CHAP. XIX. A new obelifk. The fatisfaction which Conftantius had received from this journey excited him to the generous emulation of bestowing on the Romans fome me morial of his own gratitude and munificence, His firft idea was to imitate the equeftrian and coloffal ftatue which he had feen in the Forum of Trajan; but when he had maturely weighed the difficulties of the execution 42, he chofe rather to embellish the capital by the gift of an Egyptian obelifk. In a remote but polished age, which seems to have preceded the invention of alphabetical writing, a great number of these obelisks had been erected, in the cities of Thebes and Heliopolis, by the ancient fovereigns of Egypt, in a just confidence that the fimplicity of their form, and the hardness of their fubftance, would refift the injuries of time and violence +3. Several of these extraordinary columns had been tranfported to Rome by Auguftus and his fucceffors, as the most durable monuments of their power and victory 44; but there remained one obelisk, 43 42 Hormifdas, a fugitive prince of Perfia, obferved to the empe ror, that if he made fúch a horse, he must think of preparing a fimilar ftable (the Forum of Trajan). Another faying of Hormifdas is recorded, "that one thing only had displeased him, to find that men died at Rome as well as elsewhere." If we adopt this reading of the text of Ammianus (difplicuiffe instead of placuiffe), we may confider it as a reproof of Roman vanity. The contrary fense would be that of a mifanthrope. 43 When Germanicus vifited the ancient monuments of Thebes, the eldeft of the priests explained to him the meaning of thefe hieroglyphics. Tacit. Annal. ii. c. 60. But it feems probable, that before the useful invention of an alphabet, these natural or arbitrary gns were the common characters of the Egyptian nation. See Warburton's Divine Legation of Mofes, vol. iii. p. 69-243. 44 See Plin. Hift, Natur. 1. xxxvi. c. 14, 15. 3 which, XIX. which, from its fize or fanctity, efcaped for a long CHA P. time the rapacious vanity of the conquerors. It was defigned by Conftantine to adorn his new city 45; and, after being removed by his order from the pedestal where it ftood before the Temple of the Sun at Heliopolis, was floated down the Nile to Alexandria. The death of Constantine fufpended the execution of his purpose, and this obelifk was destined by his fon to the ancient capital of the empire. A veffel of uncommon ftrength and capacioufnefs was provided to convey this enormous weight of granite, at leaft an hundred and fifteen feet in length, from the banks of the Nile to thofe of the Tyber. The obelisk of Conftantius was landed about three. miles from the city, and elevated, by the efforts of art and labour, in the great Circus of Rome 46. Sarmatian A. D. 357, 358, 359 The departure of Conftantius from Rome was The Quahaftened by the alarming intelligence of the dian and distress and danger of the Illyrian provinces. war, The distractions of civil war, and the irreparable lofs which the Roman legions had sustained in the battle of Murfa, expofed thofe countries, almost without defence, to the light cavalry of 45 Ammian. Marcellin. 1 xvii. c. 4. He gives us a Greek interpretation of the hieroglyphics, and his commentator Lindenbrogius adds a Latin infeription, which, in twenty verses of the age of Conftantius, contain a fhort hiftory of the obelisk. 46 See Donat. Roma Antiqua. I. iii. c. 14. l. iv. c. 12. and the learned, though confused, Differtation of Bargæus on Obelisks, in ferted in the fourth volume of Grævius's Roman Antiquities, p. 1897-1936. This Differtation is dedicated to Pope Sixtus V. who erected the obelisk of Conftantius in the fquare before the patriarchal church of St. John Lateran. CHAP. the Barbarians; and particularly to the inroads feem to have exchanged the inftitutions of Ger- 47 The events of this Quadian and Sarmatian war are related by Ammianus, xvi, 10. xvii. 12, 13. xix. 11, XIX. laws to the Barbarians beyond the Danube, he C H A P. distinguished with fpecious compaffion the Sarmatian exiles, who had been expelled from their native country by the rebellion of their flaves, and who formed a very confiderable acceffion to the power of the Quadi. The emperor, embracing a generous but artful fyftem of policy, released the Sarmatians from the bands of this humiliating dependence, and restored them, by a separate treaty, to the dignity of a nation united under the government of a king, the friend and ally of the republic. He declared his refolution of afferting the juftice of their caufe, and of fecuring the peace of the provinces by the extirpation, or at least the banishment, of the Limigantes, whofe manners were ftill infected with the vices of their fervile origin. The execution of this defign was attended with more difficulty than glory. The territory of the Limigantes was protected against the Romans by the Danube, against the hostile Barbarians by the Teyfs. The marshy lands, which lay between thofe rivers, and were often covered by their inundations, formed an intricate wilderness pervious only to the inhabitants, who were acquainted with its fecret paths and innacceffible fortreffes. On the approach of Conftantius, the Limigantes tried the efficacy of prayers, of fraud, and of arms; but he fternly rejected their fupplications, defeated their rude ftratagems, and repelled with fkill and firmness the efforts of their irregular valour. One of their most warlike tribes, established in a small' ifland towards the conflux of the Teyfs and the Danube, 03 XIX. CHA P. Danube, confented to pass the river with the intention of furprising the emperor during the fecurity of an amicable conference. They foon became the victims of the perfidy which they meditated. Encompaffed on every fide, trampled down by the cavalry, flaughtered by the fwords of the legions, they difdained to ask for mercy; and with an undaunted countenance ftill grafped their weapons in the agonies of death. After this victory a confiderable body of Romans was landed on the oppofite banks of the Danube; the Taifalæ, a Gothic tribe engaged in the fervice of the empire, invaded the Limigantes on the fide of the Teyfs; and their former masters, the free Sarmatians, animated by hope and revenge, penetrated through the hilly country into the heart of their ancient poffeffions. A general conflagration revealed the huts of the Barbarians, which were feated in the depth of the wilderness; and the foldier fought with confidence on marthy ground, which it was dangerous for him to tread. In this extremity the braveft of the Limigantes were refolved to die in arms, rather than to yield: but the milder fentiment, enforced by the authority of their elders, at length prevailed; and the fuppliant crowd, followed by their wives and children, repaired to the Imperial camp, to learn their fate from the mouth of the conqueror. After celebrating his own clemency, which was ftill inclined to pardon their repeated crimes, and to spare the remnant of a guilty nation, Conftantius affigned for the place of their exile a remote country, where they might enjoy a fafe and honourable |