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

.GORDIANUS. GORDIANUS. 281
assumed the designation in question during the numerous coins are extant, struck in Egypt, combrief period of his sway. memorating the seventh year of his reign. But
2. M. ANTONIUS GORDIANUS, eldest son of since the Egyptians calculated the commencement
the foregoing and of Fabia Orestilia, was born in of their civil year, and consequently the years of a.A. D. i92, was appointed legatus to his father in sovereign's reign, from the 29th of August, they
Africa, was associated with him in the purple, must have reckoned some period prior to the 29th
and fell in the battle against Capellianus, as of August, A. D. 238, as the first year of the third
recorded above, in the forty-sixth year of his Gordian's reign.
age. Hence the elevation of the first two Gordians,
Less simple in his habits, and less strict in his their death, the death of Maximinus, the accession
morality than his parent, he was nevertheless and death of Balbinus with Pupienus, and the acrespected and beloved both in public and private cession of the third Gordian, must all have fallen
life, and never disgraced himself by acts of osten- between the 1st of January and the 29th of
tatious profligacy, although he left upwards of August, A. D. 238.
sixty children by various mistresses, and enjoyed
the somewhat questionable distinction of being -
selected by the favour of Elagabalus to fill the
office of quaestor. He became praetor under the c - I
more pure auspices of Alexander, and acquitted
himself with so much credit as a judge, that he -o
was forthwith, at a very early age, promoted to'
the consulship. Several light pieces in prose and
verse attested his love of literature, which he irnbibed in boyhood from his preceptor, Serenus Sam- COIN OF GORDIANUS II.
monicus, whose father had accumulated a library of 3. M. ANTONIUS GORDIAN US, according to most
sixty thousand volumes, which the son inherited, of the authorities consulted by Capitolinus, was
and on his death bequeathed to his pupil. the son of a daughter of the elder Gordianus, alNo period in the annals of Rome is more em- though some maintained that he was the son of the
barrassed by chronological difficulties than the younger Gordianus. Having been elevated to the
epoch of the two Gordians, in consequence of the rank of Caesar, under circumstances narrated in the
obscurity, confusion, and inconsistency which cha- life of Balbinus [BALBINUS], after the murder of
racterise the narratives of the ancient historians, in- Balbinus and Pupienus by the praetorians a few
somuch that we shall find six weeks, a hundred weeks afterwards, in July A. D. 238, he was prodays, six months, one year, two years, and even claimed Augustus, with the full approbation of the
six years, assigned by conflicting authorities as the troops and the senate, although at this time a mere
limits of their reign, while in like manner Balbi- boy, probably not more than fifteen years old. The
nus, with Pupienus, are variously stated to have annals of his reign are singularly meagre. In the
occupied the throne for twenty-two days, —for consulship of Venustus and Sabinus (A. D. 240), a
three months,-for one year,-or for two years. rebellion broke out in Africa, but was promptly
Without attempting to point out the folly of most suppressed. In 241, which marks his second conof these assertions, it will be sufficient to state that sulship, the young prince determined to proceed in
Eckhel has proved in the most satisfactory manner person to the Persian war, which had assumed a
that the revolt in Africa against Maximinus must most formidable aspect, but before setting out marhave taken place in A. D. 238, probably about the ried Sabinia Tranquillina, the daughter of Misitheus
beginning of March, and that the death of the two [MISITHEUS], a man distinguished for learning,
Gordians happened in the middle of April, after a eloquence, and virtue, who was straightway apreign of six weeks, while the assassination of pointed praefect of the praetorium, and became the
Balbinus and Pupienus, with the accession of the trusty counsellor of his son-in-law in all matters of
third Gordian, could not have been later than the importance. By their joint exertions, the power of
end of the following July. Our limits do not permit the eunuchs, whose baneful influence in the palace
us to enter into a minute investigation of these, had first acquired strength under Elagabalus and
but it may be useful to indicate the nature of the been tolerated by his successor, was at once suparguments which seem to establish the above con- pressed.
clusions: — In 242 Gordianus, having thrown open the
1. The accession of Maximinus is known to temple of Janus with all the ancient formalities,
have taken place in the middle of the year A. D. quitted Rome for the East. Passing through
235, and copper coins are still extant issued by the Moesia, he routed and destroyed some barbarous
senate with the usual stamp (s. c.), struck when he tribes upon the confines of Thrace, who sought to
was tribune for the fourth time, which therefore arrest his progress; crossing over from thence to
cannot belong to an earlier date than the beginning Syria, he defeated Sapor in a succession of engageof A. D. 238. ments, and compelled him to evacuate Mesopotamia,
2. Upon receiving intelligence of the proceed- the chief merit of these achievements being proings in Africa, the senate at once acknowledged bably due to Misitheus, to whom they were, with
the Gordians, threw down the statues of Maximi- fitting modesty, ascribed in the despatches to the
nus, and declared him a public enemy. Hence it senate. But this prosperity did not long endure:
is manifest that they would issue no money bearing Misitheus perished by disease, or, as many histohis effigy after these events, which must therefore rians have asserted, by the treachery of Philip, an
belong to some period later than the beginning.of Arabian, who, in an evil hour, was chosen by the
A. D. 238. prince to supply the place of the trusty friend
3. It is known that the third Gordian was whom he had lost. Philip, from the moment of
killed about the month of March, A. D, 244, and his elevation, appears to have exerted every art to