ered the senate]. Moreover, after
Pertinax he was always ill. [During his reign he saw and was well
[Footnote: Reading [Greek: erroto] (Dindorf).] and advised.] Pertinax
honored him mightily in every way and in the senate made him take the seat
beside him. [The same privilege he accorded also to Acilius Glabrio. This
man, too, at that period both heard and saw. It was to these, then, that
he granted such surpassing honor.] Toward us also he behaved in a very
sociable way. He was easy of access, listened readily to any one's
request, and cordially answered as he thought right. Again, he gave us
banquets marked by moderation. Whenever he failed to invite us, he would
send to various persons various foods, even the least costly. For this the
wealthy and vainglorious made great sport of him, but the rest of us, who
valued excellence above debauchery, approved his course.

[Public opinion regarding Pertinax was so different from
that in the case of Commodus that those who heard what had happened,
suspecting that this story had been spread by Commodus to test them, in
several instances (governors of provinces being particularly involved)
imprisoned the men who brought the news. It was not that they did not wish
it to be true, but they were more afraid of seeming to have helped destroy
Commodus than of not attaching themselves to Pertinax. For under the
latter one who even committed an error of this kind might still breathe
freely, but under the former not even a faultless person could feel safe.]

[Sidenote:--4--] While he was still in Britain, after that great revolt
which he quelled, and was being accorded praise on all sides, a horse
named Pertinax won a race at Rome. It belonged to the Greens and was
picked as a winner by Commodus. So, when its partisans raised a great
shout, proclaiming "It is Pertinax," the others, their opponents, in
disgust at Commodus likewise prayed (speaking with reference to the man,
not the horse): "Would that it might be so!" Later, when this same horse
by reason of age had given up racing and was in the country, it was sent
for by Commodus, who brought it into the hippodrome, gilded its hoofs, and
adorned its back with a gilded skin. And people suddenly seeing it cried
out again: "It is Pertinax!" The very expression was itself ominous, since
it occurred at the last horse-race that year, and immediately after it the
sovereignty passed to Pertinax. A similar import was attached to the club,
for