t views and different passions,
succeeded to the government of the world; and the grandson of Narses
undertook a long and memorable war against the princes of the house of
Constantine.

The arduous work of rescuing the distressed empire from tyrants and
barbarians had now been completely achieved by a succession of Illyrian
peasants. As soon as Diocletian entered into the twentieth year of his
reign, he celebrated that memorable aera, as well as the success of his
arms, by the pomp of a Roman triumph. Maximian, the equal partner of his
power, was his only companion in the glory of that day. The two Caesars
had fought and conquered, but the merit of their exploits was ascribed,
according to the rigor of ancient maxims, to the auspicious influence of
their fathers and emperors. The triumph of Diocletian and Maximian was
less magnificent, perhaps, than those of Aurelian and Probus, but it was
dignified by several circumstances of superior fame and good fortune.
Africa and Britain, the Rhine, the Danube, and the Nile, furnished their
respective trophies; but the most distinguished ornament was of a more
singular nature, a Persian victory followed by an important conquest.
The representations of rivers, mountains, and provinces, were carried
before the Imperial car. The images of the captive wives, the sisters,
and the children of the Great King, afforded a new and grateful
spectacle to the vanity of the people. In the eyes of posterity, this
triumph is remarkable, by a distinction of a less honorable kind. It
was the last that Rome ever beheld. Soon after this period, the emperors
ceased to vanquish, and Rome ceased to be the capital of the empire.

The spot on which Rome was founded had been consecrated by ancient
ceremonies and imaginary miracles. The presence of some god, or the
memory of some hero, seemed to animate every part of the city, and the
empire of the world had been promised to the Capitol. The native Romans
felt and confessed the power of this agreeable illusion. It was derived
from their ancestors, had grown up with their earliest habits of life,
and was protected, in some measure, by the opinion of political utility.
The form and the seat of government were intimately blended together,
nor was it esteemed possible to transport the one without destroying the
other. But the sovereignty of the capital was gradually annihilated in
the extent of conquest; the provinces rose to the same level, and the
vanquished