CARUS, MARCUS AURELIUS, Roman emperor A.D. born probably at Narbona (more correctly, Narona) in Illyria, was a senator and had been appointed prefect of the prae torian guard by the Emperor Probus (q.v.), after whose murder he was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers. Although Carus pun ished the assassins he was suspected of having been an accessory to the deed. He left his elder son Carinus in charge of the western portion of the empire and took the younger, Numerianus, with him on the expedition against the Persians. Having defeated the Quadi and Sarmatians on the Danube, Carus proceeded through Thrace and Asia Minor, conquered Mesopotamia, pressed on to Seleucia and Ctesiphon, and carried his arms beyond the Tigris. But he died suddenly, probably murdered by the soldiers, who were weary of the war, at the instigation of Arrius Aper, prefect of the praetorian guard.
See Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chap. XII.