Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/85

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 65 the deputy of Epirus, a Cynic philosopher of intrepid sincerity,!^^ whether he was freely sent by the wishes of the province ? " With tears and groans am I sent (replied Iphicles) by a reluctant people." The emperor paused : but the im- punity of his ministers established the pernicious maxim that they might oppress his subjects without injuring his service. A strict inquiry into their conduct would have relieved the public discontent. The severe condemnation of the murder of Gabinius was the only measure which could restore the confi- dence of the Germans and vindicate the honour of the Roman name. But the haughty monarch was incapable of the magna- nimity Avhich dares to acknowledge a fault. He forgot the pro- vocation, remembered only the injury, and advanced into the country of the Quadi with an insatiate thirst of blood and revenge. The extreme devastation and pi'omiscuous massacre of a savage war were justified, in the eyes of the emperor, and perhaps in those of the world, by the cruel equity of retalia- tion ; 1^"^ and such was the discipline of the Romans, and the consternation of the enemy, that Valentinian repassed the Danube without the loss of a single man. As he had resolved to complete the destruction of the Quadi by a second campaign, he fixed his winter-quarters at Bregetio, on the Danube, near the [o-szSny] Hungarian city of Presburg. While the operations of war were suspended by the severity of the weather, the Quadi made an humble attempt to deprecate the wrath of their conqueror ; and, at the earnest persuasion of Equitius, their ambassadors were intro- duced into the Imperial council. They approached the throne with bended bodies and dejected countenances ; and, without daring to complain of the murder of their king, they affirmed, with solemn oaths, that the late invasion was the crime of some irregular robbers, which the public council of the nation con- demned and abhorred. The answer of the emperor left them but little to hope from his clemency or compassion. He re- viled, in the most intemperate language, their baseness, their ingratitude, their insolence. — His eyes, his voice, his colour, his gestures, expressed the violence of his ungoverned fury; and, while his whole frame was agitated with convulsive passion, a large 159 Julian (Orat. vi. p. 198) represents his friend Iphicles as a man of virtue and merit, who had made himself ridiculous and unhappy by adopting the extravagant dress and manners of the Cynics. ifi^Ammian. xxx. 5. Jerom, who exaggerates the misfortune of Valentinian, refuses him even this last consolation of revenge. Genitali vastato solo, et inultam patriam derelinquens (tom. i. p. 26 [ep. 60]). VOL. III. 5