The Historia Augusta is a collection of biographies written around 400
about third century emperors and would be emperors. The author or authors -
mirrored social and political issues from his own time into these biographies
and this makes the Historia Augusta
problematic as a reliable source. Unfortunately it is almost the only source
covering that period. The wiki link
below gives full details about the scholarly debates on this work.
Most biographies are short
and actually no biographies at all, but hardly more than anecdotes. One such
short biography is about Mussius Aemilianus, not to be confused with emperor
Aemilianus, who was emperor during three months in 253. It was a time of unrest and various commanders
in the Eastern provinces revolted against Emperor Gallienus. All failed and then Aemilianus decided to
declare himself emperor . The cause was a revolt in Alexandria and Aemilianus,
thinking his life was in danger anyway, gambled – and lost: he was defeated in
March 262, captured and strangled.
There is a problem: Aemilianus’
life is also known from a long inscription and Eusebius’ ecclesiastical history
and outside this source nothing is known of Aemilianus’ imperial ambitions. Could it be that Gallienus simply put
Aemilianus aside under the pretext that he tried to usurp power?
What is interesting in
this text is not so much Aemilianus, but the way Egyptians are described:
quarrelling about trivialities and easily rioting. What the text does not say
is that the burden of taxation was high and that many lived on the brink of
starvation. A good excuse for resentment
and revolt.
Historia Augusta, Tyranni Triginta 22.
Est hoc familiare populi
Aegyptiorum ut velut furiosi ac dementes de levissimis quibusque ad summa rei
publicae pericula perducantur; 2 saepe illi ob neglectas salutationes, locum in
balneis non concessum, carnem et olera sequestrata, calceamenta servilia et
cetera talia usque ad summum rei publicae periculum in seditiones, ita ut
armarentur contra eas exercitus, pervenerunt. 3 familiari ergo sibi furore, cum
quadam die cuiusdam servus curatoris, qui Alexandriam tunc regebat, militari ob
hoc caesus esset quod crepidas suas meliores esse quam militis diceret,
collecta multitudo ad domum Aemiliani ducis venit atque eum omni seditionum
instrumento et furore persecuta est; ictus est lapidibus, petitus est ferro,
nec defuit ullum seditionis telum. 4 qua re coactus Aemilianus sumpsit
imperium, cum sciret sibi undecumque pereundum. 5 consenserunt ei Aegyptiacus
exercitus, maxime in Gallieni odium. 6 nec eius ad regendam rem publicam vigor
defuit, nam Thebaidem totamque Aegyptum peragravit et, quatenus potuit,
barbarorum gentes forti auctoritate summovit. 7 Alexander denique vel
Alexandrinus (nam incertum id quoque habetur) virtutum merito vocatus est. 8 et
cum contra Indos pararet expeditionem, misso Theodoto duce Gallieno iubente
dedit poenas, et quidem strangulatus in carcere captivorum veterum more
perhibetur.
familiaris -is:
usual
levissimis quibusque: whatever trivial
perduco perduxi perductum: to lead, bring
balneum:
public bath
olus oleris
(n.): vegetable
sequestro (-are): to separate, withhold
carnem et olera sequestrata: probably sequestrata
with carnem too. The meaning is vague.
calceamenta servilia: shoes of slaves
seditio –onis
(f.): insurrection, revolt
armo (-are): to equip with arms
curator –is:
governor
caedo cecidi caesum: to strike, kill
militaris –is
(m.): soldier
crepida:
sandal
instrumentum:
tool
iacio ieci iactum: hit
petitus:
attacked
ullum telum:
any kind of weapon
undecumque:
from every side
maxime in Gallieni odium: foremost for their hate of Gallienus
nec eius vigor defuit: nor did he lack the vigor (ei instead of eius is
usual)
Thebaiden Aegyptum: large dessert in Upper (= southern) Egypt
peragro: to
traverse
quatenus: as
far as
summoveo summovi summotum: to expel, drive away
virtutum merito:
on account of his virtues
id incertum habetur: this is held uncertain = this is uncertain
Indos: not
the people of India, as in the translation below and my recent Dutch
translation have, but the Ethiopians or Arabs (cf. Lewis and Short s.v. Indus)
paro: to
prepare
misso Theodoto duce Gallieno iubente dedit poenas: general Theodotus being sent he was punished, Gallienus
ordening = general Theodotus was sent and
he was punished on the order of
Gallienus
quidem:
indeed
strangulatus perhibetur: he is said to be strangled
captivorum veterum more: like the captives of old or as is done with old
captives?
Translation by David Magie
(1921)
It is the wont of the
people of Egypt that like madmen and fools they are led by the most trivial
matters to become highly dangerous to the commonwealth; 2 for merely because a
greeting was omitted, or a place in the baths refused, or meat and vegetables withheld,
or on account of the boots of slaves or some other such things, they have
broken out into riots, even to the point of becoming highly dangerous to the
state, so that troops have been armed to quell them. 3 With their wonted
madness, accordingly, on a certain occasion, when the slave of the chief
magistrate then governing Alexandria had been killed by a soldier for asserting
that his sandals were better than the soldier's, a mob gathered together, and,
coming to the house of the general Aemilianus, it assailed him with all the
implements and the frenzy usual in riots; he was pelted with stones and
attacked with swords, and no kind of weapon used in a riot was lacking. 4 And
so Aemilianus was constrained to assume the imperial power, knowing well that
he would have to die in any event. 5 To this step the army in Egypt agreed,
chiefly out of hatred for Gallienus. 6 He did not, indeed, lack energy for
administering public affairs. For he marched through the district of Thebes
and, in fact, the whole of Egypt, and to the best of his powers drove back the
barbarians with courage and firmness. 7 Finally, he won by his merits the name
of Alexander, or else Alexandrinus — for this is considered uncertain. 8 But
when he was making ready for a campaign against the people of India, the
general Theodotus was sent against him by order of Gallienus, and so he
suffered punishment, for it is related that, like the captives of old, he was
strangled in prison.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mussius_Aemilianus (The German wiki on Aemilianus is far
better.)
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