The Ascension of the Gordians

Pupienus and balbinus were chosen to lead the military defence of italy. Balbinus was a man of letters, an orator and poet and lawyer of great renown. The people had been enthusiastic about the ascension of gordians because the gordians had always been popular with the general population. They cried out that the only way this new senatorial regime would have any legitimacy at all was if they also elevated another gordian to the purple. Afraid that unrest in rome would undermine the war effort, the senate saw little reason to deny the people's request. And young gordian was named caesar and junior colleague of pupienus and