lar act of the whole reign of Gallienus. Hist. August. p. 180.]

The rapid and perpetual transitions from the cottage to the throne, and
from the throne to the grave, might have amused an indifferent
philosopher; were it possible for a philosopher to remain indifferent
amidst the general calamities of human kind. The election of these
precarious emperors, their power and their death, were equally
destructive to their subjects and adherents. The price of their fatal
elevation was instantly discharged to the troops by an immense donative,
drawn from the bowels of the exhausted people. However virtuous was
their character, however pure their intentions, they found themselves
reduced to the hard necessity of supporting their usurpation by frequent
acts of rapine and cruelty. When they fell, they involved armies and
provinces in their fall. There is still extant a most savage mandate
from Gallienus to one of his ministers, after the suppression of
Ingenuus, who had assumed the purple in Illyricum.

"It is not enough," says that soft but inhuman prince, "that you
exterminate such as have appeared in arms; the chance of battle might
have served me as effectually. The male sex of every age must be
extirpated; provided that, in the execution of the children and old men,
you can contrive means to save our reputation. Let every one die who has
dropped an expression, who has entertained a thought against me, against
me, the son of Valerian, the father and brother of so many princes. [166]
Remember that Ingenuus was made emperor: tear, kill, hew in pieces.
I write to you with my own hand, and would inspire you with my own
feelings." [167] Whilst the public forces of the state were dissipated
in private quarrels, the defenceless provinces lay exposed to every
invader. The bravest usurpers were compelled, by the perplexity of their
situation, to conclude ignominious treaties with the common enemy, to
purchase with oppressive tributes the neutrality or services of the
Barbarians, and to introduce hostile and independent nations into the
heart of the Roman monarchy. [168]

[Footnote 166: Gallienus had given the titles of Caesar and Augustus to
his son Saloninus, slain at Cologne by the usurper Posthumus. A second
son of Gallienus succeeded to the name and rank of his elder brother
Valerian, the brother of Gallienus, was also associated to the empire:
several other brothers, sisters, nephews, and nieces of the emperor
formed a very num