CHAPTER XLI. NEW HOPE FOR THE EMPIRE: THE AGE OF DIOCLETIAN AND

CONSTANTINE

“Diocletian inaugurated … the period of the Partnership

Emperors. Himself borne to power by something not very unlike a

mutiny of the troops on the Persian frontier, he nevertheless

represented and gave voice to the passionate longing of the

world that the age of mutinies might cease. With this intention

he remodelled the internal constitution of the state and

moulded it into a bureaucracy so strong, so stable, so wisely

organised, that it subsisted virtually the same for more than

a thousand years, and by its endurance prolonged for many ages

the duration of the Byzantine Empire.”--HODGKIN, _Italy and her

Invaders_.

DIOCLETIAN APPOINTS MAXIMIAN CO-REGENT

[Sidenote: [286-293 A.D.]]

From what we know of Diocletian, he had aspired to the throne long before

his accession, and maintained the power he had won by military force.

Soon after the death of Carinus, he appointed his colleague Maximian as

cæsar or assistant in the government (286), either because the latter had

been initiated into his ambitious plans, or perhaps because Diocletian,

on account of the almost uninterrupted war carried on in the remote parts

of the kingdom, saw the necessity of a divided rule and of a second seat

of government in the neighbourhood of the threatened provinces. Maximian,

whom the emperor shortly afterwards invested with the title of augustus

and charged with the government of the West of the empire, generally

lived in Augusta Trevirorum (Trèves) or in the town of Arelate (Arles) in

the south of France; whilst Diocletian raised Nicomedia in Bithynia to be

the capital of the East, and, as often as circumstances allowed, took up

his residence there.

Maximian was, like Diocletian, a good general and a brave soldier, but

differed from him essentially in his want of education and refinement.

As he felt the superiority of Diocletian and was led by him, the results

of a divided government were not very perceptible in the first years. At

first Diocletian was principally engaged in war with the Persians, who

had again invaded the kingdom; Maximian found sufficient occupation for

his martial activity in Gaul and Britain. In the first-named country,

Maximian had at the very beginning to suppress a terrible insurrection

of the peasants, occasioned by the internal condition of the province.

In Gaul, even in Cæsar’s time, the same oppressive conditions existed

amongst the inhabitants, which afterwards were to be found in all the

states of Europe during the Middle Ages, and these conditions became

still more burdensome under the Roman Empire.

The entire nation was split up into three classes: a landed nobility

which had usurped the government; a clergy who formed a caste and

compelled the poor to contribute to their maintenance and comfort; and

the townspeople and peasants who, as the two other classes managed to

avoid public burdens, had to meet all the expenses of the administration

unaided and were also exposed to the harshest despotism and exaction.

Want and misery finally drove the peasants to despair, and under the

name of Bagaudæ, or banditti, they began an insurrection which may be

placed on a level with the most terrible peasant wars which find a place

in history. They assembled and gathered round them all manner of slaves

and rabble, and roamed about in great hordes, ravaging and plundering.

Soon all the roads were unsafe, commerce ceased, and even the large towns

were destroyed or pillaged by the enraged hordes. Maximian had to wage a

regular war with the Bagaudæ, and cut down whole troops of them. In this

manner he restored peace, but only for a short time; for the cause of the

misery of the unfortunate peasants was not removed, and the insurrection

and devastations of the Bagaudæ lasted until the fall of the Roman

dominion in Gaul.

Maximian had to hasten the suppression of internal disturbances for he

needed his army to fight the barbarians. At that time the Franks and

Saxons, who lived on the North Sea, and had learned shipbuilding from

the Romans, began their piratical expeditions into Gaul and Britain,

whilst their predatory excursions continued on land. In order to meet

this new evil, Maximian prepared a fleet for the guarding of the channel,

and gave it into the hands of a capable seaman, the Netherlander

Carausius. The latter made use of the command entrusted to him to make

friends for himself in Britain by means of the booty seized from the

barbarians, to excite the troops there to rebellion and set up himself

as emperor. Maximian marched against him, failed in his enterprise, and

had to concede to the usurper the title he had assumed, as well as the

government of Britain (289). Carausius remained in undisturbed possession

of the island, until one of his generals, Allectus, murdered him and

seized the government (293).

THE FOURFOLD DIVISION OF POWER

[Sidenote: [292-297 A.D.]]

The situation of the empire in the East was also very critical.

Diocletian not only had to make war against the Persians but also to

fight the people of the Danube; and as in Britain, a usurper also arose

in Egypt, Achilleus by name. This state of affairs compelled the emperor

Diocletian to alter the entire organisation of the empire (292). He

consulted his colleague Maximian about this important step, but in

taking it showed not the slightest regard for the Roman senate, which he

never thought worthy of attention. In his new organisation, Diocletian

endeavoured to further the prompt introduction of necessary measures and

thereby to anticipate all disturbances and insurrections, and carried

still further the division of the imperial power begun at the appointment

of Maximian. But as he was not in the least inclined to lessen his own

authority, he only appointed as his co-rulers men on whose respect and

obedience he could rely.

The change which he undertook to introduce into the government of the

empire was therefore entirely based on his personal relations with his

co-rulers. For this reason alone it could not possibly have been of any

duration, even if it had not stood in direct opposition to the prejudices

of the Romans [which latter, indeed, now had but slight influence].

The newly chosen co-rulers were the generals Galerius and Constantius

Chlorus. They received the title of Cæsar, and were thus in outward

rank both subordinate to the two augusti, Diocletian and Maximian.

Constantius was assigned to Maximian and received the government of

Spain, Gaul, and Britain, whilst Maximian took Italy and Africa under his

immediate superintendence; Galerius was entrusted with the administration

of Thrace, Illyricum, and Greece and appointed to be coadjutor to

Diocletian, who retained the East for himself. Each of the four regents

had therefore his appointed provinces to govern, and his appointed

boundaries to defend; yet each could deal with the affairs of government

and lead the troops in the provinces of the others; also the commands of

either of the four emperors held good in all provinces, and generally all

four regents were considered as one.

Four courts, four imperial armies, and a fourfold military government

were necessarily very oppressive for the empire. Unfortunately, in

consequence of this new organisation, the number of officials was also

considerably increased and the divisions of the provinces multiplied, so

that not only the entire administration proceeded with much delay and

difficulty, but for the first time its despotic character was much felt

even in the smallest districts and towns. All this must have been the

more oppressive, as Diocletian permanently introduced Eastern forms of

government. Until his time the outward appearance of the emperor, his

position with regard to the nation and the court, had only had a passing

air of orientalism, but with Diocletian this character of the government

was firmly established for all time to come. The ordering of the court

and the official hierarchy were, so to speak, established by law, the

relations between the classes from thenceforth formed, as it were, the

soul of the state, and the head of the empire was outwardly separated

from the nation by a great gulf. From Diocletian the white bandeau or

diadem, borrowed from the East, became the distinctive sign of the ruler,

whilst formerly the purple raiment had been the sole sign. Diocletian and

his next successor, besides this, introduced the remaining oriental regal

ornaments. [The emperor Aurelian had, indeed, set them the example here.]

Now came the gloomy period when honour and consideration, power and

influence, were entirely dependent on the court, when the services

rendered to the person of the emperor were considered before all

other services, when all patriotism and all effort for the general

good disappeared. As is the case in the East up to the present time,

everything became the ruler’s property, the court and the officials

consumed all private wealth, and soon none could attain to distinctions

and wealth but the servants of the court and the officials.

Out of the four regents, three were equally brave, but equally harsh

and cruel; Constantius Chlorus alone was of a milder disposition, and

distinguished by birth, education, and culture. The latter was now

commissioned to reunite Britain with the empire. He did not find the task

easy, and was only able to accomplish it after some years. Besides this,

Constantius, as well as the three other emperors, had to fight against

barbarians and insurgents. A war with Persia was most honourable for the

Roman Empire; like nearly all Parthian wars since Nero’s time, it was

caused by the succession to the Armenian throne. Diocletian had placed a

Roman protégé in Armenia as king. The latter banished the Persian king

Narses I, and the result was a war (294), the conduct of which Diocletian

and Galerius undertook together. The latter, by his carelessness,

brought on himself a terrible defeat in the same region where Crassus

had once been annihilated. He afterwards obliterated the disgrace by a

brilliant victory, and obliged the Persians to make a peace, by which

they not only relinquished several provinces on the Tigris but for the

first time had to renounce all claim to Mesopotamia. Diocletian secured

the newly acquired lands of the eastern border by erecting considerable

fortifications. He now stood at the height of his fortune.[52] Meanwhile

Maximian had subdued the warlike Quinquegentiani which had been spreading

terror in Africa.

DIOCLETIAN PERSECUTES THE CHRISTIANS

[Sidenote: [297-303 A.D.]]

Soon after the end of the Persian War, Diocletian ordered a persecution

of the Christians (303), the harshness of which would be incomprehensible

in such a sagacious ruler if we did not know, from other actions,

how jealously he watched his authority. Every act of disobedience,

every attempt at rebellion, he punished with inexorable severity and

cruelty, often in a paroxysm of rage giving orders which had the

most fatal results. For instance, in Egypt, after the defeat of the

usurper Achilleus, he exterminated all the latter’s adherents and

destroyed entire towns, the inhabitants of which had shown themselves

insubordinate. When a certain Eugenius had set himself up as emperor in

Syria, he caused the inhabitants of Antioch to expiate this presumption

by suffering revolting cruelties, although they had helped to suppress

the insurrection and had killed the rebel.

Diocletian’s persecution of the Christians at first only struck at the

Christians in the army. Latterly, whenever they had to witness a heathen

sacrifice they had fastened the sign of the cross to their helmets, so as

to prevent the raising of the devil, which, according to their belief,

took place at the inspection of the entrails of the victim; they thereby

roused the anger of one of the high priests, and he incited the emperor

against them. Nevertheless Diocletian did not yet determine on cruel

measures, as he was wise and thoughtful enough to perceive that the new

sect could not be rooted out, on account of its wide diffusion, and

that to persecute it would occasion dangerous disturbances throughout

the kingdom. On this account he would not have determined on a general

persecution had not Galerius, who was passionately attached to the

mystical fantasies of the Phrygian worship, drawn him into it by every

sort of intrigue. Even then his orders were directed less against the

persons of the Christians than against their religion and against the

acknowledgment of their congregation as a body.

The Christians were to fill no public offices, and not to seek justice

before the tribunals; their churches were to be closed or pulled down,

crosses and pictures of Christ were not allowed. This ordinance was

publicly posted up in Nicomedia, where Diocletian and Galerius were.

A man of great distinction among the Christians tore it down in full

daylight with loud mockery, and it was only then that Diocletian, who, as

soon as he thought his imperial dignity touched, became terribly cruel,

gave free scope to a cruel persecution of individuals. His rage was

further increased by a fire in the imperial palace, which, as it seems

not unjustly, was attributed to the Christians. The execution of the

imperial orders was left to the soldiers and the populace, and a number

of Christians suffered death. These extreme measures were restricted to

the East, to Africa, and to the south of Europe.

ABDICATION OF DIOCLETIAN AND MAXIMIAN; THE TWO NEW CÆSARS

[Sidenote: [303-306 A.D.]]

Soon after the beginning of this persecution Diocletian fell ill, and

his illness, which lasted almost a year, became so dangerous that the

news of his death was repeatedly spread. When he recovered, traces of a

weakening of intellect often showed themselves, and made it impossible

for him to continue to conduct the business of administration. Therefore

in May, 305, he laid down the government, and at the same time Maximian

did likewise, Galerius having previously extorted from him a promise to

abdicate.

[Illustration: DIOCLETIAN

(From a bust in the Vatican)]

The two cæsars, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus, were then acclaimed as

emperors. The former immediately named two new cæsars without consulting

his co-rulers, but in so doing paid no heed to either Maximian’s son

Maxentius, or the son of Constantius, afterwards the emperor Constantine

the Great. It is probable that his own father did not deem the former

worthy to ascend the throne; the latter had already distinguished himself

in the field, and possessed the favour of Diocletian, but he was also

friendly towards the Christians, and seemed dangerous to Galerius. The

new cæsars were rough officers, undistinguished by any superiority of

merit. One of them, Severus, received the government of Africa and Italy;

the other, Maximinus, was invested with Syria and Egypt.

Diocletian and Maximian, in abdicating, secured themselves in the

possession of considerable property and peculiar revenues. Maximian

could not accustom himself to the tranquillity of private life and

seized the first opportunity to resume the purple. Diocletian on the

contrary returned to his own country, Dalmatia, and lived there until

his death (313) as a private person at Salona. On his property in the

vicinity of the present Spalatro, he occupied himself with gardening

and with the erection of enormous buildings, the remains of which show

us that architecture had entirely lost its noble character, and that

attempts were made to supply the place of the taste of the olden times by

elaboration and splendour.

Constantius Chlorus, whose health had long been failing, died a year

after the abdication of Diocletian (306). Before his death he had

earnestly commended his son Constantine to the army, and as soon as

Constantius was dead it proclaimed his son emperor. Galerius was at first

in great anxiety, but was satisfied when Constantine agreed to content

himself with the title of Cæsar, granting Severus, as the elder man, the

honours of an augustus or emperor. Constantine was the son of Helena, a

woman of humble origin. Constantius had divorced her by command of the

emperors Diocletian and Maximian in 292, in order to marry Theodora.

STRIFE AMONG THE RULERS

[Sidenote: [306-307 A.D.]]

In the autumn of the same year, the relations of the rulers of the empire

again changed. Galerius and Severus, by their oppressive measures, had

roused the anger of the citizens and soldiers of Rome. They rebelled and

proclaimed Maxentius, the son of Maximian, emperor.[b]

Zosimus declares that Maxentius incited the rebellion, moved thereto

by jealousy of Constantine, a quite plausible supposition. “When

Constantine’s effigy according to custom was exhibited at Rome,” he

says, “Maxentius, the son of Maximian, could not endure the sight of

Constantine’s good fortune, who was the son of a harlot, while himself,

who was the son of so great an emperor, remained at home in indolence,

and his father’s empire was enjoyed by others. He therefore associated

with himself in the enterprise Marcellianus and Marcellus, two military

tribunes, and Lucianus, who distributed the swine’s flesh with which

the people of Rome were provided by the treasury, and the court-guards

called prætoriani. By them he was promoted to the imperial throne, having

promised liberally to reward all that assisted him in it. For this

purpose they first murdered Abellius, because he, being prefect of the

city, opposed their enterprise.

“When Galerius learned this,” Zosimus continues, “he sent Severus Cæsar

against Maxentius with an army. But while he advanced from Milan with

several legions of Moors, Maxentius corrupted his troops with money,

and even the prefect of the court, Anullinus, and thereby conquered him

with great ease. On which Severus fled to Ravenna, which is a strong

and populous city, provided with necessaries sufficient for himself and

soldiers. When Maximian[53] knew this, he was doubtless greatly concerned

for his son Maxentius, and therefore, leaving Lucania where he then was,

he went to Ravenna. Finding that Severus could not by any means be forced

out of this city, it being well fortified and stored with provisions, he

deluded him with false oaths, and persuaded him to go to Rome. But on his

way thither, coming to a place called the Three Tabernæ, he was taken

by a stratagem of Maxentius. [Hoping to save his life, he renounced the

dignity of emperor; notwithstanding which he was] immediately executed.

Galerius could not patiently endure these injuries done to Severus, and

therefore resolved to go from the east to Rome, and to punish Maxentius

as he deserved. On his arrival in Italy, he found the soldiers about

him so treacherous, that he returned into the east without fighting a

battle.”[d]

On the retreat from Italy, after this unsuccessful foray, Galerius

allowed his army to commit the most horrible outrages and thereby gained

the deadly hatred of all the inhabitants of the peninsula. Meanwhile,

Maximian had gone to Gaul to ally himself with Constantine against

Galerius. He married his daughter Fausta to the young cæsar and invested

him with the title of Augustus, but did not attain his special object, as

Constantine did not consider it wise to allow himself to be drawn into

open war with Galerius. Soon after this, Maximian quarrelled with his own

son, again tried without success to win over Constantine, and then formed

the strange resolve to betake himself to Galerius.

The latter had long thought of naming his old friend and comrade,

Licinius, as augustus, and had just dragged Diocletian from his

retirement and induced him to journey to Pannonia, to help celebrate the

promotion of Licinius in the most brilliant manner. He also made use of

Maximian’s unexpected appearance, and so Licinius was proclaimed augustus

in the presence of three emperors (307).

[Sidenote: [307-311 A.D.]]

As Maximian found no help in Galerius, he immediately afterwards resigned

the purple for the second time. From Pannonia he returned to his

son-in-law in Gaul, who received him in a friendly manner, and during

his absence on a campaign against the Germans intrusted him with a share

in the government. Maximian, who was manifestly suffering from senility,

formed the ridiculous idea of using this opportunity to overthrow his

son-in-law and forcibly supersede him, although naturally neither the

country of Gaul, now almost entirely Christian, nor the troops of

Constantine, can have been in the least disposed to prefer him to their

former master. When Maximian really made this foolish attempt, he was

easily vanquished by Constantine and taken prisoner. Two years later,

when he had made an attempt on the life of Constantine, the latter had

him strangled (310).

Of the six emperors, Maximian, Galerius, Maximin, Maxentius, Constantine,

and Licinius, only one had thus passed away; but another had already

arisen in Africa and had established himself in possession of the

government. This was Alexander, a wretched old man who had himself

proclaimed emperor by the troops. He maintained his position for three

years, and was then in 311 overthrown and killed by Maxentius, who sent

a skilled general and a picked army against him. Galerius died at about

the same time. Maximin and Licinius divided his dominions among them. Now

only four emperors ruled the empire: Maximin, Licinius, Maxentius, and

Constantine; but there was no thought of friendly relations among them.

It remained therefore for the one among them who possessed the most

ability, strength, and skill to overthrow the others and to gain

undivided sway. This could only be successfully effected by Constantine,

whose dignified, judicious, and moderate demeanour deserves our greatest

admiration. The crucial point, that which must finally determine the

issue of the struggle between the emperors, was the relation of each

individual ruler to the Christians. In all parts of the realm the latter

formed a very considerable number, they were very closely united amongst

themselves, their hierarchies and synods had remained unweakened; whilst

not only had the old system of government long been undermined, but

also the adherents to the old religion had been divided by a crowd of

different opinions and views, and were neither held together by an inward

nor an external hierarchical union. Whoever therefore had the Christians

in the empire on his side must sooner or later carry the victory over his

co-rulers.

Galerius perceived this shortly before his death, and had therefore

issued an edict in his own name and those of his colleagues, by which the

persecution of the Christians ordered by Diocletian was arrested, and the

bloody strife so often begun between the state and the church forever

ended (311). Even Maxentius seems to have felt it; for he had scarcely

become master in Rome before he assured the Christians of toleration. But

his entire conduct towards them contradicted the mild terms of the edict;

the Christians could rely on him just as little as the pagans.

CONSTANTINE WARS WITH MAXENTIUS

[Sidenote: [311-313 A.D.]]

Of the other emperors, only Constantine seemed to be sincerely

attached to the Christians. For a long time he remained a pagan, but

continually showed himself friendly towards the Christians; and they

were powerfully supported by the most influential ladies of the court.

These were his wife Fausta, her mother Eutropia, but especially the

mother of Constantine, Helena, who became celebrated by her great zeal

for the teaching of the cross. Besides the good will of the Christians,

Constantine had the great advantage that from the beginning he alone

exhibited a care for law and order, whilst all his fellow-emperors showed

only military violence and despotic will. Moreover he alone seemed to be

satisfied with his share of the empire; the three other emperors, on the

contrary, sought with utter recklessness to extend their provinces at the

expense of their co-rulers.

The first whom the sagacious Constantine defeated was Maxentius, who from

his speedy victory over Alexander had manifestly conceived too high an

idea of his power, and in his arrogance decided to attack Constantine.

That he was not in the least to be compared to him and that it was

foolhardy to seek a quarrel with him, is shown by one glance at the

lives of the two emperors. Maxentius had never found himself at the head

of an army in real warfare; he had continually enjoyed his pleasures

in idle tranquillity, and on account of his tyranny and cruelty he was

loved by no one, save by his guards and a small number of other troops

whom he enriched by robbing the citizens. Constantine’s life, on the

contrary, had been one of constant exertion and discipline. He had served

with distinction, first under Diocletian, and then under his father

Constantius, and had afterwards long contended against the Frankish

peoples on the Rhine. The result of the war between the two emperors

could not therefore be doubtful.[b]

Zosimus gives an interesting account of the struggle, with certain

embellishments that do not detract from the accuracy of his main

narrative. “Constantine,” he tells us, “had raised an army amongst the

barbarians, Germans, and Celts, whom he had conquered, and likewise drawn

a force out of Britain, amounting in the whole to ninety thousand foot

and eight thousand horse. He marched from the Alps into Italy, passing

those towns that surrendered without doing them any damage, but taking by

storm those which resisted. While he was making this progress, Maxentius

had collected a much stronger army, consisting of eighty thousand Romans

and Italians, all the Tuscans on the sea coast, forty thousand men from

Carthage, besides what the Sicilians sent him; his whole force amounting

to one hundred and seventy thousand foot and eighteen thousand horse.

“Both being thus prepared, Maxentius threw a bridge over the Tiber [the

Milvian bridge], which was not of one entire piece but divided into two

parts, the centre of the bridge being made to fasten with irons, which

might be drawn out upon occasion. He gave orders to the workmen that, as

soon as they saw the army of Constantine upon the juncture of the bridge,

they should draw out the iron fastenings, that the enemy who stood upon

it might fall into the river.

“Constantine, advancing with his army to Rome, encamped in a field before

the city, which was broad and therefore convenient for cavalry. Maxentius

in the meantime shut himself up within the walls and sacrificed to the

gods, and, moreover, consulted the Sibylline oracles concerning the event

of the war. Finding a prediction that, whoever designed any harm to the

Romans should die a miserable death, he applied it to himself, because

he withstood those that came against Rome, and wished to take it. His

application indeed proved just. For when Maxentius drew out his army

before the city, and was marching over the bridge that he himself had

constructed, an infinite number of owls flew down and covered the wall.

[Illustration: CONSTANTINE’S DEFEAT OF MAXENTIUS

(FROM A CARTOON BY RAPHAEL)]

“When Constantine saw this, he ordered his men to stand to their arms.

And the two armies being drawn up opposite to each other, Constantine

sent his cavalry against that of the enemy, whom they charged with such

impetuosity that they threw them into disorder. The signal being given

to the infantry, they likewise marched in good order towards the enemy.

A furious battle having commenced, the Romans themselves, and their

foreign allies, were unwilling to risk their lives, as they wished for

deliverance from the bitter tyranny with which they were burdened, though

the other troops were slain in great numbers, being either trod to death

by the horse or killed by the foot.

“As long as the cavalry kept their ground, Maxentius retained some hopes,

but when they gave way, he fled with the rest over the bridge into the

city. The beams not being strong enough to bear so great a weight, they

broke, and Maxentius, with the others, was carried with the stream down

the river. [The date of the battle was October 27, 313.]

“When the news of this victory was reported in the city,” Zosimus

concludes, “none dared to show any joy for what had happened, because

many thought it was an unfounded report. But when the head of Maxentius

was brought upon a spear, their fear and dejection were changed to joy

and pleasure. On this occasion Constantine punished very few, and they

were only some few of the nearest friends of Maxentius, but he abolished

the prætorian troops, and destroyed the fortress in which they used to

reside.”[d]

Before the decisive battle, Constantine had tried to win over the

enthusiasm of the Christians in his own and his adversaries’ army to his

cause, and therefore the sign of the cross was made the principal ensign

of the Roman army. The report was spread that a shining cross with this

inscription, “By this sign thou shalt conquer,” had appeared to him in

the sky, and that in the following night, Christ himself had commanded

him in a dream to make the sign of the cross his standard against the

enemy. On the day before the battle, the cross and the monogram of the

redeemer appeared on the imperial standard, which from thenceforth bore

the name of Labarum; and afterwards Constantine publicly announced that

he had seen the cross in the sky, and had conquered his enemy by the

direct aid of God.

After his victory over Maxentius the character of Constantine changed,

and his subsequent proceedings often stand in opposition to the

principles which he publicly acknowledged. He went over to Christianity,

although in prudent fashion, not formally nor irrevocably, and for this

the Christian priests permitted and forgave him everything. The miserable

senate, which for a long time had ceased to be a governmental institution

and to be consulted in affairs of state, declared him the first of the

three emperors of the realm, and in this manner he passed naturally to

the idea of undivided sway. Although he made the cross the imperial

standard, he took part in the heathen sacrifices, allowed himself to

consult soothsayers, and bore the title of a high priest of the old

religion as before. Moreover he postponed the rite of baptism until his

death-bed, that he might pass, according to the teaching of the priests

at his court, into the next life washed clean from all sin.

From Rome Constantine went to Milan,[54] where he met Licinius and gave

him his sister Constantia in marriage. Then he went to his province of

Gaul, to repulse the German tribes which had again invaded the country;

but Licinius hastened to meet the emperor Maximin, who was trying to

wrest from him his share of the empire, and had already seized the towns

of Byzantium and Heraclea, or Perinthus.

To the south of Hadrianopolis there was a decisive battle between the two

emperors. Licinius won it, and tradition has also attributed his victory

to a divine miracle, although the victor was in no way inclined towards

Christianity. It is said that an angel appeared to Licinius and taught

him a prayer, which on his awakening he immediately caused to be written

out and distributed to the soldiers. This prayer was sung before the

beginning of the battle and helped them to victory (313). Maximin fled;

on the way he took poison, which brought on a severe illness of which he

died after great tortures. With terrible harshness and cruelty Licinius

proceeded against the relations and friends of Maximin. They were all put

to death without mercy and the widow and daughter of Diocletian, as well

as the sons of Galerius and Severus, perished as sacrifices to the wanton

brutality of Licinius.[b]

STRUGGLE BETWEEN CONSTANTINE AND LICINIUS

[Sidenote: [314 A.D.]]

The Roman world was now divided between Constantine and Licinius, the

former of whom was master of the West, and the latter of the East. It

might perhaps have been expected that the conquerors, fatigued with

civil war and connected by a private as well as a public alliance, would

have renounced, or at least would have suspended, any further designs of

ambition; and yet a year had scarcely elapsed after the death of Maximin,

before the victorious emperors turned their arms against each other. The

genius, the success, and the aspiring temper of Constantine may seem to

mark him out as the aggressor; but the perfidious character of Licinius

justifies the most unfavourable suspicions, and by the faint light which

history reflects on this transaction, we may discover a conspiracy

fomented by his arts against the authority of his colleague.[55]

Constantine had lately given his sister Anastasia in marriage to

Bassianus, a man of a considerable family and fortune, and had elevated

his new kinsman to the rank of cæsar. According to the system of

government instituted by Diocletian, Italy and perhaps Africa were

designed for his departments in the empire. But the performance of the

promised favour was either attended with so much delay, or accompanied

with so many unequal conditions, that the fidelity of Bassianus was

alienated rather than secured by the honourable distinction which he had

obtained. His nomination had been ratified by the consent of Licinius;

and that artful prince, by the means of his emissaries, soon contrived

to enter into a secret and dangerous correspondence with the new cæsar,

to irritate his discontent, and to urge him to the rash enterprise of

extorting by violence what he might in vain solicit from the justice of

Constantine. But the vigilant emperor discovered the conspiracy before

it was ripe for execution; and after solemnly renouncing the alliance

of Bassianus, despoiled him of the purple, and inflicted the deserved

punishment on his treason and ingratitude. The haughty refusal of

Licinius, when he was required to deliver up the criminals who had taken

refuge in his dominions, confirmed the suspicions already entertained

of his perfidy; and the indignities offered at Æmona, on the frontiers

of Italy, to the statues of Constantine, became the signal of discord

between the two princes.

[Illustration: ARCH OF CONSTANTINE, ROME]

The first battle was fought near Cibalis, a city of Pannonia, situated on

the river Savus, about fifty miles from Sirmium. From the inconsiderable

forces which in this important contest two such powerful monarchs brought

into the field, it may be inferred that the one was suddenly provoked,

and that the other was unexpectedly surprised. The emperor of the West

had only twenty thousand, and the sovereign of the East no more than

five-and-thirty thousand men. The inferiority of number was, however,

compensated by the advantage of the ground. Constantine had taken post

in a defile about half a mile in breadth, between a steep hill and a

deep morass, and in that situation he steadily expected and repulsed the

first attack of the enemy. He pursued his success, and advanced into the

plain. But the veteran legions of Illyricum rallied under the standard

of a leader who had been trained to arms in the school of Probus and

Diocletian. The missile weapons on both sides were soon exhausted; the

two armies, with equal valour, rushed to a closer engagement of swords

and spears, and the doubtful contest had already lasted from the dawn

of the day to a late hour of the evening, when the right wing, which

Constantine led in person, made a vigorous and decisive charge. The

judicious retreat of Licinius saved the remainder of his troops from

a total defeat; but when he computed his loss, which amounted to more

than twenty thousand men, he thought it unsafe to pass the night in the

presence of an active and victorious enemy. Abandoning his camp and

magazines, he marched away with secrecy and diligence at the head of the

greatest part of his cavalry, and was soon removed beyond the danger of

a pursuit. His diligence preserved his wife, his son, and his treasures,

which he had deposited at Sirmium.[56] Licinius passed through that city,

and breaking down the bridge on the Savus, hastened to collect a new

army in Dacia and Thrace. In his flight he bestowed the precarious title

of Cæsar on Valens, his general of the Illyrian frontier.[57]

The plain of Mardia in Thrace was the theatre of a second battle, no less

obstinate and bloody than the former. The troops on both sides displayed

the same valour and discipline; and the victory was once more decided

by the superior abilities of Constantine.[c] Licinius drew up his army

[says Zosimus] in order of battle, extending from a mountain which is

above the town two hundred stadia, as far as the junction of another

river with the Hebrus; thus the armies continued opposite to each other

for several days. Constantine, observing where the river was least broad,

concerted this plan. He ordered his men to bring trees from the mountain,

and to tie ropes around them, as if he intended to throw a bridge over

the river for the passage of his army. By this stratagem he deluded the

enemy, and, ascending a hill on which were thick woods sufficient to

conceal any that were in them, he planted there five thousand archers

and eight hundred horse. Having done this, he crossed the Hebrus at the

narrowest place, and so surprised the enemy that many fled with all their

speed, while others, who were amazed at his unexpected approach, were

struck with wonder at his coming over so suddenly. In the meantime, the

rest of his army crossed the river in security, and a great slaughter

commenced. Nearly thirty thousand fell; and about sunset Constantine took

their camp, while Licinius, with all the forces he could muster, hastened

through Thrace to his ships.[d]

The loss of two battles reduced the fierce spirit of Licinius to sue

for peace. His ambassador Mistrianus was admitted to the audience of

Constantine; he expatiated on the common topics of moderation and

humanity, which are so familiar to the eloquence of the vanquished;

represented, in the most insinuating language, that the event of the

war was still doubtful, whilst its inevitable calamities were alike

pernicious to both the contending parties; and declared, that he was

authorised to propose a lasting and honourable peace in the name of the

two emperors, his masters. Constantine received the mention of Valens

with indignation and contempt.

“It was not for such a purpose,” he sternly replied, “that we have

advanced from the shores of the western ocean in an uninterrupted course

of combats and victories, that, after rejecting an ungrateful kinsman, we

should accept for our colleague a contemptible slave. The abdication of

Valens is the first article of the treaty.” It was necessary to accept

this humiliating condition; the unhappy Valens, after a few days’ reign,

was deprived of the purple and of his life. As soon as this obstacle

was removed, the tranquillity of the Roman world was easily restored.

The successive defeats of Licinius had ruined his forces, but they had

displayed his courage and abilities. His situation was almost desperate,

but the efforts of despair are sometimes formidable; and the good sense

of Constantine preferred a great and certain advantage to a third trial

of the chance of arms. He consented to leave his rival, or, as he again

styled Licinius, his friend and brother, in the possession of Thrace,

Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt; but the provinces of Pannonia, Dalmatia,

Dacia, Macedonia, and Greece were yielded to the Western Empire; and the

dominions of Constantine now extended from the confines of Caledonia

to the extremity of Peloponnesus. It was stipulated by the same treaty

that three royal youths, the sons of the emperors, should be called to

the hopes of the succession. Crispus and the young Constantine were soon

afterwards declared cæsars in the West, while the younger Licinius was

invested with the same dignity in the East. In this double proportion of

honours, the conqueror asserted the superiority of his arms and power.

THE LONG TRUCE BETWEEN THE EMPERORS; REFORMS OF CONSTANTINE

[Sidenote: [314-322 A.D.]]

The reconciliation of Constantine and Licinius, though it was embittered

by resentment and jealousy, by the remembrance of recent injuries, and

by the apprehension of future dangers, maintained however above eight

years the tranquillity of the Roman world. As a very regular series of

the imperial laws commences about this period, it would not be difficult

to transcribe the civil regulations which employed the leisure of

Constantine. But the most important of his institutions are intimately

connected with the new system of policy and religion, which was not

perfectly established till the last and peaceful years of his reign.

There are many of his laws which, as they concern the rights and property

of individuals and the practice of the bar, are more properly referred

to the private than to the public jurisprudence of the empire; and he

published many edicts of so local and temporary a nature that they would

ill deserve the notice of a general history.

Two laws may be selected from the crowd--the one for its importance, the

other for its singularity; the former for its remarkable benevolence,

and the latter for its excessive severity. (1) The horrid practice,

so familiar to the ancients, of exposing or murdering their new-born

infants, was become every day more frequent in the provinces, and

especially in Italy. It was the effect of distress; and the distress was

principally occasioned by the intolerable burden of taxes, and by the

vexatious as well as cruel prosecutions of the officers of the revenue

against their insolvent debtors. The less opulent or less industrious

part of mankind, instead of rejoicing in an increase of family, deemed

it an act of paternal tenderness to release their children from the

impending miseries of a life which they themselves were unable to

support. The humanity of Constantine, moved perhaps by some recent and

extraordinary instances of despair, engaged him to address an edict to

all the cities of Italy, and afterwards of Africa, directing immediate

and sufficient relief to be given to those parents who should produce

before the magistrates the children whom their own poverty would not

allow them to educate. But the promise was too liberal, and the provision

too vague, to effect any general or permanent benefit. The law, though

it may merit some praise, served rather to display than to alleviate the

public distress. It still remains an authentic monument to contradict and

confound those venal orators who were too well satisfied with their own

situation to discover either vice or misery under the government of a

generous sovereign.

(2) The laws of Constantine against rapes were dictated with small

indulgence for the most amiable weaknesses of human nature; since the

description of that crime was applied not only to the brutal violence

which compelled, but even to the gentle seduction which might persuade

an unmarried woman, under the age of twenty-five, to leave the house of

her parents. The successful ravisher was punished with death; and, as if

simple death was inadequate to the enormity of his guilt, he was either

burned alive or torn in pieces by wild beasts in the amphitheatre. The

virgin’s declaration that she had been carried away with her own consent,

instead of saving her lover, exposed her to share his fate. The duty

of a public prosecution was intrusted to the parents of the guilty or

unfortunate maid; and if the sentiments of nature prevailed on them to

dissemble the injury, and to repair by a subsequent marriage the honour

of their family, they were themselves punished by exile and confiscation.

The slaves, whether male or female, who were convicted of having been

accessory to the rape or seduction, were burned alive, or put to death by

the ingenious torture of pouring down their throats a quantity of melted

lead.

As the crime was of a public kind, the accusation was permitted even to

strangers. The commencement of the action was not limited to any term of

years, and the consequences of the sentence were extended to the innocent

offspring of such an irregular union. But whenever the offence inspires

less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to

give way to the common feelings of mankind. The most odious parts of

this edict were softened or repealed in the subsequent reigns; and even

Constantine himself very frequently alleviated, by partial acts of mercy,

the stern temper of his general institutions. Such, indeed, was the

singular humour of that emperor, who showed himself as indulgent and even

remiss in the execution of his laws, as he was severe and even cruel in

the enacting of them. It is scarcely possible to observe a more decisive

symptom of weakness, either in the character of the prince or in the

constitution of the government.

The civil administration was sometimes interrupted by the military

defence of the empire. Crispus, a youth of the most amiable character,

who had received with the title of Cæsar the command of the Rhine,

distinguished himself by his conduct in several victories over the Franks

and Alamanni, and taught the barbarians of that frontier to dread the

eldest son of Constantine and the grandson of Constantius. The emperor

himself had assumed the more difficult and important province of the

Danube. The Goths, who in the time of Claudius and Aurelian had felt the

weight of the Roman arms, respected the power of the empire, even in

the midst of its intestine divisions. But the strength of that warlike

nation was now restored by a peace of near fifty years; a new generation

had arisen, who no longer remembered the misfortunes of ancient days:

the Sarmatians of the lake Mæotis followed the Gothic standard, either

as subjects or as allies, and their united force was poured upon the

countries of Illyricum. Campona, Margus, and Bononia[58] appear to have

been the scenes of several memorable sieges and battles; and though

Constantine encountered a very obstinate resistance, he prevailed at

length in the contest, and the Goths were compelled to purchase an

ignominious retreat, by restoring the booty and prisoners they had taken.

Nor was this advantage sufficient to satisfy the indignation of the

emperor. He resolved to chastise, as well as to repulse, the insolent

barbarians who had dared to invade the territories of Rome.

At the head of his legions he passed over the Danube, after repairing

the bridge which had been constructed by Trajan, penetrated into the

strongest recesses of Dacia, and when he had inflicted a severe revenge,

condescended to give peace to the suppliant Goths on condition that,

as often as they were required, they should supply his armies with a

body of forty thousand soldiers. Exploits like these were no doubt

honourable to Constantine, and beneficial to the state; but it may surely

be questioned, whether they can justify the exaggerated assertion of

Eusebius that all Scythia, as far as the extremity of the north, divided

as it was into so many names and nations of the most various and savage

manners, had been added by his victorious arms to the Roman Empire.

CONSTANTINE AND LICINIUS AGAIN AT WAR

[Sidenote: [323 A.D.]]

In this exalted state of glory it was impossible that Constantine should

any longer endure a partner in the empire. Confiding in the superiority

of his genius and military power, he determined, without any previous

injury, to exert them for the destruction of Licinius, whose advanced age

and unpopular vices seemed to offer a very easy conquest. But the old

emperor, awakened by the approaching danger, deceived the expectations

of his friends, as well as of his enemies. Calling forth that spirit and

those abilities by which he had deserved the friendship of Galerius and

the imperial purple, he prepared himself for the contest, collected the

forces of the East, and soon filled the plains of Hadrianopolis with

his troops, and the straits of the Hellespont with his fleet. The army

consisted of 150,000 foot and 15,000 horse; and as the cavalry was drawn,

for the most part, from Phrygia and Cappadocia, we may conceive a more

favourable opinion of the beauty of the horses than of the courage and

dexterity of their riders. The fleet was composed of 350 galleys of three

ranks of oars. A hundred and thirty of these were furnished by Egypt and

the adjacent coast of Africa. A hundred and ten sailed from the ports of

Phœnicia and the isle of Cyprus; and the maritime countries of Bithynia,

Ionia, and Caria were likewise obliged to provide 110 galleys. The troops

of Constantine were ordered to rendezvous at Thessalonica; they amounted

to above 120,000 horse and foot. The emperor was satisfied with their

martial appearance, and his army contained more soldiers, though fewer

men, than that of his eastern competitor.

[Illustration: ROMAN GENERAL

(From the Arch of Constantine)]

The legions of Constantine were levied in the warlike provinces of

Europe; action had confirmed their discipline, victory had elevated their

hopes, and there were among them a great number of veterans who, after

seventeen glorious campaigns under the same leader, prepared themselves

to deserve an honourable dismission by a last effort of their valour. But

the naval preparations of Constantine were in every respect much inferior

to those of Licinius. The maritime cities of Greece sent their respective

quotas of men and ships to the celebrated harbour of Piræus, and their

united forces consisted of no more than two hundred small vessels--a

very feeble armament, if it is compared with those formidable fleets

which were equipped and maintained by the republic of Athens during the

Peloponnesian War. Since Italy was no longer the seat of government, the

naval establishments of Misenum and Ravenna had been gradually neglected;

and as the shipping and mariners of the empire were supported by commerce

rather than by war, it was natural that they should the most abound in

the industrious provinces of Egypt and Asia. It is only surprising that

the eastern emperor, who possessed so great a superiority at sea, should

have neglected the opportunity of carrying an offensive war into the

centre of his rival’s dominions.

Instead of embracing such an active resolution, which might have changed

the whole face of the war, the prudent Licinius expected the approach of

his rival in a camp near Hadrianopolis, which he had fortified with an

anxious care that betrayed his apprehension of the event. Constantine

directed his march from Thessalonica towards that part of Thrace, till he

found himself stopped by the broad and rapid stream of the Hebrus, and

discovered the numerous army of Licinius, which filled the steep ascent

of the hill, from the river to the city of Hadrianopolis. Many days were

spent in doubtful and distant skirmishes; but at length the obstacles

of the passages and of the attack were removed by the intrepid conduct

of Constantine. In this place we might relate a wonderful exploit of

Constantine, which, though it can scarcely be paralleled either in poetry

or romance, is celebrated, not by a venal orator devoted to his fortune,

but by an historian, the partial enemy of his fame. We are assured that

the valiant emperor threw himself into the river Hebrus, accompanied only

by twelve horsemen, and that by the effort or terror of his invincible

arm he broke, slaughtered, and put to flight a host of a hundred and

fifty thousand men.

The credulity of Zosimus prevailed so strongly over his passion that,

among the events of the memorable battle of Hadrianopolis, he seems

to have selected and embellished not the most important but the most

marvellous. The valour and danger of Constantine are attested by a slight

wound, which he received in the thigh; but it may be discovered, even

from an imperfect narration, and perhaps a corrupted text, that the

victory was obtained no less by the conduct of the general than by the

courage of the hero; that a body of five thousand archers marched round

to occupy a thick wood in the rear of the enemy, whose attention was

diverted by the construction of a bridge, and that Licinius, perplexed by

so many artful evolutions, was reluctantly drawn from his advantageous

post to combat on equal ground in the plain. The contest was no longer

equal. His confused multitude of new levies was easily vanquished by the

experienced veterans of the West. Thirty-four thousand men are reported

to have been slain. The fortified camp of Licinius was taken by assault

the evening of the battle; the greater part of the fugitives, who had

retired to the mountains, surrendered themselves the next day to the

discretion of the conqueror; and his rival, who could no longer keep the

field, confined himself within the walls of Byzantium.

_Constantine besieges Byzantium_

[Sidenote: [323-324 A.D.]]

The siege of Byzantium, which was immediately undertaken by Constantine,

was attended with great labour and uncertainty. In the late civil wars,

the fortifications of that place, so justly considered as the key of

Europe and Asia, had been repaired and strengthened; and as long as

Licinius remained master of the sea, the garrison was much less exposed

to the danger of famine than the army of the besiegers. The naval

commanders of Constantine were summoned to his camp, and received his

positive orders to force the passage of the Hellespont, as the fleet of

Licinius, instead of seeking and destroying their feeble enemy, continued

inactive in those narrow straits where its superiority of numbers was of

little use or advantage. Crispus, the emperor’s eldest son, was intrusted

with the execution of this daring enterprise, which he performed with so

much courage and success that he deserved the esteem, and most probably

excited the jealousy, of his father. The engagement lasted two days; and

in the evening of the first, the contending fleets, after a considerable

and mutual loss, retired to their respective harbours of Europe and

Asia. The second day, about noon, a strong south wind sprang up, which

carried the vessels of Crispus against the enemy; and as the casual

advantage was improved by his skilful intrepidity, he soon obtained a

complete victory. A hundred and thirty vessels were destroyed, five

thousand men were slain, and Amandus, the admiral of the Asiatic fleet,

escaped with the utmost difficulty to the shores of Chalcedon. As soon

as the Hellespont was open, a plentiful convoy of provisions flowed into

the camp of Constantine, who had already advanced the operations of the

siege. He constructed artificial mounds of earth of an equal height

with the ramparts of Byzantium. The lofty towers which were erected on

that foundation galled the besieged with large stones and darts from

the military engines, and the battering-rams had shaken the walls in

several places. If Licinius persisted much longer in the defence, he

exposed himself to be involved in the ruin of the place. Before he was

surrounded he prudently removed his person and treasures to Chalcedon,

in Asia; and as he was always desirous of associating companions to the

hopes and dangers of his fortune, he now bestowed the title of Cæsar

on Martinianus, who exercised one of the most important offices of the

empire.

Such were still the resources, and such the abilities of Licinius,

that, after so many successive defeats, he collected in Bithynia a new

army of fifty or sixty thousand men, while the activity of Constantine

was employed in the siege of Byzantium. The vigilant emperor did not,

however, neglect the last struggles of his antagonist. A considerable

part of his victorious army was transported over the Bosporus in

small vessels, and the decisive engagement was fought soon after the

landing, on the heights of Chrysopolis, or, as it is now called,

Scutari. The troops of Licinius, though they were lately raised, ill

armed, and worse disciplined, made head against their conquerors with

fruitless but desperate valour, till a total defeat, and the slaughter

of five-and-twenty thousand men, irretrievably determined the fate of

their leader. He retired to Nicomedia, rather with the view of gaining

some time for negotiation than with the hope of any effectual defence.

Constantia, his wife and the sister of Constantine, interceded with her

brother in favour of her husband, and obtained from his policy rather

than from his compassion a solemn promise, confirmed by an oath, that

after the sacrifice of Martinianus and the resignation of the purple,

Licinius himself should be permitted to pass the remainder of his life

in peace and affluence. The behaviour of Constantia, and her relation to

the contending parties, naturally recall the remembrance of that virtuous

matron who was the sister of Augustus, and the wife of Antony. But the

temper of mankind was altered; and it was no longer esteemed infamous for

a Roman to survive his honour and independence. Licinius solicited and

accepted the pardon of his offences, laid himself and his purple at the

feet of his lord and master, was raised from the ground with insulting

pity, was admitted the same day to the imperial banquet, and soon

afterward was sent away to Thessalonica, which had been chosen for the

place of his confinement.

His confinement was soon terminated by death; and it is doubtful whether

a tumult of the soldiers, or a decree of the senate, was suggested

as a motive for his execution. According to the rules of tyranny he

was accused of forming a conspiracy, and of holding a treasonable

correspondence with the barbarians; but as he was never convicted either

by his own conduct or by any legal evidence, we may perhaps be allowed,

from his weakness, to presume his innocence.

The memory of Licinius was branded with infamy, his statues were

thrown down, and by a hasty edict, of such mischievous tendency that

it was almost immediately corrected, all his laws and all the judicial

proceedings of his reign were at once abolished. By this victory of

Constantine, the Roman world was again united under the authority of one

emperor, thirty-seven years after Diocletian had divided his power and

provinces with his associate Maximian.

CONSTANTINE, SOLE RULER, FOUNDS CONSTANTINOPLE

[Sidenote: [323-330 A.D.]]

The successive steps of the elevation of Constantine, from his first

assuming the purple at York to the resignation of Licinius at Nicomedia,

have been related with some minuteness and precision, not only as the

events are in themselves both interesting and important, but still more

as they contributed to the decline of the empire by the expense of blood

and treasure, and by the perpetual increase as well of the taxes as of

the military establishment. The foundation of Constantinople and the

establishment of the Christian religion were the immediate and memorable

consequences of this revolution.

But the prospect of beauty, of safety, and of wealth, united in a

single spot, was sufficient to justify the choice of Constantine. But

as some decent mixture of prodigy and fable has, in every age, been

supposed to reflect a becoming majesty on the origin of great cities,

the emperor was desirous of ascribing his resolution not so much to the

uncertain counsels of human policy as to the infallible and eternal

decrees of divine wisdom. In one of his laws he has been careful to

instruct posterity that, in obedience to the commands of God, he laid

the everlasting foundations of Constantinople; and though he has not

condescended to relate in what manner the celestial inspiration was

communicated to his mind, the defect of his modest silence has been

liberally supplied by the ingenuity of succeeding writers, who describe

the nocturnal vision which appeared to the fancy of Constantine, as he

slept within the walls of Byzantium. The tutelar genius of the city,

a venerable matron sinking under the weight of years and infirmities,

was suddenly transformed into a blooming maid, whom his own hands

adorned with all the symbols of imperial greatness. The monarch awoke,

interpreted the auspicious omen and obeyed, without hesitation, the will

of heaven. The day which gave birth to a city or colony was celebrated

by the Romans with such ceremonies as had been ordained by a generous

superstition; and though Constantine might omit some rites which savoured

too strongly of their pagan origin, yet he was anxious to leave a deep

impression of hope and respect on the minds of the spectators. On foot,

with a lance in his hand, the emperor himself led the solemn procession,

and directed the line which was traced as the boundary of the destined

capital; till the growing circumference was observed with astonishment

by the assistants, who at length ventured to observe that he had already

exceeded the most ample measure of a great city. “I shall still advance,”

replied Constantine, “till he, the invisible guide, who marches before

me, thinks proper to stop.” Without presuming to investigate the nature

or motives of this extraordinary conductor, we shall content ourselves

with the more humble task of describing the extent and limits of

Constantinople.

In the actual state of the city, the palace and gardens of the seraglio

occupy the eastern promontory, the first of the seven hills, and cover

about 150 acres of our own measure. The seat of Turkish jealousy and

despotism is erected on the foundations of a Grecian republic; but it

may be supposed that the Byzantines were tempted by the conveniency of

the harbour to extend their habitations on that side beyond the modern

limits of the seraglio. The new walls of Constantine stretched from the

port to the Propontis across the enlarged breadth of the triangle, at

the distance of fifteen stadia from the ancient fortification; and with

the city of Byzantium they enclosed five of the seven hills which, to

the eyes of those who approach Constantinople, appear to rise above each

other in beautiful order. About a century after the death of the founder,

the new buildings, extending on one side up the harbour and on the other

along the Propontis, already covered the narrow ridge of the sixth,

and the broad summit of the seventh hill. The necessity of protecting

those suburbs from the incessant inroads of the barbarians engaged the

younger Theodosius to surround his capital with an adequate and permanent

enclosure of walls. From the eastern promontory to the golden gate,

the extreme length of Constantinople was about three Roman miles; the

circumference measured between ten and eleven; and the surface might be

computed as equal to about two thousand English acres.

[Illustration: A PLEBEIAN

(Based on Vecellio)]

It is impossible to justify the vain and credulous exaggerations of

modern travellers, who sometimes stretch the limits of Constantinople

over the adjacent villages of the European, and even of the Asiatic

coast. But the suburbs of Pera and Galata, though situate beyond the

harbour, may deserve to be considered as a part of the city, and this

addition may perhaps authorise the measure of a Byzantine historian, who

assigns sixteen Greek (about fourteen Roman) miles for the circumference

of his native city. Such an extent may seem not unworthy of an imperial

residence. Yet Constantinople must yield to Babylon and Thebes, to

ancient Rome, to London, and even to Paris.

The master of the Roman world, who aspired to erect an eternal monument

of the glories of his reign, could employ in the prosecution of that

great work the wealth, the labour, and all that yet remained of the

genius of obedient millions. Some estimate may be formed of the expense

bestowed with imperial liberality on the foundation of Constantinople,

by the allowance of about £2,500,000 [$12,500,000] for the construction

of the walls, the porticoes, and the aqueducts. The forests that

overshadowed the shores of the Euxine, and the celebrated quarries

of white marble in the little island of Proconnesus, supplied an

inexhaustible stock of materials ready to be conveyed, by the convenience

of a short water-carriage, to the harbour of Byzantium. A multitude of

labourers and artificers urged the conclusion of the work with incessant

toil; but the impatience of Constantine soon discovered that, in the

decline of the arts, the skill as well as numbers of his architects

bore a very unequal proportion to the greatness of his designs. The

magistrates of the most distant provinces were therefore directed to

institute schools, to appoint professors, and by the hopes of rewards

and privileges to engage in the study and practice of architecture

a sufficient number of ingenious youths who had received a liberal

education. The buildings of the new city were executed by such artificers

as the reign of Constantine could afford; but they were decorated by

the hands of the most celebrated masters of the age of Pericles and

Alexander. To revive the genius of Phidias and Lysippus surpassed

indeed the power of a Roman emperor; but the immortal productions which

they had bequeathed to posterity were exposed without defence to the

rapacious vanity of a despot. By his commands the cities of Greece and

Asia were despoiled of their most valuable ornaments. The trophies of

memorable wars, the objects of religious veneration, the most finished

statues of the gods and heroes, of the sages and poets, of ancient

times, contributed to the splendid triumph of Constantinople; and

gave occasion to the remark of the historian Cedrenus, who observes

with much enthusiasm that nothing seemed wanting except the souls of

the illustrious men whom those admirable monuments were intended to

represent. But it is not in the city of Constantine, nor in the declining

period of an empire, when the human mind was depressed by civil and

religious slavery, that we should seek for the souls of Homer and of

Demosthenes.

During the siege of Byzantium, the conqueror had pitched his tent on

the commanding eminence of the second hill. To perpetuate the memory of

his success, he chose the same advantageous position for the principal

forum, which appears to have been of a circular, or rather elliptical

form. The two opposite entrances formed triumphal arches; the porticoes,

which enclosed it on every side, were filled with statues; and the

centre of the forum was occupied by a lofty column, of which a mutilated

fragment is now degraded by the appellation of “the burnt pillar.” This

column was erected on a pedestal of white marble twenty feet high, and

was composed of ten pieces of porphyry, each of which measured about ten

feet in height and about thirty-three in circumference. On the summit of

the pillar, above 120 feet from the ground, stood the colossal statue of

Apollo. It was of bronze, had been transported either from Athens or from

a town of Phrygia, and was supposed to be the work of Phidias. The artist

had represented the god of day, or, as it was afterwards interpreted, the

emperor Constantine himself, with a sceptre in his right hand, the globe

of the world in his left, and a crown of rays glittering on his head. The

Circus, or Hippodrome, was a stately building, about four hundred paces

in length and one hundred in breadth. The space between the two _metæ_,

or goals, was filled with statues and obelisks; and we may still remark

a very singular fragment of antiquity--the bodies of three serpents,

twisted into one pillar of brass. Their triple heads had once supported

the golden tripod which, after the defeat of Xerxes, was consecrated

in the temple of Delphi by the victorious Greeks. The beauty of the

Hippodrome has been long since defaced by the rude hands of the Turkish

conquerors; but under the similar appellation of Atmeidan, it still

serves a place of exercise for their horses.

From the throne, whence the emperor viewed the Circensian games, a

winding staircase descended to the palace--a magnificent edifice, which

scarcely yielded to the residence of Rome itself, and which, together

with the dependent courts, gardens, and porticoes, covered a considerable

extent of ground upon the banks of the Propontis, between the Hippodrome

and the church of St. Sophia. We might likewise celebrate the baths,

which still retained the name of Zeuxippus after they had been enriched,

by the munificence of Constantine, with lofty columns, various marbles,

and above threescore statues of bronze. But we should deviate from the

design of this history if we attempted minutely to describe the different

buildings or quarters of the city. It may be sufficient to observe that

whatever could adorn the dignity of a great capital, or contribute to

the benefit or pleasure of its numerous inhabitants, was contained

within the walls of Constantinople. A particular description, composed

about a century after its foundation, enumerates a capitol or school of

learning, a circus, two theatres, eight public and 153 private baths,

fifty-two porticoes, five granaries, eight aqueducts or reservoirs of

water, four spacious halls for the meetings of the senate or courts of

justice, fourteen churches, fourteen palaces, and 4388 houses which, for

their size or beauty, deserved to be distinguished from the multitude of

plebeian habitations.

THE OLD METROPOLIS AND THE NEW: ROME AND CONSTANTINOPLE

The populousness of this favoured city was the next and most serious

object of the attention of its founder. In the dark ages which succeeded

the translation of the empire, the remote and the immediate consequences

of that memorable event were strangely confounded by the vanity of the

Greeks and the credulity of the Latins. It was asserted and believed

that all the noble families of Rome, the senate, and the equestrian

order, with their innumerable attendants, had followed their emperor

to the banks of the Propontis; that a spurious race of strangers and

plebeians was left to possess the solitude of the ancient capital, and

that the lands of Italy, long since converted into gardens, were at once

deprived of cultivation and inhabitants. In the course of this history

such exaggerations will be reduced to their just value. Yet, since the

growth of Constantinople cannot be ascribed to the general increase

of mankind and of industry, it must be admitted that this artificial

colony was raised at the expense of the ancient cities of the empire.

Many opulent senators of Rome and of the eastern provinces were probably

invited by Constantine to adopt for their country the fortunate spot

which he had chosen for his own residence. The invitations of a master

are scarcely to be distinguished from commands; and the liberality of

the emperor obtained a ready and cheerful obedience. He bestowed on his

favourites the palaces which he had built in the several quarters of the

city, assigned them lands and pensions for the support of their dignity,

and alienated the demesnes of Pontus and Asia to grant the hereditary

estates by the easy tenure of maintaining a house in the capital. But

these encouragements and obligations soon became superfluous, and

were gradually abolished. Wherever the seat of government is fixed, a

considerable part of the public revenue will be expended by the prince

himself, by his ministers, by the officers of justice, and by the

domestics of the palace. The most wealthy of the provincials will be

attracted by the powerful motives of interest and duty, of amusement and

curiosity. A third and more numerous class of inhabitants will insensibly

be formed, of servants, of artificers, and of merchants, who derive their

subsistence from their own labour, and from the wants or luxury of the

superior ranks. In less than a century Constantinople disputed with Rome

itself the pre-eminence of riches and numbers. New piles of buildings,

crowded together with too little regard to health or convenience,

scarcely allowed the intervals of narrow streets for the perpetual

throng of men, of horses, and of carriages. The allotted space of ground

was insufficient to contain the increasing people; and the additional

foundations, which, on either side, were advanced into the sea, might

alone have composed a very considerable city.

The frequent and regular distributions of wine and oil, of corn or bread,

of money or provisions, had almost exempted the poorest citizens of

Rome from the necessity of labour. The magnificence of the first Cæsars

was in some measure imitated by the founder of Constantinople; but his

liberality, however it might excite the applause of the people, has

incurred the censure of posterity. A nation of legislators and conquerors

might assert its claim to the harvest of Africa, which had been purchased

with its blood; and it was artfully contrived by Augustus that in the

enjoyment of plenty the Romans should lose the memory of freedom. But

the prodigality of Constantine could not be excused by any consideration

either of public or private interest; and the annual tribute of corn

imposed upon Egypt for the benefit of his new capital was applied to

feed a lazy and indolent populace, at the expense of the husbandmen of

an industrious province. Some other regulations of this emperor are

less liable to blame, but they are less deserving of notice. He divided

Constantinople into fourteen regions or quarters, dignified the public

council with the appellation of senate, communicated to the citizens the

privileges of Italy, and bestowed on the rising city the title of Colony,

the first and most favoured daughter of ancient Rome. The venerable

parent still maintained the legal and acknowledged supremacy, which was

due to her age, to her dignity, and to the remembrance of her former

greatness.

As Constantine urged the process of the work with the impatience of

a lover, the walls, the porticoes, and the principal edifices were

completed in a few years, or, according to another account, in a few

months; but this extraordinary diligence should excite less admiration,

since many of the buildings were finished in so hasty and imperfect

a manner that, under the succeeding reign, they were preserved with

difficulty from impending ruin. But while they displayed the vigour and

freshness of youth, the founder prepared to celebrate the dedication

of his city. The games and largesses which crowned the pomp of this

memorable festival may easily be supposed; but there is one circumstance

of a more singular and permanent nature, which ought not entirely to be

overlooked. As often as the birthday of the city returned, the statue of

Constantine, framed by his order, of gilt wood, and bearing in his right

hand a small image of the genius of the place, was erected on a triumphal

car. The guards, carrying white tapers, and clothed in their richest

apparel, accompanied the solemn procession as it moved through the

Hippodrome. When it was opposite to the throne of the reigning emperor,

he rose from his seat, and with a grateful reverence adored the memory

of his predecessor. At the festival of dedication an edict, engraved on

a column of marble, bestowed the title of Second or New Rome on the city

of Constantine. But the name of Constantinople has prevailed over that

honourable epithet, and after the revolution of fifteen centuries still

perpetuates the fame of the author.

CHARACTER OF CONSTANTINE THE GREAT

The character of the prince who removed the seat of empire, and

introduced such important changes into the civil and religious

constitution of his country, has fixed the attention and divided the

opinions of mankind. By the grateful zeal of the Christians, the

deliverer of the church has been decorated with every attribute of a

hero, even of a saint; while the discontent of the vanquished party has

compared Constantine to the most abhorred of those tyrants who by their

vice and weakness, dishonoured the imperial purple.

The same passions have in some degree been perpetuated to succeeding

generations, and the character of Constantine is considered, even in

the present age, as an object either of satire or of panegyric. By the

impartial union of those defects which are confessed by his warmest

admirers, and of those virtues which are acknowledged by his most

implacable enemies, we might hope to delineate a just portrait of that

extraordinary man, which the truth and candour of history should adopt

without a blush. But it would soon appear that the vain attempt to blend

such discordant colours, and to reconcile such inconsistent qualities,

must produce a figure monstrous rather than human, unless it is viewed in

its proper and distinct lights by a careful separation of the different

periods of the reign of Constantine.

[Illustration: ROMAN GLASSWARE]

The person, as well as the mind, of Constantine had been enriched

by nature with her choicest endowments. His stature was lofty, his

countenance majestic, his deportment graceful; his strength and activity

were displayed in every manly exercise, and from his earliest youth to a

very advanced season of life he preserved the vigour of his constitution

by a strict adherence to the domestic virtues of chastity and temperance.

He delighted in the social intercourse of familiar conversation; and

though he might sometimes indulge his disposition to raillery with less

reserve than was required by the severe dignity of his station, the

courtesy and liberality of his manners gained the hearts of all who

approached him. The sincerity of his friendship has been suspected; yet

he showed, on some occasions, that he was not incapable of a warm and

lasting attachment. The disadvantage of a deficient education had not

prevented him from forming a just estimate of the value of learning; and

the arts and sciences derived some encouragement from the munificent

protection of Constantine. In the despatch of business, his diligence was

indefatigable; and the active powers of his mind were almost continually

exercised in reading, writing, or meditating, in giving audience to

ambassadors, and in examining the complaints of his subjects. Even those

who censured the propriety of his measures were compelled to acknowledge

that he possessed magnanimity to conceive and patience to execute the

most arduous designs, without being checked either by the prejudices of

education or by the clamours of the multitude. In the field, he infused

his own intrepid spirit into the troops, whom he conducted with the

talents of a consummate general; and to his abilities, rather than to his

fortune, we may ascribe the signal victories which he obtained over the

foreign and domestic foes of the republic.

He loved glory, as the reward, perhaps even as the motive, of his

labours. The boundless ambition which, from the moment of his accepting

the purple at York, appears as the ruling passion of his soul, may be

justified by the dangers of his own situation, by the character of his

rivals, by the consciousness of superior merit, and by the prospect that

his success would enable him to restore peace and order to the distracted

empire. In his civil wars against Maxentius and Licinius, he had engaged

on his side the inclinations of the people, who compared the undissembled

vices of those tyrants with the spirit of wisdom and justice which seemed

to direct the general tenor of the administration of Constantine.

Had Constantine fallen on the banks of the Tiber, or even in the plains

of Hadrianopolis, such is the character which, with few exceptions, he

might have transmitted to posterity. But the conclusion of his reign

(according to the moderate and indeed tender sentence of a writer of the

same age) degraded him from the rank which he had acquired among the

most deserving of the Roman princes. In the life of Augustus, we behold

the tyrant of the republic converted, almost by imperceptible degrees,

into the father of his country and of human kind. In that of Constantine

we may contemplate a hero who had so long inspired his subjects with

love and his enemies with terror degenerating into a cruel and dissolute

monarch, corrupted by his fortune, or raised by conquest above the

necessity of dissimulation. The general peace which he maintained during

the last fourteen years of his reign was a period of apparent splendour

rather than of real prosperity; and the old age of Constantine was

disgraced by the opposite yet reconcilable vices of rapaciousness and

prodigality. The accumulated treasures found in the palaces of Maxentius

and Licinius were lavishly consumed; the various innovations introduced

by the conqueror were attended with an increasing expense; the cost of

his buildings, his court, and his festivals required an immediate and

plentiful supply; and the oppression of the people was the only fund

which could support the magnificence of the sovereign. His unworthy

favourites, enriched by the boundless liberality of their master, usurped

with impunity the privilege of rapine and corruption.

A secret but universal decay was felt in every part of the public

administration; the emperor himself, though he still retained the

obedience, gradually lost the esteem of his subjects. The dress and

manners which, towards the decline of life, he chose to affect, served

only to degrade him in the eyes of mankind. The Asiatic pomp, which had

been adopted by the pride of Diocletian, assumed an air of softness and

effeminacy in the person of Constantine. He is represented with false

hair of various colours, laboriously arranged by the skilful artists of

the times; a diadem of a new and more expensive fashion; a profusion

of gems and pearls, of collars and bracelets, and a variegated flowing

robe of silk, most curiously embroidered with flowers of gold. In such

apparel, scarcely to be excused by the youth and folly of Elagabalus,

we are at a loss to discover the wisdom of an aged monarch and the

simplicity of a Roman veteran. A mind thus relaxed by prosperity and

indulgence was incapable of rising to that magnanimity which disdains

suspicion and dares to forgive. The deaths of Maximian and Licinius may

perhaps be justified by the maxims of policy as they are taught in the

schools of tyrants; but an impartial narrative of the executions, or

rather murders, which sullied the declining age of Constantine, will

suggest to our most candid thoughts the idea of a prince who could

sacrifice without reluctance the laws of justice and the feelings of

nature to the dictates either of his passions or of his interest.

The same fortune which so invariably followed the standard of Constantine

seemed to secure the hopes and comforts of his domestic life. Those among

his predecessors who had enjoyed the longest and most prosperous reigns,

Augustus, Trajan, and Diocletian, had been disappointed of posterity;

and the frequent revolutions had never allowed sufficient time for any

imperial family to grow up and multiply under the shade of the purple.

But the royalty of the Flavian line, which had been first ennobled by the

Gothic Claudius, descended through several generations; and Constantine

himself derived from his royal father the hereditary honours which

he transmitted to his children. The emperor had been twice married.

Minervina, the obscure but lawful object of his youthful attachment,

had left him only one son, who was called Crispus. By Fausta, the

daughter of Maximian, he had three daughters and three sons, known by the

kindred names of Constantine, Constantius, and Constans. The unambitious

brothers of the great Constantine, Julius Constantius, Dalmatius, and

Hannibalianus, were permitted to enjoy the most honourable rank and the

most affluent fortune that could be consistent with a private station.

The youngest of the three lived without a name, and died without

posterity. His two elder brothers obtained in marriage the daughters

of wealthy senators, and propagated new branches of the imperial race.

Gallus and Julian afterwards became the most illustrious of the children

of Julius Constantius, the patrician. The two sons of Dalmatius, who

had been decorated with the vain title of censor, were named Dalmatius

and Hannibalianus. The two sisters of the great Constantine, Anastasia

and Eutropia, were bestowed on Optatus and Nepotianus, two senators

of noble birth and of consular dignity. His third sister, Constantia,

was distinguished by her pre-eminence of greatness and of misery.

She remained the widow of the vanquished Licinius; and it was by her

entreaties that an innocent boy, the offspring of their marriage,

preserved for some time his life, the title of Cæsar, and a precarious

hope of the succession. Besides the females and the allies of the Flavian

house, ten or twelve males, to whom the language of modern courts would

apply the title of princes of the blood, seemed, according to the order

of their birth, to be destined either to inherit or to support the

throne of Constantine. But in less than thirty years, this numerous and

increasing family was reduced to the persons of Constantius and Julian,

who alone had survived a series of crimes and calamities such as the

tragic poets have deplored in the devoted lines of Pelops and of Cadmus.

CONSTANTINE AND CRISPUS

[Sidenote: [323-326 A.D.]]

Crispus, the eldest son of Constantine, and the presumptive heir of

the empire, is represented by impartial historians as an amiable

and accomplished youth. The care of his education, or at least of

his studies, was intrusted to Lactantius, the most eloquent of the

Christians; a preceptor admirably qualified to form the taste and to

excite the virtues of his illustrious disciple. At the age of seventeen

Crispus was invested with the title of Cæsar and the administration of

the Gallic provinces, where the inroads of the Germans gave him an early

occasion of signalising his military prowess. In the civil war which

broke out soon afterwards the father and son divided their powers; the

latter displayed great valour in forcing the straits of the Hellespont,

despite the superior fleet of Licinius. This naval victory contributed

to determine the event of the war; and the names of Constantine and of

Crispus were united in the joyful acclamations of their eastern subjects,

who loudly proclaimed that the world had been subdued, and was now

governed by an emperor endowed with every virtue; and by his illustrious

son, a prince beloved of heaven, and the lively image of his father’s

perfections. The public favour, which seldom accompanies old age,

diffused its lustre over the youth of Crispus. He deserved the esteem and

he engaged the affections of the court, the army, and the people. The

experienced merit of a reigning monarch is acknowledged by his subjects

with reluctance, and frequently denied with partial and discontented

murmurs; while, from the opening virtues of his successor, they fondly

conceive the most unbounded hopes of private as well as public felicity.

This dangerous popularity soon excited the attention of Constantine,

who, both as a father and as a king, was impatient of an equal. Instead

of attempting to secure the allegiance of his son by the generous ties

of confidence and gratitude, he resolved to prevent the mischiefs which

might be apprehended from dissatisfied ambition. Crispus soon had reason

to complain that while his infant brother Constantius was sent, with

the title of Cæsar, to reign over his peculiar department of the Gallic

provinces, he, a prince of mature years, who had performed such recent

and signal services, instead of being raised to the superior rank of

augustus, was confined almost a prisoner to his father’s court; and

exposed, without power or defence, to every calumny which the malice of

his enemies could suggest. Under such painful circumstances, the royal

youth might not always be able to compose his behaviour or suppress

his discontent; and we may be assured that he was encompassed by a

train of indiscreet or perfidious followers, who assiduously studied to

inflame and who were perhaps instructed to betray the unguarded warmth

of his resentment. An edict of Constantine, published about this time,

manifestly indicates his real or affected suspicions that a secret

conspiracy had been formed against his person and government. By all the

allurements of honours and rewards, he invites informers of every degree

to accuse without exception his magistrates or ministers, his friends or

his most intimate favourites, protesting with a solemn asseveration that

he himself will listen to the charge, that he himself will revenge his

injuries; and concluding with a prayer, which discovers some apprehension

of danger, that the providence of the supreme Being may still continue to

protect the safety of the emperor and of the empire.

The informers who complied with so liberal an invitation were

sufficiently versed in the arts of courts to select the friends and

adherents of Crispus as the guilty persons; nor is there any reason to

distrust the veracity of the emperor, who had promised an ample measure

of revenge and punishment. The policy of Constantine maintained, however,

the same appearances of regard and confidence towards a son whom he began

to consider as his most irreconcilable enemy. Medals were struck with

the customary vows for the long and auspicious reign of the young cæsar;

and as the people, who were not admitted into the secrets of the palace,

still loved his virtues and respected his dignity, a poet, who solicits

his recall from exile, adores with equal devotion the majesty of the

father and that of the son.

[Sidenote: [326 A.D.]]

The time was now arrived for celebrating the august ceremony of the

twentieth year of the reign of Constantine; and the emperor, for that

purpose, removed his court from Nicomedia to Rome, where the most

splendid preparations had been made for his reception. Every eye and

every tongue affected to express its sense of the general happiness,

and the veil of ceremony and dissimulation was drawn for a while over

the darkest designs of revenge and murder. In the midst of the festival,

the unfortunate Crispus was apprehended by order of the emperor, who

laid aside the tenderness of a father, without assuming the equity of

a judge. The examination was short and private; and, as it was thought

decent to conceal the fate of the young prince from the eyes of the Roman

people, he was sent under a strong guard to Pola, in Istria, where soon

afterwards he was put to death, either by the hand of the executioner, or

by the more gentle operation of poison.

The cæsar Licinius, a youth of amiable manners, was involved in the ruin

of Crispus; the stern jealousy of Constantine was unmoved by the prayers

and tears of his favourite sister, pleading for the life of a son whose

rank was his only crime, and whose loss she did not long survive. The

story of these unhappy princes, the nature and evidence of their guilt,

the forms of their trial, and the circumstances of their death were

buried in mysterious obscurity; and the courtly bishop who has celebrated

in an elaborate work the virtues and piety of his hero observes a prudent

silence on the subject of these tragic events. Such haughty contempt for

the opinion of mankind, whilst it imprints an indelible stain on the

memory of Constantine, must remind us of the very different behaviour of

one of the greatest monarchs of a later age. The czar Peter, in the full

possession of despotic power, submitted to the judgment of Russia, of

Europe, and of posterity the reasons which had compelled him to subscribe

the condemnation of a criminal, or at least of a degenerate son.

[Illustration: ROMAN SPOONS AND LADLES]

The innocence of Crispus was so universally acknowledged that the modern

Greeks, who adore the memory of their founder, are reduced to palliate

the guilt of parricide, which the common feelings of human nature forbade

them to justify. They pretend that, as soon as the afflicted father

discovered the falsehood of the accusation by which his credulity had

been so fatally misled, he published to the world his repentance and

remorse; that he mourned forty days, during which he abstained from the

use of the bath and all the ordinary comforts of life; and that, for the

lasting instruction of posterity, he erected a golden statue of Crispus,

with this memorable inscription: “To my son, whom I unjustly condemned.”

A tale so moral and so interesting would deserve to be supported by less

exceptional authority; but if we consult the more ancient and authentic

writers, they will inform us that the repentance of Constantine was

manifested only in acts of blood and revenge; and that he atoned for the

murder of an innocent son by the execution, perhaps, of a guilty wife.

They ascribe the misfortunes of Crispus to the arts of his stepmother

Fausta, whose implacable hatred, or whose disappointed love, renewed

in the palace of Constantine the ancient tragedy of Hippolytus and of

Phædra. Like the daughter of Minos, the daughter of Maximian accused

her son-in-law of an incestuous attempt on the chastity of his father’s

wife; and easily obtained, from the jealousy of the emperor, a sentence

of death against a young prince whom she considered with reason as

the most formidable rival of her own children. But Helena, the aged

mother of Constantine, lamented and revenged the untimely fate of her

grandson Crispus; nor was it long before a real or pretended discovery

was made that Fausta herself entertained a criminal connection with a

slave belonging to the imperial stables. Her condemnation and punishment

were the instant consequences of the charge; and the adulteress was

suffocated by the steam of a bath, which for that purpose had been heated

to an extraordinary degree. By some it will perhaps be thought that the

remembrance of a conjugal union of twenty years, and the honour of their

common offspring, the destined heirs of the throne, might have softened

the obdurate heart of Constantine, and persuaded him to suffer his wife,

however guilty she might appear, to expiate her offences in a solitary

prison. But it seems a superfluous labour to weigh the propriety, unless

we could ascertain the truth, of this singular event; which is attended

with some circumstances of doubt and perplexity.

THE HEIRS OF CONSTANTINE

[Sidenote: [326-335 A.D.]]

Those who have attacked and those who have defended the character of

Constantine, have alike disregarded two very remarkable passages of two

orations pronounced under the succeeding reign. The former celebrates the

virtues, the beauty, and the fortune of the empress Fausta, the daughter,

wife, sister, and mother of so many princes. The latter asserts, in

explicit terms, that the mother of the younger Constantine, who was slain

three years after his father’s death, survived to weep over the fate of

her son. Notwithstanding the positive testimony of several writers of

the pagan as well as of the Christian religion, there may still remain

some reason to believe, or at least to suspect, that Fausta escaped the

blind and suspicious cruelty of her husband. The deaths of a son and of a

nephew, with the execution of a great number of respectable, and perhaps

innocent friends, who were involved in their fall, may be sufficient,

however, to justify the discontent of the Roman people, and to explain

the satirical verses affixed to the palace gate, comparing the splendid

and bloody reigns of Constantine and Nero.

By the death of Crispus, the inheritance of the empire seemed to devolve

on the three sons of Fausta, who have been already mentioned under the

names of Constantine, of Constantius, and of Constans. These young

princes were successively invested with the title of Cæsar; and the dates

of their promotion may be referred to the tenth, the twentieth, and

the thirtieth years of the reign of their father. This conduct, though

it tended to multiply the future masters of the Roman world, might be

excused by the partiality of paternal affection; but it is not easy to

understand the motives of the emperor when he endangered the safety both

of his family and of his people, by the unnecessary elevation of his

two nephews, Dalmatius and Hannibalianus. The former was raised, by the

title of Cæsar, to an equality with his cousins. In favour of the latter,

Constantine invented the new and singular appellation of “nobilissimus”;

to which he annexed the flattering distinction of a robe of purple and

gold. But of the whole series of Roman princes in any age of the empire,

Hannibalianus alone was distinguished by the title of king, a name which

the subjects of Tiberius would have detested as the profane and cruel

insult of capricious tyranny. The use of such a title, even as it appears

under the reign of Constantine, is a strange and unconnected fact, which

can scarcely be admitted on the joint authority of imperial medals and

contemporary writers.

The whole empire was deeply interested in the education of these five

youths, the acknowledged successors of Constantine. The exercises

of the body prepared them for the fatigues of war and the duties of

active life. Those who occasionally mention the education or talents

of Constantius allow that he excelled in the gymnastic arts of leaping

and running; that he was a dexterous archer, a skilful horseman, and a

master of all the different weapons used in the service either of the

cavalry or of the infantry. The same assiduous cultivation was bestowed,

though not perhaps with equal success, to improve the minds of the other

sons and the nephews of Constantine. The most celebrated professors

of the Christian faith, of the Grecian philosophy, and of the Roman

jurisprudence were invited by the liberality of the emperor, who reserved

for himself the important task of instructing the royal youths in the

science of government and the knowledge of mankind. But the genius of

Constantine himself had been formed by adversity and experience. In the

free intercourse of private life and amidst the dangers of the court of

Galerius, he had learned to command his own passions, to encounter those

of his equals, and to depend for his present safety and future greatness

on the prudence and firmness of his conduct. His destined successors

had the misfortune of being born and educated in the imperial purple.

Incessantly surrounded by a train of flatterers, they passed their youth

in the enjoyment of luxury and the expectation of a throne; nor would the

dignity of their rank permit them to descend from that elevated station

from whence the various characters of human nature appear to wear a

smooth and uniform aspect.

The indulgence of Constantine admitted them, at a very tender age, to

share the administration of the empire; and they studied the art of

reigning at the expense of the people intrusted to their care. The

younger Constantine was appointed to hold his court in Gaul; and his

brother Constantius exchanged that department, the ancient patrimony

of their father, for the more opulent, but less martial, countries of

the east. Italy, the western Illyricum, and Africa were accustomed to

revere Constans, the third of his sons, as the representative of the

great Constantine. He fixed Dalmatius on the Gothic frontier, to which

he annexed the government of Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece. The city of

Cæsarea was chosen for the residence of Hannibalianus; and the provinces

of Pontus, Cappadocia, and the lesser Armenia were destined to form

the extent of his new kingdom. For each of these princes a suitable

establishment was provided. A just proportion of guards, of legions, and

of auxiliaries was allotted for their respective dignity and defence. The

ministers and generals who were placed about their persons were such as

Constantine could trust to assist, and even to control, these youthful

sovereigns in the exercise of their delegated power. As they advanced

in years and experience the limits of their authority were insensibly

enlarged: but the emperor always reserved for himself the title of

Augustus; and while he showed the cæsars to the armies and provinces, he

maintained every part of the empire in equal obedience to its supreme

head. The tranquillity of the last fourteen years of his reign was

scarcely interrupted by the contemptible insurrection of a camel-driver

in the island of Cyprus, or by the active part which the policy of

Constantine engaged him to assume in the wars of the Goths and Sarmatians.

THE AGED CONSTANTINE AND THE SARMATIANS

[Sidenote: [332-337 A.D.]]

Among the different branches of the human race, the Sarmatians form a

very remarkable shade, as they seem to unite the manners of the Asiatic

barbarians with the figure and complexion of the ancient inhabitants of

Europe. According to the various accidents of peace and war, of alliance

or conquest, the Sarmatians were sometimes confined to the banks of the

Tanaïs; and they sometimes spread themselves over the immense plains

which lie between the Vistula and the Volga. The care of their numerous

flocks and herds, the pursuit of game, and the exercise of war, or rather

of rapine, directed the vagrant motions of the Sarmatians. The movable

camps or cities, the ordinary residence of their wives and children,

consisted only of large wagons drawn by oxen, and covered in the form

of tents. The military strength of the nation was composed of cavalry;

and the custom of the warriors, to lead in their hand one or two spare

horses, enabled them to advance and to retreat with a rapid diligence,

which surprised the security and eluded the pursuit of a distant enemy.

Their poverty of iron prompted their rude industry to invent a sort of

cuirass, which was capable of resisting a sword or javelin, though it

was formed only of horses’ hoofs, cut into thin and polished slices,

carefully laid over each other in the manner of scales or feathers,

and strongly sewed upon an undergarment of coarse linen. The offensive

arms of the Sarmatians were short daggers, long lances, and a weighty

bow with a quiver of arrows. They were reduced to the necessity of

employing fish bones for the points of their weapons; but the custom of

dipping them in a venomous liquor, that poisoned the wounds which they

inflicted, is alone sufficient to prove the most savage manners; since a

people impressed with a sense of humanity would have abhorred so cruel a

practice, and a nation skilled in the arts of war would have disdained so

impotent a resource. Whenever these barbarians issued from their deserts

in quest of prey, their shaggy beards, uncombed locks, the furs with

which they were covered from head to foot, and their fierce countenances,

which seemed to express the innate cruelty of their minds, inspired the

more civilised provincials of Rome with horror and dismay.

The tender Ovid, after a youth spent in the enjoyment of fame and luxury,

was condemned to a hopeless exile on the frozen banks of the Danube,

where he was exposed, almost without defence, to the fury of these

monsters of the desert, with whose stern spirits he feared that his

gentle shade might hereafter be confounded. In his pathetic but sometimes

unmanly lamentations, he describes in the most lively colours the dress

and manners, the arms and inroads, of the Getæ and Sarmatians, who were

associated for the purposes of destruction; and from the accounts of

history there is some reason to believe that these Sarmatians were the

Iazyges, one of the most numerous and warlike tribes of the nation. The

allurements of plenty engaged them to seek a permanent establishment

on the frontiers of the empire. Soon after the reign of Augustus, they

obliged the Dacians, who subsisted by fishing on the banks of the river

Theiss or Tibiscus, to retire into the hilly country, and to abandon to

the victorious Sarmatians the fertile plains of Upper Hungary, which

are bounded by the course of the Danube and the semicircular enclosure

of the Carpathian Mountains. In this advantageous position they watched

or suspended the moment of attack, as they were provoked by injuries or

appeased by presents; they gradually acquired the skill of using more

dangerous weapons; and although the Sarmatians did not illustrate their

name by any memorable exploits, they occasionally assisted their eastern

and western neighbours, the Goths and the Germans, with a formidable

body of cavalry. They lived under the irregular aristocracy of their

chieftains; but after they had received into their bosom the fugitive

Vandals, who yielded to the pressure of the Gothic power, they seem to

have chosen a king from that nation, and from the illustrious race of the

Astingi, who had formerly dwelt on the shores of the Northern Ocean.

[Illustration: ROMAN CANDELABRUM]

This motive of enmity must have inflamed the subjects of contention which

perpetually arise on the confines of warlike and independent nations.

The Vandal princes were stimulated by fear and revenge; the Gothic kings

aspired to extend their dominion from the Euxine to the frontiers of

Germany; and the waters of the Marus, a small river which falls into the

Theiss, were stained with the blood of the contending barbarians. After

some experience of the superior strength and number of their adversaries,

the Sarmatians implored the protection of the Roman monarch, who beheld

with pleasure the discord of the nations but who was justly alarmed by

the progress of the Gothic arms. As soon as Constantine had declared

himself in favour of the weaker party, the haughty Araric, king of the

Goths, instead of expecting the attack of the legions, boldly passed

the Danube, and spread terror and devastation through the province of

Mœsia. To oppose the inroad of this destroying host, the aged emperor

took the field in person; but on this occasion either his conduct or his

fortune betrayed the glory which he had acquired in so many foreign and

domestic wars. He had the mortification of seeing his troops fly before

an inconsiderable detachment of the barbarians, who pursued them to the

edge of their fortified camp and obliged him to consult his safety by

a precipitate and ignominious retreat. The event of a second and more

successful action retrieved the honour of the Roman name; and the powers

of art and discipline prevailed, after an obstinate contest, over the

efforts of irregular valour. The broken army of the Goths abandoned the

field of battle, the wasted province, and the passage of the Danube;

and although the eldest of the sons of Constantine was permitted to

supply the place of his father, the merit of the victory, which diffused

universal joy, was ascribed to the auspicious counsels of the emperor

himself.

He contributed at least to improve this advantage by his negotiations

with the free and warlike people of Chersonesus, whose capital, situated

on the western coast of the Tauric or Crimæan peninsula, still retained

some vestiges of a Grecian colony, and was governed by a perpetual

magistrate, assisted by a council of senators, emphatically styled

the fathers of the city. The Chersonites were animated against the

Goths by the memory of the wars which, in the preceding century,

they had maintained with unequal forces against the invaders of their

country. They were connected with the Romans by the mutual benefits of

commerce, as they were supplied from the provinces of Asia with corn and

manufactures, which they purchased with their own productions, salt, wax,

and hides. Obedient to the requisition of Constantine, they prepared,

under the conduct of their magistrate Diogenes, a considerable army,

of which the principal strength consisted in crossbows and military

chariots. The speedy march and intrepid attack of the Chersonites, by

diverting the attention of the Goths, assisted the operations of the

imperial generals.

The Goths, vanquished on every side, were driven into the mountains,

where in the course of a severe campaign about a hundred thousand were

computed to have perished by cold and hunger. Peace was at length granted

to their humble supplications; the eldest son of Araric was accepted

as the most valuable hostage; and Constantine endeavoured to convince

their chiefs, by a liberal distribution of honours and rewards, how

far the friendship of the Romans was preferable to their enmity. In

the expressions of his gratitude towards the faithful Chersonites, the

emperor was still more magnificent. The pride of the nation was gratified

by the splendid and almost royal decorations bestowed on their magistrate

and his successors. A perpetual exemption from all duties was stipulated

for their vessels which traded to the ports of the Black Sea. A regular

subsidy was promised of iron, corn, oil, and every supply which could be

useful either in peace or war. But it was thought that the Sarmatians

were sufficiently rewarded by their deliverance from impending ruin;

and the emperor, perhaps with too strict an economy, deducted some part

of the expenses of the war from the customary gratifications which were

allowed to that turbulent nation.

Exasperated by this apparent neglect the Sarmatians soon forgot, with the

levity of barbarians, the services which they had so lately received, and

the dangers which still threatened their safety. Their inroads on the

territory of the empire provoked the indignation of Constantine to leave

them to their fate, and he no longer opposed the ambition of Geberic, a

renowned warrior, who had recently ascended the Gothic throne. Wisumar,

the Vandal king, whilst alone and unassisted he defended his dominions

with undaunted courage, was vanquished and slain in a decisive battle,

which swept away the flower of the Sarmatian youth. The remainder of the

nation embraced the desperate expedient of arming their slaves, a hardy

race of hunters and herdsmen, by whose tumultuary aid they revenged

their defeat and expelled the invader from their confines. But they

soon discovered that they had exchanged a foreign for a domestic enemy,

more dangerous and more implacable. Enraged by their former servitude,

elated by their present glory, the slaves, under the name of Limigantes,

claimed and usurped the possession of the country which they had saved.

Their masters, unable to withstand the ungoverned fury of the populace,

preferred the hardships of exile to the tyranny of their servants. Some

of the fugitive Sarmatians solicited a less ignominious dependence under

the hostile standard of the Goths. A more numerous band retired beyond

the Carpathian Mountains, among the Quadi, their German allies, and were

easily admitted to share a superfluous waste of uncultivated land. But

the far greater part of the distressed nation turned their eyes towards

the fruitful provinces of Rome. Imploring the protection and forgiveness

of the emperor, they solemnly promised, as subjects in peace and as

soldiers in war, the most inviolable fidelity to the empire which should

graciously receive them into its bosom. According to the maxims adopted

by Probus and his successors, the offers of this barbarian colony were

eagerly accepted; and a competent portion of lands in the provinces of

Pannonia, Thrace, Macedonia, and Italy were immediately assigned for the

habitation and subsistence of three hundred thousand Sarmatians.

LAST DAYS OF CONSTANTINE

[Sidenote: [337 A.D.]]

By chastising the pride of the Goths, and by accepting the homage of a

suppliant nation, Constantine asserted the majesty of the Roman Empire;

and the ambassadors of Ethiopia, Persia, and the most remote countries

of India congratulated the peace and prosperity of his government. If he

reckoned among the favours of fortune the death of his eldest son, of

his nephew, and perhaps of his wife, he enjoyed an uninterrupted flow

of private as well as public felicity, till the thirtieth year of his

reign; a period which none of his predecessors, since Augustus, had been

permitted to celebrate. Constantine survived that solemn festival about

ten months; and, at the mature age of sixty-four, after a short illness,

he ended his memorable life at the palace of Aquyrion, in the suburbs of

Nicomedia, whither he had retired for the benefit of the air and with the

hope of recruiting his exhausted strength by the use of the warm baths.

The excessive demonstrations of grief, or at least of mourning, surpassed

whatever had been practised on any former occasion. Notwithstanding

the claims of the senate and people of ancient Rome, the corpse of the

deceased emperor, according to his last request, was transported to the

city which was destined to preserve the name and memory of its founder.

The body of Constantine, adorned with the vain symbols of greatness, the

purple and diadem, was deposited on a golden bed in one of the apartments

of the palace, which for that purpose had been splendidly furnished and

illuminated. The forms of the court were strictly maintained. Every day,

at the appointed hours, the principal officers of the state, the army,

and the household, approaching the person of their sovereign with bended

knees and a composed countenance, offered their respectful homage as

seriously as if he had been still alive. From motives of policy this

theatrical representation was for some time continued; nor could flattery

neglect the opportunity of remarking that Constantine alone, by the

peculiar indulgence of heaven, had reigned after his death.[c]

FOOTNOTES

[52] [Diocletian’s administrative system was efficient; but the multitude

of officials and the expenses of the four imperial courts weighed heavily

upon the people. The arrangement for the succession was also defective.

Nevertheless Diocletian added strength to the empire and gave it a new

lease of life.]

[53] [Maximian had renounced the purple reluctantly at the bidding of

Diocletian, and had probably never been content to remain in retirement.

His attempted resumption of authority was ultimately to cost him his

life, as we shall see.]

[54] [The city bore the Latin name of Mediolanum. Maximian had made it

the capital of his division of the empire.]

[55] [Zosimus,[d] however, takes a different view. He says: “The empire

having thus devolved on Constantine and Licinius, they soon quarrelled;

not because Licinius gave any cause for it, but that Constantine, in

his usual manner, was unfaithful to his agreement, by endeavouring to

alienate from Licinius some nations that belonged to his dominions.

By this means an open rupture ensued and both prepared for war.” But

Zosimus is always hostile to Constantine, and this prejudice must not be

overlooked.]

[56] [Sirmium was the capital of the Pannonian division of the empire.]

[57] Zosimus[d] (1. 2, pp. 90, 91) gives a particular account of this

battle; but the descriptions of Zosimus are rhetorical rather than

military.

[58] The first of these places is now Old Buda, in Hungary; the

second, Hastolatz; and the third, Biddin, or Widden, in Mœsia on the

Danube.--GUIZOT.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]