. viii. 204. Armeniam nationesque circum socias habebat, says Aur.
Victor, p. 225. The writer means the Lesser Armenia. Though it is not
possible to question a fact supported by such respectable authorities,
Gibbon considers it inexplicable and incredible. It is a strange abuse
of the privilege of doubting, to refuse all belief in a fact of such
little importance in itself, and attested thus formally by contemporary
authors and public monuments. St. Martin note to Le Beau i. 341.--M.]

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. [32] The same assiduous cultivation was bestowed,
though not perhaps with equal success, to improve the minds of the sons
and nephews of Constantine. [33] 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 appoi