His death. But, in the prosecution of a favorite scheme, the best of men, satisfied with the rectitude of their intentions, are subject to forget the bounds of moderation; nor did Probus himself sufficiently consult the patience and disposition of his fierce legionaries." The dangers of the military profession seem only to be compensated by a life of pleasure and idleness; but if the duties of the soldier are incessantly aggravated by the labors of the peasant, he will at last sink under the intolerable burden or shake it off with indignation. The imprudence of Probus is said to have inflamed the discontent of his troops. More attentive to the interests of mankind than to those of the army, he expressed the vain hope that, by the establishment of universal peace, he should soon abolish the necessity of a standing and mercenary force." The unguarded expression proved fatal to him. In one of the hottest days of summer, as he severely urged the unwholesome labor of draining the marshes of Sirmium, the soldiers, impatient of fatigue, on a sudden threw down their tools, grasped their arms, and broke out into a furious mutiny. The emperor, conscious of his danger, took refuge in a lofty tower constructed for the purpose of surveying the progress of the work." The tower was instantly forced, and a thousand swords were plunged at once into the bosom of the unfortunate Probus. The rage of the troops subsided as soon as it had been gratified. They then lamented their fatal rashness, forgot the severity of the emperor whom they had massacred, and hastened to perpetu ate, by an honorable monument, the memory of his virtues and victories. a A. D. 282. August. 63 60 Julian [Cæsares, p. 314] bestows a severe, and indeed excessive, censure on the rigor of Probus, who, as he thinks, almost deserved his fate. 61 Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 241 [in Probo, c. 20]. He lavishes on this idle hope a large stock of very foolish eloquence. 62 Turris ferrata." It seems to have been a movable tower and cased with iron. 63 [Hic] "Probus, et vere probus situs est; Victor omnium gentium Barbararum: victor etiam tyrannorum."-[Vopisc. Prob. c. 21.] a Probus survived August 29, A. D. 282, because coins after that date were is sued at Alexandria. See Clinton, Fasti Rom. vol. i. p. 322.-S. When the legions had indulged their grief and repentance for the death of Probus, their unanimous consent declared Election and Carus, his Prætorian præfect, the most deserving of the imperial throne. Every circumstance that relates to this prince appears of a mixed and doubt character of Carus. 64 ful nature. He gloried in the title of Roman citizen, and affected to compare the purity of his blood with the foreign, and even barbarous, origin of the preceding emperors; yet the most inquisitive of his contemporaries, very far from admitting his claim, have variously deduced his own birth, or that of his parents, from Illyricum, from Gaul, or from Africa. Though a soldier, he had received a learned education; though a senator, he was invested with the first dignity of the army; and in an age when the civil and military professions began to be irrecoverably separated from each other, they were united in the person of Carus. Notwithstanding the severe justice which he exercised against the assassins of Probus, to whose favor and esteem he was highly indebted, he could not escape the suspicion of being accessary to a deed from whence he derived the principal advantage. He enjoyed, at least before his elevation, an acknowledged character of virtue and abilities; but his austere temper insensibly degenerated into moroseness and cruelty; and the imperfect writers of his life almost hesitate whether they shall not rank him in the number of Roman tyrants." When Carus assumed the purple he was about sixty years of age, and his two sons, Carinus and Numerian, had already attained the season of manhood." 64 Yet all this may be conciliated. He was born at Narbonne, in Illyricum, confounded by Eutropius with the more famous city of that name in Gaul. His father might be an African, and his mother a noble Roman. Carus himself was educated in the capital. See Scaliger, Animadversion. ad Euseb. Chron. p. 241. 65 Probus had requested of the senate an equestrian statue and a marble palace, at the public expense, as a just recompense of the singular merit of Carus. Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 249 [in Caro, c. 6]. 66 Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 242, 249 [in Probo, c. 24; in Caro, c: 3]. Julian excludes the Emperor Carus and both his sons from the banquet of the Cæsars. 67 John Malala, tom. i. p. 401 [edit. Oxon. ; p. 129, edit. Ven. ; p. 303, edit. The sentiments of the senate The authority of the senate expired with Probus; nor was the repentance of the soldiers displayed by the same dutiful regard for the civil power which they had testified after the unfortunate death of Aurelian. The elecand people. tion of Carus was decided without expecting the approbation of the senate, and the new emperor contented himself with announcing, in a cold and stately epistle, that he had ascended the vacant throne." A behavior so very opposite to that of his amiable predecessor afforded no favora ble presage of the new reign: and the Romans, deprived of power and freedom, asserted their privilege of licentious murmurs."9 The voice of congratulation and flattery was not, however, silent; and we may still peruse, with pleasure and contempt, an eclogue which was composed on the accession of the Emperor Carus. Two shepherds, avoiding the noontide heat, retire into the cave of Faunus. On a spreading beech they discover some recent characters. The rural deity had described, in prophetic verses, the felicity promised to the empire under the reign of so great a prince. Faunus hails the approach of that hero, who, receiving on his shoulders the sinking weight of the Roman world, shall extinguish war and faction, and once again restore the innocence and security of the golden age." Carus defeats the Sarmatians, It is more than probable that these elegant trifles never reached the ears of a veteran general who, with the consent of the legions, was preparing to execute the longsuspended design of the Persian war. Before his and marches departure for this distant expedition, Carus coninto the East. ferred on his two sons, Carinus and Numerian, the title of Cæsar, and, investing the former with almost an equal share of the imperial power, directed the young prince first Bonn]. But the authority of that ignorant Greek is very slight. He ridiculously derives from Carus the city of Carrhæ and the province of Caria, the latter of which is mentioned by Homer. 68 Hist. August. p. 249. [Vopisc. Carus, c. 5.] Carus congratulated the senate that one of their own order was made emperor. 69 Hist. August. p. 242. [Vopisc. Probus, c. 24.] 70 See the first eclogue of Calpurnius. The design of it is preferred by Fonte nelle to that of Virgil's Pollio. See tom. iii. p. 148. [See note, p. 606.-S.] to suppress some troubles which had arisen in Gaul, and afterwards to fix the seat of his residence at Rome, and to assume the government of the Western provinces." The safety of Illyricum was confirmed by a memorable defeat of the Sarmatians; sixteen thousand of those barbarians remained on the field of battle, and the number of captives amounted to twenty thousand. The old emperor, animated with the fame and prospect of victory, pursued his march, in the midst of winter, through the countries of Thrace and Asia Minor, and at length, with his younger son Numerian, arrived on the confines of the Persian monarchy. There, encamping on the summit of a lofty mountain, he pointed out to his troops the opulence and luxury of the enemy whom they were about to invade. A.D. 283. a The successor of Artaxerxes, Varanes, or Bahram, though he had subdued the Segestans, one of the most warlike nations of Upper Asia," was alarmed at the approach He gives an of the Romans, and endeavored to retard their progress by a negotiation of peace. His ambassadors entered the camp about sunset, at the time when the troops were satisfying their hunger with a frugal dience to the Persian ambassadors. Hist. August. p. 250. [Vopisc. Carus, c. 7.] Eutropius, ix. 18 [12]. Pagi. Annal. 72 Agathias, 1. iv. p. 135 [edit. Paris; p. 94, edit. Ven.; c. 24, p. 261, edit. Bonn]. We find one of his sayings in the Bibliothèque Orientale of M. d'Herbe lot: "The definition of humanity includes all other virtues." Three monarchs had intervened, Sapor (Shahpour). Hormisdas (Hormooz), Varanes, or Baharam, the First.-M. [See p. 485.-S.] The manner in which his life was saved by the chief pontiff from a conspiracy of his nobles is as remarkable as his saying. "By the advice (of the pontiff) all the nobles absented themselves from court. The king wandered through his palace alone: he saw no one: all was silence around. He became alarmed and distressed. At last the chief pontiff appeared, and bowed his head in apparent misery, but spoke not a word. The king entreated him to declare what had happencd. The virtuous man boldly related all that had passed, and conjured Bahram, in the name of his glorious ancestors, to change his conduct and save himself from destruction. The king was much moved, professed himself most penitent, and said he was resolved his future life should prove his sincerity. The overjoyed high-priest, delighted at this success, made a signal, at which all the nobles and attendants were in an instant, as if by magic, in their usual places. The monarch now perceived that only one opinion prevailed on his past conduct. He repeated, therefore, to his nobles all he had said to the chief pontiff, and his future reign was unstained by cruelty or oppression."-Malcolm's Persia, i. 79.-M. repast. The Persians expressed their desire of being introduced to the presence of the Roman emperor. They were at length conducted to a soldier who was seated on the grass. A piece of stale bacon and a few hard peas composed his supper. A coarse woollen garment of purple was the only circumstance that announced his dignity. The conference was conducted with the same disregard of courtly elegance. Carus, taking off a cap which he wore to conceal his baldness, assured the ambassadors that, unless their master acknowledged the superiority of Rome, lie would speedily render Persia as naked of trees as his own head was destitute of hair." Notwithstanding some traces of art and preparation, we may discover in this scene the manners of Carus, and the severe simplicity which the martial princes who succeeded Gallienus had already restored in the Roman camps. The ministers of the Great King trembled and retired. His victories dinary death. The threats of Carus were not without effect. He ravaged Mesopotamia, cut in pieces whatever opposed his passage, made himself master of the great cities of Seleucia and extraor and Ctesiphon (which seem to have surrendered without resistance), and carried his victorious arms beyond the Tigris." He had seized the favorable moment for an invasion. The Persian councils were distracted by domestic factions, and the greater part of their forces were detained on the frontiers of India. Rome and the East received with transport the news of such important advantages. Flattery and hope painted in the most lively colors the fall of Persia, the conquest of Arabia, the submission of Egypt, and a lasting deliverance from the inroads of the Scythian nations." But 73 Synesius tells this story of Carinus; and it is much more natural to understand it of Carus than (as Petavins and Tillemont choose to do) of Probus. 74 Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 250. [Vopise. Carus, c. 8.] Eutropius, ix. 18 [12]. The two Victors. 75 To the Persian victory of Carus I refer the dialogue of the Philopatris, which has so long been an object of dispute among the learned. But to explain and justify my opinion would require a dissertation.a a Niebuhr, in the new edition of the Byzantine Historians (vol. xi.), has boldly assigned the Philopatris to the tenth century, and to the reign of Nicephorus Pho |