OF THE EOMAN EMPIEE 231 Byzantium, who presumed to imitate the dress, and to usurp the dignity, of Roman senators ; ^~ and the Greeks had not yet forgot the sentiments of hatred and contempt which their polished ancestors had so long entertained for the rude inhabi- tants of the West. The distinction of two governments, which soon produced the separation of two nations, will justify my design of suspending the series of the Byzantine history, to prosecute, without interruption, the disgraceful, but memorable, reign of Honorius. The prudent Stilicho, instead of persisting to force the Revolt of gu inclinations of a prince and people who rejected his government, A.o.sse^ss' wisely abandoned Arcadius to his unworthy favourites ; and his reluctance to involve the two empires in a civil war displayed the moderation of a minister who had so often signalized his military spirit and abilities. But, if Stilicho had any longer endured the revolt of Africa, he would have betrayed the security of the capital and the majesty of the Western emperor to the capricious insolence of a Moorish rebel. Gildo,^^ the brother of the tyrant Firmus, had preserved and obtained, as the reward of his apparent fidelity, the immense patrimony which was forfeited by treason ; long and meritorious service, in the armies of Rome, raised him to the dignity of a inilitary count ; the narrow policy of the court of Theodosius had adopted the mischievous expedient of supporting a legal govern- ment by the interest of a powerful family ; and the brother of Firmus was invested with the command of Africa. His ambition soon usurped the administration of justice and of the finances, without account and without control ; and he main- tained, during a reign of twelve years, the possession of an office from which it was impossible to remove him without the danger of a civil war. During those twelve years, the province of Africa groaned under the dominion of a tyrant who seemed to unite the unfeeling temper of a stranger with the partial resentments of domestic faction. The forms of law were often 27 Claudian turns the consulship of the eunuch Eutropius into a national reflec- tion (1. ii. 134 [135]) : . . . Plaudentem cerne senatum Et Byzantines proceres Graiosque Quirites : O patribus plebes, O digni consule patres. It is curious to observe the first symptoms of jealousy and schism between old and new Rome, between the Greeks and Latins. =8 Claudian may have exaggerated the vices of Gildo ; but his Moorish extraction, his notorious actions, and the complaints of St. Augustin may justify the poet's invectives. Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 398, No. 35-56) has treated the African rebellion with skill and learning.
