Volume 2: The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Edward Gibbon

The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire














History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire 

Edward Gibbon, Esq.

With notes by the Rev. H. H. Milman



Vol. 2



Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
Constantine. 

Part I.

     Note: The sixteenth chapter I cannot help considering as a
very ingenious and specious, but very disgraceful extenuation of
the cruelties perpetrated by the Roman magistrates against the
Christians.  It is written in the most contemptibly factious
spirit of prejudice against the sufferers; it is unworthy of a
philosopher and of humanity.  Let the narrative of Cyprian's
death be examined.  He had to relate the murder of an innocent
man of advanced age, and in a station deemed venerable by a
considerable body of the provincials of Africa, put to death
because he refused to sacrifice to Jupiter.  Instead of pointing
the indignation of posterity against such an atrocious act of
tyranny, he dwells, with visible art, on the small circumstances
of decorum and politeness which attended this murder, and which
he relates with as much parade as if they were the most important
particulars of the event.

     The Conduct Of The Roman Government Towards The Christians,
From The Reign Of Nero To That Of Constantine.

     Dr. Robertson has been the subject of much blame for his
real or supposed lenity towards the Spanish murderers and tyrants
in America.  That the sixteenth chapter of Mr. G. did not excite
the same or greater disapprobation, is a proof of the
unphilosophical and indeed fanatical animosity against
Christianity, which was so prevalent during the latter part of
the eighteenth century. - Mackintosh: see Life, i. p. 244, 245.]

     If we seriously consider the purity of the Christian
religion, the sanctity of its moral precepts, and the innocent as
well as austere lives of the greater number of those who during
the first ages embraced the faith of the gospel, we should
naturally suppose, that so benevolent a doctrine would have been
received with due reverence, even by the unbelieving world; that
the learned and the polite, however they may deride the miracles,
would have esteemed the virtues, of the new sect; and that the
magistrates, instead of persecuting, would have protected an
order of men who yielded the most passive obedience to the laws,
though they declined the active cares of war and government.  If,
on the other hand, we recollect the universal toleration of
Polytheism, as it was invariably maintained by the faith of the
people, the incredulity of philosophers, and the policy of the
Roman senate and emperors, we are at a loss to discover what new
offence the Christians had committed, what new provocation could
exasperate the mild indifference of antiquity, and what new
motives could urge the Roman princes, who beheld without concern
a thousand forms of religion subsisting in peace under their
gentle sway, to inflict a severe punishment on any part of their
subjects, who had chosen for themselves a singular but an
inoffensive mode of faith and worship. 
     The religious policy of the ancient world seems to have
assumed a more stern and intolerant character, to oppose the
progress of Christianity. About fourscore years after the death
of Christ, his innocent disciples were punished with death by the
sentence of a proconsul of the most amiable and philosophic
character, and according to the laws of an emperor distinguished
by the wisdom and justice of his general administration.  The
apologies which were repeatedly addressed to the successors of
Trajan are filled with the most pathetic complaints, that the
Christians, who obeyed the dictates, and solicited the liberty,
of conscience, were alone, among all the subjects of the Roman
empire, excluded from the common benefits of their auspicious
government.  The deaths of a few eminent martyrs have been
recorded with care; and from the time that Christianity was
invested with the supreme power, the governors of the church have
been no less diligently employed in displaying the cruelty, than
in imitating the conduct, of their Pagan adversaries.  To
separate (if it be possible) a few authentic as well as
interesting facts from an undigested mass of fiction and error,
and to relate, in a clear and rational manner, the causes, the
extent, the duration, and the most important circumstances of the
persecutions to which the first Christians were exposed, is the
design of the present chapter. ^*

[Footnote *: The history of the first age of Christianity is only
found in the Acts of the Apostles, and in order to speak of the
first persecutions experienced by the Christians, that book
should naturally have been consulted; those persecutions, then
limited to individuals and to a narrow sphere, interested only
the persecuted, and have been related by them alone.  Gibbon
making the persecutions ascend no higher than Nero, has entirely
omitted those which preceded this epoch, and of which St. Luke
has preserved the memory. The only way to justify this omission
was, to attack the authenticity of the Acts of the Apostles; for,
if authentic, they must necessarily be consulted and quoted. 
Now, antiquity has left very few works of which the authenticity
is so well established as that of the Acts of the Apostles.  (See
Lardner's Cred. of Gospel Hist. part iii.) It is therefore,
without sufficient reason, that Gibbon has maintained silence
concerning the narrative of St. Luke, and this omission is not
without importance. - G.]

     The sectaries of a persecuted religion, depressed by fear
animated with resentment, and perhaps heated by enthusiasm, are
seldom in a proper temper of mind calmly to investigate, or
candidly to appreciate, the motives of their enemies, which often
escape the impartial and discerning view even of those who are
placed at a secure distance from the flames of persecution.  A
reason has been assigned for the conduct of the emperors towards
the primitive Christians, which may appear the more specious and
probable as it is drawn from the acknowledged genius of
Polytheism.  It has already been observed, that the religious
concord of the world was principally supported by the implicit
assent and reverence which the nations of antiquity expressed for
their respective traditions and ceremonies.  It might therefore
be expected, that they would unite with indignation against any
sect or people which should separate itself from the communion of
mankind, and claiming the exclusive possession of divine
knowledge, should disdain every form of worship, except its own,
as impious and idolatrous.  The rights of toleration were held by
mutual indulgence: they were justly forfeited by a refusal of the
accustomed tribute.  As the payment of this tribute was
inflexibly refused by the Jews, and by them alone, the
consideration of the treatment which they experienced from the
Roman magistrates, will serve to explain how far these
speculations are justified by facts, and will lead us to discover
the true causes of the persecution of Christianity.

     Without repeating what has already been mentioned of the
reverence of the Roman princes and governors for the temple of
Jerusalem, we shall only observe, that the destruction of the
temple and city was accompanied and followed by every
circumstance that could exasperate the minds of the conquerors,
and authorize religious persecution by the most specious
arguments of political justice and the public safety.  From the
reign of Nero to that of Antoninus Pius, the Jews discovered a
fierce impatience of the dominion of Rome, which repeatedly broke
out in the most furious massacres and insurrections.  Humanity is
shocked at the recital of the horrid cruelties which they
committed in the cities of Egypt, of Cyprus, and of Cyrene, where
they dwelt in treacherous friendship with the unsuspecting
natives; ^1 and we are tempted to applaud the severe retaliation
which was exercised by the arms of the legions against a race of
fanatics, whose dire and credulous superstition seemed to render
them the implacable enemies not only of the Roman government, but
of human kind. ^2 The enthusiasm of the Jews was supported by the
opinion, that it was unlawful for them to pay taxes to an
idolatrous master; and by the flattering promise which they
derived from their ancient oracles, that a conquering Messiah
would soon arise, destined to break their fetters, and to invest
the favorites of heaven with the empire of the earth.  It was by
announcing himself as their long-expected deliverer, and by
calling on all the descendants of Abraham to assert the hope of
Israel, that the famous Barchochebas collected a formidable army,
with which he resisted during two years the power of the emperor
Hadrian. ^3

[Footnote 1: In Cyrene, they massacred 220,000 Greeks; in Cyprus,
240,000; in Egypt, a very great multitude.  Many of these unhappy
victims were sawn asunder, according to a precedent to which
David had given the sanction of his example.  The victorious Jews
devoured the flesh, licked up the blood, and twisted the entrails
like a girdle round their bodies.  See Dion Cassius, l. lxviii.
p. 1145.

     Note: Some commentators, among them Reimar, in his notes on
Dion Cassius think that the hatred of the Romans against the Jews
has led the historian to exaggerate the cruelties committed by
the latter.  Don. Cass. lxviii. p. 1146. - G.]

[Footnote 2: Without repeating the well-known narratives of
Josephus, we may learn from Dion, (l. lxix. p. 1162,) that in
Hadrian's war 580,000 Jews were cut off by the sword, besides an
infinite number which perished by famine, by disease, and by
fire.]

[Footnote 3: For the sect of the Zealots, see Basnage, Histoire
des Juifs, l. i. c. 17; for the characters of the Messiah,
according to the Rabbis, l. v. c. 11, 12, 13; for the actions of
Barchochebas, l. vii. c. 12.  (Hist. of Jews iii. 115, &c.) - M.]

     Notwithstanding these repeated provocations, the resentment
of the Roman princes expired after the victory; nor were their
apprehensions continued beyond the period of war and danger.  By
the general indulgence of polytheism, and by the mild temper of
Antoninus Pius, the Jews were restored to their ancient
privileges, and once more obtained the permission of circumcising
their children, with the easy restraint, that they should never
confer on any foreign proselyte that distinguishing mark of the
Hebrew race. ^4 The numerous remains of that people, though they
were still excluded from the precincts of Jerusalem, were
permitted to form and to maintain considerable establishments
both in Italy and in the provinces, to acquire the freedom of
Rome, to enjoy municipal honors, and to obtain at the same time
an exemption from the burdensome and expensive offices of
society.  The moderation or the contempt of the Romans gave a
legal sanction to the form of ecclesiastical police which was
instituted by the vanquished sect.  The patriarch, who had fixed
his residence at Tiberias, was empowered to appoint his
subordinate ministers and apostles, to exercise a domestic
jurisdiction, and to receive from his dispersed brethren an
annual contribution. ^5 New synagogues were frequently erected in
the principal cities of the empire; and the sabbaths, the fasts,
and the festivals, which were either commanded by the Mosaic law,
or enjoined by the traditions of the Rabbis, were celebrated in
the most solemn and public manner. ^6 Such gentle treatment
insensibly assuaged the stern temper of the Jews.  Awakened from
their dream of prophecy and conquest, they assumed the behavior
of peaceable and industrious subjects.  Their irreconcilable
hatred of mankind, instead of flaming out in acts of blood and
violence, evaporated in less dangerous gratifications.  They
embraced every opportunity of overreaching the idolaters in
trade; and they pronounced secret and ambiguous imprecations
against the haughty kingdom of Edom. ^7

[Footnote 4: It is to Modestinus, a Roman lawyer (l. vi.
regular.) that we are indebted for a distinct knowledge of the
Edict of Antoninus.  See Casaubon ad Hist. August. p. 27.]

[Footnote 5: See Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, l. iii. c. 2, 3. 
The office of Patriarch was suppressed by Theodosius the
younger.]

[Footnote 6: We need only mention the Purim, or deliverance of
the Jews from he rage of Haman, which, till the reign of
Theodosius, was celebrated with insolent triumph and riotous
intemperance.  Basnage, Hist. des Juifs, l. vi. c. 17, l. viii.
c. 6.]

[Footnote 7: According to the false Josephus, Tsepho, the
grandson of Esau, conducted into Italy the army of Eneas, king of
Carthage.  Another colony of Idumaeans, flying from the sword of
David, took refuge in the dominions of Romulus.  For these, or
for other reasons of equal weight, the name of Edom was applied
by the Jews to the Roman empire.

     Note: The false Josephus is a romancer of very modern date,
though some of these legends are probably more ancient.  It may
be worth considering whether many of the stories in the Talmud
are not history in a figurative disguise, adopted from prudence. 
The Jews might dare to say many things of Rome, under the
significant appellation of Edom, which they feared to utter
publicly.  Later and more ignorant ages took literally, and
perhaps embellished, what was intelligible among the generation
to which it was addressed.  Hist. of Jews, iii. 131.

     The false Josephus has the inauguration of the emperor, with
the seven electors and apparently the pope assisting at the
coronation!  Pref. page xxvi. - M.]

     Since the Jews, who rejected with abhorrence the deities
adored by their sovereign and by their fellow-subjects, enjoyed,
however, the free exercise of their unsocial religion, there must
have existed some other cause, which exposed the disciples of
Christ to those severities from which the posterity of Abraham
was exempt.  The difference between them is simple and obvious;
but, according to the sentiments of antiquity, it was of the
highest importance.  The Jews were a nation; the Christians were
a sect: and if it was natural for every community to respect the
sacred institutions of their neighbors, it was incumbent on them
to persevere in those of their ancestors. The voice of oracles,
the precepts of philosophers, and the authority of the laws,
unanimously enforced this national obligation.  By their lofty
claim of superior sanctity the Jews might provoke the Polytheists
to consider them as an odious and impure race.  By disdaining the
intercourse of other nations, they might deserve their contempt. 
The laws of Moses might be for the most part frivolous or absurd;
yet, since they had been received during many ages by a large
society, his followers were justified by the example of mankind;
and it was universally acknowledged, that they had a right to
practise what it would have been criminal in them to neglect. 
But this principle, which protected the Jewish synagogue,
afforded not any favor or security to the primitive church.  By
embracing the faith of the gospel, the Christians incurred the
supposed guilt of an unnatural and unpardonable offence.  They
dissolved the sacred ties of custom and education, violated the
religious institutions of their country, and presumptuously
despised whatever their fathers had believed as true, or had
reverenced as sacred.  Nor was this apostasy (if we may use the
expression) merely of a partial or local kind; since the pious
deserter who withdrew himself from the temples of Egypt or Syria,
would equally disdain to seek an asylum in those of Athens or
Carthage. Every Christian rejected with contempt the
superstitions of his family, his city, and his province.  The
whole body of Christians unanimously refused to hold any
communion with the gods of Rome, of the empire, and of mankind. 
It was in vain that the oppressed believer asserted the
inalienable rights of conscience and private judgment.  Though
his situation might excite the pity, his arguments could never
reach the understanding, either of the philosophic or of the
believing part of the Pagan world.  To their apprehensions, it
was no less a matter of surprise, that any individuals should
entertain scruples against complying with the established mode of
worship, than if they had conceived a sudden abhorrence to the
manners, the dress, or the language of their native country. ^8
^*

[Footnote 8: From the arguments of Celsus, as they are
represented and refuted by Origen, (l. v. p. 247 - 259,) we may
clearly discover the distinction that was made between the Jewish
people and the Christian sect. See, in the Dialogue of Minucius
Felix, (c. 5, 6,) a fair and not inelegant description of the
popular sentiments, with regard to the desertion of the
established worship.]

[Footnote *: In all this there is doubtless much truth; yet does
not the more important difference lie on the surface?  The
Christians made many converts the Jews but few.  Had the Jewish
been equally a proselyting religion would it not have encountered
as violent persecution? - M.]

     The surprise of the Pagans was soon succeeded by resentment;
and the most pious of men were exposed to the unjust but
dangerous imputation of impiety. Malice and prejudice concurred
in representing the Christians as a society of atheists, who, by
the most daring attack on the religious constitution of the
empire, had merited the severest animadversion of the civil
magistrate.  They had separated themselves (they gloried in the
confession) from every mode of superstition which was received in
any part of the globe by the various temper of polytheism: but it
was not altogether so evident what deity, or what form of
worship, they had substituted to the gods and temples of
antiquity.  The pure and sublime idea which they entertained of
the Supreme Being escaped the gross conception of the Pagan
multitude, who were at a loss to discover a spiritual and
solitary God, that was neither represented under any corporeal
figure or visible symbol, nor was adored with the accustomed pomp
of libations and festivals, of altars and sacrifices. ^9 The
sages of Greece and Rome, who had elevated their minds to the
contemplation of the existence and attributes of the First Cause,
were induced by reason or by vanity to reserve for themselves and
their chosen disciples the privilege of this philosophical
devotion. ^10 They were far from admitting the prejudices of
mankind as the standard of truth, but they considered them as
flowing from the original disposition of human nature; and they
supposed that any popular mode of faith and worship which
presumed to disclaim the assistance of the senses, would, in
proportion as it receded from superstition, find itself incapable
of restraining the wanderings of the fancy, and the visions of
fanaticism. The careless glance which men of wit and learning
condescended to cast on the Christian revelation, served only to
confirm their hasty opinion, and to persuade them that the
principle, which they might have revered, of the Divine Unity,
was defaced by the wild enthusiasm, and annihilated by the airy
speculations, of the new sectaries.  The author of a celebrated
dialogue, which has been attributed to Lucian, whilst he affects
to treat the mysterious subject of the Trinity in a style of
ridicule and contempt, betrays his own ignorance of the weakness
of human reason, and of the inscrutable nature of the divine
perfections. ^11

[Footnote 9: Cur nullas aras habent?  templa nulla?  nulla nota
simulacra! - Unde autem, vel quis ille, aut ubi, Deus unicus,
solitarius, desti tutus? Minucius Felix, c. 10.  The Pagan
interlocutor goes on to make a distinction in favor of the Jews,
who had once a temple, altars, victims, &c.] 
[Footnote 10: It is difficult (says Plato) to attain, and
dangerous to publish, the knowledge of the true God.  See the
Theologie des Philosophes, in the Abbe d'Olivet's French
translation of Tully de Natura Deorum, tom. i. p. 275.]

[Footnote 11: The author of the Philopatris perpetually treats
the Christians as a company of dreaming enthusiasts, &c.; and in
one place he manifestly alludes to the vision in which St. Paul
was transported to the third heaven. In another place, Triephon,
who personates a Christian, after deriding the gods of Paganism,
proposes a mysterious oath.]

     It might appear less surprising, that the founder of
Christianity should not only be revered by his disciples as a
sage and a prophet, but that he should be adored as a God.  The
Polytheists were disposed to adopt every article of faith, which
seemed to offer any resemblance, however distant or imperfect,
with the popular mythology; and the legends of Bacchus, of
Hercules, and of Aesculapius, had, in some measure, prepared
their imagination for the appearance of the Son of God under a
human form. ^12 But they were astonished that the Christians
should abandon the temples of those ancient heroes, who, in the
infancy of the world, had invented arts, instituted laws, and
vanquished the tyrants or monsters who infested the earth, in
order to choose for the exclusive object of their religious
worship an obscure teacher, who, in a recent age, and among a
barbarous people, had fallen a sacrifice either to the malice of
his own countrymen, or to the jealousy of the Roman government. 
The Pagan multitude, reserving their gratitude for temporal
benefits alone, rejected the inestimable present of life and
immortality, which was offered to mankind by Jesus of Nazareth. 
His mild constancy in the midst of cruel and voluntary
sufferings, his universal benevolence, and the sublime simplicity
of his actions and character, were insufficient, in the opinion
of those carnal men, to compensate for the want of fame, of
empire, and of success; and whilst they refused to acknowledge
his stupendous triumph over the powers of darkness and of the
grave, they misrepresented, or they insulted, the equivocal
birth, wandering life, and ignominious death, of the divine
Author of Christianity. ^13

[Footnote 12: According to Justin Martyr, (Apolog. Major, c.
70-85,) the daemon who had gained some imperfect knowledge of the
prophecies, purposely contrived this resemblance, which might
deter, though by different means, both the people and the
philosophers from embracing the faith of Christ.] 
[Footnote 13: In the first and second books of Origen, Celsus
treats the birth and character of our Savior with the most
impious contempt.  The orator Libanius praises Porphyry and
Julian for confuting the folly of a sect., which styles a dead
man of Palestine, God, and the Son of God. Socrates, Hist.
Ecclesiast. iii. 23.]

     The personal guilt which every Christian had contracted, in
thus preferring his private sentiment to the national religion,
was aggravated in a very high degree by the number and union of
the criminals.  It is well known, and has been already observed,
that Roman policy viewed with the utmost jealousy and distrust
any association among its subjects; and that the privileges of
private corporations, though formed for the most harmless or
beneficial purposes, were bestowed with a very sparing hand. ^14
The religious assemblies of the Christians who had separated
themselves from the public worship, appeared of a much less
innocent nature; they were illegal in their principle, and in
their consequences might become dangerous; nor were the emperors
conscious that they violated the laws of justice, when, for the
peace of society, they prohibited those secret and sometimes
nocturnal meetings. ^15 The pious disobedience of the Christians
made their conduct, or perhaps their designs, appear in a much
more serious and criminal light; and the Roman princes, who might
perhaps have suffered themselves to be disarmed by a ready
submission, deeming their honor concerned in the execution of
their commands, sometimes attempted, by rigorous punishments, to
subdue this independent spirit, which boldly acknowledged an
authority superior to that of the magistrate.  The extent and
duration of this spiritual conspiracy seemed to render it
everyday more deserving of his animadversion.  We have already
seen that the active and successful zeal of the Christians had
insensibly diffused them through every province and almost every
city of the empire.  The new converts seemed to renounce their
family and country, that they might connect themselves in an
indissoluble band of union with a peculiar society, which every
where assumed a different character from the rest of mankind. 
Their gloomy and austere aspect, their abhorrence of the common
business and pleasures of life, and their frequent predictions of
impending calamities, ^16 inspired the Pagans with the
apprehension of some danger, which would arise from the new sect,
the more alarming as it was the more obscure. "Whatever," says
Pliny, "may be the principle of their conduct, their inflexible
obstinacy appeared deserving of punishment." ^17

[Footnote 14: The emperor Trajan refused to incorporate a company
of 150 firemen, for the use of the city of Nicomedia.  He
disliked all associations. See Plin. Epist. x. 42, 43.]

[Footnote 15: The proconsul Pliny had published a general edict
against unlawful meetings.  The prudence of the Christians
suspended their Agapae; but it was impossible for them to omit
the exercise of public worship.] 
[Footnote 16: As the prophecies of the Antichrist, approaching
conflagration, &c., provoked those Pagans whom they did not
convert, they were mentioned with caution and reserve; and the
Montanists were censured for disclosing too freely the dangerous
secret.  See Mosheim, 413.]

[Footnote 17: Neque enim dubitabam, quodcunque esset quod
faterentur, (such are the words of Pliny,) pervicacian certe et
inflexibilem obstinationem lebere puniri.]

     The precautions with which the disciples of Christ performed
the offices of religion were at first dictated by fear and
necessity; but they were continued from choice.  By imitating the
awful secrecy which reigned in the Eleusinian mysteries, the
Christians had flattered themselves that they should render their
sacred institutions more respectable in the eyes of the Pagan
world. ^18 But the event, as it often happens to the operations
of subtile policy, deceived their wishes and their expectations.
It was concluded, that they only concealed what they would have
blushed to disclose.  Their mistaken prudence afforded an
opportunity for malice to invent, and for suspicious credulity to
believe, the horrid tales which described the Christians as the
most wicked of human kind, who practised in their dark recesses
every abomination that a depraved fancy could suggest, and who
solicited the favor of their unknown God by the sacrifice of
every moral virtue.  There were many who pretended to confess or
to relate the ceremonies of this abhorred society. It was
asserted, "that a new-born infant, entirely covered over with
flour, was presented, like some mystic symbol of initiation, to
the knife of the proselyte, who unknowingly inflicted many a
secret and mortal wound on the innocent victim of his error; that
as soon as the cruel deed was perpetrated, the sectaries drank up
the blood, greedily tore asunder the quivering members, and
pledged themselves to eternal secrecy, by a mutual consciousness
of guilt. It was as confidently affirmed, that this inhuman
sacrifice was succeeded by a suitable entertainment, in which
intemperance served as a provocative to brutal lust; till, at the
appointed moment, the lights were suddenly extinguished, shame
was banished, nature was forgotten; and, as accident might
direct, the darkness of the night was polluted by the incestuous
commerce of sisters and brothers, of sons and of mothers." ^19

[Footnote 18: See Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History, vol. i. p.
101, and Spanheim, Remarques sur les Caesars de Julien, p. 468,
&c.] 
[Footnote 19: See Justin Martyr, Apolog. i. 35, ii. 14. 
Athenagoras, in Legation, c. 27.  Tertullian, Apolog. c. 7, 8, 9.

Minucius Felix, c. 9, 10, 80, 31.  The last of these writers
relates the accusation in the most elegant and circumstantial
manner.  The answer of Tertullian is the boldest and most
vigorous.]

     But the perusal of the ancient apologies was sufficient to
remove even the slightest suspicion from the mind of a candid
adversary.  The Christians, with the intrepid security of
innocence, appeal from the voice of rumor to the equity of the
magistrates.  They acknowledge, that if any proof can be produced
of the crimes which calumny has imputed to them, they are worthy
of the most severe punishment.  They provoke the punishment, and
they challenge the proof.  At the same time they urge, with equal
truth and propriety, that the charge is not less devoid of
probability, than it is destitute of evidence; they ask, whether
any one can seriously believe that the pure and holy precepts of
the gospel, which so frequently restrain the use of the most
lawful enjoyments, should inculcate the practice of the most
abominable crimes; that a large society should resolve to
dishonor itself in the eyes of its own members; and that a great
number of persons of either sex, and every age and character,
insensible to the fear of death or infamy, should consent to
violate those principles which nature and education had imprinted
most deeply in their minds. ^20 Nothing, it should seem, could
weaken the force or destroy the effect of so unanswerable a
justification, unless it were the injudicious conduct of the
apologists themselves, who betrayed the common cause of religion,
to gratify their devout hatred to the domestic enemies of the
church.  It was sometimes faintly insinuated, and sometimes
boldly asserted, that the same bloody sacrifices, and the same
incestuous festivals, which were so falsely ascribed to the
orthodox believers, were in reality celebrated by the
Marcionites, by the Carpocratians, and by several other sects of
the Gnostics, who, notwithstanding they might deviate into the
paths of heresy, were still actuated by the sentiments of men,
and still governed by the precepts of Christianity. ^21
Accusations of a similar kind were retorted upon the church by
the schismatics who had departed from its communion, ^22 and it
was confessed on all sides, that the most scandalous
licentiousness of manners prevailed among great numbers of those
who affected the name of Christians.  A Pagan magistrate, who
possessed neither leisure nor abilities to discern the almost
imperceptible line which divides the orthodox faith from
heretical pravity, might easily have imagined that their mutual
animosity had extorted the discovery of their common guilt. It
was fortunate for the repose, or at least for the reputation, of
the first Christians, that the magistrates sometimes proceeded
with more temper and moderation than is usually consistent with
religious zeal, and that they reported, as the impartial result
of their judicial inquiry, that the sectaries, who had deserted
the established worship, appeared to them sincere in their
professions, and blameless in their manners; however they might
incur, by their absurd and excessive superstition, the censure of
the laws. ^23

[Footnote 20: In the persecution of Lyons, some Gentile slaves
were compelled, by the fear of tortures, to accuse their
Christian master.  The church of Lyons, writing to their brethren
of Asia, treat the horrid charge with proper indignation and
contempt.  Euseb. Hist. Eccles. v. i.]

[Footnote 21: See Justin Martyr, Apolog. i. 35.  Irenaeus adv.
Haeres. i. 24. Clemens. Alexandrin. Stromat. l. iii. p. 438.
Euseb. iv. 8.  It would be tedious and disgusting to relate all
that the succeeding writers have imagined, all that Epiphanius
has received, and all that Tillemont has copied. M. de Beausobre
(Hist. du Manicheisme, l. ix. c. 8, 9) has exposed, with great
spirit, the disingenuous arts of Augustin and Pope Leo I.] 
[Footnote 22: When Tertullian became a Montanist, he aspersed the
morals of the church which he had so resolutely defended. "Sed
majoris est Agape, quia per hanc adolescentes tui cum sororibus
dormiunt, appendices scilicet gulae lascivia et luxuria." De
Jejuniis c. 17.  The 85th canon of the council of Illiberis
provides against the scandals which too often polluted the vigils
of the church, and disgraced the Christian name in the eyes of
unbelievers.] 
[Footnote 23: Tertullian (Apolog. c. 2) expatiates on the fair
and honorable testimony of Pliny, with much reason and some
declamation.] 

Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
Constantine. 

Part II.

     History, which undertakes to record the transactions of the
past, for the instruction of future ages, would ill deserve that
honorable office, if she condescended to plead the cause of
tyrants, or to justify the maxims of persecution.  It must,
however, be acknowledged, that the conduct of the emperors who
appeared the least favorable to the primitive church, is by no
means so criminal as that of modern sovereigns, who have employed
the arm of violence and terror against the religious opinions of
any part of their subjects.  From their reflections, or even from
their own feelings, a Charles V. or a Lewis XIV. might have
acquired a just knowledge of the rights of conscience, of the
obligation of faith, and of the innocence of error.  But the
princes and magistrates of ancient Rome were strangers to those
principles which inspired and authorized the inflexible obstinacy
of the Christians in the cause of truth, nor could they
themselves discover in their own breasts any motive which would
have prompted them to refuse a legal, and as it were a natural,
submission to the sacred institutions of their country.  The same
reason which contributes to alleviate the guilt, must have tended
to abate the vigor, of their persecutions.  As they were
actuated, not by the furious zeal of bigots, but by the temperate
policy of legislators, contempt must often have relaxed, and
humanity must frequently have suspended, the execution of those
laws which they enacted against the humble and obscure followers
of Christ.  From the general view of their character and motives
we might naturally conclude: I.  That a considerable time elapsed
before they considered the new sectaries as an object deserving
of the attention of government.  II.  That in the conviction of
any of their subjects who were accused of so very singular a
crime, they proceeded with caution and reluctance.  III.  That
they were moderate in the use of punishments; and, IV. That the
afflicted church enjoyed many intervals of peace and tranquility.
Notwithstanding the careless indifference which the most copious
and the most minute of the Pagan writers have shown to the
affairs of the Christians, ^24 it may still be in our power to
confirm each of these probable suppositions, by the evidence of
authentic facts.

[Footnote 24: In the various compilation of the Augustan History,
(a part of which was composed under the reign of Constantine,)
there are not six lines which relate to the Christians; nor has
the diligence of Xiphilin discovered their name in the large
history of Dion Cassius.

     Note: The greater part of the Augustan History is dedicated
to Diocletian.  This may account for the silence of its authors
concerning Christianity.  The notices that occur are almost all
in the lives composed under the reign of Constantine.  It may
fairly be concluded, from the language which he had into the
mouth of Maecenas, that Dion was an enemy to all innovations in
religion.  (See Gibbon, infra, note 105.) In fact, when the
silence of Pagan historians is noticed, it should be remembered
how meagre and mutilated are all the extant histories of the
period -M.]

     1. By the wise dispensation of Providence, a mysterious veil
was cast over the infancy of the church, which, till the faith of
the Christians was matured, and their numbers were multiplied,
served to protect them not only from the malice but even from the
knowledge of the Pagan world.  The slow and gradual abolition of
the Mosaic ceremonies afforded a safe and innocent disguise to
the more early proselytes of the gospel.  As they were, for the
greater part, of the race of Abraham, they were distinguished by
the peculiar mark of circumcision, offered up their devotions in
the Temple of Jerusalem till its final destruction, and received
both the Law and the Prophets as the genuine inspirations of the
Deity.  The Gentile converts, who by a spiritual adoption had
been associated to the hope of Israel, were likewise confounded
under the garb and appearance of Jews, ^25 and as the Polytheists
paid less regard to articles of faith than to the external
worship, the new sect, which carefully concealed, or faintly
announced, its future greatness and ambition, was permitted to
shelter itself under the general toleration which was granted to
an ancient and celebrated people in the Roman empire.  It was not
long, perhaps, before the Jews themselves, animated with a
fiercer zeal and a more jealous faith, perceived the gradual
separation of their Nazarene brethren from the doctrine of the
synagogue; and they would gladly have extinguished the dangerous
heresy in the blood of its adherents.  But the decrees of Heaven
had already disarmed their malice; and though they might
sometimes exert the licentious privilege of sedition, they no
longer possessed the administration of criminal justice; nor did
they find it easy to infuse into the calm breast of a Roman
magistrate the rancor of their own zeal and prejudice.  The
provincial governors declared themselves ready to listen to any
accusation that might affect the public safety; but as soon as
they were informed that it was a question not of facts but of
words, a dispute relating only to the interpretation of the
Jewish laws and prophecies, they deemed it unworthy of the
majesty of Rome seriously to discuss the obscure differences
which might arise among a barbarous and superstitious people. 
The innocence of the first Christians was protected by ignorance
and contempt; and the tribunal of the Pagan magistrate often
proved their most assured refuge against the fury of the
synagogue. ^26 If indeed we were disposed to adopt the traditions
of a too credulous antiquity, we might relate the distant
peregrinations, the wonderful achievements, and the various
deaths of the twelve apostles: but a more accurate inquiry will
induce us to doubt, whether any of those persons who had been
witnesses to the miracles of Christ were permitted, beyond the
limits of Palestine, to seal with their blood the truth of their
testimony. ^27 From the ordinary term of human life, it may very
naturally be presumed that most of them were deceased before the
discontent of the Jews broke out into that furious war, which was
terminated only by the ruin of Jerusalem.  During a long period,
from the death of Christ to that memorable rebellion, we cannot
discover any traces of Roman intolerance, unless they are to be
found in the sudden, the transient, but the cruel persecution,
which was exercised by Nero against the Christians of the
capital, thirty-five years after the former, and only two years
before the latter, of those great events.  The character of the
philosophic historian, to whom we are principally indebted for
the knowledge of this singular transaction, would alone be
sufficient to recommend it to our most attentive consideration.

[Footnote 25: An obscure passage of Suetonius (in Claud. c. 25)
may seem to offer a proof how strangely the Jews and Christians
of Rome were confounded with each other.]

[Footnote 26: See, in the xviiith and xxvth chapters of the Acts
of the Apostles, the behavior of Gallio, proconsul of Achaia, and
of Festus, procurator of Judea.]

[Footnote 27: In the time of Tertullian and Clemens of
Alexandria, the glory of martyrdom was confined to St. Peter, St.
Paul, and St. James.  It was gradually bestowed on the rest of
the apostles, by the more recent Greeks, who prudently selected
for the theatre of their preaching and sufferings some remote
country beyond the limits of the Roman empire.  See Mosheim, p.
81; and Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. i. part iii.]

     In the tenth year of the reign of Nero, the capital of the
empire was afflicted by a fire which raged beyond the memory or
example of former ages. ^28 The monuments of Grecian art and of
Roman virtue, the trophies of the Punic and Gallic wars, the most
holy temples, and the most splendid palaces, were involved in one
common destruction.  Of the fourteen regions or quarters into
which Rome was divided, four only subsisted entire, three were
levelled with the ground, and the remaining seven, which had
experienced the fury of the flames, displayed a melancholy
prospect of ruin and desolation.  The vigilance of government
appears not to have neglected any of the precautions which might
alleviate the sense of so dreadful a calamity.  The Imperial
gardens were thrown open to the distressed multitude, temporary
buildings were erected for their accommodation, and a plentiful
supply of corn and provisions was distributed at a very moderate
price. ^29 The most generous policy seemed to have dictated the
edicts which regulated the disposition of the streets and the
construction of private houses; and as it usually happens, in an
age of prosperity, the conflagration of Rome, in the course of a
few years, produced a new city, more regular and more beautiful
than the former.  But all the prudence and humanity affected by
Nero on this occasion were insufficient to preserve him from the
popular suspicion.  Every crime might be imputed to the assassin
of his wife and mother; nor could the prince who prostituted his
person and dignity on the theatre be deemed incapable of the most
extravagant folly.  The voice of rumor accused the emperor as the
incendiary of his own capital; and as the most incredible stories
are the best adapted to the genius of an enraged people, it was
gravely reported, and firmly believed, that Nero, enjoying the
calamity which he had occasioned, amused himself with singing to
his lyre the destruction of ancient Troy. ^30 To divert a
suspicion, which the power of despotism was unable to suppress,
the emperor resolved to substitute in his own place some
fictitious criminals.  "With this view," continues Tacitus, "he
inflicted the most exquisite tortures on those men, who, under
the vulgar appellation of Christians, were already branded with
deserved infamy.  They derived their name and origin from Christ,
who in the reign of Tiberius had suffered death by the sentence
of the procurator Pontius Pilate. ^31 For a while this dire
superstition was checked; but it again burst forth; ^* and not
only spread itself over Judaea, the first seat of this
mischievous sect, but was even introduced into Rome, the common
asylum which receives and protects whatever is impure, whatever
is atrocious.  The confessions of those who were seized
discovered a great multitude of their accomplices, and they were
all convicted, not so much for the crime of setting fire to the
city, as for their hatred of human kind. ^32 They died in
torments, and their torments were imbittered by insult and
derision.  Some were nailed on crosses; others sewn up in the
skins of wild beasts, and exposed to the fury of dogs; others
again, smeared over with combustible materials, were used as
torches to illuminate the darkness of the night.  The gardens of
Nero were destined for the melancholy spectacle, which was
accompanied with a horse-race and honored with the presence of
the emperor, who mingled with the populace in the dress and
attitude of a charioteer.  The guilt of the Christians deserved
indeed the most exemplary punishment, but the public abhorrence
was changed into commiseration, from the opinion that those
unhappy wretches were sacrificed, not so much to the public
welfare, as to the cruelty of a jealous tyrant." ^33 Those who
survey with a curious eye the revolutions of mankind, may
observe, that the gardens and circus of Nero on the Vatican,
which were polluted with the blood of the first Christians, have
been rendered still more famous by the triumph and by the abuse
of the persecuted religion.  On the same spot, ^34 a temple,
which far surpasses the ancient glories of the Capitol, has been
since erected by the Christian Pontiffs, who, deriving their
claim of universal dominion from an humble fisherman of Galilee,
have succeeded to the throne of the Caesars, given laws to the
barbarian conquerors of Rome, and extended their spiritual
jurisdiction from the coast of the Baltic to the shores of the
Pacific Ocean.

[Footnote 28: Tacit. Annal. xv. 38 - 44.  Sueton in Neron. c. 38.
Dion Cassius, l. lxii. p. 1014. Orosius, vii. 7.]

[Footnote 29: The price of wheat (probably of the modius,) was
reduced as low as terni Nummi; which would be equivalent to about
fifteen shillings the English quarter.]

[Footnote 30: We may observe, that the rumor is mentioned by
Tacitus with a very becoming distrust and hesitation, whilst it
is greedily transcribed by Suetonius, and solemnly confirmed by
Dion.]

[Footnote 31: This testimony is alone sufficient to expose the
anachronism of the Jews, who place the birth of Christ near a
century sooner. (Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, l. v. c. 14, 15.)
We may learn from Josephus, (Antiquitat. xviii. 3,) that the
procuratorship of Pilate corresponded with the last ten years of
Tiberius, A. D. 27 - 37.  As to the particular time of the death
of Christ, a very early tradition fixed it to the 25th of March,
A. D. 29, under the consulship of the two Gemini. (Tertullian
adv. Judaeos, c. 8.) This date, which is adopted by Pagi,
Cardinal Norris, and Le Clerc, seems at least as probable as the
vulgar aera, which is placed (I know not from what conjectures)
four years later.]

[Footnote *: This single phrase, Repressa in praesens exitiabilis
superstitio rursus erumpebat, proves that the Christians had
already attracted the attention of the government; and that Nero
was not the first to persecute them.  I am surprised that more
stress has not been laid on the confirmation which the Acts of
the Apostles derive from these words of Tacitus, Repressa in
praesens, and rursus erumpebat. - G.

     I have been unwilling to suppress this note, but surely the
expression of Tacitus refers to the expected extirpation of the
religion by the death of its founder, Christ. - M.]

[Footnote 32: Odio humani generis convicti.  These words may
either signify the hatred of mankind towards the Christians, or
the hatred of the Christians towards mankind.  I have preferred
the latter sense, as the most agreeable to the style of Tacitus,
and to the popular error, of which a precept of the gospel (see
Luke xiv. 26) had been, perhaps, the innocent occasion.  My
interpretation is justified by the authority of Lipsius; of the
Italian, the French, and the English translators of Tacitus; of
Mosheim, (p. 102,) of Le Clerc, (Historia Ecclesiast. p. 427,) of
Dr. Lardner, (Testimonies, vol. i. p. 345,) and of the Bishop of
Gloucester, (Divine Legation, vol. iii. p. 38.) But as the word
convicti does not unite very happily with the rest of the
sentence, James Gronovius has preferred the reading of conjuncti,
which is authorized by the valuable MS. of Florence.]

[Footnote 33: Tacit. Annal xv. 44.]

[Footnote 34: Nardini Roma Antica, p. 487. Donatus de Roma
Antiqua, l. iii. p. 449.]

     But it would be improper to dismiss this account of Nero's
persecution, till we have made some observations that may serve
to remove the difficulties with which it is perplexed, and to
throw some light on the subsequent history of the church.

     1. The most sceptical criticism is obliged to respect the
truth of this extraordinary fact, and the integrity of this
celebrated passage of Tacitus. The former is confirmed by the
diligent and accurate Suetonius, who mentions the punishment
which Nero inflicted on the Christians, a sect of men who had
embraced a new and criminal superstition. ^35 The latter may be
proved by the consent of the most ancient manuscripts; by the
inimitable character of the style of Tacitus by his reputation,
which guarded his text from the interpolations of pious fraud;
and by the purport of his narration, which accused the first
Christians of the most atrocious crimes, without insinuating that
they possessed any miraculous or even magical powers above the
rest of mankind. ^36 2. Notwithstanding it is probable that
Tacitus was born some years before the fire of Rome, ^37 he could
derive only from reading and conversation the knowledge of an
event which happened during his infancy. Before he gave himself
to the public, he calmly waited till his genius had attained its
full maturity, and he was more than forty years of age, when a
grateful regard for the memory of the virtuous Agricola extorted
from him the most early of those historical compositions which
will delight and instruct the most distant posterity. After
making a trial of his strength in the life of Agricola and the
description of Germany, he conceived, and at length executed, a
more arduous work; the history of Rome, in thirty books, from the
fall of Nero to the accession of Nerva.  The administration of
Nerva introduced an age of justice and propriety, which Tacitus
had destined for the occupation of his old age; ^38 but when he
took a nearer view of his subject, judging, perhaps, that it was
a more honorable or a less invidious office to record the vices
of past tyrants, than to celebrate the virtues of a reigning
monarch, he chose rather to relate, under the form of annals, the
actions of the four immediate successors of Augustus.  To
collect, to dispose, and to adorn a series of fourscore years, in
an immortal work, every sentence of which is pregnant with the
deepest observations and the most lively images, was an
undertaking sufficient to exercise the genius of Tacitus himself
during the greatest part of his life.  In the last years of the
reign of Trajan, whilst the victorious monarch extended the power
of Rome beyond its ancient limits, the historian was describing,
in the second and fourth books of his annals, the tyranny of
Tiberius; ^39 and the emperor Hadrian must have succeeded to the
throne, before Tacitus, in the regular prosecution of his work,
could relate the fire of the capital, and the cruelty of Nero
towards the unfortunate Christians.  At the distance of sixty
years, it was the duty of the annalist to adopt the narratives of
contemporaries; but it was natural for the philosopher to indulge
himself in the description of the origin, the progress, and the
character of the new sect, not so much according to the knowledge
or prejudices of the age of Nero, as according to those of the
time of Hadrian.  3 Tacitus very frequently trusts to the
curiosity or reflection of his readers to supply those
intermediate circumstances and ideas, which, in his extreme
conciseness, he has thought proper to suppress.  We may therefore
presume to imagine some probable cause which could direct the
cruelty of Nero against the Christians of Rome, whose obscurity,
as well as innocence, should have shielded them from his
indignation, and even from his notice. The Jews, who were
numerous in the capital, and oppressed in their own country, were
a much fitter object for the suspicions of the emperor and of the
people: nor did it seem unlikely that a vanquished nation, who
already discovered their abhorrence of the Roman yoke, might have
recourse to the most atrocious means of gratifying their
implacable revenge.  But the Jews possessed very powerful
advocates in the palace, and even in the heart of the tyrant; his
wife and mistress, the beautiful Poppaea, and a favorite player
of the race of Abraham, who had already employed their
intercession in behalf of the obnoxious people. ^40 In their room
it was necessary to offer some other victims, and it might easily
be suggested that, although the genuine followers of Moses were
innocent of the fire of Rome, there had arisen among them a new
and pernicious sect of Galilaeans, which was capable of the most
horrid crimes.  Under the appellation of Galilaeans, two
distinctions of men were confounded, the most opposite to each
other in their manners and principles; the disciples who had
embraced the faith of Jesus of Nazareth, ^41 and the zealots who
had followed the standard of Judas the Gaulonite. ^42 The former
were the friends, the latter were the enemies, of human kind; and
the only resemblance between them consisted in the same
inflexible constancy, which, in the defence of their cause,
rendered them insensible of death and tortures.  The followers of
Judas, who impelled their countrymen into rebellion, were soon
buried under the ruins of Jerusalem; whilst those of Jesus, known
by the more celebrated name of Christians, diffused themselves
over the Roman empire.  How natural was it for Tacitus, in the
time of Hadrian, to appropriate to the Christians the guilt and
the sufferings, ^* which he might, with far greater truth and
justice, have attributed to a sect whose odious memory was almost
extinguished!  4. Whatever opinion may be entertained of this
conjecture, (for it is no more than a conjecture,) it is evident
that the effect, as well as the cause, of Nero's persecution, was
confined to the walls of Rome, ^43 ^! that the religious tenets
of the Galilaeans or Christians, were never made a subject of
punishment, or even of inquiry; and that, as the idea of their
sufferings was for a long time connected with the idea of cruelty
and injustice, the moderation of succeeding princes inclined them
to spare a sect, oppressed by a tyrant, whose rage had been
usually directed against virtue and innocence.

[Footnote 35: Sueton. in Nerone, c. 16.  The epithet of malefica,
which some sagacious commentators have translated magical, is
considered by the more rational Mosheim as only synonymous to the
exitiabilis of Tacitus.] 
[Footnote 36: The passage concerning Jesus Christ, which was
inserted into the text of Josephus, between the time of Origen
and that of Eusebius, may furnish an example of no vulgar
forgery.  The accomplishment of the prophecies, the virtues,
miracles, and resurrection of Jesus, are distinctly related.
Josephus acknowledges that he was the Messiah, and hesitates
whether he should call him a man.  If any doubt can still remain
concerning this celebrated passage, the reader may examine the
pointed objections of Le Fevre, (Havercamp. Joseph. tom. ii. p.
267-273, the labored answers of Daubuz, (p. 187-232, and the
masterly reply (Bibliotheque Ancienne et Moderne, tom. vii. p.
237-288) of an anonymous critic, whom I believe to have been the
learned Abbe de Longuerue.

     Note: The modern editor of Eusebius, Heinichen, has adopted,
and ably supported, a notion, which had before suggested itself
to the editor, that this passage is not altogether a forgery, but
interpolated with many additional clauses.  Heinichen has
endeavored to disengage the original text from the foreign and
more recent matter. - M.]

[Footnote 37: See the lives of Tacitus by Lipsius and the Abbe de
la Bleterie, Dictionnaire de Bayle a l'article Particle Tacite,
and Fabricius, Biblioth. Latin tem. Latin. tom. ii. p. 386, edit.
Ernest. Ernst.]

[Footnote 38: Principatum Divi Nervae, et imperium Trajani,
uberiorem, securioremque materiam senectuti seposui.  Tacit.
Hist. i.] 
[Footnote 39: See Tacit. Annal. ii. 61, iv. 4.

     Note: The perusal of this passage of Tacitus alone is
sufficient, as I have already said, to show that the Christian
sect was not so obscure as not already to have been repressed,
(repressa,) and that it did not pass for innocent in the eyes of
the Romans. - G.]

[Footnote 40: The player's name was Aliturus.  Through the same
channel, Josephus, (de vita sua, c. 2,) about two years before,
had obtained the pardon and release of some Jewish priests, who
were prisoners at Rome.] 
[Footnote 41: The learned Dr. Lardner (Jewish and Heathen
Testimonies, vol ii. p. 102, 103) has proved that the name of
Galilaeans was a very ancient, and perhaps the primitive
appellation of the Christians.]

[Footnote 42: Joseph. Antiquitat. xviii. 1, 2.  Tillemont, Ruine
des Juifs, p. 742 The sons of Judas were crucified in the time of
Claudius.  His grandson Eleazar, after Jerusalem was taken,
defended a strong fortress with 960 of his most desperate
followers.  When the battering ram had made a breach, they turned
their swords against their wives their children, and at length
against their own breasts.  They dies to the last man.

[Footnote *: This conjecture is entirely devoid, not merely of
verisimilitude, but even of possibility.  Tacitus could not be
deceived in appropriating to the Christians of Rome the guilt and
the sufferings which he might have attributed with far greater
truth to the followers of Judas the Gaulonite, for the latter
never went to Rome.  Their revolt, their attempts, their
opinions, their wars, their punishment, had no other theatre but
Judaea (Basn. Hist. des. Juifs, t. i. p. 491.) Moreover the name
of Christians had long been given in Rome to the disciples of
Jesus; and Tacitus affirms too positively, refers too distinctly
to its etymology, to allow us to suspect any mistake on his part.
- G.

     M. Guizot's expressions are not in the least too strong
against this strange imagination of Gibbon; it may be doubted
whether the followers of Judas were known as a sect under the
name of Galilaeans. - M.] 
[Footnote 43: See Dodwell. Paucitat. Mart. l. xiii.  The Spanish
Inscription in Gruter. p. 238, No. 9, is a manifest and
acknowledged forgery contrived by that noted imposter.  Cyriacus
of Ancona, to flatter the pride and prejudices of the Spaniards. 
See Ferreras, Histoire D'Espagne, tom. i. p. 192.] 
[Footnote !: M. Guizot, on the authority of Sulpicius Severus,
ii. 37, and of Orosius, viii. 5, inclines to the opinion of those
who extend the persecution to the provinces.  Mosheim rather
leans to that side on this much disputed question, (c. xxxv.)
Neander takes the view of Gibbon, which is in general that of the
most learned writers.  There is indeed no evidence, which I can
discover, of its reaching the provinces; and the apparent
security, at least as regards his life, with which St. Paul
pursued his travels during this period, affords at least a strong
inference against a rigid and general inquisition against the
Christians in other parts of the empire. - M.] 
     It is somewhat remarkable that the flames of war consumed,
almost at the same time, the temple of Jerusalem and the Capitol
of Rome; ^44 and it appears no less singular, that the tribute
which devotion had destined to the former, should have been
converted by the power of an assaulting victor to restore and
adorn the splendor of the latter. ^45 The emperors levied a
general capitation tax on the Jewish people; and although the sum
assessed on the head of each individual was inconsiderable, the
use for which it was designed, and the severity with which it was
exacted, were considered as an intolerable grievance. ^46 Since
the officers of the revenue extended their unjust claim to many
persons who were strangers to the blood or religion of the Jews,
it was impossible that the Christians, who had so often sheltered
themselves under the shade of the synagogue, should now escape
this rapacious persecution.  Anxious as they were to avoid the
slightest infection of idolatry, their conscience forbade them to
contribute to the honor of that daemon who had assumed the
character of the Capitoline Jupiter.  As a very numerous though
declining party among the Christians still adhered to the law of
Moses, their efforts to dissemble their Jewish origin were
detected by the decisive test of circumcision; ^47 nor were the
Roman magistrates at leisure to inquire into the difference of
their religious tenets.  Among the Christians who were brought
before the tribunal of the emperor, or, as it seems more
probable, before that of the procurator of Judaea, two persons
are said to have appeared, distinguished by their extraction,
which was more truly noble than that of the greatest monarchs. 
These were the grandsons of St. Jude the apostle, who himself was
the brother of Jesus Christ. ^48 Their natural pretensions to the
throne of David might perhaps attract the respect of the people,
and excite the jealousy of the governor; but the meanness of
their garb, and the simplicity of their answers, soon convinced
him that they were neither desirous nor capable of disturbing the
peace of the Roman empire. They frankly confessed their royal
origin, and their near relation to the Messiah; but they
disclaimed any temporal views, and professed that his kingdom,
which they devoutly expected, was purely of a spiritual and
angelic nature.  When they were examined concerning their fortune
and occupation, they showed their hands, hardened with daily
labor, and declared that they derived their whole subsistence
from the cultivation of a farm near the village of Cocaba, of the
extent of about twenty-four English acres, ^49 and of the value
of nine thousand drachms, or three hundred pounds sterling.  The
grandsons of St. Jude were dismissed with compassion and
contempt. ^50

[Footnote 44: The Capitol was burnt during the civil war between
Vitellius and Vespasian, the 19th of December, A. D. 69.  On the
10th of August, A. D. 70, the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed
by the hands of the Jews themselves, rather than by those of the
Romans.]

[Footnote 45: The new Capitol was dedicated by Domitian.  Sueton.
in Domitian. c. 5.  Plutarch in Poplicola, tom. i. p. 230, edit.
Bryant.  The gilding alone cost 12,000 talents (above two
millions and a half.) It was the opinion of Martial, (l. ix.
Epigram 3,) that if the emperor had called in his debts, Jupiter
himself, even though he had made a general auction of Olympus,
would have been unable to pay two shillings in the pound.]

[Footnote 46: With regard to the tribute, see Dion Cassius, l.
lxvi. p. 1082, with Reimarus's notes.  Spanheim, de Usu
Numismatum, tom. ii. p. 571; and Basnage, Histoire des Juifs, l.
vii. c. 2.]

[Footnote 47: Suetonius (in Domitian. c. 12) had seen an old man
of ninety publicly examined before the procurator's tribunal. 
This is what Martial calls, Mentula tributis damnata.]

[Footnote 48: This appellation was at first understood in the
most obvious sense, and it was supposed, that the brothers of
Jesus were the lawful issue of Joseph and Mary.  A devout respect
for the virginity of the mother of God suggested to the Gnostics,
and afterwards to the orthodox Greeks, the expedient of bestowing
a second wife on Joseph.  The Latins (from the time of Jerome)
improved on that hint, asserted the perpetual celibacy of Joseph,
and justified by many similar examples the new interpretation
that Jude, as well as Simon and James, who were styled the
brothers of Jesus Christ, were only his first cousins.  See
Tillemont, Mem. Ecclesiat. tom. i. part iii.: and Beausobre,
Hist. Critique du Manicheisme, l. ii. c. 2.]

[Footnote 49: Thirty-nine, squares of a hundred feet each, which,
if strictly computed, would scarcely amount to nine acres.]

[Footnote 50: Eusebius, iii. 20.  The story is taken from
Hegesippus.] 
     But although the obscurity of the house of David might
protect them from the suspicions of a tyrant, the present
greatness of his own family alarmed the pusillanimous temper of
Domitian, which could only be appeased by the blood of those
Romans whom he either feared, or hated, or esteemed. Of the two
sons of his uncle Flavius Sabinus, ^51 the elder was soon
convicted of treasonable intentions, and the younger, who bore
the name of Flavius Clemens, was indebted for his safety to his
want of courage and ability. ^52 The emperor for a long time,
distinguished so harmless a kinsman by his favor and protection,
bestowed on him his own niece Domitilla, adopted the children of
that marriage to the hope of the succession, and invested their
father with the honors of the consulship.

[Footnote 51: See the death and character of Sabinus in Tacitus,
(Hist. iii. 74 ) Sabinus was the elder brother, and, till the
accession of Vespasian, had been considered as the principal
support of the Flavium family] 
[Footnote 52: Flavium Clementem patruelem suum contemptissimoe
inertice . . ex tenuissima suspicione interemit.  Sueton. in
Domitian. c. 15.] 
     But he had scarcely finished the term of his annual
magistracy, when, on a slight pretence, he was condemned and
executed; Domitilla was banished to a desolate island on the
coast of Campania; ^53 and sentences either of death or of
confiscation were pronounced against a great number of who were
involved in the same accusation.  The guilt imputed to their
charge was that of Atheism and Jewish manners; ^54 a singular
association of ideas, which cannot with any propriety be applied
except to the Christians, as they were obscurely and imperfectly
viewed by the magistrates and by the writers of that period.  On
the strength of so probable an interpretation, and too eagerly
admitting the suspicions of a tyrant as an evidence of their
honorable crime, the church has placed both Clemens and Domitilla
among its first martyrs, and has branded the cruelty of Domitian
with the name of the second persecution.  But this persecution
(if it deserves that epithet) was of no long duration.  A few
months after the death of Clemens, and the banishment of
Domitilla, Stephen, a freedman belonging to the latter, who had
enjoyed the favor, but who had not surely embraced the faith, of
his mistress, ^* assassinated the emperor in his palace. ^55 The
memory of Domitian was condemned by the senate; his acts were
rescinded; his exiles recalled; and under the gentle
administration of Nerva, while the innocent were restored to
their rank and fortunes, even the most guilty either obtained
pardon or escaped punishment. ^56

[Footnote 53: The Isle of Pandataria, according to Dion. 
Bruttius Praesens (apud Euseb. iii. 18) banishes her to that of
Pontia, which was not far distant from the other.  That
difference, and a mistake, either of Eusebius or of his
transcribers, have given occasion to suppose two Domitillas, the
wife and the niece of Clemens.  See Tillemont, Memoires
Ecclesiastiques, tom. ii. p. 224.]

[Footnote 54: Dion. l. lxvii. p. 1112.  If the Bruttius Praesens,
from whom it is probable that he collected this account, was the
correspondent of Pliny, (Epistol. vii. 3,) we may consider him as
a contemporary writer.] 
[Footnote *: This is an uncandid sarcasm.  There is nothing to
connect Stephen with the religion of Domitilla.  He was a knave
detected in the malversation of money - interceptarum pecuniaram
reus. - M.]

[Footnote 55: Suet. in Domit. c. 17.  Philostratus in Vit.
Apollon. l. viii.] 
[Footnote 56: Dion. l. lxviii. p. 1118.  Plin. Epistol. iv. 22.] 
     II.  About ten years afterwards, under the reign of Trajan,
the younger Pliny was intrusted by his friend and master with the
government of Bithynia and Pontus.  He soon found himself at a
loss to determine by what rule of justice or of law he should
direct his conduct in the execution of an office the most
repugnant to his humanity.  Pliny had never assisted at any
judicial proceedings against the Christians, with whose lame
alone he seems to be acquainted; and he was totally uninformed
with regard to the nature of their guilt, the method of their
conviction, and the degree of their punishment.  In this
perplexity he had recourse to his usual expedient, of submitting
to the wisdom of Trajan an impartial, and, in some respects, a
favorable account of the new superstition, requesting the
emperor, that he would condescend to resolve his doubts, and to
instruct his ignorance. ^57 The life of Pliny had been employed
in the acquisition of learning, and in the business of the world.

Since the age of nineteen he had pleaded with distinction in the
tribunals of Rome, ^58 filled a place in the senate, had been
invested with the honors of the consulship, and had formed very
numerous connections with every order of men, both in Italy and
in the provinces.  From his ignorance therefore we may derive
some useful information.  We may assure ourselves, that when he
accepted the government of Bithynia, there were no general laws
or decrees of the senate in force against the Christians; that
neither Trajan nor any of his virtuous predecessors, whose edicts
were received into the civil and criminal jurisprudence, had
publicly declared their intentions concerning the new sect; and
that whatever proceedings had been carried on against the
Christians, there were none of sufficient weight and authority to
establish a precedent for the conduct of a Roman magistrate. 
[Footnote 57: Plin. Epistol. x. 97.  The learned Mosheim
expresses himself (p. 147, 232) with the highest approbation of
Pliny's moderate and candid temper. Notwithstanding Dr. Lardner's
suspicions (see Jewish and Heathen Testimonies, vol. ii. p. 46,)
I am unable to discover any bigotry in his language or
proceedings.

     Note: Yet the humane Pliny put two female attendants,
probably deaconesses to the torture, in order to ascertain the
real nature of these suspicious meetings: necessarium credidi, ex
duabus ancillis, quae ministrae dicebantor quid asset veri et per
tormenta quaerere. - M.] 
[Footnote 58: Plin. Epist. v. 8.  He pleaded his first cause A.
D. 81; the year after the famous eruptions of Mount Vesuvius, in
which his uncle lost his life.]

Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
Constantine. 

Part III.

     The answer of Trajan, to which the Christians of the
succeeding age have frequently appealed, discovers as much regard
for justice and humanity as could be reconciled with his mistaken
notions of religious policy. ^59 Instead of displaying the
implacable zeal of an inquisitor, anxious to discover the most
minute particles of heresy, and exulting in the number of his
victims, the emperor expresses much more solicitude to protect
the security of the innocent, than to prevent the escape of the
guilty.  He acknowledged the difficulty of fixing any general
plan; but he lays down two salutary rules, which often afforded
relief and support to the distressed Christians.  Though he
directs the magistrates to punish such persons as are legally
convicted, he prohibits them, with a very humane inconsistency,
from making any inquiries concerning the supposed criminals. Nor
was the magistrate allowed to proceed on every kind of
information. Anonymous charges the emperor rejects, as too
repugnant to the equity of his government; and he strictly
requires, for the conviction of those to whom the guilt of
Christianity is imputed, the positive evidence of a fair and open
accuser.  It is likewise probable, that the persons who assumed
so invidiuous an office, were obliged to declare the grounds of
their suspicions, to specify (both in respect to time and place)
the secret assemblies, which their Christian adversary had
frequented, and to disclose a great number of circumstances,
which were concealed with the most vigilant jealousy from the eye
of the profane.  If they succeeded in their prosecution, they
were exposed to the resentment of a considerable and active
party, to the censure of the more liberal portion of mankind, and
to the ignominy which, in every age and country, has attended the
character of an informer.  If, on the contrary, they failed in
their proofs, they incurred the severe and perhaps capital
penalty, which, according to a law published by the emperor
Hadrian, was inflicted on those who falsely attributed to their
fellow-citizens the crime of Christianity.  The violence of
personal or superstitious animosity might sometimes prevail over
the most natural apprehensions of disgrace and danger but it
cannot surely be imagined, that accusations of so unpromising an
appearance were either lightly or frequently undertaken by the
Pagan subjects of the Roman empire. ^60 ^* 
[Footnote 59: Plin. Epist. x. 98.  Tertullian (Apolog. c. 5)
considers this rescript as a relaxation of the ancient penal
laws, "quas Trajanus exparte frustratus est: " and yet
Tertullian, in another part of his Apology, exposes the
inconsistency of prohibiting inquiries, and enjoining
punishments.] 
[Footnote 60: Eusebius (Hist. Ecclesiast. l. iv. c. 9) has
preserved the edict of Hadrian.  He has likewise (c. 13) given us
one still more favorable, under the name of Antoninus; the
authenticity of which is not so universally allowed.  The second
Apology of Justin contains some curious particulars relative to
the accusations of Christians.

     Note: Professor Hegelmayer has proved the authenticity of
the edict of Antoninus, in his Comm. Hist. Theol. in Edict. Imp.
Antonini. Tubing. 1777, in 4to. - G.

     Neander doubts its authenticity, (vol. i. p. 152.) In my
opinion, the internal evidence is decisive against it. - M]

[Footnote *: The enactment of this law affords strong
presumption, that accusations of the "crime of Christianity,"
were by no means so uncommon, nor received with so much mistrust
and caution by the ruling authorities, as Gibbon would insinuate.
- M.]

     The expedient which was employed to elude the prudence of
the laws, affords a sufficient proof how effectually they
disappointed the mischievous designs of private malice or
superstitious zeal.  In a large and tumultuous assembly, the
restraints of fear and shame, so forcible on the minds of
individuals, are deprived of the greatest part of their
influence.  The pious Christian, as he was desirous to obtain, or
to escape, the glory of martyrdom, expected, either with
impatience or with terror, the stated returns of the public games
and festivals.  On those occasions the inhabitants of the great
cities of the empire were collected in the circus or the theatre,
where every circumstance of the place, as well as of the
ceremony, contributed to kindle their devotion, and to extinguish
their humanity.  Whilst the numerous spectators, crowned with
garlands, perfumed with incense, purified with the blood of
victims, and surrounded with the altars and statues of their
tutelar deities, resigned themselves to the enjoyment of
pleasures, which they considered as an essential part of their
religious worship, they recollected, that the Christians alone
abhorred the gods of mankind, and by their absence and melancholy
on these solemn festivals, seemed to insult or to lament the
public felicity.  If the empire had been afflicted by any recent
calamity, by a plague, a famine, or an unsuccessful war; if the
Tyber had, or if the Nile had not, risen beyond its banks; if the
earth had shaken, or if the temperate order of the seasons had
been interrupted, the superstitious Pagans were convinced that
the crimes and the impiety of the Christians, who were spared by
the excessive lenity of the government, had at length provoked
the divine justice.  It was not among a licentious and
exasperated populace, that the forms of legal proceedings could
be observed; it was not in an amphitheatre, stained with the
blood of wild beasts and gladiators, that the voice of compassion
could be heard.  The impatient clamors of the multitude denounced
the Christians as the enemies of gods and men, doomed them to the
severest tortures, and venturing to accuse by name some of the
most distinguished of the new sectaries, required with
irresistible vehemence that they should be instantly apprehended
and cast to the lions. ^61 The provincial governors and
magistrates who presided in the public spectacles were usually
inclined to gratify the inclinations, and to appease the rage, of
the people, by the sacrifice of a few obnoxious victims.  But the
wisdom of the emperors protected the church from the danger of
these tumultuous clamors and irregular accusations, which they
justly censured as repugnant both to the firmness and to the
equity of their administration.  The edicts of Hadrian and of
Antoninus Pius expressly declared, that the voice of the
multitude should never be admitted as legal evidence to convict
or to punish those unfortunate persons who had embraced the
enthusiasm of the Christians. ^62

[Footnote 61: See Tertullian, (Apolog. c. 40.) The acts of the
martyrdom of Polycarp exhibit a lively picture of these tumults,
which were usually fomented by the malice of the Jews.]

[Footnote 62: These regulations are inserted in the above
mentioned document of Hadrian and Pius.  See the apology of
Melito, (apud Euseb. l iv 26)] 
     III.  Punishment was not the inevitable consequence of
conviction, and the Christians, whose guilt was the most clearly
proved by the testimony of witnesses, or even by their voluntary
confession, still retained in their own power the alternative of
life or death.  It was not so much the past offence, as the
actual resistance, which excited the indignation of the
magistrate.  He was persuaded that he offered them an easy
pardon, since, if they consented to cast a few grains of incense
upon the altar, they were dismissed from the tribunal in safety
and with applause.  It was esteemed the duty of a humane judge to
endeavor to reclaim, rather than to punish, those deluded
enthusiasts.  Varying his tone according to the age, the sex, or
the situation of the prisoners, he frequently condescended to set
before their eyes every circumstance which could render life more
pleasing, or death more terrible; and to solicit, nay, to
entreat, them, that they would show some compassion to
themselves, to their families, and to their friends. ^63 If
threats and persuasions proved ineffectual, he had often recourse
to violence; the scourge and the rack were called in to supply
the deficiency of argument, and every art of cruelty was employed
to subdue such inflexible, and, as it appeared to the Pagans,
such criminal, obstinacy.  The ancient apologists of Christianity
have censured, with equal truth and severity, the irregular
conduct of their persecutors who, contrary to every principle of
judicial proceeding, admitted the use of torture, in order to
obtain, not a confession, but a denial, of the crime which was
the object of their inquiry. ^64 The monks of succeeding ages,
who, in their peaceful solitudes, entertained themselves with
diversifying the deaths and sufferings of the primitive martyrs,
have frequently invented torments of a much more refined and
ingenious nature.  In particular, it has pleased them to suppose,
that the zeal of the Roman magistrates, disdaining every
consideration of moral virtue or public decency, endeavored to
seduce those whom they were unable to vanquish, and that by their
orders the most brutal violence was offered to those whom they
found it impossible to seduce. It is related, that females, who
were prepared to despise death, were sometimes condemned to a
more severe trial, ^! and called upon to determine whether they
set a higher value on their religion or on their chastity.  The
youths to whose licentious embraces they were abandoned, received
a solemn exhortation from the judge, to exert their most
strenuous efforts to maintain the honor of Venus against the
impious virgin who refused to burn incense on her altars. Their
violence, however, was commonly disappointed, and the seasonable
interposition of some miraculous power preserved the chaste
spouses of Christ from the dishonor even of an involuntary
defeat.  We should not indeed neglect to remark, that the more
ancient as well as authentic memorials of the church are seldom
polluted with these extravagant and indecent fictions. ^65

[Footnote 63: See the rescript of Trajan, and the conduct of
Pliny.  The most authentic acts of the martyrs abound in these
exhortations. 
     Note: Pliny's test was the worship of the gods, offerings to
the statue of the emperor, and blaspheming Christ - praeterea
maledicerent Christo. - M.] 
[Footnote 64: In particular, see Tertullian, (Apolog. c. 2, 3,)
and Lactantius, (Institut. Divin. v. 9.) Their reasonings are
almost the same; but we may discover, that one of these
apologists had been a lawyer, and the other a rhetorician.]

[Footnote !: The more ancient as well as authentic memorials of
the church, relate many examples of the fact, (of these severe
trials,) which there is nothing to contradict.  Tertullian, among
others, says, Nam proxime ad lenonem damnando Christianam, potius
quam ad leonem, confessi estis labem pudicitiae apud nos
atrociorem omni poena et omni morte reputari, Apol. cap. ult.
Eusebius likewise says, "Other virgins, dragged to brothels, have
lost their life rather than defile their virtue." Euseb. Hist.
Ecc. viii. 14. - G. 
     The miraculous interpositions were the offspring of the
coarse imaginations of the monks. - M.]

[Footnote 65: See two instances of this kind of torture in the
Acta Sincere Martyrum, published by Ruinart, p. 160, 399. 
Jerome, in his Legend of Paul the Hermit, tells a strange story
of a young man, who was chained naked on a bed of flowers, and
assaulted by a beautiful and wanton courtesan.  He quelled the
rising temptation by biting off his tongue.]

     The total disregard of truth and probability in the
representation of these primitive martyrdoms was occasioned by a
very natural mistake.  The ecclesiastical writers of the fourth
or fifth centuries ascribed to the magistrates of Rome the same
degree of implacable and unrelenting zeal which filled their own
breasts against the heretics or the idolaters of their own times.

It is not improbable that some of those persons who were raised
to the dignities of the empire, might have imbibed the prejudices
of the populace, and that the cruel disposition of others might
occasionally be stimulated by motives of avarice or of personal
resentment. ^66 But it is certain, and we may appeal to the
grateful confessions of the first Christians, that the greatest
part of those magistrates who exercised in the provinces the
authority of the emperor, or of the senate, and to whose hands
alone the jurisdiction of life and death was intrusted, behaved
like men of polished manners and liberal education, who respected
the rules of justice, and who were conversant with the precepts
of philosophy.  They frequently declined the odious task of
persecution, dismissed the charge with contempt, or suggested to
the accused Christian some legal evasion, by which he might elude
the severity of the laws. ^67 Whenever they were invested with a
discretionary power, ^68 they used it much less for the
oppression, than for the relief and benefit of the afflicted
church.  They were far from condemning all the Christians who
were accused before their tribunal, and very far from punishing
with death all those who were convicted of an obstinate adherence
to the new superstition.  Contenting themselves, for the most
part, with the milder chastisements of imprisonment, exile, or
slavery in the mines, ^69 they left the unhappy victims of their
justice some reason to hope, that a prosperous event, the
accession, the marriage, or the triumph of an emperor, might
speedily restore them, by a general pardon, to their former
state.  The martyrs, devoted to immediate execution by the Roman
magistrates, appear to have been selected from the most opposite
extremes.  They were either bishops and presbyters, the persons
the most distinguished among the Christians by their rank and
influence, and whose example might strike terror into the whole
sect; ^70 or else they were the meanest and most abject among
them, particularly those of the servile condition, whose lives
were esteemed of little value, and whose sufferings were viewed
by the ancients with too careless an indifference. ^71 The
learned Origen, who, from his experience as well as reading, was
intimately acquainted with the history of the Christians,
declares, in the most express terms, that the number of martyrs
was very inconsiderable. ^72 His authority would alone be
sufficient to annihilate that formidable army of martyrs, whose
relics, drawn for the most part from the catacombs of Rome, have
replenished so many churches, ^73 and whose marvellous
achievements have been the subject of so many volumes of Holy
Romance. ^74 But the general assertion of Origen may be explained
and confirmed by the particular testimony of his friend
Dionysius, who, in the immense city of Alexandria, and under the
rigorous persecution of Decius, reckons only ten men and seven
women who suffered for the profession of the Christian name. ^75 
[Footnote 66: The conversion of his wife provoked Claudius
Herminianus, governor of Cappadocia, to treat the Christians with
uncommon severity. Tertullian ad Scapulam, c. 3.]

[Footnote 67: Tertullian, in his epistle to the governor of
Africa, mentions several remarkable instances of lenity and
forbearance, which had happened within his knowledge.]

[Footnote 68: Neque enim in universum aliquid quod quasi certam
formam habeat, constitui potest; an expression of Trajan, which
gave a very great latitude to the governors of provinces.

     Note: Gibbon altogether forgets that Trajan fully approved
of the course pursued by Pliny.  That course was, to order all
who persevered in their faith to be led to execution:
perseverantes duci jussi. - M.]

[Footnote 69: In Metalla damnamur, in insulas relegamur. 
Tertullian, Apolog. c. 12.  The mines of Numidia contained nine
bishops, with a proportionable number of their clergy and people,
to whom Cyprian addressed a pious epistle of praise and comfort. 
See Cyprian. Epistol. 76, 77.]

[Footnote 70: Though we cannot receive with entire confidence
either the epistles, or the acts, of Ignatius, (they may be found
in the 2d volume of the Apostolic Fathers,) yet we may quote that
bishop of Antioch as one of these exemplary martyrs.  He was sent
in chains to Rome as a public spectacle, and when he arrived at
Troas, he received the pleasing intelligence, that the
persecution of Antioch was already at an end.

     Note: The acts of Ignatius are generally received as
authentic, as are seven of his letters.  Eusebius and St. Jerome
mention them: there are two editions; in one, the letters are
longer, and many passages appear to have been interpolated; the
other edition is that which contains the real letters of St.
Ignatius; such at least is the opinion of the wisest and most
enlightened critics.  (See Lardner. Cred. of Gospel Hist.) Less,
uber dis Religion, v. i. p. 529.  Usser.  Diss. de Ign. Epist.
Pearson, Vindic, Ignatianae.  It should be remarked, that it was
under the reign of Trajan that the bishop Ignatius was carried
from Antioch to Rome, to be exposed to the lions in the
amphitheatre, the year of J. C. 107, according to some; of 116,
according to others. - G.]

[Footnote 71: Among the martyrs of Lyons, (Euseb. l. v. c. 1,)
the slave Blandina was distinguished by more exquisite tortures. 
Of the five martyrs so much celebrated in the acts of Felicitas
and Perpetua, two were of a servile, and two others of a very
mean, condition.]

[Footnote 72: Origen. advers. Celsum, l. iii. p. 116.  His words
deserve to be transcribed.

     Note: The words that follow should be quoted.  "God not
permitting that all his class of men should be exterminated: "
which appears to indicate that Origen thought the number put to
death inconsiderable only when compared to the numbers who had
survived.  Besides this, he is speaking of the state of the
religion under Caracalla, Elagabalus, Alexander Severus, and
Philip, who had not persecuted the Christians.  It was during the
reign of the latter that Origen wrote his books against Celsus. -
G.]

[Footnote 73: If we recollect that all the Plebeians of Rome were
not Christians, and that all the Christians were not saints and
martyrs, we may judge with how much safety religious honors can
be ascribed to bones or urns, indiscriminately taken from the
public burial-place.  After ten centuries of a very free and open
trade, some suspicions have arisen among the more learned
Catholics.  They now require as a proof of sanctity and
martyrdom, the letters B.M., a vial full of red liquor supposed
to be blood, or the figure of a palm-tree.  But the two former
signs are of little weight, and with regard to the last, it is
observed by the critics, 1. That the figure, as it is called, of
a palm, is perhaps a cypress, and perhaps only a stop, the
flourish of a comma used in the monumental inscriptions.  2. That
the palm was the symbol of victory among the Pagans. 3. That
among the Christians it served as the emblem, not only of
martyrdom, but in general of a joyful resurrection.  See the
epistle of P. Mabillon, on the worship of unknown saints, and
Muratori sopra le Antichita Italiane, Dissertat. lviii.]

[Footnote 74: As a specimen of these legends, we may be satisfied
with 10,000 Christian soldiers crucified in one day, either by
Trajan or Hadrian on Mount Ararat.  See Baronius ad Martyrologium
Romanum; Tille mont, Mem. Ecclesiast. tom. ii. part ii. p. 438;
and Geddes's Miscellanies, vol. ii. p. 203.  The abbreviation of
Mil., which may signify either soldiers or thousands, is said to
have occasioned some extraordinary mistakes.]

[Footnote 75: Dionysius ap. Euseb l. vi. c. 41 One of the
seventeen was likewise accused of robbery.

     Note: Gibbon ought to have said, was falsely accused of
robbery, for so it is in the Greek text.  This Christian, named
Nemesion, falsely accused of robbery before the centurion, was
acquitted of a crime altogether foreign to his character, but he
was led before the governor as guilty of being a Christian, and
the governor inflicted upon him a double torture.  (Euseb. loc.
cit.) It must be added, that Saint Dionysius only makes
particular mention of the principal martyrs, [this is very
doubtful. - M.] and that he says, in general, that the fury of
the Pagans against the Christians gave to Alexandria the
appearance of a city taken by storm. [This refers to plunder and
ill usage, not to actual slaughter. - M.] Finally it should be
observed that Origen wrote before the persecution of the emperor
Decius. - G.] 
     During the same period of persecution, the zealous, the
eloquent, the ambitious Cyprian governed the church, not only of
Carthage, but even of Africa.  He possessed every quality which
could engage the reverence of the faithful, or provoke the
suspicions and resentment of the Pagan magistrates. His character
as well as his station seemed to mark out that holy prelate as
the most distinguished object of envy and danger. ^76 The
experience, however, of the life of Cyprian, is sufficient to
prove that our fancy has exaggerated the perilous situation of a
Christian bishop; and the dangers to which he was exposed were
less imminent than those which temporal ambition is always
prepared to encounter in the pursuit of honors. Four Roman
emperors, with their families, their favorites, and their
adherents, perished by the sword in the space of ten years,
during which the bishop of Carthage guided by his authority and
eloquence the councils of the African church.  It was only in the
third year of his administration, that he had reason, during a
few months, to apprehend the severe edicts of Decius, the
vigilance of the magistrate and the clamors of the multitude, who
loudly demanded, that Cyprian, the leader of the Christians,
should be thrown to the lions.  Prudence suggested the necessity
of a temporary retreat, and the voice of prudence was obeyed.  He
withdrew himself into an obscure solitude, from whence he could
maintain a constant correspondence with the clergy and people of
Carthage; and, concealing himself till the tempest was past, he
preserved his life, without relinquishing either his power or his
reputation.  His extreme caution did not, however, escape the
censure of the more rigid Christians, who lamented, or the
reproaches of his personal enemies, who insulted, a conduct which
they considered as a pusillanimous and criminal desertion of the
most sacred duty. ^77 The propriety of reserving himself for the
future exigencies of the church, the example of several holy
bishops, ^78 and the divine admonitions, which, as he declares
himself, he frequently received in visions and ecstacies, were
the reasons alleged in his justification. ^79 But his best
apology may be found in the cheerful resolution, with which,
about eight years afterwards, he suffered death in the cause of
religion.  The authentic history of his martyrdom has been
recorded with unusual candor and impartiality.  A short abstract,
therefore, of its most important circumstances, will convey the
clearest information of the spirit, and of the forms, of the
Roman persecutions. ^80

[Footnote 76: The letters of Cyprian exhibit a very curious and
original picture both of the man and of the times.  See likewise
the two lives of Cyprian, composed with equal accuracy, though
with very different views; the one by Le Clerc (Bibliotheque
Universelle, tom. xii. p. 208-378,) the other by Tillemont,
Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. iv part i. p. 76-459.] 
[Footnote 77: See the polite but severe epistle of the clergy of
Rome to the bishop of Carthage.  (Cyprian. Epist. 8, 9.) Pontius
labors with the greatest care and diligence to justify his master
against the general censure.] 
[Footnote 78: In particular those of Dionysius of Alexandria, and
Gregory Thaumaturgus, of Neo-Caesarea.  See Euseb. Hist.
Ecclesiast. l. vi. c. 40; and Memoires de Tillemont, tom. iv.
part ii. p. 685.]

[Footnote 79: See Cyprian. Epist. 16, and his life by Pontius.] 
[Footnote 80: We have an original life of Cyprian by the deacon
Pontius, the companion of his exile, and the spectator of his
death; and we likewise possess the ancient proconsular acts of
his martyrdom.  These two relations are consistent with each
other, and with probability; and what is somewhat remarkable,
they are both unsullied by any miraculous circumstances.] 

Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
Constantine. 

Part IV.

     When Valerian was consul for the third, and Gallienus for
the fourth time, Paternus, proconsul of Africa, summoned Cyprian
to appear in his private council-chamber.  He there acquainted
him with the Imperial mandate which he had just received, ^81
that those who had abandoned the Roman religion should
immediately return to the practice of the ceremonies of their
ancestors. Cyprian replied without hesitation, that he was a
Christian and a bishop, devoted to the worship of the true and
only Deity, to whom he offered up his daily supplications for the
safety and prosperity of the two emperors, his lawful sovereigns.

With modest confidence he pleaded the privilege of a citizen, in
refusing to give any answer to some invidious and indeed illegal
questions which the proconsul had proposed.  A sentence of
banishment was pronounced as the penalty of Cyprian's
disobedience; and he was conducted without delay to Curubis, a
free and maritime city of Zeugitania, in a pleasant situation, a
fertile territory, and at the distance of about forty miles from
Carthage. ^82 The exiled bishop enjoyed the conveniences of life
and the consciousness of virtue. His reputation was diffused over
Africa and Italy; an account of his behavior was published for
the edification of the Christian world; ^83 and his solitude was
frequently interrupted by the letters, the visits, and the
congratulations of the faithful.  On the arrival of a new
proconsul in the province the fortune of Cyprian appeared for
some time to wear a still more favorable aspect.  He was recalled
from banishment; and though not yet permitted to return to
Carthage, his own gardens in the neighborhood of the capital were
assigned for the place of his residence. ^84 
[Footnote 81: It should seem that these were circular orders,
sent at the same time to all the governors.  Dionysius (ap.
Euseb. l. vii. c. 11) relates the history of his own banishment
from Alexandria almost in the same manner.  But as he escaped and
survived the persecution, we must account him either more or less
fortunate than Cyprian.]

[Footnote 82: See Plin. Hist. Natur. v. 3. Cellarius, Geograph.
Antiq. part iii. p. 96.  Shaw's Travels, p. 90; and for the
adjacent country, (which is terminated by Cape Bona, or the
promontory of Mercury,) l'Afrique de Marmol. tom. ii. p. 494. 
There are the remains of an aqueduct near Curubis, or Curbis, at
present altered into Gurbes; and Dr. Shaw read an inscription,
which styles that city Colonia Fulvia.  The deacon Pontius (in
Vit. Cyprian. c. 12) calls it "Apricum et competentem locum,
hospitium pro voluntate secretum, et quicquid apponi eis ante
promissum est, qui regnum et justitiam Dei quaerunt."]

[Footnote 83: See Cyprian. Epistol. 77, edit. Fell.]

[Footnote 84: Upon his conversion, he had sold those gardens for
the benefit of the poor.  The indulgence of God (most probably
the liberality of some Christian friend) restored them to
Cyprian.  See Pontius, c. 15.] 
     At length, exactly one year ^85 after Cyprian was first
apprehended, Galerius Maximus, proconsul of Africa, received the
Imperial warrant for the execution of the Christian teachers. 
The bishop of Carthage was sensible that he should be singled out
for one of the first victims; and the frailty of nature tempted
him to withdraw himself, by a secret flight, from the danger and
the honor of martyrdom; ^* but soon recovering that fortitude
which his character required, he returned to his gardens, and
patiently expected the ministers of death.  Two officers of rank,
who were intrusted with that commission, placed Cyprian between
them in a chariot, and as the proconsul was not then at leisure,
they conducted him, not to a prison, but to a private house in
Carthage, which belonged to one of them. An elegant supper was
provided for the entertainment of the bishop, and his Christian
friends were permitted for the last time to enjoy his society,
whilst the streets were filled with a multitude of the faithful,
anxious and alarmed at the approaching fate of their spiritual
father. ^86 In the morning he appeared before the tribunal of the
proconsul, who, after informing himself of the name and situation
of Cyprian, commanded him to offer sacrifice, and pressed him to
reflect on the consequences of his disobedience.  The refusal of
Cyprian was firm and decisive; and the magistrate, when he had
taken the opinion of his council, pronounced with some reluctance
the sentence of death.  It was conceived in the following terms:
"That Thascius Cyprianus should be immediately beheaded, as the
enemy of the gods of Rome, and as the chief and ringleader of a
criminal association, which he had seduced into an impious
resistance against the laws of the most holy emperors, Valerian
and Gallienus." ^87 The manner of his execution was the mildest
and least painful that could be inflicted on a person convicted
of any capital offence; nor was the use of torture admitted to
obtain from the bishop of Carthage either the recantation of his
principles or the discovery of his accomplices. 
[Footnote 85: When Cyprian; a twelvemonth before, was sent into
exile, he dreamt that he should be put to death the next day. 
The event made it necessary to explain that word, as signifying a
year.  Pontius, c. 12.] 
[Footnote *: This was not, as it appears, the motive which
induced St. Cyprian to conceal himself for a short time; he was
threatened to be carried to Utica; he preferred remaining at
Carthage, in order to suffer martyrdom in the midst of his flock,
and in order that his death might conduce to the edification of
those whom he had guided during life.  Such, at least, is his own
explanation of his conduct in one of his letters: Cum perlatum ad
nos fuisset, fratres carissimi, frumentarios esse missos qui me
Uticam per ducerent, consilioque carissimorum persuasum est, ut
de hortis interim recederemus, justa interveniente causa,
consensi; eo quod congruat episcopum in ea civitate, in qua
Ecclesiae dominicae praeest, illie. Dominum confiteri et plebem
universam praepositi praesentis confessione clarificari Ep. 83. -
G] 
[Footnote 86: Pontius (c. 15) acknowledges that Cyprian, with
whom he supped, passed the night custodia delicata.  The bishop
exercised a last and very proper act of jurisdiction, by
directing that the younger females, who watched in the streets,
should be removed from the dangers and temptations of a nocturnal
crowd.  Act. Preconsularia, c. 2.]

[Footnote 87: See the original sentence in the Acts, c. 4; and in
Pontius, c. 17 The latter expresses it in a more rhetorical
manner.]

     As soon as the sentence was proclaimed, a general cry of "We
will die with him," arose at once among the listening multitude
of Christians who waited before the palace gates.  The generous
effusions of their zeal and their affection were neither
serviceable to Cyprian nor dangerous to themselves.  He was led
away under a guard of tribunes and centurions, without resistance
and without insult, to the place of his execution, a spacious and
level plain near the city, which was already filled with great
numbers of spectators.  His faithful presbyters and deacons were
permitted to accompany their holy bishop. ^* They assisted him in
laying aside his upper garment, spread linen on the ground to
catch the precious relics of his blood, and received his orders
to bestow five-and-twenty pieces of gold on the executioner.  The
martyr then covered his face with his hands, and at one blow his
head was separated from his body.  His corpse remained during
some hours exposed to the curiosity of the Gentiles: but in the
night it was removed, and transported in a triumphal procession,
and with a splendid illumination, to the burial-place of the
Christians.  The funeral of Cyprian was publicly celebrated
without receiving any interruption from the Roman magistrates;
and those among the faithful, who had performed the last offices
to his person and his memory, were secure from the danger of
inquiry or of punishment.  It is remarkable, that of so great a
multitude of bishops in the province of Africa, Cyprian was the
first who was esteemed worthy to obtain the crown of martyrdom.
^88

[Footnote *: There is nothing in the life of St. Cyprian, by
Pontius, nor in the ancient manuscripts, which can make us
suppose that the presbyters and deacons in their clerical
character, and known to be such, had the permission to attend
their holy bishop.  Setting aside all religious considerations,
it is impossible not to be surprised at the kind of complaisance
with which the historian here insists, in favor of the
persecutors, on some mitigating circumstances allowed at the
death of a man whose only crime was maintaining his own opinions
with frankness and courage. - G.]

[Footnote 88: Pontius, c. 19.  M. de Tillemont (Memoires, tom.
iv. part i. p. 450, note 50) is not pleased with so positive an
exclusion of any former martyr of the episcopal rank.

     Note: M. de. Tillemont, as an honest writer, explains the
difficulties which he felt about the text of Pontius, and
concludes by distinctly stating, that without doubt there is some
mistake, and that Pontius must have meant only Africa Minor or
Carthage; for St. Cyprian, in his 58th (69th) letter addressed to
Pupianus, speaks expressly of many bishops his colleagues, qui
proscripti sunt, vel apprehensi in carcere et catenis fuerunt;
aut qui in exilium relegati, illustri itinere ed Dominum profecti
sunt; aut qui quibusdam locis animadversi, coeleses coronas de
Domini clarificatione sumpserunt. - G.] 
     It was in the choice of Cyprian, either to die a martyr, or
to live an apostate; but on the choice depended the alternative
of honor or infamy. Could we suppose that the bishop of Carthage
had employed the profession of the Christian faith only as the
instrument of his avarice or ambition, it was still incumbent on
him to support the character he had assumed; ^89 and if he
possessed the smallest degree of manly fortitude, rather to
expose himself to the most cruel tortures, than by a single act
to exchange the reputation of a whole life, for the abhorrence of
his Christian brethren, and the contempt of the Gentile world. 
But if the zeal of Cyprian was supported by the sincere
conviction of the truth of those doctrines which he preached, the
crown of martyrdom must have appeared to him as an object of
desire rather than of terror.  It is not easy to extract any
distinct ideas from the vague though eloquent declamations of the
Fathers, or to ascertain the degree of immortal glory and
happiness which they confidently promised to those who were so
fortunate as to shed their blood in the cause of religion. ^90
They inculcated with becoming diligence, that the fire of
martyrdom supplied every defect and expiated every sin; that
while the souls of ordinary Christians were obliged to pass
through a slow and painful purification, the triumphant sufferers
entered into the immediate fruition of eternal bliss, where, in
the society of the patriarchs, the apostles, and the prophets,
they reigned with Christ, and acted as his assessors in the
universal judgment of mankind.  The assurance of a lasting
reputation upon earth, a motive so congenial to the vanity of
human nature, often served to animate the courage of the martyrs.

The honors which Rome or Athens bestowed on those citizens who
had fallen in the cause of their country, were cold and unmeaning
demonstrations of respect, when compared with the ardent
gratitude and devotion which the primitive church expressed
towards the victorious champions of the faith.  The annual
commemoration of their virtues and sufferings was observed as a
sacred ceremony, and at length terminated in religious worship. 
Among the Christians who had publicly confessed their religious
principles, those who (as it very frequently happened) had been
dismissed from the tribunal or the prisons of the Pagan
magistrates, obtained such honors as were justly due to their
imperfect martyrdom and their generous resolution.  The most
pious females courted the permission of imprinting kisses on the
fetters which they had worn, and on the wounds which they had
received.  Their persons were esteemed holy, their decisions were
admitted with deference, and they too often abused, by their
spiritual pride and licentious manners, the preeminence which
their zeal and intrepidity had acquired. ^91 Distinctions like
these, whilst they display the exalted merit, betray the
inconsiderable number of those who suffered, and of those who
died, for the profession of Christianity.

[Footnote 89: Whatever opinion we may entertain of the character
or principles of Thomas Becket, we must acknowledge that he
suffered death with a constancy not unworthy of the primitive
martyrs.  See Lord Lyttleton's History of Henry II. vol. ii. p.
592, &c.]

[Footnote 90: See in particular the treatise of Cyprian de
Lapsis, p. 87- 98, edit. Fell.  The learning of Dodwell
(Dissertat. Cyprianic. xii. xiii.,) and the ingenuity of
Middleton, (Free Inquiry, p. 162, &c.,) have left scarcely any
thing to add concerning the merit, the honors, and the motives of
the martyrs.]

[Footnote 91: Cyprian. Epistol. 5, 6, 7, 22, 24; and de Unitat.
Ecclesiae. The number of pretended martyrs has been very much
multiplied, by the custom which was introduced of bestowing that
honorable name on confessors. 
     Note: M. Guizot denies that the letters of Cyprian, to which
he refers, bear out the statement in the text.  I cannot scruple
to admit the accuracy of Gibbon's quotation.  To take only the
fifth letter, we find this passage: Doleo enim quando audio
quosdam improbe et insolenter discurrere, et ad ineptian vel ad
discordias vacare, Christi membra et jam Christum confessa per
concubitus illicitos inquinari, nec a diaconis aut presbyteris
regi posse, sed id agere ut per paucorum pravos et malos mores,
multorum et bonorum confessorum gloria honesta maculetur. 
Gibbon's misrepresentation lies in the ambiguous expression "too
often." Were the epistles arranged in a different manner in the
edition consulted by M. Guizot? - M.]

     The sober discretion of the present age will more readily
censure than admire, but can more easily admire than imitate, the
fervor of the first Christians, who, according to the lively
expressions of Sulpicius Severus, desired martyrdom with more
eagerness than his own contemporaries solicited a bishopric. ^92
The epistles which Ignatius composed as he was carried in chains
through the cities of Asia, breathe sentiments the most repugnant
to the ordinary feelings of human nature.  He earnestly beseeches
the Romans, that when he should be exposed in the amphitheatre,
they would not, by their kind but unseasonable intercession,
deprive him of the crown of glory; and he declares his resolution
to provoke and irritate the wild beasts which might be employed
as the instruments of his death. ^93 Some stories are related of
the courage of martyrs, who actually performed what Ignatius had
intended; who exasperated the fury of the lions, pressed the
executioner to hasten his office, cheerfully leaped into the
fires which were kindled to consume them, and discovered a
sensation of joy and pleasure in the midst of the most exquisite
tortures.  Several examples have been preserved of a zeal
impatient of those restraints which the emperors had provided for
the security of the church.  The Christians sometimes supplied by
their voluntary declaration the want of an accuser, rudely
disturbed the public service of paganism, ^94 and rushing in
crowds round the tribunal of the magistrates, called upon them to
pronounce and to inflict the sentence of the law.  The behavior
of the Christians was too remarkable to escape the notice of the
ancient philosophers; but they seem to have considered it with
much less admiration than astonishment. Incapable of conceiving
the motives which sometimes transported the fortitude of
believers beyond the bounds of prudence or reason, they treated
such an eagerness to die as the strange result of obstinate
despair, of stupid insensibility, or of superstitious frenzy. ^95
"Unhappy men!" exclaimed the proconsul Antoninus to the
Christians of Asia; "unhappy men! if you are thus weary of your
lives, is it so difficult for you to find ropes and precipices?"
^96 He was extremely cautious (as it is observed by a learned and
picus historian) of punishing men who had found no accusers but
themselves, the Imperial laws not having made any provision for
so unexpected a case: condemning therefore a few as a warning to
their brethren, he dismissed the multitude with indignation and
contempt. ^97 Notwithstanding this real or affected disdain, the
intrepid constancy of the faithful was productive of more
salutary effects on those minds which nature or grace had
disposed for the easy reception of religious truth.  On these
melancholy occasions, there were many among the Gentiles who
pitied, who admired, and who were converted.  The generous
enthusiasm was communicated from the sufferer to the spectators;
and the blood of martyrs, according to a well-known observation,
became the seed of the church.

[Footnote 92: Certatim gloriosa in certamina ruebatur; multique
avidius tum martyria gloriosis mortibus quaerebantur, quam nunc
Episcopatus pravis ambitionibus appetuntur.  Sulpicius Severus,
l. ii.  He might have omitted the word nunc.]

[Footnote 93: See Epist. ad Roman. c. 4, 5, ap. Patres Apostol.
tom. ii. p. 27.  It suited the purpose of Bishop Pearson (see
Vindiciae Ignatianae, part ii. c. 9) to justify, by a profusion
of examples and authorities, the sentiments of Ignatius.]

[Footnote 94: The story of Polyeuctes, on which Corneille has
founded a very beautiful tragedy, is one of the most celebrated,
though not perhaps the most authentic, instances of this
excessive zeal.  We should observe, that the 60th canon of the
council of Illiberis refuses the title of martyrs to those who
exposed themselves to death, by publicly destroying the idols.] 
[Footnote 95: See Epictetus, l. iv. c. 7, (though there is some
doubt whether he alludes to the Christians.) Marcus Antoninus de
Rebus suis, l. xi. c. 3 Lucian in Peregrin.]

[Footnote 96: Tertullian ad Scapul. c. 5.  The learned are
divided between three persons of the same name, who were all
proconsuls of Asia.  I am inclined to ascribe this story to
Antoninus Pius, who was afterwards emperor; and who may have
governed Asia under the reign of Trajan.] 
[Footnote 97: Mosheim, de Rebus Christ, ante Constantin. p. 235.]

     But although devotion had raised, and eloquence continued to
inflame, this fever of the mind, it insensibly gave way to the
more natural hopes and fears of the human heart, to the love of
life, the apprehension of pain, and the horror of dissolution. 
The more prudent rulers of the church found themselves obliged to
restrain the indiscreet ardor of their followers, and to distrust
a constancy which too often abandoned them in the hour of trial.
^98 As the lives of the faithful became less mortified and
austere, they were every day less ambitious of the honors of
martyrdom; and the soldiers of Christ, instead of distinguishing
themselves by voluntary deeds of heroism, frequently deserted
their post, and fled in confusion before the enemy whom it was
their duty to resist.  There were three methods, however, of
escaping the flames of persecution, which were not attended with
an equal degree of guilt: first, indeed, was generally allowed to
be innocent; the second was of a doubtful, or at least of a
venial, nature; but the third implied a direct and criminal
apostasy from the Christian faith.

[Footnote 98: See the Epistle of the Church of Smyrna, ap. Euseb.
Hist. Eccles. Liv. c. 15

     Note: The 15th chapter of the 10th book of the Eccles.
History of Eusebius treats principally of the martyrdom of St.
Polycarp, and mentions some other martyrs.  A single example of
weakness is related; it is that of a Phrygian named Quintus, who,
appalled at the sight of the wild beasts and the tortures,
renounced his faith.  This example proves little against the mass
of Christians, and this chapter of Eusebius furnished much
stronger evidence of their courage than of their timidity. - G

     This Quintus had, however, rashly and of his own accord
appeared before the tribunal; and the church of Smyrna condemn
"his indiscreet ardor," coupled as it was with weakness in the
hour of trial. - M.]

     I.  A modern inquisitor would hear with surprise, that
whenever an information was given to a Roman magistrate of any
person within his jurisdiction who had embraced the sect of the
Christians, the charge was communicated to the party accused, and
that a convenient time was allowed him to settle his domestic
concerns, and to prepare an answer to the crime which was imputed
to him. ^99 If he entertained any doubt of his own constancy,
such a delay afforded him the opportunity of preserving his life
and honor by flight, of withdrawing himself into some obscure
retirement or some distant province, and of patiently expecting
the return of peace and security.  A measure so consonant to
reason was soon authorized by the advice and example of the most
holy prelates; and seems to have been censured by few except by
the Montanists, who deviated into heresy by their strict and
obstinate adherence to the rigor of ancient discipline. ^100 II.
The provincial governors, whose zeal was less prevalent than
their avarice, had countenanced the practice of selling
certificates, (or libels, as they were called,) which attested,
that the persons therein mentioned had complied with the laws,
and sacrificed to the Roman deities.  By producing these false
declarations, the opulent and timid Christians were enabled to
silence the malice of an informer, and to reconcile in some
measure their safety with their religion. A slight penance atoned
for this profane dissimulation. ^101 ^* III.  In every
persecution there were great numbers of unworthy Christians who
publicly disowned or renounced the faith which they had
professed; and who confirmed the sincerity of their abjuration,
by the legal acts of burning incense or of offering sacrifices. 
Some of these apostates had yielded on the first menace or
exhortation of the magistrate; whilst the patience of others had
been subdued by the length and repetition of tortures.  The
affrighted countenances of some betrayed their inward remorse,
while others advanced with confidence and alacrity to the altars
of the gods. ^102 But the disguise which fear had imposed,
subsisted no longer than the present danger.  As soon as the
severity of the persecution was abated, the doors of the churches
were assailed by the returning multitude of penitents who
detested their idolatrous submission, and who solicited with
equal ardor, but with various success, their readmission into the
society of Christians. ^103 ^!

[Footnote 99: In the second apology of Justin, there is a
particular and very curious instance of this legal delay.  The
same indulgence was granted to accused Christians, in the
persecution of Decius: and Cyprian (de Lapsis) expressly mentions
the "Dies negantibus praestitutus."

     Note: The examples drawn by the historian from Justin Martyr
and Cyprian relate altogether to particular cases, and prove
nothing as to the general practice adopted towards the accused;
it is evident, on the contrary, from the same apology of St.
Justin, that they hardly ever obtained delay.  "A man named
Lucius, himself a Christian, present at an unjust sentence passed
against a Christian by the judge Urbicus, asked him why he thus
punished a man who was neither adulterer nor robber, nor guilty
of any other crime but that of avowing himself a Christian."
Urbicus answered only in these words: "Thou also hast the
appearance of being a Christian." "Yes, without doubt," replied
Lucius.  The judge ordered that he should be put to death on the
instant.  A third, who came up, was condemned to be beaten with
rods.  Here, then, are three examples where no delay was granted.

[Surely these acts of a single passionate and irritated judge
prove the general practice as little as those quoted by Gibbon. -
M.] There exist a multitude of others, such as those of Ptolemy,
Marcellus, &c. Justin expressly charges the judges with ordering
the accused to be executed without hearing the cause.  The words
of St. Cyprian are as particular, and simply say, that he had
appointed a day by which the Christians must have renounced their
faith; those who had not done it by that time were condemned. -
G.  This confirms the statement in the text. - M.] 
[Footnote 100: Tertullian considers flight from persecution as an
imperfect, but very criminal, apostasy, as an impious attempt to
elude the will of God, &c., &c.  He has written a treatise on
this subject, (see p. 536 - 544, edit. Rigalt.,) which is filled
with the wildest fanaticism and the most incoherent declamation. 
It is, however, somewhat remarkable, that Tertullian did not
suffer martyrdom himself.]

[Footnote 101: The libellatici, who are chiefly known by the
writings of Cyprian, are described with the utmost precision, in
the copious commentary of Mosheim, p. 483 - 489.]

[Footnote *: The penance was not so slight, for it was exactly
the same with that of apostates who had sacrificed to idols; it
lasted several years.  See Fleun Hist. Ecc. v. ii. p. 171. - G.]

[Footnote 102: Plin. Epist. x. 97.  Dionysius Alexandrin. ap.
Euseb. l. vi. c. 41.  Ad prima statim verba minantis inimici
maximus fratrum numerus fidem suam prodidit: nec prostratus est
persecutionis impetu, sed voluntario lapsu seipsum prostravit. 
Cyprian. Opera, p. 89.  Among these deserters were many priests,
and even bishops.]

[Footnote 103: It was on this occasion that Cyprian wrote his
treatise De Lapsis, and many of his epistles.  The controversy
concerning the treatment of penitent apostates, does not occur
among the Christians of the preceding century.  Shall we ascribe
this to the superiority of their faith and courage, or to our
less intimate knowledge of their history!]

[Footnote !: Pliny says, that the greater part of the Christians
persisted in avowing themselves to be so; the reason for his
consulting Trajan was the periclitantium numerus.  Eusebius (l.
vi. c. 41) does not permit us to doubt that the number of those
who renounced their faith was infinitely below the number of
those who boldly confessed it.  The prefect, he says and his
assessors present at the council, were alarmed at seeing the
crowd of Christians; the judges themselves trembled.  Lastly, St.
Cyprian informs us, that the greater part of those who had
appeared weak brethren in the persecution of Decius, signalized
their courage in that of Gallius. Steterunt fortes, et ipso
dolore poenitentiae facti ad praelium fortiores Epist. lx. p.
142. - G.]

     IV.  Notwithstanding the general rules established for the
conviction and punishment of the Christians, the fate of those
sectaries, in an extensive and arbitrary government, must still
in a great measure, have depended on their own behavior, the
circumstances of the times, and the temper of their supreme as
well as subordinate rulers.  Zeal might sometimes provoke, and
prudence might sometimes avert or assuage, the superstitious fury
of the Pagans.  A variety of motives might dispose the provincial
governors either to enforce or to relax the execution of the
laws; and of these motives the most forcible was their regard not
only for the public edicts, but for the secret intentions of the
emperor, a glance from whose eye was sufficient to kindle or to
extinguish the flames of persecution.  As often as any occasional
severities were exercised in the different parts of the empire,
the primitive Christians lamented and perhaps magnified their own
sufferings; but the celebrated number of ten persecutions has
been determined by the ecclesiastical writers of the fifth
century, who possessed a more distinct view of the prosperous or
adverse fortunes of the church, from the age of Nero to that of
Diocletian.  The ingenious parallels of the ten plagues of Egypt,
and of the ten horns of the Apocalypse, first suggested this
calculation to their minds; and in their application of the faith
of prophecy to the truth of history, they were careful to select
those reigns which were indeed the most hostile to the Christian
cause. ^104 But these transient persecutions served only to
revive the zeal and to restore the discipline of the faithful;
and the moments of extraordinary rigor were compensated by much
longer intervals of peace and security.  The indifference of some
princes, and the indulgence of others, permitted the Christians
to enjoy, though not perhaps a legal, yet an actual and public,
toleration of their religion.

[Footnote 104: See Mosheim, p. 97.  Sulpicius Severus was the
first author of this computation; though he seemed desirous of
reserving the tenth and greatest persecution for the coming of
the Antichrist.]

Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
Constantine. 

Part V.

     The apology of Tertullian contains two very ancient, very
singular, but at the same time very suspicious, instances of
Imperial clemency; the edicts published by Tiberius, and by
Marcus Antoninus, and designed not only to protect the innocence
of the Christians, but even to proclaim those stupendous miracles
which had attested the truth of their doctrine.  The first of
these examples is attended with some difficulties which might
perplex a sceptical mind. ^105 We are required to believe, that
Pontius Pilate informed the emperor of the unjust sentence of
death which he had pronounced against an innocent, and, as it
appeared, a divine, person; and that, without acquiring the
merit, he exposed himself to the danger of martyrdom; that
Tiberius, who avowed his contempt for all religion, immediately
conceived the design of placing the Jewish Messiah among the gods
of Rome; that his servile senate ventured to disobey the commands
of their master; that Tiberius, instead of resenting their
refusal, contented himself with protecting the Christians from
the severity of the laws, many years before such laws were
enacted, or before the church had assumed any distinct name or
existence; and lastly, that the memory of this extraordinary
transaction was preserved in the most public and authentic
records, which escaped the knowledge of the historians of Greece
and Rome, and were only visible to the eyes of an African
Christian, who composed his apology one hundred and sixty years
after the death of Tiberius.  The edict of Marcus Antoninus is
supposed to have been the effect of his devotion and gratitude
for the miraculous deliverance which he had obtained in the
Marcomannic war.  The distress of the legions, the seasonable
tempest of rain and hail, of thunder and of lightning, and the
dismay and defeat of the barbarians, have been celebrated by the
eloquence of several Pagan writers. If there were any Christians
in that army, it was natural that they should ascribe some merit
to the fervent prayers, which, in the moment of danger, they had
offered up for their own and the public safety.  But we are still
assured by monuments of brass and marble, by the Imperial medals,
and by the Antonine column, that neither the prince nor the
people entertained any sense of this signal obligation, since
they unanimously attribute their deliverance to the providence of
Jupiter, and to the interposition of Mercury.  During the whole
course of his reign, Marcus despised the Christians as a
philosopher, and punished them as a sovereign. ^106 ^*

[Footnote 105: The testimony given by Pontius Pilate is first
mentioned by Justin.  The successive improvements which the story
acquired (as if has passed through the hands of Tertullian,
Eusebius, Epiphanius, Chrysostom, Orosius, Gregory of Tours, and
the authors of the several editions of the acts of Pilate) are
very fairly stated by Dom Calmet Dissertat. sur l'Ecriture, tom.
iii. p. 651, &c.]

[Footnote 106: On this miracle, as it is commonly called, of the
thundering legion, see the admirable criticism of Mr. Moyle, in
his Works, vol. ii. p. 81 - 390.]

[Footnote *: Gibbon, with this phrase, and that below, which
admits the injustice of Marcus, has dexterously glossed over one
of the most remarkable facts in the early Christian history, that
the reign of the wisest and most humane of the heathen emperors
was the most fatal to the Christians.  Most writers have ascribed
the persecutions under Marcus to the latent bigotry of his
character; Mosheim, to the influence of the philosophic party;
but the fact is admitted by all.  A late writer (Mr. Waddington,
Hist. of the Church, p. 47) has not scrupled to assert, that
"this prince polluted every year of a long reign with innocent
blood;" but the causes as well as the date of the persecutions
authorized or permitted by Marcus are equally uncertain. 
     Of the Asiatic edict recorded by Melito. the date is
unknown, nor is it quite clear that it was an Imperial edict.  If
it was the act under which Polycarp suffered, his martyrdom is
placed by Ruinart in the sixth, by Mosheim in the ninth, year of
the reign of Marcus.  The martyrs of Vienne and Lyons are
assigned by Dodwell to the seventh, by most writers to the
seventeenth. In fact, the commencement of the persecutions of the
Christians appears to synchronize exactly with the period of the
breaking out of the Marcomannic war, which seems to have alarmed
the whole empire, and the emperor himself, into a paroxysm of
returning piety to their gods, of which the Christians were the
victims.  See Jul, Capit. Script. Hist August. p. 181, edit.
1661.  It is remarkable that Tertullian [Apologet. c. v.)
distinctly asserts that Verus (M. Aurelius) issued no edicts
against the Christians, and almost positively exempts him from
the charge of persecution. - M.

     This remarkable synchronism, which explains the persecutions
under M Aurelius, is shown at length in Milman's History of
Christianity, book ii. v. - M. 1845.]

     By a singular fatality, the hardships which they had endured
under the government of a virtuous prince, immediately ceased on
the accession of a tyrant; and as none except themselves had
experienced the injustice of Marcus, so they alone were protected
by the lenity of Commodus.  The celebrated Marcia, the most
favored of his concubines, and who at length contrived the murder
of her Imperial lover, entertained a singular affection for the
oppressed church; and though it was impossible that she could
reconcile the practice of vice with the precepts of the gospel,
she might hope to atone for the frailties of her sex and
profession by declaring herself the patroness of the Christians.
^107 Under the gracious protection of Marcia, they passed in
safety the thirteen years of a cruel tyranny; and when the empire
was established in the house of Severus, they formed a domestic
but more honorable connection with the new court.  The emperor
was persuaded, that in a dangerous sickness, he had derived some
benefit, either spiritual or physical, from the holy oil, with
which one of his slaves had anointed him.  He always treated with
peculiar distinction several persons of both sexes who had
embraced the new religion.  The nurse as well as the preceptor of
Caracalla were Christians; ^* and if that young prince ever
betrayed a sentiment of humanity, it was occasioned by an
incident, which, however trifling, bore some relation to the
cause of Christianity. ^108 Under the reign of Severus, the fury
of the populace was checked; the rigor of ancient laws was for
some time suspended; and the provincial governors were satisfied
with receiving an annual present from the churches within their
jurisdiction, as the price, or as the reward, of their
moderation. ^109 The controversy concerning the precise time of
the celebration of Easter, armed the bishops of Asia and Italy
against each other, and was considered as the most important
business of this period of leisure and tranquillity. ^110 Nor was
the peace of the church interrupted, till the increasing numbers
of proselytes seem at length to have attracted the attention, and
to have alienated the mind of Severus.  With the design of
restraining the progress of Christianity, he published an edict,
which, though it was designed to affect only the new converts,
could not be carried into strict execution, without exposing to
danger and punishment the most zealous of their teachers and
missionaries.  In this mitigated persecution we may still
discover the indulgent spirit of Rome and of Polytheism, which so
readily admitted every excuse in favor of those who practised the
religious ceremonies of their fathers. ^111

[Footnote 107: Dion Cassius, or rather his abbreviator Xiphilin,
l. lxxii. p. 1206.  Mr. Moyle (p. 266) has explained the
condition of the church under the reign of Commodus.]

[Footnote *: The Jews and Christians contest the honor of having
furnished a nurse is the fratricide son of Severus Caracalla. 
Hist. of Jews, iii. 158. - M.]

[Footnote 108: Compare the life of Caracalla in the Augustan
History, with the epistle of Tertullian to Scapula.  Dr. Jortin
(Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. ii. p. 5, &c.) considers
the cure of Severus by the means of holy oil, with a strong
desire to convert it into a miracle.] 
[Footnote 109: Tertullian de Fuga, c. 13.  The present was made
during the feast of the Saturnalia; and it is a matter of serious
concern to Tertullian, that the faithful should be confounded
with the most infamous professions which purchased the connivance
of the government.]

[Footnote 110: Euseb. l. v. c. 23, 24.  Mosheim, p. 435 - 447.] 
[Footnote 111: Judaeos fieri sub gravi poena vetuit.  Idem etiam
de Christianis sanxit.  Hist. August. p. 70.]

     But the laws which Severus had enacted soon expired with the
authority of that emperor; and the Christians, after this
accidental tempest, enjoyed a calm of thirty-eight years. ^112
Till this period they had usually held their assemblies in
private houses and sequestered places.  They were now permitted
to erect and consecrate convenient edifices for the purpose of
religious worship; ^113 to purchase lands, even at Rome itself,
for the use of the community; and to conduct the elections of
their ecclesiastical ministers in so public, but at the same time
in so exemplary a manner, as to deserve the respectful attention
of the Gentiles. ^114 This long repose of the church was
accompanied with dignity.  The reigns of those princes who
derived their extraction from the Asiatic provinces, proved the
most favorable to the Christians; the eminent persons of the
sect, instead of being reduced to implore the protection of a
slave or concubine, were admitted into the palace in the
honorable characters of priests and philosophers; and their
mysterious doctrines, which were already diffused among the
people, insensibly attracted the curiosity of their sovereign.
When the empress Mammaea passed through Antioch, she expressed a
desire of conversing with the celebrated Origen, the fame of
whose piety and learning was spread over the East.  Origen obeyed
so flattering an invitation, and though he could not expect to
succeed in the conversion of an artful and ambitious woman, she
listened with pleasure to his eloquent exhortations, and
honorably dismissed him to his retirement in Palestine. ^115 The
sentiments of Mammaea were adopted by her son Alexander, and the
philosophic devotion of that emperor was marked by a singular but
injudicious regard for the Christian religion.  In his domestic
chapel he placed the statues of Abraham, of Orpheus, of
Apollonius, and of Christ, as an honor justly due to those
respectable sages who had instructed mankind in the various modes
of addressing their homage to the supreme and universal Deity.
^116 A purer faith, as well as worship, was openly professed and
practised among his household.  Bishops, perhaps for the first
time, were seen at court; and, after the death of Alexander, when
the inhuman Maximin discharged his fury on the favorites and
servants of his unfortunate benefactor, a great number of
Christians of every rank and of both sexes, were involved the
promiscuous massacre, which, on their account, has improperly
received the name of Persecution. ^117 ^*

[Footnote 112: Sulpicius Severus, l. ii. p. 384.  This
computation (allowing for a single exception) is confirmed by the
history of Eusebius, and by the writings of Cyprian.]

[Footnote 113: The antiquity of Christian churches is discussed
by Tillemont, (Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. iii. part ii. p.
68-72,) and by Mr. Moyle, (vol. i. p. 378-398.) The former refers
the first construction of them to the peace of Alexander Severus;
the latter, to the peace of Gallienus.] 
[Footnote 114: See the Augustan History, p. 130.  The emperor
Alexander adopted their method of publicly proposing the names of
those persons who were candidates for ordination.  It is true
that the honor of this practice is likewise attributed to the
Jews.]

[Footnote 115: Euseb. Hist. Ecclesiast. l. vi. c. 21.  Hieronym.
de Script. Eccles. c. 54.  Mammaea was styled a holy and pious
woman, both by the Christians and the Pagans.  From the former,
therefore, it was impossible that she should deserve that
honorable epithet.]

[Footnote 116: See the Augustan History, p. 123.  Mosheim (p.
465) seems to refine too much on the domestic religion of
Alexander.  His design of building a public temple to Christ,
(Hist. August. p. 129,) and the objection which was suggested
either to him, or in similar circumstances to Hadrian, appear to
have no other foundation than an improbable report, invented by
the Christians, and credulously adopted by an historian of the
age of Constantine.]

[Footnote 117: Euseb. l. vi. c. 28.  It may be presumed that the
success of the Christians had exasperated the increasing bigotry
of the Pagans.  Dion Cassius, who composed his history under the
former reign, had most probably intended for the use of his
master those counsels of persecution, which he ascribes to a
better age, and to and to the favorite of Augustus. Concerning
this oration of Maecenas, or rather of Dion, I may refer to my
own unbiased opinion, (vol. i. c. 1, note 25,) and to the Abbe de
la Bleterie (Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxiv. p. 303 tom xxv.
p. 432.)

     Note: If this be the case, Dion Cassius must have known the
Christians they must have been the subject of his particular
attention, since the author supposes that he wished his master to
profit by these "counsels of persecution." How are we to
reconcile this necessary consequence with what Gibbon has said of
the ignorance of Dion Cassius even of the name of the Christians?

(c. xvi. n. 24.) [Gibbon speaks of Dion's silence, not of his
ignorance. - M] The supposition in this note is supported by no
proof; it is probable that Dion Cassius has often designated the
Christians by the name of Jews.  See Dion Cassius, l. lxvii. c
14, lxviii. l - G.

     On this point I should adopt the view of Gibbon rather than
that of M Guizot. - M]

[Footnote *: It is with good reason that this massacre has been
called a persecution, for it lasted during the whole reign of
Maximin, as may be seen in Eusebius. (l. vi. c. 28.) Rufinus
expressly confirms it: Tribus annis a Maximino persecutione
commota, in quibus finem et persecutionis fecit et vitas Hist. l.
vi. c. 19. - G.]

     Notwithstanding the cruel disposition of Maximin, the
effects of his resentment against the Christians were of a very
local and temporary nature, and the pious Origen, who had been
proscribed as a devoted victim, was still reserved to convey the
truths of the gospel to the ear of monarchs. ^118 He addressed
several edifying letters to the emperor Philip, to his wife, and
to his mother; and as soon as that prince, who was born in the
neighborhood of Palestine, had usurped the Imperial sceptre, the
Christians acquired a friend and a protector.  The public and
even partial favor of Philip towards the sectaries of the new
religion, and his constant reverence for the ministers of the
church, gave some color to the suspicion, which prevailed in his
own times, that the emperor himself was become a convert to the
faith; ^119 and afforded some grounds for a fable which was
afterwards invented, that he had been purified by confession and
penance from the guilt contracted by the murder of his innocent
predecessor. ^120 the fall of Philip introduced, with the change
of masters, a new system of government, so oppressive to the
Christians, that their former condition, ever since the time of
Domitian, was represented as a state of perfect freedom and
security, if compared with the rigorous treatment which they
experienced under the short reign of Decius. ^121 The virtues of
that prince will scarcely allow us to suspect that he was
actuated by a mean resentment against the favorites of his
predecessor; and it is more reasonable to believe, that in the
prosecution of his general design to restore the purity of Roman
manners, he was desirous of delivering the empire from what he
condemned as a recent and criminal superstition.  The bishops of
the most considerable cities were removed by exile or death: the
vigilance of the magistrates prevented the clergy of Rome during
sixteen months from proceeding to a new election; and it was the
opinion of the Christians, that the emperor would more patiently
endure a competitor for the purple, than a bishop in the capital.
^122 Were it possible to suppose that the penetration of Decius
had discovered pride under the disguise of humility, or that he
could foresee the temporal dominion which might insensibly arise
from the claims of spiritual authority, we might be less
surprised, that he should consider the successors of St. Peter,
as the most formidable rivals to those of Augustus.

[Footnote 118: Orosius, l. vii. c. 19, mentions Origen as the
object of Maximin's resentment; and Firmilianus, a Cappadocian
bishop of that age, gives a just and confined idea of this
persecution, (apud Cyprian Epist. 75.)] 
[Footnote 119: The mention of those princes who were publicly
supposed to be Christians, as we find it in an epistle of
Dionysius of Alexandria, (ap. Euseb. l. vii. c. 10,) evidently
alludes to Philip and his family, and forms a contemporary
evidence, that such a report had prevailed; but the Egyptian
bishop, who lived at an humble distance from the court of Rome,
expresses himself with a becoming diffidence concerning the truth
of the fact.  The epistles of Origen (which were extant in the
time of Eusebius, see l. vi. c. 36) would most probably decide
this curious rather than important question.] 
[Footnote 120: Euseb. l. vi. c. 34.  The story, as is usual, has
been embellished by succeeding writers, and is confuted, with
much superfluous learning, by Frederick Spanheim, (Opera Varia,
tom. ii. p. 400, &c.)] 
[Footnote 121: Lactantius, de Mortibus Persecutorum, c. 3, 4. 
After celebrating the felicity and increase of the church, under
a long succession of good princes, he adds, "Extitit post annos
plurimos, execrabile animal, Decius, qui vexaret Ecclesiam."]

[Footnote 122: Euseb. l. vi. c. 39.  Cyprian. Epistol. 55.  The
see of Rome remained vacant from the martyrdom of Fabianus, the
20th of January, A. D. 259, till the election of Cornelius, the
4th of June, A. D. 251 Decius had probably left Rome, since he
was killed before the end of that year.] 
     The administration of Valerian was distinguished by a levity
and inconstancy ill suited to the gravity of the Roman Censor. 
In the first part of his reign, he surpassed in clemency those
princes who had been suspected of an attachment to the Christian
faith.  In the last three years and a half, listening to the
insinuations of a minister addicted to the superstitions of
Egypt, he adopted the maxims, and imitated the severity, of his
predecessor Decius. ^123 The accession of Gallienus, which
increased the calamities of the empire, restored peace to the
church; and the Christians obtained the free exercise of their
religion by an edict addressed to the bishops, and conceived in
such terms as seemed to acknowledge their office and public
character. ^124 The ancient laws, without being formally
repealed, were suffered to sink into oblivion; and (excepting
only some hostile intentions which are attributed to the emperor
Aurelian ^125) the disciples of Christ passed above forty years
in a state of prosperity, far more dangerous to their virtue than
the severest trials of persecution.

[Footnote 123: Euseb. l. vii. c. 10.  Mosheim (p. 548) has very
clearly shown that the praefect Macrianus, and the Egyptian
Magus, are one and the same person.]

[Footnote 124: Eusebius (l. vii. c. 13) gives us a Greek version
of this Latin edict, which seems to have been very concise.  By
another edict, he directed that the Coemeteria should be restored
to the Christians.] 
[Footnote 125: Euseb. l. vii. c. 30.  Lactantius de M. P. c. 6. 
Hieronym. in Chron. p. 177.  Orosius, l. vii. c. 23.  Their
language is in general so ambiguous and incorrect, that we are at
a loss to determine how far Aurelian had carried his intentions
before he was assassinated.  Most of the moderns (except Dodwell,
Dissertat. Cyprian. vi. 64) have seized the occasion of gaining a
few extraordinary martyrs.

     Note: Dr. Lardner has detailed, with his usual impartiality,
all that has come down to us relating to the persecution of
Aurelian, and concludes by saying, "Upon more carefully examining
the words of Eusebius, and observing the accounts of other
authors, learned men have generally, and, as I think, very
judiciously, determined, that Aurelian not only intended, but did
actually persecute: but his persecution was short, he having died
soon after the publication of his edicts." Heathen Test. c.
xxxvi. - Basmage positively pronounces the same opinion: Non
intentatum modo, sed executum quoque brevissimo tempore mandatum,
nobis infixum est in aniasis.  Basn. Ann. 275, No. 2 and compare
Pagi Ann. 272, Nos. 4, 12, 27 - G.]

     The story of Paul of Samosata, who filled the metropolitan
see of Antioch, while the East was in the hands of Odenathus and
Zenobia, may serve to illustrate the condition and character of
the times.  The wealth of that prelate was a sufficient evidence
of his guilt, since it was neither derived from the inheritance
of his fathers, nor acquired by the arts of honest industry.  But
Paul considered the service of the church as a very lucrative
profession. ^126 His ecclesiastical jurisdiction was venal and
rapacious; he extorted frequent contributions from the most
opulent of the faithful, and converted to his own use a
considerable part of the public revenue.  By his pride and
luxury, the Christian religion was rendered odious in the eyes of
the Gentiles.  His council chamber and his throne, the splendor
with which he appeared in public, the suppliant crowd who
solicited his attention, the multitude of letters and petitions
to which he dictated his answers, and the perpetual hurry of
business in which he was involved, were circumstances much better
suited to the state of a civil magistrate, ^127 than to the
humility of a primitive bishop.  When he harangued his people
from the pulpit, Paul affected the figurative style and the
theatrical gestures of an Asiatic sophist, while the cathedral
resounded with the loudest and most extravagant acclamations in
the praise of his divine eloquence.  Against those who resisted
his power, or refused to flatter his vanity, the prelate of
Antioch was arrogant, rigid, and inexorable; but he relaxed the
discipline, and lavished the treasures of the church on his
dependent clergy, who were permitted to imitate their master in
the gratification of every sensual appetite.  For Paul indulged
himself very freely in the pleasures of the table, and he had
received into the episcopal palace two young and beautiful women
as the constant companions of his leisure moments. ^128 
[Footnote 126: Paul was better pleased with the title of
Ducenarius, than with that of bishop.  The Ducenarius was an
Imperial procurator, so called from his salary of two hundred
Sestertia, or 1600l. a year.  (See Salmatius ad Hist. August. p.
124.) Some critics suppose that the bishop of Antioch had
actually obtained such an office from Zenobia, while others
consider it only as a figurative expression of his pomp and
insolence.]

[Footnote 127: Simony was not unknown in those times; and the
clergy some times bought what they intended to sell.  It appears
that the bishopric of Carthage was purchased by a wealthy matron,
named Lucilla, for her servant Majorinus.  The price was 400
Folles.  (Monument. Antiq. ad calcem Optati, p. 263.) Every
Follis contained 125 pieces of silver, and the whole sum may be
computed at about 2400l.]

[Footnote 128: If we are desirous of extenuating the vices of
Paul, we must suspect the assembled bishops of the East of
publishing the most malicious calumnies in circular epistles
addressed to all the churches of the empire, (ap. Euseb. l. vii.
c. 30.)]

     Notwithstanding these scandalous vices, if Paul of Samosata
had preserved the purity of the orthodox faith, his reign over
the capital of Syria would have ended only with his life; and had
a seasonable persecution intervened, an effort of courage might
perhaps have placed him in the rank of saints and martyrs. ^*
Some nice and subtle errors, which he imprudently adopted and
obstinately maintained, concerning the doctrine of the Trinity,
excited the zeal and indignation of the Eastern churches. ^129
From Egypt to the Euxine Sea, the bishops were in arms and in
motion.  Several councils were held, confutations were published,
excommunications were pronounced, ambiguous explanations were by
turns accepted and refused, treaties were concluded and violated,
and at length Paul of Samosata was degraded from his episcopal
character, by the sentence of seventy or eighty bishops, who
assembled for that purpose at Antioch, and who, without
consulting the rights of the clergy or people, appointed a
successor by their own authority.  The manifest irregularity of
this proceeding increased the numbers of the discontented
faction; and as Paul, who was no stranger to the arts of courts,
had insinuated himself into the favor of Zenobia, he maintained
above four years the possession of the episcopal house and
office. ^* The victory of Aurelian changed the face of the East,
and the two contending parties, who applied to each other the
epithets of schism and heresy, were either commanded or permitted
to plead their cause before the tribunal of the conqueror.  This
public and very singular trial affords a convincing proof that
the existence, the property, the privileges, and the internal
policy of the Christians, were acknowledged, if not by the laws,
at least by the magistrates, of the empire. As a Pagan and as a
soldier, it could scarcely be expected that Aurelian should enter
into the discussion, whether the sentiments of Paul or those of
his adversaries were most agreeable to the true standard of the
orthodox faith. His determination, however, was founded on the
general principles of equity and reason.  He considered the
bishops of Italy as the most impartial and respectable judges
among the Christians, and as soon as he was informed that they
had unanimously approved the sentence of the council, he
acquiesced in their opinion, and immediately gave orders that
Paul should be compelled to relinquish the temporal possessions
belonging to an office, of which, in the judgment of his
brethren, he had been regularly deprived. But while we applaud
the justice, we should not overlook the policy, of Aurelian, who
was desirous of restoring and cementing the dependence of the
provinces on the capital, by every means which could bind the
interest or prejudices of any part of his subjects. ^130

[Footnote *: It appears, nevertheless, that the vices and
immoralities of Paul of Samosata had much weight in the sentence
pronounced against him by the bishops.  The object of the letter,
addressed by the synod to the bishops of Rome and Alexandria, was
to inform them of the change in the faith of Paul, the
altercations and discussions to which it had given rise, as well
as of his morals and the whole of his conduct.  Euseb. Hist.
Eccl. l. vii c. xxx - G.] 
[Footnote 129: His heresy (like those of Noetus and Sabellius, in
the same century) tended to confound the mysterious distinction
of the divine persons. See Mosheim, p. 702, &c.]

[Footnote *: "Her favorite, (Zenobia's,) Paul of Samosata, seems
to have entertained some views of attempting a union between
Judaism and Christianity; both parties rejected the unnatural
alliance." Hist. of Jews, iii. 175, and Jost. Geschichte der
Israeliter, iv. 167.  The protection of the severe Zenobia is the
only circumstance which may raise a doubt of the notorious
immorality of Paul. - M.]

[Footnote 130: Euseb. Hist. Ecclesiast. l. vii. c. 30.  We are
entirely indebted to him for the curious story of Paul of
Samosata.] 
     Amidst the frequent revolutions of the empire, the
Christians still flourished in peace and prosperity; and
notwithstanding a celebrated aera of martyrs has been deduced
from the accession of Diocletian, ^131 the new system of policy,
introduced and maintained by the wisdom of that prince,
continued, during more than eighteen years, to breathe the
mildest and most liberal spirit of religious toleration.  The
mind of Diocletian himself was less adapted indeed to speculative
inquiries, than to the active labors of war and government.  His
prudence rendered him averse to any great innovation, and though
his temper was not very susceptible of zeal or enthusiasm, he
always maintained an habitual regard for the ancient deities of
the empire.  But the leisure of the two empresses, of his wife
Prisca, and of Valeria, his daughter, permitted them to listen
with more attention and respect to the truths of Christianity,
which in every age has acknowledged its important obligations to
female devotion. ^132 The principal eunuchs, Lucian ^133 and
Dorotheus, Gorgonius and Andrew, who attended the person,
possessed the favor, and governed the household of Diocletian,
protected by their powerful influence the faith which they had
embraced.  Their example was imitated by many of the most
considerable officers of the palace, who, in their respective
stations, had the care of the Imperial ornaments, of the robes,
of the furniture, of the jewels, and even of the private
treasury; and, though it might sometimes be incumbent on them to
accompany the emperor when he sacrificed in the temple, ^134 they
enjoyed, with their wives, their children, and their slaves, the
free exercise of the Christian religion.  Diocletian and his
colleagues frequently conferred the most important offices on
those persons who avowed their abhorrence for the worship of the
gods, but who had displayed abilities proper for the service of
the state.  The bishops held an honorable rank in their
respective provinces, and were treated with distinction and
respect, not only by the people, but by the magistrates
themselves.  Almost in every city, the ancient churches were
found insufficient to contain the increasing multitude of
proselytes; and in their place more stately and capacious
edifices were erected for the public worship of the faithful. 
The corruption of manners and principles, so forcibly lamented by
Eusebius, ^135 may be considered, not only as a consequence, but
as a proof, of the liberty which the Christians enjoyed and
abused under the reign of Diocletian.  Prosperity had relaxed the
nerves of discipline.  Fraud, envy, and malice prevailed in every
congregation.  The presbyters aspired to the episcopal office,
which every day became an object more worthy of their ambition. 
The bishops, who contended with each other for ecclesiastical
preeminence, appeared by their conduct to claim a secular and
tyrannical power in the church; and the lively faith which still
distinguished the Christians from the Gentiles, was shown much
less in their lives, than in their controversial writings.

[Footnote 131: The Aera of Martyrs, which is still in use among
the Copts and the Abyssinians, must be reckoned from the 29th of
August, A. D. 284; as the beginning of the Egyptian year was
nineteen days earlier than the real accession of Diocletian.  See
Dissertation Preliminaire a l'Art de verifier les Dates.

     Note: On the aera of martyrs see the very curious
dissertations of Mons Letronne on some recently discovered
inscriptions in Egypt and Nubis, p. 102, &c. - M.]

[Footnote 132: The expression of Lactantius, (de M. P. c. 15,)
"sacrificio pollui coegit," implies their antecedent conversion
to the faith, but does not seem to justify the assertion of
Mosheim, (p. 912,) that they had been privately baptized.]

[Footnote 133: M. de Tillemont (Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. v.
part i. p. 11, 12) has quoted from the Spicilegium of Dom Luc
d'Archeri a very curious instruction which Bishop Theonas
composed for the use of Lucian.] 
[Footnote 134: Lactantius, de M. P. c. 10.]

[Footnote 135: Eusebius, Hist. Ecclesiast. l. viii. c. 1.  The
reader who consults the original will not accuse me of
heightening the picture. Eusebius was about sixteen years of age
at the accession of the emperor Diocletian.] 
     Notwithstanding this seeming security, an attentive observer
might discern some symptoms that threatened the church with a
more violent persecution than any which she had yet endured.  The
zeal and rapid progress of the Christians awakened the
Polytheists from their supine indifference in the cause of those
deities, whom custom and education had taught them to revere. 
The mutual provocations of a religious war, which had already
continued above two hundred years, exasperated the animosity of
the contending parties.  The Pagans were incensed at the rashness
of a recent and obscure sect, which presumed to accuse their
countrymen of error, and to devote their ancestors to eternal
misery.  The habits of justifying the popular mythology against
the invectives of an implacable enemy, produced in their minds
some sentiments of faith and reverence for a system which they
had been accustomed to consider with the most careless levity. 
The supernatural powers assumed by the church inspired at the
same time terror and emulation.  The followers of the established
religion intrenched themselves behind a similar fortification of
prodigies; invented new modes of sacrifice, of expiation, and of
initiation; ^136 attempted to revive the credit of their expiring
oracles; ^137 and listened with eager credulity to every
impostor, who flattered their prejudices by a tale of wonders.
^138 Both parties seemed to acknowledge the truth of those
miracles which were claimed by their adversaries; and while they
were contented with ascribing them to the arts of magic, and to
the power of daemons, they mutually concurred in restoring and
establishing the reign of superstition. ^139 Philosophy, her most
dangerous enemy, was now converted into her most useful ally. 
The groves of the academy, the gardens of Epicurus, and even the
portico of the Stoics, were almost deserted, as so many different
schools of scepticism or impiety; ^140 and many among the Romans
were desirous that the writings of Cicero should be condemned and
suppressed by the authority of the senate. ^141 The prevailing
sect of the new Platonicians judged it prudent to connect
themselves with the priests, whom perhaps they despised, against
the Christians, whom they had reason to fear. These fashionable
Philosophers prosecuted the design of extracting allegorical
wisdom from the fictions of the Greek poets; instituted
mysterious rites of devotion for the use of their chosen
disciples; recommended the worship of the ancient gods as the
emblems or ministers of the Supreme Deity, and composed against
the faith of the gospel many elaborate treatises, ^142 which have
since been committed to the flames by the prudence of orthodox
emperors. ^143 
[Footnote 136: We might quote, among a great number of instances,
the mysterious worship of Mythras, and the Taurobolia; the latter
of which became fashionable in the time of the Antonines, (see a
Dissertation of M. de Boze, in the Memoires de l'Academie des
Inscriptions, tom. ii. p. 443.) The romance of Apuleius is as
full of devotion as of satire.

     Note: On the extraordinary progress of the Mahriac rites, in
the West, see De Guigniaud's translation of Creuzer, vol. i. p.
365, and Note 9, tom. i. part 2, p. 738, &c. - M.]

[Footnote 137: The impostor Alexander very strongly recommended
the oracle of Trophonius at Mallos, and those of Apollo at Claros
and Miletus, (Lucian, tom. ii. p. 236, edit. Reitz.) The last of
these, whose singular history would furnish a very curious
episode, was consulted by Diocletian before he published his
edicts of persecution, (Lactantius, de M. P. c. 11.)] 
[Footnote 138: Besides the ancient stories of Pythagoras and
Aristeas, the cures performed at the shrine of Aesculapius, and
the fables related of Apollonius of Tyana, were frequently
opposed to the miracles of Christ; though I agree with Dr.
Lardner, (see Testimonies, vol. iii. p. 253, 352,) that when
Philostratus composed the life of Apollonius, he had no such
intention.] 
[Footnote 139: It is seriously to be lamented, that the Christian
fathers, by acknowledging the supernatural, or, as they deem it,
the infernal part of Paganism, destroy with their own hands the
great advantage which we might otherwise derive from the liberal
concessions of our adversaries.] 
[Footnote 140: Julian (p. 301, edit. Spanheim) expresses a pious
joy, that the providence of the gods had extinguished the impious
sects, and for the most part destroyed the books of the
Pyrrhonians and Epicuraeans, which had been very numerous, since
Epicurus himself composed no less than 300 volumes.  See Diogenes
Laertius, l. x. c. 26.]

[Footnote 141: Cumque alios audiam mussitare indignanter, et
dicere opportere statui per Senatum, aboleantur ut haec scripta,
quibus Christiana Religio comprobetur, et vetustatis opprimatur
auctoritas.  Arnobius adversus Gentes, l. iii. p. 103, 104.  He
adds very properly, Erroris convincite Ciceronem . . . nam
intercipere scripta, et publicatam velle submergere lectionem,
non est Deum defendere sed veritatis testificationem timere.]

[Footnote 142: Lactantius (Divin. Institut. l. v. c. 2, 3) gives
a very clear and spirited account of two of these philosophic
adversaries of the faith. The large treatise of Porphyry against
the Christians consisted of thirty books, and was composed in
Sicily about the year 270.]

[Footnote 143: See Socrates, Hist. Ecclesiast. l. i. c. 9, and
Codex Justinian. l. i. i. l. s.]

Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
Constantine. 

Part VI.

     Although the policy of Diocletian and the humanity of
Constantius inclined them to preserve inviolate the maxims of
toleration, it was soon discovered that their two associates,
Maximian and Galerius, entertained the most implacable aversion
for the name and religion of the Christians. The minds of those
princes had never been enlightened by science; education had
never softened their temper.  They owed their greatness to their
swords, and in their most elevated fortune they still retained
their superstitious prejudices of soldiers and peasants.  In the
general administration of the provinces they obeyed the laws
which their benefactor had established; but they frequently found
occasions of exercising within their camp and palaces a secret
persecution, ^144 for which the imprudent zeal of the Christians
sometimes offered the most specious pretences.  A sentence of
death was executed upon Maximilianus, an African youth, who had
been produced by his own father ^* before the magistrate as a
sufficient and legal recruit, but who obstinately persisted in
declaring, that his conscience would not permit him to embrace
the profession of a soldier. ^145 It could scarcely be expected
that any government should suffer the action of Marcellus the
Centurion to pass with impunity.  On the day of a public
festival, that officer threw away his belt, his arms, and the
ensigns of his office, and exclaimed with a loud voice, that he
would obey none but Jesus Christ the eternal King, and that he
renounced forever the use of carnal weapons, and the service of
an idolatrous master.  The soldiers, as soon as they recovered
from their astonishment, secured the person of Marcellus.  He was
examined in the city of Tingi by the president of that part of
Mauritania; and as he was convicted by his own confession, he was
condemned and beheaded for the crime of desertion. ^146 Examples
of such a nature savor much less of religious persecution than of
martial or even civil law; but they served to alienate the mind
of the emperors, to justify the severity of Galerius, who
dismissed a great number of Christian officers from their
employments; and to authorize the opinion, that a sect of
enthusiastics, which avowed principles so repugnant to the public
safety, must either remain useless, or would soon become
dangerous, subjects of the empire.

[Footnote 144: Eusebius, l. viii. c. 4, c. 17.  He limits the
number of military martyrs, by a remarkable expression, of which
neither his Latin nor French translator have rendered the energy.

Notwithstanding the authority of Eusebius, and the silence of
Lactantius, Ambrose, Sulpicius, Orosius, &c., it has been long
believed, that the Thebaean legion, consisting of 6000
Christians, suffered martyrdom by the order of Maximian, in the
valley of the Pennine Alps.  The story was first published about
the middle of the 5th century, by Eucherius, bishop of Lyons, who
received it from certain persons, who received it from Isaac,
bishop of Geneva, who is said to have received it from Theodore,
bishop of Octodurum. The abbey of St. Maurice still subsists, a
rich monument of the credulity of Sigismund, king of Burgundy. 
See an excellent Dissertation in xxxvith volume of the
Bibliotheque Raisonnee, p. 427-454.]

[Footnote *: M. Guizot criticizes Gibbon's account of this
incident.  He supposes that Maximilian was not "produced by his
father as a recruit," but was obliged to appear by the law, which
compelled the sons of soldiers to serve at 21 years old.  Was not
this a law of Constantine?  Neither does this circumstance appear
in the acts.  His father had clearly expected him to serve, as he
had bought him a new dress for the occasion; yet he refused to
force the conscience of his son. and when Maximilian was
condemned to death, the father returned home in joy, blessing God
for having bestowed upon him such a son. - M.]

[Footnote 145: See the Acta Sincera, p. 299.  The accounts of his
martyrdom and that of Marcellus, bear every mark of truth and
authenticity.] 
[Footnote 146: Acta Sincera, p. 302.

     Note: M. Guizot here justly observes, that it was the
necessity of sacrificing to the gods, which induced Marcellus to
act in this manner. - M.] 
     After the success of the Persian war had raised the hopes
and the reputation of Galerius, he passed a winter with
Diocletian in the palace of Nicomedia; and the fate of
Christianity became the object of their secret consultations.
^147 The experienced emperor was still inclined to pursue
measures of lenity; and though he readily consented to exclude
the Christians from holding any employments in the household or
the army, he urged in the strongest terms the danger as well as
cruelty of shedding the blood of those deluded fanatics. 
Galerius at length extorted ^!! from him the permission of
summoning a council, composed of a few persons the most
distinguished in the civil and military departments of the state.

The important question was agitated in their presence, and those
ambitious courtiers easily discerned, that it was incumbent on
them to second, by their eloquence, the importunate violence of
the Caesar.  It may be presumed, that they insisted on every
topic which might interest the pride, the piety, or the fears, of
their sovereign in the destruction of Christianity.  Perhaps they
represented, that the glorious work of the deliverance of the
empire was left imperfect, as long as an independent people was
permitted to subsist and multiply in the heart of the provinces.
The Christians, (it might specially be alleged,) renouncing the
gods and the institutions of Rome, had constituted a distinct
republic, which might yet be suppressed before it had acquired
any military force; but which was already governed by its own
laws and magistrates, was possessed of a public treasure, and was
intimately connected in all its parts by the frequent assemblies
of the bishops, to whose decrees their numerous and opulent
congregations yielded an implicit obedience.  Arguments like
these may seem to have determined the reluctant mind of
Diocletian to embrace a new system of persecution; but though we
may suspect, it is not in our power to relate, the secret
intrigues of the palace, the private views and resentments, the
jealousy of women or eunuchs, and all those trifling but decisive
causes which so often influence the fate of empires, and the
councils of the wisest monarchs. ^148

[Footnote 147: De M. P. c. 11.  Lactantius (or whoever was the
author of this little treatise) was, at that time, an inhabitant
of Nicomedia; but it seems difficult to conceive how he could
acquire so accurate a knowledge of what passed in the Imperial
cabinet.

     Note: Lactantius, who was subsequently chosen by Constantine
to educate Crispus, might easily have learned these details from
Constantine himself, already of sufficient age to interest
himself in the affairs of the government, and in a position to
obtain the best information. - G. 
     This assumes the doubtful point of the authorship of the
Treatise. - M.] 
[Footnote !!: This permission was not extorted from Diocletian;
he took the step of his own accord.  Lactantius says, in truth,
Nec tamen deflectere potuit (Diocletianus) praecipitis hominis
insaniam; placuit ergo amicorum sententiam experiri.  (De Mort.
Pers. c. 11.) But this measure was in accordance with the
artificial character of Diocletian, who wished to have the
appearance of doing good by his own impulse and evil by the
impulse of others. Nam erat hujus malitiae, cum bonum quid facere
decrevisse sine consilio faciebat, ut ipse laudaretur.  Cum autem
malum. quoniam id reprehendendum sciebat, in consilium multos
advocabat, ut alioram culpao adscriberetur quicquid ipse
deliquerat.  Lact. ib. Eutropius says likewise, Miratus callide
fuit, sagax praeterea et admodum subtilis ingenio, et qui
severitatem suam aliena invidia vellet explere. Eutrop. ix. c.
26. - G.

     The manner in which the coarse and unfriendly pencil of the
author of the Treatise de Mort. Pers. has drawn the character of
Diocletian, seems inconsistent with this profound subtilty.  Many
readers will perhaps agree with Gibbon. - M.]

[Footnote 148: The only circumstance which we can discover, is
the devotion and jealousy of the mother of Galerius.  She is
described by Lactantius, as Deorum montium cultrix; mulier
admodum superstitiosa.  She had a great influence over her son,
and was offended by the disregard of some of her Christian
servants.

     Note: This disregard consisted in the Christians fasting and
praying instead of participating in the banquets and sacrifices
which she celebrated with the Pagans.  Dapibus sacrificabat poene
quotidie ac vicariis suis epulis exhibebat.  Christiani
abstinebant, et illa cum gentibus epulante, jejuniis hi et
oratiomibus insisteban; hine concepit odium Lact de Hist. Pers.
c. 11. - G.]

     The pleasure of the emperors was at length signified to the
Christians, who, during the course of this melancholy winter, had
expected, with anxiety, the result of so many secret
consultations.  The twenty-third of February, which coincided
with the Roman festival of the Terminalia, ^149 was appointed
(whether from accident or design) to set bounds to the progress
of Christianity.  At the earliest dawn of day, the Praetorian
praefect, ^150 accompanied by several generals, tribunes, and
officers of the revenue, repaired to the principal church of
Nicomedia, which was situated on an eminence in the most populous
and beautiful part of the city.  The doors were instantly broke
open; they rushed into the sanctuary; and as they searched in
vain for some visible object of worship, they were obliged to
content themselves with committing to the flames the volumes of
the holy Scripture. The ministers of Diocletian were followed by
a numerous body of guards and pioneers, who marched in order of
battle, and were provided with all the instruments used in the
destruction of fortified cities.  By their incessant labor, a
sacred edifice, which towered above the Imperial palace, and had
long excited the indignation and envy of the Gentiles, was in a
few hours levelled with the ground. ^151

[Footnote 149: The worship and festival of the god Terminus are
elegantly illustrated by M. de Boze, Mem. de l'Academie des
Inscriptions, tom. i. p. 50.]

[Footnote 150: In our only MS. of Lactantius, we read profectus;
but reason, and the authority of all the critics, allow us,
instead of that word, which destroys the sense of the passage, to
substitute proefectus.] 
[Footnote 151: Lactantius, de M. P. c. 12, gives a very lively
picture of the destruction of the church.]

     The next day the general edict of persecution was published;
^152 and though Diocletian, still averse to the effusion of
blood, had moderated the fury of Galerius, who proposed, that
every one refusing to offer sacrifice should immediately be burnt
alive, the penalties inflicted on the obstinacy of the Christians
might be deemed sufficiently rigorous and effectual.  It was
enacted, that their churches, in all the provinces of the empire,
should be demolished to their foundations; and the punishment of
death was denounced against all who should presume to hold any
secret assemblies for the purpose of religious worship.  The
philosophers, who now assumed the unworthy office of directing
the blind zeal of persecution, had diligently studied the nature
and genius of the Christian religion; and as they were not
ignorant that the speculative doctrines of the faith were
supposed to be contained in the writings of the prophets, of the
evangelists, and of the apostles, they most probably suggested
the order, that the bishops and presbyters should deliver all
their sacred books into the hands of the magistrates; who were
commanded, under the severest penalties, to burn them in a public
and solemn manner.  By the same edict, the property of the church
was at once confiscated; and the several parts of which it might
consist were either sold to the highest bidder, united to the
Imperial domain, bestowed on the cities and corporations, or
granted to the solicitations of rapacious courtiers.  After
taking such effectual measures to abolish the worship, and to
dissolve the government of the Christians, it was thought
necessary to subject to the most intolerable hardships the
condition of those perverse individuals who should still reject
the religion of nature, of Rome, and of their ancestors.  Persons
of a liberal birth were declared incapable of holding any honors
or employments; slaves were forever deprived of the hopes of
freedom, and the whole body of the people were put out of the
protection of the law.  The judges were authorized to hear and to
determine every action that was brought against a Christian.  But
the Christians were not permitted to complain of any injury which
they themselves had suffered; and thus those unfortunate
sectaries were exposed to the severity, while they were excluded
from the benefits, of public justice.  This new species of
martyrdom, so painful and lingering, so obscure and ignominious,
was, perhaps, the most proper to weary the constancy of the
faithful: nor can it be doubted that the passions and interest of
mankind were disposed on this occasion to second the designs of
the emperors.  But the policy of a well-ordered government must
sometimes have interposed in behalf of the oppressed Christians;
^* nor was it possible for the Roman princes entirely to remove
the apprehension of punishment, or to connive at every act of
fraud and violence, without exposing their own authority and the
rest of their subjects to the most alarming dangers. ^153 
[Footnote 152: Mosheim, (p. 922 - 926,) from man scattered
passages of Lactantius and Eusebius, has collected a very just
and accurate notion of this edict though he sometimes deviates
into conjecture and refinement.] 
[Footnote *: This wants proof.  The edict of Diocletian was
executed in all its right during the rest of his reign.  Euseb.
Hist. Eccl. l viii. c. 13. - G.]

[Footnote 153: Many ages afterwards, Edward J. practised, with
great success, the same mode of persecution against the clergy of
England.  See Hume's History of England, vol. ii. p. 300, last
4to edition.]

     This edict was scarcely exhibited to the public view, in the
most conspicuous place of Nicomedia, before it was torn down by
the hands of a Christian, who expressed at the same time, by the
bitterest invectives, his contempt as well as abhorrence for such
impious and tyrannical governors. His offence, according to the
mildest laws, amounted to treason, and deserved death.  And if it
be true that he was a person of rank and education, those
circumstances could serve only to aggravate his guilt.  He was
burnt, or rather roasted, by a slow fire; and his executioners,
zealous to revenge the personal insult which had been offered to
the emperors, exhausted every refinement of cruelty, without
being able to subdue his patience, or to alter the steady and
insulting smile which in his dying agonies he still preserved in
his countenance.  The Christians, though they confessed that his
conduct had not been strictly conformable to the laws of
prudence, admired the divine fervor of his zeal; and the
excessive commendations which they lavished on the memory of
their hero and martyr, contributed to fix a deep impression of
terror and hatred in the mind of Diocletian. ^154

[Footnote 154: Lactantius only calls him quidam, et si non recte,
magno tamer animo, &c., c. 12. Eusebius (l. viii. c. 5) adorns
him with secular honora Neither have condescended to mention his
name; but the Greeks celebrate his memory under that of John. 
See Tillemont, Memones Ecclesiastiques, tom. v. part ii. p. 320.]

     His fears were soon alarmed by the view of a danger from
which he very narrowly escaped.  Within fifteen days the palace
of Nicomedia, and even the bed-chamber of Diocletian, were twice
in flames; and though both times they were extinguished without
any material damage, the singular repetition of the fire was
justly considered as an evident proof that it had not been the
effect of chance or negligence.  The suspicion naturally fell on
the Christians; and it was suggested, with some degree of
probability, that those desperate fanatics, provoked by their
present sufferings, and apprehensive of impending calamities, had
entered into a conspiracy with their faithful brethren, the
eunuchs of the palace, against the lives of two emperors, whom
they detested as the irreconcilable enemies of the church of God.

Jealousy and resentment prevailed in every breast, but especially
in that of Diocletian.  A great number of persons, distinguished
either by the offices which they had filled, or by the favor
which they had enjoyed, were thrown into prison.  Every mode of
torture was put in practice, and the court, as well as city, was
polluted with many bloody executions. ^155 But as it was found
impossible to extort any discovery of this mysterious
transaction, it seems incumbent on us either to presume the
innocence, or to admire the resolution, of the sufferers.  A few
days afterwards Galerius hastily withdrew himself from Nicomedia,
declaring, that if he delayed his departure from that devoted
palace, he should fall a sacrifice to the rage of the Christians.

The ecclesiastical historians, from whom alone we derive a
partial and imperfect knowledge of this persecution, are at a
loss how to account for the fears and dangers of the emperors. 
Two of these writers, a prince and a rhetorician, were eye-
witnesses of the fire of Nicomedia.  The one ascribes it to
lightning, and the divine wrath; the other affirms, that it was
kindled by the malice of Galerius himself. ^156 
[Footnote 155: Lactantius de M. P. c. 13, 14.  Potentissimi
quondam Eunuchi necati, per quos Palatium et ipse constabat. 
Eusebius (l. viii. c. 6) mentions the cruel executions of the
eunuchs, Gorgonius and Dorotheus, and of Anthimius, bishop of
Nicomedia; and both those writers describe, in a vague but
tragical manner, the horrid scenes which were acted even in the
Imperial presence.]

[Footnote 156: See Lactantius, Eusebius, and Constantine, ad
Coetum Sanctorum, c. xxv.  Eusebius confesses his ignorance of
the cause of this fire. 
     Note: As the history of these times affords us no example of
any attempts made by the Christians against their persecutors, we
have no reason, not the slightest probability, to attribute to
them the fire in the palace; and the authority of Constantine and
Lactantius remains to explain it.  M. de Tillemont has shown how
they can be reconciled.  Hist. des Empereurs, Vie de Diocletian,
xix. - G.  Had it been done by a Christian, it would probably
have been a fanatic, who would have avowed and gloried in it. 
Tillemont's supposition that the fire was first caused by
lightning, and fed and increased by the malice of Galerius, seems
singularly improbable. - M.] 
     As the edict against the Christians was designed for a
general law of the whole empire, and as Diocletian and Galerius,
though they might not wait for the consent, were assured of the
concurrence, of the Western princes, it would appear more
consonant to our ideas of policy, that the governors of all the
provinces should have received secret instructions to publish, on
one and the same day, this declaration of war within their
respective departments.  It was at least to be expected, that the
convenience of the public highways and established posts would
have enabled the emperors to transmit their orders with the
utmost despatch from the palace of Nicomedia to the extremities
of the Roman world; and that they would not have suffered fifty
days to elapse, before the edict was published in Syria, and near
four months before it was signified to the cities of Africa. ^157
This delay may perhaps be imputed to the cautious temper of
Diocletian, who had yielded a reluctant consent to the measures
of persecution, and who was desirous of trying the experiment
under his more immediate eye, before he gave way to the disorders
and discontent which it must inevitably occasion in the distant
provinces.  At first, indeed, the magistrates were restrained
from the effusion of blood; but the use of every other severity
was permitted, and even recommended to their zeal; nor could the
Christians, though they cheerfully resigned the ornaments of
their churches, resolve to interrupt their religious assemblies,
or to deliver their sacred books to the flames.  The pious
obstinacy of Felix, an African bishop, appears to have
embarrassed the subordinate ministers of the government.  The
curator of his city sent him in chains to the proconsul.  The
proconsul transmitted him to the Praetorian praefect of Italy;
and Felix, who disdained even to give an evasive answer, was at
length beheaded at Venusia, in Lucania, a place on which the
birth of Horace has conferred fame. ^158 This precedent, and
perhaps some Imperial rescript, which was issued in consequence
of it, appeared to authorize the governors of provinces, in
punishing with death the refusal of the Christians to deliver up
their sacred books.  There were undoubtedly many persons who
embraced this opportunity of obtaining the crown of martyrdom;
but there were likewise too many who purchased an ignominious
life, by discovering and betraying the holy Scripture into the
hands of infidels.  A great number even of bishops and presbyters
acquired, by this criminal compliance, the opprobrious epithet of
Traditors; and their offence was productive of much present
scandal and of much future discord in the African church. ^159

[Footnote 157: Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiast. tom. v. part i. p.
43.] 
[Footnote 158: See the Acta Sincera of Ruinart, p. 353; those of
Felix of Thibara, or Tibiur, appear much less corrupted than in
the other editions, which afford a lively specimen of legendary
license.]

[Footnote 159: See the first book of Optatus of Milevis against
the Donatiste, Paris, 1700, edit. Dupin.  He lived under the
reign of Valens.] 
     The copies as well as the versions of Scripture, were
already so multiplied in the empire, that the most severe
inquisition could no longer be attended with any fatal
consequences; and even the sacrifice of those volumes, which, in
every congregation, were preserved for public use, required the
consent of some treacherous and unworthy Christians.  But the
ruin of the churches was easily effected by the authority of the
government, and by the labor of the Pagans.  In some provinces,
however, the magistrates contented themselves with shutting up
the places of religious worship.  In others, they more literally
complied with the terms of the edict; and after taking away the
doors, the benches, and the pulpit, which they burnt as it were
in a funeral pile, they completely demolished the remainder of
the edifice. ^160 It is perhaps to this melancholy occasion that
we should apply a very remarkable story, which is related with so
many circumstances of variety and improbability, that it serves
rather to excite than to satisfy our curiosity. In a small town
in Phrygia, of whose names as well as situation we are left
ignorant, it should seem that the magistrates and the body of the
people had embraced the Christian faith; and as some resistance
might be apprehended to the execution of the edict, the governor
of the province was supported by a numerous detachment of
legionaries.  On their approach the citizens threw themselves
into the church, with the resolution either of defending by arms
that sacred edifice, or of perishing in its ruins.  They
indignantly rejected the notice and permission which was given
them to retire, till the soldiers, provoked by their obstinate
refusal, set fire to the building on all sides, and consumed, by
this extraordinary kind of martyrdom, a great number of
Phrygians, with their wives and children. ^161

[Footnote 160: The ancient monuments, published at the end of
Optatus, p. 261, &c. describe, in a very circumstantial manner,
the proceedings of the governors in the destruction of churches. 
They made a minute inventory of the plate, &c., which they found
in them.  That of the church of Cirta, in Numidia, is still
extant.  It consisted of two chalices of gold, and six of silver;
six urns, one kettle, seven lamps, all likewise of silver;
besides a large quantity of brass utensils, and wearing apparel.]

[Footnote 161: Lactantius (Institut. Divin. v. 11) confines the
calamity to the conventiculum, with its congregation.  Eusebius
(viii. 11) extends it to a whole city, and introduces something
very like a regular siege. His ancient Latin translator, Rufinus,
adds the important circumstance of the permission given to the
inhabitants of retiring from thence.  As Phrygia reached to the
confines of Isauria, it is possible that the restless temper of
those independent barbarians may have contributed to this
misfortune. 
     Note: Universum populum.  Lact. Inst. Div. v. 11. - G.] 
     Some slight disturbances, though they were suppressed almost
as soon as excited, in Syria and the frontiers of Armenia,
afforded the enemies of the church a very plausible occasion to
insinuate, that those troubles had been secretly fomented by the
intrigues of the bishops, who had already forgotten their
ostentatious professions of passive and unlimited obedience. ^162
The resentment, or the fears, of Diocletian, at length
transported him beyond the bounds of moderation, which he had
hitherto preserved, and he declared, in a series of cruel edicts,
^! his intention of abolishing the Christian name.  By the first
of these edicts, the governors of the provinces were directed to
apprehend all persons of the ecclesiastical order; and the
prisons, destined for the vilest criminals, were soon filled with
a multitude of bishops, presbyters, deacons, readers, and
exorcists.  By a second edict, the magistrates were commanded to
employ every method of severity, which might reclaim them from
their odious superstition, and oblige them to return to the
established worship of the gods.  This rigorous order was
extended, by a subsequent edict, to the whole body of Christians,
who were exposed to a violent and general persecution. ^163
Instead of those salutary restraints, which had required the
direct and solemn testimony of an accuser, it became the duty as
well as the interest of the Imperial officers to discover, to
pursue, and to torment the most obnoxious among the faithful. 
Heavy penalties were denounced against all who should presume to
save a prescribed sectary from the just indignation of the gods,
and of the emperors.  Yet, notwithstanding the severity of this
law, the virtuous courage of many of the Pagans, in concealing
their friends or relations, affords an honorable proof, that the
rage of superstition had not extinguished in their minds the
sentiments of nature and humanity. ^164

[Footnote 162: Eusebius, l. viii. c. 6.  M. de Valois (with some
probability) thinks that he has discovered the Syrian rebellion
in an oration of Libanius; and that it was a rash attempt of the
tribune Eugenius, who with only five hundred men seized Antioch,
and might perhaps allure the Christians by the promise of
religious toleration.  From Eusebius, (l. ix. c. 8,) as well as
from Moses of Chorene, (Hist. Armen. l. ii. 77, &c.,) it may be
inferred, that Christianity was already introduced into Armenia.]

[Footnote !: He had already passed them in his first edict.  It
does not appear that resentment or fear had any share in the new
persecutions: perhaps they originated in superstition, and a
specious apparent respect for its ministers.  The oracle of
Apollo, consulted by Diocletian, gave no answer; and said that
just men hindered it from speaking.  Constantine, who assisted at
the ceremony, affirms, with an oath, that when questioned about
these men, the high priest named the Christians.  "The Emperor
eagerly seized on this answer; and drew against the innocent a
sword, destined only to punish the guilty: he instantly issued
edicts, written, if I may use the expression, with a poniard; and
ordered the judges to employ all their skill to invent new modes
of punishment.  Euseb. Vit Constant. l. ii c 54." - G.]

[Footnote 163: See Mosheim, p. 938: the text of Eusebius very
plainly shows that the governors, whose powers were enlarged, not
restrained, by the new laws, could punish with death the most
obstinate Christians as an example to their brethren.]

[Footnote 164: Athanasius, p. 833, ap. Tillemont, Mem.
Ecclesiast. tom v part i. 90.]

Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
Constantine. 

Part VII.

     Diocletian had no sooner published his edicts against the
Christians, than, as if he had been desirous of committing to
other hands the work of persecution, he divested himself of the
Imperial purple.  The character and situation of his colleagues
and successors sometimes urged them to enforce and sometimes
inclined them to suspend, the execution of these rigorous laws;
nor can we acquire a just and distinct idea of this important
period of ecclesiastical history, unless we separately consider
the state of Christianity, in the different parts of the empire,
during the space of ten years, which elapsed between the first
edicts of Diocletian and the final peace of the church.

     The mild and humane temper of Constantius was averse to the
oppression of any part of his subjects.  The principal offices of
his palace were exercised by Christians.  He loved their persons,
esteemed their fidelity, and entertained not any dislike to their
religious principles.  But as long as Constantius remained in the
subordinate station of Caesar, it was not in his power openly to
reject the edicts of Diocletian, or to disobey the commands of
Maximian.  His authority contributed, however, to alleviate the
sufferings which he pitied and abhorred.  He consented with
reluctance to the ruin of the churches; but he ventured to
protect the Christians themselves from the fury of the populace,
and from the rigor of the laws. The provinces of Gaul (under
which we may probably include those of Britain) were indebted for
the singular tranquillity which they enjoyed, to the gentle
interposition of their sovereign. ^165 But Datianus, the
president or governor of Spain, actuated either by zeal or
policy, chose rather to execute the public edicts of the
emperors, than to understand the secret intentions of
Constantius; and it can scarcely be doubted, that his provincial
administration was stained with the blood of a few martyrs. ^166
The elevation of Constantius to the supreme and independent
dignity of Augustus, gave a free scope to the exercise of his
virtues, and the shortness of his reign did not prevent him from
establishing a system of toleration, of which he left the precept
and the example to his son Constantine.  His fortunate son, from
the first moment of his accession, declaring himself the
protector of the church, at length deserved the appellation of
the first emperor who publicly professed and established the
Christian religion.  The motives of his conversion, as they may
variously be deduced from benevolence, from policy, from
conviction, or from remorse, and the progress of the revolution,
which, under his powerful influence and that of his sons,
rendered Christianity the reigning religion of the Roman empire,
will form a very interesting and important chapter in the present
volume of this history.  At present it may be sufficient to
observe, that every victory of Constantine was productive of some
relief or benefit to the church. 
[Footnote 165: Eusebius, l. viii. c. 13.  Lactantius de M. P. c.
15. Dodwell (Dissertat. Cyprian. xi. 75) represents them as
inconsistent with each other. But the former evidently speaks of
Constantius in the station of Caesar, and the latter of the same
prince in the rank of Augustus.]

[Footnote 166: Datianus is mentioned, in Gruter's Inscriptions,
as having determined the limits between the territories of Pax
Julia, and those of Ebora, both cities in the southern part of
Lusitania.  If we recollect the neighborhood of those places to
Cape St. Vincent, we may suspect that the celebrated deacon and
martyr of that name had been inaccurately assigned by Prudentius,
&c., to Saragossa, or Valentia.  See the pompous history of his
sufferings, in the Memoires de Tillemont, tom. v. part ii. p.
58-85.  Some critics are of opinion, that the department of
Constantius, as Caesar, did not include Spain, which still
continued under the immediate jurisdiction of Maximian.]

     The provinces of Italy and Africa experienced a short but
violent persecution.  The rigorous edicts of Diocletian were
strictly and cheerfully executed by his associate Maximian, who
had long hated the Christians, and who delighted in acts of blood
and violence.  In the autumn of the first year of the
persecution, the two emperors met at Rome to celebrate their
triumph; several oppressive laws appear to have issued from their
secret consultations, and the diligence of the magistrates was
animated by the presence of their sovereigns., After Diocletian
had divested himself of the purple, Italy and Africa were
administered under the name of Severus, and were exposed, without
defence, to the implacable resentment of his master Galerius. 
Among the martyrs of Rome, Adauctus deserves the notice of
posterity.  He was of a noble family in Italy, and had raised
himself, through the successive honors of the palace, to the
important office of treasurer of the private Jemesnes. Adauctus
is the more remarkable for being the only person of rank and
distinction who appears to have suffered death, during the whole
course of this general persecution. ^167

[Footnote 167: Eusebius, l. viii. c. 11.  Gruter, Inscrip. p.
1171, No. 18. Rufinus has mistaken the office of Adauctus, as
well as the place of his martyrdom.

     Note: M. Guizot suggests the powerful cunuchs of the palace.
Dorotheus, Gorgonius, and Andrew, admitted by Gibbon himself to
have been put to death, p. 66.]

     The revolt of Maxentius immediately restored peace to the
churches of Italy and Africa; and the same tyrant who oppressed
every other class of his subjects, showed himself just, humane,
and even partial, towards the afflicted Christians.  He depended
on their gratitude and affection, and very naturally presumed,
that the injuries which they had suffered, and the dangers which
they still apprehended from his most inveterate enemy, would
secure the fidelity of a party already considerable by their
numbers and opulence. ^168 Even the conduct of Maxentius towards
the bishops of Rome and Carthage may be considered as the proof
of his toleration, since it is probable that the most orthodox
princes would adopt the same measures with regard to their
established clergy.  Marcellus, the former of these prelates, had
thrown the capital into confusion, by the severe penance which he
imposed on a great number of Christians, who, during the late
persecution, had renounced or dissembled their religion.  The
rage of faction broke out in frequent and violent seditions; the
blood of the faithful was shed by each other's hands, and the
exile of Marcellus, whose prudence seems to have been less
eminent than his zeal, was found to be the only measure capable
of restoring peace to the distracted church of Rome. ^169 The
behavior of Mensurius, bishop of Carthage, appears to have been
still more reprehensible.  A deacon of that city had published a
libel against the emperor.  The offender took refuge in the
episcopal palace; and though it was somewhat early to advance any
claims of ecclesiastical immunities, the bishop refused to
deliver him up to the officers of justice.  For this treasonable
resistance, Mensurius was summoned to court, and instead of
receiving a legal sentence of death or banishment, he was
permitted, after a short examination, to return to his diocese.
^170 Such was the happy condition of the Christian subjects of
Maxentius, that whenever they were desirous of procuring for
their own use any bodies of martyrs, they were obliged to
purchase them from the most distant provinces of the East.  A
story is related of Aglae, a Roman lady, descended from a
consular family, and possessed of so ample an estate, that it
required the management of seventy-three stewards.  Among these
Boniface was the favorite of his mistress; and as Aglae mixed
love with devotion, it is reported that he was admitted to share
her bed.  Her fortune enabled her to gratify the pious desire of
obtaining some sacred relics from the East. She intrusted
Boniface with a considerable sum of gold, and a large quantity of
aromatics; and her lover, attended by twelve horsemen and three
covered chariots, undertook a remote pilgrimage, as far as Tarsus
in Cilicia. ^171

[Footnote 168: Eusebius, l. viii. c. 14.  But as Maxentius was
vanquished by Constantine, it suited the purpose of Lactantius to
place his death among those of the persecutors.

     Note: M. Guizot directly contradicts this statement of
Gibbon, and appeals to Eusebius.  Maxentius, who assumed the
power in Italy, pretended at first to be a Christian, to gain the
favor of the Roman people; he ordered his ministers to cease to
persecute the Christians, affecting a hypocritical piety, in
order to appear more mild than his predecessors; but his actions
soon proved that he was very different from what they had at
first hoped." The actions of Maxentius were those of a cruel
tyrant,but not those of a persecutor: the Christians, like the
rest of his subjects, suffered from his vices, but they were not
oppressed as a sect.  Christian females were exposed to his
lusts, as well as to the brutal violence of his colleague
Maximian, but they were not selected as Christians. - M.]

[Footnote 169: The epitaph of Marcellus is to be found in Gruter,
Inscrip. p 1172, No. 3, and it contains all that we know of his
history. Marcellinus and Marcellus, whose names follow in the
list of popes, are supposed by many critics to be different
persons; but the learned Abbe de Longuerue was convinced that
they were one and the same.

     Veridicus rector lapsis quia crimina flere
     Praedixit miseris, fuit omnibus hostis amarus.
     Hinc furor, hinc odium; sequitur discordia, lites,
     Seditio, caedes; solvuntur foedera pacis.
     Crimen ob alterius, Christum qui in pace negavit
     Finibus expulsus patriae est feritate Tyranni.
     Haec breviter Damasus voluit comperta referre:
     Marcelli populus meritum cognoscere posset.

We may observe that Damasus was made Bishop of Rome, A. D. 366.] 
[Footnote 170: Optatus contr. Donatist. l. i. c. 17, 18.

     Note: The words of Optatus are, Profectus (Roman) causam
dixit; jussus con reverti Carthaginem; perhaps, in pleading his
cause, he exculpated himself, since he received an order to
return to Carthage. - G.] 
[Footnote 171: The Acts of the Passion of St. Boniface, which
abound in miracles and declamation, are published by Ruinart, (p.
283 - 291,) both in Greek and Latin, from the authority of very
ancient manuscripts. 
     Note: We are ignorant whether Aglae and Boniface were
Christians at the time of their unlawful connection.  See
Tillemont.  Mem, Eccles.  Note on the Persecution of Domitian,
tom. v. note 82.  M. de Tillemont proves also that the history is
doubtful. - G.

     Sir D. Dalrymple (Lord Hailes) calls the story of Aglae and
Boniface as of equal authority with our popular histories of
Whittington and Hickathrift. Christian Antiquities, ii. 64. - M.]

     The sanguinary temper of Galerius, the first and principal
author of the persecution, was formidable to those Christians
whom their misfortunes had placed within the limits of his
dominions; and it may fairly be presumed that many persons of a
middle rank, who were not confined by the chains either of wealth
or of poverty, very frequently deserted their native country, and
sought a refuge in the milder climate of the West. ^! As long as
he commanded only the armies and provinces of Illyricum, he could
with difficulty either find or make a considerable number of
martyrs, in a warlike country, which had entertained the
missionaries of the gospel with more coldness and reluctance than
any other part of the empire. ^172 But when Galerius had obtained
the supreme power, and the government of the East, he indulged in
their fullest extent his zeal and cruelty, not only in the
provinces of Thrace and Asia, which acknowledged his immediate
jurisdiction, but in those of Syria, Palestine, and Egypt, where
Maximin gratified his own inclination, by yielding a rigorous
obedience to the stern commands of his benefactor. ^173 The
frequent disappointments of his ambitious views, the experience
of six years of persecution, and the salutary reflections which a
lingering and painful distemper suggested to the mind of
Galerius, at length convinced him that the most violent efforts
of despotism are insufficient to extirpate a whole people, or to
subdue their religious prejudices.  Desirous of repairing the
mischief that he had occasioned, he published in his own name,
and in those of Licinius and Constantine, a general edict, which,
after a pompous recital of the Imperial titles, proceeded in the
following manner: -

[Footnote !: A little after this, Christianity was propagated to
the north of the Roman provinces, among the tribes of Germany: a
multitude of Christians, forced by the persecutions of the
Emperors to take refuge among the Barbarians, were received with
kindness.  Euseb. de Vit. Constant. ii. 53. Semler Select. cap.
H. E. p. 115.  The Goths owed their first knowledge of
Christianity to a young girl, a prisoner of war; she continued in
the midst of them her exercises of piety; she fasted, prayed, and
praised God day and night.  When she was asked what good would
come of so much painful trouble she answered, "It is thus that
Christ, the Son of God, is to be honored." Sozomen, ii. c. 6. -
G.]

[Footnote 172: During the four first centuries, there exist few
traces of either bishops or bishoprics in the western Illyricum. 
It has been thought probable that the primate of Milan extended
his jurisdiction over Sirmium, the capital of that great
province.  See the Geographia Sacra of Charles de St. Paul, p.
68-76, with the observations of Lucas Holstenius.] 
[Footnote 173: The viiith book of Eusebius, as well as the
supplement concerning the martyrs of Palestine, principally
relate to the persecution of Galerius and Maximin.  The general
lamentations with which Lactantius opens the vth book of his
Divine Institutions allude to their cruelty.] 
     "Among the important cares which have occupied our mind for
the utility and preservation of the empire, it was our intention
to correct and reestablish all things according to the ancient
laws and public discipline of the Romans.  We were particularly
desirous of reclaiming into the way of reason and nature, the
deluded Christians who had renounced the religion and ceremonies
instituted by their fathers; and presumptuously despising the
practice of antiquity, had invented extravagant laws and
opinions, according to the dictates of their fancy, and had
collected a various society from the different provinces of our
empire.  The edicts, which we have published to enforce the
worship of the gods, having exposed many of the Christians to
danger and distress, many having suffered death, and many more,
who still persist in their impious folly, being left destitute of
any public exercise of religion, we are disposed to extend to
those unhappy men the effects of our wonted clemency.  We permit
them therefore freely to profess their private opinions, and to
assemble in their conventicles without fear or molestation,
provided always that they preserve a due respect to the
established laws and government.  By another rescript we shall
signify our intentions to the judges and magistrates; and we hope
that our indulgence will engage the Christians to offer up their
prayers to the Deity whom they adore, for our safety and
prosperity for their own, and for that of the republic." ^174 It
is not usually in the language of edicts and manifestos that we
should search for the real character or the secret motives of
princes; but as these were the words of a dying emperor, his
situation, perhaps, may be admitted as a pledge of his sincerity.

[Footnote 174: Eusebius (l. viii. c. 17) has given us a Greek
version, and Lactantius (de M. P. c. 34) the Latin original, of
this memorable edict. Neither of these writers seems to recollect
how directly it contradicts whatever they have just affirmed of
the remorse and repentance of Galerius. 
     Note: But Gibbon has answered this by his just observation,
that it is not in the language of edicts and manifestos that we
should search * * for the secre motives of princes. - M.]

     When Galerius subscribed this edict of toleration, he was
well assured that Licinius would readily comply with the
inclinations of his friend and benefactor, and that any measures
in favor of the Christians would obtain the approbation of
Constantine.  But the emperor would not venture to insert in the
preamble the name of Maximin, whose consent was of the greatest
importance, and who succeeded a few days afterwards to the
provinces of Asia. In the first six months, however, of his new
reign, Maximin affected to adopt the prudent counsels of his
predecessor; and though he never condescended to secure the
tranquillity of the church by a public edict, Sabinus, his
Praetorian praefect, addressed a circular letter to all the
governors and magistrates of the provinces, expatiating on the
Imperial clemency, acknowledging the invincible obstinacy of the
Christians, and directing the officers of justice to cease their
ineffectual prosecutions, and to connive at the secret assemblies
of those enthusiasts.  In consequence of these orders, great
numbers of Christians were released from prison, or delivered
from the mines.  The confessors, singing hymns of triumph,
returned into their own countries; and those who had yielded to
the violence of the tempest, solicited with tears of repentance
their readmission into the bosom of the church. ^175 
[Footnote 175: Eusebius, l. ix. c. 1.  He inserts the epistle of
the praefect.]

     But this treacherous calm was of short duration; nor could
the Christians of the East place any confidence in the character
of their sovereign.  Cruelty and superstition were the ruling
passions of the soul of Maximin.  The former suggested the means,
the latter pointed out the objects of persecution.  The emperor
was devoted to the worship of the gods, to the study of magic,
and to the belief of oracles.  The prophets or philosophers, whom
he revered as the favorites of Heaven, were frequently raised to
the government of provinces, and admitted into his most secret
councils.  They easily convinced him that the Christians had been
indebted for their victories to their regular discipline, and
that the weakness of polytheism had principally flowed from a
want of union and subordination among the ministers of religion. 
A system of government was therefore instituted, which was
evidently copied from the policy of the church.  In all the great
cities of the empire, the temples were repaired and beautified by
the order of Maximin, and the officiating priests of the various
deities were subjected to the authority of a superior pontiff
destined to oppose the bishop, and to promote the cause of
paganism.  These pontiffs acknowledged, in their turn, the
supreme jurisdiction of the metropolitans or high priests of the
province, who acted as the immediate vicegerents of the emperor
himself.  A white robe was the ensign of their dignity; and these
new prelates were carefully selected from the most noble and
opulent families.  By the influence of the magistrates, and of
the sacerdotal order, a great number of dutiful addresses were
obtained, particularly from the cities of Nicomedia, Antioch, and
Tyre, which artfully represented the well-known intentions of the
court as the general sense of the people; solicited the emperor
to consult the laws of justice rather than the dictates of his
clemency; expressed their abhorrence of the Christians, and
humbly prayed that those impious sectaries might at least be
excluded from the limits of their respective territories.  The
answer of Maximin to the address which he obtained from the
citizens of Tyre is still extant.  He praises their zeal and
devotion in terms of the highest satisfaction, descants on the
obstinate impiety of the Christians, and betrays, by the
readiness with which he consents to their banishment, that he
considered himself as receiving, rather than as conferring, an
obligation.  The priests as well as the magistrates were
empowered to enforce the execution of his edicts, which were
engraved on tables of brass; and though it was recommended to
them to avoid the effusion of blood, the most cruel and
ignominious punishments were inflicted on the refractory
Christians. ^176

[Footnote 176: See Eusebius, l. viii. c. 14, l. ix. c. 2 - 8. 
Lactantius de M. P. c. 36.  These writers agree in representing
the arts of Maximin; but the former relates the execution of
several martyrs, while the latter expressly affirms, occidi
servos Dei vetuit.

     Note: It is easy to reconcile them; it is sufficient to
quote the entire text of Lactantius: Nam cum clementiam specie
tenus profiteretur, occidi servos Dei vetuit, debilitari jussit. 
Itaque confessoribus effodiebantur oculi, amputabantur manus,
nares vel auriculae desecabantur. Haec ille moliens Constantini
litteris deterretur. Dissimulavit ergo, et tamen, si quis
inciderit.  mari occulte mergebatur. This detail of torments
inflicted on the Christians easily reconciles Lactantius and
Eusebius.  Those who died in consequence of their tortures, those
who were plunged into the sea, might well pass for martyrs.  The
mutilation of the words of Lactantius has alone given rise to the
apparent contradiction. - G.

     Eusebius. ch. vi., relates the public martyrdom of the aged
bishop of Emesa, with two others, who were thrown to the wild
beasts, the beheading of Peter, bishop of Alexandria, with
several others, and the death of Lucian, presbyter of Antioch,
who was carried to Numidia, and put to death in prison. The
contradiction is direct and undeniable, for although Eusebius may
have misplaced the former martyrdoms, it may be doubted whether
the authority of Maximin extended to Nicomedia till after the
death of Galerius.  The last edict of toleration issued by
Maximin and published by Eusebius himself, Eccl. Hist. ix. 9. 
confirms the statement of Lactantius. - M.]

     The Asiatic Christians had every thing to dread from the
severity of a bigoted monarch who prepared his measures of
violence with such deliberate policy.  But a few months had
scarcely elapsed before the edicts published by the two Western
emperors obliged Maximin to suspend the prosecution of his
designs: the civil war which he so rashly undertook against
Licinius employed all his attention; and the defeat and death of
Maximin soon delivered the church from the last and most
implacable of her enemies. ^177 
[Footnote 177: A few days before his death, he published a very
ample edict of toleration, in which he imputes all the severities
which the Christians suffered to the judges and governors, who
had misunderstood his intentions.See the edict of Eusebius, l.
ix. c. 10.]

     In this general view of the persecution, which was first
authorized by the edicts of Diocletian, I have purposely
refrained from describing the particular sufferings and deaths of
the Christian martyrs.  It would have been an easy task, from the
history of Eusebius, from the declamations of Lactantius, and
from the most ancient acts, to collect a long series of horrid
and disgustful pictures, and to fill many pages with racks and
scourges, with iron hooks and red-hot beds, and with all the
variety of tortures which fire and steel, savage beasts, and more
savage executioners, could inflict upon the human body.  These
melancholy scenes might be enlivened by a crowd of visions and
miracles destined either to delay the death, to celebrate the
triumph, or to discover the relics of those canonized saints who
suffered for the name of Christ.  But I cannot determine what I
ought to transcribe, till I am satisfied how much I ought to
believe.  The gravest of the ecclesiastical historians, Eusebius
himself, indirectly confesses, that he has related whatever might
redound to the glory, and that he has suppressed all that could
tend to the disgrace, of religion. ^178 Such an acknowledgment
will naturally excite a suspicion that a writer who has so openly
violated one of the fundamental laws of history, has not paid a
very strict regard to the observance of the other; and the
suspicion will derive additional credit from the character of
Eusebius, ^* which was less tinctured with credulity, and more
practised in the arts of courts, than that of almost any of his
contemporaries.  On some particular occasions, when the
magistrates were exasperated by some personal motives of interest
or resentment, the rules of prudence, and perhaps of decency, to
overturn the altars, to pour out imprecations against the
emperors, or to strike the judge as he sat on his tribunal, it
may be presumed, that every mode of torture which cruelty could
invent, or constancy could endure, was exhausted on those devoted
victims. ^179 Two circumstances, however, have been unwarily
mentioned, which insinuate that the general treatment of the
Christians, who had been apprehended by the officers of justice,
was less intolerable than it is usually imagined to have been. 
1. The confessors who were condemned to work in the mines were
permitted by the humanity or the negligence of their keepers to
build chapels, and freely to profess their religion in the midst
of those dreary habitations. ^180 2. The bishops were obliged to
check and to censure the forward zeal of the Christians, who
voluntarily threw themselves into the hands of the magistrates. 
Some of these were persons oppressed by poverty and debts, who
blindly sought to terminate a miserable existence by a glorious
death.  Others were allured by the hope that a short confinement
would expiate the sins of a whole life; and others again were
actuated by the less honorable motive of deriving a plentiful
subsistence, and perhaps a considerable profit, from the alms
which the charity of the faithful bestowed on the prisoners. ^181
After the church had triumphed over all her enemies, the interest
as well as vanity of the captives prompted them to magnify the
merit of their respective sufferings.  A convenient distance of
time or place gave an ample scope to the progress of fiction; and
the frequent instances which might be alleged of holy martyrs,
whose wounds had been instantly healed, whose strength had been
renewed, and whose lost members had miraculously been restored,
were extremely convenient for the purpose of removing every
difficulty, and of silencing every objection. The most
extravagant legends, as they conduced to the honor of the church,
were applauded by the credulous multitude, countenanced by the
power of the clergy, and attested by the suspicious evidence of
ecclesiastical history.

[Footnote 178: Such is the fair deduction from two remarkable
passages in Eusebius, l. viii. c. 2, and de Martyr.  Palestin. c.
12.  The prudence of the historian has exposed his own character
to censure and suspicion.  It was well known that he himself had
been thrown into prison; and it was suggested that he had
purchased his deliverance by some dishonorable compliance.  The
reproach was urged in his lifetime, and even in his presence, at
the council of Tyre.  See Tillemont, Memoires Ecclesiastiques,
tom. viii. part i. p. 67.] 
[Footnote *: Historical criticism does not consist in rejecting
indiscriminately all the facts which do not agree with a
particular system, as Gibbon does in this chapter, in which,
except at the last extremity, he will not consent to believe a
martyrdom.  Authorities are to be weighed, not excluded from
examination.  Now, the Pagan historians justify in many places
the detail which have been transmitted to us by the historians of
the church, concerning the tortures endured by the Christians. 
Celsus reproaches the Christians with holding their assemblies in
secret, on account of the fear inspired by their sufferings, "for
when you are arrested," he says, "you are dragged to punishment:
and, before you are put to death, you have to suffer all kinds of
tortures." Origen cont. Cels. l. i. ii. vi. viii. passing.
Libanius, the panegyrist of Julian, says, while speaking of the
Christians. 
     Those who followed a corrupt religion were in continual
apprehensions; they feared lest Julian should invent tortures
still more refined than those to which they had been exposed
before, as mutilation, burning alive, &c.; for the emperors had
inflicted upon them all these barbarities." Lib. Parent in
Julian. ap. Fab. Bib. Graec. No. 9, No. 58, p. 283 - G.] 
[Footnote *: This sentence of Gibbon has given rise to several
learned dissertation: Moller, de Fide Eusebii Caesar, &c.,
Havniae, 1813.  Danzius, de Eusebio Caes. Hist. Eccl.  Scriptore,
ejusque tide historica recte aestimanda, &c., Jenae, 1815. 
Kestner Commentatio de Eusebii Hist. Eccles. conditoris
auctoritate et fide, &c.  See also Reuterdahl, de Fontibus
Historiae Eccles. Eusebianae, Lond. Goth., 1826.  Gibbon's
inference may appear stronger than the text will warrant, yet it
is difficult, after reading the passages, to dismiss all
suspicion of partiality from the mind. - M.]

[Footnote 179: The ancient, and perhaps authentic, account of the
sufferings of Tarachus and his companions, (Acta Sincera Ruinart,
p. 419 - 448,) is filled with strong expressions of resentment
and contempt, which could not fail of irritating the magistrate. 
The behavior of Aedesius to Hierocles, praefect of Egypt, was
still more extraordinary. Euseb. de Martyr. Palestin. c. 5.

     Note: M. Guizot states, that the acts of Tarachus and his
companion contain nothing that appears dictated by violent
feelings, (sentiment outre.) Nothing can be more painful than the
constant attempt of Gibbon throughout this discussion, to find
some flaw in the virtue and heroism of the martyrs, some
extenuation for the cruelty of the persecutors.  But truth must
not be sacrificed even to well-grounded moral indignation. 
Though the language of these martyrs is in great part that of
calm de fiance, of noble firmness, yet there are many expressions
which betray "resentment and contempt." "Children of Satan,
worshippers of Devils," is their common appellation of the
heathen. One of them calls the judge another, one curses, and
declares that he will curse the Emperors, as pestilential and
bloodthirsty tyrants, whom God will soon visit in his wrath.  On
the other hand, though at first they speak the milder language of
persuasion, the cold barbarity of the judges and officers might
surely have called forth one sentence of abhorrence from Gibbon. 
On the first unsatisfactory answer, "Break his jaw," is the order
of the judge.  They direct and witness the most excruciating
tortures; the people, as M. Guizot observers, were so much
revolted by the cruelty of Maximus that when the martyrs appeared
in the amphitheatre, fear seized on all hearts, and general
murmurs against the unjust judge rank through the assembly.  It
is singular, at least, that Gibbon should have quoted "as
probably authentic," acts so much embellished with miracle as
these of Tarachus are, particularly towards the end. - M.

     Note: Scarcely were the authorities informed of this, than
the president of the province, a man, says Eusebius, harsh and
cruel, banished the confessors, some to Cyprus, others to
different parts of Palestine, and ordered them to be tormented by
being set to the most painful labors.  Four of them, whom he
required to abjure their faith and refused, were burnt alive.
Euseb. de Mart. Palest. c. xiii. - G.  Two of these were bishops;
a fifth, Silvanus, bishop of Gaza, was the last martyr; another,
named John was blinded, but used to officiate, and recite from
memory long passages of the sacred writings - M.]

[Footnote 180: Euseb. de Martyr. Palestin. c. 13.]

[Footnote 181: Augustin. Collat. Carthagin. Dei, iii. c. 13, ap.
Tillanant, Memoires Ecclesiastiques, tom. v. part i. p. 46.  The
controversy with the Donatists, has reflected some, though
perhaps a partial, light on the history of the African church.]

Chapter XVI: Conduct Towards The Christians, From Nero To
Constantine. 

Part VIII.

     The vague descriptions of exile and imprisonment, of pain
and torture, are so easily exaggerated or softened by the pencil
of an artful orator, ^* that we are naturally induced to inquire
into a fact of a more distinct and stubborn kind; the number of
persons who suffered death in consequence of the edicts published
by Diocletian, his associates, and his successors. The recent
legendaries record whole armies and cities, which were at once
swept away by the undistinguishing rage of persecution.  The more
ancient writers content themselves with pouring out a liberal
effusion of loose and tragical invectives, without condescending
to ascertain the precise number of those persons who were
permitted to seal with their blood their belief of the gospel. 
From the history of Eusebius, it may, however, be collected, that
only nine bishops were punished with death; and we are assured,
by his particular enumeration of the martyrs of Palestine, that
no more than ninety-two Christians were entitled to that
honorable appellation. ^182 ^! As we are unacquainted with the
degree of episcopal zeal and courage which prevailed at that
time, it is not in our power to draw any useful inferences from
the former of these facts: but the latter may serve to justify a
very important and probable conclusion. According to the
distribution of Roman provinces, Palestine may be considered as
the sixteenth part of the Eastern empire: ^183 and since there
were some governors, who from a real or affected clemency had
preserved their hands unstained with the blood of the faithful,
^184 it is reasonable to believe, that the country which had
given birth to Christianity, produced at least the sixteenth part
of the martyrs who suffered death within the dominions of
Galerius and Maximin; the whole might consequently amount to
about fifteen hundred, a number which, if it is equally divided
between the ten years of the persecution, will allow an annual
consumption of one hundred and fifty martyrs.  Allotting the same
proportion to the provinces of Italy, Africa, and perhaps Spain,
where, at the end of two or three years, the rigor of the penal
laws was either suspended or abolished, the multitude of
Christians in the Roman empire, on whom a capital punishment was
inflicted by a judicia, sentence, will be reduced to somewhat
less than two thousand persons.  Since it cannot be doubted that
the Christians were more numerous, and their enemies more
exasperated, in the time of Diocletian, than they had ever been
in any former persecution, this probable and moderate computation
may teach us to estimate the number of primitive saints and
martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the important purpose of
introducing Christianity into the world.

[Footnote *: Perhaps there never was an instance of an author
committing so deliberately the fault which he reprobates so
strongly in others.  What is the dexterous management of the more
inartificial historians of Christianity, in exaggerating the
numbers of the martyrs, compared to the unfair address with which
Gibbon here quietly dismisses from the account all the horrible
and excruciating tortures which fell short of death?  The reader
may refer to the xiith chapter (book viii.) of Eusebius for the
description and for the scenes of these tortures. - M.]

[Footnote 182: Eusebius de Martyr. Palestin. c. 13.  He closes
his narration by assuring us that these were the martyrdoms
inflicted in Palestine, during the whole course of the
persecution.  The 9th chapter of his viiith book, which relates
to the province of Thebais in Egypt, may seem to contradict our
moderate computation; but it will only lead us to admire the
artful management of the historian.  Choosing for the scene of
the most exquisite cruelty the most remote and sequestered
country of the Roman empire, he relates that in Thebais from ten
to one hundred persons had frequently suffered martyrdom in the
same day.  But when he proceeds to mention his own journey into
Egypt, his language insensibly becomes more cautious and
moderate.  Instead of a large, but definite number, he speaks of
many Christians, and most artfully selects two ambiguous words,
which may signify either what he had seen, or what he had heard;
either the expectation, or the execution of the punishment. 
Having thus provided a secure evasion, he commits the equivocal
passage to his readers and translators; justly conceiving that
their piety would induce them to prefer the most favorable sense.

There was perhaps some malice in the remark of Theodorus
Metochita, that all who, like Eusebius, had been conversant with
the Egyptians, delighted in an obscure and intricate style. (See
Valesius ad loc.)

[Footnote !: This calculation is made from the martyrs, of whom
Eusebius speaks by name; but he recognizes a much greater number.

Thus the ninth and tenth chapters of his work are entitled, "Of
Antoninus, Zebinus, Germanus, and other martyrs; of Peter the
monk.  of Asclepius the Maroionite, and other martyrs." [Are
these vague contents of chapters very good authority? - M.]
Speaking of those who suffered under Diocletian, he says, "I will
only relate the death of one of these, from which, the reader may
divine what befell the rest." Hist. Eccl. viii. 6.  [This relates
only to the martyrs in the royal household. - M.] Dodwell had
made, before Gibbon, this calculation and these objections; but
Ruinart (Act. Mart. Pref p. 27, et seq.) has answered him in a
peremptory manner: Nobis constat Eusebium in historia infinitos
passim martyres admisisse.  quamvis revera paucorum nomina
recensuerit.  Nec alium Eusebii interpretem quam ipsummet
Eusebium proferimus, qui (l. iii. c. 33) ait sub Trajano
plurimosa ex fidelibus martyrii certamen subiisse (l. v. init.)
sub Antonino et Vero innumerabiles prope martyres per universum
orbem enituisse affirmat.  (L. vi. c. 1.) Severum persecutionem
concitasse refert, in qua per omnes ubique locorum Ecclesias, ab
athletis pro pietate certantibus, illustria confecta fuerunt
martyria.  Sic de Decii, sic de Valeriani, persecutionibus
loquitur, quae an Dodwelli faveant conjectionibus judicet aequus
lector. Even in the persecutions which Gibbon has represented as
much more mild than that of Diocletian, the number of martyrs
appears much greater than that to which he limits the martyrs of
the latter: and this number is attested by incontestable
monuments.  I will quote but one example. We find among the
letters of St. Cyprian one from Lucianus to Celerinus, written
from the depth of a prison, in which Lucianus names seventeen of
his brethren dead, some in the quarries, some in the midst of
tortures some of starvation in prison. Jussi sumus (he proceeds)
secundum prae ceptum imperatoris, fame et siti necari, et reclusi
sumus in duabus cellis, ta ut nos afficerent fame et siti et
ignis vapore. - G.]

[Footnote 183: When Palestine was divided into three, the
praefecture of the East contained forty-eight provinces.  As the
ancient distinctions of nations were long since abolished, the
Romans distributed the provinces according to a general
proportion of their extent and opulence.]

[Footnote 184: Ut gloriari possint nullam se innocentium
poremisse, nam et ipse audivi aloquos gloriantes, quia
administratio sua, in hac paris merit incruenta.  Lactant.
Institur. Divin v. 11.]

     We shall conclude this chapter by a melancholy truth, which
obtrudes itself on the reluctant mind; that even admitting,
without hesitation or inquiry, all that history has recorded, or
devotion has feigned, on the subject of martyrdoms, it must still
be acknowledged, that the Christians, in the course of their
intestine dissensions, have inflicted far greater severities on
each other, than they had experienced from the zeal of infidels.
During the ages of ignorance which followed the subversion of the
Roman empire in the West, the bishops of the Imperial city
extended their dominion over the laity as well as clergy of the
Latin church.  The fabric of superstition which they had erected,
and which might long have defied the feeble efforts of reason,
was at length assaulted by a crowd of daring fanatics, who from
the twelfth to the sixteenth century assumed the popular
character of reformers. The church of Rome defended by violence
the empire which she had acquired by fraud; a system of peace and
benevolence was soon disgraced by proscriptions, war, massacres,
and the institution of the holy office.  And as the reformers
were animated by the love of civil as well as of religious
freedom, the Catholic princes connected their own interest with
that of the clergy, and enforced by fire and the sword the
terrors of spiritual censures.  In the Netherlands alone, more
than one hundred thousand of the subjects of Charles V. are said
to have suffered by the hand of the executioner; and this
extraordinary number is attested by Grotius, ^185 a man of genius
and learning, who preserved his moderation amidst the fury of
contending sects, and who composed the annals of his own age and
country, at a time when the invention of printing had facilitated
the means of intelligence, and increased the danger of detection.

If we are obliged to submit our belief to the authority of
Grotius, it must be allowed, that the number of Protestants, who
were executed in a single province and a single reign, far
exceeded that of the primitive martyrs in the space of three
centuries, and of the Roman empire. But if the improbability of
the fact itself should prevail over the weight of evidence; if
Grotius should be convicted of exaggerating the merit and
sufferings of the Reformers; ^186 we shall be naturally led to
inquire what confidence can be placed in the doubtful and
imperfect monuments of ancient credulity; what degree of credit
can be assigned to a courtly bishop, and a passionate declaimer,
^* who, under the protection of Constantine, enjoyed the
exclusive privilege of recording the persecutions inflicted on
the Christians by the vanquished rivals or disregarded
predecessors of their gracious sovereign.

[Footnote 185: Grot. Annal. de Rebus Belgicis, l. i. p. 12, edit.
fol.] 
[Footnote 186: Fra Paola (Istoria del Concilio Tridentino, l.
iii.) reduces the number of the Belgic martyrs to 50,000.  In
learning and moderation Fra Paola was not inferior to Grotius. 
The priority of time gives some advantage to the evidence of the
former, which he loses, on the other hand, by the distance of
Venice from the Netherlands.]

[Footnote *: Eusebius and the author of the Treatise de Mortibus
Persecutorum. It is deeply to be regretted that the history of
this period rest so much on the loose and, it must be admitted,
by no means scrupulous authority of Eusebius.  Ecclesiastical
history is a solemn and melancholy lesson that the best, even the
most sacred, cause will eventually the least departure from
truth! - M.]

Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.

Part I.

     Foundation Of Constantinople. - Political System
Constantine, And His Successors. - Military Discipline. - The
Palace. - The Finances. 

     The unfortunate Licinius was the last rival who opposed the
greatness, and the last captive who adorned the triumph, of
Constantine.  After a tranquil and prosperous reign, the
conquerer bequeathed to his family the inheritance of the Roman
empire; a new capital, a new policy, and a new religion; and the
innovations which he established have been embraced and
consecrated by succeeding generations.  The age of the great
Constantine and his sons is filled with important events; but the
historian must be oppressed by their number and variety, unless
he diligently separates from each other the scenes which are
connected only by the order of time.  He will describe the
political institutions that gave strength and stability to the
empire, before he proceeds to relate the wars and revolutions
which hastened its decline.  He will adopt the division unknown
to the ancients of civil and ecclesiastical affairs: the victory
of the Christians, and their intestine discord, will supply
copious and distinct materials both for edification and for
scandal.

     After the defeat and abdication of Licinius, his victorious
rival proceeded to lay the foundations of a city destined to
reign in future times, the mistress of the East, and to survive
the empire and religion of Constantine.  The motives, whether of
pride or of policy, which first induced Diocletian to withdraw
himself from the ancient seat of government, had acquired
additional weight by the example of his successors, and the
habits of forty years.  Rome was insensibly confounded with the
dependent kingdoms which had once acknowledged her supremacy; and
the country of the Caesars was viewed with cold indifference by a
martial prince, born in the neighborhood of the Danube, educated
in the courts and armies of Asia, and invested with the purple by
the legions of Britain.  The Italians, who had received
Constantine as their deliverer, submissively obeyed the edicts
which he sometimes condescended to address to the senate and
people of Rome; but they were seldom honored with the presence of
their new sovereign.  During the vigor of his age, Constantine,
according to the various exigencies of peace and war, moved with
slow dignity, or with active diligence, along the frontiers of
his extensive dominions; and was always prepared to take the
field either against a foreign or a domestic enemy.  But as he
gradually reached the summit of prosperity and the decline of
life, he began to meditate the design of fixing in a more
permanent station the strength as well as majesty of the throne. 
In the choice of an advantageous situation, he preferred the
confines of Europe and Asia; to curb with a powerful arm the
barbarians who dwelt between the Danube and the Tanais; to watch
with an eye of jealousy the conduct of the Persian monarch, who
indignantly supported the yoke of an ignominious treaty. With
these views, Diocletian had selected and embellished the
residence of Nicomedia: but the memory of Diocletian was justly
abhorred by the protector of the church: and Constantine was not
insensible to the ambition of founding a city which might
perpetuate the glory of his own name.  During the late operations
of the war against Licinius, he had sufficient opportunity to
contemplate, both as a soldier and as a statesman, the
incomparable position of Byzantium; and to observe how strongly
it was guarded by nature against a hostile attack, whilst it was
accessible on every side to the benefits of commercial
intercourse.  Many ages before Constantine, one of the most
judicious historians of antiquity ^1 had described the advantages
of a situation, from whence a feeble colony of Greeks derived the
command of the sea, and the honors of a flourishing and
independent republic. ^2 
[Footnote 1: Polybius, l. iv. p. 423, edit. Casaubon.  He
observes that the peace of the Byzantines was frequently
disturbed, and the extent of their territory contracted, by the
inroads of the wild Thracians.] 
[Footnote 2: The navigator Byzas, who was styled the son of
Neptune, founded the city 656 years before the Christian aera. 
His followers were drawn from Argos and Megara.  Byzantium was
afterwards rebuild and fortified by the Spartan general
Pausanias.  See Scaliger Animadvers. ad Euseb. p. 81. Ducange,
Constantinopolis, l. i part i.  cap 15, 16.  With regard to the
wars of the Byzantines against Philip, the Gauls, and the kings
of Bithynia, we should trust none but the ancient writers who
lived before the greatness of the Imperial city had excited a
spirit of flattery and fiction.] 
     If we survey Byzantium in the extent which it acquired with
the august name of Constantinople, the figure of the Imperial
city may be represented under that of an unequal triangle.  The
obtuse point, which advances towards the east and the shores of
Asia, meets and repels the waves of the Thracian Bosphorus.  The
northern side of the city is bounded by the harbor; and the
southern is washed by the Propontis, or Sea of Marmara. The basis
of the triangle is opposed to the west, and terminates the
continent of Europe.  But the admirable form and division of the
circumjacent land and water cannot, without a more ample
explanation, be clearly or sufficiently understood. 
     The winding channel through which the waters of the Euxine
flow with a rapid and incessant course towards the Mediterranean,
received the appellation of Bosphorus, a name not less celebrated
in the history, than in the fables, of antiquity. ^3 A crowd of
temples and of votive altars, profusely scattered along its steep
and woody banks, attested the unskilfulness, the terrors, and the
devotion of the Grecian navigators, who, after the example of the
Argonauts, explored the dangers of the inhospitable Euxine.  On
these banks tradition long preserved the memory of the palace of
Phineus, infested by the obscene harpies; ^4 and of the sylvan
reign of Amycus, who defied the son of Leda to the combat of the
cestus. ^5 The straits of the Bosphorus are terminated by the
Cyanean rocks, which, according to the description of the poets,
had once floated on the face of the waters; and were destined by
the gods to protect the entrance of the Euxine against the eye of
profane curiosity. ^6 From the Cyanean rocks to the point and
harbor of Byzantium, the winding length of the Bosphorus extends
about sixteen miles, ^7 and its most ordinary breadth may be
computed at about one mile and a half.  The new castles of Europe
and Asia are constructed, on either continent, upon the
foundations of two celebrated temples, of Serapis and of Jupiter
Urius.  The old castles, a work of the Greek emperors, command
the narrowest part of the channel in a place where the opposite
banks advance within five hundred paces of each other.  These
fortresses were destroyed and strengthened by Mahomet the Second,
when he meditated the siege of Constantinople: ^8 but the Turkish
conqueror was most probably ignorant, that near two thousand
years before his reign, continents by a bridge of boats. ^9 At a
small distance from the old castles we discover the little town
of Chrysopolis, or Scutari, which may almost be considered as the
Asiatic suburb of Constantinople.  The Bosphorus, as it begins to
open into the Propontis, passes between Byzantium and Chalcedon. 
The latter of those cities was built by the Greeks, a few years
before the former; and the blindness of its founders, who
overlooked the superior advantages of the opposite coast, has
been stigmatized by a proverbial expression of contempt. ^10

[Footnote 3: The Bosphorus has been very minutely described by
Dionysius of Byzantium, who lived in the time of Domitian,
(Hudson, Geograph Minor, tom. iii.,) and by Gilles or Gyllius, a
French traveller of the XVIth century. Tournefort (Lettre XV.)
seems to have used his own eyes, and the learning of Gyllius. 
[Add Von Hammer, Constantinopolis und der Bosphoros, 8vo. - M.] 
[Footnote 4: There are very few conjectures so happy as that of
Le Clere, (Bibliotehque Universelle, tom. i. p. 148,) who
supposes that the harpies were only locusts.  The Syriac or
Phoenician name of those insects, their noisy flight, the stench
and devastation which they occasion, and the north wind which
drives them into the sea, all contribute to form the striking
resemblance.]

[Footnote 5: The residence of Amycus was in Asia, between the old
and the new castles, at a place called Laurus Insana.  That of
Phineus was in Europe, near the village of Mauromole and the
Black Sea.  See Gyllius de Bosph. l. ii. c. 23.  Tournefort,
Lettre XV.]

[Footnote 6: The deception was occasioned by several pointed
rocks, alternately sovered and abandoned by the waves.  At
present there are two small islands, one towards either shore;
that of Europe is distinguished by the column of Pompey.]

[Footnote 7: The ancients computed one hundred and twenty stadia,
or fifteen Roman miles.  They measured only from the new castles,
but they carried the straits as far as the town of Chalcedon.]

[Footnote 8: Ducas. Hist. c. 34.  Leunclavius Hist.  Turcica
Mussulmanica, l. xv. p. 577.  Under the Greek empire these
castles were used as state prisons, under the tremendous name of
Lethe, or towers of oblivion.] 
[Footnote 9: Darius engraved in Greek and Assyrian letters, on
two marble columns, the names of his subject nations, and the
amazing numbers of his land and sea forces.  The Byzantines
afterwards transported these columns into the city, and used them
for the altars of their tutelar deities. Herodotus, l. iv. c.
87.]

[Footnote 10: Namque arctissimo inter Europam Asiamque divortio
Byzantium in extrema Europa posuere Greci, quibus, Pythium
Apollinem consulentibus ubi conderent urbem, redditum oraculum
est, quaererent sedem oecerum terris adversam.  Ea ambage
Chalcedonii monstrabantur quod priores illuc advecti, praevisa
locorum utilitate pejora legissent Tacit. Annal.  xii. 63.] 
     The harbor of Constantinople, which may be considered as an
arm of the Bosphorus, obtained, in a very remote period, the
denomination of the Golden Horn.  The curve which it describes
might be compared to the horn of a stag, or as it should seem,
with more propriety, to that of an ox. ^11 The epithet of golden
was expressive of the riches which every wind wafted from the
most distant countries into the secure and capacious port of
Constantinople.  The River Lycus, formed by the conflux of two
little streams, pours into the harbor a perpetual supply of fresh
water, which serves to cleanse the bottom, and to invite the
periodical shoals of fish to seek their retreat in that
convenient recess.  As the vicissitudes of tides are scarcely
felt in those seas, the constant depth of the harbor allows goods
to be landed on the quays without the assistance of boats; and it
has been observed, that in many places the largest vessels may
rest their prows against the houses, while their sterns are
floating in the water. ^12 From the mouth of the Lycus to that of
the harbor, this arm of the Bosphorus is more than seven miles in
length.  The entrance is about five hundred yards broad, and a
strong chain could be occasionally drawn across it, to guard the
port and city from the attack of a hostile navy. ^13

[Footnote 11: Strabo, l. vii. p. 492, [edit. Casaub.] Most of the
antlers are now broken off; or, to speak less figuratively, most
of the recesses of the harbor are filled up.  See Gill.  de
Bosphoro Thracio, l. i. c. 5.] 
[Footnote 12: Procopius de Aedificiis, l. i. c. 5.  His
description is confirmed by modern travellers.  See Thevenot,
part i. l. i. c. 15. Tournefort, Lettre XII.  Niebuhr, Voyage
d'Arabie, p. 22.] 
[Footnote 13: See Ducange, C. P. l. i. part i. c. 16, and his
Observations sur Villehardouin, p. 289.  The chain was drawn from
the Acropolis near the modern Kiosk, to the tower of Galata; and
was supported at convenient distances by large wooden piles.]

     Between the Bosphorus and the Hellespont, the shores of
Europe and Asia, receding on either side, enclose the sea of
Marmara, which was known to the ancients by the denomination of
Propontis.  The navigation from the issue of the Bosphorus to the
entrance of the Hellespont is about one hundred and twenty miles.

Those who steer their westward course through the middle of the
Propontis, amt at once descry the high lands of Thrace and
Bithynia, and never lose sight of the lofty summit of Mount
Olympus, covered with eternal snows. ^14 They leave on the left a
deep gulf, at the bottom of which Nicomedia was seated, the
Imperial residence of Diocletian; and they pass the small islands
of Cyzicus and Proconnesus before they cast anchor at Gallipoli;
where the sea, which separates Asia from Europe, is again
contracted into a narrow channel.

[Footnote 14: Thevenot (Voyages au Levant, part i. l. i. c. 14)
contracts the measure to 125 small Greek miles.  Belon
(Observations, l. ii. c. 1.) gives a good description of the
Propontis, but contents himself with the vague expression of one
day and one night's sail.  When Sandy's (Travels, p. 21) talks of
150 furlongs in length, as well as breadth we can only suppose
some mistake of the press in the text of that judicious
traveller.] 
     The geographers who, with the most skilful accuracy, have
surveyed the form and extent of the Hellespont, assign about
sixty miles for the winding course, and about three miles for the
ordinary breadth of those celebrated straits. ^15 But the
narrowest part of the channel is found to the northward of the
old Turkish castles between the cities of Sestus and Abydus.  It
was here that the adventurous Leander braved the passage of the
flood for the possession of his mistress. ^16 It was here
likewise, in a place where the distance between the opposite
banks cannot exceed five hundred paces, that Xerxes imposed a
stupendous bridge of boats, for the purpose of transporting into
Europe a hundred and seventy myriads of barbarians. ^17 A sea
contracted within such narrow limits may seem but ill to deserve
the singular epithet of broad, which Homer, as well as Orpheus,
has frequently bestowed on the Hellespont. ^* But our ideas of
greatness are of a relative nature: the traveller, and especially
the poet, who sailed along the Hellespont, who pursued the
windings of the stream, and contemplated the rural scenery, which
appeared on every side to terminate the prospect, insensibly lost
the remembrance of the sea; and his fancy painted those
celebrated straits, with all the attributes of a mighty river
flowing with a swift current, in the midst of a woody and inland
country, and at length, through a wide mouth, discharging itself
into the Aegean or Archipelago. ^18 Ancient Troy, ^19 seated on a
an eminence at the foot of Mount Ida, overlooked the mouth of the
Hellespont, which scarcely received an accession of waters from
the tribute of those immortal rivulets the Simois and Scamander. 
The Grecian camp had stretched twelve miles along the shore from
the Sigaean to the Rhaetean promontory; and the flanks of the
army were guarded by the bravest chiefs who fought under the
banners of Agamemnon.  The first of those promontories was
occupied by Achilles with his invincible myrmidons, and the
dauntless Ajax pitched his tents on the other.  After Ajax had
fallen a sacrifice to his disappointed pride, and to the
ingratitude of the Greeks, his sepulchre was erected on the
ground where he had defended the navy against the rage of Jove
and of Hector; and the citizens of the rising town of Rhaeteum
celebrated his memory with divine honors. ^20 Before Constantine
gave a just preference to the situation of Byzantium, he had
conceived the design of erecting the seat of empire on this
celebrated spot, from whence the Romans derived their fabulous
origin.  The extensive plain which lies below ancient Troy,
towards the Rhaetean promontory and the tomb of Ajax, was first
chosen for his new capital; and though the undertaking was soon
relinquished the stately remains of unfinished walls and towers
attracted the notice of all who sailed through the straits of the
Hellespont. ^21

[Footnote 15: See an admirable dissertation of M. d'Anville upon
the Hellespont or Dardanelles, in the Memoires tom. xxviii. p.
318 - 346.  Yet even that ingenious geographer is too fond of
supposing new, and perhaps imaginary measures, for the purpose of
rendering ancient writers as accurate as himself.  The stadia
employed by Herodotus in the description of the Euxine, the
Bosphorus, &c., (l. iv. c. 85,) must undoubtedly be all of the
same species; but it seems impossible to reconcile them either
with truth or with each other.]

[Footnote 16: The oblique distance between Sestus and Abydus was
thirty stadia.  The improbable tale of Hero and Leander is
exposed by M. Mahudel, but is defended on the authority of poets
and medals by M. de la Nauze. See the Academie des Inscriptions,
tom. vii. Hist. p. 74. elem. p. 240. 
     Note: The practical illustration of the possibility of
Leander's feat by Lord Byron and other English swimmers is too
well known to need particularly reference - M.]

[Footnote 17: See the seventh book of Herodotus, who has erected
an elegant trophy to his own fame and to that of his country. 
The review appears to have been made with tolerable accuracy; but
the vanity, first of the Persians, and afterwards of the Greeks,
was interested to magnify the armament and the victory.  I should
much doubt whether the invaders have ever outnumbered the men of
any country which they attacked.]

[Footnote *: Gibbon does not allow greater width between the two
nearest points of the shores of the Hellespont than between those
of the Bosphorus; yet all the ancient writers speak of the
Hellespontic strait as broader than the other: they agree in
giving it seven stadia in its narrowest width, (Herod. in Melp.
c. 85.  Polym. c. 34.  Strabo, p. 591.  Plin. iv. c. 12.) which
make 875 paces.  It is singular that Gibbon, who in the fifteenth
note of this chapter reproaches d'Anville with being fond of
supposing new and perhaps imaginary measures, has here adopted
the peculiar measurement which d'Anville has assigned to the
stadium.  This great geographer believes that the ancients had a
stadium of fifty-one toises, and it is that which he applies to
the walls of Babylon.  Now, seven of these stadia are equal to
about 500 paces, 7 stadia = 2142 feet: 500 paces = 2135 feet 5
inches. - G. See Rennell, Geog. of Herod. p. 121.  Add Ukert,
Geographie der Griechen und Romer, v. i. p. 2, 71. - M.]

[Footnote 18: See Wood's Observations on Homer, p. 320.  I have,
with pleasure, selected this remark from an author who in general
seems to have disappointed the expectation of the public as a
critic, and still more as a traveller.  He had visited the banks
of the Hellespont; and had read Strabo; he ought to have
consulted the Roman itineraries.  How was it possible for him to
confound Ilium and Alexandria Troas, (Observations, p. 340, 341,)
two cities which were sixteen miles distant from each other?

     Note: Compare Walpole's Memoirs on Turkey, v. i. p. 101. Dr.
Clarke adopted Mr. Walpole's interpretation of the salt
Hellespont.  But the old interpretation is more graphic and
Homeric. Clarke's Travels, ii. 70. - M.] 
[Footnote 19: Demetrius of Scepsis wrote sixty books on thirty
lines of Homer's catalogue.  The XIIIth Book of Strabo is
sufficient for our curiosity.]

[Footnote 20: Strabo, l. xiii. p. 595, [890, edit. Casaub.] The
disposition of the ships, which were drawn upon dry land, and the
posts of Ajax and Achilles, are very clearly described by Homer. 
See Iliad, ix. 220.] 
[Footnote 21: Zosim. l. ii. [c. 30,] p. 105.  Sozomen, l. ii. c.
3. Theophanes, p. 18.  Nicephorus Callistus, l. vii. p. 48. 
Zonaras, tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 6.  Zosimus places the new city
between Ilium and Alexandria, but this apparent difference may be
reconciled by the large extent of its circumference.  Before the
foundation of Constantinople, Thessalonica is mentioned by
Cedrenus, (p. 283,) and Sardica by Zonaras, as the intended
capital.  They both suppose with very little probability, that
the emperor, if he had not been prevented by a prodigy, would
have repeated the mistake of the blind Chalcedonians.]

     We are at present qualified to view the advantageous
position of Constantinople; which appears to have been formed by
nature for the centre and capital of a great monarchy.  Situated
in the forty-first degree of latitude, the Imperial city
commanded, from her seven hills, ^22 the opposite shores of
Europe and Asia; the climate was healthy and temperate, the soil
fertile, the harbor secure and capacious; and the approach on the
side of the continent was of small extent and easy defence.  The
Bosphorus and the Hellespont may be considered as the two gates
of Constantinople; and the prince who possessed those important
passages could always shut them against a naval enemy, and open
them to the fleets of commerce.  The preservation of the eastern
provinces may, in some degree, be ascribed to the policy of
Constantine, as the barbarians of the Euxine, who in the
preceding age had poured their armaments into the heart of the
Mediterranean, soon desisted from the exercise of piracy, and
despaired of forcing this insurmountable barrier.  When the gates
of the Hellespont and Bosphorus were shut, the capital still
enjoyed within their spacious enclosure every production which
could supply the wants, or gratify the luxury, of its numerous
inhabitants.  The sea-coasts of Thrace and Bithynia, which
languish under the weight of Turkish oppression, still exhibit a
rich prospect of vineyards, of gardens, and of plentiful
harvests; and the Propontis has ever been renowned for an
inexhaustible store of the most exquisite fish, that are taken in
their stated seasons, without skill, and almost without labor.
^23 But when the passages of the straits were thrown open for
trade, they alternately admitted the natural and artificial
riches of the north and south, of the Euxine, and of the
Mediterranean.  Whatever rude commodities were collected in the
forests of Germany and Scythia, and far as the sources of the
Tanais and the Borysthenes; whatsoever was manufactured by the
skill of Europe or Asia; the corn of Egypt, and the gems and
spices of the farthest India, were brought by the varying winds
into the port of Constantinople, which for many ages attracted
the commerce of the ancient world. ^24

[See Basilica Of Constantinople]

[Footnote 22: Pocock's Description of the East, vol. ii. part ii.
p. 127. His plan of the seven hills is clear and accurate.  That
traveller is seldom unsatisfactory.]

[Footnote 23: See Belon, Observations, c. 72 - 76.  Among a
variety of different species, the Pelamides, a sort of Thunnies,
were the most celebrated.  We may learn from Polybius, Strabo,
and Tacitus, that the profits of the fishery constituted the
principal revenue of Byzantium.] 
[Footnote 24: See the eloquent description of Busbequius,
epistol. i. p. 64. Est in Europa; habet in conspectu Asiam,
Egyptum. Africamque a dextra: quae tametsi contiguae non sunt,
maris tamen navigandique commoditate veluti junguntur.  A
sinistra vero Pontus est Euxinus, &c.]

     The prospect of beauty, of safety, and of wealth, united in
a single spot, was sufficient to justify the choice of
Constantine.  But as some decent mixture of prodigy and fable
has, in every age, been supposed to reflect a becoming majesty on
the origin of great cities, ^25 the emperor was desirous of
ascribing his resolution, not so much to the uncertain counsels
of human policy, as to the infallible and eternal decrees of
divine wisdom.  In one of his laws he has been careful to
instruct posterity, that in obedience to the commands of God, he
laid the everlasting foundations of Constantinople: ^26 and
though he has not condescended to relate in what manner the
celestial inspiration was communicated to his mind, the defect of
his modest silence has been liberally supplied by the ingenuity
of succeeding writers; who describe the nocturnal vision which
appeared to the fancy of Constantine, as he slept within the
walls of Byzantium.  The tutelar genius of the city, a venerable
matron sinking under the weight of years and infirmities, was
suddenly transformed into a blooming maid, whom his own hands
adorned with all the symbols of Imperial greatness. ^27 The
monarch awoke, interpreted the auspicious omen, and obeyed,
without hesitation, the will of Heaven The day which gave birth
to a city or colony was celebrated by the Romans with such
ceremonies as had been ordained by a generous superstition; ^28
and though Constantine might omit some rites which savored too
strongly of their Pagan origin, yet he was anxious to leave a
deep impression of hope and respect on the minds of the
spectators.  On foot, with a lance in his hand, the emperor
himself led the solemn procession; and directed the line, which
was traced as the boundary of the destined capital: till the
growing circumference was observed with astonishment by the
assistants, who, at length, ventured to observe, that he had
already exceeded the most ample measure of a great city. "I shall
still advance," replied Constantine, "till He, the invisible
guide who marches before me, thinks proper to stop." ^29 Without
presuming to investigate the nature or motives of this
extraordinary conductor, we shall content ourselves with the more
humble task of describing the extent and limits of
Constantinople. ^30

[Footnote 25: Datur haec venia antiquitati, ut miscendo humana
divinis, primordia urbium augustiora faciat.  T. Liv. in prooem.]

[Footnote 26: He says in one of his laws, pro commoditate urbis
quam aeteras nomine, jubente Deo, donavimus.  Cod. Theodos. l.
xiii. tit. v. leg. 7.] 
[Footnote 27: The Greeks, Theophanes, Cedrenus, and the author of
the Alexandrian Chronicle, confine themselves to vague and
general expressions. For a more particular account of the vision,
we are obliged to have recourse to such Latin writers as William
of Malmesbury.  See Ducange, C. P. l. i. p. 24, 25.]

[Footnote 28: See Plutarch in Romul. tom. i. p. 49, edit. Bryan. 
Among other ceremonies, a large hole, which had been dug for that
purpose, was filled up with handfuls of earth, which each of the
settlers brought from the place of his birth, and thus adopted
his new country.]

[Footnote 29: Philostorgius, l. ii. c. 9.  This incident, though
borrowed from a suspected writer, is characteristic and
probable.]

[Footnote 30: See in the Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxxv p. 747
- 758, a dissertation of M. d'Anville on the extent of
Constantinople.  He takes the plan inserted in the Imperium
Orientale of Banduri as the most complete; but, by a series of
very nice observations, he reduced the extravagant proportion of
the scale, and instead of 9500, determines the circumference of
the city as consisting of about 7800 French toises.]

     In the actual state of the city, the palace and gardens of
the Seraglio occupy the eastern promontory, the first of the
seven hills, and cover about one hundred and fifty acres of our
own measure.  The seat of Turkish jealousy and despotism is
erected on the foundations of a Grecian republic; but it may be
supposed that the Byzantines were tempted by the conveniency of
the harbor to extend their habitations on that side beyond the
modern limits of the Seraglio.  The new walls of Constantine
stretched from the port to the Propontis across the enlarged
breadth of the triangle, at the distance of fifteen stadia from
the ancient fortification; and with the city of Byzantium they
enclosed five of the seven hills, which, to the eyes of those who
approach Constantinople, appear to rise above each other in
beautiful order. ^31 About a century after the death of the
founder, the new buildings, extending on one side up the harbor,
and on the other along the Propontis, already covered the narrow
ridge of the sixth, and the broad summit of the seventh hill. 
The necessity of protecting those suburbs from the incessant
inroads of the barbarians engaged the younger Theodosius to
surround his capital with an adequate and permanent enclosure of
walls. ^32 From the eastern promontory to the golden gate, the
extreme length of Constantinople was about three Roman miles; ^33
the circumference measured between ten and eleven; and the
surface might be computed as equal to about two thousand English
acres.  It is impossible to justify the vain and credulous
exaggerations of modern travellers, who have sometimes stretched
the limits of Constantinople over the adjacent villages of the
European, and even of the Asiatic coast. ^34 But the suburbs of
Pera and Galata, though situate beyond the harbor, may deserve to
be considered as a part of the city; ^35 and this addition may
perhaps authorize the measure of a Byzantine historian, who
assigns sixteen Greek (about fourteen Roman) miles for the
circumference of his native city. ^36 Such an extent may not seem
unworthy of an Imperial residence.  Yet Constantinople must yield
to Babylon and Thebes, ^37 to ancient Rome, to London, and even
to Paris. ^38

[Footnote 31: Codinus, Antiquitat. Const. p. 12.  He assigns the
church of St. Anthony as the boundary on the side of the harbor. 
It is mentioned in Ducange, l. iv. c. 6; but I have tried,
without success, to discover the exact place where it was
situated.]

[Footnote 32: The new wall of Theodosius was constructed in the
year 413. In 447 it was thrown down by an earthquake, and rebuilt
in three months by the diligence of the praefect Cyrus.  The
suburb of the Blanchernae was first taken into the city in the
reign of Heraclius Ducange, Const. l. i. c. 10, 11.]

[Footnote 33: The measurement is expressed in the Notitia by
14,075 feet. It is reasonable to suppose that these were Greek
feet, the proportion of which has been ingeniously determined by
M. d'Anville.  He compares the 180 feet with 78 Hashemite cubits,
which in different writers are assigned for the heights of St.
Sophia.  Each of these cubits was equal to 27 French inches.] 
[Footnote 34: The accurate Thevenot (l. i. c. 15) walked in one
hour and three quarters round two of the sides of the triangle,
from the Kiosk of the Seraglio to the seven towers.  D'Anville
examines with care, and receives with confidence, this decisive
testimony, which gives a circumference of ten or twelve miles. 
The extravagant computation of Tournefort (Lettre XI) of
thirty-tour or thirty miles, without including Scutari, is a
strange departure from his usual character.]

[Footnote 35: The sycae, or fig-trees, formed the thirteenth
region, and were very much embellished by Justinian.  It has
since borne the names of Pera and Galata.  The etymology of the
former is obvious; that of the latter is unknown.  See Ducange,
Const. l. i. c. 22, and Gyllius de Byzant. l. iv. c. 10.]

[Footnote 36: One hundred and eleven stadia, which may be
translated into modern Greek miles each of seven stadia, or 660,
sometimes only 600 French toises.  See D'Anville, Mesures
Itineraires, p. 53.]

[Footnote 37: When the ancient texts, which describe the size of
Babylon and Thebes, are settled, the exaggerations reduced, and
the measures ascertained, we find that those famous cities filled
the great but not incredible circumference of about twenty-five
or thirty miles.  Compare D'Anville, Mem. de l'Academie, tom.
xxviii. p. 235, with his Description de l'Egypte, p. 201, 202.]

[Footnote 38: If we divide Constantinople and Paris into equal
squares of 50 French toises, the former contains 850, and the
latter 1160, of those divisions.]

Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.

Part II.

     The master of the Roman world, who aspired to erect an
eternal monument of the glories of his reign could employ in the
prosecution of that great work, the wealth, the labor, and all
that yet remained of the genius of obedient millions.  Some
estimate may be formed of the expense bestowed with Imperial
liberality on the foundation of Constantinople, by the allowance
of about two millions five hundred thousand pounds for the
construction of the walls, the porticos, and the aqueducts. ^39
The forests that overshadowed the shores of the Euxine, and the
celebrated quarries of white marble in the little island of
Proconnesus, supplied an inexhaustible stock of materials, ready
to be conveyed, by the convenience of a short water carriage, to
the harbor of Byzantium. ^40 A multitude of laborers and
artificers urged the conclusion of the work with incessant toil:
but the impatience of Constantine soon discovered, that, in the
decline of the arts, the skill as well as numbers of his
architects bore a very unequal proportion to the greatness of his
designs.  The magistrates of the most distant provinces were
therefore directed to institute schools, to appoint professors,
and by the hopes of rewards and privileges, to engage in the
study and practice of architecture a sufficient number of
ingenious youths, who had received a liberal education. ^41 The
buildings of the new city were executed by such artificers as the
reign of Constantine could afford; but they were decorated by the
hands of the most celebrated masters of the age of Pericles and
Alexander.  To revive the genius of Phidias and Lysippus,
surpassed indeed the power of a Roman emperor; but the immortal
productions which they had bequeathed to posterity were exposed
without defence to the rapacious vanity of a despot.  By his
commands the cities of Greece and Asia were despoiled of their
most valuable ornaments. ^42 The trophies of memorable wars, the
objects of religious veneration, the most finished statues of the
gods and heroes, of the sages and poets, of ancient times,
contributed to the splendid triumph of Constantinople; and gave
occasion to the remark of the historian Cedrenus, ^43 who
observes, with some enthusiasm, that nothing seemed wanting
except the souls of the illustrious men whom these admirable
monuments were intended to represent. But it is not in the city
of Constantine, nor in the declining period of an empire, when
the human mind was depressed by civil and religious slavery, that
we should seek for the souls of Homer and of Demosthenes.

[Footnote 39: Six hundred centenaries, or sixty thousand pounds'
weight of gold.  This sum is taken from Codinus, Antiquit. 
Const. p. 11; but unless that contemptible author had derived his
information from some purer sources, he would probably have been
unacquainted with so obsolete a mode of reckoning.]

[Footnote 40: For the forests of the Black Sea, consult
Tournefort, Lettre XVI. for the marble quarries of Proconnesus,
see Strabo, l. xiii. p. 588, (881, edit. Casaub.) The latter had
already furnished the materials of the stately buildings of
Cyzicus.]

[Footnote 41: See the Codex Theodos. l. xiii. tit. iv. leg. 1. 
This law is dated in the year 334, and was addressed to the
praefect of Italy, whose jurisdiction extended over Africa.  The
commentary of Godefroy on the whole title well deserves to be
consulted.]

[Footnote 42: Constantinopolis dedicatur poene omnium urbium
nuditate. Hieronym. Chron. p. 181.  See Codinus, p. 8, 9.  The
author of the Antiquitat. Const. l. iii. (apud Banduri Imp.
Orient. tom. i. p. 41) enumerates Rome, Sicily, Antioch, Athens,
and a long list of other cities. The provinces of Greece and Asia
Minor may be supposed to have yielded the richest booty.] 
[Footnote 43: Hist. Compend. p. 369.  He describes the statue, or
rather bust, of Homer with a degree of taste which plainly
indicates that Cadrenus copied the style of a more fortunate
age.]

     During the siege of Byzantium, the conqueror had pitched his
tent on the commanding eminence of the second hill.  To
perpetuate the memory of his success, he chose the same
advantageous position for the principal Forum; ^44 which appears
to have been of a circular, or rather elliptical form.  The two
opposite entrances formed triumphal arches; the porticos, which
enclosed it on every side, were filled with statues; and the
centre of the Forum was occupied by a lofty column, of which a
mutilated fragment is now degraded by the appellation of the
burnt pillar.  This column was erected on a pedestal of white
marble twenty feet high; and was composed of ten pieces of
porphyry, each of which measured about ten feet in height, and
about thirty-three in circumference. ^45 On the summit of the
pillar, above one hundred and twenty feet from the ground, stood
the colossal statue of Apollo.  It was a bronze, had been
transported either from Athens or from a town of Phrygia, and was
supposed to be the work of Phidias.  The artist had represented
the god of day, or, as it was afterwards interpreted, the emperor
Constantine himself, with a sceptre in his right hand, the globe
of the world in his left, and a crown of rays glittering on his
head. ^46 The Circus, or Hippodrome, was a stately building about
four hundred paces in length, and one hundred in breadth. ^47 The
space between the two metoe or goals were filled with statues and
obelisks; and we may still remark a very singular fragment of
antiquity; the bodies of three serpents, twisted into one pillar
of brass.  Their triple heads had once supported the golden
tripod which, after the defeat of Xerxes, was consecrated in the
temple of Delphi by the victorious Greeks. ^48 The beauty of the
Hippodrome has been long since defaced by the rude hands of the
Turkish conquerors; ^! but, under the similar appellation of
Atmeidan, it still serves as a place of exercise for their
horses.  From the throne, whence the emperor viewed the
Circensian games, a winding staircase ^49 descended to the
palace; a magnificent edifice, which scarcely yielded to the
residence of Rome itself, and which, together with the dependent
courts, gardens, and porticos, covered a considerable extent of
ground upon the banks of the Propontis between the Hippodrome and
the church of St. Sophia. ^50 We might likewise celebrate the
baths, which still retained the name of Zeuxippus, after they had
been enriched, by the munificence of Constantine, with lofty
columns, various marbles, and above threescore statues of bronze.
^51 But we should deviate from the design of this history, if we
attempted minutely to describe the different buildings or
quarters of the city.  It may be sufficient to observe, that
whatever could adorn the dignity of a great capital, or
contribute to the benefit or pleasure of its numerous
inhabitants, was contained within the walls of Constantinople.  A
particular description, composed about a century after its
foundation, enumerates a capitol or school of learning, a circus,
two theatres, eight public, and one hundred and fifty-three
private baths, fifty-two porticos, five granaries, eight
aqueducts or reservoirs of water, four spacious halls for the
meetings of the senate or courts of justice, fourteen churches,
fourteen palaces, and four thousand three hundred and
eighty-eight houses, which, for their size or beauty, deserved to
be distinguished from the multitude of plebeian inhabitants. ^52 
[Footnote 44: Zosim. l. ii. p. 106.  Chron. Alexandrin. vel
Paschal. p. 284, Ducange, Const. l. i. c. 24.  Even the last of
those writers seems to confound the Forum of Constantine with the
Augusteum, or court of the palace.  I am not satisfied whether I
have properly distinguished what belongs to the one and the
other.]

[Footnote 45: The most tolerable account of this column is given
by Pocock. Description of the East, vol. ii. part ii. p. 131. 
But it is still in many instances perplexed and unsatisfactory.]

[Footnote 46: Ducange, Const. l. i. c. 24, p. 76, and his notes
ad Alexiad. p. 382.  The statue of Constantine or Apollo was
thrown down under the reign of Alexius Comnenus.

     Note: On this column (says M. von Hammer) Constantine, with
singular shamelessness, placed his own statue with the attributes
of Apollo and Christ. He substituted the nails of the Passion for
the rays of the sun.  Such is the direct testimony of the author
of the Antiquit. Constantinop. apud Banduri. Constantine was
replaced by the "great and religious" Julian, Julian, by
Theodosius. A. D. 1412, the key stone was loosened by an
earthquake.  The statue fell in the reign of Alexius Comnenus,
and was replaced by the cross. The Palladium was said to be
buried under the pillar.  Von Hammer, Constantinopolis und der
Bosporos, i. 162. - M.]

[Footnote 47: Tournefort (Lettre XII.) computes the Atmeidan at
four hundred paces.  If he means geometrical paces of five feet
each, it was three hundred toises in length, about forty more
than the great circus of Rome.  See D'Anville, Mesures
Itineraires, p. 73.]

[Footnote 48: The guardians of the most holy relics would rejoice
if they were able to produce such a chain of evidence as may be
alleged on this occasion. See Banduri ad Antiquitat.  Const. p.
668.  Gyllius de Byzant. l. ii. c. 13. 1. The original
consecration of the tripod and pillar in the temple of Delphi may
be proved from Herodotus and Pausanias.  2. The Pagan Zosimus
agrees with the three ecclesiastical historians, Eusebius,
Socrates, and Sozomen, that the sacred ornaments of the temple of
Delphi were removed to Constantinople by the order of
Constantine; and among these the serpentine pillar of the
Hippodrome is particularly mentioned.  3. All the European
travellers who have visited Constantinople, from Buondelmonte to
Pocock, describe it in the same place, and almost in the same
manner; the differences between them are occasioned only by the
injuries which it has sustained from the Turks.  Mahomet the
Second broke the under jaw of one of the serpents with a stroke
of his battle axe Thevenot, l. i. c. 17.

     Note: See note 75, ch. lxviii. for Dr. Clarke's rejection of
Thevenot's authority.  Von Hammer, however, repeats the story of
Thevenot without questioning its authenticity. - M.]

[Footnote !: In 1808 the Janizaries revolted against the vizier
Mustapha Baisactar, who wished to introduce a new system of
military organization, besieged the quarter of the Hippodrome, in
which stood the palace of the viziers, and the Hippodrome was
consumed in the conflagration. - G.] 
[Footnote 49: The Latin name Cochlea was adopted by the Greeks,
and very frequently occurs in the Byzantine history.  Ducange,
Const. i. c. l, p. 104.] 
[Footnote 50: There are three topographical points which indicate
the situation of the palace.  1. The staircase which connected it
with the Hippodrome or Atmeidan.  2. A small artificial port on
the Propontis, from whence there was an easy ascent, by a flight
of marble steps, to the gardens of the palace.  3. The Augusteum
was a spacious court, one side of which was occupied by the front
of the palace, and another by the church of St. Sophia.] 
[Footnote 51: Zeuxippus was an epithet of Jupiter, and the baths
were a part of old Byzantium.  The difficulty of assigning their
true situation has not been felt by Ducange.  History seems to
connect them with St. Sophia and the palace; but the original
plan inserted in Banduri places them on the other side of the
city, near the harbor.  For their beauties, see Chron. Paschal.
p. 285, and Gyllius de Byzant. l. ii. c. 7. Christodorus (see
Antiquitat. Const. l. vii.) composed inscriptions in verse for
each of the statues.  He was a Theban poet in genius as well as
in birth: -

     Baeotum in crasso jurares aere natum.

     Note: Yet, for his age, the description of the statues of
Hecuba and of Homer are by no means without merit.  See Antholog.
Palat. (edit. Jacobs) i. 37 - M.]

[Footnote 52: See the Notitia.  Rome only reckoned 1780 large
houses, domus; but the word must have had a more dignified
signification.  No insulae are mentioned at Constantinople.  The
old capital consisted of 42 streets, the new of 322.]

     The populousness of his favored city was the next and most
serious object of the attention of its founder.  In the dark ages
which succeeded the translation of the empire, the remote and the
immediate consequences of that memorable event were strangely
confounded by the vanity of the Greeks and the credulity of the
Latins. ^53 It was asserted, and believed, that all the noble
families of Rome, the senate, and the equestrian order, with
their innumerable attendants, had followed their emperor to the
banks of the Propontis; that a spurious race of strangers and
plebeians was left to possess the solitude of the ancient
capital; and that the lands of Italy, long since converted into
gardens, were at once deprived of cultivation and inhabitants.
^54 In the course of this history, such exaggerations will be
reduced to their just value: yet, since the growth of
Constantinople cannot be ascribed to the general increase of
mankind and of industry, it must be admitted that this artificial
colony was raised at the expense of the ancient cities of the
empire.  Many opulent senators of Rome, and of the eastern
provinces, were probably invited by Constantine to adopt for
their country the fortunate spot, which he had chosen for his own
residence.  The invitations of a master are scarcely to be
distinguished from commands; and the liberality of the emperor
obtained a ready and cheerful obedience.  He bestowed on his
favorites the palaces which he had built in the several quarters
of the city, assigned them lands and pensions for the support of
their dignity, ^55 and alienated the demesnes of Pontus and Asia
to grant hereditary estates by the easy tenure of maintaining a
house in the capital. ^56 But these encouragements and
obligations soon became superfluous, and were gradually
abolished.  Wherever the seat of government is fixed, a
considerable part of the public revenue will be expended by the
prince himself, by his ministers, by the officers of justice, and
by the domestics of the palace.  The most wealthy of the
provincials will be attracted by the powerful motives of interest
and duty, of amusement and curiosity.  A third and more numerous
class of inhabitants will insensibly be formed, of servants, of
artificers, and of merchants, who derive their subsistence from
their own labor, and from the wants or luxury of the superior
ranks.  In less than a century, Constantinople disputed with Rome
itself the preeminence of riches and numbers.  New piles of
buildings, crowded together with too little regard to health or
convenience, scarcely allowed the intervals of narrow streets for
the perpetual throng of men, of horses, and of carriages.  The
allotted space of ground was insufficient to contain the
increasing people; and the additional foundations, which, on
either side, were advanced into the sea, might alone have
composed a very considerable city. ^57 
[Footnote 53: Liutprand, Legatio ad Imp. Nicephornm, p. 153.  The
modern Greeks have strangely disfigured the antiquities of
Constantinople.  We might excuse the errors of the Turkish or
Arabian writers; but it is somewhat astonishing, that the Greeks,
who had access to the authentic materials preserved in their own
language, should prefer fiction to truth, and loose tradition to
genuine history.  In a single page of Codinus we may detect
twelve unpardonable mistakes; the reconciliation of Severus and
Niger, the marriage of their son and daughter, the siege of
Byzantium by the Macedonians, the invasion of the Gauls, which
recalled Severus to Rome, the sixty years which elapsed from his
death to the foundation of Constantinople, &c.] 
[Footnote 54: Montesquieu, Grandeur et Decadence des Romains, c.
17.] 
[Footnote 55: Themist. Orat. iii. p. 48, edit. Hardouin. 
Sozomen, l. ii. c. 3.  Zosim. l. ii. p. 107.  Anonym. Valesian.
p. 715.  If we could credit Codinus, (p. 10,) Constantine built
houses for the senators on the exact model of their Roman
palaces, and gratified them, as well as himself, with the
pleasure of an agreeable surprise; but the whole story is full of
fictions and inconsistencies.]

[Footnote 56: The law by which the younger Theodosius, in the
year 438, abolished this tenure, may be found among the Novellae
of that emperor at the end of the Theodosian Code, tom. vi. nov.
12.  M. de Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 371) has
evidently mistaken the nature of these estates.  With a grant
from the Imperial demesnes, the same condition was accepted as a
favor, which would justly have been deemed a hardship, if it had
been imposed upon private property.]

[Footnote 57: The passages of Zosimus, of Eunapius, of Sozomen,
and of Agathias, which relate to the increase of buildings and
inhabitants at Constantinople, are collected and connected by
Gyllius de Byzant. l. i. c. 3. Sidonius Apollinaris (in Panegyr.
Anthem. 56, p. 279, edit. Sirmond) describes the moles that were
pushed forwards into the sea, they consisted of the famous
Puzzolan sand, which hardens in the water.]

     The frequent and regular distributions of wine and oil, of
corn or bread, of money or provisions, had almost exempted the
poorest citizens of Rome from the necessity of labor.  The
magnificence of the first Caesars was in some measure imitated by
the founder of Constantinople: ^58 but his liberality, however it
might excite the applause of the people, has in curred the
censure of posterity.  A nation of legislators and conquerors
might assert their claim to the harvests of Africa, which had
been purchased with their blood; and it was artfully contrived by
Augustus, that, in the enjoyment of plenty, the Romans should
lose the memory of freedom.  But the prodigality of Constantine
could not be excused by any consideration either of public or
private interest; and the annual tribute of corn imposed upon
Egypt for the benefit of his new capital, was applied to feed a
lazy and insolent populace, at the expense of the husbandmen of
an industrious province. ^59 ^* Some other regulations of this
emperor are less liable to blame, but they are less deserving of
notice.  He divided Constantinople into fourteen regions or
quarters, ^60 dignified the public council with the appellation
of senate, ^61 communicated to the citizens the privileges of
Italy, ^62 and bestowed on the rising city the title of Colony,
the first and most favored daughter of ancient Rome.  The
venerable parent still maintained the legal and acknowledged
supremacy, which was due to her age, her dignity, and to the
remembrance of her former greatness. ^63

[Footnote 58: Sozomen, l. ii. c. 3.  Philostorg. l. ii. c. 9. 
Codin. Antiquitat. Const. p. 8.  It appears by Socrates, l. ii.
c. 13, that the daily allowance of the city consisted of eight
myriads of which we may either translate, with Valesius, by the
words modii of corn, or consider us expressive of the number of
loaves of bread.

     Note: At Rome the poorer citizens who received these
gratuities were inscribed in a register; they had only a personal
right.  Constantine attached the right to the houses in his new
capital, to engage the lower classes of the people to build their
houses with expedition.  Codex Therodos. l. xiv. - G.] 
[Footnote 59: See Cod. Theodos. l. xiii. and xiv., and Cod.
Justinian. Edict. xii. tom. ii. p. 648, edit. Genev.  See the
beautiful complaint of Rome in the poem of Claudian de Bell. 
Gildonico, ver. 46-64.

     Cum subiit par Roma mihi, divisaque sumsit
     Aequales aurora togas; Aegyptia rura
     In partem cessere novam.]

[Footnote *: This was also at the expense of Rome.  The emperor
ordered that the fleet of Alexandria should transport to
Constantinople the grain of Egypt which it carried before to
Rome: this grain supplied Rome during four months of the year. 
Claudian has described with force the famine occasioned by this
measure: -

     Haec nobis, haec ante dabas; nunc pabula tantum
     Roma precor: miserere tuae; pater optime, gentis:
     Extremam defende famem.

     Claud. de Bell. Gildon. v. 34.

      - G.

     It was scarcely this measure.  Gildo had cut off the African
as well as the Egyptian supplies. - M.]

[Footnote 60: The regions of Constantinople are mentioned in the
code of Justinian, and particularly described in the Notitia of
the younger Theodosius; but as the four last of them are not
included within the wall of Constantine, it may be doubted
whether this division of the city should be referred to the
founder.]

[Footnote 61: Senatum constituit secundi ordinis; Claros vocavit.

Anonym Valesian. p. 715.  The senators of old Rome were styled
Clarissimi.  See a curious note of Valesius ad Ammian. 
Marcellin. xxii. 9.  From the eleventh epistle of Julian, it
should seem that the place of senator was considered as a burden,
rather than as an honor; but the Abbe de la Bleterie (Vie de
Jovien, tom. ii. p. 371) has shown that this epistle could not
relate to Constantinople.  Might we not read, instead of the
celebrated name of the obscure but more probable word Bisanthe or
Rhoedestus, now Rhodosto, was a small maritime city of Thrace. 
See Stephan. Byz. de Urbibus, p. 225, and Cellar. Geograph. tom.
i. p. 849.]

[Footnote 62: Cod. Theodos. l. xiv. 13.  The commentary of
Godefroy (tom. v. p. 220) is long, but perplexed; nor indeed is
it easy to ascertain in what the Jus Italicum could consist,
after the freedom of the city had been communicated to the whole
empire.

     Note: "This right, (the Jus Italicum,) which by most writers
is referred with out foundation to the personal condition of the
citizens, properly related to the city as a whole, and contained
two parts.  First, the Roman or quiritarian property in the soil,
(commercium,) and its capability of mancipation, usucaption, and
vindication; moreover, as an inseparable consequence of this,
exemption from land-tax.  Then, secondly, a free constitution in
the Italian form, with Duumvirs, Quinquennales. and Aediles, and
especially with Jurisdiction." Savigny, Geschichte des Rom.
Rechts i. p. 51 - M.]

[Footnote 63: Julian (Orat. i. p. 8) celebrates Constantinople as
not less superior to all other cities than she was inferior to
Rome itself.  His learned commentator (Spanheim, p. 75, 76)
justifies this language by several parallel and contemporary
instances.  Zosimus, as well as Socrates and Sozomen, flourished
after the division of the empire between the two sons of
Theodosius, which established a perfect equality between the old
and the new capital.]

     As Constantine urged the progress of the work with the
impatience of a lover, the walls, the porticos, and the principal
edifices were completed in a few years, or, according to another
account, in a few months; ^64 but this extraordinary diligence
should excite the less admiration, since many of the buildings
were finished in so hasty and imperfect a manner, that under the
succeeding reign, they were preserved with difficulty from
impending ruin. ^65 But while they displayed the vigor and
freshness of youth, the founder prepared to celebrate the
dedication of his city. ^66 The games and largesses which crowned
the pomp of this memorable festival may easily be supposed; but
there is one circumstance of a more singular and permanent
nature, which ought not entirely to be overlooked.  As often as
the birthday of the city returned, the statute of Constantine,
framed by his order, of gilt wood, and bearing in his right hand
a small image of the genius of the place, was erected on a
triumphal car.  The guards, carrying white tapers, and clothed in
their richest apparel, accompanied the solemn procession as it
moved through the Hippodrome.  When it was opposite to the throne
of the reigning emperor, he rose from his seat, and with grateful
reverence adored the memory of his predecessor. ^67 At the
festival of the dedication, an edict, engraved on a column of
marble, bestowed the title of Second or New Rome on the city of
Constantine. ^68 But the name of Constantinople ^69 has prevailed
over that honorable epithet; and after the revolution of fourteen
centuries, still perpetuates the fame of its author. ^70

[Footnote 64: Codinus (Antiquitat. p. 8) affirms, that the
foundations of Constantinople were laid in the year of the world
5837, (A. D. 329,) on the 26th of September, and that the city
was dedicated the 11th of May, 5838, (A. D. 330.) He connects
those dates with several characteristic epochs, but they
contradict each other; the authority of Codinus is of little
weight, and the space which he assigns must appear insufficient. 
The term of ten years is given us by Julian, (Orat. i. p. 8;) and
Spanheim labors to establish the truth of it, (p. 69-75,) by the
help of two passages from Themistius, (Orat. iv. p. 58,) and of
Philostorgius, (l. ii. c. 9,) which form a period from the year
324 to the year 334.  Modern critics are divided concerning this
point of chronology and their different sentiments are very
accurately described by Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv.
p. 619-625.]

[Footnote 65: Themistius. Orat. iii. p. 47.  Zosim. l. ii. p.
108. Constantine himself, in one of his laws, (Cod. Theod. l. xv.
tit. i.,) betrays his impatience.]

[Footnote 66: Cedrenus and Zonaras, faithful to the mode of
superstition which prevailed in their own times, assure us that
Constantinople was consecrated to the virgin Mother of God.]

[Footnote 67: The earliest and most complete account of this
extraordinary ceremony may be found in the Alexandrian Chronicle,
p. 285.  Tillemont, and the other friends of Constantine, who are
offended with the air of Paganism which seems unworthy of a
Christian prince, had a right to consider it as doubtful, but
they were not authorized to omit the mention of it.] 
[Footnote 68: Sozomen, l. ii. c. 2.  Ducange C. P. l. i. c. 6. 
Velut ipsius Romae filiam, is the expression of Augustin. de
Civitat. Dei, l. v. c. 25.] 
[Footnote 69: Eutropius, l. x. c. 8.  Julian. Orat. i. p. 8. 
Ducange C. P. l. i. c. 5.  The name of Constantinople is extant
on the medals of Constantine.] 
[Footnote 70: The lively Fontenelle (Dialogues des Morts, xii.)
affects to deride the vanity of human ambition, and seems to
triumph in the disappointment of Constantine, whose immortal name
is now lost in the vulgar appellation of Istambol, a Turkish
corruption of.  Yet the original name is still preserved, 1. By
the nations of Europe.  2. By the modern Greeks.  3. By the
Arabs, whose writings are diffused over the wide extent of their
conquests in Asia and Africa.  See D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque
Orientale, p. 275.  4. By the more learned Turks, and by the
emperor himself in his public mandates Cantemir's History of the
Othman Empire, p. 51.]

     The foundation of a new capital is naturally connected with
the establishment of a new form of civil and military
administration.  The distinct view of the complicated system of
policy, introduced by Diocletian, improved by Constantine, and
completed by his immediate successors, may not only amuse the
fancy by the singular picture of a great empire, but will tend to
illustrate the secret and internal causes of its rapid decay.  In
the pursuit of any remarkable institution, we may be frequently
led into the more early or the more recent times of the Roman
history; but the proper limits of this inquiry will be included
within a period of about one hundred and thirty years, from the
accession of Constantine to the publication of the Theodosian
code; ^71 from which, as well as from the Notitia ^* of the East
and West, ^72 we derive the most copious and authentic
information of the state of the empire.  This variety of objects
will suspend, for some time, the course of the narrative; but the
interruption will be censured only by those readers who are
insensible to the importance of laws and manners, while they
peruse, with eager curiosity, the transient intrigues of a court,
or the accidental event of a battle.

[Footnote 71: The Theodosian code was promulgated A. D. 438.  See
the Prolegomena of Godefroy, c. i. p. 185.]

[Footnote *: The Notitia Dignitatum Imperii is a description of
all the offices in the court and the state, of the legions, &c. 
It resembles our court almanacs, (Red Books,) with this single
difference, that our almanacs name the persons in office, the
Notitia only the offices.  It is of the time of the emperor
Theodosius II., that is to say, of the fifth century, when the
empire was divided into the Eastern and Western.  It is probable
that it was not made for the first time, and that descriptions of
the same kind existed before. - G.]

[Footnote 72: Pancirolus, in his elaborate Commentary, assigns to
the Notitia a date almost similar to that of the Theodosian Code;
but his proofs, or rather conjectures, are extremely feeble.  I
should be rather inclined to place this useful work between the
final division of the empire (A. D. 395) and the successful
invasion of Gaul by the barbarians, (A. D. 407.) See Histoire des
Anciens Peuples de l'Europe, tom. vii. p. 40.] 

Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.

Part III.

     The manly pride of the Romans, content with substantial
power, had left to the vanity of the East the forms and
ceremonies of ostentatious greatness. ^73 But when they lost even
the semblance of those virtues which were derived from their
ancient freedom, the simplicity of Roman manners was insensibly
corrupted by the stately affectation of the courts of Asia. The
distinctions of personal merit and influence, so conspicuous in a
republic, so feeble and obscure under a monarchy, were abolished
by the despotism of the emperors; who substituted in their room a
severe subordination of rank and office from the titled slaves
who were seated on the steps of the throne, to the meanest
instruments of arbitrary power. This multitude of abject
dependants was interested in the support of the actual government
from the dread of a revolution, which might at once confound
their hopes and intercept the reward of their services.  In this
divine hierarchy (for such it is frequently styled) every rank
was marked with the most scrupulous exactness, and its dignity
was displayed in a variety of trifling and solemn ceremonies,
which it was a study to learn, and a sacrilege to neglect. ^74
The purity of the Latin language was debased, by adopting, in the
intercourse of pride and flattery, a profusion of epithets, which
Tully would scarcely have understood, and which Augustus would
have rejected with indignation.  The principal officers of the
empire were saluted, even by the sovereign himself, with the
deceitful titles of your Sincerity, your Gravity, your
Excellency, your Eminence, your sublime and wonderful Magnitude,
your illustrious and magnificent Highness. ^75 The codicils or
patents of their office were curiously emblazoned with such
emblems as were best adapted to explain its nature and high
dignity; the image or portrait of the reigning emperors; a
triumphal car; the book of mandates placed on a table, covered
with a rich carpet, and illuminated by four tapers; the
allegorical figures of the provinces which they governed; or the
appellations and standards of the troops whom they commanded Some
of these official ensigns were really exhibited in their hall of
audience; others preceded their pompous march whenever they
appeared in public; and every circumstance of their demeanor,
their dress, their ornaments, and their train, was calculated to
inspire a deep reverence for the representatives of supreme
majesty.  By a philosophic observer, the system of the Roman
government might have been mistaken for a splendid theatre,
filled with players of every character and degree, who repeated
the language, and imitated the passions, of their original model.
^76

[Footnote 73: Scilicet externae superbiae sueto, non inerat
notitia nostri, (perhaps nostroe;) apud quos vis Imperii valet,
inania transmittuntur. Tacit. Annal. xv. 31.  The gradation from
the style of freedom and simplicity, to that of form and
servitude, may be traced in the Epistles of Cicero, of Pliny, and
of Symmachus.]

[Footnote 74: The emperor Gratian, after confirming a law of
precedency published by Valentinian, the father of his Divinity,
thus continues: Siquis igitur indebitum sibi locum usurpaverit,
nulla se ignoratione defendat; sitque plane sacrilegii reus, qui
divina praecepta neglexerit. Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. v. leg. 2.]

[Footnote 75: Consult the Notitia Dignitatum at the end of the
Theodosian code, tom. vi. p. 316.

     Note: Constantin, qui remplaca le grand Patriciat par une
noblesse titree et qui changea avec d'autres institutions la
nature de la societe Latine, est le veritable fondateur de la
royaute moderne, dans ce quelle conserva de Romain. 
Chateaubriand, Etud. Histor. Preface, i. 151. Manso, (Leben
Constantins des Grossen,) p. 153, &c., has given a lucid view of
the dignities and duties of the officers in the Imperial court. -
M.]

[Footnote 76: Pancirolus ad Notitiam utriusque Imperii, p. 39. 
But his explanations are obscure, and he does not sufficiently
distinguish the painted emblems from the effective ensigns of
office.]

     All the magistrates of sufficient importance to find a place
in the general state of the empire, were accurately divided into
three classes. 1. The Illustrious.  2. The Spectabiles, or
Respectable.  And, 3. the Clarissimi; whom we may translate by
the word Honorable.  In the times of Roman simplicity, the
last-mentioned epithet was used only as a vague expression of
deference, till it became at length the peculiar and appropriated
title of all who were members of the senate, ^77 and consequently
of all who, from that venerable body, were selected to govern the
provinces.  The vanity of those who, from their rank and office,
might claim a superior distinction above the rest of the
senatorial order, was long afterwards indulged with the new
appellation of Respectable; but the title of Illustrious was
always reserved to some eminent personages who were obeyed or
reverenced by the two subordinate classes.  It was communicated
only, I.  To the consuls and patricians; II.  To the Praetorian
praefects, with the praefects of Rome and Constantinople; III. To
the masters-general of the cavalry and the infantry; and IV.  To
the seven ministers of the palace, who exercised their sacred
functions about the person of the emperor. ^78 Among those
illustrious magistrates who were esteemed coordinate with each
other, the seniority of appointment gave place to the union of
dignities. ^79 By the expedient of honorary codicils, the
emperors, who were fond of multiplying their favors, might
sometimes gratify the vanity, though not the ambition, of
impatient courtiers. ^80

[Footnote 77: In the Pandects, which may be referred to the
reigns of the Antonines, Clarissimus is the ordinary and legal
title of a senator.] 
[Footnote 78: Pancirol. p. 12-17.  I have not taken any notice of
the two inferior ranks, Prefectissimus and Egregius, which were
given to many persons who were not raised to the senatorial
dignity.]

[Footnote 79: Cod. Theodos. l. vi. tit. vi.  The rules of
precedency are ascertained with the most minute accuracy by the
emperors, and illustrated with equal prolixity by their learned
interpreter.]

[Footnote 80: Cod. Theodos. l. vi. tit. xxii.]

     I.  As long as the Roman consuls were the first magistrates
of a free state, they derived their right to power from the
choice of the people.  As long as the emperors condescended to
disguise the servitude which they imposed, the consuls were still
elected by the real or apparent suffrage of the senate.  From the
reign of Diocletian, even these vestiges of liberty were
abolished, and the successful candidates who were invested with
the annual honors of the consulship, affected to deplore the
humiliating condition of their predecessors.  The Scipios and the
Catos had been reduced to solicit the votes of plebeians, to pass
through the tedious and expensive forms of a popular election,
and to expose their dignity to the shame of a public refusal;
while their own happier fate had reserved them for an age and
government in which the rewards of virtue were assigned by the
unerring wisdom of a gracious sovereign. ^81 In the epistles
which the emperor addressed to the two consuls elect, it was
declared, that they were created by his sole authority. ^82 Their
names and portraits, engraved on gilt tables of ivory, were
dispersed over the empire as presents to the provinces, the
cities, the magistrates, the senate, and the people. ^83 Their
solemn inauguration was performed at the place of the Imperial
residence; and during a period of one hundred and twenty years,
Rome was constantly deprived of the presence of her ancient
magistrates. ^84

[Footnote 81: Ausonius (in Gratiarum Actione) basely expatiates
on this unworthy topic, which is managed by Mamertinus (Panegyr.
Vet. xi. [x.] 16, 19) with somewhat more freedom and ingenuity.]

[Footnote 82: Cum de Consulibus in annum creandis, solus mecum
volutarem .... te Consulem et designavi, et declaravi, et priorem
nuncupavi; are some of the expressions employed by the emperor
Gratian to his preceptor, the poet Ausonius.]

[Footnote 83: Immanesque. . . dentes

     Qui secti ferro in tabulas auroque micantes,
     Inscripti rutilum coelato Consule nomen
     Per proceres et vulgus eant.

     Claud. in ii. Cons. Stilichon. 456.

Montfaucon has represented some of these tablets or dypticks see
Supplement a l'Antiquite expliquee, tom. iii. p. 220.]

[Footnote 84: Consule laetatur post plurima seculo viso

     Pallanteus apex: agnoscunt rostra curules
     Auditas quondam proavis: desuetaque cingit
     Regius auratis Fora fascibus Ulpia lictor.

     Claud. in vi. Cons. Honorii, 643.

From the reign of Carus to the sixth consulship of Honorius,
there was an interval of one hundred and twenty years, during
which the emperors were always absent from Rome on the first day
of January.  See the Chronologie de Tillemonte, tom. iii. iv. and
v.]

     On the morning of the first of January, the consuls assumed
the ensigns of their dignity.  Their dress was a robe of purple,
embroidered in silk and gold, and sometimes ornamented with
costly gems. ^85 On this solemn occasion they were attended by
the most eminent officers of the state and army, in the habit of
senators; and the useless fasces, armed with the once formidable
axes, were borne before them by the lictors. ^86 The procession
moved from the palace ^87 to the Forum or principal square of the
city; where the consuls ascended their tribunal, and seated
themselves in the curule chairs, which were framed after the
fashion of ancient times.  They immediately exercised an act of
jurisdiction, by the manumission of a slave, who was brought
before them for that purpose; and the ceremony was intended to
represent the celebrated action of the elder Brutus, the author
of liberty and of the consulship, when he admitted among his
fellow-citizens the faithful Vindex, who had revealed the
conspiracy of the Tarquins. ^88 The public festival was continued
during several days in all the principal cities in Rome, from
custom; in Constantinople, from imitation in Carthage, Antioch,
and Alexandria, from the love of pleasure, and the superfluity of
wealth. ^89 In the two capitals of the empire the annual games of
the theatre, the circus, and the amphitheatre, ^90 cost four
thousand pounds of gold, (about) one hundred and sixty thousand
pounds sterling: and if so heavy an expense surpassed the
faculties or the inclinations of the magistrates themselves, the
sum was supplied from the Imperial treasury. ^91 As soon as the
consuls had discharged these customary duties, they were at
liberty to retire into the shade of private life, and to enjoy,
during the remainder of the year, the undisturbed contemplation
of their own greatness.  They no longer presided in the national
councils; they no longer executed the resolutions of peace or
war. Their abilities (unless they were employed in more effective
offices) were of little moment; and their names served only as
the legal date of the year in which they had filled the chair of
Marius and of Cicero.  Yet it was still felt and acknowledged, in
the last period of Roman servitude, that this empty name might be
compared, and even preferred, to the possession of substantial
power.  The title of consul was still the most splendid object of
ambition, the noblest reward of virtue and loyalty.  The emperors
themselves, who disdained the faint shadow of the republic, were
conscious that they acquired an additional splendor and majesty
as often as they assumed the annual honors of the consular
dignity. ^92

[Footnote 85: See Claudian in Cons. Prob. et Olybrii, 178, &c.;
and in iv. Cons. Honorii, 585, &c.; though in the latter it is
not easy to separate the ornaments of the emperor from those of
the consul.  Ausonius received from the liberality of Gratian a
vestis palmata, or robe of state, in which the figure of the
emperor Constantius was embroidered.

     Cernis et armorum proceres legumque potentes:
     Patricios sumunt habitus; et more Gabino
     Discolor incedit legio, positisque parumper
     Bellorum signis, sequitur vexilla Quirini.
     Lictori cedunt aquilae, ridetque togatus
     Miles, et in mediis effulget curia castris.

     Claud. in iv. Cons. Honorii, 5.

      - strictaque procul radiare secures.

     In Cons. Prob. 229]

[Footnote 87: See Valesius ad Ammian.  Marcellin. l. xxii. c. 7.]

[Footnote 88:  Auspice mox laeto sonuit clamore tribunal;
               Te fastos ineunte quater; solemnia ludit
               Omina libertas; deductum Vindice morem
               Lex servat, famulusque jugo laxatus herili
               Ducitur, et grato remeat securior ictu.

               Claud. in iv Cons. Honorii, 611]

[Footnote 89: Celebrant quidem solemnes istos dies omnes ubique
urbes quae sub legibus agunt; et Roma de more, et
Constantinopolis de imitatione, et Antiochia pro luxu, et
discincta Carthago, et domus fluminis Alexandria, sed Treviri
Principis beneficio.  Ausonius in Grat. Actione.]

[Footnote 90: Claudian (in Cons. Mall. Theodori, 279-331)
describes, in a lively and fanciful manner, the various games of
the circus, the theatre, and the amphitheatre, exhibited by the
new consul.  The sanguinary combats of gladiators had already
been prohibited.]

[Footnote 91: Procopius in Hist. Arcana, c. 26.]

[Footnote 92: In Consulatu honos sine labore suscipitur.
(Mamertin. in Panegyr.  Vet. xi. [x.] 2.) This exalted idea of
the consulship is borrowed from an oration (iii. p. 107)
pronounced by Julian in the servile court of Constantius.  See
the Abbe de la Bleterie, (Memoires de l'Academie, tom. xxiv. p.
289,) who delights to pursue the vestiges of the old
constitution, and who sometimes finds them in his copious fancy]

     The proudest and most perfect separation which can be found
in any age or country, between the nobles and the people, is
perhaps that of the Patricians and the Plebeians, as it was
established in the first age of the Roman republic.  Wealth and
honors, the offices of the state, and the ceremonies of religion,
were almost exclusively possessed by the former who, preserving
the purity of their blood with the most insulting jealousy, ^93
held their clients in a condition of specious vassalage.  But
these distinctions, so incompatible with the spirit of a free
people, were removed, after a long struggle, by the persevering
efforts of the Tribunes. The most active and successful of the
Plebeians accumulated wealth, aspired to honors, deserved
triumphs, contracted alliances, and, after some generations,
assumed the pride of ancient nobility. ^94 The Patrician
families, on the other hand, whose original number was never
recruited till the end of the commonwealth, either failed in the
ordinary course of nature, or were extinguished in so many
foreign and domestic wars, or, through a want of merit or
fortune, insensibly mingled with the mass of the people. ^95 Very
few remained who could derive their pure and genuine origin from
the infancy of the city, or even from that of the republic, when
Caesar and Augustus, Claudius and Vespasian, created from the
body of the senate a competent number of new Patrician families,
in the hope of perpetuating an order, which was still considered
as honorable and sacred. ^96 But these artificial supplies (in
which the reigning house was always included) were rapidly swept
away by the rage of tyrants, by frequent revolutions, by the
change of manners, and by the intermixture of nations. ^97 Little
more was left when Constantine ascended the throne, than a vague
and imperfect tradition, that the Patricians had once been the
first of the Romans.  To form a body of nobles, whose influence
may restrain, while it secures the authority of the monarch,
would have been very inconsistent with the character and policy
of Constantine; but had he seriously entertained such a design,
it might have exceeded the measure of his power to ratify, by an
arbitrary edict, an institution which must expect the sanction of
time and of opinion.  He revived, indeed, the title of
Patricians, but he revived it as a personal, not as an hereditary
distinction.  They yielded only to the transient superiority of
the annual consuls; but they enjoyed the pre-eminence over all
the great officers of state, with the most familiar access to the
person of the prince.  This honorable rank was bestowed on them
for life; and as they were usually favorites, and ministers who
had grown old in the Imperial court, the true etymology of the
word was perverted by ignorance and flattery; and the Patricians
of Constantine were reverenced as the adopted Fathers of the
emperor and the republic. ^98

[Footnote 93: Intermarriages between the Patricians and Plebeians
were prohibited by the laws of the XII Tables; and the uniform
operations of human nature may attest that the custom survived
the law.  See in Livy (iv. 1-6) the pride of family urged by the
consul, and the rights of mankind asserted by the tribune
Canuleius.]

[Footnote 94: See the animated picture drawn by Sallust, in the
Jugurthine war, of the pride of the nobles, and even of the
virtuous Metellus, who was unable to brook the idea that the
honor of the consulship should be bestowed on the obscure merit
of his lieutenant Marius.  (c. 64.) Two hundred years before, the
race of the Metelli themselves were confounded among the
Plebeians of Rome; and from the etymology of their name of
Coecilius, there is reason to believe that those haughty nobles
derived their origin from a sutler.] 
[Footnote 95: In the year of Rome 800, very few remained, not
only of the old Patrician families, but even of those which had
been created by Caesar and Augustus.  (Tacit. Annal. xi. 25.) The
family of Scaurus (a branch of the Patrician Aemilii) was
degraded so low that his father, who exercised the trade of a
charcoal merchant, left him only teu slaves, and somewhat less
than three hundred pounds sterling.  (Valerius Maximus, l. iv. c.
4, n. 11.  Aurel. Victor in Scauro.) The family was saved from
oblivion by the merit of the son.]

[Footnote 96: Tacit. Annal. xi. 25.  Dion Cassius, l. iii. p.
698.  The virtues of Agricola, who was created a Patrician by the
emperor Vespasian, reflected honor on that ancient order; but his
ancestors had not any claim beyond an Equestrian nobility.]

[Footnote 97: This failure would have been almost impossible if
it were true, as Casaubon compels Aurelius Victor to affirm (ad
Sueton, in Caesar v. 24. See Hist. August p. 203 and Casaubon
Comment., p. 220) that Vespasian created at once a thousand
Patrician families.  But this extravagant number is too much even
for the whole Senatorial order. unless we should include all the
Roman knights who were distinguished by the permission of wearing
the laticlave.]

[Footnote 98: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 118; and Godefroy ad Cod.
Theodos. l. vi. tit. vi.]

     II.  The fortunes of the Praetorian praefects were
essentially different from those of the consuls and Patricians. 
The latter saw their ancient greatness evaporate in a vain title.

The former, rising by degrees from the most humble condition,
were invested with the civil and military administration of the
Roman world.  From the reign of Severus to that of Diocletian,
the guards and the palace, the laws and the finances, the armies
and the provinces, were intrusted to their superintending care;
and, like the Viziers of the East, they held with one hand the
seal, and with the other the standard, of the empire.  The
ambition of the praefects, always formidable, and sometimes fatal
to the masters whom they served, was supported by the strength of
the Praetorian bands; but after those haughty troops had been
weakened by Diocletian, and finally suppressed by Constantine,
the praefects, who survived their fall, were reduced without
difficulty to the station of useful and obedient ministers.  When
they were no longer responsible for the safety of the emperor's
person, they resigned the jurisdiction which they had hitherto
claimed and exercised over all the departments of the palace. 
They were deprived by Constantine of all military command, as
soon as they had ceased to lead into the field, under their
immediate orders, the flower of the Roman troops; and at length,
by a singular revolution, the captains of the guards were
transformed into the civil magistrates of the provinces.
According to the plan of government instituted by Diocletian, the
four princes had each their Praetorian praefect; and after the
monarchy was once more united in the person of Constantine, he
still continued to create the same number of Four Praefects, and
intrusted to their care the same provinces which they already
administered.  1. The praefect of the East stretched his ample
jurisdiction into the three parts of the globe which were subject
to the Romans, from the cataracts of the Nile to the banks of the
Phasis, and from the mountains of Thrace to the frontiers of
Persia.  2. The important provinces of Pannonia, Dacia,
Macedonia, and Greece, once acknowledged the authority of the
praefect of Illyricum.  3. The power of the praefect of Italy was
not confined to the country from whence he derived his title; it
extended over the additional territory of Rhaetia as far as the
banks of the Danube, over the dependent islands of the
Mediterranean, and over that part of the continent of Africa
which lies between the confines of Cyrene and those of
Tingitania.  4. The praefect of the Gauls comprehended under that
plural denomination the kindred provinces of Britain and Spain,
and his authority was obeyed from the wall of Antoninus to the
foot of Mount Atlas. ^99 
[Footnote 99: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 109, 110.  If we had not
fortunately possessed this satisfactory account of the division
of the power and provinces of the Praetorian praefects, we should
frequently have been perplexed amidst the copious details of the
Code, and the circumstantial minuteness of the Notitia.]

     After the Praetorian praefects had been dismissed from all
military command, the civil functions which they were ordained to
exercise over so many subject nations, were adequate to the
ambition and abilities of the most consummate ministers.  To
their wisdom was committed the supreme administration of justice
and of the finances, the two objects which, in a state of peace,
comprehend almost all the respective duties of the sovereign and
of the people; of the former, to protect the citizens who are
obedient to the laws; of the latter, to contribute the share of
their property which is required for the expenses of the state. 
The coin, the highways, the posts, the granaries, the
manufactures, whatever could interest the public prosperity, was
moderated by the authority of the Praetorian praefects.  As the
immediate representatives of the Imperial majesty, they were
empowered to explain, to enforce, and on some occasions to
modify, the general edicts by their discretionary proclamations. 
They watched over the conduct of the provincial governors,
removed the negligent, and inflicted punishments on the guilty. 
From all the inferior jurisdictions, an appeal in every matter of
importance, either civil or criminal, might be brought before the
tribunal of the praefect; but his sentence was final and
absolute; and the emperors themselves refused to admit any
complaints against the judgment or the integrity of a magistrate
whom they honored with such unbounded confidence. ^100 His
appointments were suitable to his dignity; ^101 and if avarice
was his ruling passion, he enjoyed frequent opportunities of
collecting a rich harvest of fees, of presents, and of
perquisites.  Though the emperors no longer dreaded the ambition
of their praefects, they were attentive to counterbalance the
power of this great office by the uncertainty and shortness of
its duration. ^102

[Footnote 100: See a law of Constantine himself.  A praefectis
autem praetorio provocare, non sinimus.  Cod. Justinian. l. vii.
tit. lxii. leg. 19. Charisius, a lawyer of the time of
Constantine, (Heinec. Hist. Romani, p. 349,) who admits this law
as a fundamental principle of jurisprudence, compares the
Praetorian praefects to the masters of the horse of the ancient
dictators.  Pandect. l. i. tit. xi.]

[Footnote 101: When Justinian, in the exhausted condition of the
empire, instituted a Praetorian praefect for Africa, he allowed
him a salary of one hundred pounds of gold.  Cod. Justinian. l.
i. tit. xxvii. leg. i.] 
[Footnote 102: For this, and the other dignities of the empire,
it may be sufficient to refer to the ample commentaries of
Pancirolus and Godefroy, who have diligently collected and
accurately digested in their proper order all the legal and
historical materials.  From those authors, Dr. Howell (History of
the World, vol. ii. p. 24-77) has deduced a very distinct
abridgment of the state of the Roman empire]

     From their superior importance and dignity, Rome and
Constantinople were alone excepted from the jurisdiction of the
Praetorian praefects. The immense size of the city, and the
experience of the tardy, ineffectual operation of the laws, had
furnished the policy of Augustus with a specious pretence for
introducing a new magistrate, who alone could restrain a servile
and turbulent populace by the strong arm of arbitrary power. ^103
Valerius Messalla was appointed the first praefect of Rome, that
his reputation might countenance so invidious a measure; but, at
the end of a few days, that accomplished citizen ^104 resigned
his office, declaring, with a spirit worthy of the friend of
Brutus, that he found himself incapable of exercising a power
incompatible with public freedom. ^105 As the sense of liberty
became less exquisite, the advantages of order were more clearly
understood; and the praefect, who seemed to have been designed as
a terror only to slaves and vagrants, was permitted to extend his
civil and criminal jurisdiction over the equestrian and noble
families of Rome. The praetors, annually created as the judges of
law and equity, could not long dispute the possession of the
Forum with a vigorous and permanent magistrate, who was usually
admitted into the confidence of the prince. Their courts were
deserted, their number, which had once fluctuated between twelve
and eighteen, ^106 was gradually reduced to two or three, and
their important functions were confined to the expensive
obligation ^107 of exhibiting games for the amusement of the
people.  After the office of the Roman consuls had been changed
into a vain pageant, which was rarely displayed in the capital,
the praefects assumed their vacant place in the senate, and were
soon acknowledged as the ordinary presidents of that venerable
assembly. They received appeals from the distance of one hundred
miles; and it was allowed as a principle of jurisprudence, that
all municipal authority was derived from them alone. ^108 In the
discharge of his laborious employment, the governor of Rome was
assisted by fifteen officers, some of whom had been originally
his equals, or even his superiors.  The principal departments
were relative to the command of a numerous watch, established as
a safeguard against fires, robberies, and nocturnal disorders;
the custody and distribution of the public allowance of corn and
provisions; the care of the port, of the aqueducts, of the common
sewers, and of the navigation and bed of the Tyber; the
inspection of the markets, the theatres, and of the private as
well as the public works.  Their vigilance insured the three
principal objects of a regular police, safety, plenty, and
cleanliness; and as a proof of the attention of government to
preserve the splendor and ornaments of the capital, a particular
inspector was appointed for the statues; the guardian, as it
were, of that inanimate people, which, according to the
extravagant computation of an old writer, was scarcely inferior
in number to the living inhabitants of Rome.  About thirty years
after the foundation of Constantinople, a similar magistrate was
created in that rising metropolis, for the same uses and with the
same powers.  A perfect equality was established between the
dignity of the two municipal, and that of the four Praetorian
praefects. ^109

[Footnote 103: Tacit. Annal. vi. 11. Euseb. in Chron. p. 155. 
Dion Cassius, in the oration of Maecenas, (l. lvii. p. 675,)
describes the prerogatives of the praefect of the city as they
were established in his own time.] 
[Footnote 104: The fame of Messalla has been scarcely equal to
his merit. In the earliest youth he was recommended by Cicero to
the friendship of Brutus. He followed the standard of the
republic till it was broken in the fields of Philippi; he then
accepted and deserved the favor of the most moderate of the
conquerors; and uniformly asserted his freedom and dignity in the
court of Augustus.  The triumph of Messalla was justified by the
conquest of Aquitain. As an orator, he disputed the palm of
eloquence with Cicero himself.  Messalla cultivated every muse,
and was the patron of every man of genius.  He spent his evenings
in philosophic conversation with Horace; assumed his place at
table between Delia and Tibullus; and amused his leisure by
encouraging the poetical talents of young Ovid.]

[Footnote 105: Incivilem esse potestatem contestans, says the
translator of Eusebius.  Tacitus expresses the same idea in other
words; quasi nescius exercendi.]

[Footnote 106: See Lipsius, Excursus D. ad 1 lib. Tacit. Annal.] 
[Footnote 107: Heineccii. Element. Juris Civilis secund ordinem
Pandect i. p. 70.  See, likewise, Spanheim de Usu. Numismatum,
tom. ii. dissertat. x. p. 119.  In the year 450, Marcian
published a law, that three citizens should be annually created
Praetors of Constantinople by the choice of the senate, but with
their own consent.  Cod. Justinian. li. i. tit. xxxix. leg. 2.] 
[Footnote 108: Quidquid igitur intra urbem admittitur, ad P. U.
videtur pertinere; sed et siquid intra contesimum milliarium. 
Ulpian in Pandect l. i. tit. xiii. n. 1.  He proceeds to
enumerate the various offices of the praefect, who, in the code
of Justinian, (l. i. tit. xxxix. leg. 3,) is declared to precede
and command all city magistrates sine injuria ac detrimento
honoris alieni.]

[Footnote 109: Besides our usual guides, we may observe that
Felix Cantelorius has written a separate treatise, De Praefecto
Urbis; and that many curious details concerning the police of
Rome and Constantinople are contained in the fourteenth book of
the Theodosian Code.]

Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.

Part IV.

     Those who, in the imperial hierarchy, were distinguished by
the title of Respectable, formed an intermediate class between
the illustrious praefects, and the honorable magistrates of the
provinces.  In this class the proconsuls of Asia, Achaia, and
Africa, claimed a preeminence, which was yielded to the
remembrance of their ancient dignity; and the appeal from their
tribunal to that of the praefects was almost the only mark of
their dependence. ^110 But the civil government of the empire was
distributed into thirteen great Dioceses, each of which equalled
the just measure of a powerful kingdom.  The first of these
dioceses was subject to the jurisdiction of the count of the
east; and we may convey some idea of the importance and variety
of his functions, by observing, that six hundred apparitors, who
would be styled at present either secretaries, or clerks, or
ushers, or messengers, were employed in his immediate office.
^111 The place of Augustal proefect of Egypt was no longer filled
by a Roman knight; but the name was retained; and the
extraordinary powers which the situation of the country, and the
temper of the inhabitants, had once made indispensable, were
still continued to the governor.  The eleven remaining dioceses,
of Asiana, Pontica, and Thrace; of Macedonia, Dacia, and
Pannonia, or Western Illyricum; of Italy and Africa; of Gaul,
Spain, and Britain; were governed by twelve vicars or
vice-proefects, ^112 whose name sufficiently explains the nature
and dependence of their office.  It may be added, that the
lieutenant-generals of the Roman armies, the military counts and
dukes, who will be hereafter mentioned, were allowed the rank and
title of Respectable.

[Footnote 110: Eunapius affirms, that the proconsul of Asia was
independent of the praefect; which must, however, be understood
with some allowance. the jurisdiction of the vice-praefect he
most assuredly disclaimed. Pancirolus, p. 161.]

[Footnote 111: The proconsul of Africa had four hundred
apparitors; and they all received large salaries, either from the
treasury or the province See Pancirol. p. 26, and Cod. Justinian.
l. xii. tit. lvi. lvii.] 
[Footnote 112: In Italy there was likewise the Vicar of Rome.  It
has been much disputed whether his jurisdiction measured one
hundred miles from the city, or whether it stretched over the ten
thousand provinces of Italy.] 
     As the spirit of jealousy and ostentation prevailed in the
councils of the emperors, they proceeded with anxious diligence
to divide the substance and to multiply the titles of power.  The
vast countries which the Roman conquerors had united under the
same simple form of administration, were imperceptibly crumbled
into minute fragments; till at length the whole empire was
distributed into one hundred and sixteen provinces, each of which
supported an expensive and splendid establishment.  Of these,
three were governed by proconsuls, thirty-seven by consulars,
five by correctors, and seventy-one by presidents.  The
appellations of these magistrates were different; they ranked in
successive order, the ensigns of and their situation, from
accidental circumstances, might be more or less agreeable or
advantageous.  But they were all (excepting only the pro-consuls)
alike included in the class of honorable persons; and they were
alike intrusted, during the pleasure of the prince, and under the
authority of the praefects or their deputies, with the
administration of justice and the finances in their respective
districts.  The ponderous volumes of the Codes and Pandects ^113
would furnish ample materials for a minute inquiry into the
system of provincial government, as in the space of six centuries
it was approved by the wisdom of the Roman statesmen and lawyers.

It may be sufficient for the historian to select two singular and
salutary provisions, intended to restrain the abuse of authority.

1. For the preservation of peace and order, the governors of the
provinces were armed with the sword of justice.  They inflicted
corporal punishments, and they exercised, in capital offences,
the power of life and death.  But they were not authorized to
indulge the condemned criminal with the choice of his own
execution, or to pronounce a sentence of the mildest and most
honorable kind of exile.  These prerogatives were reserved to the
praefects, who alone could impose the heavy fine of fifty pounds
of gold: their vicegerents were confined to the trifling weight
of a few ounces. ^114 This distinction, which seems to grant the
larger, while it denies the smaller degree of authority, was
founded on a very rational motive. The smaller degree was
infinitely more liable to abuse.  The passions of a provincial
magistrate might frequently provoke him into acts of oppression,
which affected only the freedom or the fortunes of the subject;
though, from a principle of prudence, perhaps of humanity, he
might still be terrified by the guilt of innocent blood.  It may
likewise be considered, that exile, considerable fines, or the
choice of an easy death, relate more particularly to the rich and
the noble; and the persons the most exposed to the avarice or
resentment of a provincial magistrate, were thus removed from his
obscure persecution to the more august and impartial tribunal of
the Praetorian praefect.  2. As it was reasonably apprehended
that the integrity of the judge might be biased, if his interest
was concerned, or his affections were engaged, the strictest
regulations were established, to exclude any person, without the
special dispensation of the emperor, from the government of the
province where he was born; ^115 and to prohibit the governor or
his son from contracting marriage with a native, or an
inhabitant; ^116 or from purchasing slaves, lands, or houses,
within the extent of his jurisdiction. ^117 Notwithstanding these
rigorous precautions, the emperor Constantine, after a reign of
twenty-five years, still deplores the venal and oppressive
administration of justice, and expresses the warmest indignation
that the audience of the judge, his despatch of business, his
seasonable delays, and his final sentence, were publicly sold,
either by himself or by the officers of his court.  The
continuance, and perhaps the impunity, of these crimes, is
attested by the repetition of impotent laws and ineffectual
menaces. ^118 
[Footnote 113: Among the works of the celebrated Ulpian, there
was one in ten books, concerning the office of a proconsul, whose
duties in the most essential articles were the same as those of
an ordinary governor of a province.]

[Footnote 114: The presidents, or consulars, could impose only
two ounces; the vice-praefects, three; the proconsuls, count of
the east, and praefect of Egypt, six.  See Heineccii Jur. Civil.
tom. i. p. 75.  Pandect. l. xlviii. tit. xix. n. 8.  Cod.
Justinian. l. i. tit. liv. leg. 4, 6.] 
[Footnote 115: Ut nulli patriae suae administratio sine speciali
principis permissu permittatur.  Cod. Justinian. l. i. tit. xli. 
This law was first enacted by the emperor Marcus, after the
rebellion of Cassius.  (Dion. l. lxxi.) The same regulation is
observed in China, with equal strictness, and with equal effect.]

[Footnote 116: Pandect. l. xxiii. tit. ii. n. 38, 57, 63.] 
[Footnote 117: In jure continetur, ne quis in administratione
constitutus aliquid compararet.  Cod. Theod. l. viii. tit. xv.
leg. l.  This maxim of common law was enforced by a series of
edicts (see the remainder of the title) from Constantine to
Justin.  From this prohibition, which is extended to the meanest
officers of the governor, they except only clothes and
provisions. The purchase within five years may be recovered;
after which on information, it devolves to the treasury.]

[Footnote 118: Cessent rapaces jam nunc officialium manus;
cessent, inquam nam si moniti non cessaverint, gladiis
praecidentur, &c. Cod. Theod. l. i. tit. vii. leg. l.  Zeno
enacted that all governors should remain in the province, to
answer any accusations, fifty days after the expiration of their
power. Cod Justinian. l. ii. tit. xlix. leg. l.]

     All the civil magistrates were drawn from the profession of
the law. The celebrated Institutes of Justinian are addressed to
the youth of his dominions, who had devoted themselves to the
study of Roman jurisprudence; and the sovereign condescends to
animate their diligence, by the assurance that their skill and
ability would in time be rewarded by an adequate share in the
government of the republic. ^119 The rudiments of this lucrative
science were taught in all the considerable cities of the east
and west; but the most famous school was that of Berytus, ^120 on
the coast of Phoenicia; which flourished above three centuries
from the time of Alexander Severus, the author perhaps of an
institution so advantageous to his native country.  After a
regular course of education, which lasted five years, the
students dispersed themselves through the provinces, in search of
fortune and honors; nor could they want an inexhaustible supply
of business great empire, already corrupted by the multiplicity
of laws, of arts, and of vices.  The court of the Praetorian
praefect of the east could alone furnish employment for one
hundred and fifty advocates, sixty-four of whom were
distinguished by peculiar privileges, and two were annually
chosen, with a salary of sixty pounds of gold, to defend the
causes of the treasury.  The first experiment was made of their
judicial talents, by appointing them to act occasionally as
assessors to the magistrates; from thence they were often raised
to preside in the tribunals before which they had pleaded.  They
obtained the government of a province; and, by the aid of merit,
of reputation, or of favor, they ascended, by successive steps,
to the illustrious dignities of the state. ^121 In the practice
of the bar, these men had considered reason as the instrument of
dispute; they interpreted the laws according to the dictates of
private interest and the same pernicious habits might still
adhere to their characters in the public administration of the
state.  The honor of a liberal profession has indeed been
vindicated by ancient and modern advocates, who have filled the
most important stations, with pure integrity and consummate
wisdom: but in the decline of Roman jurisprudence, the ordinary
promotion of lawyers was pregnant with mischief and disgrace. 
The noble art, which had once been preserved as the sacred
inheritance of the patricians, was fallen into the hands of
freedmen and plebeians, ^122 who, with cunning rather than with
skill, exercised a sordid and pernicious trade.  Some of them
procured admittance into families for the purpose of fomenting
differences, of encouraging suits, and of preparing a harvest of
gain for themselves or their brethren.  Others, recluse in their
chambers, maintained the dignity of legal professors, by
furnishing a rich client with subtleties to confound the plainest
truths, and with arguments to color the most unjustifiable
pretensions.  The splendid and popular class was composed of the
advocates, who filled the Forum with the sound of their turgid
and loquacious rhetoric. Careless of fame and of justice, they
are described, for the most part, as ignorant and rapacious
guides, who conducted their clients through a maze of expense, of
delay, and of disappointment; from whence, after a tedious series
of years, they were at length dismissed, when their patience and
fortune were almost exhausted. ^123

[Footnote 119: Summa igitur ope, et alacri studio has leges
nostras accipite; et vosmetipsos sic eruditos ostendite, ut spes
vos pulcherrima foveat; toto legitimo opere perfecto, posse etiam
nostram rempublicam in par tibus ejus vobis credendis gubernari. 
Justinian in proem. Institutionum.] 
[Footnote 120: The splendor of the school of Berytus, which
preserved in the east the language and jurisprudence of the
Romans, may be computed to have lasted from the third to the
middle of the sixth century Heinecc. Jur. Rom. Hist. p. 351-356.]

[Footnote 121: As in a former period I have traced the civil and
military promotion of Pertinax, I shall here insert the civil
honors of Mallius Theodorus.  1. He was distinguished by his
eloquence, while he pleaded as an advocate in the court of the
Praetorian praefect.  2. He governed one of the provinces of
Africa, either as president or consular, and deserved, by his
administration, the honor of a brass statue.  3. He was appointed
vicar, or vice-praefect, of Macedonia.  4. Quaestor.  5. Count of
the sacred largesses. 6. Praetorian praefect of the Gauls; whilst
he might yet be represented as a young man.  7. After a retreat,
perhaps a disgrace of many years, which Mallius (confounded by
some critics with the poet Manilius; see Fabricius Bibliothec.
Latin. Edit. Ernest. tom. i.c. 18, p. 501) employed in the study
of the Grecian philosophy he was named Praetorian praefect of
Italy, in the year 397.  8. While he still exercised that great
office, he was created, it the year 399, consul for the West; and
his name, on account of the infamy of his colleague, the eunuch
Eutropius, often stands alone in the Fasti.  9. In the year 408,
Mallius was appointed a second time Praetorian praefect of Italy.

Even in the venal panegyric of Claudian, we may discover the
merit of Mallius Theodorus, who, by a rare felicity, was the
intimate friend, both of Symmachus and of St. Augustin.  See
Tillemont, Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 1110-1114.]

[Footnote 122: Mamertinus in Panegyr. Vet. xi. [x.] 20.  Asterius
apud Photium, p. 1500.]

[Footnote 123: The curious passage of Ammianus, (l. xxx. c. 4,)
in which he paints the manners of contemporary lawyers, affords a
strange mixture of sound sense, false rhetoric, and extravagant
satire.  Godefroy (Prolegom. ad. Cod. Theod. c. i. p. 185)
supports the historian by similar complaints and authentic facts.

In the fourth century, many camels might have been laden with
law-books.  Eunapius in Vit. Aedesii, p. 72.]

     III.  In the system of policy introduced by Augustus, the
governors, those at least of the Imperial provinces, were
invested with the full powers of the sovereign himself. 
Ministers of peace and war, the distribution of rewards and
punishments depended on them alone, and they successively
appeared on their tribunal in the robes of civil magistracy, and
in complete armor at the head of the Roman legions. ^124 The
influence of the revenue, the authority of law, and the command
of a military force, concurred to render their power supreme and
absolute; and whenever they were tempted to violate their
allegiance, the loyal province which they involved in their
rebellion was scarcely sensible of any change in its political
state.  From the time of Commodus to the reign of Constantine,
near one hundred governors might be enumerated, who, with various
success, erected the standard of revolt; and though the innocent
were too often sacrificed, the guilty might be sometimes
prevented, by the suspicious cruelty of their master. ^125 To
secure his throne and the public tranquillity from these
formidable servants, Constantine resolved to divide the military
from the civil administration, and to establish, as a permanent
and professional distinction, a practice which had been adopted
only as an occasional expedient.  The supreme jurisdiction
exercised by the Praetorian praefects over the armies of the
empire, was transferred to the two masters-general whom he
instituted, the one for the cavalry, the other for the infantry;
and though each of these illustrious officers was more peculiarly
responsible for the discipline of those troops which were under
his immediate inspection, they both indifferently commanded in
the field the several bodies, whether of horse or foot, which
were united in the same army. ^126 Their number was soon doubled
by the division of the east and west; and as separate generals of
the same rank and title were appointed on the four important
frontiers of the Rhine, of the Upper and the Lower Danube, and of
the Euphrates, the defence of the Roman empire was at length
committed to eight masters-general of the cavalry and infantry. 
Under their orders, thirty-five military commanders were
stationed in the provinces: three in Britain, six in Gaul, one in
Spain, one in Italy, five on the Upper, and four on the Lower
Danube; in Asia, eight, three in Egypt, and four in Africa.  The
titles of counts, and dukes, ^127 by which they were properly
distinguished, have obtained in modern languages so very
different a sense, that the use of them may occasion some
surprise.  But it should be recollected, that the second of those
appellations is only a corruption of the Latin word, which was
indiscriminately applied to any military chief.  All these
provincial generals were therefore dukes; but no more than ten
among them were dignified with the rank of counts or companions,
a title of honor, or rather of favor, which had been recently
invented in the court of Constantine.  A gold belt was the ensign
which distinguished the office of the counts and dukes; and
besides their pay, they received a liberal allowance sufficient
to maintain one hundred and ninety servants, and one hundred and
fifty-eight horses.  They were strictly prohibited from
interfering in any matter which related to the administration of
justice or the revenue; but the command which they exercised over
the troops of their department, was independent of the authority
of the magistrates.  About the same time that Constantine gave a
legal sanction to the ecclesiastical order, he instituted in the
Roman empire the nice balance of the civil and the military
powers. The emulation, and sometimes the discord, which reigned
between two professions of opposite interests and incompatible
manners, was productive of beneficial and of pernicious
consequences.  It was seldom to be expected that the general and
the civil governor of a province should either conspire for the
disturbance, or should unite for the service, of their country. 
While the one delayed to offer the assistance which the other
disdained to solicit, the troops very frequently remained without
orders or without supplies; the public safety was betrayed, and
the defenceless subjects were left exposed to the fury of the
Barbarians.  The divided administration which had been formed by
Constantine, relaxed the vigor of the state, while it secured the
tranquillity of the monarch.

[Footnote 124: See a very splendid example in the life of
Agricola, particularly c. 20, 21.  The lieutenant of Britain was
intrusted with the same powers which Cicero, proconsul of
Cilicia, had exercised in the name of the senate and people.]

[Footnote 125: The Abbe Dubos, who has examined with accuracy
(see Hist. de la Monarchie Francoise, tom. i. p. 41-100, edit.
1742) the institutions of Augustus and of Constantine, observes,
that if Otho had been put to death the day before he executed his
conspiracy, Otho would now appear in history as innocent as
Corbulo.]

[Footnote 126: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 110.  Before the end of the
reign of Constantius, the magistri militum were already increased
to four.  See Velesius ad Ammian. l. xvi. c. 7.]

[Footnote 127: Though the military counts and dukes are
frequently mentioned, both in history and the codes, we must have
recourse to the Notitia for the exact knowledge of their number
and stations.  For the institution, rank, privileges, &c., of the
counts in general see Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. xii. - xx., with
the commentary of Godefroy.]

     The memory of Constantine has been deservedly censured for
another innovation, which corrupted military discipline and
prepared the ruin of the empire.  The nineteen years which
preceded his final victory over Licinius, had been a period of
license and intestine war.  The rivals who contended for the
possession of the Roman world, had withdrawn the greatest part of
their forces from the guard of the general frontier; and the
principal cities which formed the boundary of their respective
dominions were filled with soldiers, who considered their
countrymen as their most implacable enemies.  After the use of
these internal garrisons had ceased with the civil war, the
conqueror wanted either wisdom or firmness to revive the severe
discipline of Diocletian, and to suppress a fatal indulgence,
which habit had endeared and almost confirmed to the military
order.  From the reign of Constantine, a popular and even legal
distinction was admitted between the Palatines ^128 and the
Borderers; the troops of the court, as they were improperly
styled, and the troops of the frontier. The former, elevated by
the superiority of their pay and privileges, were permitted,
except in the extraordinary emergencies of war, to occupy their
tranquil stations in the heart of the provinces.  The most
flourishing cities were oppressed by the intolerable weight of
quarters. The soldiers insensibly forgot the virtues of their
profession, and contracted only the vices of civil life.  They
were either degraded by the industry of mechanic trades, or
enervated by the luxury of baths and theatres.  They soon became
careless of their martial exercises, curious in their diet and
apparel; and while they inspired terror to the subjects of the
empire, they trembled at the hostile approach of the Barbarians.
^129 The chain of fortifications which Diocletian and his
colleagues had extended along the banks of the great rivers, was
no longer maintained with the same care, or defended with the
same vigilance.  The numbers which still remained under the name
of the troops of the frontier, might be sufficient for the
ordinary defence; but their spirit was degraded by the
humiliating reflection, that they who were exposed to the
hardships and dangers of a perpetual warfare, were rewarded only
with about two thirds of the pay and emoluments which were
lavished on the troops of the court.  Even the bands or legions
that were raised the nearest to the level of those unworthy
favorites, were in some measure disgraced by the title of honor
which they were allowed to assume.  It was in vain that
Constantine repeated the most dreadful menaces of fire and sword
against the Borderers who should dare desert their colors, to
connive at the inroads of the Barbarians, or to participate in
the spoil. ^130 The mischiefs which flow from injudicious
counsels are seldom removed by the application of partial
severities; and though succeeding princes labored to restore the
strength and numbers of the frontier garrisons, the empire, till
the last moment of its dissolution, continued to languish under
the mortal wound which had been so rashly or so weakly inflicted
by the hand of Constantine.

[Footnote 128: Zosimus, l ii. p. 111.  The distinction between
the two classes of Roman troops, is very darkly expressed in the
historians, the laws, and the Notitia.  Consult, however, the
copious paratitlon, or abstract, which Godefroy has drawn up of
the seventh book, de Re Militari, of the Theodosian Code, l. vii.
tit. i. leg. 18, l. viii. tit. i. leg. 10.]

[Footnote 129: Ferox erat in suos miles et rapax, ignavus vero in
hostes et fractus.  Ammian. l. xxii. c. 4.  He observes, that
they loved downy beds and houses of marble; and that their cups
were heavier than their swords.] 
[Footnote 130: Cod. Theod. l. vii. tit. i. leg. 1, tit. xii. leg.
i.  See Howell's Hist. of the World, vol. ii. p. 19.  That
learned historian, who is not sufficiently known, labors to
justify the character and policy of Constantine.]

     The same timid policy, of dividing whatever is united, of
reducing whatever is eminent, of dreading every active power, and
of expecting that the most feeble will prove the most obedient,
seems to pervade the institutions of several princes, and
particularly those of Constantine. The martial pride of the
legions, whose victorious camps had so often been the scene of
rebellion, was nourished by the memory of their past exploits,
and the consciousness of their actual strength.  As long as they
maintained their ancient establishment of six thousand men, they
subsisted, under the reign of Diocletian, each of them singly, a
visible and important object in the military history of the Roman
empire.  A few years afterwards, these gigantic bodies were
shrunk to a very diminutive size; and when seven legions, with
some auxiliaries, defended the city of Amida against the
Persians, the total garrison, with the inhabitants of both sexes,
and the peasants of the deserted country, did not exceed the
number of twenty thousand persons. ^131 From this fact, and from
similar examples, there is reason to believe, that the
constitution of the legionary troops, to which they partly owed
their valor and discipline, was dissolved by Constantine; and
that the bands of Roman infantry, which still assumed the same
names and the same honors, consisted only of one thousand or
fifteen hundred men. ^132 The conspiracy of so many separate
detachments, each of which was awed by the sense of its own
weakness, could easily be checked; and the successors of
Constantine might indulge their love of ostentation, by issuing
their orders to one hundred and thirty-two legions, inscribed on
the muster-roll of their numerous armies.  The remainder of their
troops was distributed into several hundred cohorts of infantry,
and squadrons of cavalry.  Their arms, and titles, and ensigns,
were calculated to inspire terror, and to display the variety of
nations who marched under the Imperial standard.  And not a
vestige was left of that severe simplicity, which, in the ages of
freedom and victory, had distinguished the line of battle of a
Roman army from the confused host of an Asiatic monarch. ^133 A
more particular enumeration, drawn from the Notitia, might
exercise the diligence of an antiquary; but the historian will
content himself with observing, that the number of permanent
stations or garrisons established on the frontiers of the empire,
amounted to five hundred and eighty-three; and that, under the
successors of Constantine, the complete force of the military
establishment was computed at six hundred and forty-five thousand
soldiers. ^134 An effort so prodigious surpassed the wants of a
more ancient, and the faculties of a later, period.

[Footnote 131: Ammian. l. xix. c. 2.  He observes, (c. 5,) that
the desperate sallies of two Gallic legions were like a handful
of water thrown on a great conflagration.]

[Footnote 132: Pancirolus ad Notitiam, p. 96.  Memoires de
l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxv. p. 491.]

[Footnote 133: Romana acies unius prope formae erat et hominum et
armorum genere. - Regia acies varia magis multis gentibus
dissimilitudine armorum auxiliorumque erat.  T. Liv. l. xxxvii.
c. 39, 40.  Flaminius, even before the event, had compared the
army of Antiochus to a supper in which the flesh of one vile
animal was diversified by the skill of the cooks.  See the Life
of Flaminius in Plutarch.]

[Footnote 134: Agathias, l. v. p. 157, edit. Louvre.]

     In the various states of society, armies are recruited from
very different motives.  Barbarians are urged by the love of war;
the citizens of a free republic may be prompted by a principle of
duty; the subjects, or at least the nobles, of a monarchy, are
animated by a sentiment of honor; but the timid and luxurious
inhabitants of a declining empire must be allured into the
service by the hopes of profit, or compelled by the dread of
punishment.  The resources of the Roman treasury were exhausted
by the increase of pay, by the repetition of donatives, and by
the invention of new emolument and indulgences, which, in the
opinion of the provincial youth might compensate the hardships
and dangers of a military life.  Yet, although the stature was
lowered, ^135 although slaves, least by a tacit connivance, were
indiscriminately received into the ranks, the insurmountable
difficulty of procuring a regular and adequate supply of
volunteers, obliged the emperors to adopt more effectual and
coercive methods.  The lands bestowed on the veterans, as the
free reward of their valor were henceforward granted under a
condition which contain the first rudiments of the feudal
tenures; that their sons, who succeeded to the inheritance,
should devote themselves to the profession of arms, as soon as
they attained the age of manhood; and their cowardly refusal was
punished by the lose of honor, of fortune, or even of life. ^136
But as the annual growth of the sons of the veterans bore a very
small proportion to the demands of the service, levies of men
were frequently required from the provinces, and every proprietor
was obliged either to take up arms, or to procure a substitute,
or to purchase his exemption by the payment of a heavy fine.  The
sum of forty-two pieces of gold, to which it was reduced
ascertains the exorbitant price of volunteers, and the reluctance
with which the government admitted of this alterative. ^137 Such
was the horror for the profession of a soldier, which had
affected the minds of the degenerate Romans, that many of the
youth of Italy and the provinces chose to cut off the fingers of
their right hand, to escape from being pressed into the service;
and this strange expedient was so commonly practised, as to
deserve the severe animadversion of the laws, ^138 and a peculiar
name in the Latin language. ^139

[Footnote 135: Valentinian (Cod. Theodos. l. vii. tit. xiii. leg.
3) fixes the standard at five feet seven inches, about five feet
four inches and a half, English measure.  It had formerly been
five feet ten inches, and in the best corps, six Roman feet.  Sed
tunc erat amplior multitude se et plures sequebantur militiam
armatam.  Vegetius de Re Militari l. i. c. v.] 
[Footnote 136: See the two titles, De Veteranis and De Filiis
Veteranorum, in the seventh book of the Theodosian Code.  The age
at which their military service was required, varied from
twenty-five to sixteen.  If the sons of the veterans appeared
with a horse, they had a right to serve in the cavalry; two
horses gave them some valuable privileges]

[Footnote 137: Cod. Theod. l. vii. tit. xiii. leg. 7.  According
to the historian Socrates, (see Godefroy ad loc.,) the same
emperor Valens sometimes required eighty pieces of gold for a
recruit.  In the following law it is faintly expressed, that
slaves shall not be admitted inter optimas lectissimorum militum
turmas.]

[Footnote 138: The person and property of a Roman knight, who had
mutilated his two sons, were sold at public auction by order of
Augustus. (Sueton. in August. c. 27.) The moderation of that
artful usurper proves, that this example of severity was
justified by the spirit of the times.  Ammianus makes a
distinction between the effeminate Italians and the hardy Gauls.
(L. xv. c. 12.) Yet only 15 years afterwards, Valentinian, in a
law addressed to the praefect of Gaul, is obliged to enact that
these cowardly deserters shall be burnt alive.  Cod. Theod. l.
vii. tit. xiii. leg. 5.) Their numbers in Illyricum were so
considerable, that the province complained of a scarcity of
recruits.  (Id. leg. 10.)]

[Footnote 139: They were called Murci.  Murcidus is found in
Plautus and Festus, to denote a lazy and cowardly person, who,
according to Arnobius and Augustin, was under the immediate
protection of the goddess Murcia. From this particular instance
of cowardice, murcare is used as synonymous to mutilare, by the
writers of the middle Latinity.  See Linder brogius and Valesius
ad Ammian.  Marcellin, l. xv. c. 12]

Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.

Part V.

     The introduction of Barbarians into the Roman armies became
every day more universal, more necessary, and more fatal.  The
most daring of the Scythians, of the Goths, and of the Germans,
who delighted in war, and who found it more profitable to defend
than to ravage the provinces, were enrolled, not only in the
auxiliaries of their respective nations, but in the legions
themselves, and among the most distinguished of the Palatine
troops. As they freely mingled with the subjects of the empire,
they gradually learned to despise their manners, and to imitate
their arts. They abjured the implicit reverence which the pride
of Rome had exacted from their ignorance, while they acquired the
knowledge and possession of those advantages by which alone she
supported her declining greatness.  The Barbarian soldiers, who
displayed any military talents, were advanced, without exception,
to the most important commands; and the names of the tribunes, of
the counts and dukes, and of the generals themselves, betray a
foreign origin, which they no longer condescended to disguise. 
They were often intrusted with the conduct of a war against their
countrymen; and though most of them preferred the ties of
allegiance to those of blood, they did not always avoid the
guilt, or at least the suspicion, of holding a treasonable
correspondence with the enemy, of inviting his invasion, or of
sparing his retreat.  The camps and the palace of the son of
Constantine were governed by the powerful faction of the Franks,
who preserved the strictest connection with each other, and with
their country, and who resented every personal affront as a
national indignity. ^140 When the tyrant Caligula was suspected
of an intention to invest a very extraordinary candidate with the
consular robes, the sacrilegious profanation would have scarcely
excited less astonishment, if, instead of a horse, the noblest
chieftain of Germany or Britain had been the object of his
choice. The revolution of three centuries had produced so
remarkable a change in the prejudices of the people, that, with
the public approbation, Constantine showed his successors the
example of bestowing the honors of the consulship on the
Barbarians, who, by their merit and services, had deserved to be
ranked among the first of the Romans. ^141 But as these hardy
veterans, who had been educated in the ignorance or contempt of
the laws, were incapable of exercising any civil offices, the
powers of the human mind were contracted by the irreconcilable
separation of talents as well as of professions.  The
accomplished citizens of the Greek and Roman republics, whose
characters could adapt themselves to the bar, the senate, the
camp, or the schools, had learned to write, to speak, and to act
with the same spirit, and with equal abilities. 
[Footnote 140: Malarichus - adhibitis Francis quorum ea
tempestate in palatio multitudo florebat, erectius jam loquebatur
tumultuabaturque. Ammian. l. xv. c. 5.]

[Footnote 141: Barbaros omnium primus, ad usque fasces auxerat et
trabeas consulares.  Ammian. l. xx. c. 10.  Eusebius (in Vit.
Constantin. l. iv c.7) and Aurelius Victor seem to confirm the
truth of this assertion yet in the thirty-two consular Fasti of
the reign of Constantine cannot discover the name of a single
Barbarian.  I should therefore interpret the liberality of that
prince as relative to the ornaments rather than to the office, of
the consulship.]

     IV.  Besides the magistrates and generals, who at a distance
from the court diffused their delegated authority over the
provinces and armies, the emperor conferred the rank of
Illustrious on seven of his more immediate servants, to whose
fidelity he intrusted his safety, or his counsels, or his
treasures.  1. The private apartments of the palace were governed
by a favorite eunuch, who, in the language of that age, was
styled the proepositus, or praefect of the sacred bed-chamber. 
His duty was to attend the emperor in his hours of state, or in
those of amusement, and to perform about his person all those
menial services, which can only derive their splendor from the
influence of royalty.  Under a prince who deserved to reign, the
great chamberlain (for such we may call him) was a useful and
humble domestic; but an artful domestic, who improves every
occasion of unguarded confidence, will insensibly acquire over a
feeble mind that ascendant which harsh wisdom and uncomplying
virtue can seldom obtain.  The degenerate grandsons of
Theodosius, who were invisible to their subjects, and
contemptible to their enemies, exalted the praefects of their
bed- chamber above the heads of all the ministers of the palace;
^142 and even his deputy, the first of the splendid train of
slaves who waited in the presence, was thought worthy to rank
before the respectable proconsuls of Greece or Asia.  The
jurisdiction of the chamberlain was acknowledged by the counts,
or superintendents, who regulated the two important provinces of
the magnificence of the wardrobe, and of the luxury of the
Imperial table. ^143 2. The principal administration of public
affairs was committed to the diligence and abilities of the
master of the offices. ^144 He was the supreme magistrate of the
palace, inspected the discipline of the civil and military
schools, and received appeals from all parts of the empire, in
the causes which related to that numerous army of privileged
persons, who, as the servants of the court, had obtained for
themselves and families a right to decline the authority of the
ordinary judges.  The correspondence between the prince and his
subjects was managed by the four scrinia, or offices of this
minister of state.  The first was appropriated to memorials, the
second to epistles, the third to petitions, and the fourth to
papers and orders of a miscellaneous kind.  Each of these was
directed by an inferior master of respectable dignity, and the
whole business was despatched by a hundred and forty-eight
secretaries, chosen for the most part from the profession of the
law, on account of the variety of abstracts of reports and
references which frequently occurred in the exercise of their
several functions.  From a condescension, which in former ages
would have been esteemed unworthy the Roman majesty, a particular
secretary was allowed for the Greek language; and interpreters
were appointed to receive the ambassadors of the Barbarians; but
the department of foreign affairs, which constitutes so essential
a part of modern policy, seldom diverted the attention of the
master of the offices.  His mind was more seriously engaged by
the general direction of the posts and arsenals of the empire.
There were thirty-four cities, fifteen in the East, and nineteen
in the West, in which regular companies of workmen were
perpetually employed in fabricating defensive armor, offensive
weapons of all sorts, and military engines, which were deposited
in the arsenals, and occasionally delivered for the service of
the troops.  3. In the course of nine centuries, the office of
quaestor had experienced a very singular revolution.  In the
infancy of Rome, two inferior magistrates were annually elected
by the people, to relieve the consuls from the invidious
management of the public treasure; ^145 a similar assistant was
granted to every proconsul, and to every praetor, who exercised a
military or provincial command; with the extent of conquest, the
two quaestors were gradually multiplied to the number of four, of
eight, of twenty, and, for a short time, perhaps, of forty; ^146
and the noblest citizens ambitiously solicited an office which
gave them a seat in the senate, and a just hope of obtaining the
honors of the republic.  Whilst Augustus affected to maintain the
freedom of election, he consented to accept the annual privilege
of recommending, or rather indeed of nominating, a certain
proportion of candidates; and it was his custom to select one of
these distinguished youths, to read his orations or epistles in
the assemblies of the senate. ^147 The practice of Augustus was
imitated by succeeding princes; the occasional commission was
established as a permanent office; and the favored quaestor,
assuming a new and more illustrious character, alone survived the
suppression of his ancient and useless colleagues. ^148 As the
orations which he composed in the name of the emperor, ^149
acquired the force, and, at length, the form, of absolute edicts,
he was considered as the representative of the legislative power,
the oracle of the council, and the original source of the civil
jurisprudence.  He was sometimes invited to take his seat in the
supreme judicature of the Imperial consistory, with the
Praetorian praefects, and the master of the offices; and he was
frequently requested to resolve the doubts of inferior judges:
but as he was not oppressed with a variety of subordinate
business, his leisure and talents were employed to cultivate that
dignified style of eloquence, which, in the corruption of taste
and language, still preserves the majesty of the Roman laws. ^150
In some respects, the office of the Imperial quaestor may be
compared with that of a modern chancellor; but the use of a great
seal, which seems to have been adopted by the illiterate
barbarians, was never introduced to attest the public acts of the
emperors.  4. The extraordinary title of count of the sacred
largesses was bestowed on the treasurer-general of the revenue,
with the intention perhaps of inculcating, that every payment
flowed from the voluntary bounty of the monarch.  To conceive the
almost infinite detail of the annual and daily expense of the
civil and military administration in every part of a great
empire, would exceed the powers of the most vigorous imagination.

The actual account employed several hundred persons, distributed
into eleven different offices, which were artfully contrived to
examine and control their respective operations.  The multitude
of these agents had a natural tendency to increase; and it was
more than once thought expedient to dismiss to their native homes
the useless supernumeraries, who, deserting their honest labors,
had pressed with too much eagerness into the lucrative profession
of the finances. ^151 Twenty-nine provincial receivers, of whom
eighteen were honored with the title of count, corresponded with
the treasurer; and he extended his jurisdiction over the mines
from whence the precious metals were extracted, over the mints,
in which they were converted into the current coin, and over the
public treasuries of the most important cities, where they were
deposited for the service of the state.  The foreign trade of the
empire was regulated by this minister, who directed likewise all
the linen and woollen manufactures, in which the successive
operations of spinning, weaving, and dyeing were executed,
chiefly by women of a servile condition, for the use of the
palace and army.  Twenty-six of these institutions are enumerated
in the West, where the arts had been more recently introduced,
and a still larger proportion may be allowed for the industrious
provinces of the East. ^152 5. Besides the public revenue, which
an absolute monarch might levy and expend according to his
pleasure, the emperors, in the capacity of opulent citizens,
possessed a very extensive property, which was administered by
the count or treasurer of the private estate.  Some part had
perhaps been the ancient demesnes of kings and republics; some
accessions might be derived from the families which were
successively invested with the purple; but the most considerable
portion flowed from the impure source of confiscations and
forfeitures.  The Imperial estates were scattered through the
provinces, from Mauritania to Britain; but the rich and fertile
soil of Cappadocia tempted the monarch to acquire in that country
his fairest possessions, ^153 and either Constantine or his
successors embraced the occasion of justifying avarice by
religious zeal. They suppressed the rich temple of Comana, where
the high priest of the goddess of war supported the dignity of a
sovereign prince; and they applied to their private use the
consecrated lands, which were inhabited by six thousand subjects
or slaves of the deity and her ministers. ^154 But these were not
the valuable inhabitants: the plains that stretch from the foot
of Mount Argaeus to the banks of the Sarus, bred a generous race
of horses, renowned above all others in the ancient world for
their majestic shape and incomparable swiftness. These sacred
animals, destined for the service of the palace and the Imperial
games, were protected by the laws from the profanation of a
vulgar master. ^155 The demesnes of Cappadocia were important
enough to require the inspection of a count; ^156 officers of an
inferior rank were stationed in the other parts of the empire;
and the deputies of the private, as well as those of the public,
treasurer were maintained in the exercise of their independent
functions, and encouraged to control the authority of the
provincial magistrates. ^157 6, 7. The chosen bands of cavalry
and infantry, which guarded the person of the emperor, were under
the immediate command of the two counts of the domestics.  The
whole number consisted of three thousand five hundred men,
divided into seven schools, or troops, of five hundred each; and
in the East, this honorable service was almost entirely
appropriated to the Armenians.  Whenever, on public ceremonies,
they were drawn up in the courts and porticos of the palace,
their lofty stature, silent order, and splendid arms of silver
and gold, displayed a martial pomp not unworthy of the Roman
majesty. ^158 From the seven schools two companies of horse and
foot were selected, of the protectors, whose advantageous station
was the hope and reward of the most deserving soldiers.  They
mounted guard in the interior apartments, and were occasionally
despatched into the provinces, to execute with celerity and vigor
the orders of their master. ^159 The counts of the domestics had
succeeded to the office of the Praetorian praefects; like the
praefects, they aspired from the service of the palace to the
command of armies.

[Footnote 142: Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. 8.]

[Footnote 143: By a very singular metaphor, borrowed from the
military character of the first emperors, the steward of their
household was styled the count of their camp, (comes castrensis.)
Cassiodorus very seriously represents to him, that his own fame,
and that of the empire, must depend on the opinion which foreign
ambassadors may conceive of the plenty and magnificence of the
royal table.  (Variar. l. vi. epistol. 9.)]

[Footnote 144: Gutherius (de Officiis Domus Augustae, l. ii. c.
20, l. iii.) has very accurately explained the functions of the
master of the offices, and the constitution of the subordinate
scrinia.  But he vainly attempts, on the most doubtful authority,
to deduce from the time of the Antonines, or even of Nero, the
origin of a magistrate who cannot be found in history before the
reign of Constantine.]

[Footnote 145: Tacitus (Annal. xi. 22) says, that the first
quaestors were elected by the people, sixty-four years after the
foundation of the republic; but he is of opinion, that they had,
long before that period, been annually appointed by the consuls,
and even by the kings.  But this obscure point of antiquity is
contested by other writers.]

[Footnote 146: Tacitus (Annal. xi. 22) seems to consider twenty
as the highest number of quaestors; and Dion (l. xliii. p 374)
insinuates, that if the dictator Caesar once created forty, it
was only to facilitate the payment of an immense debt of
gratitude.  Yet the augmentation which he made of praetors
subsisted under the succeeding reigns.]

[Footnote 147: Sueton. in August. c. 65, and Torrent. ad loc. 
Dion. Cas. p. 755.]

[Footnote 148: The youth and inexperience of the quaestors, who
entered on that important office in their twenty-fifth year,
(Lips. Excurs. ad Tacit. l. iii. D.,) engaged Augustus to remove
them from the management of the treasury; and though they were
restored by Claudius, they seem to have been finally dismissed by
Nero.  (Tacit Annal. xiii. 29. Sueton. in Aug. c. 36, in Claud.
c. 24.  Dion, p. 696, 961, &c.  Plin. Epistol. x. 20, et alibi.)
In the provinces of the Imperial division, the place of the
quaestors was more ably supplied by the procurators, (Dion Cas.
p. 707.  Tacit. in Vit. Agricol. c. 15;) or, as they were
afterwards called, rationales.  (Hist. August. p. 130.) But in
the provinces of the senate we may still discover a series of
quaestors till the reign of Marcus Antoninus.  (See the
Inscriptions of Gruter, the Epistles of Pliny, and a decisive
fact in the Augustan History, p. 64.) From Ulpian we may learn,
(Pandect. l. i. tit. 13,) that under the government of the house
of Severus, their provincial administration was abolished; and in
the subsequent troubles, the annual or triennial elections of
quaestors must have naturally ceased.]

[Footnote 149: Cum patris nomine et epistolas ipse dictaret, et
edicta conscrib eret, orationesque in senatu recitaret, etiam
quaestoris vice. Sueton, in Tit. c. 6.  The office must have
acquired new dignity, which was occasionally executed by the heir
apparent of the empire.  Trajan intrusted the same care to
Hadrian, his quaestor and cousin.  See Dodwell, Praelection.
Cambden, x. xi. p. 362-394.]

[Footnote 150: Terris edicta daturus;
               Supplicibus responsa. - Oracula regis
               Eloquio crevere tuo; nec dignius unquam
               Majestas meminit sese Romana locutam.

Claudian in Consulat. Mall. Theodor. 33.  See likewise Symmachus
(Epistol. i. 17) and Cassiodorus.  (Variar. iv. 5.)]

[Footnote 151: Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. 30.  Cod. Justinian. l.
xii. tit. 24.] 
[Footnote 152: In the departments of the two counts of the
treasury, the eastern part of the Notitia happens to be very
defective.  It may be observed, that we had a treasury chest in
London, and a gyneceum or manufacture at Winchester.  But Britain
was not thought worthy either of a mint or of an arsenal.  Gaul
alone possessed three of the former, and eight of the latter.] 
[Footnote 153: Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. xxx. leg. 2, and Godefroy
ad loc.] 
[Footnote 154: Strabon. Geograph. l. xxii. p. 809, [edit.
Casaub.] The other temple of Comana, in Pontus, was a colony from
that of Cappadocia, l. xii. p. 835.  The President Des Brosses
(see his Saluste, tom. ii. p. 21, [edit. Causub.]) conjectures
that the deity adored in both Comanas was Beltis, the Venus of
the east, the goddess of generation; a very different being
indeed from the goddess of war.]

[Footnote 155: Cod. Theod. l. x. tit. vi. de Grege Dominico. 
Godefroy has collected every circumstance of antiquity relative
to the Cappadocian horses. One of the finest breeds, the
Palmatian, was the forfeiture of a rebel, whose estate lay about
sixteen miles from Tyana, near the great road between
Constantinople and Antioch.]

[Footnote 156: Justinian (Novell. 30) subjected the province of
the count of Cappadocia to the immediate authority of the
favorite eunuch, who presided over the sacred bed-chamber.]

[Footnote 157: Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. xxx. leg. 4, &c.]

[Footnote 158: Pancirolus, p. 102, 136.  The appearance of these
military domestics is described in the Latin poem of Corippus, de
Laudibus Justin. l. iii. 157-179. p. 419, 420 of the Appendix
Hist. Byzantin. Rom. 177.] 
[Footnote 159: Ammianus Marcellinus, who served so many years,
obtained only the rank of a protector.  The first ten among these
honorable soldiers were Clarissimi.]

     The perpetual intercourse between the court and the
provinces was facilitated by the construction of roads and the
institution of posts.  But these beneficial establishments were
accidentally connected with a pernicious and intolerable abuse. 
Two or three hundred agents or messengers were employed, under
the jurisdiction of the master of the offices, to announce the
names of the annual consuls, and the edicts or victories of the
emperors. They insensibly assumed the license of reporting
whatever they could observe of the conduct either of magistrates
or of private citizens; and were soon considered as the eyes of
the monarch, ^160 and the scourge of the people. Under the warm
influence of a feeble reign, they multiplied to the incredible
number of ten thousand, disdained the mild though frequent
admonitions of the laws, and exercised in the profitable
management of the posts a rapacious and insolent oppression. 
These official spies, who regularly corresponded with the palace,
were encouraged by favor and reward, anxiously to watch the
progress of every treasonable design, from the faint and latent
symptoms of disaffection, to the actual preparation of an open
revolt.  Their careless or criminal violation of truth and
justice was covered by the consecrated mask of zeal; and they
might securely aim their poisoned arrows at the breast either of
the guilty or the innocent, who had provoked their resentment, or
refused to purchase their silence.  A faithful subject, of Syria
perhaps, or of Britain, was exposed to the danger, or at least to
the dread, of being dragged in chains to the court of Milan or
Constantinople, to defend his life and fortune against the
malicious charge of these privileged informers.  The ordinary
administration was conducted by those methods which extreme
necessity can alone palliate; and the defects of evidence were
diligently supplied by the use of torture. ^161

[Footnote 160: Xenophon, Cyropaed. l. viii.  Brisson, de Regno
Persico, l. i No 190, p. 264.  The emperors adopted with pleasure
this Persian metaphor.] 
[Footnote 161: For the Agentes in Rebus, see Ammian. l. xv. c. 3,
l. xvi. c. 5, l. xxii. c. 7, with the curious annotations of
Valesius.  Cod. Theod. l. vi. tit. xxvii. xxviii. xxix.  Among
the passages collected in the Commentary of Godefroy, the most
remarkable is one from Libanius, in his discourse concerning the
death of Julian.]

     The deceitful and dangerous experiment of the criminal
quaestion, as it is emphatically styled, was admitted, rather
than approved, in the jurisprudence of the Romans.  They applied
this sanguinary mode of examination only to servile bodies, whose
sufferings were seldom weighed by those haughty republicans in
the scale of justice or humanity; but they would never consent to
violate the sacred person of a citizen, till they possessed the
clearest evidence of his guilt. ^162 The annals of tyranny, from
the reign of Tiberius to that of Domitian, circumstantially
relate the executions of many innocent victims; but, as long as
the faintest remembrance was kept alive of the national freedom
and honor, the last hours of a Roman were secured from the danger
of ignominions torture. ^163 The conduct of the provincial
magistrates was not, however, regulated by the practice of the
city, or the strict maxims of the civilians.  They found the use
of torture established not only among the slaves of oriental
despotism, but among the Macedonians, who obeyed a limited
monarch; among the Rhodians, who flourished by the liberty of
commerce; and even among the sage Athenians, who had asserted and
adorned the dignity of human kind. ^164 The acquiescence of the
provincials encouraged their governors to acquire, or perhaps to
usurp, a discretionary power of employing the rack, to extort
from vagrants or plebeian criminals the confession of their
guilt, till they insensibly proceeded to confound the distinction
of rank, and to disregard the privileges of Roman citizens.  The
apprehensions of the subjects urged them to solicit, and the
interest of the sovereign engaged him to grant, a variety of
special exemptions, which tacitly allowed, and even authorized,
the general use of torture.  They protected all persons of
illustrious or honorable rank, bishops and their presbyters,
professors of the liberal arts, soldiers and their families,
municipal officers, and their posterity to the third generation,
and all children under the age of puberty. ^165 But a fatal maxim
was introduced into the new jurisprudence of the empire, that in
the case of treason, which included every offence that the
subtlety of lawyers could derive from a hostile intention towards
the prince or republic, ^166 all privileges were suspended, and
all conditions were reduced to the same ignominious level. As the
safety of the emperor was avowedly preferred to every
consideration of justice or humanity, the dignity of age and the
tenderness of youth were alike exposed to the most cruel
tortures; and the terrors of a malicious information, which might
select them as the accomplices, or even as the witnesses,
perhaps, of an imaginary crime, perpetually hung over the heads
of the principal citizens of the Roman world. ^167

[Footnote 162: The Pandects (l. xlviii. tit. xviii.) contain the
sentiments of the most celebrated civilians on the subject of
torture.  They strictly confine it to slaves; and Ulpian himself
is ready to acknowledge that Res est fragilis, et periculosa, et
quae veritatem fallat.]

[Footnote 163: In the conspiracy of Piso against Nero, Epicharis
(libertina mulier) was the only person tortured; the rest were
intacti tormentis.  It would be superfluous to add a weaker, and
it would be difficult to find a stronger, example.  Tacit. Annal.
xv. 57.]

[Footnote 164: Dicendum . . . de Institutis Atheniensium,
Rhodiorum, doctissimorum hominum, apud quos etiam (id quod
acerbissimum est) liberi, civesque torquentur.  Cicero, Partit.
Orat. c. 34.  We may learn from the trial of Philotas the
practice of the Macedonians.  (Diodor. Sicul. l. xvii. p. 604. 
Q. Curt. l. vi. c. 11.]

[Footnote 165: Heineccius (Element. Jur. Civil. part vii. p. 81)
has collected these exemptions into one view.]

[Footnote 166: This definition of the sage Ulpian (Pandect. l.
xlviii. tit. iv.) seems to have been adapted to the court of
Caracalla, rather than to that of Alexander Severus.  See the
Codes of Theodosius and ad leg. Juliam majestatis.]

[Footnote 167: Arcadius Charisius is the oldest lawyer quoted to
justify the universal practice of torture in all cases of
treason; but this maxim of tyranny, which is admitted by Ammianus
with the most respectful terror, is enforced by several laws of
the successors of Constantine.  See Cod. Theod. l. ix. tit. xxxv.
majestatis crimine omnibus aequa est conditio.] 
     These evils, however terrible they may appear, were confined
to the smaller number of Roman subjects, whose dangerous
situation was in some degree compensated by the enjoyment of
those advantages, either of nature or of fortune, which exposed
them to the jealousy of the monarch.  The obscure millions of a
great empire have much less to dread from the cruelty than from
the avarice of their masters, and their humble happiness is
principally affected by the grievance of excessive taxes, which,
gently pressing on the wealthy, descend with accelerated weight
on the meaner and more indigent classes of society.  An ingenious
philosopher ^168 has calculated the universal measure of the
public impositions by the degrees of freedom and servitude; and
ventures to assert, that, according to an invariable law of
nature, it must always increase with the former, and diminish in
a just proportion to the latter.  But this reflection, which
would tend to alleviate the miseries of despotism, is
contradicted at least by the history of the Roman empire; which
accuses the same princes of despoiling the senate of its
authority, and the provinces of their wealth. Without abolishing
all the various customs and duties on merchandises, which are
imperceptibly discharged by the apparent choice of the purchaser,
the policy of Constantine and his successors preferred a simple
and direct mode of taxation, more congenial to the spirit of an
arbitrary government. ^169

[Footnote 168: Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, l. xii. c. 13.] 
[Footnote 169: Mr. Hume (Essays, vol. i. p. 389) has seen this
importance with some degree of perplexity.]

Chapter XVII: Foundation Of Constantinople.

Part VI.

     The name and use of the indictions, ^170 which serve to
ascertain the chronology of the middle ages, were derived from
the regular practice of the Roman tributes. ^171 The emperor
subscribed with his own hand, and in purple ink, the solemn
edict, or indiction, which was fixed up in the principal city of
each diocese, during two months previous to the first day of
September. And by a very easy connection of ideas, the word
indiction was transferred to the measure of tribute which it
prescribed, and to the annual term which it allowed for the
payment.  This general estimate of the supplies was proportioned
to the real and imaginary wants of the state; but as often as the
expense exceeded the revenue, or the revenue fell short of the
computation, an additional tax, under the name of superindiction,
was imposed on the people, and the most valuable attribute of
sovereignty was communicated to the Praetorian praefects, who, on
some occasions, were permitted to provide for the unforeseen and
extraordinary exigencies of the public service.  The execution of
these laws (which it would be tedious to pursue in their minute
and intricate detail) consisted of two distinct operations: the
resolving the general imposition into its constituent parts,
which were assessed on the provinces, the cities, and the
individuals of the Roman world; and the collecting the separate
contributions of the individuals, the cities, and the provinces,
till the accumulated sums were poured into the Imperial
treasuries. But as the account between the monarch and the
subject was perpetually open, and as the renewal of the demand
anticipated the perfect discharge of the preceding obligation,
the weighty machine of the finances was moved by the same hands
round the circle of its yearly revolution.  Whatever was
honorable or important in the administration of the revenue, was
committed to the wisdom of the praefects, and their provincia.
representatives; the lucrative functions were claimed by a crowd
of subordinate officers, some of whom depended on the treasurer,
others on the governor of the province; and who, in the
inevitable conflicts of a perplexed jurisdiction, had frequent
opportunities of disputing with each other the spoils of the
people.  The laborious offices, which could be productive only of
envy and reproach, of expense and danger, were imposed on the
Decurions, who formed the corporations of the cities, and whom
the severity of the Imperial laws had condemned to sustain the
burdens of civil society. ^172 The whole landed property of the
empire (without excepting the patrimonial estates of the monarch)
was the object of ordinary taxation; and every new purchaser
contracted the obligations of the former proprietor.  An accurate
census, ^173 or survey, was the only equitable mode of
ascertaining the proportion which every citizen should be obliged
to contribute for the public service; and from the well-known
period of the indictions, there is reason to believe that this
difficult and expensive operation was repeated at the regular
distance of fifteen years.  The lands were measured by surveyors,
who were sent into the provinces; their nature, whether arable or
pasture, or vineyards or woods, was distinctly reported; and an
estimate was made of their common value from the average produce
of five years.  The numbers of slaves and of cattle constituted
an essential part of the report; an oath was administered to the
proprietors, which bound them to disclose the true state of their
affairs; and their attempts to prevaricate, or elude the
intention of the legislator, were severely watched, and punished
as a capital crime, which included the double guilt of treason
and sacrilege. ^174 A large portion of the tribute was paid in
money; and of the current coin of the empire, gold alone could be
legally accepted. ^175 The remainder of the taxes, according to
the proportions determined by the annual indiction, was furnished
in a manner still more direct, and still more oppressive. 
According to the different nature of lands, their real produce in
the various articles of wine or oil, corn or barley, wood or
iron, was transported by the labor or at the expense of the
provincials ^* to the Imperial magazines, from whence they were
occasionally distributed for the use of the court, of the army,
and of two capitals, Rome and Constantinople.  The commissioners
of the revenue were so frequently obliged to make considerable
purchases, that they were strictly prohibited from allowing any
compensation, or from receiving in money the value of those
supplies which were exacted in kind.  In the primitive simplicity
of small communities, this method may be well adapted to collect
the almost voluntary offerings of the people; but it is at once
susceptible of the utmost latitude, and of the utmost strictness,
which in a corrupt and absolute monarchy must introduce a
perpetual contest between the power of oppression and the arts of
fraud. ^176 The agriculture of the Roman provinces was insensibly
ruined, and, in the progress of despotism which tends to
disappoint its own purpose, the emperors were obliged to derive
some merit from the forgiveness of debts, or the remission of
tributes, which their subjects were utterly incapable of paying. 
According to the new division of Italy, the fertile and happy
province of Campania, the scene of the early victories and of the
delicious retirements of the citizens of Rome, extended between
the sea and the Apennine, from the Tiber to the Silarus.  Within
sixty years after the death of Constantine, and on the evidence
of an actual survey, an exemption was granted in favor of three
hundred and thirty thousand English acres of desert and
uncultivated land; which amounted to one eighth of the whole
surface of the province. As the footsteps of the Barbarians had
not yet been seen in Italy, the cause of this amazing desolation,
which is recorded in the laws, can be ascribed only to the
administration of the Roman emperors. ^177 
[Footnote 170: The cycle of indictions, which may be traced as
high as the reign of Constantius, or perhaps of his father,
Constantine, is still employed by the Papal court; but the
commencement of the year has been very reasonably altered to the
first of January.  See l'Art de Verifier les Dates, p. xi.; and
Dictionnaire Raison. de la Diplomatique, tom. ii. p. 25; two
accurate treatises, which come from the workshop of the
Benedictines.] 
[Footnote *: It does not appear that the establishment of the
indiction is to be at tributed to Constantine: it existed before
he had been created Augustus at Rome, and the remission granted
by him to the city of Autun is the proof. He would not have
ventured while only Caesar, and under the necessity of courting
popular favor, to establish such an odious impost.  Aurelius
Victor and Lactantius agree in designating Diocletian as the
author of this despotic institution.  Aur. Vict. de Caes. c. 39.
Lactant. de Mort. Pers. c. 7 - G.] 
[Footnote 171: The first twenty-eight titles of the eleventh book
of the Theodosian Code are filled with the circumstantial
regulations on the important subject of tributes; but they
suppose a clearer knowledge of fundamental principles than it is
at present in our power to attain.] 
[Footnote 172: The title concerning the Decurions (l. xii. tit.
i.) is the most ample in the whole Theodosian Code; since it
contains not less than one hundred and ninety-two distinct laws
to ascertain the duties and privileges of that useful order of
citizens.

     Note: The Decurions were charged with assessing, according
due from each proprietor. This odious office was authoritatively
imposed on the richest citizens of each town; they had no salary,
and all their compensation was, to be exempt from certain
corporal punishments, in case they should have incurred them. 
The Decurionate was the ruin of all the rich.  Hence they tried
every way of avoiding this dangerous honor; they concealed
themselves, they entered into military service; but their efforts
were unavailing; they were seized, they were compelled to become
Decurions, and the dread inspired by this title was termed
Impiety. - G.

     The Decurions were mutually responsible; they were obliged
to undertake for pieces of ground abandoned by their owners on
account of the pressure of the taxes, and, finally, to make up
all deficiencies.  Savigny chichte des Rom. Rechts, i. 25. - M.]

[Footnote 173: Habemus enim et hominum numerum qui delati sunt,
et agrun modum. Eumenius in Panegyr. Vet. viii. 6.  See Cod.
Theod. l. xiii. tit. x. xi., with Godefroy's Commentary.]

[Footnote 174: Siquis sacrilega vitem falce succiderit, aut
feracium ramorum foetus hebetaverit, quo delinet fidem Censuum,
et mentiatur callide paupertatis ingenium, mox detectus capitale
subibit exitium, et bona ejus in Fisci jura migrabunt.  Cod.
Theod. l. xiii. tit. xi. leg. 1.  Although this law is not
without its studied obscurity, it is, however clear enough to
prove the minuteness of the inquisition, and the disproportion of
the penalty.] 
[Footnote 175: The astonishment of Pliny would have ceased. 
Equidem miror P. R. victis gentibus argentum semper imperitasse
non aurum.  Hist Natur. xxxiii. 15.]

[Footnote *: The proprietors were not charged with the expense of
this transport in the provinces situated on the sea-shore or near
the great rivers, there were companies of boatmen, and of masters
of vessels, who had this commission, and furnished the means of
transport at their own expense. In return, they were themselves
exempt, altogether, or in part, from the indiction and other
imposts.  They had certain privileges; particular regulations
determined their rights and obligations.  (Cod. Theod. l. xiii.
tit. v. ix.) The transports by land were made in the same manner,
by the intervention of a privileged company called Bastaga; the
members were called Bastagarii Cod. Theod. l. viii. tit. v. - G.]

[Footnote 176: Some precautions were taken (see Cod. Theod. l.
xi. tit. ii. and Cod. Justinian. l. x. tit. xxvii. leg. 1, 2, 3)
to restrain the magistrates from the abuse of their authority,
either in the exaction or in the purchase of corn: but those who
had learning enough to read the orations of Cicero against
Verres, (iii. de Frumento,) might instruct themselves in all the
various arts of oppression, with regard to the weight, the price,
the quality, and the carriage.  The avarice of an unlettered
governor would supply the ignorance of precept or precedent.]

[Footnote 177: Cod. Theod. l. xi. tit. xxviii. leg. 2, published
the 24th of March, A. D. 395, by the emperor Honorius, only two
months after the death of his father, Theodosius.  He speaks of
528,042 Roman jugera, which I have reduced to the English
measure.  The jugerum contained 28,800 square Roman feet.]

     Either from design or from accident, the mode of assessment
seemed to unite the substance of a land tax with the forms of a
capitation. ^178 The returns which were sent of every province or
district, expressed the number of tributary subjects, and the
amount of the public impositions.  The latter of these sums was
divided by the former; and the estimate, that such a province
contained so many capita, or heads of tribute; and that each head
was rated at such a price, was universally received, not only in
the popular, but even in the legal computation.  The value of a
tributary head must have varied, according to many accidental, or
at least fluctuating circumstances; but some knowledge has been
preserved of a very curious fact, the more important, since it
relates to one of the richest provinces of the Roman empire, and
which now flourishes as the most splendid of the European
kingdoms.  The rapacious ministers of Constantius had exhausted
the wealth of Gaul, by exacting twenty-five pieces of gold for
the annual tribute of every head.  The humane policy of his
successor reduced the capitation to seven pieces. ^179 A moderate
proportion between these opposite extremes of extraordinary
oppression and of transient indulgence, may therefore be fixed at
sixteen pieces of gold, or about nine pounds sterling, the common
standard, perhaps, of the impositions of Gaul. ^180 But this
calculation, or rather, indeed, the facts from whence it is
deduced, cannot fail of suggesting two difficulties to a thinking
mind, who will be at once surprised by the equality, and by the
enormity, of the capitation.  An attempt to explain them may
perhaps reflect some light on the interesting subject of the
finances of the declining empire. 
[Footnote 178: Godefroy (Cod. Theod. tom. vi. p. 116) argues with
weight and learning on the subject of the capitation; but while
he explains the caput, as a share or measure of property, he too
absolutely excludes the idea of a personal assessment.]

[Footnote 179: Quid profuerit (Julianus) anhelantibus extrema
penuria Gallis, hinc maxime claret, quod primitus partes eas
ingressus, pro capitibusingulis tributi nomine vicenos quinos
aureos reperit flagitari; discedens vero septenos tantum numera
universa complentes.  Ammian. l. xvi. c. 5.] 
[Footnote 180: In the calculation of any sum of money under
Constantine and his successors, we need only refer to the
excellent discourse of Mr. Greaves on the Denarius, for the proof
of the following principles; 1. That the ancient and modern Roman
pound, containing 5256 grains of Troy weight, is about one
twelfth lighter than the English pound, which is composed of 5760
of the same grains.  2. That the pound of gold, which had once
been divided into forty-eight aurei, was at this time coined into
seventy-two smaller pieces of the same denomination.  3. That
five of these aurei were the legal tender for a pound of silver,
and that consequently the pound of gold was exchanged for
fourteen pounds eight ounces of silver, according to the Roman,
or about thirteen pounds according to the English weight.  4.
That the English pound of silver is coined into sixty-two
shillings.  From these elements we may compute the Roman pound of
gold, the usual method of reckoning large sums, at forty pounds
sterling, and we may fix the currency of the aureus at somewhat
more than eleven shillings.

     Note: See, likewise, a Dissertation of M. Letronne,
"Considerations Generales sur l'Evaluation des Monnaies Grecques
et Romaines" Paris, 1817 - M.]

     I.  It is obvious, that, as long as the immutable
constitution of human nature produces and maintains so unequal a
division of property, the most numerous part of the community
would be deprived of their subsistence, by the equal assessment
of a tax from which the sovereign would derive a very trifling
revenue.  Such indeed might be the theory of the Roman
capitation; but in the practice, this unjust equality was no
longer felt, as the tribute was collected on the principle of a
real, not of a personal imposition. ^* Several indigent citizens
contributed to compose a single head, or share of taxation; while
the wealthy provincial, in proportion to his fortune, alone
represented several of those imaginary beings.  In a poetical
request, addressed to one of the last and most deserving of the
Roman princes who reigned in Gaul, Sidonius Apollinaris
personifies his tribute under the figure of a triple monster, the
Geryon of the Grecian fables, and entreats the new Hercules that
he would most graciously be pleased to save his life by cutting
off three of his heads. ^181 The fortune of Sidonius far exceeded
the customary wealth of a poet; but if he had pursued the
allusion, he might have painted many of the Gallic nobles with
the hundred heads of the deadly Hydra, spreading over the face of
the country, and devouring the substance of a hundred families. 
II.  The difficulty of allowing an annual sum of about nine
pounds sterling, even for the average of the capitation of Gaul,
may be rendered more evident by the comparison of the present
state of the same country, as it is now governed by the absolute
monarch of an industrious, wealthy, and affectionate people.  The
taxes of France cannot be magnified, either by fear or by
flattery, beyond the annual amount of eighteen millions sterling,
which ought perhaps to be shared among four and twenty millions
of inhabitants. ^182 Seven millions of these, in the capacity of
fathers, or brothers, or husbands, may discharge the obligations
of the remaining multitude of women and children; yet the equal
proportion of each tributary subject will scarcely rise above
fifty shillings of our money, instead of a proportion almost four
times as considerable, which was regularly imposed on their
Gallic ancestors.  The reason of this difference may be found,
not so much in the relative scarcity or plenty of gold and
silver, as in the different state of society, in ancient Gaul and
in modern France.  In a country where personal freedom is the
privilege of every subject, the whole mass of taxes, whether they
are levied on property or on consumption, may be fairly divided
among the whole body of the nation.  But the far greater part of
the lands of ancient Gaul, as well as of the other provinces of
the Roman world, were cultivated by slaves, or by peasants, whose
dependent condition was a less rigid servitude. ^183 In such a
state the poor were maintained at the expense of the masters who
enjoyed the fruits of their labor; and as the rolls of tribute
were filled only with the names of those citizens who possessed
the means of an honorable, or at least of a decent subsistence,
the comparative smallness of their numbers explains and justifies
the high rate of their capitation.  The truth of this assertion
may be illustrated by the following example: The Aedui, one of
the most powerful and civilized tribes or cities of Gaul,
occupied an extent of territory, which now contains about five
hundred thousand inhabitants, in the two ecclesiastical dioceses
of Autun and Nevers; ^184 and with the probable accession of
those of Chalons and Macon, ^185 the population would amount to
eight hundred thousand souls.  In the time of Constantine, the
territory of the Aedui afforded no more than twenty-five thousand
heads of capitation, of whom seven thousand were discharged by
that prince from the intolerable weight of tribute. ^186 A just
analogy would seem to countenance the opinion of an ingenious
historian, ^187 that the free and tributary citizens did not
surpass the number of half a million; and if, in the ordinary
administration of government, their annual payments may be
computed at about four millions and a half of our money, it would
appear, that although the share of each individual was four times
as considerable, a fourth part only of the modern taxes of France
was levied on the Imperial province of Gaul.  The exactions of
Constantius may be calculated at seven millions sterling, which
were reduced to two millions by the humanity or the wisdom of
Julian.

[Footnote *: Two masterly dissertations of M. Savigny, in the
Mem. of the Berlin Academy (1822 and 1823) have thrown new light
on the taxation system of the Empire.  Gibbon, according to M.
Savigny, is mistaken in supposing that there was but one kind of
capitation tax; there was a land tax, and a capitation tax,
strictly so called.  The land tax was, in its operation, a
proprietor's or landlord's tax.  But, besides this, there was a
direct capitation tax on all who were not possessed of landed
property.  This tax dates from the time of the Roman conquests;
its amount is not clearly known. Gradual exemptions released
different persons and classes from this tax.  One edict exempts
painters.  In Syria, all under twelve or fourteen, or above
sixty-five, were exempted; at a later period, all under twenty,
and all unmarried females; still later, all under twenty-five,
widows and nuns, soldiers, veterani and clerici - whole dioceses,
that of Thrace and Illyricum. Under Galerius and Licinius, the
plebs urbana became exempt; though this, perhaps, was only an
ordinance for the East.  By degrees, however, the exemption was
extended to all the inhabitants of towns; and as it was strictly
capitatio plebeia, from which all possessors were exempted it
fell at length altogether on the coloni and agricultural slaves. 
These were registered in the same cataster (capitastrum) with the
land tax.  It was paid by the proprietor, who raised it again
from his coloni and laborers. - M.] 
[Footnote 181:      Geryones nos esse puta, monstrumque tributum,

                   Hic capita ut vivam, tu mihi tolle tria. 
                    Sidon. Apollinar. Carm. xiii.

     The reputation of Father Sirmond led me to expect more
satisfaction than I have found in his note (p. 144) on this
remarkable passage.  The words, suo vel suorum nomine, betray the
perplexity of the commentator.] 
[Footnote 182: This assertion, however formidable it may seem, is
founded on the original registers of births, deaths, and
marriages, collected by public authority, and now deposited in
the Controlee General at Paris.  The annual average of births
throughout the whole kingdom, taken in five years, (from 1770 to
1774, both inclusive,) is 479,649 boys, and 449,269 girls, in all
928,918 children.  The province of French Hainault alone
furnishes 9906 births; and we are assured, by an actual
enumeration of the people, annually repeated from the year 1773
to the year 1776, that upon an average, Hainault contains 257,097
inhabitants.  By the rules of fair analogy, we might infer, that
the ordinary proportion of annual births to the whole people, is
about 1 to 26; and that the kingdom of France contains 24,151,868
persons of both sexes and of every age.  If we content ourselves
with the more moderate proportion of 1 to 25, the whole
population will amount to 23,222,950.  From the diligent
researches of the French Government, (which are not unworthy of
our own imitation,) we may hope to obtain a still greater degree
of certainty on this important subject

     Note: On no subject has so much valuable information been
collected since the time of Gibbon, as the statistics of the
different countries of Europe but much is still wanting as to our
own - M.]

[Footnote 183: Cod. Theod. l. v. tit. ix. x. xi.  Cod. Justinian.
l. xi. tit. lxiii.  Coloni appellantur qui conditionem debent
genitali solo, propter agriculturum sub dominio possessorum. 
Augustin. de Civitate Dei, l. x. c. i.] 
[Footnote 184: The ancient jurisdiction of (Augustodunum) Autun
in Burgundy, the capital of the Aedui, comprehended the adjacent
territory of (Noviodunum) Nevers.  See D'Anville, Notice de
l'Ancienne Gaule, p. 491. The two dioceses of Autun and Nevers
are now composed, the former of 610, and the latter of 160
parishes.  The registers of births, taken during eleven years, in
476 parishes of the same province of Burgundy, and multiplied by
the moderate proportion of 25, (see Messance Recherches sur la
Population, p. 142,) may authorizes us to assign an average
number of 656 persons for each parish, which being again
multiplied by the 770 parishes of the dioceses of Nevers and
Autun, will produce the sum of 505,120 persons for the extent of
country which was once possessed by the Aedui.]

[Footnote 185: We might derive an additional supply of 301,750
inhabitants from the dioceses of Chalons (Cabillonum) and of
Macon, (Matisco,) since they contain, the one 200, and the other
260 parishes.  This accession of territory might be justified by
very specious reasons.  1. Chalons and Macon were undoubtedly
within the original jurisdiction of the Aedui.  (See D'Anville,
Notice, p. 187, 443.) 2. In the Notitia of Gaul, they are
enumerated not as Civitates, but merely as Castra.  3. They do
not appear to have been episcopal seats before the fifth and
sixth centuries.  Yet there is a passage in Eumenius (Panegyr.
Vet. viii. 7) which very forcibly deters me from extending the
territory of the Aedui, in the reign of Constantine, along the
beautiful banks of the navigable Saone.

     Note: In this passage of Eumenius, Savigny supposes the
original number to have been 32,000: 7000 being discharged, there
remained 25,000 liable to the tribute.  See Mem. quoted above. -
M.]

[Footnote 186: Eumenius in Panegyr Vet. viii. 11.]

[Footnote 187: L'Abbe du Bos, Hist. Critique de la M. F. tom. i.
p. 121] 
     But this tax, or capitation, on the proprietors of land,
would have suffered a rich and numerous class of free citizens to
escape.  With the view of sharing that species of wealth which is
derived from art or labor, and which exists in money or in
merchandise, the emperors imposed a distinct and personal tribute
on the trading part of their subjects. ^188 Some exemptions, very
strictly confined both in time and place, were allowed to the
proprietors who disposed of the produce of their own estates. 
Some indulgence was granted to the profession of the liberal
arts: but every other branch of commercial industry was affected
by the severity of the law.  The honorable merchant of
Alexandria, who imported the gems and spices of India for the use
of the western world; the usurer, who derived from the interest
of money a silent and ignominious profit; the ingenious
manufacturer, the diligent mechanic, and even the most obscure
retailer of a sequestered village, were obliged to admit the
officers of the revenue into the partnership of their gain; and
the sovereign of the Roman empire, who tolerated the profession,
consented to share the infamous salary, of public prostitutes. ^!
As this general tax upon industry was collected every fourth
year, it was styled the Lustral Contribution: and the historian
Zosimus ^189 laments that the approach of the fatal period was
announced by the tears and terrors of the citizens, who were
often compelled by the impending scourge to embrace the most
abhorred and unnatural methods of procuring the sum at which
their property had been assessed.  The testimony of Zosimus
cannot indeed be justified from the charge of passion and
prejudice; but, from the nature of this tribute it seems
reasonable to conclude, that it was arbitrary in the
distribution, and extremely rigorous in the mode of collecting. 
The secret wealth of commerce, and the precarious profits of art
or labor, are susceptible only of a discretionary valuation,
which is seldom disadvantageous to the interest of the treasury;
and as the person of the trader supplies the want of a visible
and permanent security, the payment of the imposition, which, in
the case of a land tax, may be obtained by the seizure of
property, can rarely be extorted by any other means than those of
corporal punishments. The cruel treatment of the insolvent
debtors of the state, is attested, and was perhaps mitigated by a
very humane edict of Constantine, who, disclaiming the use of
racks and of scourges, allots a spacious and airy prison for the
place of their confinement. ^190

[Footnote 188: See Cod. Theod. l. xiii. tit. i. and iv.]

[Footnote !: The emperor Theodosius put an end, by a law. to this
disgraceful source of revenue.  (Godef. ad Cod. Theod. xiii. tit.
i. c. 1.) But before he deprived himself of it, he made sure of
some way of replacing this deficit.  A rich patrician,
Florentius, indignant at this legalized licentiousness, had made
representations on the subject to the emperor.  To induce him to
tolerate it no longer, he offered his own property to supply the
diminution of the revenue.  The emperor had the baseness to
accept his offer - G.] 
[Footnote 189: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 115.  There is probably as much
passion and prejudice in the attack of Zosimus, as in the
elaborate defence of the memory of Constantine by the zealous Dr.
Howell.  Hist. of the World, vol. ii. p. 20.]

[Footnote 190: Cod. Theod. l. xi. tit vii. leg. 3.]

     These general taxes were imposed and levied by the absolute
authority of the monarch; but the occasional offerings of the
coronary gold still retained the name and semblance of popular
consent.  It was an ancient custom that the allies of the
republic, who ascribed their safety or deliverance to the success
of the Roman arms, and even the cities of Italy, who admired the
virtues of their victorious general, adorned the pomp of his
triumph by their voluntary gifts of crowns of gold, which after
the ceremony were consecrated in the temple of Jupiter, to remain
a lasting monument of his glory to future ages.  The progress of
zeal and flattery soon multiplied the number, and increased the
size, of these popular donations; and the triumph of Caesar was
enriched with two thousand eight hundred and twenty-two massy
crowns, whose weight amounted to twenty thousand four hundred and
fourteen pounds of gold. This treasure was immediately melted
down by the prudent dictator, who was satisfied that it would be
more serviceable to his soldiers than to the gods: his example
was imitated by his successors; and the custom was introduced of
exchanging these splendid ornaments for the more acceptable
present of the current gold coin of the empire. ^191 The
spontaneous offering was at length exacted as the debt of duty;
and instead of being confined to the occasion of a triumph, it
was supposed to be granted by the several cities and provinces of
the monarchy, as often as the emperor condescended to announce
his accession, his consulship, the birth of a son, the creation
of a Caesar, a victory over the Barbarians, or any other real or
imaginary event which graced the annals of his reign.  The
peculiar free gift of the senate of Rome was fixed by custom at
sixteen hundred pounds of gold, or about sixty-four thousand
pounds sterling.  The oppressed subjects celebrated their own
felicity, that their sovereign should graciously consent to
accept this feeble but voluntary testimony of their loyalty and
gratitude. ^192 
[Footnote 191: See Lipsius de Magnitud. Romana, l. ii. c. 9.  The
Tarragonese Spain presented the emperor Claudius with a crown of
gold of seven, and Gaul with another of nine, hundred pounds
weight.  I have followed the rational emendation of Lipsius.

     Note: This custom is of still earlier date, the Romans had
borrowed it from Greece.  Who is not acquainted with the famous
oration of Demosthenes for the golden crown, which his citizens
wished to bestow, and Aeschines to deprive him of? - G.]

[Footnote 192: Cod.  Theod. l. xii. tit. xiii.  The senators were
supposed to be exempt from the Aurum Coronarium; but the Auri
Oblatio, which was required at their hands, was precisely of the
same nature.]

     A people elated by pride, or soured by discontent, are
seldom qualified to form a just estimate of their actual
situation.  The subjects of Constantine were incapable of
discerning the decline of genius and manly virtue, which so far
degraded them below the dignity of their ancestors; but they
could feel and lament the rage of tyranny, the relaxation of
discipline, and the increase of taxes.  The impartial historian,
who acknowledges the justice of their complaints, will observe
some favorable circumstances which tended to alleviate the misery
of their condition.  The threatening tempest of Barbarians, which
so soon subverted the foundations of Roman greatness, was still
repelled, or suspended, on the frontiers. The arts of luxury and
literature were cultivated, and the elegant pleasures of society
were enjoyed, by the inhabitants of a considerable portion of the
globe.  The forms, the pomp, and the expense of the civil
administration contributed to restrain the irregular license of
the soldiers; and although the laws were violated by power, or
perverted by subtlety, the sage principles of the Roman
jurisprudence preserved a sense of order and equity, unknown to
the despotic governments of the East.  The rights of mankind
might derive some protection from religion and philosophy; and
the name of freedom, which could no longer alarm, might sometimes
admonish, the successors of Augustus, that they did not reign
over a nation of Slaves or Barbarians. ^193

[Footnote 193: The great Theodosius, in his judicious advice to
his son, (Claudian in iv. Consulat. Honorii, 214, &c.,)
distinguishes the station of a Roman prince from that of a
Parthian monarch.  Virtue was necessary for the one; birth might
suffice for the other.]

Chapter XVIII: Character Of Constantine And His Sons. 

Part I.

     Character Of Constantine. - Gothic War. - Death Of
Constantine. - Division Of The Empire Among His Three Sons. -
Persian War. - Tragic Deaths Of Constantine The Younger And
Constans. - Usurpation Of Magnentius. - Civil War. - Victory Of
Constantius.

     The character of the prince who removed the seat of empire,
and introduced such important changes into the civil and
religious constitution of his country, has fixed the attention,
and divided the opinions, of mankind. By the grateful zeal of the
Christians, the deliverer of the church has been decorated with
every attribute of a hero, and even of a saint; while the
discontent of the vanquished party has compared Constantine to
the most abhorred of those tyrants, who, by their vice and
weakness, dishonored the Imperial purple.  The same passions have
in some degree been perpetuated to succeeding generations, and
the character of Constantine is considered, even in the present
age, as an object either of satire or of panegyric.  By the
impartial union of those defects which are confessed by his
warmest admirers, and of those virtues which are acknowledged by
his most-implacable enemies, we might hope to delineate a just
portrait of that extraordinary man, which the truth and candor of
history should adopt without a blush. ^1 But it would soon
appear, that the vain attempt to blend such discordant colors,
and to reconcile such inconsistent qualities, must produce a
figure monstrous rather than human, unless it is viewed in its
proper and distinct lights, by a careful separation of the
different periods of the reign of Constantine. 
[Footnote 1: On ne se trompera point sur Constantin, en croyant
tout le mal ru'en dit Eusebe, et tout le bien qu'en dit Zosime. 
Fleury, Hist. Ecclesiastique, tom. iii. p. 233.  Eusebius and
Zosimus form indeed the two extremes of flattery and invective. 
The intermediate shades are expressed by those writers, whose
character or situation variously tempered the influence of their
religious zeal.]

     The person, as well as the mind, of Constantine, had been
enriched by nature with her choices endowments.  His stature was
lofty, his countenance majestic, his deportment graceful; his
strength and activity were displayed in every manly exercise, and
from his earliest youth, to a very advanced season of life, he
preserved the vigor of his constitution by a strict adherence to
the domestic virtues of chastity and temperance.  He delighted in
the social intercourse of familiar conversation; and though he
might sometimes indulge his disposition to raillery with less
reserve than was required by the severe dignity of his station,
the courtesy and liberality of his manners gained the hearts of
all who approached him.  The sincerity of his friendship has been
suspected; yet he showed, on some occasions, that he was not
incapable of a warm and lasting attachment.  The disadvantage of
an illiterate education had not prevented him from forming a just
estimate of the value of learning; and the arts and sciences
derived some encouragement from the munificent protection of
Constantine.  In the despatch of business, his diligence was
indefatigable; and the active powers of his mind were almost
continually exercised in reading, writing, or meditating, in
giving audiences to ambassadors, and in examining the complaints
of his subjects.  Even those who censured the propriety of his
measures were compelled to acknowledge, that he possessed
magnanimity to conceive, and patience to execute, the most
arduous designs, without being checked either by the prejudices
of education, or by the clamors of the multitude.  In the field,
he infused his own intrepid spirit into the troops, whom he
conducted with the talents of a consummate general; and to his
abilities, rather than to his fortune, we may ascribe the signal
victories which he obtained over the foreign and domestic foes of
the republic.  He loved glory as the reward, perhaps as the
motive, of his labors. The boundless ambition, which, from the
moment of his accepting the purple at York, appears as the ruling
passion of his soul, may be justified by the dangers of his own
situation, by the character of his rivals, by the consciousness
of superior merit, and by the prospect that his success would
enable him to restore peace and order to tot the distracted
empire.  In his civil wars against Maxentius and Licinius, he had
engaged on his side the inclinations of the people, who compared
the undissembled vices of those tyrants with the spirit of wisdom
and justice which seemed to direct the general tenor of the
administration of Constantine. ^2

[Footnote 2: The virtues of Constantine are collected for the
most part from Eutropius and the younger Victor, two sincere
pagans, who wrote after the extinction of his family.  Even
Zosimus, and the Emperor Julian, acknowledge his personal courage
and military achievements.]

     Had Constantine fallen on the banks of the Tyber, or even in
the plains of Hadrianople, such is the character which, with a
few exceptions, he might have transmitted to posterity.  But the
conclusion of his reign (according to the moderate and indeed
tender sentence of a writer of the same age) degraded him from
the rank which he had acquired among the most deserving of the
Roman princes. ^3 In the life of Augustus, we behold the tyrant
of the republic, converted, almost by imperceptible degrees, into
the father of his country, and of human kind.  In that of
Constantine, we may contemplate a hero, who had so long inspired
his subjects with love, and his enemies with terror, degenerating
into a cruel and dissolute monarch, corrupted by his fortune, or
raised by conquest above the necessity of dissimulation.  The
general peace which he maintained during the last fourteen years
of his reign, was a period of apparent splendor rather than of
real prosperity; and the old age of Constantine was disgraced by
the opposite yet reconcilable vices of rapaciousness and
prodigality.  The accumulated treasures found in the palaces of
Maxentius and Licinius, were lavishly consumed; the various
innovations introduced by the conqueror, were attended with an
increasing expense; the cost of his buildings, his court, and his
festivals, required an immediate and plentiful supply; and the
oppression of the people was the only fund which could support
the magnificence of the sovereign. ^4 His unworthy favorites,
enriched by the boundless liberality of their master, usurped
with impunity the privilege of rapine and corruption. ^5 A secret
but universal decay was felt in every part of the public
administration, and the emperor himself, though he still retained
the obedience, gradually lost the esteem, of his subjects.  The
dress and manners, which, towards the decline of life, he chose
to affect, served only to degrade him in the eyes of mankind. 
The Asiatic pomp, which had been adopted by the pride of
Diocletian, assumed an air of softness and effeminacy in the
person of Constantine.  He is represented with false hair of
various colors, laboriously arranged by the skilful artists to
the times; a diadem of a new and more expensive fashion; a
profusion of gems and pearls, of collars and bracelets, and a
variegated flowing robe of silk, most curiously embroidered with
flowers of gold.  In such apparel, scarcely to be excused by the
youth and folly of Elagabalus, we are at a loss to discover the
wisdom of an aged monarch, and the simplicity of a Roman veteran.
^6 A mind thus relaxed by prosperity and indulgence, was
incapable of rising to that magnanimity which disdains suspicion,
and dares to forgive.  The deaths of Maximian and Licinius may
perhaps be justified by the maxims of policy, as they are taught
in the schools of tyrants; but an impartial narrative of the
executions, or rather murders, which sullied the declining age of
Constantine, will suggest to our most candid thoughts the idea of
a prince who could sacrifice without reluctance the laws of
justice, and the feelings of nature, to the dictates either of
his passions or of his interest. 
[Footnote 3: See Eutropius, x. 6.  In primo Imperii tempore
optimis principibus, ultimo mediis comparandus.  From the ancient
Greek version of Poeanius, (edit. Havercamp. p. 697,) I am
inclined to suspect that Eutropius had originally written vix
mediis; and that the offensive monosyllable was dropped by the
wilful inadvertency of transcribers. Aurelius Victor expresses
the general opinion by a vulgar and indeed obscure proverb. 
Trachala decem annis praestantissimds; duodecim sequentibus
latro; decem novissimis pupillus ob immouicas profusiones.]

[Footnote 4: Julian, Orat. i. p. 8, in a flattering discourse
pronounced before the son of Constantine; and Caesares, p. 336. 
Zosimus, p. 114, 115. The stately buildings of Constantinople,
&c., may be quoted as a lasting and unexceptionable proof of the
profuseness of their founder.] 
[Footnote 5: The impartial Ammianus deserves all our confidence.
Proximorum fauces aperuit primus omnium Constantinus.  L. xvi. c.
8. Eusebius himself confesses the abuse, (Vit. Constantin. l. iv.
c. 29, 54;) and some of the Imperial laws feebly point out the
remedy.  See above, p. 146 of this volume.] 
[Footnote 6: Julian, in the Caesars, attempts to ridicule his
uncle.  His suspicious testimony is confirmed, however, by the
learned Spanheim, with the authority of medals, (see Commentaire,
p. 156, 299, 397, 459.) Eusebius (Orat. c. 5) alleges, that
Constantine dressed for the public, not for himself.  Were this
admitted, the vainest coxcomb could never want an excuse.] 
     The same fortune which so invariably followed the standard
of Constantine, seemed to secure the hopes and comforts of his
domestic life. Those among his predecessors who had enjoyed the
longest and most prosperous reigns, Augustus Trajan, and
Diocletian, had been disappointed of posterity; and the frequent
revolutions had never allowed sufficient time for any Imperial
family to grow up and multiply under the shade of the purple. 
But the royalty of the Flavian line, which had been first
ennobled by the Gothic Claudius, descended through several
generations; and Constantine himself derived from his royal
father the hereditary honors which he transmitted to his
children.  The emperor had been twice married. Minervina, the
obscure but lawful object of his youthful attachment, ^7 had left
him only one son, who was called Crispus.  By Fausta, the
daughter of Maximian, he had three daughters, and three sons
known by the kindred names of Constantine, Constantius, and
Constans.  The unambitious brothers of the great Constantine,
Julius Constantius, Dalmatius, and Hannibalianus, ^8 were
permitted to enjoy the most honorable rank, and the most affluent
fortune, that could be consistent with a private station.  The
youngest of the three lived without a name, and died without
posterity.  His two elder brothers obtained in marriage the
daughters of wealthy senators, and propagated new branches of the
Imperial race.  Gallus and Julian afterwards became the most
illustrious of the children of Julius Constantius, the Patrician.

The two sons of Dalmatius, who had been decorated with the vain
title of Censor, were named Dalmatius and Hannibalianus.  The two
sisters of the great Constantine, Anastasia and Eutropia, were
bestowed on Optatus and Nepotianus, two senators of noble birth
and of consular dignity.  His third sister, Constantia, was
distinguished by her preeminence of greatness and of misery.  She
remained the widow of the vanquished Licinius; and it was by her
entreaties, that an innocent boy, the offspring of their
marriage, preserved, for some time, his life, the title of
Caesar, and a precarious hope of the succession.  Besides the
females, and the allies of the Flavian house, ten or twelve
males, to whom the language of modern courts would apply the
title of princes of the blood, seemed, according to the order of
their birth, to be destined either to inherit or to support the
throne of Constantine.  But in less than thirty years, this
numerous and increasing family was reduced to the persons of
Constantius and Julian, who alone had survived a series of crimes
and calamities, such as the tragic poets have deplored in the
devoted lines of Pelops and of Cadmus. [Footnote 7: Zosimus and
Zonaras agree in representing Minervina as the concubine of
Constantine; but Ducange has very gallantly rescued her
character, by producing a decisive passage from one of the
panegyrics: "Ab ipso fine pueritiae te matrimonii legibus
dedisti."]

[Footnote 8: Ducange (Familiae Byzantinae, p. 44) bestows on him,
after Zosimus, the name of Constantine; a name somewhat unlikely,
as it was already occupied by the elder brother.  That of
Hannibalianus is mentioned in the Paschal Chronicle, and is
approved by Tillemont.  Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 527.]

     Crispus, the eldest son of Constantine, and the presumptive
heir of the empire, is represented by impartial historians as an
amiable and accomplished youth.  The care of his education, or at
least of his studies, was intrusted to Lactantius, the most
eloquent of the Christians; a preceptor admirably qualified to
form the taste, and the excite the virtues, of his illustrious
disciple. ^9 At the age of seventeen, Crispus was invested with
the title of Caesar, and the administration of the Gallic
provinces, where the inroads of the Germans gave him an early
occasion of signalizing his military prowess. In the civil war
which broke out soon afterwards, the father and son divided their
powers; and this history has already celebrated the valor as well
as conduct displayed by the latter, in forcing the straits of the
Hellespont, so obstinately defended by the superior fleet of
Lacinius. This naval victory contributed to determine the event
of the war; and the names of Constantine and of Crispus were
united in the joyful acclamations of their eastern subjects; who
loudly proclaimed, that the world had been subdued, and was now
governed, by an emperor endowed with every virtue; and by his
illustrious son, a prince beloved of Heaven, and the lively image
of his father's perfections. The public favor, which seldom
accompanies old age, diffused its lustre over the youth of
Crispus.  He deserved 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 subjects with
reluctance, and frequently denied with partial and discontented
murmurs; while, from the opening virtues of his successor, they
fondly conceive the most unbounded hopes of private as well as
public felicity. ^10

[Footnote 9: Jerom. in Chron.  The poverty of Lactantius may be
applied either to the praise of the disinterested philosopher, or
to the shame of the unfeeling patron.  See Tillemont, Mem.
Ecclesiast. tom. vi. part 1. p. 345. Dupin, Bibliotheque
Ecclesiast. tom. i. p. 205.  Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel
History, part ii. vol. vii. p. 66.]

[Footnote 10: Euseb. Hist.  Ecclesiast. l. x. c. 9.  Eutropius
(x. 6) styles him "egregium virum;" and Julian (Orat. i.) very
plainly alludes to the exploits of Crispus in the civil war.  See
Spanheim, Comment. p. 92.] 
     This dangerous popularity soon excited the attention of
Constantine, who, both as a father and as a king, was impatient
of an equal.  Instead of attempting to secure the allegiance of
his son by the generous ties of confidence and gratitude, he
resolved to prevent the mischiefs which might be apprehended from
dissatisfied ambition.  Crispus soon had reason to complain, that
while his infant brother Constantius was sent, with the title of
Caesar, to reign over his peculiar department of the Gallic
provinces, ^11 he, a prince of mature years, who had performed
such recent and signal services, instead of being raised to the
superior rank of Augustus, was confined almost a prisoner to his
father's court; and exposed, without power or defence, to every
calumny which the malice of his enemies could suggest.  Under
such painful circumstances, the royal youth might not always be
able to compose his behavior, or suppress his discontent; and we
may be assured, that he was encompassed by a train of indiscreet
or perfidious followers, who assiduously studied to inflame, and
who were perhaps instructed to betray, the unguarded warmth of
his resentment.  An edict of Constantine, published about this
time, manifestly indicates his real or affected suspicions, that
a secret conspiracy had been formed against his person and
government.  By all the allurements of honors and rewards, he
invites informers of every degree to accuse without exception his
magistrates or ministers, his friends or his most intimate
favorites, protesting, with a solemn asseveration, that he
himself will listen to the charge, that he himself will revenge
his injuries; and concluding with a prayer, which discovers some
apprehension of danger, that the providence of the Supreme Being
may still continue to protect the safety of the emperor and of
the empire. ^12

[Footnote 11: Compare Idatius and the Paschal Chronicle, with
Ammianus, (l, xiv. c. 5.) The year in which Constantius was
created Caesar seems to be more accurately fixed by the two
chronologists; but the historian who lived in his court could not
be ignorant of the day of the anniversary.  For the appointment
of the new Caesar to the provinces of Gaul, see Julian, Orat. i.
p. 12, Godefroy, Chronol. Legum, p. 26. and Blondel, de Primaute
de l'Eglise, p. 1183.]

[Footnote 12: Cod. Theod. l. ix. tit. iv.  Godefroy suspected the
secret motives of this law.  Comment. tom. iii. p. 9.]

     The informers, who complied with so liberal an invitation,
were sufficiently versed in the arts of courts to select the
friends and adherents of Crispus as the guilty persons; nor is
there any reason to distrust the veracity of the emperor, who had
promised an ample measure of revenge and punishment.  The policy
of Constantine maintained, however, the same appearances of
regard and confidence towards a son, whom he began to consider as
his most irreconcilable enemy.  Medals were struck with the
customary vows for the long and auspicious reign of the young
Caesar; ^13 and as the people, who were not admitted into the
secrets of the palace, still loved his virtues, and respected his
dignity, a poet who solicits his recall from exile, adores with
equal devotion the majesty of the father and that of the son. ^14
The time was now arrived for celebrating the august ceremony of
the twentieth year of the reign of Constantine; and the emperor,
for that purpose, removed his court from Nicomedia to Rome, where
the most splendid preparations had been made for his reception. 
Every eye, and every tongue, affected to express their sense of
the general happiness, and the veil of ceremony and dissimulation
was drawn for a while over the darkest designs of revenge and
murder. ^15 In the midst of the festival, the unfortunate Crispus
was apprehended by order of the emperor, who laid aside the
tenderness of a father, without assuming the equity of a judge.
The examination was short and private; ^16 and as it was thought
decent to conceal the fate of the young prince from the eyes of
the Roman people, he was sent under a strong guard to Pola, in
Istria, where, soon afterwards, he was put to death, either by
the hand of the executioner, or by the more gentle operations of
poison. ^17 The Caesar Licinius, a youth of amiable manners, was
involved in the ruin of Crispus: ^18 and the stern jealousy of
Constantine was unmoved by the prayers and tears of his favorite
sister, pleading for the life of a son, whose rank was his only
crime, and whose loss she did not long survive.  The story of
these unhappy princes, the nature and evidence of their guilt,
the forms of their trial, and the circumstances of their death,
were buried in mysterious obscurity; and the courtly bishop, who
has celebrated in an elaborate work the virtues and piety of his
hero, observes a prudent silence on the subject of these tragic
events. ^19 Such haughty contempt for the opinion of mankind,
whilst it imprints an indelible stain on the memory of
Constantine, must remind us of the very different behavior of one
of the greatest monarchs of the present age.  The Czar Peter, in
the full possession of despotic power, submitted to the judgment
of Russia, of Europe, and of posterity, the reasons which had
compelled him to subscribe the condemnation of a criminal, or at
least of a degenerate son. ^20

[Footnote 13: Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 28.  Tillemont, tom. iv.
p. 610.] 
[Footnote 14: His name was Porphyrius Optatianus.  The date of
his panegyric, written, according to the taste of the age, in
vile acrostics, is settled by Scaliger ad Euseb. p. 250,
Tillemont, tom. iv. p. 607, and Fabricius, Biblioth. Latin, l.
iv. c. 1.]

[Footnote 15: Zosim. l. ii. p. 103.  Godefroy, Chronol. Legum, p.
28.] 
[Footnote 16: The elder Victor, who wrote under the next reign,
speaks with becoming caution.  "Natu grandior incertum qua causa,
patris judicio occidisset." If we consult the succeeding writers,
Eutropius, the younger Victor, Orosius, Jerom, Zosimus,
Philostorgius, and Gregory of Tours, their knowledge will appear
gradually to increase, as their means of information must have
diminished - a circumstance which frequently occurs in historical
disquisition.]

[Footnote 17: Ammianus (l. xiv. c. 11) uses the general
expression of peremptum Codinus (p. 34) beheads the young prince;
but Sidonius Apollinaris (Epistol. v. 8,) for the sake perhaps of
an antithesis to Fausta's warm bath, chooses to administer a
draught of cold poison.]

[Footnote 18: Sororis filium, commodae indolis juvenem. 
Eutropius, x. 6 May I not be permitted to conjecture that Crispus
had married Helena the daughter of the emperor Licinius, and that
on the happy delivery of the princess, in the year 322, a general
pardon was granted by Constantine? See Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p.
47, and the law (l. ix. tit. xxxvii.) of the Theodosian code,
which has so much embarrassed the interpreters.  Godefroy, tom.
iii. p. 267 
     Note: This conjecture is very doubtful.  The obscurity of
the law quoted from the Theodosian code scarcely allows any
inference, and there is extant but one meda which can be
attributed to a Helena, wife of Crispus.] 
[Footnote 19: See the life of Constantine, particularly l. ii. c.
19, 20. Two hundred and fifty years afterwards Evagrius (l. iii.
c. 41) deduced from the silence of Eusebius a vain argument
against the reality of the fact.] 
[Footnote 20: Histoire de Pierre le Grand, par Voltaire, part ii.
c. 10.] 
     The innocence of Crispus was so universally acknowledged,
that the modern Greeks, who adore the memory of their founder,
are reduced to palliate the guilt of a parricide, which the
common feelings of human nature forbade them to justify.  They
pretend, that as soon as the afflicted father discovered the
falsehood of the accusation by which his credulity had been so
fatally misled, he published to the world his repentance and
remorse; that he mourned forty days, during which he abstained
from the use of the bath, and all the ordinary comforts of life;
and that, for the lasting instruction of posterity, he erected a
golden statue of Crispus, with this memorable inscription: To my
son, whom I unjustly condemned. ^21 A tale so moral and so
interesting would deserve to be supported by less exceptionable
authority; but if we consult the more ancient and authentic
writers, they will inform us, that the repentance of Constantine
was manifested only in acts of blood and revenge; and that he
atoned for the murder of an innocent son, by the execution,
perhaps, of a guilty wife.  They ascribe the misfortunes of
Crispus to the arts of his step-mother Fausta, whose implacable
hatred, or whose disappointed love, renewed in the palace of
Constantine the ancient tragedy of Hippolitus and of Phaedra. ^22
Like the daughter of Minos, the daughter of Maximian accused her
son-in-law of an incestuous attempt on the chastity of his
father's wife; and easily obtained, from the jealousy of the
emperor, a sentence of death against a young prince, whom she
considered with reason as the most formidable rival of her own
children.  But Helena, the aged mother of Constantine, lamented
and revenged the untimely fate of her grandson Crispus; nor was
it long before a real or pretended discovery was made, that
Fausta herself entertained a criminal connection with a slave
belonging to the Imperial stables. ^23 Her condemnation and
punishment were the instant consequences of the charge; and the
adulteress was suffocated by the steam of a bath, which, for that
purpose, had been heated to an extraordinary degree. ^24 By some
it will perhaps be thought, that the remembrance of a conjugal
union of twenty years, and the honor of their common offspring,
the destined heirs of the throne, might have softened the
obdurate heart of Constantine, and persuaded him to suffer his
wife, however guilty she might appear, to expiate her offences in
a solitary prison.  But it seems a superfluous labor to weigh the
propriety, unless we could ascertain the truth, of this singular
event, which is attended with some circumstances of doubt and
perplexity.  Those who have attacked, and those who have
defended, the character of Constantine, have alike disregarded
two very remarkable passages of two orations pronounced under the
succeeding reign. The former celebrates the virtues, the beauty,
and the fortune of the empress Fausta, the daughter, wife,
sister, and mother of so many princes. ^25 The latter asserts, in
explicit terms, that the mother of the younger Constantine, who
was slain three years after his father's death, survived to weep
over the fate of her son. ^26 Notwithstanding the positive
testimony of several writers of the Pagan as well as of the
Christian religion, there may still remain some reason to
believe, or at least to suspect, that Fausta escaped the blind
and suspicious cruelty of her husband. ^* The deaths of a son and
a nephew, with the execution of a great number of respectable,
and perhaps innocent friends, ^27 who were involved in their
fall, may be sufficient, however, to justify the discontent of
the Roman people, and to explain the satirical verses affixed to
the palace gate, comparing the splendid and bloody reigns of
Constantine and Nero. ^28

[Footnote 21: In order to prove that the statue was erected by
Constantine, and afterwards concealed by the malice of the
Arians, Codinus very readily creates (p. 34) two witnesses,
Hippolitus, and the younger Herodotus, to whose imaginary
histories he appeals with unblushing confidence.] 
[Footnote 22: Zosimus (l. ii. p. 103) may be considered as our
original. The ingenuity of the moderns, assisted by a few hints
from the ancients, has illustrated and improved his obscure and
imperfect narrative.] 
[Footnote 23: Philostorgius, l. ii. c. 4. Zosimus (l. ii. p. 104,
116) imputes to Constantine the death of two wives, of the
innocent Fausta, and of an adulteress, who was the mother of his
three successors.  According to Jerom, three or four years
elapsed between the death of Crispus and that of Fausta. The
elder Victor is prudently silent.]

[Footnote 24: If Fausta was put to death, it is reasonable to
believe that the private apartments of the palace were the scene
of her execution.  The orator Chrysostom indulges his fancy by
exposing the naked desert mountain to be devoured by wild
beasts.]

[Footnote 25: Julian. Orat. i.  He seems to call her the mother
of Crispus. She might assume that title by adoption.  At least,
she was not considered as his mortal enemy.  Julian compares the
fortune of Fausta with that of Parysatis, the Persian queen.  A
Roman would have more naturally recollected the second Agrippina:
-

     Et moi, qui sur le trone ai suivi mes ancetres:
     Moi, fille, femme, soeur, et mere de vos maitres.]

[Footnote 26: Monod. in Constantin. Jun. c. 4, ad Calcem Eutrop.
edit. Havercamp.  The orator styles her the most divine and pious
of queens [Footnote *: Manso (Leben Constantins, p. 65) treats
this inference o:  Gibbon, and the authorities to which he
appeals, with too much contempt, considering the general
scantiness of proof on this curious question. - M.] 
[Footnote 27: Interfecit numerosos amicos.  Eutrop. xx. 6.] 
[Footnote 28: Saturni aurea saecula quis requirat?
     Sunt haec gemmea, sed Neroniana.

     Sidon. Apollinar. v. 8.

It is somewhat singular that these satirical lines should be
attributed, not to an obscure libeller, or a disappointed
patriot, but to Ablavius, prime minister and favorite of the
emperor.  We may now perceive that the imprecations of the Roman
people were dictated by humanity, as well as by superstition. 
Zosim. l. ii. p. 105.]

Chapter XVIII: Character Of Constantine And His Sons. 

Part II.

     By the death of Crispus, the inheritance of the empire
seemed to devolve on the three sons of Fausta, who have been
already mentioned under the names of Constantine, of Constantius,
and of Constans.  These young princes were successively invested
with the title of Caesar; and the dates of their promotion may be
referred to the tenth, the twentieth, and the thirtieth years of
the reign of their father. ^29 This conduct, though it tended to
multiply the future masters of the Roman world, might be excused
by the partiality of paternal affection; but it is not so easy to
understand the motives of the emperor, when he endangered the
safety both of his family and of his people, by the unnecessary
elevation of his two nephews, Dalmatius and Hannibalianus.  The
former was raised, by the title of Caesar, to an equality with
his cousins.  In favor of the latter, Constantine invented the
new and singular appellation of Nobilissimus; ^30 to which he
annexed the flattering distinction of a robe of purple and gold. 
But of the whole series of Roman princes in any age of the
empire, Hannibalianus alone was distinguished by the title of
King; a name which the subjects of Tiberius would have detested,
as the profane and cruel insult of capricious tyranny.  The use
of such a title, even as it appears under the reign of
Constantine, is a strange and unconnected fact, which can
scarcely be admitted on the joint authority of Imperial medals
and contemporary writers. ^31

[Footnote 29: Euseb. Orat. in Constantin. c. 3.  These dates are
sufficiently correct to justify the orator.]

[Footnote 30: Zosim. l. ii. p. 117.  Under the predecessors of
Constantine, No bilissimus was a vague epithet, rather than a
legal and determined title.]

[Footnote 31: Adstruunt nummi veteres ac singulares.  Spanheim de
Usu Numismat.  Dissertat. xii. vol. ii. p. 357.  Ammianus speaks
of this Roman king (l. xiv. c. l, and Valesius ad loc.) The
Valesian fragment styles him King of kings; and the Paschal
Chronicle acquires the weight of Latin evidence.]

[Footnote *: Hannibalianus is always designated in these authors
by the title of king.  There still exist medals struck to his
honor, on which the same title is found, Fl. Hannibaliano Regi. 
See Eckhel, Doct. Num. t. viii. 204. Armeniam nationesque circum
socias habebat, says Aur. Victor, p. 225.  The writer means the
Lesser Armenia.  Though it is not possible to question a fact
supported by such respectable authorities, Gibbon considers it
inexplicable and incredible.  It is a strange abuse of the
privilege of doubting, to refuse all belief in a fact of such
little importance in itself, and attested thus formally by
contemporary authors and public monuments.  St. Martin note to Le
Beau i. 341. - M.]

     The whole empire was deeply interested in the education of
these five youths, the acknowledged successors of Constantine. 
The exercise of the body prepared them for the fatigues of war
and the duties of active life. Those who occasionally mention the
education or talents of Constantius, allow that he excelled in
the gymnastic arts of leaping and running that he was a dexterous
archer, a skilful horseman, and a master of all the different
weapons used in the service either of the cavalry or of the
infantry. ^32 The same assiduous cultivation was bestowed, though
not perhaps with equal success, to improve the minds of the sons
and nephews of Constantine. ^33 The most celebrated professors of
the Christian faith, of the Grecian philosophy, and of the Roman
jurisprudence, were invited by the liberality of the emperor, who
reserved for himself the important task of instructing the royal
youths in the science of government, and the knowledge of
mankind.  But the genius of Constantine himself had been formed
by adversity and experience.  In the free intercourse of private
life, and amidst the dangers of the court of Galerius, he had
learned to command his own passions, to encounter those of his
equals, and to depend for his present safety and future greatness
on the prudence and firmness of his personal conduct.  His
destined successors had the misfortune of being born and educated
in the imperial purple.  Incessantly surrounded with a train of
flatterers, they passed their youth in the enjoyment of luxury,
and the expectation of a throne; nor would the dignity of their
rank permit them to descend from that elevated station from
whence the various characters of human nature appear to wear a
smooth and uniform aspect.  The indulgence of Constantine
admitted them, at a very tender age, to share the administration
of the empire; and they studied the art of reigning, at the
expense of the people intrusted to their care.  The younger
Constantine was appointed to hold his court in Gaul; and his
brother Constantius exchanged that department, the ancient
patrimony of their father, for the more opulent, but less
martial, countries of the East.  Italy, the Western Illyricum,
and Africa, were accustomed to revere Constans, the third of his
sons, as the representative of the great Constantine.  He fixed
Dalmatius on the Gothic frontier, to which he annexed the
government of Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece.  The city of
Caesarea was chosen for the residence of Hannibalianus; and the
provinces of Pontus, Cappadocia, and the Lesser Armenia, were
destined to form the extent of his new kingdom.  For each of
these princes a suitable establishment was provided.  A just
proportion of guards, of legions, and of auxiliaries, was
allotted for their respective dignity and defence.  The ministers
and generals, who were placed about their persons, were such as
Constantine could trust to assist, and even to control, these
youthful sovereigns in the exercise of their delegated power.  As
they advanced in years and experience, the limits of their
authority were insensibly enlarged: but the emperor always
reserved for himself the title of Augustus; and while he showed
the Caesars to the armies and provinces, he maintained every part
of the empire in equal obedience to its supreme head. ^34 The
tranquillity of the last fourteen years of his reign was scarcely
interrupted by the contemptible insurrection of a camel-driver in
the Island of Cyprus, ^35 or by the active part which the policy
of Constantine engaged him to assume in the wars of the Goths and
Sarmatians.

[Footnote 32: His dexterity in martial exercises is celebrated by
Julian, (Orat. i. p. 11, Orat. ii. p. 53,) and allowed by
Ammianus, (l. xxi. c. 16.)]

[Footnote 33: Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. l. iv. c. 51.  Julian,
Orat. i. p. 11-16, with Spanheim's elaborate Commentary. 
Libanius, Orat. iii. p. 109. Constantius studied with laudable
diligence; but the dulness of his fancy prevented him from
succeeding in the art of poetry, or even of rhetoric.] 
[Footnote 34: Eusebius, (l. iv. c. 51, 52,) with a design of
exalting the authority and glory of Constantine, affirms, that he
divided the Roman empire as a private citizen might have divided
his patrimony.  His distribution of the provinces may be
collected from Eutropius, the two Victors and the Valesian
fragment.]

[Footnote 35: Calocerus, the obscure leader of this rebellion, or
rather tumult, was apprehended and burnt alive in the
market-place of Tarsus, by the vigilance of Dalmatius.  See the
elder Victor, the Chronicle of Jerom, and the doubtful traditions
of Theophanes and Cedrenus.]

     Among the different branches of the human race, the
Sarmatians form a very remarkable shade; as they seem to unite
the manners of the Asiatic barbarians with the figure and
complexion of the ancient inhabitants of Europe.  According to
the various accidents of peace and war, of alliance or conquest,
the Sarmatians were sometimes confined to the banks of the
Tanais; and they sometimes spread themselves over the immense
plains which lie between the Vistula and the Volga. ^36 The care
of their numerous flocks and herds, the pursuit of game, and the
exercises of war, or rather of rapine, directed the vagrant
motions of the Sarmatians.  The movable camps or cities, the
ordinary residence of their wives and children, consisted only of
large wagons drawn by oxen, and covered in the form of tents. 
The military strength of the nation was composed of cavalry; and
the custom of their warriors, to lead in their hand one or two
spare horses, enabled them to advance and to retreat with a rapid
diligence, which surprised the security, and eluded the pursuit,
of a distant enemy. ^37 Their poverty of iron prompted their rude
industry to invent a sort of cuirass, which was capable of
resisting a sword or javelin, though it was formed only of
horses' hoofs, cut into thin and polished slices, carefully laid
over each other in the manner of scales or feathers, and strongly
sewed upon an under garment of coarse linen. ^38 The offensive
arms of the Sarmatians were short daggers, long lances, and a
weighty bow vow with a quiver of arrows.  They were reduced to
the necessity of employing fish- bones for the points of their
weapons; but the custom of dipping them in a venomous liquor,
that poisoned the wounds which they inflicted, is alone
sufficient to prove the most savage manners, since a people
impressed with a sense of humanity would have abhorred so cruel a
practice, and a nation skilled in the arts of war would have
disdained so impotent a resource. ^39 Whenever these Barbarians
issued from their deserts in quest of prey, their shaggy beards,
uncombed locks, the furs with which they were covered from head
to foot, and their fierce countenances, which seemed to express
the innate cruelty of their minds, inspired the more civilized
provincials of Rome with horror and dismay.

[Footnote 36: Cellarius has collected the opinions of the
ancients concerning the European and Asiatic Sarmatia; and M.
D'Anville has applied them to modern geography with the skill and
accuracy which always distinguish that excellent writer.]

[Footnote 37: Ammian. l. xvii. c. 12.  The Sarmatian horses were
castrated to prevent the mischievous accidents which might happen
from the noisy and ungovernable passions of the males.]

[Footnote 38: Pausanius, l. i. p. 50,. edit. Kuhn.  That
inquisitive traveller had carefully examined a Sarmatian cuirass,
which was preserved in the temple of Aesculapius at Athens.]

[Footnote 39: Aspicis et mitti sub adunco toxica ferro,
     Et telum causas mortis habere duas.

     Ovid, ex Ponto, l. iv. ep. 7, ver. 7.

     See in the Recherches sur les Americains, tom. ii. p. 236 -
271, a very curious dissertation on poisoned darts.  The venom
was commonly extracted from the vegetable reign: but that
employed by the Scythians appears to have been drawn from the
viper, and a mixture of human blood. The use of poisoned arms,
which has been spread over both worlds, never preserved a savage
tribe from the arms of a disciplined enemy.] 
     The tender Ovid, after a youth spent in the enjoyment of
fame and luxury, was condemned to a hopeless exile on the frozen
banks of the Danube, where he was exposed, almost without
defence, to the fury of these monsters of the desert, with whose
stern spirits he feared that his gentle shade might hereafter be
confounded.  In his pathetic, but sometimes unmanly lamentations,
^40 he describes in the most lively colors the dress and manners,
the arms and inroads, of the Getae and Sarmatians, who were
associated for the purposes of destruction; and from the accounts
of history there is some reason to believe that these Sarmatians
were the Jazygae, one of the most numerous and warlike tribes of
the nation.  The allurements of plenty engaged them to seek a
permanent establishment on the frontiers of the empire.  Soon
after the reign of Augustus, they obliged the Dacians, who
subsisted by fishing on the banks of the River Teyss or Tibiscus,
to retire into the hilly country, and to abandon to the
victorious Sarmatians the fertile plains of the Upper Hungary,
which are bounded by the course of the Danube and the
semicircular enclosure of the Carpathian Mountains. ^41 In this
advantageous position, they watched or suspended the moment of
attack, as they were provoked by injuries or appeased by
presents; they gradually acquired the skill of using more
dangerous weapons, and although the Sarmatians did not illustrate
their name by any memorable exploits, they occasionally assisted
their eastern and western neighbors, the Goths and the Germans,
with a formidable body of cavalry.  They lived under the
irregular aristocracy of their chieftains: ^42 but after they had
received into their bosom the fugitive Vandals, who yielded to
the pressure of the Gothic power, they seem to have chosen a king
from that nation, and from the illustrious race of the Astingi,
who had formerly dwelt on the hores of the northern ocean. ^43 
[Footnote 40: The nine books of Poetical Epistles which Ovid
composed during the seven first years of his melancholy exile,
possess, beside the merit of elegance, a double value.  They
exhibit a picture of the human mind under very singular
circumstances; and they contain many curious observations, which
no Roman except Ovid, could have an opportunity of making.  Every
circumstance which tends to illustrate the history of the
Barbarians, has been drawn together by the very accurate Count de
Buat. Hist. Ancienne des Peuples de l'Europe, tom. iv. c. xvi. p.
286-317] 
[Footnote 41: The Sarmatian Jazygae were settled on the banks of
Pathissus or Tibiscus, when Pliny, in the year 79, published his
Natural History. See l. iv. c. 25.  In the time of Strabo and
Ovid, sixty or seventy years before, they appear to have
inhabited beyond the Getae, along the coast of the Euxine.]

[Footnote 42: Principes Sarmaturum Jazygum penes quos civitatis
regimen plebem quoque et vim equitum, qua sola valent,
offerebant.  Tacit. Hist. iii. p. 5.  This offer was made in the
civil war between Vitellino and Vespasian.]

[Footnote 43: This hypothesis of a Vandal king reigning over
Sarmatian subjects, seems necessary to reconcile the Goth
Jornandes with the Greek and Latin historians of Constantine.  It
may be observed that Isidore, who lived in Spain under the
dominion of the Goths, gives them for enemies, not the Vandals,
but the Sarmatians.  See his Chronicle in Grotius, p. 709. 
     Note: I have already noticed the confusion which must
necessarily arise in history, when names purely geographical, as
this of Sarmatia, are taken for historical names belonging to a
single nation.  We perceive it here; it has forced Gibbon to
suppose, without any reason but the necessity of extricating
himself from his perplexity, that the Sarmatians had taken a king
from among the Vandals; a supposition entirely contrary to the
usages of Barbarians Dacia, at this period, was occupied, not by
Sarmatians, who have never formed a distinct race, but by
Vandals, whom the ancients have often confounded under the
general term Sarmatians. See Gatterer's Welt-Geschiehte p. 464 -
G.] 
     This motive of enmity must have inflamed the subjects of
contention, which perpetually arise on the confines of warlike
and independent nations. The Vandal princes were stimulated by
fear and revenge; the Gothic kings aspired to extend their
dominion from the Euxine to the frontiers of Germany; and the
waters of the Maros, a small river which falls into the Teyss,
were stained with the blood of the contending Barbarians.  After
some experience of the superior strength and numbers of their
adversaries, the Sarmatians implored the protection of the Roman
monarch, who beheld with pleasure the discord of the nations, but
who was justly alarmed by the progress of the Gothic arms.  As
soon as Constantine had declared himself in favor of the weaker
party, the haughty Araric, king of the Goths, instead of
expecting the attack of the legions, boldly passed the Danube,
and spread terror and devastation through the province of Maesia.

To oppose the inroad of this destroying host, the aged emperor
took the field in person; but on this occasion either his conduct
or his fortune betrayed the glory which he had acquired in so
many foreign and domestic wars.  He had the mortification of
seeing his troops fly before an inconsiderable detachment of the
Barbarians, who pursued them to the edge of their fortified camp,
and obliged him to consult his safety by a precipitate and
ignominious retreat. ^* The event of a second and more successful
action retrieved the honor of the Roman name; and the powers of
art and discipline prevailed, after an obstinate contest, over
the efforts of irregular valor. The broken army of the Goths
abandoned the field of battle, the wasted province, and the
passage of the Danube: and although the eldest of the sons of
Constantine was permitted to supply the place of his father, the
merit of the victory, which diffused universal joy, was ascribed
to the auspicious counsels of the emperor himself.

[Footnote *: Gibbon states, that Constantine was defeated by the
Goths in a first battle.  No ancient author mentions such an
event.  It is, no doubt, a mistake in Gibbon.  St Martin, note to
Le Beau. i. 324. - M.] 
     He contributed at least to improve this advantage, by his
negotiations with the free and warlike people of Chersonesus, ^44
whose capital, situate on the western coast of the Tauric or
Crimaean peninsula, still retained some vestiges of a Grecian
colony, and was governed by a perpetual magistrate, assisted by a
council of senators, emphatically styled the Fathers of the City.

The Chersonites were animated against the Goths, by the memory of
the wars, which, in the preceding century, they had maintained
with unequal forces against the invaders of their country.  They
were connected with the Romans by the mutual benefits of
commerce; as they were supplied from the provinces of Asia with
corn and manufactures, which they purchased with their only
productions, salt, wax, and hides.  Obedient to the requisition
of Constantine, they prepared, under the conduct of their
magistrate Diogenes, a considerable army, of which the principal
strength consisted in cross-bows and military chariots.  The
speedy march and intrepid attack of the Chersonites, by diverting
the attention of the Goths, assisted the operations of the
Imperial generals.  The Goths, vanquished on every side, were
driven into the mountains, where, in the course of a severe
campaign, above a hundred thousand were computed to have perished
by cold and hunger Peace was at length granted to their humble
supplications; the eldest son of Araric was accepted as the most
valuable hostage; and Constantine endeavored to convince their
chiefs, by a liberal distribution of honors and rewards, how far
the friendship of the Romans was preferable to their enmity.  In
the expressions of his gratitude towards the faithful
Chersonites, the emperor was still more magnificent. The pride of
the nation was gratified by the splendid and almost royal
decorations bestowed on their magistrate and his successors.  A
perpetual exemption from all duties was stipulated for their
vessels which traded to the ports of the Black Sea.  A regular
subsidy was promised, of iron, corn, oil, and of every supply
which could be useful either in peace or war.  But it was thought
that the Sarmatians were sufficiently rewarded by their
deliverance from impending ruin; and the emperor, perhaps with
too strict an economy, deducted some part of the expenses of the
war from the customary gratifications which were allowed to that
turbulent nation. 
[Footnote 44: I may stand in need of some apology for having
used, without scruple, the authority of Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, in all that relates to the wars and negotiations
of the Chersonites.  I am aware that he was a Greek of the tenth
century, and that his accounts of ancient history are frequently
confused and fabulous.  But on this occasion his narrative is,
for the most part, consistent and probable nor is there much
difficulty in conceiving that an emperor might have access to
some secret archives, which had escaped the diligence of meaner
historians.  For the situation and history of Chersone, see
Peyssonel, des Peuples barbares qui ont habite les Bords du
Danube, c. xvi.  84-90.]

[Footnote !: Gibbon has confounded the inhabitants of the city of
Cherson, the ancient Chersonesus, with the people of the
Chersonesus Taurica. If he had read with more attention the
chapter of Constantius Porphyrogenitus, from which this narrative
is derived, he would have seen that the author clearly
distinguishes the republic of Cherson from the rest of the Tauric
Peninsula, then possessed by the kings of the Cimmerian
Bosphorus, and that the city of Cherson alone furnished succors
to the Romans.  The English historian is also mistaken in saying
that the Stephanephoros of the Chersonites was a perpetual
magistrate; since it is easy to discover from the great number of
Stephanephoroi mentioned by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, that
they were annual magistrates, like almost all those which
governed the Grecian republics.  St. Martin, note to Le Beau i.
326. - M.]

     Exasperated by this apparent neglect, the Sarmatians soon
forgot, with the levity of barbarians, the services which they
had so lately received, and the dangers which still threatened
their safety.  Their inroads on the territory of the empire
provoked the indignation of Constantine to leave them to their
fate; and he no longer opposed the ambition of Geberic, a
renowned warrior, who had recently ascended the Gothic throne. 
Wisumar, the Vandal king, whilst alone, and unassisted, he
defended his dominions with undaunted courage, was vanquished and
slain in a decisive battle, which swept away the flower of the
Sarmatian youth. ^* The remainder of the nation embraced the
desperate expedient of arming their slaves, a hardy race of
hunters and herdsmen, by whose tumultuary aid they revenged their
defeat, and expelled the invader from their confines.  But they
soon discovered that they had exchanged a foreign for a domestic
enemy, more dangerous and more implacable.  Enraged by their
former servitude, elated by their present glory, the slaves,
under the name of Limigantes, claimed and usurped the possession
of the country which they had saved.  Their masters, unable to
withstand the ungoverned fury of the populace, preferred the
hardships of exile to the tyranny of their servants.  Some of the
fugitive Sarmatians solicited a less ignominious dependence,
under the hostile standard of the Goths.  A more numerous band
retired beyond the Carpathian Mountains, among the Quadi, their
German allies, and were easily admitted to share a superfluous
waste of uncultivated land.  But the far greater part of the
distressed nation turned their eyes towards the fruitful
provinces of Rome.  Imploring the protection and forgiveness of
the emperor, they solemnly promised, as subjects in peace, and as
soldiers in war, the most inviolable fidelity to the empire which
should graciously receive them into its bosom.  According to the
maxims adopted by Probus and his successors, the offers of this
barbarian colony were eagerly accepted; and a competent portion
of lands in the provinces of Pannonia, Thrace, Macedonia, and
Italy, were immediately assigned for the habitation and
subsistence of three hundred thousand Sarmatians. ^45

[Footnote *: Gibbon supposes that this war took place because
Constantine had deducted a part of the customary gratifications,
granted by his predecessors to the Sarmatians.  Nothing of this
kind appears in the authors.  We see, on the contrary, that after
his victory, and to punish the Sarmatia is for the ravages they
had committed, he withheld the sums which it had been the custom
to bestow.  St. Martin, note to Le Beau, i. 327. - M.]

[Footnote 45: The Gothic and Sarmatian wars are related in so
broken and imperfect a manner, that I have been obliged to
compare the following writers, who mutually supply, correct, and
illustrate each other.  Those who will take the same trouble, may
acquire a right of criticizing my narrative.  Ammianus, l. xvii.
c. 12.  Anonym. Valesian. p. 715. Eutropius, x. 7.  Sextus Rufus
de Provinciis, c. 26.  Julian Orat. i. p. 9, and Spanheim,
Comment. p. 94.  Hieronym. in Chron. Euseb. in Vit. Constantin.
l. iv. c. 6.  Socrates, l. i. c. 18.  Sozomen, l. i. c. 8.
Zosimus, l. ii. p. 108.  Jornandes de Reb. Geticis, c. 22. 
Isidorus in Chron. p. 709; in Hist. Gothorum Grotii.  Constantin.

Porphyrogenitus de Administrat. Imperii, c. 53, p. 208, edit.
Meursii.]

[Footnote *: Compare, on this very obscure but remarkable war,
Manso, Leben Coa xantius, p. 195 - M.]

     By chastising the pride of the Goths, and by accepting the
homage of a suppliant nation, Constantine asserted the majesty of
the Roman empire; and the ambassadors of Aethiopia, Persia, and
the most remote countries of India, congratulated the peace and
prosperity of his government. ^46 If he reckoned, among the
favors of fortune, the death of his eldest son, of his nephew,
and perhaps of his wife, he enjoyed an uninterrupted flow of
private as well as public felicity, till the thirtieth year of
his reign; a period which none of his predecessors, since
Augustus, had been permitted to celebrate.  Constantine survived
that solemn festival about ten months; and at the mature age of
sixty-four, after a short illness, he ended his memorable life at
the palace of Aquyrion, in the suburbs of Nicomedia, whither he
had retired for the benefit of the air, and with the hope of
recruiting his exhausted strength by the use of the warm baths. 
The excessive demonstrations of grief, or at least of mourning,
surpassed whatever had been practised on any former occasion. 
Notwithstanding the claims of the senate and people of ancient
Rome, the corpse of the deceased emperor, according to his last
request, was transported to the city, which was destined to
preserve the name and memory of its founder.  The body of
Constantine adorned with the vain symbols of greatness, the
purple and diadem, was deposited on a golden bed in one of the
apartments of the palace, which for that purpose had been
splendidly furnished and illuminated.  The forms of the court
were strictly maintained.  Every day, at the appointed hours, the
principal officers of the state, the army, and the household,
approaching the person of their sovereign with bended knees and a
composed countenance, offered their respectful homage as
seriously as if he had been still alive.  From motives of policy,
this theatrical representation was for some time continued; nor
could flattery neglect the opportunity of remarking that
Constantine alone, by the peculiar indulgence of Heaven, had
reigned after his death. ^47

[Footnote 46: Eusebius (in Vit. Const. l. iv. c. 50) remarks
three circumstances relative to these Indians.  1. They came from
the shores of the eastern ocean; a description which might be
applied to the coast of China or Coromandel.  2. They presented
shining gems, and unknown animals. 3. They protested their kings
had erected statues to represent the supreme majesty of
Constantine.]

[Footnote 47: Funus relatum in urbem sui nominis, quod sane P. R.
aegerrime tulit.  Aurelius Victor.  Constantine prepared for
himself a stately tomb in the church of the Holy Apostles. 
Euseb. l. iv. c. 60.  The best, and indeed almost the only
account of the sickness, death, and funeral of Constantine, is
contained in the fourth book of his Life by Eusebius.] 
     But this reign could subsist only in empty pageantry; and it
was soon discovered that the will of the most absolute monarch is
seldom obeyed, when his subjects have no longer anything to hope
from his favor, or to dread from his resentment.  The same
ministers and generals, who bowed with such referential awe
before the inanimate corpse of their deceased sovereign, were
engaged in secret consultations to exclude his two nephews,
Dalmatius and Hannibalianus, from the share which he had assigned
them in the succession of the empire.  We are too imperfectly
acquainted with the court of Constantine to form any judgment of
the real motives which influenced the leaders of the conspiracy;
unless we should suppose that they were actuated by a spirit of
jealousy and revenge against the praefect Ablavius, a proud
favorite, who had long directed the counsels and abused the
confidence of the late emperor.  The arguments, by which they
solicited the concurrence of the soldiers and people, are of a
more obvious nature; and they might with decency, as well as
truth, insist on the superior rank of the children of
Constantine, the danger of multiplying the number of sovereigns,
and the impending mischiefs which threatened the republic, from
the discord of so many rival princes, who were not connected by
the tender sympathy of fraternal affection.  The intrigue was
conducted with zeal and secrecy, till a loud and unanimous
declaration was procured from the troops, that they would suffer
none except the sons of their lamented monarch to reign over the
Roman empire. ^48 The younger Dalmatius, who was united with his
collateral relations by the ties of friendship and interest, is
allowed to have inherited a considerable share of the abilities
of the great Constantine; but, on this occasion, he does not
appear to have concerted any measure for supporting, by arms, the
just claims which himself and his royal brother derived from the
liberality of their uncle.  Astonished and overwhelmed by the
tide of popular fury, they seem to have remained, without the
power of flight or of resistance, in the hands of their
implacable enemies.  Their fate was suspended till the arrival of
Constantius, the second, and perhaps the most favored, of the
sons of Constantine.

[Footnote 48: Eusebius (l. iv. c. 6) terminates his narrative by
this loyal declaration of the troops, and avoids all the
invidious circumstances of the subsequent massacre.]

[Footnote 49: The character of Dalmatius is advantageously,
though concisely  drawn by Eutropius.  (x. 9.) Dalmatius Ceasar
prosperrima indole, neque patrou absimilis, haud multo post
oppressus est factione militari.  As both Jerom and the
Alexandrian Chronicle mention the third year of the Ceasar, which
did not commence till the 18th or 24th of September, A. D. 337,
it is certain that these military factions continued above four
months.]

Chapter XVIII: Character Of Constantine And His Sons. 

Part III.

     The voice of the dying emperor had recommended the care of
his funeral to the piety of Constantius; and that prince, by the
vicinity of his eastern station, could easily prevent the
diligence of his brothers, who resided in their distant
government of Italy and Gaul.  As soon as he had taken possession
of the palace of Constantinople, his first care was to remove the
apprehensions of his kinsmen, by a solemn oath which he pledged
for their security.  His next employment was to find some
specious pretence which might release his conscience from the
obligation of an imprudent promise.  The arts of fraud were made
subservient to the designs of cruelty; and a manifest forgery was
attested by a person of the most sacred character.  From the
hands of the Bishop of Nicomedia, Constantius received a fatal
scroll, affirmed to be the genuine testament of his father; in
which the emperor expressed his suspicions that he had been
poisoned by his brothers; and conjured his sons to revenge his
death, and to consult their own safety, by the punishment of the
guilty. ^50 Whatever reasons might have been alleged by these
unfortunate princes to defend their life and honor against so
incredible an accusation, they were silenced by the furious
clamors of the soldiers, who declared themselves, at once, their
enemies, their judges, and their executioners.  The spirit, and
even the forms of legal proceedings were repeatedly violated in a
promiscuous massacre; which involved the two uncles of
Constantius, seven of his cousins, of whom Dalmatius and
Hannibalianus were the most illustrious, the Patrician Optatus,
who had married a sister of the late emperor, and the Praefect
Ablavius, whose power and riches had inspired him with some hopes
of obtaining the purple.  If it were necessary to aggravate the
horrors of this bloody scene, we might add, that Constantius
himself had espoused the daughter of his uncle Julius, and that
he had bestowed his sister in marriage on his cousin
Hannibalianus.  These alliances, which the policy of Constantine,
regardless of the public prejudice, ^51 had formed between the
several branches of the Imperial house, served only to convince
mankind, that these princes were as cold to the endearments of
conjugal affection, as they were insensible to the ties of
consanguinity, and the moving entreaties of youth and innocence. 
Of so numerous a family, Gallus and Julian alone, the two
youngest children of Julius Constantius, were saved from the
hands of the assassins, till their rage, satiated with slaughter,
had in some measure subsided.  The emperor Constantius, who, in
the absence of his brothers, was the most obnoxious to guilt and
reproach, discovered, on some future occasions, a faint and
transient remorse for those cruelties which the perfidious
counsels of his ministers, and the irresistible violence of the
troops, had extorted from his unexperienced youth. ^52 
[Footnote 50: I have related this singular anecdote on the
was ever used by Constantius and his adherents, it was laid aside
with contempt, as soon as it served their immediate purpose. 
Athanasius (tom. i. p. 856) mention the oath which Constantius
had taken for the security of his kinsmen.] 
[Footnote *: The authority of Philostorgius is so suspicious, as
not to be sufficient to establish this fact, which Gibbon has
inserted in his history as certain, while in the note he appears
to doubt it. - G.]

[Footnote 51: Conjugia sobrinarum diu ignorata, tempore addito
percrebuisse. Tacit. Annal. xii. 6, and Lipsius ad loc.  The
repeal of the ancient law, and the practice of five hundred
years, were insufficient to eradicate the prejudices of the
Romans, who still considered the marriages of cousins-german as a
species of imperfect incest.  (Augustin de Civitate Dei, xv. 6;)
and Julian, whose mind was biased by superstition and resentment,
stigmatizes these unnatural alliances between his own cousins
with the opprobrious epithet (Orat. vii. p. 228.). The
jurisprudence of the canons has since received and enforced this
prohibition, without being able to introduce it either into the
civil or the common law of Europe.  See on the subject of these
marriages, Taylor's Civil Law, p. 331.  Brouer de Jure Connub. l.
ii. c. 12.  Hericourt des Loix Ecclesiastiques, part iii. c. 5. 
Fleury, Institutions du Droit Canonique, tom. i. p. 331.  Paris,
1767, and Fra Paolo, Istoria del Concilio Trident, l. viii.]

[Footnote 52: Julian (ad S. P.. Q. Athen. p. 270) charges his
cousin Constantius with the whole guilt of a massacre, from which
he himself so narrowly escaped.  His assertion is confirmed by
Athanasius, who, for reasons of a very different nature, was not
less an enemy of Constantius, (tom. i. p. 856.) Zosimus joins in
the same accusation.  But the three abbreviators, Eutropius and
the Victors, use very qualifying expressions: "sinente potius
quam jubente;" "incertum quo suasore;" "vi militum."] 
     The massacre of the Flavian race was succeeded by a new
division of the provinces; which was ratified in a personal
interview of the three brothers.  Constantine, the eldest of the
Caesars, obtained, with a certain preeminence of rank, the
possession of the new capital, which bore his own name and that
of his father.  Thrace, and the countries of the East, were
allotted for the patrimony of Constantius; and Constans was
acknowledged as the lawful sovereign of Italy, Africa, and the
Western Illyricum.  The armies submitted to their hereditary
right; and they condescended, after some delay, to accept from
the Roman senate the title of Augustus.  When they first assumed
the reins of government, the eldest of these princes was
twenty-one, the second twenty, and the third only seventeen,
years of age. ^53

[Footnote 53: Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. l. iv. c. 69.  Zosimus,
l. ii. p. 117. Idat. in Chron.  See two notes of Tillemont, Hist.
des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 1086-1091.  The reign of the eldest
brother at Constantinople is noticed only in the Alexandrian
Chronicle.]

     While the martial nations of Europe followed the standards
of his brothers, Constantius, at the head of the effeminate
troops of Asia, was left to sustain the weight of the Persian
war.  At the decease of Constantine, the throne of the East was
filled by Sapor, son of Hormouz, or Hormisdas, and grandson of
Narses, who, after the victory of Galerius, had humbly confessed
the superiority of the Roman power.  Although Sapor was in the
thirtieth year of his long reign, he was still in the vigor of
youth, as the date of his accession, by a very strange fatality,
had preceded that of his birth.  The wife of Hormouz remained
pregnant at the time of her husband's death; and the uncertainty
of the sex, as well as of the event, excited the ambitious hopes
of the princes of the house of Sassan.  The apprehensions of
civil war were at length removed, by the positive assurance of
the Magi, that the widow of Hormouz had conceived, and would
safely produce a son.  Obedient to the voice of superstition, the
Persians prepared, without delay, the ceremony of his coronation.

A royal bed, on which the queen lay in state, was exhibited in
the midst of the palace; the diadem was placed on the spot, which
might be supposed to conceal the future heir of Artaxerxes, and
the prostrate satraps adored the majesty of their invisible and
insensible sovereign. ^54 If any credit can be given to this
marvellous tale, which seems, however, to be countenanced by the
manners of the people, and by the extraordinary duration of his
reign, we must admire not only the fortune, but the genius, of
Sapor.  In the soft, sequestered education of a Persian harem,
the royal youth could discover the importance of exercising the
vigor of his mind and body; and, by his personal merit, deserved
a throne, on which he had been seated, while he was yet
unconscious of the duties and temptations of absolute power.  His
minority was exposed to the almost inevitable calamities of
domestic discord; his capital was surprised and plundered by
Thair, a powerful king of Yemen, or Arabia; and the majesty of
the royal family was degraded by the captivity of a princess, the
sister of the deceased king.  But as soon as Sapor attained the
age of manhood, the presumptuous Thair, his nation, and his
country, fell beneath the first effort of the young warrior; who
used his victory with so judicious a mixture of rigor and
clemency, that he obtained from the fears and gratitude of the
Arabs the title of Dhoulacnaf, or protector of the nation. ^55

[Footnote 54: Agathias, who lived in the sixth century, is the
author of this story, (l. iv. p. 135, edit. Louvre.) He derived
his information from some extracts of the Persian Chronicles,
obtained and translated by the interpreter Sergius, during his
embassy at that country.  The coronation of the mother of Sapor
is likewise mentioned by Snikard, (Tarikh. p. 116,) and
D'Herbelot (Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 703.)]

[Footnote *: The author of the Zenut-ul-Tarikh states, that the
lady herself affirmed her belief of this from the extraordinary
liveliness of the infant, and its lying on the right side.  Those
who are sage on such subjects must determine what right she had
to be positive from these symptoms.  Malcolm, Hist. of Persia, i
83. - M.]

[Footnote 55: D'Herbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 764.] 
[Footnote *: Gibbon, according to Sir J. Malcolm, has greatly
mistaken the derivation of this name; it means Zoolaktaf, the
Lord of the Shoulders, from his directing the shoulders of his
captives to be pierced and then dislocated by a string passed
through them.  Eastern authors are agreed with respect to the
origin of this title.  Malcolm, i. 84.  Gibbon took his
derivation from D'Herbelot, who gives both, the latter on the
authority of the Leb. Tarikh. - M.]

     The ambition of the Persian, to whom his enemies ascribe the
virtues of a soldier and a statesman, was animated by the desire
of revenging the disgrace of his fathers, and of wresting from
the hands of the Romans the five provinces beyond the Tigris. 
The military fame of Constantine, and the real or apparent
strength of his government, suspended the attack; and while the
hostile conduct of Sapor provoked the resentment, his artful
negotiations amused the patience of the Imperial court.  The
death of Constantine was the signal of war, ^56 and the actual
condition of the Syrian and Armenian frontier seemed to encourage
the Persians by the prospect of a rich spoil and an easy
conquest.  The example of the massacres of the palace diffused a
spirit of licentiousness and sedition among the troops of the
East, who were no longer restrained by their habits of obedience
to a veteran commander.  By the prudence of Constantius, who,
from the interview with his brothers in Pannonia, immediately
hastened to the banks of the Euphrates, the legions were
gradually restored to a sense of duty and discipline; but the
season of anarchy had permitted Sapor to form the siege of
Nisibis, and to occupy several of the mo st important fortresses
of Mesopotamia. ^57 In Armenia, the renowned Tiridates had long
enjoyed the peace and glory which he deserved by his valor and
fidelity to the cause of Rome. ^! The firm alliance which he
maintained with Constantine was productive of spiritual as well
as of temporal benefits; by the conversion of Tiridates, the
character of a saint was applied to that of a hero, the Christian
faith was preached and established from the Euphrates to the
shores of the Caspian, and Armenia was attached to the empire by
the double ties of policy and religion.  But as many of the
Armenian nobles still refused to abandon the plurality of their
gods and of their wives, the public tranquillity was disturbed by
a discontented faction, which insulted the feeble age of their
sovereign, and impatiently expected the hour of his death.  He
died at length after a reign of fifty- six years, and the fortune
of the Armenian monarchy expired with Tiridates. His lawful heir
was driven into exile, the Christian priests were either murdered
or expelled from their churches, the barbarous tribes of Albania
were solicited to descend from their mountains; and two of the
most powerful governors, usurping the ensigns or the powers of
royalty, implored the assistance of Sapor, and opened the gates
of their cities to the Persian garrisons.  The Christian party,
under the guidance of the Archbishop of Artaxata, the immediate
successor of St. Gregory the Illuminator, had recourse to the
piety of Constantius.  After the troubles had continued about
three years, Antiochus, one of the officers of the household,
executed with success the Imperial commission of restoring
Chosroes, ^* the son of Tiridates, to the throne of his fathers,
of distributing honors and rewards among the faithful servants of
the house of Arsaces, and of proclaiming a general amnesty, which
was accepted by the greater part of the rebellious satraps.  But
the Romans derived more honor than advantage from this
revolution.  Chosroes was a prince of a puny stature and a
pusillanimous spirit.  Unequal to the fatigues of war, averse to
the society of mankind, he withdrew from his capital to a retired
palace, which he built on the banks of the River Eleutherus, and
in the centre of a shady grove; where he consumed his vacant
hours in the rural sports of hunting and hawking.  To secure this
inglorious ease, he submitted to the conditions of peace which
Sapor condescended to impose; the payment of an annual tribute,
and the restitution of the fertile province of Atropatene, which
the courage of Tiridates, and the victorious arms of Galerius,
had annexed to the Armenian monarchy. ^58

[Footnote 56: Sextus Rufus, (c. 26,) who on this occasion is no
contemptible authority, affirms, that the Persians sued in vain
for peace, and that Constantine was preparing to march against
them: yet the superior weight of the testimony of Eusebius
obliges us to admit the preliminaries, if not the ratification,
of the treaty.  See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p.
420.]

[Footnote *: Constantine had endeavored to allay the fury of the
prosecutions, which, at the instigation of the Magi and the Jews,
Sapor had commenced against the Christians.  Euseb Vit. Hist.
Theod. i. 25.  Sozom. ii. c. 8, 15. - M.]

[Footnote 57: Julian. Orat. i. p. 20.]

[Footnote *: Tiridates had sustained a war against Maximin.
caused by the hatred of the latter against Christianity.  Armenia
was the first nation which embraced Christianity.  About the year
276 it was the religion of the king, the nobles, and the people
of Armenia.  From St. Martin, Supplement to Le Beau, v. i. p. 78.

Compare Preface to History of Vartan by Professor Neumann, p ix.
- M.]

[Footnote *: Chosroes was restored probably by Licinius, between
314 and 319. There was an Antiochus who was praefectus vigilum at
Rome, as appears from the Theodosian Code, (l. iii. de inf. his
quae sub ty.,) in 326, and from a fragment of the same work
published by M. Amedee Peyron, in 319.  He may before this have
been sent into Armenia.  St. M. p. 407.  [Is it not more probable
that Antiochus was an officer in the service of the Caesar who
ruled in the East? - M.] Chosroes was succeeded in the year 322
by his son Diran. Diran was a weak prince, and in the sixteenth
year of his reign.  A. D. 337. was betrayed into the power of the
Persians by the treachery of his chamberlain and the Persian
governor of Atropatene or Aderbidjan.  He was blinded: his wife
and his son Arsaces shared his captivity, but the princes and
nobles of Armenia claimed the protection of Rome; and this was
the cause of Constantine's declaration of war against the
Persians. - The king of Persia attempted to make himself master
of Armenia; but the brave resistance of the people, the advance
of Constantius, and a defeat which his army suffered at Oskha in
Armenia, and the failure before Nisibis, forced Shahpour to
submit to terms of peace. Varaz-Shahpour, the perfidious governor
of Atropatene, was flayed alive; Diran and his son were released
from captivity; Diran refused to ascend the throne, and retired
to an obscure retreat: his son Arsaces was crowned king of
Armenia.  Arsaces pursued a vacillating policy between the
influence of Rome and Persia, and the war recommenced in the year
345.  At least, that was the period of the expedition of
Constantius to the East.  See St. Martin, additions to Le Beau,
i. 442.  The Persians have made an extraordinary romance out of
the history of Shahpour, who went as a spy to Constantinople, was
taken, harnessed like a horse, and carried to witness the
devastation of his kingdom.  Malcolm. 84 - M.]

[Footnote 58: Julian. Orat. i. p. 20, 21.  Moses of Chorene, l.
ii. c. 89, l. iii. c. 1 - 9, p. 226 - 240.  The perfect agreement
between the vague hints of the contemporary orator, and the
circumstantial narrative of the national historian, gives light
to the former, and weight to the latter. For the credit of Moses,
it may be likewise observed, that the name of Antiochus is found
a few years before in a civil office of inferior dignity.  See
Godefroy, Cod. Theod. tom. vi. p. 350.]

[Footnote *: Gibbon has endeavored, in his History, to make use
of the information furnished by Moses of Chorene, the only
Armenian historian then translated into Latin.  Gibbon has not
perceived all the chronological difficulties which occur in the
narrative of that writer.  He has not thought of all the critical
discussions which his text ought to undergo before it can be
combined with the relations of the western writers.  From want of
this attention, Gibbon has made the facts which he has drawn from
this source more erroneous than they are in the original.  This
judgment applies to all which the English historian has derived
from the Armenian author.  I have made the History of Moses a
subject of particular attention; and it is with confidence that I
offer the results, which I insert here, and which will appear in
the course of my notes.  In order to form a judgment of the
difference which exists between me and Gibbon, I will content
myself with remarking, that throughout he has committed an
anachronism of thirty years, from whence it follows, that he
assigns to the reign of Constantius many events which took place
during that of Constantine.  He could not, therefore, discern the
true connection which exists between the Roman history and that
of Armenia, or form a correct notion of the reasons which induced
Constantine, at the close of his life, to make war upon the
Persians, or of the motives which detained Constantius so long in
the East; he does not even mention them.  St. Martin, note on Le
Beau, i. 406.  I have inserted M. St. Martin's observations, but
I must add, that the chronology which he proposes, is not
generally received by Armenian scholars, not, I believe, by
Professor Neumann. - M.] 
     During the long period of the reign of Constantius, the
provinces of the East were afflicted by the calamities of the
Persian war. ^! The irregular incursions of the light troops
alternately spread terror and devastation beyond the Tigris and
beyond the Euphrates, from the gates of Ctesiphon to those of
Antioch; and this active service was performed by the Arabs of
the desert, who were divided in their interest and affections;
some of their independent chiefs being enlisted in the party of
Sapor, whilst others had engaged their doubtful fidelity to the
emperor. ^59 The more grave and important operations of the war
were conducted with equal vigor; and the armies of Rome and
Persia encountered each other in nine bloody fields, in two of
which Constantius himself commanded in person. ^60 The event of
the day was most commonly adverse to the Romans, but in the
battle of Singara, heir imprudent valor had almost achieved a
signal and decisive victory.  The stationary troops of Singara ^*
retired on the approach of Sapor, who passed the Tigris over
three bridges, and occupied near the village of Hilleh an
advantageous camp, which, by the labor of his numerous pioneers,
he surrounded in one day with a deep ditch and a lofty rampart. 
His formidable host, when it was drawn out in order of battle,
covered the banks of the river, the adjacent heights, and the
whole extent of a plain of above twelve miles, which separated
the two armies.  Both were alike impatient to engage; but the
Barbarians, after a slight resistance, fled in disorder; unable
to resist, or desirous to weary, the strength of the heavy
legions, who, fainting with heat and thirst, pursued them across
the plain, and cut in pieces a line of cavalry, clothed in
complete armor, which had been posted before the gates of the
camp to protect their retreat.  Constantius, who was hurried
along in the pursuit, attempted, without effect, to restrain the
ardor of his troops, by representing to them the dangers of the
approaching night, and the certainty of completing their success
with the return of day.  As they depended much more on their own
valor than on the experience or the abilities of their chief,
they silenced by their clamors his timid remonstrances; and
rushing with fury to the charge, filled up the ditch, broke down
the rampart, and dispersed themselves through the tents to
recruit their exhausted strength, and to enjoy the rich harvest
of their labors.  But the prudent Sapor had watched the moment of
victory.  His army, of which the greater part, securely posted on
the heights, had been spectators of the action, advanced in
silence, and under the shadow of the night; and his Persian
archers, guided by the illumination of the camp, poured a shower
of arrows on a disarmed and licentious crowd.  The sincerity of
history ^61 declares, that the Romans were vanquished with a
dreadful slaughter, and that the flying remnant of the legions
was exposed to the most intolerable hardships.  Even the
tenderness of panegyric, confessing that the glory of the emperor
was sullied by the disobedience of his soldiers, chooses to draw
a veil over the circumstances of this melancholy retreat.  Yet
one of those venal orators, so jealous of the fame of
Constantius, relates, with amazing coolness, an act of such
incredible cruelty, as, in the judgment of posterity, must
imprint a far deeper stain on the honor of the Imperial name. 
The son of Sapor, the heir of his crown, had been made a captive
in the Persian camp.  The unhappy youth, who might have excited
the compassion of the most savage enemy, was scourged, tortured,
and publicly executed by the inhuman Romans. ^62

[Footnote *: It was during this war that a bold flatterer (whose
name is unknown) published the Itineraries of Alexander and
Trajan, in order to direct the victorious Constantius in the
footsteps of those great conquerors of the East.  The former of
these has been published for the first time by M. Angelo Mai
(Milan, 1817, reprinted at Frankfort, 1818.) It adds so little to
our knowledge of Alexander's campaigns, that it only excites our
regret that it is not the Itinerary of Trajan, of whose eastern
victories we have no distinct record - M]

[Footnote 59: Ammianus (xiv. 4) gives a lively description of the
wandering and predatory life of the Saracens, who stretched from
the confines of Assyria to the cataracts of the Nile.  It appears
from the adventures of Malchus, which Jerom has related in so
entertaining a manner, that the high road between Beraea and
Edessa was infested by these robbers.  See Hieronym. tom. i. p.
256.]

[Footnote 60: We shall take from Eutropius the general idea of
the war. A Persis enim multa et gravia perpessus, saepe captis,
oppidis, obsessis urbibus, caesis exercitibus, nullumque ei
contra Saporem prosperum praelium fuit, nisi quod apud Singaram,
&c.  This honest account is confirmed by the hints of Ammianus,
Rufus, and Jerom.  The two first orations of Julian, and the
third oration of Libanius, exhibit a more flattering picture; but
the recantation of both those orators, after the death of
Constantius, while it restores us to the possession of the truth,
degrades their own character, and that of the emperor.  The
Commentary of Spanheim on the first oration of Julian is
profusely learned.  See likewise the judicious observations of
Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 656.]

[Footnote *: Now Sinjar, or the River Claboras. - M.]

[Footnote 61: Acerrima nocturna concertatione pugnatum est,
nostrorum copiis ngenti strage confossis.  Ammian. xviii. 5.  See
likewise Eutropius, x. 10, and S. Rufus, c. 27.]

[Footnote *: The Persian historians, or romancers, do not mention
the battle of Singara, but make the captive Shahpour escape,
defeat, and take prisoner, the Roman emperor.  The Roman captives
were forced to repair all the ravages they had committed, even to
replanting the smallest trees. Malcolm. i. 82. - M.]

[Footnote 62: Libanius, Orat. iii. p. 133, with Julian. Orat. i.
p. 24, and Spanneism's Commentary, p. 179.]

     Whatever advantages might attend the arms of Sapor in the
field, though nine repeated victories diffused among the nations
the fame of his valor and conduct, he could not hope to succeed
in the execution of his designs, while the fortified towns of
Mesopotamia, and, above all, the strong and ancient city of
Nisibis, remained in the possession of the Romans.  In the space
of twelve years, Nisibis, which, since the time of Lucullus, had
been deservedly esteemed the bulwark of the East, sustained three
memorable sieges against the power of Sapor; and the disappointed
monarch, after urging his attacks above sixty, eighty, and a
hundred days, was thrice repulsed with loss and ignominy. ^63
This large and populous city was situate about two days' journey
from the Tigris, in the midst of a pleasant and fertile plain at
the foot of Mount Masius.  A treble enclosure of brick walls was
defended by a deep ditch; ^64 and the intrepid resistance of
Count Lucilianus, and his garrison, was seconded by the desperate
courage of the people.  The citizens of Nisibis were animated by
the exhortations of their bishop, ^65 inured to arms by the
presence of danger, and convinced of the intentions of Sapor to
plant a Persian colony in their room, and to lead them away into
distant and barbarous captivity. The event of the two former
sieges elated their confidence, and exasperated the haughty
spirit of the Great King, who advanced a third time towards
Nisibis, at the head of the united forces of Persia and India. 
The ordinary machines, invented to batter or undermine the walls,
were rendered ineffectual by the superior skill of the Romans;
and many days had vainly elapsed, when Sapor embraced a
resolution worthy of an eastern monarch, who believed that the
elements themselves were subject to his power.  At the stated
season of the melting of the snows in Armenia, the River
Mygdonius, which divides the plain and the city of Nisibis,
forms, like the Nile, ^66 an inundation over the adjacent
country.  By the labor of the Persians, the course of the river
was stopped below the town, and the waters were confined on every
side by solid mounds of earth.  On this artificial lake, a fleet
of armed vessels filled with soldiers, and with engines which
discharged stones of five hundred pounds weight, advanced in
order of battle, and engaged, almost upon a level, the troops
which defended the ramparts. ^* The irresistible force of the
waters was alternately fatal to the contending parties, till at
length a portion of the walls, unable to sustain the accumulated
pressure, gave way at once, and exposed an ample breach of one
hundred and fifty feet.  The Persians were instantly driven to
the assault, and the fate of Nisibis depended on the event of the
day. The heavy-armed cavalry, who led the van of a deep column,
were embarrassed in the mud, and great numbers were drowned in
the unseen holes which had been filled by the rushing waters. 
The elephants, made furious by their wounds, increased the
disorder, and trampled down thousands of the Persian archers. 
The Great King, who, from an exalted throne, beheld the
misfortunes of his arms, sounded, with reluctant indignation, the
signal of the retreat, and suspended for some hours the
prosecution of the attack. But the vigilant citizens improved the
opportunity of the night; and the return of day discovered a new
wall of six feet in height, rising every moment to fill up the
interval of the breach.  Notwithstanding the disappointment of
his hopes, and the loss of more than twenty thousand men, Sapor
still pressed the reduction of Nisibis, with an obstinate
firmness, which could have yielded only to the necessity of
defending the eastern provinces of Persia against a formidable
invasion of the Massagetae. ^67 Alarmed by this intelligence, he
hastily relinquished the siege, and marched with rapid diligence
from the banks of the Tigris to those of the Oxus.  The danger
and difficulties of the Scythian war engaged him soon afterwards
to conclude, or at least to observe, a truce with the Roman
emperor, which was equally grateful to both princes; as
Constantius himself, after the death of his two brothers, was
involved, by the revolutions of the West, in a civil contest,
which required and seemed to exceed the most vigorous exertion of
his undivided strength. 
[Footnote 63: See Julian. Orat. i. p. 27, Orat. ii. p. 62, &c.,
with the Commentary of Spanheim, (p. 188-202,) who illustrates
the circumstances, and ascertains the time of the three sieges of
Nisibis.  Their dates are likewise examined by Tillemont, (Hist.
des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 668, 671, 674.) Something is added
from Zosimus, l. iii. p. 151, and the Alexandrine Chronicle, p.
290.]

[Footnote 64: Sallust. Fragment. lxxxiv. edit. Brosses, and
Plutarch in Lucull. tom. iii. p. 184.  Nisibis is now reduced to
one hundred and fifty houses: the marshy lands produce rice, and
the fertile meadows, as far as Mosul and the Tigris, are covered
with the ruins of towns and allages.  See Niebuhr, Voyages, tom.
ii. p. 300-309.]

[Footnote 65: The miracles which Theodoret (l. ii. c. 30)
ascribes to St. James, Bishop of Edessa, were at least performed
in a worthy cause, the defence of his couutry.  He appeared on
the walls under the figure of the Roman emperor, and sent an army
of gnats to sting the trunks of the elephants, and to discomfit
the host of the new Sennacherib.] 
[Footnote 66: Julian.  Orat. i. p. 27.  Though Niebuhr (tom. ii.
p. 307) allows a very considerable swell to the Mygdonius, over
which he saw a bridge of twelve arches: it is difficult, however,
to understand this parallel of a trifling rivulet with a mighty
unintelligible, in the description of these stupendous
water-works.]

[Footnote *: Macdonald Kinnier observes on these floating
batteries, "As the elevation of place is considerably above the
level of the country in its immediate vicinity, and the Mygdonius
is a very insignificant stream, it is difficult to imagine how
this work could have been accomplished, even with the wonderful
resources which the king must have had at his disposal"
Geographical Memoir. p. 262. - M.]

[Footnote 67: We are obliged to Zonaras (tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 11)
for this invasion of the Massagetae, which is perfectly
consistent with the general series of events to which we are
darkly led by the broken history of Ammianus.]

     After the partition of the empire, three years had scarcely
elapsed before the sons of Constantine seemed impatient to
convince mankind that they were incapable of contenting
themselves with the dominions which they were unqualified to
govern.  The eldest of those princes soon complained, that he was
defrauded of his just proportion of the spoils of their murdered
kinsmen; and though he might yield to the superior guilt and
merit of Constantius, he exacted from Constans the cession of the
African provinces, as an equivalent for the rich countries of
Macedonia and Greece, which his brother had acquired by the death
of Dalmatius.  The want of sincerity, which Constantine
experienced in a tedious and fruitless negotiation, exasperated
the fierceness of his temper; and he eagerly listened to those
favorites, who suggested to him that his honor, as well as his
interest, was concerned in the prosecution of the quarrel.  At
the head of a tumultuary band, suited for rapine rather than for
conquest, he suddenly broke onto the dominions of Constans, by
the way of the Julian Alps, and the country round Aquileia felt
the first effects of his resentment.  The measures of Constans,
who then resided in Dacia, were directed with more prudence and
ability.  On the news of his brother's invasion, he detached a
select and disciplined body of his Illyrian troops, proposing to
follow them in person, with the remainder of his forces.  But the
conduct of his lieutenants soon terminated the unnatural contest.

By the artful appearances of flight, Constantine was betrayed
into an ambuscade, which had been concealed in a wood, where the
rash youth, with a few attendants, was surprised, surrounded, and
slain.  His body, after it had been found in the obscure stream
of the Alsa, obtained the honors of an Imperial sepulchre; but
his provinces transferred their allegiance to the conqueror, who,
refusing to admit his elder brother Constantius to any share in
these new acquisitions, maintained the undisputed possession of
more than two thirds of the Roman empire. ^68

[Footnote 68: The causes and the events of this civil war are
related with much perplexity and contradiction.  I have chiefly
followed Zonaras and the younger Victor.  The monody (ad Calcem
Eutrop. edit. Havercamp.) pronounced on the death of Constantine,
might have been very instructive; but prudence and false taste
engaged the orator to involve himself in vague declamation.]

Chapter XVIII: Character Of Constantine And His Sons. 

Part IV.

     The fate of Constans himself was delayed about ten years
longer, and the revenge of his brother's death was reserved for
the more ignoble hand of a domestic traitor.  The pernicious
tendency of the system introduced by Constantine was displayed in
the feeble administration of his sons; who, by their vices and
weakness, soon lost the esteem and affections of their people. 
The pride assumed by Constans, from the unmerited success of his
arms, was rendered more contemptible by his want of abilities and
application.  His fond partiality towards some German captives,
distinguished only by the charms of youth, was an object of
scandal to the people; ^69 and Magnentius, an ambitious soldier,
who was himself of Barbarian extraction, was encouraged by the
public discontent to assert the honor of the Roman name. ^70 The
chosen bands of Jovians and Herculians, who acknowledged
Magnentius as their leader, maintained the most respectable and
important station in the Imperial camp.  The friendship of
Marcellinus, count of the sacred largesses, supplied with a
liberal hand the means of seduction.  The soldiers were convinced
by the most specious arguments, that the republic summoned them
to break the bonds of hereditary servitude; and, by the choice of
an active and vigilant prince, to reward the same virtues which
had raised the ancestors of the degenerate Constans from a
private condition to the throne of the world.  As soon as the
conspiracy was ripe for execution, Marcellinus, under the
pretence of celebrating his son's birthday, gave a splendid
entertainment to the illustrious and honorable persons of the
court of Gaul, which then resided in the city of Autun.  The
intemperance of the feast was artfully protracted till a very
late hour of the night; and the unsuspecting guests were tempted
to indulge themselves in a dangerous and guilty freedom of
conversation.  On a sudden the doors were thrown open, and
Magnentius, who had retired for a few moments, returned into the
apartment, invested with the diadem and purple.  The conspirators
instantly saluted him with the titles of Augustus and Emperor. 
The surprise, the terror, the intoxication, the ambitious hopes,
and the mutual ignorance of the rest of the assembly, prompted
them to join their voices to the general acclamation.  The guards
hastened to take the oath of fidelity; the gates of the town were
shut; and before the dawn of day, Magnentius became master of the
troops and treasure of the palace and city of Autun.  By his
secrecy and diligence he entertained some hopes of surprising the
person of Constans, who was pursuing in the adjacent forest his
favorite amusement of hunting, or perhaps some pleasures of a
more private and criminal nature. The rapid progress of fame
allowed him, however, an instant for flight, though the desertion
of his soldiers and subjects deprived him of the power of
resistance.  Before he could reach a seaport in Spain, where he
intended to embark, he was overtaken near Helena, ^71 at the foot
of the Pyrenees, by a party of light cavalry, whose chief,
regardless of the sanctity of a temple, executed his commission
by the murder of the son of Constantine. ^72

[Footnote 69: Quarum (gentium) obsides pretio quaesitos pueros
venustiore quod cultius habuerat libidine hujusmodi arsisse pro
certo habet.  Had not the depraved taste of Constans been
publicly avowed, the elder Victor, who held a considerable office
in his brother's reign, would not have asserted it in such
positive terms.]

[Footnote 70: Julian. Orat. i. and ii.  Zosim. l. ii. p. 134. 
Victor in Epitome.  There is reason to believe that Magnentius
was born in one of those Barbarian colonies which Constantius
Chlorus had established in Gaul, (see this History, vol. i. p.
414.) His behavior may remind us of the patriot earl of
Leicester, the famous Simon de Montfort, who could persuade the
good people of England, that he, a Frenchman by birth had taken
arms to deliver them from foreign favorites.]

[Footnote 71: This ancient city had once flourished under the
name of Illiberis (Pomponius Mela, ii. 5.) The munificence of
Constantine gave it new splendor, and his mother's name.  Helena
(it is still called Elne) became the seat of a bishop, who long
afterwards transferred his residence to Perpignan, the capital of
modern Rousillon.  See D'Anville.  Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, p.
380.  Longuerue, Description de la France, p. 223, and the Marca
Hispanica, l. i. c. 2.]

[Footnote 72: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 119, 120.  Zonaras, tom. ii. l.
xiii. p. 13, and the Abbreviators.]

     As soon as the death of Constans had decided this easy but
important revolution, the example of the court of Autun was
imitated by the provinces of the West.  The authority of
Magnentius was acknowledged through the whole extent of the two
great praefectures of Gaul and Italy; and the usurper prepared,
by every act of oppression, to collect a treasure, which might
discharge the obligation of an immense donative, and supply the
expenses of a civil war.  The martial countries of Illyricum,
from the Danube to the extremity of Greece, had long obeyed the
government of Vetranio, an aged general, beloved for the
simplicity of his manners, and who had acquired some reputation
by his experience and services in war. ^73 Attached by habit, by
duty, and by gratitude, to the house of Constantine, he
immediately gave the strongest assurances to the only surviving
son of his late master, that he would expose, with unshaken
fidelity, his person and his troops, to inflict a just revenge on
the traitors of Gaul.  But the legions of Vetranio were seduced,
rather than provoked, by the example of rebellion; their leader
soon betrayed a want of firmness, or a want of sincerity; and his
ambition derived a specious pretence from the approbation of the
princess Constantina.  That cruel and aspiring woman, who had
obtained from the great Constantine, her father, the rank of
Augusta, placed the diadem with her own hands on the head of the
Illyrian general; and seemed to expect from his victory the
accomplishment of those unbounded hopes, of which she had been
disappointed by the death of her husband Hannibalianus.  Perhaps
it was without the consent of Constantina, that the new emperor
formed a necessary, though dishonorable, alliance with the
usurper of the West, whose purple was so recently stained with
her brother's blood. ^74

[Footnote 73: Eutropius (x. 10) describes Vetranio with more
temper, and probably with more truth, than either of the two
Victors.  Vetranio was born of obscure parents in the wildest
parts of Maesia; and so much had his education been neglected,
that, after his elevation, he studied the alphabet.]

[Footnote 74: The doubtful, fluctuating conduct of Vetranio is
described by Julian in his first oration, and accurately
explained by Spanheim, who discusses the situation and behavior
of Constantina.