When we reflect that both her parents were Syrians, we notice with some surprise that the portrait-bust of Mamæa has a singularly Roman face; and in her strength, solidity, and sobriety she recalls the old Roman type rather than accords with the general conception of a Syrian woman. She had the defect of her type, and an incident that occurred early in her reign is regarded as a grave betrayal of it. It is not at all clear, however, that Mamæa acted with the “jealous cruelty” which Gibbon sees in her conduct. For the wife of her son she had chosen Sallustia Barbia Orbiana--we find the name on coins, though the historians do not give it--daughter of the Senator Sallustius Macrinus. Alexander, not an exacting husband, seems to have lived happily with his bride, and her father was promoted to the rank of Cæsar. Before long, however, we find Macrinus executed on a charge of treason, and his daughter banished to Africa. Gibbon believes, on the authority of Dio, that this was entirely due to Mamæa’s unwillingness to share the power and the affection of her son with another woman. The word of an historian and a member of the Senate, whom we may almost describe as an eye-witness, must assuredly have weight, yet we cannot ignore the assertion of the other authorities that Macrinus was betrayed into acts which easily bore the construction of treason. We may recall Merivale’s just warning, on another occasion, that a contemporary Roman writer is particularly apt to reproduce the unsubstantial gossip of his day. Herodian, who nevertheless believes that Macrinus had no treasonable intention, says that Mamæa was so cruel to Orbiana that the girl went in tears to her father, and he repaired to the Prætorian camp with bitter complaints against Mamæa. Such a course very strongly suggests a treasonable design. The troops, chafing under the rule of Mamæa and her son, whom they eventually murdered, were notoriously discontented; and flying to the camp was commonly the first overt act in a plot to displace the ruling Emperor. When we further find that Lampridius (“Historia Augusta”) says, on the authority of Dexippus, an Athenian writer of the succeeding generation, that Macrinus was expressly attempting to replace Alexander, we must at least suspend our censures. We know nothing of the character of Macrinus and his daughter, and are therefore unable to say how far Mamæa’s interpretation of their conduct may have been influenced by her feelings, and how far her harsh treatment of Orbiana may have been justified.