et pleasure and avowed
indifference. "I knew that my father was a mortal," said he; "and since
he has acted as it becomes a brave man, I am satisfied." Whilst Rome
lamented the fate of her sovereign, the savage coldness of his son was
extolled by the servile courtiers as the perfect firmness of a hero and
a stoic. It is difficult to paint the light, the various, the inconstant
character of Gallienus, which he displayed without constraint, as
soon as he became sole possessor of the empire. In every art that he
attempted, his lively genius enabled him to succeed; and as his genius
was destitute of judgment, he attempted every art, except the important
ones of war and government. He was a master of several curious, but
useless sciences, a ready orator, an elegant poet, a skilful gardener,
an excellent cook, and most contemptible prince. When the great
emergencies of the state required his presence and attention, he was
engaged in conversation with the philosopher Plotinus, wasting his time
in trifling or licentious pleasures, preparing his initiation to the
Grecian mysteries, or soliciting a place in the Arcopagus of Athens. His
profuse magnificence insulted the general poverty; the solemn ridicule
of his triumphs impressed a deeper sense of the public disgrace. The
repeated intelligence of invasions, defeats, and rebellions, he received
with a careless smile; and singling out, with affected contempt, some
particular production of the lost province, he carelessly asked, whether
Rome must be ruined, unless it was supplied with linen from Egypt, and
arras cloth from Gaul. There were, however, a few short moments in the
life of Gallienus, when, exasperated by some recent injury, he suddenly
appeared the intrepid soldier and the cruel tyrant; till, satiated with
blood, or fatigued by resistance, he insensibly sunk into the natural
mildness and indolence of his character.

At the time when the reins of government were held with so loose a hand,
it is not surprising, that a crowd of usurpers should start up in every
province of the empire against the son of Valerian. It was probably some
ingenious fancy, of comparing the thirty tyrants of Rome with the thirty
tyrants of Athens, that induced the writers of the Augustan History to
select that celebrated number, which has been gradually received into
a popular appellation. But in every light the parallel is idle and
defective. What resemblance can we discover between a council of th