ROMAN COINS FOUND AT LITTLE CHESTER. 1 25 



of the young men they had each selected for- the purple ; 

 thus Constantius was associated with Galerius, in the imperial 

 power ; he arrived in Britain in 305, and died at York 306, 

 in tiie month of July. He was succeeded by his son, 

 Constantine the Great. 



IMP . CONSTANTINVS . PF . AVG. Bust to right, 

 draped, head wreathed ; rev., the same, standing, the right- 

 arm elevated, the left holds a globe ; nude, except a mantle 

 hangs from left shoulder ; lengend, soli . invicto . comiti . 

 inscribed T . F . ; a star under T on right ; exergue 

 C . A . R . L., A.D. 323 to 337. 3rd brass. Plate III., 

 No. 16. (Mr. Lee). 



This Emperor succeeded in re-uniting the whole Roman 

 empire under one head forty years after Diocletian's new 

 scheme of government, which admitted a plurality of sovereigns. 

 It was in A.D. 324 that this consummation was effected.* 

 During the period of peace which ensued, he resolved 

 to form a new capital. This was no new idea, for Julius 

 Caesar had before his death desired to form a new capital 

 at Troy or Alexandria, so Constantine fixed on ancient 

 Byzantium as being excellent for situation, and there, at 

 prodigious expense and labour, he raised a new city. Six 

 hundred centenaries, about ;^2,5oo,ooo, was expended on the 

 erection of walls, porticos, and aqueducts \ in it there was 

 a capitol or school of learning, a circus, two theatres, eight 

 public and 153 private baths, fifty-two porticos, five granaries, 

 eight aqueducts or reservoirs of water, four spacious halls, 

 fourteen churches, and the same number of palaces, 4,388 

 grand houses, etc., so Gibbon relates. This grand city was 

 built, it is said, in consequence of a vision; Constantine was 

 one who saw visions. It is related by Eusebius that he 

 saw a vision as he was marching from France into Italy 

 against Maxentius, and desiring the help of the gods, fixed 

 upon the God of the Christians, whom he importuned, and it 



* " Decline and Fall of Rome," p. 345. 



