knows, he is a writer of so much judgment, that it would be wrong in this not to believe him rather than the _bulletin_ of the emperor. As Severus returned to Rome for his triumph, he must have concluded a peace with the Persians, in which Rome certainly made a sacrifice: for until the time of Gordian there is actually peace, and Maximin moreover engaged in no undertaking on the eastern frontier. END OF ALEXANDER SEVERUS. MAXIMIN. GORDIAN, FATHER AND SON. MAXIMUS AND BALBINUS. GORDIAN III. PHILIP. DECIUS. Even if Severus had fought successfully, the movements of the barbarous tribes along the northern frontier would soon have recalled him. We know that he went from the East to the Rhine; and there, as we are told by Herodian, he gave the army cause for complaint, many hardships being put upon the soldiers, who felt that there was not a strong hand to lead them. A mutiny broke out, which was headed by Maximin, the first barbarian adventurer who rose to the imperial throne. Hitherto the rulers of Rome had been only of noble race, with the exception perhaps of Macrinus, of whom we do not at least know it for certain. Pertinax was not indeed of noble birth; but he had risen from dignity to dignity, and was among the men of the highest standing when he was proclaimed emperor. Maximin, on the contrary, was nothing but a soldier of fortune who had risen from the lowest ranks of society: he was born in Thrace of barbarian parents, his mother being an Alanian woman and his father a Goth; at least, so we are told by the _Scriptores Historiæ Augustæ_. He had enlisted as a common peasant under Septimius Severus, and was distinguished for his gigantic frame and his Herculean strength, to which were added all the qualities of a good subaltern officer. Septimius Severus promoted him from one step to another; and under Alexander also he got a legion to bring into order, which had been utterly disorganized. He restored its discipline, and yet was popular:—a man who in so demoralized an army gains such influence, though all the while so strict and even cruel, must needs have real talent, and a true soldier’s nature. He did not try to make up for the defects of his education; he was the first ruler, who was not only without any literary acquirements whatever, but who did not even understand Greek: for the Thracians spoke the Wallachian language, an Italian _volgare_, and Greek was only spoken in the seaports, and in the larger inland towns, as in Adrianople. The attention of the court was so much directed to Maximin, that Severus even thought of marrying his own sister to his son, an amiable and well-bred young man; only the emperor took umbrage at the coarse manners of the father. The life of Alexander Severus in the _Scriptores Historiæ Augustæ_ is a ridiculous, lying panegyric: he certainly was an amiable, noble-hearted prince, and did not in the least deserve his fate; yet it is not to be overlooked that, by neglect and