Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/331

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 307 with spoil ; and their retreat was esteemed as a victory CHAP, by the unwarlike Romans". When Gallienus received the intelligence that his The sen- capital was delivered from the barbarians, he was much ciuded^by less deliffhted than alarmed with the courage of the Gallienus . . ., , , ^ from the mi- senate; smce it might one day prompt them to rescue litary ser- the public from domestic tyranny, as well as from fo- ^^^®' reign invasion. His timid ingratitude was published to his subjects, in an edict which prohibited the senators from exercising any mihtary employment, and even from approaching the camps of the legions. But his fears were groundless. The rich and luxurious nobles, sinking into their natural character, accepted as a fa- vour this disgraceful exemption from military service ; and as long as they were indulged in the enjoyment of their baths, their theatres, and their villas, they cheer- fully resigned the more dangerous cares of empire to the rough hands of peasants and soldiers''. Another invasion of the Alemanni, of a more for- Gallienus midable aspect, but more glorious event, is mentioned an^aSance by a writer of the lower empire. Three hundred with the thousand of that warlike people are said to have been vanquished, in a battle near Milan, by Gallienus in person, at the head of only ten thousand Romans y. We may, however, with great probability, ascribe this incredible victory, either to the credulity of the histo- rian, or to some exaggerated exploits of one of the em- peror's lieutenants. It was by arms of a very different nature, that Gallienus endeavoured to protect Italy from the fury of the Germans. He espoused Pipa, the daughter of a king of the Marcomanni, a Suevic tribe, which was often confounded with the Alemanni in their wars and conquests ^ To the father, as the price of his alliance, he granted an ample settlement in Pan- nonia. The native charms of unpohshed beauty seem " Zosimus, 1. i. p. 34. ^ Aurel. Victor in Gallieno et Piobo. His complaints breathe an un- common spirit of freedom. y Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 631. Germans. x2
 * One of the Victors calls him king of the Marcomanni, the other, of the