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94 Accbrding to the younger Victor, he sometimes wore the diadem. Dew and Domimu appear on his medals.

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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 h-ad 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 Streights which divide Europe from Asia. He there experienced, that the most absolu ower is a weak defenCe against the effects of air. 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 invo ve some of the principal officers of the army in his danger, or at least in his fears. Artfully counterfeiting his master's hand, he shewed them, in a long and bloody list, their own names devoted to death. Without suspects ing or examining the fraud, they resolved to secure their lines by the murder of the emperor. On his march, between Byzantium and Heraclea, Aurelian was suddenly attacked by the conspira

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CHAP. XII.,

Condzzct of the Army and Senafc aflcr flye Death of Aurelian.-Reigm qf Tacitus, Probur, Carus, and [air Sons.

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of the military order, which was signified by the following epistle. V The brave and fortunate " 'armies to the senate and people of Rome. The crime of one man, and the error of many, have deprived us of the late emperor Aurelian. May it please you, venerable lords and fathers! to place him in_ the number of the gods, and to appoint a successor whom your judgment shall declare worthy of the Imperial purple! None of those, whose guilt or misfortune have - 20 f' contri

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CHAR
XII.

Extraordinary contest between the army and the senate for the choice of an emperor.

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