From

A. D.

193.

Biography. THE Sceptre, which was wrested from the dying hands of Pertinax, passed for a short time into those of Didius Julianus; an individual who had no recommendation, besides his great riches, to the power and rank which were thereby conferred upon him. But, as the few occurrences which took place in his reign respected the movements of his successor rather than his own plans for conducting the Government, we have not thought it necessary to devote a separate head to the brief and troubled period during which he occupied the Throne.*

to

211.

State of the

Engire the

murder of Permax.

The Impe

The death of Pertinax was indeed followed by events which supplied to the Roman People the most melancholy evidence that their liberty no longer existed, even in name; and gave rise, at the same time, to the painful apprehension that the affairs of their Country were thenceforth to be directed by the caprice and selfishness of an armed Democracy. And these anticipations would undoubtedly have been realized, had not the stern character and unbending firmness of Severus checked the progress of military domination, punished the seditious insolence of the Prætorian Guards, and by strengthening at once the authority of the Sovereign and of the Laws, secured the peace of the Empire, and the due balance of its several parts.

No sooner had the Prætorians completed their rebelal Throne lion, by the murder of the Emperor, than they resolved to derive from the crime which they had committed all

exposed to sale, and purchased

tv Didius Julianus.

Lucius

Severus.

From

A. D. 193.

to

211.

the advantages that the ambition of one class of citizens, and the timidity of the rest, encouraged them to expect. Septimius Having fortified their Camp, and thereby precluded all direct communication, either with the Senate or the People, they instructed one of their number to mount upon the rampart, and proclaim that the vacant Throne was immediately to be exposed to sale, and would be given to him who should make the most liberal offer. The first who presented himself as a purchaser of the bloody spoils of Pertinax, was his father-in-law, Flavius Sulpicianus, a Member of the Senate, and Præfect of the City. But scarcely had he time to specify the donation by which he meant to gratify the cupidity of the Soldiers, when a formidable competitor appeared in the person of Didius Julianus; who, incited by the ambitious vanity of his wife and daughters, determined that the Imperial Purple should not be disposed of at a low or unworthy price. He hastened to the Camp, where Sulpicianus was still urging his bargain with the mercenary Guards; and, finding that the latter had offered such a sum as would have allowed to each Soldier about a hundred and sixty pounds of our money, he instantly declared his readiness to make an addition of fifty pounds more to every individual. He suggested, at the same time, that were his rival exalted to the Empire he might be induced to exercise the very power with which they had clothed him, to avenge the death of his son-in-law: a consideration which, added to the extravagant terms on which he had consented to purchase their suffrages, decided the judgment of the Prætorians in favour of his claim. The gates of the

Indignation

The transactions now described, are said to have of the Peo- taken place within a few hours after the murder of ple. Pertinax. Sorrow and indignation continued to fill the streets of Rome, when the Prætorians, in order of battle, entered the City to conduct the new Emperor to the Senate-house, and afterwards to the Palace of the Cæsars. The resentment of the People broke out in various acts of violence against the venal Soldiery. They attacked them from the tops of the houses with stones and abusive language; upbraiding them as traitors and enemies of their country: while the latter, eager to preserve the life of Julianus, at least until he should fulfil the conditions upon which he had been raised to the Empire, surrounded him with their shields, and at length placed him in safety in the midst of the trembling and degraded Senate. This obsequious assembly was compelled to express its approbation of every thing which had been done; to confirm the election of the Camp; and even to congratulate the Country on the happy event which had called it together. They conferred upon Didius all the offices and dignities which belonged to the Imperial estate; enrolled his Family in the order of Patricians; and, finally, bestowed upon his wife and daughters the highest titles that were ever used by the female members of a reigning House.†

Character of Julianus,

pancy of

Historians

Our only authorities for the Life of Julianus are Dion Cassius, Herodian, and Spartian. The first of and discre- these Historians was a personal enemy of the Emperor; whose character and motives he uniformly represents in the most unfavourable light. Herodian likewise was a contemporary, and influenced by sentiments not more friendly to the reputation of Didius. The last of the three Annalists, on the contrary, seems to take pleasure in opposing the statements of his two predecessors; and hence he exhibits the conduct of Julianus in colours much more attractive, both before he rose to the fatal eminence to which his ambition aspired, and during the short period that he was allowed to retain possession of it. We are informed by Dion, that when the successor of Pertinax entered the Palace, the first object which struck his eyes was the mutilated body of that Sovereign; which, instead of treating with the decent honours which belonged to the remains of a friend and of a Prince, he passed by with neglect, or spurned with derision. He viewed, with equal contempt, the plain dishes which had been prepared for the Imperial table, and gave orders that an entertainment of great expense and delicacy should forthwith be got ready, as more suitable to his station, his wealth, and his refinement. It is added, that he played at dice while the corpse of his predecessor lay unburied under the same roof; that he issued instructions for the acting of a dramatical piece, in which the celebrated Pantomime, Pylades, might display his wonderful talents; and that,

*Spartian. c. 3. Dion Cassius, lib. Ixxiii. Ne Sulpiciano aliquid noceret, quod Imperator esse voluisset.

+ Spartian. in Did. Julian. c. 3, Uxor, etiam, Mallia Scantilla, et filia ejus Augustæ sunt appellatæ.

From

A. D.

193.

to

211.

fears of

But Spartian refuses his belief to this account, as being founded entirely on false report, maliciously circulated by the enemies of Didius: asserting, that the new Prince did not taste food in the Palace until the body of Pertinax had been carefully removed; that he displayed a thoughtful, and even melancholy, frame of mind throughout the whole evening; and that, so far from spending the night in mirth and jollity, he gave way to the most serious reflections on the critical situation in which he found himself placed, and on the steps which it might be necessary for him to adopt. Nor were his fears excited without a sufficient rea- Disaffection son. On the Throne of the greatest Empire in the of the Peoworld, he saw himself without a friend, and even ple, and without a counsellor. The Prætorians themselves were Didius. ashamed of the Prince whom their avarice had induced them to elect; nor was there a citizen who did not regard his elevation with disgust, as an indelible stain on the Roman character. The higher Orders, whose conspicuous station and ample possessions exacted the strictest caution, dissembled their sentiments, and met the affected civility of their new Sovereign with smiles of complacency, and expressions of duty. We composed our looks, says Dion Cassius, and endeavoured to appear joyful, whilst our hearts were torn with grief and rage. But the People at large, who were not influenced by similar motives, gave the freest vent to their passions. When Didius, on the following day, issued forth from the Palace, they loaded him with the coarsest invectives. They invoked upon his head the wrath of the Gods; prayed that the sacrifice which he was about to offer up might be blasted under his hands; and concluded by rejecting the largess by which he hoped to conciliate their esteem, or bribe their acquiescence. Conscious, meanwhile, of their own weakness, and looking upon the Guards who surrounded the Capital rather as enemies than as friends, they implored the aid of the Legions which served in the Provinces, and besought them to deliver the Empire from the burden and disgrace with which it was now oppressed.

In such circumstances, all the arts of Julianus proved They invite fruitless, and he could not long shut his eyes to the fate the Provinwhich awaited him. The indignant appeal of the cial Legions to give Roman People first reached the banks of the Danube, them aid where Severus commanded an active and devoted against the army; and was soon afterwards conveyed to the shores Prætorians. of Syria and of Britain, where Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus exercised, respectively, a similar power. The intelligence that the Throne of the Cæsars had been disposed of by public auction, drove the three armies to a simultaneous revolt; while the Generals, more eager, perhaps, to occupy the place of Pertinax than to punish his murderers, resolved, without delay, to conduct their forces into Italy, where alone they could effectually redress the grievances of their countrymen.

*

Julianus, who had not the slightest apprehension respecting the fidelity of the Legions in Britain and

* Dion Cassius, lib. lxxiii. p. 835, 836. Herodian. lib. ii. p. 486. Spartianus quotes the following verse, as expressive of the opinions entertained of the three Generals:

Optimus est Fuscus (Niger,) bonus Afer, pessimus Albus.

From A. D.

193.

to

211.

Biography. Illyricum, confined all his fears to the Syrian Army under the command of Niger. When, indeed, he heard that Severus was about to take the field against him, he proceeded to the Senate in the greatest consternation, and demanded that the Proconsul in Pannonia should be declared a public enemy, and even that every Soldier who after a certain day continued to follow his standard, should be pronounced to have forfeited his life. Meanwhile, at the head of his corrupted and faithless Guards, the feeble Emperor had recourse to such means of defence as suggested themselves to his unpractised mind; marching the several Cohorts, amid the execrations and laughter of the People, from the Camp to the ground where they were wont to exercise, and from that ground back again to the Camp.

As the competition of the three Generals, already named for the Sceptre of the Roman Empire, involved that Country once more in the horrors of Civil war, we shall follow the example which is set before us by Elius Spartianus, and give a short account of their character, their history, and the grounds of their respective pretensions.

Character of Of Pescennius Niger we may confidently assert, that Pescennius he was the most popular Commander of his Age. Owing Niget.

His resolu

tion to

revolt.

few advantages to birth, the eminence to which he rose was altogether attributable to his personal merit and professional talents. His courage and success in the conduct of several arduous campaigns, recommended him to the favour of Marcus Aurelius, and even of the less penetrating Commodus; both of whom were taught to regard him as one of the ablest officers to whom they could intrust the interests of the public service. He was raised to the Consulship by the unanimous recommendation of the army which had fought under his command; taking precedence of Severus, who, in the same year, was appointed his colleague. He was next elevated to the Government of Syria, where his wise administration procured for him the esteem of the Soldiers, and the love of the natives. His rigid discipline improved the valour and confirmed the obedience of the former; whilst the gentle Asiatics were charmed with the mildness and affability of his manners, and particularly with the countenance which he bestowed upon their pompous superstition, in the ceremonies of which he is reported to have taken an active part.

No sooner had Didius purchased the Throne, than the voice of the Roman People invited Niger to assume the Imperial Purple, and to revenge the death of Pertinax. The wishes of the Legions coincided with those of the Citizens; prompting the wavering General to declare his sentiments, and to receive from their hands the insignia of his high office, as Master of the East and of the West. Ascending the tribunal, accordingly, he reminded his troops that the Empire had been shamefully exposed to public sale, and bought by a man who boasted no distinction besides that which arises from the possession of gold: that their countrymen in Italy were calling aloud for vengeance, and had even named the person whom they thought the fittest to remove the disgrace which recent occurrences had affixed to their character: and that as such an undertaking, on their part, could have no honour were they not solicited to engage in it by those whose interests were most at stake, so it would betray an equal want of courage and of patriotism, were they to reject the prayers of the many thousands of Citizens who now implored their assistance. "I have, there

Lucius

Severus.

fore," he continued, "judged it proper to consult you, and to have your opinion as to what is most expedient Septimius to be done, on this critical and very important conjuncture. I shall now be determined by your advice; and in pursuing the path which you shall point out, our fortunes will be inseparably linked together. If success shall crown our efforts, the glory and happiness resulting from the restoration of our Country's honour, will be enjoyed by you not less than by me.'

From A. D. 193.

to

211.

ruin.

This address was received by the Soldiers, as well as His want of by the inhabitants of Antioch, with the loudest accla- energy mations. They proceeded to salute the Proconsul proves his Emperor and Augustus, and to invest him with the Purple and such other badges of supreme authority as suited the circumstances under which the election had taken place. The new Monarch, attended by a numerous train, went immediately to the principal Temples of the City, to return thanks to the Gods; from these he was conducted, with the same pageantry, to his house, which he found adorned with branches of laurel, Civic crowns, and all the other emblems of Imperial dignity which distinguished the habitation of the Cæsars. The hopes which Niger reposed in the cooperation of his Oriental allies were, in like manner, completely realized. All the Provinces of Asia Minor, from the Syrian Gates to the Ægean Sea, approved the choice of the Legions. The Princes, too, who exercised a delegated power beyond the Euphrates, congratulated the Roman General on his elevation, and offered him their homage and their services. Ambassadors arrived at Antioch from the remoter Kings and States, who made haste to acknowledge him as, at once, their master and protector. Pescennius listened to their professions of loyalty, but respectfully declined the assistance of their arms; relying upon the stability of the position which he had already attained, and cherishing the assurance that he would be every where received as the undisputed ruler of the Roman world.*

Herodian suggests, that the mind of Niger was not capable of resisting this sudden tide of fortune. He flattered himself that his accession would be undisturbed by competition, and unstained by Civil blood; and whilst he enjoyed in imagination the vain pomp of triumph, he neglected to secure the means of victory. Instead of entering into a negociation with the powerful Armies of the West, whose resolution might decide, or, at least, must balance, the mighty contest; instead of advancing, without delay, towards Rome, where his presence was impatiently expected, he trifled away, in the luxury of Antioch, those precious moments which were diligently improved by the active spirit of his rival. In a word, his security was his ruin, and his confidence of success paved the way to a complete and irretrievable overthrow; but before we describe the more politic conduct of Severus which led to this result, we shall devote a few sentences to the character and situation of Clodius Albinus, the Governor of Britain.

This distinguished Commander derived his pedigree History and from some of the most illustrious families of the old character of Republic. At a very early period of life, he manifested Clodius a strong inclination for the military profession; and Albinus, having received an appointment suitable to his rank, he soon merited the esteem of the Emperor Antoninus. He commanded the Legions in Bithynia at the time when