OF THE HOMAN EMPIRE.

275

of his savage origin, the emperor might perhaps C ^P.

have given his own sister in marriage to the son-

of Maximin. d

Instead of securing his fidelity, these favours _

° \ 7 Conspira-

served only to inflame the ambition of the Thra- cy ofMax-cianpeasant, who deemed his fortune inadequate ,min ‘to his merit, as long as he was constrained toacknowledge a superior. Though a stranger toreal wisdom, he M as not devoid of a selfish cun-ning, which shewed him that the emperor hadlost the affection of the army, and taught him toimprove their discontent to his own advantage.

It is easy for faction and calumny to shed theirpoison on the administration ofthebestofprinces,and to accuse even their virtues, by artfully con-founding them with those vices to which theybear the nearest affinity. The troops listenedwith pleasure to the emissaries of Maximin.

They blushed at their own ignominious patience,which, during thirteen years, had supported thevexatious discipline imposed by an effeminateSyrian , the timid slave of his mother and of thesenate. It was time, they cried, to cast awaythat useless phantom of the civil power, and toelect for their prince and general a real soldier,educated in camps, exercised in war, who wouldassert the glory, and distribute among his com-panions the treasures of the empire. A great

to discipline the recruits of the whole army. His biographer ought tohave marked, with more care, his exploits, and the successive steps ofhis military promotions.

11 See the original letter of Alexander Severus . Hist. August,p. 149.