140
THE DECLINE AND FALL
chap. His graceful person , 1 popular address, and ima-
„_’_gined virtues, attracted the public favour; the
honourable peace which he had recently grant-ed to the barbarians, diffused an universal joy ; mhis impatience to revisit Rome was fondly ascrib-ed to the love of his country; and his dissolutecourse of amusements was faintly condemnedin a prince of nineteen years of age.
During the three first years of his reign, theforms, and even the spirit of the old administra-tion were maintained by those faithful counsel-lors, to whom Marcus had recommended hisson, and for whose wisdom and integrity Com-modus still entertained a reluctant esteem. Theyoung prince and his profligate favourites re-velled in all the licence of sovereign power; buthis hands were yet unstained with blood, andhe had even displayed a generosity of sentiment,which might, perhaps, have ripened into solidvirtue . 0 A fatal incident decided his fluctuat-ing character.
is wound- One evening, as the emperor was returning to
assassin" P a l ace , through a dark and narrow portico ina. d. 183. the amphitheatre , 0 an assassin, who waited hispassage, rushed upon him with a drawn sword,loudly exclaiming, “ The senate sends you this''The menace prevented the deed; the assassinwas seized by the guards, and immediately re-
m This universal joy is well described (from the medals as well ashistorians) by Mr. Wotton, Hist, of Rome , p. 192, 193.
n Manilius, the confidential secretary of Avidius Cassius , was disco-vered after he had lain concealed several years. The emperor noblyrelieved the public anxiety, by refusing to see him, and burning his pa-pers without opening them. Dion. Cassius , Ixxii, p. 1209.
0 Sec Maifei degli Amphitheatri, p. 126.