d so
often conducted them to victory and honor. A contemporary writer assigns
two other causes for the failure of the expedition; but they are both of
such a nature, that a cautious historian will scarcely venture to adopt
them. We are told that Galerius, who had formed a very imperfect notion
of the greatness of Rome by the cities of the East with which he was
acquainted, found his forces inadequate to the siege of that immense
capital.

But the extent of a city serves only to render it more accessible to the
enemy: Rome had long since been accustomed to submit on the approach of
a conqueror; nor could the temporary enthusiasm of the people have
long contended against the discipline and valor of the legions. We are
likewise informed that the legions themselves were struck with horror
and remorse, and that those pious sons of the republic refused to
violate the sanctity of their venerable parent. [26] But when we
recollect with how much ease, in the more ancient civil wars, the zeal
of party and the habits of military obedience had converted the native
citizens of Rome into her most implacable enemies, we shall be inclined
to distrust this extreme delicacy of strangers and barbarians, who had
never beheld Italy till they entered it in a hostile manner. Had they
not been restrained by motives of a more interested nature, they would
probably have answered Galerius in the words of Caesar's veterans: "If
our general wishes to lead us to the banks of the Tyber, we are prepared
to trace out his camp. Whatsoever walls he has determined to level
with the ground, our hands are ready to work the engines: nor shall we
hesitate, should the name of the devoted city be Rome itself." These
are indeed the expressions of a poet; but of a poet who has been
distinguished, and even censured, for his strict adherence to the truth
of history. [27]

[Footnote 25: With regard to this negotiation, see the fragments of an
anonymous historian, published by Valesius at the end of his edition
of Ammianus Marcellinus, p. 711. These fragments have furnished with
several curious, and, as it should seem, authentic anecdotes.]

[Footnote 26: Lactantius de M. P. c. 28. The former of these reasons
is probably taken from Virgil's Shepherd: "Illam * * * ego huic notra
similem, Meliboee, putavi," &c. Lactantius delights in these poetical
illusions.]

[Footnote 27: Castra super Tusci si ponere Tybridis undas; (jubeus)
Hesperios audax veniam metator in ag