The day of the death of Marcus Aurelius may be taken as the
decisive moment in which the ruin of the old civilisation was
determined.
Now after the great effort of reason in high places, after
Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius, the reign
of evil begins again, and is worse than ever. Farewell to
goodness, farewell to reason! Now, all hail, folly! All hail,
absurdity! All hail to the Syrian and his questionable gods!
Genuine physicians have been able to do nothing; the sick man
is more sick than ever: send for the charlatans.--RENAN.
[Sidenote: [161-183 A.D.]]
We come now to a time of obvious decline. Even in the golden epoch the
nation was probably static rather than progressive, notwithstanding
the glory that surrounds the great names of its emperors. But now the
deterioration is too rapid and too marked to be questioned. The period
has no importance except as a transition time from the great days of
the empire to the days of its degradation. Nevertheless, the events of
this transition age marshal themselves before the eye in one of the most
striking panoramas in all history. These events group themselves into a
few strange scenes. The first shows us a philosopher’s son given over to
the lowest forms of vice; demeaning himself in the arena; associating
with gladiators and slaves; and finally coming to an ignominious death at
the hands of his wife and freedmen, who kill him that their own lives may
be saved.
The second scene shows us, in sharp contrast to the ignoble son of the
philosopher, the noble son of a slave assuming the purple. Pertinax
passes across the stage as a good old man, well-meaning, but incompetent
to stem the tide of the times. He meets what may be called the normal
imperial fate--assassination; and the historic stage is cleared for one
of the strangest spectacles that it has yet witnessed--the auction of an
empire. This, to be sure, is not the first time that money has made its
power felt in the disposal of the imperial office. It has long been the
custom for a new emperor to make “presents” to the soldiers. But now the
affair is reduced to the frank terms of sale and purchase.
In due course the man who has thus bargained for an empire pays the
penalty of his ambition; then a turmoil ensues between the rival
aspirants to the succession, which ends, naturally enough, with the death
of all but one; he, Septimius Severus by name, gives to the empire a
moment of relative tranquillity; and at last presents a spectacle hardly
less strange than all the others,--the spectacle of a Roman emperor dying
a natural death. We shall not see the like again for many a reign.
Following Severus come his two sons, Caracalla and Geta. The former plays
well the part of heartless despot; he kills his brother and slaughters a
host of helpless subjects in the East; and then, to emphasise a paradox,
grants the bauble of Roman citizenship to all subjects of the empire. In
due course he meets the imperial death, and is succeeded by Macrinus,
who, slain at once, is followed by Elagabalus. This degenerate youth
typifies his era; sinks to depths of debauchery which horrify even the
Roman conscience; introduces new forms of worship from the East; wins the
title of Sardanapalus; and, finally, slaughtered, his body thrown into
the Tiber, is nicknamed Tiberinus, in mocking remembrance of his ignoble
death and yet more ignoble life.
And now, at last, a ray of light pierces the gloom, and with the coming
of Alexander Severus there is a brief recrudescence of the days when Rome
was something more than the battle-ground of mercenaries and the court of
voluptuaries. Yet, in the end, even this good emperor meets the fate of
all the rest. Truly, the time is out of joint.
Let us take up now in more detailed presentation--yet still as briefly as
historical completeness will permit--the story of these strange events,
beginning with the reign of that renegade Commodus, who owed his position
on the throne to the parental affection rather than the philosophic
judgment of the best of emperors.[a]
COMMODUS (180-192 A.D.)
Marcus Aurelius was succeeded by his son, usually known as Commodus,
whose full name was Marcus Lucius Ælius Aurelius Commodus Antoninus. This
unworthy scion of a glorious house was born at Lanuvium on the 31st of
August, 161, and proclaimed cæsar on the 12th of October, 166. In the
year 177 the tribunician authority was bestowed on Commodus and he was
summoned to take his place as “augustus” by his father’s side.
Three years later, on the 17th of March, 180, Aurelius died, and
Commodus, who was at that time less than nineteen years of age, assumed
the reins of government without difficulty. But he was not the man to
rise to the occasion and reap the advantage of his father’s victories.
He made a peace with the Germani, which might pass for honourable, but
was far from furnishing a satisfactory safeguard for the interests of
Rome. The principal conditions were the same that Marcus Aurelius had
imposed upon the enemy five or six years before, but Commodus yielded
up all the strongholds which the Romans had established in the heart of
the enemy’s country. The lustre of the Roman arms was restored for the
time, it is true, and the old and new commanders, trained in the school
of the Parthian and German wars, guarded the frontiers of the empire at
all points. But the change for the worse soon manifested itself in the
internal policy of the empire.[b]
At Rome, for the space of about three years, all was tranquillity; for
Commodus, whose natural character, as we are assured, was weak and
timid rather than wicked, allowed himself to be directed by the able
and upright men to whom his father had recommended him. His hours were
devoted to luxury and indulgence, till at length (183) an event occurred
which revealed the latent cruelty of his nature.
[Sidenote: [183-186 A.D.]]
After the death of L. Verus, Marcus had given his daughter Lucilla in
marriage to Pompeianus, a most respectable senator; and after the death
of her mother he allowed her all the honours of an empress, which her
brother also continued to her. But on the marriage of Commodus with a
lady named Crispina, Lucilla was obliged to yield precedence to the
reigning empress. Her haughty spirit deemed this an indignity, and she
resolved on revenge. Fearing to entrust her design to her noble-minded
husband, she first communicated it to Quadratus, a wealthy young
nobleman, with whom she carried on an adulterous intercourse; she also
engaged in the plot Claudius Pompeianus, another of her paramours, who
was betrothed to her daughter; some senators also were aware of it.
As Commodus was entering the amphitheatre through a dusky passage,
Pompeianus, who was lying in wait, drew his sword and cried, “The senate
sends thee this.” But the words prevented the execution of his design,
and he was seized by the guards. He, Quadratus, and some others were
executed; Lucilla was for the present confined in the isle of Capreæ, but
she was erelong put to death, and a similar fate soon befell her rival
Crispina on account of adultery. In her place Commodus took a freedwoman
named Marcia, who had been the concubine of Quadratus, and to whom he
gave all the honours of an empress, except that of having fire borne
before her.
CRUELTIES AND DEATH OF COMMODUS
[Sidenote: [186-189 A.D.]]
The unwise exclamation of Pompeianus sank deep in the mind of Commodus;
he learned to regard the senate as his deadly enemies, and many of its
most illustrious members were put to death on various pretexts. His only
reliance was now on the guards, and the prætorian prefects soon became
as important as in former times. The prefects now were Tarruntenus
Paternus and Perennis, but the arts of the latter caused the former to
be removed and put to death, and the whole power of the state fell into
his hands, for the timid Commodus no longer ventured to appear in public.
The prefect removed all he dreaded by false accusations, and he amassed
wealth by the confiscation of the properties of the nobility. His son was
in command of the Illyrian legions, and he now aspired to the empire.
But he had offended the army of Britain--the army that in 184 had won
brilliant success,--and they deputed (186) fifteen hundred of their
number to accuse him to Commodus of designs on the empire. They were
supported by the secret influence of the freedman Cleander, and Perennis
was given up to their vengeance. Himself, his wife, his sister, and two
of his children were massacred; his eldest son was recalled and murdered
on the way to Rome.
The character of Perennis is doubtful, but that of Cleander who succeeded
to his power was one of pure evil. Cleander, a Phrygian by birth, had
been brought to Rome as a slave and sold in the public market. He was
purchased for the palace, and placed about the person of Commodus,
with whom he speedily ingratiated himself; and when the prince became
emperor he made Cleander his chamberlain. The power of the freedman, when
Perennis was removed, became absolute; avarice, the passion of a vulgar
mind, was his guiding principle. All the honours and all the posts of
the empire were put to sale; pardons for any crime were to be had for
money; and in the short space of three years the wealth of Cleander
exceeded that of the Pallas and Narcissus of the early days of the empire.
A conspiracy of an extraordinary nature occurred not long after the death
of Perennis. A great number of men who had deserted from the armies put
themselves under the command of a common soldier named Maternus; they
were joined by slaves whom they freed from their bonds, and they ravaged
for some time with impunity the provinces of Gaul and Spain. At length
(187) when Maternus found the governors preparing to act with vigour
against him, he resolved to make a desperate effort and be emperor or
perish. He directed his followers to disperse and repair secretly to
Rome, where he proposed that they should assume the dress of the guards,
and fall on the emperor during the license of the festival of the
Megalesia. All succeeded to his wishes; they repaired safely to Rome,
but some of them out of envy betrayed the secret, and Maternus and some
others were taken and executed.
[Illustration: PECULIAR HEAD-DRESS OF A STANDARD-BEARER]
[Sidenote: [189-193 A.D.]]
The power of Cleander was now at its height; by gifts to Commodus and
his mistresses he maintained his influence at court, and by the erection
of baths and other public edifices he sought to ingratiate himself with
the people. He had also the command of the guards, for whom he had for
some time caused prætorian prefects to be made and unmade at his will. He
at length divided the office between himself and two others, but he did
not assume the title. As an instance of the way in which he disposed of
offices, we find in one year (189) no less than five-and-twenty consuls.
What the ultimate views of Cleander may have been is unknown, for he
shared the usual fate of aspiring freedmen. Rome was visited at this time
by a direful pestilence, and the emperor on account of it resided out
of the city. The pestilence was as usual attended by famine, and this
visitation of heaven was by the people laid to the charge of the odious
favourite. As they were one day (189) viewing the horse races in the
circus, a party of children entered, headed by a fierce-looking girl,
and began to exclaim against Cleander. The people joined in the cries,
and then rising rushed to where Commodus was residing in the suburbs,
demanding the death of Cleander. But the favourite instantly ordered
the prætorian cavalry to charge them, and they were driven back to the
city with the loss of many lives. When, however, the cavalry entered the
streets they were assailed by missiles from the roofs of the houses, and
the people being joined by the urban cohorts rallied and drove them back
to the palace, where Commodus still lay in total ignorance of all that
had occurred, for fear of Cleander had kept all silent. But now Marcia,
or as others said the emperor’s sister Fadilla, seeing the danger so
imminent, rushed into his presence and informed him of the truth. Without
a moment’s hesitation he ordered Cleander and his son to be put to death.
The people placed the head of Cleander on a pole and dragged his body
through the streets, and when they had massacred some of his creatures
the tumult ceased.
The cruelty of Commodus displayed itself more and more every day, and
several men of rank became its victims.[c] Thus, after many years of
tranquillity, the upper classes of Roman society again found themselves
in the intolerable position of going in perpetual fear of death. Once
more Rome witnessed the spectacle of a wicked lad on the throne of
the Cæsars, falling a victim to the “madness of empire,” trampling
the dignity of his great office underfoot in furious lust of pleasure
of every sort, and, in pompous dull-wittedness, playing the part of a
sanguinary practical joker and a foolish spendthrift.[b] At the same time
his lust was unbounded; three hundred beautiful women and as many boys
of all ages and countries filled his seraglio, and he abstained from no
kind of infamy. He delighted also to exhibit proofs of his skill as a
marksman, and he assumed the title and attributes of the hero Hercules.
For some time, like Nero, he confined his displays to the interior of
his residences, but at length the senate and people were permitted to
witness his skill in the amphitheatre. A gallery ran round it for the
safety and convenience of the emperor, from which he discharged his darts
and arrows with unerring aim at the larger and fiercer animals, while he
ventured into the arena to destroy the deer and other timid creatures. A
hundred lions were at once let loose, and each fell by a single wound;
an irritated panther had just seized a man, a dart was flung by the
emperor and the beast fell dead, while the man remained uninjured. With
crescent-headed arrows he cut off the heads of ostriches as they ran at
full speed.
But his greatest delight was to combat as a gladiator. He appeared in
the character of a secutor: he caused to be recorded 735 victories which
he had gained, and he received each time an immense stipend out of the
gladiatorial fund. Instead of Hercules he now styled himself Paulus,
after a celebrated secutor, and caused it to be inscribed on his statues.
He also took up his abode in the residence of the gladiators.
At length the tyrant met the fate he merited. It was his design to put
to death the two consuls-elect for the year 193, and on New Year’s Day
to proceed from the gladiators’ school in his gladiatorial habit and
enter on the consulate. On the preceding day he communicated his design
to Marcia, who tried in vain to dissuade him from it. Q. Æmilius Lætus,
the prætorian prefect, and the chamberlain, Eclectus, also reasoned with
him, but to as little purpose. He testified much wrath, and uttered some
menaces. Knowing that the threats of the tyrant were the sure precursors
of death, they saw their only hopes of safety lay in anticipation; they
took their resolution on the moment;[41] and when Commodus came from the
bath, Marcia, as was her usual practice, handed him a bowl (in which she
had now infused a strong poison), to quench his thirst.
He drank the liquor off, and then laid himself down to sleep. The
attendants were all sent away. The conspirators were expecting the effect
of the poison when the emperor began to vomit profusely. Fearing now that
the poison would not take effect, they brought in a vigorous wrestler
named Narcissus; and induced by the promise of a large reward, he laid
hold on and strangled the emperor.[42]
PERTINAX (P. HELVIUS PERTINAX), 193 A.D.
[Sidenote: [193 A.D.]]
The conspirators had, it is probable, already fixed on the person who
should succeed to the empire, and their choice was one calculated to do
them credit. It was P. Helvius Pertinax, the prefect of the city, a man
now advanced in years, who had with an unblemished character, though born
in a humble rank, passed through all the civil and military gradations
of the state. Pertinax was the son of a freedman who was engaged in
the manufacture of charcoal at Alba Pompeia in the Apennines. He
commenced life as a man of letters, but finding the literary profession
unprofitable, he entered the army as a centurion, and his career of
advancement was rapid.
It was yet night when Lætus and Eclectus proceeded with some soldiers to
the house of Pertinax. When informed of their arrival he ordered them
to be brought to his chamber, and then, without rising, told them that
he had long expected every night to be his last, and bade them execute
their office; for he was certain that Commodus had sent them to put him
to death. But they informed him that the tyrant himself was no more, and
that they were come to offer him the empire. He hesitated to give credit
to them, but having sent one on whom he could depend, and ascertained
that Commodus was dead, he consented to accept the proffered dignity.
Though it was not yet day they all repaired to the prætorian camp,
and Lætus, having assembled the soldiers, told them that Commodus was
suddenly dead of apoplexy, and that he had brought them his successor, a
man whose merits were known to them all. Pertinax then addressed them,
promising a large donative. The soldiers swore fidelity to the emperor.
Before dawn the senate was summoned to the temple of Concord, whither
Pertinax had proceeded from the camp. He told them what had occurred,
and, noticing his age and his humble extraction, pointed out divers
senators as more worthy of the empire than himself. But they would not
listen to his excuses, and they decreed him all the imperial titles.
Then giving loose to their rage against the fallen tyrant, they termed
him parricide, gladiator, the enemy of the gods and of his country, and
decreed that his statues should be cast down, his titles be erased,
and his body dragged with the hook through the streets. But Pertinax
respected too much the memory of Marcus to suffer the remains of his
son to be thus treated, and they were by his order placed in the tomb of
Hadrian.
Pertinax was cheerfully acknowledged by all the armies. Like Vespasian,
he was simple and modest in his dress and mode of life, and he lived on
terms of intimacy with the respectable members of the senate. He resigned
his private property to his wife and son, but would not suffer the senate
to bestow on them any titles. He regulated the finances with the greatest
care, remitting oppressive taxes and cancelling unjust claims. He sold
by auction all the late tyrant’s instruments of luxury, and obliged his
favourites to disgorge a portion of their plunder. He granted the waste
lands in Italy and elsewhere for a term of years rent free to those who
would undertake to improve them.
The reforming hand of the emperor was extended to all departments of the
state; and men looked for a return of the age of the Antonines. But the
soldiers dreaded the restoration of the ancient discipline; and Lætus,
who found that he did not enjoy the power he had expected, secretly
fomented their discontent. So early as the 3d of January they had seized
a senator named Triarius Maternus, intending to make him emperor, but he
escaped from them and fled to Pertinax for protection. Some time after,
while the emperor was on the sea coast attending to the supply of corn,
they prepared to raise Sosius Falco, then consul, to the empire; but
Pertinax came suddenly to Rome, and having complained of Falco to the
senate, they were about to proclaim him a public enemy, when the emperor
cried that no senator should suffer death while he reigned; and Falco was
thus suffered to escape punishment.
Some expressions which Pertinax used on this occasion irritated the
soldiers; and Lætus, to exasperate them still more, put several of them
to death, as if by his orders. Accordingly on the twenty-eighth of March
a general mutiny broke out in the camp, and two or three hundred of the
most desperate proceeded with drawn swords to the palace. No one opposed
their entrance. Pertinax, when informed of their approach, advanced to
meet them. He addressed them, reminding them of his own innocence and
of the obligation of their oath. They were silent for a few moments;
at length a Tungrian soldier struck him with his sword, crying, “The
soldiers send thee this.” They all then fell on him, and cutting off his
head set it on a lance and carried it to the camp. Eclectus, faithful to
the last, perished with the emperor; Lætus had fled in disguise at the
approach of the mutineers. The reign of the virtuous Pertinax had lasted
only eighty-six days; he was in the sixty-seventh year of his age.
JULIANUS (M. DIDIUS SEVERUS JULIANUS), 193 A.D.
The mutineers on their return to the camp found there Sulpicianus, the
prefect of the city, the late emperor’s father-in-law, who had been sent
thither to try to appease the mutiny. The bloody proof which they bore
of the empire’s being vacant excited when it should have extinguished
his ambition, and he forthwith began to treat for the dangerous prize.
Immediately some of the soldiers ran and ascending the ramparts cried
out aloud that the empire was for sale, and would be given to the
highest bidder. The news reached the ears of Didius Julianus, a wealthy
and luxurious senator, as he sat at table; and urged by his wife and
daughter and his parasites, he rose and hastened to the camp. The
military auctioneers stood on the wall, one bidder within, the other
without. Sulpicianus had gone as high as five thousand denarii a man,
when his rival at one bidding rose to 6250. This spirited offer carried
it; the soldiers also had a secret dread that Sulpicianus, if emperor,
might avenge the death of his son-in-law. The gates were thrown open,
and Julian was admitted and saluted emperor; but the soldiers had the
generosity to stipulate for the safety of his rival.
From the camp Julian, escorted by the soldiers, proceeded to the senate
house. He was there received with affected joy, and the usual titles and
honours were decreed him; but the people stood aloof and in silence, and
those who were more distant uttered loud curses on him. When Julian came
to the palace, the first object that met his eyes was the corpse of his
predecessor; he ordered it to be buried, and then it is said sat down and
passed the greater part of the night at a luxurious banquet, and playing
at dice. In the morning the senate repaired to him with their feigned
compliments; but the people still were gloomy, and when he went down to
the senate house and was about to offer incense to the Janus before the
doors, they cried out that he was a parricide and had stolen the empire.
He promised them money, but they would have none of it; and at length
he ordered the soldiers to fall on them, and several were killed and
wounded. Still they ceased not to revile him and the soldiers, and to
call on the other armies, especially that of Pescennius Niger, to come to
their aid.
The principal armies were that of Syria commanded by Niger; that of
Pannonia under Septimius Severus, and that of Britain under Clodius
Albinus, each composed of three legions, with its suitable number of
auxiliaries.
C. Pescennius Niger was a native of Aquinum, of a simple equestrian
family. He entered the army as a centurion, and rose almost solely by
merit till he attained the lucrative government of Syria. As an officer
Niger was a rigorous maintainer of discipline; as a governor he was just,
but mild and indulgent, and he succeeded in gaining alike the affections
of the soldiers and the subjects. In his private life he was chaste and
temperate.
L. Septimius Severus was born at Leptis in Africa. He received a learned
education, and devoted himself to the bar, and M. Aurelius made him
advocate of the Fisc. He acted as civil governor of several provinces,
and had occasionally a military command, but had seen little or no
actual service. After his consulate, Commodus, through the influence of
Lætus, gave him the command of the Pannonian legions, as reported in the
_Augustan History_.
D. Clodius Albinus was also an African. He was born at Hadrumetum, of an
honourable family, which derived its origin from the Postumii and Ceionii
of Rome. He entered the army early, and rose through all the gradations
of the service, being highly esteemed by M. Aurelius. He commanded in
Bithynia, at the time of the revolt of Cassius, and kept his legions in
their duty. Commodus gave him the command in Gaul and in Britain, and
designed him for his successor. Albinus was a strict and even severe
officer. He was fond of agriculture, on which subject he wrote some
books. He was charged with private vices, but probably without reason.
When the intelligence of the murder of Pertinax and the sale of the
empire to Julian reached the armies of Syria and Pannonia, their
generals saw the prospect of empire open to them as the avengers of the
emperor whom they had acknowledged. Each of them assembled his troops
and expatiated on the atrocity of the deed which had been perpetrated
at Rome, and each was saluted Augustus by his army and the subjects.
But while Niger, seeing all the provinces and allied princes of Asia
unanimous in his favour, and therefore indulging in confidence, remained
inactive at Antioch, Severus resolved to push on for the capital, and
possess himself of that seat of empire. Having secured the adherence of
the army of Gaul, he wrote a most friendly letter to Albinus, giving
him the title of cæsar, and adopting him as his son; by which he made
sure of his neutrality, if not of his co-operation. He then advanced by
rapid marches for Rome. Day and night he appeared in full armour, and
surrounded by a guard of six hundred chosen men, who never laid aside
their corslets. Resistance was nowhere offered; all hailed him as the
avenger of Pertinax.
The wretched Julian was filled with dismay when he heard of the approach
of the formidable Pannonian army. He made the senate declare Severus a
public enemy; he distributed large sums of money to the prætorians to
induce them to prepare to defend him; but these dissolute troops were
vigorous only for evil, and they could not resume the discipline they
had lost; the marines summoned from Misenum were still more inefficient;
and an attempt at training elephants for war in the oriental manner only
excited derision. Julian also caused an entrenchment to be run in front
of the city, and he secured the palace with strong doors and bars, as if
that could be maintained when all else was lost. He put to death Marcia,
Lætus, and all concerned in the murder of Commodus, probably with a view
to the favour of the soldiery.
Severus meantime had reached Ravenna and secured the fleet. Julian,
having made some fruitless attempts on his life, caused the senate to
declare him his associate in the empire. But Severus now disdained
such divided power; he had written to the prætorians, assuring safety
to all but the actual assassins of Pertinax, and they had accepted the
conditions. The consul, Silius Messalla, assembled the senate, and it
was resolved to put Julian to death and give the empire to Severus. When
those charged with the mandate for his death came to Julian, his only
words were, “What evil have I done? Whom have I slain?” He was then
killed by a common soldier, after a reign of only sixty-six days.
SEVERUS (L. SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS), 193-211 A.D.
[Sidenote: [193-194 A.D.]]
Severus was met at Interamna (Terni), in Umbria, seventy miles from
Rome, by deputies from the senate. He received them with favour, and
still continued to advance. As he drew nigh to Rome he commanded the
execution of the murderers of Pertinax, and he sent orders to the
remaining prætorians to leave their arms in their camp and come to meet
him, dressed as they were wont when attending the emperors on solemn
occasions. They obeyed, and Severus received them in the plain before
his camp, and addressed them from a tribunal, reproaching them with
the murder of Pertinax and the sale of the empire to Julian. He would
spare their lives, he said, but he would leave them nothing save their
tunics, and death should be the fate of any of them who ever came within
a hundred miles of the capital. While he was speaking his soldiers had
imperceptibly surrounded them; resistance was vain, and they quietly
yielded up their swords and their rich habiliments, and mournfully
retired. A detachment had meantime taken possession of their camp, to
obviate the effects of their despair.
Severus entered the city at the head of his army. The senate and people
met him with all the marks of joy and festivity. He ascended the Capitol
and worshipped; he then visited the other temples, and at length
proceeded to the palace. In the morning he met the senate, to whom he
made a speech full of the fairest promises, assuring them that Marcus
should be his model and swearing that he would put no senator to death
unless condemned by themselves--an oath which he kept but indifferently.
The usual titles and powers had been already decreed him; among these was
the title of Pertinax, of which prince he affected to be the avenger,
and the ceremony of whose deification he performed with the greatest
magnificence and solemnity. He distributed large sums of money among
the soldiers and people; he regulated the supply of provisions, and he
examined into the conduct of several governors of provinces, and punished
those who were proved guilty of oppression.
[Illustration: SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS
(From a bust in the Capitoline Museum)]
Severus restored the prætorian guards on a new model, and raised them
to four times their original number. Augustus had admitted none but
Italians into this body; the youth of Spain, Noricum, and Macedonia had
gradually been suffered to enlist in it; but Severus threw it open to
all, selecting the ablest and most faithful soldiers from the legions for
the higher pay and more easy life of the guardsmen.
[Sidenote: [194-197 A.D.]]
After a stay of only thirty days in Rome, Severus set out for the war
against Niger, who was master of all Asia and held the strong city of
Byzantium in Europe. The preparations on both sides occupied some time;
at length Severus took the field, and leaving part of his troops to carry
on the siege of Byzantium, he sent the main body of his army, under his
generals, over the Hellespont. Æmilianus, the proconsul of Asia, gave
them battle (194) near Cyzicus, but was defeated. He fled to Cyzicus, and
thence to another unnamed town, where he was seized and put to death.
Niger in person afterwards engaged the Severian general, Candidus,
between Nicæa and Cius. The contest was long and arduous, but victory
declared for the European army, and Niger, leaving troops to guard the
passes of Mount Taurus, hastened to Antioch to raise men and money.
The elements, however, favoured Severus; heavy falls of rain and snow
destroyed the defences constructed by Niger, and his troops were obliged
to abandon the passes and leave Cilicia open to the enemy.
Niger made his final stand at the Cilician Gates, as the pass from
Cilicia into Syria at the head of the Bay of Issus was named, a place
famous for the defeat of Darius by Alexander the Great. The troops of
Niger were more numerous, but they were mostly raw levies, yet they
fought with constancy; but the elements, we are told, again favoured the
Severians, a storm of rain and thunder came over the sea and blew full
in the faces of the Nigrians, and they fled with the loss of twenty
thousand men. Niger hastened to Antioch, and thence, on the approach of
the enemy, he fled to the Euphrates, in order to seek refuge with the
Parthians; but he had hardly quitted the town when he was seized, and his
head was cut off and sent to Severus.
CONQUESTS OF SEVERUS
This emperor, who had been in none of the preceding actions, now
appeared. He put to death all the senators who had borne arms for Niger;
he banished some, and seized the property of others. He put numbers of
inferior rank to death, and he treated severely Antioch and some other
towns. He then (195) led his army over the Euphrates, and his generals
employed this and a part of the following year in reducing the various
tribes and princes of Mesopotamia. While he was thus engaged (196), he
received the joyful intelligence of the surrender of Byzantium, which,
strong by situation and fortifications, had held out for nearly three
years against the valour and skill of the besieging army, and was only
subdued at last by famine. The magistrates and soldiers were all put to
death; the property of the inhabitants was sold; the walls and the public
edifices were demolished; Byzantium was deprived of its title of city,
and subjected as a village to the jurisdiction of Perinthus.
It is said that Severus was meditating an invasion of Parthia, but his
thoughts were more fixed on securing the succession to his children by
removing Albinus. Suitably to his character, he resolved to proceed
by treachery rather than by force. He wrote to Albinus in the most
affectionate terms, as to his dearest brother; but the bearers of the
letter were instructed to ask a private audience, as having matters
of greater importance to communicate, and then to assassinate him.
The suspicions of Albinus, however, being awaked, he put them to the
torture, and extracted the truth. He saw that he had no alternative,
that he must be emperor or nothing, and he therefore declared himself
Augustus and passed with his army over to Gaul. Severus returned with all
possible speed from the East, and advanced in person into Gaul against
his rival. He crossed the Alps in the depth of winter, and after some
minor engagements a decisive battle was fought on the 19th of February,
197, in the neighbourhood of Lyons. The united number of the combatants
was 150,000 men; the battle was long and dubious, the left wing on each
side was routed, but Severus, who now fought for the first time, brought
up the prætorians to the support of his beaten troops, and though he
received a wound and was driven back, he rallied them once more, and
being supported by the cavalry, under his general, Lætus, he defeated
and pursued the enemy to Lyons. The loss on both sides was considerable;
Albinus slew himself, and his head was cut off and brought to his
ungenerous enemy, who meanly insulted it; his wife and children were at
first spared, but they were soon after put to death, and their bodies
cast into the Rhine.
The city of Lyons was pillaged and burned; the chief supporters of
Albinus, both men and women, Romans and provincials, were put to death,
and their properties confiscated. Having spent some time in regulating
the affairs of Gaul and Britain, Severus returned to Rome, breathing
vengeance against the senate, for he knew that that body was in general
more inclined to Albinus than himself, and he had found, among his
rival’s papers, the letters of several individual senators. The very
day after his arrival he addressed them, commending the stern policy
of Sulla, Marius, and Augustus, and blaming the mildness of Pompey and
Cæsar, which proved their ruin. He spoke in terms of praise of Commodus,
saying that the senate had no right to dishonour him, as many of
themselves lived worse than he had done. He spoke severely of those who
had written letters or sent presents to Albinus. Of these he pardoned
five-and-thirty, but he put to death nine-and-twenty, among whom was
Sulpicianus, the father-in-law of Pertinax. These, however, were not the
only victims; the whole family of Niger, and several other illustrious
persons perished. The properties of all were confiscated; [wherefore the
usual charge of avarice was brought against Severus.]
[Sidenote: [197-202 A.D.]]
After a short stay at Rome Severus set out again for the East; for the
Parthians, taking advantage of his absence, had invaded Mesopotamia,
and laid siege to Nisibis. They retired, however, when they heard of
his approach, and Severus, having passed the winter in Syria making
preparations for the war, crossed the Tigris the following summer (198)
and laid siege to Ctesiphon. The Roman soldiers suffered greatly for
want of supplies, and were reduced to feed on roots and herbage, which
produced dysenteries, but the emperor persevered, and the city at length
was taken. All the full-grown males were massacred, and the women and
children, to the number of one hundred thousand, were sold for slaves. As
want of supplies did not permit the Romans to remain beyond the Tigris,
they returned to Mesopotamia, and on his way to Syria (199) Severus laid
siege to the redoubtable Atræ, but he was forced to retire, with a great
loss both of men and machines. He renewed the attack some time after (it
is uncertain in what year) but with as little success, being obliged to
retire with loss and disgrace from before the impregnable fortress.
Severus remained in the East till the year 202. He spent a part of that
time in Egypt, where he took great pleasure in examining the pyramids and
the other curiosities of that country. He at length returned to Rome, to
celebrate the marriage of his elder son.
The family of Severus consisted of his wife and two sons. The empress,
named Julia Domna, was a native of Emesa in Syria, whom Severus, who
was addicted to astrology, is said to have espoused because she had a
royal nativity. She was a woman of great beauty, sense, and spirit,
and a cultivator of literature and philosophy. The elder son was at
first named Bassianus; but his father, at the time of the war against
Albinus, created him cæsar, by the name of Aurelius Antoninus;[43] and
he was subsequently nicknamed Caracalla, which, to avoid confusion, is
the name employed by modern historians. In the year 198 Severus created
him augustus, and made him his associate in the empire. The name of the
emperor’s younger son was Geta, and he also was styled Antoninus.
The bride selected for Caracalla was Plautilla, the daughter of
Plautianus, the prætorian prefect. This man was a second Sejanus, and it
is very remarkable that two emperors of such superior mental powers as
Tiberius and Severus should have been so completely under the influence
of their ministers. Plautianus, like his master, was an African by birth;
he was of mean extraction, and he seems to have early attached himself
to the fortune of his aspiring countryman, whose favour and confidence
he won in an extraordinary degree; and when Severus attained the empire,
the power of Plautianus grew to such a height, that he, the historian
observes, was, as it were, emperor, and Severus captain of the guards.
Persons like Plautianus, when elevated, rarely bear their faculties
meekly. He was therefore proud, cruel, and avaricious; he was the chief
cause of so many persons of rank and fortune being put to death, in
order that he might gain their properties. He seized whatever took his
fancy, whether sacred or profane, and he thus amassed such wealth that
it was commonly said he was richer than Severus and his sons. Such was
his pride that no one dared approach him without his permission; and
when he appeared in public criers preceded him, ordering that no one
should stop and gaze at him, but turn aside and look down. He would
not allow his wife to visit or to receive visits, not even excepting
the empress. As his power was so great, he was of course the object of
universal adulation. The senators and soldiers swore by his fortune, and
his statues were set up in all parts of the empire. He was in effect more
dreaded and more honoured than the emperor himself.
[Sidenote: [202-208 A.D.]]
Such power is, however, unstable in its very nature, and the marriage
of his daughter with the son of the emperor caused the downfall of
Plautianus. The wedding was celebrated with the utmost magnificence; the
dower of the bride, we are told, would have portioned fifty princesses.
[But the usual allowances must be made for exaggerations of the
gossipers. Some of the tales related by Dion Cassius[e] are not worthy
of repetition even, though perhaps told in good faith. Doubtless all
details as to the death of Plautianus must be heard with reservations.]
Plautilla was haughty like himself; and Caracalla, who had been forced
to marry her, hated father and daughter alike, and resolved on their
destruction. He induced one Saturninus and two other centurions to
declare that Plautianus had ordered them and seven of their comrades to
murder Severus and his son. A written order to this effect was forged and
shown to the emperor, who forthwith summoned Plautianus to his presence.
He came suspecting nothing; he was admitted, but his followers were
excluded. Severus, however, addressed him in a mild tone, and asked him
why he had meditated killing him. Plautianus was expressing his surprise
and commencing his defence, when Caracalla sprang forward, tore his sword
from him, struck him with his fist, and would have slain him with his own
hand but for the interference of his father. He then made some of his
attendants despatch him, and sent his head to the empress and Plautilla,
a joyful sight to the one, a mournful spectacle to the other. Plautilla
and her brother Plautius were sent to the isle of Lipara, where they
lived in poverty and misery for the remainder of the reign of Severus,
and their murder was one of the first acts of Caracalla when emperor.
Severus now remained in Italy for a space of four years, actively engaged
in the administration of justice, the regulation of the finances, and
the correction of all kinds of abuses. He conferred the important post
of prætorian prefect on Papinian, the most renowned of jurisconsults;
and as it was now a part of this officer’s duty to try civil causes,
Papinian appointed as his assessors Paulus and Ulpian--names nearly as
distinguished as his own.
[Sidenote: [208-211 A.D.]]
In the year 208, Severus, though far advanced in years and a martyr
to the gout, set out for Britain, where the northern tribes had for
some time been making their usual incursions into the Roman part of
the island. Various motives are assigned for this resolution; the most
probable is that he wished to remove his sons from the luxury of Rome,
and to restore the relaxed discipline of the legions. He entered the
wild country north of the Roman wall, cut down the woods, and passed
the marshes, and succeeded in penetrating to the extremity of the
island, though with a loss, it is said, of fifty thousand men; for the
barbarians, who would never venture to give him battle, hung on his
flanks and rear, formed numerous ambuscades, and cut off all stragglers.
In order to check their future incursions, he repaired and strengthened
the mound or wall which Hadrian had constructed from the shore of Solway
Firth to the mouth of the Tyne.
Severus had associated his second son Geta in the empire the year he came
to Britain. But the two brothers hated each other mortally, and Caracalla
made little secret of his resolution to reign alone. This abandoned
youth, it is said, even attempted to kill his father in the very sight
of the Roman legions and the barbarian enemies; for as the emperor was
riding one day to receive the arms of the Caledonians, Caracalla drew his
sword to stab him in the back; those who were about them cried out, and
Severus, on turning round, saw the drawn sword in the hand of his son.
He said nothing at the time, but when he returned he called Caracalla
with Papinian and the chamberlain Castor to him in private, and causing
a sword to be laid before him, rebuked his son, and then told him if he
desired his death to slay him with his own hand, or to order Papinian
the prefect to do it, who of course would obey him as he was emperor.
Caracalla showed no signs of remorse; and though Severus had often blamed
M. Aurelius for subordinating his public duty to his private affections
in the case of Commodus, he himself exhibited even more culpable weakness.
Severus was once more about to take the field against the barbarians, who
had renewed their ravages (211), when a severe fit of the gout carried
him off at York (Eboracum), in the sixty-sixth year of his age and the
eighteenth of his reign.
Though this emperor had passed the greater part of his life in civil
rather than military employments, it is remarkable that his government
relied more on the arms of the soldiery than that of any of his
predecessors. We have seen the important changes which he made in
the prætorian guards, whom he also seems to have been the first to
employ on foreign service. Hitherto the legions of the frontiers had
maintained something of the appearance of those of the republic, but
Severus allowed them to have their wives and families in their camps,
and to wear gold rings like the knights. He also increased their pay and
accustomed them to donatives. His dying counsel to his sons, “Be united,
enrich the soldiers, despise all others,” revealed his principles of
despotic government.[c] In judging Severus, however, it is necessary
to recall that the entire period through which we are now passing--up
to the time of Diocletian--is in a sense an epoch of revolution, the
contending forces being the senate, the emperor, the populace of Rome,
the prætorians, and the legions. The weakness and brutality of Commodus
precipitated the revolution. The prætorians not only trampled upon the
senate and the residents of the capital, but also asserted the right to
make and to unmake emperors. This was the first stage of the revolution.
In the second stage, beginning with Septimius Severus, the legions,
jealous of the pampered guard, fought against it, against the senate,
and against one another. This civil war, after rendering the prætorians
helpless and depriving the senate of its last remnant of authority,
decided that the sovereign should be a general, the choice of the
soldiers who protected the empire. Thus far the result of the revolution
was in a great degree just and beneficent. It is to be noted that Severus
was the anti-senatorial candidate for the imperial office,--hence his
unfavourable treatment at the hands of the historian. Though harsh in the
punishment of political offences, Severus was in other respects a great
and admirable ruler. The fact that the three great jurists, Papirian,
Ulpian, and Paulus co-operated with him speaks volumes in his favour.
He strengthened the empire, encouraged education, and made his reign an
epoch in wise legislation.[a]
CARACALLA (M. AURELIUS ANTONINUS CARACALLA), 211-217 A.D.
[Sidenote: [211-212 A.D.]]
In spite of the efforts of Caracalla to the contrary, the army proclaimed
the two sons of Severus joint-emperors. The Caledonian war was abandoned,
and the emperors returned to Rome to celebrate the obsequies of their
father. On the way Caracalla made various attempts on the life of his
brother, but Geta was protected by the soldiery, of whom he was the
favourite. The brothers adopted every precaution against each other
on the road, and at Rome they divided the palace, securing all the
approaches to their several portions. The court, the camp, the senate,
and the people were divided in their affections to the brothers, neither
of whom was in reality deserving of the attachment of any man of worth;
but Geta had a certain degree of mildness and humanity, of affability and
of devotion to literature, which gave him the advantage over his more
ferocious brother, and gained him the affection of their mother Julia.
[Sidenote: [212-216 A.D.]]
As there seemed no probability of concord between the brothers, a
division of the empire was proposed and arranged, by which Caracalla
was to retain the European portion, while Geta was to rule in Asia and
Egypt, residing at Antioch or Alexandria. This arrangement, it is said,
was defeated by the tears and entreaties of Julia; and Caracalla, bent on
reigning alone, then resolved on the murder of his brother. At his desire
(212) Julia invited her two sons to a meeting in her apartments. Geta
came suspecting no danger; suddenly some centurions, whom Caracalla had
placed in concealment, rushed out and fell on him. He threw himself on
his mother’s bosom for protection, but her efforts to save him were vain;
she herself received a wound in the arm, and was covered with the blood
of her murdered son. When the deed was done Caracalla hastened to the
camp, crying all the way that a plot had been laid for his life. He flung
himself down before the standards in the camp chapel to return thanks for
his preservation; and then addressed the soldiers, assuring them that
he was one of themselves, and depended on them alone. He promised to
raise their pay one half, and to distribute among them all the treasures
accumulated by his father. Such arguments could not fail of convincing,
and he was readily proclaimed sole emperor. He thence proceeded to the
camp at the Alban Mount, where he found more difficulty, as the soldiers
there were much attached to Geta; but by dint of promises he gained them
also to acknowledge him.
Followed by the soldiers, Caracalla then proceeded to the senate house;
he had a cuirass under his robe, and he brought some of his military
followers into the house. He justified his conduct by the example of
Romulus and others; but he spoke of Geta with regret, and gave him a
magnificent funeral, and placed him among the gods.
The unhappy empress dared not lament the death of her son; she was even
obliged to wear an aspect of joy for the safety of the emperor, who
all through his reign continued to treat her with respect, and to give
her a share in the affairs of state. But on all the other friends and
favourers of Geta, both civil and military, he let his vengeance fall
without restraint, and the number of those who perished on this account
is estimated at twenty thousand. Among these the most regretted was the
great Papinian. Caracalla, it is said, wished him to compose an apology
for the murder of Geta, but he replied with virtuous intrepidity that it
was not so easy to excuse a parricide as to commit it. A soldier cut off
his head with an axe, and Caracalla rebuked him for not having used a
sword. Fadilla, the surviving daughter of M. Aurelius, was put to death
for having lamented Geta. Helvius Pertinax, son of the emperor, Thrasea
Priscus, a descendant of the great lover of liberty, and many other
persons of rank and virtue were involved in the common ruin. To such an
extent it is said did Caracalla carry his hatred to his brother that the
comic poets no longer ventured to employ the name of Geta in their plays.
Like Commodus, the emperor devoted most of his time to the circus and
amphitheatre. In order to defray his enormous expenses he increased
the taxes and confiscated all the properties he could lay hold on.
When his mother one day blamed him for bestowing such enormous sums on
the soldiers, and said that he would soon have no source of revenue
remaining, he laid his hand on his sword, and said, in the true spirit of
despotism, “Never fear, mother; while we have this we shall not want for
money.”
One of the acts of Caracalla at this time was to confer the rights of
citizenship, of which the old republicans had been so chary, on all the
subjects of the empire.
His restless temper soon urged him to seek for glory in a contest with
the Germans. He marched to the Rhine and obtained (by purchase as it
would seem) some advantages over the confederacy of the Alamanni, whose
name now first appears in history. He henceforth wonderfully affected the
Germans, even wearing a blond periwig to resemble them; and he placed
a number of them about him as guards. It is thought that it was on the
occasion of his return to Rome from Gaul after this war (214) that he
distributed among the people the long Gallic coats named _caracals_,
whence he derived the appellation by which he is usually known. After
his German war, he marched to the Danube (215), visited the province of
Dacia, and had some skirmishes with the neighbouring barbarians. He then
passed over to Asia with the intention of making war on the Parthians,
and spent the winter at Nicomedia.
As he professed an especial regard for the memory of Achilles, he visited
the remains of Ilium, offered sacrifices at the tomb of the hero, led
his troops in arms round it, and erected a brazen statue on its summit.
One of his freedmen happening to die, or being poisoned by him for the
purpose, he acted over again the Homeric funeral of Patroclus, pouring,
like Achilles, wine to the winds to induce them to inflame the pyre, and
cutting off the hair, with which nature had furnished him most scantily,
to cast into the flames. In thus honouring Achilles, he sought to follow
the example of Alexander the Great, a prince of whom his admiration was
such that he erected statues of him everywhere; and he formed a phalanx
of sixteen thousand Macedonians armed as in the time of that prince,
whom he styled the Eastern Augustus. He even persecuted the peripatetic
philosophers, because Aristotle was accused of being concerned in the
death of his royal pupil.
[Sidenote: [216-217 A.D.]]
In the spring (216) Caracalla set out for Antioch. The Parthians averted
a war by the surrender of two persons whom he demanded. By treachery
he made himself master of the persons of the king of Armenia and his
sons, and of the prince of Edessa; but the Armenians defeated the troops
which he sent against them under Theocritus, a common player, whom he
had raised to the dignity of prætorian prefect. He then proceeded to
Alexandria with the secret resolve of taking a bloody vengeance on the
inhabitants for their railleries and witticisms against him on the
occasion of the murder of his brother. When he approached the city the
people came forth to meet him with all the marks of joy and respect,
and he received them graciously, and entered the town. Then pretending
a design of forming a phalanx in honour of Alexander, he directed all
the youth to appear in the plain without the walls. When they had done
as required, he went through them as it were to inspect them; and then
retiring to the temple of Serapis, he gave the signal to his soldiers to
fall on them and massacre them. The slaughter was dreadful both within
and without the walls, for no age or rank was spared. Trenches were dug,
and the dead and dying were flung into them in order to conceal the
extent of the massacre. He deprived the city of all its privileges, and
its total ruin was only averted by his death.
After this slaughter of his helpless subjects, Caracalla returned to
Antioch, and in order to have a pretext for making war on the Parthians
he sent to Artabanus their king, demanding his daughter in marriage. The
Parthian monarch having refused this strange suit, Caracalla invaded and
ravaged his territories; and having taken Arbela, where were the royal
tombs, he opened them and scattered the bones of the monarchs which were
deposited within them. He then took up his winter quarters in Edessa.
In the spring (217) both sides were engaged in active preparation for
war; when a conspiracy in his own army terminated the life and reign of
the Roman emperor. Of the two prætorian prefects, the one, Adventus, was
a mere soldier, the other, Macrinus, was a civilian well versed in the
laws. The rough and brutal Caracalla often ridiculed him on this account,
and even menaced his life; and Macrinus, having got sure information
that his destruction was designed, resolved to anticipate the tyrant.
He accordingly communicated his designs to some of the officers of the
guards, among whom was one Martial, whom Caracalla had mortally offended
by refusing him the post of centurion, or, as others say, by putting his
brother to death. Accordingly on the 8th of April, 217, as the emperor
was riding from Edessa to Carrhæ in order to worship at the temple of the
Moon, and had retired and alighted for a private occasion, Martial ran up
as if called, and stabbed him in the throat. The emperor fell down dead.
Martial mounted his horse and fled; but he was shot by a Scythian archer
of the guard.
MACRINUS (M. OPILIUS MACRINUS), 217-218 A.D.
[Sidenote: [217-218 A.D.]]
When the news of the murder of the emperor was divulged, Macrinus was
the first to hasten to the spot, and to deplore his death. As Caracalla
had left no heir, the army was uncertain whom to proclaim emperor in his
stead, and the empire was for four days without a chief. Meantime the
officers who were in the interests of Macrinus used all their influence
with their men, and on the fourth day he was saluted emperor. He accepted
the office with feigned reluctance, and he distributed, according to
custom, large sums of money among the soldiers. Adventus was the bearer
of the ashes of Caracalla to Rome, where they were deposited in the tomb
of the Antonines; and Macrinus and the senate were obliged to yield to
the instances of the soldiers, and place the monster among the gods.
The senate received with joy the letter in which Macrinus announced his
elevation to the empire, and they decreed him all the usual titles and
honours.
While these changes were taking place in the Roman Empire, Artabanus had
passed the Tigris with a large army. Macrinus having in vain proposed
terms of accommodation, led out his legions, and some fighting took place
in the neighbourhood of Nisibis, in which the advantage was on the side
of the Parthians; but as they now began to feel the want of supplies,
and were anxious to return home, they readily listened to the renewed
proposals of the Roman emperor, and a peace was concluded. Macrinus then
led his troops back to Antioch for the winter.
[Illustration: ROMAN GENERAL
(From a vase)]
Macrinus, as we have already observed, was not a military man. He was
a native of Cæsarea in Africa (Algiers), of humble origin, and he was
indebted for his elevation to his countryman Plautianus. He was a man
of an amiable disposition, and a sincere lover of justice. He therefore
turned his attention chiefly to civil regulations, and he made some
necessary reforms and excellent laws; but he was timid by nature, and in
his anxiety to serve and advance his friends, he did not sufficiently
consider their fitness for the employments which he bestowed on them.
He committed a great and irreparable fault in not setting out for Rome
at once, and in keeping the army all together in Syria; and he further
commenced too soon a necessary, but imprudent attempt at bringing back
the discipline of the legions to what it had been under Severus; for
though he applied it only to recruits and did not interfere with the old
soldiers, these last apprehended that the reform would at length reach
themselves, and they became highly discontented. This feeling of the
soldiers was soon taken advantage of, and a rival set up to Macrinus.
The empress Julia was at Antioch at the time of the murder of Caracalla.
Macrinus wrote to her in very obliging terms; but in the first transports
of her grief at the death of her son or the loss of her power, she had
given herself several blows on the breast, and thus irritated a cancer
with which she was afflicted, and her death ensued. Her sister, named
Mæsa, who had lived at court during the last two reigns and had acquired
immense wealth, retired by order of Macrinus to her native town of Emesa.
She had two daughters named Soæmias and Mamæa, each of whom was a widow
with an only son; that of the former was named Bassianus; he was now
a handsome youth of seventeen years of age, and the influence of his
family had procured for him the lucrative priesthood of the Sun, who
was worshipped at Emesa under the title of Elagabalus. The Roman troops
who were encamped near the town used to frequent the temple, and they
greatly admired the comely young priest, whom they knew to be a cousin
of their lamented Caracalla. The artful Mæsa resolved to take advantage
of that feeling, and she made no scruple to sacrifice the reputation
of her daughters to the hopes of empire: she therefore declared (what
was perhaps true) that Caracalla used to cohabit with her daughters in
the palace, and that Bassianus was in reality his son. Her assertion,
backed with large sums of money and lavish promises of more, found easy
acceptance with the soldiers. On the night of the 15th of May, 218, she
and her daughter and grandson, and the rest of her family, conducted by
their eunuch Gannys, a man of great talent, stole out of the city and
proceeded to the camp, where they were joyfully received; and Bassianus
was proclaimed emperor by the title of M. Aurelius Antoninus. The camp
was immediately put into a state of defence against a siege; and numbers
of the other soldiers hastened to sustain the cause of the son of
Caracalla.
Macrinus sent the prætorian prefect Ulpius Julianus against the rebels.
This officer was successful in his first attack on their camp; but having
neglected to push his advantage, he gave the enemy time for tampering
with his troops, a part of whom abandoned him; and he was taken and
slain. Macrinus had meantime advanced as far as Apamea, where he declared
his son Diadumenianus, a boy of only ten years of age, Augustus, and
took this opportunity of promising a large gratuity to the army; he also
wrote against Bassianus to the senate and governors of provinces. But
instead of advancing rapidly against the rebels, he fell back to Antioch,
whither they speedily followed him, and he was forced to give them battle
near that town. The troops of Bassianus were ably disposed by the eunuch
Gannys, who now in arms for the first time in his life showed the talents
of a general. But the prætorians on the side of Macrinus fought with
such determined valour that the rebels were on the point of flying, when
Mæsa and Soæmias rushed out and stopped them; and Bassianus, sword in
hand, led them on to the combat. Still the prætorians gave not way, and
victory would have declared for Macrinus had he not shamefully fled in
the midst of the battle. His troops when assured of his flight declared
for Bassianus.
Macrinus fled in disguise, and never stopped till he came to Chalcedon,
where he was taken and put to death, and his innocent son shared his
fate. His reign had lasted only fourteen months.[c]
ELAGABALUS (NARIUS AVIBUS BASSIANUS), 218-222 A.D.
[Sidenote: [218-222 A.D.]]
Bassianus now hastened to assert his claim to the succession. He was
entirely successful; ascending the throne under title of M. Aurelius
Antoninus Elagabalus, or, as the Latins called him, Heliogabalus. Dion
Cassius[e] (as preserved by Xiphilinus[i]) has left us a picturesque
account of the accession and brief reign of this effeminate youth, whose
name has become a proverb for sensuality of the most degenerate type.
We turn to his account, making such omissions as the restrictions of
modern taste demand;--the classical writers, as we have had occasion to
note heretofore, adjudged the limits between frankness and prudery by
standards quite different from ours.
This narrative of Dion Cassius has the unique interest of being the
account of an exact contemporary. The author was a member of the Roman
senate, at the time of Elagabalus’ accession. The following year he was
governor of Pergamus and Smyrna. “He had conversed with Macrinus after
his elevation, and yet was in the senate when the letters of Macrinus
were read on the elevation of Elagabalus” (Clinton[g]).
Here, then, is the story of Rome’s most degenerate emperor, as told by
this contemporary witness. The account is the most authoritative one that
has come down to us; but it will be observed that allowance must be made
for current superstitions in parts of the narrative.[a]
DION CASSIUS ON THE ACCESSION AND REIGN OF ELAGABALUS
Avitus [Elagabalus], who is called pseudo Antoninus, or the Assyrian,
or, again, Sardanapalus or Tiberinus (the last name having been bestowed
upon him after his body was cast into the Tiber), made his entry next
day [after the defeat of Macrinus] into Antioch, having promised five
hundred drachmæ to the soldiers if they refrained from pillaging the
city, as they greatly desired to do. This sum he of course exacted from
the inhabitants. He likewise wrote a letter to Rome, in which, among
other matters befitting the occasion, he heaped invectives upon Macrinus
for the obscurity of his origin and his conspiracy against Antoninus,
and made lavish promises, not only to the soldiers but to the senate and
populace (pretending to act in all things after the example of Augustus,
whose age he compared with his own, and of Marcus Antoninus); and, in
allusion to the censures passed upon him by Macrinus, he added, “He took
upon himself to censure my youth, he who nominated his six-year-old son
emperor.”
Such was his message to the senate. To that assembly and to the legions
he despatched an account of what had taken place among the soldiers,
together with the letter written by Macrinus to Maximus, in order further
to inflame their hatred of Macrinus and their attachment to his own
person. In his letter to the senate and his address to the people he
styled himself emperor, Cæsar, the son of Antoninus, the grandson of
Severus, the pious, the fortunate, Augustus, proconsul, prince invested
with tribunician authority. He is also reported to have said, “Let them
give me no titles which have to do with war; in ‘the pious’ and ‘the
fortunate’ I have enough.”
A number of persons having, in both a public and a private capacity,
committed offences in word and deed against him and against Caracalla,
he declared that he would punish no man whatever; nor did he punish any,
although in the rest of his conduct he carried debauchery, injustice,
and cruelty to such lengths that certain customs wholly unknown at Rome
were practised there as having come down from our forefathers, and that
crimes committed in single instances by other men and in other places
there flourished freely for the three years and nine months of his reign,
reckoning from the battle which put him in possession of the sovereign
power.
In Syria he shed the blood of Nestor and of Fabius Agrippinus, governor
of the province, and of the chief of the knights who had been about
Macrinus, and at Rome he acted likewise towards those who had been
most strongly attached to the cause of the late monarch; in Arabia he
slew Picas Cærianus, to whom the government of that country had been
committed, for not having immediately come over to his side; in Cyprus,
Claudius Attalus, a former governor of Thrace, who had been expelled from
the senate by Severus at the time of the war with Niger, restored to his
honours by Tarantus,[44] and placed by fate at the head of the province
of Cyprus, merely because he had given offence to Comazon. For while the
latter was serving in Thrace Attalus had placed him among the oarsmen as
a punishment for dereliction of duty.
Thus the pseudo Antoninus put Attalus to death,--though he had written
concerning him to the senate saying that he had recalled him to Rome,
whence he had been banished by Macrinus, together with Julius Asper,--and
Sulla, a former governor of Cappadocia, because he was involved in
certain intrigues and because, having been summoned to Rome, he had gone
before some Celtic soldiers on their way home from Bithynia, where they
had passed the winter, and had stirred up some disorders. Such were the
motives from which these two personages perished, no word thereof being
sent to the senate. As for Seius Carus, the grandson of Fuscianus, a
former prefect of Rome, the reason was that he was rich and noble, and
a man of ability; the pretext, that he had incited the soldiers of the
Alban legion to mutiny.
The monarch being his only accuser, the trial of Seius was held in the
palace, where he was slain. Valerianus Pætus was put to death because he
had caused portraits of himself to be made in gold as ornaments for his
mistresses. This action brought upon him the charge of intending to go
into Cappadocia, a province bordering on his native land (for he was a
Galatian) to stir up a rebellion, and having for this purpose made gold
pieces bearing his own image.
Besides these, Silius Messalla and Pomponius Bassus were put to death by
the senate on a charge of having disapproved of the emperor’s conduct,
as he said. He did not hesitate to write to the senate, which he styled
the examiner of his life and the censor of what took place in the palace:
“As for the proofs of their conspiracy, I have not sent them, for it
would be idle to read them, since the men are already dead.” Messalla
had frequently expressed his opinions forcibly in the senate, for which
reason the emperor had commanded his attendance in Syria, as though he
were indispensable to him, but really lest he should cause an opinion
different to his own to prevail in that assembly; as for Bassus, he had
a beautiful wife of noble birth (a granddaughter of Claudius Severus and
of Marcus Antoninus); whom Elagabalus himself wedded, not permitting
her (such was the terror with which he inspired her) to weep for her
husband’s unhappy fate. We shall presently hear of espousals in which
he played the part of bridegroom and bride, for he gave himself out as
man or woman indifferently, and behaved with the utmost shamelessness in
either character.
The murder of Gannys, who had paved the way for the rebellion, had
brought him to the camp and procured him the victory over Macrinus--of
Gannys, his foster-father and guardian, which he committed in Nicomedia,
caused him to be regarded from the very beginning of his reign as the
most impious of men. Gannys lived an effeminate life and loved to receive
presents, but, far from doing injury to any man, he conferred many
benefits upon numbers of persons; and, what was still more important, he
was zealously devoted to his sovereign and enjoyed the favour of Mæsa and
Soæmias. But this was not the reason why the emperor put him to death.
His real motive was that Gannys obliged him to observe the rules of
temperance and wisdom. The monarch, with his own hand, dealt Gannys the
first wound, since none of the soldiers dared to begin the attack. In
such wise did matters go.
Thus much we have said of the blood that was shed. As for the things
done by Elagabalus contrary to the customs of our forefathers, they were
matters of small account and did no great harm; unless, indeed, it be
that he introduced innovations contrary to our usage, by assuming of his
own accord, as I have said, titles of office, substituting himself for
Macrinus in the consulate without being elected, and so forth.
He wedded Cornelia Paula, desiring, as he said, to become a father
quickly; he, who was not so much as a man. At the celebration of these
nuptials, not the senate and the knights alone, but even the wives of
the senators received liberal presents. There was a banquet for the
populace which cost 150 drachmæ, and one for the soldiers which cost
more than 100. He also gave gladiatorial shows, at which he was present
clad in the toga prætexta, and he appeared in the same garb at the
votive games. He likewise caused a great number of wild beasts to be
slaughtered, among the rest an elephant and fifty-one tigers, a larger
number than had ever been exhibited at one time. Afterwards, having put
away Paula under the pretext that she had a blemish on her body, he
wedded Aquilia Severa, in open violation of the laws, for with flagrant
impiety he defiled a woman who was a vestal. He was bold enough to say,
“I have done it that of myself, the pontifex maximus, and of her, the
vestalis maxima, divine children may be born”; nor did he hesitate to
boast of these sacrilegious acts, for which he should have been first
scourged with rods in the Forum and then cast into prison and put to
death. Nevertheless he did not keep Severa long, but took another wife,
and then another and another, after which he went back to her.
[Illustration: A ROMAN MATRON
(From the Capitol)]
Among his most flagrant violations of the law was the worship of the
god Elagabalus, not only by reason of the introduction of a foreign
divinity into Rome and the granting of new and gorgeous honours to such
a divinity, but by reason of the superiority which the emperor gave him
over Jupiter; and the priesthood of Elagabalus which he caused to be
bestowed upon himself, by reason of his circumcision and abstinence from
pork (as though this abstinence made the worship of this god purer),
and also by reason of the barbarous vestments worn by Syrian priests,
in which he was often to be seen, a fact which had much to do with his
surname of the Assyrian.
As the height of absurdity he bestowed a wife upon Elagabalus, as though
the god had need of a wife and children. Moreover, since this wife ought
not to be poor or of humble birth, he chose the Urania of Carthage, had
the goddess brought from thence, established her in the palace, and
exacted wedding gifts for her from all the subjects of his empire, as he
had done for his own wives.
Nevertheless this Sardanapalus, who must needs unite the gods by regular
marriages, himself led the most irregular of lives. He married several
wives, and had relations with many other women with whom he formed no
legal tie.
Such was his conduct to all who had to do with him; yet this did not
prevent him from playing the part of a bride to a favourite, by name
Hierocles, on whom he wished to bestow the title of cæsar, himself being
called imperatrix. Being opposed by his grandmother in this design,
he broke out into threats against her, and by his shameful conduct no
less than for other reasons incurred the hatred of the soldiery. These
extravagances were the cause of his ruin.
He was destined soon to receive the due reward of his infamy. By the
things he did and suffered to be done he brought upon himself the hatred
of the people and of the soldiers, the main prop of his throne, and was
finally assassinated by them in his own camp. The thing came to pass on
this fashion. He had brought his cousin Bassianus into the senate, and,
taking his place beside Mæsa and Soæmias, he adopted him as his son;
he boasted of his good fortune in having become all at once the father
of such a child, as though he himself were already far more advanced
in years, and he declared that he had no need of any other son, since
his house was henceforth safe from extinction. Elagabalus himself had
commanded him to take this course and to bestow on his cousin the name
of Alexander. For my own part I am convinced that these occurrences
were actually the work of a god, not because of the emperor’s words but
because of the saying that one Alexander, from Emesa, would succeed him,
and also because of what took place in Upper Mysia and in Thrace.
Shortly before this time a genius appeared, I know not how, in the
countries about the Ister, claiming to be the celebrated Alexander of
Macedon, and bearing the form and all the equipments of that prince.
Starting thence he traversed Mœsia and Thrace after the manner of
Bacchus, accompanied by four hundred men, armed with thyrsi and
wearing goatskins. They did no harm, and, as those who then dwelt in
Thrace are convinced, everything was supplied them, both lodging and
provisions, at the expense of the cities; for no one dared oppose him
either by word or deed, neither chief, nor soldier, nor procurator,
nor provincial governor; and in open daylight, as he had announced, he
advanced in procession as far as Byzantium. Thence, returning upon his
footsteps, he crossed over into Chalcedon, and there, having performed
certain sacrifices by night and buried a wooden horse in the ground,
he disappeared. These facts I learned in Asia, as I have said, before
anything was done at Rome with regard to Bassianus.
As long as Sardanapalus loved his cousin he himself remained alive,
but when he began to suspect all men and learned that popular favour
was turning towards Alexander, he changed his purpose and did all he
could to get rid of him. He was not only unsuccessful in an attempt
to destroy him, but came near to perishing himself, for Alexander was
jealously guarded by his mother, his grandmother, and the soldiery. The
prætorian guards, becoming aware of his intentions, stirred up a fearful
riot, which did not cease until Sardanapalus, coming into the camp with
Alexander, appealed to them with urgent entreaties, yielded up, under
compulsion, the companions of his debaucheries whose death they demanded,
only pleading piteously in favour of Hierocles, and finally succeeded in
mollifying them.
Afterwards, having again laid snares for Alexander, and having gone with
the latter to the camp to appease a tumult which had been excited among
the prætorians by this attempt, he perceived that they were watching him
with intent to put him to death, and strove to flee while his mother and
Alexander’s, more openly at strife than before, were endeavouring to
excite the soldiers. He tried to escape by hiding in a chest, but was
caught and slain at the age of eighteen. His mother perished with him.
Their heads were cut off and their bodies stripped of their ornaments and
dragged through the streets of the city; then that of the woman was cast
forth unburied, and that of Sardanapalus thrown into the Tiber. The god
Elagabalus was banished from Rome.[e] The administration has not suffered
greatly through Elagabalus, for while he abandoned himself to his sensual
worship, he left the government in the hands of his prudent grandmother
Mæsa.[a]
ALEXANDER SEVERUS (M. AURELIUS ALEXANDER SEVERUS), 222-235 A.D.
[Sidenote: [222-232 A.D.]]
Both the senate and the army joyfully concurred in the elevation of
Alexander Severus; and the former body, lest any competitor should
appear, hastened to confer on him all the imperial titles and powers.
On account of his youth and his extremely amiable disposition he was
entirely directed by his grandmother and mother, but Mæsa dying soon
after his accession, the sole direction of her son fell to Mamæa. [The
statues and coins of this woman show that she was a pagan, though
the contrary has been inferred from the correspondence with Origen.]
Nevertheless in her guidance of public affairs she exhibited a spirit of
wisdom, justice, and moderation such as had not appeared in any preceding
empress. Her enemies laid to her charge the love of power and the love
of money, and blamed her son for deferring too much to her; but their
accusations are vague, and no act of cruelty caused by avarice stains the
annals of this reign.
The first care of Mamæa was to form a wise and upright council for her
son. Sixteen of the most respectable of the senate, with the learned
Ulpian, the prætorian prefect, at their head, composed this council, and
nothing was ever done without their consent and approbation. A general
system of reformation was commenced and steadily pursued. All the absurd
acts of the late tyrant were reversed. His god was sent back to Emesa;
the statues of the other deities were restored to their temples; the
ministers of his vices and pleasures were sold or banished, some of the
worst were drowned; the unworthy persons whom he had placed in public
situations were dismissed, and men of knowledge and probity put in their
places.
Mamæa used the utmost care to keep away from her son all those persons by
whom his morals might be corrupted, and in order to have his time fully
occupied she induced him to devote the greater part of each day to the
administration of justice, where none but the wise and good would be his
associates. The good seed fortunately fell into a kindly soil. Alexander
was naturally disposed to every virtue, and all his efforts were directed
to the promotion of the welfare of the empire over which he ruled.
The first ten years of the reign of this prince were passed at Rome
and devoted to civil occupations. His daily course of life has been
thus transmitted to us. He usually rose early and entered his private
chapel (_lararium_), in which he had caused to be placed the images of
those who had been teachers and benefactors of the human race, among
whom he included the divine founder of the Christian religion. Having
performed his devotions he took some kind of exercise, and then applied
himself for some hours to public business with his council. He then read
for some time, his favourite works being the _Republics_ of Plato and
Cicero, and the verses of Horace, and the _Life of Alexander the Great_,
whom he greatly admired. Gymnastic exercises, in which he excelled,
succeeded. He then was anointed and bathed, and took a light breakfast,
usually of bread, milk, and eggs. In the afternoon he was attended by
his secretaries, and he heard his letters read and signed the answers to
them. The business of the day being concluded, his friends in general
were admitted, and a frugal and simple dinner followed, at which the
conversation was mostly of a serious instructive nature, or some literary
work was read out to the emperor and his guests.
The dress of Alexander was plain and simple, his manners were free from
all pride and haughtiness; he lived with the senators on a footing of
friendly equality, like Augustus, Vespasian, and the wiser and better
emperors. He was liberal and generous to all orders of the people, and he
took an especial pleasure in assisting those persons of good family who
had fallen into poverty without reproach. Among the virtues of Alexander
was the somewhat rare one in that age of chastity. His mother early
caused him to espouse a lady of noble birth named Memnia, whom however
he afterwards divorced and even banished to Africa. The accounts of this
affair differ greatly. According to one, the father of the empress formed
a conspiracy against his son-in-law, which being discovered, he was put
to death and his daughter divorced. Others say that as Alexander showed
great respect for his father-in-law, Mamæa’s jealousy was excited, and
she caused him to be slain and his daughter to be divorced or banished.
It appears that Alexander soon married again.
We have already observed that a portion of the civil jurisdiction had
fallen to the prætorian prefects. This imposed a necessity that one
of them should be a civilian, and Mamæa had therefore caused this
dignity to be conferred on Ulpian. From the love of law and order which
distinguished this prefect, he naturally sought to bring back discipline
in the prætorian camp; the consequence was that repeated attempts were
made on his life, and the emperor more than once found it necessary to
cast his purple over him to save him from the fury of the soldiers. At
length (228) they fell on him in the night; he escaped from them to the
palace, but they pursued and slaughtered him in the presence of the
emperor and his mother.
Some slight actions on the German and Moorish frontiers were the only
occupation given to the Roman arms during the early years of the reign
of Alexander, but in the year 232 so powerful an enemy menaced the
oriental provinces of the empire, that the presence of the emperor became
absolutely requisite in the East.
The Parthians, whom we have had such frequent occasion to mention, are
said to have been a Scythian (_i.e._, Turkish) people of the north of
Persia, who, taking advantage of the declining power of the Macedonian
kings of Syria, cast off their yoke (250 B.C.), and then gradually made
themselves masters of the whole of Persia. Their dominion had now lasted
for five hundred years, and their power had from the usual causes, such
as family dissensions, contested successions, and such like, been long
on the decline; and in the fourth year of Alexander Severus (226) a
native Persian, named Artaxerxes (Ardashir), who pretended to be of the
ancient royal line but who is said to have been of humble birth and a
mere soldier of fortune, raised a rebellion against the Parthian king,
Artabanus. Fortune favoured the rebel, and Artabanus was defeated and
slain. Artaxerxes then assumed the tiara, and his line, which existed
till the Mohammedan conquest, was named the Sassanian, from the name of
his father.
[Sidenote: [232-235 A.D.]]
Affecting to be the descendant of the ancient Achæmenians, Artaxerxes
sought to restore Persia to its condition under those princes. The Magian
or Light religion resumed the rank from which it had fallen under the
sway of the Parthians, and flourished in its pristine glory. As the
dominions of the house of Cyrus had extended to the coasts of the Ægean
Sea, Artaxerxes ordered the Romans to quit Asia, and when his mandate was
unheeded he led his troops over the Tigris. But his ill fortune induced
him to attack the invincible Atræ, and he was forced to retire with loss
and disgrace. He then turned his arms against the Medes and some other of
the more northern tribes, and when he had reduced them he again invaded
Mesopotamia (232). Alexander now resolved to take the command of his
troops in person. He left Rome, followed by the tears and prayers of the
people, and proceeded through Illyricum to the East. On his march the
strictest discipline was maintained, while every attention was paid to
the wants of the soldiers and care taken that they should be abundantly
supplied with clothes and arms. The emperor himself used the same fare
as the men, and he caused his tent to be thrown open when he was at his
meals that they might perceive his mode of life.
[Illustration: CENTURION IN STREET COSTUME SHOWING THE WAY HIS MEDALS
WERE WORN]
Alexander halted at Antioch to make preparations for the war; meantime
he sent an embassy with proposals of peace to Artaxerxes. The Persian
in return sent four hundred of his most stately men splendidly clothed
and armed to order the Romans to quit Asia; and if we can believe
Herodian (for the circumstance is almost incredible), Alexander was so
regardless of the laws of nations as to seize and strip them, and send
them prisoners to Phrygia. It is also said that while he was at Antioch,
finding that some of the soldiers frequented the Paphian grove of Daphne,
he cast them into prison; and that when a mutiny broke out in the legion
to which they belonged, he ascended his tribunal, had the prisoners
brought before him, and addressed their comrades, who stood around in
arms, dwelling on the necessity of maintaining discipline. But when his
arguments proved of no effect, and they even menaced him with their arms,
he cried out, in imitation of Cæsar, “Quirites, depart, and lay down your
arms.” The legion obeyed, and the men, no longer soldiers, took up their
abode in the houses of the town instead of the camp. After a month the
emperor was prevailed on to pardon them, but he punished their tribunes
with death; and this legion was henceforth equally distinguished by
valour and fidelity.
In imitation of Alexander the Great, the emperor formed six of his
legions into a phalanx of thirty thousand men, to whom he gave higher
pay. He also had, like that conqueror, bodies of men distinguished by
gold-adorned and silver-adorned shields--chrysoaspids and argyroaspids.
The details of the war cannot be learned with any certainty. One
historian says that Alexander made three divisions of his army; one of
which was to enter Media through Armenia, another Persia at the junction
of the Tigris and Euphrates, while the emperor was in person to lead
the third through Mesopotamia, and all were to join in the enemy’s
country; but that, owing to the timidity of Alexander, who loitered on
the way, the second division was cut to pieces, and the first nearly all
perished while retreating through Armenia in the winter. This account
labours under many difficulties; for the emperor certainly triumphed on
his return to Rome; and in his speech to the senate on that occasion he
asserted that of 700 war elephants which were in the enemy’s array he
had killed 200, and taken 300; of 1000 scythed chariots he had taken
200; and of 120,000 heavy-armed horsemen he had slain 10,000, besides
taking a great number of prisoners.[c] Notwithstanding this report to the
senate, the Romans were probably beaten in this war, though the Persians
likewise suffered great loss. The latter made no further attempts on
Mesopotamia for some years.[a]
The Germans had taken advantage of the absence of the emperor and the
greater part of the troops in the East, to pass the Rhine and ravage
Gaul. Alexander therefore, leaving sufficient garrisons in Syria, led
home the Illyrian and other legions, and having celebrated a triumph for
the Persian War at Rome, where he was received with the most abundant
demonstrations of joy, he departed with a large army for the defence of
Gaul. The Germans retired at his approach; he advanced to the Rhine and
took up his winter quarters in the neighbourhood of Mogontiacum (Mainz),
with the intention of opening the campaign beyond the river in the spring
(235).
The narratives of the events of this reign are so very discordant that
we cannot hope often to arrive at the real truth. In no part are they
more at variance than in their account of the circumstances of the
emperor’s death. We can only collect that, whether from his efforts to
restore discipline, from the intrigues of Maximin, an ambitious officer
who had the charge of disciplining the young troops, or from some other
cause, a general discontent prevailed in the army, and that Alexander was
assassinated in his tent, either by his own guards or by a party sent for
the purpose by Maximin, and that his mother and several of his friends
perished with him. The troops forthwith proclaimed Maximin emperor, and
the senate and people of Rome, deeply lamenting the fate of the virtuous
Alexander, were forced to acquiesce in the choice of the army.
Alexander had reigned thirteen years. Even the historian least partial
to him acknowledges that towards his subjects his conduct was blameless,
and that no bloodshed or unjust condemnations stain the annals of his
reign. His fault seems to have been a certain degree of effeminacy and
weakness, the consequence probably of his Syrian origin, which led to his
extreme submission to his mother, against whom the charges of avarice and
meanness are not perhaps wholly unfounded.[45]
Dion Cassius, whose history ends with this reign, gives the following
view of the numbers and disposition of the legions, at this period. Of
the twenty-five which were formed by Augustus, only nineteen remained,
the rest having been broken or distributed through the others; but the
emperors, from Nero to Severus inclusive, had formed thirteen new ones,
and the whole now amounted to thirty-two legions. Of these, three were
in Britain, one in Upper and two in Lower Germany, one in Italy, one in
Spain, one in Numidia, one in Arabia, two in Palestine, one in Phœnicia,
two in Syria, two in Mesopotamia, two in Cappadocia, two in Lower and
one in Upper Mœsia, two in Dacia, and four in Pannonia, one in Noricum,
and one in Rætia. He does not tell us where the two remaining ones were
quartered, neither does he give the number of men in a legion at this
time, but it is conjectured to have been five thousand.[c]
RENAN’S CHARACTERISATION OF THE PERIOD
[Sidenote: [180-235 A.D.]]
On principles less disastrous than those of unbridled military despotism,
the empire might have survived the ruin of the Roman spirit in the death
of Marcus Aurelius, might have given peace to Christianity a century
earlier and have avoided the streams of blood shed to no purpose by
Decius and Diocletian. The part of the Roman aristocracy was played
out; after having worn folly threadbare in the first century, it had
worn virtue threadbare in the second. But the hidden forces of the great
Mediterranean confederacy were not exhausted. Thus, after the downfall
of the political edifice founded on the sovereignty of the family of
Augustus, a provincial dynasty, that of the Flavians, was found to
restore the empire, even as after the downfall of the edifice built up
by the adoptions of the Roman aristocracy, there were found provincials,
Orientals and Syrians, to restore the great association in which all men
found peace and profit. Septimius Severus did, without moral grandeur but
not without glory, what Vespasian had done.
It is true that the representatives of this new dynasty are not to be
compared to the great emperors of the second century. Even Alexander
Severus, who equals Antoninus and Marcus in kindliness, is very inferior
to them in intelligence and greatness of soul. The principles of the
government are detestable; men outbid one another for the favour of the
legions; a price is set on mutiny; none approaches the soldier except
with purse in hand. Military despotism never took a more shameless form;
but military despotism can be long-lived.
Side by side with hideous spectacles, under the Syrian emperors, what
reforms do we find! What progress in legislation! What a day was that
when, under Caracalla, all free men dwelling within the empire attained
equal rights!
We must not exaggerate the advantages offered by such equality; yet in
politics words are never wholly void of meaning. Many excellent things
had been inherited. The philosophers of the school of Marcus Aurelius had
disappeared, but their place was taken by the masters of jurisprudence.
Papinian, Ulpian, Paul, Gaius, Modestinus, Florentinus, Marcian, during
years of execrable evil, created masterpieces and actually brought the
law of the future into being. The Syrian emperors, though far inferior to
Trajan and to the Antonines as far as political traditions are concerned,
inasmuch as they were not Romans and had none of the Roman prejudices,
often give proof of an openness of mind which would have been impossible
to the great emperors of the second century, all of whom were intensely
conservative. They permitted and even encouraged colleges or syndicates.
They went to extreme lengths in this matter, and they would have
organised the trade guilds as castes with a distinctive garb. They flung
the doors of the empire wide open. One of them, that noble and pathetic
figure Alexander Severus, the son of Mamæa, almost equalled in his
plebeian goodness the patrician virtues of the great age; the loftiest
ideas pale before the honest effusions of his heart.
It was in religion above all that these Syrian emperors inaugurated a
liberality of mind and a tolerance unknown before.[46] The Syrian women
of Emesa, Julia Domna, Julia Mæsa, Julia Mamæa, Julia Soæmias, beautiful,
intelligent, venturous to the point of utopianism, are hampered by no
tradition or conventionality. They dared to do what no Roman woman had
ever done; they entered the senate, took part in its deliberations, and
practically governed the empire, dreaming of Semiramis and Nitocris. It
was a thing that such a woman as Faustina would not have done for all
her frivolity; she would have been checked by tact, by the sense of
absurdity, by the rules of good Roman society. The Syrian women hesitated
at nothing. They had a senate of women, which enacted every sort of
absurdity. The Roman religion seemed to them cold and meaningless.
They had no family reasons for attachment to it, and being more in
harmony, imaginatively, with Christianity than with Italian paganism,
they delighted in the tales of the travels of gods upon the earth.
Philostratus enchanted them with his _Apollonius_; perhaps they had a
secret leaning towards Christianity.
During this time the last noble ladies of the older society, such as the
elderly daughter of Marcus Aurelius, honoured by all men and put to death
by Caracalla, lived in obscurity, looking on at an orgy which formed so
strange a contrast to the memories of their youth.
The provinces, and those of the East more particularly, which were far
more active and enlightened than those of the West, gained a decided
ascendency. Elagabalus was certainly a madman, but nevertheless his
chimerical idea of a central monotheistic religion, established
in Rome and absorbing all others, shows that the narrow circle of
Antonine conceptions had been to a great extent broken through. Mamæa
and Alexander Severus were to go further; whilst the jurisconsults
continued to transcribe their old and ferocious maxims against liberty
of conscience with the calmness of habit, the Syrian emperor and his
mother studied Christianity, and manifested sympathy with it. Not content
with granting security to the Christians, Alexander, with touching
eclecticism, introduced the name of Jesus among his household gods.
Peace seemed made, not, as under Constantine, by the abasement of one
party, but by a generous reconciliation. In all this there was certainly
a daring attempt at reform, inferior in rationality to that of the
Antonines, but more likely to succeed because it was much more popular
and took the provinces and the East more into account.
In such a democratic work, people with no ancestors, such as these
Africans and Syrians, had more chance of success than rigid men of
irreproachable bearing, like the aristocratic emperors. But the innate
viciousness of the imperial system revealed itself for the tenth time.
Alexander Severus was assassinated by the soldiers on the 19th of
March, 235. It was clear that the army would tolerate none but tyrants.
The empire had fallen successively from the Roman aristocracy to
provincial officers, now it passed to subordinate officers and military
assassins. Whereas, until the time of Commodus, the murdered emperors are
intolerable monsters, it is now the good emperor, the man who desires to
restore some kind of discipline and represses the crimes of the army,
who is inevitably marked for death.[j] Still, it cannot be denied that
there was need of strong, able commanders on the eve of the barbarian
invasions. With all his virtues, Alexander was a weakling, unfit to rule
at such a time. With his death the military revolution entered upon
a third stage. It became more than ever necessary to strengthen the
imperial office, because, it having been decided that the emperor should
be a soldier, the choice of the soldiers, rival claimants of the office
were threatening, by their civil strife, to break up the Roman world into
a multitude of warring states.[a]
FOOTNOTES
[41] Herodian[d] tells us of a list of those destined to be put to death
taken by a child, and read by Marcia, as in the case of Domitian. But he
is a very inaccurate writer, and Dion[e], who was a senator and in Rome
at the time, could hardly have been ignorant of the circumstance if it
were true.
[42] [During this reign the disciplined legions under able commanders
still protected the frontiers. Most of the empire was peaceful and
prosperous. The government still carried on great public works and
benevolently succoured the afflicted. The Christians were tolerated, and
those of the sect who were in prison were released. The great official
machine was little disturbed by the caprices of the emperor.]
[43] Severus, not content with expressing his veneration and respect for
the memory of M. Aurelius, had the folly to pretend to be his son. “What
most amazed us,” says Dion,[e] “was his saying that he was the son of
Marcus and brother of Commodus.”
[44] [Tarantus was a nickname given to Caracalla after his death. It was
the name of a gladiator of ignoble aspect.]
[45] _The Life of Alexander_, by Lampridius, in the _Augustan
History_,[f] is, as Gibbon observes, “the mere idea of a perfect prince,
an awkward imitation of the Cyropædia.” [The best rulers had to bear the
charge of avarice.]
[46] [The substitution of the Syro-Phœnician sun-god by Elagabalus
naturally recalls the monotheistic reformation of Amenhotep IV
(Khun-aten) in Egypt more than sixteen centuries before. In Amenhotep’s
day, Syrian influence predominated at the Egyptian court, as it did at
Rome in the beginning of the third century A.D. That the culminating
result of this should have been so much the same in both cases is a
matter that seems to call for at least passing notice.]
[Illustration]