X.

CHA P. under the Gothic standard. The various multitude of barbarians appeared, at length, 'under the walls of Marcianopolis, a city built by Trajan in honour of his sister, and at that time the capital of the second Mæsia*. The inhabitants consented to ransom their lives and property, by the payment of a large sum of money, and the invaders retreated back into their deserts, animated, rather than satisfied, with the first success of their arms against an opulent, but feeble country. Intelligence was soon transmitted to the emperor Decius, that Cniva, king of the Goths, had passed the Danube a second time, with more considerable forces; that his numerous detachments scattered devastation over the province of Mæsia, whilst the main body of the army, consisting of seventy thousand Germans and Sarmatians, a force equal to the most daring atchievements, required the presence of the Roman monarch, and the exertion of his military power.

Various events of

war.

Decius found the Goths engaged before Nicothe Gothic polis, on the Jatrus, one of the many monuments of Trajan's victories t. On his approach they raised the siege, but with a design only of marching away to a conquest of greater import

A. D. 250.

1

ance,

! *In the sixteenth chapter of Jornandes, instead of secundo Masia, we may venture to substitute secundam, the second Masia, of which Marcianopolis was certainly the capital. (See Hierocles de Provinciis, and Wesseling ad locum, p. 636. Itinerar.) It is surprising, how this palpable error of the scribe could escape the judicious correction of Grotius.

+ The place is still called Nicop. The little stream, on whose banks it stood, falls into the Danube. D'Anville, Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 307.

ance, the siege of Philippopolis, a city of Thrace, c h a p. founded by the father of Alexander, near the X. foot of mount Hæmus*. Decius followed them through a difficult country, and by forced marches; but when he imagined himself at a considerable distance from the rear of the Goths, Cniva turned with rapid fury on his pursuers. The camp of the Romans was surprised and pillaged, and, for the first time, their emperor fled in disorder before a troop of half-armed barbarians. After a long resistance, Philippopolis, destitute of succour, was taken by storm. A hundred thousand persons are reported to have been massacred in the sack of that great city †. Many prisoners of consequence became a valuable accession to the spoil; and Priscus, a brother of the late emperor Philip, blushed not to assume the purple under the protection of the barbarous enemies of Rome 1. The time, however, consumed in that tedious siege, enabled Decius to revive the courage, restore the discipline, and recruit the numbers of his troops. He intercepted several parties of Carpi, and other Germans, who were hastening to share the victory of their countrymen §, intrusted the passes of the mountains to officers of approved valour

and

* Stephan. Byzant. de Urbibus, p. 740. Wesseling Itinerar. p. 136. Zonaras, by an odd mistake, ascribes the foundation of Philippopolis to the immediate predecessor of Decius.

† Ammian. xxxi. 5.

Aurel. Victor. c. 29.

Victoria Carpica, on some medals of Decius, insinuate

these advantages.

CHA P. and fidelity*, repaired and strengthened the for

tifications of the Danube, and exerted his utmost vigilance to oppose either the progress or the retreat of the Goths. Encouraged by the return'' of fortune, he anxiously waited for an opportu nity to retrieve, by a great and decisive blow, his own glory, and that of the Roman arms †. At the same time when Decius was struggling with the violence of the tempest, his mind, calm and deliberate amidst the tumult of war, of Valerian. investigated the more general causes, that, since

Decius re

vives the office of

censor in

the person

the age of the Antonines, had so impetuously urged the decline of the Roman greatness. He soon discovered that it was impossible to replace that greatness on a permanent basis, without restoring public virtue, ancient principles and manners, and the oppressed majesty of the laws. To execute this noble but arduous design, he first resolved to revive the obsolete office of censor; an office, which, as long as it had subsisted in its pristine integrity, had so much contributed to the perpetuity of the state ‡, till it was usurped and gradually neglected

by

Claudius (who afterwards reigned with so much glory) was posted in the pass of Thermopyla with 200 Dardanians, 100 heavy and 160 light horse, 60 Cretan archers, and 1000 wellarmed recruits. See an original letter from the emperor to his officer, in the Augustan History, p. 200.

+ Jornandes, c. 16-18. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 22. In the general account of this war, it is easy to discover the opposite prejudices of the Gothic and the Grecian writer. In carelessness alone they are alike.

Montesquieu; Grandeur et Decadence des Romains, c. viii. He illustrates the nature and use of the censorship, with his usual ingenuity, and with uncommon precision.

X,

27th Octo

by the Cæsars *. Conscious that the favour of C H A P. the sovereign may confer power, but that the esteem of the people can alone bestow authority, he submitted the choice of the censor to the unbiassed voice of the senate. By their unanimous A. D. 251. votes, or rather acclamations, Valerian, who ber, was afterwards emperor, and who then served with distinction in the army of Decius, was declared the most worthy of that exalted honour. As soon as the decree of the senate was transmitted to the emperor, he assembled a great council in his camp, and, before the investiture of the censor elect, he apprised him of the difficulty and importance of his great office. Happy Valerian," said the prince to his distinguished subject, "happy in the general appro"bation of the senate and of the Roman repub"lic! Accept the censorship of mankind; and

66

judge of our manners. You will select those "who deserve to continue members of the se"nate; you will restore the equestrian order to "its ancient splendour; you will improve the "revenue, yet moderate the public burdens. "You will distinguish into regular classes the "various and infinite multitude of citizens, and "accurately review the military strength, the "wealth, the virtue and the resources of Rome. "Your decisions shall obtain the force of laws. "The army, the palace, the ministers of justice, D d "and

VOL. I.

* Vespasian and Titus were the last censors. (Pliny Hist. Natur. vii. 49. Censorinus de Die Natali.) The modesty of Trajan refused an honour which he deserved, and his example became a law to the Antonines. See Pliny's, Panegyric, c. 45. and 60.

CHAP." and the great officers of the empires are all X. "subject to your tribunal. None are exempted “excepting only the ordinary consuls ther

The design impracti

without effect.

66

præfect of the city, the king of the sacrifices, "and (as long as she preserves her chastity in

violate) the eldest of the vestal virgins. Even "these few, who may not dread the severity, "will anxiously solicit the esteem of the Roman " censor t."

A magistrate, invested with such extensive cable and powers, would have appeared not so much the minister as the colleague of his sovereign Valerian justly dreaded an elevation so full of envy and of suspicion. He modestly urged the alarming greatness of the trust, his own insufficiency, and the incurable corruption of the times. He artfully insinuated, that the office of censor was inseparable from the Imperial dignity, and that the feeble hands of a subject were unequal to the support of such an immense weight of cares and of power §. The approaching event of war soon put an end to the prosecution of a project so specious but so impracticable; and whilst it preserved Valerian from the danger, saved the emperor Decius from the disappointment which would most probably have attended

it.

*Yet, in spite of this exemption, Pompey appeared before that tribunal during his consulship. The occasion, indeed, was equally singular and honourable. Plutarch in Pomp. p. 630.

See the original speech, in the Augustan Hist. p. 173.117420 This transaction might deceive Zonaras, who supposes that Valerian was actually declared the colleague of Decius, 1. xii. p.

625.

§ Hist. August. p. 174. The emperor's reply is omitted.