Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

disproportioned to the strength and numbers of the infanstate. But it was necessary to secure an ample exter of pasture and arable land, against the frequent and suaden incursions of the tribes of Latium, the perpetual enemies of the republic. With the progress of Roman greatness, the city and its inhabitants gradually increased, filled up the vacant space, pierced through the useless walls, covered the field of Mars, and, on every side, followed the public highways in long and beautiful suburbs.41 The extent of the new walls, erected by Aurelian, and finished in the reign of Probus, was magnified by popular estimation to near fifty,42 but is reduced by accurate measurement to about twenty-one miles.43 It was a great but a melancholy labor, since the defence of the capital betrayed the decline of the monarchy. The Romans of a more prosperous age, who trusted to the arms of the legions the safety of the frontier camps,44 were very far from entertaining a suspicion, that it would ever become necessary to fortify the seat of empire against the inroads of the barba rians.45

The victory of Claudius over the Goths, and the success of Aurelian against the Alemanni, had already restored to the arms of Rome their ancient superiority over the barbarous nations of the North. To chastise domestic tyrants, and to reunite the dismembered parts of the empire, was a task reserved for the second of those warlike emperors. Though he was acknowledged by the senate and people, the frontiers of Italy, Africa, Illyricum, and Thrace, confined the limits of his reign. Gaul, Spain, and Britain, Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, were still possessed by two rebels, who alone, out of so numerous a list, had hitherto escaped the dangers of their

valleys, were the primitive habitation of the Roman people. But this subject would require a dissertation.

Exspatiantia tecta multas addidere urbes, is the expression of

Pliny.

43 Hist. August. p. 222. Both Lipsius and Isaac Vossius have eagerly embraced this measure.

43 See Nardini, Roma Antica, 1. i. c. 8.*

44 Tacit. Hist. iv. 23.

45 For Aurelian's walls, see Vospiscus in Hist. August. p. 216, 222. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 43. Eutropius, ix. 15. Aurel. Victor in Aurelian. Victor Junior in Aurelian. Euseb. Hieronym. et Idatius in Chronio

• But compare Gibbon, ch. xli. note 77.-M.

situation; and to complete the ignominy of Rome, these riva. thrones had been usurped by women.

A rapid succession of monarchs had arisen and fallen in the provinces of Gaul. The rigid virtues of Posthumus served only to hasten his destruction. After suppressing a competitor, who had assumed the purple at Mentz, he refused to gratify his troops with the plunder of the rebellious city; and, in the seventh year of his reign, became the victim of their disappointed avarice.46 The death of Victorinus, his friend and associate, was occasioned by a less worthy cause. The shining accomplishments 47 of that prince were stained by a ficentious passion, which he indulged in acts of violence, with too little regard to the laws of society, or even to those of love.48 He was slain at Cologne, by a conspiracy of jealous husbands, whose revenge would have appeared more justifi able, had they spared the innocence of his son. After the murder of so many valiant princes, it is somewhat remarkable that a female for a long time controlled the fierce legions of Gaul, and still more singular, that she was the mother of the unfortunate Victorinus. The arts and treasures of Victoria nabled her successively to place Marius and Tetricus on the 1 rone, and to reign with a manly vigor under the name of hose dependent emperors. Money of copper, of silver, and of gold, was coined in her name; she assumed the titles of Augusta and Mother of the Camps: her power ended only with her life; but her life was perhaps shortened by the ingratitude of Tetricus. 49

46 His competitor was Lollianus, or Ælianus, if, indeed, these names mean the same person. See Tillemont, tom. iii. p. 1177. 47 The character of this prince by Julius Aterianus (ap. Hist. August. p. 187) is worth transcribing, as it seems fair and impartial. Victorino qui Post Junium Posthumium Gallias rexit neminem existimo præferendum; non in virtute Trajanum; non Antoninum in clementia; non in gravitate Nervam; non in gubernando ærario Vespasianum; non in Censura totius vitæ ac severitate militari Pertinacem vel Severum. Sed omnia hæc libido et cupiditas voluptatis mulierariæ sic perdidit, ut nemo audeat virtutes ejus in literas mittere quem constat omnium judicio meruisse puniri.

48 He ravished the wife of Attitianus, an actuary, or army agent. Hist. August. p. 186. Aurel. Victor in Aurelian.

49 Pollio assigns her an article among the thirty tyrants. Hist. August. p. 200.

The medals which bear the name of Lollianus are considered forgeries, except one in the museum of the Prince of Waldeck: there are many

When, at the instigation of his ambitious patroness, Tetricus ssumed the ensigns of royalty, he was governor of the peace. ful province of Aquitaine, an employment suited to his char acter and education. He reigned four or five years over Gaul, Spain, and Britain, the slave and sovereign of a licentious army, whom he dreaded, and by whom he was despised. The valor and fortune of Aurelian at length opened the prospect of a deliverance. He ventured to disclose his melancholy situa tion, and conjured the emperor to hasten to the relief of his unhappy rival. Had this secret correspondence reached the ears of the soldiers, it would most probably have cost Tetricus his life; nor could he resign the sceptre of the West without committing an act of treason against himself. He affected the appearances of a civil war, led his forces into the field against Aurelian, posted them in the most disadvantageous manner, betrayed his own counsels to his enemy, and with a few chosen friends deserted in the beginning of the action. The rebel legions, though disordered and dismayed by the unexpected treachery of their chief, defended themselves with desperate valor, till they were cut in pieces almost to a man, in this bloody and memorable battle, which was fought near Chalons in Champagne.50 The retreat of the irregular auxiliaries, Franks and Batavians,51 whom the conqueror soon compelled or persuaded to repass the Rhine, restored the general tranquil lity, and the power of Aurelian was acknowledged from the wall of Antoninus to the columns of Hercules.

As early as the reign of Claudius, the city of Autun, alone and unassisted, had ventured to declare against the legions of Gaul. After a siege of seven months, they stormed and plun dered that unfortunate city, already wasted by famine.52 Lyons,

60 Pollio in Hist. August. p. 196. Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 220. The two Victors, in the lives of Gallienus and Aurelian. Eutrop. ix. 13. Euseb. in Chron. Of all these writers, only the two last (but with strong probability) place the fall of Tetricus before that of Zenobia. M. de Boze (in the Academy of Inscriptions, tom. xxx.) does not wish, and Tillemont (tom. iii. p. 1189) does not dare to follow them. I have been fairer than the one, and bolder than the other.

51 Victor Junior in Aurelian. Eumenius mentions Batavice, some critics, without any reason, would fain alter the word to Bagaudica. 2 Eumen. in Vet. Panegyr. iv. 8.

extant bearing the name of Lælianus, which appears to have been that of the competitor of Posthumus. Eckhel. Doct Num. t. vii. 449. —G.

[blocks in formation]

on the contrary, had resisted with obstinate disaffection the arms of Aurelian. We read of the punishment of Lyons,53 but there is not any mention of the rewards of Autun. Such, indeed, is the policy of civil war: severely to remember injuries, and to forget the most important services. Revenge is profitable, gratitude is expensive.

Aurelian had no sooner secured the person and provinces of Tetricus, than he turned his arms against Zenobia, the celebrated queen of Palmyra and the East. Modern Europe has produced several illustrious women who have sustained with glory the weight of empire; nor is our own age destitute of such distinguished characters. But if we except the doubtful achievements of Semiramis, Zenobia is perhaps the only female whose superior genius broke, through the servile indolence imposed on her sex by the climate and manners of Asia.54 She claimed her descent from the Macedonian kings of Egypt, equalled in beauty her ancestor Cleopatra, and far surpassed that princess in chastity 55 and valor. Zenobia was esteemed the most lovely as well as the most heroic of her sex. She was of a dark complexion, (for in speaking of a lady these trifles become important.) Her teeth were of a pearly whiteness, and her large black eyes sparkled with uncommon fire, tempered by the most attractive sweetness. Her voice was strong and harmonious. Her manly understanding was strengthened and adorned by study. She was not ignorant of the Latin tongue, but possessed in equal perfection the Greek, the Syriac, and the Egyptian languages. She had drawn up for her own use an epitome of oriental history, and familiarly compared the beauties of Homer and Plato under the tuition of the sublime Longinus.

This accomplished woman gave her hand to Odenathus,†

63 Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 246. Autun was not restored till the reign of Diocletian. See Eumenius de restaurandis scholis.

54 Almost every thing that is said of the manners of Odenathus and Zenobia is taken from their lives in the Augustan History, by Trebellius Pollio; see p. 192, 198.

55 She never admitted her husband's embraces but for the sake of posterity. If her hopes were baffled, in the ensuing month she reiter ated the experiment.

*According to some Christian writers, Zenobia was a Jewess. (Cost Geschichte der Israel. iv. 166. Hist. of Jews, iii. 175.) — M.

According to Zosimus, Odenathus was of a noble family in Falmyra and, according to Procopius, he was prince of the Saracens, who in' abit the banks of the Euphrates. Eckhel. Doct. Num. vii. 489. — G.

who, from a private station, raised himself to the dominion of the East. She soon became the friend and companion of a hero. In the intervals of war, Odenathus passionately delighted in the exercise of hunting; he pursued with ardor the wild beasts of the desert, lions, panthers, and bears; and the ardor of Zenobia in that dangerous amusement was not inferior to his own. She had inured her constitution to fatigue, disdained the use of a covered carriage, generally appeared on horseback in a military habit, and sometimes marched several miles on foot at the head of the troops. The success of Odenathus was in a great measure ascribed to her incomparable prudence and fortitude. Their splendid victories over the Great King, whom they twice pursued as far as the gates of Ctesiphon, laid the foundations of their united fame and power. The armies which they commanded, and the provinces which they had saved, acknowledged not any other sovereigns than their invincible chiefs. The senate and people of Rome revered a stranger who had avenged their captive emperor, and even the insensible son of Valerian accepted Odenathus for his legitimate colleague.

After a successful expedition against the Gothic plunderers of Asia, the Palmyrenian prince returned to the city of Emesa in Syria. Invincible in war, he was there cut off by domestic treason, and his favorite amusement of hunting was the cause, or at least the occasion, of his death.56 His nephew Mæonius presumed to dart his javelin before that of his uncle; and though admonished of his error, repeated the same insolence. As a monarch, and as a sportsman, Odenathus was provoked, took away his horse, a mark of ignominy among the barbarians, and chastised the rash youth by a short confinement. The offence was soon forgot, but the punishment was remembered; and Mæonius, with a few daring associates, assassinated his uncle in the midst of a great entertainment. Herod, the son of Odenathus, though not of Zenobia, a young man of a soft and effeminate temper,57 was killed with his father. But Mæonius obtained only the pleasure of revenge by this bloody deed. He had scarcely time to assume

Hist. August. p. 192, 193. Zosimus, 1. i. p. 36. Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 633. The last is clear and probable, the others confused and inconBistent. The text of Syncellus, if not corrupt, is absolute nonsense. 37 Odenathus and Zenobia often sent him, from the spoils of the enemy, presents of gems and toys, which he received with infinite delight.

« ForrigeFortsett »