Herodian, Ab excessu divi Marci

ὑποπτεύων δ’ αὐτοὺς ὡς οὐ τἀληθῆ αὐτῷ ἀλλὰ πρὸς κολακείαν θεσπίζοντας, ἐπιστέλλει Ματερνιανῷ τινί, τότε πάσας ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ ἐν Ῥώμῃ πράξεις ἐγκεχειρισμένῳ, πιστοτάτῳ εἶναι δοκοῦντι φίλων καὶ μόνῳ κοινωνῷ τῶν ἀπορρήτων: κελεύει δὲ αὐτῷ μάγων τοὺς ἀρίστους ζητήσαντι νεκυίᾳ τε χρησαμένῳ μαθεῖν περὶ τοῦ τέλους τοῦ βίου αὐτοῦ, καὶ

But suspecting that they were prophesying to him not the truth but to flatter him, he writes to one Maternianus, who at that time had been entrusted by him with all business in Rome, and who seemed to be the most trustworthy of his friends and the only sharer in his secrets; and he orders him to seek out the best of the magicians and, by using necromancy, to learn about the end of his life, and