274
Domitius ulpian.
avarice15, which are contradictory things; for, although this
avarice may have consisted in her collecting, according to the
eastern fashion, treasures and jewels, yet the general complaints
of his weakness towards his mother, are rather loud.
I have to mention a remarkable institution which belongs to
this time. The state-council, which was formed in the reign
of Hadrian, appears to have fallen into disuetude under
Septimius Severus; but we now find it perfectly developed
under Alexander Severus, when it formed a standing council
conducting all business ofimportance ; Doniitius Ulpian, the great
jurist, was the president of it, and at the same time commander
of the praetorian guards. The descent of Ulpian’s family from
Tyre, which made him a countryman and perhaps a relative of
the emperor, may have contributed in some measure to establish
the connexion between him and Alexander Severus. But I
do not believe that Ulpian himself was born at Tyre, as I have
shown elsewhere; and those who assert this infer from his
words more than they warrant.16 If he had been a native of
Syria, he could not have become such a perfect master of the
Latin language, or of the Roman law. He must have been at
Rome for a long time, which is not incompatible with his being
a relation of the emperor.
Alexander had to struggle with insurmountable difficulties
in his endeavours to promote the public good. The main dif-
ficulty, however, lay in the power of the soldiers, of whom he
could not get rid. The mutinous character of the soldiers was
now no longer confined to the praetorians, but had spread
throughout the Roman armies, and there was no means by
which the emperor could have obtained the mastery over them.
If we may trust the anecdotes related of him, he displayed on
many occasions great firmness, notwithstanding his natural
gentleness; but he did not succeed in dangerous emergencies,
and he was unable to save Ulpian. As Papinian had been
murdered by Caracalla, so now Ulpian was murdered by the
soldiers in the palace before the eyes of the emperor, who in
vain endeavoured to protect him, and whose entreaties and
humiliations were of no avail. He was scarcely able to punish
Epagathus, the ringleader of the rebels.
15 Lamprid. Alex. Severus, 14.
16 Digest. 50. tit. 15. s. 1: est in Syria Phoenice Splendidissima Tyriorum
colonia, unde mihi oriqo est. Comp. Niebuhr, Kleine hist. u. phil. Schriftenf
vol. 1. p.321.
STATE OF THE PARTHIANS.
275
M. Aurelius had been successful towards the end of
his life; he had repelled the Marcomanni and made them
wish for peace. Commodus had purchased their abstinence
from hostilities, and under Septimius Severus we hear nothing
of German wars. The Eomans seem to have been in undis-
turbed possession of Germany as far as the limes. But the
Germans now began to advance; and I believe that it was
under Alexander Severus that they broke through the limes,
for when at the close of his reign, he was obliged to go to Ger-
many, the seat of the war was on the Rhine. The frontier
wall, therefore, must have been broken through, and the Ger-
mans wished to take possession of the country west of the Ehine.
Unfortunately scarcely any thing is known of the geography
of those countries in ancient times17
Some years before the German war, a great revolution in
the East had called for the presence of the emperor. This was
the fall of the Parthian dynasty, an event which was most un-
fortunate for the Eoman empire, but which it is not difficult
to account for. It was only a repetition of what we frequently
see in Asia. When a pastoral nation obtains the sovereignty
of a cultivated country, as was often the case in Asia, it gra-
dually loses its warlike character; it sinks down to a level with
the subdued, and although it no longer excels them in bravery,
it continues for a time to keep them in submission, as though
it still possessed its former superiority. The Parthian empire
was based on feudal principles, and the kingdoms of Media,
Persia, Babylonia, and others, were, at least in the earlier
times, vassal principalities, with dynasties of their own. For-
merly the Parthians had been very formidable enemies to the
Romans; but in the wars under M. Aurelius and Septimius
Severus, their defeats by Prisons and Avidius Cassius had
broken them down very much. The conquest of Ctesiphon (in
A.D. 198), had been very easy, and that blow had probably
shaken the Parthian empire so much that its subjects could
begin to think of shaking off their yoke. We here have the
very authentic history of Agathias as our guide.
17 In many parts of Suabia we find traces of Roman fortresses, of which an-
cient geography tells us nothing; we are ignorant even Oftheirnames. -N.