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 50 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xxxvi agitated in the council of Leo. The empress Verina, studious to promote the greatness of her own family, had married one of her nieces to Julius Nepos, who succeeded his uncle Mar- cellinus in the sovereignty of Dalmatia, a more solid possession than the title which he was persuaded to accept, of Emperor of the West. But the measures of the Byzantine court were so languid and irresolute that many months elapsed after the death of Anthemius, and even of Olybrius, before their destined successor could shew himself, with a respectable force, to his Italian subjects. During that interval, Glycerius, an obscure [a.d. 473. soldier, was invested with the purple by his patron Gundobald ; but the Burgundian prince was unable, or unwilling, to support his nomination by a civil war : the pursuits of domestic ambi- tion recalled him beyond the Alps, 122 and his client was per- mitted to exchange the Boman sceptre for the bishopric of Salona. After extinguishing such a competitor, the emperor Nepos was acknowledged by the senate, by the Italians, and by the provincials of Gaul ; his moral virtues and military talents were loudly celebrated ; and those who derived any private benefit from his government announced, in prophetic strains, the re- storation of the public felicity. 1 ' 23 Their hopes (if such hopes had been entertained) were confounded within the term of a single year ; and the treaty of peace, which ceded Auvergne to the Visigoths, is the only event of his short and inglorious reign. The most faithful subjects of Gaul were sacrificed by the Italian emperor to the hope of domestic security ; m but his repose was soon invaded by a furious sedition of the Barbarian confederates, who, under the command of Orestes, 122 See Greg. Turon. 1. ii. c. 28, in torn. ii. p. 175. Dubos, Hist. Critique, torn, ii. p. 613. By the murder, or death, of his two brothers, Gundobald acquired the sole possession of the kingdom of Burgundy, whose ruin was hastened by their discord. [Martroye (Genseric, p. 246) infers from Historia Miscella, xv., where he is described as domesticus, that Glycerius was comes domesticorum.'] 123 Julius Nepos armis pariter summus Augustus ac moribus. Sidonius, 1. v. ep. 16, p. 146. Nepos had given to Ecdicius the title of Patrician, which Anthemius had promised, decessoris Anthemii fidem absolvit [i&.]. See 1. viii. ep. 7, p. 224. [A letter to his friend Audax, who was made praefect of Rome. Cp. Orelli, 1153 ; Salvo d.n. Iulio Nepote p(io) f(elice) Aug. Audax v. c. praefectus urbi fecit.] 124 Epiphanius was sent ambassador from Nepos to the Visigoths for the purpose of ascertaining the fines Imperii Italici (Ennodius in Sirmond, torn. i. p. 1665-1669). His pathetic discourse concealed the disgraceful secret, which soon excited the just and bitter complaints of the bishop of Clermont. [On the negotiations between king Euric and Nepos, cp. Hodgkin, Italy and her Invaders, ii. 491 ; Sohmidt, Geschichte der deutschen Stamme, i. 3, p. 265.]