reserved, was laid aside at Petovio, * in Pannonia. He was
conducted to a palace in the suburbs, where the general Barbatio, with
a select band of soldiers, who could neither be moved by pity, nor
corrupted by rewards, expected the arrival of his illustrious victim. In
the close of the evening he was arrested, ignominiously stripped of the
ensigns of Caesar, and hurried away to Pola, in Istria, a sequestered
prison, which had been so recently polluted with royal blood. The horror
which he felt was soon increased by the appearance of his implacable
enemy the eunuch Eusebius, who, with the assistance of a notary and a
tribune, proceeded to interrogate him concerning the administration of
the East. The Caesar sank under the weight of shame and guilt, confessed
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, who reviewed with partial prejudice the
minutes of the examination. The emperor was easily convinced, that his
own safety was incompatible with the life of his cousin: the sentence
of death was signed, despatched, and executed; and the nephew of
Constantine, with his hands tied behind his back, was beheaded in prison
like the vilest malefactor. Those who are inclined to palliate the
cruelties of Constantius, assert that he soon relented, and endeavored
to recall the bloody mandate; but that the second messenger, intrusted
with the reprieve, was detained by the eunuchs, who dreaded the
unforgiving temper of Gallus, and were desirous of reuniting to their
empire the wealthy provinces of the East.

Besides the reigning emperor, Julian alone survived, of all the numerous
posterity of Constantius Chlorus. The misfortune of his royal birth
involved him in the disgrace of Gallus. From his retirement in the happy
country of Ionia, he was conveyed under a strong guard to the court
of Milan; where he languished above seven months, in the continual
apprehension of suffering the same ignominious death, which was daily
inflicted almost before his eyes, on the friends and adherents of
his persecuted family. His looks, his gestures, his silence, were
scrutinized with malignant curiosity, and he was perpetually assaulted
by enemies whom he had never offended, and by arts to which he was a
stranger. But in the school of adversity, Julian insensibly acquired the
virtues of firmness and discretion. He defended his