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and statues and crowns. And the army itself which had sacked Aquileia proceeded in peaceful array, wearing laurel by compulsion; for they were indignant seeing the one chosen by them to be emperor deposed, while those chosen by the senate were in power. 13. And Maximus, having summoned everyone, declared as emperor, promising amnesty to all and distributions of much money; and having tarried a few days, he organized his return to Rome. And he sent away the rest of the military to the provinces and to their own camps, but he himself returned to Rome with the bodyguards and those serving under Balbinus. And the allies who had come from Germany also returned; for he trusted their goodwill, since he had ruled that nation with fairness before, when he was a private citizen. And as he entered Rome, Balbinus met him, bringing Gordian Caesar, and the senate and the people received him with acclamations as if he were celebrating a triumph; and the people rejoiced in them, taking pride in men who were patricians and worthy of the empire. 14. But the soldiers' spirits were swollen with anger, and they were aggrieved at their very nobility, and were indignant that they should have emperors by decree of the senate. The Germans who were present also vexed them; for they expected to have rivals; and the example of Severus disturbed them, who spared those who had killed Pertinax. And when the Capitoline games were being celebrated, and everyone was occupied with the festival, they suddenly revealed the secret opinion they held, and not restraining their anger, they went up with one accord to the palace, and burst in upon the elderly emperors. And it so happened that they were not at all in agreement with each other, as the desire for sole rule is wont to cause; which became for them a cause of destruction. For when Maximus learned that the so-called Praetorians were arriving, he wished to send for the German allies. But Balbinus, thinking it was some treachery and stratagem against him (for he knew the Germans favored Maximus), prevented it, saying they would not arrive on account of the Praetorians, but to secure the sole rule for Maximus. And while they were disagreeing about these things, the soldiers rushed in, as the gatekeepers stood aside for them, and seized the old men; and tearing off the clothes they had on, they led them naked out of the royal court with every shame and insult, striking and mocking them, and drunkenly abusing them by tearing out their beards and eyebrows and with every mutilation of the body. And when the Germans, hearing these things, took up arms to defend them, the Praetorians, learning they were coming, killed the emperors, whose bodies were already completely mutilated, and cast them out onto the main street; and taking up Gordian, they proclaimed him emperor, since for the present they found no one else; and crying out to the people, that they had killed those whom the people at first did not want to rule, and they had chosen Gordian, his descendant, and whom the Romans themselves had compelled; and taking him they went away to the camp, and closing the gates they remained quiet. But the Germans, learning that the men for whose sake they were hurrying had been killed and cast out, not choosing a pointless war for dead men, returned to their own quarters. So the aforementioned old men met such an end.

147 GORDIAN. Ibid.: That since Gordian too was about to meet the common end of life,

the governor of Syria reports that the king of the Persians, having crossed his own borders, is overrunning the land of the Romans, and that the ... is in need of his presence

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καὶ ἀγάλματα καὶ στεφάνους. Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ στρατὸς ὁ τὴν Ἀκυληίαν πορθήσας προῄει ἐν εἰρηνικῷ σχήματι δαφνηφορῶν ἀνάγκῃ· ἠγανάκτουν γὰρ ὁρῶντες τὸν μὲν ὑπ' αὐτῶν ἐπιλεχθέντα βασιλεύειν καθῃρημένον, κρατοῦντας δὲ τοὺς ὑπὸ τῆς συγκλήτου ᾑρημένους. 13. Ὁ δὲ Μάξιμος, συγκαλέσας πάντας, βασιλικῶς ἀπεφήνατο, ἀμνηστίαν τε πάντων ὑποσχόμενος καὶ χρημάτων πολλῶν διανομάς· ὀλίγων τε ἡμερῶν διατρίψας, τὴν εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην ἐπάνοδον συνεκρότει. Καὶ τὸ μὲν ἄλλο στρατιωτικὸν ἀπέπεμψεν εἰς τὰ ἔθνη καὶ εἰς τὰ οἰκεῖα στρατόπεδα, αὐτὸς δὲ ἐπανῆλθεν εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην σὺν τοῖς δορυφόροις καὶ τοῖς ὑπὸ Βαλβίνῳ στρατευομένοις. Ἐπανῆλθον δὲ καὶ οἱ ἀπὸ Γερμανίας ἐληλυθότες σύμμαχοι· ἐθάρρει γὰρ αὐτῶν τῇ εὐνοίᾳ, ὡς καὶ τοῦ ἔθνους ἐπιεικῶς πρότερον ἄρξας, ὅτε ἰδιώτευεν. Εἰσιόντι δὲ αὐτῷ εἰς τὴν Ῥώμην ὅ τε Βαλβῖνος ὑπήντετο, ἐπαγόμενος Γορδιανὸν Καίσαρα, ἥ τε σύγκλητος καὶ ὁ δῆμος εὐφημοῦντες ὥσπερ θριαμβεύοντα ὑπεδέχοντο· ἔχαιρέ τε ὁ δῆμος αὐτοῖς, σεμνυνόμενος εὐπατρίδαις καὶ ἀξίοις τῆς βασιλείας. 14. Οἱ δὲ στρατιῶται διοίδαινον τὰς ψυχὰς ἐβαροῦντό τε αὐτῶν αὐτὴν τὴν εὐγένειαν, καὶ ἠγανάκτουν ὅτι ἄρα ἔχοιεν ἐκ συγκλήτου βουλῆς βασιλέας. Ἐλύπουν δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ οἱ Γερμανοὶ παρόντες· ἀντιπάλους γὰρ ἤλπιζον ἔχειν· τό τε Σεβήρου ὑπόδειγμα αὐτοὺς ἐτάραττεν, ὃς τοὺς Περτίνακα ἀποκτείναντας ἀπέσωζεν. Ἐπιτελουμένου δὲ ἀγῶνος τοῦ τῶν Καπιτωλίων, πάντων τε περὶ τὴν πανήγυριν ἀσχολουμένων, αἰφνιδίως ἣν εἶχον γνώμην λανθάνουσαν ἐξέφηναν, καὶ τοῦ θυμοῦ μὴ κρατήσαντες ἀνῆλθον ὁμοθυμαδὸν εἰς τὰ βασίλεια, καὶ τοῖς πρεσβύταις βασιλεῦσιν ἐπεισῆλθον. Συνέβαινε δὲ κἀκείνους μὴ πάνυ τι ἀλλήλοις ὁμονοεῖν, οἷάπερ ἡ μοναρχίας ἐπιθυμία εἴωθε ποιεῖν· ὅπερ αὐτοῖς γέγονεν ἀπωλείας αἴτιον. Ὡς γὰρ ἐπύθετο ὁ Μάξιμος ἀφικνεῖσθαι τοὺς πραιτωριανοὺς καλουμένους, ἐβούλετο μεταπέμψασθαι τοὺς Γερμανοὺς συμμάχους. Ὁ δὲ Βαλβῖνος οἰόμενος δόλον τινὰ εἶναι κατ' αὐτοῦ καὶ σόφισμα (ᾔδει γὰρ τοὺς Γερμανοὺς τῷ Μαξίμῳ εὐνοοῦντας), ἐκώλυε, φάσκων οὐ διὰ τοὺς πραιτωριανοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀφίξεσθαι, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸ περιποιῆσαι τῷ Μαξίμῳ τὴν μοναρχίαν. Ἐν ᾧ δὴ περὶ τούτων διεφέροντο, εἰσδραμόντες οἱ στρατιῶται, ἐκστάντων αὐτοῖς τῶν πυλωρῶν, ἁρπάζουσι τοὺς πρεσβύτας· περιρρήξαντες δὲ ἃς εἶχον ἐσθῆτας, γυμνοὺς τῆς βασιλείου αὐλῆς ἐξάγουσιν μετὰ πάσης αἰσχύνης καὶ ὕβρεως, παίοντες καὶ ἀποσκώπτοντες, γενείων τε καὶ ὀφρύων σπαραγμοῖς καὶ πάσαις ταῖς τοῦ σώματος λώβαις ἐμπαροινοῦντες. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ταῦτα πυθόμενοι οἱ Γερμανοὶ ὅπλα ἐλάμβανον ὡς ἀμυνοῦντες αὐτοῖς, μαθόντες οἱ πραιτωριανοὶ ἀφικνουμένους αὐτοὺς, φονεύουσιν ἤδη πᾶν τὸ σῶμα λελωβημένους τοὺς βασιλέας, καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς λεωφόρου ἀπέρριψαν· ἀράμενοί τε τὸν Γορδιανὸν αὐτοκράτορα ἀναγορεύουσιν, ἐπειδὴ πρὸς τὸ παρὸν ἄλλον οὐχ εὗρον· βοῶντές τε πρὸς τὸν δῆμον, ὅτι ἄρα εἴησαν ἀποκτείναντες, οὓς ὁ δῆμος ἐν ἀρχῇ οὐκ ἐβούλετο ἄρξαι, Γορδιανόν τε ἐπελέξαντο, ἐκείνου τε ἀπόγονον, καὶ ὃν αὐτοὶ Ῥωμαῖοι ἐξεβιάσαντο· ἔχοντές τε αὐτὸν ἀπῆλθον εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον, καὶ κλείσαντες τὰς θύρας ἡσύχαζον. Οἱ δὲ Γερμανοὶ μαθόντες ἀνῃρημένους καὶ ἐρριμμένους, ὧν χάριν ἠπείγοντο, οὐχ ἑλόμενοι πόλεμον μάταιον ὑπὲρ ἀνδρῶν τεθνηκότων, ἐπανῆλθον ἐς τὸ αὐτῶν καταγώγιον. Τέλει μὲν δὴ τοιούτῳ ἐχρήσαντο οἱ προειρημένοι πρεσβῦται.

147 ΓΟΡ∆ΙΑΝΟΣ. Ibid.: Ὅτι ἐπειδὴ καὶ Γορδιανὸν ἔμελλε τὸ κοινὸν τοῦ βίου καταλαβεῖν τέλος,

ὁ τῆς Συρίας ἡγούμενος ἐπιστέλλει τὸν Περσῶν βασιλέα τοὺς ἰδίους ὅρους ὑπερβάντα τὴν τῶν Ῥωμαίων γῆν κατατρέχειν, καὶ δεῖσθαι τῆς αὐτοῦ παρουσίας τὸν