isis. 30 9 To these rites Commodus was so devoted as even to shave his head, carry the image of Anubis, and make every one of the ritualistic pauses in the procession.

p445 10 As a soldier, then, he was excellent; as a tribune, without peer; as a general, eminent; as a governor, stern; as a consul, distinguished; as a man, one to be noted both at home and abroad; but as an emperor, unlucky. Under Severus, who was a forbidding sort of man, he might have been of use to the state had he been willing to cast in his lot with him. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 7 1 But this was not to be, for he was deceived by the sinister counsels of Aurelianus, who espoused his daughters to Niger's sons and made him persist in his attempt at empire.

2 He was a man of such influence that when he saw the provinces being demoralized by frequent changes of administration, he ventured to write to Marcus, and later to Commodus, making two recommendations: first, that no provincial governor, legate or proconsul,31 should be superseded within a term of five years, because otherwise they laid down their power before they learned how to rule; 3 and second, that save for posts held by soldiers, no man without previous experience should be appointed to take part in the government of the empire, the purpose of this being that assistants32 should be promoted to the administration of those provinces only in which they had served as assistants. 4 Afterwards this very principle was maintained by Severus and many of his successors, as the prefectures of Paulus and Ulpian prove — for these men were assistants to Papinian,33 and afterwards, when the one had served as secretary of memoranda and the other as secretary of petitions,34 both were next appointed p447 prefects of the guard. 5 It was also a recommendation of his that no one should serve as assistant in the province of his birth, and that no one should govern a province who was not a Roman of Rome, that is, a man born in the city itself. 6 He also recommended salaries for the members of the governor's council,35 in order to prevent their being a burden to those to whom they were advisers, adding that judges ought neither to give nor receive. 7 With his soldiers he was severity itself; once, for example, when the frontier troops in Egypt asked him for wine, he replied: "Do you ask for wine when you have the Nile? " In fact, the waters of the Nile are so sweet that the inhabitants of the country do not ask for wine. 8 And similarly, when the troops made a great uproar after they had been defeated by the Saracens, and cried out, "We get no wine, we cannot fight! ", "Then blush," said he, "for the men who defeat you drink water. " 9 Likewise, when the people of Palestine besought him to lessen their tribute, saying that it bore heavily on them, he replied: "So you wish me to lighten the tax on your lands; verily, if I had my way, I would tax your air. "

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 8 1 Now when the confusion in the state was at its height, inasmuch as it was made known that there were three several emperors, Septimius Severus, Pescennius Niger, and Clodius Albinus, the priest of the Delphic Apollo was asked which of them as emperor would prove of most profit to the state, whereupon, it is said, he gave voice to a Greek verse as follows:

"Best is the Dark One, the African good, but the worst is the White One. "
p449 2 And in this response it was clearly understood that Niger was meant by the Dark One, Severus by the African, and Albinus by the White One. 3 Thereupon the curiosity of the questioners was aroused, and they asked who would really win the empire. To this the priest replied with further verses somewhat as follows:

"Both of the Black and the White shall the life-blood be shed all untimely;
Empire over the world shall be held by the native of Carthage. "
4 And then when the priest was asked who should succeed this man, he gave answer, it is said, with another Greek verse:

"He whom the dwellers above have called by the surname of Pius. "
5 But this was altogether unintelligible until Bassianus took the name Antoninus,36 which was Pius' true surname. 6 And when finally they asked how long he should rule, the priest is said to have replied in Greek as follows:

"Surely with twice ten ships he will cleave the Italian waters,37
Only let one of his barques bound o'er the plain of the sea. "
From this they perceived that Severus would round out twenty years.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 9 1 This, Diocletian, greatest of emperors, is what we have learned concerning Pescennius, gathering it from many books. For when a man consigns to books the lives of men who were not rulers in the p451 state, or of those, again, who were not declared emperors by the senate, or, lastly, of those who were so quickly killed that they could not attain to fame, his task is difficult, as we said at the beginning of this work. 38 2 It is for this reason that Vindex39 is obscure and Piso40 unknown, as well as all those others also who were merely adopted, or were hailed as emperors by the soldiers (as was Antonius41 in Domitian's time), or were speedily slain and gave up their lives and their attempt at empire together. 3 It now remains for me to speak of Clodius Albinus,42 who is considered this man's ally, in a way, since they rebelled against Severus similarly, and were similarly overcome by him and put to death. But we have no clear information concerning him either, 4 since he and Pescennius were the same in fate, however much they differed in their lives.

5 And lest we seem to omit any of the tales which are told of Pescennius, for all that they can be read in other books, the soothsayers told Severus concerning Pescennius that neither living nor yet dead would he fall into Severus' hands but would perish near the water. 6 Some say that Severus himself made this statement, learning it from astrology, in which he was very skilled. Nor was the augury devoid of truth, for Pescennius was found half dead near a lake. 43

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 10 1 Pescennius was a man of unusual rigour; when he learned, for instance, that various soldiers were drinking from silver cups while on a campaign, he p453 gave orders that all silver whatever should be banished from the camp in war-time, and added that the soldiers should use wooden cups — a command that gained him their resentment. 2 For it was not impossible, he said, that the soldiers' individual baggage might fall into the hands of the enemy, and foreign tribes should not be given cause for glorying in our silver, when there were other articles that would contribute less to a foeman's glory. 3 He gave orders, likewise, that in time of campaign the soldiers should not drink wine but should all content themselves with vinegar. 44 4 He also forbade pastry-cooks to follow expeditions, ordering both soldiers and all others to content themselves with biscuit. 5 For the theft of a single cock, furthermore, he gave an order that the ten comrades who had shared the bird which one of them had stolen, should all be beheaded; and he would have carried out the sentence, had not the entire army importuned him to such a degree that there was reason to fear a mutiny. 6 And when he had spared them, he ordered that each of the ten who had feasted on the stolen bird should pay the provincial who owned it the price of ten cocks. At this same time he ordered that no one during the period of the campaign should build a hearth in his company-quarters, and that they should never eat freshly-cooked food, but should live on bread and cold water. And he set spies to see that this was done. 7 He gave orders, likewise, that the soldiers should not carry gold or silver coin in their money-belts when about to go into action, but should deposit them with a designated official. After the battle, he assured them, they would get back what they had deposited, or the official who had p455 received it would pay it to their heirs — that is, their wives and children — without fail. Thus, he reasoned, no plunder would pass to the enemy, should fortune bring some disaster. 8 All these stern measures, however, worked to his disadvantage in times so slack as those of Commodus. 9 For even if there was no one who seemed to his own times a sterner general, those measures availed to damage him rather during his life than after his death, when both envy and malice were laid by.

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

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

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

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



The Life of Clodius Albinus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4 Thus all was revealed and the plot laid bare, and Albinus, now seeing that what he had merely suspected before was true, assembled a mighty force and advanced to meet Severus and his generals.