Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/430

 412 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, vidence, which was no lonffcr confined to the Jewish XX. . ... ^ people, might elect Constantine and his family as the protectors of the christian world ; and the devout Lac- tantius announces, in a prophetic tone, the future glories of his long and universal reign ^. Galerius and Maximin, Maxentius and Licinius, were the rivals who shared with the favourite of heaven the provinces of the empire. The tragic deaths of Galerius and Maxi- min soon gratified the resentment, and fulfilled the san- guine expectations, of the christians. The success of Constantine against Maxentius and Licinius, removed the two formidable competitors who still opposed the triumph of the second David, and his cause might seem to claim the peculiar interposition of Providence. The character of the Roman tyrant disgraced the purple and human nature ; and though the christians might enjoy his precarious favour, they were exposed, with the rest of his subjects, to the effects of his wan- ton and capricious cruelty. The conduct of Licinius soon betrayed the reluctance with which he had con- sented to the wise and humane regulations of the edict of Milan. The convocation of provinqial synods was prohibited in his dominions ; his christian officers were ignominiously dismissed ; and if he avoided the guilt, or rather danger, of a general persecution, his partial oppressions were rendered still more odious, by the violation of a solemn and voluntary engagement^. While the east, according to the lively expression of Eusebius, was involved in the shades of infernal dark- ness, the auspicious rays of celestial light warmed and illuminated the provinces of the west. The piety of Constantine was admitted as an unexceptionable proof of the justice of his arms; and his use of victory con- firmed the opinion of the christians, that their hero was inspired and conducted by the Lord of Hosts. y Lactaut. Divin. Institut. i. 1. Eusebius, in the course of his history, his life, and his oration, repeatedly inculcates the divine right of Constan- tine to the empire. ^ Our imperfect knowledge of the persecution of Licinius is derived from Eusebius, Hist. Eccles. 1. x. c. 8 ; Vit. Constantin. 1. i. c. 49 — 56. 1. ii. c. 1,2. Aurelius Victor mentions his cruelty in general terms.