CHAP. XIV.
minds like those of" Maxiniian and his son could loner
possess in harmony an undivided power. Maxentius
considered himself as the legal sovereign of Italy,
elected by the Roman senate and people; nor would
he endure the control of his father, who arrogantly
declared, that by his name and abilities the rash youth
had been established on the throne. The cause was
solemnly pleaded before the pretorian guards; and
those troops, who dreaded the severity of the old emperor, espoused the party of Maxentius[1]. The life
and freedom of Maximian were however respected;
and he retired from Italy into Illyricum, affecting to
lament his past conduct, and secretly contriving new
mischiefs. But Galerius, who was well acquainted
with his character, soon obliged him to leave his dominions; and the last refuge of the disappointed Maximian was the court of his son-in-law Constantine[2].
He was received with respect by that artful prince,
and with the appearance of filial tenderness by the
empress Fausta. That he might remove every suspicion, he resigned the imperial purple a second time[3],
professing himself at length convinced of the vanity of
greatness and ambition. Had he persevered in this
resolution, he might have ended his life with less dignity indeed than in his first retirement, yet, however,
with comfort and reputation. But the near prospect
of a throne brought back to his remembrance the state
from whence he was fallen ; and he resolved, by a desperate effort, either to reign or to perish. An incursion of the Franks had summoned Costantine, with a
part of his army, to the banks of the Rhine; the re-
- ↑ Lactantius de M. P. c. 28 ; Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 82. A report was spread, that Maxentius was the son of some obscure Syrian, and had been substituled by the wife of Maximian as her own child. See Aurelius Victor, Anonym. Valesian, and Panegyr. Vet. ix. 3, 4.
- ↑ Ab urbe pulsum, ab Italia fugatum, ab Ulyrico repudiatum, tuis provinciis, tuis copiis, tuo palatio recepisti. Eumen. in Panegyr. Vet. vii. 14.
- ↑ Lactantius de M. P. c. 29. Yet after the resignation of the purple, Constantine still continued to Maximian the pomp and honours of the imperial dignity ; and on all public occasions gave the right-hand place to his father-in-law. Pauegvr. et. vii. 15.
whole passage is imagined with artful flattery, and expressed with an easy flow of eloquence.
