48 It may be as well to say a few words about Stilicho. He was the son of a Vandal captain, and attracted by his skill and courage the favourable notice of the Emperor Theodosius, who gave him his niece Serena in marriage. His influence continued to increase, and in course of time Theodosius made him and his wife guardians of his young son Honorius, whom he shortly afterwards proclaimed Augustus, and Emperor of the West. In 394 Theodosius died, and the Empire was divided between his two sons, Honorius taking the West and Arcadius the East. Stilicho’s daughter Maria was now betrothed to Honorius, and his influence continued to increase. He restored peace to the Empire, conquering the Franks, chastising the Saxon pirates, and driving back, it is said, the Picts and Scots from Britain by the very terror of his name. For six years (398-404) he was engaged in a struggle with Alaric, King of the Goths, over whom he won, in the year 403, a great victory at Pollentia, near the modern Turin, and whom he defeated again in the following year under the walls of Verona. He is said to have conceived the idea of securing the Empire for his own son, and for this purpose to have entered into intrigues with his old enemy Alaric. However this may be, it is certain that he fell into disgrace. His end is related in this chapter. The poet Claudian employed himself in writing the praises of Stilicho and invectives against his rivals Rufinus and Eutropius. 49 “Stilichonis apex et cognita fulsit Canities.” “There shone Stilicho’s towering head and well-known locks of white”—a passage quoted from Claudian by D’Israeli, with exquisite propriety, in his eulogium on the Duke of Wellington, in the House of Commons, November, 1852. 50 In one of Æsop’s fables, a trumpeter, taken prisoner, begs for his life, pleading that he has never struck a blow in battle; but is told that he has done much worse in encouraging others to fight by his martial music. 51 A tribe that occupied a region included in what is now known as Russian Poland. 52 Serena was wife to Stilicho, and, as has been said before, niece to the Emperor Theodosius. 53 The Imperial standard (see page 21). 54 Business to-morrow. 55 The Forest of Anderida occupied a great part of Hampshire and nearly the whole of Sussex, except a strip of land along the coast. It must have measured a hundred miles from east to west. 56 The Black Forest, part of which was known to the Romans. 57 July 21st.