OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

307

his mother’s eunuchs, that pernicious vermin of chap.the East, who, since the days of Elagabalus , hadinfested the Roman palace. By the artful conspiracy of these wretches, an impenetrable veil wasdrawn between an innocent prince and his op-pressed subjects; the virtuous disposition ofGordian was deceived, and the honours of theempire sold without his knowledge, though ina very public manner, to the most worthless ofmankind. We are ignorant by what fortunateaccident the emperor escaped from this ignomi-nious slavery, and devolved his confidence on aminister, whose wise councils had no object ex-cept the glory of his sovereign, and the happi-ness of the people. It should seem that love A . D . 240.and learning introduced Misitheus to the favourof Gordian. The young prince married the Misitheus.daughter of his master of rhetoric, and promotedhis father-in-law to the first offices of the em-pire. Two admirable letters that passed be-tween them are still extant. The minister, withthe conscious dignity of virtue, congratulatesGordian that he is delivered from the tyrannyof the eunuchs, 2 and still more that he is sen-sible of his deliverance. The emperor acknow-ledges, with an amiable confusion, the errors ofhis past conduct; and laments, with singularpropriety, the misfortune of a monarch, from

2 Hist. August, p. 161. From some hints in the two letters, I shouldexpect that the eunuchs were not expelled the palace, without somedegree of gentle violence, and that the young Gordian rather approvedof, than consented to, their disgrace.