Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/245

CHAP. VII.
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His portrait.the deserved fate of a brutal savage, destitute, as he has generally been represented, of every sentiment that distinguishes a civilized, or even a human being. The body was suited to the soul. The stature of Maximin exceeded the measure of eight feet ; and circumstances almost incredible are related of his matchless strength and appetite^[1]. Had he lived in a less enlightened age, tradition and poetry might well have described him as one of those monstrous giants, whose supernatural power was constantly exerted for the destruction of mankind.

Joy of the Roman world.It is easier to conceive than to describe the universal joy of the Roman world on the fall of the tyrant, the news of which is said to have been carried in four days from Aquileia to Rome. The return of Maximus was a triumphal procession, his colleague and young Gordian went out to meet him, and the three princes made their entry into the capital, attended by the ambassadors of almost all the cities of Italy, saluted with the splendid offerings of gratitude and superstition, and received with the unfeigned acclamations of the senate and people, who persuaded themselves that a golden age would succeed to an age of iron^[2]. The conduct of the two emperors corresponded with these expectations. They administered justice in person; and the rigour of the one was tempered by the other's clemency. The oppressive taxes with which Maximin had loaded the rights of inheritance and succession were repealed, or at least moderated. Discipline was revived, and with the advice of the senate many wise laws were enacted by their imperial ministers, who endeavoured to restore a civil constitution on the ruins of

1. Eight Roman feet and one third, which are equal to above eight English feet, as the two measures are to each other in the proportion of nine hundred and sixty-seven to one thousand. See Graves's Discourse on the Roman foot. We are told that Maximin could drink in a day an amphora, or about seven gallons of wine, and eat thirty or forty pounds of meat. He could move a loaded waggon, break a horse's leg with his fist, crumble stones in his hand, and tear up small trees by the roots. See his life in the Augustan History.
2. See the congratulatory letter of Claudius Julianus the consul, to the two emperors, in the Augustan History.