27.  How did Heliogabalus govern?

28.  Give a few instances of his folly?

29.  Did they enter into his views, and of what farther follies and vices was he guilty?

30.  What was his end?

SECTION III.

  I know that there are angry spirits
  And turbulent mutterers of stifled treason,
  Who lurk in narrow places, and walk out
  Muffled, to whisper curses in the night;
  Disbanded soldiers, discontented ruffians,
  And desperate libertines who brawl in taverns.—­Byron.

[Sidenote:  U.C. 975 A.D. 222]

1.  Heliogaba’lus was succeeded by Alexander, his cousin-german,[4] who, being declared emperor without opposition, the senate, with their usual adulation, were for conferring new titles upon him; but he modestly declined them all. 2.  To the most rigid justice he added the greatest humanity.  He loved the good, and was a severe reprover of the lewd and infamous.  His accomplishments were equal to his virtues.  He was an excellent mathematician, geometrician, and musician; he was equally skilful in painting and sculpture; and in poetry few of his time could equal him.  In short, such were his talents, and such the solidity of his judgment, that though but sixteen years of age, he was considered equal in wisdom to a sage old man.

3.  About the thirteenth year of his reign the Upper Germans, and other northern nations, began to pour down in immense swarms upon the more southern parts of the empire.  They passed the Rhine and the Danube with such fury, that all Italy was thrown into the most extreme consternation. 4.  The emperor, ever ready to expose his person for the safety of his people, made what levies he could, and went in person to stem the torrent, which he speedily effected.  It was in the course of his successes against the enemy that he was cut off by a mutiny among his own soldiers.  He died in the twenty-ninth year of his age, after a prosperous reign of thirteen years and nine days.

[Sidenote:  U.C.988 A.D.235]

5.  The tumults occasioned by the death of Alexander being appeased, Max’imin, who had been the chief promoter of the sedition, was chosen emperor. 6.  This extraordinary man, whose character deserves a particular attention, was born of very obscure parentage, being the son of a poor herdsman of Thrace.  He followed his father’s humble profession, and had exercised his personal courage against the robbers who infested that part of the country in which he lived.  Soon after, his ambition increasing, he left his poor employment and enlisted in the Roman army, where he soon became remarkable for his great strength, discipline, and courage. 7.  This gigantic man, we are told, was eight feet and a half high; he had strength corresponding to his size, being not more remarkable for the magnitude than the symmetry of his person.  His wife’s bracelet usually served him for a thumb ring, and