From

A. D.

276.

to

282. Voyage of

the Bas

tarnæ.

Biography. taken from the Franks, the Burgundians, and the Lygians, were transported into Britain; and hence it has been conjectured, that Wandlesburg, in Cambridgeshire, owes its name to a body of Vandals who were placed in that neighbourhood, during the reign of which we are now recapitulating the events. Many of the wandering tribes, too, consented to occupy settlements on the Rhine and the Danube; and we are told by Vopiscus, that a hundred thousand Bastarne cheerfully accepted an establishment in Thrace, and finally contracted the habits and feelings of Roman subjects, with whom they became insensibly identified, But Probus was not so successful in all his attempts at colonization, and an interesting narrative is preserved respecting a party of Franks, who had been carried into Pontus with the view of strengthening that frontier against the attacks of the Alani. Having got possession of some ships stationed at a port in the Euxine, they made their escape through the Bosphorus and Hellespont; and, entering the Ægean sea, they landed from time to time on the coasts of Asia and Greece, to supply their wants, or to gratify their revenge. Upon reaching the Island of Sicily they attacked Syracuse with so much fury, that the inhabitants were unable to save either their lives or property. After this exploit they directed their course to Carthage, where they met with a check from a fleet sent out to oppose them; but their vessels not being materially injured, they still kept the sea, and turned their faces towards the shores of Spain. Passing the columns of Hercules they found themselves in the Atlantic Ocean; where, veering to the right, they at length touched the coast of Gaul, and finally completed their astonishing voyage by disembarking at the mouth of the Rhine.*

Probus subdues the Isaurians,

In the course of the following year Probus conducted his victorious soldiers into Illyricum, where the peace of the Empire had been again disturbed by the incursions of the Scythian tribes. He strengthened in his progress Eastward the important line of the Rhætian frontier; and, after a short delay, advancing upon the Barbarians in Pannonia, he drove them back, even without the necessity of coming to a general action. Victory attended his steps wherever he went; and the various Gothic nations, awed into submission by the terror of his name, immediately acknowledged their subjection, and relinquished the fruits of their plunder. He met, indeed, with more resolute enemies in Asia Minor. The Isaurians, long noted as the boldest of robbers by sea as well as by land, set at defiance the power of the Roman Emperor; but being sensible that they could not encounter the discipline of his Legions in the field, they shut themselves up in a strong fort, built on the top of a steep and lofty precipice. The siege to which this measure gave rise, was rendered remarkable by many instances of desperate courage, disgraced indeed with circumstances of minute horror, and the most barbarous cruelty. It is enough to relate, that the skill of the Roman engineers prevailed over the resistance of savage fury and despair. Probus expelled the marauders from their rocks and caverns; and with the view of improving the character of the inhabitants, he settled a number of his veteran soldiers as occupants of the soil, on condition that their sons should hold themselves bound to engage in the public service, and

* Zonar. lib. xii. c. 29. p. 637 Eutrop. Aurel. Victor. Zosim, lib. i. Vopisc. in Prob.

to abstain from the piratical habits which had so long proved the shame of Isauria. This precaution, however, like all other political arrangements that oppose the natural bent of an uncivilized people, was soon found unavailing; and accordingly in a few years, the hardy Tribes whom Probus subdued, could boast of increasing numbers, and of unshackled independence, throughout all the rugged mountains which their ancestors had possessed.*

Marcus

Aurelius

Probus Augustus.

From A. D. 276.

to 282.

elects Satur

It had been a main object with this enlightened The army of Emperor ever since he ascended the Throne, to streng- the East then the foundations of the Civil authority, and thereby ninus Emto withdraw the minds of the soldiers from the recol- peror. lection of the dangerous privilege which they had so long exercised, in the nomination of their Sovereigns. But his example was not approved by the Legions in the remoter Provinces, who had ceased for several generations to reverence any other Government besides that which was administered in their camp. We find, accordingly, that when Probus marched into the West, to repel the incursions of the Germanic hordes which had taken possession of Gaul, the armies of the East raised their Commander, Saturninus, to the rank of Augustus. This unfortunate Chief, who trembled at the distinction which his men had determined to force upon him, bewailed in eloquent language the miserable alternative to which he was reduced. "Alas!" he exclaimed, "the public loses this day the services of one who has laboured not unsuccessfully for the promotion of her interests; and the step which I have now been induced to take, cancels all my claims upon the gratitude of my Countrymen. You know not," said he to those around him, "the misery of Sovereign power. Swords are suspended over our necks; spears and darts are pointed against our persons. We dread our very Guards; we distrust our dearest companions. In raising me to the Imperial dignity, you have doomed me to an inevitable death; and in such circumstances there is only one consolation, the certainty that I cannot perish alone."†

The disaffection of the East was suppressed at small His defeat expense of blood, but not before Saturninus had paid and death. the forfeit of his treason. It is said that Probus wished to save his rival from the fury of the soldiers, and that he had even entreated him to put confidence in his clemency, should the fortune of war decide against him in the field. But, in the unhappy state to which the Empire was reduced by the ascendency of the military power, it was never deemed expedient, either by the victors or the vanquished, to spare the life of a defeated usurper.

The success which crowned the Imperial arms in InsurrecSyria, did not prevent a similar disturbance in Gaul, tion of Proculus, who commanded in that country, assumed Proculus, the Purple, and prepared to maintain his pretensions at the head of his troops; but he was so ill supported by the Germans, whom he had attempted to gain over to his cause, that his resistance to the superior genius of Probus was equally short and ineffectual. The fate of this adventurer did not, however, deter Bonosus, the And BonoAdmiral of a small fleet which the Romans maintained sus. upon the Rhine, from likewise withdrawing his allegi

ance.

The war which ensued appears to have been

Egyptian

war.

Negociation

We find in Vopiscus and Zosimus an obscure narrative relating to an expedition into Egypt, conducted by two of the Imperial Generals. Firmus, during the pre Firmus, during the pre ceding reign, had displayed the standard of rebellion; and it would seem, that aided by the arms of a native Tribe, the Blemmyes, his troops still kept possession of certain cities, and among the rest, Coptos and Ptolemais. On this occasion they were reduced by the Lieutenants of Probus, who, to attest their victory, and grace the Triumph of their master, carried as captives to Rome a considerable number of the people just named, whose singular appearance, it is added, excited in the Capital a great degree of curiosity and astonishment.†

In connection with this enterprise, the Augustan with Persia. Historian relates, that the King of Persia was so much offended or alarmed at the proceedings of the Roman Emperor, that he resolved to take the field. An embassy sent by the former, found Probus already encamped in the mountains of Armenia. He received the representatives of the Persian Monarch with studied simplicity; and charged them with an answer to their master which only served still farther to increase his fears. But we must not conceal, that the accompaniments which adorn the narrative of this interview, correspond rather to the luxuriant fancy of a Rhetorician than to the dignity of such a character as that of Probus. We cannot believe that he would put any confidence in the impression likely to be made upon the minds of a formal, stately people, by seeing him seated on the grass, and eating pea-soup and pickled pork for his dinner or that he would pull off his cap to show his bald head, and assure the ambassadors that if the King their Sovereign did not, before the sun should set, endeavour to repair the wrongs which he had done to the Romans, he should see, before the end of the month, all the land in the Kingdom of Persia laid as bare as his head. At all events, it is certain that no hostilities ensued; whence we must conclude, that if the conference now mentioned took place at all, it was attended with a favourable result.

Triumph The return of Probus to Rome, after having subdued Pabus, the Barbarians, and quashed the various insurrections which had shaken the faith of the Provinces, afforded an opportunity for conferring upon him the greatest of all national honours, the solemnity of a regular Triumph. This splendid spectacle was conducted with a degree of magnificence suitable to the merits of a patriot and a conqueror; and the People who had so lately admired the trophies of Aurelian, beheld, with equal delight, the greatness of their Country reflected in the proud caval

* Vopise. in Prob. c. 18; et in Procul. Aurel. Victor, Epit. + Vopisc, in Prob. c. 17. Zosim. lib. i. For a marvellous description of the Blemmyes, see Pliny, v.8, where they are described to be a headless people, carrying their mouths and eyes on their breasts. Vopisc. in Prob. Synes. p. 10-19.

Marcus

Aurelius Probus Augustus.

From

A. D. 276.

to

282.

cade which surrounded the car of Probus. Among the vanquished, whose humiliation ministered to the pride of the Romans, were the Germans and the Blemmyes; nations which at that period occupied the extreme boundaries of North and South in the Roman World.* But this idle show was permitted by the Emperor, rather to gratify the spectators than to soothe his own ambition. Bred a soldier from his earliest days, he felt that his enjoyments as well as his fame were connected with the labours of the Camp; for which reason, he had no sooner complied with the established usages of Rome, than he resumed his place at the head of the Legions stationed beyond the frontier on the Danube and the Euxine. It is supposed that his ultimate object was to retaliate upon the Persians the injuries and disgrace which they had inflicted upon his Countrymen in the person of the unhappy Valerian; but, in the meantime, he thought proper to employ his troops in such public works as might at once enforce his plans of discipline, and add to the wealth and beauty of the Provinces. On this principle, while he commanded in His public Egypt, he built Temples, Bridges, Porticoes, and Palaces, Works. improved the navigation of the Nile, and even increased the productiveness of the rich soil for which that country is distinguished. From similar motives he instructed his soldiers to cover with luxuriant vineyards the hills of Gaul and Pannonia; and not satisfied with such moderate undertakings, he resolved to drain an extensive tract of land near his native Sirmium, and thereby to convert a stagnant marsh into a beautiful plain, fitted for all the uses of agriculture. The warriors of Italy could not consent to endure the unremitting toil of Pannonian peasants; and irritated by some expressions which the Emperor had employed, either to urge their labour or subdue their pride, they threw down their spades and grasped their swords. Probus fled towards a tower, which he had constructed as well perhaps for safety as for surveying the progress of his works; but, before he could reach it, the soldiers plunged their swords into his body, and terminated the He is assas reign of one of the best Princes that had occupied the sinated. Throne of the Cæsars.

It would, indeed, be difficult to name among the His virtues, Sovereigns of Rome, one more distinguished than the Emperor Probus. Victorious throughout his whole life, he added to his military talents the more valuable qualities of benevolence and integrity. Equal to Aurelian as a warrior, he was milder and more gentle in his disposition; as moderate, perhaps, as Marcus Aurelius, he possessed greater abilities as a commander, and exercised a clearer judgment in promoting the interest of the Republic. In a reign of six years he built or repaired seventy cities; while he could number among his pupils some of the best Generals, and most excellent Princes that supported the might of the declining Empire. His death was deeply lamented by the Senate and People of Rome, and even the soldiers who took away his life laboured to perpetuate, by an honourable monument, the memory of his virtues, his talents, and his success.

Hic Probus Imperator, et verè probus situs est.
Victor omnium gentium Barbarorum ;
Victor etiam Tyrannorum.

Vopisc. in Prob. c. 21.

Vopise, in Prob. c. 19

Biography.

From

A. D. 282.

to

285.

Accession of

THE Sceptre which had been wrested from the hands of Probus was immediately placed in those of Carus; a Prince whose character and motives do not enjoy that favourable light in the page of History to which his actions appear to have entitled him. The manner in which the late Emperor was assassinated, might have protected his principal Officers from the charge of premeditation; but we find, notwithstanding, that the Carus. Sus- Prætorian Præfect who succeeded him on the Throne, picions entertained and who exercised the severest justice on his murderers, against him. did not escape the suspicion of being accessary to a crime to which he owed so great an advantage. Zonaras, indeed, goes so far as to affirm, that Carus was named to the Empire before Probus was put to death. Vopiscus, however, who had better means of information, relates, that it was not until the soldiers had consummated their mutiny in the blood of their victorious Chief, that they cast their eyes on the Præfect, as the most deserving of the Purple.*

Doubts as A certain degree of doubt still remains respecting the to the place birth-place of the Emperor Carus: but, upon comparof his birth. ing the statements of different authors, we may conclude that he was born in Illyricum, of parents, one of whom at least, could boast of Roman extraction. On the same ground we may rest our belief that he was educated in the Capital, and had even attained to some degree of literary reputation, before he turned the full bent of his talents to the profession of arms. After discharging the usual Offices which led to the higher ranks of the State, he is supposed to have been honoured with the Consulship; but, as his name does not appear in any of the regular lists, we must infer that he was appointed to succeed some one who had died before the end of his year. There exists more satisfactory evidence that he was Proconsul of Cilicia. Vopiscus has preserved a Letter written by Carus, while he held that office, to his Lieutenant, Junius; in which he is pleased to make an allusion to the noble lineage of his own family, and to pay a compliment to his own prudence and virtue, while he explains the duties, and magnifies the responsibility of him whom he had chosen to share the load of his anxieties.†

From

A. D. 282.

to

285.

The safety of the Republic soon called him into the M. Aurelius Carus field. The death of Probus had given courage to the Augustus. Barbarians, who renewed their predatory inroads into Illyricum and Thrace. The Persians, too, who had yielded to the menaces of that warlike Emperor, assumed once more a threatening attitude, and excited the fears of the Syrian Provinces. Carus, who was not less a General than a Statesman, longed to signalize his arms against those ancient enemies of Rome, and Prepares for accordingly made preparations for entering upon the war against war with speed and effect. But before he committed tians and the fortunes of the Empire to the decision of battle, he Persians. raised his two sons, Carinus and Numerianus, to the rank of Augustus: instructing the one to take the command of the Legions in Gaul, and conducting the other to the Sarmatian frontier, which was already wasted by bands of plunderers.*

the Sarma

His success against the Gothic Tribes was complete His victories and decisive. Sixteen thousand of their slain covered in Illyricum and Persia. the field of battle; while twenty thousand captives rewarded the valour and discipline of the Romans with whom they had ventured to engage. Leaving a sufficient force to prevent the renewal of invasion, Carus led his troops against the Persians; whom, being either taken by surprise or distracted by varying counsels, he subdued with equal ease and rapidity. He reconquered all Mesopotamia, and even took Seleucia and Ctesiphon; but, when making arrangements to pursue the vanquished enemy beyond the Tigris, his death checked for a time the career of the Roman armies. This occurred under circumstances so extremely mysterious, as to leave much room for doubt whether it was the result of disease, of accident, or of violence. A Letter written by Calpurnius, one of his Secretaries, to the Præfect of Rome, describes the occurrence in the following words. Carus, our beloved Sovereign, was Death of confined by sickness, when a dreadful storm arose in Carus, the camp, attended with such furious thunder and lightning as struck the whole army with terror. The darkness which overspread the sky was so thick, that we could no longer distinguish what was going forward; in the midst of which, after a tremendous clap of thunder, some one uttered a cry that the Emperor was dead. It was discovered that the attendants of the Prince, stupified with grief for the loss of their master, had set fire to the Royal tent; a circumstance which gave rise to the report that he was killed by the lightning, though from the strictest investigation there is reason to believe that his death was the natural effect of his disorder."+

66

From A. D. 282.

Bography. Sovereign of Rome, may have fallen a victim to the anger or ambition of his Generals, rather than to the fury of the elements. The event has been confidently ascribed to the treachery of Arrius Aper, the Prætorian Præfect, who was afterwards charged, upon similar grounds, with the murder of Numerianus; and yet, it is but justice to mention, that most of the Historians who lived nearest the period in question, Vopiscus, Eutropius, Aurelius Victor, Hieronimus, Rufus, and Festus, have attributed the demise of the Emperor to a natural cause.*

to

285.

Numerianus

and induced to retreat

The vacancy which ensued was soon supplied by the proclaimed, youngest son of Carus, whose accession was applauded by the unanimous voice of the soldiers. The rights of Persia, the elder brother, who already occupied the Throne of the West, were at the same time recognised by the Army in Mesopotamia; who, influenced by hopes which the good fortune of their late Chief had inspired, and by apprehensions which were but too justly entertained respecting the selfish views of some of their leaders, were content that the Imperial Purple in this instance should be inherited without dispute. But the Roman Public expected that the successor of Carus would pursue the path of victory which his father had opened for him, and, without allowing the Persians to recover from their panic, would advance into the country which still remained unconquered. The superstition of the Legions, however, opposed their farther progress towards the East. The line in which the city of Ctesiphon forms the main position, was long regarded as the boundary determined by Fate to the Roman Empire; it was, therefore, esteemed impious to brave the will of Heaven by crossing the Tigris; while the manner of the late Emperor's death was viewed as a manifestation that the Gods were resolved to vindicate their authority over the affairs of Man. The young Prince, accordingly, whatever might be his private wishes, found it necessary to listen to the entreaties of his soldiers, and to desist from the prosecution of a war, which, in their judgment, had ceased to be auspicious.†

The Romans Live at Chalcedon.

the Em

peror.

In compliance with an impression which could not be either wisely or effectually resisted, Numerianus began his march towards Syria; leaving the Persians at a loss to account for a retreat, which appeared to be undertaken in contempt of all the probabilities of war. Having passed through the various Provinces of Asia Minor, the camp, at the end of eight months, was pitched near Chalcedon, on the shores of the BosphoSickness of rus. The health of the young Emperor being materially injured by the climate of the East, or the unusual fatigues of a campaign, he was carried, during a great part of the retreat, in a covered litter; and when the army reached the Western boundary of Asia, the Imperial equipage was sent forward under a suitable escort, with the intention, perhaps, of securing for the patient the repose and medical assistance which could be best enjoyed in the Capital. The Imperial tent was guarded by the Prætorians with the strictest vigilance; and during many weeks that the Emperor was invisible to the troops at large, all orders were issued by the Præfect, Arrius Aper, who professed to communicate the will of his master.‡

Eutrop. lib. ix. Vopisc. in Car. c. 8. Aurel. Victor, de Casaribus; et Aurel. Victor, Epit. Hieron. Chron. in ann.

Vopise. c. 9. Eutrop. lib. ix. Zonar. lib. xii. c. 30.
Vopisc, in Numerian. c. 12. Zonar. lib. xi. Aurel. Victor, Epit.

and

From A. D. 282.

to

285.

At length the separation of the Court from the Camp M. Aurelius began to excite suspicions regarding the fidelity of Carinus Aper. The Soldiers insisted upon seeing the person of Augustus, their Prince, concerning whose fate so many rumours M. Aurelius were already in circulation; and they had no sooner broke Numerianus into his tent than they found that Numerianus had been Augustus. sometime dead. The studied concealment which had so long marked the conduct of the Prætorian Præfect was held as indisputable evidence of his guilt; and he was accordingly seized, thrown into chains, and reserved for a public trial, in the presence of the whole army. To accomplish the purposes of justice or of revenge, Election of Diocletian was elected Emperor; who, ascending a Diocletian. tribunal which was erected in the middle of the camp, gave orders that Arrius Aper should be brought before him. Desirous, in the first place, to purify himself from any suspicion which might attach to his unexpected elevation, he lifted up his eyes to the Sun, and calling. to witness that all-seeing orb, he declared that he was entirely innocent of the death of Numerianus. Then pointing to Aper he exclaimed, “behold the author of the crime;" and without allowing the accused an opportunity to justify his conduct, he plunged his sword into his breast.*

Vopiscus adds to his narrative by recording a predic- A prophecy tion, which, in his opinion, accounts for the fact that respecting Diocletian choose to execute with his own hand the him. sentence of death upon the unfortunate Præfect; for no one, says he, was ever more master of himself, or less subject to those bursts of passion, which anticipate reflection, and drive men to act before they have time to think. He had not been long in the army, when happening to be quartered at Tongres in Gaul, a Druidess remarked that he was extremely economical in his personal expenses, and even reproached him with it. I will be more generous, he replied, when I am Emperor. Your joke is not without foundation, rejoined the Priestess, for you shall be Emperor, but not until you have killed a Boar. This Prophecy made a deep impression on the mind of the young soldier. Observing that the Imperial authority was often conferred upon men of low extraction, he permitted himself to cherish in secret the hope of one day obtaining it; and, taking the words of the Druidess in their literal acceptation, he frequently engaged in field sports with the view of realizing the condition on which he was fated to ascend the Throne. But it was not until Arrius Aper appeared before him as a criminal, that the mysterious language of the Gallic female revealed its true import to his understanding; to verify which, and to secure the splendid rank which fortune had placed within his reach, he consented to become, in his own person, the instrument for avenging the cause of Numerian. No other motive, he is said to have afterwards declared, could have induced him to mark his accession to the Throne with an action so truly questionable; and which might have justly excited the suspicion, that in taking away the life of the Præfect, he was resolved to gratify a vindictive or sanguinary temper.†

While these things came to pass in the East, Carinus Carinus employed his time in repressing sedition in Gaul, or in renders displaying his vices and luxury in the Capital. Nature himself an formed him with a mind and a body equal to all the object of enterprise and fatigues of war; and it is not denied,

* Vopisc. in Numerian. c. 13, 14.

+ Vopisc. ubi suprà, c. 14. Eutrop. lib. ix. Aurel. Victor.

contempt

and hatred.

From A. D. 282.

to

285.

*

From

A. D. 282.

to 285.

It was in September, 284, that Diocletian was raised M. Aurelius to the Empire, and thereby constituted the rival of Carinus Carinus. The winter appears to have passed in preAugustus. paration for the contest, which in the ensuing Spring was to decide the fate of one or other of these Com manders; and we find, accordingly, that when the army of the East began their march through Illyricum towards Italy, the troops under Carinus advanced to meet them before they could pass the Rhætian Alps. Gains a vicAfter various skirmishes attended with alternate suc- tory over cess, a general action took place in Masia, in which the Diocletian, ability of the Western Emperor and the valour of his troops were on the point of obtaining a signal triumph, when a Tribune, whom he had injured, encouraged by others who had suffered similar wrongs, stabbed him to the heart. Thus, the baseness of his character, which had created in the breasts of those who could best defend his Throne a deep feeling of hatred, terror, and revenge, snatched him away at once from life and from victory; affording a memorable example, that in no rank or station can the most brilliant talents atone for the want of integrity, justice, and temperance.

but is assas

sinated.

Biography.
From

A. D
285.

to

305.

Birth of Diocletian.

Rise in the army and election to

THE lineage of Diocletian has been traced by the Historians of Rome, to a mean family in Dalmatia. His father appears to have been originally a slave in the house of Anulinus, a wealthy Senator, by whom, even after he had obtained his freedom, he continued to be employed in the capacity of a Scribe. The servile name of the future Emperor was Docles, derived from the town or village of Doclia, wherein his mother was born. It is supposed to have been first improved into Diocles, in which form it is sometimes found, and finally into the more sonorous appellation of Diocletianus, which pleased the ears of the Romans and the taste of their master.†

Having at an early age embraced the profession of arms, he rose fast in rank as well as in reputation under several successive Princes. The school of Probus supthe Throne. plied him with the best maxims and the most striking examples of military excellence; and the young soldier profited so well by the advantages which he enjoyed in the Imperial camp, that he was included in the list which Vopiscus has preserved of the distinguished Generals who were formed by the discipline of the warlike Pannonian. In the course of promotion we can trace his rise as Governor of Moesia, as Consul, and at length as Commander of the domestic Guards; that confidential body of troops which had superseded the Prætorians in the duty of the Palace, and been intrusted with the personal safety and repose of the Head of the Government. We have seen, too, that when Numerian died on his return from the Persian

Vopisc. in Carin, c. 15-17. Zonar. lib. xii. c. 36. p. 638. + Eutrop. lib. ix,

war,

Caius Valerius

Augustus.

From

A. D. 295.

to

305.

the unanimous voice of the army called to the Throne the son of the slave of Anulinus.* The election of Diocletian was amply justified by the Diocletianus wisdom and moderation with which he began his reign. Although he had been successfully opposed in the field by the Legions under Carinus, he buried his resentment in the grave of that Emperor; and so far was he from punishing by death or deprivation those leaders who had fought against him under the banners of their lawful Prince, that he rewarded their fidelity and talents by His modertaking them into his own service. He honoured with his ation and confidence Aristobulus the principal Minister of the House wisdom in of Carus, and requested him to continue in the Office of government, which he had discharged the duties so well. The same indulgence was shown to other men of rank; insomuch that Aurelius Victor describes the astonishment of the Roman People at beholding a Civil war brought to an end, without the usual accompaniments of forfeiture, exile, and the most sanguinary executions. We were accustomed, said he, to praise those Princes who in such circumstances set moderate bounds to confiscation, banishment, and death; but History presents no instance of a similar contest being terminated without the loss in any case of fortune, dignity, or life.†

ders in the

The extent of the Empire and the activity of its Represses Barbarian enemies left to the new Sovereign very little the Barbatime for repose. In the East, the Persians, emboldened an invaby the retreat of Numerianus, had already recovered all West and their conquests in Mesopotamia, and were about to East. enter Syria and the neighbouring Provinces. The

Vopisc. in Prob. Aurel. Victor, de Cæsaribus. Victor, Epit. † Aurel. Victor.