Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/369

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 345 Notwithstanding these oracles, the greatness of the CHAP. Flavian family (a name which it had pleased them to ' ' assume) was deferred above twenty years; and the ele- The attempt vation of Claudius occasioned the immediate ruin of his ^ ■ f-,- brother Quintilius, who possessed not sufficient moder- ation or courage to descend into the private station to which the patriotism of the late emperor had con- demned him. Without delay or reflection, he assumed the purple at Aquileia, where he commanded a con- siderable force ; and though his reign lasted only seven- teen days, he had time to obtain the sanction of the senate, and to experience a mutiny of the troops. As soon as he was informed that the great army of the Danube had invested the well-known valour of Aure- han with imperial power, he sunk under the fame and merit of his rival; and ordering his veins to be opened, April. prudently withdrew himself from the unequal contest^. The general design of this work will not permit us Origin and minutely to relate the actions of every emperor after he ^'^'^f ^ ^^ ascended the throne, much less to deduce the various fortunes of his private life. We shall only observe, that the father of Aurelian was a peasant of the territory of Sirmium, who occupied a small farm, the property of Aurelius, a rich senator. His warlike son enlisted in the troops as a common soldier, successively rose to the rank of a centurion, a tribune, the prefect of a legion, the inspector of the camp, the general, or, as it was then called, the duke of a frontier ; and at length, during the Gothic war, exercised the important office of commander in chief of the cavalry. In every sta- tion he distinguished himself by matchless valour "■, rigid discipline, and successful conduct. He was in- menius, and Julian. See likewise the Caesars of Julian, p. 313. In Julian it was not adulation, but superstition and vanity. q Zosimus, 1. i. p. 42. PoUio (Hist. August, p. 207.) allows him virtues, and says, that like Pertinax he was killed by the licentious soldiers. Accord- ing to Dexippus he died of a disease. •■ Theoclius(as quoted in the Augustan History, p. 211.) affirms, that in one day he killed, with his own hand, forty-eight Sarmatians, and in several subsequent engagements, nine hundred and fifty. This heroic valour was admired by the soldiers, and celebrated in iheir rude songs, the burden of •which was mille, mille, mille occidit.