ere experienced that the most absolute power is a weak
defence against the effects of despair. He had threatened one of his
secretaries who was accused of extortion; and it was known that
he seldom threatened in vain. The last hope which remained for the
criminal, was to involve some of the principal officers of the army
in his danger, or at least in his fears. Artfully counterfeiting his
master's hand, he showed them, in a long and bloody list, their own
names devoted to death. Without suspecting or examining the fraud, they
resolved to secure their lives by the murder of the emperor. On his
march, between Byzanthium and Heraclea, Aurelian was suddenly attacked
by the conspirators, whose stations gave them a right to surround his
person, and after a short resistance, fell by the hand of Mucapor, a
general whom he had always loved and trusted. He died regretted by the
army, detested by the senate, but universally acknowledged as a warlike
and fortunate prince, the useful, though severe reformer of a degenerate
state. [96]

[Footnote 95: It was the observation of Dioclatian. See Vopiscus in
Hist. August. p. 224.]

[Footnote 96: Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 221. Zosimus, l. i. p. 57.
Eutrop ix. 15. The two Victors.]

Chapter XII: Reigns Of Tacitus, Probus, Carus And His Sons.--Part I.

Conduct Of The Army And Senate After The Death Of Aurelian.
--Reigns Of Tacitus, Probus, Carus, And His Sons.

Such was the unhappy condition of the Roman emperors, that, whatever
might be their conduct, their fate was commonly the same. A life of
pleasure or virtue, of severity or mildness, of indolence or glory,
alike led to an untimely grave; and almost every reign is closed by the
same disgusting repetition of treason and murder. The death of Aurelian,
however, is remarkable by its extraordinary consequences. The legions
admired, lamented, and revenged their victorious chief. The artifice of
his perfidious secretary was discovered and punished.

The deluded conspirators attended the funeral of their injured
sovereign, with sincere or well-feigned contrition, and submitted to the
unanimous resolution of the military order, which was 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 t