OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

103

parent splendour rather than of real prosperity;and the old age of Constantine was disgracedby the opposite yet reconcilable vices of rapa-ciousness and prodigality. The accumulatedtreasures found in the palaces of Maxentius and Licinius , were lavishly consumed; the va-rious innovations introduced by the conquerorwere attended with an increasing expence; thecost of his buildings, his court, and his festi-vals, required an immediate and plentiful suprply; and the oppression of the people was theonly fund which could support the magnificenceof the sovereign/ His unworthy favourites, en-riched by the boundless liberality of their mas-ter, usurped with impunity the privilege of ra-pine and corruption. 8 A secret but universaldecay was felt in every part of the public ad-ministration : and the emperor himself, thoughhe still retained the obedience, gradually lostthe esteem, of his subjects. The dress andmanners, which, towards the decline of life, hechose to affect, served only to degrade him inthe eyes of mankind. The Asiatic pomp, whichhad been adopted by the pride of Diocletian ,assumed an air of softness and effeminacy in theperson of Constantine . He is represented with

f Julian. Orat. i, p. 8, in a flattering discourse prononneed beforetire son of Constantine ; and Caesares, p. 335. Zosimns, p. 114, 115.Tlie stately buildings of Constantinople , &c. may be quoted as a last-ing and unexceptionable proof of the profuseness of their founder.

6 The impartial Amniianus deserves all our confidence. Proximo,rum fauces aperuit primus omnium Constantinus . L. xvi, c. 8. Easebins himself confesses the abuse (Vit. Constantin. 1 . iv, c. 29, 54 ); andlome of the imperial laws feebly point out the remedy. See above,p. 53 of this volume. -

CHAP.

XVIII.

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