ship. Heliogabalus, having thus raised his cousin, had scarcely given him his power, when he wished again to take it away; but the virtues of this young prince had so greatly endeared him to the people and the army, that the attempt had like to have been fatal to the tyrant. The prætorian soldiers, mutinying, attempted to kill him as he was walking in his gardens; but he escaped by hiding himself from their fury. How ever, upon returning to their camp, they continued the sedition; requiring that the emperor should remove such persons from about him as oppressed the subjects, and contributed to contaminate him. They required also the being permitted to guard the young prince themselves, and that none of the emperor's favorites or familiars should be permitted to converse with him. Heliogabalus was reluctantly obliged to comply; and, conscious of the danger he was in, made preparations for death, when it should arrive, in a manner truly whimsical and peculiar. He built a lofty tower, with steps of gold and pearl, whence to throw himself headlong in case of necessity. He also prepared cords of purple silk and gold to strangle himself with; he provided golden swords and daggers to stab himself with; and poison to be kept in boxes of emerald, in order to obtain what death he chose best. Thus fearing all things, but particularly suspicious of the designs of the senate, he banished them all out of the city: he next attempted to poison Alexander, and spread a report of his death; but, perceiving the soldiers begin to mutiny, he immediately took him in his chariot to the camp, where he experienced a fresh mortification, by finding all the acclamations of the army directed only to his successor. This not a little raised his indignation, and excited his desire of revenge. He returned towards the city, threatening the most severe punishments against those who had displeased him, and meditating fresh cruelties. However the soldiers were unwilling to give him time to put his designs in execution: they followed him directly to his palace, pursued him from apartment to apartment, and at last found him concealed in a privy; a situation very different from that in which he expected to die. Having dragged him thence through the streets, with the most bitter invectives, and having despatched him, they attempted once more to squeeze his pampered body into a privy; but, not effecting this, they threw it into the Tiber, with heavy weights, that none might afterwards find or give it burial. This was the miserable and ignominious death of Heliogabalus, in the eighteenth year of his age, after a detestable reign of four years. His mother also was slain at the same time by the soldiers; as were also many of the opprobrious associates of his criminal pleasures.

ALEXANDER SEVERUS.-Alexander being without opposition declared emperor, the senate, with their usual adoration, were for conferring new titles upon him; but he modestly declined them all, alleging that titles were only honorable when given to virtue. This outset was a happy omen of his future virtues; and few princes in history have been more commended by their contemporaries, or indeed more deserved com

mendation. To the most rigid justice he added the greatest humanity. He loved the good, and was a severe reprover of the lewd and infamous. His accomplishments were equal to his virtues. He was an excellent mathematician, geometrician, and musician; he was skilled in painting and sculpture; and in poetry few of his time could equal him. In short, such were his talents, and such the solidity of his judgment, that, though but sixteen years of age, he was considered as a wise man. The first part of his reign was spent in a reformation of the abuses of his predecessor. He restored the senators to their rank: nothing being undertaken without the most sage advisers, and most mature deliberation. Among the number of his advisers was his mother Mammaa, a woman eminent for her virtues and accomplishments, and who made use of her power to secure her son the affections of his subjects, and to procure them the most just administration. He was a rigid punisher of such magistrates as took bribes, saying that it was not enough to deprive such of their places; for, their trusts being great, their lives in most cases ought to pay for a breach of them. On the contrary, be thought he could never sufficiently reward such as had been remarkable for their justice and integrity, keeping a register of their names, and sometimes asking such of them as appeared modest and unwilling to approach him why they were so backward in demanding their reward, and why they suffered him to be in their debt? His clemency extended even to the Christians, who had been punished in the former reigns with unrelenting barbarity. Upon a contest between them and a company of cooks and vintners, about a piece of public ground, which the one claimed as a place for public worship, and the other for exercising their respective trades, he decided the point by his rescript, in these words: It is better that God be worshipped there in any manner than that the place should be put to uses of drunkenness and debauchery.' His abilities in war were equal to his assiduity in peace. The empire, which from the remissness and debauchery of the preceding reigns now began to be attacked on every side, wanted a person of vigor and conduct to defend it. Alexander faced the enemy wherever the invasion was most formidable, and for a short time deferred its rain. His first expedition, in the tenth year of his reign, was against the Parthians and Persians, whom he opposed with a powerful army. The Persians were routed in a decisive engagement with great slaughter; the cities of Ctesiphon and Babylon were once more taken, and the Roman empire was restored to its foriner limits. Upon his return to Antioch his mother Mammaa sent for the famous Origen, to be instracted by him in the principles of Christianity; and, after discoursing with him for some time upon the subject, dismissed him, with a proper safeguard, to his native city of Alexandria. About the same time that Alexander was victorious in the east, Furius Celsus, his general, obtained a signal victory over the Mauritanians in Africa. Varius Macrinus was successful in Germany, and Junius Palmatus returned conqueror from Armenia.

However these victories only hastened the decline of the empire, which was wasted by the exertion of its own strength. About the thirteenth year of his reign, the Upper Germans, and other northern nations, began to pour down immense swarms of people upon the more south ern parts of the empire. They passed the Rhine and the Danube with such fury that all Italy was thrown into consternation; when the emperor made what levies he could, and went in person to stem the torrent; which he speedily effected. It was in the course of his successes against the enemy that he was cut off by a mutiny among his soldiers. The legions encamped about Moguntia, having been abominably corrupted during the reign of Heliogabalus, and trained up in all kinds of rapine and disobedience, required the most strict command. Alexander could neither endure their tumultuary obedience, nor they his regular discipline. They exclaimed that they were governed by an avaricious woman, and a mean-spirited boy; and resolved upon electing an emperor capable of ruling alone. In this general revolt, Maximinus, an old commander, held frequent conferences with the soldiers, and inflamed the sedition. At length they sent an executioner into Alexander's tent; who immediately struck off his head, and shortly after that of his mother. He died in the twenty-ninth year of his age, after a prosperous reign of thirteen years and nine days. ROME UNTIL THE MURDER OF GORDIAN I. AND II. The tumults occasioned by the death of Alexander being appeased, Maximinus, who had been the chief promoter of the sedition, was chosen emperor. This extraordinary man was born of very obscure parentage, being the son of a herdsman of Thrace. At first he followed his father's profession, and only exercised his personal courage against robbers. Soon after he enlisted in the Roman army, where he became remarkable for his great strength, discipline, and courage. He was no less than eight feet and a half high; and of strength corresponding to his size. His wife's bracelet served him for a thumb ring; and his strength was so great that he was able to draw a carriage which two oxen could not move. His diet was as extraordinary as the rest of his endowments; he generally ate forty pounds of flesh it is said every day, and drank six gallons of wine. With a frame so athletic, he was possessed of a mind undaunted in danger, neither fearing nor regarding man. The first time he was made known to the emperor Severus was upon his celebrating games on the birth-day of his son Geta. Maximinus was then a rude countryman, and requested the emperor to be permitted to contend for the prizes which were distributed. Severus, unwilling to infringe the military discipline, would not permit him to combat, except with slaves, against whom his strength appeared astonishing. He overcame sixteen in running, one after the other; he then kept up with the emperor on horseback; and, having fatigued him in the course, he was opposed to seven of the most active soldiers, and overcame them with the greatest ease. From that time he was noticed, and taken into the emperor's body-guards, in which his assiduity

and prompt obedience were remarked. In the reign of Caracalla he was made a centurion, and distinguished himself in this station by his strict attention to morals and discipline. When made a tribune, he still retained the hardy simplicity of his life; eat as the meanest sentinel; spent whole days in exercising his troops; and now and then wrestled with eight or ten of the strongest men in the army. When Macrinus was made emperor, he refused to serve under a prince that had betrayed his sovereign; and retired to Thrace, his native country, where he followed commerce and purchased some lands. Upon the accession of Heliogabalus, this bold veteran once more re turned to the army; but was disgusted at the effeminacy of the emperor; who, hearing amazing instances of his strength, asked him if he were equally capable in combats of another nature? This question was so little suited to the temper of Maximinus that he left the court. Upon the death of Heliogabalus he again returned to Rome, and was received with great kindness by Alexander, who recommended him to the senate, and made him commander of the fourth legion, which consisted of new raised soldiers. Maximinus performed his duty with great exactness and success. Nor was his valor less apparent against the Germans; so that he was unanimously reckoned the boldest, bravest, and most virtuous soldier in the empire. He soon, however, forfeited these titles, when raised to the throne; and became the most cruel tyrant upon earth. The senate and people of Rome were the first that incurred his resentment, they absolutely refusing to confirm the election made by the army, and he became the first emperor who reigned without their concurrence. The Christians felt the weight of his resentment; and were persecuted in several parts of the empire. His cruelty particularly extended to the rich, whose lives and estates became a frequent sacrifice to his avarice and suspicion. Being ashamed of the meanness of his extraction, he commanded all such as were acquainted with him and his parentage to be slain. In the midst of these cruelties his military operations were carried on with a spirit becoming a better monarch. He overthrew the Germans in several battles, and wasted their country with fire and sword. To attach the soldiers firmly to him, he increased their pay; and, in every duty of the camp, he himself took as much pains as the meanest sentinel. In every engagement, where the conflict was hottest, Maximinus was always seen fighting in person. In the mean time his cruelties had so alienated the minds of his subjects that several conspiracies were formed against him. Magnus, a consular person, and some others had agreed in a plot to break down a wooden bridge, as soon as the emperor had passed it, and thus to abandon him to the enemy. But this, being discovered, gave Maximinus an opportunity of indulging his natural severity, who upon this pretext alone caused above 4000 to be slain. Shortly after some of Alexander's old soldiers, withdrawing themselves from the camp, proclaimed one Quartianus emperor; but shortly after, in the spirit of the times, the person who had been the promoter of his advancement, murdered him in

his bed, and carried his head to Maximinus; who received the present kindly, but put the bearer to a cruel death, for his complicated treason and treachery. These partial insurrections were followed by a spirit of general discontent throughout the empire. The provinces of Africa were the first that showed their detesration of the tyrant. They first slew his procurator; and afterwards resolved to throw off all expectation of pardon, and create a new emperor. Gordian was then proconsul, a person of great fame for his virtues, and highly reverenced for a blameless life of near eighty. Him, there fore, they determined to elect; and accordingly the soldiers and natives, assembling together, tumultuously entered his house. Gordian, who at first supposed they were come to kill him, being made sensible of their intentions, refused their offer, alleging his great age. But they constrained him to accept of the dignity; and he, with his son Gordian, who was forty-six years of age, were declared emperors. The old man immediately wrote to the senate, declaring that he had unwillingly accepted of the empire, and would only keep his authority till he had freed their common country from the tyranny of its present oppressor. The senate very joyfully confirmed his election, adjudging Maximinus an enemy and traitor to the state. The citizens also showed an equal zeal in the cause: they flew upon such as were the reputed friends of Maximinus, and tore them to pieces. So great an alteration being made in the city against Maximinus, the senate made all necessary preparations for their security, ordering Maximinus's governors to be displaced. This order was differently received in different parts; in some provinces the governors were slain; in others the messengers of the senate; so that all parts of the empire felt the civil war. In the mean time, when Maximinus was informed of these charges against him, his rage appeared ungovernable. He roared like a savage beast, and violently struck his head against the wall. At length, his fury having somewhat subsided, he called his whole army together; and, in a set speech, exhorted them to revenge his cause, giving them the strongest assurances that they should possess the estates of all such as had offended. The soldiers unanimously promised to be faithful; they received his harangue with their usual acclamations; and, thus encouraged, he led them towards Rome, breathing slaughter and revenge. However, he found many obstacles to his impetuosity; and, though he desired nothing so much as despatch, his marches were incommodious and slow. The tumultuous and disobedient armies of the empire were at present, very different from the legions that were led on by Sylla or Cæsar; they were loaded with baggage, and followed by slaves and women, rather resembling an eastern caravan, than a military battalion. To these inconveniences was added the hatred of the cities through which he passed, the inhabitants abandoning their houses upon his approach, and securing their provisions in proper hiding places. However, his affairs began to wear a favorable appearance in Africa; for Capelianus, governor of Numidia, raised a body of troops in his favor, and marched against

Gordian, towards Carthage; where he fought the younger Gordian, slew him, and destroyed his army. The father, hearing of the death of his son, together with the loss of the battle, strangled himself in his own girdle.

ROME UNTIL THE MURDER OF MAXIMINUS.Capelianus pursuing his victory entered Carthage; where he gave a loose to pillage and slaughter, under a pretence of revenging the cause of Maximinus. The news of these successes was soon brought to the emperor, who now increased his diligence, and flattered himself with a speedy opportunity of revenge. He led on his large army by hasty journeys into Italy, threatening destruction to all his opposers. Nothing could exceed the consternation of the senate upon the news of this defeat. They now saw themselves not only deprived of the assistance of Gordian and his son, but also opposed by two formidable tyrants, each commanding a vietorious army, directly marching towards Rome. In this afflicting exigence, they, with great solemnity, met at the temple of Jupiter, and after the most mature deliberations chose Pupienus and Balbinus emperors conjointly. These were men who had acquired the esteem of the public both in war and peace, having commanded armies, and governed provinces with great reputation; and being now appointed to oppose Maximinus, they made what levies they could. With these, Pupienus marched to stop the progress of the invaders, leaving the city to a fresh and unlooked for calamity. This was occasioned by two of Maximinus's soldiers, who, entering the senate house, were slain by two senators. This quickly gave offence to the body of the prætorian soldiers, who instantly resolved to take revenge, but were opposed by the citizens; so that nothing was seen throughout Rome, but tumult, slaughter, and cruelty. In this universal confusion, the calamity was increased by the soldiers setting the city on fire. Nevertheless, Maximinus himself was not more fortunate. Being informed of the new election of emperors, his fury was renewed, and he passed the Alps, expecting, upon entering Italy, to refresh his fatigued and famished army in that fertile country. Approaching Aquileia he was astonished to find it prepared for the most obstinate resistance, and resolved to hold out a regular siege. At last a mutiny in his army rescued the declining empire from destruction. The soldiers being long harassed by famine and fatigue, and hearing of revolts on every side, resolved to terminate their calamities by the tyrant's death, and slew both him and his son, whom he had made his partner in the empire, after a usurpation of about three years, in the sixty-fifth year of his age.

PUPIENUS AND BALBINUS.--The tyrant being dead, and his body thrown to birds of prey, Pupienus and Balbinus continued emperors without opposition. But the prætorian soldiers, notorious for mutiny and treason, resolved on further change. The dissensions between the new made emperors themselves also contributed to their downfall: for though both were remarkable for wisdom and age, yet they could not restrain their mutual jealousy. Pupienus claimed the supe

riority for his great experience; while Balbinus was equally aspiring upon account of his family and fortune. In this ill-judged contest, the prætorian soldiers, who were enemies to both, set upon them in their palace, at a time when their guards were amusing themselves with the Capitoline games. Pupienus, perceiving their tumultuous approach, sent with the utmost speed for assistance from his colleague: but he, out of suspicion that something was designed against himself, refused to send such of the German guards as were next his person. Thus the seditious soldiers found an easy access to both the emperors; and, dragging them from the palace to the camp, slew them both.

GORDIAN III.-In the midst of this sedition, as the mutineers were proceeding along the streets of the capital, they met Gordian, the grandson of him who was slain in Africa, and declared him emperor. This prince was but sixteen years old, but his virtues seemed to compensate for his want of experience. His learning was equal to his virtues; and he had 62,000 volumes, we are told, in his library. His respect for Misithæus, his governor and instructor, was such that he married his daughter, and profited by his counsels throughout his reign. The first four years were attended with the utmost prosperity; but in the fifth he was alarmed with accounts from the east, that Sapor, king of Persia, had furiously invaded the confines of the Roman empire, and, having taken Antioch, had pillaged Syria, and all the adjacent provinces. The Goths also invaded the empire on their side, pouring down like a flood from the north, and attempting to fix their residence in the kingdom of Thrace. To oppose both, Gordian prepared an army; and having gained some victories over the Goths, whom he obliged to retire, he turned his arms against the Persians, whom he defeated upon several occasions. But his only successful general died suddenly, and things then proceeding from bad to worse, Philip, an Arabian chief, was at first made his equal in the empire, and shortly after invested with the sole power. Gordian was, by his order, slain, in the twenty-second year of his age, after a successful reign of nearly six years.

PHILIP.-Philip, having thus murdered his benefactor, was acknowledged emperor by the army. The senate confirmed his election, and gave him the title of Augustus. He was about forty years old when he came to the throne; being the son of an obscure Arabian, who had been a captain of banditti. He associated with him in the empire his son, a boy of six years of age; and, to secure his power at home, made peace with the Persians, and marched his army towards Rome. On his way, having conceived a desire to visit his native country of Arabia, he built there a city called Philippopolis: and thence returning to Rome was received as emperor with all the usual marks of submission. To put the people in good humor, he caused the secular games to be celebrated, with a magnificence superior to any of his predecessors. But, the Goths having invaded the empire, Marinus, Philip's lieutenant, who was sent against them, revolted, and caused himself to be declared emperor. This

revolt, however, was of short duration; and Decius was appointed by Philip to command in his room. However, the army was scarcely arrived at Verona, when it revolted in favor of Decius, and setting violently upon Philip, a sentinel, with one blow, cleaved his head asunder, separating the under jaw from the upper. Such was the deserved death of Philip, in the forty-fifth year of his age, after a reign of about five years: Decius being universally acknowledged as his successor, A. D. 348.

DECIUS AND HIS SON.-The activity and wisdom of Decius in some measure arrested the hastening decline of the empire. The senate seemed to think so highly of his merits that they voted him not inferior to Trajan; and indeed he seemed in every instance to consult their dignity, and the welfare of the people. He permitted them to choose a censor, as in the flourishing times of Rome; and Valerian, his general, a man of such strict morals that his life was said to be a continual censorship, was chosen to that dignity. But no virtue could now prevent the approaching downfall of the state: the obstinate disputes between the Pagans and the Christians within the empire, and the unceasing irruptions of barbarous nations from without, enfeebled it beyond remedy. To stop these, a persecution of the Christians, now a most numerous body, was impolitically and cruelly begun ; thousands were put to death, and all the arts of cruelty tried in vain to lessen their growing number. This was succeeded by dreadful devastations from the Goths, in Thrace and Mœsia. These irruptions Decius went to oppose in person; and, coming to an engagement, slew 30,000 of these barbarians in one battle. But, in pursuing his victory, he was, by the treachery of Gallus his own general, led into a defile, where the Goths had secret information to attack him. In this disadvantageous situation, Decius first saw his son killed with an arrow, and soon after his whole army put to the rout. Wherefore, resolving not to survive his loss, he put spurs to his horse, and plunging into a quagmire was swallowed up. He died in the fiftieth year of his age, after a short reign of two years and six months; leaving the character of an excellent prince.

GALLUS AND EMILIANUS.-Gallus, who had thus betrayed the army, had the address to get himself declared emperor by that part of it which had survived the defeat; he was forty-five years old when he began to reign, and was descended from an honorable family. He now agreed to pay a considerable annual tribute to the Goths. and, having thus purchased a short remission from war, returned to Rome, to give a loose to his pleasures. Nothing could be more deplorable than the state of the provinces at this time. The Goths and other barbarous nations, not satisfied with their late bribes, broke in upon the eastern parts of Europe. On the other side the Persians and Scythians committed unheard of ravages in Mesopotamia and Syria. The emperor, regardless of every national calamity, was lost in debauch and sensuality; and the Pagans were allowed a power of persecuting the Christians through all parts of the state: these calamities