Talents, angel bright.
If wanting worth, are shining instruments
In false ambition's hands, to finish faults
Illustrious, and give infamy renown.—Young.
1. The character of the prince who removed the seat of empire and made a complete revolution in the civil and religious institutions of his country, is naturally one on which the opinions of historians are divided, according to their sentiments respecting the great changes that he effected. The heathen writers describe him as a monster of tyranny; the Christian fathers are anxious to conceal his faults and exaggerate his virtues, as if the nature of Christianity was in some degree affected by the character of its first and greatest patron. The truth is, that the character of Constantine, like that of other great conquerors, varied with the circumstances of his life. While engaged in the contest for empire, while employed in making unparalleled political changes, he displayed the fortitude of a hero, and wisdom of a legislator; but when complete success reduced him to inactivity, when his vigorous mind was no longer stimulated by fear or hope, prosperity roused all his bad passions by affording an opportunity for their indulgence; and the virtues which had insured[Pg. 359] victory disappeared when there was no longer any stimulus to rouse them into action. The fourteen years of profound peace that preceded the emperor's death, form a period of great external splendour, but of real and rapid decay; the court was distinguished at once by avarice and prodigality; the money raised by heavy taxes, unknown in former ages, was lavished on unworthy favourites or wasted in idle exhibitions of magnificence. 2. A mind relaxed by prosperity is peculiarly open to suspicion; the ears of the monarch were greedily lent to every tale brought to him by malignant spies and informers; such encouragement increased the number of those wretches; every street and almost every house in the capital, contained some one ever on the watch to pick up any unguarded expression which might be distorted into treason or sedition. It was not likely that a monarch who had consented to the murder of his own son, on the most groundless charges, would be more merciful to those who had no natural claims upon his forbearance; execution followed execution with fearful rapidity, until the bonds of society were broken, and every man dreaded his neighbour, lest by misinterpreting a word or look, he should expose him to the indiscriminate cruelty of the sovereign.
3. The example of their father's tyranny produced an effect on the minds of his sons, which no education, however excellent or judicious, could remove. Pious Christian pastors, learned philosophers, and venerable sages of the law, were employed to instruct the three princes, Constanti'ne, Constan'tius, and Con'stans; but the effects of their labours never appeared in the lives of their pupils.
4. For some reasons which it is now impossible to discover, the great Constantine had raised two of his nephews to the rank of princes, and placed them on an equality with his own children. Before the emperor's body was consigned to the tomb, this impolitic arrangement brought destruction on the entire Flavian family. A forged scroll was produced by the bishop of Nicome'dia, purporting to be Constantine's last will, in which he accused his brothers of having given him poison, and besought his sons to avenge his death. 5. Constan'tius eagerly embraced such an opportunity of destroying the objects of his jealousy; his two uncles, seven of his cousins, the patrician Opta'lus, who married the late emperor's sister, and the prefect Abla'vius, whose chief crime was enormous wealth, were subjected to a mock trial, and delivered to the executioner. Of so numerous a family[Pg. 360] Gal'lus and Julian alone were spared; they owed their safety to their concealment, until the rage of the assassins had abated. 6. After this massacre, the three brothers, similar in name, and more alike in crime, proceeded to divide their father's dominions: Constantine took for his share the new capital and the central provinces; Thrace and the East were assigned to Constan'tius; Con'stans received Italy, Africa, and the western Illy'ricum.
7. The weakness produced by this division encouraged the enemies of the Romans, whom the dread of Constantine's power had hitherto kept quiet, to take up arms. Of these the most formidable was Sa'por king of Persia. 8. The abilities of Sapor showed that he merited a throne; he had scarcely arrived at maturity when he led an army against Tha'ir king of Arabia, who had harassed Persia during his minority; the expedition was completely successful. Tha'ir was slain, and the kingdom subdued. The young conqueror did not abuse his victory; he treated the vanquished with such clemency, that the Arabs gave him the title of Doulacnaf or protector of the nation.
A.D. 338.
9. On the death of Constantine, Sa'por invaded the eastern provinces of the Roman empire; he was vigorously opposed by Constan'tius, and the war was protracted during several years with varying fortune. At the battle of Sin'gara, the Romans surprised the Persian camp, but were in their turn driven from it with great slaughter by the troops which Sapor had rallied. The eldest son of the Persian king was, however, brought off as a prisoner by the Romans, and the barbarous Constan'tius ordered him to be scourged, tortured, and publicly executed. 10. Though Sa'por had been victorious in the field, he failed in his chief design of seizing the Roman fortresses in Mesopota'mia; during twelve years he repeatedly besieged Ni'sibis, which had been long the great eastern bulwark of the empire, but was invariably baffled by the strength of the place, and the valour of the garrison. At length both parties became wearied of a struggle which exhausted their resources, and new enemies appearing, they resolved to conclude a peace. Sa'por returned home to repel an invasion of the Scythians; Constan'tius, by the death of his two brothers, found himself involved in a civil war which required his undivided attention.
11. Constan'tine had scarcely been seated on his throne, when he attempted to wrest from Con'stans some of the[Pg. 361] provinces which had been assigned as his portion. He rashly led his army over the Julian Alps, and devastated the country round Aquile'ia where, falling into an ambuscade, he perished ingloriously. Con'stans seized on the inheritance of the deceased prince, and retained it during ten years, obstinately refusing to give any share to his brother Constan'tius. 12. But the tyranny of Con'stans at last became insupportable. Magnen'tius, an enterprising general, proclaimed himself emperor, and his cause was zealously embraced by the army. Con'stans was totally unprepared for this insurrection; deserted by all except a few favourites, whom dread of the popular hatred they had justly incurred prevented from desertion, he attempted to escape into Spain, but was overtaken at the foot of the Pyrenees, and murdered. 13. The prefectures of Gaul and Italy cheerfully submitted to the usurpation of Magnen'tius; but the legions of Illyr'icum elected their general, Vetra'nio, emperor, and his usurpation was sanctioned by the princess Constanti'na, who, regardless of her brother's rights, placed the diadem upon his head with her own hands. 14. The news of these events hastened the return of Constan'tius to Europe; on his arrival at the capital, he received embassies from the two usurpers, offering terms of accommodation; he rejected the terms of Magnen'tius with disdain, but entered into a negociation with Vetra'nio. The Illyrian leader, though a good general, was a bad politician; he allowed himself to be duped by long discussions, until the greater part of his army had been gained over by Constan'tius; he then consented to a personal interview, and had the mortification to see his soldiers, with one accord, range themselves under the banners of their lawful sovereign. Vetra'nio immediately fell at the feet of Constan'tius, and tendered his homage, which was cheerfully accepted; he was not only pardoned, but rewarded; the city of Pru'sa, in Bythnia, was allotted to him as a residence, and a pension assigned for his support. 15. The war against Magnen'tius was maintained with great obstinacy, but at first with little success; the emperor was confined in his fortified camp, while the troops of the usurper swept the surrounding country, and captured several important posts. Constan'tius was so humbled, that he even proposed a treaty, but the terms on which Magnen'tius insisted were so insulting, that the emperor determined to encounter the hazard of a battle. Scarcely had he formed this resolution, when his army was strengthened by the accession of[Pg. 362] Sylva'nus, a general of some reputation, who, with a large body of cavalry, deserted from the enemy.
16. The decisive battle between the competitors for the empire, was fought under the walls of Mur'sa, a city on the river Drave. Magnen'tius attempted to take the place by storm, but was repulsed; and almost at the same moment, the imperial legions were seen advancing to raise the siege. The army of Magnen'tius consisted of the western legions that had already acquired fame in the wars of Gaul; with battalions of Germans and other barbarous tribes, that had of late years been incorporated with the regular forces. In addition to the imperial guards, Constan'tius had several troops of those oriental archers, whose skill with the bow was so justly celebrated; but far the most formidable part of his army were his mail-clad cuirassiers, whose scaly armour, and ponderous lances, made their charge almost irresistible. The cavalry on the emperor's left wing commenced the engagement, and broke through the Gallic legions in the first charge; the hardy veterans again rallied, were again charged, and again broken; at length, before they could form their lines, the light cavalry of the second rank rode, sword in hand, through the gaps made by the cuirassiers, and completed their destruction. Meantime, the Germans and barbarians stood exposed, with almost naked bodies, to the destructive shafts of the oriental archers; whole troops, stung with anguish and despair, threw themselves into the rapid stream of the Drave, and perished. Ere the sun had set, the army of Magnen'tius was irretrievably ruined; fifty-four thousand of the vanquished were slain, and the loss of the conquerors is said to have been even greater.
17. From this battle the ruin of the Roman empire may be dated; the loss of one hundred thousand of its best and bravest soldiers could not be repaired, and never again did any emperor possess a veteran army equal to that which fell on the fatal plains of Mur'sa. The defeat of Magnen'tius induced the Italian and African provinces to return to their allegiance; the Gauls, wearied out by the exactions which distress forced the usurper to levy, refused to acknowledge his authority, and at length his own soldiers raised the cry of "God save Constan'tius." To avoid the disgrace of a public execution, Magnen'tius committed suicide, and several members of his family imitated his example. The victor punished with relentless severity all who had shared in the guilt of this rebellion; and several who had been compelled[Pg. 363] to join in it by force shared the fate of those by whom it had been planned.