mother Fausta, whose implacable
hatred, or whose disappointed love, renewed in the palace of Constantine
the ancient tragedy of Hippolitus and of Phaedra. [22] Like the
daughter of Minos, the daughter of Maximian accused her son-in-law of
an incestuous attempt on the chastity of his father's wife; and easily
obtained, from the jealousy of the emperor, a sentence of death against
a young prince, whom she considered with reason as the most formidable
rival of her own children. But Helena, the aged mother of Constantine,
lamented and revenged the untimely fate of her grandson Crispus; nor
was it long before a real or pretended discovery was made, that Fausta
herself entertained a criminal connection with a slave belonging to the
Imperial stables. [23] Her condemnation and punishment were the instant
consequences of the charge; and the adulteress was suffocated by
the steam of a bath, which, for that purpose, had been heated to an
extraordinary degree. [24] By some it will perhaps be thought, that the
remembrance of a conjugal union of twenty years, and the honor of their
common offspring, the destined heirs of the throne, might have softened
the obdurate heart of Constantine, and persuaded him to suffer his wife,
however guilty she might appear, to expiate her offences in a solitary
prison. But it seems a superfluous labor to weigh the propriety, unless
we could ascertain the truth, of this singular event, which is attended
with some circumstances of doubt and perplexity. Those who have
attacked, and those who have defended, the character of Constantine,
have alike disregarded two very remarkable passages of two orations
pronounced under the succeeding reign. The former celebrates the
virtues, the beauty, and the fortune of the empress Fausta, the
daughter, wife, sister, and mother of so many princes. [25] The latter
asserts, in explicit terms, that the mother of the younger Constantine,
who was slain three years after his father's death, survived to weep
over the fate of her son. [26] Notwithstanding the positive testimony of
several writers of the Pagan as well as of the Christian religion, there
may still remain some reason to believe, or at least to suspect, that
Fausta escaped the blind and suspicious cruelty of her husband. [26a]
The deaths of a son and a nephew, with the execution of a great number
of respectable, and perhaps innocent friends, [27] who were involved in
their fall, may be sufficient, however, to justif