V. disappointed this prudent scheme of defence; he left CHAP. to his generals the siege of Byzantium, forced the less guarded passage of the Hellespont, and, impatient of a meaner enemy, pressed forward to encounter his rival. Byzantium, attacked by a numerous and increasing army, and afterwards by the whole naval power of the empire, sustained a siege of three years, and remained faithful to the name and memory of Niger. The citizens and soldiers (we know not from what cause) were animated with equal fury; several of the principal officers of Niger, who despaired of, or who disdained, a pardon, had thrown themselves into this last refuge; the fortifications were esteemed impregnable, and, in the defence of the place, a celebrated engineer displayed all the mechanic powers known to the ancients54. Byzantium, at length, surrendered to famine. The magistrates and soldiers were put to the sword, the walls demolished, the privileges suppressed, and the destined capital of the east subsisted only as an open village, subject to the insulting jurisdiction of Perinthus. The historian Dion, who had admired the flourishing, and lamented the desolate state of Byzantium, accused the revenge of Severus, for depriving the Roman people of the strongest bulwark against the barbarians of Pontus and Asia55. The truth of this observation was but too well justified in the succeeding age, when the Gothic fleets covered the Euxine, and passed through the undefended Bosphorus into the centre of the Mediterranean. Albinus. Both Niger and Albinus were discovered and put Deaths of to death in their flight from the field of battle. Their Niger and fate excited neither surprise nor compassion. They cruel conhad staked their lives against the chance of empire, sequences and suffered what they would have inflicted; nor did Severus claim the arrogant superiority of suffering 54 The engineer's name was Priscus. His skill saved his life, and he was taken into the service of the conqueror. For the particular facts of the siege consult Dion Cassius (1. lxxv. p. 1251.) and Herodian (1. iii. p. 95: for the theory of it, the fanciful chevalier de Folard may be looked into. See Polybe, tom. i. p. 76. 55 Notwithstanding the authority of Spartianus and some modern Greeks, we may be assured from Dion and Herodian, that Byzantium, many years after the death of Severus lay in ruins. of the civil wars. 1 V. CHAP. his rivals to live in a private station. But his unforgiving temper, stimulated by avarice, indulged a spirit of revenge, where there was no room for apprehension. The most considerable of the provincials who, without any dislike to the fortunate candidate, had obeyed the governor under whose authority they were accidentally placed, were punished by death, exile, and especially by the confiscation of their estates. Many cities of the east were stript of their ancient honours, and obliged to pay, into the treasury of Severus, four times the amount of the sums contributed by them for the service of Niger. Animosity of Severus Till the final decision of the war, the cruelty of Seagainst verus was, in some measure, restrained by the uncerthe senate. tainty of the event, and his pretended reverence for the senate. The head of Albinus, accompanied with a menacing letter, announced to the Romans, that he was resolved to spare none of the adherents of his unfortunate competitors. He was irritated by the just suspicion, that he had never possessed the affections of the senate, and he concealed his old malevolence under the recent discovery of some treasonable correspondences. Thirty-five senators, however, accused of having favoured the party of Albinus, he freely pardoned; and, by his subsequent behaviour, endea voured to convince them, that he had forgotten, as well as forgiven, their supposed offences. But, at the same time, he condemned forty-one57 other senators, whose names history has recorded; their wives, children, and clients, attended them in death; and the noblest provincials of Spain and Gaul were involved in the same ruin. Such rigid justice, for so he termed it, was, in the opinion of Severus, the only conduct capable of ensuring peace to the people, or stability to the prince; and he condescended slightly to lament, that, to be mild, it was necessary that he should first be cruels. 56 Dion, 1. lxxiv. p. 1250. 57 Dion (1. lxxv. p. 1264;) only 29 senators are mentioned by him, but 41 are named in the Augustan History, p. 69, among whom were six of the name of Pescennius. Herodian (1. iii. p. 115.) speaks in general of the cruelties of Severus. 58 Aurelius Victor. his go The true interest of an absolute monarch generally CHAP. coincides with that of his people. Their numbers, their V. wealth, their order, and their security, are the best and. The wisonly foundations of his real greatness; and were he to- dom and tally devoid of virtue, prudence might supply its place, and would dictate the same rule of conduct. Severus vernment. considered the Roman empire as his property, and had no sooner secured the possession, than he bestowed his care on the cultivation and improvement of so valuable an acquisition. Salutary laws, executed with inflexible firmness, soon corrected most of the abuses with which, since the death of Marcus, every part of the government had been infected. In the administration of justice, the judgments of the emperor were characterized by attention, discernment, and impartiality; and whenever he deviated from the strict line of equity, it was generally in favour of the poor and oppressed; not so much indeed from any sense of humanity, as from the natural propensity of a despot, to humble the pride of greatness, and to sink all his subjects to the same common level of absolute dependence. His expensive taste for building, magnificent shows, and above all a constant and liberal distribution of corn and provisions, were the surest means of captivating the affection of the Roman people. The misfortunes of civil discord were obliterated. The calm of peace and prosperity was General once more experienced in the provinces; and many peace and cities, restored by the munificence of Severus, assumed the title of his colonies, and attested by public monuments their gratitude and felicity. The fame of the Roman arms was revived by that warlike and successful emperor, and he boasted with a just pride, that, 59 Dion, 1. lxxvi. p. 1272. Hist. August. p. 67. Severus celebrated the secular games with extraordinary magnificence, and he left in the public granaries a provision of corn for seven years, at the rate of 75,000 modii, or about 2500 quarters per day. I am persuaded, that the granaries of Severus were supplied for a long term ; but I am not less pursuaded, that policy on one hand, and admiration on the other magnified the hoard far be yond its true contents. 60 See Spanheim's treaties of ancient medals, the inscriptions, and our learned travellers Spon and Wheeler, Shaw, Pocock, &c. who, in Africa, Greece, and Asia, have found more monuments of Severus, than of any other Roman emperor whatsoever. 61 He carried his victorious arms to Seleucia and Ctesiphon, the capitals V. CHAP. having received the empire oppressed with foreign and domestic wars, he left it established in profound, universal, and honourable peace62. cipline. Relaxa- Although the wounds of civil war appeared completetion of mi-ly healed, its mortal poison still lurked in the vitals of litary disthe constitution. Severus possessed a considerble share of vigour and ability; but the daring soul of the first Cæsar, or the deep policy of Augustus, were scarcely equal to the task of curbing the insolence of the victorious legions. By gratitude, by misguided policy, by seeming necessity, Severus was induced to relax the nerves of discipline63. The vanity of his soldiers was flattered with the honour of wearing gold rings; their ease was indulged in the permission of living with their wives in the idleness of quarters. He increased their pay beyond the example of former times, and taught them to expect, and soon to claim, extraordinary donatives on every public occasion of danger or festivity. Elated by success, enervated by luxury, and raised above the level of subjects by their dangerous privileges, they soon became incapable of military fatigue, oppressive to the country, and impatient of a just subordination. Their officers asserted the superiority of rank by a more profuse and elegant luxury. There is still extant a letter of Severus, lamenting the licentious state of the army, and exhorting one of his generals to begin the necessary reformation from the tribunes themselves; since, as he justly observes, the officer who has forfeited the esteem, will never command the obedience, of his soldiers65. Had the emperor pursued the train of reflection, he would have discovered, that the primary cause of this general corruption, might be as of the Parthian monarchy. I shall have occasion to mention this war in its proper place. 62 Etiam in Britannis, was his own just and emphatic expression. Hist. August. p. 73. 63 Herodian, 1. iii. p. 115. Hist. August. p. 68. 64 Upon the insolence and privileges of the soldiers, the 16th satire, falsely ascribed to Juvenal, may be consulted; the style and circumstances of it would induce me to believe, that it was composed under the reign of Severus, or that of his son. 65 Hist: August. p. 73. cribed not indeed to the example, but to the pernicious CHAP. indulgence, however, of the commander in chief. V. of the The Prætorians, who murdered their emperor and New estasold the empire, had received the just punishment of blishment their treason; but the necessary, though dangerous, Prætorian institution of guards, was soon restored on a new mo- guards. del by Severus, and increased to four times the ancient number. Formerly these troops had been recruited in Italy; and as the adjacent provinces gradually imbibed the softer manners of Rome, the levies were extended to Macedonia, Noricum, and Spain. In the room of these elegant troops, better adapted to the pomp of courts than to the uses of war, it was established by Severus, that from all the legions of the frontiers, the soldiers most distinguished for strength, valour, and fidelity, should be occasionally draughted; and promoted, as an honour and reward, into the more eligible service of the guards67. By this new institution, the Italian youth were diverted from the exercise of arms, and the capital was terrified by the strange aspect and manners of a multitude of barbarians. But Severus flattered himself, that the legions would consider these chosen Prætorians as the representatives of the whole military order; and that the present aid of fifty thousand men, superior in arms and appointments to any force that could be brought into the field against them, would for ever crush the hopes of rebellion, and secure the empire to himself and his posterity. of Præto The command of these favoured and formidable The office troops soon became the first office of the empire. As rian Prathe government degenerated into military despotism, fect. the Prætorian Præfect, who, in his origin had been a simple captain of the guards, was placed, not only at the head of the army, but of the finances, and even of the law. In every department of administration, he represented the person, and exercised the authority, of the emperor. The first Præfect who enjoyed and abused this immense power was Plautianus, the favourite minister of Severus. His reign lasted above ten years, till the marriage of his daughter with the 66 Herodian, 1. iii. p. 131. 67 Dion, 1. lxxiv. p. 1243. 1 |