Novatian.

History. and admitted scandalous sinners to the Communion, before they had undergone the required penance. He then passed from Africa to Rome and joined Novatian. Novatian appears to have been a man of a very different disposition. A Philosopher before he embraced Christianity, he was distinguished by his attainments and his eloquence. The occasion of his difference with the Church, was the election of Cornelius to the See of Rome, over which he himself was ambitious of presiding. With a view to impugn the ordination of Cornelius, he advanced against him various defamatory charges, which Cyprian has considered unbecoming the sacerdotal dignity to publish. His principal ground of objection which we find mentioned, was, that Cornelius admitted to the Communion such as had been guilty of idolatry; a relaxation, which, according to his own opinion, ought in no case to be allowed. In this schism he was followed by some of the Clergy and of the people, and, from the beginning, by the greater part of the Confessors; men who, having themselves suffered persecution with firmness, were unwilling that those who had shown less courage should enjoy equal privileges. This defection is attributed in a great degree to the intrigues of Novatus, who artfully impelled the irritated but wavering Novatian into decisive measures. Thus the same person, who had but just before adopted the extreme lenity of Felicissimus, now advocated the extreme rigour of Novatian, the two opposite errors which, at the same time, rent the Church. Such is the versatility of error and perhaps of interest.

*

By his counsels, when the ordination of Cornelius, notwithstanding his opposition, was ratified by the Church, Novatian contrived to get himself elected Bishop, though he had before protested that the desire of the Episcopal dignity had not influenced his conduct. Without entering into a detail of the fruitless attempts of Novatian to obtain a general approval of his election, it is more useful towards acquiring a just notion of the Ecclesiastical discipline at that period, to state some of the particular pleas urged against its validity by Cornelius in his letters preserved by Eusebius.

He informs us that Novatian, when dangerously ill, had Baptism administered to him in bed, without afterwards receiving the ceremonies required by the Canons of the Church; and the Clergy and people objected to a person, so baptized, being ordained Priest, but were prevailed upon to permit it, in his case, by particular request of the Bishop. From this account we may infer, that it was contrary to the laws, or, at least, to the customs of the Christians in that Age, to admit to the Priesthood those who had received clinical Baptism only, and had not subsequently gone through the usual rites

posse. Hoc ergo si eximio alioquin Cypriano in hac causa evenisse suspicemur, nullâ manes ejus injuria afficiemus. In recensendis vitiis Novati manifesto declamat, Rhetorisque officio fungitur: et sciunt, qui hominem norunt, nulla in re facilius errari posse, quam in aliorum, præsertim adversariorum, mentibus depingendis,&c. (De Reb.Christian. p. 500.) It is added that he neglected his father in his illness, and paid him no honours after his death. He struck his wife while preg nant with his foot, and caused her to miscarry.

*To effect this purpose, two of his partisans were sent to three ignorant and rustic Bishops, who lived in the smallest Province of Italy, and prevailed upon them to hasten to Rome as mediators, to put an end to the divisions which agitated the Church. On the arrival of these Bishops, Novatian is said to have shut them up in a chamber, to have reduced them to a state of intoxication, and then to ave induced them to ordain him Bishop by the imposition of hands.

the IIIrd Century.

annexed to Baptism; i. e. had not received milk and Heretics of honey, unction, and the imposition of hands. Cornelius also reproaches Novatian with having, during persecution, denied his Sacerdotal Office, and with having said, (on being requested by the Deacons to assist his distressed brethren,) that he wished to be no longer a Priest, and designed to embrace another Philosophy.

The refusal of the African Bishops to recognise Novatian was soon followed by a diminution of his adherents. Of the three Bishops who had ordained him, one acknowledged his error with contrition, and was readmitted to the communion of the Church. The Confessors withdrew from his party; and, besides other assemblies, a synod of sixty Bishops, and a great number of his Clergy, convened at Rome by Cornelius, passed a sentence of excommunication against him and his followers. These measures were not effectual in preventing him from holding his notions, which were for a long time maintained by a numerous Sect, of which he became the founder.

The Novatians appear not to have entertained senti- Opinions ments on doctrinal points at variance with the opinions the Novaof the Orthodox Christians. The leading feature tians. of difference was, that, such as had been guilty of heinous crimes, as apostacy and other sins, could not be admitted into the Church, which had no power to pardon them; and, indeed, contracted pollution by receiving them into her communion. Hence they called themselves Cathari, as it were Puritans, and rebaptized their proselytes. Still Novatian maintained the necessity of penance: either to avoid odium, or because the hope of salvation was not, like the reconciliation of the Church, denied to the penitent sinners. The effect of this severity was so fatal, that some who had apostatized during persecution, returned, through despair, to Paganism.

The Novatians, probably, made additions to the tenets of their master; such, perhaps, was their condemnation of second marriages.

Novatian, besides an eloquent Letter written to Cy- Novatian prian in the name of the Clergy of Rome, before the Works, election of Cornelius, composed various Works, which are lost. The two Treatises, one on the Trinity and the other on Jewish meats, which are found in the Works of Tertullian, are, probably, to be ascribed to Novatian. The design of the latter Tract is to prove the animals were not in their nature unclean; but that it was forbidden that they should be eaten, by the Mosaic Law, in order to teach men to avoid the sins of which they were the figure. For instance, swine's flesh was prohibited, to deter us from a carnal life. The author then enjoins temperance and abstinence from meats offered to idols.

The style of Novatian is reckoned pure and elegant, his spirit candid.† his reasoning methodical, his citations apposite, and

Socrates says, that Novatian suffered martyrdom under Valerian, but this opinion has been rejected by

History.

323.

to

A. D.

361.

Minople.

*

CONSTANTINUS MAGNUS.

THE period of peace, which succeeded his triumphs, From enabled Constantine, who was now no longer in the A. D. glow of "youth and fervent years," to reflect on the means by which he might best consolidate his power, and perpetuate his name. Born, educated, and exalted to the Imperial dignity in Countries at a distance from Rome, in which he had never resided for any length Pendation of time, he could have felt but little of the attachment of Constan- which animated her sons, and that little appears to have been gradually converted into estrangement and disgust. Motives no less of policy than of personal ambition induced him to aspire to the fame of being the founder of a new Capital, a design which was said to have been entertained by the first Cæsars. The necessity of repressing with equal vigour the Persians on the one hand, and the Barbarians of the Euxine on the other, pointed out as the most desirable position some spot which might command the neighbouring shores of Europe and of Asia. The peculiar situation of the ancient Byzantium, the excellence of which Constantine had had an opportunity of remarking when besieged by Licinius, was in the highest degree adapted for the attainment of this object,§ It was built on a Peninsula, which on the West is united with the Continent of Europe, and on the East, advancing towards the Bosphorus, approaches to the confines of Asia. Its Southern side is washed by the Propontis, and its Northern forms an ample and secure harbour. The

Gibbon, Decline and Fall, &c. ch. xvii.

Zosimus says that Constantine founded a new Capital, from aversion to Rome, where he was treated with scorn and detestation : οὐκ ἐνεγκὼν δὲ τὰς παρὰ πάντων ὡς εἰπεῖν βλασφημίας, πόλιν ἀντίῤῥοπον της Ρώμης ἐζήτει, καθ ̓ ἣν αὐτον ἔδει βασίλεια καταστήσασθαι. (lib. ii.) Eutropius attributes his conduct to the desire of displaying his power. (p. 488.) Comp. Sozom, lib. i. c. 3. &c.

Before the death of Julius Cæsar, there was a report at Rome that he had intended to transfer the seat of empire to Troy or Alexandria. Quin etiam valida fama percrebuit migraturum Alexandriam vel Ilium, translatis simul opibus imperii, exhaustúque delectibus Balia. (Sueton. in Vit. Jul. Cæsar. c. 79.) The beautiful Ode, in which Horace endeavours with the nicest art to deter Augustus from adopting the supposed design of his relation, is well known. (lib. iii. 3.) Constantine pretended that he fixed upon Byzantium in consequence of a vision.

It is said that Coustantine intended at first to have built the new Capital in the plain which lies below Ancient Troy, towards the Rhataan promontory and the Tomb of Ajax.

"The river Lycus, formed by the conflux of two little streams, pours into the harbour a perpetual supply of fresh water, which serves to cleanse the bottom, and to invite the periodical shoals of fish to seek their retreat in that convenient recess. As the vicissitudes of tides are scarcely felt in those seas, the constant depth of the harbour allows goods to be landed on the quays without the assistance of boats; and 171

salubrity of the climate and the richness of the soil; Constantithe facility with which the fleet of an invader may be nus Magnus. excluded, and the supplies of allies and traders drawn in; the abundant resources derived from the when the passages of the Hellespont and the Bosphoharvests of Thrace and the fishery of the Propontis,

rus

are closed, and the immense commerce, which

flows from all quarters by the Euxine and the Mediterranean, when they are opened; these are some of the obvious advantages which combined to mark it as the centre of a mighty Empire.

In the execution of this great design, neither labour nor expense was spared. The forests on the banks of the Euxine, and the marble quarries of the Isle of Proconnesus, afforded copious materials, and the establishment of privileged Schools and Professors in various Provinces, for the encouragement of architectural studies, was calculated to increase the numbers and to stimulate the genius of artificers. While the walls of the ancient city were fortified and extended, so as to enclose five of the seven hills on which Constantinople is seated, the utmost activity was exerted in raising buildings which might vie with the most stately structures of the Western metropolis. A Capitol, a Circus or Hippodrome, Theatres, Temples, and Palaces, among which the Imperial mansion shone conspicuous, interspersed with aqueducts and gardens, and adorned with obelisks and statues in rich variety, seem to display all the resources of Art drawn forth to correspond with the magnificence of Nature.† Among the numerous pieces of ancient workmanship, of which

it has been observed that, in many places, the largest vessels may rest their prows against the houses, while their sterns are floating in the water. From the mouth of the Lycus to that of the harbour, this arm of the Bosphorus is more than seven miles in length. The entrance is about five hundred yards broad, and a strong chain could be occasionally drawn across it, to guard the port and the city from the attack of an hostile navy." Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. xvii., from whose admirable description much of the above account has been drawn.

Six hundred centenaries (about two millions five hundred thousand pounds) were expended on the erection of the walls, the por ticos, and the aqueducts. Codin. Antiq. Const. p. 11.

"A particular description, composed about a century after its foundation, enumerates a Capitol, or School of Learning, a Circus, two Theatres, eight public, and one hundred and fifty-three private Baths, fifty-two Porticos, five Granaries, eight Aqueducts, or reservoirs of water, four spacious Halls for the meetings of the Senate or Courts. of Justice, fourteen Churches, fourteen Palaces, and four thousand three hundred and eighty-eight houses, which, for their size or beauty, deserved to be distinguished from the multitude of plebeian habitations." (Gibbon, Decline and Fall, ch. xvii.) See also Bridges's Roman Empire under Constantine the Great, London, 1828. ch. v.

z 2

From

A. D. 323.

to

A. D. 361.

From A. D. 323.

to

A. D. 361.

替

History. the Pagan shrines were stripped to decorate the new Capital, was a colossal Statue of Apollo, the supposed work of Phidias, placed on a lofty pillar of porphyry. While frequent largesses gratified the lower Orders, splendid abodes, estates, and pensions, liberally bestowed on favourites, served to confirm the desire which would naturally be manifested by a large class of aspirants to accommodate themselves to the Imperial taste in the selection of their place of residence. The influx of settlers from all quarters soon became so great that it was found necessary to enlarge the limits of the new city to a considerable extent, by erecting additional buildings on moles advanced into the sea. Constantinople was divided into fourteen regions: the Public Council received the name of Senate; and the privileges of Italy were conferred on the inhabitants of the infant city, which being raised with extraordinary expedition under the name of Second or New Rome, was dedicated with the greatest solemnity.§

A. D.

330.

or

334. Political The new regulations, or rather the new form of regulations of Constan- government, introduced or improved by Constantine and his successors, has strong claims on our attention, as leading to the discovery of some of the internal causes of the downfall of the Empire.

tine.

The Consuls.

The loss of substantial greatness is often followed and perhaps disguised by the substitution of ostentatious ceremonies. The gradations of rank were now marked with the utmost minuteness. The Magistrates were divided into the three classes, the Illustres,|| the Spectabiles, and the Clarissimi; and a variety of titles, which the old Romans would have spurned as ridiculous, or as degrading, were lavished with Oriental extravagance on the different Officers of State. The Consuls, from the time of Diocletian, were chosen, not by the vote of the Senate, but by the sole will of the Emperor, in whose palace their inauguration took place. The creatures of a despot, whose names but serve to mark the date of the year, they affected to despise their great predecessors, who had submitted to all the toils and mortifications of a popular election. Gorgeous decorations and public rejoicings, with the mimickry of manumitting a slave, distinguished the assumption of an office, which retained some of the outward splendour, but had lost the real power of that whose name it affected.

Lib. iii. Od. 1. Comp. lib. ii. Od. 18. On the time spent in building Constantinople, see Tillemont, Hist. des Emp. tom. iv.

According to the Alexandrian Chronicle, p. 285, as often as the birthday of the city was celebrated, the statue of Constantine, bearing in its right hand an image of the Genius of the place, was carried in procession, and when it was opposite the throne, the Emperor, rising, showed his reverence to the memory of his predecessor.

Clarissimi (most honourable) became the title appropriated to Senators; Spectabiles (respectable) to those of the Senatorial Order, who were distinguished above the rest; Illustres (illustrious) to more eminent personages, as the Consuls and Patricians, the Prætorian Præfects, with the Præfects of Rome and Constantinople, the Masters General of the Cavalry and Infantry, and some Ministers of the Palace. See Howell's History of the World, vol. ii.

"Honour without labour" was become the privilege Constanti of Consuls--their disgrace and their boast. The dis- nus Magnus, tinguished rank of Patrician, which was no longer an hereditary title, was usually conferred for life on favourites, and enabled them to enjoy free access to the presence of the Emperor.

From

A. D. 323.

to

A. D. 361.

Præfects.

The Prætorian Præfects, who had gradually risen to a degree of military and political influence in the Camp and in the Palace, which often armed them with powers The Patrito protect or to control, to raise or to destroy, their cians. Imperial masters, were now, by the suppression of the select guards, on which the continuance of their Prætorian ascendancy depended, reduced to the less dangerous situation of Civil and Provincial Magistrates. Four Præfects (besides the two officers of the same name who presided with municipal power over Rome and Constantinople) were set over the four divisions into which, by the arrangement of Diocletian, the Roman Empire had been portioned-the East, Illyricum, Italy, and Gaul,t-which four Præfectures were subdivided into thirteen Diocesses, containing in all one hundred and sixteen Provinces.

The military power, which was formerly enjoyed by Military the Prætorian Præfects, was bestowed by Constantine discipline. on two Masters general, one of whom had the command of the cavalry, and the other of the infantry. Their number was afterwards doubled, on the division of the East and West, and, at length, increased to eight, four more being stationed on the borders of the Rhine, of the Upper and the Lower Danube, and of the Euphrates. Under them were thirty-five Commanders, who were placed in different Provinces. All these were styled Dukes, or, as the name imports, Military Chiefs; but ten were distinguished by the new title of Counts, or Companions.

By a careful separation of the Civil and military departments, the personal safety of the Emperor was promoted, but the internal strength of the Empire impaired. Activity, for good as for evil purposes, was checked. The same jealousy which would prevent cooperation between independent Powers, whilst it unquestionably diminished the facility of conspiracies, tended also to distract and to thwart the energies of defence against foreign hostility. Another error in the institutions of Constantine, which was productive of the most fatal consequences, was the distinction introduced between the Palatines, or Troops of the Court, and the Borderers, or Troops of the Frontiers. The Palatines, though exposed to far less toil and danger, received higher pay, and greater privileges than the

*Mamertin, in Panegyr. Vet. xi. 2.

"1. The Præfect of the East stretched his ample jurisdiction into the three parts of the Globe which were subject to the Romans, from the cataracts of the Nile to the banks of the Phasis, and from the mountains of Thrace to the frontiers of Persia. 2. The important Provinces of Pannonia, Dacia, Macedonia, and Greece, once acknowledged the authority of the Præfect of Illyricum. 3. The power of the Præfect of Italy was not confined to the Country from which he derived his title; it extended over the additional territory of Rhætia as far as the banks of the Danube, over the dependent islands of the Mediterranean, and over that part of the Continent of Africa which lies between the confines of Cyrene and those of Tingitania. 4. The Præfect of the Gauls comprehended under that plural denomination the kindred Provinces of Britain and Spain, and his authority was obeyed from the wall of Antoninus to the foot of Mount Atlas." (Gibbon, ch. xvii.) See Zosim. lib. ii. p. 109, 110. Comp. Univ. Hist. vol. vi. p. 270. Bridges's Life of Constantine, p. 244. and particularly Howell's History of the World.

From

A. D.

History. Borderers. The former, therefore, were enervated by luxury: the latter relaxed by discontent. While one Body oppressed the cities, the other but inadequately defended the extremities of the Province. Severity was unsuccessfully employed to prevent the results of impolicy. The remedy could at best be but transitory; the mischief was permanent.

323.

to

A. D.

361.

Various

The reduction of the Legions from six thousand to one thousand, or fifteen hundred men, served also to diminish that feeling of importance and strength, which, especially when blended with the uninterrupted associations which the memory suggests, often proves most effectual in inspiring subordination and courage. The enumeration of one hundred and thirty-one legions gratified perhaps the vanity, but weakened the power of their masters. The rest of the troops was divided into several bodies of infantry and cavalry, and the whole military establishment of the successors of Constantine has been reckoned at six hundred and forty-five thousand soldiers.*

Barbarians were gradually introduced into the various ranks of the army, and, as might have been expected, the dangerous consequences of this step were sometimes visible, when they were employed in resisting the invasion of their countrymen. It was also found necessary to resort to severe means in order to obviate the difficulties which attended the raising of levies.

Besides the Magistrates and Generals, there were Uficers, &c, seven important Officers: 1. The Præpositus Cubiculi, or Chamberlain, whose familiar access to the Emperor naturally gave him considerable influence. 2. The Master of the Offices, who possessed great power in the direction of public affairs. He commanded the military and Civil Schools; he took cognizance of causes which related to those privileged individuals, who, from their connection with the Court, declined the ordinary tribunals; and he superintended the Post and arsenals, and the supplies of military machines and weapons which were manufactured in different cities for the use of the Roman army. Under his administration, four offices, which employed a hundred and forty-eight secretaries, were occupied in managing the correspondence between the Emperor and his subjects. 3. The Questor, who composed orations, or rather edicts, in the name of the Emperor, and who, sometimes, with the assistance of the Consistory, decided Causes which had been considered doubtful by the inferior Courts of Judicature. 4. The Count of the Sacred Largesses, or Public Treasurer, who regulated the internal revenue and the foreign trade of the Empire. 5. The Count, or Treasurer, of the Private Estate; part of which had perhaps arisen from testaments or purchases, but the chief portion from confiscations. 6. and 7. Two Counts of the Domestics, who commanded the splendid body-guard of the Emperor, which consisted of three thousand five hundred men.

Cal Law.

Among the defects of the Imperial Government may be reckoned the increased number of established spies and informers, who under the name of Agents were encouraged to communicate to the suspicious inmate of the palace every appearance of conspiracy, real or imaginary, in the Provinces. A fatal and corrupt expedient, which not unfrequently left the innocent a prey to the designing, and gave the name of loyalty and zeal to malice, vindictiveness, or rapacity. In cases

* Agathias, lib. v. p. 157.

From

where treason, or rather a hostile intention, against the Constanti Emperor or the State was suspected, the examination by nus Magnus the rack-that most uncertain as well as most inhuman test, from which the Roman citizen of old claimed the peculiar privilege of exemption-suspended its terrors without distinction over members of the highest, no less than over the lowest Orders of society.

The system of oppressive taxation was an evil of far more extensive range. The tribute, or indictions, (as the edicts were called, which were subscribed by the Emperor,) imposed burthens which were sometimes found too excessive to be borne. An account of the intricate state of the finances would exceed the limits within which the present sketch is confined. The landed property, of which the measure was carefully taken, and the value ascertained throughout the Empire by appointed surveyors, was subjected to a tax which produced the most fatal effects upon agriculture. The assessment was in the form of a capitation, the number of tributary subjects in every Province, and the amount of the impositions being returned, the latter sum was divided by the former, and the rate of each head calculated. But it must be remarked that several poorer persons might be considered as composing but one of these heads, while one wealthy citizen might represent several.*

A tribute was also raised, which, with a few exceptions, fell on the trading part of the community the merchant, the mechanic, and the usurer. To these im

positions, which were required with much severity, may be added the free gifts, or coronary gold. The ancient custom practised by the allies of Rome, of bestowing voluntarily crowns of gold on victorious Generals, and afterwards of sending current coin, was now changed into a duty, which was demanded on the occasion of any occurrence in his reign which the Emperor thought fit to consider as important.

A. D. 323.

to A. D

361. Finances.

The closing years of Constantine were clouded by a Death of domestic calamity, of which he had to reproach him- Crispus. self as being the rash and unfeeling author. The military fame of Crispus, (his son by Minervina,) combined with his private virtues and accomplishments, which excited the esteem and admiration of the people, appear to have awakened the jealousy of his Imperial father. The aspiring youth soon found himself deprived of further opportunities of pursuing his career of distinction. Under these circumstances it is but natural to suppose that he indulged in the language of impatience and indignation, which the arts of treachery may afterwards have distorted and coloured. An edict of Constantine betrayed his fears of secret treason and invited accusations against those to whom he had extended in an especial manner his patronage and friendship.† His object was easily understood by the intriguers who infested the Court, and its effect was some time after tragically apparent. The unfortunate Crispus, seized in the midst of a banquet, was decapitated or destroyed by poison,§ near Pola, in Istria. This dark event, of which the causes and circum

A. D.

325. Octob. 1.

A. D. 326. July

From

A. D.

323.

to

A. D. 361.

History. stances were never revealed, is attributed to the scandalous accusations of his step-mother Fausta, who dreaded the offspring of a former marriage, and the supposed successor to the Empire, as the rival of her own children. But the grief of his aged mother, Helena, at length induced Constantine to enter into a more scrupulous examination, which ended in establishing the innocence of his son. Fausta, it is generally supposed, though, perhaps, on very doubtful authority, being convicted of criminal intercourse with a slave, was stifled by the steam of a bath.* Numerous subsequent executions, and among others that of his nephew, seem to indicate that the mind of Constantinet had been filled by remorse with a sore and savage feeling, and throw light on the distich which Ablavius, a favourite Minister, ventured to affix to the porch of the palace :

Gothic war.

A. D.

330.

Sarmatians.

A. D. 332.

A. D. 334.

Saturni aurea sæcla quis requirat?
Sunt hæc gemmea sed Neroniana ! §

The only military events of importance which took place in the latter part of this reign were owing to the contests of the Goths and Sarmatians.

The Sarmatians were an uncouth and savage race, who roved without permanent settlement over the vast plains near the Tanais. Their strength consisted chiefly in their horses, which were remarkable for their docility and swiftness. Their defensive armour was a strong cuirass, formed of thin pieces sliced from the hoofs of horses, and sewed one upon another; their offensive weapons consisted of a short dagger, a long javelin, and arrows, of which the barbs, made of fishbone, were dipped in poison. In their movements, which spread terror and desolation, they had gradually proceeded in a Westward direction into the plains of Upper Hungary, between the Danube and the Carpathian mountains. They had chosen a King from the Vandals, whose Tribe appears to have fled before the Goths. Fierce conflicts were waged between the two hostile Tribes, and at length the Sarmatians applied to Constantine for assistance. The Emperor had scarcely acceded to a request which his own policy, that of perpetuating differences among the Barbarians, rendered desirable, before Araric, King of the Goths, crossed the Danube, and laid waste the territories of the Empire. His triumph, owing at first to the disgraceful retreat of the Romau troops, was soon afterwards arrested with immense slaughter by their superior skill, and by the cooperation of the people of Chersonesus. The defeated Goths gave the son of Araric as a hostage for the attainment of Peace, and the services of the Chersonesites were amply rewarded. But the Sarmatians, thus freed from fear, turned their arms against the dominions of their deliverers. Their ingratitude,

St. Chrysostom (Hom. 15. in Phillipp.) pretends that she was exposed on a mountain to be devoured by wild beasts

It has been asserted that Constantine raised a statue of silver and gold to Crispus, with this inscription, "My son, unjustly condemned." Ηδικήμενος ὑιὸς μοῦ.

Primum necessitudines persecutus, Crispum filium egregium virum, et sororis filium commoda indolis juvenem interfecit, mox uxorem, post numerosos amicos. Eutrop. lib. x.; Brev. Hist. Rom. lib. x. c. 6.

From

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A. D.

361.

The character of Constantine has been represented Character. Pagan writers, that the only safe path for the modern in a manner so widely different by Christian and by Historian seems to consist in choosing a medium between the praises of the one and the censures of the other. As a military commander, and, in many respects, as a Statesman, his talents will ever be held in high estimation. Beset by extraordinary difficulties at

the commencement of his career, he surmounted them with consummate dexterity and courage. His operations, no less vigorously executed than ably conceived, struck awe into the Barbarians, and arrested their destructive progress. occupations, as he moved from city to city, he still found time which he could devote to private study and composition. And, whatever opinion may be entertained deserves to be considered as a patron of learning. His of his own literary powers, it cannot be denied that he chastity and temperance, virtues very uncommon in a situation of unlimited power and in times of extreme degeneracy, were acknowledged. His natural love of justice and good government may be fairly inferred from the number of excellent laws of which he was the author.* At the same time it must be allowed, that these brilliant qualities were not unaccompanied by defects. Fond of which was wont to outsoar the frivolousness of narrower ostentatious parade to a degree surprising in a mind spirits, he had recourse to means which oppressed his subjects, and alienated their affections.† A certain facility of disposition led him to commit important offices to men unworthy of his favour. His faults, and particularly a tendency to cruelty and prodigality, were much more conspicuously displayed in the latter than in the earlier part of his life.§

Yet in the midst of the most active

Aur. Vict. Ammian, lib. xvi. Euseb. lib. v.

Hence Aurelius Victor, though with more point than truth, has thus described his character during three different periods of his reign: Proverbio vulgari Trachala decem annis præstantissimus, duodecim sequentibus Latro, decem novissimis Pupillus ob profusiones immodicas nominatus. Epit. c. 41.