OP THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

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nephew of Constantine, with his hands tied be- chap.

hind his back, was beheaded in prison like the__

vilest malefactor. 2 Those who are inclined topalliate the cruelties of Constantins, assert thathe soon relented, and endeavoured to recal thebloody mandate; but that the second messen-ger, entrusted with the reprieve, was detainedby the eunuchs, who dreaded the unforgivingtemper of Gallus, and were desirous of reunit-ing to their empire the wealthy provinces of theEast.*

Besides the reigning emperor, Julian alone The dan-survived, of all the numerous posterity of Con- fscapTofstantius Chlorus. The misfortune of his royal Jlllian -birth involved him in the disgrace of Gallus.

From his retirement in the happy country ofIonia, he was conveyed under a strong guard tothe court of Milan; where he languished aboveseven months, in the continual apprehension ofsuffering the same ignominious death, whichwas daily inflicted, almost before his eyes, onthe friends and adherents of his persecuted fa-mily. His looks, his gestures, his silence, werescrutinized with malignant curiosity: and hewas perpetually assaulted by enemies, whomhe had never offended, and by arts to which he

1 See the complete narrative of the journey and death of Gallus inAmmianus , 1. xiv, c. 11. Julian complains that his brother was put todeath without a trial; attempts to justify, or at least to excuse, thecruel revenge which he had indicted on his enemies; but seems at lastto acknowledge that be might justly have been deprived of the purple.

* Pkiiostorgius, 1. iv, c. 1. Zonaras , 1. xiii, tom. ii, p. 19. But theformer was partial towards an Arian monarch, and the latter tran-scribed, without choice or criticism, whatever he found in the writingsof the ancients.