Claudius Gothicus

Marcus Aurelius Claudius took power in 268 and immediately faced invasions on multiple fronts. He beat back the Alemanni, then turned east to meet the Goths at the Battle of Naissus, where his forces delivered a defeat so total it earned him the title "Gothicus." The victory steadied an empire that had been hemorrhaging territory and credibility for a generation. But the pestilence moving through the provinces—likely the Plague of Cyprian—reached him in the summer of 270, and he died in August or September, two years after he'd started.