the Palladium," and all the sacred pledges of the faith of Numa. A crowd of inferior deities attended in various stations the majesty of the god of Emesa; but his court was still imperfect, till a female of distinguished rank was admitted to his bed. Pallas had been first chosen for his consort; but as it was dreaded lest her warlike terrors might affright the soft delicacy of a Syrian deity, the moon, adored by the Africans under the name of Astarte, was deemed a more suitable companion for the sun. Her image, with the rich offerings of her temple as a marriage portion, was transported with solemn pomp from Carthage to Rome, and the day of these mystic nuptials was a general festival in the capital and throughout the empire." a A rational voluptuary adheres with invariable respect to the temperate dictates of nature, and improves the gratifications of sense by social intercourse, endearing connections, and the soft coloring of taste and the im His profigate and effeminate luxury. agination. But Elagabalus (I speak of the emperor of that name), corrupted by his youth, his country, and his fortune, abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures with ungoverned fury, and soon found disgust and satiety in the midst of his enjoyments. The inflammatory powers of art were summoned to his aid: the confused multitude of women, of wines, and of dishes, and the studied variety of attitudes and sauces, served to revive his languid appetites. New terms and new inventions in these sciences, the only ones cultivated and patronized by the monarch," signalized 54 He broke into the sanctuary of Vesta, and carried away a statue, which he supposed to be the Palladium; but the vestals boasted that, by a pious fraud, they had imposed a counterfeit image on the profane intruder. Hist. August. p. 103. [Lamprid. Heliogab. c. 6.] 55 Dion, 1. lxxix. [c. 12] p. 1360. Herodian, 1. v. [c. 6] p. 193. The subjects of the empire were obliged to make liberal presents to the new-married couple; and whatever they had promised during the life of Elagabalus was carefully exacted under the administration of Mamaa. 56 The invention of a new sauce was liberally rewarded; but if it was not rel a Astarte was a Syrian name, though the goddess was also worshipped in Africa (in Carthage and the other Phoenician colonies). Dion and Herodian say that her African name was Urania, that is, the queen of heaven.-S. his reign, and transmitted his infamy to succeeding times. A capricious prodigality supplied the want of taste and elegance; and whilst Elagabalus lavished away the treasures of his people in the wildest extravagance, his own voice and that of his flatterers applauded a spirit and magnificence unknown to the tameness of his predecessors. To confound the order of seasons and climates," to sport with the passions and prejudices of his subjects, and to subvert every law of nature and decency, were in the number of his most delicious amuseA long train of concubines, and a rapid succession of wives, among whom was a vestal virgin, ravished by force from her sacred asylum," were insufficient to satisfy the impotence of his passions. The master of the Roman world af fected to copy the dress and manners of the female sex, preferred the distaff to the sceptre, and dishonored the principal dignities of the empire by distributing them among his numerous lovers; one of whom was publicly invested with the title and authority of the emperor's, or, as he more properly styled himself, of the empress's husband." ments. 00 It may seem probable the vices and follies of Elagabalus have been adorned by fancy and blackened by prejudice." Yet, confining ourselves to the public scenes displayed before the Roman people, and attested by grave and contempo ished, the inventor was confined to eat of nothing else till he had discovered unother more agreeable to the imperial palate. Ilist. August. [Lampr. Heliogab. c. 29] p. 111. 57 He never would eat sea-fish except at a great distance from the sea; he then would distribute vast quantities of the rarest sorts, brought at an immense expense, to the peasants of the inland country. Hist. August. p. 109. [Lampr. Heliogab. c. 23.] 58 Dion, 1. lxxix. [c. 9] p. 1358. Herodian, 1. v. [c. 6] p. 192. 59 Hierócles enjoyed that honor; but he would have been supplanted by one Zoticus, had he not contrived by a potion to enervate the powers of his rival, who, being found on trial unequal to his reputation, was driven with ignominy from the palace. Dion, 1. lxxix. [c. 15, 16] p. 1363, 1364. A dancer was made præfect of the city, a charioteer præfect of the watch, a barber præfect of the provisions. These three ministers, with many inferior officers, were all recommended enormitate membrorum. Hist. August. p. 105. [Lampr. Heliogab. c. 12.] 60 Even the credulous compiler of his Life, in the Augustan History (p. 111) [Lampr. Heliogab. c. 30 fin.], is inclined to suspect that his vices may have been exaggerated. Contempt of decency which distinguished the Roman rary historians, their inexpressible infamy surpasses that of any other age or country. The license of an Eastern monarch is secluded from the eye of curiosity by the inaccessible walls of his seraglio. The sentiments tyrants. of honor and gallantry have introduced a refinement of pleasure, a regard for decency, and a respect for the public opinion, into the modern courts of Europe; but the corrupt and opulent nobles of Rome gratified every vice that could be collected from the mighty conflux of nations and inanners. Secure of impunity, careless of censure, they lived without restraint in the patient and humble society of their slaves and parasites. The emperor, in his turn, viewing every rank of his subjects with the same contemptuous indifference, asserted without control his sovereign privilege of lust and luxury. The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves, Discontents and can readily discover some nice difference of of the army. age, character, or station, to justify the partial distinction. The licentious soldiers who had raised to the throne the dissolute son of Caracalla, blushed at their ignominious choice, and turned with disgust from that monster to contemplate with pleasure the opening virtues of his cousin Alexander, the son of Mamaa. The crafty Mæsa, sensible that her grandson Elagabalus must inevitably destroy himself by his own vices, had provided another and surer support of her family. Embracing a favorable moment of fondness and devotion, she had persuaded the young emperor to adopt Alexander and to invest him with the title of Cæsar, that his own divine occupations might be no longer interrupted by the care of the earth. In the sec Alexander A.D. 221. ond rank that amiable prince soon acquired the affections of the public, and excited the tyrant's jealousy, who resolved to terminate the dangerous competition, either by corrupting the manners or by taking away the life of his a Wenck has justly observed that Gibbon should have reckoned the influence of Christianity in this great change. In the most savage times and the most corrupt courts, since the introduction of Christianity, there have been no Neros or Domitians, no Commodus or Elagabalus.-M. rival. Ilis arts proved unsuccessful; his vain designs were constantly discovered by his own loquacious folly, and disappointed by those virtuous and faithful servants whom the prudence of Mamaa had placed about the person of her son. In a hasty sally of passion Elagabalus resolved to execute by force what he had been unable to compass by fraud, and by a despotic sentence degraded his cousin from the rank and honors of Cæsar. The message was received in the senate with silence, and in the camp with fury. The Prætorian guards swore to protect Alexander, and to revenge the dishonored majesty of the throne. The tears and promises of the trembling Elagabalus, who only begged them to spare his life and to leave him in the possession of his beloved Hierocles, diverted their just indignation; and they contented themselves with empowering their præfects to watch over the safety of Alexander and the conduct of the emperor." Sedition of March 10. 61 It was impossible that such a reconciliation should last, or that even the mean soul of Elagabalus could hold an empire on such humiliating terms of dependence. He soon attempted, by a dangerous experiment, to try the temper of the soldiers. The report of the death of Alexander, and the natural suspicion that he had been murdered, inflamed their passions into fury, and the tempest of the camp could only be appeased by the presence and authority of the popular youth. Provoked at this new instance of their affection for his cousin, and their contempt for his person, the emperor ventured to punish some of the leaders of the mutiny. His unseasonable severity proved instantly fatal to his minions, his mother, and himself. Elagabalus was massacred by the indignant Prætorians, his mutilated corpse dragged through the streets of the city and thrown into the Tiber. His memory was branded with eternal infamy by the senate, the justice of whose decree has been ratified by posterity." 61 Dion, 1. lxxix. [c. 19] p. 1366. Herodian, I. v. [c. 8] p. 195–201. Hist. August. p. 105. [Lampr. Heliog. c. 13 seq.] The last of the three historians seems to have followed the best authors in his account of the revolution. 62 The era of the death of Elagabalus, and of the accession of Alexander, has Accession of In the room of Elagabalus his cousin Alexander was raised to the throne by the Prætorian guards. His relation to the family of Severus, whose name he assumed, was the same as that of his predecessor; his virtue and his danger had already endeared him to the Romans, and the eager liberality of the senate conferred upon him in one day the various titles and powers of the imperial dignity." But as Alexander was a modest and dutiful youth. of only seventeen years of age, the reins of government were in the hands of two women, of his mother Mamma, and of Mæsa his grandmother. After the death of the latter, who survived but a short time the elevation of Alexander, Mainæa remained the sole regent of her son and of the empire. In every age and country, the wiser, or at least the stronger, of the two sexes, has usurped the powers of the State, and confined the other to the cares and pleasures of domestic life. In hereditary monarchies, however, Mamæn. and especially in those of modern Europe, the gallant spirit of chivalry and the law of succession have accus Power of his mother employed the learning and ingenuity of Pagi, Tillemont, Valsecchi, Vignoli, and Torre, Bishop of Adria. The question is most assuredly intricate; but I still adhere to the authority of Dion, the truth of whose calculations is undeniable, and the purity of whose text is justified by the agreement of Xiphilin, Zonaras, and Cedrenus. Elagabalus reigned three years, nine months, and four days from his victory over Macrinus, and was killed March 10, 222. But what shall we reply to the medals, undoubtedly genuine, which reckon the fifth year of his tribunitian power? We shall reply, with the learned Valsecchi, that the usurpation of Macrinus was annihilated, and that the son of Caracalla dated his reign from his father's death. After resolving this great difficulty, the smaller knots of this question may be easily untied or cut asunder.a 63 Hist. August. p. 114. [Lampr. Alex. Sever. c. 1.] By this unusual precipitation the senate meant to confound the hopes of pretenders, and prevent the factions of the armies. a This opinion of Valsecchi has been triumphantly contested by Eckhel, who has shown the impossibility of reconciling it with the medals of Elagabalus, and has given the most satisfactory explanation of the five tribunates of that emperor. He ascended the throne and received the tribunitian power the 16th of May, in the year of Rome 971; and on the 1st January of the next year, 972, he began a new tribunate, according to the custom established by preceding emperors. During the years 972, 973, 974, he enjoyed the tribunate, and commenced his fifth in the year 975, during which he was killed on the 10th March. Eckhel de Doct.. Num. vol. viii. p. 430, etc.-G. |