Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/24

 6 THE DECLINE AND FALL en Al*. it is not surprising, that in a family and province dis- ——.^ tinguislied only by the ])vofession of arms, the youth should discover very little inclination to improve his A.D.292. mind by the acquisition of knowledge '. He was about eighteen years of age when his father was promoted to the rank of Caesar ; but that fortunate event was at- tended with his mother's divorce; and the splendour of an imperial alliance reduced the son of Helena to a state of disgrace and humiliation. Instead of follow- ing Constantius into the west, he remained in the ser- vice of Diocletian, signalized his valour in the wars of Egypt and Persia, and gradually rose to the hon- ourable station of a tribune of the first order. The figure of Constantine was tall and majestic ; he was dexterous in all his exei'cises, intrepid in war, affable in peace : in his whole conduct the active spirit of youth was tempered by habitual prudence ; and while his mind was engrossed by ambition, he appeared cold and insensible to the allurements of pleasure. The favour of the people and soldiers, who had named him as a worthy candidate for the rank of Caesar, served only to exasperate the jealousy of Galerius ; and though prudence might restrain him from exercising any open violence, an absolute monarch is seldom at a loss how to execute a sure and secret revenge"'. Every hour increased the danger of Constantine, and the anxiety of his father, who, by repeated letters, expressed the warmest desire of embracing his son. For some time the policy of Galerius supplied him with delays and excuses; but it was impossible long to refuse so natural a request of his associate, without maintaining his re- published at the end of Ammianus, p. 710, and who in general copied very o-ood materials ; and it is confirmed by Julius Firmicius, (de Astrologia, l.i. c. 4.) who flourished under the reign of Constantine himself. Some objec- tions have been raised against the integrity of the text, and the application of the passage of Firmicius ; but the former is established by the best manu- scripts, and the latter is very ably defended by Lipsius de Magnitudine Romana, 1. iv. c. 11. et Supplement. ' Literis minus instructus. Anonym, ad Ammian. p. 710. ■" Galerius, or perhaps his own courage, exposed him to single combat with a Sarmatian, (Anonym, p. 710.) and with a monstrous lion. See Praxagoras apud rhotium,p.63. Praxagoras, an Athenian philosopher, had written a life of Constantine, in two books, which are now lost. He was a contemporary.