Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/35

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 17 The legions of Galerius exhibited a very melancholy C li a l proof of their disposition, by the ravages which they " committed in their retreat. They murdered, they ra- His retreat, vished, they plundered, they drove away the flocks and herds of the Italians, they burnt the villages through which they pass^ed, and they endeavoured to destroy the country which it had not been in their power to subdue. During the whole march, Maxentius hung on their rear; but he very prudently declined a general engagement with those brave and desperate veterans. His father had undertaken a second journey into Gaul, with the hope of persuading Constantine, who had as- sembled an army on the frontier, to join the pursuit and to complete the victory. But the actions of Constan- tine were guided by reason and not by resentment. He persisted in the wise resolution of maintaining a balance of power in the divided empire ; and he no longer hated Galerius, when that aspiring prince had ceased to be an object of terror**. The mind of Galerius was the most susceptible of Elevation of,. , ., . , , Licinius to the sterner passions, but it was not however incapable ^]^^ rank of of a sincere and lasting friendship. Licinius, whose 'J"f"^!!I.V manners as well as character were not unlike his own, Nov. ii. seems to have engaged both his affection and esteem. Their intimacy had commenced in the happier period perhaps of their youth and obscurity. It had been cemented by the freedom and dangers of a military life : they had advanced, almost by equal steps, through the successive honours of the service ; and as soon as Galerius was invested with the imperial dignity, he seems to have conceived the design of raising his com- panion to the same rank with himself During the short period of his prosperity, he considered the rank of Ca'sar as unworthy of the age and merit of Licinius, and rather chose to reserve for him the place of Con- stantius, and the emjnre of the west, ^^'hile the em- that Conslantine, in his interview with Maximian, had promised to declare war against Galerius. VOL. II. C
 * Lactantius de M. P. c. 27 ; Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 82. The latter insinuates