The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire: By Edward Gibbon, Esq; ... [pt.2]

CHAP. XII. Conduct of the Army and Senate after the Death of Aurelian.—Reigns of Tacitus, Probus, Carus, and his Sons.

SUCH was the unhappy condition of the Ro|man emperors, that, whatever might be their conduct, their fate was commonly the same. A * 1.1 life of pleasure or virtue, of severity or mildness, of indolence or glory, alike led to an untimely grave; and almost every reign is closed by the same disgusting repetition of treason and murder. The death of Aurelian, however, is remarkable by its extraordinary consequences. The legions admired, lamented, and revenged, their victo|rious chief. The artifice of his perfidious secre|tary was discovered and punished. The deluded conspirators attended the funeral of their injured sovereign, with sincere or well-feigned contri|tion, and submitted to the unanimous resolution of the military order, which was signified by the following epistle.

The brave and fortunate armies to the senate and people of Rome. The crime of one man, and the error of many, have deprived us of the late emperor Aurelian. May it please you, venerable lords and fathers! to place him in the number of the gods, and to appoint a successor whom your judgment shall declare worthy of the Imperial purple! None of those, whose guilt or misfortune have

contributed to our loss, shall ever reign over us 1 1.2.

The Roman senators heard, without surprise, that another emperor had been assassi|nated in his camp: they secretly rejoiced in the fall of Aurelian; but the modest and dutiful ad|dress of the legions, when it was communicated in full assembly by the consul, diffused the most pleasing astonishment. Such honours as fear and perhaps esteem could extort, they liberally poured forth on the memory of their deceased sovereign. Such acknowledgments as gratitude could in|spire, they returned to the faithful armies of the republic, who entertained so just a sense of the legal authority of the senate in the choice of an emperor. Yet, notwithstanding this flattering appeal, the most prudent of the assembly declined exposing their safety and dignity to the caprice of an armed multitude. The strength of the le|gions was, indeed, a pledge of their sincerity, since those who may command are seldom re|duced to the necessity of dissembling; but could it naturally be expected, that a hasty repentance would correct the inveterate habits of fourscore years? Should the soldiers relapse into their ac|customed seditions, their insolence might disgrace the majesty of the senate, and prove fatal to the object of its choice. Motives like these dictated a decree, by which the election of a new em|peror was referred to the suffrage of the military order.

The contention that ensued is one of the best attested, but most improbable events in the his|tory of mankind 2 1.3. The troops, as if satiated * 1.4 with the exercise of power, again conjured the * 1.5 senate to invest one of its own body with the Im|perial purple. The senate still persisted in its re|fusal; the army in its request. The reciprocal offer was pressed and rejected at least three times, and whilst the obstinate modesty of either party was resolved to receive a master from the hands of the other, eight months insensibly elapsed: an amazing period of tranquil anarchy, during which the Roman world remained without a sovereign, without an usurper, and without a sedition. The generals and magistrates appointed by Aurelian continued to execute their ordinary functions; and it is observed, that a proconsul of Asia was the only considerable person removed from his office, in the whole course of the interregnum.

An event somewhat similar, but much less au|thentic, is supposed to have happened after the death of Romulus, who, in his life and character, bore some affinity with Aurelian. The throne was vacant during twelve months, till the elec|tion of a Sabine philosopher, and the public peace was guarded in the same manner, by the union of the several orders of the state. But, in the

time of Numa and Romulus, the arms of the people were controlled by the authority of the Patricians; and the balance of freedom was easily preserved in a small and virtuous community 3 1.6. The decline of the Roman state, far different from its infancy, was attended with every cir|cumstance that could banish from an interregnum the prospect of obedience and harmony: an im|mense and tumultuous capital, a wide extent of empire, the servile equality of despotism, an army of four hundred thousand mercenaries, and the experience of frequent revolutions. Yet, notwithstanding all these temptations, the disci|pline and memory of Aurelian still restrained the seditious temper of the troops, as well as the fatal ambition of their leaders. The flower of the legions maintained their stations on the banks of the Bosphorus, and the Imperial standard awed the less powerful camps of Rome and of the pro|vinces. A generous though transient enthusiasm seemed to animate the military order; and we may hope that a few real patriots cultivated the returning friendship of the army and the senate, as the only expedient capable of restoring the re|public to its ancient beauty and vigour.

On the twenty-fifth of September, near eight months after the murder of Aurelian, the consul * 1.7 convoked an assembly of the senate, and reported * 1.8

the doubtful and dangerous situation of the em|pire. He slightly insinuated, that the precarious loyalty of the soldiers depended on the chance of every hour, and of every accident; but he re|presented, with the most convincing eloquence, the various dangers that might attend any far|ther delay in the choice of an emperor. Intelli|gence, he said, was already received, that the Germans had passed the Rhine, and occupied some of the strongest and most opulent cities of Gaul. The ambition of the Persian king kept the East in perpetual alarms; Egypt, Africa, and Illyricum, were exposed to foreign and domestic arms, and the levity of Syria would prefer even a female sceptre to the sanctity of the Roman laws. The consul then addressing himself to Ta|citus, the first of the senators 4 1.9, required his opinion on the important subject of a proper can|didate for the vacant throne.

If we can prefer personal merit to accidental greatness, we shall esteem the birth of Tacitus * 1.10 more truly noble than that of kings. He claimed his descent from the philosophic historian, whose writings will instruct the last generations of man|kind 5 1.11. The senator Tacitus was then seventy-five

years of age 6 1.12. The long period of his in|nocent life was adorned with wealth and honours. He had twice been invested with the consular dignity 7 1.13, and enjoyed with elegance and sobriety his ample patrimony of between two and three millions sterling 8 1.14. The experience of so many princes, whom he had esteemed or endured, from the vain follies of Elagabalus to the useful rigour of Aurelian, taught him to form a just estimate of the duties, the dangers, and the temptations, of their sublime station. From the assiduous study of his immortal ancestor he derived the knowledge of the Roman constitution, and of human nature 9 1.15. The voice of the people had already named Tacitus as the citizen the most worthy of empire. The ungrateful rumour reached his ears, and induced him to seek the retirement of one of his villas in Campania. He had passed two months in the delightful privacy of Baiae, when he reluctantly obeyed the sum|mons

of the consul to resume his honourable place in the senate, and to assist the republic with his counsels on this important occasion.

He arose to speak, when, from every quarter of the house, he was saluted with the names of * 1.16 Augustus and Emperor.

Tacitus Augustus, the gods preserve thee, we chuse thee for our sovereign, to thy care we intrust the republic and the world. Accept the empire from the authority of the senate. It is due to thy rank, to thy conduct, to thy manners.

As soon as the tumult of acclamations subsided, Tacitus attempted to decline the dangerous honour, and to express his wonder, that they should elect his age and infirmities to succeed the martial vigour of Aurelian.

Are these limbs, conscript fa|thers! fitted to sustain the weight of armour, or to practise the exercises of the camp? The variety of climates, and the hardships of a mi|litary life, would soon oppress a feeble con|stitution, which subsists only by the most tender management. My exhausted strength scarcely enables me to discharge the duty of a senator; how insufficient would it prove to the arduous labours of war and government? Can you hope, that the legions will respect a weak old man, whose days have been spent in the shade of peace and retirement? Can you de|sire that I should ever find reason to regret the favourable opinion of the senate 10 1.17?

The reluctance of Tacitus, and it might pos|sibly * 1.18 be sincere, was encountered by the affec|tionate

obstinacy of the senate. Five hundred voices repeated at once, in eloquent confusion, that the greatest of the Roman princes, Numa, Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, had ascend|ed the throne in a very advanced season of life; that the mind, not the body, a sovereign, not a soldier, was the object of their choice; and that they expected from him no more than to guide by his wisdom the valour of the legions. These pressing though tumultuary instances were se|conded by a more regular oration of Metius Fal|conius, the next on the consular bench to Ta|citus himself. He reminded the assembly of the evils which Rome had endured from the vices of headstrong and capricious youths, congratulated them on the election of a virtuous and experi|enced senator, and, with a manly, though per|haps a selfish, freedom, exhorted Tacitus to re|member the reasons of his elevation, and to seek a successor, not in his own family, but in the republic. The speech of Falconius was enforced by a general acclamation. The emperor elect submitted to the authority of his country, and received the voluntary homage of his equals. The judgment of the senate was confirmed by the consent of the Roman people, and of the Prae|torian guards 11 1.19.

The administration of Tacitus was not un|worthy of his life and principles. A grateful * 1.20 servant of the senate, he considered that national

council as the author, and himself as the subject, of the laws 12 1.21. He studied to heal the wounds which Imperial pride, civil discord, and military violence, had inflicted on the constitution, and to restore, at least, the image of the ancient re|public, as it had been preserved by the policy of Augustus, and the virtues of Trajan and the An|tonines. It may not be useless to recapitulate some of the most important prerogatives which the senate appeared to have regained by the elec|tion of Tacitus 13 1.22. 1. To invest one of their body, under the title of emperor, with the ge|neral command of the armies and the govern|ment of the frontier provinces. 2. To deter|mine the list, or as it was then styled, the Col|lege of Consuls. They were twelve in number, who, in successive pairs, each, during the space of two months, filled the year, and represented the dignity of that ancient office. The authority of the senate, in the nomination of the consuls, was exercised with such independent freedom, that no regard was paid to an irregular request of the emperor in favour of his brother Florianus.

The senate, exclaimed Tacitus, with the ho|nest transport of a patriot, understand the cha|racter of a prince whom they have chosen.

3. To appoint the proconsuls and presidents of the provinces, and to confer on all the magi|strates their civil jurisdiction. 4. To receive ap|peals through the intermediate office of the prae|fect of the city from all the tribunals of the em|pire. 5. To give force and validity, by their decrees, to such as they should approve of the emperor's edicts. 6. To these several branches of authority, we may add some inspection over the finances, since, even in the stern reign of Aurelian, it was in their power to divert a part of the revenue from the public service 14 1.23.

Circular epistles were sent, without delay, to * 1.24 all the principal cities of the empire, Treves, Milan, Aquileia, Thessalonica, Corinth, Athens, Antioch, Alexandria, and Carthage, to claim their obedience, and to inform them of the happy revolution, which had restored the Roman senate to its ancient dignity. Two of these epistles are still extant. We likewise possess two very sin|gular fragments of the private correspondence of the senators on this occasion. They discover the most excessive joy, and the most unbounded hopes.

Cast away your indolence, it is thus that one of the senators addresses his friend, emerge from your retirements of Baiae and Puteoli. Give yourself to the city, to the se|nate. Rome flourishes, the whole republic flourishes. Thanks to the Roman army, to an army truly Roman; at length, we have re|covered

our just authority, the end of all our desires. We hear appeals, we appoint pro|consuls, we create emperors; perhaps too we may restrain them—to the wise, a word is suf|ficient 15 1.25.

These lofty expectations were, how|ever, soon disappointed; nor, indeed, was it pos|sible, that the armies and the provinces should long obey the luxurious and unwarlike nobles of Rome. On the slightest touch, the unsupported fabric of their pride and power fell to the ground. The expiring senate displayed a sudden lustre, blazed for a moment, and was extinguished for ever.

All that had yet passed at Rome was no more than a theatrical representation, unless it was ra|tified * 1.26 by the more substantial power of the le|gions. Leaving the senators to enjoy their dream of freedom and ambition, Tacitus proceeded to the Thracian camp, and was there, by the Prae|torian praefect, presented to the assembled troops, as the prince whom they themselves had de|manded, and whom the senate had bestowed. As soon as the praefect was silent, the emperor addressed himself to the soldiers with eloquence and propriety. He gratified their avarice by a liberal distribution of treasure, under the names of pay and donative. He engaged their esteem by a spirited declaration, that although his age might disable him from the performance of mili|tary exploits, his counsels should never be un|worthy

of a Roman general, the successor of the brave Aurelian 16 1.27.

Whilst the deceased emperor was making pre|parations for a second expedition into the East, * 1.28 he had negociated with the Alani, a Scythian people, who pitched their tents in the neighbour|hood of the lake Moeotis. Those barbarians, al|lured by presents and subsidies, had promised to invade Persia with a numerous body of light ca|valry. They were faithful to their engagements; but when they arrived on the Roman frontier, Aurelian was already dead, the design of the Persian war was at least suspended, and the ge|nerals, who, during their interregnum, exercised a doubtful authority, were unprepared either to receive or to oppose them. Provoked by such treatment, which they considered as trifling and perfidious, the Alani had recourse to their own valour for their payment and revenge; and as they moved with the usual swiftness of Tartars, they had soon spread themselves over the pro|vinces of Pontus, Cappadocia, Cilicia, and Ga|latia. The legions, who from the opposite shores of the Bosphorus could almost distinguish the flames of the cities and villages, impatiently urged their general to lead them against the in|vaders. The conduct of Tacitus was suitable to his age and station. He convinced the barba|rians, of the faith, as well as of the power, of the empire. Great numbers of the Alani, ap|peased by the punctual discharge of the engage|ments

which Aurelian had contracted with them, relinquished their booty and captives, and quietly retreated to their own deserts, beyond the Phasis. Against the remainder who refused peace, the Roman emperor waged, in person, a successful war. Seconded by an army of brave and expe|rienced veterans, in a few weeks he delivered the provinces of Asia from the terror of the Scythian invasion 17 1.29.

But the glory and life of Tacitus were of short * 1.30 duration. Transported, in the depth of winter, from the soft retirement of Campania, to the foot of mount Caucasus, he sunk under the unaccus|tomed hardships of a military life. The fatigues of the body were aggravated by the cares of the mind. For a while, the angry and selfish passions of the soldiers had been suspended by the enthu|siasm of public virtue. They soon broke out with redoubled violence, and raged in the camp, and even in the tent, of the aged emperor. His mild and amiable character served only to inspire contempt, and he was incessantly tormented with factions which he could not assuage, and by de|mands which it was impossible to satisfy. What|ever flattering expectations he had conceived of reconciling the public disorders, Tacitus soon was convinced, that the licentiousness of the army

disdained the feeble restraint of laws, and his last hour was hastened by anguish and disappoint|ment. It may be doubtful whether the soldiers imbrued their hands in the blood of this innocent prince 18 1.31. It is certain, that their insolence was the cause of his death. He expired at Tyana in Cappadocia, after a reign of only six months and * 1.32 about twenty days 19 1.33.

The eyes of Tacitus were scarcely closed, be|fore * 1.34 his brother Florianus shewed himself unwor|thy to reign, by the hasty usurpation of the purple, without expecting the approbation of the senate. The reverence for the Roman constitu|tion, which yet influenced the camp and the provinces, was sufficiently strong to dispose them to censure, but not to provoke them to oppose, the precipitate ambition of Florianus. The dis|content would have evaporated in idle murmurs, had not the general of the East, the heroic Pro|bus, boldly declared himself the avenger of the senate. The contest, however, was still unequal; nor could the most able leader, at the head of the effeminate troops of Egypt and Syria, en|counter, with any hopes of victory, the legions of Europe, whose irresistible strength appeared to support the brother of Tacitus. But the fortune

and activity of Probus triumphed over every ob|stacle. The hardy veterans of his rival, accus|tomed to cold climates, sickened and consumed away in the sultry heats of Cilicia, where the summer proved remarkably unwholesome. Their numbers were diminished by frequent desertion, the passes of the mountains were feebly defended; Tarsus opened its gates, and the soldiers of Flo|rianus, when they had permitted him to enjoy the Imperial title about three months, delivered the empire from civil war by the easy sacrifice of * 1.35 a prince whom they despised 20 1.36.

The perpetual revolutions of the throne had so * 1.37 perfectly erased every notion of hereditary right, that the family of an unfortunate emperor was in|capable of exciting the jealousy of his successors. The children of Tacitus and Florianus were per|mitted to descend into a private station, and to mingle with the general mass of the people. Their poverty indeed became an additional safe|guard to their innocence. When Tacitus was elected by the senate, he resigned his ample pa|trimony to the public service 21 1.38, an act of gene|rosity specious in appearance, but which evidently disclosed his intention of transmitting the empire to his descendants. The only consolation of their fallen state, was the remembrance of transient

greatness, and a distant hope, the child of a flat|tering prophecy, that at the end of a thousand years, a monarch of the race of Tacitus should arise, the protector of the senate, the restorer of Rome, and the conqueror of the whole earth 22 1.39.

The peasants of Illyricum, who had already * 1.40 given Claudius and Aurelian to the sinking em|pire, had an equal right to glory in the elevation of Probus 23 1.41. Above twenty years before, the emperor Valerian, with his usual penetration, had discovered the rising merit of the young soldier, on whom he conferred the rank of tribune, long before the age prescribed by the military regula|tions. The tribune soon justified his choice, by a victory over a great body of Sarmatians, in which he saved the life of a near relation of Va|lerian; and deserved to receive from the empe|ror's hand the collars, bracelets, spears, and ban|ners, the mural and the civic crown, and all the honourable rewards reserved by ancient Rome for successful valour. The third, and afterwards the tenth, legion were intrusted to the command of Probus, who, in every step of his promotion, shewed himself superior to the station which he filled. Africa and Pontus, the Rhine, the Da|nube, the Euphrates, and the Nile, by turns af|forded

him the most splendid occasions of display|ing his personal prowess and his conduct in war. Aurelian was indebted to him for the conquest of Egypt, and still more indebted for the honest courage with which he often checked the cruelty of his master. Tacitus, who desired by the abi|lities of his generals to supply his own deficiency of military talents, named him commander in chief of all the eastern provinces, with five times the usual salary, the promise of the consulship, and the hope of a triumph. When Probus ascended the Imperial throne, he was about forty-four years of age 24 1.42; in the full possession of his fame, of the love of the army, and of a mature vigour of mind and body.

His acknowledged merit, and the success of * 1.43 his arms against Florianus, left him without an enemy or a competitor. Yet, if we may credit his own professions, very far from being desirous of the empire, he had accepted it with the most sincere reluctance.

But it is no longer in my power, says Probus, in a private letter, to lay down a title so full of envy and of danger. I must continue to personate the character which the soldiers have imposed upon me 25 1.44.

His dutiful address to the senate displayed the sentiments, or at least the language, of a Roman patriot;

When you elected one of your order,

conscript fathers! to succeed the emperor Au|relian, you acted in a manner suitable to your justice and wisdom. For you are the legal so|vereigns of the world, and the power which you derive from your ancestors, will descend to your posterity. Happy would it have been, if Florianus, instead of usurping the purple of his brother, like a private inheritance, had ex|pected what your majesty might determine, either in his favour, or in that of any other person. The prudent soldiers have punished his rashness. To me they have offered the title of Augustus. But I submit to your cle|mency my pretensions and my merits 26 1.45.

When this respectful epistle was read by the con|sul, * 1.46 the senators were unable to disguise their sa|tisfaction, that Probus should condescend thus humbly to solicit a sceptre which he already pos|sessed. They celebrated with the warmest gra|titude his virtues, his exploits, and above all his moderation. A decree immediately passed, with|out a dissenting voice, to ratify the election of the eastern armies, and to confer on their chief all the several branches of the Imperial dignity: the names of Caesar and Augustus, the title of Father of his country, the right of making in the same day three motions in the senate 27 1.47, the office

of Pontifex Maximus, the tribunitian power, and the proconsular command; a mode of investi|ture, which, though it seemed to multiply the authority of the emperor, expressed the constitu|tion of the ancient republic. The reign of Pro|bus corresponded with this fair beginning. The senate was permitted to direct the civil admini|stration of the empire. Their faithful general asserted the honour of the Roman arms, and often laid at their feet crowns of gold and barbaric trophies, the fruits of his numerous victories 28 1.48. Yet, whilst he gratified their vanity, he must se|cretly have despised their indolence and weakness. Though it was every moment in their power to repeal the disgraceful edict of Gallienus, the proud successors of the Scipios patiently acquiesced in their exclusion from all military employments. They soon experienced, that those who refuse the sword, must renounce the sceptre.

The strength of Aurelian had crushed on every side the enemies of Rome. After his death they * 1.49 seemed to revive with an increase of fury and of numbers. They were again vanquished by the active vigour of Probus, who, in a short reign of about six years 29 1.50, equalled the fame of ancient heroes, and restored peace and order to every province of the Roman world. The dangerous

frontier of Rhaetia he so firmly secured, that he left it without the suspicion of an enemy. He broke the wandering power of the Sarmatian tribes, and by the terror of his arms compelled those barbarians to relinquish their spoil. The Gothic nation courted the alliance of so warlike an emperor 30 1.51. He attacked the Isaurians in their mountains, besieged and took several of their strongest castles 31 1.52, and flattered himself that he had for ever suppressed a domestic foe, whose in|dependence so deeply wounded the majesty of the empire. The troubles excited by the usurper Firmus in the Upper Egypt, had never been per|fectly appeased, and the cities of Ptolemais and Coptos, fortified by the alliance of the Blemmyes, still maintained an obscure rebellion. The chas|tisement of those cities, and of their auxiliaries the savages of the South, is said to have alarmed the court of Persia 32 1.53, and the Great King sued in vain for the friendship of Probus. Most of the exploits which distinguished his reign, were at|chieved by the personal valour and conduct of the emperor, insomuch that the writer of his life expresses some amazement how, in so short a time, a single man could be present in so many distant wars. The remaining actions he intrusted to the care of his lieutenants, the judicious choice of

whom forms no inconsiderable part of his glory. Carus, Diocletian, Maximian, Constantius, Ga|lerius, Asclepiodatus, Annibalianus, and a crowd of other chiefs, who afterwards ascended or sup|ported the throne, were trained to arms in the severe school of Aurelian and Probus 33 1.54.

But the most important service which Probus * 1.55 rendered to the republic, was the deliverance of * 1.56 Gaul, and the recovery of seventy flourishing cities oppressed by the barbarians of Germany, who, since the death of Aurelian, had ravaged that great province with impunity 34 1.57. Among the various multitude of those fierce invaders, we may distinguish, with some degree of clearness, three great armies, or rather nations, successively vanquished by the valour of Probus. He drove back the Francs into their morasses; a descrip|tive circumstance from whence we may infer, that the confederacy known by the manly appellation of Free, already occupied the flat maritime coun|try, intersected and almost overflown by the stag|nating waters of the Rhine, and that several tribes of the Frisians and Batavians had acceded to their alliance. He vanquished the Burgundians, a considerable people of the Vandalic race. They had wandered in quest of booty from the banks of the Oder to those of the Seine. They esteem|ed themselves sufficiently fortunate to purchase, by the restitution of all their booty, the permis|sion

of an undisturbed retreat. They attempted to elude that article of the treaty. Their punish|ment was immediate and terrible 35 1.58. But of all the invaders of Gaul, the most formidable were the Lygians, a distant people who reigned over a wide domain on the frontiers of Poland and Si|lesia 36 1.59. In the Lygian nation, the Arii held the first rank by their numbers and fierceness.

The Arii (it is thus that they are described by the energy of Tacitus) study to improve by art and circumstances the innate terrors of their barbarism. Their shields are black, their bodies are painted black. They chuse for the combat the darkest hour of the night. Their host advances, covered as it were with a fune|real shade 37 1.60; nor do they often find an enemy capable of sustaining so strange and infernal an aspect. Of all our senses, the eyes are the first vanquished in battle 38 1.61.

Yet the arms and discipline of the Romans easily discomfited these horrid phantoms. The Lygii were defeated in a general engagement, and Semno, the most renowned of their chiefs, fell alive into the hands of Probus. That prudent emperor, unwilling to reduce a brave people to dispair, granted them an honourable capitulation, and permitted them

to return in safety to their native country. But the losses which they suffered in the march, the battle, and the retreat, broke the power of the nation: nor is the Lygian name ever repeated in the history either of Germany or of the empire. The deliverance of Gaul is reported to have cost the lives of four hundred thousand of the invad|ers; a work of labour to the Romans, and of expence to the emperor, who gave a piece of gold for the head of every barbarian 39 1.62. But as the fame of warriors is built on the destruction of human kind, we may naturally suspect, that the sanguinary account was multiplied by the avarice of the soldiers, and accepted without any very severe examination by the liberal vanity of Probus.

Since the expedition of Maximin, the Roman * 1.63 generals had confined their ambition to a defen|sive war against the nations of Germany, who perpetually pressed on the frontiers of the em|pire. The more daring Probus pursued his Gallic victories, passed the Rhine, and displayed his invincible eagles on the banks of the Elbe and the Neckar. He was fully convinced, that nothing could reconcile the minds of the bar|barians to peace, unless they experienced in their own country the calamities of war. Germany, exhausted by the ill success of the last emigra|tion, was astonished by his presence. Nine of the most considerable princes repaired to his camp, and fell prostrate at his feet. Such a

treaty was humbly received by the Germans, as it pleased the conqueror to dictate. He exacted a strict restitution of the effects and captives which they had carried away from the provinces; and obliged their own magistrates to punish the more obstinate robbers who presumed to detain any part of the spoil. A considerable tribute of corn, cattle, and horses, the only wealth of bar|barians, was reserved for the use of the garrisons which Probus established on the limits of their territory. He even entertained some thoughts of compelling the Germans to relinquish the exercise of arms, and to trust their differences to the justice, their safety to the power, of Rome. To accomplish these salutary ends, the constant residence of an Imperial governor, supported by a numerous army, was indispensably requisite. Probus therefore judged it more expedient to defer the execution of so grèat a design; which was indeed rather of specious than solid utility 40 1.64. Had Germany been reduced into the state of a province, the Romans, with immense labour and expence, would have acquired only a more ex|tensive boundary to defend against the fiercer and more active barbarians of Scythia.

Instead of reducing the warlike natives of * 1.65 Germany to the condition of subjects, Probus contented himself with the humble expedient of raising a bulwark against their inroads. The country, which now forms the circle of Swabia,

had been left desert in the age of Augustus by the emigration of its ancient inhabitants 41 1.66. The fertility of the soil soon attracted a new colony from the adjacent provinces of Gaul. Crowds of adventurers, of a roving temper and of des|perate fortunes, occupied the doubtful possession, and acknowledged, by the payment of tythes, the majesty of the empire 42 1.67. To protect these new subjects, a line of frontier garrisons was gradually extended from the Rhine to the Da|nube. About the reign of Hadrian, when that mode of defence began to be practised, these garrisons were connected and covered by a strong intrenchment of trees and palisades. In the place of so rude a bulwark, the emperor Probus constructed a stone-wall of a considerable height, and strengthened it by towers at convenient dis|tances. From the neighbourhood of Newstadt and Ratisbon on the Danube, it stretched across hills, vallies, rivers, and morasses, as far as Wimpfen on the Necker, and at length termi|nated on the banks of the Rhine, after a wind|ing course of near two hundred miles 43 1.68. This important barrier, uniting the two mighty streams that protected the provinces of Europe, seemed to fill up the vacant space through which

the barbarians, and particularly the Alemanni, could penetrate with the greatest facility into the heart of the empire. But the experience of the world from China to Britain, has exposed the vain attempt of fortifying any extensive tract of country 44 1.69. An active enemy, who can select and vary his points of attack, must, in the end, discover some feeble spot or some unguarded moment. The strength, as well as the atten|tion, of the defenders is divided; and such are the blind effects of terror on the firmest troops, that a line broken in a single place is almost instantly deserted. The fate of the wall which Probus erected, may confirm the general obser|vation. Within a few years after his death, it was overthrown by the Alemanni. Its scattered ruins, universally ascribed to the power of the Daemon, now serve only to excite the wonder of the Swabian peasant.

Among the useful conditions of peace imposed * 1.70 by Probus on the vanquished nations of Ger|many, was the obligation of supplying the Ro|man army with sixteen thousand recruits, the bravest and most robust of their youth. The emperor dispersed them through all the provinces, and distributed this dangerous reinforcement in small bands of fifty or sixty each, among the

national troops; judiciously observing, that the aid which the republic derived from the barba|rians, should be felt but not seen 45 1.71. Their aid was now become necessary. The feeble elegance of Italy and the internal provinces could no longer support the weight of arms. The hardy frontier of the Rhine and Danube still produced minds and bodies equal to the labours of the camp; but a perpetual series of wars had gradually diminished their numbers. The infrequency of marriage, and the ruin of agriculture, affected the principles of population, and not only de|stroyed the strength of the present, but inter|cepted the hope of future generations. The wisdom of Probus embraced a great and bene|ficial plan of replenishing the exhausted frontiers, by new colonies of captive or fugitive barbarians, on whom he bestowed lands, cattle, instruments of husbandry, and every encouragement that might engage them to educate a race of soldiers for the service of the republic. Into Britain, and most probably into Cambridgeshire 46 1.72, he transported a considerable body of Vandals. The impossibility of an escape reconciled them to their situation, and in the subsequent troubles of that island, they approved themselves the most faithful servants of the state 47 1.73. Great num|bers

of Franks and Gepidae were settled on the banks of the Danube and the Rhine. An hun|dred thousand Bastarnae, expelled from their own country, cheerfully accepted an establishment in Thrace, and soon imbibed the manners and sen|timents of Roman subjects 48 1.74. But the expec|tations of Probus were too often disappointed. The impatience and idleness of the barbarians could ill brook the slow labours of agriculture. Their unconquerable love of freedom, rising against despotism, provoked them into hasty rebellions, alike fatal to themselves and to the provinces 49 1.75; nor could these artificial supplies, however repeated by succeeding emperors, re|store the important limit of Gaul and Illyricum to its ancient and native vigour.

Of all the barbarians who abandones their * 1.76 new settlements, and disturbed the public tran|quillity, a very small number returned to their own country. For a short season they might wander in arms through the empire; but in the end they were surely destroyed by the power of a warlike emperor. The successful rashness of a party of Franks was attended, however, with such memorable consequences, that it ought not to be passed unnoticed. They had been esta|blished by Probus, on the sea-coast of Pontus, with a view of strengthening the frontier against the inroads of the Alani. A fleet stationed in one of the harbours of the Euxine, fell into the

hands of the Franks; and they resolved, through unknown seas, to explore their way from the mouth of the Phasis to that of the Rhine. They easily escaped through the Bosphorus and the Hellespont, and cruizing along the Medi|terranean, indulged their appetite for revenge and plunder, by frequent descents on the unsus|pecting shores of Asia, Greece, and Africa. The opulent city of Syracuse, in whose port the navies of Athens and Carthage had formerly been sunk, was sacked by a handful of barba|rians, who massacred the greatest part of the trembling inhabitants. From the island of Sicily, the Franks proceeded to the columns of Her|cules, trusted themselves to the ocean, coasted round Spain and Gaul, and steering their tri|umphant course through the British channel, at length finished their surprising voyage, by land|ing in safety on the Batavian or Frisian shores 50 1.77. The example of their success, instructing their countrymen to conceive the advantages, and to despise the dangers, of the sea, pointed out to their enterprising spirit, a new road to wealth and glory.

Notwithstanding the vigilance and activity of Probus, it was almost impossible that he could at * 1.78 once contain in obedience every part of his wide-extended dominions. The barbarians, who broke their chains, had seized the favourable opportunity of a domestic war. When the emperor marched to the relief of Gaul, he devolved the command

of the East on Saturninus. That general, a man of merit and experience, was driven into rebel|lion by the absence of his sovereign, the levity of the Alexandrian people, the pressing instances of his friends, and his own fears; but from the moment of his elevation, he never entertained a hope of empire, or even of life.

Alas! he said, the republic has lost a useful servant, and the rashness of an hour has destroyed the ser|vices of many years. You know not, con|tinued he, the misery of sovereign power; a sword is perpetually suspended over our head. We dread our very guards, we distrust our companions. The choice of action or of re|pose is no longer in our disposition, nor is there any age, or character, or conduct, that can protect us from the censure of envy. In thus exalting me to the throne, you have doomed me to a life of cares, and to an un|timely fate. The only consolation which re|mains is, the assurance that I shall not fall alone 51 1.79.

But as the former part of his pre|diction was verified by the victory, so the lat|ter was disappointed by the clemency of Probus. That amiable prince attempted even to save the unhappy Saturninus from the fury of the soldiers. He had more than once solicited the usurper himself, to place some confidence in the mercy of a sovereign who so highly esteemed his cha|racter, * 1.80

that he had punished, as a malicious in|former, the first who related the improbable news of his defection 52 1.81. Saturninus might, perhaps, have embraced the generous offer, had he not been restrained by the obstinate distrust of his adherents. Their guilt was deeper, and their hopes more sanguine, than those of their expe|rienced leader.

The revolt of Saturninus was scarcely extin|guished * 1.82 in the East, before new troubles were excited in the West, by the rebellion of Bonosus and Proculus in Gaul. The most distinguished merit of those two officers was their respective prowess, of the one in the combats of Bacchus, of the other in those of Venus 53 1.83, yet neither of them were destitute of courage and capacity, and both sustained, with honour, the august cha|racter which the fear of punishment had engaged them to assume, till they sunk at length beneath the superior genius of Probus. He used the victory with his accustomed moderation, and spared the fortunes as well as the lives of their innocent families 54 1.84.

The arms of Probus had now suppressed all the foreign and domestic enemies of the state. His mild but steady administration confirmed the * 1.85 re-establishment of the public tranquillity; nor * 1.86 was there left in the provinces a hostile barba|rian, a tyrant, or even a robber, to revive the memory of past disorders. It was time that the emperor should revisit Rome, and celebrate his own glory and the general happiness. The triumph due to the valour of Probus was conducted with a magnificence suitable to his fortune, and the people who had so lately admired the trophies of Aurelian, gazed with equal pleasure on those of his heroic successor 55 1.87. We cannot, on this occa|sion, forget the desperate courage of about four|score Gladiators, reserved with near six hundred others, for the inhuman sports of the amphi|theatre. Disdaining to shed their blood for the amusement of the populace, they killed their keepers, broke from the place of their confine|ment, and filled the streets of Rome with blood and confusion. After an obstinate resistance, they were overpowered and cut in pieces by the regular forces; but they obtained at least an honourable death, and the satisfaction of a just revenge 56 1.88.

The military discipline which reigned in the * 1.89 camps of Probus, was less cruel than that of Aurelian, but it was equally rigid and exact. The latter had punished the irregularities of the soldiers with unrelenting severity, the former

prevented them by employing the legions in constant and useful labours. When Probus commanded in Egypt, he executed many con|siderable works for the splendour and benefit of that rich country. The navigation of the Nile, so important to Rome itself, was improved; and temples, bridges, porticoes, and palaces, were constructed by the hands of the soldiers, who acted by turns as architects, as engineers, and as husbandmen 57 1.90. It was reported of Hannibal, that, in order to preserve his troops from the dangerous temptations of idleness, he had oblig|ed them to form large plantations of olive trees along the coast of Africa 58 1.91. From a similar principle, Probus exercised his legions in cover|ing, with rich vineyards, the hills of Gaul and Pannonia, and two considerable spots are describ|ed, which were entirely dug and planted by military labour 59 1.92. One of these, known under the name of Mount Almo, was situated near Sirmium, the country where Probus was born, for which he ever retained a partial affection, and whose gratitude he endeavoured to secure, by converting into tillage a large and unhealthy tract of marshy ground. An army thus employ|ed,

constituted perhaps the most useful, as well as the bravest, portion of Roman subjects.

But in the prosecution of a favourite scheme, the best of men, satisfied with the rectitude of * 1.93 their intentions, are subject to forget the bounds of moderation; nor did Probus himself suffici|ently consult the patience and disposition of his fierce legionaries 60 1.94. The dangers of the military profession seem only to be compensated by a life of pleasure and idleness; but if the duties of the soldier are incessantly aggravated by the labours of the peasant, he will at last sink under the intolerable burden, or shake it off with indigna|tion. The imprudence of Probus is said to have inflamed the discontent of his troops. More at|tentive to the interests of mankind than to those of the army, he expressed the vain hope, that, by the establishment of universal peace, he should soon abolish the necessity of a standing and mer|cenary force 61 1.95. The unguarded expression prov|ed fatal to him. In one of the hottest days of summer, as he severely urged the unwholesome labour of draining the marshes of Sirmium, the soldiers, impatient of fatigue, on a sudden threw down their tools, grasped their arms, and broke out into a furious mutiny. The emperor, con|scious of his danger, took refuge in a lofty tower, constructed for the purpose of surveying the

progress of the work 62 1.96. The tower was instantly forced, and a thousand swords were plunged at once into the bosom of the unfortunate Probus. * 1.97 The rage of the troops subsided as soon as it had been gratified. They then lamented their fatal rashness, forgot the severity of the emperor, whom they had massacred, and hastened to per|petuate, by an honourable monument, the me|mory of his virtues and victories 63 1.98.

When the legions had indulged their grief * 1.99 and repentance for the death of Probus, their unanimous consent declared Carus, his Praetorian praefect, the most deserving of the Imperial throne. Every circumstance that relates to this prince appears of a mixed and doubtful nature. He gloried in the title of Roman Citizen; and affected to compare the purity of his blood, with the foreign and even barbarous origin of the preceding emperors; yet the most inquisitive of his contemporaries, very far from admitting his claim, have variously deduced his own birth, or that of his parents, from Illyricum, from Gaul, or from Africa 64 1.100. Though a soldier, he had received a learned education; though a senator, he was invested with the first dignity of

the army; and in an age, when the civil and mi|litary professions began to be irrecoverably sepa|rated from each other, they were united in the person of Carus. Notwithstanding the severe justice which he exercised against the assassins of Probus, to whose favour and esteem he was highly indebted, he could not escape the suspicion of being accessary to a deed from whence he de|rived the principal advantage. He enjoyed, at least before his elevation, an acknowledged cha|racter of virtue and abilities 65 1.101; but his austere temper insensibly degenerated into moroseness and cruelty; and the imperfect writers of his life almost hesitate whether they shall not rank him in the number of Roman tyrants 66 1.102. When Ca|rus assumed the purple, he was about sixty years of age, and his two sons Carinus and Numerian had already attained the season of manhood 67 1.103.

The authority of the senate expired with Pro|bus * 1.104; nor was the repentance of the soldiers dis|played by the same dutiful regard for the civil power, which they had testified after the unfor|tunate death of Aurelian. The election of Carus was decided without expecting the approbation of the senate, and the new emperor contented

himself with announcing, in a cold and stately epistle, that he had ascended the vacant throne 68 1.105. A behaviour so very opposite to that of his ami|able predecessor, afforded no favourable presage of the new reign; and the Romans, deprived of power and freedom, asserted their privilege of licentious murmurs 69 1.106. The voice of congratula|tion and flattery was not however silent; and we may still peruse, with pleasure and contempt, an eclogue, which was composed on the accession of the emperor Carus. Two shepherds, avoiding the noon-tide heat, retire into the cave of Fau|nus. On a spreading beech they discover some recent characters. The rural deity had described, in prophetic verses, the felicity promised to the empire, under the reign of so great a prince. Faunus hails the approach of that hero, who, receiving on his shoulders the sinking weight of the Roman world, shall extinguish war and fac|tion, and once again restore the innocence and security of the golden age 70 1.107.

It is more than probable, that these elegant * 1.108 trifles never reached the ears of a veteran general, who, with the consent of the legions, was pre|paring to execute the long suspended design of the Persian war. Before his departure for this distant expedition, Carus conferred on his two

sons, Carinus and Numerian, the title of Caesar, and investing the former with almost an equal share of the Imperial power, directed the young prince, first to suppress some troubles which had arisen in Gaul, and afterwards to fix the seat of his residence at Rome, and to assume the govern|ment of the western provinces 71 1.109. The safety of Illyricum was confirmed by a memorable defeat of the Sarmatians; sixteen thousand of those bar|barians remained on the field of battle, and the number of captives amounted to twenty thou|sand. The old emperor, animated with the fame and prospect of victory, pursued his march, in the midst of winter, through the countries of Thrace and Asia Minor, and at length, with his younger son Numerian, arrived on the confines of the Persian monarchy. There, encamping on the summit of a lofty mountain, he pointed out to his troops the opulence and luxury of the enemy whom they were about to invade.

The successor of Artaxerxes, Varanes or Bah|ram, * 1.110 though he had subdued the Segestans, one * 1.111 of the most warlike nations of Upper Asia 72 1.112, was alarmed at the approach of the Romans, and en|deavoured to retard their progress by a negocia|tion of peace. His ambassadors entered the camp about sun-set, at the time when the troops were satisfying their hunger with a frugal repast. The Persians expressed their desire of being introduced

to the presence of the Roman emperor. They were at length conducted to a soldier, who was seated on the grass. A piece of stale bacon and a few hard pease composed his supper. A coarse woollen garment of purple was the only circum|stance that announced his dignity. The confer|ence was conducted with the same disregard of courtly elegance. Carus, taking off a cap which he wore to conceal his baldness, assured the am|bassadors, that, unless their master acknowledged the superiority of Rome, he would speedily render Persia as naked of trees, as his own head was destitute of hair 73 1.113. Notwithstanding some traces of art and preparation, we may discover in this scene the manners of Carus, and the severe sim|plicity which the martial princes, who succeeded Gallienus, had already restored in the Roman camps. The ministers of the Great King trem|bled and retired.

The threats of Carus were not without effect. He ravaged Mesopotamia, cut in pieces what|ever * 1.114 opposed his passage, made himself master of the great cities of Seleucia and Ctesiphon (which seemed to have surrendered without resistance), and carried his victorious arms beyond the Tigris 74 1.115. He had seized the favourable moment for an in|vasion. The Persian councils were distracted by

domestic factions, and the greater part of their forces were detained on the frontiers of India. Rome and the East received with transport the news of such important advantages. Flattery and hope painted, in the most lively colours, the fall of Persia, the conquest of Arabia, the sub|mission of Egypt, and a lasting deliverance from the inroads of the Scythian nations 75 1.116. But the reign of Carus was destined to expose the vanity of predictions. They were scarcely uttered be|fore * 1.117 they were contradicted by his death; an event attended with such ambiguous circum|stances, that it may be related in a letter from his own secretary to the praefect of the city.

Carus, says he, our dearest emperor, was confined by sickness to his bed, when a furious tempest arose in the camp. The darkness which overspread the sky was so thick, that we could no longer distinguish each other; and the incessant flashes of lightning took from us the knowledge of all that passed in the ge|neral confusion. Immediately after the most violent clap of thunder, we heard a sudden cry, that the emperor was dead; and it soon ap|peared, that his chamberlains, in a rage of grief, had set fire to the royal pavillion, a cir|cumstance which gave rise to the report that Carus was killed by lightning. But, as far as

we have been able to investigate the truth, his death was the natural effect of his disorder 76 1.118.

The vacancy of the throne was not productive of any disturbance. The ambition of the aspir|ing * 1.119 generals was checked by their mutual fears, and young Numerian, with his absent brother Carinus, were unanimously acknowledged as Ro|man emperors. The public expected that the successor of Carus would pursue his father's foot|steps, and without allowing the Persians to re|cover from their consternation, would advance sword in hand to the palaces of Susa and Ecba|tana 77 1.120. But the legions, however strong in num|bers and discipline, were dismayed by the most abject superstition. Notwithstanding all the arts that were practised to disguise the manner of the late emperor's death, it was found impossible to remove the opinion of the multitude, and the power of opinion is irresistible. Places or per|sons struck with lightning were considered by the ancients with pious horror, as singularly devoted to the wrath of Heaven 78 1.121. An oracle was re|membered, which marked the river Tigris as the fatal boundary of the Roman arms. The troops, terrified with the fate of Carus and with their own danger, called aloud on young Numerian to obey the will of the gods, and to lead them away from

this inauspicious scene of war. The feeble em|peror was unable to subdue their obstinate preju|dice, and the Persians wondered at the unexpected retreat of a victorious enemy 79 1.122.

The intelligence of the mysterious fate of the * 1.123 late emperor, was soon carried from the frontiers of Persia to Rome; and the senate, as well as the provinces, congratulated the accession of the sons of Carus. These fortunate youths were strangers, however, to that conscious superiority, either of birth or of merit, which can alone render the possession of a throne easy, and as it were natural. Born and educated in a private station, the elec|tion of their father raised them at once to the rank of princes; and his death, which happened about sixteen months afterwards, left them the unexpected legacy of a vast empire. To sustain with temper this rapid elevation, an uncommon share of virtue and prudence was requisite; and Carinus, the elder of the brothers, was more than commonly deficient in those qualities. In the Gallic war, he discovered some degree of personal courage 80 1.124; but from the moment of his arrival at Rome, he abandoned himself to the luxury of the capital, and to the abuse of his fortune. He was soft yet cruel; devoted to pleasure, but destitute of taste; and though ex|quisitely susceptible of vanity, indifferent to the public esteem. In the course of a few months,

he successively married and divorced nine wives, most of whom he left pregnant; and notwith|standing this legal inconstancy, found time to indulge such a variety of irregular appetites, as brought dishonour on himself and on the noblest houses of Rome. He beheld with inveterate ha|tred all those who might remember his former obscurity, or censure his present conduct. He banished, or put to death, the friends and coun|sellors whom his father had placed about him, to guide his inexperienced youth; and he persecuted with the meanest revenge his school-fellows and companions, who had not sufficiently respected the latent majesty of the emperor. With the se|nators, Carinus affected a lofty and regal de|meanour, frequently declaring, that he designed to distribute their estates among the populace of Rome. From the dregs of that populace, he se|lected his favourites, and even his ministers. The palace, and even the Imperial table, was filled with singers, dancers, prostitutes, and all the various retinue of vice and folly. One of his door-keepers 81 1.125 he intrusted with the govern|ment of the city. In the room of the Praetorian praefect, whom he put to death, Carinus substi|tuted one of the ministers of his looser pleasures. Another who possessed the same, or even a more infamous, title to favour, was invested with the consulship. A confidential secretary, who had

acquired uncommon skill in the art of forgery, delivered the indolent emperor, with his own consent, from the irksome duty of signing his name.

When the emperor Carus undertook the Per|sian war, he was induced, by motives of affection as well as policy, to secure the fortunes of his family, by leaving in the hands of his eldest son the armies and provinces of the West. The in|telligence which he soon received of the conduct of Carinus, filled him with shame and regret; nor had he concealed his resolution of satisfying the republic by a severe act of justice, and of adopting, in the place of an unworthy son, the brave and virtuous Constantius, who at that time was governor of Dalmatia. But the elevation of Constantius was for a while deferred; and as soon as the father's death had released Carinus from the controul of fear or decency, he displayed to the Romans the extravagancies of Elagabalus, aggravated by the cruelty of Domitian 82 1.126.

The only merit of the administration of Cari|nus that history could record or poetry celebrate, * 1.127 was the uncommon splendour with which, in his own and his brother's name, he exhibited the Roman games of the theatre, the circus, and the amphitheatre. More than twenty years after|wards, when the courtiers of Diocletian repre|sented to their frugal sovereign the fame and po|pularity

of his munificent predecessor, he ac|knowledged, that the reign of Carinus had in|deed been a reign of pleasure 83 1.128. But this vain prodigality, which the prudence of Diocletian might justly despise, was enjoyed with surprise and transport by the Roman people. The oldest of the citizens, recollecting the spectacles of for|mer days, the triumphal pomp of Probus or Au|relian, and the secular games of the emperor Philip, acknowledged that they were all surpassed by the superior magnificence of Carinus 84 1.129.

The spectacles of Carinus may therefore be * 1.130 best illustrated by the observation of some parti|culars, which history has condescended to relate concerning those of his predecessors. If we con|fine ourselves solely to the hunting of wild beasts, however we may censure the vanity of the design or the cruelty of the execution, we are obliged to confess, that neither before nor since the time of the Romans, so much art and expence have ever been lavished for the amusement of the people 85 1.131. By the order of Probus, a great quan|tity of large trees, torn up by the roots, were transplanted into the midst of the circus. The spacious and shady forest was immediately filled with a thousand ostriches, a thousand stags, a

thousand fallow deer, and a thousand wild boars; and all this variety of game was abandoned to the riotous impetuosity of the multitude. The tragedy of the succeeding day consisted in the massacre of an hundred lions, an equal number of lionesses, two hundred leopards, and three hundred bears 86 1.132. The collection prepared by the younger Gordian for his triumph, and which his successor exhibited in the secular games, was less remarkable by the number than by the singu|larity of the animals. Twenty zebras displayed their elegant forms and variegated beauty to the eyes of the Roman people 87 1.133. Ten elks, and as many camelopards, the loftiest and most harmless creatures that wander over the plains of Sarma|tia and Aethiopia, were contrasted with thirty African hyaenas, and ten Indian tygers, the most implacable savages of the torrid zone. The un|offending strength with which Nature has en|dowed the greater quadrupeds, was admired in the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus of the Nile 88 1.134, and a majestic troop of thirty-two elephants 89 1.135. While the populace gazed with stupid wonder on

the splendid show, the naturalist might indeed observe the figure and properties of so many dif|ferent species, transported from every part of the ancient world into the amphitheatre of Rome. But this accidental benefit, which science might derive from folly, is surely insufficient to justify such a wanton abuse of the public riches. There occurs, however, a single instance in the first Punic war, in which the senate wisely connected this amusement of the multitude with the interest of the state. A considerable number of ele|phants, taken in the defeat of the Carthaginian army, were driven through the circus by a few slaves, armed only with blunt javelins 90 1.136. The useful spectacle served to impress the Roman sol|dier with a just contempt for those unwieldy ani|mals; and he no longer dreaded to encounter them in the ranks of war.

The hunting or exhibition of wild beasts, was * 1.137 conducted with a magnificence suitable to a peo|ple who styled themselves the masters of the world; nor was the edifice appropriated to that entertainment less expressive of Roman greatness. Posterity admires, and will long admire, the aw|ful remains of the amphitheatre of Titus, which so well deserved the epithet of Colossal 91 1.138. It was a building of an elliptic figure, five hundred and sixty-four feet in length, and four hundred and sixty-seven in breadth, founded on fourscore arches, and rising, with four successive orders of architecture, to the height of one hundred and

forty feet 92 1.139. The outside of the edifice was en|crusted with marble, and decorated with statues. The slopes of the vast concave, which formed the inside, were filled and surrounded with sixty or eighty rows of seats of marble likewise, co|vered with cushions, and capable of receiving with ease above fourscore thousand spectators 93 1.140. Sixty-four vomitories (for by that name the doors were very aptly distinguished) poured forth the immense multitude; and the entrances, passages, and stair-cases, were contrived with such exqui|site skill, that each person, whether of the sena|torial, the equestrian, or the plebeian order, ar|rived at his destined place without trouble or confusion 94 1.141. Nothing was omitted which, in any respect, could be subservient to the conve|nience and pleasure of the spectators. They were protected from the sun and rain by an ample canopy, occasionally drawn over their heads. The air was continually refreshed by the playing of fountains, and profusely impregnated by the grateful scent of aromatics. In the centre

of the edifice, the arena, or stage, was strewed with the finest sand, and successively assumed the most different forms. At one moment it seemed to rise out of the earth, like the garden of the Hesperides, and was afterwards broken into the rocks and caverns of Thrace. The subterraneous pipes conveyed an inexhaustible supply of water; and what had just before appeared a level plain, might be suddenly converted into a wide lake, covered with armed vessels, and replenished with the monsters of the deep 95 1.142. In the decoration of these scenes, the Roman emperors displayed their wealth and liberality; and we read on various occasions, that the whole furniture of the amphi|theatre consisted either of silver, or of gold, or of amber 96 1.143. The poet who describes the games of Carinus, in the character of a shepherd at|tracted to the capital by the fame of their magni|ficence, affirms, that the nets designed as a de|fence against the wild beasts, were of gold wire; that the porticoes were gilded, and that the belt or circle which divided the several ranks of spec|tators from each other, was studded with a pre|cious Mosaic of beautiful stones 97 1.144.

In the midst of this glittering pageantry, the * 1.145 emperor Carinus, secure of his fortune, enjoyed

the acclamations of the people, the flattery of his courtiers, and the songs of the poets, who, for want of a more essential merit, were reduced to celebrate the divine graces of his person 98 1.146. In the same hour, but at the distance of nine hun|dred miles from Rome, his brother expired; and a sudden revolution transferred into the hands of a stranger the sceptre of the house of Carus 99 1.147.

The sons of Carus never saw each other after * 1.148 their father's death. The arrangements which their new situation required, were probably de|ferred till the return of the younger brother to Rome, where a triumph was decreed to the young emperors, for the glorious success of the Persian war 100 1.149. It is uncertain whether they intended to divide between them the administration, or the provinces, of the empire; but it is very unlikely that their union would have proved of any long duration. The jealousy of power must have been inflamed by the opposition of characters. In the most corrupt of times, Carinus was unworthy to live: Numerian deserved to reign in a happier period. His affable manners and gentle virtues secured him, as soon as they became known, the regard and affections of the public. He possessed

the elegant accomplishments of a poet and orator, which dignify as well as adorn the humblest and the most exalted station. His eloquence, how|ever it was applauded by the senate, was formed not so much on the model of Cicero, as on that of the modern declaimers; but in an age very far from being destitute of poetical merit, he contended for the prize with the most celebrated of his contemporaries, and still remained the friend of his rivals; a circumstance which evinces either the goodness of his heart, or the superiority of his genius 101 1.150. But the talents of Numerian were rather of the contemplative, than of the ac|tive kind. When his father's elevation reluc|tantly forced him from the shade of retirement, neither his temper nor his pursuits had qualified him for the command of armies. His constitu|tion was destroyed by the hardships of the Per|sian war; and he had contracted, from the heat of the climate 102 1.151, such a weakness in his eyes, as obliged him, in the course of a long retreat, to confine himself to the solitude and darkness of a tent or litter. The administration of all affairs, civil as well as military, was devolved on Arrius Aper, the Praetorian praefect, who, to the power of his important office, added the honour of be|ing father-in-law to Numerian. The Imperial

pavilion was strictly guarded by his most trusty adherents; and during many days, Aper deli|vered to the army the supposed mandates of their invisible sovereign 103 1.152.

It was not till eight months after the death of * 1.153 Carus, that the Roman army, returning by slow marches from the banks of the Tigris, arrived on those of the Thracian Bosphorus. The le|gions halted at Chalcedon in Asia, while the court passed over to Heraclea, on the European side of the Propontis 104 1.154. But a report soon cir|culated through the camp, at first in secret whis|pers, and at length in loud clamours, of the em|peror's death, and of the presumption of his ambitious minister, who still exercised the sove|reign power in the name of a prince who was no more. The impatience of the soldiers could not long support a state of suspense. With rude curiosity they broke into the Imperial tent, and discovered only the corpse of Numerian 105 1.155. The gradual decline of his health might have induced them to believe that his death was natural; but the concealment was interpreted as an evidence of guilt, and the measures which Aper had taken to secure his election, became the immediate

occasion of his ruin. Yet, even in the transport of their rage and grief, the troops observed a regular proceeding, which proves how firmly dis|cipline had been re-established by the martial successors of Gallienus. A general assembly of the army was appointed to be held at Chalcedon, whither Aper was transported in chains, as a prisoner and a criminal. A vacant tribunal was erected in the midst of the camp, and the gene|rals and tribunes formed a great military council. They soon announced to the multitude, that their * 1.156 choice had fallen on Diocletian, commander of the domestics or body-guards, as the person the * 1.157 most capable of revenging and succeeding their beloved emperor. The future fortunes of the candidate depended on the chance or conduct of the present hour. Conscious that the station which he had filled, exposed him to some suspi|cions, Diocletian ascended the tribunal, and rais|ing his eyes towards the Sun, made a solemn profession of his own innocence, in the presence of that all-seeing Deity 106 1.158. Then, assuming the tone of a sovereign and a judge, he commanded that Aper should be brought in chains to the foot of the tribunal.

This man, said he, is the murderer of Numerian;

and, without giving him time to enter on a dangerous justifi|cation, drew his sword, and buried it in the breast of the unfortunate praefect. A charge supported by such decisive proof, was admitted without contradiction, and the legions, with re|peated

acclamations, acknowledged the justice and authority of the emperor Diocletian 107 1.159.

Before we enter upon the memorable reign of * 1.160 that prince, it will be proper to punish and dis|miss the unworthy brother of Numerian. Ca|rinus possessed arms and treasures sufficient to support his legal title to the empire. But his personal vices overbalanced every advantage of birth and situation. The most faithful servants of the father despised the incapacity, and dreaded the cruel arrogance, of the son. The hearts of the people were engaged in favour of his rival, and even the senate was inclined to prefer an usurper to a tyrant. The arts of Diocletian in|flamed the general discontent; and the winter was employed in secret intrigues, and open pre|parations for a civil war. In the spring, the forces of the East and of the West encountered * 1.161 each other in the plains of Margus, a small city of Maesia, in the neighbourhood of the Da|nube 108 1.162. The troops, so lately returned from the Persian war, had acquired their glory at the expence of health and numbers, nor were they in a condition to contend with the unexhausted strength of the legions of Europe. Their ranks were broken, and, for a moment, Diocletian

despaired of the purple and of life. But the advantage which Carinus had obtained by the valour of his soldiers, he quickly lost by the in|fidelity of his officers. A tribune, whose wife he had seduced, seized the opportunity of revenge, and by a single blow extinguished civil discord in the blood of the adulterer 109 1.163.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Extraordi|nary con|test be|tween the army and the senate for the choice of an empe|ror.
• 1 1.2

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 222. Aurelius Victor mentions a formal deputation from the troops to the senate.
• 2 1.3

  Vopiscus, our principal authority, wrote at Rome, sixteen years only after the death of Aurelian; and, besides the recent notoriety of the facts, constantly draws his materials from the Journals of the Senate, and the original papers of the Ulpian library. Zosimus and Zonaras appear as ignorant of this transaction as they were in ge|neral of the Roman constitution.
• * 1.4

  A. D. 275. Feb. 3.
• * 1.5

  A peaceful interreg|num of eight months.
• 3 1.6

  Liv. i. 17. Dionys. Halicarn. l. ii. p. 115. Plutarch in Nu|ma, p. 60. The first of these writers relates the story like an ora|tor, the second like a lawyer, and the third like a moralist, and none of them probably without some intermixture of fable.
• * 1.7

  A. D. 275. Sept. 25.
• * 1.8

  The consul assembles the senate.
• 4 1.9

  Vopiscus (in Hist. August. p. 227.) calls him primae sententiae consularis; and soon afterwards Princeps senatûs.

  It is natural to suppose, that the monarchs of Rome, disdaining that humble title, resigned it to the most ancient of the senators.
• * 1.10

  Character of Taci|tus.
• 5 1.11

  The only objection to this genealogy, is, that the historian was named Cornelius, the emperor, Claudius. But under the lower empire, surnames were extremely various and uncertain.
• 6 1.12

  Zonaras, l. xii. p. 637. The Alexandrian Chronicle, by an obvious mistake, transfers that age to Aurelian.
• 7 1.13

  In the year 273, he was ordinary consul. But he must have been Suffectus many years before, and most probably under Vale|rian.
• 8 1.14

  Bis millies octingenties. Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 229. This sum, according to the old standard, was equivalent to eight hundred and forty thousand Roman pounds of silver, each of the value of three pounds sterling. But in the age of Tacitus, the coin had lost much of its weight and purity.
• 9 1.15

  After his accession, he gave orders that ten copies of the histo|rian should be annually transcribed and placed in the public libraries. The Roman libraries have long since perished, and the most valuable part of Tacitus was preserved in a single MS. and discovered in a monastery of Westphalia. See Bayle, Dictionnaire, Art. Tacite, and Lipsius ad Annal. ii. 9.
• * 1.16

  He is elect|ed empe|ror,
• 10 1.17

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 227.
• * 1.18

  and ac|cepts the purple.
• 11 1.19

  Hist. August. p. 228. Tacitus addressed the Praetorians by the appellation of sanctissimi milites, and the people by that of sacratissimi Quirites.
• * 1.20

  Authority of the se|nate.
• 12 1.21

  In his manumissions he never exceeded the number of an hun|dred, as limited by the Caninian law, which was enacted under Augustus, and at length repealed by Justinian. See Casaubon ad locum Vopisci.
• 13 1.22

  See the lives of Tacitus, Florianus, and Probus, in the Au|gustan History; we may be well assured, that whatever the soldier gave, the senator had already given.
• 14 1.23

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 216. The passage is perfectly clear; yet both Casaubon and Salmasius wish to correct it.
• * 1.24

  Their joy and confi|dence.
• 15 1.25

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 230. 232, 233. The senators celebrated the happy restoration with hecatombs and public rejoi|cings.
• * 1.26

  A. D. 276. Tacitus is acknow|ledged by the army.
• 16 1.27

  Hist. August. p. 228.
• * 1.28

  The Alani invade Asia, and are repuls|ed by Ta|citus.
• 17 1.29

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 230. Zosimus, l. i. p. 57. Zo|naras, l. xii. p. 637. Two passages in the life of Probus (p. 236. 238.) convince me, that these Scythian invaders of Pontus were Alani. If we may believe Zosimus (l. i. p. 58.), Florianus pur|sued them as far as the Cimmerian Bosphorus. But he had scarcely time for so long and difficult an expedition.
• * 1.30

  Death of the empe|ror Taci|tus.
• 18 1.31

  Eutropius and Aurelius Victor only say that he died; Victor Junior adds, that it was of a fever. Zosimus and Zonaras affirm, that he was killed by the soldiers. Vopiscus mentions both ac|counts, and seems to hesitate. Yet surely these jarring opinions are easily reconciled.
• * 1.32

  A. D. 276. April 12.
• 19 1.33

  According to the two Victors, he reigned exactly two hundred days.
• * 1.34

  Usurpation and death of his bro|ther Flori|anus.
• * 1.35

  July.
• 20 1.36

  Hist. August. p. 231. Zosimus, l. i. p. 58, 59. Zonaras, l. xii. p. 637. Aurelius Victor says, that Probus assumed the em|pire in Illyricum; an opinion which (though adopted by a very learned man) would throw that period of history into inextricable confusion.
• * 1.37

  Their fa|mily sub|sists in ob|scurity.
• 21 1.38

  Hist. August. p. 229.
• 22 1.39

  He was to send judges to the Parthians, Persians, and Sarma|tians, a president to Taprobana, and a proconsul to the Roman island (supposed by Casaubon and Salmasius to mean Britain). Such a history as mine (says Vopiscus with proper modesty) will not subsist a thousand years to expose or justify the prediction.
• * 1.40

  Character and eleva|tion of the emperor Probus.
• 23 1.41

  For the private life of Probus, see Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 234-237.
• 24 1.42

  According to the Alexandrian Chronicle, he was fifty at the time of his death.
• * 1.43

  His re|spectful conduct towards the senate.
• 25 1.44

  The letter was addressed to the Praetorian praefect, whom (on condition of his good behaviour) he promised to continue in his great office. See Hist. August. p. 237.
• 26 1.45

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 237. The date of the letter is assuredly faulty. Instead of Non. Februar. we may read Non. August.
• * 1.46

  A. D. 276. August 3.
• 27 1.47

  Hist. August. p. 238. It is odd, that the senate should treat Probus less favourably than Marcus Antoninus. That prince had received, even before the death of Pius, Jus quintae relationis. See Capitolin. in Hist. August. p. 24.
• 28 1.48

  See the dutiful letter of Probus to the senate, after his German victories. Hist. August. p. 239.
• * 1.49

  Victories of Probus over the barba|rians.
• 29 1.50

  The date and duration of the reign of Probus are very correctly ascertained by Cardinal Noris, in his learned work, De Epochis Sy|ro-Macedonum, p. 96—105. A passage of Eusebius connects the second year of Probus, with the aeras of several of the Syrian cities.
• 30 1.51

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 239.
• 31 1.52

  Zosimus (l. i. p. 62—65.) tells a very long and trifling story of Lycius the Isaurian robber.
• 32 1.53

  Zosim. l. i. p. 65. Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 239, 240. But it seems incredible, that the defeat of the Savages of Aethiopia could affect the Persian monarch.
• 33 1.54

  Besides these well-known chiefs, several others are named by Vopiscus (Hist. August. p. 241.), whose actions have not reached our knowledge.
• * 1.55

  A. D. 277.
• * 1.56

  He deli|vers Gaul from the invasion of the Ger|mans,
• 34 1.57

  See the Caesars of Julian, and Hist. August. p. 238. 240, 241.
• 35 1.58

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 62. Hist. August. p. 240. But the latter suppose the punishment inflicted with the consent of their kings; if so, it was partial, like the offence.
• 36 1.59

  See Cluver. Germania Antiqua, l. iii. Ptolemy places in their country the city of Calisia, probably Calish in Silesia.
• 37 1.60

  Feralis umbra, is the expression of Tacitus: it is surely a very bold one
• 38 1.61

  Tacit. Germ. (c. 43.)
• 39 1.62

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 238.
• * 1.63

  and car|ries his arms into Germany.
• 40 1.64

  Hist. August. p. 238, 239. Vopiscus quotes a letter from the emperor to the senate, in which he mentions his design of reducing Germany into a province.
• * 1.65

  He builds a wall from the Rhine to the Da|nube.
• 41 1.66

  Strabo, l. vii. According to Velleius Paterculus (ii. 108.), Maroboduus led his Marcomanni into Bohemia: Cluverius (German. Antiq. iii. 8.) proves that it was from Swabia.
• 42 1.67

  These settlers from the payment of tythes were denominated, Decumates. Tacif. Germania, c. 29.
• 43 1.68

  See Notes de l'Abbe de la Bleterie à la Germanie de Tacite, p. 183. His account of the wall is chiefly borrowed (as he says himself) from the Alsatia Illustrata of Schoepflin.
• 44 1.69

  See Recherches sur les Chinois et les Egyptiens, tom. ii. p. 81—102. The anonymous author is well acquainted with the globe in general, and with Germany in particular: with regard to the latter, he quotes a work of M. Hanselman; but he seems to confound the wall of Probus, designed against the Alemanni, with the fortification of the Mattiaci, constructed in the neighbourhood of Francfort against the Catti.
• * 1.70

  Introduc|tion and settlement of the bar|barians.
• 45 1.71

  He distributed about fifty or sixty Barbarians to a Numerus, as it was then called, a corps with whose established number we are not exactly acquainted.
• 46 1.72

  Camden's Britannia, Introduction, p. 136.; but he speaks from a very doubtful conjecture.
• 47 1.73

  Zosimus, l. i. p. 62. According to Vopiscus, another body of Vandals was less faithful.
• 48 1.74

  Hist. August. p. 240. They were probably expelled by the Goths. Zosim. l. i. p. 66.
• 49 1.75

  Hist. August. p. 240.
• * 1.76

  Daring en|terprise of the Franks.
• 50 1.77

  Panegyr. Vet. v. 18. Zosimus, l. i. p. 66.
• * 1.78

  Revolt of Saturni|nus in the East;
• 51 1.79

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 245, 246. The unfortunate ora|tor had studied rhetoric at Carthage, and was therefore more proba|bly a Moor (Zosim. l. i. p. 60.) than a Gaul, as Vopiscus calls him.
• * 1.80

  A. D. 279.
• 52 1.81

  Zonaras, l. xii. p. 638.
• * 1.82

  A. D. 280. of Bono|sus and Proculus in Gaul.
• 53 1.83

  A very surprising instance is recorded of the prowess of Proculus. He had taken one hundred Sarmatian virgins. The rest of the story he must relate in his own language; Ex his unâ nocte decem inivi: omnes tamen, quod in me erat, mulieres intra dies quindecim red|didi. Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 246.
• 54 1.84

  Proculus, who was a native of Albengue on the Genoese coast, armed two thousand of his own slaves. His riches were great, but they were acquired by robbery. It was afterwards a saying of his family, Nec latrones esse, nec principes sibi placere. Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 247.
• * 1.85

  A. D. 281.
• * 1.86

  Triumph of the em|peror Pro|bus.
• 55 1.87

  Hist. August. p. 240.
• 56 1.88

  Zosim. l. i. p. 66.
• * 1.89

  His disci|pline.
• 57 1.90

  Hist. August. p. 236.
• 58 1.91

  Aurel. Victor in Prob. But the policy of Hannibal, unnoticed by any more ancient writer, is irreconcileable with the history of his life. He left Africa when he was nine years old, returned to it when he was forty-five, and immediately lost his army in the deci|sive battle of Zama. Livius, xxx. 37.
• 59 1.92

  Hist. August. p. 240. Eutrop. ix. 17. Aurel. Victor in Prob. Victor Junior. He revoked the prohibition of Domitian, and grant|ed a general permission of planting vines to the Gauls, the Britons, and the Pannonians.
• * 1.93

  His death.
• 60 1.94

  Julian bestows a severe, and indeed excessive, censure on the rigour of Probus, who, as he thinks, almost deserved his fate.
• 61 1.95

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 241. He lavishes on this idle hope a large stock of very foolish eloquence.
• 62 1.96

  Turris ferrata. It seems to have been a moveable tower, and cased with iron.
• * 1.97

  A. D. 282, August.
• 63 1.98

  Probus, et vere probus situs est: Victor omnium gentium Bar|bararum: victor etiam tyrannorum.
• * 1.99

  Election and cha|racter of Carus.
• 64 1.100

  Yet all this may be conciliated. He was born at Narbonne in Illyricum, confounded by Eutropius with the more famous city of that name in Gaul. His father might be an African, and his mo|ther a noble Roman. Carus himself was educated in the capital. See Scaliger, Animadversion. ad Euseb. Chron. p. 241.
• 65 1.101

  Probus had requested of the senate an equestrian statue and a marble palace, at the public expence, as a just recompence of the singular merit of Carus. Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 249.
• 66 1.102

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 242. 249. Julian excludes the emperor Carus and both his sons from the banquet of the Caesars.
• 67 1.103

  John Malela, tom. i. p. 401. But the authority of that igno|rant Greek is very slight. He ridiculously derives from Carus, the city of Carrhae, and the province of Caria, the latter of which is mentioned by Homer.
• * 1.104

  The senti|ments of the senate and peo|ple.
• 68 1.105

  Hist. August. p. 249. Carus congratulated the senate, that one of their own order was made emperor.
• 69 1.106

  Hist. August. p. 242.
• 70 1.107

  See the first eclogue of Calphurnius. The design of it is pre|ferred by Fontenelle, to that of Virgil's Pollio. See tom. iii. p. 148.
• * 1.108

  Carus de|feats the Sarma|tians, and marches into the East;
• 71 1.109

  Hist. August. p. 353. Eutropius, ix. 18. Pagi Annal.
• * 1.110

  A. D. 283.
• * 1.111

  he gives audience to the Per|sian am|bassadors.
• 72 1.112

  Agathias, l. iv. p. 135. We find one of his sayings in the Bibliothéque Orientale of M. d'Herbelot.

  The definition of hu|manity includes all other virtues.
• 73 1.113

  Synesius tells this story of Carinus; and it is much more natu|ral to understand it of Carus, than (as Petavius and Tillemont chuse to do) of Probus.
• * 1.114

  His victo|ries and extraordi|nary death.
• 74 1.115

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 250. Eutropius, ix. 18. The two Victors.
• 75 1.116

  To the Persian victory of Carus, I refer the dialogue of the Philopatris, which has so long been an object of dispute among the learned. But to explain and justify my opinion, would require a dissertation.
• * 1.117

  A. D. 283. Dec. 25.
• 76 1.118

  Hist. August. p. 250. Yet Eutropius, Festus, Rufus, the two Victors, Jerome, Sidonius Apollinaris, Syncellus, and Zona|ras, all ascribe the death of Carus to lightning.
• * 1.119

  He is suc|ceeded by his two sons Cari|nus and Numerian.
• 77 1.120

  See Nemesian. Cynegeticon, v. 71, &c.
• 78 1.121

  See Festus and his commentators, on the word Scribonianum. Places struck with lightning, were surrounded with a wall: things were buried with mysterious ceremony.
• 79 1.122

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 250. Aurelius Victor seems to believe the prediction, and to approve the retreat.
• * 1.123

  A. D. 384. Vices of Carinus.
• 80 1.124

  Nemesian. Cynegeticon, v. 69. He was a contemporary, but a poet.
• 81 1.125

  Cancellarius. This word, so humble in its original, has by a singular fortune rose into the title of the first great office of state in the monarchies of Europe. See Casaubon and Salmasius, ad Hist. August. p. 253.
• 82 1.126

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 253, 254. Eutropius, ix. 19. Victor Junior. The reign of Diocletian indeed was so long and prosperous, that it must have been very unfavourable to the repu|tation of Carinus.
• * 1.127

  He cele|brates the Roman games.
• 83 1.128

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 254. He calls him Carus, but the sense is sufficiently obvious, and the words were often con|founded.
• 84 1.129

  See Calphurnius, Eclog. vii. 43. We may observe, that the spectacles of Probus were still recent, and that the poet is seconded by the historian.
• * 1.130

  Spectacles of Rome.
• 85 1.131

  The philosopher Montaigne (Essais, l. iii. 6.) gives a very just and lively view of Roman magnificence in these spectacles.
• 86 1.132

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 240.
• 87 1.133

  They are called Onagri; but the number is too inconsiderable for mere wild-asses. Cuper (de Elephantis Exercitat. ii. 7.) has proved from Oppian, Dion, and an anonymous Greek, that zebras had been seen at Rome. They were brought from some island of the ocean, perhaps Madagascar.
• 88 1.134

  Carinus gave an hippopotamus (see Calphurn. Eclog. vii. 66.). In the latter spectacles, I do not recollect any crocodiles, of which Augustus once exhibited thirty-six.—Dion Cassius, l. lv. p. 781.
• 89 1.135

  Capitolin. in Hist. August. p. 164, 165. We are not acquaint|ed with the animals whom he calls archeleontes, some read argoleontes, others agrioleontes: both corrections are very nugatory.
• 90 1.136

  Plin. Hist. Natur. viii. 6. from the annals of Piso.
• * 1.137

  The am|phitheatre.
• 91 1.138

  See Maffei, Verona Illustrata, p. iv. l. i. c. 2.
• 92 1.139

  Maffei, l. ii. c. 2. The height was very much exaggerated by the ancients. It reached almost to the heavens, according to Calphurnius (Eclog. vii. 23.), and surpassed the ken of human sight, according to Ammianus Marcellinus (xvi. 10.). Yet how trifling to the great pyramid of Egypt, which rises 500 feet perpendicular!
• 93 1.140

  According to different copies of Victor, we read 77,000, or 87,000 spectators; but Maffei (l. ii. c. 12.) finds room on the open sents for no more than 34,000. The remainder were contained in the upper covered galleries.
• 94 1.141

  See Maffei, l. ii. c. 5—12. He treats the very difficult sub|ject with all possible clearness, and like an architect, as well as an antiquarian.
• 95 1.142

  Calphurn. Eclog. vii. 64. 73. These lines are curious, and the whole Eclogue has been of infinite use to Maffei. Calphurnius, as well as Martial (see his first book), was a poet; but when they described the amphitheatre, they both wrote from their own senses, and to those of the Romans.
• 96 1.143

  Consult. Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 16. xxxvii. 11.
• 97 1.144

  Balteus en gemmis, en in lita porticus auro. Certatim radiant, &c. Calphurn. vii.
• * 1.145

  A. D. 284. Sept. 12.
• 98 1.146

  Et Martis vultus et Apollinis esse putavi, says Calphurnius; but John Malela, who had perhaps seen pictures of Carinus, de|scribes him as thick, short, and white, tom. i. p. 403.
• 99 1.147

  With regard to the time when these Roman games were cele|brated, Scaliger, Salmasius, and Cuper, have given themselves a great deal of trouble to perplex a very clear subject.
• * 1.148

  Return of Numerian with the army from Persia.
• 100 1.149

  Nemesianus (in the Cynegeticons) seems to anticipate in his fancy that auspicious day.
• 101 1.150

  He won all the crowns from Nemesianus, with whom he vied in didactic poetry. The senate eracted a statue to the son of Carus, with a very ambiguous inscription,

  To the most powerful of ora|tors.

  See Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 251.
• 102 1.151

  A more natural cause, at least, than that assigned by Vopis|cus (Hist. August. p. 251.), incessantly weeping for his father's death.
• 103 1.152

  In the Persian war, Aper was suspected of a design to betray Carus. Hist. August. p. 250.
• * 1.153

  Death of Numerian.
• 104 1.154

  We are obliged to the Alexandrian Chronicle, p. 274, for the knowledge of the time and place where Diocletian was elected emperor.
• 105 1.155

  Hist. August. p. 251. Eutrop. ix. 88. Hieronym. in Chron. According to these judicious writers, the death of Numerian was dis|covered by the stench of his dead body. Could no aromatics be found in the Imperial household?
• * 1.156

  A. D. 284. Sept. 17.
• * 1.157

  Election of the empe|ror Diocle|tian.
• 106 1.158

  Aurel. Victor. Eutropius, ix. 20. Hieronym. in Chron.
• 107 1.159

  Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 252. The reason why Diocle|tian killed Aper (a wild boar), was founded on a prophecy and a pun, as foolish as they are well known.
• * 1.160

  Defeat and death of Carinus.
• * 1.161

  A. D. 285. May.
• 108 1.162

  Eutropius marks its situation very accurately; it was between the Mons Aureus and Viminiacum. M. d'Anville (Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 304.) places Margus at Kastolatz in Servia, a little below Belgrade and Semendria.
• 109 1.163

  Hist. August. p. 254. Eutropius, ix. 20. Aurelius Victor. Victor in Epitome.