9

But suddenly rising from the banquet, he ran into the bedchamber and after a short time came forth from there in the imperial garb with many bodyguards, which disturbed those who were not aware of his plan. And he, having spoken with those present, persuaded some to agree with him, and even forced some. And taking them with him, he immediately went away to the palace and made distributions of money and stationed guards at the gates of the city, instructed to allow entry to those coming in, but to permit no one to go out, so that the daring deed might not yet be proclaimed. And at once he sends men to kill Constans, before he could learn of the daring deed. But he was occupied with hunting. For he was mad about the hunts, and this while struggling with constant gout, which he contracted from immoderate pleasures, living licentiously; or rather, on the pretext of hunting, he would plunge into the woods with the boys and youths around him, who were gathered to him for their beauty and became his intimates and adorned themselves rather elaborately and had wanton eyes, an incitement to licentiousness, and were, as it is said, his favorites. 33 But he also spent a great deal of time in the woods, avoiding association with respectable men. Therefore, by the river Rhone, those sent by Magnentius arrived and killed Constans as he was sleeping after the hunt, and they killed the few men who were with him. But some say that his murder did not happen this way, but that he learned of the revolt against him and, being left alone, his companions having deserted him, he fled for refuge to a temple. And there he took off the imperial insignia and having been dragged out from there was killed, having completed the seventeenth year of his reign, and having already passed his thirtieth year of age. And it is said that when he was just born, his father permitted the astrologers to cast a horoscope for his birth, and that they, in addition to other things they foretold about him, also said this: that he would be killed in the arms of his grandmother. which, since she had died, Constans even used to mock; but it came to pass, and the astrologers' prophecy did not fail, even if it was ambiguous. For in a 34 town called Helena, in the name of that empress, Constans was killed. He, then, who had lived so licentiously, was thus miserably deprived of his life; but Magnentius, since the affairs of his tyranny were proceeding smoothly for him, was eager to do away with the most distinguished of those holding offices. And forging letters to them as if sent to them from Constans, supposedly summoning them to himself, he ambushed and killed very many on the road, not even sparing his own fellow-conspirators, but destroying them also. And he was engaged in such things, strengthening the tyranny for himself; but for Constantius, upon learning of his brother's death, his mind was divided, considering which he should prefer: to oppose the Persians who were ravaging Roman territory, or to neglect these things for the present and to march against the one who had become tyrant, so that he might both avenge the murder of his kinsman and claim the western regions for himself. 35 While Constantius was considering these things and delaying, Sapor, since news of what had happened concerning Constans had reached him as well, seized the opportunity and with a heavy army marched against the lands and cities subject to the Romans; and he plundered much territory, and moreover also took forts and finally besieged Nisibis, which formerly belonged to the kingdom of the Armenians, but in the time of Mithridates, who was the son-in-law of Tigranes who then ruled the Armenians and had received the city from him, it was taken by the Romans in a siege. For having come to this city, Sapor set every device in motion so that the city might be captured by him; for he brought battering-rams against the walls and made underground tunnels, but the besieged bravely resisted everything. And the river, which flowed through the middle of the city, he diverted, so that the people of the city, being pressed by thirst, might betray the city to him. But they had an abundance of water also from wells

9

ἐξαναστὰς δὲ τοῦ συμποσίου αἴφνης εἰς τὸν κοιτῶνα εἰσέδραμε καὶ πρόεισιν ἐκεῖθεν μετὰ βραχὺ ἐν σχήματι βασιλείας σὺν δορυφόροις πολλοῖς, ὃ τοὺς μὴ συνειδότας αὐτῷ τὴν πρᾶξιν ἐτάραξεν. ἐκεῖνος δὲ διαλεχθεὶς τοῖς παροῦσι τοὺς μὲν ἔπεισε συνθέσθαι αὐτῷ, ἐνίους δέ γε καὶ ἐβιάσατο. καὶ συμπαραλαβὼν αὐτοὺς εὐθὺς εἰς τὰ βασίλεια ἄπεισι καὶ διανομὰς χρημάτων πεποίητο ταῖς τε πύλαις τῆς πόλεως ἐπέστησε φύλακας, ἐνταλθέντας τοῖς μὲν εἰσιοῦσι τὴν εἴσοδον συγχωρεῖν, ἐξιέναι δὲ μηδένα παραχωρεῖν, ἵνα μὴ τέως τὸ τόλμημα κηρυχθῇ. καὶ αὐτίκα στέλλει τοὺς τὸν Κώνσταντα ἀναιρήσοντας, πρὶν ἢ γνοίη τὸ τόλμημα. ὁ δὲ περὶ θήραν ἠσχόλητο. καὶ γὰρ ἐμεμήνει περὶ τὰ κυνηγέσια καὶ ταῦτα ἀρθρίτιδι προσπαλαίων διηνεκεῖ, ἣν ἐξ ἡδονῶν ἀμετρίας ἐνόσησεν ἀκολάστως βιούς· ἢ καὶ ἐν προσχήματι θήρας εἰς ὕλας ἐγκατεδύετο μετὰ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν μειρακίσκων καὶ νεανίσκων, οἳ ἐκείνῳ διὰ κάλλος συνελέγοντο καὶ ᾠκείωντο ἐκαλλωπίζοντό τε περιεργότερον καὶ λίχνοις ἦσαν ὀφθαλμοῖς, ἀκολασίας ἐμπύρευμα, κἀκείνῳ ἐτύγχανον, ὡς λέγεται, παιδικά. 33 ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπὶ πλέον ταῖς ὕλαις διέτριβεν, ἐκκλίνων τὴν μετὰ τῶν κοσμίων ἀνδρῶν συνδιαγωγήν. παρὰ τὸν Ῥοδανὸν τοίνυν ποταμὸν οἱ παρὰ Μαγνεντίου σταλέντες γενόμενοι μετὰ τὴν θήραν ὑπνώττοντα τὸν Κώνσταντα διεχρήσαντο καὶ τοὺς ἐκείνῳ δὲ συνόντας ὀλίγους ὄντας ἀπέκτειναν. οἱ δὲ μὴ οὕτω φασὶ γενέσθαι τὴν ἐκείνου ἀναίρεσιν, γνῶναι δ' ἐκεῖνον τὴν κατ' αὐτοῦ ἐπανάστασιν καὶ μονωθέντα, καταλιπόντων αὐτὸν τῶν περὶ αὐτόν, ναῷ προσφυγεῖν. κἀκεῖ τὰ τῆς βασιλείας παράσημα ἀπεκδύσασθαι κἀκεῖθεν ἐκβληθέντα ἀναιρεθῆναι, ἑπτακαιδέκατον ἔτος ἀνύσαντα παρὰ τῇ ἀρχῇ, τῆς δ' ἡλικίας ἤδη παρεληλυθότα τριακοστόν. λέγεται δὲ ἄρτι γεννηθέντος αὐτοῦ ἐπιτρέψαι τοῖς ἀστρολόγοις τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῷ τούτου γενεθλίῳ ποιῆσαι θεμάτιον, κἀκείνους πρὸς ἄλλοις οἷς περὶ αὐτοῦ προειρήκασι καὶ τοῦτο εἰπεῖν ὡς ἐν ταῖς ἀγκάλαις τῆς αὐτοῦ μάμμης ἀναιρεθήσεται. ὃ θανούσης ἐκείνης καὶ διέπαιζεν ὁ Κώνστας· τὸ δ' εἰς ἔργον ἀποβεβήκει, καὶ ἡ τῶν ἀστρολόγων οὐ διήμαρτε πρόρρησις, κἂν ὑπῆρξε λοξή. ἐν γὰρ πο34 λίχνῃ Ἐλένῃ καλουμένῃ εἰς ὄνομα τῆς βασιλίσσης ἐκείνης ὁ Κώνστας ἀνῄρητο. Ὁ μὲν οὖν οὕτω βεβιωκὼς ἀσελγῶς οὕτως οἰκτρῶς ἐστέρητο τῆς ζωῆς· ὁ δὲ Μαγνέντιος κατὰ ῥοῦν αὐτῷ τῶν τῆς τυραννίδος χωρησάντων πραγμάτων ἐσπούδασε τῶν τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐχόντων τοὺς λογιμωτάτους ἐκ μέσου ποιήσασθαι. καὶ γραφὰς πλασάμενος πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὡς ἐκ τοῦ Κώνσταντος σταλείσας αὐτοῖς μετακαλουμένου τούτους δῆθεν πρὸς ἑαυτόν, καθ' ὁδὸν λοχήσας πλείστους ἀπέκτεινε, μηδὲ τῶν οἰκείων συνωμοτῶν φειδόμενος, ἀλλὰ καὶ τούτους διαφθείρων. Καὶ ὁ μὲν ἐν τοιούτοις ἦν, ἑαυτῷ κρατύνων τὴν τυραννίδα· τῷ δὲ Κωνσταντίῳ τὸν θάνατον πυθομένῳ τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ἐμερίζετο ἡ διάνοια ἐννοουμένῳ πότερον ἂν προτιμήσαιτο τὸ Πέρσαις ἀντικαθίστασθαι κείρουσι τὰ Ῥωμαίοις ὑπήκοα ἢ τούτων κατά γε τὸ παρὸν ἀμελῆσαι καὶ χωρῆσαι κατὰ τοῦ τυραννήσαντος, ἵνα καὶ τὸν τοῦ συγγόνου τίσαιτο φόνον καὶ ἑαυτῷ προσποιήσαιτο τὰ ἑσπέρια. 35 Ταῦτα τοῦ Κωνσταντίου σκοποῦντος καὶ διαμέλλοντος, ὁ Σαπώρης, ἐπεὶ κἀκείνῳ πρὸς γνῶσιν ἦλθον τὰ συμβεβηκότα περὶ τὸν Κώνσταντα, ἐπιτίθεται τῷ καιρῷ καὶ σὺν βαρεῖ στρατεύματι κατὰ τῶν ὑποκειμένων Ῥωμαίοις ἔπεισι χωρῶν τε καὶ πόλεων· καὶ πολλὴν μὲν ἐληίσατο χώραν, ἀλλὰ μέντοι καὶ φρούρια εἷλε καὶ τέλος ἐπολιόρκει τὴν Νίσιβιν, ἣ πάλαι μὲν τῇ τῶν Ἀρμενίων διέφερε βασιλείᾳ, ἐπὶ δὲ Μιθριδάτου, ὃς Τιγράνου τοῦ τῶν Ἀρμενίων τότε κρατοῦντος γαμβρὸς ἦν καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνου τὴν πόλιν εἰλήφει, ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων ἑάλω πολιορκίᾳ. ἐν ταύτῃ γὰρ ὁ Σαπώρης ἐλθὼν πᾶσαν ἐκίνησε μηχανὴν ἵνα αὐτῷ ἡ πόλις ἁλῷ· κριούς τε γὰρ προσῆγε τοῖς τείχεσι καὶ διώρυχας ὑπογαίους πεποίητο, ἀλλὰ πρὸς πάντα γενναίως ἀντικαθίσταντο οἱ πολιορκούμενοι. καὶ τὸν ποταμὸν δέ, ὃς διὰ μέσης ἔρρει τῆς πόλεως, μετωχέτευσεν, ἵνα δίψει πιεζόμενοι οἱ τῆς πόλεως προδοῖεν αὐτῷ τὴν πόλιν. τοῖς δὲ ἀφθονία ἦν ὑδάτων καὶ ἐκ φρεάτων