affable in peace; in his whole conduct, the active spirit of CHAP. youth was tempered by habitual prudence; and while his mind XIV. was engrossed by ambition, he appeared cold and insensible to the allurements of pleasure. The favour of the people and soldiers, who had named him as a worthy candidate for the rank of Cesar, 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.' 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.is 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."4 Constan elevation of A. D. S06, The British expedition, and an easy victory over the barba-Death of rians of Caledonia, were the last exploits of the reign of Con- tius, and stantius. He ended his life in the imperial palace of York, Constanfifteen months after he had received the title of Augustus, and tine, almost fourteen years and a half after he had been promoted July 25. to the rank of Cesar. 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 rein 12 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 Phocium, p. 63. Praxagoras, an Athenian philosopher, had written a life of Constantine, in two books, which are now lost. He was a contemporary. 13 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. 14 Anonym. p. 710. Panegyr. Veter. vii. 4. But Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 79. Eusebius de Vit. Constant. 1. i. c. 21, and Lactantius de M. P. c. 24, suppose, with less accuracy, that he found his father on his death-bed. CHAP. forced by a numerous body of Alemanni, who obeyed the orders XIV. 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 honour 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 descent and even obstinate resistance which he chose to affect, t was contrived to justify his usurpation; nor did he yield to the acclamations of the army, till he had provided the proper materials for the 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 knowledg to the flames both the letter and the messenger. But his resentment insensibly subsided; and when he recollected the gives him doubtful chance of war, when he had weighed the character title of Ce- and strength of his adversary, he consented to embrace the hothat of Au-nourable accommodation which the prudence of Constantine gustus to 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 Cesar, and the fourth rank among the Roman princes, whilst he conferred the vacant place of Augustus on his favourite Severus. The He is ac ed by Galerius, who only the sar, and Severus. 15 Cunctis qui aderant annitentibus, sed præcipue Croco (alii Eroco) Alamannorum Rege, auxilii gratiâ 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 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. apparent harmony of the empire was still preserved, and Con- CHAP, stantine, who already possessed the substance, expected, with- XIV. out impatience, an opportunity of obtaining the honours, of supreme power." 17 The bro thers and Constan The children of Constantius by his second marriage were six in number, three of either sex, and whose imperial descent sisters of might have solicited a preference over the meaner extraction tine. of the son of Helena. But Constantine was in the thirty-second year of his age, in the full vigour 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 honours 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 of the Ro apprehen II. The ambitious spirit of Galerius was scarcely recon- Discontent ciled to the disappointment of his views upon the Gallic pro-mans at the vinces, before the unexpected loss of Italy wounded his pride sion of taxas well as power in a still more sensible part. The long ab-es. sence 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 Dioclesian, 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 tranquillity of those elegant 17 Lactantius de M. P. c. 25. Eumenius (vii. 8,) gives a rhetorical turn to the whole transaction. 18 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 (Oration i.) of Eusebius (in Vit. Constantin. I. i. c. 18-21,) and of Julian (Oration i.) 19 Of the three sisters of Constantine, Constantia married the emperor Licinius, Anastasia the Cesar Bassianus, and Eutropia the consul Nepotianus. The three brothers were, Dalmatius, Julius Constantius, and Annibalianus, of whom we shall have occasion to speak bereafter. 20 See Gruter Inscrip. p. 178. The six princes are all mentioned, Dioclesian 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 archi tects have delineated the ruins of these Therma; 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 ledges is sufficient to form another church, which belongs to the Feuillans. XIV. CHAP. 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. The privileges which had exalted Italy above the rank of the provinces, were no longer regarded 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 freedim 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 honour. 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 resi dence 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 honourable a pretence, and declared their readiness to draw their swords in the service of their oppressed country. I was the wish, and it soon became the hope, of every citizen, that after expelling from Italy their foreign tyrants, they shour 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 favour the popular enthusiasm. Maxentius Maxentius was the son of the emperor Maximian, and he has emperor at married the daughter of Galerius. His birth and alliance seemAD 306, ed to offer him the fairest picaise of succeeding to the empire 28th Oct. but his vices and incapacity procured him the same exclusion declared Rume, from the dignity of Cesar, which Constantine had deserved by a dangerous superiority of merit. The policy of Galerius preferred such associates as would never disgrace the choice, no: dispute the commands of their benefactor. An obscure strar 21 See Lactantius de M. P. c. 26. 31. ger was therefore raised to the throne of Italy, and the son of CHAP. the late emperor of the West was left to enjoy the luxury of a XIV. 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 Maximian with the conspiracy; but as soon as the standard of rebellion the purple. was erected at Rome, the old emperor broke from the retirement where the authority of Dioclesian had condemned him to pass a life of melancholy 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 reassumes death of According to the advice, or rather the orders, of his col- Defeat and league, the emperor Severus immediately hastened to Rome, Severus. 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 favour 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 22 The sixth Panegyric represents the conduct of Maximian in the most favourable light; and the ambiguous expression of Aurelius Victor, retractante diu," may signify, either that he contrived, or that he opposed, the conspiracy. See Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 79, and Lactantius de M. P. c. 26. |