Chilo I Have taken Tyana and suffered the Man to be killed by whose as it were good Office I did it I could not love such a Traitour I willingly let the Soldiers kill him because how could he be faithful to me who spared not to betray his own Country He is the only one of all the Besieged who hath been so used I cannot deny but he was Rich. But yet I have given his Estate to his Children that none shall pretend to say that it was to get his Money I killed him The City of Tyana was taken in this manner Heraclammon betrayed to Aurelian a private place where there was a Natural rising of the Ground by which he might mount the Walls undiscovered Aurelian did so and his Purple distinguishing him to be the Emperor to the Army without and the People within and the People within seeing him upon the Walls and concluding the Town was taken as if the whole Army was with him they were so surprised that they said no more but yielded I ought not here to omit a thing which is to the Honour of the memory of the Venerable Apollonius who was a Native of the City of Tyana Aurelian it is said was seriously sometime thinking and speaking about destroying the place entirely by Fire and Sword But as he was going to his Tent that wise Man of so known Fame and Authority an Antient Philosopher and a true Friend of the Gods Apollonius Tyanaeus who is himself to be highly Apparition of Apollonius Tyanaeus Celebrated as a God appeared suddenly to him in the Form in which his Image is in the Temples at this day and spoke to him these words Aurelian Why should you think of Murdering my poor Countrymen If you would Reign in Glory abstain Aurelian from the blood of the Innocent Aurelian be merciful if you would Conquer and live your self Aurelian knew the Visage of the Venerable Philosopher again because he had seen it before in several Temples He was very much struck at it and immediately he returned to a better mind about his Treatment of the Town and promised to erect a Temple to Apollonius and to set up his Image and Statues This account is what I have received from grave Men and I have also often Read the same my self in the Books of the Ulpian Library to which I give the more Credit because I have a great respect for the Majesty of Apollonius than whom what Man hath there ever been more Holy Venerable Illustrious and Divine He raised the Dead to Life again He wrought many things beyond the power of Mankind and his Discourses were suitable to his Actions which if any Person pleases to know more particularly let him Read the Greek Books that are written of his Life My self if I live and if the favour of Apollonius will assist me in it will give the World some short account at least of the Actions of so great a Person not that they want the benefit of my Labour but that things which are really to be admired may be made universally known and famous After the taking of Tyana Aurelian marched towards Antioch proposing to all that submitted to him Indemnity for what was past At the Village of Daphne which is near Antioch he gave the Enemy a little Blow and so came to that City It is supposed the Precepts of the Venerable Apollonius had made an impression upon him for he used his Victory here with great Humanity and Clemency The next Battel was a General one and for no less than the Empire It was fought at the City of Emissa in Phaenicia against the Queen Zenobia and Zabdas her General Aurelian's Horse were spent and ready to run when some Divine Form suddenly appearing to them and encouraging them on to the Charge they took the Example of the Foot who all the while stood firm till at last they put both Zenobia and Zabdas to flight and obtained Zenobia ' s Army defeated a most accomplisht Victory Emissa readily yielded to the Conqueror who no sooner entred into it but he repaired to the Temple of Heliogabalus or the Sun to acquit himself of his Vows and Devotions according to his Duty But as he was there the same Divine Form appeared again to him which he had seen assisting him in the Battel Wherefore he there founded Temples and made great Oblations He Founded also a Temple to the Sun at Rome of extraordinary Magnificence whereof we shall have an occasion to speak hereafter Then he bent his Course against the City of Palmyra the Capitol of the Country of the People of the same name where Zenobia resided that with the taking of it he might put an end to his Labours in this part of the World The Syrian Robbers annoyed his Army often in his March and did him much mischief But in the Siege of Palmyra his Person was so far in danger that he received a slight Shot of an Arrow And the hot Work that he met with is very plainly confessed by himself in a Letter to Mucapor thus THose at Rome deride my Expedition and cry I make War against a Woman as if I had to do with none but Zenobia and that she opposed me upon her own Strength But the case is the same as if the War was with a Man and Feminine Fear and sense of her Demerits makes her besides so desperate that she is by far the worst of Enemies It canot be expressed what Showers of Arrows Darts and Stones she sends us and how prepared she is for her defence here There is no part of the Wall that is not planted with two or three Batterers She throws Fire at us out of her Engines In fine she Fights not like a Woman but with the Audacity of a Man in Despair However I trust that the Gods who never have been wanting to our Endeavours will still assist the Roman Empire At length Aurelian fatigued and weary of so troublesome a Siege sent a Letter into the Town to Zenobia to require her to surrender and he promised her her life The Letter was this Aurelian the Emperor of the Roman World and the Protector of the East to Zenobia and those in Arms with her THAT which I require you now to do by my Letter you ought assuredly to have done of your own Motion I order you to Surrender and I promise you your Lives with impunity You Zenobia and your Children shall only be obliged to lead your Lives there where I with the advice of the most Noble Senate shall place you Your Jewels Silver Gold Silks Horses and Camels must be disposed of to the Exchequer at Rome The People of this Country of Palmyra shall be preserved in their Rights Zenobia receiving this Letter wrote him Haughty mind of Zenobia back an Answer which was more Haughty and more Proud indeed than the Condition of her Fortune required But I suppose it might â—e to amuse him Her Letter was this
flourish'd in the time of the Emperor Dioclesian to whom he dedicates the Life of Adrian as also those of Aelius Verus of Didius Julianus of Severus and of Pescennius Niger He has likewise left us the Life of Antoninus Caracalla but without any Dedication As for that of Antoninus Geta we find it addressed to Constantinus Augustus It seems also from the beginning of the Life of Aelius Verus as if he had written the Lives of those Emperors who reigned before Adrian And about the latter end of the Life of that Emperor he gives us a view of what he had designed in these words Having proposed to my self to write the History of all those who since the time of Julius have b◠〈…〉 called Caesars or Augustus or that have 〈…〉 â—rinces adopted or Natural Sons of the 〈…〉 ors or This relates to their Apotheosis Consecrated as Caesar's Kind 〈…〉 But we have no Reason to believe that he ever finished that Design since Vopiscus who lived after him affirms in the Life of Aurelian that the Life of that Prince had never been written by any one before himself As to the rest the Learned Salmasius tells us that in the Collection of Spartian ' s Works which he found in the Palatine Library there were further attributed to him the Life of Antoninus Pius and those of Antoninus the Philosopher of Verus of Pertinax of Clodius Albinus and of Macrinus which are published under the Name of Julius Capitolinus and also that of Avidâ—us Cassius commonly supposed to be written by Vulcatius Gallicanus and moreover the Lives of Commodus of Antoninus Diadumenus of Heliogabalus and of Alexander Severus which are attributed to Lampridius But I shall have occasion to speak hereafter of those which are supposed to be written by Vulcatius and Lampridius As for the other that go under the Name of Julius Capitolinus Vossius had this Opinion of them viz. that the particular Collection of Lives above mentioned in the Palatine Library is no sufficient Reason for us to recede from the commonly received Opinion that Capitolinus was the Author of them nor ought we to be at all surprised that we find here as many Books as there are Lives nor yet at what Capitolinus himself somewhere tells us that he would if he saw it convenient include the Lives of two or more Emperors together in one Volume for in fine he was not always of the sa 〈…〉 â—ind having in the beginning designed a 〈…〉 lar Book for each Life and afterwards i 〈…〉 d several Lives in one as is evident from 〈…〉 〈…〉 ginning of the Lives of the Gordiani whereof we will treat more largely in the Life of Capitolinus As for the Stile of Spartianus and the other Composers of the following History which we find commonly joyn'd together Erasmus has this of them in his Ciceronian One can find nothing besides the Truth of the History in those Authors that is useful or entertaining for to speak the Truth of them they retain very little of the Purity of the Latin Tongue But here Erasmus is a little too severe and what Reputation soever he may have acquired for Learning and particularly for his Knowledge in the Latin Tongue yet in this case we ought no more to rely on what he says than on Horace in the Case of Plautus or on Quintilian in that of Seneca and some others who notwithstanding their Reflections have continued to preserve an inviolable Reputation Vulcatius Gallicanus THE Sâ—NATOR TO understand how far Vulcatius Gallicanus had engag'd himself to give us the History of the times wherein he lived we need only have recourse to those words of his in the Life of Avidius Cassius which is the only one he has left us viz. I design says he to Dioclesian Augustus to write the Lives of all those who either justly or unjustly have been stiled Emperor to the end to represent as it were at once to your view all that have arrived to the Imperial Dignity or been honoured by the Title of Augustus But it is certain that he never accomplished that Design since Vopiscus as I before mentioned tells us speaking of himself that he was the first that ever writ the Life of Aurelian and we may safely conclude that Vopiscus lived some time after Vulcatius since he makes mention of Trebellius Pollio at the beginning of the Life of Aurelian and of Julius Capitolinus and Aelius Lampridius at the beginning of the Life of Probus But those were all contemporary with Vulcatius But it may not be unworthy our observation that among the antient Collections of the Works of Spartian in the Palatine Library we find that of Avidius Cassius attributed there to him as the Learned Salmasius has remarked who seems inclinable to think that they are one and the same Author both by reason of the time wherein he lived and of the Stile and same Design of the History because as Lampridius relates he had proposed â—o himself to write an History of all the Emper 〈…〉 â—ho lived since Julius Caesar who had been 〈…〉 fied by the Title of Caesar's or Augustus and to make thereof as many Books as he should write Lives Which you may also read in the third Chapter of the Life of Avidius Cassius The Lives of all those who had either justly or unjustly been stiled Emperors as we have already remarked We may add to this that as it is certain that Lampridius never accomplish'd his Design so the Author of the Life of Cassius has also left his imperfect For as I have already said Vopiscus maintains that no one before him had written the Life of Aurelian and he has made no mention at all of Vulcatius when he had a very fair Opportunity of doing it where he tells us That in his Memoirs he would content himself to imitate Gargilius Martialis Julius Capitolinus Aelius Lampridius and others who in what they had transmitted to Posterity had been more observant of the Truth of the History than of elegance of Style But it may be said that he also comprehended Vulcatius in these words and others c. and that he would not express the Name of this Author because though he might propose to himself to write of all the Emperors yet that might only be perhaps out of some sort of Emulation of Spartianus and that there is great probability he contented himself with only the Life of Avidius or perhaps some one more that may be since lost To this also may be added that if this Life of Cassius had not been written by Vulcatius how comes it about that it never went under thâ—â—ame of Spartianus of Lampridius or of Ca 〈…〉 nus Or if there had been any Error in the Manuscripts it is probable some would have gone under one Name and some under another and yet we find in all the Copies and all the Editions the Name of Vulcatius Gallicanus prefixt to them which we find no where else and in that it is
would never have made so many Repetitions And so it seems the most probable to me to be that each Part was written by the Hand that it pretends to but yet all or however most of them written by a common Consent and Undertaking of the Authors one amongst another One thing there is wherein I crave the Liberty farther to speak my Opinion as to the Praise of these Authors The Acts which they have faithfully extracted out of the Journal of the Senate and out of the Ulpian Library the Bitter Exclamations of the Senate against the Memories of their evil Princes and their Applauses of their good Ones the Letters and Speeches which are Here not as in other Historians invented but all true Originals These I say I think are such Beauties as are not to be parallell'd out of the best of the Antients that have ever writ the Roman History The Lives of Nerva and Trajan I have translated from the Original Greek of Dion Cassius He being the only Historian of the Antients that are now extant that hath them And it was necessary that those Two Lives should be premised to the rest to make the Line of the Roman Emperors perfect from the end of Suetonius Where the Augustéan Historians have themselves ended I have been obliged to adjoyn a few Collections of my own for the Lives of Dioclesian Maximian Constantius and Galerius Because we have no antient Originals left us of those Emperors and to end with Carinus it was thought improper it being no period whereas the Addition of those Four after him brings down the Account entirely unto Constantine the Great To Regulate the better the whole I have added a Chronology for the satisfaction of any who shall be pleased to turn to it The Extract out of the Learned Vossius which follows prevents me in the rest that I might have to offer it was done to my hand by an ingenious Gentleman I shall only add that after I had entirely finished this Translation I received a French one made about thirty Years ago by the Abbé de Villeloin a great Writer who dedicates it to the French King and I observe takes the Liberty to say that it is the Tenth Book which he hath had the Honour to dedicate to him It begins but with Hadrian and ends with Carinus I perused it and compared Mine with it and I shall be glad if this may be something the better for that Labour These Historians have not affected to be eloquent but they may the more be depended upon for the Truth THE LIVES OF THE Roman Emperors FROM DOMITIAN where SUETONIUS ends TO CONSTANTINE the Great VOL. I. THE Lives in Vol. I. COcceius Nerva Trajan By Dio Cassius Hadrian Aelius Verus Caesar By Aelius Spartianus Antoninus Pius Marcus Antoninus Verus By Jul. Capitolinus Avidius Cassius By Volcatius Gallicanus Commodus By Aelius Lampridius Pertinax By Julius Capitolinus Didius Julianus Severus Pescennius Niger By Aelius Spartianus Clodius Albinus By Julius Capitolinus Caracalla Geta By Aelius Spartianus Opilius Macrinus By Julius Capitolinus Alexander Severus Diadumenus Heliogabalus By Aelius Lampridius IMP. NERVA CAES. AVG. GERM. P. M. TR. P.P.P. IMP. CAES. NERVA TRAIAN AVG. GRM P. M. IMP. CAESAR TRAIANVS HADRIANVS AVG ANTONINVS AVG. PIVS P. P. TR. P. II. IMP. CAES. M. AVREL. ANTONINVS AVG. P. M. L AVR. VERVS AVG. ARM. PARTHICVS MAX P 1 Vol. 1. THE A. Christi XCVII Life and Reign OF THE EMPEROR COCCEIVS NERVA BY DIO CASSIUS Rom Hist Lib. 68. VOL. I. AFTER the Death of Domitian the Senate set up Cocceius Nerva to succeed upon the Throne of the Empire of Rome The Statues of Domitian which were of Silver Domitian ' s Statues demolish'd and others which were of Gold as he had many of both were out of hatred to his Memory melted down A great quantity of Money was made of them and the many triumphal Arches were destroyed that had been erected to his Glory Nerva remitted the Persecution which was Persecution of the Christians remitted raised against the Christians by Domitian and pardon'd such as stood Condemned and recalled home others that were fled He put to Death all the Slaves and Servants who had taken the Advantage of that Reign by Informing to seek the Lives of their Masters He ordered that that Rank of People should not be heard in any Accusation against their Masters at all He ordered that none should be Prosecuted for being either of the Religion of the Christians or that of the Jews But yet as he was a Prince who was slack in his Government many Persons were notwithstanding upon the Accusations of Sycophants condemned and particularly Suras a Philosopher was one of this number In fine the Correction which he took of the ill Ministers of the last Reign and the Liberties which he gave in his own were an occasion that the Mouths of all the People were opened against one another till Rome was in a Mutiny hereupon Tirenta the Consul said It is ill when a Prince ties up the People so that there is no Liberty of any thing for any one but yet a Liberty for every thing for every one is worse than none Nerva was made sensible of it and gave Orders for the time to come to redress it He was Old when he came to the Empire and very weak and infirm His Stomach seldom retain'd what he eat He allowed no Moderation of Nerva Statues of him to be set up either in Silver or Gold All the Goods about the Court belonging to such as had been injured by Domitian he restored to the Owners He gave Six Hundred Sestertiums to be laid out upon a Purchase of Land to be divided amongst the Poor of Rome and he appointed some of the Senators to buy it and to make the Distribution His Coffers being empty he sold a great many rich Robes and Plate and Furniture both of what was his own before his elevation and of the Furniture Royal several Estates also and Houses and in general all things except the Necessaries that he could not be without He was not difficult in the Prices for which he sold them He did a kindness to many in the Peny-worths that he gave them He took away divers Sacrifices Races of the Cirque and other publick Shews to save Charges and retrench his Expences as much as he could He assured the Senate upon his Oath That he never would be that Prince who should spill the Blood of any Senator Which Oath he kept notwithstanding the Conspiracy afterwards form'd against him which might well have provoked him to other Sentiments He did nothing without the Counsel of the Great Men. He made several Laws Amongst the rest he made a Law To forbid the Gelding of any one for an Eunuch and another That no body should Marry his Brother's or his Sister's Daughter He appointed Virginius Rufus to be the Consul Makes Viginius his Colleague in conjunction with himself although Virginius
of the Mountain Aetna from thence to view the Rising Sun how various they say it appears there in its Colours in the Nature of those of the Rainbow From Sicily he came home to Rome and from Rome he crossed the Sea again into Africa leaving many Marks of his Liberality upon the Provinces of that Country so that one may say that scarce never hath there been a Prince known to Travel over so much Land and with so much dispatch as he He had no sooner returned back to Rome out of Africa but he set upon a New Voyage into the East and took his way through Athens The Works which he had begun at Athens he now finished and dedicated amongst the rest the Temple and the Altar of Jupiter Olympius In Asia as he travelled he likewise Consecrated Temples there which abide as so many Memorials of his Name Whilst he was in Cappadocia he admitted a Number of the People of that Country into the Service of his Army He invited the Princes and the Kings of the Dominions where he came to joyn in Friendship with him Particularly he invited to his Friendship Chosroes the King of Parthia to whom he returned his Daughter that Trajan had formerly taken Captive promising the same as to a Chair of State which had been then likewise taken and carried away in that War He received those Kings when they came so generously and treated them in that manner that others who staid away upon the Account especially of Pharismanes who insolently slighted him might have an occasion to repent themselves As he traversed the Provinces he punished some Procurators and some Presidents of them for their Malversations so severely that they said he had a mind certainly to encourage Accusers to appear against them He had a great Displeasure against the People of Antioch wherefore it was in his Thoughts to separate Syria from Phoenicia that Antioch should not be said to be the Metropolis of so many Cities The Jews about this time broke into a War because they were forbidden to Circumcise themselves He went upon the Mountain Lison which is near Antioch in the Night for the Curiosity of observing from thence the Rising-Sun Jupiter was worshipped upon that Mountain to whom as Hadrian was Sacrificing there a violent Storm arose with Thunder and Lightning which blasted both the Victim and the Priest He traversed Arabia and came to the City of Pelusium or Belvais in Egypt The Tomb of Pompey which is at this City being decayed he rebuilt it with greater Magnificence As he was sailing upon the Nile his dear Antinous died for whom he wept with all the tenderness and the weakness of a Woman His Grief for Antinous weeping for her Husband There are several reports about that Youth Some say that he devoted himself a Sacrifice for Hadrian Others that he was what his Beauty might probably incite him to be and the too great Pleasure which Hadrian took in a Burdash However it was the Grecians at the desire of Hadrian made a God of him and we are told of Oracles which have been uttered by him but they are rather some supposed Compositions of Hadrian who was excellent at Verse and indeed at all sorts of the Belles Lettres For he had a great Hand at Arithmetick Geometry and Painting He understood Musick and played perfectly well upon many Instruments and Sung Loving his Pleasures so excessively as he did he could not but Compose many Poems of his Amours Together with which he was a Master in the matter of Arms had the Military Art in perfection and was skilled at the Weapons of the Gladiatours He was a Person equally Severe and Pleasant Affable and Grave Active and Considerate Close and Liberal Cruel and Merciful in all things ever various He enriched his Friends though they never did ask him any favour and to others upon their asking he denyed nothing But yet he was easie to give ear to every Tale which was but whispered concerning them And this was the occasion that almost all those whom either he had dearly loved or whom he had raised to the highest Honours were afterwards treated by him as Enemies His Severity and Injustice as was Tatianus Nepos and Septimius Clarus Thus also Eudaemon who had once been Privy to all his Counsels and his Confident in the very Affair of his aspiring to the Empire was reduced by him to extreme Beggery He constrained Polyaenus and Marcellus to murder themselves He made the most notorious defamatory Libels upon Heliodorus He suffered Tatianus under a pretence of his being in a Conspiracy against him to be Arraigned and Proscribed He persecuted Numidius Quadratus Catilius Severus and Turbo very grievously He put to death Servianus his Sisters Husband when he was in his Ninetieth Year only because he would be sure that he should not out-live him In fine he Persecuted without remission both his Servants and his Soldiers As ready as he was at his Compositions always in Prose and Verse and skilled in all the Liberal Arts he yet laught at the Publick Professors of the Arts and triumphed over them entered many times into Solemn Disputes with all of them together and with all the Philosophers only for the Glory of Composing better Books or better Verses than they He excepted once particularly against a Word which was used by Favorinus who modestly submitting himself to him in it but being blamed by his Friends for yielding the Cause so in a Word for which there was sufficient Authority to be produced out of good Authors Favorinus made a very pleasant Jest upon it Says he My Friends you are much mistaken if you do not allow me to believe him to be a Learneder Man than us all who is the Master of Thirty Legions So fond was he of his Glory as to this Talent that he writ his own Life and afterwards gave it to his Servants that were Scholars to publish it only under their Names Thus the Books under the name of Phlegon are Hadrians The Catachriani are his which are extremely obscure pieces in imitation of Antimachus The Poet Florus having written to him thus as follows Ego nolo Caesar esse Ambulare per Britannos Scythicas pati Pruinas That is I desire not to be Caesar To Ramble amongst the Britains And be starved with the Frosts of Scythia He answered him again thus Ego nolo Florus esse Ambulare per Tabernas Latitare per popinas Culices pati rotundos That is I desire not to be Florus To Ramble amongst the Taverns Skulk about the Eating-Houses And be stung to death with Gnats He took more delight in the Antient Writings His Learning than the Modern and was pleased with making Declamations He preferred Cato to Cicero Ennius to Virgil and Caelius to Salust the like Judgement he passed upon Homer and Plato He pretended to understand Judicial Astrology so very well that upon the Calends of January in the Evening he would constantly set
Name to be Engraved upon any of them but upon the Temple of Trajan He re-edified the Pantheon at Rome together with the Septa the Temple of Neptune a great many Religious Houses the Forum of Augustus and the Bagnio of Agrippa all which he Consecrated anew but still under their Proper and their Antient Names He built a Bridge over thâ— Tiber which he called by his own name together with a Sepulchre for himself near the Tiber. He translated the Temple of the Goddess Cybele from the place where it was to another He did the same to a Colossus which stood there where now is the Temple of the City This was a great and a laborious Task It was removed in the Posture in which it was standing being raised by the Architect Daetrianus four and twenty Elephants were Employed upon it After he had Re-consecrated this vast Coloss to the Sun which before was Consecrated to Nero whose Head was to it he proposed to build such another Monument to the honour of the Moon by the Hand of the Architect Apollodorus He was most extremely Affable and Courteous in his Discourses which he had with Persons of low degree and he hated such as should Envy him a Pleasure which was so sensible to him upon the pretence of maintaining the Gravity and Port of a Prince At Alexandria in the Academy he both proposed several Questions to be answered by the Professors and answered others which they proposed to him Marius Maximus says that he was in his own Nature Cruel but yet that he did many Pious and obliging things the reason whereof was his fear that he might otherwise have the same Fortune with that which befel Domitian Although he did not love Titles and Inscriptions upon his Works he however called several Cities even Carthage it self and a part of Athens together with a multitude of Aqueducts after his own name He was the first who Created the Officer called Advocatus Fisci that is Advocate of the Exchequer He had a happy Memory His Memory and Wit and admirable Parts He dictated all his own Speeches and answered to every thing himself There are several of his Jests being a very pleasant Man in Conversation Amongst the rest this is one an old Man in Gray Hairs having asked him something which he denyed him and coming to ask it again but with his Hair tinged first unto a youthful colour says he to him I have already denyed this thing to your Father He remembred Persons by their Names so very well without the help of a Prompter that though he had heard them but once he presently corrected any one that mistook them He remembred even the Names of all the old Soldiers whom he had disbanded The Books which he read though they were out of the common way and difficult he would repeat to you again almost entirely by heart At one and the same time he Writ Dictated hearken'd to Discourse and discoursed himself with his Ministers He retained in his mind all the Publick Affairs so well that no diligent Master of a Family better knows those of his own House He loved his Horses and Dogs to that degree that he built them Tombs and writ them Epitaphs He built a Town which he caâ—led Adrianotherae in a certain place in Moesia only because he had hunted with good Success there at what time he kill'd a Bear with his own hand He made an exact enquiry always into all things acted by the Presidents of the Provinces until he was satisfied in the Truth He suffered not his Servants whom he had Manumitted to Influence him nor to be thought to do so He said that it was the easiness of the Princes his Predecessours which had been the occasion always of the Vices of those Men. Therefore if any of his pretended to have gained an Interest in him he presently punished them We have an instance of this Nature in what he did particularly to one of them whom he saw out of a Window walking in the midst betwixt two Senatours It is severe and yet it comes something near to a piece of Raillery He sent one to him to give him a Box on the Ear and to tell him That it was not for him to walk betwixt two Senatours to whom he might still be reduced to be a Slave Of all Dishes of Meat his fancy was especially for an Oglio of Pheasants Brawn c. In his time a Famine a Plague and an Earthquake happen'd For all which he expiated the Gods by Sacrifices as much as it was possible and generously succoured the People and the Cities that were laid wast by them There was also an Inundation of the Tiber. He made several Cities free of Rome and to others he remitted their Tribute No great Expeditions happened under his Reign His Wars passed over almost in silence He was beloved by the Soldiers because he took always a great Care of them and was very bountiful to them The Parthians were his stedfast Friends because he delivered them from the Yoke which Trajan had imposed upon them He permitted the Armenians to have a King of their own whereas under Trajan they received a Roman Lieutenant He did not exact of the Mesopotamians the Tribute which was imposed upon them by Trajan The Countries of Albania and Iberia were very affectionate to him The Kings of the Bactrians sent their Ambassadors to him and humbly desired his Friendship He oftentimes himself appointed the Persons His Care of the Publick who should be the Guardians to minors He took Care of the publick Manners no less than he did of the Discipline of the Army He commanded the Senators and the Roman Gentlemen to appear always in Publick in Gowns Accordingly himself when in Italy went always in a Gown He received the Senators standing when they came to wait upon him at his Banquets He settled with the help of the Magistrates for that purpose the Expences beyond which no one should exceed in their Feasts which he reformed according to the antient Julian Law He forbad the Citizens to appear attended with so much heavy Equipages as they did coming out of the Country He suffered not the Baths to be opened before Two a Clock in the Afternoon unless it was for the Sick He was the first of the Emperors who took of the Knights and Gentlemen to serve him as his Secretaries He had a Compassion for such amongst them as were poor and he knew were of an innocent Life as much as on the other hand he hated a Man who was grown Rich by Craft He took great Care to observe the Holy Rites of the Religion of the Romans But as for others which were of Foreign Institution he slighted them He officiated in Person as High Priest He many times had Causes tried before him at Rome and in the Provinces admitting the Consuls the Praetors and some of the best Heads of the Senate to his assistance as his Council He
were to be spoken more privately he took them apart into a long Gallery but in the mean time they were so over-careful that no other Persons should follow them pretending as if it were out of a fear lest their Message should be discovered that Albinus began to suspect something upon which he immediately caused them to be seized and put them to the Question Who at first denyed it but being at last forced to yield to the violence of the Torment they confessed then all that Severus had given in Charge to them Wherefore Albinus being satisfied in the just suspition that he had conceived gathered together a great Army and put himself upon his March with them to make War against Severus and against his Commanders In his first Engagement which he had with the Lieutenants of Severus Albinus had certainly the better of it After which Severus went in Person against him having first prevailed with the Senate to adjudge him an Enemy They fought it very severely on both sides in Gallia not without always a great variety of Fortune insomuch that Severus was so concerned at it that he thought fit to consult the Opinion of the Augurs who answered him as Marius Maximus says that Clodius Albinus should indeed fall into his Power but it should be neither living nor dead and it was so For when the last Battel was fought Albinus after an infinite number of his Men were killed a great many others put to flight and others taken Prisoners fled himself and whether it was that he struck himself through the Body or whether as some say one of his own Slaves or some of the Soldiers did it demanding some acknowledgment from him of Severus I cannot say but he was brought half alive and half dead to Severus which made good the Prediction He left one Son or as Maximus says two to whom at the first Severus was pleased to shew favour but afterwards he ordered them and their Mother to be kill'd and their Bodies to be thrown into the River The Head of Albinus was cut off and carried about upon a Javelin and then sent to Rome accompanied with Letters to the Senate wherein Severus insulted them for the Affection which they had a long time born to Albinus and for the Honours and Kindnesses that they had shewn to his Brother and his Relations but especially his Brother His Body was exposed in its Gore for several days before the Tent of Severus till it stunk and then it was torn into pieces by Dogs and thrown into the River As for the Manners of Clodius Albinus they His Temper and Manners are represented variously Severus says he was deformed with Vices Malicious Lewd Wicked Dishonest Envious and Luxurious But it is to be observed that it was in the time of the War with him or after that he speaks so ill of him which makes it the less to be believed Because before he frequently sent Letters to him as his particular Friend and certainly many People had a much better Opinion than that of him Besides that Severus himself had once called him his Caesar and had set him the first before his Eyes for his Successor There are also some Letters of the Emperor Marcus Antoninus concerning him Antoninus his good Opinion of him which give a great Testimony of his Virtues and Manners One of which written to the Captains of the Guards it will not be improper I think to insert here Marcus Aurelius Antoninus to the Captains of the Guards Greeting I Have committed two Cohorts to the Command of Albinus of the Family of the Cejonii he is an African born it is true but he hath not many things in him of that Country and he is the Son-in-Law of Plautillus A Man of Experience of a serious Life and Grave in his Manners I think he will do good in the Camp I am sure he will do no hurt I have doubled his Salary and quadrupled his other Allowances Do you encourage him to signalize his Services and assure him he shall be rewarded as he deserves Another Letter which the same Prince writ in the time of Avidius Cassius concerning him is this THE Fidelity of Albinus is to be commended who when the Forces in Bithynia were upon the Revolt and upon flying over to Avidius Cassius as certainly they had all done if he had not been with them was very careful in preserving them in their Duty We think therefore that he deserves a Consulship I shall accordingly substitute him in the place of Cassius Papirius who I am told is so sick that there is no appearance of his Recovery But I would not have you to take notice of it before he is dead lest it may come to the Ears either of Papirius himself or his Friends which would not look so well These two Letters therefore make it appear that Clodius Albinus was an useful Person And certainly his sending of Money towards the restoration of those Cities which had been laid waste by Pescennius Niger is another great Argument of a Publick Spirit and what had gained him Friends amongst the Inhabitants there Aelius Cordus pretends at the same time to say that he was such a Glutton that particularly he would eat more Fruit at a time than it is possible to imagine He says that he has eaten at a Breakfast five hundred Figs one hundred Peaches ten Melons twenty Bunches of Grapes a hundred of the little Birds called Beccafico's or Fig-Peckers and four hundred Oisters But yet he says that he drank but little in which Severus does not agree with him for he tells us that he drank to excess even in the time of the War And whether it was because of this his great drinking which Severus charges him with or because of his Moroseness of Humour it is said he never lived well with his Family but was very disagreeable to his Wife and unjust to his Servants as well as hard upon the Soldiers As to which latter he many times crucified Centurions when there hath been as good as no occasion given for it He beat others often with Rods and pardoned not the least fault He was proper in his Cloaths and as improper in his Repasts in which he minded nothing but Abundance He was a great lover of a Mistress but not at all of a Bardaccio being so far from that that he severely punished it upon such as were He was perfectly well skilled in Agriculture insomuch that he writ a Book of Georgicks He was as much beloved by the Senate as any Prince ever was but the great occasion of it was their mortal hatred to Severus which they had against him upon the account of his Cruelty Therefore as many of them as either were or such as were but suspected to have been of Albinus's side he put to death after the Victory He ordered the Letters of Albinus to be searched to discover his Correspondents and all that he found whatever he first caused them
dear Juvenalis who was the Captain of the Guards to him to think that my Geta shall be a God in whose Nativity I see nothing to make him an Emperor Nor did his skill at all deceive him for after Geta had been killed by his Brother and his Brother apprehended that he had drawn upon himself the hatred of a Tyrant by the Crime he understanding that it would be sweetned if he did but declare Geta a God cried Sit Divus dum not sit Vivus Let him be a God so he is not an Emperor and so he Consecrated him by which the Murderer in some measure retrieved to himself the good Grace of the People again Geta Antoninus was born at the City of Milan under the Consulships of Severus and Vitellius upon the sixth of the Calends of June His Mother was Julia who was Severus's second Wife being her whom he had chosen to Marry because he had heard that she had it Good and bad Omens in her Nativity to be the Wife of a King though himself was at that time a private Person only in a good Employment in the State As soon as he was born it was told by one that a Hen had laid an Egg in the House which was of a Purple colour So the Egg was brought up but Bassianus taking it in his hands and letting it fall like a Child to the Ground that it brake Julia said to him laughing You wicked Villain you have killed your Brother Severus took more notice of this Expression at that time than any other Body but afterwards all the Company lookt upon it as a thing spoken as it were by Inspiration Another Omen that happened was this upon the same day and in the same hour that Geta was born a Plebeian of the name of Antoninus had at his Farm in the Country a Lamb kidded with a mark upon his Head of the colour of Purple and being informed by a Soothsayer that an Antoninus should succeed to the Empire after Severus he very fondly interpreted it of himself but however killed the Lamb in which consisted the sign of the death of Geta for fear that the Omen of so high a Fortune should bring him into danger I would add one thing more which the Event made People to interpret to the same purpose which is that when Severus one day Celebrated the Birth of Geta his Brother Bassianus killed the Sacrifice himself in the place of the Priest A Circumstance not then considered nor taken notice of but it was afterwards very well understood when that Brother had sacrificed his Brother Geta was in his temper a rough sort of a His Personage and Conditions Youth though not to a Fault handsome a little eager a lover of delicious Wines and good Chear There is this Story of him which is remarkable when he was a Boy His Father the Emperor Severus being for Eradicating wholly the Parties that opposed him said once to his Sons I do but rid you of your Enemies So Bassianus advised him to cut them off all Root and Branch them and their Children but Geta askt the question how many of them they were His Father telling him says he again Have they Parents and Relations living Yes Then says he there will be more People in Rome sorry for your Victory than there will be that are glad of it And certainly Geta's Opinion had carried it had not Plautianus the Captain of Guards and Juvenal who had great interests insisted upon the contrary in hopes of enriching themselves by the Confiscation of the Estates which was again seconded by the excessive Cruelty of Bassianus who persisting in his first Opinion and saying He would have them all cut off them and their Children says Geta to him You who spare no Body would kill your own Brother Which as then spoken signified nothing but afterwards it appeared to be a sort of a Prophesie He had an excellent Memory to improve himself by what he read in the Antients and by what his Father taught him His Brother had always hated him but he was more beloved by his Mother Julia than ever Bassianus was by his He spoke agreeably though something Stammering he was curious in his Dress to excess and whatever was presented him he applied it to his own Ornament without giving it away to any body living After the Parthian War at what time his Father flourished in great glory as Bassianus was declared a Partner in the Empire with his Father so Geta was Created a Caesar and honoured with the name of Antoninus Geta. It was an usual diversion with him to propose to the Grammarians Questions about the several Cries and Voices of Animals As the Sheep Bleats the Swine Grunts the Dove Coos the Lion Roars the Elephant Brays the Frog Croaks the Horse Whinnies the Ass Brays the Ox Lows and to prove the use of the proper Latin Terms for each out of the Antients He read much in the Books of Serenus Sammonicus written to Antoninus As to the Table he took a pleasure to observe an Alphabet according to which as every Letter came on each day in its Course his Servants that knew it and were well skilled in the Arts of eating provided things of the names beginning with that Letter As for example for the Letter P. Puddings Plover Pullet Partridge Peacock Pig Piscis Plumbs and so upon other days for the other Letters in order Which is an Argument that from his Youth he had a gay choice of things and was a very pleasant Person After he was killed by his Brother a Party of the Soldiers who had not been Corrupted resented his Murder very ill saying all of them That they had promised Fidelity to the two Sons of Severus and ought to keep it equally to them both Accordingly they kept fast the Passes of their Camp and refused to give entrance to Bassianus till he had flattered them up and had appeased their Heats by giving them a Bounty which was vastly great After this Papinian and many others were Massacred who had either encouraged the good agreement of the two Brothers or had appeared to be of the Side of Geta. Persons of Quality of both the Senatorian and the Equestrian Orders were Butchered up and down publickly in the Baths and other places Papinian died by the Axe Bassianus finding fault with the Executioner that he had not done it with a Sword In the mean time he was so afraid of his own Person that he wore a Coat of Mail under his Purple when he went to the Senate to give them an account of what he did and of the death of Geta. At which time as Faustinus the Praetor repeated the Imperial Style saying Sarmaticus Maximus and Parthicus Maximus Titles which Bassianus had gained by his Victories over the Sarmatae and the Parthians Helvius Pertinax the Son of the Emperor of that name suggested it to him to say and add to the rest Geticus Maximus as if he meant it
by Columns but however he could not perfect it because he was prevented by his Death He beautified extremely the Temples of the Egyptian Deities Isis and Serapis furnishing them with Images and Vessels of the Marble of Delos and with all the things belonging to the mystical Ceremonies of that Worship He was entirely affectionate and pious towards his Mother Mammaea insomuch that he gave her Name to some Buildings which he added to the Palace at Rome as also to a Royal Mansion and to a Pond which he made at Baiae where they do still retain it at this day In the same place he built other magnificent Structures and made Ponds of a prodigious greatness by letting in the Sea when he pleased in honour of his other relations The Bridges of Trajan he repaired almost in all places where they were some he built New himself but for those that he had repaired he still continued upon them the Name of Trajan He was sometime thinking to appoint unto every degree of Men from Slaves to the highest Magistrates and Officers of all sorts a particular Habit whereby they should be distinguish'd which he said would be a Bridle especially upon all the Slaves and would keep them also from mixing and confounding themselves with the Free-People but Ulpian and Paulus did not approve of this because they said it would be an occasion of a great deal of Mischief should Men be easily disposed to quarrel So then he judged it was enough that the Order of the Gentry should be distinguished from that of the Senators or Nobility by the quality of their Gowns the latter having their Gowns purled with Knaps or Studs of purple of a larger size and the others with less He permitted the Senators to wear within the City against the Cold and the Rain the Paenula that is a Hanging Coat which otherwise is a Vestment only proper for the Road but however he forbad the Dames to use the like sort of Wear that is Mantles within the City but upon the Road they might do as they pleased He had a greater Command of the Eloquence His Attainments in Arts. of the Greek Tongue than of the Latin and he made no bad Verse He loved Musick and was skill'd in the knowledge of Astrology which was taught and publickly professed at Rome by his Command He was also very well versed in the Science of the Soothsayers both as to the Entrails of the Sacrifices and as to the Flights and Notes of Birds insomuch that he out-did in these the Biscayners of Spain and the Augurs of Pannonia He was a Geometrician he painted admirably he sung very well but yet never but in the hearing of his own Domesticks He writ the Lives of the good Princes his predecessors in Verse he played well upon the Harp Flute and Organ he sounded well upon the Trumpet only he did not make this to appear after he was Emperor He was the best at the Exercises of the Body of any of his time those of Arms he performed perfectly well and how great a Captain he was his Wars leave us no room to doubt in which he acquitted himself so happily and reaped so much Glory He was only Thrice pleased to accept the Consulate and then he always substituted others to his place with the first opportunity He was a most severe Judge against Thieves and Robbers with all the rigour imaginable he condemned them and said That they were ordinarily the occasion of all the Crimes that were daily committed and that they were the only Plagues and Enemies of the State A certain Clerk once having given in a false breviate to the Council he ordered him to be cut into the Sinews of his Fingers so as never to be able to write again and then to be banished for ever He set up Colossusses and Statues some on foot and some on Horseback to the honour of the deified Emperors in the Forum of Nerva with Inscriptions upon Columns of Brass containing all their memorable Actions after the Example of the Marble Statues of the great Men and the Elogiums of their Lives which Augustus set up in the Forum that bears his Name He desired to appear to derive the Origine of his Blood from the Romans for he was ashamed to be called a Syrian and was much affronted by that Name by the People of Antioch Egypt and Alexandria when once they called him not only a Syrian but a High-Priest and a Ruler of the Synagogue as if he was a Jew too Before I give an account of his Arms and his Military Expeditions I will here premise a few things touching his particular Life and his domestick Affairs He had in his private Oratory within the Court that is there were indeed two Oratories there which he used but this was the His domestick Deportment chief and the holiest the Images of the several deified Emperors of the best Note and the greatest Virtue together with which he had the Images of other pious Souls whom he respected as Gods and amongst the rest Apollonius Thyanaeus and as a Writer of those times also says CHRIST Abraham Orpheus and such others as likewise the Images of his own Ancestors Hither therefore in the morning early if he had the leisure he came to perform his Devotions But else if he did not do this he either took the Air in his Coach or went a Fishing or Hunting or Walking according to the quality of the place After this if he had time he bestowed himself for a good hour to the care of the publick Affairs which indeed required so much the less of his attention as both the Military and the Civil Affairs were treated amongst his Councellors who were Men Holy and Faithful and were never to be corrupted for Money so that their Resolutions finally passed unless he had offered something himself that was New But yet if necessity so required he was set down to Business in a morning before it was day and continued in it many hours and never thought the time tedious nor retired either more to appearance pleased or displeased than he came his Countenance being always equal and being of a Soul equally contented with every thing that passed He was certainly one of a great Prudence which was not to be imposed upon in any thing for though it were attempted with never so good a Grace he discovered it and obliged the Author to repent of his Labour After his application to the publick Business whatever it was Military or Civil he imployed the greatest part of his leisure to Reading He read the Greek Books and amongst the His addiction to Learning rest particularly those of the Commonwealth of Plato When he read in Latin he delighted in nothing more than the Offices of Cicero and his Books upon the same Subject of a Commonwealth Sometimes he read the Orators and the Poets and amongst others particularly Serenus Sammonicus who was one that he had personally known
Gordianuâ— the Third a Youth of about Eleven or some say Thirteen or as Junius Cordus says Sixteen Years of Age might be created and declared the Caesar that is the Person who should next succeed to the Empire who therefore accordingly was brought to the Senate and invested He is declar'd Emperor with that Quality with the usual Solemnity He was the Grandson of the Emperor Gordianus the First but whether by a Daughter as many say or by his Son Gordianus the Second who died with him in Africa as Dexippus thinks I cannot determine His Mother Educated him Maximus and Balbinus Reigned two Years and then were kill'd in a Mutiny of the Soldiers The two Maximins were extinct before So there remaining without any Competitor Gordianus the Third who had for the two years last past been honoured with the Quality of the Caesar the Soldiers the People Senate and all the Country with great Joy and Alacrity and with extraordinary demonstrations of their Affection agreed to proclaim him Emperor Loving him in Memory and for the Merits of his Grandfather Gordianus the First and of his Father or otherwise his Uncle Gordianus the Second who both of them took up Arms for the Senate and the People of Rome against Maximin and lost their lives in their service by the Fortune of that War It was look'd upon as a Sign That Gordianus the Third would not be a Prince of a long Reign that such a great Eclipse of the Sun happen'd about that time that the Day was turn'd into Night and you could see to do nothing without Candles He entertained the City of Rome with Sports and Pastimes upon his coming to the Empire not only the more to ingratiate himself with them but to make them also forget the Heats and Divisions which they had had amongst themselves Then an Insurrection commenc'd in Africa headed by Sabinianus in the Year when Venustus and Sabinus were the Consuls Gordianus Armed the President of Mauritania against that Revolter who besieged and reduced him to that extremity that all his Party left him and came and acknowledged their fault After this he commenced a War with Persia the Emperor himself which was his second Consulship and Pompeianus being then Consuls The young Emperor before he went to that War married His Father-in-Law the Daughter of Mysitheus who as he was a Person of great Erudition and rare Eloquence Gordianus thought him not unworthy to be admitted into his Alliance and presently he made him his Captain of the Guards This strengthen'd his Reign Himself was for his Age very Sage and very Advised but being also assisted with the Counsels of so excellent a Father-in-Law nothing was acted by him that was puerile or despisable nor was he made a Property of by the Eunuchs and Servants of the Court which he was but too much subject to be before this Match whilst he continued under the Regency of his Mother We have a Letter of his Father-in-Law written to him and another from him written to his Father-in-Law in which are contained great Marks of the Reformation of the Times by virtue of the Counsels of Mysitheus The Letters are these To my Lord and Emperor my Son Mysitheus his Father-in-Law and Captain of the Garuds IT is a Pleasure to me to observe the Alteration of the Times since every thing was bought and sold by the Eunuchs and such as pretended themselves to be Friends but were really the greatest Enemies to your Majesty I am glad that that Blot is removed from your Reign Your Majesty is your self also very glad of it which I am the more pleased to see because it shews that howsoever badly Affairs have been before managed the fault was not in you my Son Nor was it to your mind that the Commands in the Army were disposed of through the favour of the Eunuchs or that Persons were denied the Rewards due to their Services or that they were either saved for Money and Affection when they deserved to die or put to death when they deserved to live It was not by your fault that the Treasury was exhausted but all these things lie at the door of those who were continually Plotting and entring into Cabals to deceive you whereby they prevented the Access of Men of Virtue and Honesty to your Person prepossessing you against such and on the contrary insinuating others into your favour as vitious as themselves through whose and their own Methods together they made a Prey of you The Gods be thanked that your Majesty is sensible of all this and that you have taken it into your Consideration to Reform the State I am happy in being the Father-in-Law of so good a Prince A Prince who examines into and who will know all things and who hath banished from him those by whom before he was made an Auction of and sold to whosoever offered most The Emperor Gordianus to Mysitheus my Father and my Captain of the Guards BUT that the Almighty Gods continue to Protect the Roman Empire the Slaves the Eunuchs would ere this have even Ruined that and me I now see very well that Faelicio was not a fit Person for the Command of the Guards which I gave him nor Serapammo to be trusted with the Fourth Legion I am sensible not to reckon up all Particulars that I have done many things otherwise than in Prudence I ought and I thank the Gods that through your Insinuation who are entirely Just and True to me I understand my Error and that I know the things which have been before shut up from me Maurus imposed upon me and by a Confederacy with Gaudianus Reverendus and Montanus at his Witnesses to confirm what he said in order to win upon my belief he either commended or discommended Persons to me as he pleased My Father I would desire you to search into the Truth of things An Emperor is in a miserable Condition that hath the Truth hid from him For since he cannot walk abroad to examine what he would himself of necessity he must take up with such as he hears and what comes to him upon the Credit of others By these two Letters it is easie to see that this young Prince was much amended and rectified in his Conduct by the Advices of Mysitheus The Gravity and the Uprightness of that Man had such an influence upon him that he made Gordianus Famous who otherwise might have pass'd his time in great Obscurity without any thing but his Quality to recommend him to Posterity An Earthquake happened in the Reign of this Emperor so terrible that whole Cities with their People were swallowed up in it On which occasion a great many Sacrifices were celebrated in all Parts of Rome and generally all over the World The Books says Aelius Cordus of the Sibyls were consulted and all the Ceremonies being performed that seemed to be prescribed therein then this universal Calamity ceased After the Earthquake and in the time of the Consulships
at Rome The City of Emissa was nigh destroyed by the severity of Balista at this time and many of the Inhabitants killed with the Treasurer and such others of the Party of Quietus as had fled for shelter thither Odenatus ordered an Account of every thing that had passed to be faithfully sent to the Emperor Gallienus at Rome as if it was in his Cause that he had done what he did Gallienus was pleased with the security which accrued to him by the death of Macrianus and his Sons But the use that he made of it was Dissoluteness of Gallienus only to indulge his Lusts and Pleasures the more which he pursued without the least regard to the Condition of his Captive Father He gave the Publick the diversions of the Races of the Cirque Stage-plays the Games of Leaping Running and Wrestling a Chase of Wild Beasts and the Games of the Gladiators whereunto he invited the People to assist and be Merry as upon Days of the greatest Joy and Triumph However several could not but lament the Captivity of his Father but Gallienus gloried rather in it because his Father he said had lost his Crown by I know not what love of Virtue which he renounced and so he solaced himself above measure It was plain that he could not endure the Eye of his Father upon him and he thought himself happy that the Old Man with his Gravity was so far off removed About the same time Aemilian in Egypt Revolted and set up for himself as Emperor and seized upon the Granaries and the Magazines of that Country till several Towns there were almost laid under a Famine Against him Theodotus a General of Gallienus marched and fought him and took him and sent him alive to the Emperor his Master Gallienus still persisting in his Sports and his Luxury and no better looking after the Publick Weal than a Boy that is made a King in a Play of a Company of Boys The Gauls to whom it is Natural to be Light and a People that cannot contain themselves under Princes which are luxurious and which degenerate from that Roman Valour which did at first subject them called Posthumius to the Empire whereunto the Forces of that Province consented who were very sensible and accordingly complained of the slavery of Gallienus to his Lusts Against Posthumius marched Gallienus himself with a Body of Troops He besieged Posthumius in the City where he was But as he was viewing the Walls the Gauls distinguish'd him and gave him a Wound by the shot of an Arrow Posthumius reigned seven Years in Gallia and asserted that Country bravely against the Incursions of all the Barbarians round about The War betwixt Gallienus and him was long protracted through a number of Sieges and Battels Sometimes the one sometimes the other carried it insomuch that Gallienus was obliged by the difficulties which beset him to make a Peace with the pretended Emperor Aureolus for the better opportunity of opposing Posthumius To Many Commotitions and Wars these Mischiefs the Scythians invaded the Province of Bithynia in the Lesser Asia and destroyed whole Towns there They came up to the City of Nicomedia and burnt it and grievously laid it waste Besides which as if all the World conspired at once to afflict us in Sicily there arose as it were a servile War by the means of a company of Robbers that roved up and down and required a great deal of pains to suppress them All these things happened out of a Contempt of Gallienus because there is nothing which gives so much Boldness to the Wicked nor so much Hopes and Encouragement to the Good as when either on the one hand a Good Prince is feared or on the other a Dissolute Prince is despised Amongst so many Commotions and Wars an Earthquake in the Year when Gallienus and A dreadful Earthquake Faustinianus were the Consuls in a violent manner shook the Cities of Asia it shook Libya and the City of Rome and there was a Darkness for several days The roaring of the Earth from beneath was like the Voice of Thunder from above Many Fabricks were consumed in this Earthquake and their Inhabitants with them and others killed with the fright The Earth opened in abundance of places and salt Water came up into the Breaches and several Cities were covered with a Flood of Waters Above all it did the most mischief in Asia At the same time so great a Pestilence raged at Rome and in the Cities of Achaia that five thousand Persons died of it in one day So the Books of the Sibyls were Inspected and the Peace of the Gods begged and sought into and a Sacrifice was offered to Jupiter the Author of Health according as it was prescribed by the said Books of the Sibyls Fortune raged on all sides Here the Earth shook and trembled there it gaped and opened The many Misfortunes of the Times in other Parts a Pestilence laid us waste Valerian in the mean time a Captive Gallia distracted with the Wars of Posthumius and the Barbarians the East under the Empire of Odenatus Aureolus the Master of Illyricum and Aemilian the Master of Egypt Thrace taken up betwixt the Goths and Claudius who laid waste Macedonia and besieged Thessalonica No moderate degree of quiet had we on any side And all this in a great measure as I have said was yet occasioned by the Contempt in which Gallienus was with all the World which he drew upon himself by his excessive Luxury and not only that but he was a Man who besides if he was out of Danger was fit enough for all kind of Wickedness In Achaia Martianus with the Forces of Gallienus Engaged the Goths and obliged them to retire The Scythians who are another part of the Goths at the same time laid waste Asia and plundered and burnt the Temple of Diana at Ephesus the Fame of the Riches whereof is so well known to all the Earth It is a shame almost to say what Expressions what Jests came upon these occasions from the mouth of Gallienus when he was told of the Revolt and Troubles of this and the other Place Egypt it was told him was Revolted And what then says he cannot we be without the Flax of Egypt Asia it was told him was laid waste both by the Earthquakes and the Scythian Enemy What then says he cannot we be without Salt-petre When Galliá was lost to Posthumius he laughed and said Cannot the State be safe unless we have our Stuffs from Arras And so of all Parts of the World when he had lost them he Jested and was no more concerned than for his old Cloaths or the loss of any vile Slave And that nothing which is Ill should be wanting to his Times the City of Byzantium which is the Key of the Hellespont and famous for its Naval Powers was rendred totally desolate by the Soldiers of the same Gallienus that scarce any body was left alive in
The Learned in the matter of Nativities are of an Opinion that one hundred and twenty Years is the greatest Age given to a Man to live and more they pretend hath not been permitted to any only to Moses the Friend of God as the Books of the Jews speak who attained unto one hundred and twenty five Years And when he complained that he died whilst as yet he had all his Senses intire and vigorous it was answer'd him by I know not what Deity that no Person was to live above that Age. Now had Claudius lived to one hundred and twenty Years though his Death must have of necessity proceeded at that time yet would no body have desired it then as Tully speaks concerning Scipio because his Life was stupendous and admirable Take him whether at Home or Abroad and what is there that is Great that he did not discover He Loved his Parents shall I say He Loved his Brothers and this is no Miracle He Loved his Relations a thing which is in our times to be compared unto a Miracle He Envied no one The Wicked he punished Corrupt Magistrates he openly and publickly Condemned He overlook'd the Indiscretions of Fools He made excellent Laws He was that Person upon the Throne that those of his Race have been since Courted to the Empire by the greatest Princes and are dear in the best Affections of the Senate I may be thought perhaps to speak this in flattery to Constantius the Caesar But I appeal as well to the Conscience of your Majesty as to my Manner of Life to be my Witness Whether I have ever thought or uttered or acted any thing at any time that is of that Nature I have before my eyes the Emperor Claudius whose Life Probity and all the Actions of his Reign have given such a Fame of him to Posterity that both the Senate and the People of Rome conferred upon him unparallel'd Honours after his Death A Shield in Gold wherein is engraven his Image was by the Voice of the whole Senate set up in his Honour in the House of the Senate where it is extant at this day The People of Rome Honours done to him by the People of Rome which never was done before at their own expence set up his Statue of Gold of the heighth of ten Foot in the Capitol before the Temple of the most High and Excellent Jupiter In the Publick Forum was his Statue in Silver in a Triumphal Robe erected upon a Column with the Acclamations of all Mankind the Silver being of one thousand and five hundred pound weight As if he had a prospect of things future he revived and propagated the Honour of the Family of the Flavii of which was Vespasian and Titus not to mention Domitian because he was one unworthy of it In a short time he finished the War with the Goths So that if I must be thought to Flatter the Senate the People of Rome the Foreign World and the Provinces are all Flatterers with me For all Orders of Men all Ages and every City have honoured Claudius with Statues Banners Crowns Shrines Arches of Triumph Altars and Temples It is fit for all the World but especially those who would imitate the Examples of good Princes to know with what Acclamations and Affection the Senate received this Prince and in the Voice of the Senate one may see in a manner the Sense of Mankind The News came to them of his Elevation upon the Ninth of the Kalends of April which is the Festival of Cybele whilst they were in the Chappel of that Goddess But they could not perswade themselves to continue longer there to Celebrate the Duties of the Day They took their Robes and repaired to the Temple of Apollo where reading the Letters which were sent to and by the Senate them from Claudius they expressed themselves in his Honour as follows The Gods continue Claudius our Emperor to us This was repeated sixty times We have always wished to have Claudius to be our Emperor or such a one as you This was repeated forty times The State wanted a Claudius to Govern it This was repeated forty times You are a Brother a Father a Friend a Good Senator and Truly a Prince This was repeated eighty times Avenge us O Claudius our Emperor of Aureolus This was repeated five times Avenge us O Claudius our Emperor of the Palmyreni in Syria This was repeated five times Deliver us O Claudius our Emperor from the Usurpations of Zenobia and Victorina This was repeated seven times Tetricus hath done nothing why we should Complain of him to your Majesty The first Action of Claudius after his accession to the Empire was his Victory over Aureolus who had made himself the more troublesome because he was much in the favour of Gallienus Claudius fought him and defeated him and published Edicts to the People and sent Letters to the Senate wherein he declared him upon his refusal still to submit himself an Usurper Aureolus desired a Treaty of Accommodation with him But He defeats Aureolus Claudius was deaf to that Motion and told him very gravely that he was not a Gallienus to be ask'd such a thing who might comply with him because he feared him At length Aureolus was killed by the Soldiers at Milan and received that End which his Life and Manners deserved Some Historians ridiculously endeavour to Commend him Gallus Antipater calls him a Golden Emperor as if he was the better Man because his Name in the Latin refers to the word Aurum or Gold But as that Writer is the Father of Flatterers and the Reproach of Historians so I have often known the Name of Aureolus given to a Good Gladiator and your Majesty's Book of the Publick Sports hath this very Name in the List of the Names of the Gladiators But to return to Claudius The Goths that had made a shift to escape home from the Army of Martianus as we have said before in the Life of Gallienus I. excited at their arrival all the Nations and People of their Confederacy to fall to make Depredations upon the Lands of the Empire So several Nations of the Scythians the Peuceni the Trutungi or Gruthungi the Ostrogoths the Virthungi or Vithungi the Gypides the Celtae and the Heruli broke in together upon us and laid many places waste whilst Claudius was taken up elsewhere Especially he was so tedious with the Preparations that he was making for this Gothick War to conclude the same effectually as he ought that he tryed as it were the utmost Patience of the Fates And yet I think that this really redounded the more to his Glory and made his Conquest the more Illustrious in the Eye of all the World Of Vast numbers of the Barbarians the Enemy there were three hundred and twenty thousand Fighting Men. Tell me now he who accuses me of Flattery whether he thinks that Claudius who Conquer'd all these is but little to be admired A Body
time he resolved to adopt Aurelian to be his Son The Letter of the Emperor Valerian wherein he substituted Aurelian in the place of Ulpius Crinitus was this My dear Aurelian WEre there any Person so agreeable to me as you whom I could substitute to command in the place of Ulpius Crinitus I might put his Virtues in competition with yours upon this occasion But do you undertake the War on the side of Nigeboli that the Sickness of Crinitus may not create us a prejudice I do not ask you to do great things but what you can the Army will be at your Command You will have three hundred Iturean Archers six hundred Armenians one hundred and fifty Arabians two hundred Saracens four hundred Mesopotamians Auxiliaries together with these you have the Third Legion and eight hundred Horse in compleat Armour You will be joyned by Hartomundus Haldegastes Hildemundus and Cariovistus The necessary Provisions for you are laid â—n by the Officers in all our Garrisons You in â—our great Prudence and Knowledge of War will â—ake care to Lodge your Men Winter or Summer â—n places where they shall want nothing and also to find out the Camp of the Enemy and to â—nform yourself exactly of the Strength and Numâ—er of them and to see that no waste be made â—f the Wine Provisions or Arms in which consists the Force and Fortune of any War By the help of God I hope for as much Assistance from â—ou as if Trajan was living the Publick would from him Nor are you inferior to him into whose Place and Trust I have chosen you You may expect that I shall appoint Ulpius Crinitus and you â—o be Consuls the next Year from the 11th of the Kaâ—ends of June in the places of my Son and me Your Charges shall be born out of the publick Treasury For it is the fittest thing in the World to ease the Circumstances of such Persons as you who wholly spend themselves not in seeking your own Advantage but in the Service of the State Hence we see further how great a Man Aurelian then was nor indeed does any one ascend the Empire in his Age but who from his Youth raises himself gradually towards it by the steps of Virtue The Letter concerning the Consulship of Aurelian was this The Emperor Valerian unto Aelius Xifidius the Keeper of the Treasury YOU shall give to Aurelian whom I have made a Consul towards his exhibition of the Games of the Cirque because as great and as deserving a Man as he is in all Respects he is poor three hundred Antoninusses in Gold three thousand little Philips in Silver and fifty thousand Sesterces in Brass ten Vests of fine wrought Stuff twenty Linen Vests of the Egyptian Work two Pair of the Cyprian Table Cloths ten Pieces of African Tapestry ten Barbary Carpets a hundred Hogs and a hundred Sheep You shal make a publick Entertainment for the Senators and the Roman Gentry and offer to the Gods two greater and four lesser Sacrifices I have made some mention before of the Design of Ulpius Crinitus to adopt Aurelian to be his Son I hope it will neither be improper nor tedious to insert for the greater Honour of Aurelian a more particular account of that Matter according as I find 〈…〉 the Ninth Book of the Acts of Acholius whâ— was Master of the Ceremonies to the Emperor Valerian This Ceremony was performed at the City Particular Honor done to him by Valerian of Byzantium where the Emperor Valerian being seated upon a Throne in the Baths and the Troops drawn up by him and the Officers of the Court attending him together with Memmius Fuscus the Consul for the Year Baebius Macer the Captain of the Guards Quintus Acarius the President of the East waiting on the right Hand of him and on the left Amulius Saturninus the General of the Frontiers against the Scythians Murentius the Governour of Egypt Julius Trypho the Commander on the Frontiers of the East Maecius Brundusinus the General of the Provisions of the East Ulpius Crinitus the General of Illyricum and Thrace and Fulvius Boius the General in Rhaetia In this great Appearance the Emperor Valerian expressed himself to Aurelian thus The whole Empire gives you thanks Aurelian for delivering it from the Power of the Goths Through you we abound with Booty we abound in Honour and all things by which the Happiness of the Roman Name is increased I give you therefore for the Noble Actions which you have done four Mural Crowns five other Crowns of those that are for entring the Enemies Works two Naval Crowns and two Civick Crowns ten Javelins four parti-coloured Standards four red ducal Vests two Cloaks such as are worn by the Proconsuls one Consular Robe one triumphal Vest one triumphal Gown a Mantle of State and a Chair of Ivory which last is the Mark of the Dignity of a Consul for so I appoint you to be this day and I shall write to the Senate to send you the Ivory Staff and the Rods which are the other Ensigns of that Dignity Aurelian after his Majesty had thus spoke approached to him and kissed his Hand and returned his Thanks to his Majesty in the Words following I truly may it please your most excellent Majesty have therefore done and suffered all that hath been in my Power and I have taken all the Pains I could to serve the States on purpose that I might oblige it and at the same time discharge a good Conscience the Sense whereof joyned with the Thanks of the State is alone a Reward sufficient for me But your Majesty hath done much more I give your Majesty thanks for your Goodness and I accept the Consulship at your Hands The Gods grant and particularly our assured God the Sun that the Senate may judge as kindly of me Then all the Company complemented the Emperor and next Ulpius Crinitus stood up and said May it please your Majesty As it was antiently a Custom amongst the best of our Fore-fathers to adopt Persons of Worth and Bravery to be their Sons thereby either to continue their decaying Families or to add a new Honour to them by the means of such a worthy Alliance which hath particularly been done often in my Family in the adoption of Ulpius Trajan by Cocceius Nerva the adoption of Hadrian by Trajan the adoption of Antoninus by Hadrian and others since so it is likewise my desire at this time to adopt Aurelian to be my Son He is adopted by Ulpius Crinitâ—s of whom your Majesty in your Wisdom hath so much approved that you have made him my Lieutenant and put him in my absence to command my Army Your Majesty may therefore please to order it to pass into a Law that Aurelian be the Heir of the Name Goods and all the Rights of what kind soever of me Ulpius Crinitus according as your Majesty hath been pleased to make him also a Consul with me The Emperor complemented Crinitus in
return and the Adoption of Aurelian was according to Custom ratified What a certain Greek Author says as I remember that the Emperor commanded Crinitus to adopt Aurelian because he was poor I must leave to the Reader I have said that the Emperor bore the Charge of the Games with which Aurelian entertain'd the People at his entrance into his Consulship and I did it for this reason especially to mark the Modesty of the Expences of those times in comparison with the Expences of others since For we have lately seen the Games presented in the Cirque by Furius Placidus upon his Consulship in which the Jockies and the Coachmen have had Estates rather given them than their proper Wages Cloaths of Silk fine Linens Horses at which sober Men have been much troubled because it looks as if the Riches of a Man more than his Virtue had made him a Consul And perhaps many a one who for his Virtue deserves to be a Consul would be ruined by such an Expence But those chast times are past and by a popular Ambition which reigns amongst us we depart from them every day more and more But this also I leave to the Reader Aurelian raised by the Reputation of so many and so great Characters as these appeared with so much lustre in the Reign of Claudius that after his Death and the Death of his Brother Quintillus he succeeded upon the Throne of the Empire There is a great-disagreement in this place in our Histories concerning the Death of Aurelius with whom the Emperor Gallienus agreed to a Peace as whether he was killed by Aureolan without or with the Order and Consent of Claudius and whether he was killed by Aurelian after or before he came to the Empire For in all these Questions the Historians and particucularly the Greek differ from one another However it is we are very sure of this that the Emperor Claudius committed the War against the Scythians to the Care of none more than Aurelian I will give you here the Letter of Claudius for that purpose The Emperor Flavius Claudius to Valerius Aurelian wisheth Health OUR Affairs at this time require your accustomed Bravery Be quick Why should you delay The whole Army is ordered to march under your Conduct The Goths are to be attacked and to be expelled the Country of Thrace They lie a great many of them about the Mountains Haemus and Rulla They do much Mischief being returned from the flight to which you last saw them reduced All the Forces of Thrace and Illyricum and all that Frontier I place under your Hands Now let us have a stroak of your wonted Gallantry My Brother Quintillus will be one that will join you I am taken up with other Affairs so that I entrust this whole Matter to your Valour I have sent you ten Horses two Coats of Mail and such things as it is fit you should be provided with against your Fight Aurelian fought and so prosperously defeated the Enemy in several Battles that he did great Service to the Empire by it therefore after the Death of Claudius he was by He is declar'd Emperor by the Army the Legions unanimously advanced to take his place Under the same Reign he fought also very bravely with the Suevi and the Sarmatae and he gained over those a most flourishing Victory Aurelian soon after he was elevated to the Empire had a War with the Marcomanni who out of Germany making a sudden Irruption into Italy in which by a mistake he did not take care to front them immediately in the beginning whilst he was preparing to charge them behind they laid waste all the Country about Milan However the Marcomanni were overcome at last but in the mean time their Ravages were a matter of great Consternation to all at Rome where the People broke out into great Sedition out of an apprehension that they should see the Empire torn into pieces again as it was before in the time of Gallienus The Books of the Sibyls so well known for the publick Good done by them were upon this occasion consulted and it was found that at certain places there should be Sacrifices used to stop the Course of the Barbarians in Virtue whereof they would not have the Power to pass further up into the Country This was done acordingly with all care the Barbarians stopt upon it and as afterwards they were roving up and down in disorder Aurelian came upon them and slew them I The Marcomanni defeated will give you the debate of the Senate at this time concerning the inspecting the Books of the Sybils Upon the third day of the Ides of January the Senate being assembled Fulvius Sabinus the Praetor of the City of Rome spoke thus to them Fathers of the Senate I Am to acquaint you that it is the suggestion of the Chief Priests as well as it is the Order by Letter of the Emperor Aurelian that the Books of the Sibyls in which the Secrets of the Destinies are contained be now inspected in hopes thence to discover by the Holy Will of the Gods a means of putting an end to this War You know very well that as often as any extraordinary case arises it is the Custom always to Inspect those Books nor have we been delivered from the Publick Evils which have at any time beset us but by following their Order and by performing such Sacrifices as we find to be appointed us there Then Ulpius Silanus whose place it was to give his Opinion the first stood up and said Fathers of the Senate IT is very Late for us at this day to begin to consult about the Safety of the State It is very late for us now to Consult the Books of the Sybils when we know not what else to do like some sick Persons who send not for the Physician but in the greatest extremity to which yet it is never good to trust because all Diseases are the best taken and obviated in the beginning You may remember Gentlemen that I have often from this place told you even then when first the news came of an Irruption of the Marcomanni that the Decrees of the Sibyls ought to be consulted and that we should serve our selves of the assistances of Apollo and keep to the Precepts of the immortal Gods But my Motion was rejected and that too not without a great deal of reproach from some who in flattery to Aurelian answered that under the Conduct of so brave a Prince there was no necessity of consulting the Gods as if he did not himself revere the Gods and hope for the success of his Arms from their immortal Powers In short you have heard his Letter wherein he begs the Divine assistance which it is never unworthy the greatest Man to do Therefore let the Priests with all Purity Cleanness and Sanctity prepared as well in their Minds as Habits for so sacred a Work immediately repair to the Temple and with due Reverence peruse the Holy
Books and examine what is the eternal will of the Fates and we on our parts shall not be wanting to perform the Sacrifices and observe the Solemnity which the Gods require of us The rest of the Senators in ordor being askt their Opinions they all some one way some another declared their Consent that the Books of the Sibyls should be consulted and The Books of the Sibyls Consulted the Act past for the Purpose Then to the Capitol they went the said Books were examined some Verses out of them were pitched upon then the City of Rome was Purged by Sacrifice a Procession was made round the City and the Suburbs the Verses were Sung and all the Ceremony whatever that was required was accordingly performed Now the Letter of Aurelian to the Senate in which he put them upon the Consulting the same Books was this I Admire my good Fathers that you have so long hesitated about opening the Books of the Sibyls as if it was a matter that was referred rather to a Congregation of Christians who are the Enemies of our Religion and our Gods than to Persons Zealous as you are for the Honour of the one and the other I would desire you to set the Priests immediately and religiously about it that with the solemn Ceremonies and Rites which shall there appear to be appointed you may assist your Prince now labouring under great difficulties Let the Books be inspected and what things are therein required to be done let them be done For my part I shall spare for no Costs The Captives that I have of any Nation and any of the Animals of the noblest kind belonging to me I freely offer for Sacrifices It is no lessening to a Victory to be assisted in it by the Gods In the times of our Ancestors divers Wars have been begun and ended in this manner I have writ to the Keeper of the Exchequer to disburse whatever the Charge is You may command thence what Money you think fit and I am glad to find that the Coffers are well provided That which was the occasion of all this concern for inspecting the Books of the Sibyls was Aurelian had suffered a great defeat from the Enemy at Piacenza and had it not been that after the examination of the said Books and the performance of the Sacrifices by them required the Divine Aid interposed to Confound and Affright the Barbarians with Visions Spectres and Prodigies which gave Aurelian at length the advantage over them the Victory in this War might have been lost to the Romans and even the Empire in danger to be so too For the Barbarians by the means of the Woods and the Fastnesses into which they threw themselves were otherwise too subtil for us and did so annoy us upon occasion that we should not have reduced them upon the single strength of our Arms. After the Marcommanick War was ended Aurelian came to Rome full of Anger and Revenge as he was naturally Fierce of himself for the Seditions which had there been raised in his absence Though he was otherwise a good Prince he suffered his Passions to transport him beyond measure and to punish some things Cruelly which might have been treated with a gentler Hand He not only put to His exterme Severity death the Authors of those Seditions but also some noble Senators against whom appeared but one vile and wretched Witness when the matter of the Crime objected was of so slight a Nature that a milder Prince would have contemned it In fine the fame of his Reign which had been hitherto great and had justly gained him many Friends was obscured and wounded by the marks of his excessive Severity He began to be feared rather than loved Some said they hated him rather than wish'd his Prosperity others said that he was indeed a good Physician but his Medicines were the bitterest in the World After these things therefore fearing again the mischiefs might be revived which happened in the time of Gallienus he with the Advice of the Senate extended and new fortified the Walls of the City of Rome He did not then extend the Territories of the City without the Walls but he did afterwards because this was a priviledge allowed to no Prince to do but who by his Conquests had added to the Roman Empire as did the Emperors Augustus Trajan Nero under which last particularly the Pontus Potemoniacus and the Cottian Alpes were subjected to the Obedience of the Romans Having finished what concerned the security and state of the City and of the Civil Affairs he set out from thence upon an Expedition against the Palmyreni in Syria where the Lady Zenobia in the Right of her two Sons Herennianus and Timolaus being Infants and in Succession to Odenatus her Husband Reigned as Queen of the East and maintained the Revolt of those parts against the Empire In his way in the Countries of Thrace and Illyricum he fought several considerable Battels with the Reliques of the Goths and the Barbarians of whom he slew five thousand on the other side of the Danube with Cannabaudes their Prince He passed by the way of Byzantium over into Bithynia in the Lesser Asia which Province upon his arrival voluntarily cast off the Yoak of the Palmyreni and yielded it self to him Many as well of his Expressions as Actions are great and famous It is not possible nor would I be willing to recount them all here because it would be tedious But yet some few may be touched upon which may serve to beget a better understanding of his Virtues and Manners Coming to the City of Tyana in Cappadocia which he found shut against him he said in a Passion I will not leave a Dog in this place This made his Soldiers storm it the more violently in hopes of the Booty till one Heraclammon who was the Governour of it afraid that he should be killed amongst the rest and thinking that he had no other way to save himself betrayed his Trust and suffered the Town to be taken by Treachery Now Aurelian did immediately two things worthy of a Princely mind in the one of which he shew'd an example of his Severity and in the Examples of his Severity and Mercy other of Mercy The first is he put to death Heraclammon for betraying his Country Then when the Soldiers desired the total destruction of the Town according to his saying that he would not leave a Dog in it by which they understood that they should have all the Plunder of it It is true said he I have said I would not leave a Dog in this Town and so kill all the Dogs but he saved the People and forbad the Plunder which was a great Action and it was followed by as great a one of the Army because they were as much pleased with the Wit of their Prince as if he had given them really the Riches of the City Concerning Heraclammon Aurelian writ this Letter The Emperor Aurelian to Mallius
Brother Florianus to which he likewise adds that of Probus which he Dedicates to Rufus Celsus as he calls him in the Life of Firmus Afterwards he Composed those of the four Tyrants Firmus Saturninus Proculus and Bonosus and lastly those of the three Emperors Carus Numerianus and Carinus at once which is all remains of his for we have no Author that attributes any thing else to him As for the time wherein he liv'd we have sufficient Authorities to ascertain it He tells us himself that his Uncle was present at that Harangue made when Aper was killed by Dioclesian In the Life of Carinus he Celebrates the praises of Dioclesian and Maximinian of Galerius and Constantius and says that each of their Lives was written in so many particular Books by Claudius Eusthenius Secretary to Dioclesian And says on that very Subject it must not be Expected that he should do the same because it is very dangerous to Write the Histories of Princes while they are alive Whence it is Evident that he lived after the time Constantius Chlorus Father of Constantinus And he says in the Life of Aurelian We have at present Constantius for our Emperor But I am apt to think that that was the first Life he Writ and that he Composed that of Carinus after the death of Constantius for if it be not so in the room of Constantius we must read the Emperor Constantinus or else understand Constantius Son of the said Constantinus But the first of these two Opinions is far the most probable and certainly by those words which we find in the Life of Probus it is Evident that he Writ long before that the life of Aurelian viz. But since no other undertakes it I cannot suffer after having been the only Person that has Writ the Life of Aurelian which I did as exactly as I could and having also Composed the Lives of Tacitus and Florienus that that of Probus and the memory of his glorious Actions should lye buried in silence If I live I design also to write all the Lives of the Princes since his time down to Maximiaâ— and Dioclesian Methinks we have reason to praise in Vopiscus besides his Learning the order which he always observes in the recital of what he Writes which Spartianus Capitolinus and the other Authors of the Imperial History have not took so much care of since in the Judgment of several Affairs therein are far more Confused He had likewise proposed to himself to Write the Life of Apollonius Tyanaeus whose Sorceries the Gentiles made use of to oppose and set up against the true Miracles of Jesus Christ and in the Life of Aurelian he calls that Impostor A Person who had acquir'd a vast Reputation by his Wisdom in the ancient Opinions of the Philosophers a real Friend of Truth and worthy of Divine Honours And a little after What Person was ever seen more holy more venerable more possessed of the Opinions of the Ancients and more Divine among Men He restored Life to the Dead and both spoke and did many things above the reach of human Power But if any one would know more as to the particulars let him read those Grecian Authors who have written his Life From these words it is easie to guess what a Rhapsody of Lies we might have expected from Vopiscus concerning this Person whom he so much admired if he had writ his Life which he presently after promises in Language which sufficiently testifies the Veneration he paid to his memory