entertained fome hopes of furprising the perfon CHAP. tius Vetranio As foon as the death of Conftans had decided Magnenthis eafy but important revolution, the example of us and the court of Autun was imitated by the provinces affume the purple, of the weft. The authority of Magnentius was A.D. 350. acknowledged through the whole extent of the March 3. two great præfectures of Gaul and Italy; and the ufurper prepared, by every act of oppreffion, to collect a treasure, which might discharge the obligation of an immense donative, and fupply the expences of a civil war. The martial countries 71 This ancient city had once flourished under the name of IlTiberis (Pomponius Mela, ii. 5.). The munificence of Conftantine gave it new fplendor, and his mother's name. Helena (it is ftill called Elne) became the feat of a bishop, who long afterwards tranfferred his refidence to Perpignan, the capital of modern Roufillon. See d'Anville Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, PA 389. Longuerue Description de la France, p. 223. and the Marca Hifpanica, I. i. c. 2. 74 Zofimus, 1. ii. p. 119, 120. Zonaras, tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 13. and the Abbreviators. L 3 of CHAP. of Illyricum, from the Danube to the extremity XVIII. of Greece, had long obeyed the government of Vetranio, an aged general, beloved for the fimplicity of his manners, and who had acquired fome reputation by his experience and fervices in war 73. Attached by habit, by duty, and by gratitude, to the houfe of Conftantine, he immediately gave the ftrongeft affurances to the only furviving fon of his late mafter, that he would expofe, with unfhaken fidelity, his perfon and his troops, to inflict a juft revenge on the traitors of Gaul. But the legions of Vetranio were feduced rather than provoked by the example of rebellion; their leader foon betrayed a want of firmnefs, or a want of fincerity; and his ambition derived a fpecious pretence from the approbation of the princefs Conftantina. That cruel and afpiring woman, who had obtained from the great Conftantine her father the rank of Augufta, placed the diadem with her own hands on the head of the Illyrian general; and feemed to expect from his victory, the accomplishment of thofe unbounded hopes, of which fhe had been difappointed by the death of her husband Hannibalianus. Perhaps it was without the confent of Conftantina, that the new emperor formed a neceffary, though difhonourable, alliance with the ufurper of the weft, 78 Eutropius (x. 10.) defcribes Vetranio with more temper, and probably with more truth, than either of the two Victors. Vetranio was born of obfcure parents in the wildeft parts of Mafia; and fo much had his education been neglected, that, after his elevation, he ftudied the alphabet. whofe whofe purple was fo recently ftained with her CHA P. brother's blood 74. war. XVIII. fuses to The intelligence of thefe important events, Conftanwhich fo deeply affected the honour and fafety of tius rethe Imperial houfe, recalled the arms of Conftan- treat. tius from the inglorious profecution of the Perfian A.D. 350. He recommended the care of the eaft to his lieutenants, and afterwards to his coufin Gallus, whom he raifed from a prifon to a throne; and marched towards Europe, with a mind agitated by the conflict of hope and fear, of grief and indignation. On his arrival at Heraclea in Thrace, the emperor gave audience to the ambaffadors of Magnentius and Vetranio. The first author of the confpiracy, Marcellinus, who in fome measure had beftowed the purple on his new mafter, boldly accepted this dangerous commiffion and his three colleagues were selected from the illuftrious perfonages of the ftate and army. These deputies were inftructed to foothe the refentment, and to alarm the fears, of Conftantius. They were empowered to offer him the friendship and alliance of the western princes, to cement their union by a double marriage; of Conftantius with the daughter of Magnentius, and of Magnentius himfelf with the ambitious Conftantina; and to acknowledge in the treaty the pre-eminence of rank, which might justly be claimed by the emperor of the eaft. Should pride and mistaken piety urge him to refuse these equi 74 The doubtful, fluctuating conduct of Vetranio is defcribed by Julian in his first oration, and accurately explained by Spanheim, who difcuffes the fituation and behaviour of Conftantina. CHAP. table conditions, the ambaffadors were ordered XVIII. to expatiate on the inevitable ruin which must at tend his rafhnefs, if he ventured to provoke the fovereigns of the weft to exert their fuperior ftrength; and to employ against him that valour, thofe abilities, and thofe legions, to which the houfe of Constantine had been indebted for fo many triumphs. Such propofitions and fuch arguments appeared to deferve the moft ferious attention; the answer of Conftantius was deferred till the next day; and as he had reflected on the importance of justifying a civil war in the opinion of the people, he thus addreffed his council, who liftened with real or affected credulity: "Laft "night," faid he, " after I retired to reft, the "fhade of the great Conftantine, embracing the "corpfe of my murdered brother, rose before my 66 eyes; his well-known voice awakened me to "revenge, forbad me to despair of the republic, and affured me of the fuccefs and immortal "glory which would crown the juftice of my "arms." The authority of fuch a vifion, or rather of the prince who alleged it, filenced every doubt, and excluded all negociation, The ignominious terms of peace were rejected with difdain. One of the ambaffadors of the tyrant was difmiffed with the haughty anfwer of Conftantius; his colleagues, as unworthy of the privileges of the law of nations, were put in irons; and the contending powers prepared to wage an impla, cable war 75, 75 See Peter the Patrician, in the Excerpta Legationum, p. 27. Such was the conduct, and fuch perhaps was CHA P. the duty, of the brother of Conftans towards the XVIII, perfidious ufurper of Gaul. The fituation and Depofes character of Vetranio admitted of milder mea- Vetranio, A. D. 350. fures; and the policy of the eastern emperor was Dec. 25. directed to difunite his antagonist, and to feparate the forces of Illyricum from the cause of rebellion. It was an eafy talk to deceive the frankness and fimplicity of Vetranio, who, fluctuating fome time between the oppofite views of honour and intereft, displayed to the world the infincerity of his temper, and was infenfibly engaged in the fnares of an artful negociation. Conftantius acknowledged him as a legitimate and equal colleague in the empire, on condition that he would renounce his difgraceful alliance with Magnentius, and appoint a place of interview on the frontiers of their respective provinces; where they might pledge their friendship by mutual vows of fidelity, and regulate by common confent the future operations of the civil war. In confequence of this agreement, Vetranio advanced to the city of Sardica 75, at the head of twenty thousand horfe, and of a more numerous body of infantry; a power fo far fuperior to the forces of Conftantius, that the Illyrian emperor appeared to command the life and fortunes of his rival, who, depending on the fuccefs of his private negociations, had feduced the troops, and undermined e 76 Zonaras, tom. ii. 1. xiii. p. 16. The pofition of Sardica, near the modern city of Sophia, appears better fuited to this interview than the fituation of either Naiffus or Sirmium, where it is placed by Jerom, Socrates, and Sozomen, the |