principle of law and justice, and was supported by the avowed
power of the sword. [10] No man of noble birth, elegant accomplishments,
or knowledge of civil business, was suffered near his person; and the
court of a Roman emperor revived the idea of those ancient chiefs of
slaves and gladiators, whose savage power had left a deep impression of
terror and detestation. [11]

[Footnote 10: The wife of Maximin, by insinuating wise counsels with
female gentleness, sometimes brought back the tyrant to the way of truth
and humanity. See Ammianus Marcellinus, l. xiv. c. l, where he alludes
to the fact which he had more fully related under the reign of the
Gordians. We may collect from the medals, that Paullina was the name
of this benevolent empress; and from the title of Diva, that she died
before Maximin. (Valesius ad loc. cit. Ammian.) Spanheim de U. et P. N.
tom. ii. p. 300. Note: If we may believe Syrcellus and Zonaras, in was
Maximin himself who ordered her death--G]

[Footnote 11: He was compared to Spartacus and Athenio. Hist. August p.
141.]

As long as the cruelty of Maximin was confined to the illustrious
senators, or even to the bold adventurers, who in the court or army
expose themselves to the caprice of fortune, the body of the people
viewed their sufferings with indifference, or perhaps with pleasure.
But the tyrant's avarice, stimulated by the insatiate desires of the
soldiers, at length attacked the public property. Every city of the
empire was possessed of an independent revenue, destined to purchase
corn for the multitude, and to supply the expenses of the games and
entertainments. By a single act of authority, the whole mass of wealth
was at once confiscated for the use of the Imperial treasury. The
temples were stripped of their most valuable offerings of gold and
silver, and the statues of gods, heroes, and emperors, were melted
down and coined into money. These impious orders could not be executed
without tumults and massacres, as in many places the people chose rather
to die in the defence of their altars, than to behold in the midst
of peace their cities exposed to the rapine and cruelty of war.
The soldiers themselves, among whom this sacrilegious plunder was
distributed, received it with a blush; and hardened as they were in
acts of violence, they dreaded the just reproaches of their friends and
relations. Throughout the Roman world a general cry of indignation was
heard, imploring vengeance on t