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The apparent ridicule
Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in
the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the
fairest scope for ridicule. Is it possible to relate,
without an indignant smile, that, on the father's decease,
the property of a nation, like that of a drove of oxen,
descends to his infant son, as yet unknown to mankind and to
himself; and that the bravest warriors and the wisest
statesmen, relinquishing their natural right to empire,
approach the royal cradle with bended knees and
protestations of inviolable fidelity? Satire and declamation
may paint these obvious topics in the most dazzling colours,
but our more serious thoughts will respect a useful
prejudice, that establishes a rule of succession,
independent of the passions of mankind; and we shall
cheerfully acquiesce in any expedient which deprives the
multitude of the dangerous, and indeed the ideal, power of
giving themselves a master.
and solid advantages of herediotary succession.
In the cool shade of retirement, we may easily devise
imaginary forms of government, in which the sceptre shall be
constantly bestowed on the most worthy, by the free and
incorrupt suffrage of the whole community. Experience
overturns these airy fabrics, and teaches us that, in a
large society, the election of a monarch can never devolve
to the wisest, or to the most numerous, part of the people.
The army is the only order of men sufficiently united to
concur in the same sentiments, and powerful enough to impose
them on the rest of their fellow-citizens: but the temper of
soldiers, habituated at once to violence and to slavery,
renders them very unfit guardians of a legal or even a
civil, constitution. Justice, humanity, or political wisdom,
are qualities they are too little acquainted with in
themselves, to appreciate them in others. Valour will
acquire their esteem, and liberality will purchase their
suffrage; but the first of these merits is often lodged in
the most savage breasts; the latter can only exert itself at
the expense of the public; and both may be turned against
the possessor of the throne, by the ambition of a daring
rival.
Want of it in the Roman empire productive of the geatrest calamities
The superior prerogative of birth, when it has obtained the
sanction of time and popular opinion, is the plainest and
least invidious of all distinctions among mankind. The
acknowledged right extinguishes the hopes of faction, and
the conscious security disarms the cruelty of the monarch.
To the firm establishment of this idea, we owe the peaceful
succession, and mild administration, of European monarchies.
To the defect of it, we must attribute the frequent civil
wars, through which an Asiatic despot is obliged to cut his
way to the throne of his fathers. Yet, even in the East, the
sphere of contention is usually limited to the princes of
the reigning house, and as soon as the more fortunate
competitor has removed his brethren, by the sword and the
bowstring, he no longer entertains any jealousy of his
meaner subjects. But the Roman empire, after the authority
of the senate had sunk into contempt, was a vast scene of
confusion. The royal, and even noble, families of the
provinces, had long since been led in triumph before the car
of the haughty republicans. The ancient families of Rome had
successively fallen beneath the tyranny of the Caesars, and
whilst those princes were shackled by the forms of a
commonwealth, and disappointed by the repeated failure of
their posterity,(1) it was impossible that any idea of
hereditary succession should have taken root in the minds of
their subjects. The right to the throne, which none could
claim from birth, every one assumed from merit. The daring
hopes of ambition were set loose from the salutary
restraints of law and prejudice; and the meanest of mankind
might, without folly, entertain a hope of being raised by
valour and fortune to a rank in the army, in which a single
crime would enable him to wrest the sceptre of the world
from his feeble and unpopular master. After the murder of
Alexander Severus, and the elevation of Maximin, no emperor
could think himself safe upon the throne and every barbarian
peasant of the frontier might aspire to that august, but
dangerous station.
Birth and fortune of Maximin.
About thirty-two years before that event, the emperor
Severus, returning from an eastern expedition, halted in
Thrace, to celebrate, with military games, the birthday of
his younger son, Geta. The country flocked in crowds to
behold their sovereign, and a young barbarian of gigantic
stature earnestly solicited, in his rude dialect, that he
might be allowed to contend for the prize of wrestling. As
the pride of discipline would have been disgraced in the
overthrow of a Roman soldier by a Thracian peasant, he was
matched with the stoutest followers of the camp, sixteen of
whom he successively laid on the ground. His victory was
rewarded by some trifling gifts, and a permission to enlist
in the troops. The next day, the happy barbarian was
distinguished above a crowd of recruits, dancing and
exulting after the fashion of his country. As soon as he
perceived that he had attracted the emperor's notice, he
instantly ran up to his horse, and followed him on foot,
without the least appearance of fatigue, in a long and rapid
career. "Thracian," said Severus, with astonishment, "art
thou disposed to wrestle after thy race?" Most willingly,
Sir, replied the unwearied youth, and, almost in a breath,
overthrew seven of the strongest soldiers in the army. A
gold collar was the prize of his matchless vigour and
activity, and he was immediately appointed to serve in the
horse-guards who always attended on the person of the
sovereign.(2)
His military service and honours.
Maximin, for that was his name, though born on the
territories of the empire descended from a mixed race of
barbarians. His father was a Goth, and his mother of the
nation of the Alani. He displayed, on every occasion, a
valour equal to his strength; and his native fierceness was
soon tempered or disguised by the knowledge of the world.
Under the reign of Severus and his son, he obtained the rank
of centurion, with the favour and esteem of both those
princes, the former of whom was an excellent judge of merit.
Gratitude forbade Maximin to serve under the assassin of
Caracalla. Honour taught him to decline the effeminate
insults of Elagabalus. On the accession of Alexander he
returned to court, and was placed by that prince in a
station useful to the service and honourable to himself. The
fourth legion, to which he was appointed tribune, soon
became, under his care, the best disciplined of the whole
army. With the general applause of the soldiers, who
bestowed on their favourite hero the names of Ajax and
Hercules, he was successively promoted to the first military
command;(3) and had not he still retained too much of his
savage origin, the emperor might perhaps have given his own
sister in marriage to the son of Maximin.(4)
Conspiracy of Maximin.
Instead of securing his fidelity, these favours served only
to inflame the ambition of the Thracian peasant, who deemed
his fortune inadequate to his merit, as long as he was
constrained to acknowledge a superior. Though a stranger to
real wisdom, he was not devoid of a selfish cunning, which
showed him that the emperor had lost the affection of the
army, and taught him to improve their discontent to his own
advantage. It is easy for faction and calumny to shed their
poison on the administration of the best of princes, and to
accuse even their virtues, by artfully confounding them with
those vices to which they bear the nearest affinity. The
troops listened with pleasure to the emissaries of Maximin.
They blushed at their own ignominious patience, which,
during thirteen years, had supported the vexatious
discipline imposed by an effeminate Syrian, the timid slave
of his mother and of the senate. It was time, they cried, to
cast away that useless phantom of the civil power, and to
elect for their prince and general a real soldier, educated
in camps, exercised in war, who would assert the glory, and
distribute among his companions the treasures, of the
empire. A great army was at that time assembled on the banks
of the Rhine, under the command of the emperor himself, who,
almost immediately after his return from the Persian war,
had been obliged to march against the barbarians of Germany.
The important care of training and reviewing the new levies
was intrusted to Maximin. One day (A.D. 235, March 19), as
he entered the field of exercise the troops, either from a
sudden impulse or a formed conspiracy, saluted him emperor,
silenced by their loud acclamations his obstinate refusal,
and hastened to consummate their rebellion by the murder of
Alexander Severus.
Murder of Alexander Severus
The circumstances of his death are variously related. The
writers, who supposed that he died in ignorance of the
ingratitude and ambition of Maximin, affirm that, after
taking a frugal repast in the sight of the army, he retired
to sleep, and that, about the seventh hour of the day, a
part of his own guards broke into the imperial tent, and
with many wounds assassinated their virtuous and
unsuspecting prince.(5) If we credit another, and indeed a
more probable account, Maximin was invested with the purple
by a numerous detachment, at the distance of several miles
from the headquarters; and he trusted for success rather to
the secret wishes than to the public declarations of the
great army. Alexander had sufficient time to awaken a faint
sense of loyalty among his troops; but their reluctant
professions of fidelity quickly vanished on the appearance
of Maximin, who declared himself the friend and advocate of
the military order, and was unanimously acknowledged emperor
of the Romans by the applauding legions. The son of Mamaea,
betrayed and deserted, withdrew into his tent, desirous at
least to conceal his approaching fate from the insults of
the multitude. He was soon followed by a tribune and some
centurions, the ministers of death; but, instead of
receiving with manly resolution the inevitable stroke, his
unavailing cries and entreaties disgraced the last moments
of his life, and converted into contempt some portion of the
just pity which his innocence and misfortunes must inspire.
His mother Mamaea, whose pride and avarice he loudly accused
as the causes, of his ruin, perished with her son. The most
faithful of his friends were sacrificed to the first fury of
the soldiers. Others were reserved for the more deliberate
cruelty of the usurper; and those who experienced the
mildest treatment, were stripped of their employments, and
ignominiously driven from the court and army.(6)
Tyranny of Maximin.
The former tyrants, Caligula and Nero, Commodus and
Caracalla, were all dissolute and inexperienced youths,(7)
educated in the purple, and corrupted by the pride of
empire, the luxury of Rome, and the perfidious voice of
flattery. The cruelty of Maximin was derived from a
different source, the fear of contempt. Though he depended
on the attachment of the soldiers, who loved him for virtues
like their own, he was conscious that his mean and barbarian
origin, his savage appearance, and his total ignorance of
the arts and institutions of civil life,(8) formed a very
unfavourable contrast with the amiable manners of the
unhappy Alexander. He remembered that, in his humbler
fortune, he had often waited before the door of the haughty
nobles of Rome, and had been denied admittance by the
insolence of their slaves. He recollected, too, the
friendship of a few who had relieved his poverty, and
assisted his rising hopes. But those who had spurned, and
those who had protected the Thracian, were guilty of the
same crime, the knowledge of his original obscurity. For
this crime many were put to death; and by the execution of
several of his benefactors, Maximin published, in characters
of blood, the indelible history of his baseness and
ingratitude.(9)
The dark and sanguinary soul of the tyrant was open to every
suspicion against those among his subjects who were the most
distinguished by their birth or merit. Whenever he was
alarmed with the sound of treason, his cruelty was unbounded
and unrelenting. A conspiracy against his life was either
discovered or imagined, and Magnus, a consular senator, was
named as the principal author of it. Without a witness,
without a trial, and without an opportunity of defence,
Magnus, with four thousand of his supposed accomplices, was
put to death. Italy and the whole empire were infested with
innumerable spies and informers. On the slightest
accusation, the first of the Roman nobles, who had governed
provinces, commanded armies, and been adorned with the
consular arid triumphal ornaments, were chained on the
public carriages, and hurried away to the emperor's
presence. Confiscation, exile, or simple death, were
esteemed uncommon instances of his lenity. Some of the
unfortunate sufferers he ordered to be sewed up in the hides
of slaughtered animals, others to be exposed to wild beasts,
others again to be beaten to death with clubs. During the
three years of his reign, he disdained to visit either Rome
or Italy. His camp, occasionally removed from the banks of
the Rhine to those of the Danube, was the seat of his stern
despotism, which trampled on every principle of law and
justice, and was supported by the avowed power of the sword.
(10) No man of noble birth, elegant accomplishments, or
knowledge of civil business, was suffered near his person;
and the court of a Roman emperor revived the idea of those
ancient chiefs of slaves and gladiators, whose savage power
had left a deep impression of terror and detestation . (11)
Oppression of the provinces
As long as the cruelty of Maximin was confined to the
illustrious senators, or even to the bold adventurers, who
in the court or army expose themselves to the caprice of
fortune, the body of the people viewed their sufferings with
indifference, or perhaps with pleasure. But the tyrant's
avarice, stimulated by the insatiate desires of the
soldiers, at length attacked the public property. Every city
of the empire was possessed of an independent revenue,
destined to purchase corn for the multitude, and to supply
the expenses of the games and entertainments. By a single
act of authority, the whole mass of wealth was at once
confiscated for the use of the Imperial treasury. The
temples were stripped of their most valuable offerings of
gold and silver, and the statues of gods, heroes, and
emperors, were melted down and coined into money. These
impious orders could not be executed without tumults and
massacres, as in many places the people chose rather to die
in the defence of their altars, than to behold in the midst
of peace their cities exposed to the rapine and cruelty of
war. The soldiers themselves, among whom this sacrilegious
plunder was distributed, received it with a blush; and,
hardened as they were in acts of violence, they dreaded the
just reproaches of their friends and relations. Throughout
the Roman world a general cry of indignation was heard,
imploring vengeance on the common enemy of human kind; and
at length, by an act of private oppression, a peaceful and
unarmed province was driven into rebellion against him.(12)
Revolt in Africa
The procurator of Africa was a servant worthy of such a
master, who considered the fines and confiscations of the
rich as one of the most fruitful branches of the Imperial
revenue. An iniquitous sentence had been (A.D. 237, April)
pronounced against some opulent youths of that country, the
execution of which would have stripped them of far the
greater part of their patrimony. In this extremity, a
resolution that must either complete or prevent their ruin,
was dictated by despair. A respite of three days, obtained
with difficulty from the rapacious treasurer, was employed
in collecting from their estates a great number of slaves
and peasants, blindly devoted to the commands of their
lords, and armed with the rustic weapons of clubs and axes.
The leaders of the conspiracy, as they were admitted to the
audience of the procurator stabbed him with the daggers
concealed under their garments, and, by the assistance of
their tumultuary train, seized on the little town of
Thysdrus,(13) and erected the standard of rebellion against
the sovereign of the Roman empire. They rested their hopes
on the hatred of mankind against Maximin, and they
judiciously resolved to oppose to that detested tyrant an
emperor whose mild virtues had already acquired the love and
esteem of the Romans, and whose authority over the province
would give weight and stability to the enterprise.
Gordianus, their proconsul, and the object of their choice,
refused, with unfeigned reluctance, the dangerous honour,
and begged with tears that they would suffer him to
terminate in peace a long and innocent life, without
staining his feeble age with civil blood. Their menaces
compelled him to accept the Imperial purple, his only refuge
indeed against the jealous cruelty of Maximin; since,
according to the reasoning of tyrants, those who have been
esteemed worthy of the throne deserve death, and those who
deliberate have already rebelled.(14)
Character and elevation of the two Gordians
The family of Gordianus was one of the most illustrious of
the Roman senate. On the father's side, he was descended
from the Gracchi; on his mother's, from the emperor Trajan.
A great estate enabled him to support the dignity of this
birth, and, in the enjoyment of it, he displayed an elegant
taste and beneficent disposition. The palace in Rome,
formerly inhabited by the great Pompey, had been, during
several generations, in the possession of Gordian's family.
(15) It was distinguished by ancient trophies of naval
victories, and decorated with the works of modern painting.
His villa on the road to Praeneste was celebrated for baths
of singular beauty and extent, for three stately rooms of an
hundred feet in length, and for a magnificent portico,
supported by two hundred columns of the four most curious
and costly sorts of marble.(16) The public shows exhibited at
his expense, and in which the people were entertained with
many hundreds of wild beasts and gladiators, (17) seem to
surpass the fortune of a subject; and whilst the liberality
of other magistrates was confined to a few solemn festivals
in Rome, the magnificence of Gordian was repeated, when he
was ardile, every month in the year, and extended, during
his consulship, to the principal cities of Italy. He was
twice elevated to the last-mentioned dignity, by Caracalla
and by Alexander; for he possessed the uncommon talent of
acquiring the esteem of virtuous princes, without alarming
the jealousy of tyrants. His long life was innocently spent
in the study of letters and the peaceful honours of Rome;
and, till he was named proconsul of Africa by the voice of
the senate and the approbation of Alexander,(18) he appears
prudently to have declined the command of armies and the
government of provinces. As long as that emperor lived,
Africa was happy under the administration of his worthy
representative; after the barbarous Maximin had usurped the
throne, Gordianus alleviated the miseries which he was
unable to prevent. When he reluctantly accepted the purple,
he was above four-score years old; a last and valuable
remains of the happy age of the Antonines, whose virtues he
revived in his own conduct and celebrated in an elegant poem
of thirty books. With the venerable proconsul, his son, who
had accompanied him into Africa as his lieutenant, was
likewise declared emperor. His manners were less pure, but
his character was equally amiable with that of his father.
Twenty-two acknowledged concubines, and a library of
sixty-two thousand volumes, attested the variety of his
inclinations, and from the productions which he left behind
him, it appears that the former as well as the latter were
designed for use rather than ostentation. (19) The Roman
people acknowledged in the features of the younger Gordian
the resemblance of Scipio Africanus, recollected with
pleasure that his mother was the grand-daughter of Antoninus
Pius, and rested the public hope on those latent virtues
which had hitherto, as they fondly imagined, lain concealed
in the luxurious indolence of a private life.
They solicit the confirmation of their authority.
As soon as the Gordians had appeased the first tumult of a
popular election, they removed their court to Carthage. They
were received with the acclamations of the Africans, who
honoured their virtues, and who, since the visit of Hadrian,
had never beheld the majesty of a Roman emperor. But these
vain acclamations neither strengthened nor confirmed the
title of the Gordians. They were induced by principle, as
well as interest, to solicit the approbation of the senate;
and a deputation of the noblest provincials was sent,
without delay, to Rome, to relate and justify the conduct of
their countrymen, who, having long suffered with patience,
were at length resolved to act with vigour. The letters of
the new princes were modest and respectful, excusing the
necessity which had obliged them to accept the Imperial
title; but submitting their election and their fate to the
supreme judgment of the senate.(20)
The senate ratifies their election of the Gordians.
The inclinations of the senate were neither doubtful nor
divided. The birth and noble alliances of the Gordians had
intimately connected them with the most illustrious houses
of Rome. Their fortune had created many dependents in that
assembly, their merit had acquired many friends. Their mild
administration opened the flattering prospect of the
restoration not only of the civil but even of the republican
government. The terror of military violence, which had first
obliged the senate to forget the murder of Alexander, and to
ratify the election of a barbarian peasant,(21) now produced
a contrary effect, and provoked them to assert the injured
rights of; freedom and humanity. The hatred of Maximin
towards the senate was declared and implacable; the tamest
submission had not appeased his fury, the most cautious
innocence would not remove his suspicions; and even the care
of their own safety urged them to share the fortune of an
enterprise, of which (if unsuccessful) they were sure to be
the first victims. These considerations, and perhaps others
of a more private nature, were debated in a previous
conference of the consuls and the magistrates. As soon as
their resolution was decided, they convoked in the temple of
Castor the whole body of the senate, according to an ancient
form of secrecy, (22) calculated to awaken their attention,
and to conceal their decrees. "Conscript fathers," said the
consul Syllanus, "the two Gordians, both of consular
dignity, the one your proconsul, the other your lieutenant,
have been declared emperors by the general consent of
Africa. Let us return thanks," he boldly continued, "to the
youth of Thysdrus; let us return thanks to the faithful
people of Carthage, our generous deliverers from an horrid
monster - Why do you hear me thus coolly, thus timidly? Why
do you cast those anxious looks on each other? Why hesitate?
Maximin is a public enemy! May his enmity soon expire with
him, and may we long enjoy the prudence and felicity of
Gordian the father, the valour and constancy of Gordian the
son!"(23) The noble ardour of the consul revived the languid
spirit of the senate. By an unanimous decree the election of
the Gordians was ratified, Maximin, his son, and his
adherents, were pronounced enemies of their country, and
liberal rewards were offered to whomsoever had the courage
and good fortune to destroy them.
Assumes the command of Rome and Italy
During the emperor's absence, a detachment of the Praetorian
guards remained at Rome, to protect, or rather to command,
the capital. The Praefect Vitalianus had signalised his
fidelity to Maximin, by the alacrity with which he had
obeyed, and even prevented, the cruel mandates of the
tyrant. His death alone could rescue the authority of the
senate, and the lives of the senators, from a state of
danger and suspense. Before their resolves had transpired, a
quaestor and some tribunes were commissioned to take his
devoted life. They executed the order with equal boldness
and success; and, with their bloody daggers in their hands,
ran through the streets proclaiming to the people and the
soldiers the news of the happy revolution. The enthusiasm of
liberty was seconded by the promise of a large donative, in
lands and money; the statues of Maximin were thrown down;
the capital of the empire acknowledged, with transport, the
authority of the two Gordians and the senate,(24) and the
example of Rome was followed by the rest of Italy.
and prepares for a civil war.
A new spirit had arisen in that assembly, whose long
patience had been insulted by wanton despotism and military
licence. The senate assumed the reins of government, and,
with a calm intrepidity, prepared to vindicate by arms the
cause of freedom. Among the consular senators recommended by
their merit and services to the favour of the emperor
Alexander, it was easy to select twenty, not unequal to the
command of an army, and the conduct of a war. To these was
the defence of Italy intrusted. Each was appointed to act in
his respective department authorised to enrol and discipline
the Italian youth; and instructed to fortify the ports and
highways against the impending invasion of Maximin. A number
of deputies, chosen from the most illustrious of the
senatorian and equestrian orders, were dispatched at the
same time to the governors of the several provinces,
earnestly conjuring them to fly to the assistance of their
country, and to remind the nations of their ancient ties of
friendship with the Roman senate and people. The general
respect with which these deputies were received, and the
zeal of Italy and the provinces in favour of the senate,
efficiently prove that the subjects of Maximin were reduced
to that uncommon distress, in which the body of the people
has more to fear from oppression than from resistance. The
consciousness of that melancholy truth inspires a degree of
persevering fury seldom to be found in those civil wars
which are artificially supported for the benefit of a few
factious and designing leaders.(25)
Defeat and death of the two Gordians.
For while the cause of the Gordians was embraced with such
diffusive ardour, the Gordians themselves were no more (A.D.
237, 3rd July) were no more. The feeble court of Carthage
was alarmed with the rapid approach of Capelianus, governor
of Mauritania, who, with a small band of veterans, and a
fierce host of barbarians, attacked a faithful but unwarlike
province. The younger Gordian sallied out to meet the enemy
at the head of a few guards, and a numerous undisciplined
multitude, educated in the peaceful usury of Carthage. His
useless valour served only to procure him an honourable
death, in he field of battle. His aged father, whose reign
had not exceeded thirty-six days, put an end to his life on
the first news of the defeat. Carthage, destitute of
defence, opened her gates to the conqueror, and Africa was
exposed to the rapacious cruelty of a slave, obliged to
satisfy his unrelenting master with a large account of blood
and treasure.(26)
Election of Maximus and Balbinus by the senate. 9th July
The fate of the Gordians filled Rome with just, but
unexpected terror. The senate convoked in the temple of
Concord, affected to transact the common business of the
day; and seemed to decline, with trembling anxiety, the
consideration of their own and the public danger. A silent
consternation prevailed on the assembly, till a senator, of
the name and family of Trajan, awakened his brethren from
their fatal lethargy. He represented to them, that the
choice of cautious dilatory measures had been long since out
of their power; that Maximin, implacable by nature, and
exasperated by injuries, was advancing towards Italy, at the
head of the military force of the empire; and that their
only remaining alternative was either to meet him bravely in
the field, or tamely to expect the tortures and ignominious
death reserved for unsuccessful rebellion. "We have lost,"
continued he, "two excellent princes; but unless we desert
ourselves, the hopes of the republic have not perished with
the Gordians. Many are the senators whose virtues have
deserved, and whose abilities would sustain, the Imperial
dignity. Let us elect two emperors, one of whom may conduct
the war against the public enemy, whilst his colleague
remains at Rome to direct the civil administration. I
cheerfully expose myself to the danger and envy of the
nomination, and give my vote in favour of Maximus and
Balbinus. Ratify my choice, conscript fathers, or appoint,
in their place, others more worthy of the empire." The
general apprehension silenced the whispers of jealousy; the
merit of the candidates was universally acknowledged; and
the house resounded with the sincere acclamations, of "long
life and victory to the emperors Maximus and Balbinus. You
are happy in the judgment of the senate; may the republic be
happy under your administration !"(27)
Their characters.
The virtues and the reputation of the new emperors justified
the most sanguine hopes of the Romans. The various nature of
their talents seemed to appropriate to each his peculiar
department of peace and war, without leaving room for
jealous emulation. Balbinus was an admired orator, a poet of
distinguished fame, and a wise magistrate, who had exercised
with innocence and applause the civil jurisdiction in almost
all the interior provinces of the empire. His birth was
noble(28) his fortune affluent, his manners liberal and
affable. In him the love of pleasure was corrected by a
sense of dignity, nor had the habits of ease deprived him of
a capacity for business. The mind of Maximus was formed in a
rougher mould. By his valour and abilities he had raised
himself from the meanest origin to the first employments of
the state and army. His victories over the Sarmatians and
the Germans, the austerity of his life, and the rigid
impartiality of his justice, whilst he was Praefect of the
city, commanded the esteem of a people, whose affections
were engaged in favour of the more amiable Balbinus. The two
colleagues had both been consuls (Balbinus had twice enjoyed
that honourable office), both had been named among the
twenty lieutenants of the senate; and since the one was
sixty and the other seventy-four years old,(29) they had both
attained the full maturity of age and experience.
Tumult at Rome. The younger Gordian is declared Caesar
After the senate had conferred on Maximus and Balbinus an
equal portion of the consular and tribunitian powers, the
title of Fathers of their country, and the joint office of
Supreme Pontiff, they ascended to the Capitol, to return
thanks to the gods, protectors of Rome.(30) The solemn rites
of sacrifice were disturbed by a sedition of the people. The
licentious multitude neither loved the rigid Maximus, nor
did they sufficiently fear the mild and humane Balbinus.
Their increasing numbers surrounded the temple of Jupiter;
with obstinate clamours they asserted their inherent right
of consenting to the election of their sovereign; and
demanded, with an apparent moderation, that, besides the two
emperors chosen by the senate, a third should be added of
the family of the Gordians, as a just return of gratitude to
those princes who had sacrificed their lives for the
republic. At the head of the city-guards, and the youth of
the equestrian order, Maximus and Balbinus attempted to cut
their way through the seditious multitude. The multitude,
armed with sticks and stones, drove them back into the
Capitol. It is prudent to yield when the contest, whatever
may be the issue of it, must be fatal to both parties. A
boy, only thirteen years of age, the grandson of the elder,
and nephew of the younger, Gordian, was produced to the
people, invested with the ornaments and title of Caesar. The
tumult was appeased by this easy condescension; and the two
emperors, as soon as they had been peaceably acknowledged in
Rome, prepared to defend Italy against the common enemy.
Maximin prepares to attack the senate and the emperors
Whilst in Rome and Africa revolutions succeeded each other
with such amazing rapidity, the mind of Maximin was agitated
by the most furious passions. He is said to have received
the news of the rebellion of the Gordians, and of the decree
of the senate against him, not with the temper of a man, but
the rage of a wild beast; which, as it could not discharge
itself on the distant senate, threatened the life of his
son, of his friends, and of all who ventured to approach his
person. The grateful intelligence of the death of the
Gordians was quickly followed by the assurance that the
senate, laying aside all hopes of pardon or accommodation,
had substituted in their room two emperors, with whose merit
he could not be unacquainted. Revenge was the only
consolation left to Maximin, and revenge could only be
obtained by arms. The strength of the legions had been
assembled by Alexander from all parts of the empire. Three
successful campaigns against the Germans and the Sarmatians
had raised their fame, confirmed their discipline, and even
increased their numbers, by filling the ranks with the
flower of the barbarian youth. The life of Maximin had been
spent in war, and the candid severity of history cannot
refuse him the valour of a soldier, or even the abilities of
an experienced general. (31) It might naturally be expected
that a prince of such a character, instead of suffering the
rebellion to gain stability by delay, should immediately
have marched from the banks of the Danube to those of the
Tiber, and that his victorious army, instigated by contempt
for the senate, and eager to gather the spoils of Italy,
should have burned with impatience to finish the easy and
lucrative conquest. Yet as far as we can trust to the
obscure chronology of that period, (32) it appears that the
operations of some foreign war deferred the Italian
expedition till the ensuing spring. From the prudent conduct
of Maximin, we may learn that the savage features of his
character have been exaggerated by the pencil of party, that
his passions, however impetuous, submitted to the force of
reason, and that the barbarian possessed something of the
generous spirit of Sylla, who subdued the enemies of Rome
before he suffered himself to revenge his private injuries.
(33)
Marches into Italy. A.D. 238 February
When the troops of Maximin, advancing in excellent order,
arrived at the foot of the Julian Alps, they were terrified
by the silence and desolation that reigned on the frontiers
of Italy. The villages and open towns had been abandoned on
their approach by the inhabitants, the cattle was driven
away, the provisions removed, or destroyed, the bridges
broke down, nor was anything left which could afford either
shelter or give subsistence to an invader. Such had been the
wise orders of the generals of the senate, whose design was
to protract the war, to ruin the army of Maximin by the slow
operation of famine, and to consume his strength in the
sieges of the principal cities of Italy, which they had
plentifully stored with men and provisions from the deserted
Siege of country. Aquileia received and withstood the first shock of
Aquileia the invasion. The streams that issue from the head of the
Hadriatic gulf, swelled by the melting of the winter snows,
(34) opposed an unexpected obstacle to the arms of Maximin. At
length, on a singular bridge, constructed with art and
difficulty of large hogsheads, he transported his army to
the opposite bank, rooted up the beautiful vineyards in the
neighbourhood of Aquileia, demolished the suburbs, and
employed the timber of the buildings in the engines and
towers, with which on every side he attacked the city. The
walls fallen to decay during the security of a long peace,
had been hastily repaired on this sudden emergency; but the
firmest defence of Aquileia consisted in the constancy of
the citizens; all ranks of whom, instead of being dismayed,
were animated by the extreme danger, and their knowledge of
the tyrant's unrelenting temper. Their courage was supported
and directed by Crispinus and Menophilus, two of the twenty
lieutenants of the senate, who, with a small body of regular
troops, had thrown themselves into the besieged place. The
army of Maximin was repulsed on repeated attacks, his
machines destroyed by showers of artificial fire; and the
generous enthusiasm of the Aquileians was exalted into a
confidence of success, by the opinion that Belenus, their
tutelar deity, combated in person in the defence of his
distressed worshippers.(35)
Conduct of Maximus.
The emperor Maximus, who had advanced as far as Ravenna, to
secure that important place, and to hasten the military
preparations beheld the event of the war in the more
faithful mirror of reason and policy. He was too sensible
that a single town could not resist the persevering efforts
of a great army; and he dreaded lest the enemy, tired with
the obstinate resistance of Aquileia, should on a sudden
relinquish the fruitless siege, and march directly towards
Rome. The fate of the empire and the cause of freedom must
then be committed to the chance of a battle; and what arms
could he oppose to the veteran legions of the Rhine and the
Danube? Some troops newly levied among the generous but
enervated youth of Italy; and a body of German auxiliaries,
on whose firmness, in the hour of trial, it was dangerous to
depend.. In the midst of these just alarms, the stroke of
domestic conspiracy punished the crimes of Maximin, and
delivered Rome and the senate from the calamities that would
surely have attended the victory of an enraged barbarian.
Murder of Maximin and his son. A.D. 238 April
The people of Aquileia had scarcely experienced any of the
common miseries of a siege, their magazines were plentifully
supplied, and several fountains within the walls assured
them of an inexhaustible resource of fresh water. The
soldiers of Maximin were, on the contrary, exposed to the
inclemency of the season, the contagion of disease, and the
horrors of famine. The open country was ruined, the rivers
filled with the slain, and polluted with blood. A spirit of
despair and disaffection began to diffuse itself among the
troops; and as they were cut off from all intelligence, they
easily believed that the whole empire had embraced the cause
of the senate, and that they were left as devoted victims to
perish under the impregnable walls of Aquileia. The fierce
temper of the tyrant was exasperated by disappointments,
which he imputed to the cowardice of his army; and his
wanton and ill-timed cruelty, instead of striking terror,
inspired hatred and a just desire of revenge. A party of
Praetorian guards, who trembled for their wives and children
in the camp of Alba, near Rome, executed the sentence of the
senate. Maximin, abandoned by his guards, was (A.D. 238,
April) slain in his tent, with his son (whom he had
associated to the honours of the purple), Anulinus the
praefect, and the principal ministers of his tyranny.(36) The
sight of their heads, borne on the point of spears,
convinced the citizens of Aquileia, that the siege was at an
end; the gates of the city were thrown open, a liberal
market was provided for the hungry troops of Maximin, and
the whole army joined in solemn protestations of fidelity to
the senate and the people of Rome, and to their lawful
His portrait emperors Maximus and Balbinus. Such was the deserved fate of
a brutal savage, destitute, as he has generally been
represented, of every sentiment that distinguishes a
civilised, or even a human being. The body was suited to the
soul. The stature of Maximin exceeded the measure of eight
feet, and circumstances almost incredible are related of his
matchless strength and appetite. (37) Had he lived in a less
enlightened age, tradition and poetry might well have
described him as one of those monstrous giants, whose
supernatural power was constantly exerted for the
destruction of mankind.
Joy of the Roman world.
It is easier to conceive than to describe the universal joy
of the Roman world on the fall of the tyrant, the news of
which is said to have been carried in four days from
Aquileia to Rome. The return of Maximus was a triumphal
procession, his colleague and young Gordian went out to meet
him, and the three princes made their entry into the
capital, attended by the ambassadors of almost all the
cities of Italy, saluted with the splendid offerings of
gratitude and superstition, and received with the unfeigned
acclamations of the senate and people, who persuaded
themselves that a golden age would succeed to an age of
iron.(38) The conduct of the two emperors correspond with
these expectations. They administered justice in person; and
the rigour of the one was tempered by the other's clemency.
The oppressive taxes with which Maximin had loaded the
rights of inheritance and succession were repealed, or at
least moderated. Discipline was revived, and with the advice
of the senate many wise laws were enacted by their imperial
ministers, who endeavoured to restart a civil constitution
on the ruins of military tyranny. "What reward may we expect
for delivering Rome from a monster?" was the question asked
by Maximus, in a moment of freedom and confidence. Balbinus
answered it without hesitation. "The love of the senate, of
the people, and of all mankind.''. .
"Alas!" replied his more penetrating colleague, "Alas! I
dread the hatred of the soldiers, and the fatal effects of
their resentment."(39) His apprehensions were but too well
justified by the event.
Sedition at Rome
Whilst Maximus was preparing to defend Italy against the
common foe, Balbinus, who remained at Rome, had been engaged
in scenes of blood and intestine discord. Distrust and
jealousy reigned in the senate; and even in the temples
where they assembled, every senator carried either open or
concealed arms. In the midst of their deliberations, two
veterans of the guards, actuated either by curiosity or a
sinister motive, audaciously thrust themselves into the
house, and advanced by degrees beyond the altar of Victory.
Gallicanus, a consular, and Maecenas, a Praetorian senator,
viewed with indignation their insolent intrusion: drawing
their daggers, they laid the spies, for such they deemed
them, dead at the foot of the altar, and then advancing to
the door of the senate, imprudently exhorted the multitude
to massacre the Praetorians, as the secret adherents of the
tyrant. Those who escaped the first fury of the tumult took
refuge in the camp, which they defended with superior
advantage against the reiterated attacks of the people,
assisted by the numerous bands of gladiators, the property
of opulent nobles. The civil war lasted many days, with
infinite loss and confusion on both sides. When the pipes
were broken that supplied the camp with water, the
Praetorians were reduced to intolerable distress; but in
their turn they made desperate sallies into the city, set
fire to a great number of houses, and filled the street with
the blood of the inhabitants. The emperor Balbinus
attempted, by ineffectual edicts and precarious truces, to
reconcile the factions at Rome. But their animosity, though
smothered for a while, burnt with redoubled violence. The
soldiers, detesting the senate and the people, despised the
weakness of a prince who wanted either the spirit or the
power to command the obedience of his subjects.(40)
Discontent of the Praetorian guards.
After the tyrant's death, his formidable army had
acknowledged, from necessity rather than from choice, the
authority of Maximus, who transported himself without delay
to the camp before Aquileia. As soon as he had received
their oath of fidelity, he addressed them in terms full of
mildness and moderation; lamented, rather than arraigned,
the wild disorders of the times, and assured the soldiers,
that of all their past conduct, the senate would remember
only their generous desertion of the tyrant, and their
voluntary return to their duty. Maximus enforced his
exhortations by a liberal donative, purified the camp by a
solemn sacrifice of expiation, and then dismissed the
legions to their several provinces, impressed, as he hoped,
with a lively sense of gratitude and obedience. (41) But
nothing could reconcile the haughty spirit of the
Praetorians. They attended the emperors on the memorable day
of their public entry into Rome; but amidst the general
acclamations, the sullen dejected countenance of the guards
sufficiently declared that they considered themselves as the
object, rather than the partners, of the triumph. When the
whole body was united in their camp, those who had served
under Maximin, and those who had remained at Rome,
insensibly communicated to each other their complaints and
apprehensions. The emperors chosen by the army had perished
with ignominy; those elected by the senate were seated on
the throne.(42) The long discord between the civil and
military powers was decided by a war, in which the former
had obtained a complete victory. The soldiers must now learn
a new doctrine of submission to the senate; and whatever
clemency was affected by that politic assembly, they dreaded
a slow revenge, coloured by the name of discipline, and
justified by fair pretences of the public good. But their
fate was still in their own hands; and if they had courage
to despise the vain terrors of an impotent republic, it was
easy to convince the world that those who were masters of
the arms were masters of the authority, of the state.
Massacre of Maximus and Balbinus
When the senate elected two princes, it is probable that,
besides the declared reason of providing for the various
emergencies of peace and war, they were actuated by the
secret desire of weakening by division the despotism of the
supreme magistrate. Their policy was effectual, but it
proved fatal both to their emperors and to themselves. The
jealousy of power was soon exasperated by the difference of
character. Maximus despised Balbinus as a luxurious noble,
and was in his turn disdained by his colleague as an obscure
soldier. Their silent discord was understood rather than
seen ;(43) but the mutual consciousness prevented them from
uniting in any vigorous measures of defence against their
common enemies of the Praetorian camp. The whole city was
(A.D. 238, July 15) employed in the Capitoline games, and
the emperors were left almost alone in the palace. On a
sudden they were alarmed by the approach of a troop of
desperate assassins. Ignorant of each other's situation or
designs, for they already occupied very distant apartments,
afraid to give or to receive assistance, they wasted the
important moments in idle debates and fruitless
recriminations. The arrival of the guards put an end to the
vain strife. They seized on these emperors of the senate,
for such they called them with malicious contempt, stripped
them of their garments, and dragged them in insolent triumph
through the streets of Rome, with a design of inflicting a
slow and cruel death on those unfortunate princes. The fear
of a rescue from the faithful Germans of the Imperial
guards, shortened their tortures; and their bodies, mangled
with a thousand wounds, were left exposed to the insults or
to the pity of the populace.(44)
The third Gordian remains sole emperor.
In the space of a few months, six princes had been cut off
by the sword. Gordian, who had already received the title of
Caesar, was the only person that occurred to the soldiers as
proper to fill the vacant throne.(45) They carried him to the
camp, and unanimously saluted him Augustus and Emperor. His
name was dear to the senate and people; his tender age
promised a long impunity of military licence; and the
submission of Rome and the provinces to the choice of the
Praetorian guards, saved the republic, at the expense indeed
of its freedom and dignity, from the horrors of a new civil
war in the heart of the capital.(46)
Innocence and virtues of Gordian.
As the third Gordian was only nineteen years of age at the
time of his death, the history of his life, were it known to
us with greater accuracy than it really is, would contain
little more than the account of his education, and the
conduct of the ministers, who by turns abused or guided the
simplicity of his inexperienced youth. Immediately after his
accession, he fell into the hands of his mother's eunuchs,
that pernicious vermin of the East, who, since the days of
Elagabalus, had infested the Roman palace. By the artful
conspiracy of these wretches, an impenetrable veil was drawn
between an innocent prince and his oppressed subjects, the
virtuous disposition of Gordian was deceived, and the
honours of the empire sold without his knowledge, though in
a very public manner, to the most worthless of mankind. We
are ignorant by what fortunate accident the emperor escaped
from this ignominious slavery, and devolved his confidence
on a minister whose wise counsels had no object except the
glory of his sovereign and the happiness of the people. It
should seem that (A.D. 240) love and learning introduced
Administration Misitheus to the favour of Gordian. The young prince married
of Misitheus the daughter of his master of rhetoric, and promoted his
father-in-law to the first offices of the empire. Two
admirable letters that passed between them are still extant.
The minister, with the conscious dignity of virtue,
congratulates Gordian that he is delivered from the tyranny
of the eunuchs,(47) and still more that he is sensible of his
deliverance. The emperor acknowledges, with an amiable
confusion, the errors of his past conduct; and laments, with
singular propriety, the misfortune of a monarch, from whom a
venal tribe of courtiers perpetually labour to conceal the
truth.(48)
The Persian war.
The life of Misitheus had been spent in the profession of
letters, not of arms; yet such was the versatile genius of
that great man, that, when (A.D. 242) he was appointed
Praetorian Praefect, he discharged the military duties of
his place with vigour and ability. The Persians had invaded
Mesopotamia, and threatened Antioch. By the persuasion of
his father-in-law, the young emperor quitted the luxury of
Rome, opened, for the last time recorded in history, the
temple of Janus, and marched in person into the East. On his
approach with a great army, the Persians withdrew their
garrisons from the cities which they had already taken, and
retired from the Euphrates to the Tigris. Gordian enjoyed
the pleasure of announcing to the senate the first success
of his arms, which he ascribed with a becoming modesty and
gratitude to the wisdom of his father and Praefect. During
the whole expedition, Misitheus watched over the safety and
discipline of the army; whilst he prevented their dangerous
murmurs by maintaining a regular plenty in the camp, and by
establishing ample magazines of vinegar, bacon, straw,
barley, and wheat, in all the cities of the frontier.(49) But
the prosperity of Gordian expired with Misitheus, who died
of a flux, not without very strong suspicions of poison.
Arts of Philip Philip, his successor (A.D. 243) in the praefecture, was an
A.D. 243 Arab by birth, and consequently, in the earlier part of his
life, a robber by profession. His rise from so obscure a
station to the first dignities of the empire, seems to prove
that he was a bold and able leader. But his boldness
prompted him to aspire to the throne, and his abilities were
employed to supplant, not to serve, his indulgent master.
The minds of the soldiers were irritated by an artificial
scarcity, created by his contrivance in the camp; and the
distress of the army was attributed to the youth and
incapacity of the prince. It is not in our power to trace
the successive steps of the secret conspiracy and open
Murder of sedition, which were at length fatal to Gordian. A
Gordian sepulchral monument was erected to his memory on the spot(50)
where (A.D. 244, March) he was killed, near the conflux of
the Euphrates with the little river Aboras.(51) The fortunate
Philip, raised to the empire by the votes of the soldiers,
found a ready obedience from the senate and the provinces.
(52)
Form of a military republic.
We cannot forbear transcribing the ingenious, though
somewhat fanciful description, which a celebrated writer of
our own times has traced of the military government of the
Roman empire. "What in that age was called the Roman empire,
was only an irregular republic, not unlike the Aristocracy
(53) of Algiers (54) where the militia, possessed of the
sovereignty, creates and deposes a magistrate, who is styled
a Dey. Perhaps, indeed, it may be laid down as a general
rule, that a military government is, in some respects, more
republican than monarchical. Nor can it be said that the
soldiers only partook of the government by their
disobedience and rebellions. The speeches made to them by
the emperors, were they not at length of the same nature as
those formerly pronounced to the people by the consuls and
the tribunes? And although the armies had no regular place
or forms of assembly; though their debates were short, their
action sudden, and their resolves seldom the result of cool
reflection, did they not dispose, with absolute sway, of the
public fortune? What was the emperor, except the minister of
a violent government elected for the private benefit of the
soldiers?
"When the army had elected Philip, who was Praetorian
praefect to the third Gordian; the latter demanded that he
might remain sole emperor; he was unable to obtain it. He
requested that the power might be equally divided between
them; the army would not listen to his speech. He consented
to be degraded to the rank of Caesar; the favour was refused
him. He desired, at least, he might be appointed Praetorian
praefect; his prayer was rejected. Finally, he pleaded for
his life. The army, in these several judgments, exercised
the supreme magistracy." According to the historian, whose
doubtful narrative the president De Montesquieu has adopted,
Philip, who, during the whole transaction, had preserved a
sullen silence, was inclined to spare the innocent life of
his benefactor; till, recollecting that his innocence might
excite a dangerous compassion in the Roman world; he
commanded, without regard to his suppliant cries, that he
should be seized, stript, and led away to instant death.
After a moment's pause the inhuman sentence was executed.
(55)
Reign of Philip.
On his return from the East to Rome, Philip, desirous of
obliterating the memory of his crimes, and of captivating
the affections of the people, solemnised (A.D. 248, April
21) the secular games with infinite pomp and magnificence.
Since their institution or revival by Augustus,(56) they had
been celebrated by Claudius, by Domitian, and by Severus,
and were now renewed the fifth time, on the accomplishment
of the full period of a thousand years from the foundation
of Rome. Every circumstance of the < secular games was
skilfully adapted to inspire the superstitious mind with
deep and solemn reverence. The long interval between them(57)
exceeded the term of human life; and as none of the
spectators had already seen them, none could flatter
themselves with the expectation of beholding them a second
time. The mystic sacrifices were performed, during three
nights, on the banks of the Tiber; and the Campus Martius
resounded with music and dances, and was illuminated with
innumerable lamps and torches. Slaves and strangers were
excluded from any participation in these national
ceremonies. A chorus of twenty-seven youths, and as many
virgins, of noble families, and whose parents were both
alive, implored the propitious gods in favour of the
present, and for the hope of the rising generation;
requesting, in religious hymns, that, according to the faith
of their ancient oracles, they would still maintain the
virtue, the felicity, and the empire of the Roman people.(58)
The magnificence of Philip's shows and entertainments
dazzled the eyes of the multitude. The devout were employed
in the rites of superstition, whilst the reflecting few
revolved in their anxious minds the past history and the
future fate of the empire.
Decline of the Roman empire.
Since Romulus, with a small band of shepherds and outlaws,
fortified himself on the hills near the Tiber, ten centuries
had already elapsed. (59) During the first four ages, the
Romans, in the laborious school of poverty, had acquired the
virtues of war and government; by the vigorous exertion of
those virtues, and by the assistance of fortune, they had
obtained, in the course of the three succeeding centuries,
an absolute empire over many countries of Europe, Asia, and
Africa. The last three hundred years had been consumed in
apparent prosperity and internal decline. The nation of
soldiers, magistrates, and legislators, who composed the
thirty-five tribes of the Roman people, was dissolved into
the common mass of mankind and confounded with the millions
of servile provincials, who had received the name without
adopting the spirit of Romans. A mercenary army, levied
among the subjects and barbarians of the frontier, was the
only order of men who preserved and abused their
independence. By their tumultuary election, a Syrian, a
Goth, or an Arab, was exalted to the throne of Rome, and
invested with despotic power over the conquests and over the
country of the Scipios.
The limits of the Roman empire still extended from the
Western Ocean to the Tigris, and from Mount Atlas to the
Rhine and the Danube. To the undiscerning eye of the vulgar,
Philip appeared a monarch no less powerful than Hadrian or
Augustus had formerly been. The form was still the same, but
the animating health and vigour were fled. The industry of
the people was discouraged and exhausted by a long series of
oppression. The discipline of the legions, which alone,
after the extinction of every other virtue, had propped the
greatness of the state, was corrupted by the ambition, or
relaxed by the weakness, of the emperors. The strength of
the frontiers, which had always consisted in arms rather
than in fortifications, was insensibly undermined; and the
fairest provinces were left exposed to the rapaciousness or
ambition of the barbarians, who soon discovered the decline
of the Roman empire.