XII. HAP. fionally drawn over their heads. The air was continually refreshed by the playing of fountains, and profufely impregnated by the grateful scent of aromatics. In the centre of the edifice, the arena, or ftage, was ftrewed with the finest fand, and fucceffively affumed the moft different forms. At one moment it feemed to rife out of the earth, like the garden of the Hefperides, and was afterwards broken into the rocks and caverns of Thrace. The fubterraneous pipes conveyed an inexhauftible fupply of water; and what had just before appeared a level plain, might be fuddenly converted into a wide lake, covered with armed veffels and replenished with the monsters of the deep ". In the decoration of thefe fcenes, the Roman emperors displayed their wealth and liberality; and we read on various occafions, that the whole furniture of the amphitheatre confifted either of filver, or of gold, or of amber ". The poet who defcribes the games of Carinus, in the character of a shepherd attracted to the capital by the fàme of their magnificence, affirms, that the nets defigned as a defence/ against the wild beafts, were of gold wire; that the porticoes were gilded, and that the belt or circle which divided the feveral ranks of fpectators from each other, was ftudded with a precious Mofaic of beautiful stones A. D. 284 97 In the midst of this glittering pageantry, the Sept. 12 emperor Carinus, fecure of his fortune, enjoyed the acclamations of the people, the flattery of his courtiers, and the fongs of the poets, who, for want of a more effenfial merit, were reduced to XII. celebrate the divine graces of his perfon ". In the CHAP fame hour, but at the distance of nine hundred miles from Rome, his brother expired; and a fudden revolution transferred into the hands of a stranger the fceptre of the house of Carus ". 100 The fons of Carus never faw each other after their father's death. The arrangements which their new fituation required, were probably deferred till the return of the younger brother to Rome, where a triumph was decreed to the young emperors, for the glorious fuccefs of the Perfian war 1°. It is uncertain whether they intended to divide between them the adminiftration, or the provinces, of the empire; but it is very unlikely that their union would have proved of any long duration. The jealousy of power must have been inflamed by the oppofition of characters. In the most corrupt of times, Carinus was unworthy to live: Numerian deserved to reign in a happier period. His affable manners and gentle virtues fecured him, as foon as they became known, the regard and affections of the public. He poffeffed the elegant accomplishments of a poet and orator, which dignify as well as adorn the humbleft and the most exalted station. His eloquence, however it was applauded by the fenate, was formed not fo much on the model of Cicero, as on that of the modern declaimers; but in an age very far from being deftitute of poetical merit, he contended for the prize with the most celebrated of his contemporaries, and still remained the friend of his rivals; a circumftance which evinces either the goodness of his heart, or the fuperiority of his genius. But the talents of Numerian were Return of with the army from Perfia. CHAP. XII. Death of 102 rather of the contemplative, than of the active kind. When his father's elevation reluctantly forced him from the shade of retirement, neither his temper nor his purfuits had qualified him for the command of armies. His conftitution was deftroyed by the hardships of the Perfian war; and he had contracted, from the heat of the climate fuch a weakness in his eyes, as obliged him, in the courfe of a long retreat, to confine himself to the folitude and darkness of a tent or litter. The administration of all affairs, civil as well as military, was devolved on Arrius Aper, the Prætorian præfect, who, to the power of his important office, added the honour of being father-in-law to Numerian. The Imperial pavilion was ftrictly guarded by his most trusty adherents; and during many days, Aper delivered to the army the fuppofed mandates of their invifible fovereign "", 103 It was not till eight months after the death of Numerian. Carus, that the Roman army, returning by slow marches from the banks of the Tigris, arrived on thofe of the Thracian Bofphorus. The legions halted at Chalcedon in Afia, while the court paffed over to Heraclea, on the European fide of the Propontis. But a report foon circulated through the camp; at firft in fecret whispers, and at length in loud clamours, of the emperor's death, and of the prefumption of his ambitious minifter, who ftill exercised the fovereign power in the name of a prince who was no more. The impatience of the foldiers could not long fupport a ftate of fufpenfe. With rude curiofity they broke into the Imperial tent, and discovered only the corpfe of Numerian ". com CHAP. XII. Sept. 17. Election of The gradual decline of his health might have induced them to believe that his death was natural ; but the concealment was interpreted as an evidence of guilt, and the measures which Aper had taken to fecure his election, became the immediate occafion of his ruin. Yet, even in the transport of their rage and grief, the troops obferved a regular proceeding, which proves how firmly difcipline had been reeftablished by the martial fucceffors of Gallienus. A general affembly of the army was appointed to be held at Chalcedon, whither Aper was tranfported in chains, as a prisoner and a criminal. A vacant tribunal was erected in the midft of the camp, and the generals and tribunes formed a great military council. They foon announced to the multitude, A. D. 284. that their choice had fallen on Diocletian, mander of the domeftics or body-guards, as the the empeperson the most capable of revenging and fucceeding their beloved emperor. The future fortunes of the candidate depended on the chance or conduct of the prefent hour. Conscious that the station which he had filled, expofed him to fome fufpicions, Diocletian afcended the tribunal, and raifing his eyes towards the Sun, made a folemn profeffion of his own innocence, in the prefence of that all-seeing Deity. Then, affuming the tone of a fovereign and a judge, he commanded that Aper should be brought in chains to the foot of the tribunal. This man, "faid he,,, is the murderer of Numerian ;" and, without giving him time to enter on a dangerous juftification, drew his sword, and buried it in the breast of the unfortunate præfect. A charge fupported by fuch decifive proof, was دو دو ror Diocle tian. XII. CHAP. admitted without contradiction, and the legions, with repeated acclamations, acknowledged the justice and authority of the emperor Diocletian 17. Defeat and death of Carinus, May. Before we enter upon the memorable reign of that prince, it will be proper to punish and difmifs the unworthy brother of Numerian, Carinus poffeffed arms and treasures fufficient to fupport his legal title to the empire. But his perfonal vices overbalanced every advantage of birth and fituation. The most faithful fervants of the father defpised the incapacity, and dreaded the cruel arrogance, of the fon. The hearts of the people were engaged in favour of his rival, and even the fenate was inclined to prefer an ufurper to a tyrant. The arts of Diocletian inflamed the general difcontent; and the winter was employed in fecret intrigues, and A. D. 285. open preparations for a civil war. In the spring, the forces of the Eaft and of the Weft encountered each other in the plains of Margus, a fmall city of Mæfia, in the neighbourhood of the Danube The troops, fo lately returned from the Perfian war, had acquired their glory at the expence of health and numbers, nor were they in a condition to contend with the unexhaufted ftrength of the legions of Europe. Their ranks were broken, and, for a moment, Diocletian despaired of the purple and of life. But the advantage which Carinus had obtained by the valour of his foldiers, he quickly loft by the infidelity of his officers. A tribune, whofe wife he had feduced, feized the opportunity of revenge, and by a fingle blow extinguished çivil discord in the blood of the adulterer 109 103 |