many thousands of the flying Bastarnae is
represented by the poet as a bloody sacrifice, which the Roman Achilles
offered to the manes of another Patroclus. The virtues and victories of
Stilicho deserved the hatred of Rufinus: and the arts of calumny might
have been successful if the tender and vigilant Serena had not protected
her husband against his domestic foes, whilst he vanquished in the
field the enemies of the empire. [24] Theodosius continued to support an
unworthy minister, to whose diligence he delegated the government of
the palace, and of the East; but when he marched against the tyrant
Eugenius, he associated his faithful general to the labors and glories
of the civil war; and in the last moments of his life, the dying monarch
recommended to Stilicho the care of his sons, and of the republic.
[25] The ambition and the abilities of Stilicho were not unequal to the
important trust; and he claimed the guardianship of the two empires,
during the minority of Arcadius and Honorius. [26] The first measure of
his administration, or rather of his reign, displayed to the nations the
vigor and activity of a spirit worthy to command. He passed the Alps
in the depth of winter; descended the stream of the Rhine, from the
fortress of Basil to the marshes of Batavia; reviewed the state of
the garrisons; repressed the enterprises of the Germans; and, after
establishing along the banks a firm and honorable peace, returned, with
incredible speed, to the palace of Milan. [27] The person and court of
Honorius were subject to the master-general of the West; and the armies
and provinces of Europe obeyed, without hesitation, a regular authority,
which was exercised in the name of their young sovereign. Two rivals
only remained to dispute the claims, and to provoke the vengeance, of
Stilicho. Within the limits of Africa, Gildo, the Moor, maintained a
proud and dangerous independence; and the minister of Constantinople
asserted his equal reign over the emperor, and the empire, of the East.

[Footnote 17: Stilicho, directly or indirectly, is the perpetual
theme of Claudian. The youth and private life of the hero are vaguely
expressed in the poem on his first consulship, 35-140.]

[Footnote 18: Vandalorum, imbellis, avarae, perfidae, et dolosae,
gentis, genere editus. Orosius, l. vii. c. 38. Jerom (tom. i. ad
Gerontiam, p. 93) call him a Semi-Barbarian.]

[Footnote 19: Claudian, in an imperfect poem, has drawn a fair, perhaps
a fl