A History of Rome to 565 A. D.

by Arthur E. R. Boak

IV. The Second War of the Legions, 193–197 a. d.

Pertinax: January–March, 193 A. D. The new princeps (Publius Helvius Pertinax, a senator of low birth but proved military capacity) was the nominee of Laetus. However, his strictness in enforcing discipline among the troops and his economies, necessitated by the exhausted condition of the public finances, soon alienated the goodwill of the praetorians and Laetus himself. After less than three months’ rule he was killed in a mutiny of the pretorian guard (March, 193 A. D.).

Didius Julianus. Their choice for a successor was an old and wealthy senator, Didius Julianus, who purchased his nomination by the promise of a high donative. But his rule was destined to be short for, as in 68 A. D., the armies on the frontiers asserted their claim to appoint the princeps.

The rivals: Severus, Niger and Albinus. Almost simultaneously three commanders were saluted as Imperator by their soldiers. These were Pescennius Niger in Syria, Clodius Albinus in Britain, and Septimius Severus in Upper Pannonia. With their nominations a second war of the legions began. Severus had the advantage of position and immediately marched on Rome as the avenger of Pertinax. He also was able to arrange a truce with Albinus by promising to recognize him as his successor with the title of Caesar. The praetorians offered no resistance to the Danubian army; Julianus was deposed by the Senate and put to death (June, 193 A. D.); and the Senate ratified the nomination of Severus.

Defeat of Niger and Albinus. But the position of Severus was not yet secure, for Niger had been recognized in the eastern provinces and also had a strong following in Rome. He was preparing to march upon Italy and had already occupied Byzantium. Severus at once set out to anticipate his attack. After investing Byzantium he crossed over to Asia Minor and defeated the forces of his rival near Cyzicus and Nicaea, forcing them to withdraw south of the Taurus mountains. The Cilician Gates were forced and Niger decisively beaten in a battle at Issus (194 A. D.). He tried to escape into Parthia but was overtaken and killed. Severus advanced across the Euphrates to [pg 253]punish the Parthian king for his support of Niger. He occupied northern Mesopotamia, and made Nisibis a Roman colony and frontier fortress (196 A. D.). In the same year Byzantium was taken, its fortifications destroyed, and its inhabitants deprived of the right of municipal organization. Severus had brought his Parthian campaign to a hasty conclusion, for in the West Clodius Albinus, feeling his position insecure, had assumed the title of Augustus and occupied Gaul. Severus now elevated his eldest son Bassianus, better known as Caracalla, to the position of Caesar with the additional title of imperator designatus, and set out to meet the usurper. In a great battle at Lugdunum, in which 150,000 men are said to have fought on either side, the army of Severus was victorious and Albinus fell by his own hand (197 A. D.). Many of his adherents, including numerous senators, were put to death.

V. The Dynasty of the Severi, 197–235 a. d.

The Parthian war of 197–199 A. D. Severus was now unchallenged ruler of the empire. Shortly after the defeat of Albinus, he returned to the East and resumed hostilities against the Parthians, whose king, Vologases IV, had taken advantage of his absence to invade Armenia and Mesopotamia and was besieging Nisibis. Severus relieved the beleaguered town and pressed on into the enemy’s territory, where he sacked the two Parthian capitals, Seleucia and Ctesiphon, in 198 A. D. By a peace arranged in the next year northern Mesopotamia was ceded to Rome and was organized as a province under a governor of equestrian rank.

A military monarchy. Septimius Severus was a native of Leptis in Africa. He came from an equestrian family and had begun his official career as an advocate of the fiscus. To secure the prestige of noble lineage he caused himself to be proclaimed as the adopted son of Marcus Aurelius, and took the latter’s family name of Antoninus for himself and his house. His rule was frankly autocratic in character and he made no attempt to disguise the fact that his authority rested upon the support of the soldiery. Light is thrown upon Severus’ policy in general by the significant fact that under him Rome, which he adorned with magnificent structures, received the title sacra (sacred), a term regularly used to designate things under the control of the princeps. The activity of the Senate was limited to register[pg 254]ing its approval of his measures, and equestrians were appointed to military posts hitherto filled only by senators. The special privileges which Italy and the Italians had continued to enjoy were equally disregarded. The title proconsul, which Trajan and his successors had used in the provinces, was now employed by Severus in Italy. In 193 he disbanded the old praetorian guard, which had been recruited from Italy and the more thoroughly latinized provinces, and organized a new corps of picked troops drawn from the legions in general, but especially those of the Danubian army. Severus enrolled three new legions for the Parthian war and placed them under the command of equestrian prefects instead of senatorial legates. Two of these legions were stationed in Mesopotamia, but the third was quartered at the Alban Mount in Latium. This step had the effect of reducing Italy to the status of a garrisoned province, but it was probably taken with the view of providing a larger reserve force to supplement the frontier garrisons. Severus also was the author of many reforms which improved the conditions or increased the rewards of military service. The pay of the troops was raised, the legionaries were allowed to contract a legal marriage when in service, and the equestrian career was opened to veteran centurians. However, there seems to be no proof that Severus deliberately fostered the barbarization of the army by the exclusion of Italian centurians, or that he ruined the discipline of the soldiers by permitting the married legionaries to reside outside of barracks. To rescue the government from the state of insolvency into which it had been brought by his predecessors, Severus stood in need of a large sum of money. This he secured by confiscating the estates of the adherents of Niger and Albinus.

Of signal importance was the increase in the power of the praetorian prefecture at this time. This office was for a number of years held by a single prefect, Publius Fulvius Plautianus, whose daughter was married to the eldest son of Severus. However, his great power proved his undoing, and in 205 A. D. he was executed on a charge of treason made by his own son-in-law. At his death two prefects were again appointed, one of whom was Papinian, the greatest of all Roman jurists. His appointment seems to indicate a division between the military and the civil functions of the prefecture. For from this time the prefect exercised supreme jurisdiction over criminal cases in Italy beyond the hundredth milestone from the city, and in the matter of appeals from the judgments of provincial governors. [pg 255]In the absence of the princeps he also presided over the imperial judicial council. Following Papinian other eminent jurists filled this office. Furthermore, the supervision of the transportation of grain to Rome was transferred from the prefect of the grain supply to the praetorian prefect, and the former officer merely supervised its distribution within the city.