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Theodosius passed the slumber of his life, a captive in his palace, a stranger in his country, and the patient, almost the indifferent, spectator of the ruin of the Western empire, which was repeatedly attacked, and finally subverted, by the arms of the Barbarians. In the eventful history of a reign of twenty- eight years, it will seldom be necessary to mention the name of the emperor Honorius.
Chapter XXX:
Revolt Of The Goths.
Part I. Revolt Of The Goths. -- They Plunder Greece. -- Two Great Invasions Of Italy By Alaric And Radagaisus. -- They Are Repulsed By Stilicho. -- The Germans Overrun Gaul. -- Usurpation Of Constantine In The West. -- Disgrace And Death Of Stilicho. If the subjects of Rome could be ignorant of their obligations to the great Theodosius, they were too soon convinced, how painfully the spirit and abilities of their deceased emperor had supported the frail and mouldering edifice of the republic. He died in the month of January; and before the end of the winter of the same year, the Gothic nation was in arms. The Barbarian auxiliaries erected their independent standard; and boldly avowed the hostile designs, which they had long cherished in their ferocious minds. Their countrymen, who had been condemned, by the conditions of the last treaty, to a life of tranquility and labor, deserted their farms at the first sound of the trumpet; and eagerly resumed the weapons which they had reluctantly laid down. The barriers of the Danube were thrown open; the savage warriors of Scythia issued from their forests; and the