XII.

Character

emperor

Probus.

CHAP greatness, and a distant hope, the child of a flattering prophecy, that, at the end of a thousand years, a monarch of the race of Tacitus should arise, the protector of the senate, the restorer of Rome, and the conqueror of the whole earth. The peasants of Illyricum, who had already and eleva- given Claudius and Aurelian to the sinking ention of the pire, had an equal right to glory in the elevation of Probus. Above twenty years before the em peror Valerian, with his usual penetration, had discovered the rising merit of the young soldier, on whom he conferred the rank of tribune, long before the age prescribed by the military regulations. The tribune soon justified his choice, by a victory over a great body of Sarmatians, in which he saved the life of a near relation of Valerian; and deserved to receive from the empe ror's hand the collars, bracelets, spears, and banners, the mural and the civic crown, and all the honourable rewards reserved by ancient Rome for successful valour. The third, and afterwards the tenth, legion were intrusted to the command of Probus, who, in every step of his promotion, ́shewed himself superior to the station which he filled. Africa and Pontus, the Rhine, the Danube, the Euphrates, and the Nile, by turns afforded him the most splendid occasions of dis

" He was to send judges to the Parthians, Persians, and Sarmaritans ; a president to Taprobana; and a proconsul to the Roman island (sup posed by Casaubon and Salmatius to mean Britain). Such a history as mine (says Vopiscus with proper modesty) will not subsist a thousand years to expose or justify the prediction.

For the private life of Probus, see Vopiscus in Hist. Angust. p.

234-237.

XII.

playing his personal prowess and his conduct in CHAP. war. Aurelian was indebted to him for the conquest of Egypt, and still more indebted for the honest courage with which he often checked the cruelty of his master. Tacitus, who desired by the abilities of his generals to supply his own deficiency of military talents, named him commander in chief of all the Eastern provinces, with five times the usual salary, the promise of the consulship, and the hope of a triumph. When Probus ascended the imperial throne, he was about forty-four years of age; in the full possession of his fame, of the love of the army, and of a mature vigour of mind and body.

wards the

His acknowledged merit, and the success of His respectful ais arms against Florianus, left him without an conduct to enemy or a competitor. Yet, if we may credit senate. his own professions, very far from being desirous of the empire, he had accepted it with the most sincere reluctance. "But it is no longer in my "power," says Probus in a private letter, "to

66

lay down a title so full of envy and of danger. "I must continue to personate the character "which the soldiers have imposed upon me." His dutiful address to the senate displayed the sentiments, or at least the language, of a Roman patriot: "When you elected one of your order, conscript fathers! to succeed the emperor Au

a

According to the Alexandrian Chronicle, he was fifty at the time of his death.

The letter was addressed to the prætorian prefect, whom (on condition of his good behaviour) he promised to continue in his great office. See Hist. August. p. 237.

XII.

CHAP. "relian, you acted in a manner suitable to your ..........“ justice and wisdom; for you are the legal "sovereigns of the world; and the power which

A. D. 276.

66

66

you derive from your ancestors, will descend "to your posterity. Happy would it have been, if Florianus, instead of usurping the purple of "his brother, like a private inheritance, had expected what your majesty might determine, "either in his favour, or in that of any other person. The prudent soldiers have punished "his rashness. To me they have offered the "title of Augustus. But I submit to your cle

66

66

mency my pretensions and my merits." August 3. When this respectful epistle was read by the consul, the senators were unable to disguise their satisfaction, that Probus should condescend thus humbly to solicit a sceptre which he already possessed. They celebrated with the warmest gratitude his virtues, his exploits, and above all his moderation. A decree immediately passed, without a dissenting voice, to ratify the election of the Eastern armies, and to confer on their chief all the several branches of the imperial dignity; the names of Cæsar and Augustus, the title of father of his country, the right of making in the same day three motions in the senate, the office of Pontifex Maximus, the tribunitian power, and

d

Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 237. The date of the letter is assur edly faulty. Instead of Non. Februar. we may read Non. August.

Hist. August. p. 238. It is odd, that the senate should treat Probus less favourably than Marcus Antoninus. The prince had received, even before the death of Pius, Jus. quintæ relationis. See Capitolin, in Hist. August. p. 24.

XII.

the proconsular command; a mode of investi- CHAP. ture, which, though it seemed to multiply the authority of the emperor, expressed the constitution of the ancient republic. The reign of Probus corresponded with this fair beginning. The senate was permitted to direct the civil administration of the empire. Their faithful general asserted the honour of the Roman arms, and often laid at their feet crowns of gold and barbaric trophies, the fruits of his numerous victories." Yet, whilst he gratified their vanity, he must secretly have despised their indolence and weakness. Though it was every moment in their power to repeal the disgraceful edict of Gallienus, the proud successors of the Scipios patiently acquiesced in their exclusions from all military employments. They soon experienced, that those who refuse the sword, must renounce the sceptre.

over the

ans.

The strength of Aurelian had crushed on every Victories side the enemies of Rome. After his death they of Probus seemed to revive with an increase of fury and of barbarinumbers. They were again vanquished by the active vigour of Probus, who, in a short reign of about six years,' equalled the fame of ancient heroes, and restored peace and order to every province of the Roman world. The dangerous

* See the dutiful letter of Probus to the senate, after his German victories. Hist. August. p. 239.

f The date and duration of the reign of Probus are very correctly ascertained by Cardinal Norris in his learned work, de Epochis SyroMacedonum, p. 96-105. A passage of Eusebius connects the second year of Probus with the eras of several of the Syrian cities.

XII.

CHAP. frontier of Rhætia he so firmly secured, that he left it without the suspicion of an enemy. He broke the wandering power of the Sarmatian tribes; and by the terror of his arms compelled those barbarians to relinquish their spoil. The Gothic nation courted the alliance of so warlike an emperor. He attacked the Isaurians in their mountains, besieged and took several of their strongest castles," and flattered himself that he had for ever suppressed a domestic foe, whose independence so deeply wounded the majesty of the empire. The troubles excited by the usurper Firmus in the Upper Egypt had never been perfectly appeased; and the cities of Ptolemais and Coptos, fortified by the alliance of the Blemmyes, still maintained an obscure rebellion. The chas tisement of those cities, and of their auxiliaries, the savages of the south, is said to have alarıned the court of Persia;' and the great king sued in vain for the friendship of Probus. Most of the exploits which distinguished his reign, were achieved by the personal valour and conduct of the emperor, insomuch that the writer of his life expresses some amazement how, in so short a time, a single man could be present in so many distant wars. The remaining actions he entrusted to the care of his lieutenants, the judicious choice

Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 239.

Zosimus (l. i, p. 62-65) tells a very long and trifling story of Lycius the Isaurian robber.

i Zosim. l. i, p. 65. Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 239, 240. But it seems incredible, that the defeat of the savages of Ethiopia could affect the Persian monarch.