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 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 327 alienate. ^'^* But, as it was soon discovered that the vindication of their liberty would endanger their lives, and that the Goths, unless they were tempted to sell, might be provoked to murder, their useless prisoners, the civil jurisprudence had been already qualified by a wise regulation that they should be obliged to serve the moderate term of five years, till they had dischai*ged by their labour the price of their redemption.^i^ The nations who invaded the Roman empire had driven before them, into Italy, whole troops of hungry and affrighted provincials, less apprehensive of servitude than of famine. The calamities of Rome and Italy dispersed the inhabitants to the most lonely, the most secure, the most distant places of refuge. While the Gothic cavalry spread tei'ror and desolation along the sea-coast of Campania and Tuscany, the little Island of Igilium, separated by a narrow channel from the Argentarian promontory, repulsed, or eluded, their hostile attempts ; and, at so small a distance from Rome, great numbers of citizens were securely concealed in the thick woods of that sequestei'ed spot.ii'' The ample patrimonies, which many senatorian families possessed in Africa, invited them, if they had time and prudence, to escape from the ruin of their country, to embrace the shelter of that hospitable province. The most illustrious of these fugitives was the noble and pious Proba,^'^'' the widow of the preefect Petronius. After !!■* See Heineccius, Antiquitat. Juris Roman, torn. i. p. g6. 115 Appendix Cod. Theodos. xvi. in Sirmond. Opera, torn. i. p. 735. This edict was puLlljhed the nth December, a.d. 408, and is more reasonable than properly belonged to the ministers of Honorius. 116 Eminus Igilii silvosa cacumina miror ; Quern fraudare nefas laudis honore suae. Hasc proprios nuper tutata est insula saltus ; Sive loci ingenio seu Domini genio. Gurgite cum modico victricibus obstitit armis Tanquam longinquo dissociata mari. Hasc multos lacera suscepit ab urbe fugatos, Hie fessis posito certa timore salus. Plurima terreno populaverat sequora bello. Contra naturam classe timendus eques Unum, mira fides, vario discrimine portum ! Tarn prope Romanis, tarn procul esse Getis. Rutilius, in Itinerar. 1. i. 325. The island is now called Giglio. See Cluver. Ital. Antiq. 1. ii. p. 502. 11' As the adventures of Proba and her family are connected with the life of St. Augustin, they are diligently illustrated by Tillemont, M(?m. Eccli^s. tom. xiii. p. 620-635. Some time after their arrival in Africa, Demetrias took the veil, and made a vow of virginity ; an event which was considered as of the highest impor- tance to Rome and to the world. All the Saints wrote congratulatory letters to her ; that of Jerom is still extant (tom. i. p. 62-73, ad Demetriad. de servanda Virginitat.) and contains a mixture of absurd reasoning, spirited declamation, and curious facts, some of which relate to the siege and sack of Rome [ep. 130 ; Migne, i. 1 107].