But the narrative of Gibbon appears to answer these objections; according to that historian, Tetricus had been "suborned" by the legions, on pain of death, to assume and preserve the purple of Postumus; The blood-less surrender of the empire of their savior they would have seen as an act of the blackest infamy and treason; and it was in Aurelian's interest to exterminate in their blood the memory of the glorious and independent general, who had established the independent empire of Gaul