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against 30me opulent youths of that country, the execution of which would have stripped them of far the greater part of their patrimony. In this extremity, a resolution that must either complete or prevent their ruin, was dictated by despair. A respite of three days, obtained with difficulty from the rapacious treasurer, was employed in collecting from their estates a great number of slaves and peasants blindly devoted to the commands of their lords, and armed with the rustic weapons of clubs and axes. the conspiracy, as they were admitted to the audience of the procurator, stabbed him with the daggers concealed under their garments, and, by the assistance of their tumultuary train, seized on the little town of Thysdrus,* and erected the standard of rebellion against the sovereign of the Roman empire. They rested their hopes on the hatred of mankind against Maximin, and they judiciously resolved to oppose to that detested tyrant, an emperor whose mild virtues had already acquired the love and esteem of the Romans, and whose authority over the province would give weight and stability to the enterprise. Gordianus, their proconsul, and the object of their choice, refused, with unfeigned reluctance, the dangerous honour, and begged with tears, that they would suffer him to terminate in peace a long and innocent life, without staining his feeble age with civil blood. Their menaces compelled him to accept of the imperial purple; his only refuge indeed, against the jealous cruelty of Maximin, since, according to the reasoning of tyrants, those who have been esteemed worthy of the throne deserve death, and those who deliberate have already rebelled.+

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The family of Gordianus was one of the most illustrious of the Roman senate. On the father's side, he was descended from the Gracchi; on his mother's from the Trajan. A great estate enabled him to support the dignity of his birth; and, in the enjoyment of it, he displayed an elegant taste, and beneficent disposition. The palace in Rome, formerly inhabited by the great Pompey, had been,

In the fertile territory of Byzacium, one hundred and fifty miles to the south of Carthage.. This city was decorated, probably by the Gordians, with the title of colony, and with a fine amphi theatre, which is still in a very perfect state. See Itinerar. Wesseling, p. 59. and Shaw's Travels, p. 117. + Herodian, 1. 7. p. 239. Hist

during several generations, in the possession of Gordian's family. It was distinguished by ancient trophies of naval victories, and decorated with the works of modern painting. His villa on the road to Præneste was celebrated for baths of singular beauty and extent, for three stately rooms of a hundred feet in length, and for a magnificent portico, supported by two hundred columns of the four most curious and costly sorts of marble. The public shows exhibited at his expense, and in which the people were entertained with many hundreds of wild beasts and gladiators, seem to surpass the fortune of a subject; and whilst the liberality of other magistrates was confined to a few solemn festivals in Rome, the magnificence of Gordian was repeated, when he was ædile, every month in the year; and extended, during his consulship, to the principal cities of Italy. He was twice elevated to the last-mentioned dignity, by Caracalla and by Alexander; for he possessed the uncommon talent August. p. 153. *Hist. August. p. 152. The celebrated house of Pompey in carinis was usurped by Mark Antony, and consequently became, after the triumvir's death, a part of the imperial domain. The emperor Trajan allowed, and even encouraged, the rich senators to purchase those magnificent and useless places (Plin. Panegyric. c. 50); and it may seem probable that, on this occasion, Pompey's house came into the possession of Gordian's great-grandfather.

+ The Claudian, the Numidian, the Carystian, and the Synnadian. The colours of Koman marbles have been faintly described, and imperfectly distinguished. It appears, however, that the Carystian was a sea-green, and that the marble of Synnada was white, mixed with oval spots of purple. See Salmasius ad Hist. August. p. 164. [The expres sion, that these four sorts of marble were the most curious and costly, must not be taken in its strictest sense. Those of Greece were most highly prized by the Romans, although not superior to some of other provinces; as, for instance, the green colour of the Carystian, from Africa, equalled the Lacedæmonian. Gibbon's complaint of our imperfect information respecting Roman marbles, by which he, no doubt, means those used by the Romans, may apply to all the ancient marbles. The best account of them is in the last book of Pliny's Natural History. But he does not give any marks, by which the different sorts were distinguished, and omits some which older writers mention. Blasius Caryophilus (De antiquis Marmoribus, 4to. Utrecht 1743) has collected, very industriously, such miscellaneous notices of the subject, as he found scattered among the ancients.-WENCK.]

Hist. August. p. 151, 152. He sometimes gave five hundred paira of gladiators, never less than one hundred and fifty. He once gave, for the use of the circus, one hundred Sicilian, and as many Cappadodocian horses. The animals designed or hunting were chiefly bears, boars, bulls, stags, elks, wild asses &c. Elephants and lions seem to

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GORDIAN'S CHARACTER.

[CH. VII. of acquiring the esteem of virtuous princes, without alarm. ing the jealousy of tyrants. His long life was innocently spent in the study of letters, and the peaceful honours of Rome; and, till he was named proconsul of Africa by the voice of the senate and the approbation of Alexander,* he appears prudently to have declined the command of armies and the government of provinces. As long as that emperor lived, Africa was happy under the administration of his worthy representative; after the barbarous Maximin had usurped the throne, Gordianus alleviated the miseries which he was unable to prevent. When he reluctantly accepted the purple, he was above fourscore years old; a last and valuable remains of the happy age of the Antonines, whose virtues he revived in his own conduct, and celebrated in an elegant poem of thirty books. With the venerable proconsul, his son, who had accompanied him into Africa as his lieutenant, was likewise declared emperor. His manners were less pure, but his character was equally amiable with that of his father. Twenty-two acknowledged concubines, and a library of sixty-two thousand volumes, attested the variety of his inclinations; and from the productions which he left behind him, it appears that the former as well as the latter were designed for use rather than for ostentation. The Roman people acknowledged in the features of the younger Gordian, the resemblance of Scipio Africanus,t have been appropriated to imperial magnificence. * See the original letter, in the Augustan History, p. 152, which at once shews Alexander's respect for the authority of the senate, and his esteem for the proconsul appointed by that assembly. [Herodian (1. 7. c. 5) says expressly, that he had administered many provinces before he was proconsul of Africa.-WENCK.] By each of his concubines, the younger Gordian left three or four children. His literary productions, though less numerous, were by no means contemptible. [Gordian's library was a legacy from his preceptor, Serenus Sammonicus, probably the author of a still extant poem on Medicine. Of his own writings, none have been preserved for us; therefore we can form no opinion of them. Capitolinus (c. 20) says, that they were of little value. The judgment of a writer, who was himself below mediocrity, is not to be trusted. The progeny, of whom the paternity is ascribed to Gordian, is improbable, and, without doubt, exaggerated. Capitolinus gives no better authority for it than a fertur."-WENCK.] The Romans saw no resemblance in the features; but believed him to be descended from the Scipios. (Capitol. c. 9.) He was connected with them through the Gracchi. For virtues like their the father had been styled "the new Scipio," by the people of

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recollected with pleasure that his mother was the granddaughter of Antoninus Pius, and rested the public hope on those latent virtues which had hitherto, as they fondly imagined, lain concealed in the luxurious indolence of a private life.

As soon as the Gordians had appeased the first tumult of a popular election, they removed their court to Carthage. They were received with the acclamations of the Africans, who honoured their virtues, and who, since the visit of Hadrian, had never beheld the majesty of a Roman emperor. But these vain acclamations neither strengthened nor confirmed the title of the Gordians. They were induced by principle, as well as interest, to solicit the approbation of the senate; and a deputation of the noblest provincials was sent, without delay, to Rome, to relate and justify the conduct of their countrymen, who, having long suffered with patience, were at length resolved to act with vigour. The letters of the new princes were modest and respectful, excusing the necessity which had obliged them to accept the imperial title; but submitting their election and their fate to the supreme judgment of the senate.*

The inclinations of the senate were neither doubtful nor divided. The birth and noble alliances of the Gordians had intimately connected them with the most illustrious houses of Rome. Their fortune had created many dependants in that assembly, their merit had acquired many friends. Their mild administration opened the flattering prospect of the restoration, not only of the civil, but even of the republican government. The terror of military violence, which had first obliged the senate to forget the murder of Alexander, and to ratify the election of a barbarian peasant, now produced a contrary effect, and provoked them to assert the injured rights of freedom and humanity. The hatred of Maximin towards the senate was declared and implacable; the tamest submission had not appeased his fury; the most cautious innocence would not remove his suspicions; even the care of their own safety urged them to share the

and

Africa. (Capitol. c. 5.) Both father and son received and retained the surname of Africanus, alike in allusion to the Scipios and to the country in which they had been proclaimed emperors-WENCK.

Herodian, 1. 7, p. 243. Hist. August. p. 144. + Quod tamen patres, dum periculosum existimant, inermes armate resistere approVOL. I.

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of Africa.

PROGRESS OF THE REVOLT.

[CH. VII. fortune of an enterprise, of which, if unsuccessful, they were sure to be the first victims. These considerations, and perhaps others of a more private nature, were debated in a previous conference of the consuls and the magistrates. As Boon as their resolution was decided, they convoked in the temple of Castor the whole body of the senate, according to an ancient form of secrecy,* calculated to awaken their attention, and to conceal their decrees. "Conscript fathers," said the consul Syllanus, "the two Gordians, both of consular dignity, the one your proconsul, the other your lieutenant, have been declared emperors by the general consent Let us return thanks," he boldly continued, "to the youth of Thysdrus; let us return thanks to the faithful people of Carthage, our generous deliverers from a horrid monster. Why do you hear me thus coolly, thus timidly ? Why do you cast those anxious looks on each other? Why hesitate? Maximin is a public enemy! may his enmity soon expire with him, and may we long enjoy the prudence and felicity of Gordian the father: the valour and constancy of Gordian the son!"+ The noble ardour of the consul revived the languid spirit of the senate. By a unanimous decree the election of the Gordians was ratified; Maximin, his son, and his adherents, were pronounced enemies of their country; and liberal rewards were offered to whosoever had the courage and good fortune to destroy them.

During the emperor's absence, a detachment of the prætorian guards remained at Rome, to protect, or rather to command, the capital. The prefect Vitalianus had signalized his fidelity to Maximin, by the alacrity with which he had obeyed, and even prevented the cruel mandates of the tyrant. His death alone could rescue the authority of the senate and the lives of the senators, from a state of danger and suspense. Before their resolves had transpired, a quæstor and some tribunes were commissioned to take his devoted life. They executed the order with equal boldness and success; and, with their bloody daggers in their hands, ran through the streets, proclaiming to the people and the baverunt. (Aurelius Victor.) *Even the servants of the house, the scribes, &c., were excluded, and their office was filled by the senators themselves. We are obliged to the Augustan History, p. 159, for preBerving this curious example of the old discipline of the common. wealth, + This spirited speech, translated from the Augustau his

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