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Part IV.
The plain of
Mardia in
Thrace was the theatre of a second battle no less obstinate and bloody than the former. The troops on
both sides displayed the same valor and discipline; and the victory was once more decided by the superior abilities of
Constantine, who directed a body of five thousand men to gain an advantageous height, from whence, during the heat of the
action, they attacked the rear of the enemy, and made a very considerable slaughter. The troops of
Licinius, however,
presenting a double front, still maintained their ground, till the approach of night put an end to the combat, and secured their
retreat towards the mountains of
Macedonia.
90 The loss of two battles, and of his bravest veterans, reduced the fierce spirit
of Licinius to sue for peace. His ambassador
Mistrianus was admitted to the audience of Constantine: he expatiated on the
common topics of moderation and humanity, which are so familiar to the eloquence of the vanquished; represented in the most
insinuating language, that the event of the war was still doubtful, whilst its inevitable calamities were alike pernicious to both the
contending parties; and declared that he was authorized to propose a lasting and honorable peace in the name of the two
emperors his masters. Constantine received the mention of
Valens with indignation and contempt. "It was not for such a
purpose," he sternly replied, "that we have advanced from the shores of the western ocean in an uninterrupted course of
combats and victories, that, after rejecting an ungrateful kinsman, we should accept for our colleague a contemptible slave. The
abdication of Valens is the first article of the
treaty."
91 It was necessary to accept this humiliating condition; and the unhappy
Valens, after a reign of a few days, was deprived of the purple and of his life. As soon as this obstacle was removed, the
tranquillity of the Roman world was easily restored. The successive defeats of Licinius had ruined his forces, but they had
displayed his courage and abilities. His situation was almost desperate, but the efforts of despair are sometimes formidable, and
the good sense of Constantine preferred a great and certain advantage to a third trial of the chance of arms. He consented to
leave his rival, or, as he again styled Licinius, his friend and brother, in the possession of
Thrace,
Asia Minor,
Syria, and
Egypt;
but the provinces of
Pannonia,
Dalmatia,
Dacia,
Macedonia, and
Greece, were yielded to
the Western empire, and the
dominions of Constantine now extended from the confines of
Caledonia to the extremity of
Peloponnesus. It was stipulated by
the same treaty, that three royal youths, the sons of emperors, should be called to the hopes of the succession.
Crispus and the
young Constantine were soon afterwards declared Caesars in the West, while the younger
Licinius was invested with the same
dignity in the East. In this double proportion of honors, the conqueror asserted the superiority of his arms and power.
92
Footnote 90: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 92, 93. Anonym. Valesian. p. 713. The Epitomes furnish some circumstances; but they
frequently confound the two wars between Licinius and Constantine.
Footnote 91: Petrus Patricius in Excerpt. Legat. p. 27. If it should be thought that signifies more properly a son-in-law, we
might conjecture that Constantine, assuming the name as well as the duties of a father, had adopted his younger brothers and
sisters, the children of Theodora. But in the best authors sometimes signifies a husband, sometimes a father-in-law, and
sometimes a kinsman in general. See Spanheim, Observat. ad Julian. Orat. i. p. 72.
Footnote 92: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 93. Anonym. Valesian. p. 713. Eutropius, x. v. Aurelius Victor, Euseb. in Chron. Sozomen, l. i.
c. 2. Four of these writers affirm that the promotion of the Caesars was an article of the treaty. It is, however, certain, that the
younger Constantine and Licinius were not yet born; and it is highly probable that the promotion was made the 1st of March,
A. D. 317. The treaty had probably stipulated that the two Caesars might be created by the western, and one only by the
eastern emperor; but each of them reserved to himself the choice of the persons.
The
reconciliation of Constantine and
Licinius, though it was imbittered by resentment and jealousy, by the remembrance of recent injuries, and by the
apprehension
of future dangers, maintained, however, above eight years, the tranquility of the Roman world. As a very regular series of the
Imperial laws commences about this period, it would not be difficult to transcribe the civil regulations which employed the
leisure of
Constantine. But the most important of his institutions are intimately connected with the new system of policy and
religion, which was not perfectly established till the last and peaceful years of his reign. There are many of his laws, which, as far
as they concern the rights and property of individuals, and the practice of the bar, are more properly referred to the private than
to the public jurisprudence of the empire; and he published many edicts of so local and temporary a nature, that they would ill
deserve the notice of a general history. Two laws, however, may be selected from the crowd; the one for its importance, the
other for its singularity; the former for its remarkable
benevolence, the latter for its excessive
severity.
1. The horrid practice, so
familiar to the ancients, of exposing or murdering their new-born infants, was become every day more frequent in the provinces,
and especially in Italy. It was the effect of
distress; and the distress was principally occasioned by the intolerant burden of taxes,
and by the vexatious as well as cruel prosecutions of the officers of the revenue against their insolvent debtors. The less opulent
or less industrious part of
mankind, instead of rejoicing in an increase of family, deemed it an act of paternal tenderness to
release their children from the impending miseries of a life which they themselves were unable to support. The humanity of
Constantine; moved, perhaps, by some recent and extraordinary instances of despair,
* engaged him to address an edict to all
the cities of Italy, and afterwards of Africa, directing immediate and sufficient relief to be given to those parents who should
produce before the magistrates the children whom their own poverty would not allow them to educate. But the promise was
too liberal, and the provision too vague, to effect any general or permanent benefit.
93 The law, though it may merit some
praise, served rather to display than to alleviate the public distress. It still remains an authentic monument to contradict and
confound those venal orators, who were too well satisfied with their own situation to discover either vice or misery under the
government of a generous sovereign.
94
2. The laws of Constantine against
rape was dictated with very little indulgence for
the most amiable weaknesses of human nature; since the description of that crime was applied not only to the brutal violence
which compelled, but even to the gentle seduction which might persuade, an unmarried woman, under the age of twenty-five, to
leave the house of her parents. "The successful ravisher was
punished with death; and as if simple death was inadequate to the
enormity of his guilt,
he was either burnt alive, or torn in pieces by wild beasts in the amphitheatre. The virgin's declaration, that
she had been carried away with her own consent, instead of saving her lover, exposed her to share his fate. The duty of a
public prosecution was intrusted to the parents of the guilty or unfortunate maid; and if the sentiments of nature prevailed on
them to dissemble the injury, and to repair by a subsequent marriage the honor of their family, they were themselves punished
by exile and confiscation. The slaves, whether male or female, who were convicted of having been accessory to rape or
seduction, were burnt alive, or put to death by the ingenious torture of pouring down their throats a quantity of melted lead. As
the crime was of a public kind, the accusation was permitted even to strangers.
The commencement of the action was not limited to any term of years, and the consequences of the sentence were extended to
the innocent offspring of such an irregular union."
95 But whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the
rigor of penal law is obliged to give way to the common feelings of mankind. The most odious parts of this edict were softened
or repealed in the subsequent reigns;
96 and even Constantine himself very frequently alleviated, by partial acts of mercy, the
stern temper of his general institutions. Such, indeed, was the singular humor of that emperor, who showed himself as indulgent,
and even remiss, in the execution of his laws, as he was severe, and even cruel, in the enacting of them. It is scarcely possible to
observe a more decisive symptom of weakness, either in the character of the prince, or in the constitution of the government.
97
Footnote *: This explanation appears to me little probable. Godefroy has made a much more happy conjecture,
supported by all the historical circumstances which relate to this edict. It was published the 12th of May, A. D. 315. at Naissus
in Pannonia, the birthplace of Constantine. The 8th of October, in that year, Constantine gained the victory of Cibalis over
Licinius. He was yet uncertain as to the fate of the war: the Christians, no doubt, whom he favored, had prophesied his victory.
Lactantius, then preceptor of Crispus, had just written his work upon Christianity, (his Divine Institutes;) he had dedicated it to
Constantine. In this book he had inveighed with great force against infanticide, and the exposure of infants, (l. vi. c. 20.) The edict for Africa was not published till 322: of that we may say in truth that its origin was in the misery of the times. Africa
had suffered much from the cruelty of Maxentius. Constantine says expressly, that he had learned that parents, under the
pressure of distress, were there selling their children. This decree is more distinct, more maturely deliberated than the former;
the succor which was to be given to the parents, and the source from which it was to be derived, are determined. (Code
Theod. l. xi. tit. 27, c 2.) If the direct utility of these laws may not have been very extensive, they had at least the great and
happy effect of establishing a decisive opposition between the principles of the government and those which, at this time, had
prevailed among the subjects of the empire. - G.
Footnote 93: Codex Theodosian. l. xi. tit. 27, tom. iv. p. 188, with
Godefroy's observations. See likewise l. v. tit. 7, 8.
Footnote 94: Omnia foris placita, domi prospera, annonae ubertate, fructuum copia, &c. Panegyr. Vet. x. 38. This oration of Nazarius was pronounced on the day of the Quinquennalia of the Caesars, the 1st of March, A. D. 321.
Footnote 95: See
the edict of Constantine, addressed to the Roman people, in the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. 24, tom. iii. p. 189.
Footnote 96: His son very fairly assigns the true reason of the repeal: "Na sub specie atrocioris judicii aliqua in ulciscendo
crimine dilatio nae ceretur." Cod. Theod. tom. iii. p. 193
Footnote 97: Eusebius (in Vita Constant. l. iii. c. 1) chooses to affirm, that in the reign of this hero, the sword of justice hung
idle in the hands of the magistrates. Eusebius himself, (l. iv. c. 29, 54,) and the Theodosian Code, will inform us that this
excessive lenity was not owing to the want either of atrocious criminals or of penal laws.
The civil administration was sometimes interrupted by the military defence of the empire. Crispus, a youth of the most amiable
character, who had received with the title of Caesar the command of the Rhine, distinguished his conduct, as well as valor, in
several victories over the Franks and Alemanni, and taught the barbarians of that frontier to dread the eldest son of
Constantine, and the grandson of
Constantius.
98 The emperor himself had assumed the more difficult and important province
of the Danube. The
Goths, who in the time of Claudius and Aurelian had felt the weight of the Roman arms, respected the
power of the empire, even in the midst of its intestine divisions. But the strength of that warlike nation was now restored by a
peace of near fifty years; a new generation had arisen, who no longer remembered the misfortunes of ancient days; the
Sarmatians of the Lake Maeotis followed the
Gothic standard either as subjects or as allies, and their united force was poured
upon the countries of Illyricum.
Campona,
Margus, and
Benonia,
! appear to have been the scenes of several memorable
sieges and battles;
99 and though Constantine encountered a very obstinate resistance, he prevailed at length in the contest,
and the Goths were compelled to purchased an ignominious retreat, by restoring the booty and prisoners which they had taken.
Nor was this advantage sufficient to satisfy the indignation of the emperor. He resolved to chastise as well as to repulse the
insolent barbarians who had dared to invade the territories of Rome. At the head of his legions he passed the
Danube after
repairing the bridge which had been constructed by
Trajan, penetrated into the strongest recesses of Dacia,
100 and when he
had inflicted a severe revenge, condescended to give peace to the
suppliant Goths, on condition that, as often as they were
required, they should supply his armies with a body of forty thousand soldiers.
101 Exploits like these were no doubt
honorable to Constantine, and beneficial to the state; but it may surely be questioned, whether they can justify the exaggerated
assertion of Eusebius, that All Scythia, as far as the extremity of the North, divided as it was into so many names and nations of
the most various and savage manners, had been added by his victorious arms to the Roman empire.
102
Footnote 98: Nazarius in Panegyr. Vet. x. The victory of Crispus over the Alemanni is expressed on some medals.
Footnote !: Campona, Old Buda in Hungary; Margus, Benonia, Widdin, in Maesia
Footnote 99: See Zosimus, l. ii. p. 93, 94; though the narrative of that historian is neither clear nor consistent. The Panegyric of
Optatianus (c. 23) mentions the alliance of the Sarmatians with the Carpi and Getae, and points out the several fields of battle.
It is supposed that the Sarmatian games, celebrated in the month of November, derived their origin from the success of this
war.
Footnote 100: In the Caesars of Julian, (p. 329. Commentaire de Spanheim, p. 252.) Constantine boasts, that he had
recovered the province (Dacia) which Trajan had subdued. But it is insinuated by Silenus, that the conquests of Constantine
were like the gardens of Adonis, which fade and wither almost the moment they appear.
Footnote 101: Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 21. I know not whether we may entirely depend on his authority. Such an
alliance has a very recent air, and scarcely is suited to the maxims of the beginning of the fourth century.
Footnote 102:
Eusebius in Vit. Constantin. l. i. c. 8. This passage, however, is taken from a general declamation on the greatness of
Constantine, and not from any particular account of the Gothic war.
In this exalted state of glory, it was impossible that Constantine should any longer endure a partner in the empire. Confiding in
the superiority of his genius and military power, he determined, without any previous injury, to exert them for the destruction of
Licinius, whose advanced age and unpopular vices seemed to offer a very easy
conquest.
103 But the old emperor,
awakened by the approaching danger, deceived the expectations of his friends, as well as of his enemies. Calling forth that spirit
and those abilities by which he had deserved the friendship of
Galerius and the Imperial purple, he prepared himself for the
contest, collected the forces of the East, and soon filled the plains of
Hadrianople with his troops, and the Straits of the
Hellespont with his fleet. The army consisted of one hundred and fifty thousand foot, and fifteen thousand horse; and as the
cavalry was drawn, for the most part, from
Phrygia and Cappadocia, we may conceive a more favorable opinion of the beauty
of the horses, than of the courage and dexterity of their riders. The fleet was composed of three hundred and fifty galleys of
three ranks of oars. A hundred and thirty of these were furnished by Egypt and the adjacent coast of Africa. A hundred and ten
sailed from the ports of
Phoenicia and the Isle of
Cyprus; and the maritime countries of Bithynia, Ionia, and Caria, were
likewise obliged to provide a hundred and ten galleys. The troops of Constantine were ordered to a rendezvous at
Thessalonica; they amounted to above a hundred and twenty thousand horse and foot.
104 Their emperor was satisfied with
their martial appearance, and his army contained more soldiers, though fewer men, than that of his eastern competitor. The
legions of Constantine were levied in the warlike provinces of Europe; action had confirmed their discipline, victory had
elevated their hopes, and there were among them a great number of veterans, who, after seventeen glorious campaigns under
the same leader, prepared themselves to deserve an honorable dismission by a last effort of their valor.
105 But the naval
preparations of Constantine were in every respect much inferior to those of Licinius. The maritime cities of Greece sent their
respective quotas of men and ships to the celebrated harbor of
Piraeus, and their united forces consisted of no more than two
hundred small vessels - a very feeble armament, if it is compared with those formidable fleets which were equipped and
maintained by the republic of Athens during the
Peloponnesian war.
106 Since Italy was no longer the seat of government, the
naval establishments of
Misenum and
Ravenna had been gradually neglected; and as the shipping and mariners of the empire
were supported by commerce rather than by war, it was natural that they should the most abound in the industrious provinces
of Egypt and Asia. It is only surprising that the eastern emperor, who possessed so great a superiority at sea, should have
neglected the opportunity of carrying an offensive war into the centre of his rival's dominions.
Footnote 103: Constantinus tamen, vir ingens, et omnia efficere nitens quae animo praeparasset, simul principatum totius urbis
affectans, Licinio bellum intulit. Eutropius, x. 5. Zosimus, l. ii. p 89. The reasons which they have assigned for the first civil war,
may, with more propriety, be applied to the second.
Footnote 104: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 94, 95.
Footnote 105: Constantine was very attentive to the privileges and comforts of his fellow-veterans, (Conveterani,) as he now
began to style them. See the Theodosian Code, l. vii. tit. 10, tom. ii. p. 419, 429.
Footnote 106: Whilst the Athenians
maintained the empire of the sea, their fleet consisted of three, and afterwards of four, hundred galleys of three ranks of oars, all
completely equipped and ready for immediate service. The arsenal in the port of Piraeus had cost the republic a thousand
talents, about two hundred and sixteen thousand pounds. See Thucydides de Bel. Pelopon. l. ii. c. 13, and Meursius de
Fortuna Attica, c. 19.
Instead of embracing such an active resolution, which might have changed the whole face of the war, the
prudent Licinius expected the approach of his rival in a camp near
Hadrianople, which he had fortified with an anxious care,
that betrayed his apprehension of the event. Constantine directed his march from
Thessalonica towards that part of Thrace, till
he found himself stopped by the broad and rapid stream of the Hebrus, and discovered the numerous army of Licinius, which
filled the steep ascent of the hill, from the river to the city of Hadrianople. Many days were spent in doubtful and distant
skirmishes; but at length the obstacles of the passage and of the attack were removed by the intrepid conduct of
Constantine. In
this place we might relate a wonderful exploit of Constantine, which, though it can scarcely be paralleled either in poetry or
romance, is celebrated, not by a venal orator devoted to his fortune, but by an historian, the partial enemy of his fame. We are
assured that the valiant emperor threw himself into the River
Hebrus, accompanied only by twelve horsemen, and that by the
effort or terror of his invincible arm, he broke, slaughtered, and put to flight a host of a hundred and fifty thousand men. The
credulity of
Zosimus prevailed so strongly over his passion, that among the events of the memorable battle of Hadrianople, he
seems to have selected and embellished, not the most important, but the most marvellous. The valor and danger of Constantine
are attested by a slight wound which he received in the thigh; but it may be discovered even from an imperfect narration, and
perhaps a
corrupted text, that the victory was obtained no less by the conduct of the general than by the courage of the hero;
that a body of five thousand archers marched round to occupy a thick wood in the rear of the enemy, whose attention was
diverted by the construction of a bridge, and that
Licinius, perplexed by so many artful evolutions, was reluctantly drawn from
his advantageous post to combat on equal ground on the plain. The contest was no longer equal. His confused multitude of new
levies was easily vanquished by the experienced veterans of the West. Thirty-four thousand men are reported to have been
slain. The fortified camp of Licinius was taken by assault the evening of the battle; the greater part of the fugitives, who had
retired to the mountains, surrendered themselves the next day to the discretion of the conqueror; and his rival, who could no
longer keep the field, confined himself within the walls of
Byzantium.
107
Footnote 107: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 95, 96. This great battle is described in the Valesian fragment, (p. 714,) in a clear though
concise manner. "Licinius vero circum Hadrianopolin maximo exercitu latera ardui montis impleverat; illuc toto agmine
Constantinus inflexit. Cum bellum terra marique traheretur, quamvis per arduum suis nitentibus, attamen disciplina militari et
felicitate, Constantinus Licinu confusum et sine ordine agentem vicit exercitum; leviter femore sau ciatus."
The
siege of Byzantium, which was immediately undertaken by Constantine, was attended with great labor and uncertainty. In
the late civil wars, the fortifications of that place, so justly considered as the key of Europe and Asia, had been repaired and
strengthened; and as long as Licinius remained master of the sea, the garrison was much less exposed to the danger of famine
than the army of the besiegers. The naval commanders of Constantine were summoned to his camp, and received his positive
orders to force the passage of the
Hellespont, as the fleet of Licinius, instead of seeking and destroying their feeble enemy,
continued inactive in those narrow straits, where its superiority of numbers was of little use or advantage. Crispus, the
emperor's eldest son, was intrusted with the execution of this daring enterprise, which he performed with so much courage and
success, that he deserved the esteem, and most probably excited the jealousy, of his father. The engagement lasted two days;
and in the evening of the first, the contending fleets, after a considerable and mutual loss, retired into their respective harbors of
Europe and Asia. The second day, about noon, a strong south wind
108 sprang up, which carried the vessels of Crispus
against the enemy; and as the casual advantage was improved by his skilful intrepidity, he soon obtained a complete victory. A
hundred and thirty vessels were destroyed, five thousand men were slain, and Amandus, the admiral of the Asiatic fleet,
escaped with the utmost difficulty to the shores of
Chalcedon. As soon as the Hellespont was open, a plentiful convoy of
provisions flowed into the camp of Constantine, who had already advanced the operations of the siege. He constructed artificial
mounds of earth of an equal height with the ramparts of
Byzantium. The lofty towers which were erected on that foundation
galled the besieged with large stones and darts from the military engines, and the battering rams had shaken the walls in several
places. If Licinius persisted much longer in the defence, he exposed himself to be involved in the ruin of the place. Before he
was surrounded, he prudently removed his person and treasures to Chalcedon in Asia; and as he was always desirous of
associating companions to the hopes and dangers of his fortune, he now bestowed the title of Caesar on Martinianus, who
exercised one of the most important offices of the empire.
109
Footnote 108: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 97, 98. The current always sets out of the Hellespont; and when it is assisted by a north wind,
no vessel can attempt the passage. A south wind renders the force of the current almost imperceptible.
See Tournefort's Voyage au Levant, Let. xi.
Footnote 109: Aurelius Victor. Zosimus, l. ii. p. 93. According to the latter,
Martinianus was Magister Officiorum, (he uses the Latin appellation in Greek.) Some medals seem to intimate, that during his
short reign he received the title of Augustus.
Such were still the resources, and such the abilities, of Licinius, that, after so many successive defeats, he collected in Bithynia a
new army of fifty or sixty thousand men, while the activity of Constantine was employed in the siege of Byzantium. The vigilant
emperor did not, however, neglect the last struggles of his antagonist. A considerable part of his victorious army was
transported over the Bosphorus in small vessels, and the decisive engagement was fought soon after their landing on the heights
of
Chrysopolis, or, as it is now called, of Scutari. The troops of Licinius, though they were lately raised, ill armed, and worse
disciplined, made head against their conquerors with fruitless but desperate valor, till a total defeat, and a slaughter of five and
twenty thousand men, irretrievably determined the fate of their leader.
110 He retired to Nicomedia, rather with the view of
gaining some time for negotiation, than with the hope of any effectual defence. Constantia, his wife, and the sister of
Constantine, interceded with her brother in favor of her husband, and obtained from his policy, rather than from his
compassion, a solemn promise, confirmed by an oath, that after the sacrifice of Martinianus, and the resignation of the purple,
Licinius himself should be permitted to pass the remainder of this life in peace and affluence. The behavior of
Constantia, and
her relation to the contending parties, naturally recalls the remembrance of that virtuous matron who was the sister of Augustus,
and the wife of Antony. But the temper of mankind was altered, and it was no longer esteemed infamous for a
Roman to
survive his honor and independence. Licinius solicited and accepted the pardon of his offences, laid himself and his purple at the
feet of his lord and master, was raised from the ground with insulting pity, was admitted the same day to the Imperial banquet,
and soon afterwards was sent away to
Thessalonica, which had been chosen for the place of his confinement.
111 His
confinement was soon terminated by death, and it is doubtful whether a tumult of the soldiers, or a decree of the senate, was
suggested as the motive for his execution. According to the rules of tyranny, he was accused of forming a conspiracy, and of
holding a treasonable correspondence with the barbarians; but as he was never convicted, either by his own conduct or by any
legal evidence, we may perhaps be allowed, from his weakness, to presume his innocence.
112 The memory of Licinius was
branded with infamy, his statues were thrown down, and by a hasty edict, of such mischievous tendency that it was almost
immediately corrected, all his laws, and all the judicial proceedings of his reign, were at once abolished.
113v By this victory of
Constantine, the Roman world was again united under the authority of one emperor, thirty-seven years after
Diocletian had
divided his power and provinces with his associate
Maximian. The successive steps of the elevation of Constantine, from his first assuming the purple at York, to the resignation of Licinius, at
Nicomedia, have been related with some minuteness and precision, not only as the events are in themselves both interesting and
important, but still more, as
they contributed to the decline of the empire by the expense of blood and treasure, and by the
perpetual increase, as well of the taxes, as of the military establishment. The foundation of
Constantinople, and the
establishment of the
Christian religion, were the immediate and memorable consequences of this revolution.
Footnote 110: Eusebius (in Vita Constantin. I. ii. c. 16, 17) ascribes this decisive victory to the pious prayers of the emperor.
The Valesian fragment (p. 714) mentions a body of Gothic auxiliaries, under their chief Aliquaca, who adhered to the party of
Licinius.
Footnote 111: Zosimus, l. ii. p. 102. Victor Junior in Epitome.
Anonym. Valesian. p. 714.
Footnote 112: Contra religionem sacramenti Thessalonicae privatus occisus est. Eutropius, x. 6; and his evidence is confirmed
by Jerome (in Chronic.) as well as by Zosimus, l. ii. p. 102. The Valesian writer is the only one who mentions the soldiers, and
it is Zonaras alone who calls in the assistance of the senate. Eusebius prudently slides over this delicate transaction. But
Sozomen, a century afterwards, ventures to assert the treasonable practices of Licinius.
Footnote 113: See the Theodosian Code, l. xv. tit. 15, tom. v. p 404, 405. These edicts of Constantine betray a degree of
passion and precipitation very unbecoming the character of a lawgiver.
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