Back to Chapter Listing
Continue
Reading
The Sun was worshipped at
Emesa, under the name of Elagabalus,
52 and under the form of a black conical stone, which, as it was universally believed, had fallen from heaven on that sacred place. To this protecting deity,
Antoninus, not without some reason, ascribed his elevation to the
throne. The display of superstitious gratitude was the only serious business of his reign. The triumph of the god of Emesa over all the religions of the earth, was the great object of his zeal and vanity; and the appellation of
Elagabalus (for he presumed as pontiff and favorite to adopt that sacred name) was dearer to him than all the titles of
imperial greatness. In a solemn procession through the streets of
Rome, the way was strewed with gold dust; the black stone, set in precious gems, was placed on a chariot drawn by six milk-white horses richly caparisoned. The pious emperor
held the reins, and, supported by his ministers, moved slowly backwards, that he might perpetually enjoy the felicity of the divine
presence. In a magnificent temple raised on the Palatine Mount, the sacrifices of the god Elagabalus were celebrated with every
circumstance of cost and solemnity. The richest wines, the most extraordinary victims, and the rarest aromatics, were profusely
consumed on his altar. Around the
altar, a chorus of
Syrian damsels performed their lascivious dances to the sound of barbarian
music, whilst the gravest personages of the state and army, clothed in long
Phoenician tunics, officiated in the meanest functions, with
affected zeal and secret indignation.
53
Footnote 52: This name is derived by the learned from two Syrian words, Ela a God, and Gabal, to form, the forming or plastic god,
a proper, and even happy epithet for the sun. Wotton's History of Rome, p. 378 Note: The name of Elagabalus has been disfigured in
various ways. Herodian calls him; Lampridius, and the more modern writers, make him Heliogabalus. The name of Elagabalus, in "nummis rarius
legetur." Rasche, Lex. Univ. Ref. Numm. Rasche quotes two. - M
Footnote 53: Herodian, l. v. p. 190.
To this temple, as to the common centre of religious worship, the
imperial fanatic attempted to remove the Ancilia, the Palladium,
54
and all the sacred pledges of the faith of
Numa. A crowd of inferior deities attended in various stations the majesty of the god of
Emesa; but his court was still imperfect, till a female of distinguished rank was admitted to his bed. Pallas had been first chosen for his
consort; but as it was dreaded lest her warlike terrors might affright the soft delicacy of a
Syrian deity, the Moon, adorned by the
Africans under the name of
Astarte, was deemed a more suitable companion for the Sun. Her image, with the rich offerings of her
temple as a marriage portion, was transported with solemn pomp from Carthage to
Rome, and the day of these mystic nuptials was a
general festival in the capital and throughout the
empire.
55
Footnote 54: He broke into the sanctuary of Vesta, and carried away a statue, which he supposed to be the palladium; but the vestals
boasted that, by a pious fraud, they had imposed a counterfeit image on the profane intruder. Hist. August., p. 103.
Footnote 55: Dion, l. lxxix. p. 1360. Herodian, l. v. p. 193. The subjects of the empire were obliged to make liberal presents to the
new married couple; and whatever they had promised during the life of Elagabalus was carefully exacted under the administration of
Mamaea.
A rational voluptuary adheres with invariable respect to the
temperate dictates of nature, and improves the gratifications of sense by
social intercourse, endearing connections, and the soft coloring of taste and the imagination. But Elagabalus, (I speak of the emperor
of that name,) corrupted by his youth, his country, and his
fortune, abandoned himself to the grossest pleasures with ungoverned
fury, and soon found disgust and satiety in the midst of his enjoyments. The
inflammatory powers of art were summoned to his aid:
the confused multitude of women, of wines, and of dishes, and the studied variety of attitude and sauces, served to revive his languid
appetites. New terms and new inventions in these sciences, the only ones cultivated and patronized by the monarch,
56 signalized his
reign, and transmitted his infamy to succeeding times. A capricious prodigality supplied the want of taste and elegance; and whilst
Elagabalus lavished away the treasures of his people in the wildest extravagance, his own voice and that of his flatterers applauded a
spirit of
magnificence unknown to the tameness of his predecessors. To confound the order of seasons and climates,
57 to sport
with the passions and prejudices of his subjects, and to subvert every law of nature and decency, were in the number of his most
delicious amusements. A long train of
concubines, and a rapid succession of wives, among whom was a
vestal virgin, ravished by
force from her sacred
asylum,
58 were insufficient to satisfy the impotence of his passions. The master of the Roman world affected
to copy the dress and manners of the female sex, preferred the distaff to the scepter, and dishonored the principal dignities of the
empire by distributing them among his numerous lovers; one of whom was publicly invested with the title and authority of the
emperor's, or, as he more properly styled himself, of the empress's husband.
59
Footnote 56: The invention of a new sauce was liberally rewarded; but if it was not relished, the inventor was confined to eat of nothing else till he had discovered another more agreeable to the imperial palate Hist. August. p. 111.
Footnote 57: He never would eat sea-fish except at a great distance from the sea; he then would distribute vast quantities of the rarest sorts, brought at an immense expense, to the peasants of the inland country. Hist. August. p. 109.
Footnote 58: Dion, l. lxxix. p. 1358. Herodian, l. v. p. 192.
Footnote 59: Hierocles enjoyed that honor; but he would have been supplanted by one Zoticus, had he not contrived, by a potion, to enervate the powers of his rival, who, being found on trial unequal to his reputation, was driven with ignominy from the palace. Dion, l. lxxix. p. 1363, 1364. A dancer was made praefect of the city, a charioteer praefect of the watch, a barber praefect of the provisions. These three ministers, with many inferior officers, were all recommended enormitate membrorum. Hist. August. p. 105.
It may seem probable, the vices and follies of Elagabalus have been adorned by fancy, and blackened by prejudice.
60 Yet, confining ourselves to the public scenes displayed before the Roman people, and attested by grave and contemporary historians, their
inexpressible infamy surpasses that of any other age or country. The license of an eastern monarch is secluded from the eye of curiosity by the inaccessible walls of his seraglio. The sentiments of honor and
gallantry have introduced a refinement of pleasure, a regard for
decency, and a respect for the public opinion, into the modern courts of Europe;
* but the corrupt and opulent nobles of
Rome gratified every vice that could be collected from the mighty conflux of
nations and manners. Secure of impunity, careless of censure, they lived without restraint in the patient and humble society of their
slaves and parasites. The emperor, in his turn, viewing every rank of his subjects with the same contemptuous
indifference, asserted
without control his
sovereign privilege of lust and luxury.
Footnote 60: Even the credulous compiler of his life, in the Augustan History (p. 111) is inclined to suspect that his vices may have
been exaggerated.
Footnote *: Wenck has justly observed that Gibbon should have reckoned the influence of Christianity in this great change. In the
most savage times, and the most corrupt courts, since the introduction of Christianity there have been no Neros or Domitians, no
Commodus or Elagabalus. - M.
The most worthless of mankind are not afraid to condemn in others the same disorders which they allow in themselves; and can readily discover some nice difference of age, character, or station, to justify the partial distinction. The licentious soldiers, who had raised to the
throne the dissolute son of
Caracalla, blushed at their
ignominious choice, and turned with disgust from that monster, to contemplate with pleasure the opening
virtue s of his cousin
Alexander, the son of Mamaea. The crafty Maesa, sensible that her grandson Elagabalus must inevitably destroy himself by his own vices, had provided another and surer support of her family. Embracing a favorable moment of fondness and devotion, she had persuaded the young
emperor to adopt Alexander, and to invest him with the title of Caesar, that his own
divine occupations might be no longer interrupted by the care of the earth. In the second rank that amiable prince soon acquired the affections of the public, and excited the tyrant's jealousy, who resolved
to terminate the dangerous competition, either by corrupting the manners, or by taking away the life, of his rival. His arts proved
unsuccessful; his vain designs were constantly discovered by his own loquacious folly, and disappointed by those virtuous and faithful
servants whom the
prudence of Mamaea had placed about the person of her son. In a hasty sally of passion, Elagabalus resolved to
execute by force what he had been unable to compass by fraud, and by a despotic sentence degraded his cousin from the rank and
honors of Caesar. The message was received in the senate with silence, and in the camp with fury. The
Praetorian guards swore to
protect Alexander, and to revenge the dishonored majesty of the
throne. The tears and promises of the trembling Elagabalus, who only
begged them to spare his life, and to leave him in the possession of his beloved Hierocles, diverted their just indignation; and they
contented themselves with empowering their praefects to watch over the safety of Alexander, and the conduct of the emperor.
61
Footnote 61: Dion, l. lxxix. p. 1365. Herodian, l. v. p. 195 - 201. Hist. August. p. 105. The last of the three historians seems to have
followed the best authors in his account of the revolution.
It was impossible that such a
reconciliation should last, or that even the mean soul of Elagabalus could hold an
empire on such
humiliating terms of dependence. He soon attempted, by a dangerous experiment, to try the
temper of the soldiers. The report of the
death of Alexander, and the natural suspicion that he had been murdered, inflamed their passions into fury, and the tempest of the
camp could only be appeased by the presence and authority of the popular youth. Provoked at this new instance of their affection for
his cousin, and their contempt for his person, the
emperor ventured to punish some of the leaders of the mutiny. His unseasonable
severity proved instantly fatal to his minions, his mother, and himself. Elagabalus was massacred by the indignant Praetorians, his
mutilated corpse dragged through the streets of the city, and thrown into the
Tiber. His memory was branded with eternal infamy by
the senate; the justice of whose decree has been ratified by posterity.
62
Footnote 62: The aera of the death of Elagabalus, and of the accession of Alexander, has employed the learning and ingenuity of Pagi, Tillemont, Valsecchi, Vignoli, and Torre, bishop of Adria. The question is most assuredly intricate; but I still adhere to the authority of Dion, the truth of whose calculations is undeniable, and the purity of whose text is justified by the agreement of Xiphilin, Zonaras, and Cedrenus. Elagabalus reigned three years nine months and four days, from his victory over Macrinus, and was killed March 10, 222. But what shall we reply to the medals, undoubtedly genuine, which reckon the fifth year of his tribunitian power? We shall reply, with the learned Valsecchi, that the usurpation of Macrinus was
annihilated, and that the son of Caracalla dated his reign from his father's death? After resolving this great difficulty, the smaller knots
of this question may be easily untied, or cut asunder.
In the room of Elagabalus, his cousin Alexander was raised to the
throne by the Praetorian guards. His relation to the family of
Severus, whose name he assumed, was the same as that of his predecessor; his
virtue and his danger had already endeared him to the Romans, and the eager liberality of the senate conferred upon him, in one day, the various titles and powers of the
imperial dignity.
63 But as Alexander was a modest and dutiful youth, of only seventeen years of age, the reins of government were in the hands of two women, of his mother, Mamaea, and of Maesa, his grandmother. After the death of the latter, who survived but a short time the elevation of Alexander, Mamaea remained the sole regent of her son and of the
empire.
Footnote 63: Hist. August. p. 114. By this unusual precipitation, the senate meant to confound the hopes of pretenders, and prevent
the factions of the armies.
In every age and country, the wiser, or at least the stronger, of the two sexes, has usurped the powers of the state, and confined the other to the cares and pleasures of
domestic life. In hereditary monarchies, however, and especially in those
of modern Europe, the gallant spirit of
chivalry, and the law of succession, have accustomed us to allow a singular exception; and a
woman is often acknowledged the absolute
sovereign of a great kingdom, in which she would be deemed incapable of exercising the
smallest employment, civil or military. But as the Roman emperors were still considered as the generals and magistrates of the
republic, their wives and mothers, although distinguished by the name of Augusta were never associated to their personal honors; and
a female reign would have appeared an inexpiable prodigy in the eyes of those primitive Romans, who married without love, or loved
without delicacy and respect.
64 The
haughty Agripina aspired, indeed, to share the honors of the
empire which she had conferred on
her son; but her mad ambition, detested by every citizen who felt for the dignity of
Rome, was disappointed by the artful firmness of
Seneca and Burrhus.
65 The good sense, or the indifference, of succeeding princes, restrained them from offending the prejudices of
their subjects; and it was reserved for the profligate Elagabalus to discharge the acts of the senate with the name of his mother
Soaemias, who was placed by the side of the consuls, and subscribed, as a regular member, the decrees of the
legislative assembly.
Her more prudent sister, Mamaea, declined the useless and odious prerogative, and a solemn law was enacted, excluding women
forever from the
senate, and devoting to the infernal gods the head of the wretch by whom this sanction should be violated.
66 The
substance, not the pageantry, of power. was the object of Mamaea's manly ambition. She maintained an absolute and lasting
empire
over the mind of her son, and in his affection the mother could not brook a rival. Alexander, with her consent, married the daughter of
a patrician; but his respect for his father-in-law, and love for the empress, were inconsistent with the
tenderness of interest of
Mamaea. The patrician was executed on the ready accusation of treason, and the wife of Alexander driven with
ignominy from the
palace, and banished into
Africa.
67
Footnote 64: Metellus Numidicus, the censor, acknowledged to the Roman people, in a public
oration, that had kind nature allowed us to exist without the help of women, we should be delivered from a very troublesome
companion; and he could recommend matrimony only as the sacrifice of private pleasure to public duty. Aulus Gellius, i. 6.
Footnote 65: Tacit. Annal. xiii. 5.
Footnote 66: Hist. August. p. 102, 107.
Footnote 67: Dion, l. lxxx. p. 1369. Herodian, l. vi. p. 206. Hist. August. p. 131. Herodian represents the patrician as innocent. The Augustian History, on the authority of Dexippus, condemns him, as guilty of a conspiracy against the life of Alexander. It is impossible to pronounce between them; but Dion is an irreproachable witness of the jealousy and cruelty of Mamaea towards the young empress, whose hard fate Alexander lamented, but durst not oppose.
Notwithstanding this act of jealous cruelty, as well as some instances of avarice, with which Mamaea is charged, the general tenor of
her administration was equally for the benefit of her son and of the
empire. With the
approbation of the senate, she chose sixteen of
the wisest and most virtuous senators as a perpetual council of state, before whom every public business of moment was debated and
determined. The celebrated Ulpian, equally distinguished by his knowledge of, and his respect for, the laws of
Rome, was at their
head; and the prudent firmness of this aristocracy restored order and authority to the
government. As soon as they had purged the city
from foreign
superstition and luxury, the remains of the capricious
tyranny of Elagabalus, they applied themselves to remove his
worthless creatures from every department of the public administration, and to supply their places with men of
virtue and ability.
Learning, and the love of justice, became the only recommendations for civil offices; valor, and the love of discipline, the only
qualifications for military employments.
68
Footnote 68: Herodian, l. vi. p. 203. Hist. August. p. 119. The latter insinuates, that when any law was to be passed, the council was
assisted by a number of able lawyers and experienced senators, whose opinions were separately given, and taken down in writing.
But the most important care of Mamaea and her wise counsellors, was to form the character of the young emperor, on whose
personal qualities the happiness or misery of the Roman world must ultimately depend. The fortunate soil assisted, and even prevented,
the hand of cultivation. An excellent understanding soon convinced Alexander of the advantages of
virtue , the pleasure of knowledge,
and the necessity of labor. A natural mildness and moderation of
temper preserved him from the assaults of passion, and the
allurements of vice. His unalterable regard for his mother, and his esteem for the wise
Ulpian, guarded his unexperienced youth from
the poison of flattery.
*
Footnote *: Alexander received into his chapel all the religions which prevailed in the empire; he admitted
Jesus Christ, Abraham, Orpheus, Apollonius of Tyana, &c. It was almost certain that his mother Mamaea had instructed him in the
morality of Christianity. Historians in general agree in calling her a Christian; there is reason to believe that she had begun to have a
taste for the principles of Christianity. The virtuous Alexander Severus had insured to the Jews the preservation of their privileges, and permitted the exercise of Christianity. Hist. Aug. p. 121. The Christians had established their worship in a public place, of which the victuallers (cauponarii) claimed, not the property, but possession by custom. Alexander answered, that it was better that the place should be used for the service of God, in any form, than for victuallers.
The simple journal of his ordinary occupations exhibits a pleasing picture of an accomplished emperor,
69 and, with some allowance for the difference of
manners, might well deserve the imitation of modern princes. Alexander rose early: the first moments of the day were consecrated to private
devotion, and his domestic chapel was filled with the images of those heroes, who, by improving or reforming human life, had deserved the grateful reverence of posterity. But as he deemed the service of mankind the most acceptable worship of the gods, the greatest part of his morning hours was employed in his council, where he discussed public affairs, and determined private causes, with a patience and discretion above his years. The dryness of
business was relieved by the charms of
literature; and a portion of time was always set apart for his favorite studies of
poetry,
history, and
philosophy. The works of
Virgil and Horace, the republics of
Plato and
Cicero, formed his taste, enlarged his
understanding, and gave him the noblest ideas of man and government. The exercises of the body succeeded to those of the mind; and
Alexander, who was tall, active, and robust, surpassed most of his equals in the
gymnastic arts. Refreshed by the use of the bath and a
slight dinner, he resumed, with new
vigor, the business of the day; and, till the hour of supper, the principal meal of the Romans, he
was attended by his secretaries, with whom he read and answered the multitude of letters, memorials, and petitions, that must have
been addressed to the master of the greatest part of the world. His table was served with the most frugal simplicity, and whenever he
was at liberty to consult his own inclination, the company consisted of a few select friends, men of learning and
virtue , amongst
whom
Ulpian was constantly invited. Their conversation was familiar and instructive; and the pauses were occasionally enlivened by
the recital of some pleasing composition, which supplied the place of the dancers, comedians, and even gladiators, so frequently
summoned to the tables of the rich and luxurious Romans.
70 The dress of Alexander was plain and modest, his demeanor courteous
and affable: at the proper hours his palace was open to all his subjects, but the voice of a crier was heard, as in the
Eleusinian
mysteries, pronouncing the same salutary admonition: "Let none enter these holy walls, unless he is conscious of a pure and innocent
mind."
71
Footnote 69: See his life in the Augustan History. The undistinguishing compiler has buried these interesting anecdotes
under a load of trivial unmeaning circumstances.
Footnote 70: See the 13th Satire of Juvenal.
Footnote 71: Hist. August. p. 119.
Such a uniform tenor of life, which left not a moment for vice or folly, is a better proof of the wisdom and justice of Alexander's
government, than all the trifling details preserved in the compilation of Lampridius. Since the accession of Commodus, the Roman
world had experienced, during the term of forty years, the successive and various vices of four tyrants. From the death of Elagabalus,
it enjoyed an auspicious calm of thirteen years.
* The provinces, relieved from the oppressive taxes invented by
Caracalla and his
pretended son, flourished in peace and prosperity, under the administration of magistrates, who were convinced by experience that to
deserve the love of the subjects, was their best and only method of obtaining the favor of their
sovereign. While some gentle restraints
were imposed on the innocent luxury of the Roman people, the price of provisions and the interest of money, were reduced by the
paternal care of Alexander, whose prudent liberality, without distressing the industrious, supplied the wants and amusements of the
populace. The dignity, the freedom, the authority of the senate was restored; and every virtuous senator might approach the person of
the
emperor without a fear and without a blush.
Footnote *: Wenck observes that Gibbon, enchanted with the virtue of Alexander has heightened, particularly in this sentence, its effect on the state of the world. His own account, which follows, of the insurrections and foreign wars, is not in harmony with this beautiful picture. - M.
The name of
Antoninus, ennobled by the
virtue s of
Pius and
Marcus, had been communicated by adoption to the dissolute Verus, and by descent to the cruel
Commodus. It became the honorable appellation of the sons of
Severus, was bestowed on young
Diadumenianus, and at length prostituted to the infamy of the high priest of Emesa. Alexander, though pressed by the studied, and, perhaps, sincere importunity of the senate, nobly refused the borrowed lustre of a name; whilst in his whole conduct he labored to restore the glories and
felicity of the age of the genuine Antonines.
72
Footnote 72: See, in the Hist. August. p. 116, 117, the whole contest between Alexander and the senate, extracted from the journals
of that assembly. It happened on the sixth of March, probably of the year 223, when the Romans had enjoyed, almost a twelvemonth,
the blessings of his reign. Before the appellation of Antoninus was offered him as a title of honor, the senate waited to see whether
Alexander would not assume it as a family name.
In the civil administration of Alexander, wisdom was enforced by power, and the people, sensible of the public felicity, repaid their benefactor with their love and gratitude. There still remained a greater, a more necessary, but a more difficult enterprise; the reformation of the military order, whose interest and
temper, confirmed by long impunity, rendered them impatient of the restraints of discipline, and careless of the blessings of public tranquillity. In the execution of his design, the
emperor affected to display his love, and to conceal his fear of the army. The most rigid economy in every other branch of the administration supplied a fund of gold and silver for the ordinary pay and the extraordinary rewards of the troops. In
their marches he relaxed the severe obligation of carrying seventeen days' provision on their shoulders. Ample magazines were formed
along the public roads, and as soon as they entered the enemy's country, a numerous train of mules and camels waited on their
haughty laziness. As Alexander despaired of correcting the luxury of his soldiers, he attempted, at least, to direct it to objects of martial
pomp and ornament, fine horses, splendid armor, and shields enriched with silver and gold. He shared whatever fatigues he was
obliged to impose, visited, in person, the sick and wounded, preserved an exact register of their services and his own gratitude, and
expressed on every occasion, the warmest regard for a body of men, whose welfare, as he affected to declare, was so closely
connected with that of the state.
73 By the most gentle arts he labored to inspire the fierce multitude with a sense of duty, and to
restore at least a faint image of that discipline to which the Romans owed their
empire over so many other nations, as warlike and
more powerful than themselves. But his
prudence was vain, his courage fatal, and the attempt towards a reformation served only to
inflame the ills it was meant to cure.
Footnote 73: It was a favorite saying of the emperor's Se milites magis servare, quam seipsum,
quod salus publica in his esset. Hist. Aug. p. 130.
Back to Chapter Listing
Continue
Reading
To cite original text:
Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794.
The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. 1st ed. (London : Printed for W. Strahan ; and T. Cadell, 1776-1788.), pp. 148-157.