 Chapter 11, Part 2 of the D-Line and Fall of the Roman Empire. Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Monsbru, Helsingfors, Finland. Chapter 11, Reign of Claudius, Defeat of the Gods. Part 2. The death of Claudius had revived the fainting spirit of the gods. The troops which guarded the passes of Mount Hamas and the banks of the Danube had been drawn away by the apprehension of a civil war, and it seems probable that the remaining body of the Gothic and Vandalic tribes embraced the favorable opportunity, abandoned their settlements of the Ukraine, traversed the rivers, and swelled with the new multitudes the destroying hosts of their countrymen. The united numbers were at length encountered by Aurelian, and the bloody and doubtful conflict ended only with the approach of night. Exhausted by so many calamities, which they had mutually endured and inflicted during a 20-year war, the gods and the Romans consented to the lasting and beneficial treaty. It was earnestly solicited by the barbarians, and cheerfully ratified by the legions, to whose suffrage the prudence of Aurelian referred the decision of that important question. The Gothic nation engaged to supply the armies of Rome with the body of 2,000 auxiliaries, consisting entirely of cavalry, and stipulated in return an undisturbed retreat with the regular market as far as the Danube, provided by the Emperor's care but at their own expense. The treaty was observed with such religious fidelity that when a party of 500 men struggled from the camp in quest of plunder, the king or general of the barbarians commanded that the guilty leader should be apprehended and shot to death with darts as a victim devoted to the sanctity of their engagements. It is, however, not unlikely that the precaution of Aurelian, who had exacted as hostages the sons and daughters of the Gothic chiefs, contributed something to this specific temper, the youths he trained in the exercise of arms, and near to his own person, to the damsels he gave a liberal and Roman education and may bestowing them in marriage on some of his principal officers, gradually introduced between the two nations, the closest and most endearing connections. But the most important condition of peace was understood rather than expressed in the treaty, Aurelian withdrew the Roman forces from Dachio and tackately relinquished that great province to the gods and vandals. His manly judgment convinced him of the solid advantages and taught him to despise the seeming disgrace of thus contracting the frontiers of the monarchy, the Dachian subjects, removed from those distant possessions which they were unable to cultivate or defend, added strength and populousness to the southern side of the Danube. A fertile territory, which the repetition of a barbarious inroads had changed into a desert, was yielded to their industry, and the new province of Dachia still preserved the memory of Trajan's conquests. The old country of that name detained, however, a considerable number of its inhabitants, who dreaded exile more than a Gothic master. These degenerate Romans continued to serve the empire, whose allegiance they had announced, by introducing amongst the conquerors the first notions of agriculture, the useful arts and the conveniences of civilized life. An intercourse of commerce and language was gradually established through the opposite banks of the Danube, and after Dachia became an independent state. It often proved the firmest barrier of the empire against the invasions of the savages of the North. A sense of interest attached these more settled barbarians to the alliance of Rome, and a permanent interest very frequently ripens into sincere and useful friendship. This various colony, which filled the ancient province, and was insensibly blended into one great people, still acknowledged the superior renowned and authority of the Gothic tribe, and claimed the fancied honor of a Scandinavian origin. At the same time, the lucky though accidental resemblance of the name of Gete, infused among the credulous gods of vain persuasion that in a remote age their own ancestors, already seated in the Dachian provinces, had received instructions of Samulksis, and checked the victorious arms of Sesostris and Darius. While vigorous and moderate conduct of Aurelian restored the Illyrian frontier, the nation of the Alemani violated the conditions of peace which either Galenius had purchased or Claudius had imposed, and, inflamed by their impatient youth, suddenly flew to arms. 40,000 horse appeared in the field, and the numbers of the infantry doubled those of the cavalry. The first objects of the ravers were a few cities on the Reitian frontier, but their hopes soon rising with success, the rapid march of the Alemani traced the line of devastation from the Danube to the Po. The Emperor was almost at the same time informed of the eruption and of the retreat of the barbarians, collecting an active body of troops. He marched with silence and celerity along the skirts of the Hercurian forest, and the Alemani, laden with the spoils of Italy, arrived at the Danube without suspecting that on the opposite bank and in an advance exposed a Roman army lay concealed and prepared to intercept their return. Aurelian indulged the fatal security of the barbarians and permitted about half their forces to pass the river without disturbance and without precaution. Their situation and astonishment gave him an easy victory. His skillful conduct improved the advantage. Disposing the legions in a semicircular form, he advanced the two horns of the Crescent across the Danube and wheeling them on a sudden towards the center and closed the rear of the German host. The dismayed barbarians on whatsoever side they cast their eyes beheld with despair a wasted country, a deep and rapid stream, a victorious and implacable enemy. Reduced the distressed condition, the Alemani no longer disdained to sue for peace. Aurelian received their ambassadors at the head of his camp and with every circumstance a martial pomp that could display the greatness and discipline of Rome. The legions stood by their arms in well-ordered ranks and awful silence. The principal commanders, distinguished by the ensigns of their rank, appeared on horseback on either side of the imperial throne, behind the throne the consecrated images of the emperor and his predecessors, the golden eagles and the various titles of the legions engraved in letters of gold were exalted in the air on lofty pikes covered with silver. When Aurelian assumed his seat, his manly grace and majestic figure taught the barbarians the revered person as well as the purple of their conqueror. The ambassadors fell prostrate on the ground in silence. They were commanded to rise and permitted to speak. By the assistance of interpreters they extenuated the perfidy, magnified their exploits, expatiated on the vicissitudes of fortune and the advantages of peace and, with an ill-timed confidence, demanded a large subsidy, as the price of the allegiance which they offered to the Romans. The answer of the emperor was stern and imperious. He treated their offer with contempt and their demand with indignation, reproached the barbarians that they were as ignorant of the arts of war as of the laws of peace and finally dismissed them with the choice only of submitting to his unconditional mercy or awaiting the utmost severity of his resentment. Aurelian had resigned a distant province to the gods, but it was dangerous trust or to pardon these perfidious barbarians whose formidable power kept Italy herself perpetual alarms. Immediately after this conference, it should seem that some unexpected emergency required the emperor's presence in Pannonia. He devolved on his lieutenants the care of finishing the destruction of the Alemani, either by the sword or by the server operations of famine, but an active despair has often triumphed over the indolent assurance of success. The barbarians, finding it impossible to traverse the Danube and the Roman camp, broke through the posts in their rears which were more feebly or less carefully guarded and with incredible diligence but by a different road returned towards the mountains of Italy. Aurelian, who considered the war as totally extinguished, received the mortifying intelligence of the escape of the Alemani and of the ravage which they already committed in the territory of Milan. The legions were commanded to follow with as much expedition as those heavy bodies were capable of exerting the rapid flight of an enemy whose infantry and cavalry moved with almost equal swiftness. A few days afterwards, the emperor himself marched to the relief of Italy at the head of a chosen body of acceleraries, among whom were the hostages and the cavalry of the vandals, and of all the preptorian guards which served in the wars on the Danube. As the light troops of the Alemani had spread themselves from the Alps to the Appennine, the incessant villagers of Aurelian and his officers was exercised in discovery, the attack and the pursuit of the numerous detachments. Notwithstanding this desultory war, three considerable battles are mentioned in which the principal force of both armies was obstinately engaged. The success was various. In the first, fought near Placencia, the Romans received so severe a blow that according to the expression of a writer extremely partial to Aurelian, the immediate dissolution of the empire was apprehended. The crafty barbarians would line the woods, suddenly attack the legions in the dusk of the evening, and it is most probable after the fatigue and disorder of a long march. The fury of their charge was irresistible, but at length after a dreadful slaughter, the patient firmness of the emperor rallied his troops and restored in some degree the honour of his arms. The second battle was fought near Fano in Umbria, on the spot which, five hundred years before, had been fatal to the brother of Hannibal. Thus far the successful Germans had advanced along the Emelian and Flaminian way, with the design of sacking the defenseless mistress of the world. But Aurelian, who watchful for the safety of Rome, still hung on their rear, found in this place the decisive moment of giving them a total and irretrievable defeat. The flying remnant of their host was exterminated in the third and last battle near Pavia, and Italy was delivered from the inroads of the Alemanni. Fear has been the original parent of superstition, and every new calamity urges trembling mortals to deprecate the wrath of their invisible enemies. Though the best hope of the republic was in the valor and conduct of Aurelian, yet such was the public consternation when the barbarians were hourly expected at the gates of Rome, that by a decree of the senate the civilian books were consulted. Even the emperor himself, from a motive either of religion or policy, recommended this solitary measure, jided the tardiness of the senate, and offered to supply whatever expense, whatever animals, whatever captives of any nation the gods should acquire, notwithstanding this liberal offer. It does not appear that any human victims expiated with their bloods the sins of the Roman people. The sibling books and joint ceremonies of a more harmless nature, processions of priests in white robes, attended by a chorus of youths and virgins, lustrations of the city and adjacent country, and sacrifices whose powerful influence disabled the barbarian from passing the mystic ground on which they had been celebrated. However, pure island themselves, these superstitious acts were subservient to the success of the war, and if in the decisive battle of Fanu, the Alemani fancied they saw an army of specters combating on the side of Aurelian, he received a real and effectual aid from this imaginary reinforcement. But whatever confidence might be placed in ideal ramparts, the experience of the past and the dread of the future induced the Romans to construct fortifications of a grosser and more substantial kind. The seven hills of Rome had been surrounded by the successors of Romulus, with an ancient wall of more than 13 miles. The vast enclosure may seem disproportionate to the strength and numbers of the infant state, but it was necessary to secure an ample extent of pasture and arable land against the frequented sun incursions of the tribes of Latium, the perpetual enemies of the Republic. With the progress of Roman greatness, the city and its inhabitants gradually increased, filled up the vacant space, pierced through the useless walls, covered the fields of Mars, and on every side followed the public highways in long and beautiful suburbs. The extent of the new walls, erected by Aurelian, and finished in the reign of Probus, was magnified by popular estimation to near 50, but is reduced by accurate measurements to about 21 miles. It was a great but a melancholy labour, since the defences of the capital betrayed the decline of the monarchy. The Romans of a more prosperous age, who trusted to the arms of the legions the safety of the frontier camps, were very far from entertaining a suspicion that it would ever become necessary to fortify the seat of empire against the inroads of the barbarians. The victory of Claudius over the Goths, and the success of Aurelian against the Alemani, had already restored to the arms of Rome the ancient superiority over the barbarous nations of the north. The Chastise, domestic tyrants, and to reunite the dismembered parts of the empire, was a task reserved for the second of those warlike emperors. Though he was acknowledged by the senate and people, the frontiers of Italy, Africa, Illyricum and Trache, confined the limits of his reign, Gaul, Spain and Britain, Egypt, Syria and Asia Minor, were still possessed by two rebels, who alone, out of so numerous a list, had hitherto escaped the dangers of this situation, and to complete the ignominy of Rome, these rival thrones had been asserted by women. A rapid succession of monarchs had arisen and fallen in the provinces of Gaul. The rigid virtues of posthumus served only to hasten his destruction. After suppressing a competitor, who had assumed the purple admins, he refused to gratify his troops with the plunder of the rebellious city, and in the seventh year of his reign became the victim of their disappointed avarice. The death of Victorinus, his friend and associate, was occasioned by a less worthy cause. The shining accomplishments of that prince were stained by a licentious passion, which he indulged in acts of violence. With too little regard to the loss of society or even those of love, he was slain at Coloni by a conspiracy of jealous husbands, whose revenge would have appeared more justifiable had they spared the innocence of his son. After the murder of so many valiant princes, it is somewhat remarkable that a female for a long time controlled fierce legions of Gaul, still more singular, that she was the mother of the unfortunate Victorinus, the arts and treasures of Victoria, enabled her successively to place Marius and Titricus on the throne, and to reign with a manly vigor under the name of those dependent emperors. Money of copper, of silver and of gold, was coined in her name. She assumed the titles of Augusta and mother of the camps. Her power ended only with her life, but her life was perhaps shortened by the ingratitude of Titricus. When, at the instigation of his ambitious patroness, Titricus assumed the ensigns of royalty, he was governor of the peaceful province of Aquitania, an employment suited to his character and education. He reigned four or five years over Gauls, Spain and Britain, the slave and sovereign of a licentious army, whom he dreaded, and by whom he was despised. The valor and fortune of Aurelian at length opened the prospect of a deliverance. He ventured to disclose his melancholy situation and conjure the emperor to hasten to the relief of his unhappy rival. Had this secret correspondence reached the ears of the soldiers, it would most probably have cost Titricus his life, nor could he resign the scepter of the west without committing an act of treason against himself. He affected the appearances of a civil war, led his forces into the field against Aurelian, posted them in the most disadvantaged manner, betrayed his own counsels to his enemy, and with a few chosen friends deserted in the beginning of the action. The rebel legions, though disordered and dismayed by the unexpected treachery of their chief, defended themselves with desperate valor, till they were cut in pieces almost to a man in this bloody and memorable battle, which was fought near Chalon in Champagne. The retreat of the irregular auxiliaries, Franks and Batavians whom the conquerors soon compelled or persuaded to repass the Rhine, restored the general tranquility and the power of Aurelian was acknowledged from the Wall of Antoninus to the columns of Hercules. As early as the reign of Claudius, the city of Autun alone and unassisted had ventured to declare against the legions of Gaul. After a siege of seven months, they stormed and plundered that unfortunate city already wasted by famine. Lyon, on the contrary, had resisted with obstinate disaffection the arms of Aurelian, worried of the punishment of Lyon, but there is not any mention of the rewards of Autun. Such indeed is the policy of civil war, severely remember injuries and to forget the most important services. Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive. Aurelian had no sooner secured the person and provinces of Titricus than he turned his arms against Zenobia, the celebrated Queen of Palmyra and the East. Modern Europe has produced several illustrious women who have sustained with glory the weight of empire, nor is our own age destitute of such distinguished characters. But if we accept the doubtful achievements of Semiramis, Zenobia is perhaps the only female whose superior genius broke through the servile indolence imposed on her sex by the climate and manner of Asia. She claimed her descent from the Macedonian kings of Egypt equaled in beauty her answers to Cleopatra and far surpassed that princess in chastity and valor. Zenobia was esteemed the most lovely as well as the most heroic of her sex. She was of dark complexion, for in speaking of a lady these trifles become important. Her teeth were of pearly whiteness and her large black eyes sparkled with uncommon fire, tempered by the most attractive sweetness. Her voice was strong and harmonious, her manly understanding was strengthened and adorned by study. She was not ignorant of the Latin tongue but possessed in equal perfection the Greek, the Syriac and the Egyptian languages. She had drawn up for her use an epitome of oriental history and familiarly compared the beauties of Homer and Plato under the tuition of the sublime Longinos. This accomplished woman gave her hand to Udenatus who from a private station raised himself to the dominion of the East. She soon became the friend and companion of a hero. In the intervals of war Udenatus passionately delighted in the exercise of hunting. He pursued with ardor the wild beasts of the desert, lions, panthers and bears and the ardor of Zenobia in that dangerous amusement was not inferior to his own. She had inert her constitution to fatigue, disdain the use of a covered carriage, generally appeared on horseback in military habit and once marched several miles on foot at the head of the troops. The success of Udenatus was in great measure ascribed to her incomparable prudence and fortitude. There's plenty victories over the great king whom they twice pursued as far as the gates of Tessipon laid the foundations of the united fame and power, the armies which they commanded and the provinces which they had saved and knowledge not any other sovereigns than their invincible chiefs. The people of Rome revered a stranger who had avenged their captive emperor and even the insensible son of Valerian accepted Udenatus for his legitimate colleague. End of chapter 11 part 2 Recording by Monsbrew Helsingfors Finland Chapter 11 part 3 of the D-Line and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Monsbrew Helsingfors Finland Chapter 11 Reign of Claudius defeat of the Goths Part 3 After a successful expedition against the Gothic plunderers of Asia the Palmyrenian prince returned to the city of Ames in Syria. Invincible in war he was cut off by domestic treason and his favorite amusement of hunting was the cause or at least the occasion of his death. His nephew Mayenius presumed to dart his javelin before that of his uncle and though admonished of his error repeated the same insolence as a monarch and as a sportsman Udenatus was provoked took away his horse a mark of ignominy among the barbarians and chastised the rash youth by a short confinement. The event was soon forgot and Mayenius with a few daring associates assassinated his uncle in the midst of a great entertainment. Herod, the son of Udenatus though not of Zinobia a young man of a soft and effeminate temper was killed with his father but Mayenius obtained only the pleasure of revenge by this bloody deed he had scarcely time to assume the title of Augustus before he was sacrificed by Zinobia to the memory of her husband. Her most fateful friends she immediately filled the vacant throne and governed with manly councils Palmyra, Syria and the East above five years. By the death of Udenatus that authority was at an end which the senate had granted him only as a personal distinction but his martial widow disdaining both the senate and Galeanus obliged one of the roman generals who was sent against her to retreat into Europe instead of the little passions which so frequently perplexed a female reign the steady administration of Zinobia was guided by the most judicious maxims of policy if it was expedient to pardon she would calm her resentment if it was necessary to punish she could impose silence on the voice of pity her strict economy was accused of avarice yet on every propagation she appeared magnificent and liberal neighboring states of Arabia, Armenia and Persia dreaded her enmity and solicited her alliance to the dominions of Udenatus which extended from the Euphrates to the frontiers of Bitinia his widow added the inheritance of her ancestors the populous and fertile kingdom of Egypt the Emperor Claudius acknowledged her merit and was content that while he pursued the Gothic war she should assert the dignity of the empire in the east the conduct, however, of Zinobia was attended with some ambiguity not is it unlikely that she had conceived the design of erecting an independent and hostile monarchy she blended with the popular manners of Roman princes the stately pomp of the courts of Asia and exacted from her subjects the same adoration that was paid to the successors of Cirrus she bestowed on her three sons a Latin education and often showed them to the troops adorned with the imperial purple for herself she reserved the diadem with the splendid but doubtful title of Queen of the East when Aurelian passed over into Asia against an adversary who sex alone could render her an object of contempt his presence restored obedience to the province of Bitinia already shaken by the arms and intrigues of Zinobia advancing at the head of his legions he accepted the submission of Ankira and was admitted into Tiana after an obstinate siege by the help of a perfidious citizen the generous, the fierce temper of Aurelian abandoned the traitor through the rage of the soldiers a superstitious reverence induced him to treat with lenity the countrymen of Apollonius the philosopher Antioch was deserted on his approach till the emperor by his salutary edict recalled a fugitives and granted a general pardon to all who, from necessity rather than choice had been engaged in the service of the Palmyrian queen the unexpected mildness of such a conduct reconciled the minds of the Syrians and as far as the gates of Amesa the wishes of the people seconded the terror of his arms Zinobia would have ill-deserved her reputation had she indidentally permitted the emperor of the west to approach within 100 miles of her capital the fate of the east was decided in two great battles so similar in almost every circumstance that we can scarcely distinguish them from each other except by observing that the first was fought near Antioch and the second near Amesa in both the queen of Palmyra animated the armies by her presence and devolved the execution of her orders on Thabdes who had already signalized his military talents by the conquest of Egypt the numerous forces of Zinobia consisted for the most part of light archers and of heavy cavalry clothed in complete steel the Moorish and Illyrian horse of Aurelian were unable to sustain the ponderous charge of their antagonists and had in real or effected disorder engaged the Palmyranians in a laborious pursuit harassed them by a desultory combat and at length discomfited this impenetrable but unwieldy body of cavalry a light infantry in the meantime when they had exhausted their quers remaining without protection against the closer onset exposed their naked sides to the swords of the legions Aurelian had chosen these veteran troops who were usually stationed on the upper Danube and whose valor had been severely tried in the Alemanic war after the defeat of Emesa Zinobia found it impossible to collect the Third Army as far as the frontier of Egypt the nations subject to her empire had joined the standard of the conqueror who detached Probus the bravest of his generals to possess himself of the Egyptian provinces Palmyra was the last resource of the widow of Odinatus she retired within the walls of her capital made every preparation for a vigorous resistance and declared with the intrepidity of a heroine that the last moment of her reign and of her life should be the same Amid the barren deserts of Arabia a few cultivated spots rise like islands out of the sandy ocean even the name of Tadmor Opmyra by its signification in the Syriac as well as in the Latin language denoted the multitude of palm trees which afforded shade and virtue to that temperate region the air was pure and the soil watered by some invaluable springs was capable of producing fruits as well as corn a place possessed of such singular advantages and situated at a convenient distance between the Gulf of Persia and the Mediterranean was soon frequented by the caravans which conveyed to the nations of Europe a considerable part of the rich commodities of India Palmyra insensibly increased into an opulent and independent city and connecting the Roman and the Persian monarchies by the mutual benefits of commerce to observe a humble neutrality till at length after the victories of Trajan the little republic sunk into the bosom of Rome and flourished more than 150 years in the subordinate though honorable rank of a colony it was during that peaceful period if we may judge from a few remaining inscriptions that the wealthy Palmyrianians constructed those temples, palaces and porticoes of Grecian architecture whose ruins scattered over an extent of several miles have deserved the curiosity of our travellers the elevation of Ordinatus and Zinobia appeared to reflect new splendour on their country and Palmyra for a while stood forth the rival of Rome but the competition was fatal and the ages of prosperity were sacrificed to a moment of glory in his march over the sandy deserts between Amesa and Palmyra the emperor Aurelian was perpetually harassed by the Arabs nor could he always defend his army and especially his baggage from those flying troops of active and daring robbers who watched the moment of surprise and eluded the slow pursuit of the legions the siege of Palmyra was an object far more difficult and important and the emperor who with incessant vigor pressed the attacks in person was himself wounded with the dart the Roman people, says Aurelian in an original letter speak with contempt of the war which I am waging against the woman with the power of Zinobia it is impossible to enumerate her warlike preparations of stones, of arrows and of every species of missile weapons every part of the walls is provided with two or three ballists and artificial fires are thrown from her military agents the fear of punishment has armed her desperate courage yet still I trust in the protecting deities of Rome who have hitherto been favourable to all my undertakings doubtful however of the protection of the gods and of the event of the siege Aurelian judged it more prudent to offer terms of an advantageous capitulation to the queen a splendid retreat to the citizens their ancient privileges his proposals were obstinately rejected and the refusal was accompanied with insult the firmness of Zinobia was supported by the hope that in a very short time famine would compel the Roman army to repost the desert and by the reasonable expectation that the host and particularly the Persian monarch would arm in the defence of the most natural ally but fortune and the perseverance of Aurelian overcame every obstacle the death of Sappor which happened about this time distracted the councils of Persia and the inconsiderables of course that attempted to relieve Palmyra were easily intercepted either by the arms or by the illiberality of the emperor from every part of Syria a regular succession of convoys safely arrived in the camp which was increased by the return of Probus with his victorious troops from the conquest of Egypt it was then that Zinobia resolved to fly she mounted the fleet to store her dromedaries and had already reached the banks of the Euphrates about 60 miles from Palmyra when she was overtaken by the pursuit of Aurelian slight horse seized and brought back a capital to the feet of the emperor her capital soon afterwards surrendered and was treated with unexpected lenity with arms, horses and camels with an immense treasure of gold silver silk and precious stones were all delivered to the conqueror who leaving only a garrison of 600 archers returned to Emesa and employed some time in the distribution of rewards and punishments at the end of a so memorable war which restored to the obedience of Rome those provinces that had renounced the religions since the captivity of Aurelian when a Syrian queen was brought into the presence of Aurelian he sternly asked her how she had presumed to rise in arms against the emperors of Rome the answer to Zinobia was a prudent mixture of respect and firmness because I disdain to consider as Roman emperors an Aureolus or a Gallienus you alone I acknowledge as my conqueror and my sovereign but as female fortitude is commonly artificial so it is seldom steady or consistent the courage of Zinobia deserted her in the hour of trial I remember that the angry clamors of the soldiers who called aloud for her immediate execution forgot the generous despair of Cleopatra which she had proposed as her model ignominiously purchased life by the sacrifice of her fame and her friends it was their councils which governed the weakness of her sex that she imputed the guilt of her obstinate resistance it was on their heads that she directed the vengeance of the cruel Aurelian the fame of Longinus who was included among the numerous innocent victims of her fear will survive that of the queen who betrayed or the tyrant who condemned him genius and learning were incapable of moving a fierce unlettered soldier but they had served to elevate and harmonize the soul of Longinus without uttering a complaint he calmly followed the executioner pitting his unhappy mistress and bestowing comforts on his afflicted friends returning from the conquest of the east Aurelian had already crossed the straits which divided Europe from Asia when he was provoked by the intelligence that the Palmyranians had massacred the governor and garrison which he had left among them and they again erected the standard of revolt without a moment's deliberation he once more turned his face towards Syria Antioch was alarmed by his rapid approach and the helpless city of Palmyra felt the irresistible weight of his resentment we have a letter of Aurelian himself in which he acknowledges that old men, women, children and peasants had been involved in that dreadful execution which should have been confined to armed rebellion and although his principal concern seems directed to the re-establishment of a temple of the sun he discovers some pity for the remnants of the Palmyranians to whom he grants the permission of rebuilding and inhabiting their city but it is easier to destroy than to restore the seat of commerce, of arts and of Zenobia gradually sunk into an obscure town a trifling fortress and at length a miserable village the present citizens of Palmyra consisting of 30 or 40 families have erected the mud cottages within the spacious court of a magnificent temple another and the last labor still awaited the indefeatable Aurelian to suppress the dangerous the obscure rebel who during the revolt of Palmyra had arisen on the banks of the Nile Firmus, the friend and ally as he proudly styled himself of Ordinatus and Zenobia more than a wealthy merchant of Egypt in the course of his trade to India he had formed very intimate connections with the Saracens and the Blemias whose situation on either coast or the Red Sea gave them an easy introduction into the Upper Egypt the Egyptians he inflamed with the hope of freedom and at the head of the furious multitude broke into the city of Alexandria where he assumed the Imperial Purple coined money, published edicts and raised an army which, as he vainly boasted he was capable of maintaining from the sole profits of his paper trade such troops were a feeble defence against the approach of Aurelian and it seems almost unnecessary to relate that Firmus was routed taken, tortured and put to death Aurelian might now congratulate the senate, the people and himself and in little more than 3 years he had restored universal peace and ordered to the Roman world since the foundation of Rome no general had more nobly deserved a triumph than Aurelian nor was a triumph ever celebrated with superior pride and magnificence the pomp was opened by 20 elephants, 4 royal tigers and about 200 of the most curious animals from every climate of the north, the east and the south they were followed by 1600 gladiators devoted to the cruel amusement of the amphitheater the wealth of Asia, the arms and insines of so many concord nations and the magnificent plate and wardrobe were disposed in exact symmetry or artful disorder the ambassadors of the most remote parts of the earth, of Ethiopia, Arabia Persia, Bactria, India and China all remarkable by their rich or singular dresses displayed the fame and power of the Roman emperor exposed likewise to the public view the presence that he had received and particularly a great number of crowns of gold, the offerings of grateful cities the victories of Aurelian were attested by a long train of captives who reluctantly attended his triumph gods, vandals, sarmatians Alemani, Franks, Gauls, Syrians and Egyptians each people was distinguished by its peculiar inscription and the title of Amazons was bestowed on 10 martial heroines of the Gothic nation who had been taken in arms but every eye, disregarding the crowd of captives was fixed on the emperor Tetricus and the queen of the east the former, as well as his son whom he had created Augustus was dressed in gallic trousers a saffron tunic and a robe of purple the beauteous figure of Zenobia was confined by fetters of gold a slave supported the gold chain which encircled her neck and she almost fainted under the intonable weight of jewels she proceeded on foot the magnificent chariot in which she once hoped to enter the gates of Rome it was followed by two other chariots still more sumptuous of Orinatus and the Persian monarch the triumphal car of Aurelian it had formally been used by a Gothic king was drawn on this memorable occasion either by four stags or by four elephants the most illustrious of the senate the people and the army closed this solemn procession unfeigned joy, wonder and gratitude swelled the acclamations of the multitude but the satisfaction of the senate was clouded by the appearance of Tetricus nor could they suppress a rising murmur the haughty emperor should thus expose to public ignominy person of a Roman and magistrate but however in the treatment of his unfortunate rivals Aurelian might indulge his pride he behaved towards them with a generous clemency which was seldom exercised by the ancient conquerors princes who without success had defended their throne or freedom were frequently strangled in prison as soon as the triumphal pomp ascended the capital these usurpers whom their defeat had convicted of the crime of treason were permitted to spend their lives in affluence and honourable repose the emperor presented Zinobia with an elegant villa Tibur or Tiboli about 20 miles from the capital the Syrian queen insensibly sunk into a Roman matron her daughters married into noble families and her race was not yet extinct in the 5th century Tetricus and his son were reinstated in the ranks and fortunes he erected on the Silian hill a magnificent palace and as soon as it was finished invited Aurelian to supper on his entrance he was agreeably surprised with the picture which represented their singular history they were delineated offering to the emperor a civic crown and a sepator of gold and again receiving at his hands the ornaments of the senatorial dignity the father was afterwards invested with the government of Lucania and Aurelian who soon admitted to his friendship and conversation familiarly asked him whether it were not more desirable to administer a province of Italy and reign beyond the Alps the son long continued a respectable member of the senate nor was there anyone of the Roman nobility more esteemed by Aurelian as well as by his successors so long and so various was the pomp of Aurelian's triumph that although it opened with the dawn of day the slow majesty of the procession was dismantled before the 9th hour and it was already dark when the emperor returned to the palace Pestiola was protracted by theatrical representations the games of the circus the hunting of wild beasts combat of gladiators and naval engagements liberal donatives were distributed to the army and people and several institutions agreeable or beneficial to the city contributed to perpetuate the glory of Aurelian a considerable portion of his oriental spoils contributed to the gods of Rome, the capital and every other temple glittered with the offerings of his ostentious piety and the temple of the son alone received about 15,000 pounds of gold this last was in a magnificent structure erected by the emperor on the side of the Quirinal hill and dedicated soon after the triumph that deity whom Aurelian adorned as the parent of his life and fortune his mother had been an inferior priestess in the chapel of the son a peculiar devotion to the god of light was a sentiment which the fortunate peasant imbibed in his infancy and every step of his elevation every victory with rain fortified superstition and gratitude the arms of Aurelian had banquished the foreign and domestic foes of the republic we are assured that by his salutary rigor crimes, infections, misdievous arts and pernicious connivance the luxurious growth of a feeble and oppressive government were eradicated throughout the Roman world but if we attentively reflect how much swifter is the process of corruption than its cure and if we remember that the years abandoned to public disorders exceeded the months allotted to the martial reign of Aurelian we must confess that a few short intervals of peace were insufficient for the arduous work of reformation even his attempts to restore the integrity of the coin was opposed by a formidable insurrection the emperor's vexation breaks out in one of his private letters surely, says he the gods have decreed that my life should be a perpetual warfare as addition within the walls has just now given birth to a very serious civil war the workmen of the Mint at the instigation of Felicissimus a slave to whom I had entrusted an employment in the finances have risen in rebellion they are at length suppressed but 7000 of my soldiers have been slain in the contest of those troops whose ordinary station is in Darkia and the camps along the Danube who confirmed the same fact ad likewise that it happened soon after Aurelian's triumph the decisive engagement was fought on the Silian hill that the workmen of the Mint had adulterated the coin and that the emperor restored the public credit by delivering out good money in exchange for the bad which the people was commanded to bring into the treasury we might content ourselves with relating this extraordinary transaction but we cannot disemble how much in its present form it appears to us inconsistent and incredible the debasement of the coin is indeed well suited to the administration of Gallienus nor is it unlikely that the instruments of the corruption might dread the inflexible justice of Aurelian but the guilt as well as the profit must have been confined to a very few nor is it easily conceived by what arts they could arm a people whom they had injured against the monarch whom they had betrayed might naturally expect that such miscreants should have shared the public detestation with the informers and the other ministers of oppression and that the reformation of the coin should have been an action equally popular with the destruction of those obsolete accounts which by the emperor's order were burnt in the forum of Trajan in an age when the principles of commerce were so imperfectly understood the most desirable end might perhaps be affected by harsh and injudicious means but a temporary grievance of such a nature can scarcely excite and support a serious civil war the repetition of intolerable taxes imposed either on the land or the necessities of life may at last provoke those who will not or who cannot relinquish their country but the case is far otherwise in every operation which by whatsoever experience restores the just value of money the transient evil is soon obliterated by the permanent benefit the losses divided amongst multitudes and if a few wealthy individuals experience a sensible diminution of treasure with their riches they at the same time lose the degree of weight and importance which they derive from the procession of them however Aurelian might choose to disguise the real cause of the insurrection his reformation of the coin could furnish only a faint pretense to a party already powerful and discontented Rome though deprived of freedom was distracted by a faction the people towards whom the emperor himself a plebeian always expressed a particular fondness lived in perpetual dissension with the senate the equestrian order and the praetorian guards nothing less than the firm though secret conspiracy of these orders of the authority of the first the wealth of the second and the arms of the third could have displayed a strength capable of contending in battle with the veteran legions of the danube which under the conduct of a martial sovereign had achieved the conquest of the west and of the east whatever was the cause or the object of this rebellion imputed with so little probability to the workmen of the mint Aurelian used his victory with unrelenting rigor he was naturally of a severe disposition a peasant and a soldier his nerves yielded not easily to the impressions of sympathy and he could sustain without emotion the sight of tortures and death trained from his earliest youth in the exercise of arms he set too small a value in the life of a citizen chastised by military execution the slightest offences and transferred the stern discipline of the camp into the civil administration of the laws his love of justice often became a blind and furious passion and whenever he deemed his own or the public safety endangered he disregarded the rules of evidence and the proportion of punishments the unprovoked rebellion which the Romans rewarded his services exasperated his haughty spirit the noblest families of the capital were involved in the guilt or suspicion of conspiration and as the spirit of revenge urged the bloody persecution and it proved fatal to one of the nephews of the emperor the executioners, if we are used the expression of a contemporary poet were fatigued the prisons were crowded and the unhappy senate lamented the death or absence of its most illustrious members nor was the pride of Aurelian less offensive to that assembly than his cruelty ignorant or impatient of the restraints of civil institutions he disdained the whole's power by any other title than that of the sword and governed by right of conquest and empire which he had saved and subdued it was observed by one of the most sagacious of the roman princes that the talents of his predecessor Aurelian were better suited to the command of an army and to the government of an empire conscious of the character in which nature and experience had enabled him to excel he again took to the field a few months after his triumph it was expedient to exercise the restless temper of religions in some foreign war and a Persian monarch exulting in the shame of a Valyrian still braved with impunity the offended majesty of Rome at the head of an army less formidable by its numbers than by its discipline and valor the emperor advanced as far as the straits with divide Europe from Asia he there experienced that the most absolute power is a weak defense against the effects of despair he had threatened one of his secretaries used of extortion and it was known that he seldom threatened in vain the last hope to remain from the criminal was to involve some of his principal officers in the army in his danger or at least in his fears artfully counter-fating his master's hand he showed them in a long and bloody list their own names devoted to death without suspecting or examining the fraud they resolved to secure their lives by the murder of the emperor on his march between Byzantium and Heraclea the Valyrian was suddenly attacked by the conspirators whose stations gave them a right to surround his person and after a short resistance fell by the hand of Mukapur a general whom he had always loved and trusted he died regretted by the army detested by the senate but universally acknowledged as a war-like unfortunate prince the useful, though severe reformer of a degenerate state End of chapter 11 Recording by Monsbruhe Helsingfors Finland This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org This reading by Lucy Burgoyne The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Volume 1 by Edward Gibbon Chapter 12 Rains of Tacitus, Proba Caru and His Sons Part 1 Conduct of the army and senate after the death of Allian Rains of Tacitus, Proba Caru and His Sons Such was the unhappy condition of the Roman emperors that whatever might be their conduct their fate was commonly the same a life of pleasure or virtue of severity or maligness of indolence or glory a life led to an untimely grave and almost every reign is closed by the same disgusting repetition of treason and murder The death of Allian however is remarkable by its extraordinary consequences the legions admired prevented and revenge their victorious chief the artifice of his profidious secretary was discovered and punished the deluded conspirators attended the funeral of their injured sovereign with sincere or well-famed contrition and submitted to the unanimous resolution of the military order which was signified by the following epistle May the unfortunate armies to the senate and people of Rome the crime of one man and their error of many have deprived us of the late emperor Allian May it please you venerable lords and fathers to place him in the number of the gods and to appoint a successor whom your judgement shall declare worthy of the imperial purple none of those whose guilt or misfortune have contributed to our loss shall ever reign over us The Roman senators heard without surprise that another emperor had been assassinated in his camp they secretly rejoiced in the fall of Allian but the modest and dutiful aggress of the legions when it was communicated in full assembly by the consul accused the most pleasing astonishment such honors as fear and perhaps esteem could extort they liberally poured forth on the memory of their deceased sovereign such acknowledgments as gratitude could inspire they returned to the faithful armies of the republic who entertained so just a sense of the legal authority of the senate in the choice yet notwithstanding this flattering appeal the most prudent of the assembly declined exposing their safety and dignity to the caprice of an armed multitude the strength of the legions was indeed a pledge of their sincerity since those who may command are seldom reduced to the necessity of dissembling but could it naturally be expected that a hasty repentance would correct the inverterate habits of four school years should the soldiers relapse into their accustomed seditions their insolence might disgrace the majesty of the senate and prove fatal to the object of its choice motifs like these dictated a decree by which the election of a new emperor was referred to the suffrage of the military order the contention that ensued is one of the best attested but most improbable events in the history of mankind the troops as if saturated with the exercise of power again condued the senate to invest one of its own body with the imperial purple the senate still persisted in its refusal the army in its request the reciprocal offer was rejected at least three times and whilst the obstinate modesty of either party was resolved to receive a master from the hands of the other eight months insensibly elapsed an amazing period of tranquil unarchy during which the roman world remained without a sovereign without an insurper and without a sedition the generals and magistrates appointed by allien continued to execute their ordinary functions and it is observed that a procuncle of asia was the only considerable person removed from his office in the whole course of the interregnum an event somewhat similar but much less authentic is supposed to have happened after the death of romulus who in his life was a traitor for some affinity with allien the throne was vacant during 12 months till the election of a savine philosopher and the public peace was guarded in the same manner by the union of the several orders of the state but in the time of numa and romulus the arms of the people were controlled by the authority of the patricians and the balance of freedom was easily preserved in a small and virtuous community the decline of the roman state far different from its infancy was attended with every circumstance that could vanish from an interregnum the prospect of obedience and harmony an immense and tumultuous capital a wide extent of empire the subile equality of despotism 400,000 mercenaries and the experience of frequent revolutions yet notwithstanding all these temptations the discipline and memory of allien still restrained the sedigious temper of the troops as well as the fatal ambition of their leaders the flower of the legions maintained their stations on the banks of the boss porus and the imperial standard the less powerful camps of Rome and of the provinces a generous though transient enthusiasm seemed to animate the military order and we may hope that a few real patriots cultivated the returning friendship of the army and the senate as the only expedient capable of restoring the republic to its ancient beauty and vigor on the 25th of september near eight months after the murder of allien the consul convoked an assembly of the senate and reported the doubtful and dangerous situation of the empire he slightly insinuated that the precarious loyalty of the soldiers depended on the chance of every hour and of every accident that he represented with the most convincing eloquence the various dangers that might attend any further the delay in the choice of an emperor intelligence, he said was already received that the Germans had passed the Rhine and occupied some of the strongest and most opulent cities of Gaul the ambition of the Persian king kept the east in perpetual alarms Egypt Africa and Ilricham were exposed to foreign and domestic arms the sanctity of Syria would prefer even a female skeptor to the sanctity of the Roman laws the consul then addressing himself to Tacitus the first of the senators required his opinion on the important subject of a proper candidate so that they can throne if we can prefer personal merit to accidental greatness we shall esteem the birth of Tacitus truly noble than that of kings he claimed his descent from the philosophic historian whose writings will instruct the last generations of mankind the senator Tacitus was then 75 years of age the long period of his innocent life was adorned with wealth and honors he had twice been invested with the consular dignity and sobriety his ample patrimony of between 2 and 3 million sterling the experience of so many princes whom he had esteemed or endured from the vain follies of Aligabalus to the useful rigour of Orlean taught him to form a just estimate of the duties the dangers and the temptations of their sublime station from the assidious study of his immortal ancestor he derived the knowledge of the Roman constitution and of human nature the voice of the people had already named Tacitus as the citizen the most worthy of empire the ungrateful rumour reached his ears and induced him to seek the retirement of one of his villas in Campania it passed two months in the delightful privacy of Bay when he reluctantly obeyed the summons of the consul to resume his honourable place in the senate and to assist the republic with his councils on this important occasion he arose to speak when from every quarter of the house he was saluted with the names of Augustus an emperor Tacitus Augustus the gods preserve thee we choose thee for our sovereign to thy care we entrust the republic and the world accept the empire from the authority of the senate it is due to thy rank to thy conduct to thy manners as soon as the tumult of acclimations subsided Tacitus attempted to decline the dangerous honour and wonder that they should elect his age and infirmities to succeed the martial vigour of Orlean are these limbs conscript fathers fitted to sustain the weight of armour or to practice the exercises of the camp the variety of climates and the hardships of a military life would soon oppress a feeble constitution which subsists only those tender management my exhausted strength scarcely enables me to discharge the duty of a senator how insufficient would it prove to the arduous labours of war and government can you hope that the legions will respect a weak old man whose days have been spent in the shade of peace and retirement can you desire that I should ever find reason to regret the favourable opinion of the senate the reluctance of Tacitus and it might possibly be sincere was encountered by the affectionate obstancy of the senate 500 voices repeated at once in eloquent confusion that the greatest of the roman princes Numa, Trajan, Hadrian and the Antonines had ascended the throne of the very advanced season of life that the mind, not the body a sovereign not a soldier was the object of their choice and that they expected from him no more than to guide by his wisdom the valour of the legions these pressing though tumultary instances were seconded by a more regular oration of meteous falconess the next on the consular bench to Tacitus himself he reminded the assembly at the eagles which Rome had endured from the vices of headstrong and capricious youths congratulated them on the election of a virtuous and experienced senator and with a manly though perhaps a selfish freedom exalted Tacitus to remember the reasons of his elevation to seek a successor not in his own family but in the republic the speech of falconess was enforced by a general acclamation the emperor-elect submitted to the authority of his country and received the voluntary homage of his eagles the judgement of the senate was confirmed by the consent of the roman people and of the praetorian guards the administration of Tacitus was not unworthy of his life and principles a great fourth servant of the senate he considered that national council as the author and himself as the subject of the laws he studied to heal the wounds which imperial pride civil discord and military violence had inflicted on the constitution to restore at least the image of the ancient republic as it had been preserved by the policy of augustus and the virtues of Tarjan and the Antonines it may not be useless to recapitulate some of the most important prerogatives which the senate appeared to have regained by the election of Tacitus one to invest one of their body under the title of emperor with the general command of the armies and the government of the frontier provinces two to determine the list or as it was then styled the college of consuls they were twelve in number who in successive pairs each during the space of two months filled the year and represented dignity of that ancient office the authority of the senate in the nomination of the consuls was exercised with such independent freedom that no regard was paid to an irregular request at the emperor in favour of his brother Florinus the senate exclaimed Tacitus with the honest transport of a patriot understand the character of a prince whom they have chosen three to appoint the proconsuls and presidents of the provinces and to confer on all magistrates their civil jurisdiction four to receive appeals through the intermediate office of the prefect of the city from all the tribunals of the empire five to give force and validity by their decrees to such as they should approve of the emperor's edict six to these several branches of authority we may add some inspection over the finances since even in the stern reign of Orlean it was in their power to divert a part of the revenue from the public service circular epistles were sent without delay to all the principal cities of the empire Aquila, Thessalonica Corinth Athens, Antioch Alexandria and Carthage to claim their obedience and to inform them of the happy revolution which had restored the Roman senate to its ancient dignity two of these epistles are still extant we likewise possess two very singular fragments of the private correspondence of the senators on this occasion they discover the most excessive joy and the most unbounded hopes cast away your indolence it is thus that one of the senators addressed his friend emerge from your retirements of bay and paterli give yourself to the city to the senate Rome flourishes the whole republic flourishes from an army to an army truly roman at length we have recovered our just authority the end of all our desires we hear appeals we appoint proconsoles we create emperors perhaps too we may restrain them to the wise a word is sufficient these lofty expectations were however soon disappointed nor indeed it is possible that the armies and the provinces should long obey the luxuries and unmoor like nobles of Rome on the slightest touch the unsupported fabric of their pride and power fell to the ground the expiring senate displayed a sudden luster blaze for a moment and was extinguished forever all that had yet passed at Rome was no more than a theatrical representation unless it was ratified by the more substantial power of the legions leaving the senators to enjoy their dream of freedom and ambition Tacitus proceeded to the Thracian camp and was there by the Praetorian prophet presented to the assemble troops as the prince whom they themselves had demanded and whom the senate had bestowed as soon as the prophet was silent the emperor addressed himself to the soldiers with eloquence and propriety he gratified their avarance by a liberal distribution of treasure under the names of pay and donative he engaged their esteem by a spirited declaration that although his age might disable him from the performance of military exploits his council should never be unworthy of a Roman general the successor of the brave Aurean whilst the deceased emperor was making preparations for a second expedition into the east he had negotiated with the Elani a Skythian people who pitched their tents in the neighbourhood of the lake Mootis those barbarians allured by presence and subsidies had promised to invade Persia with a numerous body of light calvary they were faithful to their engagements but when they arrived on the Roman frontier Aurean was already dead the design of Persian war was at least suspended and the generals who during the interregnum exercised a doubtful authority were unprepared either to receive or to oppose them provoked by such treatment which they considered as trifling and perfidious the Elani had recourse to their own valor for their payment and revenge and as they moved with the usual swiftness of Tartars they had soon spread themselves over the provinces of Pontus Cappadocia Cilicia and Galatia the legions who from the opposite shores of the Bosporus could almost distinguish the flames at the cities and villages impatiently urged their general to lead them against the invaders the conduct of Tacitus was suitable to his age and station he convinced the barbarians of the faith as well as the power of the empire great numbers of the Elani appeased by the punctual discharge of the engagements which Allian had contracted with them relinquished their booty and captives and quietly retreated to their own deserts beyond the fascists against the remainder who refused peace the Roman emperor waged in person a successful war seconded by an army of brave and experienced veterans in a few weeks he delivered the provinces of Asia from the terror of the sky and invasion but the glory and life of Tacitus were a short duration transported in the death of winter from the soft retirement of Campania to the foot of Mount Caucasus he sunk under the unaccustomed hardships of a military life the fatigues of the body were aggravated by the cares of the mind the angry and selfish passions of the soldiers had been suspended by the enthusiasm of public virtue they soon broke out with redoubled violence enraged in the camp and even in the tent of the age emperor his mild and amiable character served only to inspire contempt and he was incessantly tormented with factions which he could not assuage the demands which it was impossible to satisfy whatever flattering expectations he had conceived of reconciling the public disorders Tacitus soon was convinced that the licentiousness of the army disdained the feeble restraint of laws and his last hour was hastened by anguish and disappointment it may be doubtful whether the soldiers imbued their hands after this innocent prince it is certain that their insolence was the cause of his death he expired at Tyanna in Cappadocia after a reign of only 6 months and about 20 days the eyes of Tacitus were scarcely closed before his brother Florinus showed himself unworthy to reign by the hasty usurpation of the purple without expecting the uprobation of the senate the reverence for the Roman constitution which yet influenced the camp and the provinces was sufficiently strong to dispose them to censure but not to provoke them to oppose the precipitate ambition of Florinus the discontent would have evaporated in idle murmurs had not the general of the east of Proba boldly declared himself the avenger of the senate the contest however was still unequal nor could the most able leader at the head of the effinent troops of Egypt and Syria encounter with any hopes of victory the legions of Europe whose irresistible strength appeared to support the brother of Tacitus Davidia Proba triumphed over every obstacle the hardy veterans of his rival accustomed to cold climates sickened and consumed away in sultry heads of Cilicia where the summer proved remarkably unwholesome their numbers were diminished by frequent desertion the passes of the mountains were feebly defended Tarsas opened its gates of Florinus when they had permitted him to enjoy the imperial title about three months delivered the empire from civil war by their easy sacrifice of the prince whom they despised the perpetual revolutions of the throne had so perfectly erased every notion of hereditary title that the family of an unfortunate emperor was incapable of exciting the future of his successors the children of Tacitus and Florinus were permitted to descend into a private station and to mingle with the general mass of the people their poverty indeed became an additional safeguard to their innocence when Tacitus was elected by the senate he resigned his ample patrimony to the public service an act of generosity but which evidently disclosed his intention of transmitting the empire to his descendants the only consolation of their fallen state was the remembrance of transient greatness and a distant hope the child of a flattering prophecy that at the end of a thousand years a monarch of the race of Tacitus should arise the protector of the senate the restorer of Rome and the conqueror of the whole earth the peasants of Ilbulchum who had already given Claudius and Orlean to the sinking empire had an equal right to glory in the elevation of Prova about twenty years before the emperor Valyrian with his usual penetration had discovered the rising merit of the young soldier on whom he conferred the rank of tribune long before the age prescribed by the military regulations the tribune soon justified his choice by a victory over a great body of Samashians in which he saved the life of a near relation of Valyrian and deserved to receive from the emperor's hand the collars bracelets, spears and banners the mural and the civic crown and all the honorable rewards reserved by ancient Rome for successful valor the third and afterwards the tenth legion were entrusted to the command of Prova who in every step of his promotion showed himself superior to the station which filled Africa and Pontus the Rhine the Danube by turns afforded him the most blended occasions of displaying his personal prowess and his conduct in war Valyrian was indebted for the honor's courage with which he often checked the cruelty of his master Tacitus who desired by the abilities of his generals to supply his own deficiency of military talents named him commander in chief of the eastern provinces with five times the usual salary the promise of the consulship and the hope of a triumph when Prova ascended the imperial throne he was about 44 years of age in the full possession of his fame of the love of the army and of a mature vigor of mind and body his acknowledged merit and the success of his arms against Florinus left him without an enemy or a competitor yet if we may credit his own professions very far from being desirous of the empire he had accepted it with the most sincere reluctance but it is no longer in my power says Prova in a private letter to lay down a title so full of envy I must continue to personate the character which the soldiers have imposed upon me his dutiful address to the senate displayed the sentiments or at least the language of a roman patriot when you elected one of your order conscript fathers to succeed the emperor you acted in a manner suitable to your justice for you are the legal sovereigns of the world and the power which you derive from your ancestors will descend to your posterity happy would it have been if Florinus instead of unsurping the purple of his brother like a private inheritance had expected what your majesty might determine either in his favour or in that of other person the written soldiers have punished his rationers to me they have offered the title of Augustus but I submit to your clemency my pretensions and my merits when this respectful epistle was read by the consul the senators were unable to disguise their satisfaction the probar should condescend thus numbly to solicit a sceptre which he already possessed they celebrated with the warmest gratitude his virtues, his exploits and above all his moderation a decree immediately passed without a dissenting voice to ratify the election of the eastern armies and to confer on their chief all the several branches of the imperial dignity the names of Caesar and Augustus the author of his country the right of making in the same day three motions in the senate the office of pontifics maximus the tribunation power and the proconsular command a mode of investiture which though it seemed to multiply the authority of the emperor expressed the constitution of the ancient republic the reign of probars corresponded with this fair beginning the senate was permitted to direct the civil administration of the empire their faithful general asserted the honour of the roman arms and often laid at their feet crowns of gold and barbaric trophies the fruits of his numerous victories yet whilst he gratified their vanity he must secretly have despised their indolence and weakness though it was every moment in their power to repeal the disgraceful edict of gallinous the proud successes of the scipios patiently acquisied in their exclusion from all military employments they soon experienced that those who refuse the sword must renounce the skeptic end of chapter 12 part 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org this reading by Lucy Burgoyne the decline and fall of the roman empire volume 1 by Edward Gibbon chapter 12 Reigns of Tacitus Proba and his sons part 2 the strength of Orlean had crushed on every side of the enemies of Rome after his death they seemed to revive with an increase of fury and of numbers they were again vanquished by the active figure of Proba who in a short reign of about six years equalled the fame of ancient heroes and restored peace and order to every province of the roman world the dangerous frontier of Russia is so firmly secured that he left it without the suspicion of an enemy he broke the wandering power of the Samaritan tribes and by the terror of his arms compelled those barbarians to relinquish their spoil the Gothic nation caught at the alliance of so war like an emperor he attacked the Assyrians in their mountains besaged and took several of their strongest castles and flattered himself that he had forever suppressed a domestic foe whose independence so deeply wounded the majesty of the empire the troubles excited by the usurper Thermus in the upper Egypt had never been perfectly appeased and the city of polymos and copters fortified by the alliance of the Blemies still maintained an obscure rebellion the chastisement of those cities and of their axiliaries the savages of the south is said to have blamed the court of Persia and the great king sued in vain for the friendship of Proba which distinguished his reign were achieved by the personal valor and conduct of the emperor in so much that the writer of his life expresses some amazement how in so short a time a single man could be present in so many distant wars the remaining actions he entrusted to the care of his lieutenants the judicious choice of whom forms the inconsiderable part of his glory Carus Diocletian Maximian Constantius Gallerius Asclepidius and Annabelius and a crowd of other chiefs who afterwards ascended or supported the throne were trained to arms in the severe school of Aulian and Proba to the republic was the deliverance of Gaul and the recovery of 70 flourishing cities oppressed by the barbarians of Germany who since the death of Aulian had ravaged that great province with impunity among the various multitude of those fierce invaders we may distinguish with some degree of clearness three great armies of all rather nations successively vanquished by the valor of Proba he drove back the Franks into their morasses a descriptive circumstance from whence we may infer that the Confederacy known by the manly appellation of Fri already occupied the flat maritime country intersected and almost overflown by the stagnating waters and that several tribes of the Friesians and Batavians had exceeded to their alliance he vanquished the Burgundians a considerable people of the vandalist race they had wandered in quest of booty from the banks of the Oder to those of the Seine they esteemed themselves sufficiently fortunate to purchase by the restitution of all their booty permission of an undisturbed retreat they attempted to allude that article of the treaty their punishment was immediate and terrible but of all the invaders of Gaul the most forbiddable were the Lydians a distant people who reigned over a wide domain on the frontiers of Poland and Silesia in the Lydian notion the Ari was held the first rank by their numbers of fierceness the Ari it is thus that they are described by the energy Attacitus studied to improve by art and circumstances the ennunked terrors of their barbarism their shields are black their bodies are painted black they choose for the combat the darkest hour of the night their host advances covered as it were with a funeral shade nor do they often find an enemy capable of sustaining so strange and infernal an aspect of all our senses their eyes are first vanquished in battle yet the arms and discipline of the Romans easily disconfitted these horrid phantoms the Lygi were defeated in a general engagement and Semno the most renowned of their chiefs fell alive into the hands of probar that prudent emperor unwilling to reduce a brave people to despair granted them an honourable capitulation and permitted them to return in safety to their native country but the losses which they suffered in the march the battle and the retreat broke the power of the nation nor is the Lygian name ever repeated in the history either of Germany or of the empire the deliverance of Gaul is reported to have cost the lives of 400,000 of the invaders a work of labour to the Romans and of expense to the emperor who gave a piece of Gaul for the head of every barbarian but as the fame of warriors is built on the destruction of humankind we may naturally suspect that the Sanjiri account was maltedplied by the adherents of the soldiers and accepted without any very severe examination by the liberal vanity of probar since the expedition of Maximon the Roman generals had confined their ambition to a defensive war against the nations of Germany who perpetually pressed on the frontiers of the empire the Mordering probar pursued his Gaulic victories past the Rhine and displayed his invincible eagles on the banks of the Elb and the Neckar he was fully convinced that nothing could reconcile the minds of the barbarians to peace unless they experienced in their own country the calamities of war Germany exhausted by the Elb's success at the last emigration was astonished by his presence nine of the most considerable princes repaired to his camp and fell prostrate at his feet such a treaty was humbly received by the Germans as it pleased the conqueror to dictate he exacted a strict restitution of the effects and captives which they had carried away from the provinces and obliged their own magistrates to punish the more obstinate robbers who presumed to detain any part of the spoil a considerable tribute of corn, cattle and horses the only wealth of barbarians was reserved for the use of the garrisons which probar established on the limits of their territory he even entertained some thoughts of compelling the Germans to relinquish the exercise of arms and to trust their differences to the justice their safety to the power of Rome to accomplish these Solaturians the constant residence of an imperial governor by a numerous army was indispensably requisite probar therefore judged it more expedient to defer the execution of so great a design which was indeed rather aspecious than solid utility had Germany been reduced into the state of the province the Romans with immense labour and expense would have acquired only a more extensive boundary to defend against the fiercer and more active barbarians of Scythia instead of reducing the warlike natives of Germany to the condition of subjects probar contented himself with the humble expedient of raising a bullwalk against their inroads the country which now forms the circle of Svavia had been left desert of Augustus by the immigration of its ancient inhabitants the fertility of the soil soon attracted a new colony from the adjacent provinces of Gaul crowds of adventurers of a roaming temper and of desperate fortunes occupied the doubtful position and acknowledged by the payment of tithes the majesty of the empire to protect these new subjects a line of frontier garrisons was gradually extended from the Rhine to the Danube about the reign of Hadrian when that mode of defense began to be practised these garrisons were connected and covered by a strong entrenchment of trees and palisades in the place of so rude a bullwalk the emperor probar constructed a stone wall of a considerable height and strengthened it by towers at convenient distances from the neighbourhood of Newstatt and Ratisbon on the Danube it stretched across hills valleys, rivers and morasses as far as Wimphen on the Neckar and at length terminated on the banks of the Rhine after a winding course of near 200 miles this important barrier uniting the two mighty streams that protected the provinces of Europe seemed to fill up the vacant space through which the barbarians and particularly the alimony could penetrate with the greatest facility into the heart of the empire but the experience of the world from China to Britain has exposed the vain attempt of fortifying any extensive tract of country an active enemy who can select and vary his points of attack must in the end discover some feeble spot on some unguarded moment the strength as well as the attention of the defenders is divided and such are the blind effects of terror on the finest troops that are line broken in a single place deserted the fate of the war which probar erected may confirm the general observation within a few years after his death it was overthrown by the alimony its scattered ruins universally ascribed to the power of the daemon now serve only to excite the wonder of the Swabian peasant among the useful conditions of peace proposed by probar on the vanquished nations of Germany was the obligation of supplying the Roman army with 16,000 recruits the bravest and most robust of their youth the emperor dispersed them through all the provinces and distributed this dangerous reinforcement in small bands of 50 or 60 each among the national troops judiciously observing that the aid which the republic derived from the barbarians should be felt but not seen their aid was now become necessary the feeble elegance of Italy and the internal provinces could no longer support the weight of arms the hardy frontiers of the Rhine and Danube still produce minds and bodies equal to the labours of the camp but a perpetual series of wars had gradually diminished their numbers the infrequency of marriage and the ruin of agriculture affected the principles of population and not only destroyed the strength of the present but intercepted the hope of future generations the wisdom of probar embraced a great and beneficial plan of replenishing the exhausted frontiers by new colonies of captive or fugitive barbarians on whom he bestowed lands cattle instruments of husbandry and every encouragement that might engage them to educate a race of soldiers for the service of the republic into Britain and most probably into Cambridgeshire he transported a considerable body the impossibility of an escape reconciled them to their situation and in the subsequent troubles of that island they approved themselves the most faithful servants of the state great numbers of Franks and Jeopardy were settled on the banks of the Danube and the Rhine 100,000 Bastano expelled from their own country cheerfully accepted the establishment in Thrace and soon imbibed the manners and sentiments of Roman subjects but the expectations of probar were too often disappointed the impatience and idleness of the barbarians could ill-brook the slow labors of agriculture their unconquerable love of freedom rising against despotism provoked them into hasty rebellions alike fatal to themselves and to the provinces nor could these artificial supplies however repeated by succeeding emperors restore the important limit of gull and ill-recrum to its ancient and native figure of all the barbarians who abandoned their new settlements and disturbed the public tranquility a very small number returned to their own country for a short season they might wander in arms through the empire but in the end they were surely destroyed by the power of a war-like emperor the successful rashness of a party of Franks was attended however with such memorable consequences that it ought not to be passed unnoticed they had been established by probar on the sea coast of Pontus with a view strengthening the frontier against the inroads of the Alarney a fleet stationed in one of the harbours of the Exion fell into the hands of the Franks and they resolved through unknown seas to explore their way from the mouth of the Passus to that of the Rhine they easily escaped through the Bosporus and the Hellespot and cruising along the Mediterranean they rolled their appetite for revenge and plunder by frequent descents on the unsuspecting shores of Asia Greece and Africa the opulent city of Syracuse in which port the natives of Athens and Carthage had formerly been sunk was sacked by a handful of barbarians who massacred the greatest part of the trembling inhabitants from the island of Sicily the Franks proceeded to the columns of Hercules trusted themselves to the ocean coasted round Spain and Gaul and steering their triumphant course through the British Channel at length finished their surprising voyage by landing in safety on the Batavian or Frisian shores the example of their success instructing their countrymen to concede the advantages and to despise the dangers of the sea pointed out to their enterprising spirit a new road to wealth and glory notwithstanding the vigilance and activity of Probar it was almost impossible that he could at once contain in obedience every part of his wide extended dominions the barbarians who broke their chains had seized the favourable opportunity of a domestic war when the imprimat to the relief of Gaul he devolved the command of the east on Saturnius that general a man of merit and experience was driven into rebellion by the absence of his sovereign the liberty of the Alexandrian people the pressing instances of his friends and his own fears that from the moment of his elevation he never entertained a hope of empire or even of life alas, he said the republic has lost a useful servant and the rashness of an hour who has destroyed the services of many years you know not continued he the misery of sovereign power a sword is perpetually suspended over our head we dread our very guards we distrust our companions the choice of action or of repose is no longer in our disposition nor is there any age or character or conduct that can protect us from the censure of envy in thus exulting me to the throne you have doomed me to a life of cares and to an untimely fate the only consolation which remains is the assurance that I shall not fall alone but as the former part of his prediction was verified by the victory so the latter was disappointed by the clemency of probar that amiable prince attempted even to save the unhappy saterniness from the fury of the soldiers he had more than once solicited for himself to place some confidence in the mercy of the sovereign who so highly esteemed his character that he had punished as a malicious informer the first who related the improbable news of his disaffection saterniness might perhaps have embraced the generous offer had he not been restrained by the obstinate distrust of his endurance the revolt was deeper and their hopes were more sanguine the nose of their experienced leader the revolt of saterniness was scarcely extinguished in the east before new troubles were excited in the west by the rebellion of bonuses and procolos in Gaul the most distinguished merit of those two officers was their respected prowess the two combats of Bacchus of the other in those of Venus yet neither of them was destitute of courage and capacity and both sustained with honour the august character which the fear of punishment had engaged them to assume till they sunk at length beneath the superior juniors of Proba he used the victory with his accustomed moderation and spared the fortune as well as the lives of their innocent families the arms of Proba had now suppressed all the foreign and domestic enemies of the state his mild but steady administration confirmed the re-establishment of the public tranquility nor was there left in the provinces a hostile barbarian a tyrant or even a robber to revive the memory of past disorders it was time that the emperor should revisit Rome and celebrate his own glory and the general happiness the triumph due to the valour of Proba was conducted with a magnificent suitable to his fortune and the people who had so lately admired the trophies of Allian gazed with equal pleasure on those of his heroic successor we cannot on this occasion forget the desperate courage of about four score gladiators reserved with near 600 others for their inhuman sports of the amphitheater distoning to shed their blood for the amusement of the populace they killed their keepers broke from the place of their confinement and filled the streets of Rome with blood and confusion after an obstinate resistance they were overpowered and cut in pieces by the regular forces but they obtained at least an honourable death and the satisfaction of a just revenge the military discipline which reigned in the camps of Proba was less cruel than that of Allian that it was equally rigid and exact the latter had punished the irregularities of the soldiers and relenting severity the former prevented them by employing the legions in constant and useful labours when Proba commanded in Egypt he executed many considerable works for this blender and benefit of that rich country the navigation of the Nile so important to Rome itself was improved and temples, buildings porticoes and houses were constructed by the hands of the soldiers who acted by turns as architects as engineers and as husbandmen it was reported of Hannibal that in order to preserve his troops from the dangerous temptations of idleness he had obliged them to form large plantations of olive trees along the coast of Africa from a similar principle exercised his legions in covering with rich vineyards the hills of Gaul and Paninonia and two considerable spots are described which were entirely dug and planted by military labour one of these known under the name of Mount Elmo was situated near Sermium the country where Proba was born for which he ever retained a partial affection and whose gratitude he endeavored to secure by converting into tillage a large and unhealthy tract of marshy ground an army thus employed constituted perhaps the most useful as well as the bravest portion of Roman subjects but in the prosecution of a favourite scheme the best men satisfied with the rectitude of their intentions to forget the bounds of moderation nor did Proba 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 burden or shake it off with indignation the imprudence of Proba 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 force the unguarded expression proved fatal to him in one of the hottest days the summer as he severely urged the unwholesome labour of drainage the soldiers impatient of fatigue on a sudden through down their tools grasped their arms and broke out into a furious mutiny the emperor a lofty tower constructed for the purpose of surveying the progress of the work the tower was instantly forced and a thousand swords were plunged at once into the bosom of the unfortunate Proba 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 and hastened to perpetuate by an honourable monument the memory of his virtues and victories when the legions had indulged their grief and repentance for the death of Proba their unanimous consent declared Carouse his praetorian perfect 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 barbarious origin of the preceding emperors yet the most inquisitive of his contemporaries very far from admitting his claim had variously deduced his own birth all that of his parents from Ilricrum from Gaul or from Africa though a soldier he had received a learned education though a senator he was invested with the first dignity of the army and in an age when the civil and military professions began to be irrecoverably separated from each other they were united in the person of Carouse notwithstanding the severe justice which he exercised against the assassins of Prova to whose favour and esteem he was highly indebted he could not escape the suspicion of being a accessory to a deed from whence he derived the principal advantage he enjoyed at least before his elevation an acknowledged character of virtue and nobilities that his austere temper insensibly degenerated into moroseness and the imperfect writers of his life almost hesitate whether they shall not rank him in the number of Roman tyrants when Carouse assumed the purple he was about 60 years of age and his two sons Caranus and Numerian had already attained the season of manhood the authority of the senate expired with Prova nor was the repentance of the soldiers displayed by the same dutiful regard for the civil power which they had testified after the unfortunate death of Aurean the election of Carouse 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 a 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 licentuous murmurs the voice of congratulation and flattery was not however, so on and we may still peruse with pleasure and contempt the cloak which was composed on the accession of the emperor Carouse, two shepherds avoiding the noon tide heat, retire into the cave of Faunus on a spreading beach 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 innocence and security of the golden age it is more than probable that these elegant trifles never reached the ears of a veteran general who with the consent of their legions were preparing to execute the long suspended design of the Persian war before his departure for this distant expedition Carouse conferred on his two sons Caranus and Numerian the title of Caesar and investing the former with almost an equal share of the imperial power directed the young prince first to suppress some troubles and resigning Gaul and afterwards to fix the seat of his residence at Rome and to assume the government of the western provinces the safety of Ilocrum was confirmed by a memorable defeat of the Sumatians 16,000 of those barbarians remained on the field of battle and the number of captives amounted to 20,000 the old emperor headed with the fame and prospect of victory pursued his march in the midst of winter through the countries of Thrace and Asia Minor and at length with the younger son Numerian arrived on the confines of the Persian monarchy there encamping on the summit of a lofty mountain he pointed out to his troops the opulence and luxury they were about to invade the successor of Arteryxists Thorens or Brarum though he had subdued the Segistans one of the most warlike nations of Upper Asia was alarmed at the approach of the Romans and endeavoured to retard their progress by a negotiation of peace his ambassadors entered the camp about sunset at the time when the troops were satisfying their hunger with the frugal repast the Persians expressed their desire of being introduced to the presence of the Roman emperor they were at length conducted to a soldier who was seated on the grass a piece of stale bacon and a few hard peas composed his supper a coarse woolen garment of purple was the only circumstance that announced his dignity the conference was conducted with the same disregard of courtly elegance Carus taking off a cap which he wore to conceal his baldness assured the ambassadors that unless their masters acknowledged the superiority of Rome he would speedily render Persia as naked of trees as his own head was destitute of hair notwithstanding some traces of art and preparation we may discover in this scene the manners of Carus and the severe simplicity which the martial princes who succeeded Gallianus had already restored in the Roman camps the ministers of the great king trembled and retired the threats of Carus were not without effect he ravaged Mesopotamia cut in pieces whatever opposed his passage made himself master of the great cities of Seleucia and Sestiphon which seemed to have surrendered without resistance and carried his victorious arms beyond the Tigris he had seized the favourable moment for an invasion the Persian councils were distracted by domestic factions and the greater part of their forces were detained on the frontiers of India Rome and the east received with transports the news of such important advantages flattery and hope painted in the most lively colours the fall of Persia the conquest of Arabia the submission of Egypt and a lasting deliverance from the inroads of the Scythian nations but the reign of Carus was destined to expose the vanity of predictions they were scarcely uttered before they were contradicted by his death and invent a tender with such ambiguous circumstances that it may be related in a letter from his own secretary to the prophet of the city Carus says he our dearest emperor was confined by sickness to his bed when a furious tempest arose in the camp the darkness which overspread the sky was so thick that we could no longer distinguish each other and the incessant flashes of lightning took from us the knowledge of all that passed in the general confusion immediately after the most violent clover thunder we heard a sudden cry that the emperor was dead that his chamberlains in a rage of grief had set fire to the royal pavilion a circumstance which gave rise to the report that Carus was killed by lightning but as far as we have been able to investigate the truth his death was the natural effect of his disorder end of chapter 12 part 2