His conduct towards Vetranio tended to a reconciliation ; but while he promised to acknowledge him as co-emperor if he would join him against Magnentius, he secretly planned treachery. Having bribed or persuaded the principal officers of Vetranio to forsake their master if it should suit his plans, he advanced towards Sardica, now Sophia, where he met with Vetranio, both of them being at the head of an army, that of Vetranio, however, being by far the stronger. Had Vetranio, a straightforward veteran, \vho could disobey but was not made for more refined perfidy, now acted in the spirit of Constantius, he could have seized his rival in the midst of his camp ; but the result was very different. On a plain near Sardica a tribune was erected, where the two emperors showed themselves to their troops, who filled the plain apparently for the purpose of being’ witnesses of a ceremony by which the empire was to have two lawful heads. Constantius first addressed the armed crowd, and artfully turning upon his " legitimate’- opinion, that a son of the great Constantine was alone worthy to reign, suddenly met with a thunder of applause from his own troops as well as those of Vetranio, who, either spontaneously or in accordance with the instructions of their officers, declared that they would obey no emperor but Constantius. Vetranio at once perceived his situation : he took off his diadem, knelt down before Constantius, and acknowledged him as his master, himself as his guilty subject. Constantius evinced equal wisdom : he raised Vetranio from the ground, embraced him, and, as he despised a throne, assigned him a pension, and allowed him to spend the rest of his days at Prusa. (a. d. 351.)
