(4) For Valerian, through being persuaded to this policy by him, exposed
himself to insults and injuries according to that which was said to
Isaiah: "And these men chose their ways and their abominations which
their soul desired, and I will choose their mockings and will recompense
them their sins."[138]
But this man (Macrianus) in his mad lust after imperial power for which
he had no qualifications, being unable to deck his own crippled body with
the imperial robes, put forward his two sons, who thus became liable for
their father's sins.[139] For the prophecy clearly applies to them which
God spake: "visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the
third and fourth generation of them that hate me."[140] For he brought
upon his sons' heads his own evil desires in which he had succeeded and
involved them in the consequences of his own wickedness and hatred of
God.[141]
Then there is a section in which he refers to the peaceful times under
Gallienus--
(5) So after thus inciting one of the Emperors before him and attacking
the other, he speedily vanished with all his family, root and
branch,[142] whilst Gallienus was proclaimed and acknowledged by all,
being at once the old and the new Emperor, having preceded the usurpers
and remaining after them. For, in accordance with that which was spoken
to the prophet Isaiah, "behold the things predicted from the beginning
have come to pass, and new things which will now arise."[143] For as a
cloud having overcast the sun's rays and screened them for a while shades
it and shows itself in its stead, and then when the cloud has passed off
or been dissipated the sun which was shining before emerges and shines
forth again, so it is with Macrianus; after coming forward and gaining
access for himself to the imperial power which belonged to Gallienus, he
ceases to be, since he was of no account, and the other resumes the
position he had before. And the Empire, having cast off, as it were, its
old age and purged itself of its former badness, now bursts into greater
splendour, is seen and heard from afar and pervades the whole world.