The religion of Constantine achieved, in less than a century, the final conquest of the Roman empire; but the victors themselves were insensibly subdued by the arts of their vanquished rivals. 97 The imitation of Paganism is the subject of Dr. Middleton's agreeable letter from Rome. Warburton's animadversions obliged him to connect (vol. iii. p. 120132) the history of the two religions, and to prove the antiquity of the Christian copy. [The last remark of the author in this chapter applies also to the subjects of his preceding paragraphs on fabulous martyrs and relics and what he calls the revival of polytheism. The worship of saints and martyrs took the place of the worship of the pagan gods and heroes; and this adoption and adaptation of the old superstitions smoothed the transition from the old religion to the new. The succession of Christian saints to gods and heroes is attested in numerous instances by similarity of names, similarity of attributes, or identity of festal dates. It is now admitted by most scholars that the date of the birthday of Christ was determined by the festival of the birthday of Mithra (natalis invicti) at the winter solstice. Cf. Mommsen, C. I. L. i. p. 409. P. Saintyoes in his recent work, Les saints successeurs des dieux (1907), has collected much curious material, but it is not exhaustive. See further, J. Rendel Harris, The Dioscuri in Christian legends, 1902, and The Cult of the Heavenly Twins, 1906; L. Deubner, De Incubatione, 1900; W. M. Ramsay, The Worship of the Virgin Mary at Ephesus (representing the old cult of Artemis), in the Expositor, June, 1905, 401 sqq., and August, 1905, 81 sqq.; E. Lucius, Die Anfänge des Heiligenkults in der christlichen Kirche, 1904.] Division of Honorius. January 17 CHAPTER XXIX Final Division of the Roman Empire between the Sons of Theodosius-Reign of Arcadius and Honorius-Administration of Rufinus and Stilicho-Revolt and Defeat of Gildo in Africa T HE genius of Rome expired with Theodosius; the last of the successors of Augustus and Constantine, who appeared in the field at the head of their armies, and whose authority was universally acknowledged throughout the whole extent of the empire. The memory of his virtues still continued, however, to protect the feeble and inexperienced youth of his two sons. After the death of their father, Arcadius and Honorius were saluted, by the unanimous consent of mankind, as the lawful emperors of the East, and of the West; and the oath of fidelity was eagerly taken by every order of the state; the senates of old and new Rome, the clergy, the magistrates, the soldiers, and the people. Arcadius, who then was about eighteen years of age, was born in Spain, in the humble habitation of a private family. But he received a princely education in the palace of Constantinople; and his inglorious life was spent in that peaceful and splendid seat of royalty, from whence he appeared to reign over the provinces of Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, from the Lower Danube to the confines of Persia and Ethiopia. His younger [Born A.D. brother, Honorius, assumed, in the eleventh year of his age, 384, Sept. 91 the nominal government of Italy, Africa, Gaul, Spain, and Britain; and the troops which guarded the frontiers of his kingdom were opposed, on one side, to the Caledonians, and on the other, to the Moors. The great and martial præfecture of Illyricum was divided between the two princes; the defence and possession of the provinces of Noricum, Pannonia, and Dalmatia, still belonged to the western empire; but the two large dioceses of Dacia and Macedonia, which Gratian had intrusted to the valour of Theodosius, were for ever united to the empire of the East. The boundary in Europe was not very different from the line which now separates the Germans and the Turks; and the respective advantages of territory, riches, populousness, and military strength, were fairly balanced and compensated in this final and permanent division of the Roman empire. The hereditary sceptre of the sons of Theodosius appeared to be the gift of nature, and of their father; the generals and ministers had been accustomed to adore the majesty of the royal infants; and the army and people were not admonished of their rights and of their power by the dangerous example of a recent election. The gradual discovery of the weakness of Arcadius and Honorius, and the repeated calamities of their reign, were not sufficient to obliterate the deep and early impressions of loyalty. The subjects of Rome, who still reverenced the persons or rather the names of their sovereigns, beheld, with equal abhorrence, the rebels who opposed, and the ministers who abused, the authority of the throne. and ad tion of A.D. 386-395 Theodosius had tarnished the glory of his reign by the character elevation of Rufinus: an odious favourite, who, in an age of ministracivil and religious faction, has deserved, from every party, the Rufinus. imputation of every crime. The strong impulse of ambition and avarice had urged Rufinus to abandon his native country, an obscure corner of Gaul," to advance his fortune in the capital of the East; the talent of bold and ready elocution3 qualified him to succeed in the lucrative profession of the law; and his success in that profession was a regular step to the most honourable and important employments of the state. He was raised, by just degrees, to the station of master of the offices. In the exercise of his various functions, so essentially connected But Alecto, envious of the public felicity, convenes an infernal synod. Megæra recommends her pupil Rufinus, and excites him to deeds of mischief, &c. there is as much difference between Claudian's fury and that of Virgil, as between the characters of Turnus and Rufinus. It is evident (Tillemont, Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 770), though de Marca is ashamed of his countryman, that Rufinus was born at Elusa, the metropolis of Novem populania, now a small village of Gascony (d'Anville, Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, p. 219). 3 Philostorgius, 1. xi. c. 3, with Godefroy's Dissert. p. 440. 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. These vices were concealed beneath the mask of profound dissimulation; his passions were subservient only to the passions of his master; yet, in the horrid massacre of Thessalonica, the cruel Rufinus inflamed the fury, without imitating the repentance, of Theodosius. The minister, who viewed with proud indifference the rest of mankind, never forgave the appearance of an injury; and his personal enemies had forfeited in his opinion the merit of all public services. Promotus, the master-general of the infantry, had saved the empire from the invasion of the Ostrogoths; but he indignantly supported the pre-eminence of a rival whose character and profession he despised; and, in the midst of a public council, the impatient soldier was provoked to chastise with a blow the indecent pride of the favourite. This act of violence was represented to the emperor as an insult which it was incumbent on his dignity to resent. The disgrace and exile of Promotus were signified by a peremptory order to repair, without delay, to a military station on the banks of the Danube; and the death of that general (though he was slain in a skirmish with the Barbarians) was imputed to the perfidious arts of Rufinus. The sacrifice of an hero gratified his revenge; the honours of the consulship elated his vanity; but his power was still imperfect and precarious, as long as the important posts of præfect of the East and of præfect of Constantinople were filled by Tatian and his son Proculus; whose united authority balanced, for some time, the ambition and favour of the master of the offices. The two præfects were accused of rapine and corruption in the administration of the laws and finances. For the trial of these illustrious offenders, A passage of Suidas is expressive of his profound dissimulation: Ba@vyvúμwv ἄνθρωπος καὶ κρυψίνους. [See F. H. G. iv. p. 42.] 5 Zosimus, l. iv. p. 272, 273 [c. 51]. 6 Zosimus, who describes the fall of Tatian and his son (1. iv. p. 273, 274 [c. 52]), asserts their innocence; and even his testimony may outweigh the charges of their enemies (Cod. Theodos. tom. iv. p. 489) who accuse them of oppressing the Curiæ. The connexion of Tatian with the Arians, while he was præfect of Egypt (A.D. 373), inclines Tillemont to believe that he was guilty of every crime (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 360. Mém. Ecclés. tom. vi. p. 589). [Rufinus was probably not guilty of the death of Promotus. The silence of Claudian outweighs the charge of Zosimus.] the emperor constituted a special commission; several judges were named to share the guilt and reproach of injustice; but the right of pronouncing sentence was reserved to the president alone, and that president was Rufinus himself. The father, stripped of the præfecture of the East, was thrown into a dungeon; but the son, conscious that few ministers can be found innocent where an enemy is their judge, had secretly escaped; and Rufinus must have been satisfied with the least obnoxious victim, if despotism had not condescended to employ the basest and most ungenerous artifice. The prosecution was conducted with an appearance of equity and moderation, which flattered Tatian with the hope of a favourable event; his confidence was fortified by the solemn assurances and perfidious oaths of the president, who presumed to interpose the sacred name of Theodosius himself; and the unhappy father was at last persuaded to recall, by a private letter, the fugitive Proculus. He was instantly seized, examined, condemned, and beheaded, in one of the suburbs of Constantinople, with a precipitation which disappointed the clemency of the emperor. Without respecting the misfortunes of a consular senator, the cruel judges of Tatian compelled him to behold the execution of his son; the fatal cord was fastened round his own neck; but, in the moment when he expected, and perhaps desired, the relief of a speedy death, he was permitted to consume the miserable remnant of his old age in poverty and exile." The punishment of the two præfects might perhaps be excused by the exceptionable parts of their own conduct; the enmity of Rufinus might be palliated by the jealous and unsociable nature of ambition. But he indulged a spirit of revenge, equally repugnant to prudence and to justice, when he degraded their native country of Lycia from the rank of Roman provinces; stigmatized a guiltless people with a mark of ignominy; and declared that the countrymen of Tatian and Proculus should ever remain incapable of holding any employ 7... Juvenum rorantia colla Ante patrum vultus strictâ cecidere securi; in Rufin. i. 248 [246-9]. The facts of Zosimus explain the allusions of Claudian; but his classic interpreters were ignorant of the fourth century. The fatal cord I found, with the help of Tillemont, in a sermon of St. Asterius of Amasea. |