guous inscription, "To the most powerful of orators."
See Vopiscus in Hist. August. p. 251.]

[Footnote 102: A more natural cause, at least, than that assigned by
Vopiscus, (Hist. August. p. 251,) incessantly weeping for his father's
death.]

[Footnote 103: In the Persian war, Aper was suspected of a design to
betray Carus. Hist. August. p. 250.]

It was not till eight months after the death of Carus, that the Roman
army, returning by slow marches from the banks of the Tigris, arrived
on those of the Thracian Bosphorus. The legions halted at Chalcedon in
Asia, while the court passed over to Heraclea, on the European side of
the Propontis. [104] But a report soon circulated through the camp,
at first in secret whispers, and at length in loud clamors, of the
emperor's death, and of the presumption of his ambitious minister, who
still exercised the sovereign power in the name of a prince who was no
more. The impatience of the soldiers could not long support a state of
suspense. With rude curiosity they broke into the Imperial tent, and
discovered only the corpse of Numerian. [105] The gradual decline of his
health might have induced them to believe that his death was natural;
but the concealment was interpreted as an evidence of guilt, and
the measures which Aper had taken to secure his election became the
immediate occasion of his ruin Yet, even in the transport of their rage
and grief, the troops observed a regular proceeding, which proves how
firmly discipline had been reestablished by the martial successors of
Gallienus. A general assembly of the army was appointed to be held at
Chalcedon, whither Aper was transported in chains, as a prisoner and a
criminal. A vacant tribunal was erected in the midst of the camp, and
the generals and tribunes formed a great military council. They soon
announced to the multitude that their choice had fallen on Diocletian,
commander of the domestics or body-guards, as the person the most
capable of revenging and succeeding their beloved emperor. The future
fortunes of the candidate depended on the chance or conduct of the
present hour. Conscious that the station which he had filled exposed him
to some suspicions, Diocletian ascended the tribunal, and raising his
eyes towards the Sun, made a solemn profession of his own innocence, in
the presence of that all-seeing Deity. [106] Then, assuming the tone of
a sovereign and a judge, he commanded that Aper should be brought
in chains to the