RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Constantino
became willingly absorbed in Holy Scripture, and was fond of presenting his religious convictioiis and knowledge in oral discourse. His mo-
10. Con- rality was not inferior to the better averstantine's age morahty common to the Church of
Person- that age. As he prosecuted unchastity ality. in others with severe penalties, he exacted the loftiest requirements of himself in this direction. His dominating traits were strong impulse and powerful resolution. He was distinguished by a deeply rooted sense of duty to the empire; and he more than once withstood the temptation to exalt his personal interests above the common good. His education was moderate, but he sought to attain what camp life had denied him, associating gladly with scholars, even pagans; and he promoted science and art. Legislation under his rule was a very live matter; but the exchequer, owing partly to imperial lavishness, was not always without deficit. He was of handsome presence and valued imperial stateliness. He had early hardened his body in the camp, by hunting and games; and so steeled it to the fatigues of the wars that he waged with the mastery of a great campaigner and as the darling of his soldiers. In his last years his physical and intellectual vigor appears to have decreased. Nevertheless, he kept the reins of government firmly in hand to his death. See Constantinople; and Donation op Con-
STANTINE.
11. Constantine's Sons: Adhering tenaciously to Diocletian's imperial regime, Constantine divided the empire before his death among his three sons, with whom was coordinated his nephew Delmatius, in 335, to complete the fourfold arrangement. The latter, however, with other members of Constantine's house, was murdered by the soldiers, who desired to have only the sons of Constantine as heirs to the empire; only Julian and his elder halfbrother Callus were spared. The brothers assumed the official dignity of Caesar Augustus on Sept. 9, 337.
1. Constantine II. (Flavins Claudius Constantinus): Emperor 337-340; b. at Aries 317; killed near Aquileia Apr. 9, 340. He received for his imperial portion Spain, both Gauls, and Britain. A territorial dispute with his younger brother, Constans, brought on a war, and he lost his life in a battle with his brother's generals, at its outset. Athanasius, in exile, was on friendly terms with him.
2. Constantius II. (Flavius Julius Constantius): Emperor 337-361; b. Aug. 7, 317, the son of Fausta; d. at Mopsucrene, in Cilicia (12 m. n. of Tarsus), Nov. 3, 361. During his father's last sickness he was fettered in the East by a Persian war, and arrived barely in time to attend the father's funeral on its way to Constantinople. There fell to him for his imperial portion the Eastern diocese (Egypt and Asia). He survived — again in a Persian campaign— the war between his brothers; likewise the slaying of his younger brother, Constans, by the usurper Magnentius (350). Constantius straightway armed for attack, named his cousin Gallus, who till then had been kept in quasicaptivity, to the rank of Csesar (Mar. 15, 351), and overcame his adversary in a frightful battle near Mursa in Pan-
nonia, Sept. 28. The next years, also, he spent in the West, occupied with the changeful course of the Arian dispute, which was incessantly evoking new difficulties; also with military movements against the Germans, and with the subjugation of the usurper Claudius Silvanus in Gaul; furthermore, with prosecutions for high treason, wherein the emperor's mistrust — the fault partly of his environment — did not invariably find the right procedure. He was marching to the East when he received word of the elevation of Julian; but in his great anxiety for the weal of the empire he did not break off the campaign, but first pushed it to a provisional conclusion, and then turned against the insurgent. He died of a violent fever, however, on the military highway leading to Tarsus. The government of Constantius was burdened with extraordinary difficulties. The ecclesiastical schism crippled any thoroughly unifying force. The emperor's sympathies inclined toward the Arian side; and to this fact attaches the predominantly unfavorable estimate of him by church writers, who have been far less just to him than the pagans.
Constantius was his father's favorite son, and in fact a good part of the personality of Constantine the Great survives in him. By nature equable and benevolent, zealous for the interests of his subjects, intent on rewarding loyal services, he was mistrustful when his absolutism seemed threatened, and in that event was liable to become a ruthless tyrant. To protect the empire he created a valorous army, and maintained its efficiency by strict discipline. The sphere of justice was reconstructed by him, and administrative reforms were introduced. He had a good education and showed particular inclination to rhetoric. In his building activity, again, he was his father's true son, and his new buildings included many churches. On the other hand, his financial administration was poor; or at least the finances were in poor condition. The emperor's liberality, his blind confidence, and his wars utterly exhausted the exchequer. The bishops' practise of driving back and forth to synods by the imperial post almost destroyed it ; and the continual negotiations and synods swallowed up state funds in no ordinary measure. In any summary estimate of the emperor, however, his attributes of excellence wiU always hold the preponderance over his failings. He lacked above all the great impulsive power of his far-seeing father; while on another side, because grown up into Christianity from the very outset, he is a more concrete, self-contained Christian type than the former; and he is strongly taken up with theology.
3. Constans (Flavius Julius Constans): Emperor 337-350; b. about 323; killed at Helena, in the Pyrenees, 350. He governed Africa, both Italies, and Pannonia; and, after the death of his brother Constantine II. (340), the entire West. He evinced force, flexibility, and loyalty to duty in governing his vast, though in its details very diversified, imperial allotment; and he succeeded in bringing about a pacific situation. His preference for the Germans was remarked and censured. Infirmity of health and evil environment subsequently weakened his energy, and suffered a demoralizing
Constantine Constantinople