had left the East without a sovereign; and Julius, who filled the important station of master-general of the troops, with a high reputation of diligence and ability, thought it his duty to consult the senate of Constantinople; which he considered, during the vacancy of the throne, as the representative council of the nation. As soon as he had obtained the discretionary power of acting as he should judge most expedient for the good of the republic, he assembled the principal officers; and privately concerted effectual measures for the execution of his bloody design. An order was immediately promulgated that, on a stated day, the Gothic youth should assemble in the capital cities of their respective provinces; and, as a report was industriously circulated, that they were summoned to receive a liberal gift of lands and money, the pleasing hope allayed the fury of their resentment, and, perhaps, suspended the motions of the conspiracy. On the appointed day, the unarmed crowd of the Gothic youth was carefully collected in the square, or Forum : the streets and avenues were occupied by the Roman troops; and the roofs of the houses were covered with archers and slingers. At the same hour, in all the cities of the East, the signal was given of indiscriminate slaughter; and the provinces of Asia were delivered, by the cruel prudence of Julius, from a domestic enemy, who, in a few months, might have carried fire and sword from the Hellespont to the Euphrates (103). The urgent consideration of the public safety may undoubtedly authorise the violation of every positive law. How far that, or any other, consideration, may operate, to dissolve the natural obligations of humanity and justice, is a doctrine of which I still desire to remain ignorant.

Gratian

with

East.

Jan. 19.

The emperor Gratian was far advanced on his march towards the The emperor plains of Hadrianople, when he was informed, at first by the con- invests fused voice of fame, and afterwards by the more accurate reports of Theodosius Victor and Richomer, that his impatient colleague had been slain empire of the in battle, and that two-thirds of the Roman army were exterminated A. D. 379. by the sword of the victorious Goths. Whatever resentment the rash and jealous vanity of his uncle might deserve, the resentment of a generous mind is easily subdued by the softer emotions of grief and compassion: and even the sense of pity was soon lost in the serious and alarming, consideration of the state of the republic. Gratian was too late to assist, he was too weak to revenge, his unfortunate colleague; and the valiant and modest youth felt himself unequal to the support of a sinking world. A formidable tempest of the Barbarians of Germany seemed ready to burst over the provinces of Gaul; and the mind of Gratian was oppressed and distract

(103) Ammianus evidently approves this execution, efficacia velox et salutaris, which concludes his work (xxxi. 16.). Zosimus, who is curious and copious (1. iv. p. 233–236.), mistakes the date, and labours to find the reason, why Julius did not consult the emperor Theodosius, who had not yet ascended the throne of the East.

Birth and

character of

ed by the administration of the Western empire. In this important crisis, the government of the East, and the conduct of the Gothic war, required the undivided attention of a hero and a statesman. A subject invested with such ample command would not long have preserved his fidelity to a distant benefactor; and the Imperial council embraced the wise and manly resolution, of conferring an obligation, rather than of yielding to an insult. It was the wish of Gratian to bestow the purple as the reward of virtue; but, at the age of nineteen, it is not easy for a prince, educated in the supreme rank, to understand the true characters of his ministers and generals. He attempted to weigh, with an impartial hand, their various merits and defects; and, whilst he checked the rash confidence of ambition, he distrusted the cautious wisdom which despaired of the republic. As each moment of delay diminished something of the power and resources of the future sovereign of the East, the situation of the times would not allow a tedious debate. The choice of Gratian was soon declared in favour of an exile, whose father, only three years before, had suffered, under the sanction of his authority, an unjust and ignominious death. The great Theodosius, a name celebrated in history, and dear to the Catholic church (104), was summoned to the Imperial court, which had gradually retreated from the confines of Thrace to the more secure station of Sirmium. Five months after the death of Valens, the emperor Gratian produced before the assembled troops, his colleague, and their master; who, after a modest, perhaps a sincere, resistance, was compelled to accept, amidst the general acclamations, the diadem, the purple, and the equal title of Augustus (105). The provinces of Thrace, Asia, and Egypt, over which Valens had reigned, were resigned to the administration of the new emperor; but, as he was specially entrusted with the conduct of the Gothic war, the Illyrian præfecture was dismembered; and the two great dioceses of Dacia and Macedonia were added to the dominions of the Eastern empire (106).

The same province, and, perhaps, the same city (107), which Theodosius. had given to the throne the virtues of Trajan, and the talents of

(104) A life of Theodosius the Great was composed in the last century (Paris, 1679, in 4to.; 1689, in 12mo.), to inflame the mind of the young Dauphin with Catholic zeal. The author, Fléchier, afterwards bishop of Nismes, was a celebrated preacher; and his history is adorned, or tainted, with pulpit-cloquence; but he takes his learning from Baronius, and his principles from St. Ambrose and St. Augustin.

(105) The birth, character, and elevation, of Theodosius, are marked in Pacatus (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 10, 11, 12.), Themistius (Orat. xiv. p. 182.), Zosimus (1. iv. p. 231.), Augustin (de Civitat. Dei, v. 25.), Orosius (1. vii. c. 34.), Sozomen (1. vii. c. 2.), Socrates (1. v. c. 2.), Theodoret (1. v c. 5.), Philostorgius (1. ix. c. 17. with Godefroy, p. 393.), the Epitome of Victor, and the Chronicles of Prosper, Idatius, and Marcellinus, in the Thesaurus Temporum of Scaliger.*

(106) Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 716, &c.

(107) Italica, founded by Scipio Africanus for his wounded veterans of Italy. The ruins still appear, about a league above Seville, but on the opposite bank of the river. See the Hispania Illustrata of Nonius; a short, though valuable treatise, c. xvij. p. 64—67.

* Add a hostile fragment of Eunapius. Mai, p. 273., in Niebuhr, p. 78. — M.

Hadrian, was the original seat of another family of Spaniards, who, in a less fortunate age, possessed, near fourscore years, the declining empire of Rome (108). They emerged from the obscurity of municipal honours by the active spirit of the elder Theodosius, a general, whose exploits in Britain and Africa have formed one of the most splendid parts of the annals of Valentinian. The son of that general, who likewise bore the name of Theodosius, was educated, by skilful preceptors, in the liberal studies of youth; but he was instructed in the art of war by the tender care and severe. discipline of his father (109). Under the standard of such a leader, young Theodosius sought glory and knowledge, in the most distant scenes of military action; inured his constitution to the difference of seasons and climates; distinguished his valour by sea and land; and observed the various warfare of the Scots, the Saxons, and the Moors. His own merit, and the recommendation of the conqueror of Africa, soon raised him to a separate command: and, in the station of Duke of Masia, he vanquished an army of Sarmatians; saved the province; deserved the love of the soldiers; and provoked the envy of the court (110). His rising fortunes were soon blasted by the disgrace and execution of his illustrious father; and Theodosius obtained, as a favour, the permission of retiring to a private life in his native province of Spain. He displayed a firm and temperate character in the ease with which he adapted himself to this new situation. His time was almost equally divided between the town and country: the spirit, which had animated his public conduct, was shewn in the active and affectionate performance of every social duty; and the diligence of the soldier was profitably converted to the improvement of his ample patrimony (111), which lay between Valladolid and Segovia, in the midst of a fruitful district, still famous for a most exquisite breed of sheep (112). From the innocent, but humble, labours of his farm, Theodosius was transported, in less than four months, to the throne of the Eastern empire: and the whole period of the history of the world will not perhaps afford a similar example, of an elevation, at the same time,

(108) I agree with Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 726.) in suspecting the royal pedigree, which remained a secret till the promotion of Theodosius. Even after that event, the silence of Pacatus outweighs the venal evidence of Themistius, Victor, and Claudian, who connect the family of Theodosius with the blood of Trajan and Hadrian.

(109) Pacatus compares, and consequently prefers, the youth of Theodosius, to the military education of Alexander, Hannibal, and the second Africanus; who, like him, had served under their fathers (xii. 8.).

(110) Ammianus (xxix. 6.) mentions this victory of Theodosius Junior Dux Masiæ, prima etiam tum lanugine juvenis, princeps postea perspectissimus. The same fact is attested by Themistius and Zosimus; but Theodoret (1. v. c. 5.), who adds some curious circumstances, strangely applies it to the time of the interregnum.

(111) Pacatus (in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 9.) prefers the rustic life of Theodosius to that of Cincinnatus; the one was the effect of choice, the other of poverty.

(112) M. D'Anville (Géographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 25.) has fixed the situation of Caucha, or Coca, in the old province of Gallicia, where Zosimus and Idatius have placed the birth, or patrimony, of Theodosius.

His prudent

and

successful

so pure, and so honourable. The princes who peaceably inherit the sceptre of their fathers, claim and enjoy a.legal right, the more secure, as it is absolutely distinct from the merits of their personal characters. The subjects, who, in a monarchy, or a popular state, acquire the possession of supreme power, may have raised themselves, by the superiority either of genius or virtue, above the heads of their equals but their virtue is seldom exempt from ambition; and the cause of the successful candidate is frequently stained by the guilt of conspiracy, or civil war. Even in those governments which allow the reigning monarch to declare a colleague, or a successor, his partial choice, which may be influenced by the blindest passions, is often directed to an unworthy object. But the most suspicious malignity cannot ascribe to Theodosius, in his obscure solitude of Caucha, the arts, the desires, or even the hopes, of an ambitious statesman; and the name of the Exile would long since have been forgotten, if his genuine and distinguished virtues had not left a deep impression in the Imperial court. During the season of prosperity, he had been neglected; but, in the public distress, his superior merit was universally felt and acknowledged. What confidence must have been reposed in his integrity, since Gratian could trust, that a pious son would forgive, for the sake of the republic, the murder of his father! What expectations must have been formed of his abilities, to encourage the hope, that a single man could save, and restore, the empire of the East! Theodosius was invested with the purple in the thirty-third year of his age. The vulgar gazed with admiration on the manly beauty of his face, and the graceful majesty of his person, which they were pleased to compare with the pictures and medals of the emperor Trajan; whilst intelligent observers discovered, in the qualities of his heart and understanding, a more important resemblance to the best and greatest of the Roman princes.

It is not without the most sincere regret, that I must now take leave of an accurate and faithful guide, who has composed the the Gothic history of his own times, without indulging the prejudices and pas sions, which usually affect the mind of a contemporary. Ammianus 379 --382. Marcellinus, who terminates his useful work with the defeat and

war. A. D.

death of Valens, recommends the more glorious subject of the ensuing reign to the youthful vigour and eloquence of the rising generation (113). The rising generation was not disposed to accept his advice, or to imitate his example (114); and, in the study of

(113) Let us hear Ammianus himself. Hæc, ut miles quondam et Græcus, a principatu Cæsaris Nervæ exorsus, adusque Valentis interitum, pro virium explicavi mensura: opus veritatem professum nunquam, ut arbitror, sciens, silentio ausus corrumpere vel mendacio. Scribant reliqua potiores ætate, doctrinisque florentes. Quos id, si libuerit, aggressuros, procudere linguas ad majores moneo stilos. Ammian. xxxi. 16. The first thirteen books, a superficial epitome of two hundred and fifty-seven years, are now lost: the last eighteen, which contain no more than twenty-five years, still preserve the copious and authentic history of his own times.

(114) Ammianus was the last subject of Rome who composed a profane history in the Latin lan

:

the reign of Theodosius, we are reduced to illustrate the partial narrative of Zosimus, by the obscure hints of fragments and chronicles, by the figurative style of poetry or panegyric, and by the precarious assistance of the ecclesiastical writers, who, in the heat of religious faction, are apt to despise the profane virtues of sincerity and moderation. Conscious of these disadvantages, which will continue to involve a considerable portion of the decline and fall of the Roman empire, I shall proceed with doubtful and timorous steps. Yet I may boldly pronounce, that the battle of Hadrianople was never revenged by any signal or decisive victory of Theodosius over the Barbarians and the expressive silence of his venal orators may be confirmed by the observation of the condition and circumstances of the times. The fabric of a mighty state, which has been reared by the labours of successive ages, could not be overturned by the misfortune of a single day, if the fatal power of the imagination did not exaggerate the real measure of the calamity. The loss of forty thousand Romans, who fell in the plains of Hadrianople, might have been soon recruited in the populous provinces of the East, which contained so many millions of inhabitants. The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest, and most common, quality of human nature; and sufficient skill to encounter an undisciplined foe, might have been speedily taught by the care of the surviving centurions. If the Barbarians were mounted on the horses, and equipped with the armour, of their vanquished enemies, the numerous studs of Cappadocia and Spain would have supplied new squadrons of cavalry; the thirty-four arsenals of the empire were plentifully stored with magazines of offensive and defensive arms; and the wealth of Asia might still have yielded an ample fund for the expenses of the war. But the effects which were produced by the battle of Hadrianople on the minds of the Barbarians and of the Romans, extended the victory of the former, and the defeat of the latter, far beyond the limits of a single day. A Gothic chief was heard to declare, with insolent moderation, that, for his own part, he was fatigued with slaughter; but that he was astonished how a people,· who fled before him like a flock of sheep, could still presume to dispute the possession of their treasures and provinces (115). The same terrors, which the name of the Huns had spread among the Gothic tribes, were inspired, by the formidable name of the Goths, among the subjects and soldiers of the Roman empire (116). If Theodosius, hastily collecting his scattered forces, had led them into

guage. The East, in the next century, produced some rhetorical historians, Zosimus, Olympiodorus, Malchus, Candidus, &c. See Vossius de Historicis Græcis, 1. ii. c. 18. de Historicis Latinis, 1. ii. c. 10, &c.

(115) Chrysostom, tóm. i. p. 344. edit. Montfaucon. I have verified, and examined, this passage: but I should never, without the aid of Tillemont (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 152.) have detected an historical anecdote, in a strange medley of moral and mystic exhortations, addressed, by the preacher of Antioch, to a young widow.

(116) Eunapius, in Excerpt. Legation. p. 21.