forces still continued to attend his motions; and Stilicho who maintained a secret correspondence with some of the barbarian chiefs, was punctually apprized of the designs that were formed in the camp and council of Alaric. The king of the Goths, ambitious to signalize his retreat by some splendid achievement, had resolved to occupy the important city of Verona, which commands the principal passage of the Rhætian Alps; and, directing his march through the territories of those German tribes, whose alliance would restore his exhausted strength to invade, on the side of the Rhine, the wealthy and unsuspecting provinces of Gaul. Ignorant of the treason which had already betrayed his bold and judicious enterprise, he advanced towards the passes of the mountains, already possessed by the imperial troops; where he was exposed, almost at the same instant, to a general attack in the front, on his flanks, and in the rear. In this bloody action, at a small distance from the walls of Verona, the loss of the Goths was not less heavy than that which they had sustained in the defeat of Pollentia; and their valiant king, who escaped by the swiftness of his horse, must either have been slain or made prisoner, if the hasty rashness of the Alani had not disappointed the measures of the Roman general. Alaric secured the remains of his army on the adjacent rocks; and prepared himself, with undaunted resolution, to maintain a siege against the superior numbers of the enemy, who invested him on all sides. But he could not oppose the destructive progress of hunger and dis-. ease; nor was it possible for him to check the continual desertion of his impatient and capricious barbarians. In this extremity, he still found resources in his own courage, or in the moderation of his adversary; and the retreat of the Gothic king was considered as the deliverance of Italy. Yet the people, and even the clergy,

The Getic war and the sixth consulship of Honorius, obscurely connect the events of Alaric's retreat and losses.

incapable of forming any rational judgment of the business of peace and war, presumed to arraign the policy of Stilicho, who so often vanquished, so often surrounded, and so often dismissed, the implacable enemy of the republic. The first moment of the public safety is devoted to gratitude and joy; but the second is diligently occupied by envy and calumny.f

The tri

Honorius

The citizens of Rome had been astonished by umph of the approach of Alaric; and the diligence with at Rome. which they laboured to restore the walls of the A. B. 404. capital, confessed their own fears, and the decline of the empire. After the retreat of the barbarians, Honorius was directed to acceptthe dutiful invitation of the senate, and to celebrate, in the imperial city, the auspicious era of the Gothic victory, and of his sixth consulship. The suburbs and the streets, from the Milvian bridge to the Palatine mount, were filled by the Roman people, who, in the space of a hundred years, had only thrice been honoured with the presence of their sovereigns. While their eyes were fixed on the chariot where Stilicho was deservedly seated by the side of his royal pupil, they applauded the pomp of a triumph, which was not stained, like that of Constantine, or of Theodosius, with civil blood. The procession passed under a lofty arch, which had been purposely erected; but in less than seven years, the Gothic conquerors of Rome might read, if they were able to read, the superb inscription of that monument, which attested the total defeat and destruction of their nation. The emperor resided several months in the capital, and every part of his behaviour was regulated with care to conciliate the affection of the clergy, the senate, and the people of

Taceo de Alarico. . . sæpe victo, sæpe concluso, semperque dimisso. Orosius, lib. 7. c. 37. p. 567. Claudian (6. Cons. Hon. 320.) drops the curtain with a fine image.

The remainder of Claudian's poem on the sixth consulship of Honorius describes the journey, the triumph, and the games. (330-660.)

See the inscription in Mascow's History of the Ancient Germans, 8. 12. The words are positive and indiscreet, Getarum nationem in omne ævum domitam, &c.

Rome. The clergy were edified by his frequent visits, and liberal gifts, to the shrines of the apostles. The senate, who, in the triumphal procession, had been excused from the humiliating ceremony of preceding on foot the imperial chariot, was treated with the decent reverence which Stilicho always affected for that assembly. The people were repeatedly gratified by the attention and courtesy of Honorius in the public games, which were celebrated on that occasion with a magnificence not unworthy of the spectator. As soon as the appointed number of chariot-races was concluded, the decoration of the circus was suddenly changed; the hunting of wild beasts afforded a various and splendid entertainment; and the chase was succeeded by a military dance, which seems in the lively description of Claudian, to present the image of a modern tour

nament.

diators

In these games of Honorius, the inhuman The gla- combats of gladiators' polluted, for the last time, abolished. the amphitheatre of Rome. The first Christian emperor may claim the honour of the first edict, which condemned the art and amusement of shedding human blood; but this benevolent law expressed the wishes of the prince, without reforming an inveterate abuse, which degraded a civilized nation below the condition of savage cannibals. Several hundred, perhaps several thousand, victims were annually slaughtered in the great cities of the empire; and the month of December, more particularly devoted to the combats of gladiators, still exhibited, to the eyes of the Roman people, a grateful spectacle of blood and cruelty. Amidst the general joy of the victory of Pollentia, a Christian poet exhorted the emperor to extirpate, by his authority, the

On the curious, though horrid, subject of the gladiators, consult the two books of the Saturnalia of Lipsius, who, as an antiquarian, is inclined to excuse the practice of antiquity. (tom. 3.p. 483-545.)

* Cod. Theodos. lib. 15. tit. 12. leg. 1. The commentary of Godefroy affords large materials (tom. 5. p. 396.) for the history of gladiators.

horrid custom which had so long resisted the voice of humanity and religion.' The pathetic representations, of Prudentius were less effectual than the generous boldness of Telemachus, an Asiatic monk, whose death was more useful to mankind than his life." The Romans were provoked by the interruption of their pleasures; and the rash monk, who had descended into the arena, to separate the gladiators, was overwhelmed under a shower of stones. But the madness of the people soon subsided; they respected the memory of Telemachus, who had deserved the honours of martyrdom; and they submitted, without a murmur, to the laws of Honorius, which abolished for ever the human sacrifices of the amphitheatre. The citizens, who adhered to the manners of their ancestors, might perhaps insinuate, that the last remains of a martial spirit were preserved in this school of fortitude, which accustomed the Romans to the sight of blood, and to the contempt of death: a vain and cruel prejudice, so nobly confuted by the valour of ancient Greece, and of modern Europe." Honorius The recent danger to which the person of the fixes his re- emperor had been exposed in the defenceless Ravenna. palace of Milan, urged him to seek a retreat in some inaccessible fortress of Italy, where he might securely remain, while the open country was covered by a deluge of barbarians. On the coast of the Hadriatic, about ten or twelve miles from the most southern of the seven mouths of the Po, the Thessalians had founded the ancient colony of RAVENNA," which they

sidence at

A. D. 404.

See the peroration of Prudentius, (in Symmach. lib. 2. 1121-1131.) who had doubtless read the eloquent invective of Lactantius. (Divin. Institut. lib. 6. c. 20.) The Christian apologists have not spared these bloody games which were introduced in the religious festivals of Paganism.

m Theodoret, lib. 5. c. 26. I wish to believe the story of St. Telemachus. Yet no church has been dedicated, no altar has been erected, to the only monk who died a martyr in the cause of humanity.

Crudele gladiatorum spectaculum et inhumanum nonnullis videri solet, et haud scio an ita sit, ut nunc fit. Cicero Tusculan. 2. 17. He faintly censures the abuse, and warmly defends the use, of these sports; oculis nulla poterat esse fortior contra dolorem et mortem disciplina. Seneca (epist. 7.) shews the feelings of a man.

• This account of Ravenna is drawn from Strabo, (lib. 5. p. 327.) Pliny, (3.20.) Stephen of Byzantium, (sub voce Paßewa, p. 651. edit. Berkel.) Claudian, (in 6.

afterward resigned to the natives of Umbria. Augustus, who had observed the opportunity of the place, prepared, at the distance of three miles from the old town, a capacious harbour, for the reception of two hundred and fifty ships of war. This naval establishment, which included the arsenals, and magazines, the barracks of the troops, and the houses of the artificers, derived its origin and name from the permanent station of the Roman fleet; the intermediate space was soon filled with buildings and inhabitants, and three extensive and populous quarters of Ravenna gradually contributed to form one of the most important cities of Italy. The principal canal of Augustus poured a copious stream of the waters of the Po through the midst of the city, to the entrance of the harbour; the same waters were introduced into the profound ditches that encompassed the walls; they were distributed by a thousand subordinate canals, into every part of the city, which they divided into a variety of small islands; the communication was maintained only by the use of boats and bridges; and the houses of Ravenna, whose appearance may be compared to that of Venice, were raised on the foundation of wooden piles. The adjacent country, to the distance of many miles, was a deep and impassable morass; and the artificial causeway, which connected Ravenna with the continent, might be easily guarded, or destroyed, on the approach of a hostile army. These morasses were interspersed, however, with vineyards; and though the soil was exhausted by four or five crops, the town enjoyed a more plentiful supply of wine than of fresh water. The air, instead of receiving the sickly, and almost pestilential,

Cons. Honor. 494, &c.) Sidonius Appollinaris, (lib. 1. epist. 5. 8.) Jornandes, (de Reb. Get. c. 29.) Procopius, (de Bell. Gothic. lib. 1. c. 1. p. 309. edit. Louvre.) and Cluverius. (Ital. Antiq. tom. 1. p. 301-307.) Yet I still want a local antiquarian, and a good topographical map.

P Martial (epigram 3. 56, 57.) plays on the trick of the knave, who had sold him wine instead of water; but he seriously declares that a cistern at Ravenna is more valuable than a vineyard. Sidonius complains that the town is destitute of fountains and aqueducts; and ranks the want of fresh water among the local evils, such as the croaking of frogs, the stinging of gnats, &c.