Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/43

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 25 nor was it possible for his ungrateful temper to forgive Cll A P. the generous fidelity which had raised him to the ^^^' throne, and supported him against all his enemies. The lives of the senators were exposed to his jealous suspicions, the dishonour of their wives and daughters heightened the gratification of his sensual passions y. It may be presumed, that an imperial lover was sel- dom reduced to sigh in vain ; but whenever persuasion proved ineftectual, he had recourse to violence ; and there remains one memorable example of a noble ma- tron, who preserved her chastity by a voluntary death. The soldiers were the only order of men whom he ap- peared to respect, or studied to please. He filled Rome and Italy with armed troops, connived at their tumults, suffered them with impunity to plunder, and even to massacre, the defenceless people"; and in- dulging them in the same licentiousness which their emperor enjoyed, Maxentius often bestowed on hit. military favourites the splendid villa, or the beautiful wife, of a senator. A prince of such a character, alike incapable of governing either in peace or in war, might purchase the support, but he could never obtain the esteem, of the army. Yet his pride was equal to his other vices. Whilst he passed his indolent life, either within the walls of his palace, or in the neighbouring gardens of Sallust, he was repeatedly heard to declare, that /le alone was emperor, and that the other princes were no more than his lieutenants, on whom he had devolved the defence of the frontier provinces, that he might enjoy without interruption the elegant luxury of the capital. Rome, which had so long regretted the y Panegyr. Vet. ix. 3 ; Euseb. Hist. Eccles. viii. 14. et in Vit. Constant. i. 33,34; liufinus, c. 17. The virtuous matron, who stabbed herself to « escape the violence of Maxentius, was a christian, wife to the prefect of the city, and her name was Sophronia. It still remains a question among the casuists, whether on such occasions suicide is justifiable. '^ Prffitorianis ca;dem vulgi quondam annueret, is the vague expression of Aurelius A'iclor. See more particular, though somewhat different, accounts of a tumult and massacre, which happened at Home, in Kusebius, 1. viii. c, 14 ; and in Zosimus, I. ii. p. 84.