Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/364

 346 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP. The ap])ioach of winter supplied the indolence of ^^^^^ ^ Constantius with specious reasons for deferring the Conquest of prosecution of the war till the ensuing spring. Mag- a!d!332. '^dtius had fixed his residence in the city of Aquileia, and showed a seeming resolution to dispute the pas- sage of the mountains and morasses which fortified the confines of the Venetian province. The surprisal of a castle in the Alps by the secret march of the im- perialists, could scarcely have determined him to re- linquish the possession of Italy, if the inclinations of the people had supported the cause of their tyrant". But the memory of the cruelties exercised by his mini- sters, after the unsuccessful revolt of Nepotian, had left a deep impression of horror and resentment on the minds of the Romans. That rash youth, the son of the princess Eutropia, and the nephew of Constantine, had seen with indignation the sceptre of the west usurped by a perfidious barbarian. Arming a despe- rate troop of slaves and gladiators, he overpowered the feeble guard of the domestic tranquilhty of Rome, received the homage of the senate, and assuming the title of Augustus, precariously reigned during a tumult of twenty-eight days. The march of some regular forces put an end to his ambitious hopes : the rebellion was extinguished in the blood of Nepotian, of his mother Eutropia, and of his adherents ; and the pro- scription was extended to all who had contracted a fatal alliance with the name and family of Constantine ". But as soon as Constantius, after the battle of Mursa, and Zonaras to the flattering assertions of Julian. The younger Victor paints the character of Magnentius in a singular light : " Sermonis acer, animi tumidi, et immodice timidus ; artifex tamen ad occultandam audaciaj specie formidinem." Is it most likely that in the battle of Mursa his beha- viour was governed by nature or by art? I should incline for the latter. " Julian, Orat. i. p. 38, 39. In that place, however, as well as in Ora- tion ii. p. 97, he insinuates the general disposition of the senate, the people, and the soldiers of Italy, towards the party of the emperor. ^ The elder Victor describes in a pathetic manner the miserable con- dition of Rome: Cujus stolidum ingenium adeo P. R. patribusque exitio fuit, uti passim domus, fora, vice, templaque, cruore, cadaveribusque op- plerentur bustorum mode. Athanasius (tom. i, p. 677.) deplores the fate of several illustrious victims; and Julian (Orat. li. p. 58.) execrates the cruelty of Marcellinus, the implacable enemy of the house of Constantine.