X.

CHA P. and fidelity 3, repaired and ftrengthened the for tifications of the Danube, and exerted his utmost vigilance to oppofe either the progrefs or the retreat of the Goths. Encouraged by the return of fortune, he anxiously waited for an opportunity to retrieve, by a great and decifive blow, his own glory, and that of the Roman arms 36.

Decius re

vives the

office of

cenfor in

the perfon

of Valerian.

At the fame time when Decius was ftruggling with the violence of the tempeft, his mind, calm and deliberate amidst the tumult of war, inveftigated the more general caufes, that, fince the age of the Antonines, had fo impetuoufly urged the decline of the Roman greatnefs. He foon difcovered that it was impoffible to replace that greatnefs on a permanent bafis, without reftoring public virtue, ancient principles and manners, and the oppreffed ma jefty of the laws. To execute this noble but arduous defign, he firft refolved to revive the obfolete office of cenfor; an office, which, as long as it had fubfifted in its pristine integrity, had fo much contributed to the perpetuity of the state3, till it was ufurped and gradually neglected

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

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

37 Montefquieu, Grandeur et Decadence des Romains, c. viii. He illuftrates the nature and use of the censorship, with his usual ingenuity, and with uncommon precision.

by

ber.

X.

by the Cæfars 39. Confcious that the favour CHA P. of the fovereign may confer power, but that the efteem of the people can alone bestow authority, he fubmitted the choice of the cenfor to the unbiaffed voice of the fenate. By their unanimous A.D. 251. votes, or rather acclamations, Valerian, who 27th Octo was afterwards Emperor, and who then ferved with diftinction in the army of Decius, was declared the moft worthy of that exalted honour. As foon as the decree of the fenate was tranfmitted to the Emperor, he affembled a great council in his camp, and, before the inveftiture of the cenfor elect, he apprized him of the difficulty and importance of his great office.

ઃઃ

Happy Valerian," faid the prince to his dif tinguished subject, "happy in the general ap"probation of the fenate and of the Roman republic! Accept the cenforship of mankind; "and judge of our manners. You will felect "thofe who deferve to continue members of the fenate; you will reftore the equeftrian order "to its ancient fplendour; you will improve "the revenue, yet moderate the public burdens. "You will diftinguish into regular claffes the "various and infinite multitude of citizens, and "accurately review the military ftrength, the "wealth, the virtue, and the refources of Rome. "Your decifions fhall obtain the force of laws. "The army, the palace, the minifters of justice,

38 Vefpafian and Titus were the laft cenfors (Pliny Hift. Natur. vii. 49. Cenforinus de Die Natali). The modesty of Trajan refused an honour which he deferved, and his example became a law to the Antonines. See Pliny's Panegyric, c. 45. and 60.

"and

CHAP." and the great officers of the empire are all

X.

The defign impracti

without effect.

fubject to your tribunal. None are exempted, excepting only the ordinary confuls", the præfect of the city, the king of the sacrifices, "and (as long as the preferves her chastity in"violate) the eldeft of the veftal virgins. Even

thefe few, who may not dread the feverity, "will anxioufly folicit the efteem, of the Ro❝ man cenfor*."

A magiftrate, invefted with fuch extenfive cable, and powers, would have appeared not fo much the minifter as the colleague of his fovereign". Valerian juftly dreaded an elevation fo full of envy and of fufpicion. He modeftly urged the alarming greatnefs of the truft, his own infufficiency, and the incurable corruption of the times. He artfully infinuated, that the office of cenfor was infeparable from the Imperial dig. nity, and that the feeble hands of a fubject were unequal to the fupport of fuch an immenfe weight of cares and of power". The approaching event of war foon put an end to the profecution of a project fo fpecious but fo impracticable; and whilft it preferved Valerian from the danger, faved the Emperor Decius from the disappointment which would moft probably have attended

39 Yet in fpite of this exemption, Pompey appeared before that tribunal during his confulfhip. The occafion indeed was equally fingular and honourable. Plutarch in Pomp. p. 630.

4° See the original speech in the Augustan Hist. p. 173, 174.

41 This tranfaction might deceive Zonaras, who supposes that Valerian was actually declared the colleague of Decius, l. xii. p. 625. 42 Hift. Auguft. p. 174. The Emperor's reply is omitted.

it.

X.

A cenfor may maintain, he can never re- c H A P. ftore the morals of a state. It is impoffible for fuch a magiftrate to exert his authority with benefit, or even with effect, unless he is fupported by a quick fenfe of honour and virtue in the minds of the people; by a decent reverence for the public opinion, and by a train of useful prejudices combating on the fide of national manners. In a period when these principles are annihilated, the cenforial jurifdiction muft either fink into empty pageantry, or be converted into a partial inftrument of vexatious oppreffion +3. It was eafier to vanquish the Goths than to eradicate the public vices; yet, even in the first of thefe enterprifes, Decius loft his army and his life.

43

death of

The Goths were now on every fide furround- Defeat and ed and pursued by the Roman arms. The Decius and flower of their troops had perifhed in the long his fon. fiege of Philippopolis, and the exhaufted country could no longer afford fubfiftence for the remaining multitude of licentious barbarians. Reduced to this extremity, the Goths would gladly have purchased, by the furrender of all their booty and prifoners, the permiffion of an undifturbed retreat. But the Emperor, confident of victory, and refolving, by the chaftifement of these invaders, to strike a falutary terror into the nations of the North, refufed to liften to any terms of accommodation. The high-fpirited barbarians preferred death to flavery. An obfcure

43 Such as the attempts of Auguftus towards a reformation of manTacit. Annal. iii. 24,

ners.

X.

✔ HA P. town of Mafia, called Forum Terebronii 44, was the scene of the battle. The Gothic army was drawn up in three lines, and, either from choice or accident, the front of the third line was covered by a morafs. In the beginning of the action, the son of Decius, a youth of the faireft hopes, and already affociated to the honours of the purple, was flain by an arrow, in the fight of his afflicted father; who fummoning all his fortitude, admonished the difmayed troops, that the lofs of a fingle foldier was of little importance to the republic+s. The conflict was terrible; it was the combat of defpair against grief and rage.. The first line of the Goths at length gave way in diforder; the fecond, advancing to fuftain it, shared its fate; and the third only remained entire, prepared to dispute the paffage of the morafs, which was imprudently attempted by the prefumption of the enemy. "Here the "fortune of the day turned, and all things be6c came adverfe to the Romans: the place deep "with ooze, finking under thofe who ftood, flip

pery to fuch as advanced; their armour heavy, the waters deep; nor could they wield, in that "uneafy fituation, their weighty javelins. The "barbarians, on the contrary, were inured to "encounters in the bogs, their perfons tall, "their fpears long, fuch as could wound at a

4 Tillemont, Hiftoire des Empereurs, tom. iii. p. 598. As Zofimus and fome of his followers mistake the Danube for the Tanais, they place the field of battle in the plains of Scythia.

45 Aurelius Victor allows two diftinct actions for the deaths of the two Deci; but I have preferred the account of Jornandes.