or
of amber. The poet who describes the games of Carinus, in the
character of a shepherd, attracted to the capital by the fame of their
magnificence, affirms that the nets designed as a defence against the
wild beasts, were of gold wire; that the porticos were gilded; and that
the belt or circle which divided the several ranks of spectators from
each other was studded with a precious mosaic of beautiful stones.

In the midst of this glittering pageantry, the emperor Carinus, secure
of his fortune, enjoyed the acclamations of the people, the flattery
of his courtiers, and the songs of the poets, who, for want of a more
essential merit, were reduced to celebrate the divine graces of his
person. In the same hour, but at the distance of nine hundred miles from
Rome, his brother expired; and a sudden revolution transferred into the
hands of a stranger the sceptre of the house of Carus.

The sons of Carus never saw each other after their father's death. The
arrangements which their new situation required were probably deferred
till the return of the younger brother to Rome, where a triumph was
decreed to the young emperors for the glorious success of the Persian
war. It is uncertain whether they intended to divide between them the
administration, or the provinces, of the empire; but it is very unlikely
that their union would have proved of any long duration. The jealousy
of power must have been inflamed by the opposition of characters. In the
most corrupt of times, Carinus was unworthy to live: Numerian deserved
to reign in a happier period. His affable manners and gentle virtues
secured him, as soon as they became known, the regard and affections
of the public. He possessed the elegant accomplishments of a poet and
orator, which dignify as well as adorn the humblest and the most exalted
station. His eloquence, however it was applauded by the senate, was
formed not so much on the model of Cicero, as on that of the modern
declaimers; but in an age very far from being destitute of poetical
merit, he contended for the prize with the most celebrated of his
contemporaries, and still remained the friend of his rivals; a
circumstance which evinces either the goodness of his heart, or the
superiority of his genius. But the talents of Numerian were rather of
the contemplative than of the active kind. When his father's elevation
reluctantly forced him from the shade of retirement, neither his temper
nor his pursuits had qualified him