Pinnock's improved edition of Dr. Goldsmith's History of Rome Part 64

28. Was his offer accepted?

29. What was the event?

SECTION II.

There's nought so monstrous but the mind of man, In some conditions, may be brought to approve; Theft, sacrilege, treason, and parricide, When flattering opportunity enticed, And desperation drove, have been committed By those who once would start to hear them named.--_Lillo_.

1. Seve'rus having overcome Niger, A.D. 194, and Albinus, A.D. 198, who were his compet.i.tors for the empire, a.s.sumed the reins of government, uniting great vigour with the most refined policy; yet his African cunning was considered as a singular defect in him. 2. He is celebrated for his wit, learning, and prudence; but execrated for his perfidy and cruelty. In short, he seemed equally capable of the greatest acts of virtue, and the most b.l.o.o.d.y severities. 3. He loaded his soldiers with rewards and honours, giving them such privileges as strengthened his own power, while they destroyed that of the senate; for the soldiers, who had hitherto showed the strongest inclination to an abuse of power, were now made arbiters of the fate of emperors. 4. Being thus secure of his army he resolved to give way to his natural desire of conquest, and to turn his arms against the Parthians, who were then invading the frontiers of the empire. 5.

Having, therefore, previously given the government of domestic policy to one Plau'tian, a favourite, to whose daughter he married his son Caracal'la, he set out for the east, and prosecuted the war with his usual expedition and success. 6. He compelled submission from the king of Arme'nia, destroyed several cities of Ara'bia Felix, landed on the Parthian coast, took and plundered the famous city of Ctes'iphon, marched back through Pal'estine and Egypt, and at length returned to Rome in triumph. 7. During this interval, Plau'tian, who was left to direct the affairs of Rome, began to think of aspiring to the empire himself. Upon the emperor's return, he employed a tribune of the praetorian cohorts, of which he was commander, to a.s.sa.s.sinate him, and his son Caracal'la. 8. The tribune informed Seve'rus of his favourite's treachery. He at first received the intelligence as an improbable story, and as the artifices of one who envied his favourite's fortune. However, he was at last persuaded to permit the tribune to conduct Plau'tian to the emperor's apartments to be a testimony against himself. 9. With this intent the tribune went and amused him with a pretended account of his killing the emperor and his son; desiring him, if he thought fit to see them dead, to go with him to the palace. 10. As Plau'tian ardently desired their death, he readily gave credit to the relation, and, following the tribune, was conducted at midnight into the innermost apartments of the palace. But what must have been his surprise and disappointment, when, instead of finding the emperor lying dead, as he expected, he beheld the room lighted up with torches, and Seve'rus surrounded by his friends, prepared in array to receive him. 11. Being asked by the emperor, with a stern countenance, what had brought him there at that unseasonable time, he ingenuously confessed the whole, entreating forgiveness for what he had intended. 12. The emperor seemed inclined to pardon; but Caracal'la, his son, who from the earliest age showed a disposition to cruelty, ran him through the body with his sword. 13.

After this, Seve'rus spent a considerable time in visiting some cities in Italy, permitting none of his officers to sell places of trust or dignity, and distributing justice with the strictest impartiality. He then undertook an expedition into Britain, where the Romans were in danger of being destroyed, or compelled to fly the province. After appointing his two sons, Caracal'la and Ge'ta, joint successors in the empire, and taking them with him, he landed in Britain, A.D. 208, to the great terror of such as had drawn down his resentment. 14. Upon his progress into the country, he left his son Ge'ta in the southern part of the province, which had continued in obedience, and marched, with his son Caracal'la, against the Caledo'nians. 15. In this expedition, his army suffered prodigious hardships in pursuing the enemy; they were obliged to hew their way through intricate forests, to drain extensive marshes, and form bridges over rapid rivers; so that he lost fifty thousand men by fatigue and sickness. 16. However, he surmounted these inconveniences with unremitting bravery, and prosecuted his successes with such vigour, that he compelled the enemy to beg for peace; which they did not obtain without the surrender of a considerable part of their country. 17. It was then that, for its better security, he built the famous wall, which still goes by his name, extending from Solway Frith on the west, to the German Ocean on the east. He did not long survive his successes here, but died at York, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, after an active, though cruel reign of about eighteen years.

[Sidenote: U.C.964 A.D.211]

18. Caracal'la and Ge'ta, his sons, being acknowledged as emperors by the army, began to show a mutual hatred to each other, even before their arrival at Rome. But this opposition was of no long continuance; for Caracal'la, being resolved to govern alone, furiously entered Ge'ta's apartment, and, followed by ruffians, slew him in his mother's arms. 19. Being thus sole emperor, he went on to mark his course with blood. Whatever was done by Domi'tian or Ne'ro, fell short of this monster's barbarities.[2]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ma.s.sacre of the Alexandrians.]

20. His tyrannies at length excited the resentment of Macri'nus, the commander of the forces in Mesopota'mia who employed one Mar'tial, a man of great strength, and a centurion of the guards, to dispatch him.

21. Accordingly, as the emperor was riding out one day, near a little city called Carrae, he happened to withdraw himself privately, upon a natural occasion, with only one page to hold his horse. This was the opportunity Mar'tial had so long and ardently desired: when, running to him hastily, as if he had been called, he stabbed the emperor in the back, and killed him instantly. 22. Having performed this hardy attempt, he, with apparent unconcern, returned to his troop; but, retiring by insensible degrees, he endeavoured to secure himself by flight. His companions, however, soon missing him, and the page giving information of what had been done, he was pursued by the German horse, and cut in pieces.

23. During the reign of this execrable tyrant, which continued six years, the empire was every day declining; the soldiers were entirely masters of every election; and as there were various armies in different parts, so there were as many interests opposed to each other.

[Sidenote: U.C.970 A.D.217]

24. The soldiers, after remaining without an emperor two days, fixed upon Macri'nus, who took all possible methods to conceal his being privy to Caracal'la's murder. The senate confirmed their choice shortly after; and likewise that of his son, Diadumenia'nus, whom he took as partner in the empire. 25. Macri'nus was fifty-three years old when he entered upon the government. He was of obscure parentage; some say by birth a Moor, who, by the mere gradation of office, being made first prefect of the praetorian bands, was now, by treason and accident, called to fill the throne.

26. He was opposed by the intrigues of Mosa, and her grandson Heliogaba'lus; and being conquered by some seditious legions of his own army, he fled to Chalcedon,[3] where those who were sent in pursuit overtook him, and put him to death, together with his son Diadumenia'nus, after a short reign of one year and two months.

[Sidenote: U.C.971 A.D.218]

27. The senate and citizens of Rome being obliged to submit, as usual, to the appointment of the army, Heliogaba'lus ascended the throne at the age of fourteen. His short life was a mixture of effeminacy, l.u.s.t, and extravagance. 28. He married six wives in the short s.p.a.ce of four years, and divorced them all. He was so fond of the s.e.x, that he carried his mother with him to the senate-house, and demanded that she should always be present when matters of importance were debated. He even went so far as to build a senate-house for women, appointing them suitable orders, habits and distinctions, of which his mother was made president. 29. They met several times; all their debates turned upon the fashions of the day, and the different formalities to be used at giving and receiving visits. To these follies he added cruelty and boundless prodigality; he used to say, that such dishes as were cheaply obtained were scarcely worth eating.

30. However, his soldiers mutinying, as was now usual with them, they followed him to his palace, pursuing him from apartment to apartment, till at last he was found concealed in a closet. Having dragged him from thence through the streets, with the most bitter invectives, and dispatched him, they attempted once more to squeeze his pampered body into a closet; but not easily effecting this, they threw it into the Tiber, with heavy weights, that none might afterwards find it, or give it burial. This was the ignominious death of Heliogaba'lus, in the eighteenth year of his age, after a detestable reign of four years.

_Questions for Examination_.

1. Who succeeded Didius Julia.n.u.s?

2. What was the character of Severus?

3. By what means did he strengthen his power?

4. What were his first acts?

5. To whom did he commit the government in his absence?

6. What were his exploits?

7. How did Plautian conduct himself in this important post?

8. How was this treachery discovered?

9. How was this effected?

10. Did Plautian fall into the snare?

11. How did he act on the occasion?

12. Was he pardoned?

13. How did Severus next employ himself?

14. What were his first measures in Britain?

15. Was it a difficult campaign?

16. Did he overcome these difficulties?

17. What famous work did he execute, and where did he die?

18. Who succeeded him, and how did the two emperors regard each other?

19. What was the conduct of Caracalla on thus becoming sole emperor?

20. Were these cruelties tamely suffered?

21. How was this effected?

22. Did the a.s.sa.s.sin escape?

23. What was the state of the empire during this reign?

24. Who succeeded Caracalla?

25. Who was Macrinus?

26. By whom was he opposed, and what was his fate?

27. How did Heliogabalus govern?

28. Give a few instances of his folly?

29. Did they enter into his views, and of what farther follies and vices was he guilty?

30. What was his end?

SECTION III.