for the command of armies. His
constitution was destroyed by the hardships of the Persian war; and he
had contracted, from the heat of the climate, such a weakness in his
eyes, as obliged him, in the course of a long retreat, to confine
himself to the solitude and darkness of a tent or litter. The
administration of all affairs, civil as well as military, was devolved
on Arrius Aper, the Praetorian praefect, who to the power of his important
office added the honor of being father-in-law to Numerian. The Imperial
pavilion was strictly guarded by his most trusty adherents; and during
many days, Aper delivered to the army the supposed mandates of their
invisible sovereign.

It was not till eight months after the death of Carus, that the Roman
army, returning by slow marches from the banks of the Tigris, arrived
on those of the Thracian Bosphorus. The legions halted at Chalcedon in
Asia, while the court passed over to Heraclea, on the European side of
the Propontis. But a report soon circulated through the camp, at first
in secret whispers, and at length in loud clamors, of the emperor's
death, and of the presumption of his ambitious minister, who still
exercised the sovereign power in the name of a prince who was no
more. The impatience of the soldiers could not long support a state of
suspense. With rude curiosity they broke into the Imperial tent, and
discovered only the corpse of Numerian. The gradual decline of his
health might have induced them to believe that his death was natural;
but the concealment was interpreted as an evidence of guilt, and
the measures which Aper had taken to secure his election became the
immediate occasion of his ruin Yet, even in the transport of their rage
and grief, the troops observed a regular proceeding, which proves how
firmly discipline had been reestablished by the martial successors of
Gallienus. A general assembly of the army was appointed to be held at
Chalcedon, whither Aper was transported in chains, as a prisoner and a
criminal. A vacant tribunal was erected in the midst of the camp, and
the generals and tribunes formed a great military council. They soon
announced to the multitude that their choice had fallen on Diocletian,
commander of the domestics or body-guards, as the person the most
capable of revenging and succeeding their beloved emperor. The future
fortunes of the candidate depended on the chance or conduct of the
present hour. Conscious that the station which he had