knoll there and] on a lofty tribunal conversing with them. And, seeing
me standing by to hear what was said, he spoke out: "Come hither, Dio,
to this spot; approach nearer, that you may both ascertain accurately
and write a history of all that is said and done."--Such was the life
and the overthrow of Tarautas. [After him there perished also those who
had shared in the plot against him, some at once and others before a
great while. His intimate companions and the Cæsarians likewise
perished. He had been, as it were, coupled with a spirit of murder that
operated equally against enemies and against friends.]

[Sidenote:--11--] Macrinus, by race a Moor from Cæsarea, came from most
obscure parents [so that with considerable justice he was likened to the
ass that was led to the Palatine by the apparition]. For one thing his
left ear had been bored, according to the custom [generally] in vogue
among the Moors. His affability was even more striking. As to duties,
his comprehension of them was not so accurate as his performance of them
was faithful. [Thus it was, thanks to the advocacy of a friend's cause,
that he became known to Plautianus, and at first he took the position of
manager of the latter's property; subsequently he ran a risk of
perishing together with his employer, but was unexpectedly saved by the
intercession of Cilo and was given charge of the vehicles of Severus
that passed back and forth along the Flaminian Way.] From Antoninus
[after securing some titles of a short-lived procuratorship] he obtained
an appointment as prefect and administered the affairs of this
responsible position excellently and with entire justice, [so far as he
was free to act independently. This, then, was his general character and
these the steps of his advancement. Even during the life of Tarautas he
was led, in the way that I have described, to harbor in his mind the
hope of empire;] and at his death [he did not, to be sure, either that
day or the two following days occupy the office, in order to avoid the