Read the _History_ of count Zosimus,[550] ex-advocate of the fisc,
in six books. Being an impious heathen, he frequently yelps at
those of the true faith. His style is concise, clear, and pure, and
not devoid of charm. He begins his history almost from the time of
Augustus, and glances rapidly at the emperors down to Diocletian,
merely mentioning their proclamation and the order of succession.
From Diocletian he treats at greater length of his successors in
five books. The first book contains the emperors from Augustus to
Diocletian and the sixth book ends at the time when Alaric, who was
besieging Rome for the second time, when the citizens were reduced to
desperate straits, raised the siege and proclaimed Attalus emperor.
Soon afterwards he deposed him because of his incapacity, and sent
an embassy to Honorius, who was then at Ravenna, with proposals for
peace. But Sarus, himself a Goth and an enemy of Alaric, with about
300 men attached himself to Honorius, and, promising to do his utmost
to assist him against Alaric, succeeded in making the negotiations
unsuccessful. Here the sixth book ends.
It may be said that Zosimus did not himself write the history, but
that he copied that of Eunapius,[551] from which it only differs in
brevity and in being less abusive of Stilicho. In other respects
his account is much the same, especially in the attacks upon the
Christian emperors. I think that both these authors brought out new
editions, although I have not seen the first edition, but it may be
conjectured from the title of the “new edition,” which I have read,
that, like Eunapius, he published a second edition. He is clearer
and more concise, as we have said, than Eunapius, and rarely employs
figures of speech.