282 
The Empire. ROME. The Empire. 
amongst many others, happened to be delivered to the em¬ 
peror, as he was preparing for a chariot race. However, as 
it never was his custom to interrupt his pleasures for his busi¬ 
ness, he gave the pacquet to Macrinus himself to peruse; 
and to inform him of the contents, when more at leisure. 
When Macrinus came to the letter which regarded himself, 
he was unable to contain his surprise and terror; and se¬ 
creting it, set about concerting in reality, what he had been 
invidiously accused of, in order to secure himself. At 
length, he unbosomed himself to one Martial, a man of 
great strength, and a centurion of the guards, who hated 
the emperor from various motives, particularly for the death 
of a brother. Macrinus, therefore, prevailed upon him to 
attempt the tyrant’s destruction, the first favourable op¬ 
portunity. Accordingly, as the emperor was riding out one 
day, near a little city called Carrse, he happened to with¬ 
draw himself privately, with only one page to hold his 
horse. Martial eagerly laid hold of the occasion, and run¬ 
ning to him hastily, as if he had been called, gave Cara- 
calla a mortal wound in the back. Having performed this 
daring deed. Martial, unconcernedly, returned to his troop ; 
but retiring, by insensible degrees, he endeavoured to secure 
himself by flight. His companions, however, soon miss¬ 
ing him, and the page giving [information of what had 
been done, he was pursued and cut in pieces. 
During the reign of this execrable tyrant, which conti¬ 
nued six years, the empire was every day declining; the 
soldiers were entirely masters of every election; and as there 
were so many opposite interests, Caracalla, by balancing 
them by military force, destroyed all discipline among the 
soldiers, and all subordination in the state. 
The military, who, in fact, had now monopolised all 
power to themselves, after a suspense of two days, fixed 
upon Macrinus, who took all possible methods to conceal 
his being privy to Caracalla’s murder. The senate confirm¬ 
ed their choice shortly after; and likewise that of his son 
Diadumenus, whom he took as a partner in the empire. 
Macrinus was fifty-three years old when he was invested 
with the purple : he was of obscure parentage ; some say, 
by birth a Moor. Little is recorded of this emperor, except 
his engaging in a bloody though undecided battle, with 
Artabanus, king of Parthia, who came to take vengeance 
for the injury he had sustained in the late reign; however, 
this monarch, finding his real enemy dead, was content 
to make peace, and returned into Parthia. Something is 
also said of the severity of Macrinus’s discipline: for to 
such a pitch of licentiousness was the Roman army now 
arrived, that the most gentle inflictions were looked upon 
as severity. It was this attempt at discipline, however, to¬ 
gether with the artifices of Moesa, grandmother to Helioga¬ 
balus, the natural son of Caracalla, that caused the empe¬ 
ror’s ruin. Heliogabalus was priest of a temple dedicated to 
the Sun, in Emesa, a city of Phoenicia, and though but 
fourteen years old was greatly loved by the army, for the 
beauty of his person, and the memory of his father, whose 
indulgence they gratefully remembered. This was soon 
perceived by the grandmother, who, being very rich in 
gold and jewels, gave liberal presents among them, while 
they frequently repaired to her temple, both from the gar¬ 
rison in the city, and the camp of Macrinus. This inter¬ 
course growing every day more frequent, and the soldiers 
being disgusted with the severities of Macrinus, they began 
to think of electing Heliogabalus in his stead. According¬ 
ly, sending for him to their camp, he was immediately pro¬ 
claimed ; and such were the hopes of his virtues, that all 
men began to espouse his interest. 
Macrinus, who at this time was pursuing his pleasures 
at Antioch, on hearing of the insurrection, thought it suffi¬ 
cient to send his lieutenant Julian, w'ith some legions, 
against the revolters. However these, like the rest, soon 
declared for Heliogabalus, and slew their general. Macri¬ 
nus now resolved to march against the mutinous legions. 
The combatants met on the frontiers of Syria, and, after a 
bloody battle, Macrinus was put to flight. Desirous of 
getting to Rome, he travelled with secrecy and expedition 
through Asia Minor; but he fell ill at Chalcedon, and 
being overtaken by his pursuers, he was put to death, along 
with his son Diadumenus, after a reign of fourteen months. 
The succession of Heliogabalus to the empire having 
been ratified by the seuate and citizens of Rome, he was invest¬ 
ed with the usual titles, and at the age of fourteen put in pos¬ 
session of absolute power. Surrounded by flatterers, who 
found it their interest to gratify him in all his propensities, 
however wild, Heliogabalus was soon initiated into all the 
profligacy of the times; and he is described by the Roman 
historian as a monster of sensuality and vice. All the pros¬ 
titutes of Rome assembled in his palace, and the most in¬ 
famous of the mob became the imperial favourites. He ap¬ 
pointed his grandmother Msesa, and his mother Saemias 
his colleagues in the empire; and, in order to dignify the 
sex, to which he was so much attached, he created a female 
senate, over which his mother presided, and the object of 
which was to arrange the fashions which were to prevail in 
the empire. He next raised to the honours of the consul¬ 
ship his own horse, whom he fed with gilded oats; and he 
forced his subjects to worship the god Heliogabalus, which 
was a large black stone of a conical shape. To this deity 
temples were raised, and the shrines of the gods were plun¬ 
dered to deck that of the newly invented divinity. His 
prodigality was such, that he considered nothing worth eat¬ 
ing that was bought at a moderate price. His supper com¬ 
monly cost 6000 crowns; and on some occasions so much 
as 60,000. He dressed himself in gold and purple clothes, 
and never wore the same dress twice. His apartments were 
furnished with the richest stuffs, covered with gold and jew¬ 
els. His mats consisted of the down of hares, or the soft 
feathers from beneath the wings of partridges; his car¬ 
pets were made of gold and silver tissue, and his shoes 
were covered with precious stones, to attract the notice of 
the populace. 
Annoyed with these excesses, his mother Maesa, con¬ 
ceiving that she might diminish his power, by sharing it 
with a colleague, proposed to him to adopt his cousin ger¬ 
man, Alexander Severus, and to make him a partner in his 
throne. Heliogabalus agreed to the request; but was soon 
desirous of undoing what he had done. The virtues of 
Alexander, however, had endeared him to the soldiers; and 
when Heliogabalus attempted to deprive him of the throne, 
the praetorian soldiers resented the attempt, and would have 
killed the emperor as he was walking in his garden had he 
not saved himself by flight. The seditious spirit however 
continued; and the soldiers insisted upon guarding Alex¬ 
ander, and upon prohibiting any of the emperor’s favour¬ 
ites from contaminating him with their society. Helioga¬ 
balus was alarmed with the mutinous spirit of his guards, 
and made preparations for his death suitable to his general 
habits. He erected a tower with gold and mother-of-pearl 
steps, from which he might precipitate himself if necessary. 
He kept about his person cords of purple, silk, and gold, 
for the purpose of strangling himself; he provided golden 
swords and daggers to stab himself with; and he had differ¬ 
ent poisons kept in boxes of emerald. In this state of mind 
he suspected the senate of having designs against him, 
and he banished them from the city; he attempted to poison 
Alexander, but the mutiny of the soldiers prevented him 
from carrying it into effect; and when he thus found himself 
threatened on all sides, he meditated new cruelties against 
his enemies. The soldiers resolved to put an end to such 
a system. They followed him into his palace; pursued him 
from room to room; and at last found him hid in a privy, 
from which he was dragged into the street, and ignomini- 
ously put to death. They loaded his body with weights, 
and cast it into the Tiber. His mother, and many of 
the partners of his crimes, were at the same time put to 
death. 
Alexander Severus was unanimously declared emperor by 
the senate and the people, and he was every way deserving 
of that high honour. Though possessed of absolute power 
at 
