(sorry, Fritz, but the author of Meditations wins over the author of The Anti Machiavel)
AHAHAHAHA ...yeah. (I haven't read it, see also even more terribly underread in this area than in others, but I'd heard of one of these before salon and not the other.)
I do find Duncan's argument that the alternative to signalling Commodus as the Chosen One would have been killing Commodus or risk civil war - pretty convincing, I must admit. Marcus did his best to shape his son into a good future Emperor during his life time, and if there were signs, he probably hoped it was just phase that would pass.
That makes sense, along with absolute power at a young age maybe being a bad idea for lots of people...
How he died: Supposedly his favourite mistress, Marcia, discovered she was about to become his dead ex mistress along with some other about to be discarded favourites (he'd done that kind of thing before), and conspired with them against him. She poisoned him; he vomited it up. She then called his favourite wrestling partner, Narcissus, who strangled Commodus in his bath.
This is reminding me of the relevant subplot in the Josephus third book. Though I suppose maybe all it says is that once you discard enough people by killing them, you can't be surprised when a few of them decide that maybe they ought to band together and act first.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Imperial Succesions :II
Date: 2023-01-16 05:53 am (UTC)AHAHAHAHA
...yeah.
(I haven't read it, see also even more terribly underread in this area than in others, but I'd heard of one of these before salon and not the other.)
I do find Duncan's argument that the alternative to signalling Commodus as the Chosen One would have been killing Commodus or risk civil war - pretty convincing, I must admit. Marcus did his best to shape his son into a good future Emperor during his life time, and if there were signs, he probably hoped it was just phase that would pass.
That makes sense, along with absolute power at a young age maybe being a bad idea for lots of people...
How he died: Supposedly his favourite mistress, Marcia, discovered she was about to become his dead ex mistress along with some other about to be discarded favourites (he'd done that kind of thing before), and conspired with them against him. She poisoned him; he vomited it up. She then called his favourite wrestling partner, Narcissus, who strangled Commodus in his bath.
This is reminding me of the relevant subplot in the Josephus third book. Though I suppose maybe all it says is that once you discard enough people by killing them, you can't be surprised when a few of them decide that maybe they ought to band together and act first.