Empire.—Part II.
Before Valentinian divided the provinces, he reformed the
administration of the empire. All ranks of subjects, who had been
injured or oppressed under the reign of Julian, were invited to
support their public accusations. The silence of mankind attested
the spotless integrity of the præfect Sallust; 29 and his own
pressing solicitations, that he might be permitted to retire from
the business of the state, were rejected by Valentinian with the
most honorable expressions of friendship and esteem. But among
the favorites of the late emperor, there were many who had abused
his credulity or superstition; and who could no longer hope to be
protected either by favor or justice. 30 The greater part of the
ministers of the palace, and the governors of the provinces, were
removed from their respective stations; yet the eminent merit of
some officers was distinguished from the obnoxious crowd; and,
notwithstanding the opposite clamors of zeal and resentment, the
whole proceedings of this delicate inquiry appear to have been
conducted with a reasonable share of wisdom and moderation. 31
The festivity of a new reign received a short and suspicious
interruption from the sudden illness of the two princes; but as
soon as their health was restored, they left Constantinople in
the beginning of the spring. In the castle, or palace, of
Mediana, only three miles from Naissus, they executed the solemn
and final division of the Roman empire. 32 Valentinian bestowed
on his brother the rich præfecture of the _East_, from the Lower
Danube to the confines of Persia; whilst he reserved for his
immediate government the warlike 3211 præfectures of _Illyricum,
Italy_, and _Gaul_, from the extremity of Greece to the
Caledonian rampart, and from the rampart of Caledonia to the foot
of Mount Atlas. The provincial administration remained on its
former basis; but a double supply of generals and magistrates was
required for two councils, and two courts: the division was made
with a just regard to their peculiar merit and situation, and
seven master-generals were soon created, either of the cavalry or
infantry. When this important business had been amicably
transacted, Valentinian and Valens embraced for the last time.
The emperor of the West established his temporary residence at
Milan; and the emperor of the East returned to Constantinople, to
assume the dominion of fifty provinces, of whose language he was
totally ignorant. 33
29 (return) [ Notwithstanding the evidence of Zonaras, Suidas,
and the Paschal Chronicle, M. de Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs,
tom. v. p. 671) _wishes_ to disbelieve those stories, si
avantageuses à un payen.]
30 (return) [ Eunapius celebrates and exaggerates the sufferings
of Maximus. (p. 82, 83;) yet he allows that the sophist or
magician, the guilty favorite of Julian, and the personal enemy
of Valentinian, was dismissed on the payment of a small fine.]
31 (return) [ The loose assertions of a general disgrace
(Zosimus, l. iv. p. 201), are detected and refuted by Tillemont,
(tom. v. p. 21.)]
32 (return) [ Ammianus, xxvi. 5.]
3211 (return) [ Ipse supra impacati Rhen semibarbaras ripas
raptim vexilla constituens * * Princeps creatus ad difficilem
militiam revertisti. Symm. Orat. 81.—M.]
33 (return) [ Ammianus says, in general terms, subagrestis
ingenii, nec bellicis nec liberalibus studiis eruditus. Ammian.
xxxi. 14. The orator Themistius, with the genuine impertinence of
a Greek, wishes for the first time to speak the Latin language,
the dialect of his sovereign. Orat. vi. p. 71.]
The tranquility of the East was soon disturbed by rebellion; and
the throne of Valens was threatened by the daring attempts of a
rival whose affinity to the emperor Julian 34 was his sole merit,
and had been his only crime. Procopius had been hastily promoted
from the obscure station of a tribune, and a notary, to the joint
command of the army of Mesopotamia; the public opinion already
named him as the successor of a prince who was destitute of
natural heirs; and a vain rumor was propagated by his friends, or
his enemies, that Julian, before the altar of the Moon at Carrhæ,
had privately invested Procopius with the Imperial purple. 35 He
endeavored, by his dutiful and submissive behavior, to disarm the
jealousy of Jovian; resigned, without a contest, his military
command; and retired, with his wife and family, to cultivate the
ample patrimony which he possessed in the province of Cappadocia.
These useful and innocent occupations were interrupted by the
appearance of an officer with a band of soldiers, who, in the
name of his new sovereigns, Valentinian and Valens, was
despatched to conduct the unfortunate Procopius either to a
perpetual prison or an ignominious death. His presence of mind
procured him a longer respite, and a more splendid fate. Without
presuming to dispute the royal mandate, he requested the
indulgence of a few moments to embrace his weeping family; and
while the vigilance of his guards was relaxed by a plentiful
entertainment, he dexterously escaped to the sea-coast of the
Euxine, from whence he passed over to the country of Bosphorus.
In that sequestered region he remained many months, exposed to
the hardships of exile, of solitude, and of want; his melancholy
temper brooding over his misfortunes, and his mind agitated by
the just apprehension, that, if any accident should discover his
name, the faithless Barbarians would violate, without much
scruple, the laws of hospitality. In a moment of impatience and
despair, Procopius embarked in a merchant vessel, which made sail
for Constantinople; and boldly aspired to the rank of a
sovereign, because he was not allowed to enjoy the security of a
subject. At first he lurked in the villages of Bithynia,
continually changing his habitation and his disguise. 36 By
degrees he ventured into the capital, trusted his life and
fortune to the fidelity of two friends, a senator and a eunuch,
and conceived some hopes of success, from the intelligence which
he obtained of the actual state of public affairs. The body of
the people was infected with a spirit of discontent: they
regretted the justice and the abilities of Sallust, who had been
imprudently dismissed from the præfecture of the East. They
despised the character of Valens, which was rude without vigor,
and feeble without mildness. They dreaded the influence of his
father-in-law, the patrician Petronius, a cruel and rapacious
minister, who rigorously exacted all the arrears of tribute that
might remain unpaid since the reign of the emperor Aurelian. The
circumstances were propitious to the designs of a usurper. The
hostile measures of the Persians required the presence of Valens
in Syria: from the Danube to the Euphrates the troops were in
motion; and the capital was occasionally filled with the soldiers
who passed or repassed the Thracian Bosphorus. Two cohorts of
Gaul were persuaded to listen to the secret proposals of the
conspirators; which were recommended by the promise of a liberal
donative; and, as they still revered the memory of Julian, they
easily consented to support the hereditary claim of his
proscribed kinsman. At the dawn of day they were drawn up near
the baths of Anastasia; and Procopius, clothed in a purple
garment, more suitable to a player than to a monarch, appeared,
as if he rose from the dead, in the midst of Constantinople. The
soldiers, who were prepared for his reception, saluted their
trembling prince with shouts of joy and vows of fidelity. Their
numbers were soon increased by a band of sturdy peasants,
collected from the adjacent country; and Procopius, shielded by
the arms of his adherents, was successively conducted to the
tribunal, the senate, and the palace. During the first moments of
his tumultuous reign, he was astonished and terrified by the
gloomy silence of the people; who were either ignorant of the
cause, or apprehensive of the event. But his military strength
was superior to any actual resistance: the malcontents flocked to
the standard of rebellion; the poor were excited by the hopes,
and the rich were intimidated by the fear, of a general pillage;
and the obstinate credulity of the multitude was once more
deceived by the promised advantages of a revolution. The
magistrates were seized; the prisons and arsenals broke open; the
gates, and the entrance of the harbor, were diligently occupied;
and, in a few hours, Procopius became the absolute, though
precarious, master of the Imperial city. 3611 The usurper
improved this unexpected success with some degree of courage and
dexterity. He artfully propagated the rumors and opinions the
most favorable to his interest; while he deluded the populace by
giving audience to the frequent, but imaginary, ambassadors of
distant nations. The large bodies of troops stationed in the
cities of Thrace and the fortresses of the Lower Danube, were
gradually involved in the guilt of rebellion: and the Gothic
princes consented to supply the sovereign of Constantinople with
the formidable strength of several thousand auxiliaries. His
generals passed the Bosphorus, and subdued, without an effort,
the unarmed, but wealthy provinces of Bithynia and Asia. After an
honorable defence, the city and island of Cyzicus yielded to his
power; the renowned legions of the Jovians and Herculeans
embraced the cause of the usurper, whom they were ordered to
crush; and, as the veterans were continually augmented with new
levies, he soon appeared at the head of an army, whose valor, as
well as numbers, were not unequal to the greatness of the
contest. The son of Hormisdas, 37 a youth of spirit and ability,
condescended to draw his sword against the lawful emperor of the
East; and the Persian prince was immediately invested with the
ancient and extraordinary powers of a Roman Proconsul. The
alliance of Faustina, the widow of the emperor Constantius, who
intrusted herself and her daughter to the hands of the usurper,
added dignity and reputation to his cause. The princess
Constantia, who was then about five years of age, accompanied, in
a litter, the march of the army. She was shown to the multitude
in the arms of her adopted father; and, as often as she passed
through the ranks, the tenderness of the soldiers was inflamed
into martial fury: 38 they recollected the glories of the house
of Constantine, and they declared, with loyal acclamation, that
they would shed the last drop of their blood in the defence of
the royal infant. 39
34 (return) [ The uncertain degree of alliance, or consanguinity,
is expressed by the words, cognatus, consobrinus, (see Valesius
ad Ammian. xxiii. 3.) The mother of Procopius might be a sister
of Basilina and Count Julian, the mother and uncle of the
Apostate. Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 49.]
35 (return) [ Ammian. xxiii. 3, xxvi. 6. He mentions the report
with much hesitation: susurravit obscurior fama; nemo enim dicti
auctor exstitit verus. It serves, however, to remark, that
Procopius was a Pagan. Yet his religion does not appear to have
promoted, or obstructed, his pretensions.]
36 (return) [ One of his retreats was a country-house of
Eunomius, the heretic. The master was absent, innocent, ignorant;
yet he narrowly escaped a sentence of death, and was banished
into the remote parts of Mauritania, (Philostorg. l. ix. c. 5, 8,
and Godefroy’s Dissert. p. 369-378.)]
3611 (return) [ It may be suspected, from a fragment of Eunapius,
that the heathen and philosophic party espoused the cause of
Procopius. Heraclius, the Cynic, a man who had been honored by a
philosophic controversy with Julian, striking the ground with his
staff, incited him to courage with the line of Homer Eunapius.
Mai, p. 207 or in Niebuhr’s edition, p. 73.—M.]
37 (return) [ Hormisdæ maturo juveni Hormisdæ regalis illius
filio, potestatem Proconsulis detulit; et civilia, more veterum,
et bella, recturo. Ammian. xxvi. 8. The Persian prince escaped
with honor and safety, and was afterwards (A. D. 380) restored to
the same extraordinary office of proconsul of Bithynia,
(Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 204) I am ignorant
whether the race of Sassan was propagated. I find (A. D. 514) a
pope Hormisdas; but he was a native of Frusino, in Italy, (Pagi
Brev. Pontific. tom. i. p. 247)]
38 (return) [ The infant rebel was afterwards the wife of the
emperor Gratian but she died young, and childless. See Ducange,
Fam. Byzantin. p. 48, 59.]
39 (return) [ Sequimini culminis summi prosapiam, was the
language of Procopius, who affected to despise the obscure birth,
and fortuitous election of the upstart Pannonian. Ammian. xxvi.
7.]
In the mean while Valentinian was alarmed and perplexed by the
doubtful intelligence of the revolt of the East. 3911 The
difficulties of a German war forced him to confine his immediate
care to the safety of his own dominions; and, as every channel of
communication was stopped or corrupted, he listened, with
doubtful anxiety, to the rumors which were industriously spread,
that the defeat and death of Valens had left Procopius sole
master of the Eastern provinces. Valens was not dead: but on the
news of the rebellion, which he received at Cæsarea, he basely
despaired of his life and fortune; proposed to negotiate with the
usurper, and discovered his secret inclination to abdicate the
Imperial purple. The timid monarch was saved from disgrace and
ruin by the firmness of his ministers, and their abilities soon
decided in his favor the event of the civil war. In a season of
tranquillity, Sallust had resigned without a murmur; but as soon
as the public safety was attacked, he ambitiously solicited the
preëminence of toil and danger; and the restoration of that
virtuous minister to the præfecture of the East, was the first
step which indicated the repentance of Valens, and satisfied the
minds of the people. The reign of Procopius was apparently
supported by powerful armies and obedient provinces. But many of
the principal officers, military as well as civil, had been
urged, either by motives of duty or interest, to withdraw
themselves from the guilty scene; or to watch the moment of
betraying, and deserting, the cause of the usurper. Lupicinus
advanced by hasty marches, to bring the legions of Syria to the
aid of Valens. Arintheus, who, in strength, beauty, and valor,
excelled all the heroes of the age, attacked with a small troop a
superior body of the rebels. When he beheld the faces of the
soldiers who had served under his banner, he commanded them, with
a loud voice, to seize and deliver up their pretended leader; and
such was the ascendant of his genius, that this extraordinary
order was instantly obeyed. 40 Arbetio, a respectable veteran of
the great Constantine, who had been distinguished by the honors
of the consulship, was persuaded to leave his retirement, and
once more to conduct an army into the field. In the heat of
action, calmly taking off his helmet, he showed his gray hairs
and venerable countenance: saluted the soldiers of Procopius by
the endearing names of children and companions, and exhorted them
no longer to support the desperate cause of a contemptible
tyrant; but to follow their old commander, who had so often led
them to honor and victory. In the two engagements of Thyatira 41
and Nacolia, the unfortunate Procopius was deserted by his
troops, who were seduced by the instructions and example of their
perfidious officers. After wandering some time among the woods
and mountains of Phyrgia, he was betrayed by his desponding
followers, conducted to the Imperial camp, and immediately
beheaded. He suffered the ordinary fate of an unsuccessful
usurper; but the acts of cruelty which were exercised by the
conqueror, under the forms of legal justice, excited the pity and
indignation of mankind. 42
3911 (return) [ Symmachus describes his embarrassment. “The
Germans are the common enemies of the state, Procopius the
private foe of the Emperor; his first care must be victory, his
second revenge.” Symm. Orat. p. 11.—M.]
40 (return) [ Et dedignatus hominem superare certamine
despicabilem, auctoritatis et celsi fiducia corporis ipsis
hostibus jussit, suum vincire rectorem: atque ita turmarum,
antesignanus umbratilis comprensus suorum manibus. The strength
and beauty of Arintheus, the new Hercules, are celebrated by St.
Basil, who supposed that God had created him as an inimitable
model of the human species. The painters and sculptors could not
express his figure: the historians appeared fabulous when they
related his exploits, (Ammian. xxvi. and Vales. ad loc.)]
41 (return) [ The same field of battle is placed by Ammianus in
Lycia, and by Zosimus at Thyatira, which are at the distance of
150 miles from each other. But Thyatira alluitur _Lyco_, (Plin.
Hist. Natur. v. 31, Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. p. 79;)
and the transcribers might easily convert an obscure river into a
well-known province. * Note: Ammianus and Zosimus place the last
battle at Nacolia in _Phrygia;_ Ammianus altogether omits the
former battle near Thyatira. Procopius was on his march (iter
tendebat) towards Lycia. See Wagner’s note, in c.—M.]
42 (return) [ The adventures, usurpation, and fall of Procopius,
are related, in a regular series, by Ammianus, (xxvi. 6, 7, 8, 9,
10,) and Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 203-210.) They often illustrate, and
seldom contradict, each other. Themistius (Orat. vii. p. 91, 92)
adds some base panegyric; and Euna pius (p. 83, 84) some
malicious satire. ——Symmachus joins with Themistius in praising
the clemency of Valens dic victoriæ moderatus est, quasi contra
se nemo pugnavit. Symm. Orat. p. 12.—M.]
Such indeed are the common and natural fruits of despotism and
rebellion. But the inquisition into the crime of magic, 4211
which, under the reign of the two brothers, was so rigorously
prosecuted both at Rome and Antioch, was interpreted as the fatal
symptom, either of the displeasure of Heaven, or of the depravity
of mankind. 43 Let us not hesitate to indulge a liberal pride,
that, in the present age, the enlightened part of Europe has
abolished 44 a cruel and odious prejudice, which reigned in every
climate of the globe, and adhered to every system of religious
opinions. 45 The nations, and the sects, of the Roman world,
admitted with equal credulity, and similar abhorrence, the
reality of that infernal art, 46 which was able to control the
eternal order of the planets, and the voluntary operations of the
human mind. They dreaded the mysterious power of spells and
incantations, of potent herbs, and execrable rites; which could
extinguish or recall life, inflame the passions of the soul,
blast the works of creation, and extort from the reluctant dæmons
the secrets of futurity. They believed, with the wildest
inconsistency, that this preternatural dominion of the air, of
earth, and of hell, was exercised, from the vilest motives of
malice or gain, by some wrinkled hags and itinerant sorcerers,
who passed their obscure lives in penury and contempt. 47 The
arts of magic were equally condemned by the public opinion, and
by the laws of Rome; but as they tended to gratify the most
imperious passions of the heart of man, they were continually
proscribed, and continually practised. 48 An imaginary cause was
capable of producing the most serious and mischievous effects.
The dark predictions of the death of an emperor, or the success
of a conspiracy, were calculated only to stimulate the hopes of
ambition, and to dissolve the ties of fidelity; and the
intentional guilt of magic was aggravated by the actual crimes of
treason and sacrilege. 49 Such vain terrors disturbed the peace
of society, and the happiness of individuals; and the harmless
flame which insensibly melted a waxen image, might derive a
powerful and pernicious energy from the affrighted fancy of the
person whom it was maliciously designed to represent. 50 From the
infusion of those herbs, which were supposed to possess a
supernatural influence, it was an easy step to the use of more
substantial poison; and the folly of mankind sometimes became the
instrument, and the mask, of the most atrocious crimes. As soon
as the zeal of informers was encouraged by the ministers of
Valens and Valentinian, they could not refuse to listen to
another charge, too frequently mingled in the scenes of domestic
guilt; a charge of a softer and less malignant nature, for which
the pious, though excessive, rigor of Constantine had recently
decreed the punishment of death. 51 This deadly and incoherent
mixture of treason and magic, of poison and adultery, afforded
infinite gradations of guilt and innocence, of excuse and
aggravation, which in these proceedings appear to have been
confounded by the angry or corrupt passions of the judges. They
easily discovered that the degree of their industry and
discernment was estimated, by the Imperial court, according to
the number of executions that were furnished from the respective
tribunals. It was not without extreme reluctance that they
pronounced a sentence of acquittal; but they eagerly admitted
such evidence as was stained with perjury, or procured by
torture, to prove the most improbable charges against the most
respectable characters. The progress of the inquiry continually
opened new subjects of criminal prosecution; the audacious
informer, whose falsehood was detected, retired with impunity;
but the wretched victim, who discovered his real or pretended
accomplices, were seldom permitted to receive the price of his
infamy. From the extremity of Italy and Asia, the young, and the
aged, were dragged in chains to the tribunals of Rome and
Antioch. Senators, matrons, and philosophers, expired in
ignominious and cruel tortures. The soldiers, who were appointed
to guard the prisons, declared, with a murmur of pity and
indignation, that their numbers were insufficient to oppose the
flight, or resistance, of the multitude of captives. The
wealthiest families were ruined by fines and confiscations; the
most innocent citizens trembled for their safety; and we may form
some notion of the magnitude of the evil, from the extravagant
assertion of an ancient writer, that, in the obnoxious provinces,
the prisoners, the exiles, and the fugitives, formed the greatest
part of the inhabitants. 52
4211 (return) [ This infamous inquisition into sorcery and
witchcraft has been of greater influence on human affairs than is
commonly supposed. The persecutions against philosophers and
their libraries was carried on with so much fury, that from this
time (A. D. 374) the names of the Gentile philosophers became
almost extinct; and the Christian philosophy and religion,
particularly in the East, established their ascendency. I am
surprised that Gibbon has not made this observation. Heyne, Note
on Zosimus, l. iv. 14, p. 637. Besides vast heaps of manuscripts
publicly destroyed throughout the East, men of letters burned
their whole libraries, lest some fatal volume should expose them
to the malice of the informers and the extreme penalty of the
law. Amm. Marc. xxix. 11.—M.]
43 (return) [ Libanius de ulciscend. Julian. nece, c. ix. p. 158,
159. The sophist deplores the public frenzy, but he does not
(after their deaths) impeach the justice of the emperors.]
44 (return) [ The French and English lawyers, of the present age,
allow the _theory_, and deny the _practice_, of witchcraft,
(Denisart, Recueil de Decisions de Jurisprudence, au mot
_Sorciers_, tom. iv. p. 553. Blackstone’s Commentaries, vol. iv.
p. 60.) As private reason always prevents, or outstrips, public
wisdom, the president Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xii. c. 5,
6) rejects the _existence_ of magic.]
45 (return) [ See Œuvres de Bayle, tom. iii. p. 567-589. The
sceptic of Rotterdam exhibits, according to his custom, a strange
medley of loose knowledge and lively wit.]
46 (return) [ The Pagans distinguished between good and bad
magic, the Theurgic and the Goetic, (Hist. de l’Académie, &c.,
tom. vii. p. 25.) But they could not have defended this obscure
distinction against the acute logic of Bayle. In the Jewish and
Christian system, _all_ dæmons are infernal spirits; and _all_
commerce with them is idolatry, apostasy &c., which deserves
death and damnation.]
47 (return) [ The Canidia of Horace (Carm. l. v. Od. 5, with
Dacier’s and Sanadon’s illustrations) is a vulgar witch. The
Erictho of Lucan (Pharsal. vi. 430-830) is tedious, disgusting,
but sometimes sublime. She chides the delay of the Furies, and
threatens, with tremendous obscurity, to pronounce their real
names; to reveal the true infernal countenance of Hecate; to
invoke the secret powers that lie below hell, &c.]
48 (return) [ Genus hominum potentibus infidum, sperantibus
fallax, quod in civitate nostrâ et vetabitur semper et
retinebitur. Tacit. Hist. i. 22. See Augustin. de Civitate Dei,
l. viii. c. 19, and the Theodosian Code l. ix. tit. xvi., with
Godefroy’s Commentary.]
49 (return) [ The persecution of Antioch was occasioned by a
criminal consultation. The twenty-four letters of the alphabet
were arranged round a magic tripod: and a dancing ring, which had
been placed in the centre, pointed to the four first letters in
the name of the future emperor, O. E. O Triangle. Theodorus
(perhaps with many others, who owned the fatal syllables) was
executed. Theodosius succeeded. Lardner (Heathen Testimonies,
vol. iv. p. 353-372) has copiously and fairly examined this dark
transaction of the reign of Valens.]
50 (return) [
Limus ut hic durescit, et hæc ut cera liquescit Uno eodemque
igni—Virgil. Bucolic. viii. 80.
Devovet absentes, simulacraque cerea figit. —Ovid. in Epist. Hypsil.
ad Jason 91.
Such vain incantations could affect the mind, and increase the
disease of Germanicus. Tacit. Annal. ii. 69.]
51 (return) [ See Heineccius, Antiquitat. Juris Roman. tom. ii.
p. 353, &c. Cod. Theodosian. l. ix. tit. 7, with Godefroy’s
Commentary.]
52 (return) [ The cruel persecution of Rome and Antioch is
described, and most probably exaggerated, by Ammianus (xxvii. 1.
xxix. 1, 2) and Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 216-218.) The philosopher
Maximus, with some justice, was involved in the charge of magic,
(Eunapius in Vit. Sophist. p. 88, 89;) and young Chrysostom, who
had accidentally found one of the proscribed books, gave himself
up for lost, (Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 340.)]
When Tacitus describes the deaths of the innocent and illustrious
Romans, who were sacrificed to the cruelty of the first Cæsars,
the art of the historian, or the merit of the sufferers, excites
in our breast the most lively sensations of terror, of
admiration, and of pity. The coarse and undistinguishing pencil
of Ammianus has delineated his bloody figures with tedious and
disgusting accuracy. But as our attention is no longer engaged by
the contrast of freedom and servitude, of recent greatness and of
actual misery, we should turn with horror from the frequent
executions, which disgraced, both at Rome and Antioch, the reign
of the two brothers. 53 Valens was of a timid, 54 and Valentinian
of a choleric, disposition. 55 An anxious regard to his personal
safety was the ruling principle of the administration of Valens.
In the condition of a subject, he had kissed, with trembling awe,
the hand of the oppressor; and when he ascended the throne, he
reasonably expected, that the same fears, which had subdued his
own mind, would secure the patient submission of his people. The
favorites of Valens obtained, by the privilege of rapine and
confiscation, the wealth which his economy would have refused. 56
They urged, with persuasive eloquence, _that_, in all cases of
treason, suspicion is equivalent to proof; _that_ the power
supposes the intention, of mischief; _that_ the intention is not
less criminal than the act; and _that_ a subject no longer
deserves to live, if his life may threaten the safety, or disturb
the repose, of his sovereign. The judgment of Valentinian was
sometimes deceived, and his confidence abused; but he would have
silenced the informers with a contemptuous smile, had they
presumed to alarm his fortitude by the sound of danger. They
praised his inflexible love of justice; and, in the pursuit of
justice, the emperor was easily tempted to consider clemency as a
weakness, and passion as a virtue. As long as he wrestled with
his equals, in the bold competition of an active and ambitious
life, Valentinian was seldom injured, and never insulted, with
impunity: if his prudence was arraigned, his spirit was
applauded; and the proudest and most powerful generals were
apprehensive of provoking the resentment of a fearless soldier.
After he became master of the world, he unfortunately forgot,
that where no resistance can be made, no courage can be exerted;
and instead of consulting the dictates of reason and magnanimity,
he indulged the furious emotions of his temper, at a time when
they were disgraceful to himself, and fatal to the defenceless
objects of his displeasure. In the government of his household,
or of his empire, slight, or even imaginary, offences—a hasty
word, a casual omission, an involuntary delay—were chastised by a
sentence of immediate death. The expressions which issued the
most readily from the mouth of the emperor of the West were,
“Strike off his head;” “Burn him alive;” “Let him be beaten with
clubs till he expires;” 57 and his most favored ministers soon
understood, that, by a rash attempt to dispute, or suspend, the
execution of his sanguinary commands, they might involve
themselves in the guilt and punishment of disobedience. The
repeated gratification of this savage justice hardened the mind
of Valentinian against pity and remorse; and the sallies of
passion were confirmed by the habits of cruelty. 58 He could
behold with calm satisfaction the convulsive agonies of torture
and death; he reserved his friendship for those faithful servants
whose temper was the most congenial to his own. The merit of
Maximin, who had slaughtered the noblest families of Rome, was
rewarded with the royal approbation, and the præfecture of Gaul.
Two fierce and enormous bears, distinguished by the appellations
of _Innocence_, and _Mica Aurea_, could alone deserve to share
the favor of Maximin. The cages of those trusty guards were
always placed near the bed-chamber of Valentinian, who frequently
amused his eyes with the grateful spectacle of seeing them tear
and devour the bleeding limbs of the malefactors who were
abandoned to their rage. Their diet and exercises were carefully
inspected by the Roman emperor; and when _Innocence_ had earned
her discharge, by a long course of meritorious service, the
faithful animal was again restored to the freedom of her native
woods. 59
53 (return) [ Consult the six last books of Ammianus, and more
particularly the portraits of the two royal brothers, (xxx. 8, 9,
xxxi. 14.) Tillemont has collected (tom. v. p. 12-18, p. 127-133)
from all antiquity their virtues and vices.]
54 (return) [ The younger Victor asserts, that he was valde
timidus: yet he behaved, as almost every man would do, with
decent resolution at the _head_ of an army. The same historian
attempts to prove that his anger was harmless. Ammianus observes,
with more candor and judgment, incidentia crimina ad contemptam
vel læsam principis amplitudinem trahens, in sanguinem sæviebat.]
55 (return) [ Cum esset ad acerbitatem naturæ calore propensior.
.. pœnas perignes augebat et gladios. Ammian. xxx. 8. See xxvii.
7]
56 (return) [ I have transferred the reproach of avarice from
Valens to his servant. Avarice more properly belongs to ministers
than to kings; in whom that passion is commonly extinguished by
absolute possession.]
57 (return) [ He sometimes expressed a sentence of death with a
tone of pleasantry: “Abi, Comes, et muta ei caput, qui sibi
mutari provinciam cupit.” A boy, who had slipped too hastily a
Spartan bound; an armorer, who had made a polished cuirass that
wanted some grains of the legitimate weight, &c., were the
victims of his fury.]
58 (return) [ The innocents of Milan were an agent and three
apparitors, whom Valentinian condemned for signifying a legal
summons. Ammianus (xxvii. 7) strangely supposes, that all who had
been unjustly executed were worshipped as martyrs by the
Christians. His impartial silence does not allow us to believe,
that the great chamberlain Rhodanus was burnt alive for an act of
oppression, (Chron. Paschal. p. 392.) * Note: Ammianus does not
say that they were worshipped as _martyrs_. Quorum memoriam apud
Mediolanum colentes nunc usque Christiani loculos ubi sepulti
sunt, _ad innocentes_ appellant. Wagner’s note in loco. Yet if
the next paragraph refers to that transaction, which is not quite
clear. Gibbon is right.—M.]
59 (return) [ Ut bene meritam in sylvas jussit abire _Innoxiam_.
Ammian. xxix. and Valesius ad locum.]