<h2><SPAN name="chap30.5"></SPAN> Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part V. </h2>
<p>On the side of the Pyrenees, the ambition of 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 <SPAN href="#linknote-30.98" name="linknoteref-30.98" id="linknoteref-30.98">98</SPAN>
had obtained, by the favor of their kinsman, the deceased emperor, an
honorable 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 expense, a considerable body of slaves
and dependants, and boldly marched to occupy the strong posts of the
Pyrenean Mountains. This domestic insurrection alarmed and perplexed the
sovereign of Gaul and Britain; and he was compelled to negotiate with some
troops of Barbarian auxiliaries, for the service of the Spanish war. They
were distinguished by the title of Honorians; <SPAN href="#linknote-30.99"
name="linknoteref-30.99" id="linknoteref-30.99">99</SPAN> 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, honors 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 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 suspense, 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.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.98" id="linknote-30.98">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
98 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.98">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Verinianus, Didymus,
Theodosius, and Lagodius, who in modern courts would be styled princes of
the blood, were not distinguished by any rank or privileges above the rest
of their fellow-subjects.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.99" id="linknote-30.99">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
99 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.99">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ These Honoriani, or
Honoriaci, consisted of two bands of Scots, or Attacotti, two of Moors,
two of Marcomanni, the Victores, the Asca in, and the Gallicani, (Notitia
Imperii, sect. xxxiii. edit. Lab.) They were part of the sixty-five
Auxilia Palatina, and are properly styled by Zosimus, (l. vi. 374.)]</p>
<p>The poet, whose flattery has ascribed to the 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-30.100"
name="linknoteref-30.100" id="linknoteref-30.100">100</SPAN> In the course of
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 valor 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-30.101" name="linknoteref-30.101" id="linknoteref-30.101">101</SPAN>
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, 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,
<SPAN href="#linknote-30.102" name="linknoteref-30.102" id="linknoteref-30.102">102</SPAN>
on the confines of Italy, he transmitted to the emperor of the West a long
account of promises, of expenses, 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 Gaul; and solicited, as a permanent retreat for the Gothic
nation, the possession of some vacant province of the Western empire.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.100" id="linknote-30.100">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
100 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.100">return</SPAN>)<br/> [</p>
<p>Comitatur euntem<br/>
Pallor, et atra fames; et saucia lividus ora<br/>
Luctus; et inferno stridentes agmine morbi.<br/>
—-Claudian in vi. Cons. Hon. 821, &c.]<br/></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.101" id="linknote-30.101">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
101 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.101">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ These dark
transactions are investigated by the Count de Bual (Hist. des Peuples de
l’Europe, tom. vii. c. iii.—viii. p. 69-206,) whose laborious
accuracy may sometimes fatigue a superficial reader.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.102" id="linknote-30.102">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
102 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.102">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Zosimus, l. v. p.
334, 335. He interrupts his scanty narrative to relate the fable of
Aemona, and of the ship Argo; which was drawn overland from that place to
the Adriatic. Sozomen (l. viii. c. 25, l. ix. c. 4) and Socrates (l. vii.
c. 10) cast a pale and doubtful light; and Orosius (l. vii. c. 38, p. 571)
is abominably partial.]</p>
<p>The political and secret transactions of two statesmen, who labored to
deceive each other and the world, must forever 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 negotiate 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 dishonor. The
minister, whose pacific intentions were seconded only by the voice 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
recompense 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 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;” <SPAN href="#linknote-30.103" name="linknoteref-30.103" id="linknoteref-30.103">103</SPAN> and escaped the danger of such bold
opposition by immediately retiring to the sanctuary of a Christian church.
[See Palace Of The Caesars]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.103" id="linknote-30.103">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
103 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.103">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Zosimus, l. v. p.
338, 339. He repeats the words of Lampadius, as they were spoke in Latin,
“Non est ista pax, sed pactio servi tutis,” and then translates them into
Greek for the benefit of his readers. * Note: From Cicero’s XIIth
Philippic, 14.—M.]</p>
<p>But the reign of Stilicho drew towards its end; and the proud minister
might perceive the symptoms 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 clamors 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, <SPAN href="#linknote-30.104"
name="linknoteref-30.104" id="linknoteref-30.104">104</SPAN> who concealed his
vices under the mask of Christian piety, had secretly undermined the
benefactor, by whose favor he was promoted to the honorable 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 favorite, 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-30.105" name="linknoteref-30.105" id="linknoteref-30.105">105</SPAN>
The representation of the difficulty and expense of such a distant
expedition, checked this strange and sudden sally of active diligence; but
the dangerous project of showing 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 confidant, 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.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.104" id="linknote-30.104">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
104 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.104">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ He came from the
coast of the Euxine, and exercised a splendid office. His actions justify
his character, which Zosimus (l. v. p. 340) exposes with visible
satisfaction. Augustin revered the piety of Olympius, whom he styles a
true son of the church, (Baronius, Annal. Eccles, Eccles. A.D. 408, No.
19, &c. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 467, 468.) But these
praises, which the African saint so unworthily bestows, might proceed as
well from ignorance as from adulation.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.105" id="linknote-30.105">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
105 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.105">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Zosimus, l. v. p.
338, 339. Sozomen, l. ix. c. 4. Stilicho offered to undertake the journey
to Constantinople, that he might divert Honorius from the vain attempt.
The Eastern empire would not have obeyed, and could not have been
conquered.]</p>
<p>In the passage of the emperor through Bologna, 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 the 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; two
Prætorian 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 favorite; 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 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 valor, 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
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. <SPAN href="#linknote-30.106" name="linknoteref-30.106" id="linknoteref-30.106">106</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.106" id="linknote-30.106">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
106 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.106">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Zosimus (l. v. p.
336-345) has copiously, though not clearly, related the disgrace and death
of Stilicho. Olympiodorus, (apud Phot. p. 177.) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 38,
p. 571, 572,) Sozomen, (l. ix. c. 4,) and Philostorgius, (l. xi. c. 3, l.
xii. c. 2,) afford supplemental hints.]</p>
<p>The servile crowd of the palace, who had so 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 honors, 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-30.107" name="linknoteref-30.107" id="linknoteref-30.107">107</SPAN>
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 justified
the choice, <SPAN href="#linknote-30.108" name="linknoteref-30.108" id="linknoteref-30.108">108</SPAN> and perhaps absolved the innocence of their
patron: and the despotic power, which could take his life without a trial,
and stigmatize his memory without a proof, has no jurisdiction over the
impartial suffrage of posterity. <SPAN href="#linknote-30.109"
name="linknoteref-30.109" id="linknoteref-30.109">109</SPAN> 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-30.110"
name="linknoteref-30.110" id="linknoteref-30.110">110</SPAN> 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 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-30.111"
name="linknoteref-30.111" id="linknoteref-30.111">111</SPAN> <SPAN href="#linknote-30.1111" name="linknoteref-30.1111" id="linknoteref-30.1111">1111</SPAN>
Serena had borrowed her magnificent necklace from the statue of Vesta; <SPAN href="#linknote-30.112" name="linknoteref-30.112" id="linknoteref-30.112">112</SPAN>
and the Pagans execrated the memory of the sacrilegious minister, by whose
order the Sibylline books, the oracles of Rome, had been committed to the
flames. <SPAN href="#linknote-30.113" name="linknoteref-30.113" id="linknoteref-30.113">113</SPAN> The pride and power of Stilicho constituted
his real guilt. An honorable 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 base ingratitude
to the guardian of his youth, and the support of his empire.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.107" id="linknote-30.107">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
107 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.107">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Zosimus, l. v. p.
333. The marriage of a Christian with two sisters, scandalizes Tillemont,
(Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 557;) who expects, in vain, that Pope
Innocent I. should have done something in the way either of censure or of
dispensation.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.108" id="linknote-30.108">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
108 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.108">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Two of his friends
are honorably mentioned, (Zosimus, l. v. p. 346:) Peter, chief of the
school of notaries, and the great chamberlain Deuterius. Stilicho had
secured the bed-chamber; and it is surprising that, under a feeble prince,
the bed-chamber was not able to secure him.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.109" id="linknote-30.109">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
109 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.109">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Orosius (l. vii. c.
38, p. 571, 572) seems to copy the false and furious manifestos, which
were dispersed through the provinces by the new administration.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.110" id="linknote-30.110">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
110 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.110">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See the Theodosian
code, l. vii. tit. xvi. leg. 1, l. ix. tit. xlii. leg. 22. Stilicho is
branded with the name of proedo publicus, who employed his wealth, ad
omnem ditandam, inquietandamque Barbariem.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.111" id="linknote-30.111">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
111 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.111">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Augustin himself is
satisfied with the effectual laws, which Stilicho had enacted against
heretics and idolaters; and which are still extant in the Code. He only
applies to Olympius for their confirmation, (Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A.D.
408, No. 19.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.112" id="linknote-30.112">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
112 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.112">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Zosimus, l. v. p.
351. We may observe the bad taste of the age, in dressing their statues
with such awkward finery.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.113" id="linknote-30.113">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
113 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.113">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Rutilius
Numatianus, (Itinerar. l. ii. 41-60,) to whom religious enthusiasm has
dictated some elegant and forcible lines. Stilicho likewise stripped the
gold plates from the doors of the Capitol, and read a prophetic sentence
which was engraven under them, (Zosimus, l. v. p. 352.) These are foolish
stories: yet the charge of impiety adds weight and credit to the praise
which Zosimus reluctantly bestows on his virtues. Note: One particular in
the extorted praise of Zosimus, deserved the notice of the historian, as
strongly opposed to the former imputations of Zosimus himself, and
indicative of he corrupt practices of a declining age. “He had never
bartered promotion in the army for bribes, nor peculated in the supplies
of provisions for the army.” l. v. c. xxxiv.—M.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.1111" id="linknote-30.1111">
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<p class="foot">
1111 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.1111">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Hence, perhaps, the
accusation of treachery is countenanced by Hatilius:—</p>
<p>Quo magis est facinus diri Stilichonis iniquum<br/>
Proditor arcani quod fuit imperii.<br/>
Romano generi dum nititur esse superstes,<br/>
Crudelis summis miscuit ima furor.<br/>
Dumque timet, quicquid se fecerat ipso timeri,<br/>
Immisit Latiae barbara tela neci. Rutil. Itin. II. 41.—M.]<br/>
Among the train of dependants whose wealth and dignity<br/>
attracted the notice of their own times, our curiosity is excited<br/>
by the celebrated name of the poet Claudian, who enjoyed the<br/>
favor of Stilicho, and was overwhelmed in the ruin of his patron.]<br/></p>
<p>Among the train of dependants whose wealth and dignity attracted the
notice of their own times, <i>our</i> curiosity is excited by the
celebrated name of the poet Claudian, who enjoyed the favor 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; <SPAN href="#linknote-30.114"
name="linknoteref-30.114" id="linknoteref-30.114">114</SPAN> and the statute
of Claudian, erected in the forum of Trajan, was a monument of the taste
and liberality of the Roman senate. <SPAN href="#linknote-30.115"
name="linknoteref-30.115" id="linknoteref-30.115">115</SPAN> 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 Prætorian praefects of Italy; he
contrasts the innocent repose of a philosopher, who sometimes resigned
the hours of business to slumber, perhaps to study, with the interesting
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!” <SPAN href="#linknote-30.116" name="linknoteref-30.116" id="linknoteref-30.116">116</SPAN> 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 honor, 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 and poverty, and deeply wounded by the
exile, the tortures, and the death of his dearest friends. <SPAN href="#linknote-30.117" name="linknoteref-30.117" id="linknoteref-30.117">117</SPAN> 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 coloring, more especially
in descriptive poetry, is soft and splendid; and he 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 unfavorable circumstances of his
birth. In the decline of arts, and of empire, a native of Egypt, <SPAN href="#linknote-30.118" name="linknoteref-30.118" id="linknoteref-30.118">118</SPAN> who had received the education of a
Greek, assumed, in a mature age, the familiar use, and absolute command,
of the Latin language; <SPAN href="#linknote-30.119"
name="linknoteref-30.119" id="linknoteref-30.119">119</SPAN> soared above
the heads of his feeble contemporaries; and placed himself, after an
interval of three hundred years, among the poets of ancient Rome. <SPAN href="#linknote-30.120" name="linknoteref-30.120" id="linknoteref-30.120">120</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.114" id="linknote-30.114">
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<p class="foot">
114 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.114">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ At the nuptials of
Orpheus (a modest comparison!) all the parts of animated nature
contributed their various gifts; and the gods themselves enriched their
favorite. Claudian had neither flocks, nor herds, nor vines, nor olives.
His wealthy bride was heiress to them all. But he carried to Africa a
recommendatory letter from Serena, his Juno, and was made happy, (Epist.
ii. ad Serenam.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.115" id="linknote-30.115">
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<p class="foot">
115 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.115">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Claudian feels the
honor like a man who deserved it, (in praefat Bell. Get.) The original
inscription, on marble, was found at Rome, in the fifteenth century, in
the house of Pomponius Laetus. The statue of a poet, far superior to
Claudian, should have been erected, during his lifetime, by the men of
letters, his countrymen and contemporaries. It was a noble design.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.116" id="linknote-30.116">
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<p class="foot">
116 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.116">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Epigram xxx.</p>
<p>Mallius indulget somno noctesque diesque:<br/>
Insomnis Pharius sacra, profana, rapit.<br/>
Omnibus, hoc, Italae gentes, exposcite votis;<br/>
Mallius ut vigilet, dormiat ut Pharius.<br/></p>
<p class="foot">
Hadrian was a Pharian, (of Alexandrian.) See his public life in Godefroy,
Cod. Theodos. tom. vi. p. 364. Mallius did not always sleep. He composed
some elegant dialogues on the Greek systems of natural philosophy, (Claud,
in Mall. Theodor. Cons. 61-112.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.117" id="linknote-30.117">
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<p class="foot">
117 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.117">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See Claudian’s first
Epistle. Yet, in some places, an air of irony and indignation betrays his
secret reluctance. * Note: M. Beugnot has pointed out one remarkable
characteristic of Claudian’s poetry, and of the times—his
extraordinary religious indifference. Here is a poet writing at the actual
crisis of the complete triumph of the new religion, the visible extinction
of the old: if we may so speak, a strictly historical poet, whose works,
excepting his Mythological poem on the rape of Proserpine, are confined to
temporary subjects, and to the politics of his own eventful day; yet,
excepting in one or two small and indifferent pieces, manifestly written
by a Christian, and interpolated among his poems, there is no allusion
whatever to the great religious strife. No one would know the existence of
Christianity at that period of the world, by reading the works of
Claudian. His panegyric and his satire preserve the same religious
impartiality; award their most lavish praise or their bitterest invective
on Christian or Pagan; he insults the fall of Eugenius, and glories in the
victories of Theodosius. Under the child,—and Honorius never became
more than a child,—Christianity continued to inflict wounds more and
more deadly on expiring Paganism. Are the gods of Olympus agitated with
apprehension at the birth of this new enemy? They are introduced as
rejoicing at his appearance, and promising long years of glory. The whole
prophetic choir of Paganism, all the oracles throughout the world, are
summoned to predict the felicity of his reign. His birth is compared to
that of Apollo, but the narrow limits of an island must not confine the
new deity—</p>
<p>... Non littora nostro<br/>
Sufficerent angusta Deo.<br/></p>
<p class="foot">
Augury and divination, the shrines of Ammon, and of Delphi, the Persian
Magi, and the Etruscan seers, the Chaldean astrologers, the Sibyl herself,
are described as still discharging their prophetic functions, and
celebrating the natal day of this Christian prince. They are noble lines,
as well as curious illustrations of the times:</p>
<p>... Quae tunc documenta futuri?<br/>
Quae voces avium? quanti per inane volatus?<br/>
Quis vatum discursus erat? Tibi corniger Ammon,<br/>
Et dudum taciti rupere silentia Delphi.<br/>
Te Persae cecinere Magi, te sensit Etruscus<br/>
Augur, et inspectis Babylonius horruit astris;<br/>
Chaldaei stupuere senes, Cumanaque rursus<br/>
Itonuit rupes, rabidae delubra Sibyllae.<br/>
—Claud. iv. Cons. Hon. 141.<br/></p>
<p class="foot">
From the Quarterly Review of Beugnot. Hist. de la Paganisme en Occident,
Q. R. v. lvii. p. 61.—M.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.118" id="linknote-30.118">
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<p class="foot">
118 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.118">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ National vanity has
made him a Florentine, or a Spaniard. But the first Epistle of Claudian
proves him a native of Alexandria, (Fabricius, Bibliot. Latin. tom. iii.
p. 191-202, edit. Ernest.)]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.119" id="linknote-30.119">
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<p class="foot">
119 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.119">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ His first Latin
verses were composed during the consulship of Probinus, A.D. 395.</p>
<p>Romanos bibimus primum, te consule, fontes, Et Latiae cessit Graia Thalia
togae.</p>
<p>Besides some Greek epigrams, which are still extant, the Latin poet had
composed, in Greek, the Antiquities of Tarsus, Anazarbus, Berytus, Nice,
&c. It is more easy to supply the loss of good poetry, than of
authentic history.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-30.120" id="linknote-30.120">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
120 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-30.120">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Strada (Prolusion v.
vi.) allows him to contend with the five heroic poets, Lucretius, Virgil,
Ovid, Lucan, and Statius. His patron is the accomplished courtier
Balthazar Castiglione. His admirers are numerous and passionate. Yet the
rigid critics reproach the exotic weeds, or flowers, which spring too
luxuriantly in his Latian soil]</p>
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