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Plautilla, who was in Sicily, and his own cousin, both the namesake of Severus and the son of Pertinax, and the son of Lucilla, Commodus' sister, and any family that was of royal lineage or descended from the patricians in the senate, he destroyed them all. And sending governors and procurators to the provinces, as if they were his friends, he did away with all of them. And every night brought murders of all sorts of people, and he killed many in the hippodrome. 132 Exc. De virt.: That in the reign of Antoninus the son of Severus, besides the other evils and murders, the soldiers also, having received license to use violence and to plunder, were no longer distinguishable in any way; And doing such things and driven by his deeds, and having an aversion to his stay in the city, he departed from Rome, ostensibly to manage the armies and to inspect the provinces. When he reached the Ister, he befriended the Germans there, so as to take from them both allies and bodyguards, and to use their style of dress. And so he was loved by the barbarians and by the soldiers, being familiar with all, being greeted by them as a fellow soldier rather than as an emperor. And when he arrived in Macedonia, he immediately named himself Alexander; and from there he came to Pergamum and to the tomb of Achilles, and having adorned it with wreaths and flowers, he imitated Achilles. And through Asia and the other provinces he came to Antioch, and having spent some time there, he set out for Alexandria, making the pretext that he longed for the city of Alexander. When he entered it with his entire army, he was received by the Alexandrians as no emperor ever before. And coming to the tomb of Alexander, the cloak that he was wearing and his ring and belt and anything costly, taking them off he placed upon his sarcophagus. And the people seeing this rejoiced exceedingly, celebrating all night and holding festivals, not knowing his hidden intention. For he had learned in Rome that they had mocked him and his mother a great deal. And Antoninus, being irascible by nature, when he saw the whole city filled with a very great multitude, ordered the youth by an edict to assemble in a certain plain, saying that he wished to form a phalanx in honor of Alexander. Persuaded by these promises of his, the young men assembled together with their parents and brothers, who rejoiced with them in their hopes. But when Antoninus saw them standing in rows, he himself withdrew with the guard he had; and he let loose the soldiers, and cut down all the youth in the midst. And not a few of the soldiers also perished. And so great a slaughter occurred that the entire Nile was reddened by the blood. After doing such things, he came again to Antioch. And after faking the Parthian marriage, he spent his time in Mesopotamia, devoting his leisure to chariot-driving and the slaughter of wild beasts, having with him the two praetorian prefects, Adventus and Macrinus. For the one was a soldierly man, the other of civil life. Therefore he often mocked Macrinus as living a civilian lifestyle. 133 Exc. De ins.: That the life of Antoninus had to come to an end; for being excessively curious, he wished to learn who would be emperor after him, and suspecting that everyone prophesied to him out of flattery, he wrote to a certain Maternianus, to whom all his affairs in Rome were at that time entrusted, and who seemed to be most trustworthy, and he ordered him, after seeking out the best of the magi, to learn by consulting the dead. And he, having fearlessly carried out the orders, and having learned the answer, informed the emperor. And the messengers came upon Antoninus, who had already put on the garb of a charioteer and was mounting his chariot, and they brought him the bundle of letters, in which was also the letter concerning Macrinus. But Antoninus, being already eager for the chariot-race, ordered Macrinus to go aside and read the letters, and if anything was urgent, to bring it to him. And he, upon reading them, and coming upon the death-bearing letter concerning himself, this one indeed

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Πλαυτίλλαν, οὖσαν ἐν Σικελίᾳ, καὶ τὸν ἀνεψιὸν αὑτοῦ Σεβήρῳ τε ὁμώνυμον καὶ τὸν Περτίνακος υἱὸν, τῆς τε Κομόδου ἀδελφῆς Λουκίλλης υἱὸν, καὶ εἴ τι γένος ἦν βασιλικὸν ἢ συγκλήτῳ ἐξ εὐπατριδῶν καταβαῖνον, πᾶν ἐξέκοψεν. Εἴς τε τὰ ἔθνη πέμπων ἡγεμόνας τε καὶ ἐπιτρόπους, ὡς ἐκείνου φίλους, διεχρήσατο πάντας. Πᾶσά τε νὺξ ἔφερε φόνους παντοδαπῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ ἐν ἱπποδρομίᾳ πολλοὺς ἐφόνευσεν. 132 Exc. De virt.: Ὅτι ἐπὶ Ἀντωνίνου τοῦ υἱοῦ Σεβήρου πρὸς τοῖς ἄλλοις κακοῖς καὶ ταῖς μιαιφονίαις καὶ οἱ στρατιῶται, τοῦ βιάζεσθαί τε καὶ ἁρπάζειν λαβόντες ἐξουσίαν, οὐκέτι κατ' οὐδὲν διεκρίνοντο· Τοιαῦτα δὲ πράττων ὑπό τε τῶν ἔργων ἐλαυνόμενος, καὶ πρὸς τὴν ἐν τῇ πόλει διατριβὴν ἀπεχθῶς ἔχων, ἀπεδήμει τῆς Ῥώμης, ὡς δὴ καὶ τὰ στρατόπεδα διοικήσων καὶ τὰ ἔθνη ἐποψόμενος. Ἐπεὶ δὲ τὸν Ἴστρον κατέλαβε, καὶ τοὺς ἐκεῖσε Γερμανοὺς ἐφιλοποιήσατο, ὡς καὶ συμμάχους παρ' αὐτῶν λαβεῖν καὶ τοῦ σώματος φρουροὺς, καὶ ταῖς φορεσίαις αὐτῶν χρῆσθαι. Οὕτω τε ὑπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἠγαπᾶτο, κοινὸς ὢν πρὸς ἅπαντας, ὡς συστρατιώτης μᾶλλον ἢ βασιλεὺς παρ' αὐτῶν χαίρειν λεγόμενος. Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ εἰς τὴν Μακεδονίαν ἀφίκετο, εὐθέως τε Ἀλέξανδρον ἑαυτὸν ὠνόμασεν· ἐκεῖθέν τε εἰς Πέργαμον παρεγένετο καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν Ἀχιλλέως τάφον, καὶ στεφάνοις κοσμήσας καὶ ἄνθεσι, τὸν Ἀχιλλέα ἐμιμεῖτο. Καὶ διὰ τῆς Ἀσίας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἐθνῶν εἰς Ἀντιόχειαν ἀφίκετο, καὶ διατρίψας χρόνον τινὰ, ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρειαν ἐστέλλετο, πρόφασιν ποιούμενος ποθεῖν τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου πόλιν. Ὡς δὲ εἰσήλασεν ἐν αὐτῇ σὺν παντὶ τῷ στρατῷ, ὑπεδέχθη παρὰ τῶν Ἀλεξανδρέων, ὡς οὔπω τις βασιλέων πρότερον. Καὶ ἐλθὼν εἰς τὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου μνῆμα, τήν τε χλαμύδα ἣν ἐφόρει καὶ τὸν δακτύλιον καὶ τὴν ζώνην καὶ εἴ τι πολυτελὲς, περιελόμενος ἐπέθηκε τῇ ἐκείνου σορῷ. Ὁ δὲ δῆμος ὁρῶν ὑπερέχαιρε παννυχίζων τε καὶ ἑορτάζων, οὐκ εἰδὼς τὴν τούτου λανθάνουσαν γνώμην. Ἔγνω γὰρ ἐν τῇ Ῥώμῃ ὡς ὅτι πολλὰ εἰς αὐτόν τε καὶ τὴν μητέρα ἀπέσκωψαν. Ὀργίλος τε ὢν φύσει ὁ Ἀντωνῖνος, ὡς εἶδε πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν πλήθους μεγίστου πεπληρωμένην, διὰ προγράμματος τὴν νεολαίαν εἴς τι πεδίον κελεύει συνελθεῖν, φήσας εἰς τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου τιμὴν φάλαγγα βούλεσθαι συστήσασθαι. Ταύταις αὐτοῦ ταῖς ὑποσχέσεσι πεισθέντες οἱ νέοι συνῆλθον ἅμα γονεῦσι καὶ ἀδελφοῖς συνηδομένοις αὐτῶν ταῖς ἐλπίσιν. Ὁ δὲ Ἀντωνῖνος ὡς εἶδεν αὐτοὺς ἑστῶτας στιχηδὸν, αὐτὸς μὲν ὑπεξῆλθε μεθ' ἧς εἶχε φρουρᾶς· τοὺς δὲ στρατιώτας ἐπαφῆκε, καὶ πᾶσαν τὴν ἐν μέσῳ νεολαίαν συνέκοψεν. Οὐκ ὀλίγοι δὲ καὶ τῶν στρατιωτῶν ἀπώλοντο. Τοσοῦτος δὲ ἐγένετο φόνος ὡς καὶ πάντα τὸν Νεῖλον ὑπὸ τοῦ αἵματος φοινιχθῆναι. Τοιαῦτά τινα ἐργασάμενος πάλιν εἰς Ἀντιόχειαν ἀφίκετο. Καὶ μετὰ τὸ ψεύσασθαι τὸν γάμον τοῦ Παρθυαίου διέτριβεν ἐν τῇ Μεσοποταμίᾳ, ἡνιοχείαις καὶ θηρίων σχολάζων σφαγαῖς, δύω τοὺς στρατοπέδων ἐπάρχους ἔχων ἅμα, Ἀδούεντον καὶ Μακρῖνον. Ὁ μὲν γὰρ στρατιωτικὸς, ὁ δὲ λογικός. ∆ιὸ καὶ πολλάκις ἀπέσκωπτε τὸν Μακρῖνον ὡς διαίτῃ ἐλευθερίῳ χρώμενον. 133 Exc. De ins.: Ὅτι ἔδει τὸν Ἀντωνίνου βίον τέλος λαβεῖν· περιεργότατος γὰρ ὢν, ἐβουλήθη μαθεῖν τὸν μετ' αὐτὸν βασιλεύσοντα, ὑποπτεύων τε πάντας αὐτῷ πρὸς κολακείαν θεσπίζοντας, ἐπιστέλλει Ματερνιανῷ τινὶ, τότε πάσας αὐτῷ τὰς ἐν Ῥώμῃ πράξεις ἐγκεχειρισμένῳ, πιστοτάτῳ τε εἶναι δοκοῦντι, κελεύει τε αὐτῷ μάγων τοὺς ἀρίστους ζητήσαντι, νεκύᾳ τε χρησάμενον μαθεῖν. Ὁ δὲ ἀδεῶς τοῖς κελευθεῖσι χρησάμενος, καὶ μαθὼν σημαίνει τῷ βασιλεῖ. Οἱ δὲ διακομίζοντες ἐφίστανται τῷ Ἀντωνίνῳ, ἤδη τε σκευὴν ἡνιόχου ἀναλαβόντι καὶ τοῦ ἅρματος ἐπιβαίνοντι, προσκομίζουσί τε τὸν σύνδεσμον τῶν ἐπιστολῶν, ἐν αἷς ἦν καὶ τὰ περὶ Μακρίνου γράμματα. Ὁ δὲ Ἀντωνῖνος ὁρμὴν ἤδη περὶ τὴν ἱπποδρομίαν ἔχων, κελεύει τῷ Μακρίνῳ ἰδιάσαντι ἐντυχεῖν τοῖς γράμμασι, καὶ εἴ τι ἐπεῖγον εἴη, ἄγειν πρὸς αὐτόν. Ὁ δὲ ἀναγνοὺς, καὶ περιτυχὼν τῇ κατ' αὐτοῦ θανατηφόρῳ γραφῇ, ταύτην μὲν