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CHAP. is reprefented with falfe hair of various colours, XVIII. laboriously arranged by the skilful artists of the

Hisfamily.

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times; a diadem of a new and more expensive fashion; a profufion of gems and pearls, of collars and bracelets, and a variegated flowing robe of filk, most curiously embroidered with flowers of gold. In fuch apparel, fcarcely to be excufed by the youth and folly of Elagabalus, we are at a lofs to discover the wifdom of an aged monarch, and the fimplicity of a Roman veteran". mind thus relaxed by profperity and indulgence, was incapable of rifing to that magnanimity which difdains fufpicion, 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 fullied the declining age of Conftantine, will fuggeft to our moft candid thoughts, the idea of a prince, who could facrifice without reluctance the laws of justice, and the feelings of nature, to the dictates either of his paffions or of his interest.

The fame fortune which fo invariably followed the standard of Conftantine, feemed to fecure the hopes and comforts of his domeftic life. Those among his predeceffors who had enjoyed the longest and most profperous reigns, Auguftus,

Julian, in the Cæfars, attempts to ridicule his uncle. His fufpicious teftimony is confirmed however by the learned Spanheim, with the authority of medals (fee Commentaire, p. 156. 299. 397459.). Eufebius (Orat. c. 5.) alleges, that Conftantine dressed for the public, not for himself. Were this admitted, the vainest coxcomb could never want an excufe.

Trajan

Trajan, and Diocletian, had been disappointed of c H A P. posterity; and the frequent revolutions had never XVIII. allowed fufficient time for any Imperial family to

grow up and multiply under the fhade of the

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purple. But the royalty of the Flavian line, which had been first ennobled by the Gothic Claudius, defcended through feveral generations; and Conftantine himfelf derived from his royal father the hereditary honours which he tranfmitted to his children. The emperor had been twice married. Minervina, the obfcure but lawful object of his youthful attachment', had left him only one fon, who was called Crifpus. By Faufta, the daughter of Maximian, he had three daughters, and there fons, known by the kindred names of Conftantine, Conftantius, and Conftans. The unambitious brothers of the great Conftantine, Julius Conftantius, Dalmatius, and Hannibalianus, were permitted to enjoy the most honourable rank, and the moft affluent fortune, that could be confistent with a private station. The youngest of the three lived without a name, and died without pofterity. His two elder brothers obtained in marriage the daughters of wealthy fenators, and propagated new branches of the Imperial race. Gallus and

7 Zofimus and Zonaras agree in reprefenting Minervina as the concubine of Conftantine; but Ducange has very gallantly rescued her character, by producing a decifive paffage from one of the panegyrics: "Ab ipfo fine pueritiæ te matrimonii legibus dedisti.”

8 Ducange (Familie Byzantine, p. 44.) beltows on him, after Zonaras, the name of Constantine; a name fomewhat unlikely, as it was already occupied by the elder brother. That of Hannibalianus is mentioned in the Pafchal Chronicle, and is approved by Tille. mont, Hilt. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 527.

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CHA P. Julian afterwards became the moft illuftrious of XVIII. the children of Julius Conftantius, the Patrician. The two fons of Dalmatius, who had been decorated with the vain title of Cenfor, were named Dalmatius and Hannibalianus. The two fifters of the great Constantine, Anastasia and Eutropia, were beftowed on Optatus and Nepotianus, two fenators of noble birth and of confular dignity. His third fifter, Conftantia, was distinguished by her pre-eminence of greatnefs and of mifery. She remained the widow of the vanquished Licinius; and it was by her intreaties, that an innocent boy, the offspring of their marriage, preferved for fome time, his life, the title of Cæfar, and a precarious hope of the fucceffion. Befides 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, feemed, according to the order of their birth, to be destined either to inherit or to fupport the throne of Conftantine. But in lefs than thirty years, this numerous and encreasing family was reduced to the perfons of Conftantius and Julian, who alone had furvived a series of crimes and calamities, fuch as the tragic poets have deplored in the devoted lines of Pelops and of Cadmus.

Virtues of

Crifpus, the eldest fon of Conftantine, and the Criipus. prefumptive heir of the empire, is reprefented by impartial hiftorians as an amiable and accomplifhed youth. The care of his education, or at leaft of his studies, was entrusted to Lactantius, the most eloquent of the Chriftians; a preceptor admirably

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admirably qualified to form the tafte, and to CHA P.
excite the virtues, of his illuftrious difciple". At XVIII.
the age of feventeen, Crifpus was invested with
the title of Cæfar, and the administration of the
Gallic provinces, where the inroads of the Ger-
mans gave him an early occafion of fignalizing
his military prowess. In the civil war which
broke out foon afterwards, the father and fon di-
vided their powers; and this history has already
celebrated the valour as well as conduct difplayed
by the latter, in forcing the ftreights of the Hel-
lefpont, fo obftinately defended by the fuperior
fleet of Licinius. This naval victory contributed
to determine the event of the war; and the names
of Conftantine and of Crifpus were united in the
joyful acclamations of their eastern subjects: who
loudly proclaimed, that the world had been fub-
dued, and was now governed, by an emperor en-
dowed with every virtue; and by his illuftrious
fon, a prince beloved of heaven, and the lively
image of his father's perfections. The public fa-
your, which feldom accompanies old age, dif-
fused its luftre over the youth of Crifpus. He
deferved the esteem, and he engaged the affec-
tions, of the court, the army, and the people.
The experienced merit of a reigning monarch is
acknowledged by his fubjects with reluctance,
and frequently denied with partial and difcon-

Jerom. in Chron. The poverty of Lactantius may be applied either to the praise of the difinterested philofopher, or to the shame of the unfeeling patron. See Tillemont, Mem. Ecclefiaft. tom. vi. part i. P. 345 Dupin, Bibliotheque Ecclefiaft. tom. i. p. 205. Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel History, part ii. vol. vii. p. 66.

tented

XVIII.

CHAP. tented murmurs; while, from the opening virtues of his fucceffor, they fondly conceive the most unbounded hopes of private as well as public felicity 10.

Jealoufy of Con.

ftantine.

oa. 10.

This dangerous popularity foon excited the attention of Conftantine, who, both as a father and A.D. 324 as a king, was impatient of an equal. Instead of attempting to fecure the allegiance of his fon, by the generous ties of confidence and gratitude, he refolved to prevent the mifchiefs which might be apprehended from diffatisfied ambition. Crifpus foon had reason to complain, that while his infant brother Conftantius was fent, with the title of Cæfar, to reign over his peculiar department of the Gallic provinces ", be, a prince of mature years, who had performed fuch recent and fignal .services, instead of being raised to the fuperior rank of Auguftus, was confined almost a prisoner to his father's court; and expofed, without power or defence, to every calumny which the malice of his enemies could fuggeft. Under fuch painful circumstances, the royal youth might not always be able to compofe his behaviour, or fupprefs his discontent; and we may be affured, that he was

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10 Eufeb. Hift. Ecclefiaft. 1. x. c. 9. Eutropius (x. 6.) ftyles him egregium virum;" and Julian (Orat. i.) very plainly alludes to the exploits of Crifpus in the civil war. See Spanheim. Comment.

P. 92.

11 Compare Idatius and the Pafchal Chronicle, with Ammianus. (1. xiv. c. 5.). The year in which Conftantius was created Cæfar, ⚫ feems to be more accurately fixed by the two chronologifts; but the hiftorian who lived in his court, could not be ignorant of the day of the anniversary. For the appointment of the new Cæfar to the provinces of Gaul, fee Julian, Orat. i. p. 12. Godefroy, Chronok. Legum, p. 26. and Blondel de la Primauté de l'Eglife, p. 1183.

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