ould discharge three arrows at the same time; an advantage
which, according to his apprehension of military affairs, materially
contributed to the victory of Constantius.]

[Footnote 86: According to Zonaras, Constantius, out of 80,000
men, lost 30,000; and Magnentius lost 24,000 out of 36,000. The other
articles of this account seem probable and authentic, but the numbers of
the tyrant's army must have been mistaken, either by the author or his
transcribers. Magnentius had collected the whole force of the West,
Romans and Barbarians, into one formidable body, which cannot fairly be
estimated at less than 100,000 men. Julian. Orat. i. p. 34, 35.]

[Footnote 87: Ingentes R. I. vires ea dimicatione consumptae sunt,
ad quaelibet bella externa idoneae, quae multum triumphorum possent
securitatisque conferre. Eutropius, x. 13. The younger Victor expresses
himself to the same effect.]

[Footnote 88: On this occasion, we must prefer the unsuspected testimony
of Zosimus and Zonaras to the flattering assertions of Julian. The
younger Victor paints the character of Magnentius in a singular light:
"Sermonis acer, animi tumidi, et immodice timidus; artifex tamen ad
occultandam audaciae specie formidinem." Is it most likely that in the
battle of Mursa his behavior was governed by nature or by art should
incline for the latter.]

The approach of winter supplied the indolence of Constantius with
specious reasons for deferring the prosecution of the war till the
ensuing spring. Magnentius had fixed his residence in the city of
Aquileia, and showed a seeming resolution to dispute the passage of
the mountains and morasses which fortified the confines of the Venetian
province. The surprisal of a castle in the Alps by the secret march of
the Imperialists, could scarcely have determined him to relinquish the
possession of Italy, if the inclinations of the people had supported the
cause of their tyrant. [89] But the memory of the cruelties exercised
by his ministers, after the unsuccessful revolt of Nepotian, had left
a deep impression of horror and resentment on the minds of the Romans.
That rash youth, the son of the princess Eutropia, and the nephew of
Constantine, had seen with indignation the sceptre of the West usurped
by a perfidious barbarian. Arming a desperate troop of slaves and
gladiators, he overpowered the feeble guard of the domestic tranquillity
of Rome, received the homage of the senate, and assuming the title of
Augustu