Chapter XIV: Six Emperors At The Same Time, Reunion Of The

Empire.—Part I.

Troubles After The Abdication Of Diocletian.—Death Of
Constantius.—Elevation Of Constantine And Maxen Tius.— Six
Emperors At The Same Time.—Death Of Maximian And
Galerius.—Victories Of Constantine Over Maxentius And
Licinus.—Reunion Of The Empire Under The Authority Of Constantine.

The balance of power established by Diocletian subsisted no
longer than while it was sustained by the firm and dexterous hand
of the founder. It required such a fortunate mixture of different
tempers and abilities as could scarcely be found or even expected
a second time; two emperors without jealousy, two Cæsars without
ambition, and the same general interest invariably pursued by
four independent princes. The abdication of Diocletian and
Maximian was succeeded by eighteen years of discord and
confusion. The empire was afflicted by five civil wars; and the
remainder of the time was not so much a state of tranquillity as
a suspension of arms between several hostile monarchs, who,
viewing each other with an eye of fear and hatred, strove to
increase their respective forces at the expense of their
subjects.

As soon as Diocletian and Maximian had resigned the purple, their
station, according to the rules of the new constitution, was
filled by the two Cæsars, Constantius and Galerius, who
immediately assumed the title of Augustus. 1

1 (return) [ M. de Montesquieu (Considerations sur la Grandeur et
La Decadence des Romains, c. 17) supposes, on the authority of
Orosius and Eusebius, that, on this occasion, the empire, for the
first time, was really divided into two parts. It is difficult,
however, to discover in what respect the plan of Galerius
differed from that of Diocletian.]

The honors of seniority and precedence were allowed to the former
of those princes, and he continued under a new appellation to
administer his ancient department of Gaul, Spain, and Britain.

The government of those ample provinces was sufficient to
exercise his talents and to satisfy his ambition. Clemency,
temperance, and moderation, distinguished the amiable character
of Constantius, and his fortunate subjects had frequently
occasion to compare the virtues of their sovereign with the
passions of Maximian, and even with the arts of Diocletian. 2
Instead of imitating their eastern pride and magnificence,
Constantius preserved the modesty of a Roman prince. He declared,
with unaffected sincerity, that his most valued treasure was in
the hearts of his people, and that, whenever the dignity of the
throne, or the danger of the state, required any extraordinary
supply, he could depend with confidence on their gratitude and
liberality. 3 The provincials of Gaul, Spain, and Britain,
sensible of his worth, and of their own happiness, reflected with
anxiety on the declining health of the emperor Constantius, and
the tender age of his numerous family, the issue of his second
marriage with the daughter of Maximian.

2 (return) [ Hic non modo amabilis, sed etiam venerabilis Gallis
fuit; præcipuc quod Diocletiani suspectam prudentiam, et
Maximiani sanguinariam violentiam imperio ejus evaserant. Eutrop.
Breviar. x. i.]

3 (return) [ Divitiis Provincialium (mel. provinciarum) ac
privatorum studens, fisci commoda non admodum affectans;
ducensque melius publicas opes a privatis haberi, quam intra unum
claustrum reservari. Id. ibid. He carried this maxim so far, that
whenever he gave an entertainment, he was obliged to borrow a
service of plate.]

The stern temper of Galerius was cast in a very different mould;
and while he commanded the esteem of his subjects, he seldom
condescended to solicit their affections. His fame in arms, and,
above all, the success of the Persian war, had elated his haughty
mind, which was naturally impatient of a superior, or even of an
equal. If it were possible to rely on the partial testimony of an
injudicious writer, we might ascribe the abdication of Diocletian
to the menaces of Galerius, and relate the particulars of a
_private_ conversation between the two princes, in which the
former discovered as much pusillanimity as the latter displayed
ingratitude and arrogance. 4 But these obscure anecdotes are
sufficiently refuted by an impartial view of the character and
conduct of Diocletian. Whatever might otherwise have been his
intentions, if he had apprehended any danger from the violence of
Galerius, his good sense would have instructed him to prevent the
ignominious contest; and as he had held the sceptre with glory,
he would have resigned it without disgrace.

4 (return) [ Lactantius de Mort. Persecutor. c. 18. Were the
particulars of this conference more consistent with truth and
decency, we might still ask how they came to the knowledge of an
obscure rhetorician. But there are many historians who put us in
mind of the admirable saying of the great Conde to Cardinal de
Retz: “Ces coquins nous font parlor et agir, comme ils auroient
fait eux-memes a notre place.” * Note: This attack upon
Lactantius is unfounded. Lactantius was so far from having been
an obscure rhetorician, that he had taught rhetoric publicly, and
with the greatest success, first in Africa, and afterwards in
Nicomedia. His reputation obtained him the esteem of Constantine,
who invited him to his court, and intrusted to him the education
of his son Crispus. The facts which he relates took place during
his own time; he cannot be accused of dishonesty or imposture.
Satis me vixisse arbitrabor et officium hominis implesse si labor
meus aliquos homines, ab erroribus iberatos, ad iter coeleste
direxerit. De Opif. Dei, cap. 20. The eloquence of Lactantius has
caused him to be called the Christian Cicero. Annon Gent.—G.
——Yet no unprejudiced person can read this coarse and particular
private conversation of the two emperors, without assenting to
the justice of Gibbon’s severe sentence. But the authorship of
the treatise is by no means certain. The fame of Lactantius for
eloquence as well as for truth, would suffer no loss if it should
be adjudged to some more “obscure rhetorician.” Manso, in his
Leben Constantins des Grossen, concurs on this point with Gibbon
Beylage, iv. —M.]

After the elevation of Constantius and Galerius to the rank of
_Augusti_, two new _Cæsars_ were required to supply their place,
and to complete the system of the Imperial government. Diocletian
was sincerely desirous of withdrawing himself from the world; he
considered Galerius, who had married his daughter, as the firmest
support of his family and of the empire; and he consented,
without reluctance, that his successor should assume the merit as
well as the envy of the important nomination. It was fixed
without consulting the interest or inclination of the princes of
the West. Each of them had a son who was arrived at the age of
manhood, and who might have been deemed the most natural
candidates for the vacant honor. But the impotent resentment of
Maximian was no longer to be dreaded; and the moderate
Constantius, though he might despise the dangers, was humanely
apprehensive of the calamities, of civil war. The two persons
whom Galerius promoted to the rank of Cæsar were much better
suited to serve the views of his ambition; and their principal
recommendation seems to have consisted in the want of merit or
personal consequence. The first of these was Daza, or, as he was
afterwards called, Maximin, whose mother was the sister of
Galerius. The unexperienced youth still betrayed, by his manners
and language, his rustic education, when, to his own
astonishment, as well as that of the world, he was invested by
Diocletian with the purple, exalted to the dignity of Cæsar, and
intrusted with the sovereign command of Egypt and Syria. 5 At the
same time, Severus, a faithful servant, addicted to pleasure, but
not incapable of business, was sent to Milan, to receive, from
the reluctant hands of Maximian, the Cæsarian ornaments, and the
possession of Italy and Africa. According to the forms of the
constitution, Severus acknowledged the supremacy of the western
emperor; but he was absolutely devoted to the commands of his
benefactor Galerius, who, reserving to himself the intermediate
countries from the confines of Italy to those of Syria, firmly
established his power over three fourths of the monarchy. In the
full confidence that the approaching death of Constantius would
leave him sole master of the Roman world, we are assured that he
had arranged in his mind a long succession of future princes, and
that he meditated his own retreat from public life, after he
should have accomplished a glorious reign of about twenty years.
6 7

5 (return) [ Sublatus nuper a pecoribus et silvis (says
Lactantius de M. P. c. 19) statim Scutarius, continuo Protector,
mox Tribunus, postridie Cæsar, accepit Orientem. Aurelius Victor
is too liberal in giving him the whole portion of Diocletian.]

6 (return) [ His diligence and fidelity are acknowledged even by
Lactantius, de M. P. c. 18.]

7 (return) [ These schemes, however, rest only on the very
doubtful authority of Lactantius de M. P. c. 20.]

But within less than eighteen months, two unexpected revolutions
overturned the ambitious schemes of Galerius. The hopes of
uniting the western provinces to his empire were disappointed by
the elevation of Constantine, whilst Italy and Africa were lost
by the successful revolt of Maxentius.

I. The fame of Constantine has rendered posterity attentive to
the most minute circumstances of his life and actions. The place
of his birth, as well as the condition of his mother Helena, have
been the subject, not only of literary, but of national disputes.
Notwithstanding the recent tradition, which assigns for her
father a British king, 8 we are obliged to confess, that Helena
was the daughter of an innkeeper; but at the same time, we may
defend the legality of her marriage, against those who have
represented her as the concubine of Constantius. 9 The great
Constantine was most probably born at Naissus, in Dacia; 10 and
it is not surprising that, in a family and province distinguished
only by the profession of arms, the youth should discover very
little inclination to improve his mind by the acquisition of
knowledge. 11 He was about eighteen years of age when his father
was promoted to the rank of Cæsar; but that fortunate event was
attended with his mother’s divorce; and the splendor of an
Imperial alliance reduced the son of Helena to a state of
disgrace and humiliation. Instead of following Constantius in the
West, he remained in the service of Diocletian, signalized his
valor in the wars of Egypt and Persia, and gradually rose to the
honorable station of a tribune of the first order. The figure of
Constantine was tall and majestic; he was dexterous in all his
exercises, intrepid in war, affable in peace; in his whole
conduct, the active spirit of youth was tempered by habitual
prudence; and while his mind was engrossed by ambition, he
appeared cold and insensible to the allurements of pleasure. The
favor of the people and soldiers, who had named him as a worthy
candidate for the rank of Cæsar, served only to exasperate the
jealousy of Galerius; and though prudence might restrain him from
exercising any open violence, an absolute monarch is seldom at a
loss how to execute a sure and secret revenge. 12 Every hour
increased the danger of Constantine, and the anxiety of his
father, who, by repeated letters, expressed the warmest desire of
embracing his son. For some time the policy of Galerius supplied
him with delays and excuses; but it was impossible long to refuse
so natural a request of his associate, without maintaining his
refusal by arms. The permission of the journey was reluctantly
granted, and whatever precautions the emperor might have taken to
intercept a return, the consequences of which he, with so much
reason, apprehended, they were effectually disappointed by the
incredible diligence of Constantine. 13 Leaving the palace of
Nicomedia in the night, he travelled post through Bithynia,
Thrace, Dacia, Pannonia, Italy, and Gaul, and, amidst the joyful
acclamations of the people, reached the port of Boulogne in the
very moment when his father was preparing to embark for Britain.
14

8 (return) [ This tradition, unknown to the contemporaries of
Constantine was invented in the darkness of monestaries, was
embellished by Jeffrey of Monmouth, and the writers of the xiith
century, has been defended by our antiquarians of the last age,
and is seriously related in the ponderous History of England,
compiled by Mr. Carte, (vol. i. p. 147.) He transports, however,
the kingdom of Coil, the imaginary father of Helena, from Essex
to the wall of Antoninus.]

9 (return) [ Eutropius (x. 2) expresses, in a few words, the real
truth, and the occasion of the error “ex obscuriori matrimonio
ejus filius.” Zosimus (l. ii. p. 78) eagerly seized the most
unfavorable report, and is followed by Orosius, (vii. 25,) whose
authority is oddly enough overlooked by the indefatigable, but
partial Tillemont. By insisting on the divorce of Helena,
Diocletian acknowledged her marriage.]

10 (return) [ There are three opinions with regard to the place
of Constantine’s birth. 1. Our English antiquarians were used to
dwell with rapture on the words of his panegyrist, “Britannias
illic oriendo nobiles fecisti.” But this celebrated passage may
be referred with as much propriety to the accession, as to the
nativity of Constantine. 2. Some of the modern Greeks have
ascribed the honor of his birth to Drepanum, a town on the Gulf
of Nicomedia, (Cellarius, tom. ii. p. 174,) which Constantine
dignified with the name of Helenopolis, and Justinian adorned
with many splendid buildings, (Procop. de Edificiis, v. 2.) It is
indeed probable enough, that Helena’s father kept an inn at
Drepanum, and that Constantius might lodge there when he returned
from a Persian embassy, in the reign of Aurelian. But in the
wandering life of a soldier, the place of his marriage, and the
places where his children are born, have very little connection
with each other. 3. The claim of Naissus is supported by the
anonymous writer, published at the end of Ammianus, p. 710, and
who in general copied very good materials; and it is confirmed by
Julius Firmicus, (de Astrologia, l. i. c. 4,) who flourished
under the reign of Constantine himself. Some objections have been
raised against the integrity of the text, and the application of
the passage of Firmicus but the former is established by the best
Mss., and the latter is very ably defended by Lipsius de
Magnitudine Romana, l. iv. c. 11, et Supplement.]

11 (return) [ Literis minus instructus. Anonym. ad Ammian. p.
710.]

12 (return) [ Galerius, or perhaps his own courage, exposed him
to single combat with a Sarmatian, (Anonym. p. 710,) and with a
monstrous lion. See Praxagoras apud Photium, p. 63. Praxagoras,
an Athenian philosopher, had written a life of Constantine in two
books, which are now lost. He was a contemporary.]

13 (return) [ Zosimus, l. ii. p. 78, 79. Lactantius de M. P. c.
24. The former tells a very foolish story, that Constantine
caused all the post-horses which he had used to be hamstrung.
Such a bloody execution, without preventing a pursuit, would have
scattered suspicions, and might have stopped his journey. * Note:
Zosimus is not the only writer who tells this story. The younger
Victor confirms it. Ad frustrandos insequentes, publica jumenta,
quaqua iter ageret, interficiens. Aurelius Victor de Cæsar says
the same thing, G. as also the Anonymus Valesii.— M. ——Manso,
(Leben Constantins,) p. 18, observes that the story has been
exaggerated; he took this precaution during the first stage of
his journey.—M.]

14 (return) [ Anonym. p. 710. Panegyr. Veter. vii. 4. But
Zosimus, l. ii. p. 79, Eusebius de Vit. Constant. l. i. c. 21,
and Lactantius de M. P. c. 24. suppose, with less accuracy, that
he found his father on his death-bed.]

The British expedition, and an easy victory over the barbarians
of Caledonia, were the last exploits of the reign of Constantius.
He ended his life in the Imperial palace of York, fifteen months
after he had received the title of Augustus, and almost fourteen
years and a half after he had been promoted to the rank of Cæsar.
His death was immediately succeeded by the elevation of
Constantine. The ideas of inheritance and succession are so very
familiar, that the generality of mankind consider them as founded
not only in reason but in nature itself. Our imagination readily
transfers the same principles from private property to public
dominion: and whenever a virtuous father leaves behind him a son
whose merit seems to justify the esteem, or even the hopes, of
the people, the joint influence of prejudice and of affection
operates with irresistible weight. The flower of the western
armies had followed Constantius into Britain, and the national
troops were reënforced by a numerous body of Alemanni, who obeyed
the orders of Crocus, one of their hereditary chieftains. 15 The
opinion of their own importance, and the assurance that Britain,
Gaul, and Spain would acquiesce in their nomination, were
diligently inculcated to the legions by the adherents of
Constantine. The soldiers were asked, whether they could hesitate
a moment between the honor of placing at their head the worthy
son of their beloved emperor, and the ignominy of tamely
expecting the arrival of some obscure stranger, on whom it might
please the sovereign of Asia to bestow the armies and provinces
of the West. It was insinuated to them, that gratitude and
liberality held a distinguished place among the virtues of
Constantine; nor did that artful prince show himself to the
troops, till they were prepared to salute him with the names of
Augustus and Emperor. The throne was the object of his desires;
and had he been less actuated by ambition, it was his only means
of safety. He was well acquainted with the character and
sentiments of Galerius, and sufficiently apprised, that if he
wished to live he must determine to reign. The decent and even
obstinate resistance which he chose to affect, 16 was contrived
to justify his usurpation; nor did he yield to the acclamations
of the army, till he had provided the proper materials for a
letter, which he immediately despatched to the emperor of the
East. Constantine informed him of the melancholy event of his
father’s death, modestly asserted his natural claim to the
succession, and respectfully lamented, that the affectionate
violence of his troops had not permitted him to solicit the
Imperial purple in the regular and constitutional manner. The
first emotions of Galerius were those of surprise,
disappointment, and rage; and as he could seldom restrain his
passions, he loudly threatened, that he would commit to the
flames both the letter and the messenger. But his resentment
insensibly subsided; and when he recollected the doubtful chance
of war, when he had weighed the character and strength of his
adversary, he consented to embrace the honorable accommodation
which the prudence of Constantine had left open to him. Without
either condemning or ratifying the choice of the British army,
Galerius accepted the son of his deceased colleague as the
sovereign of the provinces beyond the Alps; but he gave him only
the title of Cæsar, and the fourth rank among the Roman princes,
whilst he conferred the vacant place of Augustus on his favorite
Severus. The apparent harmony of the empire was still preserved,
and Constantine, who already possessed the substance, expected,
without impatience, an opportunity of obtaining the honors, of
supreme power. 17

15 (return) [ Cunctis qui aderant, annitentibus, sed præcipue
Croco (alii Eroco) [Erich?] Alamannorum Rege, auxilii gratia
Constantium comitato, imperium capit. Victor Junior, c. 41. This
is perhaps the first instance of a barbarian king, who assisted
the Roman arms with an independent body of his own subjects. The
practice grew familiar and at last became fatal.]

16 (return) [ His panegyrist Eumenius (vii. 8) ventures to affirm
in the presence of Constantine, that he put spurs to his horse,
and tried, but in vain, to escape from the hands of his
soldiers.]

17 (return) [ Lactantius de M. P. c. 25. Eumenius (vii. 8.) gives
a rhetorical turn to the whole transaction.]

The children of Constantius by his second marriage were six in
number, three of either sex, and whose Imperial descent might
have solicited a preference over the meaner extraction of the son
of Helena. But Constantine was in the thirty-second year of his
age, in the full vigor both of mind and body, at the time when
the eldest of his brothers could not possibly be more than
thirteen years old. His claim of superior merit had been allowed
and ratified by the dying emperor. 18 In his last moments
Constantius bequeathed to his eldest son the care of the safety
as well as greatness of the family; conjuring him to assume both
the authority and the sentiments of a father with regard to the
children of Theodora. Their liberal education, advantageous
marriages, the secure dignity of their lives, and the first
honors of the state with which they were invested, attest the
fraternal affection of Constantine; and as those princes
possessed a mild and grateful disposition, they submitted without
reluctance to the superiority of his genius and fortune. 19

18 (return) [ The choice of Constantine, by his dying father,
which is warranted by reason, and insinuated by Eumenius, seems
to be confirmed by the most unexceptionable authority, the
concurring evidence of Lactantius (de M. P. c. 24) and of
Libanius, (Oratio i.,) of Eusebius (in Vit. Constantin. l. i. c.
18, 21) and of Julian, (Oratio i)]

19 (return) [ Of the three sisters of Constantine, Constantia
married the emperor Licinius, Anastasia the Cæsar Bassianus, and
Eutropia the consul Nepotianus. The three brothers were,
Dalmatius, Julius Constantius, and Annibalianus, of whom we shall
have occasion to speak hereafter.]

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: 211 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 Prætorian guards, 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.

20 (return) [ 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.]

21 (return) [ See Lactantius de M. P. c. 26, 31. ]

211 (return) [ 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 Italiæ 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 Cæsar, 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 Prætorian 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 præfect 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

22 (return) [ 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. But 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 Prætorian præfect, 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 sepulchre which had been constructed
for the family of Gallienus. 23

23 (return) [ 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.]