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previous: Lucius Verus This webpage reproduces part of the Historia Augusta published in the Loeb Classical Library, 1921 The text is in the public domain. This page has been carefully proofread and I believe it to be free of errors. If you find a mistake though, please let me know! next: Commodus

(Vol. I) Historia Augusta

 p233  The Life of Avidius Cassius

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

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

3 1 But let us briefly portray the nature and character of the man; for not very much can be known about those men whose lives no one has dared to render illustrious through fear of those by whom they were overcome. 2 We will add, moreover, how he came to the throne, and how he was killed, and where he was conquered. 3 For I have undertaken, Diocletian Augustus, to set down in writing the lives of all who have held the imperial title​9 whether rightfully or without right, in order that you may become acquainted with all the emperors that have ever worn the purple.

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

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

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

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

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

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

4 When his plan of making himself emperor had been put into effect, he forthwith appointed prefect of the guard the man who had invested him with the imperial insignia. This man was later put to death by the army​22 against the wishes of Antoninus. The army also slew Maecianus, in whose charge Alexandria had been placed; he had joined Cassius​23 in the hope of sharing the sovereignty with him, and he too was slain against the wishes and without the knowledge of Antoninus.

5 For all that, Antoninus was not seriously angered on learning of this revolt, nor did he vent his rage on Cassius' children or on his kin. 6 The senate, however, pronounced him a public enemy and confiscated his property.​24 But Antoninus was unwilling that this should be forfeited to the privy-purse, and so, at the bidding of the senate, it was delivered to the public treasury. 7 And there was no slight consternation at Rome; for many said that Avidius Cassius would advance on the city in the absence of  p249 Antoninus, who was singularly loved by all but the profligates, and that he would ravage it like a tyrant, especially because of the senators who had declared him an enemy to the state and confiscated his property. 8 The love felt for Antoninus was most clearly manifested in the fact that it was with the consent of all save the citizens of Antioch that Avidius was slain. 9 Antoninus, indeed, did not so much order his execution as suffer it; for it was clear to all that he would have spared him had it been in his power. 8 1 And when his head was brought to Antoninus he did not rejoice or exult,​25 but rather was grieved that he had lost an opportunity for showing mercy; for he said that he had wished to take him alive, so that he might reproach him with the kindness he had shown him in the past, and then spare his life. 2 Finally, when some one said that Antoninus deserved blame because he was so indulgent toward his enemy and his enemy's children and kin, and indeed toward every one whom he had found concerned in the outbreak, and added furthermore, "What if Cassius had been successful?" the Emperor said, it is reported: "We have not worshipped the gods in such a manner, or lived such lives, that he could overcome us". 3 Thereupon he pointed out that in the case of all the emperors who had been slain there had been reasons why they deserved to die, and that no emperor, generally recognized as good, had been conquered or slain by a pretender, 4 adding that Nero had deserved to die and Caligula had forfeited his life, while neither Otho nor Vitellius had really wished to rule.​26 5 He expressed similar  p251 sentiments concerning Galba also, saying that in an emperor avarice was the most grievous of all failings.​27 6 And lastly, he said, no rebels had succeeded in overcoming either Augustus, or Trajan, or Hadrian, or his own father, and, although there had been many of them, they had been killed either against the wishes or without the knowledge of those emperors. 7 Antoninus himself, moreover, asked the senate to refrain from inflicting severe punishment on those men who were implicated in the rebellion; he made this request at the very same time in which he requested that during his reign no senator be punished with capital punishment​28 — an act which won him the greatest affection. 8 Finally, after he had punished a very few centurions, he gave orders that those who had been exiled should be recalled.​29 9 1 The citizens of Antioch also had sided with Avidius Cassius, but these, together with certain other states which had aided Cassius, he pardoned, though at first he was deeply angered at the citizens of Antioch and took away their games and many of the distinctions of the city, all of which he afterwards restored. 2 To the sons of Avidius Cassius Antoninus heº presented half of their father's property,​30 and his daughters he even graced with gold and silver and jewels. 3 To Alexandria, Cassius' daughter, and Druncianus, his son-in‑law, he gave unrestricted permission to travel wherever they liked. 4 And they lived not as the children of a pretender but as members of the senatorial order and in the greatest security, as was shown by orders he gave that not even in a law-suit should they be taunted with the fortunes of their family, and by his convicting certain people of personal affront who  p253 had been insulting to them. He even put them under the protection of his uncle by marriage.

5 If any one wishes, moreover, to know the whole of this story, let him read the second book of Marius Maximus on the life of Marcus, in which he relates everything that Marcus did as sole emperor after the death of Verus. 6 For it was during this time that Cassius rebelled, as a letter written to Faustina shows, from which the following is an extract:​31 7 "Verus told me the truth about Avidius, that he desired to rule. For I presume you heard what Verus' messengers reported about him. 8 Come, then, to our Alban villa, so that with the help of the gods we may prepare for everything, and do not be afraid." 9 It would appear from this that Faustina knew nothing of the affair, though Marius Maximus, wishing to defame her, says that it was with her connivance that Cassius attempted to seize the throne.​32 10 Indeed, we have also a letter of hers to her husband in which she urged Marcus to punish Cassius severely. 11 A copy of Faustina's letter to Marcus reads: "I shall come to our Alban villa to‑morrow, as you command. Yet I urge you now, if you love your children, to punish those rebels with all severity. 12 For soldiers and generals have an evil habit of crushing others if they are not crushed themselves." 10 1 Another letter of this same Faustina to Marcus reads similarly: "When Celsus revolted,​33 my mother, Faustina, urged your father, Pius, to deal righteously first with his own kin, and then with strangers. 2 For no emperor is righteous who does not take thought for his wife and children. 3 You can see how young our son Commodus is; our son-in‑law Pompeianus​34 is an elderly man and a foreigner besides.  p255 4 Consider well what you will do about Avidius Cassius and his accomplices. 5 Do not show forbearance to men who have shown no forbearance to you and would show none either to me or to your children, should they be victorious. 6 I shall follow you on your way presently; I have not been able to come to the Formian villa because our dear Fadilla​35 was ill. 7 However, if I shall fail to find you at Formiae, I will follow on to Capua, a city which can furnish help to me and our children in our sickness. 8 Please send the physician Soteridas to Formiae. I have no confidence in Pisitheus, who does not know how to treat a young girl. 9 Calpurnius has brought me a sealed letter: I shall reply to it, if I linger on here, through Caecilius, the old eunuch, a man to be trusted, as you know. 10 I shall also report through him, in a verbal message, what Cassius' wife and children and son-in‑law are said to be circulating about you."

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

I have named our son-in‑law Pompeianus consul for next year."​38 Thus did Antoninus write to his wife.

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

13 1 The senate honoured this act of mercy with these acclamations:​39 2 "God save you, righteous Antoninus. God save you, merciful Antoninus. 3 You have desired what was lawful, we have done what was fitting. We ask lawful power for Commodus. Strengthen your offspring. Make our children free from care. No violence troubles righteous rule. 4 We ask the tribunician power​40 for Commodus Antoninus. We beseech your presence. 5 All praise to your philosophy, your patience, your principles, your magnanimity, your innocence! You conquer your foes within, your prevail over those without, the gods are watching over you," and so forth.

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

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

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The Editor's Notes:

1 In reality his name was C. Avidius Heliodorus. A native of Cyrrhus in Syria (see Dio, LXXI.22.2), he was made imperial secretary by Hadrian, and was prefect of Egypt under Antoninus; see CIL III.6025 = Dessau, Ins. Sel. 2615. He is probably to be identified with the philosophus Heliodorus, mentioned in Hadr. xvi.10. The expression novus homo (p233)was regularly used, as here, to denote the man who was the first of his family to hold public office.

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2 As chief centurion of a legion, or primus pilus; the expression is regularly used in this sense; see Maxim. iv.4; Firm. xiv.2; Prob. iii.2.

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3 See note to Ver. viii.4.

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4 i.e. C. Cassius Longinus and C. Cassius Parmensis.

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5 It is now generally agreed that the letters and other alleged documents contained in this vita are pure forgeries, and the same is in general true about the other documents of this sort in the Historia Augusta; see Intro., p. xx.

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6 Pius. The allusion to Pius as the grandfather of Verus is in itself enough to prove the letter a forgery, since it presupposes that Verus was adopted by Marcus, which was not (p235)the case; see note to Marc. v.1. The forger is not consistent, for in c. ii.5 Hadrian is referred to as Verus' grandfather.

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7 Trajan.

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8 It is attributed to Domitian in Suet. Dom. xxi.

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9 Cf. Ael. i.1.

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10 Apparently in allusion to Catiline's plan for the murder of Cicero, although Sallust's description of Catiline seems also to have been in the writer's mind.

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11 The τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν in 12 books.

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12 As the type of a stern disciplinarian and successful general.

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13 Known only from this citation.

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14 Also brought as a reproach against the Syrian army in Alex. liii.2.

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15 A line from Ennius' Annales, quoted in Cicero, de Rep. v; see Augustinus, Civ. Dei II.21.

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16 Discinctus means "deprived of his sword-belt" — a punishment inflicted upon disobedient soldiers.

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17 An attempt to summarize the important and brilliant campaign of 164‑166, in which Cassius drove the Parthians out of Syria, overran Mesopotamia, and finally captured Ctesiphon, the Parthian capital; see Marc. ix.1; Ver. vii.1‑2; Dio, LXXI.2.

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18 See Marc. xxi.2 and note.

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19 After his victorious campaign against the Parthians he was appointed governor-general of all the eastern provinces; see Dio, LXXI.3.1.

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20 So also Marc. xxiv.6, and Dio, LXXI.22.3 f. Dio adds the not improbable story that Faustina bade Cassius hold himself in readiness, in case aught befell Marcus, to marry her and seize sovereignty, and that when a false report of Marcus' death was brought he declared himself emperor. According to c. ix.9, the version in the text was given by Marius Maximus.

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21 i.e. on receipt of the report of his death; see last note.

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22 Cf. Marc. xxv.4.

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23 The prefect of Egypt, Flavius Calvisius, declared for Cassius; see Dio, LXXI.28.3. Evidence that Egypt recognized him as emperor is afforded by a papyrus, dated in the (p247)first year of Imperator Caesar Julius Avidius Cassius; see Bull. Inst. Egypt., vii (1896), p123.

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24 Cf. Marc. xxiv.9.

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25 Cf. Marc. xxv.3. According to Dio, LXXI.27.2‑3, Cassius was killed by two petty-officers, who then took his head to Marcus.

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26 Nero committed suicide in order to escape death at the hands of the guard after Galba had been proclaimed emperor and he himself had been declared a public enemy by the senate; see Suet. Nero, xlvii‑xlix. Caligula was assassinated by two officers of the guard; see Suet. Cal. lviii. Otho committed suicide after his defeat by the army of Vitellius (p249)(Suet. Otho xi), and Vitellius was murdered by the soldiers of Vespasian (Suet. Vit. xvii).

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27 Galba's refusal to give the expected donative to the troops so embittered the soldiers that they refused to swear allegiance to him (Suet. Galb. xvi); his stinginess also caused the guard to join Otho in the conspiracy by which he was murdered (id., xvii f.).

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28 Cf. Marc. xxv.5‑6 and note.

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29 Cf. Marc. xxv.7 f.

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30 Cf. Marc. xxvi.12.

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31 See note to c. i.7.

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32 See note to c. vii.1.

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33 Nothing is known of any such revolt.

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34 See Marc. xx.6.

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35 Arria Fadilla, fourth child of Marcus, born about 150.

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36 Cf. Hadr. xxiv.4; Pius ii.4.

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37 Horace, Odes, I.17.13.

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38 The fact that the second consul­ship of Pompeianus (see Marc. xx.6) was in 173, two years prior to Cassius' revolt, shows that this letter is not genuine.

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39 For similar outcries alleged to have taken place in the senate see Com. xviii‑xix; Alex. vi‑xi.

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40 Bestowed in 177; see Marc. xxvii.5, and note.

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41 c. iii.4.

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42 Evidently an error for C. Cassius Longinus; see note to c. i.4.

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43 i.e., they will be forced to disgorge their ill-gotten gains.

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