onstans, from the unmerited success
of his arms, was rendered more contemptible by his want of abilities
and application. His fond partiality towards some German captives,
distinguished only by the charms of youth, was an object of scandal to
the people; and Magnentius, an ambitious soldier, who was himself of
Barbarian extraction, was encouraged by the public discontent to assert
the honor of the Roman name. The chosen bands of Jovians and Herculians,
who acknowledged Magnentius as their leader, maintained the most
respectable and important station in the Imperial camp. The friendship
of Marcellinus, count of the sacred largesses, supplied with a liberal
hand the means of seduction. The soldiers were convinced by the most
specious arguments, that the republic summoned them to break the bonds
of hereditary servitude; and, by the choice of an active and vigilant
prince, to reward the same virtues which had raised the ancestors of the
degenerate Constans from a private condition to the throne of the world.
As soon as the conspiracy was ripe for execution, Marcellinus, under
the pretence of celebrating his son's birthday, gave a splendid
entertainment to the illustrious and honorable persons of the court of
Gaul, which then resided in the city of Autun. The intemperance of the
feast was artfully protracted till a very late hour of the night;
and the unsuspecting guests were tempted to indulge themselves in a
dangerous and guilty freedom of conversation. On a sudden the doors were
thrown open, and Magnentius, who had retired for a few moments,
returned into the apartment, invested with the diadem and purple. The
conspirators instantly saluted him with the titles of Augustus and
Emperor. The surprise, the terror, the intoxication, the ambitious
hopes, and the mutual ignorance of the rest of the assembly, prompted
them to join their voices to the general acclamation. The guards
hastened to take the oath of fidelity; the gates of the town were shut;
and before the dawn of day, Magnentius became master of the troops and
treasure of the palace and city of Autun. By his secrecy and diligence
he entertained some hopes of surprising the person of Constans, who was
pursuing in the adjacent forest his favorite amusement of hunting, or
perhaps some pleasures of a more private and criminal nature. The rapid
progress of fame allowed him, however, an instant for flight, though
the desertion of his soldiers and subjects deprived him of the