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4 In this encomium, Aurelius Victor seems to convey a just, thohgh indirect, censure of the cruelty of Constantius. It appears from the Fasti, that Aristobulus remained prwfect of the city, and that he ended with Diocletian, the consulship which he had commenced with Carinus.

5 Aurelius Victor styles Dioclctian, " Parentem potius quam Dominum." See Hist. August. p. 30.

6 The question of the time when Maximian received the honours of Cxsar and Augustus has divided modern critics, and given OCCB/

' I 2. tion

Association and character of Maximian. A.D.2.86. April 1.

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. motives of his conduct, as well as the object of

his choice, were of a very different nature from those of his admired predecessor. By investing a. luxurious youth with the honours of the purple, Marcus had discharged a debt of private gratitude, at the expence, indeed, of the happiness of the state. By associating a friend and a fellow-soldier to the labours of government, Diocletian, in a time of public danger, provided for the defence both of the East and of the West. Maximian was born a peasant, and, like Aurelian, in the territory of Sirmium. Ignorant of letters', careless of laws, the rusticity of his appearance and manners still betrayed in the most elevated fortune the meanness of his extraction. War was the only art which he professed. In a long course of service he had distinguished himself on every frontier' of the empire ; and though his military talents were form

' ed to obey rather than to command, though,

perhaps, he never attained the skill of a consummate general, he was capable, by his valour, constancy, and experience, of executing the most

lion to a great deal of learned wrangling. I have followed M. de Tillemont (Histoire des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 500-505.), who has weighed the several reasons and difficulties with hisscrupulous accuracy. ,

7 In an oration delivered before him (Panegyn Vet. ii. 8.), Mamertinus expresses a doubt whether his hero, in imitating the conduct of Hannibal and Scipio, had ever heard of their names. From thence we may fairly infer, that Maximian was more desirous of being considered as a soldier than as a man of letters: and it is in this manner that we can often translate the language of flattery into that of truth, '

arduo'us.

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cible arm of Hercules' purged the earth from monsters and tyrants 9. si But even the omnipotence of Jovius and Here culius was insufficient to sustain the weight of the public administration. The prudence of Diocletian discovered, that the empire, assailed on every side by the barbarians, required on every side the presence of a great army, and of an emperor. With this view he resolved once more, to divide his unwieldy power, and with the inferior title of Caesar-r, to confer on two generals of approved merit an equal share of the sovereign authority '9. Galerius, ful-named vAramentarius, from his original profession of a herdsman, and Constantius, who from his pale con1_-* plexion had acquired the denomination of Chloz rus'l, were the two persons invested with the second honours of the Imperial purple. In describing the country, extractionct, and manners of Herculius, we have already delineated those of Galerius, who was often, and not improperly, styled the younger Maximian, though, in many instances both of virtue and ability, he appears to have possessed a manifest superiority over the elder. _The birth of. Constantius was less obscure

C I-LA P.
XIII.
Law

Associa-
tion of
two Ca-
sars,
Galerius
and Con<
Rantius.
A. D. 292.
March r.

9 See the second and third Panegyrics, particularly iii. 3. ro. 14. but it would be tedious to copy the ssdiffuse and affected expressions of their false eloquence. With regard to the titles, consult Aurcl. Victor, Lactantius dc M,P, e. 52. Spanheim de Usu Numismatum, &c. Dissertat. xii. 8.

To Aurelius Viqor, Yictorin Epitome. Eutrop. ix. 22. Lactant. de MI P. cl 8. Hieronym. in Chron. I

'I It is only among the 'modern Greeks'that Tillemont can discover his appellation of Chlorus. Any remarkable degree of sspaleness seems iiiconfittent with the risbor mentioned in Panegyric,v. 29.

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