28 *MAXIMINUS-I THRAX (u; c.65; r.235.03-238.05)
At the beginning of Maximinus’ reign there were two threats against his life. The first involved Magnus, an aristocrat, who is said to have ordered some soldiers to destroy the bridge over the Rhine after Maximus had crossed, leaving him stranded on the north bank of the river at the mercy of the Germans. The plot was discovered and all the conspirators were executed.
A unit of archers from Osroene in Syria then proclaimed Quartinus, a previous provincial governor and friend of the former emperor Severus Alexander, as emperor. Macedo, the commander of the Osroenians, had a change of heart, killed Quartinus and presented his head to Maximinus, who proceeded to have Macedo executed anyway.
Maximinus restored order on the Rhine with a victory over the Germans in Wurttemberg (235) and on the Danube frontier fighting the Sarmatians and Dacians (236-237). To pay for these campaigns, the emperor taxed the wealthy at an extraordinarily high rate. In spring 238 the Senate, acting upon their dissatisfaction, elected twenty senators to organise the defence of Italy and declared Maximinus a public enemy.
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