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X.

Victory

anus.

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CHAP. But the Romans were irritated to a still higher degree, when they discovered that they had not even secured their repose, though at the expende and revolt of their honour. The dangerous secretiof the of Amili- wealth and weakness of the empire had been A. D. 258. revealed to the world. New swarms of barbarians, encouraged by the success, and not conceiving themselves bound by the obligation, of their brethren, spread devastation through the Illyrian provinces, and terror as far as the gates of Rome. The defence of the monarchy, which seemed abandoned by the pusillanimous emperor, was assumed by Emilianus, governor of Pannonia and Maæsia; who rallied the scattered forces, and revived the fainting spirits of the troops. The barbarians were unexpectedly attacked, routed, chased, and pursued beyond the Danube. The victorious leader distributed as a donative the money collected for the tribute, and the acclamations of the soldiers proclaimed him, emperor on the field of battle *. Gallus, who, careless of the general welfare, indulged himself in the pleasures of Italy, was almost in the same instant, informed of the success of the revolt, and of the rapid approach of his aspiring lieutenant. He advanced to meet him as far as the plains of Spoleto. When the armies came in sight of each other, the soldiers of Gallus compared the ignominious conduct of their sovereign with the glory of his rival. They admired the valour of Æmilianus; they were attracted by his liberality,

for

* Zosimus, 1. i. p. 25, 26.1

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Galius

A. D. 253,

for he offered a considerable increase of pay to CHAP. all deserters* The murder of Gallus, and of his son Volusianus, put an end to the civil war; and the senate gave a legal sanction to the rights abandoned of conquest. The letters of Emilianus to that and slain. assembly, displayed a mixture of moderation and May vanity. He assured them that he should resign to their wisdom the civil administration; and, contenting himself with the quality of their general, would in a short time assert the glory of Rome, and deliver the empire from all the barbarians both of the North and of the East +. His pride was flattered by the applause of the senate; and medals are still extant, representing him with the name and attributes of Hercules the Victor, and of Mars the Avenger t.

Valerian

the death

and is ac

ed emperor.

If the new monarch possessed the abilities, he revenges wanted the time, necessary to fulfil these splen- of Gallus, did promises. Less than four months intervened knowledg between his victory and his fall §. He had vanquished Gallus; he sunk under the weight of a competitor more formidable than Gallus. That unfortunate prince had sent Valerian, already distinquished by the honourable title of censor, to bring the legions of Gaul and Germany || to his aid. Valerian executed that commission with zeal and fidelity; and as he arrived too late to

save

* Victor in Cæsaribus.

+ Banduri Numismata, p. 94.

↑ Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 628.

Eutropius, 1. ix. c. 6. says tertio mense. Eusebius omits this

emperor.

Zosimus, l. 1. p. 28. Eutropius and Victor station Valerian's army in Rhætia,

X.

CHA P. save his sovereign, he resolved to revenge him, The troops of Æmilianus, who still lay encamped in the plains of Spoleto, were awed by the sancitity of his character, but much more by the su perior strength of his army; and as they were now become as incapable of personal attachment as they had always been of constitutional prinA.D 253. ciple, they readily imbrued their hands in the August. blood of a prince who so lately had been the ob ject of their partial choice. The guilt was theirs, but the advantage of it was Valerian's who obtained the possession of the throne by the means indeed of a civil war, but with a degree of innocence singular in that age of revolutions; since he owed neither gratitude nor allegiance to his predecessor, whom he dethroned.

Character of Valeri

an.

*

Valerian was about sixty years of age when ne was invested with the purple, not by the caprice of the populace, or the clamours of the army, but by the unanimous voice of the Roman world. In his gradual ascent through the honours of the state, he had deserved the favour of virtuous princes, and had declared himself the enemy of tyrants +. His noble birth, his mild but unblemished manners, his learning, prudence, and experience, were revered by the senate and people; and if mankind (according to the observation of an ancient writer) had been left

Tillemont,

* He was about seventy at the time of his accession, or as it is more probable of his death. Hist. August. p. 173. Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iii. p. 893. note 1.

3

+ Inimicus Tyrannorum. Hist. August. p. 173. In the glo rious struggle of the senate against Maximin, Valerian acted a very spirited part. Hist. August. p. 156.

X.

misfortunes

Valerian

A. D.

left at liberty to choose a master, their choice & ♬ A P. would most assuredly have fallen on Valerian*. Perhaps the merit of this emperor was inade quate to his reputation; perhaps his abilities, or at least his spirit, were affected by the languor and coldness of old age. The consciousness of General his decline engaged him to share the throne with of the as younger and more active associate†: The reigns of emergency of the times demanded a general no and Gallieless than a prince; and the experience of the nus. Roman censor might have directed him where 25-26. to bestow the Imperial purple, as the reward of military merit. But instead of making a judicious choice, which would have confirmed his reign and endeared his memory, Valerian, consulting only the dictates of affection or vanity, immediately invested with the supreme honours ***** his son Gallienus, a youth, whose effeminate vices had been hitherto concealed by the obscurity of a private station. The joint government of the father and the son subsisted about seven, and the sole administration of Gallienus continued about eight years. But the whole period was one uninterrupted series of confusion and calamity. As the Roman empire was at the same time, and on every side, attacked by the blind fury of foreign invaders, and the wild ambition of domestic

According to the distinction of Victor, he seems to have received the title of Imperator from the army, and that of Augustus from the senate.

+ From Victor and from the medals, Tillemont (tom. iii. p. 710.) very justly infers, that Gallienus was associated to the empire about the month of August of the year 253.

X.

CHAP. mestic usurpers, we shall consult order and perspicuity, by pursuing, not so much the doubt. ful arrangement of dates, as the more natural distribution of subjects. The most dangerous! enemies of Rome, daring the reigns of Valerian Inroads of and Gallienus, were, 1. The Franks. 2. The

the barba

rians.

Origin and confederacy of the Franks.

Alemanni. 3. The Goths; and, 4. The Persians. Under these general appellations, we may comprehend the adventures of less considerable tribes, whose obscure and uncouth names would only serve to oppress the memory and perplex the attention of the reader.

I. As the posterity of the Franks compose one of the greatest and most enlightened nations of Europe, the powers of learning and ingenuity have been exhausted in the discovery of their unlettered ancestors. To the tales of credulity, have succeeded the systems of fancy. Every passage has been fitted, every spot has been surveyed, that might possibly reveal some faint traces of their origin. It has been supposed, that Pannonia*, that Gaul, that the northern parts of Germany †, gave birth to that celebrated colony of warriors. At length the most rational critics, rejecting the fictitious emigra tions of ideal conquerors, have acquiesced in a sentiment whose simplicity persuades us of its

truth.

* Various systems have been formed to explain a difficult pas sage in Gregory of Tours, l. ii. c. 9.

+ The Geographer of Ravenna, i. 11. by mentioning Mourin gania on the confines of Denmark, as the ancient seat of the Franks, gave birth to an ingenious system of Leibnitz.

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