Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ Μαμαίας

Ruling with his mother he administered everything subordinate to her; it was she who took care of the empire in every respect. So she persuaded him to judge trials for the most part, so that he would be occupied with those things and have no opportunity to pursue vices. He was born with a natural disposition both meek and tame and inclined towards benevolence. So up to his fourteenth year of ruling the kingdom he ruled without bloodshed, despite the fact that certain people had fallen foul of major accusations, so that after the death of Marcus¹ the empire was amazed at Alexander. He even censured his mother and was altogether vexed seeing her being avaricious and accumulating so much from abusive confiscations. But he was forced by her to do many things; for his mother ruled absolutely over him. She carried on with deeds shameful and unbecoming to rulers, and secretly summoned tutors in every discipline; he then said farewell to both wrestling-schools and gymnasia and scared away the tutors. To such an extent did things drift that everything changed, from the stage and the public theatres to the greatest offices of state. Because of this they hated him.