XIV. CHAP. For broke from the retirement where the authority of Diocletian had condemned him to pass a life of melancholy 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 re-assume the purple. His ancient dignity, his experience, and his fame in arms, added strength as well as reputation to the party of Maxentius22. Severus. Defeat and According to the advice, or rather the orders, of his death of 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 Pretorian præfect, declared himself in favour 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. 22 The sixth Panegyric represents the conduct of Maximian in the most favourable light; and the ambiguous expression of Aurelius Victor, "retractante diu," may signify, either that he contrived, or that he opposed, the conspiracy. See Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 79. and Lactantius de M. P. c. 26. XIV. Maximian, who conducted the siege in person, was CHAP. 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 au 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 honourable capitulation. He was at first received with humanity, and treated with respect. Maximian conducted the captive emperor to Rome, and gave him the most solemu 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 A. D. 307. of executing it was left to his own choice; he prefer- February. red the favourite 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 Gallienus23 ̧ daughter Though the characters of Constantine and Maxen- Maximian tius had very little affinity with each other, their situa- gives his tion and interest were the same; and prudence seem- Fausta, ed to require that they should unite their forces against and the the common enemy. Notwithstanding the superiority Augustus of his age and dignity, the indefatigable Maximian to Conpassed the Alps, and courting a personal interview A. D. 307. with the sovereign of Gaul, carried with him his March 31. daughter Fausta as the pledge of the new alliance. The marriage was celebrated at Arles with every cir cumstance of magnificence: and the ancient colleague 23 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 endeavoured to extract from them a consistent and probable narration. stantine. XIV. CHAP. of Diocletian, who again asserted his claim to the western empire, conferred on his son-in-law and ally, the title of Augustus. By consenting to receive that honour from Maximian, Constantine seemed to embrace the cause of Rome and of the senate; but his professions were ambiguous, and his assistance slow and ineffectual. He considered with attention the approaching contest between the masters of Italy and the emperor of the East, and was prepared to consult his own safety or ambition in the event of the war24. Galerius invades italy. The importance of the occasion called for the presence and abilities of Galerius. At the head of a pow erful army collected from Illyricum and the East, he entered Italy, resolved to revenge the death of Seve. rus, and to chastise the rebellious Romaus; or, as he expressed his intentions, in the furious language of a barbarian, to extirpate the senate, and to destroy the people by the sword. But the skill of Maximian had concerted a prudent system of defence. The invader found every place hostile, fortified, and inaccessible; and though he forced his way as far as Narni, within sixty miles of Rome, his dominion in Italy was confined to the narrow limits of his camp. Sensible of the increasing difficulties of his enterprise, the haughty Galerius made the first advances towards a reconciliation, and despatched two of his most considerable officers to tempt the Roman princes by the offer of a conference and the declaration of his paternal regard for Maxentius, who might obtain much more from his liberality than he could hope from the doubtful chance of war. The offers of Galerius were rejected with firmness, his perfidious friendship refused with contempt, and it was not long before he discovered, that, 24 The sixth Panegyric was pronounced to celebrate the elevation of Constantine; but the prudent orator avoids the mention either of Galerius or of Maxentius. He introduces only one slight allusion to the actual troubles, and to the majesty of Rome. 25 With regard to this negotiation, see the fragments of an anonymous Historian, published by Valesius at the end of his edition of Ammianus Marcellinus, p. 711. These fragments have furnished us with several curious, and, as it should seem, authentic anecdotes. XIV. unless he provided for his safety by a timely retreat, CHAP. he had some reason to apprehend the fate of Severus. The wealth, which the Romans defended against his rapacious tyranny, they freely contributed for his destruction. The name of Maximian, the popular arts of his son, the secret distribution of large sums, and the promise of still more liberal rewards, checked the ardour and corrupted the fidelity of the Illyrian legions; and when Galerius at length gave the signal of the retreat, it was with some difficulty that he could prevail on his veterans not to desert a banner which had so often conducted them to victory and honour. A contemporary writer assigns two other causes for the failure of the expedition; but they are both of such a nature, that a cautious historian will scarcely venture to adopt them. We are told that Galerius, who had formed a very imperfect notion of the greatness of Rome by the cities of the East, with which he was acquainted, found his forces inadequate to the siege of that immense capital. But the extent of a city serves only to render it more accessible to the enemy; Rome had long since been accustomed to submit on the approach of a conqueror; nor could the temporary enthusiasm of the people have long contended against the discipline and valour of the legions. We are likewise informed, that the legions themselves were struck with horror and remorse, and that those pious sons of the republic refused to violate the sanctity of their venerable parent26. But when we recollect with how much ease, in the more ancient civil wars, the zeal of party, and the habits of military obedience, had converted the native citizens of Rome into her most implacable enemies, we shall be inclined to distrust this extreme delicacy of strangers and barbarians, who had never beheld Italy till they entered it in a hostile manner. Had they not been restrained by motives of a more interested nature, they would probably have an swered Galerius in the words of Cæsar's veterans :- 26 Lactantius de M. P. c. 28. The former of these reasons is probably taken from Virgil's Shepherd; "Iilam ego huic nostræ similem Melibae "putavi, &c." Lactantius delights in these poetical allusions. XIV. CHAP. "If our general wishes to lead us to the banks of the "Tyber, we are prepared to trace out his camp. "Whatsoever walls he has determined to level with "the ground, our hands are ready to work the en"gines; nor shall we hesitate, should the name of the "devoted city be Rome itself." These are indeed the expressions of a poet; but of a poet who has been distinguished and even censured for his strict adherence to the truth of history27. His re treat. Elevation to the rank The legions of Galerius exhibit a very melancholy proof of their disposition, by the ravages which they committed in their retreat. They murdered, they ravished, they plundered, they drove away the flocks and herds of the Italians, they burnt the villages through which they passed, and they endeavoured to destroy the country which it had not been in their power to subdue. During the whole march, Maxentius hung on their rear, but he very prudently declined a general engagement with those brave and desperate veterans. His father had undertaken a second journey into Gaul, with the hope of persuading Constantine, who had assembled an army on the frontier, to join the pursuit and to complete the victory. But the actions of Constantine were guided by reason and not by resentment. He persisted in the wise resolution of maintaining a balance of power in the divided empire, and he no longer hated Galerius, when that aspiring prince had ceased to be an object of terror. The mind of Galerius was the most susceptible of of Licinius the sterner passions, but it was not however incapable of Augus- of a sincere and lasting friendship. Licinius, whose tus: manners as well as character were not unlike his own, Nov. 11. seems to have engaged both his affection and esteem. A. D. 307. Their intimacy had commenced in the happier period 27 Castra super Tusci si ponere Tybridis undas; (jubeas) Tu quoscunque voles in planum effundere muros, His aries actus disperget saxa lacertis ; Illa licet penitus tolli quam jusseris urbem. Roma sit. Lucan. Pharsal. i. 381. 28 Lactantius de M. P. c. 27. Zosim. 1. ii. p. 82. The latter insinuates, that Constantine, in his interview with Maximian, had promised to declare war against Galerius. |