XXVII.

CHAP. in the court, and in the provinces, by the worthlefs delegates of his power, whofe merit it was made facrilege to question. The confcience of the credulous prince was directed by faints and bishops; who procured an Imperial edict to punish, as a capital offence, the violation, the neglect, or even the ignorance, of the divine law. Among the various arts which had exercifed the youth of Gratian, he had applied himself, with fingular inclination and fuccefs, to manage the horse, to draw the bow, and to dart the javelin; and these qualifications, which might be ufeful to a foldier, were proftituted to the viler purposes of hunting. Large parks were inclofed for the Imperial pleafures, and plentifully stocked with every fpecies of wild beafts; and Gratian neglected the duties, and even the dignity, of his rank, to confume whole days in the vain difplay of his dexterity and boldnefs in the chace. The pride and wifh of the Roman emperor to excel in an art, in which he might be furpaffed by the meanest of his flaves, reminded the numerous fpectators of the examples of Nero and

3 Disputare de principali judicio non oportet. Sacrilegii enim instar est dubitare, an is dignus fit, quem elegerit imperator. Codex Juftinian. 1. ix. tit. xxix. leg. 3. This convenient law was revived and promulgated, after the death of Gratian, by the feeble court of

Milan.

:

4 Ambrofe composed, for his inftruction, a theological treatise on the faith of the Trinity and Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 158. 169.) afcribes to the archbishop the merit of Gratian's intolerant laws.

5 Qui divinæ legis fanctitatem nefciendo omittunt, aut negli gendo violant, et offendunt facrilegium committunt. Codex Juftinian. I. ix. tit. xxix. leg. 1. Theodofius indeed may claim his fhare, in the merit of this comprehensive law.

Commodus:

XXVII.

Commodus: but the chafte and temperate Gra- CHAP. tian was a stranger to their monftrous vices; and his hands were ftained only with the blood of animals".

of the

Roman

troops, A.D.383.

5

The behaviour of Gratian, which degraded his Discontent character in the eyes of mankind, could not have disturbed the security of his reign, if the army had not been provoked to refent their peculiar injuries. As long as the young emperor was guided by the inftructions of his masters, he profeffed himself the friend and pupil of the foldiers; many of his hours were spent in the familiar converfation of the camp, and the health, the comforts, the rewards, the honours, of his faithful troops, appeared to be the object of his attentive concern. But, after Gratian more freely indulged his prevailing tafte for hunting and shooting, he naturally connected himself with the moft dexterous ministers of his favourite amufement. A body of the Alani was received into the military and domestic service of the palace; and the admirable skill, which they were accustomed to difplay in the unbounded plains of Scythia, was exercised, on a more narrow theatre, in the parks and inclosures of Gaul. Gratian admired the talents and customs of these favourite guards, to whom alone he intrufted the defence of his perfon: and, as if he meant to infult the public opi

6 Ammianus (xxxi. 10.) and the younger Victor acknowledge the virtues of Gratian; and accuse, or rather lament, his degenerate taste. The odious parallel of Commodus is saved by "licet incruentus;" and perhaps Philoftorgius (1. x. c. 1o. and Godefroy, p. 412.) had guarded, with fome fimilar referve, the comparifon of Nero.

XXVII.

CHAP. nion, he frequently fhewed himfelf to the foldiers and people, with the dress and arms, the long bow, the founding quiver, and the fur garments, of a Scythian warrior. The unworthy fpectacle of a Roman prince, who had renounced the dress and manners of his country, filled the minds of the legions with grief and indignation. Even the Germans, fo ftrong and formidable in the armies of the empire, affected to disdain the strange and horrid appearance of the favages of the North, who, in the space of a few years, had wandered from the banks of the Volga to thofe of the Seine. A loud and licentious murmur was echoed through the camps and garrifons of the Weft; and as the mild indolence of Gratian neglected to extinguish. the first symptoms of difcontent, the want of love and respect was not fupplied by the influence of fear. But the fubverfion of an established government is always a work of fome real, and of much apparent, difficulty; and the throne of Gratian was protected by the fanctions of cuftom, law, religion, and the nice balance of the civil and military powers, which had been established by the policy of Conftantine. It is not very important to inquire from what caufes the revolt of Britain was produced. Accident is commonly the parent of diforder; the feeds of rebellion happened to fall on a foil which was fuppofed to be more fruitful than any other in tyrants and

7 Zofimus (1. iv. p. 247.) and the younger Victor afcribe the revolution to the favour of the Alani, and the difcontent of the Roman troops. Dum exercitum negligeret, et paucos ex Alanis, quos ingenti auro ad fe tranftulerat, anteferret veteri ac Romano militi.

ufurpers;

XXVII.

ufurpers; the legions of that fequeftered ifland CHAP. had been long famous for a fpirit of prefumption

Maximus

and arrogance; and the name of Maximus was Revolt of proclaimed, by the tumultuary, but unanimous in Britain. voice, both of the foldiers and of the provincials.

The emperor, or the rebel, for his title was not

yet afcertained by fortune, was a native of Spain, the countryman, the fellow-foldier, and the rival of Theodofius, whofe elevation he had not seen without fome emotions of envy and refentment: the events of his life had long fince fixed him in Britain; and I should not be unwilling to find some evidence for the marriage, which he is faid to have contracted with the daughter of a wealthy lord of Caernarvonfhire ". But this provincial rank might justly be confidered as a state of exile and obfcurity; and if Maximus had obtained any civil or military office, he was not invested with the authority either of governor or general ".

* Britannia fertilis provincia tyrannorum, is a memorable expreffion, used by Jerom in the Pelagian controverfy, and variously tortured in the difputes of our national antiquaries. The revolutions of the last age appeared to justify the image of the sublime Boffuet, "cette ifle, plus orageuse que les mers qui l'environnent."

9 Zolimus fays of the Britifh foldiers, των αλλων απαντων πλέον αυ α και θυμῳ εισκομένους.

θα δε

10 Helena the daughter of Eudda. Her chapel may still be seen at Caer-fegont, now Caer-narvon (Carte's Hift. of England, vol. i. p. 168. from Rowland's Mona Antiqua). The prudent reader may not perhaps be fatisfied with fuch Welsh evidence.

Cambden (vol. i. introduct. p. ci.) appoints him governor of Britain; and the father of our antiquities is followed, as usual, by his blind progeny. Pacatus and Zofimus had taken some pains to prevent this error, or fable; and I fhall protect myself by their de cifive teftimonies. Regali habitû exulem fuum, illi exules orbis induerunt (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 23.), and the Greek hiftorian, ftill lefs equivocally, αυτος (Maximus) δε υδε εις αρχην ετιμον ετυχη προέλθων (1. iv. p. 248.)..

XXVII.

CHAP. His abilities, and even his integrity, are acknowledged by the partial writers of the age; and the merit muft indeed, have been confpicuous, that could extort fuch a confeffion in favour of the vanquished enemy of Theodofius. The difcontent of Maximus might incline him to cenfure the conduct of his fovereign, and to encourage, perhaps without any views of ambition, the murmurs of the troops. But in the midft of the tumult, he artfully, or modeftly, refused to ascend the throne; and fome credit appears to have been given to his own positive declaration, that he was compelled to accept the dangerous prefent of the Imperial purple "2.

Flight and death of Gratian.

12

But there was danger likewife in refufing the empire; and from the moment that Maximus had violated his allegiance to his lawful fovereign, he could not hope to reign, or even to live, if he confined his moderate ambition within the narrow limits of Britain. He boldly and wifely refolved to prevent the defigns of Gratian; the youth of the island crowded to his standard, and he invaded Gaul with a fleet and army, which were long afterwards remembered, as the emigration of a confiderable part of the British nation "3. The emperor, in his peaceful refidence.

of

12 Sulpicius Severus, Dialog. ii. 7. Orofius, 1. vii. c. 34. p. 556. They both acknowledge (Sulpicius had been his fubject) his innocence and merit. It is fingular enough, that Maximus should be lefs favourably treated by Zofimus, the partial adverfary of his rival.

13 Archbishop Ufher (Antiquitat. Britan. Ecclef. p. 107, 108.) has diligently collected the legends of the ifland, and the continent. The whole emigration confifted of 30,000 foldiers, and 100,000 plebeians,