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diff --git a/78826-0.txt b/78826-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f79664c --- /dev/null +++ b/78826-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7572 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78826 *** + + + + + DYNASTY OF THEODOSIUS + + _HODGKIN_ + + London + HENRY FROWDE + + [Illustration] + + OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE + AMEN CORNER, E.C. + + + + + THE + DYNASTY OF THEODOSIUS + OR + Eighty Years’ Struggle with the Barbarians + + _A SERIES OF LECTURES DELIVERED TO + THE DURHAM LADIES’ EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIATION_ + + BY + THOMAS HODGKIN + _Hon. D.C.L. of Oxford and Durham_ + AUTHOR OF ‘ITALY AND HER INVADERS’ + + Oxford + AT THE CLARENDON PRESS + M.DCCC.LXXXIX + + [_All rights reserved_] + + + + +Dedicated + +TO + +MY WIFE AND CHILDREN. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +This little book owes its existence to an invitation addressed to me by +the Durham Ladies’ Educational Association to deliver to them a short +course of historical lectures. Being allowed to choose my own subject, +I naturally chose that with which I was most familiar, the epoch of the +fall of the Western Empire: but in order to prevent my very familiarity +with that period from leading me into diffuseness, I took the precaution +of writing the lectures, and thus, I believe, was preserved from in any +case over-passing the prescribed limit of an hour and a quarter. + +When my course was completed, I found that I had described in brief +outline so many of the leading events recorded in the first two volumes +of my book, _Italy and her Invaders_, that it seemed worth while to offer +the result of my labours to those who might not care to peruse the larger +work. In order to give a little more completeness to the book, I added a +lecture (the Second) on the political and social condition of the Romans +and barbarians, which was not included in the original course. + +It will easily be understood that it is only by the rejection of many +minor details that it is possible to reduce the picture of eighty +eventful years within the limits of a compendium like the present. For +most of these details, and for all discussion of the authorities on +which the history of the period rests, I must refer to my larger work. +Occasionally, however, I have touched upon some points not thoroughly +discussed in _Italy and her Invaders_, and when I have done so, I have +stated my authority in the notes. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS. + + + PAGE + + LECTURE I. + + THE ROMAN EMPIRE. + + Limits of the Empire 1-7 + + Its political organisation— + + The Senate 7-9 + + The People 9-13 + + The Emperor 13-17 + + Periods of Imperial History— + + I. The Julian and Flavian dynasties 17 + + II. The Antonine 18 + + III. The Age of Anarchy 18-20 + + IV. Diocletian: the Age of Restoration 21-24 + + Constantine the Great 25-28 + + Christianity and the Empire 28-32 + + LECTURE II. + + THE ROMAN AND THE TEUTON. + + I. The Roman— + + The Emperor 33-37 + + The official hierarchy 37-44 + + Social condition of the Empire 44-48 + + ‘Panem et Circenses’ 49 + + The Slave 50 + + The Colonus 51 + + The Curialis 52 + + II. The Teuton— + + Economic condition of the Germans 55-60 + + German land-system 60-62 + + Relation of the Village-community to the State 62-65 + + The Pagus or Gau 65 + + Kingship and national unity 67-70 + + The Folc-gemot 70-71 + + Election of the King 72 + + LECTURE III. + + THE COMING OF THE HUNS. + + German ethnology 73 + + The Goths 75 + + Ulfilas 77-79 + + Athanaric and Fritigern 79-80 + + Irruption of the Huns 80-83 + + The Visigoths seek an asylum in the Empire 86-87 + + The Visigoths cross the Danube 88 + + Roman Emperors: Valentinian, Valens, Gratian 90-91 + + The banquet at Marcianople 91-93 + + Gothic War: battle of Ad Salices 94 + + Battle of Hadrianople 96-99 + + LECTURE IV. + + THEODOSIUS. + + The Goths besiege Constantinople 101 + + Failures of the Goths as besiegers 102 + + The massacre of the Gothic boy-hostages 104 + + Parentage of Theodosius 106 + + Theodosius associated in the Empire 107 + + Orthodoxy of Theodosius 108-110 + + Athanaric at Constantinople 111 + + The Goths become Foederati 113-117 + + Insurrection of Antioch 117-120 + + Insurrection of Thessalonica 120-122 + + Usurpation of Maximus 123-126 + + His defeat and death 127 + + Eugenius and Arbogast 128-130 + + Battle of the Frigidus 131 + + Death of Theodosius 132 + + His character 133 + + LECTURE V. + + ALARIC. + + The sons of Theodosius, Arcadius and Honorius 134 + + Their ministers, Rufinus and Stilicho 135-137 + + Alaric chosen King of the Visigoths 137 + + Alaric invades Greece 139 + + Stilicho forbidden to defend it 139 + + Murder of Rufinus 141-142 + + Second campaign of Stilicho against Alaric 143 + + Alaric as Roman governor of Illyricum 143 + + Alaric’s first invasion of Italy 145-147 + + Invasion by Radagaisus 148-151 + + Revolt of Constantine in Britain 152 + + Negotiations between Stilicho and Alaric 153 + + Death of Arcadius 155 + + Mutiny at Ticinum. Stilicho slain 156-158 + + Alaric’s first siege of Rome 159-161 + + Alaric’s second siege of Rome 162 + + Attalus Emperor 162-164 + + Alaric’s third siege and capture of Rome 164-166 + + Death of Alaric 167 + + LECTURE VI. + + PLACIDIA: ATTILA. + + Placidia— + + Historical perspective 170 + + Early life of Placidia: her captivity 171 + + Ataulfus, successor of Alaric 172 + + His marriage with Placidia 174 + + Death of Ataulfus 175 + + Second marriage, widowhood, and exile of Placidia 176 + + Death of Honorius 176 + + Rise and fall of Joannes. Valentinian III, Emperor 177 + + Regency of Placidia 178 + + Aetius 179 + + Attila— + + Accession of Attila: his character and appearance 180-182 + + Extent of his Empire 182-184 + + His Embassies to Constantinople 184 + + The vases of Sirmium 185 + + Honoria’s ring 185 + + Description by Priscus of Attila’s palace 186 + + ” ” the banquet 187-190 + + Deaths of Placidia and Theodosius II 191 + + Marcian and Pulcheria reign 191 + + Attila prepares for war with the West 192 + + Alliance between the Empire and the Visigoths 192-193 + + Attila’s invasion of Gaul 193 + + Siege of Orleans 194 + + Battle of Châlons (so called) 195-197 + + Attila’s retreat 197 + + Attila invades Italy 198 + + Capture of Aquileia 198 + + The founders of Venice 199 + + Attila at Milan 200 + + Embassy of Pope Leo 201 + + Return and death of Attila 202 + + The Hunnish power broken 203 + + LECTURE VII. + + GAISERIC. + + Early history of the Vandals 204 + + The Vandals enter Gaul 205-207 + + They cross the Pyrenees and enter Spain 207 + + Death of Gunderic: accession of Gaiseric 209 + + Bonifacius invites the Vandals to enter Africa 209-211 + + The Vandals transported to Africa 212 + + Bonifacius repents and returns to Ravenna 215 + + Siege of Hippo 216 + + Capture of Carthage 217 + + Appearance, character, and career of Gaiseric 218-220 + + Vandal land-settlement 220 + + Law of succession to the throne 221 + + Persecution of the Catholics 221-225 + + Valentinian murders Aetius 226 + + Death of Valentinian III. Accession of Maximus 228 + + Gaiseric’s Expedition to Rome. Plunder of the City 229-232 + + Captivity of the widow and daughters of Valentinian 232 + + Further fortunes of the Theodosian family 233 + + Conclusion 234 + + + + +FAMILY OF VALENTINIAN. + +[Emperors of the East are printed in _Italic_ capitals.] + + + GRATIAN, + of Cibalis in Pannonia. + | + +-------------+-------------------+ + | | + SEVERA, or = VALENTINIAN I, = JUSTINA, _VALENS_, + Marina (divorced). | born 321, | widow of born about + | proclaimed Emperor | the usurper 329, Emperor + | 364, died 375. | Magnentius 364, slain + | | (he was at the battle + A daughter = GRATIAN, = LAETA | slain 353). of Hadrianople + of Emperor born about 359, (present with | 378. + Constantius associated with her mother at | | + II. his father as the siege of | VALENS, + Augustus 367, Rome 408). | surnamed + slain by order | Galata, + of Maximus 383. | born 366, + | died 371. + +----------------+------+--+--------+ + | | | | + VALENTINIAN II, JUSTA. GRATA. GALLA, + born about 371, married in + Emperor 375, 387 to + dethroned by Maximus 387, _THEODOSIUS I_, + restored 388, slain by died 394. + order of Arbogast 392. | + GALLA PLACIDIA. + | + VALENTINIAN III, &c. + + + + +FAMILY OF THEODOSIUS. + +[Emperors of the East are printed in _Italic_ capitals.] + + + | + +----------------+----------------+ + | | + THEODOSIUS, EUCHERIUS, + Magister Equitum cons. 381. + under Valentinian I, + beheaded at Carthage 376. + | + +---------------------------+ + | (387) | + AELIA = _THEODOSIUS I_, = GALLA, HONORIUS, + FLACCILLA, | b. about 346, | dau. of Emp. d. in Spain + d. 386. | Emp. 379, | Valentinian before his + | d. 395. | I, d. 394. brother’s + | | accession? + | | | + | | SERENA, = STILICHO, + | | killed | killed + | | 408. | 408. + | | | + | | +---------+-----------+ + | | | | | + | |MARIA THERMANTIA, EUCHERIUS, + | | {1} d. 415. killed 408. + | | {2} + | | + +-----+----------+ +--------------------+ CONSTANTIUS + | | | III, + | (398) | (408) (414) | (417) d. + EUDOXIA, = _ARCADIUS_, {1} = HONORIUS = {2} ATAULFUS = GALLA = 421. + dau of | b. 377, b. 384, K. of the | PLACIDIA,| + Bauto | Augustus Augustus Visigoths |b. between| + the |383, Emp. 393, Emp. (brother-in-law|388 and | + Frank, |of the East of West of Alaric), |393, d. | + d. 404. |395, d. 408. 395, d. 423. murd. 415. |about 450.| + | | | + | THEODOSIUS, d. | + | in infancy. | + | | + +--------+----------+----------+----------+-------+ | + | | | | | | + EUDOCIA = _THEODOSIUS FLACCILLA, _PULCHERIA_ ARCADIA, MARINA,| + (Athenais),| II_, b. 401, b. 397. b. 399, b. 400. b. 403.| + dau. of | Augustus 402, d. 453. | + Leontius, | succeeded = (451) +------+---+ + Prof. of | his father _MARCIAN_, | | + Rhetoric | 408, d. 450. d. 457. | | + at Athens, +--------------------------------+ | | + d. 454. | (PLACIDUS) HONORIA, + EUDOXIA, = VALENTINIAN b. 418. + b. 422. | III, b. 419, + | Emp. 425, + +------------------+----------+ assassinated 455. + | | + OLYBRIUS, = PLACIDIA, EUDOXIA, = HUNERIC, + Emp. 472. | | K. of Vandals, + | | d. 484. + AREOBINDUS, = JULIANA HILDERIC, + cons. 506. | K. of Vandals, + OLYBRIUS. d. 533. + +Transcriber’s Note: Whilst this proves that a complex family tree _can_ +be fitted into 75 characters wide, that doesn’t mean that it _should_. +These genealogies are included as illustrations in the HTML version, to +which the reader is recommended to refer. + + + + +ERRATA. + + + Page 27, line 5 from bottom, _for_ 523 _read_ 323 + ” 91, ” 16, _for_ get _read_ yet + +Transcriber’s Note: The errata have been corrected, although the first +one was printed correctly in the first place and didn’t need to be listed +here. + + + + +[Illustration: =Shield of Theodosius= + +(_SILVER_) + +FOUND NEAR MERIDA IN 1847, NOW IN THE MUSEUM OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL +ACADEMY AT MADRID. + +(_Copied from A. Delgado’s ‘Memoria historico-critica sobre el gran disco +di Teodosio,’ Madrid, 1849._) + +Theodosius, seated on the central throne, receives from a nobleman +of ‘illustrious’ rank an address, perhaps congratulating him on the +_decennalia_ of Arcadius (393). Arcadius is seated on his right, Honorius +on his left, each attended by two _protectores_ (guardsmen). In the lower +part of the shield is the recumbent figure of Hispania, surrounded by +emblems of prosperity. Above, ‘D(ominus) N(oster) Theodosius Perpet(uus) +Aug(ustus) ob diem felicissimum X.’ + + _Hodgkin’s Theodosius._] [_Clarendon Press._] + + + + +THE DYNASTY OF THEODOSIUS. + + + + +LECTURE I. + +THE ROMAN EMPIRE. + + +In Longfellow’s Golden Legend the following question is asked:— + + ‘Say to me + What the great Voices Four may be + That quite across the world do flee + And are not heard by men?’ + +and this answer given:— + + ‘The Voice of the Sun in heaven’s dome, + The Voice of the murmuring of Rome, + The Voice of a Soul that goeth home, + And the Angel of the Rain.’ + +‘The voice of the murmuring of Rome.’ That was indeed a mighty voice; how +all-powerful, how nearly equivalent to the voice of the whole civilised +human race, is more vividly impressed upon us by every year of deeper +study of the history of the world fifteen centuries ago. + +[Sidenote: _Extent of the Roman Empire._] + +Let us try by a very rapid summary to indicate the meaning which the +words ‘Imperium Romanum’ conveyed to him who heard them in the days when +the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus was still standing and still thronged +with earnest worshippers. + +[Sidenote: _North Britain._] + +Let us go forth from this city which clusters on its seven hills +around the Tomb of St. Cuthbert. Those hills are untrodden forest or +undistinguished pasture-ground, and all the glory of architecture and +all the wealth of sacred associations which will one day crown them are +unknown, for we are now in the second century after Christ, and Durham is +neither _castra_ nor _mansio_ nor _mutatio_ in the map of Roman Britain. +But if we go a few miles up the Wear, near to that place in ‘the land +of Oaks,’ where the Bishop of Durham will one day build his castle, we +shall find there, upon a high promontory of table-land overlooking the +stream, the spacious camp of Vinovia with its baths and its hypocausts, +doubtless also with its temple and its magazines. Here we strike a great +Roman road. Follow that road northwards over the hills, and you will +come to the camp of Lanchester on the Browney. Another stretch over wild +moorlands, and we reach Ebchester, in the pleasant valley of the Derwent. +Another, and we strike the Tyne at Corstopitum (Corbridge). And so on by +more camps and stations than I need weary you with the names of, till we +reach the great camp, or rather series of camps, which surround the high +altar-like hill of Birrenswark in Dumfriesshire, overlooking the sandy +Solway. Yet still the Roman road is running northwards, till at last it +reaches the Wall of Antoninus, somewhere near the Frith of Clyde. + +[Sidenote: _Midland and Southern Britain._] + +Southwards the same road pursues its course, uncompromising and +undeviating, over the great ridge of hills which separates you from the +Tees. Across the Swale at Cataractonium it leads us to Isurium, which +will one day be represented by the pleasant old-fashioned village of +Boroughbridge, and where we see for the first time those pictured floors, +the tesselated pavements which are so abundant in Southern Britain and in +Gaul. Then it takes us to Eboracum, the great Roman city of the North, +the home of the Sixth Legion, the place where the aged Severus will lay +down the purple at the bidding of Death, and where the young Constantine +will assume it at the bidding of the soldiery. Thence across the country +south-westwards, over those hills and dales of Yorkshire and Lancashire, +which are now among the poorest and most solitary, as they will one day +be among the richest and the most thickly populated portions of the +island of the Britons. So we reach Deva, or Chester on the Dee, where +the Twentieth Legion have built their stately city, with its temples, +its baths, and its spacious praetorium for their commanding officer. And +so from thence, through Cheshire and Staffordshire, and on by a route +pretty nearly coinciding with that which will, after many centuries, be +taken by the North-Western Railway, till at last we reach that city, +comparatively unimportant in the official map of Roman Britain, but which +the concourse of merchants is even now making important in spite of +prefects and procurators, ‘the city formerly known as Londinium, but now +named Augusta.’ + +[Sidenote: _Existing traces of Roman occupation._] + +In our own day, at nearly every step of our course along this great +highway, which our ancestors named the Watling Street, there is some +trace of the Roman legionary and his sojourn in our island. Here +the coins of some military treasure chest buried in haste and never +reclaimed; there the shells of the oysters or the bones of the beef which +the soldiers consumed; here a dedication to some native god bearing an +uncouth name, with whom they thought it safer to be on friendly terms; +there the pathetic epitaph of a departed wife ‘who lived with her husband +xxx years, “_sine ulla macula_,”’ with no spot upon her goodness; here +the walls of a camp turned by centuries into mere grassy mounds, but +still by their rectangular shape rounded at the corners, showing the +handiwork of the Roman surveyor; there an inscription recording the +rebuilding of a bath or a granary, ‘_vetustate conlapsum_’ (which had +fallen in through age), and reminding us how old and venerable the +buildings erected by the first conquerors of Britain must have appeared +long before the last Roman soldier, standing upon the stern of the +departing vessel, waved his sad ‘_Vale Britannia_’ to our island. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Boundaries of the Roman World._] + +All these vestiges of the great world-Empire, when one examines them +patiently day after day, as it has often been my privilege to do in +travelling along one of the great Roman roads in our own country or +abroad, produce an effect upon the mind incomparably stronger and deeper +than results from simply reading the story of the conquest of a province +in the pages of Caesar or Tacitus. And now multiply this picture at +least thirty-fold in order to make it justly represent the whole extent +of the Empire. Cross the sea from ‘Londinium, now Augusta,’ to the +mouth of the Rhine. Travel for days up that stately river and see the +legionaries swarming upon its western, and not unknown upon its eastern +bank. Trace the 300 miles of stake-covered rampart which join the Middle +Rhine to the Middle Danube, and along every mile of which a Roman soldier +is tramping. Descend the Danube from Ratisbon to the Euxine and see every +foot of its right bank held by Rome, who for more than a century holds a +province on the left bank also (the province of Dacia), and stations her +legionaries on the crests of the Carpathian Mountains. Take ship and sail +over the foggy Euxine, and there, in its extreme south-eastern corner, +near where Jason and his companions sought the Golden Fleece, recognise +once more the Roman boundary. Follow that boundary over the mountains of +Armenia to the upper waters of the Tigris. Cross ‘the great river, the +River Euphrates,’ near the place where Eliezer waited for Rebekah by the +well; and then encompassing Damascus and the mysterious cities of Bashan, +let the border come down past the Dead Sea, past Mount Pisgah and Mount +Sinai, and so overleaping the Red Sea, let it reach the valley of the +Nile. Here the frontier towards the barbarism of Ethiopia is the same +that the modern protectors of Egypt have drawn close to the city of Syene +(now Assouan); leaving 800 miles of the rich Nile valley as the granary +of Rome. All along the northern coast of Africa, Cyrene, Tripolis, +Carthage, Numidia, Mauretania, whatever there is of civilised, stable, +wealth-producing life (and it is a broad enough belt in some places) +is all Roman by obedience, and much of it Latin by speech. At last the +boundary goes out at the Atlantic Ocean where Hercules once relieved +Atlas of his load. Men gazing forth upon the waste of waters, and half +discovering, half dreaming, concerning the Fortunate Isles beyond, are +constrained at length to admit the fact that the great Empire has found +its limit, and that if there be other worlds to the West they are worlds +beyond the world of Rome. + +[Sidenote: _The Orbis Romanus nearly coincided with the Orbis Terrarum._] + +It was an immense extent of territory which the Roman god Terminus thus +marked out, and (as has been often pointed out, but is a fact of the +greatest importance) it more nearly embraced the whole of the then known +and civilised world than any Empire that has since been seen. True, the +mysterious river of Asiatic civilisation, as represented by China and +India, flowed on, not blending its waters with those which the Tiber +ruled. But these countries were practically altogether beyond the horizon +of the Empire. During the first three centuries of our era there was only +one civilised power of which Rome was conscious as a possible rival to +herself, and that was the power of Persia. Her sovereign, whether he were +known as Parthian or Persian, as Arsacid or Sassanid, took to himself +proud titles, calling himself ‘King of Kings,’ and so forth, and often by +his devastating raids inflicted sore disaster on the Eastern provinces +of Rome; but the Empire was certainly far the stronger power, and many +of the abler Emperors could probably, if they had deemed it wise to make +the attempt, have accomplished what Julian so narrowly missed and what +Heraclius triumphantly performed, the overthrow of the Persian monarchy. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Government of the Roman State._] + +[Sidenote: _Senatus Populus Que Romanus._] + +This vast territory had been acquired by the municipality of an Italian +city under a government which was in some respects the best adapted for +gaining and for consolidating dominion that the world has ever seen. +S.P.Q.R.: these four letters formed the talisman which floated on the +victorious standards of Rome, whether they crowned the misty heights of +the Cheviots or were mirrored in the waters of the Orontes. The Senate +and the People of Rome: we must pause for a few moments on these words to +consider what they implied. + +[Sidenote: _The Roman Senate under the Republic._] + +(1) The Senate of Rome, in its best days reminding the beholder of an +assembly of Kings, debating the affairs of the Republic with a gravity, +an earnestness and a conciseness very unlike the showy rhetoric of a +Greek _Ecclesia_ or the vapid verbiage of a modern House of Commons or +House of Representatives: this was the body which gave coherence and +unity to the policy of the great Latin city, which prevented it from +being swayed to and fro by such gusts of passion or misplaced sentiment +as ruined the Empire of Athens; which caused it to pursue, century after +century, the same undeviating course, and to act upon the same maxims +of statesmanship—hard maxims often, and inspired by a terrible egotism, +but successful. It was the Senate which enabled the Roman State to feel +the proud confidence that was expressed with less justice by that patient +toiler, Philip of Spain, ‘Time and I against any one else in the world.’ + +[Sidenote: _Not a mere hereditary aristocracy._] + +One source of the Senate’s strength was derived from the fact that it was +never in theory and seldom in practice a mere hereditary aristocracy. +Election to some one of the great offices of the State into which the +kingly power had been divided, Consulship, Praetorship, Quaestorship, was +the door by which entrance was gained into the ‘assembly of Kings’—and +this election in the better days of the Republic implied a certain +amount of popular respect if not of popular favour—but once admitted, +the Senator had his seat practically for life, and needed not to tremble +at every changing wind of popular opinion, lest the withdrawal of the +favour of his constituents should doom him to political annihilation. The +chasm which once separated the Patrician from the Plebeian, and which +made it impossible for the latter to enter the Senate, had been filled +up long before Rome began to play her great part among the nations of +the earth: but it is true that a new aristocracy of consular families, +partly Patrician and partly Plebeian, had arisen on the ruins of the old. +A Terentius Varro, a Marius, a Cicero could by great energy, by military +successes, or by surpassing eloquence, break through into the charmed +circle, but the outcry that was raised at the presumption of such a +_novus homo_ showed that the event was a rare one. + +[Sidenote: _The Censorship._] + +One institution, however, which modern aristocracies would do well to +copy, tended to save the Senate from the worst perils of a hereditary +oligarchy. To be ruled by a proud nobility which respects itself is +perhaps not pleasant, but it is endurable. But to be ruled by ‘hereditary +legislators’ who do not observe the ordinary decencies of life is an +ignominy too galling to be borne. The power of the _Censor_ to degrade +from his Senatorial office any man who offended against the strict +old-fashioned code of Roman morality, a power which in the best days of +the Republic was wielded with merciless severity and without respect of +persons, must have largely contributed to that moral ascendency of the +Senate which made it for four centuries as supreme in Roman politics as +the House of Commons has been for the last two centuries in the politics +of Britain. + +[Sidenote: _The People of Rome._] + +(2) The People of Rome, the Quirites, assembled by their centuries, +or their tribes, under an Italian sky, in the Campus Martius or the +Forum—these also had their allotted share in the development of the +greatness of Rome: these formed the strong steadily beating heart, +without which all the accumulated wisdom of the Senate, the brain of +the State, would have been of no avail. Questions of peace and war, and +questions of political reform, were brought before them, generally, +it is true, on the motion of the Senate, but so as to cast the final +responsibility on the people; and during the greater part of the lifetime +of the Republic those solemn trials of political offenders which +correspond most nearly to our own impeachments took place at the bar of +the popular assembly. + +[Sidenote: _The Tribunes._] + +To guard these rights and to secure the meanest citizen of Rome from +oppression on the part of some haughty aristocrat, the Tribunes of the +Commonalty were called into being, that unique class of magistrates +whose power of ‘intercession’ could bring the whole machinery of the +State to a deadlock, and upon whose ‘sacro-sanct’ persons the proudest +Consul, fresh from victory over the enemies of Rome, might not lay hands +without incurring the penalty of outlawry. The office which the Member +of Parliament has hitherto discharged when he brings the grievance of +a constituent before the House of Commons; the office of redresser of +all wrongs and browbeater of all magistrates, which the Public Press +has of later time arrogated to itself—these offices were for centuries +discharged by the Tribunes of the Commonalty. Upon the whole we may +believe that the Tribunician power was a useful counterpoise to the +immense authority vested in Consuls and Praetors: but it was always a +power which in the hands of a dishonest demagogue might be abused for the +purpose of obstruction. It was always useful only as a brake is useful to +the driver of a railway train; and in the latter days of the Republic +it was a brake suddenly and clumsily applied, by which the Engine of the +State was being continually thrown off the line. + +[Sidenote: _Political decline._] + +[Sidenote: _B.C. 367-146._] + +But, such as they were, these two great depositaries of power, the Senate +and the People, wrought together in reasonable harmony, and upon the +whole for the good of Rome and the fast widening Roman world, during +the two centuries which intervened between the admission of Plebeians +to the Consulate and the Third Punic War. With the fall of Rome’s old +rival, Carthage, a rapid change for the worse manifested itself in the +Roman character. Corruption entered the Senate and brutal violence +disgraced the Assembly of the People. The young Roman politician half +ruined himself over the shows of gladiators and wild beasts that were +to purchase from the commonalty his election to the successive offices +which were the steps in the ladder of his promotion. The mob cheered and +laughed, but the provinces groaned, for out of their plundered cities +and beggared agriculture the Propraetor or Proconsul reckoned to recoup +himself for the heavy entrance-fees which he had paid to gain admission +to the Roman Senate. These abuses became at length too glaring for even +the seared consciences of Roman politicians to endure. Laws against +official extortion, ‘_de repetundis pecuniis_,’ were passed by the +people—a doubtful boon to the provincials, for now the governor robbed +them, not for himself only, but for the rivals and the demagogues whose +silence he had to purchase by bribes. In the train of the governor went +the usurer, lending money at ruinous rates to the provincial to enable +him to pay the clamorous tax-gatherer. Even Brutus, that Puritan among +Roman statesmen, sought to compel the inhabitants of Salamis to pay him +compound interest at the rate of 48 per cent. per annum. Under these +accumulated oppressions the fair countries round the Mediterranean were +fast sinking into misery and despair, the very life-blood being drained +out of them by the insatiable oligarchs of Rome. And during the greater +part of this time, while the Senators were treating the civilised world +as their own private farm, and farming it like a tenant who is under +notice to quit and will get all he can out of the soil, the so-called +People of Rome were every year sinking lower and lower into degradation, +becoming a mere mob of freedmen and foreigners, the collected sewage of +the world. The Constitution—notwithstanding a temporary reaction under +Sulla—was becoming more and more democratic, as the people were becoming +more utterly unworthy to be trusted with power. Armed bands of hired +bravoes fought with one another in the streets of Rome, and on the day of +a hotly-disputed election or the passing of an unpopular law, the statues +in the Forum were splashed with the blood of the slain. + +[Sidenote: _Shelley on the decay of Roman freedom._] + +I know no words which more vividly bring before our minds the contrast +between the Rome of Cincinnatus and the Rome of Clodius than this verse +from Shelley’s ‘Ode to Liberty’:— + + ‘Then Rome was, and from thy deep bosom, fairest + Like a wolf-cub, from some Cadmean Maenad + She drew the milk of greatness, though thy dearest[1] + From that Elysian food was yet unweanëd. + And many a deed of terrible uprightness + By thy sweet love was sanctified, + And in thy smile and by thy side + Saintly Camillus lived and firm Atilius[2] died. + But when blood stained thy robe of vestal whiteness, + And gold profaned thy Capitolian throne, + Thou didst desert with spirit-winged lightness + The Senate of the oppressors: they sank prone + Slaves of one tyrant: Palatinus sighed + Faint echoes of Ionian song. That tone + Thou didst delay to hear, lamenting to disown.’ + +‘Slaves of one tyrant.’ That was the doom, the righteous doom of the +Roman Senate and People. Corruption above and anarchy below had slain +that Public Virtue without which a Republic cannot live: and now the only +hope of the world lay in the uprising of some one man who should save +Rome from herself, and rescue from her Senate and People the provinces +which they had won but could no longer govern. + +[Sidenote: _Caesar._] + +This necessary work was performed by the man who stands head and +shoulders above all other statesmen, as Isaiah above all other Prophets, +as Shakespeare above all other Dramatists,—the man whose name still +means Emperor to more than a hundred millions of mankind, GAIUS JULIUS +CAESAR. It may be truly said that the further we get away from Caesar +the Dictator, the greater his work appears. Superficial students of +history used to think of it as only lasting for five centuries (yet +five centuries, the interval of time that separates us from Chaucer and +Wycliffe, is not a contemptible interval in a nation’s life): but the +more scientific school of modern historians rightly claim that the work +of Julius Caesar, the organisation of _Imperium Romanum_, outlived not +only the fall of Rome, but the fall of Constantinople also, and was only +destroyed by ‘the bastard Caesar,’ Napoleon, in 1806, if indeed it be +not, in a sense, living still. + +[Sidenote: _Theory of the Principate._] + +As the various offices of the Republic had been formed chiefly out of +the power of the ancient kings, it might have seemed the obvious course +to recombine them into one, and crown Caesar king. Warned by the murmurs +of the crowd on the day of the Lupercalia, but also doubtless following +his own instinct as a statesman, Julius—and his nephew Augustus after +him—chose a wiser course. The name of Republic should still remain: +S.P.Q.R. should still be inscribed on the banners of the legions, but +the powers of the Republic should all be grasped in a single hand. There +had been Dictators created for special emergencies: Julius would be a +life-long Dictator. Successful generals had been saluted Imperator by +their soldiers on the field of battle: Julius would be emphatically +_the_ Imperator. Grave and reverend men, the fathers of the Senate, had +been hailed with the title _Princeps_: Augustus would now in middle life +be greeted as Princeps. Above all, the Tribunes of the Commonalty had +possessed enormous powers for the prevention of legislation of which +they disapproved, and their persons had been invested with especial +sanctity. Augustus would now gather into himself all the obstructive +powers of the whole College of Tribunes, and his person should be +‘sacro-sanct’ as theirs had been. Special defenders of the Commonalty +were now no longer needed. The new Imperator claimed, and not altogether +without reason, that _he_ was defender of the people, and therefore each +year by a fresh and solemn act he was ‘invested with the Tribunician +power.’ + +[Sidenote: _A Monarchy under Republican forms._] + +[Sidenote: _Deference of the good Emperors to the Senate._] + +[Sidenote: _The bad Emperors delighted in degrading it._] + +Our own Constitutional monarchy is often called ‘a Republic veiled under +monarchical forms.’ The Empire of the Caesars was just the reverse: an +absolute monarchy veiled under the forms of a Republic. The analogy may +be carried a little further. Just as every really great and patriotic +Prime Minister, under a Constitutional monarchy like ours, veils somewhat +of the power which in fact is his under the forms of deference to the +throne, and does this not in servile adoration for rank, but because +he knows that in the institution of Monarchy there is a fund of latent +power which it were unwise to squander, and which may one day be sorely +needed for the defence of the life of the nation against enemies from +without or from within, even so the greatest and best of the Roman +Emperors, while holding all power in their hands, used that power as +much as possible in harmony with the Senate and in conformity with the +Senate’s advice; and thus, while preserving the prestige of an ancient +and venerable assembly, also retained in the State a force which might +operate as a counterpoise, though a feeble one, should the vast powers of +the Emperor pass into the keeping of a foolish or wicked successor. But +while the good and patriotic Emperors—Augustus, Trajan, Marcus Aurelius, +Claudius Gothicus, Probus—delighted to magnify the moral authority of the +Senate, the weak and dissolute Emperors, maddened by the possession of +absolute power, delighted to trample upon and insult it. Caligula forced +Senators of the highest rank to walk for miles before his chariot, or to +wait upon him at table, each clad in the linen girdle of a slave. Nero +wrung from the loathing Senate a formal approbation of the murder of his +mother, and insisted on 400 of its members performing as gladiators in +the Amphitheatre. And Domitian, according to the well-known story in the +pages of Juvenal, summoned the trembling Conscript Fathers in the dead of +night to deliberate on the best manner of cooking an enormous turbot. + +[Sidenote: _The Provinces were the gainers by the Imperial system._] + +But though the Senators groaned under the insults and the cruelty of +the bad Emperors (of whom in the first century of the Empire there was +undoubtedly a terrible preponderance over the good ones) there can be +little doubt that for the Empire at large the change to the Imperial +system was an enormous benefit. The populace of Rome had their rations +and their gladiatorial exhibitions (_panem et circenses_) regularly, and +what was more important, the police and the water supply of the great +City were attended to as they had never been before. The provinces were +no longer exposed to the unchecked cupidity of some dissolute aristocrat, +eager to suck them dry during his short term of office and then to hurry +back to play the great game of politics in Rome. Unjust governors, men +like Pontius Pilate and Felix, undoubtedly still bore sway; but at least +they had as a rule a longer term of office, and less need therefore to +drain the province all at once. And the thought of the terrible Caesar +at Rome, who, however cruel and rapacious himself, was generally quick +to punish cruelty and rapacity in others, the dread of hearing, after +a manifestly unjust sentence, the fateful words pronounced, ‘Provoco +ad Caesarem[3],’ kept many a provincial governor, who may have been at +heart no better than Verres or Gabinius, from shearing the helpless sheep +before him as closely as they would have been shorn in the later days of +the Republic. It is one of the commonplaces of history that even Nero +himself was hated only in Rome, and that after his death the story that +he still lived and would one day return and resume the purple, was told +and lovingly cherished in many of the provinces. + +[Sidenote: _Chief periods of Imperial history._] + +[Sidenote: _I. the Julian Dynasty, 99 years. (B.C. 31-A.D. 68.)_] + +[Sidenote: _The Flavian Dynasty, 27 years. (69-96.)_] + +[Sidenote: _II. The Antonines, 84 years. (96-180.)_] + +The history of the Empire naturally groups itself into periods, each +of about a century in duration. The Julian dynasty, from the battle of +Actium (B.C. 31) to the death of Nero (A.D. 68), fills up ninety-nine +years. We pass lightly over the twenty-seven years of the Flavian +dynasty (69-96), which is in some respects like a copy of the Julian, +Vespasian being a somewhat commonplace Augustus and Domitian a vulgar +Nero, and we come to the great and glorious age of the Antonines[4]. For +eighty-four years (A.D. 96-180) a series of sovereigns, the best, the +wisest and the most statesmanlike that the world has ever seen—Nerva, +Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus, Marcus—sat upon the throne of the world. +What has been already said as to the happiness of the provinces under +the Julian dynasty might be said without any qualification, as far as +the rulers could bring happiness, of the century of Antonine rule. But +according to the trite quotation— + + ‘How small, of all that human hearts endure, + That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.’ + +The course of nature seems as if it had been out of joint during that +otherwise happy century. Destructive earthquakes, wide-wandering +pestilences and grievous famines marked its course; and at the close +of it came that terrible irruption of barbarians from the lands of the +Middle Danube which is known as the Marcomannic War, and which very +nearly brought about the fall of the Roman Empire two centuries too soon. + +[Sidenote: _III. The Age of Anarchy, 105 years. (180-285.)_] + +[Sidenote: _Debased Coinage._] + +The stately and philosophic virtue of the Antonine Emperors led to a +terrible anti-climax—the mad sensuality and cruelty of the bull-necked +Commodus. And now began that terrible third century, in which the great +World-Empire seemed perpetually as if it were on the point of going to +pieces, through its own weakness and corruption, before the barbarians +were ready even to gather up its fragments. It had been discovered ‘that +an emperor could be made elsewhere than in Rome,’ and in every province, +almost in every legionary camp, there was an upstart General eager to +avail himself of this discovery, eager to wrap himself in the purple and +to lay hold of what the Greek historians call ἡ τῶν ὅλων ἀρχή, ‘the rule +of the universe.’ The strongest memory can hardly retain the names of +all the obscure adventurers who thus blossomed into a little temporary +notoriety, and who were murdered by a rival or fell on the field of +battle before their purple had lost the lustre of its newness. Province +thus fighting against province and civil war being the normal condition +of the Empire, the misery and poverty which everywhere prevailed can +hardly be imagined, and are but scantily pourtrayed for us by the +wretched historians of the time. Two things, however, always occur to +my mind as typical of this woeful age—its coinage and its camps. Take a +coin of one of the earlier Emperors, say a bronze sestertius of Domitian, +which lies before me while I write: see the clear bold relief of the +laurel-crowned head, the sharp, well-cut letters of the inscription, +and then compare it with a (so-called) silver denarius of Valerian or +Gallienus—a thin bit of copper with a wash of silver or pewter over it, +and upon it the barbarous effigy of a head wearing a radiated crown and +surrounded by an almost illegible inscription. From a mere glance at the +coins you feel at once that the owner of a sestertius (whose nominal +value was twopence-halfpenny) under Domitian was a richer man than the +owner of a denarius (the equivalent of four sestertii) under Gallienus. + +[Sidenote: _Degenerate Architecture._] + +And the camps: go to Housesteads or Chesters and see the splendid blocks +of masonry which belong to the age of the Antonines; see the masonry +of a very different and far inferior kind, small and mean and easily +overthrown, which marks the age of Constantine, after the close of the +third century. But in between these two periods of original building and +late repair you may often find a mass of confused _débris_, sometimes +with the marks of fire upon them. That shapeless mound tells the story of +the third century. While every little Tribune or Centurion was coquetting +with the soldiers under his command, relaxing discipline and permitting +plunder, in the hope that they might some morning rush to the Praetorium, +put on him the purple robe and hail him as Imperator, meantime the _Pax +Romana_ was becoming a bitter bye-word over all the Empire, and in our +own country the savage Caledonians were breaking down the barrier of +Hadrian, setting fire to Cilurnum and Borcovicus, swarming across the +Tyne and Tees, and carrying fire and sword far into the heart of Britain. + +[Sidenote: _IV. The Age of Restoration, 93 years. (285-378.)_] + +The deliverer of the world from this tempest of anarchy and disruption, +the true Second Founder of the Empire was the son of a Dalmatian slave, +Diocletian. As his reign began A.D. 285, as the work of reorganisation +which was commenced by him was continued by Constantine (306-337), and +as the political system thus inaugurated lasted unimpaired till 378, the +date of the battle of Hadrianople, we may call this the fourth century of +the Empire, the period of Restoration. + +[Sidenote: _Objects of the Diocletianic reform._] + +The great objects aimed at and accomplished by Diocletian were the +increase of the majesty of the Imperial office, the equable diffusion +of defensive power through all parts of the Empire, the welding of a +strong chain of rights and responsibilities which should vibrate from the +Emperor on his throne to the lowest official in the most distant province. + +[Sidenote: _Increased veneration for the Imperial dignity._] + +(1) The increased majesty of the Emperor’s office. All pretence of his +being only the first citizen in a Republic, only the most eminent member +of the Senate, and so on, was now done away with. The Emperor now wore +on his head a pearl-bordered diadem, on his feet sandals studded with +gems; he was surrounded by a splendid retinue, and the petitioner who +approached him—though he were a member of one of the proudest families +in the Roman Senate—had to prostrate himself on the ground and _adore_ +the Imperial Majesty. Thus at length the Roman Imperator stood fully +revealed, a monarch as haughty and as absolute as Darius or Sapor. In all +this, censorious critics traced the overweening pride of the Dalmatian +slave’s son exalted to the pinnacle of earthly greatness: yet it is +probable that policy had as much share as pride in the self-exaltation +of Diocletian. During the long troubles of the third century, when every +legion was making and unmaking Emperors, the highest office in the +State had lost all dignity and all prestige: and if it was really to +recover itself and become, as Diocletian would have it, the true centre +of gravity of the State, it was necessary that it should once again +seem awful and majestic. The same statesmanlike spirit which dictated +to Augustus the suppression of the visible signs of regal magnificence, +suggested to Diocletian their multiplication and embellishment. + +[Sidenote: _Division of labour._] + +(2) It had become manifest to a statesman’s eye that the vast Roman world +could no longer be ruled from Rome alone. On the Rhine, on the Danube, +on the Euphrates, strong armies were required to guard the frontiers: +yet it was precisely from these armies, strangers to the Imperial city +and to the person of the legitimate Augustus, that the brood of usurpers +and tyrants, claimants for the Imperial purple, was being perpetually +recruited. Diocletian now carved out the Roman Empire into four great +Prefectures, each large enough to satisfy the ambition of a Charles V or +a Louis XIV, and gave to each of these Prefectures its own court, its own +capital, its own elaborately organised official hierarchy. + +[Sidenote: _The four Prefectures._] + +I. ‘The Gauls,’ comprising Britain, Gaul, Spain, and part of Morocco, +and reaching from the Firth of Clyde to Mount Atlas, had its centre of +government at Augusta Trevirorum (Trier on the Moselle). + +II. ‘Italy,’ comprising Raetia, Italy, Sicily, and the wealthy provinces +of Africa, was still in theory governed from Rome; but practically its +Emperor during the whole of the fourth century was generally resident at +Mediolanum (Milan). + +III. Illyricum, the smallest of the four Prefectures, included the +provinces of the Middle Danube, the western portion of the country lately +known as Turkey in Europe, and Greece. Sirmium on the Save was generally +the residence of its Emperor. + +IV. All the rest of the Empire formed the rich and important Prefecture +of the East (Oriens). Its Emperor for the most part resided at Antioch, +from whence he watched the ever menacing attitude of the Sassanid kings +of Persia. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Transmission of the Imperial power._] + +[Sidenote: _Abdication of Diocletian, 305._] + +[Sidenote: _Death of Constantius. Elevation of Constantine, 25 July, +306._] + +The great scheme of Imperial government matured by the brain of +Diocletian, provided not only for the exercise but also for the +transmission of power. The adoptive system, which had given to the Empire +all the noblest sovereigns of the Antonine period, was to be revived in +all its vigour. Two Emperors ruling as Augusti were to adopt two younger +colleagues as their sons, who were to bear the humbler title of Caesar, +and were to administer those Prefectures in which the danger of war was +the keenest, and the labour of ruling the most severe. As in the course +of nature the two senior partners, the Augusti, moved off the scene, +the Caesars were to take their place and adopt two new Caesars to ease +them of their burden, and one day inherit their dignity. An elaborate +and ingenious scheme, and one which might conceivably have preserved +the Empire from civil war at least for two or three generations, but +which in fact was broken to pieces by that longing after the hereditary +transmission of power and wealth which is one of the deepest instincts of +humanity. Diocletian and Maximian (a brave, uncultivated soldier) were +the two first Augusti: Constantius and Galerius the two first Caesars. +After a prosperous reign of twenty years, enfeebled health and perhaps a +desire to see with his own eyes the success of his great design, induced +Diocletian voluntarily to resign the purple, and Maximian, who had no +such philosophical inclinations and who was still in the lusty vigour +of middle life, was compelled to follow the example of his patron. Thus +did Constantius and Galerius become the two new Augusti, but Galerius, +who was the son-in-law and special confidant of Diocletian, had the +choice of the two new Caesars, and chose a nephew and a dependent of +his own, Maximin Daza and Severus, neither of them really fitted for +‘the rule of all things.’ Constantius, a man of mild and gentle temper, +away in distant Britain and already smitten by disease, acquiesced in +the nominations of his self-seeking partner; but the offspring and the +soldiers of Constantius rebelled against an arrangement so one-sided +and inequitable. Constantine, the brave young son of Constantius by his +concubine Helena, now in his thirty-second year, was at Nicomedia in +Bithynia when Diocletian’s abdication threw the direction of the affairs +of the Imperial partnership into the hands of Galerius, who viewed +him with no friendly eye, and would fain have kept him in honourable +captivity in Asia. Repeated letters from his colleague Constantius +at length wrung from him the required permission for the young man’s +departure, and Constantine, according to a well-known story, starting +on the long journey across Thrace by the Danube and the Rhine, caused +the horses at the first few Imperial post-stations to be hamstrung, in +order to prevent any courier from overtaking him with a revocation of +the order. He reached York in safety; he made a successful campaign in +Caledonia under his father’s auspices, and when that father returned to +York to die, the legionaries, led by a Teutonic chief Crocus, king of the +Alamanni, who held high command among them, insisted with one voice, that +the diadem and the purple of the deceased Emperor should adorn his noble +son, and that whatever the new-fangled constitution of Diocletian might +prescribe, his title should be not Caesar but Augustus. Of the myriads +of travellers who hurry to and fro through the magnificent railway +station of York, how few find time to visit the admirable museum of Roman +antiquities which is within a few hundred yards of the station, to gaze +upon the ‘multangular tower’ with its courses of square Roman bricks, +and in thought to retrace the history of York, Eoforwic, Eboracum, up to +that day when the shouting soldiery, enraptured with the donative which +each man had received, acclaimed the young hero ‘Constantine Imperator +tu vincas.’ Strange is it to reflect that then what we call ‘the Eternal +Eastern Question’ had no existence, since he who was to give his name to +Constantinople was only setting his foot on the first rung of the ladder +of power, and the Bosphorus, with the inconsiderable city of Byzantium on +its shores, was still a silent and solitary water-way, while Eboracum was +making and unmaking Emperors. + +[Sidenote: _Confusion and Civil War._] + +[Sidenote: _Suicide of Diocletian, 313._] + +By the elevation of Constantine to the Imperial dignity—an elevation +which Galerius found himself eventually forced to consent to—the whole +of Diocletian’s elaborate scheme of adoption, partnership and succession +was shattered into atoms. The son of Maximian, Maxentius, followed the +example of the son of Constantius and declared himself Augustus. Then +old Maximian himself resumed the purple. In the year 308 there were six +Emperors reigning at once, all styling themselves Augusti. Civil war in +such conditions as these became the chronic condition of the Empire. The +fable of the armed men who sprang from the dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus, +and who fought with one another all the long summer’s day till only five +were left, became a terrible truth. Such was the scene, such the utter +failure of his grand project for promoting the peace of the Empire upon +which the weary eyes of Diocletian closed, when, seeking refuge in death +from the indignities which his young successors would have put upon him, +he passed away from earth in his stately palace by the Adriatic, that +palace which in the Middle Ages became a city[5]. + +[Sidenote: _Constantine and Licinius, 315._] + +[Sidenote: _Constantine sole ruler, 323._] + +Of the dragon’s brood of combatants, at the time of the death of +Diocletian only two were left, Constantine in the West and Licinius in +the East. A short civil war was terminated by an apparent reconciliation +between the two kinsmen (Licinius had married the sister of Constantine), +and for eight years Licinius seemed to be satisfied with an arrangement +which left him only the Eastern quarter of the Roman world, while the +Gauls, Italy and Illyricum obeyed his more fortunate and far abler rival. +But + + ‘Never could true reconcilement grow, + Where wounds of deadly hate had pierced so deep.’ + +The terrible loneliness of those who climb to the high places of power, +their incapacity of tolerating a rival near the throne produced the usual +results, and in 323 the second civil war broke out. Over land and sea +the two mighty storm-clouds moved with terrific momentum against one +another. Thirty-four thousand men fell on the hardly-contested field of +Hadrianople. Crispus, the brave young son of Constantine, forced the +passage of the Dardanelles and laid siege to Byzantium. The final battle +was fought in September, 323, at Chrysopolis in Bithynia. Licinius was +defeated after a most bloody encounter, in which 25,000 of his followers +were slain. He implored and seemed to receive the pardon of his ‘Emperor +and Master’ Constantine, but in the following year, on some suspicion of +conspiracy, was put to death. Seventeen years after his being proclaimed +at York, Constantine was sole and absolute master of the Roman world. + +[Sidenote: _Christianity and the Empire. (303-313.)_] + +The generation which witnessed the break-down of Diocletian’s scheme of +adoptive succession witnessed also the final triumph of Christianity +over its persecutors. By a somewhat undeserved fate, the name of the +great restorer of the Empire has been handed down to after ages as that +of the fiercest and most cruel of the oppressors of the Church. The +persecution of the Christians which was commenced under Diocletian, and +which continued, with some intermission, for the two last years of his +reign and till the eighth year after his abdication, was not apparently +originated by him, but by his younger and infinitely less statesmanlike +colleague Galerius, who obtained the sanction indeed, but not the hearty +co-operation of the aged and now valetudinarian Emperor. Still it must +be admitted that Diocletian, though no fanatical adorer of the Olympian +gods, believed in the necessity, on political grounds, of one great and +relentless struggle for the suppression of the ‘new and illicit religion’ +which had grown up in the bosom of the Roman State, and which, as all men +of clear insight perceived, must either conquer it or be conquered by it. + +[Sidenote: _Constantine’s attitude towards Christianity._] + +The same purely political instinct which made Diocletian persecute, +led Constantine to foster and favour the Christian Church. Could we +penetrate the secrets of the hearts of these two men, we might find +that their religious convictions were not very dissimilar. Both were +probably at heart Monotheists, both had that belief in a just and +overruling Providence, which comes to most men who are in authority, and +who, seeing the endless labour and contrivance which is needed in an +earthly ruler to keep his world in any degree of order and peace, cannot +easily persuade themselves that the whole of this fair system of things +which we see around us came by chance. It may be doubted whether, in +his heart of hearts, Diocletian went much beyond this position in his +worship of Jupiter, or Constantine—at any rate till near the close of +his life—in his belief in Christ. But the younger Emperor saw clearly +that no fresh attempt to extirpate Christianity by force could succeed +when Diocletian had failed; that the new religion made of its votaries +not only better men, but, upon the whole, better citizens and more loyal +subjects; that it possessed a force which, wisely guided, might be used +for the preservation and not for the disruption of the Empire; above all, +that the zealous partisanship of Christian bishops and priests would +be a far more valuable ally to him in the desperate strife with his +competitors—first with Maxentius and then with Licinius—than the languid +half-hearted acquiescence of the Pagans in the religion which was a +fashion rather than a faith, handed down to them from their forefathers. + +Thus, then, the alliance of Constantine with the Christian Church was +formed, that alliance of which the imposing Council of Nicaea, consisting +of 318 bishops, presided over by the great Augustus himself, glorious +in purple and gold, was the most conspicuous seal and symbol. But though +Constantine fostered, and, if I may so say, petted the Christian Church, +he did not bring about that complete and intimate union of the State and +the Church which was to be the distinguishing mark of the later, and +pre-eminently of the Eastern Empire. Christian ideas indeed coloured +much of his legislation. An edict was passed for the observance of ‘the +Saviour’s day, the day of Light and of the Sun;’ and the soldiers, even +those who did not profess Christianity, were enjoined to meet on that day +in some open space near the city in which they were quartered and to lift +up their hands to heaven thanking God for past victories, and imploring +Him long to preserve in safety and triumph their Emperor Constantine +and his pious sons. Every attempt to compel Christians to be present +at idolatrous sacrifices was rigorously forbidden. The more licentious +of the heathen orgies were forcibly suppressed. Many idol temples were +thrown open to the gaze of the vulgar, and some were stripped of their +treasures and their revenues for the benefit of the Imperial Treasury. + +Still there was no formal renunciation of the worship of the gods of the +Capitol—no formal recognition of Christianity as _the_ religion of the +Empire. The temples, though in some cases robbed of their gold and silver +ornaments, remained standing; nay, even in the new and Christian capital, +in Constantinople itself, new temples were erected, of course not +without the Emperor’s cognisance, to Rhea, to the Great Twin Brethren, +to the Fortune of the New Rome. + +[Sidenote: _Religious policy of Constantine’s successors._] + +Two generations passed after the foundation of Constantinople, during +which the relation of the Empire to the Christian Church was the central +question of all politics. These were the years during which the strife +between Athanasian and Arian was being waged in all its bitterness, and +the influence of Constantius, the survivor of the sons of Constantine, +and eventually the sole ruler of the Roman Empire, was thrown with +passionate earnestness on the side of the Arians, on whose behalf he +exerted a severity which sometimes amounted to actual persecution of +their opponents. Then came the short and fruitless attempt of Julian +to restore the worship of the old gods. After his death followed some +further struggles with Arianism, which could again boast the protection +of an Eastern Emperor[6]. All these events tended to bring the +supreme civil power more and more deeply into the innermost circle of +ecclesiastical politics. Men’s minds became familiarised with the idea of +one supreme and triumphant form of the Christian faith, professed by the +Emperor, inscribed on the forefront of the State, and rigorously imposed +on all citizens as an essential condition of their citizenship. This +consummation was reached under that Emperor whose fortunes I shall before +long have to describe to you, under Theodosius, who proclaimed the final +triumph of the Athanasian faith, commanded all his subjects to adhere +to it, prohibited the meetings of heretics, destroyed the temples of the +gods, and made orthodox Christianity, what it continued for more than a +thousand years, the State religion of the Roman Empire. + + + + +LECTURE II. + +THE ROMAN AND THE TEUTON. + + +_Comparison of the Political and Social Condition of the Empire and its +German Neighbours._ + + +§ 1. THE ROMAN. + +Before I proceed to describe the collision between the Roman Empire and +its Northern neighbours, I wish to sketch, in rapid outline, the chief +features of the political and social condition of these two worlds, so +close to one another in geographical position, so far removed from one +another in the stages of their respective development. + +[Sidenote: _The Imperial Majesty._] + +We saw something in the last lecture of the process by which the Roman +Augustus had grown to be what he was, the man with the mightiest +opportunities for good or for evil of any on the surface of our planet. +Let us now look for a few minutes at the outward presentation of this +greatness to the eyes of his subjects. If we enter the Imperial palace +and pass the first veil which guards the ante-chamber of the sovereign +we find ourselves at length before a second veil, in front of which +are watching thirty _Silentiarii_ in brightly burnished helmet and +breastplate, defending the ‘Silence’ of the innermost sanctuary from any +rude intrusion. Without the favour of some ‘illustrious’ functionary +there would be for us but little hope of entrance into that august +seclusion: but we who have travelled back over fifteen centuries of time +can push aside the spectral _Silentiarius_ who would forbid our entrance, +and can gaze, without the humiliating ceremony of prostration (exacted +from all his contemporary subjects), upon the face and figure of the +dread Augustus. He has perhaps just returned from the amphitheatre, and +wears therefore the full robes of royalty in which he displays himself on +state occasions to his subjects. On his head is the diadem, a broad white +band studded with two rows of pearls, and with an emerald or a carbuncle +blazing in the centre. Jewelled ear-rings hang down on either side of his +face. Over his shoulders is hung a purple robe, richly embroidered with +gold, similar to the _vestis picta_ which a conquering general used to +wear in old times when he was drawn in triumph to the Capitol. The use of +that purple colour is now jealously reserved to the Emperor himself, the +members of the Imperial family, the Consuls, and a few of the most highly +placed officers of state. For any ordinary subject to wear it would be +an act of _laesa majestas_ (high treason). More than once has a Roman +citizen lost his life, simply because a purple robe has been found in his +possession. Upon his feet the Emperor wears sandals of the same purple +dye, and these also are richly studded with jewels. + +In the midst of all this pomp, though sleek eunuchs and brilliantly +dressed pages are moving obsequiously through the chamber, eager to +anticipate the slightest wish of their master, the Lord of the Universe +does not present the outward show of happiness. There is a look of +weariness and anxiety in his face, dark lines under his eyes; languor and +satiety in the very tones of his voice. Though there are some exceptions +to the rule, the Augustus, since the changes introduced by Diocletian, +leads generally an indoor life, unfavourable to health. He does not take +those long and varied journeys which filled up the life of Hadrian: he +does not, except in dire necessity, march at the head of his troops like +Trajan: he does not even drive chariots and contend for prizes in the +theatre like Nero. He has now to keep himself aloof from his subjects +in dignified seclusion: his chief business in life is to be worshipped: +and the life of an idol must, as it seems to us, be always a tedious +life. The one thing that varies the monotony of the slowly-pacing days +is fear—that fear which, even under this new and more settled order of +things, no Emperor can wholly banish from his mind—that in some camp of +misty Britain, or by the mob of some Syrian city, a rival Augustus may +be suddenly acclaimed, and that it may be necessary to struggle not for +dominion only but for bare life against the desperate antagonist. + +[Sidenote: _Deification of the Emperor._] + +The being who dwelt in this stately seclusion was not only raised to the +ranks of the gods after his death (‘_Divus_’ being the regular official +prefix of the name of a deceased Emperor): he was occasionally even +addressed as ‘_Deus Noster_,’ ‘our God,’ during his life. ‘_Dominus +Noster_,’ ‘our Lord’ or ‘our Master,’ was, however, his more usual +title, this appellation which the modesty of Augustus had waived (since, +as he said, it implied that those who used it were his slaves) having +been freely accepted, and then jealously claimed, by his successors of +the Lower Empire. Everything belonging to the Emperor was habitually, +and without any trace of irony, spoken of as ‘Sacred.’ The ‘sacred +bedchamber’ meant the Emperor’s bedroom: the ‘sacred largesses,’ the +Imperial subscription-list. ‘Our Mildness,’ ‘our Tranquillity,’ ‘our +Clemency,’ are the terms which the Emperors generally use when they +are speaking of themselves, though occasionally we find an Emperor +soaring even to higher regions of august self-contemplation and speaking +of himself as ‘my Eternity[7].’ This reverential mode of speaking of +the Emperor’s dignity by no means disappeared with the adoption of +Christianity. A writer on military affairs, who was probably contemporary +with Theodosius[8], says of the oath taken by the army: ‘The soldiers +swear by God and Christ and the Holy Spirit, and by the Majesty of +the Emperor, which, according to the will of God, is to be loved and +worshipped by the human race. For when the Emperor has received the name +of Augustus, faithful devotion is to be rendered, life-long service is +to be paid, to him as to God present in a human body[9]. For that man, +whether soldier or civilian, serves God who faithfully loves him who +reigns by God’s ordinance.’ + +[Sidenote: _The Imperial Consistory._] + +In one of the apartments of the palace was assembled the _Consistory_ of +the Emperor, a body somewhat resembling our Privy Council, and consisting +of all the highest officials of the State. From this Consistory now went +forth all laws, addressed in the Emperor’s name to some great functionary +charged to see to their execution. Here, too, were announced the names +of those persons whom the Emperor nominated to the highest places in the +civil and military service. All this legislative and administrative work, +which in the days of the Republic had required the concurrence of the +Senate and People of Rome, and a large share of which had been left even +by Augustus and Tiberius to the Senate, was now done by the mere _fiat_ +of the Emperor; and only slight traces of even a theoretical right of +confirmation by the Senate, none at all of such a right of confirmation +by the People, seem to have been preserved. + +[Sidenote: _Three classes in the Imperial hierarchy._] + +The officials, civil and military, by whom the work of ruling the vast +Roman Empire was carried on, were divided into three great classes:— + +1. The _Illustres_, nearly corresponding to our Cabinet Ministers and +Commander-in-Chief. + +2. The _Spectabiles_, whose rank was not unlike that of our Privy +Councillors, and who included most of the governors of provinces and +military officers of rank. + +3. The _Clarissimi_. This title was given to all Senators, and was also +shared by some of the governors of provinces of inferior rank, and +subordinate commissioned officers. + +[Sidenote: _The Notitia._] + +The various degrees and orders of this great official hierarchy were +accurately described in a treatise called the _Notitia Utriusque +Imperii_, which, there is some reason to think, was written up by +each Emperor afresh on his accession to the throne. This document is +illustrated by somewhat grotesque pictures, emblematic of the contents +of the various chapters, which may have been drawn by the unskilful +fingers of the Imperial scribe. The copies of the _Notitia_ which we +possess describe the state of things existing about the beginning of the +fifth century, and bring before us in a wonderful manner the various +and skilfully contrived channels by which, in theory at least, the +great Imperial power flowed down to, and was brought in contact with, +the meanest of its subjects. The first chapter enumerates all the chief +officers of the Eastern Empire. The second takes up the office of the +PRAETORIAN PREFECT, greatest of all the Illustres, a man who, after his +office had undergone great mutations, had at length become, so to speak, +the Grand Vizier of the Emperor, his _alter ego_ and vicegerent, the +official who took as much as possible of the drudgery of ruling off the +shoulders of a monarch, who, if ill-disposed, wanted to take his fill of +luxury and sensual enjoyment, or if earnest to perform the duties of his +station, was generally busy on the frontier, warring with the barbarians. + +Though the scheme of Diocletian for ‘adoptive succession, and +partnership’ had broken down, his skilful division of the vast spaces of +the Empire still endured, and each one of the four Prefectures founded by +him was still under the rule of its own special Praetorian Prefect. This +second chapter, then, of the _Notitia_ describes the various provincial +governors, who are, in its phrase, ‘under the disposition’ of the +Illustrious Praetorian Prefect of the East. Then follows an enumeration +of the official staff—the registrars, the shorthand-writers, the +process-servers, the beadles, the gaolers who were employed in the court +of the Praetorian Prefect, himself not merely a great Minister of State, +but also the highest Judge of Appeal, Premier, and Lord Chancellor in one. + +[Sidenote: _Magister Militiae._] + +[Sidenote: _Probable size of the Imperial army._] + +Another chapter of the _Notitia_ gives the emblems of the dignity of +the Illustrious MASTER OF THE SOLDIERY in the East, and enumerates +the various legions which were under his disposition. And here we are +brought face to face with the interesting question, What was the size +of the Roman army at the time when its greatest struggle with the +barbarians began? Unfortunately the _Notitia_, though it gives us much +detailed information as to the disposition of various bodies of infantry +and cavalry, does not enable us to give a definite answer to this +question; and unfortunately also an impression has been produced, one +can hardly tell how, that by this time the Legion, the well-known unit +of computation in the Roman army, had been formally reduced from its old +strength of 6100 men to about 1000. Of course this suggestion throws +all calculations as to the size of the army, derived from the number of +legions contained in it, into confusion. But as no proof of this formal +reduction of the legion has yet been offered, I prefer to take it at its +old valuation: and so doing, I come to the conclusion that the Roman army +at the end of the fourth century consisted on paper of at least 950,000 +men[10]. To deduce from this its actual effective strength can be only +a matter of conjecture; but my conjecture would be that fully one-half +of the above number, or 475,000 men, were at that time serving under the +banners of the Empire[11]. + +[Sidenote: _Praepositus Sacri Cubiculi._] + +If I am not wearying you, we will turn over a few more pages of this +wonderful handbook, which I have often in my own mind compared to a +_Whitaker’s Almanack_ and an _Army List_ for the fifth century after +Christ, bound up together. Even that comparison hardly does justice to +the _Notitia_. I doubt if we have any book which in our own country shows +so clearly and so concisely the relations of the various departments of +our State to one another (for instance, of the Exchequer to the Treasury, +or of the Privy Council to the Poor Law Board) as this treatise shows +the functions of the great officers of the Roman State and the classes +of civil servants over whom they bore sway. After the Master of the +Soldiery, that is, the Commander-in-Chief, we come to the Illustrious +Grand Chamberlain, or, as he was called in the high-flown language of +the Court, the SUPERINTENDENT OF THE SACRED CUBICLE. Our MSS. of the +_Notitia_ are defective in the chapters relating to this magnificent +personage, but we know from other sources that he ruled over an army of +pages, scullions, keepers of the wardrobe, grooms of the bedchamber, and +the like, and that the thirty gleaming _Silentiarii_ who watched outside +the purple veil took their orders from him. + +[Sidenote: _Magister Officiorum_.] + +The Illustrious MASTER OF THE OFFICES is next described. In a quaint +picture are represented the emblems of his rank, a table with the +likeness of the Emperor standing upon it, and underneath shields, +spears, greaves and helmets. We learn from the text that the arsenals +of the Empire, the Postal Service, the four great bureaux[12] which +were responsible for the Imperial correspondence and for receiving and +answering petitions, the swarm of King’s Messengers (as they would now +be called) or _Agentes in Rebus_, who rode up and down through the +provinces, executing the orders of the Sovereign, were all under the +disposition of this hard-worked and useful functionary. + +[Sidenote: _Quaestor._] + +The Illustrious QUAESTOR was responsible for the preparation of the +Emperor’s Edicts, and seems to have shared with the Master of the Offices +the duty of replying to the humble petitions of his subjects. A bundle +of these petitions and a box, which looks like a pillar post-office, +inscribed ‘Leges Salutares,’ appear on his page of the _Notitia_ among +the emblems of the Quaestor’s dignity. + +[Sidenote: _Comes Sacrarum Largitionum._] + +[Sidenote: _Comes Privatarum Rerum._] + +The Illustrious COUNT OF THE SACRED LARGESSES and COUNT OF THE +PRIVATE DOMAINS were the two great financial ministers of the State. +Theoretically the first might have been expected to discharge only the +duties of a Grand Almoner, in supervising the Imperial Charities. +Practically, however, he had to superintend the collection of revenue +from Illyrian silver mines and Egyptian corn-fields, from the +manufacturers of linen, and the traders in salt. The Count of the Private +Domains similarly superintended the vast estates belonging to the Crown +in the various provinces of the Empire, defended them from squatters, +urged the claims of his sovereign to the land of a subject dying without +natural heirs, and received the reports of the stud-masters who watched +over the troops of horses reared for the Emperor in the plains of Thrace +and Cappadocia. The pictures denoting the functions of these two officers +are nearly alike, both representing money-chests, sacks fat with gold and +silver, and great bowls filled with round masses of bullion. + +[Sidenote: _Merits and defects of the Imperial Bureaucracy._] + +Such is a very brief outline of the system of civil and military +administration as arranged by Diocletian and Constantine. This +Bureaucracy (I know no pure English word which expresses the idea) +carried on the government of the Eastern Empire for more than a thousand +years. It had great faults—it was grasping, repressive, too often +corrupt. At the beginning of the fifth century, if we may believe a poet +of the Opposition[13], an Eunuch, who by Imperial favour had climbed up +into the high place of Praetorian Prefect, dared to open an auction mart +in his private chamber for the actual sale of provincial governorships to +the highest bidder. And even where there was not positive corruption, +there can be little doubt that the rule of the Byzantine officials was +generally impoverishing and exhausting to the provinces, paying but +little heed to their just complaints, and bent on screwing out of them +the uttermost farthing for the Emperor, if not for the officials’ own +private benefit. Still the officialism of the Empire had some great +merits, without which it could never have subsisted so long as it did. +The regular gradation of offices, the scientific division of powers, the +career opened by the civil service to intellect, irrespective of noble +birth or warlike prowess—all these things made of the administrative +hierarchy of the Roman Empire a great engine of civilisation in those dim +mediaeval centuries, and one which contrasted favourably in many respects +with the rough barbaric forces that were everywhere else struggling for +supremacy. If the student wishes to know how it was that the Empire of +Constantine, notwithstanding all its degeneracy, lasted on in the East +for 1120 years, let him study that curious and interesting document, the +_Notitia Imperii_. + +[Sidenote: _Social condition of the Empire._] + +Passing from the political, I will make a few remarks on the social state +of the Empire in the fourth century after Christ. Our information on this +subject is very imperfect. We have no authors who, like the comedians +of Athens, or like Horace and Juvenal in Rome, enable us to reconstruct +a picture of the manners and customs of those far-off times, almost as +vivid as is furnished by the Miss Austens and the Anthony Trollopes of +the nineteenth century. Still we have something. Ammianus Marcellinus, +the great historian of Julian and Valentinian, possessed the eye and +hand of a satirist; and St. Jerome, even in denouncing the vices of +fashionable society in Rome, brings us into nearer acquaintance with its +good as well as its evil qualities. + +[Sidenote: _Division between classes._] + +Taking a broad survey, we may say that the characteristic of Roman social +life in the later Empire, was the gulf (a far wider and more bridgeless +gulf than exists in our own day) between the very rich and the very +poor. The Roman did not take naturally either to manufacturing or to +retail shop-keeping. He was (perhaps I should rather say, he had been) +essentially a warrior. The rich Roman was still lawyer, civil servant, +money-lender, and land owner. The poor Roman was tiller of the soil—often +under very hard conditions—or else ‘loafer’ (no other word will express +my meaning) in the cities. What was true of the dweller in Rome was true +also to some extent of the Romanised population of the provinces. Now, +if we consider what these statements amount to, and if we consider also +the invariable influence of slavery in crushing out the better class of +free artisans, we shall see that we have here a society from which the +middle class and the more independent portion of the lower class are +perpetually tending to disappear; in other words, a society composed of +the very rich and of the _employés_ of the State at one end, and of the +proletariat[14] at the other, with only weak and insufficient padding +between. + +[Sidenote: _Roman fortunes._] + +We have some interesting information as to the fortunes of wealthy +Romans about the year 420, after the distress caused by the invasion +of the barbarians had begun. In the first families in Rome it was not +unusual for the master of the household to have an income of £160,000 a +year, besides the produce of vineyards and corn-lands, which was worth +quite £50,000 more[15]. Wealthy families of the second class were worth +from £40,000 to £60,000 a year. A Senator named Probus, when his son +was made Praetor about 423, spent £48,000 on the shows which it was +still customary for that functionary to exhibit to the people. Some +fifteen years before, ere Rome had yet been taken by the barbarians, +Symmachus the orator, a man who was deemed to possess only a moderate +fortune, had spent £80,000 on similar exhibitions; while Maximus, who +was considered one of the very rich citizens of Rome, lavished £160,000 +upon the festivities, which, notwithstanding this prodigious expenditure, +only lasted seven days. At this time the palace of every Roman nobleman +had spacious baths, forum, hippodrome, fountains, temples (or churches) +within its enclosure, so that a stranger visiting Rome cried out with +enthusiasm + + ‘Every house is a town, Rome holds a myriad of cities.’ + +St. Jerome tells us that the devout lady Paula, who claimed descent on +the paternal side from Agamemnon, and on the maternal from the Scipios, +was possessed of vast wealth, and that the whole city of Nicopolis +(founded by Augustus to commemorate the battle of Actium) belonged to her +alone. + +[Sidenote: _Habits of wealthy Romans._] + +The men who owned these enormous fortunes seemed to Ammianus to be for +the most part cold-hearted and effeminate dandies, unworthy of the +great name of Rome, whose foremost citizens they were. A lofty chariot +would be one man’s sign of distinction, another covered himself with a +multitude of cloaks of finest silken texture, each one fastened round +his neck by a jewelled clasp, and perpetually wriggled his body about +or waved his hand in order to call the attention of the bystanders to +the gay fringes of his robe or the figures of animals embroidered upon +it in divers colours of needle-work. Others strutted along the street +followed by a whole army of retainers, and when they entered the public +baths attended by at least fifty slaves, at once began to shout out in a +voice that was meant to strike awe into all humbler visitors, ‘Where are +my people?’ A contemptuous toss of the head was all that they vouchsafed +to an acquaintance; to the fawning flatterer who was hungering for their +smile they would contemptuously offer a hand or a knee to kiss. But all +this affectation of aristocratic _hauteur_ vanished when some woman of +doubtful reputation drew near, or when news was brought to them of the +arrival of some fresh horses or charioteers of extraordinary skill. The +banquet was to these men a time of dull and solemn sensuality. When the +panting slave placed on the table a fish or a turkey of unusual size, +they would send for the scales and order it to be weighed, and then one +of the crowd of hungry secretaries standing by would be called upon to +record the prodigy on his tablets. Beyond this kind of employment for the +pen, their ideas either of literature or of science hardly soared. + +[Sidenote: _The poorer citizens of Rome._] + +[Sidenote: _Bread distribution._] + +Thus empty and frivolous appeared to a contemporary satirist the lives of +the Roman nobility. Of the lives of the poorer citizens he gives us fewer +details, but we can see that for them as for their ancestors the interest +of life was summed up in three words ‘_Panem et Circenses_’—bread and +circus-shows. By a well-understood bargain between the Roman mob and +the Roman Emperor—a bargain which lasted through all the centuries from +Julius to Augustulus—he was bound to provide them with at least food +enough to keep them from starving, and with a proper amount of excitement +in the form of games, chariot races, and fights of gladiators and +wild beasts; and if he failed in this, the first duty of a ruler, his +diadem and his life were both forfeit. The elaborate provisions of the +Theodosian code enable us to understand how the duty of feeding the mob +was performed. We see the householders of Rome seated on broad flights +of stairs throughout the fourteen regions of the City, and receiving +from the slaves who obeyed the orders of the Superintendent of Supply +(_Praefectus Annonae_) their loaves of fine wheaten flour, each weighing +about a pound and a half[16], and in addition, a certain quantity of oil. + +[Sidenote: _Games._] + +And then as to the games. The history of Ammianus and the letters of +Cassiodorus show us these same unemployed citizens flocking to the +stately Colosseum, or the spacious Hippodrome, and shouting themselves +hoarse with the name of some favourite gladiator or charioteer. The +chariot races especially, stirred the people to a frenzy of excitement, +surpassing that of a contested election or an Irish faction-fight. The +two colours, blue and green, flaunted by one set of charioteers or the +other, stirred the citizens both of Rome and Constantinople to the very +madness of triumph or disappointment. ‘The green charioteer flashes by: +part of the people is in despair. The blue gets ahead: a larger part +of the city is in misery. They cheer frantically when they have gained +nothing: they are cut to the heart when they have received no loss: and +they plunge with as much eagerness into these empty contests as if the +whole welfare of the imperilled fatherland was at stake[17].’ + +[Sidenote: _Slave-system._] + +In such a round of ignoble excitements, in such an attitude of +dishonourable dependence on the feeding power of the State—pauperism +disguised under high-sounding names—the mob of Rome and of +Constantinople, apparently also of Antioch and Alexandria, spent their +lazy lives. Meanwhile the agricultural population and the inhabitants of +the smaller provincial towns were daily sinking lower into the gulf of +hopeless poverty, toiling, yet scarce able with all their labour to keep +famine from their doors. At the base of the social pyramid were of course +to be found the Slaves, those unhappy beings who, shut up at night in the +huge and gloomy _ergastula_ (slave-barracks), worked all day under the +hot Italian sun, cultivating the land of some wealthy master, unknown, +unseen, only represented by a hard, relentless _villicus_ (steward), +himself a slave, but delighting to make the more miserable creatures +under him feel his power. These were the kind of establishments which, a +hundred years or more before the Republic fell, had replaced the happy +home-steads of the Latin or Sabine farmer: and it was the sight of this +spreading plague-spot of servile agriculture which in the first century +of the Christian era forced from Pliny the well-known cry of lamentation, +‘Large estates have been the ruin of Italy and are now causing the ruin +of the provinces[18].’ Yet perhaps in the fifth century the slave was not +the most miserable of the rural inhabitants. Christianity had already +introduced some betterment into his condition. The _ergastulum_ was +prohibited by law, if we may not think that it had entirely disappeared +in fact: and decrees were beginning to be issued, earnestly protesting +against that breaking up of families which is one of the most cruel +characteristics of predial slavery[19]. And at any rate the slave, in all +ordinary circumstances, was safe from death by starvation, a security +which was not always enjoyed by his social superiors. + +[Sidenote: _Coloni._] + +Next above the slave, and often hardly to be distinguished from him, +was the _colonus_ or serf, a man over whom his lord had no power of +life and death, but who was bound—as were his children after him—to +cultivate a particular piece of ground for the owner, at a rent which +seems to have been practically unchanged from generation to generation. +He had therefore no power of changing his condition nor of choosing a +better landlord, but on the other hand he had practically a kind of +tenant-right which he transmitted, with the corresponding liability, +to his children. This class of compulsory cultivators seems to have +sprung out of freeholders who were weighed down by hopeless debt, and +who by process of law became _coloni_ of their creditors[20]; but it +was probably enormously increased during the troubles of the third and +fourth centuries, when men finding freedom with starvation a burden too +heavy to be borne, voluntarily lowered their condition, and becoming +_coloni_ accepted the helping but degrading hand of a _dominus_. In times +of peace and plenty the condition of a _colonus_, notwithstanding his +bounded horizon and his depressing round of unvarying toil, was perhaps +not altogether to be pitied: but war, famine, and pestilence must have +terribly reduced his narrow margin of profit. + +[Sidenote: _Curiales._] + +Of all classes of the community, however, none seem to me so truly to +be commiserated as the _curiales_, the vestrymen and town-councillors +of the provinces. These were the descendants of the men by whom the +local self-government of the Empire had formerly been carried on, the +representatives of a once flourishing and happy middle class. Their +ancestors had been men of importance in their little world, and the +letters D E C (for Decurio, or town-councillor) carved on their tombs had +shown their right to a coveted dignity. But as they bore rule in their +little commonwealth, so they were responsible for its contributions to +the public revenue; and as the Empire grew older, as it became divided, +as there came to be three or four Imperial Courts to support instead of +one, and as heavier sums had to be paid to buy off or to fight off the +barbarians, so the pressure of the tax-gatherer became more severe, while +the privileges of the town-councillor became more shadowy. At last the +truth was openly confessed: the _curialis_ was a mere bond-slave of the +Empire, bound to fulfil his ‘curial obligations,’ that is, to bear an +ever-increasing burden of local rates and imperial taxes, transmitting +this sad necessity to his children, compelled if the land next to him +fell out of cultivation to take it up and cultivate it for the benefit of +the Imperial Treasury, forbidden to become a priest or even a slave, lest +by either process he might escape from his bondage to the _curia_. One or +two ways of escape from this bitter servitude were indeed left open, but +they were narrow, thorny, and difficult. Practically the chief liberator +of the _curialis_ and his kindest friend was Death. + +The sketch which I have thus offered you of the social condition of the +Empire in the fourth century is certainly a gloomy one. Like all such +sketches it can only be approximately true. Doubtless there were at Rome +many nobles unlike the effeminate dandies whom Ammianus has described +to us: doubtless there was in the provinces many a cultivator of the +soil, whether _colonus_ or _curialis_, who glided happily enough through +life, not crushed by the burdens and the despairs which seem to us so +terrible. Yes: though I cannot accept the proposition that the sum of +human happiness is a constant quantity throughout the centuries, I doubt +not that in the saddest periods of the history of the world there has +been more individual happiness, and in the happiest of such periods more +individual suffering, than the historian pourtrays to us. But upon the +whole we may confidently say that the Roman World, at the time when the +barbarian invasion began in earnest, was not happy or flourishing. Large +tracts of land within the _Limes Imperii_ were going out of cultivation, +population both in Italy and the provinces was dwindling, and I think +Hope was unusually absent from the hearts and minds of men. In short, the +Empire was sinking under the weight of its official administration, even +as I fear that after ages will see that many fair states of Europe are +now sinking under the weight of the terrible armaments with which mutual +suspicion has led them to array themselves. + + +§ 2. THE TEUTON. + +From the highly-developed life of the Empire, with its signs of +exhaustion and decay, we turn to that of our German forefathers and +their kindred—a life rough, untrained, undisciplined, but already +utterly different from that of mere savages, and bearing within it the +seeds of many noble institutions. The German peoples (to speak of them +in the language of Rome), the _Deutsche_ (as they have in more recent +times called themselves), or the Teutonic[21] race (which is the term +now generally used in contrast to Celts and Slaves), occupied, broadly +speaking, the territory from the Rhine to the Danube, and along the +northern shore of the Danube to the Black Sea. There were settlements, +however, of the Teutons on the west of the Rhine, and in the east of +Europe Sclavonic nations were mingled with Teutons in a confusion which +it is now impossible to disentangle. Of their ethnological relations, +however, I shall have a little more to say in my next lecture. At present +my object is to give a slight sketch of the inner life of these Teutonic +peoples, in its social and political aspects. + +[Sidenote: _The Germans at the end of the first century after Christ not +a nomadic people._] + +The first detailed information that we possess as to the customs of +the Germans is given us by Julius Caesar, who describes the state of +things which prevailed about 55 years before Christ. Our next and by +far our fullest information comes from Tacitus, who wrote his priceless +monograph, the _Germania_, in 98 A.D., that is, about a century and a +half after Caesar. During that interval it is clear that an important +change had come over the habits of the Germans. From being a pastoral +people, living chiefly on milk and cheese and the flesh of their cattle, +they had become, to a large extent, tillers of the soil. They still +kept their flocks and herds, and wealth among them was still measured +chiefly by these possessions; but bread was now a staple article of +food, and perhaps that upon which the slaves and the poorer freemen +chiefly subsisted. This change in diet involved a necessary change in +the habits of the people. The shepherd and the herdsman are essentially +wanderers; the varied needs of their dumb companions in winter and +summer, make frequent change of abode not only easy but profitable, +while the agriculturist of course must remain stationary to watch the +growth of the corn which he has sown. It seems probable that Caesar’s +conquest of Gaul, Tiberius’s victories in Switzerland and the Tyrol, +and the strong restraining hand of Augustus upon all the tribes beyond +the Rhine and the Danube, were partly the cause of this change in the +habits of the Germans. Cooped within narrower limits, and no longer able +to overrun at their pleasure the fair lands of Gaul and Pannonia, they +betook themselves of necessity to a more careful cultivation of their +restricted territory, and practised the arts of a rude husbandry—rude +indeed, but incomparably less wasteful of the earth’s resources than the +nomadic life of the grazier and the sheep-master. In its turn this change +in their habits reacted on their character. It made the maintenance of +peace between them and the Empire possible for two or three generations +at a time, and it so far fixed the bounds of the habitations of the +Germanic peoples themselves, that the map of Germany which is drawn to +illustrate the text of Tacitus will serve, without many changes, for the +distribution of the tribes in the time of Constantine. + +[Sidenote: _A German village-settlement._] + +Let us try to understand what the life of these German farmers looked +like in a time of peace during the second and third centuries of the +Christian era. Their settlements, like those of a Canadian backwoodsman, +were for the most part clearings in the midst of ‘the forest primeval.’ +Here, then, with a girdle of woodland round them, was planted the cluster +of scattered houses which made up the village. The Romans called it a +_vicus_, the modern Germans call it a _dorf_ (a word akin to our own +_thorp_); our Saxon and Anglian ancestors called it sometimes a _ton_[22] +(town), sometimes a _ham_[23]; while their Danish invaders gave to the +same kind of settlement the name of a _by_ or a _wick_[24]. The houses +in the German village were built of timber, and if Tacitus is correct in +saying that tiles were unknown among them, we must, I suppose, conclude +that the straw thatches which are still common in rural England were +the roofs chiefly used by our German ancestors. One feature of a German +village which struck the eye of a Roman observer, and in which it +probably differed even from a Celtic town, was that there were in it no +rows of contiguous houses. Each dwelling, whether large or small, stood +surrounded by its own plot of ground, and thus fires were less dangerous +than where the lines of buildings were continuous. The description of +such a _vicus_ given by Tacitus reminds one of a Swiss village, say +Meyringen, Grindelwald, or Altdorf, if we can imagine all the changes +which have been wrought therein by the tide of summer tourists done away. +And the great belt of woodland which seems always to have surrounded the +German _vicus_, and which was to a certain extent the common property +of the villagers, who possessed rights of collecting fuel, and probably +also of hunting game in these encircling forests, reminds me of several +modern German villages which I have seen, but especially of Schwalbach, +which is environed by just such a belt of trees, chiefly beech-trees. In +this beautiful green girdle, which is from one to two miles in depth, +the poor of the village are still employed during the winter in felling +and carrying wood for the benefit of the _Gemeinde_, and the wages paid +to them for this work seem to supply the place of what is called with us +‘out-door relief.’ + +[Sidenote: _Distinction of classes in a German village._] + +In these little sequestered villages the bulk of the German warriors had +their homes. There was a distinction of classes among them. Then, as +now, the German looked upon noble birth with reverence, and probably in +every village there were at least one or two heads of families called +noble, and believed to be sprung in far-distant ages from the seed of +gods. But the largest and most important class was that of the men, +free but not noble[25], who took part in all public assemblies, and who +formed the bone and muscle of the national army, but who, though proud +and independent, did not look upon themselves as eligible for any of +the highest places in the State. Among these, however, there were all +sorts of gradations of rank, depending partly on personal qualities, +but largely also on their relative wealth. The chief outward sign of +this wealth was cattle, so much so that the earliest translator of +the New Testament into a Teutonic tongue coined a word equivalent to +‘cattle-hoarder[26],’ when he wished to warn his readers against the +‘mammon of unrighteousness.’ But slaves also were possessed, probably +in considerable numbers, by wealthy German villagers, though they were +employed almost entirely in the labour of the farm and the pasture, all +domestic work being as a rule performed by the female members of even the +rich German family. Half-naked, and far from clean, the children of the +master and of the slave sprawled about together on the floor of either +home, until the years of manhood were reached, when it was deemed fitting +that some distinctive dress should show the difference of their rank. But +it was in these smoky huts, on these dirty floors, and doubtless also +in many a long day’s chase along with the slave-boys in the encircling +forest, that the fair limbs of the young German warriors grew to that +size and that sinewy stateliness which, as Tacitus admits, were the +admiration and the terror of Rome. + +[Sidenote: _Land-system of the Germans._] + +[27]The agriculture of these Teutonic tribes was conducted in a manner +which necessarily kept it in a backward and primitive state. Apparently +the Germans had learnt the lesson that frequent grain-crops exhaust the +fertility of the soil. Anything like a scientific system of manuring, in +order to repair that exhausted fertility, was of course yet undiscovered; +but a rude provision for fallows seems to have been generally made. +Periodically, the whole population of the village went forth into the +adjacent country and decided upon the portion of pasture or moorland +which was to be broken up by the plough in order to replace the portion +of arable land which had earned the right to repose. The new corn-land +thus created was divided among the villagers, not equally, but according +to their rank and wealth, chiefly because rank and wealth implied a +proportionate power of cultivation[28]. While the poor freeman, who was +only just above the rank of a slave, could bring only his own arms and +those of his sons to till the little patch of ground which was allotted +to him, his wealthy neighbour, who had slaves and horses and herds in +abundance, could cultivate, and therefore might insist upon having +allotted to him, a much larger part of the new corn-land. Thus, by this +arrangement, as by so many of those which belong to a more complicated +civilisation, ‘to him that had, more was given, so that he had +abundance.’ After all, every German village had still so much land at its +disposal, that few heartburnings seem to have been caused on the score of +too scanty allotment[29]. And in order to prevent the complaint that one +villager received a more fertile or a sunnier portion than another, the +lots periodically[30], perhaps even annually, changed hands, though still +on the same principle of unequal division. + +At first sight, such a system as this appears communistic, but on +reflexion we see that the right of property, and the inequalities which +flow from the acknowledgment of that right, are fully recognised by it. +Only I think we must admit—and here the words both of Caesar[31] and +Tacitus seem to justify our conclusion—that there was in the minds of +the rough German politicians of the first century before and the first +century after Christ, a conviction, or perhaps rather an instinct, that +the land, though still cheap and not much more an object of desire than +water or air, was, like water and air, essential to the nation’s life; +and that, though cottages and the surrounding gardens were the subject +of absolute property, and descended from father to son without question, +it was safer for the community by frequent changes to prevent the right +of any one of its members to a given space of corn-land or meadow from +becoming firm and immovable. + +How these open fields were probably divided into strips, or ‘yard-lands’; +how the villagers sometimes helped one another in the necessary +ploughing; how some traces of this peculiar kind of joint occupation +existed through the Middle Ages, and were still manifest in our own +country even in the early part of this century, has been set forth with +much fulness of detail by my friend Mr. Seebohm, in his interesting book, +_The English Village Community_[32]. + +[Sidenote: _Indolence of the Germans._] + +Whatever other advantages this system might possess, it was not likely +to encourage highly-developed agriculture. But indeed, from the account +given by Tacitus, which is generally confirmed by later historians, +it is clear that the German freemen, though far from being the squalid +savages that they have been sometimes represented, were not industrious +tillers of the soil. War, the chase, the sword-dance, and the throw of +the dice-box were their chief excitements, and when they were not excited +they were torpid and lethargic. Long and heavy potations, sometimes +continued for a day and night together, sometimes interrupted by a bloody +brawl, were followed by equally long and heavy slumbers. Whether they +went to the banquet or to market they always wore arms, a sure sign of +a low state of civilisation; and the gravest affairs were all discussed +amid copious draughts of beer, or, if the disputants dwelt near the +Rhine or the Danube, of wine from the land of the Romans. In short, +while we can trace in the Teuton of the first Christian centuries some +noble qualities—truth, courage, chastity—we also discover the marks +of some deep inbred vices, which beset him till this day, especially +drunkenness and the love of gambling; and we do _not_ find even the +germs of that capacity for steady and continuous toil which, since they +became Christian and civilised, has been the glory of the German, the +Anglo-Saxon, and the Scandinavian. + +[Sidenote: _How the village community developed into the state._] + +Such, then, in brief outline, seems to have been the ordinary life of a +German village. The political institutions of the Teutonic races—which +are what we are chiefly now concerned with—depended on the manner and +extent of the consolidation of these villages into larger and more +powerful communities. If we go up to some high table-land we shall see +little brooks and streams running off from it in all directions, some +of which will perhaps eventually form part of a great and world-famous +river, while others will find their way unnoticed to the sea. In studying +the early history of the Germanic tribes, we stand on such a table-land. +The future fortunes of Franks, Visigoths, Burgundians, Angles, +Saxons, are involved in the village politics of these much-drinking, +freely-fighting German boors; but there are also involved the obscure +destinies of countless little tribes, whose uncouth names survive only in +the pages of Tacitus or Jordanes, and are in fact forgotten by men. + +[Sidenote: _Manifoldness of German political life._] + +The characteristic of German polity, as much in the first century after +Christ as in the sixteenth, as much in the time of Arminius as in that +of Charles V, was its infinite diversity. There were tribes that knew +no king, tribes that had kings with very limited powers, tribes that +submitted to despotism—or something very like it—on the part of their +kings, and tribes that even endured to have such authority over them +exercised by a woman. And the chief—I will not say the only—cause of this +diversity seems to have been the relative greatness or littleness of the +clusters into which the village communities ultimately coalesced; and, +closely connected herewith, the question whether the organism which was +thus finally formed entertained widely extended schemes of aggression and +foreign conquest, or whether it rested content with the defence of its +own narrow borders against an invading foe. + +[Sidenote: _The Pagus, Gau, County or Canton._] + +Apparently every German village, at the time which we are now +considering, had so far coalesced with some of its neighbours as to +form what the Romans called a _pagus_. The extent of these _pagi_, and +the number of _vici_ which united to form them, doubtless differed +exceedingly, but as we find that in the time of Caesar[33] each Suevic +_pagus_ sent forth 1000 armed men, an equal number remaining at home +to till the ground, we may perhaps assume that the whole population of +a _pagus_ generally consisted of about 10,000 persons, and that about +ten _vici_, more or less, contributed to its formation. The choice of a +Teutonic word to represent the term _pagus_, which, though convenient, is +foreign, has not been found easy. Modern German scholars have generally +adopted the word _Gau_, which was extensively used in the Middle Ages, +though it is admitted that this does not precisely correspond to the +_pagus_, but was often of somewhat smaller extent. As an English +equivalent, _county_ or _shire_ comes the nearest, though both of them +suggest ideas of a somewhat later time[34]. Whether such a translation +be scientifically accurate or not[35] there can be little doubt that +the feeling of local patriotism which still animates a Devonshire man +or a Shropshire man when he speaks of his county, represents, at least +as well as any other modern equivalent, the bond which bound a German +warrior to his _pagus_. But, upon the whole, the Swiss _canton_, both in +extent and in the manner of its growth, namely, by the coalition of the +inhabitants of several neighbouring valleys, seems to me the most fitting +representative of the _pagus_ of the _Germania_. + +Some German communities, perhaps, stopped in the process of consolidation +at the canton, and never reached a further stage. They may have had +traditions, and even religious rites, which kept alive the remembrance +that they formed part of a larger tribe, that they were Suevi, or +Mattiaci, or Chauci; but as far as political organisation went they were +willing to be a _pagus_ and nothing more. If so, we may probably affirm +that the tribes which contained many of these self-isolated cantons +retained what has been called their ‘republican’ organisation, engaged +but little in offensive war, were feeble in their resistance to Rome, and +have left but little mark in history. + +[Sidenote: _Several Pagi might coalesce into a Civitas._] + +The first step towards national existence on a larger scale was taken +when many _pagi_, bound together for the most part by the traditions +of a common origin, organised themselves into what the Romans called a +_civitas_, and in doing so generally, perhaps not always, elected for +themselves a King. I do not think it is possible to find a term which +exactly represents the stage of development which was thus reached, but +the Saxon and Anglian kingdoms which were set up in our own land—Wessex, +Mercia, Northumbria—will convey the true idea of it to our minds better +than an elaborate description. + +[Sidenote: _Kingship and tendency towards unification went together._] + +Kingship and a tendency towards unification went hand in hand in the +history of the German races. And not in that history alone: we may safely +illustrate the tendency of the kingly office among the Germans by what we +read in the Old Testament of the election of Saul. The Twelve Tribes of +Israel, conscious that they were losing national unity and were in danger +of being absorbed by the great monarchies on their borders, elected Saul +to be their king, and his very first act of kingship was the deliverance +of the outlying settlement of Jabesh-gilead from the destruction with +which it was threatened by Nahash, King of the Ammonites. In our own +days we have seen the aspirations of the Germans after national unity, +aspirations which seemed for centuries doomed to hopeless failure, at +length successful; and the visible token of their success and of that +victory over their foes which unity made possible, was the crowning of +the Emperor William by a host of kings, dukes and generals[36], in the +palace of Versailles. We must not press the conclusion too far, since the +history both of Rome and of the United States of America shows that a +Republic can found a great dominion and defend the oneness of a nation: +but for the German peoples, properly so called, I think we may safely say +Monarchy has meant Unity, and Unity has meant Monarchy. + +[Sidenote: _Character of the kingly office among the Germans._] + +Far other, however, than the languid despot upon the sanctity of whose +presence-chamber we intruded in the beginning of this lecture, was the +King of the Goths or the Alamanni. Whether himself the son of a king or +not, it was necessary that he should be of noble birth[37], and he had +therefore probably been reared in a house, rude but somewhat larger than +the ordinary freeman’s dwelling, built by the side of a fountain or near +a sacred grove, at some little distance from the village settlement[38]. +But his life had been passed in the active exercises of war and the +chase: and before he was chosen king of a great and important _civitas_ +he had probably given some proof of valour and ability, to cause him to +be singled out from the ranks of nobles, each of whom was a chief in +his own canton. Even after his election as king, his power was by no +means unlimited. He might not bind nor strike any one of the free German +warriors under him. Both in council and in war he had so much authority +as his gifts of intellect, of daring, or of strength enabled him to +acquire and retain, and not much more[39]. And when thus elected he had +no absolute right to transmit his crown to his first-born, nor indeed to +any of his sons. Doubtless the eldest son of a recently deceased king, +if himself a man of capacity and valour, had always a good chance of +being chosen to succeed him, but that was all. Gradually as the nation +and its royal race grew accustomed to one another, and especially when +the kings of that race had often led the nation to victory, the feeling +grew stronger and stronger that out of that race only the nation ought to +choose its kings. Thus were the Amals looked upon as the natural kingly +race of the Ostrogoths, the Merwings of the Franks, the Asdings of the +Vandals. But still there was no strict hereditary right, and the nation +on the death of its king exercised its power of choice often in utter +defiance of the rule of primogeniture. + +[Sidenote: _Meeting of the members of the Civitas._] + +The choice of the ruler, the decision as to war or peace, the enactment +of a few very simple laws, these formed the chief business of the +assembly of the _civitas_, which was called probably by some name like +our own Anglo-Saxon Folc-gemot or Folcs-thing. Tacitus gives us a +concise but vivid picture of the proceedings of one of these national +assemblies. The _gemots-men_ indicated their deep-seated love of liberty +by the unpunctuality of their attendance. Two days, and sometimes three, +would elapse before a sufficient number had arrived to enable them to +commence their proceedings. Then, when the crowd was in the humour for +beginning, they sat down on the ground, all arrayed in their armour. The +priests called for silence, and upon them rested the duty of maintaining +order during the deliberations of the assembly[40]. Then the king or +chief whose age, or eloquence, or noble birth gave him the right of +pre-audience, addressed the assembly, and afterwards each in his turn +according to the same blended qualifications. All the speakers sought +rather to persuade than to command. An unpopular proposal was drowned in +murmurs of disapproval, while eagerly brandished lances testified the +applause and the agreement of the assembly. + +[Sidenote: _Judicial power of the popular assembly._] + +In these assemblies an accusation might be brought against a man who +was suspected of treason against the nation’s life, and if the charge +were pushed home, a capital sentence was pronounced upon the offender. +Betrayers and deserters were hanged from a tree; the mere coward and +fugitive, the man whom our Saxon forefathers would have called a +_nithing_, was plunged deep in mud and covered with a hurdle to prevent +his struggling back to life—a mode of punishment which reminds one of +some scenes in Dante’s _Inferno_. + +[Sidenote: _Election of the King._] + +Probably, however, it was neither the legislative nor the judicial, +but the elective aspect of these national councils which was the most +important. The chiefs, or elders, or judges, or by whatever name they +were called, the men whose business it was to administer a rude justice +in the cantons and the villages, were chosen in the national council[41]. +And the highest act of the nation’s great assize was performed when the +chief who was to repel the eagles of Rome, to lead the people across the +frozen Danube, or to swoop upon the wealthy plains of Gaul, was solemnly +chosen king. The clashing arms testified the nation’s assent to his +nomination. Six strong warriors slowly upheaved the shield on which stood +the newly-chosen one, and shouts of ‘Thiudans! Thiudans[42]!’ proclaimed +to the echoing hills that the nation had once more a king. Thus was he +singled out from his fellows who was to conduct the people’s quarrel with +the far-off, mysterious, Imperator of Rome. + + + + +LECTURE III. + +THE COMING OF THE HUNS. + + +Having thus given a cursory glance at the political and social condition +of the Roman Empire and its German neighbours in the fourth century after +Christ, let us now even more briefly survey the ethnological aspect of +the barbarian world on its northern frontier at the same time. + +[Sidenote: _Celtic nations._] + +[Sidenote: _Slavonic nations._] + +Of the three great groups into which the non-Latin nations of Europe are +at this day divided, Celtic, Teutonic, and Slavonic, the Teutonic alone +here claims our especial attention. The Celtic nationality had been +beaten down in ten years of battle by Julius Caesar, and its last hope of +offering a successful resistance to Rome vanished when Suetonius Paulinus +crossed the straits of Menai and put the Druids to the sword in their +hitherto inviolable island of Mona. The Slavonic group of nations, which +now fills Russia and Poland, forms half the population of Austria and is +founding new kingdoms and principalities in what was lately Turkey in +Europe, had not then come fully on the stage of history. The vague term +Sarmatians, used by Roman geographers, is probably the best indication +that we have of their presence in Europe, but few ethnological questions +are harder than to define the ever-shifting boundary which separated +them from their Teutonic neighbours. It is very possible that many of +the barbarian hosts that warred on Rome may have consisted of Slavonic +marauders led on by Teutonic chieftains: but just because the initiative +at any rate belonged to the Teutons, and because the Slaves originated so +few expeditions against the Empire, we may practically leave them out of +the question and consider only the great Teutonic population which, all +round the northern frontier of the Empire, from the mouth of the Rhine +to the mouth of the Danube, faced the Masters of the Soldiery and their +Legions. + +[Sidenote: _Tendency of the Teutonic nations to form confederacies._] + +[Sidenote: _Franks._] + +[Sidenote: _Alamanni._] + +[Sidenote: _Goths._] + +There had been a marked tendency during the third century after Christ in +the barbarian nations to merge themselves into a few great confederacies, +a tendency which possibly had something to do with the ill-success of the +Roman arms during that period. A whole string of names of petty tribes +on the lower Rhine, mentioned to us by Tacitus, disappears in order to +form the nation of the _Franks_. In like manner the tribes which dwelt +on the Main and the Neckar clustered together into the confederation of +the _Alamanni_. On the Middle Danube the great nation of the Marcomanni, +who once pressed Marcus Aurelius hard, disappeared, and no one nation +of pre-eminent power arose in its place; but when we come towards the +mouth of the Danube, to the countries which are now known as Roumania, +Transylvania, and Bessarabia, we find them occupied by the great and +powerful confederacy of the _Goths_. This race, of pure Teutonic origin, +belonging to that which is called the Low-German family of peoples, and +speaking a language much more akin to Lowland Scotch than to the modern +German of Hanover, had migrated, probably in the second century of our +era, from the district now known as East Prussia in the south-east corner +of the Baltic. They had spread themselves along the northern shore of +the Euxine, near the mouths of the Dnieper and the Dniester, and after a +series of piratical expeditions by sea and marauding inroads by land upon +the Eastern half of the Empire, had occupied without further opposition +the Roman province of Dacia, constituted by Trajan in the early part of +the second century. During the century before our narrative begins, they +had been dwelling for the most part as friendly and peaceable neighbours +of Rome. They had become gradually divided into two great groups of +peoples, the Eastern and Western Goths, who eventually became known as +the Ostrogoths and Visigoths. + +[Sidenote: _Associations connected with the term Gothic._] + +A hard and undeserved fate, as well as an unmerited glory, has come upon +the possessors of the Gothic name. The glory is that of having given +their name to the most solemn and impressive order of architecture that +the world has ever seen. Men speak, and doubtless will ever continue to +speak, of Gothic buildings, though the last traces of Gothic nationality +had expired many centuries before a pointed arch was seen at Canterbury +or Notre Dame. On the other hand the expression ‘What a Goth!’ as +indicative of rudeness and lack of culture, is constantly used by the +descendants of men who were centuries behind the Goths in refinement +and civilisation, and who do not know that ‘What a Frank!’ or ‘What a +Saxon!’ would be far nearer to historic truth. In point of fact, of all +the Teutonic races none showed so early an appreciation of what was +best in Roman civilisation as the Gothic, none showed a greater power +of assimilating that civilisation, and none, had its career not been +prematurely cut short, would more happily for Europe have blended the old +with the new by uniting the culture and refinement of ‘Romania’ with the +rough energy and freedom of ‘Barbaricum.’ + +[Sidenote: _The Visigoths and the Empire._] + +[Sidenote: _Circa 350-376._] + +At the particular period which we have reached these remarks apply rather +to the Visigoth than to the Ostrogoth. While the Ostrogoths, wandering +wide over the vast plains of Southern Russia, were coming in contact +with and subduing the dim Slavonic peoples of the interior, and thus +building up for their great king, Hermanric, a vast but ill-consolidated +empire which his flatterers—those of them at least who had some slight +knowledge of classical history—compared to that of Alexander the Great, +the Visigoths dwelling in Transylvania and Wallachia, and acknowledging +perhaps in a general way the suzerainty of Hermanric, but under the +especial rule of their own native chieftains who bore the subordinate +title of _Judges_, were continually coming more and more under the +influence of the Empire. Latin and Greek words were creeping into their +language. The soldier talked of his pay as _mizdo_ (evidently the same +word as the Greek μισθός), and of his rations as _anno_ (probably the +Latin _annona_). The _alewa_ displayed to the grateful husbandman the +fatness of the olive-tree, and he carried home its produce in a _sakkus_. + +[Sidenote: _Ulfilas and the Gothic Bible._] + +[Sidenote: _348-370._] + +Not only words like these and a knowledge of the arts of civilised +life, but more far-reaching thoughts, those which overleap the grave +and bind together in one all the generations of the family of God, were +vibrating through the Visigothic brain. Ulfilas, the great Apostle of the +Goths, himself a Goth, but resident in early manhood at Constantinople, +began his missionary career in 341, and continued it for forty years, +labouring during all that time by his tongue and pen at the conversion +of his countrymen to Christianity. As an instrument in this great work +he translated the Bible into Gothic, only omitting, according to the +well-known story, the books of Samuel and Kings, ‘inasmuch as they +contain the story of the wars, and the Gothic race was already fond +enough of war, and needed rather a bit to hold it back from battle, +than any spur to urge it thereunto.’ This Gothic Bible is a priceless +possession for the philologist, being by far the earliest monument of +any Teutonic language, and illustrating in a countless variety of ways, +both the distant relationship which connects our family of languages with +Sanskrit, Greek, and Latin, and the points at which the members of our +own family, German, Danish, Dutch, English, have parted company one from +another. + +[Sidenote: _Persecution of Gothic Christians. 370-375._] + +The success of Ulfilas in Christianising the Goths was so great that +a persecution arose, under the stress of which many of his converts +determined to leave their homes and seek shelter in the dominions of the +great Christian Emperor. This happened about the year 348. The emigrants, +with Ulfilas at their head, ‘a second Moses,’ as he was often styled +by his contemporaries, crossed the Danube and founded a settlement in +the country about Nicopolis, on the northern slopes of the Balkans. +Here their descendants were still living after the lapse of nearly two +centuries[43], being known by the name of the Lesser Goths, ‘a numerous +people, but poor and unwarlike, having no abundance of anything, save +cattle of divers kinds, sheep and pastures and forests; having no wheat, +though the soil is fertile in other crops. Vineyards they do not possess, +but some of them as merchants buy wine from the neighbouring district: +but most of them are nourished on milk.’ + +Probably Ulfilas did not remain constantly with his Lesser Goths in +Moesia, but often crossed the Danube into Dacia, to strengthen the faith +of his remaining converts there, or to add to their number. Apparently +a second persecution broke out (if, indeed, it had ever ceased to +rage) about 370. From a fragment of a Gothic calendar we learn that +the 23rd October was dedicated ‘to the remembrance of many martyrs +among the Gothic people, and of Frederic’ (doubtless one of the heroes +of the persecution), and that the 29th was similarly dedicated ‘to the +remembrance of the martyrs who remained, with Priest Vereka and Batvin, +members of the Catholic Church, and were burned among the Gothic people.’ + +[Sidenote: _Athanaric Judge of the Visigoths._] + +The leader of the persecuting party at this time was Judge Athanaric, a +stern, unbending Gothic chief, who would brook no compromise with Rome or +Roman ways, who had sworn a terrible oath that he would never set foot +on Roman soil, and who now, to the cruel utmost of his power, strove to +prevent Odin and Thunnor from being driven out of the Home of Gods by the +Nazarene, whose cross glittered upon the banners of Rome. + +[Sidenote: _Fritigern._] + +On the opposite side, as leader of that section of the Visigoths which +favoured the Roman civilisation and the Christian religion, appears the +gallant Fritigern, one of the most attractive figures whom Gothic history +presents to us. The contention between him and the bigoted old Gothic +party under Athanaric was so sharp that it seems to have broken out into +actual war, in which, as one author[44] tells us, Fritigern, on formally +announcing his conversion to Christianity, asked and received the help of +the Roman Emperor against his rival. + +[Sidenote: _Outlook in 375._] + +Such, then, was the relation of ‘Barbaricum’ towards ‘Romania’ about the +year 375. Reading (as we are too apt to do) our knowledge of subsequent +events into the history of that year, when the fourth century of our +era had reached its fourth quarter, it is easy to imagine the Roman +Empire lying rich and defenceless, at the mercy of barbarian foes all +round its border and all athirst to devour it. But such was certainly +not the aspect which it then wore to its contemporaries. The keen eye of +a statesman, if he were also possessed of fine ethical instincts, might +undoubtedly perceive many dangerous symptoms of moral and spiritual +decay, from which he might forebode its future downfall; but to the +ordinary observer, especially to the ordinary barbarian observer, seldom +had the great fabric of Roman civilisation seemed stronger or more +imposing. Of anything like a combined attack of the barbarian hordes upon +the Roman frontier, no barbarian dreamed. A petty raid here or there +might perhaps be successfully executed, and might enable its perpetrator +to return with some cattle from a few Moesian farms, or some bracelets +and golden chains from a sacked Illyrian town. But this was the height +of his ambition as Rome’s enemy. He would much rather be Rome’s friend: +enter her service as a leader of _foederati_[45]; mount guard in the +ante-chamber of the Emperor; direct the arms of Rome against some hated +rival chief; perhaps, even—supreme felicity—attain in his well-fed and +corpulent old age to the overwhelming honour of a Roman consulship. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Sudden appearance of the Huns. 374._] + +The appearance on the northern shore of the Sea of Azof of a horde of +squalid savages from the steppes of Central Asia, each riding a little +pony as ugly and as unkempt as himself, changed the whole current of +men’s thoughts, and was the first visible link in the chain which drew +mediaeval Europe, the Europe of Charlemagne, Barbarossa, and Dante, + + ‘forth from the abyss of things that were to be.’ + +These savages were the terrible Huns, of whose history I shall have to +speak somewhat more in detail in my sixth lecture. For the present it +will be enough to quote a chapter from the work of the Gothic historian +Jordanes, in order to show how the Asiatic intruders were looked upon by +the first European nation with whom they came in contact[46]. + +[Sidenote: _Description of the Huns by Jordanes._] + +‘After no great interval of time the nations of the Huns, more cruel +than Ferocity itself, flamed forth against the Goths. An unhallowed +union between unclean spirits wandering through the wilderness, and +certain Gothic women expelled [centuries before] for witchcraft from the +tents of their countrymen, gave birth to this most ferocious people, +which dwelt at first among the marshes—small, foul, and skinny, hardly +human, but spoken of as men because they possessed something which +distantly resembled human speech. This wild race formerly dwelt on the +further shore of the Sea of Azof, and there practised no other labour +than hunting, except that after they had grown into a great people they +harried the neighbouring nations with constant robberies and frauds. +Now when the huntsmen of this people were, according to their custom, +pursuing the chase on the further shore of Azof, behold, upon a sudden, +a female stag presented herself to their view, and stepping into the +pool, first going forth and then stopping, seemed to offer herself as +guide of their journey. Following her lead, therefore, the huntsmen +passed over on foot through the Sea of Azof, which they had before +thought to be as impassable as the ocean. Soon, too, when the Gothic +shore loomed up before those unknown visitors, the stag disappeared. +This, I trow, was done by those spirits to whom the Huns owed their +origin, in order to spite the Gothic people. The huntsmen who had +before thought that there was no other world beyond the Sea of Azof, +were stricken with admiration of the Gothic land, the road to which, +hitherto unknown, they deemed had been shown to them by the gods, and +going back to their own people, persuaded them to hasten by the path +which the stag had pointed out to them into the territory of the Goths. +All whom they met on the way fell victims to their fury, and as soon +as they had crossed that vast pool, five nations [whose uncouth names +I need not transcribe] were swept away by that whirlwind of savage +tribes. The Alans also, who were a match for them in war, but very unlike +them in civilisation, in appearance, and in diet, were wearied out by +them in incessant fighting, and at length subdued. For those whom they +would perhaps never have conquered in fair fight they put to flight +by the terribleness of their appearance, throwing the utmost possible +hideousness into the expression of their faces, which were naturally of +a frightful blackness, and resembled, if I may say so, a shapeless lump +of dough rather than a face, having two black points in them instead of +eyes. This scowling countenance reveals the boldness [?cruelty] of their +hearts, who rage against their new-born offspring even on the first +day of their birth, for all the male children’s cheeks are gashed by +them with an iron tool, in order that before they begin to receive the +nourishment of their mother’s milk they may learn to bear the pain of a +wound. Hence their youth lacks the beauty, and their old age the dignity +of a beard, because their faces, furrowed with iron, lose through scars +the seasonable beauty of hair. They are little in stature, but nimble and +clever in their movements, and especially ready in horsemanship: with +broad shoulders, arms well adapted to the use of the bow, necks strong, +and heads always held erect with pride. In short these people, wearing +the shape of man, practise in their lives the ferocity of beasts.’ + + * * * * * + +Through the uncouth sentences of the half-educated Gothic historian the +general character of the Hunnish invaders may be sufficiently discerned. +They stood on a distinctly lower grade of civilisation than any of the +Teutonic invaders of the Empire. The Goth, the Frank, the Alaman, the +Vandal were barbarians indeed, but barbarians with some capacity—in +the case of the Goth with an extraordinary capacity—for appreciating +the advantages of civilisation. The Hun, fresh from his centuries +of wandering over the high table-land of Tartary, was an utter, an +irreclaimable savage. To compare them with some of the native races with +which our own has recently come in contact, the Goth was like the Maori, +the Hun like a stronger and more warlike Australian savage. + +[Sidenote: _The Huns were ‘Turanians,’ not Aryans._] + +This social difference between the Hun and the Teuton corresponds to a +deep ethnological chasm. Hitherto all the great struggles in which the +European nations had been engaged (except the Punic wars) had been waged +between members of the great Aryan family of nations. Persian, Greek, +Italian, Celt, Teuton, however wide their divergences of religion, of +culture, of intellectual development, were yet all children of the same +family, some of whom, so to speak, had come of age, and entered into +their inheritance, while others were still in a state of infancy and +untaught childhood. But the Hun had no such link with the great historic +peoples of the Mediterranean Sea. In his language probably no germ of +affinity with Greek or Sanskrit would have been discernible. Wheresoever +the common home of the Indo-European peoples may eventually be located, +it is certain that the progenitors of the Hun never dwelt there. He was +of kin to the Mongol, the Calmuck, the Turk, not to the Roman or the +Englishman. In the world’s history he stands in line with Jenghiz Khan, +with Tamerlane, with Bajazet, not with Alexander or with Caesar. In one +word—to adopt a term which, however inaccurate, is convenient—he was not +Aryan, but Turanian. + +[Sidenote: _A nation of light cavalry._] + +Such then were the invaders from Asia, who, about the year 374, +precipitated themselves upon the settlements of the Ostrogoths in +Southern Russia. What they may have lacked in size they made up in +nimbleness of movement, and against the Goths, who do not appear to have +been pre-eminently an equestrian people, they had this advantage, that +every man of the tribe was mounted, and mounted on a hardy wiry little +steed, which was probably satisfied with the roughest food, and which so +perfectly understood its rider’s wishes, that it seemed as if horse and +horseman were one being. + +[Sidenote: _Hermanric defeated._] + +Details as to the conflict between the Huns and the Ostrogoths are +utterly wanting, but it is clear that the latter were completely +defeated. Hermanric, ‘the Ostrogothic Alexander’ who is said to have +reached the age of 110, in his rage and shame put an end to his own life. +His wide but loosely compacted empire was broken up. Some Ostrogoths, +under a prince of the house of Hermanric, moved southwards, and took part +in the events which we are about to notice, on the Danube. But the larger +part of the nation submitted to inevitable necessity and bowed their +necks to the yoke. For three quarters of a century the Ostrogoths formed +part of the great Hunnish Empire, and their sovereigns, descendants of +the great Hermanric, ruled as vassals of the Hunnish king. + +[Sidenote: _Athanaric defeated. 375._] + +The barbarian flood rolled on and reached the river Dniester and the long +line of earthworks which apparently separated the land of the Visigoths +from that of the Ostrogoths[47]. Here Athanaric had drawn up his men, +expecting a regular attack, to which he would have been prepared with a +regular reply. Little did he know the nature of the nimble savages with +whom he had to deal. Having learned from their scouts where the bulk of +the Visigothic army was posted (which was probably by the rampart rather +than by the river), and having found a ford across the Dniester, they +crossed that ford by moonlight and fell like a thunderbolt on the flank +of the unsuspecting Athanaric. He was stupefied at the assault, he saw +his bravest friends slain, and he found he had no resource but flight. +Withdrawing to the Carpathians he began to construct a new line of +defence, partly formed by those mountains and partly by the river Sereth. +He would have had but little leisure to construct this new stronghold, +had not the Huns been so burdened with their booty that they could not +follow him in haste. + +[Sidenote: _The Visigoths seek refuge within the Empire. 376._] + +And now that the strongest Gothic champions had been worsted, dismay +and despair entered the hearts of the Visigoths. To share the hardships +of a life in the Carpathians with Athanaric was not the course which +commended itself to the majority. They looked across the broad Danube to +the well-tilled plains of Moesia; they thought of the tightening bond +which had of late united them to the Empire; they turned to Fritigern, +the steadfast partisan of Rome, and deemed that through his friendship +for the Emperor they might find a refuge from the storm. Fritigern (who, +with a perhaps older colleague, Alavivus, is always spoken of as leader +of the migration) may perhaps, through Ulfilas, have opened negotiations +with the Imperial Court, negotiations which occupied many weeks, for +Valens, the reigning Emperor, was at Antioch. The terms which Fritigern +offered were that the Goths would all enter the military service of +the Empire, and apparently that those who were still heathens would +embrace the Emperor’s creed, which was one of the many forms of Arian +Christianity. On the other hand there must have been some stipulation as +to the supply of food, at least for one season, to give the new-comers +time to till the fields for a future harvest. + +[Sidenote: _The Goths on the shore of the Danube._] + +While the tedious negotiations were going forward, a strange sight might +be seen on that Wallachian shore of the Danube, where Europe beheld, in +1877, the vast host of the Russians manœuvring backwards and forwards, +in order to find a place where they might cross into Bulgaria. On that +same shore in the autumn of 376 stood 200,000 Goths, stretching out their +hands in the attitude of entreaty, bewailing the hard fate that had +befallen them, and shouting out, whenever a Roman official came within +hearing, their eager offers of fealty to the Emperor. + +[Sidenote: _Valens gives them permission to cross._] + +At length the answer came from Antioch. Valens was flattered by the +prospect of the submission of so many stalwart warriors; he persuaded +himself that by enlisting them under his standards he might lighten the +pressure of taxation on his subjects; he perhaps also thought that in +the battle of the creeds which was still being waged, the adhesion of a +strong and warlike nation to his own Arian form of faith would secure for +it the victory. This last consideration, however, which is all-important +on the pages of the ecclesiastical historians, was probably only a +secondary one in the minds of the Emperor and his Council. + +[Sidenote: _The Danube crossed._] + +[Sidenote: _Rapacity of the Roman officials._] + +Whatever the determining cause may have been, the Imperial orders came +to Lupicinus the Count of Thrace, and Maximus the Duke of Moesia, that +the refugees were to be admitted into the Empire on condition that they +gave up their arms, and that the boys who were still under age for +martial service should be surrendered as hostages to be quartered in +various distant cities of the Empire. Thus the long suspense was ended. +The Visigoths, who night after night had feared to see the Hunnish +watch-fires blazing in the north and to hear the discordant battle-cry of +the Asiatics sounding in their ears, were relieved from their terrible +anxiety. To have to part with their gallant sons was hard: to have to +part with their old and trusty broadswords was harder, but life was +sweet. There was the Moesian shore and safety under the shadow of Rome, +and here were the sloops ready to carry them across to the Promised +Land. Night and day, for several days, the sloops were crossing and +re-crossing, till at length 200,000 Gothic warriors, with their wives, +and children, and aged parents, stood on the soil of the Empire. They +stood there, not unarmed. Already they had made their first experience +of the gigantic corruption of the Imperial service. Lupicinus and +Maximus, and the officers under them, avaricious and lustful men, while +superintending the transport of the Goths, were thinking all the time how +to fill their villas with precious spoil and beautiful captives, rather +than how to obey the orders of the Emperor. While they were intent on the +golden torques, the linen robes, the costly-fringed carpets of the Goths, +they allowed the broadswords and the hunting-knives to pass unquestioned. +Already before the disembarkation was well over, a bitter sense of +wrong, and consciousness of power to avenge that wrong, were brooding in +thousands of Gothic hearts. + +We may perhaps say of the reception by Valens of the Gothic fugitives, as +of Elizabeth’s reception of Mary Queen of Scots, that either the request +for asylum should have been refused, or, if granted, it should have been +granted generously. There was abundance of room doubtless in the solitary +spaces of Moesia for 200,000 sturdy cultivators, and if they had been +wisely and fairly treated they might have formed a stout barrier against +all other barbarian invaders. Who can say? The Roman Empire might be +standing yet. + + ‘Trojaque nunc staret, Priamique arx alta maneret.’ + +But now, in addition to the grievance of their treasures stolen, +came the far sorer grievance of food withheld. The promised rations, +perhaps partly from incompetence as well as from bad faith, were not +forthcoming. With such money as they still possessed the unhappy Goths +offered to buy food: Lupicinus and Maximus bought up dogs from all the +districts round and sold their flesh to the starving immigrants in return +for slaves, among whom were some of the sons of the noblest of the Goths, +driven to barter even their children for life. Such wickedness as this, +thank God, does not often miss its reward even in this world. + +A few months, however, elapsed before the storm of vengeance burst forth. +Let us take advantage of that short interval to describe the characters +of the rulers of the Roman State. + +[Sidenote: _Roman Emperors._] + +[Sidenote: West, _Valentinian I, 364-375._] + +[Sidenote: East, _Valens, 364-378._] + +For eleven years (364-375) after the death of Julian ‘the Apostate’ +and his short-lived successor Jovian, Valentinian’s strong hand was +at the Empire’s helm. A blunt, untutored soldier, with a strange dash +of cruelty in his nature, he was nevertheless a good ruler for those +times. He held an even balance between the warring Christian sects, +insisting on toleration all round; he was careful not to oppress his +subjects by too heavy taxation; he defended them from the barbarians, +and he repressed the licentiousness which was sapping the energies of +the Empire. The worst thing that he did for his country was associating +his brother Valens in the throne, giving him the rule over the East. +Both in person and character Valens presented a striking contrast to his +brother. Valentinian was strong and well-shaped, with a bright complexion +and clear blue eye: everything about him told of energy and decision. +Valens, torpid and procrastinating, with muddy complexion, lack-lustre +eye, bent legs and protuberant belly, neither looked nor spoke like an +Emperor of Rome. And over against Valentinian’s inflexible and universal +religious tolerance had to be set the somewhat bitter Arianism of Valens. + +[Sidenote: West, _Gratian, 375-383. Valentinian II, 375-392._] + +A year before the Hunnish irruption into Europe Valentinian died, leaving +his brother Valens Emperor of the East, and his two sons, Gratian and +Valentinian II, Emperors of the West, the former at Trier, the latter at +Milan. Gratian was a lad full of noble promise, but only sixteen years of +age; Valentinian II was a child of four, under the regency of his mother, +Justina. Decidedly the Imperial partnership was weak, ill-adapted for +the strain of a great crisis, and what made it yet weaker was that it +was not united. The dull soul of the sluggish Valens was jealous of his +brilliant nephew, who was already showing military aptitudes and earning +the devotion of his troops. Justina also, who was the second wife of the +deceased Emperor, looked probably with no friendly eye on the growing +reputation of her step-son. The _Concordia Augustorum_[48], which was so +often celebrated on the Imperial medals, was not strong in the year 376. + +[Sidenote: _The banquet at Marcianople. 377._] + +We return to the affairs of the betrayed and hunger-stricken Goths. +There was as yet no open insurrection, but Alavivus and Fritigern were +marching about in Moesia in a way which seemed to indicate independence +and growing suspicion; and, moreover, some of the bands of their +Ostrogothic cousins had taken advantage of the disorder of the times, +and the occupied attention of the Imperial soldiery, to cross the Danube +on rafts and pitch their camp not far from Fritigern’s. Before long +Alavivus and Fritigern appeared at the gates of Marcianople (the modern +Shumla), an important city at the intersection of two great cross-roads, +and commanding a pass through the Balkans. The two Visigothic chiefs were +still ostensibly captains of the Emperor’s _foederati_, and Lupicinus, +Count of Thrace, bade them to a banquet. The barbarians who followed +them had flocked into the city to purchase provisions. A dispute arose +between them and the citizens which led to bloodshed, and the news of +the disturbance reached Lupicinus when he was reclining at the luxurious +banquet, flushed with wine and scarcely keeping his heavy eyes open +by gazing at the performers of a pantomime. Languidly he ordered the +tall young Gothic nobles who were keeping guard over their chief at the +door of the _praetorium_ to be hewn down by the far more numerous Roman +soldiery. The groans of the dying, and the battle-shout of those who were +yet fighting for their lives, penetrated the innermost chambers of the +palace, and aroused Fritigern from the pleasures of the dainty repast. +If his host sought to soothe him by alleging that it was only a drunken +brawl that was going on outside, + + ‘his soul more truly knew that sound too well.’ + +He drew his sword and stalked down through the banquet hall, exclaiming +that if there was a tumult among the Goths he alone could quell it. The +pretext, or the naked sword, secured him a safe passage through the +trembling ranks of the banqueters. He was received with a shout of joy +by his surviving companions. They mounted their horses and rode out of +the gates of the city; and now, openly declaring war against the Empire, +began to plunder and to burn the rich farmsteads in the neighbourhood of +Marcianople. Lupicinus marched forth to meet them at the ninth milestone +from the city; but his troops, hastily collected, were badly led. The +Goths, in their fury and despair, beat down their enemies. All the +tribunes (commissioned officers) and the larger part of the rank and file +were stretched in death upon the plain. The base Lupicinus, whose cruelty +and avarice had caused the disaster, escaped from this battle-field, but +before long both he and his colleague in guilt, Maximus, fell victims to +the righteous vengeance of the Goths[49]. + +That day, that fatal day of the banquet at Marcianople, ‘took away,’ says +the Gothic historian, ‘the hunger of the Goths and the security of the +Romans; and the former now began, not as strangers and foreigners, but as +citizens and lords, to issue their orders to the cultivators of the soil, +and to hold all the northern regions [from the Balkans] to the Danube in +their own right.’ + +[Sidenote: _377-378. Gothic War._] + +[Sidenote: _377. Battle of Ad Salices._] + +The war thus commenced lasted, with varying success, through the years +377 and 378. The Emperor Valens, during the whole of the former year, +remained at Antioch, but sent two officers of high rank, but of no great +military skill, to conduct the campaign in his stead. On the whole, +however, the fortune of war must have been unfavourable to the Goths (who +evidently fought with more fury than science), since the chief battle of +this year was fought at a place called Ad Salices (the Willows), as far +north as the region now known as the Dobrudscha. Our chief historian[50] +(himself long an officer of rank in the Imperial army) gives a striking +description of the Gothic warriors, encamped in the centre of a rampart +of waggons, and revelling in the abundance of the booty which they had +carried off from the wasted plains of Thrace. All night the two armies +lay encamped near to one another in sleepless suspense. With the dawn +of day the barbarians made an attempt to reach some higher ground, from +whence they might rush down on the enemy; but this manœuvre was checked +by a well-executed counter-movement of the legions. As both armies halted +and gazed at one another with scowling faces, the Romans raised their +martial song (itself borrowed from other barbarians), which was known +as the _barritus_, and which, beginning in a low bass key, rose, as it +were, by steps to a shrill and exultant treble. The barbarians answered +by the old war-songs (discordant in Roman ears, but in which our Saxon +forefathers would probably have found familiar music), wherein they sang +the praises of their glorious ancestors, sprung from the seed of gods, +and dear to Odin. + +Then the battle was joined, and the marshy willow-intersected plain +was seen covered with every phase of human agony; but all was din and +confusion, and if any well-concerted plan was formed or executed on +either side, it does not appear in the pages of the historian. The battle +was a drawn one; but apparently the Romans were left in possession of the +field, for their dead were buried, while the bodies of the Goths were +left to be devoured by vultures. Years after, the husbandman, ploughing +in that fatal plain, marvelled at the mighty bones of the barbarians +which his plough-share upturned. + +[Sidenote: _Advance of Gratian._] + +In this battle good service had been rendered by some troops which +Gratian had sent from Gaul to the assistance of his uncle. The young +Emperor had had his own hard battles to fight with the barbarians who +dwelt on the northern shore of the Lake of Constance, but having subdued +them he marched eastwards in 378 as far as Sirmium on the Save, from +which place he sent a message to Valens that he was ready to co-operate +with him in an attack on the Goths, whose invasion seemed to imperil the +very existence of the eastern portion of the Empire. + +[Sidenote: _378. Valens at Hadrianople._] + +But Valens, who had by this time quitted Antioch for Constantinople, was +jealous of his young nephew’s fame, and in no humour to add one needless +leaf of laurel to his crown. He had pitched his camp near Hadrianople, +and there received the messengers of Gratian, who earnestly besought +him to wait for their master’s arrival. So Victor advised, a Slavonic +barbarian by birth, but master of the Imperial cavalry, and a careful and +cautious general. So, however, did not advise his other chief general +Sebastian, who was elated by some recent victories that he had won over +the barbarians: and his rash counsels found too sure an echo in the +jealous heart of Valens. It was decided to fight at once and end the +Gothic war by the unaided forces of the East. + +[Sidenote: _Negotiations between Fritigern and Valens._] + +But Fritigern on his side had allies whose arrival he was expecting. +The Ostrogothic chiefs, Alatheus and Saphrax, were on their march to +join him, and he would fain postpone the battle till they arrived. He +therefore sent a Christian priest on an embassy to Valens, offering to +make peace if he and his followers might be allowed to occupy Thrace as +subjects of the Empire. Nothing came of these negotiations; nothing was +meant to come of them; but time was gained for Alatheus and Saphrax to +accomplish another day’s march towards the army of Fritigern. + +[Sidenote: _Battle of Hadrianople, 9 Aug. 378._] + +On the 9th August, 378, a day long and fatally memorable in the annals of +the Empire, the legions of Valens moved forth from their entrenched camp +under the walls of Hadrianople, and after a march of eight miles under +the hot sun of August came in sight of the barbarian vanguard, behind +which stretched the circling line of the waggons that guarded the Gothic +host. + +Yet another embassy did the artful Fritigern (perhaps not over-confident +of victory) send into the Roman camp. There were discussions as to the +dignity and powers of the messengers: the Goth was willing to send one +of his noblest chiefs if the Roman would do the same as a pledge of his +safety. Richomer, Count of the Domestics, Gratian’s representative, +expressed his willingness to go as a hostage into the barbarian camp, +but scarcely had he reached it when, behold! fresh standards were seen +upon the surrounding hills. The long-waited for troops of Alatheus and +Saphrax had arrived, and not pausing in their headlong career fell like a +thunderbolt on the Roman flank. + +The soldiers of the Empire, hot, thirsty, wearied out with hours of +waiting under the blaze of an August sun, and only half understanding +that the negotiations were ended and the battle begun, fought at a +terrible disadvantage, but fought not ill. The infantry on the left wing +seem even to have pushed back their enemies and penetrated to the Gothic +waggons. But they were for some reason not covered as usual by a force +of cavalry, and they were jammed into a too narrow space of ground where +they could not use their spears with effect, yet presented a terribly +easy mark to the Gothic arrows. They fell in dense masses as they had +stood. Then the whole weight of the enemy’s attack was directed against +the centre and right. When the evening began to close in, the utterly +routed Roman soldiers were rushing in disorderly flight from the fatal +field. The night, dark and moonless, may have protected some, but more +met their death rushing blindly over a rugged and unknown country. + +[Sidenote: _Fate of Valens._] + +Meanwhile, Valens had sought shelter with a little knot of soldiers (the +two regiments of Lancearii and Mattiarii), who still remained unmoved +amidst the surging sea of ruin. When their ranks too were broken, and +when some of his bravest officers had fallen around him, he joined the +common soldiers in their headlong flight. Struck by a Gothic arrow he +fell to the ground, but was carried off by some of the eunuchs and +life-guardsmen who still accompanied him, to a peasant’s cottage hard by. +The Goths, ignorant of his rank, but eager to strip the gaily-clothed +guardsmen, surrounded the cottage and attempted in vain to burst in the +doors. Then mounting to the roof they tried to smoke out the imprisoned +inmates, but succeeding beyond their desires, set fire to the cottage, +and Emperor, eunuchs, and life-guards perished in the flames. Only one +of the body-guard escaped, who climbed out through one of the blazing +windows and fell into the hands of the barbarians. He told them when +it was too late what a prize they had missed in their cruel eagerness, +nothing less than the Emperor of Rome. + +Ecclesiastical historians for generations delighted to point the moral +of the story of Valens, that he who had seduced the whole Gothic nation +into the heresy of Arius, and thus caused them to suffer the punishment +of everlasting fire, was himself by those very Goths burned alive on the +terrible 9th of August. + + + + +LECTURE IV. + +THEODOSIUS. + + +[Sidenote: _378._] + +In the battle of Hadrianople two-thirds of the Roman army fell. The two +Counts, Sebastian and Trajan (the General-in-Chief and his predecessor), +Valerian, the Count of the Imperial Stables, and Aequitius, a relation +of the Emperor and Superintendent of his palace[51], were all stretched +dead upon the field. There too lay thirty-five Tribunes, officers whose +military rank corresponded with that of our Colonels. The historian says, +with perfect truth, that since the day of Cannae no such disaster had +befallen the Roman army. Nor had the Roman State, now in the twelfth +century of its existence, the same power of recovering from its reverses +which it possessed in the sixth century from the building of the City, +when the statue of Victory in the Capitol drooped her wings at the news +of the slaughter on the Apulian plain. + +[Sidenote: _Movements of the Goths after the battle of Hadrianople._] + +[Sidenote: _378. Siege of Constantinople._] + +Yet the Goths, though they had shown that they could win a battle, had +as yet neither discipline nor warlike art sufficient to enable them to +conquer in a campaign. An unsuccessful attack on Hadrianople was followed +by an equal failure before the walls of Constantinople. By a strange +inversion of its future fates, the Imperial capital by the Bosphorus was +defended from these Visigoths (the ancestors of Don John of Austria and +of all the Christian chivalry of Spain) by a body of Saracen soldiers +who had been enlisted under the banners of the Empire. One of these wild +defenders of civilisation, nearly naked but with long and shaggy hair, +dashed forward with a melancholy howl into the Gothic ranks, stabbed an +enemy with his short sword, and then putting his lips to the neck of the +slain foe sucked his life-blood with eager zest. The thought of fighting +against such monsters as this was too terrible for the impressionable +Goths, and they retired disheartened from the walls. + +[Sidenote: _Weakness of the Goths as besiegers._] + +[Sidenote: _A Roman siege-train._] + +[Sidenote: _378-9._] + +But, quite independently of any such exceptional causes of panic, +there was a striking weakness in the Gothic attack whenever they came +face to face with a fenced city. When Fritigern marched away from the +treacherous city of Marcianople, crying out, ‘I wage no war on stone +walls,’ he expressed that which was of necessity the maxim of all the +barbarian warriors during the succeeding century. It cannot be said +that at this time the powers of the defence in sieges were necessarily +superior to those of the attack. On the contrary, in the wars between +Persia and Rome it is remarkable how often the same cities were taken +and retaken. But a siege required patience, mechanical skill, and +untiring vigilance, and could not be decided by a mere outburst of +Berserker fury such as sometimes swept the legions before it on the +field of battle. In reading the account of a Roman siege-train given +by Ammianus Marcellinus[52], though I cannot say that I understand all +his explanations (and I believe it would require the combination of an +expert mechanician and an invincible translator of Latin to make sense +of many of them), still it is easy to perceive this much—that a siege +was then, as now, practically a duel of artillery, though in the working +of that artillery the explosive force of gunpowder was not made use of, +and that it was by the engineer, rather than by the warrior, that the +strongest city was taken. There was the _Balista_, for the discharge +of the strong iron-shod wooden arrow; the _Scorpion_, or the _Wild +Ass_[53], which suddenly reared itself high in air and hurled forth its +heavy stone; the _Battering Ram_[54], for butting at all the weakest +places in a wall; the _City-taker_[55], which fastened its triangular +prongs into the wall and tore it to pieces. By these and by the great +moving towers the city was attacked, and by machines as complicated and +as destructive, but of a somewhat different kind, it was defended. For +all this sort of work, as I have said, not only the humbler qualities +of the soldier—patience and vigilance—but also some of the skill of a +trained mechanician, were needed; and these qualities, abundantly present +in many even of the common soldiers among the Italians, the Greeks, and +the Persians, were yet wanting in the untutored brains of the Teutonic +warriors. Therefore the story of the wars between the barbarians and +the Empire is for the most part a story of monotonous uniformity of +ill-success, as far as the sieges undertaken by the former are concerned. +They win battles in the open field; they occupy the great Roman roads, +and cut off communication between the provinces and the capital; they +lay waste the country districts, and sometimes by the famine thus caused +they deprive the citizens of the means of prolonging their resistance. +More often, by the treachery of slaves or fellow-countrymen of their own +inside the walls, they bring about the city’s fall; but scarcely ever do +they take it by fair and open warfare, in a regularly-conducted siege. +And for a considerable part of those seventy years of struggle which I am +briefly describing to you, you must think of the cities as standing up +behind their quadrangular walls, little islands of civilisation and still +unshaken loyalty to the Empire, while over the fields and through the +unwalled villages rages the wide-sweeping flood of barbarian invasion. + +[Sidenote: _The Gothic attack grows feebler, 378-379._] + +This was essentially the character of the war during the years 378 and +379, though the Roman defence was gradually becoming stronger, and the +attacks of the Goths wilder and more purposeless during the whole of +that period. The despair and the hatred which had banded them together +as one man under the leadership of Fritigern, lost their uniting power. +They roamed southwards into the pleasant lands of Achaia, northwards +to the Save, into and perhaps across the borders of Pannonia; but the +hope of plunder and a child’s love of breaking beautiful things seem to +have been their only motives. There is no longer a trace of that serious +purpose of conquest which does seem to have animated them up to the day +of Hadrianople. + +[Sidenote: _The Gothic hostage-boys massacred. 378-9._] + +One vile deed of a Roman official must have stirred many Gothic hearts +to fury, yet did not receive its proper meed of vengeance. It will +be remembered that when the Visigothic warriors were ferried across +the Danube in the Imperial cutters, they were compelled to deliver up +the sons of the noblest among them as hostages. These lads had been +distributed through the cities of the East: while their fathers and +their kindred had been suffering the hardships of famine, they had been +growing up to manhood, and it was feared that the news of the victory of +Hadrianople might arouse them to some deed of daring against the Empire. +Julius, Master of the Soldiery[56], to whose care these young hostages +had been especially committed, sent for the various military prefects, +and after binding them to secrecy under solemn oaths, communicated to +them his bloody purpose. The young Goths in each district were invited to +the capital of the province under promise of receiving grants of money +and land from the Emperor. They came full of hope and of good-humour +towards their hosts. As soon as they were all collected in the forum +of each city, the soldiers, who had been previously stationed on the +roofs of the surrounding houses, assailed them with darts and stones. +They were of course utterly unable to strike a blow in return against +their cowardly assailants, and each Asiatic forum soon had its heap of +unresisting slain. A base and treacherous deed, and one which we regret +to find both our two chief historians[57] of this period mentioning with +words of praise for its cowardly contrivers. + +[Sidenote: _Gratian associates Theodosius in the Imperial dignity._] + +The disorganisation of the Empire after the battle of Hadrianople was +complete, and Gratian wisely concluded that he, a lad of nineteen, was +not able, unaided, to bring it to a close. He looked around him for a +colleague, and recognised with the frankness of his noble nature that +there was no man so suitable for the post as one whom his family had +deeply wronged, the late Duke of Moesia, THEODOSIUS. + +[Sidenote: _Origin of Theodosius._] + +This man, whose name in various ways has become so famous in the history +both of the Empire and the Church, was born about the year 346 at a place +called Cauca, in the north-western corner of Spain. He belonged by birth +to the class of wealthy Provincials from which many of the officials of +the Empire were chosen, and who constituted in fact, if not in name, +a sort of rural nobility. After he had been clothed with the purple, +flatterers and poets discovered that he was a remote descendant of the +great Emperor Trajan, but this seems to have been only a courtier-like +deduction from the fact that he, like Trajan, was a Spaniard. + +[Sidenote: _368-376._] + +[Sidenote: _Theodosius the Elder._] + +[Sidenote: _376-379._] + +His father, Count Theodosius, had been sent to Britain in 368 to repel +an invasion of Picts, Scots, and Attacotti, and making the old town of +Lundinium his base of operations, had attacked the various parties of +freebooters who were roaming about the country, and had succeeded in +spoiling the spoilers, and restoring the greater part of their property +to the plundered provincials. Two years afterwards he had delivered +Raetia (Tyrol and the Grisons) from a similar invasion of the Alamanni, +and had sent many of the invaders to Italy to cultivate as serfs the +meadow lands of the Po. In 373 he conducted a most successful campaign in +Africa against a Mauritanian chieftain, Firmus, who had rebelled against +the Emperor. The rebel committed suicide, and his conqueror, with the +title of _Comes Africae_, administered the government of the province +which he had saved. Then came a sudden check to his prosperous course. +In 376, shortly after the death of Valentinian, he was accused, we know +not on what charge, sentenced to death, and beheaded at Carthage, having +first received the sacrament of baptism. The cause of this strange and +sad termination of an honourable career has never been explained. Some +think that the young Gratian, only just arrived at the helm of affairs, +was jealous of the veteran’s fame, but nothing in the character of +that Emperor justifies so foul a charge. Others believe that his real +offence was having exposed the villainies and peculations of Romanus, +his predecessor in the government of Africa. But it seems to me on the +whole most probable that his death was in some way connected with an +outburst of jealous rage and suspicion on the part of Valens against all +persons whose names began with the letters THEOD, Theodorus, Theodoret, +and so forth, as it had come to the ears of the Emperor that a citizen +of Antioch had been resorting to magical arts to learn the name of his +future successor, and that those letters (which proved fatal to many a +Roman citizen) had been revealed by the oracle as forming the beginning +of the fated name. + +On the death of his father, the young Theodosius, then about thirty years +of age, who had done good service to the State as Duke of Moesia, retired +into private life. If, as was probably the case, he was succeeded by the +base and corrupt Maximus, whose avarice drove the Goths to despair, the +unjust death of the elder Theodosius was indeed soon and terribly avenged +on his ungrateful masters. + +[Sidenote: _Theodosius Emperor of the East, 19 Jan. 379._] + +Now, however, the fortunes of the house of Theodosius emerged from the +cloud, more resplendent than ever. The new Emperor was clothed in the +purple and invested with ‘the rule of the universe’ (ἡ τῶν ὅλων ἀρχή) at +Sirmium, on the 19th of January, 379. The share of the Empire assigned +to his immediate superintendence was of course the East, together with +Macedonia and Dacia. The rest of the Diocese of Illyricum was joined, now +as on many other occasions, to the Western half of the Empire. + +[Sidenote: _Guerilla War. 379-380._] + +The first duty that Theodosius had to undertake was to restore the +self-confidence and trust in victory of the Roman army, terribly shaken +as these qualities had been by the disastrous rout of Hadrianople. This +he accomplished by waging a successful guerilla war with the Gothic +marauders. Valens had played into the hands of the barbarians by risking +everything on one great pitched battle. Theodosius adopted the very +opposite policy. He outmanœuvred the isolated and straggling bands of the +Goths, defeated them in one skirmish after another that did not deserve +the name of a battle, and thus restored the courage and confidence of the +Imperial troops. By the end of 379 he seems to have succeeded in clearing +the territory south of the Balkan range of the harassing swarms of the +barbarians. + +[Sidenote: _Sickness of Theodosius._] + +In February, 380, he fell sick at Thessalonica (which was his chief basis +of operations throughout this period), and this sickness, from which he +did not fully recover for some months, was productive of two important +results, (1) his baptism as a Trinitarian Christian, (2) a renewal of the +war against fresh swarms of barbarians. + +[Sidenote: _Theodosius adopts the Creed of Nicaea. 380._] + +(1) Theodosius appears up to this point of his career not to have +definitely ranged himself on either side of the great Arian controversy, +though he had a hereditary inclination towards the Creed of Nicaea. Like +his father, however, he had postponed baptism in accordance with the +prevalent usage of his day: but now upon a bed of sickness which seemed +likely to be one of death, he delayed no longer, but received the rite at +the hands of Ascholius, the Catholic Bishop of Thessalonica. Before he +was able to resume his post at the head of the legions, he published his +celebrated Edict: ‘To the people of Constantinople.—We desire that all +the nations who are governed by the rule of our Clemency shall practise +that religion which the Apostle Peter himself delivered to the Romans, +and which it is manifest that the pontiff Damasus, and Peter, Bishop of +Alexandria, a man of Apostolic sanctity, do now follow: that according +to the discipline of the Apostles and the teaching of the Evangelists +they believe in the one Godhead of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in equal +Majesty, and in the holy Trinity. We order all who follow this law to +assume the name of Catholic Christians, decreeing that all others, being +mad and foolish persons, shall bear the infamy of their heretical dogmas, +and that their Conventicles shall not receive the name of Churches: to be +punished first by Divine vengeance, and afterwards by that exertion of +our power to chastise which we have received from the decree of heaven.’ + +[Sidenote: _The power of the Eastern State now enlisted on the side of +Orthodoxy._] + +Thus then at length the Caesar of the East was ranged on the side of +Trinitarian orthodoxy. Constantine in the latter part of his reign, +Constantius, Valens, had all been Arians or semi-Arians, some of them +bitter in their heterodoxy. Julian had been a worshipper of the gods of +Olympus. Thus for nearly two generations the influence of the Court of +Constantinople had been thrown into the scale against the teaching of +Athanasius, which was generally accepted throughout the Western realm. +Now by the accession of Theodosius to the Trinitarian side, religious +unity was restored to the Empire: but at the same time a chasm, an +impassable chasm, was opened between the Empire itself and its new +Teutonic guests, nearly all of whom held fast to the Arian teaching of +their great Apostle Ulfilas. + +[Sidenote: _Further inroads of the barbarians._] + +(2) The other consequence of the sickness of Theodosius was, as I have +said, a fresh incursion of barbarian hordes, swarming across the Danube +and climbing all the high passes of the Balkans. The work of clearing the +country of these marauders had to be all done over again. One dark night, +when the Emperor was encamping in Macedonia, the barbarians, seeing a +particularly bright watch-fire burning, and rightly conjecturing that +it marked the tent of the Emperor, made a sudden dash and very nearly +succeeded in sending Theodosius to rejoin his predecessor Valens. There +was a terrible struggle: few Romans against the overwhelming hosts of +the Goths, but the soldiers of Theodosius, who loved him well, fought on +desperately till he had escaped, and then fell dead, surrounded by an +uncounted host of slain barbarians. + +[Sidenote: _Reinforcements sent by Gratian, 380._] + +The campaign of 380 was such a hard one that Theodosius had to solicit +reinforcements from his colleague Gratian, which were sent to him under +the command of Bauto and Arbogast, two Frankish chiefs who had entered +the Imperial service. Indeed all along the line, in the West as in +the East, the characteristic feature of this period was the number of +barbarians who attained high rank in the legions of Rome, and who upon +the whole served her with marked fidelity. + +At length, in the closing months of 380, the provinces south of the +Balkans (Macedonia and Thrace) were once more cleared of their barbarian +intruders. Peace, in which Gratian concurred, was concluded with the +Goths who still doubtless abounded in Moesia; and Theodosius on the 24th +of November entered Constantinople in state. + +[Sidenote: _Theodosius welcomes Athanaric at Constantinople, 381._] + +[Sidenote: _Athanaric’s death._] + +The inhabitants of the New Rome by the Bosphorus, who perhaps had not +before seen Theodosius as Emperor, were soon to behold a ruler of a +very different type side by side with the courtly and magnificent +Spaniard. The grey old Visigoth, Athanaric, had been driven, apparently +by Ostrogothic invaders, from his airy stronghold in the Carpathians. +The death of Fritigern (which seems to have happened about this time) +left him the chief ruler of the scattered and disorganised Visigothic +nation. Converted from his old, almost religious prejudice against Rome, +and recanting the oath which he had once sworn never to set foot on the +soil of the Empire, he now crossed the Danube and accepted the Emperor’s +invitation to visit him in his capital, probably in order to ratify and +proclaim to the world the peace just concluded between ‘Romania’ and +‘Gothia.’ We must let the Gothic historian tell the story of this visit +in his own expressive words[58]. + +‘Theodosius attached to himself King Athanaric, who had succeeded +Fritigern, by the gifts which he gave him, and in the kindest terms +invited him to visit him at Constantinople; who accepted right willingly +and said, marvelling, “Lo, I behold, what often I heard incredulously, +the fame of so great a city.” Then turning his eyes this way and that, +now he admires the position of the city and the concourse of ships, now +the long clearly-marked line of the walls, and then again the natives +from so many different stocks bubbling up like water from one fountain +in many directions, yet all disciplined like well-trained soldiers. +“A god,” he said, “without doubt a god upon earth is the Emperor, and +whoever moveth a hand against him, that man is guilty of his own blood.” +In such a state of admiration, being supported by the yet greater honours +which he received from the Emperor, after the interval of a few months +[or more correctly fourteen days[59]] he departed from the light of day. +Whom the Emperor out of the love which he bore to him, honouring almost +more as dead than as alive, delivered to a worthy burial, himself going +before the bier in his solemn obsequies. Therefore when Athanaric was +dead, all his army, remaining in the service of the Emperor Theodosius, +and submitting itself to the Roman Empire, formed as it were one body +with the [Imperial] soldiery, that old enlistment of the Foederati under +the Emperor Constantine being now renewed, and they themselves were now +called Foederati.’ + +[Sidenote: _The bulk of the Goths become Foederati of the Empire._] + +There can be no doubt that the politic courtesy which Theodosius showed +to Athanaric exercised an important influence on the relations which +existed for the next fifteen years between the Empire and the Goths. +If we look at the position of the two parties to the contract we shall +see that the conclusion or the renewal of the _Foedus_ between them was +really for the interest of both. For the Empire, a complete reversal +of the policy of Valens was now impossible. Ever since the day when +the last of the 200,000 Gothic warriors was ferried across the Danube, +their inclusion in the Empire in one capacity or another had become +an accomplished and irreversible fact. They could not be thrust back +into their old Dacian home, where by this time the Huns were probably +swarming, but they might be converted from the ravagers of Thrace into +the tillers of Moesia. They might be made the stalwart defenders of the +Danubian frontier against those very Huns, and against the motley horde +of Teutons, Slaves, and Tartars who flocked around their standard of +squalid and anarchic despotism. + +On the other hand the Goths, unable to capture the strong cities of the +Empire, could not live perpetually on the mere ravage of the Thracian +home-steads. Viewing the movements of peoples and the migrations of +barbarous tribes from the high historic standpoint, and especially seeing +what these movements and migrations actually accomplished in the fifth +century of our era, we are apt to think that the conquest of kingdoms and +the foundation of empires was the deliberate and persistent purpose of +chief and people. On the contrary, if we could be present in the rough +councils which gathered around their camp-fires and listen to the talk +of the warriors with their wives in the great Gothic waggons, we should +probably discover that the question in what way and from what source the +next day’s meal was to be provided, was far more often and more anxiously +debated than any question of high policy or dream of world-conquest. Now, +by the policy which Theodosius seemed willing to adopt of renewing the +old _Foedus_ between Rome and her Gothic friends, food, and comfortable +homes, and a distinguished career in arms were assured to the meanest +Gothic soldier, and admission to the dignities and luxuries of the most +splendid court in the world was assured to their chiefs. The Roman +Empire was still, if I may use a commercial phrase, ‘a going concern.’ +The barbarians had power to wreck it and drive it into bankruptcy? Yes, +perhaps they had: but it was surely a far more alluring prospect to take +shares in the company and touch some part of the enormous profits which +accrued to the directors. + +This kind of calculation—and I have purposely chosen a commercial +metaphor in order to indicate the perfectly selfish character of the +bargain—prevailed at this time in the minds of the barbarians over any +dim and shadowy dreams which might linger there of setting up a new and +conquering Visigothic kingdom between the Danube and the Balkans. But +then, when self-interest was prompting them to this course, sentiment +was enlisted on the same side by the generous hospitality offered to the +worn-out veteran Athanaric in the great city of the South, by his own +childlike admiration of the wonders which she displayed to his view, by +the splendid funeral, and by the sight of the courtly Augustus, robed in +the purple and wearing the diadem of Empire, escorting the Gothic warrior +to his tomb. + +[Sidenote: _What did the relation of Foederati involve?_] + +What the precise nature of the tie was which bound the _foederati_ to the +Empire I do not think we can definitely explain. From time immemorial +Rome had fought her battles with troops pretty equally divided between +the legions (theoretically composed of pure Roman citizens) and the +_Auxilia_ (consisting of her subject-allies). These allies had at first +been chiefly dwellers in the cities of Latium, but by the time that +we have now reached they were gathered from almost every nation under +heaven. Here, in our own Northumberland, all the garrison duty along the +Wall was done by these auxiliary troops. Asturians from Spain, Tungrians +and Batavians from Holland, Dacians from Transylvania, and Dalmatians +from the eastern shore of the Hadriatic, were keeping watch for Rome on +these wind-swept hills. But _those_ allies were still distinctly Roman +soldiers, who served under Roman officers, and were amenable to Roman +discipline. The bond which held the _foederati_ to the Empire appears to +have been a much looser one. It would seem that the federated Goths still +served under their own native chiefs, and retained to a large extent +their national weapons and their own peculiar manner of fighting. They no +doubt had lands assigned to them, chiefly in Moesia, which they may have +cultivated partly with their own hands and partly by the forced labour +of _coloni_. In fact, though we are of course still many centuries off +from regular feudal rights and obligations, there was probably something +in the relation of a chief of _foederati_ to the Emperor not altogether +unlike the relation of a feudal baron to his lord paramount. + +[Sidenote: _Results of the policy of Theodosius._] + +The scheme of Theodosius answered as a temporary expedient. It gave +security to the Danubian frontier for his day; perhaps had his successors +been men of equal ability with himself it might have prolonged that +security for centuries. But there were some obvious dangers attending +it. Evidently these masses of men, trained to act together, obeying +their own princes, and conscious of their strength, might one day turn +against Rome the weapons which they were now wielding on her behalf. +The ‘provincials,’ the earlier subjects of Rome, finding their services +less needed, would grow unused to warfare, and would in the course of +time be almost sure to sink into a despised and spiritless caste, among +whom the proud Teutonic _foederatus_ would stalk with an exasperating +consciousness of superiority. Above all, the Emperor himself, having +the barbarians for his tent companions, the sharers of his dangers, the +confidants of his councils, and the supporters of his throne, would +get to lean more and more upon them, and might become an Emperor of +barbarians instead of an Emperor of the civilised commonwealth of Rome. + +The whole history of Theodosius shows that this was a very real danger +in his time. There was something in his own character, fond as he was +of pomp and spectacle and the mere outward trappings of royalty, which +harmonised only too well with the nature of the barbarians. While he +was surrounding himself with troops of tall and brilliantly-accoutred +_foederati_, and spending his time and the money of his subjects over an +endless round of games and chariot-races, and on sumptuous banquets at +which the Gothic ‘wassail’ was loudly heard, the provinces were groaning +under the demands of the tax-gatherer; and the machine of administration +which Valens, with all his faults, had superintended with some diligence, +was daily getting into more and more hopeless disorganisation. + +[Sidenote: _Insurrection of Antioch, 387._] + +Both the two great insurrections which broke out in the reign of +Theodosius, and each of which is connected with the story of a great +father of the Church, sprang, directly or indirectly, from the favour +shown by the Emperor to his _foederati_. In the year 387 he determined +to celebrate the fifth year of the reign of his young son Arcadius, whom +he had associated with him in the Empire, in a style of extraordinary +magnificence. For this purpose there must be more splendid games, more +exciting chariot-races, and, above all, a more liberal donative to the +soldiery than any that had yet been given. In order to supply funds for +these various expenses, a new tax (probably what was called the _aurum +coronarium_) was levied on the cities of the Empire. At the news of +this fresh imposition, the citizens of Antioch, already ground down to +the very dust by the pressure of the ordinary taxation, broke out into +open rebellion. While the more respectable and religious citizens betook +themselves to the churches to pray God to change the Emperor’s purpose, +or besought the Bishop Flavianus to intercede for the removal of the tax, +a mob of boys and ‘lewd fellows of the baser sort’ visited the spacious +Baths, and cutting the ropes by which the lamps were suspended, caused +them to fall with a crash on the pavement. Then the boys began to throw +stones at the wooden statues of the Emperor and his family. They shouted +for joy when one of the statues was split in pieces; they groaned when +one, more stubborn than the rest, long resisted their assaults. They then +went to the more costly bronze statues, pulled them from their pedestals +with ropes, dragged them ignominiously through the streets, and ended by +giving them to the children to play with. What made the insult the more +bitter was, that not only the statues of the Emperor himself, but those +of the noble old veteran his father, of his lately deceased wife, and of +his young son and colleague, were all treated with the same contumely. +Next came an attempt at fire-raising in the house of a magistrate who +tried to persuade them to cease their rioting; and last, the appearance +of some Imperial archers, who discharged their arrows upon the crowd. +Thereupon at once the tumult, which had flamed up so high and seemed so +menacing, died down like a fire of straw. + +[Sidenote: _Reaction from insolence to panic._] + +The insult to the majesty of the Emperor had been great, perhaps +unforgiveable. The whole city passed in an hour from the extreme of +insolence and anarchy to the extreme of cowed submission and abject +terror, while the messengers bearing the fatal tidings were going to and +returning from Constantinople. The sedition had broken out a few days +before Lent (387), and the whole of the forty days of that sacred season +were indeed days of fasting and humiliation to the luxurious citizens +of Antioch. About the middle of them arrived a letter from the Emperor, +sharply rebuking the Town Council for allowing the sedition to gain such +a height, ordering that the Theatre, the Hippodrome, and the Baths should +all be closed, and depriving Antioch of the rank, which she had held for +six centuries, as capital of Syria. Shortly after appeared two Imperial +Commissioners—Caesarius and Ellebichus—charged to make enquiry into the +recent events; and they began their enquiry by putting all the Senators +of Antioch into close confinement. + +[Sidenote: _Pardon._] + +The two commissioners, however, were specimens of the best class of Roman +officials, men utterly unlike Lupicinus and Maximus. They marked the +sincere repentance and the agonised prostration of terror which pervaded +all classes in Antioch, and they soon allowed it to appear that their +influence at any rate would be exerted on the side of mercy. Caesarius, +when the enquiry was completed, set off with all speed to Constantinople, +and reached that city on the sixth day after his departure from Antioch. +No Turkish courier probably could now traverse the length and breadth +of Asia Minor in anything like so short a time. Theodosius listened to +the arguments of Caesarius in favour of mercy, to the prayers and sighs +of Bishop Flavianus, who had come to intercede on behalf of his flock, +and granted a complete amnesty, rescinding also his previous decree for +the degradation of Antioch from the rank of capital city. This letter, +carried by a swift messenger to Ellebichus, was by him communicated to +the citizens of Antioch, who received it with shouts of welcome and +tears of joy. Their fifty days of mourning were ended, and Antioch, the +light-hearted Paris of the East, was herself again. + +The story of this singular insurrection has been preserved for us by +the orations of the heathen sophist Libanius and by the homilies of the +great Christian preacher, St. John Chrysostom, at that time a priest at +Antioch, afterwards Patriarch of Constantinople. + +[Sidenote: _Insurrection of Thessalonica, 390._] + +[Sidenote: _Brutal vengeance._] + +The insurrection at Antioch displayed the character of Theodosius in a +favourable light, as a strong but merciful and magnanimous ruler of men. +Very different was the effect on his fame of the insurrection which broke +out three years later (390) in the Macedonian city of Thessalonica. A +garrison of Gothic _foederati_ was quartered in this important city. +Already it is probable that many causes of quarrel had arisen between the +Thessalonians and their overbearing but under-educated guests. The wrath +grew to its height when Botheric, the Gothic general, shut up in prison +a certain scoundrel of a charioteer who had vilely insulted him. At the +next races the mob of Thessalonica tumultuously demanded the charioteer’s +liberation, and when Botheric refused, rose in insurrection and slew both +him and several magistrates of the city. There was no such direct insult +to the person of the Emperor as at Antioch, perhaps no such prolonged +period of defiance to authority; but the affair reflected deep disgrace +on the cruel, childish, show-loving Eastern provincials, and if the chief +actors in it had been ordered off to instant execution, Theodosius would +only have acted with praiseworthy severity. But he had now been for +twelve years lord of the world, and the madness which absolute power so +often brings with it had begun to work in his brain. In a frenzy of rage +at the insult offered to himself in the person of his barbarian general, +he sent his orders from Milan (where he was staying when the tidings +reached him) that the whole city of Thessalonica should suffer for the +misdeeds of its ruffianly mob. The soldiers surrounded the circus where +the citizens were assembled, watching the games and unsuspecting of ill. +They closed the gates, marched in amongst the densely-packed spectators, +and began their bloody work. A certain number of heads was ordered to be +brought to the officers, as if they had been thistles or dandelions to be +gathered out of the fields. Was it 7000 as one historian says, or 15,000, +as another? It matters not much: the horror of the thing was the brutal +indiscriminateness of the massacre, the utter absence of any attempt to +separate between the innocent and the guilty, the indifference to human +life, more worthy of Tamerlane and his pyramid of skulls than of an +Emperor of Rome. + +[Sidenote: _Penitence of Theodosius._] + +It is true that this bloody deed was afterwards repented of in dust and +ashes. The humiliation and penitence of Theodosius, his self-abasement +before the great Christian hero, St. Ambrose, and the forgiveness which +he at last received from him, form a well-known page in church history, +and one which I do not propose now to retrace. But I cannot hold, as +some of the ecclesiastical historians seem to do, that the depth of the +Emperor’s subsequent humility hides the greatness of his crime. That he +should have been even tempted to such a monstrous abuse of his absolute +power, much more that he should have yielded to the temptation, marks +him out as one of the Emperors who were unfit to govern, not only as +immeasurably below a saint like Marcus Aurelius, or a statesman like +Trajan, but almost as fit to be classed in the same category with +Caligula, Nero, and Commodus. + + * * * * * + +We return to our more special subject, the relation between Theodosius +and the _foederati_. Twice he was able to employ his Gothic soldiers with +striking success in the internal struggles of the Empire. The situation +was thus very similar to that which we have seen in our own day in our +Indian Empire, when the Sikhs, the fierce opponents of the English Raj in +1845, became its stalwart defenders in the terrible Mutiny of 1857. + +[Sidenote: _Revolt of troops in Britain, 383._] + +[Sidenote: _Elevation of Maximus._] + +[Sidenote: _Gratian’s faults._] + +In the year 383 a military revolt broke out in Britain against the young +Emperor Gratian. Our island was ever the fruitful seed-plot of these +military mutinies. The soldiers, shut up in their camps on our solitary +moors, and deeming themselves cut off from the civilised world[60], +probably exaggerated every hardship of their service, and welcomed any +change which would take them southwards, were it even in the track of +an usurper and a tyrant. Perhaps, too, there was something then as now +in the disposition of the Celts by whom they were surrounded, and with +whom many of them had intermarried, favourable to anarchy and fatal to +that reverence for law and discipline which is needed to hold together +either an army or a state. Whatever the cause, the army revolted and +proclaimed Magnus Clemens Maximus, Emperor. He was, like Theodosius, +a native of Spain, and though harsh and perhaps rapacious, a man of +ability and experience, not unworthy of the purple if he had come to it +by lawful means[61]. Gratian on his side had evidently given some real +cause for dissatisfaction to his subjects. Ammianus, who was a good +judge of character, says of him that ‘while the youthful down was yet +on his cheeks he showed promise of emulating the best of the Emperors, +if he had not given his mind too much to sport, and under the influence +of frivolous companions followed too much the example of Commodus in +his dissipation though not in his cruelty. He delighted to pierce the +greatest possible number of beasts before the eyes of the people, and +when he had given a fatal wound to each one of a hundred lions let loose +from many doors all round the amphitheatre (not needing to hit any beast +twice), he would exult as if he were something more than man. Thus he +would spend whole days within these vast preserves which were called +_vivaria_, slaying savage beasts with his multitudinous arrows. And this +at a time when even the patient earnestness of a Marcus Aurelius would +have been all too little for the sad necessities of the Empire[62].’ + +[Sidenote: _383-7._] + +But there was another grievance besides Gratian’s love for sport, and +that was his fondness for the barbarians. He, too, like Theodosius, had +his petted barbarian guard, but instead of being Goths they belonged to +the less civilised race of the Alani. We are told by another author[63] +‘that Gratian neglected the army and preferred a few of the Alans, whom +by lavish pay he had attracted to his service, to the old Roman soldiery, +and was so fascinated by the companionship, and one might almost say +friendship of these barbarians, that he sometimes on the march even +adopted their dress. By all this he aroused the hatred of the soldiers +against himself.’ + +[Sidenote: _Death of Gratian._] + +An Emperor of barbarians, an Emperor who was spending his days in +shooting wild beasts while the Empire was languishing under taxes within +and the attacks of savages from without,—that was the aspect which, with +many noble and loveable qualities, Gratian bore to his Western subjects: +and hence it was that when Maximus with the army of Britain landed in +Gaul, he shook down the fabric of his power without difficulty. Gratian, +finding himself deserted by his troops, escaped from the battle-field, +but was overtaken and killed at Lyons. + +[Sidenote: _Maximus dethrones Valentinian II, 387._] + +For more than four years Maximus, satisfied with ruling over the three +great Western provinces which had fallen to the share of Gratian, +maintained at any rate the appearance of harmony with his two colleagues, +and the CONCORDIA AUGGG was still capable of being commemorated on the +Imperial medals. At length, in the autumn of 387, Maximus deemed that +the time had come for grasping the whole Empire of the West. Lulling +to sleep the suspicions of Valentinian and his mother by embassies and +protestations of friendship, he crossed the Alps with an army and marched +towards Aquileia, where the young Emperor was then dwelling in order to +be as near as possible to the dominions of his friendly colleague and +protector. Valentinian did not await the approach of his rival, but going +down to the port of Grado, took ship and sailed for Thessalonica, his +mother and sisters accompanying him. + +[Sidenote: _Valentinian’s appeal for help to Theodosius._] + +The Emperor and the Senate of Constantinople met the Imperial fugitives +at Thessalonica, and discussed the present position of affairs. The +Senate seconded the entreaties of Valentinian and his mother, and cried +out for vengeance on the murderer of one Emperor and the despoiler of +another. Theodosius, who was sincerely averse to war, as his detractors +said through indolence, but more probably through that knowledge of the +risks and miseries of war which even the most successful general cannot +fail to acquire, spoke in favour of peace, and then of course all warlike +views were hushed. + +Upon this Justina, who was the widow of two Emperors[64], and in whose +countenance still lingered the traces of the extraordinary beauty which +had fascinated Valentinian I, fell on her knees before Theodosius and +besought him not to allow the murder of Gratian to remain unavenged, nor +the family of his former benefactor to be utterly ruined. And then she +pointed to her daughter Galla, + + ‘Matre pulchra filia pulchrior,’ + +who was bathed in tears, lamenting the misfortunes of her house. What +the entreaties of the mother might have failed to effect, the tears of +the daughter accomplished. Theodosius, whose wife Flaccilla had died two +years before (385), took Galla for his second wife, and vowed to avenge +her wrongs and replace her brother on the throne. + +[Sidenote: _Civil War between Theodosius and Maximus, 388._] + +[Sidenote: _Defeat and death of Maximus. 28 July, 388._] + +He was some time in preparing for the campaign, but, when it was opened, +he conducted it with vigour and decision. His troops pressed up the Save +valley, defeated those of Maximus in two engagements, entered Aemona +(Laybach) in triumph, and soon stood before the walls of Aquileia, +behind which Maximus was sheltering himself. The city was a strong and +almost impregnable one, but a mutiny among the troops of Maximus did +away with the necessity for a siege. The soldiers of Theodosius poured +into the city, whose gates had been opened to them by the mutineers, +and dragged off the usurper, barefooted, with tied hands, in slave’s +attire, to the tribunal of Theodosius and his young brother-in-law at the +third milestone from the city. After Theodosius had in a short harangue +reproached him with the evil deeds which he had wrought against the Roman +commonwealth, he handed him over to the executioner, by whom he was at +once put to death. + +There can be little doubt that the rapid and successful movements of +Theodosius in this campaign were due in part to the well-trained valour +of his _foederati_. We have, however, a more distinct allusion to their +services in the next civil war, which was fought six years afterwards on +almost the same battle-ground. + +[Sidenote: _Valentinian II restored in the West._] + +[Sidenote: _His factotum Arbogast._] + +[Sidenote: _392. Quarrels between Valentinian and Arbogast._] + +On the overthrow of Maximus, Theodosius had with generous magnanimity +handed over to Valentinian II the whole of the Western Empire, both, his +own especial share and that which had formerly been held by his brother +Gratian. The young Emperor was now seventeen years of age: his mother, +Justina, had died apparently on the eve of Theodosius’s victory, and +he governed, or tried to govern, alone. He seems to have taken up his +residence at Trier, the defence of the Gaulish provinces being doubtless +recognised as at this time the chief duty of an Emperor of the West. +But the actual functions of supreme ruler were discharged, not by this +young and somewhat pliable Emperor, but by a Frankish veteran who stood +beside his throne, moving legions and appointing and displacing generals +at his will. I mentioned that during the sickness of Theodosius the war +in Thrace was successfully conducted by two Frankish lieutenants of +Gratian, by name Bauto and Arbogast. Bauto died about the year 385, and +from that time onwards supreme power in the dominions of Valentinian had +been more and more accumulating itself in the hands of the other great +Frankish general, Arbogast, a man adored by his soldiers for his valour +and experience in war, and for his noble disdain of riches. This man was +apparently true to the Empire, true at first in his own rough way to +the house of Valentinian. He had followed the young Emperor to exile, +and after the victory at Aemona it was his hand that deprived the young +Victor, son of the usurper, of life. But knowing his infinite superiority +in all the arts of war and government to the young Adonis who was +nominally his master, he took no pains to conceal that superiority, and +sometimes in the council chamber itself openly opposed and scoffed at +the proposals of the Emperor. In short, this Frankish warrior was already +anticipating by three centuries the attitude of the Frankish Mayors of +the Palace towards the Merovingian monarchs. At length Valentinian, +unable to bear the barbarian’s insolence any longer, one day when he +was sitting on his imperial throne, summoning up as much sternness as +he could into his boyish countenance, presented Arbogast with a written +dismissal from his command as _Magister Equitum_. With calm contempt +Arbogast tore the paper in pieces. ‘You never gave me this command,’ +said he, ‘nor will you be able to take it from me.’ Valentinian drew a +sword against the general as he turned to depart, but the attendant to +whom it belonged checked him from using it. Hearing the struggle Arbogast +returned and asked what the Emperor had been trying to do. ‘To slay +myself,’ moaned the miserable Valentinian, ‘because although Emperor I +have no power[65].’ + +[Sidenote: _Death of Valentinian II, 15 May, 392._] + +From this day there was open enmity between Valentinian and his Master of +the Horse: and not long after, when the young Emperor was bathing in the +Rhone, near Vienne, some of the servants of Arbogast, in the absence of +his body-guard who had gone away to dinner, rushed upon him and strangled +him. They then tied a handkerchief round his neck and hung him to a tree, +that it might appear that he had committed suicide. It was generally +understood, however, that the death of Valentinian was in truth the deed +of Arbogast. + +[Sidenote: _Eugenius Emperor, 392-394._] + +[Sidenote: _Death of Galla, 394._] + +The Frankish general, who durst not shock the prejudices of the Roman +world by himself assuming the purple, hung that dishonoured robe upon the +shoulders of a rhetorician, a confidant, and almost a dependent of his +own, named Eugenius. This man, like most of the scholars and rhetoricians +of the day, had not abjured the old faith of Hellas. As Arbogast also +was a heathen, though worshipping Teutonic rather than Olympian gods, +this last revolution looked like a recurrence to the days of Julian, +and threatened the hardly-won supremacy of Christianity. Thus not only +the sad voice of his wife Galla pleading for vengeance on her brother’s +murderers, but, even more, the pious exhortations of all Christian +bishops called on Theodosius to rescue the Western Empire from the hands +of the sophist and the barbarian. Yet his preparations had to be long +and careful, for he was aware that in Arbogast he would meet a general +who knew as much of the art of war as himself, perhaps we might say +that he should meet the greatest captain of the age. He left not Thrace +till June, 394, nearly two years after the death of Valentinian, and +meanwhile, on the very eve of his departure his young wife Galla died, +leaving a little daughter, whose name afterwards was famous in the story +of the Empire, Galla Placidia. + +[Sidenote: _Theodosius marches against Eugenius. 394._] + +Giving but one day to sorrow and the next to vengeance, Theodosius +marched north-westwards, as before, up the valley of the Save, and to +the city of Aemona. Not there did he meet his foes, but at a place about +thirty miles off, half-way between Aemona and Aquileia, where the Julian +Alps are crossed, and where a little stream called the Frigidus (now the +Wipbach) burst suddenly from a limestone hill. Here, then, the battle +was joined between Eugenius with his Frankish patron and Theodosius with +his 20,000 Gothic _foederati_[66] and the rest of the army of the East. +Gainas, Saul, Bacurius, Alaric were the chief leaders of the Teutonic +troops. + +[Sidenote: _Battle of the Frigidus, 5 and 6 Sept. 394._] + +[Sidenote: _Death of Eugenius and Arbogast._] + +The first day of battle fell heavily on the _foederati_ of Theodosius, +half of whom were left dead upon the field. It seemed as if the West +were going once more to triumph over the East, as if heathenism might +even once more gain the ascendant over Christianity. That night, +however, in prayer Theodosius had a vision of the Apostles John and +Philip, who cheered him on with the assurance of victory. Next day +Theodosius succeeded in detaching part of the army of his rival from +their allegiance; and even the elements seemed eager to aid his victory. +The impetuous _Bora_, a wind well known in that region, sprang up from +the hills in the rear of his army and carried their arrows and their +javelins with resistless force into the ranks of the enemy, whose own +missiles recoiled helplessly on themselves. The battle was won after a +terrible struggle. Eugenius was taken prisoner and carried bound into the +presence of Theodosius, who upbraided him with his heathenism and his +share in the murder of Valentinian. While he was grovelling at the proud +conqueror’s feet and begging for mercy, a soldier cut off his head and +carried it round the field of battle on a pole to show the vanquished +army that their Emperor was slain. Arbogast wandered about for some days +among the rugged mountain-defiles, and then fell upon his sword and +perished. + +[Sidenote: _Death of Theodosius, 17 Jan. 395._] + +Theodosius, who was still in the prime of life, had now indeed ‘the rule +of the world,’ without a rival or a colleague except his own boyish sons. +The Church and the federated Goths, two of the most powerful forces in +the Empire, were both devotedly attached to him; and the Provincials, +though groaning under the weight of the taxes which he imposed, feared, +and perhaps admired him. Had his life been prolonged as it well might +have been for twenty or thirty years longer, many things might have gone +differently in the history of the world. But, little more than four +months after the victory of the Frigidus, Theodosius died of dropsy at +Milan, his constitution being prematurely worn out by the hardships of +his last campaign, and possibly by the high feasting and revelry which +had resounded through his palace at Constantinople. He had probably not +yet completed his fiftieth year. + +[Sidenote: _Character of Theodosius._] + +The character of Theodosius is one of the most perplexing in history. +The Church historians have hardly a word of blame for him except in the +matter of the massacre of Thessalonica, and that, as has been said, seems +to be almost atoned for in their eyes by its perpetrator’s penitent +submission to ecclesiastical censure. On the other hand, the heathen +historians, represented by Zosimus, condemn in the most unmeasured +terms his indolence, his love of pleasure, his pride, and hint at +the scandalous immorality of his life. Varying a similar saying with +reference to Constantine, we might say that he who believes all the evil +that is said of Theodosius by Socrates, and all the good that is said of +him by Zosimus, will not go far wrong. But this takes us only a little +way, for the blame and the praise are both infinitesimal. + +He had one great work to do, the reconciliation of the Goths to the +Empire, and he did that work well. It is perhaps unfair to judge of it by +the slenderness of its permanent results, since his early death may have +been the chief cause of its failure. But he was certainly passionate, +egotistic, cruel. He spared not the pockets of his subjects, and his +reign, like a heavy wheat-crop, exhausted the energies of his Empire. It +is the fashion to call him the Great, and we may admit that he has as +good a right to that title as Louis XIV, a monarch whom in some respects +he pretty closely resembles. But it seems to me that it would be safer +to withhold this title from both sovereigns, and to call them, not the +Great, but the _Magnificent_. + + + + +LECTURE V. + +ALARIC. + + +[Sidenote: _Arcadius and Honorius, sons of Theodosius._] + +[Sidenote: _Their incapacity._] + +On the death of Theodosius (395) his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, +aged respectively eighteen and ten, succeeded to ‘the rule of the world,’ +Arcadius dwelling at Constantinople and ruling the Eastern portion, while +the Western fell to the share of Honorius, who at this time generally +dwelt at Milan. Arcadius died in the year 408, at the age of thirty-one; +Honorius in 423, at the age of thirty-nine. These two men were thus +nominally at the head of human affairs during some of the most profoundly +interesting and important events that have happened in the history of the +world; yet few men have ever by their own force of character or strength +of intellect exercised less influence on the destinies of the human race. +Theodosius, with all his faults, interests the student of his reign: he +was brilliant, forceful, and he makes a mark on the history of his time. +The dulness of his sons’ characters is so portentous, that after the +lapse of a millennium and a half the Muse of History still yawns at the +remembrance of them. Arcadius had a beautiful Frankish wife, and left a +son of artistic temperament, and four pious daughters. Honorius married +his deceased wife’s sister and left no family, but was fond of keeping +pigeons. These are pretty nearly all the facts that it is possible to +ascertain or to remember out of the drizzling dulness of their personal +history. + +[Sidenote: _Administration of Rufinus and Stilicho._] + +Theodosius, who probably saw the weakness of character of his sons, and +who was leaving them at an age when even strong and capable natures would +have required much help and guidance, entrusted the guardianship of the +lads, and the virtual regency of the Empire, to Rufinus and Stilicho. The +former, with the rank of Praetorian Prefect, administered the realm of +Arcadius; the latter, as _Magister Utriusque Militiae_, governed the army +and the people of Honorius. + +These two men resembled one another in one quality—an inordinate love +of money, whether justly or unjustly acquired. In all other respects +their characters were utterly dissimilar. Stilicho, though grasping and +perhaps somewhat coarse-fibred, was a hero and a patriot; Rufinus (whom +we unfortunately know only by the descriptions of his bitter enemies) may +have had some administrative ability, but must have been a bad specimen +even of the corrupt bureaucracy of Constantinople. + +Dissimilar as was the character of the two men, so also was their origin +and training. Stilicho was apparently of pure Teutonic extraction, the +son of a Vandal chief who had commanded some barbarian auxiliaries in the +army of the Emperor Valens. His tall and handsome presence had commended +him to the favour of Serena, the favourite niece and trusted counsellor +of Theodosius. His marriage with so near a relative of the Emperor +naturally led to his speedy promotion. His employment on an embassy +to the Persian king was followed by high military command. He showed +indisputable talents for war in several campaigns against the barbarians, +and, some years before the death of Theodosius, was raised to the +highest of all military dignities—that of _Magister Utriusque Militiae_ +(Commander-in-Chief of Infantry and Cavalry). + +Of the early life of Rufinus we know but little. He was born at Elusa, a +little town in the south-west corner of Gaul. He went to Constantinople, +and there, by his obsequiousness, his perseverance, and doubtless also +by his aptitude for the work of administration, succeeded in climbing +from step to step of the official ladder. One or two old and faithful +servants of the Empire (Tatianus and Proculus) who stood above him in +rank, were cast down by his well-timed accusations of disloyalty, and +at length the obscure Gaulish Provincial blazed forth to the world as +Praetorian Prefect of the East—one of the wealthiest men in the Empire, +a man who aspired to wear the diadem himself as colleague of Arcadius, +and to obtain the Emperor’s hand in marriage for his daughter. Thus while +Stilicho’s might be said to be the typical career of a robust, handsome, +and warlike Teuton in the service of the Empire, the career of Rufinus +was the equally typical career of a clever, pushing, and unscrupulous +Provincial. + +[Sidenote: _Divergence between East and West._] + +Between the two administrators of the realm—Rufinus and Stilicho—there +was no cordiality, no chance of well-concerted action for the good of +the Empire. In fact, quite independently of the personal characters of +the two men, the interests of the two divisions of the Empire were now +beginning manifestly to diverge. The older Rome looked down upon the new +Rome by the Bosphorus as a mere Greek city, the home of sophists and +chatterers; while Constantinople regarded the city of the Tiber, with +its mouldering palaces, its desolate Campagna, its still half-heathen +Senate, as a great stranded hulk, unfit any longer to bear the precious +freight of Empire. This divergence between the hopes and wishes of the +East and West, a divergence which was often on the point of becoming +actual hostility, was wider for the first fifteen years after the death +of Theodosius than for a considerable time before or after that interval, +and promoted not a little the success of the barbarian movement against +the Roman State. + +[Sidenote: _Alaric King of the Visigoths._] + +That movement began very shortly after Theodosius was laid in his +grave. It was in all probability in the spring of the year 395 that the +Visigoths in Moesia raised the young Alaric upon a shield, and with +joyful shouts acclaimed him as their king. We have already noticed this +young Gothic chief as commanding a troop in the army of Theodosius at +the battle of the Frigidus, and that is in fact all that we know about +him up to this date, except that he was born (probably between 360 and +370) in the island of Peuce at the mouth of the Danube, and that he was +either himself surnamed Baltha (the Bold), or belonged to a clan of kings +or chieftains who bore that name. As the Gothic historian says: ‘As soon +as Alaric was created king, deliberating with his people he persuaded +them rather by their own labour to seek for kingdoms than quietly to +lie down in subjection to strangers.’ In other words he decided, and +persuaded them to decide, to abandon the easy but inglorious position +of _foederati_, and cutting themselves loose from the old and decaying +Empire, to hew out new realms for themselves with their own trusty +broadswords. Towards this decision he was no doubt partly guided by what +he had himself seen, when in the Imperial service, of the weakness of +the legions, the unwarlike character of the Provincials of the Empire, +the oppressions of the tax-gatherers which caused even the barbarians to +seem welcome as deliverers from their yoke; above all by what he, and +every officer of rank in the Roman army, knew of the discord and jealousy +between the two chief ministers of the Empire. + +[Sidenote: _395._] + +The first blows of Alaric and his Goths were struck at the Eastern +Empire. This was natural enough, since they were themselves settled +within it: but there was another reason for the choice. The army which +Theodosius had led with him across the Julian Alps seems not to have been +dismissed to its Eastern cantonments during the few months between the +battle of the Frigidus and his death. It and the troops of Eugenius were +now all collected in the north of Italy under the orders of Stilicho, +who was thus in another than the official sense _Magister Utriusque +Militiae_, since both the conquering and the conquered army of the late +campaign received the watchword from him. A singular position certainly, +and one which excuses some things otherwise difficult to justify in the +conduct of Arcadius and his minister. + +[Sidenote: _Alaric strikes at the Eastern Empire._] + +[Sidenote: _Stilicho forbidden to repel the invasion._] + +[Sidenote: _Alaric in Greece._] + +Alaric, then, with his Gothic followers marched first towards +Constantinople. Perhaps he had some hopes of taking the city by surprise, +but if so he was disappointed. Rufinus, who, Provincial as he was, +professed a certain fondness for the barbarians and imitated their dress +and accoutrements, seems to have sought an interview with the Gothic +king, and suggested to him that instead of undertaking a hopeless siege +he would do well to turn his steps southwards, where he would reap +abundance of spoil from the still undevastated plains of Greece. Alaric +accepted the suggestion, and marched through Macedonia into Thessaly. +There, however, his course was stayed for a while by the arrival of +Stilicho, who, loyally fulfilling the behest of the dying Theodosius, +had come with an army to deliver the invaded Empire from its foe. Before +manœuvres had ceased and hard fighting had begun, there came a strange, +and at first sight incomprehensible, message from the Eastern Court: +‘Let Stilicho withdraw the legions of Honorius within the limits of +his master’s Empire, and let the legions of the East be sent to their +proper quarters at Constantinople.’ Loyally, but sadly, Stilicho obeyed +the command, and thus the campaign of 395 closed, leaving Alaric in +undisputed possession of the Greek peninsula. No Leonidas with his Three +Hundred defended now Thermopylae, not even the easily held Isthmus of +Corinth was occupied by troops. All over the sacred places of Grecian +story, Delphi, Corinth, Argos, Sparta, the tall barbarians swarmed. +Only Athens seems to have escaped comparatively unharmed, a deliverance +which the heathen historian[67] attributes to the fact that when Alaric +approached the city he saw Athene Promachus, in such guise as she is +represented in her statue, going round about its towers, and Achilles, +the hero, such as Homer painted him in his wrath for the death of +Patroclus, standing before the walls. Those who doubt the truth of these +apparitions may accept the theory that the Acropolis was too strong to be +taken, and that Alaric, who was no mere barbarous destroyer, was induced, +partly by a heavy ransom and partly by reverence for her old renown, to +refrain from sacking a city which was illustrious and venerable rather +than wealthy or strategically important. + +[Sidenote: _March of the recalled troops to Constantinople._] + +Meanwhile the troops which had been ordered to Constantinople, and which +were commanded by Gainas the Goth, had done a strange and fearful deed. +They loved Stilicho, and cursed the order issued by the officials at +Constantinople which parted them from his standards. Everywhere, as they +marched through the Empire they heard execrations against the avarice and +arrogance of the Gaulish upstart, who presumed, forsooth, to put himself +forward as a suitable colleague for the Emperor. And, most important of +all, their leader, Gainas the Goth, aspired to play at Constantinople the +same part which Stilicho the Vandal was playing at Milan. The soldiers +said to one another that when Rufinus met them at Constantinople he +should have a reception that he little expected. + +[Sidenote: _The review._] + +When they reached the Capital they were drawn up in a great plain near +the city, and Arcadius, with Rufinus by his side, came thither to review +them. The two stood upon a high platform, conspicuous to all, and those +who were nearest could see Rufinus plucking the Emperor’s mantle and +evidently desiring him to fulfil some promise which he had made and to +utter some oration to the army. In this oration, could it have been +delivered, the simple-minded Arcadius, who would have done anything +which his minister commanded, was to have presented Rufinus to the army +as his colleague in the Empire. Then, had the programme been fulfilled, +the soldiers would have clashed their swords upon their shields and +shouted ‘Ave Imperator’: the minister would have come forward and offered +them a liberal donative, and Rufinus Augustus would have struck his +coins commemorating his Justice, his Temperance, and the Concord of the +Emperors. + +[Sidenote: _Death of Rufinus._] + +Such was the programme of the day’s proceedings, but what actually +occurred was very different from this. While the promised oration was +still lingering on the lips of the scared and helpless Emperor, the army +stretched forth both its wings and folded the high tribunal in a narrower +and ever narrower embrace. Threatening gestures were made, and murmurs, +not of acclamation, were heard. Soon the dreadful truth flashed upon +Rufinus that he was surrounded, not by friends eager to be his subjects, +but by enemies thirsting for his blood. A soldier stepped forth from the +ranks, and mounting the platform, thrust him through with his sword, +saying, ‘With this sword Stilicho strikes thee.’ Then the barbarians and +the barbarised Roman soldiers carried the head of Rufinus round the city +on a pole, strewed his limbs in fragments over the fields, and showed to +every passer-by the dead hand opening and closing upon imaginary coins, +while his mock courtiers shouted ‘Give, give to the Insatiable.’ + +Even the heavy soul of Arcadius must have felt some stirrings of horror +and resentment at such a tragedy enacted in his own sacred presence, but +he passed at once under the dominion of other masters whose fortunes +we cannot here follow. Gainas the Goth, Eutropius the Eunuch, Eudoxia +the beautiful Empress, daughter of the Frankish general Bauto, kept up +a vivid game of Court intrigue, and disputed with varying success for +the chief place in that empty chamber which represented the mind of the +Emperor. + +[Sidenote: _396. Second campaign of Stilicho against Alaric, 396._] + +We return to Alaric and his invasion of the Peloponnesus. Any dreams +which he may have nourished of establishing his kingdom by the banks +of the Eurotas or Cephissus were dispelled by the second appearance of +Stilicho, who, this time apparently at the earnest request of Arcadius, +brought the army of Honorius for the deliverance of Greece. No great +battle was fought, but Stilicho, who was evidently a great master of +strategy, penned up his antagonist in the valleys of Arcadia. From this +difficult position, however, he allowed him to escape, whether through +mere carelessness, through fear of driving a powerful foe to despair, by +a tacit agreement that if liberated he should at once evacuate Greece, +or from what other motive it is impossible now to say. The enemies +of Stilicho always asserted that both on this and other occasions he +refrained from crushing Alaric when he had the power to do so, in order +that he, as the only general who could successfully cope with him, might +never find his services superfluous. + +[Sidenote: _Alaric as Roman governor of Illyricum. 396-400._] + +On evacuating Greece, Alaric with his Goths did not relapse into the +position of a Fritigern or an Athanaric. Another plan for the future had +now opened itself before him. As the time was not yet come for conquering +kingdoms he would accept once more, in seeming, the position of a captain +of _foederati_, but in such circumstances as to be still practically +independent of the Empire. The part of the Prefecture of Illyricum which +had fallen to the share of Arcadius consisted in its northern portion +of the so-called Diocese of Dacia, nearly corresponding to the present +kingdoms of Servia and Bosnia. Over this eastern Illyricum Alaric was +placed as governor by the ministers of Arcadius. The precise official +title which he bore is not mentioned. He may have been _Vicarius Daciae_ +or _Dux Daciae et Moesiae Primae_: but his power is undoubted. For the +next four or five years he wielded all the enormous powers, both civil +and military, of a Roman Imperial governor. He enlisted recruits, he +managed arsenals, he collected taxes, though what proportion of the taxes +so collected found its way into the Treasury of Byzantium no historian +has told us. + +[Sidenote: _Advantages of this position._] + +The especial advantage to Alaric of his position in this corner of +Illyricum was that it enabled him to profit to the full by the discord +existing between the two sections of the Empire, and at his pleasure to +threaten either. He could with almost equal ease move southwards upon +Macedon and Thrace and threaten Constantinople, or north-westwards to the +Julian Alps, and so descend into Italy. This advantage is emphatically +alluded to by a contemporary poet[68], who represents Stilicho as saying +of him— + + ‘Discord ’twixt East and West and mutual wrong, + Not his own strength, has shielded him so long; + While he, deceitful, pledged his faith to both, + And sold to each by turns his perjured oath.’ + +Yet doubtless during these years of repose his thoughts were turning with +increased frequency to the West rather than to the East. He knew, none +better, the matchless strength of the situation of Constantinople. He +suspected, if he did not know, the comparative weakness of Rome. Moesia +and Thrace had been wandered over for years by the wasting bands of his +countrymen, while Italy, so long the wealthy mistress of the world, was +still unravaged. Above all he had already begun to hear a voice—like that +which other makers of history, beings such as Mohammed, Joan of Arc, +Savonarola listened to—telling them of great deeds set before them which +they should one day accomplish. And this voice—call it by what name we +may, it is vouched for by contemporary evidence _before_ its prediction +was accomplished—said ever in his ears, ‘Alaric, delay not. Thou shalt +penetrate to the City’[69]—the awful and still inviolate majesty of Rome. + +[Sidenote: _Alaric’s first invasion of Italy, 400-403._] + +At length in the year 400 the thunder-cloud burst. Alaric, with the +whole nation which obeyed him, the women and children in the great +Gothic waggons, the warriors on their war-horses, moved slowly up the +valley of the Save, crossed the Julian Alps, and by the way which he had +learned when he rode in the train of Theodosius, descended upon Italy. +At the same time, there is reason to think, another troop of Goths, +possibly belonging to the Ostrogothic section of the people, entered +Italy under the leadership of Radagaisus, but of their movements we have +no information, and even the fact of their invasion is not generally +admitted by historians. + +Of the three or four years (400-403) that Alaric spent in Italy during +this invasion, we have the slenderest and most tantalisingly imperfect +information from our authorities. We can say certainly that he did not +reach Rome, probably did not cross the Apennines. There are dim rumours +of a battle, a Roman defeat, somewhere near Aquileia. Then there is an +inexplicable delay. During the whole of the year 401 Alaric appears to +linger in Venetia and the valley of the Po, while Stilicho is fighting +with some enemies (possibly Radagaisus and his Ostrogoths) in Raetia, and +drawing in troops from the Rhine, and even from Britain, for the defence +of the menaced capital. It was at this time that the Twentieth Legion was +withdrawn from the cantonments which it had for centuries occupied at +Chester, but to which it never returned. + +[Sidenote: _Honorius retires to Ravenna._] + +[Sidenote: _402-752._] + +The Emperor Honorius seems to have been besieged by Alaric either at +Milan or the not distant city of Asta. If thus menaced, he at any rate +sustained no actual injury; but the shock to his Imperial nerves of +seeing the yellow-haired barbarians under the walls of his city had been +so severe that he migrated to Ravenna, which strong city, effectually +sheltered from every land-attack by the network of rivers and canals +which surrounded it, was from henceforth for three centuries and a half +the regular residence of Roman Emperors, Ostrogothic Kings, and Byzantine +Exarchs. + +[Sidenote: _Battle of Pollentia. 4 Apr. 402._] + +At last, at Eastertide in the year 402, the armies of Stilicho and Alaric +met in battle at Pollentia, a city of what is now Piedmont, about +twenty miles south-east of Turin. The accounts of the battle are very +conflicting, but it was probably a defeat, though not a decisive defeat, +of the Goths. The advantage was gained by a piece of sharp practice which +was hardly worthy of the troops of a Christian Emperor. It was Good +Friday, and Alaric—an Arian, but a zealous Christian—was celebrating +the great event of Calvary in the usual manner, and not dreaming of +battles, when one of Stilicho’s officers, an Alan and a heathen, named +Saulus, led an impetuous charge of cavalry against the Gothic army, and +compelled it to turn from prayer to fighting. Saulus himself fell at the +very beginning of the engagement, and the cavalry wavered; but Stilicho +and the legions of the centre restored the battle, and, perhaps, won +the victory. But that the barbarian should have been forced against his +will to fight on the most solemn fast-day of the Christian calendar was +accounted a blot on the fair fame of Stilicho, and was not forgotten when +the day of reckoning came between him and his enemies at the Imperial +Court. + +[Sidenote: _Alaric retires from Italy, 403._] + +[Sidenote: _406._] + +Another defeat, a doubtful defeat, of the Goths at Verona seems to have +ended the war. In the year 403 Alaric made his way back out of Italy, +probably over the Brenner Pass. He had not this time ‘penetrated to +the City’: he had lost some of his treasure, the spoils of preceding +years, and, according to one account, his wife even had fallen into +the enemy’s hands. In itself the expedition had proved fruitless and +inglorious enough, but it was the parent of mighty results; for doubtless +in consequence of the withdrawal of the Imperial forces from the Rhine, +a multitude of barbarous hordes—Vandals, Alans, and Suevi—poured from +Germany into Gaul, and that fair province, the keystone of the arch of +the Western Prefecture, was henceforward virtually lost to the Empire. + +[Sidenote: _Invasion of Radagaisus, 405._] + +[Sidenote: _Radagaisus shut up near Fiesole._] + +[Sidenote: _Radagaisus slain and his army sold into slavery._] + +Two years after Alaric’s departure from Italy, his confederate Radagaisus +returned to it, having 200,000 Goths (probably Ostrogoths) in his +train. This man was spoken of with terror as ‘by far the most savage +of all the ancient or modern enemies of Rome.’ He was a Pagan, and a +rumour was spread abroad that he had vowed to offer to his country’s +savage gods the blood of the whole Roman people as an acceptable +drink-offering. The impending heathenism without gave a despairing +courage to the yet unsubdued heathenism within. The little knot of +senators and their clients who still adhered to the ancient faith (which +died out more slowly in Rome than anywhere else) dared to lift up their +voices and openly assert that all these troubles were coming upon +the State because she had left her old moorings, and because Jupiter +Capitolinus and his family of gods were no longer receiving their +ancient honours. However, there was not time for this party to effect +a religious counter-revolution before deliverance came. If Radagaisus +actually appeared under the walls of the City (which is doubtful), he +soon departed and marched northwards into the rich land of Etruria. +Stilicho followed him with an army, in which Uldin the Hun and Sarus +the Goth were conspicuous figures. Once again he played that clever +strategic game which he had probably learnt from Theodosius, and which +he had already twice successfully practised against Alaric in Greece and +in Italy. He ‘shut him up,’ we are told, in that circle of mountains +which surrounds Fiesole and looks down on Florence. Skilfully-posted +detachments of troops prevented the savage invaders from piercing at any +point through the iron girdle that encompassed them; and this result +being satisfactorily attained, of course the hugeness of the host only +hastened the inevitable surrender. While the wild horde of Ostrogoths +were starving in famished Fiesole, the soldiers of Stilicho were living +in comfort—feasting, gaming, singing their rough camp-songs—but a +sufficient number of them ever watching that none of the barbarians +should creep over the mountains and escape. Before long the end came. +Radagaisus, trying to steal forth by himself from the trap into which he +and his followers had fallen, stumbled upon one of Stilicho’s outposts, +was brought before his conqueror, and, after a few days’ interval, was +put to death. The multitude which had accompanied him into Italy, with +proud dreams of conquest and plunder, surrendering themselves at last +to their watchful enemies, were all sold as slaves. So glutted was the +market by their numbers that thousands of them fetched no more than an +_aureus_ (twelve shillings) apiece. But so long had the brave Teutons +delayed their surrender, that even the food which their new masters gave +them came, in the majority of cases, too late to save their lives; and +the greedy purchaser found in thousands of instances that his _aureus_ +procured for him only the obligation to bury a starved-out Ostrogoth. + +[Sidenote: _Nature of the manœuvre by which Radagaisus was defeated._] + +The fact that both Theodosius and the captain who had been formed in his +school practised so often and so triumphantly this manœuvre of ‘shutting +up’ the Goths suggests a question as to the reason of its success. +We must remember that the armies which followed Fritigern, Alaric, +and Radagaisus were, for the most part, _nation-armies_, encumbered +with women and children, old men and other non-combatants, for whose +conveyance a long train of waggons was needed. The Goths had no doubt +some horses, since we hear of their cavalry, but they do not seem to have +been essentially an equestrian nation; and their cavalry evidently lacked +rapidity and nimbleness of movement, which was the cause of their defeat +by the Huns. + +[Sidenote: _408._] + +So long as they could confine themselves to the great plains of the +Danube and the Po, the overpowering numbers of this human torrent made +them terrible and victorious; and even the waggons were useful, since +when formed in square they made a rough but safe encampment. But when +the time came for this nation-army to penetrate from one river-system +to another, to cross the soaring range of the Balkans or the Apennines, +then their difficulties began. Their deficiency of light cavalry +prevented them from reconnoitring well their ground, and obtaining +(in those mapless days) the much-needed information as to the easiest +passes and the most fruitful valleys. Soon there would be stragglers +from the main host, and then petty and harassing skirmishes to defend +those stragglers. The great cumbrous waggons would stick in morasses. +There would be night-alarms, and in the stampede of cattle and flying +men, many would be dashed down precipitous ravines or swallowed up in +swollen rivers. By gentle but judicious pressure the Imperial general +would succeed in forcing the unwieldy procession into some bay among the +mountains carefully selected beforehand, whence exit for heavily armed +warriors, for horses and for waggons was only possible by two or three +well-defined passes. Then, if he could only keep strict watch enough, his +task was accomplished. He would station his bravest soldiers, Huns very +likely, or even Gothic _foederati_ on whose fidelity he could depend, +at the mouths of these passes, and wait for hunger to do its swift work +upon the cattle, upon the little children, upon the women; till at length +thousands of brave men who longed for nothing so much as the opportunity +to die fighting, found even this denied them, and had to surrender +themselves and be sold as slaves to cultivate the lands of some Roman +lord whose dainty life one blow from a Gothic fist would have at once +annihilated. + +This picture is chiefly an imaginary one[70], but those who remember the +terrible scenes which marked the destruction of the British army in the +Khyber Pass will, I think, recognise its probable truth. + +We pass over three years and come to 408. Honorius, who was aged +twenty-three, had now been for thirteen years the nominal ruler of the +West. During the whole of that time the administration of affairs and +the supreme command of armies had been in the hands of Stilicho, who, +notwithstanding some blunders and some crimes, had upon the whole proved +himself equal to the Herculean task which the weight of the falling +Empire had brought upon him, and had certainly by his military genius +marked himself out as the only champion fit to contend successfully +with Alaric. This champion, through a sinister combination of fatuity, +intolerance, and spite, was now struck down by the Emperor himself. + +[Sidenote: _Revolt of Constantine in Britain, 407._] + +[Sidenote: _408. Negotiations between Stilicho and Alaric._] + +The circumstances of the Empire were more than ever difficult and +perplexing. The usual British pretender to the purple had appeared in the +shape of a private soldier named Constantine, whom (chiefly on account +of his distinguished name) the legions still remaining in Britain had +hailed as Imperator, and under whose command they had crossed over into +Gaul to contend for such fragments of that wealthy province as still +remained Roman, amid the generally pervading swarm of Franks, Vandals, +Alans, and Alamanni. In the East the relations with Arcadius had been +growing steadily worse for years. The present subject of contention +was a claim—a preposterous claim as it seems to me—on the part of the +Western Empire for the possession of the whole instead of a mere half +of the Prefecture of Illyricum. In support of this claim Alaric, who +seems to have been in frequent, almost confidential, communication with +Stilicho ever since his last invasion of Italy, had been engaged by that +minister to commence a joint invasion of the Eastern Empire. The project +was, however, abandoned owing to the persuasions of Serena, the wife of +Stilicho, who appears in all good faith to have exerted her influence +with her husband and her Imperial cousins in order to prevent the +outbreak of war between Arcadius and Honorius. But Alaric, dissatisfied +with such a termination of the affair which left him and his followers +without their stipulated guerdon, suddenly appeared at Aemona (Laybach) +in a threatening attitude, and demanded compensation for the trouble +and expense to which he had been put in preparing for the abandoned +expedition. + +[Sidenote: _Alaric’s claim for compensation._] + +This extraordinary claim was brought by Stilicho before the Senate at +Rome, and was supported by his own voice and by an easily procured +letter from Honorius. Against such powerful advocates who could plead? +The Conscript Fathers decided that 4000 pounds weight of gold (£160,000 +sterling) should be paid over to Alaric in consideration of his not +making war on either portion of the Empire. One Senator alone, a man of +high rank named Lampadius, uttered an indignant exclamation[71], ‘This +is no peace, but a selling of ourselves into slavery’; but fearing +punishment for his boldness, when the Senate was broken up he took refuge +in a neighbouring church, the sanctity of whose asylum seems to have +preserved him from punishment[72]. + +[Sidenote: _Danger of Stilicho’s position._] + +It might seem that a minister who could thus impose his will on Emperor +and Senate could do anything, but in fact the position of Stilicho was +already undermined. His daughter Maria, wife of the Emperor, had died, +and the docile Honorius had acquiesced in the command to marry her +sister Thermantia; but it seems possible to discern in his feeble soul +some faint struggles of revolt against the yoke which the Stilichonian +family, especially his mother-in-law, Serena, imposed upon him. In the +legions, the regular Roman part of the army, there was an increasing +feeling of bitterness against the favours shown, doubtless deservedly, +to the Teutonic _foederati_. ‘Count Stilicho,’ they said one to another, +‘is after all a Vandal by birth, Sarus is a Goth, Uldin is a Hun. All +the high commands are being monopolised by men whose fathers were +skin-clothed barbarians. We are Romans, the sons of the comrades of +Romulus, scions of the race that has conquered the world, yet we are +nothing in our own land.’ Side by side with this military discontent, +there was also ecclesiastical dissatisfaction. Stilicho, if not actually +an Arian, pretty certainly threw his influence into the scale against the +persecuting edicts and civil disabilities which the orthodox party were +endeavouring to persuade the Emperor to hurl at the heretics. A rumour +was also spread abroad—the truth or the origin of which it is impossible +now to ascertain—that his son Eucherius shared that devotion to the old +idolatry which, as has been said, lingered on so long among the nobility +of Rome. Whatever the truth of that rumour may have been, another +report which was industriously brought under the notice of Honorius, +that Stilicho was scheming to secure the diadem for his son, was almost +certainly unfounded. In point of fact the great minister had shown +singular moderation in reference to the advancement of this son, who at +this time held only the unimportant office of _Tribunus Notariorum_. + +[Sidenote: _Death of Arcadius, 1 May, 408._] + +[Sidenote: _Honorius in the camp at Ticinum._] + +[Sidenote: _Mutiny at Ticinum._] + +Such was already the thunderous state of the atmosphere of the Court +when news reached Ravenna of the death of the Eastern Emperor, Arcadius. +Both Honorius and Stilicho seem to have desired the office of guardian +to the young Theodosius, son of Arcadius, and to have proposed to go +to Constantinople to claim it. Stilicho had not much difficulty in +dissuading the timid and parsimonious Honorius from the dangers and +expense of the journey, but he could not allay the suspicions which his +own eagerness for the office had excited, that he was again striving in +an underhand way to procure either the Eastern or the Western diadem +for the young Pagan, Eucherius. There was a certain officer of the +Imperial guard named Olympius, ‘a man who, under the guise of devotion to +Christianity, concealed every kind of wickedness,’ who was perpetually +whispering into the Emperor’s ear the danger to religion from this +ambition of Stilicho. A camp had been formed at Ticinum (Pavia), for the +soldiers who were to march into Gaul to quell the revolt of Constantine. +To this camp, which seems to have contained a large preponderance of +Roman-born soldiers, Honorius set forth accompanied by Olympius; and +Stilicho, who had thus allowed his most useful instrument to be purloined +from him, lingered in a curious state of irresolution and inactivity with +his _foederati_ round him at Bologna. Soon the news came of a terrible +mutiny of the troops at Ticinum. Olympius had been ingratiating himself +with the soldiers in every possible way, visiting those who were sick, +and on every occasion letting fall words of sympathy for their hardships, +and indignation at the partiality which constantly postponed their +interests to those of the barbarian favourites of Stilicho. These hints, +coming from an officer of the Imperial guard and a manifest favourite of +the Emperor, had produced their natural effect. There had been what in +Spanish politics is called a _pronunciamento_. The soldiers had risen in +rebellion, slain four officers of the highest rank in the army and four +heads of departments in the State, put the magistrates to flight, and +held a carnival of blood in the city, robbing and murdering at their will. + +[Sidenote: _Stilicho arrested, and put to death._] + +At first the news ran that Honorius himself had been killed in the +tumult, and then the _foederati_ at Bologna urged, and Stilicho +consented, that they should at once march to Ticinum and avenge his +death. Soon, however, a correcter version of the affair was received. +Honorius was not dead, but had been paraded up and down the streets of +the city by Olympius, in a short military cloak and without a diadem, +endeavouring to persuade the soldiers to return to their obedience. In +this he had at length succeeded. The mutiny had been quelled, but the +authors of it had gained their end. All the more powerful friends of +Stilicho at Ticinum had been treacherously slain, and it was now deemed +safe to issue an order for the apprehension of Stilicho himself. The +officers of the _foederati_, when the designs of the Court were apparent, +naturally wished to defend themselves and their great general by force, +but he refused to take any part in such a civil war, ‘not deeming it +honourable or safe to employ barbarians against the Roman army[73].’ +Sarus, the Goth, having no sympathy with such scruples, perceiving that +it would, in these circumstances, ruin his prospects of a military career +to be known as an adherent of Stilicho, ungenerously turned against his +old chief, slew the brave Huns who formed his body-guard, and would fain +have captured Stilicho himself, who, however, fled to Ravenna, but even +in the hurry of his own flight found time to warn the neighbouring cities +not to receive the _foederati_ within their walls. Soon after his arrival +came a messenger from Olympius bearing the Emperor’s orders that he was +to be apprehended and imprisoned. Stilicho took refuge in one of the +many churches of Ravenna, but on the soldiers swearing a solemn oath in +the presence of the Bishop that they were ordered to imprison him only +but not to kill him, he surrendered himself to them. At once the same +messenger produced a second letter from the Emperor, denouncing against +Stilicho the punishment of death for his crimes against the Commonwealth. +His friends and servants and a mass of indignant _foederati_ entreated to +be allowed to defend him by arms, but Stilicho sternly forbade them, and +calmly presented his neck to the sword of the executioner (Aug. 22, 408). + +Some men who have led apparently righteous and honourable lives are +unmasked by Death, who exposes their well-hidden wickedness. In +Stilicho’s case Death wrought exactly the opposite change. At every step +of his career we ask ourselves the question, ‘Self-seeker or Patriot?’ +and it must be confessed that we scarcely get a perfectly satisfactory +answer. But the closing scenes of his life show that he was indeed +true to Rome, and refused the vengeance and the deliverance which lay +all ready to his hand rather than use against her the swords of the +barbarians. + +[Sidenote: _Persecution of the friends of Stilicho._] + +The death of Stilicho was the signal for an outburst of jealous rage +against his family and friends. Eucherius, who had fled to Rome, was +before long put to death. Thermantia was sent back by Honorius to her +mother. The adherents of Stilicho were tortured to make them confess +his traitorous designs, and when they steadfastly denied the existence +of any such, were beaten to death with cudgels. Above all, the Roman +soldiers, in every city where the wives and children of the _foederati_ +were dwelling, rose in riotous insurrection, killing some and plundering +others. Henceforth, of course, there was open war between legionaries and +_foederati_, the latter of whom, to the number of 30,000, streamed forth +to Alaric’s Illyrian camp and urged him to avenge them on their cruel and +cowardly foes. + +[Sidenote: _Alaric invades Italy, 408._] + +Mindful of his former reverses in Italy, Alaric, though the voice +‘Penetrabis ad Urbem’ was still ringing in his ears, offered peace to +Honorius in exchange for a small sum of money, hostages, and the province +of Pannonia, on which by this time the Empire can have had but a slender +hold. Honorius, safe behind the canals of Ravenna, and relying on the +prayers of Olympius, refused all terms of compromise, and late in this +eventful year, 408, Alaric marched for the last time over the Julian +Alps into Italy, never again to leave that land, the goal of so many +aspirations. The events of the three years, 408-410, in each of which +there was a siege of Rome, cannot here be related with any detail, and +some of them are among the best-known commonplaces of history. I will +only briefly assign to each year its distinguishing features. + +[Sidenote: _Rome ransomed, 408._] + +The first, 408, was the year of _ransom_. Alaric, as has been said, in +the later months of the year marched into Italy, and did not, as before, +linger in the plains of Lombardy, but struck southward through Picenum +and Umbria, marching no doubt by the great Flaminian Way, and stood +before long at the gates of Rome. There seems to have been no opposition +to his progress. The ‘Roman’ party, so zealous in killing women and +children and in organising _pronunciamentos_, slunk into their holes +when an army appeared. It is probable that in this Italian expedition +Alaric had made his host more of an army and less of a nation than on +the previous occasion. We hear nothing of the waggons, and some of his +marches and counter-marches can hardly have been performed with a long +train of non-combatants following him. + +At Alaric’s appearance under their walls the Senate (for Honorius was +safe at Ravenna) could think of no other means of opposing him than +putting the hapless Serena, the widow of Stilicho, to death, fearing +that she might open treacherous communications with the besiegers. The +cowardly deed was not long unpunished. Alaric watched the Tiber above +and below, and drew a strict line of blockade round the city. Hunger and +pestilence were soon raging among the people, and the Senate found itself +compelled to send ambassadors to Alaric to ask his terms. The threat that +despair might drive the citizens to some audacious sortie was met by the +well-known answer, ‘The thicker the hay, the easier mown’: the enquiry +what Alaric meant to leave them if he insisted on their surrendering all +their gold, all their moveable property, and all their barbarian slaves, +by the equally well-known words, ‘Your lives[74].’ + +More days of famine followed. At length a final embassy arranged the +terms of the ransom which Alaric condescended to receive from the +Imperial City. It consisted of 5000 lbs. weight of gold (£225,000), +30,000 lbs. of silver (£90,000), 4000 silken tunics, 3000 scarlet hides, +and 3000 lbs. of pepper. The date of this transaction is not known, but +it was probably in the very last days of 408. + +[Sidenote: _409. Alaric negotiates._] + +[Sidenote: _Moderation of his requests._] + +The next year, 409, is the _year of the anti-Emperor, Attalus_. All +Alaric’s dealings with the Senate and People of Rome at this time were +directed to the conclusion of a firm treaty of alliance, offensive and +defensive, with the Emperor. His aim was not to conquer Rome, or to +settle his followers in any part of Italy, but to legitimise his position +within the Empire, to have a large space on the Middle Danube, either +Noricum or Pannonia, assigned to his people, and then to be recognised +as Rome’s champion against all other enemies. In fact, he desired to +renew the old _federate_ relation only on a footing of equality instead +of one of semi-dependence. To all such propositions Honorius, or rather +the ministers who spoke in his name, replied with an unceasing ‘_non +possumus_,’ as they could not be attacked, being safe behind the dykes +and lagoons of Ravenna. Alaric’s only resource was to put pressure, even +cruel pressure, on Rome, in order to bring her sovereign to terms. + +[Sidenote: _Oath sworn by the head of Honorius._] + +A considerable part of the year 409 was consumed in these vain +negotiations. The Praetorian Prefect, Jovius, who had supplanted Olympius +in the position of chief adviser of the Emperor, seems to have been +at first disposed to try to make terms with Alaric, and to see if the +title ‘_Magister Utriusque Militiae_’ could not divert him from his +schemes of conquest. But Honorius demurred to the proposal, and Jovius, +accommodating himself to his master’s humour, insisted on all the chief +officers of the Emperor assembling round him and swearing by their +master’s head (which they touched in making the asseveration) that they +would make no peace with Alaric, but would wage against him perpetual +war. To all subsequent overtures of Alaric (and some of them surprise +us by their moderation, offering terms such as the Empire might have +safely and honourably granted), this tremendous oath by the empty head of +Honorius was opposed as an insuperable obstacle. + +[Sidenote: _Attalus proclaimed Emperor._] + +Alaric, whose patience was worn out, returned to Rome, and again formed +the blockade of the City. But the Senate, whose patience was equally +exhausted, refused to again undergo the horrors of famine and pestilence +for the ungrateful Honorius, and sent messengers to Alaric declaring that +they were willing to renounce their allegiance to the Emperor. Peace on +these terms was easily arranged. Attalus, the Praetorian Prefect of the +City, a man of Greek extraction, was saluted as Emperor, and in that +capacity concluded a treaty with Alaric, recognising him as an ally +of the Empire, probably conceding to him a settlement in the coveted +provinces on the Danube, and conferring on him at once the splendid +position of _Magister Utriusque Militiae_. + +[Sidenote: _410. Attalus refuses to divide Italy with Honorius._] + +[Sidenote: _Supplies from Africa stopped._] + +[Sidenote: _Attalus deposed._] + +So opened the year 410, the ever-memorable year of the _Third Siege and +Capture of Rome_. It seemed for a time as if Attalus would indeed wrest +the Rule of All Things from his incapable rival. He marched towards +Ravenna, from whence issued forth a piteous supplication for peace on +the basis of a yet further subdivided Empire. If Honorius might but +continue to reign at Ravenna, Attalus should reign at Rome, and the +_Concordia Augustorum_ might unite them and Constantine, the Emperor +of the Gauls, with the son of Arcadius, Emperor of the East. Attalus +made a cruel and insulting reply, threatening his rival with mutilation +and banishment: but the timely arrival at Ravenna of six legions from +Constantinople prevented him from carrying his threat into execution, and +turned the tide of fortune. Famine again threatened Rome, from another +cause than the blockade of Alaric. Heraclian, to whom had been entrusted +the execution of the sentence against Stilicho, was now holding the +great province of Africa loyally for Honorius, and by cutting off the +food supplies of Carthage from Rome, brought the City into such terrible +straits that an angry cry was heard in the Amphitheatre, when the new +Emperor was sitting there in state watching the games, ‘Pone pretium +carni humanae’ (‘Fix the tariff for human flesh’). Alaric’s keen eye saw +that Africa was now the key of the position, and he urged upon Attalus +the necessity of sending troops, barbarian _foederati_, thither to +overcome Heraclian. But Attalus, who was evidently a futile, inefficient +ruler, delayed and lingered, and, as it was hinted, began to entertain +schemes for disembarrassing himself of the oppressive patronage of the +Visigoth. At length Alaric, tired of his vacillation and bad faith, +and recognising the failure of his scheme of creating a rival Emperor, +assembled his army on the plain outside Ariminum, and there, in the +sight of thousands of Romans and Goths, formally stripped Attalus of the +emblems of Empire, and proclaimed that he was reduced to the rank of a +private citizen. + +[Sidenote: _Sarus breaks off the negotiations between Alaric and +Honorius._] + +The diadem and the purple were sent to Honorius at Ravenna, and it seemed +for a moment as if the just and honourable peace, so eagerly desired by +Italy, by Rome, and by Alaric, might be secured. But Sarus the Goth, the +same man who had turned treacherously against Stilicho in his adversity, +and who, perhaps on that account, hated Alaric and was hated by him, +entered Ravenna at the head of 300 veterans, and succeeded in breaking +off the just-resumed thread of the negotiations. + +Then at length, as it seemed that nothing but the sword could cut the +Gordian knot, Alaric again crossed the Apennines, determined to show what +he could do to Rome as an enemy, since she in her infatuation rejected +him as a friend. + +[Sidenote: _Alaric enters Rome, 24 Aug. 410._] + +There was this time no long agony of blockade, no famine or pestilence. +On the night of the 24th of August, 410, almost as soon as he had +appeared under the walls of the City, Alaric effected an entrance through +the Salarian Gate, at the north-east corner of the City, at very nearly +the same place where, on the 20th Sept. 1870, the soldiers of Victor +Emmanuel entered Rome. Whether the gate was carried by a sudden surprise, +or was opened by slaves or treacherous citizens within, it is impossible +now to decide; but the theory of surprise seems, upon the whole, most +probable. The splendid palace of the historian Sallust, hard by the +Salarian Gate, was set on fire, and its spacious gardens had their beauty +ruined by the entering Gothic soldiers. + +[Sidenote: _Rome sacked._] + +Thus, then, at length ‘the great city which reigned over the kings of the +whole earth’ was captured and was pillaged by a foreign and a barbarian +enemy. Civil war, sedition, frenzied Emperors had ‘dealt upon the +Seven-hilled City’s pride’ in the course of the centuries; but not for +800 years—not since Brennus and his Gauls had slain the Conscript Fathers +in the Forum—had Rome been violently entered by a conquering foreign foe. +There were some alleviations to the horrors of the capture, derived from +the fact that the assailants were Christians; and these alleviations +are naturally emphasised by the Church historians, from whom we derive +most of our scanty information as to the Third Siege of Rome. Alaric had +ordered that no Christian church should be injured, and that the right of +asylum, especially in the two great Basilicas of St. Peter and St. Paul, +should be religiously observed. These orders were perhaps made known to +the citizens, multitudes of whom, Pagan as well as Christian, were soon +flying for shelter to these islands of safety. But notwithstanding any +such humane orders, honourable both to the general who issued them and +to the army by whom they were obeyed, the sack of a great and wealthy +city by a hungry and exasperated army of barbarians was of necessity a +terrible thing. We hear of an aged widow beaten to death to make her +disclose her imaginary treasures, of matrons ravished, of palaces laid +in ashes. And above all rose now the terrible fact that _Roma Invicta_ +had been conquered. Where one barbarian chief had penetrated, more could, +and of a surety would, follow. The citizens henceforth—like men who have +lived through a great and fearful earthquake—must live evermore in dread +of seeing the ghastly terror recommence. + +As even political caricatures may sometimes help us to understand what +contemporary spectators think of the actors on the stage of history, let +us listen to Procopius, who wrote 150 years later, but who has preserved +to us a possibly contemporary story, as to the reception of the news of +the fall of Rome by the Roman Augustus. + +[Sidenote: _Reception of the tidings by Honorius._] + +‘They say that at Ravenna one of the eunuchs who was in charge of the +Imperial poultry announced to the Emperor Honorius that Roma had actually +perished. Whereupon he cried with a loud voice—“But just now he fed out +of my hands!” [for he had an exceedingly large fowl, Roma, by name.] Then +the eunuch, understanding what was passing in his mind, said that it +was Roma the _City_ which had been destroyed by Alaric. But the Emperor +in reply said, “But I thought, my friend, that the _bird_ Roma had +perished!”—so great they say was the stupidity of this Emperor.’ + +[Sidenote: _The capture of Rome settled nothing._] + +[Sidenote: _Death of Alaric, 410._] + +The capture of Rome by Alaric, though an event of incalculable importance +in the history of the world, settled nothing in the immediate present. +Still the Augustus, the only legitimate source of power in the Roman +State, remained inaccessible at Ravenna. Still Heraclian, his yet loyal +governor of Africa, held that province for his master, withholding the +grain-supplies without which Rome could not live. Still Alaric could not +conquer that firm peace, guaranteed by sufficient hostages, and securing +to him a lawful position in the Empire, without which he was determined +not to return to Illyricum. He marched to the extreme south of Italy, +and designed to cross over into Sicily, in whose ports he would probably +have collected an armament for the conquest of Africa. But he never +effected the passage of the Straits of Messina, the ships which he had +collected at Rhegium being destroyed by a violent storm. While he was +still lingering in Calabria he was seized by an illness, which lasted +but a few days. He had ‘penetrated to the City’; his work was done. The +fateful voice rang in his ears no longer, telling him of great exploits +yet reserved for him in the future, but instead of it came Death. He +was probably in about the forty-fifth year of his age; so that he, like +Theodosius, left great possibilities of conquest unexhausted. But in his +short career he had done enough to change the current of the world’s +history. + +[Sidenote: _Burial of Alaric._] + +The story of his burial is well known. In order to guard his grave from +the possibility of insult at the hands of the Provincials, a number of +captives were employed in diverting the stream of the Busentus, a river +of Bruttii. In the old river-bed a great trench was dug, wherein were +laid the bones of the conquering king, and, after the fashion of his +heathen forefathers, some of the most precious spoils of Rome were laid +by his side, that he might not miss them in the gardens of Paradise or +the halls of Walhalla. Then the trench was filled in, the river was +turned back into its ancient bed, the captives were slain: and thus ‘no +man knoweth his sepulchre unto this day.’ + + + + +LECTURE VI. + +PLACIDIA: ATTILA. + + +[Sidenote: _Historical perspective._] + +An interval of forty-two years elapsed between Alaric’s sack of Rome +and the next great barbarian invasion of Italy. To us, looking at these +years as they appear on the outstretched map of History, it is manifest +that they were years of gradual but progressive decline and decay for the +Roman Empire. Probably, but not certainly, they wore the same aspect to +contemporary observers. But the important point to remember is that there +_was_ such an interval between the first and the second acts of the great +World-Tragedy. Reading history in a manual, or glancing over it in such +a rapid sketch as I am now attempting to draw, we are apt to forget how +slowly some of its scenes have unrolled themselves. Superficial students, +if they do not actually confound Alaric with Attila, often think of them +as contemporaries, perhaps as allies, and suppose that they and Genseric +and Odoacer, by some combined and concerted effort, brought about ‘the +fall of the Western Empire.’ What I want to impress upon my hearers is +the fact that if a child was born on the day that Alaric was laid under +the waters of the Busentus, he would be a middle-aged man when Attila +stood under the walls of Aquileia, and would be verging on threescore +and ten when the last Roman Emperor of the West was bidden to hand over +the purple and the diadem to a barbarian conqueror. I ask also for a full +measure of pity for those true Roman hearts whose allotted span of life +had to be all passed in these years of irresistible decline. There are +times like that of which a poet has sung— + + ‘Bliss was it in those days to be alive, + And to be young was very heaven;’ + +times like the first years that followed the battle of Salamis, like the +first thrill and rapture of the Crusades, like ‘the spacious days of +great Elizabeth,’ when the life of a nation has been so strong, so fresh, +and so triumphant that one feels as if even the saddest individual life +must have been overflowed by the great national gladness and saved from +utter sorrow. On the other hand, could even the most unclouded domestic +happiness atone to a patriotic Roman who lived in the fifth century for +the necessity of watching the lingering agony of his country? Like a man +dwelling upon a subsiding continent, he saw one familiar landmark after +another submerged beneath the waters of barbarism. Or like those remote +descendants of ours, if such shall then be living on this planet, who, as +physical philosophers tell us, will see this earth begin to part with her +atmosphere and become incapable of sustaining organic life, he must have +felt that all the old conditions of being were inverted, and that life by +the beautiful Mediterranean was going to become in truth unliveable. + +[Sidenote: _Early life of Placidia, born about 388._] + +[Sidenote: _Death of Galla, 394. Death of Theodosius, 395._] + +[Sidenote: _Captivity of Placidia._] + +In order to bring the length of this interval of comparative tranquillity +properly before our minds, let us trace the fortunes of one person who +lived through it, a daughter, sister, wife and mother of Emperors, the +lady Galla Placidia. The daughter of Theodosius’s second marriage, she +lost her mother, Galla, when a child of five or six years old, and +her father in the following year. She appears to have been brought up +at Rome, perhaps by her kinswoman Serena, who possibly intended that +she should be the bride of her son, Eucherius. Her position was one +of forlorn splendour, that of an orphan with no sister and with two +such brothers as Arcadius and Honorius; nor does it appear to have +been cheered by any gleams of friendship between herself and the house +of Stilicho. When Alaric first appeared under the walls of Rome, the +resolution to put Serena to death as his suspected accomplice was taken +‘by the Senate and by the Emperor’s sister, Placidia[75].’ Probably the +name of a young maiden of twenty was somewhat ostentatiously used by the +Senate in order to justify their own action against the niece of the +great Theodosius: still it is impossible for the admirers of Placidia +(of whom I am one) not to regret that her influence on this occasion was +exerted on the side of vengeance rather than on the side of compassion. +It was probably at the end of the first siege of Rome that Placidia was +taken prisoner by the Goths, who retained her as a hostage, but treated +her with all outward show of honour and royal ministrations. She was +therefore doubtless present at the great assembly at Ariminum, where her +brother’s rival, Attalus, was deposed; she would hear from the Gothic +soldiers their histories of the sack of Rome; she perhaps saw the mighty +form of her conqueror outstretched in death in his tent by the Busentus. +Now, for the next five years, her history was to be singularly interwoven +with that of his brother-in-law and successor, Ataulfus. + +[Sidenote: _Alaric’s successor, Ataulfus._] + +This man, whose name is in fact the same as one of those borne by another +great Northern conqueror, Gustavus _Adolphus_, had joined Alaric with +reinforcements raised in Upper Pannonia in the year 409, and had taken +part in the skirmishes with Sarus before Ravenna, which preceded the +Third Siege of Rome. He was a blood-relation[76] of Alaric, as well +as his kinsman by marriage, and was by general acclamation hailed as +his successor and raised on the shield as king. Though not boasting +the full number of inches of a Gothic warrior, he was of shapely form +and noble countenance. He is especially interesting to us, because a +chance conversation with a Provincial, a conversation which passed at +Narbonne and was reported at Bethlehem, gives us a glimpse into his own +secret hopes and aspirations, such as we do not possess into the mind +of any other leader of the barbarians. Orosius tells us that when he +was at Bethlehem he heard a citizen of Narbonne, who had served under +Theodosius, and who was a wise and religious person, say that Ataulfus +had frequently told him ‘that his first thought when he entered on the +career of conquest had been to claim for the Goths all that leadership +of the world which had once belonged to the Romans, and to vindicate for +himself a position like that which had belonged to the mighty Augustus. +Gradually, however, the fashion of his dreams had changed. He saw that +it was not by the sword alone, but by law, that Rome had dominated the +world, and that his own countrymen, wild and impetuous, had not learned +that lesson of obedience to Law which alone could fit them to rule; and +now his whole desire was to restore and re-invigorate the great Roman +Commonwealth, transforming that which he once hoped to destroy.’ + +Consciously or unconsciously every really statesmanlike intellect among +the Northern chieftains must have gone through the same change and come +to the same conclusion. Out of the Goth, or the Frank, or the Saxon +alone it was not possible yet to form a law-abiding nation. Either +from the Roman State or the Roman Church they must learn those habits +of discipline and self-restraint which they did in the end learn, and +practise as no purely Romance nation, far less any purely Celtic nation, +has ever practised them. What Ataulfus saw to be the statesman’s true aim +was that which Theodoric accomplished with temporary, and Charlemagne +with somewhat more permanent success—that transfusion of fresh Teutonic +blood into the old Roman body which has in fact made modern Europe. + +[Sidenote: _Loves of Ataulfus and Placidia._] + +[Sidenote: _Their marriage at Narbonne, 414._] + +The political conversion of Ataulfus was aided, as conversions have been +so often aided, by a woman. The fair Placidia, forced to follow all the +movements of the Gothic army, yet ‘treated with all honour and ever +tended with royal ministrations,’ vanquished his heart. The old saying +that ‘conquered Greece led her victor captive’ was renewed with Placidia +and Ataulfus; but with a delicacy which we should term chivalrous if we +were speaking of a later age, he refused to make her his bride, though +she too loved him, till the consent of her brother came from Ravenna. +After four years of weary negotiations this consent was obtained, but not +until the Goths had marched out of Italy into Gaul. In January, 414, the +marriage of the Gothic king and the Roman Lady was celebrated at Narbonne +at the house of a citizen named Ingenuus. The ‘wise and religious person’ +who afterwards conversed with Jerome at Bethlehem was doubtless present +at the wedding, if indeed he were not (as is very probable) Ingenuus +himself. Men noticed with interest that Ataulfus entered the inner +apartment to claim his bride, dressed, not in the barbaric splendour of +his countrymen, but like a Roman Senator. They saw with admiration the +fifty goodly youths in silken robes, bearing plates filled with gold +and gems, who formed part of Ataulfus’ splendid _Morgen-gabe_[77] to +his bride. Then came music, and they saw, perhaps not without a touch +of scorn, Attalus, once Emperor of Rome, leading the dance and song in +honour of his great patron’s wedding. + +[Sidenote: _Fortunes of the Visigothic kingdom._] + +[Sidenote: _Death of Placidia’s child, and of Ataulfus, 415._] + +Unhappily for the world, this union of Roman and barbarian led to no +abiding results. The kingdom set up by Ataulfus did indeed endure, though +not exactly in the shape which he had given to it. Established at first +chiefly as a South Gaulish kingdom, and remaining such till the conquests +of Clovis at the end of the fifth century, it then shifted its centre +of gravity southward of the Pyrenees and became that Visigothic kingdom +of Spain which was overthrown by the Moors in 711, and which gradually +crept back to life again under the kings of Leon, Castille, and Arragon. +But the dynasty of Ataulfus himself was short-lived. A child, named +Theodosius, was born to him by Placidia; but this child, around which so +many hopes centered, died, to the unspeakable grief of its parents, and +was buried in a silver coffin at Barcelona, where they then dwelt. Soon +after the infant’s death the father was stabbed in the back by one of his +servants, who thus avenged an old grudge for the execution of a former +master. His dying words to his brother were, ‘Live in peace with Rome and +restore Placidia to Honorius.’ + +[Sidenote: _416-423._] + +[Sidenote: _Humiliations of Placidia._] + +[Sidenote: _She is restored to Honorius, 416._] + +The murder of Ataulfus was possibly connected with a sort of insurrection +against the Roman influences which had been of late so powerful in the +Gothic Court. His successor, the brutal Singeric, murdered the sons of +Ataulfus (the children of his first marriage) and forced Placidia to +walk as a captive before his chariot for twelve miles from the gates +of Barcelona. After only eight days’ reign however, this ruffian was +dethroned and slain, and the gallant Walia was acclaimed king, whose name +is one of the most distinguished in the early history of the Visigothic +monarchy. He renewed and strengthened the alliance with Rome, and gave +back Placidia to the Emperor, receiving in return the somewhat prosaic +ransom of 19,000 quarters of corn. + +[Sidenote: _Her marriage to Constantius._] + +Placidia was escorted by the Roman general who had received her from the +hands of the Goths to her brother’s Court at Ravenna, and there, nearly +two years after the death of Ataulfus, she gave her hand to this general, +an old lover of hers named Constantius. + +[Sidenote: _Second widowhood and exile of Placidia._] + +The union of Constantius and Placidia lasted four years, and the fruit +of it was a son and a daughter, the first named Valentinian (after his +maternal great-grandfather), the second, Honoria. Constantius, a brave +soldier, but a rough, sullen, unpopular man, was associated in the Empire +by his brother-in-law, and, after six months’ enjoyment of the Imperial +dignity, died, apparently of mere _ennui_, in 421. Two years after his +death, Placidia and her children withdrew to Constantinople, on account +of a quarrel which had broken out with her brother, who, as I suspect +from the description of his conduct, had begun to show symptoms of +softening of the brain. + +[Sidenote: _Death of Honorius. Elevation of Joannes._] + +[Sidenote: _423-425._] + +In this same year (423) Honorius died at the age of thirty-nine, and +was buried in a gigantic marble sarcophagus, which may still be seen in +‘the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia’ at Ravenna. There was no member of +the family of Theodosius on the spot to claim the vacant diadem, and +Joannes, a somewhat obscure member of the Civil Service (_Primicerius +Notariorum_), was permitted to wear it, under the patronage of the +powerful _Magister Militum_, Castinus. + +[Sidenote: _Theodosius II places the son of Placidia on the Western +throne._] + +When the news of this event (usurpation we must not call it, for there +was no strict hereditary right in the Roman Empire) reached the Court of +Constantinople, the young Emperor Theodosius II, the son of Arcadius, +determined to send an expedition to the West to overthrow Joannes. +The expedition was commanded by two brave Alans—father and son—named +Ardaburius and Aspar; and, after one or two reverses, was in the end +completely successful. Joannes was brought as a prisoner to Aquileia; +his right hand was cut off, he was paraded round the city upon an ass, +and, after some more ungenerous insults of this kind, he was put to +death. Ravenna, which had sympathised with the elevation of Joannes, +was punished by being sacked by the soldiers of Ardaburius. Rome was +flattered by the young Valentinian III, a boy of seven years old, being +sent there to assume the purple. At Constantinople, Theodosius II and his +people, who were assembled in the Hippodrome when the news of victory +arrived, walked in procession to the great Basilica, singing praises to +God for his deliverance. + +[Sidenote: _Placidia as regent, 425-450._] + +From 425 to 450, that is, from the thirty-eighth to the sixty-third year +of her life, Placidia was virtually the sovereign of what remained of the +Western Empire. She was already styled Augusta in right of her husband +Constantius’ six months’ wearing of the purple. She was, in accordance +with one or two precedents, entitled to hold the reins of power (with the +rank, though not the precise title, of Regent) during her son’s minority: +and as that son was idle and pleasure-loving, reproducing only the weaker +features of the Theodosian character, she continued to hold them after he +had grown to manhood, and until her own death in 450. + +[Sidenote: _Events of Placidia’s regency._] + +Great events, disastrous events, were happening during this second +quarter of the fifth century. In the Church of the East the wind was +rising for that great storm of the Monophysite controversy which for +a hundred years took peace from the earth. In the West, Carthage was +being conquered by the Vandals, Gaul and Spain were being more and +more hopelessly lost to the Empire, ‘the groans of the Britons’ were +being borne across the sea to ‘Aetius, thrice Consul.’ All these events +Placidia had to witness with failing heart from her palace at Ravenna by +the Pine Wood and the sea. + +[Sidenote: _Her chief adviser, Aetius._] + +[Sidenote: _Danger from the Huns._] + +If the Augusta did not herself display any conspicuous faculty of rule +during these twenty-five years of decline, she at least had the merit +of loyally supporting the one man who, like Stilicho in the previous +generation, was best able to sustain the falling Empire. This was that +‘Aetius thrice Consul’ to whom allusion has just been made. He was born +at Silistria, on the Danube, the son of Gaudentius, an official of high +rank in the Western Empire. If he was not of barbarian extraction, a +point on which we cannot speak with certainty, the events of his life +threw him into close intercourse with the barbarians. For three years a +hostage in the camp of the Visigoths, and then, for an indefinite time, +hostage in the country of the Huns, he had contracted friendships with +the leading men of both nations, had perhaps learned something of their +language, had doubtless observed their tactics and formed his own opinion +of the best means of defeating them[78]. After the death of Honorius +he had adhered to the party of Joannes, but, not having been able to +avert his overthrow, he had accepted high command under Placidia and +Valentinian, whom he served loyally to the end of his days[79]. Loyally, +that is, as far as his sovereigns were concerned. If the hitherto +accepted story of his quarrel with Bonifacius, governor of Africa, be +correct, there was deep disloyalty on the part of Aetius towards his +greatest colleague in the Imperial service, and that disloyalty cost a +province to the Empire; but the account of these transactions may be +reserved till the next lecture, in which I shall have to speak of the +conquests of the Vandals. During ten years, from 429 to 439, the energies +of Aetius were chiefly directed to maintaining some hold on the East and +Centre of Gaul, with which object he waged war with diverse success on +the Visigoths, the Franks, and the Burgundians, and it is noteworthy +that in these wars the most useful auxiliaries of Aetius were men of +the Hunnish nation. During the last nine years of the life of Placidia +(441-450) the chief factor in European politics, the care that bit most +deeply into the hearts both of the Eastern and Western Sovereigns of the +Empire, was the menacing might of ATTILA, king of the HUNS. To these +savage Asiatic marauders it is now time to turn our attention. + +[Sidenote: _History of the Huns after 374._] + +For more than fifty years after the Huns crossed the Sea of Azof, and +fell like a thunderbolt on the kingdom of Hermanric the Ostrogoth, their +history is almost a blank. They had set in motion an avalanche of ruin +on the Empire, but they themselves, though doubtless spreading wide the +terror of their name through Southern Russia and Hungary, and though once +travelling southward as far as Antioch on a marauding expedition, did +not often during this period come forward as claimants for the goods of +the dying Empire. In fact, as we have already seen, on several occasions +the Hunnish soldier seems to have been the bravest and most faithful of +the auxiliaries of Rome. In part this was probably due to common enmity +to the intervening Visigoths. The Roman Provincial hated and feared the +Goth: the Goth feared and loathed the Hun: accordingly the Roman and the +Hun found it for their interest to be friends. + +[Sidenote: _Attila’s accession, 433._] + +[Sidenote: _His character and appearance._] + +[Sidenote: _The sword of Mars._] + +In the year 433, Attila and his brother Bleda mounted the throne of +the Huns. Twelve years later Bleda died, having been, according to +some accounts, craftily slain by order of his brother. At all times +Attila’s was the commanding personality, and with him alone need we here +concern ourselves. Let us hear how he is described by the historian of +the Goths[80]: ‘Attila was a man born into the world to agitate the +nations, the fear of all lands, one who, I hardly know how, terrified +all by the awful apprehensions spread abroad concerning him. He was +proud in his gait, rolling his eyes hither and thither, so that the +elation of his heart showed itself even by every movement of his body: a +lover of war, but not himself given to acts of violence[81], mighty in +counsel, placable by those who humbled themselves before him, favourable +to those whom he had admitted to his fealty: short of stature, broad +of chest, with an over-large head, with little eyes, thin beard, hair +sprinkled with grey, turned-up nose, muddy complexion. All these were +the characteristics which recalled his origin’ [or, to use our modern +phraseology, the distinctive marks of the Mongol race]. ‘By natural +temperament he was always confident that he should do great things, but +this confidence of his was increased by finding “the sword of Mars,” +which is ever held sacred by the Scythian kings, and which is said to +have been discovered in this way. A certain herdsman saw one of his +heifers limping, and being anxious to discover the cause of her wound, +carefully followed her bleeding footprints through the grass, till at +length he came to the sword, upon which the heifer had incautiously +trodden while grazing, and having dug it up he at once carried it to +Attila. He, having gratified the herdsman with a generous present, deemed +himself to be now appointed sovereign of the whole world, and victory in +all wars to be assured to him in right of the sword of Mars.’ + +[Sidenote: _433. Hunnish demands at Constantinople._] + +Immediately upon the accession of Attila and Bleda, they demanded and +obtained from the Eastern Emperor the duplication of their yearly +_stipendium_, or, as they more truly called it, tribute, which was now +raised from £14,000 to £28,000. At the same time they insisted on the +return of all Huns or Romans who had fled from the Hunnish dominions and +taken refuge under the ineffectual aegis of Rome. This demand for the +surrender of refugees, the result, doubtless, of the barbarous despotism +of the Huns, was afterwards frequently renewed, and its imperfect +fulfilment was a standing grievance against the Eastern Emperor. + +[Sidenote: _433-441. Extent of Attila’s Empire._] + +For the next eight years, however, we hear but little of diplomatic +relations between Attila and the Empire. There can be little doubt +that during these years he was engaged in consolidating his dominions +northwards and eastwards. His own peculiar territory was evidently +the flat land of what we now call Hungary, between the Danube and the +Carpathians; but the nations which owned his over-lordship stretched +probably from the Caspian to the Rhine. Very loose and ill-compacted, +no doubt, was the Empire of the Huns; but the kings of the Ostrogoths, +Gepidae, Alans, Suevi, and Heruli, all followed Attila to battle, all +formed part of that confederacy of rapine which he could hurl whenever it +pleased him against a civilised and wealthy foe. + +[Sidenote: _His campaigns in Asia._] + +[Sidenote: _Did he drive our Saxon forefathers from their homes?_] + +In the East another Tartar horde, the Geougen, perhaps even more savage +than the Huns themselves, threatened the new barbarian Empire; but Attila +appears to have formed an alliance with China which neutralised their +hostility, and left him free to prosecute his designs of conquest west of +the Ural mountains and south of the Caspian. He marched from the latter +sea fifteen days southward into the Persian kingdom, and ravaged the +ancient province of Media. He evidently ruled without a rival in European +Russia, or at least in that part of it which was then worthy of even a +barbarian’s notice, and—what is more important to us—he had, we are told, +‘subjected the islands in the ocean to his sway.’ These ‘islands in the +ocean’ can be none other than the islands and peninsula of Denmark and +the southern part of Sweden, which the geographers of the time considered +to be an island. Now, however transient may have been the Hunnish +conquest of those Baltic lands, of Holstein, Jutland, and South Sweden, +it was sufficient to produce results of world-historical importance. +In those lands our fathers, the Saxons, the Jutes, the Angles, were +dwelling at the commencement of the fifth century, making doubtless +many a piratical raid against the ‘_Litus Saxonicum_’ in Britain, but, +as a rule, returning with their plunder to their homes by the Baltic. +From those lands, before the year 441, they had begun to swarm forth, +alighting upon the eastern and southern coasts of Britain, coming +probably with wives and children, and coming to conquer and to _remain_. +Why this new and sudden change in the current of the nation’s thoughts? +Surely it was the swarthy Hunnish riders, the same who had scared the +Visigoths across the Danube, who sent the Angle and the Saxon in their +long ships scudding across the German Ocean. If this be so, the obscure +movements of this squalid Hunnish people not only threw down the Empire +of Rome, but indirectly caused the building up of the Empire of England. + +[Sidenote: _Attila torments the Eastern and Western Courts with his +embassies, 441-450._] + +With the year 441, Attila re-enters the arena of Imperial politics. For +the next nine years he sends ceaseless embassies to the Eastern and +Western Empires, ostensibly to press for the redress of grievances, +really in order to claim higher and ever higher terms for the maintenance +of peace, and to enrich his favourites at Court by the presents which he +well knows that the trembling Augusti at Constantinople and Ravenna will +give them in order to purchase their good offices with their master. + +The standing grievance against the Eastern Court was, as has been said, +the alleged failure to surrender the fugitives, Hunnish princes or Roman +merchants, who had escaped from Attila’s dominions. The chief grievances +against Placidia and Valentinian were two: the vases of Sirmium and the +dowry of the lady Honoria. + +[Sidenote: _The matter of the Sirmian vases._] + +(1) A certain Gaulish provincial named Constantius, who filled the post +of Secretary to Attila, when the city of Sirmium was besieged by the +Huns, received from the Bishop of that city a deposit of the rich gold +Communion-plate of the Church, in trust to apply the proceeds to the +ransoming of the Bishop and his flock. Regardless, however, of this +trust, he carried off the sacred vessels to Rome and raised a large sum +of money upon them from the goldsmith, Silvanus. Eventually Sirmium +was taken; Constantius, a traitor to all parties, was crucified; and +Attila, claiming a sort of ‘resulting trust’ of the vases for himself as +conqueror, insisted that Silvanus should be surrendered to him as having +stolen _his_ property. + +[Sidenote: _Honoria’s ring._] + +(2) Honoria, the sister of Valentinian III, a young and giddy girl, had +compromised her reputation by an intrigue with an Imperial chamberlain, +and was sent by her mother to the Court of Constantinople in a kind of +honourable imprisonment. Her spirit chafed at the seclusion in which +she was kept by her four middle-aged and almost nun-like cousins, and +she formed the wild scheme of plighting her troth to the King of the +Huns, and calling upon him to be her deliverer. Attila received the ring +which she sent him, and, though he had already many wives, disdained not +to add Honoria to the number, so far at least as this that ‘he claimed +as her betrothed husband one half of the Western Empire which had been +bequeathed to Honoria by her father, but out of which she was kept by her +brother’s covetousness.’ + +[Sidenote: _Embassy of 448._] + +[Sidenote: _Imperial plot for Attila’s assassination._] + +The most important of the return-embassies was that which was sent +by Theodosius II, in the year 448, to the Court of Attila. The chief +ambassador was Maximin, a man of illustrious birth and high official +rank; and the official whom we should call the Secretary of Legation +was Priscus, to whose able pen we owe a minute account of the embassy, +which is certainly the most interesting historical document of the +century. Both Maximin and Priscus were Pagans, and both were men of high +character. They were used, however, to cloak an infamous plot which +had been concerted at the Court of Constantinople, but of which they +were themselves ignorant, for the assassination of Attila by one of the +nobles of his guard named Edeco. It is like reading a chapter of _Quentin +Durward_ or _Les Trois Mousquetaires_, to see the way in which the plot +is hatched, developed, and finally detected: and the honest indignation +of Attila against ‘his slave, Theodosius, who paid him tribute but dared +to plot the assassination of his master,’ is finely expressed, and puts +the savage Hun for the time immeasurably above the cultured and nominally +Christian Emperor. I have no space here, however, to insert these +details; but, though it has been often quoted before, I must transcribe +Priscus’s account of Attila’s palace and of a banquet therein, to which +he and his chief were invited. + +[Sidenote: _Attila’s palace._] + +‘Having crossed some more rivers we arrived at length at a very large +village, in which was situated the palace of Attila. This dwelling was, +we were told, the finest building in all the country. It was made of +logs and smooth planks, and surrounded by wooden palisades, not for +safety but for ornament. Next to the King’s house, that of Onegesius +(his chief minister) was most conspicuous. It, too, was surrounded by a +palisading, but was not adorned with towers as Attila’s was. Not far from +this enclosure was a bath which Onegesius had built of stones brought +from Pannonian quarries, for the barbarians who dwell there have not a +stick nor a stone in their own country, but have to import all building +materials from a distance. The architect of this bath was carried captive +from Sirmium, and hoped to receive his freedom as the reward of his +ingenuity; but unconsciously he prepared for himself a worse lot than +that of ordinary slavery, for Onegesius made him his bath-man, and he had +to wait upon him and his retinue whenever they had a mind to bathe.’ + + +THE BANQUET. + +[Sidenote: _Attila’s banquet._] + +‘When we returned to our tent, there came an invitation to us both from +Attila to be present at his banquet, which would take place about 3 P.M. +Punctually, at the time appointed, we went to the dinner and stood on +the threshold before Attila. According to the custom of the country, +the cup-bearer brought us a bowl of wine that we might pray for the +good-luck of the host before taking our seats. When this was done, and +we had just tasted the bowl, we came to the chairs of state on which +we were to sit at dinner-time. All the seats of the guests were ranged +along the walls on either side of the building. In the centre of all sat +Attila on a couch, with another couch behind him, behind which again a +flight of steps led up to his bed, hidden by curtains of white linen and +variegated stuffs, ornamentally arranged as the Greeks and Romans prepare +the nuptial couch.’ Then the order of precedence is described. The +Ambassadors, to their evident surprise, found that the seats of honour +were given, not to them, but to Hunnish nobles. + +‘Opposite to Onegesius on a double chair sat two of the sons of Attila, +while his eldest son sat on Attila’s couch, not near to him but on its +extreme verge, and with eyes cast down upon the ground through awe of +his father. When all were thus arranged in order, the cup-bearer came in +and handed to Attila his ivy-wood drinking-cup filled with wine. When he +had received it, he saluted him who sat nearest him in rank. The guest +thus honoured stood up, and it was not etiquette for him to sit down +till he had sipped or drunk off the wine and returned the goblet to the +cup-bearer. In the same way all who were present showed their respect +to the King: he remaining seated all the while, they stood up, received +the cup, greeted him and tasted the wine. Behind each guest stood a +cup-bearer, whose business it was to go into the centre of the hall, each +in his proper order, and meet Attila’s cup-bearer coming out from beside +his master. + +‘Then entered first Attila’s servant bearing a plate full of meat, and +after him came the general waiters who laid bread and other victuals on +the tables, of which there was one for every three or four guests, or +sometimes more. For all the rest of the barbarians and for us a costly +banquet had been prepared, which was served on silver dishes, but Attila +had plain meat on his wooden plate. He showed also simple tastes in all +his other surroundings. For the other banqueters had golden and silver +drinking-cups put beside them, but his was of wood. His raiment also was +quite plain, distinguished by its cleanness only from that of any of +his followers; and neither the sword which was hung up beside him, nor +the clasps of his barbaresque shoes, nor the bridle of his horse, was +adorned, as is the case with other Huns, with gold or precious stones or +anything else that is costly.’ + +Priscus then again describes the drinking of Attila’s health, which was +performed by all the guests, standing, between each of the courses. + +‘When evening came on, torches were lighted, and two barbarians coming in +and standing opposite to Attila, recited songs previously composed, in +which they sang of his victories and his warlike virtues. The banqueters +gazed earnestly on the minstrels; some were delighted with the poems; +others, remembering past conflicts, felt their souls stirred within them; +while the old were melted into tears by the thought that their bodies +were grown weak through age and their hot hearts were compelled into +repose. + +‘When the songs were ended a mad Hun came forward, who by his strange, +wild, incessant chatter moved all the guests to laughter. After him +entered Zercon the Moor’ [whom we know from another source[82] to have +been a hump-backed dwarf with ape-like nose]. ‘By his garb, his voice, +and his wild promiscuous jumble of Latin, Hunnish, and Gothic words, +he sent all present, except Attila, into fits of laughter. The King, +however, remained quite unmoved, changed not a line of his countenance, +and neither by word nor deed showed the slightest enjoyment of the joke, +except that when his youngest son, Ernak, came in and stood beside him +he gently pinched his cheek and looked upon him with kindly gaze. When I +expressed my wonder at his neglect of his other sons and the favour which +he showed to this one, the barbarian who sat beside me and who understood +the Italian language, after making me promise secrecy, assured me that +the prophets had foretold to Attila that his race should suffer reverses +and then be raised up again by this son. + +‘When we had sat at the banquet till far into the night, we departed, not +wishing to persist in drinking any longer.’ + +From this single picture we may imagine the scenes which frequently +occurred when the Ambassadors of Theodosius and Valentinian came, with +fearful hearts, into the presence of Attila, striving, yet striving in +vain, to keep up the traditions of the majesty of Rome. We may imagine, +too, the reception which would be accorded to the Teutonic under-kings, +Gepid, Herul, Ostrogoth, when they came, as assuredly they would come, at +least once a year, into the presence of their supreme lord. + +[Sidenote: _Deaths of Placidia and Theodosius II, 450._] + +[Sidenote: _Marcian, the new Eastern Emperor, will not truckle to +Attila._] + +The years from 441 to 450, the era of embassies, came to an end. In +450 death wrought great changes in the palaces both of Ravenna and +Constantinople. In the West, Placidia died, and the functions as well as +the show of governing had to be assumed by Valentinian III, who still for +a time gave his confidence loyally to Aetius. In the East, Theodosius +II died of injuries received by a fall from a runaway horse, and the +sovereign power became vested in his sister Pulcheria and her husband, +the brave old soldier, Marcian. The next Ambassador sent by Marcian’s +orders to the Court of Attila took a higher and more manly tone than +the Hun had heard during the whole reign of Theodosius. It was clear +that there would be no more chance of sending oppressive embassies, of +doubling and quadrupling the ‘tribute,’ or of worrying about the return +of refugees. Any further advantages that were to be gained from the East +must be gained at the point of the sword: and upon a survey of the whole +situation, Attila decided that since the time had come for war it should +be war, not with the East but with the West, not with the grim Marcian +but with the soft and indolent Valentinian. + +There is thus a certain correspondence between the careers of Alaric and +Attila. Each took up a position on the confines of the two Empires. Each +at first spent some years in making war or threatening war on the Eastern +Empire, and each finally devoted his whole energies to war with the +Empire of the West. + +[Sidenote: _Attila prepares for war with the Western Empire._] + +Pretexts for war were of course easily found. The great question of +the vases of Sirmium was probably still unsettled. Honoria’s dowry had +certainly not been handed over to the affianced Hun. Aetius, warring in +Gaul, had seated on one of the Frankish thrones a young prince (possibly +Meroveus), whose supplanted rival claimed the assistance of Attila. +Above all, the Huns and their allies yearned to burn, to plunder, to +slay, and the Western provinces alone could at the moment satiate this +desire. Attila did not, however, entirely neglect the prudent precautions +of a statesman. He concluded an alliance, offensive and defensive, with +Gaiseric, the Vandal conqueror of Carthage, an alliance which, had it +been followed up by a well-timed Vandal attack on Rome, might probably +have ended the life of the Western Empire. + +[Sidenote: _Alliance between that Empire and the Visigoths. 451._] + +On the other hand, Aetius, at this crisis of the fortunes of Gaul, +concluded an alliance which was of infinite importance, both for its +immediate results and for the rearrangement of parties to which it +pointed in the not distant future. Theodoric the Visigoth, successor of +Walia, reigned at Toulouse over a well-compacted monarchy which had been +rapidly growing in strength and in civilisation. We are now speaking of +a time forty-one years after Alaric’s sack of Rome: and the days when +the Visigoths were a wandering horde of _foederati_, seeking on almost +any terms for a recognised position within the Empire, are already far +below the horizon. Theodoric is the acknowledged lord of one of the +fairest portions of Gaul; his people have become a dominant caste of +warriors, whose ascendancy the Provincials do not dream of disputing; but +Aetius has been for years struggling, sometimes with the aid of Hunnish +auxiliaries, to prevent him from extending his dominion yet further over +Gaul. + +Now, in the presence of this vaster danger, this thunder-cloud rolling up +from the plains of Hungary, which threatens to overwhelm Goth and Roman +in one common ruin, all these bickerings cease. The Visigoth no doubt is +yet barbarous, but he is rapidly becoming civilised; while the Hun is an +utter savage. The Visigoth, though an Arian, is a Christian; the Hun is +a brutal Pagan. The Visigoth desires, it is true, to rule in Gaul; but +the Hun will utterly destroy it. The result of these considerations was +that Aetius and Theodoric formed an alliance against the invader, and, +notwithstanding some delays and some misunderstandings, they seem on the +whole to have both, honourably observed its obligations. + +[Sidenote: _Attila enters Gaul, 451._] + +[Sidenote: _Siege of Orleans._] + +[Sidenote: _Attila retreats._] + +At Eastertide, 451, the waters of the great deep were broken up. The +motley host, said to number half a million of men, marshalled by ‘a mob +of kings[83],’ but all trembling at the nod of Attila, moved westward, +hewed down trees in the Thuringer Wald, and, on the rude boats and +rafts which they thus constructed, crossed the Rhine. All the towns in +Belgic Gaul—Tongres, Metz, Rheims—yielded to their savage onslaught. +Everywhere flew the red banner of fire. The citizens were slain on their +hearth-stones; the priests, against whom the invaders had an especial +hatred, were murdered before the altars, on which glittered the coveted +silver and gold. Paris escaped destruction; whether saved by the prayers +of Sainte Geneviève or guarded by its own comparative insignificance it +is not for us to decide. So the savage host, having rolled on through +Belgic and Lugdunensian Gaul, reached the great river Loire, which +circled the kingdom of the Visigoths. Here they laid siege to Orleans, +that city so memorable for her sieges. The battering-rams (for Attila +possessed these engines of war) were shaking the walls of the city, and +the inhabitants feared that only ruin was before them. But their Bishop, +Anianus, bade them be of good courage, and foretold that deliverance +would reach them on the 24th of June. On that day, while they were +praying in the church, Anianus sent a messenger to mount the ramparts +and see if help were approaching. The messenger went once, twice, in +vain. The third time he brought word that a cloud of dust was seen upon +the horizon. It was caused by the troops of Aetius and Theodoric, who, +after some delay and wavering of purpose, had joined forces and were +approaching to deliver the city. Attila, for some reason with which we +are not acquainted, declined to await their attack, and began to retrace +his steps towards the Rhine. Doubtless his vast army was difficult to +feed, and difficult to keep together, in the country which they had +so ruthlessly ravaged; and probably Attila foresaw great danger in +attempting to cross the broad Loire in the face of a large army, which +united Gothic courage to Roman science of war. Whatever the cause, he +retreated, and reached the city of Troyes, which he consented to exempt +from pillage on condition that the Bishop, St. Lupus, whose saintly +appearance awed and impressed him, should accompany him as far as the +Rhine. On the Mauriac plain, some five miles from Troyes, the pursuing +armies came up with him; and here was fought that ‘cruel, manifold, +monstrous, and stubborn battle[84]’ to which historians have given, not +quite correctly, the name of the Battle of Châlons. + +[Sidenote: _Battle of Châlons. July? 451._] + +Before the fight began, Attila consulted the rude auguries of his nation, +drawn from the inspection of the bowels of a sheep and the markings of +some bones. The soothsayers predicted ‘ill fortune to the Huns,’ but +qualified it with the assurance that the leader of their foes should +fall. The hope that Aetius, the one great Roman champion, would perish, +seemed to console Attila for the presage of his own defeat. + +It was indeed a battle of many nations. Under the standards of the king +of the Huns marched Ostrogoths, Gepidae, Heruli, and a host of less-known +nationalities, Teutonic, Slavonic, and Turanian. The three kings of the +Ostrogoths, and especially the eldest of them, Walamir, and Ardaric, +king of the Gepidae, were Attila’s chief advisers and lieutenants on the +battle-field. + +The allied army, on the other hand, contained not only Visigoths, who +were posted on the right wing, and Romans, who were on the left, but +Franks, Saxons, Bretons, Burgundians, and a number of other tribes +settled in Gaul. Chief among these lesser nationalities were the Alans, +who were settled at Valence on the Rhone. They were near of kin to the +Huns, and their king, Sangiban, was suspected of intending to desert to +them on the battle-field. He was therefore placed in the centre of the +allied line, tightly wedged in between Romans and Visigoths, both of whom +watched his movements narrowly and prevented him from accomplishing the +meditated treachery. + +[Sidenote: _Hunnish defeat._] + +Beyond this statement as to the Alans, and Attila’s orders to his troops +to neglect the Romans and strike hardest at the Visigoths, we hear little +or nothing as to the tactics of the day. The battle began at three in +the afternoon, and raged on, upon a line of immense length, till the +end of the July day. Theodoric, the Visigothic king, was thrown from +his horse and accidentally trampled to death by his own countrymen. His +men, however, rushed forward and broke the Hunnish line. Attila himself +fled and took shelter behind his rampart of waggons. Thorismund, son of +Theodoric, and Aetius both lost their way in the darkness which had now +come on, and nearly fell victims to their rashness, having actually +wandered into the quarters of the foe. + +[Sidenote: _Results of the battle._] + +The next morning dawned upon a ghastly sight. It is said that 177,000 +men were slain in the ‘manifold and monstrous battle.’ This number +represents a slaughter nearly twice as great as that at Leipsic, with all +the improvements in the machinery of destruction which fifteen centuries +have wrought. It is doubtful whether we ought to listen with perfect +faith to calculations which were probably very hasty and fragmentary. +But it is not doubtful that the slaughter on the Mauriac plain was one +of the greatest ever witnessed on any battle-field before the invention +of gunpowder. And, measured by its results, the battle was even greater +than when we take account of the carnage. For this was pre-eminently one +of ‘the decisive battles of history,’ since it settled the question of +supremacy in Europe against the Hun, the squalid, unprogressive heathen +Tartar, and kept the ground clear for the Romance, the Teutonic, and the +Slavic peoples. + +[Sidenote: _Attila retreats from Gaul. 451-2._] + +The expectations of both armies that the battle would be renewed on the +morrow were not fulfilled. Attila, behind his entrenchments, bade his +trumpets sound, and feigned a fresh attack, but all the time he knew +himself beaten, and had a pyre of Hunnish saddles prepared, into which, +had his entrenchments been stormed, he would have cast himself headlong, +that living or dead he might escape the insults of his foes. Meanwhile +the Goths, having at length found their old king’s body, buried him on +the battle-field to the music of their rough war-songs. Thorismund then +marched rapidly to Toulouse to claim his father’s throne. Aetius also +quitted the field, and Attila was saved from utter destruction, whether +owing to the too great prudence of the allies or to a want of perfect +harmony between them, it is impossible now to determine. The Hunnish +king reached the Rhine without further molestation, and thence sent the +venerable Bishop Lupus back to Troyes, asking him to pray to the Almighty +for the welfare of his late entertainer. + +[Sidenote: _Attila’s invasion of Italy, 452._] + +[Sidenote: _Siege of Aquileia._] + +[Sidenote: _Aquileia taken and destroyed._] + +The next year (452) Attila determined to wipe out the shame of his defeat +by an invasion, not this time of Gaul, but of Italy. He crossed the +Julian Alps, entered Venetia by the well-known route, trodden of late by +so many armies, and invested the great, the hitherto impregnable city of +Aquileia. In two stubborn sieges at least, probably in more, this city +had shown herself the unconquerable bulwark of North-east Italy; and now, +so long was the investment by the Huns vainly protracted, that it seemed +as if she would once more prove her title to that name. Attila was about +to abandon the siege in despair, when suddenly looking up, he beheld the +storks collecting their young broods about them and preparing to fly +from the city. The omen struck him. He pointed it out to his soldiers, +and in a short, inspiriting speech, urged them to renew their attack on +a city which, as the heaven-guided instinct of the birds told them, was +doomed to ruin. The appeal was fatally successful. The fierce Huns once +more moved their engines against the walls; they effected a practicable +breach; they swarmed in; they slew, they pillaged, they ravished. The +rage of Attila at his long detention before the walls made the usual +savagery of Tartar destruction more savage; and soon there was nothing +left of Aquileia—its Mint, its Baths, its Theatres—but a smoking heap of +ruins. Tradition says that Attila caused a mound to be raised at Udine, +twenty miles distant, and stood on the top of it to see the flames ascend +from the burning city. + +[Sidenote: _Other Adriatic cities ruined._] + +[Sidenote: _Founders of Venice._] + +All the sister cities, beautiful and stately, which were mirrored in the +waters of the North-western Adriatic, shared the fate of Aquileia. The +Roman colony of Concordia; Altinum, with its fair white villas; Patavium, +the birthplace of Livy, were levelled with the ground. A few trembling +fugitives from all these cities, including, perhaps, some from Aquileia +herself, sought shelter in the wide lagoons at the mouths of the Piave +and the Brenta. These miserable refugees founded a gorgeous city, whose +fame spread far and wide over all lands, and whose merchandise was sold +even on those dreary plains of Central Asia over which Attila’s ancestors +once wandered. She was the affianced City of the Sea—Venice. + +[Sidenote: _Attila at Milan._] + +Attila marched westwards through the broad green plain which we now +call Lombardy, and as he went his fury somewhat abated. All the cities, +Verona, Pavia, Milan, and the rest opened their gates to him; and in +all, the Huns plundered at their will, but the lives of the inhabitants +were spared and the buildings were left unburned. At Milan, Attila +saw with contemptuous amusement a picture representing the Scythians +prostrate under the feet of the Eastern and Western Emperors. He allowed +the picture to remain, but ordered an artist to paint on the opposite +wall the King of the Huns seated on his throne, with Theodosius and +Valentinian emptying their sacks of _aurei_ at his feet. + +[Sidenote: _Embassy of Pope Leo._] + +During all this time abject terror reigned in the City of Rome, where, +and not at Ravenna, the Emperor appears to have been residing. Even the +stout heart of Aetius seems to have failed him, and he is said to have +counselled Valentinian to flee from Italy, probably to the Narbonensian +Gaul, almost the only Western province which was left to Rome. However, +it was decided to try what effect a humble embassy might have in +mitigating the wrath of the terrible Hun. Two of the highest officials +in the Empire were sent on this embassy, and with them went Pope Leo I, +greatest in character and mental gifts of all the men who had yet sat in +the chair of St. Peter, rightly named Leo, for a more lion-hearted man +had not been found even among the Consuls and Emperors of Rome. + +[Sidenote: _Its success._] + +The embassy found the Hunnish king by the banks of the Mincio, probably +not far from the city of Mantua. Strange to say, they won a peaceful and +easy victory. ‘[85]He laid aside his fury and excitement, and returning +by the way that he had come, that is to say beyond the Danube, he +departed with the promise of peace, uttering, however, this one warning +and threat above all others, that he would bring yet heavier calamities +upon Italy unless they sent to him Honoria, with the portion of the +Imperial treasure which was her due.’ We shall probably seek in vain for +any reasons of state-craft which could have induced Attila thus to forego +the supreme prize of barbarian conquest, the sack of Rome, when victory +lay ready to his hand. Apparently the reason assigned by contemporary +chroniclers is the true one. It was the influence exerted over him by +the saintly majesty of Leo, which induced him to sheathe the sword and +to be satisfied with promise of tribute when he might have grasped the +reality of plunder. There was in Attila’s character, with all its brutal +savageness, something almost like magnanimity, a certain readiness, when +his own greatness was acknowledged and when his enemy had humbled himself +in the dust before him, to accept his humiliation, and if he trampled, +not to trample him to death. There was also in his heathen soul some +capacity of being impressed by those whose spirits really rose above +the clash of the kingdoms of the world, into the serener air of the +Kingdom of God. There may possibly have been mingled with this feeling a +remembrance of the premature death of Alaric which followed so soon upon +his conquest of the Eternal City, and a fear that he too, if he sacked +Rome, might find his grave in Italy. + +Whatever the cause, there can be no doubt that the success of Pope Leo, +when the Emperor and the Master of the Soldiery confessed that they saw +only ruin before them, profoundly stirred the hearts of the Roman people. +The events of the year 452 contributed enormously to raise the Vatican +above the Palatine, and to give the Pope the moral, if not yet the +political, sovereignty of Rome. + +[Sidenote: _Death of Attila, 453._] + +If Attila had planned for himself the luxury of another raid upon +Italy in 453, his schemes were suddenly and unexpectedly frustrated. +In addition to the many wives whom he already possessed, he married a +beautiful damsel named Ildico. At the wedding banquet he drank copiously, +and afterwards slept the sleep of intoxication. In the midst of it he was +attacked by a violent bleeding from the nose, which proved fatal to him +in his drunken stupor. That same night, it is said, the brave Emperor +Marcian had a dream, in which he saw the bow of Attila broken. + +[Sidenote: _The Hunnish power broken. 454._] + +The great Hunnish king received a magnificent burial from his people. +Three coffins, one of gold, one of silver, one of iron, enclosed his +body, but the precise place of his burial was kept a secret. After his +death the ascendancy which by his own tremendous force of character he +had been able to exert over many subject nations, suddenly vanished. His +sons proposed to partition his realm among themselves. The auxiliary +peoples resented the proposal: the great confederacy was broken up: +Ostrogoths, Gepidae, and Heruli met the young Hunnish kings in battle by +the Pannonian river Netad. Attila’s sons were beaten, his first-born +slain, the rest put to flight. Ernak, his father’s favourite, became a +subject-ally of the Eastern Emperor, and ruled at the mouth of the Danube. + +But the great Hunnish Empire after its short and terrible day of dominion +was now a thing of the past, a vanished nightmare of the nations. The +fierce Hun had himself built nothing that endured, though indirectly he +had contributed to three of the greatest changes in Europe,—the ‘making +of England,’ the establishment of the Papal Supremacy, the foundation of +Venice. + + + + +LECTURE VII. + +GAISERIC. + + +We have seen that though the north-east corner of Italy was cruelly +ravaged by the Huns, the Eternal City herself escaped the degradation +of their presence as conquerors. But the blow, which had been averted +by the embassy of Pope Leo, fell three years later (455), the agents +of destruction being now, not the Huns, but the VANDALS. I purposely +abstained in my last lecture from making any but the slightest allusion +to the Vandal conquest of Africa (428-439), though that was in fact +one of the most important events under the government of Placidia, and +certainly the event which produced the most permanently disastrous +consequences for Rome. + +[Sidenote: _Early history of the Vandals._] + +If we go back from the fifth century after Christ to the first, we shall +find that the Vandals were then dwelling not far from the Baltic coast in +the countries which we now call West Prussia and Posen. A little later +on, sharing the general southward movement of all these races, they +appear in Silesia and give their name to the _Vandalici Montes_, which +are the same that are now called Riesengebirge, the Mountains of the +Giants. Possibly there may be in the new name some dim remembrance of +the old, for we are told[86] that the Vandals, as well as the Gepidae, +were nearly allied in blood to the Goths, and like them were tall of +stature, fair-skinned, yellow-haired, and handsome. + +In the reign of Marcus Aurelius (171) we find them in the plains of +Hungary warring against the Romans. Three years later they have become +the allies of Rome, and this attitude of friendship towards the Empire +is generally maintained by them for more than two centuries (174-406). +Especially was this the case in the latter part of the reign of the +Emperor Constantine (330), when the Vandals had suffered a terrible and +well-nigh exterminating defeat at the hands of their Gothic kindred, +by the banks of the river Marisia. The survivors of that terrible day +humbly pleaded for permission to enter the province of Pannonia on the +western shore of the Danube, and there to dwell as _foederati_ under +the protection of the Empire. For more than sixty years they faithfully +observed this treaty. This was probably the time in which they embraced +the Christian faith under that Arian form of it which Ulfilas had +preached to the Goths. Many of their chiefs doubtless entered the service +of the Emperors as life-guardsmen, and it was probably in this way that +the father of the great Stilicho, though a Vandal, rose high enough to +prepare a splendid position for his son. + +[Sidenote: _The Vandals enter Gaul, 406._] + +The calumniators of Stilicho attributed to him, probably most unjustly, +a share in the next development of Vandal history. It came to pass in +the year 406, in the interval of suspense between the first and second +invasions of Alaric, and just after the exhausting campaign with the +terrible Radagaisus, that (as has been already mentioned) three great +barbarian hordes, taking advantage of the defenceless state of the +Rhine-frontier, denuded of its legions for the defence of Italy, poured +westwards into the provinces of Gaul. These three tribes were the +_Suevi_, a name of puzzling indefiniteness, once including almost all +the High-German family of nations; the _Alans_, a Tartar horde who had +come into Europe at the same time as the Huns, but had pressed further +westwards than their kinsmen; and the _Vandals_. + +[Sidenote: _War with the Franks._] + +If Stilicho had anything whatever to do with the invitation or the +permission given to these barbarian hordes to enter Gaul, it is +probable[87] that he did it in the hope of finding in them a counterpoise +to the Franks, who were already appearing with menacing strength in the +north-eastern provinces of that country. At any rate the Franks are the +only enemy that we hear of as attempting to bar their way. A great battle +was fought, in which Godigisclus, the Vandal king, fell with 20,000 of +his followers, and only the timely intervention of Respendial, King of +the Alans, saved the Vandals from utter destruction. + +[Sidenote: _Three years of ravage, 407-409._] + +Of the three years which followed (407-409) we know nothing, but must +imagine the three confederated nations marching up and down in Gaul +during that period, slaying and plundering at their will. Then, by the +internal discords of the Empire, a fresh prospect of rapine was opened +out before them. The British usurper, Constantine, who had penetrated +with his legions into Spain, found his precarious throne undermined by +one of his officers named Gerontius, who proclaimed his son Maximus +Emperor. While usurper and sub-usurper were quarrelling, the defence of +the Empire, which both pretended to maintain, was neglected. The passes +of the Pyrenees, which had hitherto been easily and faithfully guarded, +were left open to the enemy, and the three confederate nations marching +through them, found the rich and fruitful peninsula of Spain, which had +enjoyed four centuries of unbroken peace, at their mercy. The day of the +month, even the day of the week of this terrible invasion, was recorded +by the Spanish chroniclers, faithfully reproducing the deep dint which it +had made on the memories of their countrymen. + +[Sidenote: _The Vandals and their confederates enter Spain, 28 Sept. +409._] + +[Sidenote: _413._] + +‘In this year’ (409) ‘the Alani and Wandali and Suevi entered the +provinces of Spain, on the 28th of September, on the third day of the +week[88].’ After wandering about for some time, enjoying the luxury +of promiscuous pillage, they divided the country in some rough +fashion between them, the Suevi taking to themselves Gallicia in the +north-western corner of Spain, the Alans, Lusitania on the west and the +province of Carthagena on the east. The Vandals were divided into two +branches, the smaller of whom, the Asdingi, dwelt in Gallicia near to +the Suevi, while the powerful clan of the Silingi occupied the fertile +province of Baetica in the south. To these entered, four years after, +the Visigoths under Ataulfus: and by these four, or if we choose so to +consider them, five barbarian nations, as well as by the Roman garrisons +in the strong cities which remained like islands amid the barbarian +flood, the hapless provinces of Spain were ruled and plundered. Famine +soon followed in the train of war. Women were accused of eating their own +children: and some Visigothic soldiers bought of some Vandals a small +mug-full of wheat for an aureus (= 12 shillings). + +[Sidenote: _Internecine war between the barbarians in Spain, 413-428._] + +I need not trouble you with the details of the wars which raged in +Spain from 413 to 428. The Visigoths were generally in alliance with +the Empire, and fought their fellow-barbarians, especially the Vandals, +with whom they had a long-standing family quarrel, with a ferocity which +astonished the Romans. First the Silingian Vandals in Baetica and then +the Alans sustained crushing defeats at their hands: and the scanty +remnants of these tribes joined themselves to the Asdingian Vandals, +who under their king Gunderic, son of Godigisclus, had now, from the +most insignificant, become the most powerful nation in the Peninsula, +especially as the Visigoths at this time seem to have withdrawn most +of their men north of the Pyrenees, being intent on building up their +dominion in Southern Gaul. + +[Sidenote: _The Vandals occupy Andalusia, 420._] + +[Sidenote: _Death of King Gunderic, 427._] + +[Sidenote: _Accession of Gaiseric._] + +In 420 the Asdingian Vandals, with their dependents the Alans marched +across Spain and took up their quarters in the fertile Baetica, where +their kinsmen formerly dwelt. In 422, Gunderic won a decisive victory +over Castinus, the Roman Master of the Soldiery, leaving 20,000 Imperial +soldiers dead upon the field. In 425 he took the great city of Hispalis +(Seville), and fitted out a naval expedition for the conquest of the +Balearic Islands. In 427 Gunderic died,—‘attacked by a demon,’ says a +Spanish chronicler, ‘by the just judgment of God, to punish him for +having stretched forth his hand against the Church of Seville,’ and +he was succeeded by GAISERIC[89], the illegitimate son of his father +Godigisclus. + +[Sidenote: _Gaiseric invited by Count Bonifacius to enter Africa, 427._] + +Such was the position of affairs in Spain when a messenger came from +Bonifacius, Count of Africa, inviting the Vandals to cross the sea +and wrest that province from the Empire. The cause of this strange +proposition is fully told us by one historian[90], writing a hundred +years after the event, and though accurate and trustworthy for his own +times, very apt to confuse persons and places of which he had no personal +knowledge. His narrative has been lately subjected to a severe analysis +by a great master of historical criticism[91], who has shown how many +questionable elements it contains. Still, in the absence of all other +information, it holds the field, and I will therefore, with this caution, +tell the story in the words of Procopius himself. + +[Sidenote: _Procopius’s story of the rivalry between Aetius and +Bonifacius._] + +‘The calamity of Africa came to pass in this fashion. There were two +Roman generals, Aetius and Bonifacius, both able men, and in knowledge +of the art of war second to none of their time. Between these men +jealousies arose as to the government of the Empire: but so great were +their magnanimity and other virtues that if any one were to call each +of them the last of the Romans he would not be far from the truth, so +completely had all the glory of Rome become merged in these two men. One +of these two men, Bonifacius, Placidia set over the whole of Africa, +hereby offending Aetius, who, however, did not show his displeasure, for +the ill-feeling between them had not yet produced an open rupture, but +was hidden under the mask of friendship. + +‘Now when Bonifacius had departed for Africa, Aetius began to calumniate +him to Placidia as a man who aspired to the Imperial dignity and would +wrest Africa from her and the Emperor. He assured her that it would +not be difficult to bring this matter to the test, for if she summoned +Bonifacius to Rome, he would not come. When the lady heard this, she +approved and followed the advice of Aetius. The latter, however, had +previously written secretly to Bonifacius that the Emperor’s mother was +laying snares for his destruction, and as a token of the truth of his +assertion he told him that he would find himself without cause suddenly +recalled. Hearkening to this warning of Aetius but keeping a profound +silence concerning it, when the messengers arrived to invite him to the +Imperial Court he declared that he would not obey the Emperor or his +mother either. Placidia, on the receipt of this news, looked upon Aetius +as a most faithful servant of the throne, but regarded Bonifacius with +suspicion. The latter, feeling himself unable to cope with the power of +the Emperor, yet accounting himself a doomed man if he started for Rome, +began to consider how he could attach the Vandals to his cause, who had +obtained possession of the neighbouring province of Spain. Bonifacius, +then, having sent to Spain certain of the most influential of his +friends, concluded a treaty on terms of equality with both the sons of +Godigisclus, to the effect that each of them should receive a third part +of Africa, and that if any one of the three were attacked in war, his +danger should be shared by the other two.’ + +[Sidenote: _War between Vandals and Suevi._] + +[Sidenote: _428. Numbering of the people._] + +So far Procopius. It will be seen that he makes Bonifacius send his +invitation to both Kings of the Vandals, but if this were so, certainly +before the departure of the host from Spain, Gunderic was dead and +Gaiseric was sole ruler of his nation. While he was engaged in his +preparations for departure, the King of the Suevi made a devastating +inroad on the northern part of the Vandal possessions. To show that he +was not yet to be thus contumeliously ignored even on Spanish territory, +Gaiseric suspended his African projects for a while, turned round and +inflicted on the Suevi a bloody defeat, after which their king was +drowned in the waters of the Gaudiana. Then resuming his plans for the +descent upon Africa, he collected his people (or rather his two peoples, +for he was now always saluted as King of the Vandals and Alans) upon the +sunny Andalusian shore. Here in the month of May, 428[92], he had his +nation-army numbered, and found all the males, including old men and +little children, to amount to 80,000. Another computation, which it is +difficult to reconcile with this unless the limits of age for military +service were very wide, makes the warriors alone amount to 50,000 men. + +[Sidenote: _The Vandals transported to Africa._] + +The ships which Bonifacius, Count of Africa, supplied from the great port +of Carthage, co-operating with the little fleet of Gaiseric, carried this +great mass of persons, certainly not fewer than 160,000 in number, to +the African coast and landed them, probably in the province of Numidia. +Thus was the dream of Alaric realised by another German chieftain, and +thus did the intrigues and counter-intrigues of Roman officials enable +a Teutonic invader to strike at Rome in her most vulnerable point, the +great grain-producing provinces of Africa. + +[Sidenote: _428. Bonifacius repents of his treason and is reconciled to +Placidia._] + +Scarcely had the Vandals landed on the African coast when the alliance +between them and Bonifacius, born of treachery and misunderstanding, +died in the daylight of truth. To resume the narrative of Procopius. +‘All those at Rome who were well acquainted with Bonifacius, reflecting +on his character and the extreme improbability of his being so far +carried away by the desire of reigning, were filled with wonder at what +had taken place. Some of these persons, by order of Placidia, proceeded +to Carthage, conversed with Bonifacius, saw the letters of Aetius, and +understanding the whole intrigue returned with all speed to Rome and +explained the position in which Bonifacius had been placed. Placidia, +filled with astonishment, did not dare openly to blame Aetius, so great +was his power and so necessary his help, in the lamentable state into +which the Empire was falling. But calling for the friends of Bonifacius, +she explained to them the secret counsels of Aetius, and binding them +to secrecy by an oath adjured them, if it were possible, to recall him +to the love of his country, and not to allow the Roman Empire to fall +under the yoke of the barbarians. When Bonifacius understood all these +things, he was filled with repentance for his late designs and for the +treaty which he had made with the barbarians, and besought them, with the +lure of many promises, that they would depart from Africa. But as the +Vandals would not listen to his words, but rather taunted him with his +broken faith towards them, he was forced to engage in battle with them, +and being defeated withdrew to Hippo Regius, a very strong city by the +sea-coast of Numidia. + +[Sidenote: _Siege of Hippo, June, 430 to July, 431._] + +‘As the Vandals after a long time could neither take Hippo by storm nor +induce it to surrender, and were moreover themselves beginning to suffer +from hunger, they broke up the siege. Not long after, Bonifacius and the +Romans under his command joined forces with an army sent from Byzantium +under the command of Aspar, and dared to try the fortune of war in a +great pitched battle, but being much inferior to the enemy, they fled +whither they could, and Aspar returned to his own land. But Bonifacius +betook himself to the Court of Placidia, and there completely purged +himself of the suspicions which had been entertained of him.’ + +[Sidenote: _432._] + +From other sources we learn that Placidia not only forgave Bonifacius +but received him into high favour, and conferred upon him the dignity +of Master of the Soldiery. Apparently he would have supplanted Aetius +in his position of Chief Counsellor of the Empress and virtual ruler +of the Empire, but at this moment Aetius returned with his army from a +victorious campaign against the Franks, and joined battle with his foe. +Aetius was defeated, but Bonifacius lost his life, according to one +account, in single combat with his rival, and, strange to say, in the act +of dying, adjured his wife to re-marry with Aetius if the death of _his_ +wife should make such wedlock possible, as he and no other of living +Romans was worthy to be the successor as he had been the conqueror of +Bonifacius. + +[Sidenote: _Strange character of this story._] + +The whole story of the rivalry of these two Imperial generals is strange, +romantic, almost self-contradictory. Contemporary annalists scarcely +mention it; later historians tell us a good deal which it is hardly +possible that they could have known. We should be disposed to send it +back into the region of romance, to which it seems properly to belong, +but for this one clear and all-important fact—that the Roman governor of +Africa did himself promote the passage of the Vandals into his province, +and only when it was too late and the irretrievable mischief was done, +turned against them, and by vain threats and vainer promises, sought to +persuade them to leave the fruitful land into which he had given them +entrance. + + * * * * * + +[Sidenote: _Result of the Vandal migrations._] + +Thus, then, at length were the dwellers by the Elbe and the Oder +settled on the southern shore of the Mediterranean. In 406 they were in +Pannonia, in 439 in Carthage. Thirty-three years, the ordinary length of +a generation, had brought them from Austria to Tunis, and in their way +they had ravaged Languedoc and set up a short-lived kingdom in Andalusia. +Remembering always that it was not a mere army, but a nation, which thus +roamed over mountains and rivers and changed its place of abode from +continent to continent, we feel that the period of history of which we +are now treating is indeed well named by the Germans _Völker-wanderung_, +‘the migration of the nations.’ + +[Sidenote: _Death of St. Augustine during the siege of Hippo, 28 Aug. +430._] + +[Sidenote: ‘_Vandalism._’] + +The siege of Hippo Regius (Bona), which has been already alluded to by +Procopius, lasted for a little more than thirteen months (June 430 to +July 431), and was, as has been already said, one of the few failures +of the Vandals. It was memorable in the history of the Church, because +the Bishop of Hippo—the greatest of all the bishops of the African +Church—St. Augustine, was present within the city at its commencement, +and died in the third month of the blockade. His biographer, Possidius, +Bishop of Calama, was with him at the end; and from his hand we have an +interesting picture of the venerable old man’s last days, sitting, as he +did, surrounded by bishops from the whole province of Africa, who had +seen their cities burned, their churches levelled with the ground, the +fruit-trees of the agriculturists torn up by the roots. It was the fury +of this first onslaught, and the especial delight taken by the heretical +barbarians in the destruction of churches, which caused their name to +become a synonym for the demolishers of beautiful buildings. Practically, +when we speak of Vandalism, we now generally think of some brutal outrage +perpetrated on a temple or a statue; and this in the fifth century would +be more probably the work of fanatic monk than of Vandal barbarian. +But the deeds of the followers of Gaiseric during the first fury of +their conquest, and afterwards, were sufficiently brutal to excuse the +opprobrium which the usage of fourteen centuries has linked indissolubly +with their name. + +[Sidenote: _Temporary peace with the Empire, 11 Feb. 435._] + +After seven years of desolating warfare, peace was concluded between +Gaiseric and the Empire. Aetius no doubt recognised that the fatal +work of Bonifacius could not be undone, nor the 50,000 Vandal and Alan +warriors (reinforced probably by many Moorish nomads and ruined Roman +Provincials) be forced to relinquish their prey. On his part Gaiseric had +had enough of plundering; he wished now to occupy and to rule, and he +meant to make the Romans pay a costly price for the peace which he was +willing to concede to them. The strong city of Hippo, which he had failed +to conquer by force of arms, became his as the result of negotiation. He +had Numidia and the larger part of the African territory secured to him +as his lawful possession, perhaps on the promised payment of a yearly +tribute[93] to the Emperor, and he had to promise to leave unmolested +Carthage, the capital of the Roman Diocese and that part of the Province +which immediately adjoined it, a rich and fertile district certainly, +and the gem of the whole dominion. His son Huneric was sent to Rome as a +hostage for the fulfilment of this condition. + +[Sidenote: _Gaiseric pounces on Carthage, 19 Oct. 439._] + +The peace seemed like a confession of something like failure on the +part of the Vandal conqueror. But he had only ‘recoiled in order to +make a bolder spring.’ He waited his time; on some pretence or other he +obtained the return of his hostage-son, and then, while Aetius was busy +warring with the Visigoths in Gaul, and Attila from his Hungarian village +was beginning to worry Placidia with his embassies and his armaments, +suddenly, on the 19th of October, 439, Gaiseric entered Carthage and made +all the vast wealth of the African capital his own. Torture was freely +used to compel some of the citizens to yield up to him their hidden +stores. + +[Sidenote: _Appearance and character of Gaiseric._] + +The Vandal king had now reached, apparently, the summit of his ambition. +Lord of the Roman Provinces of Africa and of the great city of Carthage, +he felt himself indeed a king; and whatever title he may have borne +before, he dated his reign—a reign which lasted thirty-seven years—from +this conquest. Like Ataulfus, like Attila (one might add, like Napoleon +and like Wellington), he was somewhat under the usual size, and he +had a limp in his gait owing to a fall from his horse. He was, by the +consenting testimony of all contemporary historians, a man of great +ability, admirably preparing his means to compass the desired ends, +simple in his habits, of few words, patient, and tenacious of purpose; +but on the other hand, sullen in his wrath, covetous, always stirring +up strife and vexing the nations, and absolutely ruthless towards all +who crossed his path[94]. In Alaric, notwithstanding some outbursts of +barbaric rage, there was much that was chivalrous and noble. Even the +dark soul of Attila was irradiated with fitful gleams of generosity +and compassion. But in Gaiseric I do not think we can discern a single +lineament of nobleness. All is hard, cruel, vulgar in his remorseless +soul. Alas that we must add, all is also successful in his life. This +cruel and greedy, but supremely able barbarian succeeded where the nobler +Alaric and the gentler Ataulfus had failed. + +[Sidenote: _His maritime power and piratical expeditions._] + +His magnificent power of adapting means to ends was well displayed in +the change which he made in the habits of his nation after he had become +master of Carthage. The Vandals, who had dwelt so long on the skirts +of the Riesengebirge, in the highlands of Austria, or in the plains of +Hungary, were essentially an inland people, who only dabbled a little +in seamanship, when they reached the Andalusian shore. But now that the +fleets, the arsenal, the docks of Carthage were all their own, now that +its harbour—one of the finest in the Old World—reflected everywhere +the Vandal flag, they became under Gaiseric’s guidance the first naval +power on the Mediterranean, and he, by a singular anticipation of the +history of the Barbary States in later days, made himself the great +Buccaneer-King. With every returning spring his long ships of war were +made ready in the harbour. Sometimes he ravaged Sicily, sometimes the +southern coasts of Italy, leading the inhabitants of one city into +captivity, throwing down the walls of another, wasting the whole country +with his wide-reaching raids. Then when the very poverty of these lands +frighted him away from their devastated shores, he turned to the Eastern +Empire. Illyricum, Peloponnesus, the islands of the Ionian and Aegean +seas, all that bore the name of Hellas, bewailed the visits of Gaiseric. +Then to Italy and Sicily again, to try if there were any nook which +had hitherto escaped his visitations. At length the work became almost +monotonous, and the choice of a victim hard. Once when the fleet had +weighed anchor and was sailing forth from the broad harbour of Carthage, +the helmsman turned to the king and asked for what port he should steer. +‘For the men with whom God is angry,’ answered the Vandal king, and left +the winds and the waters to settle the question who were the proper +objects of the wrath of Heaven. + +[Sidenote: _Vandal land-settlement._] + +The land-settlement of the Vandals and the order of succession to the +Vandal throne were two subjects to which Gaiseric’s legislative energies +were especially directed. (1) The rich Province in which Carthage was +situated, called Zeugitana, or the Proconsular Province, the last +of all the acquisitions of the Vandals, was portioned out among the +warriors of the nation, who received these estates as an inheritance +to be transmitted to their children, and who paid no taxes of any kind +for them. In the other Provinces, far larger in extent but not nearly +so fertile in quality, lay the vast domains of Gaiseric and his sons, +consisting of estates forcibly taken away from their Roman owners, often +men of culture and noble birth, who were in some cases compelled to +cultivate as slaves the lands of which the invader had despoiled them. +The poor and barren lands were for the most part left to their former +owners, but so burdened with taxes and obligations of service that the +unhappy possessors could barely make a livelihood out of them. Many of +these unhappy possessors tried to flee, but were arrested and executed, +sundry grievous charges being brought against them, especially the one +unforgivable sin of concealing treasure from Gaiseric. ‘Thus,’ as the +historian[95] says, ‘did the Provincials of Africa fall into every kind +of misery.’ + +[Sidenote: _Law of succession to the throne._] + +(2) As for the succession to the throne, in order to avert the rivalries +and civil wars which often resulted from the elective character of +Teutonic royalty, and at the same time to prevent the crown from being +worn by a fatuous boy like Honorius or Valentinian, he ordained that the +oldest living male among his descendants should, on the death of each +reigning monarch, ascend the Vandal throne. The law was like that which +has regulated the succession of the Ottoman Sultans and the Egyptian +Pashas. It worked smoothly for near sixty years after the death of +Gaiseric, who was succeeded by his eldest son Huneric, he by his two +nephews, Gunthamund and Thrasamund, and the latter of these by his cousin +Hilderic, the son of Huneric. Then dissensions broke out: Hilderic was +dethroned and finally put to death by his cousin Gelimer, but religious +differences—for Gelimer was an Arian and Hilderic a Catholic—were the +chief cause of these disputes, for which I am not sure that we can fairly +blame the Vandal law of succession. + +[Sidenote: _Persecution of the Catholics._] + +In this allusion to religious differences I have touched upon that +which was the distinguishing and the shameful characteristic of the +Vandal kingdom, especially under Gaiseric and his son; I mean, their +brutal persecution of the Catholics. In their profession of Arianism the +Vandals, as we have seen, only followed the example of all the other +barbarian nations who had embraced Christianity in any form. Naturally +Attila, who worshipped a naked sword, while hating all priests and +coveting their costly Communion-plate, was under no temptation to treat +the orthodox believers in the Homoousion worse than the Arian believers +in the Homoiousion (if any such there yet remained), but would slay both +with ferocious impartiality. Naturally, too, the still heathen ancestors +of Clovis robbed and murdered the Catholic bishops of Belgic Gaul simply +as rich and civilised men, without any special antipathy to them on +account of their Catholicism. With the Visigoths, Suevi, and Burgundians +the case was different. They were parties to the long Arian lawsuit, +and were disposed to depress, and sometimes to harass, the Athanasian +litigants on the other side, but they did not systematically persecute, +and there are few if any instances of Catholics actually put to death by +them for their faith. + +Gaiseric, however, seems to have hugged his Arian belief with the +fanatical love of a convert, and to have hated the Nicene Confession +with the bitter hatred of an apostate. It was indeed reported[96] in +Spain that such was the very truth, that he had been once a Catholic +and had ‘apostatised to the Arian infidelity’: but it is difficult to +understand how the son of King Godigisclus can have been brought up in +the Athanasian faith, unless his illegitimate birth permitted him to be +trained by his mother, probably a Gaulish concubine of the king, in the +despised faith of the Roman Provincials. + +Whatever the cause there can be no doubt that Gaiseric detested the +Catholic faith, the faith of the vast majority of his new subjects, and +showed that detestation by acts of savage cruelty. The churches were not +merely plundered—that the barbarian hunger for gold would sufficiently +account for—but wantonly burned: and insult was sometimes added to +rapine, as when the beautiful altar-cloths were cut up and made into +shirts and drawers for the grooms of a barbarian officer. In the regions +which paid tribute to the Palace the bishops were accused of stirring up +the people to revolt, and of likening the king to Pharaoh, Holofernes, +and Nebuchadnezzar: and a number of them were sent into exile. The +Bishop of Carthage, with several of his clergy, was sent to sea in a +crazy ship, which it was hoped would founder on the voyage, but arrived +safe but penniless on the shores of Campania. The Metropolitan Church of +Carthage was forbidden to elect any successor to the exile, and seems to +have remained for twenty years or more ‘widowed of its bishop.’ The same +measure was meted out to a great number of African Churches, evidently +with the intention of breaking down their episcopal organisation for ever. + +In his own palace Gaiseric seemed as if he could not endure the presence +of an adherent of the rival creed. Sebastian, the son-in-law of +Bonifacius, though a man who was on other grounds acceptable at Court and +influential with the king, was put to death because he refused to change +his religion. Count Armogast, for the same refusal, was stretched upon +the rack, hung head downwards from the ceiling by one foot, and at last +sent to do the work of a ditcher and a shepherd in the fields, where he +soon died of his hardships. + +These and many similar stories which are told us by Victor Vitensis, +show the intense and bitter animosity of the great Vandal against all +who refused to accept what the ecclesiastical historians call ‘the +Arian infidelity.’ At the same time they fail to bring before us any +well-concerted and systematic scheme of persecution, which could by +possibility have rooted out the Catholic faith from Africa. Gaiseric was +evidently no Diocletian, with sad thoroughness undertaking to eradicate +a hostile faith in order to fulfil his duty to the State. Nor was he a +Louis XIV, organising dragonnades and revoking edicts of toleration in +order that he might keep his mistresses and yet save his soul. He was +essentially a barbarian, though a clever one, with all that intolerance +of opposition which is shown not by barbarians only when + + ‘Dressed in a little brief authority.’ + +He could not bear that any of those about him should dare to belong +to any other than ‘the King’s religion,’ and he tortured, degraded, +banished, at last sometimes even killed, in order to punish those who +differed from him for their independence. + +Such was the character and such the past career of the founder of the +great Buccaneer State. We have now to glance at the course of events +which, in the year 455, brought him across the sea to Rome. + +[Sidenote: _Family relations of Valentinian III._] + +Valentinian III, in the year 437, when he had reached the age of +eighteen, went on a visit of state to his cousin, Theodosius II, at +Constantinople, and returned bringing with him that cousin’s daughter as +a bride. She bore the name which, with slight modifications, had been +borne by two previous generations of Imperial ladies in the palace at +Constantinople, Eudoxia or Eudocia. Of this marriage there was no male +issue, but two daughters were born to the Imperial pair, Eudoxia and +Placidia. + +[Sidenote: _His jealousy of Aetius._] + +On the death of Attila (453) the thought, the base thought, began to +insinuate itself into the mind of Valentinian that he had now less need +of the services of the great minister, Aetius. Men called that minister +‘the great safeguard of the Western Commonwealth and the terror of +Attila[97].’ His praises were sung with wearisome repetition, and the +very presence of the strenuous, care-worn warrior was an oppression and +a rebuke to the frivolous Emperor who ‘reigned but did not govern.’ +The growing dislike, now that the wise Placidia was laid in the grave, +could be fostered at their pleasure by the mischief-making lacqueys of +the palace, and one of these, the eunuch Heraclius, for ever seeming +to anticipate the Emperor’s wishes, and really making him the tool of +his own base designs, had begun to talk of possible means of freeing +Valentinian from the yoke of his minister and making him master in his +own house. Hints of treachery reached the ears of Aetius, and to secure +himself he pressed the Emperor to exchange with him solemn oaths of +mutual faith. At the same time a scheme which had probably been for some +time talked of, and which seemed to promise the undisturbed succession to +the throne of a hero’s son, received its final ratification. Valentinian +promised to give one of his daughters in marriage to Gaudentius[98], the +son of Aetius. + +[Sidenote: _454. Valentinian murders Aetius._] + +Such was the state of affairs, a hollow crust of reconciliation and +plighted vows over the red-hot lava of hatred and suspicion, when one +day Aetius entered the palace and had an interview with the Emperor. +He spoke of the covenant entered into between them: he perhaps urged +the completion of the marriage at once, and hinted that his master was +seeking to evade the fulfilment of his promise. Valentinian was, or +feigned to be, enraged against his importunate petitioner. He struck +Aetius a blow: the swords of the surrounding courtiers, we are told, +‘cruelly finished the work.’ The last of the Romans was lying dead at the +feet of one of the meanest of the Caesars. Along with Aetius fell one of +his friends, bearer of a name destined to European celebrity,—Boetius, +an ancestor of the author of the ‘Consolation of Philosophy.’ + +Soon after the foul deed had been done Valentinian asked a Roman nobleman +if he had done well in slaying Aetius. ‘Well done, or ill done, most +noble Augustus, I am hardly able to decide. But I know one thing, that +you have chopped off your right hand with your left.’ + +[Sidenote: _Vengeance on Valentinian. 455._] + +The death of Aetius, which probably occurred towards the end of 454, +remained not long unavenged. Valentinian, who with all his many vices +does not appear to have been a coward, allowed the friends and retainers +of the murdered man to approach him without hindrance. He supposed +that what his flatterers told him was true, and that the deed of the +Emperor of Rome would be accepted as if it were the decree of heaven by +his adoring subjects. Little did he know the longing for revenge which +filled the hearts of the barbarian guardsmen of Aetius, who, like the +_Comitatus_ of a German chief, deemed themselves for ever disgraced +by the unrequited murder of their lord. On the 16th of March, 455, +Valentinian rode forth from the City to a place called ‘the Two Laurels,’ +to watch some contest (perhaps a wrestling match) which was going +forward. While he was intent on the spectacle two henchmen of Aetius, +named Optila and Thraustila[99]—their names reveal their barbarian +origin—approached and ‘stabbed him with unexpected blows[100].’ The +eunuch Heraclius, who had been his accomplice in the murder of Aetius, +was slain at the same time. + +[Sidenote: _Accession of Maximus._] + +[Sidenote: _His marriage with Eudoxia._] + +[Sidenote: _455._] + +With the death of Valentinian the dynasty of Theodosius came to an end, +his cousin Pulcheria, the Augusta at Constantinople, having died two +years before (453). The person who was chosen to succeed him was Maximus, +an elderly Senator, a man who had been twice Consul, and had filled +various offices of the State with credit and distinction. The hopes which +had been formed of a wise and honourable administration of the affairs +of the Republic by the new Emperor were, however, soon disappointed. +Maximus not only left the murder of his predecessor unavenged: he even +seemed ostentatiously to court the society of the murderers, thus +definitely enrolling himself as a partisan of the family of Aetius and +an antagonist of the probably still numerous adherents of the Theodosian +house. He carried this partisanship to such lengths as to suggest to +the minds of his subjects that he had himself been privy to the death +of his predecessor. The suspicion was probably unfounded, but the mere +fact that it was widely entertained must have been fatal to the moral +ascendency of the new Emperor. Moreover he compelled the beautiful widow +of Valentinian, who was still truly mourning her unworthy husband, to +accept his hand in marriage, and proposed to marry his son Palladius +to her daughter, Placidia. If he hoped thus to consolidate his dynasty +by a double union with the family of his predecessor, he was bitterly +disappointed. Eudoxia was wounded in her affections by the indecent +haste with which she had been compelled to accept this elderly and +commonplace civil servant instead of the brilliant, if worthless, husband +of her youth. She was wounded in her pride by a marriage, or rather by +two marriages, deemed by her to be beneath the dignity of that great +Theodosian house to which she belonged by a double title, and which had +now for three quarters of a century been, in the flattering dialect of +the Court, ‘domus divina.’ + +[Sidenote: _Eudoxia invokes the aid of Gaiseric._] + +Like her sister-in-law Honoria, in her rage and despair she looked to +the barbarian for aid. She found means to send a messenger to Gaiseric, +inviting him to attack Rome and deliver her from shameful bondage. The +messenger found the Vandal king in no unwilling mood. Most likely he had +often discussed with himself the probabilities of success or failure in +the most brilliant enterprise that ambition and avarice could suggest to +a Teutonic warrior: and now all doubts were removed by the knowledge that +Rome’s powers of resistance, feeble at the best, would be paralysed by +internal dissensions. His ships were no doubt all equipped in readiness +for his usual spring-tour of desolation: he had but to give to the +waiting pilot the word of command, ‘for Rome.’ + +[Sidenote: _Gaiseric sets sail for Rome, June, 455._] + +[Sidenote: _Flight and death of Maximus._] + +The Vandal fleet reached the mouth of the Tiber in the early days of +June (455); but already, three days before their arrival, the reign of +Maximus, which lasted only about ten or eleven weeks, had come to an +end. The rumour of the impending invasion, fears of domestic treachery, +the unconcealed scorn and hatred of Eudoxia, quite unnerved the elderly +Emperor, who, after publishing a proclamation granting liberty to leave +the City to all who desired to do so, himself claimed the permission +which he had accorded to his subjects and stole away from the palace. +As soon as his departure was discovered an insurrection broke out. The +servants of the palace, who were all on Eudoxia’s side, followed and +overtook the fugitive. According to the ghastly precedent set in the +case of Rufinus, they tore him limb from limb, dragged the pieces of his +body through the streets of Rome and hurled them contemptuously into +the Tiber. Already, in the general ruin of society, the men who called +themselves Romans were showing themselves even more barbarous than the +barbarians. + +[Sidenote: _Surrender of the City._] + +[Sidenote: _455. Plunder of Rome._] + +A city thus left without a ruler, and probably divided against itself, +(the enemies and the friends of the late Theodosian dynasty regarding one +another with hatred and fear,) could offer no effectual resistance, and +appears to have offered no resistance at all, to the mighty Vandal. Once +more the expedient of Papal intercession was resorted to, but this time +with only partial success. When Pope Leo with his clergy met Gaiseric +outside the Porta Portuensis the conqueror agreed—no doubt on condition +that his entry should be unopposed—to spare the lives of the inhabitants, +to set fire neither to church, palace, nor private dwelling, and to +abstain from the use of torture for the discovery of hidden wealth. +These conditions being observed, there was to be no limit to the Vandal +capacities for spoliation. ‘For fourteen days,’ says an annalist[101], +‘with secure and unhindered investigation, Rome was stripped of all her +wealth.’ Temple and Christian church were impartially plundered. Half of +the gilded roof of the Temple of Capitolian Jove, the Communion-plate of +all the great basilicas, statues from forum and hippodrome and villa, the +crown and jewelled ornaments of Theodosius and his posterity, even the +seven-branched candlestick and the table of the shew-bread which Titus +had brought from ruined Jerusalem, these and endless other treasures +were borne during those fourteen days of leisurely spoliation along the +Via Portuensis and stowed away in the capacious holds of the Vandal +galleys[102]. The vessel which bore the statues and other treasures of +art most unfortunately foundered on the voyage. The spoils of the Jewish +temple reached their destination in safety, and after reposing in the +recesses of the Vandal palace at Carthage for seventy-nine years were +carried to Constantinople to grace the triumph of Belisarius: but the +Roman Emperor Justinian, fearing that these sacred treasures which had +already witnessed the sack of three great cities, Jerusalem, Rome, and +Carthage, bringing ill fortune with them like the Ark of God to the +cities of the Philistines, might also witness the fall of Constantinople, +sent them back to their original home on Mount Moriah, where apparently +they must still have been stored up when Omar, at the head of his true +believers, stormed the Holy City. + +[Sidenote: _Gaiseric returns to Africa._] + +[Sidenote: _Captivity of Eudoxia and her daughters._] + +Gaiseric, having fully accomplished his purpose, not conquest but +plunder, returned to Carthage, laying waste on his way the shores of +Campania and ruining the cities of Capua and Nola. The Empress Eudoxia +and her two daughters were transported to Carthage. The elder daughter, +Eudoxia, was married to Gaiseric’s eldest son, Huneric,—a most miserable +union, since she was a devoted Catholic and her husband a bitter Arian. +In 472, after twenty-seven years of wedlock, she escaped from the hated +land to Jerusalem, and there died, after a few months spent in religious +seclusion, at the Tomb of the Saviour. The Empress Eudoxia and her other +daughter, Placidia, were sent to Constantinople in 462, after seven +years’ captivity, in consideration of a large ransom paid by the Emperor +Leo, who, though no relation of the Theodosian family, felt his dignity +wounded by the detention of the widow and daughter of an Emperor in the +palace of the barbarian. + +[Sidenote: _Further fortunes of the Theodosian family._] + +Placidia’s husband, a senator named Olybrius, was one of the +‘shadow-Emperors’ whose coming and going marked the last twenty years +of the Empire of the West. In March, 472, he was proclaimed Augustus +by Ricimer, the successor of Stilicho and Aetius in the position of +‘powerful friend’ of the Emperors. In October of the same year he died +of dropsy, having produced no perceptible eddy in the swift downward +current of the fortunes of Rome. A grandson of his and Placidia’s, a +great-grandson of Valentinian III, named also Olybrius, was Consul in +491. His inconspicuous name is the last vestige left in history of the +family of the great Theodosius. + +I have overpassed the proper limits of my subject by a few years in +order to trace the fortunes of the Theodosian _family_. The Theodosian +_dynasty_ ended, as we have seen, in March, 455; and that event, with the +immediately succeeding sack of Rome by Gaiseric, is a fitting close to my +narrative. + +[Sidenote: _Conclusion._] + +In 375, before the Huns had crossed the Dniester, or the fugitive +Visigoths had crowded to the shore of the Danube, beseeching the +hospitality of the Empire, it seemed as if the stately fabric reared +by the Senate and People of Rome, which had already stood for eleven +centuries, might stand for eleven centuries more. In 455, when the +ships of the Vandal king were bearing away the widow and daughters of +an Emperor, the spoils of the city and palace, and a crowd of well-born +captives, to his robber-fortress of Carthage, the sceptre of the great +world-conquering power was broken. Britain, Gaul, Germany, Spain, +Africa, were lost to her dominion. Rome herself had twice surrendered +to a barbarian conqueror, and had twice been sacked by his soldiers. +The sacred soil of Italy had for years been trodden under foot by the +armies of the Goth, the Hun, and the Vandal. The Empire’s reputation of +unconquerableness had departed from her, and when Roman and barbarian +met on the battle-field, the expectation in both armies was that the +legions would _not_ be victorious. A long and wonderful existence yet +lay before the New Rome by the Bosphorus, but from the Old Rome by the +Tiber the spell of Empire had for a time departed. Yet already there were +indications in the sky from what quarter her new day would dawn. Already +the majestic figure of Leo betokened the uprising of a new order of men, +the avowed successors of a fisherman of Bethsaida, who should rule over +a wider world than the Roman Empire, and wield a more absolute authority +than had been enjoyed by the proudest of the successors of Augustus. + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[1] Greece. + +[2] Regulus. + +[3] ‘I appeal unto Caesar.’ + +[4] Strictly speaking the Ulpii, Aelii, Antonini, and Annii. But +Antoninus is the best central name for the dynasty. + +[5] The city of Spalato now occupies the site of the palace of +Diocletian, which was built in the neighbourhood of Salona. + +[6] Valens. + +[7] Cod. Theod. xii. 1, 160. It is Arcadius who uses this expression. + +[8] Vegetius (De Re Militari ii. 5). + +[9] ‘Nam imperator cum Augusti nomen accepit, tanquam praesenti et +corporali Deo fidelis est praestanda devotio, inpendendus pervigil +famulatus.’ + +[10] The Computation proceeds in this way. The _Notitia_ enumerates 132 +‘Legions’ of foot soldiers and 109 other bodies of infantry, ‘Numeri,’ +‘Auxilia,’ and so forth, whose precise strength we cannot ascertain: also +91 ‘Vexillationes,’ ‘Alae,’ &c., of cavalry. + + Taking the 132 Legions at 6100 men we get 805,200 + Taking the 109 Numeri, &c. at 1000 we get 109,000 + Taking the 91 Vexillationes at 600 (the full + number of a Vexillatio) we get 54,600 + ------- + 968,800 + +[11] There is an interesting passage in the Greek historian Agathias (who +wrote about 570) which illustrates, if it does not precisely confirm +the view here taken. He says (Hist. v. 13): ‘The armies of the Romans +no longer remained of the size at which they had been originally fixed +by the earlier Emperors, but had dwindled down to a tiny remnant, by +no means adequate to the size of the State. For whereas they ought to +amount in the whole to 645,000 warlike men, they have been now reduced to +little more than 150,000.’ As Agathias wrote under Justinian, after the +greater part of the West had been lost to the Empire, he probably reduced +his figures of ‘paper-strength’ and ‘effectives’ in proportion to the +diminution of the Empire; and if so, he would probably have accepted for +the year 400, when the territories of the sons of Theodosius were still +intact, a result like that mentioned in the text. + +[12] Scrinia. + +[13] Claudian. + +[14] Though this word has lately obtained, chiefly through the influence +of French writers, rather too wide currency, as the polite equivalent of +‘mob,’ a writer on Roman affairs may with better right employ it, as it +is derived from the politics of old Rome. In the _Comitia Centuriata_, +the lowest class of citizens, those who were assessed on a very small +amount of property, and who had little beside their children (_proles_) +wherewith to serve the State, were called _proletarii_. The word seems to +have passed out of use before the close of the Republic. + +[15] In this sentence and throughout these lectures I quote actual sums +of money, without attempting to make any correction for the alteration in +its value, that being an element extremely difficult to calculate. There +is no doubt that the purchasing power of the equivalent of £1 sterling +was greater then than now, how much greater it is almost impossible to +say, I conjecture about double. + +[16] Perhaps the ration was proportioned to the size of the receiver’s +family, but this we cannot say with certainty. + +[17] Cassiodorus, Variarum iii. 51. + +[18] ‘Verumque confitentibus latifundia perdidere Italiam: jam vero et +provincias. Sex domini semissem Africae possidebant, cum interfecit eos +Nero princeps.’ Hist. Nat. xviii. 6. + +[19] Cod. Theod. ii. 25. ‘Quis enim ferat, liberos a parentibus, a +fratribus sorores, a viris conjuges segregari?’ The date of this law +is not quite certain, but it probably belongs to A.D. 334. There is no +doubt that Constantine was the author of it, and we may therefore fairly +attribute it to Christian influences. + +[20] See Fustel de Coulanges, Problèmes de l’Histoire. + +[21] Waitz (Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte i. 30) remarks that ‘Teutonic’ +and ‘Deutsch’ have probably no connection with one another. + +[22] Norton, Sutton, Easton, Weston, &c. + +[23] Laleham, Farnham, Tottenham, &c., but more often with a genitive +plural preceding it. Birmingham (the village of the Beormings), +Buckingham (the village of the Bucings), and so on. + +[24] Derby, Danby, Whitby, &c.; Elswick, Alnwick, Chiswick, &c. + +[25] The _Ingenui_ of the Latin writers: the _Gemein-freie_ of modern +Germans. + +[26] _Faihu-thrains_ (literally cattle-thronging) is Ulfilas’ translation +of Μαμμωνᾶς. + +[27] This paragraph is an attempt to explain the following passage of +Tacitus (Germania xxvi) which has been almost as much fought over by +commentators as if it had been a text of Scripture:— + +‘Agri pro numero cultorum ab universis in vices occupantur, quos mox +inter se secundum dignationem partiuntur. Facilitatem partiendi camporum +spatia praestant. Arva per annos mutant; et superest ager.’ + +I follow in some points the interpretation given by Waitz (Deutsche +Verfassungsgeschichte i. 109-113 and 140-148), and Dahn (Geschichte der +deutschen Urzeit i. 171-174); but on the whole the criticism of Fustel de +Coulanges (Problèmes d’Histoire, 263-294) seems to me to penetrate most +deeply into the author’s meaning. + +[28] ‘Secundum dignationem partiuntur.’ + +[29] ‘Et superest ager.’ + +[30] ‘Arva per annos mutant.’ Perhaps this is meant to convey a different +meaning from ‘per annum.’ + +[31] De Bello Gallico, iv. 1, vi. 22. + +[32] The strongest part of Mr. Seebohm’s book is, I think, his +illustration of the old Teutonic land-tenure by the open fields now or +lately existing at Hitchin. I confess I am not convinced by him that the +open field system and ‘co-aration’ necessarily imply a servile tenure on +the part of the cultivators. + +[33] De Bello Gallico iv. 1. + +[34] We have a word _Gá_ in English akin to the German _Gau_, but it does +not seem to have been ever extensively used. For the reasons why _shire_ +is not precisely appropriate, see Prof. Freeman’s Essay ‘The Shire and +the Gá.’ Have we a trace of the Gau in the names of Linlithgow and +Glasgow? + +[35] Bishop Stubbs makes the ‘hundred’ answer to the _pagus_, but as +there were 65 hundreds in Sussex alone, this seems a very small division +to represent the great and important _pagi_ of Caesar and Tacitus. + +[36] Compare the ‘Turba regum diversarumque nationum ductores’ of +Jordanes, De Reb. Get. xxxviii. + +[37] ‘Reges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute sumunt’ (Tacitus, Germania +vii). + +[38] ‘Colunt discreti ac diversi, ut fons, ut campus, ut nemus placuit’ +(ibid. xvi). It seems very likely, as suggested by Seebohm (English +Village Community, p. 339), that this describes rather the settlement of +the chiefs than of the commonalty. This must be stated, however, as a +mere conjecture, as there is nothing in the language of Tacitus on which +to found it. + +[39] The story of Clovis and the vase of Soissons, though almost worn +threadbare by frequent repetition, may be quoted as an illustration of +the nature of the power of a German king, strictly limited in peace, but +tending to become absolute in war. Clovis wished to gratify the Bishop +of Rheims by restoring to him a vase which the spoilers had taken from +his church. When the army were all mustered at Soissons with the heap +of plunder before them, he accordingly asked that this vase might be +allotted to him over and above his regular share of the spoil. ‘Glorious +king,’ said the loyal soldiers, ‘we and all that we have are thine, +neither can any one resist thy power.’ But one of the warriors—‘envious +and fickle,’ says the historian, perhaps in his heart resenting the +adulation of his comrades—lifted up his battle-axe and smote upon the +vase, saying, ‘Nothing shalt thou carry away from hence except what a +fair lot give thee.’ The vase was apparently defaced, not broken, and +the king concealing his annoyance handed it to the bishop’s messenger. +At the year’s end, when all the warriors were assembled in the Campus +Martius to show the brightness of their arms, the king, going the round +of his troops, came to the striker of the vase. ‘No one,’ said he, ‘keeps +his arms in such a dirty state as thou dost: neither thy spear, nor thy +shield, nor thy battle-axe is fit to be seen,’ and therewith he wrested +the battle-axe from his hand and threw it to the ground. As the man +stooped to pick it up the king raised his hand on high, and drove his own +battle-axe deep into the warrior’s skull, shouting, ‘Thus at Soissons +didst thou do to that vase.’ Thereupon he ordered all the other warriors +to file off from the field, their hearts being filled with a salutary +dread of his power. + +[40] In this connection it is interesting to note that an inscription +has recently been discovered at the Roman Camp of Borcovicus in +Northumberland, which commences ‘Deo Marti Thincso.’ The persons who thus +record the dedication of their altar to the god Mars Thincsus are said to +be ‘Germani Cives Tuihanti.’ Dr. Hübner, one of the greatest authorities +on Roman epigraphy, believes that ‘Mars Thincsus’ is the Teutonic god +Tiu, and that his epithet means that the national _Thing_ or Council was +held under his guardianship. (See Archaeologia Aeliana, x. 154-159.) + +[41] ‘Eliguntur in iisdem conciliis et principes, qui jura per pagos +vicosque reddunt’ (Tacitus, Germania xii). + +[42] Thiudans is the Gothic word for ‘King.’ + +[43] In 552, see Jordanes li. + +[44] Socrates, iv. 33. + +[45] Gothic Irregulars. + +[46] Jordanes, De Rebus Geticis xxiv. + +[47] ‘Vallis Greuthungorum’ (Ammianus xxxi. 3). Greuthungi seems to have +been another name for the Ostrogoths. + +[48] Concord Auggg. (The number of repetitions of the letter g indicates +the number of Emperors.) + +[49] Jordanes xxvi: ‘Illico in ducum Lupicini et Maximi armantur +_occisionem_.’ + +[50] Ammianus. + +[51] Cura Palati. + +[52] xxiii. 4. + +[53] Onager. + +[54] Aries. + +[55] Helepolis. + +[56] ‘Trans Taurum.’ I suppose this is equivalent to ‘per Orientem.’ + +[57] Ammianus, ‘Efficacia Julii magistri militiae trans Taurum enituit +salutaris et velox.’ Zosimus, Ἰούλιος τοιῷδέ τινι τρόπῳ τὸν ἐπηρτημένον +ταῖς πόλεσιν ἀποσείεται κίνδυνον. + +[58] Jordanes xxviii. + +[59] Idatius, Descriptio Consulum, makes the entry of Athanaric into +Constantinople 11 Jan. and his death 25 Jan. 381. + +[60] ‘Penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos.’ + +[61] ‘Vir strenuus et probus atque Augusto dignus, nisi contra sacramenti +fidem per tyrannidem emersisset.’ (Historia Miscella xi. 16.) + +[62] xxxi. 10, 18 and 19. + +[63] Historia Miscella xii. 16. + +[64] Magnentius and Valentinian I. + +[65] Combined from Zosimus and Philostorgius. Possibly the two stories +relate to different altercations. + +[66] Jordanes xxviii. + +[67] Zosimus v. 6. + +[68] Claudian, De Bello Getico 565-7. + +[69] + + ‘Rumpe omnes, Alarice, moras. Hoc impiger anno + Alpibus Italiae ruptis, _penetrabis ad Urbem_.’ + + Claudian, De Bello Getico, 545-6. + +[70] Partly founded, however, on the experience of Theodoric in Thrace as +described by Malchus. (See Italy and her Invaders, Book IV. cap. 3.) + +[71] ‘Non est ista pax, sed pactio servitutis.’ + +[72] He was Praefectus Praetorio under Attalus, 409. + +[73] Zosimus v. 33. + +[74] Or ‘your souls.’ + +[75] Zosimus v. 38. + +[76] ‘Consanguineo,’ Jord. xxx. + +[77] Morning-gift. + +[78] In several points of his military career, Aetius seems to me a not +unworthy precursor of Belisarius. + +[79] With a short interval of exile in Hunland, 433. + +[80] Jordanes xxxv. + +[81] ‘Bellorum quidem amator, sed ipse manu temperans.’ + +[82] Suidas. + +[83] ‘Turba regum’ (Jordanes xxxviii). Compare the story of Talma playing +to a _parquet_ of Kings in the days of Napoleon. + +[84] ‘Bellum atrox, multiplex, immane, pertinax.’ Jordanes xl. + +[85] Jordanes. + +[86] By Procopius, de Bello Vandal. i. 2. + +[87] As suggested by Papencordt, Geschichte der Vandalen, p. 339. + +[88] Idatius. ‘Alani et Wandali et Suevi Hispanias ingressi: alii quarto +Kalendas [28 Sept.], alii tertio Idus Octobris [13 Oct.] memorant die, +tertiâ feriâ.’ Tillemont points out that the 28th September in that year +fell on a Tuesday, but the 13th October on a Wednesday. Very likely +the fifteen days’ difference between the two calculations denotes the +interval between the passage of the van and the rear of the invading host. + +[89] Often called Genseric by modern historians, but there is no doubt +that Gaiseric is the more correct form of the name, and it is the one now +generally adopted by German scholars. + +[90] Procopius. + +[91] Professor Freeman, in the English Historical Review for July, 1887. + +[92] The date commonly given is 429, but there are authorities also for +427 and 428, and upon the whole this last date appears the most probable. + +[93] Procopius asserts this. + +[94] This character is chiefly taken from Jordanes, cap. 33. + +[95] Procopius. + +[96] Idatius mentions this report: ‘Gaisericus qui, ut aliquorum relatio +habet, effectus apostata de fide Catholicâ, in Arianam dictus est +transisse perfidiam.’ + +[97] Marcellinus Comes, s. a. 454. + +[98] Or possibly Carpilio. We are not quite sure of the name. + +[99] Or Accila and Trasila (Continuator Prosperi). Trasila is here said +to have been a son-in-law of Aetius. + +[100] ‘Insperatis et inopinatis ictibus confoderunt.’ + +[101] Prosper. + +[102] We are not distinctly told that the fleet of Gaiseric lay at +anchor off Portus, but this is rather more probable than that they were +at Ostia. It is quite possible, however, that the fleet may have been +divided between the two ports when it was plain that there was to be no +opposition. This would enable the Vandals to load much more cargo during +the fourteen days, which on any hypothesis seems rather a short time for +the immense amount of business transacted in them. + + + + +INDEX. + +_(Modern place-names in Italics._) + + + A. + + Ad Salices (the Willows), battle of, 94. + + Aemona (_Laybach_), 127, 131, 153. + + Aequitius, Superintendent of the Palace, 100. + + Aetius, 178, 191-210, 225, 226. + + Agathias, 40 _n._, 41 _n._ + + Agentes in Rebus, 42. + + Alamanni, 25, 74. + + Alani, 124, 152, 182, 196, 206. + + Alaric, 131, 137-168. + + Alatheus the Ostrogoth, 96, 97. + + Alavivus, 87, 91. + + Ambrose, St., 122. + + Ammianus Marcellinus, 45, 47, 49, 102, 124. + + Angles, 183. + + Anianus, Bishop of Paris, 194. + + Antioch, 23, 118-120. + + Aquileia—besieged by Attila, 198. + + Arbogast, 110, 128-132. + + Arcadius, 36 _n._, 117, 134, 141, 142, 153, 155. + + Ardaburius the Alan, 177. + + Ardaric, King of the Gepidae, 196. + + Arian controversy, 31. + + Ariminum, plains of, 164, 172. + + Aristocracy of Rome, not theoretically hereditary, 8; + manners of, in fourth century, 47-48. + + Armogast, Count, 224. + + Army, Roman, size of, in the fourth century, 39-40. + + Ascholius, Bishop of Thessalonica, 109. + + Aspar the Alan, 177. + + Ataulfus, 172-175, 208. + + Athanaric (Judge of the Visigoths), 79, 86, 111, 112. + + Attalus, 162-164, 174. + + Attila, King of the Huns, 180-203. + + Augustine, St., 216. + + Augustus, work of, 14. + + + B. + + Bacurius, 131. + + Baltic, the, 183, 184. + + Barbaricum, 76, 79. + + Barritus, the, 94. + + Batvin (Gothic martyr), 79. + + Bauto, the Frank, 110, 128, 142. + + Bleda, King of the Huns, 180. + + Bonifacius, Governor of Africa, 179, 209-214. + + Bora, a fierce wind, 131. + + Botheric, 121. + + Bretons, the, 196. + + Britain, invasion of by Angles and Saxons, 183-184. + + Britain, Roman roads in, 2-4. + + Brutus, 12. + + Burgundians, the, 180, 196. + + Busentus, the, Alaric buried in, 168. + + + C. + + Caesar, work of, 13, 14; + on the Germans, 55. + + Caesarius, 119, 120. + + Camps, 20. + + Carthage, Vandals at, 215, 218-220. + + Cassiodorus, 49. + + Castinus, Magister Militum, 177, 209. + + Cauca (in Spain, the birthplace of Theodosius), 105. + + Celtic nationality, 73. + + Censorship, 9. + + Châlons, battle of, so called, 195. + + China, 183. + + Christian legislation of Constantine, 30, 51 _n._ + + Christianity, relation of Diocletian to, 28. + + — relation of Constantine to, 29. + + — relation of Constantine’s successors to, 31. + + Chrysopolis, battle of, 27. + + Chrysostom, St. John, 120. + + Clarissimi, class of, 43. + + Claudian, 144. + + Clovis and the vase of Soissons, 69 _n._ + + Coinage, Imperial, of 1st and 3rd centuries contrasted, 19. + + Coloni, condition of, 51-52. + + Comes Privatarum Rerum, 42. + + — Sacrarum Largitionum, 42. + + Consistory, Imperial, 37. + + Constantine the Great, 24, 31, 51 _n._ + + — the Usurper, 152, 163, 207. + + Constantinople, foundation of, 26; + siege of, 101. + + Constantius I, 24-25. + + — husband of Placidia, 176. + + — secretary to Attila, 184, 185. + + Crispus, son of Constantine, 27. + + Crocus, king of the Alamanni, 25. + + Curiales, 52-53. + + + D. + + Dahn, F., 60 _n._ + + Damasus, Pope, 109. + + Decurio, 52. + + Diocletian, his work of restoration, 21-25; + his death, 26; + his relation to Christianity, 28. + + + E. + + East, Prefecture of, 23. + + Edeco the Hun, 186. + + Ellebichus, 119, 120. + + Emperor, Roman, appearance of, 34, 35; + titles of, 36. + + Ernak, son of Attila, 190, 203. + + Eucherius, 155, 158. + + Eudoxia, wife of Arcadius, 142. + + — wife of Valentinian III, 225, 228, 232. + + — daughter of Valentinian III, 225; + married to Huneric, 232. + + Eugenius, Emperor, 130, 131. + + Eutropius, 142. + + Extortion of Roman Governors, 11, 17. + + + F. + + Fiesole, 149. + + Firmus, 106. + + Flaccilla, 126. + + Flavianus, Bishop of Antioch, 118-120. + + Food supply of Roman citizens, 48, 49. + + Franks, 74, 152, 179, 196. + + Frederic (Gothic martyr), 79. + + Freeman, E. A., 65 _n._, 210 _n._ + + Frigidus, battle of, 131. + + Fritigern, Visigothic chieftain, 79, 86, 87, 91, 92, 96, 97, 111. + + + G. + + Gainas the Goth, 131, 140, 141. + + Gaiseric, King of the Vandals, 192, 209-234. + + Galerius, colleague of Diocletian, 24. + + Galla, wife of Theodosius, 126, 130. + + Galla Placidia (see Placidia). + + Games of the circus, 49. + + Gau (= pagus), 65. + + Gaudentius, father of Aetius, 178. + + — son of Aetius, 226. + + Gauls, prefecture of the, 22, 23. + + Gelimer, King of the Vandals, 221. + + Geougen, the, 183. + + Gepidae, 182, 195, 202. + + Germania of Tacitus, 55. + + German kingship, 67-72. + + — popular assemblies, 70-72. + + Germans, condition of, 54-72. + + Gerontius, 207. + + Godigisclus, King of the Vandals, 206. + + ‘Gothic Architecture,’ 75; + Gothic Christianity, 78; + Gothic language, 76. + + Goths, 75. See Visigoths, Ostrogoths. + + Gratian, 91, 95, 105, 110, 111, 123-125. + + Greuthungi (= Ostrogoths?), 86 _n._ + + Gunderic, King of the Vandals, 208, 209. + + Gunthamund, King of the Vandals, 221. + + + H. + + Hadrianople, battle of (323), 27. + + — — (378), 96, 100. + + Helena, mother of Constantine, 24. + + Heraclian, 163, 167. + + Heraclius the Eunuch, 226, 228. + + Hermanric, King of the Ostrogoths, 76, 85. + + Heruli, 182, 195, 202. + + Hilderic, King of the Vandals, 221. + + Hippo, siege of, 214, 216. + + Hispalis (_Seville_) taken by Vandals, 209. + + Honoria, 185, 192. + + Honorius, 134, 146, 152-157, 161-164, 166, 176. + + Huneric, 217. + + Huns, 180, 193; + description of, by Jordanes, 81, 83; + ethnological character of, 84; + enter Europe (374), 85. + + + I. + + Ildico, wife of Attila, 202. + + Illustres, class of, 37. + + Illyricum, Prefecture of, 23. + + Ingenuus, 174. + + Italy, Prefecture of, 23. + + + J. + + Jerome, St., 45, 47, 174. + + Joannes, Emperor, 177. + + Jordanes (Gothic historian, wrote cir. 550), 81-83. + + Jovian, 90. + + Jovius, Praetorian prefect, 161-162. + + ‘Judges’ of the Visigoths, 76. + + Julian ‘the Apostate,’ 90. + + Julius, master of the soldiery, 104. + + Justina, 91, 126, 128. + + Jutes, the, 183. + + + K. + + Kingship and national unity, 67. + + + L. + + Lampadius, 153. + + Lancearii, 98. + + Land—settlement of the Germans, 60-62. + + Latifundia, 50, 51. + + Leo I, Pope, 200, 230. + + Leo, Emperor, 232. + + Libanius, 120. + + Licinius, his struggle with Constantine, 27. + + Lupicinus, Count of Thrace, 88-93. + + Lupus, St., Bishop of Troyes, 195, 198. + + + M. + + Magister Militiae, 39-40. + + Magister Officiorum, 42. + + Marcian, Emperor, 191. + + Marcianople (_Shumla_), 92-93. + + Marcomanni, 74. + + Maria, wife of Honorius, 154. + + Mattiarii, 98. + + Maxentius, Emperor, 26. + + Maximian, Emperor, 24, 26. + + Maximin Daza, Emperor, 24. + + — ambassador to Attila, 186. + + Maximus (a wealthy citizen of Rome), 47. + + Maximus, Duke of Moesia, 88-93. + + — Magnus Clemens, usurper, 123, 125, 126. + + Maximus, Emperor, 207, 228, 229. + + _Milan_ (Mediolanum), 23. + + Money, purchasing power of, 46 _n._ + + + N. + + Nicaea, Council of, 29-30. + + Nicomedia in Bithynia, 24-25. + + Nicopolis, city of, owned by Paula, 47. + + Notitia Utriusque Imperii, 38, 39, 40 _n._, 41, 42, 44. + + + O. + + Oath taken by soldiers to Emperor, 36. + + Offices, sale of, under the Empire, 43. + + Official hierarchy of the Empire, 37-44. + + Olybrius, ‘Shadow-Emperor,’ 232. + + Olympius, 155-157, 159. + + Onegesius the Hun, 187, 188. + + Optila, henchman of Aetius, 227. + + Orleans, siege of, 194. + + Orosius, 172. + + Ostrogoths, 75, 76, 99, 182, 195, 202. + + + P. + + Pagus, German, 65-66. + + Paris, 194. + + Paula, piety and wealth of, 47. + + Persian Empire, relation of, to Roman, 6-7. + + Placidia, daughter of Theodosius, 130, 171, 174-180, 184, 191. + + Placidia, daughter of Valentinian III, 225, 228, 232. + + Pliny, 50. + + Pollentia, battle of, 146. + + Possidius, Bishop of Calama, 216. + + Praefectus Annonae, 49. + + — Praetorio, office of, 38, 39. + + Praepositus Sacri Cubiculi, 41. + + Prefectures, the four great, 22-3. + + Priscus, ambassador to Attila, 186, 189. + + Probus, wealth of, 46. + + Procopius, 166, 210. + + Proculus, 136. + + Proletariate, 46 _n._ + + Pulcheria, sister of Theodosius II, 191, 228. + + + Q. + + Quaestor, 42. + + + R. + + Radagaisus, 145, 146, 148, 149. + + Ravenna, Honorius at, 146. + + Richomer, Count of the Domestics, 97. + + Ricimer, 232. + + Roman Empire, boundaries of, 1-7. + + Romanus, 106. + + Rome, sieges of, 159; + entered by Alaric, 164; + plunder of, by the Vandals, 231. + + Rufinus, Praetorian Prefect, 135-142. + + + S. + + Salarian Gate, Alaric enters Rome through, 164. + + Sallust, palace of, burned, 165. + + Sangiban, King of the Alani, 196. + + Saphrax, Ostrogothic chief, 96, 97. + + Sarmatians, 73, 74. + + Sarus the Goth, 149, 157, 164. + + Saulus the Alan, 131, 147. + + Saxons, the, 183, 196. + + Sebastian, General, 96, 100. + + — son-in-law of Bonifacius, 224. + + Seebohm, F., 62, 68 _n._ + + Senate of Rome, 7-9; + behaviour of Emperors to, 15-16. + + Serena, 136, 153, 160. + + Severus, 24. + + Siege artillery, Roman, 102. + + Silentiarii, 33. + + Silvanus the Goldsmith, 185. + + Singeric, 175. + + Sirmium, 23-95. + + — vases of, 184, 185, 192. + + Slaves, condition of, 50, 51. + + Slavonic nationality, 73. + + _Spalato_ (near Salona), 27 _n._ + + Spectabiles, class of, 38. + + Stilicho, 135-158. + + Stubbs, Bishop, 65 _n._ + + Suevi, 182, 206. + + Symmachus, wealth of, 46. + + + T. + + Tacitus, Germania of, 55, 60-62, 68, 71. + + Tatianus, 136. + + Theodoric, King of the Visigoths, 192-3. + + Theodosius the Elder, 106. + + — the Great, 105, 106-133, 139. + + — II, son of Arcadius, 155, 177, 186, 191. + + — son of Ataulfus and Placidia, 175. + + Thermantia, wife of Honorius, 154, 158. + + Thessalonica, 121, 126. + + Thincsus, epithet of German Mars, 70 _n._ + + Thing, meeting of the Folk, 70. + + Thiudans (= king in Gothic), 72. + + Thorismund the Visigoth, 196, 197. + + Thrasamund, King of the Vandals, 221. + + Thraustila, henchman of Aetius, 227. + + Ticinum (_Pavia_), 156. + + Trajan, General-in-Chief, 100. + + Tribunician power, 10. + + _Trier_ (Augusta Trevirorum), 23. + + + U. + + Uldin the Hun, 149. + + Ulfilas, Apostle of the Goths, 77, 78, 110. + + + V. + + Valens, Emperor, 87-98. + + Valentinian I, 90, 91. + + — II, 91, 125-129. + + — III, 177, 184, 191, 200, 225-7. + + Valerian, Count of Imperial Stables, 100. + + Vandals, the, 204-232. + + Venice, foundation of, 199. + + Victor, son of usurper Maximus, 128. + + Victor Vitensis, 224. + + Village settlements of the Germans, 57, 58. + + Visigoths, 75, 87-99, 179. + + Völker-wanderung, the, 215. + + + W. + + Waitz, G., 60 _n._ + + Walamir, King of the Ostrogoths, 196. + + Walia, King of the Visigoths, 176. + + Wealthy Romans, fortunes of, 46. + + + Y. + + _York_ (Eboracum), 25-26. + + + Z. + + Zercon, the Moor, 190. + + Zosimus, 133. + + +THE END. + + + + +[Illustration: THE ROMAN EMPIRE in the time of Valentinian I. A.D. +364-375] + +[Illustration: EUROPE IN THE YEAR 451] + + + + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR. + + +_Italy and her Invaders._ + +ILLUSTRATED WITH PLATES AND MAPS. + +Vols. I-IV, A.D. 376-553. + +8_vo._ 3_l._ 8_s._ + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 78826 *** |