Sixteen thousand soldiers, thoroughly trained, and heavily armed in steel coats of mail, were always quartered just outside the gates of Rome. From their commanding encampment on the broad summits of the Quirinal and Viminal Hills they held the millions of the Roman capital in subjection. The gory head of Pertinax was elevated upon a pike. The brutal soldiery gathered around it with yells and hootings, and offered the crown to the highest bidder. Julian, a vile demagogue, the richest man in Rome, offered a thousand dollars to each soldier, making sixteen millions of dollars. He could easily win back treble the sum by extortion and the plunder of war. The soldiers accepted the offer. Surrounding Julian, they marched in dense column into the city to the capitol, and compelled the senate to recognize him as emperor. There were sixteen thousand swords as so many indisputable arguments to enforce their demands. The senate, with the sword at its throat, obsequiously obeyed. The trembling populace was equally submissive. With apparently universal acclaim, Julian was proclaimed emperor. But there were other imperial armies besides the sixteen thousand which held Rome in awe. There was one in Greece of twenty thousand, one of twenty thousand in Britain, and one of thirty thousand in Syria. Each of these armies followed the example of the Pretorian Guard, as the army at Rome was called. Each chose an emperor from among its generals. There were thus four rival emperors, each at the head of a powerful army. The arbitrament of bloody battle alone could decide who should hold the prize. The three distant armies commenced an impetuous march upon Julian at Rome. Severus from Greece was nearest. With giant strides he pressed forward, sweeping all opposition before him. As he drew near the camp of the Pretorian Guard, the soldiers, who had already received their thousand dollars each from Julian, coolly cut off Julian’s head, and sent it to Severus. The two armies then fraternized under Severus, and took possession of Rome. Albinus was advancing with his twenty thousand men from Britain. Enormous bribes were sent to him by Severus; and he gave in his adhesion to the successful general who was so formidably intrenched at Rome. Niger then, marching from Syria, was easily routed by the three combined armies opposed to him. He was taken captive, and beheaded. Severus thus became emperor without a rival. In commemoration of his victory, he reared in Rome a colossal triumphal arch, which remains to the present day.