This man [Commodus] was not naturally wicked, but, on the contrary, as
guileless as any man that ever lived. His great simplicity, however,
together with his cowardice, made him the slave of his companions, and
it was through them that he at first, out of ignorance, missed the
better life and then was led on into lustful and cruel habits, which
soon became second nature. And this, I think, Marcus clearly perceived
beforehand. Commodus was nineteen years old when his father died,
leaving him many guardians, among whom were numbered the best men of
the senate. But their suggestions and counsels Commodus rejected, and
after making a truce with the barbarians he rushed to Rome; for he
hated all exertion and craved the comfortable life of the city.
The Marcomani by reason of the multitude of their people that were
perishing and the constant ravishing of their lands no longer had an
abundance of either food or men. At any rate they sent only two of
their chief men and two others of inferior rank as envoys to sue for
peace. And, although Commodus might easily have destroyed them, yet he
made terms with them; for he hated all exertion and was eager for the
comforts of the city. In addition to the conditions that his father had
imposed upon them he also demanded that they restore to him the
deserters and the captives that they had taken in the meantime, and
that they furnish annually a stipulated amount of grain — a demand from
which he subsequently released them. Moreover, he obtained some arms
from them and soldiers as well, thirteen thousand from the Quadi and a
smaller number from the Marcomani; and in return for these he relieved
them of the requirement of an annual levy. However, he further
commanded that they should not assemble often nor in many parts of the
country, but only once each month and in one place, and in the presence
of a Roman centurion; and, furthermore, that they should not make war
upon the Iazyges, the Buri, or the Vandili. On these terms, then, he
made peace and abandoned all the outposts in their country beyond the
strip along the frontier that had been neutralized ...
Commodus granted peace to the Buri when they sent envoys. Previously he
had declined to do so, in spite of their frequent requests, because
they were strong, and because it was not peace that they wanted, but
the securing of a respite to enable them to make further preparations;
but now that they were exhausted he made peace with them, receiving
hostages and getting back many captives from the Buri themselves as
well as fifteen thousand from the others, and he compelled the others
to take an oath that they would never dwell in nor use for pasturage a
five-mile strip of their territory next to Dacia. The same Sabinianus
also, when twelve thousand of the neighbouring Dacians had been driven
out of their own country and were on the point of aiding the others,
dissuaded them from their purpose, promising them that some land in our
Dacia should be given them.
Commodus was guilty of many unseemly deeds, and killed a great many people.
Many plots were formed by various people against Commodus, and he
killed a great many, both men and women, some openly and some by means
of poison, secretly, making away, in fact, with practically all those
who had attained eminence during his father's reign and his own, with
the exception of Pompeianus, Pertinax and Victorinus; these men for
some reason or other he did not kill. I state these and subsequent
facts, not, as hitherto, on the authority of others' reports, but from
my own observation. On coming to Rome he addressed the senate, uttering
a lot of trivialities; and among the various stories that he told in
his own praise was one to this effect, that once while out riding he
had saved the life of his father, who had fallen into a deep quagmire.
Such were his lofty pratings. But as he was entering the
hunting-theatre, Claudius Pompeianus formed a plot against him:
thrusting out a sword in the narrow entrance, he said: "See! This is
what the senate has sent you." This man had been betrothed to the
daughter out of Lucilla, but had intimate relations both with the girl
herself and with her mother; in this way he had become friendly with
Commodus, so that he was his companion both at banquets and in youthful
escapades. Lucilla, who was no more modest or chaste than her brother
Commodus, detested her husband, Pompeianus. It was for this reason that
she persuaded him to make the attack upon Commodus; and she not only
caused his destruction but was herself detected and put out of the way.
Commodus also put Crispina to death, having become angry with her for
some act of adultery. But before their execution both women were
banished to the island of Capreae.
There was a certain Marcia, the mistress of Quadratus (one of the men
slain at this time), and Eclectus, his cubicularius; the latter became
the cubicularius of Commodus also, and the former, first the emperor's
mistress and later the wife of Eclectus, and she saw them also perish
by violence. The tradition is that she greatly favoured the Christians
and rendered them many kindnesses, inasmuch as she could do anything
with Commodus.
Commodus also killed Salvius Julianus and Tarrutenius Paternus, who was
enrolled among the ex-consuls, and others with them, including even a
woman of the nobility. And yet Julianus, after the death of Marcus,
could have done at once anything whatever that he wished against
Commodus, since he was a man of great renown, was in command of a large
army, and enjoyed the devotion of his soldiers; but he had refused to
make any rebellious move, both because of his own probity and because
of the good will that he bore to Marcus even after that emperor's
death. And Paternus, if he had plotted against Commodus, as he was
accused of doing, could easily have killed him while he himself was
still in command of the Pretorians; but he had not done so.
Commodus likewise killed the two Quintilii, Condianus and Maximus; for
they had a great reputation for learning, military skill, brotherly
accord, and wealth, and their notable talents led to the suspicion
that, even if they were not planning any rebellion, they were
nevertheless displeased with existing conditions. And thus, even as
they had lived together, so they died together, along with the son of
one of them. They had offered to most striking example ever seen of
mutual affection; and at no time had they ever been separated, even in
the offices they held. They had grown prosperous and exceedingly
wealthy, and were wont to hold office together and to act as assistants
to each other.
Sextus Condianus, the son of Maximus, who surpassed all others by
reason both of his native ability and his training, when he heard that
sentence of death had been pronounced against him, too, drank the blood
of a hare (he was living in Syria at the time), after which he mounted
a horse and purposely fell from it; then, as he vomited the blood,
which was supposed to be his own, he was taken up, apparently on the
point of death, and was carried to his room. He himself now
disappeared, while a ram's body was placed in a coffin in his stead and
burned. After this, constantly changing his appearance and clothing, he
wandered about here and there. And when this story got out (for it is
impossible that such matters should remain hidden very long), diligent
search was made for him high and low. Many were punished in his stead
on account of their resemblance to him, and many, too, who were alleged
to have shared his confidence or to have sheltered him somewhere; and
still more persons who had perhaps never even seen him were deprived of
their property. But no one knows whether he was really slain, — though
a great number of heads purporting to be his were brought to Rome,— or
whether he made good his escape. Some other man, however, after the
death of Commodus boldly claimed to be Sextus and undertook to recover
his wealth and rank. And he played the part bravely, though questioned
much by many persons; yet when Pertinax asked him something about
Grecian affairs, with which the real Sextus had been well acquainted,
he showed the greatest embarrassment, being unable even to understand
the question. Thus, though nature had made him like Condianus in
appearance and practice had made him similar in other respects, yet he
did not share in his learning.
As for this matter, now, that I have just related, I myself was present
and heard it; and I will mention another thing, that I saw. There is in
the city of Mallus, in Cilicia, an oracle of Amphilochus that gives
responses by means of dreams. Now it had given a response also to
Sextus, that he had indicated by means of a drawing; the picture which
he had put on the tablet represented a boy strangling two serpents and
a lion pursuing a fawn. I was with my father, who was governor of
Cilicia at the time, and could not comprehend what the figures meant,
until I learned that the brothers had been strangled, so to speak, by
Commodus (who later emulated Hercules), just as Hercules, when an
infant, is related to have strangled the serpents sent against him by
Juno (for the Quintilii, too, had been strangled), and until I learned
also that Sextus was a fugitive and was being pursued by a more
powerful adversary.
I should render my narrative very tedious were I to give a detailed
report of all the persons put to death by Commodus, of all those whom
he made away with as the result of false accusations or unjustified
suspicions or because of their conspicuous wealth, distinguished
family, unusual learning, or some other point of excellence.
Commodus displayed in Rome itself many indications of wealth and very
many more, even, of a love of the beautiful. In fact, he occasionally
performed an act of public service. Thus, when Manilius, who had been
associated with Cassius, had been secretary of his Latin
correspondence, and had possessed the greatest influence with him, was
captured after taking to flight, the emperor would not listen to a word
from him, though he offered to give a great deal of information, and he
burned all the conspirator's papers without reading them.
He also had some wars with the barbarians beyond Dacia, in which
Albinus and Niger, who later fought against the emperor Severus, won
fame; but the greatest struggle was the one with the Britons. When the
tribes in that island, crossing the wall that separated them from the
Roman legions, proceeded to do much mischief and cut down a general
together with his troops, Commodus became alarmed but sent Ulpius
Marcellus against them. This man, who was temperate and frugal and
always lived like a soldier in the matter of his food as well as in
everything else when he was at war, was becoming haughty and arrogant;
he was most conspicuously incorruptible, and yet was not of a pleasant
or kindly nature. He showed himself more wakeful than any other
general, and as he wished the others who were associated with him to be
alert also, he used to write orders on twelve tablets, such as are made
out of linden wood, almost every evening, and bid an aide to deliver
them to such-and-such persons at various hours, so that these officers,
believing the general the always awake, might not themselves take their
fill of sleep. For nature in the first place had made him able to
resist sleep, and he had developed this faculty by the discipline of
fasting. For in general he would never eat to satiety, and in order
that he might not take his fill even of bread, he used to send to Rome
for it. This was not because he could not eat the bread of the country,
but in order that his bread might be so stale that he should be unable
to eat even a small portion more than was absolutely necessary; for his
gums were tender and, if the bread was very dry, would soon begin to
bleed. However, he purposely exaggerated his natural tendency by
simulating, in order that he might have the greatest possible
reputation for wakefulness. Such a man was Marcellus; and he ruthlessly
put down the barbarians of Britain, and later, when, thanks to his
peculiar excellence, he was all but on the point of being put to death
by Commodus, he was nevertheless pardoned.
Perennis, who commanded the Pretorians after Paternus, met his death as
the result of a mutiny of the soldiers. For, inasmuch as Commodus had
given himself up to chariot-racing and licentiousness and performed
scarcely any of the duties pertaining to his office, Perennis was
compelled to manage not only the military affairs, but everything else
as well, and to stand at the head of the State. The soldiers,
accordingly, whenever any matter did not turn out to their
satisfaction, laid the blame upon Perennis and were angry with him.
The soldiers in Britain chose Priscus, a lieutenant, emperor; but he
declined, saying: I am no more an emperor than you are soldiers"
The lieutenants in Britain, accordingly, having been rebuked for their
insubordination,— they did not become quiet, in fact, until Pertinax
quelled them,— now chose out of their number fifteen hundred javelin
men and sent them into Italy. These men had already drawn near to Rome
without encountering any resistance, when Commodus met them and asked:
"What is the meaning of this, soldiers? What is your purpose in
coming?" And when they answered, "We are here because Perennis is
plotting against you and plans to make his son emperor," Commodus
believed them, especially as Cleander insisted; for this man had often
been prevented by Perennis from doing all that he desired, and
consequently he hated him bitterly. He accordingly delivered up the
prefect to very soldiers whose commander he was, and had not the
courage to scorn fifteen hundred men, though he had many times that
number of Pretorians. So Perennis was maltreated and struck down by
those men, and his wife, his sister, and two sons were also killed.
Thus Perennis was slain, though he deserved a far different fate, both
on his own account and in the interest of the entire Roman empire,—
except in so far as his ambition for office had made him chiefly
responsible for the ruin of his colleague Paternus. For privately he
never strove in the least for either fame or wealth, but lived a most
incorruptible and temperate life; and as for Commodus and his imperial
office, he guarded them in complete security.
Commodus was wholly devoted to pleasure and gave himself up to
chariot-racing, caring nothing for anything of that nature; and,
indeed, if he had been deeply concerned, he would not have been able to
administer them by reason of his indolence and his inexperience.
And the imperial freedmen, with Cleander at their head, after getting
rid of this man [Perennis], refrained from no form of mischief, selling
all privileges, and indulging in wantonness and debauchery.
Commodus devoted most of his life to ease and to horses and to combats
of wild beasts and of men. In fact, besides all that he did in private,
he often slew in public large numbers of men and beasts as well. For
example, all alone with his own hands, he dispatched five hippopotami
together with two elephants on two successive days; and he also killed
rhinoceroses and a camelopard. This is what I have to say with
reference to his career as a whole.
A statue was set up to Victorinus, who had been prefect of the city. He
had not died as the victim of any plot; in fact, at one time, when a
persistent rumour and many reports, one may almost say, were being
circulated about his death, he became emboldened, and approaching
Perennis, said: "I hear that you men wish to kill me. Why, then, do you
delay? Why do you put it off, when you might do it this very day?" Yet
not even after that was he molested by any outside person, but he took
his own life; and yet he had been honoured among the foremost men by
Marcus, both in point of moral excellence and forensic eloquence stood
second to none of his contemporaries. Indeed, two incidents that I
shall now relate will reveal his whole character. When he was governor
of Germany at one time, he at first attempted by private persuasion at
home to induce his lieutenant not to accept bribes; but when the latter
would not listen to him, he mounted the tribunal, and after bidding the
herald proclaim silence, took oath that he had never accepted bribes
and never would. Then he bade the lieutenant take the same oath, and
when the other refused to perjure himself, he ordered him to resign his
office. And later, when he was governor of Africa and had an associate
of similar character to the man just mentioned, though he did not adopt
the same method, he nevertheless put him on board a ship and sent him
back to Rome. Such, then, was the character of Victorinus.
As for Cleander, who possessed the greatest influence after Perennis,
he had formerly been sold as one of a group of slaves and had been
brought to Rome with the others to be a pack-carrier; but in the course
of time he advanced to such a point that he actually became Commodus'
cubicularius, married the emperor's concubine Damostratia, and put to
death Saoterus of Nicomedeia, his predecessor in this office, together
with many others. Yet Saoterus, too, had possible very great influence,
so great, in fact, that thanks to it the privilege of celebrating some
games and of erecting a temple to Commodus. So Cleander, raised to
greatness by the favour of Fortune, bestowed and sold senatorships,
military commands, procuratorships, governorships, and, in a word,
everything. In fact, some men became senators only after spending all
they possessed, so that it was said of Julius Solon, a very obscure
man, that he had been stripped of all his property and banished to —
the senate. Besides all this, Cleander appointed twenty-five consuls
for one year, a thing that never happened before or since; one of these
consuls was Severus, who later became emperor. Cleander, accordingly,
was obtaining money from every source, and he amassed more wealth than
any who had ever been named cubicularii. A great deal it he gave to
Commodus and his concubines, and he spent a great deal on houses,
baths, and other works of benefit either to individuals or to cities.
So this Cleander, too, who had been raised to so exalted a station,
fell suddenly and perished in dishonour. It was not the soldiers,
however, that killed him, as in the case of Perennis, but the populace.
A famine occurred, sufficiently grievous in itself; but its severity
was vastly increased by Papirius Dionysius, the grain commissioner, in
order that Cleander, whose thefts would seem chiefly responsible for
it, might incur the hatred of the Romans and be destroyed by them. And
so it came to pass. There was a horse-race on, and as the horses were
about to contend for the seventh time, a crowd of children ran into the
Circus, led by a tall maiden of grim aspect, who, because of what
afterwards happened, was thought to have been a divinity. The children
shouted in concert many bitter words, which the people took up and then
began to bawl out every conceivable insult; and finally the throng
leaped down and set out to find Commodus (who was then in the
Quintilian suburb), invoking many blessings on him and many curses upon
Cleander. The latter sent some soldiers against them, who wounded and
killed a few; but, instead of being deterred by this, the crowd,
encouraged by its own numbers and by the strength of the Pretorians,
pressed on with all the greater determination. They were already
drawing near to Commodus, whom no one had kept informed of what was
going on, when Marcia, the notorious wife of Quadratus, reported the
matter to him. And Commodus was so terrified (he was ever the greatest
coward) that he at once ordered Cleander to be slain, and likewise his
son, who was being reared in the emperor's charge. The boy was dashed
to the earth and so perished; and the Romans, taking the body of
Cleander, dragged it away and abused it and carried his head all about
the city on a pole. They also slew some other men who had enjoyed great
power under him.
Commodus, taking a respite from his amusements and sports, turned to
murder and was killing off the prominent men. Among these was Julianus,
the prefect, whom he had been wont even and public to embrace and kiss
and address as "father." Another was Julius Alexander, who was executed
for having brought down a lion with his javelin while on horseback.
This man, when he learned of the arrival of the assassins, murdered
them at night, and also destroyed all his enemies at Emesa, his native
city; then he mounted a horse and set out to go to the barbarians. And
he would have escaped, had he not taken along a boy-favourite with him,
since he himself was an excellent horseman; but he could not bring
himself to desert the lad, who had become wearied, and so, when he was
being overtaken, he killed both the boy and himself. Dionysius, the
grain commissioner, also met his death by the orders of Commodus.
Moreover, a pestilence occurred, the greatest of any of which I have
knowledge; for two thousand persons often died in Rome in a single day.
Then, too, many others, not alone in the City, but throughout almost
the entire empire, perished at the hands of criminals who smeared some
deadly drugs on tiny needles and for pay infected people with the
poison by means of these instruments. The same thing had happened
before in the reign of Domitian.
Now the death of these victims passed unheeded for Commodus was a
greater curse to the Romans than any pestilence or any crime. Among
other reasons was this, that whatever honours they had been wont to
vote to his father out of affection they were now compelled out of fear
and by direct command to assign also to the son. He actually ordered
that Rome itself should be called Commodiana, the legions Commodian,
and the day on which these measures were voted Commodiana. Upon himself
he bestowed, in addition to a great many other names, that of Hercules.
Rome he styled the "Immortal, Fortunate Colony of the Whole Earth"; for
he wished it to be regarded as a settlement of his own. In his honour a
gold statue was erected of a thousand pounds weight, representing him
together with a bull and a cow. Finally, all the months were named
after him, so that they were enumerated as follows: Amazonius,
Invictus, Felix, Pius, Lucius, Aelius, Aurelius, Commodus, Augustus,
Herculeus, Romanus, Exsuperatorius. For he himself assumed these
several titles at different times, but "Amazonius" and "Exsuperatorius"
he applied constantly to himself, to indicate that in every respect he
surpassed absolutely all mankind superlatively; so superlatively mad
had the abandoned wretch become. And to the senate he would send
messages couched in these terms: "The Emperor Caesar Lucius Aelius
Aurelius Commodus Augustus Pius Felix Sarmaticus Germanicus Maximus
Britannicus, Pacifier of the Whole Earth, Invincible, the Roman
Hercules, Pontifex Maximus, Holder of the Tribunician Authority for the
eighteenth time, Imperator for the eighth time, Consul for the seventh
time, Father of his Country, to consuls, praetors, tribunes, and the
fortunate Commodian senate, Greeting." Vast numbers of statues were
erected representing him in the garb of Hercules. And it was voted that
his age should be named the "Golden Age," and that this should be
recorded in all the records without exception.
Now this "Golden One," this "Hercules," (this "god" (for he was even
given this name, too) suddenly drove into Rome one afternoon from his
suburb and conducted thirty horse-races in the space of two hours.
These proceedings had much to do with his running short of funds. He
was also fond, it is true, of bestowing gifts, and frequently gave
largesses to the populace at the rate of one hundred and forty denarii
per man; but most of his expenditures were for the objects I have
mentioned. Hence he brought accusations against both men and women,
slaying some and to others selling their lives for their property. And
finally he ordered us, our wives, and our children each to contribute
two gold pieces every year on his birthday as a kind of first-fruits,
and commanded the senators in all the other cities to give five denarii
apiece. Of this, too, he saved nothing, but spent it all disgracefully
on his wild beasts and his gladiators.
In public he nowhere drove chariots except sometimes on a moonless
night, for, though he was eager to play the charioteer in public, too,
he was ashamed to be seen doing so; but in private he was constantly
doing it, adopting the Green uniform. As for wild beasts, however, he
slew many both in private and in public. Moreover, he used to contend
as a gladiator; in doing this at home he managed to kill a man now and
then, and in making close passes with others, as if trying to clip off
a bit of their hair, he sliced off the noses of some, the ears of
others, and sundry features of still others; but in public he refrained
from using steel and shedding human blood. Before entering the
amphitheatre he would put on a long-sleeved tunic of silk, white
interwoven with gold, and thus arrayed he would receive our greetings;
but when he was about to go inside, he put on a robe of pure purple
with gold spangles, donning also after the Greek fashion a chlamys of
the same colour, and a crown made of gems from India and of gold, and
he carried a herald's staff like that of Mercury. As for the lion-skin
and club, in the street they were carried before him, and in the
amphitheatres they were placed on a gilded chair, whether he was
present or not. He himself would enter the arena in the garb of
Mercury, and casting aside all his other garments, would begin his
exhibition wearing only a tunic and unshod.
On the first day he killed a hundred bears all by himself, shooting
down at them from the railing of the balustrade; for the whole
amphitheatre had been divided up by means of two intersecting
cross-walls which supported the gallery that ran its entire length, the
purpose being that the beasts, divided into four herds, might more
easily be speared at short range from any point. In the midst of the
struggle he became weary, and taking from a woman some chilled sweet
wine in a cup shaped like a club, he drank it at one gulp. At this both
the populace and we senators all immediately shouted out the words so
familiar at drinking-bouts, "Long life to you!"
And let no one feel that I am sullying the dignity of history by
recording such occurrences. On most accounts, to be sure, I should not
have mentioned this exhibition; but since it was given by the emperor
himself, and since I was present myself and took part in everything
seen, heard and spoken, I have thought proper to suppress none of the
details, but to hand them down, trivial as they are, just like any
events of the greatest weight and importance. And, indeed, all the
other events that took place in my lifetime I shall describe with more
exactness and detail than earlier occurrences, for the reason that I
was present when they happened and know no one else, among those who
have any ability at writing a worthy record of events, who has so
accurate a knowledge of them as I.
On the first day, then, the events that I have described took place. On
the other days he descended to the arena from his place above and cut
down all the domestic animals that approached him and some also that
were led up to him or were brought before him in nets. He also killed a
tiger, a hippopotamus, and an elephant. Having performed these
exploits, he would retire, but later, after luncheon, would fight as a
gladiator. The form of contest that he practised and the armour that he
used were those of the secutores, as they were called: he held the
shield in his right hand and the wooden sword in his left, and indeed
took great pride in the fact that he was left-handed. His antagonist
would be some athlete or perchance a gladiator armed with a wand;
sometimes it was a man that he himself had challenged, sometimes one
chosen by the people, for in this as well as in other matters he put
himself on an equal footing with the other gladiators, except for the
fact that they enter the lists for a very small sum, whereas Commodus
received a million sesterces from the gladiatorial fund each day.
Standing beside him as he fought were Aemilius Laetus, the prefect, and
Eclectus, his cubicularius; and when he had finished his sparring
match, and of course won it, he would then, just as he was, kiss these
companions through his helmet. After this the regular contestants would
fight. The first day he personally paired all the combatants down in
the arena, where he appeared with all the trappings of Mercury,
including a gilded wand, and took his place on a gilded platform; and
we regarded his doing this as an omen. Later he would ascend to his
customary place and from there view the remainder of the spectacle with
us. After that the contests no longer resembled child's play, but were
so serious that great numbers of men were killed. Indeed, on one
occasion, when some of the victors hesitated to slay the vanquished, he
fastened the various contestants together and ordered them all to fight
at once. Thereupon the men so bound fought man against man, and some
killed even those who did not belong to their group at all, since the
numbers and the limited space had brought them together.
That spectacle, of the general character I have described, lasted
fourteen days. When the emperor was fighting, we senators together with
the knights always attended. Only Claudius Pompeianus the elder never
appeared, but sent his sons, while remaining away himself; for he
preferred even to be killed for this rather than to behold the emperor,
the son of Marcus, conducting himself in such a fashion. For among
other things that we did, we would shout out whatever we were
commanded, and especially these words continually: "Thou art lord and
thou art first, of all men most fortunate. Victor thou art, and victor
thou shalt be; from everlasting, Amazonian, thou art victor." But of
the populace in general, many did not enter the amphitheatre at all,
and others departed after merely glancing inside, partly from shame at
what was going on, partly also from fear, inasmuch as a report spread
abroad that he would want to shoot a few of the spectators in imitation
of Hercules and the Stymphalian birds. And this story was believed,
too, because he had once got together all the men in the city who had
lost their feet as the result of disease or some accident, and then,
after fastening about their knees some likenesses of serpents' bodies,
and giving them sponges to throw instead of stones, had killed them
with blows of a club, pretending that they were giants.
This fear was shared by all, by us senators as well as by the rest. And
here is another thing that he did to us senators which gave us every
reason to look for our death. Having killed an ostrich and cut off his
head, he came up to where we were sitting, holding the head in his left
hand and in his right hand raising aloft his bloody sword; and though
he spoke not a word, yet he wagged his head with a grin, indicating
that he would treat us in the same way. And many would indeed have
perished by the sword on the spot, for laughing at him (for it was
laughter rather than indignation that overcame us), if I had not chewed
some laurel leaves, which I got from my garland, myself, and persuaded
the others who were sitting near me to do the same, so that in the
steady movement of our armies we might conceal the fact that we were
laughing.
After the events described he raised our spirits. For when he was
intending to fight once more as a gladiator, he bade us enter the
amphitheatre in the equestrian garb and in our woollen cloaks, a thing
that we never do when going to the amphitheatre except when one of the
emperors has passed away; and on the last day his helmet was carried
out by the gates through which the dead are taken out. These events
caused absolutely every one of us to believe that we were surely about
to be rid of him.
And he actually did die, or rather was slain, before long. For Laetus
and Eclectus, displeased at the things he was doing, and also inspired
by fear, in view of the threats he made against them because they tried
to prevent him from acting in this way, formed a plot against him. It
seems that Commodus wished to slay both the consuls, Erucius Clarus and
Sosius Flaco, and on New Year's Day to issue forth both as consul and
secutor from the quarters of the gladiators; in fact, he had the first
cell there, as if he were one of them. Let no one doubt this statement.
Indeed, he actually cut off the head of the Colossus, and substituted
for it a likeness of his own head; then, having given it a club and
placed a bronze lion at its feet, so as to cause it to look like
Hercules, he inscribed on it, in addition to the list of his titles
which I have already indicated, these words: "Champion of secutores;
only left-handed fighter to conquer twelve times (as I recall the
number) one thousand men."
For these reasons Laetus and Eclectus attacked him, after making Marcia
their confidant. At any rate, on the last day of the year, at night,
when people were busy with the holiday, they caused Marcia to
administer poison to him in some beef. But the immoderate use of wine
and baths, which was habitual with him, kept him from succumbing at
once, and instead he vomited up some of it; and thus suspecting the
truth, he indulged in some threats. Then they sent Narcissus, an
athlete, against him, and caused this man to strangle him while he was
taking a bath. Such was the end of Commodus, after he had ruled twelve
years, nine months, and fourteen days. He had lived thirty-one years
and four months; and with him the line of the genuine Aurelii ceased to
rule.
After this there occurred most violent wars and civil strife. I was
inspired to write an account of these struggles by the following
incident. I had written and published a little book about the dreams
and portents which gave Severus reason to hope for the imperial power;
and he, after reading the copy I sent him, wrote me a long and
complimentary acknowledgment. This letter I received about nightfall,
and soon after fell asleep; and in my dreams the Divine Power commanded
me to write history. Thus it was that I came to write the narrative
with which I am at this moment concerned. And inasmuch as it won the
high approval, not only of others, but, in particular, of Severus
himself, I then conceived a desire to compile a record of everything
else that concerned the Romans. Therefore, I decided to leave the first
treatise no longer as a separate composition, but to incorporate it in
this present history, in order that in a single work I might write down
and leave behind me a record of everything from the beginning down to
the point that shall seem best to Fortune. This goddess gives me
strength to continue my history when I become timid and disposed to
shrink from it; when I grow weary and would resign the task, she wins
me back by sending dreams; she inspires me with fair hopes that future
time will permit my history to survive and never dim its lustre; she,
it seems, has fallen to my lot as guardian of the course of my life,
and therefore I have dedicated myself to her. I spent ten years in
collecting all the achievements of the Romans from the beginning down
to the death of Severus, and twelve years more in composing my work. As
for subsequent events, they also shall be recorded, down to whatever
point it shall be permitted me.
Before the death of Commodus there were the following portents: many
eagles of ill omen soared about the Capitol and moreover uttered
screams that boded nothing peaceful, and an owl hooted there; and a
fire that began at night in some dwelling leaped to the temple of Pax
and spread to the storehouses of Egyptian and Arabian wares, whence the
flames, borne aloft, entered the palace and consumed very extensive
portions of it, so that nearly all the State records were destroyed.
This, in particular, made it clear that the evil would not be confined
to the City, but would extend over the entire civilized world under its
sway. For the conflagration could not be extinguished by human power,
though vast numbers both of civilians and soldiers carried water, and
Commodus himself came in from the suburb and encouraged them. Only when
it had destroyed everything on which it had laid hold did it spend its
force and die out.
End of Etext Cassius Dio Roman History Epitome of Book LXXIII
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