every art, every talent, of a useful, or even of an innocent nature,
was rewarded by his judicious liberality; and, except the heretics,
whom he persecuted with implacable hatred, the diffusive circle of his
benevolence was circumscribed only by the limits of the human race.
The government of a mighty empire may assuredly suffice to occupy the
time, and the abilities, of a mortal: yet the diligent prince, without
aspiring to the unsuitable reputation of profound learning, always
reserved some moments of his leisure for the instructive amusement of
reading. History, which enlarged his experience, was his favorite
study. The annals of Rome, in the long period of eleven hundred years,
presented him with a various and splendid picture of human life: and
it has been particularly observed, that whenever he perused the cruel
acts of Cinna, of Marius, or of Sylla, he warmly expressed his
generous detestation of those enemies of humanity and freedom. His
disinterested opinion of past events was usefully applied as the rule
of his own actions; and Theodosius has deserved the singular
commendation, that his virtues always seemed to expand with his
fortune: the season of his prosperity was that of his moderation; and
his clemency appeared the most conspicuous after the danger and
success of a civil war. The Moorish guards of the tyrant had been
massacred in the first heat of the victory, and a small number of the
most obnoxious criminals suffered the punishment of the law. But the
emperor showed himself much more attentive to relieve the innocent
than to chastise the guilty. The oppressed subjects of the West, who
would have deemed themselves happy in the restoration of their lands,
were astonished to receive a sum of money equivalent to their losses;
and the liberality of the conqueror supported the aged mother, and
educated the orphan daughters, of Maximus. A character thus
accomplished might almost excuse the extravagant supposition of the
orator Pacatus; that, if the elder Brutus could be permitted to