Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/442

 418 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, but the 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 dis- charged a debt of private gratitude, at the expense, in- deed, 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 extrac- tion. 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 formed to obey rather than to command ; though, perhaps, he never attained the skill of a con- summate general; he was capable, by his valour, con- stancy, and experience, of executing the most arduous undertakings. Nor were the vices of Maximian less useful to his benefactor. Insensible to pity, and fear- less of consequences, he was the ready instrument of every act of cruelty which the policy of that artful prince might at once suggest and disclaim. As soon as a bloody sacrifice had been offered to prudence or to revenge, Diocletian, by his seasonable intercession, saved the remaining few whom he had never designed to punish, gently censured the severity of his stern colleague, and enjoyed the comparison of a golden and an iron age, which was universally applied to their op- posite maxims of government. Notwithstanding the difference of their characters, the two emperors main- Empereurs, torn. iv. p. 500 — 505.) who has weighed the several reasons and difficulties with his scrupulous accuracy. ^ In an oration delivered before him, (Panegyr. 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 trans- late the language of flattery into that of truth.