Cleander's date of birth is unknown but according to
Herodian he was a
Phrygian and "one of the slaves offered for sale by the public auctioneer for the benefit of the state"; according to Dio Cassius he was sold in Rome as one of a consignment of slaves to be a pack-carrier. By 182 however he had risen high enough to be an official of the Imperial household, and had married the Emperor's mistress
Damostratia. In 184 he enabled a detachment of soldiers from
Britain brought to Italy to suppress banditry, to denounce Perennis to the Emperor. Commodus gave them permission to execute the Prefect. Now at the zenith of his power, he continued to sell public offices to the highest bidder as his private business. The climax came in the year 190 which had 25 suffect consuls—a record in the 1,000-year history of the Roman consulship—all appointed by Cleander (they included the future Emperor
Septimius Severus). During the seventh horse-race of the
ludi Ceriales in the
Circus Maximus, a group of children incited the audience to riot against Cleander. As
Edward Gibbon relates it, {{quotation|The people... demanded with angry clamors the head of the public enemy. Cleander, who commanded the Praetorian Guards, ordered a body of
cavalry to sally forth and disperse the seditious multitude. The multitude fled with precipitation towards the city; several were slain, and many more were trampled to death; but when the cavalry entered the streets their pursuit was checked by a shower of stones and darts from the roofs and windows of the houses. The footguards, who had long been jealous of the prerogatives and insolence of the Praetorian cavalry, embraced the party of the people. The tumult became a regular engagement and threatened a general massacre. The Praetorians at length gave way, oppressed with numbers; and the tide of popular fury returned with redoubled violence against the gates of the palace, where Commodus lay dissolved in luxury, and alone unconscious of the civil war... Commodus started from his dream of pleasure and commanded that the head of Cleander should be thrown out to the people. The desired spectacle instantly appeased the tumult... {{cite book This mirrored the previous incident in which the
legions of Britain had demanded and received the death of
Perennis, because of which the mob realized that it had every chance of success. == Modern interpretations ==