Happy birthday to Didius Julianus who was Roman emperor for a couple of weeks in the second century AD. He had a respectable early career including command of the XXII legion and a stint as governor of Bithynia (wherever the hell that is). He bought the imperial title when the Praetorian Guard deposed and murdered his predecessor Pertinax. The guard seemed to have been deeply annoyed with Pertinax because they murdered him without bothering to have a successor standing by. The result was that Julianus and a rival, Sulpicianus, engaged in a bidding war with the guard as auctioneers. When Julianus got as high as 25000 sesterces per man the guard closed the bidding and proclaimed him emperor.
This was probably the high point of his imperial career as everything went rapidly downhill from there. The Praetorians hadn't fought a real battle in decades and when the commanders of the border legions raised the standard of revolt they fell over themselves trying to surrender. Septimus Severus one of the afore mentioned border generals marched on Rome and the Praetorians promptly murdered Julianus and crawled to Severus with assurances of loyalty. Possibly Julianus' only achievement as emperor is to provide a fitting example of the latin phrase "caveat emptor".
On an unrelated note Serena Williams just beat Justine Henin for the Australian Open title despite being wrapped in enough tape to get her a supporting role in The Mummy Returns.
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