oncerted plan of
operations; the events of each day added strength and spirit to the
Roman arms; and the artful diligence of the emperor, who circulated the
most favorable reports of the success of the war, contributed to subdue
the pride of the Barbarians, and to animate the hopes and courage of
his subjects. If, instead of this faint and imperfect outline, we could
accurately represent the counsels and actions of Theodosius, in four
successive campaigns, there is reason to believe, that his consummate
skill would deserve the applause of every military reader. The republic
had formerly been saved by the delays of Fabius; and, while the splendid
trophies of Scipio, in the field of Zama, attract the eyes of posterity,
the camps and marches of the dictator among the hills of the Campania,
may claim a juster proportion of the solid and independent fame, which
the general is not compelled to share, either with fortune or with his
troops. Such was likewise the merit of Theodosius; and the infirmities
of his body, which most unseasonably languished under a long and
dangerous disease, could not oppress the vigor of his mind, or divert
his attention from the public service. [118]

[Footnote 113: Let us hear Ammianus himself. Haec, ut miles quondam et
Graecus, a principatu Cassaris Nervae exorsus, adusque Valentis inter,
pro virium explicavi mensura: opus veritatem professum nun quam, ut
arbitror, sciens, silentio ausus corrumpere vel mendacio. Scribant
reliqua potiores aetate, doctrinisque florentes. Quos id, si libuerit,
aggressuros, procudere linguas ad majores moneo stilos. Ammian. xxxi.
16. The first thirteen books, a superficial epitome of two hundred and
fifty-seven years, are now lost: the last eighteen, which contain no
more than twenty-five years, still preserve the copious and authentic
history of his own times.]

[Footnote 114: Ammianus was the last subject of Rome who composed a
profane history in the Latin language. The East, in the next century,
produced some rhetorical historians, Zosimus, Olympiedorus, Malchus,
Candidus &c. See Vossius de Historicis Graecis, l. ii. c. 18, de
Historicis Latinis l. ii. c. 10, &c.]

[Footnote 115: Chrysostom, tom. i. p. 344, edit. Montfaucon. I have
verified and examined this passage: but I should never, without the
aid of Tillemont, (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 152,) have detected
an historical anecdote, in a strange medley of moral and mystic
exhortations, addressed, by the prea