66 ASSOCIATION OF MAXIMIAN, CHAP. XIII. he was the most ambitious of imitating the humane philosophy of Marcus Antoninus." and cha racter of Maximian. A.D. 286. April 1. 7 The first considerable action of his reign seemed to evince his Association sincerity as well as his moderation. After the example of Marcus, he gave himself a colleague in the person of Maximian, on whom he bestowed at first the title of Cæsar, and afterwards that of Augustus. But the motives of his conduct, as well as the object of his choice, were of a very different nature from those of his admired predecessor. By investing a luxurious youth with the honours of the purple, Marcus had discharged a debt of private gratitude, at the expense, indeed, of the happiness of the state. By associating a friend and a fellow-soldier to the labours of government, Diocletian, in a time of public danger, provided for the defence both of the East and of the West. Maximian was born a peasant, and, like Aurelian, in the territory of Sirmium. Ignorant of letters, careless of laws, the rusticity of his appearance ⚫and manners still betrayed in the most elevated fortune the meanness of his extraction. War was the only art which he professed. In a long course of service he had distinguished himself on every frontier of the empire; and though his military talents were formed to obey rather than to command, though, perhaps, he never attained the skill of a consummate general, he was capable, by his valour, constancy, and experience, of executing the most arduous undertakings. Nor were the vices of Maximian less useful to his benefactor. Insensible to pity, and fearless of consequences, he was the ready instrument of every act of cruelty which the policy of that artful prince might at once suggest and disclaim. As soon as a bloody sacrifice had been offered to prudence or to revenge, Diocletian, by his seasonable intercession, saved the remaining few whom he had never designed to punish, gently censured the severity of his stern colleague, and enjoyed Aurelius Victor styles Diocletian "Parentem potius quam Dominum." [De Cæsar. 39.] See Hist. August. p. 30. [Capitol. M. Anton. Phil. c. 19.] 6 The question of the time when Maximian received the honours of Cæsar and Augustus has divided modern critics and given occasion to a great deal of learned wrangling. I have followed M. de Tillemont (Histoire des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 500-505), who has weighed the several reasons and difficulties with his scrupulous accuracy.a 7 In an oration delivered before him (Panegyr. Vet. i. 8) Mamertinus expresses a doubt whether his hero, in imitating the conduct of Hannibal and Scipio, had ever heard of their names. From thence we may fairly infer that Maximian was more desirous of being considered as a soldier than as a man of letters: and it is in this manner that we can often translate the language of flattery into that of truth.b Eckhel concurs in this view, viii. meant is, "Had others told you, or did p. 15.-M. you discover for yourself, that to injure an enemy you must carry the war into his country?"-S. b Gibbon's inference as to Maximian's ignorance of the story of Hannibal and Scipio seems unwarranted. All that is A.D. 292. GALERIUS AND CONSTANTIUS CÆSARS. 67 the comparison of a golden and an iron age, which was universally applied to their opposite maxims of government. Notwithstanding the difference of their characters, the two emperors maintained, on the throne, that friendship which they had contracted in a private station. The haughty turbulent spirit of Maximian, so fatal afterwards to himself and to the public peace, was accustomed to respect the genius of Diocletian, and confessed the ascendant of reason over brutal violence. From a motive either of pride or superstition, the two emperors assumed the titles, the one of Jovius, the other of Herculius. Whilst the motion of the world (such was the language of their venal orators) was maintained by the all-seeing wisdom of Jupiter, the invincible arm of Hercules purged the earth from monsters and tyrants.9 a Association Cæsars, Galerius and Constantius. But even the omnipotence of Jovius and Herculius was insufficient to sustain the weight of the public administration. The prudence of Diocletian discovered that the empire, assailed of two on every side by the barbarians, required on every side the presence of a great army and of an emperor. With this view, he resolved once more to divide his unwieldy power, and, with the inferior title of Caesars, to confer on two generals of approved merit an equal share of the sovereign authority. 10 Galerius, surnamed Armentarius, from his original profession of a herdsman, and Constantius, who from his pale complexion had acquired the denomination of Chlorus,"1 were the two persons invested with the second honours of the Imperial purple. In describing the country, extraction, and manners of Herculius, we have already delineated those of Galerius, who was often, and not improperly, styled the younger Maximian, though, in many instances both of virtue and ability, he appears to have possessed a manifest superiority over the elder. The birth of Constantius was less obscure than that of his colleagues. Eutropius, his father, was one of the most considerable nobles of Dardania, and his mother was the niece of the emperor 8 Lactantius de M. P. c. 8. Aurelius Victor [de Cæsar. c. 39]. As among the Panegyrics we find orations pronounced in praise of Maximian, and others which flatter his adversaries at his expense, we derive some knowledge from the contrast. 9 See the second and third Panegyrics, particularly iii. [ii.] 3, 10, 14; but it would be tedious to copy the diffuse and affected expressions of their false eloquence. With regard to the titles, consult Aurel. Victor, Lactantius de M. P. c. 52. Spanheim de Usu Numismatum, &c. Dissertat. xii. 8. 10 Aurelius Victor. Victor in Epitome. c. 7. Hieronym. in Chron. Eutrop. ix. 22 [14]. Lactant. de M. P. "It is only among the modern Greeks that Tillemont can discover his appellation of Chlorus. Any remarkable degree of paleness seems inconsistent with the rubor mentioned in Panegyric. v. 19. • On the relative power of the Augusti the end of Manso's Leben Constantins des and the Cæsars, consult a dissertation at Grossen.-M 68 of the four HARMONY OF THE FOUR PRINCES. CHAP. XIII Claudius. 12 a Although the youth of Constantius had been spent in arms, he was endowed with a mild and amiable disposition, and the popular voice had long since acknowledged him worthy of the rank which he at last attained. To strengthen the bonds of political, by those of domestic, union, each of the emperors assumed the character of a father to one of the Cæsars, Diocletian to Galerius, and Maximian to Constantius; and each, obliging them to repudiate their former wives, bestowed his daughter in marriage on his adopted son.13 These four princes distributed among themselves the wide extent of the Roman empire. The defence of Gaul, Spain,4 Departments and harmony and Britain was intrusted to Constantius: Galerius was princes. stationed on the banks of the Danube, as the safeguard of the Illyrian provinces. Italy and Africa were considered as the department of Maximian; and for his peculiar portion Diocletian reserved Thrace, Egypt, and the rich countries of Asia. Every one was sovereign within his own jurisdiction; but their united authority extended over the whole monarchy, and each of them was prepared to assist his colleagues with his counsels or presence. The Cæsars, in their exalted rank, revered the majesty of the emperors, and the three younger princes invariably acknowledged, by their gratitude and obedience, the common parent of their fortunes. The suspicious jealousy of power found not any place among them; and the singular happiness of their union has been compared to a chorus of music, whose harmony was regulated and maintained by the skilful hand of the first artist. 15 Series of This important measure was not carried into execution till about six years after the association of Maximian, and that interval events. of time had not been destitute of memorable incidents. But we have preferred, for the sake of perspicuity, first to describe the more perfect form of Diocletian's government, and afterwards to relate the actions of his reign, following rather the natural order of the events than the dates of a very doubtful chronology. 12 Julian, the grandson of Constantius, boasts that his family was derived from the warlike Mæsians. Misopogon, p. 348. The Dardanians dwelt on the edge of Mæsia. 13 Galerius married Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian; if we speak with strictness, Theodora, the wife of Constantius, was daughter only to the wife of Maximian. Spanheim, Dissertat. xi. 2. 14 This division agrees with that of the four præfectures; yet there is some reason to doubt whether Spain was not a province of Maximian. See Tillemont, tom. iv. p. 517.b 15 Julian in Cæsarib. p. 315. Spanheim's notes to the French translation, p. 122. See the genealogical table, c. xvii.-S. According to Aurelius Victor and other authorities, Thrace belonged to the division of Galerius. See Tillemont, iv. 36. But the laws of Diocletian are in general dated in Illyria or Thrace.-M A.D. 287. REBELLION OF PEASANTS IN GAUL. State of the sup- peasants of 69 The first exploit of Maximian, though it is mentioned in a few words by our imperfect writers, deserves, from its singularity, A.D. 25. to be recorded in a history of human manners. He pressed the peasants of Gaul, who, under the appellation of Gaul. Bagaudæ,16 had risen in a general insurrection; very similar to those which in the fourteenth century successively afflicted both France and England.1 It should seem that very many of those institutions, referred by an easy solution to the feudal system, are derived from the Celtic barbarians. When Cæsar subdued the Gauls, that great nation was already divided into three orders of men; the clergy, the nobility, and the common people. The first governed by superstition, the second by arms, but the third and last was not of any weight or account in their public councils. It was very natural for the plebeians, oppressed by debt or apprehensive of injuries, to implore the protection of some powerful chief, who acquired over their persons and property the same absolute rights as, among the Greeks and Romans, a master exercised over his slaves. 18 The greatest part of the nation was gradually reduced into a state of servitude; compelled to perpetual labour on the estates of the Gallic nobles, and confined to the soil, either by the real weight of fetters, or by the no less cruel and forcible restraints of the laws. During the long series of troubles which agitated Gaul, from the reign of Gallienus to that of Diocletian, the condition of these servile peasants was peculiarly miserable; and they experienced at once the complicated tyranny of their masters, of the barbarians, of the soldiers, and of the officers of the revenue.' 19 Their patience was at last provoked into despair. On every side they rose in multitudes, armed with rustic weapons, and Their with irresistible fury. The ploughman became a foot rebellion, soldier, the shepherd mounted on horseback, the deserted villages and open towns were abandoned to the flames, and the ravages of the peasants equalled those of the fiercest barbarians.20 They asserted the natural rights of men, but they asserted those rights with the most savage cruelty. The Gallic nobles, justly dreading their revenge, either took refuge in the fortified cities, or fled from the wild scene of anarchy. The peasants reigned without control; and two of their 16 The general name of Bagauda (in the signification of Rebels) continued till the fifth century in Gaul. Some critics derive it from a Celtic word, Bagad, a tumultuous assembly. Scaliger ad Euseb. Du Cange Glossar. [Compare S. Turner, Anglo-Sax. History, i. 214.-M.] 17 Chronique de Froissart, vol. i. c. 182, ii. 73, 79. The naïveté of his story is lost in our best modern writers. 18 Cæsar de Bell. Gallic. vi. 13. Orgetorix, the Helvetian, could arm for his defence a body of ten thousand slaves. 19 Their oppression and misery are acknowledged by Eumenius (Panegyr. vi. 8), Gallias efferatas injuriis. 20 Panegyr. Vet. ii. 4. Aurelius Victor [de Cæsar. c. 397. and chas REVOLT OF CARAUSIUS IN BRITAIN CHAP. XIII. most daring leaders had the folly and rashness to assume the Imperial ornaments.21 Their power soon expired at the approach of the legions. The strength of union and discipline obtained an easy victory over a licentious and divided multitude.22 A severe retaliation tisement, was inflicted on the peasants who were found in arms: the affrighted remnant returned to their respective habitations, and their unsuccessful effort for freedom served only to confirm their slavery. So strong and uniform is the current of popular passions, that we might almost venture, from very scanty materials, to relate the particulars of this war; but we are not disposed to believe that the principal leaders, Elianus and Amandus, were Christians, 23 or to insinuate that the rebellion, as it happened in the time of Luther, was occasioned by the abuse of those benevolent principles of Christianity, which inculcate the natural freedom of mankind. A.D. 287. Maximian had no sooner recovered Gaul from the hands of the peasants, than he lost Britain by the usurpation of Carausius. Ever since the rash but successful enterprise of the Franks under the reign of Probus, their daring countrymen had constructed squadrons of light brigantines, in which they incessantly ravaged the provinces adjacent to the ocean.24 To repel their desultory incursions, it was found necessary to create a naval power; and the judicious measure was prosecuted with prudence and vigour. Gessoriacum, or Boulogne, in the straits of the British Channel, was chosen by the emperor for the station of the Roman fleet; and the command of it was intrusted to Carausius, a Menapian of the meanest origin,25 b but who had long signalised his skill as a pilot, and his valour as a soldier. The integrity of the new admiral corresponded not with his abilities. When the German pirates sailed from their own harbours, he connived at their passage, but he diligently intercepted their 21 Elianus and Amandus. We have medals coined by them. Goltzius in Thes. R. A. p. 117, 121. 22 Levibus præliis domuit. Eutrop. ix. 20 [13]. 23 The fact rests indeed on very slight authority, a Life of St. Babolinus, which is probably of the seventh century. See Duchesne Scriptores Rer. Francicar. tom. i. p. 662. 24 Aurelius Victor [de Cæsar. c. 39] calls them Germans. Eutropius (ix. 21 [13]) gives them the name of Saxons. But Eutropius lived in the ensuing century, and seems to use the language of his own times.a 25 The three expressions of Eutropius [ix. 13], Aurelius Victor [de Cæsar. 39], and Eumenius, "vilissime natus," "Batavia alumnus," and "Menapiæ civis," give us a very doubtful account of the birth of Carausius. Dr. Stukely, however (Hist. of Carausius, p. 62), chooses to make him a native of St. David's and a prince of the blood royal of Britain. The former idea he had found in Richard of Cirencester, p. 44. a Eutropius speaks both of Franks and Saxons. The name of Saxons occurs in the second century (Ptolem. ii. 11, §§ 11, 31), and there seems no reason to question the statement of Eutropius.-S. b Carausius was a German, and in his revolt seems to have calculated upon the assistance of the Germans who were already settled in Britain. Kemble, The Saxons in England, vol. i. p. 12.-S. |