On 28 March 193, Pertinax was at his palace when, according to the Historia Augusta, a contingent of some three hundred soldiers of the Praetorian Guard rushed the gates[33] (two hundred according to Cassius Dio).[34] Ancient sources suggest that they had received only half their promised pay.[35] Neither the guards on duty nor the palace officials chose to resist them. Pertinax sent Laetus to meet them, but he chose to side with the insurgents instead and deserted the emperor.[36]
Although advised to flee, he then attempted to reason with them, and was almost successful before being struck down by one of the soldiers.[37] Pertinax must have been aware of the danger he faced by assuming the purple, for he refused to use imperial titles for either his wife or son,[38] thus protecting them from the aftermath of his own assassination.