55. The Augustan History (p. 163, 164) cannot, in this
instance, be reconciled with itself or with probability. How
could Philip condemn his predecessor, and yet consecrate his
memory? How could he order his public execution and yet, in
his letters to the senate, exculpate himself from the guilt
of his death? Philip, though an ambitious usurper, was by no
means a mad tyrant. Some chronological difficulties have
likewise been discovered by the nice eyes of Tillemont and
Muratori, in this supposed association of Philip to the
empire.