julia domna
with the accession of septimius severus to the throne, we find ourselves confronting one of the most dominant personalities in the long line of roman empresses—a woman of the standard of livia, agrippina, and plotina—and passing again into one of the brighter periods of the life of the empire. the degradation of commodus’s reign will disappear like a mist on a summer morn; the jaded frame of the empire will seem to recover all its vigour in a few years. these periods of rapid recovery are not sufficiently appreciated by the rhetorical censors of the morals of rome, whose investigations are almost entirely confined to the reigns of caligula, nero, commodus, caracalla, and elagabalus; as if it were just to define the climate of a region by its worst days only. let a strong man rise to power, let an imperial encouragement be given to virtue and manliness, and even the city of rome takes on a normal moral aspect. the throne is but an electric point, and, according as it is positive or negative, it draws into the light of history either the good or the bad elements of rome. both are there all the time. and if the good rulers had made as drastic a purge of evil types, as evil rulers made of good types, when they came to power, the empire might not have provided so much material to the censors of extinct civilizations.
the empresses whom we have hitherto considered were, with a few exceptions, the daughters of roman patricians, or of distinguished provincials who had lived in rome for a generation or two. in julia domna, the wife195 of severus, we have for the first time a woman of the east on the throne; and, as her family will for some time deeply influence the fortunes of the empire, it will be interesting to glance at her origin.
on the bank of the orontes in syria, at the large village or small town of emesa (now hems), there was in the second century a very ancient and prosperous religious centre. at some early date in the history of the land a mysterious stone had been cast on the country from the home of the gods—a meteorite, modern science would call it—and it had been set up as a symbol of the regenerating god (elagabal, which the greeks improperly turned into heliogabalus, or sun-god). a fine temple was in time built to shelter it, pilgrims sought it from the whole country, and the richest gifts were made to the god and his living representatives. about the middle of the second century the priest in charge was a certain bassianus, who had two handsome and very clever daughters. the planets which presided at the birth of the elder promised her, according to the astrologers, a throne; and, as there was a camp of roman soldiers near emesa, and the temple was a great attraction to the soldiers in their exile, the pretty syrian girl and her horoscope came to be known very far away. in the year 186 or 187 an offer of marriage came to the priest’s daughter from one of the highest officials, the legatus, of the rich province of lower gaul, and she crossed sea and land to accept it. within six years this officer, septimius severus, was emperor of rome, and julia domna was empress.
some doubt has been thrown on this pretty story, and serviez, whose chapter on julia domna is a piece of irresponsible fiction, describes her as coming to rome, on her own account, in search of adventure. but we have abundant evidence that severus was a most enthusiastic astrologer, and there is nothing improbable in the story. severus was of the province of roman africa, of humble family, and, like so many energetic men in the days of antoninus and marcus, had earned promotion from office196 to office. he had first married a certain paccia marciana at rome. he was then made pr?tor, had a military command in spain and gaul, spent some years in study at athens, and became legate of the lugdunian province. at lyons he lost his first wife, and sought a second. hearing that there was a maid in syria with a royal horoscope, he sent for her, and married her at lyons. a child was born the first year, and, although bassianus (more popularly, caracalla) is described by eutropius and aurelius victor as her stepson, he was undoubtedly her first child. geta, his brother and co-emperor, was born two years later.
by that time they were living in rome, where severus was consul. commodus, whose follies excited his ambition no less than his disdain, gave him the command in lower germany. immediately afterwards commodus was assassinated, and about three months later came the news of the murder of pertinax. it was easy to inflame the troops with anger on this occasion, and, as severus offered a more than usually heavy bribe, he was acclaimed emperor, and, as we saw, led the legions upon rome. we do not know whether julia had remained at rome, or accompanied him, but she would be present when rome greeted its new ruler. he rode in full armour, in the centre of a picked body of six hundred men. when, however, he saw that rome had entirely deserted julianus, he entered the city in civic costume, on foot. flowers and laurel and gay hangings decorated all the houses, and the early summer sun shone on the white-robed masses of the citizens. another splendid, but less joyous, spectacle was offered on the morrow, when a wax image of pertinax was honoured with an imperial funeral. then he set about the stern business of securing his empire. he had no title to it but his sword, and there were two other able generals—albinus in britain and niger in syria—urging the same title on their own behalf.
we do not know whether julia accompanied severus during the long civil war that followed. some of the authorities represent her as egging on her husband to the197 destruction of his rivals. the advice would not be unnatural, but it would be so superfluous that we disregard the statement. with a craft that has not won him the regard of historians, severus held albinus in britain with the empty title of c?sar, while he proceeded to crush niger in the east. as there are coins of the year 196 which entitle julia “mother of the camps,”15 she probably accompanied severus to the east, but we need not pursue the long campaign. severus committed the work to his generals, and kept watch over rome and the west. several years were absorbed in pacifying the east, and he then turned toward britain. acting under the strain of african barbarism which undoubtedly existed in the nature of severus, he sent men with a treacherous commission to murder albinus, and the discovery of the plot brought the british legions thundering over gaul. the rivals met decisively at lyons, and a titanic conflict ended with the triumph of severus.
rome had followed the even struggle with suspense, and some had ventured to take sides. the omens were ambiguous. a strange light—the aurora—flickered in the northern sky, and a rain mixed with silver—dio soberly assures us that he plated several bronze coins with it—fell upon the city. human judgment had been as uncertain as that of the gods, and many of the romans had espoused the “white” (albinus) or the “black” (niger) cause, instead of that of the “grey,” to put it in the language of the hour. for severus to have abstained entirely from punishing those who had supported his rivals, after the years of anxiety they had caused him, is too much to expect; but it must be admitted that his vengeance was cruel, and that his plea of the security of the state was198 little more than a cloak for a very human resentment, the “historia augusta” gives a ghastly list of forty-one senators whom he put to death, and crowds of lesser folk suffered from his vindictiveness. from syria to gaul he marked the progress of his triumph with a trail of human blood.
of the attitude of julia in regard to these executions we have no knowledge. severus was a cruel and passionate african, and we have no reason to think that any one impelled him to commit these deeds. his whole behaviour in the hour of triumph was injudicious and unworthy. he made a most unpleasant speech to the senate in praise of commodus, and directed that the highest honours should be paid to his memory. it may be that the consciousness of his lowly origin—which his sister tactlessly irritated by coming to rome, and displaying her rural innocence to the amusement of the nobles—made him more suspicious of the patrician order than he need have been. albinus, however, had come of a most ancient and honourable, if somewhat decayed, stock, and his finer blood may have influenced the senate.
leaving rome under a painful impression of his harsh use of power, he set out for the east, where the parthians were again in arms. julia accompanied him on this campaign, but it is of little interest. the parthians retired before his advance, and he pursued them down the euphrates, and for a time held babylon and several of the ancient cities of the east. foiled, and incurring heavy losses, in the siege of hatra, he retired sullenly from mesopotamia, and sought consolation in a pleasant tour through palestine and egypt. they returned to rome, about the beginning of the third century, for their first long stay in the capital.
the remarkable number of inscriptions that still survive in the most distant parts of the empire bear witness that julia was already regarded as an active empress, not merely as the companion of severus. probably she comes next to livia—some would place her before livia—in the general recognition of her political existence. but on her199 return to rome she found a bitter opponent in the person of severus’s chief minister, and for a time she confined herself to personal concerns. this minister, plautianus, was a fellow-townsman, possibly a relative, of the emperor, and enjoyed and abused his entire confidence. he was promoted to the command of the pr?torian guards, whom severus, after punishing them for the murder of pertinax, had reorganized and enormously increased. finding himself at the head of fifty thousand picked men, and entrusted, during the long absence of the emperor, with the supreme affairs of state, plautianus indulged his vanity in the strangest excesses. when his superb chariot drove through rome, runners were sent ahead to warn the common folk that they must turn away, and not gaze on his august person; and there were more statues of him in rome than of the emperor. he even had a hundred romans, of all ages, including many of noble birth, emasculated, in order that his daughter might be attended with all the splendour and security of an oriental harem. severus begged the hand of this privileged maiden for his elder son. bassianus was then (203) in his sixteenth year, and had just been nominated c?sar by his father. plautianus consented, and a princely wedding took place. people remarked, as the rich gifts were borne through the forum to the palace, that the prefect of the guards had been able to give his daughter a dowry that would have sufficed for the daughters of fifty kings.
two circumstances conspired to wreck this auspicious marriage. bassianus disliked plautilla, julia hated her conceited and overbearing father. a third circumstance, in the opinion of rome, was that bassianus was already too intimate with a fiery little syrian cousin, then living at the palace, of whom we shall see much in the next chapter. at length plautianus brought a formal charge against the empress, and there was agitation in the palace. the charge seems to have been one of adultery, and, though it was not established, some of the later historians declare that she owed her escape only to the fondness of severus.200 aurelius victor (“de c?saribus,” xx) says that “his wife’s infamies robbed severus of the height of his glory”; and he charges her with, to the emperor’s knowledge, loose ways and treason. lampridius (“historia augusta,” “severus,” c. 18) affirms that she was “notorious for her adulteries and guilty of conspiracy.” eutropius and herodian join with them in bringing an even graver charge against her later. dio, however, who was on the spot, brings no charge against her character, and many hold that his silence is more instructive than the chatter of later compilers. we may add that severus was very eager to stamp out adultery, and, although his efforts were frustrated by the unwillingness of the citizens to use his law—dio, when he was consul, found three thousand charges lying unheeded in the offices—his known temper must be taken into account. on the other hand, dio wrote his history in the reign of a member of julia’s family, and may have omitted much out of discretion.
the evidence is, as usual, perplexing, and there is no need to press for a verdict. the oriental religion, to which julia adhered, was not one to lay bonds upon the passion of love, and the removal from the guarded seclusion of the east to the free life of the west would not engender scruples. the charge, in fact, was not admitted by severus to be proved, though noble dames were tortured to wring evidence from them. after this scorching ordeal, however, julia moderated her open hostility to plautianus, and sought consolation in a close application to letters and philosophy. her sister, julia m?sa, had by this time come from emesa to join her in the palace, and had brought two married daughters, of whom we shall hear more.16 with these, and the literary men of rome, she formed an intellectual circle, and withdrew from politics.
but there can be little doubt that julia encouraged her201 son’s dislike of plautilla. herodian declares that the young wife was “a most shameless creature.” we may refuse to accept this description of the unhappy young princess, and see in it only an echo of the attack upon her. bullied and threatened by bassianus, she at last returned in tears to her father’s mansion, and the prefect renewed his attacks with great warmth. severus refused to hear complaints against him, until his brother geta suggested to him, on his death-bed, that plautianus was acquiring his enormous wealth with a view to seizing the throne. from that hour severus behaved more coldly to his minister, and julia’s party took courage. at length bassianus persuaded his father that the minister was plotting. if we may believe the romantic version, plautianus sent a man to assassinate severus and his sons. the man betrayed him at the palace, and was directed by bassianus to return and pretend to bring the prefect to see the dead bodies. at all events, plautianus came in haste to the palace, was alarmed to see the gates close behind him, and was led to the presence of the emperor and bassianus. shortly afterwards, the head of plautianus was tossed on to the street from the roof of the palace. dio adds that a man plucked a handful of hair from the bleeding head, and rushed with it to julia and plautilla, crying: “behold your plautianus!” the unhappy girl was banished to lipara, and was executed there by bassianus after the death of his father.
it was perhaps inevitable that a series of executions should follow the fall of the favourite, but in a short time the life of the palace fell into a quiet routine. severus, a big, powerful man, with a crown of grey hair above his venerable features, set an example of sobriety and industry. he was generally at work before dawn, and would return to work after a frugal midday-meal with his boys. they were years of peace and prosperity, and he made admirable use of the opportunity to restore the decaying buildings and institutions of the empire, and to replenish the treasury. he regretted his lack of culture,202 and listened with deference to the learned discussions in which his wife and her relatives engaged. his one accomplishment in the way of science was a thorough command of the mysteries of astrology, as the golden stars with which he decorated the ceilings of his palace informed the visitor.
julia joined with him in the work of restoration. we know that at rome she rebuilt the temple of vesta, and the numerous provincial inscriptions suggest a much wider interest. under her lead the women of rome were encouraged to look beyond their homes. sabina had erected, or dedicated, a meeting-hall for women in the forum of trajan, but it had fallen into decay. julia restored this early “women’s club,” and no doubt introduced into it the enthusiasm for letters and philosophy which she still had. her “circle,” as philostratus calls it, probably included the historian dio, who was still at rome, and the poet appian, who had some years before described her as “the great domna.” philostratus himself, a greek writer and rhetorician, one of the most learned men of the time, was closely associated with her. it was at her request that he wrote his famous “life of apollonius of tyana.” in his “lives of the sophists” (philiscus) he speaks of her as “julia the philosopher,” and in one of his letters (lxxiii) he refers with high appreciation to her learning.
julia was then in the prime of her life, and in her happiest days. the bust of her that quickly catches the eye in the vatican museum—the largest surviving portrait-bust of the period—will hardly be deemed to possess the beauty with which the historians invest her. the thick lips and large nose, which betray her ancestry, do not compare well with the features of other empresses. but the grave, strong, thoughtful face and large eyes, which we may imagine instinct with syrian fire, are undeniably handsome. her sister, julia m?sa, was with her—a woman of similar strength, moderation, and judgment. but the younger generation in the palace gave them concern. the young men, bassianus and geta, were loose203 and luxurious in their ways; and one of the daughters of m?sa, julia so?mias, was a fit companion for bassianus. severus, noting the advance of his gout, looked with grave eyes on the soft habits and the constant quarrels of the sons whom he wished to leave partners in the empire.
julia domna
bust in the vatican museum
an irruption of the caledonians in the north of britain led him to think that a campaign under his eyes would alter the evil ways of his sons, and he set out for the west. julia accompanied them, but we can hardly suppose that she ventured further north than eboracum (york). the mist-wrapped hills and watery lowlands beyond were to the roman a shuddering wilderness, fit only for the breeding of savages who were as amphibious as rats. dio unflatteringly describes the north britons and scots of the time as “inhabiting wild, waterless mountains and desolate, swampy plains,” and “dwelling in tents, without coats or shoes, possessing their wives and rearing their offspring in common.” we may find some consolation in the assurance of lampridius that britain (south of this region) was “the greatest glory of the empire.” even the scots, however, had their glories. when severus returned to york, after having pushed to the extreme north of caledonia, and lost 50,000 men without bringing the elusive enemy to battle, he brought with him envoys of the caledonians to discuss the terms of peace. among them was the wife of the chief “argentocoxus”—should it be macdermott?—with whom the philosophic empress held converse through an interpreter. julia insinuated that their matrimonial arrangements were not all that could be desired. “we satisfy the needs of nature in a much better way than you roman women,” said the hardy scot. “we have dealings openly with the best of our men, whereas you let yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest.” eugenics is an ancient practice, if a modern theory.
severus was borne back, weary and dispirited, on his litter to york. bassianus, impatient to reach the throne that he would soon disgrace, had attempted his father’s life, and fully exhibited the brutality of his character. yet204 severus, who had often censured marcus aurelius for entrusting the empire to commodus, listened in turn to the fond pleading of his parental feeling, and designated his sons as his successors. he died at york in february, 211, and a hasty settlement was made of affairs in britain that they might return at once to the capital. they placed the ashes of the emperor in an alabaster urn, and set out with it for rome.
from that day the life of julia domna was one of anxiety, and we may trust that it was one of pain. even on the journey homeward her sons were ostentatiously armed against each other’s designs. bassianus—or antoninus, as he had now been named—was a strong, brutal, and imperious youth, as eager to murder his brother as he had been to shorten his father’s life. geta was brighter, gentler, and more cultivated, and the affection of the legions for him kept antoninus in check while they were with the army. when they arrived in rome, their first business was the funeral of severus. his pale wax image was laid on a lofty ivory couch, and the black-robed senators and white-clad matrons watched it for seven days. then it was borne to the old forum, where the chorus of sons and women of the nobility sang the old funeral chants, and on to the great wooden tower, stuffed with spices and inflammable matter, in the field of mars; where, from the midst of the flaming pile, the released eagle symbolized the passage of the soul of severus to the home of the gods.
the quarrel between antoninus and geta at once broke out with greater menace than ever. they kept their separate apartments rigidly guarded in the palace, and a troop of soldiers and athletes watched day and night over the person of the younger emperor. some one suggested that the empire should be divided, as it was later, and that geta should take the asiatic half. herodian says—though one reads with suspicion his full reports of speeches that were made a century before—that julia opposed this plan passionately. they must divide their205 mother, she declared, before they should divide the empire. the gloom grew deeper over the palace, and the inevitable end did not tarry long. antoninus one day professed that he wished to be reconciled, and invited geta to meet him in his mother’s room. as soon as geta entered, the officers whom antoninus had at hand drew their swords. geta flew to his mother’s bosom, and she put her arms about him; but they killed him in her embrace, and even cut the arm in which she clasped him. once more the channels ran with the best blood of rome, as antoninus turned vindictively upon the supporters of his brother. even ancient nobles who had survived several of these massacres, such as claudius pompeianus, the second husband of marcus aurelius’s daughter, now came to a violent end. the aged sister of marcus aurelius, cornificia, was put to death for weeping at the news of the brutal crime. dio assures us that no less than 20,000 men and women, including some of the finest of the time, were put to death in that awful carnage. surely one of the chief causes of the deterioration of rome—these repeated purges of its best elements—has been overlooked in the endless speculations about its fall!
the “historia augusta” tells us that julia herself was discovered in tears by antoninus, and only escaped death because the emperor feared a rebellion if he killed her. curiously enough, the same historian, and several others, go on to give us a far different and less honourable account of her conduct after the death of geta. in the general horror with which his abominable deeds were contemplated, antoninus had the astuteness to purchase the favour of the army. he bestowed an extraordinary donation on the guards, and entered upon a systematic policy of enriching and indulging the troops. from the pale faces of the citizens of rome he retired to the military quarters on the danube, and endeavoured by a year of hard hunting and carousing to banish the ghosts which, he confessed, haunted him. inscriptions have been found in germany which suggest that his mother was with him.206 however that may be, she joined him when he crossed the hellespont to asia—and was nearly drowned in the passage—and began to take a most important part in the administration. with the senate, over whom he had set in authority a spanish juggler, he was too disdainful to deal, except on the most important subjects. his chief aim was to wring money out of rome and the provinces, and spend it on the troops. he “plundered the whole earth,” says dio. he wore the long rough cloak of a goth—from which he was given the nickname of “caracalla” (the name of the garment)—and ate the rough food of a soldier on campaign; though he gave himself wildly to the luxurious life of the cities of asia minor.
julia settled in nicomedia, where she spent a good part of 214 and 215, and then in antioch. caracalla never married again; indeed, there can be little doubt that venereal disease was the chief cause of his madness and brutality during these years. as a boy, “reared by a christian nurse,” says tertullian, he had been most gentle and humane. julia, therefore, was still empress, and she undertook the greater part of caracalla’s work. all letters from rome were forwarded to her, and she dealt with them all, except a few that had to be submitted to the emperor. the inscriptions cut in honour of her during these years were remarkably numerous, and from them and the coins we learn how great were her authority and influence. her official title grew until it at length became: “julia pia felix augusta, mater augusti et castrorum et senatus et patri?.” all the several epithets that were ever bestowed on other empresses were gathered together in her name.
this intimate association with so foul an emperor as caracalla lent colour to the current belief that she was linked with him in another capacity than that of mother. herodian (iiii), eutropius (viii), and aurelius victor (“epitome,” xxi), give the charge as an undoubted fact. spartianus (“historia augusta,” “caracalla,” x) gives a circumstantial story of the mother leading the son astray,207 and aurelius victor gives the same anecdote in his “de c?saribus,” xxi. she is said to have presented herself to caracalla in what serviez calls “an exceedingly magnificent and becoming dress”—se maxima corporis parte denudasset, is the text—and yielded with ease. the anecdote is too common a sample of the salacious gossip of the time to be taken seriously, but the substantial charge is not so easily set aside. dio, it is true, does not give it. when he speaks (c. 10) of caracalla having “possessed the rascality [πανο?ργον] of his mother,” he does not indeed pay a tribute to her character, but the word he employs seems to indicate craft, perhaps unscrupulous craft, rather than lasciviousness.
but even dio relates an adventure which fairly shows that this grave charge against julia was widely credited in his day. in the year 216, during his tour in the east, caracalla announced that he would honour alexandria with a visit. unsparing as the alexandrians had been in their witticisms on the ugly, bald, and prematurely old young man, with all his brutality and folly, they had no suspicion of his real intention, and they prepared to receive him with great honour. once inside their gates, however, he savagely precipitated his troops on the unarmed citizens and for several days directed the carnage and pillage from the temple of serapis. this savage onslaught is said by dio to have been a punishment for the jibes of the alexandrians, and we know from herodian that one of their most deadly shafts was to speak of him and his mother as ?dipus and jocaste.
it cannot therefore be said that dio is unaware of the current belief, nor can we follow miss wilkins when she suggests that the “elderly empress” was incapable of such conduct. julia had been married only twenty-nine years before, and may very well be presumed to have been in her early forties in the year 216. she was in “the full flush of life,” as dio expressly says, and is not known to have embraced any system of ethics or religion which would lay a stigma on incest. but the general moderation208 of her career and the repellent character of caracalla, unrelieved by a single grace of person or disposition, must weigh heavily in the scale against the gossip of rome.
we know, at least, that she endeavoured to curb the wild excesses that were bringing a doom on her son and endangering the stability of the empire. when he debased the coinage, and despoiled his subjects, she remonstrated, but he laughingly drew his sword and said: “courage, mother, while we have this, money will not fail us.” “in such things,” says dio, “he paid no heed to his mother, who gave him much excellent advice.” she continued to act as the first minister of her son, while he wandered from region to region in search of adventure. one of his exploits will suffice to illustrate his peculiar method of winning glory. from egypt he advanced against the parthians. he sent a flattering letter to the parthian king, submitting that the two great empires ought amicably to divide the world, and asking for the hand of his daughter. his persistent lying disarmed even the crafty parthians, and he was admitted into their kingdom with a body of troops. he at once flung his troops upon the vast unarmed multitude that came out to greet him, mingled their blood with the flowers they had strewn in his path, and sacked a large part of medea and parthia.
but the end of his infamous life was rapidly approaching. he had written to rome, some time previously, to direct that the chald?ans should be consulted as to the name of his successor, so that he might slay the man named. the minister to whom he wrote had some grievance against one of the officials in the east, opilius macrinus, and he wrote to inform caracalla that macrinus was designated by an african soothsayer. the more romantic historians say that this letter reached caracalla just as he was engaged in directing a race, and that he gave it, unopened, to macrinus himself to deal with. more plausible is the story related by dio. the letter went, as all letters went, to the empress at antioch, and a delay was caused. macrinus had, in the meantime, learned from209 rome the danger that threatened him, and he set energetically to work. a discontented soldier in caracalla’s body-guard was secured, and on the 8th of march, 217, he ended that emperor’s infamies with the thrust of a dagger. it was a timely release for rome. it was discovered after his death that he had bought great quantities of poison in asia.
julia indulged in an unusual display of violence when the news reached her at antioch. she mourned little over the removal of her son, says dio, as she “had hated him when he was alive”; but the prospect of laying down her imperial power, and retiring into private life, in the prime of her womanhood, filled her with anger. she learned that, after a brief hesitation, macrinus had promised the usual bribe to the troops, and obtained the empire. rumour quickly recognized in him the assassin of caracalla, and julia made the most violent attacks on him. meantime, he had written to assure her that he would recognize her imperial status, and not remove her guard of honour. he feared the attachment of the soldiers to caracalla, and disavowed his share in the assassination. julia perceived his weakness, and, abandoning her first resolve to take her life by refusing food, she entertained a hope of unseating the upstart. but the soldiers, however much attached to caracalla, had little idea of putting a semiramis on the throne of rome. her plan miscarried, and macrinus heard of her invectives. he ordered her to leave antioch, and go where she willed. her sister and nieces returned to the paternal temple at emesa, where we shall soon rejoin them, but julia, failing entirely to foresee the extraordinary adventure by which they would shortly return to power, racked with the pain of a cancer, which she had aggravated by a blow on the breast in her first anger, decided to leave the world. she refused food, and died in may or june, 217. her remains were afterwards buried with great pomp at rome, and her name was added to the quaint list of the imperial gods and goddesses.
