ign in the West, where he had already
installed him, and that his eldest son, Arcadius, whom he had left as
regent in Constantinople when he set out against Eugenius, should
continue to reign in the East.

But he was not willing to leave his youthful heirs--Arcadius was only
eighteen--without a protector, and the most natural protector was one
bound to them by ties of relationship. Accordingly on his deathbed he
commended them to the care of the Vandal Stilicho, whom he had raised
for his military and other talents to the rank of commander-in-chief,
and, deeming him worthy of an alliance with his own family, had united
to his favorite niece Serena. We can hardly doubt that it was in this
capacity, as the husband of his niece and a trusted friend, not as a
general, that Stilicho received Theodosius' dying wishes; it was as an
elder member of the same family that the husband of their cousin could
claim to exert an influence over Arcadius and Honorius, of whom,
however, the latter, it would appear, was more especially committed to
his care, not only as the younger, but because Stilicho, being _magister
militum_ of the armies of Italy, would come more directly into contact
with him than with his brother.

Arcadius, with whom we are especially concerned, was about eighteen at
the time of his father's death. He was of short stature, of dark
complexion, thin and inactive, and the dulness of his wit was betrayed
by his speech and by his eyes, which always seemed as if they were about
to close in sleep. His smallness of intellect and his weakness of
character made it inevitable that he should come under the influence,
good or bad, of commanding personalities, with which he might be brought
in contact. Such a potent personality was the praetorian prefect Rufinus,
a native of Aquitaine, who in almost every respect presented a contrast
to his sovereign. He was tall and manly, and the restless movements of
his keen eyes and the readiness of his speech signified his intellectual
powers. He was a strong, worldly man, ambitious of power, and
sufficiently unprincipled; avaricious, too, like most ministers of the
age.

He had made many enemies by acts which were perhaps somewhat more than
usually unscrupulous, but we cannot justly assume that in the overthrow
of certain rivals he was entirely guilty and they entirely innocent, as
is sometimes represented. It is almost certain that he formed the scheme
and cherished the hope of becomin