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 274 THE DECLINE AND FALL authority of Constaiitine proceeded not so much from the powers of government, or the spirit of the j)eople, as from the private zeal and interest of the family of J'heodosius. Four brothers ^^^ had obtained by the favour of their kinsman, the deceased emperor, an honourable rank, and ample possessions, in their native country ; and the grateful youths resolved to risk those advantiiges in the service of his son. After an unsuccessful effort to maintain their ground at the head of the stationary troops of Lusitania, they retired to their estates ; where they armed and levied, at their own expense, a considerable body of slaves and dependents, and boldly marched to occupy the strong posts of the Pyrenaean mountains. This domestic insurrection alarmed and perplexed the sovereign of Gaul and Britain ; and he was compelled to negotiate with some troops of Barbarian auxiliaries, for the service of the Spanish war. They were dis- tinguished by the title of Ho)iuri(iiix ; ^"^^ a name which might have reminded them of their fidelity to their lawful sovereign ; and, if it should candidly be allowed that the Scuia were influenced by any partial affection for a British prime, the Moors and Marcom- aiiiii could be tempted only by the profuse liberality of the usurper, who distributed among the Barbarians the military, and even the civil, honours of Spain. The nine bands of Hoiioriaiis, which may be easily traced on the establishment of the Western empire, could not exceed the number of five thousand men ; yet this inconsiderable force was sufficient to terminate a war which had threatened the power and safety of Constantine. The rustic army of the Theodosian family was suiTounded and destroyed in the Pyrenees : two of the brothers had the good fortune to escape by sea to Italy, or the E;ist ; the other two, after an interval of suspense, were executed at Aries ; and, if Honorius could remain insensible of the public disgrace, he might perhaps be affected by the personal misfortunes of his generous kinsmen. Such were the feeble arms which decided 100 Verinianus, Didymus, Theodosius, and Lagodius, who, in modern courts, would be styled princes of the blood, were not distinguished by any rank or privileges above the rest of their fellow-subjects. 101 These Hoiiuriaiii, or Honoriaci, consisted of two bands of Scots, or .-Vltacotli, two of Moors, two of Marcomanni, the Victores, the Ascarii, and the Gallicani (Notitia Imperil, sect, xx.wiii. edit. Lab). They were part of the si.xty-tive Auxilia Pahitina, and are properly styled ,'i' tj; oi/Aj/ rafu! by Zosimus(l. . p. 374 [c. 4]). [Mr. Hodgkin rightly observes that it is a mistake to suppose that the troops of Aux. Pal., called Honoriani, formed a single division, or necessarily acted together. The Honoriani in Gaul had nothing to do with the Honoriani in lUyricum ; and Constantine had only to do with the Honoriani in Gaul. Moreover the phiase of Zosimus docs not refer to Auxilia Palatina.j