A Manual of Ancient History / Particularly with Regard to the Constitutions, the Commerce, and the Colonies, of the States of Antiquity

by A. H. L. Heeren

Alexander Severus, March 11, 222—Aug. 235.

7. His young cousin and successor, M. Aurelius Alexander Severus, aged 14—27, who had been carefully educated under the direction of his mother Mammæa, proved one of the best princes in an age and upon a throne where virtues were more dangerous than vices. Under favour of his youth he endeavoured to effect a reform, in which he was supported by the cooperation of the guards, who had elevated him to the throne. He restored the authority of the senate, from among whom he chose, with rigid justice, his privy council of state, banishing the creatures of Heliogabalus War against Persia, 226. from their places. The revolution in the Parthian empire, out of which was now formed the new Persian, was of so much importance to Rome, that it obliged Alexander to undertake a war against Artaxerxes, in which he was probably victorious. But while 231—233. marching in haste to protect the frontiers against the advance of the Germans upon the Rhine, his soldiers, exasperated at the severity of his discipline, and incited by the Thracian Maximin, 235. murdered him in his own tent. His præfect of the prætorian guard, Ulpian, had already, for the same cause, fallen a victim to this spirit of insubordination, which was not checked 222. even by the immediate presence of the emperor himself.

The revolution in Parthia, whereby a new Persian empire was formed (see above, p. 304.), became a source of almost perpetual war to Rome; Artaxerxes I. and his successors, the Sassanides, claiming to be descendants of the ancient kings of Persia, formed pretensions to the possession of all the Asiatic provinces of the Roman empire.

Ælii Lampridii Alexander Severus, in Script. Hist. Aug.

Heyne de Alexandro Severo Judicium, Comment. i. ii. in Opuscula Academica, vol. vi.

Maximinus Aug. 235—May, 238.
236.
237.

8. The death of A. Severus raised military despotism to the highest pitch, as it placed on the throne the half savage C. Julius Maximinus, by birth a Thracian peasant. At first he continued the war against the Germans with great success, repulsing them beyond the Rhine; and resolved, by crossing Pannonia, to carry the war even among the Sarmatians. But his insatiable rapacity, which spared neither the capital nor the provinces, made him hateful to all; and Gordian, proconsul of Africa, in his eightieth year, was, together with his son of the same name, proclaimed Augustus by the people, and immediately acknowledged by the senate. Upon April, 238. this, Maximinus, eager to take vengeance on the senate, marched directly from Sirmium towards Italy. In the mean time, the legions of the almost defenceless Gordians were defeated in The Gordians. Africa, and themselves slain by Capellianus the governor of Numidia. Notwithstanding this, as the senate could expect no mercy, they chose as co-emperors the præfect of the city, Maximus Pupienus, and Clodius Balbinus and Pupienus. Balbinus, who, in conformity with the wishes of the people, created the young Gordian III. Cæsar. In the meanwhile Maximinus, having besieged Aquileia, and the enterprise proving unsuccessful, was slain by his own troops. Pupienus and Balbinus now seemed in quiet possession of the throne; but the guards, who had already been engaged in a bloody feud with the people, and were not willing to receive an emperor of the senate's choosing, killed them both, and proclaimed as Augustus, Gordian, already created Cæsar.

Jul. Capitolini Maximinus Gordiani tres, Pupienus et Balbinus, in Script. Hist. August.

Gordian III. July, 238—Feb. 244.
Syrian expedition, 241—243.

9. The reign of the young M. Antoninus Gordianus lasted from his twelfth to his eighteenth year. He was grandson of the proconsul who had lost his life in Africa, and in the early part of his reign, acquired a degree of firmness from the support of his father-in-law, Misitheus, præfect of the prætorian guard, as well as from the successful expedition which he undertook into Syria against the Persians, who had invaded that province. But after the death of Misitheus, Philip the Arabian, being made præfect of the guards in his stead, found means to gain the troops over to himself, and, after driving Gordian from the throne, caused him to be assassinated.