t if he wished to
live he must determine to reign. The decent and even obstinate
resistance which he chose to affect, [16] was contrived to justify his
usurpation; nor did he yield to the acclamations of the army, till he
had provided the proper materials for a letter, which he immediately
despatched to the emperor of the East. Constantine informed him of the
melancholy event of his father's death, modestly asserted his natural
claim to the succession, and respectfully lamented, that the
affectionate violence of his troops had not permitted him to solicit the
Imperial purple in the regular and constitutional manner. The first
emotions of Galerius were those of surprise, disappointment, and rage;
and as he could seldom restrain his passions, he loudly threatened, that
he would commit to the flames both the letter and the messenger. But his
resentment insensibly subsided; and when he recollected the doubtful
chance of war, when he had weighed the character and strength of his
adversary, he consented to embrace the honorable accommodation which the
prudence of Constantine had left open to him. Without either condemning
or ratifying the choice of the British army, Galerius accepted the son
of his deceased colleague as the sovereign of the provinces beyond the
Alps; but he gave him only the title of Caesar, and the fourth rank
among the Roman princes, whilst he conferred the vacant place of
Augustus on his favorite Severus. The apparent harmony of the empire was
still preserved, and Constantine, who already possessed the substance,
expected, without impatience, an opportunity of obtaining the honors, of
supreme power. [17]

[Footnote 15: Cunctis qui aderant, annitentibus, sed praecipue Croco
(alii Eroco) [Erich?] Alamannorum Rege, auxilii gratia Constantium
comitato, imperium capit. Victor Junior, c. 41. This is perhaps the
first instance of a barbarian king, who assisted the Roman arms with an
independent body of his own subjects. The practice grew familiar and
at last became fatal.]

[Footnote 16: His panegyrist Eumenius (vii. 8) ventures to affirm in the
presence of Constantine, that he put spurs to his horse, and tried, but
in vain, to escape from the hands of his soldiers.]

[Footnote 17: Lactantius de M. P. c. 25. Eumenius (vii. 8.) gives a
rhetorical turn to the whole transaction.]

The children of Constantius by his second marriage were six in number,
three of either sex, and whose Imperial descent might have sol