c. 5, 6.]

PROCEEDINGS OF ARCADIUS.

509

could not beget even a common son, became thenceforth the father of the emperor.

CHAP. 5. According to Philostorgius, Eutropius, who succeeded Rufinus in the office of prefect of the Prætorium, gave orders to transfer Eunomius from the Dacoroënian territory to Tyana, to be there kept by the monks. For he felt envy against the glory of Eunomius, and would not suffer his body even to be laid in the same tomb with the master, though many of the soldiers earnestly entreated him. The very books too of the same Eunomius he commanded to be destroyed by a public edict.1

CHAP. 6.—The emperor Arcadius, after his father's death, took to wife the daughter of Bauto. Now this Bauto was of barbarian origin, and had discharged the office of Master of the Soldiery in the West. The wife too was quite the opposite of her husband in respect of his sloth and indolence, for she had in her a considerable amount of the audacity which marks barbarians. Arcadius had already had by her two daughters, Pulcheria and Arcadia; and soon afterwards he had another son and daughter, named Theodosius and Marina. But at the time when he had only two children, Eutropius had on one occasion treated his wife with great indignity; for he threatened her that he would straightway turn her out of his palace; accordingly, embracing her two children in her arms, she came to her husband just as she was, and crying and stretching forth her children, she poured forth a flood of tears, adding also those other artifices which women in their anger are wont to adopt with the truly feminine design of exciting their husbands' feelings of pity more vehemently. Then Arcadius was moved with pity for his infants, who by a natural impulse joined their lamentations with those of their mother, and was fired with rage. And then it was that Arcadius showed himself to be an emperor,2 while his anger inflamed him, and prompted to him weighty words. Accordingly he forthwith stripped Eutropius of all his dignity, deprived him of his wealth, and banished him to the island of Cyprus. And not long afterwards, when certain persons accused him of

This was sanctioned by a Constitution sent by Arcadius to Eutychian, the successor of Cæsarius, A. D. 398. See lib. iv. Codex Theodos. de Hæreticis.

2 Compare Socrates, Eccl. Hist. b. vi. ch. 5, and Sozomen, Eccl. Hist. b. viii. ch. 7.

having made use, when consul, of those very ornaments which no one but the emperor could legally use, he was recalled from Cyprus. And when the judges were seated in the place called Pantichium,1 and Aurelian the prefect of the Prætorium, and the other magistrates who were in high command, had been appointed to carry on the investigation, Eutropius was convicted of the crime laid to his charge, and suffered the penalty of it by the loss of his head. Thus at all events Philostorgius gives the narrative of the event; others however allege different circumstances as the grounds on account of which Eutropius was stripped of his dignity and command, and eventually put to death.

CHAP. 7.-Philostorgius says that in his day there was so severe a pestilence as had never occurred before within the memory of man, in accordance with the portent of the star which appeared in the form of a sword. For not only was the military force destroyed, as in former wars, nor was it only in one part of the world that signal calamities occurred; but men of every rank and degree perished, and the whole of Europe and a very large part of Asia was entirely ravaged. A considerable portion of Africa also, and especially that part which was subject to the Romans, felt the blow. For the sword of the barbarians carried off large multitudes, and pestilence and famine pressed upon them at the same time together with large herds of wild beasts. In addition to this there were very grievous earthquakes, which overturned houses and entire cities from their foundations, and hurled them into inevitable ruin. Moreover, in certain parts the earth opened and gaped, swallowing up the inhabitants suddenly as in a tomb. There were also im certain other parts deluges of rain from heaven; in other parts fierce droughts and fiery whirlwinds, descending from above, to complete the manifold calamity till it was past endurance. Hail too fell in many places, bigger than a stone which would fill the hand, nay, it was found in some parts of such a size that it weighed no less than eight pounds. Moreover there was a great downfal of snow accompanied by a very severe frost, which seized upon those who had not been carried off by the other calamities, and deprived them of life, most clearly revealing the anger of

1 Or rather Panteichium. Compare Socrates, Eccl. Hist. b. vii. ch. 21.

c. 8.]

INVASION OF THE HUNS.

511

God. But to mention the details of these visitations is a task which surpasses human ability.

CHAP. 8.-The Huns,' who had seized upon that part of Scythia which lies across the Ister and laid it waste, afterwards crossed the river when it was frozen over, and made an irruption into the Roman territory: then spreading themselves over the entire surface of Thrace, they laid waste all Europe. But the Eastern Huns crossed the river Tanais, and pouring into the provinces of the East, made an irruption through the Greater Armenia into a district called Melitine. Thence they proceeded to attack the parts about the Euphrates, and penetrated as far as Cole-Syria, and having overrun Cilicia, destroyed an incredible number of its inhabitants. Moreover the Mazices and Ausorians, who dwell between Africa and Libya, flocking in from the eastern parts, devastated Libya, and at the same time overran a considerable portion of Egypt. On the west they attacked the Africans, and inflicted upon them a similar loss. Besides all these barbarians, Tribigildus,2 a Scythian by birth and origin, and one of that tribe which are now called Goths,-for there are several distinct and separate tribes of this race, this Tribigildus, finding himself surrounded by a large force of barbarians, while he resided at Nacolia in Phrygia, and when he had been rewarded with the title of a Count, (Comes,) suddenly became an enemy of the Romans instead of a friend; and beginning from Nacolia itself, he seized on very many cities of Phrygia, and made great havoc among their inhabitants. Gaïnas, the Master of the Soldiery, who was himself a barbarian, on being sent against him, betrayed the victory, for he was meditating a similar course against the Romans. Thereupon Tribigildus, as though flying away from Gaïnas, made an invasion into Pisidia and Pamphylia, and laid them waste; when at last, after having suffered many losses through the difficulty of the various places, and in his battles in Isauria, he escaped at length to the Hellespont, and crossing thence into Thrace, he died not very long afterwards. Gaïnas after his revolt assumed the dignity of Master of the Soldiery, returned to Constantinople, and endeavoured to seize upon it. But a

1 Compare Sozomen, Eccl. Hist. b. viii. ch. 1.

2 Compare Socrates, Eccl. Hist. b. vi. ch. 6, and Sozomen, Eccl. Hist. b. viii. ch. 4.

heavenly army, seen by those who had endeavoured to put the affair into execution, deterred his troops, and freed the city from all fear of a siege; while on the other hand it caused the opposing party to be caught, and gave them over into the hands of their foes. Accordingly a vast slaughter followed: Gaïnas too was seized with such alarm, that immediately upon night-fall, he broke through the guards of the gates by a sally and left the city, attended by a small band which he was able to rally round him. But since Thrace had been laid entirely waste, and could afford no means of sustenance or offer any rewards for another predatory incursion, Gaïnas crossed over into the Chersonese, contemplating to cross over thence into Asia by means of boats. As soon as this plan of his was made known to the emperor, Fravitas, the Master of the Soldiery, was sent against him. This person was a Goth by descent, and a pagan by religion; but he was faithful to the Romans, and most skilled in military tactics. Accordingly while Gaïnas was transporting his army in vessels to the opposite continent, he came against him with some ships of war, and after a light encounter destroyed all who were being carried in the transports. Hereupon Gaïnas, seeing that all hope was lost, fled away into the higher regions of Thrace. And not long afterwards certain Huns made an attack upon him and killed him: his head was seasoned with salt and carried to Constantinople. Besides these calamities, the tribe of the Isaurians inflicted several disasters on the Romans. For in the East they overran Cilicia and the neighbouring parts of Syria, and not only what is called Cole-Syria, but all that tract which stretches on till it joins Persia. But towards the north and north-west1 they invaded Pamphylia and laid waste Lycia. They also devastated the island of Cyprus, and likewise carried off the Lycaonians and Pisidians into slavery; and having driven the Cappadocians out of their settlements, and taken them captive, they pushed on as far as Pontus, and treated their captives far more savagely than was customary among the other barbarians.

1 Iapyx. Compare Horace, iii. Od. xxvii. 20.

c. 1, 2.] ALARIC'S INCURSION INTO GREECE.

EPITOME OF BOOK XII.

513

CHAP. 1.-PHILOSTORGIUS severely censures Stilicho on many other grounds, and more especially accuses him of having aimed at seizing the empire. He also relates how a certain magister named Olympius, seized with his own hand the sword which had been drawn against the emperor in his own palace, and so saved the emperor's life at the cost of great bodily injury, and lent him his aid and assistance in putting Stilicho to death while he was staying at Ravenna. Others call this man not Olympius but Olympiodorus; and they relate not that he came to the assistance of the emperor, but that he laid plots against Stilicho, who deserved well at his hands, and falsely accused him of aiming at the empire. They also state that, at this time, he was not a magister at all, but that he attained this dignity after the unjust murder of Stilicho, as the reward of his crime, and that not long afterwards he was put to death with clubs, and so paid to Stilicho the penalty of his nefarious wickedness.

CHAP. 2.-About the same period Alaric, a Goth by descent, having collected an army in the upper parts of Thrace, made an incursion into Achaia and took Athens; he also laid waste the regions belonging to Macedonia, and the borders of Dalmatia. Moreover, he made an inroad into Illyricum, and then crossed over the Alps, and overran the north of Italy. According to Philostorgius, he was recalled thence by Stilicho,1 who at this time was still alive, and who opened to him the passes of the Alps. He says that Stilicho employed against the emperor every possible artifice of treachery, and not only viewed him with an unfavourable eye because he was his sonin-law 2-(for he had given him his daughter in marriage)— but also administered to him a potion for the purpose of preventing him from becoming a parent; nor did he perceive that, while he was endeavouring to proclaim his son Eucherius emperor in the teeth of right and justice, he was ruining and destroying, before arriving at his time, his own grandson, and the rightful heir to the imperial throne. And further, he

1 Compare Sozomen, Eccl. Hist. b. viii. ch. 25, and b. ix. ch. 4. 2 After the death of his empress Eudoxia, Honorius had married first Maria, and afterwards Thermantia, daughter of Stilicho.

[PHILOSTORGIUS.]

2 L