He made his way in the army, showing continual ability and valor, and several times during his changes of quarters and frequent hunting expeditions he found occasion to kill wild boars; but he did not immediately become emperor, and several of his contemporaries, Aurelian, Tacitus, Probus, Carus, and Numerian, reached the goal before him.

"I kill the wild boars," said he to one of his friends, "and another eats them." The last mentioned of these ephemeral emperors, Numerian, had for his father-in-law and inseparable comrade a Praetorian prefect named Arrius Aper.

During a campaign in Mesopotamia Numerian was assassinated, and the voice of the army pronounced Aper guilty.

The legions assembled to deliberate about Numerian's death and to choose his successor.

Aper was brought before the assembly under a guard of soldiers.