XVIIL vinces, where the inroads of the Germans gave СНАР. him an early occafion of fignalizing his military prowess. In the civil war which broke out foon afterwards, the father and for divided their powers; and this hiftory has already celebrated the valour as well as conduct difplayed by the latter, in forcing the freights of the Hellefpont, so ob ftinately defended by the fuperior fleet of Licinius. This naval victory contributed to determine the event of the war; and the names of Conftantine and of Crifpus were united in the joyful acclamations of their eaftern fubjects: who loudly proclai med, that the world had been fubdued, and was now governed, by an emperor endowed with every virtue, and by his illuftrious fon, a prince beloved of heaven, and the lively image of his father's perfections. The public favour, which feldom accompanies old age, diffufed its luftre over the youth of Crifpus. He deferved the esteem, and he engaged the affections, of the court, the army, and the people. The experienced merit of a reigning monarch is acknowledged by his fubjects with reluctance, and frequently denied with partial and difcontented murmurs; while, from the opening virtues of his fucceffor, they fondly conceive the most unbounded hopes of private as well as public felicity ". Jealouty of Con ftantine. A. D. 324, This dangerous popularity foon excited the attention of Conftantine, who, both as a father and as a king, was impatient of an equal. Instead of attempting to fecure the allegiance of his fon, Oct. 10. by the generous ties of confidence and gratitude, СНАР. XVIII. he refolved to prevent the mischiefs which might be apprehended from diffatisfied ambition. Crifpus foon had reafon to complain, that while his infant brother Conftantius was fent, with the title of Cæfar, to reign over his peculiar department of the Gallic provinces ", he, a prince of mature years, who had performed fuch recent and signal fervices, inftead of being raised to the fuperior rank of Auguftus, was confined almost a prisoner to his father's court; and expofed, without power or defence, to every calumny which the malice of his enemies could fuggeft. Under fuch painful circumstances, the royal youth might not always be able to compose his behaviour, or fupprefs his discontent; and we may be affured, that he was encompassed by a train of indifcreet or perfidious followers, who affiduously ftudied to inflame and who were perhaps inftructed to betray, the A. D. 325, unguarded warmth of his refentment. An edict of Conftantine, published about this time, manifeftly indicates his real or affected fufpicions, that a fecret confpiracy had been formed against his perfon and government. By all the allurements of honours and rewards, he invites informers of every degree to accufe without exception his magiftrates or minifters, his friends or his moft intimate favourites, protesting, with a folemn affeveration, that he himself will liften to the charge, that he himself will revenge his injuries; and concluding with a prayer, which difcovers fome apprehenfion of danger, that the providence of the Supreme Being may ftill continue to protect the fafety of the emperor and of the and of the empire ". October 1. XVIII Dugrace of Crifpus, A. D. 326, July. The informers, who complied with fo liberal CHAP.. an invitation, were fufficiently verfed in the arts of courts to felect the friends and adherents of and death Crifpus as the guilty perfons; nor is there any reafon to diftruft the veracity of the emperor, who had promifed an ample measure of revenge and punishment. The policy of Conftantine main tained, however, the fame appearances of regard and confidence towards a fon, whom he began to confider as his moft irreconcileable enemy. Medals were ftruck with the customary vows for the long and aufpicious reign of the young Cæfar "; and as the people, who was not admitted into the fecrets of the palace, ftill loved his virtues, and respected his dignity, a poet who folicits his recal from exile, adores with equal devotion the ma jefty of the father and that of the fon ". The time was now arrived for celebrating the auguft ceremony of the twentieth year of the reign of Conftantine; and the emperor, for that purpose, removed his court from Nicomedia to Rome, where the moft fplendid preparations had been made for his reception. Every eye, and every tongue, affected to express their fenfe of the general happiness, and the veil of ceremony and diffimulation was drawn for a while over the darkeft defigns of revenge and murder ". In the midst of the festival, the unfortunate Crispús was apprehended by order of the emperor, who laid afide the tenderness of a father, without affuming the equity of a judge. The examination was short and private "; and as it was thought decent CHAP. XVIII. The em prefs Faufta. to conceal the fate of the young prince from the eyes of the Roman people, he was fent under a ftrong guard to Pola, in Iftria, where, foon afterwards, he was put to death, either by the hand of the executioner, or by the more gentle operation of poifon ". The Cæfar Licinius, a youth of amiable manners, was involved in the ruin of Crifpus; and the ftern jealousy of Conftantine was unmoved by the prayers and tears of his favourite fifter, pleading for the life of a fon; whofe rank was his only crime, and whose lofs she did not long furvive. The ftory of thefe unhappy princes, the nature and evidence of their guilt, the forms of their trial, and the circumstances of their death, were buried in myfterious obfcurity; and the courtly bishop, who has celebrated in an elaborate work the virtues and piety of his hero, obferves a prudent filence on the subject of these tragic events". Such haughty contempt for the opinion of mankind, whilft it imprints an inde lible ftain on the memory of Constantine, must remind us of the very different behaviour of one of the greatest monarchs of the present age. The Czar Peter, in the full poffeffion of defpotic power, fubmitted to the judgment of Ruffia, of Europe, and of posterity, the reasons which had compelled him to fubfcribe the condemnation of a criminal, or at least of a degenerate, fon ". The innocence of Crifpus was fo univerfally acknowledged, that the modern Greeks, who adore the memory of their founder, are reduced to palliate the guilt of a parricide, which the common 21 XVIH. feelings of human nature forbade them to juftify. CHAP. BIBLIOTECA MADRID |