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 338 THE DECLINE AND FALL Bevolt and defeat of Heracllaji, count of Africa. A.D. 413 which had been committed by his unhappy subjects during the term of the public disorder and calamity. A decent and respectful attention was paid to the restoration of the capital ; the citizens Avere encouraf^ed to rebuild the edifices which had been destroyed or damaged by hostile fire ; and extraordinary supplies of corn were imported from the coast of Africa. The crowds that so lately fied before the sword of the Barbai'ians were soon recalled by the hopes of plenty and pleasure ; and Albinus, prsefect of Rome, informed the court, with some anxiety and surprise, that in a single day he had taken an account of the arrival of fourteen thousand strangers.'^'' In less than seven years the vestiges of the Gothic invasion were almost obliterated, and the city appeared to resume its former splendour and tran- quillity. The venerable matron replaced her crown of laurel which had been ruffled by the stomis of war ; and was still amused, in the last moment of her decay, with the prophecies of revenge, of victoiy, and of eternal dominion. i^'* This apparent tranquillity was soon distui'bed by the approach of an hostile armament from the country which afforded the daily subsistence of the Roman people. Heraclian, count of Africa, who, under the most difficult and distressful circum- stances, had supported, with active loyalty, the cause of Honorius, was tempted, in the year of his consulship, to assume the charac- ter of a rebel and the title of emperor. The ports of Africa were immediately filled with the naval forces, at the head of which he pi'epared to invade Italy ; and his fleet, when it cast anchor at the mouth of the Tiber, indeed surpassed the fleets of Xerxes and Alexander, if all the vessels, including the royal galley and the smallest boat, did actually amount to the in- credible number of three thousand two hundred.^^" Yet with i'*^ Olympiodorus ap. Phot. p. i88 [fr. 25]. Philostorgius (1. .ii. c. 5) ob.serves that, when Honorius made his triumphal entry, he encouraged the Romans with his hand and voice (x^ 'P' «<"• -y^wTTr)) to rebuild their city ; and the Chronicle of Prosper commends Heraclian, qui in Romanae urbis reparationem strenuum ex- hibuerat niinisterium. "^ The date of the voyage of Claudius Rutilius Nuniatianus [Namatianus] is clogged with some difficulties, but Scaliger has deduced from astronomical char- acters that he left Rome the 24th of September and embarked at Porto the 9th of October, A.D. 416. See Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, torn. v. p. 820. In this political Itineraiy Rutilius (1. i. 115, &c.) addresses Rome in a high strain of congratulation :— Erige crinales lauros, seniumque sacrati Verticis in virides Roma recinge comas, fie. [Rutilius had been magister officiorum and prsef. urbi of Rome. 15^' Orosius composed his history in Africa only two years after the event; yet his authority seems to be overbalanced by the injprobability of the fact. The