Editing Commodus (section)

===Character and motivations===
Cassius Dio, a first-hand witness, describes him as "not naturally wicked but, on the contrary, as guileless as any man that ever lived. His great simplicity, however, together with his cowardice, made him the slave of his companions, and it was through them that he at first, out of ignorance, missed the better life and then was led on into lustful and cruel habits, which soon became second nature."<ref>Dio, Cassius, 73.1.2, Loeb edition, translated E. Cary</ref>

His recorded actions do tend to show a rejection of his father's policies, his father's advisers, and especially his father's austere lifestyle, and an alienation from the surviving members of his family. It seems likely that he was raised in an atmosphere of [[Stoicism|Stoic]] [[asceticism]], which he rejected entirely upon his accession to sole rule.

After repeated attempts on Commodus' life, [[Roman citizenship|Roman citizens]] were often killed for making him angry. One such notable event was the attempted extermination of the house of the [[Quinctilia gens|Quinctilii]]. Condianus and Maximus were executed on the pretext that while they were not implicated in any plots, their wealth and talent would make them unhappy with the current state of affairs.<ref>Dio, Cassius, 73.5.3, Loeb edition, translated E. Cary</ref> Another event, as recorded by the historian [[Aelius Lampridius]], took place at the Roman baths at [[Terme Taurine]], where the emperor had an attendant thrown into an oven after he had found his bathwater to be lukewarm.<ref>Historia Augusta. C 1, 9.</ref><ref>Heinz, W. (1986). Die <nowiki>''Terme Taurine''</nowiki> von Civitavecchia – ein römisches Heilbad. ''Antike Welt,'' ''17''(4), 22–43.</ref>