[Born at Villa Martis, in Liguria, A.D. 126. Assassinated at Rome,
A.D. 193. Aged 67.]
The son of a charcoal-burner. First a schoolmaster in Liguria, then a
soldier. Rising to important command, he served in Great Britain and
Africa. Upon the murder of Commodus, the Prætorians prevailed upon him
to assume the purple. He accepted the honour in difficult times, when
virtue met with as little mercy as vice. He stipulated that the dignity
should not extend beyond himself, to his wife or son; he proclaimed that
no man should be prosecuted for treason; he at once set about useful
reforms in the state; but in less than three months after his
accession, he was murdered by the same Prætorians, simply because he was
too upright and too good a man. He had a venerable aspect, and was mild
and winning in his address.
[From the marble in the Rotunda of the Vatican.]