Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/70

 50 THE DECLINE AND FALL required, in words of defiance, his name and the object of his expedition. " I am," replied the stern and disdainful count, " I am the ^feneral of Valentinian, the lord of the -world ; who has sent me hither to pursue and punish a desperate robber. Deliver him instantly into my hands ; and be assured that, if thou dost not obey the commands of my invincil>le sovereign, thou, and the people over whom thou reignest, shall be utterly extirpated." As soon as Igmazen was satisfied that his enemy had strength and resolution to execute the fatal menace, he consented to purchase a necessary peace by the sacrifice of a guilty fugitive. The guards that were placed to secure the person of Firmus deprived him of the hopes of escape ; and the Moorish tyrant, after Avine had extinguished the sense of danger, disappointed the insulting triumph of the Romans by strangling himself in the night. His dead body, the only present which Igmazen could offer to the conqueror, was carelessly thrown upon a camel ; and Theodosius, leading back his victorious troops to Sitifi, was saluted by the warmest acclamations of joy and loyalty. 1^7 Heisexecuted AfHca had been lost by the vices of Romanus ; it was restored at Carthage. ,, . ,. mi ^ i i /• n A.D. 376 by the virtues or 1 lieodosius : and our curiosity may be usefully directed to the inquiry of the respective treatment which the two generals received from the Imperial court. The authority of Count Romanus had been suspended by the master-general of the cavalry ; and he was committed to safe and honourable custody till the end of the war. His crimes were proved by the most authentic evidence ; and the public expected, with some impatience, the decree of severe justice. But the partial n«?. Mero- and powerful favour of Mellobaudes encouraged him to challenge his legal judges, to obtain repeated delays for the purpose of procuring a crowd of friendly witnesses, and, finally, to cover his guilty conduct by the additional guilt of fraud and forgery. About the same time, the restorer of Britain and Africa, on a vague suspicion that his name and services were superior to the rank of a subject, was ignominiously beheaded at Carthage. Valentinian no longer reigned ; and the death of Theodosius, as well as the impunity of Romanus, may justly be imputed to the arts of the ministers who abused the confidence, and deceived the inexperienced youth, of his sons.^^"^ ^^Amniian. xxix. 5. The text of this long chapter (fifteen quarto pages) is g^oken and corrupted, and the narrative is perplexed by the want of chronological aji(d geographical landmarks. [For the revolt, cp. also Pacatus, 5.] „. -^Animianus, xxviii. 4. Orosius, 1. vii. c. 33, p. 551, 552. Jerom, in Chron.
 * •'. [For confusion of Merobaudes and Mellobaudes, cp. p. 67 and App. 4.]