not accorded a favorable reception to the petition forwarded to
Caracalla and delivered to him, in which the inhabitants begged that
Asper be not sent them as proconsul), the emperor offered him a terrible
affront in rejecting him. It was reported to the prince that Asper had
made some improper remarks, and moreover he affected to think that old
age and disease constituted a second reason for relieving him of his
duties, and therefore he delivered Asia into the keeping of Faustus, a
man who had been overlooked in the order of allotment by Severus. As the
time for him to govern turned out to be short, Macrinus bade him hold
the office for the following year in place of Aufidius Fronto. To the
latter he would entrust neither Africa (which he had drawn by lot),
because the Africans begged that he be not allowed to come, nor yet
Asia, though he had first transferred him thither. As a fitting
recognition, however, Macrinus proposed that twenty-five myriads be
given him to stay at home. Fronto, however, would not accept that,
saying that he wanted not money but a position of authority, and
accordingly later he received the province from Sardanapalus.

Besides these events aid was extended to the orphans, whose hopes of
support were small, from the [lacuna] age of childhood to military
years. [Footnote: See note 2c, page 58.]

[Sidenote:--23--] Now Julia, the mother of Tarautas, chanced to be in
Antioch, and at the first information of her son's death she was so
affected that she struck herself violently and undertook to starve
herself to death. The presence of this very same man, whom she hated
alive, became the object of her longings now that he had ceased to
exist; yet not because she desired him to live, but because she was
furious at having to return to private life; and this led her to abuse
Macrinus also long and bitterly. Subsequently, as no change was made in