(Albinus) Summer-Fall 194: Albinus' Reforms and Rebellion in Africa
In Rome, Albinus was attempting to confront the many structural issues present in the empire. His goal of restoring the republic was utopian in nature. Turning back the clock to the republic that existed centuries ago was almost impossible. The rule of a single man was viewed as a necessity. What Albinus could do was change the direction of the empire moving it to a system in which the people had more influence and the Senate was respected. Commodus had been the first emperor to use the term
Dominus Noster, Our Lord, and viewed himself as such. Pertinax had done away with these grandiose titles and had tried to restore the emperor back to simply
Princeps or First Citizen, Albinus hope to continue this trend. He also renewed Pertinax's pledge that no Senator was to be put to death during his reign. Even the likes of senator Quintus Falco who had attempted to overthrow the government were to be spared. He hoped to replace the atmosphere of fear instilled by his predecessors and provide a sense of calm.
Albinus as well pardoned many of bureaucrats who had served under Severus and Plautianus. In similarity with previous emperors such as Claudius, he hoped to improve the administration of the empire by appointing men based on merit. Marcius Agrippa, a freeman, was affirmed as
advocatus fisci in charge of imperial treasury and tasked with stabilizing the currency. Opellius Marcrinus, a lawyer, was given the positions of
cognitionibus and
Ab epistulis thus in charge of correspondences and bringing legal cases before the
Princeps. In making his decisions Albinus in the style of Aurelius courted the opinions of skilled jurists such as Papinian, Julius Paulus and Ulpian. Many of these reforms were announced on August 1st, 194, the dual birthday of Claudius and Pertinax, a time when games commemorating the emperors were held.
Another important reform program Albinus undertook was the restructuring of the Praetorian Guard, the Cohortes Urbanae and the Vigiles Urbani. The Praetorian's had become unmanageable in recent years, the murder of Pertinax the most glaring example. Severus on taking power had disbanded the guard of Commodus and banished them from Rome on pain of death. He had replaced them with loyal men drawn from his Pannonian legions along with kin from Africa and Syria. The
Urbanae and
Vigiles had undergone a similar change under Severus. Most of the Praetorians of Severus had followed their emperor to the east and were either killed fighting at Nicaea or now serving with Niger. The remainder, along with the units in Rome, had supported Plautianus and their leadership fled with him to Africa. Thus Albinus would have to rebuild things from the ground up. The
Urbanae and
Vigiles were put firmly under the power of the Senate and a small Praetorian guard was established from British legionaries loyal to Albinus. His goal was to give the guard less power and increase that of the Senate.
While at work on setting the foundations for his reforms Africa broke out in a state of rebellion. Plautianus had fallen back to his home provinces and gathered a large amount of support. In similarity to the way Albinus won over Gallic aristocrats, Plautianus focused on local matters to win over the populace and formed an alliance with the Garamante tribes of the area. He even managed to gain the backing of the powerful Legio tertia Augusta, the one legion station in Africa. This rebellion would need to be stamped out if Albinus was to maintain his legitimacy as emperor. To deal with the matter he selected Titus Titianus, uncle of the younger Pertinax, to take an army to stamp out the insurrection.
