The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook

188 The Roman Army
name a figure of twenty thousand sesterces, if Julianus had not stopped
raising his bids by a small amount but instead offered 5,000 sesterces
extra, shouting the amount out in a loud voice and also indicating it
with his fingers. The soldiers, won over by the excessive size of this bid
and also worried in case Sulpicianus might intend to avenge Pertinax,
an idea which Julianus had planted in their minds, received Julianus
into the barracks and proclaimed him emperor.
Cf. Herodian, 2. 6. Pertinax had won the support of the senate but he was
deeply unpopular with the praetorians because, having restrained their behaviour
in Rome, he had fraudulently claimed to have given them as large a donative as
Marcus Aurelius. On 28 March 193 he was murdered by the praetorians, the
first emperor to be overthrown because of purely military discontent because
he could not satisfy the demands of his troops. Dio was clearly outraged by the
sequel, the ‘auction’ of the empire, which does indeed show a want of discipline
and respect among the praetorians, who had been excessively indulged by
Commodus. But it was the willingness of two senators to bid for the purple
which made this scene possible. The rule of Julianus had little chance of stability,
based as it was upon such open bribery of a praetorian guard which was now
thoroughly discredited, and the fate of the empire was to be decided by the
commanders of the armies in the provinces.
312 Dio, 75. 2
But he himself (Septimius Severus) was the first to break this law (not
to execute senators) and he did not maintain it, executing many. Indeed
Julius Solon, the very man who, on his instructions, had drawn up this
decree, was executed not long afterwards. Severus did many things
which did not win our approval, and he was blamed for making Rome
unpleasant because of the large numbers of soldiers in it, for burdening
the state with excessive financial expenditure, and most importantly,
for basing hopes for his security on the strength of his army rather
than on the support of those around him. Some people particularly
criticized him because he ended the practice of recruiting the praetorians
exclusively from Italy, Spain, Macedonia, and Noricum, which produced
men of more respectable appearance and reasonably decent character,
and ordered that any vacancies should be filled from all the legions
equally. His intention was in this way to have bodyguards who were
more skilled in the military arts, and moreover to grant a kind of prize
for those who distinguished themselves in war. In reality, the facts clearly
show that he incidentally ruined the young men of Italy by turning
them towards brigandage and a gladiatorial career rather than the