ennobled by the Gothic Claudius, descended through several
generations; and Constantine himself derived from his royal
father the hereditary honors which he transmitted to his
children. The emperor had been twice married. Minervina, the
obscure but lawful object of his youthful attachment, ^7 had left
him only one son, who was called Crispus. By Fausta, the
daughter of Maximian, he had three daughters, and three sons
known by the kindred names of Constantine, Constantius, and
Constans. The unambitious brothers of the great Constantine,
Julius Constantius, Dalmatius, and Hannibalianus, ^8 were
permitted to enjoy the most honorable rank, and the most affluent
fortune, that could be consistent with a private station. The
youngest of the three lived without a name, and died without
posterity. His two elder brothers obtained in marriage the
daughters of wealthy senators, and propagated new branches of the
Imperial race. Gallus and Julian afterwards became the most
illustrious of the children of Julius Constantius, the Patrician.

The two sons of Dalmatius, who had been decorated with the vain
title of Censor, were named Dalmatius and Hannibalianus. The two
sisters of the great Constantine, Anastasia and Eutropia, were
bestowed on Optatus and Nepotianus, two senators of noble birth
and of consular dignity. His third sister, Constantia, was
distinguished by her preeminence of greatness and of misery. She
remained the widow of the vanquished Licinius; and it was by her
entreaties, that an innocent boy, the offspring of their
marriage, preserved, for some time, his life, the title of
Caesar, and a precarious hope of the succession. Besides the
females, and the allies of the Flavian house, ten or twelve
males, to whom the language of modern courts would apply the