erce discontents of the army. [76] One particular
fact well deserves to be recorded, as it illustrates the manners of the
troops, and exhibits a singular instance of their return to a sense of
duty and obedience. Whilst the emperor lay at Antioch, in his Persian
expedition, the particulars of which we shall hereafter relate, the
punishment of some soldiers, who had been discovered in the baths
of women, excited a sedition in the legion to which they belonged.
Alexander ascended his tribunal, and with a modest firmness represented
to the armed multitude the absolute necessity, as well as his
inflexible resolution, of correcting the vices introduced by his impure
predecessor, and of maintaining the discipline, which could not be
relaxed without the ruin of the Roman name and empire. Their clamors
interrupted his mild expostulation. "Reserve your shout," said the
undaunted emperor, "till you take the field against the Persians, the
Germans, and the Sarmatians. Be silent in the presence of your sovereign
and benefactor, who bestows upon you the corn, the clothing, and the
money of the provinces. Be silent, or I shall no longer style you
solders, but citizens, [77] if those indeed who disclaim the laws of
Rome deserve to be ranked among the meanest of the people." His menaces
inflamed the fury of the legion, and their brandished arms already
threatened his person. "Your courage," resumed the intrepid Alexander,
"would be more nobly displayed in the field of battle; me you may
destroy, you cannot intimidate; and the severe justice of the republic
would punish your crime and revenge my death." The legion still
persisted in clamorous sedition, when the emperor pronounced, with a cud
voice, the decisive sentence, "Citizens! lay down your arms, and depart
in peace to your respective habitations." The tempest was instantly
appeased: the soldiers, filled with grief and shame, silently confessed
the justice of their punishment, and the power of discipline, yielded up
their arms and military ensigns, and retired in confusion, not to their
camp, but to the several inns of the city. Alexander enjoyed, during
thirty days, the edifying spectacle of their repentance; nor did he
restore them to their former rank in the army, till he had punished with
death those tribunes whose connivance had occasioned the mutiny. The
grateful legion served the emperor whilst living, and revenged him when
dead. [78]

[Footnote 76: Annot. Reimar. ad Dion Ca