The Empire. 
ROME. 
The Empire. 
279 
accomplices. Lucilla, Pompeianus, and Quintianus, were vomiting, she hastily introduced one of the proscribed, 
executed: many other persons, wholly innocent, shared the named Narcissus, who, in order to save himself, assisted 
same fate. Marcia in strangling the emperor, A. D. 1P2. 
In this manner Perennius proceeded, sacrificing num- The assassination of Commodus was conducted with such 
bers of the senate, as pretended conspirators, but in secrecy and expedition, that few were, at that time, 
reality with a view of monopolising their estates and fortunes, acquainted with the real circumstances of his death. His 
At last, having grown extremely rich, he began to think of body was wrapped up as a bale of useless furniture, and 
gaining the empire for himself, and made some progress in carried through the guards, most of whom were either drunk 
the attempt; but his design becoming apparent, Commodus or asleep. 
seemed to awaken from his lethargy, and ordered both him Commodus was succeeded by Publius Helvius Pertinax, 
and his sons to immediate execution. 
Two conspiracies, thus discovered and punished, only 
served to render the emperor more cruel and suspicious; and 
these cruelties begot new revolts. One Maturnus, at the 
head of a numerous banditti, wasted Spain and Gaul, and 
resolved to attempt the empire itself. In order to effect this, 
he ordered some of his soldiers to mix with the emperor’s 
guards, and then assassinate him; but his own party, in 
hopes of advantage, betrayed their employer, and he was 
executed, with many others, soon after. If any person 
desired to be revenged on an enemy, by bargaining with 
Commodus for a sum of money, he was permitted to des¬ 
troy him in such manner as he thought proper. He com¬ 
manded a person to be cast to the wild beasts, for reading 
the life of Caligula in Suetonius: he ordered another to be 
thrown into a burning furnace, for accidentally over-heating 
his bath : and he would sometimes, in a frolic, cut oft' men’s 
noses, under a pretence of shaving their beards. 
In the midst of these cruelties his vanity never forsook 
liim. He, at one time, commanded himself to be styled 
Hercules, the son of Jupiter; and, the better to imitate 
that hero, he carried a club and dressed himself in a lion’s 
skin. But to amuse the imagination as far as possible, and 
that he might appear to destroy giants and monsters, as the 
former had done, he dressed up several poor men and crip¬ 
ples, who were found begging in the streets, like monsters, 
giving them sponges to' throw at him instead of stones, till 
falling furiously among them with his club, he destroyed 
them all. When tired of the Herculean habit, he assumed 
that of an Amazon; and at last became so abandoned as to 
forsake his palace and live in a fencing school. 
During these irregularities and excesses, which it is asto¬ 
nishing mankind could be so pusillanimous as to endure, the 
barbarians on the frontiers of the empire were daily gaining 
ground : and, though his lieutenants were successful against 
the Britons, the Moors, the Dacians, the Germans and Pan- 
nonians, yet the empire was daily declining, since their 
numbers seemed to increase by defeat, so that neither treaties 
could bind, nor victories repel them. In the mean time, the 
emperor’s actions were become so odious to all mankind, 
and so contemptible to the citizens of Rome, that his death 
was ardently desired. At length, resolving to fence naked 
before the people as • a common gladiator, Leetius his gene¬ 
ral, Electus his chamberlain, and Marcia a concubine, of 
whom he always appeared excessively fond, remonstrated 
with him on the indecency of such behaviour. Their advice, 
however, was attended with no other effect, than that of 
incensing him against them, and inciting him to their des¬ 
truction. It was his method, like that of Domitian. to set 
down the names of all such as he intended to put to death, 
in a roll, which he carefully kept by him. However, hap- 
penihg to lay the roll on his bed, while he was bathing in 
another room, it was taken up by a little boy. The child, 
after playing with it for some time, brought it to Marcia, 
who was instantly alarmed at the contents. She immediately 
discovered her terrors to Laetius and Electus, who perceiving 
their dangerous situation, instantly determined on the tyrant’s 
death. 
After some deliberation, it was agreed upon to dis¬ 
patch him by poison. In consequence of this, a draught 
•was administered to him by the hands of Marcia, which 
beginning to operate, threw him into a heavy slumber; 
but finding him awake soon after, and taken with a violent 
whom the conspirators had fixed upon to supply his place 
This remarkable person had passed through such varieties of 
condition, that he received the title of the tennis-ball o* 
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 por¬ 
tion 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 followed the 
profession of the law, and afterwards entered upon a military 
life, when he distinguished himself so highly by his valour 
and intrepidity, that he was made a captain of a cohort in 
the Parthian war. After passing through the usual grada¬ 
tions of preferment, in Britain and Msesia, he obtained the 
command of a legion under Aurelius. He was afterwards 
made consul by Aurelius for his eminent services. He was 
next intrusted with the government of Msesia, and he was 
at last made governor of Rome. In the reign of Commo¬ 
dus he was sent into exile; but he was soon after recalled 
and selected to reform the abuses in the anny in Britain. 
During a sedition which took place among the legions, he 
was left for dead among the slain; but having recovered 
from this calamity, he punished the mutineers, and restored 
the discipline of the army. In Africa, to which he was 
next removed, the sedition of the troops had nearly proved 
fatal to him, and being now fatigued with a life of such 
labour and danger, he returned, and lived in retirement in 
Rome. Commodus, however, made him praefect of the 
city, and he filled this situation when Laetius entered his 
apartment, and announced to him that he was emperor of 
Rome. Pertinax, unwilling to accept of such a trust, urged 
the pleas of old age and increasing infirmities; but his 
refusal was not listened to, and he was immediately carried 
to the camp and proclaimed emperor. 
The anticipations which had been formed of Pertinax, 
were in no respect disappointed. By strict discipline and 
wise regulations, he restrained the licentiousness of tire 
praetorian bands, and protected the citizens against their 
insolence. He punished those who had a share in 
corrupting the late emperor, whose ill-gotten property he sold 
for the benefit of the public. He sold as slaves most of the 
buffoons and jesters of Commodus; particularly those who 
had obscene names. He attended all the meeting^ of the 
senate; and such was his devotion to business, that the 
meanest applicant could at any time command an audience 
of him. He melted the silver statues which had been 
erected to Commodus; and having sold his concubines, 
horses,and arms, he raised so large a sum that it enabled him 
to abolish all the taxes which that emperor had laid upon the 
rivers, harbours, and roads in the empire. 
The reformation which Pertinax had introduced among 
the praetorian bands, excited against him, as might have 
been expected, the hatred of these insolent soldiers. They 
therefore resolved to depose him; and having declared an 
ancient senator of the name of Maternus emperor’, they 
attempted to carry him to the camp to be proclaimed. Un¬ 
willing, however, to concur in such a design, he escaped 
from their power: and having first gone to the emperor, he 
afterwards fled from the city. Undismayed by this refusal, 
the insurgents nominated another senator, of the name of' 
Falco, who was more compliant; and whom the senate 
would have ordered for execution, had not Pertinax inter¬ 
posed 
