The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire: By Edward Gibbon, Esq; ... [pt.5]

CHAP. XXIX. Final Division of the Roman Empire between the Sons of Theodosius.—Reign of Arcadius and Ho|norius.—Administration of Rufinus and Stilicho.—Revolt and Defeat of Gildo in Africa.

THE genius of Rome expired with Theo|dosius; the last of the successors of Au|gustus and Constantine, who appeared in the field * 1.1 at the head of their armies, and whose authority was universally acknowledged throughout the whole extent of the empire. The memory of his virtues still continued, however, to protect the feeble and inexperienced youth of his two sons. After the death of their father, Arcadius and Honorius were saluted, by the unanimous consent of mankind, as the lawful emperors of the East, and of the West; and the oath of fidelity was eagerly taken by every order of the state; the senates of old and new Rome, the clergy, the magistrates, the soldiers, and the people. Ar|cadius, who then was about eighteen years of age, was born in Spain, in the humble habitation of a private family. But he received a princely education in the palace of Constantinople; and his inglorious life was spent in that peaceful and splendid seat of royalty, from whence he appeared to reign over the provinces of Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, from the Lower Danube to the confines of Persia and Aethiopia. His younger brother, Honorius, assumed, in the eleventh year

of his age, the nominal government of Italy, Africa, Gaul, Spain, and Britain; and the troops, which guarded the frontiers of his kingdom, were opposed, on one side, to the Caledonians, and on the other to the Moors. The great and martial praefecture of Illyricum was divided between the two princes: the defence and possession of the pro|vinces of Noricum, Pannonia, and Dalmatia, still belonged to the western empire; but the two large dioceses of Dacia and Macedonia, which Gratian had entrusted to the valour of Theodosius, were for ever united to the empire of the East. The boundary in Europe was not very different from the line which now separates the Germans and the Turks; and the respective advantages of territory, riches, populousness, and military strength, were fairly balanced and compensated, in this final and permanent division of the Roman em|pire. The hereditary sceptre of the sons of Theo|dosius appeared to be the gift of nature, and of their father; the generals and ministers had been accustomed to adore the majesty of the royal in|fants; and the army and people were not admo|nished of their rights, and of their power, by the dangerous example of a recent election. The gradual discovery of the weakness of Arcadius and Honorius, and the repeated calamities of their reign, were not sufficient to obliterate the deep and early impressions of loyalty. The sub|jects of Rome, who still reverenced the persons, or rather the names, of their sovereigns, beheld, with equal abhorrence, the rebels who opposed,

and the ministers who abused, the authority of the throne.

Theodosius had tarnished the glory of his reign * 1.2 by the elevation of Rufinus; an odious favourite, who, in an age of civil and religious faction, has deserved, from every party, the imputation of every crime. The strong impulse of ambition and avarice 1 1.3 had urged Rufinus to abandon his native country, an obscure corner of Gaul 2 1.4, to advance his fortune in the capital of the East: the talent of bold and ready elocution 3 1.5 qualified him to succeed in the lucrative profession of the law; and his success in that profession was a re|gular step to the most honourable and important employments of the state. He was raised, by just degrees, to the station of master of the offices. In the exercise of his various functions, so essen|tially connected with the whole system of civil go|vernment, he acquired the confidence of a mo|narch, who soon discovered his diligence and capacity in business, and who long remained ig|norant of the pride, the malice, and the covetous|ness of his disposition. These vices were concealed beneath the mask of profound dissimulation 4 1.6;

his passions were subservient only to the passions of his master: yet, in the horrid massacre of Thes|salonica, the cruel Rufinus inflamed the fury, without imitating the repentance, of Theodosius. The minister, who viewed with proud indifference the rest of mankind, never forgave the appearance of an injury; and his personal enemies had for|feited, in his opinion, the merit of all public ser|vices. Promotus, the master-general of the in|fantry, had saved the empire from the invasion of the Ostrogoths; but he indignantly supported the pre-eminence of a rival, whose character and profession he despised; and, in the midst of a public council, the impatient soldier was pro|voked to chastise with a blow the indecent pride of the favourite. This act of violence was repre|sented to the emperor as an insult, which it was incumbent on his dignity to resent. The dis|grace and exile of Promotus were signified by a peremptory order, to repair, without delay, to a military station on the banks of the Danube: and the death of that general (though he was slain in a skirmish with the Barbarians) was imputed to the perfidious arts of Rufinus 5 1.7. The sacrifice of an hero gratified his revenge; the honours of the consulship elated his vanity; but his power was still imperfect and precarious, as long as the im|portant posts of praefect of the East, and of praefect of Constantinople, were filled by Tatian 6 1.8, and

his son Proculus; whose united authority ba|lanced, for some time, the ambition and favour of the master of the offices. The two praefects were accused of rapine and corruption in the ad|ministration of the laws and finances. For the trial of these illustrious offenders, the emperor constituted a special commission: several judges were named to share the guilt and reproach of in|justice; but the right of pronouncing sentence was reserved to the president alone, and that pre|sident was Rufinus himself. The father, stripped of the praefecture of the East, was thrown into a dungeon; but the son, conscious that few mini|sters can be found innocent, where an enemy is their judge, had secretly escaped; and Rufinus must have been satisfied with the least obnoxious victim, if despotism had not condescended to em|ploy the basest and most ungenerous artifice. The prosecution was conducted with an appearance of equity and moderation, which flattered Tatian with the hope of a favourable event; his con|fidence was fortified by the solemn assurances, and perfidious oaths, of the president, who presumed to interpose the sacred name of Theodosius him|self; and the unhappy father was at last persuaded to recal, by a private letter, the fugitive Proculus. He was instantly seized, examined, condemned, and beheaded, in one of the suburbs of Constan|tinople, with a precipitation which disappointed

the clemency of the emperor. Without respect|ing the misfortunes of a consular senator, the cruel judges of Tatian compelled him to behold the execution of his son: the fatal cord was fastened round his own neck; but in the moment when he expected, and perhaps desired, the relief of a speedy death, he was permitted to consume the miserable remnant of his old age in poverty and exile 7 1.9. The punishment of the two praefects might, perhaps, be excused by the exceptionable parts of their own conduct; the enmity of Rufinus might be palliated by the jealous and unsociable nature of ambition. But he indulged a spirit of revenge, equally repugnant to prudence and to justice, when he degraded their native country of Lycia, from the rank of Roman provinces; stig|matised a guiltless people with a mark of igno|miny; and declared, that the countrymen of Tatian and Proculus should for ever remain in|capable of holding any employment of honour or advantage, under the Imperial government 8 1.10.

The new praefect of the East (for Rufinus instantly succeeded to the vacant honours of his adversary) was not diverted, however, by the most criminal pursuits, from the performance of the religious duties, which in that age were considered as the most essential to salvation. In the suburb of Chal|cedon, surnamed the Oak, he had built a magni|ficent villa; to which he devoutly added a stately church; consecrated to the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and continually sanctified by the prayers, and pennance, of a regular society of monks. A numerous, and almost general, synod of the bishops of the eastern empire was summoned to celebrate, at the same time, the dedication of the church, and the baptism of the founder. This double ceremony was performed with extraordinary pomp; and when Rufinus was purified, in the holy font, from all the sins that he had hitherto committed, a venerable hermit of Egypt rashly proposed him|self as the sponsor of a proud and ambitious statesman 9 1.11.

The character of Theodosius imposed on his * 1.12 minister the task of hypocrisy, which disguised, and sometimes restrained, the abuse of power; and Rufinus was apprehensive of disturbing the indolent slumber of a prince, still capable of ex|erting the abilities, and the virtue, which had

raised him to the throne 10 1.13. But the absence, and, soon afterwards, the death, of the emperor, con|firmed the absolute authority of Rufinus over the person and dominions of Arcadius; a feeble youth, whom the imperious praefect considered as his pupil, rather than his sovereign. Regardless of the public opinion, he indulged his passions with|out remorse, and without resistance; and his ma|lignant and rapacious spirit rejected every passion that might have contributed to his own glory, or the happiness of the people. His avarice 11 1.14, which seems to have prevailed, in his corrupt mind, over every other sentiment, attracted the wealth of the East, by the various arts of partial, and general, extortion; oppressive taxes, scan|dalous bribery, immoderate fines, unjust confis|cation, forced or fictitious testaments, by which the tyrant despoiled of their lawful inheritance the children of strangers, or enemies; and the public sale of justice, as well as of favour, which he in|stituted in the palace of Constantinople. The

ambitious candidate eagerly solicited, at the ex|pence of the fairest part of his patrimony, the ho|nours and emoluments of some provincial go|vernment: the lives and fortunes of the unhappy people were abandoned to the most liberal pur|chaser; and the public discontent was sometimes appeased by the sacrifice of an unpopular criminal, whose punishment was profitable only to the prae|fect of the East, his accomplice and his judge. If avarice were not the blindest of the human passions, the motives of Rufinus might excite our curiosity; and we might be tempted to inquire, with what view he violated every principle of humanity and justice, to accumulate those immense treasures, which he could not spend without folly, nor possess without danger. Perhaps he vainly ima|gined, that he laboured for the interest of an only daughter, on whom he intended to bestow his royal pupil, and the august rank of Empress of the East. Perhaps he deceived himself by the opinion, that his avarice was the instrument of his ambition. He aspired to place his fortune on a secure and independent basis, which should no longer depend on the caprice of the young em|peror; yet he neglected to conciliate the hearts of the soldiers and people, by the liberal distri|bution of those riches, which he had acquired with so much toil, and with so much guilt. The extreme parsimony of Rufinus left him only the reproach, and envy, of ill-gotten wealth; his de|pendents served him without attachment; the universal hatred of mankind was repressed only by the influence of servile fear. The fate of

Lucian proclaimed to the East, that the praefect, whose industry was much abated in the dispatch of ordinary business, was active and indefatigable in the pursuit of revenge. Lucian, the son of the praefect Florentius, the oppressor of Gaul, and the enemy of Julian, had employed a considerable part of his inheritance, the fruit of rapine and corruption, to purchase the friendship of Rufinus, and the high office of Count of the East. But the new magistrate imprudently departed from the maxims of the court, and of the times; disgraced his benefactor, by the contrast of a virtuous and temperate administration; and presumed to re|fuse an act of injustice, which might have tended to the profit of the emperor's uncle. Arcadius was easily persuaded to resent the supposed insult; and the praefect of the East resolved to execute in person the cruel vengeance, which he meditated against this ungrateful delegate of his power. He performed with incessant speed the journey of seven or eight hundred miles, from Constantinople to Antioch, entered the capital of Syria at the dead of night, and spread universal consternation among a people, ignorant of his design, but not ignorant of his character. The count of the fifteen provinces of the East was dragged, like the vilest malefactor, before the arbitrary tribunal of Rufinus. Not|withstanding the clearest evidence of his integrity, which was not impeached even by the voice of an accuser, Lucian was condemned, almost with|out a trial, to suffer a cruel and ignominious pu|nishment. The ministers of the tyrant, by the order, and in the presence, of their master, beat

him on the neck with leather thongs, armed at the extremities with lead; and when he fainted under the violence of the pain, he was removed in a close litter, to conceal his dying agonies from the eyes of the indignant city. No sooner had Rufinus perpetrated this inhuman act, the sole object of his expedition, than he returned, amidst the deep, and silent, curses of a trembling people, from Antioch to Constantinople; and his dili|gence was accelerated, by the hope of accomplish|ing, without delay, the nuptials of his daughter with the emperor of the East 12 1.15.

But Rufinus soon experienced, that a prudent * 1.16 minister should constantly secure his royal captive by the strong, though invisible, chain of habit; and that the merit, and much more easily the fa|vour, of the absent, are obliterated in a short time from the mind of a weak and capricious sovereign. While the praefect satiated his revenge at Antioch, a secret conspiracy of the favourite eunuchs, directed by the great chamberlain Eu|tropius, undermined his power in the palace of Constantinople. They discovered that Arcadius was not inclined to love the daughter of Rufinus, who had been chosen, without his consent, for his bride; and they contrived to substitute in her place the fair Eudoxia, the daughter of Bauto 13 1.17,

a general of the Franks in the service of Rome; and who was educated, since the death of her fa|ther, in the family of the sons of Promotus. The young emperor, whose chastity had been strictly guarded by the pious care of his tutor Arsenius 14 1.18, eagerly listened to the artful and flattering descrip|tions of the charms of Eudoxia: he gazed with impatient ardour on her picture, and he under|stood the necessity of concealing his amorous de|signs from the knowledge of a minister, who was so deeply interested to oppose the consummation of his happiness. Soon after the return of Rufinus, the approaching ceremony of the royal nuptials was announced to the people of Constantinople, who prepared to celebrate, with false and hollow acclamations, the fortune of his daughter. A splendid train of eunuchs and officers issued, in hymeneal pomp, from the gates of the palace; bearing aloft the diadem, the robes, and the in|estimable ornaments, of the future empress. The solemn procession passed through the streets of the city, which were adorned with garlands, and filled with spectators; but, when it reached the house of the sons of Promotus, the principal eunuch re|spectfully entered the mansion, invested the fair Eudoxia with the Imperial robes, and conducted her in triumph to the palace and bed of Arca|dius 15 1.19. The secresy, and success, with which

this conspiracy against Rufinus had been con|ducted, imprinted a mark of indelible ridicule on the character of a minister, who had suffered him|self to be deceived, in a post where the arts of deceit and dissimulation constitute the most di|stinguished merit. He considered, with a mix|ture of indignation and fear, the victory of an aspiring eunuch, who had secretly captivated the favour of his sovereign; and the disgrace of his daughter, whose interest was inseparably con|nected with his own, wounded the tenderness, or, at least, the pride, of Rufinus. At the moment when he flattered himself that he should become the father of a line of kings, a foreign maid, who had been educated in the house of his implacable enemies, was introduced into the Imperial bed; and Eudoxia soon displayed a superiority of sense and spirit, to improve the ascendant which her beauty must acquire over the mind of a fond and youthful husband. The emperor would soon be instructed to hate, to fear, and to destroy, the powerful subject, whom he had injured; and the consciousness of guilt deprived Rufinus of every hope, either of safety or comfort, in the retire|ment of a private life. But he still possessed the most effectual means of defending his dignity, and perhaps of oppressing his enemies. The prae|fect still exercised an uncontrouled authority over the civil and military government of the East:

and his treasures, if he could resolve to use them, might be employed to procure proper instruments, for the execution of the blackest designs, that pride, ambition, and revenge, could suggest to a desperate statesman. The character of Rufinus seemed to justify the accusations, that he conspired against the person of his sovereign, to seat himself on the vacant throne; and that he had secretly in|vited the Huns, and the Goths, to invade the pro|vinces of the empire, and to increase the public confusion. The subtle praefect, whose life had been spent in the intrigues of the palace, opposed, with equal arms, the artful measures of the eu|nuch Eutropius; but the timid soul of Rufinus was astonished by the hostile approach of a more formidable rival, of the great Stilicho, the general, or rather the master, of the empire of the West 16 1.20.

The celestial gift, which Achilles obtained, and * 1.21 Alexander envied, of a poet worthy to celebrate the actions of heroes, has been enjoyed by Stili|cho, in a much higher degree than might have been expected from the declining state of genius, and of art. The muse of Claudian 17 1.22, devoted to his service, was always prepared to stigmatise his adversaries, Rufinus, or Eutropius, with eternal infamy; or to paint, in the most splendid co|lours, the victories, and virtues, of a powerful be|nefactor. In the review of a period indifferently

supplied with authentic materials, we cannot re|fuse to illustrate the annals of Honorius, from the invectives, or the panegyrics, of a contemporary writer; but as Claudian appears to have indulged the most ample privilege of a poet and a courtier, some criticism will be requisite to translate the language of fiction, or exaggeration, into the truth and simplicity of historic prose. His silence concerning the family of Stilicho may be admitted as a proof, that his patron was neither able, nor desirous, to boast of a long series of illustrious pro|genitors; and the slight mention of his father, an officer of Barbarian cavalry, in the service of Valens, seems to countenance the assertion, that the general, who so long commanded the armies of Rome, was descended from the savage and per|fidious race of the Vandals 18 1.23. If Stilicho had not possessed the external advantages of strength and stature, the most flattering bard, in the pre|sence of so many thousand spectators, would have hesitated to affirm, that he surpassed the measure of the demi-gods of antiquity; and, that when|ever he moved, with lofty steps, through the streets of the capital, the astonished crowd made room for the stranger, who displayed, in a private condition, the awful majesty of a hero. From his earliest youth he embraced the profession of arms; his prudence and valour were soon distin|guished in the field; the horsemen and archers of the East admired his superior dexterity; and

in each degree of his military promotions, the public judgment always prevented and approved the choice of the sovereign. He was named by Theodosius, to ratify a solemn treaty with the monarch of Persia: he supported, during that important embassy, the dignity of the Roman name; and after his return to Constantinople, his merit was rewarded by an intimate and honour|able alliance with the Imperial family. Theodo|sius had been prompted, by a pious motive of fraternal affection, to adopt, for his own, the daughter of his brother Honorius; the beauty and accomplishments of Serena 19 1.24 were univer|sally admired by the obsequious court; and Sti|licho obtained the preference over a crowd of rivals, who ambitiously disputed the hand of the princess, and the favour of her adoptive father 20 1.25. The assurance that the husband of Serena would be faithful to the throne, which he was permitted to approach, engaged the emperor to exalt the fortunes, and to employ the abilities, of the saga|cious and intrepid Stilicho. He rose through the successive steps of master of the horse, and count of the domestics, to the supreme rank of master-general of all the cavalry and infantry of * 1.26

the Roman, or at least of the Western, empire 21 1.27; and his enemies confessed, that he invariably dis|dained to barter for gold the rewards of merit, or * 1.28 to defraud the soldiers of the pay and gratifica|tions, which they deserved, or claimed, from the liberality of the state 22 1.29. The valour and con|duct which he afterwards displayed, in the de|fence of Italy, against the arms of Alaric and Ra|dagaisus, may justify the fame of his early at|chievements: and in an age less attentive to the laws of honour, or of pride, the Roman generals might yield the pre-eminence of rank, to the as|cendant of superior genius 23 1.30. He lamented, and revenged, the murder of Promotus, his rival and his friend; and the massacre of many thousands of the flying Bastarnae is represented by the poet, as a bloody sacrifice, which the Roman Achilles offered to the manes of another Patroclus. The virtues and victories of Stilicho deserved the hatred of Rufinus: and the arts of calumny might

have been successful, if the tender and vigilant Serena had not protected her husband against his domestic foes, whilst he vanquished in the field the enemies of the empire 24 1.31. Theodosius con|tinued to support an unworthy minister, to whose diligence he delegated the government of the pa|lace, and of the East; but when he marched against the tyrant Eugenius, he associated his faithful general to the labours and glories of the civil war; and, in the last moments of his life, the dying monarch recommended to Stilicho, the care of his sons, and of the republic 25 1.32. The ambition and the abilities of Stilicho were not unequal to the important trust; and he claimed the guardianship of the two empires, during the minority of Arcadius and Honorius 26 1.33. The first measure of his administration, or rather of his reign, displayed to the nations the vigour and activity of a spirit worthy to command. He passed the Alps in the depth of winter; descended the stream of

the Rhine, from the fortress of Basil, to the marches of Batavia; reviewed the state of the garrisons; repressed the enterprises of the Ger|mans; and, after establishing along the banks a firm and honourable peace, returned with incre|dible speed to the palace of Milan 27 1.34. The per|son and court of Honorius were subject to the master-general of the West; and the armies and provinces of Europe obeyed, without hesitation, a regular authority, which was exercised in the name of their young sovereign. Two rivals only remained to dispute the claims, and to provoke the vengeance, of Stilicho. Within the limits of Africa, Gildo, the Moor, maintained a proud and dangerous independence; and the minister of Constantinople asserted his equal reign over the emperor, and the empire, of the East.

The impartiality which Stilicho affected, as the * 1.35 common guardian of the royal brothers, engaged him to regulate the equal division of the arms, the jewels, and the magnificent wardrobe and fur|niture of the deceased emperor 28 1.36. But the most important object of the inheritance consisted of the numerous legions, cohorts, and squadrons of Romans, or Barbarians, whom the event of the civil war had united under the standard of Theo|dosius. The various multitudes of Europe and

Asia, exasperated by recent animosities, were over-awed by the authority of a single man; and the rigid discipline of Stilicho protected the lands of the citizen from the rapine of the licentious soldier 29 1.37. Anxious however, and impatient, to relieve Italy from the presence of this formidable host, which could be useful only on the frontiers of the empire, he listened to the just requisition of the minister of Arcadius, declared his intention of reconducting in person the troops of the East; and dexterously employed the rumour of a Gothic tumult, to conceal his private designs of ambition and revenge 30 1.38. The guilty soul of Rufinus was alarmed by the approach of a warrior and a rival, whose enmity he deserved; he computed, with increasing terror, the narrow space of his life and greatness; and, as the last hope of safety, he in|terposed the authority of the emperor Arcadius, Stilicho, who appears to have directed his march along the sea coast of the Hadriatic, was not far distant from the city of Thessalonica, when he re|ceived a peremptory message, to recal the troops of the East, and to declare, that his nearer ap|proach would be considered, by the Byzantine

court, as an act of hostility. The prompt and unexpected obedience of the general of the West, convinced the vulgar of his loyalty and modera|tion; and, as he had already engaged the affec|tion of the Eastern troops, he recommended to their zeal the execution of his bloody design, which might be accomplished in his absence, with less danger perhaps, and with less reproach. Sti|licho left the command of the troops of the East to Gainas, the Goth, on whose fidelity he firmly re|lied; with an assurance, at least, that the hardy Barbarian would never be diverted from his pur|pose by any consideration of fear or remorse. The soldiers were easily persuaded to punish the ene|my of Stilicho, and of Rome; and such was the general hatred which Rufinus had excited, that the fatal secret, communicated to thousands, was faithfully preserved during the long march from Thessalonica to the gates of Constantinople. As soon as they had resolved his death, they con|descended to flatter his pride; the ambitious prae|fect was seduced to believe, that those powerful auxiliaries might be tempted to place the diadem on his head; and the treasures which he distribut|ed, with a tardy and reluctant hand, were accept|ed by the indignant multitude, as an insult, rather than as a gift. At the distance of a mile from the capital, in the field of Mars, before the pa|lace of Hebdomon, the troops halted: and the emperor, as well as his minister, advanced, ac|cording to ancient custom, respectfully to salute the power which supported their throne. As Rufinus passed along the ranks, and disguised,

with studied courtesy, his innate haughtiness, the wings insensibly wheeled from the right and left, and inclosed the devoted victim within the circle of their arms. Before he could reflect on the danger of his situation, Gainas gave the signal of death; a daring and forward soldier plunged his sword into the breast of the guilty praefect, and Rufinus fell, groaned, and expired, at the feet of the affrighted emperor. If the agonies of a moment could expiate the crimes of a whole life, or if the outrages inflicted on a breathless corpse could be the object of pity, our humanity might perhaps be affected by the horrid circumstances which accompanied the murder of Rufinus. His mangled body was abandoned to the brutal fury of the populace of either sex, who hastened in crouds, from every quarter of the city, to trample on the remains of the haughty minister, at whose frown they had so lately trembled. His right hand was cut off, and carried through the streets of Constantinople, in cruel mockery, to extort contributions for the avaricious tyrant, whose head was publicly exposed, borne aloft on the point of a long lance 31 1.39. According to the savage maxims of the Greek republics, his innocent family would have shared the punishment of his crimes. The wife and daughter of Rufinus were indebted for their safety to the influence of re|ligion. Her sanctuary protected them from the raging madness of the people; and they were

permitted to spend the remainder of their lives in the exercises of Christian devotion, in the peaceful retirement of Jerusalem 32 1.40.

The servile poet of Stilicho applauds, with fe|rocious * 1.41 joy, this horrid deed, which, in the exe|cution, perhaps, of justice, violated every law of nature and society, profaned the majesty of the prince, and renewed the dangerous examples of military licence. The contemplation of the uni|versal order and harmony had satisfied Claudian of the existence of the Deity; but the prosperous impunity of vice appeared to contradict his moral attributes; and the fate of Rufinus was the only event which could dispel the religious doubts of the poet 33 1.42. Such an act might vindicate the honour of Providence; but it did not much con|tribute to the happiness of the people. In less than three months they were informed of the maxims of the new administration, by a singular edict, which established the exclusive right of the treasury over the spoils of Rufinus; and silenced, under heavy penalties, the presumptuous claims of the subjects of the Eastern empire, who had

been injured by his rapacious tyranny 34 1.43. Even Stilicho did not derive from the murder of his rival, the fruit which he had proposed; and though he gratified his revenge, his ambition was disappointed. Under the name of a favourite, the weakness of Arcadius required a master; but he naturally preferred the obsequious arts of the eunuch Eutropius, who had obtained his domestic confidence; and the emperor contemplated, with terror and aversion, the stern genius of a foreign warrior. Till they were divided by the jealousy of power, the sword of Gainas, and the charms of Eudoxia, supported the favour of the great chamberlain of the palace: the perfidious Goth, who was appointed master-general of the East, betrayed, without scruple, the interest of his be|nefactor; and the same troops, who had so lately massacred the enemy of Stilicho, were engaged to support, against him, the independence of the throne of Constantinople. The favourites of Arcadius fomented a secret and irreconcileable war against a formidable hero, who aspired to govern, and to defend, the two empires of Rome, and the two sons of Theodosius. They incessantly laboured, by dark and treacherous machinations, to deprive him of the esteem of the prince, the respect of the people, and the friendship of the Barbarians. The life of Stilicho was repeatedly attempted by the dagger of hired assassins; and a decree was obtained, from the senate of Con|stantinople,

to declare him an enemy of the re|public, and to confiscate his ample possessions in the provinces of the East. At a time when the only hope of delaying the ruin of the Roman name, depended on the firm union, and recipro|cal aid, of all the nations to whom it had been gradually communicated, the subjects of Arca|dius and Honorius were instructed, by their re|spective masters, to view each other in a foreign, and even hostile, light; to rejoice in their mutual calamities, and to embrace, as their faithful allies, the Barbarians, whom they excited to invade the territories of their countrymen 35 1.44. The natives of Italy affected to despise the servile and effe|minate Greeks of Byzantium, who presumed to imitate the dress, and to usurp the dignity, of Roman senators 36 1.45; and the Greeks had not yet forgot the sentiments of hatred and contempt, which their polished ancestors had so long enter|tained for the rude inhabitants of the West. The distinction of two governments, which soon pro|duced the separation of two nations, will justify my design of suspending the series of the Byzan|tine history, to prosecute, without interruption,

the disgraceful, but memorable, reign of Hono|rius.

The prudent Stilicho, instead of persisting to * 1.46 force the inclinations of a prince, and people, who rejected his government, wisely abandoned Arcadius to his unworthy favourites; and his re|luctance to involve the two empires in a civil war, displayed the moderation of a minister, who had so often signalized his military spirit and abilities. But if Stilicho had any longer endured the revolt of Africa, he would have betrayed the security of the capital, and the majesty of the Western em|peror, to the capricious insolence of a Moorish rebel. Gildo 37 1.47, the brother of the tyrant Firmus, had preserved and obtained, as the reward of his apparent fidelity, the immense patrimony which was forfeited by treason; long and meritorious service, in the armies of Rome, raised him to the dignity of a military count; the narrow policy of the court of Theodosius had adopted the mis|chievous expedient, of supporting a legal go|vernment by the interest of a powerful family; and the brother of Firmus was invested with the command of Africa. His ambition soon usurped the administration of justice, and of the finances, without account, and without controul; and he maintained, during a reign of twelve years, the possession of an office from which it was impossible

to remove him, without the danger of a civil war. During those twelve years, the provinces of Africa groaned under the dominion of a tyrant, who seemed to unite the unfeeling temper of a stranger, with the partial resentments of domestic faction. The forms of law were often superseded by the use of poison; and if the trembling guests, who were invited to the table of Gildo, presumed to express their fears, the insolent suspicion served only to excite his fury, and he loudly summoned the ministers of death. Gildo alternately indulged the passions of avarice and lust 38 1.48; and if his days were terrible to the rich, his nights were not less dreadful to husbands and parents. The fairest of their wives and daughters were prosti|tuted to the embraces of the tyrant; and after|wards abandoned to a ferocious troop of Barba|rians and assassins, the black, or swarthy, natives of the desert; whom Gildo considered as the only guardians of his throne. In the civil war between Theodosius and Eugenius, the count, or rather the sovereign, of Africa, maintained a haughty and suspicious neutrality; refused to assist either of the contending parties with troops or vessels, expected the declaration of fortune, and reserved

for the conqueror, the vain professions of his alle|giance. Such professions would not have satis|fied the master of the Roman world: but the death of Theodosius, and the weakness and dis|cord of his sons, confirmed the power of the Moor; who condescended, as a proof of his mo|deration, to abstain from the use of the diadem, and to supply Rome with the customary tribute, or rather subsidy, of corn. In every division of the empire, the five provinces of Africa were in|variably assigned to the West; and Gildo had consented to govern that extensive country in the name of Honorius; but his knowledge of the character and designs of Stilicho, soon engaged him to address his homage to a more distant and feeble sovereign. The ministers of Arcadius em|braced the cause of a perfidious rebel; and the delusive hope of adding the numerous cities of Africa to the empire of the East, tempted them to assert a claim, which they were incapable of sup|porting, either by reason, or by arms 39 1.49.

When Stilicho had given a firm and decisive answer to the pretensions of the Byzantine court, * 1.50 he solemnly accused the tyrant of Africa before the tribunal, which had formerly judged the kings and nations of the earth; and the image of the republic was revived, after a long interval, under the reign of Honorius. The emperor transmitted an accurate and ample detail of the complaints of

the provincials, and the crimes of Gildo, to the Roman senate; and the members of that vene|rable assembly were required to pronounce the condemnation of the rebel. Their unanimous suffrage declared him the enemy of the republic; and the decree of the senate added a sacred and legitimate sanction, to the Roman arms 40 1.51. A people, who still remembered, that their ancestors had been the masters of the world, would have ap|plauded, with conscious pride, the representation of ancient freedom; if they had not long since been accustomed to prefer the solid assurance of bread, to the unsubstantial visions of liberty and greatness. The subsistence of Rome depended on the harvests of Africa; and it was evident, that a declaration of war would be the signal of famine. The praefect Symmachus, who presided in the deliberations of the senate, admonished the minister of his just apprehension, that as soon as the revengeful Moor should prohibit the exporta|tion of corn, the tranquillity, and perhaps the safety, of the capital, would be threatened by the hungry rage of a turbulent multitude 41 1.52. The prudence of Stilicho conceived, and executed, without delay, the most effectual measure for the relief of the Roman people. A large and season|able supply of corn, collected in the inland pro|vinces of Gaul, was embarked on the rapid stream

of the Rhone, and transported, by an easy navi|gation, from the Rhone to the Tyber. During the whole term of the African war, the granaries of Rome were continually filled, her dignity was vindicated from the humiliating dependence, and the minds of an immense people were quieted by the calm confidence of peace and plenty 42 1.53.

The cause of Rome, and the conduct of the * 1.54 African war, were entrusted by Stilicho, to a ge|neral, active and ardent to avenge his private in|juries on the head of the tyrant. The spirit of discord, which prevailed in the house of Nabal, had excited a deadly quarrel between two of his sons, Gildo and Mascezel 43 1.55. The usurper pur|sued, with implacable rage, the life of his younger brother, whose courage and abilities he feared; and Mascezel, oppressed by superior power, took refuge in the court of Milan: where he soon re|ceived the cruel intelligence, that his two inno|cent and helpless children had been murdered by their inhuman uncle. The affliction of the father was suspended only by the desire of revenge. The vigilant Stilicho already prepared to collect the naval and military forces of the Western empire; and he had resolved, if the tyrant should be able to wage an equal and doubtful war, to march against him in person. But as Italy required his

presence, and as it might be dangerous to weaken the defence of the frontier, he judged it more ad|viseable, that Mascezel should attempt this ar|duous adventure, at the head of a chosen body of Gallic veterans, who had lately served under the standard of Eugenius. These troops, who were exhorted to convince the world, that they could subvert, as well as defend, the throne of an usurper, consisted of the Jovian, the Herculian, and the Augustan, legions; of the Nervian auxi|liaries; of the soldiers, who displayed in their banners the symbol of a lion, and of the troops which were distinguished by the auspicious names of Fortunate, and Invincible. Yet such was the smallness of their establishments, or the difficulty of recruiting, that these seven bands 44 1.56, of high dignity and reputation in the service of Rome, amounted to no more than five thousand effective men 45 1.57. The fleet of gallies and transports sailed in tempestuous weather from the port of Pisa, in Tuscany, and steered their course to the little island of Capraria; which had borrowed that name from the wild goats, its original inhabitants, whose place was now occupied by a new colony of a strange and savage appearance.

"The whole

island (says an ingenious traveller of those times) is filled, or rather defiled, by men, who fly from the light. They call them|selves Monks, or solitaries, because they chuse to live alone, without any witnesses of their actions. They fear the gifts of fortune, from the apprehension of losing them; and, lest they should be miserable, they embrace a life of voluntary wretchedness. How absurd is their choice! how perverse their understand|ing! to dread the evils, without being able to support the blessings, of the human condition. Either this melancholy madness is the effect of disease, or else the consciousness of guilt urges these unhappy men to exercise on their own bodies the tortures which are inflicted on fugi|tive slaves by the hand of justice 46 1.58."

Such was the contempt of a profane magistrate for the monks of Capraria, who were revered, by the pious Mascezel, as the chosen servants of God 47 1.59. Some of them were persuaded, by his intreaties, to embark on board the fleet; and it is observed, to the praise of the Roman general, that his days and nights were employed in prayer, fasting, and the occupation of singing psalms. The devout leader,

who, with such a reinforcement, appeared con|fident of victory, avoided the dangerous rocks of Corsica, coasted along the eastern side of Sardinia, and secured his ships against the violence of the south wind, by casting anchor in the safe and ca|pacious harbour of Cagliari, at the distance of one hundred and forty miles from the African shores 48 1.60.

Gildo was prepared to resist the invasion with * 1.61 all the forces of Africa. By the liberality of his gifts and promises, he endeavoured to secure the doubtful allegiance of the Roman soldiers, whilst he attracted to his standard the distant tribes of Gaetulia and Aethiopia. He proudly reviewed an army of seventy thousand men, and boasted, with the rash presumption which is the forerunner of disgrace, that his numerous cavalry would tram|ple under their horses feet, the troops of Mascezel, and involve, in a cloud of burning sand, the na|tives of the cold regions of Gaul and Germany 49 1.62. But the Moor, who commanded the legions of Honorius, was too well acquainted with the manners of his countrymen, to entertain any se|rious apprehension of a naked and disorderly host of Barbarians; whose left arm, instead of a shield, was protected only by a mantle; who were totally disarmed as soon as they had darted their javelin from their right hand; and whose horses had

never been taught to bear the controul, or to obey the guidance, of the bridle. He fixed his camp of five thousand veterans in the face of a superior enemy, and, after the delay of three days, gave the signal of a general engagement 50 1.63. As Mascezel advanced before the front with fair of|fers of peace and pardon, he encountered one of the foremost standard-bearers of the Africans, and, on his refusal to yield, struck him on the arm with his sword. The arm, and the standard, sunk under the weight of the blow; and the imaginary act of submission was hastily repeated by all the standards of the line. At this signal, the disaffected cohorts proclaimed the name of their lawful sovereign; the Barbarians, astonished by the defection of their Roman allies, dispersed, according to their custom, in tumultuary flight; and Mascezel obtained the honours of an easy, and almost bloodless, victory 51 1.64. The tyrant es|caped from the field of battle to the sea-shore; and threw himself into a small vessel, with the hope of reaching in safety some friendly port of the empire of the East: but the obstinacy of the wind drove him back into the harbour of Ta|braca 52 1.65, which had acknowledged, with the rest

of the province, the dominion of Honorius, and the authority of his lieutenant. The inhabitants, as a proof of their repentance and loyalty, seized and confined the person of Gildo in a dungeon; and his own despair saved him from the intole|rable torture of supporting the presence of an in|jured, and victorious, brother 53 1.66. The captives, and the spoils, of Africa, were laid at the feet of the emperor; but Stilicho, whose moderation ap|peared more conspicuous, and more sincere, in the midst of prosperity, still affected to consult the laws of the republic; and referred to the senate and people of Rome, the judgment of the most illustrious criminals 54 1.67. Their trial was pub|lic and solemn; but the judges, in the exercise of this obsolete and precarious jurisdiction, were impatient to punish the African magistrates, who had intercepted the subsistence of the Roman people. The rich and guilty province was op|pressed by the Imperial ministers, who had a visible interest to multiply the number of the ac|complices of Gildo; and if an edict of Honorius seems to check the malicious industry of in|formers,

a subsequent edict, at the distance of ten years, continues and renews the prosecution of the offences which had been committed in the time of the general rebellion 55 1.68. The adherents of the tyrant who escaped the first fury of the soldiers, and the judges, might derive some consolation from the tragic fate of his brother, who could never obtain his pardon for the extraordinary ser|vices which he had performed. After he had finished an important war in the space of a single winter, Mascezel was received at the court of Milan with loud applause, affected gratitude, and secret jealousy 56 1.69; and his death, which, per|haps, was the effect of accident, has been con|sidered as the crime of Stilicho. In the passage of a bridge, the Moorish prince, who accom|panied the master-general of the West, was sud|denly thrown from his horse into the river; the officious haste of the attendants was restrained by a cruel and presidious smile, which they observed on the countenance of Stilicho; and while they delayed the necessary assistance, the unfortunate Mascezel was irrecoverably drowned 57 1.70.

The joy of the African triumph was happily connected with the nuptials of the emperor Ho|norius, * 1.71

and of his cousin Maria, the daughter of Stilicho: and this equal and honourable alliance seemed to invest the powerful minister with the authority of a parent over his submissive pupil. The muse of Claudian was not silent on this pro|pitious day 58 1.72: he sung, in various and lively strains, the happiness of the royal pair; and the glory of the hero, who confirmed their union, and supported their throne. The ancient fables of Greece, which had almost ceased to be the object of religious faith, were saved from oblivion by the genius of poetry. The picture of the Cyprian grove, the seat of harmony and love; the tri|umphant progress of Venus over her native seas, and the mild influence which her presence dif|fused in the palace of Milan, express to every age the natural sentiments of the heart, in the just and pleasing language of allegorical fiction. But the amorous impatience, which Claudian attri|butes to the young prince 59 1.73, must excite the smiles of the court; and his beauteous spouse (if she deserved the praise of beauty) had not

much to fear or to hope from the passions of her lover. Honorius was only in the fourteenth year of his age; Serena, the mother of his bride, de|ferred, by art or persuasion, the consummation of the royal nuptials; Maria died a virgin, after she had been ten years a wife; and the chastity of the emperor was secured by the coldness, or, per|haps, the debility, of his constitution 60 1.74. His subjects, who attentively studied the character of their young sovereign, discovered that Honorius was without passions, and consequently without talents; and that his feeble and languid disposi|tion was alike incapable of discharging the duties of his rank, or of enjoying the pleasures of his age. In his early youth he made some progress in the exercises of riding and drawing the bow: but he soon relinquished these fatiguing occupa|tions, and the amusement of feeding poultry be|came the serious and daily care of the monarch of the West 61 1.75, who resigned the reins of empire to the firm and skilful hand of his guardian Stilicho. The experience of history will countenance the suspicion, that a prince who was born in the purple, received a worse education than the meanest peasant of his dominions; and that the ambitious minister suffered him to attain the age of manhood, without attempting to excite his courage, or to enlighten his understanding 62 1.76.

The predecessors of Honorius were accustomed to animate, by their example, or at least by their presence, the valour of the legions; and the dates of their laws attest the perpetual activity of their motions through the provinces of the Roman world. But the son of Theodosius passed the slumber of his life, a captive in his palace, a stranger in his country, and the patient, almost the indifferent, spectator of the ruin of the West|ern empire, which was repeatedly attacked, and finally subverted, by the arms of the Barbarians. In the eventful history of a reign of twenty-eight years, it will seldom be necessary to mention the name of the emperor Honorius.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Division of the empire between Arcadius and Hono|rius, A. D. 395. Jan. 17.
• * 1.2

  Character and admi|nistration of Rufi|nus, A. D. 386—395.
• 1 1.3

  Alecto, envious of the public felicity, convenes an infernal synod. Megaera recommends her pupil Rufinus, and excites him to deeds of mischief, &c. But there is as much difference between Clau|dian's fury and that of Virgil, as between the characters of Turnus and Rufinus.
• 2 1.4

  It is evident (Tillemont, Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 770.), though de Marca is ashamed of his countryman, that Rufinus was born at Elusa, the metropolis of Novempopulania, now a small vil|lage of Gascony (d'Anville, Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, p. 289.).
• 3 1.5

  Philostorgius, l. xi. c. 3. with Godefroy's Dissert. p. 440.
• 4 1.6

  A passage of Suitlas is expressive of his profound dissimulation; 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
• 5 1.7

  Zosimus, l. iv. p. 272, 273.
• 6 1.8

  Zosimus, who describes the fall of Tatian and his son (l. iv. p. 273, 274.), asserts their innocence: and even his testimony may outweigh the charges of their enemies (Cod. Theodos. tom. iv. p. 489.), who accuse them of oppressing the Curiae. The connection of Tatian with the Arians, while he was praefect of Egypt (A. D. 373.), inclines Tillemont to believe that he was guilty of every crime (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 360. Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 589.).
• 7 1.9

  —Juvenum rorantia colla Ante patrum vultus strictâ cecidere securi. Ibat grandaevus nato moriente superstes Post trabeas exsul.

  In Rufin. i. 248.

  The facts of Zosimus explain the allusions of Claudian: but his classic interpreters were ignorant of the fourth century. The fatal cord, I found, with the help of Tillemont, in a sermon of St. Asterius of Amasea.
• 8 1.10

  This odious law is recited, and repealed, by Arcadius (A. D. 396.), in the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. xxxviii. leg. 9. The sense, as it is explained by Claudian (in Rufin. i. 234.) and Godefroy (tom. iii. p. 279.), is perfectly clear. —Exscindere cives Funditus; et nomen gentis delere laborat.

  The scruples of Pagi and Tillemont can arise only from their zeal for the glory of Theodosius.
• 9 1.11

  Ammonius . . . Rufinum propriis manibus suscepit sacro fonte mundatum. See Rosweyde's Vitae Patrum, p. 947. Sozomen (l. viii. c. 17.) mentions the church and monastery; and Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 593.) records this synod, in which St. Gregory of Nyssa performed a conspicuous part.
• * 1.12

  He op|presses the East, A. D. 395.
• 10 1.13

  Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xii. c. 12.) praises one of the laws of Theodosius, addressed to the praefect Rufinus (l. ix. tit. iv. leg. unic.), to discourage the prosecution of treasonable, or sacrilegi|ous, words. A tyrannical statute always proves the existence of ty|ranny; but a laudable edict may only contain the specious professions, or ineffectual wishes, of the prince, or his ministers. This, I am afraid, is a just, though mortifying, canon of criticism.
• 11 1.14

  —fluctibus auri Expleri ille calor nequit— — Congestae cumulantur opes; orbisque rapinas Accipit una domus—

  This character (Claudian. in Rufin. i. 184.—220.) is confirmed by Jerom, a disinterested witness (dedecus insatiabilis avaritiae, tom. i. ad Heliodor. p. 26.), by Zosumus (l. v. p. 286.), and by Suidas, who copied the history of Eunapius.
• 12 1.15

  —Caetera segnis; Ad facinus velox; penitus regione remotas Impiger ire vias.

  This allusion of Claudian (in Rufin. i. 241.) is again explained by the circumstantial narrative of Zosimus (l. v. p. 288, 289.).
• * 1.16

  He is dis|appointed, by the marriage of Arca|dius, A. D. 395. April 27.
• 13 1.17

  Zosimus (l. iv. p. 243.) praises the valour, prudence, and in|tegrity, of Bauto the Frank. See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 771.
• 14 1.18

  Arsenius escaped from the palace of Constantinople, and passed fifty-five years in rigid pennance in the monasteries of Egypt. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 676—702.; and Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. v. p. 1, &c.: but the latter, for want of authentic materials, has given too much credit to the legend of Metaphrastes.
• 15 1.19

  This story (Zosimus, l. v. p. 290.) proves that the hymeneal rites of antiquity were still practised, without idolatry, by the Christians of the East; and the bride was forcibly conducted from the house of her parents to that of her husband. Our form of marriage requires, with less delicacy, the express and public consent of a vir|gin.
• 16 1.20

  Zosimus (l. v. p. 290.), Orosius (l. vii. c. 37.), and the Chro|nicle of Marcellinus. Claudian (in Rufin. ii. 7—100.) paints, in lively colours, the distress and guilt of the praefect.
• * 1.21

  Character of Stilicho, the mini|ster, and general, of the West|ern em|pire.
• 17 1.22

  Stilicho, directly or indirectly, is the perpetual theme of Claudian. The youth, and private life of the hero, are vaguely expressed in the poem on his first consulship, 35—140.
• 18 1.23

  Vandalorum, imbellis, avarae, perfidae, et dolosae, gentis, ge|nere editus. Orosius, l. vii. c. 38. Jerom (tom. i. ad Gerontiam, p. 93.) calls him a Semi-Barbarian.
• 19 1.24

  Claudian, in an imperfect poem, has drawn a fair, perhaps a flattering, portrait of Serena. That favourite niece of Theodosius was born, as well as her sister Thermantia, in Spain; from whence, in their earliest youth, they were honourably conducted to the pa|lace of Constantinople.
• 20 1.25

  Some doubt may be entertained, whether this adoption was legal, or only metaphorical (See Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 75.). An old inscription gives Stilicho the singular title of Pro-gener Divi Theodosii.
• * 1.26

  His mili|tary com|mand.
• 21 1.27

  Claudian (Laus Serenae, 190. 193.) expresses, in poetic lan|guage, the "dilectus equorum," and the "gemino mox idem cul|mine duxit agmina." The inscription adds, "count of the do|mestics," an important command, which Stilicho, in the height of his grandeur, might prudently retain.
• * 1.28

  A. D. 385—408.
• 22 1.29

  The beautiful lines of Claudian (in i Cons. Stilich. ii. 113.) display his genius: but the integrity of Stilicho (in the military ad|ministration) is much more firmly established by the unwilling evi|dence of Zosimus (l. v. p. 345.).
• 23 1.30

  —Si bellica moles Ingrueret, quamvis annis et jure minori, Cedere grandaevos equitum peditumque magistros Adspiceres.—

  Claudian, Laus Seren. p. 196, &c. A modern general would deem their submission, either heroic pa|triotism, or abject servility.
• 24 1.31

  Compare the poem on the first consulship (i. 95—115.) with the Laus Screnae (227—237. where it unfortunately breaks off.). We may perceive the deep inveterate malice of Rufinus.
• 25 1.32

  —Quem fratribus ipse Discedens, clypeumque defensoremque dedisti.

  Yet the nomination (iv Cons. Hon. 432.), was private (iii Cons. Hon. 142.) cunctos discedere . . . jubet; and may therefore be suspected. Zosimus, and Suidas, apply to Stilicho, and Rufinus, the same equal title of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, guardians, or procurators.
• 26 1.33

  The Roman law distinguishes two sorts of minority, which ex|pired at the age of fourteen, and of twenty-five. The one was sub|ject to the tutor, or guardian, of the person; the other to the curator, or trustee, of the estate (Heineccius, Antiquitat. Rom. ad Jurispru|dent. pertinent. l. i. tit. xxii, xxiii. p. 218—232.). But these legal ideas were never accurately transferred into the constitution of an elective monarchy.
• 27 1.34

  See Claudian (i Cons. Stilich. i. 188—242.); but he must allow more than fifteen days for the journey and return, between Milan and Leyden.
• * 1.35

  The fall and death of Rufinus, A. D. 395. Nov. 27th.
• 28 1.36

  I. Cons. Stilich. ii. 88—94. Not only the robes, and diadems of the deceased emperor, but even the helmets, sword-hilts, belts, cuirasses, &c. were enriched with pearls, emeralds, and diamonds.
• 29 1.37

  —Tantoque remoto Principe, mutatas orbis non sensit habenas.

  This high commendation (i Cons. Stil. i. 149.) may be justified by the fears of the dying emperor (de Bell. Gildon. 292—301.); and the peace and good order which were enjoyed after his death (i Cons. Stil. i. 150—168.).
• 30 1.38

  Stilicho's march, and the death of Rufinus, are described by Claudian (in Rufin. l. ii. 101—453.), Zosimus (l. v. p. 296, 297.). Sozomen (l. viii. c. 1.), Socrates (l. vi. c. 1.), Philostorgius (l. xi, c. 3. with Godefroy, p. 441.), and the Chronicle of Marcellinus.
• 31 1.39

  The dissection of Rufinus, which Claudian performs with the savage coolness of an anatomist (in Rufin. ii. 405—415.), is like|wise specified by Zosimus and Jerom (tom. i. p. 26.).
• 32 1.40

  The Pagan Zosimus mentions their sanctuary and pilgrimage. The sister of Rufinus, Sylvania, who passed her life at Jerusalem, is famous in monastic history. 1. The studious virgin had diligently, and even repeatedly, perused the commentators on the Bible, Origen, Gregory, Basil, &c. to the amount of five millions of lines. 2. At the age of threescore, she could boast, that she had never washed her hands, face, or any part of her whole body; except the tips of her fingers, to receive the communion. See the Vitae Patrum, p. 779. 977.
• * 1.41

  Discord of the two empires, A. D. 396, &c.
• 33 1.42

  See the beautiful exordium of his invective against Rufinus, which is curiously discussed by the sceptic Bayle, Dictionnaire Cri|tique, RUFIN. Not. E.
• 34 1.43

  See the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. xlii. leg. 14, 15. The new ministers attempted, with inconsistent avarice, to seize the spoils of their predecessor, and to provide for their own future security.
• 35 1.44

  See Claudian (i Cons. Stilich. l. i. 275. 292. 296. l. ii. 83.), and Zosimus, l. v. p. 302.
• 36 1.45

  Claudian turns the consulship of the eunuch Eutropius into a national reflection (l. ii. 134.). —Plaudentem cerne senatum Et Byzantinos proceres, Graiosque Quirites: O patribus plebes, O digni consule patres.

  It is curious to observe the first symptoms of jealousy and schism, be|tween old and new Rome, between the Greeks and Latins.
• * 1.46

  Revolt of Gildo in Africa, A. D. 386—398.
• 37 1.47

  Claudian may have exaggerated the vices of Gildo; but his Moorish extraction, his notorious actions, and the complaints of St. Augustin, may justify the poet's invectives. Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A. D. 398. No 35—36.) has treated the African rebellion with skill and learning.
• 38 1.48

  Instat terribilis vivis, morientibus haeres, Virginibus raptor, thalamis obscaenus adulter. Nulla quies: oritur praedâ cessante libido, Divitibusque dies, et nox metuenda maritis.—Mauris clarissima quaeque Fastidita datur.—

  Baronius condemns, still more severely, the licentiousness of Gildo; as his wife, his daughter, and his sister, were examples of perfect chastity. The adulteries of the African soldiers are checked by one of the Imperial laws.
• 39 1.49

  Inque tuam sortem numerosas transtulit urbes. Claudian (de Bell. Gildonico, 230—324.) has touched, with poli|tical delicacy, the intrigues of the Byzantine court, which are like|wise mentioned by Zosimus (l. v. p. 302.).
• * 1.50

  He is con|demned by the Roman senate, A. D. 397.
• 40 1.51

  Symmachus (l. iv. epist. 4.) expresses the judicial forms of the senate; and Claudian (i Cons. Stilich. l. i. 325, &c.) seems to feel the spirit of a Roman.
• 41 1.52

  Claudian finely displays these complaints of Symmachus, in a speech of the goddess of Rome, before the throne of Jupiter (de Bell. Gildon. 28—128.).
• 42 1.53

  See Claudian (in Eutrop. l. i. 401, &c. i Cons. Stil. l. i. 306, &c. ii Cons. Stilich. 91, &c.).
• * 1.54

  The Afri|can war, A. D. 398.
• 43 1.55

  He was of a mature age; since he had formerly (A. D. 373.) served against his brother Firmus (Ammian. xxix. 5.). Claudian, who understood the court of Milan, dwells on the injuries, rather than the merits, of Mascezel (de Bell. Gild. 389—414.). The Moorish war was not worthy of Honorius, or Stilicho, &c.
• 44 1.56

  Claudian, Bell. Gild. 415—423. The change of discipline allowed him to use indifferently the names of Legio, Cohors, Manipulus. See the Notitia Imperii, S. 38. 40.
• 45 1.57

  Orosius (l. vii. c. 36. p. 565.) qualifies this account with an expression of doubt (ut aiunt); and it scarcely coincides with the 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of Zosimus (l. v. p. 303.). Yet Claudian, after some declamation about Cadmus's soldiers, frankly owns, that Stilicho sent a small army; lest the rebel should fly, ne timeare times (i Cons. Stilich. l. i. 314, &c.).
• 46 1.58

  Claud. Rutil. Numatian. Itinerar. i. 439—448. He after|wards (515—526.) mentions a religious madman on the isle of Gor|gona. For such profane remarks, Rutilius, and his accomplices, are styled, by his commentator, Barthius, rabiosi canes diaboli. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 471.) more calmly observes, that the unbelieving poet praises where he means to censure.
• 47 1.59

  Orosius, l. vii. c. 36. p. 564. Augustin commends two of these savage saints of the isle of Goats (epist. lxxxi. apud Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 317. and Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A. D. 398. No. 51.).
• 48 1.60

  Here the first book of the Gildonic war is terminated. The rest of Claudian's poem has been lost; and we are ignorant how, or where, the army made good their landing in Africa.
• * 1.61

  Defeat and death of Gildo, A. D. 398.
• 49 1.62

  Orosius must be responsible for the account. The presumption of Gildo and his various train of Barbarians is celebrated by Clau|dian (i Cons. Stil. l. i. 345—355.).
• 50 1.63

  St. Ambrose, who had been dead about a year, revealed, in a vision, the time and place of the victory. Mascezel afterwards re|lated his dream to Paulinus, the original biographer of the saint, from whom it might easily pass to Orosius.
• 51 1.64

  Zosimus (l. v. p. 303.) supposes an obstinate combat; but the narrative of Orosius appears to conceal a real fact, under the disguise of a miracle.
• 52 1.65

  Tabraca lay between the two Hippos (Cellarius, tom. ii. p. ii. p. 112.; d'Anville, tom. iii. p. 84.). Orosius has distinctly named the field of battle, but our ignorance cannot define the precise situa|tion.
• 53 1.66

  The death of Gildo is expressed by Claudian (i Cons. Stil. l. 357.), and his best interpreters, Zosimus and Orosius.
• 54 1.67

  Claudian (ii Cons. Stilich. 99—119.) describes their trial (tremuit quos Africa nuper, cernunt rostra reos), and applauds the restoration of the ancient constitution. It is here that he introduces the famous sentence, so familiar to the friends of despotism:

  —Nunquam libertas gratior exstat Quam sub rege pio.—

  But the freedom, which depends on royal piety, scarcely deserves that appellation.
• 55 1.68

  See the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. xxxix. leg. 3. tit. xl. leg. 19.
• 56 1.69

  Stilicho, who claimed an equal share in all the victories of Theodosius and his son, particularly asserts, that Africa was re|covered by the wisdom of his counsels (see an Inscription produced by Baronius.).
• 57 1.70

  I have softened the narrative of Zosimus, which, in its crude simplicity, is almost incredible (l. v. p. 303.). Orosius damns the victorious general (p. 538.), for violating the right of sanctuary.
• * 1.71

  Marriage, and cha|racter of Honorius, A. D. 398.
• 58 1.72

  Claudian, as the poet laureat, composed a serious and elaborate epithalamium of 340 lines; besides some gay Fescennines which were sung, in a more licentious tone, on the wedding-night.
• 59 1.73

  —Calet obvius ire Jam princeps, tardumque cupit discedere solem. Nobilis haud aliter sonipes.

  (de Nuptiis Honor. et Mariae, 287.) and more freely in the Fescen|nines (112—126.).

  Dices, O quoties, hoc mihi dulcius Quam flavos decies vincere Sarmatas

  Tum victor madido prosilias toro Nocturni referens vulnera proelii.
• 60 1.74

  See Zosimus, l. v. p. 333.
• 61 1.75

  Procopius de Bell. Gothico, l. i. c. 2. I have borrowed the general practice of Honorius, without adopting the singular, and, indeed, improbable tale, which is related by the Greek historian.
• 62 1.76

  The lessons of Theodosius, or rather Claudian (iv Cons. Honor. 214—418.), might compose a fine institution for the future prince of a great and free nation. It was far above Honorius, and his de|generate subjects.