It was seldom to be expected that the general and the civil governor of a province should either conspire for the disturbance, or should unite for the service, of their country.

While the one delayed to offer the assistance which the other disdained to solicit, the troops very frequently remained without orders or without supplies; the public safety was betrayed, and the defenceless subjects were left exposed to the fury of the Barbarians.

The divided administration which had been formed by Constantine, relaxed the vigor of the state, while it secured the tranquillity of the monarch.
The memory of Constantine has been deservedly censured for another innovation, which corrupted military discipline and prepared the ruin of the empire.

The nineteen years which preceded his final victory over Licinius, had been a period of license and intestine war.

The rivals who contended for the possession of the Roman world, had withdrawn the greatest part of their forces from the guard of the general frontier; and the principal cities which formed the boundary of their respective dominions were filled with soldiers, who considered their countrymen as their most implacable enemies.