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appointment of an emperor had 

 been recognized from the first, 

 succeeded in making the right 

 effective. 



Then followed soldier emperors 

 of great ability, Trajan and 

 Hadrian, and after them the 

 Antonines, the best governors of 

 the whole imperial period. The 

 philosopher-emperor Marcus Aure- 

 h'us gave place to a feeble and 

 vicious son, Commodus ; on his 

 assassination, A.D. 180, military 

 nominations followed for several 

 generations, often due to anarchic 

 action by the legions, each great 

 army striving to set its commander 

 on the throne, in order to secure 

 the largess to be obtained by suc- 

 cess. The 3rd century was chaotic 

 from this cause, until some men 

 appeared whose powers were strong 

 enough to give them secure control. 



Aurelian and Diocletian 

 Aurelian, in 270, found the em- 

 pire ready to crumble away owing 

 to internal weakness and dis- 

 sensions, and the formidable as- 

 saults of Germanic tribes, chiefly 

 the Goths, Franks, and Alamanni. 

 The pressure of the barbarians was 

 due greatly to need of land, in 

 large part caused by tribes in the 

 far East, driven westward by the 

 same necessity. The emperors 

 adopted the policy of allotting 

 vacant lands within the empire to 

 the newcomers from time to time, 

 in return for military service, an 

 utterly ineffectual policy. Large 

 portions of the empire rapidly 

 passed from civilization to bar- 

 barism. To a great extent these 

 aliens filled the ranks of the army, 

 and high officials of patently bar- 

 baric origin swayed the destinies 

 of the empire. In 282 a vigorous 

 emperor, Probus, was murdered by 

 his soldiers, and after an interval 

 of confusion Diocletian, one of the 

 greatest of the emperors, succeeded, 

 and a new era began for the empire. 

 After Augustus, Diocletian was 

 the greatest political organizer that 

 Rome ever had. He tried to recon- 

 stitute all the imperial institutions 

 in such a manner as to remove a 

 number of sores which were 

 threatening destruction to the body 

 politic. (1) He tried to devise a 

 method whereby succession to the 

 throne should take place peace- 

 fully. He placed the supreme 

 power in commission. There were 

 to be two emperors-in-chief, called 

 Augusti. ' ' Each of these was to 

 nominate an assistant to bear the 

 title of Caesar, and at the end of 20 

 years' tenure of office, the Augus- 

 tus was to retire, being succeeded 

 by the Caesar, who would have re- 

 ceived a thorough training for the 

 work of a ruler. For administrative 

 purposes, the empire was divided 



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into two spheres, an Eastern and a 

 Western, and each of these spheres 

 again into two. In practice the 

 four sections had for their superin- 

 tendence one of the four imperial 

 personages, while the two Augusti 

 settled matters of universal concern 

 in common. 



(2) The provinces were split up 

 into smaller portions. It would 

 thus be very difficult for an ambi- 

 tious governor to find sufficient re- 

 sources near at hand to make him- 

 self dangerous to the supreme au- 

 thority. Diocletian preserved the 

 provincial councils, a very benefi- 

 cial creation of Augustus. (3) The 

 complex hierarchy of officials was 

 thoroughly reorganized with a 

 view to efficiency. (4) The immo- 

 bility of the legions, stationed by 

 Augustus permanently on the fron- 

 tiers, had conduced to chaos, and 

 Diocletian created a mobile army. 

 (5) A great council of the Empire 

 (Consistarium), with definite con- 

 stitution and powers, was organ- 

 ized. (6) A vast and urgently need 

 ed reform of the coinage was begun, 

 and completed by Diocletian's suc- 

 cessor,Constantine. (7) A great and 

 uniform organization of finance was 

 undertaken. The land became the 

 chief basis of taxation. 



Growth of Despotism 

 The whole scheme was but par- 

 tially successful, but it undoubt- 

 edly stayed the previously im- 

 minent ruin. Several processes, 

 which had been for many genera- 

 tions gradually stealing over the 

 empire, now reached their full de- 

 velopment. (1) The monarchy, at 

 first a despotism unavowed, and 

 for that very reason less oppres- 

 sive, now became frankly auto- 

 cratic. (2) The empire started as in 

 essence a vast confederation of 

 communities invested with a great 

 degree of local autonomy. But the 

 central power had been continu- 

 ally encroaching on the privileges 

 of the innumerable civic communi- 

 ties of the empire. These were 

 ruined by bad financial adminis- 

 tration, which was aggravated in 

 some respects by the changes which 

 Diocletian introduced. 



Responsibility for the produc- 

 tion of the taxes was laid on the 

 municipal councils, with the result 

 that local interest and initiative 

 were paralysed, No one of the 

 causes which can be assigned to 

 the fall of the Roman empire 

 was more potent than this. (3) A 

 disastrous tendency developed to- 

 wards a kind of social caste system. 

 Caracalla, in 212, had made all the 

 subjects of the empire citizens 

 with nominally equal privileges be- 

 fore the law ; but these privileges 

 came to be of little value to the 

 general mass. By the require- 



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ments of the state, men were de- 

 prived of anything like free choice 

 in ordering their lives. Thus sons of 

 soldiers were obliged to adopt the 

 military career. 



.The class from which muni- 

 cipal councillors were drawn were 

 subjected to such compulsion 

 that any method of escape was 

 welcome, even that of ordination 

 in the Church for the Christian 

 empire left the clergy free. In the 

 , eye of the government the real 

 object of the cultivator's existence 

 was to produce taxes ; he therefore 

 sank into serfdom, and his children 

 after him. So the greater part of 

 the world became bound in chains. 

 (4) A progressive Orientalisation of 

 the Imperial Court took place, 

 which rendered it a hotbed of 

 intrigue. The Eastern idea that a 

 monarch is in some sense divine, 

 introduced by Augustus, thorough- 

 ly transformed the atmosphere. 

 The whole public service became 

 servile and corrupt. 



Acceptance o! Christianity 

 The attempts made to cure 

 these evils ever became more 

 strenuous and severe, and always 

 failed. (5) The old Roman Senate, 

 treated with outward respect by 

 Augustus, became little more than 

 a local council for the city of Rome. 

 (6) Italy lost her pride of place, and 

 became even as the extra-Italian 

 provinces. (7) The official accept- 

 ance of Christianity by Constan- 

 tino introduced a disastrous inter- 

 mingling of politics and religion. 

 Heresy now became a thing of 

 infinite political consequence. (8) 

 Rome was deprived of its pre- 

 eminence by Constantine, who in 

 330 gave the famous old Greek city 

 Byzantium a new name, Constan- 

 tinopolis, after himself. The new 

 capital was settled after the model 

 of old Rome. Even in Italy, old 

 Rome ceased to be the unrivalled 

 city of the rulers. Late emperors 

 held court frequently at other 

 places, especially in the cities of 

 Milan and Ravenna. 



In 337 Constantine died. In the 

 following year the three Augusti, 

 his three sons, divided the empire. 

 The East fell to Constantius, Iltyria 

 and adjacent parts to Constantine 

 II, and the West to Constans. A 

 year after this partition Constans 

 attacked and killed Constantine II, 

 and annexed his dominions. In ten 

 years' time a formidable pretender, 

 Magnentius, drove Constans to his 

 death, and reached Rome. In 351 

 Gallus, nephew of Constantine 

 and brother of Julian the Apostate, 

 was recognized as Caesar, and 

 Magnentius was overthrown by 

 Constantius, at Mursa in Pannonia. 

 In 360 Julian became Caesar and 

 Constantius died. Next year Julian 



