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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43430	Herodian's history of the Roman emperors containing many strange and wonderful revolutions of state in Europe, Asia, and Africa : also, their most remarkable embassies, speeches, antiquities, &c. : together with the most solemn ceremonies us'd at the deification of the Roman emperors : with a character of the ancient Britains / done from the Greek by a gentleman at Oxford.; History. English	Herodian.; Gentleman at Oxford.	1698 (1698)	Wing H1581; ESTC R13737	140,954	430

endeavour'd to engage in his Interests by great Gifts and greater Promises to the end they should influence the Army to declare him sole Emperor setting a foot all manner of Practices to destroy his Brother But he could not over-rule the Soldiers in this Point they remembred how equally Severus had deported himself towards his Sons while he was alive keeping them both upon a Level in the whole Course of their Education and therefore thought themselves oblig'd to render an equal Loyalty and Deference to them both Antonine finding that his Project did not take in the Army concluded a Peace and taking Hostages for the Observance of it left the Enemies Country and advanc'd with all speed towards his Mother and Brother After they came to an Interview their Mother employ'd her utmost Efforts to reconcile them all the Men of most eminent Dignity and such as had been of his Father's Council joining with her in an Endeavour so important to the Publick Quiet So Antonine seeing all things conspire to thwart the Bent of his Humour agreed at last rather by Necessity than Choice to the outward Forms of a Reconciliation tho' there was little Sincerity at the bottom After this they administer'd the Government jointly and parting from Britain set Sail for Rome and carry'd along with them their Father's Ashes which mix'd with Perfumes they put into an Urn of Alabaster and convey'd to Rome that it might be plac'd amongst the Sacred Monuments of the Roman Emperors And embarking their Army as Conquerors of Britain cross'd the Sea and arriv'd in Gaul Thus we have given Account in this Book how Severus dy'd and how his Sons succeeded him in the Empire AN EPITOME OF THE Fourth Book SEverus his Ashes are brought from Britain to Rome where they are buried and he is Deified Antonine and Geta undertake the Government and fall into such Quarrels and Jealousies that they were once about dividing the Empire and stating the Limits of their Territories had not Julia disswaded them But after a while their Animosities flaming more and more Antonine kills Geta upon the Breast of his Mother and flies to the Camp where the Soldiers corrupted by a Largess declare him sole Emperor He exercises great Cruelties towards the People and Senate Afterwards he makes several Progresses one to the Banks of the Ister where he follows the Fashions of the Germans a second into Macedon where he personates Alexander and a third into Asia where he imitates Achilles Then going to Alexandria by a singular Instance of Treachery and Barbarity he cuts to Pieces all the Citizens and afterwards entring Parthia under colour of a Marriage to be solemniz'd there surprizes the Parthians and breaking the League makes a great Slaughter of them the King escaping with great Difficulty At last he is assassinated by a Soldier whose Brother he had put to Death at Carrae in Mesopotamia and his Ashes are sent to Antioch to his Mother Julia. Then Macrinus is chosen Emperor and gives Battel to Artabanus King of Parthia which continues for three whole Days neither Side obtaining any Victory Afterwards he makes a League with him and the Parthian returns home and he marches with his Forces to Antioch The Fourth Book WHat Severus did in those Eighteen Years in which he was Emperor is related in the foregoing Book His Sons who were now young Men hastned to Rome with their Mother but there arose such Bickerings and Quarrels between them upon the Road that they would neither eat at the same Table nor lodge in the same Apartment and so powerful was the Spirit of Jealousie that they apprehended Poison in all their Meats and Drinks either from the Hands of one another or from Servants corrupted to that purpose For which Reason they made the more haste to Rome where they expected to live in greater Security by reason of the Largeness of the Palace which consisted of a vast Range of stately Buildings exceeding the rest of the City in its Extent This being divided between them they thought they might hold their Courts asunder and live at Pleasure When they arriv'd at Rome the People receiv'd them with the Solemnity of carrying Branches of Laurel the Senate complimented them in full Body and at the Head of this glorious Train they march'd in their Robes of Purple The Consuls follow'd bearing the Urn wherein the Ashes of Severus were laid and complimenting the new Emperors pass'd by them and worshipp'd the Urn which attended with all the Pomp and Ceremony imaginable was by them plac'd in the Temple where the Sacred Monuments of Marcus and his Predecessors are to be seen After the young Emperors had perform'd the Sacrifices customary upon the Accession of new Princes to the Empire they retir'd to the Palace which was divided into distinct Courts and with mighty Caution shut up all the By-ways and Passages suffering only the great Court-gates to be made use of in common Each of them had his respective Life guard and rarely came together unless it was for a short time when they appear'd in Publick Their first Care was to pay the Honours due to their deceas'd Father it being a Custom amongst the Romans to deifie those Emperors that die in the Life of their Sons and Successors This Honour they term an Apotheosis During the Solemnity there is a various Face of Things resulting from a Combination of Joy and Sorrow in the City For the dead Body of the Emperor is interr'd with great magnificence according to the Funeral Rites here on Earth His Effigies wrought in Wax as like the Original as the most exquisite Art can make it is laid upon a high and stately Couch of Ivory plac'd before the Entrance of the Palace and cover'd with Cloth of Gold The Effigies looks pale and has the ghastly Air of a sick Person On the left Side stand all the Senators in Mourning on the right Matrons of the most eminent Quality by Birth or Marriage divested of their Neck-laces Jewels and all the Gaieties of Dress and attir'd in narrow white Manteaus appearing like so many Mourners This Ceremony is repeated for seven Days successively The Doctors come in every Day and approaching the Couch of State view the Patient and make the Report still that the Malady encreases When it is given out that he is dead certain Gentlemen and Noblemen of Rome are chosen out of the most Illustrious Families to support the Couch these carry it along the Sacred Way with solemn Pace till they bring it into the Old Forum where the Magistrates of Rome take their Oaths upon quitting their Offices Here are Steps rais'd on both Sides in the Form of Stairs on the one Side stands a Chorus of Noble Patrician Youths opposite to these are Ladies of Condition both which sing in honour of the Dead Hymns and Songs set to doleful and majestick Airs which are favour'd by the Cadence of the Verse After this they take up the Couch again and carry it out

HERODIAN's HISTORY OF THE Roman Emperors Containing Many Strange and Wonderful Revolutions of State In Europe Asia and Africa ALSO Their most Remarkable Embassies Speeches Antiquities c. Together with The most Solemn Ceremonies us'd at the Deification of the Roman Emperors With a Character of the Ancient Britains Done from the Greek By a Gentleman at Oxford LONDON Printed for John Hartley over against Grays-Inn in Holborn 1698. HERODIAN's HISTORY BOOK I. The PREFACE MOST Men that have spent their Time in Collecting Histories and retrieving the Memory of Things transacted long ago have made it their chief Business to transmit to future Ages the Fame of their own Learning to distinguish them in the Crowd of Authors For which Reason they have not been so sollicitous about the Truth of the Things delivered as that they might be handed down to us with all the Advantages of Eloquence and Language perswading themselves that altho in reporting Matters of great Antiquity some Part of their Story should be Fabulous yet the Reader would be charm'd with their Eloquence nor would the Truth of what they related be call'd in Question Others again out of a private Pique and Hatred to Tyrants or in flattering Princes Private Persons or Communities have stamp'd too great a Character upon mean and little Actions But as for my Part I report Things not taken upon Trust from others having few Witnesses and little Authority to support them but such as are fresh in the Memories of all Men which I have collected with great Care and Fidelity in the ensuing Memoirs hoping that the Knowledge of those great and many Occurrences which have hapned within the Compass of a few Years will not be unwelcom to Posterity For if we look back as far as the Reign of Augustus from whence we date the Roman Monarchy and from thence down to the Times of Marcus which is about Two hundred Years we shall not find so many Changes in the Succession to the Empire such various Events of Foreign and Civil Wars such Commotions of Nations Reductions of Towns both Roman and Barbarous such Earthquakes Plagues Lives of Princes so monstrously extravagant that former Ages are scarce able to furnish a Parallel Some of these enjoy'd the Empire a long Time but the Power of others was but short-liv'd Nay there are Instances of those that were only just declar'd Emperors and lost the Power the same Day For in Sixty Years there having been more Emperors of Rome than can be allow'd in common Computation for so short a Period of Time many Things hapned which may deserve our Admiration The more aged Emperors being Men of Experience in Affairs govern'd both themselves and their Subjects with great Caution and Diligence but others coming young to the Crown abandon'd themselves to Ease and Pleasure and in these a Spirit of Innovation was very prevalent and from this Disparity in their Age and Measures of Government arose great Variety in their Actions and Manners These Things I shall relate in Order having regard to the Time and Reign wherein they were done AN EPITOME OF THE First Book THE Emperor Marcus being taken with a Fit of Sickness and fearing lest his Son Commodus should degenerate from the Vertue of his Ancestors as Princes usually do he commits him to the Care and Guardianship of his Friends and Relations and dies Commodus succeeds him and in the Beginning of his Reign all things are duly and regularly administred but afterwards being corrupted by Flatterers he leaves the Pannonian War unfinish'd and resolves for Rome notwithstanding the Disswasions of Pompeianus At Rome he is receiv'd with Publick Rejoycings and having visited the Temples and return'd Thanks to the Senate he goes back to his Palace Then he appoints Perennius a Man sordidly Covetous to the Management of Publick Affairs and abandons himself wholly to his Pleasures His Person was comely his Diversions various as Hunting Fencing Chariot driving c. But at last he arriv'd at that Pitch of Madness that he commanded the People to call him Hercules the Son of Jupiter And having call'd the Months after his own Name he order'd his Statues to be erected in all the Parts of the City Then he chang'd his Name a second time and took up the Name and Family of a certain Gladiator deceas'd The Calamities of those Times were look'd upon as Judgments from Heaven punishing the Wickedness of the Prince in the Miseries of the People Such as was a great Plague in which he himself retir'd to Laurentum and a Famine occasion'd by Cleander's buying up the Corn. His Sister Lucilla first form'd a Design against his Life after her Perennius then Maternus and last of all his Concubine Marcia by whose Advice he was first poyson'd and afterwards strangled in the Calends of January The First Book THE Emperor Marcus had a great many Daughters but only two Sons the one call'd Verissimus died very young he that surviv'd was named Commodus Him his Father educated with all the Care imaginable drawing together from the most remote Parts by the Offers of considerable Pensions Men famous for their Learning that being always with his Son they might instruct him in whatever was proper for him to know His Daughters after they were of convenient Age he married to the most Considerable Men in the Senate not so much regarding in the Choice of a Son-in-Law Ancientness of Family or Largeness of Fortune as Probity of Manners and Innocency of Life looking upon the Endowments of the Mind as the only true and lasting Blessings He liv'd in the constant Practice of all Sorts of Vertues he was a great Lover and successful Studier of Antiquity insomuch that he surpass'd most of the Greeks and Romans of his Time the Truth whereof is attested by those Learned Remains which he left behind him which are yet in being amongst us As to his Behaviour he was extremely civil and courteous to all Men he shook Hands familiarly with all that came to him and commanded his Guards not to deny any Man Access to him that desir'd it He is the only Prince that was a Philosopher not in Notion and Speculation but in his Conversation and P●●ctice and hence it was that that Age produc●d so many Wise Men for Subjects usually propose their Prince for their Imitation and still Copy after that Great Original Whatever therefore Marcus did either at home or abroad that may deserve the Praise of Courage or Conduct and how he behav'd himself against the Northern and Eastern Nations is abundantly recorded in the learned Labours of others But as for all those Things which since the Death of Marcus in the whole Course of my Life I have heard or seen some whereof I have had more particular Experience of as being in Publick Employments at the Time These I have undertaken to deliver down to Posterity Marcus being now weakned with Age and spent with the Cares and Fatigues of Government whilst he was in