y preserved during the long
march from Thessalonica to the gates of Constantinople. As soon as they
had resolved his death, they condescended to flatter his pride;
the ambitious praefect was seduced to believe, that those powerful
auxiliaries might be tempted to place the diadem on his head; and the
treasures which he distributed, with a tardy and reluctant hand, were
accepted by the indignant multitude as an insult, rather than as a gift.
At the distance of a mile from the capital, in the field of Mars, before
the palace of Hebdomon, the troops halted: and the emperor, as well as
his minister, advanced, according to ancient custom, respectfully to
salute the power which supported their throne. As Rufinus passed along
the ranks, and disguised, with studied courtesy, his innate haughtiness,
the wings insensibly wheeled from the right and left, and enclosed the
devoted victim within the circle of their arms. Before he could reflect
on the danger of his situation, Gainas gave the signal of death; a
daring and forward soldier plunged his sword into the breast of the
guilty praefect, and Rufinus fell, groaned, and expired, at the feet
of the affrighted emperor. If the agonies of a moment could expiate the
crimes of a whole life, or if the outrages inflicted on a breathless
corpse could be the object of pity, our humanity might perhaps be
affected by the horrid circumstances which accompanied the murder
of Rufinus. His mangled body was abandoned to the brutal fury of the
populace of either sex, who hastened in crowds, from every quarter of
the city, to trample on the remains of the haughty minister, at whose
frown they had so lately trembled. His right hand was cut off, and
carried through the streets of Constantinople, in cruel mockery, to
extort contributions for the avaricious tyrant, whose head was publicly
exposed, borne aloft on the point of a long lance. [31] According to
the savage maxims of the Greek republics, his innocent family would have
shared the punishment of his crimes. The wife and daughter of Rufinus
were indebted for their safety to the influence of religion. Her
sanctuary protected them from the raging madness of the people; and they
were permitted to spend the remainder of their lives in the exercise of
Christian devotions, in the peaceful retirement of Jerusalem. [32]

[Footnote 28: I. Cons. Stilich. ii. 88-94. Not only the robes and
diadems of the deceased emperor, but even the helmets, sword-hilts,
be