Senate ordered his memory to be held infamous, and his body to be
dragged by iron hooks through the streets, and then to be thrown into
the Tiber; but his successor Pertinax prevailed that it should be placed
in the mausoleum of Hadrian. Such was the son of Marcus Aurelius.

[Illustration: Commodus.]

[Illustration: Pertinax.]

CHAPTER XLII.

FROM PERTINAX TO DIOCLETIAN. A.D. 192-284.

Pertinax, an aged senator of consular rank, and now Praefect of the city,
was summoned by the conspirators, who came to his house late at night,
after the murder of Commodus, to ascend the vacant throne. He was one of
the few friends and ministers of Marcus Aurelius who yet survived, and,
having filled many important offices, had always been distinguished for
firmness, prudence, and integrity. The rumor was spread that Commodus
had died of apoplexy, and that Pertinax had succeeded him; but the
Praetorian Guards were dissatisfied at his election. The Senate, however,
confirmed the choice of the conspirators, and Pertinax lived among his
own order rather as an equal than a master. His manners were simple, his
mode of life frugal, and he sought to revive the pleasing simplicity of
the early Republic.

Pertinax administered justice with strictness, released those who had
been left in prison by Commodus, reformed the finances and introduced
economy, redivided the uncultivated lands among those who would till
them, removed oppressive restrictions upon trade, and deserved the
respect of the wiser portion of his subjects.

But the Praetorians were never reconciled to his rule, and on the 28th of
March, A.D. 193, eighty-six days after his election, they broke into
the imperial palace, and struck down the emperor with innumerable blows.
His head was separated from his body, and, being placed upon a lance,
was carried in triumph to the Praetorian camp, while the people silently
lamented the death of this virtuous ruler.

The soldiers, meanwhile, proclaimed from the ramparts of their camp that
the throne of the world would be sold at auction to the highest bidder.
Didius Julianus, a wealthy Senator, whose age had not quenched his
vanity and ambition, offered about a thousand dollars to each man for
the possession of the prize. He was declared emperor, and, surrounded by
the armed Praetorians, was carried to the Senate, who were forced to
accept the selection of the soldiers. But the Senators and the people
felt deeply the disgrace of