Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/319

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 295 of the empire, are all subject to your tribunal. None CHAP. are exempted, excepting only the ordinary consuls *i, the prefect of the city, the king of the sacrifices, and (as long as she preserves her chastity inviolate) the eldest of the vestal virgins. Even these few, who may not dread the severity, will anxiously solicit the esteem of the Roman censor ^" A magistrate invested with such extensive powers, The design would have appeared not so much the minister as the Jj'J^e^'^aad^^ colleague of his sovereign ^ Valerian justly dreaded without ef- an elevation so full of envy and of suspicion. He modestly urged the alarming greatness of the trust, his own insufficiency, and the incurable corruption of the times. He artfully insinuated, that the office of censor was inseparable from the imperial dignity, and that the feeble hands of a subject were unequal to the support of such an immense weight of cares and of power *. The approaching event of war soon put an end to the prosecution of a project so specious but so impracticable; and whilst it preserved Valerian from the danger, saved the emperor Decius from the dis- appointment which would most probably have attended it. A censor may maintain, he can never restore the morals of a state. It is impossible for such a magi- strate to exert his authority with benefit, or even with effect, unless he is supported by a quick sense of hon- our and virtue in the minds of the people, by a de- cent reverence for the public opinion, and by a train of useful prejudices combating on the side of national manners. In a period when these principles are anni- hilated, the censorial jurisdiction must either sink into empty pageantry, or be converted into a partial instru- ment of vexatious oppression". It was easier to van- <i Yet in spite of this exemption Pompey appeared before that tribunal during his consulship. The occasion indeed was equally singular and honourable. Plutarch, in Pomp. p. 630. •■ See the original speech in the Augustan History, p. 173, 174. was actually declared the colleague of Decius: 1. xii. p. 625. " Such as the attempts of Augustus towards a reformation of manners. Tacit. Annal. iii. 24.
 * This transaction might deceive Zonaras, who supposes that Valerian
 * ■ Hist. August, p. 174. The emperor's reply is omitted.