Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/82

 60 THE DECLINE AXD FALL in the camps that his authority was disobeyed and insulted ; he appeased and inflamed with gold the licentiousness of the troops ; but their vices were inherent, their victories were accidental, and their costly maintenance exhausted the sub- stance of a state which they were unable to defend. After a long and pernicious indulgence, the cure of this inveterate evil was undertaken by Maurice ; but the rash attempt, which drew destruction on his own head, tended only to aggravate the disease. A reformer should be exempt from the suspicion of interest, and he must possess the confidence and esteem of those whom he proposes to reclaim. T'he troops of Maurice might listen to the voice of a victorious leader ; they disdained the Their ducon- admonitions of statesmen and sophists ; and, when they received an edict which deducted from their pay the price of their arms and clothing, they execrated the avarice of a prince insensible of the dangers and fatigues from which he had escaped. The camps both of Asia and Europe were agitated with frequent and furious seditions ; -''^ the enraged soldiers of Edessa pursued, with reproaches, with threats, with wounds, their trembling generals ; they overturned the statues of the emperor, cast stones against the miraculous image of Christ, and eitlier re- jected the yoke of all civil and military laws or instituted a dangerous model of voluntary subordination. The monarch, always distant and often deceived, was incapable of yielding or pei'sisting according to the exigence of the moment. But the fear of a genei-al revolt induced him too readily to accept any act of valour or any expression of loyalty, as an atonement for the popular offence ; the new reform was abolished as hastily as it had been announced ; and the troops, instead of punishment and restraint, were agreeably surprised by a gracious proclama- tion of immunities and rewards. But the soldiers accepted without gratitude the tardy and reluctant gifts of the emperor ; their insolence was elated by the discovery of his weakness and their own strength ; and their mutual iiatred was inflamed beyond the desire of foi'giveness or the hope of reconciliation. The historians of the times adopt the vulgar suspicion that Maurice cons])ired to destroy the troops whom he had laboured to reform ; the misconduct and favour of Commentiolus are im- puted to this malevolent design ; and every age must condemn •''1 See the mutinies under the reign of Maurice, in Theophylact, 1. iii. c. 1-4, 1. c. 7, 8, 10, 1. vii. c. 1, 1. viii, c. 6, &c.