Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/406

 S82 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP. Roman senate to its ancient dignity. Two of these YTT epistles are still extant. We likewise possess two very singular fragments of the private correspondence of the senators on this occasion. They discover the most excessive joy, and the most unbounded hopes. ** Cast away your indolence ;" it is thus that one of the sena- tors addresses his friend ; " emerge from your retire- ments of Baiae and Puteoli. Give yourself to the city, to the senate. Rome flourishes, the whole republic flourishes. Thanks to the Roman army, to an army truly Roman; at length we have recovered our just authority, the end of all our desires. We hear ap- peals, we appoint proconsuls, we create emperors ; perhaps too we may restrain them — to the wise, a word is sufiicient f"." These lofty expectations were, however, soon disappointed; nor, indeed, was it pos- sible that the armies and the provinces should long obey the luxurious and unwarlike nobles of Rome. On the slightest touch, the unsupported fabric of their pride and power fell to the ground. The ex- piring senate displayed a sudden lustre, blazed for a moment, and was extinguished for ever. A. D. 276. All that had yet passed at Rome was no more than acknow-^^ a theatrical representation, unless it was ratified by the ledged by more substantial power of the legions. Leaving the le army. ggjjj^|-Qj.g ^q enjoy their dream of freedom and ambi- tion, Tacitus proceeded to the Thracian camp, and was there, by the pretorian prefect, presented to the assembled troops, as the prince whom they themselves had demanded, and whom the senate had bestowed. As soon as the prefect was silent, the emperor ad- dressed himself to the soldiers with eloquence and propriety. He gratified their avarice by a liberal distribution of treasure, under the names of pay and donative. He engaged their esteem by a spirited de- claration, that although his age might disable him from the performance of military exploits, his coun- P Vopiscus in Hist. August, p. 230. 232, 233. The senators celebrated the happy restoration with hecatombs and public rejoicings.