Pertinax

Early life and Career

Pertinax’s background is recorded in the Historia Augusta and in Cassius Dio’s Roman History, with many details supported by inscriptions. The son of Helvius Successus, a freedman, he was born in Alba Pompeia in northern Italy. According to Dio, Successus was born in modest circumstances but gave his son an education enough for advancement in Roman life. With the support of a patron—either Lucius Avitus or Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus—Pertinax obtained a commission as a cohort officer.

He won distinction in the Parthian War, where he earned rapid promotion. He later served in Roman Britain as tribune of the Legio VI Victrix and along the Danube frontier, and then as procurator in Dacia. Though briefly sidelined by court politics under Marcus Aurelius, he was recalled for the Marcomannic Wars and made suffect consul in 175.

Between 175 and 185, he governed a series of provinces including Upper and Lower Moesia, Dacia, Syria, and finally Britain. In Britain his strict discipline provoked hostility; mutinous soldiers once left him for dead, and he was forced to resign in 187. He later served as proconsul of Africa (188–189), then as urban prefect of Rome, and finally consul again in 192 with Commodus as colleague.

Emperor

Rise to power

After Commodus was assassinated by a palace conspiracy involving the praetorian prefect Quintus Aemilius Laetus, his mistress Marcia, and his chamberlain Eclectus, on 31 December 192, Pertinax, then urban prefect, was taken to the Praetorian camp and acclaimed emperor.

Reign and downfall

Reigning only 87 days, he attempted to emulate Marcus Aurelius in restraint and reform. He tightened discipline in the Praetorian Guard, tried to regulate the alimenta (a state welfare scheme), and improved the coinage by raising the silver content of the denarius from 74% to 87%. His efforts, however, met resistance. The Guard resented the modest donativum on his accession and demanded more, forcing him to sell off Commodus’ property and concubines. In March, a failed coup sought to replace him with the consul Quintus Pompeius Sosius Falco.

On 28 March 193, around 200–300 praetorians stormed the palace. Abandoned by his guards and betrayed by Laetus, Pertinax attempted to reason with them, but was cut down. Cassius Dio praised his courage but noted the futility of confronting enraged soldiers.

Aftermath

After Pertinax’s death, the Guard notoriously auctioned the throne, which was purchased by Didius Julianus. Julianus lasted only weeks before being replaced by Septimius Severus, who honoured Pertinax by executing his killers, securing his deification, and adopting “Pertinax” into his own name.

Historical reputation

Cassius Dio, who knew him personally, called him “an excellent and upright man” who governed with integrity and frugality. He criticised only the haste of his reforms, which provoked resentment and led to his downfall.

Later writers echoed this assessment. Niccolò Machiavelli cited him in The Prince as a good ruler fatally undermined by trying to reform corrupt soldiers too quickly. David Hume praised him as an “excellent prince”. In 1788, at the Virginia Ratifying Convention, John Dawson referred to Pertinax’s murder as a warning against standing armies.{{cite book |last=Richard |first=Carl J. |date=1994 |title=The Founders and the Classics: Greece, Rome, and the American Enlightenment |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uSEIrw6QryoC&q=%22John+Dawson%22+Pertinax&pg=PA103

In popular culture

The French journalist André Géraud (1882–1974) wrote under the pseudonym “Pertinax”.

In the alternate history novel Romanitas by Sophia McDougall, Pertinax survives the coup and enacts reforms that preserve the Roman Empire into the modern age.{{Cite web |url=http://www.romanitas.com/text/history.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060630171948/http://www.romanitas.com/text/history.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 June 2006 |title=A Short History of the Roman Empire |last=McDougall |first=Sophia |website=Romanitas |access-date=26 March 2018 }}

References

Sources

Primary sources

• Historia Augusta, Life of Pertinax, English translation at Lacus Curtius
• Herodian, History of the Roman Empire, English translation at Lacus Curtius
• Cassius Dio, Roman History, Book 74, English translation at The Tertullian Project
• Aurelius Victor,* "Epitome de Caesaribus"*, English translation at De Imperatoribus Romanis
• Zosimus, "Historia Nova", English translation at The Tertullian Project

Secondary sources

References

1. [http://www.digitalsculpture.org/florence/main/model/f23e722f0e7d4b61af40ddf30e38c78f Pertinax Inv. 1914 n. 202]. ''Uffizi Digitization Project''.
2. ''[[Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae]]'' [https://archive.org/details/inscriptioneslat21dessuoft/page/438 5842, 5845.]
3. Elliott, Simon. (2020). "Pertinax: The Son of a Slave Who Became Roman Emperor". Greenhill Books.
4. Cooley, Alison E.. (2012). "The Cambridge Manual of Latin Epigraphy". Cambridge University Press.
5. Dio, 74:3
6. Historia Augusta, ''Pertinax'', 1:6
7. Historia Augusta, ''Pertinax'', 2:1
8. Historia Augusta, ''Pertinax'', 2:4
9. Historia Augusta, ''Pertinax'', 3:10
10. Historia Augusta, ''Pertinax'', 4:1
11. Victor, 18:2
12. Historia Augusta, ''Pertinax'', 4:5
13. Dio 74:6
14. Kenneth W. Harl. (1999). "Roman Currency of the Principate". Tulane University.
15. Dio, 74:5
16. Historia Augusta, ''Pertinax'', 7:8
17. Dio, 74:8
18. Dio, 74:9
19. Dio, 74:10
20. (2001). "A History of Rome". Blackwell Publishing.
21. Historia Augusta, ''Pertinax'', 15:2
22. Dio, 74:1
23. Dio, 74:10
24. (15 October 1945). "The Press: Pertinax Goes Home".