No More Learning

They seem, in truth, the work of one who was really talented but gave himself over to pleasure and wasted his genius.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 21 1 He was extremely fond of fruit and greens; in fact, though very abstemious in his use of other kinds of food, he was continually eating fresh fruit. 2 He had a craving for cold drinks, and passed the summer with great difficulty unless he drank cold drinks and a great many of them. He was of huge size, as a matter of fact, and this somewhat stimulated his longing for cold drinks.

3 This is what we have discovered about the younger Gordian that is worthy of mention. For we do not think we need recount absurd and silly tales such as Junius Cordus has written concerning his domestic pleasures and petty matters of that sort. 4 If any desire to know these things, let them read Cordus; Cordus tells what slaves each and every emperor had and what friends, how many mantles and how many cloaks. Knowledge of this sort of thing does no one any good. It is the duty of historians, rather, to set down in their histories such things as are to be avoided or sought after.

p419 5 But truly I have decided that I must not omit this, which I read in Vulcatius Terentianus,79 who wrote a history of his time, because it seems a marvellous thing. So I write it down. The elder Gordian resembled the face of Augustus perfectly; he seemed, indeed, to have his very voice and mannerisms and stature; his son, in turn, seemed like to Pompey, although it is true that Pompey was not obese of person; his grandson, finally, whose portraits we can see today, bore the appearance of Scipio Asiaticus. This, because of its very strangeness, I have decided should not be passed over in silence.

GORDIAN THE THIRD

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 22 1 On the death of the two Gordians, the senate, being now thoroughly agitated and in even more violent terror of Maximinus, chose Pupienus (or Maximus) and Clodius Balbinus, both ex-consuls, from the twenty men whom they had elected to protect the state, and declared them emperors. 80 2 But on this the populace and soldiers demanded that the child Gordian should be made Caesar,81 he being then, so most authorities declare, eleven years old; some, however, say thirteen,82 and Junius Cordus says sixteen (for Cordus says that he was in his twenty-second year when he died). 3 At any rate, he was hurried to the senate and thence taken to an assembly, and there they clothed him in the imperial garments and hailed him as Caesar. 83

p421 4 According to most authorities, he was the son of Gordian's daughter,84 but one or two (I have unable to discover more) say that he was the child of that son of Gordian who was killed in Africa. 5 However this may be, after he was made Caesar he was reared at his mother's house. But when Maximus and Balbinus had ruled for two years after the death of the Maximini85 they were slain in a mutiny of the soldiers, and the young Gordian, who had been Caesar until then, was declared Augustus86 — the soldiers, populace, senate, and all the peoples of the Empire uniting with great love, great eagerness, and great gratitude to do so. 6 For they loved him exceedingly because of his grandfather and uncle (or father), who had both taken up arms in behalf of the senate and Roman people against Maximinus and had both perished, the one by a soldier's death, the other through a soldier's despair.

7 After this87 a body of veterans came to the Senate-house to learn what had taken place. 8 And two of them, having gone up to the Capitol — for the senate was meeting there, — were slain by Gallicanus, a former consul, and Maecenas, a former general, before the very altar, 9 and a civil war sprang up, in which even the senators were armed; for the veterans were unaware that the young Gordian was holding the imperial power alone. 88 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 23 1 (Dexippus says that p423 Gordian the third was the child of Gordian's son). But shortly afterwards, when it was understood among the veterans that Gordian was ruling alone, a peace was confirmed between the populace and the soldiers and veterans, and an end of the civil strife was made when the boy was given the consulship. 89 2 There was an omen, however, that Gordian was not to rule for long, which was this: there occurred an eclipse of the sun,90 so black that men thought it was night and business could not be transacted without the aid of lanterns. 3 None the less, after it the populace devoted itself to spectacles and revelry, to dull the memory of the hard things that had been done before.

4 In the consulship of Venustus and Sabinus91 a revolt broke out in Africa against Gordian the third under the leadership of Sabinianus. 92 But the governor of Mauretania, who was first beset by the conspirators, crushed it for Gordian so severely that all of them came up to Carthage to surrender Sabinianus and confessed their wrong and sought pardon for it. 5 When, however, this trouble in Africa had been ended, a war broke out with the Persians93 — this being in the first consulship of Pompeianus and the second of Gordian. 6 But before setting out for this war the p425 young Gordian took a wife, the daughter of Timestheus,94 a most erudite man, whom Gordian considered worthy of being his relation because of his powers of eloquence and immediately made his prefect. 7 After this his rule seemed not in the least that of a child or contemptible, since he was aided by the advice of this excellent father-in‑law, while he himself, on his own account, developed considerable sagacity and did not let his favours be sold by the eunuchs and attendants at court through his mother's ignorance or connivance.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 24 1 There is still in existence a letter from Gordian to his father-in‑law and also one from his father-in‑law to him, in which we can see how faultlessly and zealously he and his father-in‑law strove to perfect their age. This is a copy of the letters:

2 "To my imperial son and Augustus, from Timestheus, his prefect and father-in‑law. One serious scandal of our age we have escaped; the scandal, I mean, that eunuchs and those who pretend to be your friends (though really they are your worst enemies) arrange all things for money. This is all the more agreeable, and it should make this improvement more pleasing to you too, because if there have been any failings, it seems assured, my revered son, that they have not been yours. 3 For no one could bear it when commissions in the army were given out on the nomination of eunuchs, when labours were denied their due reward, when men who should not have p427 been slain or set free through caprice or bribery, when the treasury was drained, when conspiracies were fomented by those who moved cunningly about you every day, that you, too, might be finally ensnared, while all evil men settled beforehand among themselves what to advise you about the righteous, drove away the good, introduced the abominable, and, in the end, sold all your secrets for a price. 4 Let the gods be thanked, then, that this evil has been done away with, as you, too, desired! 5 Truly it delights me to be the father-in‑law of a worthy emperor; and of one, too, who inquires into everything and wishes to know everything, and has driven away the men who formerly sold him as though he were set up in open market. "

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 25 1 Likewise Gordian's letter to Timesitheus:
"From the Emperor Gordian Augustus to Timesitheus, his father-in‑law and prefect. Were it not that the mighty gods watch over the Roman Empire, even now we should be sold by bought eunuchs as though under the hammer. 2 Now at last I know that a Felicio95 should not have been put in command of the praetorian guard and that I should not have entrusted the Fourth Legion to a Serapammon; in fact, to give no further examples, that I should not have done much that I did do; but now, the gods be thanked, I have learned from suggestions by you, who are incorruptible, what I could not know by myself. 3 For what could I do? — since even our mother was betraying us, she who used to take counsel with Gaudianus, Reverendus, and Montanus and then praise men or traduce them accordingly, p429 and by their testimony as though by the evidence of witnesses she would prove what she had said. 4 My father, I should like you to hear a true thing: wretched is an emperor before whom men do not speak out the truth, for since he himself cannot walk out among the people he can only hear things, and then believe either what he has heard or what the majority have corroborated. "
5 From these letters one can see how the young man had been improved and bettered by his father-in‑law's counsel. 6 Some say that Timesitheus' letter was written in Greek but in any case to the above effect. 7 So great was the power, moreover, of his strength of character and righteousness, that he rose from great obscurity to make the Emperor Gordian illustrious not only for his noble birth but also for his deeds.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 26 1 There was a severe earthquake in Gordian's reign — so severe that whole cities with all their inhabitants disappeared in the opening of the ground. Vast sacrifices were offered through the entire city and the entire world because of this. 2 And Cordus says that the Sibylline Books were consulted, and everything that seemed ordered therein done; whereupon this world-wide evil was stayed.

3 But after this earthquake was stayed, in the consulship of Praetextatus and Atticus, Gordian opened the twin gates of Janus,96 which was a sign that war had been declared, and set out against the Persians97 with so huge an army and so much gold as easily to conquer the Persians with either his regulars or his p431 auxiliaries. 4 He marched into Moesia and there, even while making ready, he destroyed, put to flight, expelled, and drove away whatever forces of the enemy were in Thrace. 98 5 From there99 he marched through Syria to Antioch, which was then in the possession of the Persians. There he fought and won repeated battles, and drove out Sapor, the Persians' king. 100 6 After this he recovered Artaxanses,101 Antioch, Carrhae, and Nisibis, all of which had been included in the Persian empire. [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 27 1 Indeed the king of the Persians became so fearful of the Emperor Gordian that, though he was provided with forces both from his own lands and from ours, he nevertheless evacuated the cities and restored them unharmed to their citizens; nor did he injure their possessions in any way. 2 All this, however, was accomplished by Timesitheus, Gordian's father-in‑law and prefect. 3 And in the end Gordian's campaign forced the Persians, who were then dreaded even in Italy, to return to their own kingdom, and the Roman power occupied the whole of the East.

4 There is still in existence an oration of Gordian's to the senate, wherein while writing of his deeds he gives boundless thanks to his prefect and father-in‑law Timesitheus. I have set down a part of it, that from this you may learn his actual words: 5 "After those deeds, Conscript Fathers, which were done p433 while on our march and done everywhere in a manner worthy of as many separate triumphs, we (to compress much into little) removed from the necks of the people of Antioch, which were bent under the Persian yoke, the Persians, the kings of the Persians, and the Persians' law. 6 After this we restored Carrhae and other cities also to the Roman sway. We have penetrated as far as Nisibis, and if it be pleasing to the gods, we shall even get to Ctesiphon. 7 Only may our prefect and father-in‑law Timesitheus prosper, for it was by his leadership and his arrangements that we accomplished these things and shall in the future continue to accomplish them. 8 It is now for you to decree thanksgivings, to commend us to the gods, and to give thanks to Timesitheus. "

9 After this was read to the senate, chariots drawn by four elephants were decreed for Gordian, in order that he might have a Persian triumph inasmuch as he had conquered the Persians, and for Timesitheus a six-horse chariot and a triumphal car and the following inscription: 10 "To His Excellency Timesitheus, Father of Emperors, Prefect of the Guard and of the entire City, Guardian of the State, the senate and the Roman people make grateful acknowledgment. "

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 28 1 But such felicity could not endure. For, as most say, through the plotting of Philip,102 who was made prefect of the guard after him, or, as others say, because of a disease, Timesitheus died, leaving the Roman state as his heir. Everything that had been his was added to the city's revenues. 2 So excellent was this man's management of public affairs that there p435 was nowhere a border city of major size, such as could contain an army and emperor of the Roman people, that did not have supplies of cheap wine, grain, bacon, barley, and straw for a year; other smaller cities had supplies for thirty days, some for forty, and not a few for two months, while the very least had supplies for fifteen days. 3 When he was prefect, likewise, he constantly inspected his men's arms. He never let an old man serve and he never let a boy draw rations. He used to go over the camps and their entrenchments, and he even frequently visited the sentries during the night. 4 And because he so loved the emperor and the state, everyone loved him. The tribunes and generals both loved and feared him so much that they were unwilling to do wrong and, for that matter, in no way did wrong. 5 Philip, they say, was mightily in fear of him for many reasons and on this account plotted with the doctors against his life. He did it in this way: Timesitheus, as it happened, was suffering from diarrhoea and was told by the doctors to take a potion to check it. 6 And then, they say, they changed what had been prepared and gave him something which loosened him all the more; and thus he died.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 29 1 When he died, in the consulship of Arrianus and Papus, Philippus Arabs was made prefect of the guard in his place. This Philip was low-born103 but arrogant, and now could not contain himself in his sudden rise to office and immoderate good fortune, but immediately, through the soldiers, began to plot against Gordian, who had begun to treat him as a father. He did it in the following manner. 104 2 As we have said, Timesitheus had stored up such a quantity of supplies everywhere, that the Roman administration could not break down. But now Philip intrigued p437 first to have the grain-ships turned away, and then to have the troops moved to stations where they could not get provisions. 3 In this way he speedily got them exasperated against Gordian, for they did not know that the youth had been betrayed through Philip's intriguing. 4 In addition to this, Philip spread talk among the soldiers to the effect that Gordian was young and could not manage the Empire, and that it were better for someone to rule who could command the army and understood public affairs. 5 Besides this, he won over the leaders, and finally brought it about that they openly called him to the throne. 6 Gordian's friends at first opposed him vigorously, but when the soldiers were at last overcome with hunger Philip was entrusted with the sovereignty, and the soldiers commanded that he and Gordian should rule together with equal rank while Philip acted as a sort of guardian.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 30 1 Now that he had gained the imperial power Philip began to bear himself very arrogantly towards Gordian; and he knowing himself to be an emperor, an emperor's son, and a scion of a most noble family, could not endure this low-born fellow's insolence. And so, mounting the platform, with his kinsman Maecius Gordianus105 standing by him as his prefect, he complained bitterly to the officers and soldiers in the hope that Philip's office could be taken from him. 2 But by this complaint — in which he accused Philip of being unmindful of past favours and too little grateful — he accomplished nothing. 3 Next he asked the soldiers to make their choice, after openly canvassing the officers, but as a result of Philip's intriguing he came off second in the general vote. 4 And finally, when he saw that everyone considered him worsted, p439 he asked that their power might at least be equal, but he did not secure this either. 5 After this he asked to be given the position of Caesar, but he did not gain this. 6 He asked also to be Philip's prefect, and this, too, was denied him. 7 His last prayer was that Philip should make him a general and let him live. And to this Philip almost consented — not speaking himself, but acting through his friends, as he had done throughout, with nods and advice. 8 But when he reflected that the Roman people and senate, the whole of Africa and Syria, and indeed the whole Roman world, felt for Gordian, because he was nobly born and the son and grandson of emperors and had delivered the whole state from grievous wars, it was position, if the soldiers ever changed their minds, that the throne might be given back to Gordian if he asked for it again, and when he reflected also that the violence of the soldiers' anger against Gordian was due to hunger, he had him carried, shouting protests, out of their sight and then despoiled and slain. 106 9 At first his orders were delayed, but afterwards it was done as he had bidden. And in this unholy and illegal manner Philip became emperor.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 31 1 Gordian reigned six years. And while the preceding events were taking place, Argunt,107 the king of the Scythians, was devastating the kingdoms of his neighbours, chiefly because he had learned that Timesitheus, by whose counsels the state had been guided, was now dead.

2 And now, that he might not seem to have obtained the imperial office by bloody means, Philip sent a p441 letter to Rome saying that Gordian had died of a disease108 and that he, Philip, had been chosen emperor by all the soldiers. The senate was naturally deceived in these matters of which it knew nothing, 3 and so it entitled Philip emperor and gave him the name Augustus and then placed the young Gordian among the gods. 109

4 He was a light-hearted lad, handsome, winning, agreeable to everyone, merry in his life, eminent in letters; in nothing, indeed, save in his age was he unqualified for empire. 5 Before Philip's conspiracy he was loved by the people, the senate, and the soldiers as no prince had ever been before. 6 Cordus says that all the soldiers spoke of him as their son, that he was called son by the entire senate, and that all the people said Gordian was their darling. 7 And indeed Philip, after he had killed him, did not remove his portraits or throw down his statues or erase his name, but always called him divine, even among the soldiers with whom he had made his conspiracy, and worshipped him with a mixture of a serious spirit and the shrewdness of an alien.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 32 1 The house of the Gordians110 is still in existence. This was embellished by this Gordian very beautifully. 2 There is also a villa of theirs on the Praenestine Way,111 with two hundred columns in the inner court, fifty of them of Carystian marble,112 fifty of Claudian,113 fifty of Phrygian,114 and fifty of Numidian115 — p443 all of equal size. 3 In this same house there were three basilicas •one hundred feet long and other things suitable to such a building, and there were baths that could be equalled nowhere in the world save in the city as it was at that time.

4 The senate passed a decree for the family of Gordian to the effect that his descendants116 need never serve as guardians or on embassies or in public duties unless they wished.

5 There are no public works of Gordian now in existence in Rome save a few fountains and baths. And these baths were built for commoners and were therefore correspondingly equipped. 6 He had projected, however, a portico on the Campus Martius, just under the hill,117 •a thousand feet long, intending to erect another of equal length opposite to it with a space of •five hundred feet stretching evenly between. In this space there were to be pleasure-parks on both sides, filled with laurel, myrtle, and box-trees, and down the middle a mosaic walk a thousand feet long with short columns and statuettes placed on either side. This was to be a promenade, and at the end there was to be a basilica five hundred feet long. 7 Besides this, he had planned with Timesitheus to erect summer-baths, named after himself, behind the basilica, and to put winter-baths at the entrance to the porticos, in order that the pleasure-parks and porticos might not be without some practical use. 8 But all this is now occupied by the estates and gardens and dwellings of private persons.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 33 1 There were thirty-two elephants at Rome in the time of Gordian (of which he himself had sent twelve and Alexander ten), ten elk, ten tigers, sixty tame lions, thirty tame leopards, ten belbi or hyenas, p445 a thousand pairs of imperial gladiators, six hippopotami, one rhinoceros, ten wild lions, ten giraffes, twenty wild asses, forty wild horses, and various other animals of this nature without number. All of these Philip presented or slew at the secular games. 2 All these animals, wild, tame, and savage, Gordian intended for a Persian triumph; but his official vow proved of no avail, 3 ºfor Philip presented all of them at the secular games, consisting of both gladiatorial spectacles and races in the Circus, that were celebrated on the thousandth anniversary of the founding of the City,118 when he and his son were consuls.

4 Cordus writes that the same thing that is related of Gaius Caesar119 happened to Gordian. 5 For after the two Philips were slain, all who had fallen upon Gordian with the sword (there were nine of them, it is said) are said to have slain themselves with their own hands and swords, and those the same swords with which they had stricken him.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 34 1 This, then, was the life of the three Gordians, all of whom were named Augustus, two of whom perished in Africa, one within the confines of Persia. 2 The soldiers built Gordian a tomb near the camp at Circesium,120 which is in the territory of Persia, and added an inscription to the following effect in Greek, Latin, Persian, Hebrew, and Egyptian letters, so that all might read: 3 "To the deified Gordian, conqueror of the Persians, conqueror of the Goths, conqueror of p447 the Sarmatians, queller of mutinies at Rome, conqueror of the Germans, but no conqueror of Philippi. "121 4 This was added ostensibly because he had been beaten by the Alani in a disorderly battle on the plains of Philippi and forced to retreat; but at the same time it seemed to mean that he had been slain by the two Philips. 5 But Licinius,122 it is said, destroyed this inscription at the time when he seized the imperial power; for he desired to have it appear that he was descended from the two Philips. 6 All of this, great Constantine, I have investigated, in order that nothing might be lacking to your knowledge which seemed worth the knowing.

Maximus and Balbinus

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] When the elder Gordian and his son were now slain in Africa and Maximinus came raging toward the city to take vengeance because the Gordians had been named Augusti,1 the senate, in great terror, came together in the Temple of Concord2 on the seventh day before the Ides of July3 — the time, that is, of the Apollinarian Games4 — to seek some safeguard against the fury of that evil man. 2 When, then, two men of consular rank, and of distinction too, Maximus and Balbinus5 (Maximus is not mentioned in many histories, the name of Pupienus being inserted in his place,6 but both Dexippus7 and Arrianus8 say that Maximus and Balbinus were chosen against Maximinus after the Gordians), the one noted for his goodness the other for his courage and firmness — when these two came into the Senate-house, showing plainly on their brows their terror at Maximinus' coming, and p451 the consul began to bring up other questions, he who gave the first opinion began thus: 3 "You are disturbed with petty things; while the world blazed we in the Senate-house are busied with an old woman's cares. 4 For what is the use of our discussing the restoration of temples, the embellishment of a basilica, and the Baths of Titus,9 or building the Amphitheatre,10 when Maximinus, whom you and I once declared a public enemy,11 is upon us, the two Gordians, in whom was our defence, are slain, and there is now no help whereby we can be relieved? 5 Come, then, Conscript Fathers, appoint emperors. Why do you delay? Do not be overcome while fearing each for himself and showing terror instead of courage. " 2 Upon this all were silent; but finally, when Maximus, who was older12 and more famous by reason of his merits, his courage, and his firmness, began to give his opinion, maintaining that two emperors should be appointed, Vettius Sabinus,13 one of the family of the Ulpii, asked the consul that he might be permitted to interrupt and speak, and thus began: 2 "I am well aware, Conscript Fathers, that in revolution we should be so well agreed that plans should not be sought but seized; indeed, we should refrain from lengthy words and opinions when events press. 3 Let each look to his own neck, let him think of his wife and children, of his father's and his father's father's goods; all of these Maximinus threatens, by nature passionate, fierce, and bloody, and now with just cause, so it seems to him, still fiercer. 4 In battle-order, with camps pitched everywhere, he is coming towards the city; and you with sitting and consulting waste away the p453 day. 5 There is no need for a long speech; we must make an emperor, nay we must make two princes, one to manage the affairs of state, one to manage the affairs of war; one to stay at home, and one to go out to meet these bandits with an army. 6 I, then, nominate for emperors — and do you confirm them, if it please you, or if not, show me better ones — 7 Maximus and Balbinus, of whom one is so great in war that he has concealed the lowness of his birth by the splendour of his valour, the other, as he is illustrious of birth, so he is dear to the state by reason of both of his gentle character and of his blameless life, which from his earliest years he has passed in study and letters. 8 Conscript Fathers, you have my opinion — one more perilous perchance to me than to you, but by no means safe for you unless you make these men or others emperors. " 9 Upon this they cried out with one accord:14 10 "It is right, it is just. We agree with the opinion of Sabinus, all of us. Maximus and Balbinus Augusti, may the gods keep you! The gods have made you emperors; may the gods keep you! Save the senate from the bandits; we entrust you with the war against the bandits. 11 May the public enemy Maximinus and his son perish! Hunt down the public enemy. You are happy in the judgment of the senate, the state is happy in your rule. 12 What the senate has given you, perform stoutly; what the senate has given you, take gladly. " 3 With these and other acclamations Maximus and Balbinus were made emperors.

2 Coming out from the senate, then, they first mounted up to the Capitol and made sacrifice, 3 and then summoned the people to the Rostra. But there, after they had delivered speeches about the senate's decision and their own election, the Roman people, p455 together with some soldiers who had by chance assembled, cried out, "We all ask Gordian for Caesar". 15 4 This was the grandson of Gordian by his daughter,16 being then, so most say, in his fourteenth year. 17 5 And so Gordian was hurried away, and by a new kind of senatorial decree, passed on that very same day, he was brought into the Senate-house and declared Caesar.

4 1 The first proposal, then, of the Emperors was that the two Gordians be entitled divine. 18 2 Some, indeed, think that only one, namely the elder, was so entitled; but I remember having read in the books which Junius Cordus wrote, of which there were plenty, that both were placed among the gods. 3 And truly the elder put an end to his life by hanging himself, whereas the younger was destroyed in war, and accordingly deserves greater respect because war took him. 4 At any rate, after these proposals were made, the city-prefecture was given to Sabinus,19 a serious man and suitable to one of Maximus' character, the prefecture of the guard to Pinarius Valens. 20

5 But before I speak of their acts it seems best to tell of their characters and birth — not in the way in which Junius Cordus sought eagerly after everything,21 but rather as Suetonius Tranquillus22 and Valerius Marcellinus did. For although Curius p457 Fortunatianus, who wrote the history of all this period, touched upon only a few things, Cordus wrote so much as to include a great mass of detail, some of which was not even decent.

5 1 The father of Maximus was also Maximus. He was one of the plebs,23 and according to some, a blacksmith, according to others, a carriage-maker. 2 He begot Maximus from a wife named Prima, together with four brothers and four sisters, all of whom died before the age of puberty. 3 At Maximus' birth an eagle, it is said, dropped a piece of beef — and a big one, too — into their dwelling where a narrow aperture lay open to the sky; and later, when it lay there, no one daring to touch it through superstitious fear, it picked it up again and carried it off to the nearest shrine, which was that of Jupiter Praestes. 24 4 At the time this did not seem anything of an omen; it was done, however, not without reason and showed his future rule.

5 All his childhood he passed in the house of his kinsman Pinarius, whom he promptly elevated, as soon as he was made emperor, to the prefecture of the guard. 6 He paid little attention to grammar and rhetoric, cultivating always a soldierly valour and sternness. 7 And at length he became military tribune and commander of many detachments; afterwards he served a praetorship, the expenses of which were borne by Pescennia Marcellina, who adopted and supported him as a son. 8 Thereafter he served as proconsul of Bithynia, then of Greece, and thirdly of Gallia Narbonensis. 25 9 Besides this, he was sent out as a special legate and crushed the Sarmatians in p459 Illyricum; from there he was transferred to the Rhine26 and conducted a campaign against the Germans with very happy results. 10 After this he proved himself a very sagacious, very able, and very unbending city-prefect. 27 11 And so, although he was a man of new family, nevertheless, as though he were of noble birth, the senate, though it was contrary to law, bestowed on him the sovereignty — for all confessed that at that time there was no man in the senate fitter to receive the title of prince.

6 1 And since many desire even less important details, he was fond of food, very sparing of wine, exceedingly continent in affairs of love, and both at home and abroad always so stern as even to get the name of gloomy. 2 He was extremely grave and even morose of countenance, tall of stature, very healthy of body, repellent in manner, but none the less just, and never, even to the end of his activities, either cruel or unmerciful. 3 When asked, he always granted pardon and never grew angry except when it was only proper to be angered. 4 He never lent himself to conspiracies; he clung to an opinion and did not trust others before himself. 5 For these reasons he was greatly beloved by the senate and held in awe by the people; indeed, the people were not unmindful of his rigid conduct as prefect and saw that this might even increase in vigour when he became emperor.

7 1 Balbinus was of very noble birth,28 twice consul,29 and the ruler of innumerable provinces. 2 Indeed, he had managed the civil administration of Asia, Africa, Bithynia, Galatia, Pontus, Thrace, and the p461 Gauls, and at times had commanded an army;30 he was less capable in military affairs, however, than in civil. Nevertheless, by his good, righteous, and modest life, he won himself great love. 3 He came of a very ancient family — or so he himself asserted, tracing his descent from Cornelius Balbus Theophanes,31 who became a citizen through the aid of Gnaeus Pompey; this Balbus was very noble in his own country and likewise a writer of history.

4 He was equally tall of stature, remarkable for the excellence of his body and excessive in his pleasures. In this he was encouraged by his abounding wealth; for he was rich by inheritance on the one hand, and had himself accumulated a great deal through legacies on the other. 5 He was renowned for eloquence and in poetry he ranked high among the poets of his time. 32 6 He was fond of wine, of eating, and of love, elegant in dress, nor was anything lacking to make him agreeable to the people. He was pleasing also to the senate.

7 This is what we have discovered about the lives of each. Some, indeed, have thought that these two should be compared in the fashion that Sallust compares Cato and Caesar33 — that the one was stern and the other genial, the one virtuous and the other steadfast, the one by no means munificent, the other rich p463 in all possessions. 8 So much for their characters and birth.

All the imperial titles and trappings having been decreed them, they assumed the tribunician power, the proconsular command,34 the office of Pontifex Maximus,35 and the name Father of his Country, and entered upon their rule. 2 But while they any at the Capitol making sacrifice the Roman people objected to the rule of Maximus. For the men of the crowd feared his strictness, which, they believed, was very welcome to the senate and very hostile to themselves. 3 And for this reason it came about, as we have related,36 that they demanded the youthful Gordian as their prince; and thus he was straightway entitled. Indeed Maximus and Balbinus were not suffered to go to the Palace with armed attendants until they had invested the grandson of Gordian with the name of Caesar. 37 4 And now, this being done, sacred rites were performed, stage-plays and sports in the Circus given, a gladiatorial show was presented,38 and Maximus, after assuming vows in the Capitol, set out with a mighty army to war against Maximinus. 39 The praetorian guard, however, remained at Rome.

5 Whence this custom arose, that emperors setting out to war gave an entertainment of gladiators and wild beasts, we must briefly discuss. 6 Many say that among the ancients this was a solemn ritual performed against the enemy in order that the blood of citizens being thus offered in sacrifice under the guise of p465 battle, Nemesis (that is a certain avenging power of Fortune) might be appeased. 40 7 Others have related in books, and this I believe is nearer the truth, that when about to go to war the Romans felt it necessary to behold fighting and wounds and steel and naked men contending among themselves, so that in war they might not fear armed enemies or shudder at wounds and blood.

9 1 Now when Maximus set out to the war the guard remained at Rome; 2 and between them and the populace such a rioting broke out that it led to a domestic war,41 to the burning of the greater part of Rome, the defiling of the temples, and the pollution of all the streets with blood — when Balbinus, a somewhat mild man, proved unable to quell the rioting.
3 For, going out in public, he stretched out his hands to this person and that and almost suffered a blow from a stone and, according to some, was actually hit with a club; 4 nor would he have finally quelled the disturbance had not the young Gordian, clothed in the purple, been perched on the neck of a very tall man and displayed to the people. When he was seen, however, the populace and soldiers were reconciled and through love of him returned to harmony. 5 No one in that age was ever so beloved; this was because of his grandfather and uncle, who had died for the Roman people in Africa opposing p467 Maximinus. 42 So powerful among the Romans is the memory of noble deeds.

10 1 And now, after Maximus had set out to the war, the senate sent men of the rank of consul, praetor, quaestor, aedile, and tribune throughout the districts in order that each and every town should prepare provisions, arms, defences, and walls so that Maximinus should be harassed at each city. 43 2 It was further ordered that all supplies should be gathered into the cities from the fields, in order that the public enemy might find nothing. 3 Couriers44 were sent out to all the provinces, moreover, with written orders that whosoever aided Maximinus should be placed in the number of public enemies.

4 At Rome, meanwhile, rioting between the populace and soldiers broke out a second time. 45 5 And after Balbinus had issued a thousand edicts to which no one listened, the veterans, together with the guard itself, betook themselves to the Praetorian Camp, where the populace besieged them. 6 Nor would amity have ever been restored had not the populace cut the water-pipes. 46 7 In the city, however, before it was announced that the soldiers were coming peacefully, tiles were cast down from the roofs and all the pots in the houses were thrown out, 8 so that thereby the greater part of the city was ruined and the possessions of many lost. For robbers mingled with the soldiers and plundered things that they knew where to find.

p469 11 While this was taking place at Rome, Maximus (or Pupienus) was at Ravenna47 making ready, with an enormous equipment, for war. He feared Maximinus mightily; very often, indeed, in referring to him he said that he was waging war against not a man but a Cyclops. 2 As it happened, however, Maximinus was beaten so badly at Aquileia that he was slain by his own men,48 and his head, with that of his son, was brought to Ravenna, whence it was despatched by Maximus to Rome. 3 We must not neglect to mention at this place the loyalty to the Romans displayed by the citizens of Aquileia, for it is said that they cut off their women's hair to make bow-strings to shoot their arrows. 49

4 Such was the joy of Balbinus, who was in even greater terror, that he sacrificed a hecatomb as soon as Maximinus' head was brought to him. 50 5 Now a hecatomb is sacrifice performed in the following manner: a hundred altars made of turf are erected at one place, and before them a hundred swine and a hundred sheep are slaughtered. 6 Furthermore, if it be an emperor's sacrifice, a hundred lions, a hundred eagles, and several hundreds of other animals of this kind are slain. 7 The Greeks, it is said, at one time used to do this when suffering from a pestilence, and it seems generally agreed that it was performed by many emperors.

12 1 When this sacrifice, then, had been performed, Balbinus began looking for Maximus with the greatest rejoicing as he returned from Ravenna with his untouched army and supplies. 2 For really Maximinus p471 was conquered by the townsfolk of Aquileia, together with a few soldiers who were there and the consulars Crispinus and Menophilus, who had been sent thither by the senate, 3 and Maximus had only gone up to Aquileia,51 in order to leave everything safe and undisturbed up to the Alps, and also, if there were any of the barbarians who had favoured Maximinus left, to suppress these. 4 Twenty representatives of the senate (their names are in Cordus), among whom were four of the rank of consul, eight of the rank of praetor, and eight of the rank of quaestor, were sent out to meet him with crowns and a decree of the senate in which equestrian statues of gold were decreed him. 5 At this, indeed, Balbinus was a little nettled, saying that Maximus had had less toil than he, since he had suppressed mighty wars at home, while Maximus had sat tranquilly at Ravenna. 6 But such was the power of wishing, that to Maximus, merely because he had set out against Maximinus, a victory was decreed which he did not know had been gained. 7 At any rate, having taken up Maximinus' army,52 Maximus came to the city with a tremendous train and multitude,53 while the soldiers grieved that they had lost the emperor whom they themselves had chosen and now had emperors selected by the senate. 54 8 Nor could they hide their grief, but showed it severally on their faces; and now they no longer refrained from speech, although, in fact, Maximus had previously often addressed the soldiers, p473 saying that there ought to be a general forgetting of the past, and had given them high pay and discharged the auxiliaries at whatever place they had chosen. But the minds of the soldiers, once they are infected with hate, cannot be restrained. And when they heard the acclamations of the senate which referred to them, they became even more bitter against Maximus and Balbinus and daily debated among themselves whom they ought to make emperor.

13 1 The decree of the senate by which they were aroused was of this nature:55 When Balbinus, Gordian, the senate, and the Roman people went out to meet Maximus as he entered the city, acclamations which referred to the soldiers were made publicly first. 2 Thereafter they went to the Senate-house, and there, after the ordinary acclamations which are usually made, they said: "So fare emperors wisely chosen, so perish emperors chosen by fools. " For it was understood that Maximinus had been made emperor by the soldiers, Maximus and Balbinus by the senators. 3 And when they heard this, the soldiers began to rage even more furiously — especially at the senate, which believed it was triumphing over the soldiers.

4 And now, to the great joy of the senate and Roman people, Balbinus and Maximus began governing the city, doing so with great moderation. They showed great respect for the senate; they instituted excellent laws, they heard lawsuits with justice, they planned the military policy of the state with great wisdom. 5 But when it was now arranged that Maximus should set out against the Parthians56 and Balbinus against the Germans,57 while the young Gordian remained at Rome, the soldiers, who were seeking an opportunity of killing the Emperors, and at first could not find p475 because Maximus and Balbinus were ever attended by a German guard,58 grew more menacing every day. 14 There was dissension, too, between Maximus and Balbinus59 — unspoken, however, and such as could be surmised rather than seen — for Balbinus scorned Maximus, as being humbly born, and Maximus despised Balbinus for a weakling. 2 And this fact gave the soldiers their opportunity, for they knew that emperors at variance could be slain easily. So finally, on the occasion of some scenic plays,60 when many of the soldiers and palace-attendants were busy, and the Emperors remained at the Palace alone with the German guard, they made a rush at them. 3 When the soldiers thus began to riot it was announced to Maximus that he could not escape from this disturbance and commotion unless he summoned the Germans, and they, as it happened, were in another part of the Palace with Balbinus. He sent to Balbinus, accordingly, asking him to send aid. 4 But Balbinus, suspecting that Maximus was asking for the guard to use against himself, since he believed that Maximus desired to rule alone, at first refused and finally began to wrangle over it. 5 And while they were engaged in this dispute the soldiers came upon them, and stripping them both of their royal robes and loading them with insults, they dragged them from the Palace. Thence, after handling them roughly, they started to hurry them through the centre of the city to the camp, 6 but when they p477 learned that the Germans were following to defend them, they slew them both and left them in the middle of the street. 7 In the meantime Gordian Caesar was lifted up by the soldiers and hailed emperor (that is, Augustus), there being no one else at hand; and then, jeering at the senate and people, the soldiers betook themselves immediately to the Camp. 8 As for the German guard, not wishing to fight needlessly now that their Emperors were slain, they betook themselves to their quarters outside the city.

15 1 This was the end of these good emperors, an end unworthy of their life and characters. For never was anyone braver than Maximus (or Pupienus) or more kindly than Balbinus, as one may see from the facts in the case. The senate did not choose unworthy men when it had the power. 2 And besides this, they were tested by many honours and offices, for the one was consul twice and prefect,61 the other consul and prefect, and they were advanced in years62 when they attained the sovereignty. They were beloved by the senate and even by the people, although the latter were slightly in awe of Maximus. 3 This is the information we have gathered concerning Maximus, chiefly from the Greek author Herodian.

4 Many, however, say that Maximinus was conquered at Aquileia, not by Maximus, but by the Emperor Pupienus, and that it was he, also, who was slain with Balbinus; they omit the name of Maximus altogether. 63 5 Such is the ignorance, moreover, or the usage of these disputing historians, that many desire to call Maximus p479 the same as Pupienus, although Herodian, who wrote of his own lifetime, speaks of Maximus, not of Pupienus, and Dexippus, the Greek author, says that Maximus and Balbinus were made emperors against Maximinus after the two Gordians, and that Maximinus was conquered by Maximus, not by Pupienus. 6 In addition to this, they show their ignorance by saying that the child Gordian was prefect of the guard,64 not knowing that he was often carried on a man's neck to be displayed to the soldiers. 65

7 Maximus and Balbinus reigned for one year,66 after Maximinus and his son had reigned for two years, according to some, for three according to others. 67

16 1 Balbinus' house is shown in Rome to this day in the Carinae,68 large and impressive and still in the possession of his family. 2 Maximus, who many think was Pupienus, was of slender substance, though of the most ample courage.

3 In their reign the Carpi69 waged war with the Moesians. The Scythian70 war began, and the p481 destruction of Istria71 or, as Dexippus calls it, the Istrian city, took place at the same time.

4 Dexippus praises Balbinus highly, and declares that he rushed at the soldiers with a gallant spirit and so died. He did not fear death, he says, being trained in all the philosophical disciplines. Maximus, he declares, was not the sort of man that most of the Greeks said he was. 5 He adds that such was the hatred of the citizens of Aquileia for Maximinus that they made strings for their bows from their women's hair, and thus shot their arrows. 72 6 Dexippus and Herodian, who investigated the history of these princes, say that Maximus and Balbinus were the princes selected by the senate to oppose Maximinus after the death of the two Gordians in Africa, and that the third Gordian, the child, was chosen with them. 7 In the majority of the Latin authors, however, I do not find the name of Maximus, and as emperor with Balbinus I discover Pupienus; indeed this same Pupienus is said to have fought against Maximinus at Aquileia, whereas, according to the testimony of the afore-mentioned writers, we are told that Maximus did not even fight against Maximinus but remained at Ravenna and there learned that the victory had been gained. And so it seems to me that Pupienus and he who is called Maximus are the same. 73

17 1 For this reason I have appended a congratulatory letter that was written about Maximus and Balbinus by a consul of their time. In it he p483 rejoices that they had restored the state after it had been in the hands of wicked bandits.

2 "Claudius Julianus74 to the Emperors Pupienus and Balbinus. When first I learned that by choice of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, of the immortal gods and of the senate, together with the agreement of all mankind, you had undertaken to preserve the state from the sins of that impious bandit and rule it in accordance with Roman law, my lords and most holy and unconquerable Augusti, when first I learned this, not yet from your own sacred proclamations but from the decree of the senate that my illustrious75 colleague Celsus Aelianus forwarded to me, I felicitated the city of Rome, that you had been chosen to preserve it; I felicitated the senate, that you, in returned for its choosing you, had restored to it its early dignity; I felicitated Italy, that you are defending it particularly from spoliation by the enemy; I felicitated the provinces, torn in pieces by the insatiable greed of tyrants, that you are restoring them to some hope of safety; I felicitated the legions, lastly, and the auxiliaries, which now worship your images everywhere, that they have thrust away their former disgrace and have now, in your name, a worthy symbol of the Roman principate. 3 No voice will ever be so strong, no speech will ever be so happy, no talent will ever be so fortunate, as ever adequately to express the state's felicity. 4 How great this felicity is, and of what sort, we can see at the very beginning of your reign. You have restored Roman laws, you have restored justice that was abolished, mercy that was non-existent, life, morality, p485 liberty, and the hope of heirs and successors. 5 It is difficult even to enumerate these things, 6 and much more to describe them with a fit dignity of speech. How shall I tell or describe how you have restored us our very lives, after that accursed bandit, sending the executioners everywhere throughout the provinces, had sought them to the point of openly confessing that he was enraged at our whole order, 7 especially when my insignificance cannot express even the personal rejoicing of my own mind, to say nothing of the public felicity, and when I behold as Augusti and lords of the human race those by the unwavering elegance of whose lives I would like my own conduct and sobriety to be approved as by the ancient censors? And though I might trust to have them approved by the attestation of former princes, 8 still I would glory in your judgment as a weightier one. May the gods preserve — and they will preserve — this felicity for the Roman world! For when I observe you, I can hope for nothing else than what the conqueror of Carthage76 is said to have implored of the gods, namely, that they preserve the state in the condition in which it was then, since no better one could be found. 9 And, therefore, I pray that they may preserve this state, that has tottered up to now, in the condition in which you have established it. "

18 1 This letter shows that 2 Pupienus and he whom most call Maximus were the same. Among the Greeks, indeed, Pupienus is not easily discovered in this period and among the Latins, Maximus; but what was done against Maximinus is sometimes related as done by Pupienus, sometimes as by Maximinus.

The Two Valerians1

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] . . . to Sapor, the King of Kings2 or, in fact, Sole King: "Did I but know for a certainty that the Romans could be wholly defeated, I should congratulate you on the victory of which you boast. 2 But inasmuch as that nation, either through Fate or its own prowess, is all-powerful, look to it lest the fact that you have taken prisoner an aged emperor, and that indeed by guile, may turn out ill for yourself and your descendants. 3 Consider what mighty nations the Romans have made their subjects instead of their enemies after they had often suffered defeat at their hands. 4 We have heard, in fact, how the Gauls conquered them and burned that great city of theirs; it is a fact that the Gauls are now servants to the Romans. What of the Africans? Did they not conquer the Romans? It is a fact that they serve p5 them now. 5 Examples more remote and perhaps less important I will not cite. Mithradates of Pontus held all of Asia; it is a fact that he was vanquished and Asia now belongs to the Romans. 6 If you ask my advice, make use of the opportunity for peace and give back Valerian to his people. I do indeed congratulate you on your good fortune, but only if you know how to use it aright. "

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 2 1 Velenus, King of the Cadusii,3 wrote as follows: "I have received with gratitude my forces returned to me safe and sound. Yet I cannot wholly congratulate you that Valerian, prince of princes, is captured; I should congratulate you more, were he given back to his people. For the Romans are never more dangerous than when they are defeated. 2 Act, therefore, as becomes a prudent man, and do not let Fortune, which has tricked many, kindle your pride. Valerian has an emperor for a son4 and a Caesar for a grandson, and what of the whole Roman world, which, to a man, will rise up against you? 3 Give back Valerian, therefore, and make peace with the Romans, a peace which will benefit us as well because of the tribes of Pontus. "

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 3 1 Artavasdes,5 King of the Armenians, sent the following letter to Sapor: "I have, indeed, a share in your glory, but I fear that you have not so much conquered as sown the seeds of war. 2 For Valerian is being sought back by his son, his grandson, and the generals of Rome, by all Gaul, all Africa, all Spain, all Italy, and by all the nations of Illyricum, the East, and Pontus, which are leagued with the p7 Romans or subject to them. 3 So, then, you have captured one old man but have made all the nations of the world your bitterest foes, and ours too, perhaps, for we have sent you aid, we are your neighbours, and we always suffer when you fight with each other. "

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 4 1 The Bactrians, the Hiberians,6 the Albanians,7 and the Tauroscythians8 refused to receive Sapor's letters and wrote to the Roman commanders, promising aid for the liberation of Valerian from his captivity.

2 Meanwhile, however, while Valerian was growing old in Persia, Odaenathus the Palmyrene9 gathered together an army and restored the Roman power almost to its pristine condition. 3 He captured the king's treasures and he captured, too, what the Parthian monarchs hold dearer than treasures, namely his concubines. 4 For this reason Sapor was now in greater dread of the Roman generals, and out of fear of Ballista10 and Odaenathus he withdrew more speedily to his kingdom. And this, for the time being, was the end of the war with the Persians.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 5 1 This is all that is worthy of being known about Valerian, whose life, praiseworthy for sixty years long, finally rose to such glory, that after holding all honours and offices with great distinction he was chosen emperor, not, as often happens, in a riotous assemblage of the people or by the shouting of soldiers, but solely by right of his services, and, as it were, by the single voice of the entire world. 2 In short, if all had been given the power of expressing their choice as to whom they desired as emperor, none other would have been chosen.

3 Now in order that you may know what power lay p9 in the public services of Valerian, I will cite the decrees of the senate,11 which will make it clear to all what judgement concerning him was always expressed by that most illustrious body.

4 In the consulship of the two Decii, on the sixth day before the Kalends of November, when, pursuant to an imperial mandate, the senate convened in the Temple of Castor and Pollux,12 and each senator was asked his opinion as to the man to whom the censorship13 should be offered (for this the Decii had left in the power of the most high senate), when the praetor had first announced the question, "What is your desire, Conscript Fathers, with regard to choosing a censor? " and then asked the opinion of him who was then the chief of the senate14 in the absence of Valerian (for at that time he was in military service with Decius), then all, breaking through the usual mode of giving the vote, cried out with one voice:15 "Valerian's life is a censorship. 5 Let him judge all, who is better than all. Let him judge the senate, who is free from guilt. Let him pronounce sentence on our lives, against whom no reproach can be brought. 6 From early childhood Valerian has been a censor. All his life long Valerian has been a censor. A wise senator, a modest senator, a respected senator. The friend of the good, the enemy of tyrants, the foe of crimes, the foe of vices. 7 He it is whom we all accept as censor, whom we all desire to imitate. Foremost p11 in family, noble in blood, free from stain in his life, famed for his learning, matchless in character, a sample of the olden times. " 8 When all this had been said repeatedly, they added, "All with one accord," and so they departed.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 6 1 When this decree of the senate was brought to Decius, he called all his courtiers together and gave orders that Valerian, too, should be summoned. Then, having read the decree before this assemblage of the foremost men, he said: 2 "Happy are you, Valerian, in this vote of the entire senate, or rather in the thoughts and the hearts of the whole world of men. Receive the censorship, which the Roman commonwealth has offered you and which you alone deserve, you who are now about to pass judgement on the character of all men, on the character of ourselves as well. 3 You shall decide who are worthy to remain in the Senate-house, you shall restore the equestrian order to its old-time condition, you shall determine the amount of our property, you shall safeguard, apportion and order our revenues, you shall conduct the census in our communities; 4 to you shall be given the power to write our laws, you shall judge concerning the rank of our soldiers, 5 and you shall have a care for their arms; 6 you shall pass judgement on our Palace, our judges and our most eminent prefects; in short, except for the prefect of the city of Rome, except for the regular consuls,16 the king of the sacrifices, and the senior Vestal Virgin (as long, that is, as she remains unpolluted), you shall pronounce sentence on all. Even those on whom you may not pass judgement will strive to win your approval. " 7 Thus Decius; but Valerian's reply was as follows: "Do not, I pray you, most venerated Emperor, fasten upon me the p13 necessity of passing judgement on the people, the soldiers, the senate, and all judges, tribunes and generals the whole world over. 8 It is for this that you have the name of Augustus. You it is on whom the office of censor devolves, for no commoner can duly fill it. 9 Therefore I ask to be excused from this office, to which my life is unequal, my courage unequal, and the times so unfavourable that human nature does not desire the office of censor. "

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 7 1 I could, indeed, cite many other senatorial decrees and imperial judgements concerning Valerian, were not most of them known to you, and did I not feel ashamed to extol too greatly a man who was vanquished by what seems a destined doom. Now let me turn to the younger Valerian.

[Legamen ad paginam Latinam] 8 1 Valerian the younger,17 the son of a different mother from Gallienus, conspicuous for his beauty, admired for his modesty, distinguished in learning for one of his years, amiable in his manners, and holding aloof from the vicious ways of his brother, received from his father, when absent, the title of Caesar and from his brother, so says Caelestinus,18 that of Augustus. 2 His life contains nothing worthy of note, save that he was nobly born, excellently reared, and pitiably slain.

3 Now since I know that many are in error, who have read the inscription of Valerian the Emperor on a tomb, and believe that the body of that Valerian who was captured by the Persians was given back again, I have thought it my duty, that no error might creep in, to set down in writing that it was this younger Valerian who was buried near Milan and that by Claudius' order the inscription was added: "Valerian the Emperor. "

p15 4 Nothing further, I think, should be demanded concerning either older or younger Valerian. 5 And since I fear to exceed the proper limit of a volume, if I add to this book Valerian's son Gallienus, concerning whom we have already said much, and perchance too much, in the life of his father, or even Gallienus' son Saloninus,19 who is called in the history of his time both Saloninus and Gallienus, let us now pass, as we are bidden, to another volume. For, indeed, we have ever submitted to you and to Fame, to whom we can make no refusal.

The Two Gallieni

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] When Valerian was captured (for where should we begin the biography of Gallienus,1 if not with that calamity which, above all, brought disgrace on his life? ), when the commonwealth was tottering, when Odaenathus had seized the rule of the East, and when Gallienus was rejoicing in the news of his father's captivity, the armies began to range about on all sides, the generals in all the provinces to murmur, and great was the grief of all men that Valerian, a Roman emperor, was held as a slave in Persia. But greater far was the grief of them all that now having received the imperial power, Gallienus, by his mode of life, as his father by his fate, brought ruin on the commonwealth. 2

p19 2 So then, when Gallienus and Volusianus were consuls, Macrianus and Ballista met together, called in the remains of the army, and, since the Roman power in the East was tottering, sought someone to appoint as emperor. 3 For Gallienus was showing himself so careless of public affairs that his name was not even mentioned to the soldiers. 3 It was then finally decided to choose Macrianus and his sons as emperors and to undertake the defence of the state. And so the imperial power was offered to Macrianus. 4 Now the reasons why Macrianus and his sons should be chosen to rule were these: First of all, no one of the generals of that time was held to be wiser, and none more suited to govern the state; in the second place, he was the richest, and could by his private fortune make good the public losses. 5 In addition to this, his sons, most valiant young men, rushed with all spirit into the war, ready to serve as an example to the legions in all the duties of soldiers.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 2 1 Accordingly, Macrianus sought reinforcements on every side and, in order to strengthen his power, took control of the party which he himself had formed. So well did he make ready for war that he was a match for all measures which could be devised against him. 2 He also chose Piso,4 one of the nobles and of the foremost men in the senate, as governor of Achaea, in order that he might crush Valens,5 who was administering that province with the authority of a proconsul. 3 Valens, however, learning that Piso was marching against him, assumed the imperial power. Piso, therefore, withdrew into Thessaly, 4 and there he, p21 together with many, was slain by the soldiers sent against him by Valens. Now Piso, too, was saluted as emperor with the surname Thessalicus.

5 Macrianus, moreover, now that the East was brought into subjection, left there one of his sons, and came first of all into Asia, and from there set out for Illyricum. 6 Here, having with him one of his sons and a force of thirty thousand soldiers, he engaged in battle with Domitianus,6 a general of Aureolus the emperor, who had assumed the imperial power in opposition to Gallienus. 7 7 He was, however, defeated, together with his son, Macrianus by name, and his whole army surrendered to the Emperor Aureolus.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 3 1 Meanwhile, when the commonwealth had been thrown into confusion throughout the entire world, Odaenathus,8 learning that Macrianus and his son had been slain, that Aureolus was ruling, and that Gallienus was administering the state with still greater slackness, hastened forward to seize the other son of Macrianus, together with his army, should Fortune so permit. 2 But those who were with Macrianus' son — whose name was Quietus — taking sides with Odaenathus, by the instigation of Ballista, Macrianus' prefect, killed the young man, and, casting his body over the wall, they all in large numbers surrendered to Odaenathus. 3 And so Odaenathus was made emperor over almost the whole East, while Aureolus held Illyricum and Gallienus Rome. 4 This same Ballista murdered, in addition to Quietus and the guardian of his treasures, many of the people of Emesa,9 to whom Macrianus' soldiers had fled, with the result that this city was nearly destroyed. 5 Odaenathus, meanwhile, as if p23 taking the side of Gallienus, caused all that had happened to be announced to him truthfully.

6 Gallienus, on the other hand, when he learned that Macrianus and his sons were slain, as though he were secure in his power and his father were now set free, surrendered himself to lust and pleasure. 10 7 He gave spectacles in the circus, spectacles in the theatre, gymnastic spectacles, hunting spectacles, and gladiatorial spectacles also, and he invited all the populace to merriment and applause, as though it were a day of victory. 8 And whereas most men mourned at his father's captivity, he, under the pretext of doing him honour — on the ground that his father had been caught through his zeal for valour — made merry beyond measure. 9 It was generally supposed, moreover, that he could not endure his father's censure and that it was his desire to feel no longer his father's authority bearing heavily upon his neck.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 4 1 During this same time Aemilianus11 in Egypt took the imperial power, and seizing the granaries he overcame many towns by the pressure of hunger. 2 However, Theodotus, Gallienus' general, after fighting a battle captured him, and stripping him of his emperor's trappings sent him alive to Gallienus. After this Egypt was assigned to Theodotus. As for Aemilianus, he was strangled in prison, while the soldiers of Thebes were cruelly punished and many were put to death.

3 Now while Gallienus, continuing in luxury and debauchery, gave himself up to amusements and revelling and administered the commonwealth like a boy who plays at holding power, the Gauls, by nature unable to endure princes who are frivolous and given over to luxury and have fallen below the standard of p25 Roman valour, called Postumus to the imperial power;12 and the armies, too, joined with them, for they complained of an emperor who was busied with his lusts. 4 Thereupon Gallienus himself led his army against him, and when he began to besiege the city in which Postumus was, the Gauls defended it bravely, and Gallienus, as he went around the walls, was struck by an arrow. 5 So for seven years13 Postumus held his power and with the greatest vigour protected the regions of Gaul from all the barbarians surging about. 6 Forced by this evil plight, Gallienus made peace with Aureolus14 in his desire to fight with Postumus, and, as the war dragged on to great length amid various sieges and battles, he conducted the campaign, now with good success and again with ill. 15 7 These evils had been further increased by the fact that the Scythians16 had invaded Bithynia and destroyed its cities. 8 Finally they set fire to Astacus, later called Nicomedia, and plundered it cruelly. 9 Last of all, when all parts of the Empire were thrown into commotion, as though by a conspiracy of the whole world, there arose in Sicily also a sort of slave-revolt, for bandits roved about and were put down only with great difficulty. Legamen ad paginam Latinam 5 1 All these things were done out of contempt for Gallienus, for there is nothing so quick to inspire evil men to daring and good men to the hope of good things as an evil emperor who is feared or a depraved one who is despised.

p27 2 In the consulship of Gallienus and Fausianus, amid so many calamities of war, there was also a terrible earthquake and a darkness for many days. 3 There was heard, besides, the sound of thunder, not like Jupiter thundering, but as though the earth were roaring. And by the earthquake many structures were swallowed up together with their inhabitants, and many men died of fright.