both for his Dining-Rooms and his Chambers He was served with Dishes frequently in imitation of the Luxury of Apicius of the Hoofs of Camels the Combs of Cocks cut off from them alive and the Tongues of Peacocks and Nightingals because he said These are good things against an Epilepsie He taught the Court the Dainties of the Intrails of Barbels the Brains of Red Tails the Eggs of Partridges the Brains of Thrushes and the Heads of Parrets Pheasants and Peacocks It is to be admired how he gathered together such a quantity of the Fins of Barbels that he had great Dishes and large Plates served of them being things as rare as they are useless And which is altogether astonishing he fed his Dogs with the Livers of Geese Lions and Leopards being first disarmed of Other of his immoderate Vanites their Claws and Teeth and taught by Masters to be tame and to know their Commands he had a great delight in And at the second or third Services on a sudden he called them into the Room to him where the Company not knowing that they were disarmed it was a mighty laughing matter to him to see what a vain Fright it gave them He sent Raisins in the Sun to be put into the Mangers to his Horses He sed his Lions and his other fierce Beasts with Parrets and Pheasants For ten days together he had once every day served up to him thirty of the Meats that are made of the hinder Part of so many Sows newly farrowed His Pease were garnished with Grains of Gold His Lentils with precious Stones which matched them His Beans with Beads of Amber and his Rice with Pearl Pearl was sprinkled amongst his Fish and his Mushrooms like so much white Pepper He sometimes stifled some of his Company at Table with the vast number of Violets and other Flowers made by a Contrivance to fall upon their Heads It is said that he represented a Fight of Gallies in the Amphitheatre upon a Sea all of Wine which was let in by the Pipes At the same time he perfumed the Seats for the People with sweet Oyntments He ran a Race of four Chariots drawn by four Elephants a piece upon the Vatican being himself the Driver and levelling the ground for the purpose and another within the Circuit of his Palace of as many Camels drawing the Chariots He once ordered a great quantity of Serpents to be gathered together for him so when he had them he let them fly suddenly amongst the Company that was assembled in the Cirque at a publick Shew of whom many were bitten and others put to the scamper to save themselves He had some Tunicks so thick beset with Jewels that he said He was even loaded with the eight of his finery He wore at his Shoes Jewels of the Cut of the greatest Artists which was but thought ridiculous as if the fineness of the Stone and the gravery signified at the Foot any thing where it could not be distinguished He dressed his Head with Jewels to make him look more of the Countenance of a Lady He made great Ponds of sea-Sea-water in the inland Parts at a great distance from the Sea and filled them with Fish from the Sea He had Mountains of Snow in Summer preserved for him which was fetched from all Parts He never would eat Fish near the Sea but in places at a very great distance from the Sea he would be always served with the Curiosities of the Sea and treated the very Rusticks there with the soft Roes of Lampries and Sturgeons His Fish was dressed with an Art that when they were brought upon the Table they looked as if they were alive just taken out of the Water He bathed and swam in Ponds of Aromatick Wine which were filled in an instant for him and sprinkled with the Flowers of Roses himself and all the People drinking of the Wine of the Ponds and his Seat in them perfumed with exquisite Nard For his Lamps he had of the Oyl of Balm He never lay with the same Woman twice unless it was his Wife His House was a Bawdy-house for all his Company Friends and Servants His Suppers never cost less than one hundred thousand Sesterces and sometimes reckoning all things he 〈…〉 ed at the rate of thrice that Expence He it did the sumptuous Suppers both of Apicius and the Emperor Vitellius His Fishing-Nets were drawn out of the Ponds by a Yoke of Oxen. He tied some of his poor Retainers sometimes to a Wheel which went under Water in which giving them a good plunge and then up again he said Those were his Friends of the Race of Ixion He pav'd the Courts before the Palace with Lacedamonian and Porphyry Marble which was also yet in being in our memory and but lately taken up and changed He had designed to give to the City a large Column having an ascent within it to the top where he intended to place the God Heliogabalus But though he proposed to fetch the Stone from Thebais in Egypt he could not be provided with a Rock that was great enough for his Work He many times had an humor when his His vain Frolicks Company was well in drink to lock them up and in the Night on a sudden to send in Lions Leopards and Bears disarmed into the Room to them that when they awaked in the Morning or which was worse in the Night and found themselves in the same Room with Lions Bears and Panthers they were sometimes struck dead with the fright As to others of his Guests of an inferiour Condition he placed them upon Sacks about the Table filled only with Wind which being let out suddenly they were thrown down in an instant at the foot of the Table with their Meat in their Mouths When the Players upon the Stage â—ad sometimes pretended to punish a Man for Adultery for example thus and thus in shew â—e hath commanded the said Punishments to â—e literally executed He was so kind to the Whores that he often redeemed them at the Hands of all such as made a Traffick of them â—nd paid for their freedom and then set them â—t Liberty He had often Gladiators to fight before him as he and his Company were at Table together He caused a Banquetting-Room to be set up for him in the Amphiâ—heatre where as he dined he fed his Eyes with the Combats of Gladiators and the Chase â—f Wild Beasts He was the first of the Roâ—ans that ever wore a Garment of Velvet He never put on the same Linen twice he 〈…〉 id It was for Beggars to wear Linen twice â—ashed He appeared in publick after Supper â—ftentimes in a Dalmatick calling himself a Fabius and a Scipio when he was in this effeminate Dress only because those Persons had sometime worn it in their Youths which were delicate to a Fault He pickt up all the Women of Pleasure that he could find about the Cirque the Play-house the Race the Baths and
greatest use to our State which after the misfortunes of Valerina and the Luxury of Gallienus began to take breath again indeed under the Reign of Claudius but it had been perfectly restored to its pristine form by Aurelian had he lived because Victory every where waited upon his Arms. He re-possessed us of Gallia he delivered Italy from the Invasion of the Marcomanni he rescued Ausburgh from the Barbarian Yoke he recovered Illyricum and Thrace to the obedience of the Romans he recovered the East to our obedience which was shamefully before oppressed and held against us by a Woman The Persians while yet insulting in the Death of Valerian he vanquished put them to flight and inslaved them The Saracens the Blemmies and Auxumitae the Bactrians the Seres the Georgians the Albanians the Armenians and even the Indians adored him almost as a God upon Earth The Capitol is enrich'd with his Presents and the things which he gained from the Barbarian Nations Fifteen Thousand Pound weight of Gold of his Liberality lies all in one Temple All the Fanes in Rome shine by his Gifts Wherefore Gentlemen may I not justly expostulate with the Gods why they have permitted the Massacre of such a Prince unless it is perhaps that they would rather have him in their own Number I for my part vote him a God and I presume that all you will do the same But as for the Election of another Emperor it is a Matter in my Opinion to be referred back to the Army again For unless it were certain that the Person elected by us will be by them accepted it will both be dangerous to the elected and bring an envy upon his Friends The Senate approved the Opinion of Tacitus But when the Army did persist to send to them again and again upon the same subject they came at last to an Act which you will see in the Life of Tacitus whereby they made Tacitus Emperor Aurelian left only a Daughter of whose Posterity there are some surviving at Rome at this Day The late Proconsul of Cilicia who is of the Name of Aurelian and now lives sweetly in the Island of Sicily a Senator of great worth of an excellent Life and the entire Master of himself is her Grandson What shall I say now to observe that out of so many Persons that have sat upon the Throne of Rome from Augustus down to Dioclesian and Maximian there hath hitherto been so few that have been good Princes The The few good Emperors of Rome good Princes were these Augustus Flavius Vespasian Titus Cocceius Nerva Trajan Hadrian Antoninus the Pious Marcus Antoninus Severus the African Alexander Severus the Son of Mammae◠Claudius and Aurelian It is true Valerian was another good Prince but he was in all respects so unfortunate that he ought to be reckoned apart You see Sir then how short the Number of the good Princes is so that it was well said by a Jester in the time of Claudius that they might all be easily drawn within the Circle of a Ring On the contrary what a Series have we had of ill Princes For not to mention the Vitellii the Caligula's and the Nero's of former Ages What do you say to the Maximins the Philips and that unsavory multitude that dross that came up afterwards excepting only the Decii whose Lives and Manners were comparable with those of the Antients It may be asked what it is that debauches Princes and makes them become so ill And truly my dear Friend I will tell you Licentiousness in the first place then the Plenty that surrounds them then evil Counsellors evil Guards greedy Eunuchs lewd or foolish Courtiers nor can this last be denied Ignorance in the Affairs of the Publick I assure you I have heard it from my Father that the Emperor Dioclesian hath said when he lived privately at Salona after his resignation of the Empire That there is nothing more difficult than to Reign well For four or five Persons shall cabal together to put upon the Prince and tell him what is to be done in the mean time he who is shut up at home penetrates not into the Truth and is forced to know no more than they tell him and so he makes Persons Magistrates and Officers whom he ought to avoid and turns others out whom he ought to keep In fine as Dioclesian said for these are also his words The Good the Cautious the Best Prince that is is bought and sold Which I therefore remark that you may please Sir to observe that there is therefore not any thing more difficult than the Art of Reigning well Aurelian is many times accounted neither amongst the ill nor yet amongst the good Princes because Clemency which is the first Honour of a Prince was wanting to him His excessive Fierceness was a thing which diminish'd his Character with the Emperor Dioclesian who as he blamed the asperity of Maximinian so he often said of Aurelian in the hearing of Verconius Herennianus who was Captain of the Guards to him that Aurelian ought rather to have been continued a General than to have been made a Prince He said also according to Asclepiodotus that Aurelian once consulted with the Druids of Gallia whether the Empire was to descend after him upon his Posterity Their Answer was that the Posterity of Claudius should carry the greatest Name of any in the Empire And certainly the Emperor Constantius is one of the Blood of Claudius whose Line will one day attain I doubt not to that Glory which was fore-told by the Druids But I only mention this in the Life of Aurelian because the Consultation and the Answer was made by and to him It may seem perhaps wonderful as it is I leave it to the Judgment of Posterity Aurelian fixed the Tribute to be paid for Farther Character of Aurelian ever by Egyp 〈…〉 to the City of Rome in Glass Paper Flax Tow Corn Oyntments and other Merchandizes He had begun to make a Winter-Bath in the Quarter of the City which is on the other side of the Tyber because of their want of Water there He had begun a great Work to bear his Name at the City of Ostia to the Sea which was afterwards perfected and made into a publick Hall of Justice He enriched his Friends with moderation setting them above the miseries of Poverty and yet below Envy A Garment of Velvet he never either wore himself or allowed in the way of their Salaries to any of his Officers When his own Lady desired to have one only Gown of Cloth of Gold and Purple he denied it and said Far be it that we should weigh Gold against Thread because a Pound of silken Thred purple dyed was worth at that time a Pound of Gold He had intended to forbid the Gilding of Rooms and the working of Gold into Cloaths and the Gilding of Leather and the Gilding of Silver He said There is a greater Stock of Gold in Nature than there is
which is it self contrary to the Nature of his Sex His Father going to the Persian War left him to be the Governour over Gallia Italy Illyricum Spain Britain and Africa under the Title of a Caesar but with the full Power of an Emperor In this Government he strangely dishonoured himself with enormous Vices and Actions All the best Persons about him His filthy Vices and Luxuries he banished and took and kept others in their room who were of the worst of Mankind He made one of his Porters the Governour of the City of Rome than which nothing can be thought nor mentioned more shameful The Captain of the Guards which he had he killed and into his place he put Matronianus an old Pimp His Secretary another of his Pimps who was always privy to his Lusts and assisted him in them he made a Consul against the express Orders of the Emperor his Father He writ haughty Letters to the Senate threatned to give away their Estates amongst the Mob of the City He married Nine Wives taking one and putting away another several of which he put away big with Child He filled the Court with Mimicks Courtezans Actresses Singers and Pimps He disdained the signing of Dispatches himself so that he kept a wretch who was his Jester always at Noons to sign them for him and many times he played upon him agreeably for imitating his hand well He wore Jewels upon his Shooes never wore a Button but what was of a Jewel His Belt was often set with Jewels He never did the Consuls or the great Officers of the State the Honour to step to meet them coming The Lewd were much in his Favour and always invited to his Table He had ordinarily a hundred Pound of Birds the same of Fish and a thousand of Flesh of several sorts at a Meal He spent a great deal of Wine He swam as I may say amongst Fruits and Melons He strew'd his Chambers and his Beds with Roses His hot water Baths when he bathed were no more than Lukewarm His cold Baths were of Snow-water Coming in the Winter to a place where there was a Spring of very warm Water as it naturally uses to be the warmer in the Winter and the Bath being supplied with the same says he to the Waiters You give me here Woman's Water which they say was one of best things he ever said It would be tedious to tell at large the rest of his Luxuries Fulvius Asprianus hath also already done it Let the Reader who desires to know every thing so particularly go to him The Emperor Carus his Father when he heard how he behaved himself disowned him and cried He is none of mine And had he lived he would have deprived him of his Caesarean Dignity and Power again Onesimus says he would have put him to Death and advanced Constantius to his place who was then the President of Dalmatia and was afterwards made Caesar than whom no Man was fitter for that Honour Carinus after both his Father and his Brother were dead and Dioclesian was set up to be Emperor gave himself more than ever to Vice and Extravagance as if he was now more free and eased of the Tyes of the Examples and domestick Admonitions of his Family However he wanted not the Vigour of mind to challenge the Empire He fought for it against Dioclesian several Battels In the last He is defeated and slain of which a Town in Maesia he was conquered and killed This was the end of these Three Princes Carus Numerian and Carinus The Gods have given to us since them the Emperors Dioclesian and Maximian to whom they have worthily joyned Galerius and Constantius whereof the former was born to deface the ignominy of the Captivity of Valerian and the other to restore Gallia to the Obedience of the Romans These are the four great Princes of the World Valiant Wise Benign Generous of one Sentiment for the Good and Interests of the State always reverencing the Senate Moderate Friends of the People Grave Good Religious and such in fine as we have ever prayed to have whose Lives are severaliy written by Claudius Eusthenius sometime Secretary to Dioclesian which I therefore mention because I would not that so great a Work should be expected from me considering the Difficulty of speaking upon living Princes blameless One thing yet is very memorable in the Government of the Emperor Carus and of his two Sons Numerian and Carinus They adorned the Publick Games with which they entertained the People before they went to the Persian War with Shews altogether new and strange which we see are painted upon a Gallery in a part of the Palace to continue the memory of them to Posterity There was a Rope-Dancer who seemed as if he moved or Strange Shows made to the People flew in the Air the Cord on which he danced was so very small you could scarce see it Another Man ran upon the edge of a Wall with Dancing Bears at his Heels There was a Symphony of a hundred Trumpets a hundred Haut-Boys a hundred Pipes a hundred Flutes with Voices to them a thousand Pantomimes who danced all sorts of Anticks others that were Wrestlers Runners Leapers There was an Engine which represented the Burning of Towns the Flames whereof taking hold on a part of the Amphitheatre Dioclesion afterwards repaired it and made it more Magnificent Mimicks from all Countries were provided to be here Then there was a sport performed by the Sarmatian Captives of Vaulting upon Horses which is as pleasant as any thing in the World Then there were those that acted the Cyclopaean Postures and all these Musicians Players Sports men and the Graecian Artists had Gold and Silver given them and Garments of Silk I cannot tell how much the People are ingratiated by such kind of things But sure I am that several other good Emperors have made no great Account of them Dioclesian when an Officer commended to him these very Theatrical and Circensian Games of Carus replied only Then Carus had laughing enough in his time And when Dioclesian himself exhibited his Games according to the Custom he was much more sparing in the Liberty which he took and in the Expence which he was at he said those Diversions ought to be Chast and Modest considering the presence at least of the Censor Now I leave this last Passage to be read by Junius Messala whom I dare be free to blame upon this occasion Because he hath spent all his Estate upon Players and denied it to his own Heirs A Gown of his Mother 's he gave away to one a Coat of his Father 's to another a Garment of his Wife 's of Purple embroidered in Gold on which her Name was wrought he gave to a Piper who triumphs in it as in a Spoil of the Nobility of the Donor What shall I say of the Linens from Egypt The bright Tyrian and Sydonian Purples embroidered with admirable Art and Pains The fine
firm Peace in the East that not a Mouse dared to stir more there The others who pretended to the Empire in like manner were Proculus and Bonosus at the City of Cologne who challenged to themselves all the Provinces of Britain Spain and Gallia But the Germans refused to assist them in their Enterprize The Arms of Probus prevailed over both these of whom as also of Saturninus and Firmus a more particular account will follow afterwards by themselves After this Probus permitted to all Gallia Spain and Pannonia the liberty of Planting Vines and making Wine he set his own Soldiers upon digging the Mountain Almus which is by the City Sirmium in the Lower Pannonia and he planted it himself with an excellent Grape Coming to Rome he entertained the People His Return to Rome there with the Publick Games and Pastimes in a manner which was very magnificent besides the Largesses which he gave amongst them He Celebrated a Triumph for his Conquest of the Blemmyae and the Germans in which he had Troops to the number of fifty in a Troop of Men of all Nations that marched before him He gave an Entertainment of a Chase of Beasts in the Cirque which was very Generous The People first Hunted and then shared the Beasts amongst them The manner of it was thus the whole Cirque was turned into the nature of a Forest Great Trees pulled up by the Roots by the Soldiers were Planted up and down on Beams covered with Earth the Trees green and fresh and then by the several Passages which opened into the Cirque entred a thousand Ostriches a thousand Stags a thousand Boars a thousand Deer Evecks wild Sheep and other Herbatick Animals of as many kinds as could be had all which the Populace being let in upon them encountred and killed and took every one what they could Another day he caused a hundred great Lions to enter into the Cirque at once who raised a sort of Thunder with their Roaring All these were killed upon the place and in these Encounters many of the Men that fought with the Beasts by accident have killed one another Then came forth a hundred Libyan Leopards a hundred other Syrian Leopards a hundred Lionesses and three hundred Bears the sight of all which was not to be said so grateful as it was great Next appeared three hundred couple of Gladiators amongst which were several of the Blemmyae who had been led in Triumph several Germans and Sarmatians and some also of the Robbers that had been taken and brought out of the Province of Isauria After these things as Probus was preparing for a War with Persia and was come on his way as far as to the City Sirmium in Sclavoniâ— His Death and the Occasion the Soldiers plotted together and killed him The occasions whereof were these First because he never suffered them to lie idle for he employed them upon many other Works besides those of the War which he finished by their Hands and said that Soldiers ought not to eat the Bread of the Country for nothing The next thing was that he said that he hoped in a short time he would make it so that the State should have no need of Soldiers Which is a great saying and expresses an extraordinary force of Spirit Have no more need of Soldiers Why what is it but to say that the Romans shall universally Reign and Possess all things in safety Secure of the whole Earth for their Empire there shall be no more of making Arms nor gathering Magazines nor Convoying Provisions the Ox shall be kept for the use of the Plow and the Horse for the Services of Peace an Universal Peace There shall be no more Wars no leading into Captivity the Laws of the Romans and their Magistrates shall every where prevail in vigour My Affection to so excellen an Emperor would Transport me further than the Quality of the Style in which I write does require or permit But I shall only add a third thing which above all hastened the Fatal End of this Great Man When he came to Sirmium desiring to Fructisie and to Dilate the Borders of the place of his Nativity he set several thousands of his Soldiers upon the drayning a Fen which was to be done by making a great Foss to receive the Waters and exonerate them by an Out-let into the Sea and so the Ground might become of use to the People of Sirmium The Fatigue of this Piece of Work so inraged the Soldiers that they assaulted him and as he fled for safety into an Iron Tower which himself had built there for a Watch-Tower very high they killed him in the fifth year of his Reign however afterwards the Army unanimously built him a lofty Sepulchre whereon in Marble was Ingraved this Inscription Here lies the Emperor Probus who was a Prince of true Probity according to his Name The Conqueror of all the Barbarian Nations and the Conqueror of the Pretenders to the Empire in his time When I compare the Emperor Probus with others of the Roman Princes his Predecessors and almost with all our Great Captains of the former time whose Fortitude whose Clemency whose Prudence whose extraordinary Actions have signalized them to Posterity I am apt to think that this Person was equal to them or if I may speak it without envy he excelled them In the five years of his Reign he finished so many Wars in so many several parts of the World and all in his own Person that it is a wonderful thing which way he rendred himself sufficient for all those occasions He did many Valiant Actions in Battle with his own Hand He formed several famous Commanders Carus Dioclesian Constantius Asclepiodotus Annibalian Leonides Cecropius Pisonianus Herennian Gaudiosus Ursinian Herculius Maximian and others whom our Fathers have admired and of whom some have since approved themselves good Princes upon the Throne were All formed by the Discipline of Probus Now let any one who pleases compare with this the twenty years of the Reigns of Trajan and Hadrian let him compare as many of the Antoninusses or what shall I say of the Emperor Augustus because the years of his Reign are scarce very well determined Not to mention all such as have been ill Princes That famous Expression alone of Probus That in a short time there should be no need of Soldiers shews his vast design and what he hoped to have been able to effect He feared neither the Barbarians abroad nor Usurpers at home he was assured of his own Conscience And to what a happiness had we all arrived if he had lived to make good his words to have seen all the Provinces free from Taxes no Army to pay the Roman Treasures abiding Eternal and unexhaustible nothing spent by the Prince nothing taken upon the Subject Certainly it would have been a golden Age. We had had no more to do with Camps no more of the noise of Arms nor of the Hammering them The Soldiers