Valeriānus Publius Licinius

, a Roman, proclaimed emperor by the armies in Rhætia, A.D. 254. The virtues which shone in him when a private man, were lost when he ascended the throne. Formerly distinguished for his temperance, moderation, and many virtues, which fixed the uninfluenced choice of all Rome upon him, Valerian, invested with the purple, displayed inability and meanne . He was cowardly in his operations, and though acquainted with war, and the patron of science, he seldom acted with prudence, or favoured men of true genius and merit. He took his son Gallienus as his colleague in the empire, and showed the malevolence of his heart by persecuting the christians whom he had for a while tolerated. He also made war against the Goths and Scythians; but in an expedition which he undertook against Sapor king of Persia, his arms were attended with ill succe . He was conquered in Me so pot am i a, and when he wished to have a private conference with Sapor, the conqueror seized his person, and carried him in triumph to his capital, where he exposed him, and in all the cities of his empire, to the ridicule and insolence of his subjects. When the Persian monarch mounted on horseback, Valerian served as a footstool, and the many other insults which he suffered excited indignation even among the courtiers of Sapor. The monarch at last ordered him to be flayed alive, and salt to be thrown over his mangled body, so that he died in the greatest torments. His skin was tanned, and painted in red; and that the ignominy of the Roman empire might be lasting, it was nailed in one of the temples of Persia. Valerian died in the 71st year of his age, A.D. 260, after a reign of seven years.――A grandson of Valerian the emperor. He was put to death when his father, the emperor Gallienus, was killed.――One of the generals of the usurper Niger.――A worthy senator, put to death by Helio gab alus.