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temptible, but they fitted him rather for excelling in dilettante 
pursuits, than in the administration of affairs. He frequently 
roused himself from the indolent voluptuousness in which his 
life was ordinarily spent ; on several occasions he vigorously 
repelled the barbarians,* and he died the death of a soldier 
in the camp before Milan. f But he was not the man whom 
the age required, and we cannot wonder that leading men in 
the provinces endeavoured to set up independent govern- 
ments. Gibbon contented himself with saying on their 
behalf, that they were much oftener driven into rebellion by 
their fears than urged to it by their ambition. Sir Francis 
Palgrave, in his English Commonwealth (ch. xi.), advances a 
higher claim for them. He regards them as the forerunners 
of the founders of the independent kingdoms of the west, 
and denies that they were in any sense usurpers. The cen- 
tral authority was too weak to afford protection to the pro- 
vinces, which were, therefore, fully justified in providing for 
their own security ; and the legions of Gaul had as good a 
right to choose an emperor as the Praetorians of the capital. 
Probably it was with the assent of the people that many of 
them reigned, and there can be no question that there were 
among them men of superior talent and virtue. But it is 
equally clear that their attempts were premature. Not one 
of them succeeded in permanently establishing an independent 
power — not one of them, according to the remark of Gibbon, 
enjoyed a life of peace, or died a natural death. Tetricus, 
however, was an exception. Of the nineteen who really at- 
tempted to set up independent sovereignties, or aspired to 
the empire, some passed so rapidly away that they have left 
no trace of themselves in the Roman coinage. But the 
coins of the Gallic aspirants to sovereignty, Victorinus, 
Postumus, Tetricus and his son, are very abundant, 
especially in Gaul and Britain. In this age, Gaul, Spain, 
* Trebell, c. 4. f ZoBim, i. 41. 
