Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/322

 298 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAP, tate their so much wished-for departure ; and he even ^- promised to pay them annually a large sum of gold, on condition that they should never afterwards infest the Roman territories by their incursions *. Gallus pur- In the age of the Scipios, the most opulent kings of chases ^^le earth, who courted the protection of the victorious peace by. » . the pay- commonwealth, were gratified with such trifling pre- "nmia?u^!^ sents as could only derive a value from the hand that bute. bestowed them; an ivory chair, a coarse garment of purple, an inconsiderable piece of plate, or a quantity of copper coin ^ After the wealth of nations had cen- tred in Rome, the emperors displayed their greatness, and even their policy, by the regular exercise of a steady and moderate liberality towards the allies of the state. They relieved the poverty of the barbarians, honoured their merit, and recompensed their fidelity. These voluntary marks of bounty were understood to flow not from the fears, but merely from the generosity or the gratitude of the Romans ; and whilst presents and subsidies were liberally distributed among friends and suppliants, they were sternly refused to such as Popular claimed them as a debt^. But this stipulation of an discontent, annual payment to a victorious enemy, appeared with- out disguise in the light of an ignominious tribute ; the minds of the Romans were not yet accustomed to ac- cept such unequal laws from a tribe of barbarians ; and the prince, who by a necessary concession had proba- bly saved his country, became the object of the general contempt and aversion. The death of Hostilianus, though it happened in the midst of a raging pestilence, was interpreted as the personal crime of Gallus ^ ; and even the defeat of the late emperor was ascribed by the voice of suspicion to the perfidious counsels of his hated e Zonaras, 1. xii. p. 628. f A sella, a toga, and a golden patera of five pounds weight, were ac- cepted with joy and gratitude by the wealthy king of Egypt. Livy, xxvii. 4. Quina millia aeris, a weight of copper in value about eighteen pounds sterling, was the usual present made to foreign ambassadors. Livy, xxxi. 9. & See the firmness of a Roman general so late as the time of Alexander Severus, in the Excerpta Legationum, p. 25. edit. Louvre.
 * • For the plague, see Jornandes, c. 19. and Victor in Caesaribus.