190

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CHAP.

XIX,

Fatal endof Sylva-nus,

*. D. 355,

Septem-

i>er

on this occasion alone, seems to have been un-mindful of the tenderness of her sex, and thegenerosity of her character. The memory ofhis father and of his brothers reminded Julianof his own danger, and his apprehensions Avereincreased by the recent and unworthy fate ofSylvanus. In the summer which preceded hisown elevation, that general had been chosen todeliver Gaul from the tyranny of the barbarians;but Sylvanus soon discovered that he had lefthis most dangerous enemies in the imperial court.A dexterous informer, countenanced by severalof the principal ministers, procured from himsome recommendatory letters; and erasing thewhole of the contents, except the signature, fill-ed up the vacant parchment with matters ofhigh and treasonable import. By the industryand courage of his friends, the fraud was how-ever detected ; and in a great council of the ci-vil and military officers, held in the presence ofthe emperor himself, the innocence of Sylvanuswas publicly acknowledged. But the discoverycame loo late; the report of the calumny andthe hasty seizure of his estate had already pro-voked the indignant chief to the rebellion ofwhich he was so unjustly accused. He assumedthe purple at his head-quarters of Cologne, andhis active powers appeared to menace Italy withan invasion, and Milan with a siege. In thisemergency, Ursiciuus, a general of equal rank,regained, by an act of treachery, the favourwhich he had lost by his eminent services in the

am inclined to hope that the public malignity imputed the effect* ataccident as the guilt of Eusebia.