THE fame of Gratian, before he had ac­complished the twentieth year of his age, was equal to that of the most cele­brated Character and con­duct of the emperor Gratian. A. D. 379—383. princes. His gentle and amiable dispo­sition endeared him to his private friends, the graceful affability of his manners engaged the affection of the people: the men of letters, who enjoyed the liberality, acknowledged the taste and eloquence, of their sovereign; his valour and dexterity in arms were equally applauded by the [Page 2] soldiers; and the clergy considered the humble piety of Gratian as the first and most useful of his virtues. The victory of Colmar had delivered the West from a formidable invasion; and the grateful provinces of the East ascribed the merits of Theodosius, to the author of his greatness, and of the public safety. Gratian survived those me­morable events only four or five years; but he survived his reputation; and, before he fell a victim to rebellion, he had lost, in a great mea­sure, the respect and confidence of the Roman world.

The remarkable alteration of his character or His de­fects. conduct, may not be imputed to the arts of flat­tery, which had besieged the son of Valentinian from his infancy; nor to the headstrong passions which that gentle youth appears to have escaped. A more attentive view of the life of Gratian, may perhaps suggest the true cause of the disappoint­ment of the public hopes. His apparent vir­tues, instead of being the hardy productions of experience and adversity, were the premature and artificial fruits of a royal education. The anxious tenderness of his father was continually employed to bestow on him those advantages, which he might perhaps esteem the more highly, as he himself had been deprived of them; and the most skilful masters of every science, and of every art, had laboured to form the mind and body of the young prince ¹. The knowledge which they pain­fully [Page 3] communicated was displayed with ostenta­tion, and celebrated with lavish praise. His soft and tractable disposition received the fair impres­sion of their judicious precepts, and the absence of passion might easily be mistaken for the strength of reason. His preceptors gradually rose to the rank and consequence of ministers of state ²; and, as they wisely dissembled their secret autho­rity, he seemed to act with firmness, with pro­priety, and with judgment, on the most important occasions of his life and reign. But the influence of this elaborate instruction did not penetrate be­yond the surface; and the skilful preceptors, who so accurately guided the steps of their royal pupil, could not infuse into his feeble and indolent cha­racter, the vigorous and independent principle of action, which renders the laborious pursuit of glory essentially necessary to the happiness, and almost to the existence, of the hero. As soon as time and accident had removed those faithful counsellors from the throne, the emperor of the West insensibly descended to the level of his na­tural genius; abandoned the reins of government to the ambitious hands which were stretched for­wards to grasp them; and amused his leisure with the most frivolous gratifications. A public sale of favour and injustice was instituted, both [Page 4] in the court, and in the provinces, by the worth­less delegates of his power, whose merit, it was made sacrilege to question ³. The conscience of the credulous prince was directed by saints and bishops ⁴; who procured an Imperial edict to punish, as a capital offence, the violation, the neglect, or even the ignorance, of the divine law ⁵. Among the various arts which had exercised the youth of Gratian, he had applied himself, with singular inclination and success, to manage the horse, to draw the bow, and to dart the jave­lin; and these qualifications, which might be useful to a soldier, were prostituted to the viler purposes of hunting. Large parks were inclosed for the Imperial pleasures, and plentifully stocked with every species of wild beasts; and Gratian neglected the duties, and even the dignity, of his rank, to consume whole days in the vain dis­play of his dexterity and boldness in the chace. The pride and wish of the Roman emperor to excel in an art, in which he might be surpassed by the meanest of his slaves, reminded the nu­merous spectators of the examples of Nero and [Page 5] Commodus: but the chaste and temperate Gra­tian was a stranger to their monstrous vices; and his hands were stained only with the blood of animals ⁶.

The behaviour of Gratian, which degraded his Discontent of the Roman troops. A. D. 383. character in the eyes of mankind, could not have disturbed the security of his reign, if the army had not been provoked to resent their peculiar injuries. As long as the young emperor was guided by the instructions of his masters, he pro­fessed himself the friend and pupil of the soldiers; many of his hours were spent in the familiar con­versation of the camp; and the health, the com­forts, the rewards, the honours, of his faithful troops, appeared to be the object of his attentive concern. But, after Gratian more freely indulged his prevailing taste for hunting and shooting, he naturally connected himself with the most dex­terous ministers of his favourite amusement. A body of the Alani was received into the military and domestic service of the palace; and the ad­mirable skill, which they were accustomed to dis­play in the unbounded plains of Scythia, was exercised, on a more narrow theatre, in the parks and inclosures of Gaul. Gratian admired the talents and customs of these favourite guards, to whom alone he entrusted the defence of his per­son: [Page 6] and, as if he meant to insult the public opi­nion, he frequently shewed himself to the soldiers and people, with the dress and arms, the long bow, the sounding quiver, and the fur garments, of a Scythian warrior. The unworthy spectacle of a Roman prince, who had renounced the dress and manners of his country, filled the minds of the legions with grief and indignation ⁷. Even the Germans, so strong and formidable in the armies of the empire, affected to disdain the strange and horrid appearance of the savages of the North, who, in the space of a few years, had wandered from the banks of the Volga to those of the Seine. A loud and licentious murmur was echoed through the camps and garrisons of the West; and as the mild indolence of Gratian neglected to extinguish the first symptoms of discontent, the want of love and respect was not supplied by the influence of fear. But the subversion of an established go­vernment is always a work of some real, and of much apparent, difficulty; and the throne of Gratian was protected by the sanctions of custom, law, religion, and the nice balance of the civil and military powers, which had been established by the policy of Constantine. It is not very im­portant to enquire from what causes the revolt of Britain was produced. Accident is commonly the parent of disorder; the seeds of rebellion happened to fall on a soil which was supposed to be more fruitful than any other in tyrants and [Page 7] usurpers ⁸; the legions of that sequestered island had been long famous for a spirit of presumption and arrogance ⁹; and the name of Maximus was Revolt of Maximus in Britain. proclaimed, by the tumultuary, but unanimous voice, both of the soldiers and of the provincials. The emperor, or the rebel, for his title was not yet ascertained by fortune, was a native of Spain, the countryman, the fellow-soldier, and the rival of Theodosius, whose elevation he had not seen without some emotions of envy and resentment: the events of his life had long since fixed him in Britain; and I should not be unwilling to find some evidence for the marriage, which he is said to have contracted with the daughter of a wealthy lord of Caernarvonshire ¹⁰. But this provincial rank might justly be considered as a state of exile and obscurity; and if Maximus had obtained any civil or military office, he was not invested with the authority either of governor or general ¹¹. [Page 8] His abilities, and even his integrity, are acknow­ledged by the partial writers of the age; and the merit must indeed have been conspicuous, that could extort such a confession in favour of the vanquished enemy of Theodosius. The discon­tent of Maximus might incline him to censure the conduct of his sovereign, and to encourage, per­haps without any views of ambition, the mur­murs of the troops. But in the midst of the tumult, he artfully, or modestly, refused to ascend the throne; and some credit appears to have been given to his own positive declaration, that he was compelled to accept the dangerous present of the Imperial purple ¹².

But there was danger likewise in refusing the Flight and death of Gratian. empire; and from the moment that Maximus had violated his allegiance to his lawful sovereign, he could not hope to reign, or even to live, if he confined his moderate ambition within the nar­row limits of Britain. He boldly and wisely re­solved to prevent the designs of Gratian; the youth of the island crowded to his standard, and he invaded Gaul with a fleet and army, which were long afterwards remembered, as the emi­gration of a considerable part of the British na­tion ¹³. The emperor, in his peaceful residence [Page 9] of Paris, was alarmed by their hostile approach; and the darts which he idly wasted on lions and bears, might have been employed more honour­ably against the rebels. But his feeble efforts announced his degenerate spirit and desperate situation; and deprived him of the resources, which he still might have found, in the support of his subjects and allies. The armies of Gaul, instead of opposing the march of Maximus, re­ceived him with joyful and loyal acclamations; and the shame of the desertion was transferred from the people to the prince. The troops, whose station more immediately attached them to the service of the palace, abandoned the standard of Gratian the first time that it was displayed in the neighbourhood of Paris. The emperor of the West fled towards Lyons, with a train of only three hundred horse; and, in the cities along the road, where he hoped to find a refuge, or at least a passage, he was taught, by cruel ex­perience, that every gate is shut against the un­fortunate. Yet he might still have reached, in safety, the dominions of his brother; and soon have returned with the forces of Italy and the East; if he had not suffered himself to be fatally deceived by the perfidious governor of the Lyon­nese province. Gratian was amused by protesta­tions of doubtful fidelity, and the hopes of a [Page 10] support, which could not be effectual; till the ar­rival of Andragathius, the general of the cavalry of Maximus, put an end to his suspense. That resolute officer executed, without remorse, the orders, or the intentions, of the usurper. Gra­tian, as he rose from supper, was delivered into the hands of the assassin; and his body was denied to the pious and pressing intreaties of his brother A. D. 383, Aug. 25. Valentinian ¹⁴. The death of the emperor was followed by that of his powerful general Mello­baudes, the king of the Franks; who maintained, to the last moment of his life, the ambiguous re­putation, which is the just recompence of obscure and subtle policy ¹⁵. These executions might be necessary to the public safety: but the successful usurper, whose power was acknowledged by all the provinces of the West, had the merit, and the satisfaction, of boasting, that, except those who had perished by the chance of war, his tri­umph was not stained by the blood of the Ro­mans ¹⁶.

[Page 11] The events of this revolution had passed in such rapid succession, that it would have been impossible for Theodosius to march to the relief Treaty of peace be­tween Maximus and Theo­dosius, A. D. 383—387. of his benefactor, before he received the intelli­gence of his defeat and death. During the sea­son of sincere grief, or ostentatious mourning, the Eastern emperor was interrupted by the ar­rival of the principal chamberlain of Maximus: and the choice of a venerable old man, for an office which was usually exercised by eunuchs, announced to the court of Constantinople the gravity and temperance of the British usurper. The ambassador condescended to justify, or ex­cuse, the conduct of his master; and to protest, in specious language, that the murder of Gratian had been perpetrated, without his knowledge or consent, by the precipitate zeal of the soldiers. But he proceeded, in a firm and equal tone, to offer Theodosius the alternative of peace, or war. The speech of the ambassador concluded with a spirited declaration, that although Maximus, as a Roman, and as the father of his people, would chuse rather to employ his forces in the common defence of the republic, he was armed and prepared, if his friendship should be rejected, to dispute, in a field of battle, the empire of the world. An immediate and peremptory answer was required; but it was extremely difficult for Theodosius to satisfy, on this im­portant occasion, either the feelings of his own mind, or the expectations of the public. The imperious voice of honour and gratitude called aloud for revenge. From the liberality of Gra­tian, [Page 12] he had received the Imperial diadem: his patience would encourage the odious suspicion, that he was more deeply sensible of former in­juries, than of recent obligations; and if he ac­cepted the friendship, he must seem to share the guilt, of the assassin. Even the principles of justice, and the interest of society, would receive a fatal blow from the impunity of Maximus: and the example of successful usurpation would tend to dissolve the artificial fabric of government, and once more to replunge the empire in the crimes and calamities of the preceding age. But, as the sentiments of gratitude and honour should invariably regulate the conduct of an individual, they may be overbalanced in the mind of a sove­reign, by the sense of superior duties: and the maxims both of justice and humanity, must per­mit the escape of an atrocious criminal, if an innocent people would be involved in the conse­quences of his punishment. The assassin of Gra­tian had usurped, but he actually possessed, the most warlike provinces of the empire: the East was exhausted by the misfortunes, and even by the success, of the Gothic war; and it was seriously to be apprehended, that, after the vital strength of the republic had been wasted in a doubtful and destructive contest, the feeble conqueror would remain an easy prey to the Bar­barians of the North. These weighty considera­tions engaged Theodosius to dissemble his resent­ment, and to accept the alliance of the tyrant. But he stipulated, that Maximus should content himself with the possession of the countries be­yond [Page 13] the Alps. The brother of Gratian was confirmed and secured in the sovereignty of Italy, Africa, and the Western Illyricum; and some honourable conditions were inserted in the treaty, to protect the memory, and the laws, of the de­ceased emperor ¹⁷. According to the custom of the age, the images of the three Imperial col­leagues were exhibited to the veneration of the people: nor should it be lightly supposed, that, in the moment of a solemn reconciliation, Theo­dosius secretly cherished the intention of perfidy and revenge ¹⁸.

The contempt of Gratian for the Roman sol­diers, Baptism and ortho­dox edicts of Theo­dosius, A. D. 380, Feb. 28. had exposed him to the fatal effects of their resentment. His profound veneration for the Christian clergy was rewarded by the applause and gratitude of a powerful order, which has claimed, in every age, the privilege of dis­pensing honours, both on earth and in heaven ¹⁹. The orthodox bishops bewailed his death, and their own irreparable loss; but they were soon comforted by the discovery, that Gratian had committed the sceptre of the East to the hands of a prince, whose humble faith, and fervent zeal, were supported by the spirit and abilities of a more vigorous character. Among the benefactors [Page 14] of the church, the fame of Constantine has been rivalled by the glory of Theodosius. If Constan­tine had the advantage of erecting the standard of the cross, the emulation of his successor assumed the merit of subduing the Arian heresy, and of abolishing the worship of idols in the Roman world. Theodosius was the first of the emperors baptised in the true faith of the Trinity. Although he was born of a Christian family, the maxims, or at least the practice, of the age, encouraged him to delay the ceremony of his initiation; till he was admonished of the danger of delay, by the serious illness which threatened his life, towards the end of the first year of his reign. Before he again took the field against the Goths, he received the sacrament of baptism ²⁰ from Acholius, the orthodox bishop of Thessalonica ²¹: and, as the emperor ascended from the holy font, still glow­ing with the warm feelings of regeneration, he dictated a solemn edict, which proclaimed his own faith, and prescribed the religion of his subjects. ‘"It is our pleasure (such is the Imperial style), that all the nations, which are governed by our clemency and moderation, should stedfastly ad­here to the religion which was taught by St. [Page 15] Peter to the Romans; which faithful tradition has preserved; and which is now professed by the pontiff Damasus, and by Peter, bishop of Alexandria, a man of apostolic holiness. Ac­cording to the discipline of the apostles, and the doctrine of the gospel, let us believe the sole deity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; under an equal majesty, and a pious Trinity. We authorise the followers of this doctrine to assume the title of Catholic Christians; and as we judge, that all others are extravagant madmen, we brand them with the infamous name of Heretics; and declare, that their conventicles shall no longer usurp the respectable appellation of churches. Besides the condemnation of Divine justice, they must expect to suffer the severe penalties, which our authority, guided by heavenly wisdom, shall think proper to inflict upon them ²²."’ The faith of a soldier is commonly the fruit of instruc­tion, rather than of enquiry; but as the emperor always fixed his eyes on the visible land-marks of orthodoxy, which he had so prudently constituted, his religious opinions were never affected by the specious texts, the subtle arguments, and the ambiguous creeds of the Arian doctors. Once indeed he expressed a faint inclination to converse with the eloquent and learned Eunomius, who lived in retirement at a small distance from Con­stantinople. [Page 16] But the dangerous interview was pre­vented by the prayers of the Empress Flaccilla, who trembled for the salvation of her husband; and the mind of Theodosius was confirmed by a theological argument, adapted to the rudest capa­city. He had lately bestowed, on his eldest son Arcadius, the name and honours of Augustus; and the two princes were seated on a stately throne to receive the homage of their subjects. A bishop, Amphilochius of Iconium, approached the throne, and after saluting, with due reverence, the person of his sovereign, he accosted the royal youth with the same familiar tenderness, which he might have used towards a plebeian child. Provoked by this insolent behaviour, the monarch gave orders, that the rustic priest should be in­stantly driven from his presence. But while the guards were forcing him to the door, the dex­terous polemic had time to execute his design, by exclaiming, with a loud voice, ‘"Such is the treatment, O Emperor! which the King of Heaven has prepared for those impious men, who affect to worship the Father, but refuse to acknowledge the equal majesty of his divine Son."’ Theodosius immediately embraced the bishop of Iconium; and never forgot the import­ant lesson, which he had received from this dra­matic parable ²³.

[Page 17] Constantinople was the principal seat and for­tress of Arianism; and, in a long interval of forty years ²⁴, the faith of the princes and prelates, who Arianism of Con­stanti­nople, A. D. 340—380. reigned in the capital of the East, was rejected in the purer schools of Rome and Alexandria. The archiepiscopal throne of Macedonius, which had been polluted with so much Christian blood, was successively filled by Eudoxus and Damophilus. Their diocese enjoyed a free importation of vice and error from every province of the empire; the eager pursuit of religious controversy afforded a new occupation to the busy idleness of the metro­polis; and we may credit the assertion of an in­telligent observer, who describes, with some pleasantry, the effects of their loquacious zeal. ‘"This city, says he, is full of mechanics and slaves, who are all of them profound theolo­gians; and preach in the shops, and in the streets. If you desire a man to change a piece of silver, he informs you, wherein the Son differs from the Father: if you ask the price of a loaf, you are told, by way of reply, that the Son is inferior to the Father; and if you enquire whether the bath is ready, the answer is, that the Son was made out of nothing ²⁵."’ [Page 18] The heretics, of various denominations, subsisted in peace under the protection of the Arians of Constantinople; who endeavoured to secure the attachment of those obscure sectaries; while they abused, with unrelenting severity, the victory which they had obtained over the followers of the council of Nice. During the partial reigns of Constantius and Valens, the feeble remnant of the Homoousians was deprived of the public and pri­vate exercise of their religion; and it has been observed, in pathetic language, that the scattered flock was left without a shepherd to wander on the mountains, or to be devoured by rapacious wolves ²⁶. But, as their zeal, instead of being subdued, derived strength and vigour from op­pression, they seized the first moments of imperfect freedom, which they acquired by the death of Valens, to form themselves into a regular congre­gation, under the conduct of an episcopal pastor. Two natives of Cappadocia, Basil, and Gregory Nazianzen ²⁷, were distinguished above all their Gregory Nazian­zen contemporaries ²⁸, by the rare union of profane [Page 19] eloquence and of orthodox piety. These orators, who might sometimes be compared, by them­selves, and by the public, to the most celebrated of the ancient Greeks, were united by the ties of the strictest friendship. They had cultivated, with equal ardour, the same liberal studies in the the schools of Athens; they had retired, with equal devotion, to the same solitude in the deserts of Pontus; and every spark of emulation, or envy, appeared to be totally extinguished in the holy and ingenuous breasts of Gregory and Basil. But the exaltation of Basil, from a private life to the archiepiscopal throne of Caesarea, discovered to the world, and perhaps to himself, the pride of his character; and the first favour which he con­descended to bestow on his friend was received, and perhaps was intended, as a cruel insult ²⁹. Instead of employing the superior talents of Gre­gory in some useful and conspicuous station, the haughty prelate selected, among the fifty bishop­rics of his extensive province, the wretched village [Page 20] of Sasima ³⁰, without water, without verdure, with­out society, situate at the junction of three high­ways, and frequented only by the incessant passage of rude and clamorous waggoners. Gregory sub­mitted with reluctance to this humiliating exile: he was ordained bishop of Sasima; but he so­lemnly protests, that he never consummated his spiritual marriage with this disgusting bride. He afterwards consented to undertake the govern­ment of his native church of Nazianzus ³¹, of which his father had been bishop above five-and­forty years. But as he was still conscious, that he deserved another audience, and another theatre, he accepted, with no unworthy ambition, the accepts the mission of Constan­tinople, A. D. 378, November. honourable invitation, which was addressed to him from the orthodox party of Constantinople. On his arrival in the capital, Gregory was enter­tained in the house of a pious and charitable kinsman; the most spacious room was consecrated to the uses of religious worship; and the name of Anastasia was chosen, to express the resurrection of the Nicene faith. This private conventicle was afterwards converted into a magnificent church; and the credulity of the succeeding age [Page 21] was prepared to believe the miracles and visions, which attested the presence, or at least the pro­tection, of the Mother of God ³². The pulpit of the Anastasia was the scene of the labours and triumphs of Gregory Nazianzen; and, in the space of two years, he experienced all the spiritual adventures which constitute the prosperous or ad­verse fortunes of a missionary ³³. The Arians, who were provoked by the boldness of his enter­prise, represented his doctrine, as if he had preach­ed three distinct and equal Deities; and the de­vout populace was excited to suppress, by violence and tumult, the irregular assemblies of the Atha­nasian heretics. From the cathedral of St. Sophia, there issued a motley crowd ‘"of common beg­gars, who had forfeited their claim to pity; of monks, who had the appearance of goats or satyrs; and of women, more terrible than so many Jezabels."’ The doors of the Anastasia were broke open; much mischief was perpetrated, or attempted, with sticks, stones, and firebrands; and as a man lost his life in the affray, Gregory, who was summoned the next morning before the magistrate, had the satisfaction of supposing, that he publicly confessed the name of Christ. After he was delivered from the fear and danger of a foreign enemy, his infant church was disgraced and distracted by intestine faction. A stranger, [Page 22] who assumed the name of Maximus ³⁴, and the cloak of a Cynic philosopher, insinuated himself into the confidence of Gregory; deceived and abused his favourable opinion; and forming a secret connection with some bishops of Egypt, attempted, by a clandestine ordination, to sup­plant his patron in the episcopal seat of Constan­tinople. These mortifications might sometimes tempt the Cappadocian missionary to regret his obscure solitude. But his fatigues were rewarded by the daily increase of his fame and his congre­gation; and he enjoyed the pleasure of observing, that the greater part of his numerous audience retired from his sermons, satisfied with the elo­quence of the preacher ³⁵, or dissatisfied with the manifold imperfections of their faith and prac­tice ³⁶.

The Catholics of Constantinople were animated Ruin of Arianism at Con­stanti­nople, A. D. 380. Nov. 26. with joyful confidence by the baptism and edict of Theodosius; and they impatiently waited the effects of his gracious promise. Their hopes were speedily accomplished; and the emperor, as soon as he had finished the operations of the campaign, made his public entry into the capital at the head [Page 23] of a victorious army. The next day after his arrival, he summoned Damophilus to his pre­fence; and offered that Arian prelate the hard alternative of subscribing the Nicene creed, or of instantly resigning, to the orthodox believers, the use and possession of the episcopal palace, the cathedral of St. Sophia, and all the churches of Constantinople. The zeal of Damophilus, which in a Catholic saint would have been justly applauded, embraced, without hesitation, a life of poverty and exile ³⁷; and his removal was im­mediately followed by the purification of the Im­perial City. The Arians might complain, with some appearance of justice, that an inconsiderable congregation of sectaries should usurp the hun­dred churches, which they were insufficient to fill: whilst the far greater part of the people was cruelly excluded from every place of religious worship. Theodosius was still inexorable: but as the angels who protected the Catholic cause, were only visible to the eyes of faith, he prudently reinforced those heavenly legions, with the more effectual aid of temporal and carnal weapons: and the church of St. Sophia was occupied by a large body of the Imperial guards. If the mind of Gregory was susceptible of pride, he must have felt a very lively satisfaction, when the emperor conducted him through the streets in solemn triumph; and, with his own hand, respectfully [Page 24] placed him on the archiepiscopal throne of Con­stantinople. But the saint (who had not subdued the imperfections of human virtue) was deeply affected by the mortifying consideration, that his entrance into the fold was that of a wolf, rather than of a shepherd: that the glittering arms, which surrounded his person, were necessary for his safety; and that he alone was the object of the imprecations of a great party, whom, as men and citizens, it was impossible for him to despise. He beheld the innumerable multitude of either sex, and of every age, who crowded the streets, the windows, and the roofs of the houses; he heard the tumultuous voice of rage, grief, astonishment, and despair; and Gregory fairly confesses, that on the memorable day of his installation, the capital of the East wore the appearance of a city taken by storm, and in the hands of a Barbarian con­queror ³⁸. About six weeks afterwards, Theodo­sius declared his resolution of expelling from all the churches of his dominions, the bishops and their clergy, who should obstinately refuse to be­lieve, or at least to profess, the doctrine of the council of Nice. His lieutenant Sapor was armed with the ample powers of a general law, a special In the East. A. D. 381. Jan. 10. commission, and a military force ³⁹; and this ec­clesiastical [Page 25] revolution was conducted with so much discretion and vigour, that the religion of the emperor was established, without tumult, or blood­shed, in all the provinces of the East. The wri­tings of the Arians, if they had been permitted to exist ⁴⁰, would perhaps contain the lamentable story of the persecution, which afflicted the church under the reign of the impious Theodosius; and the sufferings of their holy confessors, might claim the pity of the disinterested reader. Yet there is reason to imagine that the violence of zeal and revenge was, in some measure, eluded by the want of resistance; and that, in their adversity, the Arians displayed much less firmness, than had been exerted by the orthodox party under the reigns of Constantius and Valens. The moral character and conduct of the hostile sects appear to have been governed by the same common principles of nature and religion: but a very material circum­stance may be discovered, which tended to dis­tinguish the degrees of their theological faith. Both parties, in the schools, as well as in the temples, acknowledged and worshipped the divine majesty of Christ; and, as we are always prone to impute our own sentiments and passions to the Deity, it would be deemed more prudent and re­spectful to exaggerate, than to circumscribe, the adorable perfections of the Son of God. The disciple of Athanasius exulted in the proud con­fidence, that he had entitled himself to the divine [Page 26] favour: while the follower of Arius must have been tormented, by the secret apprehension, that he was guilty, perhaps, of an unpardonable offence, by the scanty praise, and parsimonious honours, which he bestowed on the Judge of the World. The opinions of Arianism might satisfy a cold and speculative mind: but the doctrine of the Nicene Creed, most powerfully recommended by the merits of faith and devotion, was much better adapted to become popular and successful in a believing age.

The hope that truth and wisdom would be The coun­cil of Con­stanti­nople, A. D. 381, May. found in the assemblies of the orthodox clergy, induced the emperor to convene, at Constanti­nople, a synod of one hundred and fifty bishops, who proceeded, without much difficulty or delay, to complete the theological system which had been established in the council of Nice. The vehement disputes of the fourth century had been chiefly employed on the nature of the Son of God: and the various opinions, which were em­braced concerning the Second, were extended and transferred, by a natural analogy, to the Third, person of the Trinity ⁴¹. Yet it was found, or it was thought, necessary, by the victorious adver­saries of Arianism, to explain the ambiguous lan­guage [Page 27] of some respectable doctors; to confirm the faith of the Catholics; and to condemn an unpopular and inconsistent sect of Macedonians; who freely admitted that the Son was consubstan­tial to the Father, while they were fearful of seem­ing to acknowledge the existence of Three Gods. A final and unanimous sentence was pronounced to ratify the equal Deity of the Holy Ghost; the mysterious doctrine has been received by all the nations, and all the churches of the Christian world; and their grateful reverence has assigned to the bishops of Theodosius, the second rank among the general councils ⁴². Their knowledge of religious truth may have been preserved by tra­dition, or it may have been communicated by inspiration; but the sober evidence of history will not allow much weight to the personal au­thority of the Fathers of Constantinople. In an age, when the ecclesiastics had scandalously de­generated from the model of apostolical purity, the most worthless and corrupt were always the most eager to frequent, and disturb, the episcopal assemblies. The conflict and fermentation of so many opposite interests and tempers inflamed the passions of the bishops: and their ruling passions were, the love of gold, and the love of dispute. Many of the same prelates who now applauded the orthodox piety of Theodosius, had repeatedly changed, with prudent flexibility, their creeds [Page 28] and opinions; and in the various revolutions of the church and state, the religion of their sove­reign was the rule of their obsequious faith. When the emperor suspended his prevailing in­fluence, the turbulent synod was blindly impelled, by the absurd or selfish motives of pride, hatred, and resentment. The death of Meletius, which happened at the council of Constantinople, pre­sented the most favourable opportunity of ter­minating the schism of Antioch, by suffering his aged rival, Paulinus, peaceably to end his days in the episcopal chair. The faith and virtues of Paulinus were unblemished. But his cause was supported by the Western churches: and the bishops of the synod resolved to perpetuate the mischiefs of discord, by the hasty ordination of a perjured candidate ⁴³, rather than to betray the imagined dignity of the East, which had been illustrated by the birth and death of the Son of God. Such unjust and disorderly proceedings forced the gravest members of the assembly to dissent and to secede; and the clamorous ma­jority, which remained masters of the field of battle, could be compared only to wasps or mag­pies, to a flight of cranes, or to a flock of geese ⁴⁴.

[Page 29] A suspicion may possibly arise, that so unfa­vourable a picture of ecclesiastical synods has been drawn by the partial hand of some obstinate here­tic, Retreat of Gregory Nazian­zen, A. D. 381. or some malicious infidel. But the name of the sincere historian who has conveyed this in­structive lesson to the knowledge of posterity, must silence the impotent murmurs of superstition and bigotry. He was one of the most pious and eloquent bishops of the age; a saint and a doctor of the church; the scourge of Arianism, and the pillar of the orthodox faith; a distinguished mem­ber of the council of Constantinople, in which, after the death of Meletius, he exercised the functions of president: in a word—Gregory Na­zianzen himself. The harsh and ungenerous treatment which he experienced ⁴⁵, instead of de­rogating from the truth of his evidence, affords an additional proof of the spirit which actuated the deliberations of the synod. Their unanimous suffrage had confirmed the pretensions which the bishop of Constantinople derived from the choice of the people, and the approbation of the em­peror. But Gregory soon became the victim of malice and envy. The bishops of the East, his strenuous adherents, provoked by his moderation [Page 30] in the affairs of Antioch, abandoned him, without support, to the adverse faction of the Egyptians; who disputed the validity of his election, and rigorously asserted the obsolete canon, that pro­hibited the licentious practice of episcopal transla­tions. The pride, or the humility, of Gregory prompted him to decline a contest which might have been imputed to ambition and avarice; and he publicly offered, not without some mixture of indignation, to renounce the government of a church, which had been restored, and almost created, by his labours. His resignation was accepted by the synod, and by the emperor, with more readiness than he seems to have expected. At the time when he might have hoped to enjoy the fruits of his victory, his episcopal throne was filled by the senator Nectarius; and the new arch­bishop, accidentally recommended by his easy temper and venerable aspect, was obliged to de­lay the ceremony of his consecration, till he had previously dispatched the rites of his baptism ⁴⁶. After this remarkable experience of the ingrati­tude of princes and prelates, Gregory retired once more to his obscure solitude of Cappadocia; where he employed the remainder of his life, about eight years, in the exercises of poetry and devotion. The title of Saint has been added to [Page 31] his name; but the tenderness of his heart ⁴⁷, and the elegance of his genius, reflect a more pleasing lustre on the memory of Gregory Nazianzen.

It was not enough that Theodosius had sup­pressed Edicts of Theodo­sius against the here­tics, A. D. 380—394. the insolent reign of Arianism, or that he had abundantly revenged the injuries which the Catholics sustained from the zeal of Constantius and Valens. The orthodox emperor considered every heretic as a rebel against the supreme powers of heaven, and of earth; and each of those powers might exercise their peculiar jurisdiction over the soul and body of the guilty. The decrees of the council of Constantinople had ascertained the true standard of the faith; and the ecclesiastics, who governed the conscience of Theodosius, suggested the most effectual methods of persecution. In the space of fifteen years, he promulgated at least fifteen severe edicts against the heretics ⁴⁸; more especially against those who rejected the doctrine of the Trinity; and, to deprive them of every hope of escape, he sternly enacted, that if any laws, or rescripts, should be alleged in their fa­vour, the judges should consider them as the ille­gal productions either of fraud, or forgery. The penal statutes were directed against the ministers, the assembles, and the persons, of the heretics; and the passions of the legislator were expressed [Page 32] in the language of declamation and invective. I. The heretical teachers, who usurped the sacred titles of Bishops, or Presbyters, were not only ex­cluded from the privileges and emoluments so liberally granted to the orthodox clergy, but they were exposed to the heavy penalties of exile and confiscation, if they presumed to preach the doctrine, or to practise the rites, of their accursed sects. A fine of ten pounds of gold (above four hundred pounds Sterling) was imposed on every person who should dare to confer, or receive, or pro­mote, an heretical ordination: and it was reason­ably expected, that if the race of pastors could be extinguished, their helpless flocks would be com­pelled, by ignorance and hunger, to return within the pale of the Catholic Church. II. The rigor­ous prohibition of conventicles was carefully ex­tended to every possible circumstance, in which the heretics could assemble with the intention of worshipping God and Christ according to the dictates of their conscience. Their religious meetings, whether public or secret, by day or by night, in cities or in the country, were equally proscribed by the edicts of Theodosius; and the building, or ground, which had been used for that illegal purpose, was forfeited to the Imperial do­main. III. It was supposed, that the error of the heretics could proceed only from the obstinate temper of their minds; and that such a temper was a fit object of censure and punishment. The anathemas of the church were fortified by a sort of civil excommunication; which separated them from their fellow-citizens, by a peculiar brand of [Page 33] infamy; and this declaration of the supreme ma­gistrate tended to justify, or at least to excuse, the insults of a fanatic populace. The sectaries were gradually disqualified for the possession of honour­able, or lucrative, employments; and Theodosius was satisfied with his own justice, when he decreed, that, as the Eunomians distinguished the nature of the Son from that of the Father, they should be incapable of making their wills, or of receiv­ing any advantage from testamentary donations. The guilt of the Manichaean heresy was esteemed of such magnitude, that it could be expiated only by the death of the offender; and the same capital punishment was inflicted on the Audians, or Quar­todecimans ⁴⁹, who should dare to perpetrate the atrocious crime, of celebrating, on an improper day, the festival of Easter. Every Roman might exercise the right of public accusation; but the office of Inquisitors of the Faith, a name so deserv­edly abhorred, was first instituted under the reign of Theodosius. Yet we are assured, that the exe­cution of his penal edicts was seldom enforced; and that the pious emperor appeared less desirous to punish, than to reclaim, or terrify, his refractory subjects ⁵⁰.

The theory of persecution was established by Execution of Priscil­lian and his asso­ciates, A. D. 385. Theodosius, whose justice and piety have been applauded by the saints; but the practice of it, [Page 34] in the fullest extent, was reserved for his rival and colleague Maximus, the first, among the Christian princes, who shed the blood of his Christian subjects, on account of their religious opinions. The cause of the Priscillianists ⁵¹, a recent sect of heretics, who disturbed the provinces of Spain, was transferred, by appeal, from the synod of Bourdeaux to the Imperial consistory of Treves; and by the sentence of the Praetorian praefect, seven persons were tortured, condemned, and executed. The first of these was Priscillian ⁵² himself, bishop of Avila ⁵³, in Spain; who adorned the advantages of birth and fortune, by the ac­complishments of eloquence and learning. Two presbyters, and two deacons, accompanied their beloved master in his death, which they esteemed as a glorious martyrdom; and the number of re­ligious victims was completed by the execution of Latronian, a poet, who rivalled the fame of the ancients; and of Euchrocia, a noble matron of Bourdeaux, the widow of the orator Delphi­dius ⁵⁴. [Page 35] Two bishops, who had embraced the sentiments of Priscillian, were condemned to a distant and dreary exile ⁵⁵; and some indulgence was shewn to the meaner criminals, who assumed the merit of an early repentance. If any credit could be allowed to confessions extorted by fear or pain, and to vague reports, the offspring of malice and credulity, the heresy of the Priscil­lianists would be found to include the various abominations of magic, of impiety, and of lewd­ness ⁵⁶. Priscillian, who wandered about the world in the company of his spiritual sisters, was accused of praying stark-naked in the midst of the congregation; and it was confidently asserted, that the effects of his criminal intercourse with the daughter of Euchrocia, had been suppressed, by means still more odious and criminal. But an accurate, or rather a candid, enquiry, will dis­cover, that if the Priscillianists violated the laws of nature, it was not by the licentiousness, but by the austerity, of their lives. They absolutely con­demned the use of the marriage-bed; and the peace of families was often disturbed by indiscreet separations. They enjoined, or recommended, a total abstinence from all animal food; and their [Page 36] continual prayers, fasts, and vigils, inculcated a rule of strict and perfect devotion. The specu­lative tenets of the sect, concerning the person of Christ, and the nature of the human soul, were derived from the Gnostic and Manichaean system; and this vain philosophy, which had been trans­ported from Egypt to Spain, was ill adapted to the grosser spirits of the West. The obscure dis­ciples of Priscillian suffered, languished, and gra­dually disappeared: his tenets were rejected by the clergy and people, but his death was the sub­ject of a long and vehement controversy; while some arraigned, and others applauded, the justice of his sentence. It is with pleasure that we can observe, the humane inconsistency of the most illustrious saints and bishops, Ambrose of Milan ⁵⁷, and Martin of Tours ⁵⁸; who, on this occasion, asserted the cause of toleration. They pitied the unhappy men, who had been executed at Treves; they refused to hold communion with their epis­copal murderers; and if Martin deviated from that generous resolution, his motives were laudable, and his repentance was exemplary. The bishops of Tours and Milan pronounced, without hesita­tion, the eternal damnation of heretics; but they were surprised, and shocked, by the bloody image of their temporal death, and the honest feelings of [Page 37] nature resisted the artificial prejudices of theology. The humanity of Ambrose and Martin was con­firmed by the scandalous irregularity of the pro­ceedings against Priscillian, and his adherents. The civil and ecclesiastical ministers had trans­gressed the limits of their respective provinces. The secular judge had presumed to receive an appeal, and to pronounce a definitive sentence, in a matter of faith, and episcopal jurisdiction. The bishops had disgraced themselves, by exer­cising the function of accusers in a criminal pro­secution. The cruelty of Ithacius ⁵⁹, who beheld the tortures, and solicited the death, of the heretics, provoked the just indignation of mankind; and the vices of that profligate bishop were admitted as a proof, that his zeal was instigated by the sor­did motives of interest. Since the death of Pris­cillian, the rude attempts of persecution have been refined and methodised in the holy office, which assigns their distinct parts to the ecclesiasti­cal and secular powers. The devoted victim is regularly delivered by the priest to the magistrate, and by the magistrate to the executioner; and the inexorable sentence of the church, which de­clares the spiritual guilt of the offender, is ex­pressed in the mild language of pity and inter­cession.

Among the ecclesiastics, who illustrated the Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, A. D. 374—397. reign of Theodosius, Gregory Nazianzen was distinguished by the talents of an eloquent preacher; [Page 38] the reputation of miraculous gifts, added weight and dignity to the monastic virtues of Martin of Tours ⁶⁰; but the palm of episcopal vigour and ability was justly claimed by the intrepid Am­brose ⁶¹. He was descended from a noble family of Romans; his father had exercised the im­portant office of Praetorian praefect of Gaul; and the son, after passing through the studies of a liberal education, attained, in the regular grada­tion of civil honours, the station of consular of Liguria, a province which included the Imperial residence of Milan. At the age of thirty-four, and before he had received the sacrament of bap­tism, Ambrose, to his own surprise, and to that of the world, was suddenly transformed from a go­vernor to an archbishop. Without the least mix­ture, as it is said, of art or intrigue, the whole body of the people unanimously saluted him with the episcopal title; the concord and perseverance of their acclamations were ascribed to a praeter­natural impulse; and the reluctant magistrate was compelled to undertake a spiritual office, for which he was not prepared by the habits and occupations of his former life. But the active force of his genius soon qualified him to exercise, with zeal [Page 39] and prudence, the duties of his ecclesiastical juris­diction; and, while he cheerfully renounced the vain and splendid trappings of temporal greatness, he condescended, for the good of the church, to direct the conscience of the emperors, and to con­troul the administration of the empire. Gratian loved and revered him as a father; and the ela­borate treatise on the saith of the Trinity, was designed for the instruction of the young prince. After his tragic death, at a time when the em­press Justina trembled for her own safety, and for that of her son Valentinian, the archbishop of Milan was dispatched, on two different embassies, to the court of Treves. He exercised, with equal firmness and dexterity, the powers of his spiritual and political characters; and perhaps contributed, by his authority and eloquence, to check the am­bition of Maximus, and to protect the peace of Italy ⁶². Ambrose had devoted his life, and his abilities, to the service of the church. Wealth was the object of his contempt; he had renounced his private patrimony; and he sold, without hesita­tion, the consecrated plate for the redemption of captives. The clergy and people of Milan were attached to their archbishop; and he deserved the esteem, without soliciting the favour, or ap­prehending the displeasure, of his feeble sove­reigns.

The government of Italy, and of the young His suc­cessful op­position to the empres Justina, A. D. 385 April 3—April 10. emperor, naturally devolved to his mother Justina, a woman of beauty and spirit, but who, in the [Page 40] midst of an orthodox people, had the misfortune of professing the Arian heresy, which she endea­voured to instil into the mind of her son. Justina was persuaded, that a Roman emperor might claim, in his own dominions, the public exercise of his religion; and she proposed to the arch­bishop, as a moderate and reasonable concession, that he should resign the use of a single church, either in the city or suburbs of Milan. But the conduct of Ambrose was governed by very dif­ferent principles ⁶³. The palaces of the earth might indeed belong to Caesar; but the churches were the houses of God; and, within the limits of his diocese, he himself, as the lawful successor of the apostles, was the only minister of God. The privileges of Christianity, temporal as well as spi­ritual, were confined to the true believers; and the mind of Ambrose was satisfied, that his own theological opinions were the standard of truth and orthodoxy. The archbishop, who refused to hold any conference, or negociation, with the in­struments of Satan, declared, with modest firm­ness, his resolution to die a martyr, rather than to yield to the impious sacrilege; and Justina, who resented the refusal as an act of insolence and re­bellion, hastily determined to exert the Imperial prerogative of her son. As she desired to perform her public devotions on the approaching festival [Page 41] of Easter, Ambrose was ordered to appear before the council. He obeyed the summons with the respect of a faithful subject, but he was followed, without his consent, by an innumerable people: they pressed, with impetuous zeal, against the gates of the palace; and the affrighted ministers of Valentinian, instead of pronouncing a sentence of exile on the archbishop of Milan, humbly re­quested that he would interpose his authority, to protect the person of the emperor, and to restore the tranquillity of the capital. But the promises which Ambrose received and communicated, were soon violated by a perfidious court; and, during six of the most solemn days, which Christian piety has set apart for the exercise of religion, the city was agitated by the irregular convulsions of tumult and fanaticism. The officers of the household were directed to prepare, first, the Portian, and afterwards, the new, Basilica, for the immediate reception of the emperor, and his mother. The splendid canopy and hangings of the royal seat were arranged in the customary manner; but it was found necessary to defend them, by a strong guard, from the insults of the populace. The Arian ecclesiastics, who ventured to shew them­selves in the streets, were exposed to the most imminent danger of their lives: and Ambrose enjoyed the merit and reputation of rescuing his personal enemies from the hands of the enraged multitude.

But while he laboured to restrain the effects of their zeal, the pathetic vehemence of his sermons continually inflamed the angry and seditious tem­per [Page 42] of the people of Milan. The characters of Eve, of the wife of Job, of Jezabel, of Herodias, were indecently applied to the mother of the em­peror; and her desire to obtain a church for the Arians, was compared to the most cruel perse­cutions which Christianity had endured under the reign of Paganism. The measures of the court served only to expose the magnitude of the evil. A fine of two hundred pounds of gold was imposed on the corporate body of merchants and manu­facturers: an order was signified, in the name of the emperor, to all the officers, and inferior ser­vants, of the courts of justice, that, during the continuance of the public disorders, they should strictly confine themselves to their houses: and the ministers of Valentinian imprudently con­fessed, that the most respectable part of the citi­zens of Milan was attached to the cause of their archbishop. He was again solicited to restore peace to his country, by a timely compliance with the will of his sovereign. The reply of Am­brose was couched in the most humble and re­spectful terms, which might, however, be inter­preted as a serious declaration of civil war. ‘"His life and fortune were in the hands of the em­peror; but he would never betray the church of Christ, or degrade the dignity of the episcopal character. In such a cause, he was prepared to suffer whatever the malice of the daemon could inflict; and he only wished to die in the presence of his faithful flock, and at the foot of the altar; he had not contributed to excite, but it was in the power of God alone to ap­pease, [Page 43] the rage of the people: he deprecated the scenes of blood and confusion, which were likely to ensue; and it was his fervent prayer, that he might not survive to behold the ruin of a flourishing city, and perhaps the desolation of all Italy ⁶⁴."’ The obstinate bigotry of Justina would have endangered the empire of her son, if, in this contest with the church and people of Milan, she could have depended on the active obedience of the troops of the palace. A large body of Goths had marched to occupy the Basilica, which was the object of the dispute: and it might be expected from the Arian principles, and bar­barous manners, of these foreign mercenaries, that they would not entertain any scruples in the execution of the most sanguinary orders. They were encountered, on the sacred threshold, by the archbishop, who, thundering against them a sen­tence of excommunication, asked them, in the tone of a father and a master, Whether it was to invade the house of God, that they had implored the hospitable protection of the republic? The suspense of the Barbarians allowed some hours for a more effectual negociation; and the empress was persuaded, by the advice of her wisest coun­sellors, to leave the Catholics in possession of all the churches of Milan; and to dissemble, till a [Page 44] more convenient season, her intentions of revenge. The mother of Valentinian could never forgive the triumph of Ambrose; and the royal youth uttered a passionate exclamation, that his own servants were ready to betray him into the hands of an insolent priest.

The laws of the empire, some of which were A. D. 386. inscribed with the name of Valentinian, still con­demned the Arian heresy, and seemed to excuse the resistance of the Catholics. By the influence of Justina, an edict of toleration was promulgated in all the provinces which were subject to the court of Milan; the free exercise of their religion was granted to those who professed the faith of Rimini; and the emperor declared, that all per­sons who should infringe this sacred and salutary constitution, should be capitally punished, as the enemies of the public peace ⁶⁵. The character and language of the archbishop of Milan may justify the suspicion, that his conduct soon afforded a reasonable ground, or at least a specious pre­tence, to the Arian ministers; who watched the opportunity of surprising him in some act of dis­obedience to a law, which he strangely represents as a law of blood and tyranny. A sentence of easy and honourable banishment was pronounced, which enjoined Ambrose to depart from Milan without delay; whilst it permitted him to chuse the place of his exile, and the number of his companions. But the authroity of the saints, who have preached and practised the maxims of [Page 45] passive loyalty, appeared to Ambrose of less mo­ment than the extreme and pressing danger of the church. He boldly refused to obey; and his refusal was supported by the unanimous consent of his faithful people ⁶⁶. They guarded by turns the person of their archbishop; the gates of the cathedral and the episcopal palace were strongly secured; and the Imperial troops, who had formed the blockade, were unwilling to risk the attack, of that impregnable fortress. The numerous poor, who had been relieved by the liberality of Ambrose, embraced the fair occasion of signalising their zeal and gratitude; and as the patience of the multitude might have been exhausted by the length and uniformity of nocturnal vigils, he prudently introduced into the church of Milan the useful institution of a loud and regular psalm­ody. While he maintained this arduous con­test, he was instructed, by a dream, to open the earth in a place where the remains of two martyrs, Gervasius and Protasius ⁶⁷, had been deposited above three hundred years. Immediately under the pavement of the church two perfect skeletons were found ⁶⁸, with the heads separated from their [Page 46] bodies, and a plentiful effusion of blood. The holy relics were presented, in solemn pomp, to the veneration of the people; and every circum­stance of this fortunate discovery was admirably adapted to promote the designs of Ambrose. The bones of the martyrs, their blood, their garments, were supposed to contain a healing power; and the praeternatural influence was communicated to the most distant objects, without losing any part of its original virtue. The extraordinary cure of a blind man ⁶⁹, and the reluctant confessions of several daemoniacs, appeared to justify the faith and sanctity of Ambrose; and the truth of those miracles is attested by Ambrose himself, by his secretary Paulinus, and by his proselyte, the ce­lebrated Augustin, who, at that time, professed the art of rhetoric in Milan. The reason of the present age may possibly approve the incredulity of Justina and her Arian court; who derided the theatrical representations, which were exhibited by the contrivance, and at the expence, of the archbishop ⁷⁰. Their effect, however, on the minds of the people, was rapid and irresistible; and the feeble sovereign of Italy found himself [Page 47] unable to contend with the favourite of heaven. The powers likewise of the earth interposed in the defence of Ambrose: the disinterested advice of Theodosius was the genuine result of piety and friendship; and the mask of religious zeal con­cealed the hostile and ambitious designs of the tyrant of Gaul ⁷¹.

The reign of Maximus might have ended in Maximus invades Italy, A. D. 387, August. peace and prosperity, could he have contented himself with the possession of three ample coun­tries, which now constitute the three most flou­rishing kingdoms of modern Europe. But the aspiring usurper, whose sordid ambition was not dignified by the love of glory and of arms, con­sidered his actual forces as the instruments only of his future greatness, and his success was the immediate cause of his destruction. The wealth which he extorted ⁷² from the oppressed provinces of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, was employed in levying and maintaining a formidable army of Barbarians, collected, for the most part, from the fiercest nations of Germany. The conquest of Italy was the object of his hopes and preparations; and he secretly meditated the ruin of an innocent youth, whose government was abhorred and de­spised by his Catholic subjects. But as Maximus wished to occupy, without resistance, the passes of [Page 48] the Alps, he received, with perfidious smiles, Domninus of Syria, the ambassador of Valen­tinian, and pressed him to accept the aid of a considerable body of troops, for the service of a Pannonian war. The penetration of Ambrose had discovered the snares of an enemy under the professions of friendship ⁷³; but the Syrian Dom­ninus was corrupted, or deceived, by the liberal favour of the court of Treves; and the council of Milan obstinately rejected the suspicion of dan­ger, with a blind confidence, which was the effect, not of courage, but of fear. The march of the auxiliaries was guided by the ambassador; and they were admitted, without distrust, into the fortresses of the Alps. But the crafty tyrant fol­lowed, with hasty and silent footsteps, in the rear; and, as he diligently intercepted all intelligence of his motions, the gleam of armour, and the dust excited by the troops of cavalry, first announced the hostile approach of a stranger to the gates of Milan. In this extremity, Justina and her son might accuse their own imprudence, and the per­fidious arts of Maximus; but they wanted time, and force, and resolution, to stand against the Gauls and Germans, either in the field, or within the walls of a large and disaffected city. Flight was their only hope, Aquileia their only refuge; and as Maximus now displayed his genuine cha­racter, the brother of Gratian might expect the same fate from the hands of the same assassin. [Page 49] Maximus entered Milan in triumph; and if the wise archbishop refused a dangerous and criminal connection with the usurper, he might indirectly contribute to the success of his arms, by incul­cating, from the pulpit, the duty of resignation, rather than that of resistance ⁷⁴. The unfortunate Justina reached Aquileia in safety; but she dis­trusted the strength of the fortifications; she dreaded the event of a siege; and she resolved to implore the protection of the great Theodosius, whose power and virtue were celebrated in all the countries of the West. A vessel was secretly pro­vided to transport the Imperial family; they embarked with precipitation in one of the obscure harbours of Venetia, or Istria; traversed the whole extent of the Hadriatic and Ionian seas; turned the extreme promontory of Peloponnesus; and, after a long, but successful, navigation, re­posed themselves in the port of Thessalonica. All the subjects of Valentinian deserted the cause of a prince, who, by his abdication, had absolved Flight of Valen­tinian. them from the duty of allegiance; and if the little city of Aemona, on the verge of Italy, had not presumed to stop the career of his inglorious victory, Maximus would have obtained, without a struggle, the sole possession of the western em­pire.

Instead of inviting his royal guests to the palace Theodo­sius takes arms in the cause of Valen­tinian. A. D. 387. of Constantinople, Theodosius had some unknown reasons to fix their residence at Thessalonica; but [Page 50] these reasons did not proceed from contempt or indifference, as he speedily made a visit to that city, accompanied by the greatest part of his court and senate. After the first tender expres­sions of friendship and sympathy, the pious emperor of the East gently admonished Justina, that the guilt of heresy was sometimes punished in this world, as well as in the next; and that the public profession of the Nicene faith, would be the most efficacious step to promote the restoration of her son, by the satisfaction which it must occasion both on earth and in heaven. The momentous question of peace or war was referred, by Theo­dosius, to the deliberation of his council; and the arguments which might be alleged on the side of honour and justice, had acquired, since the death of Gratian, a considerable degree of addi­tional weight. The persecution of the Imperial family, to which Theodosius himself had been in­debted for his fortune, was now aggravated by recent and repeated injuries. Neither oaths nor treaties could restrain the boundless ambition of Maximus; and the delay of vigorous and decisive measures, instead of prolonging the blessings of peace, would expose the eastern empire to the danger of an hostile invasion. The Barbarians, who had passed the Danube, had lately assumed the character of soldiers and subjects, but their native fierceness was yet untamed; and the ope­rations of a war, which would exercise their valour, and diminish their numbers, might tend to relieve the provinces from an intolerable oppression. Notwithstanding these specious and solid reasons, [Page 51] which were approved by a majority of the coun­cil, Theodosius still hesitated, whether he should draw the sword in a contest, which could no longer admit any terms of reconciliation; and his mag­nanimous character was not disgraced by the ap­prehensions which he felt for the safety of his in­fant sons, and the welfare of his exhausted people. In this moment of anxious doubt, while the fate of the Roman world depended on the resolution of a single man, the charms of the princess Galla most powerfully pleaded the cause of her brother Valentinian ⁷⁵. The heart of Theodosius was softened by the tears of beauty; his affections were insensibly engaged by the graces of youth and innocence; the art of Justina managed and directed the impulse of passion; and the celebra­tion of the royal nuptials was the assurance and signal of the civil war. The unfeeling critics, who consider every amorous weakness as an in­delible stain on the memory of a great and ortho­dox emperor, are inclined, on this occasion, to dispute the suspicious evidence of the historian Zosimus. For my own part, I shall frankly con­fess, that I am willing to find, or even to seek, in the revolutions of the world, some traces of the mild and tender sentiments of domestic life; and, amidst the crowd of fierce and ambitious con­querors, I can distinguish, with peculiar com­placency, [Page 52] a gentle hero, who may be supposed to receive his armour from the hands of love. The alliance of the Persian king was secured by the faith of treaties; the martial Barbarians were per­suaded to follow the standard, or to respect the frontiers, of an active and liberal monarch; and the dominions of Theodosius, from the Euphrates to the Hadriatic, resounded with the preparations of war both by land and sea. The skilful dis­position of the forces of the East seemed to mul­tiply their numbers, and distracted the attention of Maximus. He had reason to fear, that a chosen body of troops, under the command of the in­trepid Arbogastes, would direct their march along the banks of the Danube, and boldly pene­trate through the Rhaetian provinces into the centre of Gaul. A powerful fleet was equipped in the harbours of Greece and Epirus, with an apparent design, that as soon as the passage had been opened by a naval victory, Valentinian, and his mother, should land in Italy, proceed, with­out delay, to Rome, and occupy the majestic seat of religion and empire. In the mean while, Theodosius himself advanced at the head of a brave and disciplined army, to encounter his un­worthy rival, who, after the siege of Aemona, had fixed his camp in the neighbourhood of Siscia, a city of Pannonia, strongly fortified by the broad and rapid stream of the Save.

The veterans, who still remembered the long Defeat and death of Maximus, A. D. 388. June—August. resistance, and successive resources, of the tyrant Magnentius, might prepare themselves for the labours of three bloody campaigns. But the con­test [Page 53] with his successor, who, like him, had usurped the throne of the West, was easily decided in the term of two months ⁷⁶, and within the space of two hundred miles. The superior genius of the emperor of the East might prevail over the feeble Maximus; who, in this important crisis, shewed himself destitute of military skill, or personal cou­rage; but the abilities of Theodosius were se­conded by the advantage which he possessed of a numerous and active cavalry. The Huns, the Alani, and, after their example, the Goths them­selves, were formed into squadrons of archers; who fought on horseback, and confounded the steady valour of the Gauls and Germans, by the rapid motions of a Tartar war. After the fatigue of a long march, in the heat of summer, they spurred their foaming horses into the waters of the Save, swam the river in the presence of the enemy, and instantly charged and routed the troops who guarded the high ground on the oppo­site side. Marcellinus, the tyrant's brother, ad­vanced to support them with the select cohorts, which were considered as the hope and strength of the army. The action, which had been inter­rupted by the approach of night, was renewed in the morning; and, after a sharp conflict, the sur­viving remnant of the bravest soldiers of Maxi­mus threw down their arms at the feet of the con­queror. Without suspending his march, to re­ceive the loyal acclamations of the citizens of Aemona, Theodosius pressed forwards, to ter­minate [Page 54] the war by the death or captivity of his rival, who fled before him with the diligence of fear. From the summit of the Julian Alps, he de­scended with such incredible speed into the plain of Italy, that he reached Aquileia on the evening of the first day; and Maximus, who found himself encompassed on all sides, had scarcely time to shut the gates of the city. But the gates could not long resist the effort of a victorious enemy; and the despair, the disaffection, the indifference of the soldiers and people, hastened the downfall of the wretched Maximus. He was dragged from his throne, rudely stripped of the Imperial orna­ments, the robe, the diadem, and the purple slippers; and conducted, like a malefactor, to the camp and presence of Theodosius, at a place about three miles from Aquileia. The behaviour of the emperor was not intended to insult, and he shewed some disposition to pity and forgive, the tyrant of the West, who had never been his per­sonal enemy, and was now become the object of his contempt. Our sympathy is the most forcibly excited by the misfortunes to which we are ex­posed; and the spectacle of a proud competitor, now prostrate at his feet, could not fail of pro­ducing very serious and solemn thoughts in the mind of the victorious emperor. But the feeble emotion of involuntary pity was checked by his regard for public justice, and the memory of Gra­tian; and he abandoned the victim to the pious zeal of the soldiers, who drew him out of the Im­perial presence, and instantly separated his head from his body. The intelligence of his defeat [Page 55] and death was received with sincere, or well­dissembled, joy: his son Victor, on whom he had conferred the title of Augustus, died by the order, perhaps by the hand, of the bold Arbogastes; and all the military plans of Theodosius were successfully executed. When he had thus ter­minated the civil war, with less difficulty and bloodshed than he might naturally expect, he em­ployed the winter months of his residence at Milan, to restore the state of the afflicted pro­vinces; and early in the spring he made, after the example of Constantine and Constantius, his triumphal entry into the ancient capital of the Roman empire ⁷⁷.

The orator, who may be silent without danger, Virtues of Theodo­sius. may praise without difficulty, and without re­luctance ⁷⁸; and posterity will confess, that the character of Theodosius ⁷⁹ might furnish the sub­ject of a sincere and ample panegyric. The [Page 56] wisdom of his laws, and the success of his arms, rendered his administration respectable in the eyes both of his subjects, and of his enemies. He loved and practised the virtues of domestic life, which seldom hold their residence in the palaces of kings. Theodosius was chaste and temperate: he enjoyed, without excess, the sensual and social pleasures of the table; and the warmth of his amorous passions was never diverted from their lawful objects. The proud titles of Imperial greatness were adorned by the tender names of a faithful husband, an indulgent father; his uncle was raised, by his affectionate esteem, to the rank of a second parent: Theodosius embraced, as his own, the children of his brother and sister; and the expressions of his regard were extended to the most distant and obscure branches of his nu­merous kindred. His familiar friends were ju­diciously selected from among those persons, who, in the equal intercourse of private life, had ap­peared before his eyes without a mask: the con­sciousness of personal and superior merit enabled him to despise the accidental distinction of the purple; and he proved by his conduct, that he had forgotten all the injuries, while he most grate­fully remembered all the favours and services, which he had received before he ascended the throne of the Roman empire. The serious, or lively, tone of his conversation, was adapted to the age, the rank, or the character, of his sub­jects whom he admitted into his society; and the affability of his manners displayed the image of his mind. Theodosius respected the simplicity of [Page 57] the good and virtuous; every art, every talent, of an useful, or even of an innocent, nature, was rewarded by his judicious liberality; and, except the heretics, whom he persecuted with implacable hatred, the diffusive circle of his benevolence was circumscribed only by the limits of the human race. The government of a mighty empire may assuredly suffice to occupy the time, and the abi­lities, of a mortal: yet the diligent prince, with­out aspiring to the unsuitable reputation of pro­found learning, always reserved some moments of his leisure for the instructive amusement of read­ing. History, which enlarged his experience, was his favourite study. The annals of Rome, in the long period of eleven hundred years, pre­sented him with a various and splendid picture of human life; and it has been particularly observed, that whenever he perused the cruel acts of Cinna, of Marius, or of Sylla, he warmly expressed his generous detestation of those enemies of humanity and freedom. His disinterested opinion of past events was usefully applied as the rule of his own actions; and Theodosius has deserved the singular commendation, that his virtues always seemed to expand with his fortune: the season of his pro­sperity was that of his moderation; and his cle­mency appeared the most conspicuous after the danger and success of the civil war. The Moorish guards of the tyrant had been massacred in the first heat of the victory; and a small number of the most obnoxious criminals suffered the punish­ment of the law. But the emperor shewed him­self much more attentive to relieve the innocent, [Page 58] than to chastise the guilty. The oppressed sub­jects of the West, who would have deemed them­selves happy in the restoration of their lands, were astonished to receive a sum of money equivalent to their losses; and the liberality of the conqueror supported the aged mother, and educated the orphan daughters, of Maximus ⁸⁰. A character thus accomplished, might almost excuse the ex­travagant supposition of the orator Pacatus; that, if the elder Brutus could be permitted to revisit the earth, the stern republican would abjure, at the feet of Theodosius, his hatred of kings; and ingenuously confess, that such a monarch was the most faithful guardian of the happiness and dignity, of the Roman people ⁸¹.

Yet the piercing eye of the founder of the re­public must have discerned two essential imper­fections, Faults of Theodo­sius. which might, perhaps, have abated his recent love of despotism. The virtuous mind of Theodosius was often relaxed by indolence ⁸², and it was sometimes inflamed by passion ⁸³. In the pursuit of an important object, his active courage [Page 59] was capable of the most vigorous exertions; but, as soon as the design was accomplished, or the danger was surmounted, the hero sunk into in­glorious repose; and, forgetful that the time of a prince is the property of his people, resigned him­self to the enjoyment of the innocent, but trifling, pleasures of a luxurious court. The natural dis­position of Theodosius was hasty and choleric; and, in a station where none could resist, and few would dissuade, the fatal consequence of his re­sentment, the humane monarch was justly alarmed by the consciousness of his infirmity, and of his power. It was the constant study of his life to suppress, or regulate, the intemperate sallies of passion; and the success of his efforts enhanced the merit of his clemency. But the painful vir­tue which claims the merit of victory, is ex­posed to the danger of deseat; and the reign of a wise and merciful prince was polluted by an act of cruelty, which would stain the annals of Nero or Domitian. Within the space of three years, the inconsistent historian of Theodosius must relate the generous pardon of the citizens of Antioch, and the inhuman massacre of the people of Thessalonica.

The lively impatience of the inhabitants of An­tioch was never satisfied with their own situation, The sedi­tion of Antioch, A. D. 387. or with the character, and conduct, of their suc­cessive sovereigns. The Arian subjects of Theo­dosius deplored the loss of their churches; and, as three rival bishops, disputed the throne of An­tioch, the sentence which decided their pretensions [Page 60] excited the murmurs of the two unsuccessful con­gregations. The exigencies of the Gothic war, and the inevitable expence that accompanied the conclusion of the peace, had constrained the em­peror to aggravate the weight of the public im­positions; and the provinces of Asia, as they had not been involved in the distress, were the less inclined to contribute to the relief, of Europe. The auspicious period now approached of the tenth year of his reign; a festival more grateful to the soldiers, who received a liberal donative, than to the subjects, whose voluntary offerings had been long since converted into an extraordinary and oppressive burthen. The edicts of taxation interrupted the repose, and pleasures, of Antioch; and the tribunal of the magistrate was besieged by a suppliant crowd; who, in pathetic, but, at first, in respectful, language, solicited the redress of their grievances. They were gradually incensed by the pride of their haughty rulers, who treated their complaints as a criminal resistance; their satirical wit degenerated into sharp and angry invectives; and, from the subordinate powers of government, the invectives of the people insensibly rose to attack the sacred character of the emperor himself. Their fury, provoked by a feeble opposition, discharged itself on the Feb. 26. images of the Imperial family, which were erected, as objects of public veneration, in the most conspicuous places of the city. The statues of Theodosius, of his father, of his wife Flaccilla, of his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, were [Page 61] insolently thrown down from their pedestals, broken in pieces, or dragged with contempt through the streets: and the indignities which were offered to the representations of Imperial majesty, sufficiently declared the impious and treasonable wishes of the populace. The tumult was almost immediately suppressed by the arrival of a body of archers; and Antioch had leisure to reflect on the nature and consequences of her crime ⁸⁴. According to the duty of his office, the governor of the province dispatched a faithful narrative of the whole transaction; while the trembling citizens intrusted the confession of their crime, and the assurance of their repentance, to the zeal of Flavian their bishop, and to the elo­quence of the senator Hilarius, the friend, and, most probably, the disciple, of Libanius; whose genius, on this melancholy occasion, was not use­less to his country ⁸⁵. But the two capitals, An­tioch and Constantinople, were separated by the distance of eight hundred miles; and, notwith­standing the diligence of the Imperial posts, the guilty city was severely punished by a long and dreadful interval of suspence. Every rumour agitated the hopes and fears of the Antiochians; and they heard with terror, that their sovereign, [Page 62] exasperated by the insult which had been offered to his own statues, and, more especially, to those of his beloved wife, had resolved to level with the ground the offending city; and to massacre, without distinction of age or sex, the criminal inhabitants ⁸⁶; many of whom were actually driven, by their apprehensions, to seek a refuge in the mountains of Syria, and the adjacent desert. At length, twenty-four days after the sedition, the March 22. general Hellebicus, and Caesarius, master of the offices, declared the will of the emperor, and the sentence of Antioch. That proud capital was degraded from the rank of a city; and the metro­polis of the East, stripped of its lands, its privi­leges, and its revenues, was subjected, under the humiliating denomination of a village, to the ju­risdiction of Laodicea ⁸⁷. The Baths, the Circus, and the theatres, were shut: and, that every source of plenty and pleasure might at the same time be intercepted, the distribution of corn was abolished, by the severe instructions of Theodosius. His commissioners then proceeded to inquire into the guilt of individuals; of those who had per­petrated, and of those who had not prevented, the destruction of the sacred statues. The tribunal of Hellebicus and Caesarius, encompassed with [Page 63] armed soldiers, was erected in the midst of the Forum. The noblest, and most wealthy, of the citizens of Antioch, appeared before them in chains; the examination was assisted by the use of torture, and their sentence was pronounced or suspended, according to the judgment of these extraordinary magistrates. The houses of the cri­minals were exposed to sale, their wives and children were suddenly reduced, from affluence and luxury, to the most abject distress; and a bloody execution was expected to conclude the horrors of a day ⁸⁸, which the preacher of An­tioch, the eloquent Chrysostom, has represented as a lively image of the last and universal judg­ment of the world. But the ministers of Theodo­sius performed, with reluctance, the cruel task which had been assigned them; they dropped a gentle tear over the calamities of the people; and they listened with reverence to the pressing solicitations of the monks and hermits, who de­scended in swarms from the mountains ⁸⁹. Hel­lebicus and Caesarius were persuaded to suspend the execution of their sentence; and it was agreed, that the former should remain at Antioch, while the latter returned, with all possible speed, to Constantinople; and presumed once more to con­sult the will of his sovereign. The resentment of Clemency of Theo­dosius. [Page 64] Theodosius had already subsided; the deputies of the people, both the bishop and the orator, had obtained a favourable audience; and the re­proaches of the emperor were the complaints of injured friendship, rather than the stern menaces of pride and power. A free and general pardon was granted to the city and citizens of Antioch; the prison-doors were thrown open; the senators, who despaired of their lives, recovered the pos­session of their houses and estates; and the capital of the East was restored to the enjoyment of her ancient dignity and splendour. Theodosius con­descended to praise the senate of Constantinople, who had generously interceded for their distressed brethren: he rewarded the eloquence of Hilarius with the government of Palestine; and dismissed the bishop of Antioch with the warmest expressions of his respect and gratitude. A thousand new statues arose to the clemency of Theodosius; the April 25. applause of his subjects was ratified by the appro­bation of his own heart; and the emperor con­fessed, that, if the exercise of justice is the most important duty, the indulgence of mercy is the most exquisite pleasure, of a sovereign ⁹⁰.

The sedition of Thessalonica is ascribed to a Sedition and mas­sacre of Thessalo­nica, A. D. 390. more shameful cause, and was productive of much [Page 65] more dreadful consequences. That great city, the metropolis of all the Illyrian provinces, had been protected from the dangers of the Gothic war by strong fortifications, and a numerous gar­rison. Botheric, the general of those troops, and, as it should seem from his name, a Barbarian, had among his slaves a beautiful boy, who excited the impure desires of one of the charioteers of the Circus. The insolent and brutal lover was thrown into prison by the order of Botheric; and he sternly rejected the importunate clamours of the multitude, who, on the day of the public games, lamented the absence of their favourite; and con­sidered the skill of a charioteer as an object of more importance than his virtue. The resent­ment of the people was embittered by some pre­vious disputes; and, as the strength of the gar­rison had been drawn away for the service of the Italian war, the feeble remnant, whose numbers were reduced by desertion, could not save the un­happy general from their licentious fury. Bo­theric, and several of his principal officers, were inhumanly murdered: their mangled bodies were dragged about the streets; and the emperor, who then resided at Milan, was surprised by the intel­ligence of the audacious and wanton cruelty of the people of Thessalonica. The sentence of a dis­passionate judge would have inflicted a severe punishment on the authors of the crime; and the merit of Botheric might contribute to exasperate the grief and indignation of his master. The fiery and choleric temper of Theodosius was im­patient of the dilatory forms of a judicial enquiry; [Page 66] and he hastily resolved, that the blood of his lieu­tenant should be expiated by the blood of the guilty people. Yet his mind still fluctuated be­tween the counsels of clemency and of revenge; the zeal of the bishops had almost extorted from the reluctant emperor the promise of a general pardon; his passion was again inflamed by the flattering suggestions of his minister Rufinus; and, after Theodosius had dispatched the messen­gers of death, he attempted, when it was too late, to prevent the execution of his orders. The pu­nishment of a Roman city was blindly committed to the undistinguishing sword of the Barbarians; and the hostile preparations were concerted with the dark and perfidious artifice of an illegal con­spiracy. The people of Thessalonica were trea­cherously invited, in the name of their sovereign, to the games of the Circus: and such was their in­satiate avidity for those amusements, that every consideration of fear, or suspicion, was disre­guarded by the numerous spectators. As soon as the assembly was complete, the soldiers, who had secretly been posted round the circus, received the signal, not of the races, but of a general massacre. The promiscuous carnage continued three hours, without discrimination of strangers or natives, of age or sex, of innocence or guilt; the most mo­derate accounts state the number of the slain at seven thousand; and it is affirmed by some writers, that more than fifteen thousand victims were sacri­ficed to the manes of Botheric. A foreign mer­chant, who had probably no concern in his murder, offered his own life, and all his wealth, to sup­ply [Page 67] the place of one of his two sons; but, while the father hesitated with equal tenderness, while he was doubtful to chuse, and unwilling to condemn, the soldiers determined his suspense, by plunging their daggers at the same moment into the breasts of the defenceless youths. The apology of the as­sassins, that they were obliged to produce the pre­scribed number of heads, serves only to increase, by an appearance of order and design, the horrors of the massacre, which was executed by the com­mands of Theodosius. The guilt of the emperor is aggravated by his long and frequent residence at Thessalonica. The situation of the unfortunate city, the aspect of the streets and buildings, the dress and faces of the inhabitants, were familiar, and even present, to his imagination; and Theo­dosius possessed a quick and lively sense of the existence of the people whom he destroyed ⁹¹.

The respectful attachment of the emperor for Influence and con­duct of Ambrose, A. D. 388. the orthodox clergy, had disposed him to love and admire the character of Ambrose; who united all the episcopal virtues in the most eminent de­gree. The friends and ministers of Theodosius imitated the example of their sovereign; and he observed, with more surprise than displeasure, that all his secret counsels were immediately com­municated [Page 68] to the archbishop; who acted from the laudable persuasion, that every measure of civil government may have some connection with the glory of God, and the interest of the true religion. The monks and populace of Callinicum, an ob­scure town on the frontier of Persia, excited by their own fanaticism, and by that of their bishop, had tumultuously burnt a conventicle of the Va­lentinians, and a synagogue of the Jews. The seditious prelate was condemned, by the magi­strate of the province, either to rebuild the syna­gogue, or to repay the damage; and this mode­rate sentence was confirmed by the emperor. But it was not confirmed by the archbishop of Milan ⁹². He dictated an epistle of censure and reproach, more suitable, perhaps, if the emperor had re­ceived the mark of circumcision, and renounced the faith of his baptism. Ambrose considers the toleration of the Jewish, as the persecution of the Christian, religion; boldly declares, that he him­self, and every true believer, would eagerly dis­pute with the bishop of Callinicum the merit of the deed, and the crown of martyrdom; and la­ments, in the most pathetic terms, that the exe­cution of the sentence would be fatal to the fame and salvation of Theodosius. As this private admonition did not produce an immediate effect, the archbishop, from his pulpit ⁹³, publicly ad­dressed [Page 69] the emperor on his throne ⁹⁴; nor would he consent to offer the oblation of the altar, till he had obtained from Theodosius a solemn and positive declaration, which secured the impunity of the bishop and monks of Callinicum. The recantation of Theodosius was sincere ⁹⁵; and, during the term of his residence at Milan, his affection for Ambrose was continually increased by the habits of pious and familiar conversation.

When Ambrose was informed of the massacre Pennance of Theo­dosius, A. D. 390. of Thessalonica, his mind was filled with horror and anguish. He retired into the country to in­dulge his grief, and to avoid the presence of Theodosius. But as the archbishop was satisfied that a timid silence would render him the accom­plice of his guilt, he represented, in a private let­ter, the enormity of the crime; which could only be effaced by the tears of penitence. The epis­copal vigour of Ambrose was tempered by pru­dence; and he contented himself with signifying ⁹⁶ an indirect sort of excommunication, by the assur­ance, [Page 70] that he had been warned in a vision, not to offer the oblation in the name, or in the pre­sence, of Theodosius; and by the advice, that he would confine himself to the use of prayer, with­out presuming to approach the altar of Christ, or to receive the holy eucharist with those hands that were still polluted with the blood of an innocent people. The emperor was deeply affected by his own reproaches, and by those of his spiritual fa­ther; and, after he had bewailed the mischievous and irreparable consequences of his rash fury, he proceeded, in the accustomed manner, to perform his devotions in the great church of Milan. He was stopped in the porch by the archbishop; who, in the tone and language of an ambassador of Heaven, declared to his sovereign, that private contrition was not sufficient to atone for a public fault, or to appease the justice of the offended Deity. Theodosius humbly represented, that if he had contracted the guilt of homicide, David, the man after God's own heart, had been guilty, not only of murder, but of adultery. ‘"You have imitated David in his crime, imitate then his repentance,"’ was the reply of the un­daunted Ambrose. The rigorous conditions of peace and pardon were accepted; and the public pennance of the emperor Theodosius has been re­corded as one of the most honourable events in the annals of the church. According to the mildest rules of ecclesiastical discipline, which were esta­blished in the fourth century, the crime of homi­cide was expiated by the penitence of twenty [Page 71] years ⁹⁷: and as it was impossible, in the period of human life, to purge the accumulated guilt of the massacre of Thessalonica, the murderer should have been excluded from the holy communion till the hour of his death. But the archbishop, con­sulting the maxims of religious policy, granted some indulgence to the rank of his illustrious pe­nitent, who humbled in the dust the pride of the diadem; and the public edification might be ad­mitted as a weighty reason to abridge the duration of his punishment. It was sufficient, that the emperor of the Romans, stripped of the ensigns of royalty, should appear in a mournful and sup­pliant posture; and that, in the midst of the church of Milan, he should humbly solicit, with sighs and tears, the pardon of his sins ⁹⁸. In this spiritual cure, Ambrose employed the various methods of mildness and severity. After a delay of about eight months, Theodosius was restored to the communion of the faithful; and the edict, which interposes a salutary interval of thirty days between the sentence and the execution, may be [Page 72] accepted as the worthy fruits of his repentance ⁹⁹. Posterity has applauded the virtuous firmness of the archbishop: and the example of Theodosius may prove the beneficial influence of those prin­ciples, which could force a monarch, exalted above the apprehension of human punishment, to respect the laws, and ministers, of an invisible Judge. ‘"The prince," says Montesquieu, "who is actuated by the hopes and fears of religion, may be compared to a lion, docile only to the voice, and tractable to the hand, of his keeper ¹⁰⁰."’ The motions of the royal animal will therefore depend on the inclination, and in­terest, of the man who has acquired such danger­ous authority over him; and the priest, who holds in his hand the conscience of a king, may inflame, or moderate, his sanguinary passions. The cause of humanity, and that of persecution, have been asserted, by the same Ambrose, with equal energy, and with equal success.

After the defeat and death of the tyrant of Generosity of Theo­dosius, A. D. 388—391. Gaul, the Roman world was in the possession of Theodosius. He derived from the choice of Gratian his honourable title to the provinces of the East: he had acquired the West by the right of conquest; and the three years, which he spent in Italy, were usefully employed to restore the [Page 73] authority of the laws; and to correct the abuses, which had prevailed with impunity under the usurpation of Maximus, and the minority of Va­lentinian. The name of Valentinian was regularly inserted in the public acts: but the tender age, and doubtful faith, of the son of Justina, appeared to require the prudent care of an orthodox guardian; and his specious ambition might have excluded the unfortunate youth, without a struggle, and almost without a murmur, from the admini­stration, and even from the inheritance, of the empire. If Theodosius had consulted the rigid maxims of interest and policy, his conduct would have been justified by his friends; but the gene­rosity of his behaviour on this memorable occasion has extorted the applause of his most inveterate enemies. He seated Valentinian on the throne of Milan; and, without stipulating any present or future advantages, restored him to the absolute dominion of all the provinces from which he had been driven by the arms of Maximus. To the restitution of his ample patrimony, Theodosius added the free and generous gift of the countries beyond the Alps, which his successful valour had recovered from the assassin of Gratian ¹⁰¹. Satis­fied with the glory which he had acquired, by re­venging the death of his benefactor, and deliver­ing the West from the yoke of tyranny, the em­peror returned from Milan to Constantinople; [Page 74] and, in the peaceful possession of the East, in­sensibly relapsed into his former habits of luxury and indolence. Theodosius discharged his obli­gation to the brother, he indulged his conjugal tenderness to the sister, of Valentinian: and poste­rity, which admires the pure and singular glory of his elevation, must applaud his unrivalled generosity in the use of victory.

The empress Justina did not long survive her return to Italy; and, though she beheld the Character of Valen­tinian, A. D. 391. triumph of Theodosius, she was not allowed to influence the government of her son ¹⁰². The pernicious attachment to the Arian sect, which Valentinian had imbibed from her example and instructions, were soon erased by the lessons of a more orthodox education. His growing zeal for the faith of Nice, and his filial reverence for the character, and authority, of Ambrose, disposed the Catholics to entertain the most favourable opinion of the virtues of the young emperor of the West ¹⁰³. They applauded his chastity and tem­perance, his contempt of pleasure, his application to business, and his tender affection for his two sisters; which could not, however, seduce his impartial equity to pronounce an unjust sentence against the meanest of his subjects. But this amiable youth, before he had accomplished the [Page 75] twentieth year of his age, was oppressed by do­mestic treason; and the empire was again involved in the horrors of a civil war. Arbogastes ¹⁰⁴, a gallant soldier of the nation of the Franks, held the second rank in the service of Gratian. On the death of his master, he joined the standard of Theodosius; contributed, by his valour and mili­tary conduct, to the destruction of the tyrant; and was appointed, after the victory, master­general of the armies of Gaul. His real merit, and apparent fidelity, had gained the confidence both of the prince and people; his boundless liberality corrupted the allegiance of the troops; and, whilst he was universally esteemed as the pillar of the state, the bold and crafty Barbarian was secretly determined, either to rule, or to ruin, the empire of the West. The important commands of the army were distributed among the Franks; the creatures of Arbogastes were promoted to all the honours and offices of the civil government; the progress of the conspiracy removed every faithful servant from the presence of Valentinian; and the emperor, without power, and without intelligence, insensibly sunk into the precarious and dependent condition of a cap­tive ¹⁰⁵. The indignation which he expressed, though it might arise only from the rash and im­patient temper of youth, may be candidly ascribed [Page 76] to the generous spirit of a prince, who felt that he was not unworthy to reign. He secretly invited the archbishop of Milan to undertake the office of a mediator; as the pledge of his sincerity, and the guardian of his safety. He contrived to ap­prise the emperor of the East of his helpless situa­tion; and he declared, that, unless Theodosius could speedily march to his assistance, he must attempt to escape from the palace, or rather prison, of Vienna in Gaul, where he had imprudently fixed his residence in the midst of the hostile faction. But the hopes of relief were distant, and doubt­ful; and, as every day furnished some new pro­vocation, the emperor, without strength or coun­sel, too hastily resolved to risk an immediate con­test with his powerful general. He received Arbogastes on the throne; and, as the count approached with some appearance of respect, de­livered to him a paper, which dismissed him from all his employments. ‘"My authority" replied Arbogastes with insulting coolness, "does not depend on the smile, or the frown, of a mo­narch;"’ and he contemptuously threw the paper on the ground. The indignant monarch snatched at the sword of one of the guards, which he struggled to draw from its scabbard; and it was not without some degree of violence that he was prevented from using the deadly weapon against his enemy, or against himself. A few days after this extraordinary quarrel, in which he had ex­posed His death, A. D. 392, May 15. his resentment and his weakness, the un­fortunate Valentinian was found strangled in his apartment; and some pains were employed to dis­guise [Page 77] the manifest guilt of Arbogastes, and to persuade the world, that the death of the young emperor had been the voluntary effect of his own despair ¹⁰⁶. His body was conducted with decent pomp to the sepulchre of Milan; and the arch­bishop pronounced a funeral oration to com­memorate his virtue, and his misfortunes ¹⁰⁷. On this occasion, the humanity of Ambrose tempted him to make a singular breach in his theological system; and to comfort the weeping sisters of Va­lentinian, by the firm assurance, that their pious brother, though he had not received the sacra­ment of baptism, was introduced, without diffi­culty, into the mansions of eternal bliss ¹⁰⁸.

The prudence of Arbogastes had prepared the success of his ambitious designs: and the pro­vincials, Usurpation of Euge­nius, A. D. 392—394. in whose breasts every sentiment of patriotism or loyalty were extinguished, expected, with tame resignation, the unknown master, whom the choice of a Frank might place on the Impe­rial throne. But some remains of pride and pre­judice still opposed the elevation of Arbogastes himself; and the judicious Barbarian thought it [Page 78] more advisable to reign under the name of some dependent Roman. He bestowed the purple on the rhetorician Eugenius ¹⁰⁹; whom he had al­ready raised from the place of his domestic secre­tary, to the rank of master of the offices. In the course both of his private and public service, the count had always approved the attachment and abilities of Eugenius; his learning and eloquence, supported by the gravity of his manners, recom­mended him to the esteem of the people; and the reluctance, with which he seemed to ascend the throne, may inspire a favourable prejudice of his virtue and moderation. The ambassadors of the new emperor were immediately dispatched to the court of Theodosius, to communicate, with af­fected grief, the unfortunate accident of the death of Valentinian; and, without mentioning the name of Arbogastes, to request, that the monarch of the East would embrace, as his lawful colleague, the respectable citizen, who had obtained the un­animous suffrage of the armies and provinces of the West ¹¹⁰. Theodosius was justly provoked, that the perfidy of a Barbarian should have de­stroyed, in a moment, the labours, and the fruit, of his former victory; and he was excited by the [Page 79] tears of his beloved wife ¹¹¹, to revenge the fate of her unhappy brother, and once more to assert by arms the violated majesty of the throne. But as the second conquest of the West was a task of difficulty and danger, he dismissed, with splendid presents, and an ambiguous answer, the ambassa­dors of Eugenius; and almost two years were con­sumed in the preparations of the civil war. Be­fore Theodo­sius pre­pares for war he formed any decisive resolution, the pious emperor was anxious to discover the will of heave; and as the progress of Christianity had silenced the oracles of Delphi and Dodona, he consulted an Egyptian monk, who possessed, in the opinion of the age, the gift of miracles, and the knowledge of futurity. Eutropius, one of the favourite eunuchs of the palace of Constantinople, embarked for Alexandria, from whence he sailed up the Nile as far as the city of Lycopolis, or of Wolves, in the remote pro­vince of Thebais ¹¹². In the neighbourhood of that city, and on the summit of a lofty moun­tain, the holy John ¹¹³ had constructed, with his [Page 80] own hands, an humble cell, in which he had dwelt above fifty years, without opening his door, without seeing the face of a woman, and without tasting any food that had been prepared by fire, or any human art. Five days of the week he spent in prayer and meditation; but on Satur­days and Sundays he regularly opened a small window, and gave audience to the crowd of sup­pliants, who successively flowed from every part of the Christian world. The eunuch of Theodo­sius approached the window with respectful steps, proposed his questions concerning the event of the civil war, and soon returned with a favourable oracle, which animated the courage of the em­peror by the assurance of a bloody, but infallible, victory ¹¹⁴. The accomplishment of the prediction was forwarded by all the means that human pru­dence could supply. The industry of the two master-generals, Stilicho and Timasius, was di­rected to recruit the numbers, and to revive the discipline, of the Roman legions. The formid­able troops of Barbarians marched under the ensigns of their national chieftains. The Iberian, the Arab, and the Goth, who gazed on each other with mutual astonishment, were enlisted in the service of the same prince; and the renowned Alaric acquired, in the school of Theodosius, the knowledge of the art of war, which he after­wards [Page 81] so fatally exerted for the destruction of Rome ¹¹⁵.

The Emperor of the West, or, to speak more His victory over Euge­nius. A. D. 394, Sept. 6. properly, his general Arbogastes, was instructed by the misconduct and misfortune of Maximus, how dangerous it might prove to extend the line of defence against a skilful antagonist, who was free to press, or to suspend, to contract, or to multiply, his various methods of attack ¹¹⁶. Ar­bogastes fixed his station on the confines of Italy: the troops of Theodosius were permitted to oc­cupy, without resistance, the provinces of Pan­nonia, as far as the foot of the Julian Alps; and even the passages of the mountains were ne­gligently, or perhaps artfully, abandoned, to the bold invader. He descended from the hills, and beheld, with some astonishment, the formidable camp of the Gauls and Germans, that covered with arms and tents the open country, which ex­tends to the walls of Aquileia, and the banks of [Page 82] the Frigidus ¹¹⁷, or Cold River ¹¹⁸. This narrow theatre of the war, circumscribed by the Alps and the Hadriatic, did not allow much room for the operations of military skill; the spirit of Ar­bogastes would have disdained a pardon; his guilt extinguished the hope of a negociation: and Theodosius was impatient to satisfy his glory and revenge, by the chastisement of the assassins of Valentinian. Without weighing the natural and artificial obstacles that opposed his efforts, the emperor of the East immediately attacked the fortifications of his rivals, assigned the post of honourable danger to the Goths, and cherished a secret wish, that the bloody conflict might di­minish the pride and numbers of the conquerors. Ten thousand of those auxiliaries, and Bacurius, general of the Iberians, died bravely on the field of battle. But the victory was not purchased by their blood: the Gauls maintained their advan­tage; and the approach of night protected the disorderly flight, or retreat, of the troops of Theodosius. The emperor retired to the ad­jacent hills; where he passed a disconsolate night, without sleep, without provisions, and without [Page 83] hopes ¹¹⁹; except that strong assurance, which, under the most desperate circumstances, the in­dependent mind may derive from the contempt of fortune and of life. The triumph of Eugenius was celebrated by the insolent and dissolute joy of his camp; whilst the active and vigilant Ar­bogastes secretly detached a considerable body of troops to occupy the passes of the mountains, and to encompass the rear of the Eastern army. The dawn of day discovered to the eyes of Theodosius the extent and the extremity of his danger: but his apprehensions were soon dispelled, by a friendly message from the leaders of those troops, who expressed their inclination to desert the stand­ard of the tyrant. The honourable and lucra­tive rewards, which they stipulated as the price of their perfidy, were granted without hesitation; and as ink and paper could not easily be procured, the emperor subscribed, on his own tablets, the ratification of the treaty. The spirit of his sol­diers was revived by this seasonable reinforce­ment: and they again marched, with confidence, to surprise the camp of a tyrant, whose principal officers appeared to distrust, either the justice, or the success, of his arms. In the heat of the bat­tle, a violent tempest ¹²⁰, such as is often felt [Page 84] among the Alps, suddenly arose from the East. The army of Theodosius was sheltered by their position from the impetuosity of the wind, which blew a cloud of dust in the faces of the enemy, disordered their ranks, wrested their weapons from their hands, and diverted, or repelled, their ineffectual javelins. This accidental advantage was skilfully improved; the violence of the storm was magnified by the superstitious terrors of the Gauls; and they yielded without shame to the invisible powers of heaven, who seemed to mili­tate on the side of the pious emperor. His vic­tory was decisive; and the deaths of his two rivals were distinguished only by the difference of their characters. The rhetorician Eugenius, who had almost acquired the dominion of the world, was reduced to implore the mercy of the conqueror; and the unrelenting soldiers separated his head from his body, as he lay prostrate at the feet of Theodosius. Arbogastes, after the loss of a bat­tle, in which he had discharged the duties of a soldier and a general, wandered several days among the mountains. But when he was con­vinced, that his cause was desperate, and his escape impracticable, the intrepid Barbarian imi­tated the example of the ancient Romans, and [Page 85] turned his sword against his own breast. The fate of the empire was determined in a narrow corner of Italy; and the legitimate successor of the house of Valentinian embraced the archbishop of Milan, and graciously received the submission of the provinces of the West. Those provinces were involved in the guilt of rebellion; while the inflexible courage of Ambrose alone had resisted the claims of successful usurpation. With a manly freedom, which might have been fatal to any other subject, the archbishop rejected the gifts of Eugenius, declined his correspondence, and withdrew himself from Milan, to avoid the odious presence of a tyrant; whose downfal he predicted in disoreet and ambiguous language. The merit of Ambrose was applauded by the conqueror, who secured the attachment of the people by his alliance with the church: and the clemency of Theodosius is ascribed to the humane intercession of the archbishop of Milan ¹²¹.

After the defeat of Eugenius, the merit, as well as the authority, of Theodosius was cheer­fully Death of Theodo­sius, A. D. 395, Jan. 17. acknowledged by all the inhabitants of the Roman world. The experience of his past con­duct encouraged the most pleasing expectations of his future reign; and the age of the emperor, which did not exceed fifty years, seemed to extend the prospect of the public felicity. His [Page 86] death, only four months after his victory, was considered by the people as an unforeseen and fatal event, which destroyed, in a moment, the hopes of the rising generation. But the in­dulgence of ease and luxury had secretly nourish­ed the principles of disease ¹²². The strength of Theodosius was unable to support the sudden and violent transition from the palace to the camp; and the increasing symptoms of a dropsy an­nounced the speedy dissolution of the emperor. The opinion, and perhaps the interest, of the public had confirmed the division of the Eastern and Western empires; and the two royal youths, Arcadius and Honorius, who had already ob­tained, from the tenderness of their father, the title of Augustus, were destined to fill the thrones of Constantinople and of Rome. Those princes were not permitted to share the danger and glory of the civil war ¹²³; but as soon as Theodosius had triumphed over his unworthy rivals, he called his younger son, Honorius, to enjoy the fruits of the victory, and to receive the sceptre of the West from the hands of his dying father. The arrival of Honorius at Milan was welcomed by a splendid exhibition of the games of the Circus; [Page 87] and the emperor, through he was oppressed by the weight of his disorder, contributed by his pre­sence to the public joy. But the remains of his strength were exhausted by the painful effort, which he made, to assist at the spectacles of the morning. Honorius supplied, during the rest of the day, the place of his father; and the great Theodosius expired in the ensuing night. Not­withstanding the recent animosities of a civil war, his death was universally lamented. The Bar­barians, whom he had vanquished, and the churchmen, by whom he had been subdued, ce­lebrated, with loud and sincere applause, the qualities of the deceased emperor, which ap­peared the most valuable in their eyes. The Ro­mans were terrified by the impending dangers of a feeble and divided administration; and every disgraceful moment of the unfortunate reigns of Arcadius and Honorius revived the memory of their irreparable loss.

In the faithful picture of the virtues of Theo­dosius, Corrup­tion of the times. his imperfections have not been dissem­bled; the act of cruelty, and the habits of in­dolence, which tarnished the glory of one of the greatest of the Roman princes. An historian, perpetually adverse to the fame of Theodosius, has exaggerated his vices, and their pernicious effects; he boldly asserts, that every rank of sub­jects imitated the effeminate manners of their sovereign; that every species of corruption pol­luted the course of public and private life; and that the feeble restraints of order and decency were insufficient to resist the progress of that de­generate [Page 88] spirit, which sacrifices, without a blush the consideration of duty and interest to the base indulgence of sloth and appetite ¹²⁴. The com­plaints of contemporary writers, who deplore the increase of luxury, and depravation of manners, are commonly expressive of their peculiar temper and situation. There are few observers, who possess a clear and comprehensive view of the re­volutions of society; and who are capable of discovering the nice and secret springs of action, which impel, in the same uniform direction, the blind and capricious passions of a multitude of individuals. If it can be affirmed, with any de­gree of truth, that the luxury of the Romans was more shameless and dissolute in the reign of Theo­dosius than in the age of Constantine, perhaps, or of Augustus, the alteration cannot be ascribed to any beneficial improvements, which had gra­dually increased the stock of national riches. A long period of calamity or decay must have checked the industry, and diminished the wealth, of the people; and their profuse luxury must have been the result of that indolent despair, which enjoys the present hour, and declines the thoughts of futurity. The uncertain condition of their property discouraged the subjects of Theodosius from engaging in those useful and laborious undertakings which require an im­mediate expence, and promise a slow and distant advantage. The frequent examples of ruin and desolation tempted them not to spare the remains [Page 89] of a patrimony, which might, every hour, be­come the prey of the rapacious Goth. And the mad prodigality which prevails in the confusion of a shipwreck, or a siege, may serve to explain the progress of luxury amidst the misfortunes and terrors of a sinking nation.

The effeminate luxury, which infected the The in­fantry lay aside their armour. manners of courts and cities, had instilled a secret and destructive poison into the camps of the legions: and their degeneracy has been marked by the pen of a military writer, who had accurate­ly studied the genuine and ancient principles of Roman discipline. It is the just and important observation of Vegetius, that the infantry was invariably covered with defensive armour, from the foundation of the city, to the reign of the emperor Gratian. The relaxation of discipline, and the disuse of exercise, rendered the soldiers less able, and less willing, to support the fatigues of the service; they complained of the weight of the armour, which they seldom wore; and they successively obtained the permission of laying aside both their cuirasses and their helmets. The heavy weapons of their ancestors, the short sword, and the formidable pilum, which had subdued the world, insensibly dropped from their feeble hands. As the use of the shield is incompatible with that of the bow, they reluctantly marched into the field; condemned to suffer, either the pain of wounds, or the ignominy of flight, and always disposed to prefer the more shameful alternative. The cavalry of the Goths, the Huns, and the Alani, had felt the benefits, and adopted the use, [Page 90] of defensive armour; and, as they excelled in the management of missile weapons, they easily overwhelmed the naked and trembling legions, whose heads and breasts were exposed, without defence, to the arrows of the Barbarians. The loss of armies, the destruction of cities, and the dishonour of the Roman name, ineffectually soli­cited the successors of Gratian to restore the hel­mets and cuirasses of the infantry. The enervated soldiers abandoned their own, and the public, defence; and their pusillanimous indolence may be considered as the immediate cause of the down­fal of the empire ¹²⁵.

THE ruin of Paganism, in the age of Theo­dosius, is perhaps the only example of the total extirpation of any ancient and popular su­perstition The de­struction of the Pagan religion. A. D. 378—395.; and may therefore deserve to be con­sidered, as a singular event in the history of the human mind. The Christians, more especially the clergy, had impatiently supported the prudent delays of Constantine, and the equal toleration of the elder Valentinian; nor could they deem their conquest perfect or secure, as long as their adver­saries were permitted to exist. The influence, which Ambrose and his brethren had acquired over the youth of Gratian, and the piety of Theodosius, was employed to infuse the maxims of persecution into the breasts of their Imperial proselytes. Two specious principles of religious jurisprudence were established, from whence they deduced a direct and rigorous conclusion, against the subjects of the empire, who still adhered to the ceremonies of their ancestors: that, the magistrate is, in some measure, guilty of the crimes which he neglects to prohibit, or to punish; and, that the idolatrous worship of fa­bulous deities, and real daemons, is the most abominable crime against the supreme majesty of the Creator. The laws of Moses, and the [Page 92] examples of Jewish history ¹, were hastily, per­haps erroneously, applied, by the clergy, to the mild and universal reign of Christianity ². The zeal of the emperors was excited to vindicate their own honour, and that of the Deity: and the temples of the Roman world were subverted, about sixty years after the conversion of Con­stantine.

From the age of Numa, to the reign of Gra­tian, State of Paganism at Rome. the Romans preserved the regular succes­sion of the several colleges of the sacerdotal order ³. Fifteen PONTIFFS exercised their su­preme jurisdiction over all things, and persons, that were consecrated to the service of the gods; and the various questions which perpetually arose in a loose and traditionary system, were submitted to the judgment of their holy tribunal. Fifteen grave and learned AUGURS observed the face of the heavens, and prescribed the actions of heroes, according to the flight of birds. Fifteen keepers of the Sybilline books (their name of QUIN­DECEMVIRS [Page 93] was derived from their number) oc­casionally consulted the history of future, and, as it should seem, of contingent, events. Six VESTALS devoted their virginity to the guard of the sacred fire, and of the unknown pledges of the duration of Rome; which no mortal had been suffered to behold with impunity ⁴. Seven EPULOS prepared the table of the gods, conducted the solemn procession, and regulated the cere­monies of the annual festival. The three FLA­MENS of Jupiter, of Mars, and of Quirinus, were considered as the peculiar ministers of the three most powerful deities, who watched over the fate of Rome and of the universe. The KING of the SACRIFICES represented the person of Numa, and of his successors, in the religious functions, which could be performed only by royal hands. The confraternities of the SALIANS, the LUPERCALS, &c. practised such rites, as might extort a smile of contempt from every reasonable man, with a lively confidence of re­commending themselves to the favour of the im­mortal gods. The authority, which the Roman priests had formerly obtained in the counsels of the republic, was gradually abolished by the establishment of monarchy, and the removal of [Page 94] the seat of empire. But the dignity of their sacred character was still protected by the laws and manners of their country; and they still con­tinued, more especially the college of pontiffs, to exercise in the capital, and sometimes in the pro­vinces, the rights of their ecclesiastical and civil jurisdiction. Their robes of purple, chariots of state, and sumptuous entertainments, at­tracted the admiration of the people; and they received, from the consecrated lands, and the public revenue, an ample stipend, which liberally supported the splendour of the priesthood, and all the expences of the religious worship of the state. As the service of the altar was not incompatible with the command of armies, the Romans, after their consulships and triumphs, aspired to the place of pontiff, or of augur; the seats of ⁵ Cicero and Pompey were filled, in the fourth century, by the most illustrious members of the senate; and the dignity of their birth reflected additional splen­dour on their sacerdotal character. The fifteen priests, who composed the college of pontiffs, enjoyed a more distinguished rank as the compa­nions of their sovereign; and the Christian em­perors condescended to accept the robe and en­signs, which were appropriated to the office of supreme pontiff. But when Gratian ascended the throne, more scrupulous, or more enlightened, [Page 95] he sternly rejected those prophane symbols ⁶; ap­plied to the service of the state, or of the church, the revenues of the priests and vestals; abolished their honours and immunities; and dissolved the ancient fabric of Roman superstition, which was supported by the opinions, and habits, of eleven hundred years. Paganism was still the constitu­tional religion of the senate. The hall, or temple, in which they assembled, was adorned by the statue and altar of victory ⁷; a majestic female standing on a globe, with flowing gar­ments, expanded wings, and a crown of laurel in her out-stretched hand ⁸. The senators were sworn on the altar of the goddess, to observe the laws of the emperor and of the empire; and a solemn offering of wine and incense was the or­dinary prelude of their public deliberations ⁹. The removal of this ancient monument was the only injury which Constantius had offered to the superstition of the Romans. The altar of Victory was again restored by Julian, tolerated by Valen­tinian, and once more banished from the senate by the zeal of Gratian ¹⁰. But the emperor yet [Page 96] spared the statues of the gods which were exposed to the public veneration: four hundred and twenty-four temples, or chapels, still remained to satisfy the devotion of the people; and in every quarter of Rome, the delicacy of the Christians was offended by the fumes of idolatrous sacri­fice ¹¹.

But the Christians formed the least numerous party in the senate of Rome ¹²; and it was only Petition of the senate for the al­tar of Vic­tory, A. D. 384. by their absence, that they could express their dissent from the legal, though profane, acts of a Pagan majority. In that assembly, the dying embers of freedom were, for a moment, revived and inflamed by the breath of fanaticism. Four respectable deputations were successively voted to the Imperial court ¹³, to represent the grievances of the priesthood and the senate; and to solicit the restoration of the altar of Victory. The conduct of this important business was entrusted to the eloquent Symmachus ¹⁴, a wealthy and [Page 97] noble senator, who united the sacred characters of pontiff and augur, with the civil dignities of proconsul of Africa, and praefect of the city. The breast of Symmachus was animated by the warmest zeal for the cause of expiring Paganism; and his religious antagonists lamented the abuse of his genius, and the inefficacy of his moral virtues ¹⁵. The orator, whose petition is extant to the emperor Valentinian, was conscious of the difficulty and danger of the office which he had assumed. He cautiously avoids every topic which might appear to reflect on the religion of his so­vereign; humbly declares, that prayers and en­treaties are his only arms; and artfully draws his arguments from the schools of rhetoric, rather than from those of philosophy. Symmachus en­deavours to seduce the imagination of a young prince, by displaying the attributes of the goddess of victory; he insinuates, that the confiscation of the revenues, which were consecrated to the ser­vice of the gods, was a measure unworthy of his liberal and disinterested character; and he main­tains, that the Roman sacrifices would be de­prived of their force and energy, if they were no longer celebrated at the expence, as well as in the name, of the republic. Even scep­ticism is made to supply an apology for su­perstition. The great and incomprehensible [Page 98] secret of the universe eludes the enquiry of man. Where reason cannot instruct, custom may be permitted to guide; and every nation seems to consult the dictates of prudence, by a faithful at­tachment to those rites, and opinions, which have received the sanction of ages. If those ages have been crowned with glory and prosperity, if the devout people has frequently obtained the bles­sings which they have solicited at the altars of the gods, it must appear still more advisable to persist in the same salutary practice; and not to risk the unknown perils that may attend any rash innova­tions. The test of antiquity and success was ap­plied with singular advantage to the religion of Numa; and ROME herself, the caelestial genius that presided over the fates of the city, is intro­duced by the orator to plead her own cause before the tribunal of the emperors. ‘"Most excellent princes," says the venerable matron, "fathers of your country! pity and respect my age, which has hitherto flowed in an uninterrupted course of piety. Since I do not repent, permit me to continue in the practice of my ancient rites. Since I am born free, allow me to en­joy my domestic institutions. This religion has reduced the world under my laws. These rites have repelled Hannibal from the city, and the Gauls from the capitol. Were my gray hairs reserved for such intolerable dis­grace? I am ignorant of the new system, that I am required to adopt; but I am well assured, that the correction of old age is always an un­grateful [Page 99] and ignominious office ¹⁶."’ The fears of the people supplied what the discretion of the orator had suppressed; and the calamities, which afflicted, or threatened, the declining empire, were unanimously imputed, by the Pagans, to the new religion of Christ and of Constantine.

But the hopes of Symmachus were repeatedly Conversion of Rome. A. D. 388, &c. baffled by the firm and dexterous opposition of the archbishop of Milan; who fortified the em­perors against the fallacious eloquence of the ad­vocate of Rome. In this controversy, Ambrose condescends to speak the language of a philoso­pher, and to ask, with some contempt, why it should be thought necessary to introduce an ima­ginary and invisible power, as the cause of those victories, which were sufficiently explained by the valour and discipline of the legions. He justly derides the absurd reverence for antiquity, which could only tend to discourage the improvements of art, and to replunge the human race into their original barbarism. From thence gradually rising to a more lofty and theological tone, he pronounces, that Christianity alone is the doctrine of truth and salvation; and that every mode of Polytheism conducts its deluded votaries, through the paths of error, to the abyss of eternal perdi­tion ¹⁷. [Page 100] Arguments like these, when they were suggested by a favourite bishop, had power to prevent the restoration of the altar of Victory; but the same arguments fell, with much more energy and effect, from the mouth of a con­queror; and the gods of antiquity were dragged in triumph at the chariot-wheels of Theodo­sius ¹⁸. In a full meeting of the senate, the em­peror proposed, according to the forms of the republic, the important question, Whether the worship of Jupiter, or that of Christ, should be the religion of the Romans. The liberty of suffrages, which he affected to allow, was de­stroyed by the hopes and fears that his presence inspired; and the arbitrary exile of Symmachus was a recent admonition, that it might be dan­gerous to oppose the wishes of the monarch. On a regular division of the senate, Jupiter was con­demned and degraded by the sense of a very large majority; and it is rather surprising, that any members should be found bold enough to declare, [Page 101] by their speeches and votes, that they were still attached to the interest of an abdicated deity ¹⁹. The hasty conversion of the senate must be at­tributed either to supernatural or to sordid mo­tives; and many of these reluctant proselytes be­trayed, on every favourable occasion, their secret disposition to throw aside the mask of odious dis­simulation. But they were gradually fixed in the new religion, as the cause of the ancient became more hopeless; they yielded to the authority of the emperor, to the fashion of the times, and to the entreaties of their wives and children ²⁰, who who were instigated and governed by the clergy of Rome and the monks of the East. ‘The edi­fying example of the Anician family was soon imitated by the rest of the nobility: the Bassi, the Paullini, the Gracchi, embraced the Christian religion; and "the luminaries of the world, the venerable assembly of Catos (such are the high­flown expressions of Prudentius), were impatient to strip themselves of their pontifical garment; to cast the skin of the old serpent; to assume [Page 102] the snowy robes of baptismal innocence; and to humble the pride of the consular fasces be­fore the tombs of the martyrs ²¹."’ The ci­tizens, who subsisted by their own industry, and the populace, who were supported by the public liberality, filled the churches of the Lateran, and Vatican, with an incessant throng of devout pro­selytes. The decrees of the senate, which pro­scribed the worship of idols, were ratified by the general consent of the Romans ²²: the splendour of the capitol was defaced, and the solitary tem­ples were abandoned to ruin and contempt ²³. Rome submitted to the yoke of the Gospel; and the vanquished provinces had not yet lost their reverence for the name and authority of Rome.

The filial piety of the emperors themselves en­gaged Destruc­tion of the temples in the pro­vinces, A. D. 381. &c. them to proceed, with some caution and tenderness, in the reformation of the eternal city. Those absolute monarchs acted with less regard to the prejudices of the provincials. The pious labour which had been suspended near twenty years since the death of Constantius ²⁴, was vi­gorously [Page 103] resumed, and finally accomplished, by the zeal of Theodosius. Whilst that warlike prince yet struggled with the Goths, not for the glory, but for the safety, of the republic; he ventured to offend a considerable party of his sub­jects, by some acts which might perhaps secure the protection of Heaven, but which must seem rash and unseasonable in the eye of human pru­dence. The success of his first experiments against the Pagans, encouraged the pious em­peror to reiterate and enforce his edicts of pro­scription: the same laws which had been origin­ally published in the provinces of the East, were applied, after the defeat of Maximus, to the whole extent of the Western empire; and every victory of the orthodox Theodosius contributed to the triumph of the Christian and Catholic faith ²⁵. He attacked superstition in her most vital part, by prohibiting the use of sacrifices, which he declared to be criminal, as well as infa­mous: and if the terms of his edicts more strict­ly condemned the impious curiosity which ex­amined the entrails of the victims ²⁶, every sub­sequent explanation tended to involve, in the [Page 104] same guilt, the general practice of immolation, which essentially constituted the religion of the Pagans. As the temples had been erected for the purpose of sacrifice, it was the duty of a bene­volent prince to remove from his subjects the dangerous temptation, of offending against the laws which he had enacted. A special commission was granted to Cynegius, the Praetorian praefect of the East, and afterwards to the counts Jovius and Gaudentius, two officers of distinguished rank in the West; by which they were directed to shut the temples, to seize or destroy the instru­ments of idolatry, to abolish the privileges of the priests, and to confiscate the consecrated property for the benefit of the emperor, of the church, or of the army ²⁷. Here the desolation might have stopped: and the naked edifices, which were no longer employed in the service of idolatry, might have been protected from the destructive rage of fanaticism, Many of those temples were the most splendid and beautiful monuments of Gre­cian architecture: and the emperor himself was interested not to deface the splendour of his own cities, or to diminish the value of his own posses­sions. Those stately edifices might be suffered to remain, as so many lasting trophies of the victory of Christ. In the decline of the arts, they might be usefully converted into magazines, manufactures, [Page 105] or places of public assembly: and perhaps, when the walls of the temple had been sufficiently pu­rified by holy rites, the worship of the true Deity might be allowed to expiate the ancient guilt of idolatry. But as long as they subsisted, the Pagans fondly cherished the secret hope, that an auspicious revolution, a second Julian, might again restore the altars of the gods; and the earnestness with which they addressed their unavailing prayers to the throne ²⁸, increased the zeal of the Christian reformers to extirpate, without mercy, the root of superstition. The laws of the emperors ex­hibit some symptoms of a milder disposition ²⁹: but their cold and languid efforts were insufficient to stem the torrent of enthusiasm and rapine, which was conducted, or rather impelled, by the spiritual rulers of the church. In Gaul, the holy Martin, bishop of Tours ³⁰, marched at the head of his faithful monks to destroy the idols, the temples, and the consecrated trees of his ex­tensive diocese; and, in the execution of this arduous task, the prudent reader will judge whether Martin was supported by the aid of miraculous powers, or of carnal weapons. In [Page 106] Syria, the divine and excellent Marcellus ³¹, as he is stiled by Theodoret, a bishop animated with apostolic fervour, resolved to level with the ground the stately temples within the diocese of Apamea. His attack was resisted, by the skill and solidity, with which the temple of Jupiter had been constructed. The building was seated on an eminence: on each of the four sides, the lofty roof was supported by fifteen massy columns, sixteen feet in circumference; and the large stones of which they were composed, were firmly cemented with lead and iron. The force of the strongest and sharpest tools had been tried without effect. It was found necessary to under­mine the foundations of the columns, which fell down as soon as the temporary wooden props had been consumed with fire; and the difficulties of the enterprise are described under the allegory of a black daemon, who retarded, though he could not defeat, the operations of the Christian en­gineers. Elated with victory, Marcellus took the field in person against the powers of darkness; a numerous troop of soldiers and gladiators marched under the episcopal banner, and he suc­cessively attacked the villages and country tem­ples of the diocese of Apamea. Whenever any resistance or danger was apprehended, the cham­pion of the faith, whose lameness would not allow him either to fight or fly, placed himself at a con­venient distance, beyond the reach of darts. But [Page 107] this prudence was the occasion of his death: he was surprised and slain by a body of exasperated rustics; and the synod of the province pro­nounced, without hesitation, that the holy Mar­cellus had sacrificed his life in the cause of God. In the support of this cause, the monks, who rushed, with tumultuous fury, from the desert, distinguished themselves by their zeal and dili­gence. They deserved the enmity of the Pagans; and some of them might deserve the reproaches of avarice and intemperance; of avarice, which they gratified with holy plunder, and of intem­perance, which they indulged at the expence of the people, who foolishly admired their tattered garments, loud psalmody, and artificial pale­ness ³². A small number of temples was pro­tected by the fears, the venality, the taste, or the prudence, of the civil and ecclesiastical go­vernors. The temple of the celestial Venus at Carthage, whose sacred precincts formed a cir­cumference of two miles, was judiciously con­verted into a Christian church ³³; and a similar consecration has preserved inviolate the majestic dome of the Pantheon at Rome ³⁴. But in al­most every province of the Roman world, an [Page 108] army of fanatics, without authority, and without discipline, invaded the peaceful inhabitants; and the ruin of the fairest structures of antiquity still displays the ravages of those Barbarians, who alone had time and inclination to execute such labori­ous destruction.

In this wide and various prospect of devasta­tion, the spectator may distinguish the ruins of The tem­ple of Se­rapis at Alexan­dria. the temple of Serapis, at Alexandria ³⁵. Serapis does not appear to have been one of the native gods, or monsters, who sprung from the fruitful soil of superstitious Egypt ³⁶. The first of the Ptolemies had been commanded, by a dream, to import the mysterious stranger from the coast of Pontus, where he had been long adored by the inhabitants of Sinope; but his attributes and his reign were so imperfectly understood, that it became a subject of dispute, whether he repre­sented the bright orb of day, or the gloomy monarch of the subterraneous regions ³⁷. The Egyptians, who were obstinately devoted to the religion of their fathers, refused to ad­mit this foreign deity within the walls of their [Page 109] cities ³⁸. But the obsequious priests, who were seduced by the liberality of the Ptolemies, sub­mitted, without resistance, to the power of the god of Pontus: an honourable and domestic ge­nealogy was provided; and this fortunate usurper was introduced into the throne and bed of Osiris ³⁹, the husband of Isis, and the celestial monarch of Egypt. Alexandria, which claimed his peculiar protection, gloried in the name of the city of Serapis. His temple ⁴⁰, which rivalled the pride and magnificence of the capitol, was erected on the spacious summit of an artificial mount, raised one hundred steps above the level of the adjacent parts of the city; and the interior cavity was strongly supported by arches, and distributed into vaults and subterraneous apartments. The con­secrated buildings were surrounded by a quadran­gular portico; the stately halls, and exquisite statues, displayed the triumph of the arts; and the treasures of ancient learning were preserved in the famous Alexandrian library, which had arisen with new splendour from its ashes ⁴¹. After the edicts [Page 110] of Theodosius had severely prohibited the sacri­fices of the Pagans, they were still tolerated in the city and temple of Serapis; and this singular in­dulgence was imprudently ascribed to the super­stitious terrors of the Christians themselves: as if they had feared to abolish those ancient rites, which could alone secure the inundations of the Nile, the harvests of Egypt, and the subsistence of Constantinople ⁴².

At that time ⁴³ the archiepiscopal throne of Its final destruc­tion, A. D. 389. Alexandria was filled by Theophilus ⁴⁴, the per­petual enemy of peace and virtue; a bold, bad man, whose hands were alternately polluted with gold, and with blood. His pious indignation was excited by the honours of Serapis; and the insults which he offered to an ancient chapel of Bacchus, convinced the Pagans that he meditated a more important and dangerous enterprise. In the tumultuous capital of Egypt, the slightest provocation was sufficient to inflame a civil war. The votaries of Serapis, whose strength and num­bers were much inferior to those of their antago­nists, rose in arms at the instigation of the philo­sopher [Page 111] Olympius ⁴⁵, who exhorted them to die in the defence of the altars of the gods. These Pagan fanatics fortified themselves in the temple, or rather fortress, of Serapis; repelled the besiegers by daring sallies, and a resolute defence; and, by the inhuman cruelties which they exercised on their Christian prisoners, obtained the last conso­lation of despair. The efforts of the prudent magistrate were usefully exerted for the establish­ment of a truce, till the answer of Theodosius should determine the fate of Serapis. The two parties assembled, without arms, in the principal square; and the Imperial rescript was publicly read. But when a sentence of destruction against the idols of Alexandria was pronounced, the Christians set up a shout of joy and exultation, whilst the unfortunate Pagans, whose fury had given way to consternation, retired with hasty and silent steps, and eluded, by their flight or obscurity, the resentment of their enemies. The­ophilus proceeded to demolish the temple of Sera­pis, without any other difficulties, than those which he found in the weight and solidity of the materials; but these objects proved so insuperable, that he was obliged to leave the foundations; and to content himself with reducing the edifice itself to a heap of rubbish, a part of which was soon afterwards cleared away, to make room for a church, erected in honour of the Christian [Page 112] martyrs. The valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or destroyed; and, near twenty years afterwards, the appearance of the empty shelves excited the regret and indignation of every specta­tor, whose mind was not totally darkened by re­ligious prejudice ⁴⁶. The compositions of ancient genius, so many of which have irretrievably pe­rished, might surely have been excepted from the wreck of idolatry, for the amusement and instruc­tion of succeeding ages; and either the zeal or the avarice of the archbishop ⁴⁷, might have been satiated with the rich spoils, which were the re­ward of his victory. While the images and vases of gold and silver were carefully melted, and those of a less valuable metal were contemptuously broken, and cast into the streets, Theophilus la­boured to expose the frauds and vices of the mi­nisters of the idols; their dexterity in the ma­nagement of the loadstone; their secret methods of introducing an human actor into a hollow statue; and their scandalous abuse of the confi­dence of devout husbands, and unsuspecting fe­males ⁴⁸. Charges like these may seem to deserve [Page 113] some degree of credit, as they are not repugnant to the crafty and interested spirit of superstition. But the same spirit is equally prone to the base practice of insulting and calumniating a fallen enemy; and our belief is naturally checked by the reflection, that it is much less difficult to in­vent a fictitious story, than to support a practical fraud. The colossal statue of Serapis ⁴⁹ was in­volved in the ruin of his temple and religion. A great number of plates of different metals, artifi­cially joined together, composed the majestic figure of the Deity, who touched on either side the walls of the sanctuary. The aspect of Sera­pis, his sitting posture, and the sceptre, which he bore in his left hand, were extremely similar to the ordinary representations of Jupiter. He was distinguished from Jupiter by the basket, or bushel, which was placed on his head: and by the emblematic monster, which he hold in his right hand: the head and body of a serpent branching into three tails, which were again ter­minated by the triple heads of a dog, a lion, and a wolf. It was confidently affirmed, that if any impious hand should dare to violate the majesty of the god, the heavens and the earth would instantly [Page 114] return to their original chaos. An intrepid sol­dier, animated by zeal, and armed with a weighty battle-axe, ascended the ladder; and even the Christian multitude expected, with some anxiety, the event of the combat ⁵⁰. He aimed a vigorous stroke against the cheek of Serapis; the cheek fell to the ground; the thunder was still silent, and both the heavens and the earth continued to preserve their accustomed order and tranquillity. The victorious soldier repeated his blows: the huge idol was overthrown, and broken in pieces; and the limbs of Serapis were ignominiously drag­ged through the streets of Alexandria. His mangled carcase was burnt in the Amphitheatre, amidst the shouts of the populace; and many persons attributed their conversion to this dis­covery of the impotence of their tutelar deity. The popular modes of religion, that propose any visible and material objects of worship, have the advantage of adapting and familiarising them­selves to the senses of mankind: but this advan­tage is counterbalanced by the various and ine­vitable accidents to which the faith of the idolater is exposed. It is scarcely possible, that, in every disposition of mind, he should preserve his im­plicit [Page 115] reverence for the idols, or the relics, which the naked eye, and the profane hand, are unable to distinguish from the most common productions of art, or nature; and if, in the hour of danger, their secret and miraculous virtue does not ope­rate for their own preservation, he scorns the vain apologies of his priests, and justly derides the object, and the folly, of his superstitious attach­ment ⁵¹. After the fall of Serapis, some hopes were still entertained by the Pagans, that the Nile would refuse his annual supply to the im­pious masters of Egypt; and the extraordinary delay of the inundation seemed to announce the displeasure of the river-god. But this delay was soon compensated by the rapid swell of the waters. They suddenly rose to such an unusual height, as to comfort the discontented party with the pleas­ing expectation of a deluge; till the peaceful river again subsided to the well-known and fer­tilising level of sixteen cubits, or about thirty English feet ⁵².

The temples of the Roman empire were de­serted, The Pagan religion is prohibited, A. D. 390. or destroyed; but the ingenious super­stition of the Pagans still attempted to elude the laws of Theodosius, by which all sacrifices had [Page 116] been severely prohibited. The inhabitants of the country, whose conduct was less exposed to the eye of malicious curiosity, disguised their religious, under the appearance of convivial, meetings. On the days of solemn festivals, they assembled in great numbers under the spreading shade of some consecrated trees; sheep and oxen were slaughter­ed and roasted; and this rural entertainment was sanctified by the use of incense, and by the hymns, which were sung in honour of the gods. But it was alleged, that, as no part of the animal was made a burnt-offering, as no altar was provided to receive the blood, and as the previous oblation of salt cakes, and the concluding ceremony of libations, were carefully omitted, these festal meetings did not involve the guests in the guilt, or penalty, of an illegal sacrifice ⁵³. Whatever might be the truth of the facts, or the merit of the distinction ⁵⁴, these vain pretences were swept away by the last edict of Theodosius; which in­flicted a deadly wound on the superstition of the Pagans ⁵⁵. This prohibitory law is expressed in [Page 117] the most absolute and comprehensive terms. ‘"It is our will and pleasure," says the emperor, "that none of our subjects, whether magistrates or private citizens, however exalted or how­ever humble may be their rank and condition, shall presume, in any city, or in any place, to worship an inanimate idol, by the sacrifice of a guiltless victim."’ The act of sacrificing, and the practice of divination by the entrails of the victim, are declared (without any regard to the object of the enquiry) a crime of high-treason against the state; which can be expiated only by the death of the guilty. The rites of Pagan superstition, which might seem less bloody and atrocious, are abolished, as highly injurious to the truth and honour of religion, luminaries, gar­lands, frankincense, and libations of wine, are specially enumerated and condemned; and the harmless claims of the domestic genius, of the household gods, are included in this rigorous pro­scription. The use of any of these profane and illegal ceremonies, subjects the offender to the forfeiture of the house, or estate, where they have been performed; and if he has artfully chosen the property of another for the scene of his impiety, he is compelled to discharge, with­out delay, a heavy fine of twenty-five pounds of gold, or more than one thousand pounds sterling. A fine, not less considerable, is imposed on the connivance of the secret enemies of religion, who shall neglect the duty of their respective stations, either to reveal, or to punish, the guilt of idolatry. Such was the persecuting spirit of the laws of [Page 118] Theodosius, which were repeatedly enforced by his sons and grandsons, with the loud and unani­mous applause of the Christian world ⁵⁶.

In the cruel reigns of Decius and Diocletian, oppressed, Christianity had been proscribed, as a revolt from the ancient and hereditary religion of the empire; and the unjust suspicions which were entertained of a dark and dangerous faction, were, in some measure, countenanced by the inseparable union, and rapid conquests, of the Catholic church. But the same excuses of fear and ignorance cannot be applied to the Christian emperors, who violated the precepts of humanity and of the gospel. The experience of ages had betrayed the weakness, as well as folly, of Paganism; the light of reason and of faith had already exposed, to the greatest part of mankind, the vanity of idols; and the declining sect, which still adhered to their wor­ship, might have been permitted to enjoy, in peace and obscurity, the religious customs of their an­cestors. Had the Pagans been animated by the undaunted zeal, which possessed the minds of the primitive believers, the triumph of the church must have been stained with blood; and the martyrs of Jupiter and Apollo might have em­braced the glorious opportunity of devoting their [Page 119] lives and fortunes at the foot of their altars. But such obstinate zeal was not congenial to the loose and careless temper of polytheism. The violent and repeated strokes of the orthodox princes, were broken by the soft and yielding substance against which they were directed; and the ready obedience of the Pagans protected them from the pains and penalties of the Theodosian Code ⁵⁷. Instead of asserting, that the authority of the gods was superior to that of the emperor, they desisted, with a plaintive murmur, from the use of those sacred rites which their sovereign had condemned. If they were sometimes tempted, by a sally of passion, or by the hopes of concealment, to in­dulge their favourite superstition; their humble repentance disarmed the severity of the Christian magistrate, and they seldom refused to atone for their rashness, by submitting, with some secret reluctance, to the yoke of the Gospel. The churches were filled with the increasing multitude of these unworthy proselytes, who had conformed, from temporal motives, to the reigning religion; and whilst they devoutly imitated the postures, and recited the prayers, of the faithful, they sa­tisfied their conscience by the silent and sincere invocation of the gods of antiquity ⁵⁸. If the Pagans wanted patience to suffer, they wanted [Page 120] spirit to resist; and the scattered myriads, who deplored the ruin of the temples, yielded, with­out a contest, to the fortune of their adversaries. The disorderly opposition ⁵⁹ of the peasants of Syria, and the populace of Alexandria, to the rage of private fanaticism, was silenced by the name and authority of the emperor. The Pagans of the West, without contributing to the eleva­tion of Eugenius, disgraced, by their partial at­tachment, the cause and character of the usurper. The clergy vehemently exclaimed, that he ag­gravated the crime of rebellion by the guilt of apostacy; that, by his permission, the altar of Victory was again restored; and that the idola­trous symbols of Jupiter and Hercules were dis­played in the field, against the invincible standard of the cross. But the vain hopes of the Pagans were soon annihilated by the defeat of Eugenius; and they were left exposed to the resentment of the conqueror, who laboured to deserve the fa­vour of heaven by the extirpation of idolatry ⁶⁰.

A nation of slaves is always prepared to applaud and finally extin­guished, A. D. 390-420, [...]. the clemency of their master, who, in the abuse of absolute power, does not proceed to the last ex­tremes of injustice and oppression. Theodosius might undoubtedly have proposed to his Pagan subjects the alternative of baptism or of death; [Page 121] and the eloquent Libanius has praised the mo­deration of a prince, who never enacted, by any positive law, that all his subjects should imme­diately embrace and practise the religion of their sovereign ⁶¹. The profession of Christianity was not made an essential qualification for the enjoy­ment of the civil rights of society, nor were any peculiar hardships imposed on the sectaries, who credulously received the fables of Ovid, and ob­stinately rejected the miracles of the Gospel. The palace, the schools, the army, and the senate, were filled with declared and devout Pagans; they obtained, without distinction, the civil and mili­tary honours of the empire. Theodosius distin­guished his liberal regard for virtue and genius, by the consular dignity, which he bestowed on Sym­machus ⁶²; and by the personal friendship which he expressed to Libanius ⁶³; and the two eloquent apologists of Paganism were never required either to change, or to dissemble, their religious opi­nions. The Pagans were indulged in the most licentious freedom of speech and writing; the [Page 122] historical and philosophic remains of Eunapius, Zosimus ⁶⁴, and the fanatic teachers of the school of Plato, betray the most furious animosity, and contain the sharpest invectives against the senti­ments and conduct of their victorious adversaries. If these audacious libels were publicly known, we must applaud the good sense of the Christian princes, who viewed, with a smile of contempt, the last struggles of superstition and despair ⁶⁵. But the Imperial laws, which prohibited the sa­crifices and ceremonies of Paganism, were rigidly executed; and every hour contributed to destroy the influence of a religion, which was supported by custom, rather than by argument. The de­votion of the poet, or the philosopher, may be secretly nourished by prayer, meditation, and study; but the exercise of public worship appears to be the only solid foundation of the religious sentiments of the people, which derive their force from imitation and habit. The interruption of that public exercise may consummate, in the pe­riod of a few years, the important work of a na­tional revolution. The memory of theological opinions cannot long be preserved, without the artificial helps of priests, of temples, and of [Page 123] books ⁶⁶. The ignorant vulgar, whose minds are still agitated by the blind hopes and terrors of superstition, will be soon persuaded by their su­periors, to direct their vows to the reigning deities of the age; and will insensibly imbibe an ardent zeal for the support and propagation of the new doctrine, which spiritual hunger at first compelled them to accept. The generation that arose in the world after the promulgation of the Imperial laws, was attracted within the pale of the Catholic church: and so rapid, yet so gentle, was the fall of Paganism, that only twenty-eight years after the death of Theodosius, the faint and minute vestiges were no longer visible to the eye of the legislator ⁶⁷.

The ruin of the Pagan religion is described by The wor­ship of the Christian martyrs. the sophists, as a dreadful and amazing prodigy, which covered the earth with darkness, and re­stored the ancient dominion of chaos and of night. They relate, in solemn and pathetic strains, that the temples were converted into sepulchres, and that the holy places, which had been adorned by the statues of the gods, were basely polluted by the relics of Christian martyrs. ‘"The monks" (a race of filthy animals, to whom Eunapius is [Page 124] tempted to refuse the name of men) "are the authors of the new worship, which, in the place of those deities, who are conceived by the un­derstanding, has substituted the meanest and most contemptible slaves. The heads, salted and pickled, of those infamous malefactors, who for the multitude of their crimes have suffered a just and ignominious death; their bodies, still marked by the impression of the lash, and the scars of those tortures which were inflicted by the sentence of the magistrate; such"’ (continues Eunapius) ‘"are the gods which the earth produces in our days; such are the martyrs, the supreme arbitrators of our prayers and petitions to the Deity, whose tombs are now consecrated as the objects of the vene­ration of the people ⁶⁸."’ Without approving the malice, it is natural enough to share the sur­prise, of the Sophist, the spectator of a revolution, which raised those obscure victims of the laws of Rome, to the rank of celestial and invisible pro­tectors of the Roman empire. The grateful re­spect of the Christians for the martyrs of the faith, was exalted, by time and victory, into religious adoration; and the most illustrious of the saints and prophets were deservedly associated to the ho­nours of the martyrs. One hundred and fifty years after the glorious deaths of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Vatican and the Ostian road were distinguished by the tombs, or rather by the trophies, of those [Page 125] spiritual heroes ⁶⁹. In the age which followed the conversion of Constantine, the emperors, the con­suls, and the generals of armies, devoutly visited the sepulchres of a tent-maker and a fisherman ⁷⁰; and their venerable bones were deposited under the altars of Christ, on which the bishops of the royal city continually offered the unbloody sacri­fice ⁷¹. The new capital of the eastern world, unable to produce any ancient and domestic trophies, was enriched by the spoils of dependent provinces. The bodies of St. Andrew, St. Luke, and St. Timothy, had reposed, near three hun­dred years, in the obscure graves, from whence they were transported, in solemn pomp, to the church of the Apostles, which the magnificence of Constantine had founded on the banks of the Thracian Bosphorus ⁷². About fifty years after­wards, the same banks were honoured by the pre­sence of Samuel, the judge and prophet of the [Page 126] people of Israel. His ashes, deposited in a golden vase, and covered with a silken veil, were delivered by the bishops into each others hands. The relics of Samuel were received by the people, with the same joy and reverence which they would have shewn to the living prophet; the highways, from Palestine to the gates of Constantinople, were filled with an uninterrupted procession; and the emperor Arcadius himself, at the head of the most illustrious members of the clergy and senate, advanced to meet his extraordinary guest, who had always deserved and claimed the homage of kings ⁷³. The example of Rome and Constan­tinople confirmed the faith and discipline of the Catholic world. The honours of the saints and martyrs, after a feeble and ineffectual murmur of profane reason ⁷⁴, were universally established; and in the age of Ambrose and Jerom, something was still deemed wanting to the sanctity of a Christian church, till it had been consecrated by some portion of holy relics, which fixed and in­flamed the devotion of the faithful.

In the long period of twelve hundred years, General reflections. which elapsed between the reign of Constantine and the reformation of Luther, the worship of [Page 127] saints and relics corrupted the pure and perfect simplicity of the Christian model; and some symptoms of degeneracy may be observed even in the first generations which adopted and cherished this pernicious innovation.

I. The satisfactory experience, that the relics I. Fabu­lous mar­tyrs and relics. of saints were more valuable than gold or precious stones ⁷⁵, stimulated the clergy to multiply the treasures of the church. Without much regard for truth or probability, they invented names for skeletons, and actions for names. The fame of the apostles, and of the holy men who had imi­tated their virtues, was darkened by religious fiction. To the invincible band of genuine and primitive martyrs, they added myriads of ima­ginary heroes, who had never existed, except in the fancy of crafty or credulous legendaries; and there is reason to suspect, that Tours might not be the only diocese in which the bones of a male­factor were adored, instead of those of a saint ⁷⁶. A superstitious practice, which tended to increase the temptations of fraud, and credulity, insensibly extinguished the light of history, and of reason, in the Christian world.

II. But the progress of superstition would have II. Mi­racles. been much less rapid and victorious, if the faith [Page 128] of the people had not been assisted by the season­able aid of visions and miracles, to ascertain the authenticity and virtue of the most suspicious relics. In the reign of the younger Theodosius, Lucian ⁷⁷, a presbyter of Jerusalem, and the ec­clesiastical minister of the village of Capharga­mala, about twenty miles from the city, related a very singular dream, which, to remove his doubts, had been repeated on three successive Saturdays. A venerable figure stood before him, in the silence of the night, with a long beard, a white robe, and a gold rod; announced himself by the name of Gamaliel, and revealed to the astonished presbyter, that his own corpse, with the bodies of his son Abibas, his friend Nicodemus, and the illustrious Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian faith, were secretly buried in the ad­jacent field. He added, with some impatience, that it was time to release himself, and his com­panions, from their obscure prison; that their ap­pearance would be salutary to a distressed world; and that they had made choice of Lucian to inform the bishop of Jerusalem of their situation, and their wishes. The doubts and difficulties which still retarded this important discovery, were suc­cessively removed by new visions: and the ground [Page 129] was opened by the bishop, in the presence of an innumerable multitude. The coffins of Gamaliel, of his son, and of his friend, were found in regular order; but when the fourth coffin, which con­tained the remains of Stephen, was shewn to the light, the earth trembled, and an odour, such as that of paradise, was smelt, which instantly cured the various diseases of seventy-three of the assist­ants. The companions of Stephen were left in their peaceful residence of Caphargamala: but the relics of the first martyr were transported, in so­lemn procession, to a church constructed in their honour on Mount Sion; and the minute particles of those relics, a drop of blood ⁷⁸, or the scrapings of a bone, were acknowledged, in almost every province of the Roman world, to possess a divine and miraculous virtue. The grave and learned Augustin ⁷⁹, whose understanding scarcely admits the excuse of credulity, has attested the innume­rable prodigies which were performed in Africa, by the relics of St. Stephen; and this marvellous narrative is inserted in the elaborate work of the City of God, which the bishop of Hippo designed as a solid and immortal proof of the truth of Christianity. Augustin solemnly declares, that [Page 130] he has selected those miracles only which were publicly certified by the persons who were either the objects, or the spectators, of the power of the martyr. Many prodigies were omitted, or for­gotten; and Hippo had been less favourably treated than the other cities of the province. And yet the bishop enumerates above seventy miracles, of which three were resurrections from the dead, in the space of two years, and within the limits of his own diocese ⁸⁰. If we enlarge our view to all the dioceses, and all the saints, of the Christian world, it will not be easy to calculate the fables, and the errors, which issued from this inexhaustible source. But we may surely be al­lowed to observe, that a miracle, in that age of superstition and credulity, lost its name and its merit, since it could scarcely be considered as a deviation from the ordinary, and established, laws of nature.

III. The innumerable miracles, of which the tombs of the martyrs were the perpetual theatre, III. Re­vival of Poly­theism. revealed to the pious believer the actual state and constitution of the invisible world; and his re­ligious speculations appeared to be founded on the firm basis of fact and experience. Whatever might be the condition of vulgar souls, in the long interval between the dissolution and the re­surrection of their bodies, it was evident that the [Page 131] superior spirits of the saints and martyrs did not consume that portion of their existence in silent and inglorious sleep ⁸¹. It was evident (without presuming to determine the place of their habita­tion, or the nature of their felicity) that they en­joyed the lively and active consciousness of their happiness, their virtue, and their powers; and that they had already secured the possession of their eternal reward. The enlargement of their intellectual faculties surpassed the measure of the human imagination; since it was proved by ex­perience, that they were capable of hearing and understanding the various petitions of their nu­merous votaries; who, in the same moment of time, but in the most distant parts of the world, invoked the name and assistance of Stephen or of Martin ⁸². The confidence of their petitioners was founded on the persuasion, that the saints, who reigned with Christ, cast an eye of pity upon earth; that they were warmly interested in the prosperity of the Catholic church; and that the individuals, who imitated the example of their [Page 132] faith and piety, were the peculiar and favourite objects of their most tender regard. Sometimes, indeed, their friendship might be influenced by considerations of a less exalted kind: they viewed, with partial affection, the places which had been consecrated by their birth, their residence, their death, their burial, or the possession of their re­lics. The meaner passions of pride, avarice, and revenge, may be deemed unworthy of a ce­lestial breast; yet the saints themselves conde­scended to testify their grateful approbation of the liberality of their votaries: and the sharpest bolts of punishment were hurled against those impious wretches, who violated their magnificent shrines, or disbelieved their supernatural power ⁸³. Atro­cious, indeed, must have been the guilt, and strange would have been the scepticism, of those men, if they had obstinately resisted the proofs of a divine agency, which the elements, the whole range of the animal creation, and even the subtle and invisible operations of the human mind, were compelled to obey ⁸⁴. The immediate, and almost instantaneous, effects, that were supposed to follow the prayer, or the offence, satisfied the Christians, of the ample measure of favour and authority, which the saints enjoyed in the presence of the Supreme God; and it seemed almost superfluous [Page 133] to enquire, whether they were continually obliged to intercede before the throne of grace; or whether they might not be permitted to exercise, accord­ing to the dictates of their benevolence and jus­tice, the delegated powers of their subordinate ministry. The imagination, which had been raised by a painful effort to the contemplation and worship of the Universal Cause, eagerly embraced such inferior objects of adoration, as were more proportioned to its gross conceptions and imper­fect faculties. The sublime and simple theology of the primitive Christians was gradually cor­rupted; and the MONARCHY of heaven, already clouded by metaphysical subtleties, was degraded by the introduction of a popular mythology, which tended to restore the reign of polytheism ⁸⁵.

IV. As the objects of religion were gradually IV. Intro­duction of Pagan ce­remonies. reduced to the standard of the imagination, the rites and ceremonies were introduced that seemed most powerfully to affect the senses of the vulgar. If, in the beginning of the fifth century ⁸⁶, Ter­tullian, or Lactantius ⁸⁷, had been suddenly raised from the dead, to assist at the festival of some [Page 134] popular saint, or martyr ⁸⁸; they would have gazed with astonishment, and indignation, on the profane spectacle, which had succeeded to the pure and spiritual worship of a Christian congre­gation. As soon as the doors of the church were thrown open, they must have been offended by the smoke of incense, the perfume of flowers, and the glare of lamps and tapers, which diffused, at noon-day, a gawdy, superfluous, and, in their opinion, a sacrilegious light. If they approached the balustrade of the altar, they made their way through the prostrate crowd, consisting, for the most part, of strangers and pilgrims, who resorted to the city on the vigil of the seast; and who al­ready felt the strong intoxication of fanaticism, and, perhaps, of wine. Their devout kisses were imprinted on the walls and pavement of the sacred edifice; and their fervent prayers were directed, whatever might be the language of their church, to the bones, the blood, or the ashes of the saint, which were usually concealed, by a linen or silken veil, from the eyes of the vulgar. The Christians frequented the tombs of the martyrs, in the hope of obtaining, from their powerful intercession, every sort of spiritual, but more especially of tem­poral, blessings. They implored the preservation of their health, or the cure of their infirmities; [Page 135] the fruitfulness of their barren wives, or the safety and happiness of their children. Whenever they undertook any distant or dangerous journey, they requested, that the holy martyrs would be their guides and protectors on the road; and if they returned, without having experienced any mis­fortune, they again hastened to the tombs of the martyrs, to celebrate, with grateful thanksgivings, their obligations to the memory and relics of those heavenly patrons. The walls were hung round with symbols of the favours, which they had re­ceived; eyes, and hands, and feet, of gold and silver: and edifying pictures, which could not long escape the abuse of indiscreet or idolatrous devotion, represented the image, the attributes, and the miracles of the tutelar saint. The same uniform original spirit of superstition might sug­gest, in the most distant ages and countries, the same methods of deceiving the credulity, and of affecting the senses, of mankind ⁸⁹: but it must in­genuously be confessed, that the ministers of the Catholic church imitated the profane model, which they were impatient to destroy. The most re­spectable bishops had persuaded themselves, that the ignorant rustics would more cheerfully re­nounce the superstitions of Paganism, if they found some resemblance, some compensation, in [Page 136] the bosom of Christianity. The religion of Con­stantine atchieved, in less than a century, the final conquest of the Roman empire: but the victors themselves were insensibly subdued by the arts of their vanquished rivals ⁹⁰.

THE genius of Rome expired with Theo­dosius; the last of the successors of Au­gustus and Constantine, who appeared in the field Division of the empire between Arcadius and Hono­rius, A. D. 395. Jan. 17. 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. Ar­cadius, 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 [Page 138] 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 pro­vinces 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 em­pire. The hereditary sceptre of the sons of Theo­dosius 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 in­fants; and the army and people were not admo­nished 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 sub­jects of Rome, who still reverenced the persons, or rather the names, of their sovereigns, beheld, with equal abhorrence, the rebels who opposed, [Page 139] and the ministers who abused, the authority of the throne.

Theodosius had tarnished the glory of his reign Character and admi­nistration of Rufi­nus, A. D. 386—395. 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 had urged Rufinus to abandon his native country, an obscure corner of Gaul ², to advance his fortune in the capital of the East: the talent of bold and ready elocution ³ qualified him to succeed in the lucrative profession of the law; and his success in that profession was a re­gular 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 essen­tially connected with the whole system of civil go­vernment, he acquired the confidence of a mo­narch, who soon discovered his diligence and capacity in business, and who long remained ig­norant of the pride, the malice, and the covetous­ness of his disposition. These vices were concealed beneath the mask of profound dissimulation ⁴; [Page 140] his passions were subservient only to the passions of his master: yet, in the horrid massacre of Thes­salonica, 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 for­feited, in his opinion, the merit of all public ser­vices. Promotus, the master-general of the in­fantry, 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 pro­voked to chastise with a blow the indecent pride of the favourite. This act of violence was repre­sented to the emperor as an insult, which it was incumbent on his dignity to resent. The dis­grace 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. 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 im­portant posts of praefect of the East, and of praefect of Constantinople, were filled by Tatian ⁶, and [Page 141] his son Proculus; whose united authority ba­lanced, for some time, the ambition and favour of the master of the offices. The two praefects were accused of rapine and corruption in the ad­ministration 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 in­justice; but the right of pronouncing sentence was reserved to the president alone, and that pre­sident was Rufinus himself. The father, stripped of the praefecture of the East, was thrown into a dungeon; but the son, conscious that few mini­sters 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 em­ploy 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 con­fidence was fortified by the solemn assurances, and perfidious oaths, of the president, who presumed to interpose the sacred name of Theodosius him­self; 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 Constan­tinople, with a precipitation which disappointed [Page 142] the clemency of the emperor. Without respect­ing 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. 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; stig­matised a guiltless people with a mark of igno­miny; and declared, that the countrymen of Tatian and Proculus should for ever remain in­capable of holding any employment of honour or advantage, under the Imperial government ⁸. [Page 143] 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 Chal­cedon, surnamed the Oak, he had built a magni­ficent 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 him­self as the sponsor of a proud and ambitious statesman ⁹.

The character of Theodosius imposed on his He op­presses the East, A. D. 395. 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 ex­erting the abilities, and the virtue, which had [Page 144] raised him to the throne ¹⁰. But the absence, and, soon afterwards, the death, of the emperor, con­firmed 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 with­out remorse, and without resistance; and his ma­lignant and rapacious spirit rejected every passion that might have contributed to his own glory, or the happiness of the people. His avarice ¹¹, 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, scan­dalous bribery, immoderate fines, unjust confis­cation, 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 in­stituted in the palace of Constantinople. The [Page 145] ambitious candidate eagerly solicited, at the ex­pence of the fairest part of his patrimony, the ho­nours and emoluments of some provincial go­vernment: the lives and fortunes of the unhappy people were abandoned to the most liberal pur­chaser; and the public discontent was sometimes appeased by the sacrifice of an unpopular criminal, whose punishment was profitable only to the prae­fect 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 ima­gined, 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 em­peror; yet he neglected to conciliate the hearts of the soldiers and people, by the liberal distri­bution 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 de­pendents served him without attachment; the universal hatred of mankind was repressed only by the influence of servile fear. The fate of [Page 146] 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 re­fuse 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. Not­withstanding the clearest evidence of his integrity, which was not impeached even by the voice of an accuser, Lucian was condemned, almost with­out a trial, to suffer a cruel and ignominious pu­nishment. The ministers of the tyrant, by the order, and in the presence, of their master, beat [Page 147] 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 dili­gence was accelerated, by the hope of accomplish­ing, without delay, the nuptials of his daughter with the emperor of the East ¹².

But Rufinus soon experienced, that a prudent He is dis­appointed, by the marriage of Arca­dius, A. D. 395. April 27. minister should constantly secure his royal captive by the strong, though invisible, chain of habit; and that the merit, and much more easily the fa­vour, 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 Eu­tropius, 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, [Page 148] a general of the Franks in the service of Rome; and who was educated, since the death of her fa­ther, 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, eagerly listened to the artful and flattering descrip­tions of the charms of Eudoxia: he gazed with impatient ardour on her picture, and he under­stood the necessity of concealing his amorous de­signs 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 in­estimable 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 re­spectfully entered the mansion, invested the fair Eudoxia with the Imperial robes, and conducted her in triumph to the palace and bed of Arca­dius ¹⁵. The secresy, and success, with which [Page 149] this conspiracy against Rufinus had been con­ducted, imprinted a mark of indelible ridicule on the character of a minister, who had suffered him­self to be deceived, in a post where the arts of deceit and dissimulation constitute the most di­stinguished merit. He considered, with a mix­ture 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 con­nected 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 retire­ment of a private life. But he still possessed the most effectual means of defending his dignity, and perhaps of oppressing his enemies. The prae­fect still exercised an uncontrouled authority over the civil and military government of the East: [Page 150] 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 in­vited the Huns, and the Goths, to invade the pro­vinces 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 eu­nuch 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.

The celestial gift, which Achilles obtained, and Character of Stilicho, the mini­ster, and general, of the West­ern em­pire. Alexander envied, of a poet worthy to celebrate the actions of heroes, has been enjoyed by Stili­cho, in a much higher degree than might have been expected from the declining state of genius, and of art. The muse of Claudian ¹⁷, devoted to his service, was always prepared to stigmatise his adversaries, Rufinus, or Eutropius, with eternal infamy; or to paint, in the most splendid co­lours, the victories, and virtues, of a powerful be­nefactor. In the review of a period indifferently [Page 151] supplied with authentic materials, we cannot re­fuse 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 pro­genitors; 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 per­fidious race of the Vandals ¹⁸. If Stilicho had not possessed the external advantages of strength and stature, the most flattering bard, in the pre­sence of so many thousand spectators, would have hesitated to affirm, that he surpassed the measure of the demi-gods of antiquity; and, that when­ever 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 distin­guished in the field; the horsemen and archers of the East admired his superior dexterity; and [Page 152] 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 honour­able alliance with the Imperial family. Theodo­sius 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 were univer­sally admired by the obsequious court; and Sti­licho obtained the preference over a crowd of rivals, who ambitiously disputed the hand of the princess, and the favour of her adoptive father ²⁰. 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 saga­cious 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 His mili­tary com­mand. [Page 153] the Roman, or at least of the Western, empire ²¹; and his enemies confessed, that he invariably dis­dained to barter for gold the rewards of merit, or A. D. 385—408. to defraud the soldiers of the pay and gratifica­tions, which they deserved, or claimed, from the liberality of the state ²². The valour and con­duct which he afterwards displayed, in the de­fence of Italy, against the arms of Alaric and Ra­dagaisus, may justify the fame of his early at­chievements: 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 as­cendant of superior genius ²³. 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 [Page 154] 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. Theodosius con­tinued to support an unworthy minister, to whose diligence he delegated the government of the pa­lace, 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. 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. 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 [Page 155] the Rhine, from the fortress of Basil, to the marches of Batavia; reviewed the state of the garrisons; repressed the enterprises of the Ger­mans; and, after establishing along the banks a firm and honourable peace, returned with incre­dible speed to the palace of Milan ²⁷. The per­son 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 The fall and death of Rufinus, A. D. 395. Nov. 27th. common guardian of the royal brothers, engaged him to regulate the equal division of the arms, the jewels, and the magnificent wardrobe and fur­niture of the deceased emperor ²⁸. 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 Theo­dosius. The various multitudes of Europe and [Page 156] 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. 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. 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 in­terposed 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 re­ceived a peremptory message, to recal the troops of the East, and to declare, that his nearer ap­proach would be considered, by the Byzantine [Page 157] court, as an act of hostility. The prompt and unexpected obedience of the general of the West, convinced the vulgar of his loyalty and modera­tion; and, as he had already engaged the affec­tion 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. Sti­licho left the command of the troops of the East to Gainas, the Goth, on whose fidelity he firmly re­lied; with an assurance, at least, that the hardy Barbarian would never be diverted from his pur­pose by any consideration of fear or remorse. The soldiers were easily persuaded to punish the ene­my 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 con­descended to flatter his pride; the ambitious prae­fect was seduced to believe, that those powerful auxiliaries might be tempted to place the diadem on his head; and the treasures which he distribut­ed, with a tardy and reluctant hand, were accept­ed 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 pa­lace of Hebdomon, the troops halted: and the emperor, as well as his minister, advanced, ac­cording to ancient custom, respectfully to salute the power which supported their throne. As Rufinus passed along the ranks, and disguised, [Page 158] 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. 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 re­ligion. Her sanctuary protected them from the raging madness of the people; and they were [Page 159] permitted to spend the remainder of their lives in the exercises of Christian devotion, in the peaceful retirement of Jerusalem ³².

The servile poet of Stilicho applauds, with fe­rocious Discord of the two empires, A. D. 396, &c. joy, this horrid deed, which, in the exe­cution, 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 uni­versal 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. Such an act might vindicate the honour of Providence; but it did not much con­tribute 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 [Page 160] been injured by his rapacious tyranny ³⁴. 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 be­nefactor; 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 Con­stantinople, [Page 161] to declare him an enemy of the re­public, 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 recipro­cal aid, of all the nations to whom it had been gradually communicated, the subjects of Arca­dius and Honorius were instructed, by their re­spective 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. The natives of Italy affected to despise the servile and effe­minate Greeks of Byzantium, who presumed to imitate the dress, and to usurp the dignity, of Roman senators ³⁶; and the Greeks had not yet forgot the sentiments of hatred and contempt, which their polished ancestors had so long enter­tained for the rude inhabitants of the West. The distinction of two governments, which soon pro­duced the separation of two nations, will justify my design of suspending the series of the Byzan­tine history, to prosecute, without interruption, [Page 162] the disgraceful, but memorable, reign of Hono­rius.

The prudent Stilicho, instead of persisting to Revolt of Gildo in Africa, A. D. 386—398. force the inclinations of a prince, and people, who rejected his government, wisely abandoned Arcadius to his unworthy favourites; and his re­luctance 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 em­peror, to the capricious insolence of a Moorish rebel. Gildo ³⁷, 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 mis­chievous expedient, of supporting a legal go­vernment 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 [Page 163] 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; 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 prosti­tuted to the embraces of the tyrant; and after­wards abandoned to a ferocious troop of Barba­rians 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 [Page 164] for the conqueror, the vain professions of his alle­giance. Such professions would not have satis­fied the master of the Roman world: but the death of Theodosius, and the weakness and dis­cord of his sons, confirmed the power of the Moor; who condescended, as a proof of his mo­deration, 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 in­variably 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 em­braced 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 sup­porting, either by reason, or by arms ³⁹.

When Stilicho had given a firm and decisive answer to the pretensions of the Byzantine court, He is con­demned by the Roman senate, A. D. 397. 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 [Page 165] the provincials, and the crimes of Gildo, to the Roman senate; and the members of that vene­rable 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. A people, who still remembered, that their ancestors had been the masters of the world, would have ap­plauded, 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 exporta­tion of corn, the tranquillity, and perhaps the safety, of the capital, would be threatened by the hungry rage of a turbulent multitude ⁴¹. The prudence of Stilicho conceived, and executed, without delay, the most effectual measure for the relief of the Roman people. A large and season­able supply of corn, collected in the inland pro­vinces of Gaul, was embarked on the rapid stream [Page 166] of the Rhone, and transported, by an easy navi­gation, 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.

The cause of Rome, and the conduct of the The Afri­can war, A. D. 398. African war, were entrusted by Stilicho, to a ge­neral, active and ardent to avenge his private in­juries 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. The usurper pur­sued, 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 re­ceived the cruel intelligence, that his two inno­cent 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 [Page 167] presence, and as it might be dangerous to weaken the defence of the frontier, he judged it more ad­viseable, that Mascezel should attempt this ar­duous 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 auxi­liaries; 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, of high dignity and reputation in the service of Rome, amounted to no more than five thousand effective men ⁴⁵. 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 [Page 168] island (says an ingenious traveller of those times) is filled, or rather defiled, by men, who fly from the light. They call them­selves 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 understand­ing! 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 fugi­tive slaves by the hand of justice ⁴⁶."’ 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. 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, [Page 169] who, with such a reinforcement, appeared con­fident 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 ca­pacious harbour of Cagliari, at the distance of one hundred and forty miles from the African shores ⁴⁸.

Gildo was prepared to resist the invasion with Defeat and death of Gildo, A. D. 398. 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 tram­ple under their horses feet, the troops of Mascezel, and involve, in a cloud of burning sand, the na­tives of the cold regions of Gaul and Germany ⁴⁹. But the Moor, who commanded the legions of Honorius, was too well acquainted with the manners of his countrymen, to entertain any se­rious 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 [Page 170] 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. As Mascezel advanced before the front with fair of­fers 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. The tyrant es­caped 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 Ta­braca ⁵², which had acknowledged, with the rest [Page 171] 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 intole­rable torture of supporting the presence of an in­jured, and victorious, brother ⁵³. The captives, and the spoils, of Africa, were laid at the feet of the emperor; but Stilicho, whose moderation ap­peared 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. Their trial was pub­lic 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 op­pressed by the Imperial ministers, who had a visible interest to multiply the number of the ac­complices of Gildo; and if an edict of Honorius seems to check the malicious industry of in­formers, [Page 172] 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. 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 ser­vices 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; and his death, which, per­haps, was the effect of accident, has been con­sidered as the crime of Stilicho. In the passage of a bridge, the Moorish prince, who accom­panied the master-general of the West, was sud­denly 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.

The joy of the African triumph was happily connected with the nuptials of the emperor Ho­norius, Marriage, and cha­racter of Honorius, A. D. 398. [Page 173] 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 pro­pitious day ⁵⁸: 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 tri­umphant progress of Venus over her native seas, and the mild influence which her presence dif­fused 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 attri­butes to the young prince ⁵⁹, must excite the smiles of the court; and his beauteous spouse (if she deserved the praise of beauty) had not [Page 174] 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, de­ferred, 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, per­haps, the debility, of his constitution ⁶⁰. 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 disposi­tion 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 occupa­tions, and the amusement of feeding poultry be­came the serious and daily care of the monarch of the West ⁶¹, 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. [Page 175] 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 West­ern 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.

IF the subjects of Rome could be ignorant of their obligations to the great Theodosius, they were too soon convinced, how painfully the spirit and abilities of their deceased emperor had Revolt of the Goths, A. D. 395. supported the frail and mouldering edifice of the republic. He died in the month of January; and before the end of the winter of the same year, the Gothic nation was in arms ¹. The Barbarian auxiliaries erected their independent standard; and boldly avowed the hostile designs, which they had long cherished in their ferocious minds. Their countrymen, who had been condemned, by the conditions of the last treaty, to a life of tran­quillity and labour, deserted their farms at the first sound of the trumpet; and eagerly resumed the weapons which they had reluctantly laid down. The barriers of the Danube were thrown open; the savage warriors of Scythia issued from their forests; and the uncommon severity of the winter allowed the poet to remark,‘"that they [Page 177] rolled their ponderous waggons over the broad and icy back of the indignant river ²."’ The unhappy natives of the provinces to the South of the Danube, submitted to the calamities, which, in the course of twenty years, were almost grown familiar to their imagination; and the various troops of Barbarians, who gloried in the Gothic name, were irregularly spread from the woody shores of Dalmatia, to the walls of Constantinople ³. The interruption, or at least the diminution, of the subsidy, which the Goths had received from the prudent liberality of Theodosius, was the spe­cious pretence of their revolt: the affront was embittered by their contempt for the unwarlike sons of Theodosius; and their resentment was in­flamed by the weakness, or treachery, of the mi­nister of Arcadius. The frequent visits of Ru­finus to the camp of the Barbarians, whose arms and apparel he affected to imitate, were considered as a sufficient evidence of his guilty correspond­ence: and the public enemy, from a motive either of gratitude or of policy, was attentive, amidst the general devastation, to spare the private estates of the unpopular praefect. The Goths, instead [Page 178] of being impelled by the blind and headstrong passions of their chiefs, were now directed by the bold and artful genius of Alaric. That renowned leader was descended from the noble race of the Balti ⁴; which yielded only to the royal dignity of the Amali: he had solicited the command of the Roman armies; and the Imperial court pro­voked him to demonstrate the folly of their re­fusal, and the importance of their loss. What­ever hopes might be entertained of the conquest of Constantinople, the judicious general soon abandoned an impracticable enterprise. In the midst of a divided court, and a discontented people, the emperor Arcadius was terrified by the aspect of the Gothic arms: but the want of wisdom and valour was supplied by the strength of the city; and the fortifications, both of the sea and land, might securely brave the impotent and random darts of the Barbarians. Alaric disdained to trample any longer on the prostrate and ruined countries of Thrace and Dacia, and he resolved to seek a plentiful harvest of fame and riches in a province which had hitherto escaped the ravages of war ⁵.

[Page 179] The character of the civil and military officers, on whom Rufinus had devolved the government of Greece, confirmed the public suspicion, that Alaric marches into Greece, A. D. 396. he had betrayed the ancient seat of freedom and learning to the Gothic invader. The proconsul Antiochus was the unworthy son of a respectable father; and Gerontius, who commanded the pro­vincial troops, was much better qualified to exe­cute the oppressive orders of a tyrant, than to de­fend, with courage and ability, a country most re­markably fortified by the hand of nature. Alaric had traversed, without resistance, the plains of Macedonia and Thessaly, as far as the foot of Mount Oeta, a steep and woody range of hills, almost impervious to his cavalry. They stretched from East to West, to the edge of the sea-shore; and left, between the precipice and the Malian Gulf, an interval of three hundred feet, which, in some places, was contracted to a road capable of admitting only a single carriage ⁶. In this narrow pass of Thermopylae, where Leonidas and the three hundred Spartans had gloriously devoted their lives, the Goths might have been stopped, or destroyed, by a skilful general; and perhaps the view of that sacred spot might have kindled some sparks of military ardour in the breasts of the degenerate Greeks. The troops which had been posted to defend the streights of Thermo­pylae, retired, as they were directed, without at­tempting to disturb the secure and rapid passage [Page 180] of Alaric ⁷; and the fertile fields of Phocis, and Baeotia, were instantly covered by a deluge of Barbarians; who massacred the males of an age to bear arms, and drove away the beautiful fe­males, with the spoil, and cattle, of the flaming villages. The travellers, who visited Greece se­veral years afterwards, could easily discover the deep and bloody traces of the march of the Goths; and Thebes was less indebted for her pre­servation to the strength of her seven gates, than to the eager haste of Alaric, who advanced to oc­cupy the city of Athens, and the important har­bour of the Piraeus. The same impatience urged him to prevent the delay and danger of a siege, by the offer of a capitulation; and as soon as the Athenians heard the voice of the Gothic herald, they were easily persuaded to deliver the greatest part of their wealth, as the ransom of the city of Minerva, and its inhabitants. The treaty was ratified by solemn oaths, and observed with mu­tual fidelity. The Gothic prince, with a small and select train, was admitted within the walls; he indulged himself in the refreshment of the bath, accepted a splendid banquet which was provided by the magistrate, and affected to shew that he was not ignorant of the manners of civil­ised nations ⁸. But the whole territory of Attica, [Page 181] from the promontory of Sunium to the town of Megara, was blasted by his baleful presence; and, if we may use the comparison of a contemporary philosopher, Athens itself resembled the bleeding and empty skin of a slaughtered victim. The distance between Megara and Corinth could not much exceed thirty miles; but the bad road, an expressive name, which it still bears among the the Greeks, was, or might easily have been made, impassable for the march of an enemy. The thick and gloomy woods of Mount Cithaeron co­vered the inland country; the Scironian rocks approached the water's edge, and hung over the narrow and winding path, which was confined above six miles along the sea-shore ⁹. The passage of those rocks, so infamous in every age, was ter­minated by the isthmus of Corinth; and a small body of firm and intrepid soldiers might have suc­cessfully defended a temporary intrenchment of five or six miles from the Ionian to the Aegean sea. The confidence of the cities of Peloponnesus, in their natural rampart, had tempted them to [Page 182] neglect the care of their antique walls; and the avarice of the Roman governors had exhausted and betrayed the unhappy province ¹⁰. Corinth, Argos, Sparta, yielded without resistance to the arms of the Goths; and the most fortunate of the inhabitants were saved, by death, from beholding the slavery of their families, and the conflagra­tion of their cities ¹¹. The vases and statues were distributed among the Barbarians, with more re­gard to the value of the materials, than to the elegance of the workmanship; the female cap­tives submitted to the laws of war; the enjoy­ment of beauty was the reward of valour; and the Greeks could not reasonably complain of an abuse, which was justified by the example of the heroic times ¹². The descendants of that extra­ordinary people, who had considered valour and discipline as the walls of Sparta, no longer re­membered the generous reply of their ancestors to an invader more formidable than Alaric. ‘"If thou art a god, thou wilt not hurt those who have never injured thee; if thou art a man, [Page 183] advance:—and thou wilt find men equal to thyself ¹³."’ From Thermopylae to Sparta, the leader of the Goths pursued his victorious march without encountering any mortal antagonists: but one of the advocates of expiring Paganism has confidently asserted, that the walls of Athens were guarded by the goddess Minerva, with her formidable Aegis, and by the angry phantom of Achilles ¹⁴; and that the conqueror was dismayed by the presence of the hostile deities of Greece. In an age of miracles, it would perhaps be unjust to dispute the claim of the historian Zosimus to the common benefit; yet it cannot be dissembled, that the mind of Alaric was ill prepared to re­ceive, either in sleeping or waking visions, the impressions of Greek superstition. The songs of Homer, and the fame of Achilles, had probably never reached the ear of the illiterate Barbarian; and the Christian faith, which he had devoutly embraced, taught him to despise the imaginary deities of Rome and Athens. The invasion of the Goths, instead of vindicating the honour, contributed, at least accidentally, to extirpate the last remains of Paganism; and the mysteries of Ceres, which had subsisted eighteen hundred [Page 184] years, did not survive the destruction of Eleusis, and the calamities of Greece ¹⁵.

The last hope of a people who could no longer depend on their arms, their gods, or their sove­reign, He is at­tacked by Stilicho, A. D. 397. was placed in the powerful assistance of the general of the West; and Stilicho, who had not been permitted to repulse, advanced to chas­tise, the invaders of Greece ¹⁶. A numerous fleet was equipped in the ports of Italy; and the troops, after a short and prosperous navigation over the Ionian sea, were safely disembarked on the isth­mus, near the ruins of Corinth. The woody and mountainous country of Arcadia, the fabulous re­sidence of Pan and the Dryads, became the scene of a long and doubtful conflict between two ge­nerals not unworthy of each other. The skill and perseverance of the Roman at length prevailed: and the Goths, after sustaining a considerable loss from disease and desertion, gradually retreated to the lofty mountain of Pholoe, near the sources of the Peneus, and on the frontiers of Elis; a sacred country, which had formerly been exempted from the calamities of war ¹⁷. The camp of the Bar­barians [Page 185] was immediately besieged: the waters of the river ¹⁸ were diverted into another channel; and while they laboured under the intolerable pressure of thirst and hunger, a strong line of cir­cumvallation was formed to prevent their escape. After these precautions, Stilicho, too confident of victory, retired to enjoy his triumph, in the the­atrical games, and lascivious dances, of the Greeks; his soldiers, deserting their standards, spread themselves over the country of their allies, which they stripped of all that had been saved from the rapacious hands of the enemy. Alaric appears to have seized the favourable moment to execute one of those hardy enterprises, in which the abilities of a general are displayed with more genuine lustre, than in the tumult of a day of battle. To extri­cate himself from the prison of Peloponnesus, it was necessary that he should pierce the intrench­ments which surrounded his camp; that he should perform a difficult and dangerous march of thirty miles, as far as the Gulf of Corinth; and that he should transport his troops, his captives, and his [Page 186] spoil, over an arm of the sea, which, in the nar­row interval between Rhium and the opposite shore, is at least half a mile in breadth ¹⁹. The escapes to Epirus. operations of Alaric must have been secret, pru­dent, and rapid; since the Roman general was confounded by the intelligence, that the Goths, who had eluded his efforts, were in full possession of the important province of Epirus. This un­fortunate delay allowed Alaric sufficient time to conclude the treaty, which he secretly negociated, with the ministers of Constantinople. The ap­prehension of a civil war compelled Stilicho to re­tire, at the haughty mandate of his rivals, from the dominions of Arcadius; and he respected, in the enemy of Rome, the honourable character of the ally and servant of the emperor of the East.

A Grecian philosopher ²⁰, who visited Constan­tinople soon after the death of Theodosius, pub­lished Alaric is declared master­general of the Eastern Illyricum, A. D. 398. his liberal opinions concerning the duties of kings, and the state of the Roman republic. Synesius observes, and deplores the fatal abuse, which the imprudent bounty of the late emperor had introduced into the military service. The citizens, and subjects, had purchased an exemp­tion from the indispensable duty of defending [Page 187] their country; which was supported by the arms of Barbarian mercenaries. The fugitives of Scy­thia were permitted to disgrace the illustrious dig­nities of the empire; their ferocious youth, who disdained the salutary restraint of laws, were more anxious to acquire the riches, than to imitate the arts, of a people, the object of their contempt and hatred; and the power of the Goths was the stone of Tantalus, perpetually suspended over the peace and safety of the devoted state. The measures, which Synesius recommends, are the dictates of a bold and generous patriot. He exhorts the em­peror to revive the courage of his subjects, by the example of manly virtue; to banish luxury from the court, and from the camp; to substitute, in the place of the Barbarian mercenaries, an army of men, interested in the defence of their laws and of their property; to force, in such a mo­ment of public danger, the mechanic from his shop, and the philosopher from his school; to rouse the indolent citizen from his dream of plea­sure, and to arm, for the protection of agriculture, the hands of the laborious husbandman. At the head of such troops, who might deserve the name, and would display the spirit, of Romans, he ani­mates the son of Theodosius to encounter a race of Barbarians, who were destitute of any real courage; and never to lay down his arms, till he had chaced them far away into the solitudes of Scythia; or had reduced them to the state of ig­nominious servitude, which the Lacedaemonians formerly imposed on the captive Helots ²¹. The [Page 188] court of Arcadius indulged the zeal, applauded the eloquence, and neglected the advice, of Sy­nesius. Perhaps the philosopher, who addresses the emperor of the East, in the language of reason and virtue, which he might have used to a Spartan king, had not condescended to form a practicable scheme, consistent with the temper, and circumstances, of a degenerate age. Perhaps the pride of the ministers, whose business was seldom interrupted by reflection, might re­ject, as wild and visionary, every proposal, which exceeded the measure of their capacity, and de­viated from the forms and precedents of office. While the oration of Synesius, and the downfal of the Barbarians, were the topics of popular conver­sation, an edict was published at Constantinople, which declared the promotion of Alaric to the rank of master-general of the Eastern Illyricum. The Roman provincials, and the allies, who had respected the faith of treaties, were justly indig­nant, that the ruin of Greece and Epirus should be so liberally rewarded. The Gothic conqueror was received as a lawful magistrate, in the cities which he had so lately besieged. The fathers, whose sons he had massacred, the husbands, whose wives he had violated, were subject to his autho­rity: and the success of his rebellion encouraged the ambition of every leader of the foreign mer­cenaries. The use to which Alaric applied his new command, distinguishes the firm and judi­cious character of his policy. He issued his orders to the four magazines and manufactures of offen­sive and defensive arms, Margus, Ratiaria, Nais­sus, [Page 189] and Thessalonica, to provide his troops with an extraordinary supply of shields, helmets, swords, and spears; the unhappy provincials were com­pelled to forge the instruments of their own de­struction; and the Barbarians removed the only defect which had sometimes disappointed the ef­forts of their courage ²². The birth of Alaric, the glory of his past exploits, and the confidence in his future designs, insensibly united the body of the nation under his victorious standard; and, with the unanimous consent of the Barbarian chieftains, the master-general of Illyricum was elevated, according to ancient custom, on a shield, and solemnly proclaimed king of the Visigoths ²³. and king of the Visi­goths. Armed with this double power, seated on the verge of the two empires, he alternately sold his deceitful promises to the courts of Arcadius and Honorius ²⁴; till he declared and executed his re­solution of invading the dominions of the West. The provinces of Europe which belonged to the [Page 190] Eastern emperor, were already exhausted; those of Asia were inaccessible; and the strength of Constantinople had resisted his attack. But he was tempted by the fame, the beauty, the wealth of Italy, which he had twice visited; and he se­cretly aspired to plant the Gothic standard on the walls of Rome, and to enrich his army with the accumulated spoils of three hundred triumphs ²⁵.

The scarcity of facts ²⁶, and the uncertainty of He invades Italy, A. D. 400—403. dates ²⁷, oppose our attempts to describe the cir­cumstances of the first invasion of Italy by the arms of Alaric. His march, perhaps from Thes­salonica, through the warlike and hostile country of Pannonia, as far as the foot of the Julian Alps; his passage of those mountains, which were strongly guarded by troops and intrench­ments; the siege of Aquileia, and the conquest of the provinces of Istria and Venetia, appear to have employed a considerable time. Unless his operations were extremely cautious and slow, the [Page 191] length of the interval would suggest a probable suspicion, that the Gothic king retreated towards the banks of the Danube; and reinforced his army with fresh swarms of Barbarians, before he again attempted to penetrate into the heart of Italy. Since the public and important events escape the diligence of the historian, he may amuse himself with contemplating, for a moment, the influence of the arms of Alaric on the fortunes of two obscure individuals, a presbyter of Aquileia, and an husbandman of Verona. The learned Ru­finus, who was summoned by his enemies to ap­pear before a Roman synod ²⁸, wisely preferred the dangers of a besieged city; and the Barba­rians, who furiously shook the walls of Aquileia, might save him from the cruel sentence of another heretic, who, at the request of the same bishops, was severely whipped, and condemned to per­petual exile on a desert island ²⁹. The old man ³⁰, who had passed his simple and innocent life in the neighbourhood of Verona, was a stranger to the [Page 192] quarrels both of kings and bishops; his pleasures, his desires, his knowledge, were confined within the little circle of his paternal farm; and a staff supported his aged steps, on the same ground where he had sported in his infancy. Yet even this humble and rustic felicity (which Claudian describes with so much truth and feeling) was still exposed to the undistinguishing rage of war. His trees, his old contemporary trees ³¹, must blaze in the conflagration of the whole country; a de­tachment of Gothic cavalry might sweep away his cottage and his family; and the power of Alaric could destroy this happiness, which he was not able either to taste, or to bestow. ‘"Fame," says the poet, "encircling with terror her gloomy wings, proclaimed the march of the Barbarian army, and filled Italy with consternation:"’ the apprehensions of each individual were increased in just proportion to the measure of his fortune: and the most timid, who had already embarked their valuable effects, meditated their escape to the island of Sicily, or the African coast. The public distress was aggravated by the fears and re­proaches of superstition ³². Every hour produced [Page 193] some horrid tale of strange and portentous acci­dents: the Pagans deplored the neglect of omens, and the interruption of sacrifices; but the Christ­ians still derived some comfort from the powerful intercession of the saints and martyrs ³³.

The emperor Honorius was distinguished, above Honorius flies from Milan, A. D. 403. his subjects, by the pre-eminence of fear, as well as of rank. The pride and luxury in which he was educated, had not allowed him to suspect, that there existed on the earth any power pre­sumptuous enough to invade the repose of the successor of Augustus. The arts of flattery con­cealed the impending danger, till Alaric ap­proached the palace of Milan. But when the sound of war had awakened the young emperor, instead of flying to arms with the spirit, or even the rashness, of his age, he eagerly listened to those timid counsellors, who proposed to convey his sacred person, and his faithful attendants, to some secure and distant station in the provinces of Gaul. Stilicho alone ³⁴ had courage and au­thority to resist this disgraceful measure, which would have abandoned Rome and Italy to the Barbarians; but as the troops of the palace had been lately detached to the Rhaetian frontier, and as the source of new levies was slow and pre­carious, [Page 194] the general of the West could only pro­mise, that, if the court of Milan would maintain their ground during his absence, he would soon return with an army equal to the encounter of the Gothic king. Without losing a moment (while each moment was so important to the public safety) Stilicho hastily embarked on the Larian lake, ascended the mountains of ice and snow, amidst the severity of an Alpine winter, and sud­denly repressed, by his unexpected presence, the enemy, who had disturbed the tranquillity of Rhaetia ³⁵. The Barbarians, perhaps some tribes of the Alemanni, respected the firmness of a chief, who still assumed the language of command; and the choice which he condescended to make, of a select number of their bravest youth, was con­sidered as a mark of his esteem and favour. The cohorts, who were delivered from the neighbour­ing foe, diligently repaired to the Imperial stand­ard; and Stilicho issued his orders to the most remote troops of the West, to advance, by rapid marches, to the defence of Honorius and of Italy. The fortresses of the Rhine were abandoned; and the safety of Gaul was protected only by the faith of the Germans, and the ancient terror of the Roman name. Even the legion, which had been stationed to guard the wall of Britain against the Caledonians of the North, was hastily recalled ³⁶; [Page 195] and a numerous body of the cavalry of the Alani was persuaded to engage in the service of the emperor, who anxiously expected the return of his general. The prudence and vigour of Stili­cho were conspicuous on this occasion, which revealed, at the same time, the weakness of the falling empire. The legions of Rome, which had long since languished in the gradual decay of discipline and courage, were exterminated by the Gothic and civil wars; and it was found impos­sible, without exhausting and exposing the pro­vinces, to assemble an army for the defence of Italy.

When Stilicho seemed to abandon his sove­reign He is pur­sued and besieged by the Goths. in the unguarded palace of Milan, he had probably calculated the term of his absence, the distance of the enemy, and the obstacles that might retard their march. He principally de­pended on the rivers of Italy, the Adige, the Mincius, the Oglio, and the Addua; which, in the winter or spring, by the fall of rains, or by the melting of the snows, are commonly swelled into broad and impetuous torrents ³⁷. But the season happening to be remarkably dry; and the [Page 196] Goths could traverse, without impediment, the wide and stony beds, whose centre was faintly marked by the course of a shallow stream. The bridge and passage of the Addua were secured by a strong detachment of the Gothic army; and as Alaric approached the walls, or rather the sub­urbs, of Milan, he enjoyed the proud satis­faction of seeing the emperor of the Romans fly before him. Honorius, accompanied by a feeble train of statesmen and eunuchs, hastily retreated towards the Alps, with a design of securing his person in the city of Arles, which had often been the royal residence of his predecessors. But Ho­norius ³⁸ had scarcely passed the Po, before he was overtaken by the speed of the Gothic ca­valry ³⁹; since the urgency of the danger com­pelled him to seek a temporary shelter within the fortification of Asta, a town of Liguria or Pie­mont, situate on the banks of the Tanarus ⁴⁰. The siege of an obscure place, which contained so rich a prize, and seemed incapable of a long resistance, was instantly formed, and indefatigably pressed, by the king of the Goths; and the bold declaration, which the emperor might afterwards [Page 197] make, that his breast had never been susceptible of fear, did not probably obtain much credit, even in his own court ⁴¹. In the last, and almost hope­less extremity, after the Barbarians had already proposed the indignity of a capitulation, the Im­perial captive was suddenly relieved by the fame, the approach, and at length the presence of the hero, whom he had so long expected. At the head of a chosen and intrepid vanguard, Stilicho swam the stream of the Addua, to gain the time which he must have lost in the attack of the bridge; the passage of the Po was an enterprise of much less hazard and difficulty; and the suc­cessful action, in which he cut his way through the Gothic camp under the walls of Asta, re­vived the hopes, and vindicated the honour, of Rome. Instead of grasping the fruit of his vic­tory, the Barbarian was gradually invested, on every side, by the troops of the West, who suc­cessively issued through all the passes of the Alps; his quarters were straightened; his convoys were intercepted; and the vigilance of the Romans prepared to form a chain of fortifications, and to besiege the lines of the besiegers. A military council was assembled of the long-haired chiefs of the Gothic nation; of aged warriors, whose bodies were wrapped in furs, and whose stern countenances were marked with honourable wounds. They weighed the glory of persisting [Page 198] in their attempt against the advantage of securing their plunder; and they recommended the pru­dent measure of a seasonable retreat. In this im­portant debate, Alaric displayed the spirit of the conqueror of Rome; and after he had reminded his countrymen of their atchievements and of their designs, he concluded his animating speech, by the solemn and positive assurance, that he was resolved to find in Italy, either a kingdom, or a grave ⁴².

The loose discipline of the Barbarians always exposed them to the danger of a surprise; but, Battle of Pollentia, A. D. 403. March 29. instead of chusing the dissolute hours of riot and intemperance, Stilicho resolved to attack the Christian Goths whilst they were devoutly em­ployed in celebrating the festival of Easter ⁴³. The execution of the stratagem, or, as it was termed by the clergy, of the sacrilege, was en­trusted to Saul, a Barbarian and a Pagan, who had served, however, with distinguished reputa­tion among the veteran generals of Theodosius. The camp of the Goths, which Alaric had pitched [Page 199] in the neighbourhood of Pollentia ⁴⁴, was thrown into confusion by the sudden and impetuous charge of the Imperial cavalry; but, in a few moments, the undaunted genius of their leader gave them an order, and a field, of battle; and, as soon as they had recovered from their astonish­ment, the pious confidence, that the God of the Christians would assert their cause, added new strength to their native valour. In this engage­ment, which was long maintained with equal courage and success, the chief of the Alani, whose diminutive and savage form concealed a magna­nimous soul, approved his suspected loyalty, by the zeal with which he fought, and fell, in the service of the republic; and the fame of this gal­lant Barbarian has been imperfectly preserved in the verses of Claudian, since the poet, who cele­brates his virtue, has omitted the mention of his name. His death was followed by the flight and dismay of the squadrons which he command­ed; and the defeat of the wing of cavalry might have decided the victory of Alaric, if Stilicho had not immediately led the Roman and Barbarian infantry to the attack. The skill of the general, and the bravery of the soldiers, surmounted every obstacle. In the evening of the bloody day, the Goths retreated from the field of battle; the in­trenchments of their camp were forced, and the scene of rapine and slaughter made some atone­ment [Page 200] for the calamities which they had inflicted on the subjects of the empire ⁴⁵. The magnificent spoils of Corinth and Argos enriched the veterans of the West; the captive wife of Alaric, who had impatiently claimed his promise of Roman jewels and Patrician handmaids ⁴⁶, was reduced to im­plore the mercy of the insulting foe; and many thousand prisoners, released from the Gothic chains, dispersed through the provinces of Italy the praises of their heroic deliverer. The triumph of Stilicho ⁴⁷ was compared by the poet, and per­haps by the public, to that of Marius; who, in the same part of Italy, had encountered and de­stroyed another army of northern Barbarians. The huge bones, and the empty helmets, of the Cimbri and of the Goths, would easily be con­founded by succeeding generations; and posterity might erect a common trophy to the memory of the two most illustrious generals, who had van­quished, on the same memorable ground, the two most formidable enemies of Rome ⁴⁸.

[Page 201] The eloquence of Claudian ⁴⁹ has celebrated, with lavish applause, the victory of Pollentia, one of the most glorious days in the life of his patron; Boldness and retreat of Alaric. but his reluctant and partial muse bestows more genuine praise on the character of the Gothic king. His name is indeed branded with the re­proachful epithets of pirate and robber, to which the conquerors of every age are so justly entitled; but the poet of Stilicho is compelled to acknow­ledge, that Alaric possessed the invincible temper of mind, which rises superior to every misfortune, and derives new resources from adversity. After the total defeat of his infantry, he escaped, or ra­ther withdrew, from the field of battle, with the greatest part of his cavalry entire and unbroken. Without wasting a moment to lament the irre­parable loss of so many brave companions, he left his victorious enemy to bind in chains the captive images of a Gothic king ⁵⁰; and boldly resolved to break through the unguarded passes of the Apennine, to spread desolation over the fruitful face of Tuscany, and to conquer or die before the [Page 202] gates of Rome. The capital was saved by the active and incessant diligence of Stilicho: but he respected the despair of his enemy; and, instead of committing the fate of the republic to the chance of another battle, he proposed to purchase the absence of the Barbarians. The spirit of Alaric would have rejected such terms, the per­mission of a retreat, and the offer of a pension, with contempt and indignation; but he exercised a limited and precarious authority over the inde­pendent chieftains, who had raised him, for their service, above the rank of his equals; they were still less disposed to follow an unsuccessful gene­ral, and many of them were tempted to consult their interest by a private negociation with the minister of Honorius. The king submitted to the voice of his people, ratified the treaty with the empire of the West, and repassed the Po, with the remains of the flourishing army which he had led into Italy. A considerable part of the Roman forces still continued to attend his mo­tions; and Stilicho, who maintained a secret cor­respondence with some of the Barbarian chiefs, was punctually apprised of the designs that were formed in the camp and council of Alaric. The king of the Goths, ambitious to signalize his re­treat by some splendid atchievement, had re­solved to occupy the important city of Verona, which commands the principal passage of the Rhaetian Alps; and, directing his march through the territories of those German tribes, whose al­liance would restore his exhausted strength, to in­vade, on the side of the Rhine, the wealthy and [Page 203] unsuspecting provinces of Gaul. Ignorant of the treason, which had already betrayed his bold and judicious enterprise, he advanced towards the passes of the mountains, already possessed by the Imperial troops; where he was exposed, almost at the same instant, to a general attack in the front, on his flanks, and in the rear. In this bloody action, at a small distance from the walls of Verona, the loss of the Goths was not less heavy than that which they had sustained in the defeat of Pollentia; and their valiant king, who escaped by the swiftness of his horse, must either have been slain or made prisoner, if the hasty rashness of the Alani had not disappointed the measures of the Roman general. Alaric secured the remains of his army on the adjacent rocks; and prepared himself, with undaunted resolution, to maintain a siege against the superior numbers of the enemy, who invested him on all sides. But he could not oppose the destructive progress of hunger and disease; nor was it possible for him to check the continual desertion of his impatient and capricious Barbarians. In this extremity he still found resources in his own courage, or in the moderation of his adversary; and the retreat of the Gothic king was considered as the deliver­ance of Italy ⁵¹. Yet the people, and even the clergy, incapable of forming any rational judg­ment of the business of peace and war, presumed to arraign the policy of Stilicho, who so often vanquished, so often surrounded, and so often [Page 204] dismissed the implacable enemy of the republic. The first moment of the public safety is devoted to gratitude and joy; but the second is diligently occupied by envy and calumny ⁵².

The citizens of Rome had been astonished by The tri­umph of Honorius, at Rome, A. D. 404. the approach of Alaric; and the diligence with which they laboured to restore the walls of the capital, confessed their own fears, and the de­cline of the empire. After the retreat of the Barbarians, Honorius was directed to accept the dutiful invitation of the senate, and to celebrate, in the Imperial city, the auspicious aera of the Gothic victory, and of his sixth consulship ⁵³. The suburbs and the streets, from the Milvian bridge to the Palatine mount, were filled by the Roman people, who, in the space of an hundred years, had only thrice been honoured with the presence of their sovereigns. While their eyes were fixed on the chariot where Stilicho was de­servedly seated by the side of his royal pupil, they applauded the pomp of a triumph, which was not stained, like that of Constantine, or of Theodo­sius, with civil blood. The procession passed under a lofty arch, which had been purposely erected: but in less than seven years, the Gothic conquerors of Rome might read, if they were able to read, the superb inscription of that mo­nument, which attested the total defeat and de­struction [Page 205] of their nation ⁵⁴. The emperor resided several months in the capital, and every part of his behaviour was regulated with care to conciliate the affection of the clergy, the senate, and the people of Rome. The clergy was edified by his frequent visits, and liberal gifts, to the shrines of the apostles. The senate, who, in the triumphal procession, had been excused from the humiliat­ing ceremony of preceding on foot the Imperial chariot, was treated with the decent reverence which Stilicho always affected for that assembly. The people was repeatedly gratified by the atten­tion and courtesy of Honorius in the public games, which were celebrated on that occasion with a magnificence not unworthy of the specta­tor. As soon as the appointed number of chariot­races was concluded, the decoration of the Circus was suddenly changed; the hunting of wild beasts afforded a various and splendid entertainment; and the chace was succeeded by a military dance, which seems, in the lively description of Claudian, to present the image of a modern tournament.

In these games of Honorius, the inhuman com­bats The gla­diators abolished. of gladiators ⁵⁵ polluted, for the last time, the amphitheatre of Rome. The first Christian em­peror may claim the honour of the first edict, which condemned the art and amusement of shed­ding [Page 206] human blood ⁵⁶; but this benevolent law ex­pressed the wishes of the prince, without reform­ing an inveterate abuse, which degraded a civil­ised nation below the condition of savage canni­bals. Several hundred, perhaps several thou­sand, victims were annually slaughtered in the great cities of the empire; and the month of December, more peculiarly devoted to the com­bats of gladiators, still exhibited, to the eyes of the Roman people, a grateful spectacle of blood and cruelty. Amidst the general joy of the vic­tory of Pollentia, a Christian poet exhorted the emperor to extirpate, by his authority, the horrid custom which had so long resisted the voice of hu­manity and religion ⁵⁷. The pathetic representa­tions of Prudentius were less effectual than the generous boldness of Telemachus, an Asiatic monk, whose death was more useful to mankind than his life ⁵⁸. The Romans were provoked by the interruption of their pleasures; and the rash monk, who had descended into the arena, to se­parate the gladiators, was overwhelmed under a shower of stones. But the madness of the people [Page 207] soon subsided; they respected the memory of Te­lemachus, who had deserved the honours of mar­tyrdom; and they submitted, without a mur­mur, to the laws of Honorius, which abolished for ever the human sacrifices of the amphitheatre. The citizens, who adhered to the manners of their ancestors, might perhaps insinuate, that the last remains of a martial spirit were preserved in this school of fortitude, which accustomed the Romans to the sight of blood, and to the con­tempt of death: a vain and cruel prejudice, so nobly confuted by the valour of ancient Greece, and of modern Europe ⁵⁹!

The recent danger, to which the person of the Honorius fixes his residence at Ra­venna, A. D. 404. emperor had been exposed in the defenceless pa­lace of Milan, urged him to seek a retreat in some inaccessible fortress of Italy, where he might securely remain, while the open country was co­vered by a deluge of Barbarians. On the coast of the Hadriatic, about ten or twelve miles from the most southern of the seven mouths of the Po, the Thessalians had founded the ancient colony of RAVENNA ⁶⁰, which they afterwards resigned [Page 208] to the natives of Umbria. Augustus, who had observed the opportunity of the place, prepared, at the distance of three miles from the old town, a capacious harbour, for the reception of two hundred and fifty ships of war. This naval esta­blishment, which included the arsenals and maga­zines, the barracks of the troops, and the houses of the artificers, derived its origin and name from the permanent station of the Roman fleet; the intermediate space was soon filled with buildings and inhabitants, and the three extensive and po­pulous quarters of Ravenna gradually contri­buted to form one of the most important cities of Italy. The principal canal of Augustus poured a copious stream of the waters of the Po through the midst of the city, to the entrance of the har­bour; the same waters were introduced into the profound ditches that encompassed the walls; they were distributed, by a thousand subordinate canals, into every part of the city, which they divided into a variety of small islands; the com­munication was maintained only by the use of boats and bridges; and the houses of Ravenna, whose appearance may be compared to that of Venice, were raised on the foundation of wooden piles. The adjacent country, to the distance of many miles, was a deep and impassable morass; and the artificial causeway, which connected Ra­venna with the continent, might be easily guard­ed, or destroyed, on the approach of an hostile army. These morasses were interspersed, how­ever, with vineyards; and though the soil was exhausted by four or five crops, the town enjoyed [Page 209] a more plentiful supply of wine than of fresh water ⁶¹. The air, instead of receiving the sickly, and almost pestilential, exhalations of low and marshy grounds, was distinguished, like the neigh­bourhood of Alexandria, as uncommonly pure and salubrious; and this singular advantage was ascribed to the regular tides of the Hadriatic, which swept the canals, interrupted the unwhole­some stagnation of the waters, and floated, every day, the vessels of the adjacent country into the heart of Ravenna. The gradual retreat of the sea has left the modern city at the distance of four miles from the Hadriatic; and as early as the fifth or sixth century of the Christian aera, the port of Augustus was converted into pleasant orchards; and a lonely grove of pines covered the ground where the Roman fleet once rode at anchor ⁶². Even this alteration contributed to encrease the natural strength of the place; and the shallow­ness of the water was a sufficient barrier against the large ships of the enemy. This advantageous situation was fortified by art and labour; and in the twentieth year of his age, the emperor of the [Page 210] West, anxious only for his personal safety, retired to the perpetual confinement of the walls and morasses of Ravenna. The example of Hono­rius was imitated by his feeble successors, the Gothic kings, and afterwards the Exarchs, who occupied the throne and palace of the emperors; and, till the middle of the eighth century, Ra­venna was considered as the seat of government, and the capital of Italy ⁶³.

The fears of Honorius were not without foun­dation, nor were his precautions without effect. The revo­lutions of Scythia, A. D. 400. While Italy rejoiced in her deliverance from the Goths, a furious tempest was excited among the nations of Germany, who yielded to the irresist­ible impulse, that appears to have been gradually communicated from the eastern extremity of the continent of Asia. The Chinese annals, as they have been interpreted by the learned industry of the present age, may be usefully applied to re­veal the secret and remote causes of the fall of the Roman empire. The extensive territory to the north of the great wall, was possessed, after the flight of the Huns, by the victorious Sienpi; who were sometimes broken into independent tribes, and sometimes re-united under a supreme chief; till at length styling themselves Topa, or masters of the earth, they acquired a more solid consistence, and a more formidable power. The Topa soon compelled the pastoral nations of the eastern desert to acknowledge the superiority of [Page 211] their arms; they invaded China in a period of weakness and intestine discord; and these for­tunate Tartars, adopting the laws and manners of the vanquished people, founded an Imperial dynasty, which reigned near one hundred and sixty years over the northern provinces of the monarchy. Some generations before they as­cended the throne of China, one of the Topa princes had enlisted in his cavalry a slave of the name of Moko, renowned for his valour; but who was tempted, by the fear of punishment, to desert his standard, and to range the desert at the head of an hundred followers. This gang of rob­bers and outlaws swelled into a camp, a tribe, a numerous people, distinguished by the appella­tion of Geougen; and their hereditary chieftains, the posterity of Moko the slave, assumed their rank among the Scythian monarchs. The youth of Toulun, the greatest of his descendants, was exercised by those misfortunes which are the school of heroes. He bravely struggled with ad­versity, broke the imperious yoke of the Topa, and became the legislator of his nation, and the conqueror of Tartary. His troops were distributed into regular bands of an hundred and of a thou­sand men; cowards were stoned to death; the most splendid honours were proposed as the re­ward of valour; and Toulun, who had know­ledge enough to despise the learning of China, adopted only such arts and institutions as were favourable to the military spirit of his govern­ment. His tents, which he removed in the win­ter season to a more southern latitude, were [Page 212] pitched, during the summer, on the fruitful banks of the Selinga. His conquests stretched from Corea far beyond the river Irtish. He vanquish­ed, in the country to the North of the Caspian sea, the nation of the Huns; and the new title of Khan, or Cagan, expressed the fame and power which he derived from this memorable victory ⁶⁴.

The chain of events is interrupted, or rather Emigra­tion of the northern Germans, A. D. 405. is concealed, as it passes from the Volga to the Vistula, through the dark interval which sepa­rates the extreme limits of the Chinese, and of the Roman, geography. Yet the temper of the Bar­barians, and the experience of successive emigra­tions, sufficiently declare, that the Huns, who were oppressed by the arms of the Geougen, soon withdrew from the presence of an insulting victor. The countries towards the Euxine were already occupied by their kindred tribes; and their hasty flight, which they soon converted into a bold at­tack, would more naturally be directed towards the rich and level plains, through which the Vistula gently flows into the Baltic sea. The North must again have been alarmed, and agi­tated, by the invasion of the Huns; and the na­tions who retreated before them, must have pressed with incumbent weight on the confines of Germany ⁶⁵. The inhabitants of those regions, [Page 213] which the ancients have assigned to the Suevi, the Vandals, and the Burgundians, might embrace the resolution of abandoning to the fugitives of Sarmatia, their woods and morasses; or at least of discharging their superfluous numbers on the provinces of the Roman empire ⁶⁶. About four years after the victorious Toulun had assumed the title of Khan of the Geougen, another Barbarian, the haughty Rhodogast, or Radagaisus ⁶⁷, march­ed from the northern extremities of Germany al­most to the gates of Rome, and left the remains of his army to atchieve the destruction of the West. The Vandals, the Suevi, and the Bur­gundians, formed the strength of this mighty host; but the Alani, who had found an ho­spitable reception in their new seats, added their active cavalry to the heavy infantry of the Ger­mans; and the Gothic adventurers crowded so eagerly to the standard of Radagaisus, that, by some historians, he has been styled the King of the Goths. Twelve thousand warriors, distin­guished above the vulgar by their noble birth, or their valiant deeds, glittered in the van ⁶⁸; and [Page 214] the whole multitude, which was not less than two hundred thousand fighting men, might be increased, by the accession of women, of chil­dren, and of slaves, to the amount of four hun­dred thousand persons. This formidable emi­gration issued from the same coast of the Baltic, which had poured forth the myriads of the Cim­bri and Teutones, to assault Rome and Italy in the vigour of the republic. After the departure of those Barbarians, their native country, which was marked by the vestiges of their greatness, long ramparts, and gigantic moles ⁶⁹, remained, during some ages, a vast and dreary solitude; till the human species was renewed by the powers of generation, and the vacancy was filled by the influx of new inhabitants. The nations who now usurp an extent of land, which they are unable to cultivate, would soon be assisted by the industrious poverty of their neighbours, if the government of Europe did not protect the claims of dominion and property.

The correspondence of nations was, in that age, so imperfect and precarious, that the revo­lutions Radagai­sus invades Italy, A. D. 406. of the North might escape the knowledge of the court of Ravenna; till the dark cloud, which was collected along the coast of the Baltic, burst in thunder upon the banks of the Upper Danube. The emperor of the West, if his mi­nisters disturbed his amusements by the news of [Page 215] the impending danger, was satisfied with being the occasion, and the spectator of the war ⁷⁰. The safety of Rome was entrusted to the counsels, and the sword, of Stilicho; but such was the feeble and exhausted state of the empire, that it was im­possible to restore the fortifications of the Danube, or to prevent, by a vigorous effort, the invasion of the Germans ⁷¹. The hopes of the vigilant minister of Honorius were confined to the de­fence of Italy. He once more abandoned the provinces, recalled the troops, pressed the new levies, which were rigorously exacted, and pusil­lanimously eluded; employed the most efficacious means to arrest, or allure, the deserters; and of­fered the gift of freedom, and of two pieces of gold, to all the slaves who would enlist ⁷². By these efforts he painfully collected, from the sub­jects of a great empire, an army of thirty or forty thousand men, which, in the days of Scipio or Camillus, would have been instantly furnished by [Page 216] the free citizens of the territory of Rome ⁷³. The thirty legions of Stilicho were reinforced by a large body of Barbarian auxiliaries; the faithful Alani were personally attached to his service; and the troops of Huns and of Goths, who march­ed under the banners of their native princes, Huldin and Sarus, were animated by interest and resentment to oppose the ambition of Radagaisus. The king of the confederate Germans passed, without resistance, the Alps, the Po, and the Apennine; leaving on one hand the inaccessible palace of Honorius, securely buried among the marshes of Ravenna; and, on the other, the camp of Stilicho, who had fixed his head-quarters at Ticinum, or Pavia, but who seems to have avoided a decisive battle, till he had assembled his distant forces. Many cities of Italy were pillaged, or destroyed; and the siege of Flo­rence ⁷⁴, by Radagaisus, is one of the earliest Besieges Florence, events in the history of that celebrated republic; whose firmness checked and delayed the unskilful fury of the Barbarians. The senate and people trembled at their approach within an hundred and [Page 217] eighty miles of Rome; and anxiously compared the danger which they had escaped, with the new perils to which they were exposed. Alaric was a Christian and a soldier, the leader of a dis­ciplined army; who understood the laws of war, who respected the sanctity of treaties, and who had familiarly conversed with the subjects of the empire in the same camps, and the same churches. The savage Radagaisus was a stranger to the man­ners, the religion, and even the language, of the civilised nations of the South. The fierceness of his temper was exasperated by cruel superstition; and it was universally believed, that he had bound himself, by a solemn vow, to reduce the city in­to and threat­ens Rome. a heap of stones and ashes, and to sacrifice the most illustrious of the Roman senators, on the altars of those gods, who were appeased by hu­man blood. The public danger, which should have reconciled all domestic animosities, display­ed the incurable madness of religious faction. The oppressed votaries of Jupiter and Mercury respected, in the implacable enemy of Rome, the character of a devout Pagan; loudly declared, that they were more apprehensive of the sacri­fices, than of the arms, of Radagaisus; and se­cretly rejoiced in the calamities of their country, which condemned the faith of their Christian ad­versaries ⁷⁵.

[Page 218] Florence was reduced to the last extremity; and the fainting courage of the citizens was sup­ported only by the authority of St. Ambrose; Defeat and destruction of his army by Stili­cho, A. D. 406. who had communicated, in a dream, the promise of a speedy deliverance ⁷⁶. On a sudden they be­held, from their walls, the banners of Stilicho, who advanced, with his united force, to the re­lief of the faithful city; and who soon marked that fatal spot for the grave of the Barbarian host. The apparent contradictions of those writers who variously relate the defeat of Radagaisus, may be reconciled, without offering much violence to their respective testimonies. Orosius and Au­gustin, who were intimately connected by friend­ship and religion, ascribe this miraculous victory to the providence of God, rather than to the va­lour of man ⁷⁷. They strictly exclude every idea of chance, or even of bloodshed; and positively affirm, that the Romans, whose camp was the scene of plenty and idleness, enjoyed the distress of the Barbarians, slowly expiring on the sharp and barren ridge of the hills of Faesulae, which rise above the city of Florence. Their extrava­gant assertion, that not a single soldier of the Christian army was killed, or even wounded, may [Page 219] be dismissed with silent contempt; but the rest of the narrative of Augustin and Orosius is consistent with the state of the war, and the character of Stilicho. Conscious that he commanded the last army of the republic, his prudence would not ex­pose it, in the open field, to the headstrong fury of the Germans. The method of surrounding the enemy with strong lines of circumvallation, which he had twice employed against the Gothic king, was repeated on a larger scale, and with more considerable effect. The examples of Caesar must have been familiar to the most illiterate of the Roman warriors; and the fortifications of Dyrra­chium, which connected twenty-four castles, by a perpetual ditch and rampart of fifteen miles, afforded the model of an intrenchment which might confine, and starve, the most numerous host of Barbarians ⁷⁸. The Roman troops had less degenerated from the industry, than from the valour, of their ancestors; and if the servile and laborious work offended the pride of the soldiers, Tuscany could supply many thousand peasants, who would labour, though, perhaps, they would not fight, for the salvation of their native coun­try. The imprisoned multitude of horses and men ⁷⁹ was gradually destroyed by famine, rather [Page 220] than by the sword; but the Romans were ex­posed, during the progress of such an extensive work, to the frequent attacks of an impatient enemy. The despair of the hungry Barbarians would precipitate them against the fortifications of Stilicho; the general might sometimes indulge the ardour of his brave auxiliaries, who eagerly pressed to assault the camp of the Germans; and these various incidents might produce the sharp and bloody conflicts which dignify the narrative of Zosimus, and the Chronicles of Prosper and Marcellinus ⁸⁰. A seasonable supply of men and provisions had been introduced into the walls of Florence; and the famished host of Radagaisus was in its turn besieged. The proud monarch of so many warlike nations, after the loss of his bravest warriors, was reduced to confide either in the faith of a capitulation, or in the clemency of Stilicho ⁸¹. But the death of the royal captive, who was ignominiously beheaded, disgraced the triumph of Rome and of Christianity; and the short delay of his execution was sufficient to brand the conqueror with the guilt of cool and [Page 221] deliberate cruelty ⁸². The famished Germans, who escaped the fury of the auxiliaries, were sold as slaves, at the contemptible price of as many single pieces of gold: but the difference of food and climate swept away great numbers of those unhappy strangers; and it was observed, that the inhuman purchasers, instead of reaping the fruits of their labour, were soon obliged to provide the expence of their interment. Stilicho informed the emperor and the senate of his success; and deserved, a second time, the glorious title of De­liverer of Italy ⁸³.

The fame of the victory, and more especially The re­mainder of the Ger­mans in­vade Gaul, A. D. 406, Dec. 31. of the miracle, has encouraged a vain persuasion, that the whole army, or rather nation, of Ger­mans, who migrated from the shores of the Baltic, miserably perished under the walls of Florence. Such indeed was the fate of Radagaisus himself, of his brave and faithful companions, and of more than one-third of the various multitude of Sueves and Vandals, of Alani and Burgundians, who adhered to the standard of their general ⁸⁴. The union of such an army might excite our sur­prise, [Page 222] but the causes of separation are obvious and forcible; the pride of birth, the insolence of va­lour, the jealousy of command, the impatience of subordination, and the obstinate conflict of opi­nions, of interests, and of passions, among so many kings and warriors, who were untaught to yield, or to obey. After the defeat of Rada­gaisus, two parts of the German host, which must have exceeded the number of one hundred thou­sand men, still remained in arms, between the Apennine and the Alps, or between the Alps and the Danube. It is uncertain whether they at­tempted to revenge the death of their general; but their irregular fury was soon diverted by the prudence and firmness of Stilicho, who opposed their march, and facilitated their retreat; who considered the safety of Rome and Italy as the great object of his care, and who sacrificed, with too much indifference, the wealth and tranquil­lity of the distant provinces ⁸⁵. The Barbarians acquired, from the junction of some Pannonian deserters, the knowledge of the country, and of the roads; and the invasion of Gaul, which Alaric had designed, was executed by the remains of the great army of Radagaisus ⁸⁶.

[Page 223] Yet if they expected to derive any assistance from the tribes of Germany, who inhabited the banks of the Rhine, their hopes were disappoint­ed. The Alemanni preserved a state of inactive neutrality; and the Franks distinguished their zeal and courage in the defence of the empire. In the rapid progress down the Rhine, which was the first act of the administration of Stilicho, he had applied himself, with peculiar attention, to secure the alliance of the warlike Franks, and to remove the irreconcileable enemies of peace and of the republic. Marcomir, one of their kings, was publicly convicted, before the tribunal of the Roman magistrate, of violating the faith of trea­ties. He was sentenced to a mild, but distant, exile, in the province of Tuscany; and this de­gradation of the regal dignity was so far from ex­citing the resentment of his subjects, that they punished with death the turbulent Sunno, who attempted to revenge his brother; and main­tained a dutiful allegiance to the princes, who were established on the throne by the choice of Stilicho ⁸⁷. When the limits of Gaul and Ger­many [Page 224] were shaken by the northern emigration, the Franks bravely encountered the single force of the Vandals; who, regardless of the lessons of adversity, had again separated their troops from the standard of their Barbarian allies. They paid the penalty of their rashness; and twenty thou­sand Vandals, with their king Godigisclus, were slain in the field of battle. The whole people must have been extirpated, if the squadrons of the Alani, advancing to their relief, had not trampled down the infantry of the Franks; who, after an honourable resistance, were compelled to relin­quish the unequal contest. The victorious con­federates pursued their march, and on the last day of the year, in a season when the waters of the Rhine were most probably frozen, they entered, without opposition, the defenceless provinces of Gaul. This memorable passage of the Suevi, the Vandals, the Alani, and the Burgundians, who never afterwards retreated, may be consider­ed as the fall of the Roman empire in the coun­tries beyond the Alps; and the barriers, which had so long separated the savage and the civilised na­tions of the earth, were from that fatal moment levelled with the ground ⁸⁸.

While the peace of Germany was secured by the attachment of the Franks, and the neutrality Desolation of Gaul, A. D. 407, &c. of the Alemanni, the subjects of Rome, uncon­scious [Page 225] of their approaching calamities, enjoyed the state of quiet and prosperity, which had sel­dom blessed the frontiers of Gaul. Their flocks and herds were permitted to graze in the pastures of the Barbarians; their huntsmen penetrated, without fear or danger, into the darkest recesses of the Hercynian wood ⁸⁹. The banks of the Rhine were crowned, like those of the Tyber, with ele­gant houses, and well-cultivated farms; and if a poet descended the river, he might express his doubt, on which side was situated the territory of the Romans ⁹⁰. This scene of peace and plenty was suddenly changed into a desert; and the pro­spect of the smoking ruins could alone distinguish the solitude of nature from the desolation of man. The flourishing city of Mentz was surprised and destroyed; and many thousand Christians were inhumanly massacred in the church. Worms perished after a long and obstinate siege; Stras­burg, Spires, Rheims, Tournay, Arras, Amiens, experienced the cruel oppression of the German yoke; and the consuming flames of war spread from the banks of the Rhine over the greatest part of the seventeen provinces of Gual. That rich [Page 226] and extensive country, as far as the ocean, the Alps, and the Pyrenees, was delivered to the Barbarians, who drove before them, in a promis­cuous crowd, the bishop, the senator, and the virgin, laden with the spoils of their houses and altars ⁹¹. The ecclesiastics, to whom we are in­debted for this vague description of the public calamities, embraced the opportunity of exhort­ing the Christians to repent of the sins which had provoked the Divine Justice, and to renounce the perishable goods of a wretched and deceitful world. But as the Pelagian controversy ⁹², which attempts to sound the abyss of grace and predesti­nation, soon became the serious employment of the Latin clergy; the Providence which had de­creed, or foreseen, or permitted such a train of moral and natural evils, was rashly weighed in the imperfect and fallacious balance of reason. The crimes, and the misfortunes, of the suffer­ing people, were presumptuously compared with those of their ancestors; and they arraigned the Divine Justice, which did not exempt from the common destruction the feeble, the guiltless, the infant portion of the human species. These idle [Page 227] disputants overlooked the invariable laws of na­ture, which have connected peace with innocence, plenty with industry, and safety with valour. The timid and selfish policy of the court of Ravenna might recal the Palatine legions for the protection of Italy; the remains of the stationary troops might be unequal to the arduous task; and the Barbarian auxiliaries might prefer the unbounded licence of spoil, to the benefits of a moderate and regular stipend. But the provinces of Gaul were filled with a numerous race of hardy and robust youth, who, in the defence of their houses, their families, and their altars, if they had dared to die, would have deserved to vanquish. The knowledge of their native country would have en­abled them to oppose continual and insuperable obstacles to the progress of an invader; and the deficiency of the Barbarians, in arms as well as in discipline, removed the only pretence which ex­cuses the submission of a populous country to the inferior numbers of a veteran army. When France was invaded by Charles the Fifth, he en­quired of a prisoner, how many days Paris might be distant from the frontier; ‘Perhaps twelve, but they will be days of battle ⁹³:"’ such was the gallant answer which checked the arrogance of that ambitious prince. The subjects of Hono­rius, and those of Francis I., were animated by a very different spirit; and in less than two years, [Page 228] the divided troops of the savages of the Baltic, whose numbers, were they fairly stated, would ap­pear contemptible, advanced, without a combat, to the foot of the Pyrenaean mountains.

In the early part of the reign of Honorius, the vigilance of Stilicho had successfully guarded the Revolt of the British army, A. D. 407. remote island of Britain from her incessant ene­mies of the ocean, the mountains, and the Irish coast ⁹⁴. But those restless Barbarians could not neglect the fair opportunity of the Gothic war, when the walls and stations of the province were stripped of the Roman troops. If any of the le­gionaries were permitted to return from the Ita­lian expedition, their faithful report of the court and character of Honorius must have tended to dissolve the bonds of allegiance, and to exasperate the seditious temper of the British army. The spirit of revolt, which had formerly disturbed the age of Gallienus, was revived by the capricious violence of the soldiers; and the unfortunate, perhaps the ambitious, candidates, who were the objects of their choice, were the instruments, and at length the victims, of their passion ⁹⁵. Marcus [Page 229] was the first whom they placed on the throne, as the lawful emperor of Britain, and of the West. They violated, by the hasty murder of Marcus, the oath of fidelity which they had imposed on themselves; and their disapprobation of his man­ners may seem to inscribe an honourable epitaph on his tomb. Gratian was the next whom they adorned with the diadem and the purple; and, at the end of four months, Gratian experienced the fate of his predecessor. The memory of the great Constantine, whom the British legions had given to the church and to the empire, suggested the singular motive of their third choice. They Constan­tine is ac­knowledg­ed in Bri­tain and Gaul, A. D. 407. discovered in the ranks a private soldier of the name of Constantine, and their impetuous levity had already seated him on the throne, before they perceived his incapacity to sustain the weight of that glorious appellation ⁹⁶. Yet the authority of Constantine was less precarious, and his go­vernment was more successful, than the transient reigns of Marcus and of Gratian. The danger of leaving his inactive troops in those camps, which had been twice polluted with blood and sedition, urged him to attempt the reduction of the Western provinces. He landed at Boulogne with an inconsiderable force; and after he had re­posed himself some days, he summoned the cities [Page 230] of Gaul, which had escaped the yoke of the Bar­barians, to acknowledge their lawful sovereign. They obeyed the summons without reluctance. The neglect of the court of Ravenna had absolved a deserted people from the duty of allegiance; their actual distress encouraged them to accept any circumstances of change, without apprehen­sion, and, perhaps, with some degree of hope; and they might flatter themselves, that the troops, the authority, and even the name of a Roman emperor, who fixed his residence in Gaul, would protect the unhappy country from the rage of the Barbarians. The first successes of Constantine against the detached parties of the Germans, were magnified by the voice of adulation into splendid and decisive victories; which the re­union and insolence of the enemy soon reduced to their just value. His negociations procured a short and precarious truce; and if some tribes of the Barbarians were engaged, by the liberality of his gifts and promises, to undertake the defence of the Rhine, these expensive and uncertain trea­ties, instead of restoring the pristine vigour of the Gallic frontier, served only to disgrace the ma­jesty of the prince, and to exhaust what yet re­mained of the treasures of the republic. Elated however with this imaginary triumph, the vain deliverer of Gaul advanced into the provinces of the South, to encounter a more pressing and per­sonal danger. Sarus the Goth was ordered to lay the head of the rebel at the feet of the emperor Honorius; and the forces of Britain and Italy were unworthily consumed in this domestic quar­rel. [Page 231] After the loss of his two bravest generals, Justinian and Nevigastes, the former of whom was slain in the field of battle, the latter in a peaceful but treacherous interview, Constantine fortified himself within the walls of Vienna. The place was ineffectually attacked seven days; and the Imperial army supported, in a precipitate re­treat, the ignominy of purchasing a secure passage from the freebooters and outlaws of the Alps ⁹⁷. Those mountains now separated the dominions of two rival monarchs: and the fortifications of the double frontier were guarded by the troops of the empire, whose arms would have been more use­fully employed to maintain the Roman limits against the Barbarians of Germany and Scythia.

On the side of the Pyrenees, the ambition of He reduces Spain, A. D. 408. Constantine might be justified by the proximity of danger; but his throne was soon established by the conquest, or rather submission, of Spain; which yielded to the influence of regular and ha­bitual subordination, and received the laws and magistrates of the Gallic praefecture. The only opposition which was made to the authority of Constantine, proceeded not so much from the powers of government, or the spirit of the people, as from the private zeal and interest of the family of Theodosius. Four brothers ⁹⁸ had obtained, [Page 232] by the favour of their kinsman, the deceased em­peror, an honourable rank, and ample possessions, in their native country: and the grateful youths resolved to risk those advantages in the service of his son. After an unsuccessful effort to maintain their ground at the head of the stationary troops of Lusitania, they retired to their estates; where they armed and levied, at their own expence, a considerable body of slaves and dependents, and boldly marched to occupy the strong posts of the Pyrenaean mountains. This domestic insurrec­tion alarmed and perplexed the sovereign of Gaul and Britain; and he was compelled to negociate with some troops of Barbarian auxiliaries, for the service of the Spanish war. They were distin­guished by the title of Honorians ⁹⁹; a name which might have reminded them of their fidelity to their lawful sovereign; and if it should can­didly be allowed that the Scots were influenced by any partial affection for a British prince, the Moors and the Marcomanni could be tempted only by the profuse liberality of the usurper, who dis­tributed among the Barbarians the military, and even the civil, honours of Spain. The nine bands of Honorians, which may be easily traced on the establishment of the Western empire, could not exceed the number of five thousand [Page 233] men; yet this inconsiderable force was sufficient to terminate a war, which had threatened the power and safety of Constantine. The rustic army of the Theodosian family was surrounded and de­stroyed in the Pyrenees: two of the brothers had the good fortune to escape by sea to Italy, or the East; the other two, after an interval of suspence, were executed at Arles; and if Honorius could remain insensible of the public disgrace, he might perhaps be affected by the personal misfortunes of his generous kinsmen. Such were the feeble arms which decided the possession of the Western provinces of Europe, from the wall of Antoninus to the columns of Hercules. The events of peace and war have undoubtedly been diminished by the narrow and imperfect view of the historians of the times, who were equally ignorant of the causes, and of the effects, of the most important revolu­tions. But the total decay of the national strength had annihilated even the last resource of a despo­tic government; and the revenue of exhausted provinces could no longer purchase the military service of a discontented and pusillanimous people.

The poet, whose flattery has ascribed to the Negocia­tion of Alaric and Stilicho, A. D. 404—408. Roman eagle the victories of Pollentia and Ve­rona, pursues the hasty retreat of Alaric, from the confines of Italy, with a horrid train of ima­ginary spectres, such as might hover over an army of Barbarians, which was almost exterminated by war, famine, and disease ¹⁰⁰. In the course of [Page 234] this unfortunate expedition, the king of the Goths must indeed have sustained a considerable loss; and his harassed forces required an interval of re­pose to recruit their numbers, and revive their confidence. Adversity had exercised, and dis­played, the genius of Alaric; and the fame of his valour invited, to the Gothic standard, the bravest of the Barbarian warriors; who, from the Euxine to the Rhine, were agitated by the desire of rapine and conquest. He had deserved the esteem, and he soon accepted the friendship, of Stilicho himself. Renouncing the service of the emperor of the East, Alaric concluded, with the court of Ravenna, a treaty of peace and alliance, by which he was declared master-general of the Roman armies throughout the praefecture of Illyricum; as it was claimed, according to the true and an­cient limits, by the minister of Honorius ¹⁰¹. The execution of the ambitious design, which was either stipulated, or implied, in the articles of the treaty, appears to have been suspended by the formidable irruption of Radagaisus; and the neu­trality of the Gothic king may perhaps be com­pared to the indifference of Caesar, who, in the conspiracy of Catiline, refused either to assist, or to oppose, the enemy of the republic. After the defeat of the Vandals, Stilicho resumed his pre­tensions to the provinces of the East; appointed civil magistrates for the administration of justice, [Page 235] and of the finances; and declared his impatience to lead, to the gates of Constantinople, the united armies of the Romans and of the Goths. The prudence however of Stilicho, his aversion to civil war, and his perfect knowledge of the weakness of the state, may countenance the suspicion, that domestic peace, rather than foreign conquest, was the object of his policy; and, that his prin­cipal care was to employ the forces of Alaric at a distance from Italy. This design could not long escape the penetration of the Gothic king, who continued to hold a doubtful, and perhaps a treacherous correspondence, with the rival courts; who protracted, like a dissatisfied mercenary, his languid operations in Thessaly and Epirus, and who soon returned to claim the extravagant re­ward of his ineffectual services. From his camp near Aemona ¹⁰², on the confines of Italy, he transmitted to the emperor of the West, a long account of promises, of expences, and of de­mands; called for immediate satisfaction, and clearly intimated the consequences of a refusal. Yet if his conduct was hostile, his language was decent and dutiful. He humbly professed him­self the friend of Stilicho, and the soldier of Ho­norius; offered his person and his troops to march, without delay, against the usurper of [Page 236] Gaul; and solicited, as a permanent retreat for the Gothic nation, the possession of some vacant province of the Western empire.

The political and secret transactions of two statesmen, who laboured to deceive each other Debates of the Roman senate, A. D. 408. and the world, must for ever have been concealed in the impenetrable darkness of the cabinet, if the debates of a popular assembly had not thrown some rays of light on the correspondence of Alaric and Stilicho. The necessity of finding some arti­ficial support for a government, which, from a principle, not of moderation, but of weakness, was reduced to negociate with its own subjects, had insensibly revived the authority of the Roman senate: and the minister of Honorius respectfully consulted the legislative council of the republic. Stilicho assembled the senate in the palace of the Caesars; represented, in a studied oration, the actual state of affairs; proposed the demands of the Gothic king, and submitted to their con­sideration the choice of peace or war. The se­nators, as if they had been suddenly awakened from a dream of four hundred years, appeared on this important occasion to be inspired by the cou­rage, rather than by the wisdom, of their prede­cessors. They loudly declared, in regular speeches, or in tumultuary acclamations, that it was un­worthy of the majesty of Rome, to purchase a precarious and disgraceful truce from a Barbarian king; and that, in the judgment of a magnani­mous people, the chance of ruin was always pre­ferable to the certainty of dishonour. The mi­nister, [Page 237] whose pacific intentions were seconded only by the voices of a few servile and venal followers, attempted to allay the general ferment, by an apology for his own conduct, and even for the demands of the Gothic prince. ‘"The payment of a subsidy, which had excited the indignation of the Romans, ought not (such was the lan­guage of Stilicho) to be considered in the odious light, either of a tribute, or of a ransom, extorted by the menaces of a Barbarian enemy. Alaric had faithfully asserted the just preten­sions of the republic to the provinces which were usurped by the Greeks of Constantinople: he modestly required the fair and stipulated recompence of his services; and if he had de­sisted from the prosecution of his enterprise, he had obeyed, in his retreat, the peremptory, though private, letters of the emperor himself. These contradictory orders (he would not dis­semble the errors of his own family) had been procured by the intercession of Serena. The tender piety of his wife had been too deeply affected by the discord of the royal brothers, the sons of her adopted father; and the senti­ments of nature had too easily prevailed over the stern dictates of the public welfare."’ These ostensible reasons, which faintly disguise the ob­scure intrigues of the palace of Ravenna, were supported by the authority of Stilicho; and ob­tained, after a warm debate, the reluctant appro­bation of the senate. The tumult of virtue and freedom subsided; and the sum of four thousand pounds of gold was granted, under the name of [Page 238] a subsidy, to secure the peace of Italy, and to conciliate the friendship of the king of the Goths. Lampadius alone, one of the most illustrious members of the assembly, still persisted in his dis­sent; exclaimed with a loud voice, ‘"This is not a treaty of peace, but of servitude ¹⁰³;"’ and escaped the danger of such bold opposition by im­mediately retiring to the sanctuary of a Christian church.

But the reign of Stilicho drew towards its end; and the proud minister might perceive the symp­toms Intrigues of the pa­lace, A. D. 408, May. of his approaching disgrace. The generous boldness of Lampadius had been applauded; and the senate, so patiently resigned to a long servi­tude, rejected with disdain the offer of invidious and imaginary freedom. The troops, who still assumed the name and prerogatives of the Roman legions, were exasperated by the partial affection of Stilicho for the Barbarians: and the people im­puted to the mischievous policy of the minister, the public misfortunes, which were the natural con­sequence of their own degeneracy. Yet Stilicho might have continued to brave the clamours of the people, and even of the soldiers, if he could have maintained his dominion over the feeble mind of his pupil. But the respectful attachment of Honorius was converted into fear, suspicion, and hatred. The crafty Olympius ¹⁰⁴, who con­cealed [Page 239] his vices under the mask of Christian piety, had secretly undermined the benefactor, by whose favour he was promoted to the honourable offices of the Imperial palace. Olympius revealed to the unsuspecting emperor, who had attained the twenty-fifth year of his age, that he was without weight, or authority, in his own government; and artfully alarmed his timid and indolent dis­position by a lively picture of the designs of Stili­cho, who already meditated the death of his sove­reign, with the ambitious hope of placing the dia­dem on the head of his son Eucherius. The em­peror was instigated, by his new favourite, to as­sume the tone of independent dignity; and the minister was astonished to find, that secret reso­lutions were formed in the court and council, which were repugnant to his interest, or to his intentions. Instead of residing in the palace of Rome, Honorius declared, that it was his plea­sure to return to the secure fortress of Ravenna. On the first intelligence of the death of his bro­ther Arcadius, he prepared to visit Constantinople, and to regulate, with the authority of a guardian, the provinces of the infant Theodosius ¹⁰⁵. The [Page 240] representation of the difficulty and expence of such a distant expedition, checked this strange and sudden sally of active diligence; but the dangerous project of shewing the emperor to the camp of Pavia, which was composed of the Ro­man troops, the enemies of Stilicho, and his Barbarian auxiliaries, remained fixed and unal­terable. The minister was pressed, by the ad­vice of his confident Justinian, a Roman advo­cate, of a lively and penetrating genius, to op­pose a journey so prejudicial to his reputation and safety. His strenuous, but ineffectual, efforts confirmed the triumph of Olympius; and the prudent lawyer withdrew himself from the im­pending ruin of his patron.

In the passage of the emperor through Bologna, Disgrace and death of Stilicho, A. D. 408, Aug. 23. a mutiny of the guards was excited and appeased by the secret policy of Stilicho; who announced his instructions to decimate the guilty, and ascribed to his own intercession the merit of their par­don. After this tumult, Honorius embraced, for the last time, the minister whom he now con­sidered as a tyrant, and proceeded on his way to camp of Pavia; where he was received by the loyal acclamations of the troops who were as­sembled for the service of the Gallic war. On the morning of the fourth day, he pronounced, as he had been taught, a military oration in the presence of the soldiers, whom the charitable visits, and artful discourses, of Olympius had prepared to execute a dark and bloody conspiracy. At the first signal, they massacred the friends of Stilicho, the most illustrious officers of the em­pire; [Page 241] two Praetorian praefects, of Gaul, and of Italy; two masters-general, of the cavalry, and infantry; the master of the offices; the quaestor, the treasurer, and the count of the domestics. Many lives were lost; many houses were plunder­ed; the furious sedition continued to rage till the close of the evening; and the trembling em­peror, who was seen in the streets of Pavia, with­out his robes or diadem, yielded to the persuasions of his favourite; condemned the memory of the slain; and solemnly approved the innocence and fidelity of their assassins. The intelligence of the massacre of Pavia filled the mind of Stilicho with just and gloomy apprehensions: and he instantly summoned, in the camp of Bologna, a council of the confederate leaders, who were attached to his service, and would be involved in his ruin. The impetuous voice of the assembly called aloud for arms, and for revenge; to march, without a mo­ment's delay, under the banners of a hero, whom they had so often followed to victory; to surprise, to oppress, to extirpate the guilty Olympius, and his degenerate Romans; and perhaps to fix the diadem on the head of their injured general. Instead of executing a resolution, which might have been justified by success, Stilicho hesitated till he was irrecoverably lost. He was still igno­rant of the fate of the emperor; he distrusted the fidelity of his own party; and he viewed with horror the fatal consequences of arming a crowd of licentious Barbarians, against the soldiers and people of Italy. The confederates, impatient of [Page 242] his timorous and doubtful delay, hastily retired, with fear and indignation. At the hour of mid­night, Sarus, a Gothic warrior, renowned among the Barbarians themselves for his strength and va­lour, suddenly invaded the camp of his benefactor, plundered the baggage, cut in pieces the faithful Huns, who guarded his person, and penetrated to the tent, where the minister, pensive and sleep­less, meditated on the dangers of his situation. Stilicho escaped with difficulty from the sword of the Goths; and, after issuing a last and generous admonition to the cities of Italy, to shut their gates against the Barbarians, his confidence, or his despair, urged him to throw himself into Ra­venna, which was already in the absolute pos­session of his enemies. Olympius, who had as­sumed the dominion of Honorius, was speedily informed, that his rival had embraced, as a sup­pliant, the altar of the Christian church. The base and cruel disposition of the hypocrite was in­capable of pity or remorse; but he piously af­fected to elude, rather than to violate, the pri­vilege of the sanctuary. Count Heraclian, with a troop of soldiers, appeared, at the dawn of day, before the gates of the church of Ravenna. The bishop was satisfied by a solemn oath, that the Imperial mandate only directed them to secure the person of Stilicho: but, as soon as the un­fortunate minister had been tempted beyond the holy threshold, he produced the warrant for his instant execution. Stilicho supported, with calm resignation, the injurious names of traitor and [Page 243] parricide; repressed the unseasonable zeal of his followers, who were ready to attempt an inef­fectual rescue; and, with a firmness not unworthy of the last of the Roman generals, submitted his neck to the sword of Heraclian ¹⁰⁵.

The servile crowd of the palace, who had so His memo­ry perse­cuted. long adored the fortune of Stilicho, affected to insult his fall; and the most distant connection with the master-general of the West, which had so lately been a title to wealth and honours, was studiously denied, and rigorously punished. His family, united by a triple alliance with the family of Theodosius, might envy the condition of the meanest peasant. The flight of his son Eucherius was intercepted; and the death of that innocent youth soon followed the divorce of Thermantia, who filled the place of her sister Maria; and who, like Maria, had remained a virgin in the Imperial bed ¹⁰⁶. The friends of Stilicho, who had escaped the massacre of Pavia, were persecuted by the implacable revenge of Olympius: and the most exquisite cruelty was employed to extort the con­fession of a treasonable and sacrilegious con­spiracy. They died in silence: their firmness [Page 244] justified the choice ¹⁰⁷, and perhaps absolved the innocence of their patron; and the despotic power, which could take his life without a trial, and stigmatise his memory without a proof, has no jurisdiction over the impartial suffrage of posterity ¹⁰⁸. The services of Stilicho are great and manifest; his crimes, as they are vaguely stated in the language of flattery and hatred, are obscure, at least, and improbable. About four months after his death, an edict was published, in the name of Honorius, to restore the free com­munication of the two empires, which had been so long interrupted by the public enemy ¹⁰⁹. The minister, whose fame and fortune depended on the prosperity of the state, was accused of betraying Italy to the Barbarians; whom he repeatedly vanquished at Pollentia, at Verona, and before the walls of Florence. His pretended design of placing the diadem on the head of his son Euche­rius, could not have been conducted without pre­parations or accomplices; and the ambitious fa­ther would not surely have left the future em­peror, till the twentieth year of his age, in the [Page 245] humble station of tribune of the notaries. Even the religion of Stilicho was arraigned by the ma­lice of his rival. The seasonable, and almost miraculous, deliverance was devoutly celebrated by the applause of the clergy; who asserted, that the restoration of idols, and the persecution of the church, would have been the first measure of the reign of Eucherius. The son of Stilicho, how­ever, was educated in the bosom of Christianity, which his father had uniformly professed, and zealously supported ¹¹⁰. Serena had borrowed her magnificent necklace from the statue of Vesta ¹¹¹; and the Pagans execrated the memory of the sa­crilegious minister, by whose order the Sybilline books, the oracles of Rome, had been commit­ted to the flames ¹¹². The pride and power of Stilicho constituted his real guilt. An honour­able reluctance to shed the blood of his country­men, appears to have contributed to the success of his unworthy rival; and it is the last humilia­tion of the character of Honorius, that posterity has not condescended to reproach him with his [Page 246] base ingratitude to the guardian of his youth, and the support of his empire.

Among the train of dependents, whose wealth The poet Claudian. and dignity attracted the notice of their own times, our curiosity is excited by the celebrated name of the poet Claudian, who enjoyed the favour of Stilicho, and was overwhelmed in the ruin of his patron. The titular offices of tribune and notary fixed his rank in the Imperial court: he was in­debted to the powerful intercession of Serena for his marriage with a very rich heiress of the pro­vince of Africa ¹¹³; and the statue of Claudian, erected in the forum of Trajan, was a monument of the taste and liberality of the Roman senate ¹¹⁴. After the praises of Stilicho became offensive and criminal, Claudian was exposed to the enmity of a powerful and unforgiving courtier, whom he had provoked by the insolence of wit. He had compared, in a lively epigram, the opposite cha­racters of two Praetorian praefects of Italy; he contrasts the innocent repose of a philosopher, who sometimes resigned the hours of business to [Page 247] slumber, perhaps to study; with the interested diligence of a rapacious minister, indefatigable in the pursuit of unjust, or sacrilegious gain. ‘"How happy, continues Claudian, how happy might it be for the people of Italy, if Mallius could be constantly awake, and if Hadrian would always sleep ¹¹⁵!"’ The repose of Mallius was not disturbed by this friendly and gentle admonition; but the cruel vigilance of Hadrian watched the opportunity of revenge, and easily obtained, from the enemies of Stilicho, the trifling sacrifice of an obnoxious poet. The poet concealed himself, however, during the tumult of the revolution; and, consulting the dictates of prudence rather than of honour, he addressed, in the form of an epistle, a suppliant and humble recantation to the offended praefect. He deplores, in mournful strains, the fatal indiscretion into which he had been hurried by passion and folly; submits to the imitation of his adversary, the generous examples of the clemency of gods, of heroes, and of lions; and expresses his hope, that the magnanimity of Hadrian will not trample on a defenceless and contemptible foe, already humbled by disgrace [Page 248] and poverty; and deeply wounded by the exile, the tortures, and the death of his dearest friends ¹¹⁶. Whatever might be the success of his prayer, or the accidents of his future life, the period of a few years levelled in the grave the minister and the poet; but the name of Hadrian is almost sunk in oblivion, while Claudian is read with plea­sure in every country which has retained, or ac­quired, the knowledge of the Latin language. If we fairly balance his merits and his defects, we shall acknowledge, that Claudian does not either satisfy, or silence, our reason. It would not be easy to produce a passage that deserves the epithet of sublime or pathetic; to select a verse, that melts the heart, or enlarges the imagination. We should vainly seek, in the poems of Clau­dian, the happy invention, and artificial conduct, of an interesting fable; or the just and lively re­presentation of the characters and situations of real life. For the service of his patron, he published occasional panegyrics and invectives: and the de­sign of these slavish compositions encouraged his propensity to exceed the limits of truth and nature. These imperfections, however, are compensated in some degree by the poetical virtues of Clau­dian. He was endowed with the rare and pre­cious talent of raising the meanest, of adorning the most barren, and of diversifying the most simi­lar, topics: his colouring, more especially in de­scriptive poetry, is soft and splendid; and he [Page 249] seldom fails to display, and even to abuse, the advantages of a cultivated understanding, a co­pious fancy, an easy, and sometimes forcible, ex­pression; and a perpetual flow of harmonious versification. To these commendations, inde­pendent of any accidents of time and place, we must add the peculiar merit which Claudian de­rived from the unfavourable circumstances of his birth. In the decline of arts, and of empire, a native of Egypt ¹¹⁷, who had received the educa­tion of a Greek, assumed, in a mature age, the familiar use, and absolute command, of the La­tin language ¹¹⁸; soared above the heads of his feeble contemporaries; and placed himself, after an interval of three hundred years, among the poets of ancient Rome ¹¹⁹.

THE incapacity of a weak and distracted government may often assume the appear­ance, and produce the effects, of a treasonable Weakness of the court of Ravenna, A. D. 408, Sept. correspondence with the public enemy. If Alaric himself had been introduced into the council of Ravenna, he would probably have advised the same measures which were actually pursued by the ministers of Honorius ¹. The king of the Goths would have conspired, perhaps with some reluctance, to destroy the formidable adversary, by whose arms, in Italy as well as in Greece, he had been twice overthrown. Their active and in­terested hatred laboriously accomplished the dis­grace and ruin of the great Stilicho. The valour of Sarus, his fame in arms, and his personal, or hereditary, influence over the confederate Bar­barians, could recommend him only to the friends of their country, who despised, or detested, the worthless characters of Turpilio, Varanes, and Vigilantius. By the pressing instances of the new [Page 251] favourites, these generals, unworthy as they had shewn themselves of the name of soldiers ², were promoted to the command of the cavalry, of the infantry, and of the domestic troops. The Gothic prince would have subscribed with pleasure the edict which the fanaticism of Olympius dictated to the simple and devout emperor. Honorius excluded all persons, who were adverse to the catholic church, from holding any office in the state; obstinately rejected the service of all those who dissented from his religion; and rashly dis­qualified many of his bravest and most skilful officers, who adhered to the Pagan worship, or who had imbibed the opinions of Arianism ³. These measures, so advantageous to an enemy, Alaric would have approved, and might perhaps have suggested; but it may seem doubtful, whe­ther the Barbarian would have promoted his in­terest at the expence of the inhuman and absurd cruelty, which was perpetrated by the direction, or at least with the connivance, of the Imperial ministers. The foreign auxiliaries, who had been attached to the person of Stilicho, lamented his death; but the desire of revenge was checked by a natural apprehension for the safety of their [Page 252] wives and children; who were detained as host­ages in the strong cities of Italy, where they had likewise deposited their most valuable effects. At the same hour, and as if by a common signal, the cities of Italy were polluted by the same horrid scenes of universal massacre and pillage, which in­volved, in promiscuous destruction, the families and fortunes of the Barbarians. Exasperated by such an injury, which might have awakened the tamest and most servile spirit, they cast a look of indignation and hope towards the camp of Alaric, and unanimously swore to pursue, with just and implacable war, the perfidious nation, that had so basely violated the laws of hospitality. By the imprudent conduct of the ministers of Hono­rius, the republic lost the assistance, and deserved the enmity, of thirty thousand of her bravest sol­diers: and the weight of that formidable army, which alone might have determined the event of the war, was transferred from the scale of the Ro­mans into that of the Goths.

In the arts of negociation, as well as in those of war, the Gothic king maintained his superior Alaric marches to Rome, A. D. 408, Oct. &c. ascendant over an enemy, whose seeming changes proceeded from the total want of counsel and de­sign. From his camp, on the confines of Italy, Alaric attentively observed the revolutions of the palace, watched the progress of faction and dis­content, disguised the hostile aspect of a Barbarian invader, and assumed the more popular appear­ance of the friend and ally of the great Stilicho; to whose virtues, when they were no longer formidable, he could pay a just tribute of sincere [Page 253] praise and regret. The pressing invitation of the malcontents, who urged the king of the Goths to invade Italy, was enforced by a lively sense of his personal injuries; and he might speciously com­plain, that the Imperial ministers still delayed and eluded the payment of the four thousand pounds of gold; which had been granted by the Roman senate, either to reward his services, or to appease his fury. His decent firmness was supported by an artful moderation, which contributed to the success of his designs. He required a fair and reasonable satisfaction; but he gave the strongest assurances, that, as soon as he had obtained it, he would immediately retire. He refused to trust the faith of the Romans, unless Aetius and Jason, the sons of two great officers of state, were sent as hostages to his camp: but he offered to de­liver, in exchange, several of the noblest youths of the Gothic nation. The modesty of Alaric was interpreted, by the ministers of Ravenna, as a sure evidence of his weakness and fear. They disdained either to negociate a treaty, or to assemble an army; and with a rash confidence, derived only from their ignorance of the extreme danger, irretrievably wasted the decisive moments of peace and war. While they expected, in sullen silence, that the Barbarians should evacuate the confines of Italy, Alaric, with bold and rapid marches, passed the Alps and the Po; hastily pillaged the cities of Aquileia, Altinum, Concordia, and Cremona, which yielded to his arms; increased his forces by the accession of thirty thousand [Page 254] auxiliaries; and, without meeting a single enemy in the field, advanced as far as the edge of the morass which protected the impregnable resi­dence of the emperor of the West. Instead of attempting the hopeless siege of Ravenna, the prudent leader of the Goths proceeded to Rimini, stretched his ravages along the sea-coast of the Hadriatic, and meditated the conquest of the ancient mistress of the world. An Italian her­mit, whose zeal and sanctity were respected by the Barbarians themselves, encountered the vic­torious monarch, and boldly denounced the in­dignation of heaven against the oppressors of the earth: but the saint himself was confounded by the solemn asseveration of Alaric, that he felt a secret and praeternatural impulse, which directed, and even compelled, his march to the gates of Rome. He felt, that his genius and his fortune were equal to the most arduous enterprises; and the enthusiasm which he communicated to the Goths, insensibly removed the popular, and al­most superstitious, reverence of the nations for the majesty of the Roman name. His troops, animated by the hopes of spoil, followed the course of the Flaminian way, occupied the un­guarded passes of the Apennine ⁴, descended into the rich plains of Umbria; and, as they lay en­camped on the banks of the Clitumnus, might [Page 255] wantonly slaughter and devour the milk-white oxen, which had been so long reserved for the use of Roman triumphs ⁵. A lofty situation, and a seasonable tempest of thunder and lightning, preserved the little city of Narni; but the king of the Goths, despising the ignoble prey, still ad­vanced with unabated vigour; and after he had passed through the stately arches, adorned with the spoils of Barbaric victories, he pitched his camp under the walls of Rome ⁶.

During a period of six hundred and nineteen Hannibal at the gates of Rome. years, the seat of empire had never been vio­lated by the presence of a foreign enemy. The unsuccessful expedition of Hannibal ⁷, served only to display the character of the senate and people; of a senate degraded, rather than en­nobled, by the comparison of an assembly of kings; and of a people, to whom the ambassador of Pyrrhus ascribed the inexhaustible resources of the Hydra ⁸. Each of the senators, in the time [Page 256] of the Punic war, had accomplished his term of military service, either in a subordinate or a su­perior station; and the decree, which invested with temporary command all those who had been consuls, or censors, or dictators, gave the repub­lic the immediate assistance of many brave and experienced generals. In the beginning of the war, the Roman people consisted of two hundred and fifty thousand citizens of an age to bear arms ⁹. Fifty thousand had already died in the defence of their country; and the twenty-three legions which were employed in the different camps of Italy, Greece, Sardinia, Sicily, and Spain, re­quired about one hundred thousand men. But there still remained an equal number in Rome, and the adjacent territory, who were animated by the same intrepid courage; and every citizen was trained, from his earliest youth, in the discipline and exercises of a soldier. Hannibal was asto­nished by the constancy of the senate, who, with­out [Page 257] raising the siege of Capua, or recalling their scattered forces, expected his approach. He en­camped on the banks of the Anio, at the distance of three miles from the city: and he was soon informed, that the ground on which he had pitch­ed his tent, was sold for an adequate price at a public auction; and that a body of troops was dismissed by an opposite road, to reinforce the legions of Spain ¹⁰. He led his Africans to the gates of Rome, where he found three armies in order of battle, prepared to receive him; but Hannibal dreaded the event of a combat, from which he could not hope to escape, unless he de­stroyed the last of his enemies; and his speedy retreat confessed the invincible courage of the Romans.

From the time of the Punic war, the uninter­rupted Genealo­gy of tho senators. succession of senators had preserved the name and image of the republic; and the dege­nerate subjects of Honorius ambitiously derived their descent from the heroes who had repulsed the arms of Hannibal, and subdued the nations of the earth. The temporal honours, which the devout Paula ¹¹ inherited and despised, are care­fully recapitulated by Jerom, the guide of her [Page 258] conscience, and the historian of her life. The genealogy of her father, Rogatus, which ascend­ed as high as Agamemnon, might seem to betray a Grecian origin; but her mother, Blaesilla, num­bered the Scipios, Aemilius Paulus, and the Grac­chi, in the list of her ancestors; and Toxotius, the husband of Paula, deduced his royal lineage from Aeneas, the father of the Julian line. The vanity of the rich, who desired to be noble, was gratified by these lofty pretensions. Encouraged by the applause of their parasites, they easily im­posed on the credulity of the vulgar; and were countenanced, in some measure, by the custom of adopting the name of their patron, which had al­ways prevailed among the freedmen and clients of illustrious families. Most of those families, however, attacked by so many causes of external violence or internal decay, were gradually extir­pated: and it would be more reasonable to seek for a lineal descent of twenty generations, among the mountains of the Alps, or in the peaceful solitude of Apulia, than on the theatre of Rome, the seat of fortune, of danger, and of perpetual revolutions. Under each successive reign, and from every province of the empire, a crowd of hardy adventurers, rising to eminence by their talents or their vices, usurped the wealth, the honours, and the palaces of Rome; and oppress­ed, or protected, the poor and humble remains of consular families; who were ignorant, per­haps, of the glory of their ancestors ¹².

[Page 259] In the time of Jerom and Claudian, the sena­tors unanimously yielded the pre-eminence to the Anician line; and a slight view of their history The Ani­cian fa­mily. will serve to appreciate the rank and antiquity of the noble families, which contended only for the second place ¹³. During the five first ages of the city, the name of the Anicians was unknown; they appear to have derived their origin from Praeneste; and the ambition of those new citizens was long satisfied with the Plebeian honours of tribunes of the people ¹⁴. One hundred and sixty-eight years before the Christian aera, the family was ennobled by the Praetorship of Anicius, who gloriously terminated the Illyrian war by the conquest of the nation, and the captivity of their king ¹⁵. From the triumph of that general, three consul­ships, in distant periods, mark the succession of the Anician name ¹⁶. From the reign of Diocle­tian [Page 260] to the final extinction of the Western em­pire, that name shone with a lustre which was not eclipsed in the public estimation, by the majesty of the Imperial purple ¹⁷. The several branches, to whom it was communicated, united, by mar­riage or inheritance, the wealth and titles of the Annian, the Petronian, and the Olybrian houses; and in each generation the number of consulships was multiplied by an hereditary claim ¹⁸. The Anician family excelled in faith and in riches: they were the first of the Roman senate who em­braced Christianity; and it is probable that Anicius Julian, who was afterwards consul and praefect of the city, atoned for his attachment to the party of Maxentius, by the readiness with which he accepted the religion of Constantine ¹⁹. Their ample patrimony was increased by the in­dustry [Page 261] of Probus, the chief of the Anician fa­mily; who shared with Gratian the honours of the consulship, and exercised, four times, the high office of Praetorian praefect ²⁰. His immense estates were scattered over the wide extent of the Roman world; and though the public might suspect, or disapprove, the methods, by which they had been acquired; the generosity and mag­nificence of that fortunate statesman deserved the gratitude of his clients, and the admiration of strangers ²¹. Such was the respect entertained for his memory, that the two sons of Probus, in their earliest youth, and at the request of the se­nate, were associated in the consular dignity: a memorable distinction, without example, in the annals of Rome ²².

The marbles of the Anician palace," were Wealth of the Roman nobles. used as a proverbial expression of opulence and splendour ²³; but the nobles and senators of Rome [Page 262] aspired, in due gradation, to imitate that illus­trious family. The accurate description of the city, which was composed in the Theodosian age, enumerates one thousand seven hundred and eighty houses, the residence of wealthy and ho­nourable citizens ²⁴. Many of these stately man­sions might almost excuse the exaggeration of the poet; that Rome contained a multitude of pa­laces, and that each palace was equal to a city: since it included within its own precincts, every thing which could be subservient either to use or luxury; markets, hippodromes, temples, foun­tains, baths, porticos, shady groves, and artificial aviaries ²⁵. The historian Olympiodorus, who represents the state of Rome when it was besieged by the Goths ²⁶, continues to observe, that seve­ral of the richest senators received from their estates an annual income of four thousand pounds of gold, above one hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling; without computing the stated provision of corn and wine, which, had they been sold, might have equalled in value one third of [Page 263] the money. Compared to this immoderate wealth, an ordinary revenue of a thousand or fifteen hun­dred pounds of gold might be considered as no more than adequate to the dignity of the sena­torian rank, which required many expences of a public and ostentatious kind. Several examples are recorded in the age of Honorius, of vain and popular nobles who celebrated the year of their praetorship, by a festival, which lasted seven days, and cost above one hundred thousand pounds sterling ²⁷. The estates of the Roman senators, which so far exceeded the proportion of modern wealth, were not confined to the limits of Italy. Their possessions extended far beyond the Ionian and Aegean seas, to the most distant provinces; the city of Nicopolis, which Augustus had found­ed as an eternal monument of the Actian victory, was the property of the devout Paula ²⁸; and it is [Page 264] observed by Seneca, that the rivers, which had divided hostile nations, now flowed through the lands of private citizens ²⁹. According to their temper and circumstances, the estates of the Ro­mans were either cultivated by the labour of their slaves, or granted, for a certain and stipulated rent, to the industrious farmer. The oeconomi­cal writers of antiquity strenuously recommend the former method, wherever it may be practi­cable; but if the object should be removed, by its distance or magnitude, from the immediate eye of the master, they prefer the active care of an old hereditary tenant, attached to the soil, and interested in the produce, to the mercenary ad­ministration of a negligent, perhaps an unfaith­ful, steward ³⁰.

The opulent nobles of an immense capital, Their manners. who were never excited by the pursuit of military glory, and seldom engaged in the occupations of civil government, naturally resigned their leisure to the business and amusements of private life. At Rome, commerce was always held in con­tempt: [Page 265] but the senators, from the first age of the republic, increased their patrimony, and mul­tiplied their clients, by the lucrative practice of usury; and the obsolete laws were eluded, or violated, by the mutual inclinations and interest of both parties ³¹. A considerable mass of trea­sure must always have existed at Rome, either in the current coin of the empire, or in the form of gold and silver plate; and there were many side­boards in the time of Pliny, which contained more solid silver, than had been transported by Scipio from vanquished Carthage ³². The great­er part of the nobles, who dissipated their for­tunes in profuse luxury, found themselves poor in the midst of wealth; and idle in a constant round of dissipation. Their desires were continually gratified by the labour of a thousand hands; of the numerous train of their domestic slaves, who were actuated by the fear of punishment; and of the various professions of artificers and merchants, who were more powerfully impelled by the hopes of gain. The ancients were destitute of many of the conveniencies of life, which have been in­vented or improved by the progress of industry; and the plenty of glass and linen has diffused more [Page 266] real comforts among the modern nations of Eu­rope, than the senators of Rome could derive from all the refinements of pompous or sensual lux­ury ³³. Their luxury, and their manners, have been the subject of minute and laborious disqui­sition: but as such enquiries would divert me too long from the design of the present work, I shall produce an authentic state of Rome and its inha­bitants, which is more peculiarly applicable to the period of the Gothic invasion. Ammianus Marcellinus, who prudently chose the capital of the empire, as the residence the best adapted to the historian of his own times, has mixed with the narrative of public events, a lively representa­tion of the scenes with which he was familiarly conversant. The judicious reader will not always approve the asperity of censure, the choice of circumstances, or the style of expression: he will perhaps detect the latent prejudices, and personal resentments, which soured the temper of Am­mianus himself; but he will surely observe, with philosophic curiosity, the interesting and original picture of the manners of Rome ³⁴.

[Page 267] ‘"The greatness of Rome (such is the lan­guage of the historian) was founded on the rare, and almost incredible, alliance of virtue Character of the Ro­man no­bles, by Ammia­nus Mar­cellinus. and of fortune. The long period of her in­fancy was employed in a laborious struggle against the tribes of Italy, the neighbours and enemies of the rising city. In the strength and ardour of youth, she sustained the storms of war; carried her victorious arms beyond the seas and the mountains; and brought home triumphal laurels from every country of the globe. At length, verging towards old age, and sometimes conquering by the terror only of her name, she sought the blessings of ease and tranquillity. The VENERABLE CITY, which had trampled on the necks of the fiercest na­tions; and established a system of laws, the perpetual guardians of justice and freedom; was content, like a wise and wealthy parent, to devolve on the Caesars, her favourite sons, the care of governing her ample patrimony ³⁵. A secure and profound peace, such as had been once enjoyed in the reign of Numa, succeeded to the tumults of a republic: while Rome was still adored as the queen of the earth; and the subject nations still reverenced the name of the people, and the majesty of the senate. But [Page 268] this native splendour (continues Ammianus) is degraded, and sullied, by the conduct of some nobles; who, unmindful of their own dignity, and of that of their country, assume an un­bounded licence of vice and folly. They con­tend with each other in the empty vanity of titles and surnames; and curiously select, or invent, the most lofty and sonorous appella­tions, Reburrus, or Fabunius, Pagonius, or Tarrasius ³⁶, which may impress the ears of the vulgar with astonishment and respect. From a vain ambition of perpetuating their memory, they affect to multiply their likeness, in statues of bronze and marble; nor are they satisfied, unless those statues are covered with plates of gold: an honourable distinction, first granted to Acilius the consul, after he had subdued, by his arms and counsels, the power of king An­tiochus. The ostentation of displaying, of magnifying perhaps, the rent-roll of the estates which they possess in all the provinces, from the rising to the setting sun, provokes the just resentment of every man, who recollects, that their poor and invincible ancestors were not distinguished from the meanest of the soldiers, by the delicacy of their food, or the splendour [Page 269] of their apparel. But the modern nobles mea­sure their rank and consequence according to the loftiness of their chariots ³⁷, and the weighty magnificence of their dress. Their long robes of silk and purple float in the wind; and as they are agitated, by art or accident, they oc­casionally discover the under garments, the rich tunics, embroidered with the figures of various animals ³⁸. Followed by a train of fifty servants, and tearing up the pavement, they move along the streets with the same im­petuous speed as if they travelled with post­horses; and the example of the senators is boldly imitated by the matrons and ladies, whose co­vered carriages are continually driving round the immense space of the city and suburbs. Whenever these persons of high distinction condescend to visit the public baths, they as­sume, on their entrance, a tone of loud and [Page 270] insolent command, and appropriate to their own use the conveniencies which were design­ed for the Roman people. If, in these places of mixed and general resort, they meet any of the infamous ministers of their pleasures, they express their affection by a tender embrace; while they proudly decline the salutations of their fellow-citizens, who are not permitted to aspire above the honour of kissing their hands, or their knees. As soon as they have indulged themselves in the refreshment of the bath, they resume their rings, and the other ensigns of their dignity; select from their private ward­robe of the finest linen, such as might suffice for a dozen persons, the garments the most agreeable to their fancy, and maintain till their departure the same haughty demeanour; which perhaps might have been excused in the great Marcellus, after the conquest of Syracuse. Sometimes, indeed, these heroes undertake more arduous atchievements; they visit their estates in Italy, and procure themselves, by the toil of servile hands, the amusements of the chace ³⁹. If at any time, but more especially on a hot day, they have courage to sail, in their painted gallies, from the Lucrine lake ⁴⁰ [Page 271] to their elegant villas on the sea-coast of Pu­teoli and Cayeta ⁴¹, they compare their own expeditions to the marches of Caesar and Alex­ander. Yet should a fly presume to settle on the silken folds of their gilded umbrellas; should a sun-beam penetrate through some un­guarded and imperceptible chink, they deplore their intolerable hardships, and lament, in af­fected language, that they were not born in the land of the Cimmerians ⁴², the regions of eternal darkness. In these journies into the country ⁴³, the whole body of the household marches with their master. In the same man­ner [Page 272] as the cavalry and infantry, the heavy and the light armed troops, the advanced guard and the rear, are marshalled by the skill of their military leaders; so the domestic officers, who bear a rod, as an ensign of authority, dis­tribute and arrange the numerous train of slaves and attendants. The baggage and ward­robe move in the front; and are immediately followed by a multitude of cooks, and inferior ministers, employed in the service of the kit­chens, and of the table. The main body is composed of a promiscuous crowd of slaves, increased by the accidental concourse of idle or dependent plebeians. The rear is closed by the favourite band of eunuchs, distributed from age to youth, according to the order of se­niority. Their numbers, and their deformity, excite the horror of the indignant spectators, who are rèady to execrate the memory of Se­miramis, for the cruel art which she invented, of frustrating the purposes of nature, and of blasting in the bud the hopes of future gene­rations. In the exercise of domestic jurisdic­tion, the nobles of Rome express an exquisite sensibility for any personal injury, and a con­temptuous indifference for the rest of the human species. When they have called for warm wa­ter, if a slave has been tardy in his obedience, he is instantly chastised with three hundred lashes: but should the same slave commit a wilful murder, the master will mildly observe, that he is a worthless fellow; but that, if he repeats the offence, he shall not escape punish­ment. [Page 273] Hospitality was formerly the virtue of the Romans; and every stranger, who could plead either merit or misfortune, was relieved, or rewarded, by their generosity. At present, if a foreigner, perhaps of no contemptible rank, is introduced to one of the proud and wealthy senators, he is welcomed indeed in the first audience, with such warm professions, and such kind enquiries, that he retires, enchanted with the affability of his illustrious friend, and full of regret that he had so long delayed his journey to Rome, the native seat of man­ners, as well as of empire. Secure of a favour­able reception, he repeats his visit the ensuing day, and is mortified by the discovery, that his person, his name, and his country, are already forgotten. If he still has resolution to perse­vere, he is gradually numbered in the train of dependents, and obtains the permission to pay his assiduous and unprofitable court to a haugh­ty patron, incapable of gratitude or friendship; who scarcely deigns to remark his presence, his departure, or his return. Whenever the rich prepare a solemn and popular entertainment ⁴⁴; whenever they celebrate, with profuse and per­nicious [Page 274] luxury, their private banquets; the choice of the guests is the subject of anxi­ous deliberation. The modest, the sober, and the learned, are seldom preferred; and the nomenclators, who are commonly swayed by interested motives, have the address to insert in the list of invitations, the obscure names of the most worthless of mankind. But the fre­quent and familiar companions of the great, are those parasites, who practise the most use­ful of all arts, the art of flattery; who eagerly applaud each word, and every action of their immortal patron; gaze with rapture on his marble columns, and variegated pavements; and strenuously praise the pomp and elegance, which he is taught to consider as a part of his personal merit. At the Roman tables, the birds, the squirrels ⁴⁵, or the fish, which appear [Page 275] of an uncommon size, are contemplated with curious attention; a pair of scales is accurately applied, to ascertain their real weight; and, while the more rational guests are disgusted by the vain and tedious repetition, notaries are summoned to attest, by an authentic record, the truth of such a marvellous event. Another method of introduction into the houses and society of the great, is derived from the pro­fession of gaming, or, as it is more politely styled, of play. The confederates are united by a strict and indissoluble bond of friendship, or rather of conspiracy; a superior degree of skill in the Tesserarian art (which may be in­terpreted the game of dice and tables ⁴⁶) is a sure road to wealth and reputation. A master of that sublime science, who in a supper, or assembly, is placed below a magistrate, displays in his countenance the surprise and indignation, which Cato might be supposed to feel, when he was refused the praetorship by the votes of a capricious people. The acquisition of know­ledge [Page 276] seldom engages the curiosity of the no­bles, who abhor the fatigue, and disdain the advantages, of study; and the only books which they peruse are the satires of Juvenal, and the verbose and fabulous histories of Marius Maxi­mus ⁴⁷. The libraries, which they have inhe­rited from their fathers, are secluded, like dreary sepulchres, from the light of day ⁴⁸. But the costly instruments of the theatre, flutes, and enormous lyres, and hydraulic organs, are constructed for their use; and the harmony of vocal and instrumental music is incessantly repeated in the palaces of Rome. In those palaces, sound is preferred to sense, and the care of the body to that of the mind. It is allowed as a salutary maxim, that the light and frivolous suspicion of a contagious malady, is of sufficient weight to excuse the visits of the most intimate friends; and even the servants, who are dispatched to make the decent enqui­ries, are not suffered to return home, till they have undergone the ceremony of a previous ablution. Yet this selfish and unmanly deli­cacy occasionally yields to the more imperious passion of avarice. The prospect of gain will [Page 277] urge a rich and gouty senator as far as Spoleto; every sentiment of arrogance and dignity is subdued by the hopes of an inheritance, or even of a legacy; and a wealthy, childless, citizen is the most powerful of the Romans. The art of obtaining the signature of a favour­able testament, and sometimes of hastening the moment of its execution, is perfectly under­stood; and it has happened, that in the same house, though in different apartments, a hus­band and a wife, with the laudable design of over-reaching each other, have summoned their respective lawyers, to declare, at the same time, their mutual, but contradictory, inten­tions. The distress which follows and chastises extravagant luxury, often reduces the great to the use of the most humiliating expedients. When they desire to borrow, they employ the base and supplicating style of the slave in the comedy; but when they are called upon to pay, they assume the royal and tragic declama­tion of the grandsons of Hercules. If the de­mand is repeated, they readily procure some trusty sycophant, instructed to maintain a charge of poison, or magic, against the insolent cre­ditor; who is seldom released from prison, till he has signed a discharge of the whole debt. These vices, which degrade the moral character of the Romans, are mixed with a puerile super­stition, that disgraces their understanding. They listen with confidence to the predictions of haruspices, who pretend to read, in the en­trails [Page 278] of victims, the signs of future greatness and prosperity; and there are many who do not presume either to bathe, or to dine, or to appear in public, till they have diligently consulted, according to the rules of astrology, the situa­tion of Mercury, and the aspect of the moon ⁴⁸. It is singular enough, that this vain credulity may often be discovered among the prophane sceptics, who impiously doubt, or deny, the existence of a celestial power."’

In populous cities, which are the seat of commerce and manufactures, the middle ranks State and character of the people of Rome. of inhabitants, who derive their subsistence from the dexterity, or labour, of their hands, are com­monly the most prolific, the most useful, and, in that sense, the most respectable, part of the com­munity. But the plebeians of Rome, who dis­dained such sedentary and servile arts, had been oppressed, from the earliest times, by the weight of debt and usury; and the husbandman, during the term of his military service, was obliged to abandon the cultivation of his farm ⁴⁹. The lands of Italy, which had been originally divided among the families of free and indigent proprietors, were insensibly purchased, or usurped, by the [Page 279] avarice of the nobles; and in the age which pre­ceded the fall of the republic, it was computed, that only two thousand citizens were possessed of any independent substance ⁵⁰. Yet as long as the people bestowed, by their suffrages, the honours of the state, the command of the legions, and the administration of wealthy provinces, their conscious pride alleviated, in some measure, the hardships of poverty; and their wants were sea­sonably supplied by the ambitious liberality of the candidates, who aspired to secure a venal ma­jority in the thirty-five tribes, or the hundred and ninety-three centuries, of Rome. But when the prodigal commons had imprudently alienated not only the use, but the inheritance, of power, they sunk, under the reign of the Caesars, into a vile and wretched populace, which must, in a few generations, have been totally extinguished, if it had not been continually recruited by the manu­mission of slaves, and the influx of strangers. As early as the time of Hadrian, it was the just com­plaint of the ingenuous natives, that the capital had attracted the vices of the universe, and the manners of the most opposite nations. The in­temperance of the Gauls, the cunning and levity of the Greeks, the savage obstinacy of the Egyp­tians and Jews, the servile temper of the Asiatics, [Page 280] and the dissolute, effeminate prostitution of the Syrians, were mingled in the various multitude; which, under the proud and false denomination of Romans, presumed to despise their fellow­subjects, and even their sovereigns, who dwelt beyond the precincts of the ETERNAL CITY ⁵¹.

Yet the name of that city was still pronounced with respect: the frequent and capricious tumults Public dis­tribution of bread, bacon, oil, wine, &c. of its inhabitants were indulged with impunity; and the successors of Constantine, instead of crush­ing the last remains of the democracy, by the strong arm of military power, embraced the mild policy of Augustus, and studied to relieve the poverty, and to amuse the idleness, of an innu­merable people ⁵². I. For the convenience of the lazy plebeians, the monthly distributions of corn [Page 281] were converted into a daily allowance of bread; a great number of ovens were constructed and maintained at the public expence; and at the appointed hour, each citizen, who was furnished with a ticket, ascended the flight of steps, which had been assigned to his peculiar quarter or divi­sion, and received, either as a gift, or at a very low price, a loaf of bread of the weight of three pounds, for the use of his family. II. The fo­rests of Lucania, whose acorns fattened large droves of wild hogs ⁵³, afforded, as a species of tribute, a plentiful supply of cheap and whole­some meat. During five months of the year, a regular allowance of bacon was distributed to the poorer citizens; and the annual consumption of the capital, at a time when it was much declined from its former lustre, was ascertained, by an edict of Valentinian the Third, at three millions six hundred and twenty-eight thousand pounds ⁵⁴. III. In the manners of antiquity, the use of oil was indispensable for the lamp, as well as for the bath; and the annual tax, which was imposed on Africa for the benefit of Rome, amounted to the weight of three millions of pounds, to the mea­sure, perhaps, of three hundred thousand English gallons. IV. The anxiety of Augustus to provide [Page 282] the metropolis with sufficient plenty of corn, was not extended beyond that necessary article of human subsistence; and when the popular clamour ac­cused the dearness and scarcity of wine, a procla­mation was issued, by the grave reformer, to re­mind his subjects, that no man could reasonably complain of thirst, since the aqueducts of Agrippa had introduced into the city so many copious streams of pure and salubrious water ⁵⁵. This rigid sobriety was insensibly relaxed; and, al­though the generous design of Aurelian ⁵⁶ does not appear to have been executed in its full ex­tent, the use of wine was allowed on very easy and liberal terms. The administration of the public cellars was delegated to a magistrate of honourable rank; and a considerable part of the vintage of Campania was reserved for the for­tunate inhabitants of Rome.

The stupendous aqueducts, so justly celebrated Use of the public baths. by the praises of Augustus himself, replenished the Thermae, or baths, which had been constructed in every part of the city, with Imperial magnifi­cence. The baths of Antoninus Caracalla, which were open, at stated hours, for the indiscriminate service of the senators and the people, contained above sixteen hundred seats of marble; and more [Page 283] than three thousand were reckoned in the baths of Diocletian ⁵⁷. The walls of the lofty apart­ments were covered with curious mosaics, that imitated the art of the pencil in the elegance of design, and the variety of colours. The Egyp­tian granite was beautifully incrusted with the precious green marble of Numidia; the per­petual stream of hot water was poured into the capacious basons, through so many mide mouths of bright and massy silver; and the meanest Ro­man could purchase, with a small copper coin, the daily enjoyment of a scene of pomp and luxury, which might excite the envy of the kings of Asia ⁵⁸. From these stately palaces issued a swarm of dirty and ragged plebeians, without shoes, and without a mantle; who loitered away whole days in the street or Forum, to hear news, and to hold disputes; who dissipated, in extravagant gaming, the miserable pittance of their wives and children; and spent the hours of the night in obscure taverns, and brothels, in the indulgence of gross and vul­gar sensuality ⁵⁹.

[Page 284] But the most lively and splendid amusement of the idle multitude, depended on the frequent ex­hibition of public games and spectacles. The Games and spec­tacles. piety of Christian princes had suppressed the in­human combats of gladiators; but the Roman people still considered the Circus as their home, their temple, and the seat of the republic. The impatient crowd rushed at the dawn of day to se­cue their places, and there were many who passed a sleepless and anxious night in the adjacent por­ticos. From the morning to the evening, care­less of the sun, or of the rain, the spectators, who sometimes amounted to the number of four hun­dred thousand, remained in eager attention; their eyes fixed on the horses and charioteers, their minds agitated with hope and fear, for the success of the colours which they espoused: and the hap­piness of Rome appeared to hang on the event of a race ⁶⁰. The same immoderate ardour inspired their clamours, and their applause, as often as they were entertained with the hunting of wild beasts, and the various modes of theatrical re­presentation. These representations in modern capitals may deserve to be considered as a pure and elegant school of taste, and perhaps of vir­tue. But the Tragic and Comic Muse of the Ro­mans, [Page 285] who seldom aspired beyond the imitation of Attic genius ⁶¹, had been almost totally silent since the fall of the republic ⁶²; and their place was unworthily occupied by licentious farce, ef­feminate music, and splendid pageantry. The pantomimes ⁶³, who maintained their reputation from the age of Augustus to the sixth century, expressed, without the use of words, the various fables of the gods and heroes of antiquity; and the perfection of their art, which sometimes dis­armed the gravity of the philosopher, always ex­cited the applause and wonder of the people. The vast and magnificent theatres of Rome were filled by three thousand female dancers, and by three thousand singers, with the masters of the respective chorusses. Such was the popular fa­vour which they enjoyed, that, in a time of scarcity, when all strangers were banished from the city, the merit of contributing to the public [Page 286] pleasures exempted them from a law, which was strictly executed against the professors of the liberal arts ⁶⁴.

It is said, that the foolish curiosity of Elaga­balus attempted to discover, from the quantity of Populous­ness of Rome. spiders webs, the number of the inhabitants of Rome. A more rational method of enquiry might not have been undeserving of the attention of the wisest princes, who could easily have re­solved a question so important for the Roman go­vernment, and so interesting to succeeding ages. The births and deaths of the citizens were duly registered; and if any writer of antiquity had condescended to mention the annual amount, or the common average, we might now produce some satisfactory calculation, which would destroy the extravagant assertions of critics, and perhaps confirm the modest and probable conjectures of philosophers ⁶⁵. The most diligent researches have collected only the following circumstances; which, slight and imperfect as they are, may tend, in some degree, to illustrate the question of the populousness of ancient Rome. I. When the capital of the empire was besieged by the [Page 287] Goths, the circuit of the walls was accurately measured, by Ammonius, the mathematician, who found it equal to twenty-one miles ⁶⁶. It should not be forgotten, that the form of the city was almost that of a circle; the geometrical figure which is known to contain the largest space within any given circumference. II. The archi­tect Vitruvius, who flourished in the Augustan age, and whose evidence, on this occasion, has peculiar weight and authority, observes, that the innumerable habitations of the Roman people would have spread themselves far beyond the nar­row limits of the city; and that the want of ground, which was probably contracted on every side by gardens and villas, suggested the common, though inconvenient, practice of raising the houses to a considerable height in the air ⁶⁷. But the loftiness of these buildings, which often consisted of hasty work, and insufficient materials, was the cause of frequent and fatal accidents; and it was repeatedly enacted by Augustus, as well as by Nero, that the height of private edifices, within the walls of Rome, should not exceed the mea­sure of seventy feet from the ground ⁶⁸. III. Ju­venal ⁶⁹ [Page 288] laments, as it should seem from his own experience, the hardships of the poorer citizens, to whom he addresses the salutary advice of emi­grating, without delay, from the smoke of Rome; since they might purchase, in the little towns of Italy, a cheerful commodious dwelling, at the same price which they annually paid for a dark and miserable lodging. House-rent was there­fore immoderately dear: the rich acquired, at an enormous expence, the ground, which they co­vered with palaces and gardens; but the body of the Roman people was crowded into a narrow space; and the different floors, and apartments, of the same house, were divided, as it is still the custom of Paris, and other cities, among several families of plebeians. IV. The total number of houses in the fourteen regions of the city, is ac­curately stated in the description of Rome, com­posed under the reign of Theodosius, and they amount to forty-eight thousand three hundred and [Page 289] eighty-two ⁷⁰. The two classes of domus and of insulae, into which they are divided, include all the habitations of the capital, of every rank and condition, from the marble palace of the Anicii, with a numerous establishment of freedmen and slaves, to the lofty and narrow lodging-house, where the poet Codrus, and his wife, were per­mitted to hire a wretched garret immediately under the tiles. If we adopt the same average, which, under similar circumstances, has been found applicable to Paris ⁷¹, and indifferently allow about twenty-five persons for each house, of every degree, we may fairly estimate the inha­bitants of Rome at twelve hundred thousand: a number which cannot be thought excessive for the capital of a mighty empire, though it ex­ceeds the populousness of the greatest cities of modern Europe ⁷².

Such was the state of Rome under the reign of First siege of Rome, by the Goths, A. D. 408. Honorius; at the time when the Gothic army formed the siege, or rather the blockade, of the city ⁷³. By a skilful disposition of his numerous [Page 290] forces, who impatiently watched the moment of an assault, Alaric encompassed the walls, com­manded the twelve principal gates, intercepted all communication with the adjacent country, and vigilantly guarded the navigation of the Tyber, from which the Romans derived the surest and most plentiful supply of provisions. The first emotions of the nobles, and of the people, were those of surprise and indignation, that a vile Barbarian should dare to insult the capital of the world: but their arrogance was soon humbled by misfortune; and their unmanly rage, instead of being directed against an enemy in arms, was meanly exercised on a defenceless and innocent victim. Perhaps in the person of Serena, the Romans might have respected the niece of Theo­dosius, the aunt, nay even the adoptive mother, of the reigning emperor: but they abhorred the widow of Stilicho; and they listened with cre­dulous passion to the tale of calumny, which ac­cused her of maintaining a secret and criminal correspondence with the Gothic invader. Actu­ated, or overawed, by the same popular frenzy, the senate, without requiring any evidence of her guilt, pronounced the sentence of her death. Serena was ignominiously strangled; and the infatuated multitude were astonished to find, that this cruel act of injustice did not immediately produce the retreat of the Barbarians, and the deliverance of the city. That unfortunate city Famine. [Page 291] gradually experienced the distress of scarcity, and at length the horrid calamities of famine. The daily allowance of three pounds of bread was reduced to one-half, to one-third, to nothing; and the price of corn still continued to rise in a rapid and extravagant proportion. The poorer citizens, who were unable to purchase the neces­saries of life, solicited the precarious charity of the rich; and for a while the public misery was alleviated by the humanity of Laeta, the widow of the emperor Gratian, who had fixed her resi­dence at Rome, and consecrated, to the use of the indigent, the princely revenue, which she annually received from the grateful successors of her husband ⁷⁴. But these private and temporary donatives were insufficient to appease the hunger of a numerous people; and the progress of famine invaded the marble palaces of the senators them­selves. The persons of both sexes, who had been educated in the enjoyment of ease and luxury, discovered how little is requisite to supply the demands of nature; and lavished their unavail­ing treasures of gold and silver, to obtain the coarse and scanty sustenance which they would formerly have rejected with disdain. The food the most repugnant to sense or imagination, the aliments the most unwholesome and pernicious to the constitution, were eagerly devoured, and fiercely disputed, by the rage of hunger. A dark suspicion was entertained, that some desperate wretches fed on the bodies of their fellow-crea­tures, [Page 292] whom they had secretly murdered; and even mothers (such was the horrid conflict of the two most powerful instincts implanted by nature in the human breast), even mothers are said to have tasted the flesh of their slaughtered infants ⁷⁵! Many thousands of the inhabitants of Rome ex­pired in their houses, or in the streets, for want of sustenance; and as the public sepulchres with­out the walls were in the power of the enemy, the stench, which arose from so many putrid and un­buried carcasses, infected the air; and the mise­ries of famine were succeeded and aggravated by the contagion of a pestilential disease. The assur­ances Plague. of speedy and effectual relief, which were repeatedly transmitted from the court of Raven­na, supported, for some time, the fainting reso­lution of the Romans, till at length the despair of any human aid tempted them to accept the offers of a praeternatural deliverance. Pompei­anus, Supersti­tion. praefect of the city, had been persuaded, by the art or fanaticism of some Tuscan diviners, that, by the mysterious force of spells and sacri­fices, they could extract the lightning from the clouds, and point those celestial fires against the [Page 293] camp of the Barbarians ⁷⁶. The important secret was communicated to Innocent, the bishop of Rome; and the successor of St. Peter is accused, perhaps without foundation, of preferring the safety of the republic to the rigid severity of the Christian worship. But when the question was agitated in the senate; when it was proposed, as an essential condition, that those sacrifices should be performed in the Capitol, by the authority, and in the presence of, the magistrates; the ma­jority of that respectable assembly, apprehensive either of the Divine, or of the Imperial, displea­sure, refused to join in an act, which appeared almost equivalent to the public restoration of Paganism ⁷⁷.

[Page 294] The last resource of the Romans was in the clemency, or at least in the moderation, of the king of the Goths. The senate, who in this Alaric ac­cepts a ransom, and raises the siege, A. D. 409. emergency assumed the supreme powers of go­vernment, appointed two ambassadors to nego­ciate with the enemy. This important trust was delegated to Basilius, a senator, of Spanish ex­traction, and already conspicuous in the admini­stration of provinces; and to John, the first tri­bune of the notaries, who was peculiarly qualified, by his dexterity in business, as well as by his for­mer intimacy with the Gothic prince. When they were introduced into his presence, they de­clared, perhaps in a more lofty style than became their abject condition, that the Romans were resolved to maintain their dignity, either in peace or war; and that, if Alaric refused them a fair and honourable capitulation, he might sound his trumpets, and prepare to give battle to an innu­merable people, exercised in arms, and animated by despair. ‘"The thicker the hay, the easier it is mowed,"’ was the concise reply of the Barbarian; and this rustic metaphor was accom­panied by a loud and insulting laugh, expressive of his contempt for the menaces of an unwarlike populace, enervated by luxury before they were emaciated by famine. He then condescended to fix the ransom, which he would accept as the price of his retreat from the walls of Rome: all the gold and silver in the city, whether it were the property of the state, or of individuals; all the rich and precious moveables; and all the [Page 295] slaves who could prove their title to the name of Barbarians. The ministers of the senate presum­ed to ask, in a modest and suppliant tone, ‘"If such, O King, are your demands, what do you intend to leave us?"’ ‘"YOUR LIVES;"’ replied the haughty conqueror: they trembled, and retired. Yet before they retired, a short sus­pension of arms was granted, which allowed some time for a more temperate negociation. The stern features of Alaric were insensibly relaxed; he abated much of the rigour of his terms; and at length consented to raise the siege, on the im­mediate payment of five thousand pounds of gold, of thirty thousand pounds of silver, of four thou­sand robes of silk, of three thousand pieces of fine scarlet cloth, and of three thousand pounds weight of pepper ⁷⁸. But the public treasury was exhausted; the annual rents of the great estates in Italy and the provinces, were intercepted by the calamities of war; the gold and gems had been exchanged, during the famine, for the vilest sustenance; the hoards of secret wealth were still concealed by the obstinacy of avarice; and some remains of consecrated spoils afforded the only resource that could avert the impending ruin of the city. As soon as the Romans had satisfied the rapacious demands of Alaric, they were re­stored, [Page 296] in some measure, to the enjoyment of peace and plenty. Several of the gates were cautiously opened; the importation of provisions from the river, and the adjacent country, was no longer obstructed by the Goths; the citizens resorted in crowds to the free market, which was held during three days in the suburbs; and while the merchants who undertook this gainful trade, made a considerable profit, the future sub­sistence of the city was secured by the ample magazines which were deposited in the public and private granaries. A more regular discipline, than could have been expected, was maintained in the camp of Alaric; and the wise Barbarian justified his regard for the faith of treaties, by the just severity with which he chastised a party of licentious Goths, who had insulted some Roman citizens on the road to Ostia. His army, en­riched by the contributions of the capital, slowly advanced into the fair and fruitful province of Tuscany, where he proposed to establish his win­ter-quarters; and the Gothic standard became the refuge of forty thousand Barbarian slaves, who had broke their chains, and aspired, under the command of their great deliverer, to revenge the injuries, and the disgrace, of their cruel ser­vitude. About the same time, he received a more honourable reinforcement of Goths and Huns, whom Adolphus ⁷⁹, the brother of his wife, [Page 297] had conducted, at his pressing invitation, from the banks of the Danube to those of the Tyber; and who had cut their way, with some difficulty and loss, through the superior numbers of the Imperial troops. A victorious leader, who unit­ed the daring spirit of a Barbarian with the art and discipline of a Roman general, was at the head of an hundred thousand fighting men; and Italy pronounced, with terror and respect, the formidable name of Alaric ⁸⁰.

At the distance of fourteen centuries, we may Fruitless negocia­tions for peace, A. D. 409. be satisfied with relating the military exploits of the conquerors of Rome, without presuming to investigate the motives of their political conduct. In the midst of his apparent prosperity, Alaric was conscious, perhaps, of some secret weakness, some internal defect; or perhaps the moderation which he displayed, was intended only to deceive and disarm the easy credulity of the ministers of Honorius. The king of the Goths repeatedly declared, that it was his desire to be considered as the friend of peace, and of the Romans. Three senators, at his earnest request, were sent ambas­sadors to the court of Ravenna, to solicit the exchange of hostages, and the conclusion of the treaty; and the proposals, which he more clearly expressed during the course of the negociations, could only inspire a doubt of his sincerity, as they might seem inadequate to the state of his fortune. The Barbarian still aspired to the rank [Page 298] of master-general of the armies of the West; he stipulated an annual subsidy of corn and money; and he chose the provinces of Dalmatia, Nori­cum, and Venetia, for the seat of his new king­dom, which would have commanded the impor­tant communication between Italy and the Da­nube. If these modest terms should be rejected, Alaric shewed a disposition to relinquish his pe­cuniary demands, and even to content himself with the possession of Noricum; an exhausted and impoverished country, perpetually exposed to the inroads of the Barbarians of Germany ⁸¹. But the hopes of peace were disappointed by the weak obstinacy, or interested views, of the minister Olympius. Without listening to the salutary remonstrances of the senate, he dismissed their ambassadors under the conduct of a military es­cort, too numerous for a retinue of honour, and too feeble for an army of defence. Six thousand Dalmatians, the flower of the Imperial legions, were ordered to march from Ravenna to Rome, through an open country, which was occupied by the formidable myriads of the Barbarians. These brave legionaries, encompassed and betray­ed, fell a sacrifice to ministerial folly; their gene­ral Valens, with an hundred soldiers, escaped from the field of battle; and one of the ambas­sadors, who could no longer claim the protection of the law of nations, was obliged to purchase his freedom with a ransom of thirty thousand pieces of gold. Yet Alaric, instead of resenting this act of impotent hostility, immediately renew­ed [Page 299] his proposals of peace: and the second embassy of the Roman senate, which derived weight and dignity from the presence of Innocent, bishop of the city, was guarded from the dangers of the road by a detachment of Gothic soldiers ⁸².

Olympius ⁸³ might have continued to insult Change and suc­cession of ministers. the just resentment of a people, who loudly ac­cused him as the author of the public calamities; but his power was undermined by the secret in­trigues of the palace. The favourite eunuchs transferred the government of Honorius, and the empire, to Jovius, the Praetorian praefect; an unworthy servant, who did not atone, by the merit of personal attachment, for the errors and misfortunes of his administration. The exile, or escape, of the guilty Olympius, reserved him for more vicissitudes of fortune: he experienced the adventures of an obscure and wandering life; he again rose to power; he fell a second time into disgrace; his ears were cut off; he expired under the lash; and his ignominious death afford­ed a grateful spectacle to the friends of Stilicho. After the removal of Olympius, whose character was deeply tainted with religious fanaticism, the Pagans and heretics were delivered from the im­politic proscription, which excluded them from the dignities of the state. The brave Gennerid ⁸⁴, [Page 300] a soldier of Barbarian origin, who still adhered to the worship of his ancestors, had been oblig­ed to lay aside the military belt: and though he was repeatedly assured by the emperor himself, that laws were not made for persons of his rank or merit, he refused to accept any partial dispen­sation, and persevered in honourable disgrace, till he had extorted a general act of justice from the distress of the Roman government. The conduct of Gennerid, in the important station, to which he was promoted or restored, of master­general of Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Rhaetia, seemed to revive the discipline and spirit of the republic. From a life of idleness and want, his troops were soon habituated to severe exercise, and plentiful subsistence; and his private generosity often supplied the rewards, which were denied by the avarice, or poverty, of the court of Ravenna. The valour of Gen­nerid, formidable to the adjacent Barbarians, was the firmest bulwark of the Illyrian frontier; and his vigilant care assisted the empire with a rein­forcement of ten thousand Huns, who arrived on the confines of Italy, attended by such a con­voy of provisions, and such a numerous train of sheep and oxen, as might have been sufficient, not only for the march of an army, but for the [Page 301] settlement of a colony. But the court and coun­cils of Honorius still remained a scene of weak­ness and distraction, of corruption and anarchy. Instigated by the praefect Jovius, the guards rose in furious mutiny, and demanded the heads of two generals, and of the two principal eunuchs. The generals, under a perfidious promise of safe­ty, were sent on ship-board, and privately exe­cuted; while the favour of the eunuchs procured them a mild and secure exile at Milan and Con­stantinople. Eusebius the eunuch, and the Bar­barian Allobich, succeeded to the command of the bed-chamber and of the guards; and the mu­tual jealousy of these subordinate ministers was the cause of their mutual destruction. By the insolent order of the count of the domestics, the great chamberlain was shamefully beaten to death with sticks, before the eyes of the astonished emperor; and the subsequent assassination of Allobich, in the midst of a public procession, is the only circumstance of his life, in which Ho­norius discovered the faintest symptom of courage or resentment. Yet before they fell, Eusebius and Allobich had contributed their part to the ruin of the empire, by opposing the conclusion of a treaty which Jovius, from a selfish, and per­haps a criminal, motive, had negociated with Alaric, in a personal interview under the walls of Rimini. During the absence of Jovius, the em­peror was persuaded to assume a lofty tone of inflexible dignity, such as neither his situation, nor his character, could enable him to support: and a letter, signed with the name of Honorius, [Page 302] was immediately dispatched to the Praetorian praefect, granting him a free permission to dis­pose of the public money, but sternly refusing to prostitute the military honours of Rome to the proud demands of a Barbarian. This letter was imprudently communicated to Alaric himself; and the Goth, who in the whole transaction had behaved with temper and decency, expressed, in the most outrageous language, his lively sense of the insult so wantonly offered to his person, and to his nation. The conference of Rimini was hastily interrupted; and the praefect Jovius, on his return to Ravenna, was compelled to adopt, and even to encourage, the fashionable opinions of the court. By his advice and example, the principal officers of the state and army were obliged to swear, that, without listening, in any circumstances, to any conditions of peace, they would still persevere in perpetual and implacable war against the enemy of the republic. This rash engagement opposed an insuperable bar to all future negociation. The ministers of Hono­rius were heard to declare, that, if they had only invoked the name of the Deity, they would con­sult the public safety, and trust their souls to the mercy of Heaven: but they had sworn, by the sacred head of the emperor himself; they had touched, in solemn ceremony, that august seat of majesty and wisdom; and the violation of their oath would expose them to the temporal penalties of sacrilege and rebellion ⁸⁵.

[Page 303] While the emperor and his court enjoyed, with sullen pride, the security of the marshes and fortifications of Ravenna, they abandoned Rome, Second siege of Rome by the Goths, A. D. 409. almost without defence, to the resentment of Alaric. Yet such was the moderation which he still preserved, or affected, that, as he moved with his army along the Flaminian way, he suc­cessively dispatched the bishops of the towns of Italy to reiterate his offers of peace, and to con­jure the emperor, that he would save the city and its inhabitants from hostile fire, and the sword of the Barbarians ⁸⁶. These impending calamities were however averted, not indeed by the wisdom of Honorius, but by the prudence or humanity of the Gothic king; who employed a milder, though not less effectual, method of conquest. Instead of assaulting the capital, he successively directed his efforts against the Port of Ostia, one of the boldest and most stupendous works of Ro­man magnificence ⁸⁷. The accidents to which [Page 304] the precarious subsistence of the city was con­tinually exposed in a winter-navigation, and an open road, had suggested to the genius of the first Caesar the useful design, which was executed under the reign of Claudius. The artificial moles, which formed the narrow entrance, ad­vanced far into the sea, and firmly repelled the fury of the waves, while the largest vessels securely rode at anchor within three deep and capacious basons, which received the northern branch of the Tyber, about two miles from the ancient colony of Ostia ⁸⁸. The Roman Port insensibly swelled to the size of an episcopal city ⁸⁹, where [Page 305] the corn of Africa was deposited in spacious gra­naries for the use of the capital. As soon as Alaric was in possession of that important place, he summoned the city to surrender at discretion; and his demands were enforced by the positive declaration, that a refusal, or even a delay, should be instantly followed by the destruction of the magazines, on which the life of the Roman peo­ple depended. The clamours of that people, and the terror of famine, subdued the pride of the senate; they listened, without reluctance, to the proposal of placing a new emperor on the throne of the unworthy Honorius; and the suffrage of the Gothic conqueror bestowed the purple on Attalus, praefect of the city. The grateful mo­narch immediately acknowledged his protector as master-general of the armies of the West; Adol­phus, with the rank of count of the domestics, obtained the custody of the person of Attalus; and the two hostile nations seemed to be united in the closest bands of friendship and alliance ⁹⁰.

The gates of the city were thrown open, and Attalus is created emperor by the Goths and Romans. the new emperor of the Romans, encompassed on every side by the Gothic arms, was conducted, in tumultuous procession, to the palace of Augustus and Trajan. After he had distributed the civil and military dignities among his favourites and followers, Attalus convened an assembly of the senate; before whom, in a formal and florid speech, he asserted his resolution of restoring the [Page 306] majesty of the republic, and of uniting to the empire the provinces of Egypt and the East, which had once acknowledged the sovereignty of Rome. Such extravagant promises inspired every reasonable citizen with a just contempt for the character of an unwarlike usurper; whose ele­vation was the deepest and most ignominious wound which the republic had yet sustained from the insolence of the Barbarians. But the popu­lace, with their usual levity, applauded the change of masters. The public discontent was favour­able to the rival of Honorius; and the sectaries, oppressed by his persecuting edicts, expected some degree of countenance, or at least of toleration, from a prince, who, in his native country of Io­nia, had been educated in the Pagan superstition, and who had since received the sacrament of bap­tism from the hands of an Arian bishop ⁹¹. The first days of the reign of Attalus were fair and prosperous. An officer of confidence was sent with an inconsiderable body of troops to secure the obedience of Africa; the greatest part of Italy submitted to the terror of the Gothic powers; and though the city of Bologna made a vigorous and effectual resistance, the people of Milan, dissatisfied perhaps with the absence of Honorius, accepted, with loud acclamations, the choice of the Roman senate. At the head of a formidable army, Alaric conducted his royal cap­tive [Page 307] almost to the gates of Ravenna; and a so­lemn embassy of the principal ministers, of Jovius, the Praetorian praefect, of Valens, master of the cavalry and infantry, of the quaestor Potamius, and of Julian, the first of the notaries, was intro­duced, with martial pomp, into the Gothic camp. In the name of their sovereign, they consented to acknowledge the lawful election of his, competitor, and to divide the provinces of Italy and the West between the two emperors. Their proposals were rejected with disdain; and the refusal was aggravated by the insulting cle­mency of Attalus, who condescended to promise, that, if Honorius would instantly resign the pur­ple, he should be permitted to pass the remainder of his life in the peaceful exile of some remote island ⁹². So desperate indeed did the situation of the son of Theodosius appear, to those who were the best acquainted with his strength and resources, that Jovius and Valens, his minister and his general, betrayed their trust, infamously deserted the sinking cause of their benefactor, and devoted their treacherous allegiance to the service of his more fortunate rival. Astonished by such examples of domestic treason, Honorius trembled at the approach of every servant, at the arrival of every messenger. He dreaded the secret ene­mies, [Page 308] who might lurk in his capital, his palace, his bed-chamber; and some ships lay ready in the harbour of Ravenna, to transport the abdi­cated monarch to the dominions of his infant nephew, the emperor of the East.

But there is a Providence (such at least was the opinion of the historian Procopius ⁹³) that watches He is de­graded by Alaric, A. D. 410. over innocence and folly; and the pretensions of Honorius to its peculiar care cannot reasonably be disputed. At the moment when his despair, incapable of any wise or manly resolution, medi­tated a shameful flight, a seasonable reinforcement of four thousand veterans unexpectedly landed in the port of Ravenna. To these valiant strangers, whose fidelity had not been corrupted by the fac­tions of the court, he committed the walls and gates of the city; and the slumbers of the empe­ror were no longer disturbed by the apprehension of imminent and internal danger. The favour­able intelligence which was received from Africa, suddenly changed the opinions of men, and the state of public affairs. The troops and officers, whom Attalus had sent into that province, were defeated and slain; and the active zeal of Hera­clian maintained his own allegiance, and that of his people. The faithful count of Africa trans­mitted a large sum of money, which fixed the attachment of the Imperial guards; and his vigi­lance, in preventing the exportation of corn and oil, introduced famine, tumult, and discontent, into the walls of Rome. The failure of the [Page 309] African expedition, was the source of mutual complaint and recrimination in the party of At­talus; and the mind of his protector was insen­sibly alienated from the interest of a prince, who wanted spirit to command, or docility to obey. The most imprudent measures were adopted, without the knowledge, or against the advice, of Alaric; and the obstinate refusal of the senate, to allow, in the embarkation, the mixture even of five hundred Goths, betrayed a suspicious and distrustful temper, which, in their situation, was neither generous nor prudent. The resentment of the Gothic king was exasperated by the mali­cious arts of Jovius, who had been raised to the rank of patrician, and who afterwards excused his double perfidy, by declaring, without a blush, that he had only seemed to abandon the service of Honorius, more effectually to ruin the cause of the usurper. In a large plain near Rimini, and in the presence of an innumerable multitude of Romans and Barbarians, the wretched Attalus was publicly despoiled of the diadem and purple; and those ensigns of royalty were sent by Alaric, as the pledge of peace and friendship, to the son of Theodosius ⁹⁴. The officers who returned to their duty, were reinstated in their employments, and even the merit of a tardy repentance was graciously allowed: but the degraded emperor of [Page 310] the Romans, desirous of life, and insensible of disgrace, implored the permission of following the Gothic camp, in the train of a haughty and ca­pricious Barbarian ⁹⁵.

The degradation of Attalus removed the only Third siege and sack of Rome by the Goths, A. D. 410, Aug. 24. real obstacle to the conclusion of the peace; and Alaric advanced within three miles of Ravenna, to press the irresolution of the Imperial ministers, whose insolence soon returned with the return of fortune. His indignation was kindled by the report, that a rival chieftain, that Sarus, the per­sonal enemy of Adolphus, and the hereditary foe of the house of Balti, had been received into the palace. At the head of three hundred followers, that fearless Barbarian immediately sallied from the gates of Ravenna; surprised, and cut in pieces, a considerable body of Goths; re-entered the city in triumph; and was permitted to insult his ad­versary, by the voice of a herald, who publicly declared, that the guilt of Alaric had for ever excluded him from the friendship and alliance of the emperor ⁹⁶. The crime and folly of the court of Ravenna was expiated, a third time, by the calamities of Rome. The king of the Goths, who no longer dissembled his appetite for plun­der [Page 311] and revenge, appeared in arms under the walls of the capital; and the trembling senate, without any hopes of relief, prepared, by a des­perate resistance, to delay the ruin of their coun­try. But they were unable to guard against the secret conspiracy of their slaves and domestics; who, either from birth or interest, were attached to the cause of the enemy. At the hour of mid­night, the Salarian gate was silently opened, and the inhabitants were awakened by the tremen­dous sound of the Gothic trumpet. Eleven hun­dred and sixty-three years after the foundation of Rome, the Imperial city which had subdued and civilised so considerable a part of mankind, was delivered to the licentious fury of the tribes of Germany and Scythia ⁹⁷.

The proclamation of Alaric, when he forced his Respect of the Goths for the Christian religion. entrance into a vanquished city, discovered, how­ever, some regard for the laws of humanity and religion. He encouraged his troops boldly to seize the rewards of valour, and to enrich them­selves with the spoils of a wealthy and effeminate people: but he exhorted them, at the same time, to spare the lives of the unresisting citizens, and [Page 312] to respect the churches of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, as holy and inviolable sanctuaries. Amidst the horrors of a nocturnal tumult, several of the Christian Goths displayed the fervour of a recent conversion; and some instances of their uncommon piety and moderation are related, and perhaps adorned, by the zeal of ecclesiastical writers ⁹⁸. While the Barbarians roamed through the city in quest of prey, the humble dwelling of an aged virgin, who had devoted her life to the service of the altar, was forced open by one of the powerful Goths. He immediately demand­ed, though in civil language, all the gold and silver in her possession; and was astonished at the readiness with which she conducted him to a splendid hoard of massy plate, of the richest ma­terials, and the most curious workmanship. The Barbarian viewed with wonder and delight this valuable acquisition, till he was interrupted by a serious admonition, addressed to him in the following words: ‘"These, said she, are the con­secrated vessels belonging to St. Peter; if you presume to touch them, the sacrilegious deed will remain on your conscience. For my part, I dare not keep what I am unable to [Page 313] defend."’ The Gothic captain, struck with reverential awe, dispatched a messenger to inform the king of the treasure which he had discovered; and received a peremptory order from Alaric, that all the consecrated plate and ornaments should be transported, without damage or delay, to the church of the apostle. From the extre­mity, perhaps, of the Quirinal hill, to the distant quarter of the Vatican, a numerous detachment of Goths, marching in order of battle through the principal streets, protected, with glittering arms, the long train of their devout compa­nions, who bore aloft, on their heads, the sacred vessels of gold and silver; and the martial shouts of the Barbarians were mingled with the sound of religious psalmody. From all the adjacent houses, a crowd of Christians hastened to join this edify­ing procession; and a multitude of fugitives, without distinction of age, or rank, or even of sect, had the good fortune to escape to the se­cure and hospitable sanctuary of the Vatican. The learned work, concerning the City of God, was professedly composed by St. Augustin, to justify the ways of Providence in the destruction of the Roman greatness. He celebrates, with peculiar satisfaction, this memorable triumph of Christ; and insults his adversaries, by challeng­ing them to produce some similar example, of a town taken by storm, in which the fabulous gods of antiquity had been able to protect either them­selves, or their deluded votaries ⁹⁹.

[Page 314] In the sack of Rome, some rare and extraor­dinary examples of Barbarian virtue had been Pillage and fire of Rome. deservedly applauded. But the holy precincts of the Vatican, and the apostolic churches, could receive a very small proportion of the Roman people: many thousand warriors, more especially of the Huns, who served under the standard of Alaric, were strangers to the name, or at least to the faith, of Christ; and we may suspect, without any breach of charity or candour, that, in the hour of savage licence, when every passion was inflamed, and every restraint was removed, the precepts of the gospel seldom influenced the behaviour of the Gothic Christians. The writers, the best disposed to exaggerate their clemency, have freely confessed, that a cruel slaughter was made of the Romans ¹⁰⁰; and that the streets of the city were filled with dead bodies, which re­mained without burial during the general con­sternation. The despair of the citizens was some­times converted into fury; and whenever the Barbarians were provoked by opposition, they extended the promiscuous massacre to the feeble, the innocent, and the helpless. The private [Page 315] revenge of forty thousand slaves was exercised without pity or remorse; and the ignominious lashes, which they had formerly received, were washed away in the blood of the guilty, or ob­noxious, families. The matrons and virgins of Rome were exposed to injuries more dreadful, in the apprehension of chastity, than death itself; and the ecclesiastical historian has selected an example of female virtue, for the admiration of future ages ¹⁰¹. A Roman lady, of singular beauty and orthodox faith, had excited the impatient desires of a young Goth, who, according to the sagacious remark of Sozomen, was attached to the Arian heresy. Exasperated by her obstinate resistance, he drew his sword, and, with the anger of a lover, slightly wounded her neck. The bleeding heroine still continued to brave his re­sentment, and to repel his love, till the ravisher desisted from his unavailing efforts, respectfully conducted her to the sanctuary of the Vatican, and gave six pieces of gold to the guards of the church, on condition that they should restore her inviolate to the arms of her husband. Such in­stances of courage and generosity were not ex­tremely [Page 316] common. The brutal soldiers satisfied their sensual appetites, without consulting either the inclination, or the duties, of their female captives: and a nice question of casuistry was seriously agitated, Whether those tender victims, who had inflexibly refused their consent to the violation which they sustained, had lost, by their misfortune, the glorious crown of virginity ¹⁰². There were other losses indeed of a more sub­stantial kind, and more general concern. It can­not be presumed, that all the Barbarians were at at all times capable of perpetrating such amorous outrages; and the want of youth, or beauty, or chastity, protected the greatest part of the Ro­man women from the danger of a rape. But avarice is an insatiate and universal passion; since the enjoyment of almost every object that can afford pleasure to the different tastes and tempers of mankind, may be procured by the possession of wealth. In the pillage of Rome, a just prefer­ence was given to gold and jewels, which con­tain the greatest value in the smallest compass and weight: but, after these portable riches had been removed by the more diligent robbers, the palaces of Rome were rudely stripped of their splendid [Page 317] and costly furniture. The side-boards of massy plate, and the variegated wardrobes of silk and purple, were irregularly piled in the waggons, that always followed the march of a Gothic army. The most exquisite works of art were roughly handled, or wantonly destroyed: many a statue was melted for the sake of the precious materials; and many a vase, in the division of the spoil, was shivered into fragments by the stroke of a battle­axe. The acquisition of riches served only to stimulate the avarice of the rapacious Barbarians, who proceeded, by threats, by blows, and by tor­tures, to force from their prisoners the confession of hidden treasure ¹⁰³. Visible splendour and ex­pence were alleged as the proof of a plentiful fortune: the appearance of poverty was imputed to a parsimonious disposition; and the obstinacy of some misers, who endured the most cruel tor­ments before they would discover the secret object of their affection, was fatal to many un­happy wretches, who expired under the lash, for refusing to reveal their imaginary trea­sures. The edifices of Rome, though the da­mage has been much exaggerated, received some injury from the violence of the Goths. At their entrance through the Salarian gate, they fired the adjacent houses to guide their march, and to distract the attention of the citizens: the flames, [Page 318] which encountered no obstacle in the disorder of the night, consumed many private and public buildings; and the ruins of the palace of Sal­lust ¹⁰⁴ remained, in the age of Justinian, a stately monument of the Gothic conflagration ¹⁰⁵. Yet a contemporary historian has observed, that fire could scarcely consume the enormous beams of solid brass, and that the strength of man was in­sufficient to subvert the foundations of ancient structures. Some truth may possibly be conceal­ed in his devout assertion, that the wrath of Heaven supplied the imperfections of hostile rage; and that the proud Forum of Rome, decorated with the statues of so many gods and heroes, was levelled in the dust by the stroke of lightning ¹⁰⁶.

[Page 319] Whatever might be the numbers, of equestrian, or plebeian rank, who perished in the massacre of Rome, it is confidently affirmed, that only one Captives and fugi­tives. senator lost his life by the sword of the enemy ¹⁰⁷. But it was not easy to compute the multitudes, who, from an honourable station, and a prosper­ous fortune, were suddenly reduced to the miser­able condition of captives and exiles. As the Barbarians had more occasion for money than for slaves, they fixed, at a moderate price, the re­demption of their indigent prisoners; and the ransom was often paid by the benevolence of their friends, or the charity of strangers ¹⁰⁸. The captives, who were regularly sold, either in open market, or by private contract, would have le­gally regained their native freedom, which it was impossible for a citizen to lose, or to alienate ¹⁰⁹. But as it was soon discovered, that the vindication of their liberty would endanger their lives; and that the Goths, unless they were tempted to sell, might be provoked to murder, their useless pri­soners; the civil jurisprudence had been already qualified by a wise regulation, that they should be [Page 320] obliged to serve the moderate term of five years, till they had discharged by their labour the price of their redemption ¹¹⁰. The nations who in­vaded the Roman empire, had driven before them, into Italy, whole troops of hungry and affrighted provincials, less apprehensive of servi­tude than of famine. The calamities of Rome and Italy dispersed the inhabitants to the most lonely, the most secure, the most distant places of refuge. While the Gothic cavalry spread ter­ror and desolation along the sea-coast of Cam­pania and Tuscany, the little island of Igilium, separated by a narrow channel from the Argen­tarian promontory, repulsed, or eluded, their hostile attempts; and at so small a distance from Rome, great numbers of citizens were securely concealed in the thick woods of that sequestered spot ¹¹¹. The ample patrimonies, which many [Page 321] senatorian families possessed in Africa, invited them, if they had time, and prudence, to escape from the ruin of their country; to embrace the shelter of that hospitable province. The most il­lustrious of these fugitives was the noble and pious Proba ¹¹², the widow of the praefect Petronius. After the death of her husband, the most power­ful subject of Rome, she had remained at the head of the Anician family, and successively supplied, from her private fortune, the expence of the con­sulships of her three sons. When the city was besieged and taken by the Goths, Proba sup­ported, with Christian resignation, the loss of im­mense riches; embarked in a small vessel, from whence she beheld, at sea, the flames of her burning palace, and fled with her daughter Laeta, and her grand-daughter, the celebrated virgin, Demetrias, to the coast of Africa. The benevo­lent profusion with which the matron distributed the fruits, or the price, of her estates, contributed to alleviate the misfortunes of exile and captivity. But even the family of Proba herself was not ex­empt from the rapacious oppression of Count Heraclian, who basely sold, in matrimonial pro­stitution, [Page 322] the noblest maidens of Rome, to the lust or avarice of the Syrian merchants. The Italian fugitives were dispersed through the provinces, along the coast of Egypt and Asia, as far as Con­stantinople and Jerusalem; and the village of Bethlem, the solitary residence of St. Jerom and his female converts, was crowded with illus­trious beggars of either sex, and every age, who excited the public compassion by the remembrance of their past fortune ¹¹³. This awful catastrophe of Rome filled the astonished empire with grief and terror. So interesting a contrast of greatness and ruin, disposed the fond credulity of the people to deplore, and even to exaggerate, the afflictions of the queen of cities. The clergy, who applied to recent events the lofty metaphors of Oriental prophecy, were sometimes tempted to confound the destruction of the capital, and the dissolution of the globe.

There exists in human nature a strong propensity Sack of Rome by the troops of Charles V. to depreciate the advantages, and to magnify the evils, of the present times. Yet, when the first emotions had subsided, and a fair estimate was made of the real damage, the more learned and judicious contemporaries were forced to confess, that infant Rome had formerly received more es­sential injury from the Gauls, than she had now sustained from the Goths in her declining age ¹¹⁴. [Page 323] The experience of eleven centuries has enabled posterity to produce a much more singular paral­lel; and to affirm with confidence, that the ra­vages of the Barbarians, whom Alaric had led from the banks of the Danube, were less destruc­tive, than the hostilities exercised by the troops of Charles the Fifth, a Catholic prince, who styled himself Emperor of the Romans ¹¹⁵. The Goths evacuated the city at the end of six days, but Rome remained above nine months in the pos­session of the Imperialists; and every hour was stained by some atrocious act of cruelty, lust, and rapine. The authority of Alaric preserved some order and moderation among the ferocious multitude, which acknowledged him for their leader and king: but the constable of Bourbon had gloriously fallen in the attack of the walls; and the death of the general removed every re­straint of discipline, from an army which con­sisted of three independent nations, the Italians, the Spaniards, and the Germans. In the begin­ning [Page 324] of the sixteenth century, the manners of Italy exhibited a remarkable scene of the depravity of mankind. They united the sanguinary crimes that prevail in an unsettled state of society, with the polished vices which spring from the abuse of art and luxury: and the loose adventurers, who had violated every prejudice of patriotism and superstition to assault the palace of the Roman pontiff, must deserve to be considered as the most profligate of the Italians. At the same aera, the Spaniards were the terror both of the Old and New World: but their high-spirited valour was disgraced by gloomy pride, rapacious avarice, and unrelenting cruelty. Indefatigable in the pursuit of fame and riches, they had improved, by repeated practice, the most exquisite and ef­fectual methods of torturing their prisoners: many of the Castillans, who pillaged Rome, were familiars of the holy inquisition; and some vo­lunteers, perhaps, were lately returned from the conquest of Mexico. The Germans were less cor­rupt than the Italians, less cruel than the Spa­niards; and the rustic, or even savage, aspect of those Tramontane warriors, often disguised a simple and merciful disposition. But they had imbibed, in the first fervour of the reformation, the spirit, as well as the principles, of Luther. It was their favourite amusement to insult, or destroy, the consecrated objects of Catholic superstition: they indulged, without pity, or remorse, a devout hatred against the clergy of every denomination and degree, who form so considerable a part of [Page 325] the inhabitants of modern Rome; and their fa­natic zeal might aspire to subvert the throne of Antichrist, to purify, with blood and fire, the abominations of the spiritual Babylon ¹¹⁶

The retreat of the victorious Goths, who eva­cuated Alaric evacuates Rome, and ravages Italy, A. D. 410, Aug. 29. Rome on the sixth day ¹¹⁷, might be the re­sult of prudence; but it was not surely the effect of fear ¹¹⁸. At the head of an army, encumbered with rich and weighty spoils, their intrepid leader advanced along the Appian way into the southern provinces of Italy, destroying whatever dared to oppose his passage, and contenting himself with the plunder of the unresisting country. The fate of Capua, the proud and luxurious metropolis of Campania, and which was respected, even in its decay, as the eighth city of the empire ¹¹⁹, is bu­ried in oblivion; whilst the adjacent town of Nola ¹²⁰ has been illustrated, on this occasion, by [Page 326] the sanctity of Paulinus ¹²¹, who was successively a consul, a monk, and a bishop. At the age of forty, he renounced the enjoyment of wealth and honour, of society and literature, to embrace a life of solitude and pennance; and the loud ap­plause of the clergy encouraged him to despise the reproaches of his worldly friends, who ascribed this desperate act to some disorder of the mind or body ¹²². An early and passionate attachment de­termined him to fix his humble dwelling in one of the suburbs of Nola, near the miraculous tomb of St. Faelix, which the public devotion had al­ready surrounded with five large and populous churches. The remains of his fortune, and of his understanding, were dedicated to the service of the glorious martyr; whose praise, on the day of his festival, Paulinus never failed to celebrate by a solemn hymn; and in whose name he erected a sixth church, of superior elegance and beauty, which was decorated with many curious pictures, from the History of the Old and New Testament. Such assiduous zeal secured the favour of the saint ¹²³, or at least of the people; and, after [Page 327] fifteen years retirement, the Roman consul was compelled to accept the bishopric of Nola, a few months before the city was invested by the Goths. During the siege, some religious persons were satisfied that they had seen, either in dreams or visions, the divine form of their tutelar patron; yet it soon appeared by the event, that Faelix wanted power, or inclination, to preserve the flock, of which he had formerly been the shep­herd. Nola was not saved from the general de­vastation ¹²⁴; and the captive bishop was pro­tected only by the general opinion of his inno­cence and poverty. Above four years elapsed from the successful invasion of Italy by the arms of Alaric, to the voluntary retreat of the Goths under the conduct of his successor Adolphus; Possession of Italy by the Goths, A. D. 408—412. and, during the whole time, they reigned with­out controul over a country, which, in the opinion of the ancients, had united all the various excel­lencies of nature and art. The prosperity, in­deed, which Italy had attained in the auspicious age of the Antonines, had gradually declined with the decline of the empire. The fruits of a long peace perished under the rude grasp of the Barbarians; and they themselves were incapable of tasting the more elegant refinements of luxury, which had been prepared for the use of the soft and polished Italians. Each soldier, however, claimed an ample portion of the substantial plenty, [Page 328] the corn and cattle, oil and wine, that was daily collected, and consumed, in the Gothic camp; and the principal warriors insulted the villas, and gardens, once inhabited by Lucullus and Cicero, along the beauteous coast of Campania. Their trembling captives, the sons and daughters of Roman senators, presented, in goblets of gold and gems, large draughts of Falernian wine, to the haughty victors; who stretched their huge limbs under the shade of plane-trees ¹²⁵, artificially disposed to exclude the scorching rays, and to admit the genial warmth, of the sun. These delights were enhanced by the memory of past hardships: the comparison of their native soil, the bleak and barren hills of Scythia, and the frozen banks of the Elbe, and Danube, added new charms to the felicity of the Italian climate ¹²⁶.

[Page 329] Whether fame, or conquest, or riches, were the object of Alaric, he pursued that object with an indefatigable ardour, which could neither be Death of Alaric, A. D. 410. quelled by adversity, nor satiated by success. No sooner had he reached the extreme land of Italy, than he was attracted by the neighbouring pro­spect of a fertile and peaceful island. Yet even the possession of Sicily, he considered only as an intermediate step to the important expedition, which he already meditated against the continent of Africa. The streights of Rhegium and Mes­sina ¹²⁷ are twelve miles in length, and, in the narrowest passage, about one mile and a half broad; and the fabulous monsters of the deep, the rocks of Scylla, and the whirlpool of Charib­dis, could terrify none but the most timid and un­skilful mariners. Yet as soon as the first division of the Goths had embarked, a sudden tempest arose, which sunk, or scattered, many of the trans­ports; their courage was daunted by the terrors of a new element; and the whole design was de­feated by the premature death of Alaric, which fixed, after a short illness, the fatal term of his conquests. The ferocious character of the Bar­barians was displayed, in the funeral of a hero, whose valour, and fortune, they celebrated with mournful applause. By the labour of a captive multitude, they forcibly diverted the course of [Page 330] the Busentinus, a small river that washes the walls of Consentia. The royal sepulchre, adorned with the splendid spoils, and trophies, of Rome, was constructed in the vacant bed; the waters were then restored to their natural channel; and the secret spot, where the remains of Alaric had been deposited, was for ever concealed by the inhuman massacre of the prisoners, who had been employed to execute the work ¹²⁸.

The personal animosities, and hereditary feuds, Adolphus king of the Goths, concludes a peace with the empire, and marches into Gaul, A. D. 412. of the Barbarians, were suspended by the strong necessity of their affairs; and the brave Adolphus, the brother-in-law of the deceased monarch, was unanimously elected to succeed to his throne. The character and political system of the new king of the Goths, may be best understood from his own conversation with an illustrious citizen of Narbonne; who afterwards, in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, related it to St. Jerom, in the presence of the historian Orosius. ‘"In the full confidence of valour and victory, I once aspired (said Adolphus) to change the face of the uni­verse; to obliterate the name of Rome; to erect on its ruins the dominion of the Goths; and to acquire, like Augustus, the immortal fame of the founder of a new empire. By re­peated experiments, I was gradually convinced, that laws are essentially necessary to maintain and regulate a well-constituted state; and that the fierce untractable humour of the Goths was incapable of bearing the salutary yoke of [Page 331] laws, and civil government. From that mo­ment I proposed to myself a different object of glory and ambition; and it is now my sincere wish, that the gratitude of future ages should acknowledge the merit of a stranger, who em­ployed the sword of the Goths, not to subvert, but to restore and maintain, the prosperity of the Roman empire ¹²⁹."’ With these pacific views, the successor of Alaric suspended the ope­rations of war; and seriously negociated with the Imperial court a treaty of friendship and alliance. It was the interest of the ministers of Honorius, who were now released from the obligation of their extravagant oath, to deliver Italy from the intolerable weight of the Gothic powers; and they readily accepted their service against the tyrants and Barbarians, who infested the pro­vinces beyond the Alps ¹³⁰. Adolphus, assuming the character of a Roman general, directed his march from the extremity of Campania to the southern provinces of Gaul. His troops, either by force or agreement, immediately occupied the cities of Narbonne, Thoulouse, and Bourdeaux; and though they were repulsed by Count Boni­face from the walls of Marseilles, they soon ex­tended [Page 332] their quarters from the Mediterranean to the Ocean. The oppressed provincials might exclaim, that the miserable remnant, which the enemy had spared, was cruelly ravished by their pretended allies; yet some specious colours were not wanting to palliate, or justify, the violence of the Goths. The cities of Gaul, which they attacked, might perhaps be considered as in a state of rebellion against the government of Ho­norius: the articles of the treaty, or the secret instructions of the court, might sometimes be alleged in favour of the seeming usurpations of Adolphus; and the guilt of any irregular, un­successful, act of hostility, might always be im­puted, with an appearance of truth, to the un­governable spirit of a Barbarian host, impatient of peace or discipline. The luxury of Italy had been less effectual to soften the temper, than to relax the courage, of the Goths; and they had imbibed the vices, without imitating the arts and institutions, of civilised society ¹³¹.

The professions of Adolphus were probably sin­cere, and his attachment to the cause of the re­public His mar­riage with Placidia, A. D. 414. was secured by the ascendant which a Ro­man princess had acquired over the heart and un­derstanding of the Barbarian king. Placidia ¹³², [Page 333] the daughter of the great Theodosius, and of Galla, his second wife, had received a royal edu­cation in the palace of Constantinople; but the eventful story of her life is connected with the re­volutions which agitated the Western empire un­der the reign of her brother Honorius. When Rome was first invested by the arms of Alaric, Placidia, who was then about twenty years of age, resided in the city; and her ready consent to the death of her cousin Serena, has a cruel and un­grateful appearance, which, according to the cir­cumstances of the action, may be aggravated, or excused, by the consideration of her tender age ¹³³. The victorious Barbarians detained, either as a hostage or a captive ¹³⁴, the sister of Honorius; but, while she was exposed to the disgrace of fol­lowing round Italy the motions of a Gothic camp, she experienced, however, a decent and respect­ful treatment. The authority of Jornandes, who praises the beauty of Placidia, may perhaps be counterbalanced by the silence, the expressive silence, of her flatterers: yet the splendour of her birth, the bloom of youth, the elegance of man­ners, and the dexterous insinuation which she condescended to employ, made a deep impression on the mind of Adolphus; and the Gothic king aspired to call himself the brother of the emperor. The ministers of Honorius rejected with disdain the proposal of an alliance, so injurious to every [Page 334] sentiment of Roman pride; and repeatedly urged the restitution of Placidia, as an indispensable condition of the treaty of peace. But the daugh­ter of Theodosius submitted, without reluctance, to the desires of the conqueror, a young and va­liant prince, who yielded to Alaric in loftiness of stature, but who excelled in the more attractive qualities of grace and beauty. The marriage of Adolphus and Placidia ¹³⁵ was consummated be­fore the Goths retired from Italy; and the solemn, perhaps the anniversary, day of their nuptials was afterwards celebrated in the house of Ingenuus, one of the most illustrious citizens of Narbonne in Gaul. The bride, attired and adorned like a a Roman empress, was placed on a throne of state; and the king of the Goths, who assumed, on this occasion, the Roman habit, contented himself with a less honourable seat by her side. The nuptial gift, which, according to the custom of his nation ¹³⁶, was offered to Placidia, consisted [Page 335] of the rare and magnificent spoils of her country. Fifty beautiful youths, in silken robes, carried a bason in each hand; and one of these basons was filled with pieces of gold, the other with precious stones of an inestimable value. Attalus, so long the sport of fortune, and of the Goths, was ap­pointed to lead the chorus of the Hymenaeal song; and the degraded emperor might aspire to the praise of a skilful musician. The Barbarians enjoyed the insolence of their triumph; and the provincials rejoiced in this alliance, which tem­pered, by the mild influence of love and reason, the fierce spirit of their Gothic lord ¹³⁷.

The hundred basons of gold and gems, pre­sented The Gothic treasures. to Placidia at her nuptial feast, formed an inconsiderable portion of the Gothic treasures; of which some extraordinary specimens may be se­lected from the history of the successors of Adol­phus. Many curious and costly ornaments of pure gold, enriched with jewels, were found in their palace of Narbonne, when it was pillaged, in the sixth century, by the Franks: sixty cups, or chalices; fifteen patens, or plates, for the use of the communion; twenty boxes, or cases, to hold the books of the gospels; this consecrated [Page 336] wealth ¹³⁸ was distributed by the son of Clovis among the churches of his dominions, and his pious liberality seems to upbraid some former sa­crilege of the Goths. They possessed, with more security of conscience, the famous missorium, or great dish for the service of the table, of massy gold, of the weight of five hundred pounds, and of far superior value, from the precious stones, the exquisite workmanship, and the tradition, that it had been presented by Aetius the patrician, to Torismond king of the Goths. One of the successors of Torismond purchased the aid of the French monarch by the promise of this magnifi­cent gift. When he was seated on the throne of Spain, he delivered it with reluctance to the am­bassadors of Dagobert; despoiled them on the road; stipulated, after a long negociation, the inadequate ransom of two hundred thousand pieces of gold; and preserved the missorium, as the pride of the Gothic treasury ¹³⁹. When that treasury, after the conquest of Spain, was plun­dered by the Arabs, they admired, and they [Page 337] have celebrated, another object still more re­markable; a table of considerable size, of one single piece of solid emerald ¹⁴⁰, encircled with three rows of fine pearls, supported by three hun­dred and sixty-five feet of gems and massy gold, and estimated at the price of five hun­dred thousand pieces of gold ¹⁴¹. Some por­tion of the Gothic treasures might be the gift of friendship, or the tribute of obedience: but the far greater part had been the fruits of war and rapine, the spoils of the empire, and perhaps of Rome.

After the deliverance of Italy from the oppres­sion Laws for the relief of Italy and Rome, A. D. 410—417. of the Goths, some secret counsellor was per­mitted, amidst the factions of the palace, to heal the wounds of that afflicted country ¹⁴². By a wise and humane regulation, the eight provinces which had been the most deeply injured, Cam­pania, Tuscany, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, [Page 338] Calabria, Bruttium, and Lucania, obtained an indulgence of five years: the ordinary tribute was reduced to one fifth, and even that fifth was destined to restore, and support the useful institu­tion of the public posts. By another law, the lands, which had been left without inhabitants or cultivation, were granted, with some diminution of taxes, to the neighbours who should occupy, or the strangers who should solicit them; and the new possessors were secured against the future claims of the fugitive proprietors. About the same time, a general amnesty was published in the name of Honorius, to abolish the guilt and me­mory of all the involuntary offences, which had been committed by his unhappy subjects, during the term of the public disorder and calamity. A decent and respectful attention was paid to the restoration of the capital; the citizens were en­couraged to rebuild the edifices which had been destroyed or damaged by hostile fire; and extra­ordinary supplies of corn were imported from the coast of Africa. The crowds that so lately fled before the sword of the Barbarians, were soon recalled by the hopes of plenty and pleasure; and Albinus, praefect of Rome, informed the court, with some anxiety and surprise; that, in a single day, he had taken an account of the arrival of fourteen thousand strangers ¹⁴³. In less than [Page 339] seven years, the vestiges of the Gothic invasion were almost obliterated; and the city appeared to resume its former splendour and tranquillity. The venerable matron replaced her crown of laurel, which had been ruffled by the storms of war; and was still amused, in the last moment of her decay, with the prophecies of revenge, of victory, and of eternal dominion ¹⁴⁴.

This apparent tranquillity was soon disturbed Revolt and defeat of Heraclian, count of Africa, A. D. 413. by the approach of an hostile armament from the country which afforded the daily subsistence of the Roman people. Heraclian, count of Africa, who, under the most difficult and distressful cir­cumstances, had supported, with active loyalty, the cause of Honorius, was tempted, in the year of his consulship, to assume the character of a re­bel, and the title of emperor. The ports of Africa were immediately filled with the naval forces, at the head of which he prepared to invade Italy: and his fleet, when it cast anchor at the mouth of the Tyber, indeed surpassed the fleets of Xerxes and Alexander, if all the vessels, including the royal galley, and the smallest boat, did actually amount to the incredible number of three thou­sand [Page 340] two hundred ¹⁴⁵. Yet with such an arma­ment, which might have subverted, or restored, the greatest empires of the earth, the African usurper made a very faint and feeble impression on the provinces of his rival. As he marched from the port, along the road which leads to the gates of Rome, he was encountered, terrifled, and routed, by one of the Imperial captains; and the lord of this mighty host, deserting his for­tune and his friends, ignominiously fled with a single ship ¹⁴⁶. When Heraclian landed in the harbour of Carthage, he found that the whole province, disdaining such an unworthy ruler, had returned to their allegiance. The rebel was be­headed in the ancient temple of Memory; his consulship was abolished ¹⁴⁷; and the remains of his private fortune, not exceeding the moderate sum of four thousand pounds of gold, were granted to the brave Constantius, who had already defended the throne, which he afterwards shared with his feeble sovereign. Honorius viewed, with supine indifference, the calamities of Rome [Page 341] nd Italy ¹⁴⁸; but the rebellious attempts of At­talus and Heraclian, against his personal safety, awakened, for a moment, the torpid instinct of his nature. He was probably ignorant of the causes and events which preserved him from these impending dangers; and as Italy was no longer invaded by any foreign or domestic enemies, he peaceably existed in the palace of Ravenna, while the tyrants beyond the Alps were repeatedly van­quished in the name, and by the lieutenants, of the son of Theodosius ¹⁴⁹. In the course of a busy and interesting narrative, I might possibly forget to mention the death of such a prince: and I shall therefore take the precaution of observing, in this place, that he survived the last siege of Rome about thirteen years.

The usurpation of Constantine, who received Revolu­tions of Gaul and Spain, A. D. 409—413. the purple from the legions of Britain, had been successful; and seemed to be secure. His title was acknowledged, from the wall of Antoninus to the columns of Hercules; and, in the midst [Page 342] of the public disorder, he shared the dominion, and the plunder, of Gaul and Spain; with the tribes of Barbarians, whose destructive progress was no longer checked by the Rhine or Pyrenees. Stained with the blood of the kinsmen of Hono­rius, he extorted, from the court of Ravenna, with which he secretly corresponded, the ratifica­tion of his rebellious claims. Constantine en­gaged himself, by a solemn promise, to deliver Italy from the Goths; advanced as far as the banks of the Po; and after alarming, rather than assisting, his pusillanimous ally, hastily returned to the palace of Arles, to celebrate, with intemperate luxury, his vain and ostentatious triumph. But this transient prosperity was soon interrupted and destroyed by the revolt of count Gerontius, the bravest of his generals; who, during the absence of his son Constans, a prince already invested with the Imperial purple, had been left to com­mand in the provinces of Spain. For some rea­son, of which we are ignorant, Gerontius, instead of assuming the diadem, placed it on the head of his friend Maximus, who fixed his residence at Tarragona, while the active count pressed for­wards, through the Pyrenees, to surprise the two emperors, Constantine and Constans, before they could prepare for their defence. The son was made prisoner at Vienna, and immediately put to death; and the unfortunate youth had scarcely leisure to deplore the elevation of his family; which had tempted, or compelled him, sacrile­giously to desert the peaceful obscurity of the mo­nastic life. The father maintained a siege within [Page 343] the walls of Arles; but those walls must have yielded to the assailants, had not the city been unexpectedly relieved by the approach of an Ita­lian army. The name of Honorius, the procla­mation of a lawful emperor, astonished the con­tending parties of the rebels. Gerontius, aban­doned by his own troops, escaped to the confines of Spain; and rescued his name from oblivion, by the Roman courage which appeared to ani­mate the last moments of his life. In the middle of the night, a great body of his perfidious sol­diers surrounded, and attacked his house, which he had strongly barricaded. His wife, a valiant friend of the nation of the Alani, and some faith­ful slaves, were still attached to his person; and he used, with so much skill and resolution, a large magazine of darts and arrows, that above three hundred of the assailants lost their lives in the attempt. His slaves, when all the missile weapons were spent, fled at the dawn of day; and Gerontius, if he had not been restrained by conjugal tenderness, might have imitated their example; till the soldiers, provoked by such ob­stinate resistance, applied fire on all sides to the house. In this fatal extremity, he complied with the request of his Barbarian friend, and cut off his head. The wife of Gerontius, who conjured him not to abandon her to a life of misery and disgrace, eagerly presented her neck to his sword; and the tragic scene was terminated by the death of the count himself, who, after three ineffectual strokes, drew a short dagger, and sheathed it in [Page 344] his heart ¹⁵⁰. The unprotected Maximus, whom he had invested with the purple, was indebted for his life to the contempt that was entertained of his power and abilities. The caprice of the Barbarians, who ravaged Spain, once more seated this Imperial phantom on the throne: but they soon resigned him to the justice of Honorius; and the tyrant Maximus, after he had been shewn to the people of Ravenna and Rome, was publicly executed.

The general, Constantius was his name, who Character and victo­ries of the general Constan­tius. raised by his approach the siege of Arles, and dissipated the troops of Gerontius, was born a Roman: and this remarkable distinction is strongly expressive of the decay of military spirit among the subjects of the empire. The strength and majesty which were conspicuous in the per­son of that general ¹⁵¹, marked him, in the po­pular opinion, as a candidate worthy of the throne, which he afterwards ascended. In the familiar intercourse of private life, his manners were cheerful and engaging: nor would he sometimes disdain, in the licence of convivial mirth, to vie [Page 345] with the pantomimes themselves, in the exercises of their ridiculous profession. But when the trumpet summoned him to arms; when he mounted his horse, and, bending down (for such was his singular practice) almost upon the neck, fiercely rolled his large animated eyes round the field, Constantius then struck terror into his foes, and inspired his soldiers with the assurance of victory. He had received from the court of Ra­venna the important commission of extirpating rebellion in the provinces of the West; and the pretended emperor Constantine, after enjoying a short and anxious respite, was again besieged in his capital by the arms of a more formidable enemy. Yet this interval allowed time for a successful negociation with the Franks and Ale­manni; and his ambassador, Edobic, soon re­turned, at the head of an army, to disturb the operations of the siege of Arles. The Roman general, instead of expecting the attack in his lines, boldly, and perhaps wisely, resolved to pass the Rhône, and to meet the Barbarians. His measures were conducted with so much skill and secrecy, that, while they engaged the infantry of Constantius in the front, they were suddenly at­tacked, surrounded, and destroyed by the cavalry of his lieutenant Ulphilas, who had silently gained an advantageous post in their rear. The remains of the army of Edobic were preserved by flight or submission, and their leader escaped from the field of battle to the house of a faithless friend; who too clearly understood, that the head of his [Page 346] obnoxious guest would be an acceptable and lu­crative present for the Imperial general. On this occasion, Constantius behaved with the magna­nimity of a genuine Roman. Subduing, or sup­pressing, every sentiment of jealousy, he publicly acknowledged the merit and services of Ulphilas: but he turned with horror from the assassin of Edobic; and sternly intimated his commands, that the camp should no longer be polluted by the presence of an ungrateful wretch, who had violated the laws of friendship and hospitality. The usurper, who beheld, from the walls of Arles, the ruin of his last hopes, was tempted to place some confidence in so generous a conqueror. He required a solemn promise for his security; and after receiving, by the imposition of hands, the sacred character of a Christian Presbyter, he ven­tured to open the gates of the city. But he soon experienced, that the principles of honour and integrity, which might regulate the ordinary conduct of Constantius, were superseded by the loose doctrines of political morality. The Ro­man Death of the usurper Constan­tine, A. D. 411, Nov. 28. general, indeed, refused to sully his laurels with the blood of Constantine; but the abdicated emperor, and, his son Julian, were sent under a strong guard into Italy; and before they reached the palace of Ravenna, they met the ministers of death.

At a time when it was universally confessed, Fall of the usurpers, Jovinus, Sebastian, and Atta­ius, A. D. 411—416. that almost every man in the empire was superior in personal merit to the princes whom the acci­dent of their birth had seated on the throne, a [Page 347] rapid succession of usurpers, regardless of the fate of their predecessors, still continued to arise. This mischief was peculiarly felt in the provinces of Spain and Gaul, where the principles of order and obedience had been extinguished by war and rebellion. Before Constantine resigned the pur­ple, and in the fourth month of the siege of Arles, intelligence was received in the Imperial camp, that Jovinus had assumed the diadem at Mentz, in the Upper Germany, at the instigation of Goar, king of the Alani, and of Guntiarius, king of the Burgundians; and that the candidate, on whom they had bestowed the empire, ad­vanced, with a formidable host of Barbarians, from the banks of the Rhine to those of the Rhône. Every circumstance is dark and extraor­dinary in the short history of the reign of Jovinus. It was natural to expect, that a brave and skilful general, at the head of a victorious army, would have asserted, in a field of battle, the justice of the cause of Honorius. The hasty retreat of Constantius might be justified by weighty rea­sons; but he resigned, without a struggle, the possession of Gaul: and Dardanus, the Praetorian praefect, is recorded as the only magistrate, who refused to yield obedience to the usurper ¹⁵². [Page 348] When the Goths, two years after the siege of Rome, established their quarters in Gaul, it was natural to suppose that their inclinations could be divided only between the emperor Honorius, with whom they had formed a recent alliance, and the degraded Attalus, whom they reserved in their camp for the occasional purpose of acting the part of a musician or a monarch. Yet in a moment of disgust (for which it is not easy to as­sign a cause, or a date), Adolphus connected himself with the usurper of Gaul; and imposed on Attalus the ignominious task of negociating the treaty, which ratified his own disgrace. We are again surprised to read, that, instead of con­sidering the Gothic alliance as the firmest support of his throne, Jovinus upbraided, in dark and ambiguous language, the officious importunity of Attalus; that, scorning the advice of his great ally, he invested with the purple his brother Se­bastian; and that he most imprudently accepted the service of Sarus, when that gallant chief, the soldier of Honorius, was provoked to desert the court of a prince, who knew not how to reward, or punish. Adolphus, educated among a race of warriors, who esteemed the duty of revenge as the most precious and sacred portion of their in­heritance, advanced with a body of ten thousand Goths to encounter the hereditary enemy of the house of Balti. He attacked Sarus at an un­guarded moment, when he was accompanied only by eighteen or twenty of his valiant followers. United by friendship, animated by despair, but [Page 349] at length oppressed by multitudes, this band of heroes deserved the esteem, without exciting the compassion, of their enemies; and the lion was no sooner taken in the toils ¹⁵³, than he was in­stantly dispatched. The death of Sarus dissolved the loose alliance which Adolphus still maintained with the usurpers of Gaul. He again listened to the dictates of love and prudence; and soon sa­tisfied the brother of Placidia, by the assurance that he would immediately transmit, to the pa­lace of Ravenna, the heads of the two tyrants, Jovinus and Sebastian. The king of the Goths executed his promise without difficulty or delay: the helpless brothers, unsupported by any per­sonal merit, were abandoned by their Barbarian auxiliaries; and the short opposition of Valentia was expiated by the ruin of one of the noblest cities of Gaul. The emperor, chosen by the Roman senate, who had been promoted, de­graded, insulted, restored, again degraded, and again insulted, was finally abandoned to his fate: but when the Gothic king withdrew his protec­tion, he was restrained, by pity or contempt, from offering any violence to the person of At­talus. The unfortunate Attalus, who was left without subjects or allies, embarked in one of the ports of Spain, in search of some secure and so­litary [Page 350] retreat: but he was intercepted at sea, con­ducted to the presence of Honorius, led in tri­umph through the streets of Rome or Ravenna, and publicly exposed to the gazing multitude, on the second step of the throne of his invincible conqueror. The same measure of punishment, with which, in the days of his prosperity, he was accused of menacing his rival, was inflicted on Attalus himself: he was condemned, after the amputation of two fingers, to a perpetual exile in the isle of Lipari, where he was supplied with the decent necessaries of life. The remainder of the reign of Honorius was undisturbed by rebel­lion; and it may be observed, that, in the space of five years, seven usurpers had yielded to the fortune of a prince, who was himself incapable either of counsel or of action.

The situation of Spain, separated, on all sides, Invasion of Spain by the Suevi, Vandals, Alani, &c. A. D. 409, Oct. 13. from the enemies of Rome, by the sea, by the mountains, and by intermediate provinces, had secured the long tranquillity of that remote and sequestered country; and we may observe, as a sure symptom of domestic happiness, that, in a period of four hundred years, Spain furnished very few materials to the history of the Roman empire. The footsteps of the Barbarians, who, in the reign of Gallienus, had penetrated beyond the Pyrenees, were soon obliterated by the return of peace; and in the fourth century of the Chris­tian aera, the cities of Emerita or Merida, of Corduba, Seville, Bracara, and Tarragona, were numbered with the most illustrious of the Roman [Page 351] world. The various plenty of the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral kingdoms, was im­proved and manufactured by the skill of an in­dustrious people; and the peculiar advantages of naval stores contributed to support an extensive and profitable trade ¹⁵⁴. The arts and sciences flourished under the protection of the emperors; and if the character of the Spaniards was enfee­bled by peace and servitude, the hostile approach of the Germans, who had spread terror and de­solation from the Rhine to the Pyrenees, seemed to rekindle some sparks of military ardour. As long as the defence of the mountains was en­trusted to the hardy and faithful militia of the country, they successfully repelled the frequent attempts of the Barbarians. But no sooner had the national troops been compelled to resign their post to the Honorian bands, in the service of Constantine; than the gates of Spain were trea­cherously betrayed to the public enemy, about ten months before the sack of Rome by the Goths ¹⁵⁵. The consciousness of guilt, and the [Page 352] thirst of rapine, prompted the mercenary guards of the Pyrenees to desert their station; to invite the arms of the Suevi, the Vandals, and the Alani; and to swell the torrent which was poured with irresistible violence from the frontiers of Gaul to the sea of Africa. The misfortunes of Spain may be described in the language of its most eloquent historian, who has concisely ex­pressed the passionate, and perhaps exaggerated, declamations of contemporary writers ¹⁵⁶. ‘"The irruption of these nations was followed by the most dreadful calamities: as the Barbarians exercised their indiscriminate cruelty on the fortunes of the Romans and the Spaniards; and ravaged with equal fury the cities and the open country. The progress of famine re­duced the miserable inhabitants to feed on the flesh of their fellow-creatures; and even the wild beasts, who multiplied, without controul, in the desert, were exasperated, by the taste of blood, and the impatience of hunger, boldly to attack and devour their human prey. Pes­tilence soon appeared, the inseparable compa­nion of famine; a large proportion of the peo­ple was swept away; and the groans of the dying excited only the envy of their surviving friends. At length the Barbarians, satiated with carnage and rapine, and afflicted by the contagious evils which they themselves had introduced, fixed their permanent seats in the [Page 353] depopulated country. The ancient Gallicia, whose limits included the kingdom of Old Castille, was divided between the Suevi and the Vandals; the Alani were scattered over the provinces of Carthagena and Lusitania, from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean; and the fruitful territory of Boetica was allotted to the Silingi, another branch of the Vandalic nation. After regulating this partition, the conquerors contracted with their new subjects some reciprocal engagements of protection and obedience: the lands were again cultivated; and the towns and villages were again oc­cupied by a captive people. The greatest part of the Spaniards was even disposed to prefer this new condition of poverty and bar­barism, to the severe oppressions of the Roman government: yet there were many who still asserted their native freedom; and who refused, more especially in the mountains of Gallicia, to submit to the Barbarian yoke ¹⁵⁷."’

The important present of the heads of Jovinus and Sebastian, had approved the friendship of Adolphus, king of the Goths, marches into Spain, A. D. 414. Adolphus, and restored Gaul to the obedience of his brother Honorius. Peace was incompatible with the situation and temper of the king of the Goths. He readily accepted the proposal of turn­ing his victorious arms against the Barbarians of [Page 354] Spain: the troops of Constantius intercepted his communication with the sea-ports of Gaul, and gently pressed his march towards the Pyrenees ¹⁵⁸: he passed the mountains, and surprised, in the name of the emperor, the city of Barcelona. The fondness of Adolphus for his Roman bride, was not abated by time or possession; and the birth of a son, surnamed, from his illustrious grand­sire, Theodosius, appeared to fix him for ever in the interest of the republic. The loss of that in­fant, whose remains were deposited in a silver coffin in one of the churches near Barcelona, af­flicted his parents; but the grief of the Gothic king was suspended by the labours of the field; and the course of his victories was soon inter­rupted by domestic treason. He had imprudently received into his service one of the followers of Sarus; a Barbarian of a daring spirit, but of a diminutive stature; whose secret desire of reveng­ing the death of his beloved patron, was conti­nually irritated by the sarcasms of his insolent His death, A. D. 415. August. master. Adolphus was assassinated in the palace of Barcelona; the laws of the succession were vio­lated by a tumultuous faction ¹⁵⁹; and a stranger to the royal race, Singeric, the brother of Sarus himself, was seated on the Gothic throne. The [Page 355] first act of his reign was the inhuman murder of the six children of Adolphus, the issue of a for­mer marriage, whom he tore, without pity, from the feeble arms of a venerable bishop ¹⁶⁰. The unfortunate Placidia, instead of the respectful compassion, which she might have excited in the most savage breasts, was treated with cruel and wanton insult. The daughter of the emperor Theodosius, confounded among a crowd of vul­gar captives, was compelled to march on foot above twelve miles, before the horse of a Bar­barian, the assassin of an husband whom Placidia loved and lamented ¹⁶¹.

But Placidia soon obtained the pleasure of re­venge The Goths conquer and resotre Spain, A. D. 415—418,; and the view of her ignominious suffer­ings might rouse an indignant people against the tyrant, who was assassinated on the seventh day of his usurpation. After the death of Singeric, the free choice of the nation bestowed the Gothic sceptre on Wallia; whose warlike and ambitious temper appeared, in the beginning of his reign, extremely hostile to the republic. He marched, in arms, from Barcelona to the shores of the At­lantic Ocean, which the ancients revered and dreaded as the boundary of the world. But when he reached the Southern promontory of [Page 356] Spain ¹⁶², and, from the rock now covered by the fortress of Gibraltar, contemplated the neigh­bouring and fertile coast of Africa, Wallia re­sumed the designs of conquest, which had been interrupted by the death of Alaric. The winds and waves again disappointed the enterprise of the Goths; and the minds of a superstitious people were deeply affected by the repeated disasters of storms and shipwrecks. In this disposition, the successor of Adolphus no longer refused to listen to a Roman ambassador, whose proposals were enforced by the real, or supposed, approach of a numerous army, under the conduct of the brave Constantius. A solemn treaty was stipulated and observed: Placidia was honourably restored to her brother; six hundred thousand measures of wheat were delivered to the hungry Goths ¹⁶³; and Wallia engaged to draw his sword in the service of the empire. A bloody war was in­stantly excited among the Barbarians of Spain; and the contending princes are said to have ad­dressed their letters, their ambassadors, and their hostages, to the throne of the Western emperor, exhorting him to remain a tranquil spectator of their contest; the events of which must be favour­able to the Romans, by the mutual slaughter of [Page 357] their common enemies ¹⁶⁴. The Spanish war was obstinately supported, during three campaigns, with desperate valour, and various success; and the martial atchievements of Wallia diffused through the empire the superior renown of the Gothic hero. He exterminated the Silingi, who had irretrievably ruined the elegant plenty of the province of Boetica. He slew, in battle, the king of the Alani; and the remains of those Scy­thian wanderers, who escaped from the field, in­stead of chusing a new leader, humbly sought a refuge under the standard of the Vandals, with whom they were ever afterwards confounded. The Vandals themselves, and the Suevi, yielded to the efforts of the invincible Goths. The pro­miscuous multitude of Barbarians, whose retreat had been intercepted, were driven into the moun­tains of Gallicia; where they still continued, in a narrow compass, and on a barren soil, to exer­cise their domestic and implacable hostilities. In the pride of victory, Wallia was faithful to his engagements: he restored his Spanish conquests to the obedience of Honorius; and the tyranny of the Imperial officers soon reduced an oppressed people to regret the time of their Barbarian ser­vitude. While the event of the war was still doubtful, the first advantages obtained by the [Page 358] arms of Wallia, had encouraged the court of Ra­venna to decree the honours of a triumph to their feeble sovereign. He entered Rome like the an­cient conquerors of nations; and if the monu­ments of servile corruption had not long since met with the fate which they deserved, we should pro­bably find that a crowd of poets, and orators, of magistrates, and bishops, applauded the fortune, the wisdom, and the invincible courage, of the emperor Honorius ¹⁶⁵.

Such a triumph might have been justly claimed Their esta­blishment in Aqui­tain, A. D. 419. by the ally of Rome, if Wallia, before he repassed the Pyrenees, had extirpated the seeds of the Spanish war. His victorious Goths, forty-three years after they had passed the Danube, were established, according to the faith of treaties, in the possession of the second Aquitain; a maritime province between the Garonne and the Loire, under the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Bourdeaux. That metropolis, advantageously situated for the trade of the ocean, was built in a regular and elegant form; and its numerous in­habitants were distinguished among the Gauls by their wealth, their learning, and the politeness of their manners. The adjacent province, which has been fondly compared to the garden of Eden, is blessed with a fruitful soil, and a temperate [Page 359] climate; the face of the country displayed the arts and the rewards of industry; and the Goths, after their martial toils, luxuriously exhausted the rich vineyards of Aquitain ¹⁶⁶. The Gothic li­mits were enlarged, by the additional gift of some neighbouring dioceses; and the successors of Alaric fixed their royal residence at Thoulouse, which included five populous quarters, or cities, within the spacious circuit of its walls. About the same time, in the last years of the reign of Honorius, the GOTHS, the BURGUNDIANS, and The Bur­gundians. the FRANKS, obtained a permanent seat and do­minion in the provinces of Gaul. The liberal grant of the usurper Jovinus to his Burgundian allies, was confirmed by the lawful emperor: the lands of the First, or Upper, Germany, were ceded to those formidable Barbarians; and they gradually occupied, either by conquest or treaty, the two provinces which still retain, with the titles of Duchy and of County, the national appel­lation of Burgundy ¹⁶⁷. The Franks, the valiant and faithful allies of the Roman republic, were soon tempted to imitate the invaders, whom they had so bravely resisted. Treves, the capital of [Page 360] Gaul, was pillaged by their lawless bands; and the humble colony, which they so long main­tained in the district of Toxandria, in Brabant, insensibly multiplied along the banks of the Meuse and Scheld, till their independent power filled the whole extent of the Second, or Lower Ger­many. These facts may be sufficiently justified by historic evidence: but the foundation of the French monarchy by Pharamond, the conquests, the laws, and even the existence, of that hero, have been justly arraigned by the impartial seve­rity of modern criticism ¹⁶⁸.

The ruin of the opulent provinces of Gaul State of the Barba­rians in Gaul, A. D. 420, &c. may be dated from the establishment of these Bar­barians, whose alliance was dangerous and op­pressive, and who were capriciously impelled, by interest or passion, to violate the public peace. A heavy and partial ransom was imposed on the surviving provincials, who had escaped the cala­mities of war; the fairest and most fertile lands were assigned to the rapacious strangers, for the use of their families, their slaves, and their cattle; and the trembling natives relinquished with a sigh the inheritance of their fathers. Yet these do­mestic misfortunes, which are seldom the lot of a vanquished people, had been felt and inflicted [Page 361] by the Romans themselves, not only in the in­solence of foreign conquest, but in the madness of civil discord. The Triumvirs proscribed eighteen of the most flourishing colonies of Italy; and distributed their lands and houses to the ve­terans who revenged the death of Caesar, and op­pressed the liberty of their country. Two poets, of unequal fame, have deplored, in similar cir­cumstances, the loss of their patrimony; but the legionaries of Augustus appear to have surpassed, in violence and injustice, the Barbarians, who invaded Gaul, under the reign of Honorius. It was not without the utmost difficulty that Virgil escaped from the sword of the Centurion, who had usurped his farm in the neighbourhood of Mantua ¹⁶⁹; but Paulinus of Bourdeaux received a sum of money from his Gothic purchaser, which he accepted with pleasure and surprise; and, though it was much inferior to the real value of his estate, this act of rapine was disguised by some colours of moderation and equity ¹⁷⁰. The odious name of conquerors, was softened into the mild and friendly appellation of the guests [Page 362] of the Romans; and the Barbarians of Gaul, more especially the Goths, repeatedly declared, that they were bound to the people by the ties of hospitality, and to the emperor by the duty of allegiance and military service. The title of Honorius and his successors, their laws, and their civil magistrates, were still respected in the pro­vinces of Gaul, of which they had resigned the possession to the Barbarian allies; and the kings, who exercised a supreme and independent autho­rity over their native subjects, ambitiously soli­cited the more honourable rank of master-gene­rals of the Imperial armies ¹⁷¹. Such was the in­voluntary reverence which the Roman name still impressed on the minds of those warriors, who had borne away in triumph the spoils of the Ca­pitol.

Whilst Italy was ravaged by the Goths, and Revolt of Britain and Ar­morica, A. D. 409. a succession of feeble tyrants oppressed the pro­vinces beyond the Alps, the British island sepa­rated itself from the body of the Roman empire. The regular forces which guarded that remote province, had been gradually withdrawn; and Britain was abandoned, without defence, to the Saxon pirates, and the savages of Ireland and Caledonia. The Britons, reduced to this extre­mity, no longer relied on the tardy and doubtful aid of a declining monarchy. They assembled in arms, repelled the invaders, and rejoiced in the [Page 363] important discovery of their own strength ¹⁷². Afflicted by similar calamities, and actuated by the same spirit, the Armorican provinces (a name which comprehended the maritime countries of Gaul between the Seine and the Loire ¹⁷³) re­solved to imitate the example of the neighbour­ing island. They expelled the Roman magis­trates, who acted under the authority of the usurper Constantine; and a free government was established among a people who had so long been subject to the arbitrary will of a master. The independence of Britain and Armorica was soon confirmed by Honorius himself, the lawful em­peror of the West; and the letters, by which he committed to the new states the care of their own safety, might be interpreted as an absolute and perpetual abdication of the exercise and rights of sovereignty. This interpretation was, in some measure, justified by the event. After the usurpers of Gaul had successively fallen, the ma­ritime provinces were restored to the empire. Yet their obedience was imperfect and precari­ous: the vain, inconstant, rebellious disposition of the people, was incompatible either with free­dom [Page 364] or servitude ¹⁷⁴; and Armorica, though it could not long maintain the form of a republic ¹⁷⁵, was agitated by frequent and destructive revolts. Britain was irrecoverably lost ¹⁷⁶. But as the em­perors wisely acquiesced in the independence of a remote province, the separation was not em­bittered by the reproach of tyranny or rebellion; and the claims of allegiance and protection were succeeded by the mutual and voluntary offices of national friendship ¹⁷⁷.

This revolution dissolved the artificial fabric State of Britain, A. D. 409—449. of civil and military government; and the inde­pendent [Page 365] country, during a period of forty years, till the descent of the Saxons, was ruled by the authority of the clergy, the nobles, and the mu­nicipal towns ¹⁷⁸. I. Zosimus, who alone has pre­served the memory of this singular transaction, very accurately observes, that the letters of Honorius were addressed to the cities of Britain ¹⁷⁹. Under the protection of the Romans, ninety-two consi­derable towns had arisen in the several parts of that great province; and, among these, thirty­three cities were distinguished above the rest by their superior privileges and importance ¹⁸⁰. Each of these cities, as in all the other provinces of the empire, formed a legal corporation, for the pur­pose of regulating their domestic policy; and the powers of municipal government were distributed among annual magistrates, a select senate, and the assembly of the people, according to the ori­ginal model of the Roman constitution ¹⁸¹. The management of a common revenue, the exercise of civil and criminal jurisdiction, and the habits of public counsel and command, were inherent to these petty republics; and when they asserted [Page 366] their independence, the youth of the city, and of the adjacent districts, would naturally range them­selves under the standard of the magistrate. But the desire of obtaining the advantages, and of escaping the burthens, of political society, is a perpetual and inexhaustible source of discord; nor can it reasonably be presumed, that the re­storation of British freedom was exempt from tu­mult and faction. The pre-eminence of birth and fortune must have been frequently violated by bold and popular citizens; and the haughty nobles, who complained that they were become the subjects of their own servants ¹⁸², would some­times regret the reign of an arbitrary monarch.

II. The jurisdiction of each city over the adjacent country, was supported by the patrimonial in­fluence of the principal senators; and the smaller towns, the villages, and the proprietors of land, consulted their own safety by adhering to the shelter of these rising republics. The sphere of their attraction was proportioned to the respective degrees of their wealth and populousness; but the hereditary lords of ample possessions, who were not oppressed by the neighbourhood of any powerful city, aspired to the rank of indepen­dent princes, and boldly exercised the rights of peace and war. The gardens and villas, which exhibited some faint imitation of Ita­lian elegance, would soon be converted into [Page 367] strong castles, the refuge, in time of danger, of the adjacent country ¹⁸³: the produce of the land was applied to purchase arms and horses; to maintain a military force of slaves, of peasants, and of licentious followers; and the chieftain might assume, within his own domain, the powers of a civil magistrate. Several of these British chiefs might be the genuine posterity of ancient kings; and many more would be tempted to adopt this honourable genealogy, and to vin­dicate their hereditary claims, which had been suspended by the usurpation of the Caesars ¹⁸⁴. Their situation, and their hopes, would dispose them to affect the dress, the language, and the customs of their ancestors. If the princes of Britain relapsed into barbarism, while the cities studiously preserved the laws and manners of Rome, the whole island must have been gra­dually divided by the distinction of two national parties; again broken into a thousand subdivisions of war and faction, by the various provocations of interest and resentment. The public strength, instead of being united against a foreign enemy, was consumed in obscure and intestine quarrels; [Page 368] and the personal merit which had placed a suc­cessful leader at the head of his equals, might enable him to subdue the freedom of some neigh­bouring cities; and to claim a rank among the tyrants ¹⁸⁵, who infested Britain after the disso­lution of the Roman government. III. The British church might be composed of thirty or forty bishops ¹⁸⁶, with an adequate proportion of the inferior clergy; and the want of riches (for they seem to have been poor ¹⁸⁷) would compel them to deserve the public esteem, by a decent and exemplary behaviour. The interest, as well as the temper of the clergy, was favourable to the peace and union of their distracted country: those salutary lessons might be frequently incul­cated in their popular discourses; and the epis­copal synods were the only councils that could pretend to the weight and authority of a national assembly. In such councils, where the princes and magistrates sat promiscuously with the bishops, the important affairs of the state, as well as of the church, might be freely debated; differences reconciled, alliances formed, contributions im­posed, wise resolutions often concerted, and some­times [Page 369] executed; and there is reason to believe, that, in moments of extreme danger, a Pendragon, or Dictator, was elected by the general consent of the Britons. These pastoral cares, so worthy of the episcopal character, were interrupted, how­ever, by zeal and superstition; and the British clergy incessantly laboured to eradicate the Pela­gian heresy, which they abhorred, as the peculiar disgrace of their native country ¹⁸⁸.

It is somewhat remarkable, or rather it is ex­tremely Assembly of the se­ven pro­vinces of Gaul, A. D. 418. natural, that the revolt of Britain and Armorica should have introduced an appearance of liberty into the obedient provinces of Gaul. In a solemn edict ¹⁸⁹, filled with the strongest assurances of that paternal affection which princes so often express, and so seldom feel, the emperor Honorius promulgated his intention of conven­ing an annual assembly of the seven provinces: a name peculiarly appropriated to Aquitain, and the ancient Narbonnese, which had long since exchanged their Celtic rudeness for the use­ful and elegant arts of Italy ¹⁹⁰. Arles, the seat of government and commerce, was appointed for the place of the assembly; which regularly [Page 370] continued twenty-eight days, from the fifteenth of August to the thirteenth of September, of every year. It consisted of the Praetorian praefect of the Gauls; of seven provincial governors, one consular and six presidents; of the magistrates, and perhaps the bishops, of about sixty cities; and of a competent, though indefinite, number of the most honourable and opulent possessors of land, who might justly be considered as the re­presentatives of their country. They were im­powered to interpret and communicate the laws of their sovereign; to expose the grievances and wishes of their constituents; to moderate the excessive or unequal weight of taxes; and to deliberate on every subject of local or national importance, that could tend to the restoration of the peace and prosperity of the seven provinces. If such an institution, which gave the people an interest in their own government, had been uni­versally established by Trajan or the Antonines, the seeds of public wisdom and virtue might have been cherished and propagated in the em­pire of Rome. The privileges of the subject would have secured the throne of the monarch; the abuses of an arbitrary administration might have been prevented, in some degree, or correct­ed, by the interposition of these representative assemblies; and the country would have been defended against a foreign enemy, by the arms of natives and freemen. Under the mild and gene­rous influence of liberty, the Roman empire might have remained invincible and immortal; or if its excessive magnitude, and the instability [Page 371] of human affairs, had opposed such perpetual continuance, its vital and constituent members might have separately preserved their vigour and independence. But in the decline of the empire, when every principle of health and life had been exhausted, the tardy application of this partial remedy was incapable of producing any important or salutary effects. The emperor Honorius ex­presses his surprise, that he must compel the reluctant provinces to accept a privilege which they should ardently have solicited. A fine of three, or even five, pounds of gold, was imposed on the absent representatives; who seem to have declined this imaginary gift of a free constitution, as the last and most cruel insult of their op­pressors.

THE division of the Roman world between the sons of Theodosius, marks the final establishment of the empire of the East, which, The em­pire of the East, A. D. 395—1453 Reign of Arcadius, A. D. 395—408. from the reign of Arcadius to the taking of Constantinople by the Turks, subsisted one thou­sand and fifty-eight years, in a state of premature and perpetual decay. The sovereign of that empire assumed, and obstinately retained, the vain, and at length fictitious, title of Emperor of the ROMANS; and the hereditary appellations of CAESAR and AUGUSTUS continued to declare, that he was the legitimate successor of the first of men, who had reigned over the first of nations. The palace of Constantinople rivalled, and per­haps excelled, the magnificence of Persia; and the eloquent sermons of St. Chrysostom ¹ cele­brate, [Page 373] while they condemn, the pompous luxury of the reign of Arcadius. ‘"The emperor," says he, "wears on his head either a diadem, or a crown of gold, decorated with precious stones of inestimable value. These ornaments, and his purple garments, are reserved for his sacred person alone; and his robes of silk are em­broidered with the figures of golden dragons. His throne is of massy gold. Whenever he appears in public, he is surrounded by his courtiers, his guards, and his attendants. Their spears, their shields, their cuirasses, the bridles and trappings of their horses, have either the substance, or the appearance, of gold; and the large splendid boss in the midst of their shield, is encircled with smaller bosses, which represent the shape of the human eye. The two mules that draw the chariot of the monarch, are perfectly white, and shining all over with gold. The chariot itself, of pure and solid gold, attracts the admiration of the spectators, who contemplate the purple cur­tains, the snowy carpet, the size of the pre­cious stones, and the resplendent plates of gold, that glitter as they are agitated by the motion of the carriage. The Imperial pictures are white, on a blue ground; the emperor appears seated on his throne, with his arms, his horses, and his guards beside him; and his vanquished enemies in chains at his feet."’ The successors of Constantine established their perpetual residence in the royal city, which he [Page 374] had erected on the verge of Europe and Asia. Inaccessible to the menaces of their enemies, and perhaps to the complaints of their people, they received, with each wind, the tributary produc­tions of every climate; while the impregnable strength of their capital continued for ages to defy the hostile attempts of the Barbarians. Their dominions were bounded by the Hadriatic and the Tigris; and the whole interval of twenty­five days navigation, which separated the extreme cold of Scythia from the torrid zone of Aethiopia ², was comprehended within the limits of the em­pire of the East. The populous countries of that empire were the seat of art and learning, of lux­ury and wealth; and the inhabitants, who had assumed the language and manners of Greeks, stiled themselves, with some appearance of truth, the most enlightened and civilised portion of the human species. The form of government was a pure and simple monarchy; the name of the ROMAN REPUBLIC, which so long preserved a faint tradition of freedom, was confined to the Latin provinces; and the princes of Constan­tinople measured their greatness by the servile obedience of their people. They were ignorant [Page 375] how much this passive disposition enervates and degrades every faculty of the mind. The sub­jects, who had resigned their will to the absolute commands of a master, were equally incapable of guarding their lives and fortunes against the assaults of the Barbarians, or of defending their reason from the terrors of superstition.

The first events of the reign of Arcadius and Admini­stration and cha­racter of Eutropius, A. D. 395—399. Honorius are so intimately connected, that the rebellion of the Goths, and the fall of Rufinus, have already claimed a place in the history of the West. It has already been observed, that Eutro­pius ³, one of the principal eunuchs of the pa­lace of Constantinople, succeeded the haughty minister whose ruin he had accomplished, and whose vices he soon imitated. Every order of the state bowed to the new favourite; and their tame and obsequious submission encouraged him to insult the laws, and, what is still more difficult and dangerous, the manners of his country. Un­der the weakest of the predecessors of Arcadius, the reign of the eunuchs had been secret, and almost invisible. They insinuated themselves into the confidence of the prince; but their osten­sible functions were confined to the menial ser­vice of the wardrobe and Imperial bed-chamber. They might direct, in a whisper, the public counsels, and blast, by their malicious suggestions, [Page 376] the fame snd fortunes of the most illustrious citi­zens; but they never presumed to stand forward in the front of empire ⁴, or to profane the public honours of the state. Eutropius was the first of his artificial sex, who dared to assume the cha­racter of a Roman magistrate and general ⁵. Sometimes, in the presence of the blushing senate, he ascended the tribunal, to pronounce judg­ment, or to repeat elaborate harangues; and sometimes appeared on horseback, at the head of his troops, in the dress and armour of a hero. The disregard of custom and decency always betrays a weak and ill-regulated mind; nor does Eutropius seem to have compensated for the folly of the design, by any superior merit or ability in the execution. His former habits of life had not introduced him to the study of the laws, or the exercises of the field; his awkward and unsuc­cessful [Page 377] attempts provoked the secret contempt of the spectators; the Goths expressed their wish, that such a general might always command the armies of Rome; and the name of the minister was branded with ridicule, more pernicious per­haps than hatred, to a public character. The subjects of Arcadius were exasperated by the recollection, that this deformed and decrepid eunuch ⁶, who so perversely mimicked the actions of a man, was born in the most abject condition of servitude; that, before he entered the Im­perial palace, he had been successively sold, and purchased, by an hundred masters, who had ex­hausted his youthful strength in every mean and infamous office, and at length dismissed him, in his old age, to freedom and poverty ⁷. While these disgraceful stories were circulated, and per­haps exaggerated, in private conversations, the vanity of the favourite was flattered with the most extraordinary honours. In the senate, in [Page 378] the capital, in the provinces, the statues of Eu­tropius were erected, in brass or marble, deco­rated with the symbols of his civil and military virtues, and inscribed with the pompous title of the third founder of Constantinople. He was promoted to the rank of patrician, which began to signify, in a popular, and even legal accepta­tion, the father of the emperor; and the last year of the fourth century was polluted by the consulship of an eunuch, and a slave. This strange and inexpiable prodigy ⁸ awakened, however, the prejudices of the Romans. The effeminate con­sul was rejected by the West, as an indelible stain to the annals of the republic; and, without in­voking the shades of Brutus and Camillus, the colleague of Eutropius, a learned and respectable magistrate ⁹, sufficiently represented the different maxims of the two administrations.

The bold and vigorous mind of Rufinus seems His ve­nality and injustice. to have been actuated by a more sanguinary and revengeful spirit; but the avarice of the eunuch was not less insatiate than that of the praefect ¹⁰. [Page 379] As long as he despoiled the oppressors, who had enriched themselves with the plunder of the peo­ple, Eutropius might gratify his covetous dis­position without much envy or injustice: but the progress of his rapine soon invaded the wealth which had been acquired by lawful inheritance, or laudable industry. The usual methods of ex­tortion were practised and improved; and Clau­dian has sketched a lively and original picture of the public auction of the state. ‘"The impotence of the eunuch" (says that agreeable satirist) "has served only to stimulate his avarice: the same hand which, in his servile condition, was exercised in petty thefts, to unlock the coffers of his master, now grasps the riches of the world; and this infamous broker of the em­pire appreciates and divides the Roman pro­vinces, from Mount Haemus to the Tigris. One man, at the expence of his villa, is made proconsul of Asia; a second purchases Syria with his wife's jewels; and a third laments, that he has exchanged his paternal estate for the government of Bithynia. In the anti­chamber of Eutropius, a large tablet is exposed to public view, which marks the respective prices of the provinces. The different value of Pontus, of Galatia, of Lydia, is accurately distinguished. Lycia may be obtained for so many thousand pieces of gold; but the opulence of Phrygia will require a more considerable sum. The eunuch wishes to obliterate, by the general disgrace, his personal ignominy; and as he has [Page 380] been sold himself, he is desirous of selling the rest of mankind. In the eager contention, the balance, which contains the fate and fortunes of the province, often trembles on the beam; and till one of the scales is inclined, by a su­perior weight, the mind of the impartial judge remains in anxious suspense ¹¹."’ Such" (con­tinues the indignant poet) ‘"are the fruits of Roman valour, of the defeat of Antiochus, and of the triumph of Pompey."’ This venal prostitution of public honours secured the impu­nity of future crimes; but the riches, which Eu­tropius derived from confiscation, were already stained with injustice; since it was decent to ac­cuse, and to condemn, the proprietors of the wealth which he was impatient to confiscate. Some noble blood was shed by the hand of the executioner; and the most inhospitable extremi­ties of the empire were filled with innocent and illustrious exiles. Among the generals and con­suls Ruin of Abundan­tius, of the East, Abundantius ¹² had reason to dread the first effects of the resentment of Eutro­pius. He had been guilty of the unpardonable [Page 381] crime of introducing that abject slave to the pa­lace of Constantinople: and some degree of praise must be allowed to a powerful and ungrateful favourite, who was satisfied with the disgrace of his benefactor. Abundantius was stripped of his ample fortunes by an Imperial rescript, and ba­nished to Pityus, on the Euxine, the last frontier of the Roman world; where he subsisted by the precarious mercy of the Barbarians, till he could obtain, after the fall of Eutropius, a milder exile at Sidon in Phoenicia. The destruction of Tima­sius ¹³ of Tima­sius. required a more serious and regular mode of attack. That great officer, the master-general of the armies of Theodosius, had signalised his valour by a decisive victory, which he obtained over the Goths of Thessaly; but he was too prone, after the example of his sovereign, to enjoy the luxury of peace, and to abandon his confidence to wicked and designing flatterers. Timasius had despised the public clamour, by promoting an infamous dependent to the com­mand of a cohort; and he deserved to feel the ingratitude of Bargus, who was secretly instigat­ed by the favourite to accuse his patron of a trea­sonable conspiracy. The general was arraigned before the tribunal of Arcadius himself; and the principal eunuch stood by the side of the throne, [Page 382] to suggest the questions and answers of his sove­reign. But as this form of trial might be deem­ed partial and arbitrary, the farther enquiry into the crimes of Timasius was delegated to Satur­ninus and Procopius; the former of consular rank, the latter still respected as the father-in-law of the emperor Valens. The appearances of a fair and legal proceeding were maintained by the blunt honesty of Procopius; and he yielded with reluctance to the obsequious dexterity of his col­league, who pronounced a sentence of condemna­tion against the unfortunate Timasius. His im­mense riches were confiscated, in the name of the emperor, and for the benefit of the favourite; and he was doomed to perpetual exile at Oasis, a solitary spot in the midst of the sandy deserts of Libya ¹⁴. Secluded from all human converse, the master-general of the Roman armies was lost for ever to the world; but the circumstances of his fate have been related in a various and con­tradictory manner. It is insinuated, that Eutro­pius dispatched a private order for his secret execution ¹⁵. It was reported, that, in attempt­ing to escape from Oasis, he perished in the de­sert, [Page 383] of thirst and hunger; and that his dead body was found on the sands of Libya ¹⁶. It has been asserted, with more confidence, that his son Sya­grius, after successfully eluding the pursuit of the agents and emissaries of the court, collected a band of African robbers; that he rescued Ti­masius from the place of his exile; and that both the father and the son disappeared from the knowledge of mankind ¹⁷. But the ungrateful Bargus, instead of being suffered to possess the reward of guilt, was soon afterwards circumvent­ed and destroyed, by the more powerful villany of the minister himself; who retained sense and spirit enough to abhor the instrument of his own crimes.

The public hatred, and the despair of indi­viduals, A cruel and unjust law of treason, A. D. 397, Sept. 4. continually threatened, or seemed to threaten, the personal safety of Eutropius; as well as of the numerous adherents, who were attached to his fortune, and had been promoted by his venal favour. For their mutual defence, he contrived the safeguard of a law, which vio­lated every principle of humanity and justice ¹⁸.

[Page 384] I. It is enacted, in the name, and by the autho­rity, of Arcadius, that all those who shall con­spire, either with subjects, or with strangers, against the lives of any of the persons whom the emperor considers as the members of his own body, shall be punished with death and confis­cation. This species of fictitious and metaphori­cal treason is extended to protect, not only the illustrious officers of the state and army, who are admitted into the sacred consistory, but likewise the principal domestics of the palace, the senators of Constantinople, the military commanders, and the civil magistrates of the provinces: a vague and indefinite list, which, under the successors of Constantine, included an obscure and numerous train of subordinate ministers. II. This extreme severity might perhaps be justified, had it been only directed to secure the representatives of the sovereign from any actual violence in the exe­cution of their office. But the whole body of Imperial dependents claimed a privilege, or rather impunity, which screened them, in the loosest moments of their lives, from the hasty, perhaps the justifiable, resentment of their fellow-citizens: and, by a strange perversion of the laws, the same degree of guilt and punishment was applied to a private quarrel, and to a deliberate conspi­racy against the emperor and the empire. The edict of Arcadius most positively and most ab­surdly declares, that in such cases of treason, thoughts and actions ought to be punished with equal severity; that the knowledge of a mis­chievous intention, unless it be instantly revealed, [Page 385] becomes equally criminal with the intention it­self ¹⁹; and that those rash men, who shall pre­sume to solicit the pardon of traitors, shall them­selves be branded with public and perpetual in­famy. III. ‘"With regard to the sons of the traitors," (continues the emperor) "although they ought to share the punishment, since they will probably imitate the guilt, of their pa­rents; yet, by the special effect of our Impe­rial lenity, we grant them their lives: but, at the same time, we declare them incapable of inheriting, either on the father's or on the mother's side, or of receiving any gift or le­gacy, from the testament either of kinsmen or of strangers. Stigmatised with hereditary in­famy, excluded from the hopes of honours or fortune, let them endure the pangs of poverty and contempt, till they shall consider life as a calamity, and death as a comfort and relief."’ In such words, so well adapted to insult the feel­ings of mankind, did the emperor, or rather his favourite eunuch, applaud the moderation of a law, which transferred the same unjust and in­human penalties to the children of all those who had seconded, or who had not disclosed, these fictitious conspiracies. Some of the noblest re­gulations [Page 386] of Roman jurisprudence have been suffered to expire; but this edict, a convenient and forcible engine of ministerial tyranny, was carefully inserted in the Codes of Theodosius and Justinian; and the same maxims have been reviv­ed in modern ages, to protect the electors of Germany, and the cardinals of the church of Rome ²⁰.

Yet these sanguinary laws, which spread terror Rebellion of Tribi­gild, A. D. 399. among a disarmed and dispirited people, were of too weak a texture to restrain the bold enterprise of Tribigild ²¹ the Ostrogoth. The colony of that warlike nation, which had been planted by Theodosius in one of the most fertile districts of Phrygia ²², impatiently compared the slow returns of laborious husbandry, with the successful rapine and liberal rewards of Alaric; and their leader resented, as a personal affront, his own ungra­cious reception in the palace of Constantinople. A soft and wealthy province, in the heart of the empire, was astonished by the sound of war; and [Page 387] the faithful vassal, who had been disregarded or oppressed, was again respected, as soon as he resumed the hostile character of a Barbarian. The vineyards and fruitful fields, between the rapid Marsyas and the winding Maeander ²³, were consumed with fire; the decayed walls of the cities crumbled into dust, at the first stroke of an enemy; the trembling inhabitants escaped from a bloody massacre to the shores of the Hellespont; and a considerable part of Asia Minor was deso­lated by the rebellion of Tribigild. His rapid progress was checked by the resistance of the peasants of Pamphylia; and the Ostrogoths, at­tacked in a narrow pass, between the city of Selgae ²⁴, a deep morass, and the craggy clifts of Mount Taurus, were defeated with the loss of their bravest troops. But the spirit of their chief was not daunted by misfortune; and his army was continually recruited by swarms of Barbari­ans and outlaws, who were desirous of exercising the profession of robbery, under the more ho­nourable names of war and conquest. The ru­mours of the success of Tribigild might for some time be suppressed by fear, or disguised by flat­tery; [Page 388] yet they gradually alarmed both the court and the capital. Every misfortune was exag­gerated in dark and doubtful hints; and the future designs of the rebels became the subject of anxious conjecture. Whenever Tribigild advanced into the inland country, the Romans were inclined to suppose that he meditated the passage of Mount Taurus, and the invasion of Syria. If he descended towards the sea, they imputed, and perhaps suggested, to the Gothic chief, the more dangerous project of arming a fleet in the harbours of Ionia, and of extending his depre­dations along the maritime coast, from the mouth of the Nile to the port of Constantinople. The approach of danger, and the obstinacy of Tribi­gild, who refused all terms of accommodation, compelled Eutropius to summon a council of war ²⁵. After claiming for himself the privilege of a veteran soldier, the eunuch entrusted the guard of Thrace and the Hellespont to Gainas the Goth; and the command of the Asiatic army to his favourite Leo; two generals, who differ­ently, but effectually, promoted the cause of the rebels. Leo ²⁶, who, from the bulk of his body, [Page 389] and the dulness of his mind, was surnamed the Ajax of the East, had deserted his original trade of a woolcomber, to exercise, with much less skill and success, the military profession: and his uncertain operations were capriciously framed and executed, with an ignorance of real difficulties, and a timorous neglect of every favourable op­portunity. The rashness of the Ostrogoths had drawn them into a disadvantageous position be­tween the rivers Melas and Eurymedon, where they were almost besieged by the peasants of Pamphylia; but the arrival of an Imperial army, instead of completing their destruction, afforded the means of safety and victory. Tribigild sur­prised the unguarded camp of the Romans, in the darkness of the night; seduced the faith of the greater part of the Barbarian auxiliaries, and dissipated, without much effort, the troops, which had been corrupted by the relaxation of discipline, and the luxury of the capital. The discontent of Gainas, who had so boldly contrived and exe­cuted the death of Rufinus, was irritated by the fortune of his unworthy successor; he accused his own dishonourable patience under the servile reign of an eunuch; and the ambitious Goth was convicted, at least in the public opinion, of secretly fomenting the revolt of Tribigild, with whom he was connected by a domestic, as well as by a national, alliance ²⁷. When Gainas pass­ed [Page 390] the Hellespont, to unite under his standard the remains of the Asiatic troops, he skilfully adapted his motions to the wishes of the Ostro­goths; abandoning, by his retreat, the country which they desired to invade; or facilitating, by his approach, the desertion of the Barbarian auxi­liaries. To the Imperial court he repeatedly magnified the valour, the genius, the inexhaust­ible resources of Tribigild; confessed his own inability to prosecute the war; and extorted the permission of negotiating with his invincible ad­versary. The conditions of peace were dictated by the haughty rebel; and the peremptory de­mand of the head of Eutropius, revealed the author and the design of this hostile conspiracy.

The bold satirist, who has indulged his discon­tent Fall of Eutropius, A. D. 399. by the partial and passionate censure of the Christian emperors, violates the dignity, rather than the truth, of history, by comparing the son of Theodosius to one of those harmless and sim­ple animals, who scarcely feel that they are the property of their shepherd. Two passions, how­ever, fear and conjugal affection, awakened the languid soul of Arcadius: he was terrified by the threats of a victorious Barbarian; and he yielded to the tender eloquence of his wife Eudoxia, who, with a flood of artificial tears, presenting her infant children to their father, implored his jus­tice for some real or imaginary insult, which she imputed to the audacious eunuch ²⁸. The em­peror's [Page 391] hand was directed to sign the condemna­tion of Eutropius; the magic spell, which during four years had bound the prince and the people, was instantly dissolved; and the acclamations, that so lately hailed the merit and fortune of the favourite, were converted into the clamours of the soldiers and people, who reproached his crimes, and pressed his immediate execution. In this hour of distress and despair, his only refuge was in the sanctuary of the church, whose privileges he had wisely, or profanely, attempted to circumscribe; and the most eloquent of the saints, John Chrysostom, enjoyed the triumph of protecting a prostrate minister, whose choice had raised him to the ecclesiastical throne of Con­stantinople. The archbishop, ascending the pul­pit of the cathedral, that he might be distinctly seen and heard by an innumerable crowd of either sex and of every age, pronounced a seasonable and pathetic discourse on the forgiveness of in­juries, and the instability of human greatness. The agonies of the pale and affrighted wretch, who lay groveling under the table of the altar, exhibited a solemn and instructive spectacle; and the orator, who was afterwards accused of in­sulting the misfortunes of Eutropius, laboured to excite the contempt, that he might assuage the fury, of the people ²⁹. The powers of humanity, [Page 392] of superstition, and of eloquence prevailed. The empress Eudoxia was restrained, by her own pre­judices, or by those of her subjects, from violat­ing the sanctuary of the church; and Eutropius was tempted to capitulate, by the milder arts of persuasion, and by an oath, that his life should be spared ³⁰. Careless of the dignity of their sovereign, the new ministers of the palace imme­diately published an edict, to declare, that his late favourite had disgraced the names of consul and patrician, to abolish his statues, to confis­cate his wealth, and to inflict a perpetual exile in the island of Cyprus ³¹. A dispicable and de­crepid eunuch could no longer alarm the fears of his enemies; nor was he capable of enjoying what yet remained, the comforts of peace, of solitude, and of a happy climate. But their im­placable revenge still envied him the last moments of a miserable life, and Eutropius had no sooner [Page 393] touched the shores of Cyprus, than he was hastily recalled. The vain hope of eluding, by a change of place, the obligation of an oath, engaged the empress to transfer the scene of his trial and execution, from Constantinople to the adjacent suburb of Chalcedon. The consul Aurelian pro­nounced the sentence; and the motives of that sentence expose the jurisprudence of a despotic government. The crimes which Eutropius had committed against the people, might have justi­fied his death; but he was found guilty of har­nessing to his chariot the sacred animals, who, from their breed, or colour, were reserved for the use of the emperor alone ³².

While this domestic revolution was transacted, Conspiracy and fall of Gainas, A. D. 400. Gainas ³³ openly revolted from his allegiance; united his forces, at Thyatira in Lydia, with those of Tribigild; and still maintained his su­perior ascendant over the rebellious leader of the Ostrogoths. The confederate armies advanced, without resistance, to the Streights of the Helles­pont, and the Bosphorus; and Arcadius was in­structed to prevent the loss of his Asiatic domi­nions, by resigning his authority and his person to the faith of the Barbarians. The church of the holy martyr Euphemia, situate on a lofty eminence near Chalcedon ³⁴, was chosen for the [Page 394] place of the interview. Gainas bowed, with re­verence, at the feet of the emperor, whilst he required the sacrifice of Aurelian and Saturninus, two ministers of consular rank; and their naked necks were exposed, by the haughty rebel, to the edge of the sword, till he condescended to grant them a precarious and disgraceful respite. The Goths, according to the terms of the agreement, were immediately transported from Asia into Europe; and their victorious chief, who accepted the title of master-general of the Roman armies, soon filled Constantinople with his troops, and distributed among his dependents, the honours and rewards of the empire. In his early youth, Gainas had passed the Danube as a suppliant, and a fugitive: his elevation had been the work of valour and fortune; and his indiscreet, or perfi­dious conduct, was the cause of his rapid down­fal. Notwithstanding the vigorous opposition of the archbishop, he importunately claimed, for his Arian sectaries, the possession of a peculiar church; and the pride of the catholics was of­fended by the public toleration of heresy ³⁵. Every quarter of Constantinople was filled with tumult and disorder; and the Barbarians gazed with [Page 395] such ardour on the rich shops of the jewellers, and the tables of the bankers, which were co­vered with gold and silver, that it was judged prudent to remove those dangerous temptations from their sight. They resented the injurious precaution; and some alarming attempts were made, during the night, to attack and destroy with fire the Imperial palace ³⁶. In this state of July 20. mutual and suspicious hostility, the guards, and the people of Constantinople, shut the gates, and rose in arms to prevent, or to punish, the conspiracy of the Goths. During the absence of Gainas, his troops were surprised and oppressed; seven thousand Barbarians perished in this bloody massacre. In the fury of the pursuit, the catho­lics uncovered the roof, and continued to throw down flaming logs of wood, till they over­whelmed their adversaries, who had retreated to the church or conventicle of the Arians. Gainas was either innocent of the design, or too confident of his success: he was astonished by the intelli­gence, that the flower of his army had been in­gloriously destroyed; that he himself was declared a public enemy; and that his countryman, Fra­vitta, a brave and loyal confederate, had assumed the management of the war by sea and land. The enterprises of the rebel, against the cities of Thrace, were encountered by a firm and well­ordered defence: his hungry soldiers were soon reduced to the grass that grew on the margin of [Page 396] the fortifications; and Gainas, who vainly re­gretted the wealth and luxury of Asia, embraced a desperate resolution of forcing the passage of the Hellespont. He was destitute of vessels; but the woods of the Ch [...]rsonesus afforded materials for rafts, and his intrepid Barbarians did not re­fuse to trust themselves to the waves. But Fra­vitta Dec. 23. attentively watched the progress of their undertaking. As soon as they had gained the middle of the stream, the Roman gallies ³⁷, im­pelled by the full force, of oars, of the current, and of a favourable wind, rushed forwards in compact order, and with irresistible weight; and the Hellespont was covered with the fragments of the Gothic shipwreck. After the destruction of his hopes, and the loss of many thousands of his bravest soldiers, Gainas, who could no longer aspire to govern, or to subdue, the Romans, de­termined to resume the independence of a savage life. A light and active body of Barbarian horse, disengaged from their infantry and baggage, might perform, in eight or ten days, a march of three hundred miles from the Hellespont to the Danube ³⁸; the garrisons of that important fron­tier [Page 397] had been gradually annihilated; the river, in the month of December, would be deeply frozen; and the unbounded prospect of Scythia was open to the ambition of Gainas. This de­sign was secretly communicated to the national troops, who devoted themselves to the fortunes of their leader; and before the signal of depar­ture was given, a great number of provincial auxiliaries, whom he suspected of an attachment to their native country, were perfidiously mas­sacred. The Goths advanced, by rapid marches, through the plains of Thrace; and they were soon delivered from the fear of a pursuit, by the vanity of Fravitta, who, instead of extinguishing the war, hastened to enjoy the popular applause, and to assume the peaceful honours of the con­sulship. But a formidable ally appeared in arms to vindicate the majesty of the empire, and to guard the peace and liberty of Scythia ³⁹. The superior forces of Uldin, king of the Huns, op­posed the progress of Gainas; an hostile and ruined country prohibited his retreat; he dis­dained to capitulate; and after repeatedly at­tempting to cut his way through the ranks of the [Page 398] enemy, he was slain, with his desperate followers, in the field of battle. Eleven days after the naval victory of the Hellespont, the head of Gai­nas, A. D. 401, January 3. the inestimable gift of the conqueror, was received at Constantinople with the most liberal expressions of gratitude; and the public deliver­ance was celebrated by festivals and illumina­tions. The triumphs of Arcadius became the subject of epic poems ⁴⁰; and the monarch, no longer oppressed by any hostile terrors, resigned himself to the mild and absolute dominion of his wife, the fair and artful Eudoxia; who has sul­lied her fame by the persecution of St. John Chrysostom.

After the death of the indolent Nectarius, the Election and merit of Chry­sostom, A. D. 398, Feb. 26. successor of Gregory Nazianzen, the church of Constantinople was distracted by the ambition of rival candidates, who were not ashamed to solicit, with gold or flattery, the suffrage of the people, or of the favourite. On this occasion, Eutropius seems to have deviated from his ordinary maxims; and his uncorrupted judgment was determined only by the superior merit of a stranger. In a late journey into the East, he had admired the sermons of John, a native and presbyter of An­tioch, whose name has been distinguished by the epithet of Chrysostom, or the Golden Mouth ⁴¹. [Page 399] A private order was dispatched to the governor of Syria; and as the people might be unwilling to resign their favourite preacher, he was trans­ported, with speed and secrecy, in a post-chariot, from Antioch to Constantinople. The unani­mous and unsolicited consent of the court, the clergy, and the people, ratified the choice of the minister; and, both as a saint and as an orator, the new archbishop surpassed the sanguine ex­pectations of the public. Born of a noble and opulent family, in the capital of Syria, Chrysos­tom had been educated, by the care of a tender mother, under the tuition of the most skilful masters. He studied the art of rhetoric in the school of Libanius; and that celebrated sophist, who soon discovered the talents of his disciple, ingenuously confessed, that John would have de­served to succeed him, had he not been stolen away by the Christians. His piety soon disposed [Page 400] him to receive the sacrament of baptism; to re­nounce the lucrative and honourable profession of the law; and to bury himself in the adjacent desert, where he subdued the lusts of the flesh by an austere pennance of six years. His infirmities compelled him to return to the society of man­kind; and the authority of Meletius devoted his talents to the service of the church: but in the midst of his family, and afterwards on the archie­piscopal throne, Chrysostom still persevered in the practice of the monastic virtues. The ample revenues, which his predecessors had consumed in pomp and luxury, he deligently applied to the establishment of hospitals; and the multitudes, who were supported by his charity, preferred the eloquent and edifying discourses of their arch­bishop, to the amusements of the theatre, or the circus. The monuments of that eloquence, which was admired near twenty years at Antioch and Constantinople, have been carefully pre­served; and the possession of near one thousand sermons, or homilies, has authorised the critics ⁴² of succeeding times to appreciate the genuine merit of Chrysostom. They unanimously attri­bute to the Christian orator, the free command of an elegant and copious language; the judg­ment to conceal the advantages which he derived [Page 401] from the knowledge of rhetoric and philosophy; an inexhaustible fund of metaphors and simili­tudes, of ideas and images, to vary and illustrate the most familiar topics; the happy art of en­gaging the passions in the service of virtue; and of exposing the folly, as well as the turpitude, of vice, almost with the truth and spirit of a dra­matic representation.

The pastoral labours of the archbishop of Con­stantinople His admi­nistration and de­fects, A. D. 398—403. provoked, and gradually united against him, two sorts of enemies; the aspiring clergy, who envied his success, and the obstinate sinners, who were offended by his reproofs. When Chry­sostom thundred, from the pulpit of St. Sophia, against the degeneracy of the Christians, his shafts were spent among the crowd, without wounding, or even marking, the character of any individual. When he declaimed against the pe­culiar vices of the rich, poverty might obtain a transient consolation from his invectives: but the guilty were still sheltered by their numbers; and the reproach itself was dignified by some ideas of superiority, and enjoyment. But as the pyramid rose towards the summit, it insensibly diminished to a point; and the magistrates, the ministers, the favourite eunuchs, the ladies of the court ⁴³, [Page 402] the empress Eudoxia herself, had a much larger share of guilt, to divide among a smaller propor­tion of criminals. The personal applications of the audience were anticipated, or confirmed, by the testimony of their own conscience; and the intrepid preacher assumed the dangerous right of exposing both the offence, and the offender, to the public abhorrence. The secret resentment of the court encouraged the discontent of the clergy and monks of Constantinople, who were too has­tily reformed by the fervent zeal of their arch­bishop. He had condemned, from the pulpit, the domestic females of the clergy of Constanti­nople, who, under the name of servants, or sisters, afforded a perpetual occasion either of sin, or of scandal. The silent and solitary ascetics, who had secluded themselves from the world, were intitled to the warmest approbation of Chryso­stom; but he despised and stigmatised, as the disgrace of their holy profession, the crowd of degenerate monks, who, from some unworthy motives of pleasure or profit, so frequently in­fested the streets of the capital. To the voice of persuasion, the archbishop was obliged to add the terrors of authority; and his ardour, in the ex­ercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, was not al­ways exempt from passion; nor was it always guided by prudence. Chrysostom was naturally of a choleric disposition ⁴⁴. Although he strug­gled, [Page 403] according to the precepts of the gospel, to love his private enemies, he indulged himself in the privilege of hating the enemies of God, and of the church; and his sentiments were sometimes delivered with too much energy of countenance and expression. He still maintained, from some considerations of health, or abstinence, his for­mer habits of taking his repasts alone; and this inhospitable custom ⁴⁵, which his enemies imputed to pride, contributed, at least, to nourish the infirmity of a morose and unsocial humour. Se­parated from that familiar intercourse, which fa­cilitates the knowledge and the dispatch of bu­siness, he reposed an unsuspecting confidence in his deacon Serapion; and seldom applied his spe­culative knowledge of human nature to the par­ticular characters, either of his dependents, or of his equals. Conscious of the purity of his inten­tions, and perhaps of the superiority of his ge­nius, the archbishop of Constantinople extended the jurisdiction of the Imperial city, that he might enlarge the sphere of his pastoral labours; and the conduct which the profane imputed to an am­bitious motive, appeared to Chrysostom himself [Page 404] in the light of a sacred and indispensable duty. In his visitation through the Asiatic provinces, he deposed thirteen bishops of Lydia and Phry­gia; and indiscreetly declared, that a deep cor­ruption of simony and licentiousness had infected the whole episcopal order ⁴⁶. If those bishops were innocent, such a rash and unjust condemn­ation must excite a well-grounded discontent. If they were guilty, the numerous associates of their guilt would soon discover, that their own safety depended on the ruin of the archbishop; whom they studied to represent as the tyrant of the Eastern church.

This ecclesiastical conspiracy was managed by Chryso­stom is persecuted by the em­press Eu­doxia, A. D. 403. Theophilus ⁴⁷, archbishop of Alexandria, an ac­tive and ambitious prelate, who displayed the fruits of rapine in monuments of ostentation. His national dislike to the rising greatness of a city, which degraded him from the second, to the third, rank, in the Christian world, was ex­asperated by some personal disputes with Chry­sostom himself ⁴⁸. By the private invitation of the empress, Theophilus landed at Constantino­ple, with a stout body of Egyptian mariners, to [Page 405] encounter the populace; and a train of depend­ent bishops, to secure, by their voices, the ma­jority of a synod. The synod ⁴⁹ was convened in the suburb of Chalcedon, surnamed the Oak, where Rufinus had erected a stately church and monastery; and their proceedings were continued during fourteen days, or sessions. A bishop and a deacon accused the archbishop of Constantino­ple; but the frivolous or improbable nature of the forty-seven articles which they presented against him, may justly be considered as a fair and unexceptionable panegyric. Four successive summons were signified to Chrysostom; but he still refused to trust either his person, or his re­putation, in the hands of his implacable enemies, who prudently declining the examination of any particular charges, condemned his contumacious disobedience, and hastily pronounced a sentence of deposition. The synod of the Oak immediately addressed the emperor to ratify and execute their judgment, and charitably insinuated, that the penalties of treason might be inflicted on the au­dacious preacher, who had reviled, under the name of Jezabel, the empress Eudoxia herself. The archbishop was rudely arrested, and con­ducted through the city, by one of the Imperial messengers, who landed him, after a short navi­gation, near the entrance of the Euxine; from [Page 406] whence, before the expiration of two days, he was gloriously recalled.

The first astonishment of his faithful people had Popular tumults at Constanti­nople. been mute and passive: they suddenly rose with unanimous and irresistible fury. Theophilus escaped; but the promiscuous crowd of monks and Egyptian mariners was slaughtered without pity in the streets of Constantinople ⁵⁰. A sea­sonable earthquake justified the interposition of heaven; the torrent of sedition rolled forwards to the gates of the palace; and the empress, agitated by fear, or remorse, threw herself at the feet of Arcadius, and confessed, that the public safety could be purchased only by the restoration of Chrysostom. The Bosphorus was covered with innumerable vessels; the shores of Europe and Asia were profusely illuminated; and the accla­mations of a victorious people accompanied, from the port to the cathedral, the triumph of the archbishop; who, too easily, consented to resume the exercise of his functions, before his sentence had been legally reversed by the authority of an ecclesiastical synod. Ignorant, or careless, of the impending danger, Chrysostom indulged his zeal, or perhaps his resentment; declaimed with peculiar asperity against female vices; and con­demned [Page 407] the profane honours which were addressed, almost in the precincts of St. Sophia, to the statue of the empress. His imprudence tempted his enemies to inflame the haughty spirit of Eudoxia, by reporting, or perhaps inventing, the famous exordium of a sermon, ‘"Herodias is again fu­rious; Herodias again dances; she once more requires the head of John:"’ an insolent allu­sion, which, as a woman and a sovereign, it was impossible for her to forgive ⁵¹. The short interval of a perfidious truce was employed to concert more effectual measures for the disgrace and ruin of the archbishop. A numerous coun­cil of the Eastern prelates, who were guided from a distance by the advice of Theophilus, confirmed the validity, without examining the justice, of the former sentence; and a detachment of Bar­barian troops was introduced into the city, to suppress the emotions of the people. On the vigil of Easter, the solemn administration of bap­tism was rudely interrupted by the soldiers, who alarmed the modesty of the naked catechumens, and violated, by their presence, the awful mys­teries of the Christian worship. Arsacius occu­pied the church of St. Sophia, and the archiepis­copal throne. The catholics retreated to the baths of Constantine, and afterwards to the fields: where they were still pursued and insulted by the [Page 408] guards, the bishops, and the magistrates. The fatal day of the second and final exile of Chry­sostom was marked by the conflagration of the cathedral, of the senate-house, and of the adja­cent buildings; and this calamity was imputed, without proof, but not without probability, to the despair of a persecuted faction ⁵².

Cicero might claim some merit, if his volun­tary Exile of Chrysos­tom, A. D. 404, June 20. banishment preserved the peace of the re­public ⁵³; but the submission of Chrysostom was the indispensable duty of a Christian and a sub­ject. Instead of listening to his humble prayer, that he might be permitted to reside at Cyzicus, or Nicomedia, the inflexible empress assigned for his exile the remote and desolate town of Cucusus, among the ridges of Mount Taurus, in the Lesser Armenia. A secret hope was entertained, that the archbishop might perish in a difficult and dangerous march of seventy days in the heat of summer, through the provinces of Asia Minor, where he was continually threatened by the hos­tile attacks of the Isaurians, and the more im­placable fury of the monks. Yet Chrysostom arrived in safety at the place of his confinement; and the three years, which he spent at Cucusus, and the neighbouring town of Arabissus, were the last and most glorious of his life. His cha­racter was consecrated by absence and persecu­tion; [Page 409] the faults of his administration were no longer remembered; but every tongue repeated the praises of his genius and virtue: and the re­spectful attention of the Christian world was fixed on a desert spot among the mountains of Taurus. From that solitude, the archbishop, whose active mind was invigorated by misfor­tunes, maintained a strict and frequent corre­spondence ⁵⁴ with the most distant provinces; ex­horted the separate congregation of his faithful adherents to persevere in their allegiance; urged the destruction of the temples of Phoenicia, and the extirpation of heresy in the isle of Cyprus; extended his pastoral care to the missions of Persia and Scythia; negociated, by his ambassadors, with the Roman pontiff, and the emperor Hono­rius; and boldly appealed, from a partial synod, to the supreme tribunal of a free and general council. The mind of the illustrious exile was still independent; but his captive body was ex­posed to the revenge of the oppressors, who con­tinued to abuse the name and authority of Arca­dius ⁵⁵. An order was dispatched for the instant [Page 410] removal of Chrysostom to the extreme desert of Pityus; and his guards so faithfully obeyed their cruel instructions, that, before he reached the sea-coast of the Euxine, he expired at Comana, His death, A. D. 407, Sept. 14. in Pontus, in the sixtieth year of his age. The succeeding generation acknowledged his inno­cence and merit. The archbishops of the East, who might blush, that their predecessors had been the enemies of Chrysostom, were gradually dis­posed, by the firmness of the Roman pontiff, to restore the honours of that venerable name ⁵⁶. At the pious solicitation of the clergy and people of Constantinople, his relics, thirty years after his death, were transported from their obscure His relics transport­ed to Con­stantino­ple, A. D. 438, Jan. 27. sepulchre to the royal city ⁵⁷. The emperor Theodosius advanced to receive them as far as Chalcedon; and, falling prostrate on the coffin, implored, in the name of his guilty parents, Ar­cadius and Eudoxia, the forgiveness of the in­jured saint ⁵⁸.

[Page 411] Yet a reasonable doubt may be entertained, whether any stain of hereditary guilt could be derived from Arcadius to his successor. Eudoxia The death of Arca­dius, A. D. 408, May 1. was a young and beautiful woman, who indulged her passions, and despised her husband: Count John enjoyed, at least, the familiar confidence of the empress; and the public named him as the real father of Theodosius the younger ⁵⁹. The birth of a son was accepted, however, by the pious husband, as an event the most fortunate and honourable to himself, to his family, and to the eastern world: and the royal infant, by an unprecedented favour, was invested with the titles of Caesar and Augustus. In less than four years afterwards, Eudoxia, in the bloom of youth, was destroyed by the consequences of a miscar­riage; and this untimely death confounded the prophecy of a holy bishop ⁶⁰, who, amidst the universal joy, had ventured to foretel, that she should behold the long and auspicious reign of her glorious son. The catholics applauded the justice of heaven, which avenged the persecution of St. Chrysostom; and perhaps the emperor was [Page 412] the only person who sincerely bewailed the loss of the haughty and rapacious Eudoxia. Such a domestic misfortune afflicted him more deeply than the public calamities of the East ⁶¹; the li­centious excursions, from Pontus to Palestine, of the Isaurian robbers, whose impunity accused the weakness of the government; and the earth­quakes, the conflagrations, the famine, and the flights of locusts ⁶², which the popular discontent was equally disposed to attribute to the incapa­city of the monarch. At length, in the thirty­first year of his age, after a reign (if we may abuse that word) of thirteen years, three months, and fifteen days, Arcadius expired in the palace of Constantinople. It is impossible to delineate his character; since, in a period very copiously furnished with historical materials, it has not been possible to remark one action that properly belongs to the son of the great Theodosius.

The historian Procopius ⁶³ has indeed illumi­nated His sup­posed tes­tament. the mind of the dying emperor with a ray of human prudence, or celestial wisdom. Arca­dius considered, with anxious foresight, the help­less condition of his son Theodosius, who was no more than seven years of age, the dangerous fac­tions of a minority, and the aspiring spirit of Jezde­gerd, [Page 413] the Persian monarch. Instead of tempting the allegiance of an ambitious subject, by the participation of supreme power, he boldly ap­pealed to the magnanimity of a king; and placed, by a solemn testament, the sceptre of the East in the hands of Jezdegerd himself. The royal guar­dian accepted and discharged this honourable trust with unexampled fidelity; and the infancy of Theodosius was protected by the arms and councils of Persia. Such is the singular narrative of Procopius; and his veracity is not disputed by Agathias ⁶⁴, while he presumes to dissent from his judgment, and to arraign the wisdom of a Christian emperor, who, so rashly, though so fortunately, committed his son and his dominions to the unknown faith of a stranger, a rival, and a heathen. At the distance of one hundred and fifty years, this political question might be de­bated in the court of Justinian; but a prudent historian will refuse to examine the propriety, till he has ascertained the truth, of the testament of Arcadius. As it stands without a parallel in the history of the world, we may justly require, that it should be attested by the positive and unani­mous evidence of contemporaries. The strange novelty of the event, which excites our distrust, must have attracted their notice; and their uni­versal [Page 414] silence annihilates the vain tradition of the succeeding age.

The maxims of Roman jurisprudence, if they Adminis­tration of Anthe­mius, A. D. 408—415. could fairly be transferred from private property to public dominion, would have adjudged to the emperor Honorius the guardianship of his nephew, till he had attained, at least, the fourteenth year of his age. But the weakness of Honorius, and the calamities of his reign, disqualified him from prosecuting this natural claim; and such was the absolute separation of the two monarchies, both in interest and affection, that Constantinople would have obeyed, with less reluctance, the orders of the Persian, than those of the Italian, court. Under a prince, whose weakness is disguised by the external signs of manhood and discretion, the most worthless favourites may secretly dispute the empire of the palace; and dictate to submissive provinces, the commands of a master, whom they direct and despise. But the ministers of a child, who is incapable of arming them with the sanc­tion of the royal name, must acquire and exercise an independent authority. The great officers of the state and army, who had been appointed be­fore the death of Arcadius, formed an aristo­cracy, which might have inspired them with the idea of a free republic; and the government of the eastern empire was fortunately assumed by the praefect Anthemius ⁶⁵, who obtained, by his su­perior [Page 415] abilities, a lasting ascendant over the minds of his equals. The safety of the young emperor proved the merit and integrity of Anthemius; and his prudent firmness sustained the force and reputation of an infant reign. Uldin, with a formidable host of Barbarians, was encamped in the heart of Thrace: he proudly rejected all terms of accommodation; and, pointing to the rising sun, declared to the Roman ambassadors, that the course of that planet should alone terminate the conquests of the Huns. But the desertion of his confederates, who were privately convinced of the justice and liberality of the Imperial mi­nisters, obliged Uldin to repass the Danube: the tribe of the Scyrri, which composed his rear­guard, was almost extirpated; and many thou­sand captives were dispersed, to cultivate, with servile labour, the fields of Asia ⁶⁶. In the midst of the public triumph, Constantinople was pro­tected by a strong inclosure of new and more extensive walls; the same vigilant care was ap­plied to restore the fortifications of the Illyrian cities: and a plan was judiciously conceived, which, in the space of seven years, would have secured the command of the Danube, by esta­blishing on that river a perpetual fleet of two hundred and fifty armed vessels ⁶⁷.

[Page 416] But the Romans had so long been accustomed to the authority of a monarch, that the first, even among the females, of the Imperial family, Character and admi­nistration of Pulche­ria, A. D. 414—453. who displayed any courage or capacity, was per­mitted to ascend the vacant throne of Theodo­sius. His sister Pulcheria ⁶⁸, who was only two years older than himself, received, at the age of sixteen, the title of Augusta; and though her fa­vour might be sometimes clouded by caprice or intrigue, she continued to govern the Eastern empire near forty years; during the long mino­rity of her brother, and after his death, in her own name, and in the name of Marcian, her no­minal husband. From a motive, either of pru­dence, or religion, she embraced a life of celi­bacy; and notwithstanding some aspersions on the chastity of Pulcheria ⁶⁹, this resolution, which she communicated to her sisters Arcadia and Marina, was celebrated by the Christian world, as the sublime effort of heroic piety. In the pre­sence of the clergy and people, the three daugh­ters of Arcadius ⁷⁰ dedicated their virginity to God; and the obligation of their solemn vow [Page 417] was inscribed on a tablet of gold and gems; which they publicly offered in the great church of Con­stantinople. Their palace was converted into a monastery; and all males, except the guides of their conscience, the saints who had forgotten the distinction of sexes, were scrupulously ex­cluded from the holy threshold. Pulcheria, her two sisters, and a chosen train of favourite dam­sels, formed a religious community: they re­nounced the vanity of dress; interrupted, by fre­quent fasts, their simple and frugal diet; allotted a portion of their time to works of embroidery; and devoted several hours of the day and night to the exercises of prayer and psalmody. The piety of a Christian virgin was adorned by the zeal and liberality of an empress. Ecclesiastical history describes the splendid churches, which were built at the expence of Pulcheria, in all the provinces of the East; her charitable foundations for the benefit of strangers and the poor; the ample donations which she assigned for the per­petual maintenance of monastic societies; and the active severity with which she laboured to suppress the opposite heresies of Nestorius and Eutyches. Such virtues were supposed to deserve the peculiar favour of the Deity; and the relics of martyrs, as well as the knowledge of future events, were communicated in visions and reve­lations to the Imperial saint ⁷¹. Yet the devotion [Page 418] of Pulcheria never diverted her indefatigable at­tention from temporal affairs; and she alone, among all the descendants of the great Theodo­sius, appears to have inherited any share of his manly spirit and abilities. The elegant and fa­miliar use which she had acquired, both of the Greek and Latin languages, was readily applied to the various occasions of speaking, or writing, on public business: her deliberations were ma­turely weighed; her actions were prompt and de­cisive; and, while she moved without noise or ostentation the wheel of government, she dis­creetly attributed to the genius of the emperor, the long tranquillity of his reign. In the last years of his peaceful life, Europe was indeed af­flicted by the arms of Attila; but the more ex­tensive provinces of Asia still continued to enjoy a profound and permanent repose. Theodosius the younger was never reduced to the disgraceful necessity of encountering and punishing a rebel­lious subject: and since we cannot applaud the vigour, some praise may be due to the mildness, and prosperity, of the administration of Pul­cheria.

The Roman world was deeply interested in the Education and cha­racter of Theodo­sius the younger. education of its master. A regular course of study and exercise was judiciously instituted; of [Page 419] the military exercises of riding, and shooting with the bow; of the liberal studies of grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy: the most skilful masters of the East ambitiously solicited the attention of their royal pupil; and several noble youths were introduced into the palace, to animate his dili­gence by the emulation of friendship. Pulcheria alone discharged the important task of instructing her brother in the arts of government; but her precepts may countenance some suspicion of the extent of her capacity, or of the purity of her in­tentions. She taught him to maintain a grave and majestic deportment; to walk, to hold his robes, to seat himself on his throne, in a manner worthy of a great prince; to abstain from laugh­ter; to listen with condescension; to return suit­able answers; to assume, by turns, a serious or a placid countenance; in a word, to represent with grace and dignity the external figure of a Roman emperor. But Theodosius ⁷² was never excited to support the weight and glory of an il­lustrious name; and, instead of aspiring to imi­tate his ancestors, he degenerated (if we may [Page 420] presume to measure the degrees of incapacity) below the weakness of his father and his uncle. Arcadius and Honorius had been assisted by the guardian care of a parent, whose lessons were en­forced by his authority, and example. But the unfortunate prince, who is born in the purple, must remain a stranger to the voice of truth; and the son of Arcadius was condemned to pass his perpetual infancy, encompassed only by a ser­vile train of women and eunuchs. The ample leisure, which he acquired by neglecting the es­sential duties of his high office, was filled by idle amusements, and unprofitable studies. Hunting was the only active pursuit that could tempt him beyond the limits of the palace; but he most assiduously laboured, sometimes by the light of a midnight lamp, in the mechanic occupations of painting and carving; and the elegance with which he transcribed religious books, entitled the Roman emperor to the singular epithet of Calligraphes, or a fair writer. Separated from the world by an impenetrable veil, Theodosius trusted the persons whom he loved; he loved those who were accustomed to amuse and flatter his indolence; and as he never perused the pa­pers that were presented for the royal signature, the acts of injustice the most repugnant to his character, were frequently perpetrated in his name. The emperor himself was chaste, tem­perate, liberal, and merciful; but these qua­lities, which can only deserve the name of vir­tues, when they are supported by courage, and [Page 421] regulated by discretion, were seldom beneficial, and they sometimes proved mischievous, to man­kind. His mind, enervated by a royal educa­tion, was oppressed, and degraded, by abject superstition: he fasted, he sung psalms, he blindly accepted the miracles and doctrines, with which his faith was continually nourished. Theodo­sius devoutly worshipped the dead and living saints of the Catholic church; and he once re­fused to eat, till an insolent monk, who had cast an excommunication on his sovereign, conde­scended to heal the spiritual wound which he had inflicted ⁷³.

The story of a fair and virtuous maiden, ex­alted Character and adven­tures of the em­press Eu­docia, A. D. 421—460. from a private condition, to the Imperial throne, might be deemed an incredible romance, if such a romance had not been verified in the marriage of Theodosius. The celebrated Athe­nais ⁷⁴ was educated by her father Leontius in the religion and sciences of the Greeks; and so ad­vantageous was the opinion which the Athenian philosopher entertained of his contemporaries, [Page 422] that he divided his patrimony between his two sons, bequeathing to his daughter a small legacy of one hundred pieces of gold, in the lively con­fidence that her beauty and merit would be a sufficient portion. The jealousy and avarice of her brothers soon compelled Athenais to seek a refuge at Constantinople; and, with some hopes, either of justice, or favour, to throw herself at the feet of Pulcheria. That sagacious princess listened to her eloquent complaint; and secretly destined the daughter of the philosopher Leontius for the future wife of the emperor of the East, who had now attained the twentieth year of his age. She easily excited the curiosity of her bro­ther, by an interesting picture of the charms of Athenais; large eyes, a well-proportioned nose, a fair complexion, golden locks, a slender person, a graceful demeanour, an understanding improv­ed by study, and a virtue tried by distress, Theodosius, concealed behind a curtain in the apartment of his sister, was permitted to behold the Athenian virgin: the modest youth imme­diately declared his pure and honourable love; and the royal nuptials were celebrated amidst the acclamations of the capital and the provinces. Athenais, who was easily persuaded to renounce the errors of Paganism, received at her baptism the Christian name of Eudocia; but the cautious Pulcheria withheld the title of Augusta, till the wife of Theodosius had approved her fruitfulness by the birth of a daughter, who espoused, fifteen years afterwards, the emperor of the West. The [Page 423] brothers of Eudocia obeyed, with some anxiety, her Imperial summons; but, as she could easily forgive their fortunate unkindness, she indulged the tenderness, or perhaps the vanity, of a sister, by promoting them to the rank of consuls and praefects. In the luxury of the palace, she still cultivated those ingenious arts, which had con­tributed to her greatness; and wisely dedicated her talents to the honour of religion, and of her husband. Eudocia composed a poeticall para­phrase of the first eight books of the Old Testa­ment, and of the prophecies of Daniel and Za­chariah; a cento of the verses of Homer, appli­ed to the life and miracles of Christ, the legend of St. Cyprian, and a panegyric on the Persian victories of Theodosius: and her writings, which were applauded by a servile and superstitious age, have not been disdained by the candour of im­partial criticism ⁷⁵. The fondness of the emperor was not abated by time and possession; and Eu­docia, after the marriage of her daughter, was permitted to discharge her grateful vows by a so­lemn pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her ostentatious progress through the East may seem inconsistent with the spirit of Christian humility: she pro­nounced, from a throne of gold and gems, an [Page 424] eloquent oration to the senate of Antioch, declar­ed her royal intention of enlarging the walls of the city, bestowed a donative of two hundred pounds of gold to restore the public baths, and accepted the statues, which were decreed by the gratitude of Antioch. In the Holy Land, her alms and pious foundations exceeded the muni­ficence of the great Helena; and though the public treasure might be impoverished by this excessive liberality, she enjoyed the conscious satisfaction of returning to Constantinople with the chains of St. Peter, the right arm of St. Ste­phen, and an undoubted picture of the Virgin, painted by St. Luke ⁷⁶. But this pilgrimage was the fatal term of the glories of Eudocia. Satiat­ed with empty pomp, and unmindful, perhaps, of her obligations to Pulcheria, she ambitiously aspired to the government of the Eastern empire: the palace was distracted by female discord; but the victory was at last decided, by the superior ascendant of the sister of Theodosius. The exe­cution of Paulinus, master of the offices, and the disgrace of Cyrus, Praetorian praefect of the East, convinced the public, that the favour of Eudocia was insufficient to protect her most faith­ful friends; and the uncommon beauty of Pauli­nus encouraged the secret rumour, that his guilt was that of a successful lover ⁷⁷. As soon as the [Page 425] empress perceived that the affection of Theodo­sius was irretrievably lost, she requested the per­mission of retiring to the distant solitude of Jeru­salem. She obtained her request; but the jea­lousy of Theodosius, or the vindictive spirit of Pulcheria, pursued her in her last retreat; and Saturninus, count of the domestics, was directed to punish with death two ecclesiastics, her most favoured servants. Eudocia instantly revenged them by the assassination of the count: the furious passions, which she indulged on this suspicious occasion, seemed to justify the severity of Theo­dosius; and the empress, ignominiously stript of the honours of her rank ⁷⁸, was disgraced, per­haps unjustly, in the eyes of the world. The remainder of the life of Eudocia, about sixteen years, was spent in exile and devotion; and the approach of age, the death of Theodosius, the misfortunes of her only daughter, who was led a captive from Rome to Carthage, and the society of the Holy Monks of Palestine, insensibly con­firmed the religious temper of her mind. After a full experience of the vicissitudes of human life, the daughter of the philosopher Leontius expired, at Jerusalem, in the sixty-seventh year of her age; protesting with her dying breath, [Page 426] that she had never transgressed the bounds of innocence and friendship ⁷⁹.

The gentle mind of Theodosius was never in­flamed The Per­sian war, A. D. 422. by the ambition of conquest, or military renown; and the slight alarm of a Persian war scarcely interrupted the tranquillity of the East. The motives of this war were just and honourable. In the last year of the reign of Jezdegerd, the supposed guardian of Theodosius, a bishop, who aspired to the crown of martyrdom, destroyed one of the fire-temples of Susa ⁸⁰. His zeal and ob­stinacy were revenged on his brethren: the Magi excited a cruel persecution; and the intolerant zeal of Jezdegerd was imitated by his son Vara­ranes, or Bahram, who soon afterwards ascended the throne. Some Christian fugitives, who escaped to the Roman frontier, were sternly de­manded, and generously refused; and the refusal, aggravated by commercial disputes, soon kindled a war between the rival monarchies. The moun­tains of Armenia, and the plains of Mesopotamia, [Page 427] were filled with hostile armies; but the operations of two successive campaigns were not productive of any decisive or memorable events. Some en­gagements were fought, some towns were besieg­ed, with various and doubtful success; and if the Romans failed in their attempt to recover the long lost possession of Nisibis, the Persians were repulsed from the walls of a Mesopotamian city, by the valour of a martial bishop, who pointed his thundering engine in the name of St. Thomas the Apostle. Yet the splendid victories, which the incredible speed of the messenger Palladius repeatedly announced to the palace of Constan­tinople, were celebrated with festivals and pane­gyrics. From these panegyrics the ⁸¹ historians of the age might borrow their extraordinary, and, perhaps, fabulous, tales; of the proud challenge of a Persian hero, who was entangled by the net, and dispatched by the sword, of Areobindus the Goth; of the ten thousand Immortals, who were slain in the attack of the Roman camp; and of the hundred thousand Arabs, or Saracens, who were impelled by a panic terror to throw them­selves headlong into the Euphrates. Such events may be disbelieved, or disregarded; but the charity of a bishop, Acacius of Amida, whose name might have dignified the saintly calendar, shall not be lost in oblivion. Boldly declaring, that vases of gold and silver are useless to a God [Page 428] who neither eats nor drinks, the generous prelate sold the plate of the church of Amida; employ­ed the price in the redemption of seven thousand Persian captives; supplied their wants with affec­tionate liberality; and dismissed them to their native country, to inform the king of the true spirit of the religion which he persecuted. The practice of benevolence in the midst of war must always tend to assuage the animosity of contend­ing nations; and I wish to persuade myself, that Acacius contributed to the restoration of peace. In the conference which was held on the limits of the two empires, the Roman ambassadors degrad­ed the personal character of their sovereign, by a vain attempt to magnify the extent of his power; when they seriously advised the Persians to pre­vent, by a timely accommodation, the wrath of a monarch, who was yet ignorant of this distant war. A truce of one hundred years was solemnly ratified; and, although the revolutions of Ar­menia might threaten the public tranquillity, the essential conditions of this treaty were respected near fourscore years by the successors of Constan­tine and Artaxerxes.

Since the Roman and Parthian standards first Armenia divided be­tween the Persians and the Romans, encountered on the banks of the Euphrates, the kingdom of Armenia ⁸² was alternately oppressed [Page 429] by its formidable protectors; and, in the course of this History, several events, which inclined the balance of peace and war, have been already re­lated. A. D. 431—440. A disgraceful treaty had resigned Arme­nia to the ambition of Sapor; and the scale of Persia appeared to preponderate. But the royal race of Arsaces impatiently submitted to the house of Sassan; the turbulent nobles asserted, or be­trayed, their hereditary independence; and the nation was still attached to the Christian princes of Constantinople. In the beginning of the fifth century, Armenia was divided by the progress of war and faction ⁸³; and the unnatural division precipitated the downfal of that ancient monarchy. Chosroes, the Persian vassal, reigned over the Eastern and most extensive portion of the coun­try; while the Western province acknowledged the jurisdiction of Arsaces, and the supremacy of the emperor Arcadius. After the death of Ar­saces, the Romans suppressed the regal govern­ment, and imposed on their allies the condition of subjects. The military command was dele­gated to the count of the Armenian frontier; the city of Theodosiopolis ⁸⁴ was built and fortified in [Page 430] a strong situation, on a fertile and lofty ground, near the sources of the Euphrates; and the de­pendent territories were ruled by five satraps, whose dignity was marked by a peculiar habit of gold and purple. The less fortunate nobles, who lamented the loss of their king, and envied the honours of their equals, were provoked to nego­ciate their peace and pardon at the Persian court; and returning, with their followers, to the palace of Artaxata, acknowledged Chosroes for their law­ful sovereign. About thirty years afterwards, Artasires, the nephew and successor of Chosroes, fell under the displeasure of the haughty and ca­pricious nobles of Armenia; and they unani­mously desired a Persian governor in the room of an unworthy king. The answer of the archbishop Isaac, whose sanction they earnestly solicited, is expressive of the character of a superstitious peo­ple. He deplored the manifest and inexcusable vices of Artasires; and declared, that he should not hesitate to accuse him before the tribunal of a Christian emperor, who would punish, without destroying, the sinner. "Our king," continued Isaac, ‘"is too much addicted to licentious plea­sures, but he has been purified in the holy waters of baptism. He is a lover of women, but he does not adore the fire or the elements. He may deserve the reproach of lewdness, but he is an undoubted Catholic; and his faith is pure, though his manners are flagitious. [Page 431] I will never consent to abandon my sheep to the rage of devouring wolves; and you would soon repent your rash exchange of the infirmi­ties of a believer, for the specious virtues of an heathen ⁸⁵."’ Exasperated by the firmness of Isaac, the factious nobles accused both the king and the archbishop as the secret adherents of the emperor; and absurdly rejoiced in the sentence of condemnation, which, after a partial hearing, was solemnly pronounced by Bahram himself. The descendants of Arsaces were de­graded from the royal dignity ⁸⁶, which they had possessed above five hundred and sixty years ⁸⁷; and the dominions of the unfortunate Artasires, under the new and significant appellation of Per­sarmenia, were reduced into the form of a pro­vince. This usurpation excited the jealousy of the Roman government; but the rising disputes [Page 432] were soon terminated by an amicable, though unequal, partition of the ancient kingdom of Armenia; and a territorial acquisition, which Augustus might have despised, reflected some lustre on the declining empire of the younger Theodosius.