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CHAP♪ protect, or rather to command the capital. Then do VII. præfect Vitalianus had signalized his fidelity to!Maximin, by the alacrity with which he had obeyed, and even prevented, the cruel mandates of the tyrant. His death alone could rescue the authority of the senate and the lives of the se nators, from a state of danger and suspence. Before their resolves had transpired, a quæstor and some tribunes were commissioned to take his devoted life. They executed the order with equal boldness and success; and, with their bloody daggers in their hands, ran through the streets, proclaiming to the people and the soldiers, the news of the happy revolution. The enthusiasm of liberty was seconded by the promise of a large donative, in lands and money; the statues of Maximin were thrown down; the capital of the empire acknowledged, with transport, the authority of the two Gordians and the senate *; and the example of Rome was followed by the rest of Italy.

and prepares for a civil war

A new spirit had arisen in that assembly, whose long patience had been insulted by wanton despotism and military licence. The senate assumed the reins of government, and, with a calm intre-{{ pidity, prepared to vindicate by arms the cause:l of freedom. Among the consular senators re-Ò commended by their merit and services to the favour of the emperor Alexander, it was easy to select twenty, not unequal to the command of an army, and the conduct of a war. To these

was

* Herodian, 1. vii. p. 244.

VII.

was the defence of Italy intrusted. Each was CHAP. appointed to act in his respective department, authorized to enrol and discipline the Italian youth; and instructed to fortify the ports and highways, against the impending invasion of Maximin. A number of deputies, chosen from the most illustrious of the senatorian and equestrian orders, were dispatched at the same time to the governors of the several provinces, earnestly conjuring them to fly to the assistance of their country, and to remind the nations of their ancient ties of friendship with the Roman senate and people. The general respect with which these deputies were received, and the zeal of the zeal Italy and the provinces in favour of the senate, sufficiently prove that the subjects of Maximin were reduced to that uncommon distress, in which the body of the people has more to fear from oppression than from resistance. The consciousness of that melancholy truth, inspires at degree of persevering fury, seldom to be found in those civil wars which are artificially supported for the benefit of a few factious and designing leaders *

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death of

For while the cause of the Gordians was em- Defeat and braced with such diffusive ardour, the Gordians the two themselves were no more. The feeble court of Gordians. A. D. 237, Carthage was alarmed with the rapid approach of 3d July, Capelianus, governor of Mauritania, who, with a small band of veterans, and a fierce host of barVOL. I.

barians,

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VII.

CHA P. barians, attacked a faithful, but unwarlike province. The younger Gordian sallied out to meet the enemy at the head of a few guards, and a numerous undisciplined multitude, educated in the peaceful luxury of Carthage. His useless valour served only to procure him an honourable death in the field of battle. His aged father, whose reign had not exceeded thirty-six days, put an end to his life on the first news of the defeat, Carthage, destitute of defence, opened her gates to the conqueror, and Africa was exposed to the rapacious cruelty of a slave, obliged to satisfy his unrelenting master with a large account of blood and treasure *.

Election of Maximus and Balbi

nus by the

senate,

9th July.

The fate of the Gordians filled Rome with just, but unexpected terror. The senate convoked in the temple of Concord, affected to transact the common business of the day; and seemed to decline, with trembling anxiety, the consideration of their own, and the public danger. A silent consternation prevailed on the assembly, till a senator, of the name and family of Trajan, awakened his brethren from their fatal lethargy, He represented to them, that the choice of cautious dilatory measures had been long since out of their power; that Maximin, implacable by nature,

* Herodian, 1. vii. p. 254. Hist. August. p. 150-160. We may observe, that one month and six days, for the reign of Gordian, is a just correction of Casaubon and Panvinius, instead of the absurd reading of one year and six months. See Commentar. p. 193. Zosimus relates, 1. i. p. 17. that the two Gor dians perished by a tempest in the midst of their navigation. A strange ignorance of history, or a strange abuse of metaphors!

VII.

nature, and exasperated by injuries, was advan- cĦ Á Р. cing towards Italy, at the head of the military force of the empire; and that their only remaining alternative, was either to meet him bravely in the field, or tamely to expect the tortures and ignominious death reserved for unsuccessful rebellion. "We have lost," continued he, "two "excellent princes; but unless we desert our

selves, the hopes of the republic have not perished with the Gordians. Many are the se"nators, whose virtues have deserved, and whose

abilities would sustain, the Imperial dignity. "Let us elect two emperors, one of whom may "conduct the war against the public enemy, "whilst his colleague remains at Rome to direct "the civil administration. I cheerfully expose my"self to the danger and envy of the nomination, "and give my vote in favour of Maximus and "Balbinus. Ratify my choice, conscript fathers,

or appoint, in their place, others more worthy "of the empire." The general apprehension silenced the whispers of jealousy; the merit of the candidates was universally acknowledged; and the house resounded with the sincere acclamations, of" long life and victory to the empe"rors Maximus and Balbinus. You are happy in the judgment of the senate; may the republic be happy under your administration *!”

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* See the Augustan History, p. 166, from the registers of the senate; the date is confessedly faulty, but the coincidence of the Appolinarian games enables us to correct it.

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Their cha racters.

CHA P. The virtues and the reputation of the new emperors justified the most sanguine hopes of the Romans. The various nature of their talents seemed to appropriate to each his peculiar department of peace and war, without leaving room for jealous emulation. Balbinus was an admired orator, a poet of distinguished fame, and a wise magistrate, who had exercised with innocence and applause the civil jurisdiction in almost all the interior provinces of the empire. His birth was noble *, his fortune affluent, his manners liberal and affable. In him the love of pleasure was corrected by a sense of dignity, nor had the habits of ease deprived him of a capacity for business. The mind of Maximus was formed in a rougher mould. By his valour and abilities he had raised himself from the meanest origin to the first employments of the state and army. His victories over the Sarmatians and the Germans, the austerity of his life, and the rigid impartiality of his justice, whilst he was Præfect of the city, commanded the esteem of a people, whose affections were engaged in favour of the more amiable Balbinus. The two colleagues had both been consuls

* He wa was descended from Cornelius Balbus, a noble Spaniard, and the adopted son of Theophanes the Greek historian. Balbus obtained the freedom of Rome by the favour of Pompey, and preserved it by the eloquence of Cicero (see Orat. pro Cornel. Balbo). The friendship of Cæsar (to whom he rendered the most important secret services in the civil war) raised him to the consulship and the pontificate, honours never yet possessed by a stranger. The nephew of this Balbus triumphed over the Garamantes. See Dictionnaire de Bayle, au mot Balbus, where he distinguishes the several persons of that name, and rectifies, with his usual accuracy, the mistakes of former writers concerning them.

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