XXXII.

greeable fatirift) " has ferved only to ftimulate his avarice: CHA P. "the fame hand which, in his fervile condition, was exer"cifed in petty thefts, to unlock the coffers of his master, "now grafps the riches of the world; and this infamous "broker of the empire appreciates and divides the Roman "provinces, from Mount Hamus to the Tigris. One man, "at the expence of his villa, is made proconful of Afia; a "fecond 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 antichamber of Eutropi

us, a large tablet is expofed to public view, which marks "the respective prices of the provinces. The different value "of Pontus, of Galatia, of Lydia, is accurately distinguish"ed. Lycia may be obtained for fo many thousand pieces "of gold: but the opulence of Phrygia will require a more "confiderable fum. The eunuch wifhes to obliterate, by "the general difgrace, his perfonal ignominy; and as he "has been fold himself, he is defirous of felling the reft of "mankind. In the eager contention, the balance, which

contains the fate and fortunes of the province, often trem❝bles on the beam; and till one of the fcales is inclined, by "a fuperior weight, the mind of the impartial judge re"mains in anxious fufpenfe (11). Such" (continues the indignant poet)" are the fruits of Roman valour, of the de"feat of Antiochus, and of the triumph of Pompey." This venal prostitution of public honours fecured the impunity of future crimes; but the riches which Eutropius derived from confifcation, were already ftained with injuftice; fince it was decent to accufe, and to condemn, the proprietors of the wealth which he was impatient to confifcate. Some noble blood was shed by the hand of the executioner; and the moft inhofpitable extremities of the empire were filled with innocent and illuftrious exiles. Among the generals and confuls of the East, Abundantius (12) had reafon to dread

(11)

certantum fæpe duorum

Diverfum fufpendit onus: cum pondere Judex
Vergit, et in geminas nutat provincia lauces,

Claudian (i. 192-209.) fo curiously distinguishes the circumstances of the
fake, that they all feem to allude to particular anecdotes.

(12) 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 prefented to Phalaris. See Zofimus, 1. v. p. 302. Jerom, tom. i. p. 26. The difference of place is easily reconciled; but the

decifive

Ruin of

tius,

CHA P. dread the firft effects of the refentment of Eutropius. He XXXII, had been guilty of the unpardonable crime of introducing that abject flave to the palace of Conftantinople: and fome Abundan- degree of praise must be allowed to a powerful and ungrateful favourite, who was fatisfied with the difgrace of his benefactor. Abundantius was ftripped of his ample fortunes by an Imperial refcript, and banished to Pityus, on the Euxine, the laft frontier of the Roman world; where he fubfifted by the precarious mercy of the Barbarians, till he could obtain, after the fall of Eutropius, a milder exile at Siof Timafius don in Phoenicia. The deftruction of Timafius (13) required a more ferious and regular mode of attack. That great officer, the mafter-general of the armies of Theodofius, had fignalised his valour by a decifive victory, which he obtained over the Goths of Theffaly; but he was too prone, after the example of his fovereign, to enjoy the luxury of peace, and to abandon his confidence to wicked and defigning flatterers. Timafius had defpifed the public clamour, by promoting an infamous dependent to the command of a cohort; and he deferved to feel the ingrati tude of Bargus, who was fecretly inftigated by the favourite to accufe his patron of a treasonable confpiracy. The general was arraigned before the tribunal of Arcadius himself; and the principal eunuch stood by the fide of the throne, to suggest the queftions and answers of his fovereign. But as this form of trial might be deemed partial and arbitrary, the farther enquiry into the crimes of Timafius was delegated to Saturninus and Procopius; the former of confular rank, the latter ftill refpected as the father-in-law of the emperor Valens. The appearances of a fair and legal proceeding were maintained by the blunt honefty of Procopius; and he yielded with reluctance to the obfequious dexterity of his colleague, who pronounced a fentence of condemnation against the unfortunate Timafius. His immenfe riches were confifcated, in the name of the emperor, and for the benefit of the fa

vourite ;

decifive authority of Afterius of Amafia (Orat. iv. p. 76. apud Tillemont, Hift. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 435.) must turn the scale in favour of Pi. tyus.

(13) Suidas (moft probably from the hiftory of Eunapius) has given a very unfavourable picture of Timafius. The account of his accufer, the judges, trial, &c. is perfe Aly agreeable to the practice of ancient and modern courts. (See Zofimus, I. 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 confidered as the history of human nature.

vourite; and he was doomed to perpetual exile at Oafis, a C H A P, folitary fpot in the midst of the fandy deserts of Libya (14). XXXII. Secluded from all human converfe, the mafter-general of the Roman armies was loft for ever to the world; but the circumftances of his fate have been related in a various and contradictory manner. It is infinuated, that Eutropius difpatched a private order for his fecret execution (15). It was reported, that, in attempting to escape from Oafis, he perifhed in the defert, of thirst and hunger; and that his dead body was found on the fands of Libya (16). It has been afferted, with more confidence, that his fon Syagrius, after fuccefsfully eluding the purfuit of the agents and emiffaries of the court, collected a band of African robbers; that he rescued Timafius from the place. of his exile; and that both the father and the fon disappeared from the knowledge of mankind (17). But the ungrateful Bargus, instead of being fuffered to poffefs the reward of guilt, was foon afterwards circumvented and deftroyed, by the more powerful villainy of the minister himself; who retained fense and fpirit enough to abhor the inftrument of his own crimes,

of treafon, A. D. 397,

The public hatred, and the despair of individuals, conti- A cruel and nually threatened, or seemed to threaten, the personal safety unjust law of Eutropius; as well as of the numerous adherents, who were attached to his fortune, and had been promoted by his September venal favour. For their mutual defence, he contrived the 4 fafeguard of a law, which violated every principle of humanity and juftice (18). I. It is enacted, in the name, and by

the

(14) The great Oafis was one of the fpots in the fands of Libya, watered with fprings, and capable of producing wheat, barley, and palm-trees. It was about three days journey from north to fouth, 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, Déscription de l'Egypte, p. 186, 187, 188. The barren defert which encompaffes Oafis (Zofimus, 1. v. p. 300.) has fuggefted the idea of comparative fertility, and even the epithet of the happy iflard (Herodot. iii. 26,).

(15) The line of Claudian, in Eutro. 1. i. 180.

Marmaricus claris violatur cædibus Hammon,

evidently alludes to his perfuafion of the death of Timafius.

(16) Sozomen, 1. viii. c. 7. He fpeaks from report, s Tivos Eπuboμev. (17) Zofimus, 1. v. p. 300. Yet he feems to fufpect that this rumour was fpread by the friends of Eutropius.

(18) See the Theodofian Code, 1. ix. tit. 14. ad legem Corneliam de Sicariis, leg. 3. and the Code of Juftinian, 1. ix. tit. viii. ad legem Juliam de Majestate, leg. 5. The alteration of the title, from murder to treason, was an improvement of the fubtle Tribonian. Godefroy, in a formal differtation, which he has inferted in his Commentary, illuftrates this law of Arca

dius,

С Н А Р. the authority, of Arcadius, that all those who shall con-
XXXII. fpire, either with fubjects, or with ftrangers, against the

lives of any of the perfons whom the emperor confiders as
the members of his own body, fhall be punished with death
and confifcation. This fpecies of fictitious and metaphorical
treafon is extended to protect, not only the illuftrious officers
of the ftate and army, who are admitted into the facred con-
fiftory, but likewife the principal domestics of the palace, the
fenators of Conftantinople, the military commanders, and
the civil magiftrates of the provinces: a vague and indefinite
lift, which, under the fucceffors of Conftantine, included
an obfcure and numerous train of subordinate minifters. II.
This extreme severity might perhaps be justified, had it been
only directed to fecure the reprefentatives of the fovereign
from any actual violence in the execution of their office.
But the whole body of Imperial dependents claimed a privi-
lege, or rather impunity, which fcreened them, in the
loofest moments of their lives, from the hafty, perhaps the
juftifiable, refentment of their fellow-citizens: and, by a
ftrange perverfion of the laws, the fame degree of guilt and
punishment was applied to a private quarrel, and to a deli-
berate confpiracy against the emperor and the empire.
edict of Arcadius moft pofitively and moft abfurdly declares,
that in fuch cases of treafon, thoughts and actions ought to be
punished with equal feverity; that the knowledge of a mif-
chievous intention, unless it be inftantly revealed, becomes
equally criminal with the intention itself (19); and that those
rash men, who shall presume to folicit the pardon of traitors,
fhall themselves be branded with public and perpetual infa-
my. III. "With regard to the fons of the traitors," (con-
tinues the emperor)" although they ought to share the
"punishment, fince they will probably imitate the guilt, of
"their parents; yet, by the fpecial effect of our Imperial
"lenity, we grant them their lives: but, at the fame time,
"we declare them incapable of inheriting, either on the fa-
❝ther's

The

dius, and explains all the difficult paffages which had been perverted by the jurifconfults of the darker ages. See tom. iii. p. 88—111.

(19) Bartolus understands a simple and naked conscioufnefs, without any fign of approbation or concurrence. For this opinion, fays Baldus, he is now roafting in hell. For my own part, continues the difcreet Heineccius (Element. Jur. Civil. 1. iv. p. 411.), I must approve the theory of Bartolus; but in practice I should incline to the fentiments 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.

❝ther's or on the mother's fide, or of receiving any gift C H A P. or legacy, from the teftament either of kinfmen or of XXXII. "ftrangers. Stigmatifed with hereditary infamy, excluded "from the hopes of honours or fortunes, let them endure "the pangs of poverty and contempt, till they confider life "as a calamity, and death as a comfort and relief." In fuch words, fo well adapted to insult the feelings of mankind, did the emperor, or rather his favourite eunuch, applaud the moderation of a law, which transferred the fame unjust and inhuman penalties to the children of all those who had feconded, or who had not disclosed, these fictitious conspiracies. Some of the nobleft regulations of Roman jurifprudence have been fuffered to expire; but this edict, a convenient and forcible engine of ministerial tyranny, was carefully inferted in the Codes of Theodofius and Juftinian; and the fame maxims have been revived in modern ages, to protect the electors of Germany, and the cardinals of the church of Rome (20).

A. D. 399.

Yet thefe fanguinary laws, which fpread terror among a Rebellion of difarmed and difpirited people, were of too weak a texture Tribigild, to restrain the bold enterprise of Tribigild (21) the Ostrogoth. The colony of that warlike nation, which had been planted by Theodofius in one of the most fertile districts of Phrygia (22), impatiently compared the flow returns of laborious husbandry, with the fuccefsful rapine and liberal rewards of Alaric; and their leader refented, as a perfonal affront, his own ungracious reception in the palace of Conftantinople. A soft and wealthy province, in the heart of the empire, was aftonifhed by the found of war; and the faithful vaffal, who had been difregarded or oppreffed, was again refpected, as foon as he refumed the hoftile character

of

(20) Godefroy, tom. iii. p. 89. It is, however, suspected, that this law, fo repugnant to the maxims of Germanic freedom, has been furreptitiously added to the golden bull.

(21) A copious and circumstantial narrative (which he might have reserved for more important events) is bestowed by Zofimus (1. v. p. 304-312.) ou the revolt of Tribigild and Gainas. See likewife Socrates, 1. vi. c. 6. and Sozomen, 1. viii. c. 4. The second book of Claudian against Eutropius, is a fine, though imperfect, piece of history.

(22) Claudian (in Eutrop. l. ii. 237-250.) very accurately obferves, that the ancient name and nation of the Phrygians extended very far on every fide, till their limits were contracted by the colonies of the Bithynians of Thrace, of the Greeks, and at last of the Gauls. His defcription (ii. 257 -272.) of the fertility of Phrygia, and of the four rivers that produce gold, is juft and picturesque.