He was [228]succeeded by his [229]wicked son Aurelius Commodus Antoninus, who [230]resembled Nero for [231]cruelty, [232]lust, [233]avarice, and such practices as are [234]scandalous in an emperor. Having [235]settled his affairs with the [236]Germans, he triumphed at Rome. He put to death his sister Lucilla, who, with [237]several others, had [238]conspired against his life. He [239]used to [240]fight among the [241]gladiators in the [242]public games. He was at last, after an [243]infamous life, [244]slain by the [245]contrivance of a [246]mistress, and the captain-general of his [247]life-guards, whom he had [248]determined to [249]put to death. He reigned twelve years, nine months, and fourteen days.

After Commodus was [250]killed in the year of Christ 193, P. [251]Helvius Pertinax, was [252]declared emperor, by those who had [253]dispatched Commodus, who [254]endeavouring to [255]reduce the [256]commonwealth into better [257]order, and to [258]curb the [259]licentiousness of the [260]soldiery, was, within eighty days after his coming to the empire, [261]murdered by his own guards. The empire after this, was by the soldiers [262]exposed to [263]sale, and Didius Julianus [264]coming up to their [265]terms, was [266]accepted of, and [267]proclaimed emperor accordingly. But [268]not being able to [269]make up the [270]promised donative, he was [271]forsaken by them, and slain by [272]order of Septimius Severus, after he had reigned two months and five days.

This Severus, a [273]native of Africa, was at that time lieutenant of Pannonia, and [274]took upon him the government, under the [275]pretence of [276]revenging Pertinax’s death. He first of all [277]disbanded the guards for that [278]abominable [279]murder. Then he [280]fell upon Pescennius Niger, lieutenant of Syria, and Clodius Albinus of [281]Britain, his [282]competitor for the empire. Niger was [283]conquered, and Antioch, into which he [284]threw himself, was taken; after which, [285]flying towards the [286]river Euphrates, he was [287]taken and slain. After the [288]taking off of Niger, Severus [289]took [290]Byzantium, which had [291]declared for him, after a [292]siege of three years.

[293]Matters being [294]brought to a [295]peaceable [296]settlement in the [297]East, he [298]turned his arms [299]westward against Clodius Albinus, and [300]engaged him at [301]Lyons in [302]France; where many being slain on both [303]sides, and amongst others, Albinus, he was [304]left sole [305]possessor of the empire. The city was [306]plundered and [307]burnt, Albinus’s [308]head [309]sent to Rome, and a [310]dreadful [311]havoc made among those who had been his [312]favourers and [313]friends.

After this, he [314]marched [315]eastward again, and [316]conquered the Parthians, the [317]Adiabenians, and Arabians, whilst Plotianus, in the mean time, [318]governed all at Rome. Plotilla, this man’s daughter, was [319]contracted to Antoninus, Severus’s son, and the [320]nuptials were [321]celebrated in the tenth year of Severus’s reign. But not long after, Plotianus being [322]engaged in a [323]plot against the emperor, was slain by his [324]son-in-law, and a great many that had been in his [325]interest, killed after him.

Severus [326]undertook an [327]expedition into Britain, with his two sons, in the 15th year of his reign, where he [328]continued three years; being very [329]successful, he [330]drew a [331]wall [332]across the [333]island for its [334]security. He died at York, after he had reigned seventeen years eight months and three days.

[335]Antoninus Caracalla and Geta, the two sons of Severus, were after him [336]advanced to the empire, in the year of Christ 211. But the [337]difference of their [338]humour and [339]manners was such, that they were [340]perpetually at [341]variance. Geta was of a [342]mild and civil [343]temper, the other [344]cruel and [345]boisterous, who, in the second year of his reign, [346]slew his brother in his [347]mother’s [348]bosom. After him, a great many of his friends and [349]favourers were [350]put to death, amongst whom the [351]famous [352]lawyer [353]Papinian, because he would not [354]justify his [355]parricide. After this, he [356]marched into the [357]East. At Alexandria he made a [358]shocking [359]massacre of the [360]inhabitants, for having some time before made some [361]jests upon him. He then [362]invaded [363]Artabanus, king of the Parthians, and [364]laid waste his [365]dominions. He was [366]killed by the [367]contrivance of Opilius Macrinus after he had reigned six years and two months.

Macrinus [368]enjoyed the empire but a short time; for he and his sons were slain by the [369]soldiers within a year and two months after he obtained it: and was [370]succeeded by [371]Antoninus Heliogabalus, [372]supposed, but [373]falsely, to be the son of Caracalla. He was the [374]vilest [375]wretch that ever lived, [376]given up to all manner of [377]vice. Wherefore, after a reign of three years, and nine months, he was slain by the [378]soldiery, with his mother Julia, or Semiamira.

After this, [379]M. Aurelius Alexander [380]mounted the throne, having been [381]created Cæsar the year before; an [382]extraordinary prince, and well [383]instructed in all the [384]arts of [385]peace and war. He [386]carried a strict hand over the [387]judges, and was very [388]severe upon all those that by [389]favour or [390]bribery [391]transgressed the [392]bounds of [393]justice. He [394]banished from his [395]person all [396]flatterers, [397]buffoons, and such as are a [398]scandal to the [399]court. He [400]forbade the [401]sale of [402]offices, saying, that what was [403]bought would be [404]sold again. He [405]allowed the [406]deputies of the [407]provinces all their [408]furniture out of the [409]exchequer, that they might not be [410]burdensome to the people. He was [411]successful against the Persians, but at last slain in a [412]sedition of his army.

In the fifth year of his reign, [413]Artaxerxes, [414]the Persian, having [415]defeated the Parthians in three [416]battles, and slain their king Artabanus, [417]raised again the empire of the Persians in the East. He also made an [418]excursion into the Roman [419]territories, but was defeated by Alexander. After this, he [420]undertook an [421]expedition against the Germans, in which he was slain by Maximinus, together with his mother, after a reign of thirteen years.

Maximinus was made emperor after the [422]murder of Alexander, and [423]put a happy end to the German war. In the mean time he made a [424]dreadful [425]havoc at Rome, by his governor there, and killed a great many of the [426]nobility. During this, the two [427]Gordians, father and son, while at [428]Carthage, [429]laid claim to the empire. The Romans, being [430]headed by the senate, [431]declared against Maximinus; and [432]persons were [433]dispatched away to [434]secure the provinces for the senate. At home, twenty [435]commissioners were [436]nominated for the [437]management of public [438]affairs. The Gordians being [439]killed in Africa, after a year and a few days, by [440]Capelian, Maximinus’s general, [441]Balbinus and [442]Maximus Pupienus, two of the [443]twenty [444]commissioners, were [445]advanced to the empire by the senate in the year of Christ 237; in which Maximinus, as he was [446]besieging Aquileia, was slain by the [447]soldiers with his son, who was but a [448]boy, after a reign of two years and ten months.

Balbinus and Pupienus, with Gordian ([449]a boy, who, as will be seen [450]hereafter, [451]perished in Africa), reigned together for a year. But afterwards being [452]desirous to [453]get rid of Gordian, who was more in [454]favour than themselves, they were slain by the soldiers in the year of Christ 238; from which time Gordian [455]enjoyed the empire by himself, a [456]youth of an [457]extraordinary [458]genius, and [459]prone to all manner of virtue; which was [460]improved by the [461]prudence of Misitheus, a very [462]learned and [463]eloquent man, whose daughter he [464]married; with whom he [465]marched at the [466]head of the great army against the Persians, and [467]recovered from them [468]Carræ, [469]Nisibis, and other towns, and [470]forced them back into their own [471]country. The year [472]following, Misitheus being [473]murdered by the [474]contrivance of [475]Philip the Arabian, Gordian himself was soon after slain in a [476]tumult, which the same Philip [477]raised by the [478]help of some soldiers he had [479]corrupted, after he had reigned six years, in whose [480]place the [481]parricide [482]succeeded.

In the fourth year of Philip’s reign, the [483]Secular games were [484]celebrated at Rome, in the [485]thousandth year of the city. He was [486]at last [487]slain at Verona, by the soldiers, in the sixth year of his [488]reign.

Decius, [489]born in [490]Lower Pannonia, a man of great [491]courage and [492]experience in war, [493]succeeded him. He [494]perished in a [495]morass in a battle against the [496]Barbarians. This [497]defeat was [498]occasioned by the [499]treachery of Gallus, who [500]secretly [501]caballed with the enemy after he had reigned thirty months. This Gallus being made emperor by the [502]choice of the [503]soldiery, and having [504]taken his son as a [505]partner in the [506]government, was slain together with him by the soldiers, two years and four months after at Interamna, as he was [507]marching against Æmilian, who was [508]raising a [509]rebellion in Mœtia.

Æmilian did not reign long, being slain three months after his [510]advancement, and was [511]succeeded by Valerian, with his son Gallienus, who reigned six years together; during which time the Roman empire was [512]miserably [513]rent by the Barbarians. Thirty [514]tyrants [515]started up in several [516]places, according to [517]Trebellius Pollio. Wherefore Valerian [518]marching against the [519]Scythians, who had [520]taken [521]Chalcedon, [522]burnt Nice, and the [523]temple of the [524]Ephesian Diana, and from thence [525]advancing against Sapores, who [526]was very troublesome to the [527]Eastern [528]borders, he [529]took him [530]prisoner, and [531]treated him like a vile [532]slave; for when he [533]mounted his [534]horse, he [535]set his [536]foot upon his [537]neck, who [538]bowed down [539]for that purpose. At last he [540]ordered him to be [541]flayed and [542]salted. This [543]victory over the Romans [544]happened in the year of Christ 260. After which Odenatus, a senator of the [545]Palmyrenians, whom Zenobia had [546]married, [547]bravely [548]repulsed the Persians that still [549]harassed the [550]borders.

[551]In the mean time Gallienus, wholly [552]given up to [553]luxury and [554]debauchery, [555]suffered the empire to be [556]torn to pieces by the Barbarians, and [557]tyrants. Odenatus, after the [558]taking of Nisibis and Carræ, and the [559]recovery of Mesopotamia, [560]upon routing of the king of the Persians, having [561]sent the great [562]lords of the Persians to him in [563]chains, he was [564]not ashamed to [565]triumph, as if he had [566]conquered them himself. Odenatus was [567]murdered by his [568]cousin, together with his son Herod, whose [569]wife Zenobia, being a [570]woman of a [571]masculine spirit, [572]undertook the government. Gallienus was slain with his brother Valerian at [573]Milan, as he was marching against Aureolus the tyrant. He reigned almost seven years with his father, and eight alone.

Claudius [574]succeeded him; a [575]frugal and [576]moderate prince, and very [577]serviceable to the public, who having [578]taken off the tyrant Aureolus, was very [579]successful against the [580]Goths, of whom he [581]slew 320,000, and [582]sunk 200 of their [583]ships. The rest of the Barbarians were [584]consumed at [585]Hæmimontium by [586]famine and [587]pestilence; and soon after Claudius [588]died of the same [589]plague, after a reign of one year and nine months.

His brother Quintilius [590]usurping the empire, was slain by the soldiers ten days after, who had now [591]made choice of Aurelian, a person of [592]mean birth, but [593]reckoned amongst the most [594]glorious princes, only rather too [595]cruel. He [596]subdued the Alemanni and Marcomanni, from whom the Romans had before [597]received a [598]signal [599]overthrow. After that victory he [600]came to Rome, [601]put several of the [602]senators to death, and [603]enlarged the [604]walls of the city. Then marching [605]eastward, he conquered Zenobia, whom with the tyrant [606]Tetrichus, he [607]led in [608]triumph. [609]Aurelius Victor tells us, he was the first of the Roman emperors who [610]wore a [611]diadem on his [612]head, or [613]used [614]jewels and [615]cloth of [616]gold. He was [617]taken off by [618]Mnestheus, a [619]notary to the [620]secretaries at [621]Cænophrurium, [622]betwixt [623]Byzantium and Heraclea. After his [624]death, there was an [625]interregnum of about seven months, [626]occasioned by a [627]dispute between the senate and the army, about the [628]choice of an emperor; at length Tacitus was [629]chosen by the senate, a person of [630]excellent [631]morals, and very [632]fit for the [633]government, he was [634]descended from Tacitus the [635]historian; and he [636]died of a [637]fever six months after at Tarsus. His brother Florianus [638]succeeded him: but Probus being [639]set up by a [640]majority of the army, Florianus [641]bled himself to death, two months after his brother died, in the year of Christ 276.

This Probus was [642]born in Pannonia Sirmiensis, a very fine man, and an excellent [643]soldier, of [644]unspotted morals. [645]As soon as he was [646]made emperor, he [647]punished all those who [648]had a hand in the death of Aurelian. After that, he [649]marched to [650]Gaul, [651]recovered several towns out of the [652]hands of the [653]Barbarians, and [654]slew nearly 70,000 of them. After [655]reducing [656]Gaul, he recovered [657]Illyricum, and [658]subdued the people [659]called the [660]Getæ; then going into the [661]East, he [662]fell upon the [663]Persians; when having [664]defeated them, and [665]taken several towns, he was [666]slain on his [667]return to Italy, by the soldiers, at [668]Sirmium, who [669]hated him for his great [670]severity. This [671]happened in the seventh year of his [672]reign, and the 282nd of Christ.