238-244.
[Born A.D. 224. Died near Castrum Circesium, in Mesopotamia, A.D. 244.
Aged 20.]
An emperor, endowed with many good qualities. He was son of the Consul
Junius Balbus and Metia Faustina, daughter of Gordianus Africanus. When
sixteen years old he married the beautiful and virtuous daughter of
Misitheus, a wise and eloquent man, whom he appointed Prefect of the
Prætorians, and by whose prudent advice he was successfully guided. Upon
the death of this able minister, Philip the Arabian contrived to
associate himself in the government with Gordianus, who shortly
afterwards fell a victim, it is supposed, to the conspiracies of his
colleague.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]