It was not likely that a monarch
who had consented to the murder of his own son, on the most groundless
charges, would be more merciful to those who had no natural claims
upon his forbearance; execution followed execution with fearful
rapidity, until the bonds of society were broken, and every man
dreaded his neighbour, lest by misinterpreting a word or look, he
should expose him to the indiscriminate cruelty of the sovereign.
3. The example of their father's tyranny produced an effect on the
minds of his sons, which no education, however excellent or judicious,
could remove. Pious Christian pastors, learned philosophers, and
venerable sages of the law, were employed to instruct the three
princes, Constanti'ne, Constan'tius, and Con'stans; but the effects of
their labours never appeared in the lives of their pupils.
4. For some reasons which it is now impossible to discover, the great
Constantine had raised two of his nephews to the rank of princes, and
placed them on an equality with his own children. Before the emperor's
body was consigned to the tomb, this impolitic arrangement brought
destruction on the entire Flavian family.
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