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462

IMPATIENCE OF MAXIMIAN. [CH. XIII

meditated his design of abdicating the government. As he wished to secure the obedience of Maximian, he exacted from him either a general assurance that he would submit his actions to the authority of his benefactor, or a particular promise that he would descend from the throne, whenever he should receive the advice and the example. This engage ment, 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, hose 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, aud 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.

Diocletian, who, from a servile origin, 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 to reassume 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

of the day of Diocletian's abdication, are perfectly cleared by Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 525, note 19), and by Pagi ad annum. * See Panegyr. Veter. 6, 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 vore

which he had planted with his own hands at Salona, he should no longer be urged to relinquish the enjoyment 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 and deserving among his subjects. By such infamous 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 character in the world to enjoy without alloy the comforts and security of a private condition. It was impossible that he could remain ignorant of the troubles which afflicted the empire after his abdication. It was impossible that he could be indifferent to their consequences Fear, sorrow, and discontent, sometimes pursued him intc 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 embittered 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 doubtful nature, has reached our times, that he pru dently withdrew himself from their power by a voluntary death.‡

Before we dismiss the consideration of the life and character of Diocletian, we may, for a moment, direct our

quem vestra, tantorum principum, colunt obsequia privatum." Panegyr. Vet. 7. 15. *We are obliged to the younger Victor for this celebrated bon mot. Eutropius mentions the thing in a more general manner. Hist. August. p. 223, 224. Vopiscus had learned this conversation from his father. The younger Victor slightly mentions the report. But as Diocletian had disobliged a powerful and

464

DIOCLETIAN'S PALACE

{cп. xm 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 Sirmium, 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.t About six or seven miles from the city, Diocletian constructed a magnificent 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 coast 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 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.‡

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. * See the Itinerar. p. 269, 272, edit, Wessel. 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 Giambattista Giustiniani about the middle of the sixtenth century. Adams' Antiquities of Diocletian's Palace at Spalatro, p. 6. We may add a circumstance or two from the alats Fortis the little stream of the Hyader, mentioned by Lucan, rrod 100

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 freestone, extracted from the neighbouring quarries of Trau or Tragutium, and very little inferior to marble itself. Four streets, intersecting 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 Esculapius, 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, bedchamber, the atrium, the basilica, and the Cyzicene, Corinthian, and Egyptian halls, have been described wa 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 sevenmost 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 gentlemen. * Constantin. Orat. ad

Cœtum Sanct. c. 25. In this sermon, the emperor, or the bishop who composed it for him, affects to relate the iniserable end of all the persecutors of the church. + Constantin. Porphyr. de Statn 2 a

VOL. I.

466

RUINS OF THE PALACE.

[CH. XIII. teen feet long, wi.ich must have formed a very noble and delightful walk, when the beauties of painting and sculpture were added to those of the prospect.

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, had grown out of its ruins. The Golden Gate now opens into the market-place. St. John the Baptist has usurped the honours of Esculapius; 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 inge nious 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 represent. We are informed by a 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 experienced a still more sensible decay. The practice 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.

It is almost unnecessary to remark, that the civil distractions of the empire, the licence of the soldiers, the inroads Imper. p. 86.

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* D'Anville, Géographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 162 +Messieurs Adams 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 ha donato molto a que' superbi vestigi coll' abituale eleganza del suo toccalapis e del bulino. In generale la rozzezza del scalpello, e'l cattivo gusto del secolo vi gareggiano colla magnificenza del fabricato." See Viaggio in Dalmazia, p. ¿').

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