AUR 



110 



AUR 



zebc. 



Aurelian, against the state, previous to that date. He in- 

 Aurtug- creased the largesses, bestowed upon the common 

 people ; and, as he was himself a plebeian, he alu I 

 manifested a peculiar predilection towards that order 

 of his subjects. The discontent, which this partiality 

 excited among the senatorial and equestrian ranks, 

 seems to have been the real cause of a very formidable 

 insurrection, which broke out at Rome upon his at- 

 tempting to restore the integrity of the coin ; and 

 which was not quelled till after a bloody engagement 

 had been fought with the insurgents on the Cxlian hill. 

 Exasperated by this unprovoked rebellion, Aurelian 

 let loose all the natural cruelty of his disposition; 

 and his vengeance was not satiated till he had shed a 

 torrent of the noblest blood in the empire. One of 

 his own nephews was involved in this bloody prose- 

 cution ; and the senate was deprived of its most il- 

 lustrious members. About the close of,the year 27 1 

 or the beginning of 275, the emperor marched to- 

 wards Persia at the head of a well-disciplined army. 

 Suspecting one of his secretaries of extortion, he had 

 charged him with the crime, and threatened him with 

 punishment. The offender, whose name was Mnes- 

 theus, aware of his danger, sought safety for himself 

 by alarming the fears of others. Counterfeiting his 

 master's writicg, he shewed to some of the principal 

 officers of the army a list of names, which he pre- 

 tended to have found in the emperor's closet, and in 

 which they were all devoted to death. Anxious to 

 avert this impending destruction, they instantly unit- 

 ed with the traitor, fell upon Aurelian on the march 

 from Byzantium, and dispatched him with many 

 wounds. The imposition, however, was soon dis- 

 covered; Mnestheus was devoted to the rage of wild 

 beasts ; and the obsequies of the emperor solemnized 

 with the greatest pomp. 



The talents of Aurelian were better suited to the 

 command of an army, than to the government of an 

 empire ; and he acted towards his subjects more like 

 a conqueror than a sqvereign. He was unequalled 

 in point of personal prowess ; and it is affirmed that, 

 in one engagement, he slew forty-eight of the enemy 

 with his own hand. In order to distinguish him from 

 another person of the same name, and in reference to 

 his readiness for any encounter, he was called by the 

 soldiers Aurelianus manu inferrum, " Aurelian wit]^ 

 his hand upon his sword." He exercised the strictest 

 discipline in the army ; and punished with the utmost 

 severity every neglect of duty, or instance of licen- 

 tiousness in the conduct of his troops. He was ca- 

 pable of great generosity ; but his stern justice often 

 degenerated into savage cruelty ; and he is ranked not 

 so much among the good, as among the useful princes. 

 See Gibbon's Rom. Hist. vol. ii. p. 15 56. Anc. 

 Un. Hist. vol. xv. p. 419 4-G4. Vopiscus, Hist. 

 Aw. p. 210 225. (a) 



AURENG-ZEBE, or AcunranaB, the Great 

 Mogul, and a successful conqueror, was born in the 

 year 1618. He was the third and favourite son of 

 Shaw Jehan, whom he succeeded in the empire of 

 Hindostan. Aureng-zebe, from his youth, seemed 

 ihfd to wield the sceptre of a mighty kingdom. 

 With a boundless ambition, lurking under the appear- 

 ance of unassuming humility, he possessed talents 

 capable f directing it te the accomplishment of its 



object. He was well acquainted with the cOstoms 1 

 of his country. He knew that the princes of the 

 blood must either look to sovereignty or death. No 

 ties of kindred or humanity could save them from this 

 alternative ; the safety of the reigning monarch re- 

 quiring the extirpation of all, who by their birth or 

 power might compete with him in the empire. To 

 lull the jealousy and suspicions of his elder brothers, 

 he had assumed the habit and manners of a Fakier, 

 a kind of religious mendicant. But while he was 

 counting his beads, and appeared, to all around, in- 

 different about the concerns of a present world, he 

 was devising means for procuring the interests of the 

 nobles, and laying plans for possessing the throne. 

 By his dutiful behaviour, and apparent submission, he 

 had insinuated himself into the affections and esteem 

 of his father, with whom he always held a secret cor- 

 respondence. Dara, the eldest-son of Shaw Jehan, 

 alarmed at the growing interests of Aureng-zebc, 

 and beginning to suspect that he had designs upon 

 the throne, took every mean of thwarting his plans, 

 and was often tempted to cry out, " Of all my bro- 

 thers, I fear none but this Namazi (this great pray- 

 ing man)." Aureng-zebehad been appointed to the 

 government of the Deccan, where he first shewed his 

 warlike disposition, and his thirst for conquest. His 

 first attempt was directed against the kingdom of 

 Golconda, which he would undoubtedly have sub- 

 dued, had it not been snatched out of his hands by 

 the intrigues of Dara, who, apprehensive that such a 

 conquest would render Aureng-zebe too powerful, 

 persuaded Shaw Jehan to accede to an immediate 

 peace. But the loss of territory was greatly com- 

 pensated by the friendship of Meer Jumla, the great- 

 est general of his age, who, offended at the ungrate- 

 ful and unworthy treatment which he had received 

 from the king of Golconda, his master, revolted to 

 Aureng-zebe, and was the principal instrument is 

 raising that prince to the throne of Delhi. 



Shaw Jehan falling dangerously ill in 1656, a re- 

 port of his death was spread abroad, which put the 

 whole empire in commotion, and his sons immediately 

 prepared for open war. All the abilities of Aureng- 

 zebe were now called into action. He found himself 

 unable to contend single-handed with Dara, who re- 

 sided at court, and, possessing the ear of his father, 

 could command all the resources of the empire. But 

 what force could not obtain, might be accomplished 

 by fraud. He wrote to his brother Morad, declaring 

 that he, being a Fakier, had no desire to reign ; and 

 promising, that if he would join him with all the 

 troops which he could raise in his government, he 

 would place him upon the throne of Hindostan. Mo- 

 rad was ambitions, generous, and brave, but too im- 

 prudent and unsuspicious for the times in which he 

 lived. Little suspecting the deceitful villainy of his 

 brother, he immediately acceded to his wishes. They 

 joined their forces on the banks of the Nirbidda, and 

 accompanied by Jumla, hastened with all expedition 

 to Agra. The mandate of his father met Aureng- 

 zebe on his march, intimating his perfect recovery, 

 and forbidding him to advance. Aureng-zebe pre- 

 tended that this was merely a trick of his brother 

 Dara ; he swore that the letter was a counterfeit, and 

 that his father was really dead. The imperial army 



Aureag- 

 zebe. 



