, and had declared himself the enemy of tyrants. [64] His noble
birth, his mild but unblemished manners, his learning, prudence, and
experience, were revered by the senate and people; and if mankind
(according to the observation of an ancient writer) had been left at
liberty to choose a master, their choice would most assuredly have
fallen on Valerian. [65] Perhaps the merit of this emperor was
inadequate to his reputation; perhaps his abilities, or at least his
spirit, were affected by the languor and coldness of old age. The
consciousness of his decline engaged him to share the throne with a
younger and more active associate; [66] the emergency of the times
demanded a general no less than a prince; and the experience of the
Roman censor might have directed him where to bestow the Imperial
purple, as the reward of military merit. But instead of making a
judicious choice, which would have confirmed his reign and endeared his
memory, Valerian, consulting only the dictates of affection or vanity,
immediately invested with the supreme honors his son Gallienus, a youth
whose effeminate vices had been hitherto concealed by the obscurity of a
private station. The joint government of the father and the son
subsisted about seven, and the sole administration of Gallien continued
about eight, years. But the whole period was one uninterrupted series of
confusion and calamity. As the Roman empire was at the same time, and on
every side, attacked by the blind fury of foreign invaders, and the wild
ambition of domestic usurpers, we shall consult order and perspicuity,
by pursuing, not so much the doubtful arrangement of dates, as the more
natural distribution of subjects. The most dangerous enemies of Rome,
during the reigns of Valerian and Gallienus, were, 1. The Franks; 2. The
Alemanni; 3. The Goths; and, 4. The Persians. Under these general
appellations, we may comprehend the adventures of less considerable
tribes, whose obscure and uncouth names would only serve to oppress the
memory and perplex the attention of the reader.

[Footnote 63: He was about seventy at the time of his accession, or, as
it is more probable, of his death. Hist. August. p. 173. Tillemont,
Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iii. p. 893, note 1.]

[Footnote 64: Inimicus tyrannorum. Hist. August. p. 173. In the glorious
struggle of the senate against Maximin, Valerian acted a very spirited
part. Hist. August. p. 156.]

[Footnote 65: According to the distinction of V