persecution of Rome and Antioch is described,
and most probably exaggerated, by Ammianus (xxvii. 1. xxix. 1, 2)
and Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 216-218.) The philosopher Maximus, with some
justice, was involved in the charge of magic, (Eunapius in Vit. Sophist.
p. 88, 89;) and young Chrysostom, who had accidentally found one of
the proscribed books, gave himself up for lost, (Tillemont, Hist. des
Empereurs, tom. v. p. 340.)]

When Tacitus describes the deaths of the innocent and illustrious
Romans, who were sacrificed to the cruelty of the first Caesars, the art
of the historian, or the merit of the sufferers, excites in our breast
the most lively sensations of terror, of admiration, and of pity. The
coarse and undistinguishing pencil of Ammianus has delineated his bloody
figures with tedious and disgusting accuracy. But as our attention is
no longer engaged by the contrast of freedom and servitude, of recent
greatness and of actual misery, we should turn with horror from the
frequent executions, which disgraced, both at Rome and Antioch,
the reign of the two brothers. [53] Valens was of a timid, [54] and
Valentinian of a choleric, disposition. [55] 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. [56] 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, Val