outset to send for him to come to Syria, pretending to have very great
need of him, whereas his real fear was that Messala might bring about a
change of attitude on the part of the senators.


The cause in] the case of Bassus was that he had a wife both fair to
look upon and of noble rank; she was a descendant of Claudius Severus
and of Marcus Antoninus. Indeed, the prince married her, not allowing
her even to mourn the catastrophe. Now of his marriages, in which he
both married and was bestowed in marriage, an account will be given
presently. He appeared both as man and as woman, and performed the
functions of both in the most licentious fashion [lacuna] about [lacuna]
and [lacuna] by whom [lacuna] own [lacuna] Sergius [lacuna] and [lacuna]
out of [lacuna] any [lacuna] making [lacuna] him [lacuna] blame for
[lacuna] slaughter the [Sidenote:--6--] [lacuna] and of knights [lacuna]
Cæsarians [lacuna] [lacuna] were destroyed [lacuna] nothing [lacuna] but
by killing in Nicomedea at the very start of his reign Gannys, who had
arranged the uprising, who had introduced him into the camp and had
likewise caused [the soldiers to revolt, who had presented him with the
victory over Macrinus, one who had reared and managed him,--by this act
he came to be regarded as the most impious of men. To be sure, Gannys
was living rather luxuriously and was fond of accepting bribes, but for
all that he brought no injury upon anybody and bestowed many benefits
upon many people. Most of all, he always showed a deep respect for the
emperor, and he was thoroughly satisfactory to Mæsa and Soæmias, suiting
the former because she had brought him up and the latter because he
practically lived with her. But these were not the reasons why the
emperor put him out of the way, seeing that he was willing to give him a
marriage contract and appoint him Cæsar. It was rather that Gannys
compelled him to live temperately and prudently. And his own hand was