CHAP. XIV.
justly entertain of the cruelty of Licinius, it remains a matter of surprise that he was not contented with some more secret and decent method of revenge[1].
Quarrel between Constantine and Licinius.
A.D. 314.
The Roman world was now divided between Constantine and Licinius, the former of whom was master
of the west, and the latter of the east. It might perhaps have been expected that the conquerors, fatigued
with civil war, and connected by a private as well as
public alliance, would have renounced, or at least
would have suspended any farther designs of ambition. And yet a year had scarcely elapsed after the
death of Maximin, before the victorious emperors
turned their arms against each other. The genius,
the success, and the aspiring temper of Constantine,
may seem to mark him out as the aggressor: but the
perfidious character of Licinius justifies the most unfavourable suspicions; and by the faint light which
history reflects on this transaction[2], we may discover
a conspiracy fomented by his arts against the authority of his colleague. Constantine had lately given
his sister Anastasia in marriage to Bassianus, a man of
a considerable family and fortune, and had elevated
his new kinsman to the rank of Caesar. According
to the system of government instituted by Diocletian,
Italy, and perhaps Africa, were designed for his department in the empire. But the performance of the
promised favour was either attended with so much
delay, or accompanied with so many unequal conditions, that the fidelity of Bassianus was alienated
rather than secured by the honourable distinction
which he had obtained. His nomination had been
ratified by the consent of Licinius; and that artful
prince, by the means of his emissaries, soon contrived
to enter into a secret and dangerous correspondence
- ↑ Ita illis pudicitia et conditio exitio fuit. Lactantius de M. P. c. 51. He relates the misfortunes of the innocent wife and daughter of Diocletiaa with a very natural mixture of pity and exultation.
- ↑ The curious reader who consults the Valesian Fragment, p. 713, will perhaps accuse me of giving a bold and licentious paraphrase; but if he considers it with attention, he will acknowledge that my interpretation is probable and consistent.
