Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 4 (1897).djvu/60

40 THE DECLINE AND FALL confidence rather than wisdom ; and such was the various, though uniform, imprudence of his behaviour that his prosperity must appear much more surprising than his downfall. The second praefecture, which he obtained within the term of five years, abolished the merit and popularity of his preceding administration. His easy temper was corrupted by flattery and exasperated by opposition ; he was forced to satisfy his importunate creditors with the spoils of the province ; his capricious insolence offended the nobles of Gaul, and he sunk under the weight of the public hatred. The mandate of his disgrace summoned him to justify his conduct before the senate ; and he passed the sea of Tuscany with a favourable wind, the presage, as he vainly imagined, of his future fortunes. A decent respect was still observed for the Pra-fecturian rank ; and, on his arrival at Rome, Arvandus was committed to the hospitality, rather than to the custody, of Flavius Asellus, the count of the sacred largesses, who resided in the Capitol. ^'^'^ He was eagerly pursued by his accusers, the four deputies of Gaul, who were all distinguished by their birth, their dignities, or their eloquence. In the name of a great province, and accord- ing to the forms of Roman jurisprudence, they instituted a civil and criminal action, requiring such a restitution as might com- pensate the losses of individuals, and such punishment as might satisfy the justice of the state. Their charges of corrupt oppres- sion were numerous and weight)' ; but they placed their secret dependence on a letter, which they had intercepted, and which they could prove, by the evidence of his secretary, to have been dictated by Arvandus himself. The author of this letter seemed to dissuade the king of the Goths from a peace with the Greek emperor ; he suggested the attack of the Britons on the Loire : and he recommended a division of Gaul, according to the law of nations, between the 'isigoths and the Burgun- dians.i"'^ These pernicious schemes, which a friend could only palliate by the reproaches of vanity and indiscretion, were susceptible of a treasonable interpretation ; and the deputies had artfully resolved not to produce their most formidable weapons till the decisive moment of the contest. But their 105 When the Capitol ceased to be a temple, it was appropriated to the use of the civil magistrate ; and it is still the residence of the Roman senator. The jewellers, &c. might be allowed to expose their precious wares in the porticoes. lOGHaec ad regem Gothorum charta videbattir emitti, pacem cum Graeco Im- peratore dissuadens, Britannos super Ligerim sitos irapugnari oportere demonstrans, cum Burgiindionibus jure gentium Gallias dividi debere confirmans.