s of state.

[Illustration: Julian the Apostate.]

CHAPTER XLIV.

FROM THE DEATH OF CONSTANTINE, A.D. 337, TO ROMULUS AUGUSTULUS, A.D.
476.

The three sons of the late emperor, Constantine, Constantius, and
Constans, as soon as their father was dead, put to death their two
cousins, Hannibalianus and Dalmatius, with many more of their relatives;
only Gallus and Julian, the children of Julius Constantius, being left
alive. They then divided the empire, A.D. 337, Constantine, the elder,
retaining the new capital, Constans receiving the western provinces,
while to Constantius was left Syria and the East. Sapor, king of Persia,
invaded the Eastern provinces, and defeated the Romans in various
battles. Meanwhile a quarrel broke out between Constantine and Constans,
and the former, having invaded his brother's provinces, was defeated and
slain, A.D. 350. Ten years afterward Constans was himself put to death
by Magnentius, an ambitious soldier, who at once assumed the name of
emperor. Constantius marched against him, but found that Vetranio,
praefect of Illyricum, had joined him, instigated by the Princess
Constantina. He finally, however, defeated Magnentius, and deposed the
aged Vetranio, and thus became the master of Rome. Having recalled
Gallus and Julian from banishment, the emperor gave them the title of
Caesars. Gallus proved unfit for public affairs, while Julian won the
esteem of all men by his conduct and valor. He drove the Germans out of
Gaul, which they had invaded, and even crossed the Rhine, in imitation
of Julius Caesar.

Constantius now became jealous of the rising fame of Julian, who was
beloved by the Western legions, and commanded him to send the finest
part of his army to the East. Julian prepared to obey, but the soldiers
rose in revolt, proclaiming him Julian Augustus. He sent messengers to
the emperor demanding the recognition of his election; but war could not
long be averted. Julian abjured Christianity, which he had hitherto
professed, together with his allegiance to the emperor, and led a small
army of well-chosen soldiers against his rival. Meantime Constantius, in
A.D. 361, November 3d, died of a fever in Syria, while Julian entered
Constantinople December 11th, amid the applause of the people. He was
acknowledged emperor. He was now in his thirty-second year, in many
particulars the most remarkable of the second Flavian family.

Julian had been educated by the Platonic philosophers,