occupations might be
no longer interrupted by the care of the earth. In the second rank that
amiable prince soon acquired the affections of the public, and
excited the tyrant's jealousy, who resolved to terminate the dangerous
competition, either by corrupting the manners, or by taking away the
life, of his rival. His arts proved unsuccessful; his vain designs were
constantly discovered by his own loquacious folly, and disappointed
by those virtuous and faithful servants whom the prudence of Mamaea
had placed about the person of her son. In a hasty sally of passion,
Elagabalus resolved to execute by force what he had been unable to
compass by fraud, and by a despotic sentence degraded his cousin from
the rank and honors of Caesar. The message was received in the senate
with silence, and in the camp with fury. The Praetorian guards swore to
protect Alexander, and to revenge the dishonored majesty of the throne.
The tears and promises of the trembling Elagabalus, who only begged them
to spare his life, and to leave him in the possession of his beloved
Hierocles, diverted their just indignation; and they contented
themselves with empowering their praefects to watch over the safety of
Alexander, and the conduct of the emperor.

It was impossible that such a reconciliation should last, or that even
the mean soul of Elagabalus could hold an empire on such humiliating
terms of dependence. He soon attempted, by a dangerous experiment, to
try the temper of the soldiers. The report of the death of Alexander,
and the natural suspicion that he had been murdered, inflamed their
passions into fury, and the tempest of the camp could only be appeased
by the presence and authority of the popular youth. Provoked at this new
instance of their affection for his cousin, and their contempt for
his person, the emperor ventured to punish some of the leaders of the
mutiny. His unseasonable severity proved instantly fatal to his minions,
his mother, and himself. Elagabalus was massacred by the indignant
Praetorians, his mutilated corpse dragged through the streets of the
city, and thrown into the Tiber. His memory was branded with eternal
infamy by the senate; the justice of whose decree has been ratified by
posterity.

[See Island In The Tiber: Elagabalus was thrown into the Tiber]?

In the room of Elagabalus, his cousin Alexander was raised to the throne
by the Praetorian guards. His relation to the family of Severus, whose
name he assumed,