of the Nile, so important to Rome itself, was improv- from admitting his claim, have variously deduced his ed; and temples, bridges, porticoes, and palaces, were own birth, or that of his parents, from Illyricum, from constructed by the hands of the soldiers, who acted Gaul, or from Africa. Though a soldier, he had reby turns as architects, as engineers, and as husband-ceived a learned education; though a senator, he was men. It was reported of Hannibal, that, in order to invested with the first dignity of the army; and in an preserve his troops from the dangerous temptations age, when the civil and military professions began to of idleness, he had obliged them to form large planta-be irrecoverably separated from each other, they were tions of olive trees along the coast of Africa. From united in the person of Carus. Notwithstanding the a similar principle, Probus exercised his legions in severe justice which he exercised against_the_assas covering, with rich vineyards, the hills of Gaul and sins of Probus, to whose favour and esteem he was Pannonia, and two considerable spots are described, highly indebted, he could not escape the suspicion of which were entirely dug and planted by military la- being accessary to a deed from whence he derived the bour." One of these, known under the name of principal advantage. He enjoyed, at least before his Mount Almo, was situated near Sirmium, the country elevation, an acknowledged character of virtue and where Probus was born, for which he ever retained a abilities; but his austere temper insensibly degenerpartial affection, and whose gratitude he endeavoured ated into moroseness and cruelty; and the imperfect to secure, by converting into tillage a large and un-writers of his life almost hesitate whether they shall healthy tract of marshy ground. An army thus em- not rank him in the number of Roman tyrants." When ployed, constituted perhaps the most useful, as well as Carus assumed the purple, he was about sixty years the bravest, portion of Roman subjects. of age, and his two sons, Carinus and Numerian, had already attained the season of manhood. His death. But in the prosecution of a favourite 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 labours of the peasant, he will at last sink under the intolerable burthen, 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 army and mercenary force. The unguarded expression proved fatal to him. In one of the hottest days of summer, as he severely urged the unwholesome labour 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 A. D. 282. instantly forced, and a thousand swords August. 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 perpetuate, by an honourable monument, the niemory of his virtues and victories." Election and cha- When the legions had indulged their racter of Carus. grief and repentance for the death of Probus, their unanimous consent declared Carus, his prætorian præfect, the most deserving of the imperial throne. Every circumstance that relates to this prince appears of a mixed and doubtful 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 1 Hist. August. p. 2^6. m Aurel. Victor in Prob. But the policy of Hannibal, unnoticed hy any more ancient writer, is irreconcilable with the history of his life. He left Africa when he was nine years old, returned to it when he was forty-five, and immediately lost his army in the decisive battle of Zama. Livins. xxx. 47. Hist. August. p. 240 Eutrop. ix. 17. Aurel. Victor in Prob. Victor Junior. He revoked the prohibition of Domitian, and grant. ed a general permission of planting vines to the Gauls, the Britons, and the Pannonians. • Julian bestows a severe, and indeed excessive, censure on the rigour of Probus, who, as he thinks, almost deserved his fate. P Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 241. He lavishes on this idle hope a large stock of very foolish eloquence. qTurris ferrata. It seems to have been a moveable tower, and cased with iron. Probus, et vere probus situs est: Victor omnium gentium Barba rarum: victor etiam tyrannorum. The authority of the senate expired The sentiments with Probus; nor was the repentance of the senate and of the soldiers displayed by the same people. dutiful regard for the civil power, which they had testified after the unfortunate death of Aurelian. The election 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. Ă behaviour so very opposite to that of his amiable predecessor, afforded no favourable presage of the new reign; and the Romans, deprived of power and freedom, asserted their privilege of licentious murmurs." 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 inno cence and security of the golden age. east. It is more than probable, that these Carus defeats the elegant trifles never reached the ears of Sarmatians, and a veteran general, who, with the consent marches into the of the legions, was preparing to execute the long suspended design of the Persian war. Before his departure for this distant expedition, Carus conferred 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 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 re 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 Eusch. Chiron. p. 241. t Probus had requested of the senate an equestrian statue and a marble palace at the public expense, ns a just recompense of the sin.. gular merit of Carus. Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 249. u Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 242, 249. Julian excludes the emperor Carus and both his sons from the hanquet of the Cesars. x John Malala, tom. iii. p. 401. 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 men. tioned by Homer. y Hist. August. p. 249. Carus congratulated the senate, that one of their own order was made emperor. z Hist. August. p. 242. * See the first eclogue of Calphurnius. The design of it is preferred by Fontenelle to that of Virgil's Pollio. See tom. iii. p. 148. b Hist. August. p. 353. Eutropius, ix. 18. Pagi, Annal A. D. 283. sian ambassadors. merian. mained on the field of battle, and the number of cap-|vilion, a circumstance which gave rise to the report tives amounted to twenty thousand. The old emper- that Carus was killed by lightning. But, as far as or, animated with the fame and prospect of victory, we have been able to investigate the truth, his death pursued his march, in the midst of winter, through the was the natural effect of his disorder." countries of Thrace and Asia Minor, and at length, The vacancy of the throne was not He is succeeded with his younger son Numerian, arrived on the con- productive of any disturbance. The by his two sons fines of the Persian monarchy. There, encamping on ambition of the aspiring generals was Carinus and Nothe summit of a lofty mountain, he pointed out to his checked by their mutual fears, and troops the opulence and luxury of the enemy whom young Numerian with his absent brother Carinus were they were about to invade. unanimously acknowledged as Roman emperors. The The successor of Artaxerxes, Varanes, public expected that the successor of Carus would He gives audi- or Bahram, though he had subdued the pursue his father's footsteps, and, without allowing ance to the Per Segestans, one of the most warlike na- the Persians to recover from their consternation, would tions of Upper Asia, was alarmed at advance sword in hand to the palaces of Susa and the approach of the Romans, and endeavoured to retard Ecbatana. But the legions, however strong in numtheir progress by a negociation of peace. His ambas-bers and discipline, were dismayed by the most abject sadors entered the camp about sunset, at the time superstition. Notwithstanding all the arts that were when the troops were satisfying their hunger with a practised to disguise the manner of the late emperor's frugal repast. The Persians expressed their desire death, it was found impossible to remove the opinion of being introduced to the presence of the Roman of the multitude, and the power of opinion is irresisemperor. They were at length conducted to a soldier, tible. Places or persons struck with lightning were who was seated on the grass. A piece of stale bacon considered by the ancients with pious horror, as sinand a few hard pease composed his supper. A coarse gularly devoted to the wrath of heaven. An oracle woollen garment of purple was the only circumstance was remembered, which marked the river Tigris as that announced his dignity. The conference was con- the fatal boundary of the Roman arms. The troops, ducted with the same disregard of courtly elegance. terrified with the fate of Carus and with their own Carus, taking off a cap which he wore to conceal his danger, called aloud on young Numerian to obey the baldness, assured the ambassadors, that, unless their will of the gods, and to lead them away from this inmaster acknowledged the superiority of Rome, he auspicious scene of war. The feeble emperor was unwould speedily render Persia as naked of trees, as his able to subdue their obstinate prejudice, and the Perown head was destitute of hair. Notwithstanding sians wondered at the unexpected retreat of a victorsoine traces of art and preparation, we may discover ious enemy in this scene the manners of Carus, and the severe The intelligence of the mysterious A. D. 384. simplicity which the martial princes, who succeeded fate of the late emperor was soon carried Vices of Carinus. Gallienus, had already restored in the Roman camps. from the frontiers of Persia to Rome; and the senate, The ministers of the great king trembled and retired. as well as the provinces, congratulated the accession The threats of Carus were not without of the sons of Carus. These fortunate youths were and extruor effect. He ravaged Mesopotamia, cut strangers, however, to that conscious superiority, dinary death. in pieces whatever opposed his passage, either of birth or of merit, which can alone render the made himself master of the great cities of Seleucia possession of a throne easy, and as it were natural. and Ctesiphon, (which seemed to have surrendered with- Born and educated in a private station, the election of out resistance.) and carried his victorious arins beyond their father raised them at once to the rank of princes; the Tigris. He had seized the favourable moment and his death, which happened about sixteen months for an invasion. The Persian councils were distracted afterwards, left them the unexpected legacy of a vast by domestic factions, and the greater part of their forces empire. To sustain with temper this rapid elevation, were detained on the frontiers of India. Rome and an uncommon share of virtue and prudence was rethe east received with transport the news of such im- quisite; and Carinus, the elder of the brothers, was portant advantages. Flattery and hope painted, in the more than commonly deficient in those qualities. In most lively colours, the fall of Persia, the conquest of the Gallic war, he discovered some degree of personal Arabia, the submission of Egypt, and a lasting deliv-courage; but from the moment of his arrival at Rome, erance from the inroads of the Scythian nations. But he abandoned himself to the luxury of the capital, and A. D. 283. the reign of Carus was destined to ex- to the abuse of his fortune. He was soft, yet cruel; Dec. 25. pose the vanity of predictions. They devoted to pleasure, but destitute of taste; and though were scarcely uttered before they were contradicted exquisitely susceptible of vanity, indifferent to the by his death an event attended with such ambiguous public esteem. In the course of a few months, he succircumstances, that it may he related in a letter from cessively married and divorced nine wives, most of his own secretary to the præfect of the city. "Carus," whom he left pregnant; and notwithstanding this legal says he," our dearest emperor, was confined by sick- inconstancy, found time to indulge such a variety of ness to his bed, when a furious tempest arose in the irregular appetites, as brought dishonour on himself camp. The darkness which overspread the sky was and on the noblest houses of Rome. He beheld with so thick, that we could no longer distinguish each inveterate hatred all those who might remember his other; and the incessant flashes of lightning took from former obscurity, or censure his present conduct. He us the knowledge of all that passed in the general banished or put to death, the friends and counsellors confusion. Immediately after the most violent clap whom his father had placed about him, to guide his of thunder, we heard a sudden cry, that the emperor inexperienced youth; and he persecuted with the was dead; and it soon appeared, that his chamber-meanest revenge his school-fellows and companions, lains in a rage of grief, had set fire to the royal pa His victories e Agathias, I. iv. p. 135. We find one of his sayings in the Bibliotheque Orientale of M. d'Herbelot. "The definition of humanity includes all other virtues." Bynesius tells this story of Carinus; and it is much more natural to understand it of Carus, than (as Petavius and Tillemont choose to do) of Probus, Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 250. Eutropius, ix. 18. The two Victors. 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. who had not sufficiently respected the latent majesty of the emperor. With the senators, Carinus affected a lofty and regal demeanour, frequently declaring, that Hist. August. p. 250. Yet Eutropius, Festus, Rufus, the two Victors, Jerome, Sidonius Apollinaris, Syncellus, and Zonaras, all ascri'e the death of Carus by lightning. h See Nemesian, Cynegeticon, v. 71, &c. i See Festus and his commentators, on the word Scribonianum. Places struck by lightning were surrounded with a wall; things were buried with mysterious ceremony. j Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 250. Aurelius Victor seems to believe the prediction, and to approve the retreat. Nemesian. Cynegeticon, v. 69. He was a contemporary, but a poet. he designed to distribute their estates among the populace of Rome. From the dregs of that populace, he selected his favourites, and even his ministers. The palace, and even the imperial table, was filled with singers, dancers, prostitutes, and all the various retinue of vice and folly. One of his door-keepers' he intrusted with the government of the city. In the room of the prætorian præfect, whom he put to death, Carinus substituted one of the ministers of his looser pleasures. Another who possessed the same, or even a more infamous, title to favour, was invested with the consulship. A confidential secretary, who had acquired uncommon skill in the art of forgery, delivered the indolent emperor, with his own consent, from the irksome duty of signing his name. low deer, and a thousand wild boars; and all this variety of game was abandoned to the riotous impetuosity of the multitude. The tragedy of the succeeding day consisted in the massacre of an hundred lions, an equal number of lionesses, two hundred leopards, and three hundred bears. The collection prepared by the younger Gordian for his triumph, and which his successor exhibited in the secular games, was less remarkable by the number than by the singularity of the animals. Twenty zebras displayed their elegant forms and variegated beauties to the eyes of the Roman people. Ten elks, and as many camelopards, the loftiest and most harmless creatures that wander over the plains of Sarmatia and Æthiopia, were contrasted with thirty African hyænas, and ten Indian tigers, the most implacaWhen the emperor Carus undertook the Persian war, ble savages of the torrid zone. The unoffending he was induced, by motives of affection as well as pol- strength with which nature has endowed the greater icy, to secure the fortunes of his family, by leaving quadrupeds was admired in the rhinoceros, the hippoin the hands of his eldest son the armies and provin- potamus of the Nile, and a majestic troop of thirty-two ces of the west. The intelligence which he soon re- elephants." While the populace gazed with stupid ceived of the conduct of Carinus, filled him with wonder on the splendid show, the naturalist might inshame and regret: nor had he concealed his resolution deed observe the figure and properties of so many difof satisfying the republic by a severe act of justice, and ferent species, transported from every part of the anof adopting, in the place of an unworthy son, the brave cient world into the amphitheatre of Rome. But this acand virtuous Constantius, who at that time was gov-cidental benefit, which science might derive from folly, ernor of Dalmatia. But the elevation of Constantius is surely insufficient to justify such a wanton abuse of was for a while deferred; and as soon as the father's the public riches. There occurs, however, a single indeath had released Carinus from the control of fear or decency, he displayed to the Romans the extravagances of Elagabalus, aggravated by the cruelty of Domitian." Roman games. stance in the first Punic war, in which the senate wisely connected this amusement of the multitude with the interest of the state. A considerable number of elephants, taken in the defeat of the Carthaginian army, were driven through the circus by a few slaves, armed only with blunt javelins. The useful spectacle served to impress the Roman soldier with a just contempt for those unwieldy animals; and he no longer dreaded to encounter them in the ranks of war. theatre. He celebrates the The only merit of the administration of Carinus that history could record, or poetry celebrate, was the uncommon splendour with which, in his own and his brother's name, he exhibited the Roman games of the theatre, the circus, and the amphitheatre. More than twenty years afterwards, The hunting or exhibition of wild The amphiwhen the courtiers of Diocletian represented to their beasts was conducted with a magnififrugal sovereign the fame and popularity of his muni- cence suitable to a people who styled themselves the ficent predecessor, he acknowledged, that the reign of masters of the world; nor was the edifice appropriated Carinus had indeed been a reign of pleasure. But to that entertainment less expressive of Roman greatthis vain prodigality, which the prudence of Diocletian ness. Posterity admires, and will long admire, the might justly despise, was enjoyed with surprise and awful remains of the amphitheatre of Titus, which so transport by the Roman people. The oldest of the cit-well deserved the epithet of colossal. It was a buildizens, recollecting the spectacles of former days, the triumphal pomp of Probus or Aurelian, and the secular games of the emperor Philip, acknowledged that they were all surpassed by the superior magnificence of Carinus.P Spectacles of The spectacles of Carinus may there Rome. fore be best illustrated by the observation of some particulars, which history has condescended to relate concerning those of his predecessors. If we confine ourselves solely to the hunting of wild beasts, however we may censure the vanity of the design or the cruelty of the execution, we are obliged to confess, that neither before nor since the time of the Romans, so much art and expense have ever been lavished for the amusement of the people. By the order of Probus, a great quantity of large trees, torn up by the roots, were transplanted into the midst of the circus. The spacious and shady forest was immediately filled with a thousand ostriches, a thousand stags, a thousand fal 1 Cancellarius. This word, so humble in its origin, has by a sin gular fortune risen into the title of the first great office of state in the monarchies of Europe. See Casaubon and Salmasius, ad Hist. August. p. 253. m[It was a cause of grief to Carus, that his son Numerian was still too young to assume the government of the western provinces -he would have chosen to have entrusted them to him rather than to his brother Carinus. (Vopisc. in Caro.)-G.] Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 253, 254. Eutropius, ix. 19. Victor Junior. The reign of Diocletian indeed, was so long and prospe rous. that it must have been very unfavourable to the reputation of Carinus. • Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 254. He calls him Carus, but the sense is sufficiently obvious, and the words were often confounded. P See Calpurnius, Eclog. vii. 42. We may observe, that the spectacles of Probus were still recent, and that the poet is seconded by the historian. 4 The philosopher Montaigne (Essais, 1. iii. 6.) gives a very just and lively view of Roman magnificence in these spectacles. ing of an elliptic figure, five hundred and sixty-four feet in length, and four hundred and sixty-seven in breadth, founded on fourscore arches, and rising, with four successive orders of architecture, to the height of one hundred and forty feet. The outside of the edifice was encrusted with marble, and decorated with statues. The slopes of the vast concave, which formed the inside, were filled and surrounded with sixty or eighty rows of seats of marble likewise, covered with cushions, and capable of receiving with ease above fourscore thousand spectators. Sixty-four vomitories (for by that name the doors were very aptly distinguished) poured forth the immense multitude; and the entrances, passages, and stair-cases, were contrived with such exquisite skill, that each person, whether of the senatorial, the equestrian, or the plebeian order, arrived at r Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 240. mere wild asses. Cuper (de Elephantis Exercitat. ii. 7.) has proved They are called Onagri; but the number is too inconsiderable for from Oppian, Dion, and an anonymous Greek, that Zebras had been seen at Rome. They were brought from some island of the ocean, perhaps Madagascar. t Carinus gave an hippopotamus, (see Calphurn. Eclog. vii. 66.) In the latter spectacles, I do not recollect any crocodiles, of which Augustus once exhibited thirty-six. Dion Cassius, 1. lv. p 781. u Capitolin. in Hist. August. p. 164, 165. We are not acquainted with the animals which he calls archeleontes, some read argoleontes, others agrioleontes: both corrections are very nugatory. x Plin. Hist. Natur. viii. 6. from the annals of Piso. y See Maffei, Verona Illustrata, p. iv. I. i. c. 2. z Maffei, I. ii. c. 2. The height was very much exaggerated by the ancients. It reached almost to the heavens, according to Calphurnius, (Eclog. vii. 23.) and surpassed the ken of human sight, according to Ammianus Marcellinus. (xvi. 10.) Yet how trifling to the great pyramid of Egypt, which rises 500 feet perpendicular! a According to different copies of Victor, we read 77,000 or 87,000 spectators; but Maffei, (1. ii. c. 12.) finds room on the open seats for no more than 34,000. The remainder were contained in the upper covered galleries. his destined place without trouble or confusion. No-mained the friend of his rivals; a circumstance which thing was omitted which, in any respect, could be sub- evinces either the goodness of his heart, or the superiservient to the convenience and pleasure of the specta- ority of his genius. But the talents of Numerian were tors. They were protected from the sun and rain by rather of the contemplative than of the active kind. an ample canopy, occasionally drawn over their heads. When his father's elevation reluctantly forced him from The air was continually refreshed by the playing of the shade of retirement, neither his temper nor his purfountains, and profusely impregnated by the grateful suits had qualified him for the command of armies. scent of aromatics. In the centre of the edifice, the His constitution was destroyed by the hardships of arena, or stage, was strewed with the finest sand, and the Persian war; and he had contracted, from the heat successively assumed the most different forms. At of the climate, such a weakness in his eyes, as obliged one moment it seemed to rise out of the earth, like the him, in the course of a long retreat, to confine himself garden of the Hesperides, and was afterwards broken to the solitude and darkness of a tent or litter. The into the rocks and caverns of Thrace. The subterra- administration of all affairs, civil as well as military, neous pipes conveyed an inexhaustible supply of wa- was devolved on Arrius Aper, the prætorian præfect, ter; and what had just before appeared a level plain, who to the power of his important office, added the might be suddenly converted into a wide lake, covered honour of being father-in-law to Numerian. The imwith armed vessels, and replenished with the monsters perial pavilion was strictly guarded by his most trusty of the deep. In the decoration of these scenes, the adherents; and during many days, Aper delivered to Roman emperors displayed their wealth and liberality; the army the supposed mandates of their invisible soand we read on various occasions, that the whole fur-vereign.1 niture of the amphitheatre consisted either of silver, or It was not till eight months after the Death of Numeof gold, or of amber. The poet who describes the death of Carus, that the Roman army, rian. games of Carinus, in the character of a shepherd, at- returning by slow marches from the banks of the tracted to the capital by the fame of their magnificence, Tigris, arrived on those of the Thracian Bosphorus. affirms, that the nets designed as a defence against the The legions halted at Chalcedon in Asia, while the wild beasts, were of gold wire; that the porticoes were court passed over to Heraclea, on the European side gilded, and that the belt or circle which divided the se- of the Propontis. But a report soon circulated veral ranks of spectators from each other, was studded through the camp, at first in secret whispers, and at with a precious Mosaic of beautiful stones. length in loud clamours, of the emperor's death, and of the presumption of his ambitious minister, who still exercised the sovereign power in the name of a prince who was no more. The impatience of the soldiers could not long support a state of suspense. With rude curiosity they broke into the imperial tent, and discovered only the corpse of Numerian." The gradual decline of his health might have induced them to believe that his death was natural; but the concealment was interpreted as an evidence of guilt, and the measures which Aper had taken to secure his elecReturn of Nume- The sons of Carus never saw each tion, became the immediate occasion of his ruin. Yet, rian with the ar- other after their father's death. The ar- even in the transport of their rage and grief, the troops my from Persia. rangements which their new situation re- observed a regular proceeding, which proves how quired, were probably deferred till the return of the firmly discipline had been re-established by the maryounger brother to Rome, where a triumph was de- tial successors of Gallienus. A general assembly of creed to the young emperors, for the glorious success the army was appointed to be held at Chalcedon, of the Persian war. It is uncertain whether they in- whither Aper was transported in chains, as a prisoner tended to divide between them the administration, or and criminal. A vacant tribunal was erected in the the provinces, of the empire; but it is very unlikely midst of the camp, and the generals and tribunes formthat their union would have proved of any long dura- ed a great military council. They soon A. D. 248. tion. The jealousy of power must have been inflamed announced to the multitude, that their by the opposition of characters. In the most corrupt choice had fallen on Diocletian, comof times, Carinus was unworthy to live: Numerian deserved to reign in a happier period. His affable manners and gentle virtues secured him, as soon as they became known, the regard and affections of the public. He possessed the elegant accomplishments of a poet and orator, which dignify as well as adorn the humblest and the most exalted station. His eloquence, however it was applauded by the senate, was formed not so much on the model of Cicero, as on that of the modern declaimers; but in an age very far from being destitute of poetical merit, he contended for the prize with the most celebrated of his contemporaries, and still re A, D. 284. In the midst of this glittering pageanSept. 12. try, the emperor Carinus, secure of his fortune, enjoyed the acclamations of the people, the flattery of his courtiers, and the songs of the poets, who, for want of a more essential merit, were reduced to celebrate the divine graces of his person. In the same hour, but at the distance of nine hundred miles from Rome, his brother expired; and a sudden revolution transferred into the hands of a stranger the sceptre of the house of Carus." b See Maffei, 1. ii. c. 5-12. He treats the very difficult subject with all possible clearness, and like an architect, as well as an antiquarian. Sept. 17. Election of the emperor Diocle mander of the domestics or body-guards, tian. e Calphurn. Eclog. vii. 64, 73. These lines are curious, and the i He won all the crowns from Nemesianus, with whom he vied in whole Eclogue has been of infinite use to Maffei. Calphurnins, as didactic poetry. The senate erected a statue to the son of Carus, well as Martial. 'see his first book,) was a poet; but when they de- with a very ambiguous inscription, "To the most powerful of orascribed the amphitheatre, they both wrote from their own senses, tors." See Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 251. and to those of the Romans. d Consult Plin Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 16. xxxvii. 11 e Balteus en gemmis, en inlita porticus auro Certatim radiant, &c. Calphurn. vii. ? Et Martis vultus et Apollinis esse putavi, says Calphurnius: but John Malala, who had perhaps seen pictures of Carinus, describes him as thick, short, and white, tom. i. p. 403. With regard to the time when these Roman games were cele brated, Scaliger, Salmasius, and Cuper, have given themselves a great deal of trouble to perplex a very clear subject. Nemesianus (in the Cynegeticons) seems to anticipate in his fancy that auspicious day. A more natural cause, at least, than that assigned by Vopiscus, m We are obliged to the Alexandrian Chronicle, p. 274. for the knowledge of the time and place where Diocletian was elected em his sword, and buried it in the breast of the unfortu- would be extremely curious to observe the gradation nate præfect. A charge supported by such decisive of arts and accidents which enabled him in the end to proof, was admitted without contradiction, and the fulfil those oracles, and to display that merit to the fegions, with repeated acclamations, acknowledged world. Diocletian was successively promoted to the the justice and authority of the emperor Diocletian.P government of Mæsia, the honours of the consulship, Defeat and death Before we enter upon the memorable and the important command of the guards of the pal of Carinus. reign of that prince, it will be proper to ace. He distinguished his abilities in the Persian punish and dismiss the unworthy brother of Nume- war; and, after the death of Numerian, the slave, by rian. Carinus possessed arms and treasures sufficient the confession and judgment of his rivals, was deto support his legal title to the empire. But his per-clared the most worthy of the imperial throne. The sonal vices overbalanced every advantage of birth and malice of religious zeal, whilst it arraigns the savage situation. The most faithful servants of the father fierceness of his colleague Maximian, has affected to despised the incapacity, and dreaded the cruel arro- cast suspicions on the personal courage of the empegance, of the son. The hearts of the people were en-ror Diocletian. It would not be easy to persuade us gaged in favour of his rival, and even the senate was of the cowardice of a soldier of fortune, who acquired Inclined to prefer an usurper to a tyrant. The arts of and preserved the esteem of the legions, as well as Diocletian inflamed the general discontent; and the the favour of so many warlike princes. Yet even winter was employed in secret intrigues, and open calumny is sagacious enough to discover and to atA. D. 285. preparations for a civil war. In the tack the most vulnerable part. The valour of DiocleMay. spring, the forces of the east and of the tian was never found inadequate to his duty, or to the west encountered each other in the plains of Margus, occasion; but he appears not to have possessed the a small city of Mæsia, in the neighbourhood of the daring and generous spirit of a hero, who courts danDanube. The troops, so lately returned from the ger and fame, disdains artifice, and boldly challenges Persian war, had acquired their glory at the expense the allegiance of his equals. His abilities were useof health and numbers, nor were they in a condition to ful rather than splendid; a vigorous mind, improved contend with the unexhausted strength of the legions by the experience and study of mankind; dexterity of Europe. Their ranks were broken, and, for a and application in business; a judicious mixture of moment, Diocletian despaired of the purple and of liberality and economy, of mildness and rigour," prolife. But the advantage which Carinus had obtain- found dissimulation under the disguise of military ed by the valour of his soldiers, he quickly lost by frankness; steadiness to pursue his ends; flexibility the infidelity of his officers. A tribune, whose wife to vary his means; and, above all, the great art of he had seduced, seized the opportunity of revenge, submitting his own passions, as well as those of othand by a single blow extinguished civil discord in the ers, to the interest of his ambition, and of colouring blood of the adulterer." his ambition with the most specious pretences of justice and public utility. Like Augustus, Diocletian may be considered as the founder of a new empire. Like the adopted son of Cæsar, he was distinguished as a statesman rather than as a warrior; nor did either of those princes employ force, whenever their purpose could be effected by policy. CHAPTER XIII. The reign of Diocletian and his three associates, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius.--General re-establishment of order and tranquillity.—The Persian war, victory, and triumph.-The new form of administraMaximian. tion.Abdication and retirement of Diocletian and Elevation and cletian, A. D. 285. victory. markable for its singular mildness. A The victory of Diocletian was re- His clemency and people accustomed to applaud the clemency of the conqueror, if the usual punishments of death, exile, and confiscation, were inflicted with any degree of As the reign of Diocletian was more temper and equity, beheld, with the most pleasing ascharacter of Dio. illustrious than that of any of his pre- tonishment, a civil war, the flames of which were exdecessors, so was his birth more abject tinguished in the field of battle. Diocletian received and obscure. The strong claims of into his confidence Aristobulus, the principal minister merit and of violence had frequently superseded the of the house of Carus, respected the lives, the forideal prerogatives of nobility; but a distinct line of tunes, and the dignity of his adversaries, and even separation was hitherto preserved between the free continued in their respective stations the greater numand the servile part of mankind. The parents of Dio- ber of the servants of Cinus. It is not improbable cletian had been slaves in the house of Anulinus, a that motives of prudence might assist the humanity Roman senator; nor was he himself distinguished by of the artful Dalmatian; of these servants, many had any other name, than that which he derived from a purchased his favour by secret treachery; in others, small town in Dalmatia, from which his mother de- he esteemed their grateful fidelity to an unfortunate duced her origin. It is, however, probable, that his master. The discerning judgment of Aurelian, of father obtained the freedom of the family, and that he Probus, and of Carus, had filled the several departsoon acquired an office of scribe, which was common-ments of the state and army with officers of approved ly exercised by persons of his condition. Favoura- merit, whose removal would have injured the public ble oracles, or rather the consciousness of superior service, without promoting the interest of the succesmerit, prompted his aspiring son to pursue the pro- sor. Such a conduct, however, displayed to the Rofession of arms and the hopes of fortune; and it Eutropius marks its situation very accurately; it was between the Mons Aureus and Viminiacum. M. d'Anville (Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 304.) places Margus at Kastolatz in Servia, a little below Belgrade and Semendria. r Hist. August. p. 254. Eutropius, p. ix. 20. Aurelius Victor. Victor in Epitome. man world the fairest prospect of the new reign, and the emperor affected to confirm this favourable prepos session, by declaring, that, among all the virtues of his predecessors, he was the most ambitious of imitating the humane philosophy of Marcus Antoninus. e Lactantius (or whoever was the author of the little treatise De Mortibus Persecutorum) accuses Diocletian of timidity in two places, a Eutrop. ix. 19. Victor in Epitom. The town seems to have c. 7. 8. In chap. 9, he says of him, "erat in omni tumultu meticubeen properly called Doclia, from a small tribe of Illyrians (see Cella-losus et animi disjectus." rius Geograph. Antiqua. tom. i. p. 393.); and the original name of d In this encomium, Aurelius Victor seems to convey a just, though the fortunate slave, was probably Docles;. he first lengthened it to indirect, censure of the cruelty of Constantins. It appears from the Grecian harmony of Diocles, and at length to the Roman ma-the Fasti, that Aristobulus remained præfect of the city, and that he jesty of Diocletianus. He likewise assumed the patrician name of ended with Diocletian, the consulship which he had commenced with Valerius, and it is usually given him by Aurelius Victor. Carinus. b See Dacier on the sixth satire of the second book of Horace. Cornel. Nepos, in Vit. Eumen, c. 1. • Aurelius Victor styles Diocletian, "Parentem potius quam dominum." See Hist. August. p. 30. |