Editing Commodus (section)

===Cleander's zenith and fall (185–190)===
[[File:1699 - Archaeological Museum, Athens - A youth, possibly Commodus - Photo by Giovanni Dall'Orto, Nov 11 2009.jpg|thumb|Remnant of a Roman bust of a youth with a [[blond]] beard, perhaps Commodus, [[National Archaeological Museum, Athens]]]]
Cleander proceeded to concentrate power in his own hands and to enrich himself by taking responsibility for all public offices. He sold (and bestowed entry to) Senate seats, army commands, [[Roman governor|governorships]], and increasingly, [[suffect consul]]ships, to the highest bidder. Unrest rose throughout the empire, with large numbers of army deserters causing trouble in [[Gaul]] and [[Germania|Germany]]. Pescennius Niger dealt with the deserters in Gaul in a military campaign. The revolt in [[Brittany]] was put down by two [[Roman legion|legions]] brought over from Britain.

In 187, one of the leaders of the deserters, [[Maternus (rebel)|Maternus]], came from Gaul intending to assassinate Commodus at the Festival of the Great Goddess in March but was betrayed and executed. In the same year [[Pertinax]] unmasked a conspiracy by two enemies of Cleander, [[Lucius Antistius Burrus|Antistius Burrus]] (one of Commodus' brothers-in-law) and [[Gaius Arrius Antoninus|Arrius Antoninus]]. As a result, Commodus appeared more rarely in public, preferring to live on his estates.

Early in 188, Cleander disposed of the current praetorian prefect, [[Publius Atilius Aebutianus|Atilius Aebutianus]], and took over supreme command of the [[Praetorian Guard]] at the new rank of ''a pugione'' ("dagger-bearer"), with two praetorian prefects subordinate to him. Now at the zenith of his power, Cleander continued to sell public offices as his private business. The climax came in the year 190, which had 25 suffect consuls—a record in the 1,000-year history of the Roman consulship—all appointed by Cleander (they included the future Emperor [[Septimius Severus]]).

In the spring of 190, Rome was afflicted by a food shortage, for which the ''praefectus annonae'' [[Papirius Dionysius]], the official actually in charge of the [[Grain supply to the city of Rome|grain supply]], contrived to lay the blame on Cleander. At the end of June, a mob demonstrated against Cleander during a horse race in the [[Circus Maximus]]: he sent the Praetorian Guard to put down the disturbances, but Pertinax, who was now City Prefect of Rome, dispatched the ''[[Vigiles Urbani]]'' to oppose them. Cleander fled to Commodus, who was at [[Laurentum]] in the house of the [[Quinctilia gens|Quinctilii]], for protection, but the mob followed him calling for his head.

At the urging of his mistress [[Marcia (mistress of Commodus)|Marcia]], Commodus had Cleander beheaded and his son killed. Other victims at this time were the praetorian prefect Julius Julianus, Commodus' cousin [[Annia Fundania Faustina]], and his brother-in-law Mamertinus. Papirius Dionysius was executed, too. In AD 191, Commodus took more of the reins of power, though he continued to rule through a cabal consisting of Marcia, his new chamberlain Eclectus, and the new praetorian prefect [[Quintus Aemilius Laetus]].