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Chap. XXXVI] OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 7 evidence of the damage which he attempted to repair. In the forty-five years that had elapsed since the Gothic invasion the pomp and luxury of Rome were in some measure restored ; and it was difficult either to escape or to satisfy the avarice of a conqueror who possessed leisure to collect, and ships to trans- port, the wealth of the capital. The Imperial ornaments of the palace, the magnificent furniture and wardrobe, the side- boards of massy plate, were accumulated with disorderly rapine ; the gold and silver amounted to several thousand talents ; yet even the brass and copper were laboriously re- moved. Eudoxia herself, who advanced to meet her friend and deliverer, soon bewailed the imprudence of her own con- duct. She was rudely stripped of her jewels : and the un- fortunate empress, with her two daughters, the only surviving remains of the great Theodosius, was compelled, as a captive, to follow the haughty Vandal ; who immediately hoisted sail, and returned with a prosperous navigation to the port of Carthage. 14 Many thousand Romans of both sexes, chosen for some useful or agreeable qualifications, reluctantly embarked on board the fleet of Genseric ; and their distress was aggra- vated by the unfeeling Barbarians, who, in the division of the booty, separated the wives from their husbands, and the children from their parents. The charity of Deogratias, bishop of Carthage, 15 was their only consolation and support. He generously sold the gold and silver plate of the church to purchase the freedom of some, to alleviate the slavery of others, and to assist the wants and infirmities of a captive multitude, whose health was impaired by the hardships which they had suffered in their passage from Italy to Africa. By his order, two spacious churches were converted into hospitals ; the sick were distributed in convenient beds, and liberally supplied with food and medicines ; and the aged prelate repeated his visits both in the day and night, with an assiduity that surpassed his strength, and a tender sympathy which enhanced the value of 14 The vessel which transported the relies of the Capitol was the only one of the whole fleet that suffered shipwreck. If a bigoted sophist, a Pagan bigot, had mentioned the accident, he might have rejoiced that this cargo of sacrilege was lost in the sea. 15 See Victor Vitensis, de Persecut. Vandal. 1. i. c. 8, p. 11, 12, edit. Kuinart. Deogratias governed the church of Carthage only three years. If he had not been privately buried, his corpse would have been torn piecemeal by the mad devotion of the people.