ROMAN i: M P I II !:. 



'< <> youngest daughter. After a reign of twenty years, 

 the history of which is given in another p.-irt ot' our 

 woik,* he died at the a^e of fii iy-Iiine. 



Ibis wise and good emperor was succeeded by his 



, 1|S son. L. Aurelius Antoninus Commodus. This prince 



,.t' a weak and timid disposition, and his mind 



the throne. WHS gradually corrupted by the vices of his attendants. 



'> 1' v - 1 '- A-; he advanced in life, he became still nioredchauched ; 



1 his vices and his cruelties are of such a character 



to be placed without the limits of history. II. 

 fa d to have cut in two a corpulent man when walk- 

 ing in the street, in order that he might see his entrails 

 on the ground. He thrust out the eyes, and cut 



the legs of persons whom he encountered in his 



ibles. He murdered some because they were 

 I i..iy divv-rd, and others because they were slovens, 

 lie affected to have great skill in surgery, especially in 

 blood-letting ; and when he visited some of his patients, 



uid not scruple to cut off their ears and noses. His 

 debaucheries are reported to have exceeded all bounds, 

 and to have exhausted every variety of licentiousness. 

 He is said to have possessed great skill in archery, 

 and to have performed many wonderful feats. His 

 strength was excessive ; and from this cause he was 

 ambitious of being called Hercules. Hence he adorn- 

 ed bis shoulders with a lion's skin, and carried in his 

 hand a knotted club. He is stated to have run an ele- 

 phant through with his spear, and to have killed a 

 hundred lions, one after another, and each by one 

 blow. He appeared naked in public, fought with the 

 common gladiators, and came off conqueror seven- 

 hundred and thirty- five times; in consequence of 

 which, he used to subscribe himself the conqueror of 

 a thousand gladiators. When the senate had granted 

 him, at his request, divine honours, he strewed on his 

 head such a quantity of gold dust, that it glittered in 

 the sun-beams as if encircled with a glory. 



The military events of Commodus's reign were dis- 

 graceful to the Roman name. After the death of his 

 father, he concluded a peace with the Marcomanni 

 and Quadi, on very unfavourable terms ; and he 

 agreed to abandon all the castles and fortresses which 

 the Romans held in their country, excepting those 

 that were within five miles of the Danube. Arrange- 

 ments equally unworthy of Rome were made with 

 the other nations of Germany, whom his father had 

 subjugated ; and, in some cases, he purchased a peace 

 by large sums of money. 



foiibpiracy A conspiracy was now formed against the life of 

 against him. Commodus, by his sister Lucilla, who was aided by 

 A. D. IHJ^nianyof the most distinguished senators. The em- 

 peror was attacked on his way to the amphitheatre, in 

 a dark passage ; but Claudius Pompeianus, to whom 

 the dagger was entrusted, instead of plunging it into 

 his breast, held it up, and exclaimed ; " this present 

 the senate sends you," which gave the guards time to 

 rescue their master. The conspirators were seized 

 and put to death, and Lucill-i was exiled to Capreee, 

 where she was soon after murdered. 



Perennis, the favourite of the minister of Commo- 

 dus, had imitated so successfully the ambition of his 

 master, and had exercised such intolerable oppression, 

 that he was torn in pieces by the military. He was 

 replaced by Cleander, a freed man, who exceeded his 

 predecessor in his enormities ; and who even put up 

 for public sale every office in the state, and even the 

 lives of the innocent and the guilty. 



A i.-.'o!t <>'. a very unusual kind took place about Roman 

 this tune at Uo;nc. A common soldier, of the name '- '' !' ' 

 ot .Mntrrnus, along with several others who had de- J""" '~"T* 

 erted from their legions, formed a rebel party which M ' 

 waa gradually increased by the banditti from differ- A. U. Ib7. 

 ent provinces. Their power encreased to such a degree 

 that they took the strongest cities by storm, and plun- 

 dered many parts of Spain and Gaul. An army under 

 Pescennius Niger, waa sent against the insurgent* ; 

 but Maternus, finding himself unable to cope with a 

 disciplined force, divided his followers into small 

 bands, and marched secretly to Rome by different 

 routes. His object was to murder the emperor at an 

 annual festival, and to seize upon the supreme autho- 

 rity. AH the different bands arrived undiscovered in 

 the capital ; and some of them had already insinuated 

 themselves among the emperor's guards ; but they 

 were fortunately not faithful to their leader. Some of 

 them betrayed Maternus, who wag immediately seized 

 and executed. 



Home was at this time afflicted with one of the A plague tt 

 most dreadful plagues that bad ever been known in Home. 

 Rome. It continued for two or three years ; and was 

 so fatal, that it carried off two thousand persons in 

 one day. An alarming fire, kindled by lightning, 

 consumed a considerable part of the city ; and these 

 calamities were followed by a famine, which Cleander 

 is said to have created by hoarding all the corn which 

 he could purchase ; while others ascribe it to Papirius 

 Dionysius, who had the charge of supplying Rome 

 with corn, and who wished to excite the people against 

 Cleander. The mob, however, blamed the detested 

 favourite ; and having risen against him, they flocked 

 to the palace, and demanded his head. Cleander or- 

 dered the Praetorian guards to charge the crowd, 

 many of whom they slaughtered ; but the city guards 

 taking the side of the people, the Praetorian troops 

 were put to flight. When Commodus beard of the up- 

 roar, and learned the cause of it, he ordered the head 

 of Cleander to be cut off and thrown to the populace. 

 A conspiracy was now formed against the emperor 

 himself, by Laetus, the captain of the guards, Eclectus 

 the chamberlain, and Martia, his favourite concubine. 

 Martia had received information that the emperor 

 had resolved upon her death ; she therefore organised 

 the conspiracy against him, and administered poi- 

 son ; but when the poison was found not to operate Commodut 

 quickly, the wretched victim was strangled by a strangled, 

 wrestler. A. D. 199. 



When the death of Commodus was publicly an- 

 nounced, the senate declared him an enemy to the 

 public, demolished his statue, and ordered his body 

 to be cast into the Tiber. The conspirators, however, 

 prevented this outrage from taking place, by stating 

 that Commodus had already been buried. 



Commodus was succeeded by Publius Helvius Per- Pertinax 

 tinax, whom the conspirators had fixed upon to sup- raised to 

 ply his place. This remarkable person had passed d' c empire, 

 through such varieties of condition, that he received ^' ** * 

 the title of the tennis-ball of fortune. Descended 

 from an obscure family ; and either a slave, or the 

 son of a manumitted slave, he followed, for some time, 

 the profession of drying wood and preparing charcoal. 

 He had received, however, a considerable portion of 

 learning ; and after keeping a little shop in the city, 

 he became a school- master, and actually taught the 

 Greek and Roman languages in Etruria. He then 



See ANTONINUS MARCUS AUBELIUS, Vol. I. p. 223. 



