COMMODUS, kOm' Lucius Mina Aurelius, Roman emperor: b. 161 A.D.; d. 31 Dec. 192. He was the son of Marcus Aure lius Antoninus and gave early proofs of his cruel and voluptuous character. On the death of Marcus Aurelius, 17 March 180 A.D., Commodus ascended the throne. A conspiracy against his life in which his sister Lucilla played a promi nent part, having been discovered in 183, he showed himself a more execrable monster than even Caligula, Nero or Domitian. For his amusement he cut asunder persons, put out their eyes, mutilated their noses, ears, etc. His brutal character made him jealous of all those who had risen to prominence during his father's reign, and most of them were put out of the way. He was endowed with extraordinary strength, and often appeared in imitation of Hercules, dressed in a lion's skin, and armed with a club. To fill the treasury, exhausted by his extravagances, he imposed unusual taxes upon the people, sold governments and offices to the highest bidder, and pardoned criminals for money. To display his strength and skill in arms he appeared publicly in the amphitheatre. He is said to have fought in this way 735 times, and as his opponents were armed with weapons of tin or lead, while he was encased in impene trable armor, he had naturally an easy victory on every occasion. In his combats with wild
beasts he was securely protected by a screen of net work, through which he hurled his darts or shot his arrows. A part of the city having been consumed by fire, and the people reduced to despair by famine, disturbances broke out, and the Emperor was obliged to consent to the death of his minister, Cleander, who was charged with being the author of these calami ties. He demanded that he be himself wor shipped as a god under the title of Hercules Romanus. Commodus was strangled by the gladiator Narcissus, who was hired to commit the deed by Marcia, the mistress of Commodus, who had plotted with Lietus, the prefect, and Eclectus, the imperial chamberlain, to put him out of the way, and on the news of his death, which was reported to be the consequence of an apoplexy, the Senate declared him an enemy of the state, ordered his statues to be broken to pieces, and his name to be erased from all pub lic inscriptions. Rome was indebted to him for her handsomest baths—the Therms: Antoni nianx. He established also an African fleet, in addition to the Egyptian one, for the purpose of supplying the city with corn.