 CHAPTER 6 PART 3 OF THE DECLINE OF 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. To this temple, as to the common center of religious worship, the imperial fanatic attempted to remove the Ankylia, the Palladium, and all the sacred pledges of the faith of Numa. A crowd of inferior deities attended in various stations the majesty of the God of Amessa, but his court was still imperfect, till a female of distinguished rank was admitted to his bed. Pallas had first been chosen for his consort, but it was dreaded that a war-like terrorist might affright the soft delicacy of a Syrian deity. The moon, adored by the Africans under the name of Astarte, was deemed a more suitable companion for the Roman. Her image, with the rich offerings of her temple as a marriage portion, was transported with solemn pomp from Carthage to Rome, and the day of these mystic nuptials was a general festival in the capital and throughout the empire. A rational voluptuary adheres with invariable respect to the temperate dictates of nature, and improves the gratifications of sense by social intercourse, endearing connections, and the soft coloring of taste and imagination. But Alegalibus, I speak of the emperor of that name, corrupted by his youth, his country, and his fortune, abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures with ungoverned fury, and soon found disgust and satiety in the midst of his enjoyments. The inflammatory powers of art were summoned to his aid. The confused multitude of women, of wines, and of dishes, and the studied variety of attitudes and salsas, served to revive his languid appetites. New terms and new inventions in these sciences. The only ones cultivated and patronized by the monarch, signalized his reign, and transmitted his infamy to succeeding times. A capricious prodigality supplied the want of taste and elegance, and whist Alegalibus lavished away the treasures of his people in the wildest extravagance. His own voice, and that of his flatterers, applauded a spirit and magnificence unknown to the tameness of his predecessors. Ducan found the order of seasons and climates to sport with the passions and prejudices of his subjects, and to subvert every law of nature and decency were in the number of his most delicious amusements. A long train of concubines and a rapid secession of wives, among whom was a vestal virgin, ravished by force from her sacred asylum, were insufficient to satisfy the impotence of his passions. The master of the Roman world affected to copy the dress and manners of the female sex, preferred the distaff to the scepter, and dishonored the principal dignities of the empire by distributing them among his numerous lovers, one of whom was publicly invested with the title and authority of the emperors, or, as he more properly styled himself, of the emperor's husband. It may seem probable the vices and follies of Alegalibus have been adorned by fancy and blackened by prejudice. Yet, confining ourselves to the public scenes displayed before the Roman people and attested by grave and contemporary historians, their inexpressible infamy suppresses that of any other country or age. The license of an eastern monarch is secluded from the eye of curiosity by the inaccessible walls of the suraglio. The sentiments of honor and gallantry have introduced a refinement of pleasure in regard for decency and respect for the public opinion into the modern courts of Europe. But the corrupt and opulent nobles of Rome gratified every vice that could be collected from the mighty conflicts of nations and manners. Secure of impunity, careless of censure, they lived without restraint in the patient and humble society of their slaves and parasites. The emperor, in his turn, viewing every rank of his subjects with the same contemptuous indifference, asserted without control his sovereign privilege of lust and luxury. The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves and credibly discover some nice differences of age, character, or station to justify the partial distinction. The licentious soldiers who had raised to the throne the disillute son of Caracola blushed at their ignominious choice and turned with disgust from that monster to contemplate with pleasure the opening virtues of his cousin, Alexander, the son of Mimaya. The crafty Misa, sensible that her grandson, Alagallibus, must inevitably destroy himself by his own vices, had provided another insurer's support of her family. Embracing a favorable moment of fondness and devotion, she had persuaded the young emperor to adopt Alexander and to invest him with the title of Caesar, that his own divine occupations might be no longer interrupted by the care of the earth. In the second rank, that amiable prince soon acquired the affections of the public and excited the tyrant's jealousy, who resolved to terminate the dangerous competition, either by corrupting the manners, or by taking away the life of his rival. His arts proved unsuccessful, his vain designs were constantly discovered by his own liquefious folly, and disappointed by those virtuous and faithful subjects whom the prudence of Mimaya had placed above the persons of her son. In a heasty sally of passion, Alagallibus resolved to execute by force what he had been unable to compass by fraud, and by a despotic sentence decreed his cousin from the rank and honors of Caesar. The message was received in the Senate with silence, and in the camp with fury. The Praetorian guards swore to protect Alexander, and to revenge the dishonored majesty of the throne. The tears and promises of the trembling Alagallibus, who only begged them to spare his life and to leave him in the possession of his beloved Hercules, diverted their just indignation, and they contented themselves with empowering their prefects to watch over the safety of Alexander, and the conduct of the Emperor. It was impossible that such a reconciliation should last, or that even the mean soul of Alagallibus could hold an empire on such humiliating terms of dependence. He soon attempted, by a dangerous experiment, to try the temper of the soldiers. The report of the death of Alexander and the natural suspicion that he had been murdered, inflamed their passions into fury, and the tempest of the camp could only be appeased by the presence and authority of the popular youth. Provoked at this new instance of their affection for his cousin, and their contempt for his person, the Emperor ventured to punish some of the leaders of the mutiny. His unseasonable severity proved instantly fatal to his minions, his mother, and himself. Alagallibus was massacred by the indignant Praetorians, his mutilated corpse dragged through the streets of the city and thrown into the Tiber. His memory was branded with eternal infamy by the Senate, and the justice of whose decree has been ratified by posterity. In the room of Alagallibus, his cousin Alexander was raised to the throne by the Praetorian guards. His relation to the family of Severus, whose name he assumed, was the same as that of his predecessor. His virtue and his danger had already endeared him to the Romans, and the eager liberality of the Senate converted upon him in one day the various titles and powers of the imperial dignity. But as Alexander was a modest and dutiful youth in only 17 years of age, the reins of government were in the hands of two women, his mother, Memayah, and of Mysa, his grandmother. After the death of the latter, who survived but a short time the elevation of Alexander, Memayah remained the sole regent of her son and of the empire. In every country and age, the wiser, or at least the stronger of the two sexes, has usurped the powers of the state and confined the others to the cares and pleasures of domestic life. In hereditary monarchies, however, and especially in those of modern Europe, the gallant spirit of chivalry and the law of secession have accustomed us to allow a singular exception. And a woman is often acknowledged the absolute sovereign of a great kingdom, in which she would be deemed incapable of exercising the smallest employment, civil or military. But as the Roman emperors were still considered as the generals and magistrates of the Republic, their wives and mothers, although distinguished by the name of Augusta, were never associated to their personal honors. And a female reign would have appeared an inexpeable prodigy in the eyes of those primitive Romans, who married without love, or who loved without delicacy and respect. The haughty agrippina aspired, indeed, to share the honors of the empire, which she had conferred on her son. But her mad ambition, detested by every citizen who felt for the dignity of Rome, was disappointed by the artful firmness of Seneca and Berhus. The good sense, or the indifference of succeeding princes, restrained them from offending the prejudices of their subjects. And it was reserved for the profligate elegalibus to disgrace the acts of the senate with the name of his mother, Somaeus, who was placed by the side of the consuls and subscribed, as a regular member, the decrees of the legislative assembly. Her more prudent sister, Mimaya, declined the useless and odious prerogative, and a solemn law was enacted, excluding women forever from the senate, and devoting to the infernal gods the head of the wretch by whom this sanction should be violated. The substance, not the pageantry of power, was the object of Mimaya's manly ambition. She maintained an absolute and lasting empire over the mind of her son, and in his affection the mother could not brook a rival. Alexander, with her consent, married the daughter of her patrician, but his respect for his father-in-law and love for the empress were inconsistent with the tenderness or interest in Mimaya. The patrician was executed on the ready accusation of treason, and the wife of Alexander was driven with ignominy from the palace and banished into Africa. Notwithstanding this act of jealous cruelty as well as some instances of avarice, with which Mimaya's charged, the general tenor of her administration was equally for the benefit of her son and of the empire. With the approbation of the senate she chose sixteen of the wisest and most virtuous senators as a perpetual consul of state, before whom every public business a moment was debated and determined. The celebrated opium, equally distinguished by his knowledge of and his respect for the laws of Rome, was at their head, and the prudent firmness of this aristocracy restored order and authority to the government. As soon as they had purged the city from foreign superstition and luxury, the remains of the capricious tyranny of Alec Alibis, they applied themselves to remove his worthless creatures from every department of the public administration and to supply their places with men of virtue and ability. Learning and the love of justice became the only recommendation for civil offices. Valor and the love of discipline, the only qualification for military appointments. But the most important care of Mimaya and her wise counselors was to form the character of the Roman emperor, on whose personal qualities the happiness or misery of the Roman world must ultimately depend. The fortunate soil assisted and even prevented the hand of cultivation. An excellent understanding soon convinced Alexander of the advantages of virtue, the pleasure of knowledge and the necessity of labor. A natural mildness and moderation of temper preserved him from the assaults of passion and the allurements of vice. His unalterable regard for his mother and his esteem for the wise opium guarded his inexperienced youth from the poison of flattery. The simple journal of his ordinary occupations exhibits a pleasing picture of an accomplished emperor and with some allowance for the difference of manners might well deserve the imitation of modern princess. Alexander rose early. The first moments of the day were consecrated to private devotion and his domestic chapel was filled with the images of those heroes who, by improving or reforming human life, had deserve the grateful reverence of posterity. But as he deemed the service of mankind the most acceptable worship of the gods, the greatest part of his morning hours was employed in his council where he discussed public affairs and determined private causes with the patience and discretion above his years. The dryness of business was relieved by the charms of literature and a portion of time was always set apart for his favorite studies of poetry, history, and philosophy. The works of Virgil and Horace, the Republics of Plato and Cicero formed his taste enlarged his understanding and gave him the noblest ideas of man and government. The exercises of the body seceded to those of the mind and Alexander who was tall, active, and robust surpassed most of his equals in the gymnastic arts. Refreshed by the use of the bath and a slight dinner he resumed with Newvigor the business of the day and to the hour of supper the principal meal of the Romans he was attended by his secretaries with whom he read and answered the multitude of letters, memorials, and petitions that must have been addressed to the master of the greatest part of the world. His table was served with the most frugal simplicity and whenever he was at liberty to consult his own inclination the company consisted of a few select friends, men of learning and virtue amongst whom Alpien was constantly invited. Their conversation was familiar and instructive and the pauses were occasionally enlivened by the recital of some pleasing composition which supplied the place of dancers and comedians and even gladiators so frequently summoned to the tables of the rich and luxurious Romans. The dress of Alexander was plain and modest, his demeanor courteous and affable. At the proper hours his palace was open to all his subjects but the voice of a choir was heard as in the Illusian mysteries pronouncing the same salutary admonition. Let none enter these holy walls lest he is conscious of a pure and innocent mind. Such a uniform tenor of life which left not a moment for vice or folly is a better proof of the wisdom and justice of Alexander's government than all the trifling details preserved in the compilations of Limpritius. Since the accession of comedists the Roman world had experienced during a term of 40 years the successive and various vices of four tyrants. From the death of Aligalibus it enjoyed an auspicious calm of 13 years. The provinces, relieved from the oppressive taxes invented by Caracola and his pretended son, flourished in peace and prosperity under the administration of magistrates who were convinced by experience that to deserve the love of the subjects was their best and only method of obtaining the favor of their sovereign. While some gentle restraints were imposed on the innocent luxury of the Roman people, the price of provisions and the interest of money were reduced by the paternal care of Alexander whose prudent liberality without distressing the industrious supplied the wants and amusements of the populace. The dignity, the freedom, the authority of the senate was restored and every virtuous senator might approach the person of the emperor without a fear and without a blush. The name of Antonitis, ennobled by the virtues of Pius and Marcus, had been communicated by adoption to the disillusioned virus and by dissent to the cruel Commodus. It became the honorable appellation of the sons of Severus, was bestowed on young Diodumenianus and at length prostituted to the infamy of the high priest of Amessa. Alexander, though pressed by the study and perhaps sincere importunity of the senate, nobly refused the borrowed lustre of a name whilst in his old conduct he labored to restore the glory and felicity of the age of the genuine Antoninians. In the civil administration of Alexander, wisdom was enforced by power and the people sensible of the public felicity repaid their benefactor with their love and gratitude. There still remained a greater, a more necessary, but more difficult enterprise. The reformation of the military order whose interest and temper confirmed by long impunity rendered them impatient of the restraints of discipline and careless of the blessings of public tranquility. On the execution of his design, the emperor affected to display his love and to conceal his fear of the army. The most rigid economy in every other branch of the administration supplied a fund of gold and silver for the ordinary pay and the extraordinary rewards of the troops. In their marches he relaxed the severe obligation of carrying 17 days provisions on their shoulders. Ample magazines were formed along the public roads and as soon as they entered the enemy's country, a numerous train of mules and camels waited on their haughty laziness. As Alexander disparate of correcting the luxury of his soldiers, he attempted at least to direct it to objects of martial pomp and ornament. Fine horses, splendid armor, and shields enriched with silver and gold. He shared whatever fatigues he was obliged to impose, visited in person the sick and wounded, preserved an exact register of their services and his own gratitude and expressed, on every occasion, the warmest regard for a body of men whose welfare as he affected to declare was so closely connected with that of the state. By the most gentle arts he labored to inspire the fierce multitude with a sense of duty and to restore at least a faint image of that discipline to which the Romans owed their empire over so many other nations as more like and more powerful than themselves. But his prudence was vain, his courage fatal, and the attempt towards a reformation served only to inflame the ills it was meant to cure. The Praetorian guards were attached to the youth of Alexander. They loved him as a tender pupil, whom they had saved from a tyrant's fury and placed on the imperial throne. That amiable prince was sensible of the obligation. But as his gratitude was restrained within the limits of reason and justice, they soon were more dissatisfied with the virtues of Alexander than they had ever been with the vices of Heligalibus. Their prefect, the wise Opian, was a friend of the laws and of the people. He was considered as the enemy of the soldiers, and as pernicious councils, every scheme of reformation was imputed. Some trifling accident blew up their discontent into a furious mutiny, and a civil war raged during three days in Rome, whilst the life of that excellent minister was defended by the grateful people. Terrified at length by the sight of some houses and flames, and by the threats of a general conflagration, the people yielded with a sigh and left the virtuous but unfortunate Opian to his fate. He was pursued into the imperial palace and massacred at the feet of his master, who vainly strove to cover him with the purple, and to obtain his pardon from the inexorable soldiers. Such was the deplorable weakness of government that the emperor was unable to revenge his murdered friend and his insulted dignity without stooping to the arts of patience and dissimulation. Epagathus, the principal leader of the mutiny, was removed from Rome by the honorable employment of Prefect of Egypt. From that high rank, he was gently degraded to the government of Crete, and when, at length, his popularity among the guards was effaced by Tom and absence, Alexander ventured to inflict the tardy but deserved punishment of his crimes. Under the reign of a just and virtuous prince, the tyranny of the army threatened with instant death his most faithful ministers, who were suspected of an intention to correct their intolerable disorders. The historian, Dian Cassius, had commanded the Pannonian legions with the spirit of ancient discipline. Their brethren of Rome, embracing the common cause of military license, demanded the head of the reformer. Alexander, however, instead of yielding to their seditious clamors, showed a just sense of his merit and services by appointing him his colleague in the consulship and defraying from his own treasury the expense of that vain dignity. But, as it was justly apprehended, that if the soldiers beheld him with the ensigns of his office they would revenge the insult in his blood. The nominal first magistrate of the state retired by the emperor's advice from the city, and spent the greatest part of his consulship at his villas and companionia. End of Chapter 6, Part 3 Chapter 6, Part 4 of the Decline 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. The lenity of the emperor confirmed the insolence of the troops. The legions imitated the example of the guards, and defended the prerogative of licentiousness with the same furious obscenity. The administration of Alexander was an unavailing struggle against the corruption of his age. In Alericum, in Mauritania, in Armenia, in Mesopotamia, in Germany, fresh mutinies perpetually broke out. His officers were murdered, his authority was insulted, and his life at last sacrificed to the fierce discontents of the army. One particular fact well deserves to be recorded, as it illustrates the manners of the troops and exhibits a singular instance of their return to a sense of duty and obedience. Willst the emperor lay at Antioch in his Persian expedition, the particulars of which we shall hereafter relate the punishment of some soldiers who had been discovered in the baths of women excited a sedition in the legion to which they belonged. Alexander ascended his tribunal and with a modest firmness represented to the armed multitude the absolute necessity as well as his inflexible resolution of correcting the vices introduced by his impure predecessor, and of maintaining the discipline which could not be relaxed without the ruin of the Roman name and empire. Their clamors interrupted his mild expostulation. Reserve your shouts, said the undaunted emperor, till you take the field against the Persians, the Germans, and the Sarmatians. Be silent in the presence of your sovereign and benefactor, who bestows upon you the corn, the clothing, and the money of the provinces. Be silent, or I shall no longer stow you soldiers but citizens, if those indeed who disclaim the laws of Rome deserved to be ranked among the meanest of the people. His menaces inflamed the fury of the legion, and their brandish arms already threatened his person. Your courage, resumed the intrepid Alexander, would be more nobly displayed in the field of battle. Me you may destroy, you cannot intimidate, and the severe justice of the Republic would punish your crime and revenge my death. The legion still persisted in clamorous sedition, when the emperor pronounced with a loud voice the decisive sentence, citizens, lay down your arms and depart in peace to your respective habitations. The tempest was instantly appeased. The soldiers, filled with grief and shame, silently confessed the justice of their punishment and the power of discipline. Yielded up their arms and military ensigns, and retired in confusion, not to their camp, but to the several ins of the city. Alexander enjoyed, during 30 days, the edifying spectacle of their repentance, nor did he restore them to their former rank in the army, till he had punished with death those tribunes whose connivance had occasioned the mutiny. The grateful legion served the emperor whilst living, and revenged him when dead. The resolutions of the multitude generally depend on a moment, and the caprice of passion might equally determine the seditious legion to lay down their arms at the emperor's feet, or to plunge them into his breast. Perhaps, if this singular transaction had been investigated by the penetration of a philosopher, we should discover the secret causes which, on that occasion, authorized the boldness of the prince, and commanded the obedience of the troops. And, perhaps, if it had been related by a judicious historian, we should find this action worthy of Caesar himself, reduced nearer to the level of probability and the common standard of the character of Alexander Severus. The abilities of that amiable prince seems to have been inadequate to the difficulties of his situation, the firmness of his conduct inferior to the purity of his intentions. His virtues, as well as the vices of Allagalibus, contracted a tincture of weakness and effeminency from the soft climate of Syria, of which he was a native, though he blushed at his foreign origin, and listened with a vain complacency to the flattering genealogists who derived his race from the ancient stock of Roman nobility. The pride and avarice of his mother cast a shade on the glories of his reign, and by exacting from his riper years the same dutiful obedience which she had justly claimed from his inexperienced youth, Mimaya exposed to public ridicule both her son's character and her own. The fatigues of the Persian war irritated the military discontent. The unsuccessful event degraded the reputation of the Emperor as a general and even as a soldier. Every cause prepared and every circumstance hastened a revolution which distracted the Roman Empire with a long series of intestine calamities. The disillusioned tyranny of Commodus, the civil war is occasioned by his death, and the new maxims of policy introduced by the House of Severus had all contributed to increase the dangerous power of the army, and to obliterate the faint image of laws and liberty which still impressed on the minds of the Romans. This internal change which undermined the foundations of the Empire, we have endeavored to explain with some degree of order and purposequity. The personal characters of the emperors, their victories, laws, follies and fortunes can interest us no further than as they are connected with the general history of the decline and fall of the monarchy. Our constant attention to that great object will not suffer us to overlook a most important edict of Antoninus Caracola, which communicated to all free inhabitants of the Empire the name and privileges of Roman citizens. His unbounded liberality flowed not, however, from the sentiments of a generous mind. It was the soared result of avarice, and will naturally be illustrated by some observations on the finances of that state, from the victorious ages of the Commonwealth to the reign of Alexander Severus. The siege of Veii in Tuscany, the first considerable enterprise of the Romans, was protracted to the 10th year, much less by the strength of the place than by the unskillfulness of the procedures. The unaccustomed hardships of so many winter campaigns at the distance of near 20 miles from home, required more than common encouragements, and the Senate wisely prevented the clamors of the people by the institution of a regular pay for the soldiers, which was levied by a general tribute, assessed according to the equitable proportion on the property of the citizens. During more than 200 years after the conquest of Veii, the victories of the Republic added less to the wealth than to the power of Rome. The states of Italy pay their tribute in military service only, and the vast force, both by sea and land, which was exerted in the Punic wars, was maintained at the expense of the Romans themselves. That high-spirited people, such as often the generous enthusiasm of freedom, cheerfully submitted to the most excessive but voluntary burdens, in the just confidence that they should speedily enjoy the rich harvest of their labors. Their expectations were not disappointed. In the course of a few years, the riches of Syracuse, of Carthage, of Macedonia, and of Asia were brought in triumph to Rome. The treasures of Perseus alone amounted to near two million sterling, and the Roman people, the sovereign of so many nations, was forever delivered from the weight of taxes. The increasing revenue of the provinces was found sufficient to defray the ordinary establishment of war and government, and the superfluous mass of gold and silver was deposited in the Temple of Saturn, and reserved for any unforeseen emergency of the State. History has never, perhaps, suffered a greater or more irreparable injury than in the loss of that curious register bequeathed by Augustus to the Senate, in which that experienced prince so accurately balanced the revenues and expenses of the Roman Empire. Deprived of this clear and comprehensive estimate, we are reduced to collect a few imperfect hints from such of the ancients as have accidentally turned aside from the splendid to the more useful parts of history. We are informed that, by the conquests of Pompeii, the tributes of Asia were raised from fifty to one hundred and thirty-five millions of drachems, or about four millions and one-half of sterling. Under the last and most indolent of the Ptolemies, the revenue of Egypt is said to have amounted twelve thousand five hundred talents, a sum equivalent to more than two millions and a half of our money, but which was afterwards considerably improved by the more exact economy of the Romans in the increase of trade of Ethiopia and India. Gaul was enriched by rapine, as Egypt was by commerce, and the tributes of those two great provinces have been compared as nearly equal to each other in value. The ten thousand Euboic, or Phoenician talents, about four million sterling, which vanquished Carthage, was condemned to pay within a term of fifty years, were a slight acknowledgement to the superiority of Rome, and cannot bear the least proportion with the taxes afterwards raised both on the lands and on the persons of the inhabitants, when the fertile coast of Africa was reduced into a province. Spain, by a very singular fatality, was the Peru and Mexico of the old world, the discovery of the rich western continent by the Phoenicians and the oppression of the simple natives who were compelled to labor in their own minds for the benefit of strangers, form an exact type of the more recent history of Spanish America. The Phoenicians were acquainted only with the sea coast of Spain. Averus as well as Ambition carried the arms of Rome and Carthage into the heart of the country, and almost every part of the soil was found pregnant with copper, silver, and gold. Mention is made of a mine near Carthagena, which yielded every day twenty-five thousand dracoms of silver, or about three hundred thousand pounds a year. Twenty thousand pounds weight of gold was annually received from the provinces of Asturia, Galicia, and Lusitania. We want both leisure and materials to pursue this curious inquiry through the many potent states which were annihilated in the Roman Empire. Some notion, however, may be formed of the revenue of the provinces, where considerable wealth had been deposited by nature or collected by man, if we observe the severe attention that was directed to the abodes of solitude and sterility. Augustus once received a petition from the inhabitants of Gairus, humbly praying that they may be relieved from one third of their excessive impositions. Their whole tax amounted indeed to no more than one hundred and fifty dracoms, or about five pounds. But Gairus was a little island, or rather a rock, in the Aegean Sea, destitute of freshwater and every necessity of life and inhabited by only a few wretched fishermen. From the faint glimmerings of such doubtful and scattered lights, we should be inclined to believe, first, that, with every fair allowance for the difference of times and circumstances, the general income of the Roman provinces could seldom amount to less than fifteen or twenty millions of our money. And, secondly, that so ample a revenue must have been fully adequate to all the expenses of the moderate government instituted by Augustus, whose court was the modest family of a private senator, and whose military establishment was calculated for the defense of the frontiers without any aspiring views of conquest or any serious apprehension of a foreign invasion. Notwithstanding the seeming probability of both these conclusions, the latter of them, at least, is positively disowned by the language and conduct of Augustus. It is not easy to determine whether, on this occasion, he acted as the common father of the Roman world or as the oppressor of liberty, whether he wished to relieve the provinces or to impoverish the senate in the equestrian order. But no sooner had he assumed the reins of government than he frequently intimated the insufficiency of the tribunes and the necessity of throwing an equitable proportion of the public burden upon Rome and Italy. In the prosecution of this unpopular design he advanced, however, by cautious and well-weighted steps. The introduction of customs was followed by the establishment of an excise, and the scheme of taxation was compelled by an artful assessment on the real and personal property of the Roman citizens, who had been exempted from any kind of contribution above a century and a half. One. In a great empire, like that of Rome, a natural balance of money must have gradually established itself. It had already been observed that, as the wealth of the provinces was attracted to the capital by the strong hand of conquest and power, so a considerable part of it was restored to the industrious provinces by the gentle influence of commerce and arts. In the reign of Augustus and his successors, duties were imposed on every kind of merchandise, which through a thousand channels flowed to the great center of opulence and luxury. In whatsoever manner the law was expressed, it was the Roman purchaser and not the provincial merchant who paid the tax. The rate of the customs varied from the eighth to the fortieth part of the value of the commodity, and we have a right to suppose that the variation was directed by the unalterable maximums of policy, that a higher duty was fixed on the articles of luxury than on those of necessity, and that the productions raised or manufactured by the laborer of the subjects of the empire were treated with more indulgence than was shown to the pernicious, or at least the unpopular commerce of Arabia and India. There was still extant, a long but in perfect catalog of eastern commodities. About the time of Alexander Severus were subject to the payment of duties, cinnamon, myrrh, pepper, ginger, and the whole tribe of aromatics, a great variety of precious stones among which the diamond was the most remarkable for its price and the emerald for its beauty. Parthian and Babylonian leather, cottons, silks both raw and manufactured, ebony, ivory, and eunuchs. We may observe that the use and value of those infeminate slaves gradually rose with the decline of the empire. Two. The excise, introduced by Augustus after the civil wars, was extremely moderate, but it was general. It seldom exceeded one percent, but it comprehended whatever was sold in the markets or by public auction, from the most considerable purchases of land and houses to those minute objects which can only derive a value from their infinite multitude and daily consumption. Such attacks, as it affects the body of the people, has ever been the occasion of clamor and discontent. An emperor, well acquainted with the once and resources of the state, was obliged to declare by a popular edict that the support of the army depended in a great measure on the produce of the excise. Three. When Augustus resolved to establish a permanent military force for the defense of his government against foreign and domestic enemies, he instituted a peculiar treasury for the pay of the soldiers, the rewards of the veterans, and the extraordinary expenses of war. The ample revenue of the excise, though peculiarly apportioned to the uses, was found inadequate. To supply the deficiency, the emperor suggested a new tax of five percent on all legacies and inheritances, but the nobles of Rome were more tenacious of property than of freedom. Their indignant murmurs were received by Augustus with his usual temper. He candidly referred the whole business to the senate and exhorted them to provide for the public service by some other expedient of a less odious nature. They were divided and perplexed. He insinuated to them that their obscenity would oblige him to propose a general land tax and capitation. They acquiesced in silence. The new imposition on legacies and inheritances was, however, mitigated by some restrictions. It did not take place unless the object was of a certain value, most probably a fifty or a hundred pieces of gold, nor can it be exacted from the nearest kin on the father's side. When the rights of nature and property were thus secured, it seemed reasonable that a stranger or a distant relation, who acquired an unexpected acquisition of fortune, should cheerfully resign a twentieth part of it for the benefit of the state. Such a tax, plentiful as it must prove in every wealthy community, was most happily suited to the situation of the Romans who could frame their arbitrary wills according to the dictates of reason or caprice without any restraint from the modern fetters of entails and settlements. From various causes, the partiality of paternal affection often lost its influence over the stern patriots of the commonwealth and the dissolute nobles of the empire. And if the father bequeathed to a son a fourth part of his estate, he removed all grounds of legal complaint. But a rich, childless, old man was a domestic tyrant, and his power increased with his years in infirmities, a servile crowd in which he frequently reckoned preeters and consuls courted his smiles, pampered his avarice, and applauded his follies, served his passions, and waited with impatience for his death. The arts of attendance and flattery were formed into a most lucrative science, and those who professed it acquired a peculiar appellation, and the whole city, according to the lively descriptions of satire, were divided into two parties, the hunters and their game. Yet while so many unjust and extravagant wills were every day dictated with cunning and subscribed by folly, a few were the result of rational esteem and virtuous gratitude. Cicero, who had so often defended the lives and fortunes of his fellow citizens, was rewarded with legacies to the amount of one hundred and seventy thousand pounds, nor to the friends of the younger Pliny, seemed to have been less generous to that amiable orator. Whatever was the motive of the testitor, the treasury claimed without distinction the twentieth part of his estate, and in the course of two or three generations the whole property of the subject must have gradually passed through the coffers of the state. In the first and golden years of the grain of Nero, that prince, from a desire of popularity, and perhaps from a blind impulse of benevolence, conceived a wish of abolishing the oppression of the customs and excise. The wisest senator has applauded his magnanimity, but they diverted him from the execution of a design which would have dissolved the strength and resources of the Republic. Had it indeed been possible to realize this dream of fancy, such princes as Trajan and the Antonines would surely have embraced with ardor the glorious opportunity of conferring so signal of obligation on mankind. Satisfied, however, with alleviating the public burden, they attempted not to remove it. The mildness and precision of their laws asserted the rule and measure of taxation and protected the subject of every rank against arbitrary interpretations, antiquated claims, and the insolent vexation of the farmers of the revenue. For it is somewhat singular that, in every age, the best and wisest of the Roman governors persevered in this pernicious method of collecting the principal branches, at least of the excise and customs. The sentiments, and indeed the situation of Cracula, were very different from those of the Antonines. Inattentive, or rather adverse to the welfare of his people, he found himself under the necessity of gratifying the insatiate avarice which he had excited in the army. Of the several impositions introduced by Augustus, the 20th on inheritance in the legacies was the most fruitful as well as the most comprehensive. As its influence was not confined to Rome or Italy, the produce continually increased with the gradual extension of the Roman city. The new citizens, though charged on equal terms with the payment of new taxes which had not affected them as subjects, derived an ample compensation from the rank they obtained, the privileges they acquired, and the fair prospect of honors and fortune which was thrown open to their ambition. But the favor which implied a distinction was lost in the prodigality of Cracula, and the reluctant provincials were compelled to assume the vain title in real obligations of Roman citizens. Nor was the rapacious son of Severus contented with such a measure of taxation as had appeared sufficient to his moderate predecessors. Instead of a 20th, he exacted a tenth of all legacies and inheritances. Enduring his reign, for the ancient proportion was restored after his death, he crushed alike every part of the empire under the weight of his iron scepter. When all the provincials became liable to the peculiar impositions of Roman citizens, they seemed to acquire a legal exemption from the tributes which they had paid in their former conditions of subjects. Such were not the maxims of government adapted by Cracula and his pretended son. The old, as well as the new taxes, were at the same time levied in the provinces. It was reserved for the virtue of Alexander to relieve them in a great measure from this intolerable grievance by reducing the tributes to a 13th part of the sum exacted at the time of his obsession. It is impossible to conjecture the motive that engaged him to spare so trifling a remnant of the public evil. But the noxious weed which had not been totally eradicated again sprang up with the most luxurious growth and in the succeeding age darkened the Roman world with its deadly shade. In the course of this history we shall be too often summoned to explain the land tax, the capitation, and the heavy contributions of corn, wine, oil, and meat which were exacted from the provinces for the use of the court, the army, and the capital. As long as Rome and Italy were respected as the center of government, a national spirit was preserved by the ancient and insensibly imbibed by the abducted citizens. The principal commands of the army were filled by men who had received liberal education and were well instructed in the advantages of laws and letters and who had risen by equal steps through the regular secession of civil and military honors. To their influence and example we may partly describe the modest obedience of the legions during the first two centuries of the imperial history. But when the last enclosure of the roman constitution was trampled down by a curricula, the separation of possessions gradually seceded to the division of ranks. The more polished citizens of the internal provinces were alone, qualified to act as lawyers and magistrates. The rougher trade of arms were abandoned to the peasants and barbarians of the frontiers, who knew no country but their camp, no science but that of war, no civil laws, and scarcely those of military discipline. With bloody hands, savage manners, and desperate resolutions they sometimes guarded, but more often are subverted the throne of the emperors. End of chapter six part four. Chapter seven part one of the decline and fall of the roman empire volume one. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. The elevation and tyranny of Maximon, rebellion in Africa and Italy, under the authority of the senate, civil wars and seditions, violent deaths of Maximon and his son, of Maximus and Balbanus and of the three guardians, usurpation and secular games of Philip. Of the various forms of government which have prevailed in the world, an hereditary monarchy seems to present the fairest scope for ridicule. Is it possible to relate without an indignant smile that on the father's disease the property of a nation like that of a drove of oxen descends to his infant son as yet unknown to mankind and to himself, and that the bravest warriors and the wisest statesmen relinquishing their natural right to empire approach the royal cradle with bended knees and protestations of inviolable fidelity? Satire and declamation may paint these obvious topics in the most dazzling colors, but our most serious thoughts will respect a useful prejudice that establishes a rule of succession independent of the passions of mankind, and we shall cheerfully acquiesce in any expedient which deprives the multitude of the dangerous and indeed the ideal power of giving themselves a master. In the cool shade of retirement we may easily devise imaginary forms of government in which the scepter shall be constantly bestowed on the most worthy by the free and incorrupt suffrage of the whole community. Experience overturns these airy fabrics and teaches us that in a large society the election of a monarch can never devolve to the wisest or to the most numerous part of the people. The army is the only order of men sufficiently united to concur in the same sentiments and powerful enough to impose them on the rest of their fellow citizens, but the temper of soldiers habituated at once to violence and to slavery renders them very unfit guardians of a legal or even a civil constitution. Justice, humanity or political wisdom are qualities they are too little acquainted with in themselves to appreciate them in others. Valor will acquire their esteem and liberality will purchase their suffrage, but the first of these merits is often lodged in the most savage breasts. The latter can only exert itself at the expense of the public and both may be turned against the possessor of the throne by the ambition of a daring rival. The superior prerogative of birth when it has obtained the sanction of time and popular opinion is the plainest and least invidious of all distinctions among mankind. The acknowledged right extinguishes the hopes of faction and the conscious security disarms the cruelty of the monarch. To the firm establishment of this idea we owe the peaceful succession and mild administration of European monarchies. To the defect of it we must attribute the frequent civil wars through which an Asiatic despot is obliged to cut his way to the throne of his fathers. Yet even in the east the sphere of contention is usually limited to the princes of the reigning house and as soon as the more fortunate competitor has removed his brethren by the sword and the bowstring he no longer entertains any jealousy of his meaner subjects. But the Roman Empire after the authority of the senate had sunk into contempt was a vast scene of confusion. The royal and even noble families of the provinces had long since been led in triumph before the car of the haughty republicans. The ancient families of Rome had successively fallen beneath the tyranny of the Caesars and whilst those princes were shackled by the forms of a commonwealth and disappointed by the repeated failure of their posterity it was impossible that any idea of hereditary succession should have taken root in the minds of their subjects. The right to the throne which none could claim from birth everyone assumed from merit. The daring hopes of ambition were set loose from the salutary restraints of law and prejudice and the meanest of mankind might without folly entertain a hope of being raised by valor and fortune to a rank in the army in which a single crime would enable him to rest the scepter of the world from his feeble and unpopular master. After the murder of Alexander Severus and the elevation of Maximon no emperor could think himself safe upon the throne and every barbarian peasant of the frontier might aspire to that august but dangerous station. About 32 years before that event the emperor Severus returning from an eastern expedition halted in Thrace to celebrate with military games the birthday of his youngest son Cata. The country flocked in crowds to behold their sovereign and a young barbarian of gigantic stature earnestly solicited in his rude dialect that he might be allowed to contend for the price of wrestling. As the pride of discipline would have been disgraced in the overthrow of a Roman soldier by a Thracian peasant he was matched with the stoutest followers of the camp sixteen of whom he successively laid on the ground. His victory was rewarded by some trifling gifts and a permission to enlist in the troops. The next day the happy barbarian was distinguished about a crowd of recruits dancing and exalting after the fashion of his country. As soon as he perceived that he had attracted the emperor's notice he instantly ran up to his horse and followed him on foot without the least appearance of fatigue in a long and rapid career. Thracian set Severus with astonishment. Are thou disposed to wrestle after thy race? Most willingly, sir, replied the unwary youth and almost in a breath over through seven of the strongest soldiers in the army. A gold collar was the price of a matchless vigor and activity and he was immediately appointed to serve in the horse guards who always attended on the person of the sovereign. Maximil, for that was his name, though born on the territories of the empire, descended from a mixed race of barbarians. His father was a goth and his mother of the nation of the Alani. He displayed on every occasion a valour equal to his strength and his native fierceness was soon tempered or disguised by the knowledge of the world. Under the reign of Severus and his son he obtained the rank of centurion with the favour and esteem of both those princes, the former of whom was an excellent judge of merit. Gratitude forbade Maximil to serve under the assassin of Caragalla. Honor taught him to decline the effeminate insults of Elagabalus. On the accession of Alexander he returned to court and was placed by the prince in a station useful to the service and honourable to himself. The fourth legion to which he was appointed Tribune soon became under his care the best disciplined of the whole army. With the general applause of the soldiers who bestowed on their favourite hero the names of Ajax and Hercules he was successively promoted to the first military command and had not he still retained too much of his savage origin the emperor might perhaps have given his own sister and marriage to the son of Maximil. Instead of securing his fidelity these favours served only to inflame the ambition of the Thracian peasant who deemed his fortune inadequate to his merit as long as he was constrained to acknowledge a superior. Though a stranger to real wisdom he was not devoid of a selfish cunning which showed him that the emperor had lost the affection of the army and taught him to improve their discontent to his own advantage. It is easy for faction and colony to shed their poison on the administration of the best of princes and to accuse even their virtues by artfully confounding them with those vices to which they bear the nearest affinity. The troops listened with pleasure to the emissaries of Maximil. They blushed at their own ignominious patience which during thirteen years had supported the vexatious discipline imposed by an effeminate Syrian the timid slave of his mother and of the senate. It was time, they cried, to cast away that useless phantom of the civil power and to elect for their prince and general a real soldier educated in camps exercised in war who would assert the glory and distribute among his companions the treasures of the empire. A great army was at that time assembled on the banks of the Rhine under the command of the emperor himself who almost immediately after his return from the Persian war had been obliged to march against the barbarians of Germany. The important care of training and reviewing the new levies was entrusted to Maximil. One day as he entered the field of exercise the troops either from a sudden impulse or a formed conspiracy saluted him empire silenced by their loud acclamations his obstinate refusal and hastened to consume made their rebellion by the murder of Alexander Severus. The circumstances of his death are variously related. The writers who suppose that he died in ignorance of the ingratitude and ambition of Maximil affirmed that after taking a frugal repast in the site of the army he retired to sleep and that about the seventh hour of the day a part of his own guards broke into the imperial tent and with many wounds assassinated their virtuous and unsuspecting prince. If we credit another and indeed a more probable account Maximil was invested with a purple by a numerous detachment at the distance of several miles from the headquarters and he trusted for success rather to the secret wishes than to the public declarations of the army. Alexander had sufficient time to awaken a faint sense of loyalty among the troops but their reluctant professions of fidelity quickly vanished on the appearance of Maximil who declared himself the friend and advocate of the military order and was unanimously acknowledged emperor of the romans by the applauding legions. The son of Mammaire betrayed and deserted withdrew into his tent desirous at least to conceal his approaching fate from the insults of the multitude. He was soon followed by a tribune and some centurions the ministers of death but instead of receiving with manly resolution the inevitable stroke his unavailing cries and entreaties disgrace the last moments of his life and converted into contempt some portion of the just pity which his innocence and misfortunes must inspire. His mother Mammaire whose pride and avarice he loudly accused as the cause of his ruin perished with her son the most faithful of his friends were sacrificed to the first fury of the soldiers. Others were reserved for the more deliberate cruelty of the usurper and those who experienced the mildest treatment were stripped of their employments and ignominiously driven from the court and army. The former tyrants Caligula and Nero Commodus and Caracalla were disillute and unexperienced youths educated in the purple and corrupted by the pride of the empire the luxury of room and the perfidious voice of flattery the cruelty of Maximon was derived from a different source the fear of contempt. Though he depended on the attachment of the soldiers who loved him for virtues like their own he was conscious that his mean and barbarian origin his savage appearance and his total ignorance of the arts and institutions of civil life formed a very unwaverable contrast with the amiable manners of the unhappy Alexander. He remembered that in his humbler fortune he had often waited before the door of the haughty nobles of Rome and had been denied admittance by the insolence of their slaves. He recollected too the friendship of a few who had relieved his poverty and assisted his rising hopes but those who had spurned and those who had protected the Thracian were guilty of the same crime the knowledge of his original obscurity. For this crime many were put to death and by the execution of several of his benefactors Maximon published in characters of blood the indelible history of his baseness and ingratitude. The dark and sanguinary soul of the tyrant was open to every suspicion against those among his subjects who were the most distinguished by their birth or merit. Whenever he was alarmed with the sound of treason his cruelty was unbounded and unrelenting. A conspiracy against his life was either discovered or imagined and Magnus, a consular senator was named as the principal author of it. Without a witness, without a trial and without an opportunity to defense Magnus with 4,000 of his supposed accomplices was put to death. Italy and the whole empire were infested with innumerable spies and informers. On the slightest accusation the first of the Roman nobles who had governed provinces, commanded armies and been adorned with the consular and triumphal ornaments were chained on the public carriages and herried away to the emperor's presence. Confiscation, exile, or simple death were esteemed uncommon instances of his lenity. Some of the unfortunate sufferers he ordered to be sowed up in the hides of slaughtered animals. Others to be exposed to wild beasts. Others again to be beaten to death with clubs. During the three years of his reign he disdained to visit either Rome or Italy. His camp occasionally removed from the banks of the Rhine to those of the Danube was the seat of his stern despotism which trampled on every principle of law and justice and was supported by the avarved power of the sword. No man of noble birth, elegant accomplishments or knowledge of civil business was suffered near his person and the court of a Roman emperor revived the idea of those ancient chiefs of slaves and gladiators whose savage power had left a deep impression of terror and detestation. As long as the cruelty of Maximon was confined to the illustrious senators or even to the bold adventurers who in the court of army exposed themselves to the caprice of fortune the body of the people viewed their sufferings with indifference or perhaps with pleasure. But the tyrants avarice stimulated by the insatiate desires of the soldiers at length attacked the public property. Every city of the empire was possessed of an independent revenue destined to purchase corn for the multitude and to supply the expenses of the games and entertainments. By a single act of authority the whole mass of wealth was at once confiscated for the use of the imperial treasury. The temples were stripped of their most valuable offerings of gold and silver and the statues of gods, heroes and emperors were melted down and coined into money. These empire's orders could not be executed without timbles and massacres as in many places the people chose rather to die in the defense of their altars than to behold in the midst of peace their cities exposed to the rapine and cruelty of war. The soldiers themselves among whom the sacrilegious plunder was distributed received it with a blush and hardened as they were in acts of violence they dreaded the just reproaches of their friends and relations. Throughout the Roman world a general cry of indignation was heard imploring the vengeance on the common enemy of humankind and at length by an act of private oppression a peaceful and unarmed province was driven into rebellion against him. The procurator of Africa was a servant worthy of such a master who considered the fines and confiscations of the rich as one of the most fruitful branches of the imperial revenue. An inquitous sentence had been pronounced against some opulent youths of that country the execution of which would have stripped them of far the greater part of their patrimony. In this extremity a resolution that must either complete or prevent their ruin was dictated by despair. A respite of three days obtained with difficulty from the rapacious treasurer was employed in collecting from their estates a great number of slaves and peasants blindly devoted to the commands of their lords and armed with the rustic weapons of clubs and axes. The leaders of the conspiracy as they were admitted to the audience of the procurator stabbed him with the daggers concealed under their garments and by the assistance of their tumultry train seized on the little town of Thais dress and erected the standard of rebellion against the sovereign of the Roman Empire. They rested their hopes on the hatred of mankind against Maximon and they judiciously resolved to oppose to that detested tyrant an emperor whose mild virtues had already acquired the love and esteem of the Romans and whose authority over the province would give weight and stability to the enterprise. Gaudianus their procuncel and the object of their choice refused with unfaithful reluctance the dangerous honor and pet with tears that they would suffer him to terminate in peace a long and innocent life without staining his feeble age with civil blood. Their menaces compelled him to accept the imperial purple his only refuge indeed against the jealous cruelty of Maximon since according to the reasoning of tyrants those who have been esteemed worthy of the throne deserve death and those who deliberate have already rebelled. The family of Gaudianus was one of the most illustrious of the Roman senate. On the father's side he was descended from the Gracchi on his mother's from the emperor Trajan. A great estate enabled him to support the dignity of his birth and in the enjoyment of it he displayed an elegant taste and beneficial disposition. The palace and room formerly inhabited by the great Pompeii had been during several generations in the possession of Gaudianus family. It was distinguished by ancient trophies of naval victories and decorated with the works of modern painting. His villa on the road to Prenest was celebrated for baths of singular beauty and extent for three stately rooms of a hundred feet in length and for a magnificent portico supported by 200 columns of the four most curious and costly sorts of marble. The public shows exhibited at his expense and in which the people were entertained with many hundreds of wild beasts and gladiators seemed to surpass the fortune of a subject. And while the liberality of other magistrates was confined to a few solemn festivals at room the magnificence of Gaudianus was repeated when he was idile every month in the year and extended during his consulship to the principal cities of Italy. He was twice elevated to the last mentioned dignity by Caracalla and by Alexander. For he possessed the uncommon talent of acquiring the esteem of virtuous princes without alarming the jealousy of tyrants. His long life was innocently spent in the study of letters and the peaceful honors of Rome. And till he was named proconsul of Africa by the voice of the senate and the approbation of Alexander he appears prudently to have declined the command of armies and the government of provinces. As long as that emperor lived Africa was happy under the administration of his worthy representative. After the barbarous Maximon had usurped the throne Gaudianus alleviated the miseries which he was unable to prevent. When he reluctantly accepted the purple he was above four score years old a last and valuable remains of the happy age of the Antonines whose virtues he revived in his own conduct and celebrated in an elegant poem of 30 books. With a venerable proconsul his son who had accompanied him into Africa as his lieutenant was likewise declared emperor. His manners were less pure but his character was equally amiable with that of his father. 22 acknowledged concubines and a library of 62,000 volumes attested the variety of his inclinations and from the productions which he left behind him it appears that the former as well as the latter were designed for use rather than for ostentation. The Roman people acknowledged in the features of the younger Gaudian the resemblance of Skypo Africanus recollected with pleasure that his mother was a granddaughter of Antoninus Pius and rested the public hope on those Latin virtues which are etato as they fondly imagined lain concealed in the luxurious indolence of private life. As soon as the Gaudians had appeased the first tumult of a popular election they removed their court to Carthage. They were received with the acclimations of the Africans who had honored their virtues and who since the visit of Hadrian had never beheld the majesty of a Roman emperor but these vain acclimations neither strengthened nor confirmed the title of the Gaudians. They were induced by principle as well as interest to solicit the approbation of the senate and a deputation of the noblest provincials was sent without delay to Rome to relate and justify the conduct of their countrymen who having long suffered with patients were at length resolved to act with vigor. The letters of the new princes were modest and respectful excusing the necessity which had obliged them to accept the imperial title but submitting their election and their fate to the supreme judgment of the senate. The inclinations of the senate were neither doubtful nor divided. The birth and noble alliances of the Gaudians had intimately connected them with the most illustrious houses of Rome. Their fortune had created many dependence in that assembly their merit had acquired many friends. Their mild administration opened the flattering prospect of the restoration not only of the civil but even of the republican government. The terror of military violence which had first obliged the senate to forget the murder of Alexander and to ratify the election of a barbarian peasant now produced a contrary effect and provoked them to assert the injured rights of freedom and humanity. The hatred of Maximon towards the senate was declared and implacable. The tamest submission had not appeased his fury. The most cautious innocence would not remove his suspicions and even the care of their own safety urged them to share the fortune of an enterprise of which if unsuccessful they were sure to be the first victims. These consideration and perhaps others of a more private nature were debated in a previous conference of the consuls and the magistrates. As soon as their resolution was decided they convoked in the temple of Caster the whole body of the senate according to an ancient form of secrecy calculated to awaken their attention and to conceal their decrees. Conscript Fathers said the consul Silinus the two guardians both of consular dignity the one your proconsul the other your lieutenant have been declared emperors by the general consent of Africa. Let us return thanks he boldly continued to the youth of Thaestrus let us return thanks to the faithful people of Carthage our generous deliverers from a horrid monster. Why do you hear me thus coolly thus timidly? Why do you cast those anxious looks on each other? Why hesitate? Maximon is a public enemy may his enmity soon expire with him and may we long enjoy the prudence and felicity of Gordian the father the valour and constancy of Gordian the son. The noble ardour of the consul revived the languid spirit of the senate. By a unanimous decree the election of the Gordians was ratified. Maximon his son and his other ends were pronounced enemies of their country and liberal rewards were offered to whosoever had the courage and good fortune to destroy them. During the emperor's absence a detachment of the Praetorian guards remained at Rome to protect or rather to command the capital. The prefect Vitalianus had signalized his fidelity to Maximon by the alacrity with which he had obeyed and even prevented the cruel mandates of the tyrant. His death alone could rescue the authority of the senate and the lives of the senators from a state of danger and suspense. Before their resolve had transpired a quester and some tribunes were commissioned to take his devoted life. They executed the order with equal boldness and success and with their bloody daggers in their hands ran through the streets proclaiming to the people and the soldiers the news of the happy revolution. The enthusiasm of liberty was seconded by the promise of a large donator in lands and money. The statues of Maximon were thrown down the capital of the empire acknowledged which transport the authority of two guardians in the senate and the example of Rome was followed by the rest of Italy. A new spirit had arisen in that assembly whose long patience had been insulted by wanton despotism and military license. The senate assumed the reins of government and with a calm intrepidity prepared to vindicate by arms the cause of freedom. Among the consular senators recommended by their merit and their services to the favor of the emperor Alexander it was easy to select 20 not unequal to the command of an army and the conduct of a war. To these was the defense of Italy entrusted. Each was appointed to act in his respective department authorized to enrol and discipline the Italian youth and instructed to fortify the ports and highways against the impending invasion of Maximon. A number of deputies chosen from the most illustrious of the senatorian and equestrian orders were dispatched at the same time to the governors of the several provinces earnestly conjuring them to fly to the assistance of their country and to remind the nations of their ancient ties of friendship with the Roman senate and people. The general respect with which these deputies were received and the zeal of Italy and the provinces in favor of the senate sufficiently proved that the subjects of Maximon were reduced to that uncommon distress in which the body of the people has more to fear from oppression than from resistance. The consciousness of that melancholy truth inspires a degree of persevering fury seldom to be found in those civil wars which are artificially supported for the benefit of a few factious and designing leaders. For a while, the cause of the Gaudians was embraced with such diffusive ardor the Gaudians themselves were no more. The feeble court of Carthage was alarmed by the rapid approach of Cape Leannas, governor of Mauritania, who, with a small band of veterans and a fierce host of barbarians attacked a faithful but unwarlike province. The younger Gaudians saluted out to meet the enemy at the head of a few guards and a numerous undisciplined multitude educated in the peaceful luxury of Carthage. His useless valor served only to procure him an honorable death on the field of battle. His aged father whose reign had not exceeded 36 days put an end to his life on the first news of the defeat. Carthage, destitute of defense, opened her gates to the conqueror and Africa was exposed to the rapacious cruelty of his slave obliged to satisfy his unrelenting master with the large account of blood and treasure. The fate of the Gaudians filled room with just but unexpected terror. The senate, convoked in the temple of Concorde, affected to transact the common business of the day and seemed to decline the trembling anxiety the consideration of their own and the public danger. A silent consternation prevailed in the assembly till a senator of the name and family of Trajan awakened his brethren from their fatal lethargy. He represented to them that the choice of cautious dilatory measures had been long since out of their power that maximum implacable by nature and exasperated by injuries was advancing towards Italy at the head of the military force of the empire and that their only remaining alternator was either to meet him bravely in the field or tamedly to accept the tortures and ignominious death reserved for unsuccessful rebellion. We have lost continued he two excellent princes but unless we desert ourselves the hopes of the republic have not perished with the Gaudians many are the senators whose virtues have deserved and whose abilities would sustain the imperial dignity. Let us elect two emperors one of whom may conduct the war against the public enemy while his colleague remains at Rome to direct the civil administration. I cheerfully exposed myself to the danger and envy of the nomination and give my vote in favor of Maximus and Balbanus ratify my choice conscript fathers or appoint in their place other more worthy of the empire. The general apprehension silenced the whispers of jealousy the merit of the candidates was universally acknowledged and the house resounded with the sincere acclimations of long live and victory to emperors Maximus and Balbanus you're happy in the judgment of the senate may the republic be happy under your administration end of chapter seven part one recorded by Krithika chapter seven part two of the decline and fall of the roman empire volume one this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org reading by Robin Cotter Toronto Ontario December 2006 the decline and fall of the roman empire volume one by Edward Gibbon chapter seven tyranny of maximum rebellion civil wars death of maximum part two the virtues and the reputation of the new emperors justify the most sanguine hopes of the Romans the various nature of their talents seem to appropriate to each his peculiar department of peace and war without leaving room for jealous emulation Balbanus was an admired orator a poet of distinguished fame and a wise magistrate who had exercised with innocence and applause the civil jurisdiction in almost all the interior provinces of the empire his birth was noble his fortune affluent his manners liberal and affable in him the love of pleasure was corrected by a sense of dignity nor had the habits of ease deprived him of a capacity for business the mind of Maximus was formed in a rougher mold by his valor and abilities he had raised himself from the meanest origin to the first employments of the state and army his victories over the Sarmatians and the Germans the austerity of his life and the rigid impartiality of his justice while he was a prefect of the city commanded the esteem of a people whose affections were engaged in favor of the more amiable Balbanus the two colleagues had both been consuls Balbanus had twice enjoyed that honorable office both had been named among the twenty lieutenants of the senate and since the one was sixty and the other seventy four years old they had both attained the full maturity of age and experience after the senate had conferred on Maximus and Balbanus an equal portion of the consular and tribunition powers the title of fathers of their country and the joint office of supreme pontiff they ascended to the capital to return thanks to the gods protectors of Rome the solemn rites of sacrifice were disturbed by a sedition of the people the licentious multitude neither loved the rigid Maximus nor did they sufficiently fear the mild and humane Balbanus their increasing numbers surrounded the temple of Jupiter with obstinate clamors they asserted their inherent right of consenting to the election of their sovereign and demanded with an apparent moderation that besides the two emperors chosen by the senate a third should be added of the family of the Gordians as a just return of gratitude to those princes who had sacrificed their lives for the republic at the head of the city guards and the youth of the equestrian order Maximus and Balbanus attempted to cut their way through the seditious multitude the multitude armed with sticks and stones drove them back into the capital it is prudent to yield when the contest whatever may be the issue of it must be fatal to both parties a boy only 13 years of age the grandson of the elder and nephew of the younger Gordian was produced to the people invested with the ornaments and title of Caesar the tumult was appeased by this easy condescension and the two emperors as soon as they had been peaceably acknowledged in Rome prepared to defend Italy against the common enemy Welston Rome and Africa revolution succeeded each other with such amazing rapidity that the mind of Maximon was agitated by the most furious passions he is said to have received the news of the rebellion of the Gordians and of the decree of the senate against him not with the temper of a man but the rage of a wild beast which as it could not discharge itself on the distant senate threatened the life of his son of his friends and of all who ventured to approach his person the grateful intelligence of the death of the Gordians was quickly followed by the assurance that the senate laying aside all hopes of pardon or accommodation had substituted in their room two emperors with whose merit he could not be unacquainted revenge was the only consolation left to Maximon and revenge could only be obtained by arms the strength of the legions had been assembled by Alexander from all parts of the empire three successful campaigns against the Germans and the Sarmatians had raised their fame confirmed their discipline and even increased their numbers by filling the ranks with the flower of the barbarian youth the life of Maximon had been spent in war and the candid severity of history cannot refuse him the valor of a soldier or even the abilities of an experienced general it might naturally be expected that a prince of such a character instead of suffering the rebellion to gain stability by delay should immediately have marched from the banks of the Danube to those of the Tiber and that his victorious army instigated by contempt for the senate and eager to gather the spoils of Italy should have burned with impatience to finish the easy and elucrative conquest yet as far as we can trust to the obscure chronology of that period it appears that the operations of some foreign war deferred the Italian expedition to the ensuing spring from the prudent conduct of Maximon we may learn that the savage features of his character have been exaggerated by the pencil of party that his passions however impetuous submitted to the force of reason and that the barbarian possessed something of the generous spirit of Silla who subdued the enemies of Rome before he suffered himself to revenge his private injuries when the troops of Maximon advancing in excellent order arrived at the foot of the Julian Alps they were terrified by the silence and desolation that reigned on the frontiers of Italy the villages and open towns had been abandoned on their approach by the inhabitants the cattle was driven away the provisions removed or destroyed the bridges broken down nor was anything left which could afford either shelter or subsistence to an invader such had been the wise orders of the generals of the senate whose design was to protract the war to ruin the army of Maximon by the slow operation of famine and to consume his strength in the sieges of the principal cities of Italy which they had plentifully stored with men and provisions from the deserted country Achillea received and withstood the first shock of the invasion the streams that issued from the head of the Adriatic Gulf swelled by the melting of the winter snows opposed an unexpected obstacle to the arms of Maximon at length on a singular bridge constructed with art and difficulty of large hogsheads he transported his army to the opposite bank rooted up the beautiful vineyards in the neighborhood of Achillea demolished the suburbs and employed the timber of the buildings in the engines and towers with which on every side he attacked the city the walls fall into decay during the security of a long piece had been hastily repaired on this sudden emergency but the firmest defense of Achillea consisted in the constancy of the citizens all ranks of whom instead of being dismayed were animated by the extreme danger and their knowledge of the tyrant's unrelenting temper their courage was supported and directed by Crispinus and Minophilus two of the twenty lieutenants of the senate who with the small body of regular troops had thrown themselves into the besieged place the army of Maximon was repulsed in repeated attacks his machines destroyed by showers of artificial fire and the generous enthusiasm of the Achilleans was exalted into a confidence of success by the opinion that Bellinus their tutular deity combated in person in the defense of his distressed worshipers the emperor Maximus who had advanced as far as Ravenna to secure that important place and to hasten the military preparations beheld the event of the war in the more faithful mirror of reason and policy he was too sensible that a single town could not resist the persevering efforts of a great army and he dreaded lest the enemy tired with the obstinate resistance of Achillea should on a sudden relinquish the fruitless siege and march directly towards Rome the fate of the empire and the cause of freedom must then be committed to the chance of a battle and what arms could he oppose to the veteran legions of the Rhine and Danube some troops newly levied among the generous but enervated youth of Italy and a body of German auxiliaries on whose firmness in the hour of trial it was dangerous to depend in the midst of these just alarms the stroke of domestic conspiracy punished the crimes of Maximon and delivered Rome and the Senate from the calamities that would surely have attended the victory of an enraged barbarian the people of Achillea had scarcely experienced any of the common miseries of a siege their magazines were plentifully supplied and several fountains within the walls assured them of an inexhaustible resource of fresh water the soldiers of Maximon were on the contrary exposed to the inculmency of the season the contagion of disease and the horrors of famine the open country was ruined the rivers filled with the slain and polluted with blood a spirit of despair and disaffection began to diffuse itself among the troops and as they were cut off from all intelligence they easily believed that the whole empire had embraced the cause of the senate and that they were left as devoted victims to perish under the impregnable walls of Achillea the fierce temper of the tyrant was exasperated by disappointments which he imputed to the cowardice of his army and his wanton and ill-timed cruelty instead of striking terror inspired hatred and a just desire of revenge a party of praetorian guards who trembled for their wives and children in the camp of Abba near Rome executed the sentence of the senate Maximon, abandoned by his guards, was slain at his tent with his son whom he had associated to the honors of the purple Anulinas, the prefect, and the principal ministers of his tyranny the sight of their heads born on the point of spears convinced the citizens of Achillea that the siege was at an end the gates of the city were thrown open a liberal market was provided for the hungry troops of Maximon and the whole army joined in solemn protestations of fidelity to the senate and the people of Rome and to their lawful emperors Maximus and Balbinus such was the deserved fate of a brutal savage destitute as he has generally been represented of every sentiment that distinguishes a civilized or even a human being the body was suited to the soul the stature of Maximon exceeded the measure of eight feet the circumstances almost incredible are related of his matchless strength and appetite had he lived in a less enlightened age tradition and poetry might well have described him as one of those monstrous giants whose supernatural power was constantly exerted for the destruction of mankind it is easier to conceive than to describe the universal joy of the Roman world on the fault of the tyrant the news of which is said to have been carried in four days from Achillea to Rome the return of Maximus was a triumphal procession his colleague and young Gordian went out to meet him and the three princes made their entry into the capital attended by the ambassadors of almost all the cities of Italy saluted with this blended offerings of gratitude and superstition and received with the unfaigned acclamations of the senate and people who persuaded themselves that a golden age would succeed to an age of iron the conduct of the two emperors corresponded with these expectations they administered justice in person and the rigor of the one was tempered by the others clemency the oppressive taxes with which Maximon had loaded the rights of inheritance and succession were repealed or at least moderated discipline was revived and with the advice of the senate many wise laws were enacted by their imperial ministers who endeavored to restore a civil constitution on the ruins of military tyranny what reward may we expect for delivering Rome from a monster was the question asked by Maximus in a moment of freedom and confidence Balbinus answered it without hesitation the love of the senate of the people and of all mankind alas replied his more penetrating colleague alas I dread the hatred of the soldiers and the fatal effects of their resentment his apprehensions were but too well justified by the event whilst Maximus was preparing to defend Italy against the common foe Balbinus who remained at Rome had been engaged in scenes of blood and intestine discord distrust and jealousy reigned in the senate and even in the temples where they assembled every senator carried either open or concealed arms in the midst of their deliberations two veterans of the guards actuated either by curiosity or a sinister motive audaciously thrust themselves into the house and advanced by degrees beyond the altar of victory Gallicanus a consular and Messinus a praetorian senator viewed with indignation their insolent intrusion drawing their daggers they lead the spies for such they deemed them dead at the foot of the altar and then advancing to the door of the senate imprudently exhorted the multitude to massacre the praetorians as the secret adherents of the tyrant those who escaped the first fury of the tumult took refuge in the camp which they defended with superior advantage against the reiterated attacks of the people assisted by the numerous bands of gladiators the property of opulent nobles the civil war lasted many days with infinite loss and confusion on both sides when the pipes were broken that supplied the camp with water the praetorians were reduced to intolerable distress but in their turn they made desperate sallies into the city set fire to a great number of houses and filled the streets with the blood of the inhabitants the emperor balbanus attempted by ineffectual edicts and precarious truces to reconcile the factions at Rome but their animosity though smothered for a while burnt with redoubled violence the soldiers detesting the senate and the people despised the weakness of a prince who wanted either the spirit or the power to command the obedience of his subjects after the tyrant's death his formidable army had acknowledged from necessity rather than from choice the authority of maximus who transported himself without delay to the camp before achillea as soon as he had received their oath of fidelity he addressed them in terms full of mildness and moderation lamented rather than arraigned the wild disorders of the time and assured the soldiers that of all their past conduct the senate would remember only their generous desertion of the tyrant and their voluntary return to their duty maximus enforced his exhortations by a liberal donative purified the camp by a solemn sacrifice of expiation and then dismissed the legions to their several provinces impressed as he hoped with a lively sense of gratitude and obedience but nothing could reconcile the haughty spirit of the praetorians they attended the emperors on the memorable day of their public entry into roam but amidst the general acclamations the sullen dejected countenance of the guards sufficiently declared that they considered themselves as the object rather than the partners of the triumph when the whole body was united in their camp those who had served under maximan and those who had remained at roam insensibly communicated to each other the complaints and apprehensions the emperors chosen by the army had perished with the ignominy those elected by the senate were seated on the throne the long discord between the civil and military powers was decided by a war in which the former had obtained a complete victory the soldiers must now learn a new doctrine of submission to the senate and whatever clemency was affected by that politic assembly they dreaded a slow revenge colored by the name of discipline and justified by fair pretenses of the public good but their fate was still in their own hands and if they had courage to despise the vain terrors of an impotent republic it was easy to convince the world that those who were masters of the arms were masters of the authority of the state when the senate elected to princes it is probable that besides the declared reason of providing for the various emergencies of peace and war they were actuated by the secret desire of weakening by division the despotism of the supreme magistrate their policy was effectual but it proved fatal both to their emperors and to themselves the jealousy of power was soon exasperated by the difference of character maximus despised balbanus as a luxurious noble and was in his turn disdained by his colleague as an obscure soldier their silent discord was understood rather than seen but the mutual consciousness prevented them from uniting in any vigorous measures of defense against their common enemies of the praetorian camp the whole city was employed in the capitol line games and the emperors were left almost alone in the palace on a sudden they were alarmed by the approach of a troop of desperate assassins ignorant of each other's situation or designs for they already occupied very distant apartments afraid to give or to receive assistance they wasted the important moments in idle debates and fruitless recriminations the arrival of the guards put an end to the vain strife they seized on these emperors of the senate for such they called them with malicious contempt stripped them of their garments and dragged them in insolent triumph through the streets of roam with the design of inflicting a slow and cruel death on these unfortunate princes the fear of a rescue from the faithful germans of the imperial guards shortened their tortures and their bodies mangled with a thousand wounds were left exposed to the insults or to the pity of the populace in the space of a few months six princes had been cut off by the sword gordian who had already received the title of Caesar was the only person that occurred to the soldiers as proper to fill the vacant throne they carried him to the camp and unanimously saluted him augustus and emperor his name was dear to the senate and people his tender age promised a long impunity of military license and the submission of roam and the provinces to the choice of the praetorian guards saved the republic at the expense indeed of its freedom and dignity from the horrors of a new civil war in the heart of the capital as the third gordian was only nineteen years of age at the time of his death the history of his life were it known to us with greater accuracy than it really is would contain little more than the account of his education and the conduct of the ministers who by turns abused or guided the simplicity of his unexperienced youth immediately after his accession he fell into the hands of his mother's eunuchs that pernicious vermin of the east who since the days of alecabalus had infested the roman palace by the artful conspiracy of these wretches an impenetrable veil was drawn between an innocent prince and his oppressed subjects the virtuous disposition of gordian was deceived and the honors of the empire sold without his knowledge though in a very public manner to the most worthless of mankind we are ignorant by what fortunate accident the emperor escaped from this ignominious slavery and devolved his confidence on a minister whose wise councils had no object except the glory of his sovereign and the happiness of the people it should seem that love and learning introduced mesetheus to the favor of gordian the young prince married the daughter of his master of rhetoric and promoted his father-in-law to the first offices of the empire two admirable letters that passed between them are still extant the minister with a conscious dignity of virtue congratulates gordian that he is delivered from the tyranny of the eunuchs and still more that he is sensible of his deliverance the emperor acknowledges with an amiable confusion the errors of his past conduct and laments with singular propriety the misfortune of a monarch from whom a venal tribe of courtiers perpetually labor to conceal the truth the life of mesetheus had been spent in the profession of letters not of arms yet such was the versatile genius of that great man that when he was appointed praetorian prefect he discharged the military duties of his place with vigor and ability the persians had invaded mesopotamia and threatened anteach by the persuasion of his father-in-law the young emperor quitted the luxury of realm opened for the last time recorded in history the temple of janus and marched in person into the east on his approach with the great army the persians withdrew their garrisons from the cities which they had already taken and retired from the euphrates to the tigress gordian enjoyed the pleasure of announcing to the senate the first success of his arms which he ascribed with the becoming modesty and gratitude to the wisdom of his father and prefect during the whole expedition mesetheus watched over the safety and discipline of the army whilst he prevented their dangerous murmurs by maintaining a regular plenty in the camp and by establishing ample magazines of vinegar bacon straw barley and wheat and all the cities of the frontier but the prosperity of gordian expired with mesetheus who died of a flux not without very strong suspicions of poison philip his successor in the prefecture was an arab by birth and consequently in the earlier part of his life a robber by profession his rise from so obscure station to the first dignities of the empire seems to prove that he was a bold and able leader but his boldness prompted him to aspire to the throne and his abilities were employed to supplant not to serve his indulgent master the minds of the soldiers were irritated by an artificial scarcity created by his contrivance in the camp and the distress of the army was attributed to the youth and in capacity of the prince it is not in our power to trace the success of steps of the secret conspiracy and open sedition which were at length fatal to gordian a sepulchral monument was erected to his memory on the spot where he was killed near the conflux of the euphrates with the little river abhorus the fortunate philip raised to the empire by the votes of the soldiers found a ready obedience from the senate and the provinces we cannot forbear transcribing the ingenious the somewhat fanciful description which is celebrated writer of our own times has traced to the military government of the roman empire what in that age was called the roman empire was only an irregular republic not unlike the aristocracy of algears where the militia possessed of the sovereignty creates and deposes a magistrate who styled a day perhaps indeed it may be laid down as a general rule that a military government is in some respects more republican than monarchical nor can it be said that the soldiers only part took of the government by their disobedience and rebellions the speeches made to them by the emperors were they not at length of the same nature as those formerly pronounced to the people by the consuls and the tribunes and although the armies had no regular place or forms of assembly though their debates were short their actions sudden and their resolves seldom the result of cool reflection did they not dispose with absolute sway of the public fortune what was the emperor except the minister of a violent government elected for the private benefit of the soldiers when the army had elected philip who is praetorian prefix to the third gordon the latter demanded that he might remain sole emperor he was unable to obtain it he requested that the power might be equally divided between them the army would not listen to his speech he consented to be degraded to the rank of caesar the favor was refused him he desired at least he might be appointed praetorian prefix his prayer was rejected finally he pleaded for his life the army in these several judgments exercised the supreme magistrate according to the historian whose doubtful narrative the president de montesquieu has adopted philip who during the whole transaction had preserved his silent silence was inclined to spare the innocent life of his benefactor till recollecting that his innocence might excite a dangerous compassion in the roman world he commanded without regard to his suppliant cries that he should be seized stripped and led away to instant death after a moment's pause the inhuman sentence was executed end of chapter 7 part 2 chapter 7 part 3 of the decline and fall of the roman empire volume 1 this is a libra vox recording all libra vox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit libravox.org reading by robin cotter toronto ontario december 2006 the decline and fall of the roman empire volume 1 by edward gibbon chapter 7 tyranny of maximan rebellion civil wars death of maximan part 3 on his return from the east to roam philip desirous of obliterating the memory of his crimes and of captivating the affections of the people solemnized the secular games with infinite pomp and magnificence since their institution or revival by augustus they had been celebrated by claudius by domitian and by severus and were now renewed the fifth time on the accomplishment of the full period of a thousand years from the foundation of roam every circumstance of the secular games was skillfully adapted to inspire the superstitious mind with deep and solemn reverence the long interval between them exceeded the term of human life and as none of the spectators had already seen them none could flatter themselves with the expectation of beholding them a second time the mystic sacrifices were performed during three nights on the banks of the tiber and the campus marches resounded with music and dances and was illuminated with innumerable lamps and torches slaves and strangers were excluded from any participation in these national ceremonies a chorus of twenty seven youths and as many virgins of noble families and whose parents were both alive implored the propitious gods in favor of the present and for the hope of the rising generation requesting in religious hymns that according to the faith of their ancient oracles they would still maintain the virtue the felicity and the empire of the roman people the magnificence of philips shows and entertainments dazzled the eyes of the multitude the devout were employed in the rites of superstition whilst the reflecting few revolved in their anxious minds the past history and the future fate of the empire since romulus with a small band of shepherds and outlaws fortified himself in the hills near the tiber ten centuries had already elapsed during the first four ages the romans and the laborious school of poverty had acquired the virtues of war and government by the vigorous exertion of those virtues and by the assistance of fortune they had obtained in the course of the three succeeding centuries an absolute empire over many countries of europe asia and africa the last three hundred years had been consumed in apparent prosperity and internal decline the nation of soldiers magistrates and legislators who composed the thirty five tribes of the roman people were dissolved into the common mass of mankind and confounded with the millions of servile provincials who had received the name without adopting the spirit of romans a mercenary army levied among the subjects and barbarians of the frontier was the only order of men who preserved and abused their independence by their tumultuary election a syrian a goth or an arab was exalted to the throne of rom and invested with despotic power over the conquests and over the country of the skippios the limits of the roman empire still extended from the western ocean to the tigress and from mount atlas to the rine and the danube to the undiscerning eye of the vulgar philip appeared a monarch no less powerful than hadrian or augustus had formerly been the form was still the same the animating health and vigor were fled the industry of the people was discouraged and exhausted by a long series of oppression the discipline of the legions which alone after the extinction of every other virtue had propped the greatness of the state was corrupted by the ambition or relaxed by the weakness of the emperors the strength of the frontiers which had always consisted in arms rather than in fortifications was insensibly undermined and the fairest provinces were left exposed to the rapaciousness or ambition of the barbarians who soon discovered the decline of the roman empire end of chapter seven part three