Chapter XXIX: Division Of Roman Empire Between Sons Of

Theodosius.—Part II.

The impartiality which Stilicho affected, as the 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 Asia, exasperated by recent
animosities, were overawed by the authority of a single man; and
the rigid discipline of Stilicho protected the lands of the
citizens 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 rumor
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 Adriatic, was not
far distant from the city of Thessalonica, when he received a
peremptory message, to recall the troops of the East, and to
declare, that his nearer approach would be considered, by the
Byzantine court, as an act of hostility. The prompt and
unexpected obedience of the general of the West, convinced the
vulgar of his loyalty and 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 Barbarians 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 præfect 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, with studied courtesy, his innate
haughtiness, the wings insensibly wheeled from the right and
left, and enclosed 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 præfect, 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 crowds, 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 permitted to spend the remainder of their lives in
the exercise of Christian devotions, in the peaceful retirement
of Jerusalem. 32

28 (return) [ I. Cons. Stilich. ii. 88-94. Not only the robes and
diadems of the deceased emperor, but even the helmets,
sword-hilts, belts, rasses, &c., were enriched with pearls,
emeralds, and diamonds.]

29 (return) [—Tantoque remoto Principe, mutatas orbis non sensit
habenas. This high commendation (i. Cons. Stil. i. 149) may be
justified by the fears of the dying emperor, (de Bell. Gildon.
292-301;) and the peace and good order which were enjoyed after
his death, (i. Cons. Stil i. 150-168.)]

30 (return) [ Stilicho’s march, and the death of Rufinus, are
described by Claudian, (in Rufin. l. ii. 101-453, Zosimus, l. v.
p. 296, 297,) Sozomen (l. viii. c. 1,) Socrates, l. vi. c. 1,)
Philostorgius, (l. xi c. 3, with Godefory, p. 441,) and the
Chronicle of Marcellinus.]

31 (return) [ The dissection of Rufinus, which Claudian performs
with the savage coolness of an anatomist, (in Rufin. ii.
405-415,) is likewise specified by Zosimus and Jerom, (tom. i. p.
26.)]

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

The servile poet of Stilicho applauds, with ferocious 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
license. 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 honor 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 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 favorite, 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 favor 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 favorites of
Arcadius fomented a secret and irreconcilable 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
labored, 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, 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, the disgraceful, but
memorable, reign of Honorius.

33 (return) [ See the beautiful exordium of his invective against
Rufinus, which is curiously discussed by the sceptic Bayle,
Dictionnaire Critique, Rufin. Not. E.]

34 (return) [ See the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. xlii. leg. 14,
15. The new ministers attempted, with inconsistent avarice, to
seize the spoils of their predecessor, and to provide for their
own future security.]

35 (return) [ See Claudian, (i. Cons. Stilich, l. i. 275, 292,
296, l. ii. 83,) and Zosimus, (l. v. p. 302.)]

36 (return) [ Claudian turns the consulship of the eunuch
Eutropius into a national reflection, (l. ii. 134):—

—-Plaudentem cerne senatum, Et Byzantinos proceres Graiosque
Quirites: O patribus plebes, O digni consule patres.

It is curious to observe the first symptoms of jealousy and
schism between old and new Rome, between the Greeks and Latins.]

The prudent Stilicho, instead of persisting to force the
inclinations of a prince, and people, who rejected his
government, wisely abandoned Arcadius to his unworthy favorites;
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 control; and he maintained, during a reign
of twelve years, the possession of an office, from which it was
impossible to remove him, without the danger of a civil war.
During those twelve years, the provinces of Africa groaned under
the dominion of a tyrant, who seemed to unite the unfeeling
temper of a stranger with the partial resentments of domestic
faction. The forms of law were often superseded by the use of
poison; and if the trembling guests, who were invited to the
table of Gildo, presumed to express 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 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 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

37 (return) [ Claudian may have exaggerated the vices of Gildo;
but his Moorish extraction, his notorious actions, and the
complaints of St. Augustin, may justify the poet’s invectives.
Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 398, No. 35-56) has treated the
African rebellion with skill and learning.]

38 (return) [

Instat terribilis vivis, morientibus haeres, Virginibus raptor,
thalamis obscoenus adulter. Nulla quies: oritur praeda cessante
libido, Divitibusque dies, et nox metuenda maritis. Mauris
clarissima quaeque Fastidita datur. ——De Bello Gildonico, 165,
189.

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

39 (return) [ Inque tuam sortem numerosas transtulit urbes.
Claudian (de Bell. Gildonico, 230-324) has touched, with
political delicacy, the intrigues of the Byzantine court, which
are likewise mentioned by Zosimus, (l. v. p. 302.)]

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

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

41 (return) [ Claudian finely displays these complaints of
Symmachus, in a speech of the goddess of Rome, before the throne
of Jupiter, (de Bell Gildon. 28-128.)]

42 (return) [ See Claudian (in Eutrop. l. i 401, &c. i. Cons.
Stil. l. i. 306, &c. i. Cons. Stilich. 91, &c.)]

The cause of Rome, and the conduct of the African war, were
intrusted 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 force of the Western empire; and
he had resolved, if the tyrant should be able to wage an equal
and doubtful war, to march against him in person. But as Italy
required his presence, and as it might be dangerous to weaken the
defence of the frontier, he judged it more advisable, 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 a 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 galleys 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
occupied by a new colony of a strange and savage appearance. “The
whole island (says an ingenious traveller of those times) is
filled, or rather defiled, by men who fly from the light. They
call themselves Monks, or solitaries, because they choose 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 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 as the chosen servants of God. 47 Some of them were
persuaded, by his entreaties, to embark on board the fleet; and
it is observed, to the praise of the Roman general, that his days
and nights were employed in prayer, fasting, and the occupation
of singing psalms. The devout leader, who, with such a
reenforcement, 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 and capacious harbor of Cagliari,
at the distance of one hundred and forty miles from the African
shores. 48

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

44 (return) [ Claudian, Bell. Gild. 415-423. The change of
discipline allowed him to use indifferently the names of Legio
Cohors, Manipulus. See Notitia Imperii, S. 38, 40.]

45 (return) [ Orosius (l. vii. c. 36, p. 565) qualifies this
account with an expression of doubt, (ut aiunt;) and it scarcely
coincides with Zosimus, (l. v. p. 303.) Yet Claudian, after some
declamation about Cadmus, soldiers, frankly owns that Stilicho
sent a small army lest the rebels should fly, ne timeare times,
(i. Cons. Stilich. l. i. 314 &c.)]

46 (return) [ Claud. Rutil. Numatian. Itinerar. i. 439-448. He
afterwards (515-526) mentions a religious madman on the Isle of
Gorgona. For such profane remarks, Rutilius and his accomplices
are styled, by his commentator, Barthius, rabiosi canes diaboli.
Tillemont (Mem. Eccles com. xii. p. 471) more calmly observes,
that the unbelieving poet praises where he means to censure.]

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

48 (return) [ Here the first book of the Gildonic war is
terminated. The rest of Claudian’s poem has been lost; and we are
ignorant how or where the army made good their landing in Afica.]

Gildo was prepared to resist the invasion with all the forces of
Africa. By the liberality of his gifts and promises, he
endeavored to secure the doubtful allegiance of the Roman
soldiers, whilst he attracted to his standard the distant tribes
of Gaetulia and Æthiopia. 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 mantle; who were totally disarmed
as soon as they had darted their javelin from their right hand;
and whose horses had never been in combat. 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 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 honors the 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 harbor of Tabraca, 52 which had acknowledged, with
the rest of the province, the dominion of Honorius, and the
authority of his lieutenant. The inhabitants, as a proof of their
repentance and loyalty, seized and confined the person of Gildo
in a dungeon; and his own despair saved him from the 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, 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 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
perfidious smile which they observed on the countenance of
Stilicho; and while they delayed the necessary assistance, the
unfortunate Mascezel was irrecoverably drowned. 57

49 (return) [ Orosius must be responsible for the account. The
presumption of Gildo and his various train of Barbarians is
celebrated by Claudian, Cons. Stil. l. i. 345-355.]

50 (return) [ St. Ambrose, who had been dead about a year,
revealed, in a vision, the time and place of the victory.
Mascezel afterwards related his dream to Paulinus, the original
biographer of the saint, from whom it might easily pass to
Orosius.]

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

52 (return) [ Tabraca lay between the two Hippos, (Cellarius,
tom. ii. p. 112; D’Anville, tom. iii. p. 84.) Orosius has
distinctly named the field of battle, but our ignorance cannot
define the precise situation.]

53 (return) [ The death of Gildo is expressed by Claudian (i.
Cons. Stil. 357) and his best interpreters, Zosimus and Orosius.]

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

—-Nunquam libertas gratior exstat, Quam sub rege pio.

But the freedom which depends on royal piety, scarcely deserves
appellation]

55 (return) [ See the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. xxxix. leg. 3,
tit. xl. leg. 19.]

56 (return) [ Stilicho, who claimed an equal share in all the
victories of Theodosius and his son, particularly asserts, that
Africa was recovered by the wisdom of his counsels, (see an
inscription produced by Baronius.)]

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

The joy of the African triumph was happily connected with the
nuptials of the emperor Honorius, and of his cousin Maria, the
daughter of Stilicho: and this equal and honorable 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 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 of 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 The predecessors of Honorius were accustomed to
animate by their example, or at least by their presence, the
valor 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.

58 (return) [ Claudian,as the poet laureate, composed a serious
and elaborate epithalamium of 340 lines; besides some gay
Fescennines, which were sung, in a more licentious tone, on the
wedding night.]

59 (return) [

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

(De Nuptiis Honor. et Mariae, and more freely in the Fescennines
112-116)

Dices, O quoties,hoc mihi dulcius Quam flavos decics vincere
Sarmatas. .... Tum victor madido prosilias toro, Nocturni referens
vulnera proelii.]

60 (return) [ See Zosimus, l. v. p. 333.]

61 (return) [ Procopius de Bell. Gothico, l. i. c. 2. I have
borrowed the general practice of Honorius, without adopting the
singular, and indeed improbable tale, which is related by the
Greek historian.]

62 (return) [ The lessons of Theodosius, or rather Claudian, (iv.
Cons. Honor 214-418,) might compose a fine institution for the
future prince of a great and free nation. It was far above
Honorius, and his degenerate subjects.]