The Death of Constantius

So as soon as he had escaped the plots so craftily laid for him, he made his way to his father with all haste, and arrived at last at the very time when his father was lying at the point of death. As soon as Constantius saw his son so unexpectedly in his presence, he leaped from his couch and embraced him tenderly. He declared that the only anxiety that had troubled him at the prospect of death, the absence of his son, was now removed, and he gave thanks to God, saying that he now thought death better than the longest life. At once he completed the arrangement of his private affairs. Then he took a last farewell of the circle of sons and daughters around him, and there in his own palace, on the imperial couch, he left the empire, according to the law of nature, to his eldest son, and breathed his last. [a]