Illyrian frontier. He gave his daughter in marriage
to the father of Majorian, a respectable officer, who administered the
revenues of Gaul with skill and integrity; and generously preferred the
friendship of Aetius to the tempting offer of an insidious court. His
son, the future emperor, who was educated in the profession of arms,
displayed, from his early youth, intrepid courage, premature wisdom, and
unbounded liberality in a scanty fortune. He followed the standard of
Aetius, contributed to his success, shared, and sometimes eclipsed, his
glory, and at last excited the jealousy of the patrician, or rather
of his wife, who forced him to retire from the service. [34] Majorian,
after the death of Aetius, was recalled and promoted; and his intimate
connection with Count Ricimer was the immediate step by which he
ascended the throne of the Western empire. During the vacancy that
succeeded the abdication of Avitus, the ambitious Barbarian, whose birth
excluded him from the Imperial dignity, governed Italy with the title
of Patrician; resigned to his friend the conspicuous station of
master-general of the cavalry and infantry; and, after an interval of
some months, consented to the unanimous wish of the Romans, whose favor
Majorian had solicited by a recent victory over the Alemanni. [35]
He was invested with the purple at Ravenna: and the epistle which
he addressed to the senate, will best describe his situation and his
sentiments. "Your election, Conscript Fathers! and the ordinance of the
most valiant army, have made me your emperor. [36] May the propitious
Deity direct and prosper the counsels and events of my administration,
to your advantage and to the public welfare! For my own part, I did
not aspire, I have submitted to reign; nor should I have discharged
the obligations of a citizen if I had refused, with base and selfish
ingratitude, to support the weight of those labors, which were imposed
by the republic. Assist, therefore, the prince whom you have made;
partake the duties which you have enjoined; and may our common endeavors
promote the happiness of an empire, which I have accepted from your
hands. Be assured, that, in our times, justice shall resume her ancient
vigor, and that virtue shall become, not only innocent, but meritorious.
Let none, except the authors themselves, be apprehensive of delations,
[37] which, as a subject, I have always condemned, and, as a prince,
will severely punish. Our own vigilance,