seeing wisdom of Jupiter, the invincible arm of Hercules purged the earth of monsters and tyrants.10 tion of two Galerius stantius, [293], But even the omnipotence of Jovius and Herculius was in- Associa sufficient to sustain the weight of the public administration. Cæsars, The prudence of Diocletian discovered that the empire, assailed and Conon every side by the barbarians, required on every side the A.D. 292 presence of a great army, and of an emperor. With this view March 1 he resolved once more to divide his unwieldy power, and, with the inferior title of Caesars, to confer on two generals of approved merit an equal share of the sovereign authority."1 Galerius, surnamed Armentarius, from his original profession of a herdsman, and Constantius, who from his pale complexion had acquired the denomination of Chlorus, 12 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, styled 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 that of his colleagues. Eutropius, his father, was one of the most considerable nobles of Dardania, and his mother was the niece of the Emperor Claudius.13 Although 10 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. 8. [The titles have importance as showing that, though the colleagues were formally co-equal, Diocletian held a certain primacy. Seeck reads in the two panegyrics of Maximian (which he attributes to Eumenius), delivered in 289 and 291, indications of very strained relations between the two Augusti during the years 286-288, and ascribes great importance to their meeting at Milan (cp. Paneg. ii. 9; iii. 11), in winter 288-289 (Seeck), by which concord was restored. See Seeck, op. cit., i. 26, and 418-420.] 11 Aurelius Victor. Victor in Epitome. Eutrop. ix. 22. Lactant. de M. P. c. 8. Hieronym. in Chron. [For date cp. Diocletian's edict de pretiis; the two Cæsars have trib. pot. ix. in 301 A.D. See Incert. Paneg. Constantio Cæs. 2-4. Chron. Pasch. i. 512. Mommsen, loc. cit. Also C.I.L. 2, 1439.] 12 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. [Their names on their elevation became: C. Galerius Valerius Maximianus, and M. Flavius Valerius Constantius.] 13 Julian, the grandson of Constantius, boasts that his family was derived from the warlike Mæsians. Misopogon, p. 348. The Dardanians dwelt on the [southern] edge of Mæsia. [The relationship of Constantius to Claudius is given variously as daughter's son (Eutr. 9, 22), nepos ex fratre (Anon. Val. 1, 1), brother's daughter's son (Hist. Aug. xxv. 13, 2). But these statements are inconsistent with Panegyr. vii. 2, which speaks of the auita cognatio between Constantine and Claudius, which is borne out by inscriptions (e.g., C.I.L. xi. 9, divi Claudi nepoti; cp. ii. 4844, iii. 3705). In other words, Constantius was officially recognised as son (of course Depart ments and 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 Constantius; and each, obliging him to repudiate their former wives, bestowed his daughter in marriage on his adopted son.14 These four princes distributed among themselves the wide extent of the Roman empire. The defence of Gaul, Spain,15 and harmony Britain, was intrusted to Constantius: Galerius was stationed on the banks of the Danube, as the safeguard of the Illyrian 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 within his own jurisdiction; 16 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 of the four princes illegitimate) of Claudius. It is probable that, when Constantine's dynastic legitimacy was soiled by the shameful catastrophe and death of Maximian (A.D. 310), an illegitimate relationship of his father to Claudius was suddenly "discovered," to establish a new title of political legitimacy. The ground of this plausible view is the fact that the relationship is first mentioned in the Panegyric vii. of 25th July, 310. There is a slight allusion in Eusebius, Hist. Ecc. 10, 8, 4, Baσiλikoû ávékadεV aluaros, but none in Lactantius; the attitude of Christians to the claim was due, Seeck says, to their disapprobation of concubinage; and to the same feeling were due the later versions which changed an illegitimate sonship into a legitimate nephewship. It is to be noted, however, that an inscription of the time of the sons of Constantine represents one of his sons as great-grandson of Claudius (C.I.L. iii. 5207, divi Claudi abnepoti)—a connexion to which there are chronological objections. See Dessau, Hermes, 24, 342, and Seeck, op. cit., i. 104-106 and 451-452.] 14 Galerius married Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian; if we speak with strictness, [Flavia Maximiana] Theodora, the wife of Constantius, was daughter only to the wife of Maximian. Spanheim Dissertat. xi. 2. 15 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. [Lactantius, De Mort. pers., 8, says that Maximian had Spain. On the contrary Aurelius Victor, Cæs. 39, 30, gives him only Africa and Italy; and so Julian, Ör. 2, 51 D, who distinctly assigns Spain to Constantius. But cp. below, note 73.] 16 [This statement must be qualified in regard to the Cæsars, who had no legislative power, no control over the Imperial revenue, no consistorium. Nor had they the right of appointing the officials in their dominions. Their military powers were dependent on the Augusti, to whom all their victories were ascribed. They wore the purple, but not the diadem.] 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.17 events This important measure was not carried into execution till Series of 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. State of the Gaul The first exploit of Maximian, though it is mentioned in a A.D. 287. few words by our imperfect writers, deserves, from its singularity, peasants of to be recorded in a history of human manners. He suppressed the peasants of Gaul, who, under the appellation of Bagaudæ,18 had risen in a general insurrection; very similar to those which in the fourteenth century successively afflicted both France and England.19 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 rights as, among the Greeks and Romans, a master exercised over his slaves.20 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 122. 17 Julian in Cæsarib. p. 315. Spanheim's notes to the French translation, p. 18 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. [For the social state of Gaul, and the action of the priests, cp. Salvian, de Gubern. Dei, v. 5, 6.] 19 Chronique de Froissart, vol. i. c. 182, ii. 73-79. The naiveté of his story is lost in our best modern writers. 20 Cæsar de Bell. Gallic. vi. 13. Orgetorix, the Helvetian, could arm for his defence a body of ten thousand slaves. |