Dios Rome, Vol. 6 | Page 4

pursued: "What is your name?" Having thereupon
heard that it was Antigonus, he further questioned: "How was your
father called?" When the father's name was found to be Philip, he
declared: "I have all my desire." He straightway bestowed upon him the

whole series of exalted military honors and before a great while
appointed him one of the senators with the rank of an ex-prætor.
There was another man who had no connection with Macedonia, but
had committed many dreadful crimes, and for this reason was tried
before him in an appealed case. His name proved to be Alexander, and
when the orator accusing him said repeatedly "the bloodthirsty
Alexander, the god-detested Alexander," the emperor became angry, as
if he were personally slandered, and spoke out: "If Alexander doesn't
suit you, you may regard yourself as dismissed."
[Sidenote:--9--] Now this great Alexandrophile, Antoninus, [kept many
men about him, alleging reasons after reasons, all fictitious, and wars
upon wars. He had also this most frightful characteristic, that he was
fond of spending money not only upon the soldiers but for all other
projects with one sole end in view,--to] strip, despoil and grind down
all mankind, and the senators by no means least. [In the first place,
there were gold crowns that he kept demanding, on the constant pretext
that he had conquered some enemy or other (I am not speaking about
the actual manufacture of the crowns,--for what does that amount
to?--but the great sums of money constantly being given under that
name by the cities, for the "crowning" (as it is called) of their
emperors). Then there was the provisions which we were all the time
levying in great abundance from all quarters, sometimes seizing them
without compensation and sometimes spending a little something on
them: all this supply he presented or else peddled to the soldiers. And
the gifts, which he demanded from wealthy individuals and from states.
And the taxes, both the new ones which he published and the ten per
cent. tax that he instituted in place of the twenty per cent. to apply to
the emancipation of slaves, to bequests left to any one, and to all gifts;
for he abolished in such cases the right of succession and exemption
from taxes which had been accorded to those closely related to persons
deceased. This accounts for his giving the title of Romans to all the
men in his empire. Nominally it was to honor them, but his real
purpose was to get an increased income by such means, since
foreigners did not have to pay most of those taxes. But aside from all
these] we were also compelled to build at our own expense all sorts of
dwellings for him whenever he took a trip from Rome, and costly
lodgings in the middle of even the very shortest journeys. Yet not only

did he never live in them but he had no idea of so much as looking at a
single one. Moreover, without receiving any appropriation from him
we constructed hunting-theatres and race-courses at every point where
he wintered or expected to winter. They were all torn down without
delay and apparently the sole purpose of their being called into
existence was to impoverish us.
[Sidenote:--10--] The emperor himself kept spending the money upon
the soldiers (as we said) and upon beasts and horses. He was forever
killing great collections of wild beasts, of horses, and also of domestic
animals, forcing us to contribute the majority of them, though now and
then he bought a few. One day he slew a hundred boars at once with his
own hands. He raced also in chariots, and then he would wear the Blue
costume. In all undertakings he was exceedingly hot-headed and
exceedingly fickle, and besides this he possessed the rascality of his
mother and of the Syrians, to which race she belonged. He would put
up some kind of freedman or other wealthy person as director of games
merely that in this occupation, too, the man might spend money. From
below he would make gestures of subservience to the audience with his
whip and would beg for gold pieces like one of the lowliest citizens. He
said that he used the same methods of chariot-driving as the Sun god,
and he took pride in the fact. Accordingly, during the whole extent of
his reign the whole earth, so far as it yielded obedience to him, was
plundered. Hence the Romans once at a horse-race uttered this among
other cries: "We are destroying the living in order to bury the dead."
The emperor would often say: "No man need have money but me, and I
want it to bestow it on the soldiers." Once when Julia chided him for
his great outlays upon them and said: "No longer