Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/352

 on A THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, men ; and though he might yield to the superior guilt L_ and merit of Constantius, he exacted from Constans the cession of the African provinces, as an equivalent for the rich countries of Macedonia and Greece, which his brother had acquired by the death of Dalmatius. The want of sincerity, which Constantine experienced in a tedious and fruitless negociation, exasperated the fierceness of his temper; and he eagerly listened to those favourites who suggested to him that his honour, as well as his interest, was concerned in the prosecu- tion of the quarrel. At the head of a tumultuary band, suited for rapine rather than for conquest, he suddenly broke into the dominions of Constans, by the way of the Julian Alps, and the country round Aquileia felt the first effects of his resentment. The measures of Constans, who then resided in Dacia, were directed with more prudence and ability. On the news of his brother's invasion, he detached a select and disciplined body of his Iliyrian troops, proposing to follow them in person with the remainder of his forces. But the con- duct of his lieutenants soon terminated the unnatural contest. By the artful appearances of flight, Constan- tine was betrayed into an ambuscade, which had been concealed in a wood, where the rash youth, with a few attendants, was surprised, surrounded, and slain. His body, after it had been found in the obscure stream of the Alsa, obtained the honours of an imperial sepul- chre ; but his provinces transferred their allegiance to the conqueror, who, refusing to admit his elder brother Constantius to any share in these new acquisitions, maintained the undisputed possession of more than two thirds of the Roman empire ^. The fate of Constans himself was delayed about ten years longer, and the revenge of his brother's death Murder of Constans. A.U. 350, February. y The causes and events of this civil war are related with much per- plexity and contradiction. I have chiefly followed Zonaras and the younger Victor. The monody (ad cafcem Eutrop. edit. Havercamp.) pronounced on the death of Constantine, might have been very instructive; but pru- dence and false taste engaged the orator to involve himself in vague decla- mation.