Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/325

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. ;307 select the frien(l.s and adherents of Crispus as tlic (iiAr. guilty persons; nor is there any reason to distrust the veracity of the emperor, who had ])roniised an ample measure of revenge and punishment. The policy of Constantine maintained, however, the same appear- ances of regard and confidence towards a son, whom he began to consider as his most irreconcilcable enemy. Medals were struck with the customary vows for the long and auspicious reign of the young Caesar"; and as the people, who was not admitted into the secrets of the palace, still loved his virtues and res))ected his dignity, a poet who solicits his recall from exile, adores with equal devotion the majesty of the father and that of the son". The time was now arrived for celebrating the august ceremony of the twentieth year of the reign of Constantine ; and the emperor, for that purpose, re- moved his court from Nicomedia to Rome, where the most splendid preparations had been made for his re- ception. Every eye, and every tongue, affected to express their sense of the general happiness ; and the veil of ceremony and dissimulation was drawn for a while over the darkest designs of revenge and mur- der p. In the midst of the festival, the unfortunate Crispus was apprehended by order of the emperor, who laid aside the tenderness of a father, without assuming the equity of a judge. The examination was short and private 1; and as it was thought decent to conceal the fate of the young prince from the eyes of the Ro- man people, he was sent under a strong guard to Pola " Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 28 ; Tillemont, torn. iv. p. 610. " His name was I'orpliyrius Optatianus. The date of liis panegyric, written, according to the taste of the age, in vile acrostics, is settled by Scaliger ad Euseb. p. 250 ; Tillemont, torn. iv. p. 607 ; and Fabricius, Bib- lioth. Latin. I. iv. c. 1. P Zosim. I. ii. p. 103 ; Godefroy, Chronol. Legum, p. 28. 1 'Aicpirwc, willwut a trial, is the strong, and most probably the just ex pression of Suidas. The elder Victor, who wrote under the next reign, speaks with becoming caution: "Natu grandior, incertum qua causa, pa- tris judicio occidisset." If we consult the succeeding writers, Kutrojiius, the younger Victor, Orosius, .feiom, Zosimus, I'hilostorgius, and (jrc;,'ory of Tours, their knowledge will appear gradually to increase, as their means of information must have diminished ; a circumstance which frecjueully occurs ill historical di quisition. x2