he virtues of Constantine; nor did that
artful prince show himself to the troops, till they were prepared to
salute him with the names of Augustus and Emperor. The throne was the
object of his desires; and had he been less actuated by ambition, it was
his only means of safety. He was well acquainted with the character and
sentiments of Galerius, and sufficiently apprised, that if he wished
to live he must determine to reign. The decent and even obstinate
resistance which he chose to affect, 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.

The children of Constantius by his second marriage were six in number,
three of either sex, and whose Imperial descent might have solicited
a preference over the meaner extraction of the son of Helena. But
Constantine was in the thirty-second year of his age, in the full vigor
both of mind and body, at the time when the eldest of his brothers could
not possibly be more than thirteen years old. His claim of superior
merit had been allowed and ra