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Part III.
The
emperor Maximus, who had advanced as far as Ravenna, to secure that important place, and to hasten
the military preparations, beheld the event of the war in the more faithful mirror of reason and policy. He was too sensible, that a single
town could not resist the persevering efforts of a great army; and he dreaded, lest the enemy, tired with the obstinate resistance of
Aquileia, should on a sudden relinquish the fruitless siege, and march directly towards Rome. The fate of the empire and the cause of
freedom must then be committed to the chance of a battle; and what arms could he oppose to the veteran legions of the
Rhine and
Danube? Some troops newly levied among the
generous but enervated youth of Italy; and a body of German auxiliaries, on whose
firmness, in the hour of trial, it was dangerous to depend. In the midst of these just alarms, the stroke of domestic conspiracy
punished the crimes of
Maximin, and delivered Rome and the
senate from the calamities that would surely have attended the victory of
an enraged
barbarian.
The people of Aquileia had scarcely experienced any of the common miseries of a siege; their magazines were plentifully supplied, and
several fountains within the walls assured them of an inexhaustible resource of fresh water. The soldiers of
Maximin were, on the
contrary, exposed to the inclemency of the season, the contagion of disease, and the horrors of famine. The open country was ruined,
the rivers filled with the slain, and polluted with blood. A spirit of despair and disaffection began to diffuse itself among the troops; and
as they were cut off from all intelligence, they easily believed that the whole empire had embraced the cause of the
senate, and that
they were left as devoted victims to perish under the impregnable walls of Aquileia. The fierce temper of the
tyrant was exasperated by
disappointments, which he imputed to the cowardice of his army; and his wanton and ill-timed cruelty, instead of striking terror,
inspired hatred, and a just desire of revenge. A party of Praetorian guards, who trembled for their wives and children in the camp of
Alba, near Rome, executed the sentence of the
senate.
Maximin, abandoned by his guards, was slain in his tent, with his son, (whom he had associated to the honors of the purple,) Anulinus
the
Prefect, and the principal ministers of his tyranny.
36 The sight of their heads, borne on the point of spears, convinced the
citizens of Aquileia that the siege was at an end; the gates of the city were thrown open, a liberal market was provided for the hungry
troops of
Maximin, and the whole army joined in solemn protestations of fidelity to the
senate and the people of Rome, and to their
lawful
emperors
Maximus and Balbinus. Such was the deserved fate of a brutal
savage, destitute, as he has generally been represented,
of every sentiment that distinguishes a civilized, or even a human being. The body was suited to the soul. The stature of
Maximin
exceeded the measure of eight feet, and circumstances almost incredible are related of his matchless strength and appetite.
37 Had he
lived in a less enlightened age, tradition and poetry might well have described him as one of those monstrous giants, whose
supernatural power was constantly exerted for the destruction of mankind.
Footnote 36: Herodian, l. viii. p. 279. Hist. August. p. 146. The duration of Maximin's reign has not been defined with much
accuracy, except by Eutropius, who allows him three years and a few days, (l. ix. 1;) we may depend on the integrity of the text, as
the Latin original is checked by the Greek version of Paeanius.
Footnote 37: Eight Roman feet and one third, which are equal to above eight English feet, as the two measures are to each other in the proportion of 967 to 1000. See Graves's discourse on the Roman foot. We are told that Maximin could drink in a day an amphora (or
about seven gallons) of wine, and eat thirty or forty pounds of meat. He could move a loaded wagon, break a horse's leg with his fist,
crumble stones in his hand, and tear up small trees by the roots. See his life in the Augustan History.
It is easier to conceive than to describe the universal joy of the Roman world on the fall of the
tyrant, the news of which is said to have been carried in four days from Aquileia to Rome. The return of
Maximus was a triumphal procession; his colleague and young Gordian went out to meet him,
and the three
princes made their entry into the capital, attended by the ambassadors of almost all the cities of Italy, saluted with the
splendid offerings of gratitude and superstition, and received with the unfeigned acclamations of the
senate and people, who persuaded
themselves that a golden age would succeed to an age of iron.
38 The conduct of the two
emperors corresponded with these
expectations. They administered justice in person; and the rigor of the one was tempered by the other's clemency. The oppressive
taxes with which
Maximin had loaded the rights of inheritance and
succession, were repealed, or at least moderated. Discipline was
revived, and with the advice of the
senate many wise laws were enacted by their
Imperial ministers, who endeavored to restore a civil
constitution on the ruins of military tyranny. "What reward may we expect for delivering Rome from a monster?" was the question
asked by
Maximus, in a moment of freedom and confidence.
Balbinus answered it without hesitation - "The love of the
senate, of the people, and of all mankind." "Alas!" replied his more
penetrating colleague - "alas! I dread the hatred of the soldiers, and the fatal effects of their resentment."
39 His apprehensions were
but too well justified by the event.
Footnote 38: See the congratulatory letter of Claudius Julianus, the consul to the two emperors, in the Augustan History.
Footnote 39: Hist. August. p. 171.
Whilst
Maximus was preparing to defend Italy against the common foe, Balbinus, who remained at Rome, had been engaged in scenes
of blood and intestine discord. Distrust and jealousy reigned in the
senate; and even in the temples where they assembled, every
senator carried either open or concealed arms. In the midst of their deliberations, two veterans of the guards, actuated either by
curiosity or a sinister motive, audaciously thrust themselves into the house, and advanced by degrees beyond the altar of Victory.
Gallicanus, a consular, and Maecenas, a Praetorian senator, viewed with indignation their insolent intrusion: drawing their daggers,
they laid the spies (for such they deemed them) dead at the foot of the altar, and then, advancing to the door of the
senate, imprudently
exhorted the multitude to massacre the Praetorians, as the secret adherents of the
tyrant. Those who escaped the first fury of the
tumult took refuge in the camp, which they defended with superior advantage against the reiterated attacks of the people, assisted by
the numerous bands of gladiators, the property of opulent nobles. The
civil war lasted many days, with infinite loss and confusion on
both sides. When the pipes were broken that supplied the camp with water, the Praetorians were reduced to intolerable distress; but in
their turn they made desperate sallies into the city, set fire to a great number of houses, and filled the streets with the blood of the
inhabitants. The
emperor Balbinus attempted, by ineffectual edicts and precarious truces, to reconcile the factions at Rome. But their
animosity, though smothered for a while, burnt with redoubled violence. The soldiers, detesting the
senate and the people, despised the
weakness of a
prince, who wanted either the spirit or the power to command the obedience of his subjects.
40
Footnote 40: Herodian, l. viii. p. 258.
After the
tyrant's death, his formidable army had acknowledged, from necessity rather than from choice, the
authority of
Maximus,
who transported himself without delay to the camp before Aquileia. As soon as he had received their oath of fidelity, he addressed
them in terms full of mildness and moderation; lamented, rather than arraigned the wild disorders of the times, and assured the
soldiers, that of all their past conduct the
senate would remember only their
generous desertion of the
tyrant, and their voluntary return
to their duty.
Maximus enforced his exhortations by a liberal donative, purified the camp by a solemn sacrifice of expiation, and then
dismissed the legions to their several provinces, impressed, as he hoped, with a lively sense of gratitude and obedience.
41 But
nothing could reconcile the haughty spirit of the Praetorians. They attended the
emperors on the memorable day of their public entry
into Rome; but amidst the general acclamations, the sullen, dejected countenance of the guards sufficiently declared that they
considered themselves as the object, rather than the partners, of the triumph. When the whole body was united in their camp, those
who had served under
Maximin, and those who had remained at Rome, insensibly communicated to each other their complaints and
apprehensions. The
emperors chosen by the army had perished with ignominy; those elected by the
senate were seated on the throne.
42 The long discord between the civil and military powers was decided by a war, in which the former had obtained a complete
victory. The soldiers must now learn a new doctrine of submission to the
senate; and whatever clemency was affected by that politic
assembly, they dreaded a slow revenge, colored by the name of discipline, and justified by fair pretences of the public good. But their
fate was still in their own hands; and if they had courage to despise the vain terrors of an impotent republic, it was easy to convince
the world, that those who were masters of the arms, were masters of the
authority, of the state.
Footnote 41: Herodian, l. viii. p. 213.
Footnote 42: The observation had been made imprudently enough in the acclamations of the senate, and with regard to the soldiers it
carried the appearance of a wanton insult. Hist. August. p. 170.
When the
senate elected two
princes, it is probable that, besides the declared reason of providing for the various emergencies of peace
and war, they were actuated by the secret desire of weakening by division the
despotism of the supreme magistrate. Their policy was
effectual, but it proved fatal both to their
emperors and to themselves. The jealousy of power was soon exasperated by the difference
of character.
Maximus despised Balbinus as a luxurious noble, and was in his turn disdained by his colleague as an obscure soldier.
Their silent discord was understood rather than seen;
43 but the mutual consciousness prevented them from uniting in any vigorous
measures of defence against their common enemies of the Praetorian camp. The whole city was employed in the Capitoline games,
and the
emperors were left almost alone in the palace. On a sudden, they were alarmed by the approach of a troop of desperate
assassins. Ignorant of each other's situation or designs, (for they already occupied very distant apartments,) afraid to give or to receive
assistance, they wasted the important moments in idle debates and fruitless recriminations. The arrival of the guards put an end to the
vain strife. They seized on these
emperors of the
senate, for such they called them with malicious contempt, stripped them of their
garments, and dragged them in insolent triumph through the streets of Rome, with the design of inflicting a slow and cruel death on
these unfortunate
princes. The fear of a rescue from the faithful Germans of the
Imperial guards, shortened their tortures; and their
bodies, mangled with a thousand wounds, were left exposed to the insults or to the pity of the populace.
44
Footnote 43: Discordiae tacitae, et quae intelligerentur potius quam viderentur. Hist. August. p. 170. This well-chosen expression is
probably stolen from some better writer.
Footnote 44: Herodian, l. viii. p. 287, 288.
In the space of a few months, six
princes had been cut off by the sword. Gordian, who had already received the title of Caesar, was
the only person that occurred to the soldiers as proper to fill the vacant throne.
45 They carried him to the camp, and unanimously
saluted him Augustus and
emperor. His name was dear to the
senate and people; his tender age promised a long impunity of military
license; and the submission of Rome and the provinces to the choice of the Praetorian guards, saved the republic, at the expense
indeed of its freedom and dignity, from the horrors of a new
civil war in the heart of the capital.
46
Footnote 45: Quia non alius erat in praesenti, is the expression of the Augustan History.
Footnote 46: Quintus Curtius (l. x. c. 9,) pays an elegant compliment to the emperor of the day, for having, by his happy accession,
extinguished so many firebrands, sheathed so many swords, and put an end to the evils of a divided government. After weighing with
attention every word of the passage, I am of opinion, that it suits better with the elevation of Gordian, than with any other period of
the Roman history. In that case, it may serve to decide the age of Quintus Curtius. Those who place him under the first Caesars, argue
from the purity of his style but are embarrassed by the silence of Quintilian, in his accurate list of Roman historians.
As the third Gordian was only nineteen years of age at the time of his death, the
history of his life, were it known to us with greater accuracy than it really is, would contain little more than the account of his
education, and the conduct of the ministers, who by turns abused or guided the simplicity of his unexperienced youth. Immediately
after his accession, he fell into the hands of his mother's eunuchs, that pernicious vermin of the East, who, since the days of
Elagabalus, had infested the Roman palace. By the artful conspiracy of these wretches, an impenetrable veil was drawn between an
innocent
prince and his oppressed subjects, the virtuous disposition of Gordian was deceived, and the honors of the empire sold
without his knowledge, though in a very public manner, to the most worthless of mankind. We are ignorant by what fortunate
accident the
emperor escaped from this ignominious slavery, and devolved his confidence on a minister, whose wise counsels had no
object except the glory of his
sovereign and the happiness of the people. It should seem that love and learning introduced Misitheus to
the favor of Gordian. The young
prince married the daughter of his master of rhetoric, and promoted his father-in-law to the first
offices of the empire. Two admirable letters that passed between them are still extant. The minister, with the conscious dignity of
virtue, congratulates Gordian that he is delivered from the tyranny of the eunuchs,
47 and still more that he is sensible of his
deliverance. The
emperor acknowledges, with an amiable confusion, the errors of his past conduct; and laments, with singular
propriety, the misfortune of a
monarch, from whom a venal tribe of courtiers perpetually labor to conceal the truth.
48
Footnote 47: Hist. August. p. 161. From some hints in the two letters, I should expect that the eunuchs were not expelled the palace
without some degree of gentle violence, and that the young Gordian rather approved of, than consented to, their disgrace.
Footnote 48: Duxit uxorem filiam Misithei, quem causa eloquentiae dignum parentela sua putavit; et Prefectum statim fecit; post
quod, non puerile jam et contemptibile videbatur imperium.
The life of Misitheus had been spent in the profession of letters, not of arms; yet such was the versatile genius of that great man, that,
when he was appointed Praetorian
Prefect, he discharged the military duties of his place with vigor and ability. The
Persians had
invaded Mesopotamia, and threatened Antioch. By the persuasion of his father-in-law, the young
emperor quitted the luxury of Rome,
opened, for the last time recorded in history, the temple of Janus, and marched in person into the East. On his approach, with a great
army, the
Persians withdrew their garrisons from the cities which they had already taken, and retired from the Euphrates to the Tigris.
Gordian enjoyed the pleasure of announcing to the
senate the first success of his arms, which he ascribed, with a becoming modesty
and gratitude, to the wisdom of his father and
Prefect. During the whole expedition, Misitheus watched over the safety and discipline
of the army; whilst he prevented their dangerous murmurs by maintaining a regular plenty in the camp, and by establishing ample
magazines of vinegar, bacon, straw, barley, and wheat in all the cities of the frontier.
49 But the prosperity of Gordian expired with
Misitheus, who died of a flux, not with out very strong suspicions of poison. Philip, his successor in the
Prefecture, was an Arab by
birth, and consequently, in the earlier part of his life, a robber by profession. His rise from so obscure a station to the first dignities of
the empire, seems to prove that he was a bold and able leader. But his boldness prompted him to aspire to the throne, and his abilities
were employed to supplant, not to serve, his indulgent master. The minds of the soldiers were irritated by an artificial scarcity, created
by his contrivance in the camp; and the distress of the army was attributed to the youth and incapacity of the
prince. It is not in our
power to trace the successive steps of the secret conspiracy and open sedition, which were at length fatal to Gordian. A sepulchral
monument was erected to his memory on the spot
50 where he was killed, near the conflux of the Euphrates with the little river
Aboras.
51 The fortunate Philip, raised to the empire by the votes of the soldiers, found a ready obedience from the
senate and the
provinces.
52
Footnote 49: Hist. August. p. 162. Aurelius Victor. Porphyrius in Vit Plotin. ap. Fabricium, Biblioth. Graec. l. iv. c. 36.
The philosopher Plotinus accompanied the army, prompted by the love of knowledge, and by the hope of penetrating as far as India.
Footnote 50: About twenty miles from the little town of Circesium, on the frontier of the two empires.
Note: Now Kerkesia; placed in the angle formed by the juncture of the Chaboras, or al Khabour, with the Euphrates. This situation
appeared advantageous to Diocletian, that he raised fortifications to make it the but wark of the empire on the side of Mesopotamia.
D'Anville. Geog. Anc. ii. 196. - G. It is the Carchemish of the Old Testament, 2 Chron. xxxv. 20. ler. xlvi. 2. - M.
Footnote 51: The inscription (which contained a very singular pun) was erased by the order of Licinius, who claimed some degree of
relationship to Philip, (Hist. August. p. 166;) but the tumulus, or mound of earth which formed the sepulchre, still subsisted in the time
of Julian. See Ammian Marcellin. xxiii. 5.
Footnote 52: Aurelius Victor. Eutrop. ix. 2. Orosius, vii. 20.
Ammianus Marcellinus, xxiii. 5. Zosimus, l. i. p. 19. Philip, who was a native of Bostra, was about forty years of age.
Note: Now Bosra. It was once the metropolis of a province named Arabia, and the chief city of Auranitis, of which the name is
preserved in Beled Hauran, the limits of which meet the desert. D'Anville. Geog. Anc. ii. 188. According to Victor, (in Caesar.,) Philip
was a native of Tracbonitis another province of Arabia. - G.
We cannot forbear transcribing the ingenious, though somewhat fanciful description, which a celebrated writer of our own times has
traced of the military government of the Roman empire. "What in that age was called the Roman empire, was only an irregular
republic, not unlike the aristocracy
53 of Algiers,
54 where the militia, possessed of the
sovereignty, creates and deposes a magistrate, who is styled a Dey. Perhaps, indeed, it may be laid down as a general rule, that a military government is, in some
respects, more republican than
monarchical. Nor can it be said that the soldiers only partook of the government by their disobedience
and
rebellions. The speeches made to them by the
emperors, were they not at length of the same nature as those formerly pronounced
to the people by the consuls and the
tribunes? And although the armies had no regular place or forms of assembly; though their
debates were short, their action sudden, and their resolves seldom the result of cool reflection, did they not dispose, with absolute
sway, of the public fortune? What was the
emperor, except the minister of a violent government, elected for the private benefit of the
soldiers?
Footnote 53: Can the epithet of Aristocracy be applied, with any propriety, to the government of Algiers? Every military government
floats between two extremes of absolute monarcy and wild democracy.
Footnote 54: The military republic of the Mamelukes in Egypt would have afforded M. de Montesquieu (see Considerations sur la
Grandeur et la Decadence des Romains, c. 16) a juster and more noble parallel.
"When the army had elected Philip, who was Praetorian
Prefect to the third Gordian, the latter demanded that he might remain sole
emperor; he was unable to obtain it. He requested that the power might be equally divided between them; the army would not listen to his speech. He consented to be degraded to the rank of Caesar; the favor was refused him. He desired, at least, he might be appointed Praetorian
Prefect; his prayer was
rejected. Finally, he pleaded for his life. The army, in these several judgments, exercised the supreme magistracy." According to the
historian, whose doubtful narrative the President De Montesquieu has adopted, Philip, who, during the whole transaction, had
preserved a sullen silence, was inclined to spare the innocent life of his benefactor; till, recollecting that his innocence might excite a
dangerous compassion in the Roman world, he commanded, without regard to his suppliant cries, that he should be seized, stripped,
and led away to instant death. After a moment's pause, the inhuman sentence was executed.
55
Footnote 55: The Augustan History (p. 163, 164) cannot, in this instance, be reconciled with itself or with probability. How could
Philip condemn his predecessor, and yet consecrate his memory? How could he order his public execution, and yet, in his letters to the
senate, exculpate himself from the guilt of his death? Philip, though an ambitious usurper, was by no means a mad tyrant. Some
chronological difficulties have likewise been discovered by the nice eyes of Tillemont and Muratori, in this supposed association of
Philip to the empire.
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To cite original text:
Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794.
The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. 1st ed. (London : Printed for W. Strahan ; and T. Cadell, 1776-1788.), pp. 189-197.