s, which the knowledge of
the art of war could suggest to an experienced officer. He carried by
assault the important town of Siscia; made an attack on the city of
Sirmium, which lay in the rear of the Imperial camp, attempted to force
a passage over the Save into the eastern provinces of Illyricum; and cut
in pieces a numerous detachment, which he had allured into the narrow
passes of Adarne. During the greater part of the summer, the tyrant of
Gaul showed himself master of the field. The troops of Constantius
were harassed and dispirited; his reputation declined in the eye of the
world; and his pride condescended to solicit a treaty of peace, which
would have resigned to the assassin of Constans the sovereignty of the
provinces beyond the Alps. These offers were enforced by the eloquence
of Philip the Imperial ambassador; and the council as well as the army
of Magnentius were disposed to accept them. But the haughty usurper,
careless of the remonstrances of his friends, gave orders that Philip
should be detained as a captive, or, at least, as a hostage; while he
despatched an officer to reproach Constantius with the weakness of
his reign, and to insult him by the promise of a pardon if he would
instantly abdicate the purple. "That he should confide in the justice of
his cause, and the protection of an avenging Deity," was the only answer
which honor permitted the emperor to return. But he was so sensible of
the difficulties of his situation, that he no longer dared to retaliate
the indignity which had been offered to his representative. The
negotiation of Philip was not, however, ineffectual, since he determined
Sylvanus the Frank, a general of merit and reputation, to desert with a
considerable body of cavalry, a few days before the battle of Mursa.

[Footnote 79: Eum Constantius..... facundiae vi dejectum Imperio in pri
vatum otium removit. Quae gloria post natum Imperium soli proces sit
eloquio clementiaque, &c. Aurelius Victor, Julian, and Themistius (Orat.
iii. and iv.) adorn this exploit with all the artificial and gaudy
coloring of their rhetoric.]

[Footnote 80: Busbequius (p. 112) traversed the Lower Hungary and
Sclavonia at a time when they were reduced almost to a desert, by the
reciprocal hostilities of the Turks and Christians. Yet he mentions with
admiration the unconquerable fertility of the soil; and observes that
the height of the grass was sufficient to conceal a loaded wagon from
his sight. See lik