THE DECLINE AND PALL
whom a venal tribe of courtiers perpetually la-. bour to conceal the truth/
The life of Misitheus had been spent in theprofession of letters, not of arms; yet such wasthe versatile genius of that great man, that, whenhe was appointed praetorian prefect, he dis-charged the military duties of his place with vi-gour and ability. The Persians had invadedMesopotamia , and threatened Antioch. By thepersuasion of his father-in-law, the young em-peror quitted the luxury of Rome, opened, forthe last time recorded in history, the temple ofJanus, and marched in person into theEast. Onhis approach with a great army, the Persians withdrew their garrisons from the cities whichthey had already taken, and retired from theEuphrates to the Tigris. Gordian enjoyed thepleasure of announcing to the senate the firstsuccess of his arms, which he ascribed with abecoming modesty and gratitude to the wisdomof his father and prefect. During the wholeexpedition, Misitheus watched over the safetyand discipline of the army ; whilst he preventedtheir dangerous murmurs by maintaining a re-gular plenty in the camp, and by establishingample magazines of vinegar, bacon, straw, bar-ley, and wheat, in all the cities of the frontier . 1But the prosperity of Gordian expired with
a Duxit uxorem filiam Misithei, quem eaus& eloquentiae dignum pa-rentela sak pntavit; et piaefectum statim fecit; post quod,non puerilejam et contemptibile videbatur imperium.
b Hist. August, p. 162. Aurelius Victor. Porphyrius in Vit. Plotin .ap. Fahvicium. Biblioth. Graec. 1. iv, c. 36. The philosopher Plotinus accompanied the army, prompted by the love of knowledge, and by thehope of penetrating as far as India .