XIV. dible diligence of Constantine *. Leaving the CHAP. 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 †. tius, and stantine. The British expedition, and an easy victory Death of over the barbarians of Caledonia, were the last Constanexploits of the reign of Constantius. He ended elevation his life in the Imperial palace of York, fifteen of Conmonths after he had received the title of Au- A. D. 306. gustus, and almost fourteen years and a half after July 256. 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 irreVOL. II. sistible * Zosimus, 1. 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. Annoym. 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. XIV. CHA P. sistible weight. The flower of the western armies had followed Constantius into Britain, and the national troops were re-inforced by a numerous body of Alemanni, who obeyed the orders of Crocus, one of their hereditary chieftains *. 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 shew 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 apprized, that if he wished to live he must determine to reign. The decent * Cunctis qui aderant annitentibus, sed præcipue Croco (ali 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. XIV. decent and even obstinate resistance which he c H A P, chose to affect *, 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 dispatched 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 He is acsubsided; and when he recollected the doubtful ged by chance of war, when he had weighed the cha- Galerius, who gives racter and strength of his adversary, he consented him only to embrace the honourable accommodation which the title of Cæsar, the prudence of Constantine had left open to and that him. Without either condemning or ratifying of Augusthe choice of the British army, Galerius accepted verus. 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 favourite O 2 Severus, 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. knowled tus to Se CHA P. Severus. The apparent harmony of the empire XIV. The bro sisters of tine. was still preserved, and Constantine, who already possessed the substance, expected, without impatience, an opportunity of obtaining the honours, of supreme power *. The children of Constantius, by his second thers and 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 thirtysecond 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†.. 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 * Lactantius de M. P. c. 25. Eumenius (vii. S.) gives rhetorical turn to the whole transaction. a The choice of Constantine, by his dying father, which is warranted by reason, and insinuated by Eutnenius, seems to be confirmed by the most unexceptionable authority, the concurring evidence of Lactantius (de M. P. c. 24.) and of Libanius; (Orationi.) of Eusebius, (in Vit. Constantin. 1. i. c. 18. 21.) and of Julian, (Oration i.) they submitted without reluctance to the supe- c H A P, riority of his genius and fortune *. XIV. Discon sion of taxes. II. The ambitious spirit of Galerius was scarcely reconciled to the disappointment of his tent of the views upon the Gallic provinces, before the un- Romans at the apexpected loss of Italy wounded his pride as well prehenas 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 +. The tranquillity 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 03 *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. † 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 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 lodges is sufficient to form another church, which belongs to the Feuillans. |