XI.

Aureolus.

The siege of Milan was still continued, and CHAP. Aureolus soon discovered, that the success of ...... his artifices had only raised up a more deter-Death of mined adversary. He attempted to negociate with Claudius, a treaty of alliance and partition. "Tell him," replied the intrepid emperor, "that "such proposals should have been made to "Gallienus; he, perhaps, might have listened to "them with patience, and accepted a colleague, "as despisable as himself." This stern refusal, and a last unsuccessful effort, obliged Aureolus to yield the city and himself to the discretion of the conqueror. The judgment of the army pronounced him worthy of death, and Claudius, after a feeble resistance, consented to the execution of the sentence. Nor was the zeal of the senate less ardent in the cause of their new sovereign. They ratified, perhaps with sincere transports of zeal, the election of Claudius; and as his predecessor had shewn himself the personal enemy of their order, they exercised under the name of justice, a severe revenge against his friends and family. The senate was permitted to discharge the ungrateful office of punishment, and the emperor reserved for himself the pleasure and merit of obtaining by his intercession a general act of indemnity."

Hist. August. p. 203. There are some trifling differences con. cerning the circumstances of the last defeat and death of Aureolus.

Aurelius Victor in Gallien. The people loudly prayed for the damnation of Gallienus. The senate decreed that his relations and servants should be thrown down headlong from the Gemonian stairs. An obnoxious officer of the revenue had his eyes torn out whilst under examination.

CHAP.

dius.

Such ostentacious clemency discovers less of XI. the real character of Claudius, than a trifling

Clemency circumstance in which he seems to have conand justice of Clan- sulted only the dictates of his heart. The frequent rebellions of the provinces had involved almost every person in the guilt of treason, almost every estate in the case of confiscation; and Gallienus often displayed his liberality, by distributing among his officers the property of his subjects. On the accession of Claudius, an old woman threw herself at his feet, and complained that a general of the late emperor had obtained an arbitrary grant of her patrimony This general was Claudius himself, who had not entirely escaped the contagion of the times. The emperor blushed at the reproach, but deserved the confidence which she had reposed in his equity. The confession of his fault was accompanied with immediate and ample restitution.' In the arduous task which Claudius had underreforma- taken, of restoring the empire to its ancient splention of the dour, it was first necessary to revive among his troops a sense of order and obedience. With the authority of a veteran commander, he represented to them, that the relaxation of discipline had introduced a long train of disorders, the effects of which were at length experienced by the soldiers, themselves; that a people ruined by oppression, and indolent from despair, could no longer supply a numerous army with the means of luxury, or even of subsistence; that the danger of each individual had increased with the

He undertakes the

army.

i Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 137.

XI.

despotism of the military order, since princes CHAP. who tremble on the throne, will guard their safety by the instant sacrifice of every obnoxious subject. The emperor expatiated on the mischiefs of a lawless caprice, which the soldiers could only gratify at the expence of their own blood; as their seditious elections had so frequently been followed by civil wars, which consumed the flower of the legions either in the field of battle or in the cruel abuse of victory. He painted in the most lively colours the exhausted state of the treasury, the desolation of the provinces, the disgrace of the Roman name, and the insolent triumph of rapacious barbarians. It was against those barbarians, he declared that he intended to point the first effort of their arms. Tetricus might reign for awhile over the West, and even Zenobia might preserve the dominion of the East. These usurpers were his personal adversaries; nor could he think of indulging any private resentment till he had saved an empire whose impending ruin would, unless it was timely prevented, crush both the army and the people.

The Goths

The various nations of Germany and Sarmatia, A. D. 269. who fought under the Gothic standard, had al- invade the ready collected an armament more formidable empire. than any which had yet issued from the Euxine. On the banks of the Niester, one of the great rivers that discharge themselves into that sea, they constructed a fleet of two thousand, or even

* Zonaras on this occasion mentions Posthumus; but the registers of the senate (Hist. August. p. 203) prove that Tetricus was already emperor of the western provinces.

XI.

CHAP. of six thousand vessels;' numbers which, however incredible they may seem, would have been insufficient to transport their pretended army of three hundred and twenty thousand barbarians. Whatever might be the real strength of the Goths, the vigour and success of the expedition were not adequate to the greatness of the preparations. In their passage through the Bosphorus, the unskilful pilots were overpowered by the violence of the current; and while the multitude of their ships were crowded in a narrow channel, many were dashed against each other, or against the shore. The barbarians made several descents on the coasts both of Europe and Asia; but the open country was already plundered, and they were repulsed with shame and loss from the fortified cities which they assaulted. A spirit of discouragement and division arose in the fleet, and some of their chiefs sailed away towards the islands of Crete and Cyprus; but the main body pursuing a more steady course, anchored at length near the foot of mount Athos, and assaulted the city of Thessalonica, the wealthy capital of all the Macedonian provinces. Their attacks, in which they displayed a fierce but artless bravery, were soon interrupted by the rapid approach of Claudius, hastening to a scene of action that deserved the presence of a warlike prince at the head of the remaining powers of the empire. Impatient for bat

'The Austrian history mentions the smaller, Zonaras" the larger, number; the lively fancy of Montesquieu induced him to prefer the latter.

XI.

11

tle, the Goths immediately broke up their camp, CHAP. relinquished the siege of Thessalonica, left their navy at the foot of mount Athos, traversed the hills of Macedonia, and pressed forwards to engage the last defence of Italy.

66

and firm

Claudius.

We still possess an original letter addressed Distress by Claudius to the senate and people on this me-ness of morable occasion. " Conscript fathers," says the emperor, "know that three hundred and "twenty thousand Goths have invaded the Ro"man teritory. If I vanquish them, your grati"tude will reward my services. Should I fall, "remember that I am the successor of Gallienus. "The whole republic is fatigued and exhausted. "We shall fight after Valerian, after Ingenus, Regillianus, Lollianus, Posthumus, Celsus, " and a thousand others, whom a just contempt "for Gallienus provoked into rebellion. We "are in want of darts, of spears, and of shields, "The strength of the empire, Gaul and Spain, "are usurped by Tetricus, and we blush to ac"knowledge that the archers of the East serve "under the banners of Zenobia. Whatever we "shall perform, will be sufficiently great." The melancholy firmness of this epistle announces a hero careless of his fate, conscious of his danger, but still deriving a well-grounded hope from the resources of his own mind.

over the

The event surpassed his own expectations and Hisvictory those of the world. By the most signal victories Goths. he delivered the empire from this host of barbarians, and was distinguished by posterity under

m Trebeil. Pollio in Hist. August. p. 204,