menius in Panegyr. Vet. vii.
16--21. The latter of these has undoubtedly represented the whole
affair in the most favorable light for his sovereign. Yet even from
this partial narrative we may conclude, that the repeated clemency
of Constantine, and the reiterated treasons of Maximian, as they
are described by Lactantius, (de M. P. c. 29, 30,) and copied by the
moderns, are destitute of any historical foundation. Note: Yet some
pagan authors relate and confirm them. Aurelius Victor speaking of
Maximin, says, cumque specie officii, dolis compositis, Constantinum
generum tentaret acerbe, jure tamen interierat. Aur. Vict. de Caesar l.
p. 623. Eutropius also says, inde ad Gallias profectus est (Maximianus)
composito tamquam a filio esset expulsus, ut Constantino genero jun
geretur: moliens tamen Constantinum, reperta occasione, interficere,
dedit justissimo exitu. Eutrop. x. p. 661. (Anon. Gent.)--G. ----
These writers hardly confirm more than Gibbon admits; he denies the
repeated clemency of Constantine, and the reiterated treasons of
Maximian Compare Manso, p. 302.--M.]

The last years of Galerius were less shameful and unfortunate; and
though he had filled with more glory the subordinate station of Caesar
than the superior rank of Augustus, he preserved, till the moment of his
death, the first place among the princes of the Roman world. He survived
his retreat from Italy about four years; and wisely relinquishing his
views of universal empire, he devoted the remainder of his life to the
enjoyment of pleasure, and to the execution of some works of public
utility, among which we may distinguish the discharging into the Danube
the superfluous waters of the Lake Pelso, and the cutting down the
immense forests that encompassed it; an operation worthy of a monarch,
since it gave an extensive country to the agriculture of his Pannonian
subjects. [36] His death was occasioned by a very painful and lingering
disorder. His body, swelled by an intemperate course of life to
an unwieldy corpulence, was covered with ulcers, and devoured by
innumerable swarms of those insects which have given their name to a
most loathsome disease; [37] but as Galerius had offended a very zealous
and powerful party among his subjects, his sufferings, instead of
exciting their compassion, have been celebrated as the visible effects
of divine justice. [38] He had no sooner expired in his palace of
Nicomedia, than the two emperors who were indebted for th