Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/320

 302 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, reign, was a period of apparent splendour rather than -^^^^^^' of real prosperity ; and the old age of Constantine was disgraced by the opposite yet I'econcileable vices of ra- paciousness and prodigality. The accumulated trea- sures found in the palaces of Maxentius and Licinius, were lavishly consumed ; the various innovations intro- duced by the conqueror, were attended with an in- creasing expense ; the cost of his buildings, his court, and his festivals, required an immediate and plentiful supply ; and the oppression of the people was the only fund which could support the magnificence of the sove- reign '^. His unworthy favourites, enriched by the boundless liberality of their master, usurped with im- punity the privilege of rapine and corruption*. A secret but universal decay was felt in every part of the public administration ; and the emperor himself, though he still retained the obedience, gradually lost the es- teem, of his subjects. The dress and manners which, towards the decline of life, he chose to affect, served only to degrade him in the eyes of mankind. The Asiatic pomp, which had been adopted by the pride of Diocletian, assumed an air of softness and effeminacy in the person of Constantine. He is represented with false hair of various colours, laboriously arranged by the skilful artists of the times ; a diadem of a new and more expensive fashion ; a profusion of gems and pearls, of collars and bracelets, and a variegated flow- ing robe of silk, most curiously embroidered with flowers of gold. In such apparel, scarcely to be ex- cused by the youth and folly of Elagabalus, we are at a loss to discover the wisdom of an aged monarch, and the simplicity of a Roman veteran ^ A mind thus re- '' Julian, Orat. i.p. 8. in a flattering discourse pronounced before the son of Constantine ; and Caesares, p. 335; Zosimus, p. 114, 115. The stately buildings of Constantinople, etc. may be quoted as a lasting and unexcep- tionable proof of the profuseness of their founder. fauces aperuit primus omnium Constantinus : 1. xvi. c. 8. Eusebius himself confesses the abuse, (Yit. Constantin. 1. iv. c. 29. 54.) and some of the imperial laws feebly point out the remedy. See above, p. 265 of this volume. ' Julian, in the Caesars, attempts to ridicule his uncle. His suspicious testimony is confirmed, however, by the learned Spanheim, with the autho-
 * The impartial Ammianus deserves all our confidence. Proximorum