People who take sides with wrong doers and destroy those they envy, do these things, not because they are ignorant of the issues on which they are to vote, but because they intend to inflict injury

People who take sides with wrong doers and destroy those they envy, do these things, not because they are ignorant of the issues on which they are to vote, but because they intend to inflict injury and do not expect to be found out, and so, by protecting those of their own kind, they think they are providing for their own safety. Isocrates. Antidosis. Speech 15. Section 143.

Image: Bust of Didius Julianus, the emperor who bought the throne of the Roman Empire from the Praetorian Guard in 193 CE after the guard murdered Pertinax, photographed at the Shaper Royal Palace in Munich, Germany, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko.

Julianus, born of a prominent family in Mediolanum (Milan), actually had a respectable career before that ill-fated auction. He held the offices of quaestor, aedile and praetor before his nomination to the command of Legio XXII Primigenia in Mogontiacum (now Mainz, Germany) and defeated the Chauci and Chatti, two invading Germanic tribes. He also governed Dalmatia and Germania Inferior successfully , before being appointed to the consulship in 175 CE along with Pertinax. But his growing power made Commodus suspicious so Commodus demoted him and thereafter Julianus' career languished. He was even accused of joining a conspiracy against Commodus but was acquitted. Subsequently, he governed Bithynia and served as proconsul in North Africa. In fact, if he had not run afoul of Commodus, he would have been a legitimate successor to the throne if Pertinax had met a more natural end. But after buying the throne, he was hated by the public and often met with shouts of robber and parricide. The turmoil in Rome, though, caught the attention of three powerful and ambitious generals, Pescennius Niger in Syria, Septimius Severus in Pannonia, and Clodius Albinus in Britain, each with three legions, and like the alpha males of three wolf packs sensing wounded prey, they all began descending on Rome. It was just a matter of weeks before Severus, the general closest to Rome, sealed Julianus' fate. Although the experienced Julianus drilled the Praetorian Guard, the Guard was still undertrained compared to the field legionaries of Severus. Cassius Dio maintains that the Praetorian Guard tried to fight back, but were crushed, while modern historians believe the Guard simply deserted en masse. The senate then sentenced Julianus to death. "But what evil have I done? Whom have I killed?" Julianus pleaded, to no avail. The senate also passed a damnatio memoriae motion so we are very fortunate to even have this beautifully carved bust of him. At least his body was not dragged by hook to the Tiber. It was given to his wife and daughter, who were spared, and they buried him in his great-grandfather's tomb by the fifth milestone on the Via Labicana. He was definitely not the frivolous and scheming rich aristocrat portrayed in the film "The Fall of the Roman Empire." This tumultuous period of history is the backdrop for the audio book "Lions of Rome" by S.J.A. Turney that I purchased this month on Audible.