replenished with the monsters of the deep.[1] In the decoration of these scenes the Roman emperors displayed their wealth and liberality; and we read on various occasions that the whole furniture of the amphitheatre consisted either of silver, or of gold, or of amber.[2] The poet who describes the games of Carinus, in the character of a shepherd attracted to the capital by the fame of their magnificence, affirms that the nets designed as a defence against the wild beasts were of gold wire; that the porticos were gilded; and that the bell or circle which divided the several ranks of spectators from each other was studded with a precious Mosaic of beautiful stones.[3]
A.D. 284, Sept. 12In the midst of this glittering pageantry, the Emperor Carinus, secure of his fortune, enjoyed the acclamations of the people, the flattery of his courtiers, and the songs of the poets, who, for want of a more essential merit, were reduced to celebrate the divine graces of his person.[4] In the same hour, but at the distance of nine hundred miles from Rome, his brother expired; and a sudden revolution transferred into the hands of a stranger the sceptre of the house of Carus.[5]
Return of Numerian with the army from PersiaThe sons of Cams never saw each other after their father's death. The arrangements which their new situation required were probably deferred till the return of the younger brother to Rome, where a triumph was decreed to the young emperors, for the glorious success of the Persian war.[6] It is uncertain whether they intended to divide between them the administration or the provinces of the empire; but it is very unlikely that their union would have proved of any long duration. The jealousy of power must have been inflamed by the opposition of characters. In the most corrupt of times, Carinus was unworthy to live: Numerian deserved to reign in a happier period. His affable manners and gentle virtues secured him, as soon as they- ↑ Calphurn. Eclog. vii. 64, 73. These lines are curious, and the whole Eclogue has been of infinite use to Maffei. Calphurnius, as well as Martial (see his first book), was a poet, but when they described the amphitheatre, they both wrote from their own senses, and to those of the Romans.
- ↑ Consult Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 16, xxxvii. 11.
- ↑ Balteus en gemmis,
en inlita porticus auro. Certatim radiant, &c. Calphurn. vii. [47]. - ↑ Et Martis vultus et Apollinis esse putavi, says Calphurnius; but John Malala, who had perhaps seen pictures of Carinus, describes him as thick, short, and white, tom. i. p. 403.
- ↑ With regard to the time when these Roman games were celebrated, Scaliger, Salmasius and Cuper, have given themselves a great deal of trouble to perplex a very clear subject.
- ↑ Nemesianus (in the Cynegeticon) seems to anticipate in his fancy that auspicious day [80 sqq.].
