he intended to intervene decisively on issues that plagued the empire, even if they countered the interests of influential aristocrats. After spending the winter and the spring after the defeat in the Vandal campaign at Arelate, Majorian left during summer with a small guard (probably domestici), probably with the intention to reach Rome. He did not try to cross the Alps, as he had done in 458, but moved from Arelate along the via Aurelia, in Southern Gallia and Liguria, only to change direction and move towards North: he had probably got news that Ricimer was coming to meet him, and wanted to reach Dertona and from there take the via Aemilia towards Ravenna. However Ricimer intercepted him in Dertona (not far from Piacenza, where Avitus had been killed) on 2 August, and had him arrested and deposed (3 August). The Emperor was deprived of his dress and diadem, beaten and tortured. After five days, Majorian was beheaded near the river Iria (August 7, 461): He was about forty years old and had reigned for four years. The city of Tortona now hosts, in the church of St. Matthew, a building traditionally identified as the "mausoleum of Majorian"; however, Ennodius complains that Majorian did not receive an appropriate burial. Ricimer spread the news that Majorian had died of natural causes, then waited for three months before placing on the imperial throne a person he believed he could manipulate. He finally chose Libius Severus, a senator of no political distinction, probably selected to please the Italian senatorial aristocracy. The new emperor was not recognized by the Eastern Emperor Leo I, nor by any of the generals who had served under Majorian: not by Aegidius in Gaul, not by Marcellinus in Sicily and Illyria, and not by Nepotianus in Hispania. Legacy According to historian Edward Gibbon, Majorian "presents the welcome discovery of a great and heroic character, such as sometimes arise, in a degenerate age, to vindicate the honour of the human species". The Encyclopædia Britannica likewise calls him "the only man to hold that office [i.e. the imperial throne] in the 5th century who had some claim to greatness." Notes Sources Primary sources Hydatius, Chronicle John of Antioch, Historia chronike Jordanes, Getica Marcellinus Comes, Annales Priscus, History Procopius, Vandal War Sidonius Apollinaris, Carmina; Letters. Translation: Anderson, W.B., Sidonius. Poems and Letters, 2 vols. (Loeb, 1936–1965). Secondary sources Edward Gibbon, The History