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Part 2

This webpage reproduces part of the
Historia Augusta

published in the Loeb Classical Library,
1924

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,
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The two Maximini

(Vol. II) Historia Augusta

 p285  The Life of Severus Alexander
Part 3

53 1   Legamen ad paginam Latinam Now in order to show his strictness I have thought it right to insert one military harangue,​218 which reveals his methods of dealing with the troops. 2 After his arrival in Antioch the soldiers began to use their leisure in the women's baths and the other pleasures,​219 but when Alexander learned of it he ordered all who did so to be arrested and thrown into chains. 3 When this was made known, a mutiny was attempted by that legion whose members were put in chains. 4 Thereupon, after bringing all those who had been thrown into chains to the tribunal, he mounted the platform, and, with the soldiers standing about him, and that too in arms, he began as follows: 5 "Fellow-soldiers, if, in spite of all, such acts as have been committed by your comrades are to you displeasing, the discipline of our ancestors still governs the state, and if this is weakened, we shall lose both the name and empire of the Romans. 6 For never shall such things be done in my reign which were but recently done under that filthy monster. 7 Soldiers of  p287 Rome, your companions, my comrades and fellow-soldiers, are whoring and drinking and bathing and, indeed, conducting themselves in the manner of the Greeks. Shall I tolerate this longer? Shall I not deliver them over to capital punishment?" 8 Thereupon an uproar arose. And again he spoke: "Will you not silence that shouting, needed indeed against the foe in battle but not against your emperor? 9 Of a certainty, your drill-masters have taught you to use this against Sarmatians, and Germans, and Persians, but not against him who gives you rations presented by the men of the provinces, and who gives you clothing and pay. 10 Therefore cease from this fierce shouting, needed only on the battle-field and in war, lest I discharge you all today with one speech and with a single word, calling you "Citizens." But I know not whether I should even call you Citizens; 11 for you are not worthy to be members of the populace of Rome, if you do not observe Rome's laws." Legamen ad paginam Latinam 54 1 And when they clamoured still more loudly and even threatened him with their swords, he continued: "Put down your hands, which, if you are brave men, you should raise against the foe, for such things do not frighten me. 2 For if you slay me, who am but one man, the state and the senate and the Roman people will not lack someone to take vengeance for me upon you." 3 And when they clamoured none the less at this, he shouted, "Citizens, withdraw, and lay down your arms." 4 Then in a most marvellous fashion they laid down their arms and also their military coats, and all withdrew, not to the camp, but to various lodgings. 5 And on that occasion, particularly, it was seen how much could be accomplished by his strictness and discipline. 6 Finally, his  p289 attendants and those who stood about his person carried the standards back to the camp, and the populace gathering up the arms bore them to the Palace.​220 7 However, thirty days afterwards, before he set out on the campaign against the Persians, he was prevailed upon to restore the discharged legion to its former status; and it was chiefly through its prowess in the field that he won the victory. Nevertheless, he inflicted capital punishment on its tribunes because it was through their negligence that the soldiers had revelled at Daphne or else with their connivance that the troops had mutinied.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 55 1 And so, having set out from there against the Persians with a great array, he defeated Artaxerxes,​221 a most powerful king. In this battle he himself commanded the flanks, urged on the soldiers, exposed himself constantly to missiles, performed many brave deeds with his own hand, and by his words encouraged individual soldiers to praiseworthy actions. 2 At last he routed and put to flight this great king, who had come to the war with seven hundred elephants, eighteen hundred scythed chariots, and many thousand horsemen. Thereupon he immediately returned to Antioch and presented to his troops the booty taken from the Persians, commanding the tribunes and generals and even the soldiers to keep  p291 for themselves the plunder they had seized in the country. 3 Then for the first time Romans had Persian slaves, but because the kings of the Persians deem it a disgrace that any of their subjects should serve anyone as slaves, ransoms were offered, and these Alexander accepted and then returned the men, either giving the ransom-money to those who had taken the slaves captive, or depositing it in the public treasury.

56 1   Legamen ad paginam Latinam After this, returning to Rome, he conducted a most splendid triumph​222 and then first of all addressed the senate in the following speech: 2 From the transactions of the senate for the seventh day before the Kalends of October:​223 "Conscript Fathers, we have conquered the Persians. There is no need of lengthy rhetoric; you should know, however, this much, namely, what their arms were, and what their array. 3 First of all, there were seven hundred elephants provided with turrets and archers and great loads of arrows. Of these we captured thirty, we have left two hundred slain upon the field, and we have led eighteen in triumph. 4 Moreover, there were scythed chariots, one thousand eight hundred in number. Of these we could have presented to your eyes two hundred, of which the horses have been slain, but since they could easily be counterfeited we have refrained from so doing. 5 One hundred and twenty thousand of their cavalry we have routed, ten thousand of their horsemen clad in full mail, whom they call cuirassiers,​224 we have slain in battle, and  p293 with their armour we have armed our own men. We have captured many of the Persians and have sold them into slavery, 6 and we have re‑conquered the lands which lie between the rivers, those of Mesopotamia I mean, abandoned by that filthy monster.​225 7 Artaxerxes, the most powerful of kings, in fact as well as in name, we have routed and driven from the field, so that the land of the Persians saw him in full flight, and where once our ensigns were led away in triumph,​226 there the king himself fled apace leaving his own standards. 8 These are our achievements, Conscript Fathers, and there is no need of rhetoric. Our soldiers have come back enriched, and in victory no one remembers his hardships. 9 It is now your part to decree a general thanksgiving, that we may not seem to the gods to be ungrateful." Then followed the acclamations of the senate:​227 "Alexander Augustus, may the gods keep you! Parthicus in truth, Persicus in truth. We behold your trophies, we behold your victories too. 10 Hail to the youthful Emperor, the Father of his Country, the Pontifex Maximus! Through you we foresee victory on every hand. He conquers who can rule his soldiers. Rich is the senate, rich the soldiers and rich the Roman people! Legamen ad paginam Latinam 57 1 Thereupon he dismissed the senate and went up to the Capitolium, and then, after offering sacrifices and dedicating the tunics of the Persians in the temple, he delivered the following address: "Fellow-citizens, we have conquered the Persians. We have brought back the soldiers laden with riches. To you we promise a largess, and to‑morrow we will give games in the Circus in celebration of our victory over the Persians."

 p295  2 All this we have found both in the annals and in many writers. Some assert, however, that he was betrayed by one of his slaves and did not conquer the king at all, but, on the contrary, was forced to flee in order to escape being conquered. 3 But those who have read most of the writers are sure that this assertion is contrary to the general belief. It is also stated that he lost his army through hunger, cold, and disease, and this is the version given by Herodian,​228 but contrary to the belief of the majority.

4 After this, with the greatest glory and accompanied by the senate, the equestrian order, and the whole populace, with the women and children, particularly the wives of the soldiers, crowding about him on every side, he went up on foot to the Palace, while behind him four elephants drew his triumphal chariot. 5 And the populace kept lifting him up in their arms, and for four hours they scarcely permitted him to put his foot to the ground, while on all sides they kept shouting out, "Secure is Rome, secure is the commonwealth, for secure is Alexander." 6 On the following day he gave games in the Circus and spectacles on the stage, and immediately thereafter he presented a largess​229 to the Roman people. 7 And he founded an order of girls and boys, to be called Mamaeanae and Mamaeani, as Antoninus had founded the Faustinianae.230

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 58 1 Other victories also were won — in Mauretania Tingitana by Furius Celsus, in Illyricum by Varius Macrinus, Alexander's kinsman,​231 and in Armenia by Junius Palmatus, and from all these places laurelled letters​232 were sent to Alexander. When these had  p297 been read, on different occasions, before the senate and the people and wished-for tidings had arrived from Isauria also, honorary cognomina taken from the names of all these lands were conferred on the Emperor.​233 2 Moreover, those who had won success in the administration of the state received the consular insignia,​234 with the addition of priestly offices and grants of land for any who were poor and now burdened with age. 3 The captives taken from the various nations, if their childhood or youth permitted it, were given to the Emperor's friends, but those who were of royal blood or noble rank were enrolled for warfare, though not for any of great importance. 4 The lands taken from the enemy were presented to the leaders and soldiers of the frontier-armies,​235 with the provision that they should continue to be theirs only if their heirs entered military service, for, he said, men serve with greater zeal if they are defending their own lands too. 5 He added to these lands, of course, both draught-animals and slaves, in order that they might be able to till what they had received, and that it might not come to pass that, through a lack of inhabitants or the old age of the owners, the lands bordering on the country of the barbarians should be left uninhabited, for this, he thought, would be most discreditable.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 59 1 After this he was regarded with the greatest affection by both the populace and the senate, and when he set out for the war against the Germans,236  p299 though all hoped for victory, they were unwilling to let him depart and escorted him on his way for a distance of a hundred or a hundred and fifty miles. 2 It was, indeed, a very grave matter both for the state and for himself that Gaul should be plundered by German inroads, 3 and his sense of humiliation was increased by the thought that now that the Parthians had been defeated a nation should still be hanging over the neck of the commonwealth, which, even under insignificant emperors, had seemed to be in a state of subjection. 4 Therefore he hastened against the enemy by long marches, and the soldiers, too, were eager. But on his arrival he found that there also the legions were ready to mutiny, and accordingly he ordered them to be disbanded. 5 The Gallic temper, however, which is rough and surly and frequently a source of danger to emperors, would not brook his excessive strictness,​237 which seemed all the greater after Elagabalus. 6 And finally, while he was in quarters with a few men in Britain, or, according to some, in Gaul, in a village named Sicilia,​238 some soldiers murdered him. This was not done in response to any general sentiment but rather as the act of an assassin, the ringleaders being men who had thriven on the gifts of Elagabalus and would not tolerate a stricter prince. 7 Many, indeed, relate that he was slain by some recruits despatched by Maximinus​239 (to whom they had been assigned for their training), and many others give different accounts. 8 Nevertheless, it is generally agreed that those who killed him were soldiers, for they hurled many insults at him, speaking of him as a child and of his mother as greedy and covetous.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 60 1 He ruled for thirteen years and nine days, and he lived for twenty-nine years, three months, and  p301 seven days.​240 2 He did everything in accordance with his mother's advice, and she was killed with him.

3 The omens portending his death were as follows: When he was praying for a blessing for his birthday the victim escaped, all covered with blood, and, as he was standing in the crowd dressed in the clothes of a consideration, it stained the white robe which he wore. 4 In the Palace​241 in a certain city from which he was setting out to the war, an ancient laurel-tree of huge size suddenly fell at full length. 5 Also three fig-trees, which bear the kind of figs known as Alexandrian,​242 fell suddenly before his tent-door, for they were close to the Emperor's quarters. 6 Furthermore, as he went to war a Druid prophetess cried out in the Gallic tongue, "Go, but do not hope for victory, and put no trust in your soldiers." 7 And when he mounted a tribunal in order to make a speech and say something of good omen, he began in this wise: "On the murder of the Emperor Elagabalus". 8 But it was regarded as a portent that when about to go to war he began an address to the troops with words of ill-omen.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 61 1 All these portents, however, he looked upon with the profoundest contempt. And having set out for the war, he was slain in the aforementioned village in the following manner. 2 He had lunched, as it happened, in his usual way​243 at a general meal, that is to say, in an open tent and on the same food that was used by the troops — for no other kind of food was found in the tent by the soldiers when they tore it to pieces. 3 And as he was resting after the meal, at about the seventh hour, one of the Germans, who was performing the duties of guard, came in while all were asleep; 4 the Emperor, however, who alone  p303 was awake at the moment, saw him and said, "What is it, comrade? Do you bring news of the enemy?" 5 But the fellow, terrified by his fears and having no hope that he could escape, seeing that he had burst into the Emperor's tent, went out to his comrades and urged them to kill their rigorous prince. 6 Whereupon a great number in arms quickly entered the tent, and after slaying all who, though unarmed, resisted, they stabbed the Emperor himself with many thrusts.​244 7 Some relate that nothing at all was said and that the soldiers merely cried out, "Go forth, depart," and thus slaughtered this excellent man. 8 But all the military array, which Maximinus afterwards led to Germany, was Alexander's, and it was a very powerful one, too, by reason of the soldiers from Armenia, Osroene, and Parthia,​245 composed, as it was, of men of every race.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 62 1 Alexander's contempt for death is clearly shown both by the intrepid spirit with which he always put down the soldiery, and also by the following incident. When 2 Thrasybulus the astrologer, with whom he was on the most friendly terms, told him that it was his destiny to fall by the sword of a barbarian, he first expressed his joy, thinking that he was fated to die in battle in a manner worthy of an emperor; 3 then, speaking at length he pointed out that all the noblest men had died a violent death, mentioning Alexander himself,​a whose name he bore, then Pompey, Caesar, Demosthenes, Cicero, and other men of note, none of whom had met with a peaceful end. 4 And such was his courage that he  p305 thought that he ought to be likened to the gods, were he to perish in battle. 5 But the result deceived his hopes; for he did, indeed, fall by the sword of a barbarian and by the hand of a barbarian guard, but it was not in battle, though during the course of a war.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 63 1 His death was greatly lamented by the soldiers, even by those whom he had discharged, and they slew the men who had committed the murder.​246 2 But the Roman people and all the senate and all the inhabitants of the provinces never mourned anything with greater sorrow and bitterness of spirit; and at the same time the cruel necessity of fate seemed to be shown in the harshness and roughness of his successor Maximinus (natural enough in a soldier), on whom, together with his son, the imperial power was conferred after Alexander. 3 The senate raised him to the rank of the gods,​247 and he was granted the honour of a cenotaph in Gaul and a magnificent tomb in Rome. 4 Moreover, a college of priests was appointed in his honour, called Alexandrian,​248 and a feast-day, too, was decreed, called by his mother's name as well as by his, which even today is scrupulously observed at Rome on the anniversary of his birth.249

5 The cause of his murder, so others maintain, was this, namely, that his mother wished to abandon the war against the Germans and return to the East in order to display her power there, and at this the soldiers grew angry.​250 6 But this is only a fiction of the friends of Maximinus, who did not wish to let it appear that the best of emperors had been slain by a friend in defiance of all law, both human and divine.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 64 1 Up to this time the Roman Empire had  p307 been governed by princes who had reigns of considerable length, but after Alexander various men seized the power in rivalry with one another, of whom some reigned only six months, others for a year, and a number, again, for two or, at the most, three years, down to the time of those emperors, who extended the Empire to wider bounds — Aurelian, I mean, and his successors, 2 concerning whom, if life be granted me, I shall publish all I have learned.251

3 The following charges were brought against Alexander: That he did not like to be regarded as a Syrian, that he was too fond of gold, that he was full of suspicions, that he invented many new taxes, that he wished to seem a second Alexander the Great, that he was too harsh toward the soldiers, and that he conducted all public business on his private responsibility.

4 There are many indeed, I know, who assert that he was given the name of Caesar, not by the senate, but by the soldiers.​252 These writers, however, are wholly ignorant of the truth; and they say, besides, that he was not the cousin of Elagabalus.​253 5 But in order to follow my version they need only to read the historians of that time, particularly Acholius,​254 who also wrote about Alexander's journeys.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 65 1 You are wont to inquire, most mighty Constantine, why it was that a man who was a Syrian and an alien-born became so great an emperor, whereas so many of Roman stock and so many from other provinces proved to be evil, filthy, cruel, base, unjust, and lustful. 2 I might say in reply, following the opinion of many good men, that, in the first place,  p309 it is possible for a good prince to be produced by Nature, who is the one universal mother, and that, in the second, it was fear that made this man the best of emperors, because the worst had been slain;​255 3 but since I must lay the truth before you, I shall disclose the fruits of my reading to Your Clemency and Piety. 4 It is well known to Your Piety, since you have read it in the work of Marius Maximus, that the state in which the ruler is evil is happier and almost safer than the one in which he has evil friends; for, indeed, one evil man can be made better by many righteous, but in no way can many evil men be held in check by one man, however righteous he may be. 5 And this very thing was told even to Trajan by Homullus,​256 who said that Domitian was, indeed, a most evil man but had righteous friends, whereas Trajan was held in greater hatred because he entrusted the state to men of evil ways, for it is better to endure one evil man than many.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 66 1 But as for Alexander, to return to my theme, he was himself a most righteous man and followed the counsels of a righteous mother;​257 2 and, moreover, he had friends who were upright and revered, not spiteful, or thieving, or seditious, or crafty, or leagued together for evil, or haters of the righteous, or lustful, or cruel, or deceivers of their prince, or mockers, or desirous of hoodwinking him like a fool, but, on the other hand, upright, revered, temperate, pious, fond of their prince, men who neither mocked him themselves nor wished him to become an object of mockery to others, who sold nothing, who lied in nothing, who falsified nothing, and who never fell  p311 short of the expectations of their prince but were always devoted to him. 3 It must be added, furthermore, that he never had eunuchs in his councils or in official positions​258 — these creatures alone cause the downfall of emperors, for they wish them to live in the manner of foreign nations or as the kings of the Persians, and keep them well removed from the people and from their friends, and they are go-betweens, often delivering messages other than the emperor's reply, hedging him about, and aiming, above all things, to keep knowledge from him. And since they are nothing but purchased chattels and slaves, how, pray, can they have knowledge of the right? 4 And indeed, this was Alexander's own opinion too; for he used to say, "I will not permit slaves purchased with money to sit in judgment on the lives of prefects and consuls and senators."

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 67 1 I know, O Prince, that it is perilous to say these words to an emperor who has been in subjection to such creatures, but now that, greatly to the welfare of the state, you have learned how much evil resides in these pests, and how they mislead rulers, you too keep them in their proper place, and never bid them wear a soldier's cloak​259 but assign them only to the necessary duties of your household.

2 Now this too is a noteworthy thing, that never did Alexander grant an audience in the Palace to anyone except the prefect of the guard, that is Ulpian,​260 and he never gave anyone an opportunity of selling false promises in his name or of telling him evil things about others, especially after the death of Turinus, who had often sold the promises of the Emperor as though he were a fool and a weakling.​261 3 And to this we must add that if Alexander  p313 discovered that his friends or his kinsmen were dishonest he always punished them, but if the length of their friendship or degree of kinship did not permit of their punishment, he dismissed them from his presence, saying, "Dearer to me than all of these is the commonwealth."

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 68 1 And that you may know what men were in his council, he had Fabius Sabinus,​262 the son of the famous Sabinus and the Cato of his time; Domitius Ulpianus, the learned jurist; Aelius Gordianus, a relative of Gordian the Emperor and a famous man; Julius Paulus, the learned jurist; Claudius Venacus, a most distinguished orator; Catilius Severus, his own kinsman, the most learned of them all; Aelius Serenianus, the most highly revered of them all; Quintilius Marcellus, a more righteous man than whom is not found in history. 2 What wicked thing could be planned or executed by all these men and others like them, when they were leagued together for good? 3 In his early days, indeed, a band of evil men, which surrounded Alexander, had thrust these men aside, but when this company were slain or driven away by the young man's good sense, these upright friends held sway. 4 These are the men who made the Syrian a good emperor, as likewise evil friends caused native Romans to seem evil, even to posterity, for they burdened them with the weight of their own iniquities.


The Editor's Notes:

218 His practice of addressing the troops is attested by coins with the representation of Alexander on a platform haranguing soldiers and the legend Adlocutio Augusti; see Cohen, IV2, p402, nos. 3‑7; p480, no. 1.

219 Also told of the troops quartered in Syria under Marcus Aurelius; see Avid. Cass. v.5.

220 See note to Sev. xxii.7.

221 In his interest in anecdote and trivial detail the biographer has failed to give any coherent account of Alexander's war in the Orient. In 227 Ardashīr (Artaxerxes), a Persian chieftain, who had gradually conquered all Persia, defeated and killed Artabanus V, the Parthian king, and founded the new Persian monarchy and the Sassanid dynasty (named from Sāsān, his grandfather). In 230 he overran Mesopotamia and threatened Syria and Cappadocia, so that in 231 Alexander was forced to take the field against him; see the coins of 231 with the legend Profectio Augusti, Cohen, IV2, p450 f., no. 486; p484, no. 18. The most detailed account of the campaign is given by Herodian (VI.5‑6), who relates (p289)that one division of the Roman army was annihilated and the other two (one under the command of Alexander) forced to retire, but says nothing of the victories recorded here and by Victor (Caes. xxiv) and Eutropius (Brev. VIII.23). On the other hand, the fact that Ardashīr refrained from any advance and that the Roman-Parthian boundary remained unchanged points to the belief that Alexander was not wholly unsuccessful.

222 His return is commemorated on coins of 233 with the representation of Alexander crowned by Victory and having the Tigris and Euphrates at his feet; see Cohen, IV2, p445, no. 446.º Also coins of Mamaea with the legend Fortuna Redux (Cohen, IV2, p493, no. 30) probably celebrate this return.

223 The citation is supposed to be from the official records of the senate's transactions. They are also cited as a source in Prob. ii.1, but the genuineness of these citations is more than dubious.

224 The κατάφρακτοι were a body of cavalry whose horses were clad in full mail; they were Persian in origin but were also used by the Seleucid kings, and they appear in the Roman army of the late empire (see Ammianus Marcellinus, XVI.10.8) (p291)under the name clibanarii. The word clibanarii would seem from the present passage to be Persian (so Du Cange, Glossarium, II. p371), but it seems more all to connect it with κλίβανος, an iron vessel.

Thayer's Note: For comprehensive details and sources, see the article Cataphracti in Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

225 i.e. Elagabalus.

226 The standards of Crassus captured by the Parthians at Carrhae in 53 B.C. and of Antony's legates Saxa and Statianus captured respectively in 40 and 36 B.C.

227 For similar acclamations see c. vi‑xi; Avid. Cass. xiii; Com. xviii‑xix and notes.

228 Herodian, VI.6.3; see also note to c. lv.1.

229 Probably the Liberalitas Augusti quinta of his coins; see Cohen, IV2, p416 f., nos. 141‑145.

230 See Pius viii.1 and note; Marc. xxvi.6.

231 Presumably his father-in‑law; see c. xlix.3‑4 and note.

232 It was customary to send a wreath of laurel with the (p295)official report of an important victory. Nothing further is known of any of these campaigns.

233 An error, for none is found in his inscriptions or on his coins.

234 See note to Hadr. viii.7.

235 A similar policy was followed by Probus in Isauria (see Prob. xvi.6) and also by the emperors of the fifth century (see Codex JustinianusXI.60.3).

236 Probably in 234. An account of the German expedition is given by Herodian, VI.7. The Germans, taking advantage of the fact that the armies on the Danube and the Rhine had been depleted in order to supply troops for the campaign against Ardashīr, crossed the rivers and invaded Roman territory. Alexander, marching northward hastily, carried the Rhine on a bridge of boats (portrayed on a coin of 235, Cohen, IV2, p483, no. 16) and attempted to make peace, (p297)promising to fulfil their conditions and offering them large sums of money. The anger of the troops at these negotiations led to a revolt under the leader­ship of Maximinus (§7‑8) and the murder of Alexander and Mamaea; see Maxim. vii.4; Herodian, VI.8‑9.

237 On Alexander's severity see c. xii.5 and note. It certainly was not responsible for this mutiny; see note to § 1.

238 Victor also says that he was killed at Sicilia, a vicus Britanniae (Caes. XXIV.4), but this is, of course, an error due to some confusion in the name. All the testimony points to the belief that his death occurred at or near Mainz; see CIL XIII.2, p298.

239 Maximinus (Thrax), his successor; see Maxim. vii.

240 As his birthday was 1st October, 208 (see note to c. v.2), these figures are incorrect.

241 See Sev. xxii.7 and note.

242 Described by Pliny as dark with white lines and called delicata; see Plin. Nat. Hist. XV.70.

243 See c. li.5.

244 This account of the murder is wholly misleading; see note to c. lix.7.

245 Archers from Armenia, Osroene (NW Mesopotamia), and (p303)Parthia were serving in the Roman army; see Maxim. xi.1 f., and Herodian, VII.2.1.

246 This statement is almost certainly incorrect.

247 Commemorated on coins with the legends Divo Alexandro and Consecratio; see Cohen, IV2, p463, nos. 597‑599.

248 See note to Marc. xv.4.

249 The 1st October; see note to c. v.2.

250 This version is not so far from the truth; see notes to c. lix.1 and 7.

251 Yet the biographies of Aurelian and his successors which are included in the Historia Augusta are attributed to Vopiscus.

252 This statement is incorrect; see c. 1.2; Heliog. v.1.

253 Repeated in c. xlix.5.

254 See c. xiv.6 and note.

255 i.e. Elagabalus; for his murder see Heliog. xvii.1.

256 Perhaps the father of the Valerius Homullus mentioned in Pius xi.8; Marc. vi.9.

257 But see c. xiv.7 and notes.

258 See c. xxiii.5‑6 and notes.

259 i.e. the paludamentum or general's cloak; see note to Cl. Alb. ii.5.

260 See c. xxxi.2.

261 See c. xxxvi.2‑3.

262 Perhaps the Sabinus mentioned in Heliog. xvi.2. Save for Ulpian and Paulus none of these consiliarii is otherwise (p313)known. Aelius Gordianus, if the name is correct, cannot have been a relative of the emperor Gordian, for the gentile name of the latter was Antonius.


Thayer's Note:

a mentioning Alexander himself: an odd passage, since by all accounts Alexander the Great died of a sudden illness brought on by his own excesses, and thus did not die a violent death, at least not in the usual sense. Pompey was murdered, Caesar was stabbed to death, Cicero was beheaded, Demosthenes was poisoned.


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