238.
[Born A.D. 164. Died at Rome, A.D. 238. Aged 74.]
Called “the Sad” from the melancholy expression of his countenance. He
was of an obscure family, but a distinguished soldier. After the death
of the two Gordiani, he was elected with Balbinus, by the senate, to the
empire, in order to oppose Maximinus; but that tyrant was soon after
murdered by his own soldiers. The Prætorians, however, regretting
Maximinus, assassinated the two Emperors when they were preparing to
depart on separate expeditions.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]