Quintillus, the brother of Claudius was for some time acknowledged as emperor, more from respect to his brother's memory than from any splendid accomplish ments of his own; but the military position of Rome de manded an experienced and brave commander, and on this account, the army with one accord elected to the empire Aurelian, who was general oF the horse, and who had been recommended by Claudius himself. When Quintillus heard that Aurelian was marching against him, he opened his veins in a bath, and thus died after a reign of seventeen days. After a vigorous reign of nearly five years Aurelian was murdered by I\ Inestheus, in the beginning of the year 275. A minute account of the events of his reign have already been given un der our article AURELIAN.
The miserable fate of the thirty tyrants seems to have operated as a check against that imperial ambi tion which seems to have been inherent in almost every Roman general. No individual ventured to declare himself a candidate; and the army itself, as if tired of the exertion of its patronage, modestly referred the appointment to the senate. The senate declined to exercise the right thus assigned to them, till Rome had been left for eight months without a political or a military ruler. They at last elected M. Claudius Ta citus in the 70th, or as some say the 75th year of his age; but the good old man refused the honour, and re tired to his country house in Campania to avoid the urgency with which it was pressed upon him. The necessities of the state, however, induced him to yield to the importunities of the senate. He began his reign by punishing those who had been concerned in the murder of his piedecessors. Mnestheus was impaled alive. his body devoured by wild beasts, and his estate applied to public purposes. The senate rerovered their privileges, and seem not only to have been the counsel lors of the emperor, but to have exercised a control over his measures. When the emperor was desirous of having his brother-in-law raised to the consulship, the senate refused his request, and the emperor calm ly replied, that the senate was better able to judge than himself of the fitness of the candidates. Tacitus was a pattern of temperance, economy, moderation, and impartiality. lie paid great attention to the mo rals of the people; and he not only abolished the brothels which had so long corrupted the city, but he ordered all the public baths to be shut at sunset, and thus contributed greatly to the morality of the capital.
Tacitus was also addicted to literature and to the pa tronage of distinguished men. He boasted of being a descendant of his namesake the great historian; he ordered his works to he placed in all the public libra ries; and he commanded ten copies of them to be writ ten every year with great care and accuracy, in order that So valuable a work should not be destroyed by accident or design.
To these peaceful virtues Tacitus added the accdm plishments of a warrior. He drove back the barba Hans who had made an irruption into the Roman pro vinces in Asia; and when he was making preparations for an expedition against the Persians and Scythians, he died of a violent distemper in Cilicia, and accord ing to others, he was assassinated after a reign of six months, and in the year 276.
The place of Tacitus was not easily supplied, and the army were divided in the choice of an emperor. All parties agreed in the necessity of having a brave, a moderate, and A good man; and though Florianus, the brother-in-law of Tacitus was elected by one part of the army, yet the decision in favour of Probus was unanimous, and Florianus finding himself deserted by his own friends, opened his arteries and bled himself to death.
Marcus Aurelius Sevens Probus was the son of a gardner at Sirmium in Pannonia; but his father having entered the army obtained the rank of a military tri bune. Probus rose to the same rank in the twenty second year of his age; and was so highly distinguish ed by his clemency, valour, and probity, that he was raised to the empire in the forty-fourth year of his age. In his early life, he was frequently the first of the be siegers who scaled the walls of the enemy, and who broke into their camp. He had also come off victori ous in many single combats, and had saved the lives of several distinguished citizens. When he had arranged the affairs of government, he marched with a numerous army to repress the incursions of the Gauls, and after several obstinate conflicts, he left no fewer than 400,000 dead on the field. He next turned his arms against the Sarmatians, who had invaded Dalmatia, and after obtaining the same success in that quarter, he conducted his troops into Thrace, and compelled the Goths to sue for peace. He next marched into Asia, and having subjugated Isauria, £cc. he defeated with great slaughter a numerous army of the Blem myes, a savage tribe, who had left the wilds of Ethio pia, and retained possession of Arabia and Judea since the time of Gallienus.