Dio’s Roman History 79:—­

About Avitus, called also Pseudantoninus, and the slaughter that he wrought (chapters 1-7).

About his transgression of law and how he married the Vestal (chapters 8-10).

About Eleogabalus [Footnote:  It will be noted that the spelling of this word in the Greek “arguments” of the MSS. differs from that in the Greek text of the same.] and how he summoned Urania to Rome and united her in bonds of wedlock with Eleogabalus (chapters 11-12).

About his licentiousness (chapters 13-16).

How he adopted his cousin and also renamed him Alexander (chapters 17, 18).

How he was overthrown and slain (chapters 19-21).

DURATION OF TIME.

The remainder of the consulship of Macrinus and Adventus, together with four additional years, in which there were the following magistrates, here enumerated.  Pseudantoninus (II) and Q. Tineius Sacerdos. (A.D. 219 = a.u. 972 = Second of Eleogabalus, from June 8th.)

Pseudantoninus (III) and M. Valerius Comazon. (A.D. 220 = a.u. 973 = Third of Elagabalus.)

C. Vettius Gratus Sabinianus and M. Flavius Vitellius Seleucus. (A.D. 221 = a.u. 974 = Fourth of Elagabalus.)

Pseudantoninus (IV) and M. Amelius Severus Alexander. (A.D. 222 = a.u. 975 = Fifth of Elagabalus to March 11th.)

(BOOK 80, BOISSEVAIN.)

[Sidenote:  A.D. 218 (a.u. 971)] [Sidenote:—­1—­] Now Avitus, alias False Antoninus, alias Assyrian or again Sardanapalus and also Tiberinus (he secured the last appellation after he had been slain and his body thrown into the Tiber) [on the very next day after the victory entered Antioch, first promising the soldiers attending him five hundred denarii apiece on condition that they should not sack the town,—­a thing which they were very anxious to do.  This amount he levied upon the people.  And he sent to Rome such a despatch as might have been expected, speaking much evil of Macrinus, especially with reference to his low birth and his plot against Antoninus.  Here is a sample of what he said:  “He who was not permitted to enter even the senate-house after the proclamation debarring everybody other than senators from doing so, this man, I say, dared treacherously to murder the emperor whom he had been trusted to guard, dared to appropriate his office and to become emperor before he was senator.”  About himself he made many promises, not only to the soldiers but also to the senate and the people.  He asserted that he should do everything without exception to emulate Augustus (to whose youth he likened his own) and also Marcus Antoninus.  Yes, and he wrote also the following, alluding to the derogatory remarks made about him by Macrinus:  “He undertook to censure my age, when he himself appointed a five-year old son.”