eunuchs, while a fellow named Eunus, a
slave who had escaped from a house of correction, commanded an army of
runaway slaves in Sicily. How many men of the highest birth, through the
connivance of this same fortune, submitted to the authority of Viriathus
and of Spartacus![31] How many heads at which nations once trembled have
fallen under the deadly hand of the executioner! One man is thrown into
prison, another is promoted to unexpected power, a third is hurled down
from the highest rank and dignity. But he who would endeavour to
enumerate all the various and frequent instances of the caprice of
fortune, might as well undertake to number the sands or ascertain the
weight of mountains.

[1] Gallus and his brother Julian were the nephews of the great
Constantine, sons of his brother Julius. When Constantius, who succeeded
Constantine on the throne, murdered his uncles and most of his cousins,
he spared these two, probably on account of their tender age.

[2] Hannibalianus was another nephew of Constantine. That emperor raised
his own three sons, Constantine, Constantius, and Constans, to the
dignity of Caesar; and of his two favourite nephews, Dalmacius and
Hannibalianus, he raised the first, by the title of Caesar, to an
equality with his cousins; "in favour of the latter he invented the new
and singular appellation of Fortitissimus, to which he annexed the
flattering distinction of a robe of purple and gold. But of the whole
series of Roman princes in any age of the empire Hannibalianus alone was
distinguished by the title of _king_, a name which the subjects of
Tiberius would have detested as the profane and cruel insult of
capricious tyranny."--Gibbon, cxviii. The editor of Bohn's edition adds
in a note: "The title given to Hannibalianus did not apply to him as a
_Roman_ prince, but as king of a territory assigned to him in Asia. This
territory consisted of Pontus, Cappadocia, and the lesser Armenia, the
city of Caesarea being chosen for his residence."--Gibbon, Bohn's
edition, vol. ii. pp. 256, 257.

[3] "There was among the commanders of the soldiery one prefect who was
especially entitled Praesens, or Praesentalis, because his office was to
be always in the court or about the person of the prince, and because
the emperor's body-guard was under his particular orders."--H. Valesius.

[4] The passage is found in Cicero's Oration pro Cluentio, c. 25.

[5] Sciron was a pirate slain by Theseus, v. Ov. Metam. vii.