Sed Laniogaiso vetante (tunc tribuno) quem dum militaret candidatus solum adfuisse morituro Constanti supra rettulimus, docenteque Francos, unde oriebatur, interfecturos eum aut accepto praemio prodituros, nihil tutum ex praesentibus ratus, in consilia agitabatur extrema et sensim cum principiorum verticibus erectius collocutus, eisdemque magnitudine promissae mercedis accensis, cultu purpureo a draconum et vexillorum insignibus ad tempus abstracto, ad culmen imperiale surrexit.
But he was prevented by Laniogaisus, at that time a tribune, whom I have earlier stated to have been the sole witness of Constans death, while he was serving as a subaltern. He assured Silvanus that the Franks, whose fellow-countryman he was, would kill him or on receipt of a bribe betray him. So Silvanus, seeing no safety under present conditions, was driven to extreme measures, and having gradually spoken more boldly with the chief officers, he aroused them by the greatness of the reward he promised; then as a temporary expedient he tore the purple decorations from the standards of the cohorts and the companies, and so mounted to the imperial dignity.
final_alignments\Ammianus_Marcellinus_Book15.json