Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/403

 OF THE EOMAN EMPIRE 383 nately, committed his son and his dominions to the unknown faith of a stranger, a rival, and a heathen. At the distance of one hundred and fifty years, this poUtical question might be debated in the court of Justinian ; but a prudent historian Avill refuse to examine the propriety, till he has ascertained the tnitli, of the testament of Arcadius. As it stands without a parallel in the history of the world, we may justly require that it should be attested by the positive and unanimous evidence of contem- poraries. The strange novelty of the event, which excites our distrust, must have attracted their notice ; and their universal silence annihilates the vain tradition of the succeeding age. The maxims of Roman jui'isprudence, if they could fairly be Administr^ transferred from private property to public dominion, would miu«. a.d. have adjudged to the emperor Honorius the guardianship of his nephew, till he had attained, at least, the fourteenth year of his age. But the weakness of Honorius and the calamities of his reign disqualified him from prosecuting this natural claim ; and such was the absolute separation of the two monarchies, both in interest and affection, that Constantinople would have obeyed with less reluctance the orders of the Persian, than those of the Italian, com't. Under a prince whose weakness is disguised by the external signs of manhood and discretion the most worthless favourites may secretly dispute the empire of the palace, and dictate to submissive pi-ovinces the commands of a master whom they direct and despise. But the ministers of a child who is incapable of arming them with the sanction of the royal name must acquire and exercise an independent authority. The great officers of the state and army, who had been appointed before the death of Arcadius, formed an aristocracy, which might have inspired them with the idea of a free republic ; and the govern- ment of the eastern empire was fortunately assumed by the praefect Anthemius,^^ who obtained, by his superior abilities, a lasting ascendant over the minds of his equals. The safety of the young emperor proved the merit and integrity of An themius ; and his prudent firmness sustained the force and reputation of an infant reign. Uldin, with a formidable host of Barbarians, was encamped in the heart of Thrace : he proudly rejected all terms of accommodation ; and, pointing to the rising sun, ^5 Socr. L vii. c. i. Anthemius was the grandson of Philip, one of the minis- ters of Constantius, and the giandfather of the emperor Anthemius. _ After his return from the Persian embassy, he was appointed consul and Prastorian prefect of the East, in the year 405 ; and held the prasfecture about ten years. See his honours and praises in Godefroy, Cod. Theod. tom. vi. p. 350. Tillemont, Hist, des Emp. tom. vi. p. i, &c.