Word: commodus
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Dates: during 1976-1976
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...century, the Senate was ready to vote for any bully or bribegiver who thrust himself forward. Among the worst of Emperors was Commodus, a vice-ridden brute who enjoyed fighting in the arena as a gladiator and was murdered by his favorite concubine and a wrestler. He was succeeded by the aged Pertinax, who tried to institute reforms, only to be murdered after 86 days by the unreformable Praetorian Guard. This garrison of swaggerers, who for a time held the real power in Rome, then insolently auctioned off the imperial throne to a wealthy Senator named Didius Julianus, who offered...