GURDIA'NUS, MARCUS ANTONIUS AFRICANUS, born under the reign of the first Antoninus, of one of the most illustrious and wealthy families of Rome, made himself very popular during his qumstorship by his munificence and the great sums which he spent in providing games and other amusements for the people. He also culti vated literature, and wrote several poems, among others one in which he celebrated the virtues of the two Antonines. Being entrusted with the government of several provinces, he conducted himself so as to gain general approbation. He was proconsul of Africa in 237, when an insurrection broke out in that province against Maximinus, on account of his exactions, and the insurgents saluted Gordianus as emperor. He prayed earnestly to be excused on account of his great age, being then past eighty, and to be allowed to die in peace; but the insurgents threatening to kill him if he refused, he accepted the perilous dignity, naming his son Gordianus as his colleague, and both made their solemn entry into Carthage in the midst of universal applause. The senate cheerfully confirmed the election, proclaiming the two Gordiani as emperors, and declaring Maximinus and his son reign he trusted to the insinuations of a certain Maurus, and other freedmen of the palace, who abused his confidence, and committed many acts of injustice. In the second year of his reign a revolt broke out in Africa, where a certain Sabinianus was proclaimed emperor, but the insurrection was soon put down by the governor of Mauritania. In the following year Gordianus, being consul with Claudius Porn peianus, married Furia Sabina Tranquillina, daughter of Misitheus, a man of the greatest personal merit, who was then placed at the head of the emperor's guards. Misitheus disclosed to Gordianus the dis graceful conduct of Maurus and his friends, who were immediately deprived of their offices and driven away from court. From that moment Gordianus placed implicit trust in his father-in-law, on whom the senate conferred the title of Guardian of the Republic. In the
next year news came to Rome that the Persians under Sapor had invaded Mesopotamia, had occupied Nisibis and entered Syria, and, according to Capitolinus, had taken Antioch. Gordianus, resolving to march in person against this formidable enemy, open'ed the temple of Janus, according to an ancient custom which had been long disused, and, setting out from Rome at the head of a choice army, took his way by Illyricum and Mcesia, where he defeated the Goths and Sarmatians, and drove them beyond the Danube. In the plains of Thrace however he encountered another tribe, the Alani, from whom he experienced a check, but they having also retired towards the north, Gordianus crossed the Hellespont and landed in Asia, whence he proceeded to Syria, delivered Antioch, defeated the Persians in several battles, retook Nisibis and Carrlam, and drove Sapor back into his own dominions. The senate voted him a triumph, and also a statue to Misitheus, to whose advice much of the success of the to be enemies to the country. Meantime however Capillianus, governor of Mauritania, collected troops in favour of Maximinus, and marched against Carthage. The younger Gordianus came ont to oppose him, but was defeated and killed, and his aged father, on learning the sad tidings, strangled himself Their reign had not lasted two months altogether, yet they were greatly regretted, because of their personal qualities, and the hopes which the people had founded on them. The younger Gordianus was forty-six years of age, was well informed, and had written several works. He is charged with being too much addicted to women. The senate, on hearing the news of their death, elected Balhinta and Maximus in their place to oppose the ferocious Msximinus. [attars us.]