The Western Empire. 
305 
The Western Empire. R O 
•great change to the introduction of the Christian religion. 
If the new faith was the cause of the dissensions between the 
subjects of the empire, it was also a weapon which seduced 
from each the pagan barbarians. If Rome was divided by 
Arians and orthodox believers, the taint of heresy spread also 
among the Goths and Vandals. Civilization enabled Rome 
to make a long stand against the brute force of savages, but 
the cause ot her destruction was developed eighteen centuries 
before that period. When Augustus deprived his country of 
her constitution, and left to the army, always the most igno¬ 
rant and intemperate of mankind, the supreme government, 
he effectually secured the triumph of the Goth and the Hun. 
IV. —The Western Empire. 
Honorius, the ruler of the western division of the Roman 
empire, being, at the death of Theodosius, a minor, his 
tutelage, and the military command of his empire was com¬ 
mitted to Stilicho, a general of consummate valour and pru¬ 
dence, who had long contributed to exalt the glory of Theo¬ 
dosius, and who maintained, during great part of the reign of 
his successor, the superiority of the Roman arms. The name 
and exploits of Stilicho, live in the pages of Claudian, and 
of all the heroes of Roman history, there is, perhaps, no 
one, who has more richly deserved the eulogium of the 
poet, or the notice of posterity. He was of Vandal origin, 
active and muscular in person, cool in danger, sparing of 
human life (so rare a merit in great commanders), and a 
lover of peace. 
The first act of Stilicho’s administration was the destruc- 
. tion of Rufinus, the tutor of Arcadius, emperor of the east. 
This odious favourite, who, in an age of civil and religious 
faction, has deserved, from every party, the imputation of 
every crime, had been raised by Theodosius to the station 
of master of the offices. In the exercise of his various func¬ 
tions, so essentially connected with the whole system of civil 
government, he acquired the confidence of a monarch, who 
soon discovered his diligence and capacity in business, and 
who long remained ignorant of the pride, the malice, and 
the covetousness of his disposition. We need not fatigue our 
readers with the detail of how he sacrificed a prefect of Italy 
and his sons to the avenging of a personal insult, nor the cruel 
murder of Lucian; for individual vices are lost in the gene¬ 
ral mass of crime. Regardless of the public opinion, he 
indulged his passions without remorse, and without resist¬ 
ance ; and his malignant and rapacious spirit rejected every 
passion that might have contributed to bis own glory, or the 
happiness of the people. His avarice, which seems to have pre¬ 
vailed in his corrupt mind over every other sentiment, attract¬ 
ed the wealth of the East, by the various arts of partial and 
general extortion; he is accused of oppressive taxes, scandalous 
bribery, immoderate fines, unjust confiscations, forced or ficti¬ 
tious testaments, by which the tyrant despoiled of their lawful 
inheritance the children of strangers, or enemies ; and the pub- 
licsaleof justice, as well as of favour, which he instituted 
in the palace of Constantinople. The ambitious candidate 
eagerly solicited, at the expense of the fairest part of his pa¬ 
trimony, the honours and emoluments of some provincial go¬ 
vernment : the lives and fortunes of the unhappy people 
were abandoned to the most liberal purchaser, and yet he 
neglected to conciliate the hearts of the soldiers and people, 
by the liberal distribution of those riches, which he had ac¬ 
quired with so much toil, and with so much guilt. The ex¬ 
treme parsimony of Rufinus left him only the reproach and 
envy of ill-gotten wealth ; his dependents served him with¬ 
out attachment; the universal hatred of mankind was re¬ 
pressed only by the influence of servile fear. 
The hatred of Stilicho against Rufinus was first excited 
by a knowledge of his insidious enmity; it was strongly en¬ 
couraged by the bloody sacrifice that the latter had made 
of Stilicho’s friend. But the general of the west claimed now 
as a testament of Theodosius the superintendance of the forces 
of the east as well as of Italy, and he proceeded to lead the 
eastern forces to Constantinople. Rufinus was alarmed by 
the approach of a warrior and a rival, whose enmity he de¬ 
served ; he interposed, as the last hope of safety, the authority 
YOL. XXII. No. 1503. 
M E. 
of Arcadius. Stilicho, received a peremptory message, torecal 
the troops of the East, and declaring, that his nearer approach 
would be considered by the Byzantine court as an act of 
hostility. The prompt and unexpected obedience of the 
general of the West, convinced the vulgar of his loyalty and 
moderation ; and, as he had already engaged the affection of 
the eastern troops, he recommended to their zeal the exe- 
. cution of his bloody design, which might be accomplished 
in his absence, with less danger perhaps, and with less re¬ 
proach. Stilicho left the command of the troops of the East 
to Gainas, the Goth, on whose fidelity he firmly relied. 
The soldiers were easily persuaded to punish the enemy 
of Stilicho, and of Rome; and such was the general hatred 
which Rufinus had excited, that the fatal secret, communi¬ 
cated to thousands, was faithfully preserved during the long 
march from Thessalonica to the gates of Constantinople. At the 
distance of a mile from the capital, in the Field of Mars, be¬ 
fore the palace of Hebdomon, the troops halted: and the em¬ 
peror, as well as his minister, advanced, according to ancient 
custom, respectfully to salute the power which supported 
their throne. As Rufinus passed along the ranks, and dis¬ 
guised with studied courtesy, his innate haughtiness, the 
wings insensibly wheeled from the right and left, and in¬ 
closed the devoted victim within the circle of their arms. 
Before he could reflect on the danger of his situation, Gainas 
gave the signal of death; and Rufinus fell, groaned, and 
expired, at the feet of the affrighted emperor. 
Stil icho did not derive from the murder of his rival, the fruit 
which he had proposed; and though he gratified his revenge, 
his ambition was disappointed. Arcadius preferred the 
obsequious arts of the eunuch Eutropius, who had obtained 
his domestic confidence ; and the emperor contemplated, 
with terror and aversion, the stern genius of a foreign warrior. 
Till they were divided by the jealousy of power, the sword 
of Gainas, and the charms of Eudoxia, supported the favour 
of the great chamberlain of the palace: the perfidious Goth, 
who was appointed master-general of the East, betrayed, 
without scruple, the interest of his benefactor; and the same 
troops, who had so lately massacred the enemy of Stilicho, 
were engaged to support, against him, the independence of 
the throne of Constantinople. The favourites of Arcadius 
fomented a secret and irreconcileable war against a formidable 
hero, who aspired to govern, and to defend, the two empires 
of Rome, and the two sons of Theodosius. They incessantly 
laboured, by dark and treacherous machinations, to deprive 
him of the esteem of the prince, the respect of the people, 
and the friendship of the barbarians. The life of Stilicho 
was repeatedly attempted by the dagger of hired assassins ; 
and a decree was obtained from the senate of Constantinople, 
to declare him an enemy of the republic, and to confiscate 
his ample possessions in the provinces of the East. Thus at 
a time when the only hope of delaying the ruin of the 
Roman name, depended on the firm union, and reciprocal 
aid, of all the nations to whom it had been gradually 
communicated, the subjects of Arcadius and Honorius were 
instructed, by their respective masters, to view each other in 
a foreign, and even hostile, light; to rejoice in their mutual 
calamities, and to embrace, as their faithful allies, the bar¬ 
barians, whom they excited to invade the territories of their 
countrymen. 
The prudent Stilicho, instead of persisting to force the 
inclinations of Arcadius, left him to his unworthy favourites, 
and prepared to assist the majesty of the western empire by 
the punishment of Geldo the Moor. This man having been 
invested with the command of Africa, by Theodosius, had 
for twelve years exercised his tyranny over that unhappy 
province, and gradually usurped the administration of jus¬ 
tice and of the finances, without account and without con¬ 
trol. Apprised of the designs of Stilicho against him, he 
addressed his homage to the feeble Arcadius, and the minis¬ 
ters of Constantinople took upon them to urge their ineffec¬ 
tual claim ; while the general of the West, despising their 
interference, thought proper to oppose Mascezel, a younger 
brother of the tyrant of Africa, and a zealous Chris ian, to 
the power of that usurper. Mascezel, who had been obliged 
41 to 
