THE DECLINE AND FALL

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CSHAP

VII.

A. D. 235.March 19.

Murder ofAlexanderSeverns.

army was at that time assembled on the banks ofthe Rhine , under the command of the emperorhimself, who, almost immediately after his re-turn from the Persian war, had been obliged tomarch against the barbarians of Germany . Theimportant care of training and reviewing thenew levies was intrusted to Maximin. One day,as he entered the field of exercise, the troops,either from a sudden impulse, or a formed con-spiracy, saluted him emperor, silenced by theirloud acclamations his obstinate refusal, and has-tened to consummate their rebellion by the mur-der of Alexander Severus .

The circumstances of his death are variouslyrelated. The writers, who supposed that he diedin ignorance of the ingratitude and ambition ofMaximin, affirm that, after taking a frugal re-past in the sight of the army, he retired to sleep,and that, about the seventh hour of the day, apart of his own guards broke into the imperialtent, and, with many wounds, assassinated theirvirtuous and unsuspecting prince.' If we creditanother, and indeed a more probable account,Maximin was invested with the purple by a nu-merous detachment, at the distance of severalmiles from the head-quarters; and he trusted forsuccess rather to the secret wishes, than to the

e Hist. August, p. 135. I have softened some of the most improba-ble circumstances of this wretched biographer. From this ill-wordednarration, it should seem, that the prince’s buffoon having by chanceentered the tent, and awakened the slumbering monarch, the fear ofpunishment urged him to persuade the disaffected soldiers to committhe murder.