the reign of Constantine, is a strange and unconnected fact, which
can scarcely be admitted on the joint authority of Imperial medals and
contemporary writers.

The whole empire was deeply interested in the education of these five
youths, the acknowledged successors of Constantine. The exercise of
the body prepared them for the fatigues of war and the duties of
active life. Those who occasionally mention the education or talents of
Constantius, allow that he excelled in the gymnastic arts of leaping and
running that he was a dexterous archer, a skilful horseman, and a master
of all the different weapons used in the service either of the cavalry
or of the infantry. The same assiduous cultivation was bestowed, though
not perhaps with equal success, to improve the minds of the sons and
nephews of Constantine. The most celebrated professors of the Christian
faith, of the Grecian philosophy, and of the Roman jurisprudence, were
invited by the liberality of the emperor, who reserved for himself
the important task of instructing the royal youths in the science of
government, and the knowledge of mankind. But the genius of Constantine
himself had been formed by adversity and experience. In the free
intercourse of private life, and amidst the dangers of the court of
Galerius, he had learned to command his own passions, to encounter those
of his equals, and to depend for his present safety and future greatness
on the prudence and firmness of his personal conduct. His destined
successors had the misfortune of being born and educated in the imperial
purple. Incessantly surrounded with a train of flatterers, they passed
their youth in the enjoyment of luxury, and the expectation of a throne;
nor would the dignity of their rank permit them to descend from that
elevated station from whence the various characters of human nature
appear to wear a smooth and uniform aspect. The indulgence of
Constantine admitted them, at a very tender age, to share the
administration of the empire; and they studied the art of reigning,
at the expense of the people intrusted to their care. The younger
Constantine was appointed to hold his court in Gaul; and his brother
Constantius exchanged that department, the ancient patrimony of their
father, for the more opulent, but less martial, countries of the East.
Italy, the Western Illyricum, and Africa, were accustomed to revere
Constans, the third of his sons, as the representative of the great
Constantine.