18. This removal produced no immediate alteration in the government of
the empire. The inhabitants of Rome, though with reluctance, submitted
to the change; nor was there, for two or three years, any disturbance
in the state, until at length the Goths, finding that the Romans had
withdrawn all their garrisons along the Danube, renewed their inroads,
and ravaged the country with unheard-of cruelty. 19. Con'stantine,
however, soon repressed their incursions, and so straitened them, that
nearly a hundred thousand of their number perished by cold and hunger.
20. Another great error ascribed to him is, the dividing the empire
among his sons. Con'stantine, the emperor's eldest son, commanded in
Gaul and the western provinces; Constan'tius, the second, governed
Africa and Illyr'icum; and Con'stans, the youngest, ruled in Italy.
21. This division of the empire still further contributed to its
downfall; for the united strength of the state being no longer brought
to repress invasion, the barbarians fought with superior numbers, and
conquered at last, though often defeated.
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