CHAP. the march of the army. XXV. His defeat A. D. 366. May 28. She was shewn to the multitude in the arms of her adopted father; and as often as she passed through the ranks, the tenderness of the soldiers was inflamed into mar. tial fury; they recollected the glories of the house of Constantine, and they declared, with loyal acclamation, that they would shed the last drop of their blood in the defence of the royal infant t. In the mean while, Valentinian was alarmed and death and perplexed, by the doubtful intelligence of the revolt of the East. The difficulties of a German war forced him to confine his imme diate care to the safety of his own dominions; and, as every channel of communication was stopt or corrupted, he listened, with doubtful anxiety, to the rumours which were industriously spread, that the defeat and death of Valens had left Procopius sole master of the eastern provinces. Valens was not dead: but, on the news of the rebellion, which he received at Cæsarea, he basely despaired of his life and fortune; proposed to negociate with the usurper, and discovered his secret inclination to abdicate the imperial purple. The timid monarch was saved from disgrace and ruin by the firmness of his ministers, and their abilities soon decided in his favour *The infant rebel was afterwards the wife of the emperor Gratian; but she died young and childless. See Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 48. 59. + Sequimini culminis summi prosapiam, was the language of Procopius; who affected to despise the obscure birth, and fortuitous election, of the upstart Pannonian. Ammian. xxvi. XXV. favour the event of the civil war. In a season of CHAP. tranquillity, Sallust had resigned without a murmur; but as soon as the public safety was attacked, he ambitiously solicited the pre-eminence of toil and danger; and the restoration of that virtuous minister to the præfecture of the East, was the first step which indicated the repentance of Valens, and satisfied the minds of the people. The reign of Procopius was apparently supported by powerful armies, and obedient provinces. But many of the principal officers, military as well as civil, had been urged, either by motives of duty or interest, to withdraw themselves from the guilty scene; or to watch the moment of betraying, and deserting, the cause of the usurper. Lupicinus advanced, by hasty marches, to bring the legions of Syria to the aid of Valens. Arintheus, who, in strength, beauty, and valour, excelled all the heroes of the age, attacked with a small troop a superior body of the rebels. When he beheld the faces of the soldiers who had served under his banner, he commanded them, with a loud voice, to seize and deliver up their pretended leader; and such was the ascendant of his genius, that this extraordinary order was instantly obeyed *. Arbetio, a respectable veteran of *Et dedignatus hominem superare certamine despicabilem, auctoritatis et celsi fiduciâ corporis, ipsis hostibus jussit, suum vincire rectorem : atque ita turmarum antesignanus umbratilis comprensus suorum manibus. The strength and beauty of Arintheus, the new Hercules, are celebrated by St Basil; who supposes that God had created him as an inimitable model of the human species. The painters and sculptors could not express his figure the historians appeared fabulous when they related his exploits (Ammian, xxvi. and Vales. ad loc.). XXV. CHAP. of the great Constantine, who had been distinguished by the honours of the consulship, was persuaded to leave his retirement, and once more to conduct an army into the field. In the heat cf action, calmly taking off his helmet, he shewed his grey hairs, and venerable countenance; saluted the soldiers of Procopius by the endearing names of children and companions, and exhorted them, no longer to support the desperate cause of a contemptible tyrant; but to follow their old commander, who had so often led them to honour and victory. In the two engagements of Thyatira and Nacosia, the unfortunate Procopius was deserted by his troops, who were seduced by the instructions and example of their perfidious officers. After wandering some time among the woods and mountains of Phrygia, he was betrayed by his desponding followers, conducted to the imperial camp, and immediately beheaded. He suffered the ordinary fate of an unsuccessful usurper; but the acts of cruelty which were exercised by the conqueror, under the forms of legal justice, excited the pity and indignation of mankind t. * Such * The same field of battle is placed by Ammianus in Ly. cia, and by Zosimus at Thyatira; which are at the distance of 150 miles from each other. But Thyatira alluitur Lyco (Plin. Hist. Natur. v. 31. Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq, t. ii. p. 79,); and the transcribers might easily convert an obscure river into a well-known province. The adventures, usurpation, and fall of Procopius, are related, in a regular series, by Ammianus (xxvi. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.), and Zosimus (1. iv. p. 203-210.). They often illustrate, and seldom contradict, cach other. Themistius (Orat. vii. p. 91, 95.) adds some base panegyric; and Eunapius (p. 83. 4.) some malicious satire. XXV. quisition crime of Rome and A. D. 373, magic at Antioch, &c. Such indeed are the common and natural CHAP. fruits of despotism and rebellion. But the inquisition into the crime of magic, which, under Severe inthe reign of the two brothers, was so rigorously. prosecuted both at Rome and Antioch, was interpreted as the fatal symptom, either of the displeasure of heaven, or of the depravity of mankind *. Let us not hesitate to indulge a liberal pride, that, in the present age, the enlightened part of Europe has abolished † a cruel and odious prejudice, which reigned in every climate of the globe, and adhered to every system of religious opinions. The nations, and the sects, of the Roman world, admitted with equal credulity, and similar abhorrence, the reality of that infernal art S, which was able to control the eternal order of the planets, and the voluntary operations of the human mind. They dreaded the mysterious *Libanius de ulciscend. Julian. nece, c. ix. p. 158, 159. The sophist deplores the public frenzy, but he does not (after their deaths) impeach the justice of the emperors. p. 553. As The French and English lawyers, of the present age, allow the theory, and deny the practice, of witchcraft. Denisart, Recueil des Decisions de Jurisprudence, au mot Sorciers, t. iv. Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. iv. p. 60. private reason always prevents, or outstrips, public wisdom, the president Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xii. c. 5, 6.) rejects the existence of magic. See Oeuvres de Bayle, tom. iii. p. 567-589. The sceptic of Rotterdam exhibits, according to his custom, a strange medley of loose knowledge, and lively wit. The pagans distinguished between good and bad magic, the Theurgic and the Goetic. Hist. de l'Academie, &c. t. vii. p. 25. But they could not have defended this obscure distinction against the acute logic of Bayle. In the Jewish and Christian system, all demons are infernal spirits; and all commerce with them is idolatry, apostacy, &c. which deserves death and damnation. XXV. CHAP. mysterious power of spells and incantations, of potent herbs, and execrable rites; which could extinguish or recall life, inflame the passions of the soul, blast the works of creation, and extort from the reluctant demons the secrets of futurity. They believed, with the wildest inconsistency, that this preternatural dominion of the air, of earth, and of hell, was exercised, from the vilest motives of malice or gain, by some wrinkled hags, and itinerant sorcerers, who passed their obscure lives in penury and contempt *. The arts of magic were equally condemned by the public opinion, and by the laws of Rome; but as they tended to gratify the most imperious passions of the heart of man, they were continually proscribed, and continually practised t. An imaginary cause is capable of producing the most serious and mischievous effects. The dark predictions of the death of an emperor, or the success of a conspiracy, were calculated only to stimulate the hopes of ambition, and to dissolve the ties of fidelity; and the intentional guilt of magic was aggravated by the actual crimes of trea son The Canidia of Horace (Carm. 1. v. od. 5. with Dacier's and Sanadon's illustration)s is a vulgar witch. The Erictho of Lucan (Pharsal. vi. 430-830.) is tedious, disgusting, but sometimes sublime. She chides the delay of the Furies; and threatens, with tremendous obscurity, to pronounce their real names; to reveal the true infernal countenance of Hecate; to invoke the secret powers that lie below hell, &c. + Genus hominum potentibus infidum, sperantibus fallax, quod in civitate nostrâ et vetabitur semper et retinebitur. Tacit. Hist. i. 22. See Augustin. de Civitate Dei, 1. viii. c. 19. and the Theodosian Code, I. ix. tit. xvi. with Godefroy's Com mentary. |