in one of the ports
of Spain, in search of some secure and solitary retreat: but he was
intercepted at sea, conducted to the presence of Honorius, led in
triumph through the streets of Rome or Ravenna, and publicly exposed to
the gazing multitude, on the second step of the throne of his invincible
conqueror. The same measure of punishment, with which, in the days of
his prosperity, he was accused of menacing his rival, was inflicted on
Attalus himself; he was condemned, after the amputation of two fingers,
to a perpetual exile in the Isle of Lipari, where he was supplied with
the decent necessaries of life. The remainder of the reign of Honorius
was undisturbed by rebellion; and it may be observed, that, in the space
of five years, seven usurpers had yielded to the fortune of a prince,
who was himself incapable either of counsel or of action.

[Footnote 153: Sidonius Apollinaris, (l. v. epist. 9, p. 139, and Not.
Sirmond. p. 58,) after stigmatizing the inconstancy of Constantine, the
facility of Jovinus, the perfidy of Gerontius, continues to observe,
that all the vices of these tyrants were united in the person of
Dardanus. Yet the praefect supported a respectable character in the
world, and even in the church; held a devout correspondence with St.
Augustin and St. Jerom; and was complimented by the latter (tom. iii.
p. 66) with the epithets of Christianorum Nobilissime, and Nobilium
Christianissime.]

[Footnote 154: The expression may be understood almost literally:
Olympiodorus says a sack, or a loose garment; and this method of
entangling and catching an enemy, laciniis contortis, was much practised
by the Huns, (Ammian. xxxi. 2.) Il fut pris vif avec des filets, is the
translation of Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 608. * Note:
Bekker in his Photius reads something, but in the new edition of the
Bysantines, he retains the old version, which is translated Scutis, as
if they protected him with their shields, in order to take him alive.
Photius, Bekker, p. 58.--M]

Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.--Part VI.

The situation of Spain, separated, on all sides, from the enemies of
Rome, by the sea, by the mountains, and by intermediate provinces, had
secured the long tranquillity of that remote and sequestered country;
and we may observe, as a sure symptom of domestic happiness, that, in a
period of four hundred years, Spain furnished very few materials to the