Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/244

 224 THE DECLINE AND FALL dignity, and perhaps of oppressing his enemies. The praefect still exercised an uncontrolled authority over the civil and military government of the East ; and his treasures, if he could resolve to use them, might be employed to procure proper instruments for the execution of the blackest designs that pride, ambition, and revenge could suggest to a desperate statesman. The character of Rufinus seemed to justify the accusations that he conspired against the person of his sovereign to seat himself on the vacant throne ; and that he had secretly invited the Huns and the Goths to invade the provinces of the empire and to increase the public confusion. The subtle praefect, whose life had been spent in the intrigues of the palace, op- posed, with equal arms, the artful m.^asures of the eunuch Eutropius ; but the timid soul of Rufinus was astonished by the hostile approach of a more formidable rival, of the great Stilicho, the general, or rather the master, of the empire of the West.^^ Character of The Celestial gift which Achilles obtained, and Alexander miEister.^ald cnvicd, of a poct Worthy to celebrate the actions of heroes has thrwikteni been enjoyed by Stilicho in a much higher degree than might empire havc been expected from the declining state of genius and of art. The muse of Claudian,^*" devoted to his service, was always pre- pared to stigmatize his adversaries, Rufinus or Eutropius, with eternal infamy ; or to paint, in the most splendid colours, the victories and virtues of a powerful benefactor. In the review of a period indifferently supplied with authentic materials, we cannot refuse to illustrate the annals of Honorius from the in- vectives or the panegyrics of a contemporary writer ; but, as Claudian appears to have indulged the most ample privilege of a poet and a courtier, some criticism will be requisite to trans- late the language of fiction or exaggeration into the truth and simplicity of historic prose. His silence concerning the family of Stilicho may be adm.itted as a proof that his patron was neither able nor desirous to boast a long series of illustrious progenitors ; and the slight mention of his father, an officer of Barbarian cavalry in the service of Valens, seems to countenance the assertion that the general who so long commanded the armies of Rome was desce.nded from the savage and perfidious i^Zosimus (1. V. p. 290 [c. 4]]), Orosius (1. vii. c. 37), and the Chronicle of Marcellinus. [Marcellinus used Orosius; but adds the words in Grceciam, and missis clam pecuniis, from some other source.] Claudian (in Rufin. ii. 7-100) paints, in lively colours, the distrer.s and guilt of the praefect. " Stilicho, directly or indirectly, is the perpetual theme of Claudiaa The youth and private life of the hero are vaguely expressed in the poem on his first consul- ship, 35-140.