[6] A'per signifies a boar.
* * * * *
_Dr. Goldsmith having concluded his History too abruptly, it has been
thought advisable to cancel his last Chapter, and substitute the
following brief notice of the events which occurred from the death of
Constantine to the final extinction of the Empire of the West._
* * * * *
CHAPTER XXV.
SECTION I.
FROM THE DEATH OF CONSTANTINE TO THE RE-UNION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
UNDER THEODOSIUS THE GREAT.
Talents, angel bright.
If wanting worth, are shining instruments
In false ambition's hands, to finish faults
Illustrious, and give infamy renown.--_Young_.
1. The character of the prince who removed the seat of empire and made
a complete revolution in the civil and religious institutions of his
country, is naturally one on which the opinions of historians are
divided, according to their sentiments respecting the great changes
that he effected. The heathen writers describe him as a monster of
tyranny; the Christian fathers are anxious to conceal his faults and
exaggerate his virtues, as if the nature of Christianity was in some
degree affected by the character of its first and greatest patron.
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