Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 4 (1897).djvu/28

8 THE DECLINE AND FALL the merit of Avitus excited envy, or his moderation was desirous of repose, since he cahiily retired to an estate which he possessed in the neighbourhood of Clermont. A copious stream, issuing from the mountain, and falhng headlong in many a loud and foaming cascade, discharged its waters into a lake about two miles in length, and the villa was pleas- antly seated on the margin of the lake. The baths, the porticoes, the summer and winter apartments, were adapted to the purposes of luxury and use ; and the adjacent country afforded the various prospects of woods, pastures, and meadows.^'^ In this retreat, where Avitus amused his leisure with books, rural sports, the practice of husbandry, and the society of his friends,!' he received the Imperial diploma, which constituted him master-general of the cavalry and infantry of Gaul. He assumed the military command ; the Barbarians suspended their fury ; and, whatever means he might employ, whatever concessions he might be forced to make, the people enjoyed the benefits of actual tranquillity. But the fate of Gaul depended on the Visigoths ; and the Roman general, less attentive to his dignity than to the public interest, did not disdain to visit Toulouse in the character of an ambassador. He was received with courteous hospitality by Theodoric, the king of the Goths ; but, while Avitus laid the foundation of a solid alliance with that powerful nation, he was astonished by the intelligence that the emperor Maximus was slain and that Rome had been pillaged by the Vandals. A vacant throne, which he might ascend without guilt or danger, tempted his ambition ; i*^ and the Visigoths were easily persuaded to support his claim by their irresistible suffrage. They loved the person of Avitus ; they respected his virtues ; and they were not insensible of the advantage, as well as honour, of giving an emperor to the West. The season was 16 After the example of the younger Pliny, Sidonius (1. ii. c. 2) has laboured the florid, prolix, and obscure description of his villa, which bore the name [Avitaci/7>i), and had been the property, of Avitus. The precise situation is not ascertained. Consult, however, the notes of Savaron and Sirmond. 1 Sidonius (1. ii. epist. 9) has described the country life of the Gallic nobles, in a visit which he made to his friends, whose estates were in the neighbourhood of Nismes. The morning hours were spent in the sphacris/erium, or tennis-court ; or in the library, which was furnished with Latin authors, profane and religious : the former for the men, the latter for the ladies. The table was twice served, at dinner and supper, with hot meat (boiled and roast) and wine. During the intermediate time, the company slept, took the air on horseback, and used the vrarm bath. 1** Seventy lines of Panegyric (505-578) which describe the importunity of Theodoric and of Gaul, struggling to overcome the modest reluctance of Axitus, are blown away by three words of an honest historian : Romanum amlnsset im- perium (Greg. Turon. 1. ii. c. 11, in torn. ii. p. 168).