 Anthony Birley has recently offered the most detailed defense of this position.There is however a contrary view, most convincingly put by Sir Ronald Syme, who points out that all the passages in which Marius is cited by name can be shown to be interpolations in the author’s main narrative, brought in to provide colour, frivolous anecdote or critical comment.Examples include the meat dish ("tetrafarmacum") that Aelius Verus invented, Hadrian’s supposed expertise in astrology, various stories to the discredit of Marcus Aurelius and his consort Faustina the Younger, the Senate’s craven catalogue of acclamations for Commodus, and so on.