Ch. Meiners de M. Aurel. Antonini ingenio, moribus, et scriptis, in Commentat. Soc. Gotting. vol. vi.
T. Commodus, March 17, 180—Dec. 31, 192.
28. By means of adoption the Roman empire had been blessed, during the last eighty years, with a succession of rulers such as have not often fell to the lot of any kingdom. But in J. Commodus the son of M. Aurelius (probably the offspring of a gladiator), who reigned from his nineteenth to his thirty-first year, there ascended the throne a monster of cruelty, insolence, and lewdness. At the commencement of his reign he bought a peace of the Marcomanni that he might return to Rome. Being himself unable to support the burden of government, the helm of state Perennis, † 186. was placed in the hands of the stern and cruel Perennis, præfect of the prætorian guard; but who, being murdered by the discontented soldiers, was succeeded by the freedman Cleander, † 189. Cleander, who put up all for sale, till he fell a sacrifice to his own insatiable avarice, in a revolt of the people, caused by their want of provisions. The extravagant propensity of Commodus for the diversions of the amphitheatres, and the combats of wild beasts and gladiators, wherein he himself usually took a part, in the character of Hercules, became a chief cause of his dissipation, and thereby of his cruelty; till at last he was killed at the instigation of his concubine Marcia, Lætus the præfect of the prætorian guard, and Electus. 182—184. The wars on the frontiers during his reign, in Dacia, and especially in Britain, were successfully carried on by his lieutenants, generals who belonged to the school of his father.
The especial source for the history of Commodus is his private life by Æl. Lampridius, in the Script. Hist. August.—The history of Herodian begins with his reign.
State of the empire at this period.
29. The disasters under M. Aurelius, and the extravagances of Commodus, had injured the empire, but not enfeebled it. Towards the close of the period of the Antonines it still retained its pristine vigour. If wise regulations, internal peace, moderate taxes, a certain degree of political, and unrestrained civil liberty, are sufficient to form the happiness of a commonwealth, it must have been found in the Roman. What a number of advantages did it possess over every other, simply from its situation! Proofs of it appear on every side. A vigorous population, rich provinces, flourishing and splendid cities, and a lively internal and foreign trade. But the most solid foundation of the happiness of a nation consists in its moral greatness, and this we here seek for in vain. Otherwise the nation would not so easily have suffered itself to be brought under the yoke of Commodus by prætorian cohorts and the legions. But what best shows the strength which the empire still retained, is the opposition it continued to make, for two hundred years longer, to the formidable attacks from without.
D. H. Hegewisch upon the Epochs in Roman History most favourable to Humanity. Hamburg, 1800—8.
Foreign commerce, so flourishing in this period, could only be carried on, to any extent, with the east—mostly with India—as the Roman empire spread over all the west. This trade continued to be carried on through Egypt, and also through Palmyra and Syria. Information thereupon will be found in
W. Robertson's Disquisition concerning the Knowledge which the Ancients had of India. London, 1791, 4to. Often reprinted. And particularly upon Egypt, in
W. Vincent, the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea. London, 1802, 4to. 2 vols. A very instructive work.