nius finds
the place 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, who, by female alliances, claimed a right of
exhibiting, in his house, the images of Crassus and of the great Pompey.
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.

[See Roman Coins: From The British Museum. Number four depicts Crassus.]

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 with candor the
conduct of these usurpers, it will appear, that they were much oftener
driven into rebellion by their fears, than urged to it by their
ambition. They dreaded the cruel suspicions of Gallienus; they equally
dreaded the capricious violence of their troops. If the dangerous favor
of the army had imprudently declared them deserving of the purple, they
were marked for sure destruction; and even prudence would counsel them
to secure a short enjoyment of empire, and rather to try the fortune of
war than to expect the hand of an executioner. When the clamor of the
soldiers invested the reluctant victims with the ensigns of sovereign
authority, they sometimes mourned in secret their approaching fate. "You
have lost," said Saturninus, on the day of his elevation, "you have lost
a useful commander, and you have made a very wretched emperor."

The apprehensions of Saturninus were justified by the repeated
experience of revolutions. Of the nineteen tyrants who started up under
the reign of Gallienus, there was not one who enjoyed a lif