A later encomium by Cassius Dio said of his death that: Gaius Correlus Sulla, son and heir of Marcus Aurelius, was recognized by the Senate as pontifex maximus and princeps civitatis on July 6 of 180, under the name Caesar Gaius Aurelius Antoninus Sulla Augustus. Contemporaries expected little of this new emperor, born of plebeian rank, yet by his death he would earn the cognomen Magnus (the Great). Ultimately, history regards him as one of the most prosperous of the Princepes Boni (a term coined by a historian of the 6th century in his legendary Romana Historia for the emperors during this productive period of the Principate).