denique agentem eum cum paucis in Britannia, ut alii volunt in Gallia, in vico cui Sicilia nomen est, non ex omnium sententia sed latrocinantium modo quidam milites et ii praecipue qui Heliogabali praemiis effloruerunt, cum severum principem pati non possent, occiderunt. multi dicunt a Maximino inmissos tirones, qui ei ad exercendum dati fuerant, eum occidisse, multi aliter; a militibus tamen constat, cum iniuriose quasi in puerum eundem et matrem eius avaram et cupidam multa dixissent.
Translation :
And finally, while he was in quarters with a few men in Britain, or, according to some, in Gaul, in a village named Sicilia, some soldiers murdered him. This was not done in response to any general sentiment but rather as the act of an assassin, the ringleaders being men who had thriven on the gifts of Elagabalus and would not tolerate a stricter prince. Many, indeed, relate that he was slain by some recruits despatched by Maximinus (to whom they had been assigned for their training), and many others give different accounts. Nevertheless, it is generally agreed that those who killed him were soldiers, for they hurled many insults at him, speaking of him as a child and of his mother as greedy and covetous.
Edition :
Historia Augusta, Volume II: Caracalla. Geta. Opellius Macrinus. Diadumenianus. Elagabalus. Severus Alexander. The Two Maximini. The Three Gordians. Maximus and Balbinus. Translated by David Magie. Loeb Classical Library 140. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1924.
Remark :
topology: While the Historia Augusta names a village called Sicilia, Herodian places the murder near Mainz, which is agreed to in the New Pauly.
Notes :
His murderers are killed afterwards, described in: "Soldiers kill the murderers of Severus Alexander."
