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The brief reign of MACRINUS prepared the throne for HELIOGABALUS, A. D. 218-222. This youth, whose character was stained by every kind of vice, had been a priest in the Temple of the Sun at Emesa in Syria. He brought with him to Rome all the luxury and effeminacy of Eastern monarchs; his wife had a place in the senate, and slaves and eunuchs became first ministers. His profligate conduct raised discontents even among a licentious soldiery; hence he perished in a sedition of the guards, and his body was thrown into the Tiber, A. D. 222. The corrupt lives of the emperors had already sunk the scale of morals to a low degree; but luxury and licentiousness reached their height under this Syrian ruler.

ALEXANDER SEVerus, a. d. 222–235, was raised by the prætorians to the throne at the age of 17; and under his wise and moderate administration the Roman world enjoyed an auspicious calm of thirteen years. Too young himself to rule, he left the public cares to the skill of his mother Mammaa, and of sixteen ancient senators, among whom was the famous lawyer Ulpian, to whose presence in the council we may attribute the greater regularity in the executive, the abolition of many vexatious laws, and the more legal conduct of the government. But this milder sway came too late; the attempt to enforce the laws, for three days filled Rome with civil strife, and devastated the city with fire. Alexander resisted the inroads of the Germans, who had been tempted by the decline of the empire; but was not equally successful against the Persians. His efforts to revive the military discipline of the republic were fatal to his life. The epithet of Severus, added to his name by the army, shows that the soldiers were not masters of the empire, as they had been under the two preceding monarchs. He proved a feeble support to the declining city; but the fierce barbarians of the North and East were more than a match for the Roman legionaries; in Persia his armies met only with partial success, and on the Rhine peace was procured by money rather than by the sword. In the meanwhile, the spread of a new religion was uprooting the foundations of polytheism and the state of society founded upon it.

MAXIMIN, A. D. 235-238, a Thracian peasant, distinguished for his uncommon strength and valour, was elected by the army to the throne, left vacant by the murder of his predecessor. His mind was as uncultivated as his body was gigantic, for he could scarcely pronounce a few unconnected Latin words, while his dark and sanguinary career was not unworthy of his birth. Confiscation, exile, and death, were considered lenient punishments against those who excited his suspicions or his fears. Some were beaten to death with clubs, others were sewed up in the skins of animals and exposed to wild beasts. Magnus, a senator, and 4000 of his supposed accomplices, were put to death in one day The province of Africa having revolted, elected the two Gordians, and he choice was approved by the senate, who at the same time declared Maximin and his son to be public enemies. The emperor's lieutenants were successful over his rivals, and the senators were already anticipating the execution of his horrible threat that he would slay them all and distribute their property among his soldiers, when they were relieved of their fears by his murder at the siege of Aquileia. The coalition of the opposing parties procured the elevation of an amiable youth, GorDIAN III., whose reign lasted six years, 238–244. He ascended the

throne under favourable circumstances; beloved by all good men for his virtues; endeared to the senate by his illustrious birth, for he was the grandson of the elder Gordian, and to the army from his being their adopted child. Aided by the superior talents of his father-in-law Misitheus, he carried on a successful war against Sapor.

PHILIP, the Arabian freebooter, was proclaimed emperor by the army, and the title of Augustus was conferred on him by the senate. He favoured the Christians, and granted them permission to raise temples and exercise their worship in public. He celebrated the secular games, A. D. 248 (April 21), when Rome had attained its thousandth year.DECIUS, after a reign of two years and a half, lost his life in battle against the Goths, 251.-GALLUS, HOSTILIAN, VOLUSIAN, and ÆMILIANUS, were succeeded by VALERIAN at the age of sixty years, 253, who associated Gallienus with him in the government. Marching to repel the aggressions of the Persian monarch, he was vanquished and made prisoner, A. D. 260; after which he suffered every indignity, till life sunk under the weight of shame.-GALLIENUS, A. D. 260-268, the luxurious son of Valerian, passed his time in the most ridiculous trifling. Pretenders started up in every province; hence this period is usually known as that of the Thirty Tyrants, although the names of nineteen only are recorded. Many of these shortlived monarchs were models of virtue, and possessed vigour and ability; but they were chiefly of obscure birth, and elevated on the field of battle. Not one died a natural death. The servile wars were renewed in Sicily; the streets of Alexandria were polluted with blood; while famine and pestilence, which lasted fifteen years, 250-265, ravaged every section of the Roman empire. Gallienus fell in a nocturnal tumult before the walls of Milan, in which he was besieging Aureolus, the most formidable of his rivals; and the dying wishes of the emperor raised CLAUDIUS, A. D. 268, to the throne. By the most signal victories he delivered Italy from the Goths; yet the same pestilence which had thinned the ranks of the barbarians, also carried off their conqueror. His short but glorious reign lasted only two years.-AURELIAN, A. D. 270-275, the son of a Pannonian peasant, originally an adventurer and common soldier, repelled the Gothic invaders, chastised the Germans who had entered Italy, recovered Gaul, Spain, and Britain, from the usurper Tetricus, and destroyed the monarchy which Queen Zenobia had erected in the East on the ruins of the empire, 273. He died by the hands of his officers-regretted by the army, detested by the senate, but universally acknowledged as a wise and fortunate prince.-TACITUS, A. D. 275, owed his elevation to a friendly contest which had arisen between the army and the senate for the choice of an emperor; and he was elected by the latter from their own number, at the age of 75. He drove the bands of the Alani out of Asia with great slaughter, but sunk under the fatigues of his office, a. d. 276.-FLORIAN yielded to the better fortune of PROBus, a. d. 276-282, who vanquished the Germans on the Rhine and the Danube, and restored peace and order to every province. To check the invasions of the barbarians, Probus built a stone wall nearly 200 miles in length, from the Danube to the Rhine; recruited the Roman armies from the German nations; settled foreign colonies in various parts of the empire, and taught them the science of agriculture. He perished in a mutiny of his troops.

With Maximin began the race of Barbarians who successively mounted the imperial throne: with Claudius II. commenced what has been called the military despotism. However glorious the reigns of this monarch and his successor Aurelian, they were far from healing the wounds of the state. Though great warriors, and men whom the circumstances of Rome required, they did little more than delay the fall of the empire. In the period between the Antonines and Diocletian, it was divided into two great parts, which were almost distinct worlds, the civil and the military. The people, the immense majority of the population, have no share in the history of these times; they paid their taxes, cultivated the soil, and passed their lives without troubling themselves about the occupations of the legions. So profound was this apathy, that not a single revolt took place among the numerous inhabitants of the capital. But in the army all was changed. The soldier-citizen of the republic was unknown; the ancient discipline was lost; the modern warrior had no home but his camp, and no respect for any authority but that of his officers. As they defended the empire, they claimed the right of nominating its chiefs, and of deposing them at will. Each army insisted upon electing an emperor, whose authority was to be maintained by arms and civil strife. The successful competitor was acknowledged by the senate, and saluted with the usual adulations. With the frequent alterations necessarily resulting from this military despotism, the face of the country varied little; and but for the excessive contributions raised in the provinces to support the troops, the internal condition of the empire would have been very flourishing. This state of affairs continued to the time of Diocletian, who introduced some modifications, and to the days of Constantine, who in his turn effected many great reforms.

DIOCLETIAN, A. D. 284-305, who succeeded the shortlived monarchs, Carus, Carinus, and Numerian, was born in an obscure town of Dalmatia. On his elevation to the purple, a remarkable change took place in the form of government. Finding that the extent of frontier was too great to be defended by one person against the repeated attacks of daring and enterprising enemies, he selected a colleague in the person of Maximian, to whom he committed the charge of the West, while he retained the East. These two bore the title of Augustus, and each appointed a lieutenant with the title of Cæsar. The seat of government was removed from Rome,― Maximian residing at Milan, Diocletian at Nicomedia, an arrangement which contributed greatly to the support of the empire. Carausius, who had made himself independent in Britain, was defeated in 293; Gaul was delivered from the Germans; and the Persians were compelled to cede five provinces beyond the Tigris. After a glorious reign of twenty-one years, Diocletian abdicated the throne, A. D. 305, and Maximian resigned at Milan on the same day.

The abdication of monarchs has always been matter of embarrassment to historians; and the fact of a prince voluntarily divesting himself of supreme power, without any apparent motive, is a phenomenon well worthy of examination. Diocletian's relinquishment of the purple has been variously explained; some pretending that it was in fulfilment of an oath made with Maximian at his ascension; others, that he was grieved at his unsuccessful struggle against Christianity; others, that he feared the troubles which he saw impending; and many, that he entertained a supreme contempt for all human grandeur. The last two motives influenced beyond a doubt his resolution; but his fears, and the threats of Galerius his son-in-law, with his inability to resist him, were the principal causes. At the age of sixty years he retired into private life, and lived esteemed and happy at Salona. His latter days were saddened by the exile and persecution of his wife and daughter, and the ingratitude of those whom he had elevated.

PALMYRA.

QUEEN ZENOBIA was a Jewess by birth, the wife of Odenathus, prince of the Saracens of the Euphrates, who had raised himself to the dominion of the East, and by his victories over the Persian king avenged the injuries of the Romans and become their ally. On his death, having been cut off by domestic treason, his widow filled the vacant throne, and governed Syria with great wisdom. Palmyra (lat. 34° 20′ N., long. 38° 30′ E.), her capital, the Tadmor of Solomon, was situated in an oasis in the midst of a vast desert of sand, on one of the great caravan routes to the Euphrates, and its magnificent ruins still ornament that portion of the wilderness. Zenobia began her reign by throwing off the protection of the senate and conquering Egypt. Aurelian marched against her, took Antioch, and in a terrible battle in its vicinity routed her mail-clad cavalry and skilful archers. After experiencing a second defeat near Emesa, she sought refuge in her capital, which was besieged by the emperor, and reduced after a long resistance, A. D. 273. Two years afterwards, the unfortunate queen was led in triumph through the streets of Rome. Covered with diamonds, she walked alone before her victor's car, a slave holding the chain of gold which had been placed on her neck. The name and fate of the critic Longinus both honour her reign and reproach her weakness, if it be true that she exposed him to the vengeance of Aurelian to save her own life.

PERSIA.

SASSANIDES, A. D. 226.-We have seen that Arsaces founded the Parthian kingdom in the third century B. C., and that with him began the line of Arsacidan kings. His valour and genius gained the affections of his people; and his successes against the Romans often terrified the imperial city. The history of the several dynasties is obscure during 470 years, till we come to the reign of Artabanus, the last of the family just named, when this formidable power, which had spread from India to Syria, was subverted by ARTAXERXES (Ardeschir Babegan). He founded the family of the Sassanides, so called from his father Sassan, which governed Persia till the Arab invasion in 632. Artaxerxes was a distinguished soldier, driven to rebellion by royal ingratitude: three times he defeated the Parthians, and their monarch perished in the last battle. In the plain of Ormuz he was saluted by the army with the lofty title of King of Kings. He restored the ancient religion of the Magi, or Fire Worshippers, founded by Zoroaster in the seventh century B. C., re-established the royal authority, and began a successful war against the Romans, A. D. 230. His reign of fourteen years forms a memorable era in the history of the East and of Rome. He was suc ceeded by SAPOR, a man of gigantic form, inured from infancy to war, and who preserved the strictest discipline in his army, while he encour aged agriculture as a nursery for hardy soldiers. Eagerly desirous of founding a powerful monarchy, he attacked the Romans, and devastated both sides of the Euphrates, defeating the emperor Valerian, who had marched against him. He next overran Syria, Cilicia, and Cappadocia, but was compelled to retreat before Odenathus, prince of Palmyra,

A. D. 261.

CHOSROES, Sovereign of Armenia, who had resisted in his native mountains with invincible courage during thirty years, fell at last by the intrigues of the Persian court. The Armenian satraps immediately implored the help of Rome in favour of his son, the young Tiridates; but the imperial city being distant, Sapor soon incorporated this state with his vast dominions.

TIRIDATES escaped from the assassins employed by the conqueror to murder him and his father, and was brought up among the Romans. After his country had borne a foreign yoke twenty-six years, he was invested with the monarchy of Armenia by Diocletian. His appearance on the frontier was welcomed with rapture; the nobles and people flew to his standard; but the Persians still maintained their ascendency, and it was not till A. D. 297 that the success of the Roman arms was confirmed by a treaty, which established him on the throne.

BARBARIAN INVASIONS.

During this century, the Northern Hive, as it was called, began to pour down its swarms upon the Roman empire.

The GOTHS, A. D. 250, passed the Danube and invaded the Roman provinces during the reign of the Emperor Decius. This great nation was of Asiatic origin,-part of the Indo-Teutonic race which had spread irregularly towards the north of Europe. Their migration in that direction took place before the period of authentic history; and when they first attract our notice, they form part of the Suevian branch, settled along the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic. Their language forms the connecting link between the Sanscrit and the modern Teutonic dialects. Their religion, preserved in the sacred books of the Eddas, was barbarous and sanguinary. ODIN, "the Mohammed of the North," was at once their supreme deity and legislator. The daring invasions of these people met with various success, but as yet had produced no lasting effect.

The province of Gaul was invaded by the FRANKS or Freemen, A. D. 256, a confederation of many German tribes on the Rhine and the Weser.* The former river proved an imperfect barrier to their enterprising spirit. At length they crossed the Pyrenees, and even in the fifth century the ruins of magnificent cities recorded their destructive hostilities.

The ALLEMANNI, A. D. 259, were formed at the Tencteri and Usipetæ (Westphali). They were well trained to fight on horseback, and from their renown became a centre around which gathered a multitude of German tribes. This united people are supposed to be included under the different names of Suevi, Marcomanni, and Allemanni. Having invaded Gaul and Italy, they displayed their banners within sight of Rome; but the vigour of the senate compelled them to retreat, though they returned to their own country laden with booty.

THE CHURCH.

So early as the end of the second century or the beginning of the third, the Christian faith had gradually spread to the middle and higher ranks,-when broke out the

*The tribes were these:-1. The Chauci; 2. The Sicambri; 3. The Attuari; 4. Bruc teri: 5. The Chamavii; 6. The Catti; 7. The Salii and Cherusci.

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