Pertinax

Pertinax, Helvius (A.D. 126-A.d. 193), a Roman soldier who rose from centurion to emperor, was the son of a charcoal-burner, and was born either in Liguria or at Villa Martis, among the Apennines. He became successively senator, commander of the legion which chased the barbarians who were threatening to overrun Italy, Consul-Elect, Governor of Syria, Chief of the Commissariat of Rome, and Proconsul of Africa, and on the death of Commodus the tyrant, who had favoured him, reached the throne. Conspiracies, however, soon sapped his position, and, some reforms proposed by him proving very unwelcome to the soldiers, h'e was assassinated at the age of sixty-six, after a reign of less than three months.