From A. D.

235.

to

238.

Biography, revenge the death of Pertinax, disbanded their several Cohorts; a measure of which they apprehended the repetition under the auspices of Maximus, who was known to dread their power and condemn their pretensions. They imagined, moreover, that they could perceive in the German troops whom this Emperor had assembled to oppose the inroad of Maximinus, the intended successors of the Imperial Guards. Determined, therefore, to anticipate the designs of their new masters, they took advantage of the Capitoline Games, which engrossed the attention of nearly all the inhabitants of Rome; proceeded to the Palace where the two Emperors, already alienated from each other, occupied remote apartments; and before an alarm could be given

and

D. C.

From

to the faithful Germans who were in attendance, M. C. P. dragged them both into the street, naked and man- Maximus, gled, and at length put an end to their sufferings by a cruel death. The fears of Maximus, from the first Balbinus. moment of his accession, predicted this fatal issue. "What reward," said he to Balbinus, "shall be bestowed upon us, if we succeed in delivering the Roman world from the tyrant who now domineers over it ?"— "We may," replied the other, "depend upon the gratitude and esteem of the Senate, of the People, and even of the whole Earth."-"Yes," rejoined Maximus, “and upon the hatred of the Soldiers, which will bring us both to an untimely end."*

A. D. 235

to

238.

Biography.

From

A. D.

238.

to

No sooner had the Prætorians accomplished their design against Maximus and Balbinus than they hurried the young Cæsar into the Camp, where he was proclaimed Emperor, and forthwith recommended to the loyalty and affection of the People. The murder of the reigning Prince had now become an event of 244. The young such frequent occurrence, that it ceased to create in the Gordianus public mind any feeling of horror, or desire of punishraised to ment. Hence, we find that the multitude, who had the Throne. scarcely concluded the festivities with which they greeted the victorious entrance of Maximus, joined in the clamorous joy which proceeded from the Camp when Gordianus III. was invested with the Purple. In the space of a few months, six Emperors were cut off by the sword; and the boy who was now raised to the Throne was selected by the Army, not so much, perhaps, because his name was dear to the Senate and Roman People, as because his tender age promised a long impunity of Military licence, and an undisputed ascendency to the household troops.

Of this Prince, History has preserved so few particulars, that it still remains doubtful whether he was the son or only the nephew of the younger Gordianus, who fell in the insurrection at Carthage. His early years are praised for docility, talent, and application; but his Biographer adds, that he had not the good fortune to possess a mother like Mamaa, the judicious parent and guardian of Alexander Severus. Under the influence of Matia Faustina, the Government passed into the hands of eunuchs, and other unprincipled retainers of the Court, who made a traffic of the honours and emoluments of the Empire, and prostituted on all occasions the name of the Sovereign to accomplish their own nefarious purposes. This condition of affairs is well described in a Letter from Mysithæus, the preceptor and father-in-law of Gordianus, written to congratulate him on his escape from the disgrace and ruin which must have resulted from the administration of such sordid wretches. Military commands, says he, were given away upon the mere recommendation of the Eunuch of the Chamber; the services of the best Officers remained unrewarded; pardons and condem

Marcus

III.

From

A. D. 238.

to

244.

nations were determined by caprice or money, without any regard to the merits of the case; the public trea- Antoninus sures were plundered by designing knaves, who agreed Gordianus in nothing but their resolution to deceive their master. The Prince, in reply, acknowledges the accuracy of the picture which was presented to his recollection; but, in apology for himself, he entreats his monitor to call to mind the hard fate of an Emperor, from whom truth is studiously concealed, and who, as he cannot see every thing with his own eyes, is compelled to listen to the reports of others, whether honest or deceitful.† Mysithæus, raised by his son-in-law to the office of AdministraPrætorian Præfect, proved himself a wise counsellor in tion of peace, and an able Commander in war. The Govern- Mysithæus. ment immediately assumed a new aspect: grievances were redressed, merit was rewarded, the idle were dismissed, and the factious were punished. To use the words of Capitolinus, it was no longer either puerile or contemptible. An insurrection fomented in Africa by an obscure soldier, whose name was Sabinianus, was suppressed with so much decision and lenity, that the intelligence of it did not disturb for a day the tranquillity of the Capital.

A more formidable contest for the Roman arms was State of about to take place in the East. The Persians, since Persia, and the revival of their nation under the dynasty of Sassan, accession of Sapor. had assuined a commanding attitude in Western Asia; they claimed the territory which belonged to them in the days of Cyrus, and even announced their intention of reestablishing that powerful Empire which had fallen before the genius of Alexander the Great. Artaxerxes, the first of the new race of Kings, had shown, as we have seen above, equal ambition and talents as a soldier; and although he retired across the Euphrates

From A. D.

238.

to

244.

Bography, when the son of Mamaa advanced to attack him, it does not appear that his Army was broken, or that his views of conquest were in any degree relinquished. On the contrary, he seems to have renewed the invasion of Syria as soon as the Romans withdrew to celebrate their triumph; and hence the reason why Maximinus was preparing to march against him from the banks of the Danube, when he was diverted from his purpose by the change of affairs which had just occurred in Italy. The death of the Persian ruler, which must have taken place at no great distance of time from the siege of Aquileia, occasioned a pause in the course of hostilities; and it was not until Gordianus had been three years on the Throne, that Sapor, the son of Artaxerxes, made such demonstrations of war on the eastern frontiers of the Empire, that an expedition into Asia could be no longer delayed. He had already, indeed, entered Mesopotamia, taken Nisibis and Carrhæ, and even laid siege to the Imperial city of Antioch. His progress was everywhere marked with that rapidity and determination which distinguished his future campaigns, and which enabled him, during a reign of thirty years, to keep the field on equal terms with the ablest Generals of the West. Italy itself heard the sound of his menaces; for his plans of conquest were not, like those of his father, bounded by the Egean Sea and the Hellespont, but stretched to the Alps, and even to the shores of the ocean.

Expedition of Ger. datus

Persians.

In the spring of the year two hundred and forty-two, Gordianus opened the Temple of Janus for the last time, against the and began his march towards his Asiatic dominions. Whilst passing through Masia and Thrace, he had to contend with some detached bodies of the Barbarians, over whom he gained a succession of easy victories. But the Alani, a more warlike tribe, whom he encountered on the plains of Philippi, are said to have checked his progress, and even to have inflicted upon one of the wings of his Army a considerable loss. Without spending upon the conquest of wandering hordes the time which he meant to devote to more important ends, he at once conducted the Legions into Syria, already wasted and alarmed by the inroads of Sapor, resolved to effect, at whatever cost, the recovery of a Province which the Empire had always valued very highly. No record has been preserved of the battles which ensued; but it is not doubtful that the Romans conducted the war with the greatest spirit and success, for in the course of the first campaign they drove the invading Army out of Syria, pursued them over the Euphrates, retook the several towns which had fallen into their hands, and concluded by punishing Sapor with a signal defeat near the city of Resæna.* In his Letter to the Senate, the young Emperor the Senate, acknowledged that he owed his great victories to the admirable arrangements of Mysithæus, and requested that thanks might be returned first to the Gods, and next to the Prætorian Præfect. A Triumph was decreed to the Prince, in which it was intended that his car should be drawn by four elephants, to denote the country and people which had witnessed the success of his arms. Orders were given at the same time, that the Præfect should be rewarded with a triumphal chariot, drawn by four horses, bearing an inscription that he was beloved by the Roman People, not less as

Letter to

VOL. XI.

Capitolin. in Gord. Tert, c. 27, 28,

the father of their Emperor than as the guardian of Marcus their Commonwealth.*

Antoninus Gordianus III.

From

A. D. 238.

to

244.

That Mysithæus deserved all the honour which was conferred upon him, was but too soon proved by the melancholy events subsequent upon his demise. The disease which put an end to his valuable life is said to have been rendered more malignant than usual, by injudicious treatment on the part of his attendants; ascribed, as is common in such cases, to the envy or ambition of a rival. Philip, who was soon afterwards Death of on the Throne, and who certainly at that time aspired Mysithæus, and preferto the office of Prætorian Præfect, is accused of having ment of tampered with the fidelity of the physician, or with the Philip, honour of the person who administered the drugs to his patients, and of having thereby procured the death of Mysithæus. Whatever truth may be in this charge, there is no doubt that the ambitious soldier obtained the object on which he had set his heart. He was elevated to the dignity of the Præfecture, which he soon allowed himself to regard as only a convenient step to the Throne. An Arab by birth, and in the earlier part of his life a robber by profession, he thought no means unlawful by which he might supplant his master and patron. He contrived that an artificial scarcity should irritate the minds of the Soldiers, who were taught to ascribe it to the youth and incapacity of their leader. From that moment the fate of Gordianus was determined. The circumstances which attended who his death are, indeed, variously related; but it admits murders not of any doubt that he fell a victim to the intrigues Gordianus, of the new Præfect, who corrupted the Army, and even employed against him the hand of a conspirator. Capitolinus informs us, that at first Philip was appointed colleague to the Emperor, on the ground that the inexperience of the latter might derive assistance from the skill of a veteran, who had served in different climates, and to whom the wants and habits of military life were perfectly familiar. He adds, that the Prince soon became impatient of the control under which he was placed, and that the other, who was not less desirous to reign alone, dreading the effects of his resentment should he accomplish his object, formed the resolution to remove him by violent means. The third Gordianus was put to death in the month of March, in the year two hundred and forty-four, after having reigned five years and eight months.

The assassin who succeeded him on the Throne affected to bewail his loss, gave orders that his obsequies should be performed with the greatest magnificence, sent his ashes to Rome, and employed the Army in erecting a splendid mausoleum on the spot where he fell, near the city of Circæsium, at the confluence of the Haboras and the Euphrates. An inscription, remarkable for a play upon the word Philippi, continued for some generations to record his exploits, and insinuate the manner of his death; and at a still later period, a mound of earth still remained to inform the passing traveller that the head of the Roman world had perished in the neighbourhood. The epitaph is as follows:

Divo Gordiano Victori ersarum, Victori Gothorum,
Victori Sarmatarum, Depulsori Romanarum Seditionum,
Victori Germanorum; sed non Victori Philipporum.
Capitolin. in Gord. c. 34.

*Capitolin. in Gord. Tert. c. 29, 30.

G

Biography.

From A. D.

to

249.

ENJOYING no longer the assistance of Herodian, nor the light which was supplied by the earlier Authors of the Augustan History, we feel ourselves becoming more and more destitute of those characteristic details which 244. give the chief interest to Biography. From the middle of the IIId century we are compelled to trust for many facts to the accuracy of the Ecclesiastical writers, in whose eyes, as the affairs of State possessed only a secondary importance, the course of Civil and Military events did not assume its full magnitude. The scanty notices of Eutropius, accordingly, receive no material addition from the incidental remarks of Eusebius, or of his contemporaries among the Church Historians. On the other hand, the strong prejudices of Zosimus against our holy Faith, as well as his general scepticism as to the credibility of human testimony and the purity of human motives, create in our minds suspicions extremely unfavourable to the authority of that Annalist. Nor can we have a greater degree of confidence in the fragments collected by Zonaras; who, though his honesty and diligence have never been impeached, has not acquired the respect of more enlightened times for wise selection or critical discernment.

Family of

Philip.

He marches

For these reasons it cannot appear wonderful that considerable obscurity should still hang over the origin of the Emperor Philip. That he was a foreigner by birth, is admitted on all hands; but whether he drew his lineage from an indigenous Arabian, or was entitled to boast of a descent from one of the noble families of Rome, is a point which still remains undetermined. The same doubts exist in regard to his Religion. It has been customary, among writers connected with the Church, to claim this barbarous soldier, not only as a believer in the Gospel, but as a dutiful son and an exemplary penitent; an opinion which appears to have no other foundation besides the weak conceit of an ancient author, and the boundless credulity of subsequent compilers.*

Philip was in the East when the last of the Gordians against the expired. Desirous to establish his power at Rome, he Carpi. hastened to make peace with Sapor, the King of Persia; immediately after which he withdrew his army into Syria. Upon his arrival in the Capital he announced to the Senate that he had associated in the Government his son, who was only seven years of age, whom at the same time he had decorated with the title of Cæsar. He spent several months in endeavouring to gain the affections of the higher order of the citizens, who suspected, and were very slow to pardon, the share which he was supposed to have had in the death of their youthful Sovereign. But he did not in the meantime neglect the more important concerns of the Empire. He committed the command of the Legions in Syria to his brother Priscus, and of those serving in Mœsia and

*Eutrop. Aurel. Victor, de Cæsaribus.

From

A. D. 244. to

The Carpi, who appear to have given their name to the Carpathian range, first disturbed the administration of Alexander Severus, and afterwards provoked the re sentment of Maximus and Balbinus; the latter of whom was on the point of marching against them at the 249. period when he was put to death. Availing themselves He defeats. of the confusion and rapid changes in the Govern- them and compels ment which had recently prevailed at Rome, they adthem to sue vanced into the Provinces watered by the Danube, for peace. where they committed great ravages. Philip defeated them in a pitched battle, slew an immense number of their warriors, and shut up the remainder in a strong fortress, to which they had fled for refuge. Determined not to submit, they made an attempt to cut their way through the Roman army, by which they were now completely surrounded; but, failing in this desperate expedient, they relinquished all confidence in arms, and sued for Peace.†

Games.

Upon his return to Rome, the Emperor, trusting to He celcthe favourable impression which his success had made brates the on the public mind, and actuated by the desire of esta- Secular blishing his family on the Throne, adopted his son as his colleague in the Consulship, and soon afterwards declared him Augustus. But a more interesting ceremony ere long invited his attention, and signalized his reign. It was now a thousand years since Romulus laid the foundations of the Eternal City; and it became alike the piety and the gratitude of the Romans to distinguish this remarkable epoch by the celebration of their Secular Games. This solemnity had been observed by Augustus, to whom is due the merit of its revival, or, perhaps, its institution; by Claudius, by Domitian, and by Severus. It has been well observed, that every circumstance of those Games was skilfully adapted to inspire the superstitious mind with deep and solemn reverence. The long interval between them exceeded the ordinary term of human life; and as none of the spectators had already seen them, none could flatter themselves with the expectation of beholding them a second time. Mystic sacrifices were per formed, during three nights, on the banks of the Tyber; and the Campus Martius resounded with music and dances, and was illuminated with innumerable lamps and torches. Slaves and strangers were excluded from any participation in these National ceremonies. A chorus of twenty-seven youths, and as many virgins, of noble families, each of whom had both parents living, implored the propitious Gods in favour of the present, and for the hope of the rising generation; requesting,

Zonar. lib. xii. c. 19. p. 624. Edit. Paris.

Zosim. lib. xi. Aurel. Victor, de Cæsaribus. Eutrop. lib. ix. Zosim. lib. xi.

Troops in Masia revolt and raise Decius

to the

throne.

But, although the Emperor conciliated the esteem or forbearance of his subjects in the Capital, he could employ no means for preventing the still greater dangers with which he was threatened by the avarice and sedition of the Provincial Legions. The troops stationed in Mosia revolted, and raised to the rank of Augustus a Centurion whose name was Marinus. Philip, alarmed at the intelligence, made haste to communicate it to the Senate; when Decius, a member of Consular dignity, who by his merits had elevated him self from a low condition through all the honours of the State, rose to assure the Prince that there was no ground for apprehension; and that the soldiers, ashamed of their inconstancy, would, of their own accord, depose their new-made Emperor, and return to a sense of duty. The event soon corresponded to this prediction. Decius, as a reward for his sagacity, was appointed to the command of the mutinous cohorts; which he was directed to visit with punishment, or with indulgence, according to the part which they had severally taken in the recent commotion. The prudent General is said to have questioned the wisdom of this arrangement;

The rebellious Legions having chosen a Sovereign, Philip is resolved to place him on the Imperial Throne, and with slain. this view began their march towards Rome. Philip, at the head of a more numerous body of forces, met his rival near Verona, where a battle ensued between the two armies. The fortune of war determined in favour of the Provincials, who by a signal victory revenged the death of Gordian, and, at the same time, secured the Diadem for the Prince of their own election. Philip fell either on the field of battle, or immediately afterwards in the city of Verona; and his son, who appears to have been left in the Capital, shared the same fate at the hands of the Prætorian Guards. The name of this Monarch is associated with the origin of a Colony at Philippopolis, which he founded in Arabia Petræa, near Bostra; in which vicinity he is said to have been born. He projected or completed several improvements at Rome; but the shortness of his reign afforded no time for studying decoration, or for cultivating the Arts of Peace.*

Biography.

From

A. D.

249.

to

251.

Decius

DECIUS was received with acclamations by the Senators, who, for the most part, respected his virtues and admired his talents. But his reputation has been tarnished by the just indignation of the Ecclesiastical writers, who could not be induced to regard the prudence of his Civil Government, or the splendour of his victories, as any atonement for his violent persecution alarmed by of the Christians. He had not, indeed, employed the Goths, many months in the administration of affairs, when he invade was called to the banks of the Danube to oppose an invasion of the Goths. This people, afterwards so memorable for their conquest of the Western Empire, had at that period just approached the remoter Provinces of the North-East. In the reign of Philip, a Gothic Chieftain, followed by numerous and warlike hordes, passed triumphantly through Dacia, and at length planted his standard under the walls of Marciasopolis, a principal city in Moesia. The inhabitants, whose wealth had tempted the avarice of this roving enemy, consented to purchase repose by paying a large sum of money, as well as by supplying the camp of the invaders with the best of their cattle. The success of the Barbarians in the first inroad induced them to repeat

it; and Decius, accordingly, was hardly seated on the Throne when he received information that Cniva, King of the Goths, had a second time crossed the Danube, and was spreading desolation over the fairest fields of Mosia.†

Caius Messius

Quintus Trajanus Decius. Augustus

From A. D.

249.

to

251.

Romans

The events which marked the progress of the Gothic war are perplexed with no small degree of inconsist ency. It should seem that the eldest son of the Empe ror was sent, in the first instance, to check the progress of the invaders; and that he found them employed in the siege of Nicapolis, a town situated on the Iatrus. Breaking up at his approach, they directed their march defeated. towards Philippopolis in Thrace, a place of still greater strength and riches than that which they had relinquished. The young Decius pursued them through a difficult country, anticipating an easy victory over their undisciplined ranks; when, on a sudden, the Gothic Chief, turning round upon the Romans, attacked them with the utmost fury, compelled them to seek safety in flight, and at length crowned his success by pillaging

* Zonar. lib. xii, c. 19. Aurel. Victor, de Cæsaribus. Eutrop. lib. ix. Eutrop., Zosim., and Zonar.