led to killings at Carthage and Alexandria." However, towards the end of the second year of Decius' reign, "the ferocity of the [anti-Christian] persecution had eased off, and the earlier tradition of tolerance had begun to reassert itself." Despite no indication in the surviving texts that the edict targeted any particular group, Christians bore the brunt of the persecution and never forgot the reign of Decius; whom they remembered as "that fierce tyrant". In June 251 Decius died alongside his co-emperor Herennius Etruscus in the Battle Abrittus against the Goths; their successors Trebonianus Gallus and Hostilian rescinded Decius's decree, ending the persecution after approximately eighteen months. At this time, there was a second outbreak of the Antonine Plague, which at its height from 251 to 266, took the lives of 5,000 daily in Rome. This outbreak is referred to as the "Plague of Cyprian" (Cyprian was the bishop of Carthage, where both the plague and the persecution of Christians were especially severe). Cyprian's biographer Pontius gave a vivid picture of the demoralizing effects of the plague and Cyprian moralized the event in his essay De mortalitate. In Carthage, the "Decian persecution", unleashed at the onset of the plague, sought out Christian scapegoats. Decius' edicts were renewed under Valerian in 253 and repealed under his son, Gallienus, in 260–261. Fighting the Goths and death The Goths enter the Balkans The barbarian incursions into the Empire were becoming more daring and frequent whereas the Empire was facing a serious economic crisis in Decius' time. During his brief reign, Decius engaged in important operations against the Goths, who crossed the Danube to raid districts of Moesia and Thrace. This is the first considerable occasion that the Goths who would later come to play such an important role appear in the historical record. The Goths under King Cniva were surprised by the emperor while besieging Nicopolis on the Danube; the Goths fled through the difficult terrain of the Balkans, but then doubled back and surprised the Romans near Beroë (modern Stara Zagora), sacking their camp and dispersing the Roman troops (Battle of Beroe). The Goths then moved to attack Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv), which fell into their hands. The governor of Thrace, Titus Julius Priscus, declared himself emperor under Gothic protection in opposition to Decius but Priscus's challenge was rendered moot when he was killed soon afterwards. Then the invaders began returning to their homeland,