a particular promise that he would descend from | and deserving among his subjects. By such inthe throne, whenever he should receive the advice and the example. This engagement, though it was confirmed by the solemnity of an oath before the altar of the Capitoline Jupiter,' would have proved a feeble restraint on the fierce temper of Maximian, whose passion was the love of power, and who neither desired present tranquillity nor future reputation. But he yielded, however reluctantly, to the ascendant which his wiser colleague had acquired over him, and retired, immediately after his abdication, to a villa in Lucania, where it was almost impossible that such an impatient spirit could find any lasting tranquillity.

Retirement of

lona,

famous arts," added Diocletian, "the best and
wisest princes are sold to the venal corruption of
their courtiers."* A just estimate of greatness,
and the assurance of immortal fame, improve our
relish for the pleasures of retirement; but the
Roman emperor had filled too important a charac-
ter in the world, to enjoy without allay the com-
forts and security of a private condition. It was
impossible that he could remain ignorant of the
troubles which afflicted the empire after his abdica-
tion. It was impossible that he could be indifferent
to their consequences. Fear, sorrow, and discon-
tent, sometimes pursued him into the solitude of
Salona. His tenderness, or at least his pride, was
deeply wounded by the misfortunes of his wife and
daughter; and the last moments of Diocletian
were imbittered by some affronts, which Licinius
and Constantine might have spared the father of
so many emperors, and the first author of their own
fortune. A report, though of a very and death,
doubtful nature, has reached our times,
that he prudently withdrew himself from their
power by a voluntary death."

A. D. 313.

cent country.

Before we dismiss the consideration Description of Saof the life and character of Diocletian, lona and the adjawe may, for a moment, direct our view to the place of his retirement. Salona, a principal city of his native province of Dalmatia, was near two hundred Roman miles (according to the measurement of the public highways) from Aquileia and the confines of Italy, and about two hundred and seventy from Surmium, the usual residence of the emperors whenever they visited the Illyrian frontier. A miserable village still preserves the name of Salona; but so late as the sixteenth century, the remains of a theatre, and a confused prospect of broken arches and marble columns, continued to attest its ancient splendour. About six or seven

Diocletian, who, from a servile oriDiocletian at Sa- gin, had raised himself to the throne, passed the nine last years of his life in a private condition. Reason had dictated, and content seems to have accompanied, his retreat, in which he enjoyed for a long time the respect of those princes to whom he had resigned the possession of the world. It is seldom that minds, long exercised in business, have formed any habits of conversing with themselves, and in the loss of power they principally regret the want of occupation. The amusements of letters and of devotion, which afford so many resources in solitude, were incapable of fixing the attention of Diocletian; but he had preserved, or at least he soon recovered, a taste for the most innocent as well as natural pleasures, and his leisure hours were sufficiently employed in building, planting, and gardening. His answer to Maximian is deservedly celebrated. He was solicited by that restless old man His philosophy, to re-assume the reins of government, and the imperial purple. He rejected the temptation with a smile of pity, calmly observing, that if he could show Maximian the cabbages which he had planted with his own hands at Salona, he should no longer be urged to relinquish the enjoy-miles from the city, Diocletian constructed a magment of happiness for the pursuit of power." In his conversations with his friends, he frequently acknowledged, that of all arts, the most difficult was the art of reigning; and he expressed himself on that favourite topic with a degree of warmth which could be the result only of experience. "How often," was he accustomed to say, "is it the interest of four or five ministers to combine together to deceive their sovereign! Secluded from mankind by his exalted dignity, the truth is concealed from his knowledge; he can see only with their eyes, he hears nothing but their misrepresentations. He confers the most important offices upon vice and weakness, and disgraces the most virtuous

See Panegyr. Veter. vi. 9. The oration was pronounced after Maximian had reassumed the purple.

Eumenius pays him a very fine compliment: "At enim divinum illum virum, qui primus imperium et participavit et posuit, consilii et facti sui non pœnitet; nec amisisse se putat quod sponte transcripsit. felix beatusque vere quem vestra, tantorum principum, colunt obsequia privatum." Panegyr. Vet. vii. 15.

We are obliged to the younger Victor for this celebrated bou mot. Eutropius mentions the thing in a more general manner.

x Hist. August. p. 223, 224. Vopiscus had learned this conversation from his father.

nificent palace, and we may infer, from the greatness of the work, how long he had meditated his design of abdicating the empire. The choice of a spot which united all that could contribute either to health or to luxury, did not require the partiality of a native. "The soil was dry and fertile, the air is pure and wholesome, and though extremely hot during the summer months, this country seldom feels those sultry and noxious winds, to which the coasts of Istria and some parts of Italy are exposed. The views from the palace are no less beautiful than the soil and climate were inviting. Towards the west lies the fertile shore that stretches along the Hadriatic, in which a number of small islands

y The younger Victor slightly mentions the report. But as Diocletian had disobliged a powerful and successful party, his memory has been loaded with every crime and misfortune. It has been affirmed, that he died raving mad, that he was condemned as a criminal by the Roman senate, &c.

z See the Itiner. p. 269, 272. Edit. Wessel.

a The Abate Fortis, in his Viaggio in Dalmazia, p. 43. (printed at Venice in the year 1774, in two small volumes in quarto,) quotes a MS. account of the antiquities of Salona, composed by Giambatista Giustiani about the middle of the sixteenth century.

are scattered in such a manner, as to give this part of the sea the appearance of a great lake. On the north side lies the bay, which led to the ancient city of Salona; and the country beyond it, appearing in sight, forms a proper contrast to that more extensive prospect of water, which the Hadriatic presents both to the south and to the east. Towards the north, the view is terminated by high and irregular mountains, situated at a proper distance, and, in many places, covered with villages, woods, and vineyards."

Of Diocletian's palace.

Had this magnificent edifice remained in a solitary country, it would have been exposed to the ravages of time; but it might, perhaps, have escaped the rapacious industry of man. The village of Aspalathus, and, long afterwards, the provincial town of Spalatro, have grown out of its ruins. The Golden Gate now opens into the market-place. St. John the Baptist has usurped the honours of Æsculapius; and the temple of Jupiter, under the protection of the Virgin, is converted into the cathedral church. For this account of Diocletian's palace we are principally indebted to an ingenious artist of our own time and country, whom a very liberal curiosity carried into the heart of Dalmatia. But there is room to suspect, that the elegance of his designs and engraving has somewhat flattered the objects which it was their purpose to Decline of the represent. We are informed by a

arts.

more recent and very judicious traveller, that the awful ruins of Spalatro are not less expressive of the decline of the arts than of the greatness of the Roman empire in the time of Diocletian. If such was indeed the state of architecture, we must naturally believe that painting and sculpture had ex

of architecture is directed by a few general and even mechanical rules. But sculpture, and, above all, painting, propose to themselves the imitation not only of the forms of nature, but of the characters and passions of the human soul. In those sublime arts, the dexterity of the hand is of little avail, unless it is animated by fancy, and guided by the most correct taste and observation.

Though Constantine, from a very obvious prejudice, affects to mention the palace of Diocletian with contempt, yet one of their successors, who could only see it in a neglected and mutilated state, celebrates its magnificence in terms of the highest admiration. It covered an extent of ground consisting of between nine and ten English acres. The form was quadrangular, flanked with sixteen towers. Two of the sides were near six hundred, and the other two near seven hundred, feet in length. The whole was constructed of a beautiful free-stone, extracted from the neighbouring quarries of Trau, or Tragutium, and very little inferior to marble itself. Four streets, inter-perienced a still more sensible decay. The practice secting each other at right angles, divided the several parts of this great edifice, and the approach to the principal apartment was from a very stately entrance, which is still denominated the Golden | Gate. The approach was terminated by a peristylium of granite columns, on one side of which we discover the square temple of Æsculapius, on the other the octagon temple of Jupiter. The latter of those deities Diocletian revered as the patron of his fortunes, the former as the protector of his health. By comparing the present remains with the precepts of Vitruvius, the several parts of the building, the baths, bed-chamber, the atrium, the basilica, and the Cyzicene, Corinthian, and Egyptian halls have been described with some degree of precision, or at least of probability. Their forms were various, their proportions just; but they were all attended with two imperfections, very repugnant to our, modern notions of taste and conveniency. These stately rooms had neither windows nor chimneys. They were lighted from the top, (for the building seems to have consisted of no more than one story,) and they received their heat by the help of pipes that were conveyed along the walls. The range of principal apartments was protected towards the south-west by a portico five hundred and seventeen feet long, which must have formed a very noble and delightful walk, when the beauties of painting and sculpture were added to those of the prospect.

b Adam's Antiquities of Diocletian's palace at Spalatro, p. 6. We may add a circumstance or two from the Abate Fortis: the little stream of the Hyader, mentioned by Lucan, produces most excellent trout, which a sagacious writer, perhaps a monk, supposes to have been one of the principal reasons that determined Diocletian in the choice of his retirement. Fortis, p. 45. The same author (p. 38.) observes, that a taste for agriculture is reviving at Spalatro; and that an experimental farm has lately been established near the city, by a society of gentle.

men.

c Constantin. Orat. ad Cætum Sanct. c. 25. In this sermon, the emperor, or the bishop who composed it for him, affects to relate the miserable end of all the persecutors of the church.

Of letters.

It is almost unnecessary to remark, that the civil distractions of the empire, the licence of the soldiers, the inroads of the barbarians, and the progress of despotism, had proved very unfavourable to genius, and even to learning. The succession of Illyrian princes restored the empire, without restoring the sciences. Their military education was not calculated to inspire them with the love of letters; and even the mind of Diocletian, however active and capacious in business, was totally uninformed by study or speculation. The professions of law and physic are of such common use and certain profit, that they will always secure a sufficient number of practitioners, endowed with a reasonable degree of abilities and knowledge; but it does not appear that the students in those two faculties appeal to any celebrated masters who have flourished within that period. The voice of poetry was silent. History was reduced to dry and confused abridgments, alike destitute of amusement and instruction. A languid and affected d Constantin. Porphyr. de Statu Imper. p. 86.

e D'Anville, Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 162.

f Messieurs Adam and Clarisseau, attended by two draughtsmen, visited Spalatro in the month of July 1757. The magnificent work which their journey produced was published in London seven years

afterwards.

I shall quote the words of the Abate Fortis, "E'bastevolmente nota agli amatori dell' architettura, e dell' antichità, l'opera del Signor Adams, che a donato molto a que' superbi vestigi coll' abituale eleganza del suo toccalapis e del bulino. In generale la rozzezza del scalpello, e'l cativo gusto del secolo vi gareggiano colla magnificeuza del fabricato." See Viaggio in Dalmazia, p. 40.

The stern temper of Galerius was whose mother was the sister of Galerius. The unOf Galerius. cast in a very different mould; and experienced youth still betrayed by his manners while he commanded the esteem of his subjects, he and language his rustic education, when, to his seldom condescended to solicit their affections. own astonishment, as well as that of the world, he His fame in arms, and above all, the success of the was invested by Diocletian with the purple, exalted Persian war, had elated his haughty mind, which to the dignity of Cæsar, and intrusted with the was naturally impatient of a superior, or even of sovereign command of Egypt and Syria. At the an equal. If it were possible to rely on the partial same time, Severus, a faithful servant, addicted to testimony of an injudicious writer, we might ascribe pleasure, but not incapable of business, was sent to the abdication of Diocletian to the menaces of Milan, to receive, from the reluctant hands of Galerius, and relate the particulars of a private | Maximian, the Cæsarian ornaments, and the posconversation between the two princes, in which the session of Italy and Africa. According to the former discovered as much pusillanimity as the forms of the constitution, Severus acknowledged latter displayed ingratitude and arrogance. But the supremacy of the western emperor; but he was these obscure anecdotes are sufficiently refuted by absolutely devoted to the commands of his benean impartial view of the character and conduct of factor Galerius, who, reserving to himself the interDiocletian. Whatever might otherwise have been mediate countries from the confines of Italy to his intentions, if he had apprehended any danger those of Syria, firmly established his power over from the violence of Galerius, his good sense would three-fourths of the monarchy. In the full confihave instructed him to prevent the ignominious dence, that the approaching death of Constantius contest; and as he had held the sceptre with glory, would leave him sole master of the Roman world, he would have resigned it without disgrace. we are assured that he had arranged in his mind a long succession of future princes, and that he meditated his own retreat from public life, after he should have accomplished a glorious reign of about twenty years.

The two Cæsars,
Severus and
Maximin.

After the elevation of Constantius and Galerius to the rank of Augusti, two new Casars were required to supply their place, and to complete the system of the imperial government. Diocletian was sincerely desirous of withdrawing himself from the world; he considered Galerius, who had married his daughter, as the firmest support of his family and of the empire; and he consented, without reluctance, that his successor should assume the merit as well as the envy of the important nomination. It was fixed without consulting the interest or inclination of the princes of the west. Each of them had a son who was arrived at the age of manhood, and who might have been deemed the most natural candidates for the vacant honour. But the impotent resentment of Maximian was no longer to be dreaded; and the moderate Constantius, though he might despise the dangers, was humanely apprehensive of the calamities, of civil war. The two persons whom Galerius promoted to the rank of Cæsar, were much better suited to serve the views of his ambition; and their principal recommendation seems to have consisted in the want of merit or personal consequence. The first of these was Daza, or, as he was afterwards called, Maximin,

d Lactantius de Mort. Persecutor. c. 18. Were the particulars of this conference more consistent with truth and decency, we might still ask, how they came to the knowledge of an obscure rhetorician? But there are many historians who put us in mind of the admirable saying of the great Condé to cardinal de Retz; "Ces coquins nous font parler et agir, comme ils auroient fait eux-memes à notre place."

e Sublatus nuper a pecoribus et silvis, (says Lactantius de M. P. c. 19.) statim scutarius, continuo protector, mox tribunus, postridie Cæsar, accepit Orientem. Aurelius Victor is too liberal in giving him the whole portion of Diocletian.

f His diligence and fidelity are acknowledged even by Lactantius, de

M. P. c. 18.

g These schemes, however, rest only on the very doubtful authority of Lactantius, de M. P. c. 20.

h This tradition, unknown to the contemporaries of Constantine, was invented in the darkness of monasteries, was embellished by Jeffrey of Monmouth and the writers of the twelfth century, has been defended by our antiquarians of the last age, and is seriously related in the ponderous History of England, compiled by Mr. Carte (vol. i. p. 147.) He trans ports, however, the kingdom of Coil, the imaginary father of Helena, from Essex to the wall of Antoninus.

i Eutropius (x. 2.) expresses, in a few words, the real truth, and the

Birth, educa. tion, and escape of Constantine, A. D. 274.

I. The fame of Constantine has rendered posterity attentive to the most minute circumstances of his life and actions. The place of his birth, as well as the condition of his mother Helena, have been the subject not only of literary but of national disputes. Notwithstanding the recent tradition, which assigns for her father a British king, we are obliged to confess, that Helena was the daughter of an innkeeper;b but, at the same time, we may defend the legality of her marriage, against those who have represented her as the concubine of Constantius. The great Constantine was most probably born at Naissus, in Dacia ; and it is not surprising, that in a family and province distinguished only by the profession occasion of the error, “ex obscuriori matrimonio ejus filius." Zosimus (1. ii. p. 78.) eagerly seized the most unfavourable report, and is followed by Orosius, (vii. 25.) whose authority is oddly enough overlooked by the indefatigable but partial Tillemont. By insisting on the divorce of Helena, Diocletian acknowledged her marriage.

k There are three opinions with regard to the place of Constantine's birth. 1. Our English antiquarians were used to dwell with rapture on the words of his panegyrist; "Britannias illic oriendo nobiles fecisti." But this celebrated passage may be referred with as much propriety to the accession as to the nativity of Constantine. 2. Some of the modern Greeks have ascribed the honour of his birth to Drepanum, a town on the gulf of Nicomedia, (Cellarius, tom. ii. p. 174.) which Constantine dignified with the name of Helenopolis, and Justinian adorned with many splendid buildings. (Procop. de Edificiis, v. 2.) It is indeed probable enough, that Helena's father kept an inn at Drepanum, and that Constantius might lodge there when he returned from a Persian embassy in the reign of Aurelian. But in the wandering life of a soldier, the place of his marriage, and the places where his children are born, have very little connexion with each other. 3. The claim of Naissus is supported by the anonymous writer, published at the end of Ammianus, p. 710. and who in general copied very good materials and it is confirmed by Julius Firmicius, (de Astrologiâ, 1. i.

A. D. 292.

of arms, the youth should discover very little incli- | mediately succeeded by the elevation of Constannation to improve his mind by the acquisition of tine. The ideas of inheritance and succession are knowledge.' He was about eighteen so very familiar, that the generality of mankind years of age when his father was pro- consider them as founded, not only in reason, but moted to the rank of Cæsar; but that fortunate in nature itself. Our imagination readily transfers event was attended with his mother's divorce; and the same principles from private property to public the splendour of an imperial alliance reduced the dominion: and whenever a virtuous father leaves son of Helena to a state of disgrace and humiliation. behind him a son whose merit seems to justify the Instead of following Constantius in the west, he esteem, or even the hopes, of the people, the joint remained in the service of Diocletian, signalized influence of prejudice and of affection operates with his valour in the wars of Egypt and Persia, and irresistible weight. The flower of the western gradually rose to the honourable station of a tribune armies had followed Constantius into Britain, and of the first order. The figure of Constantine was the national troops were reinforced by a numerous tall and majestic; he was dexterous in all his exer- body of Alemanni, who obeyed the orders of Crocus, cises, intrepid in war, affable in peace; in his whole one of their hereditary chieftains. The opinion of conduct, the active spirit of truth was tempered by their own importance, and the assurance that habitual prudence; and while his mind was en- Britain, Gaul, and Spain would acquiesce in their grossed by ambition, he appeared cold and insensible nomination, were diligently inculcated to the legions to the allurements of pleasure. The favour of the by the adherents of Constantine. The soldiers were people and soldiers, who had named him as a worthy asked, whether they could hesitate a moment becandidate for the rank of Cæsar, served only to tween the honour of placing at their head the worthy exasperate the jealousy of Galerius; and though son of their beloved emperor, and the ignominy of prudence might restrain him from exercising any tamely expecting the arrival of some obscure open violence, an absolute monarch is seldom at a stranger, on whom it might please the sovereign of loss how to execute a sure and secret revenge." Asia to bestow the armies and provinces of the west? Every hour increased the danger of Constantine, It was insinuated to them, that gratitude and libeand the anxiety of his father, who, by repeated rality held a distinguished place among the virtues letters, expressed the warmest desire of embracing of Constantine; nor did that artful prince show his son. For some time the policy of Galerius himself to the troops, till they were prepared to supplied him with delays and excuses, but it was salute him with the names of Augustus and emimpossible long to refuse so natural a request of peror. The throne was the object of his desires; his associate, without maintaining his refusal by and had he been less actuated by ambition, it was arms. The permission of the journey was reluc- his only means of safety. He was well acquainted tantly granted, and whatever precautions the with the character and sentiments of Galerius, and emperor might have taken to intercept a return, the sufficiently apprized, that if he wished to live he consequences of which he, with so much reason, must determine to reign. The decent and even apprehended, they were effectually disappointed by obstinate resistance which he chose to affect,' was the incredible diligence of Constantine." Leaving contrived to justify his usurpation; nor did he the palace of Nicomedia in the night, he travelled yield to the acclamations of the army, till he had post through Bithynia, Thrace, Dacia, Pannonia, provided the proper materials for the letter, which he Italy, and Gaul, and amidst the joyful acclamations immediately despatched to the emperor of the east. of the people, reached the port of Boulogne, in the Constantine informed him of the melancholy event very moment when his father was preparing to of his father's death, modestly asserted his natural embark for Britain." claim to the succession, and respectfully lamented, that the affectionate violence of his troops had not permitted him to solicit the imperial purple in the regular and constitutional manner. The first emotions of Galerius were those of surprise, disappointment, and rage; and as he could seldom restrain his passions, he loudly threatened, that he would commit to the flames both the letter and the messenger. But his resentment insensibly subsided; and

stantius, and ete

stantine,

A. D. 306. July

25.

Death of Con- The British expedition, and an easy vation of Con- victory over the barbarians of Caledonia, were the last exploits of the reign of Constantius. He ended his life in the imperial palace of York, fifteen months after he had received the title of Augustus, and almost fourteen years and a half after he had been promoted to the rank of Cæsar. His death was im

c. 4.) who flourished under the reign of Constantine himself. Some objections have been raised against the integrity of the text, and the application of the passage of Firmicius; but the former is established by the best MSS. and the latter is very ably defended by Lipsius de Magnitudine Romana, 1. iv. c. 11. et Supplement.

1 Literis minus instructus. Anonym. ad Ammian. p. 710.

m Galerius, or perhaps his own courage, exposed him to single combat with a Sarmatian (Anonym, p. 710.) and with a monstrous lion. See Praxagoras apud Photium, p. 63. Praxagoras, an Athenian philoso. pher, had written a life of Constantine, in two books, which are now lost. He was a contemporary.

n Zosimus, l. ii. p. 78, 79. Lactantius de M. P. c. 24. The former tells a very foolish story, that Constantine caused all the post-horses, which he had used, to be hamstrung. Such a bloody execution, without pre

venting a pursuit, would have scattered suspicions, and might have stopped his journey.

o Anonym. p. 710. Panegyr. Veter. vii. 4. But Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 79. Eusebius de Vit. Constant. I. i. c. 21. and Lactantius de M. P. c. 24. suppose, with less accuracy, that he found his father on his death-bed. P Cunctis qui aderant annitentibus, sed præcipue Croco (alii Eroco) Alemannorum rege, auxilii gratiâ Constantium comitato, imperium capit. Victor Junior, c. 41. This is perhaps the first instance of a barbarian king, who assisted the Roman arms with an independent body of his own subjects. The practice grew familiar, and at last became fatal.

q His panegyrist Eumenius (vii. 8.) ventures to affirm, in the presence of Constantine, that he put spurs to his horse, and tried, but in vain, to escape from the hands of his soldiers.