ing Treves.

(M1150) Constantius II. made war on the usurper, Magnentius, a rough
barbarian, and finally defeated him on the banks of the Danube, where
fifty-four thousand men perished in battle, soon after which the usurper
killed himself.

(M1151) Constantius, by the death of his brother, and overthrow of
Magnentius, was now sole master of the empire, and through his permission
Athanasius was restored to the arch-bishopric of Alexandria, but was again
removed, the emperor being an Arian. This second removal raised a tumult
in Alexandria, and he was allowed to return to his see, where he lived in
peace until he died, A.D. 372--the great defender of the orthodox creed,
which finally was established by councils and the emperors.

(M1152) The emperor Constantius was engaged in successive wars with the
barbarians,--with the Persians on the East, the Sarmatians on the Danube,
and the Franks and Alemanni, on the Rhine. During these wars, his
brother-in-law, Julian, was sent to the West with the title of Caesar,
where he restored order, and showed signal ability. On the death of
Constantius, he was recognized as emperor without opposition, A.D. 361.

(M1153) Julian is generally called the Apostate, since he proclaimed a
change in the established religion, but tolerated Christianity. He was a
Platonic philosopher--a man of great virtue and ability, whose life was
unstained by vices. But his attempt to restore paganism was senseless and
ineffectual. As a popular belief, paganism had expired. His character is
warmly praised by Gibbon, and commended by other historians. He struggled
against the spirit of his age, and was unsuccessful. He was worthy of the
best ages of the empire in the exercise of all pagan virtues--the true
successor of Hadrian and the Antonines.

(M1154) He was also a great general, and sought to crush the power of the
Persian kings and make Babylonia a Roman province. Here, too, he failed,
although he gained signal successes. He was mortally wounded while
effecting a retreat from the Tigris, after a short reign of twenty months.
With him ended the house of Constantine. The empire was conferred by the
troops on Flavius Claudius Jovianus, chief of the imperial household, A.D.
363--a man of moderate talents and good intentions, but unfit for such
stormy times. He restored Christianity, which henceforth was the national
religion. He died the following year, and was succeeded by Flavius
Valentinianus, the son o