nitus de
Administrat. Imperii, c. 53, p. 208, edit. Meursii.]

[Footnote 45a: Compare, on this very obscure but remarkable war, Manso,
Leben Coa xantius, p. 195--M.]

By chastising the pride of the Goths, and by accepting the homage of a
suppliant nation, Constantine asserted the majesty of the Roman empire;
and the ambassadors of Aethiopia, Persia, and the most remote countries
of India, congratulated the peace and prosperity of his government. [46]
If he reckoned, among the favors of fortune, the death of his eldest
son, of his nephew, and perhaps of his wife, he enjoyed an uninterrupted
flow of private as well as public felicity, till the thirtieth year of
his reign; a period which none of his predecessors, since Augustus, had
been permitted to celebrate. Constantine survived that solemn festival
about ten months; and at the mature age of sixty-four, after a short
illness, he ended his memorable life at the palace of Aquyrion, in the
suburbs of Nicomedia, whither he had retired for the benefit of the air,
and with the hope of recruiting his exhausted strength by the use of
the warm baths. The excessive demonstrations of grief, or at least of
mourning, surpassed whatever had been practised on any former occasion.
Notwithstanding the claims of the senate and people of ancient Rome,
the corpse of the deceased emperor, according to his last request, was
transported to the city, which was destined to preserve the name and
memory of its founder. The body of Constantine adorned with the vain
symbols of greatness, the purple and diadem, was deposited on a golden
bed in one of the apartments of the palace, which for that purpose had
been splendidly furnished and illuminated. The forms of the court were
strictly maintained. Every day, at the appointed hours, the principal
officers of the state, the army, and the household, approaching the
person of their sovereign with bended knees and a composed countenance,
offered their respectful homage as seriously as if he had been still
alive. From motives of policy, this theatrical representation was for
some time continued; nor could flattery neglect the opportunity of
remarking that Constantine alone, by the peculiar indulgence of Heaven,
had reigned after his death. [47]

[Footnote 46: Eusebius (in Vit. Const. l. iv. c. 50) remarks three
circumstances relative to these Indians. 1. They came from the shores of
the eastern ocean; a description which might be applied to the coast
of