Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/378

 358 THE DECLINE AND FALL CHAPTER XXXII Arcadius Emperor of the East — Administration and Disgrace of Eutropius — Revolt of Gainas — Persecution of St, John Chryso- stom — Theodosius II. Emperor of the East — His Sister Pulcheria — His Wife Eudocia — The Pa'siari War, and Division of Armenia The empire of The division of the Roman world between the sons of Theodosius 395-1453 ■ ■ marks the final establishment of the empire of the East, which^ 5^,^ from the reign of Arcadius to the taking of Constantinople by A.D. 395408 t-jjg Turks, Subsisted one thousand and fifty -eight years, in a state of prematui-e and pei-petual decay. The sovereign of that empire assumed, and obstinately retained, the vain, and at length fictitious, title of Emperor of the Romans ; and the hereditaiy appellations of Csesar and Augustus continued to declare that he was the legitimate successor of the first of men, who had reigned over the first of nations. The palace of Constantinople rivalled, and perhaps excelled, the magnificence of Persia ; and the eloquent sei-mons of St. Chiysostom ^ celebrate, while they condemn, the pompous luxurj' of the reign of Arcadius. " The emperor," says he, "wears on his head either a diadem or a crown of gold, decorated with precious stones of inestimable value. These ornaments and his purple garments are reserved for his sacred person alone ; and his robes of silk are embroidered with the figures of golden dragons. His throne is of massy gold. Whenever he appears in public, he is surrounded by his courtiers, his guards, and his attendants. Their spears, their shields, their cuirasses, the bridles and trappings of their horses, have either the substance or the appearance of gold ; and the large splendid boss in the midst of their shield is encircled with smaller bosses, 1 Father Montfaucon, who, by the command of his Benedictine sufieriors, was compelled (see Longueruana, torn. i. p. 205) to execute the laborious edition of St. Chrysostom, in thirteen volumes in folio (Paris, 1738), amused himself with extracting, from that immense collection of morals, some curious antiquities, which illustrate the manners of the Thsodosian age (see Chr>-sostom. Opera, tom. xiii. p. 192-196, and his French Dissertation, in the M^moires de I'Acad. des Inscriptions, torn, xiii. p. 474-490). [A. Puech has recently devoted a whole book to the same subject : St. Jean Chrysostome et les moeurs de son temps, 1891.]