Son of Marcus Aurelius and Faustina Junior. It is said that he was handsome in form and feature. If history can be believed, he was a monster in human form. He was cruel in hot and cold blood, vain, cowardly, impious. He appeared many times in the Circus as gladiator, and condescended to become a buffoon for the amusement of the lowest of his people; but he is chiefly famous for his human butcheries. He was poisoned at last by his mistress, Marcia, who was only just in time to save her own life, which had been already doomed by her sanguinary paramour. His death gave occasion to almost frantic joy in Rome.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
57. Macrinus—Marcus Opilius. Roman Emperor, A.D. 217-218.
[Born at Cæsarea, in Numidia, A.D. 164. Died near Archelaïs, in Cappadocia, A.D. 218. Aged 54.]
An Emperor of obscure birth. He is said to have been, in his youth, a gladiator. When Præfect of the Prætorian guards, he contrived the murder of Caracalla, then at Antioch, in order to fulfil the prophecy of a soothsayer, who had predicted his accession to the throne. Elected Emperor by the soldiers, he was himself dethroned and assassinated in Cappadocia, after a brief reign of fourteen months. He is represented as haughty, bloodthirsty, cruel, and cowardly.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]
58. Pupienus—Marcus Claudius Pupienus Maximus. Roman Emperor, A.D. 238.
[Born A.D. 164. Died at Rome, A.D. 238. Aged 74.]
Called “the Sad” from the melancholy expression of his countenance. He was of an obscure family, but a distinguished soldier. After the death of the two Gordiani, he was elected with Balbinus, by the senate, to the empire, in order to oppose Maximinus; but that tyrant was soon after murdered by his own soldiers. The Prætorians, however, regretting Maximinus, assassinated the two Emperors when they were preparing to depart on separate expeditions.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]