Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/39

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 19 When Tacitus describes the deaths of the innocent and The cmeity of illustrious Romans, who were sacrificed to the cruelty of the and^vSeL^ first Caesars, the art of the historian, or the merit of the •°-^'^''* sufferers, excite in our breasts the most lively sensations of terror, of admiration, and of pity. The coarse and undis- tinguishing pencil of Ammianus has delineated his bloody figures with tedious and disgusting accuracy. But, as our attention is no longer engaged by the contrast of freedom and servitude, of recent greatness and of actual misery, we should turn with horror fi-om the frequent executions which disgraced, both at Rome and Antioch, the reign of the two brothers. ^^ Valens was of a timid,-^*^ and Valentinian of a choleric, disposition.''^ An anxious regard to his personal safety was the ruling principle of the administration of Valens. In the condition of a subject, he had kissed, with trembling awe, the hand of the oppressor ; and, when he ascended the throne, he reasonably expected that the same fears which had subdued his own mind would secure the patient submission of his people. The favourites of Valens obtained, by the privilege of rapine and confiscation, the wealth which his economy would have refused. ^^ They urged, with persuasive eloquence, that, in all cases of treason, suspicion is equivalent to proof; that the power, supposes the intention, of mischief; that the intention is not less criminal than the act; and that a subject no longer deserves to live, if his life may threaten the safety, or disturb the repose, of his sovereign. The judgment of Valentinian was sometimes deceived and his confidence abused ; but he would have silenced the informers with a contemptuous smile, had they presumed to alarm his fortitude by the sound of danger. They [c. 13]). The philosopher Maximus, with some justice, was involved in the charge of magic (Eunapius in Vit. Sophist, p. 88, 89 [ed. Commelin, 1616]) ; and young Chrysostom, who had accidently found one of the proscribed books, gave himself for lost. Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, torn. v. p. 340. 55 Consult the six last books of Ammianus, and more particularly the portraits of the two royal brothers (xxx. 8, 9, xxxi. 14). Tillemont has collected (tom. v. p. 12-18, p. 127-133) from all antiquity their virtues and vices. sfiThe younger Victor asserts [Epit. 46] that he was valde timidus : yet he behaved, as almost every man would do, with decent resolution at the head of an army. The same historian attempts to prove that his anger was harmless. Ammianus observes [31, 14] with more candour and judgment, incidentia crimina ad contemptam vel lassam principis amplitudinem trahens, in sanguinem saeviebat. 57 Cum esset ad acerbitatem naturae calore propensior . . . pcenas per ignes augebat et gladios. Ammian. xxx. 8. See xxvii. 7. ^ I have transfeiTed the reproach of avarice from Valens to his servants. Avarice more properly belongs to ministers than to kings ; in whom that passion is commonly extinguished by absolute possession.