Dio's Rome Volume V Part 16

[Sidenote: A.D. 176 (a.u. 929)] [Sidenote:--29--] About this same time Faustina died, either of the gout from which she had suffered or from less natural causes and to avoid being convicted of her compact with Ca.s.sius.--Moreover, Marcus destroyed the doc.u.ments [found in the chests of Pudens], [Footnote: Reimar suggested that perhaps Pudens was secretary of the Greek letters of Ca.s.sius, as Manlius (Book Seventy-two, chapter 7) was of his Latin letters.] not even reading them, in order that he might not learn even a name of any of the conspirators who had written something against him and that he might not [therefore] be reluctantly forced to hate any one. Another account is that Verus, who was sent ahead into Syria, of which he had secured the governors.h.i.+p, found them among the effects of Ca.s.sius and put them out of the way, saying that this course would most probably be agreeable to the emperor, but even if he should be angry, it would be better that he [Verus] himself should perish than many others. Marcus was so averse to slaughter that he saw to it that the gladiators in Rome contended without danger, like athletes; for he never permitted any of them to have any sharp iron, but they fought with blunt weapons, rounded off at the ends. [And so far was he from countenancing any slaughter that though at the request of the populace he ordered to be brought in a lion trained to eat men, he would not look at the beast nor emanc.i.p.ate its teacher, in spite of the long-continued and urgent demands of the people. Instead, he commanded proclamation to be made that the man had done nothing to deserve freedom.]

[Sidenote:--30--] In his great grief over the death of Faustina he wrote to the senate that no one of those who had cooperated with Ca.s.sius was dead, as if in this fact alone he could find some consolation for Faustina's loss. "May it never happen," he continued, "that any one of you is slain during [Footnote: Reading [Greek: ep emou] (Dindorf).] my lifetime either by my vote or by your own." Finally he said: "If I do not obtain this request, I shall hasten on to death." So pure and excellent and G.o.dfearing did he show himself throughout his career. [Nothing could force him to do anything inconsistent with his character, neither the wickedness of daring attempts nor the expectation of similar events to follow as the result of pardon. To such an extent did he refrain from inventing any imaginary conspiracy and concocting any tragedy that had not taken place, that he released even those who most openly rose against him and took arms against him and against his son, whether they were generals or heads of tribes or kings, and he put none of them to death either by his own action or by that of the senate or by any other arrangement whatever. Wherefore I actually believe that if he had captured Ca.s.sius himself alive, he would certainly have saved him from injury.] For he conferred benefits upon many who had been murderers,--so far as lay in their power,--of himself and his son.

[Sidenote:--31--] A law was at this time pa.s.sed that no one should be governor in the province from which he had originally come, because the revolt of Ca.s.sius had occurred during his administration of Syria, which included his native district. It was voted by the senate that silver images of Marcus and Faustina should be set up in the temple of Venus and Roma, and that an altar should be erected whereon all the maidens married in the city and their bridegrooms should offer sacrifice; also that a golden image of Faustina should be carried in a chair to the theatre on each occasion that the emperor should be a spectator, and that it should be placed in the seat well forward, where she herself was wont to take her place when alive, and that the women of chief influence should all sit round about it.

[Sidenote:--32--] Marcus went to Athens, where after being initiated into the mysteries he bestowed honors upon the Athenians and gave teachers to all men in Athens, for every species of knowledge, these teachers to receive an annual salary. On his return to Rome he made an address to the people; and while he was saying, among other things, that he had been absent many years, they cried out: "Eight!" and indicated this also with their hands, in order that they might receive an equal number of gold pieces for a banquet. He smiled and himself uttered the word "Eight."

After that he distributed to them two hundred denarii apiece, more than they had ever received before.--In addition to doing this, he forgave all persons all their debts to the imperial and to the public treasury for a s.p.a.ce of forty-six years, outside of the sixteen granted by Hadrian. And all the doc.u.ments relating to these debts he ordered burned in the Forum.

[Sidenote: A.D. 177 (a.u. 930)]--He gave money to many cities, one of them being Smyrna, that had suffered terribly by an earthquake; he also a.s.signed the duty of building up this place to an ex-praetor of senatorial rank. Therefore I am surprised at the censures even now pa.s.sed upon him to the effect that he was not a man of large calibre. For, whereas in ordinary matters he was really quite frugal, he never demurred at a single necessary expenditure (though, as I have said, [Footnote: The reference here made by Dio may very possibly be to a pa.s.sage reproduced by Zonaras (XII, 1), regarding the authenticity of which Boissevain is nevertheless somewhat doubtful. For the sake of completeness a translation is here given ([Greek: oumaen [Lacuna] ebiasato]):

"Yet he was not thereby induced to secure money from the subject nations. On one occasion, indeed, with wars impending, he had come short for funds and still did not devise any new tax nor endure to ask money from any one. Instead, he exposed in the Forum all the heirlooms of the palace, even down to this or that piece of finery belonging to his wife, and solicited their purchase by any person so disposed. This brought him a store of coin, which he distributed to the soldiers. By success in the war he gained many times the amount in question, and he issued a proclamation to the effect than any one so disposed among the purchasers of the imperial property might return the article purchased and receive its value. Some did so, but the majority declined. And n.o.body was compelled to restore any object thus acquired."]

he hurt no one by levies), and he necessarily laid out very large sums beyond the ordinary requirements.

[Sidenote:--33--] The Scythian imbroglio, which needed his attention, caused him to give his son a wife, Crispina, sooner than he actually wished. The Quintilii could not end the war, although there were two of them and they possessed prudence, courage, and considerable experience.

Consequently the rulers themselves were forced to take the field.

[Sidenote: A.D. 178 (a.u. 931)] Marcus also asked the senate for money from the public treasury, not because it had not been placed in the sovereign's authority, but because Marcus was wont to declare that this and everything else belonged to the senate and the people. "We," said he (speaking to the senate), "are so far from having anything of our own that we even live in a house of yours." He set out, therefore, after these remarks, and after hurling the b.l.o.o.d.y spear, that lay in the temple of Bellona, into hostile territory. (I heard this from men who accompanied him). [Sidenote: A.D. 179] Paternus was given a large detachment and sent to the scene of fighting. The barbarians held out the entire day, but were all cut down by the Romans. And Marcus was for the tenth time saluted as imperator.

[Sidenote: A.D. 180 (a.u. 933)] Had he lived longer, he would have subdued the whole region: as it was, he pa.s.sed away on the seventeenth of March, not from the effects of the sickness that he had at the time, but by the connivance of his physicians, as I have heard on good evidence, who wanted to do a favor to Commodus.

[Sidenote:--34--] When at the point of death he commended his son to the protection of the soldiers (for he did not wish his death to appear to be his fault); and to the military tribunes, who asked him for the watchword, he said: "Go to the rising sun: I am already setting." After he was dead he obtained many marks of honor and was set up in gold within the senate-house itself.

So this was the manner of Marcus's demise, [who besides all other virtues was so G.o.dfearing that even on the dies nefasti he sacrificed at home; and he ruled better than any that had ever been in power. To be sure, he could not display many feats of physical prowess; yet in his own person he made a very strong body out of a very weak one.] Most of his life he pa.s.sed in the service of beneficence, and therefore he erected on the Capitol a temple to that G.o.ddess and called her by a most peculiar name, which had never before been current. [Footnote: What this name was no one knows.

Sylburgius conjectured that it might be _Aequanimitas_.] He himself refrained from all offences, [and committed no faults voluntarily:] but the offences of others, particularly those of his wife, he endured, and neither investigated them nor punished them. In case any person did anything good, he would praise him and use him for the service in which he excelled, but about others he did not trouble himself, [saying: "It is impossible for one to create such men as one wishes to have, but it is proper to employ those in existence for that in which each of them may be useful to the commonwealth."] That all his actions were prompted not by pretence but by real virtue is strikingly clear. He lived fifty-eight years, ten months, and twenty-two days, and of this time he had spent considerable as a.s.sistant to the previous Antoninus and had himself been emperor nineteen years and eleven days, yet from first to last he remained the same and changed not a particle. So truly was he a good man, without any pretence about him. [Sidenote:--35--] He was vastly helped by his education being an expert in rhetoric and in philosophical argument. In the one he had Cornelius Fronto and Claudius Herodes for teachers, and in the other, Junius Rusticus and Apollonius of Nicomedea, [Footnote: Since Apollonius was really from Chalcedon, an error may here charged to Dio's or some one else's account.] both of whom followed Zeno's school. As a result, great numbers pretended to engage in philosophy, in order that they might be enriched by the emperor.

After all, however, he owed his great attainments chiefly to his natural disposition; for even before he enjoyed the society of those men he was unflinchingly set upon virtue. While still a boy he delighted all his relations, who were numerous and influential and wealthy, and was loved by all of them. This, most of all, led Hadrian to adopt him into his family, and Marcus, for his part, did not grow haughty [but, though young and a Caesar he dutifully played the part of servant to Antoninus through all the latter's reign and ungrudgingly did honor to the other men of eminence. Before going to see his father he used to greet the most worthy men in the house near the Tiber where he lived, and in the very apartment where he slept; and all this time, instead of wearing the attire allowed by his rank, he went dressed as a private citizen. He visited many who were sick and invariably met his teachers at the proper time. Dark garments were what he wore on going out when not in his father's company, and he never used the attendant for himself alone. Upon being appointed leader of the knights he entered the Forum with the rest, although he was Caesar. This shows how excellent was his own natural disposition, though it was aided to the greatest degree by education.] He was always steeped in Greek and Latin rhetorical and philosophical learning [though he had reached man's estate and had hopes of becoming emperor].

[Sidenote:--36--] Before he was made Caesar he had a dream in which he seemed to have shoulders and hands of ivory and to use them in all respects as he did his real limbs.

As a result of his great labors and studies he was extremely frail in body, yet from the very start he enjoyed such good health that he used to fight in armor and on a hunt struck down wild boars while on horseback.

[And not only in his early youth but even later he wrote most of his letters to his intimate friends with his own hand.] However, he did not meet the good fortune that he deserved, for he was not strong [in body]

and was involved in the greatest variety of troubles throughout practically the whole period that he was ruler. But I am sure I admire him all the more for this very reason, that amid unusual and extraordinary happenings he both himself survived and preserved the empire. One thing in particular contributed to his lack of happiness,--the fact that after rearing and educating his son in the best possible way he was monstrously disappointed in him. This matter must now form the subject of our discourse, for our history now descends from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust, [Footnote: Reading [Greek: chatiomenaen] (Dindorf, following Reiske).] as affairs did for the Romans of that day.

DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY 73

About Commodus Augustus (chapter 1).

How Commodus made terms of peace with the Marcomani, the Quadi, and the Buri (chapters 2, 3).

Intrigues of Pompeia.n.u.s against Commodus (chapter 4).

About the killing of the Quintilii (chapters 5-7).

About the war in Britain, and the captain, Ulpius Marcellus (chapter 8).

How Perennis, pretorian prefect, was slain (chapters 9, 10)

Statue erected to Victorinus (chapter 11).

Crimes and death of Cleander, a Caesarian (chapters 12, 13)

Fresh a.s.sa.s.sinations occur (chapter 15).

Commodus's t.i.tles (chapter 15).

About the spectacles presented by Commodus, and his insolent behavior (chapters 16-21).

Commodus is killed as the result of a conspiracy (chapter 22).

Dio begins to lay the foundations of his history (chapter 23).

Portents indicating the death of Commodus (chapter 24).

DURATION OF TIME.

L. Fulvius Bruttius Praesens (II), s.e.xtus Quintilius Condia.n.u.s. (A.D. 180 = a.u. 933 = First of Commodus, from March 17th).

Commodus Aug. (III), Antistius Burrus. (A.D. 181 = a.u. 934 = Second of Commodus).

C. Petronius Mamertinus, Cornelius Rufus. (A.D. 182 = a.u. 935 = Third of Commodus).

Commodus Aug. (IV), Aufidius Victorinus (II). (A.D. 183 = a.u. 936 = Fourth of Commodus).

L. Eggius Marullus, Cn. Papirius Aelia.n.u.s. (A.D. 184 = a.u. 937 = Fifth of Commodus).

Maternus, Bradua. (A.D. 185 = a.u. 938 = Sixth of Commodus).

Commodus Aug. (V), Acilius Glabrio (II). (A.D. 186 = a.u. 939 = Seventh of Commodus). Crispinus, Aelia.n.u.s. (A.D. 187 = a.u. 940 = Eighth of Commodus).

C. Allius Fuscia.n.u.s (II), Duillius Sila.n.u.s (II). (A.D. 188 = a.u. 941 = Ninth of Commodus).

Iunius Sila.n.u.s, Servilius Sila.n.u.s. (A.D. 189 = a.u. 942 = Tenth of Commodus).

Commodus Aug. (VI), M. Petronius Septimia.n.u.s. (A.D. 190 = a.u. 943 = Eleventh of Commodus).

Ap.r.o.nia.n.u.s, Bradua. (A.D. 191 = a.u. 944 = Twelfth of Commodus).

Commodus Aug. (VII), P. Helvius Pertinax (II). (A.D. 192 = a.u. 945 = Thirteenth of Commodus, to Dec. 31st).

[Sidenote: A.D. 180 (a.u. 933)] [Sidenote:--1--] This [Commodus] was not naturally wicked, but was originally as free from taint as any man ever was. His great simplicity, however, and likewise his cowardice made him a slave of his companions and it was through them that he first, out of ignorance, missed the better life and then was attracted into licentiousness and bloodthirsty habits, which soon became second nature.

[And this, I think, Marcus clearly perceived beforehand.] He was nineteen years old when his father died, leaving him many guardians, among whom were numbered the best men of the senate. But to their suggestions and counsels Commodus bade farewell, and, after making a truce with the barbarians, he hastened to Rome.

[Sidenote:--2--] [For the Marcomani by reason of the number of their people that were peris.h.i.+ng and the damage constantly being done to their farms no longer had either food or men in any numbers. Thus they sent only two of their foremost representatives and two others that were of inferior rank as envoys in regard to peace. And whereas he might easily have put an end to their resistance, he so detested exertion and was so eager for the comforts of city life that he made terms with them. Besides the conditions which his father had settled upon with them new ones were now imposed requiring them to restore to him the deserters and the captives that they took after this time and to contribute annually a stipulated amount of grain,--a demand from which he subsequently released them. He obtained some weapons from them and also soldiers, thirteen thousand from the Quadi and a smaller number from the Marcomani. In return for this contingent he relieved them of the requirement of an annual levy. However, he issued further orders that they should not a.s.semble often nor in many parts of the country, but once each month, in one place, in the presence of a Roman centurion; and again, that they should not make war upon the Iazyges, the Buri, or the Vandili. On these terms a reconciliation was effected and all the garrisons in their country beyond the detached border territory were abandoned [Lacuna]]