30 THE DECLINE AND FALL CilAP. body, which had sunk , very deep into the mud, was " found with some difficulty the next day. The sight of his head, when it was exposed to the eyes of the peo- ple, convinced them of their deliverance, and admon- ished them to receive, with acclamations of loyalty and gratitude, the fortunate Constantine, who thus achieved by his valour and ability the most splendid enterprise of his life ". Hisrecep- In the use of victory, Constantine neither deserved ' the praise of clemency, nor incurred the censure of immoderate rigour . He inflicted the same treatment to which a defeat would have exposed his own person and family, put to death the two sons of the tyrant, and carefully extirpated his whole race. The most distinguished adherents of JNIaxentius must have ex- pected to share his fate, as they had shared his pro- sperity and his crimes ; but when the Roman people loudly demanded a greater number of victims, the con- queror resisted, with firmness and humanity, those ser- vile clamours which were dictated by flattery as well as by resentment. Informers were punished and discou- raged ; the innocent, who had suffered under the late tyi'anny, were recalled from exile, and restored to their estates. A general act of oblivion quieted the minds and settled the property of the people, both in Italy and in Africa '^. The first time tbat Constantine hon- oured the senate with his presence, he recapitulated his own services and exploits in a modest oration, as- svu'ed that illustrious order of his sincere regard, and promised to reestablish its ancient dignity and privi- ■■' Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 86 — 88, and the two panegyrics, the former of which was pronounced a few months afterwards, afford the clearest notion of this great battle. Lactantius, Eusebius, and even the epitomes, supply several useful hints.
- > Zosimus, the enemy of Constantine, allows (1. ii. p. 88.) that only a few
of the friends of Maxentius were put to death ; but we may remark the ex- pressive passage of Nazarius, (Panegyr. Vet. x. 6.) Omnibus qui labefactare statum ejus poterant cum stirpe deletis. The other orator (Panegyr. Vet. , ix. 20, 21.) contents himself with observing, that Constantine, when he en- tered Rome, did not imitate the cruel massacres of Ciniia, of Marius, or of •^ See the two panegyrics, and the laws of this and the ensuing year, in the Theodosian code.
