e-eminent celebrity at that period,
and having been accused by some secret informer of being employed by
this same Hymetius to offer a sacrifice for some evil purpose, he was
brought before a court of justice and put to the rack; but in spite of
all his tortures, he denied the charge with steadfast resolution.

20. And as he denied it, some secret papers were brought from his house,
among which was found a letter in the handwriting of Hymetius, in which
he asked Amantius to propitiate the gods by some solemn sacrifices to
engage them to make the disposition of the emperor favourable to him;
and at the end of the letter were found some reproachful terms applied
to the emperor as avaricious and cruel.

21. Valentinian learnt these facts from the report of some informers,
who exaggerated the offence given, and with very unnecessary vigour
ordered an inquiry to be made into the affair; and because Frontinus,
the assessor of Hymetius, was accused of having been the instrument of
drawing up this letter, he was scourged with rods till he confessed, and
then he was condemned to exile in Britain. But Amantius was subsequently
convicted of some capital crimes and was executed.

22. After these transactions, Hymetius was conducted to the town of
Otricoli, to be examined by Ampelius, the prefect of the city, and
deputy of Maximin; and when he was on the point of being condemned, as
was manifest to every one, he judiciously seized an opportunity that was
afforded to him of appealing to the protection of the emperor, and being
protected by his name, he came off for the time in safety.

23. The emperor, however, when he was consulted on the matter, remitted
it to the senate, who examined into the whole affair with justice, and
banished him to Boae, a village in Dalmatia, for which they were visited
with the wrath of the emperor, who was exceedingly enraged when he heard
that a man whom in his own mind he had condemned to death had been let
off with a milder punishment.

24. These and similar transactions led every one to fear that the
treatment thus experienced by a few was intended for all: and that these
evils should not, by being concealed, grow greater and greater till they
reached an intolerable height, the nobles sent a deputation consisting
of Praetextatus, formerly a prefect of the city, Venustus, formerly
deputy, and Minervius, who had been a consular governor, to entreat the
emperor not to allow the punishments to exceed