Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/246

1 74 General History of Europe the first time in two centuries poured down into Italy. He was unable to expel them entirely from the Empire and finally per- mitted some of them to settle within its limits on condition that they should help defend it from their fellow Germans. Marcus Aurelius was a Stoic and found time during his cam- paigns to write a little book in Greek called his Meditations, which we may still read with great pleasure and profit. II. A CENTURY OF REVOLUTION 275. Beginning of a Century of Revolution (A.D. iso). The forces of decline were swiftly bringing on a century of revolution which was to shipwreck the civilization of the early world. This fatal period began with the death of Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 180). The assassination of his unworthy son Commodus, who reminds us of Nero, was the opportunity for a struggle among a group of- military usurpers. From this struggle a rough but successful soldier named Septimius Severus emerged triumphant. He sys- tematically filled the highest posts in the government with military leaders of low origin. Thus, both in the army and in the govern- ment, the ignorant and often foreign masses were gaining control. When the line of Severus ended (A.D. 235), the storm broke. The barbaric troops in one province after another set up their puppet emperors to fight among themselves for the throne of the Mediterranean world. The proclamation of a new emperor would be followed again and again by news of his assassination. From the leaders of the barbaric soldier class, after the death of Commodus, the Roman Empire had eighty rulers in ninety years. Most of these so-called emperors were not unlike the revolutionary bandits who have proclaimed themselves presidents of Mexico. 276. Fifty Years of Anarchy ; Collapse of Higher Civiliza- tion. For fifty years there was no public order, as the plunder- ing troops tossed the scepter of Rome from one soldier emperor to another. Life and property were nowhere safe; robbery and murder were everywhere. The disorder and fighting between rival emperors hastened the ruin of all business, till national bankruptcy