Following the death of Commodus, Pertinax was proclaimed emperor. He instituted several short-lived reform measures, including the restoration of discipline among the Praetorian Guard. This led to resistance that culminated in Pertinax's assassination by the Guard. Pertinax would later be deified by the emperor Septimius Severus. His historical reputation has been largely positive, in line with Cassius Dio's assessment.
Early life
His career before becoming emperor is documented in the Historia Augusta as well as Cassius Dio's History of Rome, and confirmed in many places by existing inscriptions. He was born in Alba Pompeia in Italy,[5] the son of freedman Helvius Successus. Cassius Dio writes that Helvius was not of noble birth but was at least able to earn enough money to allow Pertinax education to gain a livelihood.[5][6] Through this as well as patronage from Lucius Avitus (or Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus according to Dio), Pertinax was commissioned as an officer in a cohort.[7][5]
During the 180s, Pertinax took a pivotal role in the Roman Senate until the praetorian prefect Sextus Tigidius Perennis forced him out of public life.[12] He was recalled after three years to Britain, where the Roman army was in a state of mutiny.[13] He tried to quell the unruly soldiers there but one legion attacked his bodyguard, leaving Pertinax for dead.[14] When he was forced to resign in 187, the reason given was that the legions had grown hostile to him because of his harsh rule.[15]
He served as proconsul of Africa from 188 to 189,[16] and followed this term of service with the urban prefecture of Rome,[17] and a second consulship as ordinarius with the emperor Commodus as his colleague.[14]
Emperor
Roman aureus struck under the rule of Pertinax. Inscription: IMP. CAES. P. HELV. PERTIN. AVG. / PROVIDentia DEORum COnSul II
When Commodus' actions became increasingly erratic in the early 190s, a conspiracy led to his assassination on 31 December 192. The plot was carried out by the Praetorian prefectQuintus Aemilius Laetus, Commodus' mistress Marcia, and his chamberlain Eclectus.[18] After the murder had been carried out, Pertinax, who was serving as urban prefect at this time, was hurried to the Praetorian Camp and proclaimed emperor.[19] His short reign of 87 days[20] was an uneasy one. He attempted to emulate the restrained practices of Marcus Aurelius and made an effort to reform the alimenta, but he faced antagonism from many quarters.[21]
Ancient writers detail how the Praetorian Guard expected a generous donativum on his ascension, and when they were disappointed, agitated until he produced the money, selling off Commodus' property,[22] including the concubines and youths Commodus kept for his sexual pleasures.[23][24] He reformed the Roman currency dramatically, increasing the silver purity of the denarius from 74% to 87% – the actual silver weight increasing from 2.22 grams to 2.75 grams.[25]
Pertinax attempted to impose stricter military discipline upon the pampered Praetorians.[26] In early March he narrowly averted one conspiracy by a group to replace him with the consul Quintus Sosius Falco while he was in Ostia inspecting the arrangements for grain shipments.[27] The plot was betrayed; Falco himself was pardoned but several of the officers behind the coup were executed.[28]
On 28 March 193, Pertinax was at his palace when, according to the Historia Augusta, a contingent of some three hundred soldiers of the Praetorian Guard rushed the gates[29] (two hundred according to Cassius Dio).[30] Ancient sources suggest that they had received only half their promised pay.[27] Neither the guards on duty nor the palace officials chose to resist them. Pertinax sent Laetus to meet them, but he chose to side with the insurgents instead and deserted the emperor.[31]
Although advised to flee, Pertinax then attempted to reason with the insurgents and was almost successful before being struck down by one of the soldiers.[32] Pertinax must have been aware of the danger he faced by assuming the purple, for he refused to use imperial titles for either his wife or son, thereby protecting them from the aftermath of his own assassination.[18]
Aftermath
Coin of Pertinax's son with the legend: "KAI[C]AP [ΠΕΡΤΙΝΑΞ]" (Caesar Pertinax)
After Pertinax's death, the Praetorians auctioned off the imperial title; the winner was the wealthy senator Didius Julianus, whose reign would end mere weeks later with his assassination on 1 June 193.[33] Julianus was succeeded by Septimius Severus.[34] After he entered Rome, Septimius recognized Pertinax as a legitimate emperor, executed the soldiers who had killed him, and not only pressured the Senate to deify him and provide him a state funeral,[35] but also adopted his cognomen of "Pertinax" as part of his own name.[36] For some time, he held games on the anniversary of Pertinax's accession and on his birthday.[37]
Historical reputation
Pertinax's historical reputation is largely a positive one, beginning with the assessment of Cassius Dio, a historian and senator who was a colleague of Pertinax. Dio refers to him as "an excellent and upright man"[38] who displayed "not only humaneness and integrity in the imperial administrations, but also the most economical management and the most careful consideration for the public welfare".[23]
Dio's approval is not unqualified, however. He acknowledges that while some would call Pertinax's decision to confront the soldiers that would wind up killing him "noble", others would call it "senseless".[30] He is also critical of Pertinax's judgment when it came to the speed with which he tried to reform the excesses of the reign of Commodus by suggesting that a more tempered approach would have been less likely to result in his murder.[39]
Pertinax is discussed in The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli. Discussing the importance of a prince not being hated, Machiavelli provides Pertinax as an example of how it is as easy for a ruler to be hated for good actions as for bad ones. Though describing him as a good man, Machiavelli considered Pertinax's attempt to reform a soldiery that had become "accustomed to live licentiously" a mistake, as it inspired their hatred of him, which led to his overthrow and death.[40]
Pertinax is described in David Hume's essay Of the Original Contract as an "excellent prince" possessing an implied modesty when, on the arrival of soldiers who had come to proclaim him emperor, he believed that Commodus had ordered his death.[41]
In Romanitas, a fictional alternate history novel by Sophia McDougall, Pertinax's reign is the point of divergence. In the history as established by the novel, the plot against Pertinax was thwarted, and Pertinax introduced a series of reforms that would consolidate the Roman Empire to such a degree that it would still be a major power in the 21st century.[45]
^Glay, Marcel le; Voisin, Jean-Louis; Bohec, Yann le (2001). A History of Rome. Translated by Nevill, Antonia (Third ed.). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing. pp. 369–372. ISBN1-4051-1083-X.
^Dio, 74:10. "He failed to comprehend, though a man of wide practical experience, that one cannot with safety reform everything at once, and that the restoration of a state, in particular, requires both time and wisdom".
^Machiavelli – The Prince, Ch. XIX. Pertinax, Marcus Aurelius and Severus Alexander are described as "men of modest life, lovers of justice, enemies to cruelty, humane, and benignant". However, Machiavelli considers that Roman soldiers, "being accustomed to live licentiously under Commodus, could not endure the honest life to which Pertinax wished to reduce them".
Pococke, Edward (1853). The History of the Roman Empire from the Time of Vespasian to the Extinction of the Western Empire. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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