Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/324

 30G THE DECLINE AND FALL C Fl A P. the mischiefs which might be apprehended from dis- " satisfied ambition. Crispus soon had reason to com- plain, that while his infant brother Constantius was sent, with the title of Ca?sar, to reign over his peculiar department of the Gallic provinces', he, a prince of mature years, who had performed such recent and signal services, instead of being raised to the superior rank of Augustus, was confined almost a prisoner to his father's court; and exposed, without power or de- fence, to every calumny which the malice of his ene- mies could suggest. Under such painful circumstances, the royal youth might not always be able to compose his behaviour, or suppress his discontent ; and we may be assured, that he was encompassed by a train of in- discreet or perfidious followers, who assiduously studied to inflame, and who were perhaps instructed to betray, A.D. 325, the unguarded warmth of his resentment. An edict of ^° ^^ • Constantine, published about this time, manifestly indi- cates his real or affected suspicions, that a secret con- spiracy had been formed against his person and go- vernment. By all the allurements of honours and rewards, he invites informers of every degree to accuse without exception his magistrates or ministers, his friends or his most intimate favourites; protesting, with a solemn asseveration, that he himself will listen to the charge, that he himself will revenge his injuries ; and concluding with a prayer, which discovers some appre- hension of danger, that the providence of the Supreme Being may still continue to protect the safety of the emperor and of the empire"". Disgrace The informers, who complied with so liberal an in- oiCiispus. citation, were sufficiently versed in the arts of courts to A. 1). 3-26, • " ^ ■ ' Compare Idatius and the Paschal Chronicle, with Ammianus, 1. xiv. c. 5. The year in which Constantius was created Caesar, seems to be more accurately fixed by the two chronologists ; but the historian, who lived in his court, could not be ignorant of the day of the anniversary. For the appoint- ment of the new Caesar to the provinces of Gaul, see Julian, Orat. i. p. 12 ; Godefroy, Chronol. Legum, p. 2G, and Blondel de la Primaute de TiVlise, p. 1183. ™ Cod. Theod. 1. ix. tit. iv, Godefroy suspected the secret motives of this law. Comment, torn, iii, p. 9.