Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/443

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 419 tained, on the throne, that friendship which they had CHAP. contracted in a private station. The haughty turbu- ' lent spirit of Maximian, so fatal afterwards to himself and to the public peace, was accustomed to respect the genius of Diocletian, and confessed the ascendant of reason over brutal violence'^. From a motive either of pride or superstition, the two emperors assumed the titles, the one of Jovius, the other of Herculius. Whilst the motion of the world (such was the language of their venal orators) was maintained by the all-seeing wisdom of Jupiter, the invincible arm of Hercules purged the earth from monsters and tyrants But even the omnipotence of Jovius and Herculius Association was insufficient to sustain the weight of the public g^rs Gale- administration. The prudence of Diocletian disco- ^ius and vered, that the empire, assailed on every side by the tins. 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 Cassars, to confer on two generals of approved merit an equal share of the sove- reign authority^. Galerius, surnamed Armentarius, from his original profession of a herdsman, and Con- stantius, who from his pale complexion had acquired the denomination of Chlorus ^, were the two persons in- vested with the second honours of the imperial purple. In describing the country, extraction, and manners of Herculius, we iiave already delineated those of Ga- lerius, 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 •> Lactantiusde M. P. c. 8 ; Aurelius Victor. As among the Panegyrics, we find orations pronounced in praise of Maximian, and others which flatter his adversaries at his expense, we derive some knowledge from the contrast. ' See the second and third Panegyrics, particularly iii. 3. 10. 14; but it would be tedious to copy the diffuse and affected expressions of their false eloquence. With regard to the titles, consult Aurel. Victor, Lactantius de M. P. c. 52 ; Spanheim de Usu Nuxnismatum, etc. Dissertat. xii. 8. '' Aurelius Victor; Victor in Epitome; Eutrop. ix. 22; Lactant. de M. P. c. 8 ; Hieronym. in Chron. ' It is only among the modern Greeks that Tillemont can discover his appellation of Chlorus. Any remarkable degree of paleness seems incon- sistent with the rubor mentioned in Panegyric v. 19. E e 2