Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 2.djvu/363

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 345 the firm array of the GalHc legions. As soon as the CHAP, legions gave way, the lighter and inoi*e active squadrons ' of the second line rode sword in hand into the inter- vals, and completed the disorder. In the mean while, the huge bodies of the Germans were exposed almost naked to the dexterity of the oriental archers ; and whole troops of those barbarians were urged by anguish and despair to precipitate themselves into the broad and rapid stream of the Di'ave '^. The number of the slain was computed at fifty-four thousand men, and the slaughter of the conquei'ors was more considerable than that of the vanquished"^: a circumstance which proves the obstinacy of the contest, and justifies the observation of an ancient writer, that the forces of the empire were consumed in the fatal battle of Mursa, by the loss of a veteran army, sufficient to defend the fron- tiers, or to add new triumphs to the glory of Rome Notwithstanding the invectives of a servile orator, there is not the least reason to believe that the tyrant de- serted his own standard in the beginning of the en- gagement. He seems to have displayed the virtues of a general and of a soldier till the day was irrecoverably lost, and his camp in the possession of the enemy. Magnentius then consulted his safety, and throwing ' away the imperial ornaments, escaped with some diffi- culty from the pursuit of the light horse, who inces- santly followed his rapid flight from the banks of the Drave to the foot of the Julian Alps '. 1 Julian, Oral. i. p, 36, 37; and Oral. ii. p. 59, 60 ; Zouaras, torn. ii. 1. xiii. p. 17 ; Zosimus, 1. ii. p. 130 — 133. The last of these celebrates the dexterity of the archer Menelaus, who could discharge three arrows at the same time; an advantage which, according to his apprehension of military affairs, materially contributed to the victory of Constantius. ■■ According to Zonaras, Constantius, out of eighty thousand men, lost thirty thousand; and INIagnentius lost twenty-four thousand out of thirty- six thousand. The other articles of this account seem probable and au- thentic ; but the numbers of the tyrant's army must have been mistaken, either by the author or his transcribers. Magnentius had collected the whole force of the west, Romans and barbarians, into one formidable body, which cannot fairly be estimated at less than one hundred thousand men. Julian, Oral. i. p. 34, 35. externa idonese, quje inultum triumphorum possent securitatisque conferre. Eutropius, X. 13. The younger 'iclor expresses himself to the same efl'ect. ' On this occasion, we must prefer the unsuspected testimony of Zosimus
 * Ingentes R. I. vires ea diraicatione consumptae sunt, ad qua;libet bella