sion <) taxes 10 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, position, they submitted without reluctance to the su- periority of his genius and fortune ^ Discontent IL The ambitious spirit of Galerius was scarcely re- nianratthe conciled to the disappointment of his views upon the apprehen- Galhc provinces, before the unexpected loss of Italy wounded his pride as well as power in a still more sen- sible part. The long absence of the emperors had filled Rome with discontent and indignation ; and the people gradually discovered, that the preference given to Nicomedia and Milan, was not to be ascribed to the particular inclination of Diocletian, but to the perma- nent form of government which he had instituted. It was in vain that, a few months after his abdication, his successors dedicated, under his name, those magnifi- cent baths, whose ruins still sujiply the ground as well as the materials for so many churches and convents ". The tranquillity of those elegant recesses of ease and luxury was disturbed by the impatient murmurs of the Romans ; and a report was insensibly circulated, that the sums expended in erecting those buildings, would soon be required at their hands. About that time the avarice of Galerius, or perhaps the exigencies of the state, had induced him to make a very strict and rigor- ous inquisition into the property of his subjects, for the purpose of a general taxation, both on tiieir lands and on their persons. A very minute survey appears to have been taken of their real estates ; and wherever there was the slightest suspicion of concealment, tor- ture was very freely employed to obtain a sincere de- claration of their personal wealth". The privileges ' Of the three sisters of Constantine, Constantia married the emperor Licinius, Anastasia the Caesar Bassianus, and Eulropia the consul Nepotia- nus. The tliree brothers were, Dalmatius, Julius Constantius, and Anni- balianus, of whom we shall have occasion to speak hereafter. " See Gruter, Inscript. p. 178. The six princes are all mentioned, Dio- cletian and Maxiraian as the senior A ugusti and fathers of the emperors. They jointly dedicate, for the use of their owti Romans, this magnificent edi- fice. The architects have delineated the ruins of these l/ie/7«te ; and the anti(]uarians, particularly Donatus and Nardini, have ascertained the ground which they covered. One of the great rooms is now the Carthusian church ; and even one of the porters' lodges is sufficient to form another church, which belongs to the Feuillans. See Lactantius de M. P. c. 26. 31.
