Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/37

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 19 minds like those of" Maxiniian and his son could loner CHAP, possess in harmony an undivided power. Maxentius ^^^ • considered himself as tlie legal sovereign of Italy, elected by the Roman senate and people ; nor would he endure the control of his father, who arrogantly declared, that by his name and abilities the rash youth had been established on the throne. The cause was solemnly pleaded before the pretorian guards; and those trooj)s, who dreaded the severity of the old em- peror, espoused the party of Maxentius '. The life and freedom of Maximian were however respected ; and he retired from Italy into Illyricum, affecting to lament his past conduct, and secretly contriving new mischiefs. But Galerius, who was well acquainted with his character, soon obliged him to leave his do- minions; and the last refuge of the disappointed Maxi- mian was the court of his son-in-law Constantino ''. He was received with respect by that artful prince, and with the appearance of filial tenderness by the empress Fausta. That he might remove every sus- picion, he resigned the imperial purple a second time ', professing himself at length convinced of the vanity of greatness and ambition. Had he persevered in this resolution, he might have ended his life with less dig- nity indeed than in his first retirement, yet, however, with comfort and reputation. But the near prospect of a throne brought back to his remembrance the state from whence he was fiillen ; and he resolved, by a des- perate efJbrt, either to reign or to perish. An incur- sion of the Franks had summoned Omstantine, with a part of his army, to the banks of the Rhine; the re- whole passage is imagined with artful flattery, and expressed with an easy flow of eloquence. ' Lactantius de M. P. c. 28 ; Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 82. A report was spread, that .Maxentius was the son of some obscure Syrian, and had been suijsti- tuled by the wife of Maximian as her own child. See Aurelius Victor, Anonym. Valesian, and Panegyr. Vet. ix. 3, 4. '' Ab urbe pulsum, ab Italia fugatum, ab Ulyrico repudiatum, tuis j«ro- vinciis, tuis copiis, tuo palatio recepisti. Eumen. in Panegyr. Vet. vii. 14. ' Lactantius de IM. P. c. 29. Yet after the resignation of the purple, Constantine still continued to Maximian the pomp and honours of the imperial dignity ; and on all public occasions gave the right-hand place tu his father-in-law. Pauegvr. et. vii. 15. c 2