Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/55

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 37 leges. The grateful senate repaid these unmeaning CHAP, professions by the empty titles of honour, which it was ' yet in their power to bestow ; and without presuming to ratify the authority of Constantine, they passed a decree to assign him the first rank among the three Augusti who governed the Roman world''. Games and festivals were instituted to preserve the fame of his victory; and several edifices raised at the expense of Maxentius, were dedicated to the honour of his suc- cessful rival. The triumphal arch of Constantine still remains a melancholy proof of the decline of the arts, and a singular testimony of the meanest vanity. As it was not possible to find in the capital of the empire, a sculptor who was capable of adorning that public mo- nument; the arch of Trajan, without any respect either for his memory or for the rules of propriety, was strip- ped of its most elegant figures. The difference of times and persons, of actions and characters, was to- tally disregarded. The Parthian captives appear pro- strate at the feet of a prince who never carried his arms beyond the Euphrates; and curious anticjuarians can still discover the head of Trajan on the trophies of Constantine. The new ornaments which it was neces- sary to introduce between the vacancies of ancient sculpture, are executed in the rudest and most unskil- ful manner '. The final abolition of the pretorian guards was a and conduct „ 1 IIP nM at Rome, measure of prudence as well as ot revenge. 1 nose haughty troops, whose numbers and privileges had been restored, and even augmented, by Maxentius, were for ever suppressed by Constantine. Their fortified camp was destroyed, and the few pretorians who had escaped the fury of the sword, were dispersed among the le- <* Panegyr. Vet. ix. 20; Lactantius de 'SI. P. c. 44. Maximin, who was confessedly the eldest Cajsar, claimed, with some show of reason, the first rank among the Augusti. « Adhuc cuncta opera qiias magnifice construxerat, urbis fanum, alque basilicam, Flavii meritis patres sacravere. Aurelius Victor. With regard to the theft of Trajan's trophies, consult Flaminius Vacca, apud Mont- faucon, Diariuni Italicum, p. 250, and I'Antiquitc Expliquee of the latter, lorn. iv. p. 171.