e was distracted by female
discord; but the victory was at last decided, by the superior ascendant
of the sister of Theodosius. The execution of Paulinus, master of the
offices, and the disgrace of Cyrus, Praetorian praefect of the East,
convinced the public that the favor of Eudocia was insufficient to
protect her most faithful friends; and the uncommon beauty of Paulinus
encouraged the secret rumor, that his guilt was that of a successful
lover. As soon as the empress perceived that the affection of Theodosius
was irretrievably lost, she requested the permission of retiring to
the distant solitude of Jerusalem. She obtained her request; but the
jealousy of Theodosius, or the vindictive spirit of Pulcheria, pursued
her in her last retreat; and Saturninus, count of the domestics, was
directed to punish with death two ecclesiastics, her most favored
servants. Eudocia instantly revenged them by the assassination of
the count; the furious passions which she indulged on this suspicious
occasion, seemed to justify the severity of Theodosius; and the empress,
ignominiously stripped of the honors of her rank, was disgraced,
perhaps unjustly, in the eyes of the world. The remainder of the life of
Eudocia, about sixteen years, was spent in exile and devotion; and the
approach of age, the death of Theodosius, the misfortunes of her only
daughter, who was led a captive from Rome to Carthage, and the society
of the Holy Monks of Palestine, insensibly confirmed the religious
temper of her mind. After a full experience of the vicissitudes of human
life, the daughter of the philosopher Leontius expired, at Jerusalem,
in the sixty-seventh year of her age; protesting, with her dying breath,
that she had never transgressed the bounds of innocence and friendship.

The gentle mind of Theodosius was never inflamed by the ambition of
conquest, or military renown; and the slight alarm of a Persian war
scarcely interrupted the tranquillity of the East. The motives of this
war were just and honorable. In the last year of the reign of Jezdegerd,
the supposed guardian of Theodosius, a bishop, who aspired to the crown
of martyrdom, destroyed one of the fire-temples of Susa. His zeal
and obstinacy were revenged on his brethren: the Magi excited a cruel
persecution; and the intolerant zeal of Jezdegerd was imitated by his
son Varanes, or Bahram, who soon afterwards ascended the throne. Some
Christian fugitives, who escaped to the Roman frontier, were