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of the Roman people.* But where was the Roman people to be found? Not surely amongst the mixed multitude of slaves and strangers that filled the streets of Rome, a servile populace, as devoid of spirit as destitute of property. The defenders of the state, selected from the flower of the Italian youth, and trained in the exercise of arms and virtue, were the genuine representatives of the people, and the best entitled to elect the military chief of the republic. These assertions, however defective in reason, became unanswerable, when the fierce prætorians increased their weight, by throwing, like the barbarian conqueror of Rome, their swords into the scale.‡

The prætorians had violated the sanctity of the throne, by the atrocious murder of Pertinax; they dishonoured the majesty of it, by their subsequent conduct. The camp was without a leader, for even the prefect Lætus, who had excited the tempest, prudently declined the public indignation. Amidst the wild disorder, Sulpicianus, the emperor's fatherin-law, and governor of the city, who had been sent to the camp on the first alarm of mutiny, was endeavouring to calm the fury of the multitude, when he was silenced by the clamorous return of the murderers, bearing on a lance the head of Pertinax. Though history has accustomed us to observe every principle and every passion yielding to the imperious dictates of ambition, it is scarcely credible that in these moments of horror, Sulpicianus should have aspired to ascend a throne polluted with the recent blood of so near a relation, and so excellent a prince. He had already begun to use the only effectual argument, and to treat for the im perial dignity; but the more prudent of the prætorians, apprehensive that, in this private contract, they should not obtain a just price for so valuable a commodity, ran out upon the ramparts, and with a loud voice, proclaimed that the Roman world was to be disposed of to the best bidder by public auction.g

2,500,000l. sterling.

Cicero de Legibus, 3, 3. The first book of Livy, and the second of Dionysius of Halicarnassus, shew the authority of the people, even in the election of the kings. + They were originally recruited in Latium, Etruria, and the old colonies. (Tacit. Annal. 4, 5.) The emperor Otho compliments their vanity, with the flattering titles of Italia alumni, Romana vere juventus. Tacit. Hist. 1, 84. In the siege of Rome by the Gauls. See Livy, 5, 48. Plu tarch in Camill. p. 143 § Dion. 1. 73, p. 1234. Herodian, I. 2,

138

THE EMPIRE SOLD.

[CH. ▼

This infamous offer, the most insolent excess of military licence, diffused a universal grief, shame, and indignation, throughout the city. It reached at length the ears of Didius Julianus, a wealthy senator, who, regardless of the public calamities, was indulging himself in the luxury of the table. His wife and his daughter, his freedmen and his parasites, easily convinced him that he deserved the throne, and earnestly conjured him to embrace so fortunate an opportunity. The vain old man hastened to the prætorian camp, where Sulpicianus was still in treaty with the guards; and began to bid against him from the foot of the rampart. The unworthy negotiation was transacted by faithful emissaries, who passed alternately from one candidate to the other, and acquainted each of them with the offers of his rival. Sulpicianus had already promised a donative of five thousand drachms (above 1601.) to each soldier; when Julian, eager for the prize, rose at once to the sum of six thousand two hundred and fifty drachms, or upwards of 2007. sterling. The gates of the can:p were instantly thrown open to the purchaser; he was declared emperor, and received an oath of allegiance from the soldiers, who retained humanity enough to stipulate that he should pardon and forget the competition of Sulpicianus.

a

It was now incumbent on the prætorians to fulfil the conditions of the sale. They placed their new sovereign, whom they served and despised, in the centre of their ranks, surrounded him on every side with their shields, and conducted him in close order of battle through the deserted streets of the city. The senate was commanded to assemble; and those who had been the distinguished friends of Pertinax, or the personal enemies of Julian, found it necessary to affect more than common share of satisfaction at this happy revolution.† After Julian had filled the senate-house with armed soldiers, he expatiated on the treedom of his election, his own eminent virtues, and his full assurance of the affecp. 63. Hist. August. p. 60. Though the three historians agree that it was in fact an auction, Herodian alone affirms that it was proclaimed as such by the soldiers. * Spartianus softens the most odious parts of the character and elevation of Julian. "Julian was much indebted for the preference which he obtained, to his artful insinuations, that Sulpicianus would not fail to revenge the death of his son-in-law. Dion. p. 1234, and Herodian, 1. 2, c. 6.—WENCK.] Dion Cassius, at that time prætor, had been a personal enemy to Julian, L. 72, p. 1135.

**

tions of the senate. The obsequious assembly congratulated their own and the public felicity; engaged their allegiance, and conferred on him all the several branches of the imperial power." From the senate Julian was conducted, by the same military procession, to take possession of the palace. The first objects that struck his eyes, were the abandoned trunk of Pertinax, and the frugal entertainment prepared for his supper. The one he viewed with indifference; the other with contempt. A magnificent feast was prepared by his order, and he amused himself till a very late hour, with dice, and the performance of Pylades, a celebrated dancer. Yet it was observed, that after the crowd of flatterers dispersed, and left him to darkness, solitude, and terrible reflection, he passed a sleepless night; revolving most probably in his mind his own rash folly, the fate of his virtuous predecessor, and the doubtful and dangerous tenure of an empire, which had not been acquired by merit, but purchased by money.†

* Hist. August. p. 61. We learn from thence one curious circumstance, that the new emperor, whatever had been his birth, was immediately aggregated to the number of patrician families. + Dion.

1. 73, p. 1235. Hist. August. p. 61. I have endeavoured to blend into one consistent story the seeming contradictions of the two writers. [These contradictions are not, and cannot be," blended into one consistent story;" they are not seeming, but real. The following are the

words of Spartianus. (Hist. Aug. p. 61.) "Etiam hi primum qui Julianum odisse coeperunt, disseminârunt prima statim sic Pertinacis cœna dispecta, luxuriosum parâsse convivium ostreis et alitibus et piscibus adornatum, quod falsum fuisse constat; nam Julianus tantæ parsimoniæ fuisse perhibetur, ut per triduum porcellum, per triduum leporem, divideret, si quis ei forte misisset; sæpe autem, nulla existente religione, oleribus leguminibusque contentus, sine carne cœnaverit. Deinde neque cœnavit priusquam sepultus esset Pertinax, et tristissimus cibum ob ejus necem sumpsit, et primam noctem vigiliis continuit, de tanta necessitate sollicitus." (Those who from the first began to hate Julianus, propagated the report, that turning contemptuously from the supper which had been provided for Pertinax, he ordered a sumptuous banquet of oysters, fowls, and fish, to be prepared. This is altogether false; for his habits were so frugal, that he would make a hare or a sucking-pig serve him for three days, whenever he received such a present. Often, too, even when no religious abstinence required it, a supper of vegetables would satisfy him, without meat. Nor did he sup the first night, till after Pertinax was buried, on account of whose death he took his meal sorrowfully, and weighed down with heavy anxieties passed a wakeful night.) Compare with these the words of Dion Cassius, in their Latin version (lib. 73, p.

140

POPULAR DISCONTENT.

[CH.T.

The

He had reason to tremble. On the throne of the world be found himself without a friend, and even without an adherent. The guards themselves were ashamed of the prince, whom their avarice had persuaded them to accept; nor was there a citizen who did not consider his elevation with horror, as the last insult on the Roman name. nobility, whose conspicuous station and ample possessions exacted the strictest caution, dissembled their sentiments, and met the affected civility of the emperor with smiles of complacency, and professions of duty. But the people, secure in their numbers and obscurity, gave a free vent to their passions. The streets and public places of Rome resounded with clamours and imprecations. The enraged multitude affronted the person of Julian, rejected his liberality, and conscious of the impotence of their own resentment, they called aloud on the legions of the frontiers to assert the violated majesty of the Roman empire.

The public discontent was soon diffused from the centre to the frontiers of the empire. The armies of Britain, of Syria, and of Illyricum, lamented the death of Pertinax, in whose company, or under whose command, they had so often fought and conquered. They received with surprise, with

1255):-"Hoc modo quum imperium senatûs consultis stabilisset, in palatium proficiscitur; ubi cum invenisset cœnam paratam Pertinaci, derisit illam vehementer, et arcessitis unde et quoquo modo tum potuit, pretiosissimis quibusque rebus, mortuo adhuc intus jacente, semel ingurgitavit, lusit aleis, et Pyladem saltatorem cum aliis qui busdam adsumpsit." (The decrees of the senate having thus confirmed his imperial dignity, he proceeded to the palace. Scornfully ridiculing the supper which he there found prepared for Pertinax, he collected, whencesoever, and by whatever means he could, the most expensive fare, and feasted on it, while the dead body of his predecessor was yet within the same walls; he played, too, at dice, and amused himself with Pylades the dancer and others.) Gibbon has added to Dion's narrative the concluding sentence in that of Spartianus. This does not reconcile the two passages. Reimarus does not attempt to render such glaring differences consistent with each other; after discussing the value of the two authorities, he gave the preference to that of Dion, whose statements are also confirmed by Herodian (lib. 2, 7, 1) See his commentary on this passage in Dion.-GUIZOT.] [In estimating these authorities we must bear in mind, that Dion lived and held office at the time; that Herodian was the next in order of time; and that Spartianus was a century later. Gibbon, no, doubt, considered this: and what, was the most probable course of such a transaction, as well as the most natural conduct of such actors--ED.]

indignation, and perhaps with envy, the extraordinary intelligence, that the prætorians had disposed of the empire by public auction; and they sternly refused to ratify the igno minous bargain. Their immediate and unanimous revolt was fatal to Julian, but it was fatal, at the same time, to the public peace; as the generals of the respective armies, Clodius Albinus, Pescennius Niger, and Septimius Severus, were still more anxious to succeed than to revenge the murdered Pertinax. Their forces were exactly balanced. Each of them was at the head of three legions, with a numerous train of auxiliaries; and, however different in their characters, they were all soldiers of experience and capacity.

Clodius Albinus, governor of Britain, surpassed both his competitors in the nobility of his extraction, which he derived from some of the most illustrious names of the old republic. But the branch from whence he claimed his descent was sunk into mean circumstances, and transplanted into a remote province. It is difficult to form a just idea of his true character. Under the philosophic cloak of austerity, he stands accused of concealing most of the vices which degrade human nature. But his accusers are those venal writers who adored the fortune of Severus, and trampled on the ashes of an unsuccessful rival. Virtue, or the appearances of virtue, recommended Albinus to the confidence and good opinion of Marcus; and his preserving with the son the same interest which he had acquired with the father, is a proof at least that he was possessed of a very flexible disposition. The favour of a tyrant does not always suppose a want of merit in the object of it; he may, without intending it, reward a man of worth and ability, or he may find such a man useful to his own service. It does not appear that Albinus served the son of Marcus, either as the minister of his cruelties, or even as the associate of his pleasures. He was employed in a distant honourable command, when he received a confidential letter from the emperor, acquainting him of the treasonable designs of some

Dion, i. 73, p. 1235. + The Posthumian and the Cejonian, the former of whom was raised to the consulship in the fifth year after its institution. Spartianus, in his undigested collections, mixes up all the virtues and all the vices that enter into the human composition, and bestows them on the same object. Such, indeed, are many of the characters in the Augustan History.

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