214 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, populace, and from the rigour of the laws. The pro- ^ vinces of Gaul (under which we may probably include those of Britain) were indebted for the singular tran- quillity which they enjoyed to the gentle interposition of their sovereign '^. But Datianus, the president or governor of Spain, actuated either by zeal or policy, chose rather to execute the public edicts of the em- perors, than to understand the secret intentions of Con- stantius ; and it can scarcely be doubted, that his pro- vincial administration was stained with the blood of a few martyrs ^. The elevation of Constantius to the supreme and independent dignity of Augustus, gave a free scope to the exercise of his virtues; and the short- ness of his reign did not prevent him from establishing a system of toleration, of which he left the precept and the example to his son Constantine. His fortunate son, from the first moment of his accession, declaring himself the protector of the church, at length deserved the appellation of the first emperor who publicly pro- fessed and established the christian religion. The motives of his conversion, as they may variously be deduced from benevolence, from policy, from convic- tion, or from remorse ; and the progress of the revo- lution which, under his powerful influence and that of his sons, rendered Christianity the reigning religion of the Roman empire, will form a very interesting and im- portant chapter in the second volume of this history *. At present it may be sufficient to observe, that every victory of Constantine was productive of some relief or benefit to the church. •i Eusebius, 1. viii. c. 13 ; Lactantius de M. P. c. 15. Dodwell (Disser- tat. Cyprian, xi. 75.) represents them as inconsistent with each other. But the former evidently speaks of Constantius in the station of Caesar, and the latter of the same prince in the rank of Augustus.
- ^ Datianus is mentioned in Gruter's Inscriptions as having determined
the limits between the territories of Pax Julia and those of Ebora, both cities in the southern part of Lusitania. If we recollect the neighbourhood of those places to cape St. Vincent, we may suspect that the celebrated deacon and martyr of that name has been inaccurately assigned by Pruden- tius, etc, to Saragossa or ^'alentia. See the pompous history of his suffer- ings, in the Memoires de Tilleinont, torn. v. part ii. p. 58 — 85. Some critics are of opinion, that the department of Constantius, as Caesar, did not include Spain, which still continued under the immediate jurisdiction of Maximian. [* This refers to the first edition in quarto.]
