Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/323

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 305 and to excite the virtues, of his illustrious disciple', c II A P. At the age of seventeen, Crispus was invested with the ^^ '"' title of Caesar, and the administration of the Gallic provinces, where the inroads of the Germans gave him an early occasion of signalizing his military prowess. In the civil war which broke out soon afterwards, the father and son divided their powers ; and this history has already celebrated the valour as well as conduct displayed by the latter, in forcing the straits of the Hellespont, so obstinately defended by the superior fleet of Licinius. This naval victory contributed to determine the event of the war; and the names of Constantine and of Crispus were united in the joyful acclamations of their eastern subjects ; who loudly pro- claimed, that the world had been subdued, and was now governed, by an emperor endowed with every virtue; and by his illustrious son, a prince beloved of heaven, and the lively image of his father's perfections. The public favour, which seldom accompanies old age, difiused its lustre over the youth of Crispus. He de- served the esteem, and he engaged the affections, of the court, the army, and the people. The experienced merit of a reigning monarch is acknowledged by his subjects with reluctance, and frequently denied with partial and discontented murmurs ; while, from the opening virtues of his successor, they fondly conceive the most unbounded hopes of private as well as public felicity ^. This dangerous popularity soon excited the atten- Jealousy of tion of Constantine, who, both as a father and as a ^-^^^^ ^"' kinsr, was impatient of an equal. Instead of attempt- A.D. 324, . *, 11 • PI • 1 ^1 October 10. ing to secure the allegiance oi his son by the generous ties of confidence and gratitude, he resolved to prevent ' Jerom. in Chron. The poverty of Lactantius may be applied either to the praise of the disinterested philosopher, or to the shame ot the unfeeling patron. See Tillemont, Mem. Ecclesiast. torn. vi. part i. p. 345 ; Dupin, Bibliothtque Ecclesiast. tom. i. p. 205 ; Lardner's Credibility of the Gospel History, part ii. vol. vii. p. 66. '' Euseb. Hist. Ecclesiast. 1. x. c. 9. Eulropius, (x. 6.) styles him, " egregium virum ;" and Julian (Orat. i.") very plainly alludes to the ex- ploits of Ciispus in the ciil war. See Spanheim, Comment, p. 92. VOL. II. X