capital, assured the guards that, provided they would abandon their worthless prince, and the perpetrators of the murder of Pertinax, to the justice of the conqueror, he would no longer consider that melancholy event as the act of the whole body. The faithless Prætorians, whose resistance was supported only by sullen obstinacy, gladly complied with the easy conditions, seized the greatest part of the assassins, and signified to the senate that they no longer defended the cause of Julian. That assembly, convoked by the consul, unanimously acknowledged Severus as lawful emperor, decreed divine honours to Pertinax, and pronounced a sentence of deposition and death against his unfortunate successor. Julian was conducted into a private and conapartment of the baths of the palace, and beheaded as a common and execriminal, after having purchased, with an immense treasure, an order of anxious and precarious reign of only sixty-six days.39 The A.D. 193, almost incredible expedition of Severus, who, in so short a space of time, conducted a numerous army from the banks of the Danube to those of the Tiber, proves at once the plenty of provisions produced by agriculture and commerce, the goodness of the roads, the discipline of the legions, and the indolent subdued temper of the provinces.40 demned cuted by the senate, June 2 the Præ guards The first cares of Severus were bestowed on two measures, Disgrace of the one dictated by policy, the other by decency; the revenge torian and the honours due to the memory of Pertinax. Before the new emperor entered Rome, he issued his commands to the Prætorian guards, directing them to wait his arrival on a large plain near the city, without arms, but in the habits of ceremony in which they were accustomed to attend their sovereign. He was obeyed by those haughty troops, whose contrition was the effect of their just terrors. A chosen part of the Illyrian army encompassed them with levelled spears. Incapable of flight or resistance, they expected their fate in silent consternation. Severus mounted the tribunal, sternly reproached them with 39 Dion, 1. lxxiii. p. 1240 [17]. Herodian, l. ii. p. 83 [12]. Hist. August. p. 63 [ix. 9]. 40 From these sixty-six days, we must first deduct sixteen, as Pertinax was murdered on the 28th of March, and Severus most probably elected on the 13th of April. (See Hist. August. p. 65, and Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iii. p. 393, Note 7.) We cannot allow less than ten days after his election, to put a numerous army in motion. Forty days remain for this rapid march, and, as we may compute about eight hundred miles from Rome to the neighbourhood of Vienna, the army of Severus marched twenty miles every day, without halt or intermission. [Cp. above, note 32.] Funeral and apo Pertinax perfidy and cowardice, dismissed them with ignominy from th trust which they had betrayed, despoiled them of their splendi ornaments, and banished them, on pain of death, to the distanc of an hundred miles from the capital. During the transaction another detachment had been sent to seize their arms, occup their camp, and prevent the hasty consequences of their despair. The funeral and consecration of Pertinax was next solemnize theosis of with every circumstance of sad magnificence.42 The senate with a melancholy pleasure, performed the last rites to tha excellent prince, whom they had loved and still regretted. The concern of his successor was probably less sincere. He esteemed the virtues of Pertinax, but those virtues would for ever have confined his ambition to a private station. Severus pronounced his funeral oration with studied eloquence, inward satisfaction, and well-acted sorrow; and, by this pious regard to his memory, convinced the credulous multitude that he alone was worthy to supply his place. Sensible, however, that arms, not ceremonies, must assert his claim to the empire, he left Rome at the end of thirty days, and, without suffering himself to be elated by this easy victory, prepared to encounter his more formidable rivals. Success of Severus against Niger and against Albinus The uncommon abilities and fortune of Severus have induced an elegant historian to compare him with the first and greatest of the Cæsars.43 The parallel is, at least, imperfect. Where shall we find, in the character of Severus, the commanding superiority of soul, the generous clemency, and the various genius, which could reconcile and unite the love of pleasure, the thirst of knowledge, and the fire of ambition? 44 In one A.D. 193-197 instance only, they may be compared, with some degree of propriety, in the celerity of their motion, and their civil victories. In less than four years, Severus subdued the riches of the east, and the valour of the west. 45 He vanquished two competitors of 1 Dion, 1. lxxiv. p. 1241 [1]. Herodian, 1. ii. p. 84 [13]. 42 Dion, 1. lxxiv. p. 1244 [4], who assisted at the ceremony as a senator, gives a most pompous description of it. 43 Herodian, 1. iii. p. 112 [7, 7]. 44 Though it is not, most assuredly, the intention of Lucan to exalt the character of Cæsar, yet the idea he gives of that hero, in the tenth book of the Pharsalia, where he describes him, at the same time, making love to Cleopatra, sustaining a siege against the power of Egypt, and conversing with the sages of the country, is, in reality, the noblest panegyric. 45 Reckoning from his election, April 13, 193, to the death of Albinus, February 19, 197. See Tillemont's Chronology. reputation and ability, and defeated numerous armies, provided with weapons and discipline equal to his own. In that age, the art of fortification and the principles of tactics were well understood by all the Roman generals; and the constant superiority of Severus was that of an artist, who uses the same instruments with more skill and industry than his rivals. I shall not, however, enter into a minute narrative of these military operations; but as the two civil wars against Niger and against Albinus were almost the same in their conduct, event, and consequences, I shall collect into one point of view the most striking circumstances, tending to develop the character of the conqueror, and the state of the empire. the two Arts of Falsehood and insincerity, unsuitable as they seem to the Conduct of dignity of public transactions, offend us with a less degrading civil wars. idea of meanness than when they are found in the intercourse Severus of private life. In the latter, they discover a want of courage; in the other, only a defect of power; and, as it is impossible for the most able statesman to subdue millions of followers and enemies by their own personal strength, the world, under the name of policy, seems to have granted them a very liberal indulgence of craft and dissimulation. Yet the arts of Severus cannot be justified by the most ample privileges of state-reason. He promised only to betray, he flattered only to ruin; and however he might occasionally bind himself by oaths and treaties, his conscience, obsequious to his interest, always released him from the inconvenient obligation.46 Niger If his two competitors, reconciled by their common danger, towards had advanced upon him without delay, perhaps Severus would have sunk under their united effort. Had they even attacked him at the same time, with separate views and separate armies, the contest might have been long and doubtful. But they fell, singly and successively, an easy prey to the arts as well as arms of their subtle enemy, lulled into security by the moderation of his professions, and overwhelmed by the rapidity of his action. He first marched against Niger, whose reputation and power he the most dreaded: but he declined any hostile declarations, suppressed the name of his antagonist, and only signified to the senate and people his intention of regulating the eastern 46 Herodian, 1. ii. p. 85 [13]. towards Albinus provinces. In private he spoke of Niger, his old friend and intended successor, 47 with the most affectionate regard, and highly applauded his generous design of revenging the murder of Pertinax. To punish the vile usurper of the throne was the duty of every Roman general. To persevere in arms, and to resist a lawful emperor, acknowledged by the senate, would alone render him criminal.48 The sons of Niger had fallen into his hands among the children of the provincial governors, detained at Rome as pledges for the loyalty of their parents.49 As long as the power of Niger inspired terror, or even respect, they were educated with the most tender care, with the children of Severus himself; but they were soon involved in their father's ruin, and removed, first by exile, and afterwards by death, from the eye of public compassion.50 Whilst Severus was engaged in his eastern war, he had reason to apprehend that the governor of Britain might pass the sea and the Alps, occupy the vacant seat of empire, and oppose his return with the authority of the senate and the forces of the West. The ambiguous conduct of Albinus, in not assuming the Imperial title, left room for negotiation. Forgetting at once once his professions of patriotism and the jealousy of sovereign power, he accepted the precarious rank of Cæsar, as a reward for his fatal neutrality. Till the first contest was decided, Severus treated the man whom he had doomed to destruction with every mark of esteem and regard. Even in the letter in which he announced his victory over Niger he styles Albinus the brother of his soul and empire, sends him the affectionate salutations of his wife Julia, and his young family, and entreats him to preserve the armies and the republic faithful to their common interest. The messengers charged with this letter were instructed to accost the Cæsar with respect, to desire a private audience, and to plunge their "Whilst Severus was very dangerously ill, it was industriously given out that he intended to appoint Niger and Albinus his successors. As he could not be sincere with respect to both, he might not be so with regard to either. Yet Severus carried his hypocrisy so far as to profess that intention in the memoirs of his own life. 48 Hist. August. p. 65 [x. 8, 7; and cp. 6]. 49 This practice, invented by Commodus, proved very useful to Severus. He found, at Rome, the children of many of the principal adherents of his rivals; and he employed them more than once to intimidate, or seduce, the parents. Herodian, l. iii. p. 96. Hist. August. p. 67, 68 [x. 8, 9]. n daggers into his heart. The conspiracy was discovered, and the too credulous Albinus at length passed over to the continent, and prepared for an unequal contest with his rival, who rushed upon him at the head of a veteran and victorious army. to 2 ཛ the civil The military labours of Severus seem inadequate to the im- Events of portance of his conquests. Two engagements, the one near the wars Hellespont, the other in the narrow defiles of Cilicia, decided the fate of his Syrian competitor; and the troops of Europe [194 A.D.] asserted their usual ascendant over the effeminate natives of Asia.52 The battle of Lyons, where one hundred and fifty thousand Romans 53 were engaged, was equally fatal to Albinus. The valour of the British army maintained, indeed, a sharp (197 A.D.] and doubtful contest with the hardy discipline of the Illyrian legions. The fame and person of Severus appeared, during a few moments, irrecoverably lost, till that warlike prince rallied his fainting troops, and led them on to a decisive victory.54 The war was finished by that memorable day. one or two The civil wars of modern Europe have been distinguished, decided by not only by the fierce animosity, but likewise by the obstinate battles perseverance, of the contending factions. They have generally been justified by some principle, or, at least, coloured by some pretext, of religion, freedom, or loyalty. The leaders were nobles of independent property and hereditary influence. The troops fought like men interested in the decision of the quarrel; and, as military spirit and party zeal were strongly diffused throughout the whole community, a vanquished chief was immediately supplied with new adherents, eager to shed their blood in the same cause. But the Romans, after the fall of the republic, combated only for the choice of masters. Under 51 Hist. August. p. 81 [xii. 7]. Spartianus has inserted this curious letter at full length. [It is doubtless spurious.] 52 Consult the third book of Herodian, and the seventy-fourth book of Dion Cassius. 5 Dion, 1. lxxv. p. 1260 [6]. 54 Dion, 1. lxxv. p. 1261 [6]. Herodian, l. iii. p. 110 [7]. Hist. August. p. 68 [x. 11]. The battle was fought in the plain of Trevoux, three or four leagues from Lyons. See Tillemont, tom. iii. p. 406, note 18. [In the paper quoted above (note 16), Hirschfeld has shown that Albinus was defeated in two engagements. The second battle was at Tournus (Tinurtium, Hist. Aug. x. 11, 1), between Châlon and Mâcon. Tillemont's Trévoux which Gibbon adopts is based on Chifflet's emendation Trivurtium. Hirschfeld points out that the position of Tournus agree with the direction of the march of Severus from Pannonia, through Noricum and Rætia, to the Sequanian district; and shows that he did not go himself to Rome at this time.] VOL. I.-9 |