massacred; the villages, and even the suburbs, were pillaged; and the
vines and fruit trees of that rich territory were extirpated by the
malicious savages of Getulia. The unhappy provincials implored the
protection of Romanus; but they soon found that their military governor
was not less cruel and rapacious than the Barbarians. As they were
incapable of furnishing the four thousand camels, and the exorbitant
present, which he required, before he would march to the assistance of
Tripoli; his demand was equivalent to a refusal, and he might justly be
accused as the author of the public calamity. In the annual assembly
of the three cities, they nominated two deputies, to lay at the feet of
Valentinian the customary offering of a gold victory; and to accompany
this tribute of duty, rather than of gratitude, with their humble
complaint, that they were ruined by the enemy, and betrayed by their
governor. If the severity of Valentinian had been rightly directed, it
would have fallen on the guilty head of Romanus. But the count, long
exercised in the arts of corruption, had despatched a swift and trusty
messenger to secure the venal friendship of Remigius, master of the
offices. The wisdom of the Imperial council was deceived by artifice;
and their honest indignation was cooled by delay. At length, when the
repetition of complaint had been justified by the repetition of public
misfortunes, the notary Palladius was sent from the court of Treves,
to examine the state of Africa, and the conduct of Romanus. The rigid
impartiality of Palladius was easily disarmed: he was tempted to reserve
for himself a part of the public treasure, which he brought with him for
the payment of the troops; and from the moment that he was conscious
of his own guilt, he could no longer refuse to attest the innocence and
merit of the count. The charge of the Tripolitans was declared to be
false and frivolous; and Palladius himself was sent back from Treves to
Africa, with a special commission to discover and prosecute the authors
of this impious conspiracy against the representatives of the sovereign.
His inquiries were managed with so much dexterity and success, that he
compelled the citizens of Leptis, who had sustained a recent siege of
eight days, to contradict the truth of their own decrees, and to censure
the behavior of their own deputies. A bloody sentence was pronounced,
without hesitation, by the rash and headstrong cruelty of Valentinian.
The