 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. This reading by Lucy Burgoyne. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Volume 1 by Edward Gibbon Chapter 12 Reigns of Tacitus, Proba, Carus and his sons. Part 3 The vacancy of the throne was not productive of any disturbance. The ambition of the aspiring generals was checked by their natural fears. A young Numerian with his absent brother, Caranus, were unanimously acknowledged as Roman emperors. The public expected that the successor of Carus would pursue his father's footsteps. And, without allowing the Persians to recover from their consternation, would advance sword in hand to the palaces of Susa and Ekpatana. But the legions, however strong in numbers and discipline, were dismayed by the most abject superstition. Notwithstanding all the arts that were practiced to disguise the manner of the late emperor's death, it was found impossible to remove the opinion of the multitude. And the power of opinion is irresistible. Places or Persians struck with lightning were considered by their ancients with pious horror, as singularly devoted to the wrath of heaven. An oracle was remembered, which marked the river Tigris as the fatal boundary of the Roman arms. The troops, terrified with the fate of Carus and with their own danger, called aloud on young Numerian to obey the will of the gods and to lead them away from this inauspicious scene of war. The feeble emperor was unable to subdue their obstinate prejudice, and the Persians wandered at the unexpected retreat of a victorious enemy. The intelligence of the mysterious fate of the late emperor was soon carried from the frontiers of Persia to Rome. And the senate, as well as the provinces, congratulated the accession of the sons of Carus. These fortunate youths were strangers, however, to that conscious superiority, either of birth or of merit, which can alone render the possession of a throne easy and as it were natural. Born and educated in a private station, the election of their father raised them at once to the rank of princess. And his death, which happened about 16 months afterwards, left them the unexpected legacy of a vast empire. To sustain with temper this rapid elevation and uncommon share of virtue and prudence was requisite, and Caranus, the elder of the brothers, was more than commonly deficient in those qualities. In the Gaelic War he discovered some degree of personal courage, but from the moment of his arrival at Rome, he abandoned himself to the luxury of the capital and to the abuse of his fortune. He was soft yet cruel, devoted to pleasure, but destitute of taste, and though exquisitely susceptible of vanity, indifferent to the public esteem. In the course of a few months he successfully married and divorced nine wives, most of whom he left pregnant, and notwithstanding this legal inconstancy, found time to indulge such a variety of irregular appetites as brought dishonour on himself and on the noblest houses of Rome. He beheld with inveterate hatred all those who might remember his former obscurity, or censor his present conduct. He banished, or put to death, the friends and counsellors whom his father had placed about him, to guide his inexperienced youth, and he persecuted with the meanest revenge his school fellows and companions who had not sufficiently respected the latent majesty of the emperor. With the Senators Caranus affected a lofty and regal demeanor, frequently declaring that he designed to distribute their estates among the populace of Rome. From the dregs of that populace he selected his favourites and even his ministers. The palace and even the imperial table were filled with singers, dancers, prostitutes, and all the various retinue of vice and folly. One of his doorkeepers he entrusted with the government of the city. In the room of the Praetorian Prefect whom he put to death, Caranus substituted one of the ministers of his lose of pleasures, another who possessed the same, or even a more infamous title to favour, was invested with the consulship. A confidential secretary who had acquired uncommon skill in the art of forgery delivered the indolent emperor with his own consent from the irksome duty of signing his name. When the Emperor Carus undertook the Persian War, he was induced by motives of affection as well as policy to secure the fortunes of his family by leaving in the hands of his eldest son, the armies and provinces of the west. The intelligence which he soon received at the conduct of Caranus filled him with shame and regret, nor had he concealed his resolution of satisfying the republic by a severe act of justice and of adopting in the place of an unworthy son, the brave and virtuous Constantius, who at that time was governor of Dalmatia, but the elevation of Constantius was for a while deferred and as soon as the father's death had released Caranus from the control of fear of decency, he displayed to the Romans the extravagancies of Alegopolis, aggravated by the cruelty of Domitian, the only merit of the administration of Caranus that history could record or poetry celebrate was the uncommon splendour with which, in his own and his brother's name, he exhibited the Roman games of the theatre, the circus and the amphitheatre. More than twenty years afterwards, when the courtiers of Diocletian represented to their frugal sovereign the fame and popularity of his munificent predecessor, he acknowledged that the reign of Caranus had indeed been a reign of pleasure, but this vain prodigality, which the prudence of Diocletian might justly despise, was enjoyed with surprise and transport by the Roman people. The oldest of the citizens recollecting the spectacles of former days, the triumphal pomp of Proba or Orlean and the secular games of the emperor Philip, acknowledged that they were all surpassed by the superior magnificence of Caranus. The spectacles of Caranus may therefore be best illustrated by the observation of some particulars, which history has condescended to relate concerning those of his predecessors. If we confine ourselves solely to the hunting of wild beasts, however we may censure the vanity of the design of the cruelty of the execution, we are obliged to confess that neither before nor since the time of the Romans so much art and expense have ever been lavished for the amusement of the people. By the order of Proba, a great quantity of large trees torn up by the roots were transplanted into the midst of the circus. The spacious and shady forest was immediately filled with a thousand ostriches, a thousand stags, a thousand fellow deer, and a thousand wild boars, and all this variety game was abandoned to the righteous impetuosity of the multitude. The tragedy of the succeeding day consisted the massacre of a hundred lions, an equal number of lionesses, two hundred leopards, and three hundred bears. The collection prepared by the younger Georgian for his triumph, and which his successor exhibited in the secular games, was less remarkable by the number than by the singularity of the animals. Twenty zebras displayed their elegant forms and variegated beauty to the eyes of the Roman people, ten elks and as many camelopards. The loftiest and most harmless creature that wander over the plains of Somatia and Ethiopia were contrasted with thirty African hyenas and ten Indian tigers, the most implacable savages of the torrid zone. The unoffending strength with which nature has endowed the greater quadrupeds was admired in the Rionoceros, the hippopotamus of the Nile, and a majestic troop of thirty two elephants. While the populous gays were stupid wonder on the splendid show, the naturalists might indeed observe the figure and properties of so many different species, transported from every part of the ancient world into the amphitheater of Rome. But this accidental benefit, which science might derive from folly, is surely insufficient to justify such a wanton abuse of the public riches. There occurs, however, a single instance in the first Punic War in which the Senate wisely connected this amusement of the multitude with the interest of the state. A considerable number of elephants taken in defeat of the Carthaginian army were driven through the circus by a few slaves, armed only with blunt javelins. The youthful spectacle served to impress the Roman soldier with a just contempt for those unwieldly animals and who no longer dreaded to encounter them in the ranks of war. The hunting or exhibition of wild beasts was conducted with a magnificence suitable to a people who styled themselves the masters of the world, nor was the edifice appropriated to that entertainment less expressive of Roman greatness. Posterity admires and will long admire the awful remains of the amphitheater of Titus, which so well deserved the epithet of colossal. It was a building of an elliptic figure five hundred and sixty-four feet in length and four hundred and sixty-seven in breadth, founded on four score archers and rising with four successive orders of architecture to the height of one hundred and forty feet. The outside of the edifice was encrusted with marble and decorated with statues. The slopes of the bar's concave, which formed the inside, were filled and surrounded with sixty or eighty rows of seats of marble likewise, covered with cushions and capable of receiving with ease about four score thousand spectators. Sixty-four vomitoris, for by that name the doors were very aptly distinguished. Poured forth the immense multitude and the entrances, passages and staircases were contrived with such exquisite skill that each person, whether of the senatorial, the equestrian or the plebian order, arrived at his destined place without trouble or confusion. Nothing was admitted, which in any respect could be subservient to the convenience and pleasure of the spectators. They were protected from the sun and rain by an ample canopy, occasionally drawn over their heads. The air was continually refreshed by the playing of fountains and profusely impregnated by the grateful scent of aromatics. In the centre of the edifice, the arena, or stage, was strewn with the finest sand and successively assumed the most different forms. At one moment it seemed to rise out of the earth, like the Garden of Hesperides, and was afterwards broken into the rocks and cabins of Thrace. The subterranean's pipes conveyed an inexhaustible supply of water, and what had just before appeared a level plain might be suddenly converted into a wide lake covered with armed vessels and replenished with the monsters of the deep. In the decoration of these scenes, the Roman emperors displayed their wealth and liberality, and we read on various occasions that the whole furniture of the amphitheatre consisted either of silver, or of gold, or of amber. The poet who describes the games of Carenus in the character of a shepherd attracted to the capital by the fame of their magnificence, affirms that the nets designed as a defence against the wild beasts were of gold wire, that the porticoes were gilded, and that the belt or circle which divided the several ranks of spectators from each other was studded with precious mosaic of beautiful stones. In the midst of this glittering pageantry, the emperor Carenus, secure of his fortune, enjoyed the acclamations of the people, the flattery of his courtiers and the songs of the poets, who, for want of more essential merit, were reduced to celebrate the divine graces of his person. In the same hour, but at the distance of 900 miles from Rome, his brother expired, and the sudden revolution transferred into the hands of a stranger, the sceptre of the house of Carus. The sons of Carus never saw each other after their father's death. The arrangements which their new situation required were probably deferred to the return of the younger brother to Rome, where a triumph was decreed to the young emperors of the glorious success of the Persian War. It is uncertain whether they intended to divide between them, the administration, or the provinces of the empire, but it is very unlikely that their union would have proved of any long duration. The jealousy of power must have been inflamed by the opposition characters. In the most corrupt of times, Carenus was unworthy to live. Numerian deserved to reign in a happier period. Sable manners and gentle virtues secured him as soon as they became known, the regard and the affections of the public. He possessed the eloquent accomplishments of a poet and orator, which dignified as well as adorned the humblest and the most exalted station. His eloquence, however, it was applauded by the senate, was formed not so much on the model of Cicero, as on that of the modern declaimers. But in an age very far from being destitute of poetical merit, he contended for the prize with the most celebrated of his contemporaries and still remained the friend of his rivals, a circumstance which invinces either the goodness of his heart or the superiority of his genius. But the talents of Numerian were rather of the contemplative than of the active kind. When his father's elevation reluctantly forced him from the shade of retirement, neither his temper nor his pursuits had qualified him for the command of armies. His constitution was destroyed by the hardships of the Persian War, and he had contracted from the heat of the climate such a weakness in his eyes as obliged him in the course of a long retreat to confine himself to the solitude and darkness of a tent or litter. The administration of all affairs, Sibyl as well as military, was devolved on Arius Appa, the Praetorian prophet who, to the power of his important office, added the honour of being father-in-law to Numerian. The imperial pavilion was strictly guarded by his most trusty adherents, and during many days Appa delivered to the army the supposed mandates of their invisible sovereign. It was not till eight months after the death of Carus that the Roman army, returning by slow marches from the banks of the Tigris, arrived on those of the Thracian Bosphorus. The legions halted at Chalcedon in Asia while the court passed over to Herakli on the European side at the propontus, but a report soon circulated through the camp at first in secret whispers and at length in loud clamours of the emperor's death and of the presumption of his ambitious minister who still exercised the sovereign power in the name of a prince who was no more. The impatience of the soldiers could not long support a state of suspense. With rude curiosity they broke into the imperial tent and discovered only the corpse of Numerian. The gradual decline of his health might have induced them to believe that his death was natural but the concealment was interpreted as an evidence of guilt and the measures which Appa had taken to secure his election became the immediate occasion of his ruin. Yet even in the transport of their rage and grief the troops observed a regular proceeding which proves how firmly disciplined had been re-established by the martial successors of Gallianus. A general assembly of the army was appointed to be held at Chalcedon where the Appa was transported in chains as a prisoner and a criminal. A vacant tribunal was erected in the midst of the camp and the generals and tribunes formed a great military council. They soon announced to the multitude that their choice had fallen on Diocletian, commander of the domestics or bodyguards as the person the most capable of revenging and succeeding their beloved emperor. The future fortunes of the candidate depended on the chance or conduct of the present hour. Conscience that the station which he had filled exposed him to some suspicions. Diocletian ascended the tribunal and raising his eyes towards the sun made a solemn profession of his own innocence in the presence of that all-seeing deity. Then, assuming the tone of a sovereign and judge he commanded that Appa should be brought in chains to the foot of the tribunal. This man, said he, is a murderer of Numerian and without giving him time to enter on a dangerous justification drew his sword and buried it in the breast of the unfortunate prefect. A charge supported by such decisive proof was admitted without contradiction and the legions with repeated acclamations acknowledged the justice and authority of the emperor Diocletian. Before we enter upon the memorable reign of that prince it will be proper to punish and dismiss the unworthy brother of Numerian. Carenus possessed arms and treasures sufficient to support his legal title to the empire but his personal vices overbalanced every advantage of birth and situation. The most faithful servants of the father despise the incapacity and dreaded the cruel arrogance of the sun. The hearts of the people were engaged in favour of his rival and even the senate was inclined to prefer a usurper to a tyrant. The arts of Diocletian inflamed the general discontent and the winter was employed in secret intrigues and open preparations for a civil war. In the spring the forces of the east and of the west encountered each other in the plains of Margus a small city of Asia in the neighbourhood of the Danube. The troops so lately returned from the Persian war had acquired their glory at the expense of health and numbers nor were they in a condition to contend with the unexhausted strength of the legions of Europe. Their ranks were broken and for a moment Diocletian disbared at the purple and of life but the advantage which Carenus had obtained by the valor of his soldiers he quickly lost by the infidelity of his officers. A tribune whose wife he had seduced seized the opportunity of revenge and by a single blow extinguished civil discord in the blood of the adulterer. End of chapter 12 part 3 For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org The reign of Diocletian and his three associates Maximian, Galerius and Constantius General re-establishment of order and tranquillity the Persian war, victory and triumph the new form of administration abdication and retirement of Diocletian and Maximian The reign of Diocletian was more illustrious than any of his predecessors so was his birth more abject and obscure. The strong claims of merit and of violence had frequently superseded the ideal prerogatives of nobility but a distinct line of separation was hitherto preserved between the free and the servile part of mankind. The parents of Diocletian had been slaves in the house of Anulinus, a Roman senator nor was he himself distinguished by any other name than that which he derived from a small town in Dalmatia from whence his mother deduced her origin. It is, however, probable that his father obtained the freedom of the family and that he soon acquired an office of scribe which was commonly exercised by persons of his condition. Favorable oracles, or rather the consciousness of superior merit prompted his aspiring son to pursue the profession of arms and the hopes of fortune and it would be extremely curious to observe the gradation of arts and accidents which enabled him in the end to fulfil those oracles and to display that merit to the world. Diocletian was successively promoted to the Government of Maesia, the Honours of the Consulship and the important command of the Guards of the Palace. He distinguished his abilities in the Persian War and after the death of Numerian, the slave, by the confession and judgement of his rivals was declared the most worthy of the imperial throne. The malice of religious zeal, whilst it arraigns the savage fierceness of his colleague Maximian has affected to cast suspicions on the personal courage of the Emperor Diocletian. It would not be easy to persuade us of the cowardice of a soldier of fortune who acquired and preserved the esteem of the legions as well as the favour of so many warlike princes. Yet even Calumny is sagacious enough to discover and to attack the most vulnerable part. The valour of Diocletian was never found inadequate to his duty or to the occasion, but he appears not to have possessed the daring and generous spirit of a hero who, caught danger and fame, disdains artifice and boldly challenges the allegiance of his equals. His abilities were useful rather than splendid, a vigorous mind improved by the experience and study of mankind, dexterity and application in business, a judicious mixture of liberality and economy of mildness and rigor, profound dissimulation under the disguise of military frankness, steadiness to pursue his ends, flexibility to vary his means, and above all the great art of submitting his own passions, as well as those of others, to the interest of his ambition and of colouring his ambition with the most specious pretenses of justice and public utility. Like Augustus Diocletian may be considered as the founder of a new empire. Like the adopted son of Caesar he was distinguished as a statesman rather than as a warrior, nor did either of these princes employ force whenever their purpose could be effected by policy. The victory of Diocletian was remarkable for its singular mildness. A people accustomed to applaud the clemency of the conqueror if the usual punishments of death, exile and confiscation were inflicted with any degree of temper and equity beheld with the most pleasing astonishment, the civil war, the flames of which were extinguished in the field of battle. Diocletian received into his confidence Aristobulus, the principal minister of the house of Caerus, respected the lives, the fortunes, and the dignity of his adversaries and even continued in their respective stations the greater number of the servants of Corinus. It is not improbable that motives of prudence might assist the humanity of the artful Dalmatian. Of these servants many had purchased his favour by secret treachery, and others he esteemed their grateful fidelity to an unfortunate master. The discerning judgment of Aurelian, of Probus, and of Caerus had filled the several departments of the state and army with officers of approved merit, whose removal would have injured the public service without promoting the interest of his successor. Such a conduct, however, displayed to the Roman world the fairest prospect of the new reign and the emperor affected to confirm this favourable prepossession by declaring that, among all the virtues of his predecessors, he was the most ambitious of imitating the humane philosophy of Marcus Antoninus. The first considerable action of his reign seemed to evince his sincerity as well as his moderation. After the example of Marcus, he gave himself a colleague in the person of Maximian, on whom he bestowed at first the title of Caesar, and afterwards that of Augustus. But the motives of his conduct, as well as the object of his choice, were of a very different nature from those of his admired predecessor. By investing luxurious youth with the honours of the purple, Marcus had discharged a debt of private gratitude at the expense, indeed, of the happiness of the state. By associating a friend and a fellow soldier to the labours of government, Diocletian, in a time of public danger, provided for the defence both of the east and of the west. Maximian was born a peasant, and like Aurelian, in the territory of Simeon, ignorant of letters, careless of laws, the rusticity of his appearance and manners still betrayed in the most elevated fortune and the meanness of his extraction. War was the only art which he professed. In a long course of service he had distinguished himself on every frontier of the empire, and though his military talents were formed to obey rather than to command, though perhaps he never attained the skill of a consummate general, he was capable by his valour, constancy and experience of executing the most arduous undertakings. Nor were the vices of Maximian less useful to his benefactor. Insensible to pity and fearless of consequences, he was the ready instrument of every act of cruelty which the policy of that artful prince might at once suggest and disclaim. As soon as a bloody sacrifice had been offered to prudence or to revenge, Diocletian, by his seasonable intercession, saved the remaining few whom he had never designed to punish, gently censured the severity of his stern colleague and enjoyed the comparison of a golden and an iron age which was universally applied to their opposite maxims of government. Notwithstanding the difference of their characters, the two emperors maintained on the throne that friendship which they had contracted in a private station, the haughty, turbulent spirit of Maximian, so fatal afterwards to himself and to the public peace, was accustomed to respect the genius of Diocletian and confessed the ascendant of reason over brutal violence. From a motive either of pride or superstition, the two emperors assumed the titles, the one of Jovius, the other Herculeus. Whilst the motion of the world, such was the language of their venal orators, maintained by the all-seeing wisdom of Jupiter, the invincible arm of Hercules, purged the earth from monsters and tyrants. But even the omnipotence of Jovius and Herculeus was insufficient to sustain the weight of the public administration. The prudence of Diocletian discovered that the empire, assailed on every side by the barbarians, required on every side the presence of a great army and of an emperor. With this view he resolved once more to divide his unwieldy power and with the inferior title of Caesar's to confer on two generals of approved merit an unequal share of the sovereign authority. Galerius, surnamed Armentarius, from his original profession of a herdsman, and Constantius, who from his pale complexion had acquired the denomination of Chlorus, were the two persons invested with the second honours of the imperial purple. In describing the country, extraction and manners of Herculeus, we have already delineated those of Galerius who was often, and not improperly, styled the younger Maximian, though in many instances both of virtue and ability he appears to have possessed a manifest superiority over the elder. The birth of Constantius was less obscure than that of his colleagues. Utropius, his father, was one of the most considerable nobles of Dardania and his mother was the niece of the emperor Claudius. Although the use of Constantius had been spent in arms, he was endowed with a mild and amiable disposition and the popular voice had long since acknowledged him worthy of the rank which he had last attained. To strengthen the bonds of political by those of domestic union, each of the emperors assumed the character of a father to one of the Caesars. Diocletian took Galerius and Maximian took Constantius and each, obliging them to repudiate their former wives, bestowed his daughter in marriage on his adopted son. These four princes distributed amongst themselves the wide extent of the Roman Empire. The defence of Gaul, Spain and Britain was entrusted to Constantius. Galerius was stationed on the banks of the Danube as the safeguard of the Illyrian provinces. Italy and Africa were considered the department of Maximian and for his peculiar portion Diocletian reserved Thrace, Egypt and the rich countries of Asia. Everyone was sovereign with his own jurisdiction but their united authority extended over the whole monarchy and each of them was prepared to assist his colleagues with his councils or presents. The Caesars in their exalted rank revered the majesty of the emperors and the three younger princes invariably acknowledged by their gratitude and obedience the common parent of their fortunes. The suspicious jealousy of power found not any place among them and the singular happiness of their union has been compared to a chorus of music whose harmony was regulated and maintained by the skillful hand of the first artist. This important measure was not carried into execution till about six years after the association of Maximian and that interval of time had not been destitute of memorable incidents. But we have preferred, for the sake of perspicuity, first to describe the more perfect form of Diocletian's government and afterwards to relate the actions of his reign following rather the natural order of the events than the dates of a very doubtful chronology. The first exploit of Maximian, though it is mentioned in a few words by our imperfect writers, deserves from its singularity to be recorded in a history of human manners. He suppressed the peasants of Gaul who, under the appellation of Bagaudi, had risen in a general insurrection very similar to those which in the fourteenth century successively afflicted both France and England. It should seem that very many of those institutions referred by an easy solution to the feudal system are derived from the Celtic barbarians. When Caesar subdued the Gauls, that great nation was already divided into three orders of men, the clergy, the nobility and the common people, the first governed by superstition, the second by arms, but the third and last was not of any weight or account in their public councils. It was very natural for the plebeians, oppressed by debt or apprehensive of injuries, to implore the protection of some powerful chief, who acquired over their persons and property the same absolute right as among the Greeks and Romans, a master exercised over his slaves. The greatest part of the nation was gradually reduced into a state of servitude, compelled to perpetual labour on the estates of the Gallic nobles and confined to the soil either by the real weight of fetters or by the no less cruel and forcible restraints of the laws. During the long series of troubles which agitated Gaul and the reign of Gallianus to that of Diocletian, the condition of these servile peasants was peculiarly miserable, and they experienced at once the complicated tyranny of their masters, of the barbarians, of the soldiers and of the officers of the revenue. Their patience was at last provoked into despair. On every side they rose in multitudes, armed with rustic weapons and with irresistible fury. The ploughman became a foot soldier, the shepherd mounted on horseback, the deserted villages and open towns were abandoned to the flames, and the ravages of the peasants equalled those of the fiercest barbarians. They asserted the natural rights of men, but they asserted those rights with the most savage cruelty. The Gallic nobles justly dreading their revenge either took refuge in the fortified cities or fled from the wild scene of Anarchy. The peasants reigned without control, and two of their most daring leaders had the folly and rationist to assume the imperial ornaments. Their power soon expired at the approach of the legions. The strength of union and discipline obtained an easy victory over a licentious and divided multitude. A severe retaliation was inflicted on the peasants who were found in arms. The affrighted remnant returned to their respective habitations and their unsuccessful effort for freedom served only to confirm their slavery. So strong and uniform is the current of popular passions that we might almost venture from very scanty materials to relate the particulars of this war. But we are not disposed to believe that the principal leaders, Eilianus and Amandus were Christians, or to insinuate that the rebellion, as it happened in the time of Luther, was occasioned by the abuse of those benevolent principles of Christianity, which incalculate the natural freedom of mankind. Maximian had no sooner recovered gall from the hands of the peasants than he lost Britain by the usurpation of Carasius. Ever since the rash but successful enterprise of the Franks under the reign of Probus, their daring countrymen had constructed squadrons of light brigantines, in which they incessantly ravaged the province's adjacent to the ocean. To repel their desultry incursions, it was found necessary to create a naval power, and the judicious measure was prosecuted with prudence and vigor. Gessoriacum, or Bologna, in the Straits of the British Channel, was chosen by the emperor for the station of the Roman fleet, and the command of it was entrusted to Carasius, a Minapian of the meanest origin, but who had long signalized his skill as a pilot and his valor as a soldier. The integrity of the new admiral corresponded not with his abilities. When the German pirates sailed from their own harbors, he connived at their passage, but he diligently intercepted their return and appropriated to his own use an ample share of the spoil which they had acquired. The wealth of Carasius was, on this occasion, very justly considered as an evidence of his guilt, and Maximian had already given orders for his death, but the crafty Minapian foresaw and prevented the severity of the emperor. By his liberality he had attached to his fortunes the fleet which he commanded, and secured the barbarians in his interest. From the port of Bologna he sailed over to Britain, persuaded the legion and the auxiliaries which guarded that island to embrace his party, and boldly assuming with the imperial purple the title of Augustus defied the justice and the arms of his injured sovereign. When Britain was thus dismembered from the empire, its importance was sensibly felt and its loss sincerely lamented. The Romans celebrated and perhaps magnified the extent of that noble island, provided on every side with convenient harbours, the temperature of the climate and the fertility of the soil, alike adapted for the production of corn or of vines, the valuable minerals with which it abounded, its rich pastures covered with innumerable flocks, and its woods free from wild beasts or venomous serpents. Above all they regretted the large amount of the revenue of Britain, whilst they confessed that such a province well deserved to become the seat of an independent monarchy. During the space of seven years it was possessed by carousels, and fortune continued propitious to a rebellion supported with courage and ability. The British emperor defended the frontiers of his dominions against the Caledonians of the north, invited from the continent a great number of skillful artists and displayed on a variety of coins that are still extant, his taste and opulence. Born on the confines of the Franks, he courted the friendship of that formidable people by the flattering imitation of their dress and manners. The bravest of their youth he enlisted among his land or sea forces, and, in return for their useful alliance, he communicated to the barbarians the dangerous knowledge of military and naval arts. Carasius still preserved the possession of Bologna and the adjacent country. His fleets rode triumphant on the channel, commanded the miles of the Seine and of the Rhine, ravaged the coast of the ocean, and diffused beyond the columns of Hercules the terror of his name. Under his command Britain, destined in a future age to obtain the empire of the sea, already assumed its natural and respectable station of a maritime power. By seizing the fleet of Bologna, Carasius had deprived his master of the means of pursuit and revenge, and when, after a vast expense of time and labour, a new armament was launched into the water, the imperial troops, unaccustomed to that element, were easily baffled and defeated by the veteran sailors of the usurper. This disappointed effort was soon productive of a treaty of peace. Diocletian and his colleague, who justly dreaded the enterprising spirit of Carasius, resigned to him the sovereignty of Britain, and reluctantly admitted their perfidious servant to a participation of the imperial honours. But the adoption of the two Caesars restored new vigour to the Romans' arms, and while the Rhine was guarded by the presence of Maximian his brave associate Constantius assumed the conduct of the British War. His first enterprise was against the important place of Bologna. A stupendous mole, raised across the entrance of the harbour, intercepted all hopes of relief. The town surrendered after an obstinate defence, and a considerable part of the naval straits of Carasius fell into the hands of the besiegers. During the three years which Constantius employed in preparing a fleet adequate to the conquest of Britain, he secured the coast of Gaul, invaded the country of the Franks, and deprived the usurper of the assistance of those powerful allies. Before the preparations were finished, Constantius received the intelligence of the tyrant's death, and it was considered as a sure presage of the approaching victory. The servants of Carasius imitated the example of treason which he had given. He was murdered by his first minister, Electus, and the assassin succeeded to his power and to his danger. But he possessed not equal abilities either to exercise the one or to repel the other. He beheld with anxious terror the opposite shores of the continent already filled with arms, with troops, and with vessels, for Constantius had very prudently divided his forces, that he might likewise divide the attention and resistance of the enemy. The attack was at length made by the principal squadron which, under the command of the prefect Asclepius Datus, an officer of distinguished merit, had been assembled in the north of the Seine. So imperfect in those times was the art of navigation that orators who celebrated the daring courage of the Romans who ventured to set sail with a side wind and on a stormy day. The weather proved favourable to their enterprise. Under the cover of a thick fog they escaped the fleet of Electus, which had been stationed off the Isle of Wight to receive them, landed in safety on some part of the western coast, and convinced the Britons that a superiority of naval strength will not always protect their country from a foreign invasion. Asclepius Datus had no sooner disembarked the imperial troops, then he set fire to his ships. And, as the expedition proved fortunate, his heroic conduct was universally admired. The usurper had posted himself near London to expect the formidable attack of Constantius, who commanded in person the fleet of Bologna, but the descent of a new enemy required his immediate presence in the west. He performed this long march in so precipitous a manner that he encountered the whole force of the prefect with a small body of harassed and disheartened troops. The engagement was soon terminated by the total defeat and death of Electus. A single battle, as it has often happened, decided the fate of this great island. And when Constantius landed on the shores of Kent, he found them covered with obedient subjects. Their acclamations were loud and unanimous. The virtues of the conqueror may induce us to believe that they sincerely rejoiced in a revolution which, after a separation of ten years, restored Britain to the body of the Roman Empire. End of Chapter 13, Part 1 Chapter 13, Part 2 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 reign of Diocletian and his three associates. Part 2 Britain had none but domestic enemies to dread, and, as long as the governors preserved their fidelity and the troops their discipline, the incursions of the naked savages of Scotland or Ireland could never materially affect the safety of the province. The peace of the continent and the defence of the principal rivers which binded the empire were objects of far greater difficulty and importance. The policy of Diocletian, which inspired the councils of his associates, provided for the public tranquillity by encouraging a spirit of dissension among the barbarians and by strengthening the fortifications of the Roman limit. In the east he fixed a line of camps from Egypt to the Persian dominions, and for every camp he instituted an adequate number of stationery troops commanded by their respective officers and supplied with every kind of arms from the new arsenals which he had formed at Antioch, Emessa, and Damascus. Nor was the precaution of the emperor less watchful against the well-known valour of the barbarians of Europe. From the mouth of the Rhine to that of the Danube the ancient camps, towns, and citadels were diligently re-established, and in the most exposed places new ones were skillfully constructed. The strictest vigilance was introduced among the garrisons of the frontier and every expedient was practised that could render the long chain of fortifications firm and impenetrable. A barrier so respectable was seldom violated and the barbarians often turned against each other at their disappointed rage. The Goths, the Vandals, the Gepidi, the Burgundians, the Alemani wasted each other's strength by destructive hostilities and whosoever vanquished they vanquished the enemies of Rome. The subjects of Diocletian enjoyed the bloody spectacle and congratulated each other that the mischiefs of civil war were now experienced only by the barbarians. Notwithstanding the policy of Diocletian it was impossible to maintain an unequal and undisturbed tranquility during a reign of twenty years and along a frontier of many hundred miles. Sometimes the barbarians suspended their domestic animosities and the relaxed vigilance of the garrisons sometimes gave a passage to their strength or dexterity. Whenever the provinces were invaded Diocletian conducted himself with that calm dignity which he always affected or possessed, reserved his presence for such occasions as were worthy of his interposition, never exposed his person or reputation to any unnecessary danger, ensured his success by every means that prudence could suggest and displayed with ostentation the consequences of his victory. In wars of a more difficult nature and more doubtful event he employed the rough valour of Maximian and that faithful soldier was content to ascribe his own victories to the wise councils and auspicious influence of his benefactor. But after the adoption of the two Caesars, the emperors themselves, retiring to a less laborious scene of action, devolved on their adopted sons the defense of the Danube and of the Rhine, the vigilant Galerius was never reduced to the necessity of vanquishing an army of barbarians on the Roman territory. The brave and active Constantius delivered Gaul from a very furious in-road of the Alemani and his victories of Longra and Vindonissa appear to have been actions of considerable danger and merit. As he traversed the open country with a feeble guard he was encompassed on a sudden by the superior multitude of the enemy. He retreated with difficulty towards Longra but in the general consternation the citizens refused to open their gates and the wounded prince was drawn up the wall by the means of a rope. But on the news of his distress the Roman truce hastened from all sides to his relief and before the evening he had satisfied his honour and revenge by the slaughter of 6,000 Alemani. From the monuments of those times the obscure traces of several other victories over the barbarians of Sarmatia and Germany might possibly be collected but the tedious search would not be rewarded either with amusement or with instruction. The conduct which the emperor Probus had adopted in the disposal of the vanquished by Diocletian and his associates. The captive barbarians exchanging death for slavery were distributed among the provincials and assigned to those districts. In Gaul the territories of Amiens, Beauvais, Cambrai, Trèves, Longra and Troya specifically mentioned which had been depopulated by the calamities of war. They were usually employed as shepherds and husbandmen but were denied the exercise of arms except when it was found expedient to enroll them in the military service. Nor did the emperors refuse the property of lands with a less servile tenure to such of the barbarians as solicited the protection of Rome. They granted a settlement to several colonies of the Carpi, the Bastani and the Sarmatians and, by a dangerous indulgence, permitted them in some measure to retain their national manners and independence. Among the provincials it was a subject of flattering exultation that the barbarians so lately an object of terror now cultivated their lands, drove their cattle to the neighbouring fair and contributed by his labour to the public plenty. They congratulated their masters on the powerful accession of subjects and soldiers but they forgot to observe that multitudes of secret enemies insolent from favour or desperate from oppression were introduced into the heart of the empire. While the Caesars exercised their valour on the banks of the Rhine and Danube the presence of the emperors was required on the southern confines of the Roman world. From the Nile to Mount Atlas, Africa was in arms. A confederacy of five Moorish nations issued from their deserts to invade the peaceful provinces. Julian had assumed the purple at Carthage, Achilius at Alexandria and even the Blemies renewed or rather continued their incursion into the Upper Egypt. Scarcely any circumstances have been preserved of the exploits of Maximian in the western parts of Africa but it appears by the event that the progress of his arms was rapid and decisive that he vanquished the fiercest barbarians of Mauritania and that he removed them from the mountains whose inaccessible strength had inspired their inhabitants with a lawless confidence and habituated them to a life of rapine and violence. Diocletian on his side opened the campaign in Egypt by the siege of Alexandria cut off the aqueducts which conveyed the waters of the Nile into every quarter of that immense city and rendering his camp impregnable to the sallies of the besieged multitude and pushed his reiterated attacks with caution and vigor. After a siege of eight months Alexandria wasted by the sword and by fire implored the clemency of the conqueror but it experienced the full extent of his severity. Many thousands of the citizens perished in a promiscuous slaughter and there were few obnoxious persons in Egypt who escaped to sentence either of death or at least of exile. The fate of Boussiris and of Coptos was still more melancholy than that of Alexandria. These proud cities, the former distinguished by its antiquity, the latter enriched by the passage of the Indian trade, were utterly destroyed by the arms and by the severe order of Diocletian. The character of the Egyptian nation, insensible to kindness but extremely susceptible of fear, could alone justify this excessive rigour. The seditions of Alexandria had often affected the tranquility and subsistence of Rome itself. Since the use of a patient of Firmus, the province of Upper Egypt, incessantly relapsing into rebellion, had embraced the alliance of the savages of Ethiopia. The number of the Blemies, scattered between the island of Merui and the Red Sea, was very inconsiderable. Their disposition was unwarlike, their weapons rude and inoffensive. Yet in the public disorders, these barbarians, whom antiquity, shocked with the deformity of their figure, had almost excluded from the human species, presumed to rank themselves among the enemies of Rome. Such had been the unworthy allies of the Egyptians, and while the attention of the state was engaged in more serious wars, their vexatious inroads might again address the repose of the province. With a view of opposing to the Blemies a suitable adversary, Diocletian persuaded the Nobatai, or people of Nubia, to remove from their ancient habitations in the deserts of Libya, and resigned them to an extensive but unprofitable territory above Saini and the cataracts of the Nile, with the stipulation that they should ever respect and guard the frontier of the empire. The treaty long subsisted, and till the establishment of Christianity introduced stricter notions of religious worship, it was annually ratified by a solemn sacrifice in the Isle of Elephantine, in which the Romans as well as the barbarians adored the same visible or invisible powers of the universe. At the same time that Diocletian chastised the past crimes of the Egyptians, he provided for their future safety and happiness by many wise regulations which were confirmed and enforced under the succeeding reigns. One very remarkable edict which he published, instead of being condemned as the effect of jealous tyranny, deserves to be applauded as an act of prudence and humanity. He caused a diligent inquiry to be made. For all the ancient books which treated of the admirable art of making gold and silver and without pity committed them to the flames, apprehensive as we are assumed, lest the opulence of the Egyptians should inspire them with confidence to rebel against the empire. But if Diocletian had been convinced of the reality of that valuable art, far from extinguishing the memory, he would have converted the operation of it to the benefit of the public revenue. It is much more likely that his good sense discovered to him the folly of such magnificent pretensions and that he was desirous of preserving the reason and fortunes of his subjects from the mischievous pursuit. It may be remarked that these ancient books, so liberally ascribed to Pythagoras, to Solomon or to Hermes, were the pious frauds of more recent adepts. The Greeks were inattentive either to the use or the abuse of chemistry. In that immense register where Pliny has deposited the discoveries, the arts and the errors of mankind, there is not the least mention of the transmutation of metals, and the persecution of Diocletian is the first authentic event in the history of alchemy. The conquest of Egypt by the Arabs diffused that vain science over the globe. Congenial to the avarice of the human heart, it was studied in China, as in Europe, with equal eagerness and with equal success. The darkness of the Middle Ages ensured a favourable reception to every tale of wonder, and the revival of learning gave new vigour to hope and suggested more specious arts of deception. Philosophy, with the aid of experience, has at length banished the study of alchemy, and the present age, however desirous of riches, is content to seek them by the humbler means of commerce and industry. The reduction of Egypt was immediately followed by the Persian War. It was reserved for the reign of Diocletian to vanquish that powerful nation, and to extort a confession from the successors of Artexerxes, of the superior majesty of the Roman Empire. We have observed that, under the reign of Valerian, Armenia was subdued by the perfidy in the arms of the Persians, and that, after the assassination of Kosrowes, his son Tiridates, the infant heir of the monarchy, was saved by the fidelity of his friends, and educated under the protection of the emperors. Tiridates derived from his exile such advantages as he could never have obtained on the throne of Armenia, the early knowledge of adversity, of mankind, and of the Roman discipline. He signalised his youth by deeds of Valer and displayed a matchless dexterity as well as strength in every martial exercise, and even in the less honourable contests of the Olympian games. Those qualities were more notably exerted in the defence of his benefactor Likinius. That officer, in the sedition which occasioned the death of Probus, was exposed to the most imminent danger, and the enraged soldiers were forcing their way into his tent when they were checked by the single arm of the Armenian prince. The gratitude of Tiridates contributed soon afterwards to his restoration. Likinius was in every station the friend and companion of Galerius, and the merit of Galerius, long before he was raised to the dignity of Caesar, had been known and esteemed by Diocletian. In the third year of that emperor's reign, Tiridates was invested with the kingdom of Armenia. The justice of the measure was not less evident than its expediency. It was time to rescue from the usurpation of the Persian monarch an important territory which, since the reign of Nero, had always been granted under the protection of the empire to a younger branch of the house of Asraques. When Tiridates appeared on the frontiers of Armenia, he was received with an unfamed transport of joy and loyalty. For twenty-six years the country had experienced the real and imaginary hardships of a foreign yoke. The Persian monarchs adorned their new conquest with magnificent buildings, but those monuments had been erected at the expense of the people and were abhorred as badges of slavery. The apprehension of a revolt had inspired the most rigorous precautions. Oppression had been aggravated by insult, and the consciousness of the public hatred had been productive of every measure that could render it still more implacable. We have already remarked the intolerant spirit of the Magian religion. The statues of the deified kings of Armenia and the sacred images of the sun and moon were broken in pieces by the zeal of the conqueror, and the perpetual fire of Ormuzd was kindled and preserved upon an altar erected on the summit of Mount Bagavan. It was natural that a people exasperated by so many injuries should arm with zeal in the cause of their independence, their religion, and their hereditary sovereign. The torrent bore down every obstacle, and the Persian garrisons retreated before its fury. The nobles of Armenia flew to the standard of Tiridates, all alleging their past merit, offering their future service soliciting from the new king those honours and rewards from which they had been excluded with disdain under the foreign government. The command of the army was bestowed on Artavazdes, whose father had saved the infancy of Tiridates and whose family had been massacred for that generous action. The brother of Artavazdes obtained the government of a province. One of the first military dignities was conferred on the Satrap Otas, a man of singular temperance and fortitude, who presented to the king his sister and a considerable treasure, both of which, in a sequestered fortress, Otas had preserved from violation. Among the Armenian nobles appeared an ally whose fortunes are too remarkable to pass unnoticed. His name was Mamgo, his origin was Skifian, and the horde which acknowledged his authority had encamped a few years before in the skirts of the Chinese Empire, which at that time extended as far as the neighbourhood of Sogdiana. Having incurred the displeasure of his master, Mamgo, with his followers, retired to the banks of the Oxus and implored the protection of Sappor. The emperor of China claimed the fugitive and alleged rights of sovereignty. The Persian monarch pleaded the laws of hospitality and with some difficulty avoided a war by the promise that he would banish Mamgo to the uttermost parts of the west, a punishment as he described it not less dreadful than death itself. Armenia was chosen for the place of exile and a large district was assigned to the Skifian horde, on which they might feed their flocks and herds and remove their encampment from one place to another according to the different seasons of the year. They were employed to repel the invasion of Tiridates, but their leader, after weighing the obligations and injuries which he had received from the Persian monarch, resolved to abandon his party. The Armenian prince, who was well acquainted with this merit as well as power of Mamgo, treated him with distinguished respect and, by admitting him into his confidence, acquired a brave and faithful servant who contributed very effectively to his restoration. For a while, fortune appeared to favour the enterprising valour of Tiridates. He not only expelled the enemies of his family and country from the whole extent of Armenia, but in the prosecution of his revenge he carried his arms, at least his incursions, into the heart of Assyria. The historian who has preserved the name of Tiridates from oblivion celebrates with a degree of national enthusiasm his personal prowess and, in the true spirit of eastern romance, describes the giants and the elephants that fell beneath his invincible arm. It is from other information that we discover the distracted state of the Persian monarchy to which the king of Armenia was indebted for some part of his advantages. The throne was disputed by the ambition of contending brothers and Hormuz after exerting without success the strength of his own party, had recourse to the dangerous assistance of the barbarians who inhabited the banks of the Caspian Sea. The civil war was, however, soon terminated either by a victor or by a reconciliation, and Narces, who was universally acknowledged as king of Persia, directed his whole force against the foreign enemy. The contest then became too unequal, nor was the valour of the hero able to withstand the power of the monarch. Teridates, a second time expelled from the throne of Armenia, once more took refuge in the court of the emperors. Narces soon re-established his authority over the revolted province and loudly complaining of the protection afforded by the Romans to rebels and fugitives aspired to the conquest of the east. Neither prudence nor honour could permit the emperors to forsake the cause of the Armenian king, and it was resolved to exert the force of the empire in the Persian War. Diaglesian, with the calm dignity which he constantly assumed, fixed his own station in the city of Antioch from whence he prepared and directed the military operations. The conduct of the legions was entrusted to the intrepid valour of Galerius, who, for that important purpose, was removed from the banks of the Danube to those of the Euphrates. The armies soon encountered each other in the plains of Mesopotamia, and two battles were fought with various and doubtful success. But the third engagement was of a more decisive nature, and the Roman army received a total overthrow which is attributed to the rashness of Galerius, who, with an inconsiderable body of troops, attacked the innumerable host of the Persians. But the consideration of the country that was the scene of action may suggest another reason for the defeat. The same ground on which Galerius was vanquished had been rendered memorable by the death of Crassus and the slaughter of ten legions. It was a plain of more than 60 miles, which extended from the hills of Cary to the Euphrates. A smooth and barren surface of the desert, without a hillock, without a tree, and without a spring of fresh water. The steady infantry of the Romans, fainting with heat and thirst, could neither hope for victory if they preserved their ranks, nor break their ranks without exposing themselves to the most imminent danger. In this situation they were gradually encompassed by the superior numbers, harassed by the rapid evolutions of the barbarian cavalry. The king of Armenia had signalized his valour in the battle and acquired personal glory by the public misfortune. He was pursued as far as the Euphrates, his horse was wounded and it appeared impossible for him to escape the victorious enemy. In this extremity Tiridates embraced the only refuge which appeared before him. He dismounted and plunged into the stream. His armour was heavy, the river very deep, and at those parts at least half a mile in breadth. Yet such was his strength and dexterity that he reached in safety the opposite bank. With regard to the Roman general, we are ignorant of the circumstances of his escape, but when he returned to Antioch Diocletian received him not with the tenderness of a friend and colleague, but with the indignation of an offended sovereign. The haughtiest of men clothed in his purple but humbled by the sense of his fault and misfortune was obliged to follow the emperor's chariot above a mile on foot and to exhibit before the whole court the spectacle of his disgrace. As soon as Diocletian had indulged his private resentment and asserted the majesty of supreme power, he yielded to the submissive entreaties of the Caesar and permitted him to retrieve his own honour as well as that of the Roman arms. In the room of the unwarlike troops of Asia which had most probably served in the first expedition a second army was drawn from the veterans and new levies of the Illyrian frontier and a considerable body of Gothic auxiliaries was taken into the imperial pay. At the head of a chosen army of 25,000 men Galerius again passed the Euphrates, but instead of exposing his legions in the open plains of Mesopotamia he advanced through the mountains of Armenia where he found the inhabitants devoted to his cause and the country as favourable to the operations of infantry as it was inconvenient for the motions of cavalry. Adversity had confirmed the Roman discipline while the barbarians elated by success were become so negligent and remiss that in the moment when they least expected it they were surprised by the active conduct of Galerius who, attended only by two horsemen had with his own eyes secretly examined the state and position of their camp. A surprise, especially in the night time, was for the most part fatal to a Persian army. Their horses were tied and generally shackled to prevent their running away and if an alarm happened a Persian had his housing to fix his horse to bridle on this occasion the impetuous attack of Galerius spread disorder and dismay over the camp of the barbarians a slight resistance was followed by a dreadful carnage and in the general confusion the wounded monarch for Narsis commanded his armies in person fled towards the deserts of media his sumptuous tents and those of his satraps afforded an immense booty to the conqueror and an incident is mentioned which proves the rustic but martial ignorance of the legions in the elegant superfluities of life a bag of shining leather filled with pearls fell into the hands of a private soldier he carefully preserved the bag but he threw away its contents judging that whatever was of no use could not possibly be of any value the principal loss of Narsis was of a much more affecting nature several of his wives his sisters and children who had attended the army were made captives in the defeat but though the character of Galerius had in general very little affinity with that of Alexander he imitated after his victory the amiable behaviour of the Macedonian towards the family of Darius the wives and children of Narsis were protected from violence and raping conveyed to a place of safety and treated with every mark of respect and tenderness that was due from a generous enemy to their age, their sex and their royal dignity end of chapter 13 part 2 chapter 13 part 3 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 if you are a volunteer please visit Librivox.org chapter 13 the reign of Diocletian and history associates part 3 while the east anxiously expected the decision of this great contest the emperor Diocletian having assembled in Syria a strong army of observation displayed from a distance the resources of the Roman power and reserved himself for any future emergency of the war on the intelligence of the victory he condescended to advance towards the frontier with a view of moderating by his presence and counsels the pride of Galerius the interview of the Roman princes at Nisibis was accompanied with every expression of respect on one side and of his steam on the other it was in that city that they soon afterwards gave audience to the ambassador of the great king the power or at least the spirit of Nazis had been broken by his last defeat and he considered an immediate peace as the only means that could stop the progress of the Roman arms he dispatched Atharban a servant who possessed his favour and confidence with a commission to negotiate a treaty or rather to receive whatever conditions the conqueror should impose Atharban opened the conference by expressing his master's gratitude for the generous treatment of his family and by soliciting the liberty of those illustrious captives he celebrated the valor of Galerius without degrading the reputation of Nazis and thought it no dishonour to confess the superiority of the victorious Caesar over a monarch who had surpassed in glory all the princes of his race notwithstanding the justice of the Persian cause he was empowered to submit the present differences to the decision of the emperors themselves convinced as he was that in the midst of prosperity they would not be unmindful of the vicissitudes of fortune Atharban concluded his discourse in the style of eastern allegory by observing that the Roman and Persian monarchies were the two eyes of the world which would remain imperfect and mutilated if either of them should be put out it well becomes the Persians to expiate on the vicissitudes of fortune and calmly to read as lectures on the virtues of moderation let them remember their own moderation towards the unhappy Valerian they vanquished him by fraud they treated him with indignity they detained him till the last moment of his life in shameful captivity and after his death they exposed his body to perpetual ignorance and he would not be able to have indignity and after his death they exposed his body to perpetual ignominy softening however his tone Galerius insinuated to the ambassador that it had never been the practice of the Romans to trample on a prostrate enemy and that on this occasion they should consult their own dignity rather than the Persian merit he dismissed Atharban with a hope that Narces would soon be informed on what conditions he might obtain from the clemency of the emperor's alasting peace and the restoration of his wives and children in this conference we may discover the fierce passions of Galerius as well as his deference to the superior wisdom and authority of Diocletian the ambition of the former grasped at the conquest of the east and had proposed to reduce Persia into the state of a province the prudence of the latter who adhered to the moderate policy of Augustus and the Antonines embraced the favourable opportunity of terminating a successful war by an honourable and advantageous peace in pursuance of their promise the emperors soon afterwards appointed Sicorius Probus one of their secretaries to acquaint the Persian court with their final resolution as the minister of peace he was received with every mark of politeness and friendship to propose after so long a journey the audience of Probus was deferred from day to day and he attended the slow motions of the king till at length he was admitted to his presence near the river Asperus in media the secret motive of Narces in this delay had been to collect such a military force as might enable him though sincerely desirous of peace to negotiate with the greater weight and dignity the Persons only assisted at this important conference the minister the prefect of the guards and an officer who had commanded on the Armenian frontier the first condition proposed by the ambassador is not at present of a very intelligible nature that the city of Nisibis might be established for the place of mutual exchange or as we should formally have termed it for the staple of trade between there is no difficulty in conceiving the intention of the Roman princes to improve their revenue by some restraints upon commerce but as Nisibis was situated within their own dominions and as they were masters both of the imports and exports it should seem that such restraints were the objects of an internal law rather than a foreign treaty to render them more effectual some stipulations were probably required on the side of the king of Persia which appeared so very repugnant either to his interest or to his dignity that Nazis could not be persuaded to subscribe them as this was the only article to which he refused his consent it was no longer insisted on and the emperors either suffered the trade to flow in its natural channels or contented themselves with such restrictions as it depended on their own authority to establish as soon as this difficulty was removed a solemn peace was concluded and ratified between the two nations the conditions of a treaty so glorious the empire and so necessary to Persia may deserve a more peculiar attention as the history of Rome presents very few transactions of similar nature most of her wars having either been terminated by absolute conquest or waged against barbarians ignorant of the use of letters the Aborus or as it is called by Xenophon the Araxes was fixed as the boundary between the two monarchies that river which rose near the Tigris was increased a few miles below Nisibis by the little stream of the Migdonius passed under the walls of Singara and fell into the Euphrates at Circusium a frontier town which by the care of Diocletian was very strongly fortified Mesopotamia the object of so many wars was ceded to the empire and the Persians by this treaty renounced all pretensions to that great province they relinquished to the Romans five provinces beyond the Tigris their situation formed a very useful barrier and the natural strength was soon improved by art and military skill four of these to the north of the river were districts of obscure fame and inconsiderable extent Intilini Zabdikini Arzzanini and Moxowini in the heart on the east of the Tigris the empire acquired the large and mountainous territory of Carduini the ancient seat of the Carduchians who preserved for many ages their manly freedom in the heart of the despotic monarchies of Esha the ten thousand Greeks traversed their country after a painful march or rather engagement of seven days and it is confessed by their leader in his incomparable relation of the retreat that they suffered more than the heroes of the Carduchians than from the power of the great king their posterity the curds with very little alteration either of name or manners acknowledged the nominal sovereignty of the Turkish Sultan it is almost needless to observe that Tiridates the faithful ally of Rome was restored to the throne of his fathers and that the rights of the imperial supremacy were fully asserted and secured and the crimes of Armenia were extended as far as the fortress of Sintha in media and this increase of dominion was not so much an act of liberality as of justice of the provinces already mentioned beyond the Tigris the first four had been dismembered by the Parthians from the crime of Armenia and when the Romans acquired the possession of them they stipulated at the expense of the usurpers an ample compensation which invested their ally with the extensive and fertile country of Atropatini its principal city in the same situation perhaps as the modern Taurus was frequently honoured by the residents of Tiridates and as it sometimes bore the name of Ek Batana he imitated in the buildings and fortifications the splendid capital of the Medes the country of Iberia was barren its inhabitants rude and savage but they were accustomed to the use of arms and they separated from the empire barbarians much fiercer and more formidable than themselves the narrow defiles of Mount Caucasus were in their hands and it was in their choice either to admit or exclude the wandering tribes of Sarmatia whenever a rapacious spirit urged them to penetrate into the richer climes of the south the nomination of the kings of Iberia which was resigned by the Persian monarch to the emperors contributed to the strength and security of the Roman power in Asia the east enjoyed a profound tranquility during 40 years and the treaty between the rival monarchies was strictly observed until the death of Tiridates when a new generation animated with different views and different passions succeeded to the government of the world and the grandson of Narces undertook a long and memorable war against the princes of the house of Constantine the arduous work of rescuing the distressed empire from tyrants and barbarians had now been completely achieved by a succession of Illyrian peasants as soon as Diocletian entered into the 20th year of his reign he celebrated that memorable era as well as the success of his arms by the pomp of a Roman triumph Maximian the equal partner of his power was his only companion in the glory of that day the two Caesars had fought and conquered but the merit of their exploits was ascribed according to the rigor of ancient Maxims to the auspicious influence of their fathers and emperors the triumph of Diocletian and Maximian was less magnificent perhaps than those of Aurelian and Probus but it was dignified by several circumstances of superior fame and good fortune Africa and Britain the Rhine, the Danube and the Nile furnished their respective trophies but the most distinguished ornament was of a more singular nature a Persian victory followed by an important conquest the representations of rivers, mountains and provinces were carried before the imperial car the images of the captive wives the sisters and the children of the great king afforded a new and grateful spectacle of the prosperity of the people in the eyes of posterity this triumph is remarkable by a distinction of a less honourable kind it was the last that Rome ever beheld soon after this period the emperors ceased to vanquish and Rome ceased to be the capital of the empire the spot on which Rome was founded had been consecrated by ancient ceremonies and imaginary miracles the presence of some god the memory of some hero seemed to animate every part of the city and the empire of the world had been promised to the capital the native Romans felt and confessed the power of this agreeable illusion it was derived from their ancestors had grown up with their earliest habits of life and was protected in some measure by the opinion of political utility the form and the seat of government were intimately blended together nor was it esteemed possible to transport the one without destroying the other but the sovereignty of the capital was gradually annihilated in the extent of conquest the provinces rose to the same level and the vanquished nations acquired the name and privileges without imbibing the partial affections of Romans during a long period however the remains of the ancient constitution and the influence of custom preserved the dignity of Rome the emperors though perhaps of African or Illyrian extraction respected their adopted country as the seat of their power and the center of their extensive dominions the emergencies of war very frequently required their presence on the frontiers but Diocletian and Maximian were the first Roman princes who fixed in time of peace their ordinary residence in the provinces and their conduct however it might be suggested by private motives was justified by very specious considerations of policy the court of the emperor of the west was for the most part established at Milan whose situation at the foot of the Alps appeared far more convenient than that of Rome for the important purpose of watching the motions of the barbarians of Germany Milan soon assumed the splendor of an imperial city the houses are described as numerous and well built the manners of the people as polished and liberal a circus a theater, a mint, a palace bards which bore the name of their founder Maximian portico is adorned with statues and a double circumference of walls contributed to the beauty of the new capital nor did it seem oppressed even by the proximity of Rome to rival the majesty of Rome was an ambitious likewise of Diocletian who employed his leisure and the wealth of the east in the embellishment of Nicomedia a city placed on the verge of Europe and Asia almost an equal distance between the Danube and the Euphrates and by the taste of the monarch and at the expense of the people Nicomedia acquired in the space of a few years a degree of magnificence which might appear to have required the labour of ages and became inferior only to Rome, Alexandria and Antioch in extent of populousness the life of Diocletian and Maximian was a life of action and a considerable portion of it was spent in camps or in the long and frequent marches but whenever the public business allowed them any relaxation they seemed to have retired with pleasure to their favourite residences of Nicomedia and Milan till Diocletian in the twentieth year of his reign despite his Roman triumph it is extremely doubtful whether he ever visited the ancient capital of the empire even on that memorable occasion he stayed not exceed two months disgusted with the licentious familiarity of the people he quitted Rome with precipitation thirteen days before it was expected that he should have appeared in the senate invested with the end-signs of the consular dignity the dislike expressed by his relation towards Rome and Roman freedom was not the effect of momentary caprice but the result of the most artful policy that crafty prince had framed a new system of imperial government which was afterwards completed by the family of Constantine and as the image of the old constitution was religiously preserved in the senate he resolved to deprive that order of its small remains of power and consideration we may recollect about eight years before the elevation of Diocletian the transient greatness and the ambitious hopes of the Roman senate as long as that enthusiasm prevailed many of the nobles imprudently displayed their zeal in the cause of freedom and after the successes of probus had withdrawn their countenance from the republican party the senators were unable to disguise their impotent resentment as the sovereign of Italy Maximian was entrusted with the care of extinguishing this troublesome rather than dangerous spirit and the task was perfectly suited to his cruel temper the most illustrious members of the senate whom Diocletian always affected to esteem were involved by his colleague in the accusation of imaginary plots and the possession of an elegant villa or a well cultivated estate was interpreted as a convincing evidence of guilt the camp of the Praetorians which had so long oppressed began to protect the majesty of Rome and as those haughty troops were conscious of the decline of their power they were naturally disposed to unite their strength with the authority of the senate by the prudent measures of Diocletian the numbers of the Praetorians were insensibly reduced their privileges abolished and their place supplied by two faithful legions of Illyricum under the new titles of Jovians and Herculians were appointed to perform the service of the imperial guards but the most fatal those secret wound which the senate received from the hands of Diocletian and Maximian was inflicted by the inevitable operation of their absence as long as the emperors resided at Rome that assembly might be oppressed but he could scarcely be neglected the successors of Augustus exercised the power of dictating whatever laws their wisdom or caprice might suggest but those laws were ratified by the sanction of the senate the model of ancient freedom was preserved in its deliberations and decrees and wise princes who respected the prejudices of the Roman people were in some measure obliged to assume the language and behaviour suitable to the general and first magistrate of the republic in the armies and in the provinces they displayed the dignity of monarchs their residence at a distance from the capital they forever laid aside the dissimulation which Augustus had recommended to his successors in the exercise of the legislative as well as the executive power the sovereign advised with his ministers instead of consulting the great council of the nation the name of the senate was mentioned with honour till the last period of the empire the vanity of its members was still flattered with honorary distinctions the assembly which had so long been the source and so long the instrument of power was respectfully suffered to sink into oblivion the senate of Rome losing all connection with the imperial court and the actual constitution was left a venerable but useless monument of antiquity on the capital line hill end of chapter 13 part 3