278

THE DECLINE AND FALL

chav, corrupted by the pride of empire, the luxury of

.Rome, and the perfidious voice of flattery. The

cruelty of Maximin was derived from a differentsource, the fear of contempt. Though he de-pended on the attachment of the soldiers, wholoved him for virtues like their own, he was con-scious that his mean and barbarian origin, hissavage appearance, and his total ignoranceof thearts and institutions of civil life, h formed a veryunfavourable contrast with the amiable mannersof the unhappy Alexander. He remembered,that, in his humbler fortune, he had often waitedbefore the door of the haughty nobles of Rome,and had been denied admittance by the inso-lence of their slaves. He recollected too thefriendship of a few who had relieved his pover-ty, and assisted his rising hopes. But thosewho had spurned, and those who had protectedthe Thracian, were guilty of the same crime, theknowledge of his original obscurity. For thiscrime many were put to death; and by the exe-cution of several of his benefactors, Maximinpublished, in characters of blood, the indeliblehistory of his baseness and ingratitude . 1

The dark and sanguinary soul of the tyrant,was open to every suspicion against those amonghis subjects who were the most distinguished bytheir birth or merit. Whenever he was alarmed

h It appears that he was totally ignorant of the Greek language,which, from its universal use in conversation and letters, was an essen-tial part of every liberal education

1 Hist. August, p 141. Hcrodian, I. vii, p. 237. The latter ofthese historians has been most unjustly censured for sparing the vice?of Maximin.