A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

COMMODUS.
end. HI-e had a mistress named Marcia, to whom
he was deeply attached, and whom he especially
loved to behold equipped as an Amazon. Hence
the epithet Amazonius was frequently assumed by
himself: the name Amazonius, as we have already
seen, was attached to the first month, and he displayed his own person in the amphitheatre arrayed
in the Amazonian garb. The first of January,
193, was to have been signalized by a spectacle
which would have thrown into the shade the insults previously heaped upon the senate and the
people, for Commodus had determined to put to
death the two consuls-elect, Q. Sosius Falco and
C. Julius Erucius Clarus, and to come forth himself
as consul at the opening of the year, not marching
in robes of state from the palace to the capitol at
the head of the senate, but in the uniform of a
secutor, followed by a band of gladiators issuing
from their training-school. This project he communicated to Marcia, who earnestly implored him
to abandon a design so fraught with disgrace and
danger, and her remonstrances were warmly
seconded by Laetus and Eclectus, the one praefect
of the praetorians, the other imperial chamberlain.
These counsellors were dismissed with wrath from
the presence of the prince, who retired to indulge
in his wonted siesta, having previously inscribed
on his tablets a long catalogue of persons who were
to be put to death that night, the names of Marcia,
Laetus, and Eclectus appearing at the head of the
list. This document was found by a favourite
child, who entered the apartment while Commodus
was asleep, and was carried by him in sport to
Marcia, who at once perceived its import. She
immediately communicated the discovery to -Laetus
and Eclectus. The danger was imminent, and, unless promptly met, inevitable. Their plans were
quickly matured and quickly executed. That
evening poison was administered, and its operation
proving so slow as to excite apprehensions of its
efficacy, Narcissus, a celebrated athlete, was introduced, and by him Commodus was strangled on the
night of December the 31st, A. D. 192, in the
thirty-second year of his age and the thirteenth of
his reign. When the news of his death, at first
cautiously attributed to apoplexy, was spread
abroad, the intelligence diffused universal joy
among all ranks except the guards, who had been
permitted to revel in indolence and luxury and
could scarcely expect again to find a master so
indulgent and liberal. When his successor, Pertinax [PERTINAx], repaired next morning before daylight to the senate, that venerable body,
while greeting their new sovereign, poured forth a
string of curses upon the dead tyrant in a sort of
strange chaunt, the words of which have been preserved by Lampridius, declared him a public enemy,
and, being unable to vent their rage upon the
living man, begged that his body might be dragged,
like that of a criminal, through the streets with a
hook, and cast into the Tiber,-a request with
which Pertinax, to his credit, refused to comply,
and the corpse was decently interred in the mausoleum of Hadrian.
We seldom meet in history with a character
which inspires such pure and unmixed detestation
as that of Commodus. While his vices and crimes
were inexpressibly revolting, they were rendered
if possible more loathsome by his contemptible
meanness and weakness. TIle most grinding oppression was combined with the most childish

COMMODUS. 819
vanity, the most savage cruelty with the most
dastardly cowardice. He hated, persecuted, and
massacred the senate and the nobles, and at the
same time eagerly drank in their most disgusting
flatteries. He slew thousands and tens of thousands of wild beasts, but his arrows were shot and
his darts were hurled from behind a screen of network which protected his person from the possibility of risk. He butchered hundreds of his
fellow-men in gladiatorial combats; but while he
was clad in the impenetrable armour and wielded
the heavy blade of a secutor, his antagonists had
no defences except weapons of lead or tin; and
when as, Hercules, he crushed with his club the
unhappy creatures dressed up to resemble the
monstrous progeny of Earth, the rocks which they
hurled at their assailant were formed of sponge.
After examining the ample records preserved of
his career, we shall be unable to find a trace of one
generous action or one kindly feeling, to discern a
single ray of human sympathy to relieve the portentous blackness of his guilt. Dion, indeed, represents him as naturally of a weak and extremely
simple temper; as one who easily received impressions, and whose crimes were to be attributed
rather to the artful advice of evil counsellors acting
upon a timid and yielding disposition, than to any
inherent depravity; and imagines that he erred at
first from ignorance of what was right, and gliding
by degrees into a habit of doing evil, became
gradually faniiliar with deeds of shame and wickedness. But had this been the case, the lessons so
carefully inculcated in early life would never have
been so rapidly and for ever obliterated. We feel
more inclined to give credit to the assertion of
Lampridius, who declares that from his earliest
boyhood he displayed evident proofs of dark passions and a corrupt heart, a propensity to indulge
freely in every low and dissolute pleasure, and
utter indifference to human suffering and life.
It is almost needless to remark, that Commodus
paid no attention to foreign policy nor to the government and regulation of the provinces, except
in so far as they might be made to minister to his
profusion and profligacy. The integrity of the
empire was however maintained, and the barbarians
repulsed from the Dacian frontier by the skill and
valour of Clodius Albinus and Pescennius Niger,
the same who after the death of Pertinax contested
the throne with Septimius Severus. A still more
serious disturbance arose in Britain; for the northern tribes having forced a passage across the wall
of Antonine, defeated the Roman troops who opposed their progress, slew their leader, and laid
waste the more peaceful districts far and wide.
But Ulpius Marcellus having assumed the chief
command, the Caledonians were speedily driven
back, the war was successfully terminated about
A. D. 184, Commodus was saluted Jmperator for
the seventh time, and added Britannicus to his
other titles.

COIN OF COMMIODUS.