Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/240

 220 THE DECLINE AND FALL penance of a regular society of monks. A numerous, and almost general, synod of the bishops of the eastern empire was sum- moned to celebrate, at the same time, the dedication of the church and the baptism of the founder. This double ceremony was performed with extraordinary pomp ; and, when Rufinus was purified, in the holy font, from all the sins that he had hitherto committed, a venerable hermit of Egypt rashly proposed him- self as the sponsor of a proud and ambitious statesman.^ He oppresseB Xhc character of Theodosius imposed on his minister the task the East, * AD. 395 of hypocrisy, which disguised, and sometimes restrained, the abuse of power ; and Rufinus was apprehensive of disturbing the indolent slumber of a prince, still capable of exerting the abilities and the virtue which had raised him to the throne. ^"^ But the absence, and soon afterwards the death, of the emperor con- firmed the absolute authority of Rufinus over the person and dominions of Arcadius : a feeble youth, whom the imperious praefect considered as his pupil rather than his sovereign. Re- gardless of the public opinion, he indulged his passions without remorse and without resistance ; and his malignant and rapacious spirit rejected every passion that might have contributed to his own glory or the happiness of the people. His avarice, ^^ which seems to have prevailed in his corrupt mind over every other sentiment, attracted the wealth of the East by the various arts of partial, and general, extortion : oppressive taxes, scandalous bribery, immoderate fines, unjust confiscations, forced or fictitious testaments, by which the tyrant despoiled of their lawful in- heritance the children of strangers, or enemies ; and the public sale of justice, as well as of favour, which he instituted in the 9 Ammonius. . . Rufinum propriis manibus suscepit sacro fonte mundatum. See Rosweyde's Vitse Patrum, p. 947 [ed. 2, A.D. 1628J. Sozomen (1. viii. c. 17) mentions the church and monastery ; and Tillemont (Mt5m. Eccl^s. torn. ix. p. 593) records this synod, in which St. Gregory of Nyssa performed a conspicuous part. 10 Montesquieu (Esprit des Loi.x, 1. xii. c. 12) praises one of the laws of Theo- dosius, addressed to the praefect Rufinus (1. ix. tit. iv. leg. unic), to discourage the prosecution of treasonable, or sacrilegious, words. A tyrannical statute always proves the existence of tyranny ; but a laudable edict may only contain the specious professions, or ineffectual wishes, of the prince, or his ministers. This, I am afraid, is a just though mortifying canon of criticism. 11 . . . fluctibus auri Expleri ille calor nequit. . . Congestos cumulantur opes ; orbisque rapinas [ruinas] Accipit una domus. . . This character (Claudian in Rufin. i. 184 [183] -220) is confirmed by Jerom, a disinterested witness (dedecus insatiabilis avaritiae, tom. i. ad Heliodor. p. 26 [Ep. 60]), by Zosimus (1. v. p. 286 [c. i]), and by Suidas, who copied the history of PunapiiLS [fr. 63, F. H. G. iv. p. 42].