180

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CHAP.

XIX.

sensibly changed into rude familiarity; andGallus, who discovered in the countenances ofthe attendants, that they already consideredthemselves as his guards, and might soon beemployed as his executioners, began to accusehis fatal rashness, and to recollect with terrorand remorse the conduct by which he had pro-voked his fate. The dissimulation which hadhitherto been preserved, was laid aside at Pe-tovia in Pannonia . He was conducted to a pa-lace in the suburbs, where the general Barbatio,with a select band of soldiers, who could nei-ther be moved by pity, nor corrupted by re-wards, expected the arrival of his illustriousvictim. In the close of the evening he was ar-rested, ignominiously stripped of the ensigns ofCcesar, and hurried away to Pola in Istria, asequestered prison which had been so recentlypolluted with royal blood. The horror whichhe felt was soon increased by the appearanceof his implacable enemy the eunuch Eusebius ,who, with the assistance of a notary and a tri-bune, proceeded to interrogate him concerningthe administration of the East. The Caesarsunk under the weight of shame and guilt; con-fessed all the criminal actions, and all the treasonable designs, with which he was charged;and, by imputing them to the advice of his wife,exasperated the indignation of Constantius , whoreviewed with partial prejudice the minutes ofthe examination. The emperor was easily con-vinced, that his own safety was incompatiblewith the life of his cousin: the sentence of deathwas signed, dispatched, and executed; and the