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becoming, leaping forward from the tent, inspired and weeping and trembling, he both accused Maximinus of faithlessness, and said that the young men had dared these things rashly and perjuringly, and he promised to give everything whatever they wanted. 4. And when Maximinus was seen nearby, a shout and a sound were heard, again Alexander implored the soldiers, to fight for and save him whom they had raised, and under whose reign they had lived blamelessly for fourteen years; and calling all to pity and mercy, he commanded them to be hopeful. But the soldiers at first promised, but withdrew a few at a time, and were not even willing to take up arms, but they even asked for the prefect and the household of Alexander for destruction. (And Papianus was the lawgiver.) And they also blamed his mother. And for some time they waited, shouting such things. 5. But when the army of Maximinus approached, and the young men shouting summoned their fellow soldiers, to abandon a stingy little woman and a cowardly boy enslaved to his mother, and to approach a fellow soldier who had always lived among arms and the deeds of war; the soldiers, being persuaded, abandon Alexander, and they themselves approach Maximinus; and he is proclaimed emperor by all. But Alexander, trembling and fainting, with difficulty returns to the tent, and having embraced his mother and lamenting and blaming her, he awaited the one who would kill him. 6. But Maximinus, having been hailed Augustus by all, sends some men to kill Alexander and his mother, and any of those with him who resisted. And leaping upon the tent, they kill both him and his mother, and any who seemed to be his friends, except for those who were able to flee for a short time; for Maximinus arrested and killed them all not long after. Such an end, then, overtook Alexander and his mother, he having reigned for 14 years, as far as his subjects were concerned, blamelessly and without bloodshed; for he was a stranger to murder, cruelty, and summary actions, and was inclined to philanthropy and beneficence. At any rate, Alexander's reign would have been entirely well-esteemed, if he had not been slandered on account of his mother's avarice and stinginess.

142 MAXIMINUS.

Exc. De virt.: That Maximinus, upon taking power, made a great change, using his authority most harshly and with much terror, and he attempted to transform everything from a gentle reign to the cruelty of a tyranny. For by nature he was a barbarian in character, just as in birth, having a hereditary murderous disposition. Therefore, he immediately got rid of all the friends who were with Alexander, and the counselors elected by the senate, wishing to be alone in the army, and that no one superior in nobility of conscience should be with him. And he killed most of them, suspecting plots. For he destroyed both Magnus and those with him on account of a supposed act of treachery toward the Germans. For he was engaged in battle against them. 143 Exc. De ins.: That in the time of Maximinus the emperor there was also a revolt of the Osroenians; grieving greatly at the death of Alexander, they put a deadly purple robe on a certain Quartinus against his will—a man who had completed the consular office and become a friend of Alexander—and they named him emperor. He, therefore, sleeping in his tent, was plotted against at night and killed by a friend who was with him, for the sake of Maximinus. 144 Exc. De virt.: That revolts also occurred in the time of Maximinus. For they further whetted the soul of Maximinus to harshness and cruelty, it being already so by nature. And he was also most fearsome in appearance

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γενόμενος, προπηδήσας τῆς σκηνῆς, ἐνθουσιῶν καὶ δακρύων καὶ τρέμων, τοῦ τε Μαξιμίνου τῆς ἀπιστίας κατηγόρει, καὶ τοὺς νεανίας ἔλεγε ταῦτα προπετῶς καὶ ἐπιόρκως τετολμηκέναι, δώσειν τε πάντα ὑπισχνεῖτο ὅσα αὐτοὶ βούλοιντο. 4. Ὡς δὲ ὁ Μαξιμῖνος ὤφθη πλησίον, βοή τε καὶ ἦχος ἐξηκούσθη, πάλιν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος τοὺς στρατιώτας ἐλιπάρει, προμαχεῖν καὶ σώζειν ὃν ἀνεθρέψαντο, καὶ ὑφ' ᾧ βασιλεύοντι τεσσαρεσκαίδεκα ἔτεσιν ἀμέμπτως βεβιώκεισαν· πάντας τε εἰς οἶκτον καὶ ἔλεον προκαλούμενος, ὁλπίζεσθαι ἐκέλευσεν. Οἱ δὲ στρατιῶται τὰ μὲν πρῶτα ὑπισχνοῦντο, κατ' ὀλίγους δὲ ἀνεχώρουν, καὶ οὐδὲ ὅπλα λαβεῖν ἤθελον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸν ἐπάρχοντα καὶ τοὺς οἰκείους Ἀλεξάνδρου ᾔτουν πρὸς ἀναίρεσιν. (Παπιανὸς δὲ ἦν ὁ νομοθέτης.) Οἱ δὲ καὶ τὴν μητέρα ἐμέμφοντο. Καὶ μέχρι μέν τινος τοιαῦτα βοῶντες προσέμενον. 5. Ὡς δὲ ὁ τοῦ Μαξιμίνου στρατὸς ἤγγισεν, καὶ βοῶντες οἱ νεανίαι προὐκαλοῦντο τοὺς συστρατιώτας, καταλιπεῖν μὲν γύναιον μικρολόγον καὶ μειράκιον δειλὸν μητρὶ δουλεῦον, προσιέναι δὲ συστρατιώτῃ ἐν ὅπλοις ἀεὶ καὶ πολεμικοῖς ἔργοις διῃτημένῳ· πεισθέντες οἱ στρατιῶται, τὸν μὲν Ἀλέξανδρον καταλιμπάνουσιν, αὐτοὶ δὲ προσίασι τῷ Μαξιμίνῳ· αὐτοκράτωρ τε ὑπὸ πάντων ἐκεῖνος ἀναγορεύεται. Ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος τρέμων καὶ λειποψυχῶν, μόλις εἰς τὴν σκηνὴν ἐπανέρχεται, καὶ τῇ μητρὶ περιπλακεὶς καὶ ἀποδυρόμενός τε καὶ αἰτιώμενος αὐτὴν, ἀνέμενε τὸν φονεύσοντα. 6. Ὁ δὲ Μαξιμῖνος ὑπὸ πάντων Σεβαστὸς προσαγορευθεὶς, πέμπει τινὰς τοὺς φονεύσοντας τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ τὴν μητέρα, καὶ εἴ τινες ἀνθίσταντο τῶν σὺν αὐτῷ. Οἱ δὲ ἐπιπηδήσαντες τῇ σκηνῇ, αὐτόν τε ἀναιροῦσι καὶ τὴν μητέρα, καὶ εἴ τινες ἐδόκουν ἐκείνῳ φίλοι, πλὴν τῶν πρὸς ὀλίγον φυγεῖν δυνηθέντων· πάντας γὰρ ὁ Μαξιμῖνος μετ' οὐ πολὺ συλλαβὼν ἀπέκτεινεν. Τέλος μὲν δὴ τοιοῦτο κατέλαβε τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον καὶ τὴν μητέρα, βασιλεύσαντα ἔτεσι ιδʹ, ὅσον πρὸς τοὺς ἀρχομένους, ἀμέμπτως καὶ ἀναιμωτί· φόνου τε γὰρ καὶ ὠμότητος ἀκρίτων τε ἔργων ἀλλότριος ἐγένετο, εἴ τε τὸ φιλάνθρωπον καὶ εὐεργετικὸν ἐπιρρεπής. Πάνυ γοῦν ἂν ἡ Ἀλεξάνδρου βασιλεία εὐδοκίμησεν εἰς τὸ ὁλόκληρον, εἰ μὴ διεβέβλητο αὐτῷ τὰ τῆς μητρὸς εἰς φιλαργυρίαν τε καὶ μικρολογίαν.

142 ΜΑΞΙΜΙΝΟΣ.

Exc. De virt.: Ὅτι Μαξιμῖνος παραλαβὼν τὴν ἀρχὴν, πολλὴν τὴν μεταβολὴν

ἐποιήσατο, τραχύτατα καὶ μετὰ πολλοῦ φόβου τῇ ἐξουσίᾳ χρώμενος, ἔκ τε ἡμέρου βασιλείας εἰς τυραννίδος ὠμότητα μεταγαγεῖν πάντα ἐπειρᾶτο. Φύσει δὲ ἦν τὸ ἦθος, ὥσπερ καὶ τὸ γένος, βάρβαρος, τό τε φονικὸν πάτριον ἔχων. Εὐθέως οὖν τούς τε φίλους πάντας, οἳ συνῆσαν τῷ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ, σύνεδροί τε ὑπὸ τῆς συγκλήτου ἐπιλεχθέντες, ἀπεσκευάσατο, μόνος εἶναι βουλόμενος ἐν τῷ στρατῷ, καὶ μηδένα αὐτῷ παρεῖναι ἐκ συνειδήσεως εὐγενοῦς κρείττονα. Πλείστους δὲ αὐτῶν καὶ ἀπέκτεινεν ἐπιβουλὰς ὑποπτεύων. Τόν τε γὰρ Μάγνον καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ διὰ τὴν πρὸς Γερμανοὺς νομισθεῖσαν προδοσίαν ἀνεῖλεν. Εἴχετο γὰρ τῆς πρὸς αὐτοὺς μάχης. 143 Exc. De ins.: Ὅτι ἐπὶ Μαξιμίνου τοῦ βασιλέως ἐγένετό τις καὶ Ὀσροηνῶν ἀπόστασις, οἳ πάνυ ἀλγοῦντες ἐπὶ τῇ Ἀλεξάνδρου τελευτῇ, τινὶ Κουαρτίνῳ, τὴν ὕπατον ἀρχὴν διανύσαντι, φίλῳ δὲ γενομένῳ τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου, πορφυρίδα τε ὀλεθρίαν περιέβαλον ἄκοντι, καὶ αὐτοκράτορα ὠνόμασαν. Ἐκεῖνος μὲν οὖν ἐν τῇ σκηνῇ καθεύδων ἐπιβουλευθεὶς νύκτωρ ἀνῃρέθῃ ὑπό τοῦ συνόντος αὐτῷ φίλου πρὸς χάριν τοῦ Μαξιμίνου. 144 Exc. De virt.: Ὅτι καὶ ἀποστάσεις ἐγίνοντο ἐπὶ Μαξιμίνου. Ἔτι γὰρ εἰς τραχύτητα μᾶλλον καὶ ὠμότητα ἠκόνησαν τὴν τοῦ Μαξιμίνου ψυχὴν, καὶ πρότερον οὕτω πεφυκυῖαν. Ἦν δὲ καὶ τὴν ὄψιν φοβερώτατος