of the praefect
Praetextatus restored the tranquillity of the city. Praetextatus was a
philosophic Pagan, a man of learning, of taste, and politeness; who
disguised a reproach in the form of a jest, when he assured Damasus,
that if he could obtain the bishopric of Rome, he himself would
immediately embrace the Christian religion. This lively picture of the
wealth and luxury of the popes in the fourth century becomes the more
curious, as it represents the intermediate degree between the humble
poverty of the apostolic fishermen, and the royal state of a temporal
prince, whose dominions extend from the confines of Naples to the banks
of the Po.

Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The
Empire.--Part IV.

When the suffrage of the generals and of the army committed the sceptre
of the Roman empire to the hands of Valentinian, his reputation in
arms, his military skill and experience, and his rigid attachment to
the forms, as well as spirit, of ancient discipline, were the principal
motives of their judicious choice. The eagerness of the troops, who
pressed him to nominate his colleague, was justified by the dangerous
situation of public affairs; and Valentinian himself was conscious, that
the abilities of the most active mind were unequal to the defence of the
distant frontiers of an invaded monarchy. As soon as the death of
Julian had relieved the Barbarians from the terror of his name, the most
sanguine hopes of rapine and conquest excited the nations of the East,
of the North, and of the South. Their inroads were often vexatious,
and sometimes formidable; but, during the twelve years of the reign of
Valentinian, his firmness and vigilance protected his own dominions; and
his powerful genius seemed to inspire and direct the feeble counsels of
his brother. Perhaps the method of annals would more forcibly express
the urgent and divided cares of the two emperors; but the attention of
the reader, likewise, would be distracted by a tedious and desultory
narrative. A separate view of the five great theatres of war; I.
Germany; II. Britain; III. Africa; IV. The East; and, V. The Danube;
will impress a more distinct image of the military state of the empire
under the reigns of Valentinian and Valens.

I. The ambassadors of the Alemanni had been offended by the harsh and
haughty behavior of Ursacius, master of the offices; who by an act
of unseasonable parsimony, had diminished the value, as well as th