Pertinex

In the decade of the 180s, Pertinax took a pivotal role in the Roman Senate until the praetorian prefect Sextus Tigidius Perennis forced him out of public life. He was recalled after three years to Britain, whose army at the time was in a state of mutiny. He tried to quell the unruly soldiers there but one legion mutinied and attacked his bodyguard, leaving Pertinax for dead. When he recovered, he punished the mutineers severely which led to his growing reputation as a disciplinarian. When he was forced to resign in 187, the reason given was that the legions had grown hostile to him because of his harsh rule.

Historia Augusta ;

After Perennis had been put to death, Commodus made amends to Pertinax, and in a letter asked him to set out for Britain. 6 After his arrival there he kept the soldiers from any revolt, for they wished to set up some other man as emperor, preferably Pertinax himself. 7 And now Pertinax acquired an evil character for enviousness, for he was said to have laid before Commodus the charge that Antistius Burrus and Arrius Antoninus were aspiring to the throne. 8 And certainly he did suppress a mutiny against himself in Britain, but in so doing he came into great danger; for in a mutiny of a legion he was almost killed, and indeed was left among the slain. 9 This mutiny Pertinax punished very severely. 10 Later on, however, he petitioned to be excused from his governorship, saying that the legions were hostile to him because he had been strict in his discipline. 4 After he had been relieved of his post, he was put in charge of the grants to the poor. Next he was made proconsul of Africa. 2 During this proconsulship, it is said, he suppressed many rebellions by the aid of prophetic verses which issued from the temple of Caelestis. Next he was made prefect of the city, 3 and in this office, as successor to Fuscianus, a very stern man, Pertinax p323was exceedingly gentle and considerate, and he proved very pleasing to Commodus himself, for he was . . . when Pertinax was made consul for the second time. 4 And while in this position, Pertinax did not avoid complicity in the murder of Commodus, when a share in this plot was offered him by the other conspirators.

Pertinex
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Historia Augusta

p461 The Life of Clodius Albinus

He was tall of stature, with unkempt curly hair and a broad expanse of brow. His skin was wonderfully white; many indeed think it was from this that he got his name.57 He had a womanish voice, almost as shrill as a eunuch's. He was easily roused, his anger was terrible, his rage relentless. In his pleasures he was changeable, for he sometimes craved wine and sometimes abstained. 2 He had a thorough knowledge of arms58 and was not ineptly called the Catiline of his age.

p489 3  We do not believe it wholly irrelevant to recount the causes which won Clodius Albinus the love of the senate.59 4 After Commodus had bestowed upon him the name of Caesar, and while by the Emperor's orders he was in command of the troops in Britain, false tidings were brought that Commodus had been slain. Then he came forth before the soldiers and delivered the following speech: 5 "If the senate of the Roman people but had its ancient power, and if this vast empire were not under the sway of a single man, it would never have come to pass that the destiny of the state should fall into the hands of a Vitellius, a Nero, or a Domitian. Under the rule of consuls there were those mighty families of ours, the Ceionii, the Albini, and the Postumii,60 of whom your fathers heard from their grandsires and from whom they learned many things. 6 It was surely the senate, moreover, that added Africa to the dominions of Rome, the senate that conquered Gaul and the Spains, the senate that gave laws to the tribes of the East, and the senate that dared to attack the Parthians — and would have conquered them, too, had not the fortune of Rome just then assigned our army so covetous a leader.61 7 Britain, to be sure, was conquered by Caesar, but he was still a senator and not yet dictator. Now as for Commodus himself, how much better an emperor would he had been had he stood in awe of the senate! 8 Even as late as the time of Nero, the power of the senate prevailed, and the senators did not fear to deliver speeches against a base and filthy prince and condemn him,62 p491even though he still retained both power of life and death and the empire too. 9 Wherefore, my comrades, the name of Caesar, which Commodus now confers on me, I do not wish to accept. May the gods grant that no one else may wish it! 10 Let the senate have rule, let the senate distribute the provinces and appoint us consuls. But why do I say the senate? It is you, I mean, and your fathers; you yourselves shall be the senators."

14 This harangue was reported at Rome while Commodus was still alive and roused him greatly against Albinus. He forthwith despatched one of his aides, Junius Severus, to replace him.63 2 The senate, however, was so much pleased that it honoured Albinus, though absent, with marvellous acclamations, both while Commodus still lived and, later, after his murder. Some even counselled Pertinax to ally himself with Albinus, and as for Julianus, Albinus' influence had the greatest weight in his plan for murdering Pertinax.64 3 In proof, moreover, that my statements are true, I will quote a letter written by Commodus to the prefects of the guard, in which he makes clear his intention of killing Albinus; 4 "Aurelius Commodus to his prefects, greeting. You have heard, I believe, in the first place, the false statement that I had been slain by a conspiracy of my household; in the second, that Clodius Albinus has delivered an harangue to the senate at great length — and not for nothing, it seems to me. 5 For whoever asserts that the state ought not p493to be under the sway of one man, and that the senate should rule the empire, he is merely seeking to get the empire himself through the senate. Keep a diligent watch then; for now you know the man whom you and the troops and the people must avoid."

6  When Pertinax found this letter he desired to make it public in order to stir up hatred against Albinus; and for this reason Albinus advised Julianus to bring about Pertinax's death