ficered by
hopeless incompetents who had bought their appointments. As a result the
legionaries garrisoning the lines along the Euphrates, the Carpathians,
the Danube, the Rhine and the Wall, since they were badly led, had
suffered undeserved mishandling from the barbarians attacking them; and
even the garrisons of mountain districts like Armenia, Pisidia, and
Lusitania had been mauled by the bands of outlaws. He instanced the
rebellion of Maternus as a result of the incompetence and venality of
Perennis.

Worse than this, he said, Perennis was plotting the Emperor's
assassination and the elevation to the Principate of one of his two sons.
This project of his, which he was furthering by astute secret
machinations, had come to the knowledge of a loyal member of the Emperor's
retinue. He had written of it to a brother of his, Centurion [Footnote:
See Note D.] of the Thirteenth Legion, entitled "Victorious" and quartered
on the Wall, along the northern frontier of Britain, towards the
Caledonian Highlands. This letter had reached the quarters of the
Thirteenth Legion late in September. Its recipient had at once
communicated to his fellow-sergeants the horrible intimation which it
contained. They had resolved to do all in their power to save their Prince
by forestalling and foiling the treacherous Perennis. They had called a
meeting of their garrison and disclosed their information to their men.
The legionaries acclaimed their decision. Deputations set out east and
west along the Wall and roused the other cohorts of the Thirteenth Legion
and those of the Twenty-Seventh. From the Wall messengers galloped south
to the garrisons throughout Britain. In an incredibly short time, despite
the approach and onset of winter, they apprised every garrison in the
island. Messengers from every garrison reached every garrison. So rapidly
was mutual comprehension and unanimity established, so secretly did they
operate, that on the Nones of January all the garrisons in Britain
simultaneously mutinied, overpowered their unsuspecting officers,
disclosed to them the reasons for their sedition, and invited them to join
them. Of all the officers on the island only two hesitated to agree with
their men. These, after some expostulation, were killed. The rest resumed
their duties, if competent, or were relegated to civilian life, if
adjudged incompetent.

The three most prominent legions in Britain, the Sixth, Thirteenth and
Twentieth, each entit