the splendid relics of two temples, or rather of two religions, exhibited a memorable example of the vicissitudes of human and divine things. Since the abolition of Paganism, the Capitol had been violated and abandoned; yet the statues of the gods and heroes were still respected, and the curious roof of gilt bronze was reserved for the rapacious hands of Genseric (7). The holy instruments of the Jewish worship (8), the gold table, and the gold candlestick with seven branches, originally framed according to the particular instructions of God himself, and which were placed in the sanctuary of his temple, had been ostentatiously displayed to the Roman people in the triumph of Titus. They were afterwards deposited in the temple of Peace; and at the end of four hundred years, the spoils of Jerusalem were transferred from Rome to Carthage by a Barbarian who derived his origin from the shores of the Baltic. These ancient monuments might attract the notice of curiosity, as well as of avarice. But the Christian churches, enriched and adorned by the prevailing superstition of the times, afforded more plentiful materials for sacrilege; and the pious liberality of pope Leo, who melted six silver vases, the gift of Constantine, each of an hundred pounds weight, is an evidence of the damage which he attempted to repair. In the forty-five years, that had elapsed since the Gothic invasion, the pomp and luxury of Rome were in some measure restored; and it was difficult either to escape, or to satisfy, the avarice of a conqueror, who possessed leisure to collect, and ships to transport, the wealth of the capital. The Imperial ornaments of the palace, the magnificent furniture and wardrobe, the sideboards of massy plate, were accumulated with disorderly rapine: the gold and silver amounted to several thousand talents; yet even the brass and copper were laboriously removed. Eudoxia herself, who advanced to meet her friend and deliverer, soon bewailed the imprudence of her own conduct. She was rudely stripped of her jewels; and the unfortunate empress, with her two daughters, the only surviving remains of the great Theodosius, was compelled, as a captive, to follow the haughty Vandal; who immediately hoisted sail, and returned with a prosperous navigation to the port of Carthage (9). Many thousand Romans of both

(7) The profusion of Catulus, the first who gilt the roof of the Capitol, was not universally approved (Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 18.); but it was far exceeded by the emperor's, and the external gilding of the temple cost Domitian 12,000 talents (2,400,000l.). The expressions of Claudian and Rutilius (luce metalli æmula... fastigia astris, and confunduntque vajos delubra micantia visus) manifestly prove, that this splendid covering was not removed either by the Christians or the Goths (see Donatus, Roma Antiqua, 1. ii. c. 6. p. 125.). It should seem that the roof of the Capitol was decorated with gilt statues, and chariots drawn by four horses.

(8) The curious reader may consult the learned and accurate treatise of Hadrian Reland, de Spoliis Templi Hierosolymitani in Arcu Titiano Romæ conspicuis, in 12mo. Trajecti ad Rhe

num, 1716.

(9) The vessel which transported the relics of the Capitol was the only one of the whole fleet that suffered shipwreck. If a bigotted sophist, a Pagan bigot, had mentioned the accident, he might have rejoiced, that this cargo of sacrilege was lost in the sea.

The emperor
Avitus,
A. D. 455.
July 10.

sexes, chosen for some useful or agreeable qualifications, reluctantly embarked on board the fleet of Genseric; and their distress was aggravated by the unfeeling Barbarians, who, in the division of the booty, separated the wives from their husbands, and the children from their parents. The charity of Deogratias, bishop of Carthage (10), was their only consolation and support. He generously sold the gold and silver plate of the church to purchase the freedom of some, to alleviate the slavery of others, and to assist the wants and infirmities of a captive multitude, whose health was impaired by the hardships which they had suffered in their passage from Italy to Africa. By his order, two spacious churches were converted into hospitals: the sick were distributed in convenient beds, and liberally supplied with food and medicines; and the aged prelate repeated his visits both in the day and night, with an assiduity that surpassed his strength, and a tender sympathy which enhanced the value of his services. Compare this scene with the field of Cannæ; and judge between Hannibal and the successor of St. Cyprian (11).

The deaths of Aetius and Valentinian had relaxed the ties which held the Barbarians of Gaul in peace and subordination. The sea-coast was infested by the Saxons; the Alemanni and the Franks advanced from the Rhine to the Seine; and the ambition of the Goths seemed to meditate more extensive and permanent conquests. The emperor Maximus relieved himself, by a judicious choice, from the weight of these distant cares; he silenced the solicitations of his friends, listened to the voice of fame, and promoted a stran ger to the general command of the forces in Gaul. Avitus (12), the stranger, whose merit was so nobly rewarded, descended from a wealthy and honourable family in the diocese of Auvergne. The convulsions of the times urged him to embrace, with the same ardour, the civil and military professions; and the indefatigable youth blended the studies of literature and jurisprudence with the exercise of arms and hunting. Thirty years of his life were laudably spent in the public service; he alternately displayed his talents in war and negotiation; and the soldier of Aetius, after executing the most important embassies, was raised to the station of Prætorian præfect of Gaul. Either the merit of Avitus excited envy, or his moderation was desirous of repose, since he calmly retired to an estate, which he possessed in the neighbourhood of Clermont. A co

(10) See Victor Vitensis, de Persecut. Vandal. 1. i. c. 8. p. 11, 42. edit. Ruinart. Deogratias governed the church of Carthage only three years. If he had not been privately buried, his corpse would have been torn piecemeal by the mad devotion of the people.

(11) The general evidence for the death of Maximus, and the sack of Rome by the Vandals, is comprised in Sidonius (Panegyr. Avit. 441-450.), Procopius (de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 4, 5. p. 188, 189. and l. ii. c. 9. p. 255.), Evagrius (1. ii. c. 7.), Jornandes (de Reb. Geticis, c. 45. p. 677.), and the Chronicles of Idatius, Prosper, Marcellinus, and Theophanes, under the proper year.

(12) The private life and elevation of Avitus must be deduced, with becoming suspicion, from the panegyric pronounced by Sidonius Apollinaris, his subject, and his son-in-law.

pious stream, issuing from the mountain, and falling headlong in many a loud and foaming cascade, discharged its waters into a lake about two miles in length, and the villa was pleasantly seated on the margin of the lake. The baths, the porticoes, the summer and winter apartments, were adapted to the purposes of luxury and use; and the adjacent country afforded the various prospects of woods, pastures, and meadows (13). In this retreat, where Avitus amused his leisure with books, rural sports, the practice of husbandry, and the society of his friends (14), he received the Imperial diploma, which constituted him master-general of the cavalry and infantry of Gaul. He assumed the military command; the Barbarians suspended their fury; and whatever means he might employ, whatever concessions he might be forced to make, the people enjoyed the benefits of actual tranquillity. But the fate of Gaul depended on the Visigoths; and the Roman general, less attentive to his dignity than to the public interest, did not disdain to visit Toulouse in the character of an ambassador. He was received with courteous hospitality by Theodoric, the king of the Goths; but while Avitus laid the foundations of a solid alliance with that powerful nation, he was astonished by the intelligence, that the emperor Maximus was slain, and that Rome had been pillaged by the Vandals. A vacant throne, which he might ascend without guilt or danger, tempted his ambition (15); and the Visigoths were easily persuaded to support his claim by their irresistible suffrage. They loved the person of Avitus; they respected his virtues; and A.D. 455. they were not insensible of the advantage, as well as honour, of August 15. giving an emperor to the West. The season was now approaching, in which the annual assembly of the seven provinces was held at Arles; their deliberations might perhaps be influenced by the presence of Theodoric, and his martial brothers; but their choice would naturally incline to the most illustrious of their countrymen. Avitus, after a decent resistance, accepted the Imperial diadem from the representatives of Gaul; and his election was ratified by the acclamations of the Barbarians and provincials. The formal consent of Marcian, emperor of the East, was solicited and obtained: but the senate, Rome, and Italy, though humbled by their recent cala

(13) After the example of the younger Pliny, Sidonius (1. ii. c. 2.) has laboured the florid, prolix, and obscure description of his villa, which bore the name (Avitacum), and had been the property The precise situation is not ascertained. Consult however the notes of Savaron and

of Avitus. Sirmond.

(14) Sidonius (1. ii. epist. 9.) has described the country life of the Gallic nobles, in a visit which he made to his friends, whose estates were in the neighbourhood of Nismes. The morning-hours were spent in the sphæristerium, or tennis-court; or in the library, which was furnished with Latin authors, profane and religious; the former for the men, the latter for the ladies. The table was twice served, at dinner and supper, with hot meat (boiled and roast), and wine. During the intermediate time, the company slept, took the air on horseback, and used the warm bath.

(15) Seventy lines of panegyric (505-575.) which describe the importunity of Theodoric and of Gaul, struggling to overcome the modest reluctance of Avitus, are blown away by three words of an honest historian. Romanum ambisset Imperium (Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 11. in tom. ii. p. 168.).

Theodoric,

mities, submitted with a secret murmur to the presumption of the

Gallic usurper.

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Character of Theodoric, to whom Avitus was indebted for the purple, had acking of the quired the Gothic sceptre by the murder of his elder brother TorisVisigoths, A. D. mond; and he justified this atrocious deed by the design which his 453-466. predecessor had formed of violating his alliance with the empire (16). Such a crime might not be incompatible with the virtues of a Barbarian; but the manners of Theodoric were gentle and humane; and posterity may contemplate without terror the original picture of a Gothic king, whom Sidonius had intimately observed, in the hours of peace and of social intercourse. In an epistle, dated from the court of Toulouse, the orator satisfies the curiosity of one of his friends, in the following description (17): "By "the majesty of his appearance, Theodoric would command the respect of those who are ignorant of his merit; and although he "is born a prince, his merit would dignify a private station. He "is of a midde stature, his body appears rather plump than fat, "and in his well-proportioned limbs agility is united with muscu"lar strength (18). If you examine his countenance, you will dis"tinguish a high forehead, large shaggy eyebrows, an aquiline nose, thin lips, a regular set of white teeth, and a fair complexion, that blushes more frequently from modesty than from anger. The ordinary distribution of his time, as far as it is ex"posed to the public view, may be concisely represented. Before "day-break, he repairs, with a small train, to his domestic cha"pel, where the service is performed by the Arian clergy; but "those who presume to interpret his secret sentiments, consider "this assiduous devotion as the effect of habit and policy. The "rest of the morning is employed in the administration of his "kingdom. His chair is surrounded by some military officers of "decent aspect and behaviour: the noisy crowd of his Barbarian "guards occupies the hall of audience; but they are not permitted "to stand within the veils or curtains, that conceal the council“chamber from vulgar eyes. The ambassadors of the nations are "successively introduced: Theodoric listens with attention, answers them with discreet brevity, and either announces or delays, according to the nature of their business, his final resolution. "About eight (the second hour) he rises from his throne, and vi

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(16) Isidore, archbishop of Seville, who was himself of the blood royal of the Goths, acknowledges, and almost justifies (Hist. Goth. p. 718.) the crime which their slave Jornandes had basely dissembled (c. 43. p. 673.).

(17) This elaborate description (1. i. ep. ii. p. 2-7.) was dictated by some political motive. It was designed for the public eye, and had been shewn by the friends of Sidonius, before it was inserted in the collection of h's epistles. The first book was published separately. See Tillemont, Mémoires Ecclés. tom. xvi. p. 264.

(18) I have suppressed, in this portrait of Theodoric, several minute circumstances, and technical phrases, which could be tolerable, or indeed intelligible, to those only who, like the contemporaries of Sidonius, had frequented the markets where naked slaves were exposed to sale (Dubos, Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 404.)

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"sits, either his treasury, or his stables. If he chuses to hunt, or "at least to exercise himself on horseback, his bow is carried by a "favourite youth; but when the game is marked, he bends it with "his own hand, and seldom misses the object of his aim: as a "king, he disdains to bear arms in such ignoble warfare; but as a "soldier, he would blush to accept any military service which he "could perform himself. On common days, his dinner is not dif"ferent from the repast of a private citizen; but every Saturday, many honourable guests are invited to the royal table, which, on "these occasions, is served with the elegance of Greece, the plenty "of Gaul, and the order and diligence of Italy (19). The gold or "silver plate is less remarkable for its weight, than for the bright"ness and curious workmanship: the taste is gratified without "the help of foreign and costly luxury; the size and number of the 66 cups of wine are regulated with a strict regard to the laws of "temperance; and the respectful silence that prevails, is inter"rupted only by grave and instructive conversation. After dinner, "Theodoric sometimes indulges himself in a short slumber; and "as soon as he wakes, he calls for the dice and tables, encourages "his friends to forget the royal majesty, and is delighted when "they freely express the passions, which are excited by the inci"dents of play. At this game, which he loves as the image of war, "he alternately displays his eagerness, his skill, his patience, and "his cheerful temper. If he loses, he laughs: he is modest and "silent, if he wins. Yet, notwithstanding this seeming indiffer66 ence, his courtiers choose to solicit any favour in the moments "of victory; and I myself, in my applications to the king, have "derived some benefit from my losses (20). About the ninth hour "(three o'clock) the tide of business again returns, and flows in"cessantly till after sunset, when the signal of the royal supper "dismisses the weary crowd of suppliants and pleaders. At the

supper, a more familiar repast, buffoons and pantomimes are "sometimes introduced, to divert, not to offend, the company, by "their ridiculous wit: but female singers, and the soft effeminate "modes of music, are severely banished, and such martial tunes "as animate the soul to deeds of valour are alone grateful to the ear of Theodoric. He retires from table; and the nocturnal "guards are immediately posted at the entrance of the treasury, "the palace, and the private apartments."

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When the king of the Visigoths encouraged Avitus to assume the purple, he offered his person and his forces, as a faithful soldier of

(19) Videas ibi elegantiam Græcam, abundantiam Gallicanam; celeritatem Italam; publicam pompam, privatam diligentiam, regiam disciplinam.

(20) Tunc etiam ego aliquid obsecraturus feliciter vincor, et mihi tabula perit ut causa salvetur. Sidonius of Auvergne was not a subject of Theodoric; but he might be compelled to solicit either justice or favour at the court of Toulouse.