His super stition. and under the form of a black conical stone, which, as it was universally believed, had fallen from heaven on that sacred place. To this protecting deity, Antoninus, not without some reason, ascribed his elevation to the throne. The display of superstitious gratitude was the only serious business of his reign. The triumph of the god of Emesa over all the religions of the earth was the great object of his zeal and vanity; and the appellation of Elagabalus (for he presumed as pontiff and favourite to adopt that sacred name) was dearer to him than all the titles of Imperial great In a solemn procession through the streets of Rome the way was strewed with gold-dust; the black stone, set in precious gems, was placed on a chariot drawn by six milk-white horses richly caparisoned. The pious emperor held the reins, and, supported by his ministers, moved slowly backwards, that he might perpetually enjoy the felicity of the divine presence. In a magnificent temple raised on the Palatine Mount, the sacrifices of the god Elagabalus were celebrated with every circumstance of cost and solemnity. The richest wines, the most extraordinary victims, and the rarest aromatics, were profusely consumed on his altar. Around the altar a chorus of Syrian damsels performed their lascivious dances to the sound of barbarian music, whilst the gravest personages of the state and army, clothed in long Phoenician tunics, officiated in the meanest functions with affected zeal and secret indignation. 53 To this temple, as to the common centre of religious worship, the Imperial fanatic attempted to remove the Ancilia, the Palladium,54 and all the sacred pledges of the faith of Numa. A crowd of inferior deities attended in various stations the majesty of the god of Emesa; but his court was still imperfect, till a female of distinguished rank was admitted to his bed. Pallas had been first chosen for his consort; but as it was dreaded lest her warlike terrors might affright the soft delicacy of a Syrian deity, the Moon, adored by the Africans under Gabal, to form the forming, or plastic god; a proper, and even happy epithet for the Sun. Wotton's History of Rome, p. 378. Herodian, 1. v. [c. 5, fin.] p. 190. He broke into the sanctuary of Vesta, and carried away a statue, which he supposed to be the Palladium; but the vestals boasted that, by a pious fraud, they had imposed a counterfeit image on the profane intruder. Hist. August. p. 103. [Lamprid. Heliogab. c. 6.] • The name of Elagabalus was corrupted by Lampridius and the later writers into Heliogabalus, because the god was identified with Helios or the sun. Herodian writes the name 'Eλaayabaλos; Dion, 'Eyß; but Elagabalus is the correct form, as we see from medals. (Eckhel, Doctrina Numorum Veterum, vol. vii. p. 250.) With respect to its etymology, the Syrian name was probably Al Gebil, "the mountain," al being the article. The conical stone, under which form the sun was worshipped at Emesa, is repre sented on the medals of Elagabalus. See Movers, Die Phönizier, vol. i. p. 669.-S. His profligate and effeminate luxury. the name of Astarte," was deemed a more suitable companion for the Sun. Her image, with the rich offerings of her temple as a marriage portion, was transported with solemn pomp from Carthage to Rome, and the day of these mystic nuptials was a general festival in the capital and throughout the empire.55 A rational voluptuary adheres with invariable respect to the temperate dictates of nature, and improves the gratifications of sense by social intercourse, endearing connections, and the soft colouring of taste and the imagination. But Elagabalus (I speak of the emperor of that name), corrupted by his youth, his country, and his fortune, abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures with ungoverned fury, and soon found disgust and satiety in the midst of his enjoyments. The inflammatory powers of art were summoned to his aid: the confused multitude of women, of wines, and of dishes, and the studied variety of attitudes and sauces, served to revive his languid appetites. New terms and new inventions in these sciences, the only ones cultivated and patronised by the monarch, 56 signalised his reign, and transmitted his infamy to succeeding times. A capricious prodigality supplied the want of taste and elegance; and whilst Elagabalus lavished away the treasures of his people in the wildest extravagance, his own voice and that of his flatterers applauded a spirit and magnificence unknown to the tameness of his predecessors. To confound the order of seasons and climates, to sport with the passions and prejudices of his subjects, and to subvert every law of nature and decency, were in the number of his most delicious amusements. A long train of concubines, and a rapid succession of wives, among whom was a vestal virgin, ravished by force from her sacred asylum, were insufficient to satisfy the impotence of his passions. The master of the Roman world affected to copy the dress and manners of the female sex, preferred the distaff to the sceptre, and dishonoured the principal dignities of the empire 55 Dion, 1. lxxix. [c. 12] p. 1360. Herodian, 1. v. [c. 6] p. 193. The subjects of the empire were obliged to make liberal presents to the new-married couple; and whatever they had promised during the life of Elagabalus was carefully exacted under the administration of Mamaa. 56 The invention of a new sauce was liberally rewarded; but if it was not relished, the inventor was confined to eat of nothing else till he had discovered another more agreeable to the Imperial palate. Hist. August. [Lampr. Heliogab. c. 29] p. 111. 57 He never would eat sea-fish except at a great distance from the sea; he then would distribute vast quantities of the rarest sorts, brought at an immense expense, to the peasants of the inland country. Hist. August. p. 109. [Lampr. Heliogab. c. 23.] 58 Dion, 1. lxxix. [c. 9] p. 1358. Herodian, 1. v. [c. 6] p. 192. Astarte was a Syrian name, though the goddess was also worshipped in Africa (in Carthage and the other Phoenician colonies). Dion and Herodian say that her African name was Urania, that is, the queen of heaven.-S. by distributing them among his numerous lovers; one of whom was publicly invested with the title and authority of the emperor's, or, as he more properly styled himself, of the empress's husband. 59 dis tinguished It may seem probable the vices and follies of Elagabalus have been adorned by fancy and blackened by prejudice.60 Yet, Contempt confining ourselves to the public scenes displayed before the whieh di Roman people, and attested by grave and contemporary the Roman historians, their inexpressible infamy surpasses that of tyrants. any other age or country. The licence of an eastern monarch is secluded from the eye of curiosity by the inaccessible walls of his seraglio. The sentiments of honour and gallantry have introduced a refinement of pleasure, a regard for decency, and a respect for the public opinion, into the modern courts of Europe;" but the corrupt and opulent nobles of Rome gratified every vice that could be collected from the mighty conflux of nations and manners. Secure of impunity, careless of censure, they lived without restraint in the patient and humble society of their slaves and parasites. The emperor, in his turn, viewing every rank of his subjects with the same contemptuous indifference, asserted without control his sovereign privilege of lust and luxury. tents of The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves; and can Discon readily discover some nice difference of age, character, or the army. station, to justify the partial distinction. The licentious soldiers who had raised to the throne the dissolute son of Caracalla, blushed at their ignominious choice, and turned with disgust from that monster to contemplate with pleasure the opening virtues of his cousin Alexander, the son of Mamaa. The crafty Mæsa, sensible that her grandson Elagabalus must inevitably destroy himself by his own vices, had provided another and surer support of her family. Embracing a favourable moment of fondness and devotion, she had persuaded the young emperor to adopt Alexander and to invest him with Alexander the title of Cæsar, that his own divine occupations might declared be no longer interrupted by the care of the earth. In the D. 221. Severus Cæsar, Hierocles enjoyed that honour; but he would have been supplanted by one Zoticus, had he not contrived by a potion to enervate the powers of his rival, who, being found on trial unequal to his reputation, was driven with ignominy from the palace. Dion, 1. lxxix. (c. 15, 16] p. 1363, 1364. A dancer was made præfect of the city, a charioteer præfect of the watch, a barber præfect of the provisions. These three ministers, with many inferior officers, were all recommended enormitate membrorum. Hist. August. p. 105. [Lampr. Heliogab. c. 12.] Even the credulous compiler of his Life, in the Augustan History (p. 111) [Lampr. Heliogab. c. 30, fin.], is inclined to suspect that his vices may have been exaggerated. • Wenck has justly observed that Gibbon should have reckoned the influence of Christianity in this great change. In the most savage times and the most corrupt courts, since the introduction of Christianity, there have been no Neros or Domitians, no Commodus or Elagabalus, -M. second rank that amiable prince soon acquired the affections of the public, and excited the tyrant's jealousy, who resolved to terminate the dangerous competition, either by corrupting the manners, or by taking away the life, of his rival. His arts proved unsuccessful; his vain designs were constantly discovered by his own loquacious folly, and disappointed by those virtuous and faithful servants whom the prudence of Mamaa had placed about the person of her son. In a hasty sally of passion Elagabalus resolved to execute by force what he had been unable to compass by fraud, and by a despotic sentence degraded his cousin from the rank and honours of Cæsar. The message was received in the senate with silence, and in the camp with fury. The Prætorian guards swore to protect Alexander, and to revenge the dishonoured majesty of the throne. The tears and promises of the trembling Elagabalus, who only begged them to spare his life and to leave him in the possession of his beloved Hierocles, diverted their just indignation; and they contented themselves with empowering their præfects to watch over the safety of Alexander and the conduct of the emperor. 61 Sedition of and murder of Elaga balus, A.D. 222, March 10. It was impossible that such a reconciliation should last, or that even the mean soul of Elagabalus could hold an empire on such the guards humiliating terms of dependence. He soon attempted, by a dangerous experiment, to try the temper of the soldiers. The report of the death of Alexander, and the natural suspicion that he had been murdered, inflamed their passions into fury, and the tempest of the camp could only be appeased by the presence and authority of the popular youth. Provoked at this new instance of their affection for his cousin, and their contempt for his person, the emperor ventured to punish some of the leaders of the mutiny. His unseasonable severity proved instantly fatal to his minions, his mother, and himself. Elagabalus was massacred by the indignant Prætorians, his mutilated corpse dragged through the streets of the city and thrown into the Tiber. His memory was branded with eternal infamy by the senate; the justice of whose decree has been ratified by posterity.62 61 Dion, 1. lxxix. [c. 19] p. 1366. Herodian, 1. v. [c. 8] p. 195-201. Hist. August. p. 105. [Lampr. Heliog. c. 13, sq.] The last of the three historians seems to have followed the best authors in his account of the revolution, 62 The æra of the death of Elagabalus, and of the accession of Alexander, has employed the learning and ingenuity of Pagi, Tillemont, Valsecchi, Vignoli, and Torre bishop of Adria. The question is most assuredly intricate; but I still adhere to the authority of Dion, the truth of whose calculations is undeniable, and the purity of whose text is justified by the agreement of Xiphilin, Zonaras, and Cedrenus. Elaga balus reigned three years, nine months, and four days from his victory over Macrinus, and was killed March 10, 222. But what shall we reply to the medals, undoubtedly genuine, which reckon the fifth year of his tribunitian power? We shall reply, with the learned Valsecchi, that the usurpation of Macrinus was annihilated, and that the son of Caracalla dated his reign from his father's death. After resolving this ander Se verus. In the room of Elagabalus his cousin Alexander was raised to the throne by the Prætorian guards. His relation to the family Accession of Severus, whose name he assumed, was the same as that of Alexof his predecessor; his virtue and his danger had already endeared him to the Romans, and the eager liberality of the senate conferred upon him in one day the various titles and powers of the Imperial dignity.63 But as Alexander was a modest and dutiful youth of only seventeen years of age, the reins of government were in the hands of two women, of his mother Mamæa, and of Mæsa his grandmother. After the death of the latter, who survived but a short time the elevation of Alexander, Mamæa remained the sole regent of her son and of the empire. his mother In every age and country the wiser, or at least the stronger, of the two sexes, has usurped the powers of the state, and confined Power of the other to the cares and pleasures of domestic life. In Mamaa. hereditary monarchies, however, and especially in those of modern Europe, the gallant spirit of chivalry and the law of succession have accustomed us to allow a singular exception; and a woman is often acknowledged the absolute sovereign of a great kingdom, in which she would be deemed incapable of exercising the smallest employment, civil or military. But as the Roman emperors were still considered as the generals and magistrates of the republic, their wives and mothers, although distinguished by the name of Augusta, were never associated to their personal honours; and a female reign would have appeared an inexpiable prodigy in the eyes of those primitive Romans, who married without love, or loved without delicacy and respect.64 The haughty Agrippina aspired, indeed, to share the honours of the empire which she had conferred on her son; but her mad ambition, detested by every citizen who felt for the dignity of Rome, was dis great difficulty, the smaller knots of this question may be easily untied or cut asunder. Hist. August. p. 114. [Lampr. Alex. Sever. c. 1.] By this unusual precipitation the senate meant to confound the hopes of pretenders, and prevent the factions of the armies. Metellus Numidicus, the censor, acknowledged to the Roman people, in a public oration, that, had kind nature allowed us to exist without the help of women, we should be delivered from a very troublesome companion; and he could recommend matrimony only as the sacrifice of private pleasure to public duty. Aulus Gellius, i. 6. This opinion of Valsecchi has been triumphantly contested by Eckhel, who has shown the impossibility of reconciling it with the medals of Elagabalus, and has given the most satisfactory explanation of the five tribunates of that ourperor. He ascended the throne and received the tribunitian power the 16th of May, in the year of Rome 971; and on the 1st January of the next year, 972, he began a new tribunate, according to the custom established by preceding emperors. During the years 972, 973, 974, he enjoyed the tribunate, and commenced his fifth in the year 975, during which he was killed on the 10th March. Eckhel de Doct, Nur vol. viii. p. 430, &c.-G. |