258
EXCESSES OE COMMODES.
made by his father were continued as a sort of tradition.
But his nature, which was characterised by the lowest vulgarity,
soon burst forth. He was a handsome man, and of athletic
agility and strength20, and this circumstance was in some
measure the cause of his abandoning himself to the coarsest
pleasures and the grossest sensuality. His greatest delight
was to cultivate his skill in using the bow and throwing the
javelin ; and had he left the government in the hands of able
men, things might still have been well; but he soon gave it
up to the praefect Perennis, who ruled like an oriental despot.
The consequence was an insurrection among the soldiers, in
which Commodus abandoned his favourite to the fury of the
populace. An attempt upon the life of the voluptuous tyrant
himself was made soon afterwards by an assassin, Claudius
Pompeianus, who is said to have been instigated by Lucilla,
Commodus' own sister, but who declared himself to be an
emissary of the senate.21 This attempt excited the emperor’s
fury against the senators. He had insinuated himself into the
good graces of the soldiers and the populace—the so-called
plebsurbana—by his Unboundedprodigality: his coins attest this
Iiberalitas Augusti which was very often repeated, and in which
he squandered away and exhausted the treasures of the empire.
Antoninus Pius had left behind him a treasury containing about
sixty-three millions sterling, 2,700 millions sesterces; but the
wars of M. Aurelius had consumed it, and that emperor had
sold even the valuables contained in the palace, that he might
not be obliged to impose new taxes. Commodus had recourse
even to murders in order to obtain more money to squander. It
is just as repugnant to my feelings to enter into the details of
the history of Commodus, as it was in the case of Caligula
and Nero; it is so disgusting that it is almost impossible to
dwell upon it. The only point of interest after the murder of
Perennis is the fall of Cleander, a freedman, of whom, however,
it is very doubtful whether he was actually praefectus praetorio
or not22. The internal dissolution of the empire is visible in
the struggle which took place on that occasion between the
50 His own head, which he caused to be placed on a colossal statue of Sol,
is st∏l extant. It is a very beautiful head, with graceful but unmeaning
features.—N.
21 Lampridiu=, Commod. 4; Dion Cass. Ixxii. 4 ; Herodian, l.c.
21 Herodian, i. 13; Dion Cass. Ixxii. 13; Lampridius, Commod. 17.
ASSASSINATION OF COMMODUS—PERTINAX.
259
praetorian cohorts and the city cohorts. The latter supported
the city against the praetorians, and gained the victory; Com-
modus was on the point of being murdered at Lanuvium23,
whither he had gone to escape from the plague, but his
concubine, Marcia, and his sister Fadilla saved him, by in-
forming him of his danger. In saving himself, Commodus
sacrificed Cleander.
During the latter ryears of his life, Commodus’ ambition
was no longer confined to the hunting of wild beasts in
the amphitheatre; he was anxious to display his skill as a
gladiator also : -he had before assumed the name of Hercules.
His senseless decrees, for instance the one by which he
declared Bome a colonia Commodiana, are nothing but the
disgusting fancies and whims of a tyrant. He intended to crown
his brutal cruelties on the first of January, A.D. 193, by putting
to death the consuls elect, and then proceeding himself to the
Capitol at once as consul and gladiator. The praefect, Laetus,
and his concubine, Marcia, tried to dissuade him ; but the only
consequence was, that he resolved to avail himself of the op-
portunity for the purpose of proscribing his advisers. This plan,
however, was betrayed by one of his dwarfs. Laetus, Eclectus,
and Marcia, now endeavoured to rid themselves of the tyrant
by poison; the drug threw him into a state of torpor, and then
the conspirators sent a sturdy athlete to strangle him : a report
was spread abroad that he had died suddenly of a paralytic
stroke. His sister Lucilla and his nearest relatives had been
put to death by him.
The senate now gave vent to its feelings, by cursing and
disgracing the memory of the tyrant. The praetorians, on
the other hand, murmured and were discontented, for they
liked Commodus on account of his weakness; but Laetus pro-
claimed as emperor P. Helvius Pertin'ax, who was then about
sixty years old. A better choice could not have been made :
he had distinguished himself as a brave general, and although
he was not among the great commanders, still he had been a
good and honest one: he had given proofs of his integrity
and zeal during his administration of the city, and was
favourably known and esteemed. He had the virtues of
M. Aurelius, without his weaknesses, and would have made a
greater sovereign; for his whole energy would have been
23 According to IIerodian, i. 12, it was Laurentum.
S 2