The saga of nations without God

Antonius Pius Septimius Severus (193-211), commander on the Danube, was the first to enter Rome, where by his energy and address he won over the Senate. It required 4 years of vigorous fighting to dispose of his competitors, and he then became supreme. The Parthians having supported one of his opponents, he waged successfully war against them and succeeded even in gaining a new province in Mesopotamia. He was finally compelled to take the field against the turbulent tribes of Britain, and died at the present city of York in February of 211.

Aurelius Antoninus Caracalla (211-217), son of Severus, was another miscreant, who, impatient to obtain the throne, made an attempt on his father's life. He lost no time in killing his brother and fellow emperor, Geta, with all who supported him, 20,000 in number. He found means of his extravagance and excesses, by robbing his subjects. A monument of his lavishness as a builder is the immense ruins of the famous `Baths of Caracalla', in Rome. An important political act of his reign was the bestowment of Roman citizenship on all municipalities of the Empire, - a step necessary in order to obtain new taxes for filling his treasury. He showed feebleness in his wars on the frontiers of the Rhine and the Danube, and against the Parthians. He showed his savage cruelty at Alexandria in Egypt. He had entered that city in triumphal procession; but in the midst of all the pomp the `Emperor of the World' fell back in his chariot and slumbered in drunken stupor. The young men of the city laughed and made a jest of this, whereon Caracalla sent his troops out through the streets for 6 successive days on a general massacre. - While engaged in a last campaign against Parthia, he was murdered by order of Macrinus, his prefect of the guard, who wore the purple for a brief while, until the Syrian troops raised to the throne Elagabulus, who was a distant relative of the house of Severus, and only 14 years old. The soldiers endured this degenerate youth for nearly 4 years, and then murdered him and his mother.

Alexander Severus (222-235), a cousin of the Elagabulus, was too young to carry on the government alone, and it remained for the time in the hands of his grandmother Maesa. The young Emperor meant well, but was too weak by nature to impress himself upon those troublous times. His wars brought no credit to the Roman Empire, and he vainly combated the assaults on the Roman possessions in Asia made by the new Persian empire. Equally fruitless were his campaigns against the Germans, which he next undertook. His attempts at discipline angered the legions, and when Maximinus, a popular general, presented himself as a rival emperor, the soldiers slew Alexander and went over to Maximinus in a body.

This way passed away the last of the descendants of Severus, and the decline of the Empire grew more rapid. Rome became the scene of anarchy, violence, and bloodshed, for the struggle was fierce and continuous among those bitten with the madness of ruthless ambition. Our list contains the names of all these imperators, some of whom held their power for only a few weeks or months.

Gordianus (238-244), prosecuted a successful campaign against the Persians, and compelled them to give back Mesopotamia, but he was slain before the close of the war by his prefect of the guards, Phillipus (244-249), who fell in battle with a rival, Decius.

Valerian (253-260) braced all his energies against the tide that was sweeping everything to destruction, but was unable to stay it, and was carried with the restless current. The territory between the Limes and Rhine was lost; the Saxons plundered the coasts; the Goths were edging into Greece; the Franks and Alemanni tramped through Gaul, and Valerian himself was taken prisoner by the Persians and died in captivity.

Claudius II. (268-270) started well, but had only fairly done so when he died.

Aurelian (270-275), a famous general, roused the hope of his countrymen by his skill and patriotism. He repelled the Allemani and Goths, and restored for a brief while the unity of the Empire. He conquered a Gallic usurper and destroyed Zenobia's kingdom of Palmyra.

Zenobia was a beautiful Arab queen. Her husband founded an empire in the Asian deserts, and defeated both the Persians and the Romans. After his death Zenobia maintained and even increased the power of her empire. Great men rallied round her, and for a moment it seemed that Rome had found a rival. Aurelian, however, besieged and mastered her capital after a struggle heroic on both sides; and the proud and beautiful queen was led as his captive in a Roman triumph. Aurelian's home government was firm and wise, and the circumvallation of Rome, still largely preserved, is a monument of his public spirit and enterprise. While fighting against the Persians, he was murdered near Byzantium in 275.