322
CONST ANTIUS — GALLUS.
and, near Mursa the modern Essek in Slavonia, gained a
victory over an army much superior in number to Iiis own.
Constantius appears to have acted very skilfully in that battle,
after which Magnentius fled to Italy; but there all the people
zealously took up the cause of Constantius ; and after Mag-
nentius had lost another battle in Gaul, nothing remained for
Iiim but to make away with himself. Constantius was now
again sole emperor.
Meantime affairs in the East had become very much worse:
of nine great battles in the war against the Persians, eight
were decidedly unfavorable to the Romans, the only one in
which they were tolerably successful being that fought at
night in the neighbourhood of Singara9 but the attack upon
the hostile camp did not succeed. Constantius gave to his
cousin Gallus the name of Constantius, together with the
dignity of Caesar; he probably thought of adopting the
children of his uncle as he himself had no issue. Julian and
Gallus, the sons of Julius Constans, had by a lucky accident
been safely carried to Constantinople, during the general con-
fusion after Constantine’s death ; Julian was six years old, and
his brother twelve, when their father was murdered: the fact
that Constantius had no children had saved their lives. They
were removed from the court and kept as prisoners in a castle
of the ancient Cappadocian kings near Caesarea; they were
not allowed to pass the boundaries of the district, but
received a careful education, which in the case of Julian proved
to be seed sown in a most fertile soil, but Gallus had no
inclination whatever for study. In this manner they lived
until Constantius set out for the war against Magnentius, in
which he was occupied for two years: he then called forth
Gallus, whom he seems to have adopted, raised him to the
rank of Caesar, and gave him the command in the East when
Sapor was carrying on the war sluggishly, being probably
occupied on the Indian frontier and on the Oxus. Gallus
made very bad use of his advantageous position; he and his
wife Constantina, a daughter of the great Constantine, were
equally rough and cruel, and the East suffered severely from
their misgovernment. When Constantius had finished the
war in the West, complaints were brought before him from
the East. Gallus had murdered two commissioners of the
emperor who had been sent to watch him. This act called
JULIAN.
323
for punishment. IIe was invited to Constantinople, whither
he proceeded without suspecting the danger that threatened
him. In Thrace he was separated from his legions, which
were in the meantime compelled to take the oath of allegiance
to Constantius. Gallus was then arrested and brought to trial ;
and as he was not able to justify himself he was executed at
Pola, where Crispus also had perished.
Tlie emperor now(355) summoned to his court Julian, who is
called by Christian writers the apostate (πapaβaτιγ;'), while the
few pagan authors, who lived at a later period, Eunapius, Zos-
siιnus, and Libanius, speak of him with the greatest enthusiasm,
and cannot praise him SulIiciently. He was then twenty-four
years old. Constantiusdeclared him Caesar; but Julian went to
court with a heavy heart, expecting to be put to death. Hc was
kindly received however; and the Empress Eusebia even
became his protectress. They married him to the princess
Helena who was probably much older than he. He had
been set at liberty some time before, and been allowed to
reside in Ionia and at Athens, the place after which his heart
had always been longing. He was a thorough Greek, having
always lived in Hellenised countries, so that Greek was his
mother tongue, in which he thought and felt, whereas Latin
was to him a foreign language. Constantius appointed him
governor of Gaul, the condition of which he himself had
rendered extremely deplorable; for in the war against Mag-
nentius, he had, by way of making a diversion, given up the
country to the Alcmannians and Franks. Those tribes had
made fearful use of this opportunity: Cologne, Mayence,
Trêves, Tongres and all the towns in Koman Germany were
devastated and burnt down; and the whole country fell into a
state of desolation from which it did not recover. The Franks
already occupied the northern parts of Brabant, the Aleman-
nians were settled on both banks of the Bhine, and the Boman
limes was completely lost. Although the forces under the
command of Julian were very insufficient to liberate Gaul
from these enemies, yet he performed his task extremely well.
The discipline of the Eomans was in a state of great decay, and
the soldiers looked upon their enemies as personally superior
to themselves. The intrigues at the court, too, though per-
haps without any flιult of Constantius, tended to frustrate
Julian⅛ undertaking. With the title of Caesar, he made five
τ2