218 THE DECLINE AND FALL salonica, the cruel Riifinus inflamed the fury, without imitating the repentance, of Theodosius. The minister, who viewed with proud indifference the rest of mankind, never forgave the appearance of an injury ; and his personal enemies had forfeited in his opinion the merit of all public services. Promotus, the master-general of the infantry, had saved the empire from the invasion of the Ostrogoths ; but he indignantly supported the pre-eminence of a rival whose character and profession he despised ; and, in the midst of a public council, the impatient soldier was provoked to chastise with a blow the indecent pride of the favourite. This act of violence was represented to the emperor as an insult which it was incumbent on his dignity to resent. The disgrace and exile of Promotus were signified by a peremptory order to repair, without delay, to a military station on the banks of the Danube ; and the death of that general (though he was slain in a skirmish with the Barbarians) was imputed to the perfidious arts of Rufinus.^ The sacrifice of an hero gratified his revenge ; the honours of the consulship elated his vanity ; but his power was still imperfect and precarious, as long as the important posts of praefect of the East and of praefect of Constantinople Avere filled by Tatian ^ and his son Proculus ; whose united authority balanced, for some time, the ambition and favour of the master of the offices. The two praefects were accused of rapine and corruption in the administration of the laws and finances. For the trial of these illustrious offenders, the emperor constituted a special commission; several judges were named to share the guilt and reproach of injustice ; but the right of pronouncing sentence was reserved to the president alone, and that president was Rufinus himself The father, stripped of the praefecture of the East, was thrown into a dungeon ; but the son, conscious that few ministers can be found innocent where an enemy is their judge, had secretly escaped ; and Rufinus must have been satisfied with the least obnoxious victim, if despotism had not condescended to employ the basest and most ungenerous artifice. The prosecution was conducted with an appearance of equity and moderation, which flattered 5 Zosimus, 1. iv. p. 272, 273 [c. 51]. c Zosimus, who describes the fall of Tatian and his son (1. :v. p. 273, 274 [c. 52]), asserts their innocence ; and even his testimony may outweigh the charges of their enemies (Cod. Theodos. torn. iv. p. 489) who accuse them of oppressing the Curies. The connexion of Tatian with the Arians, while he was praefect of Egypt (a.D. 373), inclines Tillemont to believe that he was guilty of every crime (Hist, des Emp. torn. V. p. 360. M^m. Eccl^s. torn. vi. p. 589). [Rufinus was probably not guilty of the death of Promotus, The silence of Claudian outweighs the charge of Zosimus. J
