and the minifters who abufed, the authority of CHAP. the throne. 3 XXIX. of Rufi nus, 386-395. Theodofius had tarnished the glory of his reign Character by the elevation of Rufinus; an odious favourite, niftration who, in an age of civil and religious faction, has deferved, from every party, the imputation of A.D. every crime. The ftrong impulfe of ambition and avarice' had urged Rufinus to abandon his native country, an obfcure corner of Gaul, to advance his fortune in the capital of the Eaft: the talent of bold and ready elocution 3 qualified him to fucceed in the lucrative profeffion of the law; and his fuccefs in that profeffion was a regular step to the moft honourable and important employments of the ftate. He was raised, by juft degrees, to the ftation of mafter of the offices. In the exercife of his various functions, so essentially connected with the whole fyftem of civil government, he acquired the confidence of a monarch, who foon difcovered his diligence and capacity in business, and who long remained ignorant of the pride, the malice, and the covetoufnefs of his difpofition. These vices were concealed beneath the mask of profound diffimulation*; I Alecto, envious of the public felicity, convenes an infernal fynod. Megara recommends her pupil Rufinus, and excites him to deeds of mischief, &c. But there is as much difference between Claudian's fury and that of Virgil, as between the characters of Turnus and Rufinus. 2 It is evident (Tillemont, Hift. des Emp. tom. v. p.770.), though de Marca is afhamed of his countryman, that Rufinus was born at Elufa, the metropolis of Novempopulania, now a small village of Gafcony (d'Anville, Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, p. 289.). 3 Philoftorgius, l. xi. c. 3. with Godefroy's Differt. p. 440. A paffage of Suidas is expreffive of his profound diffimulation; Βαθυγνώμων ανθρωπος και κρυψινες. XXIX. CHAP. his paffions were fubfervient only to the paffions of his mafter; yet, in the horrid maffacre of Theffalonica, the cruel Rufinus inflamed the fury, without imitating the repentance, of Theodofius. The minifter, who viewed with proud indifference the rest of mankind, never forgave the appearance of an injury; and his perfonal enemies had forfeited, in his opinion, the merit of all public fervices. Promotus, the mafter-general of the infantry, had faved the empire from the invafion of the Oftrogoths; but he indignantly supported the pre-eminence of a rival whofe character and profeffion he defpifed; and, in the midst of a public council, the impatient foldier was provoked to chastise with a blow the indecent pride of the favourite. This act of violence was reprefented to the emperor as an infult, which it was incumbent on his dignity to refent. The difgrace and exile of Promotus were fignified by a peremptory order, to repair, without delay, to a military station on the banks of the Danube; and the death of that general (though he was flain in a fkirmish with the Barbarians) was imputed to the perfidious arts of Rufinus 5. The facrifice of an hero gratified his revenge; the honours of the confulship elated his vanity; but his power was ftill imperfect and precarious, as long as the important pofts of præfect of the Eaft, and of præfect of Conftantinople, were filled by Tatian, and 5 Zofimus, 1. iv. p. 272, 273. his 6 Zofimus, who defcribes the fall of Tatian and his fon (1. iv. p. 273, 274.), afferts their innocence and even bis teftimony may outweigh the charges of their enemies (Cod. Theodof. tom. iv. p. 489.), XXIX. his fon Proculus; whofe united authority ba- CHAP. lanced, for fome time, the ambition and favour of the mafter of the offices. The two præfects were accused of rapine and corruption in the adminiftration of the laws and finances. For the trial of these illuftrious offenders, the emperor conftituted a special commiffion; feveral judges were named to fhare the guilt and reproach of injustice; but the right of pronouncing fentence was referved to the prefident alone, and that prefident was Rufinus himself. The father, ftripped of the præfecture of the Eaft, was thrown into a dungeon; but the fon, confcious that few minifters can be found innocent, where an enemy is their judge, had fecretly escaped; and Rufinus must have been fatisfied with the leaft obnoxious victim, if defpotifm had not condefcended to employ the basest and most ungenerous artifice. The profecution was conducted with an appearance of equity and moderation, which flattered Tatian with the hope of a favourable event; his confidence was fortified by the folemn affurances, and perfidious oaths, of the prefident, who prefumed to interpofe the facred name of Theodofius himfelf; and the unhappy father was at laft perfuaded to recal, by a private letter, the fugitive Proculus. He was inftantly feized, examined, condemned, and beheaded, in one of the fuburbs of Conftantinople, with a precipitation which difappointed 489.), who accufe them of oppreffing the Curia. The connection of Tatian with the Arians, while he was præfect of Egypt (A. D. .373.), inclines Tillemont to believe that he was guilty of every crime (Hift. des Emp. tom. v. p. 360. Mem. Ecclef. tom. vi, p. 589.). the XXIX. CHAP. the clemency of the emperor. Without refpecting the misfortunes of a confular fenator, the cruel judges of Tatian compelled him to behold the execution of his fon: the fatal cord was fastened round his own neck; but in the moment when he expected, and perhaps defired, the relief of a speedy death, he was permitted to confume the miferable remnant of his old age in poverty and exile'. The punishment of the two præfects might, perhaps, be excufed by the exceptionable parts of their own conduct; the enmity of Rufinus might be palliated by the jealous and unfociable nature of ambition. But he indulged a spirit of revenge, equally repugnant to prudence and to juftice, when he degraded their native country of Lycia, from the rank of Roman provinces ; ftigmatifed a guiltlefs people with a mark of ignominy; and declared that the countrymen of Tatian and Proculus fhould ever remain incapable of holding any employment of honour or advantage, under the Imperial under the Imperial government. Juvenum rorantia colla Ante patrum vultus ftri&tâ cecidere securi. Poft trabeas exful. In Rufin. i. 248. The The facts of Zofimus explain the allufions of Claudian; but his claffic interpreters were ignorant of the fourth century. The fatal cord, I found, with the help of Tillemont, in a fermon of St. Afterius of Amafea. 8 This odious law is recited, and repealed, by Arcadius (A. D. 396.), in the Theodofian Code, 1. ix. tit. xxxviii. leg. 9. The fenfe, as it is explained by Claudian (in Rufin. i. 234.) and Godefroy (tom. iii. p. 279.), is perfectly clear. Exfcindere cives Funditus; et nomen gentis delere laborat. The XXIX. The new præfect of the Eaft (for Rufinus inftantly CHAP. fucceeded to the vacant honours of his adverfary) was not diverted, however, by the moft criminal pursuits, from the performance of the religious duties, which in that age were confidered as the most effential to falvation. In the fuburb of Chalcedon, furnamed the Oak, he had built a magnificent villa; to which he devoutly added a ftately church, confecrated to the apoftles St. Peter and St. Paul, and continually fanctified by the prayers, and penance, of a regular fociety of monks. A numerous, and almost general, fynod of the bishops of the eastern empire, was fummoned to celebrate, at the fame time, the dedication of the church, and the baptifm of the founder. This double ceremony was performed with extraordinary pomp; and when Rufinus was purified, in the holy font, from all the fins that he had hitherto committed, a venerable hermit of Egypt rafhly propofed himfelf as the fponfor of a proud and ambitious ftatesman'. The character of Theodofius impofed on his minifter the task of hypocrify, which difguifed, and fometimes reftrained, the abufe of power; and Rufinus was apprehenfive of disturbing the indolent flumber of a prince, ftill capable of exerting the abilities, and the virtue, which had The fcruples of Pagi and Tillemont can arife only from their zeal for the glory of Theodofius. 9 Ammonius . . . Rufinum propriis manibus fufcepit facro fonte mundatum. See Rofweyde's Vita Patrum, p. 947 Sozomen (viii. c. 17.) mentions the church and monaftery; and Tillemont (Mem. Ecclef. tom. ix. p. 593.) records this fynod, in which St. Gregory of Nyffa performed a confpicuous part. raised He op preffes the Eaft, A.D. 395. |