Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/149

 OF THE EOMAN EMPIRE 129 Promotus.^32 -pj^g flattering poet, who celebrated, in the court of Honorius, the fflorv of the father and of the son, ascribes the [Trfmnph of Theodosius victory to the personal prowess of Theodosius ; and almost insinu- ad. ass, oct. ates that the King of the Ostrogoths was slain by the hand of the emperor. ^23 Xhe truth of history might perhaps be found in a just medium between these extreme and contradictory assertions. The original treaty, which fixed the settlement of the Goths, ascertained their privileges and stipulated their obligations, settlement of would illustrate the history of Theodosius and his successors, ^ace'and" The series of their history has imperfectly preserved the spirit ^'Iss^"" and substance of this singular agreement. ^^^ The ravages of war and tyranny had provided many large tracts of fertile but uncultivated land for the use of those Barbarians who might not disdain the practice of agriculture. A numerous colony of the Visigoths was seated in Thrace ; the remains of the Ostro- goths were planted in Phrygia and Lydia ; their immediate wants were supplied by a distribution of corn and cattle ; and their future industry was encouraged by an exemption from tribute,^^^ during a certain term of years. The Barbarians would have deserved to feel the cruel and perfidious policy of the Imperial court, if they had suffered themselves to be dis- persed through the provinces. They required, and they obtained, the sole possession of the villages and districts assigned for their residence ; they still cherished and pro- pagated their native manners and language ; asserted, in the bosom of despotism, the fi-eedom of their domestic government ; and acknowledged the sovereignty of the emperor, without sub- mitting to the inferior jurisdiction of the laws and magistrates of Rome. The hereditary chiefs of the tribes and families were still permitted to command their followers in peace and war ; but the royal dignity was abolished ; and the generals of the i32Zosimus, 1. iv. p. 252-255 [38]. He too frequently betrays his poverty of judgment by disgracing the most serious narratives with trifling and incredible circumstances, [He duplicates the invasion of Odothseus, cp. iv. 35 with 38.] ^3 Odothaei Regis opima Rettulit Ver. 632 ib. ] . The opima were the spoils which a Roman general could only win from the king, or general, of the enemy whom he had slain with his own hands ; and no more than three such examples are celebrated in the victorious ages of Rome. [Had Odothasus been slain by Theodosius, Claudian would not have been content to insinuate it.] 134 See Themistius, Orat. xvi. p. 211. Claudian (in Eutrop. 1. ii. 152) mentions the Phrygian colony : Ostrogothis colitur mistisque Gruthungis Phryx ager and then proceeds to name the rivers of Lydia, the Pactolus and Hermus. ^ 135 [So Mr. Hodgkin, who discusses the treaty at length ; i. p. 312.] VOL. III. 9