at that time that lodgings and all the provisions for It were provided at public expense.  And no one dared to oppose It either by word or by deed,—­no governor, no soldier, no procurator, no heads of provinces,—­but It proceeded, as if in a daylight procession prescribed by proclamation, to the confines of Bithynia.  Leaving that point, it approached the Chalcedonian land and there, after performing some sacred rite by night and burying a wooden horse, it vanished.  These facts I ascertained while still in Asia, as I stated, and before anything at all had been done about Bassianus in Rome.

   ¶One day the same man said this:  “I have no need of titles
  derived, from war and blood.  It suffices me to have you call me
  ‘Pious’ and ’Fortunate’.”

   ¶The False Antoninus on receiving praise from the senate one
  day remarked:  “Yes, you love me and, by Jupiter, so does the
  populace and likewise the foreign legions.  But I do not satisfy
  the Pretorians, to whom I keep giving so much.”

[Sidenote:  A.D. 222 (a.u. 975)] [Sidenote:—­19—­] So long as Sardanapalus continued to love his cousin, he was safe.  But, since he was suspicious of all men, and learned that their favor was turning solely and absolutely to the boy, he dared to change his mind and worked in every way to effect his overthrow.

¶Some persons were conversing with the False Antoninus and remarked how fortunate he was to be consul along with his son.  He rejoined:  “I shall be more fortunate next year, for then I’m going to be consul with my truly-begotten son.”

The moment, though, that he tried to destroy him, he not only accomplished nothing but ran the risk of being killed himself.  Alexander was sedulously guarded by his mother and his grandmother and the soldiers, and the Pretorians, on becoming aware of the attempt of Sardanapalus, raised a terrible tumult.  They would not cease their rebellious attitude until Sardanapalus, with Alexander, visited the camp; and he poured out his supplications and under compulsion gave up such of his companions in lewdness as the soldiers demanded.  In behalf of Hierocles he pled piteously and lamented him with tears, foretelling his own death, and adding:  “Grant me this one man, whatever you are pleased to suspect about him, or else kill me!” and thus with difficulty he succeeded in appeasing them.  On this occasion, then, he was saved, though with difficulty.  His grandmother hated him for his practices (which seemed to show that he was not the son of Antoninus) and was coming to favor Alexander, as being really sprung from him.