156 (return) [ This singular character h_The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes)

fairly transmitted to us. The reign of his immediate successor

was short and busy; and the historians who wrote before the

elevation of the family of Constantine could not have the most

remote interest to misrepresent the character of Gallienus.]

At the time when the reins of government were held with so loose

a hand, it is not surprising that a crowd of usurpers should

start up in every province of the empire against the son of

Valerian. It was probably some ingenious fancy, of comparing the

thirty tyrants of Rome with the thirty tyrants of Athens, that

induced the writers of the Augustan History to select that

celebrated number, which has been gradually received into a

popular appellation. 157 But in every light the parallel is idle

and defective. What resemblance can we discover between a council

of thirty persons, the united oppressors of a single city, and an

uncertain list of independent rivals, who rose and fell in

irregular succession through the extent of a vast empire? Nor can

the number of thirty be completed, unless we include in the

account the women and children who were honored with the Imperial

title. The reign of Gallienus, distracted as it was, produced

only nineteen pretenders to the throne: Cyriades, Macrianus,

Balista, Odenathus, and Zenobia, in the East; in Gaul, and the

western provinces, Posthumus, Lollianus, Victorinus, and his

mother Victoria, Marius, and Tetricus; in Illyricum and the

confines of the Danube, Ingenuus, Regillianus, and Aureolus; in

Pontus, 158 Saturninus; in Isauria, Trebellianus; Piso in

Thessaly; Valens in Achaia; Æmilianus in Egypt; and Celsus in

Africa. 1581 To illustrate the obscure monuments of the life and

death of each individual, would prove a laborious task, alike

barren of instruction and of amusement. We may content ourselves

with investigating some general characters, that most strongly

mark the condition of the times, and the manners of the men,

their pretensions, their motives, their fate, and the destructive

consequences of their usurpation. 159

157 (return) [ Pollio expresses the most minute anxiety to

complete the number. * Note: Compare a dissertation of Manso on

the thirty tyrants at the end of his Leben Constantius des

Grossen. Breslau, 1817.—M.]

158 (return) [ The place of his reign is somewhat doubtful; but

there was a tyrant in Pontus, and we are acquainted with the seat

of all the others.]

1581 (return) [ Captain Smyth, in his “Catalogue of Medals,” p.

307, substitutes two new names to make up the number of nineteen,

for those of Odenathus and Zenobia. He subjoins this list:—1. 2.

3. Of those whose coins Those whose coins Those of whom no are

undoubtedly true. are suspected. coins are known. Posthumus.

Cyriades. Valens. Lælianus, (Lollianus, G.) Ingenuus. Balista

Victorinus Celsus. Saturninus. Marius. Piso Frugi. Trebellianus.

Tetricus. —M. 1815 Macrianus. Quietus. Regalianus (Regillianus,

G.) Alex. Æmilianus. Aureolus. Sulpicius Antoninus]

159 (return) [ Tillemont, tom. iii. p. 1163, reckons them

somewhat differently.]

It is sufficiently known, that the odious appellation of _Tyrant_

was often employed by the ancients to express the illegal seizure

of supreme power, without any reference to the abuse of it.

Several of the pretenders, who raised the standard of rebellion

against the emperor Gallienus, were shining models of virtue, and

almost all possessed a considerable share of vigor and ability.

Their merit had recommended them to the favor of Valerian, and

gradually promoted them to the most important commands of the

empire. The generals, who assumed the title of Augustus, were

either respected by their troops for their able conduct and

severe discipline, or admired for valor and success in war, or

beloved for frankness and generosity. The field of victory was

often the scene of their election; and even the armorer Marius,

the most contemptible of all the candidates for the purple, was

distinguished, however, by intrepid courage, matchless strength,

and blunt honesty. 160 His mean and recent trade cast, indeed, an

air of ridicule on his elevation; 1601 but his birth could not be

more obscure than was that of the greater part of his rivals, who

were born of peasants, and enlisted in the army as private

soldiers. In times of confusion every active genius finds the

place assigned him by nature: in a general state of war military

merit is the road to glory and to greatness. Of the nineteen

tyrants Tetricus only was a senator; Piso alone was a noble. The

blood of Numa, through twenty-eight successive generations, ran

in the veins of Calphurnius Piso, 161 who, by female alliances,

claimed a right of exhibiting, in his house, the images of

Crassus and of the great Pompey. 162 His ancestors had been

repeatedly dignified with all the honors which the commonwealth

could bestow; and of all the ancient families of Rome, the

Calphurnian alone had survived the tyranny of the Cæsars. The

personal qualities of Piso added new lustre to his race. The

usurper Valens, by whose order he was killed, confessed, with

deep remorse, that even an enemy ought to have respected the

sanctity of Piso; and although he died in arms against Gallienus,

the senate, with the emperor’s generous permission, decreed the

triumphal ornaments to the memory of so virtuous a rebel. 163

160 (return) [ See the speech of Marius in the Augustan History,

p. 197. The accidental identity of names was the only

circumstance that could tempt Pollio to imitate Sallust.]

1601 (return) [ Marius was killed by a soldier, who had formerly

served as a workman in his shop, and who exclaimed, as he struck,

“Behold the sword which thyself hast forged.” Trob vita.—G.]

161 (return) [ “Vos, O Pompilius sanguis!” is Horace’s address to

the Pisos See Art. Poet. v. 292, with Dacier’s and Sanadon’s

notes.]

162 (return) [ Tacit. Annal. xv. 48. Hist. i. 15. In the former

of these passages we may venture to change paterna into materna.

In every generation from Augustus to Alexander Severus, one or

more Pisos appear as consuls. A Piso was deemed worthy of the

throne by Augustus, (Tacit. Annal. i. 13;) a second headed a

formidable conspiracy against Nero; and a third was adopted, and

declared Cæsar, by Galba.]

163 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 195. The senate, in a moment of

enthusiasm, seems to have presumed on the approbation of

Gallienus.]

The lieutenants of Valerian were grateful to the father, whom

they esteemed. They disdained to serve the luxurious indolence of

his unworthy son. The throne of the Roman world was unsupported

by any principle of loyalty; and treason against such a prince

might easily be considered as patriotism to the state. Yet if we

examine with candor the conduct of these usurpers, it will

appear, that they were much oftener driven into rebellion by

their fears, than urged to it by their ambition. They dreaded the

cruel suspicions of Gallienus; they equally dreaded the

capricious violence of their troops. If the dangerous favor of

the army had imprudently declared them deserving of the purple,

they were marked for sure destruction; and even prudence would

counsel them to secure a short enjoyment of empire, and rather to

try the fortune of war than to expect the hand of an executioner.

When the clamor of the soldiers invested the reluctant victims

with the ensigns of sovereign authority, they sometimes mourned

in secret their approaching fate. “You have lost,” said

Saturninus, on the day of his elevation, “you have lost a useful

commander, and you have made a very wretched emperor.” 164

164 (return) [ Hist. August p. 196.]

The apprehensions of Saturninus were justified by the repeated

experience of revolutions. Of the nineteen tyrants who started up

under the reign of Gallienus, there was not one who enjoyed a

life of peace, or a natural death. As soon as they were invested

with the bloody purple, they inspired their adherents with the

same fears and ambition which had occasioned their own revolt.

Encompassed with domestic conspiracy, military sedition, and

civil war, they trembled on the edge of precipices, in which,

after a longer or shorter term of anxiety, they were inevitably

lost. These precarious monarchs received, however, such honors as

the flattery of their respective armies and provinces could

bestow; but their claim, founded on rebellion, could never obtain

the sanction of law or history. Italy, Rome, and the senate,

constantly adhered to the cause of Gallienus, and he alone was

considered as the sovereign of the empire. That prince

condescended, indeed, to acknowledge the victorious arms of

Odenathus, who deserved the honorable distinction, by the

respectful conduct which he always maintained towards the son of

Valerian. With the general applause of the Romans, and the

consent of Gallienus, the senate conferred the title of Augustus

on the brave Palmyrenian; and seemed to intrust him with the

government of the East, which he already possessed, in so

independent a manner, that, like a private succession, he

bequeathed it to his illustrious widow, Zenobia. 165

165 (return) [ The association of the brave Palmyrenian was the

most popular act of the whole reign of Gallienus. Hist. August.

p. 180.]

The rapid and perpetual transitions from the cottage to the

throne, and from the throne to the grave, might have amused an

indifferent philosopher; were it possible for a philosopher to

remain indifferent amidst the general calamities of human kind.

The election of these precarious emperors, their power and their

death, were equally destructive to their subjects and adherents.

The price of their fatal elevation was instantly discharged to

the troops by an immense donative, drawn from the bowels of the

exhausted people. However virtuous was their character, however

pure their intentions, they found themselves reduced to the hard

necessity of supporting their usurpation by frequent acts of

rapine and cruelty. When they fell, they involved armies and

provinces in their fall. There is still extant a most savage

mandate from Gallienus to one of his ministers, after the

suppression of Ingenuus, who had assumed the purple in Illyricum.

“It is not enough,” says that soft but inhuman prince, “that you

exterminate such as have appeared in arms; the chance of battle

might have served me as effectually. The male sex of every age

must be extirpated; provided that, in the execution of the

children and old men, you can contrive means to save our

reputation. Let every one die who has dropped an expression, who

has entertained a thought against me, against _me_, the son of

Valerian, the father and brother of so many princes. 166 Remember

that Ingenuus was made emperor: tear, kill, hew in pieces. I

write to you with my own hand, and would inspire you with my own

feelings.” 167 Whilst the public forces of the state were

dissipated in private quarrels, the defenceless provinces lay

exposed to every invader. The bravest usurpers were compelled, by

the perplexity of their situation, to conclude ignominious

treaties with the common enemy, to purchase with oppressive

tributes the neutrality or services of the Barbarians, and to

introduce hostile and independent nations into the heart of the

Roman monarchy. 168

166 (return) [ Gallienus had given the titles of Cæsar and

Augustus to his son Saloninus, slain at Cologne by the usurper

Posthumus. A second son of Gallienus succeeded to the name and

rank of his elder brother Valerian, the brother of Gallienus, was

also associated to the empire: several other brothers, sisters,

nephews, and nieces of the emperor formed a very numerous royal

family. See Tillemont, tom iii, and M. de Brequigny in the

Memoires de l’Academie, tom xxxii p. 262.]

167 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 188.]

168 (return) [ Regillianus had some bands of Roxolani in his

service; Posthumus a body of Franks. It was, perhaps, in the

character of auxiliaries that the latter introduced themselves

into Spain.]

Such were the barbarians, and such the tyrants, who, under the

reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, dismembered the provinces, and

reduced the empire to the lowest pitch of disgrace and ruin, from

whence it seemed impossible that it should ever emerge. As far as

the barrenness of materials would permit, we have attempted to

trace, with order and perspicuity, the general events of that

calamitous period. There still remain some particular facts; I.

The disorders of Sicily; II. The tumults of Alexandria; and, III.

The rebellion of the Isaurians, which may serve to reflect a

strong light on the horrid picture.

I. Whenever numerous troops of banditti, multiplied by success

and impunity, publicly defy, instead of eluding, the justice of

their country, we may safely infer that the excessive weakness of

the country is felt and abused by the lowest ranks of the

community. The situation of Sicily preserved it from the

Barbarians; nor could the disarmed province have supported a

usurper. The sufferings of that once flourishing and still

fertile island were inflicted by baser hands. A licentious crowd

of slaves and peasants reigned for a while over the plundered

country, and renewed the memory of the servile wars of more

ancient times. 169 Devastations, of which the husbandman was

either the victim or the accomplice, must have ruined the

agriculture of Sicily; and as the principal estates were the

property of the opulent senators of Rome, who often enclosed

within a farm the territory of an old republic, it is not

improbable, that this private injury might affect the capital

more deeply, than all the conquests of the Goths or the Persians.

169 (return) [ The Augustan History, p. 177. See Diodor. Sicul.

l. xxxiv.]

II. The foundation of Alexandria was a noble design, at once

conceived and executed by the son of Philip. The beautiful and

regular form of that great city, second only to Rome itself,

comprehended a circumference of fifteen miles; 170 it was peopled

by three hundred thousand free inhabitants, besides at least an

equal number of slaves. 171 The lucrative trade of Arabia and

India flowed through the port of Alexandria, to the capital and

provinces of the empire. 1711 Idleness was unknown. Some were

employed in blowing of glass, others in weaving of linen, others

again manufacturing the papyrus. Either sex, and every age, was

engaged in the pursuits of industry, nor did even the blind or

the lame want occupations suited to their condition. 172 But the

people of Alexandria, a various mixture of nations, united the

vanity and inconstancy of the Greeks with the superstition and

obstinacy of the Egyptians. The most trifling occasion, a

transient scarcity of flesh or lentils, the neglect of an

accustomed salutation, a mistake of precedency in the public

baths, or even a religious dispute, 173 were at any time

sufficient to kindle a sedition among that vast multitude, whose

resentments were furious and implacable. 174 After the captivity

of Valerian and the insolence of his son had relaxed the

authority of the laws, the Alexandrians abandoned themselves to

the ungoverned rage of their passions, and their unhappy country

was the theatre of a civil war, which continued (with a few short

and suspicious truces) above twelve years. 175 All intercourse

was cut off between the several quarters of the afflicted city,

every street was polluted with blood, every building of strength

converted into a citadel; nor did the tumults subside till a

considerable part of Alexandria was irretrievably ruined. The

spacious and magnificent district of Bruchion, 1751 with its

palaces and musæum, the residence of the kings and philosophers

of Egypt, is described above a century afterwards, as already

reduced to its present state of dreary solitude. 176

170 (return) [ Plin. Hist. Natur. v. 10.]

171 (return) [ Diodor. Sicul. l. xvii. p. 590, edit. Wesseling.]

1711 (return) [ Berenice, or Myos-Hormos, on the Red Sea,

received the eastern commodities. From thence they were

transported to the Nile, and down the Nile to Alexandria.—M.]

172 (return) [ See a very curious letter of Hadrian, in the

Augustan History, p. 245.]

173 (return) [ Such as the sacrilegious murder of a divine cat.

See Diodor. Sicul. l. i. * Note: The hostility between the Jewish

and Grecian part of the population afterwards between the two

former and the Christian, were unfailing causes of tumult,

sedition, and massacre. In no place were the religious disputes,

after the establishment of Christianity, more frequent or more

sanguinary. See Philo. de Legat. Hist. of Jews, ii. 171, iii.

111, 198. Gibbon, iii c. xxi. viii. c. xlvii.—M.]

174 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 195. This long and terrible

sedition was first occasioned by a dispute between a soldier and

a townsman about a pair of shoes.]

175 (return) [ Dionysius apud. Euses. Hist. Eccles. vii. p. 21.

Ammian xxii. 16.]

1751 (return) [ The Bruchion was a quarter of Alexandria which

extended along the largest of the two ports, and contained many

palaces, inhabited by the Ptolemies. D’Anv. Geogr. Anc. iii.

10.—G.]

176 (return) [ Scaliger. Animadver. ad Euseb. Chron. p. 258.

Three dissertations of M. Bonamy, in the Mem. de l’Academie, tom.

ix.]

III. The obscure rebellion of Trebellianus, who assumed the purple in

Isauria, a petty province of Asia Minor, was attended with strange and

memorable consequences. The pageant of royalty was soon destroyed by an

officer of Gallienus; but his followers, despairing of mercy, resolved

to shake off their allegiance, not only to the emperor, but to the

empire, and suddenly returned to the savage manners from which they had

never perfectly been reclaimed. Their craggy rocks, a branch of the

wide-extended Taurus, protected their inaccessible retreat. The tillage

of some fertile valleys 177 supplied them with necessaries, and a habit

of rapine with the luxuries of life. In the heart of the Roman

monarchy, the Isaurians long continued a nation of wild barbarians.

Succeeding princes, unable to reduce them to obedience, either by arms

or policy, were compelled to acknowledge their weakness, by surrounding

the hostile and independent spot with a strong chain of fortifications,

178 which often proved insufficient to restrain the incursions of these

domestic foes. The Isaurians, gradually extending their territory to

the sea-coast, subdued the western and mountainous part of Cilicia,

formerly the nest of those daring pirates, against whom the republic

had once been obliged to exert its utmost force, under the conduct of

the great Pompey. 179

177 (return) [ Strabo, l. xiii. p. 569.]

178 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 197.]

179 (return) [ See Cellarius, Geogr Antiq. tom. ii. p. 137, upon

the limits of Isauria.]

Our habits of thinking so fondly connect the order of the

universe with the fate of man, that this gloomy period of history

has been decorated with inundations, earthquakes, uncommon

meteors, preternatural darkness, and a crowd of prodigies

fictitious or exaggerated. 180 But a long and general famine was

a calamity of a more serious kind. It was the inevitable

consequence of rapine and oppression, which extirpated the

produce of the present and the hope of future harvests. Famine is

almost always followed by epidemical diseases, the effect of

scanty and unwholesome food. Other causes must, however, have

contributed to the furious plague, which, from the year two

hundred and fifty to the year two hundred and sixty-five, raged

without interruption in every province, every city, and almost

every family, of the Roman empire. During some time five thousand

persons died daily in Rome; and many towns, that had escaped the

hands of the Barbarians, were entirely depopulated. 181b

180 (return) [ Hist August p 177.]

181b (return) [ Hist. August. p. 177. Zosimus, l. i. p. 24.

Zonaras, l. xii. p. 623. Euseb. Chronicon. Victor in Epitom.

Victor in Cæsar. Eutropius, ix. 5. Orosius, vii. 21.]

We have the knowledge of a very curious circumstance, of some use

perhaps in the melancholy calculation of human calamities. An

exact register was kept at Alexandria of all the citizens

entitled to receive the distribution of corn. It was found, that

the ancient number of those comprised between the ages of forty

and seventy, had been equal to the whole sum of claimants, from

fourteen to fourscore years of age, who remained alive after the

reign of Gallienus. 182 Applying this authentic fact to the most

correct tables of mortality, it evidently proves, that above half

the people of Alexandria had perished; and could we venture to

extend the analogy to the other provinces, we might suspect, that

war, pestilence, and famine, had consumed, in a few years, the

moiety of the human species. 183

182 (return) [ Euseb. Hist. Eccles. vii. 21. The fact is taken

from the Letters of Dionysius, who, in the time of those

troubles, was bishop of Alexandria.]

183 (return) [ In a great number of parishes, 11,000 persons were

found between fourteen and eighty; 5365 between forty and

seventy. See Buffon, Histoire Naturelle, tom. ii. p. 590.]

Chapter XI: Reign Of Claudius, Defeat Of The Goths.—Part I.

Reign Of Claudius.—Defeat Of The Goths.—Victories, Triumph, And Death

Of Aurelian.

Under the deplorable reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, the empire

was oppressed and almost destroyed by the soldiers, the tyrants,

and the barbarians. It was saved by a series of great princes,

who derived their obscure origin from the martial provinces of

Illyricum. Within a period of about thirty years, Claudius,

Aurelian, Probus, Diocletian and his colleagues, triumphed over

the foreign and domestic enemies of the state, reëstablished,

with the military discipline, the strength of the frontiers, and

deserved the glorious title of Restorers of the Roman world.

The removal of an effeminate tyrant made way for a succession of

heroes. The indignation of the people imputed all their

calamities to Gallienus, and the far greater part were, indeed,

the consequence of his dissolute manners and careless

administration. He was even destitute of a sense of honor, which

so frequently supplies the absence of public virtue; and as long

as he was permitted to enjoy the possession of Italy, a victory

of the barbarians, the loss of a province, or the rebellion of a

general, seldom disturbed the tranquil course of his pleasures.

At length, a considerable army, stationed on the Upper Danube,

invested with the Imperial purple their leader Aureolus; who,

disdaining a confined and barren reign over the mountains of

Rhætia, passed the Alps, occupied Milan, threatened Rome, and

challenged Gallienus to dispute in the field the sovereignty of

Italy. The emperor, provoked by the insult, and alarmed by the

instant danger, suddenly exerted that latent vigor which

sometimes broke through the indolence of his temper. Forcing

himself from the luxury of the palace, he appeared in arms at the

head of his legions, and advanced beyond the Po to encounter his

competitor. The corrupted name of Pontirolo 1 still preserves the

memory of a bridge over the Adda, which, during the action, must

have proved an object of the utmost importance to both armies.

The Rhætian usurper, after receiving a total defeat and a

dangerous wound, retired into Milan. The siege of that great city

was immediately formed; the walls were battered with every engine

in use among the ancients; and Aureolus, doubtful of his internal

strength, and hopeless of foreign succors already anticipated the

fatal consequences of unsuccessful rebellion.

1 (return) [ Pons Aureoli, thirteen miles from Bergamo, and

thirty-two from Milan. See Cluver. Italia, Antiq. tom. i. p. 245.

Near this place, in the year 1703, the obstinate battle of

Cassano was fought between the French and Austrians. The

excellent relation of the Chevalier de Folard, who was present,

gives a very distinct idea of the ground. See Polybe de Folard,

tom. iii. p. 233-248.]

His last resource was an attempt to seduce the loyalty of the

besiegers. He scattered libels through the camp, inviting the

troops to desert an unworthy master, who sacrificed the public

happiness to his luxury, and the lives of his most valuable

subjects to the slightest suspicions. The arts of Aureolus

diffused fears and discontent among the principal officers of his

rival. A conspiracy was formed by Heraclianus, the Prætorian

præfect, by Marcian, a general of rank and reputation, and by

Cecrops, who commanded a numerous body of Dalmatian guards. The

death of Gallienus was resolved; and notwithstanding their desire

of first terminating the siege of Milan, the extreme danger which

accompanied every moment’s delay obliged them to hasten the

execution of their daring purpose. At a late hour of the night,

but while the emperor still protracted the pleasures of the

table, an alarm was suddenly given, that Aureolus, at the head of

all his forces, had made a desperate sally from the town;

Gallienus, who was never deficient in personal bravery, started

from his silken couch, and without allowing himself time either

to put on his armor, or to assemble his guards, he mounted on

horseback, and rode full speed towards the supposed place of the

attack. Encompassed by his declared or concealed enemies, he

soon, amidst the nocturnal tumult, received a mortal dart from an

uncertain hand. Before he expired, a patriotic sentiment rising

in the mind of Gallienus, induced him to name a deserving

successor; and it was his last request, that the Imperial

ornaments should be delivered to Claudius, who then commanded a

detached army in the neighborhood of Pavia. The report at least

was diligently propagated, and the order cheerfully obeyed by the

conspirators, who had already agreed to place Claudius on the

throne. On the first news of the emperor’s death, the troops

expressed some suspicion and resentment, till the one was

removed, and the other assuaged, by a donative of twenty pieces

of gold to each soldier. They then ratified the election, and

acknowledged the merit of their new sovereign. 2

2 (return) [ On the death of Gallienus, see Trebellius Pollio in

Hist. August. p. 181. Zosimus, l. i. p. 37. Zonaras, l. xii. p.

634. Eutrop. ix. ll. Aurelius Victor in Epitom. Victor in Cæsar.

I have compared and blended them all, but have chiefly followed

Aurelius Victor, who seems to have had the best memoirs.]

The obscurity which covered the origin of Claudius, though it was

afterwards embellished by some flattering fictions, 3

sufficiently betrays the meanness of his birth. We can only

discover that he was a native of one of the provinces bordering

on the Danube; that his youth was spent in arms, and that his

modest valor attracted the favor and confidence of Decius. The

senate and people already considered him as an excellent officer,

equal to the most important trusts; and censured the inattention

of Valerian, who suffered him to remain in the subordinate

station of a tribune. But it was not long before that emperor

distinguished the merit of Claudius, by declaring him general and

chief of the Illyrian frontier, with the command of all the

troops in Thrace, Mæsia, Dacia, Pannonia, and Dalmatia, the

appointments of the præfect of Egypt, the establishment of the

proconsul of Africa, and the sure prospect of the consulship. By

his victories over the Goths, he deserved from the senate the

honor of a statue, and excited the jealous apprehensions of

Gallienus. It was impossible that a soldier could esteem so

dissolute a sovereign, nor is it easy to conceal a just contempt.

Some unguarded expressions which dropped from Claudius were

officiously transmitted to the royal ear. The emperor’s answer to

an officer of confidence describes in very lively colors his own

character, and that of the times. “There is not any thing capable

of giving me more serious concern, than the intelligence

contained in your last despatch; 4 that some malicious

suggestions have indisposed towards us the mind of our friend and

_parent_ Claudius. As you regard your allegiance, use every means

to appease his resentment, but conduct your negotiation with

secrecy; let it not reach the knowledge of the Dacian troops;

they are already provoked, and it might inflame their fury. I

myself have sent him some presents: be it your care that he

accept them with pleasure. Above all, let him not suspect that I

am made acquainted with his imprudence. The fear of my anger

might urge him to desperate counsels.” 5 The presents which

accompanied this humble epistle, in which the monarch solicited a

reconciliation with his discontented subject, consisted of a

considerable sum of money, a splendid wardrobe, and a valuable

service of silver and gold plate. By such arts Gallienus softened

the indignation and dispelled the fears of his Illyrian general;

and during the remainder of that reign, the formidable sword of

Claudius was always drawn in the cause of a master whom he

despised. At last, indeed, he received from the conspirators the

bloody purple of Gallienus: but he had been absent from their

camp and counsels; and however he might applaud the deed, we may

candidly presume that he was innocent of the knowledge of it. 6

When Claudius ascended the throne, he was about fifty-four years

of age.

3 (return) [ Some supposed him, oddly enough, to be a bastard of

the younger Gordian. Others took advantage of the province of

Dardania, to deduce his origin from Dardanus, and the ancient

kings of Troy.]

4 (return) [ Notoria, a periodical and official despatch which

the emperor received from the frumentarii, or agents dispersed

through the provinces. Of these we may speak hereafter.]

5 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 208. Gallienus describes the plate,

vestments, etc., like a man who loved and understood those

splendid trifles.]

6 (return) [ Julian (Orat. i. p. 6) affirms that Claudius

acquired the empire in a just and even holy manner. But we may

distrust the partiality of a kinsman.]

The siege of Milan was still continued, and Aureolus soon

discovered that the success of his artifices had only raised up a

more determined adversary. He attempted to negotiate with

Claudius a treaty of alliance and partition. “Tell him,” replied

the intrepid emperor, “that such proposals should have been made

to Gallienus; _he_, perhaps, might have listened to them with

patience, and accepted a colleague as despicable as himself.” 7

This stern refusal, and a last unsuccessful effort, obliged

Aureolus to yield the city and himself to the discretion of the

conqueror. The judgment of the army pronounced him worthy of

death; and Claudius, after a feeble resistance, consented to the

execution of the sentence. Nor was the zeal of the senate less

ardent in the cause of their new sovereign. They ratified,

perhaps with a sincere transport of zeal, the election of

Claudius; and, as his predecessor had shown himself the personal

enemy of their order, they exercised, under the name of justice,

a severe revenge against his friends and family. The senate was

permitted to discharge the ungrateful office of punishment, and

the emperor reserved for himself the pleasure and merit of

obtaining by his intercession a general act of indemnity. 8

7 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 203. There are some trifling

differences concerning the circumstances of the last defeat and

death of Aureolus]

8 (return) [ Aurelius Victor in Gallien. The people loudly prayed

for the damnation of Gallienus. The senate decreed that his

relations and servants should be thrown down headlong from the

Gemonian stairs. An obnoxious officer of the revenue had his eyes

torn out whilst under examination. Note: The expression is

curious, “terram matrem deosque inferos impias uti Gallieno

darent.”—M.]

Such ostentatious clemency discovers less of the real character

of Claudius, than a trifling circumstance in which he seems to

have consulted only the dictates of his heart. The frequent

rebellions of the provinces had involved almost every person in

the guilt of treason, almost every estate in the case of

confiscation; and Gallienus often displayed his liberality by

distributing among his officers the property of his subjects. On

the accession of Claudius, an old woman threw herself at his

feet, and complained that a general of the late emperor had

obtained an arbitrary grant of her patrimony. This general was

Claudius himself, who had not entirely escaped the contagion of

the times. The emperor blushed at the reproach, but deserved the

confidence which she had reposed in his equity. The confession of

his fault was accompanied with immediate and ample restitution. 9

9 (return) [ Zonaras, l. xii. p. 137.]

In the arduous task which Claudius had undertaken, of restoring

the empire to its ancient splendor, it was first necessary to

revive among his troops a sense of order and obedience. With the

authority of a veteran commander, he represented to them that the

relaxation of discipline had introduced a long train of

disorders, the effects of which were at length experienced by the

soldiers themselves; that a people ruined by oppression, and

indolent from despair, could no longer supply a numerous army

with the means of luxury, or even of subsistence; that the danger

of each individual had increased with the despotism of the

military order, since princes who tremble on the throne will

guard their safety by the instant sacrifice of every obnoxious

subject. The emperor expiated on the mischiefs of a lawless

caprice, which the soldiers could only gratify at the expense of

their own blood; as their seditious elections had so frequently

been followed by civil wars, which consumed the flower of the

legions either in the field of battle, or in the cruel abuse of

victory. He painted in the most lively colors the exhausted state

of the treasury, the desolation of the provinces, the disgrace of

the Roman name, and the insolent triumph of rapacious barbarians.

It was against those barbarians, he declared, that he intended to

point the first effort of their arms. Tetricus might reign for a

while over the West, and even Zenobia might preserve the dominion

of the East. 10 These usurpers were his personal adversaries; nor

could he think of indulging any private resentment till he had

saved an empire, whose impending ruin would, unless it was timely

prevented, crush both the army and the people.

10 (return) [ Zonaras on this occasion mentions Posthumus but the

registers of the senate (Hist. August. p. 203) prove that

Tetricus was already emperor of the western provinces.]

The various nations of Germany and Sarmatia, who fought under the

Gothic standard, had already collected an armament more

formidable than any which had yet issued from the Euxine. On the

banks of the Niester, one of the great rivers that discharge

themselves into that sea, they constructed a fleet of two

thousand, or even of six thousand vessels; 11 numbers which,

however incredible they may seem, would have been insufficient to

transport their pretended army of three hundred and twenty

thousand barbarians. Whatever might be the real strength of the

Goths, the vigor and success of the expedition were not adequate

to the greatness of the preparations. In their passage through

the Bosphorus, the unskilful pilots were overpowered by the

violence of the current; and while the multitude of their ships

were crowded in a narrow channel, many were dashed against each

other, or against the shore. The barbarians made several descents

on the coasts both of Europe and Asia; but the open country was

already plundered, and they were repulsed with shame and loss

from the fortified cities which they assaulted. A spirit of

discouragement and division arose in the fleet, and some of their

chiefs sailed away towards the islands of Crete and Cyprus; but

the main body, pursuing a more steady course, anchored at length

near the foot of Mount Athos, and assaulted the city of

Thessalonica, the wealthy capital of all the Macedonian

provinces. Their attacks, in which they displayed a fierce but

artless bravery, were soon interrupted by the rapid approach of

Claudius, hastening to a scene of action that deserved the

presence of a warlike prince at the head of the remaining powers

of the empire. Impatient for battle, the Goths immediately broke

up their camp, relinquished the siege of Thessalonica, left their

navy at the foot of Mount Athos, traversed the hills of

Macedonia, and pressed forwards to engage the last defence of

Italy.

11 (return) [ The Augustan History mentions the smaller, Zonaras

the larger number; the lively fancy of Montesquieu induced him to

prefer the latter.]

We still posses an original letter addressed by Claudius to the

senate and people on this memorable occasion. “Conscript

fathers,” says the emperor, “know that three hundred and twenty

thousand Goths have invaded the Roman territory. If I vanquish

them, your gratitude will reward my services. Should I fall,

remember that I am the successor of Gallienus. The whole republic

is fatigued and exhausted. We shall fight after Valerian, after

Ingenuus, Regillianus, Lollianus, Posthumus, Celsus, and a

thousand others, whom a just contempt for Gallienus provoked into

rebellion. We are in want of darts, of spears, and of shields.

The strength of the empire, Gaul, and Spain, are usurped by

Tetricus, and we blush to acknowledge that the archers of the

East serve under the banners of Zenobia. Whatever we shall

perform will be sufficiently great.” 12 The melancholy firmness

of this epistle announces a hero careless of his fate, conscious

of his danger, but still deriving a well-grounded hope from the

resources of his own mind.

12 (return) [ Trebell. Pollio in Hist. August. p. 204.]

The event surpassed his own expectations and those of the world.

By the most signal victories he delivered the empire from this

host of barbarians, and was distinguished by posterity under the

glorious appellation of the Gothic Claudius. The imperfect

historians of an irregular war 13 do not enable us to describe

the order and circumstances of his exploits; but, if we could be

indulged in the allusion, we might distribute into three acts

this memorable tragedy. I. The decisive battle was fought near

Naissus, a city of Dardania. The legions at first gave way,

oppressed by numbers, and dismayed by misfortunes. Their ruin was

inevitable, had not the abilities of their emperor prepared a

seasonable relief. A large detachment, rising out of the secret

and difficult passes of the mountains, which, by his order, they

had occupied, suddenly assailed the rear of the victorious Goths.

The favorable instant was improved by the activity of Claudius.

He revived the courage of his troops, restored their ranks, and

pressed the barbarians on every side. Fifty thousand men are

reported to have been slain in the battle of Naissus. Several

large bodies of barbarians, covering their retreat with a movable

fortification of wagons, retired, or rather escaped, from the

field of slaughter.

II. We may presume that some insurmountable difficulty, the

fatigue, perhaps, or the disobedience, of the conquerors,

prevented Claudius from completing in one day the destruction of

the Goths. The war was diffused over the province of Mæsia,

Thrace, and Macedonia, and its operations drawn out into a

variety of marches, surprises, and tumultuary engagements, as

well by sea as by land. When the Romans suffered any loss, it was

commonly occasioned by their own cowardice or rashness; but the

superior talents of the emperor, his perfect knowledge of the

country, and his judicious choice of measures as well as

officers, assured on most occasions the success of his arms. The

immense booty, the fruit of so many victories, consisted for the

greater part of cattle and slaves. A select body of the Gothic

youth was received among the Imperial troops; the remainder was

sold into servitude; and so considerable was the number of female

captives that every soldier obtained to his share two or three

women. A circumstance from which we may conclude, that the

invaders entertained some designs of settlement as well as of

plunder; since even in a naval expedition, they were accompanied

by their families.

III. The loss of their fleet, which was either taken or sunk, had

intercepted the retreat of the Goths. A vast circle of Roman

posts, distributed with skill, supported with firmness, and

gradually closing towards a common centre, forced the barbarians

into the most inaccessible parts of Mount Hæmus, where they found

a safe refuge, but a very scanty subsistence. During the course

of a rigorous winter in which they were besieged by the emperor’s

troops, famine and pestilence, desertion and the sword,

continually diminished the imprisoned multitude. On the return of

spring, nothing appeared in arms except a hardy and desperate

band, the remnant of that mighty host which had embarked at the

mouth of the Niester.

13 (return) [ Hist. August. in Claud. Aurelian. et Prob. Zosimus,

l. i. p. 38-42. Zonaras, l. xii. p. 638. Aurel. Victor in Epitom.

Victor Junior in Cæsar. Eutrop. ix ll. Euseb. in Chron.]

The pestilence which swept away such numbers of the barbarians,

at length proved fatal to their conqueror. After a short but

glorious reign of two years, Claudius expired at Sirmium, amidst

the tears and acclamations of his subjects. In his last illness,

he convened the principal officers of the state and army, and in

their presence recommended Aurelian, 14 one of his generals, as

the most deserving of the throne, and the best qualified to

execute the great design which he himself had been permitted only

to undertake. The virtues of Claudius, his valor, affability,

justice, and temperance, his love of fame and of his country,

place him in that short list of emperors who added lustre to the

Roman purple. Those virtues, however, were celebrated with

peculiar zeal and complacency by the courtly writers of the age

of Constantine, who was the great-grandson of Crispus, the elder

brother of Claudius. The voice of flattery was soon taught to

repeat, that gods, who so hastily had snatched Claudius from the

earth, rewarded his merit and piety by the perpetual

establishment of the empire in his family. 15

14 (return) [ According to Zonaras, (l. xii. p. 638,) Claudius,

before his death, invested him with the purple; but this singular

fact is rather contradicted than confirmed by other writers.]

15 (return) [ See the Life of Claudius by Pollio, and the

Orations of Mamertinus, Eumenius, and Julian. See likewise the

Cæsars of Julian p. 318. In Julian it was not adulation, but

superstition and vanity.]

Notwithstanding these oracles, the greatness of the Flavian

family (a name which it had pleased them to assume) was deferred

above twenty years, and the elevation of Claudius occasioned the

immediate ruin of his brother Quintilius, who possessed not

sufficient moderation or courage to descend into the private

station to which the patriotism of the late emperor had condemned

him. Without delay or reflection, he assumed the purple at

Aquileia, where he commanded a considerable force; and though his

reign lasted only seventeen days, 151 he had time to obtain the

sanction of the senate, and to experience a mutiny of the troops.

As soon as he was informed that the great army of the Danube had

invested the well-known valor of Aurelian with Imperial power, he

sunk under the fame and merit of his rival; and ordering his

veins to be opened, prudently withdrew himself from the unequal

contest. 16

151 (return) [ Such is the narrative of the greater part of the

older historians; but the number and the variety of his medals

seem to require more time, and give probability to the report of

Zosimus, who makes him reign some months.—G.]

16 (return) [ Zosimus, l. i. p. 42. Pollio (Hist. August. p. 107)

allows him virtues, and says, that, like Pertinax, he was killed

by the licentious soldiers. According to Dexippus, he died of a

disease.]

The general design of this work will not permit us minutely to

relate the actions of every emperor after he ascended the throne,

much less to deduce the various fortunes of his private life. We

shall only observe, that the father of Aurelian was a peasant of

the territory of Sirmium, who occupied a small farm, the property

of Aurelius, a rich senator. His warlike son enlisted in the

troops as a common soldier, successively rose to the rank of a

centurion, a tribune, the præfect of a legion, the inspector of

the camp, the general, or, as it was then called, the duke, of a

frontier; and at length, during the Gothic war, exercised the

important office of commander-in-chief of the cavalry. In every

station he distinguished himself by matchless valor, 17 rigid

discipline, and successful conduct. He was invested with the

consulship by the emperor Valerian, who styles him, in the

pompous language of that age, the deliverer of Illyricum, the

restorer of Gaul, and the rival of the Scipios. At the

recommendation of Valerian, a senator of the highest rank and

merit, Ulpius Crinitus, whose blood was derived from the same

source as that of Trajan, adopted the Pannonian peasant, gave him

his daughter in marriage, and relieved with his ample fortune the

honorable poverty which Aurelian had preserved inviolate. 18

17 (return) [ Theoclius (as quoted in the Augustan History, p.

211) affirms that in one day he killed with his own hand

forty-eight Sarmatians, and in several subsequent engagements

nine hundred and fifty. This heroic valor was admired by the

soldiers, and celebrated in their rude songs, the burden of which

was, mille, mile, mille, occidit.]

18 (return) [ Acholius (ap. Hist. August. p. 213) describes the

ceremony of the adoption, as it was performed at Byzantium, in

the presence of the emperor and his great officers.]

The reign of Aurelian lasted only four years and about nine

months; but every instant of that short period was filled by some

memorable achievement. He put an end to the Gothic war, chastised

the Germans who invaded Italy, recovered Gaul, Spain, and Britain

out of the hands of Tetricus, and destroyed the proud monarchy

which Zenobia had erected in the East on the ruins of the

afflicted empire.

It was the rigid attention of Aurelian, even to the minutest

articles of discipline, which bestowed such uninterrupted success

on his arms. His military regulations are contained in a very

concise epistle to one of his inferior officers, who is commanded

to enforce them, as he wishes to become a tribune, or as he is

desirous to live. Gaming, drinking, and the arts of divination,

were severely prohibited. Aurelian expected that his soldiers

should be modest, frugal, and laborious; that their armor should

be constantly kept bright, their weapons sharp, their clothing

and horses ready for immediate service; that they should live in

their quarters with chastity and sobriety, without damaging the

cornfields, without stealing even a sheep, a fowl, or a bunch of

grapes, without exacting from their landlords either salt, or

oil, or wood. “The public allowance,” continues the emperor, “is

sufficient for their support; their wealth should be collected

from the spoils of the enemy, not from the tears of the

provincials.” 19 A single instance will serve to display the

rigor, and even cruelty, of Aurelian. One of the soldiers had

seduced the wife of his host. The guilty wretch was fastened to

two trees forcibly drawn towards each other, and his limbs were

torn asunder by their sudden separation. A few such examples

impressed a salutary consternation. The punishments of Aurelian

were terrible; but he had seldom occasion to punish more than

once the same offence. His own conduct gave a sanction to his

laws, and the seditious legions dreaded a chief who had learned

to obey, and who was worthy to command.

19 (return) [ Hist. August, p. 211 This laconic epistle is truly

the work of a soldier; it abounds with military phrases and

words, some of which cannot be understood without difficulty.

Ferramenta samiata is well explained by Salmasius. The former of

the words means all weapons of offence, and is contrasted with

Arma, defensive armor The latter signifies keen and well

sharpened.]

Chapter XI: Reign Of Claudius, Defeat Of The Goths.—Part II.

The death of Claudius had revived the fainting spirit of the

Goths. The troops which guarded the passes of Mount Hæmus, and

the banks of the Danube, had been drawn away by the apprehension

of a civil war; and it seems probable that the remaining body of

the Gothic and Vandalic tribes embraced the favorable

opportunity, abandoned their settlements of the Ukraine,

traversed the rivers, and swelled with new multitudes the

destroying host of their countrymen. Their united numbers were at

length encountered by Aurelian, and the bloody and doubtful

conflict ended only with the approach of night. 20 Exhausted by

so many calamities, which they had mutually endured and inflicted

during a twenty years’ war, the Goths and the Romans consented to

a lasting and beneficial treaty. It was earnestly solicited by

the barbarians, and cheerfully ratified by the legions, to whose

suffrage the prudence of Aurelian referred the decision of that

important question. The Gothic nation engaged to supply the

armies of Rome with a body of two thousand auxiliaries,

consisting entirely of cavalry, and stipulated in return an

undisturbed retreat, with a regular market as far as the Danube,

provided by the emperor’s care, but at their own expense. The

treaty was observed with such religious fidelity, that when a

party of five hundred men straggled from the camp in quest of

plunder, the king or general of the barbarians commanded that the

guilty leader should be apprehended and shot to death with darts,

as a victim devoted to the sanctity of their engagements. 201 It

is, however, not unlikely, that the precaution of Aurelian, who

had exacted as hostages the sons and daughters of the Gothic

chiefs, contributed something to this pacific temper. The youths

he trained in the exercise of arms, and near his own person: to

the damsels he gave a liberal and Roman education, and by

bestowing them in marriage on some of his principal officers,

gradually introduced between the two nations the closest and most

endearing connections. 21

20 (return) [ Zosimus, l. i. p. 45.]

201 (return) [ The five hundred stragglers were all slain.—M.]

21 (return) [ Dexipphus (ap. Excerpta Legat. p. 12) relates the

whole transaction under the name of Vandals. Aurelian married one

of the Gothic ladies to his general Bonosus, who was able to

drink with the Goths and discover their secrets. Hist. August. p.

247.]

But the most important condition of peace was understood rather

than expressed in the treaty. Aurelian withdrew the Roman forces

from Dacia, and tacitly relinquished that great province to the

Goths and Vandals. 22 His manly judgment convinced him of the

solid advantages, and taught him to despise the seeming disgrace,

of thus contracting the frontiers of the monarchy. The Dacian

subjects, removed from those distant possessions which they were

unable to cultivate or defend, added strength and populousness to

the southern side of the Danube. A fertile territory, which the

repetition of barbarous inroads had changed into a desert, was

yielded to their industry, and a new province of Dacia still

preserved the memory of Trajan’s conquests. The old country of

that name detained, however, a considerable number of its

inhabitants, who dreaded exile more than a Gothic master. 23

These degenerate Romans continued to serve the empire, whose

allegiance they had renounced, by introducing among their

conquerors the first notions of agriculture, the useful arts, and

the conveniences of civilized life. An intercourse of commerce

and language was gradually established between the opposite banks

of the Danube; and after Dacia became an independent state, it

often proved the firmest barrier of the empire against the

invasions of the savages of the North. A sense of interest

attached these more settled barbarians to the alliance of Rome,

and a permanent interest very frequently ripens into sincere and

useful friendship. This various colony, which filled the ancient

province, and was insensibly blended into one great people, still

acknowledged the superior renown and authority of the Gothic

tribe, and claimed the fancied honor of a Scandinavian origin. At

the same time, the lucky though accidental resemblance of the

name of Getæ, 231 infused among the credulous Goths a vain

persuasion, that in a remote age, their own ancestors, already

seated in the Dacian provinces, had received the instructions of

Zamolxis, and checked the victorious arms of Sesostris and

Darius. 24

22 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 222. Eutrop. ix. 15. Sextus Rufus,

c. 9. de Mortibus Persecutorum, c. 9.]

23 (return) [ The Walachians still preserve many traces of the

Latin language and have boasted, in every age, of their Roman

descent. They are surrounded by, but not mixed with, the

barbarians. See a Memoir of M. d’Anville on ancient Dacia, in the

Academy of Inscriptions, tom. xxx.]

231 (return) [ The connection between the Getæ and the Goths is

still in my opinion incorrectly maintained by some learned

writers—M.]

24 (return) [See the first chapter of Jornandes. The Vandals,

however, (c. 22,) maintained a short independence between the

Rivers Marisia and Crissia, (Maros and Keres,) which fell into

the Teiss.]

While the vigorous and moderate conduct of Aurelian restored the

Illyrian frontier, the nation of the Alemanni 25 violated the

conditions of peace, which either Gallienus had purchased, or

Claudius had imposed, and, inflamed by their impatient youth,

suddenly flew to arms. Forty thousand horse appeared in the

field, 26 and the numbers of the infantry doubled those of the

cavalry. 27 The first objects of their avarice were a few cities

of the Rhætian frontier; but their hopes soon rising with

success, the rapid march of the Alemanni traced a line of

devastation from the Danube to the Po. 28

25 (return) [ Dexippus, p. 7—12. Zosimus, l. i. p. 43. Vopiscus

in Aurelian in Hist. August. However these historians differ in

names, (Alemanni Juthungi, and Marcomanni,) it is evident that

they mean the same people, and the same war; but it requires some

care to conciliate and explain them.]

26 (return) [ Cantoclarus, with his usual accuracy, chooses to

translate three hundred thousand: his version is equally

repugnant to sense and to grammar.]

27 (return) [ We may remark, as an instance of bad taste, that

Dexippus applies to the light infantry of the Alemanni the

technical terms proper only to the Grecian phalanx.]

28 (return) [ In Dexippus, we at present read Rhodanus: M. de

Valois very judiciously alters the word to Eridanus.]

The emperor was almost at the same time informed of the

irruption, and of the retreat, of the barbarians. Collecting an

active body of troops, he marched with silence and celerity along

the skirts of the Hercynian forest; and the Alemanni, laden with

the spoils of Italy, arrived at the Danube, without suspecting,

that on the opposite bank, and in an advantageous post, a Roman

army lay concealed and prepared to intercept their return.

Aurelian indulged the fatal security of the barbarians, and

permitted about half their forces to pass the river without

disturbance and without precaution. Their situation and

astonishment gave him an easy victory; his skilful conduct

improved the advantage. Disposing the legions in a semicircular

form, he advanced the two horns of the crescent across the

Danube, and wheeling them on a sudden towards the centre,

enclosed the rear of the German host. The dismayed barbarians, on

whatsoever side they cast their eyes, beheld, with despair, a

wasted country, a deep and rapid stream, a victorious and

implacable enemy.

Reduced to this distressed condition, the Alemanni no longer

disdained to sue for peace. Aurelian received their ambassadors

at the head of his camp, and with every circumstance of martial

pomp that could display the greatness and discipline of Rome. The

legions stood to their arms in well-ordered ranks and awful

silence. The principal commanders, distinguished by the ensigns

of their rank, appeared on horseback on either side of the

Imperial throne. Behind the throne the consecrated images of the

emperor, and his predecessors, 29 the golden eagles, and the

various titles of the legions, engraved in letters of gold, were

exalted in the air on lofty pikes covered with silver. When

Aurelian assumed his seat, his manly grace and majestic figure 30

taught the barbarians to revere the person as well as the purple

of their conqueror. The ambassadors fell prostrate on the ground

in silence. They were commanded to rise, and permitted to speak.

By the assistance of interpreters they extenuated their perfidy,

magnified their exploits, expatiated on the vicissitudes of

fortune and the advantages of peace, and, with an ill-timed

confidence, demanded a large subsidy, as the price of the

alliance which they offered to the Romans. The answer of the

emperor was stern and imperious. He treated their offer with

contempt, and their demand with indignation, reproached the

barbarians, that they were as ignorant of the arts of war as of

the laws of peace, and finally dismissed them with the choice

only of submitting to this unconditional mercy, or awaiting the

utmost severity of his resentment. 31 Aurelian had resigned a

distant province to the Goths; but it was dangerous to trust or

to pardon these perfidious barbarians, whose formidable power

kept Italy itself in perpetual alarms.

29 (return) [ The emperor Claudius was certainly of the number;

but we are ignorant how far this mark of respect was extended; if

to Cæsar and Augustus, it must have produced a very awful

spectacle; a long line of the masters of the world.]

30 (return) [ Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 210.]

31 (return) [ Dexippus gives them a subtle and prolix oration,

worthy of a Grecian sophist.]

Immediately after this conference, it should seem that some

unexpected emergency required the emperor’s presence in Pannonia.

He devolved on his lieutenants the care of finishing the

destruction of the Alemanni, either by the sword, or by the surer

operation of famine. But an active despair has often triumphed

over the indolent assurance of success. The barbarians, finding

it impossible to traverse the Danube and the Roman camp, broke

through the posts in their rear, which were more feebly or less

carefully guarded; and with incredible diligence, but by a

different road, returned towards the mountains of Italy. 32

Aurelian, who considered the war as totally extinguished,

received the mortifying intelligence of the escape of the

Alemanni, and of the ravage which they already committed in the

territory of Milan. The legions were commanded to follow, with as

much expedition as those heavy bodies were capable of exerting,

the rapid flight of an enemy whose infantry and cavalry moved

with almost equal swiftness. A few days afterwards, the emperor

himself marched to the relief of Italy, at the head of a chosen

body of auxiliaries, (among whom were the hostages and cavalry of

the Vandals,) and of all the Prætorian guards who had served in

the wars on the Danube. 33

32 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 215.]

33 (return) [ Dexippus, p. 12.]

As the light troops of the Alemanni had spread themselves from

the Alps to the Apennine, the incessant vigilance of Aurelian and

his officers was exercised in the discovery, the attack, and the

pursuit of the numerous detachments. Notwithstanding this

desultory war, three considerable battles are mentioned, in which

the principal force of both armies was obstinately engaged. 34

The success was various. In the first, fought near Placentia, the

Romans received so severe a blow, that, according to the

expression of a writer extremely partial to Aurelian, the

immediate dissolution of the empire was apprehended. 35 The

crafty barbarians, who had lined the woods, suddenly attacked the

legions in the dusk of the evening, and, it is most probable,

after the fatigue and disorder of a long march.

The fury of their charge was irresistible; but, at length, after

a dreadful slaughter, the patient firmness of the emperor rallied

his troops, and restored, in some degree, the honor of his arms.

The second battle was fought near Fano in Umbria; on the spot

which, five hundred years before, had been fatal to the brother

of Hannibal. 36 Thus far the successful Germans had advanced

along the Æmilian and Flaminian way, with a design of sacking the

defenceless mistress of the world. But Aurelian, who, watchful

for the safety of Rome, still hung on their rear, found in this

place the decisive moment of giving them a total and

irretrievable defeat. 37 The flying remnant of their host was

exterminated in a third and last battle near Pavia; and Italy was

delivered from the inroads of the Alemanni.

34 (return) [ Victor Junior in Aurelian.]

35 (return) [ Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 216.]

36 (return) [ The little river, or rather torrent, of, Metaurus,

near Fano, has been immortalized, by finding such an historian as

Livy, and such a poet as Horace.]

37 (return) [ It is recorded by an inscription found at Pesaro.

See Gruter cclxxvi. 3.]

Fear has been the original parent of superstition, and every new

calamity urges trembling mortals to deprecate the wrath of their

invisible enemies. Though the best hope of the republic was in

the valor and conduct of Aurelian, yet such was the public

consternation, when the barbarians were hourly expected at the

gates of Rome, that, by a decree of the senate the Sibylline

books were consulted. Even the emperor himself, from a motive

either of religion or of policy, recommended this salutary

measure, chided the tardiness of the senate, 38 and offered to

supply whatever expense, whatever animals, whatever captives of

any nation, the gods should require. Notwithstanding this liberal

offer, it does not appear, that any human victims expiated with

their blood the sins of the Roman people. The Sibylline books

enjoined ceremonies of a more harmless nature, processions of

priests in white robes, attended by a chorus of youths and

virgins; lustrations of the city and adjacent country; and

sacrifices, whose powerful influence disabled the barbarians from

passing the mystic ground on which they had been celebrated.

However puerile in themselves, these superstitious arts were

subservient to the success of the war; and if, in the decisive

battle of Fano, the Alemanni fancied they saw an army of spectres

combating on the side of Aurelian, he received a real and

effectual aid from this imaginary reënforcement. 39

38 (return) [ One should imagine, he said, that you were

assembled in a Christian church, not in the temple of all the

gods.]

39 (return) [ Vopiscus, in Hist. August. p. 215, 216, gives a

long account of these ceremonies from the Registers of the

senate.]

But whatever confidence might be placed in ideal ramparts, the

experience of the past, and the dread of the future, induced the

Romans to construct fortifications of a grosser and more

substantial kind. The seven hills of Rome had been surrounded by

the successors of Romulus with an ancient wall of more than

thirteen miles. 40 The vast enclosure may seem disproportioned to

the strength and numbers of the infant-state. But it was

necessary to secure an ample extent of pasture and arable land

against the frequent and sudden incursions of the tribes of

Latium, the perpetual enemies of the republic. With the progress

of Roman greatness, the city and its inhabitants gradually

increased, filled up the vacant space, pierced through the

useless walls, covered the field of Mars, and, on every side,

followed the public highways in long and beautiful suburbs. 41

The extent of the new walls, erected by Aurelian, and finished in

the reign of Probus, was magnified by popular estimation to near

fifty, 42 but is reduced by accurate measurement to about

twenty-one miles. 43 It was a great but a melancholy labor, since

the defence of the capital betrayed the decline of monarchy. The

Romans of a more prosperous age, who trusted to the arms of the

legions the safety of the frontier camps, 44 were very far from

entertaining a suspicion that it would ever become necessary to

fortify the seat of empire against the inroads of the barbarians.

40 (return) [ Plin. Hist. Natur. iii. 5. To confirm our idea, we

may observe, that for a long time Mount Cælius was a grove of

oaks, and Mount Viminal was overrun with osiers; that, in the

fourth century, the Aventine was a vacant and solitary

retirement; that, till the time of Augustus, the Esquiline was an

unwholesome burying-ground; and that the numerous inequalities,

remarked by the ancients in the Quirinal, sufficiently prove that

it was not covered with buildings. Of the seven hills, the

Capitoline and Palatine only, with the adjacent valleys, were the

primitive habitations of the Roman people. But this subject would

require a dissertation.]

41 (return) [ Exspatiantia tecta multas addidere urbes, is the

expression of Pliny.]

42 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 222. Both Lipsius and Isaac

Vossius have eagerly embraced this measure.]

43 (return) [ See Nardini, Roman Antica, l. i. c. 8. * Note: But

compare Gibbon, ch. xli. note 77.—M.]

44 (return) [ Tacit. Hist. iv. 23.]

45 (return) [ For Aurelian’s walls, see Vopiscus in Hist. August.

p. 216, 222. Zosimus, l. i. p. 43. Eutropius, ix. 15. Aurel.

Victor in Aurelian Victor Junior in Aurelian. Euseb. Hieronym. et

Idatius in Chronic]

The victory of Claudius over the Goths, and the success of

Aurelian against the Alemanni, had already restored to the arms

of Rome their ancient superiority over the barbarous nations of

the North. To chastise domestic tyrants, and to reunite the

dismembered parts of the empire, was a task reserved for the

second of those warlike emperors. Though he was acknowledged by

the senate and people, the frontiers of Italy, Africa, Illyricum,

and Thrace, confined the limits of his reign. Gaul, Spain, and

Britain, Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, were still possessed by

two rebels, who alone, out of so numerous a list, had hitherto

escaped the dangers of their situation; and to complete the

ignominy of Rome, these rival thrones had been usurped by women.

A rapid succession of monarchs had arisen and fallen in the

provinces of Gaul. The rigid virtues of Posthumus served only to

hasten his destruction. After suppressing a competitor, who had

assumed the purple at Mentz, he refused to gratify his troops

with the plunder of the rebellious city; and in the seventh year

of his reign, became the victim of their disappointed avarice. 46

The death of Victorinus, his friend and associate, was occasioned

by a less worthy cause. The shining accomplishments 47 of that

prince were stained by a licentious passion, which he indulged in

acts of violence, with too little regard to the laws of society,

or even to those of love. 48 He was slain at Cologne, by a

conspiracy of jealous husbands, whose revenge would have appeared

more justifiable, had they spared the innocence of his son. After

the murder of so many valiant princes, it is somewhat remarkable,

that a female for a long time controlled the fierce legions of

Gaul, and still more singular, that she was the mother of the

unfortunate Victorinus. The arts and treasures of Victoria

enabled her successively to place Marius and Tetricus on the

throne, and to reign with a manly vigor under the name of those

dependent emperors. Money of copper, of silver, and of gold, was

coined in her name; she assumed the titles of Augusta and Mother

of the Camps: her power ended only with her life; but her life

was perhaps shortened by the ingratitude of Tetricus. 49

46 (return) [ His competitor was Lollianus, or Ælianus, if,

indeed, these names mean the same person. See Tillemont, tom.

iii. p. 1177. Note: The medals which bear the name of Lollianus

are considered forgeries except one in the museum of the Prince

of Waldeck there are many extent bearing the name of Lælianus,

which appears to have been that of the competitor of Posthumus.

Eckhel. Doct. Num. t. vi. 149—G.]

47 (return) [ The character of this prince by Julius Aterianus

(ap. Hist. August. p. 187) is worth transcribing, as it seems

fair and impartial Victorino qui Post Junium Posthumium Gallias

rexit neminem existemo præferendum; non in virtute Trajanum; non

Antoninum in clementia; non in gravitate Nervam; non in

gubernando ærario Vespasianum; non in Censura totius vitæ ac

severitate militari Pertinacem vel Severum. Sed omnia hæc libido

et cupiditas voluptatis mulierriæ sic perdidit, ut nemo audeat

virtutes ejus in literas mittere quem constat omnium judicio

meruisse puniri.]

48 (return) [ He ravished the wife of Attitianus, an actuary, or

army agent, Hist. August. p. 186. Aurel. Victor in Aurelian.]

49 (return) [ Pollio assigns her an article among the thirty

tyrants. Hist. August. p. 200.]

When, at the instigation of his ambitious patroness, Tetricus

assumed the ensigns of royalty, he was governor of the peaceful

province of Aquitaine, an employment suited to his character and

education. He reigned four or five years over Gaul, Spain, and

Britain, the slave and sovereign of a licentious army, whom he

dreaded, and by whom he was despised. The valor and fortune of

Aurelian at length opened the prospect of a deliverance. He

ventured to disclose his melancholy situation, and conjured the

emperor to hasten to the relief of his unhappy rival. Had this

secret correspondence reached the ears of the soldiers, it would

most probably have cost Tetricus his life; nor could he resign

the sceptre of the West without committing an act of treason

against himself. He affected the appearances of a civil war, led

his forces into the field, against Aurelian, posted them in the

most disadvantageous manner, betrayed his own counsels to his

enemy, and with a few chosen friends deserted in the beginning of

the action. The rebel legions, though disordered and dismayed by

the unexpected treachery of their chief, defended themselves with

desperate valor, till they were cut in pieces almost to a man, in

this bloody and memorable battle, which was fought near Chalons

in Champagne. 50 The retreat of the irregular auxiliaries, Franks

and Batavians, 51 whom the conqueror soon compelled or persuaded

to repass the Rhine, restored the general tranquillity, and the

power of Aurelian was acknowledged from the wall of Antoninus to

the columns of Hercules.

50 (return) [ Pollio in Hist. August. p. 196. Vopiscus in Hist.

August. p. 220. The two Victors, in the lives of Gallienus and

Aurelian. Eutrop. ix. 13. Euseb. in Chron. Of all these writers,

only the two last (but with strong probability) place the fall of

Tetricus before that of Zenobia. M. de Boze (in the Academy of

Inscriptions, tom. xxx.) does not wish, and Tillemont (tom. iii.

p. 1189) does not dare to follow them. I have been fairer than

the one, and bolder than the other.]

51 (return) [ Victor Junior in Aurelian. Eumenius mentions

Batavicœ; some critics, without any reason, would fain alter the

word to Bagandicœ.] As early as the reign of Claudius, the city

of Autun, alone and unassisted, had ventured to declare against

the legions of Gaul. After a siege of seven months, they stormed

and plundered that unfortunate city, already wasted by famine. 52

Lyons, on the contrary, had resisted with obstinate disaffection

the arms of Aurelian. We read of the punishment of Lyons, 53 but

there is not any mention of the rewards of Autun. Such, indeed,

is the policy of civil war: severely to remember injuries, and to

forget the most important services. Revenge is profitable,

gratitude is expensive.

52 (return) [ Eumen. in Vet. Panegyr. iv. 8.]

53 (return) [ Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 246. Autun was not

restored till the reign of Diocletian. See Eumenius de

restaurandis scholis.]

Aurelian had no sooner secured the person and provinces of

Tetricus, than he turned his arms against Zenobia, the celebrated

queen of Palmyra and the East. Modern Europe has produced several

illustrious women who have sustained with glory the weight of

empire; nor is our own age destitute of such distinguished

characters. But if we except the doubtful achievements of

Semiramis, Zenobia is perhaps the only female whose superior

genius broke through the servile indolence imposed on her sex by

the climate and manners of Asia. 54 She claimed her descent from

the Macedonian kings of Egypt, 541 equalled in beauty her

ancestor Cleopatra, and far surpassed that princess in chastity

55 and valor. Zenobia was esteemed the most lovely as well as the

most heroic of her sex. She was of a dark complexion (for in

speaking of a lady these trifles become important). Her teeth

were of a pearly whiteness, and her large black eyes sparkled

with uncommon fire, tempered by the most attractive sweetness.

Her voice was strong and harmonious. Her manly understanding was

strengthened and adorned by study. She was not ignorant of the

Latin tongue, but possessed in equal perfection the Greek, the

Syriac, and the Egyptian languages. She had drawn up for her own

use an epitome of oriental history, and familiarly compared the

beauties of Homer and Plato under the tuition of the sublime

Longinus.

54 (return) [ Almost everything that is said of the manners of

Odenathus and Zenobia is taken from their lives in the Augustan

History, by Trebeljus Pollio; see p. 192, 198.]

541 (return) [ According to some Christian writers, Zenobia was a

Jewess. (Jost Geschichte der Israel. iv. 16. Hist. of Jews, iii.

175.)—M.]

55 (return) [ She never admitted her husband’s embraces but for

the sake of posterity. If her hopes were baffled, in the ensuing

month she reiterated the experiment.]

This accomplished woman gave her hand to Odenathus, 551 who, from

a private station, raised himself to the dominion of the East.

She soon became the friend and companion of a hero. In the

intervals of war, Odenathus passionately delighted in the

exercise of hunting; he pursued with ardor the wild beasts of the

desert, lions, panthers, and bears; and the ardor of Zenobia in

that dangerous amusement was not inferior to his own. She had

inured her constitution to fatigue, disdained the use of a

covered carriage, generally appeared on horseback in a military

habit, and sometimes marched several miles on foot at the head of

the troops. The success of Odenathus was in a great measure

ascribed to her incomparable prudence and fortitude. Their

splendid victories over the Great King, whom they twice pursued

as far as the gates of Ctesiphon, laid the foundations of their

united fame and power. The armies which they commanded, and the

provinces which they had saved, acknowledged not any other

sovereigns than their invincible chiefs. The senate and people of

Rome revered a stranger who had avenged their captive emperor,

and even the insensible son of Valerian accepted Odenathus for

his legitimate colleague.

551 (return) [ According to Zosimus, Odenathus was of a noble

family in Palmyra and according to Procopius, he was prince of

the Saracens, who inhabit the ranks of the Euphrates. Echhel.

Doct. Num. vii. 489.—G.]

Chapter XI: Reign Of Claudius, Defeat Of The Goths.—Part III.

After a successful expedition against the Gothic plunderers of

Asia, the Palmyrenian prince returned to the city of Emesa in

Syria. Invincible in war, he was there cut off by domestic

treason, and his favorite amusement of hunting was the cause, or

at least the occasion, of his death. 56 His nephew Mæonius

presumed to dart his javelin before that of his uncle; and though

admonished of his error, repeated the same insolence. As a

monarch, and as a sportsman, Odenathus was provoked, took away

his horse, a mark of ignominy among the barbarians, and chastised

the rash youth by a short confinement. The offence was soon

forgot, but the punishment was remembered; and Mæonius, with a

few daring associates, assassinated his uncle in the midst of a

great entertainment. Herod, the son of Odenathus, though not of

Zenobia, a young man of a soft and effeminate temper, 57 was

killed with his father. But Mæonius obtained only the pleasure of

revenge by this bloody deed. He had scarcely time to assume the

title of Augustus, before he was sacrificed by Zenobia to the

memory of her husband. 58

56 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 192, 193. Zosimus, l. i. p. 36.

Zonaras, l. xii p. 633. The last is clear and probable, the

others confused and inconsistent. The text of Syncellus, if not

corrupt, is absolute nonsense.]

57 (return) [ Odenathus and Zenobia often sent him, from the

spoils of the enemy, presents of gems and toys, which he received

with infinite delight.]

58 (return) [ Some very unjust suspicions have been cast on

Zenobia, as if she was accessory to her husband’s death.]

With the assistance of his most faithful friends, she immediately

filled the vacant throne, and governed with manly counsels

Palmyra, Syria, and the East, above five years. By the death of

Odenathus, that authority was at an end which the senate had

granted him only as a personal distinction; but his martial

widow, disdaining both the senate and Gallienus, obliged one of

the Roman generals, who was sent against her, to retreat into

Europe, with the loss of his army and his reputation. 59 Instead

of the little passions which so frequently perplex a female

reign, the steady administration of Zenobia was guided by the

most judicious maxims of policy. If it was expedient to pardon,

she could calm her resentment; if it was necessary to punish, she

could impose silence on the voice of pity. Her strict economy was

accused of avarice; yet on every proper occasion she appeared

magnificent and liberal. The neighboring states of Arabia,

Armenia, and Persia, dreaded her enmity, and solicited her

alliance. To the dominions of Odenathus, which extended from the

Euphrates to the frontiers of Bithynia, his widow added the

inheritance of her ancestors, the populous and fertile kingdom of

Egypt. 60 The emperor Claudius acknowledged her merit, and was

content, that, while _he_ pursued the Gothic war, _she_ should

assert the dignity of the empire in the East. The conduct,

however, of Zenobia was attended with some ambiguity; not is it

unlikely that she had conceived the design of erecting an

independent and hostile monarchy. She blended with the popular

manners of Roman princes the stately pomp of the courts of Asia,

and exacted from her subjects the same adoration that was paid to

the successor of Cyrus. She bestowed on her three sons 61 a Latin

education, and often showed them to the troops adorned with the

Imperial purple. For herself she reserved the diadem, with the

splendid but doubtful title of Queen of the East.

59 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 180, 181.]

60 (return) [ See, in Hist. August. p. 198, Aurelian’s testimony

to her merit; and for the conquest of Egypt, Zosimus, l. i. p.

39, 40.] This seems very doubtful. Claudius, during all his

reign, is represented as emperor on the medals of Alexandria,

which are very numerous. If Zenobia possessed any power in Egypt,

it could only have been at the beginning of the reign of

Aurelian. The same circumstance throws great improbability on her

conquests in Galatia. Perhaps Zenobia administered Egypt in the

name of Claudius, and emboldened by the death of that prince,

subjected it to her own power.—G.]

61 (return) [ Timolaus, Herennianus, and Vaballathus. It is

supposed that the two former were already dead before the war. On

the last, Aurelian bestowed a small province of Armenia, with the

title of King; several of his medals are still extant. See

Tillemont, tom. 3, p. 1190.]

When Aurelian passed over into Asia, against an adversary whose

sex alone could render her an object of contempt, his presence

restored obedience to the province of Bithynia, already shaken by

the arms and intrigues of Zenobia. 62 Advancing at the head of

his legions, he accepted the submission of Ancyra, and was

admitted into Tyana, after an obstinate siege, by the help of a

perfidious citizen. The generous though fierce temper of Aurelian

abandoned the traitor to the rage of the soldiers; a

superstitious reverence induced him to treat with lenity the

countrymen of Apollonius the philosopher. 63 Antioch was deserted

on his approach, till the emperor, by his salutary edicts,

recalled the fugitives, and granted a general pardon to all who,

from necessity rather than choice, had been engaged in the

service of the Palmyrenian Queen. The unexpected mildness of such

a conduct reconciled the minds of the Syrians, and as far as the

gates of Emesa, the wishes of the people seconded the terror of

his arms. 64

62 (return) [ Zosimus, l. i. p. 44.]

63 (return) [ Vopiscus (in Hist. August. p. 217) gives us an

authentic letter and a doubtful vision, of Aurelian. Apollonius

of Tyana was born about the same time as Jesus Christ. His life

(that of the former) is related in so fabulous a manner by his

disciples, that we are at a loss to discover whether he was a

sage, an impostor, or a fanatic.]

64 (return) [ Zosimus, l. i. p. 46.]

Zenobia would have ill deserved her reputation, had she

indolently permitted the emperor of the West to approach within a

hundred miles of her capital. The fate of the East was decided in

two great battles; so similar in almost every circumstance, that

we can scarcely distinguish them from each other, except by

observing that the first was fought near Antioch, 65 and the

second near Emesa. 66 In both the queen of Palmyra animated the

armies by her presence, and devolved the execution of her orders

on Zabdas, who had already signalized his military talents by the

conquest of Egypt. The numerous forces of Zenobia consisted for

the most part of light archers, and of heavy cavalry clothed in

complete steel. The Moorish and Illyrian horse of Aurelian were

unable to sustain the ponderous charge of their antagonists. They

fled in real or affected disorder, engaged the Palmyrenians in a

laborious pursuit, harassed them by a desultory combat, and at

length discomfited this impenetrable but unwieldy body of

cavalry. The light infantry, in the mean time, when they had

exhausted their quivers, remaining without protection against a

closer onset, exposed their naked sides to the swords of the

legions. Aurelian had chosen these veteran troops, who were

usually stationed on the Upper Danube, and whose valor had been

severely tried in the Alemannic war. 67 After the defeat of

Emesa, Zenobia found it impossible to collect a third army. As

far as the frontier of Egypt, the nations subject to her empire

had joined the standard of the conqueror, who detached Probus,

the bravest of his generals, to possess himself of the Egyptian

provinces. Palmyra was the last resource of the widow of

Odenathus. She retired within the walls of her capital, made

every preparation for a vigorous resistance, and declared, with

the intrepidity of a heroine, that the last moment of her reign

and of her life should be the same.

65 (return) [ At a place called Immæ. Eutropius, Sextus Rufus,

and Jerome, mention only this first battle.]

66 (return) [ Vopiscus (in Hist. August. p. 217) mentions only

the second.]

67 (return) [ Zosimus, l. i. p. 44—48. His account of the two

battles is clear and circumstantial.]

Amid the barren deserts of Arabia, a few cultivated spots rise

like islands out of the sandy ocean. Even the name of Tadmor, or

Palmyra, by its signification in the Syriac as well as in the

Latin language, denoted the multitude of palm-trees which

afforded shade and verdure to that temperate region. The air was

pure, and the soil, watered by some invaluable springs, was

capable of producing fruits as well as corn. A place possessed of

such singular advantages, and situated at a convenient distance

68 between the Gulf of Persia and the Mediterranean, was soon

frequented by the caravans which conveyed to the nations of

Europe a considerable part of the rich commodities of India.

Palmyra insensibly increased into an opulent and independent

city, and connecting the Roman and the Parthian monarchies by the

mutual benefits of commerce, was suffered to observe an humble

neutrality, till at length, after the victories of Trajan, the

little republic sunk into the bosom of Rome, and flourished more

than one hundred and fifty years in the subordinate though

honorable rank of a colony. It was during that peaceful period,

if we may judge from a few remaining inscriptions, that the

wealthy Palmyrenians constructed those temples, palaces, and

porticos of Grecian architecture, whose ruins, scattered over an

extent of several miles, have deserved the curiosity of our

travellers. The elevation of Odenathus and Zenobia appeared to

reflect new splendor on their country, and Palmyra, for a while,

stood forth the rival of Rome: but the competition was fatal, and

ages of prosperity were sacrificed to a moment of glory. 69

68 (return) [ It was five hundred and thirty-seven miles from

Seleucia, and two hundred and three from the nearest coast of

Syria, according to the reckoning of Pliny, who, in a few words,

(Hist. Natur. v. 21,) gives an excellent description of Palmyra.

* Note: Talmor, or Palmyra, was probably at a very early period

the connecting link between the commerce of Tyre and Babylon.

Heeren, Ideen, v. i. p. ii. p. 125. Tadmor was probably built by

Solomon as a commercial station. Hist. of Jews, v. p. 271—M.]

69 (return) [ Some English travellers from Aleppo discovered the

ruins of Palmyra about the end of the last century. Our curiosity

has since been gratified in a more splendid manner by Messieurs

Wood and Dawkins. For the history of Palmyra, we may consult the

masterly dissertation of Dr. Halley in the Philosophical

Transactions: Lowthorp’s Abridgment, vol. iii. p. 518.]

In his march over the sandy desert between Emesa and Palmyra, the

emperor Aurelian was perpetually harassed by the Arabs; nor could

he always defend his army, and especially his baggage, from those

flying troops of active and daring robbers, who watched the

moment of surprise, and eluded the slow pursuit of the legions.

The siege of Palmyra was an object far more difficult and

important, and the emperor, who, with incessant vigor, pressed

the attacks in person, was himself wounded with a dart. “The

Roman people,” says Aurelian, in an original letter, “speak with

contempt of the war which I am waging against a woman. They are

ignorant both of the character and of the power of Zenobia. It is

impossible to enumerate her warlike preparations, of stones, of

arrows, and of every species of missile weapons. Every part of

the walls is provided with two or three _balistæ_ and artificial

fires are thrown from her military engines. The fear of

punishment has armed her with a desperate courage. Yet still I

trust in the protecting deities of Rome, who have hitherto been

favorable to all my undertakings.” 70 Doubtful, however, of the

protection of the gods, and of the event of the siege, Aurelian

judged it more prudent to offer terms of an advantageous

capitulation; to the queen, a splendid retreat; to the citizens,

their ancient privileges. His proposals were obstinately

rejected, and the refusal was accompanied with insult.

70 (return) [ Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 218.]

The firmness of Zenobia was supported by the hope, that in a very

short time famine would compel the Roman army to repass the

desert; and by the reasonable expectation that the kings of the

East, and particularly the Persian monarch, would arm in the

defence of their most natural ally. But fortune, and the

perseverance of Aurelian, overcame every obstacle. The death of

Sapor, which happened about this time, 71 distracted the councils

of Persia, and the inconsiderable succors that attempted to

relieve Palmyra were easily intercepted either by the arms or the

liberality of the emperor. From every part of Syria, a regular

succession of convoys safely arrived in the camp, which was

increased by the return of Probus with his victorious troops from

the conquest of Egypt. It was then that Zenobia resolved to fly.

She mounted the fleetest of her dromedaries, 72 and had already

reached the banks of the Euphrates, about sixty miles from

Palmyra, when she was overtaken by the pursuit of Aurelian’s

light horse, seized, and brought back a captive to the feet of

the emperor. Her capital soon afterwards surrendered, and was

treated with unexpected lenity. The arms, horses, and camels,

with an immense treasure of gold, silver, silk, and precious

stones, were all delivered to the conqueror, who, leaving only a

garrison of six hundred archers, returned to Emesa, and employed

some time in the distribution of rewards and punishments at the

end of so memorable a war, which restored to the obedience of

Rome those provinces that had renounced their allegiance since

the captivity of Valerian.

71 (return) [ From a very doubtful chronology I have endeavored

to extract the most probable date.]

72 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 218. Zosimus, l. i. p. 50. Though

the camel is a heavy beast of burden, the dromedary, which is

either of the same or of a kindred species, is used by the

natives of Asia and Africa on all occasions which require

celerity. The Arabs affirm, that he will run over as much ground

in one day as their fleetest horses can perform in eight or ten.

See Buffon, Hist. Naturelle, tom. xi. p. 222, and Shaw’s Travels

p. 167]

When the Syrian queen was brought into the presence of Aurelian,

he sternly asked her, How she had presumed to rise in arms

against the emperors of Rome! The answer of Zenobia was a prudent

mixture of respect and firmness. “Because I disdained to consider

as Roman emperors an Aureolus or a Gallienus. You alone I

acknowledge as my conqueror and my sovereign.” 73 But as female

fortitude is commonly artificial, so it is seldom steady or

consistent. The courage of Zenobia deserted her in the hour of

trial; she trembled at the angry clamors of the soldiers, who

called aloud for her immediate execution, forgot the generous

despair of Cleopatra, which she had proposed as her model, and

ignominiously purchased life by the sacrifice of her fame and her

friends. It was to their counsels, which governed the weakness of

her sex, that she imputed the guilt of her obstinate resistance;

it was on their heads that she directed the vengeance of the

cruel Aurelian. The fame of Longinus, who was included among the

numerous and perhaps innocent victims of her fear, will survive

that of the queen who betrayed, or the tyrant who condemned him.

Genius and learning were incapable of moving a fierce unlettered

soldier, but they had served to elevate and harmonize the soul of

Longinus. Without uttering a complaint, he calmly followed the

executioner, pitying his unhappy mistress, and bestowing comfort

on his afflicted friends. 74

73 (return) [ Pollio in Hist. August. p. 199.]

74 (return) [ Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 219. Zosimus, l. i. p.

51.]

Returning from the conquest of the East, Aurelian had already

crossed the Straits which divided Europe from Asia, when he was

provoked by the intelligence that the Palmyrenians had massacred

the governor and garrison which he had left among them, and again

erected the standard of revolt. Without a moment’s deliberation,

he once more turned his face towards Syria. Antioch was alarmed

by his rapid approach, and the helpless city of Palmyra felt the

irresistible weight of his resentment. We have a letter of

Aurelian himself, in which he acknowledges, 75 that old men,

women, children, and peasants, had been involved in that dreadful

execution, which should have been confined to armed rebellion;

and although his principal concern seems directed to the

reëstablishment of a temple of the Sun, he discovers some pity

for the remnant of the Palmyrenians, to whom he grants the

permission of rebuilding and inhabiting their city. But it is

easier to destroy than to restore. The seat of commerce, of arts,

and of Zenobia, gradually sunk into an obscure town, a trifling

fortress, and at length a miserable village. The present citizens

of Palmyra, consisting of thirty or forty families, have erected

their mud cottages within the spacious court of a magnificent

temple.

75 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 219.]

Another and a last labor still awaited the indefatigable

Aurelian; to suppress a dangerous though obscure rebel, who,

during the revolt of Palmyra, had arisen on the banks of the

Nile. Firmus, the friend and ally, as he proudly styled himself,

of Odenathus and Zenobia, was no more than a wealthy merchant of

Egypt. In the course of his trade to India, he had formed very

intimate connections with the Saracens and the Blemmyes, whose

situation on either coast of the Red Sea gave them an easy

introduction into the Upper Egypt. The Egyptians he inflamed with

the hope of freedom, and, at the head of their furious multitude,

broke into the city of Alexandria, where he assumed the Imperial

purple, coined money, published edicts, and raised an army,

which, as he vainly boasted, he was capable of maintaining from

the sole profits of his paper trade. Such troops were a feeble

defence against the approach of Aurelian; and it seems almost

unnecessary to relate, that Firmus was routed, taken, tortured,

and put to death. 76 Aurelian might now congratulate the senate,

the people, and himself, that in little more than three years, he

had restored universal peace and order to the Roman world.

76 (return) [ See Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 220, 242. As an

instance of luxury, it is observed, that he had glass windows. He

was remarkable for his strength and appetite, his courage and

dexterity. From the letter of Aurelian, we may justly infer, that

Firmus was the last of the rebels, and consequently that Tetricus

was already suppressed.]

Since the foundation of Rome, no general had more nobly deserved

a triumph than Aurelian; nor was a triumph ever celebrated with

superior pride and magnificence. 77 The pomp was opened by twenty

elephants, four royal tigers, and above two hundred of the most

curious animals from every climate of the North, the East, and

the South. They were followed by sixteen hundred gladiators,

devoted to the cruel amusement of the amphitheatre. The wealth of

Asia, the arms and ensigns of so many conquered nations, and the

magnificent plate and wardrobe of the Syrian queen, were disposed

in exact symmetry or artful disorder. The ambassadors of the most

remote parts of the earth, of Æthiopia, Arabia, Persia,

Bactriana, India, and China, all remarkable by their rich or

singular dresses, displayed the fame and power of the Roman

emperor, who exposed likewise to the public view the presents

that he had received, and particularly a great number of crowns

of gold, the offerings of grateful cities.

The victories of Aurelian were attested by the long train of

captives who reluctantly attended his triumph, Goths, Vandals,

Sarmatians, Alemanni, Franks, Gauls, Syrians, and Egyptians. Each

people was distinguished by its peculiar inscription, and the

title of Amazons was bestowed on ten martial heroines of the

Gothic nation who had been taken in arms. 78 But every eye,

disregarding the crowd of captives, was fixed on the emperor

Tetricus and the queen of the East. The former, as well as his

son, whom he had created Augustus, was dressed in Gallic

trousers, 79 a saffron tunic, and a robe of purple. The beauteous

figure of Zenobia was confined by fetters of gold; a slave

supported the gold chain which encircled her neck, and she almost

fainted under the intolerable weight of jewels. She preceded on

foot the magnificent chariot, in which she once hoped to enter

the gates of Rome. It was followed by two other chariots, still

more sumptuous, of Odenathus and of the Persian monarch. The

triumphal car of Aurelian (it had formerly been used by a Gothic

king) was drawn, on this memorable occasion, either by four stags

or by four elephants. 80 The most illustrious of the senate, the

people, and the army, closed the solemn procession. Unfeigned

joy, wonder, and gratitude, swelled the acclamations of the

multitude; but the satisfaction of the senate was clouded by the

appearance of Tetricus; nor could they suppress a rising murmur,

that the haughty emperor should thus expose to public ignominy

the person of a Roman and a magistrate. 81

77 (return) [ See the triumph of Aurelian, described by Vopiscus.

He relates the particulars with his usual minuteness; and, on

this occasion, they happen to be interesting. Hist. August. p.

220.]

78 (return) [ Among barbarous nations, women have often combated

by the side of their husbands. But it is almost impossible that a

society of Amazons should ever have existed either in the old or

new world. * Note: Klaproth’s theory on the origin of such

traditions is at least recommended by its ingenuity. The males of

a tribe having gone out on a marauding expedition, and having

been cut off to a man, the females may have endeavored, for a

time, to maintain their independence in their camp village, till

their children grew up. Travels, ch. xxx. Eng. Trans—M.]

79 (return) [ The use of braccœ, breeches, or trousers, was still

considered in Italy as a Gallic and barbarian fashion. The

Romans, however, had made great advances towards it. To encircle

the legs and thighs with fasciœ, or bands, was understood, in the

time of Pompey and Horace, to be a proof of ill health or

effeminacy. In the age of Trajan, the custom was confined to the

rich and luxurious. It gradually was adopted by the meanest of

the people. See a very curious note of Casaubon, ad Sueton. in

August. c. 82.]

80 (return) [ Most probably the former; the latter seen on the

medals of Aurelian, only denote (according to the learned

Cardinal Norris) an oriental victory.]

81 (return) [ The expression of Calphurnius, (Eclog. i. 50)

Nullos decet captiva triumphos, as applied to Rome, contains a

very manifest allusion and censure.]

But however, in the treatment of his unfortunate rivals, Aurelian

might indulge his pride, he behaved towards them with a generous

clemency, which was seldom exercised by the ancient conquerors.

Princes who, without success, had defended their throne or

freedom, were frequently strangled in prison, as soon as the

triumphal pomp ascended the Capitol. These usurpers, whom their

defeat had convicted of the crime of treason, were permitted to

spend their lives in affluence and honorable repose.

The emperor presented Zenobia with an elegant villa at Tibur, or

Tivoli, about twenty miles from the capital; the Syrian queen

insensibly sunk into a Roman matron, her daughters married into

noble families, and her race was not yet extinct in the fifth

century. 82 Tetricus and his son were reinstated in their rank

and fortunes. They erected on the Cælian hill a magnificent

palace, and as soon as it was finished, invited Aurelian to

supper. On his entrance, he was agreeably surprised with a

picture which represented their singular history. They were

delineated offering to the emperor a civic crown and the sceptre

of Gaul, and again receiving at his hands the ornaments of the

senatorial dignity. The father was afterwards invested with the

government of Lucania, 83 and Aurelian, who soon admitted the

abdicated monarch to his friendship and conversation, familiarly

asked him, Whether it were not more desirable to administer a

province of Italy, than to reign beyond the Alps. The son long

continued a respectable member of the senate; nor was there any

one of the Roman nobility more esteemed by Aurelian, as well as

by his successors. 84

82 (return) [ Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 199. Hieronym. in

Chron. Prosper in Chron. Baronius supposes that Zenobius, bishop

of Florence in the time of St. Ambrose, was of her family.]

83 (return) [ Vopisc. in Hist. August. p. 222. Eutropius, ix. 13.

Victor Junior. But Pollio, in Hist. August. p. 196, says, that

Tetricus was made corrector of all Italy.]

84 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 197.]

So long and so various was the pomp of Aurelian’s triumph, that

although it opened with the dawn of day, the slow majesty of the

procession ascended not the Capitol before the ninth hour; and it

was already dark when the emperor returned to the palace. The

festival was protracted by theatrical representations, the games

of the circus, the hunting of wild beasts, combats of gladiators,

and naval engagements. Liberal donatives were distributed to the

army and people, and several institutions, agreeable or

beneficial to the city, contributed to perpetuate the glory of

Aurelian. A considerable portion of his oriental spoils was

consecrated to the gods of Rome; the Capitol, and every other

temple, glittered with the offerings of his ostentatious piety;

and the temple of the Sun alone received above fifteen thousand

pounds of gold. 85 This last was a magnificent structure, erected

by the emperor on the side of the Quirinal hill, and dedicated,

soon after the triumph, to that deity whom Aurelian adored as the

parent of his life and fortunes. His mother had been an inferior

priestess in a chapel of the Sun; a peculiar devotion to the god

of Light was a sentiment which the fortunate peasant imbibed in

his infancy; and every step of his elevation, every victory of

his reign, fortified superstition by gratitude. 86

85 (return) [ Vopiscus in Hist. August. 222. Zosimus, l. i. p.

56. He placed in it the images of Belus and of the Sun, which he

had brought from Palmyra. It was dedicated in the fourth year of

his reign, (Euseb in Chron.,) but was most assuredly begun

immediately on his accession.]

86 (return) [ See, in the Augustan History, p. 210, the omens of

his fortune. His devotion to the Sun appears in his letters, on

his medals, and is mentioned in the Cæsars of Julian. Commentaire

de Spanheim, p. 109.]

The arms of Aurelian had vanquished the foreign and domestic foes

of the republic. We are assured, that, by his salutary rigor,

crimes and factions, mischievous arts and pernicious connivance,

the luxurious growth of a feeble and oppressive government, were

eradicated throughout the Roman world. 87 But if we attentively

reflect how much swifter is the progress of corruption than its

cure, and if we remember that the years abandoned to public

disorders exceeded the months allotted to the martial reign of

Aurelian, we must confess that a few short intervals of peace

were insufficient for the arduous work of reformation. Even his

attempt to restore the integrity of the coin was opposed by a

formidable insurrection. The emperor’s vexation breaks out in one

of his private letters. “Surely,” says he, “the gods have decreed

that my life should be a perpetual warfare. A sedition within the

walls has just now given birth to a very serious civil war. The

workmen of the mint, at the instigation of Felicissimus, a slave

to whom I had intrusted an employment in the finances, have risen

in rebellion. They are at length suppressed; but seven thousand

of my soldiers have been slain in the contest, of those troops

whose ordinary station is in Dacia, and the camps along the

Danube.” 88 Other writers, who confirm the same fact, add

likewise, that it happened soon after Aurelian’s triumph; that

the decisive engagement was fought on the Cælian hill; that the

workmen of the mint had adulterated the coin; and that the

emperor restored the public credit, by delivering out good money

in exchange for the bad, which the people was commanded to bring

into the treasury. 89

87 (return) [ Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 221.]

88 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 222. Aurelian calls these soldiers

Hiberi Riporiences Castriani, and Dacisci.]

89 (return) [ Zosimus, l. i. p. 56. Eutropius, ix. 14. Aurel

Victor.]

We might content ourselves with relating this extraordinary

transaction, but we cannot dissemble how much in its present form

it appears to us inconsistent and incredible. The debasement of

the coin is indeed well suited to the administration of

Gallienus; nor is it unlikely that the instruments of the

corruption might dread the inflexible justice of Aurelian. But

the guilt, as well as the profit, must have been confined to a

very few; nor is it easy to conceive by what arts they could arm

a people whom they had injured, against a monarch whom they had

betrayed. We might naturally expect that such miscreants should

have shared the public detestation with the informers and the

other ministers of oppression; and that the reformation of the

coin should have been an action equally popular with the

destruction of those obsolete accounts, which by the emperor’s

order were burnt in the forum of Trajan. 90 In an age when the

principles of commerce were so imperfectly understood, the most

desirable end might perhaps be effected by harsh and injudicious

means; but a temporary grievance of such a nature can scarcely

excite and support a serious civil war. The repetition of

intolerable taxes, imposed either on the land or on the

necessaries of life, may at last provoke those who will not, or

who cannot, relinquish their country. But the case is far

otherwise in every operation which, by whatsoever expedients,

restores the just value of money. The transient evil is soon

obliterated by the permanent benefit, the loss is divided among

multitudes; and if a few wealthy individuals experience a

sensible diminution of treasure, with their riches, they at the

same time lose the degree of weight and importance which they

derived from the possession of them. However Aurelian might

choose to disguise the real cause of the insurrection, his

reformation of the coin could furnish only a faint pretence to a

party already powerful and discontented. Rome, though deprived of

freedom, was distracted by faction. The people, towards whom the

emperor, himself a plebeian, always expressed a peculiar

fondness, lived in perpetual dissension with the senate, the

equestrian order, and the Prætorian guards. 91 Nothing less than

the firm though secret conspiracy of those orders, of the

authority of the first, the wealth of the second, and the arms of

the third, could have displayed a strength capable of contending

in battle with the veteran legions of the Danube, which, under

the conduct of a martial sovereign, had achieved the conquest of

the West and of the East.

90 (return) [ Hist. August. p. 222. Aurel Victor.]

91 (return) [ It already raged before Aurelian’s return from

Egypt. See Vipiscus, who quotes an original letter. Hist. August.

p. 244.]

Whatever was the cause or the object of this rebellion, imputed

with so little probability to the workmen of the mint, Aurelian

used his victory with unrelenting rigor. 92 He was naturally of a

severe disposition. A peasant and a soldier, his nerves yielded

not easily to the impressions of sympathy, and he could sustain

without emotion the sight of tortures and death. Trained from his

earliest youth in the exercise of arms, he set too small a value

on the life of a citizen, chastised by military execution the

slightest offences, and transferred the stern discipline of the

camp into the civil administration of the laws. His love of

justice often became a blind and furious passion; and whenever he

deemed his own or the public safety endangered, he disregarded

the rules of evidence, and the proportion of punishments. The

unprovoked rebellion with which the Romans rewarded his services,

exasperated his haughty spirit. The noblest families of the

capital were involved in the guilt or suspicion of this dark

conspiracy. A nasty spirit of revenge urged the bloody

prosecution, and it proved fatal to one of the nephews of the

emperor. The executioners (if we may use the expression of a

contemporary poet) were fatigued, the prisons were crowded, and

the unhappy senate lamented the death or absence of its most

illustrious members. 93 Nor was the pride of Aurelian less

offensive to that assembly than his cruelty. Ignorant or

impatient of the restraints of civil institutions, he disdained

to hold his power by any other title than that of the sword, and

governed by right of conquest an empire which he had saved and

subdued. 94

92 (return) [ Vopiscus in Hist. August p. 222. The two Victors.

Eutropius ix. 14. Zosimus (l. i. p. 43) mentions only three

senators, and placed their death before the eastern war.]

93 (return) [ Nulla catenati feralis pompa senatus Carnificum

lassabit opus; nec carcere pleno Infelix raros numerabit curia

Patres. Calphurn. Eclog. i. 60.]

94 (return) [ According to the younger Victor, he sometimes wore

the diadem, Deus and Dominus appear on his medals.]

It was observed by one of the most sagacious of the Roman

princes, that the talents of his predecessor Aurelian were better

suited to the command of an army, than to the government of an

empire. 95 Conscious of the character in which nature and

experience had enabled him to excel, he again took the field a

few months after his triumph. It was expedient to exercise the

restless temper of the legions in some foreign war, and the

Persian monarch, exulting in the shame of Valerian, still braved

with impunity the offended majesty of Rome. At the head of an

army, less formidable by its numbers than by its discipline and

valor, the emperor advanced as far as the Straits which divide

Europe from Asia. He there experienced that the most absolute

power is a weak defence against the effects of despair. He had

threatened one of his secretaries who was accused of extortion;

and it was known that he seldom threatened in vain. The last hope

which remained for the criminal was to involve some of the

principal officers of the army in his danger, or at least in his

fears. Artfully counterfeiting his master’s hand, he showed them,

in a long and bloody list, their own names devoted to death.

Without suspecting or examining the fraud, they resolved to

secure their lives by the murder of the emperor. On his march,

between Byzantium and Heraclea, Aurelian was suddenly attacked by

the conspirators, whose stations gave them a right to surround

his person, and after a short resistance, fell by the hand of

Mucapor, a general whom he had always loved and trusted. He died

regretted by the army, detested by the senate, but universally

acknowledged as a warlike and fortunate prince, the useful,

though severe reformer of a degenerate state. 96

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156 (return) [ This singular character has, I believe, been