X.

CHA P. usurpers, it will appear, that they were much oftener driven into rebellion by their fears, than urged to it by their ambition. They dreaded the cruel suspicions of Gallienus; they equally dreaded the capricious violence of their troops. If the dangerous favour of the army had impru→ dently declared them deserving of the purple, they were marked for sure destruction; and even prudence would counsel them, to secure a short enjoyment of empire, and rather to try the fortune of war, than to expect the hand of an executioner. When the clamour of the soldiers invested the reluctant victims with the ensigns of sovereign authority, they sometimes mourned in secret their approaching fate. "You have lost," said Saturninus, on the day of his elevation, you have lost an useful commander, and you "have made a very wretched emperor *.'

Their vio

lent deaths.

66

The apprehensions of Saturninus were justified by the repeated experience of revolutions. Of the nineteen tyrants who started up under the reign of Gallienus, there was not one who enjoyed a life of peace, or a natural death. As soon as they were invested with the bloody purple, they inspired their adherents with the same fears and ambition which had occasioned their own revolt. Encompassed with domestic conspiracy, military sedition, and civil war, they trembled on the edge of precipices, in which, after a longer or shorter term of anxiety, they were inevitably lost. These precarious monarchs received,

*Hist. August. p. 196.

received, however, such honours, as the flattery CHA P. of their respective armies and provinces could X. bestow; but their claim, founded on rebellion, could never obtain the sanction of law or history. Italy, Rome, and the senate, constantly adhered to the cause of Gallienus, and he alone was considered as the sovereign of the empire. That prince condescended, indeed, to acknowledge the victorious arms of Odenathus, who deserved the honourable distinction, by the respectful conduct which he always maintained towards the son of Valerian. With the general applause of the Romans, and the consent of Gallienus, the senate conferred the title of Augustus on the brave Palmyrenian; and seemed to intrust him with the government of the East, which he already possessed, in so independent a manner, that, like a private succession, he bequeathed it to his illustrious widow, Zenobia *.

of these

tions.

The rapid and perpetual transitions from the Fatal concottage to the throne, and from the throne to sequences the grave, might have amused an indifferent usurpaphilosopher; were it possible for a philosopher to remain indifferent, amidst the general calamities of human kind. The election of these precarious emperors, their power and their death, were equally destructive to their subjects and adherents. The price of their fatal elevation was instantly discharged to the troops, by an immense donative, drawn from the bowels of the exhausted VOL. I. people.

G g

*The association of the brave Palmyrenian was the most popular act of the whole reign of Gallienus. Hist. August. p. 180.

X.

CHA P. people. However virtuous was their character, however pure their intentions, they found themselves reduced to the hard necessity of supporting their usurpation by frequent acts of rapine and cruelty. When they fell, they involved armies and provinces in their fall. There is still extant a most savage mandate from Gallienus to one of his ministers, after the suppression of Ingenuus, who had assumed the purple in Illyricum." It "is not enough," says that soft, but inhuman prince," that you exterminate such as have appeared in arms; the chance of battle might i have served me as effectually. The male sex, "of every age, must be extirpated; provided, " that, in the execution of the children and old men, you can contrive means to save our reputation. Let every one die who has dropped "an expression, who has entertained a thought against me, against me, the son of Valerian, "the father and brother of so many princes *. "Remember, that Ingenuus was made emperor; tear, kill, hew in pieces. I write to you with

06

my own hand, and would inspire you with

my own feelings.". Whilst the public forces of the state were dissipated in private quarrels,

the

Gallienus had given the titles of Cæsar and Augustus to his son Saloninus, slain at Cologn by the usurper Posthumus. A second son of Gallienus succeeded to the name and rank of his elder brother. Valerian, the brother of Gallienus, was was also associated to the empire; several other brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces of the emperor, formed a very numerous royal family. See Tillemont, tom. iii. and M. de Brequigny, in the Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxxii. p. 262.

+ Hist. August. p. 188.

X.

451

the defenceless provinces lay exposed to every CHA P. invader. The bravest usurpers were compelled, by the perplexity of their situation, to conclude ignominious treaties with the common enemy, to purchase with oppressive tributes the neutrality or services of the barbarians, and to introduce or's hostile and independent nations into the heart of the Roman monarchy *,

Such were the barbarians, and such the tyrants, who, under the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, dismembered the provinces, and reduced the empire to the lowest pitch of disgrace and ruin, from whence it seemed impossible that it should ever emerge. As far as the barrenness of materials would permit, we have attempted to trace, with order and perspicuity, the general events of that calamitous period. There still remain some particular facts; I. The disorders of Sicily; II. The tumults of Alexandria; and, III. The rebellion of the Isaurians, which may serve to reflect a strong light on the horrid picture.

of Sicily.

I. Whenever numerous troops of banditti, Disorders multiplied by success and impunity, publicly defy, instead of eluding the justice of their country, we may safely infer, that the excessive weakness of the government is felt and abused by the lowest ranks of the community. The situation of Sicily preserved it from the barbarians; nor could the disarmed province have supported an usurper. The sufferings of that

* Regillianus had some bands of Roxolani in his service. Posthumus a body of Franks. It was perhaps in the character of auxiliaries that the latter introduced themselves into Spain,

X.

1

CH, A P. once flourishing and still fertile island. were inflicted by baser hands. A licentious crowd of slaves and peasants reigned for a while over the plundered country, and renewed the memory of the servile wars of more ancient: times. Devastations, of which the husbandman was either the victim or the accomplice, must have ruined the agriculture of Sicily; and as the principal estates were the property of the opulent senators of Rome, who often enclosed within a farm the territory of an old republic, it is not improbable, that this private injury might affect the capital more deeply, than all the conquests of the Goths or the Persians...

Alexandria.

Tumults of II. The foundation of Alexandria was a noble design, at once conceived and executed by the son of Philip. The beautiful and regular form of that great city, second only to Rome itself, comprehended a circumference of fifteen miles +; it was peopled by three hundred thousand free inhabitants, besides at least an equal number of slaves +. The lucrative trade of Arabia and India flowed through the port of Alexandria to the capital and provinces of the empire. Idleness was unknown. Some were employed in blowing of glass, others in weaving of linen, others again manufacturing the papyrus. Either sex, and every age, was engaged in the pursuits of industry, nor did even the blind or the lame want

* The Augustan History, p. 177, calls it servile bellum. See Diodor. Sicul. 1. xxxiv.

t Plin. Hist. Natur. v. 10.

Diodor. Sicul. 1. xvii. p. 590. Edit. Wesseling,