Lehal Library

immoral Commodus the soldiers had got used to a degenerate lifestyle and wouldn’t accept the standards of honesty Pertinax tried to impose on them. This aroused their hatred and since Perti- nax was also despised for being old he was soon overthrown. In this regard it’s worth noting that you can be hated just as much for the good you do as the bad, which is why, as I said before, a ruler who wants to stay in power is often forced not to be good. Because when a powerful group – whether they be the common people, the army or the nobility – is corrupt, then if you reckon you need their support you’ll have to play to their mood and keep them happy, and at that point any good you do will only put you at risk. But let’s move on to Alexander. He was such a good man that among the many things he was praised for was the fact that over fourteen years in power he never had anyone executed without a trial. All the same, people despised him; they thought him effeminate and said he let his mother run the show; as a result the army conspired against him and killed him. Going to the opposite extreme and looking at the characters of Commodus, Severus, Antoninus Caracalla and Maximinus, we find they were extremely cruel and grasping; to keep the army happy they committed every crime a leader can commit against his people and all of them, with the exception of Severus, came to a sad end. Severus had such a strong character that though he tyrannized the people to keep the army friendly he was always able to govern with success; his qualities amazed and awed the people, impressed and pleased the army, so that both groups in their different ways admired him. Since, for a man who took power rather than inheriting it, Severus achieved such a lot, I’d like very briefly to show how well he was able to play both the fox and the lion, animals that, as I said, a ruler must learn to imitate. Aware that the emperor Julian was weak and indecisive, Severus persuaded the army he commanded in Slavonia to march on Rome and avenge Pertinax, who had been murdered