ts of ease deprived
him of a capacity for business. The mind of Maximus was formed in a
rougher mould. By his valor and abilities he had raised himself from
the meanest origin to the first employments of the state and army. His
victories over the Sarmatians and the Germans, the austerity of his
life, and the rigid impartiality of his justice, while he was a Praefect
of the city, commanded the esteem of a people whose affections were
engaged in favor of the more amiable Balbinus. The two colleagues had
both been consuls, (Balbinus had twice enjoyed that honorable office,)
both had been named among the twenty lieutenants of the senate; and
since the one was sixty and the other seventy-four years old, they had
both attained the full maturity of age and experience.

After the senate had conferred on Maximus and Balbinus an equal portion
of the consular and tribunitian powers, the title of Fathers of their
country, and the joint office of Supreme Pontiff, they ascended to the
Capitol to return thanks to the gods, protectors of Rome. The solemn
rites of sacrifice were disturbed by a sedition of the people. The
licentious multitude neither loved the rigid Maximus, nor did they
sufficiently fear the mild and humane Balbinus. Their increasing numbers
surrounded the temple of Jupiter; with obstinate clamors they asserted
their inherent right of consenting to the election of their sovereign;
and demanded, with an apparent moderation, that, besides the two
emperors, chosen by the senate, a third should be added of the family
of the Gordians, as a just return of gratitude to those princes who had
sacrificed their lives for the republic. At the head of the city-guards,
and the youth of the equestrian order, Maximus and Balbinus attempted to
cut their way through the seditious multitude. The multitude, armed with
sticks and stones, drove them back into the Capitol. It is prudent to
yield when the contest, whatever may be the issue of it, must be fatal
to both parties. A boy, only thirteen years of age, the grandson of the
elder, and nephew * of the younger Gordian, was produced to the people,
invested with the ornaments and title of Caesar. The tumult was appeased
by this easy condescension; and the two emperors, as soon as they had
been peaceably acknowledged in Rome, prepared to defend Italy against
the common enemy.

Whilst in Rome and Africa, revolutions succeeded each other with such
amazing rapidity, that the mind of Maximin wa