K<> .M A X I- M 1' I II 



Alovntii! ifl wn* unanimously declared m- 



p( n>r li\ tin- sciiaN- :ind tin- people, and he was every 

 \v ;IIT of tli ,t high honour. Though possessed 



of absolute power ;it the age of &ixt< in. jrel !n-> M.I 



.nea, one of In .. -ul\ distinguished for hvr 



^eiit-; and virtues and exerted cverv MTVC to make 



i of her son honourable to himself, and u 

 , wcdl as glorious for the empire. One of the first 

 teps of Ah x.mder \\.is to reform the abuses of the prc- 

 eeiliiig rei^ii ; to puni-!> with severity every magistrate 

 that took bribes ; and to reward ull those who-e con- 

 duct was marked \vithjustice and integrity. The hu- 

 manity of the emperor was not inferior to hU ju-tice. 

 He put down the luxuries of his predecessor, and did 

 every thing in his power to promote morality, and to 

 repress those licentious pleasures which had del> 

 his .subjects. 



Under his beneficent swny the Christians, who had 

 gui" m.iriy persecutions in Home, were them- 



M-lvos nro'ecied ; and in a dispute between the Christ- 

 ian unpany of cooks respecting a piece of pub- 

 lic ground, which the one party wished as a place of 

 T.or>hip, while the other meant to employ it in the ex- 

 ercise of their profession, the emperor decided in his 

 rescript, " that it was better that God should be wor- 

 shipped there in any manner, than that the spot should 

 be devoted to drunkenness and debauchery." 



The personal accomplishments of this monarch have 

 been highly extolled by historians. He was not only 

 a patron of literature, but he devoted his leisure hours 

 to the study of the Greek and Latin historians, orators, 

 and poets. He was skilled in mathematics, geometry, 

 and music. In painting and sculpture he had acquired 

 great knowledge, and as a poet he is said to have had 

 tew rivals. 



flii expedi- In the arts of war as well as in those of peace, Alex- 

 ion to the ander was pre-eminent. Tne tranquillity of the em- 

 Kast. pj re having been disturbed by the Persians, Alexander 



\. D. 23 1. pj ace( i himself at the head of his army and marched 

 into the East. He routed the Persians \\ith great 

 slaughter in a decisive battle ; he took the cities of 

 Ctesiphon and Babylon, and thus regained the territory 

 which, had been lost. When he returned to Antioch 

 his mother Mammea sent for the celebrated On'gen, to 

 receive instructions from him respecting the principles 

 of Christianity, and after various communications with 

 her, she sent him back with a proper guard to his na- 

 tive city of Alexandria. The generals of Alexander 

 who commanded in other provinces, were equally suc- 

 cessful. Furius Celsus subdued the Mauritanians in 

 Africa ; Varius Macrinus obtained great successes in 

 Germany; and Junius Palm at us triumphed in Armenia. 

 Notwithstanding these successes, however, the em- 

 pire was overrun by hordes from upper Germany, and 

 the north of Europe, who crossed the Rhine and the 

 Danube in such swarms that they carried consternation 

 even into the heart of Rome. Alexander increased his 

 army and marched against them in person. He ob- 

 tained various successes over the enemy ; but the strict 

 discipline which the state of his troops had rendered 

 necessary, displeased his army, and excited a mutiny 

 among the legions encamped about Moguntia, who had 

 been accustomed to every kind of licence during the 

 corruptions of the preceding reign. They openly de- 

 clared that they were under the dominion of a woman 

 without liberality, and a boy without spirit; and they 

 announced their design of electing an emperor who 

 needed no assistance on his throne. These dissensions 

 were fomented by an old general Maximinus, who held 



42S 



communication? with the troop*. Resolved 

 to destroy Alexander, they sent an executioner into ' " - ;:rt 



tent, \v ID cut of!' his head, and put to death hi* mother . 



..... . . ih xaiidcr 



and all his friend*. As *oon as the army heard of his n^d^cj 



fate, they punished with immediate death all who had | t , | IU un,t. 

 been concerned in the murder, with the exception only A. It. 235. 

 of Mnximinus. 



s Julius Verus Mnximinus, the principal abettor M4*iini6u 

 of the sedition against Alexander, was now proclaimed fto ***"'* t * 

 emperor. His father was a Thracian shepherd, and T^'MA. 

 he himself exercised the same humble profession. 

 Having frequently led his countrymen against the bar- 

 barians and robbers who infested the plains on which 

 his flocks grazed, he had acquired a knowledge of ir- 

 regular warfare, and was inflamed with a passion for 

 military glory. He therefore entered the Roman army, 

 re he soon became as remarkable for his courage 

 and discipline, as he was for his strength and gigantic 

 stature. He was nearly eight feet and a half high, 

 and his form was equally strong and symmetrical. 

 He was capable of drawing a load which two oxen 

 could not move. He could break the thigh-bone of a 

 horse by a kick, and struck out its teeth with a blow. 

 He generally ate forty pounds of flesh every day, and 

 drai;k MX gallons of wine without being exposed to 

 the charge of intemperance. Maximinus first displayed 

 his strength at the public games which the emperor 

 Septimius Severus was celebrating on the birth-day of 

 his son Geta. The giant had requested permission to 

 contend for the prizes, but Severus allowed him to 

 combat only with slaves. In running he outstripped 

 sixteen one after the other. He kept up with the em- 

 peror on horseback, and after being thus fatigued, he 

 overcame seven of the most active soldiers. These 

 feats of strength induced the emperor to take him into 

 his body guards. In Caracalla's reign he was made a 

 centurion ; and in consequence of his good conduct and 

 strict discipline, he was raised to the rank of a tribune. 

 When Macrinus succeeded to the empire, Maximinus 

 refused to serve him, and retired to Thrace, where he 

 purchased some land and carried on some commercial 

 pursuits. He returned to Rome on the accession of 

 Heliogabalus, but the effeminacy of the emperor soon 

 made him quit the court. The emperor Alexander 

 afterwards received him in the kindest manner, and 

 gave him the command of the fourth legion, consist: 

 of new raised troops, which he commanded with gt. 

 honour against the Germans, having acquired the cha- 

 racter of being the bravest and the most virtuous sol- 

 dier in the Roman army. The ambition of power, or 

 rather the possession of it, seems to have altered his 

 nature. The base ingratitude to Alexander with which 

 he marked the commencement of his new life, was fol- 

 lowed by a system of tyranny and brutality which had 

 scarcely been equalled even in the reigns of his most 

 detested predecessors. 



The senate having refused to ratify his election, he Hu eraef- 

 determined to reign without their concurrence. He Uci * 

 put to death all the senators who were obnoxious to 

 him, and resolved to force an unwilling obedience from 

 every rank in the state. He slew the rich for the pur- 

 pose of obtaining their estates. He persecuted the 

 Christians ; and, ashamed of the obscurity of his extrac- 

 tion, he put to death all those who were acquainted 

 with him in early life. No fewer than 400 persons 

 are said to have been sacrificed to the bare suspicion 

 of their having conspired against his life. They were 

 exposed not merely to death but to torments ; and the 

 imperial monster is said to have entertained himself by 



