Troubles after the abdication of Diocletian-Death of Constantius-Elevation of Constantine and Maxentius-Six Emperors at the same time-Death of Maxi- mian and Galerius-Victories of Constantine over Maxentius and Licinius- Discontent of the Romans at the Apprehension of Taxes Maximian gives his daughter Fausta, and the Title of Augustus, to Galerius invades Italy ILLUSTRATIONS (SELECTED BY MR. O. M. DALTON) EDWARD GIBBON (from the painting by Henry Walton in the National STA MARIA IN ARA CŒLI, where Gibbon conceived the idea of writing his PAGE history (exterior and interior) From Photographs by S. J. Beckett. ... ... BAS-RELIEF OF THE TIME OF TRAJAN (now in the Louvre): a Roman From & Photograph by A. Girandon. ... A ROMAN AQUEDUCT: the Pont du Gard (Remoulins, France) From a Photograph by Neurdein. ROMAN ROAD north of KEFR KERMIN IN SYRIA By permission of the Century Co., New York. BAS-RELIEFS ON THE COLUMN OF MARCUS AURELIUS AT ROME (1) Decapitation of German prisoners (2) The Emperor receiving a messenger 1 MARBLE BUST OF THE EMPEROR SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, who died at York, From & Photograph by W. A. Mansell & Co. ROMAN ARCH AND TOMB AT SAINT-RÉMY, BOUCHES-DU-RHÔNE, FRANCE From & Photograph by Neurdein. 30 54 BRONZE STATUETTE OF AN IMPERIAL PERSONAGE found at Barking HALL, A ROMAN ARENA: exterior and interior of the Amphitheatre at Verona BATTLE OF ROMANS AND BARBARIANS, on a sarcophagus in the Museo delle Terme, Rome. The central figure may represent Claudius Gothicus (A.D. 268-270) SAPOR AND VALERIAN. Sassanian rock-sculpture at Naksh-i-Rustam. Paris) ... ... ... 290 From a Photograph by D. Anderson. BAS-RELIEFS FROM THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE AT ROME (1) The Congiarium or distribution of gifts after a triumph (2) The Emperor on the Rostra (either Diocletian or Constantine). From Photographs by D. Anderson. COINS, FROM SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS TO CONSTANTINE THE GREAT DESCRIPTION OF COINS Note.-In all plates of coins the abbreviation A denotes that the metal is A that it is silver; Æ that it is bronze. PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR Ir is not my intention to detain the reader by expatiating on the variety or the importance of the subject, which I have undertaken to treat; since the merit of the choice would serve to render the weakness of the execution still more apparent, and still less excusable. But, as I have presumed to lay before the Public a first volume only1 of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, it will perhaps be expected that I should explain, in a few words, the nature and limits of my general plan. The memorable series of revolutions, which, in the course of about thirteen centuries, gradually undermined, and at length destroyed, the solid fabric of human greatness, may, with some propriety, be divided into the three following periods: I. The first of these periods may be traced from the age of Trajan and the Antonines, when the Roman monarchy, having attained its full strength and maturity, began to verge towards its decline; and will extend to the subversion of the Western Empire, by the barbarians of Germany and Scythia, the rude ancestors of the most polished nations of modern Europe. This extraordinary revolution, which subjected Rome to the power of a Gothic conqueror, was completed about the beginning of the sixth century. II. The second period of the Decline and Fall of Rome may be supposed to commence with the reign of Justinian, 1 The first volume of the quarto, which is now contained in the two first volumes of the octavo, edition. |