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 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 399 the military talents of Count Boniface. In the field of battle, in partial encounters, in single combats, he was still the terror of the Barbarians ; the clergy, and particularly his friend Augustin, were edified bj' the Christian piety which had once tempted him to retire from the world ; the people applauded his spotless integrity ; the army dreaded his equal and inexorable justice, which may be displayed in a very singular example. A peasant, who complained of the criminal intimacy between his wife and a Gothic soldier, was directed to attend his tribunal the follow- ing day ; in the evening the count, who had diligently informed himself of the time and place of the assignation, mounted his horse, rode ten miles into the country, surprised the guilty couple, punished the soldier with instant death, and silenced the complaints of the husband by presenting him, the next morning, with the head of the adulterer. The abilities of Aetius and Boniface might have been usefully employed against the public enemies, in separate and important commands ; but the expei'ience of their past conduct should have decided the real favour and confidence of the empress Placidia. In the melancholy season of her exile and distress, Boniface alone had maintained her cause with unshaken fidelity ; and the troops and treasures of Africa had essentially contributed to extinguish the rebellion. The same rebellion had been supported by the zeal and activity of Aetius, who brought an army of sixty thousand Huns from the Danube to the confines of Italy, for the service of the usui-per. The untimely death of John compelled him to accept an advantageous treaty ; but he still continued, the subject and the soldier of Valentinian, to entertain a secret, perhaps a treasonable, correspondence with his Bai'barian allies, whose retreat had been purchased by liberal gifts and more liberal promises. But Aetius possessed an advantage of singular moment in a female reign : he was present ; he besieged, with artful and assiduous flattery, the palace of Ravenna ; disguised his dark designs with the mask of loyalty and friendship ; and at length deceived both his mistress and his absent rival by a subtle conspiracy, which a weak woman and a brave man could not easily suspect. He secretly persuaded ^^ Placidia to recal Error and re- Boniface from the government of Africa: he secretly advised face SiAfrica. ° •' A.D. 427 12 Procopius (de Bell. Vandal. 1. i. c. 3, 4, p. 182-186) relates the fraud of Aetius, the revolts of Boniface, and the loss of Africa. This anecdote, which is supported by some collateral testimony (see Ruinart, Hist. Persecut. Vandal, p. 420, 421), seems agreeable to the practice of ancient and modern courts, and would be naturally revealed by the repentance of Boniface.