Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/474

 450 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, caprice, but the result of the most artful policy. That • crafty prince had framed a new system of imperial of the sen- government, which was afterwards completed by the family of Constantine; and as the image of the old constitution was religiously preserved in the senate, he resolved to deprive that order of its small remains of power and consideration. We may recollect, about" eight years before the elevation of Diocletian, the transient greatness, and the ambitious hopes, of the Roman senate. As long as that enthusiasm prevailed, many of the nobles imprudently displayed their zeal in the cause of freedom; and after the successors of Pro- bus had withdrawn their countenance from the republi- can party, the senators were unable to disguise their impotent resentment. As the sovereign of Italy, Max- imian was intrusted with the care of extinguishing this troublesome, rather than dangerous spirit, and the task was perfectly suited to his cruel temper. The most illustrious members of the senate, whom Diocle- tian always affected to esteem, were involved, by his colleague, in the accusation of imaginary plots; and the possession of an elegant villa, or a well cultivated estate, was interpreted as a convincing evidence of guilt ^ The camp of the pretorians, which had so long oppressed, began to protect, the majesty of Rome ; and as those haughty troops were conscious of the decline of their power, they were naturally disposed to unite their strength with the authority of the senate. By the prudent measures of Diocletian, the numbers of the pretorians were insensibly reduced, their pri- New bodies vileges abolished ^, and their place supplied by two Jovi^ns and faithful legions of Illyricum, who, under the new titles Herculians. of Jovians and Herculians, were appointed to perform the service of the imperial guards'^. But the most fatal ^ Lactantius accuses Maximian of destroying, fictis criminationibus lu- mina senatus. De M. P. c. 8. Aurelius Victor speaks very doubtfully of the faith of Diocletian towards his friends. ^ Truncatffi vires urbis, iraminuto praetoriarum cohortium atque in armis vulgi numero. Aurelius Victor. Lactantius attributes to Galerius the prosecution of the same plan, c. 26. ^ They were old corps stationed in Illyricum ; and according to the