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II. The ambitious spirit of
Galerius was scarcely reconciled to the disappointment of his
views upon the
Gallic provinces, before the unexpected loss of Italy wounded his pride as well as power in a still more sensible
part.
The long absence of the emperors had filled Rome with discontent and indignation; and the people gradually discovered,
that the preference given to Nicomedia and Milan was not to be ascribed to the particular inclination of Diocletian, but to the
permanent form of government which he had instituted. It was in vain that, a few months after his
abdication, his successors
dedicated, under his name, those magnificent
baths, whose ruins still supply the ground as well as the materials for so many
churches and convents.
20 The tranquility of those elegant recesses of ease and luxury was disturbed by the impatient
murmurs of the Romans, and a report was insensibly circulated, that the sums expended in erecting those buildings would soon
be required at their hands. About that time the avarice of
Galerius, or perhaps the exigencies of the state, had induced him to
make a very strict and rigorous inquisition into the property of his subjects, for the purpose of a general
taxation, both on their
lands and on their persons. A very minute survey appears to have been taken of their real estates; and wherever there was the
slightest suspicion of concealment, torture was very freely employed to obtain a sincere declaration of their personal wealth.
21 The privileges which had exalted Italy above the rank of the provinces were no longer regarded:
* and the officers of the
revenue already began to number the Roman people, and to settle the proportion of the new taxes. Even when the spirit of
freedom had been utterly extinguished, the tamest subjects have sometimes ventured to resist an unprecedented invasion of their
property; but on this occasion the injury was aggravated by the insult, and the sense of private interest was quickened by that of
national honor.
The conquest of Macedonia, as we have already observed, had delivered the Roman people from the weight of
personal taxes.
Though they had experienced every form of
despotism, they had now enjoyed that exemption near five hundred years; nor
could they patiently brook the insolence of an Illyrian peasant, who, from his distant residence in Asia, presumed to number
Rome among the tributary cities of his empire. The rising fury of the people was encouraged by the authority, or at least the
connivance, of the senate; and the feeble remains of the
Praetorian Guard, who had reason to apprehend their own dissolution,
embraced so honorable a pretence, and declared their readiness to draw their swords in the service of their oppressed country.
It was the wish, and it soon became the hope, of every citizen, that after expelling from Italy their foreign tyrants, they should
elect a prince who, by the place of his residence, and by his maxims of government, might once more deserve the title of
Roman emperor. The name, as well as the situation, of
Maxentius determined in his favor the popular enthusiasm.
Footnote 20: See Gruter. Inscrip. p. 178. The six princes are all mentioned, Diocletian and Maximian as the senior Augusti,
and fathers of the emperors. They jointly dedicate, for the use of their own Romans, this magnificent edifice. The architects have
delineated the ruins of these Thermoe, and the antiquarians, particularly Donatus and Nardini, have ascertained the ground
which they covered. One of the great rooms is now the Carthusian church; and even one of the porter's lodges is sufficient to
form another church, which belongs to the Feuillans.
Footnote 21: See Lactantius de M. P. c. 26, 31.
Footnote *: Saviguy, in his memoir on Roman taxation, (Mem. Berl. Academ. 1822, 1823, p. 5,) dates from this period the
abolition of the Jus Italicum. He quotes a remarkable passage of Aurelius Victor. Hinc denique parti Italiae invec tum tributorum
ingens malum. Aur. Vict. c. 39. It was a necessary consequence of the division of the empire: it became impossible to maintain
a second court and executive, and leave so large and fruitful a part of the territory exempt from contribution. - M.
Maxentius was the son of the emperor
Maximian, and he had married the daughter of
Galerius. His birth and alliance seemed to
offer him the fairest promise of succeeding to the empire; but his vices and incapacity procured him the same exclusion from the
dignity of Caesar, which Constantine had deserved by a dangerous superiority of merit. The policy of
Galerius preferred such
associates as would never disgrace the choice, nor dispute the commands, of their benefactor. An obscure stranger was
therefore raised to the throne of Italy, and the son of the late emperor of the West was left to enjoy the luxury of a private
fortune in a
villa a few miles distant from the capital. The gloomy passions of his soul, shame, vexation, and rage, were inflamed
by envy on the news of Constantine's success; but the hopes of Maxentius revived with the public discontent, and he was easily
persuaded to unite his personal injury and pretensions with the cause of the Roman people. Two Praetorian tribunes and a
commissary of provisions undertook the management of the conspiracy; and as every order of men was actuated by the same
spirit, the immediate event was neither doubtful nor difficult. The
praefect of the city, and a few magistrates, who maintained
their fidelity to Severus, were massacred by the guards; and Maxentius, invested with the Imperial ornaments, was
acknowledged by the applauding senate and people as the protector of the Roman freedom and dignity. It is uncertain whether
Maximian was previously acquainted with the conspiracy; but as soon as the standard of rebellion was erected at Rome, the
old emperor broke from the retirement where the authority of Diocletian had condemned him to pass a life of melancholy and
solitude, and concealed his returning ambition under the disguise of paternal tenderness. At the request of his son and of the
senate, he condescended to reassume the purple. His ancient dignity, his experience, and his fame in arms, added strength as
well as reputation to the party of Maxentius.
22
Footnote 22: The sixth Panegyric represents the conduct of Maximian in the most favorable light, and the ambiguous
expression of Aurelius Victor, "retractante diu," may signify either that he contrived, or that he opposed, the conspiracy. See
Zosimus, l. ii. p. 79, and Lactantius de M. P. c. 26.
According to the advice, or rather the orders, of his colleague, the
emperor Severus immediately hastened to Rome, in the full confidence, that, by his unexpected celerity, he should easily
suppress the tumult of an unwarlike populace, commanded by a licentious youth.
He found on his arrival the gates of the city
shut against him, the walls filled with men and arms, an experienced general at the head of the rebels, and his own troops
without spirit or affection. A large body of Moors deserted to the enemy, allured by the promise of a large donative; and, if it
be true that they had been levied by
Maximian in his African war, preferring the natural feelings of gratitude to the artificial ties
of allegiance.
Anulinus, the Praetorian praefect, declared himself in favor of Maxentius, and drew after him the most
considerable part of the troops, accustomed to obey his commands.
Rome, according to the expression of an orator, recalled her armies; and the unfortunate Severus, destitute of force and of
counsel, retired, or rather fled, with precipitation, to
Ravenna.
Here he might for some time have been safe. The
fortifications of
Ravenna were able to resist the attempts, and the morasses
that surrounded the town, were sufficient to prevent the approach, of the Italian army. The sea, which Severus commanded
with a powerful fleet, secured him an inexhaustible supply of provisions, and gave a free entrance to the legions, which, on the
return of spring, would advance to his assistance from Illyricum and the East.
Maximian, who conducted the siege in person,
was soon convinced that he might waste his time and his army in the fruitless enterprise, and that he had nothing to hope either
from force or famine. With an art more suitable to the character of Diocletian than to his own, he directed his attack, not so
much against the walls of Ravenna, as against the mind of Severus. The treachery which he had experienced disposed that
unhappy prince to distrust the most sincere of his friends and adherents. The emissaries of
Maximian easily persuaded his
credulity, that a conspiracy was formed to betray the town, and prevailed upon his fears not to expose himself to the discretion
of an irritated conqueror, but to accept the faith of an honorable capitulation. He was at first received with humanity and treated
with respect.
Maximian conducted the captive emperor to Rome, and gave him the most solemn assurances that he had
secured his life by the resignation of the purple. But Severus, could obtain only an easy death and an Imperial funeral. When the
sentence was signified to him, the manner of executing it was left to his own choice; he preferred the favorite mode of the
ancients, that of opening his veins; and as soon as he expired, his body was carried to the
sepulcher which had been
constructed for the family of
Gallienus.
23
Footnote 23: The circumstances of this war, and the death of Severus, are very doubtfully and variously told in our ancient
fragments, (see Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. part i. p. 555.) I have endeavored to extract from them a consistent
and probable narration.
Note: Manso justly observes that two totally different narratives might be formed, almost upon equal authority. Beylage, iv. -
M.
Part II.
Though the characters of
Constantine and
Maxentius had very little affinity with each other, their situation and interest were the
same; and prudence seemed to require that they should unite their forces against the common enemy. Notwithstanding the
superiority of his age and dignity, the indefatigable
Maximian passed the
Alps, and, courting a personal interview with the
sovereign of Gaul, carried with him his daughter Fausta as the pledge of the new alliance. The marriage was celebrated at Arles
with every circumstance of magnificence; and the ancient colleague of Diocletian, who again asserted his claim to the Western
empire, conferred on his son-in-law and ally the title of Augustus. By consenting to receive that honor from
Maximian,
Constantine seemed to embrace the cause of Rome and of the senate; but his professions were ambiguous, and his assistance
slow and ineffectual. He considered with attention the approaching contest between the masters of Italy and the emperor of the
East, and was prepared to consult his own safety or ambition in the event of the war.
24
Footnote 24: The sixth Panegyric was pronounced to celebrate the elevation of Constantine; but the prudent orator avoids the
mention either of Galerius or of Maxentius. He introduces only one slight allusion to the actual troubles, and to the majesty of
Rome.
The importance of the occasion called for the presence and abilities of
Galerius. At the head of a powerful army, collected from
Illyricum and the East, he entered Italy, resolved to revenge the death of Severus, and to chastise the rebellions Romans; or, as
he expressed his intentions, in the furious language of a barbarian, to extirpate the senate, and to destroy the people by the
sword. But the skill of
Maximian had concerted a prudent system of defence. The invader found every place hostile, fortified,
and inaccessible; and though he forced his way as far as
Narnia, within sixty miles of Rome, his dominion in Italy was confined to
the narrow limits of his camp. Sensible of the increasing difficulties of his enterprise, the haughty
Galerius made the first
advances towards a reconciliation, and despatched two of his most considerable officers to tempt the Roman princes by the
offer of a conference, and the declaration of his paternal regard for
Maxentius, who might obtain much more from his liberality
than he could hope from the doubtful chance of war.
25 The offers of
Galerius were rejected with firmness, his perfidious
friendship refused with contempt, and it was not long before he discovered, that, unless he provided for his safety by a timely
retreat, he had some reason to apprehend the fate of Severus. The wealth which the Romans defended against his rapacious
tyranny, they freely contributed for his destruction. The name of
Maximian, the popular arts of his son, the secret distribution of
large sums, and the promise of still more liberal rewards, checked the ardor and corrupted the fidelity of the Illyrian legions; and
when
Galerius at length gave the signal of the retreat, it was with some difficulty that he could prevail on his veterans not to
desert a banner which had so often conducted them to victory and honor. A contemporary writer assigns two other causes for
the failure of the expedition; but they are both of such a nature, that a cautious historian will scarcely venture to adopt them. We
are told that
Galerius, who had formed a very imperfect notion of the greatness of Rome by the cities of the East with which he
was acquainted, found his forces inadequate to the siege of that immense capital.
But the extent of a city serves only to render it more accessible to the enemy:
Rome had long since been accustomed to submit
on the approach of a conqueror; nor could the temporary enthusiasm of the people have long contended against the discipline
and valor of the legions. We are likewise informed that the legions themselves were struck with horror and remorse, and that
those pious sons of the
republic refused to violate the sanctity of their venerable parent.
26 But when we recollect with how
much ease, in the more ancient civil wars, the zeal of party and the habits of military obedience had converted the native citizens
of Rome into her most implacable enemies, we shall be inclined to distrust this extreme delicacy of strangers and barbarians,
who had never beheld Italy till they entered it in a hostile manner. Had they not been restrained by motives of a more interested
nature, they would probably have answered
Galerius in the words of Caesar's veterans: "If our general wishes to lead us to the
banks of the
Tyber, we are prepared to trace out his camp. Whatsoever walls he has determined to level with the ground, our
hands are ready to work the engines: nor shall we hesitate, should the name of the devoted city be Rome itself." These are
indeed the expressions of a poet; but of a poet who has been distinguished, and even censured, for his strict adherence to the
truth of history.
27
Footnote 25: With regard to this negotiation, see the fragments of an anonymous historian, published by Valesius at the end of
his edition of Ammianus Marcellinus, p. 711. These fragments have furnished with several curious, and, as it should seem,
authentic anecdotes.
Footnote 26: Lactantius de M. P. c. 28. The former of these reasons is probably taken from Virgil's Shepherd: "Illam * * *
ego huic notra similem, Meliboee, putavi," &c. Lactantius delights in these poetical illusions.
Footnote 27: Castra super Tusci
si ponere Tybridis undas; (jubeus) Hesperios audax veniam metator in agros. Tu quoscunque voles in planum effundere muros,
His aries actus disperget saxa lacertis; Illa licet penitus tolli quam jusseris urbem
Roma sit. Lucan. Pharsal. i. 381.
The legions of
Galerius exhibited a very melancholy proof of their disposition, by the ravages which they committed in their
retreat. They murdered, they ravished, they plundered, they drove away the flocks and herds of the Italians; they burnt the
villages through which they passed, and they endeavored to destroy the country which it had not been in their power to subdue.
During the whole march,
Maxentius hung on their rear, but he very prudently declined a general engagement with those brave
and desperate veterans. His father had undertaken a second journey into Gaul, with the hope of persuading Constantine, who
had assembled an army on the frontier, to join in the pursuit, and to complete the victory. But the actions of Constantine were
guided by reason, and not by resentment. He persisted in the wise resolution of maintaining a balance of power in the divided
empire, and he no longer hated
Galerius, when that aspiring prince had ceased to be an object of terror.
28
Footnote 28: Lactantius de M. P. c. 27. Zosim. l. ii. p. 82. The latter, that Constantine, in his interview with Maximian, had
promised to declare war against Galerius.
The mind of
Galerius was the most susceptible of the sterner passions, but it was not, however, incapable of a sincere and
lasting friendship. Licinius, whose manners as well as character, were not unlike his own, seems to have engaged both his
affection and esteem. Their intimacy had commenced in the happier period perhaps of their youth and obscurity. It had been
cemented by the freedom and dangers of a military life; they had advanced almost by equal steps through the successive honors
of the service; and as soon as
Galerius was invested with the Imperial dignity, he seems to have conceived the design of raising
his companion to the same rank with himself. During the short period of his prosperity, he considered the rank of Caesar as
unworthy of the age and merit of
Licinius, and rather chose to reserve for him the place of
Constantius, and the empire of the
West. While the emperor was employed in the Italian war, he intrusted his friend with the defence of the Danube; and
immediately after his return from that unfortunate expedition, he invested Licinius with the vacant purple of Severus, resigning to
his immediate command the provinces of Illyricum.
29 The news of his promotion was no sooner carried into the East, than
Maximin, who governed, or rather oppressed, the countries of Egypt and Syria, betrayed his envy and discontent, disdained the
inferior name of Caesar, and, notwithstanding the prayers as well as arguments of
Galerius, exacted, almost by violence, the
equal title of Augustus.
30 For the first, and indeed for the last time, the Roman world was administered by six emperors. In
the West, Constantine and Maxentius affected to reverence their father Maximian. In the East, Licinius and Maximin honored
with more real consideration their benefactor Galerius. The opposition of interest, and the memory of a recent war, divided the
empire into two great hostile powers; but their mutual fears produced an apparent tranquillity, and even a feigned reconciliation,
till the death of the elder princes, of
Maximian, and more particularly of
Galerius, gave a new direction to the views and
passions of their surviving associates.
Footnote 29: M. de Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. part i. p. 559) has proved
that Licinius, without passing through the intermediate rank of Caesar, was declared Augustus, the 11th of November, A. D.
307, after the return of Galerius from Italy.
Footnote 30: Lactantius de M. P. c. 32. When Galerius declared Licinius Augustus with himself, he tried to satisfy his younger
associates, by inventing for Constantine and Maximin (not Maxentius; see Baluze, p. 81) the new title of sons of the Augusti.
But when Maximin acquainted him that he had been saluted Augustus by the army, Galerius was obliged to acknowledge him
as well as Constantine, as equal associates in the Imperial dignity.
When
Maximian had reluctantly abdicated the empire, the
venal orators of the times applauded his philosophic moderation. When his ambition excited, or at least encouraged, a civil war,
they returned thanks to his generous patriotism, and gently censured that love of ease and retirement which had withdrawn him
from the public service.
31 But it was impossible that minds like those of
Maximian and his son could long possess in harmony
an undivided power. Maxentius considered himself as the legal sovereign of Italy, elected by the Roman senate and people; nor
would he endure the control of his father, who arrogantly declared that by his name and abilities the rash youth had been
established on the throne. The cause was solemnly pleaded before the Praetorian guards; and those troops, who dreaded the
severity of the old emperor, espoused the party of Maxentius.
32 The life and freedom of
Maximian were, however,
respected, and he retired from Italy into Illyricum, affecting to lament his past conduct, and secretly contriving new mischiefs.
But
Galerius, who was well acquainted with his character, soon obliged him to leave his dominions, and the last refuge of the
disappointed
Maximian was the court of his son-in-law Constantine.
33 He was received with respect by that artful prince,
and with the appearance of filial tenderness by the empress
Fausta. That he might remove every suspicion, he resigned the
Imperial purple a second time,
34 professing himself at length convinced of the vanity of greatness and ambition. Had he
persevered in this resolution, he might have ended his life with less dignity, indeed, than in his first retirement, yet, however, with
comfort and reputation. But the near prospect of a throne brought back to his remembrance the state from whence he was
fallen, and he resolved, by a desperate effort either to reign or to perish. An incursion of the
Franks had summoned
Constantine, with a part of his army, to the banks of the Rhine; the remainder of the troops were stationed in the southern
provinces of
Gaul, which lay exposed to the enterprises of the Italian emperor, and a considerable treasure was deposited in
the city of
Arles.
Maximian either craftily invented, or easily credited, a vain report of the death of Constantine. Without
hesitation he ascended the throne, seized the treasure, and scattering it with his accustomed profusion among the soldiers,
endeavored to awake in their minds the memory of his ancient dignity and exploits. Before he could establish his authority, or
finish the negotiation which he appears to have entered into with his son Maxentius, the celerity of Constantine defeated all his
hopes. On the first news of his perfidy and ingratitude, that prince returned by rapid marches from the Rhine to the Saone,
embarked on the last mentioned river at
Chalons, and at
Lyons trusting himself to the rapidity of the Rhone, arrived at the gates
of Arles, with a military force which it was impossible for
Maximian to resist, and which scarcely permitted him to take refuge in
the neighboring city of
Marseilles. The narrow neck of land which joined that place to the continent was fortified against the
besiegers, whilst the sea was open, either for the escape of
Maximian, or for the succor of Maxentius, if the latter should
choose to disguise his invasion of Gaul under the honorable pretence of defending a distressed, or, as he might allege, an injured
father.
Apprehensive of the fatal consequences of delay, Constantine gave orders for an immediate assault; but the
scaling-ladders were found too short for the height of the walls, and Marseilles might have sustained as long a siege as it
formerly did against the arms of Caesar, if the garrison, conscious either of their fault or of their danger, had not purchased their
pardon by delivering up the city and the person of Maximian. A secret but irrevocable sentence of death was pronounced
against the usurper; he obtained only the same favor which he had indulged to Severus, and it was published to the world, that,
oppressed by the remorse of his repeated crimes, he strangled himself with his own hands. After he had lost the assistance, and
disdained the moderate counsels of
Diocletian, the second period of his active life was a series of public calamities and personal
mortifications, which were terminated, in about three years, by an ignominious death. He deserved his fate; but we should find
more reason to applaud the humanity of Constantine, if he had spared an old man, the benefactor of his father, and the father of
his wife. During the whole of this melancholy transaction, it appears that Fausta sacrificed the sentiments of nature to her
conjugal duties.
35 Footnote 31: See Panegyr. Vet. vi. 9. Audi doloris nostri liberam vocem, &c. The whole passage is
imagined with artful flattery, and expressed with an easy flow of eloquence.
Footnote 32: Lactantius de M. P. c. 28. Zosim. l. ii. p. 82. A report was spread, that Maxentius was the son of some obscure
Syrian, and had been substituted by the wife of Maximian as her own child. See Aurelius Victor, Anonym. Valesian, and
Panegyr. Vet. ix. 3, 4.
Footnote 33: Ab urbe pulsum, ab Italia fugatum, ab Illyrico repudiatum, provinciis, tuis copiis, tuo palatio recepisti. Eumen. in
Panegyr Vet. vii. 14.
Footnote 34: Lactantius de M. P. c. 29. Yet, after the resignation of the purple, Constantine still continued to Maximian the
pomp and honors of the Imperial dignity; and on all public occasions gave the right hand place to his father-in-law. Panegyr.
Vet. viii. 15.
Footnote 35: Zosim. l. ii. p. 82. Eumenius in Panegyr. Vet. vii. 16 - 21. The latter of these has undoubtedly represented the
whole affair in the most favorable light for his sovereign. Yet even from this partial narrative we may conclude, that the repeated
clemency of Constantine, and the reiterated treasons of Maximian, as they are described by Lactantius, (de M. P. c. 29, 30,)
and copied by the moderns, are destitute of any historical foundation. Note: Yet some pagan authors relate and confirm them.
Aurelius Victor speaking of Maximin, says, cumque specie officii, dolis compositis, Constantinum generum tentaret acerbe, jure
tamen interierat. Aur. Vict. de Caesar l. p. 623. Eutropius also says, inde ad Gallias profectus est (Maximianus) composito
tamquam a filio esset expulsus, ut Constantino genero jun geretur: moliens tamen Constantinum, reperta occasione, interficere,
dedit justissimo exitu. Eutrop. x. p. 661. (Anon. Gent.)
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To cite original text:
Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794.
The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. 1st ed. (London : Printed for W. Strahan ; and T. Cadell, 1776-1788.), pp. 407-417.