perty of the people, both in Italy and in Africa. [72]
The first time that Constantine honored the senate with his presence, he
recapitulated his own services and exploits in a modest oration,
assured that illustrious order of his sincere regard, and promised to
reestablish its ancient dignity and privileges. The grateful senate
repaid these unmeaning professions by the empty titles of honor, which
it was yet in their power to bestow; and without presuming to ratify the
authority of Constantine, they passed a decree to assign him the first
rank among the three Augusti who governed the Roman world. [73] Games
and festivals were instituted to preserve the fame of his victory, and
several edifices, raised at the expense of Maxentius, were dedicated
to the honor of his successful rival. The triumphal arch of Constantine
still remains a melancholy proof of the decline of the arts, and a
singular testimony of the meanest vanity. As it was not possible to find
in the capital of the empire a sculptor who was capable of adorning that
public monument, the arch of Trajan, without any respect either for his
memory or for the rules of propriety, was stripped of its most elegant
figures. The difference of times and persons, of actions and characters,
was totally disregarded. The Parthian captives appear prostrate at the
feet of a prince who never carried his arms beyond the Euphrates;
and curious antiquarians can still discover the head of Trajan on the
trophies of Constantine. The new ornaments which it was necessary to
introduce between the vacancies of ancient sculpture are executed in the
rudest and most unskillful manner. [74]

[Footnote 71: Zosimus, the enemy of Constantine, allows (l. ii. p. 88)
that only a few of the friends of Maxentius were put to death; but we
may remark the expressive passage of Nazarius, (Panegyr. Vet. x. 6.)
Omnibus qui labefactari statum ejus poterant cum stirpe deletis. The
other orator (Panegyr. Vet. ix. 20, 21) contents himself with observing,
that Constantine, when he entered Rome, did not imitate the cruel
massacres of Cinna, of Marius, or of Sylla. * Note: This may refer to
the son or sons of Maxentius.--M.]

[Footnote 72: See the two Panegyrics, and the laws of this and the
ensuing year, in the Theodosian Code.]

[Footnote 73: Panegyr. Vet. ix. 20. Lactantius de M. P. c. 44. Maximin,
who was confessedly the eldest Caesar, claimed, with some show of
reason, the first rank among the Augusti.]