OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

97

accession, his consulship, the birth of a son,the creation of a Caesar, a victory over the bar-barians, or any other real or imaginary eventwhich graced the annals of his reign. The pe-culiar free gift of the senate of Rome was fixedby custom at sixteen hundred pounds of gold,or about sixty-four thousand pounds sterling.The oppressed subjects celebrated their ownfelicity, that their sovereign should graciouslyconsent to accept this feeble but voluntary tes-timony of their loyalty and gratitude/

A people elated by pride, or soured by dis-content, are seldom qualified to form a justestimate of their actual situation. The sub-jects of Constantine were incapable of discerning the decline of genius and manly virtue,which so far degraded them below the dignityof their ancestors; but they could feel and la-ment the rage of tyranny, the relaxation of dis-cipline, and the increase of taxes. The impar-tial historian, who acknowledges the justice oftheir complaints, will observe some favourablecircumstances which tended to alleviate themisery of their condition. The threateningtempest of barbarians, which so soon subvert-ed the foundations of Roman greatness, wasstill repelled, or suspended, on the frontiers.The arts of luxury and literature were culti-vated, and the elegant pleasures of societywere enjoyed, by the inhabitants of a consider-

* Cod. Theod. 1. xii, tit. xiii. The senators were supposed to beexempt from the Aurum Coronarium ; but the Aun Oblutio f which wasrequired at their hands, was precisely of the same nature.

VOL. III. H

CHAP.

XVII.

Conclu-

sion.