Syria. If he descended towards the sea, they imputed,
and perhaps suggested, to the Gothic chief, the more dangerous project
of arming a fleet in the harbors of Ionia, and of extending his
depredations along the maritime coast, from the mouth of the Nile to
the port of Constantinople. The approach of danger, and the obstinacy of
Tribigild, who refused all terms of accommodation, compelled Eutropius
to summon a council of war. After claiming for himself the privilege
of a veteran soldier, the eunuch intrusted the guard of Thrace and the
Hellespont to Gainas the Goth, and the command of the Asiatic army
to his favorite, 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 woolcomber, 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 every favorable opportunity.
The rashness of the Ostrogoths had drawn them into a disadvantageous
position between the Rivers Melas and Eurymedon, where they were almost
besieged by the peasants of Pamphylia; but the arrival of an Imperial
army, instead of completing their destruction, afforded 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 dishonorable
patience under the servile reign of a eunuch; and the ambitious Goth
was convicted, at least in the public opinion, of secretly fomenting the
revolt of Tribigild, with whom 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 th