of a timid, and Valentinian of a
choleric, disposition. An anxious regard to his personal safety was the
ruling principle of the administration of Valens. In the condition of a
subject, he had kissed, with trembling awe, the hand of the oppressor;
and when he ascended the throne, he reasonably expected, that the
same fears, which had subdued his own mind, would secure the patient
submission of his people. The favorites of Valens obtained, by the
privilege of rapine and confiscation, the wealth which his economy would
have refused. They urged, with persuasive eloquence, that, in all cases
of treason, suspicion is equivalent to proof; that the power supposes
the intention, of mischief; that the intention is not less criminal than
the act; and that a subject no longer deserves to live, if his life
may threaten the safety, or disturb the repose, of his sovereign. The
judgment of Valentinian was sometimes deceived, and his confidence
abused; but he would have silenced the informers with a contemptuous
smile, had they presumed to alarm his fortitude by the sound of danger.
They praised his inflexible love of justice; and, in the pursuit of
justice, the emperor was easily tempted to consider clemency as a
weakness, and passion as a virtue. As long as he wrestled with his
equals, in the bold competition of an active and ambitious life,
Valentinian was seldom injured, and never insulted, with impunity: if
his prudence was arraigned, his spirit was applauded; and the proudest
and most powerful generals were apprehensive of provoking the resentment
of a fearless soldier. After he became master of the world, he
unfortunately forgot, that where no resistance can be made, no courage
can be exerted; and instead of consulting the dictates of reason and
magnanimity, he indulged the furious emotions of his temper, at a time
when they were disgraceful to himself, and fatal to the defenceless
objects of his displeasure. In the government of his household, or of
his empire, slight, or even imaginary, offences--a hasty word, a
casual omission, an involuntary delay--were chastised by a sentence of
immediate death. The expressions which issued the most readily from the
mouth of the emperor of the West were, "Strike off his head;" "Burn him
alive;" "Let him be beaten with clubs till he expires;" and his most
favored ministers soon understood, that, by a rash attempt to dispute,
or suspend, the execution of his sanguinary commands, they might inv