Avitus, and esteemed Majorian, was persuaded, by his friends, to celebrate, in heroic verse, the merit, the felicity, the second consulship, and the future triumphs, of the emperor Anthemius. Sidonius pronounced, with assurance and success, a panegyric which is still extant; and whatever might be the imperfections, either of the subject or of the composition, the welcome flatterer was immediately rewarded with the prefecture of Rome; a dignity which placed him among the most illustrious personages of the empire, till he wisely preferred the more respectable character of a bishop and a saint.f

The festi

The Greeks ambitiously commend the piety val of the and Catholic faith of the emperor whom they Lupercalia. gave to the west; nor do they forget to observe, that when he left Constantinople, he converted his palace into the pious foundation of a public bath, a church, and a hospital for old men. Yet some suspicious appearances are found to sully the theological fame of Anthemius. From the conversation of Philotheus, a Macedonian sectary, he had imbibed the spirit of religious toleration; and the heretics of Rome would have assembled with impunity, if the bold and vehement censure which pope Hilary pronounced in the church of St. Peter, had not obliged him to abjure the unpopular indulgence." Even the Pagans, a feeble and obscure remnant, conceived some vain hopes from the indifference, or partiality, of Anthemius; and his singular friendship for the philosopher Severus, whom

Sidonius (lib. 1. epist. 9. p. 23, 24.) very fairly states his motive, his labour, and his reward. "Hic ipse Panegyricus, si non judicium, certe eventum, boni operis accepit." He was made bishop of Clermont, A. D. 471. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. 16. p. 750.

The palace of Anthemius stood on the banks of the Propontis. In the ninth century, Alexius, the son-in-law of the emperor Theophilus, obtained permission to purchase the ground, and ended his days in a monastery which he founded on that delightful spot. Ducange, Constantinopolis Christiana, p. 117. 152.

h Papa Hilaris... apud beatum Petrum Apostolum, palam ne id fieret clara voce constrinxit, in tantum ut non ea facienda cum interpositione juramenti idem promitteret Imperator. Gelasius Epistol. ad Adronicum, apud Baron. A. D. 467. no. 3. The cardinal observes, with some complacency, that it was much easier to plant heresies at Constantinople than at Rome.

k

he promoted to the consulship, was ascribed to a secret project of reviving the ancient worship of the gods. These idols were crumbled into dust: and the mythology which had once been the creed of nations, was so universally disbelieved, that it might be employed without scandal, or at least without suspicion, by Christian poets. Yet the vestiges of superstition were not absolutely obliterated, and the festival of the Lupercalia, whose origin had preceded the foundation of Rome, was still celebrated under the reign of Anthemius. The savage and simple rites were expressive of an early state of society before the invention of arts and agriculture. The rustic deities, who presided over the toils and pleasures of the pastoral life, Pan, Faunus, and their train of satyrs, were such as the fancy of shepherds might create, sportive, petulant, and lascivious; whose power was limited, and whose malice was inoffensive. A goat was the offering the best adapted to their character and attributes; the flesh of the victim was roasted on willow spits; and the riotous youths, who crowded to the feast, ran naked about the fields. with leather thongs in their hands, communicating, as it was supposed, the blessing of fecundity to the women they touched.' The altar of Pan was erected, perhaps by Evander the Arcadian, in a dark recess in the side of the Palatine hill, watered by a perpetual fountain, and shaded by a hanging grove. A tradition, that, in the same place, Romulus and Remus were suckled by the wolf, rendered it still more sacred and venerable in the eyes of the Romans; and this sylvan spot was gra

' Damascius, in the life of the philosopher Isidore, apud Photium, p. 1049. Damascius, who lived under Justinian, composed another work, consisting of five hundred preternatural stories of souls, demons, apparitions, the dotage of Platonic Paganism.

In the poetical works of Sidonius, which he afterward condemned, (lib. 9. epist. 16. p. 285.) the fabulous deities are the principal actors. If Jerome was Scourged by the angels for only reading Virgil, the bishop of Clermont, for such a vile imitation, deserved an additional whipping from the Muses.

1 Ovid (Fast. lib. 2. 267--452.) has given an amusing description of the follies of antiquity, which still inspired so much respect, that a grave magistrate, running naked through the streets, was not an object of astonishment or laughter.

dually surrounded by the stately edifices of the Forum.” After the conversion of the imperial city, the Christians still continued, in the month of February, the annual celebration of the Lupercalia; to which they ascribed a secret and mysterious influence on the genial powers of the animal and vegetable world. The bishops of Rome were solicitous to abolish a profane custom, so repugnant to the spirit of Christianity; but their zeal was not supported by the authority of the civil magistrate the inveterate abuse subsisted till the end of the

fifth century, and pope Gelasius, who purified the Capitol from the last stain of idolatry, appeased, by a formal apology, the murmurs of the senate and people."

Prepa

In all his public declarations, the emperor rations Leo assumes the authority, and professes the Vandals of affection, of a father, for his son Anthemius, Africa, with whom he had divided the administration

against the

A. D. 468. of the universe. The situation, and perhaps the character, of Leo, dissuaded him from exposing his person to the toils and dangers of an African war. But the powers of the eastern empire were strenuously exerted to deliver Italy and the Mediterranean from the Vandals; and Genseric, who had so long oppressed both the land and sea, was threatened from every side with a formidable invasion. The campaign was opened by a bold and successful enterprise of the prefect Heraclius. The troops of Egypt, Thebais, and Libya,

m See Dionys. Halicarn. lib. 1. p. 25. 65. edit. Hudson. The Roman Antiquaries, Donatus (lib. 2. c. 18. p. 173, 174.) and Nardini, (p. 386, 387.) have laboured to ascertain the true situation of the Lupercal.

n Baronius published, from the MSS. of the Vatican, this epistle of pope Gelasius, (A.D. 496. no. 28-45.) which is entitled Adversus Andromachum Senatorem, cæterosque Romanos, qui Lupercalia secundum morem pristinum colenda constituebant. Galasius always supposes that his adversaries are nominal Christians; and, that he may not yield to them in absurd prejudice, he imputes to this harmless festival all the calamities of the age.

• Itaque nos quibus totius mundi regimen commisit superna provisio..... Pius et triumphator semper Augustus filius noster Anthemius, licet Divina Majestas et nostra creatio pietati ejus plenam Imperii commiserit potestatem, &c. . . . . Such is the dignified style of Leo, whom Anthemius respectfully names. Dominus et Pater meus Princeps sacratissimus Leo. See Novell. Anthem. tit. 2, 3. p. 38. ad calcem. Cod. Theod.

P The expedition of Heraclius is clouded with difficulties, (Tillemont, Hist. des

were embarked under his command; and the Arabs, with a train of horses and camels, opened the roads of the desert. Heraclius landed on the coast of Tripoli, surprised and subdued the cities of that province, and prepared, by a laborious march, which Cato had formerly executed," to join the imperial army under the walls of Carthage. The intelligence of this loss extorted from Genseric some insidious and ineffectual propositions of peace; but he was still more seriously alarmed by the reconciliation of Marcellinus with the two empires. The independent patrician had been persuaded to acknowledge the legitimate title of Anthemius, whom he accompanied in his journey to Rome; the Dalmatian fleet was received into the harbours of Italy; the active valour of Marcellinus expelled the Vandals from the island of Sardinia; and the languid efforts of the west added some weight to the immense preparations of the eastern Romans. The expense of the naval armament, which Leo sent against the Vandals, has been distinctly ascertained; and the curious and instructive account displays the wealth of the declining empire. The royal demesnes, or private patrimony, of the prince, supplied seventeen thousand pounds of gold; forty-seven thousand pounds of gold, and seven hundred thousand of silver, were levied and paid into the treasury by the prætorian prefects. But the cities were reduced to extreme poverty; and the diligent calculation of fines and forfeitures, as a valuable object of the revenue, does not suggest the idea of a just, or merciful administration.

The whole expense, by whatsoever means it was deEmpereurs, tom. 6. p. 640.) and it requires some dexterity to use the circumstances afforded by Theophanes, without injury to the more respectable evidence of Procopius.

4 The march of Cato from Berenice, in the province of Cyrene, was much longer than that of Heraclius from Tripoli. He passed the deep sandy desert in thirty days, and it was found necessary to provide, besides the ordinary supplies, a great number of skins filled with water, and several Psylli, who were supposed to possess the art of sucking the wounds which had been made by the serpents of their native country. See Plutarch in Caton. Uticens. tom. 4. p. 275. Strabon. Geograph. lib. 17. p. 1193.

r

frayed, of the African campaign, amounted to the sum of one hundred and thirty thousand pounds of gold, above five millions two hundred thousand pounds sterling, at a time when the value of money appears, from the comparative price of corn, to have been somewhat higher than in the present age. The fleet that sailed from Constantinople to Carthage, consisted of eleven hundred and thirteen ships, and the number of soldiers and mariners exceeded one hundred thousand men. Basiliscus, the brother of the empress Vorina, was intrusted with this important command. His sister, the wife of Leo, had exaggerated the merit of his former exploits against the Scythians. But the discovery of his guilt, or incapacity, was reserved for the African war; and his friends could only save his military reputation, by asserting, that he had conspired with Aspar to spare Genseric, and to betray the last hope of the western empire.

Failure of

Experience has shewn, that the success of an the expe- invader most commonly depends on the vigour dition. and celerity of his operations. The strength and sharpness of the first impression are blunted by delay; the health and spirit of the troops insensibly languish in a distant climate; the naval and military force, a mighty effort which perhaps can never be repeated, is silently consumed; and every hour that is wasted in negotiation, accustoms the enemy to contemplate and examine those hostile terrors, which, on their first appearance, he deemed irresistible. The formidable navy of Basiliscus pursued its prosperous navigation from the Thracian Bosphorus to the coast of Africa. He landed his troops at Cape Bona, or the promontory of Mercury, about forty miles from Car

The principal sum is clearly expressed by Procopius; (de Bell. Vandal. lib. 1. c. 6. p. 191.) the smaller constituent parts, which Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. 6. p. 396,) has laboriously collected from the Byzantine writers, are less certain, and less important. The historian Malchus laments the public misery; (Excerpt. ex Suida in Corp. Hist. Byzant. p. 58.) but he is surely unjust when he charges Leo with hoarding the treasures which he extorted from the people.