XXVII. Be- Theodo pares for tears of his beloved wife", to revenge the fate CHAP. of her unhappy brother, and once more to affert by arms the violated majefty of the throne. But as the second conqueft of the Weft was a task of difficulty and danger, he difmiffed, with fplendid prefents, and an ambiguous anfwer, the ambaffadors of Eugenius; and almost two years were confumed in the preparations of the civil war. fore he formed any decifive refolution, the pious fius preemperor was anxious to discover the will of war. Heaven; and as the progrefs of Chriftianity had filenced the oracles of Delphi and Dodona, he confulted an Egyptian monk, who poffeffed, in the opinion of the age, the gift of miracles, and the knowledge of futurity. Eutropius, one of the favourite eunuchs of the palace of Conftantinople, embarked for Alexandria, from whence he failed up the Nile as far as the city of Lycopolis, or of Wolves, in the remote province of Thebais "2. In the neighbourhood of that city, and on the fummit of a lofty mountain, the holy John's had conftructed, with his 111 Own Συνετάραξεν εν η τετε γαμετη Γαλλα τα βασίλεια τον αδελφον ολοφυ ξαμενη. Zofim. 1. iv. p. 277. He afterwards fays (p. 280.), that Galla died in childbed; and intimates, that the affliction of her hufband was extreme, but short. 112 Lycopolis is the modern Siut, or Oliot, a town of Said, about the fize of St. Denys, which drives a profitable trade with the kingdom of Sennaar; and has a very convenient fountain, "cujus potû "figna virginitatis eripiuntur.” See d'Anville, Defcription de l'Egypte, p. 181. Abulfeda, Descript. Ægyp. p. 14. and the curious Annotations, p. 25. 92. of his editor Michaelis. 113 The life of John of Lycopolis is defcribed by his two friends, Rufinus (1. i. c. 1. p. 449.) and Palladius (Hift. Lausiac. c. 43. P. 738.), XXVII. CHAP. own hands, an humble cell, in which he had p. 738.), in Rofweyde's great Collection of the Vite Patrum. Tille- 114 Sozomen, 1. vii. c. 22. Claudian (in Eutrop. l. i. 312.) men- wards wards fo fatally exerted for the deftruction of CHAP. Rome s 115 116 Ar XXVII. nius, The emperor of the Weft, or, to speak more His victory properly, his general Arbogaftes, was inftructed over Eugeby the misconduct and misfortune of Maximus, A.D. 394, how dangerous it might prove to extend the line Sept. 6. of defence against a fkilful antagonist, who was free to prefs, or to fufpend, to contract, or to multiply, his various methods of attack ". bogaftes fixed his ftation on the confines of Italy: the troops of Theodofius were permitted to occupy, without refiftance, the provinces of Pannonia, as far as the foot of the Julian Alps; and even the paffages of the mountains were negligently, or perhaps artfully, abandoned, to the bold invader. He defcended from the hills, and beheld, with fome aftonishment, the formidable camp of the Gauls and Germans, that covered with arms and tents the open country, which extends to the walls of Aquileia, and the banks of 115 Zofimus, 1. iv. p. 280. Socrates, 1. vii. 10. Alaric himfelf (de Bell. Getico, 524.) dwells with more complacency on his early exploits against the Romans. Tot Auguftus Hebro qui tefte fugavi. Yet his vanity could fcarcely have proved this plurality of flying emperors. 116 Claudian (in iv Conf. Honor. 77, &c.) contrasts the military plans of the two ufurpers. ... · Novitas audere priorem Suadebat; cautumque dabant exempla fequentem. Hic nova moliri præceps: hic quærere tutus VOL. V. G the XXVII. CHAP. the Frigidus ", or Cold River 113. or Cold River 118. This narrow theatre of the war, circumfcribed by the Alps and the Hadriatic, did not allow much room for the operations of military skill; the fpirit of Ar-. bogaftes would have difdained a pardon; his guilt extinguished the hope of a negociation: and Theodofius was impatient to fatisfy his glory and revenge, by the chastisement of the affaffins of Valentinian. Without weighing the natural and artificial obftacles that oppofed his efforts, the emperor of the Eaft immediately attacked the fortifications of his rivals, affigned the poft of honourable danger to the Goths, and cherished a fecret wish, that the bloody conflict might diminish the pride and numbers of the conquerors. Ten thousand of those auxiliaries, and Bacurius, general of the Iberians, died bravely on the field of battle. But the victory was not purchased by their blood: the Gauls maintained their advantage; and the approach of night protected the diforderly flight, or retreat, of the troops of Theodofius. The emperor retired to the adjacent hills; where he paffed a difconfolate night, without fleep, without provifions, and without 117 The Frigidus, a small, though memorable, stream in the country of Goretz, now called the Vipao, falls into the Sontius, or Lifonzo, above Aquileia, fome miles from the Hadriatic. See d'Anville's Ancient and Modern Maps, and the Italia Antiqua of Cluverius (tom. i. p. 188.). 118 Claudian's wit is intolerable: the fnow was dyed red; the cold river smoaked; and the channel must have been choaked with carcaffes, if the current had not been swelled with blood. hopes; 119 XXVII. hopes ; except that ftrong affurance, which, CHAP. under the most defperate circumstances, the independent mind may derive from the contempt of fortune and of life. The triumph of Eugenius was celebrated by the infolent and diffolute joy of his camp; whilft the active and vigilant Arbogaftes fecretly detached a confiderable body of troops to occupy the paffes of the mountains, and to encompass the rear of the Eastern army. The dawn of day discovered to the eyes of Theodofius the extent and the extremity of his danger: but his apprehenfions were foon difpelled, by a friendly meffage from the leaders of thofe troops, who expreffed their inclination to defert the ftandard of the tyrant. The honourable and lucrative rewards, which they ftipulated as the price of their perfidy, were 'granted without hesitation; and as ink and paper could not easily be procured, the emperor fubfcribed, on his own tablets, the ratification of the treaty. The spirit of his foldiers was revived by this feasonable reinforcement and they again marched, with confidence, to surprise the camp of a tyrant, whose principal officers appeared to distrust, either the juftice, or the fuccefs, of his arms. In the heat of the battle, a violent tempeft 120, fuch as is often felt among 119 Theodoret affirms, that St. John, and St. Philip, appeared to the waking, or fleeping, emperor, on horfeback, &c. This is the firft inftance of apoftolic chivalry, which afterwards became fo popu lar in Spain, and in the Crufades. 120 Te propter, gelidis Aquilo de monte procellis |