Our chronology of the empire now skips forward to 235 A.D.and we pass over Macrinius, Elagabalus, and Severus Alexander in the process.
Macrinius, assassin of Caracalla,reigned for a year. His lack of military success against the Parthians causeddissatisfaction among the troops and that combined with his lack of pedigreecaused the army to embrace the 14 year old grandson of the sister ofCaracalla’s mother as emperor. His mother had put it out that he wasCaracalla’s son. The boy called himself Elagabalus, the hereditary priest ofthe Oriental sun god and his behavior set new Roman standards for the bizarreand unconventional, recalling Caligula. Once his handlers divined where thingswere headed, they forced him to adopt his 13 year old cousin as backup. Theboys quickly became rivals leading to Elagabalus order that Severus Alexanderbe put to death. No one would obey the order. He sought to punish thedisobedient, but they killed him instead. Alexander ascended to the throne and reignedfor 13 years before his youth and lack of fortitude convinced the army a changewas needed. Maximinus was declared emperor by the troops and Alexander waskilled.
Maximinus was a formidable physicalspecimen. Unreliable sources have him eight foot tall and though we don’t knowfor sure, he likely overshadowed his contemporaries in size and strength.Maximinus was the first true barbarian emperor, rising through the ranks as acommon soldier. He got the attention of Septimius Severus when he wrestledseventeen men in one afternoon and defeated all of them.
Here is how Gibbon describes him:
He was conscious that his mean andbarbarian origin, his savage appearance, and his total ignorance of the artsand institutions of civil life, formed a very unfavorable contrast with theamiable manners of the unhappy Alexander. He remembered that, in his humblerfortune, he had often waited before the doors of the haughty nobles of Rome,and had been denied admittance by the insolence of their slaves. He recollectedtoo the friendship of a few who had relieved his poverty, and assisted hisrising hopes. But those who had spurned, and those who had protected, the Thracian,were guilty of the same crime, the knowledge of his original obscurity. Forthis crime many were put to death; and by the execution of several of hisbenefactors Maximinus published, in characters of blood, the indelible historyof his baseness and ingratitude.
The senate wasunhappy with the elevation of Maximinus but gave approval because it had to.Immediately there were two plots against his life – both foiled. He spent the twoyears fighting the Germans, Dacians, and Sarmatians, exhausting the treasuryand using extortion to refill it. The resulting financial condition of Rome stirredup serious opposition.
Now our storygets interesting.
Some wealthy young men in the African province were being forcedto give up their estates to fund the emperor’s treasury when they incited ariot, resulting in the death of the money collector. The rioters seized thetown of Thysdrus and designated it as the center of a new rebellion against theemperor. The proconsul of Africa, Gordian, was pressured to accept the crown ofemperor even though he was eighty years old. Descended from Trajan and theGracchi, Gordian was one of the most respected men in Rome.
He sent embassies to Rome where the senate, delighted at the chance to reclaim the empire for thepatricians, met secretly in the Temple of Castor and Pollux to consider thematter, and voted Gordian emperor. His son, Gordian II, was named co-emperor. Toseal their authority the senate authorized the murder of the praetorianprefect, Vitalianus, a strong supporter of Maximinus.
The senate now sensed the return of their power andproceeded to govern in the old way. Twenty senators were selected to commandthe army in defense of Italy. Each was given unlimited authority to prepare forbattle. At the same time dispatches were sent to the provinces begging the commandersto send help to the city.
Before the defense of Italy could begin, however, theGordians were dead. A force from Mauritania, loyal to Maximinus, attacked themat Carthage. When the farther heard his son had been killed in battle, he committedsuicide after a reign of thirty six days. It was the beginning of March 238A.D.
Lacking an emperor, the senate was now forced to a war council.One of them, a descendent of Trajan, gave a stirring speech reminding hiscolleagues that the senate would prevail if they only could reassert theirpowers long lost. He nominated Balbinus and Maximus as the co-emperors whocould lead Rome to victory. Opposite in style and skill -- Balbinus theintellectual and Maximus the soldier -- but complementary in purpose, the two men wereelected to the throne.
But the people were not satisfied. They resented the newemperors as aged patricians who did not represent them. Crowds surrounded theTemple of Jupiter demanding that they have a say in the election of an emperor.They forced the senate to name Gordian III, grandson of the elder Gordian, as athird co-emperor. This was done partly out of respect for the sacrifice made bythe elder Gordians in launching the rebellion.
Maximinus went wild with rage when he was told of theactivities of the senate, and set his mind on the destruction of Italy.
As he began his march to Rome, Maximinus moved southwest outof the Balkans. After passing through the Julian Alps (see map), his armywas shocked to see the landscape before them, as the locals had applied a scorchedearth policy to the region. Villages had been burned, cattle driven away, andbridges destroyed. Maximinus did not realize it but the other aspect of theplan for defense was the fortification of selected cities to prepare them forthe invasion.
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The first city in the army’s path was Aquileia (northeast ofVenice). Eight miles from the Adriatic, Aquileia was settled in 181 B.C. as afrontier fortress designed to block entrance into Italy. It’s fortifications hadbeen in disrepair, but the delay of Maximinus gave the city time to re-buildthe walls and stock the city for battle.
When Maximinus and his army arrived, they decided to pursuea siege strategy and proceeded to cut trees for the construction of siegeengines. By the time he was ready, the two commanders of the town, Crispinusand Menophilus, were equally prepared for him. The council of twenty hadarranged for all roads to Rome to be blockaded to prevent re-supply of theinvaders. The army of Maximinus was repulsed in repeated attacks, his siegeengines destroyed by flaming projectiles. The attacks went on from March to Mayof 238 A.D.
Then a stunning event occurred. I’ll let Gibbon explain.
Maximinus’ soldiers,exposed to the inclemency of the season, the contagion of disease, the horrorsof famine, and the wasted land became dispirited and disaffected. Cut off fromintelligence, they believed the whole empire had embraced the cause of thesenate, and they were left as devoted victims to perish under the walls ofAquileia. The fierce temper of the tyrant was exasperated by disappointmentswhich he imputed to the cowardice of his army; and his wanton and ill timedcruelty, instead of striking terror, inspired hatred, and a just desire forrevenge.
A plot was formed between the Praetorian Guard and thesecond legion (Parthica) to murder the emperor and it was successfully carriedout.
Upon hearing of Maximinus’ death, the Aquileians opened thegates of the city and invited their former adversaries to eat. Maximus,overseeing the battle from Ravenna, returned to Rome in triumph and was greeted byhis co-emperors as he entered the city.
It wasn’t long, however, before Balbinus and Maximus were at each other’sthroats. So focused on taking power from each other they ignored the dangerouspower of the praetorians and paid with their lives -- killed during the Capitoline games in July238 A.D. The praetorians hoisted Gordian III to their shoulders and carried himto their camp, proclaiming him as the only legitimate emperor of Rome.
Young Gordian reigned for six years. When his praetorianprefect, Misitheus, died of the flux, the replacement, Philip, who aspired tothe throne, had the boy murdered.
The events described here reflect the continuing rot of theempire. Power was concentrated in armies located far from Rome, commanded byprovincials who had no connection to the mother city. In isolation, theyrallied around their commanders, who, when they coveted the power of Rome,would move to take over. All of the factors that made the republic function:family history, a sense of culture, substantial political experience, andeducation were collapsed down to a remnant group of patricians and new men whohad lost their authority forever.
