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The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

E >> Edward Gibbon >> The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire




[Footnote 65: Sozomen alone (l. vii. c. 13) throws this luminous
fact into a dark and perplexed narrative.]

[Footnote 66: Excubabat pia plebs in ecclesia, mori parata cum
episcopo suo .... Nos, adhuc frigidi, excitabamur tamen civitate
attonita atque curbata. Augustin. Confession. l. ix. c. 7]
[Footnote 67: Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. ii. p. 78, 498. Many
churches in Italy, Gaul, &c., were dedicated to these unknown
martyrs, of whom St. Gervaise seems to have been more fortunate
than his companion.]
[Footnote 68: Invenimus mirae magnitudinis viros duos, ut prisca
aetas ferebat, tom. ii. Epist. xxii. p. 875. The size of these
skeletons was fortunately, or skillfully, suited to the popular
prejudice of the gradual decrease of the human stature, which has
prevailed in every age since the time of Homer.

Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris.]

[Footnote 69: Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xxii. p. 875. Augustin.
Confes, l. ix. c. 7, de Civitat. Dei, l. xxii. c. 8. Paulin. in
Vita St. Ambros. c. 14, in Append. Benedict. p. 4. The blind
man's name was Severus; he touched the holy garment, recovered
his sight, and devoted the rest of his life (at least twenty-five
years) to the service of the church. I should recommend this
miracle to our divines, if it did not prove the worship of
relics, as well as the Nicene creed.]

[Footnote 70: Paulin, in Tit. St. Ambros. c. 5, in Append.
Benedict. p. 5.]
[Footnote 71: Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. x. p. 190, 750. He
partially allow the mediation of Theodosius, and capriciously
rejects that of Maximus, though it is attested by Prosper,
Sozomen, and Theodoret.]

The reign of Maximus might have ended in peace and
prosperity, could he have contented himself with the possession
of three ample countries, which now constitute the three most
flourishing kingdoms of modern Europe. But the aspiring usurper,
whose sordid ambition was not dignified by the love of glory and
of arms, considered his actual forces as the instruments only of
his future greatness, and his success was the immediate cause of
his destruction. The wealth which he extorted ^72 from the
oppressed provinces of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, was employed in
levying and maintaining a formidable army of Barbarians,
collected, for the most part, from the fiercest nations of
Germany. The conquest of Italy was the object of his hopes and
preparations: and he secretly meditated the ruin of an innocent
youth, whose government was abhorred and despised by his Catholic
subjects. But as Maximus wished to occupy, without resistance,
the passes of the Alps, he received, with perfidious smiles,
Domninus of Syria, the ambassador of Valentinian, and pressed him
to accept the aid of a considerable body of troops, for the
service of a Pannonian war. The penetration of Ambrose had
discovered the snares of an enemy under the professions of
friendship; ^73 but the Syrian Domninus was corrupted, or
deceived, by the liberal favor of the court of Treves; and the
council of Milan obstinately rejected the suspicion of danger,
with a blind confidence, which was the effect, not of courage,
but of fear. The march of the auxiliaries was guided by the
ambassador; and they were admitted, without distrust, into the
fortresses of the Alps. But the crafty tyrant followed, with
hasty and silent footsteps, in the rear; and, as he diligently
intercepted all intelligence of his motions, the gleam of armor,
and the dust excited by the troops of cavalry, first announced
the hostile approach of a stranger to the gates of Milan. In
this extremity, Justina and her son might accuse their own
imprudence, and the perfidious arts of Maximus; but they wanted
time, and force, and resolution, to stand against the Gauls and
Germans, either in the field, or within the walls of a large and
disaffected city. Flight was their only hope, Aquileia their
only refuge; and as Maximus now displayed his genuine character,
the brother of Gratian might expect the same fate from the hands
of the same assassin. Maximus entered Milan in triumph; and if
the wise archbishop refused a dangerous and criminal connection
with the usurper, he might indirectly contribute to the success
of his arms, by inculcating, from the pulpit, the duty of
resignation, rather than that of resistance. ^74 The unfortunate
Justina reached Aquileia in safety; but she distrusted the
strength of the fortifications: she dreaded the event of a siege;
and she resolved to implore the protection of the great
Theodosius, whose power and virtue were celebrated in all the
countries of the West. A vessel was secretly provided to
transport the Imperial family; they embarked with precipitation
in one of the obscure harbors of Venetia, or Istria; traversed
the whole extent of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas; turned the
extreme promontory of Peloponnesus; and, after a long, but
successful navigation, reposed themselves in the port of
Thessalonica. All the subjects of Valentinian deserted the cause
of a prince, who, by his abdication, had absolved them from the
duty of allegiance; and if the little city of Aemona, on the
verge of Italy, had not presumed to stop the career of his
inglorious victory, Maximus would have obtained, without a
struggle, the sole possession of the Western empire.

[Footnote 72: The modest censure of Sulpicius (Dialog. iii. 15)
inflicts a much deeper wound than the declamation of Pacatus,
(xii. 25, 26.)]
[Footnote 73: Esto tutior adversus hominem, pacis involurco
tegentem, was the wise caution of Ambrose (tom. ii. p. 891) after
his return from his second embassy.]

[Footnote 74: Baronius (A.D. 387, No. 63) applies to this season
of public distress some of the penitential sermons of the
archbishop.]
Instead of inviting his royal guests to take the palace of
Constantinople, Theodosius had some unknown reasons to fix their
residence at Thessalonica; but these reasons did not proceed from
contempt or indifference, as he speedily made a visit to that
city, accompanied by the greatest part of his court and senate.
After the first tender expressions of friendship and sympathy,
the pious emperor of the East gently admonished Justina, that the
guilt of heresy was sometimes punished in this world, as well as
in the next; and that the public profession of the Nicene faith
would be the most efficacious step to promote the restoration of
her son, by the satisfaction which it must occasion both on earth
and in heaven. The momentous question of peace or war was
referred, by Theodosius, to the deliberation of his council; and
the arguments which might be alleged on the side of honor and
justice, had acquired, since the death of Gratian, a considerable
degree of additional weight. The persecution of the Imperial
family, to which Theodosius himself had been indebted for his
fortune, was now aggravated by recent and repeated injuries.
Neither oaths nor treaties could restrain the boundless ambition
of Maximus; and the delay of vigorous and decisive measures,
instead of prolonging the blessings of peace, would expose the
Eastern empire to the danger of a hostile invasion. The
Barbarians, who had passed the Danube, had lately assumed the
character of soldiers and subjects, but their native fierceness
was yet untamed: and the operations of a war, which would
exercise their valor, and diminish their numbers, might tend to
relieve the provinces from an intolerable oppression.
Notwithstanding these specious and solid reasons, which were
approved by a majority of the council, Theodosius still hesitated
whether he should draw the sword in a contest which could no
longer admit any terms of reconciliation; and his magnanimous
character was not disgraced by the apprehensions which he felt
for the safety of his infant sons, and the welfare of his
exhausted people. In this moment of anxious doubt, while the
fate of the Roman world depended on the resolution of a single
man, the charms of the princess Galla most powerfully pleaded the
cause of her brother Valentinian. ^75 The heart of Theodosius wa
softened by the tears of beauty; his affections were insensibly
engaged by the graces of youth and innocence: the art of Justina
managed and directed the impulse of passion; and the celebration
of the royal nuptials was the assurance and signal of the civil
war. The unfeeling critics, who consider every amorous weakness
as an indelible stain on the memory of a great and orthodox
emperor, are inclined, on this occasion, to dispute the
suspicious evidence of the historian Zosimus. For my own part, I
shall frankly confess, that I am willing to find, or even to
seek, in the revolutions of the world, some traces of the mild
and tender sentiments of domestic life; and amidst the crowd of
fierce and ambitious conquerors, I can distinguish, with peculiar
complacency, a gentle hero, who may be supposed to receive his
armor from the hands of love. The alliance of the Persian king
was secured by the faith of treaties; the martial Barbarians were
persuaded to follow the standard, or to respect the frontiers, of
an active and liberal monarch; and the dominions of Theodosius,
from the Euphrates to the Adriatic, resounded with the
preparations of war both by land and sea. The skilful
disposition of the forces of the East seemed to multiply their
numbers, and distracted the attention of Maximus. He had reason
to fear, that a chosen body of troops, under the command of the
intrepid Arbogastes, would direct their march along the banks of
the Danube, and boldly penetrate through the Rhaetian provinces
into the centre of Gaul. A powerful fleet was equipped in the
harbors of Greece and Epirus, with an apparent design, that, as
soon as the passage had been opened by a naval victory,
Valentinian and his mother should land in Italy, proceed, without
delay, to Rome, and occupy the majestic seat of religion and
empire. In the mean while, Theodosius himself advanced at the
head of a brave and disciplined army, to encounter his unworthy
rival, who, after the siege of Aemona, ^* had fixed his camp in
the neighborhood of Siscia, a city of Pannonia, strongly
fortified by the broad and rapid stream of the Save.

[Footnote 75: The flight of Valentinian, and the love of
Theodosius for his sister, are related by Zosimus, (l. iv. p.
263, 264.) Tillemont produces some weak and ambiguous evidence to
antedate the second marriage of Theodosius, (Hist. des Empereurs,
to. v. p. 740,) and consequently to refute ces contes de Zosime,
qui seroient trop contraires a la piete de Theodose.]
[Footnote *: Aemonah, Laybach. Siscia Sciszek. - M.]

Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.

Part IV.

The veterans, who still remembered the long resistance, and
successive resources, of the tyrant Magnentius, might prepare
themselves for the labors of three bloody campaigns. But the
contest with his successor, who, like him, had usurped the throne
of the West, was easily decided in the term of two months, ^76
and within the space of two hundred miles. The superior genius
of the emperor of the East might prevail over the feeble Maximus,
who, in this important crisis, showed himself destitute of
military skill, or personal courage; but the abilities of
Theodosius were seconded by the advantage which he possessed of a
numerous and active cavalry. The Huns, the Alani, and, after
their example, the Goths themselves, were formed into squadrons
of archers; who fought on horseback, and confounded the steady
valor of the Gauls and Germans, by the rapid motions of a Tartar
war. After the fatigue of a long march, in the heat of summer,
they spurred their foaming horses into the waters of the Save,
swam the river in the presence of the enemy, and instantly
charged and routed the troops who guarded the high ground on the
opposite side. Marcellinus, the tyrant's brother, advanced to
support them with the select cohorts, which were considered as
the hope and strength of the army. The action, which had been
interrupted by the approach of night, was renewed in the morning;
and, after a sharp conflict, the surviving remnant of the bravest
soldiers of Maximus threw down their arms at the feet of the
conqueror. Without suspending his march, to receive the loyal
acclamations of the citizens of Aemona, Theodosius pressed
forwards to terminate the war by the death or captivity of his
rival, who fled before him with the diligence of fear. From the
summit of the Julian Alps, he descended with such incredible
speed into the plain of Italy, that he reached Aquileia on the
evening of the first day; and Maximus, who found himself
encompassed on all sides, had scarcely time to shut the gates of
the city. But the gates could not long resist the effort of a
victorious enemy; and the despair, the disaffection, the
indifference of the soldiers and people, hastened the downfall of
the wretched Maximus. He was dragged from his throne, rudely
stripped of the Imperial ornaments, the robe, the diadem, and the
purple slippers; and conducted, like a malefactor, to the camp
and presence of Theodosius, at a place about three miles from
Aquileia. The behavior of the emperor was not intended to
insult, and he showed disposition to pity and forgive, the tyrant
of the West, who had never been his personal enemy, and was now
become the object of his contempt. Our sympathy is the most
forcibly excited by the misfortunes to which we are exposed; and
the spectacle of a proud competitor, now prostrate at his feet,
could not fail of producing very serious and solemn thoughts in
the mind of the victorious emperor. But the feeble emotion of
involuntary pity was checked by his regard for public justice,
and the memory of Gratian; and he abandoned the victim to the
pious zeal of the soldiers, who drew him out of the Imperial
presence, and instantly separated his head from his body. The
intelligence of his defeat and death was received with sincere or
well-dissembled joy: his son Victor, on whom he had conferred the
title of Augustus, died by the order, perhaps by the hand, of the
bold Arbogastes; and all the military plans of Theodosius were
successfully executed. When he had thus terminated the civil
war, with less difficulty and bloodshed than he might naturally
expect, he employed the winter months of his residence at Milan,
to restore the state of the afflicted provinces; and early in the
spring he made, after the example of Constantine and Constantius,
his triumphal entry into the ancient capital of the Roman empire.
^77
[Footnote 76: See Godefroy's Chronology of the Laws, Cod.
Theodos, tom l. p. cxix.]

[Footnote 77: Besides the hints which may be gathered from
chronicles and ecclesiastical history, Zosimus (l. iv. p. 259 -
267,) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 35,) and Pacatus, (in Panegyr. Vet.
xii. 30 - 47,) supply the loose and scanty materials of this
civil war. Ambrose (tom. ii. Epist. xl. p. 952, 953) darkly
alludes to the well-known events of a magazine surprised, an
action at Petovio, a Sicilian, perhaps a naval, victory, &c.,
Ausonius (p. 256, edit. Toll.) applauds the peculiar merit and
good fortune of Aquileia.]
The orator, who may be silent without danger, may praise
without difficulty, and without reluctance; ^78 and posterity
will confess, that the character of Theodosius ^79 might furnish
the subject of a sincere and ample panegyric. The wisdom of his
laws, and the success of his arms, rendered his administration
respectable in the eyes both of his subjects and of his enemies.
He loved and practised the virtues of domestic life, which seldom
hold their residence in the palaces of kings. Theodosius was
chaste and temperate; he enjoyed, without excess, the sensual and
social pleasures of the table; and the warmth of his amorous
passions was never diverted from their lawful objects. The proud
titles of Imperial greatness were adorned by the tender names of
a faithful husband, an indulgent father; his uncle was raised, by
his affectionate esteem, to the rank of a second parent:
Theodosius embraced, as his own, the children of his brother and
sister; and the expressions of his regard were extended to the
most distant and obscure branches of his numerous kindred. His
familiar friends were judiciously selected from among those
persons, who, in the equal intercourse of private life, had
appeared before his eyes without a mask; the consciousness of
personal and superior merit enabled him to despise the accidental
distinction of the purple; and he proved by his conduct, that he
had forgotten all the injuries, while he most gratefully
remembered all the favors and services, which he had received
before he ascended the throne of the Roman empire. The serious
or lively tone of his conversation was adapted to the age, the
rank, or the character of his subjects, whom he admitted into his
society; and the affability of his manners displayed the image of
his mind. Theodosius respected the simplicity of the good and
virtuous: every art, every talent, of a useful, or even of an
innocent nature, was rewarded by his judicious liberality; and,
except the heretics, whom he persecuted with implacable hatred,
the diffusive circle of his benevolence was circumscribed only by
the limits of the human race. The government of a mighty empire
may assuredly suffice to occupy the time, and the abilities, of a
mortal: yet the diligent prince, without aspiring to the
unsuitable reputation of profound learning, always reserved some
moments of his leisure for the instructive amusement of reading.
History, which enlarged his experience, was his favorite study.
The annals of Rome, in the long period of eleven hundred years,
presented him with a various and splendid picture of human life:
and it has been particularly observed, that whenever he perused
the cruel acts of Cinna, of Marius, or of Sylla, he warmly
expressed his generous detestation of those enemies of humanity
and freedom. His disinterested opinion of past events was
usefully applied as the rule of his own actions; and Theodosius
has deserved the singular commendation, that his virtues always
seemed to expand with his fortune: the season of his prosperity
was that of his moderation; and his clemency appeared the most
conspicuous after the danger and success of a civil war. The
Moorish guards of the tyrant had been massacred in the first heat
of the victory, and a small number of the most obnoxious
criminals suffered the punishment of the law. But the emperor
showed himself much more attentive to relieve the innocent than
to chastise the guilty. The oppressed subjects of the West, who
would have deemed themselves happy in the restoration of their
lands, were astonished to receive a sum of money equivalent to
their losses; and the liberality of the conqueror supported the
aged mother, and educated the orphan daughters, of Maximus. ^80 A
character thus accomplished might almost excuse the extravagant
supposition of the orator Pacatus; that, if the elder Brutus
could be permitted to revisit the earth, the stern republican
would abjure, at the feet of Theodosius, his hatred of kings; and
ingenuously confess, that such a monarch was the most faithful
guardian of the happiness and dignity of the Roman people. ^81
[Footnote 78: Quam promptum laudare principem, tam tutum siluisse
de principe, (Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 2.) Latinus Pacatus
Drepanius, a native of Gaul, pronounced this oration at Rome,
(A.D. 388.) He was afterwards proconsul of Africa; and his friend
Ausonius praises him as a poet second only to Virgil. See
Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 303.]

[Footnote 79: See the fair portrait of Theodosius, by the younger
Victor; the strokes are distinct, and the colors are mixed. The
praise of Pacatus is too vague; and Claudian always seems afraid
of exalting the father above the son.]
[Footnote 80: Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xl. p. 55. Pacatus, from
the want of skill or of courage, omits this glorious
circumstance.]

[Footnote 81: Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 20.]

Yet the piercing eye of the founder of the republic must
have discerned two essential imperfections, which might, perhaps,
have abated his recent love of despostism. The virtuous mind of
Theodosius was often relaxed by indolence, ^82 and it was
sometimes inflamed by passion. ^83 In the pursuit of an important
object, his active courage was capable of the most vigorous
exertions; but, as soon as the design was accomplished, or the
danger was surmounted, the hero sunk into inglorious repose; and,
forgetful that the time of a prince is the property of his
people, resigned himself to the enjoyment of the innocent, but
trifling, pleasures of a luxurious court. The natural
disposition of Theodosius was hasty and choleric; and, in a
station where none could resist, and few would dissuade, the
fatal consequence of his resentment, the humane monarch was
justly alarmed by the consciousness of his infirmity and of his
power. It was the constant study of his life to suppress, or
regulate, the intemperate sallies of passion and the success of
his efforts enhanced the merit of his clemency. But the painful
virtue which claims the merit of victory, is exposed to the
danger of defeat; and the reign of a wise and merciful prince was
polluted by an act of cruelty which would stain the annals of
Nero or Domitian. Within the space of three years, the
inconsistent historian of Theodosius must relate the generous
pardon of the citizens of Antioch, and the inhuman massacre of
the people of Thessalonica.
[Footnote 82: Zosimus, l. iv. p. 271, 272. His partial evidence
is marked by an air of candor and truth. He observes these
vicissitudes of sloth and activity, not as a vice, but as a
singularity in the character of Theodosius.]
[Footnote 83: This choleric temper is acknowledged and excused by
Victor Sed habes (says Ambrose, in decent and many language, to
his sovereign) nature impetum, quem si quis lenire velit, cito
vertes ad misericordiam: si quis stimulet, in magis exsuscitas,
ut eum revocare vix possis, (tom. ii. Epist. li. p. 998.)
Theodosius (Claud. in iv. Hon. 266, &c.) exhorts his son to
moderate his anger.]

The lively impatience of the inhabitants of Antioch was
never satisfied with their own situation, or with the character
and conduct of their successive sovereigns. The Arian subjects
of Theodosius deplored the loss of their churches; and as three
rival bishops disputed the throne of Antioch, the sentence which
decided their pretensions excited the murmurs of the two
unsuccessful congregations. The exigencies of the Gothic war,
and the inevitable expense that accompanied the conclusion of the
peace, had constrained the emperor to aggravate the weight of the
public impositions; and the provinces of Asia, as they had not
been involved in the distress were the less inclined to
contribute to the relief, of Europe. The auspicious period now
approached of the tenth year of his reign; a festival more
grateful to the soldiers, who received a liberal donative, than
to the subjects, whose voluntary offerings had been long since
converted into an extraordinary and oppressive burden. The
edicts of taxation interrupted the repose, and pleasures, of
Antioch; and the tribunal of the magistrate was besieged by a
suppliant crowd; who, in pathetic, but, at first, in respectful
language, solicited the redress of their grievances. They were
gradually incensed by the pride of their haughty rulers, who
treated their complaints as a criminal resistance; their
satirical wit degenerated into sharp and angry invectives; and,
from the subordinate powers of government, the invectives of the
people insensibly rose to attack the sacred character of the
emperor himself. Their fury, provoked by a feeble opposition,
discharged itself on the images of the Imperial family, which
were erected, as objects of public veneration, in the most
conspicuous places of the city. The statues of Theodosius, of
his father, of his wife Flaccilla, of his two sons, Arcadius and
Honorius, were insolently thrown down from their pedestals,
broken in pieces, or dragged with contempt through the streets;
and the indignities which were offered to the representations of
Imperial majesty, sufficiently declared the impious and
treasonable wishes of the populace. The tumult was almost
immediately suppressed by the arrival of a body of archers: and
Antioch had leisure to reflect on the nature and consequences of
her crime. ^84 According to the duty of his office, the governor
of the province despatched a faithful narrative of the whole
transaction: while the trembling citizens intrusted the
confession of their crime, and the assurances of their
repentance, to the zeal of Flavian, their bishop, and to the
eloquence of the senator Hilarius, the friend, and most probably
the disciple, of Libanius; whose genius, on this melancholy
occasion, was not useless to his country. ^85 But the two
capitals, Antioch and Constantinople, were separated by the
distance of eight hundred miles; and, notwithstanding the
diligence of the Imperial posts, the guilty city was severely
punished by a long and dreadful interval of suspense. Every
rumor agitated the hopes and fears of the Antiochians, and they
heard with terror, that their sovereign, exasperated by the
insult which had been offered to his own statues, and more
especially, to those of his beloved wife, had resolved to level
with the ground the offending city; and to massacre, without
distinction of age or sex, the criminal inhabitants; ^86 many of
whom were actually driven, by their apprehensions, to seek a
refuge in the mountains of Syria, and the adjacent desert. At
length, twenty-four days after the sedition, the general
Hellebicus and Caesarius, master of the offices, declared the
will of the emperor, and the sentence of Antioch. That proud
capital was degraded from the rank of a city; and the metropolis
of the East, stripped of its lands, its privileges, and its
revenues, was subjected, under the humiliating denomination of a
village, to the jurisdiction of Laodicea. ^87 The baths, the
Circus, and the theatres were shut: and, that every source of
plenty and pleasure might at the same time be intercepted, the
distribution of corn was abolished, by the severe instructions of
Theodosius. His commissioners then proceeded to inquire into the
guilt of individuals; of those who had perpetrated, and of those
who had not prevented, the destruction of the sacred statues.
The tribunal of Hellebicus and Caesarius, encompassed with armed
soldiers, was erected in the midst of the Forum. The noblest,
and most wealthy, of the citizens of Antioch appeared before them
in chains; the examination was assisted by the use of torture,
and their sentence was pronounced or suspended, according to the
judgment of these extraordinary magistrates. The houses of the
criminals were exposed to sale, their wives and children were
suddenly reduced, from affluence and luxury, to the most abject
distress; and a bloody execution was expected to conclude the
horrors of the day, ^88 which the preacher of Antioch, the
eloquent Chrysostom, has represented as a lively image of the
last and universal judgment of the world. But the ministers of
Theodosius performed, with reluctance, the cruel task which had
been assigned them; they dropped a gentle tear over the
calamities of the people; and they listened with reverence to the
pressing solicitations of the monks and hermits, who descended in
swarms from the mountains. ^89 Hellebicus and Caesarius were
persuaded to suspend the execution of their sentence; and it was
agreed that the former should remain at Antioch, while the latter
returned, with all possible speed, to Constantinople; and
presumed once more to consult the will of his sovereign. The
resentment of Theodosius had already subsided; the deputies of
the people, both the bishop and the orator, had obtained a
favorable audience; and the reproaches of the emperor were the
complaints of injured friendship, rather than the stern menaces
of pride and power. A free and general pardon was granted to the
city and citizens of Antioch; the prison doors were thrown open;
the senators, who despaired of their lives, recovered the
possession of their houses and estates; and the capital of the
East was restored to the enjoyment of her ancient dignity and
splendor. Theodosius condescended to praise the senate of
Constantinople, who had generously interceded for their
distressed brethren: he rewarded the eloquence of Hilarius with
the government of Palestine; and dismissed the bishop of Antioch
with the warmest expressions of his respect and gratitude. A
thousand new statues arose to the clemency of Theodosius; the
applause of his subjects was ratified by the approbation of his
own heart; and the emperor confessed, that, if the exercise of
justice is the most important duty, the indulgence of mercy is
the most exquisite pleasure, of a sovereign. ^90

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