OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
139
dually corrupted his mind. His cruelty, which chap.
at first obeyed the dictates of others, degene-__
rated into habit, and at length became the ru-ling passion of his soul. h
Upon the death of his father, Commodus He return*
found himself embarrassed with the commandof a great army, and the conduct of a difficultwar against the Quadi and Marcomanni. 1 Theservile and profligate youths whom Marcus hadbanished, soon regained their station and influ-ence about the new emperor. They exaggeratedthe hardships and dangers of a campaign in thewild countries beyond the Danube ; and theyassured the indolent prince, that the terror ofhis name, and the arms of his lieutenants, wouldbe sufficient to complete the conquest of thedismayed barbarians, or to impose such con-ditions, as were more advantageous than anyconquest. By a dexterous application to hissensual appetites, they compared the tranquil-lity, the splendour, the refined pleasures ofRome, with the tumult of a Pannonian camp,which afforded neither leisure nor materials forluxury. k Commodus listened to the pleasingadvice; but whilst he hesitated between hisown inclination, and the awe which he stillretained for his father’s counsellors, the sum-mer insensibly elapsed, and his triumphal entryinto the capital was deferred till the autumn.
® Dion. Cassius, 1. lxxii, p. 1203.
1 According to Tcrtullian (Apolog. c. 25), he died at Sirmium. Butthe situation of Vindobona, or Vienna , where both the Victors placehis death, is better adapted to the operations of the war against the Mar-comanni and Quadi.
k Hcrodian, 1. i, p. 12. (