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IMPERIAL CHALLENGERS: BULLA FELIX AND MATERNUS
fall of the praetorian prefect, Perennis, in 185, 111 and second, from an inscription
on a writing tablet from Rottweil, which appears to mention the suppression
of the revolt. 112 Its date, 12 August 186, therefore gives the terminus
ante quem for this event. 113 As far as the alternative is concerned, 185/186
would be only the climax of a phenomenon that was long in its evolution.
Herodian’s account, which reads something like a novel, consists of two
sections, one concerning the Deserters’ War proper and the other dealing
with the planned attack on Commodus. 114 At the start of the first passage,
Herodian introduces Maternus and describes the beginnings of the revolt
he inspired. We learn that Maternus was a daring and spirited soldier who
deserted and persuaded several of his comrades to go with him. Both desertion
and the taking on of the leadership of a movement of deserters certainly
required some courage. We do not, of course, have any idea of what led
Maternus to these decisions. It could be that he was the common felon that
the sources make him out to be. When Herodian makes a point of stressing
first of all that Maternus had already, as a soldier, distinguished himself by
his audacious courage, 115 he gives the impression that what he did was
motivated by nothing more than a yen for adventure, combined with criminal
energy. Such a starting point is entirely consistent with his bid to assassinate
Commodus. On the other hand, as this part of the story could be fictional so
Herodian’s emphasis on Maternus’ extraordinary daring might well be something
taken from the repertoire of the bandit theme.
There is no light shed upon the causes and motives of the uprising.
F. Grosso has proposed that it represented a reaction to the dreadful failure
of judgement that was Marcus Aurelius’ recruiting policy. 116 According to
the Historia Augusta, 117 this emperor had accepted slaves, gladiators and
latrones into the army in order to plug gaps in its ranks caused by plague
(which is how we should always understand the epidemic referred to as
pestilentia). 118 Further, the slave contingents were termed voluntarii, after
the example of the Volones of the Second Punic War; the gladiators were
designated obsequentes. In the considered judgement of W. Welwei, these
references are hardly likely to be authentic. A well-founded decision either
way seems impossible, even though the information contained in the ‘Life’ of
Marcus comes from Marius Maximus, considered a reliable source. 119 In any
case, there remains the question as to what sort of ‘bandits’ might be meant
by latrones Dalmatiae atque Dardaniae, how many bands they comprised and
among which units they and the slaves and gladiators could have been
distributed. As far as we can see from what we know about army recruitment
in this critical period, the forces were less affected by the plague than
one might have expected from such a serious epidemic. 120 This should warn
us from the start against overestimating the number of slaves, gladiators
and latrones enlisted. For the fifteen-year gap between the likely period of
their recruitment in 169 or 170 121 and the wave of desertions under Maternus
around 185 we hear of no particular complaints about them. It is very
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