[Footnote 192: Cod. Theod. l. xii. tit. xiii. The senators were
supposed to be exempt from the Aurum Coronarium; but the Auri
Oblatio, which was required at their hands, was precisely of the
same nature.]

A people elated by pride, or soured by discontent, are
seldom qualified to form a just estimate of their actual
situation. The subjects of Constantine were incapable of
discerning the decline of genius and manly virtue, which so far
degraded them below the dignity of their ancestors; but they
could feel and lament the rage of tyranny, the relaxation of
discipline, and the increase of taxes. The impartial historian,
who acknowledges the justice of their complaints, will observe
some favorable circumstances which tended to alleviate the misery
of their condition. The threatening tempest of Barbarians, which
so soon subverted the foundations of Roman greatness, was still
repelled, or suspended, on the frontiers. The arts of luxury and
literature were cultivated, and the elegant pleasures of society
were enjoyed, by the inhabitants of a considerable portion of the
globe. The forms, the pomp, and the expense of the civil
administration contributed to restrain the irregular license of
the soldiers; and although the laws were violated by power, or
perverted by subtlety, the sage principles of the Roman
jurisprudence preserved a sense of order and equity, unknown to
the despotic governments of the East. The rights of mankind
might derive some protection from religion and philosophy; and
the name of freedom, which could no longer alarm, might sometimes
admonish, the successors of Augustus, that they did not reign
over a nation of Slaves or Barbarians. ^193