Codex 99

[Herodian, History]

Read the eight books of the Historyof Herodian.[1] Beginning from the death of Marcus Aurelius, he relates how his son Commodus, who succeeded him, having shown himself utterly degenerate and completely under the influence of flatterers, was put to death by his concubine Marcia as the result of a plot by Laetus and Eclectus. He was succeeded by Pertinax, an old man of high character; but the praetorian guards, who hated virtue, slew him in the palace. Julian, who obtained the throne by bribing the praetorians, was soon afterwards put to death by them. Niger,[2] who appears to have been an estimable man, was declared emperor, while Julian was still alive. Severus, keen witted, astute, and resolute in the presence of dangers, having defeated and put to death his rival, ascended the throne, and removed all who resisted him by open violence or ensnaring craft. He treated his subjects with the greatest haughtiness. He died of illness while waging war against the Britons. Antoninus,the elder of his two sons, having made a treaty with them, returned to Italy. He unwillingly accepted his brother Geta as his partner in the empire, and soon afterwards murdered him in his mother’s arms. Eager to surpass all in vice and cruelty, he fell a victim in Syria to a plot set on foot by Macrinus, who was himself threatened with death by the emperor and was anxious to prevent it. Macrinus, an old man, dilatory and lacking in self-control, but in other respects a worthy person, became emperor after the death of Antoninus. Moesa, the sister of Julia, had two daughters, Soaemis and Mamaea; the former had a son named Bassianus, the latter a son named Alexinus, both reputed sons of Antoninus. The army, on some slight pretext, proclaimed Bassianus emperor in the camp, and bestowed upon him the name of Antoninus. Macrinus, defeated in battle, fled from the borders of Phoenicia and Syria and retired to Chalcedon, intending to make his way from there to Rome; but he was intercepted by the emissaries of Antoninus, who cut off his head and carried it back with them.

Antoninus, as long as he followed the counsel of his mother, ruled with moderation, adopted Alexinus----whose name he changed to Alexander [3]----as his son, and created him Caesar. But after he fell under the influence of flatterers, there was no excess of vice and intemperance of which he was not guilty. His attempted plot against Alexander was frustrated by the soldiers, and when he decided to punish them, they put him to death. Alexander, the son of Mamaea, reigned fourteen years to the best of his ability with goodness and clemency and without bloodshed; but owing, it is said, to the avarice and meanness of his mother, they were both put to death, and Maximin was proclaimed emperor.

Maximin, a brutal and oppressive tyrant, a man of enormous stature and extremely cruel, reigned nearly three years. The soldiers in Africa revolted and slew the governor, a man of like character appointed by Maximin, and elected the proconsul Gordian (a man eighty years of age) emperor against his will. Rome joyfully accepted his election, deprived Maximin of all his honours, and at the same time declared the proconsul’s son, Gordian, joint-emperor with his father. While Maximin was preparing for war, Gordian, who had occupied Carthage together with his son, seeing that his position was desperate, hanged himself; his son was defeated by Maximin, and fell on the field of battle. The Romans, deeply grieved at their death, hating and at the same time fearing Maximin, proclaimed Balbinus and Maximus emperors at Rome. The soldiers created a disturbance and demanded that Gordian, the grandson of the elder Gordian, and his daughter’s son, quite a boy, should be associated with them in the empire. While Maximus was advancing against Maximin, the latter was murdered by his own soldiers, his head was taken to Maximus, and thence to Rome. Soon afterwards, the soldiers again revolted, dragged Maximus and Balbinus from the palace and, after inflicting every insult upon them, put them to death and bestowed the throne upon Gordian alone, now about thirteen years of age. Here the eighth book ends.

The writer’s style is clear, brilliant, and agreeable; his diction avoids extremes, being neither too much given to atticism, which violates the natural charm of ordinary language, nor so careless as to degenerate into meanness to the sacrifice of all the rules of art. He does not take a pride in what is superfluous, nor does he omit anything that is necessary; in a word, he is inferior to few in all the good qualities of an historian.