the fortifications of the Lower Danube were more carelessly guarded, and the inhabitants of Mafia lived in fupine fecurity, fondly conceiving themselves at an inacceffible diftance from any barbarian invaders. The irruptions of the Goths, under the reign of Philip, fatally convinced them of their mistake. The king, or leader of that fierce nation, traverfed with contempt the province of Dacia, and paffed both the Niefter and the Danube without encountering any oppofition capable of retarding his progrefs. The relaxed difcipline of the Roman troops betrayed the most important posts, where they were ftationed, and the fear of deferved punishment induced great numbers of them to inlift under the Gothic ftandard. The various multitude of barbarians appeared, at length, under the walls of Marcianopolis, a city built by Trajan in honour of his fifter, and at that time the capital of the fecond Mafia ". The inhabitants confented to ranfom their lives and property, by the payment of a large fum of money, and the invaders retreated back into their deserts, animated, rather than fatisfied, with the first fuccefs of their arms against an opulent but feeble country. Intelligence was foon tranfmitted to the emperor Decius, that Cniva, king of the Goths, had passed the Danube a fecond time, with more confiderable forces; that his numerous detachments fcattered devaftation over the province of Mæfia, whilst the main body of the army, confifting of feventy thousand Germans and Sarmatians, a force equal to the most daring atchievements, required the prefence of the Roman mo. narch, and the exertion of his military power.

СНАР,

X.

CHAP,

X.

Various

events of the Gothic

war.

4. D. 250.

Decius found the Goths engaged before Nicopolis, on the Jatrus, one of the many monuments of Trajan's victories". On his approach, they raised the fiege, but with a defign only of marching away to a conqueft of greater importance, the fiege of Philippopolis, a city of Thrace, founded by the father of Alexander, near the foot of mountHamus ". Decius followed them through a difficult country, and by forced marches; but when he imagined himself at a confiderable distance from the rear of the Goths, Cniva turned with rapid fury on his purfuers. The camp of the Romans was furprised and pillaged, and, for the first time, their emperor fled in diforder before a troop of half-armed barbarians. After a long refiftance, Philippopolis, deftitute of fuccour, was taken by storm. A hundred thousand perfons are reported to have been maffacred in the fack of that great city". Many prifoners of confequence became a valuable acceffion to the fpoil; and Prifcus, a brother of the late emperor Philip, blushed not to affume the purple under the protection of the barbarous enemies of Rome ". The time, however, confumed in that tedious fiege, enabled Decius to revive the courage, reftore the difcipline, and recruit the numbers of his troops. He intercepted feveral parties of Carpi, and other Germans, who were haftening to share the victory of their countrymen, intrufted the paffes of the mountains to officers of approved valour and fidelity repaired and ftrengthened the fortifications of the Danube, and exerted his utmoft vigilance to oppose either the progrefs or the retreat of the Goths.

35

Encouraged by the return of fortune, he anxiously CHAP. waited for an opportunity to retrieve, by a great

and decifive blow, his own glory, and that of the Roman arms

36

At the fame time when Decius was ftruggling with the violence of the tempeft, his mind, calm and deliberate amidst the tumult of war, inveftigated the more general causes, that, fince the age of the Antonines, had fo impetuously urged the decline of the Roman greatnefs. He foon difcovered that it was impoffible to replace that greatness on a permanent basis, without reftoring public virtue, ancient principles and manners, and the oppreffed majesty of the laws. To execute this noble but arduous defign, he first resolved to revive the obfolete office of cenfor; an office, which, as long as it had fubfifted in its priftine integrity, had fo much contributed to the perpetuity of the ftate " till it was ufurped and gradually neglected by the Cæfars". Confcious that the favour of the fovereign may confer power, but that the esteem of the people can alone beftow authority, he fubmitted the choice of the cenfor to the unbiaffed voice of the fenate. By their unanimous votes, or rather acclamations, Valerian who was afterwards emperor, and who then ferved with distinction in the army of Decius, was declared the moft worthy of that exalted honour. As foon as the decree of the fenate was tranfmitted to the emperor, he affembled a great council in his camp, and, before the inveftiture of the cenfor elect, he apprized him of the difficulty and

37

X.

1

X.

وو

رو

دو

دو

CHAP. importance of his great office. "Happy Valerian, faid the prince, to his diftinguished fubject,,, happy in the general approbation of the fenate and of the Roman republic! Accept the cenforship of „ mankind; and judge of our manners. You will felect those who deserve to continue members of the fenate; you will reftore the equeftrian order to its ancient fplendour; you will improve the revenue, yet moderate the public burdens. You will diftinguish into regular claffes the various and infinite multitude of citizens, and , accurately review the military strength, the wealth, the virtue, and the refources of Rome. Your decifions shall obtain the force of laws. » The army, the palace, the minifters of justice, and the great officers of the empire, are all subject to your tribunal. None are exempted, "excepting only the ordinary confuls the prefect of the city, the king of the facrifices, », and (as long as she preferves her chastity inviolate) the eldest of the veftal virgins. Even these few, who may not dread the feverity, will anxiously folicit the efteem, of the Roman cenfor

The defign

impracti cable and without effect.

כל

دو

رو

وو

دو

وو

دو

41

A magiftrate, invefted with fuch extenfive powers, would have appeared not so much the minister as the colleague of his fovereign Valerian juftly dreaded an elevation fo full of envy and of fufpicion. He modeftly urged the alarming greatness of the truft, his own infufficiency, and the incurable corruption of the times. He artfully infinuated, that the office of cenfor was infeparable

42

X.

from the Imperial dignity, and that the feeble CHAP. hands of a fubject were unequal to the fupport of fuch an immense weight of cares and of power The approaching event of war foon put an end to the profecution of a project. fo fpecious but fo impracticable; and whilft it preferved Valerian from the danger, faved the emperor Decius from the disappointment, which would most probably have attended it. A cenfor may maintain, he can never restore, the morals of a state. It is impoffible for such a magiftrate to exert his authority with benefit, or even with effect, unless he is supported by a quick sense of honour and virtue in the minds of the people; by a decent reverence for the public opinion, and by a train of ufeful 'prejudices combating on the fide of national manners. In a period when these principles are annihilated, the cenforial jurisdiction must either fink into empty pageantry, or be converted into a partial inftrument of vexatious oppreffion ". It was easier to vanquish the Goths, than to eradicate the public vices; yet even in the first of these enterprises, Decius loft his army and his life.

The Goths were now, on every fide, furrounded and pursued by the Roman arms. The flower of their troops had perished in the long fiege of Philippopolis, and the exhaufted country could no longer afford fubfiftence for the remaining multitude of licentious barbarians. Reduced to this extremity, the Goths would gladly have purchased, by the furrender of all their booty and prifoners, the permiffion of an undisturbed

Defeat and death of

Decius and

his fon.