368 THE DECLINE AND FALL war.2^ After claiming for himself the privilege of a veteran soldier, the eunuch entrusted the guard of Thrace and the Hellespont to Gainas the Goth ; and the command of the Asiatic army to his favourite Leo : two generals who differently, but effectually, promoted the cause of the rebels. Leo,"^ who, from the bulk of his body and the dulness of his mind, was surnamed the Ajax of the East, had deserted his original trade of a wool comber, to exercise, with much less skill and success, the military profession ; and his uncertain operations were capriciously framed and executed, with an ignorance of real difficulties and a timorous neglect of eveiy favourable opportunity. The rashness of the Ostrogoths had drawn them into a disadvanta- geous position between the rivers Melas and EurjTnedon, where they were almost besieged by the peasants of Pamphylia ; but the arrival of an Imperial army, instead of completing their destruction, affoi'ded the means of safety and victory. Tribigild surprised the unguarded camp of the Romans, in the darkness of the night ; seduced the faith of the greater part of the Barbarian auxiliaries ; and dissipated, without much effort, the troops which had been corrupted by the relaxation of discipline and the luxury of the capital. The discontent of Gainas, who had so boldly contrived and executed the death of Rufinus, was irritated by the fortune of his unworthy successor ; he accused his own dishonourable patience under the servile reign of an eunuch ; and the ambitious Goth was convicted, at least in the public opinion, of secretly fomenting the revolt of Tribigild, with Avhom he was connected by a domestic, as well as by a national, alliance.-" When Gainas passed the Hellespont, to unite under his standard the remains of the Asiatic troops, he skilfully adapted his motions to the wishes of the Ostrogoths ; abandoning, by his retreat, the country which they desired to invade ; or facilitating, by his approach, the desertion of the Barbarian auxiliaries. To the Imperial court he repeatedly magnified the valour, the genius, the inexhaustible resources 25 The council of Eutropius, in Claudian, may be compared to that of Domitian in the fourth satire of JuvenaL The principal members of the former were : juvenes protervi lascivique senes; one of them had been a cook, a second a woolcomber. The language of their original profession exposes their assumed dignity ; and their tritling conversation about tragedies, dancers, &c. is made still more ridiculous by the importance of the debate. 2" Claudian (1. ii. 376-461) has branded him with infamy; and Zosimus, in more temperate language, confirms his reproaches. L. v. p. 305 [14]. 27 The conspiracy of Gainas and Tribigild, which is attested by the Greek historian, had not reached the ears of Claudian, who attributes the revolt of the Ostrogoth to his own ma7-tial spirit and the advice of his wife.
