The Eastern Empire. R O 
differently, but effectually, promoted the cause of the rebels. 
Tribigild surprised the unguarded camp of Leo in the 
darkness of the night; seduced the faith of the greater part 
of the barbarian auxiliaries, and dissipated, without much 
effort, the troops, which had been corrupted by the relax¬ 
ation of discipline, and the luxury of the capital. The dis¬ 
content of Gainas, who had so boldly contrived and exe¬ 
cuted the death of Rufinus, was irritated by the fortune 
of his unworthy successor; he accused his own dishonourable 
patience under the servile reign of an eunuch; and the 
ambitious Goth was convicted, at least in the public opinion, 
of secretly fomenting the revolt of Tribigild, with whom 
he was connected by a domestic, as well as by a national, 
alliance. When Gainas passed the Hellespont, to unite 
under his standard the remains of the Asiatic troops, he 
skilfully adapted his motions to the wishes of the Ostrogoths; 
abandoning, by his retreat, the country which they desired to 
invade; or facilitating, by his approach, the desertion of the 
barbarian auxiliaries. To the imperial court he repeatedly 
magnified the valour, the genius, the inexhaustible resources 
of Tribigild; confessed his own inability to prosecutethe war; 
and extorted the permission of negociating with his in¬ 
vincible adversary. The conditions of peace were dictated 
by the haughty rebel; and the peremptory demand of the 
head of Eutropius, revealed the author and the design of 
this hostile conspiracy. At this juncture, Eudoxia, with a 
flood of tears, presented her children to their father Arcadius, 
and implored his justice for some real or imaginary insult, 
which she imputed to the audacious eunuch. The emperor’s 
hand was directed to sign the condemnation of Eutropius, 
and the magic spell, which during four years had bound 
the prince and the people, was instantly dissolved. In this 
hour of distress and despair, the only refuge of Eutropius 
was in the sanctuary of the church, whose privileges he had 
attempted to circumscribe; and the most eloquent of the 
saints, John Chrysostom, enjoyed the triumph of protecting 
a prostrate sinner. Ascending the pulpit of the cathedral, 
he pronounced a seasonable and pathetic discourse on the 
forgiveness of injuries, and the instability of human great¬ 
ness. The agonies of the pale and affrighted wretch who 
lay grovelling under the table of the altar, exhibited a 
solemn and instructive spectacle. The powers of supersti¬ 
tion and eloquence, prevailed. The empress Eudoxia was 
restrained, by her own prejudices, or by those of her sub¬ 
jects, from violating the sanctuary of the church; but 
Eutropius was tempted to capitulate, by the milder arts of 
persuasion, and by an oath, that his life should be spared, 
and was afterwards basely executed. 
In the mean time the Ostrogoth advanced, and 
Arcadius was instructed to prevent the loss of his Asiatic 
dominions, by resigning his authority and his person to the 
faith of the barbarians. Gainas accepted the title of mas¬ 
ter-general of the Roman armies, filled Constantinople 
with his troops, and distributed among his dependants, the 
honours and rewards of the empire. Every quarter of 
the city was filled with tumult and disorder; and the 
barbarians gazed with such ardour on the rich shops of the 
jewellers, and the tables of the bankers, which were covered 
with gold and silver, that it was judged prudent to remove 
those dangerous temptations from their sight. They resented 
the injurious precaution ; and some alarming attempts were 
made, during the night, to attack and destroy with fire the Im¬ 
perial palace. In this state of mutual and suspicious hostility, 
the guards and the people of Constantinople shut the gates, 
and rose in arms to prevent, or to punish, the conspiracy of 
the Goths. During the absence of Gainas, his troops were 
surprised and oppressed; seven thousand barbarians perished 
in this bloody massacre. Gainas was declared a public 
enemy ; and his countryman, Fravitta, a brave and loyal 
confederate, assumed the management of the war. The 
enterprizes of the rebel, against the cities of Thrace, were en¬ 
countered by a firm and well ordered defence: his hungry 
soldiers were soon reduced to the grass that grew on the 
margin of the fortifications; and Gainas, who vainly regretted 
Vox.. XXII. No. 1503. 
M E. The Eastern Empire. 313 
the wealth and luxury of Asia, embraced a desperate resolu¬ 
tion of forcing the passage of the Hellespont. He was des¬ 
titute of vessels; but the woods of the Chersonesus afforded 
materials for rafts, and his intrepid barbarians did not re¬ 
fuse to trust themselves to the waves. But Fravitta atten 
tively watched the progress of their undertaking. As soon as 
they had gained the middle of the stream, the Roman gal¬ 
leys, impelled by the full force of oars, of the current, and 
of the favourable wind, rushed forwards in compact order, 
and with irresistible weight; and the Hellespont was covered 
with the fragments of the Gothic shipwreck. 
The persecution and destruction of St. Chrysostom, the 
death of the empress Eudoxia, the excursions of the Isaurian 
robbers, a famine, flight of locusts, and an earthquake, are 
the events that fill the remainder of the history of Arcadius’s 
reign. The emperor expired in the thirty-first year of his 
age, after a reign of thirteen years three months and fifteen 
days. The historian Procopius asserts, that Arcadius consi¬ 
dering the helpless condition of his son Theodosius, who 
was no more than seven years of age, the dangerous factions 
of a minority, and the aspiring spirit of Jezdegerd, the 
Persian monarch; instead of tempting the allegiance of 
an ambitious subject, by the participation of supreme 
power, boldly appealed to the magnanimity of a king; and 
placed, by a solemn testament, the sceptre of the East in the 
hands of Jezdegerd himself. The royal guardian accepted 
and discharged this honourable trust with unexampled fidelity; 
and the infancy of Theodosius was protected by the arms 
and councils of Persia. Such is the singular narrative of 
Procopius; but the universal silence of contemporary writers 
annihilates the vain tradition of the succeeding age. 
The weaknessof Honorius preventing him from undertaking 
the difficult guardianship of his nephew, the government of 
the eastern empire was fortunately assumed by the praefect 
Anthemius, who obtained, by his superior abilities, a lasting 
ascendant over the minds of his equals. The safety of the 
young emperor proved the merit and integrity of Anthemius: 
and his prudent firmness sustained the force and reputation 
of an infant reign. Uldin, with a formidable host of 
barbarians, was encamped in the heart of Thrace, who were 
obliged to repass the Danube; the tribe of the Scyrri, which 
composed his rear-guard, was almost extirpated; and many 
thousand captives were dispersed to cultivate, with servile 
labour, the fields of Asia. Constantinople was protected by 
a strong inclosure of new and more extensive walls; the same 
vigilant care restored the fortifications of the Illyrian cities : 
and a plan was judiciously conceived, which, in the space of 
seven years, would have secured the command of the Danube, 
by establishing on that river a perpetual fleet of two hundred 
and fifty armed vessels. 
But the Romans had so long been accustomed to the autho¬ 
rity of a monarch, that the first, even among the females, of 
the Imperial family, who displayed any courage or capacity, 
was permitted to ascend the vacant throne of Theodosius. 
His sister Pulcheria, who was only two years older than 
himself, received, at the age of sixteen, the title of Augusta ; 
and continued to govern the Eastern empire during the long- 
minority of her brother. From a motive, either of prudence, 
or religion, she embraced a life of celibacy. Ecclesiastical 
history describes the splendid churches which were built at 
the expense of Pulcheria, in all the provinces of the East; 
her charitable foundations for the benefit of strangers and the 
poor; the ample donations which she assigned for the per¬ 
petual maintenance of monastic societies; and the active 
severity with which she laboured to suppress the opposite 
heresies of Nestorius and Eutyches. Yet the devotion of 
Pulcheria never diverted her attention from temporal affairs •' 
and she alone, among all the descendants of the great 
Theodosius, appears to have inherited any share of his manly 
spirit and abilities. The elegant and familiar use which she 
had acquired, both of the Greek and Latin languages, was 
readily applied to the various occasions of speaking, or 
writing, on public business; her deliberations were maturely 
weighed; her actions were prompt and decisive; and, while 
4 k she 
