a.d. V Kal. Apr.
March 28 in Ancient Rome
Pertinax murdered by the Praetorian Guard
The emperor who was too strict
politicsAD 193
Julian date · ≈ Mar 27 on our calendar
After less than three months as emperor, the strict Pertinax was killed in the palace by mutinous Praetorians; the throne was then sold to the highest bidder.
Commodus
Background
Publius Helvius Pertinax rose from humble beginnings: the Historia Augusta says his father was a freedman in the wool trade, and that his name came from the "pertinacity" with which the father kept at the business per the Historia Augusta, which likes such etymologies. He made his career in the army and administration and became prefect of the city. When Commodus was murdered on the last day of 192, Pertinax was made emperor.
He tried to restore discipline and economy, and that made enemies among the Praetorian Guard and the palace staff. On 28 March 193, the biography says, about three hundred armed soldiers marched from their camp to the palace. Courtiers did nothing to stop them. Pertinax went out to meet them and calmed them with a long, grave speech, until a soldier named Tausius, of the Tungri, stirred them up and hurled his spear into the emperor's chest. Pertinax covered his head with his toga, praying to Jupiter the Avenger, and was cut down. His loyal chamberlain Eclectus died fighting beside him.
He had reigned two months and twenty-five days, aged sixty. What followed was notorious: the Praetorians offered the empire to whoever would pay most, and Didius Julianus outbid his rival per Cassius Dio and the Historia Augusta.
Ancient source: Historia Augusta, Pertinax 11, 15.6 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 16°/7°C (61°/45°F) · rain 40% of days
Rome in MarchMarch, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and…
Fields & crops
Columella calls March the best time for pruning vines and the first digging of vineyards; spring crops like millet were readied per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Legal and public business resumed in full after winter. At the Liberalia (17 Mar.) many boys put on the plain toga of manhood and were enrolled as adult citizens, with a family procession to the Forum per Ovid, Fasti 3.771–88.
Senate & politics
From c. 222 to 153 BC the consuls entered office on the Ides of March; Livy records it for 217 BC, and the starting year is a modern reconstruction per Livy 22.1.4. From 153 BC they took office on the Kalends of January per Livy, Per. 47. Caesar was killed at a Senate meeting on the Ides of March 44 BC per Suetonius, Velleius.
Military
The month of Mars opened the campaign season. The Salii carried the sacred shields, and the Tubilustrium (23 Mar.) purified the war trumpets per Varro and Ovid.
Festivals & religion
Matronalia (1 Mar.), Liberalia (17 Mar.), when boys often took the man's toga, and the Quinquatrus of Minerva (19–23 Mar.), a holiday for craftsmen, teachers and doctors per Ovid, Fasti 3.
Daily life
March, once the first month of the year, reopened the seasons of war and sailing. The Salii, Mars' leaping priests, danced through the city. On the Kalends (Matronalia), married women received gifts and in turn served a meal to the household's enslaved people per Macrobius 1.12.7; Ovid, Fasti 3. Columella treats March as prime time for pruning vines and digging per Columella 11.2.
For soldiers, the campaign season began; for traders, sea routes reopened and grain ships from Egypt and Africa could sail again, easing city food supplies.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 3 · Varro, De Lingua Latina 6 · Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.12 · Livy 22.1.4 (Latin) · Livy, Periochae 47 (Latin) · Livy, Periochae 116 (Latin) · Suetonius, Divus Iulius 80–81 (Latin) · Velleius Paterculus 2.56 (Latin)
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LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Sera nimis vita est crastina: vive hodie.
“Tomorrow's life is too late: live today.”
Martial, Epigrams 1.15 · translation ours (literal)
