Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/26

 6 THE DECLINE AND FALL suffocated in his sleep by the vapour of charcoal ; which ex- tracted from the walls of the apartment the unwholesome moisture of the fresh plaister.'** But the want of a regular inquiry into the death of a prince, whose reign and person were soon forgotten, appears to have been the only circumstance which countenanced the malicious whispers of poison and domestic guilt.'" The body of Jovian was sent to Constanti- nople, to be interred with his predecessors ; and the sad pro- cession was met on the road by his wife Charito, the daughter of Count Lucillian ; who still wept the recent death of her father, and was hastening to dry Jier tears in the embraces of an Imperial husband. Her disappointment and grief were embittered by the anxiety of maternal tenderness. Six weeks before the death of Jovian, his infant son had been placed in the curule chair, adorned with the title of Xobiliiswinx, and the vain ensigns of the consulship. Unconscious of his fortune, the royal youth, who, from his grandfather, assumed the name of 'arronian, was reminded only by the jealousy of the govern- ment that he was the son of an emperor. Sixteen years after- wards he was still alive, but he had already been deprived of an eye ; and his afflicted mother expected every hour that the innocent victim would be torn from her arms, to appease with his blood the suspicions of the reigning prince. ^^ Vacancy of After the death of Jovian, the throne of the Roman world the throne. Feb. 17 26 remained ten days '•' without a master. The ministers and generals still continued to meet in council ; to exercise their respective functions ; to maintain the public order ; and peace- ably to conduct the army to the city of Nice in Bithynia, which i*See Ammianus (xxv. lo). Eutropius (x. i8), who might likewise be present; Jeroni (torn. i. p. 26, ad Heliodonim [ep. 60]), Orosius (vii. 31), Sozomen (1. vi. c. 6), Zosimus (1. lii, p. 197, 198 [c. 35'), and Zonaras (torn. ii. 1. xiii. p. 28, 29 [c. 14]). We cannot expect a perfect agreement, and we shall not discuss minute differences. 1" Ammianus, unmindful of his usual candour and good sense, compares the de.ath of the harmless Jovian to tiiat of the second Africanus, who had excited the fe.irs and resentment of the popular faction. l8Chrysostom, torn. i. p. 336, 344, edit. Montfaucon. The Christian orator attempts to comfort a widow by the examples of illustrious misfortunes; and observes that, of nine emperors (including the C.T?.=«ir Gallus) who had reigned in his time, only two (Constantine and Constantius) died a natural death. Such vague consolations have never wiped away a single tear. 19 Ten days appeared scarcely sufficient for the march and election. But it maybe observed: i. That the generals might command the expeditious use of the public posts for themselves, their attendants, and messengers. 2. That the troops, for the ease of the cities, marched in many divisions; and that the head pf the column might arrive at Nice, when the rear halted at Ancyra.