XIII. arduous undertakings. Nor were the vices of CHAP. Maximian less useful to his benefactor. Insensible to pity, and fearless of consequences, he was the ready instrument of every act of cruelty which the policy of that artful prince might at once suggest and disclaim. As soon as a bloody sacrifice had been offered to prudence or to revenge, Diocletian, by his seasonable intercession, saved the remaining few whom he had never designed to punish, gently censured the severity of his stern colleague, and enjoyed the comparison of a golden and an iron age, which was universally applied to their opposite maxiins of government. Notwithstanding the difference of their characters, the two emperors maintained, on the throne, that friendship which they had contracted in a private station. The haughty turbulent spirit of Maximian, so fatal afterwards to himself and to the public peace, was accustomed to respect the genius of Diocletian, and confessed the ascendant of reason over brutal violence. From a motive either of pride or superstition, the two emperors assumed the titles, the one of Jovius, the other of Herculius. Whilst the motion of the world (such was the language of their venal orators) was maintained by the all-seeing wisdom of Jupiter, the invincible arm of Lactantius de M. P. c. 8. Aurelius Victor. As among the pa negyrics, we find orations pronounced in praise of Maximian, and others, which flatter his adversaries at his expence, we derive somÉ knowledge from the contrast. CHAP. Hercules purged the earth from monsters and tyrants.' XIII. Associa tion of two Cæsars, Galerius A. D. 292, March 1. But even the omnipotence of Jovius and Herculius was insufficient to sustain the weight and Con- of the public administration. The prudence of stantius, Diocletian discovered, that the empire, assailed on every side by the barbarians, required on every side the presence of a great ariny, and of an emperor. With this view, he resolved once more to divide his unweildy power, and with the inferior title of Cesars, to confer on two generals of approved merit an equal share of the sovereign authority. Galerius, surnamed Armentarius, from his original profession of a herdsman, and Constantius, who from his pale complexion had acquired the denomination of Chlorus,' were the two ersons invested with the second honours of the imperial purple. In describing the country, extraction, and manners of Herculius, we have already delineated those of Galerius, who was often, and not improperly, styled the younger Maximian, though, in many instances, both of virtue and ability, he appears to have possessed a manifest superiority over the elder. The birth of Constantius was less obscure 1 See the second and third panegyrics, particularly iii, 3, 10, 14; but it would be tedious to copy the diffuse and affected expressions of their false eloquence. With regard to the titles, consult Aurel. Victor, Lactantius de M. P. c. 52. Spanheim de Usu Numismatum, &c. Disser tat. xii, 8. * Aurelius Victor. Victor in Epitome. Eutrop. ix, 22. Lactant de M. P. c. 8. Hieronym. in Chron. It is only among the modern Greeks that Tillemont can discover his appellation of Clorus. Any remarkable degree of paleness seems, inconsistent with the rubor mentioned in Panegyric v, 19. XIII. than that of his colleagues. Eutropius, his CHAP. father, was one of the most considerable nobles of Dardania, and his mother was the niece of the emperor Claudius." Although the youth of Constantius had been spent in arms, he was endowed with a mild and amiable disposition, and the popular voice had long since acknowledged him worthy of the rank which he at last attained. To strengthen the bonds of political, by those of domestic union, each of the emperors assumed the character of a father to one of the Cæsars; Diocletian to Galerius, and Maximian to Constantius; and each obliging them to repudiate their former wives, bestowed his daughter in marriage on his adopted son." These four princes distributed among themselves the wide extent of the Roman empire. The defence of Depart Gaul, Spain, and Britain, was intrusted to Con- harmony of stantius; Galerius was stationed on the banks the four princes. of the Danube, as the safeguard of the Illyrian provinces; Italy and Africa were considered as the department of Maximian; and for the peculiar portion, Diocletian reserved Thrace, Egypt, and the rich countries of Asia. Every one was - Julian, the grandson of Constantins, boasts that his family was derived from the warlike Mæsians. Misopogon, p. 348. The Dardanians dwelt on the edge of Mæsia. • Galerius married Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian: if we speak with striciness, Theodora, the wife of Constantius, was daughter only to the wife of Maximian. Spanheim Dissertat. xi, 2. • This division agrees with that of the four prefectures; yet there is some reason to doubt whether Spain was not a province of Maximian. See Tillemont, tom. iv. p, 517. ments and CHAP. Sovereign within his own jurisdiction; but their XIII. united authority extended over the whole mo Series of events. A. D. 287 sants of Gau narchy; and each of them was prepared to assist his colleagues with his counsels or presence. The Cæsars, in their exalted rank, revered the majesty of the emperors; and the three younger princes invariably acknowledged, by their gratitude and obedience, the common parent of their fortunes. The suspicious jealousy of power found not any place among them; and the singular happiness of their union has been compared to a chorus of music, whose harmony was regulated and maintained by the skilful hand of the first artist.P The important measure was not carried into execution till about six years after the association of Maximian; and that interval of time had not been destitute of memorable incidents. But we have preferred, for the sake of perspicuity, first to describe the more perfect form of Diocletian's government, and afterwards to relate the actions of his reign, following rather the natural order of the events, than the dates of a very doubtful chronology. The first exploit of Maximian, though it is the pea mentioned in a few words by our imperfect writers, deserves, from its singularity, to be recorded in a history of human manners. He suppressed the peasants of Gaul, who, under the P Julian in Cæsarib. p. 315. Spanheim's notes to the French translation, p. 122. XIII. appellation of Bagauda, had risen in a'general CHAP insurrection; very similar to those which, in the fourteenth century, successively afflicted both France and England. It should seem, that very many of those institutions, referred by an easy solution to the feudal system, are derived from the Celtic barbarians. When Cæsar subdued the Gauls, that great nation was already divided into three orders of men; the clergy, the nobility, and the common people. The first governed by superstition, the second by arms, but the third and last was not of any weight or account in their public councils. It was very natural for the plebeians, oppressed by debt, or apprehensive of injuries, to implore the protection of some powerful chief, who acquired over their persons and property the same absolute right as, among the Greeks and Romans, a master exercised over his slaves.' The greatest part of the nation was gradually reduced into a state of servitude; compelled to perpetual labour on the estates of the Gallic nobles, 'and confined to the soil, either by the real weight of fetters, or by the no less cruel and forcible restraints of the laws. During the long series of troubles which agitated Gaul, from the reign of Gal The general name of Baguuda (in the signification of rebels) continued till the fifth century in Gaul. Some critics derive it from a Celtic word bagad, a tumultuous assembly. Scaliger ad Euseb. Ducange Glossar. Chronique de Froissart, vol. i, c. 182, ii, 73, 79. The naivete of his story is lost in our best modern writers. 'Cæsar de Bell. Gallic. vi. 13. Orgetorix, the Helvetian, could arm for his defence a body of ten thousand slaves. |