The Palace and Park by Phillips, Forbes, Latham, Owen, Scharf, and Shenton

His family was of equestrian rank, and originally came from Gaul. In A.D. 185, he was commander-in-chief of the army in Pannonia and Illyricum; and on the murder of Pertinax was elected Emperor. He disbanded and banished the Prætorian guards, re-constituted the army, whose fidelity he secured, and marched against his two rivals, Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus, the first of whom had been declared Emperor in the East, and the last, in Gaul. Defeating them both, he passed three years in the East, warring against the Parthians, whom he subdued. In A.D. 208, he went to Britain, in order to punish the Caledonians. But before his design could be carried out, he fell himself a victim--it is said to grief, to the dissensions of his sons--in the city of York. He had many kingly qualities, but was without clemency. A rigid disciplinarian, simple and sober in his tastes. [From the marble in the Capitoline Museum at Rome.]