[1] Amid this variety of disasters Ursicinus, to whose attendance the imperial command had attached me, was summoned from Nisibis, of which he was in charge, and was compelled, in spite of his reluctance and his opposition to the clamorous troops of flatterers, to investigate the accusations in the deadly strife. He was in fact a warrior, having always been a soldier and a leader of soldiers, but far removed from the wranglings of the forum; accordingly, worried by fear of the danger which threatened him, seeing the corrupt accusers and judges with whom he was associated all coming forth from the same holes, he informed Constantius by secret letters of what was going on furtively or openly, and begged for aid, that through fear of it the well-known arrogance of the Caesar might subside.

[2] But by too great caution he had fallen into worse snares, as we shall show later, since his rivals patched up dangerous plots with Constantius, who was in other respects a moderate emperor, but cruel and implacable if anyone, however obscure, had whispered in his ear anything of that kind, and in cases of that nature unlike himself.

[3] Accordingly, on the day set for the fatal examinations the master of the horse took his seat, ostensibly as a judge, attended by others who had been told in advance what was to be done; and here and there shorthand writers were stationed who reported every question and every answer posthaste to Caesar; and by his cruel orders, instigated by the queen, who from time to time poked her face through a curtain, many were done to death without being allowed to clear themselves of the charges or to make any defence.

[4] First of all, then, Epigonus and Eusebius were brought before them and ruined by the affinity of their names; for Montius, as I have said, ¹ at the very end of his life had accused certain tribunes of forges called by those names of having promised support to some imminent enterprise.

[5] And Epigonus, for his part, was a philosopher only in his attire, as became evident; for when he had tried entreaties to no purpose, when his sides had been furrowed and he was threatened with death, by a shameful confession he declared that he was implicated in plans which never existed, whereas he had neither seen nor heard anything; he was wholly unacquainted with legal matters. Eusebius on the contrary, courageously denied the charges, and although he was put upon the rack, he remained firm in the same degree of constancy, crying out that it was the act of brigands and not of a court of justice.

[6] And when, being acquainted with the law, he persistently called for his accuser and the usual formalities, Caesar, being informed of his demand and regarding his freedom of speech as arrogance, ordered that he be tortured as a reckless traducer. And when he had been so disembowelled that he had no parts left to torture, calling on Heaven for justice and smiling sardonically, he remained unshaken, with stout heart, neither deigning to accuse himself nor anyone else; and at last, without having admitted his guilt or been convicted, he was condemned to death along with his abject associate. And he was led off to execution unafraid, railing at the wickedness of the times and imitating the ancient stoic Zeno, who, after being tortured for a long time, to induce him to give false witness, tore his tongue from its roots and hurled it with its blood and spittle into the eyes of the king of Cyprus, who was putting him to the question.

[7] After this, the matter of the royal robe was investigated, and when those who were employed in dyeing purple were tortured and had confessed to making a short sleeveless tunic to cover the chest, a man named Maras was brought in, a deacon, as the Christians call them. A letter of his was presented, written in Greek to the foreman of a weaving plant in Tyre, strongly urging him to speed up a piece of work; but what it was the letter did not say. But although finally Maras also was tortured within an inch of his life, he could not be forced to make any confession.

[8] So when many men of various conditions had been put to the question, some things were found to be doubtful and others were obviously unimportant. And after many had been put to death, the two Apollinares, father and son, were exiled; but when they had come to a place called Craterae, namely, a villa of theirs distant twenty-four miles from Antioch, their legs were broken, according to orders, and they were killed.

[9] After their death Gallus, no whit less ferocious than before, like a lion that had tasted blood, tried many cases of the kind; but of all of these it is not worth while to give an account, for fear that I may exceed the limits which I have set myself, a thing which I certainly ought to avoid.