A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

had been raised to the consulship, as had also his sons, by Caracalla, but was afterwards, without any apparent cause, deprived of all his honours, and driven out of Rome by the same emperor, A. D. 212. (D. C. 77.5.) We learn from an inscription (apud Fabrett. p. 494), that the consuls in A. D. 212 were both of the name of Julius Asper. Either the father or one of his sons was appointed governor of Asia by Macrinus, but was deprived of this dignity on his journey to the province, on account of some incautious words which offended the emperor. It is usually stated, on the authority of Dio Cassius, that Asper was killed by Elagabalus; but Dio Cassius does not say this. (D. C. 78.22, 79.4.)