After the elevation of Constantius and G_The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Table of Contents with links in the HTML file to the two Project Gutenberg editions (12 volumes)

_Augusti_, two new _Cæsars_ were required to supply their place,

and to complete the system of the Imperial government. Diocletian

was sincerely desirous of withdrawing himself from the world; he

considered Galerius, who had married his daughter, as the firmest

support of his family and of the empire; and he consented,

without reluctance, that his successor should assume the merit as

well as the envy of the important nomination. It was fixed

without consulting the interest or inclination of the princes of

the West. Each of them had a son who was arrived at the age of

manhood, and who might have been deemed the most natural

candidates for the vacant honor. But the impotent resentment of

Maximian was no longer to be dreaded; and the moderate

Constantius, though he might despise the dangers, was humanely

apprehensive of the calamities, of civil war. The two persons

whom Galerius promoted to the rank of Cæsar were much better

suited to serve the views of his ambition; and their principal

recommendation seems to have consisted in the want of merit or

personal consequence. The first of these was Daza, or, as he was

afterwards called, Maximin, whose mother was the sister of

Galerius. The unexperienced youth still betrayed, by his manners

and language, his rustic education, when, to his own

astonishment, as well as that of the world, he was invested by

Diocletian with the purple, exalted to the dignity of Cæsar, and

intrusted with the sovereign command of Egypt and Syria. 5 At the

same time, Severus, a faithful servant, addicted to pleasure, but

not incapable of business, was sent to Milan, to receive, from

the reluctant hands of Maximian, the Cæsarian ornaments, and the

possession of Italy and Africa. According to the forms of the

constitution, Severus acknowledged the supremacy of the western

emperor; but he was absolutely devoted to the commands of his

benefactor Galerius, who, reserving to himself the intermediate

countries from the confines of Italy to those of Syria, firmly

established his power over three fourths of the monarchy. In the

full confidence that the approaching death of Constantius would

leave him sole master of the Roman world, we are assured that he

had arranged in his mind a long succession of future princes, and

that he meditated his own retreat from public life, after he

should have accomplished a glorious reign of about twenty years.

6 7

5 (return) [ Sublatus nuper a pecoribus et silvis (says

Lactantius de M. P. c. 19) statim Scutarius, continuo Protector,

mox Tribunus, postridie Cæsar, accepit Orientem. Aurelius Victor

is too liberal in giving him the whole portion of Diocletian.]

6 (return) [ His diligence and fidelity are acknowledged even by

Lactantius, de M. P. c. 18.]

7 (return) [ These schemes, however, rest only on the very

doubtful authority of Lactantius de M. P. c. 20.]

But within less than eighteen months, two unexpected revolutions

overturned the ambitious schemes of Galerius. The hopes of

uniting the western provinces to his empire were disappointed by

the elevation of Constantine, whilst Italy and Africa were lost

by the successful revolt of Maxentius.

I. The fame of Constantine has rendered posterity attentive to

the most minute circumstances of his life and actions. The place

of his birth, as well as the condition of his mother Helena, have

been the subject, not only of literary, but of national disputes.

Notwithstanding the recent tradition, which assigns for her

father a British king, 8 we are obliged to confess, that Helena

was the daughter of an innkeeper; but at the same time, we may

defend the legality of her marriage, against those who have

represented her as the concubine of Constantius. 9 The great

Constantine was most probably born at Naissus, in Dacia; 10 and

it is not surprising that, in a family and province distinguished

only by the profession of arms, the youth should discover very

little inclination to improve his mind by the acquisition of

knowledge. 11 He was about eighteen years of age when his father

was promoted to the rank of Cæsar; but that fortunate event was

attended with his mother’s divorce; and the splendor of an

Imperial alliance reduced the son of Helena to a state of

disgrace and humiliation. Instead of following Constantius in the

West, he remained in the service of Diocletian, signalized his

valor in the wars of Egypt and Persia, and gradually rose to the

honorable station of a tribune of the first order. The figure of

Constantine was tall and majestic; he was dexterous in all his

exercises, intrepid in war, affable in peace; in his whole

conduct, the active spirit of youth was tempered by habitual

prudence; and while his mind was engrossed by ambition, he

appeared cold and insensible to the allurements of pleasure. The

favor of the people and soldiers, who had named him as a worthy

candidate for the rank of Cæsar, served only to exasperate the

jealousy of Galerius; and though prudence might restrain him from

exercising any open violence, an absolute monarch is seldom at a

loss how to execute a sure and secret revenge. 12 Every hour

increased the danger of Constantine, and the anxiety of his

father, who, by repeated letters, expressed the warmest desire of

embracing his son. For some time the policy of Galerius supplied

him with delays and excuses; but it was impossible long to refuse

so natural a request of his associate, without maintaining his

refusal by arms. The permission of the journey was reluctantly

granted, and whatever precautions the emperor might have taken to

intercept a return, the consequences of which he, with so much

reason, apprehended, they were effectually disappointed by the

incredible diligence of Constantine. 13 Leaving the palace of

Nicomedia in the night, he travelled post through Bithynia,

Thrace, Dacia, Pannonia, Italy, and Gaul, and, amidst the joyful

acclamations of the people, reached the port of Boulogne in the

very moment when his father was preparing to embark for Britain.

8 (return) [ This tradition, unknown to the contemporaries of

Constantine was invented in the darkness of monestaries, was

embellished by Jeffrey of Monmouth, and the writers of the xiith

century, has been defended by our antiquarians of the last age,

and is seriously related in the ponderous History of England,

compiled by Mr. Carte, (vol. i. p. 147.) He transports, however,

the kingdom of Coil, the imaginary father of Helena, from Essex

to the wall of Antoninus.]

9 (return) [ Eutropius (x. 2) expresses, in a few words, the real

truth, and the occasion of the error “ex obscuriori matrimonio

ejus filius.” Zosimus (l. ii. p. 78) eagerly seized the most

unfavorable report, and is followed by Orosius, (vii. 25,) whose

authority is oddly enough overlooked by the indefatigable, but

partial Tillemont. By insisting on the divorce of Helena,

Diocletian acknowledged her marriage.]

10 (return) [ There are three opinions with regard to the place

of Constantine’s birth. 1. Our English antiquarians were used to

dwell with rapture on the words of his panegyrist, “Britannias

illic oriendo nobiles fecisti.” But this celebrated passage may

be referred with as much propriety to the accession, as to the

nativity of Constantine. 2. Some of the modern Greeks have

ascribed the honor of his birth to Drepanum, a town on the Gulf

of Nicomedia, (Cellarius, tom. ii. p. 174,) which Constantine

dignified with the name of Helenopolis, and Justinian adorned

with many splendid buildings, (Procop. de Edificiis, v. 2.) It is

indeed probable enough, that Helena’s father kept an inn at

Drepanum, and that Constantius might lodge there when he returned

from a Persian embassy, in the reign of Aurelian. But in the

wandering life of a soldier, the place of his marriage, and the

places where his children are born, have very little connection

with each other. 3. The claim of Naissus is supported by the

anonymous writer, published at the end of Ammianus, p. 710, and

who in general copied very good materials; and it is confirmed by

Julius Firmicus, (de Astrologia, l. i. c. 4,) who flourished

under the reign of Constantine himself. Some objections have been

raised against the integrity of the text, and the application of

the passage of Firmicus but the former is established by the best

Mss., and the latter is very ably defended by Lipsius de

Magnitudine Romana, l. iv. c. 11, et Supplement.]

11 (return) [ Literis minus instructus. Anonym. ad Ammian. p.

710.]

12 (return) [ Galerius, or perhaps his own courage, exposed him

to single combat with a Sarmatian, (Anonym. p. 710,) and with a

monstrous lion. See Praxagoras apud Photium, p. 63. Praxagoras,

an Athenian philosopher, had written a life of Constantine in two

books, which are now lost. He was a contemporary.]

13 (return) [ Zosimus, l. ii. p. 78, 79. Lactantius de M. P. c.

24. The former tells a very foolish story, that Constantine

caused all the post-horses which he had used to be hamstrung.

Such a bloody execution, without preventing a pursuit, would have

scattered suspicions, and might have stopped his journey. * Note:

Zosimus is not the only writer who tells this story. The younger

Victor confirms it. Ad frustrandos insequentes, publica jumenta,

quaqua iter ageret, interficiens. Aurelius Victor de Cæsar says

the same thing, G. as also the Anonymus Valesii.— M. ——Manso,

(Leben Constantins,) p. 18, observes that the story has been

exaggerated; he took this precaution during the first stage of

his journey.—M.]

14 (return) [ Anonym. p. 710. Panegyr. Veter. vii. 4. But

Zosimus, l. ii. p. 79, Eusebius de Vit. Constant. l. i. c. 21,

and Lactantius de M. P. c. 24. suppose, with less accuracy, that

he found his father on his death-bed.]

The British expedition, and an easy victory over the barbarians

of Caledonia, were the last exploits of the reign of Constantius.

He ended his life in the Imperial palace of York, fifteen months

after he had received the title of Augustus, and almost fourteen

years and a half after he had been promoted to the rank of Cæsar.

His death was immediately succeeded by the elevation of

Constantine. The ideas of inheritance and succession are so very

familiar, that the generality of mankind consider them as founded

not only in reason but in nature itself. Our imagination readily

transfers the same principles from private property to public

dominion: and whenever a virtuous father leaves behind him a son

whose merit seems to justify the esteem, or even the hopes, of

the people, the joint influence of prejudice and of affection

operates with irresistible weight. The flower of the western

armies had followed Constantius into Britain, and the national

troops were reënforced by a numerous body of Alemanni, who obeyed

the orders of Crocus, one of their hereditary chieftains. 15 The

opinion of their own importance, and the assurance that Britain,

Gaul, and Spain would acquiesce in their nomination, were

diligently inculcated to the legions by the adherents of

Constantine. The soldiers were asked, whether they could hesitate

a moment between the honor of placing at their head the worthy

son of their beloved emperor, and the ignominy of tamely

expecting the arrival of some obscure stranger, on whom it might

please the sovereign of Asia to bestow the armies and provinces

of the West. It was insinuated to them, that gratitude and

liberality held a distinguished place among the virtues of

Constantine; nor did that artful prince show himself to the

troops, till they were prepared to salute him with the names of

Augustus and Emperor. The throne was the object of his desires;

and had he been less actuated by ambition, it was his only means

of safety. He was well acquainted with the character and

sentiments of Galerius, and sufficiently apprised, that if he

wished to live he must determine to reign. The decent and even

obstinate resistance which he chose to affect, 16 was contrived

to justify his usurpation; nor did he yield to the acclamations

of the army, till he had provided the proper materials for a

letter, which he immediately despatched to the emperor of the

East. Constantine informed him of the melancholy event of his

father’s death, modestly asserted his natural claim to the

succession, and respectfully lamented, that the affectionate

violence of his troops had not permitted him to solicit the

Imperial purple in the regular and constitutional manner. The

first emotions of Galerius were those of surprise,

disappointment, and rage; and as he could seldom restrain his

passions, he loudly threatened, that he would commit to the

flames both the letter and the messenger. But his resentment

insensibly subsided; and when he recollected the doubtful chance

of war, when he had weighed the character and strength of his

adversary, he consented to embrace the honorable accommodation

which the prudence of Constantine had left open to him. Without

either condemning or ratifying the choice of the British army,

Galerius accepted the son of his deceased colleague as the

sovereign of the provinces beyond the Alps; but he gave him only

the title of Cæsar, and the fourth rank among the Roman princes,

whilst he conferred the vacant place of Augustus on his favorite

Severus. The apparent harmony of the empire was still preserved,

and Constantine, who already possessed the substance, expected,

without impatience, an opportunity of obtaining the honors, of

supreme power. 17

15 (return) [ Cunctis qui aderant, annitentibus, sed præcipue

Croco (alii Eroco) [Erich?] Alamannorum Rege, auxilii gratia

Constantium comitato, imperium capit. Victor Junior, c. 41. This

is perhaps the first instance of a barbarian king, who assisted

the Roman arms with an independent body of his own subjects. The

practice grew familiar and at last became fatal.]

16 (return) [ His panegyrist Eumenius (vii. 8) ventures to affirm

in the presence of Constantine, that he put spurs to his horse,

and tried, but in vain, to escape from the hands of his

soldiers.]

17 (return) [ Lactantius de M. P. c. 25. Eumenius (vii. 8.) gives

a rhetorical turn to the whole transaction.]

The children of Constantius by his second marriage were six in

number, three of either sex, and whose Imperial descent might

have solicited a preference over the meaner extraction of the son

of Helena. But Constantine was in the thirty-second year of his

age, in the full vigor both of mind and body, at the time when

the eldest of his brothers could not possibly be more than

thirteen years old. His claim of superior merit had been allowed

and ratified by the dying emperor. 18 In his last moments

Constantius bequeathed to his eldest son the care of the safety

as well as greatness of the family; conjuring him to assume both

the authority and the sentiments of a father with regard to the

children of Theodora. Their liberal education, advantageous

marriages, the secure dignity of their lives, and the first

honors of the state with which they were invested, attest the

fraternal affection of Constantine; and as those princes

possessed a mild and grateful disposition, they submitted without

reluctance to the superiority of his genius and fortune. 19

18 (return) [ The choice of Constantine, by his dying father,

which is warranted by reason, and insinuated by Eumenius, seems

to be confirmed by the most unexceptionable authority, the

concurring evidence of Lactantius (de M. P. c. 24) and of

Libanius, (Oratio i.,) of Eusebius (in Vit. Constantin. l. i. c.

18, 21) and of Julian, (Oratio i)]

19 (return) [ Of the three sisters of Constantine, Constantia

married the emperor Licinius, Anastasia the Cæsar Bassianus, and

Eutropia the consul Nepotianus. The three brothers were,

Dalmatius, Julius Constantius, and Annibalianus, of whom we shall

have occasion to speak hereafter.]

II. The ambitious spirit of Galerius was scarcely reconciled to

the disappointment of his views upon the Gallic provinces, before

the unexpected loss of Italy wounded his pride as well as power

in a still more sensible part. The long absence of the emperors

had filled Rome with discontent and indignation; and the people

gradually discovered, that the preference given to Nicomedia and

Milan was not to be ascribed to the particular inclination of

Diocletian, but to the permanent form of government which he had

instituted. It was in vain that, a few months after his

abdication, his successors dedicated, under his name, those

magnificent baths, whose ruins still supply the ground as well as

the materials for so many churches and convents. 20 The

tranquility of those elegant recesses of ease and luxury was

disturbed by the impatient murmurs of the Romans, and a report

was insensibly circulated, that the sums expended in erecting

those buildings would soon be required at their hands. About that

time the avarice of Galerius, or perhaps the exigencies of the

state, had induced him to make a very strict and rigorous

inquisition into the property of his subjects, for the purpose of

a general taxation, both on their lands and on their persons. A

very minute survey appears to have been taken of their real

estates; and wherever there was the slightest suspicion of

concealment, torture was very freely employed to obtain a sincere

declaration of their personal wealth. 21 The privileges which had

exalted Italy above the rank of the provinces were no longer

regarded: 211 and the officers of the revenue already began to

number the Roman people, and to settle the proportion of the new

taxes. Even when the spirit of freedom had been utterly

extinguished, the tamest subjects have sometimes ventured to

resist an unprecedented invasion of their property; but on this

occasion the injury was aggravated by the insult, and the sense

of private interest was quickened by that of national honor. The

conquest of Macedonia, as we have already observed, had delivered

the Roman people from the weight of personal taxes.

Though they had experienced every form of despotism, they had now

enjoyed that exemption near five hundred years; nor could they

patiently brook the insolence of an Illyrian peasant, who, from

his distant residence in Asia, presumed to number Rome among the

tributary cities of his empire. The rising fury of the people was

encouraged by the authority, or at least the connivance, of the

senate; and the feeble remains of the Prætorian guards, who had

reason to apprehend their own dissolution, embraced so honorable

a pretence, and declared their readiness to draw their swords in

the service of their oppressed country. It was the wish, and it

soon became the hope, of every citizen, that after expelling from

Italy their foreign tyrants, they should elect a prince who, by

the place of his residence, and by his maxims of government,

might once more deserve the title of Roman emperor. The name, as

well as the situation, of Maxentius determined in his favor the

popular enthusiasm.

20 (return) [ See Gruter. Inscrip. p. 178. The six princes are

all mentioned, Diocletian and Maximian as the senior Augusti, and

fathers of the emperors. They jointly dedicate, for the use of

their own Romans, this magnificent edifice. The architects have

delineated the ruins of these Thermoe, and the antiquarians,

particularly Donatus and Nardini, have ascertained the ground

which they covered. One of the great rooms is now the Carthusian

church; and even one of the porter’s lodges is sufficient to form

another church, which belongs to the Feuillans.]

21 (return) [ See Lactantius de M. P. c. 26, 31. ]

211 (return) [ Saviguy, in his memoir on Roman taxation, (Mem.

Berl. Academ. 1822, 1823, p. 5,) dates from this period the

abolition of the Jus Italicum. He quotes a remarkable passage of

Aurelius Victor. Hinc denique parti Italiæ invec tum tributorum

ingens malum. Aur. Vict. c. 39. It was a necessary consequence of

the division of the empire: it became impossible to maintain a

second court and executive, and leave so large and fruitful a

part of the territory exempt from contribution.—M.]

Maxentius was the son of the emperor Maximian, and he had married

the daughter of Galerius. His birth and alliance seemed to offer

him the fairest promise of succeeding to the empire; but his

vices and incapacity procured him the same exclusion from the

dignity of Cæsar, which Constantine had deserved by a dangerous

superiority of merit. The policy of Galerius preferred such

associates as would never disgrace the choice, nor dispute the

commands, of their benefactor. An obscure stranger was therefore

raised to the throne of Italy, and the son of the late emperor of

the West was left to enjoy the luxury of a private fortune in a

villa a few miles distant from the capital. The gloomy passions

of his soul, shame, vexation, and rage, were inflamed by envy on

the news of Constantine’s success; but the hopes of Maxentius

revived with the public discontent, and he was easily persuaded

to unite his personal injury and pretensions with the cause of

the Roman people. Two Prætorian tribunes and a commissary of

provisions undertook the management of the conspiracy; and as

every order of men was actuated by the same spirit, the immediate

event was neither doubtful nor difficult. The præfect of the

city, and a few magistrates, who maintained their fidelity to

Severus, were massacred by the guards; and Maxentius, invested

with the Imperial ornaments, was acknowledged by the applauding

senate and people as the protector of the Roman freedom and

dignity. It is uncertain whether Maximian was previously

acquainted with the conspiracy; but as soon as the standard of

rebellion was erected at Rome, the old emperor broke from the

retirement where the authority of Diocletian had condemned him to

pass a life of melancholy and solitude, and concealed his

returning ambition under the disguise of paternal tenderness. At

the request of his son and of the senate, he condescended to

reassume the purple. His ancient dignity, his experience, and his

fame in arms, added strength as well as reputation to the party

of Maxentius. 22

22 (return) [ The sixth Panegyric represents the conduct of

Maximian in the most favorable light, and the ambiguous

expression of Aurelius Victor, “retractante diu,” may signify

either that he contrived, or that he opposed, the conspiracy. See

Zosimus, l. ii. p. 79, and Lactantius de M. P. c. 26.]

According to the advice, or rather the orders, of his colleague,

the emperor Severus immediately hastened to Rome, in the full

confidence, that, by his unexpected celerity, he should easily

suppress the tumult of an unwarlike populace, commanded by a

licentious youth. But he found on his arrival the gates of the

city shut against him, the walls filled with men and arms, an

experienced general at the head of the rebels, and his own troops

without spirit or affection. A large body of Moors deserted to

the enemy, allured by the promise of a large donative; and, if it

be true that they had been levied by Maximian in his African war,

preferring the natural feelings of gratitude to the artificial

ties of allegiance. Anulinus, the Prætorian præfect, declared

himself in favor of Maxentius, and drew after him the most

considerable part of the troops, accustomed to obey his commands.

Rome, according to the expression of an orator, recalled her

armies; and the unfortunate Severus, destitute of force and of

counsel, retired, or rather fled, with precipitation, to Ravenna.

Here he might for some time have been safe. The fortifications of

Ravenna were able to resist the attempts, and the morasses that

surrounded the town were sufficient to prevent the approach, of

the Italian army. The sea, which Severus commanded with a

powerful fleet, secured him an inexhaustible supply of

provisions, and gave a free entrance to the legions, which, on

the return of spring, would advance to his assistance from

Illyricum and the East. Maximian, who conducted the siege in

person, was soon convinced that he might waste his time and his

army in the fruitless enterprise, and that he had nothing to hope

either from force or famine. With an art more suitable to the

character of Diocletian than to his own, he directed his attack,

not so much against the walls of Ravenna, as against the mind of

Severus. The treachery which he had experienced disposed that

unhappy prince to distrust the most sincere of his friends and

adherents. The emissaries of Maximian easily persuaded his

credulity, that a conspiracy was formed to betray the town, and

prevailed upon his fears not to expose himself to the discretion

of an irritated conqueror, but to accept the faith of an

honorable capitulation. He was at first received with humanity

and treated with respect. Maximian conducted the captive emperor

to Rome, and gave him the most solemn assurances that he had

secured his life by the resignation of the purple. But Severus

could obtain only an easy death and an Imperial funeral. When the

sentence was signified to him, the manner of executing it was

left to his own choice; he preferred the favorite mode of the

ancients, that of opening his veins; and as soon as he expired,

his body was carried to the sepulchre which had been constructed

for the family of Gallienus. 23

23 (return) [ The circumstances of this war, and the death of

Severus, are very doubtfully and variously told in our ancient

fragments, (see Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. part i.

p. 555.) I have endeavored to extract from them a consistent and

probable narration. * Note: Manso justly observes that two

totally different narratives might be formed, almost upon equal

authority. Beylage, iv.—M.]

Chapter XIV: Six Emperors At The Same Time, Reunion Of The

Empire.—Part II.

Though the characters of Constantine and Maxentius had very

little affinity with each other, their situation and interest

were the same; and prudence seemed to require that they should

unite their forces against the common enemy. Notwithstanding the

superiority of his age and dignity, the indefatigable Maximian

passed the Alps, and, courting a personal interview with the

sovereign of Gaul, carried with him his daughter Fausta as the

pledge of the new alliance. The marriage was celebrated at Arles

with every circumstance of magnificence; and the ancient

colleague of Diocletian, who again asserted his claim to the

Western empire, conferred on his son-in-law and ally the title of

Augustus. By consenting to receive that honor from Maximian,

Constantine seemed to embrace the cause of Rome and of the

senate; but his professions were ambiguous, and his assistance

slow and ineffectual. He considered with attention the

approaching contest between the masters of Italy and the emperor

of the East, and was prepared to consult his own safety or

ambition in the event of the war. 24

24 (return) [ The sixth Panegyric was pronounced to celebrate the

elevation of Constantine; but the prudent orator avoids the

mention either of Galerius or of Maxentius. He introduces only

one slight allusion to the actual troubles, and to the majesty of

Rome. * Note: Compare Manso, Beylage, iv. p. 302. Gibbon’s

account is at least as probable as that of his critic.—M.]

The importance of the occasion called for the presence and

abilities of Galerius. At the head of a powerful army, collected

from Illyricum and the East, he entered Italy, resolved to

revenge the death of Severus, and to chastise the rebellious

Romans; or, as he expressed his intentions, in the furious

language of a barbarian, to extirpate the senate, and to destroy

the people by the sword. But the skill of Maximian had concerted

a prudent system of defence. The invader found every place

hostile, fortified, and inaccessible; and though he forced his

way as far as Narni, within sixty miles of Rome, his dominion in

Italy was confined to the narrow limits of his camp. Sensible of

the increasing difficulties of his enterprise, the haughty

Galerius made the first advances towards a reconciliation, and

despatched two of his most considerable officers to tempt the

Roman princes by the offer of a conference, and the declaration

of his paternal regard for Maxentius, who might obtain much more

from his liberality than he could hope from the doubtful chance

of war. 25 The offers of Galerius were rejected with firmness,

his perfidious friendship refused with contempt, and it was not

long before he discovered, that, unless he provided for his

safety by a timely retreat, he had some reason to apprehend the

fate of Severus. The wealth which the Romans defended against his

rapacious tyranny, they freely contributed for his destruction.

The name of Maximian, the popular arts of his son, the secret

distribution of large sums, and the promise of still more liberal

rewards, checked the ardor and corrupted the fidelity of the

Illyrian legions; and when Galerius at length gave the signal of

the retreat, it was with some difficulty that he could prevail on

his veterans not to desert a banner which had so often conducted

them to victory and honor. A contemporary writer assigns two

other causes for the failure of the expedition; but they are both

of such a nature, that a cautious historian will scarcely venture

to adopt them. We are told that Galerius, who had formed a very

imperfect notion of the greatness of Rome by the cities of the

East with which he was acquainted, found his forces inadequate to

the siege of that immense capital.

But the extent of a city serves only to render it more accessible

to the enemy: Rome had long since been accustomed to submit on

the approach of a conqueror; nor could the temporary enthusiasm

of the people have long contended against the discipline and

valor of the legions. We are likewise informed that the legions

themselves were struck with horror and remorse, and that those

pious sons of the republic refused to violate the sanctity of

their venerable parent. 26 But when we recollect with how much

ease, in the more ancient civil wars, the zeal of party and the

habits of military obedience had converted the native citizens of

Rome into her most implacable enemies, we shall be inclined to

distrust this extreme delicacy of strangers and barbarians, who

had never beheld Italy till they entered it in a hostile manner.

Had they not been restrained by motives of a more interested

nature, they would probably have answered Galerius in the words

of Cæsar’s veterans: “If our general wishes to lead us to the

banks of the Tyber, we are prepared to trace out his camp.

Whatsoever walls he has determined to level with the ground, our

hands are ready to work the engines: nor shall we hesitate,

should the name of the devoted city be Rome itself.” These are

indeed the expressions of a poet; but of a poet who has been

distinguished, and even censured, for his strict adherence to the

truth of history. 27

25 (return) [ With regard to this negotiation, see the fragments

of an anonymous historian, published by Valesius at the end of

his edition of Ammianus Marcellinus, p. 711. These fragments have

furnished with several curious, and, as it should seem, authentic

anecdotes.]

26 (return) [ Lactantius de M. P. c. 28. The former of these

reasons is probably taken from Virgil’s Shepherd: “Illam * * *

ego huic notra similem, Meliboee, putavi,” &c. Lactantius

delights in these poetical illusions.]

27 (return)

[ Castra super Tusci si ponere Tybridis undas; (_jubeas_)

Hesperios audax veniam metator in agros.

Tu quoscunque voles in planum effundere muros,

His aries actus disperget saxa lacertis;

Illa licet penitus tolli quam jusseris urbem

Roma sit.

Lucan. Pharsal. i. 381.]

The legions of Galerius exhibited a very melancholy proof of

their disposition, by the ravages which they committed in their

retreat. They murdered, they ravished, they plundered, they drove

away the flocks and herds of the Italians; they burnt the

villages through which they passed, and they endeavored to

destroy the country which it had not been in their power to

subdue. During the whole march, Maxentius hung on their rear, but

he very prudently declined a general engagement with those brave

and desperate veterans. His father had undertaken a second

journey into Gaul, with the hope of persuading Constantine, who

had assembled an army on the frontier, to join in the pursuit,

and to complete the victory. But the actions of Constantine were

guided by reason, and not by resentment. He persisted in the wise

resolution of maintaining a balance of power in the divided

empire, and he no longer hated Galerius, when that aspiring

prince had ceased to be an object of terror. 28

28 (return) [ Lactantius de M. P. c. 27. Zosim. l. ii. p. 82. The

latter, that Constantine, in his interview with Maximian, had

promised to declare war against Galerius.]

The mind of Galerius was the most susceptible of the sterner

passions, but it was not, however, incapable of a sincere and

lasting friendship. Licinius, whose manners as well as character

were not unlike his own, seems to have engaged both his affection

and esteem. Their intimacy had commenced in the happier period

perhaps of their youth and obscurity. It had been cemented by the

freedom and dangers of a military life; they had advanced almost

by equal steps through the successive honors of the service; and

as soon as Galerius was invested with the Imperial dignity, he

seems to have conceived the design of raising his companion to

the same rank with himself. During the short period of his

prosperity, he considered the rank of Cæsar as unworthy of the

age and merit of Licinius, and rather chose to reserve for him

the place of Constantius, and the empire of the West. While the

emperor was employed in the Italian war, he intrusted his friend

with the defence of the Danube; and immediately after his return

from that unfortunate expedition, he invested Licinius with the

vacant purple of Severus, resigning to his immediate command the

provinces of Illyricum. 29 The news of his promotion was no

sooner carried into the East, than Maximin, who governed, or

rather oppressed, the countries of Egypt and Syria, betrayed his

envy and discontent, disdained the inferior name of Cæsar, and,

notwithstanding the prayers as well as arguments of Galerius,

exacted, almost by violence, the equal title of Augustus. 30 For

the first, and indeed for the last time, the Roman world was

administered by six emperors. In the West, Constantine and

Maxentius affected to reverence their father Maximian. In the

East, Licinius and Maximin honored with more real consideration

their benefactor Galerius. The opposition of interest, and the

memory of a recent war, divided the empire into two great hostile

powers; but their mutual fears produced an apparent tranquillity,

and even a feigned reconciliation, till the death of the elder

princes, of Maximian, and more particularly of Galerius, gave a

new direction to the views and passions of their surviving

associates.

29 (return) [ M. de Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. part

i. p. 559) has proved that Licinius, without passing through the

intermediate rank of Cæsar, was declared Augustus, the 11th of

November, A. D. 307, after the return of Galerius from Italy.]

30 (return) [ Lactantius de M. P. c. 32. When Galerius declared

Licinius Augustus with himself, he tried to satisfy his younger

associates, by inventing for Constantine and Maximin (not

Maxentius; see Baluze, p. 81) the new title of sons of the

Augusti. But when Maximin acquainted him that he had been saluted

Augustus by the army, Galerius was obliged to acknowledge him as

well as Constantine, as equal associates in the Imperial

dignity.]

When Maximian had reluctantly abdicated the empire, the venal

orators of the times applauded his philosophic moderation. When

his ambition excited, or at least encouraged, a civil war, they

returned thanks to his generous patriotism, and gently censured

that love of ease and retirement which had withdrawn him from the

public service. 31 But it was impossible that minds like those of

Maximian and his son could long possess in harmony an undivided

power. Maxentius considered himself as the legal sovereign of

Italy, elected by the Roman senate and people; nor would he

endure the control of his father, who arrogantly declared that by

_his_ name and abilities the rash youth had been established on

the throne. The cause was solemnly pleaded before the Prætorian

guards; and those troops, who dreaded the severity of the old

emperor, espoused the party of Maxentius. 32 The life and freedom

of Maximian were, however, respected, and he retired from Italy

into Illyricum, affecting to lament his past conduct, and

secretly contriving new mischiefs. But Galerius, who was well

acquainted with his character, soon obliged him to leave his

dominions, and the last refuge of the disappointed Maximian was

the court of his son-in-law Constantine. 33 He was received with

respect by that artful prince, and with the appearance of filial

tenderness by the empress Fausta. That he might remove every

suspicion, he resigned the Imperial purple a second time, 34

professing himself at length convinced of the vanity of greatness

and ambition. Had he persevered in this resolution, he might have

ended his life with less dignity, indeed, than in his first

retirement, yet, however, with comfort and reputation. But the

near prospect of a throne brought back to his remembrance the

state from whence he was fallen, and he resolved, by a desperate

effort, either to reign or to perish. An incursion of the Franks

had summoned Constantine, with a part of his army, to the banks

of the Rhine; the remainder of the troops were stationed in the

southern provinces of Gaul, which lay exposed to the enterprises

of the Italian emperor, and a considerable treasure was deposited

in the city of Arles. Maximian either craftily invented, or

easily credited, a vain report of the death of Constantine.

Without hesitation he ascended the throne, seized the treasure,

and scattering it with his accustomed profusion among the

soldiers, endeavored to awake in their minds the memory of his

ancient dignity and exploits. Before he could establish his

authority, or finish the negotiation which he appears to have

entered into with his son Maxentius, the celerity of Constantine

defeated all his hopes. On the first news of his perfidy and

ingratitude, that prince returned by rapid marches from the Rhine

to the Saone, embarked on the last-mentioned river at Chalons,

and, at Lyons trusting himself to the rapidity of the Rhone,

arrived at the gates of Arles with a military force which it was

impossible for Maximian to resist, and which scarcely permitted

him to take refuge in the neighboring city of Marseilles. The

narrow neck of land which joined that place to the continent was

fortified against the besiegers, whilst the sea was open, either

for the escape of Maximian, or for the succor of Maxentius, if

the latter should choose to disguise his invasion of Gaul under

the honorable pretence of defending a distressed, or, as he might

allege, an injured father. Apprehensive of the fatal consequences

of delay, Constantine gave orders for an immediate assault; but

the scaling-ladders were found too short for the height of the

walls, and Marseilles might have sustained as long a siege as it

formerly did against the arms of Cæsar, if the garrison,

conscious either of their fault or of their danger, had not

purchased their pardon by delivering up the city and the person

of Maximian. A secret but irrevocable sentence of death was

pronounced against the usurper; he obtained only the same favor

which he had indulged to Severus, and it was published to the

world, that, oppressed by the remorse of his repeated crimes, he

strangled himself with his own hands. After he had lost the

assistance, and disdained the moderate counsels, of Diocletian,

the second period of his active life was a series of public

calamities and personal mortifications, which were terminated, in

about three years, by an ignominious death. He deserved his fate;

but we should find more reason to applaud the humanity of

Constantine, if he had spared an old man, the benefactor of his

father, and the father of his wife. During the whole of this

melancholy transaction, it appears that Fausta sacrificed the

sentiments of nature to her conjugal duties. 35

31 (return) [ See Panegyr. Vet. vi. 9. Audi doloris nostri

liberam vocem, &c. The whole passage is imagined with artful

flattery, and expressed with an easy flow of eloquence.]

32 (return) [ Lactantius de M. P. c. 28. Zosim. l. ii. p. 82. A

report was spread, that Maxentius was the son of some obscure

Syrian, and had been substituted by the wife of Maximian as her

own child. See Aurelius Victor, Anonym. Valesian, and Panegyr.

Vet. ix. 3, 4.]

33 (return) [ Ab urbe pulsum, ab Italia fugatum, ab Illyrico

repudiatum, provinciis, tuis copiis, tuo palatio recepisti.

Eumen. in Panegyr Vet. vii. 14.]

34 (return) [ Lactantius de M. P. c. 29. Yet, after the

resignation of the purple, Constantine still continued to

Maximian the pomp and honors of the Imperial dignity; and on all

public occasions gave the right hand place to his father-in-law.

Panegyr. Vet. viii. 15.]

35 (return) [ Zosim. l. ii. p. 82. Eumenius in Panegyr. Vet. vii.

16—21. The latter of these has undoubtedly represented the whole

affair in the most favorable light for his sovereign. Yet even

from this partial narrative we may conclude, that the repeated

clemency of Constantine, and the reiterated treasons of Maximian,

as they are described by Lactantius, (de M. P. c. 29, 30,) and

copied by the moderns, are destitute of any historical

foundation. Note: Yet some pagan authors relate and confirm them.

Aurelius Victor speaking of Maximin, says, cumque specie officii,

dolis compositis, Constantinum generum tentaret acerbe, jure

tamen interierat. Aur. Vict. de Cæsar l. p. 623. Eutropius also

says, inde ad Gallias profectus est (Maximianus) composito

tamquam a filio esset expulsus, ut Constantino genero jun

geretur: moliens tamen Constantinum, reperta occasione,

interficere, dedit justissimo exitu. Eutrop. x. p. 661. (Anon.

Gent.)—G. —— These writers hardly confirm more than Gibbon

admits; he denies the repeated clemency of Constantine, and the

reiterated treasons of Maximian Compare Manso, p. 302.—M.]

The last years of Galerius were less shameful and unfortunate;

and though he had filled with more glory the subordinate station

of Cæsar than the superior rank of Augustus, he preserved, till

the moment of his death, the first place among the princes of the

Roman world. He survived his retreat from Italy about four years;

and wisely relinquishing his views of universal empire, he

devoted the remainder of his life to the enjoyment of pleasure,

and to the execution of some works of public utility, among which

we may distinguish the discharging into the Danube the

superfluous waters of the Lake Pelso, and the cutting down the

immense forests that encompassed it; an operation worthy of a

monarch, since it gave an extensive country to the agriculture of

his Pannonian subjects. 36 His death was occasioned by a very

painful and lingering disorder. His body, swelled by an

intemperate course of life to an unwieldy corpulence, was covered

with ulcers, and devoured by innumerable swarms of those insects

which have given their name to a most loathsome disease; 37 but

as Galerius had offended a very zealous and powerful party among

his subjects, his sufferings, instead of exciting their

compassion, have been celebrated as the visible effects of divine

justice. 38 He had no sooner expired in his palace of Nicomedia,

than the two emperors who were indebted for their purple to his

favors, began to collect their forces, with the intention either

of disputing, or of dividing, the dominions which he had left

without a master. They were persuaded, however, to desist from

the former design, and to agree in the latter. The provinces of

Asia fell to the share of Maximin, and those of Europe augmented

the portion of Licinius. The Hellespont and the Thracian

Bosphorus formed their mutual boundary, and the banks of those

narrow seas, which flowed in the midst of the Roman world, were

covered with soldiers, with arms, and with fortifications. The

deaths of Maximian and of Galerius reduced the number of emperors

to four. The sense of their true interest soon connected Licinius

and Constantine; a secret alliance was concluded between Maximin

and Maxentius, and their unhappy subjects expected with terror

the bloody consequences of their inevitable dissensions, which

were no longer restrained by the fear or the respect which they

had entertained for Galerius. 39

36 (return) [ Aurelius Victor, c. 40. But that lake was situated

on the upper Pannonia, near the borders of Noricum; and the

province of Valeria (a name which the wife of Galerius gave to

the drained country) undoubtedly lay between the Drave and the

Danube, (Sextus Rufus, c. 9.) I should therefore suspect that

Victor has confounded the Lake Pelso with the Volocean marshes,

or, as they are now called, the Lake Sabaton. It is placed in the

heart of Valeria, and its present extent is not less than twelve

Hungarian miles (about seventy English) in length, and two in

breadth. See Severini Pannonia, l. i. c. 9.]

37 (return) [ Lactantius (de M. P. c. 33) and Eusebius (l. viii.

c. 16) describe the symptoms and progress of his disorder with

singular accuracy and apparent pleasure.]

38 (return) [ If any (like the late Dr. Jortin, Remarks on

Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 307—356) still delight in

recording the wonderful deaths of the persecutors, I would

recommend to their perusal an admirable passage of Grotius (Hist.

l. vii. p. 332) concerning the last illness of Philip II. of

Spain.]

39 (return) [ See Eusebius, l. ix. 6, 10. Lactantius de M. P. c.

36. Zosimus is less exact, and evidently confounds Maximian with

Maximin.]

Among so many crimes and misfortunes, occasioned by the passions

of the Roman princes, there is some pleasure in discovering a

single action which may be ascribed to their virtue. In the sixth

year of his reign, Constantine visited the city of Autun, and

generously remitted the arrears of tribute, reducing at the same

time the proportion of their assessment from twenty-five to

eighteen thousand heads, subject to the real and personal

capitation. 40 Yet even this indulgence affords the most

unquestionable proof of the public misery. This tax was so

extremely oppressive, either in itself or in the mode of

collecting it, that whilst the revenue was increased by

extortion, it was diminished by despair: a considerable part of

the territory of Autun was left uncultivated; and great numbers

of the provincials rather chose to live as exiles and outlaws,

than to support the weight of civil society. It is but too

probable, that the bountiful emperor relieved, by a partial act

of liberality, one among the many evils which he had caused by

his general maxims of administration. But even those maxims were

less the effect of choice than of necessity. And if we except the

death of Maximian, the reign of Constantine in Gaul seems to have

been the most innocent and even virtuous period of his life.

The provinces were protected by his presence from the inroads of

the barbarians, who either dreaded or experienced his active

valor. After a signal victory over the Franks and Alemanni,

several of their princes were exposed by his order to the wild

beasts in the amphitheatre of Treves, and the people seem to have

enjoyed the spectacle, without discovering, in such a treatment

of royal captives, any thing that was repugnant to the laws of

nations or of humanity. 41

40 (return) [ See the viiith Panegyr., in which Eumenius

displays, in the presence of Constantine, the misery and the

gratitude of the city of Autun.]

41 (return) [Eutropius, x. 3. Panegyr. Veter. vii. 10, 11, 12. A

great number of the French youth were likewise exposed to the

same cruel and ignominious death Yet the panegyric assumes

something of an apologetic tone. Te vero Constantine,

quantumlibet oderint hoses, dum perhorrescant. Hæc est enim vera

virtus, ut non ament et quiescant. The orator appeals to the

ancient ideal of the republic.—M.]

The virtues of Constantine were rendered more illustrious by the

vices of Maxentius. Whilst the Gallic provinces enjoyed as much

happiness as the condition of the times was capable of receiving,

Italy and Africa groaned under the dominion of a tyrant, as

contemptible as he was odious. The zeal of flattery and faction

has indeed too frequently sacrificed the reputation of the

vanquished to the glory of their successful rivals; but even

those writers who have revealed, with the most freedom and

pleasure, the faults of Constantine, unanimously confess that

Maxentius was cruel, rapacious, and profligate. 42 He had the

good fortune to suppress a slight rebellion in Africa. The

governor and a few adherents had been guilty; the province

suffered for their crime. The flourishing cities of Cirtha and

Carthage, and the whole extent of that fertile country, were

wasted by fire and sword. The abuse of victory was followed by

the abuse of law and justice. A formidable army of sycophants and

delators invaded Africa; the rich and the noble were easily

convicted of a connection with the rebels; and those among them

who experienced the emperor’s clemency, were only punished by the

confiscation of their estates. 43 So signal a victory was

celebrated by a magnificent triumph, and Maxentius exposed to the

eyes of the people the spoils and captives of a Roman province.

The state of the capital was no less deserving of compassion than

that of Africa. The wealth of Rome supplied an inexhaustible fund

for his vain and prodigal expenses, and the ministers of his

revenue were skilled in the arts of rapine. It was under his

reign that the method of exacting a _free gift_ from the senators

was first invented; and as the sum was insensibly increased, the

pretences of levying it, a victory, a birth, a marriage, or an

imperial consulship, were proportionably multiplied. 44 Maxentius

had imbibed the same implacable aversion to the senate, which had

characterized most of the former tyrants of Rome; nor was it

possible for his ungrateful temper to forgive the generous

fidelity which had raised him to the throne, and supported him

against all his enemies. The lives of the senators were exposed

to his jealous suspicions, the dishonor of their wives and

daughters heightened the gratification of his sensual passions.

45 It may be presumed that an Imperial lover was seldom reduced

to sigh in vain; but whenever persuasion proved ineffectual, he

had recourse to violence; and there remains _one_ memorable

example of a noble matron, who preserved her chastity by a

voluntary death. The soldiers were the only order of men whom he

appeared to respect, or studied to please. He filled Rome and

Italy with armed troops, connived at their tumults, suffered them

with impunity to plunder, and even to massacre, the defenceless

people; 46 and indulging them in the same licentiousness which

their emperor enjoyed, Maxentius often bestowed on his military

favorites the splendid villa, or the beautiful wife, of a

senator. A prince of such a character, alike incapable of

governing, either in peace or in war, might purchase the support,

but he could never obtain the esteem, of the army. Yet his pride

was equal to his other vices. Whilst he passed his indolent life

either within the walls of his palace, or in the neighboring

gardens of Sallust, he was repeatedly heard to declare, that _he

alone_ was emperor, and that the other princes were no more than

his lieutenants, on whom he had devolved the defence of the

frontier provinces, that he might enjoy without interruption the

elegant luxury of the capital. Rome, which had so long regretted

the absence, lamented, during the six years of his reign, the

presence of her sovereign. 47

42 (return) [ Julian excludes Maxentius from the banquet of the

Cæsars with abhorrence and contempt; and Zosimus (l. ii. p. 85)

accuses him of every kind of cruelty and profligacy.]

43 (return) [ Zosimus, l. ii. p. 83—85. Aurelius Victor.]

44 (return) [ The passage of Aurelius Victor should be read in

the following manner: Primus instituto pessimo, munerum specie,

Patres Oratores que pecuniam conferre prodigenti sibi cogeret.]

45 (return) [ Panegyr. Vet. ix. 3. Euseb. Hist Eccles. viii. 14,

et in Vit. Constant i. 33, 34. Rufinus, c. 17. The virtuous

matron who stabbed herself to escape the violence of Maxentius,

was a Christian, wife to the præfect of the city, and her name

was Sophronia. It still remains a question among the casuists,

whether, on such occasions, suicide is justifiable.]

46 (return) [ Prætorianis cædem vulgi quondam annueret, is the

vague expression of Aurelius Victor. See more particular, though

somewhat different, accounts of a tumult and massacre which

happened at Rome, in Eusebius, (l. viii. c. 14,) and in Zosimus,

(l. ii. p. 84.)]

47 (return) [ See, in the Panegyrics, (ix. 14,) a lively

description of the indolence and vain pride of Maxentius. In

another place the orator observes that the riches which Rome had

accumulated in a period of 1060 years, were lavished by the

tyrant on his mercenary bands; redemptis ad civile latrocinium

manibus in gesserat.]

Though Constantine might view the conduct of Maxentius with

abhorrence, and the situation of the Romans with compassion, we

have no reason to presume that he would have taken up arms to

punish the one or to relieve the other. But the tyrant of Italy

rashly ventured to provoke a formidable enemy, whose ambition had

been hitherto restrained by considerations of prudence, rather

than by principles of justice. 48 After the death of Maximian,

his titles, according to the established custom, had been erased,

and his statues thrown down with ignominy. His son, who had

persecuted and deserted him when alive, effected to display the

most pious regard for his memory, and gave orders that a similar

treatment should be immediately inflicted on all the statues that

had been erected in Italy and Africa to the honor of Constantine.

That wise prince, who sincerely wished to decline a war, with the

difficulty and importance of which he was sufficiently

acquainted, at first dissembled the insult, and sought for

redress by the milder expedient of negotiation, till he was

convinced that the hostile and ambitious designs of the Italian

emperor made it necessary for him to arm in his own defence.

Maxentius, who openly avowed his pretensions to the whole

monarchy of the West, had already prepared a very considerable

force to invade the Gallic provinces on the side of Rhætia; and

though he could not expect any assistance from Licinius, he was

flattered with the hope that the legions of Illyricum, allured by

his presents and promises, would desert the standard of that

prince, and unanimously declare themselves his soldiers and

subjects. 49 Constantine no longer hesitated. He had deliberated

with caution, he acted with vigor. He gave a private audience to

the ambassadors, who, in the name of the senate and people,

conjured him to deliver Rome from a detested tyrant; and without

regarding the timid remonstrances of his council, he resolved to

prevent the enemy, and to carry the war into the heart of Italy.

48 (return) [ After the victory of Constantine, it was

universally allowed, that the motive of delivering the republic

from a detested tyrant, would, at any time, have justified his

expedition into Italy. Euseb in Vi’. Constantin. l. i. c. 26.

Panegyr. Vet. ix. 2.]

49 (return) [ Zosimus, l. ii. p. 84, 85. Nazarius in Panegyr. x.

7—13.]

50 (return) [ See Panegyr. Vet. ix. 2. Omnibus fere tuis

Comitibus et Ducibus non solum tacite mussantibus, sed etiam

aperte timentibus; contra consilia hominum, contra Haruspicum

monita, ipse per temet liberandæ arbis tempus venisse sentires.

The embassy of the Romans is mentioned only by Zonaras, (l.

xiii.,) and by Cedrenus, (in Compend. Hist. p. 370;) but those

modern Greeks had the opportunity of consulting many writers

which have since been lost, among which we may reckon the life of

Constantine by Praxagoras. Photius (p. 63) has made a short

extract from that historical work.]

The enterprise was as full of danger as of glory; and the

unsuccessful event of two former invasions was sufficient to

inspire the most serious apprehensions. The veteran troops, who

revered the name of Maximian, had embraced in both those wars the

party of his son, and were now restrained by a sense of honor, as

well as of interest, from entertaining an idea of a second

desertion. Maxentius, who considered the Prætorian guards as the

firmest defence of his throne, had increased them to their

ancient establishment; and they composed, including the rest of

the Italians who were enlisted into his service, a formidable

body of fourscore thousand men. Forty thousand Moors and

Carthaginians had been raised since the reduction of Africa. Even

Sicily furnished its proportion of troops; and the armies of

Maxentius amounted to one hundred and seventy thousand foot and

eighteen thousand horse. The wealth of Italy supplied the

expenses of the war; and the adjacent provinces were exhausted,

to form immense magazines of corn and every other kind of

provisions.

The whole force of Constantine consisted of ninety thousand foot

and eight thousand horse; 51 and as the defence of the Rhine

required an extraordinary attention during the absence of the

emperor, it was not in his power to employ above half his troops

in the Italian expedition, unless he sacrificed the public safety

to his private quarrel. 52 At the head of about forty thousand

soldiers he marched to encounter an enemy whose numbers were at

least four times superior to his own. But the armies of Rome,

placed at a secure distance from danger, were enervated by

indulgence and luxury. Habituated to the baths and theatres of

Rome, they took the field with reluctance, and were chiefly

composed of veterans who had almost forgotten, or of new levies

who had never acquired, the use of arms and the practice of war.

The hardy legions of Gaul had long defended the frontiers of the

empire against the barbarians of the North; and in the

performance of that laborious service, their valor was exercised

and their discipline confirmed. There appeared the same

difference between the leaders as between the armies. Caprice or

flattery had tempted Maxentius with the hopes of conquest; but

these aspiring hopes soon gave way to the habits of pleasure and

the consciousness of his inexperience. The intrepid mind of

Constantine had been trained from his earliest youth to war, to

action, and to military command.

51 (return) [ Zosimus (l. ii. p. 86) has given us this curious

account of the forces on both sides. He makes no mention of any

naval armaments, though we are assured (Panegyr. Vet. ix. 25)

that the war was carried on by sea as well as by land; and that

the fleet of Constantine took possession of Sardinia, Corsica,

and the ports of Italy.]

52 (return) [ Panegyr. Vet. ix. 3. It is not surprising that the

orator should diminish the numbers with which his sovereign

achieved the conquest of Italy; but it appears somewhat singular

that he should esteem the tyrant’s army at no more than 100,000

men.]

Chapter XIV: Six Emperors At The Same Time, Reunion Of The

Empire.—Part III.

When Hannibal marched from Gaul into Italy, he was obliged, first

to discover, and then to open, a way over mountains, and through

savage nations, that had never yielded a passage to a regular

army. 53 The Alps were then guarded by nature, they are now

fortified by art. Citadels, constructed with no less skill than

labor and expense, command every avenue into the plain, and on

that side render Italy almost inaccessible to the enemies of the

king of Sardinia. 54 But in the course of the intermediate

period, the generals, who have attempted the passage, have seldom

experienced any difficulty or resistance. In the age of

Constantine, the peasants of the mountains were civilized and

obedient subjects; the country was plentifully stocked with

provisions, and the stupendous highways, which the Romans had

carried over the Alps, opened several communications between Gaul

and Italy. 55 Constantine preferred the road of the Cottian Alps,

or, as it is now called, of Mount Cenis, and led his troops with

such active diligence, that he descended into the plain of

Piedmont before the court of Maxentius had received any certain

intelligence of his departure from the banks of the Rhine. The

city of Susa, however, which is situated at the foot of Mount

Cenis, was surrounded with walls, and provided with a garrison

sufficiently numerous to check the progress of an invader; but

the impatience of Constantine’s troops disdained the tedious

forms of a siege. The same day that they appeared before Susa,

they applied fire to the gates, and ladders to the walls; and

mounting to the assault amidst a shower of stones and arrows,

they entered the place sword in hand, and cut in pieces the

greatest part of the garrison. The flames were extinguished by

the care of Constantine, and the remains of Susa preserved from

total destruction. About forty miles from thence, a more severe

contest awaited him. A numerous army of Italians was assembled

under the lieutenants of Maxentius, in the plains of Turin. Its

principal strength consisted in a species of heavy cavalry, which

the Romans, since the decline of their discipline, had borrowed

from the nations of the East. The horses, as well as the men,

were clothed in complete armor, the joints of which were artfully

adapted to the motions of their bodies. The aspect of this

cavalry was formidable, their weight almost irresistible; and as,

on this occasion, their generals had drawn them up in a compact

column or wedge, with a sharp point, and with spreading flanks,

they flattered themselves that they could easily break and

trample down the army of Constantine. They might, perhaps, have

succeeded in their design, had not their experienced adversary

embraced the same method of defence, which in similar

circumstances had been practised by Aurelian. The skilful

evolutions of Constantine divided and baffled this massy column

of cavalry. The troops of Maxentius fled in confusion towards

Turin; and as the gates of the city were shut against them, very

few escaped the sword of the victorious pursuers. By this

important service, Turin deserved to experience the clemency and

even favor of the conqueror. He made his entry into the Imperial

palace of Milan, and almost all the cities of Italy between the

Alps and the Po not only acknowledged the power, but embraced

with zeal the party, of Constantine. 56

53 (return) [ The three principal passages of the Alps between

Gaul and Italy, are those of Mount St. Bernard, Mount Cenis, and

Mount Genevre. Tradition, and a resemblance of names, (Alpes

Penninoe,) had assigned the first of these for the march of

Hannibal, (see Simler de Alpibus.) The Chevalier de Folard

(Polyp. tom. iv.) and M. d’Anville have led him over Mount

Genevre. But notwithstanding the authority of an experienced

officer and a learned geographer, the pretensions of Mount Cenis

are supported in a specious, not to say a convincing, manner, by

M. Grosley. Observations sur l’Italie, tom. i. p. 40, &c. ——The

dissertation of Messrs. Cramer and Wickham has clearly shown that

the Little St. Bernard must claim the honor of Hannibal’s

passage. Mr. Long (London, 1831) has added some sensible

corrections re Hannibal’s march to the Alps.—M]

54 (return) [ La Brunette near Suse, Demont, Exiles,

Fenestrelles, Coni, &c.]

55 (return) [ See Ammian. Marcellin. xv. 10. His description of

the roads over the Alps is clear, lively, and accurate.]

56 (return) [ Zosimus as well as Eusebius hasten from the passage

of the Alps to the decisive action near Rome. We must apply to

the two Panegyrics for the intermediate actions of Constantine.]

From Milan to Rome, the Æmilian and Flaminian highways offered an

easy march of about four hundred miles; but though Constantine

was impatient to encounter the tyrant, he prudently directed his

operations against another army of Italians, who, by their

strength and position, might either oppose his progress, or, in

case of a misfortune, might intercept his retreat. Ruricius

Pompeianus, a general distinguished by his valor and ability, had

under his command the city of Verona, and all the troops that

were stationed in the province of Venetia. As soon as he was

informed that Constantine was advancing towards him, he detached

a large body of cavalry, which was defeated in an engagement near

Brescia, and pursued by the Gallic legions as far as the gates of

Verona. The necessity, the importance, and the difficulties of

the siege of Verona, immediately presented themselves to the

sagacious mind of Constantine. 57 The city was accessible only by

a narrow peninsula towards the west, as the other three sides

were surrounded by the Adige, a rapid river, which covered the

province of Venetia, from whence the besieged derived an

inexhaustible supply of men and provisions. It was not without

great difficulty, and after several fruitless attempts, that

Constantine found means to pass the river at some distance above

the city, and in a place where the torrent was less violent. He

then encompassed Verona with strong lines, pushed his attacks

with prudent vigor, and repelled a desperate sally of Pompeianus.

That intrepid general, when he had used every means of defence

that the strength of the place or that of the garrison could

afford, secretly escaped from Verona, anxious not for his own,

but for the public safety. With indefatigable diligence he soon

collected an army sufficient either to meet Constantine in the

field, or to attack him if he obstinately remained within his

lines. The emperor, attentive to the motions, and informed of the

approach of so formidable an enemy, left a part of his legions to

continue the operations of the siege, whilst, at the head of

those troops on whose valor and fidelity he more particularly

depended, he advanced in person to engage the general of

Maxentius. The army of Gaul was drawn up in two lines, according

to the usual practice of war; but their experienced leader,

perceiving that the numbers of the Italians far exceeded his own,

suddenly changed his disposition, and, reducing the second,

extended the front of his first line to a just proportion with

that of the enemy. Such evolutions, which only veteran troops can

execute without confusion in a moment of danger, commonly prove

decisive; but as this engagement began towards the close of the

day, and was contested with great obstinacy during the whole

night, there was less room for the conduct of the generals than

for the courage of the soldiers. The return of light displayed

the victory of Constantine, and a field of carnage covered with

many thousands of the vanquished Italians. Their general,

Pompeianus, was found among the slain; Verona immediately

surrendered at discretion, and the garrison was made prisoners of

war. 58 When the officers of the victorious army congratulated

their master on this important success, they ventured to add some

respectful complaints, of such a nature, however, as the most

jealous monarchs will listen to without displeasure. They

represented to Constantine, that, not contented with all the

duties of a commander, he had exposed his own person with an

excess of valor which almost degenerated into rashness; and they

conjured him for the future to pay more regard to the

preservation of a life in which the safety of Rome and of the

empire was involved. 59

57 (return) [ The Marquis Maffei has examined the siege and

battle of Verona with that degree of attention and accuracy which

was due to a memorable action that happened in his native

country. The fortifications of that city, constructed by

Gallienus, were less extensive than the modern walls, and the

amphitheatre was not included within their circumference. See

Verona Illustrata, part i. p. 142 150.]

58 (return) [ They wanted chains for so great a multitude of

captives; and the whole council was at a loss; but the sagacious

conqueror imagined the happy expedient of converting into fetters

the swords of the vanquished. Panegyr. Vet. ix. 11.]

59 (return) [ Panegyr. Vet. ix. 11.]

While Constantine signalized his conduct and valor in the field,

the sovereign of Italy appeared insensible of the calamities and

danger of a civil war which reigned in the heart of his

dominions. Pleasure was still the only business of Maxentius.

Concealing, or at least attempting to conceal, from the public

knowledge the misfortunes of his arms, 60 he indulged himself in

a vain confidence which deferred the remedies of the approaching

evil, without deferring the evil itself. 61 The rapid progress of

Constantine 62 was scarcely sufficient to awaken him from his

fatal security; he flattered himself, that his well-known

liberality, and the majesty of the Roman name, which had already

delivered him from two invasions, would dissipate with the same

facility the rebellious army of Gaul. The officers of experience

and ability, who had served under the banners of Maximian, were

at length compelled to inform his effeminate son of the imminent

danger to which he was reduced; and, with a freedom that at once

surprised and convinced him, to urge the necessity of preventing

his ruin by a vigorous exertion of his remaining power. The

resources of Maxentius, both of men and money, were still

considerable. The Prætorian guards felt how strongly their own

interest and safety were connected with his cause; and a third

army was soon collected, more numerous than those which had been

lost in the battles of Turin and Verona. It was far from the

intention of the emperor to lead his troops in person. A stranger

to the exercises of war, he trembled at the apprehension of so

dangerous a contest; and as fear is commonly superstitious, he

listened with melancholy attention to the rumors of omens and

presages which seemed to menace his life and empire. Shame at

length supplied the place of courage, and forced him to take the

field. He was unable to sustain the contempt of the Roman people.

The circus resounded with their indignant clamors, and they

tumultuously besieged the gates of the palace, reproaching the

pusillanimity of their indolent sovereign, and celebrating the

heroic spirit of Constantine. 63 Before Maxentius left Rome, he

consulted the Sibylline books. The guardians of these ancient

oracles were as well versed in the arts of this world as they

were ignorant of the secrets of fate; and they returned him a

very prudent answer, which might adapt itself to the event, and

secure their reputation, whatever should be the chance of arms.

60 (return) [ Literas calamitatum suarum indices supprimebat.

Panegyr Vet. ix. 15.]

61 (return) [ Remedia malorum potius quam mala differebat, is the

fine censure which Tacitus passes on the supine indolence of

Vitellius.]

62 (return) [ The Marquis Maffei has made it extremely probable

that Constantine was still at Verona, the 1st of September, A.D.

312, and that the memorable æra of the indications was dated from

his conquest of the Cisalpine Gaul.]

63 (return) [ See Panegyr. Vet. xi. 16. Lactantius de M. P. c.

44.]

64 (return) [ Illo die hostem Romanorum esse periturum. The

vanquished became of course the enemy of Rome.]

The celerity of Constantine’s march has been compared to the

rapid conquest of Italy by the first of the Cæsars; nor is the

flattering parallel repugnant to the truth of history, since no

more than fifty-eight days elapsed between the surrender of

Verona and the final decision of the war. Constantine had always

apprehended that the tyrant would consult the dictates of fear,

and perhaps of prudence; and that, instead of risking his last

hopes in a general engagement, he would shut himself up within

the walls of Rome. His ample magazines secured him against the

danger of famine; and as the situation of Constantine admitted

not of delay, he might have been reduced to the sad necessity of

destroying with fire and sword the Imperial city, the noblest

reward of his victory, and the deliverance of which had been the

motive, or rather indeed the pretence, of the civil war. 65 It

was with equal surprise and pleasure, that on his arrival at a

place called Saxa Rubra, about nine miles from Rome, 66 he

discovered the army of Maxentius prepared to give him battle. 67

Their long front filled a very spacious plain, and their deep

array reached to the banks of the Tyber, which covered their

rear, and forbade their retreat. We are informed, and we may

believe, that Constantine disposed his troops with consummate

skill, and that he chose for himself the post of honor and

danger. Distinguished by the splendor of his arms, he charged in

person the cavalry of his rival; and his irresistible attack

determined the fortune of the day. The cavalry of Maxentius was

principally composed either of unwieldy cuirassiers, or of light

Moors and Numidians. They yielded to the vigor of the Gallic

horse, which possessed more activity than the one, more firmness

than the other. The defeat of the two wings left the infantry

without any protection on its flanks, and the undisciplined

Italians fled without reluctance from the standard of a tyrant

whom they had always hated, and whom they no longer feared. The

Prætorians, conscious that their offences were beyond the reach

of mercy, were animated by revenge and despair. Notwithstanding

their repeated efforts, those brave veterans were unable to

recover the victory: they obtained, however, an honorable death;

and it was observed that their bodies covered the same ground

which had been occupied by their ranks. 68 The confusion then

became general, and the dismayed troops of Maxentius, pursued by

an implacable enemy, rushed by thousands into the deep and rapid

stream of the Tyber. The emperor himself attempted to escape back

into the city over the Milvian bridge; but the crowds which

pressed together through that narrow passage forced him into the

river, where he was immediately drowned by the weight of his

armor. 69 His body, which had sunk very deep into the mud, was

found with some difficulty the next day. The sight of his head,

when it was exposed to the eyes of the people, convinced them of

their deliverance, and admonished them to receive with

acclamations of loyalty and gratitude the fortunate Constantine,

who thus achieved by his valor and ability the most splendid

enterprise of his life. 70

65 (return) [ See Panegyr. Vet. ix. 16, x. 27. The former of

these orators magnifies the hoards of corn, which Maxentius had

collected from Africa and the Islands. And yet, if there is any

truth in the scarcity mentioned by Eusebius, (in Vit. Constantin.

l. i. c. 36,) the Imperial granaries must have been open only to

the soldiers.]

66 (return) [ Maxentius... tandem urbe in Saxa Rubra, millia

ferme novem ægerrime progressus. Aurelius Victor. See Cellarius

Geograph. Antiq. tom. i. p. 463. Saxa Rubra was in the

neighborhood of the Cremera, a trifling rivulet, illustrated by

the valor and glorious death of the three hundred Fabii.]

67 (return) [ The post which Maxentius had taken, with the Tyber

in his rear is very clearly described by the two Panegyrists, ix.

16, x. 28.]

68 (return) [ Exceptis latrocinii illius primis auctoribus, qui

desperata venia ocum quem pugnæ sumpserant texere corporibus.

Panegyr. Vet 17.]

69 (return) [ A very idle rumor soon prevailed, that Maxentius,

who had not taken any precaution for his own retreat, had

contrived a very artful snare to destroy the army of the

pursuers; but that the wooden bridge, which was to have been

loosened on the approach of Constantine, unluckily broke down

under the weight of the flying Italians. M. de Tillemont (Hist.

des Empereurs, tom. iv. part i. p. 576) very seriously examines

whether, in contradiction to common sense, the testimony of

Eusebius and Zosimus ought to prevail over the silence of

Lactantius, Nazarius, and the anonymous, but contemporary orator,

who composed the ninth Panegyric. * Note: Manso (Beylage, vi.)

examines the question, and adduces two manifest allusions to the

bridge, from the Life of Constantine by Praxagoras, and from

Libanius. Is it not very probable that such a bridge was thrown

over the river to facilitate the advance, and to secure the

retreat, of the army of Maxentius? In case of defeat, orders were

given for destroying it, in order to check the pursuit: it broke

down accidentally, or in the confusion was destroyed, as has not

unfrequently been the case, before the proper time.—M.]

70 (return) [ Zosimus, l. ii. p. 86-88, and the two Panegyrics,

the former of which was pronounced a few months afterwards,

afford the clearest notion of this great battle. Lactantius,

Eusebius, and even the Epitomes, supply several useful hints.]

In the use of victory, Constantine neither deserved the praise of

clemency, nor incurred the censure of immoderate rigor. 71 He

inflicted the same treatment to which a defeat would have exposed

his own person and family, put to death the two sons of the

tyrant, and carefully extirpated his whole race. The most

distinguished adherents of Maxentius must have expected to share

his fate, as they had shared his prosperity and his crimes; but

when the Roman people loudly demanded a greater number of

victims, the conqueror resisted, with firmness and humanity,

those servile clamors, which were dictated by flattery as well as

by resentment. Informers were punished and discouraged; the

innocent, who had suffered under the late tyranny, were recalled

from exile, and restored to their estates. A general act of

oblivion quieted the minds and settled the property of the

people, both in Italy and in Africa. 72 The first time that

Constantine honored the senate with his presence, he

recapitulated his own services and exploits in a modest oration,

assured that illustrious order of his sincere regard, and

promised to reëstablish its ancient dignity and privileges. The

grateful senate repaid these unmeaning professions by the empty

titles of honor, which it was yet in their power to bestow; and

without presuming to ratify the authority of Constantine, they

passed a decree to assign him the first rank among the three

_Augusti_ who governed the Roman world. 73 Games and festivals

were instituted to preserve the fame of his victory, and several

edifices, raised at the expense of Maxentius, were dedicated to

the honor of his successful rival. The triumphal arch of

Constantine still remains a melancholy proof of the decline of

the arts, and a singular testimony of the meanest vanity. As it

was not possible to find in the capital of the empire a sculptor

who was capable of adorning that public monument, the arch of

Trajan, without any respect either for his memory or for the

rules of propriety, was stripped of its most elegant figures. The

difference of times and persons, of actions and characters, was

totally disregarded. The Parthian captives appear prostrate at

the feet of a prince who never carried his arms beyond the

Euphrates; and curious antiquarians can still discover the head

of Trajan on the trophies of Constantine. The new ornaments which

it was necessary to introduce between the vacancies of ancient

sculpture are executed in the rudest and most unskilful manner.

71 (return) [ Zosimus, the enemy of Constantine, allows (l. ii.

p. 88) that only a few of the friends of Maxentius were put to

death; but we may remark the expressive passage of Nazarius,

(Panegyr. Vet. x. 6.) Omnibus qui labefactari statum ejus

poterant cum stirpe deletis. The other orator (Panegyr. Vet. ix.

20, 21) contents himself with observing, that Constantine, when

he entered Rome, did not imitate the cruel massacres of Cinna, of

Marius, or of Sylla. * Note: This may refer to the son or sons of

Maxentius.—M.]

72 (return) [ See the two Panegyrics, and the laws of this and

the ensuing year, in the Theodosian Code.]

73 (return) [ Panegyr. Vet. ix. 20. Lactantius de M. P. c. 44.

Maximin, who was confessedly the eldest Cæsar, claimed, with some

show of reason, the first rank among the Augusti.]

74 (return) [ Adhuc cuncta opera quæ magnifice construxerat,

urbis fanum atque basilicam, Flavii meritis patres sacravere.

Aurelius Victor. With regard to the theft of Trajan’s trophies,

consult Flaminius Vacca, apud Montfaucon, Diarium Italicum, p.

250, and l’Antiquite Expliquee of the latter, tom. iv. p. 171.]

The final abolition of the Prætorian guards was a measure of

prudence as well as of revenge. Those haughty troops, whose

numbers and privileges had been restored, and even augmented, by

Maxentius, were forever suppressed by Constantine. Their

fortified camp was destroyed, and the few Prætorians who had

escaped the fury of the sword were dispersed among the legions,

and banished to the frontiers of the empire, where they might be

serviceable without again becoming dangerous. 75 By suppressing

the troops which were usually stationed in Rome, Constantine gave

the fatal blow to the dignity of the senate and people, and the

disarmed capital was exposed without protection to the insults or

neglect of its distant master. We may observe, that in this last

effort to preserve their expiring freedom, the Romans, from the

apprehension of a tribute, had raised Maxentius to the throne. He

exacted that tribute from the senate under the name of a free

gift. They implored the assistance of Constantine. He vanquished

the tyrant, and converted the free gift into a perpetual tax. The

senators, according to the declaration which was required of

their property, were divided into several classes. The most

opulent paid annually eight pounds of gold, the next class paid

four, the last two, and those whose poverty might have claimed an

exemption, were assessed, however, at seven pieces of gold.

Besides the regular members of the senate, their sons, their

descendants, and even their relations, enjoyed the vain

privileges, and supported the heavy burdens, of the senatorial

order; nor will it any longer excite our surprise, that

Constantine should be attentive to increase the number of persons

who were included under so useful a description. 76 After the

defeat of Maxentius, the victorious emperor passed no more than

two or three months in Rome, which he visited twice during the

remainder of his life, to celebrate the solemn festivals of the

tenth and of the twentieth years of his reign. Constantine was

almost perpetually in motion, to exercise the legions, or to

inspect the state of the provinces. Treves, Milan, Aquileia,

Sirmium, Naissus, and Thessalonica, were the occasional places of

his residence, till he founded a new Rome on the confines of

Europe and Asia. 77

75 (return) [ Prætoriæ legiones ac subsidia factionibus aptiora

quam urbi Romæ, sublata penitus; simul arma atque usus indumenti

militaris Aurelius Victor. Zosimus (l. ii. p. 89) mentions this

fact as an historian, and it is very pompously celebrated in the

ninth Panegyric.]

76 (return) [ Ex omnibus provinciis optimates viros Curiæ tuæ

pigneraveris ut Senatus dignitas.... ex totius Orbis flore

consisteret. Nazarius in Panegyr. Vet x. 35. The word

pigneraveris might almost seem maliciously chosen. Concerning the

senatorial tax, see Zosimus, l. ii. p. 115, the second title of

the sixth book of the Theodosian Code, with Godefroy’s

Commentary, and Memoires de l’Academic des Inscriptions, tom.

xxviii. p. 726.]

77 (return) [ From the Theodosian Code, we may now begin to trace

the motions of the emperors; but the dates both of time and place

have frequently been altered by the carelessness of

transcribers.]

Before Constantine marched into Italy, he had secured the

friendship, or at least the neutrality, of Licinius, the Illyrian

emperor. He had promised his sister Constantia in marriage to

that prince; but the celebration of the nuptials was deferred

till after the conclusion of the war, and the interview of the

two emperors at Milan, which was appointed for that purpose,

appeared to cement the union of their families and interests. 78

In the midst of the public festivity they were suddenly obliged

to take leave of each other. An inroad of the Franks summoned

Constantine to the Rhine, and the hostile approach of the

sovereign of Asia demanded the immediate presence of Licinius.

Maximin had been the secret ally of Maxentius, and without being

discouraged by his fate, he resolved to try the fortune of a

civil war. He moved out of Syria, towards the frontiers of

Bithynia, in the depth of winter. The season was severe and

tempestuous; great numbers of men as well as horses perished in

the snow; and as the roads were broken up by incessant rains, he

was obliged to leave behind him a considerable part of the heavy

baggage, which was unable to follow the rapidity of his forced

marches. By this extraordinary effort of diligence, he arrived

with a harassed but formidable army, on the banks of the Thracian

Bosphorus before the lieutenants of Licinius were apprised of his

hostile intentions. Byzantium surrendered to the power of

Maximin, after a siege of eleven days. He was detained some days

under the walls of Heraclea; and he had no sooner taken

possession of that city than he was alarmed by the intelligence

that Licinius had pitched his camp at the distance of only

eighteen miles. After a fruitless negotiation, in which the two

princes attempted to seduce the fidelity of each other’s

adherents, they had recourse to arms. The emperor of the East

commanded a disciplined and veteran army of above seventy

thousand men; and Licinius, who had collected about thirty

thousand Illyrians, was at first oppressed by the superiority of

numbers. His military skill, and the firmness of his troops,

restored the day, and obtained a decisive victory. The incredible

speed which Maximin exerted in his flight is much more celebrated

than his prowess in the battle. Twenty-four hours afterwards he

was seen, pale, trembling, and without his Imperial ornaments, at

Nicomedia, one hundred and sixty miles from the place of his

defeat. The wealth of Asia was yet unexhausted; and though the

flower of his veterans had fallen in the late action, he had

still power, if he could obtain time, to draw very numerous

levies from Syria and Egypt. But he survived his misfortune only

three or four months. His death, which happened at Tarsus, was

variously ascribed to despair, to poison, and to the divine

justice. As Maximin was alike destitute of abilities and of

virtue, he was lamented neither by the people nor by the

soldiers. The provinces of the East, delivered from the terrors

of civil war, cheerfully acknowledged the authority of Licinius.

78 (return) [ Zosimus (l. ii. p. 89) observes, that before the

war the sister of Constantine had been betrothed to Licinius.

According to the younger Victor, Diocletian was invited to the

nuptials; but having ventured to plead his age and infirmities,

he received a second letter, filled with reproaches for his

supposed partiality to the cause of Maxentius and Maximin.]

79 (return) [ Zosimus mentions the defeat and death of Maximin as

ordinary events; but Lactantius expatiates on them, (de M. P. c.

45-50,) ascribing them to the miraculous interposition of Heaven.

Licinius at that time was one of the protectors of the church.]

The vanquished emperor left behind him two children, a boy of

about eight, and a girl of about seven, years old. Their

inoffensive age might have excited compassion; but the compassion

of Licinius was a very feeble resource, nor did it restrain him

from _extinguishing_ the name and memory of his adversary. The

death of Severianus will admit of less excuse, as it was dictated

neither by revenge nor by policy. The conqueror had never

received any injury from the father of that unhappy youth, and

the short and obscure reign of Severus, in a distant part of the

empire, was already forgotten. But the execution of Candidianus

was an act of the blackest cruelty and ingratitude. He was the

natural son of Galerius, the friend and benefactor of Licinius.

The prudent father had judged him too young to sustain the weight

of a diadem; but he hoped that, under the protection of princes

who were indebted to his favor for the Imperial purple,

Candidianus might pass a secure and honorable life. He was now

advancing towards the twentieth year of his age, and the royalty

of his birth, though unsupported either by merit or ambition, was

sufficient to exasperate the jealous mind of Licinius. 80 To

these innocent and illustrious victims of his tyranny, we must

add the wife and daughter of the emperor Diocletian. When that

prince conferred on Galerius the title of Cæsar, he had given him

in marriage his daughter Valeria, whose melancholy adventures

might furnish a very singular subject for tragedy. She had

fulfilled and even surpassed the duties of a wife. As she had not

any children herself, she condescended to adopt the illegitimate

son of her husband, and invariably displayed towards the unhappy

Candidianus the tenderness and anxiety of a real mother. After

the death of Galerius, her ample possessions provoked the

avarice, and her personal attractions excited the desires, of his

successor, Maximin. 81 He had a wife still alive; but divorce was

permitted by the Roman law, and the fierce passions of the tyrant

demanded an immediate gratification. The answer of Valeria was

such as became the daughter and widow of emperors; but it was

tempered by the prudence which her defenceless condition

compelled her to observe. She represented to the persons whom

Maximin had employed on this occasion, “that even if honor could

permit a woman of her character and dignity to entertain a

thought of second nuptials, decency at least must forbid her to

listen to his addresses at a time when the ashes of her husband

and his benefactor were still warm, and while the sorrows of her

mind were still expressed by her mourning garments. She ventured

to declare, that she could place very little confidence in the

professions of a man whose cruel inconstancy was capable of

repudiating a faithful and affectionate wife.” 82 On this

repulse, the love of Maximin was converted into fury; and as

witnesses and judges were always at his disposal, it was easy for

him to cover his fury with an appearance of legal proceedings,

and to assault the reputation as well as the happiness of

Valeria. Her estates were confiscated, her eunuchs and domestics

devoted to the most inhuman tortures; and several innocent and

respectable matrons, who were honored with her friendship,

suffered death, on a false accusation of adultery. The empress

herself, together with her mother Prisca, was condemned to exile;

and as they were ignominiously hurried from place to place before

they were confined to a sequestered village in the deserts of

Syria, they exposed their shame and distress to the provinces of

the East, which, during thirty years, had respected their august

dignity. Diocletian made several ineffectual efforts to alleviate

the misfortunes of his daughter; and, as the last return that he

expected for the Imperial purple, which he had conferred upon

Maximin, he entreated that Valeria might be permitted to share

his retirement of Salona, and to close the eyes of her afflicted

father. 83 He entreated; but as he could no longer threaten, his

prayers were received with coldness and disdain; and the pride of

Maximin was gratified, in treating Diocletian as a suppliant, and

his daughter as a criminal. The death of Maximin seemed to assure

the empresses of a favorable alteration in their fortune. The

public disorders relaxed the vigilance of their guard, and they

easily found means to escape from the place of their exile, and

to repair, though with some precaution, and in disguise, to the

court of Licinius. His behavior, in the first days of his reign,

and the honorable reception which he gave to young Candidianus,

inspired Valeria with a secret satisfaction, both on her own

account and on that of her adopted son. But these grateful

prospects were soon succeeded by horror and astonishment; and the

bloody executions which stained the palace of Nicomedia

sufficiently convinced her that the throne of Maximin was filled

by a tyrant more inhuman than himself. Valeria consulted her

safety by a hasty flight, and, still accompanied by her mother

Prisca, they wandered above fifteen months 84 through the

provinces, concealed in the disguise of plebeian habits. They

were at length discovered at Thessalonica; and as the sentence of

their death was already pronounced, they were immediately

beheaded, and their bodies thrown into the sea. The people gazed

on the melancholy spectacle; but their grief and indignation were

suppressed by the terrors of a military guard. Such was the

unworthy fate of the wife and daughter of Diocletian. We lament

their misfortunes, we cannot discover their crimes; and whatever

idea we may justly entertain of the cruelty of Licinius, it

remains a matter of surprise that he was not contented with some

more secret and decent method of revenge. 85

80 (return) [ Lactantius de M. P. c. 50. Aurelius Victor touches

on the different conduct of Licinius, and of Constantine, in the

use of victory.]

81 (return) [ The sensual appetites of Maximin were gratified at

the expense of his subjects. His eunuchs, who forced away wives

and virgins, examined their naked charms with anxious curiosity,

lest any part of their body should be found unworthy of the royal

embraces. Coyness and disdain were considered as treason, and the

obstinate fair one was condemned to be drowned. A custom was

gradually introduced, that no person should marry a wife without

the permission of the emperor, “ut ipse in omnibus nuptiis

prægustator esset.” Lactantius de M. P. c. 38.]

82 (return) [ Lactantius de M. P. c. 39.]

83 (return) [ Diocletian at last sent cognatum suum, quendam

militarem æ potentem virum, to intercede in favor of his

daughter, (Lactantius de M. P. c. 41.) We are not sufficiently

acquainted with the history of these times to point out the

person who was employed.]

84 (return) [ Valeria quoque per varias provincias quindecim

mensibus plebeio cultu pervagata. Lactantius de M. P. c. 51.

There is some doubt whether we should compute the fifteen months

from the moment of her exile, or from that of her escape. The

expression of parvagata seems to denote the latter; but in that

case we must suppose that the treatise of Lactantius was written

after the first civil war between Licinius and Constantine. See

Cuper, p. 254.]

85 (return) [ Ita illis pudicitia et conditio exitio fuit.

Lactantius de M. P. c. 51. He relates the misfortunes of the

innocent wife and daughter of Discletian with a very natural

mixture of pity and exultation.]

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

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 unfavorable suspicions,

and by the faint light which history reflects on this

transaction, 86 we may discover a conspiracy fomented by his arts

against the authority of his colleague. 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 department in the empire. But the performance of

the promised favor 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 honorable

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 discontents, 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. 87

86 (return) [ The curious reader, who consults the Valesian

fragment, p. 713, will probably accuse me of giving a bold and

licentious paraphrase; but if he considers it with attention, he

will acknowledge that my interpretation is probable and

consistent.]

87 (return) [ The situation of Æmona, or, as it is now called,

Laybach, in Carniola, (D’Anville, Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p.

187,) may suggest a conjecture. As it lay to the north-east of

the Julian Alps, that important territory became a natural object

of dispute between the sovereigns of Italy and of Illyricum.]

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

situated on the River Save, about fifty miles above Sirmium. 88

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 valor, 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. Licinius

passed through that city, and breaking down the bridge on the

Save, 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. 89

88 (return) [ Cibalis or Cibalæ (whose name is still preserved in

the obscure ruins of Swilei) was situated about fifty miles from

Sirmium, the capital of Illyricum, and about one hundred from

Taurunum, or Belgrade, and the conflux of the Danube and the

Save. The Roman garrisons and cities on those rivers are finely

illustrated by M. d’Anville in a memoir inserted in l’Academie

des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii.]

89 (return) [ Zosimus (l. ii. p. 90, 91) gives a very particular

account of this battle; but the descriptions of Zosimus are

rhetorical rather than military]

Chapter XIV: Six Emperors At The Same Time, Reunion Of The

Empire.—Part IV.

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 valor and discipline; and the victory

was once more decided by the superior abilities of Constantine,

who directed a body of five thousand men to gain an advantageous

height, from whence, during the heat of the action, they attacked

the rear of the enemy, and made a very considerable slaughter.

The troops of Licinius, however, presenting a double front, still

maintained their ground, till the approach of night put an end to

the combat, and secured their retreat towards the mountains of

Macedonia. 90 The loss of two battles, and of his bravest

veterans, 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 authorized to propose a lasting and

honorable 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.” 91 It was necessary to accept this

humiliating condition; and the unhappy Valens, after a reign of a

few days, 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 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 honors, the conqueror asserted the

superiority of his arms and power. 92

90 (return) [ Zosimus, l. ii. p. 92, 93. Anonym. Valesian. p.

713. The Epitomes furnish some circumstances; but they frequently

confound the two wars between Licinius and Constantine.]

91 (return) [ Petrus Patricius in Excerpt. Legat. p. 27. If it

should be thought that signifies more properly a son-in-law, we

might conjecture that Constantine, assuming the name as well as

the duties of a father, had adopted his younger brothers and

sisters, the children of Theodora. But in the best authors

sometimes signifies a husband, sometimes a father-in-law, and

sometimes a kinsman in general. See Spanheim, Observat. ad

Julian. Orat. i. p. 72.]

92 (return) [ Zosimus, l. ii. p. 93. Anonym. Valesian. p. 713.

Eutropius, x. v. Aurelius Victor, Euseb. in Chron. Sozomen, l. i.

c. 2. Four of these writers affirm that the promotion of the

Cæsars was an article of the treaty. It is, however, certain,

that the younger Constantine and Licinius were not yet born; and

it is highly probable that the promotion was made the 1st of

March, A. D. 317. The treaty had probably stipulated that the two

Cæsars might be created by the western, and one only by the

eastern emperor; but each of them reserved to himself the choice

of the persons.]

The reconciliation of Constantine and Licinius, though it was

imbittered by resentment and jealousy, by the remembrance of

recent injuries, and by the apprehension of future dangers,

maintained, however, above eight years, the tranquility 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 far 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, however,

may be selected from the crowd; the one for its importance, the

other for its singularity; the former for its remarkable

benevolence, 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

intolerant 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. 93 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. 94 2. The

laws of Constantine against rapes were dictated with very little

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 burnt 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 honor 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 rape or seduction, were burnt 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.9401

9401 (return) [ This explanation appears to me little probable.

Godefroy has made a much more happy conjecture, supported by all

the historical circumstances which relate to this edict. It was

published the 12th of May, A. D. 315. at Naissus in Pannonia, the

birthplace of Constantine. The 8th of October, in that year,

Constantine gained the victory of Cibalis over Licinius. He was

yet uncertain as to the fate of the war: the Christians, no

doubt, whom he favored, had prophesied his victory. Lactantius,

then preceptor of Crispus, had just written his work upon

Christianity, (his Divine Institutes;) he had dedicated it to

Constantine. In this book he had inveighed with great force

against infanticide, and the exposure of infants, (l. vi. c. 20.)

Is it not probable that Constantine had read this work, that he

had conversed on the subject with Lactantius, that he was moved,

among other things, by the passage to which I have referred, and

in the first transport of his enthusiasm, he published the edict

in question? The whole of the edict bears the character of

precipitation, of excitement, (entrainement,) rather than of

deliberate reflection—the extent of the promises, the

indefiniteness of the means, of the conditions, and of the time

during which the parents might have a right to the succor of the

state. Is there not reason to believe that the humanity of

Constantine was excited by the influence of Lactantius, by that

of the principles of Christianity, and of the Christians

themselves, already in high esteem with the emperor, rather than

by some “extraordinary instances of despair”? * * * See

Hegewisch, Essai Hist. sur les Finances Romaines. The edict for

Africa was not published till 322: of that we may say in truth

that its origin was in the misery of the times. Africa had

suffered much from the cruelty of Maxentius. Constantine says

expressly, that he had learned that parents, under the pressure

of distress, were there selling their children. This decree is

more distinct, more maturely deliberated than the former; the

succor which was to be given to the parents, and the source from

which it was to be derived, are determined. (Code Theod. l. xi.

tit. 27, c 2.) If the direct utility of these laws may not have

been very extensive, they had at least the great and happy effect

of establishing a decisive opposition between the principles of

the government and those which, at this time, had prevailed among

the subjects of the empire.—G.]

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. 95 But whenever

the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigor

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; 96 and even Constantine

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

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

singular humor 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. 97

93 (return) [ Codex Theodosian. l. xi. tit. 27, tom. iv. p. 188,

with Godefroy’s observations. See likewise l. v. tit. 7, 8.]

94 (return) [ Omnia foris placita, domi prospera, annonæ

ubertate, fructuum copia, &c. Panegyr. Vet. x. 38. This oration

of Nazarius was pronounced on the day of the Quinquennalia of the

Cæsars, the 1st of March, A. D. 321.]

95 (return) [ See the edict of Constantine, addressed to the

Roman people, in the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. 24, tom. iii.

p. 189.]

96 (return) [ His son very fairly assigns the true reason of the

repeal: “Na sub specie atrocioris judicii aliqua in ulciscendo

crimine dilatio næ ceretur.” Cod. Theod. tom. iii. p. 193]

97 (return) [ Eusebius (in Vita Constant. l. iii. c. 1) chooses

to affirm, that in the reign of this hero, the sword of justice

hung idle in the hands of the magistrates. Eusebius himself, (l.

iv. c. 29, 54,) and the Theodosian Code, will inform us that this

excessive lenity was not owing to the want either of atrocious

criminals or of penal laws.]

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 his conduct, as well as

valor, in several victories over the Franks and Alemanni, and

taught the barbarians of that frontier to dread the eldest son of

Constantine, and the grandson of Constantius. 98 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 Benonia, 982 appear to have been

the scenes of several memorable sieges and battles; 99 and though

Constantine encountered a very obstinate resistance, he prevailed

at length in the contest, and the Goths were compelled to

purchased an ignominious retreat, by restoring the booty and

prisoners which 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 the Danube, after repairing the bridge which

had been constructed by Trajan, penetrated into the strongest

recesses of Dacia, 100 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. 101

Exploits like these were no doubt honorable 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. 102

98 (return) [ Nazarius in Panegyr. Vet. x. The victory of Crispus

over the Alemanni is expressed on some medals. * Note: Other

medals are extant, the legends of which commemorate the success

of Constantine over the Sarmatians and other barbarous nations,

Sarmatia Devicta. Victoria Gothica. Debellatori Gentium

Barbarorum. Exuperator Omnium Gentium. St. Martin, note on Le

Beau, i. 148.—M.]

982 (return) [ Campona, Old Buda in Hungary; Margus, Benonia,

Widdin, in Mæsia—G and M.]

99 (return) [ See Zosimus, l. ii. p. 93, 94; though the narrative

of that historian is neither clear nor consistent. The Panegyric

of Optatianus (c. 23) mentions the alliance of the Sarmatians

with the Carpi and Getæ, and points out the several fields of

battle. It is supposed that the Sarmatian games, celebrated in

the month of November, derived their origin from the success of

this war.]

100 (return) [ In the Cæsars of Julian, (p. 329. Commentaire de

Spanheim, p. 252.) Constantine boasts, that he had recovered the

province (Dacia) which Trajan had subdued. But it is insinuated

by Silenus, that the conquests of Constantine were like the

gardens of Adonis, which fade and wither almost the moment they

appear.]

101 (return) [ Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 21. I know not

whether we may entirely depend on his authority. Such an alliance

has a very recent air, and scarcely is suited to the maxims of

the beginning of the fourth century.]

102 (return) [ Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. l. i. c. 8. This

passage, however, is taken from a general declamation on the

greatness of Constantine, and not from any particular account of

the Gothic war.]

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. 103 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 Hadrianople with his troops, and the straits of the

Hellespont with his fleet. The army consisted of one hundred and

fifty thousand foot, and fifteen thousand horse; and as the

cavalry was drawn, for the most part, from Phrygia and

Cappadocia, we may conceive a more favorable opinion of the

beauty of the horses, than of the courage and dexterity of their

riders. The fleet was composed of three hundred and fifty 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 a hundred and ten galleys. The troops

of Constantine were ordered to a rendezvous at Thessalonica; they

amounted to above a hundred and twenty thousand horse and foot.

104 Their emperor was satisfied with their martial appearance,

and his army contained more soldiers, though fewer men, than that

of his eastern competitor. 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 honorable dismission by a last effort of their valor.

105 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 harbor 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. 106 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.

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After the elevation of Constantius and Galerius to the rank of