XXXI. feven years, the veftiges of the Gothic invafion CHAP. were almost obliterated; and the city appeared to refume its former fplendour and tranquillity. The venerable matron replaced her crown of laurel, which had been ruffled by the ftorms of war; and was still amufed, in the laft moment of her decay, with the prophecies of revenge, of victory, and of eternal dominion 144. This apparent tranquillity was foon difturbed by the approach of an hoftile armament from the country which afforded the daily fubfiftence of the Roman people. Heraclian, count of Africa, who, under the most difficult and diftrefsful circumstances, had fupported, with active loyalty, the cause of Honorius, was tempted, in the year of his confulfhip, to affume the character of a rebel, and the title of emperor. The ports of Africa were immediately filled with the naval forces, at the head of which he prepared to invade Italy: and his fleet, when it caft anchor at the mouth of the Tyber, indeed furpaffed the fleets of Xerxes and Alexander, if all the veffels, including the royal galley, and the smallest boat, did actually amount to the incredible number of three thou 144 The date of the voyage of Claudius Rutilius Numatianus, is clogged with fome difficulties; but Scaliger has deduced from aftronomical characters, that he left Rome the 24th of September, and embarked at Porto the 9th of October, A. D. 416. See Tillemont, Hift. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 820. In this poetical Itinerary, Rutilius (1. i. 115, &c.) addreffes Rome in a high strain of congra tulation: Erige crinales lauros, feniumque facrati Z 2 fand Revolt and Heraclian, count of defeat of Africa, A.D.413. XXXI. CHAP. fand two hundred 145. Yet with fuch an armament, which might have fubverted, or restored, the greatest empires of the earth, the African ufurper made a very faint and feeble impreffion on the provinces of his rival. As he marched from the port, along the road which leads to the gates of Rome, he was encountered, terrified, and routed, by one of the Imperial captains; and the lord of this mighty hoft, deferting his fortune and his friends, ignominiously fled with a fingle fhip 146. When Heraclian landed in the harbour of Carthage, he found that the whole province, difdaining fuch an unworthy ruler, had returned to their allegiance. The rebel was beheaded in the ancient temple of Memory; his confulfhip was abolished 147; and the remains of his private fortune, not exceeding the moderate fum of four thousand pounds of gold, were granted to the brave Constantius, who had already defended the throne, which he afterwards fhared with his feeble fovereign. Honorius viewed, with fupine indifference, the calamities of Rome 145 Orofius composed his history in Africa, only two years after the event; yet his authority feems to be overbalanced by the improbability of the fact. The Chronicle of Marcellinus gives Heraclian 700 fhips, and 3000 men; the latter of thefe numbers is ridiculously corrupt; but the former would please me very much. 146 The Chronicle of Idatius affirms, without the least appearance of truth, that he advanced as far as Otriculum, in Umbria, where lie was overthrown in a great battle, with the lofs of fifty thoufand men. 147 See Cod. Theod. 1. xv. tit. xiv. leg. 13. The legal acts performed in his name, even the manumiffion of flaves, were declared invalid, till they had been formally repeated. and XXXI, and Italy 148; but the rebellious attempts of At- CHAP. talus and Heraclian, against his personal safety, awakened, for a moment, the torpid inftinct of his nature. He was probably ignorant of the causes and events which preferved him from these impending dangers; and as Italy was no longer invaded by any foreign or domeftic enemies, he peaceably exifted in the palace of Ravenna, while the tyrants beyond the Alps were repeatedly vanquifhed in the name, and by the lieutenants, of the fon of Theodofius 149. In the course of a bufy and interefting narrative, I might poffibly forget to mention the death of fuch a prince: and I fhall therefore take the precaution of observing, in this place, that he furvived the laft fiege of Rome about thirteen years. His title The ufurpation of Conftantine, who received the purple from the legions of Britain, had been fuccefsful; and feemed to be fecure. was acknowledged, from the wall of Antoninus to the columns of Hercules; and, in the midst 148 I have disdained to mention a very foolish, and probably a false, report (Procop. de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 2.), that Honorius was alarmed by the lofs of Rome, till he understood that it was not a favourite chicken of that name, but only the capital of the world, which had been loft. Yet even this ftory is fome evidence of the public opinion. 149 The materials for the lives of all thefe tyrants are taken from fix contemporary hiftorians, two Latins, and four Greeks: Orofius, 1. vii. c. 42. p. 581, 582, 583.; Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus, apud Gregor. Turon. 1. ii. c. 9. in the hiftorians of France, tom. ii. p. 165, 166. Zofimus, 1. vi. p. 370, 371. Olympiodorus, apud Phot. p. 180, 181. 184, 185. Sozomen, l. ix. c. 12, 13, 14, 15. ; and Philoftorgius, 1. xii. c. 5, 6., with Godefroy's Differtations, p. 477-481.; befides the four Chronicles of Profper Tyro, Profper of Aquitain, Idatius, and Marcellinus, Revolu tions of A. D. 409-413, XXXI. CHAP. of the public diforder, he shared the dominion, and the plunder, of Gaul and Spain, with the tribes of Barbarians, whofe deftructive progress was no longer checked by the Rhine or Pyrenees. Stained with the blood of the kinfmen of Honorius, he extorted, from the court of Ravenna, with which he fecretly correfponded, the ratification of his rebellious claims. Conftantine engaged himself, by a folemn promife, to deliver Italy from the Goths; advanced as far as the banks of the Po; and after alarming, rather than affifting, his pufillanimous ally, haftily returned to the palace of Arles, to celebrate, with intemperate luxury, his vain and oftentatious triumph. But this tranfient profperity was foon interrupted and destroyed by the revolt of count Gerontius, the braveft of his generals; who, during the absence of his fon Conftans, a prince already invefted with the Imperial purple, had been left to command in the provinces of Spain. For fome reafon, of which we are ignorant, Gerontius, instead of affuming the diadem, placed it on the head of his friend Maximus, who fixed, his refidence at Tarragona, while the active count preffed forwards, through the Pyrenees, to furprise the two emperors, Constantine and Conftans, before they could prepare for their defence. The fon was made prifoner at Vienna, and immediately put to death; and the unfortunate youth had fcarcely leifure to deplore the elevation of his family; which had tempted, or compelled him, facrilegiously to defert the peaceful obscurity of the monaftic life. The father maintained a fiege within the XXXI. the walls of Arles; but thofe walls must have CHAP, yielded to the affailants, had not the city been. unexpectedly relieved by the approach of an Italian army. The name of Honorius, the proclamation of a lawful emperor, astonished the contending parties of the rebels. Gerontius, abandoned by his own troops, escaped to the confines of Spain; and rescued his name from oblivion, by the Roman courage which appeared to animate the last moments of his life. In the middle of the night, a great body of his perfidious foldiers furrounded, and attacked his houfe, which he had ftrongly barricaded. His wife, a valiant friend of the nation of the Alani, and fome faithful flaves, were ftill attached to his perfon; and he used, with fo much skill and refolution, a large magazine of darts and arrows, that above three hundred of the affailants loft their lives in the attempt. His flaves, when all the miffile weapons were spent, fled at the dawn of day; and Gerontius, if he had not been reftrained by conjugal tenderness, might have imitated their example; till the foldiers, provoked by fuch obftinate resistance, applied fire on all fides to the houfe. In this fatal extremity, he complied with the request of his Barbarian friend, and cut off his head. The wife of Gerontius, who conjured him not to abandon her to a life of mifery and difgrace, eagerly prefented her neck to his fword; and the tragic scene was terminated by the death of the count himself, who, after three ineffectual ftrokes, drew a fhort dagger, and fheathed it in |