History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 2Gibbon, Edward
History
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire — Volume 2
Gibbon, Edward
Byzantine Empire -- History -- To 527; Rome -- History -- Empire, 30 B.C.-476 A.D.
smooth and uniform aspect. The indulgence of Constantine admitted
them, at a very tender age, to share the administration of the
empire; and they studied the art of reigning, at the expense of
the people intrusted to their care. The younger Constantine was
appointed to hold his court in Gaul; and his brother Constantius
exchanged that department, the ancient patrimony of their father,
for the more opulent, but less martial, countries of the East.
Italy, the Western Illyricum, and Africa, were accustomed to
revere Constans, the third of his sons, as the representative of
the great Constantine. He fixed Dalmatius on the Gothic frontier,
to which he annexed the government of Thrace, Macedonia, and
Greece. The city of Cæsarea was chosen for the residence of
Hannibalianus; and the provinces of Pontus, Cappadocia, and the
Lesser Armenia, were destined to form the extent of his new
kingdom. For each of these princes a suitable establishment was
provided. A just proportion of guards, of legions, and of
auxiliaries, was allotted for their respective dignity and
defence. The ministers and generals, who were placed about their
persons, were such as Constantine could trust to assist, and even
to control, these youthful sovereigns in the exercise of their
delegated power. As they advanced in years and experience, the
limits of their authority were insensibly enlarged: but the
emperor always reserved for himself the title of Augustus; and
while he showed the _Cæsars_ to the armies and provinces, he
maintained every part of the empire in equal obedience to its
supreme head. 34 The tranquillity of the last fourteen years of
his reign was scarcely interrupted by the contemptible
insurrection of a camel-driver in the Island of Cyprus, 35 or by
the active part which the policy of Constantine engaged him to
assume in the wars of the Goths and Sarmatians.
32 (return) [ His dexterity in martial exercises is celebrated by
Julian, (Orat. i. p. 11, Orat. ii. p. 53,) and allowed by
Ammianus, (l. xxi. c. 16.)]
33 (return) [ Euseb. in Vit. Constantin. l. iv. c. 51. Julian,
Orat. i. p. 11-16, with Spanheim’s elaborate Commentary.
Libanius, Orat. iii. p. 109. Constantius studied with laudable
diligence; but the dulness of his fancy prevented him from
succeeding in the art of poetry, or even of rhetoric.]
34 (return) [ Eusebius, (l. iv. c. 51, 52,) with a design of
exalting the authority and glory of Constantine, affirms, that he
divided the Roman empire as a private citizen might have divided
his patrimony. His distribution of the provinces may be collected
from Eutropius, the two Victors and the Valesian fragment.]
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