tion 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. 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."
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.

Such were the barbarians, and such the tyrants, who, under the reigns
of Valerian and Gallienus, dismembered the provinces, and reduced the
empire to the lowest pitch of disgrace and ruin, from whence it seemed
impossible that it should ever emerge. As far as the barrenness of
materials would permit, we have attempted to trace, with order and
perspicuity, the general events of that calamitous period. There still
remain some particular facts; I. The disorders of Sicily; II. The
tumults of Alexandria; and, III. The rebellion of the Isaurians, which
may serve to reflect a strong light on the horrid picture.

I. Whenever numerous troops of banditti, multiplied by success and
impunity, publicly defy, instead of eluding the justice of their
country, we may safely infer, that the excessive weakness of the
government is felt and abused by the lowest ranks of the community.
The situation of Sicily preserved it from the Barbarians; nor could the
disarmed province have supported a usurper. The sufferings of that once
flourishing and still fertile island were inflicted by baser hands. A
licentious crowd of slaves and peasants reigned for a while over the
plundered country, and renewed the memory of the servile wars of more
ancient times. Devastations, of which the husbandman was either the
victim or the accomplice, must have ruined the agriculture of Sicily;
and as the principal estates were the property of the opulent senators
of Rome, who often enclosed within a farm the territory of an old
republic, it is not improbable, that this private injury might affect
the capital more deeply, than all the conquests of the Goth