41^ THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, portant office, added the honour of being father-in- • law to Numerian. The imperial pavilion was strictly guarded by his most trusty adherents ; and during many days, Aper delivered to the army the supposed mandates of their invisible sovereign ^ Death of It was not till eight months after the death of Carus, Numerian. ^y^^^ ^j^^ Roman army, returning by slow marches from the banks of the Tigris, arrived on those of the Thra- cian Bosphorus. The legions halted at Chalcedon in Asia, while the court passed over to Heraclea, on the European side of the Propontis ™. But a report soon circulated through the camp, at first in secret whispers, and at length in loud clamours, of the emperor's death, and of the presumption of his ambitious minister, who still exercised the sovereign power in the name of a prince who was no more. The impatience of the sol- diers could not long support a state of suspense. With rude curiosity they broke into the imperial tent, and discovered only the corpse of Numerian ". The gradual decline of his health might have induced them to believe that his death was natural ; but the conceal- ment was interpreted as an evidence of guilt, and the measures which Aper had taken to secure his election, became the immediate occasion of his ruin. Yet, even in the transport of their rage and grief, the troops ob- served a regular proceeding, which proves how firmly discipline had been reestablished by the martial suc- cessors of Gallienus. A general assembly of the army was appointed to be held at Chalcedon, whither Aper was transported in chains, as a prisoner and a criminal. A vacant tribunal was erected in the midst of the camp, and the generals and tribunes formed a great military council. They soon announced to the multitude that
- In the Persian war, Aper was suspected of a design to betray Carus.
Hist. August, p. 250. '" We are obliged to the Alexandrian Chronicle, p. 274, for the know- ledge of the time and place where Diocletian was elected emperor. n Hist. August, p. 251 ; Eutrop. ix. 18 ; Hieronym. in Chron. According to these judicious writers, the death of Numerian was discovered by the stench of his dead body. Could no aromatics be found in the imperial household ?
