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5.8: Death of Heliogabalus
[222]  With everything that formerly had been
held sacred being done in a frenzy of arrogance and madness, all the
Romans, especially the praetorians, were angered and disgusted. They
were annoyed when they saw the emperor, his face painted more
elaborately than that of any modest woman, dancing in luxurious robes
and effeminately adorned with gold necklaces.
 As a result, they were more favorably disposed toward Alexander, for they expected great things of a lad so properly and
modestly reared. They kept continual watch upon the youth when they saw
that Heliogabalus was plotting against him. His mother Mamaea did not
allow her son to touch any food or drink sent by the emperor, nor did
Alexander use the cupbearers or cooks employed in the palace or those
who happened to be in their mutual service; only those chosen by his
mother, those who seemed most trustworthy, were allowed to handle
Alexander's food.
 Mamaea
secretly
distributed money to the praetorians to win their good will for her
son; it was to gold that the praetorians were particularly
devoted. When he learned this, Heliogabalus plotted against
Alexander and his
mother in every conceivable way, but Maesa, the grandmother of them both, foiled all his schemes; she was
astute in every way and had spent much of her life in the imperial
palace. As the sister of
Severus' wife Julia, Maesa had always lived with the empress at the
court.
 Therefore,
none of Heliogabalus' schemes escaped her attention, for the emperor was careless
by nature, and his intrigues were always obvious. Since his plots
failed, the emperor undertook to strip Alexander of the honor of caesar, and the youth was no longer to be seen at public addresses or
in public processions.
[11 or 12 March 222]  But the soldiers
called for Alexander and were angry because he had been removed from
his imperial post. Heliogabalus circulated a rumor that Alexander was
dying, to see how the praetorians would react to the news. When they
did not see the youth, the praetorians were deeply grieved and enraged
by the report; they refused to send the regular contingent of guards to
the emperor and remained in the camp, demanding to see Alexander in the
temple there.
 Thoroughly frightened, Heliogabalus placed Alexander in the imperial litter, which was richly
decorated with gold and precious gems, and set out with him for the
praetorian camp. The guards opened the gates and, receiving them
inside, brought the two youths to the temple in the camp.
 They
welcomed Alexander with enthusiastic cheers, but ignored the emperor.
Fuming at this treatment, although he spent the night in the
camp, Heliogabalus unleashed the fury of his wrath against the
praetorians. He
ordered the arrest and punishment of the guards who had cheered
Alexander openly and enthusiastically, pretending that these were
responsible for the revolt and
uproar.
 The
praetorians were enraged by this order; since they had other reasons,
also, for hating Heliogabalus, they wished now to rid themselves of so disgraceful an
emperor, and believed, too, that they should rescue the praetorians
under arrest. Considering the occasion ideal and the provocation just,
they killed Heliogabalus and his mother Soaemias (for she was in the camp
as Augusta and as his mother), together with all his attendants who
were seized in the camp and who
seemed to be his associates and companions in evil.
 They gave the bodies of Heliogabalus and Soaemias to those who wanted to drag them about and
abuse them; when the bodies had been dragged throughout the city, the
mutilated corpses were thrown into the public sewer which flows into
the Tiber.
 After having ruled
the empire for more than five years,[1] leading the kind of life described
above, Heliogabalus perished in this manner together with his mother. The
praetorians then proclaimed Alexander emperor and conducted him into
the palace while he was still a youth and still being given a thorough
education by his mother and his grandmother.
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