However, the following year, a detachment of soldiers from Britain (they had been drafted to Italy to suppress brigands) denounced Perennis to the emperor as plotting to make his own son emperor. They had been enabled to do so by Cleander, who was seeking to dispose of his rival. Commodus gave the soldiers permission to execute Perennis and his wife and sons. The fall of Perennis brought a new spate of executions. Ulpius Marcellus was replaced as governor of Britain by Pertinax; brought to Rome and tried for treason, Marcellus narrowly escaped death.