[Date, and place of birth unknown.]
A man of Consular dignity, who had governed in nearly all the peaceful
provinces of the Empire, and was esteemed and beloved by all ranks;
when, upon the death of the Gordiani in Africa, he was selected as one
of the Emperors to oppose the ferocious Maximinus--Pupienus being the
other. Soon after the death of Maximinus, both Balbinus and Pupienus
were murdered by the Prætorians, who remembered to their disadvantage
the prodigal liberality of their lately-slain tyrant. They reigned only
four months. Balbinus was celebrated for his oratory and poetry.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.]
THE ITALIAN PORTRAITS.