A Manual of Ancient History

by M. E. Thalheimer

RECAPITULATION.

Pertinax (A. D. 193) is crowned and murdered by the prætorians, who then sell the throne to Julianus. Severus (A. D. 193-211) buys the adhesion of the guards, and having gained the imperial power, disarms and expels them. He enlarges his dominions by conquests both in the east and west. Caracalla murders his brother, and misgoverns the empire six years, A. D. 211-217. Macrinus (A. D. 217, 218) gains and loses his crown by violence. Elagabalus (A. D. 218-222) introduces Syrian manners and worship into Rome. He is succeeded by his cousin, Alexander Severus (A. D. 222-235), who gains a great victory over the new Persian empire of the Sassanidæ, but is afterward slain in Germany during a mutiny of his troops. Maximin (A. D. 235-238), a Thracian, is set up, and in three years put down, by his comrades in the army. The two Gordians reign less than a month, Pupienus and Balbinus about six weeks, when a younger Gordian (A. D. 238-244) is invested with the purple at the age of twelve. He loses his life through the arts of Philip the Arab, who becomes emperor, and celebrates, A. D. 248, the thousandth year of the existence of Rome. Decius, being sent to quell a revolt in Pannonia, is crowned by the soldiers, A. D. 249, and Philip is slain. Two great calamities mark the reign of Decius: a persecution of Christians and an incursion of Goths. Gallus (A. D. 251-253) is deposed by Æmilianus, who is soon superseded by Valerian (A. D. 254-260). The whole empire is overrun by Gothic and German invaders. Valerian, in his wars in the East, is captured, and spends the last seven years of his life at Sapor’s court. “Thirty Tyrants” spring up in various parts of the empire. Gallienus reigns in Italy, first with his father, Valerian, and afterward alone, A. D. 254-268. He is slain through the management of a pretender, Aureolus, but is succeeded by Claudius (A. D. 268-270), who defeats the barbarians. Aurelian (A. D. 270-275) makes the Danube again the northern boundary of the empire; subdues Zenobia in the east and Tetricus in the west; is murdered on his way to Persia. Tacitus (A. D. 275, 276), being appointed by the Senate, reigns two hundred days. Florian, his brother, is deposed by his own troops. Probus (A. D. 276-282) restores security by a wise and energetic reign. Carus gains great victories in the East; but after his sudden death, his son Numerian abandons his conquests. Numerian is slain in the East, Carinus in the West, and Diocletian becomes emperor.

Third Period, A. D. 284-395.

222. Under the firm and wise policy of Diocletian, the Roman world entered upon a century of greater vigor and security. The empire being too large to be administered by a single head, Diocletian conferred equal power upon his friend and comrade Maxim´ian, with the title of Augustus. A few years later, two Cæsars, Gale´rius and Constan´tius, were added to the imperial college, each being associated, as adopted son and successor, with one of the emperors. To the Cæsars were assigned the more exposed provinces, which needed an active and vigilant administration, while the Augusti kept to themselves the old and settled portions of the empire. Constantius had Gaul, Spain, Britain, and the whole frontier of the Rhine; Galerius had Noricum, Pannonia, and Mœsia, with the defenses of the Danube; while Maximian governed Italy and Africa, and Diocletian retained for himself Thrace, Macedonia, Egypt, and the East. Though allotted thus to its several rulers, the empire was not divided. The four princes governed in consultation, and were equally honored in all parts of the realm.

223. In A. D. 286, a naval chief, Carau´sius, being intrusted with a powerful fleet for the defense of the British and Gallic coasts against the Franks, gained over the troops in Britain, seized the island, and set up an independent government. He built new ships, and soon became master of the Western seas. Diocletian and Maximian, after vain attempts to break his power, were compelled to acknowledge him as their colleague in the empire, A. D. 287. Constantius, upon becoming Cæsar, made war, A. D. 292, upon this new Augustus; captured Boulogne after a long and severe siege, and was preparing to invade Britain, when Carausius was killed by his chief officer, Allec´tus.

Constantius landed, three years later, in Britain, and by a battle near London recovered the island. He afterward drove the Alemanni out of Gaul, and settled his captives in colonies upon the lands depopulated by their ravages. At the same time, Maximian quelled a formidable revolt of the Moors in Africa; and Diocletian, by a siege of eight months, captured Alexandria, where a rival emperor had usurped the throne, and punished the rebellious city by a massacre in which many thousands perished. The Cæsar Galerius made war against the Persians for the recovery of Armenia, which they had taken from Tirida´tes, the vassal of Rome. He was defeated near Carrhæ, on the very scene of the overthrow of Crassus, more than three centuries before; but he retrieved this misfortune by a great victory over King Narses, followed by an advantageous peace.

224. The system of Diocletian was thus effective and prosperous, as far as it concerned the foreign enemies of the state; but the expenses of four imperial courts, with the immense number of soldiers and officials, imposed heavy burdens upon the people. The wretched tax-payers were often tortured to enforce payments which they were unable to make. The civil wars of the preceding centuries had deprived extensive districts of inhabitants; and the productions of the earth and of human industry had ceased.

225. The greatest blot upon the memory of Diocletian is the persecution of Christians in the last year of his reign. Every province and every great city of the empire had now heard the doctrines of Christ, and the church in Rome numbered 50,000 members. In an age of turbulence and corruption, Christians were every-where distinguished as the most orderly, industrious, loyal, and honest members of the community. Their refusal to worship the image of the emperor, which was an essential part of the Roman religion, had brought upon them several local persecutions, but none so widely extended and severe as that of Diocletian. The edict requiring uniformity of worship was issued A. D. 303. Instantly the cruel passions of the pagans were let loose from restraint. Innocent blood flowed in every province. Whoever had either malice or covetousness to indulge, had only to accuse his enemy of being a Christian, and to be rewarded with half the confiscated goods. In the extreme west, Constantius protected those of the “new religion,” but elsewhere there was no appeal from the atrocious cruelties sanctioned by courts of law.

226. Of the many acts by which Diocletian abased the authority of the Senate, the most effective was the removal of the center of government from the ancient city on the Tiber. His own official residence was at Nicomedia; that of Maximian, at Milan; while Constantius held a provincial court at York, and Galerius at Sirmium, on the Savus. The Senate thus became the mere council of a provincial town. Imperial edicts took the place of the laws which had formerly received its sanction. The insolent prætorians were, at the same time, replaced by the “Jovian” and “Herculean Guards”; and their præfect, who had been a rival of the emperor, became merely an officer of the palace. Diocletian, however, celebrated the twentieth year of his reign, and his numerous victories, by a triumphal entry into Rome; and this was the last “triumph” which the ancient capital ever beheld.