OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE 49 those arts which^ in the same country and in a similar situation, had formerly been practised by the ci-afty Jugurtha. He at- tempted to deceive, by an apparent submission, the vigilance of the Roman general ; to seduce the fidelity of his troops ; and to protract the duration of the war, by successively engaging the independent tribes of Africa to espouse his quarrel or to protect his flight. Theodosius imitated the example, and obtained the success, of his predecessor Metellus. When Firmus, in the character of a suppliant, accused his own rashness and humbly solicited the clemency of the emperor, the lieutenant of Valen- tinian received and dismissed him with a friendly embrace ; but he diligently required the useful and substantial pledges of a sincere repentance ; nor could he be persuaded, by the assur- ances of peace, to suspend, for an instant, the operations of an active war. A dark conspiracy was detected by the penetration of Theodosius ; and he satisfied, without much reluctance, the public indignation, which he had secretly excited. Several of the guilty accomplices of Firmus were abandoned, according to ancient custom, to the tumult of a military execution ; many more, by the amputation of both their hands, continued to exhibit an instructive spectacle of horror ; the hatred of the rebels was accompanied with fear ; and the fear of the Roman soldiers was mingled with respectful admiration. Amidst the boundless plains of Getulia, and the innumerable valleys of Mount Atlas, it was impossible to prevent the escape of Firmus ; and, if the usurper could have tired the patience of his antagonist, he would have secured his person in the depth of some remote solitude, and expected the hopes of a future revolution. He was subdued by the perseverance of Theodosius ; who had formed an inflexible determination that the war should end only by the death of the tyrant, and that every nation of Africa which presumed to support his cause should be involved in his ruin. At the head of a small body of troops, which seldom exceeded three thousand five hundred men, the Roman general advanced with a steady prudence, devoid of rashness or of fear, into the heart of a comatry where he was sometimes attacked by armies of twenty thousand Moors. The boldness of his charge dismayed the irregular Barbarians ; they were disconcerted by his season- able and orderly retreats ; they were continually baffled by the unknowTi resources of the military art ; and they felt and con- fessed the just superiority which was assumed by the leader of a civihzed nation. When Theodosius entered the extensive dominions of Igmazen, king of the Isaflenses, the haughty savage VOL. III. 4
