Valerian died in captivity. Gallienus is reproached for having made no attempt to ransom his father; but, ought he to have done so by giving up provinces? This is the time of the so-called thirty tyrants, a term which has been exploded long ago. Gallienus was a worthless prince, living only for his lusts, and seeking to take his ease in the midst of the most dreadful calamities. He always remained in possession of Italy and of the Noric and Illyrian frontier, and, with hardly an exception, of Greece and Africa: (for a short time only, his authority in Ægypt was disputed). In the East, Syria and the eastern provinces of Asia Minor remained under the rule of Odenathus, and after his death, under that of his great widow Zenobia: these were in some measure acknowledged by the senate and by Gallienus, so that the latter even had a triumph for the victories of Odenathus. From 256, or 260, to 268, Gallienus reigned alone; but in the meanwhile Gaul, Britain, and Spain, even the whole of what was afterwards the _Præfectura Gallica_, were torn away by Postumus, and became a compact territory having its own princes: these may be called emperors with as much right as Gallienus himself, although this would be contrary to Roman orthodoxy. Postumus was a very eminent man: he ruled over this great empire nearly ten years, and, if we may rely on his coins, gained a succession of brilliant victories over the Barbarians, particularly the Alemanni, and the Franks. The Alemanni must at that time have undertaken a wide wasting expedition as far as Spain, perhaps in the service of one of the then Emperors. The real name of Postumus is M. Cassianus[60] Latinius Postumus. He has left behind him a noble reputation; but the misfortunes of Gaul already now begin, as is proved by the destruction of Autun, which from that time lay in ruins until the reign of Diocletian: Spain also was devastated by the Barbarians. At Mentz, Ælianus[61] had usurped the imperial title; but he was conquered by Postumus, who in his turn lost his life when he would not let his soldiers pillage that city. He was succeeded by Victorinus, (his full name is M. Piavvonius Victorinus,) a brave but profligate general, whose outrages brought upon himself death from the hands of a deeply injured man. Then followed Marius, a common armourer, and after him a great Gallic lord, C. Pesuvius Tetricus, who was acknowledged throughout the whole of what was afterwards called the Gallic Prefecture, and maintained himself there until the reign of Aurelian. Here it is plainly to be seen how the division into prefectures was altogether founded upon circumstances, and by no means an arbitrary one. The nation now consists of Latinized Celts and Latinized Iberians, who were distinguished from the Italians by very decided peculiarities of their own.