132

THE DECLINE AKD FALL

CHAP.

XVIII.

their own safety, by the punishment of theguilty . 1 Whatever reasons might have beenalleged by these unfortunate princes to defendtheir life and honour against so incredible anaccusation, they were silenced by the furiousclamours of the soldiers, who declared them-selves, at once, their enemies, their judges, andtheir executioners. The spirit, and even theforms of legal proceedings were repeatedly vio-lated in a promiscuous massacre, which involvedthe two uncles of Constantius, seven of his cou-sins, of whom Dalmatius and Hannibalianus were the most illustrious, the patrician Optatus ,who had married a sister of the late emperor,and the prefect Ablavius, whose- power andriches had inspired him with some hopes of ob-taining the purple. If it were necessary to ag-gravate the horrors of this bloody scene, w'emight add, that Constantius himself hadespoused the daughter of his uncle Julius, andthat he had bestowed his sister in marriage onhis cousin Hannibalianus . These alliances,which the policy of Constantine , regardless ofthe public prejudice , 11 had formed between the

1 t have related this singular anecdote on the authority of Philostor*gins, 1. ii, c. 16. Hut if such a pretext was ever used by Constantine and his adherents, it was laid aside with contempt, as soon as it hadserved their immediate purpose. Athanasius (tom. i, p 85G) mentionsthe oath which Constantius had taken for the security of his kinsmen.

k Conjugia sobrinaram din ignorata, tempore addito percrebuisse.Tacit. Anna], xii, 6, and Lipsius ad loc. The repeal of the ancient law,and the practice of five hundred years, were insufficient to eradicatethe prejudices of the Romans ; who still considered the marriages ofcousins-german as a species of imperfect incest (Augustin de CivitateDei, xv, 6); and Julian, whose mind was biassed by superstition andresentment, stigmatizes these unnatural alliances between his own coin