to greatness by the power of Fortune, granted and sold senatorships. praetorships, procuratorships, leaderships,—­in a word everything.  Some by expending all that they possessed had finally become senators.  It came to be said of Julius Solon (an exceedingly obscure man) that he had been deprived of his property and banished to the senate. [Sidenote:  A.D. 189 (a.u. 942)] Not only did Cleander do this, but he appointed twenty-five consuls for one year,—­something which never occurred before or after.  One of those consuls was Severus, who later became emperor.  The man obtained money, therefore, from every quarter and amassed more wealth than had ever yet belonged to those nominated cubicularii.  A great deal of it he gave to Commodus and his concubines and a great deal of it he spent on houses, baths, and other works useful to individuals and to cities.

[Sidenote:—­13—­] This Cleander, who had soared to so exalted a height, himself fell suddenly and perished in dishonor.  It was not the soldiers that killed him, as they had Perennis, but the populace.  There occurred a real and pressing famine, which was increased to the utmost severity by Papirius Dionysius, the grain commissioner, in order that Cleander, whose thefts would seem as much responsible for it as any cause, might both incur hatred and suffer destruction at the hands of the Romans.  So it fell out.  There was a horse-race on, and as the horses were about to contend for the seventh time a crowd of children ran into the race course, at their head a tall and sturdy maiden.  As a result of what subsequently happened she was deemed by people to have been a divinity.  The children shouted many wild words of complaint, which the people took up again and began to bawl anything that came into their heads.  Finally, the throng jumped down and started to find Commodus (who was then in the Quintilian suburb), invoking many blessings on his head but many curses upon Cleander.  The latter sent some soldiers against them, who wounded and killed a few, but encouraged by their numbers and the strength of the Pretorians they became still more urgent.  They drew near to Commodus before information reached him from any source of what was going on.  Then the famous Marcia, wife of Quadratus, brought him the news.  And Commodus was so terrified,—­he was always the veriest coward,—­that he at once ordered Cleander to be slain and also his child, who was in Commodus’s hands to be reared.  The child was dashed to the earth and perished, and the Romans, taking the body of Cleander, dragged it away and abused it and carried his head all about the city on a pole.  They also wounded some other men who had possessed great power during his ascendancy.