f the Cottian Alps.

30. In this state of anxiety and agitation, we occupied ourselves in
secretly deliberating on the means of arriving at our object; and at
length, after our plans had been repeatedly changed out of fear, it was
determined to use great industry in seeking out prudent agents, binding
them to secrecy by solemn oaths, in order to tamper with the Gallic
soldiers whom we knew to be men of doubtful fidelity, and at any time
open to change for a sufficient reward.

31. Therefore, after we had secured our success by the address of some
agents among the common soldiers, men by their very obscurity fitted for
the accomplishment of such a task, and now excited by the expectation of
reward, at sunrise, as soon as the east began to redden, a band of armed
men suddenly sallied forth, and, as is common in critical moments,
behaving with more than usual audacity. They slew the sentinels and
penetrated into the palace, and so having dragged Silvanus out of a
little chapel in which, in his terror, he had taken refuge on his way to
a conventicle devoted to the ceremonies of the Christian worship, they
slew him with repeated strokes of their swords.

32. In this way did a general of no slight merit perish, through fear of
false accusations heaped on him in his absence by a faction of wicked
men, and which drove him to the utmost extremities in order to preserve
his safety.

33. For although he had acquired strong claims on the gratitude of
Constantius by his seasonable sally with his troops before the battle of
Mursa, and although he could boast the valorous exploits of his father
Bonitus, a man of Frankish extraction, but who had espoused the party of
Constantine, and often in the civil war had exhibited great prowess
against the troops of Licinius, still he always feared him as a prince
of wavering and fickle character.

34. Now before any of these events had taken place in Gaul, it happened
that one day in the Circus Maximus at Rome, the populace cried out with
a loud voice, "Silvanus is conquered." Whether influenced by instinct or
by some prophetic spirit, cannot be decided.

35. Silvanus having been slain, as I have narrated, at Agrippina, the
emperor was seized with inconceivable joy when he heard the news, and
gave way to exceeding insolence and arrogance, attributing this event
also to the prosperous course of his good fortune; giving the reins to
his habitual disposition which always led him to hate men o