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 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 245 who had not been permitted to repulse, advanced to chastise the invaders of Greece.^^ A numerous fleet was equipped in the ports of Italy ; and the troops, after a short and prosperous navigation over the Ionian sea, were safely disembarked on the isthmus, near the ruins of Corinth. The woody and mountain- pEariyia ous country of Arcadia, the fabulous residence of Pan and '"•^'^^ the Dryads, became the scene of a long and doubtful conflict between two generals not unworthy of each other. The skill and perseverance of the Roman at length prevailed ; and the Goths, after sustaining a considerable loss from disease and desertion, gradually retreated to the lofty mountain of Pholoe, near the sources of the Peneus, and on the frontiers of Elis : a sacred country, which had formerly been exempted from the calamities of war.i'^ The camp of the Barbarians was immedi- ately besieged ; the waters of the river ^^ were diverted into another channel ; and, while they laboured under the intolerable pressure of thirst and hunger, a strong line of circumvallation was formed to prevent their escape. After these jirecautions, Stilicho, too confident of victory, retired to enjoy his triumph in the theatrical games and lascivious dances of the Greeks ; his soldiers, deserting their standards, spread themselves over the country of their allies, which they stripped of all that had been saved from the rapacious hands of the enemy. Alaric appears to have seized the favourable moment to execute one of those hardy enterprises, in which the abilities of a general are displayed with more genuine lustre than in the tumult of a day of battle. To extricate himself from the prison of Pelopon- nesus, it was necessary that he should pierce the intrenchments which surrounded his camp ; that he should perform a difficult ^s For Stilicho's Greek war, compare the honest narrative of Zosimus (1. v. p. 295, 296 [c. 7]) with the curious circumstantial flattery of Claudian (i. Cons. Stihch. 1. 172-186; iv. Cons. Hon. 459-487). As the event was not glorious, it is artfully thrown into the shade. [See Appendix 14.] 1'' The troops who marched through Elis delivered up their arms. This security enriched the Eleans, who were lovers of a rural life. Riches begat pride ; they disdained their privilege, and they suffered. Polybius advises them to retire once more within their map-jc circle. See a learned and judicious discourse on the Olympic games, wnich Mr. West has prefixed to his translation of Pindar. 18 Claudian (in iv. Cons. Hon. 480) alludes to the fact, without naming the river : perhaps the Alpheus (i. Cons. Stil. 1. i. 185). Et Alpheus Geticis angustus acervis Tardior ad Siculos etiamnum pergit amores. Yet I should prefer the Peneus, a shallow stream in a wide and deep bed, which runs through Elis, and falls into the sea below Cyllene. It had been joined with the Alpheus, to cleanse the Augean stable (Cellarius, tom. i. p. 760; Chandler's Travels, p. 286),