The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire: By Edward Gibbon, Esq; ... [pt.1]

CHAP. X. The Emperors Decius, Gallus, Aemilianus, Valerian, and Gallienus.—The general Irruption of the Bar|barians.—The thirty Tyrants.

FROM the great secular games celebrated by Philip, to the death of the emperor Gallie|nus, there elapsed twenty years of shame and * 1.1 misfortune. During that calamitous period, every instant of time was marked, every province of the Roman world was afflicted, by barbarous in|vaders and military tyrants, and the ruined em|pire seemed to approach the last and fatal mo|ment of its dissolution. The confusion of the times, and the scarcity of authentic memorials, oppose equal difficulties to the historian, who at|tempts to preserve a clear and unbroken thread of narration. Surrounded with imperfect frag|ments, always concise, often obscure, and some|times contradictory, he is reduced to collect, to compare, and to conjecture: and though he ought never to place his conjectures in the rank of facts, yet the knowledge of human nature, and of the sure operation of its fierce and unre|strained passions, might, on some occasions, sup|ply the want of historical materials.

There is not, for instance, any difficulty in conceiving, that the successive murders of so * 1.2 many emperors had loosened all the ties of alle|giance between the prince and people; that all

the generals of Philip were disposed to imitate the example of their master; and that the caprice of armies, long since habituated to frequent and violent revolutions, might every day raise to the throne the most obscure of their fellow-soldiers. History can only add, that the rebellion against the emperor Philip broke out in the summer of the year two hundred and forty-nine, among the legions of Maesia; and that a subaltern officer 1 1.3, named Marinus, was the object of their seditious choice. Philip was alarmed. He dreaded lest the treason of the Maesian army should prove the first spark of a general conflagration. Distracted with the consciousness of his guilt and of his dan|ger, he communicated the intelligence to the se|nate. A gloomy silence prevailed, the effect of fear, and perhaps of disaffection: till at length * 1.4 Decius, one of the assembly, assuming a spirit worthy of his noble extraction, ventured to dis|cover more intrepidity than the emperor seemed to possess. He treated the whole business with contempt, as a hasty and inconsiderate tumult, and Philip's rival as a phantom of royalty, who in a very few days would be destroyed by the same inconstancy that had created him. The speedy completion of the prophecy inspired Phi|lip with a just esteem for so able a counsellor; and Decius appeared to him the only person ca|pable of restoring peace and discipline to an army, whose tumultuous spirit did not immedi|ately

subside after the murder of Marinus. De|cius, who long resisted his own nomination, seems to have insinuated the danger of presenting a leader of merit, to the angry and apprehensive minds of the soldiers; and his prediction was again confirmed by the event. The legions of Maesia forced their judge to become their accom|plice. They left him only the alternative of death or the purple. His subsequent conduct, after that decisive measure, was unavoidable. He conducted, or followed, his army to the con|fines of Italy, whither Philip, collecting all his force to repel the formidable competitor whom he had raised up, advanced to meet him. The Imperial troops were superior in number 2 1.5; but the rebels formed an army of veterans, com|manded by an able and experienced leader. Philip was either killed in the battle, or put to death a few days afterwards at Verona. His son and associate in the empire was massacred at Rome by the Praetorian guards; and the victo|rious Decius, with more favourable circumstances than the ambition of that age can usually plead, was universally acknowledged by the senate and provinces. It is reported, that, immediately after his reluctant acceptance of the title of Au|gustus,

he had assured Philip by a private mes|sage, of his innocence and loyalty, solemnly pro|testing, that, on his arrival in Italy, he would resign the Imperial ornaments, and return to the condition of an obedient subject. His professions might be sincere. But in the situation where fortune had placed him, it was scarcely possible that he could either forgive or be forgiven 3 1.6.

The emperor Decius had employed a few * 1.7 months in the works of peace and the administra|tion of justice, when he was summoned to the banks of the Danube by the invasion of the GOTHS. This is the first considerable occasion in which history mentions that great people, who afterwards broke the Roman power, sacked the Capitol, and reigned in Gaul, Spain, and Italy. So memorable was the part which they acted in the subversion of the Western empire, that the name of GOTHS is frequently but improperly used as a general appellation of rude and warlike bar|barism.

In the beginning of the sixth century, and after * 1.8 the conquest of Italy, the Goths, in possession of present greatness, very naturally indulged them|selves in the prospect of past and of future glory. They wished to preserve the memory of their an|cestors, and to transmit to posterity their own at|chievements. The principal minister of the court of Ravenna, the learned Cassiodorus, gratified the inclination of the conquerors in a Gothic history, which consisted of twelve books, now reduced to

the imperfect abridgment of Jornandes 4 1.9. These writers passed with the most artful conciseness over the misfortunes of the nation, celebrated its successful valour, and adorned the triumph with many Asiatic trophies, that more properly be|longed to the people of Scythia. On the faith of ancient songs, the uncertain, but the only, me|morials of barbarians, they deduced the first origin of the Goths, from the vast island, or pe|ninsula, of Scandinavia 5 1.10. That extreme country of the North was not unknown to the conquerors of Italy; the ties of ancient consanguinity had been strengthened by recent offices of friendship; and a Scandinavian king had cheerfully abdicated his savage greatness, that he might pass the re|mainder of his days in the peaceful and polished court of Ravenna 6 1.11. Many vestiges, which can|not be ascribed to the arts of popular vanity, at|test the ancient residence of the Goths in the countries beyond the Baltic. From the time of the geographer Ptolemy, the southern part of Sweden seems to have continued in the possession of the less enterprising remnant of the nation, and a large territory is even at present divided into east and west Gothland. During the middle ages (from the ninth to the twelfth century) whilst Christianity was advancing with a slow progress into the north, the Goths and the Swedes com|posed

two distinct and sometimes hostile mem|bers of the same monarchy 7 1.12. The latter of these two names has prevailed without extinguishing the former. The Swedes, who might well be satisfied with their own fame in arms, have, in every age, claimed the kindred glory of the Goths. In a moment of discontent against the court of Rome, Charles the Twelfth insinuated, that his victorious troops were not degenerated from their brave ancestors, who had already subdued the mistress of the world 8 1.13.

Till the end of the eleventh century, a cele|brated * 1.14 temple subsisted at Upsal, the most consi|derable town of the Swedes and Goths. It was enriched with the gold which the Scandinavians had acquired in their piratical adventures, and sanctified by the uncouth representations of the three principal deities, the god of war, the god|dess of generation, and the god of thunder. In the general festival, that was solemnized every ninth year, nine animals of every species (with|out excepting the human) were sacrificed, and their bleeding bodies suspended in the sacred grove adjacent to the temple 9 1.15. The only traces

that now subsist of this barbaric superstition are contained in the Edda, a system of mythology, compiled in Iceland about the thirteenth century, and studied by the learned of Denmark and Swe|den, as the most valuable remains of their an|cient traditions.

Notwithstanding the mysterious obscurity of * 1.16 the Edda, we can easily distinguish two persons confounded under the name of Odin; the god of war, and the great legislator of Scandinavia. The latter, the Mahomet of the north, instituted a religion adapted to the climate and to the people. Numerous tribes on either side of the Baltic were subdued by the invincible valour of Odin, by his persuasive eloquence, and by the fame, which he acquired, of a most skilful ma|gician. The faith that he had propagated; dur|ing a long and prosperous life, he confirmed by a voluntary death. Apprehensive of the igno|minious approach of disease and infirmity, he re|solved to expire as became a warrior. In a so|lemn assembly of the Swedes and Goths, he wounded himself in nine mortal places, hastening away (as he asserted with his dying voice) to pre|pare the feast of heroes in the palace of the god of war 10 1.17.

The native and proper habitation of Odin is * 1.18 distinguished by the appellation of As-gard. The happy resemblance of that name with As-burg,

or As-of 11 1.19, words of a similar signification, has given rise to an historical system of so pleasing a contexture, that we could almost wish to persuade ourselves of its truth. It is supposed that Odin was the chief of a tribe of barbarians which dwelt on the banks of the lake Maeotis, till the fall of Mithridates and the arms of Pompey menaced the north with servitude. That Odin, yielding with indignant fury to a power which he was un|able to resist, conducted his tribe from the fron|tiers of the Asiatic Sarmatia into Sweden, with the great design of forming, in that inaccessible retreat of freedom, a religion and a people, which, in some remote age, might be subservient to his immortal revenge; when his invincible Goths, armed with martial fanaticism, should issue in numerous swarms from the neighbourhood of the Polar circle, to chastise the oppressors of man|kind 12 1.20.

If so many successive generations of Goths were * 1.21 capable of preserving a faint tradition of their Scandinavian origin, we must not expect, from

such unlettered barbarians, any distinct account of the time and circumstances of their emigra|tion. To cross the Baltic was an easy and na|tural attempt. The inhabitants of Sweden were masters of a sufficient number of large vessels, with oars 13 1.22, and the distance is little more than one hundred miles from Carlscroon to the nearest ports of Pomerania and Prussia. Here, at length, we land on firm and historic ground. At least as early as the Christian aera 14 1.23, and as late as the age of the Antonines 15 1.24, the Goths were establish|ed towards the mouth of the Vistula, and in that fertile province where the commercial cities of Thorn, Elbing, Koningsberg, and Dantzick were long afterwards founded 16 1.25. Westward of the Goths, the numerous tribes of the Vandals were spread along the banks of the Oder, and the sea-coast of Pomerania and Mecklenburgh. A striking resemblance of manners, complexion, re|ligion, and language, seemed to indicate that the Vandals and the Goths were originally one great people 17 1.26. The latter appear to have been sub|divided

into Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Gepidae 18 1.27. The distinction among the Vandals was more strongly marked by the independent names of Heruli, Burgundians, Lombards, and a variety of other petty states, many of which, in a future age, expanded themselves into powerful monar|chies.

In the age of the Antonines, the Goths were * 1.28 still seated in Prussia. About the reign of Alex|ander Severus, the Roman province of Dacia had already experienced their proximity by frequent and destructive inroads 19 1.29. In this interval, there|fore, of about seventy years, we must place the second migration of the Goths from the Baltic to the Euxine; but the cause that produced it lies concealed among the various motives which ac|tuate the conduct of unsettled barbarians. Ei|ther a pestilence, or a famine, a victory, or a de|feat, an oracle of the Gods, or the eloquence of a daring leader, were sufficient to impel the Go|thic arms on the milder climates of the south. Besides the influence of a martial religion, the numbers and spirit of the Goths were equal to

the most dangerous adventures. The use of round bucklers and short swords rendered them formid|able in a close engagement; the manly obedi|ence which they yielded to hereditary kings, gave uncommon union and stability to their councils 20 1.30; and the renowned Amala, the hero of that age, and the tenth ancestor of Theodoric, king of Italy, enforced, by the ascendant of personal me|rit, the prerogative of his birth, which he derived from the Anses, or demigods of the Gothic na|tion 21 1.31.

The fame of a great enterprise excited the * 1.32 bravest warriors from all the Vandalic states of Germany, many of whom are seen a few years afterwards combating under the common stand|ard of the Goths 22 1.33. The first motions of the emigrants carried them to the banks of the Pry|pec, a river universally conceived by the ancients to be the southern branch of the Borysthenes 23 1.34. The windings of that great stream through the plains of Poland and Russia gave a direction to their line of march, and a constant supply of fresh water and pasturage to their numerous herds of

cattle. They followed the unknown course of the river, confident in their valour, and careless of whatever power might oppose their progress. The Bastarnae and the Venedi were the first who presented themselves; and the flower of their youth, either from choice or compulsion, in|creased the Gothic army. The Bastarnae dwelt on the northern side of the Carpathian mountains; the immense tract of land that separated the Ba|starnae from the savages of Finland, was possessed, or rather wasted, by the Venedi 24 1.35: we have some reason to believe that the first of these nations, which distinguished itself in the Macedonian war 25 1.36, and was afterwards divided into the for|midable tribes of the Peucini, the Borani, the Carpi, &c. derived its origin from the Germans. With better authority, a Sarmatian extraction may be assigned to the Venedi, who rendered themselves so famous in the middle ages 26 1.37. But * 1.38 the confusion of blood and manners on that doubtful frontier often perplexed the most accu|rate observers 27 1.39. As the Goths advanced near the Euxine sea, they encountered a purer race of Sarmatians, the Jazyges, the Alani, and the Roxolani; and they were probably the first Ger|mans who saw the mouths of the Borysthenes, and of the Tanais. If we inquire into the cha|racteristic

marks of the people of Germany and of Sarmatia, we shall discover that those two great portions of human kind were principally distin|guished by fixed huts or moveable tents, by a close dress, or flowing garments, by the marriage of one or of several wives, by a military force, consisting, for the most part, either of infantry or cavalry; and above all by the use of the Teuto|nic, or of the Sclavonian language; the last of which has been diffused by conquest, from the confines of Italy to the neighbourhood of Japan.

The Goths were now in possession of the Uk|raine, * 1.40 a country of considerable extent and un|common fertility, intersected with navigable ri|vers, which, from either side, discharge them|selves into the Borysthenes; and interspersed with large and lofty forests of oaks. The plenty of game and fish, the innumerable bee-hives, depo|sited in the hollow of old trees, and in the ca|vities of rocks, and forming, even in that rude age, a valuable branch of commerce, the size of the cattle, the temperature of the air, the aptness of the soil for every species of grain, and the lux|uriancy of the vegetation, all displayed the libe|rality of Nature, and tempted the industry of man 28 1.41. But the Goths withstood all these tempt|ations, and still adhered to a life of idleness, of poverty, and of rapine.

The Scythian hords, which, towards the east, bordered on the new settlements of the Goths, presented nothing to their arms, except the doubt|ful * 1.42 chance of an unprofitable victory. But the prospect of the Roman territories was far more alluring; and the fields of Dacia were covered with rich harvests, sown by the hands of an in|dustrious, and exposed to be gathered by those of a warlike, people. It is probable, that the conquests of Trajan, maintained by his successors, less for any real advantage, than for ideal dignity, had contributed to weaken the empire on that side. The new and unsettled province of Dacia was neither strong enough to resist, nor rich enough to satiate, the rapaciousness of the barba|rians. As long as the remote banks of the Niester were considered as the boundary of the Roman power, the fortifications of the Lower Danube were more carelessly guarded, and the inhabitants of Maesia lived in supine security, fondly conceiving themselves at an inaccessible distance from any barbarian invaders. The ir|ruptions of the Goths, under the reign of Philip, fatally convinced them of their mistake. The king, or leader of that sierce nation, traversed with contempt the province of Dacia, and passed both the Niester and the Danube without encoun|tering any opposition capable of retarding his progress. The relaxed discipline of the Roman troops betrayed the most important posts, where they were stationed, and the fear of deserved pu|nishment induced great numbers of them to inlist

under the Gothic standard. The various multi|tude of barbarians appeared, at length, under the walls of Marcianopolis, a city built by Trajan in honour of his sister, and at that time the capital of the second Maesia 29 1.43. The inhabitants con|sented to ransom their lives and property, by the payment of a large sum of money, and the in|vaders retreated back into their deserts, animated, rather than satisfied, with the first success of their arms against an opulent but feeble country. Intelligence was soon transmitted to the empe|ror Decius, that Cniva, king of the Goths, had passed the Danube a second time, with more considerable forces; that his numerous detach|ments scattered devastation over the province of Maesia, whilst the main body of the army, con|sisting of seventy thousand Germans and Sarma|tians, a force equal to the most daring atchieve|ments, required the presence of the Roman mo|narch, and the exertion of his military power.

Decius found the Goths engaged before Ni|copolis, * 1.44 on the Jatrus, one of the many monu|ments of Trajan's victories 30 1.45. On his approach they raised the siege, but with a design only of marching away to a conquest of greater import|ance,

the siege of Philippopolis, a city of Thrace, founded by the father of Alexander, near the foot of mount Haemus 31 1.46. Decius followed them through a difficult country, and by forced marches; but when he imagined himself at a considerable dis|tance from the rear of the Goths, Cniva turned with rapid fury on his pursuers. The camp of the Romans was surprised and pillaged, and, for the first time, their emperor fled in disorder be|fore a troop of half-armed barbarians. After a long resistance, Philippopolis, destitute of suc|cour, was taken by storm. A hundred thousand persons are reported to have been massacred in the sack of that great city 32 1.47. Many prisoners of consequence became a valuable accession to the spoil; and Priscus, a brother of the late empe|ror Philip, blushed not to assume the purple un|der the protection of the barbarous enemies of Rome 33 1.48. The time, however, consumed in that tedious siege, enabled Decius to revive the courage, restore the discipline, and recruit the numbers of his troops. He intercepted several parties of Carpi, and other Germans, who were hastening to share the victory of their country|men 34 1.49, intrusted the passes of the mountains to officers of approved valour and fidelity 35 1.50, repair|ed

and strengthened the fortifications of the Da|nube, and exerted his utmost vigilance to oppose either the progress or the retreat of the Goths. Encouraged by the return of fortune, he anxiously waited for an opportunity to retrieve, by a great and decisive blow, his own glory, and that of the Roman arms 36 1.51.

At the same time when Decius was strug|gling * 1.52 with the violence of the tempest, his mind, calm and deliberate amidst the tumult of war, investigated the more general causes, that, since the age of the Antonines, had so impetuously urged the decline of the Roman greatness. He soon discovered that it was im|possible to replace that greatness on a permanent basis, without restoring public virtue, ancient principles and manners, and the oppressed ma|jesty of the laws. To execute this noble but arduous design, he first resolved to revive the obsolete office of censor; an office, which, as long as it had subsisted in its pristine integrity, had so much contributed to the perpetuity of the state 37 1.53, till it was usurped and gradually neglect|ed

by the Caesars 38 1.54. Conscious that the favour of the sovereign may confer power, but that the esteem of the people can alone bestow authority, he submitted the choice of the censor to the un|biassed voice of the senate. By their unanimous * 1.55 votes, or rather acclamations, Valerian, who was afterwards emperor, and who then served with distinction in the army of Decius, was de|clared the most worthy of that exalted honour. As soon as the decree of the senate was trans|mitted to the emperor, he assembled a great council in his camp, and, before the investiture of the censor elect, he apprized him of the dif|ficulty and importance of his great office.

Happy Valerian, said the prince, to his dis|tinguished subject, happy in the general appro|bation of the senate and of the Roman repub|lic! Accept the censorship of mankind; and judge of our manners. You will select those who deserve to continue members of the se|nate; you will restore the equestrian order to its ancient splendour; you will improve the revenue, yet moderate the public burdens. You will distinguish into regular classes the various and infinite multitude of citizens, and accurately review the military strength, the wealth, the virtue, and the resources of Rome. Your decisions shall obtain the force of laws. The army, the palace, the ministers of justice,

and the great officers of the empire, are all subject to your tribunal. None are exempt|ed, excepting only the ordinary consuls 39 1.56, the prefect of the city, the king of the sacrifices, and (as long as she preserves her chastity in|violate) the eldest of the vestal virgins. Even these few, who may not dread the severity, will anxiously solicit the esteem, of the Roman censor

40 1.57.

A magistrate, invested with such extensive * 1.58 powers, would have appeared not so much the minister as the colleague of his sovereign 41 1.59. Valerian justly dreaded an elevation so full of envy and of suspicion. He modestly urged the alarming greatness of the trust, his own insus|ficiency, and the incurable corruption of the times. He artfully insinuated, that the office of censor was inseparable from the Imperial dignity, and that the feebel hands of a subject were un|equal to the support of such an immense weight of cares and of power 42 1.60. The approaching event of war soon put an end to the prosecution of a project so specious but so impracticable; and whilst it preserved Valerian from the danger, saved the emperor Decius from the disappoint|ment, which would most probably have attended

it. A censor may maintain, he can never restore, the morals of a state. It is impossible for such a magistrate to exert his authority with benefit, or even with effect, unless he is supported by a quick sense of honour and virtue in the minds of the people; by a decent reverence for the public opinion, and by a train of useful prejudices com|bating on the side of national manners. In a period when these principles are annihilated, the censorial jurisdiction must either sink into empty pageantry, or be converted into a partial instru|ment of vexatious oppression 43 1.61. It was easier to vanquish the Goths, than to eradicate the public vices; yet even in the first of these enterprises, Decius lost his army and his life.

The Goths were now, on every side, surround|ed * 1.62 and pursued by the Roman arms. The flower of their troops had perished in the long siege of Philippopolis, and the exhausted country could no longer afford subsistence for the remaining multitude of licentious barbarians. Reduced to this extremity, the Goths would gladly have purchased, by the surrender of all their booty and prisoners, the permission of an undisturbed retreat. But the emperor, confident of victory, and resolving, by the chastisement of these in|vaders, to strike a salutary terror into the na|tions of the North, refused to listen to any terms of accommodation. The high-spirited barba|rians preferred death to slavery. An obscure

town of Maesia, called Forum Terebronii 44 1.63, was the scene of the battle. The Gothic army was drawn up in three lines, and, either from choice or accident, the front of the third line was co|vered by a morass. In the beginning of the action, the son of Decius, a youth of the fairest hopes, and already associated to the honours of the purple, was slain by an arrow, in the sight of his afflicted father; who summoning all his fortitude, admonished the dismayed troops, that the loss of a single soldier was of little import|ance to the republic 45 1.64. The conflict was ter|rible; it was the combat of despair against grief and rage. The first line of the Goths at length gave way in disorder; the second, advancing to sustain it, shared its fate; and the third only remained entire, prepared to dispute the passage of the morass, which was imprudently attempted by the presumption of the enemy.

Here the fortune of the day turned, and all things be|came adverse to the Romans: the place deep with ooze, sinking under those who stood, slip|pery to such as advanced; their armour heavy, the waters deep; nor could they wield, in that uneasy situation, their weighty javelins. The barbarians, on the contrary, were enured to encounters in the bogs, their persons tall, their spears long, such as could wound at a

distance 46 1.65.

In this morass the Roman army, after an ineffectual struggle, was irrecoverably lost; nor could the body of the emperor ever be found 47 1.66. Such was the fate of Decius, in the fiftieth year of his age; an accomplished prince, active in war, and affable in peace 48 1.67; who, to|gether with his son, has deserved to be compared, both in life and death, with the brightest exam|ples of ancient virtue 49 1.68.

This fatal blow humbled, for a very little time, * 1.69, the insolence of the legions. They appear to have patiently expected, and submissively obey|ed, the decree of the senate, which regulated the succession to the throne. From a just re|gard for the memory of Decius, the Imperial title was conferred on Hostilianus, his only sur|viving son; but an equal rank, with more ef|fectual power, was granted to Gallus, whose experience and ability seemed equal to the great trust of guardian to the young prince and the distressed empire 50 1.70. The first care of the new emperor was to deliver the Illyrian provinces

from the intolerable weight of the victorious Goths. He consented to leave in their hands the rich fruits of their invasion, an immense * 1.71 booty, and, what was still more disgraceful, a great number of prisoners of the highest merit and quality. He plentifully supplied their camp * 1.72 with every conveniency that could assuage their angry spirits, or facilitate their so much wished|for departure; and he even promised to pay them annually a large sum of gold, on condition they should never afterwards infest the Roman terri|tories by their incursions 51 1.73.

In the age of the Scipios, the most opulent * 1.74 kings of the earth, who courted the protection of the victorious commonwealth, were gratified with such trifling presents as could only derive a value from the hand that bestowed them; an ivory chair, a coarse garment of purple, an in|considerable piece of plate, or a quantity of cop|per coin 52 1.75. After the wealth of nations had cen|tred in Rome, the emperors displayed their great|ness, and even their policy, by the regular exer|cise of a steady and moderate liberality towards the allies of the state. They relieved the poverty of the barbarians, honoured their merit, and recompensed their fidelity. These voluntary marks of bounty were understood to flow not from the fears, but merely from the generosity

or the gratitude of the Romans; and whilst pre|sents and subsidies were liberally distributed among friends and suppliants, they were sternly refused to such as claimed them as a debt 53 1.76. But this stipulation of an annual payment to a * 1.77 victorious enemy, appeared without disguise in the light of an ignominious tribute; the minds of the Romans were not yet accustomed to ac|cept such unequal laws from a tribe of barba|rians; and the prince, who by a necessary con|cession had probably saved his country, became the object of the general contempt and aversion. The death of Hostilianus, though it happened in the midst of a raging pestilence, was inter|preted as the personal crime of Gallus 54 1.78; and even the defeat of the late emperor was ascribed by the voice of suspicion to the perfidious coun|sels of his hated successor 55 1.79. The tranquillity which the empire enjoyed during the first year of his administration 56 1.80, served rather to inflame than to appease the public discontent; and, as soon as the apprehensions of war were removed, the infamy of the peace was more deeply and more sensibly felt.

But the Romans were irritated to a still higher degree, when they discovered that they had not even secured their repose, though at the expence * 1.81 of their honour. The dangerous secret of the wealth and weakness of the empire, had been revealed to the world. New swarms of barba|rians, * 1.82 encouraged by the success, and not con|ceiving themselves bound by the obligation, of their brethren, spread devastation through the Illyrian provinces, and terror as far as the gates of Rome. The defence of the monarchy, which seemed abandoned by the pusillanimous empe|ror, was assumed by Aemilianus, governor of Pannonia and Maesia; who rallied the scattered forces, and revived the fainting spirits of the troops. The barbarians were unexpectedly at|tacked, routed, chased, and pursued beyond the Danube. The victorious leader distributed as a donative the money collected for the tribute, and the acclamations of the soldiers proclaimed him emperor on the field of battle 57 1.83. Gallus, who, careless of the general welfare, indulged himself in the pleasures of Italy, was almost in the same instant informed of the success, of the revolt, and of the rapid approach, of his aspiring lieutenant. He advanced to meet him as far as the plains of Spoleto. When the armies came in sight of each other, the soldiers of Gallus compared the ig|nominious conduct of their sovereign with the glory of his rival. They admired the valour of Aemilianus; they were attracted by his liberality,

for he offered a considerable increase of pay to all deserters 58 1.84. The murder of Gallus, and of his son Volusianus, put an end to the civil war; * 1.85 and the senate gave a legal sanction to the rights of conquest. The letters of Aemilianus to that * 1.86 assembly, displayed a mixture of moderation and vanity. He assured them, that he should resign to their wisdom the civil administration; and, contenting himself with the quality of their ge|neral, would in a short time assert the glory of Rome, and deliver the empire from all the bar|barians both of the North and of the East 59 1.87. His pride was flattered by the applause of the senate; and medals are still extant, representing him with the name and attributes of Hercules the Victor, and of Mars the Avenger 60 1.88.

If the new monarch possessed the abilities, he * 1.89 wanted the time, necessary to fulfil these splendid promises. Less than four months intervened between his victory and his fall 61 1.90. He had van|quished Gallus: he sunk under the weight of a competitor more formidable than Gallus. That unfortunate prince had sent Valerian, already dis|tinguished by the honourable title of censor, to bring the legions of Gaul and Germany 62 1.91 to his aid. Valerian executed that commission with zeal and fidelity; and as he arrived too late to

save his sovereign, he resolved to revenge him. The troops of Aemilianus, who still lay encamped in the plains of Spoleto, were awed by the sanc|tity of his character, but much more by the su|perior strength of his army; and as they were now become as incapable of personal attachment as they had always been of constitutional prin|ciple, they readily imbrued their hands in the * 1.92 blood of a prince who so lately had been the ob|ject of their partial choice. The guilt was theirs, but the advantage of it was Valerian's; who obtained the possession of the throne by the means indeed of a civil war, but with a degree of inno|cence singular in that age of revolutions; since he owed neither gratitude nor allegiance to his predecessor, whom he dethroned.

Valerian was about sixty years of age 63 1.93 when * 1.94 he was invested with the purple, not by the ca|price of the populace, or the clamours of the army, but by the unanimous voice of the Ro|man world. In his gradual ascent through the honours of the state, he had deserved the favour of virtuous princes, and had declared himself the enemy of tyrants 64 1.95. His noble birth, his mild but unblemished manners, his learning, pru|dence, and experience, were revered by the se|nate and people; and if mankind (according to the observation of an ancient writer) had been

left at liberty to chuse a master, their choice would most assuredly have fallen on Valerian 65 1.96. Perhaps the merit of this emperor was inade|quate to his reputation; perhaps his abilities, or at least his spirit, were affected by the languor and coldness of old age. The consciousness of * 1.97 his decline engaged him to share the throne with a younger and more active associate 66 1.98: the emergency of the times demanded a general no less than a prince; and the experience of the Roman censor might have directed him where * 1.99 to bestow the Imperial purple, as the reward of military merit. But instead of making a judi|cious choice, which would have confirmed his reign and endeared his memory, Valerian, con|sulting only the dictates of affection or vanity, immediately invested with the supreme honours his son Gallienus, a youth whose effeminate vices had been hitherto concealed by the obscurity of a private station. The joint government of the father and the son subsisted about seven, and the sole administration of Gallienus continued about eight, years. But the whole period was one un|interrupted series of confusion and calamity. As the Roman empire was at the same time, and on every side, attacked by the blind fury of foreign invaders, and the wild ambition of do|mestic

usurpers, we shall consult order and per|spicuity, by pursuing, not so much the doubt|ful arrangement of dates, as the more natural distribution of subjects. The most dangerous enemies of Rome, during the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, were, 1. The Franks. 2. The * 1.100 Alemanni. 3. The Goths; and, 4. The Per|sians. Under these general appellations, we may comprehend the adventures of less considerable tribes, whose obscure and uncouth names would only serve to oppress the memory and perplex the attention of the reader.

1. As the posterity of the Franks compose one * 1.101 of the greatest and most enlightened nations of Europe, the powers of learning and ingenuity have been exhausted in the discovery of their unlettered ancestors. To the tales of credulity, have succeeded the systems of fancy. Every passage has been sifted, every spot has been sur|veyed, that might possibly reveal some faint traces of their origin. It has been supposed, that Pannonia 67 1.102, that Gaul, that the northern parts of Germany 68 1.103, gave birth to that cele|brated colony of warriors. At length the most rational critics, rejecting the fictitious emigra|tions of ideal conquerors, have acquiesced in a sentiment whose simplicity persuades us of its

truth 69 1.104. They suppose, that about the year two hundred and forty 70 1.105, a new confederacy was formed under the name of Franks, by the old inhabitants of the Lower Rhine and the Weser. The present circle of Westphalia, the Land|graviate of Hesse, and the duchies of Brunswick and Luneburg, were the ancient seat of the Chauci, who, in their inaccessible morasses, de|fied the Roman arms 71 1.106; of the Cherusci, proud of the fame of Arminius; of the Catti, formid|able by their firm and intrepid infantry; and of several other tribes of inferior power and re|nown 72 1.107. The love of liberty was the ruling passion of these Germans; the enjoyment of it their best treasure; the word that expressed that enjoyment, the most pleasing to their ear. They deserved, they assumed, they maintained the honourable epithet of Franks or Freemen; which concealed, though it did not extinguish, the peculiar names of the several states of the con|federacy 73 1.108. Tacit consent, and mutual advan|tage, dictated the first laws of the union; it was gradually cemented by habit and experience.

The league of the Franks may admit of some comparison with the Helvetic body; in which every canton, retaining its independent sove|reignty, consults with its brethren in the com|mon cause, without acknowledging the autho|rity of any supreme head, or representative assem|bly 74 1.109. But the principle of the two confedera|cies was extremely different. A peace of two hundred years has rewarded the wise and honest policy of the Swiss. An inconstant spirit, the thirst of rapine, and a disregard to the most solemn treaties, disgraced the character of the Franks.

The Romans had long experienced the daring * 1.110 valour of the people of Lower Germany. The union of their strength threatened Gaul with a more formidable invasion, and required the pre|sence of Gallienus, the heir and colleague of Imperial power 75 1.111. Whilst that prince, and his infant son Salonius, displayed, in the court of Treves, the majesty of the empire, its armies were ably conducted by their general Posthumus, who, though he afterwards betrayed the family of Valerian, was ever faithful to the great inte|rest of the monarchy. The treacherous lan|guage of panegyrics and medals darkly announces a long series of victories. Trophies and titles attest (if such evidence can attest) the fame of Posthumus, who is repeatedly styled The conquer|or of the Germans, and the saviour of Gaul 76 1.112.

But a single fact, the only one indeed of which we have any distinct knowledge, erases, in a great measure, these monuments of vanity and adula|tion. * 1.113 The Rhine, though dignified with the title of Safeguard of the provinces, was an imperfect barrier against the daring spirit of enterprise with which the Franks were actuated. Their rapid devastations stretched from the river to the foot of the Pyrenees: nor were they stopped by those mountains. Spain, which had never dreaded, was unable to resist, the inroads of the Germans. During twelve years, the greatest part of the reign of Gallienus, that opulent country was the theatre of unequal and destructive hostilities. Tarragona, the flourishing capital of a peaceful province, was sacked and almost destroyed 77 1.114; and so late as the days of Orosius, who wrote in the fifth century, wretched cottages, scattered amidst the ruins of magnificent cities, still re|corded the rage of the barbarians 78 1.115. When the exhausted country no longer supplied a variety of plunder, the Franks seized on some vessels in the ports of Spain 79 1.116, and transported themselves into Mauritania. The distant province was astonished * 1.117 with the fury of these barbarians, who seemed to

fall from a new world, as their name, manners, and complexion, were equally unknown on the coast of Africa 80 1.118.

II. In that part of Upper Saxony beyond the * 1.119 Elbe, which is at present called the Marquisate of Lusace, there existed, in ancient times, a sacred wood, the awful seat of the superstition of the Suevi. None were permitted to enter the holy precincts, without confessing, by their servile bonds and suppliant posture, the immediate pre|sence of the sovereign Deity 81 1.120. Patriotism con|tributed as well as devotion to consecrate the Sonnenwald, or wood of the Semnones 82 1.121. It was universally believed, that the nation had re|ceived its first existence on that sacred spot. At stated periods, the numerous tribes who gloried in the Suevic blood, resorted thither by their am|bassadors; and the memory of their common ex|traction was perpetuated by barbaric rites and human sacrifices. The wide extended name of Suevi filled the interior countries of Germany, from the banks of the Oder to those of the Da|nube. They were distinguished from the other Germans by their peculiar mode of dressing their long hair, which they gathered into a rude knot on the crown of the head; and they delighted in an ornament that shewed their ranks more lofty and terrible in the eyes of the enemy 83 1.122. Jealous, as the Germans were, of military renown, they

all confessed the superior valour of the Suevi; and the tribes of the Usipetes and Tencteri, who, with a vast army, encountered the dictator Caesar, declared that they esteemed it not a disgrace to have fled before a people, to whose arms the im|mortal gods themselves were unequal 84 1.123.

In the reign of the emperor Caracalla, an in|numerable * 1.124 swarm of Suevi appeared on the banks of the Mein, and in the neighbourhood of the Roman provinces, in quest either of food, of plunder, or of glory 85 1.125. The hasty army of vo|lunteers gradually coalesced into a great and permanent nation, and, as it was composed from so many different tribes, assumed the name of Allemanni, or All-men; to denote at once their various lineage, and their common bravery 86 1.126. The latter was soon felt by the Romans in many a hostile inroad. The Alemanni fought chiefly on horseback; but their cavalry was rendered still more formidable by a mixture of light infantry, selected from the bravest and most active of the youth, whom frequent exercise had enured to ac|company the horseman in the longest march, the most rapid charge, or the most precipitate re|treat 87 1.127.

This warlike people of Germans had been asto|nished by the immense preparations of Alexander Severus, they were dismayed by the arms of his * 1.128 successor, a barbarian equal in valour and fierce|ness to themselves. But still hovering on the frontiers of the empire, they increased the general disorder that ensued after the death of Decius. They inflicted severe wounds on the rich provinces of Gaul: they were the first who removed the veil that covered the feeble majesty of Italy. A nu|merous body of the Alemanni penetrated across the Danube, and through the Rhaetian Alps, into the plains of Lombardy, advanced as far as Ra|venna, and displayed the victorious banners of barbarians almost in sight of Rome 88 1.129. The in|sult and the danger rekindled in the senate some sparks of their ancient virtue. Both the empe|rors * 1.130 were engaged in far distant wars, Valerian in the east, and Gallienus on the Rhine. All the hopes and resources of the Romans were in them|selves. In this emergency, the senators resumed the defence of the republic, drew out the Praeto|rian guards, who had been left to garrison the capital, and filled up their numbers, by inlisting into the public service the stoutest and most wil|ling of the Plebeians. The Alemanni, astonished with the sudden appearance of an army more nu|merous than their own, retired into Germany, laden with spoil; and their retreat was esteemed as a victory by the unwarlike Romans 89 1.131.

When Gallienus received the intelligence that his capital was delivered from the barbarians, he was much less delighted, than alarmed, with the * 1.132 courage of the senate, since it might one day prompt them to rescue the public from domestic tyranny, as well as from foreign invasion. His timid ingratitude was published to his subjects, in an edict which prohibited the senators from ex|ercising any military employment, and even from approaching the camps of the legions. But his fears were groundless. The rich and luxurious nobles, sinking into their natural character, ac|cepted, as a favour, this disgraceful exemption from military service; and as long as they were indulged in the enjoyment of their baths, their theatres, and their villas, they cheerfully resigned the more dangerous cares of empire, to the rough hands of peasants and soldiers 90 1.133.

Another invasion of the Alemanni, of a more * 1.134 formidable aspect, but more glorious event, is mentioned by a writer of the lower empire. Three hundred thousand of that warlike people are said to have been vanquished, in a battle near Milan, by Gallienus in person, at the head of only ten thousand Romans 91 1.135. We may however, with great probability, ascribe this incredible vic|tory, either to the credulity of the historian, or to some exaggerated exploits of one of the em|peror's lieutenants. It was by arms of a very

different nature, that Gallienus endeavoured to protect Italy from the fury of the Germans. He espoused Pipa the daughter of a king of the Mar|comanni, a Suevic tribe, which was often con|founded with the Alemanni in their wars and conquests 92 1.136. To the father, as the price of his alliance, he granted an ample settlement in Pan|nonia. The native charms of unpolished beauty seem to have fixed the daughter in the affections of the inconstant emperor, and the bands of po|licy were more firmly connected by those of love. But the haughty prejudice of Rome still refused the name of marriage, to the profane mixture of a citizen and a barbarian; and has stigmatized the German princess with the opprobrious title of concubine of Gallienus 93 1.137.

III. We have already traced the emigration of * 1.138 the Goths from Scandinavia, or at least from Prussia, to the mouth of the Borysthenes, and have followed their victorious arms from the Bo|rysthenes to the Danube. Under the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, the frontier of the last mentioned river was perpetually infested by the inroads of Germans and Sarmatians; but it was defended by the Romans with more than usual firmness and success. The provinces that were the seat of war, recruited the armies of Rome with an inexhaustible supply of hardy soldiers; and more than one of these Illyrian peasants at|tained

the station, and displayed the abilities, of a general. Though flying parties of the barba|rians, who incessantly hovered on the banks of the Danube, penetrated sometimes to the confines of Italy and Macedonia; their progress was com|monly checked, or their return intercepted, by the Imperial lieutenants 94 1.139. But the great stream of the Gothic hostilities was diverted into a very different channel. The Goths, in their new set|tlement of the Ukraine, soon became masters of the northern coast of the Euxine: to the south of that inland sea, were situated the soft and wealthy provinces of Asia Minor, which possessed all that could attract, and nothing that could resist, a barbarian conqueror.

The banks of the Borysthenes are only sixty * 1.140 miles distant from the narrow entrance 95 1.141 of the peninsula of Crim Tartary, known to the ancients under the name of Chersonesus Taurica 96 1.142. On that inhospitable shore, Euripides, embellishing with exquisite art the tales of antiquity, has placed the scene of one of his most affecting tra|gedies 97 1.143. The bloody sacrifices of Diana, the arrival of Orestes and Pylades, and the triumph of virtue and religion over savage fierceness, serve to represent an historical truth, that the Tauri,

the original inhabitants of the peninsula, were, in some degree, reclaimed from their brutal man|ners, by a gradual intercourse with the Grecian colonies, which settled along the maritime coast. The little kingdom of Bosphorus, whose capital was situated on the Straits, through which the Maeotis communicates itself to the Euxine, was composed of degenerate Greeks, and half-civil|ized barbarians. It subsisted, as an independent state, from the time of the Peloponnesian war 98 1.144, was at last swallowed up by the ambition of Mi|thridates 99 1.145, and, with the rest of his dominions, sunk under the weight of the Roman arms. From the reign of Augustus 100 1.146, the kings of Bosphorus were the humble, but not useless, allies of the empire. By presents, by arms, and by a slight fortification drawn across the Isthmus, they ef|fectually guarded against the roving plunderers of Sarmatia, the access of a country, which, from its peculiar situation and convenient harbours, commanded the Euxine sea and Asia Minor 101 1.147. As long as the sceptre was possessed by a lineal succession of kings, they acquitted themselves of their important charge with vigilance and success. Domestic factions, and the fears, or private in|terest,

of obscure usurpers, who seized on the vacant throne, admitted the Goths into the heart of Bosphorus. With the acquisition of a super|fluous waste of fertile soil, the conquerors ob|tained the command of a naval force, sufficient to transport their armies to the coast of Asia 102 1.148. The ships used in the navigation of the Euxine were of a very singular construction. They were * 1.149 slight flat-bottomed barks framed of timber only, without the least mixture of iron, and occasion|ally covered with a shelving roof, on the appear|ance of a tempest 103 1.150. In these floating houses, the Goths carelessly trusted themselves to the mercy of an unknown sea, under the conduct of sailors pressed into the service, and whose skill and fidelity were equally suspicious. But the hopes of plunder had banished every idea of dan|ger, and a natural fearlessness of temper supplied in their minds the more rational confidence, which is the just result of knowledge and experi|ence. Warriors of such a daring spirit must have often murmured against the cowardice of their guides, who required the strongest assurances of a settled calm before they would venture to em|bark; and would scarcely ever be tempted to lose sight of the land. Such, at least, is the practice of the modern Turks 104 1.151; and they are probably not inferior, in the art of navigation, to the an|cient inhabitants of Bosphorus.

The fleet of the Goths, leaving the coast of Circassia on the left hand, first appeared before Pityus 105 1.152, the utmost limits of the Roman pro|vinces; * 1.153; a city provided with a convenient port and fortified with a strong wall. Here they met with a resistance more obstinate than they had reason to expect from the feeble garrison of a distant fortress. They were repulsed; and their disappointment seemed to diminish the terror of the Gothic name. As long as Successianus, an officer of superior rank and merit, defended that frontier, all their efforts were ineffectual; but as soon as he was removed by Valerian to a more honourable but less important station, they re|sumed the attack of Pityus; and, by the destruc|tion of that city, obliterated the memory of their former disgrace 106 1.154.

Circling round the eastern extremity of the * 1.155 Euxine sea, the navigation from Pityus to Trebi|zond is about three hundred miles 107 1.156. The course of the Goths carried them in sight of the country of Colchis, so famous by the expedition of the Argonauts; and they even attempted, though without success, to pillage a rich temple at the mouth of the river Phasis. Trebizond, celebrated in the retreat of the ten thousand as an ancient colony of Greeks 108 1.157, derived its wealth

and splendour from the munificence of the em|peror Hadrian, who had constructed an artificial port on a coast left destitute by nature of secure harbours 109 1.158. The city was large and populous; a double enclosure of walls seemed to defy the fury of the Goths, and the usual garrison had been strengthened by a reinforcement of ten thou|sand men. But there are not any advantages ca|pable of supplying the absence of discipline and vigilance. The numerous garrison of Trebizond, dissolved in riot and luxury, disdained to guard their impregnable fortifications. The Goths soon discovered the supine negligence of the besieged, erected a lofty pile of fascines, ascended the walls in the silence of the night, and entered the de|fenceless city, sword in hand. A general mas|sacre of the people ensued, whilst the affrighted soldiers escaped through the opposite gates of the town. The most holy temples, and the most splendid edifices, were involved in a common de|struction. The booty that fell into the hands of the Goths was immense: the wealth of the adja|cent countries had been deposited in Trebizond, as in a secure place of refuge. The number of captives was incredible, as the victorious barba|rians ranged without opposition through the ex|tensive province of Pontus 110 1.159. The rich spoils of Trebizond filled a great fleet of ships that had been found in the port. The robust youth of the

sea-coast were chained to the oar; and the Goths, satisfied with the success of their first naval expe|dition, returned in triumph to their new esta|blishments in the kingdom of Bosphorus 111 1.160.

The second expedition of the Goths was un|dertaken * 1.161 with greater powers of men and ships; but they steered a different course, and, disdain|ing the exhausted provinces of Pontus, followed the western coast of the Euxine, passed before the wide mouths of the Borysthenes, the Niester, and the Danube, and increasing their fleet by the cap|ture of a great number of fishing barks, they ap|proached the narrow outlet through which the Euxine sea pours its waters into the Mediterra|nean, and divides the continents of Europe and Asia. The garrison of Chalcedon was encamped near the temple of Jupiter Urius, on a promon|tory that commanded the entrance of the Strait; and so inconsiderable were the dreaded invasions of the barbarians, that this body of troops sur|passed in number the Gothic army. But it was * 1.162 in numbers alone that they surpassed it. They deserted with precipitation their advantageous post, and abandoned the town of Chalcedon, most plentifully stored with arms and money, to the discretion of the conquerors. Whilst they hesi|tated whether they should prefer the sea or land, Europe or Asia, for the scene of their hostilities, a perfidious fugitive pointed out Nicomedia, once the capital of the kings of Bithynia, as a rich and easy conquest. He guided the march, which

was only sixty miles from the camp of Chalce|don 112 1.163, directed the resistless attack, and partook of the booty; for the Goths had learned sufficient policy to reward the traitor, whom they detested. Nice, Prusa, Apaemaea, Cius, cities that had sometimes rivalled, or imitated, the splendour of Nicomedia, were involved in the same calamity, which, in a few weeks, raged without controul through the whole province of Bithynia. Three hundred years of peace, enjoyed by the soft in|habitants of Asia, had abolished the exercise of arms, and removed the apprehension of danger. The ancient walls were suffered to moulder away, and all the revenue of the most opulent cities was reserved for the construction of baths, temples, and theatres 113 1.164.

When the city of Cyzicus withstood the ut|most * 1.165 effort of Mithridates 114 1.166, it was distinguished by wise laws, a naval power of two hundred gal|lies, and three arsenals; of arms, of military en|gines, and of corn 115 1.167. It was still the seat of wealth and luxury; but of its ancient strength, nothing remained except the situation, in a little island of the Propontis, connected with the con|tinent of Asia only by two bridges. From the recent sack of Prusa, the Goths advanced within eighteen miles 116 1.168 of the city, which they had de|voted

to destruction; but the ruin of Cyzicus was delayed by a fortunate accident. The season was rainy, and the lake Apolloniates, the reservoir of all the springs of Mount Olympus, rose to an un|common height. The little river of Rhyndacus, which issues from the lake, swelled into a broad and rapid stream, and stopped the progress of the Goths. Their retreat to the maritime city of Heraclea, where the fleet had probably been sta|tioned, was attended by a long train of waggons, laden with the spoils of Bithynia, and was marked by the flames of Nice and Nicodemia, which they wantonly burnt 117 1.169. Some obscure hints are men|tioned of a doubtful combat that secured their retreat 118 1.170. But even a complete victory would have been of little moment, as the approach of the autumnal equinox summoned them to hasten their return. To navigate the Euxine before the month of May, or after that of September, is esteemed by the modern Turks the most unques|tionable instance of rashness and folly 119 1.171.

When we are informed that the third fleet, * 1.172 equipped by the Goths in the ports of Bosphorus, consisted of five hundred sail of ships 120 1.173, our ready imagination instantly computes and multiplies the formidable armament; but, as we are assured

by the judicious Strabo 121 1.174, that the piratical ves|sels used by the barbarians of Pontus and the Lesser Scythia, were not capable of containing more than twenty-five or thirty men, we may safely affirm, that fifteen thousand warriors, at the most, embarked in this great expedition. Impatient of the limits of the Euxine, they steered their destructive course from the Cimmerian to the Thracian Bosphorus. When they had almost gained the middle of the Straits, they were sud|denly driven back to the entrance of them; till * 1.175 a favourable wind springing up the next day, carried them in a few hours into the placid sea, or rather lake of the Propontis. Their landing on the little island of Cyzicus, was attended with the ruin of that ancient and noble city. From thence issuing again through the narrow passage of the Hellespont, they pursued their winding navigation amidst the numerous islands scattered over the Archipelago, or the Aegean Sea. The assistance of captives and deserters must have been very necessary to pilot their vessels, and to direct their various incursions, as well on the coast of Greece as on that of Asia. At length the Gothic fleet anchored in the port of Piraeus, five miles distant from Athens 122 1.176, which had attempted to make some preparations for a vigorous defence. Cleodamus, one of the engineers employed by the emperor's orders to fortify the maritime cities against the Goths, had already begun to repair the ancient walls fallen to decay since the time of

Sylla. The efforts of his skill were ineffectual, and the barbarians became masters of the native seat of the muses and the arts. But while the conquerors abandoned themselves to the license of plunder and intemperance, their fleet, that lay with a slender guard in the harbour of Piraeus, was unexpectedly attacked by the brave Dexip|pus, who, flying with the engineer Cleodamus from the sack of Athens, collected a hasty band of volunteers, peasants as well as soldiers, and in some measure avenged the calamities of his coun|try 123 1.177.

But this exploit, whatever lustre it might shed on the declining age of Athens, served rather to * 1.178 irritate than to subdue the undaunted spirit of the northern invaders. A general conflagration blazed out at the same time in every district of Greece. Thebes and Argos, Corinth and Sparta, which had formerly waged such memorable wars against each other, were now unable to bring an army into the field, or even to defend their ruin|ed fortifications. The rage of war, both by land and by sea, spread from the eastern point of Sunium to the western coast of Epirus. The Goths had already advanced within sight of Italy, when the approach of such imminent danger awakened the indolent Gallienus from his dream of pleasure. The emperor appeared in arms;

and his presence seems to have checked the ar|dour, and to have divided the strength, of the enemy. Naulobatus, a chief of the Heruli, ac|cepted * 1.179 an honourable capitulation, entered with a large body of his countrymen into the service of Rome, and was invested with the ornaments of the consular dignity, which had never before been profaned by the hands of a barbarian 124 1.180. Great numbers of the Goths, disgusted with the perils and hardships of a tedious voyage, broke into Maesia, with a design of forcing their way over the Danube to their settlements in the Ukraine. The wild attempt would have proved inevitable destruction, if the discord of the Roman generals had not opened to the barbarians the means of an escape 125 1.181. The small remainder of this destroying host returned on board their ves|sels; and measuring back their way through the Hellespont and the Bosphorus, ravaged in their passage the shores of Troy, whose fame, immor|talized by Homer, will probably survive the me|mory of the Gothic conquests. As soon as they found themselves in safety within the bason of the Euxine, they landed at Anchialus in Thrace, near the foot of Mount Haemus; and, after all their toils, indulged themselves in the use of those pleasant and salutary hot baths. What remained

of the voyage was a short and easy navigation 126 1.182. Such was the various fate of this third and greatest of their naval enterprises. It may seem difficult to conceive, how the original body of fifteen thousand warriors could sustain the losses and di|visions of so bold an adventure. But as their numbers were gradually wasted by the sword, by shipwrecks, and by the influence of a warm cli|mate, they were pepetually renewed by troops of banditti and deserters, who flocked to the stand|ard of plunder, and by a crowd of fugitive slaves, often of German or Sarmatian extraction, who eagerly seized the glorious opportunity of free|dom and revenge. In these expeditions, the Go|thic nation claimed a superior share of honour and danger; but the tribes that fought under the Gothic banners, are sometimes distinguished and sometimes confounded in the imperfect histories of that age; and as the barbarian fleets seemed to issue from the mouth of the Tanais, the vague but familiar appellation of Scythians was fre|quently bestowed on the mixt multitude 127 1.183.

In the general calamities of mankind, the death * 1.184 of an individual, however exalted, the ruin of an edifice, however famous, are passed over with careless inattention. Yet we cannot forget that the temple of Diana at Ephesus, after having risen with increasing splendour from seven re|peated

misfortunes 128 1.185, was finally burnt by the Goths in their third naval invasion. The arts of Greece, and the wealth of Asia, had conspired to erect that sacred and magnificent structure. It was supported by an hundred and twenty-seven marble columns of the Ionic order. They were the gifts of devout monarchs, and each was sixty feet high. The altar was adorned with the mas|terly sculptures of Praxiteles, who had, perhaps, selected from the favourite legends of the place the birth of the divine children of Latona, the concealment of Apollo after the slaughter of the Cyclops, and the clemency of Bacchus to the vanquished Amazons 129 1.186. Yet the length of the temple of Ephesus was only four hundred and twenty-five feet, about two-thirds of the measure of the church of St. Peter's at Rome 130 1.187. In the other dimensions, it was still more inferior to that sublime production of modern architecture. The spreading arms of a Christian cross require a much greater breadth than the oblong temples of the Pagans; and the boldest artists of anti|quity would have been startled at the proposal of raising in the air a dome of the size and propor|tions of the pantheon. The temple of Diana was, however, admired as one of the wonders of the world. Successive empires, the Persian, the

Macedonian, and the Roman, had revered its sanctity, and enriched its splendour 131 1.188. But the rude savages of the Baltic were destitute of a taste for the elegant arts, and they despised the ideal terrors of a foreign superstition 132 1.189.

Another circumstance is related of these inva|sions, * 1.190 which might deserve our notice, were it not justly to be suspected as the fanciful conceit of a recent sophist. We are told, that in the sack of Athens the Goths had collected all the libraries, and were on the point of setting fire to this funeral pile of Grecian learning, had not one of their chiefs, of more refined policy than his brethren, dissuaded them from the design; by the profound observation, that as long as the Greeks were addicted to the study of books, they would never apply themselves to the exer|cise of arms 133 1.191. The sagacious counsellor (should the truth of the fact be admitted) reasoned like an ignorant barbarian. In the most polite and powerful nations, genius of every kind has dis|played itself about the same period; and the age of science has generally been the age of military virtue and success.

IV. The new sovereigns of Persia, Artaxerxes and his son Sapor, had triumphed (as we have already seen) over the house of Arsaces. Of the * 1.192 many princes of that ancient race, Chosroes, king of Armenia, had alone preserved both his life and his independence. He defended him|self by the natural strength of his country; by the perpetual resort of fugitives and malecon|tents; by the alliance of the Romans, and, above all, by his own courage. Invincible in arms, during a thirty years war, he was at length assas|sinated by the emissaries of Sapor king of Persia. The patriotic satraps of Armenia, who asserted the freedom and dignity of the crown, implored the protection of Rome in favour of Tiridates the lawful heir. But the son of Chosroes was an infant, the allies were at a distance, and the Per|sian monarch advanced towards the frontier at the head of an irresistible force. Young Tiri|dates, the future hope of his country, was saved by the fidelity of a servant, and Armenia con|tinued above twenty-seven years a reluctant pro|vince of the great monarchy of Persia 134 1.193. Elat|ed with this easy conquest, and presuming on the distresses or the degeneracy of the Romans, Sapor obliged the strong garrisons of Carrhae and Nisibis to surrender, and spread devastation and terror on either side of the Euphrates.

The loss of an important frontier, the ruin of a faithful and natural ally, and the rapid success of Sapor's ambition, affected Rome with a deep * 1.194 sense of the insult as well as of the danger. Va|lerian flattered himself, that the vigilance of his lieutenants would sufficiently provide for the safety of the Rhine and of the Danube; but he resolved, notwithstanding his advanced age, to march in person to the defence of the Euphrates. During his progress through Asia Minor, the naval enterprises of the Goths were suspended, and the afflicted province enjoyed a transient and fallacious calm. He passed the Euphrates, en|countered the Persian monarch near the walls of Edessa, was vanquished and taken prisoner by Sapor. The particulars of this great event are * 1.195 darkly and imperfectly represented; yet, by the glimmering light which is afforded us, we may discover a long series of imprudence, of error, and of deserved misfortunes on the side of the Roman emperor. He reposed an implicit con|fidence in Macrianus, his Praetorian praefect 135 1.196. That worthless minister rendered his master for|midable only to the oppressed subjects, and con|temptible to the enemies of Rome 136 1.197. By his weak or wicked counsels, the Imperial army was betrayed into a situation, where valour and mili|tary skill were equally unavailing 137 1.198. The vi|gorous attempt of the Romans to cut their way through the Persian host was repulsed with great

slaughter 138 1.199; and Sapor, who encompassed the camp with superior numbers, patiently waited till the increasing rage of famine and pestilence had ensured his victory. The licentious mur|murs of the legions soon accused Valerian as the cause of their calamities; their seditious clamours demanded an instant capitulation. An immense sum of gold was offered to purchase the permis|sion of a disgraceful retreat. But the Persian, conscious of his superiority, refused the money with disdain; and detaining the deputies, ad|vanced in order of battle to the foot of the Ro|man rampart, and insisted on a personal confer|ence with the emperor. Valerian was reduced to the necessity of intrusting his life and dignity to the faith of an enemy. The interview ended as it was natural to expect. The emperor was made a prisoner, and his astonished troops laid down their arms 139 1.200. In such a moment of tri|umph, the pride and policy of Sapor prompted him to fill the vacant throne with a successor entirely dependent on his pleasure. Cyriades, an obscure fugitive of Antioch, stained with every vice, was chosen to dishonour the Roman purple; and the will of the Persian victor could not fail of being ratified by the acclamations, however reluctant, of the captive army 140 1.201.

The imperial slave was eager to secure the favour of his master, by an act of treason to his native country. He conducted Sapor over the * 1.202 Euphrates, and by the way of Chalcis to the metropolis of the East. So rapid were the mo|tions of the Persian cavalry, that, if we may credit a very judicious historian 141 1.203, the city of Antioch was surprised when the idle multitude was fondly gazing on the amusements of the theatre. The splendid buildings of Antioch, private as well as public, were either pillaged or destroyed; and the numerous inhabitants were put to the sword, or led away into captivity 142 1.204. The tide of devastation was stopped for a moment by the resolution of the high priest of Emesa. Arrayed in his sacerdotal robes, he appeared at the head of a great body of fanatic peasants, armed only with slings, and defended his god and his property from the sacrilegious hands of the followers of Zoroaster 143 1.205. But the ruin of Tar|sus, and of many other cities, furnishes a melan|choly proof that, except in this singular instance, the conquest of Syria and Cilicia scarcely inter|rupted the progress of the Persian arms. The advantages of the narrow passes of mount Tau|rus were abandoned, in which an invader, whose principal force consisted in his cavalry, would have been engaged in a very unequal combat:

and Sapor was permitted to form the sie geof Caesarea, the capital of Cappadocia; a city, though of the second rank, which was supposed to contain four hundred thousand inhabitants. Demosthenes commanded in the place, not so much by the commission of the emperor, as in the voluntary defence of his country. For a long time he deferred its fate; and, when at last Caesarea was betrayed by the perfidy of a phy|sician, he cut his way through the Persians, who had been ordered to exert their utmost diligence to take him alive. This heroic chief escaped the power of a foe, who might either have ho|noured or punished his obstinate valour; but many thousands of his fellow-citizens were in|volved in a general massacre, and Sapor is accused of treating his prisoners with wanton and unrelent|ing cruelty 144 1.206. Much should undoubtedly be allowed for national animosity, much for hum|bled pride and impotent revenge; yet, upon the whole, it is certain, that the same prince, who, in Armenia, had displayed the mild aspect of a legislator, shewed himself to the Romans under the stern features of a conqueror. He despaired of making any permanent establishment in the empire, and sought only to leave behind him a wasted desert, whilst he transported into Persia the people and the treasures of the provinces 145 1.207.

At the time when the East trembled at the name of Sapor, he received a present not unwor|thy of the greatest kings; a long train of camels * 1.208 laden with the most rare and valuable merchan|dises. The rich offering was accompanied with an epistle, respectful but not servile, from Ode|nathus, one of the noblest and most opulent senators of Palmyra.

Who is this Odenathus (said the haughty Victor, and he commanded that the presents should be cast into the Eu|phrates), that he thus insolently presumes to write to his lord? If he entertains a hope of mitigating his punishment, let him fall pro|strate before the foot of our throne with his hands bound behind his back. Should he hesitate, swift destruction shall be poured on his head, on his whole race, and on his coun|try 146 1.209.

The desperate extremity to which the Palmyrenian was reduced, called into action all the latent powers of his soul. He met Sapor; but he met him in arms. Infusing his own spi|rit into a little army collected from the villages of Syria 147 1.210, and the tents of the desert 148 1.211, he hovered round the Persian host, harassed their retreat, carried off part of the treasure, and, what was dearer than any treasure, several of the

women of the Great King; who was at last obliged to repass the Euphrates with some marks of haste and confusion 149 1.212. By this exploit, Ode|nathus laid the foundations of his future fame and fortunes. The majesty of Rome, oppressed by a Persian, was protected by a Syrian or Arab of Palmyra.

The voice of history, which is often little * 1.213 more than the organ of hatred or flattery, re|proaches Sapor with a proud abuse of the rights of conquest. We are told that Valerian, in chains, but invested with the Imperial purple, was exposed to the multitude, a constant spectacle of fallen greatness; and that whenever the Per|sian monarch mounted on horseback, he placed his foot on the neck of a Roman emperor. Notwithstanding all the remonstrances of his al|lies, who repeatedly advised him to remember the vicissitude of fortune, to dread the returning power of Rome, and to make his illustrious cap|tive the pledge of peace, not the object of insult, Sapor still remained inflexible. When Valerian sunk under the weight of shame and grief, his skin, stuffed with straw, and formed into the likeness of a human figure, was preserved for ages in the most celebrated temple of Persia; a more real monument of triumph, than the fan|cied trophies of brass and marble so often erected by Roman vanity 150 1.214. The tale is moral and

pathetic, but the truth of it may very fairly be called in question. The letters still extant from the princes of the East to Sapor, are manifest forgeries 151 1.215; nor is it natural to suppose that a jealous monarch should, even in the person of a rival, thus publicly degrade the majesty of kings. Whatever treatment the unfortunate Valerian might experience in Persia, it is at least certain, that the only emperor of Rome who had ever fallen into the hands of the enemy, languished away his life in hopeless captivity.

The emperor Gallienus, who had long sup|ported * 1.216 with impatience the censorial severity of his father and colleague, received the intelligence of his misfortunes with secret pleasure and avow|ed indifference.

I knew that my father was a mortal, said he, and since he has acted as becomes a brave man, I am satisfied.

Whilst Rome lamented the fate of her sovereign, the savage coldness of his son was extolled by the servile courtiers, as the perfect firmness of a hero and a stoic 152 1.217. It is difficult to paint the light, the various, the inconstant character of Gallienus, which he displayed without constraint, as soon as he became sole possessor of the empire. In every art that he attempted, his lively genius

enabled him to succeed; and as his genius was destitute of judgment, he attempted every art, except the important ones of war and govern|ment. He was a master of several curious but useless sciences, a ready orator, and elegant poet 153 1.218, a skilful gardener, an excellent cook, and most contemptible prince. When the great emergencies of the state required his presence and attention, he was engaged in conversation with the philosopher Plotinus 154 1.219, wasting his time in trifling or licentious pleasures, preparing his initiation to the Grecian mysteries, or soliciting a place in the Areopagus of Athens. His pro|fuse magnificence insulted the general poverty; the solemn ridicule of his triumphs impressed a deeper sense of the public disgrace 155 1.220. The

repeated intelligence of invasions, defeats, and rebellions, he received with a careless smile; and singling out, with affected contempt, some particular production of the lost province, he carelessly asked, whether Rome must be ruined, unless it was supplied with linen from Egypt, and Arras cloth from Gaul? There were, how|ever, a few short moments in the life of Gallienus, when, exasperated by some recent injury, he suddenly appeared the intrepid soldier, and the cruel tyrant; till satiated with blood, or fatigued by resistance, he insensibly sunk into the natural mildness and indolence of his character 156 1.221.

At a time when the reins of government were * 1.222 held with so loose a hand, it is not surprising, that a crowd of usurpers should start up in every province of the empire against the son of Vale|rian. It was probably some ingenious fancy, of comparing the thirty tyrants of Rome with the thirty tyrants of Athens, that induced the wri|ters of the Augustan history to select that cele|brated number, which has been gradually receiv|ed into a popular appellation 157 1.223. But in every light the parallel is idle and defective. What resemblance can we discover between a council

of thirty persons, the united oppressors of a sin|gle city, and an uncertain list of independent rivals, who rose and fell in irregular succession through the extent of a vast empire? Nor can the number of thirty be completed, unless we include in the account the women and children who were honoured with the Imperial title. The reign of Gallienus, distracted as it was, produced only nineteen pretenders to the throne; Cyriades * 1.224, Macrianus, Balista, Odenathus, and Zenobia in the east; in Gaul, and the western provinces, Posthumus, Lollianus, Victorinus and his mo|ther Victoria, Marius, and Tetricus. In Illyricum and the confines of the Danube, Ingenuus, Re|gillianus, and Aureolus; in Pontus 158 1.225, Satur|ninus; in Isauria, Trebellianus; Piso in Thes|saly; Valens in Achaia; Aemilianus in Egypt; and Celsus in Africa. To illustrate the obscure monuments of the life and death of each indi|vidual, would prove a laborious task, alike bar|ren of instruction and of amusement. We may content ourselves with investigating some general characters, that most strongly mark the condition of the times, and the manners of the men, their pretensions, their motives, their fate, and the destructive consequences of their usurpation 159 1.226.

It is sufficiently known, that the odious appel|lation * 1.227 of Tyrant was often employed by the an|cients to express the illegal seizure of supreme

power, without any reference to the abuse of it. Several of the pretenders, who raised the stand|ard of rebellion against the emperor Gallienus, were shining models of virtue, and almost all possessed a considerable share of vigour and abi|lity. Their merit had recommended them to the favour of Valerian, and gradually promoted them to the most important commands of the empire. The generals, who assumed the title of Augustus, were either respected by their troops for their able conduct and severe discipline, or admired for valour and success in war, or beloved for frankness and generosity. The field of victory was often the scene of their election; and even the armourer Marius, the most contemptible of all the candidates for the purple, was distinguish|ed however by intrepid courage, matchless strength, and blunt honesty 160 1.228. His mean and recent trade cast indeed an air of ridicule on his elevation; but his birth could not be more ob|scure * 1.229 than was that of the greater part of his rivals, who were born of peasants, and inlisted in the army as private soldiers. In times of confusion, every active genius finds the place assigned him by Nature: in a general state of war, military merit is the road to glory and to greatness. Of the nineteen tyrants, Tetricus only was a senator; Piso alone was a noble. The blood of Numa, through twenty-eight suc|cessive generations, ran in the veins of Calphur|nius

Piso 161 1.230, who, by female alliances, claimed a right of exhibiting, in his house, the images of Crassus and of the great Pompey 162 1.231. His an|cestors had been repeatedly dignified with all the honours which the commonwealth could bestow; and of all the ancient families of Rome, the Cal|phurnian alone had survived the tyranny of the Caesars. The personal qualities of Piso added new lustre to his race. The usurper Valens, by whose order he was killed, confessed, with deep remorse, that even an enemy ought to have respected the sanctity of Piso; and although he died in arms against Gallienus, the senate, with the em|peror's generous permission, decreed the tri|umphal ornaments to the memory of so virtuous a rebel 163 1.232.

The lieutenants of Valerian were grateful to * 1.233 the father, whom they esteemed. They dis|dained to serve the luxurious indolence of his unworthy son. The throne of the Roman world was unsupported by any principle of loyalty; and treason, against such a prince, might easily be considered as patriotism to the state. Yet if we examine with candour the conduct of these

usurpers, it will appear, that they were much oftener driven into rebellion by their fears, than urged to it by their ambition. They dreaded the cruel suspicions of Gallienus; they equally dreaded the capricious violence of their troops. If the dangerous favour of the army had im|prudently declared them deserving of the purple, they were marked for sure destruction; and even prudence would counsel them, to secure a short enjoyment of empire, and rather to try the for|tune of war, than to expect the hand of an exe|cutioner. When the clamour of the soldiers in|vested the reluctant victims with the ensigns of sovereign authority, they sometimes mourned in secret their approaching fate.

You have lost, said Saturninus, on the day of his elevation, you have lost a useful commander, and you have made a very wretched emperor 164 1.234.

The apprehensions of Saturninus were justified * 1.235 by the repeated experience of revolutions. Of the nineteen tyrants who started up under the reign of Gallienus, there was not one who en|joyed a life of peace, or a natural death. As soon as they were invested with the bloody pur|ple, they inspired their adherents with the same fears and ambition which had occasioned their own revolt. Encompassed with domestic con|spiracy, military sedition, and civil war, they trembled on the edge of precipices, in which, after a longer or shorter term of anxiety, they were inevitably lost. These precarious monarchs

received, however, such honours, as the flattery of their respective armies and provinces could bestow; but their claim, founded on rebellion, could never obtain the sanction of law or history. Italy, Rome, and the senate, constantly adhered to the cause of Gallienus, and he alone was con|sidered as the sovereign of the empire. That prince condescended indeed to acknowledge the victorious arms of Odenathus, who deserved the honourable distinction, by the respectful conduct which he always maintained towards the son of Valerian. With the general applause of the Ro|mans, and the consent of Gallienus, the senate conferred the title of Augustus on the brave Palmyrenian; and seemed to intrust him with the government of the East, which he already pos|sessed, in so independent a manner, that, like a private succession, he bequeathed it to his illus|trious widow Zenobia 165 1.236.

The rapid and perpetual transitions from the * 1.237 cottage to the throne, and from the throne to the grave, might have amused an indifferent philosopher; were it possible for a philosopher to remain indifferent amidst the general cala|mities of human kind. The election of these precarious emperors, their power and their death, were equally destructive to their subjects and ad|herents. The price of their fatal elevation was instantly discharged to the troops, by an immense donative, drawn from the bowels of the exhausted

people. However virtuous was their character however pure their intentions, they found them|selves reduced to the hard necessity of supporting their usurpation by frequent acts of rapine and cruelty. When they fell, they involved armies and provinces in their fall. There is still extant a most savage mandate from Gallienus to one of his ministers, after the suppression of Ingenuus, who had assumed the purple in Illyricum.

It is not enough, says that soft but inhuman prince, that you exterminate such as have ap|peared in arms: the chance of battle might have served me as effectually. The male sex of every age must be extirpated; provided that, in the execution of the children and old men, you can contrive means to save our reputation. Let every one die who has dropt an expression, who has entertained a thought against me, against me, the son of Valerian, the father and brother of so many princes 166 1.238. Remember that Ingenuus was made emperor: tear, kill, hew in pieces. I write to you with my own hand, and would inspire you with my own feelings 167 1.239.

Whilst the public forces of the state were dissipated in private quarrels,

the defenceless provinces lay exposed to every invader. The bravest usurpers were compelled, by the perplexity of their situation, to conclude ignominious treaties with the common enemy, to purchase with oppressive tributes the neutrality or services of the barbarians, and to introduce hostile and independent nations into the heart of the Roman monarchy 168 1.240.

Such were the barbarians, and such the tyrants, who, under the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, dismembered the provinces, and reduced the empire to the lowest pitch of disgrace and ruin, from whence it seemed impossible that it should ever emerge. As far as the barrenness of mate|rials would permit, we have attempted to trace, with order and perspicuity, the general events of that calamitous period. There still remain some particular facts; I. The disorders of Sicily; II. The tumults of Alexandria; and, III. The rebellion of the Isaurians, which may serve to reflect a strong light on the horrid picture.

I. Whenever numerous troops of banditti, * 1.241 multiplied by success and impunity, publicly defy, instead of eluding the justice of their country, we may safely infer, that the excessive weakness of the government is felt and abused by the lowest ranks of the community. The situation of Sicily preserved it from the barba|rians; nor could the disarmed province have supported an usurper. The sufferings of that

once flourishing and still fertile island, were in|flicted by baser hands. A licentious crowd of slaves and peasants reigned for a while over the plundered country, and renewed the memory of the servile wars of more ancient times 169 1.242. De|vastations, of which the husbandman was either the victim or the accomplice, must have ruined the agriculture of Sicily; and as the principal estates were the property of the opulent senators of Rome, who often enclosed within a farm the territory of an old republic, it is not improbable, that this private injury might affect the capital more deeply, than all the conquests of the Goths or the Persians.

II. The foundation of Alexandria was a noble * 1.243 design, at once conceived and executed by the son of Philip. The beautiful and regular form of that great city, second only to Rome itself, comprehended a circumference of fifteen miles 170 1.244; it was peopled by three hundred thousand free inhabitants, besides at least an equal number of slaves 171 1.245. The lucrative trade of Arabia and India flowed through the port of Alexandria to the capital and provinces of the empire. Idleness was unknown. Some were employed in blowing of glass, others in weaving of linen, others again manufacturing the papyrus. Either sex, and every age, was engaged in the pursuits of indus|try, nor did even the blind or the lame want

occupations suited to their condition 172 1.246. But the people of Alexandria, a various mixture of na|tions, united the vanity and inconstancy of the Greeks, with the superstition and obstinacy of the Egyptians. The most trifling occasion, a tran|sient scarcity of flesh or lentils, the neglect of an accustomed salutation, a mistake of precedency in the public baths, or even a religious dispute 173 1.247, were at any time sufficient to kindle a sedition among that vast multitude, whose resentments were furious and implacable 174 1.248. After the cap|tivity of Valerian and the insolence of his son had relaxed the authority of the laws, the Alexan|drians abandoned themselves to the ungoverned rage of their passions, and their unhappy country was the theatre of a civil war, which continued (with a few short and suspicious truces) above twelve years 175 1.249. All intercourse was cut off be|tween the several quarters of the afflicted city, every street was polluted with blood, every build|ing of strength converted into a citadel; nor did the tumults subside, till a considerable part of Alexandria was irretrievably ruined. The spa|cious and magnificent district of Bruchion, with its palaces and musaeum, the residence of the

kings and philosophers of Egypt, is described above a century afterwards, as already reduced to its present state of dreary solitude 176 1.250.

III. The obscure rebellion of Trebellianus, * 1.251 who assumed the purple in Isauria, a petty pro|vince of Asia Minor, was attended with strange and memorable consequences. The pageant of royalty was soon destroyed by an officer of Gal|lienus; but his followers; despairing of mercy, resolved to shake off their allegiance, not only to the emperor, but to the empire, and suddenly returned to the savage manners, from which they had never perfectly been reclaimed. Their crag|gy rocks, a branch of the wide-extended Taurus, protected their inaccessible retreat. The tillage of some fertile vallies 177 1.252 supplied them with necessaries, and a habit of rapine with the luxu|ries of life. In the heart of the Roman mo|narchy, the Isaurians long continued a nation of wild barbarians. Succeeding princes, unable to reduce them to obedience either by arms or po|licy, were compelled to acknowledge their weak|ness, by surrounding the hostile and indepen|dent spot, with a strong chain of fortifications 178 1.253, which often proved insufficient to restrain the incursions of these domestic foes. The Isau|rians, gradually extending their territory to the sea-coast, subdued the western and mountainous part of Cilicia, formerly the nest of those daring

pirates, against whom the republic had once been obliged to exert its utmost force, under the conduct of the great Pompey 179 1.254.

Our habits of thinking so fondly connect the * 1.255 order of the universe with the fate of man, that this gloomy period of history has been decorated with inundations, earthquakes, uncommon me|teors, preternatural darkness, and a crowd of prodigies fictitious or exaggerated 180 1.256. But a long and general famine was a calamity of a more serious kind. It was the inevitable consequence of rapine and oppression, which extirpated the produce of the present, and the hope of future harvests. Famine is almost always followed by epidemical diseases, the effect of scanty and un|wholesome food. Other causes must however have contributed to the furious plague, which, from the year two hundred and fifty, to the year two hundred and sixty-five, raged without inter|ruption in every province, every city, and almost every family, of the Roman empire. During some time five thousand persons died daily in Rome; and many towns, that had escaped the hands of the barbarians, were entirely depopu|lated 181 1.257.

We have the knowledge of a very curious cir|cumstance, * 1.258 of some use perhaps in the melan|choly

calculation of human calamities. An ex|act register was kept at Alexandria, of all the citizens entitled to receive the distribution of corn. It was found, that the ancient number of those comprised between the ages of forty and seventy, had been equal to the whole sum of claimants, from fourteen to fourscore years of age, who remained alive after the reign of Gal|lienus 182 1.259. Applying this authentic fact to the most correct tables of mortality, it evidently proves, that above half the people of Alexan|dria had perished; and could we venture to ex|tend the analogy to the other provinces, we might suspect, that war, pestilence, and famine, had consumed, in a few years, the moiety of the human species 183 1.260.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The nature of the sub|ject. A. D. 248—268.
• * 1.2

  The empe|ror Philip.
• 1 1.3

  The expression used by Zosimus and Zonaras may signify that Marinus commanded a century, a cohort, or a legion.
• * 1.4

  Services, revolt, vic|tory, and reign of the empe|ror Decius. A. D. 249.
• 2 1.5

  His birth at Bubalia, a little village in Pannonia (Eutrop. ix. Victor. in Caesarib. et Epitom.), seems to contradict, unless it was merely accidental, his supposed descent from the Decii. Six hun|dred years had bestowed nobility on the Decii; but at the com|mencement of that period, they were only Plebeians of merit, and among the first who shared the consulship with the haughty Patri|cians. Plebeiae Deciorum animae, &c. Juvenal, Sat. viii. 254. See the spirited speech of Decius, in Livy, x. 9, 10.
• 3 1.6

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 20. Zonaras, l. xii. p. 624. Edit. Louvre.
• * 1.7

  He march|es against the Goths. A. D. 250.
• * 1.8

  Origin of the Goths from Scan|dinavia.
• 4 1.9

  See the prefaces of Cassiodorus and Jornandes: it is surprising that the latter should be omitted in the excellent edition published by Grotius, of the Gothic writers.
• 5 1.10

  On the authority of Ablavius, Jornandes quotes some old Go|thic chronicles in verse. De Reb. Geticis, c. 4.
• 6 1.11

  Jornandes, c. 3.
• 7 1.12

  See in the Prolegomena of Grotius some large extracts from Adam of Bremen, and Saxo-Grammaticus. The former wrote in the year 1077, the latter flourished about the year 1200.
• 8 1.13

  Voltaire, Histoire de Charles XII. l. iii. When the Austrians desired the aid of the court of Rome against Gustavus Adolphus, they always represented that conqueror as the lineal successor of Alaric. Harte's History of Gustavus, vol. ii. p. 123.
• * 1.14

  Religion of the Goths.
• 9 1.15

  See Adam of Bremen in Grotii Prolegomenis, p. 104. The temple of Upsal was destroyed by Ingo king of Sweden, who began his reign in the year 1075, and about fourscore years afterwards a Christian cathedral was erected on its ruins. See Dalin's History of Sweden, in the Bibliotheque Raisonnèe.
• * 1.16

  Institu|tions and death of Odin.
• 10 1.17

  Mallet, Introduction à l'Histoire du Dannemarc.
• * 1.18

  Agreeable but uncer|tain hypo|thesis con|cerning Odin.
• 11 1.19

  Mallet, c. iv. p. 55, has collected from Strabo, Pliny, Pto|lemy, and Stephanus Byzantinus, the vestiges of such a city and people.
• 12 1.20

  This wonderful expedition of Odin, which, by deducing the enmity of the Goths and Romans from so memorable a cause, might supply the noble groundwork of an Epic poem, cannot safely be received as authentic history. According to the obvious sense of the Edda, and the interpretation of the most skilful critics, As-gard, instead of denoting a real city of the Asiatic Sarmatia, is the ficti|tious appellation of the mystic abode of the gods, the Olympus of Scandinavia; from whence the prophet was supposed to descend, when he announced his new religion to the Gothic nations, who were already seated in the southern parts of Sweden.
• * 1.21

  Emigra|tion of the Goths from Scan|dinavia into Prus|sia.
• 13 1.22

  Tacit. Germania, c. 44.
• 14 1.23

  Tacit. Annal. ii. 62. If we could yield a firm assent to the navigations of Pytheas of Marseilles, we must allow that the Goths had passed the Baltic at least three hundred years before Christ.
• 15 1.24

  Ptolemy, l. ii.
• 16 1.25

  By the German colonies who followed the arms of the Teu|tonic knights. The conquest and conversion of Prussia were com|pleted by those adventurers in the xiiith century.
• 17 1.26

  Pliny (Hist. Natur. iv. 14.), and Procopius (in Bell. Vandal. ••i. c. 1.) agree in this opinion. They lived in distant ages, and possessed different means of investigating the truth.
• 18 1.27

  The Ostro and Visi, the eastern and western Goths obtained those denominations from their original seats in Scandinavia. In all their future marches and settlements they preserved, with their names, the same relative situation. When they first departed from Sweden, the infant colony was contained in three vessels. The third being a heavy sailer lagged behind, and the crew, which afterwards swelled into a nation, received from that circumstance the appellation of Gepidae or Loiterers. Jornandes, c. 17.
• * 1.28

  From Prussia to the Uk|raine.
• 19 1.29

  See a fragment of Peter Patricius in the Excerpta Legationum; and with regard to its probable date, see Tillemont, Hist. des Em|pereurs, tom. iii. p. 346.
• 20 1.30

  Omnium harum gentium insigne, rotunda scuta, breves gladii, et erga reges obsequium. Tacit. Germania, c. 43. The Goths probably acquired their iron by the commerce of amber.
• 21 1.31

  Jornandes, c. 13, 14.
• * 1.32

  The Go|thic nation increases in its march.
• 22 1.33

  The Heruli, and the Uregundi or Burgundi, are particularly mentioned. See Mascou's History of the Germans, l. v. A pas|sage in the Augustan History, p. 28, seems to allude to this great emigration. The Marcomannic war was partly occasioned by the pressure of barbarous tribes, who fled before the arms of more northern barbarians.
• 23 1.34

  D'Anville, Geographie Ancienne, and the third part of his incomparable map of Europe.
• 24 1.35

  Tacit. Germania, c. 46.
• 25 1.36

  Cluver. Germ. Antiqua, l. iii. c. 43.
• 26 1.37

  The Venedi, the Slavi, and the Antes, were the three great tribes of the same people. Jornandes, c. 24.
• * 1.38

  Distinction of Ger|mans and Sarma|tians.
• 27 1.39

  Tacitus most assuredly deserves that title, and even his cau|tious suspense is a proof of his dilligent inquiries.
• * 1.40

  Descrip|tion of the Ukraine.
• 28 1.41

  Genealogical History of the Tartars, p. 593. Mr. Bell (vol. ii. p. 379.) traversed the Ukraine in his journey from Petersburgh to Constantinople. The modern face of the country is a just repre|sentation of the ancient, since, in the hands of the Cossacks, it still remains in a state of nature.
• * 1.42

  The Goths invade the Roman provinces.
• 29 1.43

  In the sixteenth chapter of Jornandes, instead of secundo Mae|siam, we may venture to substitute secundam, the second Maesia, of which Marcianopolis was certainly the capital (see Hierocles de Provinciis, and Wesseling ad locum, p. 636. Itinerar.). It is sur|prising how this palpable error of the scribe could escape the judicious correction of Grotius.
• * 1.44

  Various events of the Gothic war. A. D. 250.
• 30 1.45

  The place is still called Nicop. The little stream, on whose banks it stood, falls into the Danube. D'Anville, Geographie An|cienne, tom. i. p. 307.
• 31 1.46

  Stephan. Byzant. de Urbibus, p. 740. Wesseling Itinerar. p. 136. Zonaras, by an odd mistake, ascribes the foundation of Philippopolis to the immediate predecessor of Decius.
• 32 1.47

  Ammian. xxxi. 5.
• 33 1.48

  Aurel. Victor. c. 29.
• 34 1.49

  Victoriae Carpicae, on some medals of Decius, insinuate these advantages.
• 35 1.50

  Claudius (who afterwards reigned with so much glory) was posted in the pass of Thermopylae with 200 Dardanians, 100 heavy and 160 light horse, 60 Cretan archers, and 1000 well-armed re|cruits. See an original letter from the emperor to his officer, in the Augustan History, p. 200.
• 36 1.51

  Jornandes, c. 16—18. Zosimus, l. i. p. 22. In the general account of this war, it is easy to discover the opposite prejudices of the Gothic and the Grecian writer. In carelessness alone they are alike.
• * 1.52

  Decius re|vives the office of censor in the person of Valeri|an.
• 37 1.53

  Montesquieu, Grandeur et Decadence des Romains, c. viii. He illustrates the nature and use of the censorship with his usual in|genuity, and with uncommon precision.
• 38 1.54

  Vespasian and Titus were the last censors (Pliny Hist. Natur. vii. 49. Censorinus de Die Natali). The modesty of Trajan re|fused an honour which he deserved, and his example became a law to the Antonines. See Pliny's Panegyric, c. 45 and 60.
• * 1.55

  A. D. 251. 27th Octo|ber.
• 39 1.56

  Yet in spite of this exemption Pompey appeared before that tribunal, during his consulship. The occasion indeed was equally singular and honourable. Plutarch in Pomp. p. 630.
• 40 1.57

  See the original speech, in the Augustan Hist. p. 173, 174.
• * 1.58

  The design impracti|cable and without effect.
• 41 1.59

  This transaction might deceive Zonaras, who supposes that Valerian was actually declared the colleague of Decius, l. xii. p. 625.
• 42 1.60

  Hist. August. p. 174. The emperor's reply is omitted.
• 43 1.61

  Such as the attempts of Augustus towards a reformation of manners. Tacit. Annal. iii. 24.
• * 1.62

  Defeat and death of Decius and his son.
• 44 1.63

  Tillemont, Histoire des Empereurs, tom. iii. p. 598. As Zo|simus and some of his followers mistake the Danube for the Tanais, they place the field of battle in the plains of Scythia.
• 45 1.64

  Aurelius Victor allows two distinct actions for the deaths of the two Decii; but I have preferred the account of Jornandes.
• 46 1.65

  I have ventured to copy from Tacitus (Annal. i. 64.) the pic|ture of a similar engagement between a Roman army and a German tribe.
• 47 1.66

  Jornandes, c. 18. Zosimus, l. i. p. 22. Zonaras, l. xii. p. 627. Aurelius Victor.
• 48 1.67

  The Decii were killed before the end of the year two hundred and fifty..one, since the new princes took possession of the consulship on the ensuing calends of January.
• 49 1.68

  Hist. August. p. 223. gives them a very honourable place among the small number of good emperors who reigned between Au|gustus and Diocletian.
• * 1.69

  Election of Gallus. A. D. 251. December.
• 50 1.70

  Haec ubi Patres comperere . . . . . decernunt. Victor in Caesaribus.
• * 1.71

  A. D. 252.
• * 1.72

  Retreat of the Goths.
• 51 1.73

  Zonaras, l. xii. p. 628.
• * 1.74

  Gallus purchases peace by the pay|ment of an annual tri|bute.
• 52 1.75

  A Sella, a Toga, and a golden Patera of five pounds weight, were accepted with joy and gratitude by the wealthy king of Egypt (Livy, xxvii. 4.). Quina Millia Aeris, a weight of copper in value about eighteen pounds sterling, was the usual present made to fo|reign ambassadors (Livy, xxxi. 9.).
• 53 1.76

  See the firmness of a Roman general so late as the time of Al|exander Severus, in the Excerpta Legationum, p. 25. Edit. Louvre.
• * 1.77

  Popular discontent.
• 54 1.78

  For the plague, see Jornandes, c. 19. and Victor in Caesari|bus.
• 55 1.79

  These improbable accusations are alleged by Zosimus, l. i. p. 23, 24.
• 56 1.80

  Jornandes, c. 19. The Gothic writer at least observed the peace which his victorious countrymen had sworn to Gallus.
• * 1.81

  Victory and revolt of Aemili|anus.
• * 1.82

  A. D. 253.
• 57 1.83

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 25, 26.
• 58 1.84

  Victor in Caesaribus.
• * 1.85

  Gallus a|bandoned and slain.
• * 1.86

  A. D. 253, May.
• 59 1.87

  Zonaras, l. xii. p. 628.
• 60 1.88

  Banduri Numismata, p. 94.
• * 1.89

  Valerian revenges the death of Gallus, and is ac|knowledg|ed empe|ror.
• 61 1.90

  Eutropius, l. ix. c. 6. says tertio mense. Eusebius omits this emperor.
• 62 1.91

  Zosirnus, l. i. p. 28. Eutropius and Victor station Valerian's army in Rhaetia.
• * 1.92

  A. D. 253. August.
• 63 1.93

  He was about seventy at the time of his accession, or, as it is more probable, of his death. Hist. August. p. 173. Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iii. p. 893, note 1.
• * 1.94

  Character of Vale|rian.
• 64 1.95

  Inimicus Tyrannorum. Hist. August. p. 173. In the glo|rious struggle of the senate against Maximin, Valerian acted a very spirited part. Hist. August. p. 156.
• 65 1.96

  According to the distinction of Victor, he seems to have re|ceived the title of Imperator from the army, and that of Augustus from the senate.
• * 1.97

  General misfor|tunes of the reigns of Valerian and Galli|enus.
• 66 1.98

  From Victor and from the medals, Tillemont (tom. iii. p. 710.) very justly infers, that Gallienus was associated to the em|pire about the month of August of the year 253.
• * 1.99

  A. D. 253—268.
• * 1.100

  Inroads of the barba|rians.
• * 1.101

  Origin and confedera|cy of the Franks.
• 67 1.102

  Various systems have been formed to explain a difficult passage in Gregory of Tours, l. ii. c. 9.
• 68 1.103

  The Geographer of Ravenna, i. 11. by mentioning Maurin|gania on the confines of Denmark, as the ancient seat of the Franks, gave birth to an ingenious system of Leibnitz.
• 69 1.104

  See Cluver. Germania Antiqua, l. iii. c. 20. M. Freret, in the Memoires des l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xviii.
• 70 1.105

  Most probably under the reign of Gordian, from an acciden|tal circumstance fully canvassed by Tillemont, tom. iii. p. 710. 1181.
• 71 1.106

  Plin. Hist. Natur. xvi. 1. The panegyrists frequently allude to the morasses of the Franks.
• 72 1.107

  Tacit. Germania, c. 30. 37.
• 73 1.108

  In a subsequent period, most of those old names are occasionally mentioned. See some vestiges of them in Cluver. Germ. Antiq. l. iii.
• 74 1.109

  Simler de Republica Helvet. cum notis Fuselin.
• * 1.110

  They in|vade Gaul,
• 75 1.111

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 27
• 76 1.112

  M. de Brequigny (in the Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxx.) has given us a very curious life of Posthumus. A series of the Au|gustan History from Medals and Inscriptions has been more than once planned, and is still much wanted.
• * 1.113

  ravage Spain.
• 77 1.114

  Aurel. Victor, c. 33. Instead of Paene direpto, both the sense and the expression require deleto; though indeed, for different rea|sons, it is alike difficult to correct the text of the best, and of the worst, writers.
• 78 1.115

  In the time of Ausonius (the end of the fourth century) Ilerda or Lerida was in a very ruinous state (Auson. Epist. xxv. 58.), which probably was the consequence of this invasion.
• 79 1.116

  Valesius is therefore mistaken in supposing that the Franks had invaded Spain by sea.
• * 1.117

  and pass over into Africa.
• 80 1.118

  Aurel. Victor. Eutrop. ix. 6.
• * 1.119

  Origin and renown of the Suevi.
• 81 1.120

  Tacit. Germania, 38.
• 82 1.121

  Cluver. Germ. Antiq. iii. 25.
• 83 1.122

  Sic Suevi a ceteris Germanis, fic Suevorum ingenui a servis separantur. A proud separation!
• 84 1.123

  Caesar in Bello Gallico, iv. 7.
• * 1.124

  A mixed body of Suevi as|sume the name of Alemanni,
• 85 1.125

  Victor in Caracal. Dion Cassius, lxvii. p. 1350.
• 86 1.126

  This etymology (far different from those which amuse the fancy of the learned) is preserved by Asinius Quadratus, an original historian, quoted by Agathias, i. c. 5.
• 87 1.127

  The Suevi engaged Caesar in this manner, and the manoeuvre deserved the approbation of the conqueror (in Bello Gallico, i. 48.).
• * 1.128

  invade Gaul and Italy,
• 88 1.129

  Hist. August. p. 215, 216. Dexippus in the Excerpta Lega|tionum, p. 8. Hieronym. Chron. Orosius, vii. 22.
• * 1.130

  are repuls|ed from Rome by the senate and peo|ple.
• 89 1.131

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 34.
• * 1.132

  The sena|tors ex|cluded by Gallienus from the military service.
• 90 1.133

  Aurel. Victor, in Gallieno et Probo. His complaints breathe an uncommon spirit of freedom.
• * 1.134

  Gallienus contracts an alliance with the Alemanni.
• 91 1.135

  Zonaras, l. xii. p. 631.
• 92 1.136

  One of the Victors calls him King of the Márcomanni; the other, of the Germans.
• 93 1.137

  See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iii. p. 398, &c.
• * 1.138

  Inroads of the Goths.
• 94 1.139

  See the lives of Claudius, Aurelian, and Probus, in the Au|gustan History.
• * 1.140

  Conquest of the Bos|phorus by the Goths,
• 95 1.141

  It is about half a league in breadth. Genealogical History of the Tartars, p. 598.
• 96 1.142

  M. de Peyssonel, who had been French consul at Caffa, in his Observations sur les Peuples Barbares, qui ont habité les bords du Danube.
• 97 1.143

  Euripides in Iphigenia in Taurid.
• 98 1.144

  Strabo, l. vii. p. 309. The first kings of Bosphorus were the allies of Athens.
• 99 1.145

  Appian in Mithridat.
• 100 1.146

  It was reduced by the arms of Agrippa. Orosius, vi. 21. Eutropius, vii. 9. The Romans once advanced within three days march of the Tanais. Tacit. Annal. xii. 17.
• 101 1.147

  See the Toxaris of Lucian, if we credit the sincerity and the virtues of the Scythian, who relates a great war of his nation against the kings of Bosphorus.
• 102 1.148

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 28.
• * 1.149

  who ac|quire a na|val force.
• 103 1.150

  Strabo, l. xi. Tacit. Hist. iii. 47.—They were called Camara.
• 104 1.151

  See a very natural picture of the Euxine navigation, in the xvith letter of Tournesort.
• 105 1.152

  Arrian places the frontier garrison at Dioscurias, or Sebasto|polis, forty-four miles to the east of Pityus. The garrison of Phasis consisted in his time of only four hundred foot. See the Periplus of the Euxine.
• * 1.153

  First naval expedition of the Goths.
• 106 1.154

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 30.
• * 1.155

  The Goths besiege and take Tre|bizond.
• 107 1.156

  Arrian (in Periplo Maris Euxin. p. 130.) calls the distance 2610 stadia.
• 108 1.157

  Xenophon. Anabasis, l. iv. p. 348. Edit. Hutchinson.
• 109 1.158

  Arrian, p. 129. The general observation is Tournefort's.
• 110 1.159

  See an epistle of Gregory Thaumaturgus, bishop of Neo-Caesarea, quoted by Mascou, v. 37.
• 111 1.160

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 32, 33.
• * 1.161

  The se|cond expe|dition of the Goths.
• * 1.162

  They plunder the cities of Bithy|nia.
• 112 1.163

  Itiner. Hierosolym. p. 572. Wesseling.
• 113 1.164

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 32, 33.
• * 1.165

  Retreat of the Goths.
• 114 1.166

  He besieged the place with 400 gallies, 150,000 foot, and a numerous cavalry. See Plutarch in Lucul. Appian in Mithridat. Cicero pro Lege Maniliâ, c. 8.
• 115 1.167

  Strabo, l. xii. p. 573.
• 116 1.168

  Pocock's Description of the East, l. ii. c. 23, 24.
• 117 1.169

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 33.
• 118 1.170

  Syncellus tells an unintelligible story of Prince Odenathus, who defeated the Goths, and who was killed by Prince Odenathus.
• 119 1.171

  Voyages de Chardin, tom. i. p. 45. He sailed with the Turks from Constantinople to Caffa.
• * 1.172

  Third na|val expe|dition of the Goths.
• 120 1.173

  Syncellus (p. 382.) speaks of this expedition, as undertaken by the Heruli.
• 121 1.174

  Strabo, l. xi. p. 495.
• * 1.175

  They pass the Bos|phorus and the Helle|spont,
• 122 1.176

  Plin. Hist. Natur. iii. 7.
• 123 1.177

  Hist. August. p. 181. Victor, c. 33. Orosius, vii. 42. Zo|fimus, l. i. p. 35. Zonaras, l. xii. 635. Syncellus, p. 382. It is not without some attention, that we can explain and conciliate their imperfect hints. We can still discover some traces of the par|tiality of Dexippus, in the relation of his own and his countrymen's exploits.
• * 1.178

  ravage Greece, and threat|en Italy.
• * 1.179

  Their di|visions and retreat.
• 124 1.180

  Syncellus, p. 382. This body of Heruli was for a long time faithful and famous.
• 125 1.181

  Claudius, who commanded on the Danube, thought with propriety and acted with spirit. His colleague was jealous of his fame. Hist. August. p. 181.
• 126 1.182

  Jornandes, c. 20.
• 127 1.183

  Zosimus and the Greeks (as the author of the Philopatris) give the name of Scythians to those whom Jornandes, and the Latin writers, constantly represent as Goths.
• * 1.184

  Ruin of the temple of Ephe|sus.
• 128 1.185

  Hist. August. p. 178. Jornandes, c. 20.
• 129 1.186

  Strabo, l. xiv. p. 640. Vitruvius, l. i. c. 1. praefat. l. vii. Tacit. Annal. iii. 61. Plin. Hist. Nat. xxxvi. 14.
• 130 1.187

  The length of St. Peter's is 840 Roman palms; each palm is very little short of nine English inches. See Greaves's Miscellanies, vol. i. p. 233; On the Roman foot.
• 131 1.188

  The policy, however, of the Romans induced them to abridge the extent of the sanctuary or asylum, which by successive privileges had spread itself two stadia round the temple. Strabo, l. xiv. p. 641. Tacit. Annal. iii. 60, &c.
• 132 1.189

  They offered no sacrifices to the Grecian gods. See Epistol. Gregor. Thaumat.
• * 1.190

  Conduct of the Goths at Athens.
• 133 1.191

  Zonaras, l. xii. p. 635. Such an anecdote was perfectly suited to the taste of Montaigne. He makes use of it in his agree|able Essay on Pedantry, l. i. c. 24.
• * 1.192

  Conquest of Arme|nia by the Persians.
• 134 1.193

  Moses Chorenensis, l. ii. c. 71. 73, 74. Zonaras, l. xii. p. 628. The authentic relation of the Armenian historian serves to rectify the confused account of the Greek. The latter talks of the children of Tiridates, who at that time was himself an infant.
• * 1.194

  Valerian marches into the East.
• * 1.195

  Is defeat|ed and taken pri|soner by Sapor king of Persia. A. D. 260.
• 135 1.196

  Hist. August. p. 191. As Macrianus was an enemy to the Christians, they charged him with being a magician.
• 136 1.197

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 33.
• 137 1.198

  Hist. August. p. 174.
• 138 1.199

  Victor. in Caesar. Eutropius, ix. 7.
• 139 1.200

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 33. Zonarus, l. xii. p. 630. Peter Patri|cius in the Excerpta Legat. p. 29.
• 140 1.201

  Hist. August. p. 185. The reign of Cyriades appears in that collection prior to the death of Valerian; but I have preferred a probable series of events to the doubtful chronology of a most in|••ccurate writer.
• * 1.202

  Sapor overruns Syria, Ci|licia, and Cappado|cia.
• 141 1.203

  The sack of Antioch, anticipated by some historians, is assign|ed, by the decisive testimony of Ammianus Marcellinus, to the reign of Gallienus, xxiii. 5.
• 142 1.204

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 35.
• 143 1.205

  John Malala, tom. i. p. 391. He corrupts this probable event by some fabulous circumstances.
• 144 1.206

  Zonaras, l. xii. p. 630. Deep vallies were filled up with the slain. Crowds of prisoners were driven to water like beasts, and many perished for want of food.
• 145 1.207

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 25. asserts, that Sapor, had he not preferred spoil to conquest, might have remained master of Asia.
• * 1.208

  Boldness and success of Odena|thus a|gainst Sa|por.
• 146 1.209

  Peter Patricius in Excerpt. Leg. p. 29.
• 147 1.210

  Syrorum agrestium manû. Sextus Rufus, c. 23. Rufus, Victor, the Augustan History (p. 192.), and several inscriptions agree in making Odenathus a citizen of Palmyra.
• 148 1.211

  He possessed so powerful an interest among the wandering tribes, that Procopius (Bell. Persic. l. ii. c. 5.) and John Malala (tom. i. p. 391.) style him prince of the Saracens.
• 149 1.212

  Peter Patricius, p. 25.
• * 1.213

  Treatment of Valeri|an.
• 150 1.214

  The Pagan writers lament, the Christian insult, the misfor|tunes of Valerian. Their various testimonies are accurately collected by Tillemont, tom. iii. p. 739, &c. So little has been preserved of eastern history before Mahomet, that the modern Persians are totally ignorant of the victory of Sapor, an event so glorious to their nation. See Bibliotheque Orientale.
• 151 1.215

  One of these epistles is from Artavasdes, king of Armenia: since Armenia was then a province in Persia, the king, the kingdom, and the epistle, must be fictitious.
• * 1.216

  Character and admi|nistration of Gal|lienus.
• 152 1.217

  See his life in the Augustan History.
• 153 1.218

  There is still extant a very pretty Epithalamium, composed by Gallienus for the nuptials of his nephews. Ite ait, O Juvenes, pariter sudate medullis Omnibus, inter vos; non murmura vestra columbae, Brachia non Hederae, non vincant oscula Conchae.
• 154 1.219

  He was on the point of giving Plotinus a ruined city of Cam|pania, to try the experiment of realizing Plato's Republic. See the Life of Plotinus, by Porphyry, in Fabricius's Biblioth. Graec. l. iv.
• 155 1.220

  A medal which bears the head of Gallienus has perplexed the antiquarians by its legend and reverse; the former Gallienae Augustae, the latter Ubiquc Pax. M. Spanheim supposes that the coin was struck by some of the enemies of Gallienus, and was designed as a severe satire on that effeminate prince. But as the use of irony may seem unworthy of the gravity of the Roman mint, M. de Vallemont has deduced from a passage of Trebellius Pollio (Hist. August. p. 198.) an ingenious and natural solution. Galliena was first cousin to the emperor. By delivering Africa from the usurper Celsus, she de|served the title of Augusta. On a medal in the French king's col|lection, we read a similar inscription of Faustina Augusta round the head of Marcus Aurelius. With regard to the Ubique Pax, it is easily explained by the vanity of Gallienus, who seized, perhaps, the occasion of some momentary calm. See Nouvelles de la Repub|lique des Lettres, Janvier 1700. p. 21—34.
• 156 1.221

  This singular character has, I believe, been fairly transmitted to us. The reign of his immediate successor was short and busy; and the historians who wrote before the elevation of the family of Constantine, could not have the most remote interest to misrepresent the character of Gallienus.
• * 1.222

  The thirty tyrants.
• 157 1.223

  Pollio expresses the most minute anxiety to complete the number.
• * 1.224

  Their real number was no more than nineteen.
• 158 1.225

  The place of his reign is somewhat doubtful; but there was a tyrant in Pontus, and we are acquainted with the seat of all the others.
• 159 1.226

  Tillemont, tom. iii. p. 1163, reckons them somewhat differ|ently.
• * 1.227

  Character and merit of the ty|rants.
• 160 1.228

  See the speech of Marius, in the Augustan History, p. 197. The accidental identity of names was the only circumstance that could tempt Pollio to imitate Sallust.
• * 1.229

  Their ob|scure birth.
• 161 1.230

  Vos, O Pompilius sanguis! is Horace's address to the Pisos. See Art. Poet. v. 292, with Dacier's and Sanadon's notes.
• 162 1.231

  Tacit. Annal. xv. 48. Hist. i. 15. In the former of these passages we may venture to change paterna into materna. In every generation from Augustus to Alexander Severus, one or more Pisos appear as consuls. A Piso was deemed worthy of the throne by Augustus (Tacit. Annal. i. 13.). A second headed a formidable conspiracy against Nero; and a third was adopted, and declared Cae|sar by Galba.
• 163 1.232

  Hist. August. p. 195. The senate, in a moment of enthu|siasm, seems to have presumed on the approbation of Gallienus.
• * 1.233

  The causes of their rebellion.
• 164 1.234

  Hist. August. p. 196.
• * 1.235

  Their vio|lent deaths.
• 165 1.236

  The association of the brave Palmyrenian was the most popu|lar act of the whole reign of Gallienus. Hist. August. p. 180.
• * 1.237

  Fatal con|sequences of these u|surpations.
• 166 1.238

  Gallienus had given the titles of Caesar and Augustus to his son Saloninus, slain at Cologn by the usurper Posthumus. A second son of Gallienus succeeded to the name and rank of his elder brother. Valerian, the brother of Gallienus, was also associated to the empire: several other brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces of the emperor, formed a very numerous royal family. See Tillemont, tom. iii. and M. de Brequigny in the Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxxii. p. 262.
• 167 1.239

  Hist. August. p. 188.
• 168 1.240

  Regillianus had some bands of Roxolani in his service. Post|humus a body of Franks. It was perhaps in the character of aux|iliaries that the latter introduced themselves into Spain.
• * 1.241

  Disorders of Sicily.
• 169 1.242

  The Augustan History, p. 177, calls it servile bellum. See Diodor. Sicul. l. xxxiv.
• * 1.243

  Tumults of Alex|andria.
• 170 1.244

  Plin. Hist. Natur. v. 10.
• 171 1.245

  Diodor. Sicul. l. xvii. p. 590. Edit. Wesseling.
• 172 1.246

  See a very curious letter of Hadrian, in the Augustan History, p. 245.
• 173 1.247

  Such as the sacrilegious murder of a divine cat. See Diodor. Sicul. l. i.
• 174 1.248

  Hist. August. p. 195. This long and terrible sedition was first occasioned by a dispute between a soldier and a townsman about a pair of shoes.
• 175 1.249

  Dionysius apud Euseb. Hist. Eccles. vol. vii. p. 21. Ammian. xxii. 16.
• 176 1.250

  Scaliger. Animadver. ad Euseb. Chron. p. 258. Three dis|sertations of M. Bonamy, in the Mem. de l'Academie, tom. ix.
• * 1.251

  Rebellion of the Isaurians.
• 177 1.252

  Strabo, l. xii. p. 569.
• 178 1.253

  Hist. August. p. 197.
• 179 1.254

  See Cellarius, Georg. Antiq. tom. ii. p. 137. upon the limits of Isauria.
• * 1.255

  Famine and pesti|lence.
• 180 1.256

  Hist. August. p. 177.
• 181 1.257

  Hist. Angust. p. 177. Zosimus, l. i. p. 24. Zonaras, l. xii. p. 623. Euseb. Chronicon. Victor in Epitom. Victor in Caesar. Eutropius, ix. 5. Orosius, vii. 21.
• * 1.258

  Diminu|tion of the human species.
• 182 1.259

  Euseb. Hist. Eccles. vii. 21. The fact is taken from the Let|ters of Dionysius, who, in the time of those troubles, was bishop of Alexandria.
• 183 1.260

  In a great number of parishes 11,000 persons were found be|tween fourteen and eighty; 5365 between forty and seventy. See Buffon, Historie Naturelle, tom. ii. p. 590.