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THE DECLINE AND FALL
chap. Danube to the extremity of Greece , had longobeyed the government of Vetranio, an agedgeneral, beloved for the simplicity of his man-ners, and who had acquired some reputationby his experience and services in war.' At-tached by habit, by duty, and by gratitude, tothe house of Constantine , he immediately gavethe strongest assurances to the only survivingson of his late master, that he would expose,with unshaken fidelity, his person and histroops, to inflict a just revenge on the traitorsof Gaul. But the legions of Vetranio were se-duced rather than provoked by the example ofrebellion ; their leader soon betrayed a want offirmness or a want of sincerity ; and his ambi-tion derived a specious pretence from the ap-probation of the princess Constantina . Thatcruel and aspiring woman, who had obtainedfrom the great Constantine, her father , the rankof Augusta, placed the diadem with her ownhands on the head of the Illyrian general; andseemed to expect from his victory the accom-plishment of those unbounded hopes, of whichshe had been disappointed by the death of herhusband Hanuibaliauus. Perhaps it was with-out the consent of Constantina , that the new'emperor formed a necessary, though dishonour-able, alliance with the usurper of the West,