OF THE EOMAN EMPIRE 257 capricious Barbarians. In this extremity he still found re- sources in his own courage, or in the moderation of his adversary ; and the retreat of the Gothic king was considered as the de- liverance of Italy. 53 Yet the people and even the clergy, incapable of forming any rational judgment of the business of peace and war, presumed to arraign the policy of Stilicho, who so often vanquished, so often surrounded, and so often dismissed the implacable enemy of the republic. The first moment of the public safety is devoted to gratitude and joy ; but the second is diligently occupied by envy and calumny. ^^ The citizens of Rome had been astonished by the approach of The tnumph Alaric ; and the diligence with which they laboured to restore at Roms n -■ AD 404 the walls of the capital confessed their own fears and the de- cline of the empire. After the retreat of the Barbarians, Honorius was directed to accept the dutiful invitation of the senate, and to celebrate in the Imperial city the auspicious aera of the Gothic victory and of his sixth consulship. ^^ The suburbs and the streets from the Milvian bridge to the Palatine mount, were filled by the Roman people, who, in the space of an hundred years, had only thrice been honoured with the presence of their sovereigns. While their eyes were fixed on the chariot where Stilicho was desei-vedly seated by the side of his royal pupil, they applauded the pomp of a triumph, which Avas not stained, like that of Constantine, or of Theodosius, with civil blood. The procession passed under a lofty arch, which had been jjurposely erected : but in less than seven years the Gothic conquerors of Rome might read, if they Avere able to read, the superb in- scription of that monument, which attested the total defeat and destruction of their nation. 5 The emperor resided several months in the capital, and every part of his behaviour was regu- lated with care to conciliate the affection of the clergy, the senate, and the people of Rome. The clergy was edified by his frequent visits and liberal gifts to the shrines of the apostles. The senate, who in the triumphal procession had been excused 53 The Getic war and the sixth consulship of Honorius obscurely connect the events of Alaric's retreat and losses. ^ Taceo de Alarico . . . saepe victo, saepe concluso, semperque dimisso. Orosius, 1. vii. c. 37, p. 567. Claudian (vi. Cons. Hon. 320) drops the curtain with a fine image. 5= The remainder of Claudian's poem on the si.xth consulship of Honorius de- scribes the journey, the triumph, and the games (330-660). ^^ See the inscription in Mascou's History of the Ancient Germans, viii. 12. The words are positive and indiscreet, Getarum nationem in omne aevum domi- tam [/e^. docuere extingui], &c. [C. I. L. 6, 1196. It probably refers to the defeat of Radagaisus, a.d. 405. See Appendix 13.] VOL. III. 17
