Historia Augusta: Maximini Duo

I. 1 Ne fastidiosum esset clementiae tuae, Constantine maxime, singulos quosque principes vel principum liberos per singulos legere, adhibui moderationem, qua in unum volumen duos Maximinos, patrem filiumque, congererem; 2 servavi deinceps hunc ordinem, quem pietas tua etiam ab Tatio Cyrillo, clarissimo viro, qui Graeca in Latinum vertit, servari voluit. 3 Quod quidem non in uno tantum libro sed etiam in plurimis deinceps reservabo, exceptis magnis imperatoribus, quorum res gestae plures atque clariores longiorem desiderant textum. 4 Maximinus senior sub Alexandro imperatore enituit.

1. 1 Lest it should be wearisome to your clemency, most great Constantine, to read each and every prince or the children of princes one by one, I adopted a moderation by which in one volume I might gather together the two Maximini, father and son; 2 thereafter I have kept to this order, which Your Piety also wished to be observed by Tatius Cyrillus, a most illustrious man, who translated Greek into Latin. 3 This indeed I will observe not in one book only but also in very many hereafter, the great emperors excepted, whose deeds, being more and more illustrious, demand a longer text. 4 The elder Maximinus shone forth under the emperor Alexander.

Militare autem sub Severo coepit. 5 Hic de vico Threiciae vicino barbaris, barbaro etiam patre et matre genitus, quorum alter e Gothia, alter ex Alanis genitus esse perhibetur. 6 Et patri quidem nomen Micca, matri Hababa fuisse dicitur.

He began to serve as a soldier under Severus. 5 He, from a village of Thrace near to the barbarians, born of a father and mother who were themselves barbarian, of whom one is reported to have been from Gothia, the other from the Alans. 6 And it is said that the father’s name was Micca, the mother’s Hababa.

7 Sed haec nomina Maximinus primis temporibus ipse prodidit, postea vero, ubi ad imperium venit, occuli praecepit, ne utroque parente barbaro genitus imperator esse videretur.

7 But Maximinus himself disclosed these names in his earliest times; later, however, when he came to the imperial power, he ordered them to be hidden, lest he seem to be an emperor begotten of both parents barbarian.

II. 1 Et in prima quidem pueritia fuit pastor, iuvenum etiam procer et qui latronibus insidiaretur et suos ab incursionibus vindicaret. 2 Prima stipendia equestria huic fuere. Erat enim magnitudine corporis conspicuus, virtute inter omnes milites clarus, forma virili decorus, ferus moribus asper, superbus, contemptor, saepe tamen iustus.

II. 1 And indeed in his earliest boyhood he was a shepherd, even a tall youth, one who would lay ambushes for robbers and would vindicate his own from incursions. 2 His first stipends were equestrian. For he was conspicuous for the magnitude of his body, renowned for valor among all the soldiers, comely with a manly form, wild, harsh in manners, proud, a contemner, yet often just.

3 Innotescendi sub Severo imperatore prima haec fuit causa: 4 natali Getae, filii minoris, Severus militares dabat ludos propositis praemiis argenteis, id est armillis, torquibus et balteolis. 5 Hic adulescens et semibarbarus et vix adhuc Latinae linguae, prope Thraecica imperatorem publice petit, ut sibi daret licentiam contendendi cum his, qui iam non mediocri loco militarent. 6 Magnitudinem corporis Severus miratus primum eum cum lixis conposuit, sed fortissimis quibusque, ne disciplinam militarem conrumperet.

3 The first cause of his becoming-known under Emperor Severus was this: 4 on the natal day of Geta, the younger son, Severus was giving military games with silver prizes set forth, that is, bracelets, torques, and little baldrics. 5 This youth, half-barbarian and scarcely yet of the Latin language, almost in Thracian, publicly asks the emperor to grant him leave to contend with those who already served in no mean rank. 6 Severus, marveling at the magnitude of his body, at first matched him with the lixes, but with the bravest of them, lest he corrupt military discipline.

7 Tunc Maximinus sedecim lixas uno sudore devicit sedecim acceptis praemiis minusculis non militaribus iussusque militare.

7 Then Maximinus defeated sixteen camp-servants in a single sweat, receiving sixteen minuscule, non-military prizes, and was ordered to perform military service.

III. 1 Tertia forte die cum processisset Severus ad campum, in turba exultantem more barbarico Maximinum vidit iussitque statim tribuno, ut eum coherceret et ad Romanam disciplinam inbueret. 2 Tunc ille, ubi de se intellexit imperatorem locutum, suspicatus barbarus et notum se esse principi et inter multos conspicuum, ad pedes imperatoris equitantis accessit.

3. 1 On the third day by chance, when Severus had gone out to the field, he saw Maximinus exulting in the crowd in a barbaric manner and immediately ordered the tribune to coerce him and to imbue him with Roman discipline. 2 Then he, when he understood that the emperor had spoken about him, the barbarian, suspecting both that he was known to the emperor and conspicuous among many, approached the feet of the emperor as he was riding.

3 Tum volens Severus explorare, quantus in currendo esset, equum admisit multis circumitionibus, et cum senex imperator laborasset neque ille a currendo per multa spatia desisset, ait ei: "Quid vis Thracisce? Num quid delectat luctari post cursum?". Tum "Quantum libet", inquit, "Imperator". 4 Post hoc ex equo Severus descendit et recentissimos quosque ac fortissimos milites ei conparari iussit. 5 Tum ille more solito septem fortissimos uno sudore vicit solusque omnium a Severo post argenta praemia torque aureo donatus est iussusque inter stipatores corporis semper in aula consistere.

3 Then, wishing to explore how great he was in running, Severus urged on his horse through many circuits, and when the old emperor had grown weary and he had not ceased from running through many stretches, he said to him: "What do you want, Thracian? Does it perchance delight you to wrestle after the run?" Then "As much as you please," he said, "Emperor". 4 After this Severus dismounted from his horse and ordered that the freshest and strongest soldiers each be matched to him. 5 Then he, in his customary manner, overcame the seven strongest with one sweat, and he alone of all was, by Severus, after silver prizes, presented with a golden torque, and was ordered always to stand among the body-stewards in the palace.

6 Hinc igitur factus conspicuus, inter milites clarus, amari a tribunis, a conmilitonibus suspici, impetrare ab imperatore quod vellet. Locis etiam militiae a Severo adiutus, cum esset peradulescens, longitudine autem corporis et vastitate et forma atque oculorum magnitudine et candore inter omnes excelleret.

6 Hence therefore, having been made conspicuous, renowned among the soldiers, loved by the tribunes, looked up to by his fellow-soldiers, he obtained from the emperor whatever he wished. Also aided by Severus with posts of military service, though he was a very adolescent, in the height of his body and its vastness and form, and in the magnitude and brightness of his eyes, he excelled among all.

IV. 1 Bibisse autem illum saepe in die vini Capitolinam amforam constat, comedesse et quadraginta libras carnis, ut autem Cordus dicit, etiam sexaginta. 2 Quod satis constat, holeribus semper abstinuit, a frigidis prope semper, nisi cum illi potandi necessitas. 3 Sudores saepe suos excipiebat et in calices vel in vasculum mittebat, ita ut duos vel tres sextarios sui sudoris ostenderet.

4. 1 It is agreed that he often in a day drank a Capitoline amphora of wine, and that he ate even forty pounds of meat, and, as Cordus says, even sixty. 2 What is quite agreed, he always abstained from vegetables, and from cold things almost always, unless when there was for him a necessity of drinking. 3 He often caught his sweats and put them into chalices or into a little vessel, such that he would show two or three sextarii of his own sweat.

4 Hic diu sub Antonino Caracallo ordines duxit centuriatos et ceteras militares dignitates saepe tractavit. Sub Macrino, quod eum, qui imperatoris sui filium occiderat, vehementer odisset, a militia desiit et in Thracia in vico, ubi genitus fuerat, possessiones conparavit ac semper cum Gothis commercia exercuit. Amatus est autem unice a Getis quasi eorum civis.

4 Under Antoninus Caracalla he for a long time led centuriate ranks and often handled the other military dignities. Under Macrinus, because he had vehemently hated the man who had slain his emperor’s son, he left the military service and in Thrace, in the village where he had been born, he acquired estates and always carried on commerce with the Goths. He was, moreover, uniquely loved by the Getae as if he were their fellow-citizen.

5 Halani quicumque ad ripam venerunt, amicum eum donis vissim recurrentibus adprobabant. 6 Sed occiso Macrino cum filio suo, ubi Heliogabalum quasi Antonini filium impera[to]re conperit, iam maturae aetatis ad eum venit petitque, ut quod avus eius Severus iudicii circa se habuerat, et ipse haberet. [Sed] apud inpurum hominem valere nihil potuit; 7 nam dicitur cum eo iocatus esse Heliogabalus turpissime: "Diceris, Maximine, sedecim et viginti et triginta milites aliquando lassasse: potes tricies cum mulieres perficere ?" 8 Tum ille ubi vidit infamem principem sic exorsum, a militia discessit.

5 Whoever of the Alans came to the riverbank approved him as a friend by gifts recurring in turn. 6 But when Macrinus was slain with his son, when he learned that Heliogabalus had become emperor as if the son of Antoninus [impera[to]re], now of mature age he came to him and requested that he too should have the estimation which his grandfather Severus had held concerning him. [But] with an impure man he could accomplish nothing; 7 for Heliogabalus is said to have joked with him most obscenely: "You are said, Maximinus, to have at some time wearied sixteen and twenty and thirty soldiers: can you perform thirty times with women ?" 8 Then he, when he saw the infamous princeps thus begin, departed from military service.

9 Et tamen retentus est per amicos Haliogabali, ne hoc quoque illius famae accederet, quod virum temporis sui fortissimum et quem alii Herculem, alii Achillem, alii Hectorem, Aiacem alii vocabant, a suo exercitu dimoveret.

9 And yet he was held back through the friends of Heliogabalus, lest this too be added to his reputation: that he dismiss from his own army the strongest man of his time, whom some called Hercules, others Achilles, others Hector, others Ajax.

V. 1 Fuit igitur sub homine inpurissimo tantum honore tribunatus, sed numquam ad manum eius accesit, numquam illum salutavit, per totum triennium huc atque illuc discurrens; 2 modo agris, modo otio, modo fictis langoribus occupatus est. 3 Occiso Heliogabalo ubi primum comperit Alexandrum principem nominatum, romam contendit. 4 Quem Alexander miro cum gaudio, mira cum gratulatione suscepit, ita ut in senatu verba faceret talia: "Maximinus, p. c., tribunus, cui ego latum clavum addidi, ad me confugit, qui sub inpura illa belua militare non potuit, qui apud divum parentem meum Severum tantus fuit, quantum illum fama conperitis". 5 Statim denique illum tribunum legionis quartae, quam ex tironibus ipse conposuerat, dedit [et] eum in haec verba provexit: 6 "Veteres milites tibi, Maximine mi carissime atque amantissime, idcirco non credidi, quod veritus sum, ne vitia eorum sub aliis inolescentia emendare non posses.

5. 1 He therefore held the tribunate with such honor under a most impure man, but he never approached his hand, he never greeted him, running hither and thither through the whole three-year period; 2 now occupied with fields, now with leisure, now with feigned languors. 3 With Heliogabalus slain, as soon as he learned that Alexander had been named princeps, he hastened to Rome. 4 Alexander received him with wondrous joy, with wondrous congratulation, to such a degree that in the senate he spoke such words: "Maximinus, Conscript Fathers, the tribune to whom I added the broad stripe, has fled for refuge to me, he who could not serve as a soldier under that impure beast, he who was so great with my deified parent Severus as you have learned by report." 5 Forthwith, in fine, he made him tribune of the fourth legion, which he himself had composed from raw recruits, [and] advanced him with these words: 6 "To veteran soldiers I did not entrust you, my dearest and most beloved Maximinus, for this reason: because I feared lest you might not be able to amend their vices, growing strong under others."

7 Habes tirones: ad tuos mores, ad tuam virtutem, ad tuum laborem eos fac militiam condiscere, ut mihi multos Maximinos rei p. optabiles solus efficias."

7 You have tyros: make them learn soldiery according to your mores, your virtue, your labor, so that you alone may make for me many Maximini, desirable to the commonwealth."

VI. 1 Accepta igitur legione statim eam exercere coepit. 2 Quinta quaque die iubebat milites decurrere, inter se simulacra bellorum agere. Gladios, lanceas, loricas, galeas, scuta, tunicas et omnia arma illorum cotidie circumspicere; 3 calciamenta quin etiam ipse prosciebat, prorsus ut autem patrem militibus praeberet.

6. 1 Therefore, the legion having been received, he immediately began to drill it. 2 Every fifth day he ordered the soldiers to run a course, to perform simulations of wars among themselves. Swords, lances, cuirasses, helmets, shields, tunics, and all their arms to inspect daily; 3 he even himself examined the footwear, altogether so that he might present himself as a father to the soldiers.

4 Sed cum eum quidam tribuni reprehenderent dicentes: "Quid tantum laboras, cum eius loci iam sis, ut ducatum possis accipere?", ille dixisse fertur: 5 "Ego vero, quo maior fuero, tanto plus laborabo." Exercebat cum militibus ipse luctamina, quinos, senos et septenos, idem quindenos ad terram prosternens. 6 Denique invidentibus cunctis, cum quidam tribunus superbior, magni corporis, virtutis notae atque ideo ferocior, ei dixisset : "Non magnam rem facis, si tribunus tuos milites vincis", ille ait: "Visne congrediamur?"; 7 cumque adversarius adnuisset, venientem contra se palma in pectus percussum supinum reiecit et continuo dixit: "Date alium, sed tribunum." 8 Erat praeterea, ut refert Cordus, magnitudine tanta, ut octo pedes digito videretur egressus, pollice ita vasto, ut uxoris dextrocherio uteretur pro anulo. 9 Iam illa prope in vulgi ore sunt posita, quod amaxas manibus adtraheret, raedam onustam solus moveret, equo si pugnum dedisset, dentes solveret, si calcem, crura frangeret, lapides toficios friaret, arbores teneriores scinderet, alii denique eum Crotoniaten Milonem, alii Herculem, Antaeum alii vocarent.

4 But when certain tribunes were reproving him, saying: “Why do you labor so much, since you are already of such standing that you could receive a command?”, he is reported to have said: 5 “Indeed, the greater I become, by so much the more will I labor.” He practiced wrestling bouts with the soldiers himself, five at a time, six, and seven, likewise casting fifteen to the ground. 6 Finally, while all were envious, when a certain tribune, rather overbearing, of great body, of noted virtue and therefore the fiercer, had said to him: “You do no great thing if, as a tribune, you defeat your own soldiers,” he said: “Do you wish to come to grips?”; 7 and when his adversary had nodded assent, as he came against him he struck him in the chest with his palm and threw him on his back, and immediately said: “Give another—but a tribune.” 8 Moreover, as Cordus reports, he was of such magnitude that he seemed to have exceeded eight feet by a finger, and with a thumb so vast that he used his wife’s right-arm bracelet as a ring. 9 And by now these tales are almost on the lips of the common crowd: that he would drag wagons with his hands, that he alone would move a loaded carriage, that, should he give a punch to a horse, he would loosen its teeth; if a kick, he would break its legs; that he would crumble tufa-stones; that he would split the more tender trees; and finally that some called him Milo of Croton, others Hercules, others Antaeus.

VII. 1 His rebus conspicuum virum Alexander, magnorum meritorum iudex, in suam perniciem omni exercitui praefecit, gaudentibus cunctis ubique tribunis, ducibus et militibus. 2 Denique totum eius exercitum, qui sub Heliogabalo magna ex parte torpuerat, ad suam militarem disciplinam retraxit.

7. 1 By these things, Alexander, a judge of great merits, to his own ruin set over the entire army the man conspicuous for these deeds, all the tribunes, leaders, and soldiers everywhere rejoicing. 2 Finally, he drew back his whole army, which under Heliogabalus had in great part grown torpid, to his own military discipline.

3 Quod Alexandro,ut diximus, optimo quidem imperatori, sed tamen cuius aetas ab initio contemni potuerit, gravissimum fuit. 4 Nam cum in gallia esset et non longe ab urbe quadam castra posuisset, subito inmissis militibus, ut quidam dicunt, ab ipso, ut alii, tribunis barbaris, Alexander ad matrem fagiens interemptus est Maximino iam imperatore appellato. 5 Et causam quidem Alexandri interimendi alii aliam fuisse dicunt.

3 Which was most grievous to Alexander, as we have said, indeed an excellent emperor, but yet one whose age from the beginning could have been despised. 4 For when he was in Gaul and had pitched camp not far from a certain city, suddenly, with soldiers let in, as some say, by himself; as others, by barbarian tribunes, Alexander, fleeing to his mother, was slain, Maximinus now being called emperor. 5 And the cause indeed for putting Alexander to death, some say was one thing, others another.

Quidam enim Mammaeam dicunt auctorem fuisse, ut filius deserto bello Germanico orientem peteret, atque ideo milites in seditionem prorupisse; 6 quidam, quod ille nimis severus esset et voluisset ita in Gallia legiones exauctorare, ut exauctoraverat in oriente.

Some indeed say that Mamaea was the author, that her son, with the German war abandoned, should seek the Orient, and that for that reason the soldiers burst forth into sedition; 6 others, because he was too severe and had wished to discharge the legions in Gaul in the same manner as he had discharged them in the East.

VIII. 1 Sed occiso Alexandro Maximinus primum e corpore militari et nondum senator sine decreto senatus Augustus ab exercitu appellatus est filio sibimet in participatum dato; de quo pauca, quae nobis sunt cognita, mox dicemus. 2 Maximinus autem ea fuit semper astutia, ut milites non virtute regeret, sed etiam praemiis et lucris sui amantissimos redderet.

8. 1 But, with Alexander slain, Maximinus—the first from the military corps and not yet a senator—without a decree of the senate was hailed Augustus by the army, with his son given to himself into partnership; about whom a few things that are known to us we will presently say. 2 Moreover, Maximinus was always of such astuteness as to govern the soldiers not by virtue, but also to render them most loving of himself by rewards and lucre.

3 Numquam ille annonam cuiuspiam tulit. 4 Numquam sivit, [ut] quis in exercitu miles faber aut alterius rei, ut plerique sunt, artifex esset, solis venationibus legiones frequenter exercens. 5 Sed inter has virtutes tam crudelis fuit, ut illum alii Cyclopem, alii Busirem, alii Scironam, nonnulli Falarem, multi Tyfona vel Giganta vocarent.

3 He never exacted anyone’s grain-levy. 4 He never allowed, [that] anyone in the army be a soldier-smith or an artificer of some other thing, as many are, keeping the legions frequently exercised with hunts alone. 5 But amid these virtues he was so cruel that some called him Cyclops, others Busiris, others Sciron, some Phalaris, many Typhon or Giant.

6 Senatus eum tantum timuit, ut vota templis publice privatimque, mulieres etiam cum suis liberis facerent, ne ille umquam urbem Romam videret. 7 Audiebant enim alios in crucem sublatos, alios animalibus nuper occisi inclusos, alios feris obiectos, alios fustibus alisos, atque omnia haec sine dilectu dignitatis, cum videretur disciplinam velle regere militarem. Cuius exemplo civilia etiam corrigere voluit, 8 quod non convenit principi, qui velit diligi.

6 The Senate so feared him that vows in the temples, publicly and privately, even women with their children were making, that he might never see the city of Rome. 7 For they heard that some were lifted onto the cross, others shut up within animals recently slain, others exposed to wild beasts, others smashed with clubs, and all these things without selection of dignity, while he seemed to wish to rule military discipline. By whose example he even wanted to correct civil affairs, 8 which does not befit a prince who wishes to be loved.

Erat enim ei persuasum nisi crudelitate imperium non teneri; 9 simul et verebatur, ne propter humilitatem generis barbarici a nobilitate contemneretur; 10 meminerat praeterea se Romae etiam a servis nobilium contemptum esse, ita ut ne a procuratoribus quidem eorum videretur; 11 et, ut se habent stultae opiniones, tales eos contra se sperabat futuros, cum iam imperator esset. Tantum valet conscientia degeneris animi.

For he was convinced that imperial power is not maintained except by cruelty; 9 at the same time he also was afraid, lest on account of the lowliness of his barbaric stock he would be despised by the nobility; 10 moreover he remembered that at Rome he had even been despised by the slaves of the nobles, such that he was not even seen by their procurators; 11 and, as foolish opinions have it, he expected them to be such against himself, even when he was already emperor. So much avails the conscience of a degenerate mind.

IX. 1 Nam ignobilitatis tegendae causa omnes conscios generis sui interemit, nonnullos etiam amicos, qui ei saepe misericordiae paupertatis causa pleraque donaverant. 2 Neque enim fuit crudelius animal in terris omnia sic in viribus suis ponens, quasi non posset occidi. 3 Denique cum immortalem se prope crederet ob magnitudinem corporis virtutisque, mimus quidam in theatro praesente illo dicitur versus Graecos dixisse, quorum haec erat Latina sententia: 4 "Et qui ab uno non potest occidi, a multis occiditur.

9. 1 For the sake of covering his ignobility, he slew all who were privy to his lineage, and even some friends, who had often out of mercy for his poverty had bestowed many things upon him. 2 For there was not a more cruel animal on earth, placing everything thus in his own forces, as if he could not be killed. 3 Finally, since he nearly believed himself immortal on account of the magnitude of his body and of his virtue, a certain mime in the theater, with him present, is said to have spoken Greek verses, whose Latin sense was this: 4 "Even he who cannot be killed by one is killed by many."

Elefans grandis est et occiditur, leo fortis est et occiditur, tigris fortis est et occiditur: cave multos, si singulos non times." Et haec imperatore ipso praesente iam dicta sunt. 5 Sed cum interrogaret amicos, quid mimicus scurra dixisset, dictum est ei, quod antiquos versus cantaret contra homines asperos scriptos, et ille, ut erat Thrax et barbarus, credidit. 6 Nobilem circa se neminem passus est, prorsus ut Spartaci aut Athenionis exemplo imperabat.

An elephant is great and is killed, a lion is strong and is killed, a tiger is strong and is killed: beware the many, if you do not fear individuals." And these things were already said with the emperor himself present. 5 But when he asked his friends what the mime-buffoon had said, it was told to him that he was singing ancient verses written against harsh men, and he, as he was a Thracian and a barbarian, believed it. 6 He allowed no nobleman around him, and he ruled outright after the example of Spartacus or Athenion.

7 Praeterea omnes Alexandri ministros variis modis interemit. 8 Dispositionibus eius invidit. Et dum suspectos habet amicos ac ministros eius, crudelior factus est.

7 Moreover, he slew all of Alexander’s ministers in various modes. 8 He envied his dispositions. And while he held his friends and his ministers as suspect, he became more cruel.

X. 1 Cum esset ita moratus, ut ferarum more viveret, tristior et immanior factus est factione Magni cuiusdam consularis viri contra se parata, qui cum multis militibus et centurionibus ad eum confodiendum consilium inierant, cum in se imperium transferre cuperet. 2 Et genus factionis fuit tale: cum ponte iuncto in Germanos transire Maximinus vellet, placuerat, ut contrarii cum eo transirent, pons postea solveretur, ille in barbarico circumventus occideretur, imperium Magnus arriperet. 3 Nam omnia bella coeperat agere, et quidem fortissime, statim ut factus est imperator, peritus utpote rei militaris, volens existimationem de se habitam tenere et ante omnes Alexandri gloriam, quem ipse occiderat, vincere.

10. 1 As he had so conducted himself as to live after the manner of wild beasts, he became sadder and more monstrous through a faction prepared against him by a certain Magnus, a consular man, who, together with many soldiers and centurions, had entered into a counsel to stab him, since he desired to transfer the imperium onto himself. 2 And the kind of the faction was such: when, with a bridge joined, Maximinus should wish to cross into the Germans, it had been agreed that the adversaries would cross with him, the bridge afterward be loosed, he, surrounded in barbarian territory, be killed, and Magnus seize the imperium. 3 For he had begun to prosecute all wars, and indeed most bravely, as soon as he was made emperor, skilled, as one would expect, in the military art, wishing to maintain the estimation held about him and to conquer, above all, the glory of Alexander, whom he himself had slain.

4 Quare imperator etiam in exertitio cottidie milites detinebat eratque in armis ipse, manu exercitui et corpore multa semper ostendens. 5 Et istam quidem factionem Maximinus ipse finxisse perhibetur, ut materiam crudelitatis augeret. 6 Denique sine iudicio, sine accusatione, sine delatore, sine defensore omnes interemit, omnium bona sustulit et plus quattuor militbus hominum occisis se satiare non potuit.

4 Therefore the emperor also kept the soldiers in exercise daily, and he himself was in arms, always exhibiting many feats to the army by hand and by body. 5 And indeed Maximinus is reported to have feigned this faction himself, in order to augment the material for cruelty. 6 Finally, without trial, without accusation, without informer, without defender, he slew them all, confiscated everyone’s goods, and he could not sate himself even with more than four thousand men slain.

XI. 1 Fuit etiam sub eodem factio descicentibus sagittariis Osdroenis ab eodem ob amorem Alexandri et desiderium, quem Maximino apud eos occisum esse constabat, nec aliud persuaderi potuerat. 2 Denique etiam ipsi Titum, unum ex suis, sibi ducem atque imperatorem fecerunt, quem Maximinus privatum iam dimiserat. 3 Quem quidem et purpura circumdewderunt, regio apparatu ornarunt et quasi sui milites obsaepierunt, et invitum quidem.

11. 1 There was also under the same man a faction, with the Osroenian archers defecting from him on account of their love and longing for Alexander, whom it was established had been killed by Maximinus among them, nor could they be persuaded of anything else. 2 Accordingly they even made Titus, one of their own, their leader and emperor, whom Maximinus had already dismissed to private status. 3 Him indeed they also wrapped in the purple, adorned with royal apparatus, and fenced about as if by his own soldiers—and indeed, though unwilling.

4 Sed hic dormiens domi suae ab uno ex amicis suis interfectus est, qui sibi doluit illum esse praepositum, Macedonio nomine, qui eum Maximino prodidit quique caput eius ad imperatorem detulit. 5 Sed Maximinus primo ei gratias egit, postea tamen ut proditorem odio habuit et occidit. 6 His rebus in dies inmanior fiebat, ferearum more, quae vulneratae magis exulcerantur.

4 But this man, sleeping in his own house, was slain by one of his friends, who resented that he had been set over him, by the name Macedonius—who betrayed him to Maximinus and who carried his head to the emperor. 5 But Maximinus at first gave him thanks; afterwards, however, he held him in hatred as a traitor and killed him. 6 By these things he was becoming day by day more inhuman, after the manner of wild beasts, which, when wounded, grow the more ulcerated.

7 Post haec transiit in Germaniam cum omni exercitu et Mauris et Osdroenis et Parthis et omnibus, quos secum Alexander ducebat ad bellum. 8 Et ob hoc maxime orientalia secum trahebat auxilia, quod nulli magis contra Germanos quam expediti sagittarii valent. 9 Mirandum autem adparatum belli Alexander habuit, cui Maximinus multa dicitur addidisse.

7 After these things he crossed into Germany with the entire army, and the Moors and the Osroenians and the Parthians and all those whom Alexander was leading with him to the war. 8 And on this account especially he was drawing along Oriental auxiliaries with him, because none avail more against the Germans than unencumbered archers. 9 Moreover Alexander had a marvelous war-apparatus, to which Maximinus is said to have added many things.

XII. 1 Ingressus igitur Germaniam Transrenanam per triginta vel quadraginta milia barbarici soli vicos [incendit], greges abegit, praedas sustulit, barbarorum plurimos interemit, militem divitem reduxit, cepit innumeros, et nisi Germani a campis ad paludes et silvas confugissent, omnem Germaniam in Romanam ditionem redegisset. 2 Ipse praeterea manu sua multa faciebat, cum etiam paludem ingressus circumventus esset a Germanis, nisi cum suo equo inhaerentem [milites] liberassent.

12. 1 Having entered therefore Transrhenane Germany, over thirty or forty miles of barbarian soil he [burned] villages, drove off herds, carried off plunder, slew very many of the barbarians, brought back his soldiers rich, captured innumerable [men], and, unless the Germans had fled from the plains to the marshes and the forests, he would have reduced all Germany into Roman dominion. 2 He himself, moreover, was doing many things with his own hand, when even, having entered a marsh, he had been surrounded by the Germans, unless the [soldiers] had freed him as he clung to his own horse.

3 Habuit enim hoc barbaricae temeritatis, ut putaret imperatorem manu etiam sua semper [uti] debere. 4 Denique quasi navale quoddam proelium in palude fecit plurimosque illic interemit. 5 Victa igitur Germania litteras Romam ad senatum et populum misit se dictante conscriptas, quarum sententia haec fuit: 6 "Non possumus tantum, p. c., loqui, quantum fecimus.

3 For he had this of barbaric temerity: that he thought the emperor ought always even to use his own hand. 4 Finally, he fought, as it were, a kind of naval battle in a marsh, and there he slew very many. 5 Therefore, with Germany conquered, he sent letters to Rome to the senate and people, drafted at his dictation, the purport of which was this: 6 "We cannot, Conscript Fathers, speak as much as we have done."

Per quadraginta quinquaginta milia Germanorum vicos incendimus, greges abduximus, captivos abstraximus, armatos occidimus, in palude pugnavimus. Pervenissemus ad silvas, nisi altitudo paludium nos transire non permisisset." 7 Aelius Cordus dicit hanc omnino ipsius orationem fuisse. 8 Credibile est; quid enim in hac est, quod non posset barbarus miles?

Across forty or fifty miles of the Germans we set villages on fire, we led away herds, we dragged off captives, we killed the armed men, we fought in the swamp. We would have reached the forests, if the depth of the swamps had not allowed us to cross." 7 Aelius Cordus says that this oration was entirely his own. 8 It is credible; for what in this is there that a barbarian soldier could not do?

9 Qui pari sententia et ad populum scripsit sed maiore reverentia, idcirco quod senatum oderat, a quo se contemni multum credebat. 10 Iussit praeterea tabulas pingi ita, ut erat bellum ipsum gestum, et ante curiam proponi, ut facta eius pictura loqueretur. 11 Quas quidem tabulas post mortem eius senatus et deponi iussit et exuri.

9 He wrote to the people as well with a like tenor but with greater reverence, for the reason that he hated the senate, by whom he believed himself to be much despised. 10 He further ordered panels to be painted just as the war itself had been waged, and to be set up before the Curia, so that the picture would speak his deeds. 11 Which panels indeed, after his death, the senate ordered both to be taken down and to be burned.

XIII. 1 Fuerunt et alia sub eo bella plurima, ex quibus semper primus victor revertit et cum ingentibus spoliis atque captivis. 2 Extat oratio eiusdem missa ad senatum, cuius hoc exemplum est : "Brevi tempore, p. c., tot bella gessi quot nemo veterum.

13. 1 There were also very many other wars under him, from which he always returned first as victor, and with immense spoils and captives. 2 There exists an oration of the same, sent to the senate, of which this is the example : "In a short time, Conscript Fathers, I have waged as many wars as no one of the ancients."

Tantum praedae in Romanum solum attuli, quantum sperari non potuit. Tantum captivorum adduxi, ut vix sola Romana sufficiant." creliqua orationis ad hanc rem [non] necessaria. 3 Pacata Germania Sirmium venit, Sarmatis inferre bellum parans atque animo concipiens usque ad oceanum septentrionales partes in Romanam ditionem redigere; 4 quod fecisset, si vixisset, ut Herodianus dicit, Graecus scriptor, qui ei, quantum videmus, in odium Alexandri plurimum favit.

"So much booty did I bring onto Roman soil as could not have been hoped for. So many captives did I lead in that scarcely Rome alone would suffice." the rest of the speech [is not] necessary for this matter. 3 With Germany pacified, he came to Sirmium, preparing to bring war upon the Sarmatians and conceiving in his mind to reduce the northern parts as far as the Ocean into Roman dominion; 4 which he would have done, if he had lived, as Herodian says, a Greek writer, who, so far as we see, favored him very much in hatred of Alexander.

5 Sed cum Romani eius crudelitatem ferre non possent, quod delatores evocaret, accusatores inmitteret, crimina fingeret, innocentes occideret, damnaret omnes, quicumque in iudicium venissent, ex ditissimis hominibus pauperrimos faceret nec eliunde nisi malo alieno pecuniam quaereret, deinde sine delicto consulares viros et duces multos interimeret, alios siccis vehiculis exhiberet, alios in custodia detineret, nihil denique praetermitteret, quod ad crudelitatem videretur operari, contra eum defectionem pararunt. 6 Nec solum Romani sed, quia et in milites saeviebat, exercitus, qui in Africa erat, subita et ingenti seditione Gordianum senem, virum gravissimum, qui erat pro consule, imperatorem fecerunt. Cuius factionis hic ordo fuit.

5 But when the Romans could not bear his cruelty, in that he would call forth denouncers, send in accusers, fabricate crimes, kill innocents, condemn all who had come into judgment, make the richest men the very poorest, and seek money from nowhere save from another’s misfortune, then put to death without offense consular men and many generals, expose others in bare vehicles, detain others in custody—in fine, omit nothing that seemed to operate toward cruelty—they prepared a defection against him. 6 Nor only the Romans, but also, because he raged even against the soldiers, the army which was in Africa, by a sudden and great sedition, made Gordian the elder, a most grave man, who was proconsul, emperor. The order of which faction was as follows.

XIV. 1 Erat fisci procurator in Libya, qui omnes Maximini studio spoliaverat; hic per rusticanam plebem, deinde et quosdam milites interemptus est pel[lentes] eos, qui rationalem in honorem Maximini defendebant. 2 Sed cum viderent auctores caedis eius acrioribus remediis sibi sebveniendum esse, Gordianum proconsulem, virum, ut diximus, venerabilem, natu grandiorem, omni virtutum genere florentem, ab Alexandro ex senatus consulto in Africam missum, reclamantem et se terrae adfligentem, opertum purpura imperare coegerunt, instantes cum gladiis et cum omni genere telorum.

14. 1 There was a procurator of the fisc in Libya, who had despoiled all through zeal for Maximinus; he was slain by the rustic plebs, and then also by certain soldiers, driving [off] those who were defending the rationalis in honor of Maximinus. 2 But when the authors of his killing saw that they had to bring sterner remedies to their own aid, they forced Gordian, the proconsul—a man, as we have said, venerable, of more advanced age, flourishing in every kind of virtue—sent by Alexander into Africa by decree of the senate—though protesting and dashing himself to the ground, covered with the purple, to rule, pressing upon him with swords and with every kind of weapon.

3 Et primo quidem invitus Gordianus purpuram sumpserat, postea vero, cum vidit neque filio neque familiae suae tutum id esse, volens suscepit imperium et appellatus est omnibus Afris Augustus cum filio apud oppidum Tysdrum. 4 Inde propere Carthaginem venit cum pompa regali et protectoribus et fascibus laureatis, unde Romam ad senatum litteras misit, quae occiso Vitaliano, duce militum praetorianorum, in odium Maximini gratanter acceptae sunt. 5 Appelati etiam Gordianus senex et Gordianus iuvenis a senatu Augusti.

3 And at first indeed Gordian had taken up the purple unwillingly, but afterwards, when he saw that this was not safe either for his son or for his household, he willingly undertook the imperium and was called by all the Africans Augustus together with his son at the town of Tysdrus. 4 Thence he came in haste to Carthage with royal pomp and protectors and laureate fasces, whence he sent letters to Rome to the senate, which, with Vitalianus, the commander of the Praetorian soldiers, having been slain, were gladly received in hatred of Maximinus. 5 The elder Gordian and the younger Gordian were also entitled Augusti by the senate.

XV. 1 Interfecti deinde omnes delatores, omnes accusatores, omnes amici Maximini, interfectus est Sabinus prafectus urbis percussus in populo. 2 Ubi haec gesta sunt, senatus magis timens Mximinum aperte ac libere hostes appelat Maximinum et eius filium. 3 Litteras deinde mittit ad omnes provincias, ut communi saluti libertatique subveniant; quae auditae sunt ab omnibus.

15. 1 Then all the informers were slain, all the accusers, all the friends of Maximinus; Sabinus, the prefect of the city, was killed, struck down among the people. 2 When these things were done, the senate, fearing Maximinus more, openly and freely declares Maximinus and his son enemies. 3 Then it sends letters to all the provinces, that they may come to the aid of the common safety and liberty; which were heard by all.

4 Denique ubique amici et administratores et duces tribuni et milites Maximini interfecti sunt; 5 paucae civitates fidem hosti publico servaverunt, quae proditis his, qui missi ad eos fuerant, ad Maximinum cito per indices detulerunt. 6 Litterarum senatus exemplum hoc fuit: "Senatus populusque Romanus per Gordianos principes a tristissima belua liberari coeptus proconsulibus, praesidibus, legatis, ducibus, tribunis, magistratibus ac singulis civitatibus et municipiis et oppidis et vicis et castellis salutem, quam nunc primum recipere coepit, dicit. 7 Dis faventibus Gordianum proconsularem, virum sanctissimum et gravissimum senatorem, principem meruimus, Augustum appellavimus, nec solum illum, sed etiam in subsidium rei p. filium eius Gordianum, nobilem iuvenem.

4 Finally, everywhere the friends and administrators and commanders, tribunes, and soldiers of Maximinus were slain; 5 a few cities kept faith with the public enemy, which, betraying those who had been sent to them, quickly reported to Maximinus through informers. 6 The exemplar of the senate’s letters was this: “The Senate and People of Rome, through the Gordian princes having begun to be freed from the most hideous beast, says greeting to the proconsuls, the praesides, the legates, the generals, the tribunes, the magistrates, and to each of the cities and municipalities and towns and villages and forts, the safety which it now for the first time has begun to recover. 7 With the gods favoring, we have deserved as princeps Gordianus the Proconsular, a most holy and most weighty senator; we have named him Augustus—not him only, but also, in support of the res publica, his son Gordianus, a noble youth.”

8 Vestrum nunc est consentire ad salutem rei p. optinendam et ad scelera defendenda et ad illam beluam atque illius amicos, ubicumque fuerint, persequendos. 9 A nobis etiam Maximinus cum filio suo hostis est iudicatus."

8 It is now your part to agree to secure the safety of the commonwealth and to defend against crimes and to pursue that beast and his friends, wherever they may be. 9 By us also Maximinus, together with his son, has been judged an enemy."

XVI. 1 Senatus consulti autem hoc fuit exemplum: cum ventum esset in aedem Castorum die VI. kl. Iuliarum, acceptas litteras Iunius Silanus consul ex Africa Gordiani imperatoris, patris patriae, proconsulis recitavit: 2 "invitum me, p. c., iuvenes, quibus Africa tuenda commissa est, ad imperium vocarunt. Sed intuitu vestri necessitatem libens sustineo.

16. 1 The example of the senatorial decree was this: when they had come to the temple of the Castors on the 6th day before the Kalends of July, Junius Silanus, the consul, read aloud the letters received from Africa of Gordian, the Emperor, Father of the Fatherland, Proconsul: 2 "Unwillingly, Conscript Fathers, the young men to whom the safeguarding of Africa has been entrusted have called me to the imperium. But, out of regard for you, I willingly endure the necessity."

Vestrum est aestimare, quid velitis. Nam ego usque ad senatus iudicium incertus et varius fluctuabo." 3 Lectis litteris statim senatus adclamavit: "Gordiane Auguste, di te servent. Felix imperes.

"It is for you to estimate what you wish. For I, until the judgment of the senate, shall fluctuate, uncertain and variable." 3 With the letters read, immediately the senate acclaimed: "Gordian Augustus, may the gods preserve you. May you rule felicitously.

Salvus imperes. Tu nos liberasti. Per te salva res p.; omnes tibi gratias agimus." 4 Item consul rettulit: "P. c., de Maximinis quid placet?" Responsum est: "Hostes, hostes.

"Rule safely. You have freed us. Through you the republic is safe; we all give thanks to you." 4 Likewise the consul put the question: "Conscript Fathers, what is your pleasure concerning the Maximinis?" The answer was: "Enemies, enemies."

Qui eos occiderit, praemium merebitur." 5 Item consul dixit: "De amicis Maximini quid vide[re]tur?" Adclamatum est: "Hostes, hostes. Qui eos occiderit, praemium merebitur." 6 Item adclamatum est: "Inimicus senatus in crucem tollatur. Hostis senatus ubicumque feriatur.

"Whoever shall have killed them will merit a reward." 5 Likewise the consul said: "Concerning the friends of Maximinus, what was thought?" It was acclaimed: "Enemies, enemies. Whoever shall have killed them will merit a reward." 6 Likewise it was acclaimed: "An enemy of the senate, let him be lifted to the cross. An enemy of the senate, let him be struck wherever.

Inimici senatus vivi exurantur. Gordiani Augusti, di vos servent. Ambo feliciter agatis, ambo feliciter imperetis.

Let the enemies of the senate be burned alive. Gordiani Augusti, may the gods preserve you. Both of you, may you act prosperously; both of you, may you rule prosperously.

7 Nepoti Gordiani praeturam decernimus, nepoti Gordiani consulatum spondemus. Nepos Gordiani Caesar appelletur. Tertius Gordianus praeturam accipiat."

7 We decree the praetorship to the grandson of Gordian, we pledge the consulship to the grandson of Gordian. The grandson of Gordian shall be called Caesar. The Third Gordian is to receive the praetorship."

XVII. 1 Ubi hoc senatus consultum Maximinus accepit, homo natura ferus sic exarsit, ut non hominem sed beluam putares. 2 Iaciebat se in parietes, nonnumquam terrae se prosternebat, exclamabat incondite, arripiebat gladium, quasi senatum posset occidere, conscindebat vestem regiam, aliquos verberibus adficiebat, et nisi de medio recessisset, ut quidam sunt auctores, oculos filio adulescentulo sustulisset.

17. 1 When Maximinus received this senatorial decree, a man savage by nature, he blazed up so that you would have thought not a man but a beast. 2 He was hurling himself against the walls, sometimes he was prostrating himself on the ground, he was crying out incoherently, he was snatching up a sword, as if he could kill the senate, he was tearing to pieces the regal garment, he was afflicting some with beatings, and, unless he had been removed from the midst, as some authors report, he would have gouged out the eyes of his adolescent son.

3 Causa autem iracundiae contra filium haec fuit, quod eum Romam ire iusserat, cum primum imperator factus est, et ille patris nimio amore neglexerat; putabat autem, quod, si ille Romae fuisset, [et] nihil ausurus esset senatus. 4 Ardentem igitur iracundia amici intra cubiculum receperunt. 5 Sed cum furorem suum tenere non posset, ut oblivionem dicitur, eo usque ut, quid actum esset, ignoraret.

3 The cause, moreover, of his ire against his son was this: that he had ordered him to go to Rome when first he was made emperor, and he, through excessive love of his father, had neglected it; he was thinking, moreover, that, if he had been at Rome, [and] the senate would have dared nothing. 4 Therefore, his friends received him, blazing with anger, within his bedchamber. 5 But since he could not restrain his fury, to such a point of oblivion, as it is said, that he was ignorant of what had been done.

Alia sane die admissis amicis, qui eum videre non poterant sed tacebant et qui factum senatus tacite laudabant, consilium habuit, quid facto opus esset. 7 De consilio ad contionem processit, in qua contione multa in Afros, multa in Gordianum, plura in senatum dixit cohortatusque milites ad communes iniurias vindicandas.

On another day indeed, with friends admitted—who could not look upon him but kept silent, and who were silently praising the deed of the senate—he held a council as to what needed to be done. 7 From the council he proceeded to an assembly, in which assembly he said many things against the Africans, many against Gordian, more against the senate, and he exhorted the soldiers to avenge the common injuries.

XVIII. 1 Contio denique omnis militaris fuit, cuius hoc exemplum est: "Conmilitones, rem vobis notam proferimus: Afri fidem fregerunt. Nam quando tenuerunt?

18. 1 Finally the whole assembly was military, of which this is an example: "Comrades-in-arms, we bring forward a matter known to you: the Africans have broken faith. For when have they ever kept it?"

Gordianus senex debilis et morti vicinus sumpsit imperium. 2 Sanctissimi autem p. c. illi, qui et Romulum et Caesarem occiderunt, me hostem iudicaverunt, cum pro his pugnarem et ipsis vincerem, nec solum me sed etiam vos et omnes, qui mecum sentiunt, et Gordianos, patrem ac filium, Augustos vocarunt. 3 Ergo si viri estis, si vires habetis, eamus contra senatum et Afros, quorum omnium bona vos habebitis." 4 Dato igitur stipendio, et quidem ingenti, Romam versus cum exercitu proficisci coepit.

Gordianus, an old man, feeble and near to death, assumed the imperium. 2 But those most holy Conscript Fathers, who killed both Romulus and Caesar, have judged me an enemy, although I was fighting for them and winning for them; and not only me, but even you and all who feel with me, while they have styled the Gordians, father and son, Augusti. 3 Therefore, if you are men, if you have strength, let us go against the senate and the Africans, whose goods—all of them—you will have." 4 Therefore, the stipend having been given, and indeed a huge one, he began to set out toward Rome with the army.

XIX. 1 Sed Gordianus in Africa primum a Capeliano quodam agitari coepit, cui Mauros regenti successorem dederat. 2 Contra quem filium iuvenem cum misisset, acerrima pugna interfecto filio ipse laqueo vitam finiit, sciens et in Maximino multum esse roboris et in Afris nihil virium, multum quin immo perfidiae.

19. 1 But Gordian in Africa first began to be harried by a certain Capelianus, to whom, while he was governing the Moors, he had given a successor. 2 Against whom, when he had sent his son, a youth, in a most fierce battle, his son having been slain, he himself ended his life by a noose, knowing both that there was much robustness in Maximinus and in the Africans no strength—nay rather, much perfidy.

3 Tunc Capelianus victor pro Maximino omnes Gordiani [metu] partium in Africa interemit atque proscripsit nec cuiquam pepercit, prorsus ut ex animo Maximini videretur haec facere. 4 Civitates denique subvertit, fana diripuit, donaria militibus divisit, plebem et principes civitatum concidit. 5 Ipse praeterea militum animos sibi conciliabat, proludens ad imperium, si Maximinus perisset.

3 Then Capelianus, victor, on behalf of Maximinus slew and proscribed in Africa all of the faction of Gordianus, and spared no one at all, altogether so that he seemed to be doing these things from the very spirit of Maximinus. 4 He even overthrew cities, plundered temples, distributed donatives to the soldiers, cut down the populace and the leading men of the cities. 5 He himself, moreover, was winning over the spirits of the soldiers to himself, making a prelude to imperial power, if Maximinus had perished.

XX. 1 Haec ubi Romam anuntiata sunt, senatus Maximini et naturalem et iam necessariam crudelitatem timens mortuis duobus Gordianis Maximum ex praefecto urbi et qui plurimas dignitates praecipue gessisset, ignobilem genere sed virtutibus clarum [et Balbinum], moribus delicatiorem, imperatores creavit. 2 Quibus a populo Augustis appellatis per milites et eundem populum etiam parvulus nepos Gordiani Caesar est dictus. 3 Tribus igitur imperatoribus contra Maximinum fulta res p. est.

20. 1 When these things were announced at Rome, the senate, fearing Maximinus’s cruelty both natural and now necessary, with the two Gordians dead, created as emperors Maximus—from the prefecture of the city and a man who had borne very many dignities especially—ignoble in birth but famous for virtues, [and Balbinus], more delicate in manners. 2 When these were called Augusti by the people, by the soldiers and that same people even the little grandson of Gordian was styled Caesar. 3 Therefore the commonwealth was supported by three emperors against Maximinus.

4 Horum tamen Maximus vita severior, prudentia gravior, virtute constantior. 5 Denique ipsi contra Maximinum et senatus et Balbinus bellum crediderunt. 6 Profecto igitur ad bellum Maximo contra Maximinum Balbinus Romae bellis intestinis et domesticis seditionibus urguebatur occisis praecipue --- per populum [auctoribus] Gallicano et Maecenate.

4 Of these, however, Maximus was more severe in life, graver in prudence, more constant in virtue. 5 Finally, both the senate and Balbinus entrusted the war against Maximinus to him. 6 With Maximus, therefore, having set out to the war against Maximinus, Balbinus at Rome was pressed by civil wars and domestic seditions, with especially --- slain by the people, [with the instigators being] Gallicanus and Maecenas.

Qui quidem populus a praetorianis laniatus est, cum Balbinus resistere seditionibus non satis posset. Denique magna pars urbis incensa est. 7 Et recreatus quidem imperator fuerat Maximinus audita morte Gordiani atque eius filii Capeliani victoria; 8 verum ubi aliud senatus consultum accepit, quo Maximus et Balbinus et Gordianus imperatores appellati sunt, intellexit senatus odia esse perpetua et se vere hostem omnium iudicio haberi.

This populace indeed was torn to pieces by the Praetorians, since Balbinus was not sufficiently able to resist the seditions. Finally, a great part of the city was set on fire. 7 And the emperor Maximinus had indeed been heartened upon hearing of the death of Gordian and of the victory of his son Capelianus; 8 but when he received a different senatorial decree, by which Maximus and Balbinus and Gordian were called emperors, he understood the senate’s hatreds to be perpetual and that he was truly held to be the enemy of all by their judgment.

XXI. 1 Acrior denique Italiam ingressus est. Ubi cum consperisset Maximum contra se missum, vehementius saeviens quadrato agmine Hemonam venit.

21. 1 Finally he entered Italy more keenly. When he had perceived that Maximus had been sent against him, raging more vehemently, he came to Hemona with his forces in a quadrate array.

2 Sed provincialium omnium consilium hoc fuit, ut sublatis omnibus, quae victum praebere possent, intra civitates se reciperent, ut Maximinus cum exercitu fame urgueretur. 3 Denique ubi primum castra in campo posuit neque quicquam commeatuum repperit, incensus contra eum exercitus suus, quod fame in Italia laboraret, in qua post Alpes recreari se posse credebat, murmurare primum coepit, deinde etiam aliqua libere dicere. 4 Haec cum vellet vindicare, multum exarsit exercitus.

2 But the counsel of all the provincials was this: that, with everything removed which could provide sustenance, they should withdraw within the cities, so that Maximinus with his army would be pressed by hunger. 3 Finally, when first he pitched camp on the plain and found nothing of the commissariat, his own army, inflamed against him because it was suffering hunger in Italy, where after the Alps it believed it could be restored, began first to murmur, then even to say some things freely. 4 When he wished to punish these things, the army blazed up greatly.

Et odium tacitum in tempus distulit, quod loco suo statim prodidit. 5 Plerique sane dicunt ipsam Hemonam vacuam et desertam inventam esse a Maximino, stulte laetante, quod quasi sibi civitas tota cessisset. 6 Post hoc Aquileiam venit, quae contra eum armatis circa muros dispositis portas clausit, nec propugnatio defuit Menofilo et Crispino consularibus viris auctoribus.

And he deferred his silent hatred for the moment, which he straightway betrayed in its place. 5 Many indeed say that Emona itself was found empty and deserted by Maximinus, he foolishly rejoicing, because as if the whole city had yielded to him. 6 After this he came to Aquileia, which, with armed men stationed around the walls, closed its gates against him, nor was a defense lacking, with Menophilus and Crispinus, men of consular rank, as the authors.

XXII. 1 Cum igitur frustra obsideret Aquileiam, Maximinus legatos in eandem urbem misit. Quibus populus paene consenserat, ni Menofilus cum collega restitisset, dicens etiam deum Belenum per haruspices respondisse Maximinum esse vincendum.

22. 1 Since therefore he was besieging Aquileia in vain, Maximinus sent legates to that same city. To whom the people had almost consented, had not Menophilus with his colleague stood firm, saying that even the god Belenus, through the haruspices, had replied that Maximinus was to be conquered.

2 Unde etiam postea Maximiniani milites iactasse dicuntur Apollinem contra se pugnasse, nec illam Maximi aut senatus sed deorum fuisse victoriam. 3 Quod quidam idcirco ab his fictum esse dicunt, quod erubescebant armati[s] sic paene ab inermibus victi. 4 Ponte itaque cupis facto Maximinus fluvium transivit et de proximo Aquileiam opsidere coepit.

2 Whence also afterwards the soldiers of Maximinus are said to have boasted that Apollo had fought against them, and that that victory had been not of Maximus or of the senate, but of the gods. 3 Which some therefore say was fabricated by them, because they were ashamed, armed men, to have been thus almost conquered by unarmed men. 4 Therefore, with a bridge of casks having been made, Maximinus crossed the river and from close at hand began to besiege Aquileia.

5 Ingens autem oppugnatio et discrimen tunc fuit, cum se cives sulfure et flammis ceterisque huius modi propugnaculis a militibus defenderent; quorum alii nudabantur armis, aliorum vestes incendebantur, aliorum oculi extinguebantur, diruebantur etiam machinamenta. 6 Inter haec Maximinus cum filio adulescente, quem Caesarem appellaverat, circumire muros, quantum a teli iactu satis tutus esse posset, nunc suos verbis, nunc oppidanos rogare. 7 Verum nihil profecit.

5 But there was then an immense assault and crisis, when the citizens defended themselves from the soldiers with sulfur and flames and other ramparts of this kind; of whom some were stripped of their arms, others’ garments were ignited, others’ eyes were extinguished, the engines too were torn down. 6 Amid these things Maximinus, with his adolescent son, whom he had entitled Caesar, went around the walls, as far as he could be sufficiently safe from a missile’s cast, now addressing his own men with words, now beseeching the townspeople. 7 But he accomplished nothing.

Nam multa et in eum crudelitatis causa et in filium, qui speciosissimus erat, probra congesta sunt.

For many reproaches were heaped up both against him on the charge of cruelty and against his son, who was most handsome.

XXIII. 1 Quare Maximinus sperans suorum ignavia bellum trahi duces suos interemit, eo tempore quo minime oportebat. Unde sibi milites etiam iratiores reddidit.

23. 1 Wherefore Maximinus, hoping that by his men’s ignavia the war would be dragged out, put his commanders to death, at the time when it least was fitting. Whence he rendered the soldiers even more irate against himself.

2 Huc accedebat, quod defiebatur commeatibus, quia senatus ad omnes provincias et portuum custodes litteras dederat, ne aliquid commeatuum in Maximini potestatem veniret. 3 Miserat praeterea per omnes civitates praetorios et quaestorios viros, quyi ubique custodias agerent et omnia contra Maximinum defenderent. 4 Effectum denique est, ut opsessi angustias obsidens ipse pateretur.

2 To this there was added that supplies were failing, because the senate had sent letters to all the provinces and to the keepers of the ports, that nothing of the supply convoys should come into the power of Maximinus. 3 Moreover, he had sent through all the cities men of praetorian and quaestorian rank, who everywhere should keep guards and defend everything against Maximinus. 4 In the end it was brought about that the besieger himself suffered the straits of the besieged.

5 Nuntiabatur inter haec orbem terrarum consensisse in odium Maximini. 6 Quare timentes milites, quorum adfectus in Albano monte erant, medio forte die, cum a proelio quiesceretur, et Maximinum et filium eius in tentorio positos occiderunt eorumque capita praefixa contis Aquileiensibus demonstrarunt. 7 In oppido igitur vicino statim Maximini statuae atque imagines depositae sunt, et eius praet.

5 It was being reported, amid these things, that the whole circle of lands had consented in odium of Maximinus. 6 Therefore, the soldiers, afraid, whose affections were on the Alban Mount, by chance at mid-day, when there was rest from battle, killed both Maximinus and his son as they were set in the tent, and they displayed their heads, prefixed to pikes, to the Aquileians. 7 In the neighboring town, therefore, Maximinus’s statues and images were immediately taken down, and his praet.

Occisus est cum amicis clarioribus. Missa etiam Romam capita sunt eorum.

He was slain with his more illustrious friends. Their heads also were sent to Rome.

XXIV. 1 Hic finis Maximinorum fuit, dignus crudelitate patris, indignus bonitate filii. Quibus mortuis ingens laetitia provincialium, dolor gravissimus barbarorum.

24. 1 This was the end of the Maximins, worthy of the father's cruelty, unworthy of the son's goodness. With them dead, there was vast joy among the provincials, and the most grievous sorrow among the barbarians.

2 Sed milites interfectis publicis hostribus recepti sunt ab oppidanis rogantes, et primum ita ut ante imagines Maximi et Balbini ert Gordiani adorarent, cum omnes dicerent priore Gordianos in deos relatos. 3 Post hoc ingens ex Aquileia commeatus in castra, quae laborabant fame, praetio traductus refectisque militibus alia die ad contionem ventum est, et omnes in Maximi et Balbini verba iurarunt, Gordianos priores divos appellantes. 4 Dici vix potest, quanta laetitia fuerit, cum Romam per Italiam caput Maximini fertur, occurrentibus cunctis ad gaudium publicum.

2 But the soldiers, with the public enemies slain, were received by the townsmen upon their asking, and at first on condition that they should adore before the images of Maximus and Balbinus and of Gordian, since all were saying that the earlier Gordians had been translated among the gods. 3 After this, a huge convoy of provisions from Aquileia was brought into the camp, which was laboring under famine, for a price; and, the soldiers having been refreshed, on another day an assembly was held, and all swore allegiance to the words of Maximus and Balbinus, calling the earlier Gordians divi. 4 It can scarcely be said how great the joy was, when the head of Maximinus was carried through Italy to Rome, all running to meet it for public rejoicing.

5 Et Maximus quidem, quem multi Puppienum putant, apud Ravennam bellum parabat per Germanorum auxilia; qui ubi conperit consensisse exercitum sibi et collegis suis, occiso autem esse Maximinos, 6 quare statim dimissis Germanorum auxiliis, quae sibi contra hostem paraverat, Romam laureatas litteras misit, quae in urbem ingentem laetitiam fecerunt, ita ut omnes per aras et templa et sacella et loca religiosa gratias agerent. 7 Balbinus autem, homo timidior natura et qui, cum Maximini nomen audiret, etiam tremeret, hecatombem fecit iussitque per omnes civitates pari sacrificio supplicari. 8 Dein Maximus Romam venit senatumque ingressus actis sibi gratiis contionem habuit, atque inde in Palatium cum Balbino et Gordiano victores se receperunt.

5 And Maximus indeed, whom many suppose to be Pupienus, at Ravenna was preparing war by means of German auxiliaries; when he learned that the army had agreed with him and his colleagues, and that the Maximini had been killed, 6 therefore at once, having dismissed the German auxiliaries which he had prepared for himself against the enemy, he sent laurel-wreathed letters to Rome, which made immense joy in the city, so that all gave thanks at altars and temples and little shrines and sacred places. 7 But Balbinus, a man more timid by nature and who, when he heard the name of Maximinus, would even tremble, offered a hecatomb and ordered that through all the cities men should supplicate with an equal sacrifice. 8 Then Maximus came to Rome and, entering the senate, after thanks had been rendered to him, he held an address to the assembly; and from there into the Palatium, with Balbinus and Gordian, they withdrew as victors.

XXV. 1 Interest scire, quale senatus consultum fuerit vel qui dies urbis, cum est nuntiatus interemptus Maximinus: 2 iam primum is, qui ex Aquileiensi Romam missus fuerat, tanto impetu mutatis animalibus cucurrit, ut quarta die Romam veniret, cum apud Ravennam Maximum reliquisset. 3 Et forte dies ludorum erat, cum subito sendete Balbino et Gordiano theatrum nuintius ingressus est, atque, antequam aliquid indicaretur, omnis populus exclamavit: "Maximinus occisus est". 4 Ita et nuntius praeventus, et imperatores, qui aderant, gaudium publicum nutu et consensu indicaverunt.

25. 1 It is of interest to know what sort of senatorial decree there was, or what day of the city it was, when Maximinus’s slaying was announced: 2 to begin with, the man who had been sent from Aquileia to Rome ran with such impetus, changing mounts, that on the fourth day he came to Rome, having left Maximus at Ravenna. 3 And by chance it was a day of games, when suddenly, with Balbinus and Gordianus sitting, a messenger entered the theater, and, before anything was made known, the whole people cried out: "Maximinus has been slain". 4 Thus both the messenger was forestalled, and the emperors who were present indicated the public joy by nod and consent.

5 Soluto igitur spectaculo omnes statim ad suas religiones convolarunt, atque inde ad senatum principes, populus ad contionem cucurrerunt.

5 Therefore, the spectacle having been dissolved, all immediately flocked to their religious rites, and thence the princes to the senate, the people ran to the assembly.

XXVI. 1 Senatus consultum hoc fuit: recitatis in senatu[s] per Balbinum Augustum litteris adclamavit [senatus]: 2 "Senatus hostes, populi R. hostes dii persecuntur. Iuppiter optime, tibi gratias.

26. 1 This was the senatus consultum: the letters having been recited in the senate by Balbinus Augustus, the [senate] acclaimed: 2 "Enemies of the Senate, enemies of the Roman People, the gods pursue. O Best Jupiter, thanks to you.

Apollo venerabilis, tibi gratias. Maxime Auguste, tibi gratias. Balbine Auguste, tibi gratias.

Venerable Apollo, thanks to you. Maximus Augustus, thanks to you. Balbinus Augustus, thanks to you.

Divis Gordianis templa decernimus. 3 Maximini nomen olim erasum nunc animis eradendum. Hostis publici caput in profluentem abiciatur.

We decree temples for the deified Gordians. 3 The name of Maximinus, once erased, is now to be eradicated from minds. Let the head of the public enemy be cast into the flowing stream.

Corpus eius nemo sepeliat. Qui senatui mortem minatus est, ut merebatur, occisus est. Qui senatui vincla minatus est, ut debebat, interemptus est.

Let no one bury his body. He who threatened death to the Senate, as he deserved, was slain. He who threatened chains to the Senate, as was due, was done away with.

4 Sanctissimi imperatores, gratias vobis agimus. Maxime, Balbine, Gordiane, di vos servent. Victores hostium omnes desideramus.

4 Most holy emperors, we give thanks to you. Maximus, Balbinus, Gordianus, may the gods preserve you. We desire you all victors over the enemy.

Praesentiam Maximi omnes desideramus. Balbine Auguste, dii te servent. Praesentem annum consules vos ornetis.

We all desire the presence of Maximus. Balbinus Augustus, may the gods preserve you. May you, consuls, adorn the present year.

In loco Maximini Gordianus sufficiatur." 5 Post rogatus sententiam Cuspidius Celerinus haecverba habuit: "P. c., eraso nomine Maximinorum appellatisque divis Gordianis victoriae causa princibus nostris Maximo, Balbino et Gordiano statuas cum elephantis decernimus, currus triumfales decernimus, statuas equestres decernimus, trophaea dercernimus." 6 Post haec misso senatu supplicationesper totam urbem decretae. 7 Victores principes in Palatium se receperunt, de quorum vita in alio libro deinceps dicemus.

"In place of Maximinus, let Gordian be substituted." 5 Then, asked for his opinion, Cuspidius Celerinus spoke these words: "Conscript Fathers, the name of the Maximini having been erased and the Gordiani having been declared gods, for the sake of victory we decree to our princes Maximus, Balbinus, and Gordian statues with elephants, we decree triumphal chariots, we decree equestrian statues, we decree trophies." 6 After these things, the senate having been dismissed, public supplications throughout the whole city were decreed. 7 The victorious princes withdrew into the Palace, about whose life we will speak hereafter in another book.

MAXIMINUS IUNIOR

MAXIMINUS JUNIOR

XXVII. 1 [De] huius genere superius dictum est, ipse autem pulchritudinis fuit tantae, ut passim amatus sit a procacioribus feminis, nonnullae etiam optaverint de eo concipere. 2 Proceritatis videbatur posse illius esse, ut ad paternam staturam perveniret, si quidem anno vicesimo et primo perit, in ipso flore iuventutis, ut aliqui autem diceunt, octavo decimo, litteris et Graecis et Latinis inbutus ad primam disciplinam.

27. 1 [On] this one’s lineage it has been said above; he himself was of such beauty that he was everywhere loved by the more procacious women, and some even wished to conceive by him. 2 He seemed likely in tallness to attain to his father’s stature, if indeed he perished in his twenty-first year, in the very flower of youth—as some, however, say, in his eighteenth—being imbued with letters, both Greek and Latin, to the first discipline.

3 Nam usus est magistro Graeeco litteratore Fabillo, cuius epigrammata Graeca multa et extant, maxime in imaginibus ipsius pueri. 4 Qui versus Graecos fecit ex illis Latinis Vergilii, cum ipsum puerum describeret:

3 For he made use of a Greek schoolmaster, the literator Fabillus, many of whose Greek epigrams are extant, chiefly upon the portraits of the boy himself. 4 He made Greek verses from those Latin ones of Vergil, when he was describing the boy himself:

Qualis ubi Oceani perfusus Lucifer unda
extulit os sacrum caelo tenebrasque resolvit,
talis erat iuvenis patrio sub nomine clarus.

Such as when Lucifer, bathed in Ocean’s wave,
has lifted his sacred face to the sky and resolved the darkness,
such was the youth, illustrious under his paternal name.

5 Grammatico Latino usus est Filemone, iuris peritp Modestino, oratore Tatiano, filio Titiani senioris, qui provinciarum libros pulcherrimos scripsit et qui dictus est simia temporis sui, quod cuncta esset imitatus. Habuit et Graecum rhetorem Eugamium sui temporis clarum. 6 Desponsa illi erat Iunia Fadilla, proneptis Antonini, quam postea accepit Toxotius, eiusdem familiae senator, qui perit post praeturam, cuius etiam poemata exstant.

5 He used as a Latin grammarian Philemon, as a jurist Modestinus, as an orator Tatianus, the son of the elder Titianus, who wrote most beautiful books on the provinces and who was called the ape of his time, because he had imitated everything. He also had the Greek rhetorician Eugamius, renowned in his own time. 6 Betrothed to him was Junia Fadilla, great‑granddaughter of Antoninus, whom afterwards Toxotius, a senator of the same family, took as his wife, who perished after the praetorship, whose poems also survive.

7 Manserunt autem apud eam arrae regiae, quae tales, it Iunius Cordus loquitur, (harum rerum persecutor est) fuisse dicuntur: 8 monolinum de albis novem, reticulum cum prasinis undecim, dextrocherrium cum costula de hyacinthis quattuor praeter vestes, auratas et omnes regias, ceteraque insignia sponsaliorum.

7 But the royal arrhae (pledge-gifts) remained with her, which, as Junius Cordus says (he is a pursuer of these matters), are said to have been as follows: 8 a necklace of nine “whites,” a hair-net with eleven “greens,” a right-arm bracelet with a little band with four hyacinths, besides the garments—gilded and all royal—and the other insignia of betrothal.

XXVIII. 1 Adulescens autem ipse Maximinus superbiae fuit insolentissimae, ita ut etiam, cum pater suus, homo crudelissimus, plerisque honoratis adsurgeret, ille resideret, 2 vitae laetioris, vini parcissimus, cibi avidus, maxime silvestris, ita ut nonnisi aprunam, anates, grues et omnia captiva ederet. 3 Infamabant eum ob nimiam pulchritudinem amici Maximi et Balbini et Gordiani et maxime senatores, qui speciem illam velut divinitus lapsam incorruptam esse noluerunt.

28. 1 But the youth Maximinus himself was of the most insolent arrogance, such that even when his father, a most cruel man, would rise for many honored men, he would remain seated; 2 of a rather merry way of life, most sparing of wine, greedy for food, especially of woodland fare, so that he ate nothing except boar-flesh, ducks, cranes, and all kinds of game. 3 They defamed him on account of excessive pulchritude—the friends of Maximus and Balbinus and Gordian, and especially the senators—who did not wish that appearance, as if divinely descended, to remain uncorrupted.

4 Denique illo tempore, quo circum Aquileiam muros circumiens cum patre deditionem urbis petebat, nihil aliud ei quam spurcities obiecta est, quae longe ab illius fuitvita. 5 Vestibus tam adcuratus fuit, ut nulla mulier nitidior esset in mundo. 6 Amicis paternis inmane quantum obsecutus est, sed ut donaret ac largiretur.

4 Finally, at that time when, circling the walls of Aquileia, he with his father was seeking the surrender of the city, no other charge than lewdness was objected to him—a thing far from his life. 5 He was so scrupulous about his garments that no woman was neater in the world. 6 He deferred to his father’s friends immensely—but so as to give and to lavish largess.

7 Nam in salutionibus superbissimus erat et manum porrigebat et genua sibi osculari patiebatur, nonnumquam etiam pedes; quod numquam passus est senior Maximinus, qui dicebat: "Dii prohibeant, ut quisnam ingenuorum pedibus meis osculum figat". 8 Et quoniam ad Maximinum s[eniorem] revertimur, res iucunda praetereunda non est. Nam cum esset Maximinus pedum, ut diximus, octo et pro[e]pe semis, calciamentum eius, id est campagnum regium, quidam in luco, qui est inter Aquileiam et Arciam, posuerunt, quod constitit pede maius fuisse hominis vestigio mensura. 9 Unde etiam vulgo tractum est, cum de longis et ineptis hominibus diceretur "caliga que, Maximini". 10 Quod idcirco indidi, ne, quis Cordum legeret, me praetermisisse crederet aliquid, quod ad rem pertineret.

7 For in salutations he was most superb and would extend his hand and allowed his knees to be kissed, sometimes even his feet; which the elder Maximinus never allowed, who used to say: "May the gods forbid that any of the freeborn set a kiss upon my feet." 8 And since we return to Maximinus the s[enior], a pleasant matter is not to be passed over. For since Maximinus was, as we have said, of eight feet and pro[e]pe a half, his footwear, that is, the royal campagnus-boot, certain persons placed in a grove which is between Aquileia and Arcia, which it was established by measurement had been a foot larger than a man’s footprint. 9 Whence also it passed into the vulgus, when people spoke about long and inept men, "the boot of Maximinus." 10 Which I have inserted for this reason, lest anyone who should read Cordus believe that I had passed over something which pertained to the matter.

Sed redeam ad filium.

But let me return to the son.

XXIX. 1 De hoc adulescente Alexander Aurelius ad matrem suam scribit Mamaeam, cupiens ei sororem suam Theocliam dare, in haec verba: 2 "Mi mater, si Maximinus senior dux noster et quidem optimus non aliquid in se barbarum contineret, iam ego Maximino iuniori Theocliam tuam dedissem. 3 Sed timeo, ne soror mea Graecis munditiis erudita barbarum socerum ferre non possit, quamvis ipse adulescens et pulcher et scolasticus et ad Graecas munditias eruditus esse videatur.

29. 1 About this adolescent Alexander Aurelius writes to his mother Mamaea, wishing to give him his sister Theoclia, in these words: 2 "My mother, if senior Maximinus, our leader and indeed the best, did not contain something barbarian in himself, I would already have given your Theoclia to junior Maximinus. 3 But I fear lest my sister, trained in Greek niceties, cannot bear a barbarian father-in-law, although he himself seems to be a youth and handsome and scholastic and trained to Greek niceties."

4 Haec quidem cogito sed te tamen consulo, utrum Maximinum, Maximini filium, generum velis an Messalam ex familia nobili, oratorem potentissimum eundemque doctissimum et, nisi fallor, in rebus bellicis, si adplicetur, fortem futurum." 5 Haec Alexander de Maximino. De quo nos nihil amplius habemus quod dicere. 6 Sane ne quid praetermissum esse videatur, etiam epistolam indidi patris Maximini, imperatoris iam facti, qui dicit idcirco se etiam filium suum appellasse imperatorem, ut videret urbs in pictura vel in veritate, qualis esset iunior Maximinus in purpura.

4 These things indeed I ponder, but I nevertheless consult you, whether you wish Maximinus, the son of Maximinus, as a son-in-law, or Messala from a noble family, a most powerful orator and likewise most learned and, unless I am mistaken, in military affairs, if he be applied, one who will be brave." 5 These things Alexander about Maximinus. About whom we have nothing more which we have to say. 6 Indeed, lest anything seem to have been passed over, I have even inserted a letter of Maximinus’s father, already made emperor, who says that for this reason he has even styled his son emperor, so that the City might see, in picture or in reality, what the younger Maximinus would be like in the purple.

7 Fuit autem talis epistola: "Ego cum propter adfectum, quem pater filio debet, Maximinum meum imperatorem appellari permisi, tum etiam, ut populus Romanus et senatus ille antiquus iuraret se numquam pulchriorem imperatorem habuisse." 8 Usus autem est idem adulescens et aurea lorica exemplo Ptolomaeorum, usus est et argentea, usus et clypeo gemmato inaurato et hasta inaurata. 9 Fecit et spatas argenteas, fecit etiam aureas et omnino quicquid aius pulchritudinem posset iuvare, fecit et gageas gemmatas, fecit et bucculas. 10 Haec sunt quae de puero sciri et dici decuit.

7 There was, however, such a letter: "I, both on account of the affection which a father owes to a son, allowed my Maximinus to be called emperor, and also, so that the Roman People and that ancient Senate might swear that they had never had a more beautiful emperor." 8 The same young man also used a golden cuirass, after the example of the Ptolemies; he used a silver one too; he used also a gemmed, gilded shield and a gilded spear. 9 He made spathae of silver, and he even made golden ones, and altogether whatever could aid his comeliness; he also made gem-studded helmets, and he made cheek-pieces. 10 These are the things which it was fitting to know and to say about the boy.

Reliqua qui volet nosse de rebus Veneriis et amatoriis, quibus eum Cordus aspergit, eundem legat; nos enim hoc loco finem libri faciemus, ad alia, ut iubetur velut publico iure, properantes.

Whoever will wish to know the rest about Venereal and amorous matters, with which Cordus bespatters him, let him read the same; for we at this point will make an end of the book, hastening to other things, as it is enjoined, as it were, by public law.

XXX. 1 Omina sane imperii haec fuerunt: serpens dormienti caput circumdedit. Posita ab eodem vitis intra annum ingentes uvas purpureas attulit et mirae magnitudinis facta est.

30. 1 The omens of the imperium indeed were these: a serpent encircled his head as he slept. A vine planted by that same man within a year bore immense purple grapes and grew to a marvelous magnitude.

2 Scutum eius sub sole arsit. Lanceola sic fissa est fulmine, ut tota etiam per ferrum finderetur et duas partes faceret. Quando dixerunt haruspices duos imperatores non diuturnos ex una domo isdem nominibus futuros.

2 His shield burned under the sun. The little lance was so split by a lightning-bolt that it was split even through the iron and made into two parts. When the haruspices said that two emperors, not long-lasting, from one house with the same names, would be in the future.

3 Lorica patris eius non, ut solet, ferrugine sed tota purpureo colore infecta a plurimis visa est. 4 Filio autem haec fuerunt: cum grammatico daretur, quaedam parens sua libros Homericos omnes purpureos dedit aureis litteris scriptos. 5 Ipse puerulus cum ad cenam ab Alexandro esset rogatus in patris honorem, quod ei deesset vestis c[a]enatoria, ipsius Alexandri accepit.

3 His father's cuirass was seen by very many, not, as is customary, with ferruginous rust, but entirely stained with purple color. 4 For the son, however, these things occurred: when he was being handed over to a grammarian, a certain kinswoman of his gave him all the Homeric books, purple, written in golden letters. 5 He himself, a little boy, when he had been invited to dinner by Alexander in honor of his father, because a dinner-robe was lacking to him, received Alexander’s own.

6 Cum infans esset, subito per publicum veniente vehiculo Antonini Caracalli, quod vacuum erat, conscendit et sedit et vix aegreque a mulionibus carrucariis deturbatus est. 7 Nec defuerunt, qui cavendum infantem dicerent Caracallo. Tum ille dixit: "Longe est, ut mihi iste succedat." Erat enim illo tempore interignobiles et nimis parvus.

6 When he was an infant, as the vehicle of Antoninus Caracalla was suddenly coming through the public way, which was empty, he mounted and sat in it, and scarcely and with difficulty was he dislodged by the muleteers, the carriage-drivers. 7 Nor were there lacking those who said that Caracalla should beware the infant. Then he said: "It is far off that this one should succeed me." For at that time he was among the ignoble and too small.

XXXI. 1 Mortis omina haec fuerunt: venienti contra Maximum et Balbinum Maximino cum filio mulier quaedam passis crinibus occurit lugubri habitu et exclamavit: "Maximini, Maximini, Maximini", neque quicquam amplius dixit et mortua est; videbatur enim dicere voluisse: "Succurite." 2 Canes circa tentorium eius in secunda mansione ultra duodecim ulularunt et animam quasi flendo posuerunt ac prima luce mortui sunt depr[a]ehensi. 3 Lupi urbem quingenti simul ingressi sunt [in eam urbem], in quam se Maximinus contulerat; plerique dicunt Hemonam, alii Archimeam, certe quae deserta a civibus venienti Maximino patuit.

31. 1 The omens of death were these: as Maximinus with his son was coming against Maximus and Balbinus, a certain woman, with hair disheveled and in lugubrious attire, ran to meet him and cried out: "Maximini, Maximini, Maximini," and said nothing more and died; for she seemed to have wished to say: "Succor!" 2 Dogs around his tent at the second station, more than twelve, howled and, as if by weeping, gave up the ghost, and at first light were found dead depr[a]ehended. 3 Five hundred wolves entered the city at once [into that city] into which Maximinus had betaken himself; most say Hemonah, others Archimea, at any rate it, deserted by its citizens, lay open to Maximinus as he was coming.

4 Longum est omnia persequi, quae qui scire desiderat, is velim, ut saepe dixi, legat Cordum, qui haec omnia usque ad fabellam scripsit. 5 Sepulchra eorum nulla extant. In profluentem enim cadavera eorum missa sunt, et capita eorum in campo Martio insultante populo exusta.

4 It would be long to pursue everything; whoever desires to know these things, I would wish, as I have often said, to read Cordus, who wrote all these things even down to the little fable. 5 None of their tombs exist. For their corpses were cast into the outflowing stream, and their heads were burned on the Campus Martius while the people jeered.

XXXII. 1 Scribit Aelius Sabinus, quod praetermittendum non fuit, tantam pulchritudinem oris fuisse in filio, ut etiam caput eius mortui iam nigrum, iam sordens, iam maceratum, diffluente tabo, velut umbra pulchri oris videretur. 2 Denique cum ingens gaudium esset, quod caput Maximini videretur, prope par paeror erat, quod et filii pariter portaretur.

32. 1 Aelius Sabinus writes, which ought not to have been omitted, that there was such beauty of face in the son, that even his head—now blackened, now filthy, now macerated, with putrid matter flowing—seemed like a shadow of a beautiful face. 2 Finally, while there was immense rejoicing because the head of Maximinus was seen, there was almost equal grief, because that of the son likewise was being carried along.

3 Addidit Dexippus tantum odium fuisse Maximini, ut interfectis Gordianis viginti viros senatus creaverit, quos opponeret Maximino. In quibus fuerunt Balbinus et Maximus, quos contra eum imperatores fecerunt. 4 Idem addidit in conspectu Maximini iam deserti a militibus et praefectum praetorio ipsius et filium eius occisum.

3 Dexippus added that there was such hatred of Maximinus that, with the Gordians slain, the senate created twenty men to oppose Maximinus. Among these were Balbinus and Maximus, whom they made emperors against him. 4 The same added that, in the sight of Maximinus, now deserted by his soldiers, both his Praetorian Prefect and his son were killed.

5 Nec desunt historici, qui dicant ipsum Maximinum, ubi desertus est et ubi filium interemptum ante oculos suos vidit, manu sua se interfecisse, ne quid ei muliebre contingeret.

5 Nor are historians lacking who say that Maximinus himself, when he was deserted and when he saw his son slain before his own eyes, killed himself with his own hand, lest anything womanish should befall him.

XXXIII. 1 Praetereundum ne illud quidem est, quod tanta fide Aquileienses contra Maximinum pro senatu fuerunt, ut funes de capillis muliebribus facerent, cum deessent nervi ad sagittas emittendas. 2 Quod aliquando Romae dicitur factum, unde in honorem matronarum templum Veneri Calvae senatus dicavit.

33. 1 Nor must that be passed over, that the Aquileians were with such fidelity against Maximinus on behalf of the senate, that they made ropes from women’s hair, when sinews for shooting arrows were lacking. 2 Which is said to have been done at Rome at some time as well, whence, in honor of the matrons, the senate dedicated a temple to Venus Calva.

3 Sane quod nullo in loco tacendum est: cum et Dexippus et Arrianus et multi alii Graeci scripserint Maximum et Balbinum imperatores contra Maximinum factos, Maximum autem cum exercitu missum et apud Ravennam bellum parasse, Aquileiam autem nisi victorem non victorem non vidisse, Latini scriptores non Maximum sed Puppienum contra Maximinum apud Aquileiam pugnasse dixerunt eundemque vicisse. 4 Qui error unde natus sit, scire non possum, nisi forte idem est Puppienus qui Maximus. Quod ideo testatum posui, ne quis me hoc nescisse crederet, quod re vera magnum stuporem ac miraculum creat.

3 Truly, a thing which must nowhere be passed over in silence: since both Dexippus and Arrianus and many other Greeks have written that Maximus and Balbinus were made emperors against Maximinus, and that Maximus was sent with the army and prepared war at Ravenna, but that Aquileia saw him only as victor, not as vanquished, the Latin writers have said not Maximus but Pupienus fought against Maximinus at Aquileia and that this same man won. 4 Which error whence it arose I cannot know, unless perhaps Pupienus is the same as Maximus. Which I have therefore set down as attested, lest anyone should believe me not to have known this, which in truth creates great stupefaction and a miracle.