Historia Augusta: Caracalla

I. 1 Ex duobus liberis, quos Septimius Severus reliquit, quorum unum exercitus, alterum pater dixit, Geta hostis est iudicatus, Bassianum notum optinuisse imperium. 2 De cuius maioribus frustra putamus iterandum, cum omnia in Severi vita satis dicta sint. 3 Huius igitur pueritia blanda, ingeniosa, parentibus adfabilis, amicis parentum iucunda, populo accepta, grata senatui, ipsi etiam ad amorem conciliandum salutaris fuit.

1. 1 Of the two children whom Septimius Severus left behind, of whom the army called one , the father called the other, Geta was adjudged an enemy, and Bassianus is known to have obtained the imperium. 2 About whose ancestors we think it is pointless to repeat, since all things have been said sufficiently in the Life of Severus. 3 His boyhood, therefore, was winsome, ingenious, affable to his parents, pleasing to his parents’ friends, acceptable to the people, welcome to the senate, and to himself even was healthful for conciliating love.

4 Non ille in litteris tardus, non in benivolentis segnis, non tenax in largitate, non lentus in clementia, sed parentibus, visus. 5 Denique, si quando feris obiectos damnatos vidit, flevit aut oculos avertit. Quod populo plus quam amabile fuit.

4 He was not slow in letters, not sluggish in benevolence, not close‑fisted in largess, not slow in clemency, but to his parents he appeared so. 5 Finally, if ever he saw condemned men cast before wild beasts, he wept or turned his eyes away. Which was more than lovable to the people.

6 Septennis puer, cum conlusorem suum puerum ob Iudaicam religionem gravius verberatum audisset, neque patrem suum neque patrem pueri velut auctores verberum diu respexit. 7 Antiochensibus et Bysantiis interventu suo iura vetusta restituit, quibus iratus fuit Severus, quod Nigrum iuverant. Plautiani odium crudelitatis causa concepit.

6 A boy of seven, when he had heard that his playmate, a boy, had been beaten too severely on account of the Judaic religion, did not for a long time regard either his own father or the boy’s father, as though they were the authors of the beatings. 7 To the Antiochenes and the Byzantines he restored by his intervention their ancient rights, with whom Severus had been angry, because they had helped Niger. He conceived a hatred of Plautianus on account of cruelty.

8 Quod a parentibus gratia sigillariorum acceperat, id vel clientibus vel magistris sponte donavit. Sed haec puer.

8 What favor with the seal-bearers he had received from his parents, that he bestowed of his own accord either upon clients or upon masters. But these things, as a boy.

II. 1 Egressus vero pueritiam seu patris monitis seu calliditate ingenii sive quod se Alexandro Magno Macedoni aequandum putabat, restrictior, gravior, vultu etiam truculentior factus est, prorsus ut eum, quem puerum scierant, multi esse non crederent. 2 Alexandrum Magnum eiusque gesta in ore semper habuit. Tiberium et Syllam in conventu plerumque laudavit.

2. 1 Indeed, having gone forth from boyhood, whether by his father’s monitions or by the callidity of his genius or because he thought himself to be equated with Alexander the Great the Macedonian, he became more restrained, more grave, and even more truculent in countenance, altogether so that many did not believe him to be the one whom they had known as a boy. 2 He always had Alexander the Great and his deeds on his lips. He for the most part praised Tiberius and Sulla in assembly.

3 Patris superbior fuit; fratrem magna eius humilitate despexit. 4 Post patris mortem in castra praetoria pergens apud milites conquestus est circumveniri se fratris insidiis, atque ita fratrem in palatio fecit occidi. Eius corpus statim cremari praecepit.

3 He was more arrogant than his father; he despised his brother for his great humility. 4 After his father’s death, proceeding to the Praetorian camp, he complained among the soldiers that he was being circumvented by his brother’s insidious plots, and thus he had his brother killed in the palace. He ordered his body to be cremated at once.

5 Dixit praeterea in castris fratrem sibi venenum parasse, matri eum inreverentem fuisse; egitque publice his gratias, qui eum occiderunt. 6 Addidit denique his quasi fidelioribus erga se stipendium. 7 Pars militum apud Albam Getam occisum aegerrime accepit, dicentibus cunctis duobus se fidem, promisisse liberis Severi, duobus servare debere, 8 clausisque portis diu imperator non admissus nisi delenitis animis, non solum querellis de Geta et criminationibus editis, sed inormitate stipendii militibus, ut solet, placatis, atque inde Romam redit.

5 He said moreover in the camp that his brother had
prepared poison for him, that he had been irreverent to his mother; and he publicly
gave thanks to those who killed him. 6 He finally added for these, as if more faithful
toward himself, a stipend. 7 A part of the soldiers at Alba took the killing of Geta most grievously,
with all saying that they had pledged faith to two, the sons of Severus,
and ought to keep it to two; 8 and, the gates being shut, for a long time the emperor was not admitted unless
their minds were soothed, not only by complaints about Geta and the accusations issued,
but by the enormity of the stipend, the soldiers, as is usual, being appeased, and from there to Rome he
returns.

9 Tunc sub veste senatoria loricam habens cum armatis militibus curiam ingressus est. Hos in medio inter subsellia duplici ordine conlocavitet sic verba fecit. 10 Questus est de fratris insidiis in volute et incondite ad illius accusationem [et excusationem] sui.

9 Then, wearing a cuirass beneath the senatorial robe, he entered the curia with armed soldiers. He placed these in the middle, between the benches, in a double order, and thus he spoke. 10 He complained of his brother’s plots in a convoluted and unpolished manner, toward that man’s accusation [and his own exculpation].

11 Quod quidem nec senatus libenter accepit, cum ille dixisset fratri se omnia permisisse, fratrem ab insidias fecisse nec vicem amori reddidisse fraterno.

11 Which indeed not even the Senate accepted willingly, since he had said that he had permitted everything to his brother, that the brother had made plots and had not rendered a return to fraternal love.

III. 1 Post hoc relegatis deportatisque reditum in patriam restituit. Inde ad praetorianos processit et in castris mansit.

3. 1 After this he restored the return to the fatherland for the relegated and the deported. Thence he proceeded to the Praetorians and remained in the camp.

2 Altera die Capitolium petit, [ad] eos, quos occidere parabat, adfabiliter est locutus innitensque Papiniano et Ciloni ad Palatium redit. 3 Cum flentem matrem Getae vidisset aliasque mulieres post necem fratris, mulieres occidere conatus est, sed ob hoc retentus, ne augeretur fratris occisi crudelitas. 4 Laetum ad mortem coegit misso a se veneno: ipse enim inter suasores Getae mortis primus fuerat, qui et primus interemptus est.

2 On the next
day he sought the Capitol, [to] those whom he was preparing to kill, he spoke affably,
and, leaning upon Papinian and Cilo, he returned to the Palatine. 3 When he had seen
Geta’s mother weeping and other women after the murder of his brother, he tried to kill the
women, but was held back on this account, lest the cruelty regarding the slain brother be
increased. 4 He forced Laetus to death by poison sent by himself: for he himself had been among
the first instigators of Geta’s death, and he too was the first to be killed.

5 Ipse mortem eius saepissime flevit. Multos, qui caedis eius conscii fuerant, interemit, sed et eum, qui imaginem eius honoravit. 6 Post hoc fratrem patruelem Afrum, cui pridie partes de cena miserat, iussit occidit.

5
He himself very often wept over his death. He killed many who had been conscious of his slaughter, and even the one who honored his image. 6 After this
his paternal cousin Afer, to whom the day before he had sent portions of supper, he ordered
to be killed.

7 Qui cum se praecipitasset percussorum timore et ad uxorem crure fracto erepisset, tamen per ludibrium percussoribus deprehensus est et occisus. 8 Occidit etiam Pompeianum, Marci nepotem, ex filia natum et ex Pompeiano, cui nupta fuerat Lucilla post mortem Veri imperatoris, quem et consulem bis fecerat et omnibus bellis praeposuerat, quae gravissima tunc fuerunt, et ita quidem ut videretur a latronibus interemptus.

7 He, when he had hurled himself headlong in fear of the assassins and had crawled to his wife with his leg broken, nevertheless, in mockery, was seized by the assassins and killed. 8 He also killed Pompeianus, the grandson of Marcus, born from his daughter and from Pompeianus, to whom Lucilla had been married after the death of the emperor Verus, whom Marcus had made consul twice and had placed over all the wars, which were most grave at that time, and indeed in such a way that he seemed to have been slain by brigands.

IV. 1 Dein in conspectu eius Papinianus securi percussus a militibus et occisus est. Quo facto percussori dixit : "Gladio te exequi oportuit meum iussum." 2 Occisus est etiam eius iussu Patruinus ante templum divi Pii, tractaque sunt eorum per plateam cadavera sine aliqua humanitatis reverentia. Filium etiam Papiniani, qui ante triduum quaestor opulentum munus ediderat, interemit.

CHAPTER 4. 1 Then in his sight Papinianus was struck with the axe by the soldiers and was killed. With this done he said : "You ought to have executed my order with a sword." 2 Patruinus also, by his order, was killed before the temple of the deified Pius, and their corpses were dragged through the street without any reverence for humanity. He likewise slew Papinianus's son, who three days before, as quaestor, had produced an opulent spectacle.

3 Isdem diebus occisi sunt innumeri, qui fratris eius partibus faverant. Occisi etiam liberti, qui Getae administraverant. 4 Caedes deinde in omnibus locis.

3 In those same days countless were killed, who
had favored his brother’s party. Freedmen also were killed, who for Geta
had administered. 4 Then slaughter in all places.

Et in balneis factae caedes, occisique nonnulli etiam cenantes, inter quos etiam Sammonicus Serenus, cuis libri plurimi ad doctrinam extant. 5 In summum discrimen etiam Chilo iterum praefectus et consul venit ob hoc, quod concordiam inter fratres suaserat. 6 Et cum idem Chilo sublata veste senatoria nudis pedibus ab urbanicianis raptus esset, Antoninus seditionem compressit.

And in the baths massacres were carried out,
and not a few were killed even while dining, among whom also Sammonicus
Serenus, whose very many books for instruction are extant. 5 Into utmost peril
also Chilo, prefect and consul for a second time, came on account of this, that he had urged concord
between the brothers. 6 And when that same Chilo, stripped of his senatorial vestment, with bare
feet, had been snatched away by the Urbanicians, Antoninus suppressed the sedition.

7 Multas praeterea postea caedes in urbe fecit, passim raptis amilitibus nonnullis hominibus et occisis, quasi seditionem vindicans. 8 Helvium Pertinacem, suffectum consulem, ob hoc solum, quod filius esset imperatoris, occidit. 9 Neque cessavit umquam sub diversis occasionibus eos interficere, qui fratris amici fuissent.

7
Many slaughters moreover afterwards he made in the city, with some men seized by soldiers everywhere and killed, as if avenging a sedition. 8 Helvius
Pertinax, a suffect consul, for this sole reason—that he was the son of the emperor—he killed. 9 Nor did he ever cease, under diverse occasions, to put to death those who had been friends of his brother.

10 Saepe in senatum, saepe in populum superbe invectus est aut edictis propositis aut orationibus editis, Syllam se etiam ostendens futurum.

10 Often against the senate, often
against the people he hurled invective haughtily, either with edicts posted or with orations
published, even showing that he himself would be a Sulla.

V. 1 His gestis Galliam petit atque ut primum in eam venit, Narbonensem proconsulem occidit. 2 Cunctis deinde turbatis, qui in Gallia res gerebant, odium tyrannicum meruit quamvis aliquando fingeret et benignum, cum esset natura truculentus. 3 Et cum multas contra homines et contra iura civitatum fecisset, morbo inplicitus graviter laboravit.

5. 1 With these things done, he sought Gaul
and as soon as he came into it, he killed the proconsul of Narbonensis. 2
Then, with all who were conducting affairs in Gaul thrown into confusion, he earned tyrannical
hatred, although he sometimes even feigned to be benign, since he was by nature
truculent. 3 And when he had done many things against men and against the rights of the cities,
entangled in illness he suffered gravely.

Circa eos, qui eum curabant, crudelissimus fuit. 4 Dein ad orientem profectionem parans omisso itinere in Dacia resedit. Circa Raetiam non paucos barbaros interemit militesque suos quasi Syllae milites et cohortatus est et donavit.

Toward those who were tending him he was most cruel. 4 Then, preparing a departure to the East, with the journey abandoned, he settled in Dacia. Around Raetia he slew not a few barbarians, and both exhorted his soldiers as if they were Sulla’s soldiers and bestowed donatives.

5 Deorum sane se nominibus appellari vetuit, [quod] Commodus fecerat, cum illum, quod leonem aliasque feras occidisset, Herculem dicerent. 6 Et cum Germanos subegisset, Germanicum se appellavit vel ioco vel serio, ut erat stultus et demens, adserens, si Lucanos vicisset, Lucanicum se appellandum. 7 Damnati sunt eo tempore qui urinam in eo loco fecerunt, in quo statuae aut imagines erant principis, et qui coronas imaginibus eius detraxerunt, ut alias ponerent, damnatis et qui remedia quartanis tertianisque collo adnexa gestarunt.

5 He indeed forbade himself to be called by the names of gods, which Commodus had done, when they called him Hercules because he had killed a lion and other wild beasts. 6 And when he had subdued the Germans, he called himself Germanicus, either in jest or in earnest, as he was foolish and demented, asserting that, if he had conquered the Lucani, he must be called “Lucanicus.” 7 At that time those were condemned who urinated in any place where there were statues or images of the emperor, and those who removed garlands from his images, to place them on others; and those also were condemned who wore about the neck remedies tied on for quartan and tertian fevers.

8 Per Thracias cum praef. iter fecit; inde cum in Asiam traiceret, naufragi periculum adit antemna fracta, ita ut in scafam cum protectoribus [ita] descenderet. Unde in triremem a praef.

8 Through Thrace he made a journey with the prefect; thence, when he was crossing over into Asia, he met the danger of shipwreck, the yard broken, so that he descended into a skiff with the protectors [thus]. Whence into a trireme by the prefect.

classis receptus evasit. 9 Excepit apros frequenter, contra leonem etiam stetit. Quando etiam missis ad amicos litteris gloriatus est seque ad Herculis virtutem accessisse [se] iactavit.

Received by the fleet, he escaped. 9 He frequently took wild boars;
he even stood against a lion. On which occasion too, letters having been sent to his friends,
he gloried and vaunted that he had approached to the virtue of Hercules.

VI. 1 Post hoc ad bellum Armeniacum Parthicumque conversus ducem bellicum, qui suis conpetebat moribus, fecit. 2 Inde Alexandriam petit, in gymnasium populum convocavit eumque obiurgavit; legi etiam validos ad militiam praecepit. 3 Eos autem, quos legerat, occidit exemplo Ptolomaei Euergetis, qui octavus hoc nomine appellatus est.

6. 1 After this, turning to the Armenian and Parthian war, he made a bellicose leader, who was consonant with his own mores. 2 Thence he sought Alexandria, called together the people into the gymnasium and rebuked them; he also ordered that the able-bodied be levied for military service. 3 But those whom he had levied, he killed, after the example of Ptolemy Euergetes, who was the eighth called by this name.

Dato praeterea signo militibus, ut hospites suos occiderent, magnam caedem Alexandreae fecit. 4 Dehinc per Cadusios et Babylonios ingressus tumultuarie cum Parthorum satrapis manum contulit, feris etiam bestiis in hostes immissis. 5 Datis ad senatum quasi post victoriam litteris Parthicus appellatus est; nam Germanici nomen patre vivo fuerat consecutus.

Moreover, with a signal given to the soldiers that they should kill their hosts, he made a great slaughter at Alexandria. 4 Then, having entered through the Cadusians and Babylonians, he joined battle tumultuously with the satraps of the Parthians, even wild beasts being let loose against the enemies. 5 Letters having been sent to the senate as if after a victory, he was styled Parthicus; for he had obtained the name Germanicus while his father was still alive.

6 Deinde cum iterum vellet Parthis bellum inferre atque hibernaret Edessae atque inde Carras Luni dei gratia venisset, die natalissui, octavo idus Apriles, ipsis Megalensibus, cum ad requisita naturae discessisset, insidiis a Macrino praef. praet. positis, qui post eum invasit imperium, interemptus est.

6 Then, when he again wished to bring war upon the Parthians and was wintering at Edessa, and from there had come to Carrhae for the sake of the god Lunus, on his birthday, on April 6 (the eighth day before the Ides of April), at the very Megalensia, when he had departed for the requisites of nature, he was slain by ambushes set by Macrinus, the praetorian prefect, who after him seized the imperium.

7 Conscii caedis fuerunt Nemesianus et frater eius Apollinaris Triccianusque, qui praef. legionis secundae Parthicae militabatet qui equitibus extraordinariis praeerat, et praeterea plerisque officialium inpulsu Martialis.

7 Privy to the killing were Nemesianus and his brother Apollinaris, and also Triccianus, who served as prefect of the Second Parthian Legion and who was in command of the extraordinary cavalry, and, moreover, at the instigation of many officials, Martialis.

VII. 1 Occisus est autem in medio itinere inter Carras et Edessam, cum lavandae vessicae gratia ex equo descendisset atque inter protectores suos, coniuratos caedis, ageret. 2 Denique cum illum in equum strator eius levaret, pugione latus eius confodit, conclamatumque ab omnibus est id Martialem fecisse.

7. 1 He was slain, moreover, in mid-journey between Carrhae and Edessa, when for the sake of washing
the bladder he had dismounted from his horse and was among his protectors,
conspirators in the killing. 2 Finally, when his equerry was lifting him onto the horse,
he pierced his side with a dagger, and it was cried out by all that
Martialis had done this.

3 Et quoniam dei Luni fecimus mentionem, sciendum doctissimis quibusqueid memoriae traditum atque ita nunc quoque a Carrenis praecipue haberi, ut qui Lunam femineo nomine ac sexu putaverit nuncupandam, is addictus mulieribus semper inserviat; 4 qui vero marem deum esse crediderit, is dominetur uxori neque ullas mulierbres patiatur insidias. 5 Unde, quamvis Graeci vel Aegyptii eo genere quo feminam hominem, etiam Lunam deum dicant, mystice tamen Lunum dicunt.

3 And since we have made mention of the god Lunus, it should be known
to all the most learned that this has been handed down to memory, and that even now it is held especially by the people of Carrhae, that whoever has thought that Luna ought to be named with a feminine name and sex is addicted, and always serves, to women; 4 but whoever has believed the god to be male, he lords it over his wife and allows no womanish snares. 5 Whence, although the Greeks or Egyptians, in that gender in which they designate a female human, also call the Moon a god, yet mystically they say Lunum.

VIII. 1 Scio de Papiniani nece multos ita in litteras rettulisse, ut caedis non adsciverint causam, aliis alia referentibus; sed ego malui varietatem opinionum edere quam de tanti viri caede reticere. 2 Papinianum amicissimum fuisse imperatori Severo, ut aliqui loquuntur, adfinem etiam per secundam uxorem, memoriae traditur; et huic praecipue utrumque filium a Severo commendatum, atque ob hoc concordia fratrum Antoninorum favisse; 4 egisse quin etiam, ne occideretur, cum iam de insidiis eius Bassianus quereretur; atque ideo una cum his, qui fautores fuerant Getae, a militibus non solum permittente verum etiam suadente Antonino occisum.

8. 1 I know that many have recorded in letters about the slaying of Papinianus in such a way that they did not ascribe a cause of the killing, different people reporting different things; but I preferred to publish the variety of opinions rather than to keep silent about the killing of so great a man. 2 It is handed down to memory that Papinianus was most friendly to Emperor Severus—as some say, even a kinsman by affinity through his second wife—and that to him especially each son was commended by Severus, and on account of this he favored the concord of the Antonine brothers; 4 that he even took steps that he not be killed, when already Bassianus was complaining about his plots; and for that reason, together with those who had been favorers of Geta, he was killed by the soldiers, not only with Antoninus permitting but even advising.

5 Multi dicunt Bassianum occiso fratre illi mandasse, ut et in senatu per se et apud populum facinus dilueret, illum autem respondisse non tam facile parricidium excusari posse quam fieri. 6 Est etiam haec fabella, quod dictare noluerit orationem, qua invehendum erat in fratrem, ut causa eius melior fieret, qui occiderat; illum autem negantem respondisse aliud esse [excusare] parricidium, aliud accusare innocentem occisum. 7 Sed hoc omnino non convenit: nam neque praef.

5
Many say that, when his brother had been slain, Bassianus ordered him to wash away the crime both in the senate by himself
and among the people; but that he replied that parricide could not be so easily excused as done. 6 There is also this little fable, that
he was unwilling to dictate a speech, in which one had to inveigh against his brother, so that the case
might be made better for him who had killed; but that, to the one denying, he replied that it is one thing to [excuse] a parricide, another to accuse an innocent man slain. 7 But this
altogether does not agree: for neither the pref.

poterat dictare orationem, et constat eum quasi fautorem Getae occisum. 8 Et fertur quidem Papinianus, cum raptus a militibus ad Palatium traheretur occidendus, praedivinasse dicens e(u)m stultissimum fore, qui in suum subrogaretur locum, nisi adpetitam crudeliter praefecturam vindicaret. 9 Quod factum est: nam Macrinus Antoninum occidit, ut supra exposuimus.

He could dictate an oration, and it is agreed that he was slain as a kind of favorer of Geta. 8 And indeed it is reported that Papinian, when he had been seized by the soldiers and was being dragged to the Palatium to be killed, predivined, saying that he would be most foolish who should be subrogated into his place, unless he vindicated the prefecture that had been cruelly assailed. 9 Which was done: for Macrinus killed Antoninus, as we have set forth above.

Qui cum filio factus in castris imperator filium suum, qui Diadumenus vocabatur, Antoninum vocavit, idcirco quod a praetorianis multum Antoninus desideratus est.

Who, with his son, having been made emperor in the camp, called his son—who was named Diadumenus—Antoninus, for this reason, that “Antoninus” was much desired by the Praetorians.

IX. 1 Bassianus vixit annis quadraginta tribus. Imperavit annis sex. publico funere elatus est.

9. 1 Bassianus lived for forty-three years. He ruled for six years. He was given a public funeral.

2 Filium reliquit, qui postea et ipse Marcus Antoninus Heliogabalus dictus est; ita enim nomen Antoninorum inoleverat, ut velli ex animis hominum non posset, quod omnium pectora velut Aug(usti) nomen obsederat. 3 Fuit male moratus et patre duro crudelior. Avidus cibi, vini etiam adpetens, suis odiosus et praeter milites praetorianos omnibus castris exosus.

2 He left a son, who afterward he himself also was called Marcus
Antoninus Heliogabalus; for thus the name of the Antonini had taken root, that it could not be plucked from the minds of men, since it had, as it were, the name of Aug(ustus), besieged the breasts of all. 3 He was ill-moraled and more cruel than his harsh father. Greedy for food, appetent of wine as well, hateful to his own, and, except for the praetorian soldiers, detested by all the camps.

Prorsus nihil inter fratres simile. 4 Opera Romae reliquit thermas nominis sui eximias, quarum cellam solearem architecti negant posse ulla imitatione, qua[lis] facta est, fieri. 5 Nam et ex aere vel cypro cancelli suppositi esse dicuntur, quibus cameratio tota concredita est, et tantum est spatii, ut id ipsum fieri nagent potuisse docti mechanis.

Utterly nothing similar between the brothers. 4 Works
at Rome he left behind the baths of his own name, outstanding, whose soliar cella (bathing chamber)
architects deny can be made by any imitation such as it was made. 5 For
they say that lattices set beneath were of bronze or copper, to which the entire vaulting
was entrusted, and so great is the span of space that learned mechanicians deny that that very thing
could have been accomplished.

6 Reliquit et porticum patris nomine, quae gesta illius contineret et triumphos et bella. 7 Ipse Caracalli nomen accepit a vestimento, quod populo dederat, demisso usque ad talos, quod ante non fuerat. 8 Unde hodieque Antoninianae dicuntur caracallae huiusmodi, in usu maxime Romanae plebis frequentatae.

6 He also left a portico in his father’s name, which might contain his deeds
and his triumphs and his wars. 7 He himself received the name Caracalla from a
vestment which he had given to the people, let down as far as the ankles, which before had not
existed. 8 Whence even today caracallae of this sort are called Antoninianae, in
use most of all and much frequented by the Roman plebs.

9 Idem viam novam munivit, quae est sub eius thermis, Antoninianis scilicet, qua pulchrius inter Romanas plateas non facile quicquam invenias. 10 Sacra Isidis Romam deportavit et templa ubique magnifice eidem deae fecit; sacra etiam maiore reverentia celebravit, quam antea celebrabantur. 11 In quo quidem mihi mirum videtur, quemammodum sacra Isidis primum per hunc Romam venisse dicantur, cum Antoninus Commodus ita ea celebraverit, ut et Anubin portaret et pausas ederet; nisi forte iste addidit celebritati, non eam primus invexit.

9 The same man paved a new way, which
is beneath his baths, namely the Antoninian Baths, than which among the Roman
streets you would not easily find anything more beautiful. 10 He brought the rites of Isis to Rome and
made temples everywhere magnificently for that same goddess; he also celebrated the rites with greater reverence
than they had previously been celebrated. 11 In which matter indeed it seems marvelous to me
how the rites of Isis are said to have first come to Rome through this man,
since Antoninus Commodus celebrated them in such a way that he both carried Anubis and
issued pauses; unless perhaps this one added to the celebrity, and did not first
import it.

12 Corpus eius Antoninorum sepulchro inlatum est, ut ea sedes reliquias eius acciperet, quae nomen addiderat.

12 His body was brought into the sepulcher of the Antonini, so that that seat
might receive his remains, which had added the name.

X. 1 Interest scire quemadmodum novercam suam Iuliam uxorem duxisse dicatur. 2 Quae cum esset pulcherrima et quasi per neglegentiam se maxima corporis parte nudasset dixissetque Antoninus "Vellem, si liceret", respondisse fertur: "Si libet, licet. an nescis te imperatorem esse et leges dare, non accipere?" 3 Quo audito furor inconditus ad effectum criminis roboratus est nuptiasque eas celebravit, quas, si sciret se leges dare vere, solus prohibere debuisset.

CHAPTER 10. 1 It is important to know in what manner he is said to have taken his stepmother Julia as wife. 2 Who, since she was most beautiful, and as if by negligence had bared herself in the greater part of her body, and Antoninus had said, "I would wish, if it were permitted," she is said to have replied: "If it pleases you, it is permitted. Or do you not know that you are emperor and give laws, not receive them?" 3 On hearing this, his ungoverned fury was strengthened to the execution of the crime, and he celebrated those nuptials which, if he knew himself truly to give laws, he alone ought to have prohibited.

4 Matrem enim (non alio dicenda erat nomine) duxit uxorem et ad parricidium iunxit incestum, si quidem eam matrimonio sociavit, cuius filium nuper occiderat. Non ab re est etiam diasyrticum quiddam in eum dictum addere. 5 Nam cum Germanici et Parthici et Arabici et Alamannici nomen adscriberet (nam Alamannorum gentem devicerat), Helvius Pertinax, filius Pertinacis, dicitur ioco dixisse : "Adde, si placet, etiam Geticus Maximus", quod Getam occiderat fratrem et Gothi Getae dicerentur, quos ille, dum ad orientem transit, tumultuariis proeliis devicerat.

4 For he led his mother (she was to be called by no other name) as wife and to
parricide he joined incest, since indeed he united in matrimony her whose
son he had lately killed. It is not out of place also to add a certain
diasyrtic remark said against him. 5 For when he was inscribing the title of
Germanicus and Parthicus and Arabicus and Alamannicus (for he had conquered the nation of the Alamanni), Helvius Pertinax, son of Pertinax, is said to have said in jest: “Add, if it pleases, also Geticus Maximus,” because he had killed his brother Geta and the Goths were called Getae, whom he, while crossing to the East, had defeated in tumultuary battles.

XI. 1 Occidendi Getae multa prodigia extiterunt, ut in vita eius exponemus. 2 Nam quamvis prior ille e vita excesserit, nos tamen ordinem secutisumus, ut qui et prior natus est et qui prior imperare coeperat, prior scriberetur. 3 Eo sane tempore, quo ab exercitu appellatus est Augustus vivo patre, quod ille pedibus aeger gubernare non posse videretur imperium, contusis animis militum et tribunorum Severus dicitur animo volutasse, ut et hunc occideret, nisi repugnassent praef.

11. 1 Many prodigies for the killing of Geta appeared, as we will expound in his life. 2 For although that one departed from life earlier, yet we have followed the order, that he who both was born earlier and who had begun to rule earlier should be written first. 3 At that time indeed, when he was hailed Augustus by the army while his father was alive, because that one, sick in his feet, seemed unable to govern the empire, with the spirits of the soldiers and tribunes bruised, Severus is said in mind to have revolved that he would kill this one as well, unless the prefects had opposed.

eius, gravis viri. 4 Aliqui contra dicunt praef. voluisse id fieri, sed Septimium noluisse, ne et severitas illius crudelitatis nomine inquinaretur, et, cum auctores criminis milites fuerint, adulescens stultae temeritatis poenas lueret tam gravis supplicii titulo, ut a patre videretur occisus.

of him, a grave man. 4 Some, on the contrary, say the prefects wished that to be done, but Septimius did not wish it, lest both his severity be defiled by the name of cruelty, and, since
the soldiers had been the authors of the crime, the adolescent should pay the penalties of foolish temerity under the title of so grievous a punishment, so that he would seem to have been slain by his father.

5 Hic tamen omnium durissimus et, ut uno conplectamur verbo, parricida et incestus, patris, matris, fratris inimicus, a Macrino, qui eum occiderat, timore militum et maxime praetorianorum inter deos relatus est. 6 Habet Faustinae templum et divale nomen eripuit, 7 certe templum, quod ei sub Tauri radicibus fundaverat maritus, in quo postea filius huius Heliogabalus Antoninus sibi vel Iovi Syrio vel Soli—incertum id est—templum fecit.

5 This man, however, the hardest of all and, to embrace it in one word, a parricide and incestuous, an enemy to father, mother, and brother, was, by Macrinus, who had killed him, out of fear of the soldiers and especially the Praetorians, enrolled among the gods. 6 He has the temple of Faustina and has snatched the divine name, 7 certainly the temple which her husband had founded for her under the roots of the Taurus, in which afterward this one’s son, Heliogabalus Antoninus, made a temple either for himself or for the Syrian Jove or for the Sun—that is uncertain.