s; 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. 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 to trace the successive
steps of the secret conspiracy and open sedition, which were at length
fatal to Gordian. A sepulchral monument was erected to his memory on
the spot where he was killed, near the conflux of the Euphrates with the
little river Aboras. The fortunate Philip, raised to the empire by the
votes of the soldiers, found a ready obedience from the senate and the
provinces.

We cannot forbear transcribing the ingenious, though somewhat fanciful
description, which a celebrated writer of our own times has traced
of the military government of the Roman empire. "What in that age was
called the Roman empire, was only an irregular re