116

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CHAP.

XVIII.

Their cdmcation.

when he endangered the safety both of his fa-mily and of his people, by the unnecessary ele-vation of his two nephews, Dalmatius and Han-nibalianus. The former was raised, by thetitle of Caesar, to an equality with his cousins.In favour of the latter, Constantine invented thenew and singular appellation of Nobilissimus ;*to which he annexed the flattering distinctionof a robe of purple and gold. But of the wholeseries of Roman princes in any age of the em-pire, Hannibalianus alone was distinguished bythe title of King• a name which the subjectsof Tiberius would have detested, as the pro-fane and cruel insult of capricious tyranny. Theuse of such a title, even as it appears under thereign of Constantine , is a strange and uncon-nected fact, which can scarcely be admitted onthe joint authority of imperial medals and con-temporary writers. k

The whole empire rvas deeply interested inthe education of these five youths, the acknow-ledged successors of Constantine . The exer-cises of the body prepared them for the fatiguesof war, and the duties of active life. Those whooccasionally mention the education or talentsof Constantius , allowed that he excelled in thegymnastic arts of leaping and running; that he

* Zosim. 1. ii, p. 117. Under the predecessors of Constantine ,Nohllissimus was a vague epithet, rather than a legal and determinedtitle.

11 Adstruunt nummi veteres ac singulares. Spanheim de UsuNumisinat. Dissertat. xii, vol. ii, p. 357. Ammianus speaks ofthis Roman king (1. xiv, c. i, and Valesins ad loc.) The Valesianfragment styles him king of kings; and the Paschal Chronicle(p. 286), by employing the word Pnya, acquires the weight of Latin evidence.