. At last, indeed, he
received from the conspirators the bloody purple of Gallienus: but
he had been absent from their camp and counsels; and however he might
applaud the deed, we may candidly presume that he was innocent of
the knowledge of it. When Claudius ascended the throne, he was about
fifty-four years of age.

The siege of Milan was still continued, and Aureolus soon discovered
that the success of his artifices had only raised up a more determined
adversary. He attempted to negotiate with Claudius a treaty of alliance
and partition. "Tell him," replied the intrepid emperor, "that such
proposals should have been made to Gallienus; he, perhaps, might have
listened to them with patience, and accepted a colleague as despicable
as himself." This stern refusal, and a last unsuccessful effort,
obliged Aureolus to yield the city and himself to the discretion of the
conqueror. The judgment of the army pronounced him worthy of death; and
Claudius, after a feeble resistance, consented to the execution of the
sentence. Nor was the zeal of the senate less ardent in the cause of
their new sovereign. They ratified, perhaps with a sincere transport
of zeal, the election of Claudius; and, as his predecessor had shown
himself the personal enemy of their order, they exercised, under the
name of justice, a severe revenge against his friends and family. The
senate was permitted to discharge the ungrateful office of punishment,
and the emperor reserved for himself the pleasure and merit of obtaining
by his intercession a general act of indemnity.

Such ostentatious clemency discovers less of the real character of
Claudius, than a trifling circumstance in which he seems to have
consulted only the dictates of his heart. The frequent rebellions of
the provinces had involved almost every person in the guilt of treason,
almost every estate in the case of confiscation; and Gallienus often
displayed his liberality by distributing among his officers the property
of his subjects. On the accession of Claudius, an old woman threw
herself at his feet, and complained that a general of the late emperor
had obtained an arbitrary grant of her patrimony. This general was
Claudius himself, who had not entirely escaped the contagion of the
times. The emperor blushed at the reproach, but deserved the confidence
which she had reposed in his equity. The confession of his fault was
accompanied with immediate and ample restitution.

In the arduous task w