<h2><SPAN name="chap32.1"></SPAN> Chapter XXXII: Emperors Arcadius, Eutropius, Theodosius II.—Part I. </h2>
<p>Arcadius Emperor Of The East.—Administration And Disgrace<br/>
Of Eutropius.—Revolt Of Gainas.—Persecution Of St. John<br/>
Chrysostom.—Theodosius II. Emperor Of The East.—His Sister<br/>
Pulcheria.—His Wife Eudocia.—The Persian War, And Division<br/>
Of Armenia.<br/></p>
<p>The division of the Roman world between the sons of Theodosius marks the
final establishment of the empire of the East, which, 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 appellation 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 place of Constantinople rivalled, and perhaps
excelled, the magnificence of Persia; and the eloquent sermons of St.
Chrysostom <SPAN href="#linknote-32.1" name="linknoteref-32.1" id="linknoteref-32.1">1</SPAN> celebrate, 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 drew 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 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 Adriatic and the
Tigris; and the whole interval of twenty-five days’ navigation, which
separated the extreme cold of Scythia from the torrid zone of Æthiopia,
<SPAN href="#linknote-32.2" name="linknoteref-32.2" id="linknoteref-32.2">2</SPAN>
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, styled themselves, with some appearance of truth, the most
enlightened and civilized 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 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.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.1" id="linknote-32.1">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
1 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.1">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Father Montfaucon, who,
by the command of his Benedictine superiors, was compelled (see
Longueruana, tom. i. p. 205) to execute the laborious edition of St.
Chrysostom, in thirteen volumes in folio, (Paris, 1738,) amused himself
with extracting from that immense collection of morals, some curious
antiquities, which illustrate the manners of the Theodosian age, (see
Chrysostom, Opera, tom. xiii. p. 192-196,) and his French Dissertation, in
the Mémoires de l’Acad. des Inscriptions, tom. xiii. p. 474-490.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.2" id="linknote-32.2">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
2 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.2">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ According to the loose
reckoning, that a ship could sail, with a fair wind, 1000 stadia, or 125
miles, in the revolution of a day and night, Diodorus Siculus computes ten
days from the Palus Moeotis to Rhodes, and four days from Rhodes to
Alexandria. The navigation of the Nile from Alexandria to Syene, under the
tropic of Cancer, required, as it was against the stream, ten days more.
Diodor. Sicul. tom. i. l. iii. p. 200, edit. Wesseling. He might, without
much impropriety, measure the extreme heat from the verge of the torrid
zone; but he speaks of the Moeotis in the 47th degree of northern
latitude, as if it lay within the polar circle.]</p>
<p>The first events of the reign of Arcadius and 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, <SPAN href="#linknote-32.3" name="linknoteref-32.3" id="linknoteref-32.3">3</SPAN> 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 favorite; 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, the fame
and fortunes of the most illustrious citizens; but they never presumed to
stand forward in the front of empire, <SPAN href="#linknote-32.4"
name="linknoteref-32.4" id="linknoteref-32.4">4</SPAN> or to profane the public
honors of the state. Eutropius was the first of his artificial sex, who
dared to assume the character of a Roman magistrate and general.
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 armor 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
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
decrepit eunuch, <SPAN href="#linknote-32.6" name="linknoteref-32.6" id="linknoteref-32.6">6</SPAN> 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 a 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-32.7" name="linknoteref-32.7" id="linknoteref-32.7">7</SPAN> While these disgraceful stories were
circulated, and perhaps exaggerated, in private conversation, the vanity
of the favorite was flattered with the most extraordinary honors. In the
senate, in 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 a eunuch and a slave. This strange and inexpiable prodigy <SPAN href="#linknote-32.8" name="linknoteref-32.8" id="linknoteref-32.8">8</SPAN>
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, <SPAN href="#linknote-32.9"
name="linknoteref-32.9" id="linknoteref-32.9">9</SPAN> sufficiently represented
the different maxims of the two administrations.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.3" id="linknote-32.3">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
3 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.3">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Barthius, who adored his
author with the blind superstition of a commentator, gives the preference
to the two books which Claudian composed against Eutropius, above all his
other productions, (Baillet Jugemens des Savans, tom. iv. p. 227.) They
are indeed a very elegant and spirited satire; and would be more valuable
in an historical light, if the invective were less vague and more
temperate.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.4" id="linknote-32.4">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
4 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.4">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ After lamenting the
progress of the eunuchs in the Roman palace, and defining their proper
functions, Claudian adds,</p>
<p>A fronte recedant.<br/>
Imperii.<br/>
—-In Eutrop. i. 422.<br/></p>
<p class="foot">
Yet it does not appear that the eunuchs had assumed any of the efficient
offices of the empire, and he is styled only Praepositun sacri cubiculi,
in the edict of his banishment. See Cod. Theod. l. leg 17.</p>
<p>Jamque oblita sui, nec sobria divitiis mens<br/>
In miseras leges hominumque negotia ludit<br/>
Judicat eunuchus.......<br/>
Arma etiam violare parat......<br/></p>
<p class="foot">
Claudian, (i. 229-270,) with that mixture of indignation and humor which
always pleases in a satiric poet, describes the insolent folly of the
eunuch, the disgrace of the empire, and the joy of the Goths.</p>
<p>Gaudet, cum viderit, hostis,<br/>
Et sentit jam deesse viros.]<br/></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.6" id="linknote-32.6">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
6 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.6">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The poet’s lively
description of his deformity (i. 110-125) is confirmed by the authentic
testimony of Chrysostom, (tom. iii. p. 384, edit Montfaucon;) who
observes, that when the paint was washed away the face of Eutropius
appeared more ugly and wrinkled than that of an old woman. Claudian
remarks, (i. 469,) and the remark must have been founded on experience,
that there was scarcely an interval between the youth and the decrepit age
of a eunuch.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.7" id="linknote-32.7">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
7 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.7">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Eutropius appears to have
been a native of Armenia or Assyria. His three services, which Claudian
more particularly describes, were these: 1. He spent many years as the
catamite of Ptolemy, a groom or soldier of the Imperial stables. 2.
Ptolemy gave him to the old general Arintheus, for whom he very skilfully
exercised the profession of a pimp. 3. He was given, on her marriage, to
the daughter of Arintheus; and the future consul was employed to comb her
hair, to present the silver ewer to wash and to fan his mistress in hot
weather. See l. i. 31-137.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.8" id="linknote-32.8">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
8 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.8">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Claudian, (l. i. in
Eutrop. l.—22,) after enumerating the various prodigies of monstrous
births, speaking animals, showers of blood or stones, double suns, &c.,
adds, with some exaggeration,</p>
<p>Omnia cesserunt eunucho consule monstra.</p>
<p>The first book concludes with a noble speech of the goddess of Rome to her
favorite Honorius, deprecating the new ignominy to which she was exposed.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.9" id="linknote-32.9">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
9 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.9">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Fl. Mallius Theodorus,
whose civil honors, and philosophical works, have been celebrated by
Claudian in a very elegant panegyric.]</p>
<p>The bold and vigorous mind of Rufinus seems 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-32.10"
name="linknoteref-32.10" id="linknoteref-32.10">10</SPAN> 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 expense 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 antechamber 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 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. Such,” continues the indignant poet, “are the fruits of
Roman valor, of the defeat of Antiochus, and of the triumph of Pompey.”
This venal prostitution of public honors 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 of the East,
Abundantius <SPAN href="#linknote-32.12" name="linknoteref-32.12" id="linknoteref-32.12">12</SPAN> had reason to dread the first effects of the
resentment of Eutropius. He had been guilty of the unpardonable crime of
introducing that abject slave to the palace of Constantinople; and some
degree of praise must be allowed to a powerful and ungrateful favorite,
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 <SPAN href="#linknote-32.13" name="linknoteref-32.13" id="linknoteref-32.13">13</SPAN> required a more serious and regular mode of
attack. That great officer, the master-general of the armies of
Theodosius, had signalized his valor 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 clamor, by promoting an infamous dependant to the command of a
cohort; and he deserved to feel the ingratitude of Bargus, who was
secretly instigated by the favorite 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 to
suggest the questions and answers of his sovereign. But as this form of
trial might be deemed partial and arbitrary, the further inquiry 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 favorite; and he was doomed to perpetual exile a Oasis, a solitary
spot in the midst of the sandy deserts of Libya. <SPAN href="#linknote-32.14"
name="linknoteref-32.14" id="linknoteref-32.14">14</SPAN> Secluded from all
human converse, the master-general of the Roman armies was lost forever to
the world; but the circumstances of his fate have been related in a
various and contradictory manner. It is insinuated that Eutropius
despatched a private order for his secret execution. <SPAN href="#linknote-32.15" name="linknoteref-32.15" id="linknoteref-32.15">15</SPAN>
It was reported, that, in attempting to escape from Oasis, he perished in
the desert, of thirst and hunger; and that his dead body was found on the
sands of Libya. <SPAN href="#linknote-32.16" name="linknoteref-32.16" id="linknoteref-32.16">16</SPAN> 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-32.17" name="linknoteref-32.17" id="linknoteref-32.17">17</SPAN>
But the ungrateful Bargus, instead of being suffered to possess the reward
of guilt was soon after 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.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.10" id="linknote-32.10">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
10 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.10">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Drunk with riches, is
the forcible expression of Zosimus, (l. v. p. 301;) and the avarice of
Eutropius is equally execrated in the Lexicon of Suidas and the Chronicle
of Marcellinus Chrysostom had often admonished the favorite of the vanity
and danger of immoderate wealth, tom. iii. p. 381. -certantum saepe duorum
Diversum suspendit onus: cum pondere judex Vergit, et in geminas nutat
provincia lances. Claudian (i. 192-209) so curiously distinguishes the
circumstances of the sale, that they all seem to allude to particular
anecdotes.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.12" id="linknote-32.12">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
12 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.12">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Claudian (i. 154-170)
mentions the guilt and exile of Abundantius; nor could he fail to quote
the example of the artist, who made the first trial of the brazen bull,
which he presented to Phalaris. See Zosimus, l. v. p. 302. Jerom, tom. i.
p. 26. The difference of place is easily reconciled; but the decisive
authority of Asterius of Amasia (Orat. iv. p. 76, apud Tillemont, Hist.
des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 435) must turn the scale in favor of Pityus.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.13" id="linknote-32.13">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
13 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.13">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Suidas (most probably
from the history of Eunapius) has given a very unfavorable picture of
Timasius. The account of his accuser, the judges, trial, &c., is
perfectly agreeable to the practice of ancient and modern courts. (See
Zosimus, l. v. p. 298, 299, 300.) I am almost tempted to quote the romance
of a great master, (Fielding’s Works, vol. iv. p. 49, &c., 8vo.
edit.,) which may be considered as the history of human nature.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.14" id="linknote-32.14">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
14 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.14">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The great Oasis was one
of the spots in the sands of Libya, watered with springs, and capable of
producing wheat, barley, and palm-trees. It was about three days’ journey
from north to south, about half a day in breadth, and at the distance of
about five days’ march to the west of Abydus, on the Nile. See D’Anville,
Description de l’Egypte, p. 186, 187, 188. The barren desert which
encompasses Oasis (Zosimus, l. v. p. 300) has suggested the idea of
comparative fertility, and even the epithet of the happy island ]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.15" id="linknote-32.15">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
15 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.15">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The line of Claudian,
in Eutrop. l. i. 180,</p>
<p>Marmaricus claris violatur caedibus Hammon,<br/></p>
<p class="foot">
evidently alludes to his persuasion of the death of Timasius. * Note: A
fragment of Eunapius confirms this account. “Thus having deprived this
great person of his life—a eunuch, a man, a slave, a consul, a
minister of the bed-chamber, one bred in camps.” Mai, p. 283, in Niebuhr.
87—M.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.16" id="linknote-32.16">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
16 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.16">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Sozomen, l. viii. c. 7.
He speaks from report.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.17" id="linknote-32.17">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
17 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.17">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Zosimus, l. v. p. 300.
Yet he seems to suspect that this rumor was spread by the friends of
Eutropius.]</p>
<p>The public hatred, and the despair of individuals, 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 favor. For their mutual defence, he contrived the
safeguard of a law, which violated every principal of humanity and
justice. <SPAN href="#linknote-32.18" name="linknoteref-32.18" id="linknoteref-32.18">18</SPAN> I. It is enacted, in the name, and by the
authority of Arcadius, that all those who should 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 were 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 dependants
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 edicts 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, becomes equally criminal with the intention
itself; <SPAN href="#linknote-32.19" name="linknoteref-32.19" id="linknoteref-32.19">19</SPAN> 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. Stigmatized with
hereditary infamy, excluded from the hopes of honors 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
favorite 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, their fictitious conspiracies. Some of
the noblest regulations 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-32.20" name="linknoteref-32.20" id="linknoteref-32.20">20</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.18" id="linknote-32.18">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
18 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.18">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ See the Theodosian
Code, l. ix. tit. 14, ad legem Corneliam de Sicariis, leg. 3, and the Code
of Justinian, l. ix. tit. viii, viii. ad legem Juliam de Majestate, leg.
5. The alteration of the title, from murder to treason, was an improvement
of the subtle Tribonian. Godefroy, in a formal dissertation, which he has
inserted in his Commentary, illustrates this law of Arcadius, and explains
all the difficult passages which had been perverted by the jurisconsults
of the darker ages. See tom. iii. p. 88-111.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.19" id="linknote-32.19">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
19 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.19">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Bartolus understands a
simple and naked consciousness, without any sign of approbation or
concurrence. For this opinion, says Baldus, he is now roasting in hell.
For my own part, continues the discreet Heineccius, (Element. Jur. Civil
l. iv. p. 411,) I must approve the theory of Bartolus; but in practice I
should incline to the sentiments of Baldus. Yet Bartolus was gravely
quoted by the lawyers of Cardinal Richelieu; and Eutropius was indirectly
guilty of the murder of the virtuous De Thou.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.20" id="linknote-32.20">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
20 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.20">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Godefroy, tom. iii. p.
89. It is, however, suspected, that this law, so repugnant to the maxims
of Germanic freedom, has been surreptitiously added to the golden bull.]</p>
<p>Yet these sanguinary laws, which spread terror among a disarmed and
dispirited people, were of too weak a texture to restrain the bold
enterprise of Tribigild <SPAN href="#linknote-32.21" name="linknoteref-32.21" id="linknoteref-32.21">21</SPAN> the Ostrogoth. The colony of that warlike
nation, which had been planted by Theodosius in one of the most fertile
districts of Phrygia, <SPAN href="#linknote-32.22" name="linknoteref-32.22" id="linknoteref-32.22">22</SPAN> 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 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, <SPAN href="#linknote-32.23" name="linknoteref-32.23" id="linknoteref-32.23">23</SPAN> 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, <SPAN href="#linknote-32.24"
name="linknoteref-32.24" id="linknoteref-32.24">24</SPAN> a deep morass, and
the craggy cliffs 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 honorable names of war and conquest. The rumors of the
success of Tribigild might for some time be suppressed by fear, or
disguised by flattery; 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 harbors 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-32.25" name="linknoteref-32.25" id="linknoteref-32.25">25</SPAN> After claiming for himself the privilege of a
veteran soldier, the eunuch intrusted the guard of Thrace and the
Hellespont to Gainas the Goth, and the command of the Asiatic army to his
favorite, Leo; two generals, who differently, but effectually, promoted
the cause of the rebels. Leo, <SPAN href="#linknote-32.26"
name="linknoteref-32.26" id="linknoteref-32.26">26</SPAN> who, from the bulk of
his body, 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 favorable 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 dishonorable patience under the
servile reign of a 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-32.27" name="linknoteref-32.27" id="linknoteref-32.27">27</SPAN>
When Gainas passed 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
valor, 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.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.21" id="linknote-32.21">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
21 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.21">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ A copious and
circumstantial narrative (which he might have reserved for more important
events) is bestowed by Zosimus (l. v. p. 304-312) on the revolt of
Tribigild and Gainas. See likewise Socrates, l. vi. c. 6, and Sozomen, l.
viii. c. 4. The second book of Claudian against Eutropius, is a fine,
though imperfect, piece of history.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.22" id="linknote-32.22">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
22 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.22">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Claudian (in Eutrop. l.
ii. 237-250) very accurately observes, that the ancient name and nation of
the Phrygians extended very far on every side, till their limits were
contracted by the colonies of the Bithvnians of Thrace, of the Greeks, and
at last of the Gauls. His description (ii. 257-272) of the fertility of
Phrygia, and of the four rivers that produced gold, is just and
picturesque.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.23" id="linknote-32.23">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
23 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.23">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Xenophon, Anabasis, l.
i. p. 11, 12, edit. Hutchinson. Strabo, l. xii p. 865, edit. Amstel. Q.
Curt. l. iii. c. 1. Claudian compares the junction of the Marsyas and
Maeander to that of the Saone and the Rhone, with this difference,
however, that the smaller of the Phrygian rivers is not accelerated, but
retarded, by the larger.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.24" id="linknote-32.24">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
24 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.24">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Selgae, a colony of the
Lacedaemonians, had formerly numbered twenty thousand citizens; but in the
age of Zosimus it was reduced to a small town. See Cellarius, Geograph.
Antiq tom. ii. p. 117.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.25" id="linknote-32.25">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
25 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.25">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The council of
Eutropius, in Claudian, may be compared to that of Domitian in the fourth
Satire of Juvenal. The principal members of the former were juvenes
protervi lascivique senes; one of them had been a cook, a second a
woolcomber. The language of their original profession exposes their
assumed dignity; and their trifling conversation about tragedies, dancers,
&c., is made still more ridiculous by the importance of the debate.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.26" id="linknote-32.26">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
26 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.26">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Claudian (l. ii.
376-461) has branded him with infamy; and Zosimus, in more temperate
language, confirms his reproaches. L. v. p. 305.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-32.27" id="linknote-32.27">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
27 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-32.27">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ The conspiracy of
Gainas and Tribigild, which is attested by the Greek historian, had not
reached the ears of Claudian, who attributes the revolt of the Ostrogoth
to his own martial spirit, and the advice of his wife.]</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />