Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/38

 20 THE DECLINE AND FALL C H A P. mainder of the troops wei'e stationed in the southern ^'^ • provinces of Gaul, which lay exposed to the enterprises of the Italian emperor, and a considerable treasure was deposited in the city of Aries. Maximian either craftily invented, or hastily credited, a vain report of the death of Constantine. Without hesitation he ascended the throne, seized the treasure, and scattering it with his accustomed profusion among the soldiers, endeavoured to awake in their minds the memory of his ancient dig- nity and exploits. Before he could establish his au- thority, or finish the negociation which he appears to liave entered into with his son Maxentius, the celerity of Constantine defeated all his hopes. On the first news of his perfidy and ingratitude, that prince re- turned by rapid marches from the Rhine to the Saone, embarked on the last mentioned river at Chalons, and at Lyons trusting himself to the rapidity of the Rhone, arrived at the gates of Aries, with a military force which it was impossible for Maximian to resist, and which scarcely permitted him to take refuge in the neigh- bouring city of Marseilles. The narrow neck of land which joined that place to the continent was fortified against the besiegers, whilst the sea was open, either for the escape of Maximian, or for the succours of Maxentius, if the latter should choose to discruise his invasion of Gaul, under the honourable pretence of defending a distressed, or, as he might allege, an in- jured father. Apprehensive of the fatal consequences of delay, Constantine gave orders for an immediate assault; but the scaling-ladders were found too short for the height of the walls, and Marseilles might have sustained as long a siege as it formerly did against the arms of Caesar, if the garrison, conscious either of their fault or of their danger, had not purchased their pardon by delivering up the city and the person of Maximian. His death. A secret but irrevocable sentence of death was pro- February nounced against the usurper; he obtained only the same favour which he had indulged to Severus ; and it was published to the world that, oppressed by the re-