[Footnote 74: Adhuc cuncta opera quae magnifice construxerat, urbis
fanum atque basilicam, Flavii meritis patres sacravere. Aurelius Victor.
With regard to the theft of Trajan's trophies, consult Flaminius Vacca,
apud Montfaucon, Diarium Italicum, p. 250, and l'Antiquite Expliquee of
the latter, tom. iv. p. 171.]

The final abolition of the Praetorian guards was a measure of prudence
as well as of revenge. Those haughty troops, whose numbers and
privileges had been restored, and even augmented, by Maxentius, were
forever suppressed by Constantine. Their fortified camp was destroyed,
and the few Praetorians who had escaped the fury of the sword were
dispersed among the legions, and banished to the frontiers of the
empire, where they might be serviceable without again becoming
dangerous. [75] By suppressing the troops which were usually stationed in
Rome, Constantine gave the fatal blow to the dignity of the senate and
people, and the disarmed capital was exposed without protection to the
insults or neglect of its distant master. We may observe, that in this
last effort to preserve their expiring freedom, the Romans, from the
apprehension of a tribute, had raised Maxentius to the throne. He
exacted that tribute from the senate under the name of a free gift. They
implored the assistance of Constantine. He vanquished the tyrant, and
converted the free gift into a perpetual tax. The senators, according to
the declaration which was required of their property, were divided into
several classes. The most opulent paid annually eight pounds of gold,
the next class paid four, the last two, and those whose poverty might
have claimed an exemption, were assessed, however, at seven pieces
of gold. Besides the regular members of the senate, their sons, their
descendants, and even their relations, enjoyed the vain privileges, and
supported the heavy burdens, of the senatorial order; nor will it any
longer excite our surprise, that Constantine should be attentive to
increase the number of persons who were included under so useful a
description. [76] After the defeat of Maxentius, the victorious emperor
passed no more than two or three months in Rome, which he visited twice
during the remainder of his life, to celebrate the solemn festivals
of the tenth and of the twentieth years of his reign. Constantine was
almost perpetually in motion, to exercise the legions, or to inspect the
state of the provinces. Treves, Milan, Aquileia, Sirmium,