Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/353

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 329 Rome, and the senate, constantly adhered to the cause CHAP, of Gallienus ; and he alone was considered as the sove- ' reign of the empire. That prince condescended in- deed to acknowledge the victorious arms of Odenathus, who deserved the honourable distinction, by the re- spectful conduct which he always maintained towards the son of Valerian. With the general applause of the Romans and the consent of Gallienus, the senate conferred the title of Augustus on the brave Palmyre- nian ; and seemed to intrust him with the government of the east, which he already possessed, in so inde- pendent a manner, that, like a private succession, he bequeathed it ta his illustrious widow Zenobia**. The rapid and perpetual transitions from the cottage Fatal con- to the throne, and from the throne to the grave, might o^hese^^ have amused an indifferent philosopher ; were it possi- usurpa- ble for a philosopher to remain indifferent amidst the ^°°^' general calamities of human kind. The election of these precarious emperors, their power, and their death, were equally destructive to their subjects and adher- ents. The price of their fatal elevation was instantly discharged to the troops by an immense donative, drawn from the bowels of the exhausted people. How- ever virtuous was their character, however pure their intentions, they found themselves reduced to the hard necessity of supporting their usurpation by frequent acts of rapine and cruelty. When they fell, they in- volved armies and provinces in their fall. There is still extant a most savage mandate from Gallienus to one of his ministers, after the suppression of Ingenuus, who had assumed the purple in Illyricum. " It is not enough," says that soft but inhuman prince, " that you exterminate such as have appeared in arms: the chance of battle might have served me as effectually. The male sex of every age must be extirpated ; pro- vided that, in the execution of the children and old men, you can contrive means to save our reputatio^n. the whole reign of Gallienus. Hist. August, p. 180.
 * The association of the brave Palinyrenian was the most popular act of