I know that there are angry spirits And turbulent mutterers of stifled treason, Who lurk in narrow places, and walk out Muffled, to whisper curses in the night; Disbanded soldiers, discontented ruffians, And desperate libertines who brawl in taverns.--_Byron_. [Sidenote: U.C. 975 A.D. 222] 1. Heliogaba'lus was succeeded by Alexander, his cousin-german,[4] who, being declared emperor without opposition, the senate, with their usual adulation, were for conferring new titles upon him; but he modestly declined them all. 2. To the most rigid justice he added the greatest humanity. He loved the good, and was a severe reprover of the lewd and infamous. His accomplishments were equal to his virtues. He was an excellent mathematician, geometrician, and musician; he was equally skilful in painting and sculpture; and in poetry few of his time could equal him. In short, such were his talents, and such the solidity of his judgment, that though but sixteen years of age, he was considered equal in wisdom to a sage old man. 3. About the thirteenth year of his reign the Upper Germans, and other northern nations, began to pour down in immense swarms upon the more southern parts of the empire. They passed the Rhine and the Danube with such fury, that all Italy was thrown into the most extreme consternation. 4. The emperor, ever ready to expose his person for the safety of his people, made what levies he could, and went in person to stem the torrent, which he speedily effected. It was in the course of his successes against the enemy that he was cut off by a mutiny among his own soldiers. He died in the twenty-ninth year of his age, after a prosperous reign of thirteen years and nine days. [Sidenote: U.C.988 A.D.235]