266 THE DECLINE AND FALL than to the valour of man."'-' They strictly exclude every idea of chance, or even of bloodshed, and jwsitively affirm that the Romans, whose camp was the scene of plenty and idleness, en- joyed the distress of the Barbarians, slowly exjjiring on the sharp and barren rid<ije of the hills of FEesuUc, which rise above the city of Florence. Their extravagant assertion that not a single soldier of the Christian army was killed, or even woinided, may be dismissed with silent contempt ; but the rest of the narrative of Augustin and Orosius is consistent with the state of the war and the character of Stilicho. Conscious that he commanded the lujil army of the republic, his prudence would not expose it in the open field to the headstronn^ fury of the Germans. The method of surrounding the enemy with strong lines of circumvallation, which he had twice employed against the Gothic king, was repeated on a larger scale, and with more considerable effect. The examples of Caesar must have been familiar to the most illiterate of the Roman warriors ; and the fortifications of Dyrra- chium, which connected twenty-four castles by a perpetual ditch and ram])art of fifteen miles, afforded the model of an intrench- ment which might confine and starve the most numerous host of Barbarians. s*^ The Roman troops had less degenerated from the industry than fi-om the valour of their ancestors, and, if the servile and laborious work offended the pride of the soldiers, Tuscany could supply many thousand peasants who would laboui", though })erhaps they would not fight, for the salvation of their native country. The imprisoned multitude of horses and men ^^ was gradually destroyed by famine rather than by the sword ; but the Romans were exposed, during the progress of such an extensive work, to the frequent attacks of an impatient "'Augustin de Civitat. Dei, v. 23. Orosius, 1. vii. c. 37, p. 567-571. The two friends wrote in Africa, ten or twelve years alter the victory ; and their authority is implicitly followed by Isidore of Seville (in Chron. p. 713, edit. Grot). How many interesting facts might Orosius have inserted in the vacant space which is devoted to pious nonsense !
- Franguntur montes, planumque per ardua Cassar
Ducit opus : pandit fossas. turritaque summis Disponit castella jugis, magnoque recessu Aniplexus fines ; saltus neniorosaque tesqua Et silvas vastiqueferasindagineclaudit. Yet the simplicity of truth (Caesar, de Bell. Civ. iii. 44) is far greater than the amplifications of Liican (Pharsal. 1. vi. 29-63). M The rhetorical expressions of Orosius, " In arido et aspero mentis jugo," " in unum ac parvuni verticem," are not very suitable to the encampment of a great army. But Faesula?, only three miles from Florence, might afford space for the headquarters of Radagaisus, and would be comprehended within the circuit of the Roman lines.
