CHA P. cible arm of Hercules purged the earth from xiii. monsters and tyrants *. تهت Association of two Ca sars, Gale rius and Constan tius. March 1. But even the omnipotence of Jovius and Herculius was insufficient to sustain the weight of the public administration. The prudence of Diocletian discovered, that the empire, assailed on every side by the barbarians, required on A. D, 292. every side the presence of a great army, and of an emperor. With this view, he resolved once more to divide his unwieldy power, and with the inferior title of Casars, to confer on two generals, of approved merit, an equal share of the sovereign authority +. Galerius, surnamed Armentarius, from his original profession of a herdsman, and Constantius, who, from his pale complexion, had acquired the denomination of Chlorus, were the two persons invested with the second honours of the Imperial purple. In describing the country, extraction, and manners of Herculius, we have already delineated those of Galerius, who was often, and not improperly, stiled the younger Maximian, though, in many instances, both of virtue and ability, he appears to have possessed a manifest superiority over the elder. The birth of Constantius was less obscure than * See the second and third panegyrics, particularly iii. 3. 10. 14. but it would be tedious to copy the diffuse and affected expressions of their false eloquence. With regard to the titles, consult Aurel. Victor, Lactantius de M. P. c. 52. Spanheim de Usu Numismatum, &c. Dissertat. xii. 3. † Aurelius Victor. Lactant. de M. P. c. 3. Victor in Epitome. Eutrop. ix. 22.. It is only among the modern Greeks that Tillemont can discover his appellation of Chlorus. Any remarkable degree of paleness seems inconsistent with the rubor mentioned in Panegyric, v. 19. than that of his colleagues. Eutropius, his fa- CHAP. ther, was one of the most considerable nobles of XIII. Dardania, and his mother was the niece of the emperor Claudius *. Although the youth of Constantius had been spent in arms, he was endowed with a mild and amiable disposition, and the popular voice had long since acknowledged him worthy of the rank which he at last attained. To strengthen the bonds of political, by those of domestic union, each of the emperors assumed the character of a father to one of the Cæsars, Diocletian to Galerius, and Maximian to Gonstantius; and each obliging them to repudiate their former wives, bestowed his daughter in marriage on his adopted son †. These four princes distributed among themselves the wide extent of the Roman empire. The defence of DepartGaul, Spain ‡, and Britain, was intrusted to ments and harmony Constantius: Galerius was stationed on the banks of the four of the Danube, as the safeguard of the Illyrian princes. provinces. Italy and Africa were considered as the department of Maximian; and, for his peculiar portion, Diocletian reserved Thrace, Egypt, and the rich countries of Asia. Every one was sovereign I 4 * Julian, the grandson of Constantius, boasts that his family was derived from the warlike Mæsians. Misopogon, p. 348. The Dardanians dwelt on the edge of Mæsia. + Galerius married Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian; if we speak with strictness, Theodora, the wife of Constantius, was daughter only to the wife of Maximian. Spanheim Dis scrtat. xi. 2. This division agrees with that of the four præfectures ; yet there is some reason to doubt whether Spain was not a province of Maximian. See Tillemont, tom. iv. p. 517. XIII. CHA P. Sovereign within his own jurisdiction; but their united authority extended over the whole monarchy, and each of them was prepared to assist his colleagues with his counsels or presence. The Cæsars, in their exalted rank, revered the majesty of the emperors, and the three younger princes invariably acknowledged, by their gratitude and obedience, the common parent of their fortunes. The suspicious jealousy of power found not any place among them; and the singular happiness of their union has been compared to a chorus of music, whose harmony was regulated and maintained by the skilful hand of the first artist *. Series of events. A. D. 287. the pea This important measure was not carried into execution till about six years after the association of Maximian, and that interval of time had not been destitute of memorable incidents. But we have preferred, for the sake of perspicuity, first to describe the more perfect form of Diocletian's government, and afterwards to relate the actions of his reign, following rather the natural order of the events, than the dates of a very doubtful chronology. The first exploit of Maximian, though it is mentioned in a few words by our imperfect sants of writers, deserves, from its singularity, to be recorded in a history of human manners. He suppressed the peasants of Gaul, who, under the appellation Gaul. * Julian in Cæsarib. p. 315. Spanheim's notes to the French translation, p. 122, { appellation of Bagaudæ*, had risen in a general c HA P. insurrection; very similar to those, which in XIII. the fourteenth century successively afflicted both France and England †. It should seem, that very many of those institutions, referred by an easy solution to the feudal system,, are derived from the Celtic barbarians. When Cæsar subdued the Gauls, that great nation was already divided into three orders of men; the clergy, the nobility, and the common people. The first governed by superstition, the second by arms, but the third and last was not of any weight or account in their public councils. It was very natural for the plebeians, oppressed by debt or apprehensive of injuries, to implore the protection of some powerful chief, who acquired over their persons and property the same absolute right as, among the Greeks and Romans, a master exercised over his slaves ‡. The greatest part of the nation was gradually reduced into a state of servitude; compelled to perpetual labour on the estates of the Gallic nobles, and confined to the soil, either by the real weight of fetters, or by the no less cruel and forcible restraints of the laws. During the long series of troubles which agitated Gaul, from the reign of Gallienus * The general name of Bagaude (in the signification of Rebels) continued till the fifth century in Gaul. Some critics derive it from a Celtic word Bagad, a tumultuous assembly. Scaliger ad Euseb. Du Cange Glossar. † Chronique de Froissart, vol. i. c. 182. ii. 73–79. The naivete of his story is lost in our best modern writers. Cæsar de Bell. Gallic. vi. 13. Orgetorix, the Helvetian, could arm for his defence a body of ten thousand slaves. XIII. CHA P. lienus to that of Diocletian, the condition of these servile peasants was peculiarly miserable; and they experienced, at once, the complicated tyranny of their masters, of the barbarians, of the soldiers, and of the officers of the revenue *. Their re Their patience was at last provoked into debellion, spair. On every side they rose in multitudes, armed with rustic weapons, and with irresistible fury. The ploughman became a foot soldier, the shepherd mounted on horseback, the deserted villages and open towns were abandoned to the flames, and the ravages of the peasants equalled those of the fiercest barbarians +. They asserted the natural rights of men, but they asserted those rights with the most savage cruelty. The Galli c nobles, justly dreading their revenge, either took refuge in the fortified cities, or fled from the wild scene of anarchy. The peasants reigned without controul; and two of their most daring leaders had the folly and rashness to assume the Imperial ornaments . Their power soon expired at the approach of the legions. The strength of union and discipline obtained an easy victory over a licentious and divided muland chas- titude §. A severe retaliation was inflicted on the peasants who were found in arms: The affrighted remnant returned to their respective habitations, tisement. *Their oppression and misery are acknowledged by Eume nius, (Panegyr. vi. 8.) Gallias afferatus injuriis. † Panegyr. Vet. ii. 4. Aurelius Victor. Ælianus and Amandus. We have medals coined by them. Goltzius in Thes. R. A. p. 117. 121. Levibus præliis domuit. Eutrop. ix. 20. |