not death; but as these attempts are very rare, princes should not be very uneasy about them. They ought however to avoid giving any grievous offence to those who are constantly about their persons. This was peculiarly the error of Antoninus, who retained among his body guard a centurion whose brother he had put to an ignominious death, and to whom he was continually making menaces which cost him his life.
As to Commodus, he might easily have maintained his power had he trod in the steps of his father, to whom ałone he was indebted for the empire: but as he was cruel, brutal, and avaricious, the discipline which prevailed in the army soon gave way to the most unbridled licentiousness; he had also rendered himself contemptible to the army by his want of attention to his own dignity, not being even ashamed of descending into the arena, and there combating with the gladiators: he fell a sacrifice to a conspiracy provoked by the hatred and contempt which he had excited by his meanness, his avarice, and his ferocity. I have, nọw, to speak only of Maximinus.
The legions having rid themselves of Alexander, whom they thought too effeminate, made choice of Maximinus, who was a great warrior; but he becoming odious and contemptible, soon lost both life and empire. The meanness of his birth (he
was known to have been a Thracian shepherd), the
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