Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/300

 280 THE DECLINE AND FALL executing a resolution, which might have been justified by success, StiHcho hesitated till he was irrecoverably lost. He was still ignorant of the fate of the emperor ; he distrusted the fidelity of his own })arty ; and he viewed with hon-or the fatal consequences of arming a crowd of licentious Barbarians against the soldiers and people of Italy. The confederates, impatient of his timorous and doubtful delay, hastily retired, with fear and indignation. At the hour of midnight, Sarus, a Gothic warrior, renowned among the Barbarians themselves for his strength and valour, suddenly invaded the camp of his benefactor, plundered the baggage, cut in pieces the faithful Huns, who guarded his person, and penetrated to the tent, where the minister, pensive and sleepless, meditated on the dangers of his situation. Stilicho escaped with difficulty from the sword of the Goths ; and, after issuing a last and genei'ous admonition to the cities of Italy, to shut their gates against the Barbarians, his confidence, or his despair, urged hini to throw himself into Ravenna, which was already in the absolute possession of his enemies. Olympius, who had assumed the dominion of Honorius, was speedily in- formed that his rival had embraced, as a suppliant, the altar of the Christian church. The base and cruel disposition of the hypocrite was incapable of pity or remorse ; but he piously affected to elude, rather than to violate, the privilege of the sanctuary. Count Heraclian, with a troop of soldiers, appeared, at the dawn of day, before the gates of the church of Ravenna. The bishop was satisfied by a solemn oath that the Imperial mandate only directed them to secure the person of Stilicho : but, as soon as the unfortunate minister had been tempted beyond the holy threshold, he produced the warrant for his instant execution. Stilicho supported, with calm resignation, the injurious names of traitor and parricide ; repressed the un- seasonable zeal of his followers, who were ready to attempt an ineffectual rescue ; and, with a firmness not unworthy of the last of the Roman generals, submitted his neck to the sword of Heraclian. 1"* flis memory The scrvile crowd of the palace, who had so long adored the fortune of Stilicho, affected to insult his fall, and the most dis- tant connexion with the master-general of the West, which had so lately been a title to wealth and honours, was studiously los Zosimus(l. v. p. 336-345 [c. 30]) has copiously, though not clearly, related the disgrace and death of Stilicho. Olympiodorus (apud Phot. p. 177 [fr. 2]), Orosius (1. vii. c. 38, p. 571, 572), Sozomen (1. ix. 0.4), and Philostorgius (1. xi. c. 3, 1. xii. 0. 2) afford supplemental hints. persecated