compelled Stilicho to retire, at the haughty mandate of his rivals, from
the dominions of Arcadius; and he respected, in the enemy of Rome, the
honorable character of the ally and servant of the emperor of the East.

[Footnote 16: For Stilicho's Greek war, compare the honest narrative of
Zosimus (l. v. p. 295, 296) with the curious circumstantial flattery of
Claudian, (i. Cons. Stilich. l. i. 172-186, iv. Cons. Hon. 459-487.) As
the event was not glorious, it is artfully thrown into the shade.]

[Footnote 17: The troops who marched through Elis delivered up their
arms. This security enriched the Eleans, who were lovers of a rural
life. Riches begat pride: they disdained their privilege, and they
suffered. Polybius advises them to retire once more within their magic
circle. See a learned and judicious discourse on the Olympic games,
which Mr. West has prefixed to his translation of Pindar.]

[Footnote 18: Claudian (in iv. Cons. Hon. 480) alludes to the fact
without naming the river; perhaps the Alpheus, (i. Cons. Stil. l. i.
185.)

---Et Alpheus Geticis angustus acervis
Tardior ad Siculos etiamnum pergit amores.

Yet I should prefer the Peneus, a shallow stream in a wide and deep bed,
which runs through Elis, and falls into the sea below Cyllene. It had
been joined with the Alpheus to cleanse the Augean stable. (Cellarius,
tom. i. p. 760. Chandler's Travels, p. 286.)]

[Footnote 19: Strabo, l. viii. p. 517. Plin. Hist. Natur. iv. 3.

Wheeler, p. 308. Chandler, p. 275. They measured from different points
the distance between the two lands.]

A Grecian philosopher, [20] who visited Constantinople soon after the
death of Theodosius, published his liberal opinions concerning the
duties of kings, and the state of the Roman republic. Synesius observes,
and deplores, the fatal abuse, which the imprudent bounty of the late
emperor had introduced into the military service. The citizens and
subjects had purchased an exemption from the indispensable duty of
defending their country; which was supported by the arms of Barbarian
mercenaries. The fugitives of Scythia were permitted to disgrace
the illustrious dignities of the empire; their ferocious youth, who
disdained the salutary restraint of laws, were more anxious to acquire
the riches, than to imitate the arts, of a people, the object of
their contempt and hatred; and the power of the Goths was the stone of
Tantalus, perpetually suspended over the peace and safet