14

THE DECLINE AND FALL

CHAP.

XLYJ11.

day invade the right of primogeniture, and seathis brother Theodosius on an equal throne.By the imposition of holy orders, the grandsonof Heraclius was disqualified for the purple;but this ceremony, which seemed to profanethe sacraments of the church, was insufficient toappease the suspicions of the tyrant, and thedeath of the deacon Theodosius could aloneexpiate the crime of his royal birth. His mur-der w as avenged by the imprecations of the peo-ple, and the assassin in the fulness of power,was driven from his capital into voluntary andperpetual exile. Constans embarkedforGreece ;and, as if he meant to retort the abhorrencewhich he deserved, he is said, from the impe-rial galley, to have spit against the walls of hisnative city. After passing the winter at Athens,he sailed to Tarentum in Italy , visited Rome ,and concluded a long pilgrimage of disgraceand sacrilegious rapine, by fixing his residenceat Syracuse . But if Constans could fly fromhis people, he could not fly from himself. Theremorse of his conscience created a phantomwho pursued him by land and sea, by day andby night; and the visionary Theodosius , pre-senting to his lips a cup of blood, said orseemed to say, “ Drink, brother, drink a sureemblem of the aggravation of his guilt, since hehad received from the hands of the deacon themystic cup of the blood of Christ. Odious tohimself and to mankind, Constans perished bydomestic, perhaps by episcopal treason in thecapital of Sicily . A servant who waited inthe bath, after pouring warm water on his head.