d 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 country, 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
seasonable and orderly retreats; they were continually baffled by the
unknown resources of the military art; and they felt and confessed the
just superiority which was assumed by the leader of a civilized nation.
When Theodosius entered the extensive dominions of Igmazen, king of the
Isaflenses, the haughty savage required, in words of defiance, his
name, and the object of his expedition. "I am," replied the stern and
disdainful count, "I am the general of Valentinian, the lord of the
world; who has sent me hither to pursue and punish a desperate robber.
Deliver him instantly into my hands; and be assured, that if thou dost
not obey the commands of my invincible sovereign, thou, and the people
over whom thou reignest, shall be utterly extirpated." [122a] As soon
as Igmazen was satisfied, that his enemy had strength and resolution to
execute the fatal menace, he consented to purchase a necessary peace
by the sacrifice of a guilty fugitive. The guards that were placed to
secure the person of Firmus deprived him of the hopes of escape; and
the Moorish tyrant, after wine had extinguished the sense of danger,
disappointed the insu