ace assigned him by nature: in a general state
of war, military merit is the road to glory and to greatness. Of the
nineteen tyrants Tetricus only was a senator; Piso alone was a noble.
The blood of Numa, through twenty-eight successive generations, ran in
the veins of Calphurnius Piso, [161] who, by female alliances, claimed
a right of exhibiting, in his house, the images of Crassus and of the
great Pompey. [162] His ancestors had been repeatedly dignified with all
the honors which the commonwealth could bestow; and of all the ancient
families of Rome, the Calphurnian alone had survived the tyranny of the
Caesars. The personal qualities of Piso added new lustre to his race.
The usurper Valens, by whose order he was killed, confessed, with deep
remorse, that even an enemy ought to have respected the sanctity of
Piso; and although he died in arms against Gallienus, the senate, with
the emperor's generous permission, decreed the triumphal ornaments
to the memory of so virtuous a rebel. [163] [See Roman Coins: From The
British Museum. Number four depicts Crassus.]

[Footnote 160: See the speech of Marius in the Augustan History, p. 197.
The accidental identity of names was the only circumstance that could
tempt Pollio to imitate Sallust.]

[Footnote 1601: Marius was killed by a soldier, who had formerly served
as a workman in his shop, and who exclaimed, as he struck, "Behold the
sword which thyself hast forged." Trob vita.--G.]

[Footnote 161: "Vos, O Pompilius sanguis!" is Horace's address to
the Pisos See Art. Poet. v. 292, with Dacier's and Sanadon's notes.]

[Footnote 162: Tacit. Annal. xv. 48. Hist. i. 15. In the former of
these passages we may venture to change paterna into materna. In every
generation from Augustus to Alexander Severus, one or more Pisos appear
as consuls. A Piso was deemed worthy of the throne by Augustus, (Tacit.
Annal. i. 13;) a second headed a formidable conspiracy against Nero; and
a third was adopted, and declared Caesar, by Galba.]

[Footnote 163: Hist. August. p. 195. The senate, in a moment of
enthusiasm, seems to have presumed on the approbation of Gallienus.]

The lieutenants of Valerian were grateful to the father, whom they
esteemed. They disdained to serve the luxurious indolence of his
unworthy son. The throne of the Roman world was unsupported by any
principle of loyalty; and treason against such a prince might easily be
considered as patriotism to the state. Yet if we examine