233. Hoping to secure peace to the empire after his death, Constantine assigned its different parts to his three sons and two nephews, whom he had carefully educated for their great responsibilities. But his care was unavailing. Immediately upon his decease, A. D. 337, Constantius, his second son, being nearest, seized the capital, and ordered a massacre of all whose birth or power could give them any hopes of obtaining the sovereignty. Of his own relatives, only two cousins, Gallus and Julian, escaped. The three sons of Constantine then divided the empire between them. Constantine II., the eldest, received the capital, together with Gaul, Spain, and Britain; Constantius had Thrace and the East; Constans, Italy, Africa, and western Illyricum.
The reign of Constantius was occupied by a disastrous war with Persia. The pagan Armenians revolted upon the death of their king, Tiridates—a “friend of the Romans,” who had established Christian worship in his dominions—and opened their gates to the Persians. The son of Tiridates sought the aid of Constantius, who succeeded in restoring the prince Chos´roes to his dominions. The fortress of Nisibis, which was esteemed the bulwark of the East, withstood three memorable sieges by the Persians; but the Roman armies were defeated in nine pitched battles, and the raids of the Persian cavalry extended even to the Mediterranean, where they captured and plundered Antioch.
234. In the meanwhile, discord had broken out between the emperors in the West, and Constantine II., invading the dominions of his brother Constans, was defeated and slain near Aquileia. Constans seized his provinces, and reigned ten years (A. D. 340-350) over two-thirds of his father’s empire. Magnentius, an officer in Gaul, then assumed the purple, and Constans was slain. Constantius, recalled from his Persian wars, defeated Magnentius in a toilsome campaign on the Danube; received the submission of Rome and the Italian cities; and finally, by a great battle among the Cottian Alps, ended the rebellion with the life of the usurper, A. D. 353. Sixteen years after the death of the great Constantine, the empire was thus reunited under one sovereign. Gallus, the cousin of Constantius, had been taken from prison to receive the title of Cæsar and the government of the East. But he proved wholly unfit to rule; he treated with insult the embassador of his cousin, and even caused him to be murdered by the mob of Antioch. Gallus was thereupon recalled, and put to death at Pola, in Is´tria.
RECAPITULATION.
Diocletian (A. D. 284-305) associates Maximian as “Augustus,” and Galerius and Constantius as “Cæsars,” with himself in the management of the empire. Constantius overthrows the sovereignty of Carausius in Britain and northern Gaul. Galerius gains victories in Asia; Diocletian, in Egypt; and Maximian, in Africa. The new system is efficient abroad, but oppressive at home. Christians are severely persecuted. Seat of government removed from Rome. Diocletian and Maximian resign, A. D. 305. Galerius (A. D. 305-311) and Constantius (A. D. 305, 306) become emperors; Severus and Maximin, Cæsars. Constantine the Great (A. D. 306-337), succeeding his father, Constantius, eventually conquers Maximian, who has resumed the purple, and Maxentius (A. D. 312), who has been proclaimed at Rome, and reigns over the Western empire. Licinius (A. D. 307-323), after the death of Galerius, conquers Maximin, and reigns east of the Ægean. Constantine conquers Licinius, A. D. 323, and becomes sole emperor. Fixes his court at Constantinople; reorganizes the government; makes Christianity the religion of the state; has wars with the Goths; and establishes military colonies of Sarmatians within the bounds of the empire. After his death, his three sons destroy their kinsmen, and divide the dominion between them. While Constantius II. is at war with Persia, his brother, Constantine II., is slain by Constans, who is himself deposed, after ten years, by Magnentius. Constantius, returning from the East, A. D. 350, defeats Magnentius, and reigns over his father’s entire dominion, A. D. 353-361.
Extinction of Paganism.
235. Julian, the younger brother of Gallus, was permitted to pursue his favorite studies at Athens, until, A. D. 355, he was called to the court of Milan, dignified with the title of Cæsar, and intrusted with the government of Gaul. His conduct displayed great energy and talent. He severely defeated the Alemanni, in the battle of Strasbourg; drove the Franks from their castles on the Meuse; and in three invasions of Germany, liberated 20,000 Roman captives. He rebuilt the cities of Gaul which the barbarians had destroyed; adorned Paris, his winter residence, with a palace, theater, and baths; imported grain from Britain for the sustenance of the people; and protected agriculture, manufactures, and commerce.
Constantius became jealous of his cousin’s fame, and sought to disarm and disgrace him, by ordering the greater part of the Gallic army to the East. Julian was preparing to send away his devoted followers, but the soldiers mutinied, proclaimed him emperor, and forced him to assume the purple robe. An embassy to Constantius was contemptuously dismissed; and Julian, after again chastising the Franks, and improving the defenses of the German frontier, set forth to decide the question by actual war. Penetrating the Black Forest as far as the Danube, he descended that river with a captured fleet, surprised Sirmium, and was received with acclamations by the people. He sent letters justifying his conduct to the principal cities of the empire, especially to the senates of Athens and Rome; and he was invested by the latter with the imperial titles which it alone could legally bestow. The sudden death of Constantius, at Tarsus, Nov., A. D. 361, ended the uncertainty. All Constantinople poured forth to welcome Julian, at a distance of sixty miles from the capital, and soldiers and people throughout the empire accepted him as their head.
236. His first acts were to retrench the Oriental luxury of the palace, to punish the officers of Constantius who had oppressed the people, and to dismiss the 10,000 spies. A philosopher by choice, and an emperor only by compulsion, Julian prided himself upon the frugal simplicity of his habits, and professed himself merely the “servant of the Republic.” He is known in history by the unhappy name of “Julian the Apostate.” Incensed against the Christian cousins who had murdered his entire family, he extended his hatred to the faith which they so unworthily professed. He publicly renounced Christianity, and placed himself and his empire under the protection of the “Immortal Gods.”
To spite the Christians, he patronized the Jews, and attempted to rebuild their Temple at Jerusalem; but he was thwarted by balls of fire breaking out near the foundation, which made it impossible for the workmen to approach.[79] He excluded all Christians from the schools of grammar and rhetoric, hoping thus to degrade them in intellectual rank, and weaken them in controversy. He, however, disappointed the pagan zealots by proclaiming toleration to all parties. In the spring of A. D. 363, Julian departed with a great army for the East, where the ravages of the Persian king had for four years met with little resistance. He gained an important victory over the Persians at Ctesiphon, but in a subsequent skirmish he was mortally wounded, and died, June, A. D. 363, after a reign of only sixteen months.