OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.
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kind cruelty of Commodus united them in chap.death. q
The tyrant’s rage, after having shed the no- The minig-.blest blood of the senate, at length recoiled on ‘" Pere “-the principal instrument of his cruelty. WhilstCommodus was immersed in blood and luxury,he devolved the detail of the public business onPerennis, a servile and ambitious minister, whohad obtained his post by the murder of his pre-decessor, but who possessed a considerableshare of vigour and ability. By acts of extor-tion, and the forfeited estates of the nobles sa-crificed to his avarice, he had accumulated animmense treasure. The praetorian guards wereunder his immediate command; and his son,who already discovered a military genius, wasat the head of the Illyrian legions. Perennisaspired to the empire; or what, in the eyes ofCommodus , amounted to the same crime, hewas capable of aspiring to it, had he not beenprevented, surprised, and put to death. The A . D . igafall of a minister is a very trifling incident inthe general history of the empire; but it washastened by an extraordinary circumstance,which proved how much the nerves of disci-pline were already relaxed. The legions ofBritain , discontented with the administrationof Perennis, formed a deputation of fifteenhundred select men, with instructions to marchto Rome , and lay their complaints before theemperor. These military petitioners, by their