Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/438

414 THE DECLINE AND FALL C Ff A p. in the neighbourhood of the Danube . The troops 1 _ so lately returned from the Persian war, had acquired their glory at the expense of health and numbers, nor were they in a condition to contend with the unex- hausted strength of the legions of Europe. Their ranks were broken, and, for a moment, Diocletian de- spaired of the purple and of life. But the advantage which Carinus had obtained by the valour of his sol- diers, he quickly lost by the infidelity of his officers. A tribune, whose wife he had seduced, seized the opportunity of revenge, and by a single blow extin- guished civil discord in the blood of the- adulterer ^ 4 Eutropius marks its situation very accurately; it was between the Mons Aureus and Viminiacum. M. d'Anville (Geographic Ancienne, torn. i. p. 304.) places Margus at Kastolatz in Servia, a little below Bel- grade and Semendria. •■ Hist. August, p. 254 ; Eutropius, ix. 20 j Aurelius Victor; Victor in Epitome.