Gallienus, Publius

LUCINIUS, ( gal - li - e'nus,) a Roman emperor, who reigned conjointly with his father, Valerian us, for the space of seven years, and with general approval; upon the death of his father, however, A. D. 260, he gave himself up to indolence and luxury; indeed, so infatuated had he become, so wedded to a life of voluptuous ease and pleasure, that the revolt of Egypt, the insurrection of the Gauls, and the irruption of the Scythians, could not rouse him from his ignoble idlene ; and it was only when Post humus a umed the purple in the West, and Ingenu us laid claim to the empire of the East, and each threatened his very existence with hostile arms, that he threw off the bonds of enervating pleasure, and, taking the field, led his legions to crush the nearest danger. The defeat and death of Post humus, however, only increased his perplexities: new competitors arose, not only in Gaul, but in other quarters of the overgrown empire. Even the coadjutor he had adopted as the Cæsar, Aureolus, conspired to overthrow his patron and grasp the disputed power of sovereignty, and collecting a powerful army, shut himself up in Milan, a uming all the arrogance of sole mastery. Stung with the ingratitude of this act, G. marched at once upon the Lombard capital, and in A. D. 268 closely invested the city, but before he could effect any permanent lodgment, a conspiracy was formed among the offcers of his guard, and G. was basely a a inated. This emperor is memorable from having. while he reigned, put a stop to the persecution of the Christians. He was succeeded by Claudius II.