Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/205

 OF THE EOMAN EMPIRE 185 After the defeat of Eugenius, the merit, as well as the authority, Death of of Theodosius was cheerfully acknowledged by all the inhabi- a.d. 395, tants of the Roman world. The experience of his past conduct *^°*^ encouraged the most pleasing expectations of his future reign ; and the age of the emperor, which did not exceed fifty years, seemed to extend the prospect of the public felicity. His death, only four months after his victory, was considered by the people as an unforeseen and fatal event, which destroyed in a moment the hopes of the rising generation. But the indulgence of ease and luxury had secretly nourished the principles of dis- ease.^2^ The strength of Theodosius was unable to support the sudden and violent transition from the palace to the camp ; and the increasing symptoms of a dropsy announced the speedy dissolution of the emperor. The opinion, and perhaps the interest, of the public had confirmed the division of the Eastern and Western empires ; and the two royal youths, Arcadius and [Arcadins. Honorius, who had already obtained, from the tenderness of a^^ori^.^M their father, the title of Augustus, were destined to fill the ''*"'• '^^ thrones of Constantinople and of Rome. Those princes were not permitted to share the danger and glory of the civil war ; ^^^ but, as soon as Theodosius had triumphed over his unwoi'thy rivals, he called his jj^ounger son Honorius to enjoy the fruits of the victory and to receive the sceptre of the West from the hands of his dying father. The arrival of Honorius at Milan was welcomed by a splendid exhibition of the games of the Circus ; and the emperor, though he was oppressed by the weight of his disorder, contributed by his presence to the public joy. But the remains of his strength were exhausted by the painful effort which he made to assist at the spectacles of the morning. Hono- rius supplied, during the rest of the day, the place of his father ; and the great Theodosius expired in the ensuing night. Notwithstanding the recent animosities of a civil war, his death was universally lamented. The Barbarians, whom he had van- quished, and the churchmen, by whom he had been subdued, celebrated with loud and sincere applause, the qualities of the deceased emperor which appeared the most valuable in their eyes. The Romans were terrified by the impending dangers of a 125 This disease, ascribed by Socrates (1. v. c. 26) to the fatigues of war, is re- presented by Philostorgius (1. xi. c. 2) as the effect of sloth and intemperance : for which Photius calls him an impudent liar (Godefroy, Dissert, p. 438). 126 Zosimus supposes that the boy Honorius accompanied his father (1. iv. p. 280 [c. 58]). Yet the quanto flagrabant pectora voto, is all that flattery would allow to a contemporary poet ; who clearly describes the emperor's refusal and the journey of Honorius, after the victory (Claudian in iii. Cons. 78-125).