his prisoners to his gods, the execution of
Radagaisus, if, as it appears, he was taken in arms, cannot deserve
Gibbon's severe condemnation. Mr. Herbert (notes to his poem of Attila,
p. 317) justly observes, that "Stilicho had probably authority for
hanging him on the first tree." Marcellinus, adds Mr. Herbert,
attributes the execution to the Gothic chiefs Sarus.--M.]

[Footnote 83: And Claudian's muse, was she asleep? had she been ill
paid! Methinks the seventh consulship of Honorius (A.D. 407) would have
furnished the subject of a noble poem. Before it was discovered that the
state could no longer be saved, Stilicho (after Romulus, Camillus and
Marius) might have been worthily surnamed the fourth founder of Rome.]

The fame of the victory, and more especially of the miracle, has
encouraged a vain persuasion, that the whole army, or rather nation, of
Germans, who migrated from the shores of the Baltic, miserably perished
under the walls of Florence. Such indeed was the fate of Radagaisus
himself, of his brave and faithful companions, and of more than one
third of the various multitude of Sueves and Vandals, of Alani and
Burgundians, who adhered to the standard of their general. [84] The
union of such an army might excite our surprise, but the causes of
separation are obvious and forcible; the pride of birth, the insolence
of valor, the jealousy of command, the impatience of subordination, and
the obstinate conflict of opinions, of interests, and of passions, among
so many kings and warriors, who were untaught to yield, or to obey.
After the defeat of Radagaisus, two parts of the German host, which must
have exceeded the number of one hundred thousand men, still remained
in arms, between the Apennine and the Alps, or between the Alps and the
Danube. It is uncertain whether they attempted to revenge the death
of their general; but their irregular fury was soon diverted by
the prudence and firmness of Stilicho, who opposed their march, and
facilitated their retreat; who considered the safety of Rome and Italy
as the great object of his care, and who sacrificed, with too much
indifference, the wealth and tranquillity of the distant provinces. [85]
The Barbarians acquired, from the junction of some Pannonian deserters,
the knowledge of the country, and of the roads; and the invasion of
Gaul, which Alaric had designed, was executed by the remains of the
great army of Radagaisus. [86]

[Footnote 84: A luminous passage of