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142

PESCENNIUS NIGER.

[CH. V. discontented generals, and authorizing him to declare himself the guardian and successor of the throne, by assuming the title and ensigns of Cæsar. The governor of Britain wisely declined the dangerous honour, which would have marked him for the jealousy, or involved him in the approaching ruin, of Commodus. He courted power by nobler, or, at least, by more specious arts. On a premature report of the death of the emperor, he assembled his troops; and, in an eloquent discourse, deplored the inevitable mischief of despotism, described the happiness and glory which their ancestors had enjoyed under the consular government, and declared his firm resolution to reinstate the senate and people in their legal authority. This popular harangue was answered by the loud acclamations of the British legions, and received at Rome with a secret murmur of applause. Safe in the possession of this little world, and in the command of an army less distinguished indeed for discipline than for numbers and valour,† Albinus braved the menaces of Commodus, maintained towards Pertinax a stately ambiguous reserve, and instantly declared against the usurpa tion of Julian. The convulsions of the capital added new weight to his sentiments, or rather to his professions of patriotism. A regard to decency induced him to decline the lofty titles of Augustus and emperor; and he imitated perhaps the example of Galba, who, on a similar occasion, had styled himself the lieutenant of the senate and people.‡

Personal merit alone had raised Pescennius Niger from an obscure birth and station, to the government of Syria; a lucrative and important command, which, in times of civil confusion, gave him a near prospect of the throne. Yet his parts seem to have been better suited to the second than to the first rank; he was an unequal rival, though he might have approved himself an excellent lieutenant, to Severus, who afterwards displayed the greatness of his mind by adopting several useful institutions from a vanquished enemy.§ In his government, Niger acquired the esteem of the sol Pertinax, who governed Britain a mutiny of the soldiers regretted him; admiran

Hist. August. p. 80, 84.

few years before, had been left for dead, Hist. August. p. 54. Yet they loved and

tibus eam virtutem cui irascebantur. Hist. August. p. 76.

in

a

Sueton. in Galb. c. 10.

diers and the love of the provinciais. His rigid discipline fortified the valour, and confirmed the obedience of the former, whilst the voluptuous Syrians were less delighted with the mild firmness of his administration, than with the affability of his manners, and the apparent pleasure with which he attended their frequent and pompous festivals.* As soon as the intelligence of the atrocious murder of Pertinax had reached Antioch, the wishes of Asia invited Niger to assume the imperial purple, and revenge his death. The legions of the eastern frontier embraced his cause; the opulent but unarmed provinces, from the frontiers of Ethiopia† to the Adriatic, cheerfully submitted to his power; and the kings beyond the Tigris and the Euphrates congratulated his election, and offered him their homage and services. The mind of Niger was not capable of receiving this sudden tide of fortune; he flattered himself that his accession would be undisturbed by competition, and unstained by civil blood; and whilst he enjoyed the vain pomp of triumph, he neglected to secure the means of victory. Instead of entering into an effectual negotiation with the powerful armies of the west, whose resolution might decide, or at least must balance, the mighty contest; instead of advancing without delay towards Rome and Italy, where his presence was impatiently expected, Niger trifled away, in the luxury of Antioch, those irretrievable moments which were diligently improved by the decisive activity of Severus.§

The country of Pannonia and Dalmatia, which occupied the space between the Danube and the Adriatic, was one of the last and most difficult conquests of the Romans. In the defence of national freedom, two hundred thousand of these barbarians had once appeared in the field, alarmed the declining age of Augustus, and exercised the vigilant prudence

Herod. 1. 2, p. 68. The chronicle of John Malala, of Antioch, shows the zealous attachment of his countrymen to these festivals, which at once gratified their superstition, and their love of pleasure. + A king of Thebes, in Egypt, is mentioned in the Augustan history as an ally, and, indeed, as a personal friend of Niger. If Spartianus is not, as I strongly suspect, mistaken, he has brought to light a dynasty of tributary princes totally unknown to history. + Dion, 1. 73, p. 1238. Herod. 1. 2, p. 67. A verse in every one's mouth at that time, seems to express the general opinion of the three rivals: Optimus est Niger, bonus Afer, pessimus Allus. Hist. August. p. 75. Herodian, L 2, p. 71.

144

SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS.

ĹCH. V. of Tiberius, at the head of the collected force of the empire. The Pannonians yielded at length to the arms and institutions of Rome. Their recent subjection, however, the neighbour hood, and even the mixture, of the unconquered tribes, and perhaps the climate, adapted, as it has been observed, to the production of great bodies and slow minds,† all contributed to preserve some remains of their original ferocity, and under the tame and uniform countenance of Roman provincials, the hardy features of the natives were still to be discerned. Their warlike youth afforded an inexhaustible supply of recruits to the legions stationed on the banks of the Danube, and which, from a perpetual warfare against the Germans and Sarmatians, were deservedly esteemed the best troops in

the service.

The Pannonian army was at this time commanded by Septimius Severus, a native of Africa, who, in the gradual ascent of private honours, had concealed his daring ambition, which was never diverted from its steady course by the allurements of pleasure, the apprehension of danger, or the feelings of humanity. On the first news of the murder of Pertinax, he assembled his troops, painted in the most lively colours the crime, the insolence, and weakness, of the prætorian guards, and animated the legions to arms and to revenge. He concluded (and the peroration was thought extremely eloquent) with promising every soldier about four hundred pounds; an honourable donative, double in value to the infamous bribe with which Julian had purchased the empire. The acclamations of the army immediately saluted Severus with the names of Augustus Pertinax and emperor; and he thus attained the lofty station to which he was invited, by conscious merit, and a long train of dreams and omens, the fruitful offspring either of his superstition or policy.||

* See an account of that memorable war in Velleius Paterculus, 2, 110, &c., who served in the army of Tiberius. +Such is the reflection of Herodian, 1. 2, p. 74. Will the modern Austrians allow the influence? In the letter to Albinus, already mentioned, Commodus accuses Severus, as one of the ambitious generals who censured his conduct, and wished to occupy his place. Hist. August. p. 80. § Pannonia was tou

poor to supply such a sum. It was probably promised in the camp, and paid at Rome, after the victory. In fixing the sum, I have adopted the conjecture of Casaubon. See Hist. August. p. 66. Comment. p. 115. Herodian, L. 2, p. 78. Severus was declared emperor on

The new candidate for empire saw and improved the peculiar advantage of his situation. His province extended to the Julian Alps, which gave an easy access into Italy; and he remembered the saying of Augustus, that a Pannonian army might in ten days appear in sight of Rome.* By a celerity proportioned to the greatness of the occasion, he might reasonably hope to revenge Pertinax, punish Julian, and receive the homage of the senate and people, as their lawful emperor, before his competitors, separated from Italy by an immense tract of sea and land, were apprized of his success, or even of his election. During the whole expedition he scarcely allowed himself any moments for sleep or food; marching on foot, and in complete armour, at the head of his columns, he insinuated himself into the confidence and affection of his troops, pressed their diligence, revived their spirits, animated their hopes, and was well satisfied to share the hardships of the meanest soldier, whilst he kept in view the infinite superiority of his reward.

The wretched Julian had expected, and thought himself prepared, to dispute the empire with the governor of Syria; but in the invincible and rapid approach of the Pannonian legions, he saw his inevitable ruin. The hasty arrival of every messenger increased his just apprehensions. He was successively informed that Severus had passed the Alps; that the Italian cities, unwilling or unable to oppose his progress, had received him with the warmest professions of joy and duty; that the important place of Ravenna had surrendered without resistance, and that the Adriatic fleet was in the hands of the conqueror. The enemy was now within two hundred and fifty miles of Rome; and every the banks of the Danube, either at Carnuntum, according to Spartianus, (Hist. August. p. 65,) or else at Sabaria, according to Victor. Mr. Hume, in supposing that the birth and dignity of Severus were too much inferior to the imperial crown, and that he marched into Italy as general only, has not considered this transaction with his usual accuracy, (Essay on the Original Contract.) [Carnuntum was opposite to the point where the Morava flows into the Danube. Petronel and Haimburg both claim to be the present occupant of its site. An interjacent village, by its name of Altenburg (Oldborough), seems to indicate an ancient station. D'Anville, Géog. Anc., tom. i, p. 154. Sabaria is now Sarwar.-GUIZOT.] * Velleius Paterculus, 1. 2, c. 2. We must reckon the march from the nearest verge of Pannonia, and extend the sight of the city as far as two hundred miles. [Severus was probably ignorant of the saying, and could not call to mind what

VOL. I.

L

116

DEATH OF JULIANUS.

[CH. V.

moment diminished the narrow span of life and empire allotted to Julian.

He attempted, however, to prevent, or at least to protract, his ruin. He employed the venal faith of the prætorians, filled the city with unavailing preparations for war, drew lines round the suburbs, and even strengthened the fortications of the palace; as if those last entrenchments could be defended without hope of relief against a victorious invader. Fear and shame prevented the guards from deserting his standard; but they trembled at the name of the Pannonian legions, commanded by an experienced general, and accustomed to vanquish the barbarians on the frozen Danube. They quitted, with a sigh, the pleasures of the baths and theatres, to put on arms, whose use they had almost forgotten, and beneath the weight of which they were oppressed. The unpractised elephants, whose uncouth appearance it was hoped would strike terror into the army of the north, threw their unskilful riders; and the awkward evolutions of the marines, drawn from the fleet of Misenum, were an object of ridicule to the populace; whilst the senate enjoyed, with secret pleasure, the distress and weakness of the usurper.+

Every motion of Julian betrayed his trembling perplexity. He insisted that Severus should be declared a public enemy by the senate. He entreated that the Pannonian general might be associated to the empire. He sent public ambassadors of consular rank to negotiate with his rival; he despatched private assassins to take away his life. He designed that the vestal virgins, and all the colleges of priests, in their sacerdotal habits, and bearing before them the sacred pledges of the Roman religion, should advance, in solemn procession, to meet the Pannonian legions; and, at the same time, he vainly tried to interrogate, or to the Fates, by magic ceremonies and unlawful sacrifices. S

appease,

*This is not a puerile

Gibbon so well remembered.-WENCK.] figure of rhetoric, but an allusion to a real fact, recorded by Dion, 1. 71, p. 1181. It probably happened more than once. + Dion, 1. 73, p. 1233. Herodian, I. 2. p. 81. There is no surer proof of the mili litary skill of the Romans, than their first surmounting the idle terror, and afterwards disdaining the dangerous use, of elephants in war. These proceedings will not appear so contradictory, when we con

sider that he pursued one line of conduct while he hoped to maintain bis ground, and the opposite after he despaired.-WENCK.]

§ Hist

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