ds, the death, of the emperor, confirmed the absolute authority
of Rufinus over the person and dominions of Arcadius; a feeble youth,
whom the imperious praefect considered as his pupil, rather than his
sovereign. Regardless of the public opinion, he indulged his passions
without remorse, and without resistance; and his malignant and rapacious
spirit rejected every passion that might have contributed to his own
glory, or the happiness of the people. His avarice, which seems to have
prevailed, in his corrupt mind, over every other sentiment, attracted
the wealth of the East, by the various arts of partial and general
extortion; oppressive taxes, scandalous bribery, immoderate fines,
unjust confiscations, forced or fictitious testaments, by which the
tyrant despoiled of their lawful inheritance the children of strangers,
or enemies; and the public sale of justice, as well as of favor, which
he instituted in the palace of Constantinople. The ambitious candidate
eagerly solicited, at the expense of the fairest part of his patrimony,
the honors and emoluments of some provincial government; the lives
and fortunes of the unhappy people were abandoned to the most liberal
purchaser; and the public discontent was sometimes appeased by the
sacrifice of an unpopular criminal, whose punishment was profitable only
to the praefect of the East, his accomplice and his judge. If avarice
were not the blindest of the human passions, the motives of Rufinus
might excite our curiosity; and we might be tempted to inquire with what
view he violated every principle of humanity and justice, to accumulate
those immense treasures, which he could not spend without folly, nor
possess without danger. Perhaps he vainly imagined, that he labored
for the interest of an only daughter, on whom he intended to bestow
his royal pupil, and the august rank of Empress of the East. Perhaps he
deceived himself by the opinion, that his avarice was the instrument
of his ambition. He aspired to place his fortune on a secure and
independent basis, which should no longer depend on the caprice of the
young emperor; yet he neglected to conciliate the hearts of the soldiers
and people, by the liberal distribution of those riches, which he
had acquired with so much toil, and with so much guilt. The extreme
parsimony of Rufinus left him only the reproach and envy of ill-gotten
wealth; his dependants served him without attachment; the universal
hatred of mankind was repressed