The Death of Gerontius and His Wife

Meanwhile Gerontius, once the most capable of Constantine’s generals, became his enemy. Believing that his close friend Maximus was well suited to rule as usurper, he clothed him in the imperial robe and let him live at Tarracona. Gerontius then marched against Constantine and saw to it that Constans, the son of Constantine, was put to death at Vienne. [a]

As soon as Constantine heard that Maximus had seized power, he sent one of his generals, named Edovicus, across the Rhine to raise an army of Franks and Alemanni, and he sent his son Constans to guard Vienne and the towns around it. Gerontius then advanced on Arles and laid siege to it. But as soon as the army of Honorius arrived against the usurper, under the command of Constantius, the father of the Valentinian who later became emperor of Rome, Gerontius retreated in haste with a few soldiers, for most of his troops deserted to the army of Constantius. The Spanish soldiers came to despise Gerontius completely because of his retreat, and they plotted how to kill him. They gathered in close ranks and attacked his house at night. But he, with his friend Alanus and a few servants, climbed to the top of the house, and they shot their arrows with such effect that no fewer than three hundred of the soldiers fell. When the arrows ran out, the servants escaped by secretly letting themselves down from the building. Gerontius could have been saved in the same way, but he chose not to, because his love for his wife Nonnichia held him back. At daybreak the next day the soldiers threw fire into the house. When he saw that there was no hope of safety left, he cut off the head of his companion Alanus, at Alanus’s own wish. After this his wife, weeping and lamenting, pressed herself against the sword, pleading to die by her husband’s hand before she could be handed over to others, and begging this last gift from him. By her courage this woman showed herself worthy of her religion, for she was a Christian; and so she died by a merciful stroke, and left to later times a memory of herself too strong to be forgotten. Gerontius then struck himself three times with his sword, but finding that he had not received a mortal wound, he drew the dagger he wore at his side and plunged it into his heart. [b]