cile the factions at Rome. But their animosity, CHAP. though smothered for a while, burnt with re- VII. doubled violence. The soldiers, detesting the senate and the people, despised the weakness of a prince, who wanted either the spirit or the power to command the obedience of his subjects *.

of the

After the tyrant's death, his formidable army Discontent had acknowledged, from necessity rather than Prætorias from choice, the authority of Maximus, who guarde. transported himself without delay to the camp before Aquileia. As soon as he had received their oath of fidelity, he addressed them in terms full of mildness and moderation; lamented, ra→ ther than arraigned, the wild disorders of the times, and assured the soldiers, that of all their past conduct, the senate would remember only their generous desertion of the tyrant, and their voluntary return to their duty. Maximus enforced his exhortations by a liberal donative, purified the camp by a solemn sacrifice of expiation, and then dismissed the legions to their ́several provinces, impressed, as he hoped, with a lively sense of gratitude and obedience +. But nothing could reconcile the haughty spirit of the Prætorians. They attended the emperors on the memorable day of their public entry into Rome; but amidst the general acclamations, the sullen dejected countenance of the guards sufficiently declared that they considered themselves as the object, rather than the partners, of the triumph. When the whole body was united in their camp, those who had served under Maximin, and those

who

Herodian, 1. viii. p. 258. + Herodian, 1. viii. p. 213.

CHAP. who had remained at Rome, insensibly commuVII., nicated to each other their complaints and appre hensions. The emperors chosen by the army had perished with ignominy; those elected by the senate were seated on the throne * Then long discord between the civil and military powers was decided by a war, in which the former had obtained a complete, victory. The sole diers must now learn a new doctrine of submission to the senate; and whatever clemency was affected by that politic assembly, they dreaded a slow revenge, coloured by the name of discipline, and justified by fair pretences of the public good. But their fate was still in their own hands; and if they had courage to despise the vain terrors of an impotent republic, it was easy to convince the world, that those who were masters of the arms, were masters of the authority, of the state,

Massacre of
Maximus

nus.

J

When the senate elected two princes, it is and Balbi- probable, that, besides the declared reason of providing for the various emergencies of peace and war, they were actuated by the secret desire of weakening by division the despotism of the su preme magistrate. Their policy was effectual, but it proved fatal both to their emperors and to themselves. The jealousy of power was soon exasperated by the difference of character. Maximus despised Balbinus as a luxurious noble, and was in his turn disdained by his colleague as an obscure

* The observation had been made imprudently enough in the acclamations of the senate, and with regard to the soldiers it carried the appearance of a wanton insult. Hist. August. p. 170.

con

The

VII.

obscure soldier. Their silent discord was under- CHAP. stood rather than seen*. but the mutual sciousness prevented them from uniting in any vigorous measures of defence against their common enemies of the 4 Prætorian camp. whole city was employed in the Capitoline games, and the emperors were left almost alone in the palace. On a sudden they were alarmed A, D 238 by the approach of a troop of desperate assas- July 15, sins. Ignorant of each other's situation or de signs, for they already occupied very distant apartments, afraid to give or to receive assistance, they wasted the important moments in idle debates and fruitless recriminations. The arrival of the guards put an end to the vain strife. They seized on these emperors of the senate, for such they called them with mali cious contempt, stripped them of their garments, and dragged them in insolent triumph through the streets of Rome, with a design of inflicting a slow and cruel death on these unfortunate princes. The fear of a rescue from the faithful Germans of the Imperial guards, shortened their tortures; and their bodies mangled with a thousand wounds, were left exposed to the insults or to the pity of the populace t. VOL. I.

X

In

* Discordiæ tacitæ, et quæ intelligerentur potius quam viderentur. Hist. August. p. 178. This well-chosen expression is probably stolen from some better writer.

↑ Herodian, 1. viii. p. 287, 288.

С НА Р.

VII.

The third Gordian remains sole empe

ror,

Innocence

In the space of a few months, six princes had been cut off by the sword. Gordian, who had already received the title of Cæsar, was the only person that occurred to the soldiers as proper to fill the vacant throne *. They carried him to the camp, and unanimously saluted him Augustus and Emperor. His name was dear to the senate and people; his tender age promised a long impunity of military licence; and the submission of Rome and the provinces to the choice of the Prætorian guards, saved the republic, at the expence indeed of its freedom and dignity, from the horrors of a new civil war in the heart of the capital †.

As the third Gordian was only nineteen years and virtues of age at the time of his death, the history of his of Gordian. life, were it known to us with greater accuracy

than it really is, would contain little more than the account of his education, and the conduct of the ministers, who by turns abused or guided the simplicity of his unexperienced youth. Immediately after his accession, he fell into the hands of

his

* Quia non aliuserat in præsenti, is the expression of the Au gustan History.

+ Quintus Curtius (1. x. c. 9.) pays an elegant compliment to the emperor of the day, for having, by his happy accession, extinguished so many firebrands, sheathed so many swords, and put an end to the evils of a divided government. After weighing with attention every word of the passage, I am of opinion, that it suits better with the elevation of Gordian, than with any other period of the Roman History. In that case, it may serve to decide the age of Quintus Curtius. Those who place him under the first Cæsars, argue from the purity of his style, but are embarrassed by the silence of Quintilian, in his accurate list of Roman historians.

VII.'

his mother's eunuchs, that pernicious vermin of CHA P. the East, who, since the days of Elagabalus, had infested the Roman palace. By the artful conspiracy of these wretches, an impenetrable veil was drawn between an innocent prince and his oppressed subjects, the virtuous disposition of Gordian was deceived, and the honours of the empire sold without his knowledge, though in a very public manner, to the most worthless of mankind. We are ignorant by what fortunate accident the emperor escaped from this ignominious slavery, and devolved his confidence on a minister, whose wise counsels had no object except the glory of his sovereign, and the happiness of the people. It should seem that love and learn- A.D. 240. ing introduced Misitheus to the favour of Gor- tration of dian. The young prince married the daughter of his master of rhetoric, and promoted his father-in-law to the first offices of the empire. Two admirable letters that passed between them are still extant. The minister, with the conscious dignity of virtue, congratulates Gordian that he is delivered from the tyranny of the eunuchs *, and still more that he is sensible of his deliverThe emperor acknowledges, with an amiable confusion, the errors of his past conduct; and laments, with singular propriety, the misfortune of a monarch, from whom a venal tribe of courtiers

ance.

X 2

* Hist. Angust. p. 161. From some hints in the two letters, I should expect that the eunuchs were expelled the palace, without some degree of gentle violence, and that young Gordian rather approved of, than consented to, their disgrace.

Adminis

Misitheus.