Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/383

OF THE BOMAN EMPIRE 363 the mind of the impartial judge remains in anxious suspense. ^i Such " (continues the indignant poet) "are the fruits of Roman valour, of the defeat of Antiochus, and of the triumph of Pom- pey." This venal prostitution of public honours secured the impunity of future crimes ; but the riches which Eutropius derived from confiscation vrere already stained with injustice ; since it was decent to accuse, and to condemn, the proprietors of the wealth which he was impatient to confiscate. Some noble blood was shed by the hand of the executioner ; and the most inhospitable extremities of the empire were filled with innocent and illustrious exiles. Among the generals and consuls of the Ruin of Abtm- East, Abundantius ^^ had reason to dread the first effects of the *° ^ resentment of Eutropius. He had been guilty of the unpardon- able crime of introducing that abject slave to the palace of Constantinople ; and some degree of praise must be allowed to a powerful and ungrateful favourite, who was satisfied with the disgrace of his benefactor. Abundantius was stripped of his ample fortunes by an Imperial rescript, and banished to Pityus on the Euxine, the last frontier of the Roman world ; where he subsisted by the precarious mercy of the Barbarians, till he could obtain, after the fall of Eutropius, a milder exile at Sidon in Phoenicia. The destruction of Timasius^^ required a moreofximaiiiis serious and regular mode of attack. That great officer, the master-general of the armies of Theodosius, had signalized his valour by a decisive victoiy, which he obtained over the Goths of Thessaly ; but he was too prone, after the example of his sovereign, to enjoy the luxury of peace, and to abandon his confidence to wicked and designing flatterers. Timasius had despised the pubHc clamour, by promoting an infamous depend- 11 certantum saspe duorum Diversum suspendit onus : cum pondere Judex Vergit, et in geminas nutat provincia lances. Claudian (i. 192-209) so curiously distinguishes the circumstances of the sale that they all seem to allude to particular anecdotes. 12 Claudian (i. 154-170) mentions the guilt and exile of Abundantius, nor could he fail to quote the example of the artist who made the first trial of the brazen bull which he presented to Phalaris. See Zosimus, 1. v. p. 302 [10]. Jerom, tom. i. p. 26 [ep. 60; Migne, i. 600]. The difference of place is easily reconciled ; but the decisive authority of Asterius of Amasia (Orat. iv. p. 76 apud Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 435) must turn the scale in favour of Pityus. 13 Suidas (most probably, from the history of Eunapius) has given a very un- favourable picture of Timasius. The account of his accuser, the judges, trial, &c. is perfectly agreeable to the practice of ancient and modem courts. (See Zosimns, 1. V. p. 298, 299, 300 [9 sqq.) I am almost tempted to quote the romance of a great master (Fielding's Works, vol. iv. p. 49, &c 8vo edit.), which may be con- sidered as the history of htunan nature.