Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/390

 370 THE DECLINE AND FALL people.25 The powers of humanity, of superstition, and of eloquence, prevailed. The empress Eudoxia was restrained, by her own prejudices, or by those of her subjects, from violat- ing the sanctuary of the church ; and Eutropius was tempted to capitulate, by the milder arts of persuasion, and by an oath that his life should be spared. •^'^ Careless of the dignity of their sovereign, the new ministers of the palace immediately pub- lished an edict, to declare that his late favourite had disgraced the names of consul and patrician, to abolish his statues, to confiscate his wealth, and to inflict a perpetual exile in the island of Cyprus. ^^ A despicable and decrepid eunuch could no longer alami the fears of his enemies ; nor was he capable of enjoying what yet remained, the comforts of peace, of solitude, and of a happy climate. But their implacable revenge still envied him the last moments of a miserable life, and Eutropius had no sooner touched the shores of Cyprus than he Avas hastily recalled. The vain hope of eluding, by a change of place, the obligation of an oath engaged the empress to transfer the scene of his trial and execution from Constantinople to the adjacent suburb of Chalcedon. The consul Am-elian pronounced the sentence ; and the motives of that sentence expose the juris- prudence of a despotic government. The crimes which Eutropius had committed against the people might have justi- fied his death ; but he was found guilty of harnessing to his chariot the sacred animals, who, from their breed or colour, were reserved for the use of the emperor alone.^^ 29 See the Homily of Chrysostom, torn. iii. p. 381-386, of which the exordium is particularly beautiful Socrates, 1. vi. c. 5 ; Sozomun, L viii. c. 7. Montfaucon (in his Life of Chrysostom, tom. xiii. p. 135) too hastily supposes that Tribigild was achially in Constantinople ; and that he commanded the soldiers who were ordered to seize Eutropius. Even Claudian, a Pagan poet (Prajfat. ad 1. IL in Eutrop. p. 27), has mentioned the flight of the eunuch to the sanctuary. Suppliciterque pias humilis prostratus ad aras Mitigat iratas voce tremente nurus. 3<'Chr}'sostom, in another homily (tom. iii. p. 386), affects to declare that Eutropius would not have been taken, had he not deserted the church. Zosimus (L V. p. 313 [18]), on the contrary, pretends that his enemies forced him €fapjr(i<ra;'Tt? outoi' from the Sanctuary. Yet the promise is an evidence of some treaty ; and the strong assurance of Claudian (Praefat. ad 1. ii. 46), Sed tamen exemplo non feriere tuo, may be considered as an evidence of some promise. 31 Cod. Theod. 1. ix. tit. xi. leg. 14 leg. tit. xl.. leg. 17]. The date of that law (Jan. 17, A.D. 399) is erroneous and corrupt; since the fall of Eutropius could not happen till the autumn of the same year. See Tillemont, Hist, des Empereurs, tom. V. p. 78a 3- Zosimus, L v. p. 313 [18]. Philostorgius, 1. xi. c. 6. [Not using imperial animals (/3oo-K^yiia<rn'), but imperial decorations (Kocr^^Mao-tK). See note of Valesius, on the passage of Philostorgius (Migne, vol. 65, p. 600).]