Carinus at least initially acquitted himself ably of his commission, displaying some merit in the suppression of disturbances in Gaul and against the Quadi, but the young emperor soon left the defence of the Upper Rhine to his legates and returned to Rome, where the surviving accounts, which demonize him, assert that he abandoned himself to all kinds of profligacy and excess. Reportedly, he managed to wed and divorce nine separate women during his short rule in Rome, and made the infamy of his private life notorious. He is supposed to have initiated persecution against many whom he considered to have treated him with insufficient respect before his elevation; to have alienated the senate by his open aversion and contempt; and to have prostituted the imperial dignity with the various low entertainments which he introduced into the court.