14. A fatal incident decided his fluctuating character, and suddenly developed his dormant cruelty and thirst for blood. In an attempt to assassinate him, the assailant, aiming a blow at him with a dagger, exclaimed, "the senate sends you this." The menace prevented the deed; but the words sunk deep into the mind of Com'modus, and kindled the utmost fury of his nature. It was found that the conspirators were men of senatorial rank, who had been instigated by the emperor's own sister. Suspicion and distrust, fear and hatred, were henceforth indulged by the emperor towards the whole body of senators: spies and informers were encouraged; neither virtue nor station afforded any security; and when Com'modus had once tasted human blood, he became incapable of pity or remorse. He sacrificed a long list of consular senators to his wanton suspicion, and took especial delight in hunting out and exterminating all who had been connected with the family of the Antonines.

He was

15. The debaucheries of Com' modus exceeded, in extravagance and iniquity, those of any previous Roman emperor. averse to every rational and liberal pursuit, and all his sports were mingled with cruelty. He cultivated his physical, to the neglect of his mental powers; and in shooting with the bow and throwing the javelin, Rome had not his superior. Delighting in exhibiting to the people his superior skill in archery, he at one time caused a hundred lions to be let loose in the amphitheatre; and as they ran raging around the arena, they successively fell by a hundred arrows from the royal hand. He fought in the circus as a common gladiator, and, always victorious, often wantonly slew his antagonists, who were less completely armed than himself. This monster of folly and wickedness was finally slain, (A. D. 193,) partly by poisoning and partly by strangling, at the instigation of his favorite concubine Marcia, who accidentally learned that her own death, and that of several officers of the palace, had been resolved upon by the tyrant.

16. On the death of Com' modus the throne was offered to Per' tinax, a senator of consular rank and strict integrity, who VII. PER TIaccepted the office with extreme reluctance, fully aware NAX. of the dangers which he incurred, and the great weight of responsi bility thrown upon him. The virtues of Per' tinax secured to him the love of the senate and the people; but his zeal to correct abuses provoked the anger of the turbulent Prætorian soldiery, who preferred the favor of a tyrant to the stern equality of the laws; and

after a reign of three months, Per' tinax was slain in the imperial palace by the same guards who had placed him on the throne.

17. Amidst the wild disorder that attended the violent death of the emperor, the Prætorian guards proclaimed that they would dispose of the sovereignty of the Roman world to the highest bidder; and while the body of Per' tinax remained unburied in the streets VIII. DID' IUS of Rome, the prize of the empire was purchased by a JULIA' NUS. Vain and wealthy old senator, Did' ius Juliánus, who, repairing to the Prætorian camp, outbid all competitors, and actually paid to each of the soldiers, ten thousand in number, more than two hundred pounds sterling, or nearly nine millions of dollars in all.

18. The obsequious senate, overawed by the soldiery, ratified the unworthy negotiation; but the Prætorians themselves were ashamed. of the prince whom their avarice had persuaded them to accept; the citizens looked upon his elevation with horror, as a lasting insult to the Roman name; and the armies in the provinces were unanimous in refusing allegiance to the new ruler, while the emperor, trembling with the dangers of his position, found himself, although on the throne of the world, scorned and despised, without a friend, and even without an adherent.

19. Three competitors soon appeared to contest the throne with Juliánus,-Clódius Albínus, who commanded in Britain,-Pescen'IX. SEPTIM'- nius Niger in Syria,-and Septim'ius Severus in Dal IUS SEVERUS. mátia' and Pannónia. The latter, by his nearness to Rome, and the rapidity of his marches, gained the advance of his rivals, and was hailed emperor by the people: the faithless Prætorians submitted without a blow, and were disbanded; and the senate pronounced a sentence of deposition and death against the terrorstricken Juliánus, whose anxious and precarious reign of sixty-five days was terminated by the hands of the common executioner.

20. While Sevérus, employing the most subtle craft and dissimulation, was flattering Albínus in Britain with the hope of being associated with him in the empire, he rapidly passed into Asia, and after several engagements with the forces of Niger completely defeated them on the plains of Issus, where Alexander and Daríus had long before contended for the sovereignty of the world. Such was the

1. Dalmatia, anciently a part of Illyricum, and now the most southern province of the Austrian empire, comprises a long and narrow territory on the eastern shore of the Adriatic. After the division of the Roman provinces under Constantine and Theodosius, Dalmatia be came one of the most important parts of the empire.

duplicity of Sevérus, that even in the letter in which he announced the victory to Albínus, he addressed the latter with the most friendly salutations, and expressed the strongest regard for his welfare, while at the same time he intrusted the messengers charged with the letter to desire a private audience, and to plunge their dagger to the heart of his rival. It was only when the infamous plot was detected that Albínus awoke to the reality of his situation, and began to make vigorous preparations for open war. This second contest for empire was decided against Albínus in a most desperate battle near Lyons,' in Gaul, (A. D. 197,) where one hundred and fifty thousand Romans are said to have fought on each side. Albínus was overtaken in flight, and slain; and many senators and eminent provincials suf fered death for the attachment which they had shown to his cause.

21. After Sevérus had obtained undisputed possession of the empire, he governed with mildness: considering the Roman world as his property, he bestowed his care on the cultivation and improvement of so valuable an acquisition, and after a reign of eighteen years he could boast, with a just pride, that he received the empire oppressed with foreign and domestic wars, and left it established in profound, universal, and honorable peace. In his last illness, Sevérus deeply felt and acknowledged the littleness of human greatness. Born in an African town, fortune and merit had elevated him from an humble station to the first place among mankind; and now, satiated with power, and oppressed with age and infirmities, all his prospects in life were closed.

"He had been all things," he said, "and all was of little value." Calling for the urn in which his ashes were to be inclosed, he thus moralized on his decaying greatness. "Little urn, thou shalt soon hold all that will remain of him whom the world could not contain." He died at York,2 in Britain, (A. D. 211,) having been called into that country to repress an insurrection of the Caledonians.

1. Lyons, called by the Romans Lugdunum, is situated at the confluence of the rivers Rhone and Saone. The Roman town was at the foot of a hill on the western bank of the Rhone. Cæsar conquered the place from the Gauls: Augustus made it the capital of a province; and, being enlarged by succeeding emperors, it became one of the principal cities of the Roman world. It is now the principal manufacturing town of France, containing a population of about two hundred thousand inhabitants. (Map No. XIII.)

2. York, called by the Romans Ebor' acum, is situated on the river Ouse, one hundred and seventy miles N. N. west from London. It was the capital of the Roman province, and next to London, the most important city in the island. It was successively the residence of Adrian, Sevérus, Géta and Caracal' la, Constan' tius Chlórus, Con' stantine the Great, &c. The modern city can still show many vestiges of Roman power and magnificence. Constan' tius Chlórus, the father of Constantine the Great, died here. (Map No. XVI.)

X. CARA-
CAL' LA.

22. Sevérus had left the empire to his two sons Caracal' la and Géta, but the former, whose misconduct had imbittered the last days of his father, soon after his accession slew his brother in his mother's arms. His character resembled that of Com'modus in cruelty, but his extortions were carried to a far greater extent. After the Roman world had endured his tyranny nearly six years, he was assassinated while in Syria, at the instigaXI. MACRI- tion of Macrínus, the captain of the guards, (A. D. 217,) NUS. who succeeded to the throne; but after a reign of fourteen months, Macrínus lost his life in the struggle to retain his power.

23. Bassianus, a youth of fourteen, and a cousin of Caracal' la, had been consecrated, according to the rites of the Syrian worship, to the ministry of high-priest of the sun; and it was a rebellion of the Eastern troops in his favor that had overthrown the power of Macrinus. Although these events occurred in distant Syria, yet the Roman senate and the whole Roman world received with servile submission the emperors whom the army successively BA' LUS. offered them. As priest of the sun Bassiánus adopted the title of Elagabalus, and on his arrival at Rome established there the Syrian worship, and compelled the grandest personages of the State and the army to officiate in the temple dedicated to the Syrian god.

XII. ELAGA

a

24. The follies, gross licentiousness, boundless prodigality, and cruelty of this pagan priest and emperor, soon disgusted even the licentious soldiery, the only support of his throne. He established a senate of women, the subject of whose deliberations were dress and etiquette; he even copied the dress and manners of the female sex, and styling himself empress, publicly invested one of his officers with the title of husband. His grandmother Moe' sa, foreseeing that the Roman world would not long endure the yoke of so contemptible a monster, artfully persuaded him, in a favorable moment of fondness, to adopt for his successor his cousin Alexander Sevérus; yet, soon after, Elagabalus, indignant that the affections of the army were bestowed upon another, meditated the destruction of Sevérus, but was himself massacred by the indignant Prætorians, who dragged his mutilated corpse through the city, and threw it into the Tiber, while the senate publicly branded his name with infamy. (A. D. 222.)

a. A name derived from two Syrian words, ela a god, and gabal to form:-signifying the forming, or plastic god,—a proper and even happy epithet for the sun.-Gibbon, i. 83.

VÉRUS.

25. At the age of seventeen Alexander Sevérus was raised to the throne by the Prætorian guards. He proved to be a XIII. ALEXwise, energetic, and virtuous prince: he relieved the ANDER SEprovinces of the oppressive taxes imposed by his prede. cessors, and restored the dignity, freedom, and authority of the senate; but his attempted reformation of the military order served only to inflame the ills it was meant to cure. His administration of the government was an unavailing struggle against the corruptions of the age; and after many mutinies of his troops his life was at length sacrificed, after a reign of fourteen years, to the fierce discontents of the army, whose power had now increased to a height so dangerous as to obliterate the faint image of laws and liberty, and introduce the sway of military despotism. Max' imin, the instigator of the revolt, was proclaimed emperor.

SECTION III.

ROMAN HISTORY FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MILITARY DESPOTISM, AFTER THE MURDER OF ALEXANDER SEVE' RUS, A. D. 235, TO THE SUBVERSION OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE OF THE ROMANS, A. D. 476 = 241 YEARS.

NUS.

ANALYSIS. 1. Earliest account of the Thracian MAX' IMIN.-2. His origin. His history down to the death of Alexander Severus. [The Goths. Alani.]-3. Max' imin proclaimed emperor by the army. Commencement of his reign.-4. GOR' DIAN. PUPIE NUS AND BALBI' Death of Max' imin. The SECOND GOR' DIAN.-5. German and Persian wars.-6. Sápor, the Persian king. Death of Gor' dian, and accession of PHILIP THE ARABIAN.-7. Insurrections and rebellions. DE' CIUS proclaimed emperor, and death of Philip. [Verona.]-8. War with the Goths, and death of Décius. Reign of GALLUS EMILIA' NUS. Accession of VALE' RIAN.— 9. Worthy character of Valérian. Ravages of the barbarians. Spain, Gaul, and Britain. The Persians. [The Franks. The Aleman' ni. Lombardy.]-10. Valérian taken prisoner. His treatment. GALLIE' NUS.-11. Odenátus, prince of Palmyra. He routs the Persians. [Palmyra.-12. Numerous competitors for the throne.-13. Death of Gallienus, and accession of CLAUDIUS. [Milan.]-14. Character, reign, and death of Claudius. [Sir' mium.]-15. QUINTILIUS.-16. The reign of AURE' LIAN. His wars. Zenobia. Character of Aurélian. His death. [Tibur. Byzan' tium.]-17. An interregnum. Election of TACITUS. His reign and death. [Bos' porus.]-18. FLO' RIAN. The reign, and death, of PROBUS. [Sarmatia. Van'dals.]-19. Reign of CA'RUS. His character, and death. NUME' RIAN AND CARI' NUS.-20. Superstition, and retreat, of the Roman army in Persia. Character of Carinus, and death of Numérian.-21. Carinus marches against Diocletian. His death. DIOCLETIAN acknowledged emperor. His treatment of the vanquished.

22. The reign of Diocletian, an important epoch. [Copts and Abyssinians.]-23. Division of the imperial authority.-24. The rule of MAXIM' IAN. [Nicomedia.] Of his colleague Constan' tius. Countries ruled by Diocletian, and his colleague Galérius.-25. Important events of the reign of Diocletian. The insurrection in Britain.-26. Revolt in Egypt and northern Africa. [Busiris and Cop'tos. The Moors.]-27. The war with Persia. [Antioch.