Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/339

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 321 of his predecessors, since xVugustus, had been per- CHAP, niitted to celebrate. Constantine survived that solemn '^^^^^' festival about ten months ; and, at the mature age of sixty-four, after a short illness, he ended his memorable A.D.337, life at the palace of Aquyrion, in the suburbs of Ni-^^^^^"^' comedia, whither he had retired for the benefit of the air, and with the hope of recruiting his exhausted strength by the use of the warm baths. The exces- sive demonstrations of grief, or at least of mourning, surpassed whatever had been practised on any former occasion. Notwithstanding the claims of the senate and people of ancient Rome, the corpse of the de- ceased emperor, according to his last request, was transported to the city which was destined to preserve the name and memory of its founder. The body of Constantine, adorned with the vain symbols of great- ness, the purple and diadem, was deposited on a golden bed in one of the apartments of the palace, which for that purpose had been splendidly furnished and illu- minated. The forms of the court were strictly main- tained. Every day, at the appointed hours, the princi- pal officers of the state, the army, and the household, approaching the person of their sovereign with bended knees and a composed countenance, offered their re- spectful homage as seriously as if he had been still alive. From motives of policy, this theatrical repre- sentation was for some time continued ; nor could flattery neglect the opportunity of remarking, that Con- stantine alone, by the peculiar indulgence of heaven, had reigned after his death "*. But this reign could subsist only in empty pagean- Factions of try; and it was soon discovered that the will of the ^''^ *^°"'^'* most absolute monarch is seldom obeyed, when his sub- jects have no longer any thing to hope from his favour, or to dread from his resentment. The same ministers Aurelias Victor. Constantine had prepared for himself a stately tomb in the church of the holy apostles. Euseb. 1. iv. c. 60. The best, and indeed almost the only account of the sickness, death, and funeral of Constantine, is contained in the fourth book of his life by P^usebius. VOL. II. Y
 * Funus relatum in urbem sui norainis, quod sane P. R. aegerrime tulit.