Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/235

Rh only of the civil, but even of the republican government. The terror of military violence, which had first obliged the senate to forget the murder of Alexander, and to ratify the election of a barbarian peasant, now produced a contrary effect, and provoked them to assert the injured rights of freedom and humanity. The hatred of Maximin towards the senate was declared and implacable ; the tamest submission had not appeased his fury, the most cautious innocence would not remove his suspicions; and even the care of their own safety urged them to share the fortune of an enterprise, of which, if unsuccessful, they were sure to be the first victims. These considerations, and perhaps others of a more private nature, were debated in a previous conference of the consuls and the magistrates. As soon as their resolution was decided, they convoked in the temple of Castor the whole body of the senate, according to an ancient form of secrecy, calculated to awaken their attention, and to conceal their decrees. " Conscript fathers," said the consul Syllanus, ** the two Gordians, both of consular dignity, the one your proconsul, the other your lieutenant, have been declared emperors by the general consent of Africa. Let us return thanks," he boldly continued, **to the youth of Thysdrus; let us return thanks to the faithful people of Carthage, our generous deliverers from an horrid monster. — Why do you hear me thus coolly, thus timidly ? Why do you cast those anxious looks on each other ? Why hesitate ? Maximin is a public enemy! may his enmity soon expire with him; and may we long enjoy the prudence and felicity of Gordian the father, the valour and constancy of Gordian the son !" The noble ardour of the consul re-