Hello, and welcome to the history of Rome, Episode 96, the most aptly named emperor.

The mildness of Marcus, which the rigid discipline of the Stoics had been unable to eradicate,

formed at the same time the most amiable and the only defective part of his character,

his excellent understanding was often deceived by the unsuspecting goodness in his heart.

So begins chapter 4 of Edward Gibbons decline in fall of the Roman Empire, also known as

the chapter where it starts to get really good and isn't quite so super boring anymore.

Marcus, suffering from the defect of excessive kindheartedness, had sealed his legacy as the

last good princess by entrusting the empire to his son, whose legacy everyone agrees is

that he was one of the worst emperors of all time.

But Gibbons himself is not quite as harsh on Comedis as you might think.

In Gibbons' estimation, Comedis' failure was not that he was cruel or bloodthirsty

or evil, but simply that he was weak.

As sending to the throne at the age of 19 in March of 180 AD, Comedis naturally fell under

the sway of older, savvier men, who manipulated the young prince into satisfying their own

ambitions.

Once he had spent a few years as a mere puppet, the dark habits of his advisors simply

ingrained themselves onto his character, and from then on, the weakness of his soul became

indistinguishable from the cruelty that manifested as a result.

In the end though, he seemed to have learned his lessons a little too well, and he turned

out to be far savvier and far crueler than any of his advisors, and he was only caught

out and killed after a good three or four complete and bloody turnovers of personnel

within his inner circle.

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