[Sidenote:--12--] ¶ A golden statue of False Antoninus was erected,
distinguished by its great and varied adornment.

¶ Macrinus, though he found considerable money in the treasury,
squandered it all, and incomes did not suffice for expenditures.

[Sidenote: A.D. 219 (_a.u._ 972)] [Sidenote:--9--] As to his marriage.
He espoused Cornelia Paula in order that he might sooner (these are his
words) become a father,--he, who could not even be a man. On the
occasion of his marriage not only the senate and the equestrian order
but also the wives of the senators received some distribution of
presents. The people were given a banquet at the per capita rate of one
hundred and fifty denarii, and the soldiers had one that cost a hundred
more. There were contests of gladiators at which the prince wore a
purple-bordered toga, the same as he had done at the ludi votivi.
Various beasts were slain, among them an elephant and fifty-one tigers,
a greater number than had ever yet been despatched at one time.
Afterwards he dismissed Paula on the pretext that she had some blemish
on her person and cohabited with Aqulia Severa,--a most flagrant breach
of law. She was consecrated to Vesta and yet he most sinfully ravished
her and actually dared to say: "I did it in order that godlike children
may spring from me, the high-priest, and from her, the high-priestess."
He felicitated himself on an act which was destined to lead to his being
maltreated in the Forum and thrown into prison and subsequently put to
death. However, he did not keep even this woman for long, but married a
second, and then a third, and still another; after that he went back to
Severa.

[Sidenote:--10--] Portents had been taking place in Rome, one of them on