DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18096#0288
220
Roman Africa
CHAPTER IX
AFRICA UNDER THE GORDIANS
A.D. 236—244
THE termination of the Syro-Phoenician dynasty (as it may be
termed) by the death of Alexander Severus, who had no issue,
left the Empire at the mercy of any unscrupulous adventurer
with a reputation for success in the field of battle. A few years
previously Macrinus the Moor had ascended the throne for a
brief period by the aid of a liberal display of these qualities
combined with the cruelty and cunning of his native race. It
was now the turn of Maximinus, a Goth, a man of low extrac-
tion, to play a similar part in the drama of imperial progress.
A shepherd in his earlier days, he had learnt the rude art
of attack and defence in protecting sheep and cattle on
his native plains from the hands of the marauder. A soldier
in middle life, he rose, step by step, till he obtained the com-
mand of a legion ; and then, by the promise of large donatives
and the employment of various forms of corruption, gained the
adherence of his troops in his daring bid for the throne of the
Caesars. When the opportune moment arrived for declaring
himself Imperator, he unfurled the standard of revolt, in defiance
of the will of the Senate, and announced his intention of march-
ing to Rome to claim imperial power. Success, though some-
times temporary in its achievements, invariably follows daring
and promptitude, independently of the justice or iniquity of a
cause. Maximinus had little else to depend upon. With a
dash of heroism about him, he led his troops undaunted in the
direction of the capital, and with the assistance of Capellianus,
governor of Mauritania, in stirring up the native races of North
Africa against the Roman legions established in the country,
seemed to be on the point of attaining the full measure of his
ambition. Cruelty and extortion marked his footsteps, and the
destructive qualities of a barbarian unaccustomed to civilised
Roman Africa
CHAPTER IX
AFRICA UNDER THE GORDIANS
A.D. 236—244
THE termination of the Syro-Phoenician dynasty (as it may be
termed) by the death of Alexander Severus, who had no issue,
left the Empire at the mercy of any unscrupulous adventurer
with a reputation for success in the field of battle. A few years
previously Macrinus the Moor had ascended the throne for a
brief period by the aid of a liberal display of these qualities
combined with the cruelty and cunning of his native race. It
was now the turn of Maximinus, a Goth, a man of low extrac-
tion, to play a similar part in the drama of imperial progress.
A shepherd in his earlier days, he had learnt the rude art
of attack and defence in protecting sheep and cattle on
his native plains from the hands of the marauder. A soldier
in middle life, he rose, step by step, till he obtained the com-
mand of a legion ; and then, by the promise of large donatives
and the employment of various forms of corruption, gained the
adherence of his troops in his daring bid for the throne of the
Caesars. When the opportune moment arrived for declaring
himself Imperator, he unfurled the standard of revolt, in defiance
of the will of the Senate, and announced his intention of march-
ing to Rome to claim imperial power. Success, though some-
times temporary in its achievements, invariably follows daring
and promptitude, independently of the justice or iniquity of a
cause. Maximinus had little else to depend upon. With a
dash of heroism about him, he led his troops undaunted in the
direction of the capital, and with the assistance of Capellianus,
governor of Mauritania, in stirring up the native races of North
Africa against the Roman legions established in the country,
seemed to be on the point of attaining the full measure of his
ambition. Cruelty and extortion marked his footsteps, and the
destructive qualities of a barbarian unaccustomed to civilised