CHAP. X. At the time when the Eaft trembled at the name of Sapor, he received a prefent not unwor Boldness thy of the greatest kings: a long train of camels and fuccefs laden with the moft rare and valuable merchanthus against difes. The rich offering was accompanied with of Odena Sapor. an epiftle, refpectful but not fervile, from Odenathus, one of the nobleft and moft opulent fenators of Palmyra. "Who is this Odenathus," (faid the haughty victor, and he commanded that the prefents fhould be caft into the Euphrates)" that he thus infolently presumes to "write to his lord? If he entertains a hope of "mitigating his punishments, let him fall pro"ftrate before the foot of our throne with his "hands bound behind his back. Should he "hefitate, fwift deftruction fhall be poured on "his head, on his whole race, and on his coun"try" The defperate extremity to which the Palmyrenian was reduced, called into action all the latent powers of his foul. He met Sapor; but he met him in arms. Infufing his own fpirit into a little army collected from the villages of Syria 147, and the tents of the defert 149, he hovered round the Persian hoft, haraffed their retreat, carried off part of the treasure, and what was dearer than any treasure, feveral of 146 Peter Patricius in Excerpt. Leg. p. 29. Rufus 147 Syrorum agreftium manû. Sextus Rufus, c. 23. Victor, the Auguftan Hiftory (p. 192.), and feveral infcriptions agree in making Odenathus a citizen of Palmyra. 148 He poffeffed fo powerful an intereft among the wandering tribes, that Procopius (Bell. Perfic. 1. ii. c. 5.) and John Malala (tom. i. p. 391.) ftyle him Prince of the Saracens. the X. the women of the Great King; who was at laft CHA P. obliged to répass the Euphrates with fome marks of hafte and confufion 149. By this exploit, Odenathus laid the foundations of his future fame and fortunes. The majefty of Rome, oppreffed by a Perfian, was protected by a Syrian or Arab of Palmyra. of Valerian. The voice of hiftory, which is often little Treatment more than the organ of hatred or flattery, reproaches Sapor with a proud abufe of the rights of conqueft. We are told that Valerian, in chains, but invested with the Imperial purple, was exposed to the multitude, a constant spectacle of fallen greatness; and that whenever the Perfian monarch mounted on horfeback, he placed his foot on the neck of a Roman Emperor. Notwithstanding all the remonftrances of his allies, who repeatedly advised him to remember the viciffitude of fortune, to dread the returning power of Rome, and to make his illuftrious captive the pledge of peace, not the object of infult, Sapor ftill remained inflexible. When Valerian funk under the weight of shame and grief, his fkin, ftuffed with ftraw, and formed into the likeness of a human figure, was preferved for ages in the most celebrated temple of Perfia; a more real monument of triumph, than the fancied trophies of brafs and marble fo often erected by Roman vanity 150. The tale is moral and pathetic, 149 Peter Patricius, p. 25. 15 The Pagan writers lament, the Chriftian infult, the misforunes of Valerian. Their various teftimonies are accurately collected by 442 X. CHA P. pathetic, but the truth of it may very fairly be called in queftion. The letters ftill extant from the Princes of the Eaft to Sapor, are manifeft forgeries; nor is it natural to suppose that a jealous monarch should, even in the person of a rival, thus publicly degrade the majesty of kings. Whatever treatment the unfortunate Valerian might experience in Perfia, it is at least certain, that the only Emperor of Rome who had ever fallen into the hands of the enemy, languished away his life in hopeless captivity. Character niftration of Galli enus. The Emperor Gallienus, who had long fupand admi- ported with impatience the cenforial feverity of his father and colleague, received the intelligence of his misfortunes with fecret pleafure and avowed indifference. "I knew that my father was a "mortal," faid he; " and fince he has acted as "becomes a brave man, I am fatisfied." Whilft Rome lamented the fate of her fovereign, the favage coldness of his fon was extolled by the fervile courtiers, as the perfect firmness of a hero and a itoic 152. It is difficult to paint the light, the various, the inconftant character of Gallienus, which he difplayed without constraint, as foon as he became fole poffeffor of the empire. In every art that he attempted, his lively genius by Tillemont, tom. iii. p. 739, &c. So little has been preserved of eaftern history before Mahomet, that the modern Persians are totally ignorant of the victory of Sapor, an event fo glorious to their nation. See Bibliotheque Orientale. 151 One of thefe epiftles is from Artavafdes, King of Armenia; fince Armenia was then a province in Perfia, the king, the kingdom, and the epiftle, must be fictitious. 152 See his life in the Auguftan Hiftory. enabled 443 X. enabled him to fucceed; and as his genius was CHA P. deftitute of judgment, he attempted every art, except the important ones of war and government. He was a mafter of feveral curious but ufelefs fciences, a ready orator, and elegant. poet 153, a skilful gardener, an excellent cook, and moft contemptible prince. When the great. emergencies of the ftate required his prefence and attention, he was engaged in converfation with the philofopher Plotinus 54, wasting his time in trifling or licentious pleafures, preparing his initiation to the Grecian myfteries, or foliciting a place in the Areopagus of Athens. His profufe magnificence infulted the general poverty; the folemn ridicule of his triumphs impreffed a deeper fenfe of the public difgrace S. 155 The repeated 153 There is ftill extant a very pretty Epithalamium, composed by Gallienus for the nuptials of his nephews. Ite ait, O Juvenes, pariter fudate medullis Omnibus, inter vos: non murmura veftra columbæ, 154 He was on the point of giving Plotinus a ruined city of Campania, to try the experiment of realizing Plato's Republic. See the Life of Plotinus, by Porphyry, in Fabricius's Biblioth. Græc. 1. iv. 2 155 A medal which bears the head of Gallienus has perplexed the antiquarians by its legend and reverse; the former Galliena Augufta, the latter Ubique Pax. M. Spanheim supposes that the coin was ftruck by fome of the enemies of Gallienus, and was defigned as a severe fatire on that effeminate prince. But as the use of irony may seem unworthy of the gravity of the Roman mint, M. de Vallemont has deduced from a paffage of Trebellius Pollio (Hift. Auguft. p. 198.) an ingenious and natural folution. Galliena was firft coufin to the Emperor. By delivering Africa from the ufurper Celfus, the deferved the title of Augufta. On a medal in the French King's col lection, we read a similar inscription of Faustina Augufta round the head of Marcus Aurelius. With regard to the Ubique Pax, it is easily explained by the vanity of Gallienus, who feized, perhaps, the occafion CHAP. repeated intelligence of invafions, defeats, and X. rebellions, he received with a careless fmile; and fingling out, with affected contempt, some particular production of the loft province, he carelessly asked, whether Rome must be ruined, unless it was fupplied with linen from Egypt, and Arras cloth from Gaul? There were, however, a few short moments in the life of Gallienus, when, exafperated by fome recent injury, he fuddenly appeared the intrepid foldier and the cruel tyrant; till, fatiated with blood, or fatigued by refiftance, he infenfibly funk into the natural mildness and indolence of his character 156. The thirty tyrants. At a time when the reins of government were held with fo loofe a hand, it is not furprifing, that a crowd of ufurpers should start up in every province of the empire against the fon of Valerian. It was probably fome ingenious fancy, of comparing the thirty tyrants of Rome with the thirty tyrants of Athens, that induced the writers of the Auguftan hiftory to felect that celebrated number, which has been gradually received into a popular appellation '57. But in every light the parallel is idle and defective. What resemblance can we difcover between a council occafion of fome momentary calm. See Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres, Janvier 1700. p. 21—34. 156 This fingular character has, I believe, been fairly transmitted to us. The reign of his immediate fucceffor was short and bufy; and the hiftorians who wrote before the elevation of the family of Conftantine, could not have the moft remote intereft to misrepresent the character of Gallienus. 157 Pollio expreffes the moft minute anxiety to complete the number. of |