Reign of Claudius; Defeat of the Goths; Victories, Triumph, and Death of Aurelian
UNDER the deplorable reigns of Valerian and Gallienus the empire was oppressed and almost destroyed by the soldiers, the tyrants, and the barbarians. It was saved by a series of great princes, who derived their obscure origin from the martial provinces of Illyricum. Within a period of about thirty years, Claudius, Aurelian, Probus, Diocletian and his colleagues, triumphed over the foreign and domestic enemies of the state, re-established, with the military discipline, the strength of the frontiers, and deserved the glorious title of Restorers of the Roman world.
Aureolus invades Italy, is defeated and besieged at Milan
The removal of an effeminate tyrant made way for a
succession of heroes. The indignation of the people imputed
all their calamities to Gallienus, and the far greater part
were, indeed, the consequence of his dissolute manners and
careless administration. He was even destitute of a sense of
honour, which so frequently supplies the absence of public
virtue; and as long as he was permitted to enjoy the
possession of Italy, a victory of the barbarians, the loss
of a province, or the rebellion of a general, seldom
disturbed the tranquil course of his pleasures. At length a
considerable army, stationed on the Upper Danube, invested
with the Imperial purple their leader Aureolus, who,
disdaining a confined and barren reign over the mountains of
Rhaetia, passed the Alps, occupied Milan, threatened Rome,
and challenged Gallienus to dispute in the field the
sovereignty of Italy. The emperor, provoked by the insult,
and alarmed by the instant danger, suddenly exerted that
latent vigour which sometimes broke through the indolence of
his temper. Forcing himself from the luxury of the palace,
he appeared in arms at the head of his legions, and advanced
beyond the Po to encounter his competitor. The corrupted
name of Pontirolo (1) still preserves the memory of a bridge over the Adda, which, during the action, must have proved an object of the utmost importance to both armies. The Rhaetian usurper, after receiving a total defeat and a dangerous
wound, retired into Milan. The siege of that great city was
immediately formed; the walls were battered with every
engine in use among the ancients; and Aureolus, doubtful of
his internal strength and hopeless of foreign succours,
already anticipated the fatal consequences of unsuccessful
rebellion.
The death of Gallienus
His last resource was an attempt to seduce the loyalty of
the besiegers. He scattered libels through their camp,
inviting the troops to desert an unworthy master, who
sacrificed the public happiness to his luxury, and the lives
of his most valuable subjects to the slightest suspicions.
The arts of Aureolus diffused fears and discontent among the
principal officers of his rival. A conspiracy was formed by
Heraclianus, the Praetorian praefect, by Marcian, a general
of rank and reputation, and by Cecrops, who commanded a
numerous body of Dalmatian guards. The death of Gallienus
was resolved, and, notwithstanding their desire of first
terminating the siege of Milan, the extreme danger which
accompanied every moment's delay obliged them to hasten the
execution of their daring purpose. At a late hour of the
night, but while the emperor still protracted the pleasures
of the table, an alarm was suddenly given that Aureolus, at
the head of all his forces, had made a desperate sally from
the town; Gallienus who was never deficient in personal
bravery, started from his silken couch, and, without
allowing himself time either to put on his armour or to
assemble his guards, he mounted on horseback and rode full
speed towards the supposed place of the attack. Encompassed
by his declared or concealed enemies, he soon, amidst the
nocturnal tumult, received a mortal dart from an uncertain
hand. Before he expired, a patriotic sentiment rising in the
mind of Gallienus induced him to name a deserving successor,
and it was his last request that the Imperial ornaments
should be delivered to Claudius, who then commanded a
detached army in the neighbourhood of Pavia. The report at
least was diligently propagated, and the order cheerfully
obeyed by the conspirators, who had already agreed to place
Claudius on the throne. On the first news of the emperor's
death the troops expressed some suspicion and resentment,
till the one was removed and the other assuaged by a
donative of twenty pieces of gold to each soldier. They then
ratified the election and acknowledged the merit of their
new sovereign. (2)
Character and elevation of the emperor Claudius
The obscurity which covered the origin of Claudius, though
it was afterwards embellished by some flattering fictions, (3)
sufficiently betrays the meanness of his birth. We can only
discover that he was a native of one of the provinces
bordering on the Danube, that his youth was spent in arms,
and that his modest valour attracted the favour and
confidence of Decius. The senate and people already
considered him as an excellent officer, equal to the most
important trusts, and censured the inattention of Valerian,
who suffered him to remain in the subordinate station of a
tribune. But it was not long before that emperor
distinguished the merit of Claudius, by declaring him
general and chief of the Illyrian frontier, with the command
of all the troops in Thrace, Maesia, Dacia, Pannonia, and
Dalmatia, the appointments of the praefect of Egypt, the
establishment of the proconsul of Africa, and the sure
prospect of the consulship. By his victories over the Goths
he deserved from the senate the honour of a statue, and
excited the jealous apprehensions of Gallienus. It was
impossible that a soldier could esteem so dissolute a
sovereign, nor is it easy to conceal a just contempt. Some
unguarded expressions which dropped from Claudius were
officiously transmitted to the royal ear. The emperor's
answer to an officer of confidence describes in very lively
colours his own character and that of the times.
"There is not anything capable of giving me more serious concern than the intelligence contained in your last dispatch, (4) that some malicious suggestions have indisposed towards us the mind of our friend and parent Claudius. As you regard your allegiance, use every means to appease his resentment, but conduct your negotiation with secrecy; let it not reach the knowledge of the Dacian troops; they are already provoked, and it might inflame their fury. I myself have sent him some presents: be it your care that he accept them with pleasure. Above all, let him not suspect that I am made acquainted with his impudence. The fear of my anger might urge him to desperate counsels." (5)
The presents which accompanied this humble epistle, in which the monarch solicited a reconciliation with his discontented subject, consisted of a considerable sum of money, a splendid wardrobe, and a valuable service of silver and gold plate. By such arts Gallienus softened the indignation and dispelled the fears of his Illyrian general, and during the remainder of that reign the formidable sword of Claudius was always drawn in the cause of a master whom he despised. At last, indeed, he received from the conspirators the bloody purple of Gallienus; but he had been absent from their camp and counsels; and however he might applaud the deed, we may candidly presume that he was innocent of the knowledge of it. (6) When Claudius ascended the throne he was about fifty-four years of age.
Death of Aureolus
The siege of Milan was still continued, and Aureolus soon
discovered that the success of his artifices had only raised
up a more determined adversary. He attempted to negotiate
with Claudius a treaty of alliance and partition.
"Tell him," replied the intrepid emperor, "that such proposals should have been made to Gallienus; he, perhaps, might have listened to them with patience, and accepted a colleague as despicable as himself." (7)
This stern refusal, and a last unsuccessful effort, obliged Aureolus to yield the city and himself to the discretion of the conqueror. The judgment of the army pronounced him worthy of death, and Claudius, after a feeble resistance, consented to the execution of the sentence. Nor was the zeal of the senate less ardent in the cause of their new sovereign. They ratified, perhaps with a sincere transport of zeal, the election of Claudius, and as his predecessor had shown himself the personal enemy of their order, they exercised, under the name of justice, a severe revenge against his friends and family. The senate was permitted to discharge the ungrateful office of punishment, and the emperor reserved for himself the pleasure and merit of obtaining by his intercession a general act of indemnity. (8)
Clemency and justice of Claudius
Such ostentatious clemency discovers less of the real
character of Claudius than a trifling circumstance in which
he seems to have consulted only the dictates of his heart.
The frequent rebellions of the provinces had involved almost
every person in the guilt of treason, almost every estate in
the case of confiscation; and Gallienus often displayed his
liberality by distributing among his officers the property
of his subjects. On the accession of Claudius, an old woman
threw herself at his feet and complained that a general of
the late emperor had obtained an arbitrary grant of her
patrimony. This general was Claudius himself, who had not
entirely escaped the contagion of the times. The emperor
blushed at the reproach, but deserved the confidence which
she had reposed in his equity. The confession of his fault
was accompanied with immediate and ample restitution. (9)
He undertakes the reformation of the army.
In the arduous task which Claudius had undertaken of restoring the empire to its ancient splendour, it was first necessary to revive among his troops a sense of order and obedience. With the authority of a veteran commander, he
represented to them that the relaxation of discipline had introduced a long train of disorders the effects of which were at length experienced by the soldiers themselves that a people ruined by oppression, and indolent from despair, could no longer supply a numerous army with the means of luxury, or even of subsistence; that the danger of each individual had increased with the despotism of the military order, since princes who tremble on the throne will guard their safety by the instant sacrifice of every obnoxious subject. The emperor expatiated on the mischiefs of a lawless caprice, which the soldiers could only gratify at the expense of their own blood, as their seditious elections had so frequently been followed by civil wars, which consumed the flower of the legions either in the field of battle or in the cruel abuse of victory. He painted in the most lively colours the exhausted state of the treasury, the desolation of the provinces, the disgrace of the Roman name,
and the insolent triumph of rapacious barbarians. It was against those barbarians, he declared, that he intended to point the first effort of their arms. Tetricus might reign for a while over the West and even Zenobia might preserve the dominion of the East. (10) These usurpers were his personal adversaries, nor could he think of indulging any private resentment till he had saved an empire whose impending ruin would, unless it was timely revented, crush both the army and the people.
Goths invade the empire
The various nations of Germany and Sarmatia who fought under
the Gothic standard had already collected an armament more
formidable than any which had yet issued from the Euxine. On
the banks of the Dniester, one of the great rivers that
discharge themselves into that sea, they constructed a fleet
of two thousand, or even of six thousand vessels ; (11)
numbers, which, however incredible they may seem, would have
been insufficient to transport their pretended army of three
hundred and twenty thousand barbarians. Whatever might be
the real strength of the Goths, the vigour and success of
the expedition were not adequate to the greatness of the
preparations. In their passage through the Bosphorus the
unskilful pilots were overpowered by the violence of the
current; and while the multitude of their ships w ere
crowded in a narrow channel, many were dashed against each
other or against the shore The barbarians made several
descents on the coasts both of Europe and Asia; but the open
country was already plundered, and they were repulsed with
shame and loss from the fortified cities which they
assaulted. A spirit of discouragement and division arose in
the fleet, and some of their chiefs sailed away towards the
islands of Crete and Cyprus; but the main body, pursuing a
more steady course, anchored at length near the foot of
Mount Athos, and assaulted the city of Thessalonica, the
wealthy capital of all the Macedonian provinces. Their
attacks, in which they displayed a fierce but artless
bravery, were soon interrupted by the rapid approach of
Claudius, hastening to a scene of action that deserved the
presence of a warlike prince at the head of the remaining
powers of the empire. Impatient for battle, the Goths
immediately broke up their camp, relinquished the siege of
Thessalonica, left their navy at the foot of Mount Athos,
traversed the hills of Macedonia, and pressed forwards to
engage he last defence of Italy.
Distress and firmness of Claudius
We still possess an original letter addressed by Claudius to the senate and people on this memorable occasion.
"Conscript fathers," says he emperor, "know that three hundred and seventy thousand Goths have invaded the Roman territory. If I vanquish them, your gratitude will reward my services. Should I fall, remember that I am the successor of Gallienus. The whole republic is fatigued and exhausted. We shall fight after Valerian, after Ingenuus, Regillianus, Lollianus, Posthumus, Celsus, and a thousand others, whom a just contempt for Gallienus provoked into rebellion. We are in want of darts, of spears, and of shields. The strength of the empire, Gaul, and Spain, are usurped by Tetricus; and we blush to acknowledge that the archers of the East serve under the banners of Zenobia. Whatever we shall perform will be sufficiently great." (12)
The melancholy firmness of this epistle announces a hero careless of his fate, conscious of his danger, but till deriving a well-grounded hope from the resources of his own mind.
His victory over the Goths
The event surpassed his own expectations and those of the
world. By the most signal victories he delivered the empire
from this host of barbarians, and was distinguished by
posterity under the glorious appellation of the Gothic
Claudius. The imperfect historians of an irregular war (13) do
not enable us to describe the order and circumstances of his
exploits; but, if we could be indulged in the allusion, we
might distribute into three acts this memorable tragedy. I
The decisive battle was fought near Naissus, a city of
Dardania. The legions at first gave way, oppressed by
numbers and dismayed by misfortunes. Their ruin was
inevitable, had not the abilities of their emperor prepared
a seasonable relief. A large detachment, rising out of the
secret and difficult passes of the mountains, which by his
order they had occupied, suddenly assailed the rear of the
victorious Goths. The favourable instant was improved by the
activity of Claudius. He revived the courage of his troops,
restored their ranks, and pressed the barbarians on every
side. Fifty thousand men are reported to have been slain in
the battle of Naissus. Several large bodies of barbarians,
covering their retreat with a movable fortification of
wagons, retired, or rather escaped, from the field of
slaughter. II. We may presume that some insurmountable
difficulty - the fatigue, perhaps, or the disobedience of
the conquerors - prevented Claudius from completing in one
day the destruction of the Goths. The war was diffused over
the provinces of Maesia, Thrace, and Macedonia, and its
operations drawn out into a variety of marches, surprises,
and tumultuary engagements, as well by sea as by land. When
the Romans suffered any loss, it was commonly occasioned by
their own cowardice or rashness; but the superior talents of
the emperor, his perfect knowledge of the country, and his
judicious. choice of measures as well as officers, assured
on most occasions the success of his arms. The immense
booty, the fruit of so many victories, consisted for the
greater part of cattle and slaves. A select body of the
Gothic youth was received among the Imperial troops; the
remainder was sold into servitude; and so considerable was
the number of female captives that every soldier obtained as
his share two or three women. A circumstance from which we
may conclude that the invaders entertained some designs of
settlement as well as of plunder; since even in a naval
expedition they were accompanied by their families. III. The
loss of their fleet, which was either taken or sunk, had
intercepted the retreat of the Goths. A vast circle of Roman
posts, distributed with skill, supported with firmness, and
gradually closing towards a common centre, forced the
barbarians into the most inaccessible parts of Mount Haemus,
where they found a safe refuge, but a very scanty
subsistence. During the course of a rigorous winter, in
which they were besieged by the emperor's troops, famine and
pestilence, desertion and the sword, continually diminished
the imprisoned multitude. On the return of spring nothing
appeared in arms except a hardy and desperate band, the
remnant of that mighty host which had embarked at the mouth
of the Dniester.
March. Death of the emperor, who recommends Aurelian for his successor
The pestilence which swept away such numbers of the
barbarians at length proved fatal to their conqueror. After
a short but glorious reign of two years, Claudius expired at
Sirmium, amidst the tears and acclamations of his subjects.
In his last illness he convened the principal officers of
the state and army, and in their presence recommended
Aurelian, (14) one of his generals, as the most deserving of
the throne, and the best qualified to execute the great
design which he himself had been permitted only to
undertake. The virtues of Claudius, his valour, affability,
justice, and temperance, his love of fame and of his
country, place him in that short list of emperors who added
lustre to the Roman purple. Those virtues, however, were
celebrated with peculiar zeal and complacency by the courtly
writers of the age of Constantine, who was the
great-grandson of Crispus, the elder brother of Claudius.
The voice of flattery was soon taught to repeat that the
gods, who so hastily had snatched Claudius from the earth,
rewarded his merit and piety by the perpetual establishment
of the empire in his family. (15)
The attempt and fall of Quintilius
Notwithstanding these oracles, the greatness of the Flavian
family (a name which it had pleased them to assume) was
deferred above twenty years, and the elevation of Claudius
occasioned the immediate ruin of his brother Quintilius, who
possessed not sufficient moderation or courage to descend
into the private station to which the patriotism of the late
emperor had condemned him. Without delay or reflection he
assumed the purple at Aquileia, where he commanded a
considerable force; and though his reign lasted only
seventeen days, he had time to obtain the sanction of the
senate and to experience a mutiny of the troops. As soon as
he was informed that the great army of the Danube had
invested the well known valour of Aurelian with Imperial
power, he sunk under the fame and merit of his rival; and,
ordering his veins to be opened, prudently withdrew himself
from the unequal contest. (16)
Origin and services of Aurelian
The general design of this work will not permit us minutely
to relate the actions of every emperor after he ascended the
throne, much less to deduce the various fortunes of his
private life. We shall only observe that the father of
Aurelian was a peasant of the territory of Sirmium, who
occupied a small farm, the property of Aurelius, a rich
senator. His warlike son enlisted in the troops as a common
soldier, successively rose to the rank of a centurion, a
tribune, the praefect of a legion, the inspector of the
camp, the general, or, as it was then called, the duke of a
frontier; and at length, during the Gothic war, exercised
the important office of commander-in-chief of the cavalry.
In every station he distinguished himself by matchless
valour, (17) rigid discipline, and successful conduct. He was
invested with the consulship by the emperor Valerian, who
styles him, in the pompous language of that age, the
deliverer of Illyricum, the restorer of Gaul, and the rival
of the Scipios. At the recommendation of Valerian, a senator
of the highest rank and merit, Ulpius Crinitus, whose blood
was derived from the same source as that of Trajan, adopted
the Pannonian peasant, gave him his daughter in marriage,
and relieved with his ample fortune the honourable poverty
which Aurelian had preserved inviolate. (18)
Aurelian's successful reign
The reign of Aurelian lasted only four years and about nine
months; but every instant of that short period was filled by
some memorable achievement. He put an end to the Gothic war,
chastised the Germans who invaded Italy, recovered Gaul,
Spain, and Britain out of the hands of Tetricus, and
destroyed the proud monarchy which Zenobia had erected in
the East on the ruins of the afflicted empire.
His severe discipline
It was the rigid attention of Aurelian even to the minutest
articles of discipline which bestowed such uninterrupted
success on his arms. His military regulations are contained
in a very concise epistle to one of his inferior officers,
who is commanded to enforce them, as he wishes to become a
tribune, or as he is desirous to live. Gaming, drinking, and
the arts of divination were severely prohibited. Aurelian
expected that his soldiers should be modest, frugal, and
laborious; that their armour should be constantly kept
bright, their weapons sharp, their clothing and horses ready
for immediate service; that they should live in their
quarters with chastity and sobriety, without damaging the
cornfields, without stealing even a sheep, a fowl, or a
bunch of grapes, without exacting from their landlords
either salt, or oil, or wood.
"The public allowance," continues the emperor, "is sufficient for their support; their wealth should be collected from the spoil of the enemy, not from the tears of the provincials." (19)
A single instance will serve to display the rigour, and even cruelty, of Aurelian. One of the soldiers had seduced the wife of his host. The guilty wretch was fastened to two trees forcibly drawn towards each other, and his limbs were torn asunder by their sudden separation. A few such examples impressed a salutary consternation. The punishments of Aurelian were terrible; but he had seldom occasion to punish more than once the same offence. His own conduct gave a sanction to his laws, and the seditious legions dreaded a chief who had learned to obey, and who was worthy to command.
He concludes a treaty with the Goths
The death of Claudius had revived the fainting spirit of the
Goths. The troops which guarded the passes of Mount Haemus
and the banks of the Danube had been drawn away by the
apprehension of a civil war; and it seems probable that the
remaining body of the Gothic and Vandalic tribes embraced
the favourable opportunity, abandoned their settlements of
the Ukraine, traversed the rivers, and swelled with new
multitudes the destroying host of their countrymen. Their
united numbers were at length encountered by Aurelian, and
the bloody and doubtful conflict ended only with the
approach of night. (20) Exhausted by so many calamities, which
they had mutually endured and inflicted during a twenty
years' war, the Goths and the Romans consented to a lasting
and beneficial treaty. It was earnestly solicited by the
barbarians, and cheerfully ratified by the legions, to whose
suffrage the prudence of Aurelian referred the decision of
that important question. The Gothic nation engaged to supply
the armies of Rome with a body of two thousand auxiliaries,
consisting entirely of cavalry, and stipulated in return an
undisturbed retreat, with a regular market as far as the
Danube, provided by the emperor's care, but at their own
expense. The treaty was observed with such religious
fidelity that, when a party of five hundred men straggled
from the camp in quest of plunder, the king or general of
the barbarians commanded that the guilty leader should be
apprehended and shot to death with darts, as a victim
devoted to the sanctity of their engagements. It is,
however, not unlikely that the precaution of Aurelian, who
had exacted as hostages the sons and daughters of the Gothic
chiefs, contributed something to this pacific temper. The
youths he trained in the exercise of arms, and near his own
person; to the damsels he gave a liberal and Roman
education, and, by bestowing them in marriage on some of his
principal officers, gradually introduced between the two
nations the closest and most endearing connections. (21)
and resigns to them the province of Dacia
But the most important condition of peace was understood
rather than expressed in the treaty Aurelian withdrew the
Roman forces from Dacia, and tacitly relinquished that great
province to the Goths and Vandals. (22) His manly judgment
convinced him of the solid advantages and taught him to
despise the seeming disgrace of thus contracting the
frontiers of the monarchy. The Dacian subjects, removed from
those distant possessions which they were unable to
cultivate or defend, added strength and populousness to the
southern side of the Danube. A fertile territory, which the
repetition of barbarous inroads had changed into a desert,
was yielded to their industry, and a new province of Dacia
still preserved the memory of Trajan's conquests. The old
country of that name detained, however, a considerable
number of its inhabitants, who dreaded exile more than a
Gothic master. (23) These degenerate Romans continued to serve
the empire, whose allegiance they had renounced, by
introducing among their conquerors the first notions of
agriculture, the useful arts, and the conveniences of
civilised life. An intercourse of commerce and language was
gradually established between the opposite banks of the
Danube; and, after Dacia became an independent state, it
often proved the firmest barrier of the empire against the
invasions of the savages of the North. A sense of interest
attached these more settled barbarians to the alliance of
Rome, and a permanent interest very frequently ripens into
sincere and useful friendship. This various colony, which
filled the ancient province, and was insensibly blended into
one great people, still acknowledged the superior renown and
authority of the Gothic tribe, and claimed the fancied
honour of a Scandinavian origin. At the same time the lucky,
though accidental, resemblance of the name of Getae infused
among the credulous Goths a vain persuasion that, in a
remote age, their own ancestors, already seated in the
Dacian provinces, had received the instructions of Zamolxis,
and checked the victorious arms of Sesostris and Darius. (24)
The Alemannic war
While the vigorous and moderate conduct of Aurelian restored
the Illyrian frontier, the nation of the Alemanni (25)
violated the conditions of peace which either Gallienus had
purchased, or Claudius had imposed, and, inflamed by their
impatient youth, suddenly flew to arms. Forty thousand
horses appeared in the field, (26) and the numbers of the
infantry doubled those of the cavalry. (27) The first objects
of their avarice were a few cities of the Rhaetian frontier;
but their hopes soon rising with success, the rapid march of
the Alemanni traced a line of devastation from the Danube to
the Po. (28)
The emperor was almost at the same time informed of the irruption, and of the retreat, of the barbarians. Collecting an active body of troops, he marched with silence and celerity along the skirts of the Hercynian forest; and the Alemanni, laden with the spoils of Italy, arrived at the Danube, without suspecting that , the opposite bank, and in an advantageous post, a Roman army lay concealed and prepared to intercept their return. Aurelian indulged the fatal security of the barbarians, and permitted about half their forces to pass the river without disturbance and without precaution. Their situation and astonishment gave him an easy victory; his skilful conduct improved the advantage. Disposing the legions in a semicircular form, he advanced the two horns of the crescent across the Danube, and, wheeling them on a sudden towards the centre, enclosed the rear of the German host. The dismayed barbarians, on whatsoever side they cast their eyes, beheld with despair a wasted country, a deep and rapid stream, a victorious and implacable enemy.
Reduced to this distressed condition, the Alemanni no longer disdained to sue for peace. Aurelian received their ambassadors at the head of his camp, and with every circumstance of martial pomp that could display the greatness and discipline of Rome. The legions stood to their arms in well ordered ranks and awful silence. The principal commanders, distinguished by the ensigns of their rank, appeared on horseback on either side of the Imperial throne. Behind the throne the consecrated images of the emperor and his predecessors, (29) the golden eagles, and the various titles of the legions, engraved in letters of gold, were exalted in the air on lofty pikes covered with silver. When Aurelian assumed his seat, his manly grace and majestic figure (30) taught the barbarians to revere the person as well as the purple of their conqueror. The ambassadors fell prostrate on the ground in silence. They were commanded to rise, and permitted to speak. By the assistance of interpreters they extenuated their perfidy, magnified their exploits, expatiated on the vicissitudes of fortune and the advantages of peace, and, with an ill-timed confidence, demanded a large subsidy as the price of the alliance which they offered to the Romans. The answer of the emperor was stern and imperious. He treated their offer with contempt, and their demand with indignation; reproached the barbarians that they were as ignorant of the arts of war as of the laws of peace; and finally dismissed them with the choice only of submitting to his unconditioned mercy, or awaiting the utmost severity of his resentment. (31) Aurelian had resigned a distant province to the Goths; but it was dangerous to trust or to pardon these perfidious barbarians, whose formidable power kept Italy itself in perpetual alarms.
The Alemanni invade Italy
Immediately after this conference it should seem that some
unexpected emergency required the emperor's presence in
Pannonia. He devolved on his lieutenants the care of
finishing the destruction of the Alemanni, either by the
sword, or by the surer operation of famine. But an active
despair has often triumphed over the indolent assurance of
success. The barbarians, finding it impossible to traverse
the Danube and the Roman camp, broke through the posts in
their rear, which were more feebly or less carefully
guarded; and with incredible diligence, but by a different
road, returned towards the mountains of Italy. (32) Aurelian,
who considered the war as totally extinguished, received the
mortifying intelligence of the escape of the Alemanni, and
of the ravage which they already committed in the territory
of Milan. The legions were commanded to follow, with as much
expedition as those heavy bodies were capable of exerting,
the rapid flight of an enemy, whose infantry and cavalry
moved with almost equal swiftness. A few days afterwards the
emperor himself marched to the relief of Italy, at the head
of a chosen body of auxiliaries (among whom were the
hostages and cavalry of the Vandals), and of all the
Praetorian guards who had served in the wars on the Danube.
(33)
and are at last vanquished by Aurelian
As the light troops of the Alemanni had spread themselves
from the Alps to the Apennine, the incessant vigilance of
Aurelian and his officers was exercised in the discovery,
the attack, and the pursuit of the numerous detachments.
Notwithstanding this desultory war, three considerable
battles are mentioned, in which the principal force of both
armies was obstinately engaged. (34) The success was various.
In the first, fought near Placentia, the Romans received so
severe a blow that, according to the expression of a writer
extremely partial to Aurelian, the immediate dissolution of
the empire was apprehended. (35) The crafty barbarians, who
had lined the woods, suddenly attacked the legions in the
dusk of the evening, and, it is most probable, after the
fatigue and disorder of a long march. The fury of their
charge was irresistible; but at length, after a dreadful
slaughter, the patient firmness of the emperor rallied his
troops, and restored, in some degree, the honour of his
arms. The second battle was fought near Fano in Umbria; on
the spot which, five hundred years before, had been fatal to
the brother of Hannibal. (36) Thus far the successful Germans
had advanced along the Aemilian and Flaminian way, with a
design of sacking the defenceless mistress of the world. But
Aurelian, who, watchful for the safety of Rome, still hung
on their rear, found in this place the decisive moment of
giving them a total and irretrievable defeat. (37) The flying
remnant of their host was exterminated in a third and last
battle near Pavia; and Italy was delivered from the inroads
of the Alemanni.
Superstitious ceremonies
Fear has been the original parent of superstition and every
new calamity urges trembling mortals to deprecate the wrath
of their invisible enemies. Though the best hope of the
republic was in the valour and conduct of Aurelian, yet such
was the public consternation, when the barbarians were
hourly expected at the gates of Rome, that, by a decree of
the senate, the Sibylline books were consulted. Even the
emperor himself, from a motive either of religion or of
policy, recommended this salutary measure, chided the
tardiness of the senate, (38) and offered to supply whatever
expense, whatever animals, whatever captives of any nation,
the gods should require. Notwithstanding this liberal offer,
it does not appear that any human victims expiated with
their blood the sins of the Roman people. The Sibylline
books enjoined ceremonies of a more harmless nature -
processions of priests in white robes, attended by a chorus
of youths and virgins; lustrations of the city and adjacent
country; and sacrifices, whose powerful influence disabled
the barbarians from passing the mystic ground on which they
had been celebrated. However puerile in themselves, these
superstitious arts were subservient to the success of the
war; and if, in the decisive battle of Fano, the Alemanni
fancied they saw an army of spectres combating on the side
of Aurelian, he received a real and effectual aid from this
imaginary reinforcement. (39)
Fortifications of Rome
But whatever confidence might be placed in ideal ramparts,
the experience of the past, and the dread of the future,
induced the Romans to Construct fortifications of a grosser
and more substantial kind. The seven hills of Rome had been
surrounded, by the successors of Romulus, with an ancient
wall of more than thirteen miles. (40) The vast enclosure may
seem disproportioned to the strength and numbers of the
infant state. But it was necessary to secure an ample extent
of pasture and arable land against the frequent and sudden
incursions of the tribes of Latium, the perpetual enemies of
the republic. With the progress of Roman greatness, the city
and its inhabitants gradually increased, filled up the
vacant space, pierced through the useless walls, covered the
field of Mars, and, on every side, followed the public
highways in long and beautiful suburbs. (41) The extent of the
new walls, erected by Aurelian, and finished in the reign of
Probus, was magnified by popular estimation to near fifty,
(42) but is reduced by accurate measurement to about
twenty-one miles. (43) It was a great but a melancholy labour,
since the defence of the capital betrayed the decline of the
monarchy. The Romans of a more prosperous age, who trusted
to the arms of the legions the safety of the frontier camps,
(44) were very far from entertaining a suspicion that it would
ever become necessary to fortify the seal of empire against
the inroads of the barbarians. (45)
Aurelian supresses the two usurpers
The victory of Claudius over the Goths, and the success of
Aurelian against the Alemanni, had already restored to the
arms of Rome their ancient superiority over the barbarous
nations of the North. To chastise domestic tyrants, and to
reunite the dismembered parts of the empire, was a task
reserved for the second of those warlike emperors. Though he
was acknowledged by the senate and people, the frontiers of
Italy, Africa, Illyricum, and Thrace, confined the limits of
his reign. Gaul, Spain, and Britain, Egypt, Syria, and Asia
Minor, were still possessed by two rebels, who alone, out of
so numerous a list, had hitherto escaped the dangers of
their situation; and to complete the ignominy of Rome, these
rival thrones had been usurped by women.
Succession of usurpers in Gaul
A rapid succession of monarchs had arisen and fallen in the
provinces of Gaul. The rigid virtues of Posthumus served
only to hasten his destruction. After suppressing a
competitor who had assumed the purple at Mentz, he refused
to gratify his troops with the plunder of the rebellious
city; and, in the seventh year of his reign, became the
victim of their disappointed avarice. (46) The death of
Victorinus, his friend and associate, was occasioned by a
less worthy cause. The shining accomplishments (47) of that
prince were stained by a licentious passion, which he
indulged in acts of violence, with too little regard to the
laws of society, or even to those of love. (48) He was slain
at Cologne, by a conspiracy of jealous husbands, whose
revenge would have appeared more justifiable had they spared
the innocence of his son. After the murder of so many
valiant princes, it is somewhat remarkable that a female for
a long time controlled the fierce legions of Gaul, and still
more singular that she was the mother of the unfortunate
Victorinus. The arts and treasures of Victoria enabled her
successively to place Marius and Tetricus on the throne, and
to reign with a manly vigour under the name of those
dependent emperors. Money of copper, of silver, and of gold,
was coined in her name; she assumed the titles of Augusta
and Mother of the Camps: her power ended only with her life;
but her life was perhaps shortened by the ingratitude of
Tetricus. (49)
The reign and defeat of Tetricus
When, at the instigation of his ambitious patroness,
Tetricus assumed the ensigns of royalty, he was governor of
the peaceful province of Aquitaine, an employment suited to
his character and education. He reigned four or five years
over Gaul, Spain, and Britain, the slave and sovereign of a
licentious army, whom he dreaded, and by whom he was
despised. The valour and fortune of Aurelian at length
opened the prospect of a deliverance. He ventured to
disclose his melancholy situation, and conjured the emperor
to hasten to the relief of his unhappy rival. Had this
secret correspondence reached the ears of the soldiers, it
would most probably have cost Tetricus his life; nor could
he resign the sceptre of the West without committing an act
of treason against himself. He affected the appearances of a
civil war, led his forces into the field against Aurelian,
posted them in the most disadvantageous manner, betrayed his
own counsels to the enemy, and with a few chosen friends
deserted in the beginning of the action. The rebel legions,
though disordered and dismayed by the unexpected treachery
of their chief, defended themselves with desperate valour,
till they were cut in pieces almost to a man, in this bloody
and memorable battle, which was fought near Chalons in
Champagne. (50) The retreat of the irregular auxiliaries,
Franks and Batavians, (51) whom the conqueror soon compelled
or persuaded to repass the Rhine, restored the general
tranquillity, and the power of Aurelian was acknowledged
from the wall of Antoninus to the Columns of Hercules.
As early as the reign of Claudius the city of Autun, alone and unassisted, had ventured to declare against the legions of Gaul. After a siege of seven months they stormed and plundered that unfortunate city, already wasted by famine. (52) Lyons, on the contrary, had resisted with obstinate disaffection the arms of Aurelian. We read of the punishment of Lyons, (53) but there is not any mention of the rewards of Autun. Such, indeed, is the policy of civil war: severely to remember injuries, and to forget the most important services. Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.
Character of Zenobia
Aurelian had no sooner secured the person and provinces of
Tetricus than he turned his arms against Zenobia, the
celebrated queen of Palmyra and the East. Modern Europe has
produced several illustrious women who have sustained with
glory the weight of empire; nor is our own age destitute of
such distinguished characters. But if we except the doubtful
achievements of Semiramis, Zenobia is perhaps the only
female whose superior genius broke through the servile
indolence imposed on her sex by the climate and manners of
Asia. (54) her beauty and learning She claimed her descent from the Macedonian kings of Egypt, equalled in beauty her ancestor Cleopatra, and far surpassed that princess in chastity (55) and valour. Zenobia was esteemed the most lovely as well as the most heroic of her sex. She was of a dark complexion (for in speaking of a lady these trifles become important). Her teeth were of a pearly whiteness, and her large black eyes sparkled with
uncommon fire, tempered by the most attractive sweetness. Her voice was strong and harmonious. Her manly understanding was strengthened and adorned by study. She was not ignorant of the Latin tongue, but possesed in equal perfection the Greek, the Syriac, and the Egyptian languages. She had drawn
up for her own use an epitome of oriental history, and familiarly compared the beauties of Homer and Plato under the tuition of the sublime Longinus.
her valour
This accomplished woman gave her hand to Odenathus, who,
from a private station, raised himself to the dominion of
the East. She soon became the friend and companion of a
hero. In the intervals of war Odenathus passionately
delighted in the exercise of hunting; he pursued with ardour
the wild beasts of the desert, lions, panthers, and bears;
and the ardour of Zenobia in that dangerous amusement was
not inferior to his own. She had inured her constitution to
fatigue, disdained the use of a covered carriage, generally
appeared on horseback in a military habit, and sometimes
marched several miles on foot at the head of the troops. The
success of Odenathus was in a great measure ascribed to her
incomparable prudence and fortitude. Their splendid
victories over the Great King, whom they twice pursued as
far as the gates of Ctesiphon, laid the foundations of their
united fame and power. The armies which they commanded, and
the provinces which they had saved, acknowledged not any
other sovereigns than their invincible chiefs. The senate
and people of Rome revered a stranger who had avenged their
captive emperor, and even the insensible son of Valerian
accepted Odenathus for his legitimate colleague.
She revenges her husband's death
After a successful expedition against the Gothic plunderers
of Asia, the Palmyrenian prince returned to the city of
Emesian Syria. Invincible in war, he was there cut off by
domestic treason and his favourite amusement of hunting was
the cause, or at least the occasion, of his death. (56) His
nephew, Maeonius, presumed to dart his javelin before that
of his uncle, and, though admonished of his error, repeated
the same insolence. As a monarch, and as a sportsman,
Odenathus was provoked, took away his horse, a mark of
ignominy among the barbarians, and chastised the rash youth
by a short confinement. The offence was soon forgot, but the
punishment was remembered; and Maeonius, with a few daring
associates, assassinated his uncle in the midst of a great
entertainment. Herod, the son of Odenathus, though not of
Zenobia, a young man of a soft and effeminate temper, (57) was
killed with his father. But Maeonius obtained only the
pleasure of revenge by this bloody deed. He had scarcely
time to assume the title of Augustus before he was
sacrificed by Zenobia to the memory of her husband. (58)
and reigns over the East and Egypt
With the assistance of his most faithful friends, she
immediately filled the vacant throne, and governed with
manly counsels Palmyra, Syria, and the East, above five
years. By the death of Odenathus, that authority was at an
end which the senate had granted him only as a personal
distinction; but his martial widow, disdaining both the
senate and Gallienus, obliged one of the Roman generals who
was sent against her to retreat into Europe, with the loss
of his army and his reputation. (59) Instead of the little
passions which so frequently perplex a female reign, the
steady administration of Zenobia was guided by the most
judicious maxims of policy. If it was expedient to pardon,
she could calm her resentment; if it was necessary to
punish, she could impose silence on the voice of pity. Her
strict economy was accused of avarice; yet on every proper
occasion she appeared magnificent and liberal. The
neighbouring states of Arabia, Armenia, and Persia, dreaded
her enmity, and solicited her alliance. To the dominions of
Odenathus, which extended from the Euphrates to the
frontiers of Bithynia, his widow added the inheritance of
her ancestors, the populous and fertile kingdom of Egypt. (60)
The emperor Claudius acknowledged her merit, and was content
that, while he pursued the Gothic war, she should assert the
dignity of the empire in the East. The conduct, however, of
Zenobia vas attended with some ambiguity, nor is it unlikely
that she had conceived the design of erecting an independent
and hostile monarchy. She blended with the popular manners
of Roman princes the stately pomp of the courts of Asia, and
exacted from her subjects the same adoration that was paid
to the successors of Cyrus. She bestowed on her three sons
(61) a Latin education, and often showed them to the troops
adorned with the Imperial purple. For herself she reserved
the diadem, with the splendid but doubtful title of Queen of
the East.
The expedition of Aurelian
When Aurelian passed over into Asia, against an adversary
whose sex alone could render her an object of contempt, his
presence restored obedience to the province of Bithynia,
already shaken by the arms and intrigues of Zenobia. (62)
Advancing at the head of his legions, he accepted the
submission of Ancyra, and was admitted into Tyana, after an
obstinate siege, by the help of a perfidious citizen. The
generous though fierce temper of Aurelian abandoned the
traitor to the rage of the soldiers: a superstitious
reverence induced him to treat with lenity the countrymen of
Apollonius the philosopher. (63) Antioch was deserted on his
approach, till the emperor, by his salutary edicts, recalled
the fugitives, and granted a general pardon to all who, from
necessity rather than choice, had been engaged in the
service of the Palmyrenian queen. The unexpected mildness of
such a conduct reconciled the minds of the Syrians, and, as
far as the gates of Emesa, the wishes of the people seconded
the terror of his arms. (64)
The emperor defeats the Palmyrenians in the battles of Antioch and Emesa
Zenobia would have ill deserved her reputation had she
indolently permitted the emperor of the West to approach
within an hundred miles of her capital. The fate of the East
was decided in two great battles; so similar in almost every
circumstance, that we can scarcely distinguish them from
each other, except by observing that the first was fought
near Antioch, (65) and the second near Emesa. (66) In both the
queen of Palmyra animated the armies by her presence, and
devolved the execution of her orders on Zabdas, who had
already signalised his military talents by the conquest of
Egypt. The numerous forces of Zenobia consisted for the most
part of light archers, and of heavy cavalry clothed in
complete steel. The Moorish and Illyrian horse of Aurelian
were unable to sustain the ponderous charge of their
antagonists. They fled in real or affected disorder, engaged
the Palmyrenians in a laborious pursuit, harassed them by a
desultory combat, and at length discomfited this
impenetrable but unwieldy body of cavalry. The light
infantry, in the meantime, when they had exhausted their
quivers, remaining without protection against a closer
onset, exposed their naked sides to the swords of the
legions. Aurelian had chosen these veteran troops who were
usually stationed on the Upper Danube, and whose valour had
been severely tried in the Alemannic war. (67) After the
defeat of Emesa, Zenobia found it impossible to collect a
third army. As far as the frontier of Egypt, the nations
subject to her empire had joined the standard of the
conqueror, who detached Probus, the bravest of his generals,
to possess himself of the Egyptian provinces. Palmyra was
the last resource of the widow of Odenathus. She retired
within the walls of her capital, made every preparation for
a vigorous resistance, and declared, with the intrepidity of
a heroine, that the last moment of her reign and of her life
should be the same.
The state of Palmyra
Amid the barren deserts of Arabia a few cultivated spots
rise like islands out of the sandy ocean. Even the name of
Tadmor, or Palmyra, by its signification in the Syriac as
well as in the Latin language, denoted the multitude of
palm-trees which afforded shade and verdure to that
temperate region. The air was pure, and the soil, watered by
some invaluable springs, was capable of producing fruits as
well as corn. A place possessed of such singular advantages,
and situated at a convenient distance (68) between the Gulf of
Persia and the Mediterranean, was soon frequented by the
caravans which conveyed to the nations of Europe a
considerable part of the rich commodities of India. Palmyra
insensibly increased into an opulent and independent city,
and, connecting the Roman and the Parthian monarchies by the
mutual benefits of commerce, was suffered to observe an
humble neutrality, till at length, after the victories of
Trajan, the little republic sunk into the bosom of Rome, and
flourished more than one hundred and fifty years in the
subordinate though honourable rank of a colony. It was
during that peaceful period, if we may judge from a few
remaining inscriptions, that the wealthy Palmyrenians
constructed those temples, palaces, and porticos of Grecian
architecture, whose ruins, scattered over an extent of
several miles, have deserved the curiosity of our
travellers. The elevation of Odenathus and Zenobia appeared
to reflect new splendour on their country, and Palmyra, for
a while, stood forth the rival of Rome; but the competition
was fatal, and ages of prosperity were sacrificed to a
moment of glory. (69)
It is besieged by Aurelian
In his march over the sandy desert between Emesa and
Palmyra, the emperor Aurelian was perpetually harassed by
the Arabs; nor could he always defend his army, and
especially his baggage, from those flying troops of active
and daring robbers, who watched the moment of surprise, and
eluded the slow pursuit of the legions. The siege of Palmyra
was an object far more difficult and important, and the
emperor who, with incessant vigour, pressed the attacks in
person, was himself wounded with a dart.
"The Roman people," says Aurelian, in an original letter, "speak with contempt of the war which I am waging against a woman. They are ignorant both of the character and of the power of Zenobia. It is impossible to enumerate her warlike preparations, of stones, of arrows, and of every species of missile weapons. Every part of the walls is provided with two or three balistez, and artificial fires are thrown from her military engines. The fear of punishment has armed her with a desperate courage. Yet still I trust in the protecting deities of Rome, who have hitherto been favourable to all my undertakings." (70)
Doubtful, however, of the protection of the gods, and of the event of the siege, Aurelian judged it more prudent to offer terms of an advantageous capitulation; to the queen, a splendid retreat; to the citizens, their ancient privileges. His proposals were obstinately rejected, and the refusal was accompanied with insult.
who becomes master of Zenobia and of the city
The firmness of Zenobia was supported by the hope that in a
very short time famine would compel the Roman army to repass
the desert; and by the reasonable expectation that the kings
of the East, and particularly the Persian monarch, would arm
in the defence of their most natural ally. But fortune and
the perseverance of Aurelian overcame every obstacle. The
death of Sapor, which happened about this time, (71)
distracted the councils of Persia, and the inconsiderable
succours that attempted to relieve Palmyra were easily
intercepted either by the arms or the liberality of the
emperor. From every part of Syria a regular succession of
convoys safely arrived in the camp, which was increased by
the return of Probus with his victorious troops from the
conquest of Egypt. It was then that Zenobia resolved to fly.
She mounted the fleetest of her dromedaries, (72) and had
already reached the banks of the Euphrates about sixty miles
from Palmyra, when she was overtaken by the pursuit of
Aurelian's light horse, seized and brought back a captive to
the feet of the emperor. Her capital soon afterward
surrendered, and was treated with unexpected lenity. The
arms, horses, and camels, with a immense treasure of gold,
silver, silk, and precious stones, were all delivered to the
conqueror, who, leaving only a garrison of six hundred
archers returned to Emesa, and employed some time in the
distribution of rewards and punishments at the end of so
memorable a war, which restored to the obedience of Rome
those provinces that had renounced their allegiance since
the captivity of Valerian.
Behaviour of Zenobia
When the Syrian queen was brought into the presence of
Aurelian, he sternly asked her, how she had presumed to rise
in arms against the emperors of Rome? The answer of Zenobia
was a prudent mixture of respect and firmness.
"Because I disdained to consider as Roman emperors an Aureolus or a Gallienus. You alone I acknowledge as my conqueror and my sovereign." (73)
But as female fortitude is commonly artificial, so it is seldom steady or consistent. The courage of Zenobia deserted her in the hour of trial; she trembled at the angry clamours of the soldiers, who called aloud for her immediate execution, forgot the generous despair of Cleopatra, which she had proposed as her model, and ignominiously purchased life by the sacrifice of her fame and her friends. It was to their counsels, which governed the weakness of her sex, that she imputed the guilt of her obstinate resistance; it was on their heads that she directed the vengeance of the cruel Aurelian. The fame of Longinus, who was included among the numerous and perhaps innocent victims of her fear, will survive that of the queen who betrayed, or the tyrant who condemned him. Genius and learning were incapable of moving a fierce unlettered soldier, but they had served to elevate and harmonise the soul of Longinus. Without uttering a complaint, he calmly followed the executioner, pitying his unhappy mistress, and bestowing comfort on his afflicted friends. (74)
Rebellion and ruin of Palmyra
Returning from the conquest of the East, Aurelian had
already crossed the Straits which divide Europe from Asia,
when he was provoked by the intelligence that the
Palmyrenians had massacred the governor and garrison which
he had left among them, and again erected the standard of
revolt. Without a moment's deliberation he once more turned
his face towards Syria. Antioch was alarmed by his rapid
approach and the helpless city of Palmyra felt the
irresistible weight of his resentment. We have a letter of
Aurelian himself, in which he acknowledges (75) that old men,
women, children, and peasants had been involved in that
dreadful executions which should have been confined to armed
rebellion; and although his principal concern seems directed
to the re-establishment of a temple of the Sun, he discovers
some pity for the remnant of the Palmyrenians, to whom he
grants the permission of rebuilding and inhabiting their
city. But it is easier to destroy than to restore. The seat
of commerce, of arts, and of Zenobia, gradually sunk into an
obscure town, a trifling fortress, and at length a miserable
village. The present citizens of Palmyra, consisting of
thirty or forty families, have erected their mud-cottages
within the spacious court of a magnificent temple.
Aurelian supresses the rebellion of Firmus in Egypt
Another and a last labour still awaited the indefatigable
Aurelian; to suppress a dangerous though obscure rebel, who,
during the revolt of Palmyra, had arisen on the banks of the
Nile. Firmus, the friend and ally, as he proudly styled
himself, of Odenathus and Zenobia, was no more than a
wealthy merchant of Egypt. In the course of his trade to
India he had formed very intimate connections with the
Saracens and the Blemmyes, whose situation, on either coast
of the Red Sea, gave them an easy introduction into the
Upper Egypt. The Egyptians he inflamed with the hope of
freedom, and, at the head of their furious multitude, broken
into the city of Alexandria, where he assumed the Imperial
purple, coined money, published edicts, and raised an army,
which, as he vainly boasted, he was capable of maintaining
from the sole profits of his paper trade. Such troops were a
feeble defence against the approach of Aurelian; and it
seems almost unnecessary to relate that Firmus was routed,
taken, tortured, and put to death. (76) Aurelian might now
congratulate the senate, the people, and himself, that, in
little more than three years, he had restored universal
peace and order to the Roman world.
Triumph of Aurelian
Since the foundation of Rome no general had more nobly
deserved a triumph than Aurelian; nor was a triumph ever
celebrated with superior pride and magnificence. (77) The pomp
was opened by twenty elephants, four royal tigers, and above
two hundred of the most curious animals from every climate
of the North, the East, and the South. They were followed by
sixteen hundred gladiators, devoted to the cruel amusement
of the amphitheatre. The wealth of Asia, the arms and
ensigns of so many conquered nations, and the magnificent
plate and wardrobe of the Syrian queen, were disposed in
exact symmetry or artful disorder. The ambassadors of the
most remote parts of the earth, of Ethiopia, Arabia, Persia,
Bactriana, India, and China, all remarkable by their rich or
singular dresses, displayed the fame and power of the Roman
emperor, who exposed likewise to the public view the
presents that he had received, and particularly a great
number of crowns of gold, the offerings of grateful cities.
The victories of Aurelian were attested by the long train of
captives who reluctantly attended his triumph - Goths,
Vandals, Sarmatians, Alemanni, Franks, Gauls, Syrians, and
Egyptians. Each people was distinguished by its peculiar
inscription, and the title of Amazons was bestowed on ten
martial heroines of the Gothic nation who had been taken in
arms. (78) But every eye, disregarding the crowd of captives,
was fixed on the emperor Tetricus and the queen of the East.
The former, as well as his son, whom he had created
Augustus, was dressed in Gallic trousers, (79) a saffron
tunic, and a robe of purple. The beauteous figure of Zenobia
was confined by fetters of gold; a slave supported the gold
chain which encircled her neck, and she almost fainted under
the intolerable weight of jewels. She preceded on foot the
magnificent chariot in which she once hoped to enter the
gates of Rome. It was followed by two other chariots, still
more sumptuous, of Odenathus and of the Persian monarch. The
triumphal car of Aurelian (it had formerly been used by a
Gothic king) was drawn, on this memorable occasion, either
by four stags or by four elephants. (80) The most illustrious
of the senate, the people, and the army closed the solemn
procession. Unfeigned joy, wonder, and gratitude swelled the
acclamations of the multitude; but the satisfaction of the
senate was clouded by the appearance of Tetricus; nor could
they suppress a rising murmur that the haughty emperor
should thus expose to public ignominy the person of a Roman
and a magistrate. (81)
His treatment of Tetricus and Zenobia
But however, in the treatment of his unfortunate rivals
Aurelian might indulge his pride, he behaved towards them
with a generous clemency which was seldom exercised by the
ancient conquerors. Princes who, without success, had
defended their throne or freedom, were frequently strangled
in prison as soon as the triumphal pomp ascended the
Capitol. These usurpers, whom their defeat had convicted of
the crime of treason, were permitted to spend their lives in
affluence and honourable repose. The emperor presented
Zenobia with an elegant villa at Tibur or Tivoli, about
twenty miles from the capital; the Syrian queen insensibly
sunk into a Roman matron, her daughters married into noble
families, and her race was not yet extinct in the fifth
century. (82) Tetricus and his son were reinstated in their
rank and fortunes. They erected on the Caelian hill a
magnificent palace, and, as soon as it was finished, invited
Aurelian to supper. On his entrance he was agreeably
surprised with a picture which represented their singular
history. They were delineated offering to the emperor a
civic crown and the sceptre of Gaul, and again receiving at
his hands the ornaments of the senatorial dignity. The
father was afterwards invested with the government of
Lucania, (83) and Aurelian, who soon admitted the abdicated
monarch to his friendship and conversation, familiarly asked
him, Whether it were not more desirable to administer a
province of Italy than to reign beyond the Alps? The son
long continued a respectable member of the senate; nor was
there any one of the Roman nobility more esteemed by
Aurelian, as well as by his successors. (84)
His magnificence and devotion
So long and so various was the pomp of Aurelian's triumph,
that, although it opened with the dawn of day, the slow
majesty of the procession ascended not the Capitol before
the ninth hour; and it was already dark when the emperor
returned to the palace. The festival was protracted by
theatrical representations, the games of the circus, the
hunting of wild beasts, combats of gladiators, and naval
engagements. Liberal donatives were distributed to the army
and people, and several institutions, agreeable or
beneficial to the city, contributed to perpetuate the glory
of Aurelian. A considerable portion of his oriental spoils
was consecrated to the gods of Rome; the Capitol, and every
other temple, glittered with the offerings of his
ostentatious piety; and the temple of the Sun alone received
above fifteen thousand pounds of gold. (85) This last was a
magnificent structure, erected by the emperor on the side of
the Quirinal hill, and dedicated, soon after the triumph, to
that deity whom Aurelian adored as the parent of his life
and fortunes. His mother had been an inferior priestess in a
chapel of the Sun; a peculiar devotion to the god of Light
was a sentiment which the fortunate peasant imbibed in his
infancy; and every step of his elevation, every victory of
his reign, fortified superstition by gratitude. (86)
He supresses a sedition at Rome
The arms of Aurelian had vanquished the foreign and domestic
foes of the republic. We are assured that, by his salutary
rigour, crimes and factions, mischievous arts and pernicious
connivance, the luxuriant growth of a feeble and oppressive
government, were eradicated throughout the Roman world. (87)
But if we attentively reflect how much swifter is the
progress of corruption than its cure, and if we remember
that the years abandoned to public disorders exceeded the
months allotted to the martial reign of Aurelian, we must
confess that a few short intervals of peace were
insufficient for the arduous work of reformation. Even his
attempt to restore the integrity of the coin was opposed by
a formidable insurrection. The emperor's vexation breaks out
in one of his private letters:
"Surely," says he, "the gods have decreed that my life should be a perpetual warfare. A sedition within the walls has just now given birth to a very serious civil war. The workmen of the mint, at the instigation of Felicissimus, a slave to whom I had intrusted an employment in the finances, have risen in rebellion. They are at length suppressed; but seven thousand of my soldiers have been slain in the contest, of those troops whose ordinary station is in Dacia and the camps along the Danube." (88)
Other writers, who confirm the same fact, add likewise, that it happened soon after Aurelian's triumph; that the decisive engagement was fought on the Caelian hill; that the workmen of the mint had adulterated the coin; and that the emperor restored the public credit, by delivering out good money in exchange for the bad, which the people were commanded to bring into the treasury. (89)
Observations upon it
We might content ourselves with relating this extraordinary
transaction, but we cannot dissemble how much, in its
present form, it appears to us inconsistent and incredible.
The debasement of the coin is indeed well suited to the
administration of Gallienus; nor is it unlikely that the
instruments of the corruption might dread the inflexible
justice of Aurelian. But the guilt, as well as the profit,
must have been confined to a few; nor is it easy to conceive
by what arts they could arm a people whom they had injured
against a monarch whom they had betrayed. We might naturally
expect that such miscreants should have shared the public
detestation with the informers and the other ministers of
oppression; and that the reformation of the coin should have
been an action equally popular with the destruction of those
obsolete accounts which, by the emperor's order, were burnt
in the forum of Trajan. (90) In an age when the principles of
commerce were so imperfectly understood, the most desirable
end might perhaps be effected by harsh and injudicious
means; but a temporary grievance of such a nature can
scarcely excite and support a serious civil war. The
repetition of intolerable taxes, imposed either on the land
or on the necessaries of life, may at last provoke those who
will not, or who cannot, relinquish their country. But the
case is far otherwise in every operation which, by
whatsoever expedients, restores the just value of money. The
transient evil is soon obliterated by the permanent benefit,
the loss is divided among multitudes; and if a few wealthy
individuals experience a sensible diminution of treasure,
with their riches they at the same time lose the degree of
weight and importance which they derived from the possession
of them. However Aurelian might choose to disguise the real
cause of the insurrection, his reformation of the coin could
furnish only a faint pretence to a party already powerful
and discontented. Rome, though deprived of freedom, was
distracted by faction. The people, towards whom the emperor,
himself a plebeian, always expressed a peculiar fondness,
lived in perpetual dissension with the senate, the
equestrian order, and the Praetorian guards. (91) Nothing less
than the firm though secret conspiracy of those orders, of
the authority of the first, the wealth of the second, and
the arms of the third, could have displayed a strength
capable of contending in battle with the veteran legions of
the Danube, which, under the conduct of a martial sovereign,
had achieved the conquest of the West and of the East.
Cruelty of Aurelian
Whatever was the cause or the object of this rebellion,
imputed with so little probability to the workmen of the
mint, Aurelian used his victory with unrelenting rigour. (92)
He was naturally of a severe disposition. A peasant and a
soldier, his nerves yielded not easily to the impressions of
sympathy, and he could sustain without emotion the sight of
tortures and death. Trained from his earliest youth in the
exercise of arms, he set too small a value on the life of a
citizen, chastised by military execution the slightest
offences, and transferred the stern discipline of the camp
into the civil administration of the laws. His love of
justice often became a blind and furious passion; and,
whenever he deemed his own or the public safety endangered,
he disregarded the rules of evidence and the proportion of
punishments. The unprovoked rebellion with which the Romans
rewarded his services exasperated his haughty spirit. The
noblest families of the capital were involved in the guilt
or suspicion of this dark conspiracy. A hasty spirit of
revenge urged the bloody prosecution, and it proved fatal to
one of the nephews of the emperor. The executioners (if we
may use the expression of a contemporary poet) were
fatigued, the prisons were crowded, and the unhappy senate
lamented the death or absence of its most illustrious
members. (93) Nor was the pride of Aurelian less offensive to
that assembly than his cruelty. Ignorant or impatient of the
restraints of civil institutions, he disdained to hold his
power by any other title than that of the sword, and
governed by right of conquest an empire which he had saved
and subdued. (94)
He marches East and is assassinated
It was observed by one of the most sagacious of the Roman
princes, that the talents of his predecessor Aurelian were
better suited to the command of an army than to the
government of an empire. (95) Conscious of the character in which nature and experience had enabled him to excel, he
again took the field a few months after his triumph. It was
expedient to exercise the restless temper of the legions in
some foreign war, and the Persian monarch, exulting in the
shame of Valerian, still braved with impunity the offended
majesty of Rome. At the head of an army, less formidable by
its numbers than by its discipline and valour, the emperor
advanced as far as the Straits which divide Europe from
Asia. He there experienced that the most absolute power is a
weak defence against the effects of despair. He had
threatened one of his secretaries who was accused of
extortion, and it was known that he seldom threatened in
vain. The last hope which remained for the criminal was to
involve some of the principal officers of the army in his
danger, or at least in his fears. Artfully counterfeiting
his master's hand, he showed them, in a long and bloody
list, their own names devoted to death. Without suspecting
or examining the fraud, they resolved to secure their lives
by the murder of the emperor On his march, between Bysantium
and Heraclea, Aurelian was suddenly attacked by the
conspirators, whose stations gave them a right to surround
his person, and, after a short resistance fell by the hand
of Mucapor, a general whom he had always loved and trusted.
He died regretted by the army, detested by the senate, but
universally acknowledged as a warlike and fortunate prince,
the useful though severe reformer of a degenerate state. (96)