CHAP. his intention of regulating the eaftern provinces.

V.

towards

Albinus.

In private he spoke of Niger, his old friend and intended fucceffor 44, with the most affectionate regard, and highly applauded his generous defign of revenging the murder of Pertinax. To punish the vile ufurper of the throne, was the duty of every Roman general. To perfevere in arms, and to refift a lawful Emperor, acknowledged by the fenate, would alone render him criminal 45, The fons of Niger had fallen into his hands among the children of the provincial governors, detained at Rome as pledges for the loyalty of their parents. As long as the power of Niger infpired terror, or even refpect, they were educated with the moft tender care, with the children of Severus himself; but they were foon involved in their father's ruin, and removed, firft by exile, and afterwards by death, from the eye of public compaflion 47.

Whilft Severus was engaged in his eastern war, he had reafon to apprehend that the governor of Britain might pass the sea and the Alps, occupy the vacant feat of empire, and oppose his return

44 Whilft Severus was very dangeroufly ill, it was industriously given out, that he intended to appoint Niger and Albinus his fucceffors. As he could not be fincere with refpect to both, he might not be fo with regard to either. Yet Severus carried his hypocrisy so far, as to profefs that intention in the memoirs of his own life.

45 Hift. Auguft. p. 65.

45 This practice, invented by Commodus, proved very useful to Severus. He found, at Rome, the children of many of the principal adherents of his rivals; and he employed them more than once to intimidate, or feduce, the parents.

47 Herodian, l.iii. p. 96. Hift. Auguft. p. 67, 68.

V.

with the authority of the fenate and the forces of C HA P. the weft. The ambiguous conduct of Albinus, in not affuming the Imperial title, left room for negociation. Forgetting, at once, his profeffions of patriotifm, and the jealoufy of fovereign power, he accepted the precarious rank of Cæfar, as a reward for his fatal neutrality. Till the firft conteft was decided, Severus treated the man, whom he had doomed to deftruction, with every mark of esteem and regard. Even in the letter, in which he announced his victory over Niger, he ftyles Albinus the brother of his foul and empire, fends him the affectionate falutations of his wife Julia, and his young family, and intreats him to preserve the armies and the republic faithful to their common intereft. The meffengers charged with this letter were inftructed to accoft the Cæfar with respect, to defire a private audience, and to plunge their daggers into his heart +8. The confpiracy was discovered, and the too credulous Albinus at length paffed over to the continent, and prepared for an unequal conteft with his rival, who rushed upon him at the head of a veteran and victorious army.

wars

The military labours of Severus feem inade- Event of quate to the importance of his conquefts. Two the civil engagements, the one near the Hellefpont, the other in the narrow defiles of Cilicia, decided the fate of his Syrian competitor; and the troops of Europe afferted their ufual afcendant over the

48 Hift. Auguft. p. 84. Spartianus has inferted this curious letter at full length.

effeminate

CHA P. effeminate natives of Afia 49. The battle of

V.

decided by

battles.

Lyons, where one hundred and fifty thousand so Romans were engaged, was equally fatal to Albinus. The valour of the British army maintained, indeed, a fharp and doubtful contest, with the hardy difcipline of the Illyrian legions. The fame and perfon of Severus appeared, during a few moments, irrecoverably loft, till that warlike prince rallied his fainting troops, and led them on to a decifive victory "1. The war was finished by that memorable day.

The civil wars of modern Europe have been one or two diftinguifhed, not only by the fierce animofity, but likewife by the obftinate perfeverance, of the contending factions. They have generally been juftified by fome principle, or at leaft, coloured by fome pretext, of religion, freedom, or loyalty. The leaders were nobles of independent property and hereditary influence. The troops fought like men interested in the decifion of the quarrel; and as military fpirit and party zeal were ftrongly diffused throughout the whole community, a vanquished chief was immediately fupplied with new adherents, eager to fhed their blood in the fame caufe. But the Romans, after the fall of the republic, combated only for the choice of mafters.

49 Confult the third book of Herodian, and the seventy-fourth book of Dion Caffius.

50

Dion, 1. lxxv. p. 1260.

51 Dion, 1. lxxv. p. 1261.

Herodian, l. iii. p. 110. Hift. Auguft. p. 68. The battle was fought in the plain of Trevoux, three or four leagues from Lyons. See Tillemont, tom. iii. p. 406. Note 18.

Under

V.

Under the ftandard of a popular candidate for CHA P. empire, a few inlifted from affection, fome from fear, many from intereft, none from principle. The legions, uninflamed by party zeal, were al lured into civil war by liberal donatives, and ftill móré liberal promifes. A defeat, by difabling the chief from the performance of his engagements, diffolved the mercenary allegiance of his followers; and left them to confult their own fafety, by a timely defertion of an unfuccefsful caufe. It was of little moment to the provinces under whofe name they were oppreffed or governed; they were driven by the impulfion of the prefent power, and as foon as that power yielded to a fuperior force, they haftened to implore the clemency of the conqueror, who, as he had an immenfe debt to difcharge, was obliged to facrifice the most guilty countries to the avarice of his foldiers. In the vaft extent of the Roman empire, there were few fortified cities capable of protecting a routed army; nor was there any perfon, or family, or order of men, whofe natural intereft, unfupported by the powers of government, was capable of reftoring" the caufe of a finking party".

tium.

Yet, in the conteft between Niger and Seve Byzanrus, a fingle city deferves an honourable exception. As Byzantium was one of the greatest paffages from Europe into Afia, it had been provided with a strong garrifon, and a fleet of five

52 Montefquien, Confiderations fur la Grandeur et la Decadence des Romains, c. xii.

VOL. I.

hundred

194

CHA P. hundred veffels was anchored in the harbour 55.

V.

The impetuofity of Severus difappointed this prudent scheme of defence; he left to his generals the Siege of Byzantium, forced the lefs guarded paffage of the Hellefpont, and, impatient of a meaner enemy, preffed forward to encounter his rival. Byzantium, attacked by a numerous and increafing army, and afterwards by the whole naval power of the empire, fuftained a fiege of three years, and remained faithful to the name and memory of Niger. The citizens and foldiers (we know not from what caufe) were animated with equal fury; feveral of the principal officers of Niger, who defpaired of, or who difdained a pardon, had thrown themfelves into this laft refuge: the fortifications were esteemed impregnable, and, in the defence of the place, a celebrated engineer displayed all the mechanic powers known to the ancients 54. Byzantium, at length, furrendered to famine. The magiftrates and foldiers were put to the fword, the walls demolished, the privileges fuppreffed, and the deftined capital of the eaft fubfifted only as an open village, fubject to the infulting jurif diction of Perinthus. The hiftorian Dion, whọ had admired the flourishing, and lamented the defolate state of Byzantium, accused the revenge

53 Moft of thefe, as may be fuppofed, were fmall open veffels ; fome, however, were gallies of two, and a few of three ranks of oars. 54 The engineer's name was Prifcus. His skill faved his life, and he was taken into the service of the conqueror. For the particular facts of the fiege, confult Dion Caffius (1. lxxv. p. 1251.), and Herodian (l. iii. p.95.): for the theory of it, the fanciful chevalier de Folard may be looked into. See Polybe, tom. i. p. 76.

of