27.  The senate and citizens of Rome being obliged to submit, as usual, to the appointment of the army, Heliogaba’lus ascended the throne at the age of fourteen.  His short life was a mixture of effeminacy, lust, and extravagance. 28.  He married six wives in the short space of four years, and divorced them all.  He was so fond of the sex, that he carried his mother with him to the senate-house, and demanded that she should always be present when matters of importance were debated.  He even went so far as to build a senate-house for women, appointing them suitable orders, habits and distinctions, of which his mother was made president. 29.  They met several times; all their debates turned upon the fashions of the day, and the different formalities to be used at giving and receiving visits.  To these follies he added cruelty and boundless prodigality; he used to say, that such dishes as were cheaply obtained were scarcely worth eating.

30.  However, his soldiers mutinying, as was now usual with them, they followed him to his palace, pursuing him from apartment to apartment, till at last he was found concealed in a closet.  Having dragged him from thence through the streets, with the most bitter invectives, and dispatched him, they attempted once more to squeeze his pampered body into a closet; but not easily effecting this, they threw it into the Tiber, with heavy weights, that none might afterwards find it, or give it burial.  This was the ignominious death of Heliogaba’lus, in the eighteenth year of his age, after a detestable reign of four years.

Questions for Examination.

1.  Who succeeded Didius Julianus?

2.  What was the character of Severus?

3.  By what means did he strengthen his power?

4.  What were his first acts?

5.  To whom did he commit the government in his absence?

6.  What were his exploits?

7.  How did Plautian conduct himself in this important post?

8.  How was this treachery discovered?

9.  How was this effected?

10.  Did Plautian fall into the snare?

11.  How did he act on the occasion?

12.  Was he pardoned?

13.  How did Severus next employ himself?

14.  What were his first measures in Britain?

15.  Was it a difficult campaign?

16.  Did he overcome these difficulties?

17.  What famous work did he execute, and where did he die?

18.  Who succeeded him, and how did the two emperors regard each other?

19.  What was the conduct of Caracalla on thus becoming sole emperor?

20.  Were these cruelties tamely suffered?

21.  How was this effected?

22.  Did the assassin escape?

23.  What was the state of the empire during this reign?

24.  Who succeeded Caracalla?

25.  Who was Macrinus?

26.  By whom was he opposed, and what was his fate?