the throne of Constantinople, and to Honorius the sceptre of the West. They had both, for some time, obtained the title of Augustus; though the former was only eighteen, and the latter no more than eleven, at their father's death.

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CHAP. XXIV.

The Reigns of Arcadius and Honorius-Theodosius II. and Valentinian III.

A. D. RUFINUS was apppointed guardian or minister to Arcadius, and Stilicho

395.

to Honorius. If these two persons were not rivals under Theodosius, they soon became so through mutual jealousy of power under his sons, who, out of respect to their father's memory and virtues, were acknowledged by the unanimous consent of mankind, emperors of the East and West. Rufinus, by birth a Gascon, and whose character is stained with the imputation of every crime, had risen by the favour of Theodosius to the præfecture of the East. He pos sessed diligence and capacity; but pride, malice, and covetousness, tarnished all his valuable qualities. Stilicho, on the other hand, was of Vandal origin; and his strength and stature admirably fitted him for the profession of arms, in which he had attained a high rank, by his prudence and valour. A partner in the glory of Theodosius, which his conduct had often exalted, the dying monarch had recommended to him, with his last breath, the care of his sons, and of the republic. The person and court of Honorius, at Milan, readily acknowledged the ascendant of Stilicho; but he soon shewed a desire of that superiority in the government of the East also,

which, he averred, had been destined for him by Theodosius, during the minority of his sons. In order to defend himself against these pretensions, Rufinus projected marrying his daughter to his imperial pupil, convinced that the father-in-law of the emperor would have no competition to fear, and even stood a chance of being associated with his son-in-law in the purple. While he indulged these illusory hopes, Lucian, count of the East, having incurred the resentment of the emperor, by his disobedience to an unjust order, Arcadius committed his punishment to the revengeful Rufinus, the former patron of the accused, who, with a malignant joy, undertook a rapid journey from Constantinople to Antioch of eight hundred miles, to see the vengeance, which he had prompted, executed on the unhappy offender. Without going through any of the customary forms of justice, Lucian was condemned by his inexorable persecutor to suffer death by torture; and no sooner had Rufinus perpetrated the inhuman act, than he returned with similar speed to Constantinople, in order to hasten the nuptials of his daughter, whom he intended to bestow on the emperor of the East.

But while the præfect was satiating his revenge at Antioch, a conspiracy of the subordinate ministers, directed by Eutropius, the great chamberlain, undermined his influence in the palace. Arcadius felt no partial attachment to the daughter of Rufinus, but listened with eager attention to the description, and gazed with rapture on the picture, of Eudoxia, the daughter of Bauto, a general of the Franks, in the service of Rome, who, after the death of her father, had been

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brought

brought up in a family of distinction at Constantinople. The emperor had so carefully concealed his real designs, that the marriage procession set out as if to espouse the daughter of Rufinus, but when they came opposite the house where Eudoxia resided, it stopped all at once, and the principal eunuch entering, invested her with the imperial robes, and conducted her to the palace and arms of Arcadius.

The secrecy and success of this conspiracy fixed an indelible ridicule on the character of the minister, who was wounded to the very core by the frustration of his plans; but while he was converting his wealth to the support of his declining influence at the court of Constantinople, he was alarmed by the approach of a very formidable rival in the person of Stilicho, mastergeneral of the empire of the West, who had undertaken to lead back the eastern troops that had been employed in the civil war against Eugenius.

In order to supplant this dreaded chief, and to render himself necessary to the emperor, Rufinus, by underhand practices, stirred up the Goths and Vandals to invade his dominions; and horrible were the excesses committed by these barbarians, under their leader Alaric. They passed over into Greece, which they ravaged without opposition; and though Stilicho offered to turn the forces which he commanded against them, Arcadius, in consequence of the insidious advice of Rufinus, forbade him to advance; and desired that the troops of the East, which he had united to his own, might be sent back. The prompt obedience of the general of the West evinced his loyalty to the world, but that his revenge might not sleep, he gave the charge of the borrowed legions to his intimate friend Gainas, a Goth.

On

On their approach to Constantinople, Arcadius came out to meet them, accompanied by his minister. The young emperor they received with acclamations, but on a signal given, they fell upon Rufinus, and instantly dispatched him. His mangled body was abandoned to the brutal fury of the populace; but his wife and daughter were protected by a religious sanctuary, and permitted afterwards to spend their lives in a peaceful retirement at Jerusalem.

But though Stilicho gratified his revenge by the murder of his rival, his ambition was disappointed. The emperor Arcadius preferred the obsequious arts of the eunuch Eutropius, to the stern genius of a foreign warrior. The charms of Eudoxia, and the sword of Gainas, who had been prevailed on to accept the station of mastergeneral of the East, till they were divided by jealousy, supported the authority of Eutropius; and, at a moment when union was most necessary, the subjects of Arcadius and Honorius were instructed by their respective masters to view each other in a hostile light.

The people, who had rejoiced at the death of Rufinus, soon found that they had gained nothing by the change. Eutropius was stained with all the vices of his predecessor in office, without possessing any of his engaging qualities. The old eunuch was cruel, deceitful, ungrateful, and consequently suspicious. He distrusted all whom he did not personally like, and particularly those who had been his benefactors. Stilicho, still animated with a desire of regulating the affairs of the East, and preventing their final ruin which he foresaw would involve the West, had returned to Greece to oppose the devastations of Ala

ric