daughter of Maximum as far back as 293, when she was a mere child;
and daughters of emperors were not common enough to be thrown away
on outsiders. Moreover, money had recently been coined at Alexandria
with the inscription conbtantinus caesar. But at the last moment
Diocletian passed him over. Perhaps he was over-persuaded by
Galerius: more likely he was reserving him to succeed his father in
Gaul. After this, however, the court of Galerius was no place for
Constantine. Presently he managed to escape, and joined his father
at Boulogne. After a short campaign in Caledonia, Constantius died
at York (25 July 306) and the army hailed Constantine Augustus. He
was a good officer, the sons of Theodora were only boys, and the army
of Britain (always the most mutinous in the Empire) had no mind to
wait for a new Caesar from the East. Its chief mover was Crocus the
Alemannic king: and this would seem to be the first case of a barbarian
king as a Roman general, and also the first case of barbarian action in
the election of an emperor. Willingly or unwillingly, Galerius recog-
nised Constantine, though only as Caesar. It mattered little: he had
the power, and the title came a couple of years later.
Thus Constantine succeeded his father in Gaul and Britain. We hear little of his administration during the next six years (306-312), but we get a general impression that he was a good ruler, and careful of his people. Such fighting as he had to do was of the usual sort against the Franks, mostly inside the Rhine, and against the Alemanni and the Bructeri beyond it. The war however was merciless, for even heathen feeling was shocked when he gave barbarian kings to the beasts, along with their followers by thousands at a time. But Gaul had never recovered from the great invasions (254-285) and his remissions of taxation gave no permanent relief to the public misery. In religion he was of course heathen ; but he grew more and more monotheistic, and the Christians always counted him friendly like his father.
The last act of Galerius (Apr. 311) was an edict of toleration for the Christians. It was not encumbered with any “hard conditions,”[1] but it was given Sn the heathen principle that every god is entitled to the worship of his own people, whereas the persecution hindered the Christians from rendemig that worship. A few days after this Galerius died. There were novMtour emperors. Constantine held Gaul and Britain, Maxentius Italy, Spain and Africa, while Licinius (more properly' Licinian) ruled Illyricum, Greece and Thrace, and Maximin Daza (or Daia) held everything beyond the Bosphorus. Their political alliances were partly determined by their geographical position, Constantine reaching over Maxentius to Licinius, while Maximin reached over Licinius to Maxentius; partly also by their relation to the Christians, for this was now the immediate question of practical politics. Constantine was
- ↑ One of the toleration laws alluded to by Licinius was so encumbered; but this appears to have been the rescript of Maximin Daza a little later.
