Lampridius recounts one quite amusing action, which, if it were true, would give a certain probability to his stories. Antonine, having resolved to kill Alexander, because the tension of this continual running fight had become too great for his nerves, determined to dissolve the Senate first; fearing that, should they be sitting when Alexander died, they might elect some one else instead of the murderer. The chief reason for doubting this story is that no Antonine had ever yet had the smallest occasion to fear anything untoward from the action of that august assembly, and it is most improbable that this Antonine was going to begin now. Emperors had always taken the Senate’s concurrence in their actions for granted, and had invariably met with entire subservience. But to proceed with the beautifully circumstantial details, which, as usual, Lampridius makes as glaringly mendacious as they are circumstantial. The Senators, he says, were told to leave the city at once; those who had neither carriages nor servants were told to run; some hired porters; others were lucky and got carriages. One only, a Consular, by name Sabinus, the personage to whom Ulpian had dedicated his works, and who, being Severa’s father, one would have thought might reasonably have remained, did not go sufficiently rapidly for the Emperor’s liking; in fact, he stayed in the city in defiance of the order, and must have walked abroad very openly, for the Emperor saw him, and whispered to a centurion, “Kill that man!” Now, the centurion was deaf, and thought the order was “Chase that man,” which order he promptly executed. Thus the infirmity of a “mere common centurion” saved Sabinus’ life, and gave the world the works of Ulpian with the dedication above mentioned. Now, if, as seems the case, Ulpian’s dedication of his works to this Consular is dependent on Sabinus being the man saved from Antonine’s rapacity and cruelty, the whole story is a lie, along with the palpable untruth about the dedication. Ulpian never mentioned this gentleman, either by name, implication, or in any other fashion, which is just a bit awkward for Aelius Lampridius, who might at least have taken the trouble to consult the title-page of Ulpian’s works or have asked somebody else to do the job for him, if he was too tired with his former efforts at inventing fiction. The name is certainly mentioned in the commentaries which Ulpian wrote on the famous jurist of Tiberius’ period, but that is naturally another story altogether.