[Illustration: Fall of Constantinople.]
26. The perfidious Ricimer soon became dissatisfied with Anthe'mius,
and raised the standard of revolt. Marching to Rome he easily became
master of the city, and Anthe'mius was slain in the tumult. The
unhappy Romans were again subjected to all the miseries that military
licentiousness could inflict; for forty days Ricimer exulted in the
havoc and ruin of the imperial city; but a disease, occasioned by
excessive intemperance, seized on his vitals, and death freed Rome
from the tyrant.
27. Olyb'ius, the successor of Anthe'mius, dying after a short reign
of three months, Glyce'rius, an obscure soldier, assumed the purple at
Raven'na, but was soon dethroned by Ju'lius Ne'pos, whom the court of
Constantinople supported. A treaty by which the most faithful
provinces of Gaul were yielded to the Visigoths, produced so much
popular discontent, that Ores'tes, a general of barbarian auxiliaries,
was encouraged to revolt, and Ne'pos, unable to defend the throne,
abdicated, and spent the remainder of his unhonoured life in
obscurity.
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