, the misfortune of a
monarch, from whom a venal tribe of courtiers perpetually labor to
conceal the truth. [48]

[Footnote 47: Hist. August. p. 161. From some hints in the two letters,
I should expect that the eunuchs were not expelled the palace without
some degree of gentle violence, and that the young Gordian rather
approved of, than consented to, their disgrace.]

[Footnote 48: Duxit uxorem filiam Misithei, quem causa eloquentiae
dignum parentela sua putavit; et praefectum statim fecit; post quod, non
puerile jam et contemptibile videbatur imperium.]

The life of Misitheus had been spent in the profession of letters, not
of arms; yet such was the versatile genius of that great man, that, when
he was appointed Praetorian Praefect, he discharged the military
duties of his place with vigor and ability. The Persians had invaded
Mesopotamia, and threatened Antioch. By the persuasion of his
father-in-law, the young emperor quitted the luxury of Rome, opened, for
the last time recorded in history, the temple of Janus, and marched in
person into the East. On his approach, with a great army, the Persians
withdrew their garrisons from the cities which they had already taken,
and retired from the Euphrates to the Tigris. Gordian enjoyed the
pleasure of announcing to the senate the first success of his arms,
which he ascribed, with a becoming modesty and gratitude, to the wisdom
of his father and Praefect. During the whole expedition, Misitheus
watched over the safety and discipline of the army; whilst he prevented
their dangerous murmurs by maintaining a regular plenty in the camp, and
by establishing ample magazines of vinegar, bacon, straw, barley, and
wheat in all the cities of the frontier. [49] But the prosperity of
Gordian expired with Misitheus, who died of a flux, not with out very
strong suspicions of poison. Philip, his successor in the praefecture,
was an Arab by birth, and consequently, in the earlier part of his life,
a robber by profession. His rise from so obscure a station to the first
dignities of the empire, seems to prove that he was a bold and able
leader. But his boldness prompted him to aspire to the throne, and his
abilities were employed to supplant, not to serve, his indulgent master.
The minds of the soldiers were irritated by an artificial scarcity,
created by his contrivance in the camp; and the distress of the army was
attributed to the youth and incapacity of the prince. It is not in our
power