14: Herodian, l. vii. p. 239. Hist. August. p. 153.]

The family of Gordianus was one of the most illustrious of the Roman
senate. On the father's side he was descended from the Gracchi; on his
mother's, from the emperor Trajan. A great estate enabled him to support
the dignity of his birth, and in the enjoyment of it, he displayed an
elegant taste and beneficent disposition. The palace in Rome, formerly
inhabited by the great Pompey, had been, during several generations, in
the possession of Gordian's family. [15] It was distinguished by ancient
trophies of naval victories, and decorated with the works of modern
painting. His villa on the road to Praeneste was celebrated for baths of
singular beauty and extent, for three stately rooms of a hundred feet in
length, and for a magnificent portico, supported by two hundred columns
of the four most curious and costly sorts of marble. [16] The public
shows exhibited at his expense, and in which the people were entertained
with many hundreds of wild beasts and gladiators, [17] seem to surpass
the fortune of a subject; and whilst the liberality of other magistrates
was confined to a few solemn festivals at Rome, the magnificence of
Gordian was repeated, when he was aedile, every month in the year, and
extended, during his consulship, to the principal cities of Italy. He
was twice elevated to the last-mentioned dignity, by Caracalla and by
Alexander; for he possessed the uncommon talent of acquiring the esteem
of virtuous princes, without alarming the jealousy of tyrants. His long
life was innocently spent in the study of letters and the peaceful
honors of Rome; and, till he was named proconsul of Africa by the voice
of the senate and the approbation of Alexander, [18] he appears
prudently to have declined the command of armies and the government of
provinces. [181] As long as that emperor lived, Africa was happy under
the administration of his worthy representative: after the barbarous
Maximin had usurped the throne, Gordianus alleviated the miseries which
he was unable to prevent. When he reluctantly accepted the purple, he
was above fourscore years old; a last and valuable remains of the happy
age of the Antonines, whose virtues he revived in his own conduct, and
celebrated in an elegant poem of thirty books. With the venerable
proconsul, his son, who had accompanied him into Africa as his
lieutenant, was likewise declared emperor. His manners were less pure,
but his character