Of all our passions and appetites, the love of power is of the most imperious and unsociable nature, since the pride of one man requires the submission of the multitude.

In the tumult of civil discord, the laws of society lose their force, and their place is seldom supplied by those of humanity.
The ardor of contention, the pride of victory, the despair of success, the memory of past injuries, and the fear of future dangers, all contribute to inflame the mind, and to silence the voice of pity.

From such motives almost every page of history has been stained with civil blood; but these motives will not account for the unprovoked cruelties of Commodus, who had nothing to wish and every thing to enjoy.

The beloved son of Marcus succeeded to his father, amidst the acclamations of the senate and armies; [6] and when he ascended the throne, the happy youth saw round him neither competitor to remove, nor enemies to punish.
In this calm, elevated station, it was surely natural that he should prefer the love of mankind to their detestation, the mild glories of his five predecessors to the ignominious fate of Nero and Domitian.
[Footnote 6: Commodus was the first Porphyrogenitus, (born since his father's accession to the throne.) By a new strain of flattery, the Egyptian medals date by the years of his life; as if they were synonymous to those of his reign.

Tillemont, Hist.