OK THE ROMAN EMPIRE

57

CHAP. XII.

Conduct of the army and senate after the death ofAurelian.—Reigns of Tacitus , Probus, Carus,and his sons.

SUCH was the unhappy condition of the Ro- c ^j

man emperors, that whatever might be their ~-

conduct, their fate was commonly the same. Alife of pleasure or virtue, of severity or mild- test lje -ness, of indolence or glory, alike led to an un- army andtimely grave; and almost every reign is closed for theby the same disgusting repetition of treason andmurder. The death of Aurelian , however, is ror -remarkable by its extraordinary consequences.

The legions admired, lamented, and revenged,their victorious chief. The artifice of his per-fidious secretary was discovered and punished.

The deluded conspirators attended the funeralof their injured sovereign, with sincere or well-feigned contrition, and submitted to the unani-mous resolution of the military order, whichwas signified by the following epistle: “ The“ brave and fortunate armies to the senate and“ people of Rome. The crime of one man, and“ the error of many, have deprived us of the“ late emperor Aurelian . May it please you,

“ venerable lords and fathers! to place him in“ the number of the gods, and to appoint a suc-“ cessor whom your judgment shall declare“ worthy of the imperial purple! None of those“ whose guilt or misfortune have contributed