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Title: The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Volume 3
Author: Edward Gibbon
Commentator: H. H. Milman
Release Date: November, 1996 [eBook #733]
[Most recently updated: March 14, 2021]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
Produced by: David Reed and David Widger
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE ***
HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Edward Gibbon, Esq.
With notes by the Rev. H. H. Milman
Vol. 3
1782 (Written), 1845 (Revised)
CONTENTS
Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part I.
Death Of Gratian.—Ruin Of Arianism.—St. Ambrose.—First Civil War,
Against Maximus.—Character, Administration, And Penance Of
Theodosius.—Death Of Valentinian II.—Second Civil War, Against
Eugenius.—Death Of Theodosius.
Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part II.
Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part III.
Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part IV.
Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part V.
Chapter XXVIII: Destruction Of Paganism.—Part I.
Final Destruction Of Paganism.—Introduction Of The Worship Of
Saints, And Relics, Among The Christians.
Chapter XXVIII: Destruction Of Paganism.—Part II.
Chapter XXVIII: Destruction Of Paganism.—Part III.
Chapter XXIX: Division Of Roman Empire Between Sons Of
Theodosius.—Part I.
Final Division Of The Roman Empire Between The Sons Of
Theodosius.—Reign Of Arcadius And Honorius—Administration Of
Rufinus And Stilicho.—Revolt And Defeat Of Gildo In Africa.
Chapter XXIX: Division Of Roman Empire Between Sons Of
Theodosius.—Part II.
Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part I.
Revolt Of The Goths.—They Plunder Greece.—Two Great Invasions Of
Italy By Alaric And Radagaisus.—They Are Repulsed By Stilicho.—The
Germans Overrun Gaul.—Usurpation Of Constantine In The
West.—Disgrace And Death Of Stilicho.
Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part II.
Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part III.
Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part IV.
Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part V.
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part I.
Invasion Of Italy By Alaric.—Manners Of The Roman Senate And
People.—Rome Is Thrice Besieged, And At Length Pillaged, By The
Goths.—Death Of Alaric.—The Goths Evacuate Italy.—Fall Of
Constantine.—Gaul And Spain Are Occupied By The Barbarians.
—Independence Of Britain.
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part II.
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part III.
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part IV.
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part V.
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part VI.
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part VII.
Chapter XXXII: Emperors Arcadius, Eutropius, Theodosius
II.—Part I.
Arcadius Emperor Of The East.—Administration And Disgrace Of
Eutropius.—Revolt Of Gainas.—Persecution Of St. John
Chrysostom.—Theodosius II. Emperor Of The East.—His Sister
Pulcheria.—His Wife Eudocia.—The Persian War, And Division Of
Armenia.
Chapter XXXII: Emperors Arcadius, Eutropius, Theodosius
II.—Part II.
Chapter XXXII: Emperors Arcadius, Eutropius, Theodosius
II.—Part III.
Chapter XXXIII: Conquest Of Africa By The Vandals.—Part I.
Death Of Honorius.—Valentinian III.—Emperor Of The East.
—Administration Of His Mother Placidia—Ætius And
Boniface.—Conquest Of Africa By The Vandals.
Chapter XXXIII: Conquest Of Africa By The Vandals.—Part II.
Chapter XXXIV: Attila.—Part I.
The Character, Conquests, And Court Of Attila, King Of The
Huns.—Death Of Theodosius The Younger.—Elevation Of Marcian To The
Empire Of The East.
Chapter XXXIV: Attila.—Part II.
Chapter XXXIV: Attila.—Part III.
Chapter XXXV: Invasion By Attila.—Part I.
Invasion Of Gaul By Attila.—He Is Repulsed By Ætius And The
Visigoths.—Attila Invades And Evacuates Italy.—The Deaths Of
Attila, Ætius, And Valentinian The Third.
Chapter XXXV: Invasion By Attila.—Part II.
Chapter XXXV: Invasion By Attila.—Part III.
Chapter XXXVI: Total Extinction Of The Western Empire.—Part I.
Sack Of Rome By Genseric, King Of The Vandals.—His Naval
Depredations.—Succession Of The Last Emperors Of The West,
Maximus, Avitus, Majorian, Severus, Anthemius, Olybrius,
Glycerius, Nepos, Augustulus.—Total Extinction Of The Western
Empire.—Reign Of Odoacer, The First Barbarian King Of Italy.
Chapter XXXVI: Total Extinction Of The Western Empire.—Part
II.
Chapter XXXVI: Total Extinction Of The Western Empire.—Part
III.
Chapter XXXVI: Total Extinction Of The Western Empire.—Part
IV.
Chapter XXXVI: Total Extinction Of The Western Empire.—Part V.
Chapter XXXVII: Conversion Of The Barbarians To
Christianity.—Part I.
Origin Progress, And Effects Of The Monastic Life.— Conversion Of
The Barbarians To Christianity And Arianism.— Persecution Of The
Vandals In Africa.—Extinction Of Arianism Among The Barbarians.
Chapter XXXVII: Conversion Of The Barbarians To
Christianity.—Part II.
Chapter XXXVII: Conversion Of The Barbarians To
Christianity.—Part III.
Chapter XXXVII: Conversion Of The Barbarians To
Christianity.—Part IV.
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part I.
Reign And Conversion Of Clovis.—His Victories Over The Alemanni,
Burgundians, And Visigoths.—Establishment Of The French Monarchy
In Gaul.—Laws Of The Barbarians.—State Of The Romans.—The
Visigoths Of Spain.—Conquest Of Britain By The Saxons.
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part II.
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part III.
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part IV.
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part V.
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part VI.
Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part I.
Death Of Gratian.—Ruin Of Arianism.—St. Ambrose.—First Civil War,
Against Maximus.—Character, Administration, And Penance Of
Theodosius.—Death Of Valentinian II.—Second Civil War, Against
Eugenius.—Death Of Theodosius.
The fame of Gratian, before he had accomplished the twentieth
year of his age, was equal to that of the most celebrated
princes. His gentle and amiable disposition endeared him to his
private friends, the graceful affability of his manners engaged
the affection of the people: the men of letters, who enjoyed the
liberality, acknowledged the taste and eloquence, of their
sovereign; his valor and dexterity in arms were equally applauded
by the soldiers; and the clergy considered the humble piety of
Gratian as the first and most useful of his virtues. The victory
of Colmar had delivered the West from a formidable invasion; and
the grateful provinces of the East ascribed the merits of
Theodosius to the author of his greatness, and of the public
safety. Gratian survived those memorable events only four or five
years; but he survived his reputation; and, before he fell a
victim to rebellion, he had lost, in a great measure, the respect
and confidence of the Roman world.
The remarkable alteration of his character or conduct may not be
imputed to the arts of flattery, which had besieged the son of
Valentinian from his infancy; nor to the headstrong passions
which the that gentle youth appears to have escaped. A more
attentive view of the life of Gratian may perhaps suggest the
true cause of the disappointment of the public hopes. His
apparent virtues, instead of being the hardy productions of
experience and adversity, were the premature and artificial
fruits of a royal education. The anxious tenderness of his father
was continually employed to bestow on him those advantages, which
he might perhaps esteem the more highly, as he himself had been
deprived of them; and the most skilful masters of every science,
and of every art, had labored to form the mind and body of the
young prince. 1 The knowledge which they painfully communicated
was displayed with ostentation, and celebrated with lavish
praise. His soft and tractable disposition received the fair
impression of their judicious precepts, and the absence of
passion might easily be mistaken for the strength of reason. His
preceptors gradually rose to the rank and consequence of
ministers of state: 2 and, as they wisely dissembled their secret
authority, he seemed to act with firmness, with propriety, and
with judgment, on the most important occasions of his life and
reign. But the influence of this elaborate instruction did not
penetrate beyond the surface; and the skilful preceptors, who so
accurately guided the steps of their royal pupil, could not
infuse into his feeble and indolent character the vigorous and
independent principle of action which renders the laborious
pursuit of glory essentially necessary to the happiness, and
almost to the existence, of the hero. As soon as time and
accident had removed those faithful counsellors from the throne,
the emperor of the West insensibly descended to the level of his
natural genius; abandoned the reins of government to the
ambitious hands which were stretched forwards to grasp them; and
amused his leisure with the most frivolous gratifications. A
public sale of favor and injustice was instituted, both in the
court and in the provinces, by the worthless delegates of his
power, whose merit it was made sacrilege to question. 3 The
conscience of the credulous prince was directed by saints and
bishops; 4 who procured an Imperial edict to punish, as a capital
offence, the violation, the neglect, or even the ignorance, of
the divine law. 5 Among the various arts which had exercised the
youth of Gratian, he had applied himself, with singular
inclination and success, to manage the horse, to draw the bow,
and to dart the javelin; and these qualifications, which might be
useful to a soldier, were prostituted to the viler purposes of
hunting. Large parks were enclosed for the Imperial pleasures,
and plentifully stocked with every species of wild beasts; and
Gratian neglected the duties, and even the dignity, of his rank,
to consume whole days in the vain display of his dexterity and
boldness in the chase. The pride and wish of the Roman emperor to
excel in an art, in which he might be surpassed by the meanest of
his slaves, reminded the numerous spectators of the examples of
Nero and Commodus, but the chaste and temperate Gratian was a
stranger to their monstrous vices; and his hands were stained
only with the blood of animals. 6 The behavior of Gratian, which
degraded his character in the eyes of mankind, could not have
disturbed the security of his reign, if the army had not been
provoked to resent their peculiar injuries. As long as the young
emperor was guided by the instructions of his masters, he
professed himself the friend and pupil of the soldiers; many of
his hours were spent in the familiar conversation of the camp;
and the health, the comforts, the rewards, the honors, of his
faithful troops, appeared to be the objects of his attentive
concern. But, after Gratian more freely indulged his prevailing
taste for hunting and shooting, he naturally connected himself
with the most dexterous ministers of his favorite amusement. A
body of the Alani was received into the military and domestic
service of the palace; and the admirable skill, which they were
accustomed to display in the unbounded plains of Scythia, was
exercised, on a more narrow theatre, in the parks and enclosures
of Gaul. Gratian admired the talents and customs of these
favorite guards, to whom alone he intrusted the defence of his
person; and, as if he meant to insult the public opinion, he
frequently showed himself to the soldiers and people, with the
dress and arms, the long bow, the sounding quiver, and the fur
garments of a Scythian warrior. The unworthy spectacle of a Roman
prince, who had renounced the dress and manners of his country,
filled the minds of the legions with grief and indignation. 7
Even the Germans, so strong and formidable in the armies of the
empire, affected to disdain the strange and horrid appearance of
the savages of the North, who, in the space of a few years, had
wandered from the banks of the Volga to those of the Seine. A
loud and licentious murmur was echoed through the camps and
garrisons of the West; and as the mild indolence of Gratian
neglected to extinguish the first symptoms of discontent, the
want of love and respect was not supplied by the influence of
fear. But the subversion of an established government is always a
work of some real, and of much apparent, difficulty; and the
throne of Gratian was protected by the sanctions of custom, law,
religion, and the nice balance of the civil and military powers,
which had been established by the policy of Constantine. It is
not very important to inquire from what cause the revolt of
Britain was produced. Accident is commonly the parent of
disorder; the seeds of rebellion happened to fall on a soil which
was supposed to be more fruitful than any other in tyrants and
usurpers; 8 the legions of that sequestered island had been long
famous for a spirit of presumption and arrogance; 9 and the name
of Maximus was proclaimed, by the tumultuary, but unanimous
voice, both of the soldiers and of the provincials. The emperor,
or the rebel,—for this title was not yet ascertained by
fortune,—was a native of Spain, the countryman, the
fellow-soldier, and the rival of Theodosius whose elevation he
had not seen without some emotions of envy and resentment: the
events of his life had long since fixed him in Britain; and I
should not be unwilling to find some evidence for the marriage,
which he is said to have contracted with the daughter of a
wealthy lord of Caernarvonshire. 10 But this provincial rank
might justly be considered as a state of exile and obscurity; and
if Maximus had obtained any civil or military office, he was not
invested with the authority either of governor or general. 11 His
abilities, and even his integrity, are acknowledged by the
partial writers of the age; and the merit must indeed have been
conspicuous that could extort such a confession in favor of the
vanquished enemy of Theodosius. The discontent of Maximus might
incline him to censure the conduct of his sovereign, and to
encourage, perhaps, without any views of ambition, the murmurs of
the troops. But in the midst of the tumult, he artfully, or
modestly, refused to ascend the throne; and some credit appears
to have been given to his own positive declaration, that he was
compelled to accept the dangerous present of the Imperial purple.
12
1 (return) [ Valentinian was less attentive to the religion of
his son; since he intrusted the education of Gratian to Ausonius,
a professed Pagan. (Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xv.
p. 125-138). The poetical fame of Ausonius condemns the taste of
his age.]
2 (return) [ Ausonius was successively promoted to the Prætorian
præfecture of Italy, (A.D. 377,) and of Gaul, (A.D. 378;) and
was at length invested with the consulship, (A.D. 379.) He
expressed his gratitude in a servile and insipid piece of
flattery, (Actio Gratiarum, p. 699-736,) which has survived more
worthy productions.]
3 (return) [ Disputare de principali judicio non oportet.
Sacrilegii enim instar est dubitare, an is dignus sit, quem
elegerit imperator. Codex Justinian, l. ix. tit. xxix. leg. 3.
This convenient law was revived and promulgated, after the death
of Gratian, by the feeble court of Milan.]
4 (return) [ Ambrose composed, for his instruction, a theological
treatise on the faith of the Trinity: and Tillemont, (Hist. des
Empereurs, tom. v. p. 158, 169,) ascribes to the archbishop the
merit of Gratian’s intolerant laws.]
5 (return) [ Qui divinae legis sanctitatem nesciendo omittunt,
aut negligende violant, et offendunt, sacrilegium committunt.
Codex Justinian. l. ix. tit. xxix. leg. 1. Theodosius indeed may
claim his share in the merit of this comprehensive law.]
6 (return) [ Ammianus (xxxi. 10) and the younger Victor
acknowledge the virtues of Gratian; and accuse, or rather lament,
his degenerate taste. The odious parallel of Commodus is saved by
“licet incruentus;” and perhaps Philostorgius (l. x. c. 10, and
Godefroy, p. 41) had guarded with some similar reserve, the
comparison of Nero.]
7 (return) [ Zosimus (l. iv. p. 247) and the younger Victor
ascribe the revolution to the favor of the Alani, and the
discontent of the Roman troops Dum exercitum negligeret, et
paucos ex Alanis, quos ingenti auro ad sa transtulerat,
anteferret veteri ac Romano militi.]
8 (return) [ Britannia fertilis provincia tyrannorum, is a
memorable expression, used by Jerom in the Pelagian controversy,
and variously tortured in the disputes of our national
antiquaries. The revolutions of the last age appeared to justify
the image of the sublime Bossuet, “sette ile, plus orageuse que
les mers qui l’environment.”]
9 (return) [ Zosimus says of the British soldiers.]
10 (return) [ Helena, the daughter of Eudda. Her chapel may still
be seen at Caer-segont, now Caer-narvon. (Carte’s Hist. of
England, vol. i. p. 168, from Rowland’s Mona Antiqua.) The
prudent reader may not perhaps be satisfied with such Welsh
evidence.]
11 (return) [ Camden (vol. i. introduct. p. ci.) appoints him
governor at Britain; and the father of our antiquities is
followed, as usual, by his blind progeny. Pacatus and Zosimus had
taken some pains to prevent this error, or fable; and I shall
protect myself by their decisive testimonies. Regali habitu
exulem suum, illi exules orbis induerunt, (in Panegyr. Vet. xii.
23,) and the Greek historian still less equivocally, (Maximus)
(l. iv. p. 248.)]
12 (return) [ Sulpicius Severus, Dialog. ii. 7. Orosius, l. vii.
c. 34. p. 556. They both acknowledge (Sulpicius had been his
subject) his innocence and merit. It is singular enough, that
Maximus should be less favorably treated by Zosimus, the partial
adversary of his rival.]
But there was danger likewise in refusing the empire; and from
the moment that Maximus had violated his allegiance to his lawful
sovereign, he could not hope to reign, or even to live, if he
confined his moderate ambition within the narrow limits of
Britain. He boldly and wisely resolved to prevent the designs of
Gratian; the youth of the island crowded to his standard, and he
invaded Gaul with a fleet and army, which were long afterwards
remembered, as the emigration of a considerable part of the
British nation. 13 The emperor, in his peaceful residence of
Paris, was alarmed by their hostile approach; and the darts which
he idly wasted on lions and bears, might have been employed more
honorably against the rebels. But his feeble efforts announced
his degenerate spirit and desperate situation; and deprived him
of the resources, which he still might have found, in the support
of his subjects and allies. The armies of Gaul, instead of
opposing the march of Maximus, received him with joyful and loyal
acclamations; and the shame of the desertion was transferred from
the people to the prince. The troops, whose station more
immediately attached them to the service of the palace, abandoned
the standard of Gratian the first time that it was displayed in
the neighborhood of Paris. The emperor of the West fled towards
Lyons, with a train of only three hundred horse; and, in the
cities along the road, where he hoped to find refuge, or at least
a passage, he was taught, by cruel experience, that every gate is
shut against the unfortunate. Yet he might still have reached, in
safety, the dominions of his brother; and soon have returned with
the forces of Italy and the East; if he had not suffered himself
to be fatally deceived by the perfidious governor of the Lyonnese
province. Gratian was amused by protestations of doubtful
fidelity, and the hopes of a support, which could not be
effectual; till the arrival of Andragathius, the general of the
cavalry of Maximus, put an end to his suspense. That resolute
officer executed, without remorse, the orders or the intention of
the usurper. Gratian, as he rose from supper, was delivered into
the hands of the assassin: and his body was denied to the pious
and pressing entreaties of his brother Valentinian. 14 The death
of the emperor was followed by that of his powerful general
Mellobaudes, the king of the Franks; who maintained, to the last
moment of his life, the ambiguous reputation, which is the just
recompense of obscure and subtle policy. 15 These executions
might be necessary to the public safety: but the successful
usurper, whose power was acknowledged by all the provinces of the
West, had the merit, and the satisfaction, of boasting, that,
except those who had perished by the chance of war, his triumph
was not stained by the blood of the Romans. 16
13 (return) [ Archbishop Usher (Antiquat. Britan. Eccles. p. 107,
108) has diligently collected the legends of the island, and the
continent. The whole emigration consisted of 30,000 soldiers, and
100,000 plebeians, who settled in Bretagne. Their destined
brides, St. Ursula with 11,000 noble, and 60,000 plebeian,
virgins, mistook their way; landed at Cologne, and were all most
cruelly murdered by the Huns. But the plebeian sisters have been
defrauded of their equal honors; and what is still harder, John
Trithemius presumes to mention the children of these British
virgins.]
14 (return) [ Zosimus (l. iv. p. 248, 249) has transported the
death of Gratian from Lugdunum in Gaul (Lyons) to Singidunum in
Moesia. Some hints may be extracted from the Chronicles; some
lies may be detected in Sozomen (l. vii. c. 13) and Socrates, (l.
v. c. 11.) Ambrose is our most authentic evidence, (tom. i.
Enarrat. in Psalm lxi. p. 961, tom ii. epist. xxiv. p. 888 &c.,
and de Obitu Valentinian Consolat. Ner. 28, p. 1182.)]
15 (return) [ Pacatus (xii. 28) celebrates his fidelity; while
his treachery is marked in Prosper’s Chronicle, as the cause of
the ruin of Gratian. Ambrose, who has occasion to exculpate
himself, only condemns the death of Vallio, a faithful servant of
Gratian, (tom. ii. epist. xxiv. p. 891, edit. Benedict.) * Note:
Le Beau contests the reading in the chronicle of Prosper upon
which this charge rests. Le Beau, iv. 232.—M. * Note: According
to Pacatus, the Count Vallio, who commanded the army, was carried
to Chalons to be burnt alive; but Maximus, dreading the
imputation of cruelty, caused him to be secretly strangled by his
Bretons. Macedonius also, master of the offices, suffered the
death which he merited. Le Beau, iv. 244.—M.]
16 (return) [ He protested, nullum ex adversariis nisi in acissie
occubu. Sulp. Jeverus in Vit. B. Martin, c. 23. The orator
Theodosius bestows reluctant, and therefore weighty, praise on
his clemency. Si cui ille, pro ceteris sceleribus suis, minus
crudelis fuisse videtur, (Panegyr. Vet. xii. 28.)]
The events of this revolution had passed in such rapid
succession, that it would have been impossible for Theodosius to
march to the relief of his benefactor, before he received the
intelligence of his defeat and death. During the season of
sincere grief, or ostentatious mourning, the Eastern emperor was
interrupted by the arrival of the principal chamberlain of
Maximus; and the choice of a venerable old man, for an office
which was usually exercised by eunuchs, announced to the court of
Constantinople the gravity and temperance of the British usurper.
The ambassador condescended to justify, or excuse, the conduct of
his master; and to protest, in specious language, that the murder
of Gratian had been perpetrated, without his knowledge or
consent, by the precipitate zeal of the soldiers. But he
proceeded, in a firm and equal tone, to offer Theodosius the
alternative of peace, or war. The speech of the ambassador
concluded with a spirited declaration, that although Maximus, as
a Roman, and as the father of his people, would choose rather to
employ his forces in the common defence of the republic, he was
armed and prepared, if his friendship should be rejected, to
dispute, in a field of battle, the empire of the world. An
immediate and peremptory answer was required; but it was
extremely difficult for Theodosius to satisfy, on this important
occasion, either the feelings of his own mind, or the
expectations of the public. The imperious voice of honor and
gratitude called aloud for revenge. From the liberality of
Gratian, he had received the Imperial diadem; his patience would
encourage the odious suspicion, that he was more deeply sensible
of former injuries, than of recent obligations; and if he
accepted the friendship, he must seem to share the guilt, of the
assassin. Even the principles of justice, and the interest of
society, would receive a fatal blow from the impunity of Maximus;
and the example of successful usurpation would tend to dissolve
the artificial fabric of government, and once more to replunge
the empire in the crimes and calamities of the preceding age.
But, as the sentiments of gratitude and honor should invariably
regulate the conduct of an individual, they may be overbalanced
in the mind of a sovereign, by the sense of superior duties; and
the maxims both of justice and humanity must permit the escape of
an atrocious criminal, if an innocent people would be involved in
the consequences of his punishment. The assassin of Gratian had
usurped, but he actually possessed, the most warlike provinces of
the empire: the East was exhausted by the misfortunes, and even
by the success, of the Gothic war; and it was seriously to be
apprehended, that, after the vital strength of the republic had
been wasted in a doubtful and destructive contest, the feeble
conqueror would remain an easy prey to the Barbarians of the
North. These weighty considerations engaged Theodosius to
dissemble his resentment, and to accept the alliance of the
tyrant. But he stipulated, that Maximus should content himself
with the possession of the countries beyond the Alps. The brother
of Gratian was confirmed and secured in the sovereignty of Italy,
Africa, and the Western Illyricum; and some honorable conditions
were inserted in the treaty, to protect the memory, and the laws,
of the deceased emperor. 17 According to the custom of the age,
the images of the three Imperial colleagues were exhibited to the
veneration of the people; nor should it be lightly supposed,
that, in the moment of a solemn reconciliation, Theodosius
secretly cherished the intention of perfidy and revenge. 18
17 (return) [ Ambrose mentions the laws of Gratian, quas non
abrogavit hostia (tom. ii epist. xvii. p. 827.)]
18 (return) [ Zosimus, l. iv. p. 251, 252. We may disclaim his
odious suspicions; but we cannot reject the treaty of peace which
the friends of Theodosius have absolutely forgotten, or slightly
mentioned.]
The contempt of Gratian for the Roman soldiers had exposed him to
the fatal effects of their resentment. His profound veneration
for the Christian clergy was rewarded by the applause and
gratitude of a powerful order, which has claimed, in every age,
the privilege of dispensing honors, both on earth and in heaven.
19 The orthodox bishops bewailed his death, and their own
irreparable loss; but they were soon comforted by the discovery,
that Gratian had committed the sceptre of the East to the hands
of a prince, whose humble faith and fervent zeal, were supported
by the spirit and abilities of a more vigorous character. Among
the benefactors of the church, the fame of Constantine has been
rivalled by the glory of Theodosius. If Constantine had the
advantage of erecting the standard of the cross, the emulation of
his successor assumed the merit of subduing the Arian heresy, and
of abolishing the worship of idols in the Roman world. Theodosius
was the first of the emperors baptized in the true faith of the
Trinity. Although he was born of a Christian family, the maxims,
or at least the practice, of the age, encouraged him to delay the
ceremony of his initiation; till he was admonished of the danger
of delay, by the serious illness which threatened his life,
towards the end of the first year of his reign. Before he again
took the field against the Goths, he received the sacrament of
baptism 20 from Acholius, the orthodox bishop of Thessalonica: 21
and, as the emperor ascended from the holy font, still glowing
with the warm feelings of regeneration, he dictated a solemn
edict, which proclaimed his own faith, and prescribed the
religion of his subjects. “It is our pleasure (such is the
Imperial style) that all the nations, which are governed by our
clemency and moderation, should steadfastly adhere to the
religion which was taught by St. Peter to the Romans; which
faithful tradition has preserved; and which is now professed by
the pontiff Damasus, and by Peter, bishop of Alexandria, a man of
apostolic holiness. According to the discipline of the apostles,
and the doctrine of the gospel, let us believe the sole deity of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; under an equal majesty,
and a pious Trinity. We authorize the followers of this doctrine
to assume the title of Catholic Christians; and as we judge, that
all others are extravagant madmen, we brand them with the
infamous name of Heretics; and declare that their conventicles
shall no longer usurp the respectable appellation of churches.
Besides the condemnation of divine justice, they must expect to
suffer the severe penalties, which our authority, guided by
heavenly wisdom, shall think proper to inflict upon them.” 22 The
faith of a soldier is commonly the fruit of instruction, rather
than of inquiry; but as the emperor always fixed his eyes on the
visible landmarks of orthodoxy, which he had so prudently
constituted, his religious opinions were never affected by the
specious texts, the subtle arguments, and the ambiguous creeds of
the Arian doctors. Once indeed he expressed a faint inclination
to converse with the eloquent and learned Eunomius, who lived in
retirement at a small distance from Constantinople. But the
dangerous interview was prevented by the prayers of the empress
Flaccilla, who trembled for the salvation of her husband; and the
mind of Theodosius was confirmed by a theological argument,
adapted to the rudest capacity. He had lately bestowed on his
eldest son, Arcadius, the name and honors of Augustus, and the
two princes were seated on a stately throne to receive the homage
of their subjects. A bishop, Amphilochius of Iconium, approached
the throne, and after saluting, with due reverence, the person of
his sovereign, he accosted the royal youth with the same familiar
tenderness which he might have used towards a plebeian child.
Provoked by this insolent behavior, the monarch gave orders, that
the rustic priest should be instantly driven from his presence.
But while the guards were forcing him to the door, the dexterous
polemic had time to execute his design, by exclaiming, with a
loud voice, “Such is the treatment, O emperor! which the King of
heaven has prepared for those impious men, who affect to worship
the Father, but refuse to acknowledge the equal majesty of his
divine Son.” Theodosius immediately embraced the bishop of
Iconium, and never forgot the important lesson, which he had
received from this dramatic parable. 23
19 (return) [ Their oracle, the archbishop of Milan, assigns to
his pupil Gratian, a high and respectable place in heaven, (tom.
ii. de Obit. Val. Consol p. 1193.)]
20 (return) [ For the baptism of Theodosius, see Sozomen, (l.
vii. c. 4,) Socrates, (l. v. c. 6,) and Tillemont, (Hist. des
Empereurs, tom. v. p. 728.)]
21 (return) [ Ascolius, or Acholius, was honored by the
friendship, and the praises, of Ambrose; who styles him murus
fidei atque sanctitatis, (tom. ii. epist. xv. p. 820;) and
afterwards celebrates his speed and diligence in running to
Constantinople, Italy, &c., (epist. xvi. p. 822.) a virtue which
does not appertain either to a wall, or a bishop.]
22 (return) [ Codex Theodos. l. xvi. tit. i. leg. 2, with
Godefroy’s Commentary, tom. vi. p. 5-9. Such an edict deserved
the warmest praises of Baronius, auream sanctionem, edictum pium
et salutare.—Sic itua ad astra.]
23 (return) [ Sozomen, l. vii. c. 6. Theodoret, l. v. c. 16.
Tillemont is displeased (Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 627, 628) with
the terms of “rustic bishop,” “obscure city.” Yet I must take
leave to think, that both Amphilochius and Iconium were objects
of inconsiderable magnitude in the Roman empire.]
Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part II.
Constantinople was the principal seat and fortress of Arianism;
and, in a long interval of forty years, 24 the faith of the
princes and prelates, who reigned in the capital of the East, was
rejected in the purer schools of Rome and Alexandria. The
archiepiscopal throne of Macedonius, which had been polluted with
so much Christian blood, was successively filled by Eudoxus and
Damophilus. Their diocese enjoyed a free importation of vice and
error from every province of the empire; the eager pursuit of
religious controversy afforded a new occupation to the busy
idleness of the metropolis; and we may credit the assertion of an
intelligent observer, who describes, with some pleasantry, the
effects of their loquacious zeal. “This city,” says he, “is full
of mechanics and slaves, who are all of them profound
theologians; and preach in the shops, and in the streets. If you
desire a man to change a piece of silver, he informs you, wherein
the Son differs from the Father; if you ask the price of a loaf,
you are told by way of reply, that the Son is inferior to the
Father; and if you inquire, whether the bath is ready, the answer
is, that the Son was made out of nothing.” 25 The heretics, of
various denominations, subsisted in peace under the protection of
the Arians of Constantinople; who endeavored to secure the
attachment of those obscure sectaries, while they abused, with
unrelenting severity, the victory which they had obtained over
the followers of the council of Nice. During the partial reigns
of Constantius and Valens, the feeble remnant of the Homoousians
was deprived of the public and private exercise of their
religion; and it has been observed, in pathetic language, that
the scattered flock was left without a shepherd to wander on the
mountains, or to be devoured by rapacious wolves. 26 But, as
their zeal, instead of being subdued, derived strength and vigor
from oppression, they seized the first moments of imperfect
freedom, which they had acquired by the death of Valens, to form
themselves into a regular congregation, under the conduct of an
episcopal pastor. Two natives of Cappadocia, Basil, and Gregory
Nazianzen, 27 were distinguished above all their contemporaries,
28 by the rare union of profane eloquence and of orthodox piety.
These orators, who might sometimes be compared, by themselves,
and by the public, to the most celebrated of the ancient Greeks,
were united by the ties of the strictest friendship. They had
cultivated, with equal ardor, the same liberal studies in the
schools of Athens; they had retired, with equal devotion, to the
same solitude in the deserts of Pontus; and every spark of
emulation, or envy, appeared to be totally extinguished in the
holy and ingenuous breasts of Gregory and Basil. But the
exaltation of Basil, from a private life to the archiepiscopal
throne of Caesarea, discovered to the world, and perhaps to
himself, the pride of his character; and the first favor which he
condescended to bestow on his friend, was received, and perhaps
was intended, as a cruel insult. 29 Instead of employing the
superior talents of Gregory in some useful and conspicuous
station, the haughty prelate selected, among the fifty bishoprics
of his extensive province, the wretched village of Sasima, 30
without water, without verdure, without society, situate at the
junction of three highways, and frequented only by the incessant
passage of rude and clamorous wagoners. Gregory submitted with
reluctance to this humiliating exile; he was ordained bishop of
Sasima; but he solemnly protests, that he never consummated his
spiritual marriage with this disgusting bride. He afterwards
consented to undertake the government of his native church of
Nazianzus, 31 of which his father had been bishop above
five-and-forty years. But as he was still conscious that he
deserved another audience, and another theatre, he accepted, with
no unworthy ambition, the honorable invitation, which was
addressed to him from the orthodox party of Constantinople. On
his arrival in the capital, Gregory was entertained in the house
of a pious and charitable kinsman; the most spacious room was
consecrated to the uses of religious worship; and the name of
Anastasia was chosen to express the resurrection of the Nicene
faith. This private conventicle was afterwards converted into a
magnificent church; and the credulity of the succeeding age was
prepared to believe the miracles and visions, which attested the
presence, or at least the protection, of the Mother of God. 32
The pulpit of the Anastasia was the scene of the labors and
triumphs of Gregory Nazianzen; and, in the space of two years, he
experienced all the spiritual adventures which constitute the
prosperous or adverse fortunes of a missionary. 33 The Arians,
who were provoked by the boldness of his enterprise, represented
his doctrine, as if he had preached three distinct and equal
Deities; and the devout populace was excited to suppress, by
violence and tumult, the irregular assemblies of the Athanasian
heretics. From the cathedral of St. Sophia there issued a motley
crowd “of common beggars, who had forfeited their claim to pity;
of monks, who had the appearance of goats or satyrs; and of
women, more terrible than so many Jezebels.” The doors of the
Anastasia were broke open; much mischief was perpetrated, or
attempted, with sticks, stones, and firebrands; and as a man lost
his life in the affray, Gregory, who was summoned the next
morning before the magistrate, had the satisfaction of supposing,
that he publicly confessed the name of Christ. After he was
delivered from the fear and danger of a foreign enemy, his infant
church was disgraced and distracted by intestine faction. A
stranger who assumed the name of Maximus, 34 and the cloak of a
Cynic philosopher, insinuated himself into the confidence of
Gregory; deceived and abused his favorable opinion; and forming a
secret connection with some bishops of Egypt, attempted, by a
clandestine ordination, to supplant his patron in the episcopal
seat of Constantinople. These mortifications might sometimes
tempt the Cappadocian missionary to regret his obscure solitude.
But his fatigues were rewarded by the daily increase of his fame
and his congregation; and he enjoyed the pleasure of observing,
that the greater part of his numerous audience retired from his
sermons satisfied with the eloquence of the preacher, 35 or
dissatisfied with the manifold imperfections of their faith and
practice. 36
24 (return) [ Sozomen, l. vii. c. v. Socrates, l. v. c. 7.
Marcellin. in Chron. The account of forty years must be dated
from the election or intrusion of Eusebius, who wisely exchanged
the bishopric of Nicomedia for the throne of Constantinople.]
25 (return) [ See Jortin’s Remarks on Ecclesiastical History,
vol. iv. p. 71. The thirty-third Oration of Gregory Nazianzen
affords indeed some similar ideas, even some still more
ridiculous; but I have not yet found the words of this remarkable
passage, which I allege on the faith of a correct and liberal
scholar.]
26 (return) [ See the thirty-second Oration of Gregory Nazianzen,
and the account of his own life, which he has composed in 1800
iambics. Yet every physician is prone to exaggerate the
inveterate nature of the disease which he has cured.]
27 (return) [ I confess myself deeply indebted to the two lives
of Gregory Nazianzen, composed, with very different views, by
Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 305-560, 692-731) and Le
Clerc, (Bibliothèque Universelle, tom. xviii. p. 1-128.)]
28 (return) [ Unless Gregory Nazianzen mistook thirty years in
his own age, he was born, as well as his friend Basil, about the
year 329. The preposterous chronology of Suidas has been
graciously received, because it removes the scandal of Gregory’s
father, a saint likewise, begetting children after he became a
bishop, (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 693-697.)]
29 (return) [ Gregory’s Poem on his own Life contains some
beautiful lines, (tom. ii. p. 8,) which burst from the heart, and
speak the pangs of injured and lost friendship. ——In the
Midsummer Night’s Dream, Helena addresses the same pathetic
complaint to her friend Hermia:—Is all the counsel that we two
have shared. The sister’s vows, &c. Shakspeare had never read the
poems of Gregory Nazianzen; he was ignorant of the Greek
language; but his mother tongue, the language of Nature, is the
same in Cappadocia and in Britain.]
30 (return) [ This unfavorable portrait of Sasimae is drawn by
Gregory Nazianzen, (tom. ii. de Vita sua, p. 7, 8.) Its precise
situation, forty-nine miles from Archelais, and thirty-two from
Tyana, is fixed in the Itinerary of Antoninus, (p. 144, edit.
Wesseling.)]
31 (return) [ The name of Nazianzus has been immortalized by
Gregory; but his native town, under the Greek or Roman title of
Diocaesarea, (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 692,) is
mentioned by Pliny, (vi. 3,) Ptolemy, and Hierocles, (Itinerar.
Wesseling, p. 709). It appears to have been situate on the edge
of Isauria.]
32 (return) [ See Ducange, Constant. Christiana, l. iv. p. 141,
142. The Sozomen (l. vii. c. 5) is interpreted to mean the Virgin
Mary.]
33 (return) [ Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 432, &c.)
diligently collects, enlarges, and explains, the oratorical and
poetical hints of Gregory himself.]
34 (return) [ He pronounced an oration (tom. i. Orat. xxiii. p.
409) in his praise; but after their quarrel, the name of Maximus
was changed into that of Heron, (see Jerom, tom. i. in Catalog.
Script. Eccles. p. 301). I touch slightly on these obscure and
personal squabbles.]
35 (return) [ Under the modest emblem of a dream, Gregory (tom.
ii. Carmen ix. p. 78) describes his own success with some human
complacency. Yet it should seem, from his familiar conversation
with his auditor St. Jerom, (tom. i. Epist. ad Nepotian. p. 14,)
that the preacher understood the true value of popular applause.]
36 (return) [ Lachrymae auditorum laudes tuae sint, is the lively
and judicious advice of St. Jerom.]
The Catholics of Constantinople were animated with joyful
confidence by the baptism and edict of Theodosius; and they
impatiently waited the effects of his gracious promise. Their
hopes were speedily accomplished; and the emperor, as soon as he
had finished the operations of the campaign, made his public
entry into the capital at the head of a victorious army. The next
day after his arrival, he summoned Damophilus to his presence,
and offered that Arian prelate the hard alternative of
subscribing the Nicene creed, or of instantly resigning, to the
orthodox believers, the use and possession of the episcopal
palace, the cathedral of St. Sophia, and all the churches of
Constantinople. The zeal of Damophilus, which in a Catholic saint
would have been justly applauded, embraced, without hesitation, a
life of poverty and exile, 37 and his removal was immediately
followed by the purification of the Imperial city. The Arians
might complain, with some appearance of justice, that an
inconsiderable congregation of sectaries should usurp the hundred
churches, which they were insufficient to fill; whilst the far
greater part of the people was cruelly excluded from every place
of religious worship. Theodosius was still inexorable; but as the
angels who protected the Catholic cause were only visible to the
eyes of faith, he prudently reenforced those heavenly legions
with the more effectual aid of temporal and carnal weapons; and
the church of St. Sophia was occupied by a large body of the
Imperial guards. If the mind of Gregory was susceptible of pride,
he must have felt a very lively satisfaction, when the emperor
conducted him through the streets in solemn triumph; and, with
his own hand, respectfully placed him on the archiepiscopal
throne of Constantinople. But the saint (who had not subdued the
imperfections of human virtue) was deeply affected by the
mortifying consideration, that his entrance into the fold was
that of a wolf, rather than of a shepherd; that the glittering
arms which surrounded his person, were necessary for his safety;
and that he alone was the object of the imprecations of a great
party, whom, as men and citizens, it was impossible for him to
despise. He beheld the innumerable multitude of either sex, and
of every age, who crowded the streets, the windows, and the roofs
of the houses; he heard the tumultuous voice of rage, grief,
astonishment, and despair; and Gregory fairly confesses, that on
the memorable day of his installation, the capital of the East
wore the appearance of a city taken by storm, and in the hands of
a Barbarian conqueror. 38 About six weeks afterwards, Theodosius
declared his resolution of expelling from all the churches of his
dominions the bishops and their clergy who should obstinately
refuse to believe, or at least to profess, the doctrine of the
council of Nice. His lieutenant, Sapor, was armed with the ample
powers of a general law, a special commission, and a military
force; 39 and this ecclesiastical revolution was conducted with
so much discretion and vigor, that the religion of the emperor
was established, without tumult or bloodshed, in all the
provinces of the East. The writings of the Arians, if they had
been permitted to exist, 40 would perhaps contain the lamentable
story of the persecution, which afflicted the church under the
reign of the impious Theodosius; and the sufferings of their holy
confessors might claim the pity of the disinterested reader. Yet
there is reason to imagine, that the violence of zeal and revenge
was, in some measure, eluded by the want of resistance; and that,
in their adversity, the Arians displayed much less firmness than
had been exerted by the orthodox party under the reigns of
Constantius and Valens. The moral character and conduct of the
hostile sects appear to have been governed by the same common
principles of nature and religion: but a very material
circumstance may be discovered, which tended to distinguish the
degrees of their theological faith. Both parties, in the schools,
as well as in the temples, acknowledged and worshipped the divine
majesty of Christ; and, as we are always prone to impute our own
sentiments and passions to the Deity, it would be deemed more
prudent and respectful to exaggerate, than to circumscribe, the
adorable perfections of the Son of God. The disciple of
Athanasius exulted in the proud confidence, that he had entitled
himself to the divine favor; while the follower of Arius must
have been tormented by the secret apprehension, that he was
guilty, perhaps, of an unpardonable offence, by the scanty
praise, and parsimonious honors, which he bestowed on the Judge
of the World. The opinions of Arianism might satisfy a cold and
speculative mind: but the doctrine of the Nicene creed, most
powerfully recommended by the merits of faith and devotion, was
much better adapted to become popular and successful in a
believing age.
37 (return) [ Socrates (l. v. c. 7) and Sozomen (l. vii. c. 5)
relate the evangelical words and actions of Damophilus without a
word of approbation. He considered, says Socrates, that it is
difficult to resist the powerful, but it was easy, and would have
been profitable, to submit.]
38 (return) [ See Gregory Nazianzen, tom. ii. de Vita sua, p. 21,
22. For the sake of posterity, the bishop of Constantinople
records a stupendous prodigy. In the month of November, it was a
cloudy morning, but the sun broke forth when the procession
entered the church.]
39 (return) [ Of the three ecclesiastical historians, Theodoret
alone (l. v. c. 2) has mentioned this important commission of
Sapor, which Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 728)
judiciously removes from the reign of Gratian to that of
Theodosius.]
40 (return) [ I do not reckon Philostorgius, though he mentions
(l. ix. c. 19) the explosion of Damophilus. The Eunomian
historian has been carefully strained through an orthodox sieve.]
The hope, that truth and wisdom would be found in the assemblies
of the orthodox clergy, induced the emperor to convene, at
Constantinople, a synod of one hundred and fifty bishops, who
proceeded, without much difficulty or delay, to complete the
theological system which had been established in the council of
Nice. The vehement disputes of the fourth century had been
chiefly employed on the nature of the Son of God; and the various
opinions which were embraced, concerning the Second, were
extended and transferred, by a natural analogy, to the Third
person of the Trinity. 41 Yet it was found, or it was thought,
necessary, by the victorious adversaries of Arianism, to explain
the ambiguous language of some respectable doctors; to confirm
the faith of the Catholics; and to condemn an unpopular and
inconsistent sect of Macedonians; who freely admitted that the
Son was consubstantial to the Father, while they were fearful of
seeming to acknowledge the existence of Three Gods. A final and
unanimous sentence was pronounced to ratify the equal Deity of
the Holy Ghost: the mysterious doctrine has been received by all
the nations, and all the churches of the Christian world; and
their grateful reverence has assigned to the bishops of
Theodosius the second rank among the general councils. 42 Their
knowledge of religious truth may have been preserved by
tradition, or it may have been communicated by inspiration; but
the sober evidence of history will not allow much weight to the
personal authority of the Fathers of Constantinople. In an age
when the ecclesiastics had scandalously degenerated from the
model of apostolic purity, the most worthless and corrupt were
always the most eager to frequent, and disturb, the episcopal
assemblies. The conflict and fermentation of so many opposite
interests and tempers inflamed the passions of the bishops: and
their ruling passions were, the love of gold, and the love of
dispute. Many of the same prelates who now applauded the orthodox
piety of Theodosius, had repeatedly changed, with prudent
flexibility, their creeds and opinions; and in the various
revolutions of the church and state, the religion of their
sovereign was the rule of their obsequious faith. When the
emperor suspended his prevailing influence, the turbulent synod
was blindly impelled by the absurd or selfish motives of pride,
hatred, or resentment. The death of Meletius, which happened at
the council of Constantinople, presented the most favorable
opportunity of terminating the schism of Antioch, by suffering
his aged rival, Paulinus, peaceably to end his days in the
episcopal chair. The faith and virtues of Paulinus were
unblemished. But his cause was supported by the Western churches;
and the bishops of the synod resolved to perpetuate the mischiefs
of discord, by the hasty ordination of a perjured candidate, 43
rather than to betray the imagined dignity of the East, which had
been illustrated by the birth and death of the Son of God. Such
unjust and disorderly proceedings forced the gravest members of
the assembly to dissent and to secede; and the clamorous majority
which remained masters of the field of battle, could be compared
only to wasps or magpies, to a flight of cranes, or to a flock of
geese. 44
41 (return) [ Le Clerc has given a curious extract (Bibliothèque
Universelle, tom. xviii. p. 91-105) of the theological sermons
which Gregory Nazianzen pronounced at Constantinople against the
Arians, Eunomians, Macedonians, &c. He tells the Macedonians, who
deified the Father and the Son without the Holy Ghost, that they
might as well be styled Tritheists as Ditheists. Gregory himself
was almost a Tritheist; and his monarchy of heaven resembles a
well-regulated aristocracy.]
42 (return) [ The first general council of Constantinople now
triumphs in the Vatican; but the popes had long hesitated, and
their hesitation perplexes, and almost staggers, the humble
Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 499, 500.)]
43 (return) [ Before the death of Meletius, six or eight of his
most popular ecclesiastics, among whom was Flavian, had abjured,
for the sake of peace, the bishopric of Antioch, (Sozomen, l.
vii. c. 3, 11. Socrates, l. v. c. v.) Tillemont thinks it his
duty to disbelieve the story; but he owns that there are many
circumstances in the life of Flavian which seem inconsistent with
the praises of Chrysostom, and the character of a saint, (Mem.
Eccles. tom. x. p. 541.)]
44 (return) [ Consult Gregory Nazianzen, de Vita sua, tom. ii. p.
25-28. His general and particular opinion of the clergy and their
assemblies may be seen in verse and prose, (tom. i. Orat. i. p.
33. Epist. lv. p. 814, tom. ii. Carmen x. p. 81.) Such passages
are faintly marked by Tillemont, and fairly produced by Le
Clerc.]
A suspicion may possibly arise, that so unfavorable a picture of
ecclesiastical synods has been drawn by the partial hand of some
obstinate heretic, or some malicious infidel. But the name of the
sincere historian who has conveyed this instructive lesson to the
knowledge of posterity, must silence the impotent murmurs of
superstition and bigotry. He was one of the most pious and
eloquent bishops of the age; a saint, and a doctor of the church;
the scourge of Arianism, and the pillar of the orthodox faith; a
distinguished member of the council of Constantinople, in which,
after the death of Meletius, he exercised the functions of
president; in a word—Gregory Nazianzen himself. The harsh and
ungenerous treatment which he experienced, 45 instead of
derogating from the truth of his evidence, affords an additional
proof of the spirit which actuated the deliberations of the
synod. Their unanimous suffrage had confirmed the pretensions
which the bishop of Constantinople derived from the choice of the
people, and the approbation of the emperor. But Gregory soon
became the victim of malice and envy. The bishops of the East,
his strenuous adherents, provoked by his moderation in the
affairs of Antioch, abandoned him, without support, to the
adverse faction of the Egyptians; who disputed the validity of
his election, and rigorously asserted the obsolete canon, that
prohibited the licentious practice of episcopal translations. The
pride, or the humility, of Gregory prompted him to decline a
contest which might have been imputed to ambition and avarice;
and he publicly offered, not without some mixture of indignation,
to renounce the government of a church which had been restored,
and almost created, by his labors. His resignation was accepted
by the synod, and by the emperor, with more readiness than he
seems to have expected. At the time when he might have hoped to
enjoy the fruits of his victory, his episcopal throne was filled
by the senator Nectarius; and the new archbishop, accidentally
recommended by his easy temper and venerable aspect, was obliged
to delay the ceremony of his consecration, till he had previously
despatched the rites of his baptism. 46 After this remarkable
experience of the ingratitude of princes and prelates, Gregory
retired once more to his obscure solitude of Cappadocia; where he
employed the remainder of his life, about eight years, in the
exercises of poetry and devotion. The title of Saint has been
added to his name: but the tenderness of his heart, 47 and the
elegance of his genius, reflect a more pleasing lustre on the
memory of Gregory Nazianzen.
45 (return) [ See Gregory, tom. ii. de Vita sua, p. 28-31. The
fourteenth, twenty-seventh, and thirty-second Orations were
pronounced in the several stages of this business. The peroration
of the last, (tom. i. p. 528,) in which he takes a solemn leave
of men and angels, the city and the emperor, the East and the
West, &c., is pathetic, and almost sublime.]
46 (return) [ The whimsical ordination of Nectarius is attested
by Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 8;) but Tillemont observes, (Mem. Eccles.
tom. ix. p. 719,) Apres tout, ce narre de Sozomene est si
honteux, pour tous ceux qu’il y mele, et surtout pour Theodose,
qu’il vaut mieux travailler a le detruire, qu’a le soutenir; an
admirable canon of criticism!]
47 (return) [ I can only be understood to mean, that such was his
natural temper when it was not hardened, or inflamed, by
religious zeal. From his retirement, he exhorts Nectarius to
prosecute the heretics of Constantinople.]
It was not enough that Theodosius had suppressed the insolent
reign of Arianism, or that he had abundantly revenged the
injuries which the Catholics sustained from the zeal of
Constantius and Valens. The orthodox emperor considered every
heretic as a rebel against the supreme powers of heaven and of
earth; and each of those powers might exercise their peculiar
jurisdiction over the soul and body of the guilty. The decrees of
the council of Constantinople had ascertained the true standard
of the faith; and the ecclesiastics, who governed the conscience
of Theodosius, suggested the most effectual methods of
persecution. In the space of fifteen years, he promulgated at
least fifteen severe edicts against the heretics; 48 more
especially against those who rejected the doctrine of the
Trinity; and to deprive them of every hope of escape, he sternly
enacted, that if any laws or rescripts should be alleged in their
favor, the judges should consider them as the illegal productions
either of fraud or forgery. The penal statutes were directed
against the ministers, the assemblies, and the persons of the
heretics; and the passions of the legislator were expressed in
the language of declamation and invective. I. The heretical
teachers, who usurped the sacred titles of Bishops, or
Presbyters, were not only excluded from the privileges and
emoluments so liberally granted to the orthodox clergy, but they
were exposed to the heavy penalties of exile and confiscation, if
they presumed to preach the doctrine, or to practise the rites,
of their accursed sects. A fine of ten pounds of gold (above four
hundred pounds sterling) was imposed on every person who should
dare to confer, or receive, or promote, an heretical ordination:
and it was reasonably expected, that if the race of pastors could
be extinguished, their helpless flocks would be compelled, by
ignorance and hunger, to return within the pale of the Catholic
church. II. The rigorous prohibition of conventicles was
carefully extended to every possible circumstance, in which the
heretics could assemble with the intention of worshipping God and
Christ according to the dictates of their conscience. Their
religious meetings, whether public or secret, by day or by night,
in cities or in the country, were equally proscribed by the
edicts of Theodosius; and the building, or ground, which had been
used for that illegal purpose, was forfeited to the Imperial
domain. III. It was supposed, that the error of the heretics
could proceed only from the obstinate temper of their minds; and
that such a temper was a fit object of censure and punishment.
The anathemas of the church were fortified by a sort of civil
excommunication; which separated them from their fellow-citizens,
by a peculiar brand of infamy; and this declaration of the
supreme magistrate tended to justify, or at least to excuse, the
insults of a fanatic populace. The sectaries were gradually
disqualified from the possession of honorable or lucrative
employments; and Theodosius was satisfied with his own justice,
when he decreed, that, as the Eunomians distinguished the nature
of the Son from that of the Father, they should be incapable of
making their wills or of receiving any advantage from
testamentary donations. The guilt of the Manichaean heresy was
esteemed of such magnitude, that it could be expiated only by the
death of the offender; and the same capital punishment was
inflicted on the Audians, or Quartodecimans, 49 who should dare
to perpetrate the atrocious crime of celebrating on an improper
day the festival of Easter. Every Roman might exercise the right
of public accusation; but the office of Inquisitors of the Faith,
a name so deservedly abhorred, was first instituted under the
reign of Theodosius. Yet we are assured, that the execution of
his penal edicts was seldom enforced; and that the pious emperor
appeared less desirous to punish, than to reclaim, or terrify,
his refractory subjects. 50
48 (return) [ See the Theodosian Code, l. xvi. tit. v. leg. 6—23,
with Godefroy’s commentary on each law, and his general summary,
or Paratitlon, tom vi. p. 104-110.]
49 (return) [ They always kept their Easter, like the Jewish
Passover, on the fourteenth day of the first moon after the
vernal equinox; and thus pertinaciously opposed the Roman Church
and Nicene synod, which had fixed Easter to a Sunday. Bingham’s
Antiquities, l. xx. c. 5, vol. ii. p. 309, fol. edit.]
50 (return) [ Sozomen, l. vii. c. 12.]
The theory of persecution was established by Theodosius, whose
justice and piety have been applauded by the saints: but the
practice of it, in the fullest extent, was reserved for his rival
and colleague, Maximus, the first, among the Christian princes,
who shed the blood of his Christian subjects on account of their
religious opinions. The cause of the Priscillianists, 51 a recent
sect of heretics, who disturbed the provinces of Spain, was
transferred, by appeal, from the synod of Bordeaux to the
Imperial consistory of Treves; and by the sentence of the
Prætorian præfect, seven persons were tortured, condemned, and
executed. The first of these was Priscillian 52 himself, bishop
of Avila, in Spain; who adorned the advantages of birth and
fortune, by the accomplishments of eloquence and learning. 53 Two
presbyters, and two deacons, accompanied their beloved master in
his death, which they esteemed as a glorious martyrdom; and the
number of religious victims was completed by the execution of
Latronian, a poet, who rivalled the fame of the ancients; and of
Euchrocia, a noble matron of Bordeaux, the widow of the orator
Delphidius. 54 Two bishops who had embraced the sentiments of
Priscillian, were condemned to a distant and dreary exile; 55 and
some indulgence was shown to the meaner criminals, who assumed
the merit of an early repentance. If any credit could be allowed
to confessions extorted by fear or pain, and to vague reports,
the offspring of malice and credulity, the heresy of the
Priscillianists would be found to include the various
abominations of magic, of impiety, and of lewdness. 56
Priscillian, who wandered about the world in the company of his
spiritual sisters, was accused of praying stark naked in the
midst of the congregation; and it was confidently asserted, that
the effects of his criminal intercourse with the daughter of
Euchrocia had been suppressed, by means still more odious and
criminal. But an accurate, or rather a candid, inquiry will
discover, that if the Priscillianists violated the laws of
nature, it was not by the licentiousness, but by the austerity,
of their lives. They absolutely condemned the use of the
marriage-bed; and the peace of families was often disturbed by
indiscreet separations. They enjoyed, or recommended, a total
abstinence from all animal food; and their continual prayers,
fasts, and vigils, inculcated a rule of strict and perfect
devotion. The speculative tenets of the sect, concerning the
person of Christ, and the nature of the human soul, were derived
from the Gnostic and Manichaean system; and this vain philosophy,
which had been transported from Egypt to Spain, was ill adapted
to the grosser spirits of the West. The obscure disciples of
Priscillian suffered languished, and gradually disappeared: his
tenets were rejected by the clergy and people, but his death was
the subject of a long and vehement controversy; while some
arraigned, and others applauded, the justice of his sentence. It
is with pleasure that we can observe the humane inconsistency of
the most illustrious saints and bishops, Ambrose of Milan, 57 and
Martin of Tours, 58 who, on this occasion, asserted the cause of
toleration. They pitied the unhappy men, who had been executed at
Treves; they refused to hold communion with their episcopal
murderers; and if Martin deviated from that generous resolution,
his motives were laudable, and his repentance was exemplary. The
bishops of Tours and Milan pronounced, without hesitation, the
eternal damnation of heretics; but they were surprised, and
shocked, by the bloody image of their temporal death, and the
honest feelings of nature resisted the artificial prejudices of
theology. The humanity of Ambrose and Martin was confirmed by the
scandalous irregularity of the proceedings against Priscillian
and his adherents. The civil and ecclesiastical ministers had
transgressed the limits of their respective provinces. The
secular judge had presumed to receive an appeal, and to pronounce
a definitive sentence, in a matter of faith, and episcopal
jurisdiction. The bishops had disgraced themselves, by exercising
the functions of accusers in a criminal prosecution. The cruelty
of Ithacius, 59 who beheld the tortures, and solicited the death,
of the heretics, provoked the just indignation of mankind; and
the vices of that profligate bishop were admitted as a proof,
that his zeal was instigated by the sordid motives of interest.
Since the death of Priscillian, the rude attempts of persecution
have been refined and methodized in the holy office, which
assigns their distinct parts to the ecclesiastical and secular
powers. The devoted victim is regularly delivered by the priest
to the magistrate, and by the magistrate to the executioner; and
the inexorable sentence of the church, which declares the
spiritual guilt of the offender, is expressed in the mild
language of pity and intercession.
51 (return) [ See the Sacred History of Sulpicius Severus, (l.
ii. p. 437-452, edit. Ludg. Bat. 1647,) a correct and original
writer. Dr. Lardner (Credibility, &c., part ii. vol. ix. p.
256-350) has labored this article with pure learning, good sense,
and moderation. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. viii. p. 491-527)
has raked together all the dirt of the fathers; a useful
scavenger!]
52 (return) [ Severus Sulpicius mentions the arch-heretic with
esteem and pity Faelix profecto, si non pravo studio corrupisset
optimum ingenium prorsus multa in eo animi et corporis bona
cerneres. (Hist. Sacra, l ii. p. 439.) Even Jerom (tom. i. in
Script. Eccles. p. 302) speaks with temper of Priscillian and
Latronian.]
53 (return) [ The bishopric (in Old Castile) is now worth 20,000
ducats a year, (Busching’s Geography, vol. ii. p. 308,) and is
therefore much less likely to produce the author of a new
heresy.]
54 (return) [ Exprobrabatur mulieri viduae nimia religio, et
diligentius culta divinitas, (Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 29.)
Such was the idea of a humane, though ignorant, polytheist.]
55 (return) [ One of them was sent in Sillinam insulam quae ultra
Britannianest. What must have been the ancient condition of the
rocks of Scilly? (Camden’s Britannia, vol. ii. p. 1519.)]
56 (return) [ The scandalous calumnies of Augustin, Pope Leo,
&c., which Tillemont swallows like a child, and Lardner refutes
like a man, may suggest some candid suspicions in favor of the
older Gnostics.]
57 (return) [ Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xxiv. p. 891.]
58 (return) [ In the Sacred History, and the Life of St. Martin,
Sulpicius Severus uses some caution; but he declares himself more
freely in the Dialogues, (iii. 15.) Martin was reproved, however,
by his own conscience, and by an angel; nor could he afterwards
perform miracles with so much ease.]
59 (return) [ The Catholic Presbyter (Sulp. Sever. l. ii. p. 448)
and the Pagan Orator (Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 29) reprobate,
with equal indignation, the character and conduct of Ithacius.]
Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part III.
Among the ecclesiastics, who illustrated the reign of Theodosius,
Gregory Nazianzen was distinguished by the talents of an eloquent
preacher; the reputation of miraculous gifts added weight and
dignity to the monastic virtues of Martin of Tours; 60 but the
palm of episcopal vigor and ability was justly claimed by the
intrepid Ambrose. 61 He was descended from a noble family of
Romans; his father had exercised the important office of
Prætorian præfect of Gaul; and the son, after passing through
the studies of a liberal education, attained, in the regular
gradation of civil honors, the station of consular of Liguria, a
province which included the Imperial residence of Milan. At the
age of thirty-four, and before he had received the sacrament of
baptism, Ambrose, to his own surprise, and to that of the world,
was suddenly transformed from a governor to an archbishop.
Without the least mixture, as it is said, of art or intrigue, the
whole body of the people unanimously saluted him with the
episcopal title; the concord and perseverance of their
acclamations were ascribed to a praeternatural impulse; and the
reluctant magistrate was compelled to undertake a spiritual
office, for which he was not prepared by the habits and
occupations of his former life. But the active force of his
genius soon qualified him to exercise, with zeal and prudence,
the duties of his ecclesiastical jurisdiction; and while he
cheerfully renounced the vain and splendid trappings of temporal
greatness, he condescended, for the good of the church, to direct
the conscience of the emperors, and to control the administration
of the empire. Gratian loved and revered him as a father; and the
elaborate treatise on the faith of the Trinity was designed for
the instruction of the young prince. After his tragic death, at a
time when the empress Justina trembled for her own safety, and
for that of her son Valentinian, the archbishop of Milan was
despatched, on two different embassies, to the court of Treves.
He exercised, with equal firmness and dexterity, the powers of
his spiritual and political characters; and perhaps contributed,
by his authority and eloquence, to check the ambition of Maximus,
and to protect the peace of Italy. 62 Ambrose had devoted his
life, and his abilities, to the service of the church. Wealth was
the object of his contempt; he had renounced his private
patrimony; and he sold, without hesitation, the consecrated
plate, for the redemption of captives. The clergy and people of
Milan were attached to their archbishop; and he deserved the
esteem, without soliciting the favor, or apprehending the
displeasure, of his feeble sovereigns.
60 (return) [ The Life of St. Martin, and the Dialogues
concerning his miracles contain facts adapted to the grossest
barbarism, in a style not unworthy of the Augustan age. So
natural is the alliance between good taste and good sense, that I
am always astonished by this contrast.]
61 (return) [ The short and superficial Life of St. Ambrose, by
his deacon Paulinus, (Appendix ad edit. Benedict. p. i.—xv.,) has
the merit of original evidence. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. x.
p. 78-306) and the Benedictine editors (p. xxxi.—lxiii.) have
labored with their usual diligence.]
62 (return) [ Ambrose himself (tom. ii. Epist. xxiv. p. 888—891)
gives the emperor a very spirited account of his own embassy.]
The government of Italy, and of the young emperor, naturally
devolved to his mother Justina, a woman of beauty and spirit, but
who, in the midst of an orthodox people, had the misfortune of
professing the Arian heresy, which she endeavored to instil into
the mind of her son. Justina was persuaded, that a Roman emperor
might claim, in his own dominions, the public exercise of his
religion; and she proposed to the archbishop, as a moderate and
reasonable concession, that he should resign the use of a single
church, either in the city or the suburbs of Milan. But the
conduct of Ambrose was governed by very different principles. 63
The palaces of the earth might indeed belong to Caesar; but the
churches were the houses of God; and, within the limits of his
diocese, he himself, as the lawful successor of the apostles, was
the only minister of God. The privileges of Christianity,
temporal as well as spiritual, were confined to the true
believers; and the mind of Ambrose was satisfied, that his own
theological opinions were the standard of truth and orthodoxy.
The archbishop, who refused to hold any conference, or
negotiation, with the instruments of Satan, declared, with modest
firmness, his resolution to die a martyr, rather than to yield to
the impious sacrilege; and Justina, who resented the refusal as
an act of insolence and rebellion, hastily determined to exert
the Imperial prerogative of her son. As she desired to perform
her public devotions on the approaching festival of Easter,
Ambrose was ordered to appear before the council. He obeyed the
summons with the respect of a faithful subject, but he was
followed, without his consent, by an innumerable people; they
pressed, with impetuous zeal, against the gates of the palace;
and the affrighted ministers of Valentinian, instead of
pronouncing a sentence of exile on the archbishop of Milan,
humbly requested that he would interpose his authority, to
protect the person of the emperor, and to restore the tranquility
of the capital. But the promises which Ambrose received and
communicated were soon violated by a perfidious court; and,
during six of the most solemn days, which Christian piety had set
apart for the exercise of religion, the city was agitated by the
irregular convulsions of tumult and fanaticism. The officers of
the household were directed to prepare, first, the Portian, and
afterwards, the new, Basilica, for the immediate reception of the
emperor and his mother. The splendid canopy and hangings of the
royal seat were arranged in the customary manner; but it was
found necessary to defend them. by a strong guard, from the
insults of the populace. The Arian ecclesiastics, who ventured to
show themselves in the streets, were exposed to the most imminent
danger of their lives; and Ambrose enjoyed the merit and
reputation of rescuing his personal enemies from the hands of the
enraged multitude.
63 (return) [ His own representation of his principles and
conduct (tom. ii. Epist. xx xxi. xxii. p. 852-880) is one of the
curious monuments of ecclesiastical antiquity. It contains two
letters to his sister Marcellina, with a petition to Valentinian
and the sermon de Basilicis non madendis.]
But while he labored to restrain the effects of their zeal, the
pathetic vehemence of his sermons continually inflamed the angry
and seditious temper of the people of Milan. The characters of
Eve, of the wife of Job, of Jezebel, of Herodias, were indecently
applied to the mother of the emperor; and her desire to obtain a
church for the Arians was compared to the most cruel persecutions
which Christianity had endured under the reign of Paganism. The
measures of the court served only to expose the magnitude of the
evil. A fine of two hundred pounds of gold was imposed on the
corporate body of merchants and manufacturers: an order was
signified, in the name of the emperor, to all the officers, and
inferior servants, of the courts of justice, that, during the
continuance of the public disorders, they should strictly confine
themselves to their houses; and the ministers of Valentinian
imprudently confessed, that the most respectable part of the
citizens of Milan was attached to the cause of their archbishop.
He was again solicited to restore peace to his country, by timely
compliance with the will of his sovereign. The reply of Ambrose
was couched in the most humble and respectful terms, which might,
however, be interpreted as a serious declaration of civil war.
“His life and fortune were in the hands of the emperor; but he
would never betray the church of Christ, or degrade the dignity
of the episcopal character. In such a cause he was prepared to
suffer whatever the malice of the daemon could inflict; and he
only wished to die in the presence of his faithful flock, and at
the foot of the altar; he had not contributed to excite, but it
was in the power of God alone to appease, the rage of the people:
he deprecated the scenes of blood and confusion which were likely
to ensue; and it was his fervent prayer, that he might not
survive to behold the ruin of a flourishing city, and perhaps the
desolation of all Italy.” 64 The obstinate bigotry of Justina
would have endangered the empire of her son, if, in this contest
with the church and people of Milan, she could have depended on
the active obedience of the troops of the palace. A large body of
Goths had marched to occupy the Basilica, which was the object of
the dispute: and it might be expected from the Arian principles,
and barbarous manners, of these foreign mercenaries, that they
would not entertain any scruples in the execution of the most
sanguinary orders. They were encountered, on the sacred
threshold, by the archbishop, who, thundering against them a
sentence of excommunication, asked them, in the tone of a father
and a master, whether it was to invade the house of God, that
they had implored the hospitable protection of the republic. The
suspense of the Barbarians allowed some hours for a more
effectual negotiation; and the empress was persuaded, by the
advice of her wisest counsellors, to leave the Catholics in
possession of all the churches of Milan; and to dissemble, till a
more convenient season, her intentions of revenge. The mother of
Valentinian could never forgive the triumph of Ambrose; and the
royal youth uttered a passionate exclamation, that his own
servants were ready to betray him into the hands of an insolent
priest.
64 (return) [ Retz had a similar message from the queen, to
request that he would appease the tumult of Paris. It was no
longer in his power, &c. A quoi j’ajoutai tout ce que vous pouvez
vous imaginer de respect de douleur, de regret, et de soumission,
&c. (Mémoires, tom. i. p. 140.) Certainly I do not compare either
the causes or the men yet the coadjutor himself had some idea (p.
84) of imitating St. Ambrose]
The laws of the empire, some of which were inscribed with the
name of Valentinian, still condemned the Arian heresy, and seemed
to excuse the resistance of the Catholics. By the influence of
Justina, an edict of toleration was promulgated in all the
provinces which were subject to the court of Milan; the free
exercise of their religion was granted to those who professed the
faith of Rimini; and the emperor declared, that all persons who
should infringe this sacred and salutary constitution, should be
capitally punished, as the enemies of the public peace. 65 The
character and language of the archbishop of Milan may justify the
suspicion, that his conduct soon afforded a reasonable ground, or
at least a specious pretence, to the Arian ministers; who watched
the opportunity of surprising him in some act of disobedience to
a law which he strangely represents as a law of blood and
tyranny. A sentence of easy and honorable banishment was
pronounced, which enjoined Ambrose to depart from Milan without
delay; whilst it permitted him to choose the place of his exile,
and the number of his companions. But the authority of the
saints, who have preached and practised the maxims of passive
loyalty, appeared to Ambrose of less moment than the extreme and
pressing danger of the church. He boldly refused to obey; and his
refusal was supported by the unanimous consent of his faithful
people. 66 They guarded by turns the person of their archbishop;
the gates of the cathedral and the episcopal palace were strongly
secured; and the Imperial troops, who had formed the blockade,
were unwilling to risk the attack, of that impregnable fortress.
The numerous poor, who had been relieved by the liberality of
Ambrose, embraced the fair occasion of signalizing their zeal and
gratitude; and as the patience of the multitude might have been
exhausted by the length and uniformity of nocturnal vigils, he
prudently introduced into the church of Milan the useful
institution of a loud and regular psalmody. While he maintained
this arduous contest, he was instructed, by a dream, to open the
earth in a place where the remains of two martyrs, Gervasius and
Protasius, 67 had been deposited above three hundred years.
Immediately under the pavement of the church two perfect
skeletons were found, 68 with the heads separated from their
bodies, and a plentiful effusion of blood. The holy relics were
presented, in solemn pomp, to the veneration of the people; and
every circumstance of this fortunate discovery was admirably
adapted to promote the designs of Ambrose. The bones of the
martyrs, their blood, their garments, were supposed to contain a
healing power; and the praeternatural influence was communicated
to the most distant objects, without losing any part of its
original virtue. The extraordinary cure of a blind man, 69 and
the reluctant confessions of several daemoniacs, appeared to
justify the faith and sanctity of Ambrose; and the truth of those
miracles is attested by Ambrose himself, by his secretary
Paulinus, and by his proselyte, the celebrated Augustin, who, at
that time, professed the art of rhetoric in Milan. The reason of
the present age may possibly approve the incredulity of Justina
and her Arian court; who derided the theatrical representations
which were exhibited by the contrivance, and at the expense, of
the archbishop. 70 Their effect, however, on the minds of the
people, was rapid and irresistible; and the feeble sovereign of
Italy found himself unable to contend with the favorite of
Heaven. The powers likewise of the earth interposed in the
defence of Ambrose: the disinterested advice of Theodosius was
the genuine result of piety and friendship; and the mask of
religious zeal concealed the hostile and ambitious designs of the
tyrant of Gaul. 71
65 (return) [ Sozomen alone (l. vii. c. 13) throws this luminous
fact into a dark and perplexed narrative.]
66 (return) [ Excubabat pia plebs in ecclesia, mori parata cum
episcopo suo.... Nos, adhuc frigidi, excitabamur tamen civitate
attonita atque curbata. Augustin. Confession. l. ix. c. 7]
67 (return) [ Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. ii. p. 78, 498. Many
churches in Italy, Gaul, &c., were dedicated to these unknown
martyrs, of whom St. Gervaise seems to have been more fortunate
than his companion.]
68 (return) [ Invenimus mirae magnitudinis viros duos, ut prisca
aetas ferebat, tom. ii. Epist. xxii. p. 875. The size of these
skeletons was fortunately, or skillfully, suited to the popular
prejudice of the gradual decrease of the human stature, which has
prevailed in every age since the time of Homer.—Grandiaque
effossis mirabitur ossa sepulchris.]
69 (return) [ Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xxii. p. 875. Augustin.
Confes, l. ix. c. 7, de Civitat. Dei, l. xxii. c. 8. Paulin. in
Vita St. Ambros. c. 14, in Append. Benedict. p. 4. The blind
man’s name was Severus; he touched the holy garment, recovered
his sight, and devoted the rest of his life (at least twenty-five
years) to the service of the church. I should recommend this
miracle to our divines, if it did not prove the worship of
relics, as well as the Nicene creed.]
70 (return) [ Paulin, in Tit. St. Ambros. c. 5, in Append.
Benedict. p. 5.]
71 (return) [ Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. x. p. 190, 750. He
partially allow the mediation of Theodosius, and capriciously
rejects that of Maximus, though it is attested by Prosper,
Sozomen, and Theodoret.]
The reign of Maximus might have ended in peace and prosperity,
could he have contented himself with the possession of three
ample countries, which now constitute the three most flourishing
kingdoms of modern Europe. But the aspiring usurper, whose sordid
ambition was not dignified by the love of glory and of arms,
considered his actual forces as the instruments only of his
future greatness, and his success was the immediate cause of his
destruction. The wealth which he extorted 72 from the oppressed
provinces of Gaul, Spain, and Britain, was employed in levying
and maintaining a formidable army of Barbarians, collected, for
the most part, from the fiercest nations of Germany. The conquest
of Italy was the object of his hopes and preparations: and he
secretly meditated the ruin of an innocent youth, whose
government was abhorred and despised by his Catholic subjects.
But as Maximus wished to occupy, without resistance, the passes
of the Alps, he received, with perfidious smiles, Domninus of
Syria, the ambassador of Valentinian, and pressed him to accept
the aid of a considerable body of troops, for the service of a
Pannonian war. The penetration of Ambrose had discovered the
snares of an enemy under the professions of friendship; 73 but
the Syrian Domninus was corrupted, or deceived, by the liberal
favor of the court of Treves; and the council of Milan
obstinately rejected the suspicion of danger, with a blind
confidence, which was the effect, not of courage, but of fear.
The march of the auxiliaries was guided by the ambassador; and
they were admitted, without distrust, into the fortresses of the
Alps. But the crafty tyrant followed, with hasty and silent
footsteps, in the rear; and, as he diligently intercepted all
intelligence of his motions, the gleam of armor, and the dust
excited by the troops of cavalry, first announced the hostile
approach of a stranger to the gates of Milan. In this extremity,
Justina and her son might accuse their own imprudence, and the
perfidious arts of Maximus; but they wanted time, and force, and
resolution, to stand against the Gauls and Germans, either in the
field, or within the walls of a large and disaffected city.
Flight was their only hope, Aquileia their only refuge; and as
Maximus now displayed his genuine character, the brother of
Gratian might expect the same fate from the hands of the same
assassin. Maximus entered Milan in triumph; and if the wise
archbishop refused a dangerous and criminal connection with the
usurper, he might indirectly contribute to the success of his
arms, by inculcating, from the pulpit, the duty of resignation,
rather than that of resistance. 74 The unfortunate Justina
reached Aquileia in safety; but she distrusted the strength of
the fortifications: she dreaded the event of a siege; and she
resolved to implore the protection of the great Theodosius, whose
power and virtue were celebrated in all the countries of the
West. A vessel was secretly provided to transport the Imperial
family; they embarked with precipitation in one of the obscure
harbors of Venetia, or Istria; traversed the whole extent of the
Adriatic and Ionian Seas; turned the extreme promontory of
Peloponnesus; and, after a long, but successful navigation,
reposed themselves in the port of Thessalonica. All the subjects
of Valentinian deserted the cause of a prince, who, by his
abdication, had absolved them from the duty of allegiance; and if
the little city of Aemona, on the verge of Italy, had not
presumed to stop the career of his inglorious victory, Maximus
would have obtained, without a struggle, the sole possession of
the Western empire.
72 (return) [ The modest censure of Sulpicius (Dialog. iii. 15)
inflicts a much deeper wound than the declamation of Pacatus,
(xii. 25, 26.)]
73 (return) [ Esto tutior adversus hominem, pacis involurco
tegentem, was the wise caution of Ambrose (tom. ii. p. 891) after
his return from his second embassy.]
74 (return) [ Baronius (A.D. 387, No. 63) applies to this season
of public distress some of the penitential sermons of the
archbishop.]
Instead of inviting his royal guests to take the palace of
Constantinople, Theodosius had some unknown reasons to fix their
residence at Thessalonica; but these reasons did not proceed from
contempt or indifference, as he speedily made a visit to that
city, accompanied by the greatest part of his court and senate.
After the first tender expressions of friendship and sympathy,
the pious emperor of the East gently admonished Justina, that the
guilt of heresy was sometimes punished in this world, as well as
in the next; and that the public profession of the Nicene faith
would be the most efficacious step to promote the restoration of
her son, by the satisfaction which it must occasion both on earth
and in heaven. The momentous question of peace or war was
referred, by Theodosius, to the deliberation of his council; and
the arguments which might be alleged on the side of honor and
justice, had acquired, since the death of Gratian, a considerable
degree of additional weight. The persecution of the Imperial
family, to which Theodosius himself had been indebted for his
fortune, was now aggravated by recent and repeated injuries.
Neither oaths nor treaties could restrain the boundless ambition
of Maximus; and the delay of vigorous and decisive measures,
instead of prolonging the blessings of peace, would expose the
Eastern empire to the danger of a hostile invasion. The
Barbarians, who had passed the Danube, had lately assumed the
character of soldiers and subjects, but their native fierceness
was yet untamed: and the operations of a war, which would
exercise their valor, and diminish their numbers, might tend to
relieve the provinces from an intolerable oppression.
Notwithstanding these specious and solid reasons, which were
approved by a majority of the council, Theodosius still hesitated
whether he should draw the sword in a contest which could no
longer admit any terms of reconciliation; and his magnanimous
character was not disgraced by the apprehensions which he felt
for the safety of his infant sons, and the welfare of his
exhausted people. In this moment of anxious doubt, while the fate
of the Roman world depended on the resolution of a single man,
the charms of the princess Galla most powerfully pleaded the
cause of her brother Valentinian. 75 The heart of Theodosius wa
softened by the tears of beauty; his affections were insensibly
engaged by the graces of youth and innocence: the art of Justina
managed and directed the impulse of passion; and the celebration
of the royal nuptials was the assurance and signal of the civil
war. The unfeeling critics, who consider every amorous weakness
as an indelible stain on the memory of a great and orthodox
emperor, are inclined, on this occasion, to dispute the
suspicious evidence of the historian Zosimus. For my own part, I
shall frankly confess, that I am willing to find, or even to
seek, in the revolutions of the world, some traces of the mild
and tender sentiments of domestic life; and amidst the crowd of
fierce and ambitious conquerors, I can distinguish, with peculiar
complacency, a gentle hero, who may be supposed to receive his
armor from the hands of love. The alliance of the Persian king
was secured by the faith of treaties; the martial Barbarians were
persuaded to follow the standard, or to respect the frontiers, of
an active and liberal monarch; and the dominions of Theodosius,
from the Euphrates to the Adriatic, resounded with the
preparations of war both by land and sea. The skilful disposition
of the forces of the East seemed to multiply their numbers, and
distracted the attention of Maximus. He had reason to fear, that
a chosen body of troops, under the command of the intrepid
Arbogastes, would direct their march along the banks of the
Danube, and boldly penetrate through the Rhaetian provinces into
the centre of Gaul. A powerful fleet was equipped in the harbors
of Greece and Epirus, with an apparent design, that, as soon as
the passage had been opened by a naval victory, Valentinian and
his mother should land in Italy, proceed, without delay, to Rome,
and occupy the majestic seat of religion and empire. In the mean
while, Theodosius himself advanced at the head of a brave and
disciplined army, to encounter his unworthy rival, who, after the
siege of Aemona, 7511 had fixed his camp in the neighborhood of
Siscia, a city of Pannonia, strongly fortified by the broad and
rapid stream of the Save.
75 (return) [ The flight of Valentinian, and the love of
Theodosius for his sister, are related by Zosimus, (l. iv. p.
263, 264.) Tillemont produces some weak and ambiguous evidence to
antedate the second marriage of Theodosius, (Hist. des Empereurs,
to. v. p. 740,) and consequently to refute ces contes de Zosime,
qui seroient trop contraires a la piete de Theodose.]
7511 (return) [ Aemonah, Laybach. Siscia Sciszek.—M.]
Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part IV.
The veterans, who still remembered the long resistance, and
successive resources, of the tyrant Magnentius, might prepare
themselves for the labors of three bloody campaigns. But the
contest with his successor, who, like him, had usurped the throne
of the West, was easily decided in the term of two months, 76 and
within the space of two hundred miles. The superior genius of the
emperor of the East might prevail over the feeble Maximus, who,
in this important crisis, showed himself destitute of military
skill, or personal courage; but the abilities of Theodosius were
seconded by the advantage which he possessed of a numerous and
active cavalry. The Huns, the Alani, and, after their example,
the Goths themselves, were formed into squadrons of archers; who
fought on horseback, and confounded the steady valor of the Gauls
and Germans, by the rapid motions of a Tartar war. After the
fatigue of a long march, in the heat of summer, they spurred
their foaming horses into the waters of the Save, swam the river
in the presence of the enemy, and instantly charged and routed
the troops who guarded the high ground on the opposite side.
Marcellinus, the tyrant’s brother, advanced to support them with
the select cohorts, which were considered as the hope and
strength of the army. The action, which had been interrupted by
the approach of night, was renewed in the morning; and, after a
sharp conflict, the surviving remnant of the bravest soldiers of
Maximus threw down their arms at the feet of the conqueror.
Without suspending his march, to receive the loyal acclamations
of the citizens of Aemona, Theodosius pressed forwards to
terminate the war by the death or captivity of his rival, who
fled before him with the diligence of fear. From the summit of
the Julian Alps, he descended with such incredible speed into the
plain of Italy, that he reached Aquileia on the evening of the
first day; and Maximus, who found himself encompassed on all
sides, had scarcely time to shut the gates of the city. But the
gates could not long resist the effort of a victorious enemy; and
the despair, the disaffection, the indifference of the soldiers
and people, hastened the downfall of the wretched Maximus. He was
dragged from his throne, rudely stripped of the Imperial
ornaments, the robe, the diadem, and the purple slippers; and
conducted, like a malefactor, to the camp and presence of
Theodosius, at a place about three miles from Aquileia. The
behavior of the emperor was not intended to insult, and he showed
disposition to pity and forgive, the tyrant of the West, who had
never been his personal enemy, and was now become the object of
his contempt. Our sympathy is the most forcibly excited by the
misfortunes to which we are exposed; and the spectacle of a proud
competitor, now prostrate at his feet, could not fail of
producing very serious and solemn thoughts in the mind of the
victorious emperor. But the feeble emotion of involuntary pity
was checked by his regard for public justice, and the memory of
Gratian; and he abandoned the victim to the pious zeal of the
soldiers, who drew him out of the Imperial presence, and
instantly separated his head from his body. The intelligence of
his defeat and death was received with sincere or well-dissembled
joy: his son Victor, on whom he had conferred the title of
Augustus, died by the order, perhaps by the hand, of the bold
Arbogastes; and all the military plans of Theodosius were
successfully executed. When he had thus terminated the civil war,
with less difficulty and bloodshed than he might naturally
expect, he employed the winter months of his residence at Milan,
to restore the state of the afflicted provinces; and early in the
spring he made, after the example of Constantine and Constantius,
his triumphal entry into the ancient capital of the Roman empire.
77
76 (return) [ See Godefroy’s Chronology of the Laws, Cod.
Theodos, tom l. p. cxix.]
77 (return) [ Besides the hints which may be gathered from
chronicles and ecclesiastical history, Zosimus (l. iv. p.
259—267,) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 35,) and Pacatus, (in Panegyr.
Vet. xii. 30-47,) supply the loose and scanty materials of this
civil war. Ambrose (tom. ii. Epist. xl. p. 952, 953) darkly
alludes to the well-known events of a magazine surprised, an
action at Petovio, a Sicilian, perhaps a naval, victory, &c.,
Ausonius (p. 256, edit. Toll.) applauds the peculiar merit and
good fortune of Aquileia.]
The orator, who may be silent without danger, may praise without
difficulty, and without reluctance; 78 and posterity will
confess, that the character of Theodosius 79 might furnish the
subject of a sincere and ample panegyric. The wisdom of his laws,
and the success of his arms, rendered his administration
respectable in the eyes both of his subjects and of his enemies.
He loved and practised the virtues of domestic life, which seldom
hold their residence in the palaces of kings. Theodosius was
chaste and temperate; he enjoyed, without excess, the sensual and
social pleasures of the table; and the warmth of his amorous
passions was never diverted from their lawful objects. The proud
titles of Imperial greatness were adorned by the tender names of
a faithful husband, an indulgent father; his uncle was raised, by
his affectionate esteem, to the rank of a second parent:
Theodosius embraced, as his own, the children of his brother and
sister; and the expressions of his regard were extended to the
most distant and obscure branches of his numerous kindred. His
familiar friends were judiciously selected from among those
persons, who, in the equal intercourse of private life, had
appeared before his eyes without a mask; the consciousness of
personal and superior merit enabled him to despise the accidental
distinction of the purple; and he proved by his conduct, that he
had forgotten all the injuries, while he most gratefully
remembered all the favors and services, which he had received
before he ascended the throne of the Roman empire. The serious or
lively tone of his conversation was adapted to the age, the rank,
or the character of his subjects, whom he admitted into his
society; and the affability of his manners displayed the image of
his mind. Theodosius respected the simplicity of the good and
virtuous: every art, every talent, of a useful, or even of an
innocent nature, was rewarded by his judicious liberality; and,
except the heretics, whom he persecuted with implacable hatred,
the diffusive circle of his benevolence was circumscribed only by
the limits of the human race. The government of a mighty empire
may assuredly suffice to occupy the time, and the abilities, of a
mortal: yet the diligent prince, without aspiring to the
unsuitable reputation of profound learning, always reserved some
moments of his leisure for the instructive amusement of reading.
History, which enlarged his experience, was his favorite study.
The annals of Rome, in the long period of eleven hundred years,
presented him with a various and splendid picture of human life:
and it has been particularly observed, that whenever he perused
the cruel acts of Cinna, of Marius, or of Sylla, he warmly
expressed his generous detestation of those enemies of humanity
and freedom. His disinterested opinion of past events was
usefully applied as the rule of his own actions; and Theodosius
has deserved the singular commendation, that his virtues always
seemed to expand with his fortune: the season of his prosperity
was that of his moderation; and his clemency appeared the most
conspicuous after the danger and success of a civil war. The
Moorish guards of the tyrant had been massacred in the first heat
of the victory, and a small number of the most obnoxious
criminals suffered the punishment of the law. But the emperor
showed himself much more attentive to relieve the innocent than
to chastise the guilty. The oppressed subjects of the West, who
would have deemed themselves happy in the restoration of their
lands, were astonished to receive a sum of money equivalent to
their losses; and the liberality of the conqueror supported the
aged mother, and educated the orphan daughters, of Maximus. 80 A
character thus accomplished might almost excuse the extravagant
supposition of the orator Pacatus; that, if the elder Brutus
could be permitted to revisit the earth, the stern republican
would abjure, at the feet of Theodosius, his hatred of kings; and
ingenuously confess, that such a monarch was the most faithful
guardian of the happiness and dignity of the Roman people. 81
78 (return) [ Quam promptum laudare principem, tam tutum siluisse
de principe, (Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 2.) Latinus Pacatus
Drepanius, a native of Gaul, pronounced this oration at Rome,
(A.D. 388.) He was afterwards proconsul of Africa; and his friend
Ausonius praises him as a poet second only to Virgil. See
Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 303.]
79 (return) [ See the fair portrait of Theodosius, by the younger
Victor; the strokes are distinct, and the colors are mixed. The
praise of Pacatus is too vague; and Claudian always seems afraid
of exalting the father above the son.]
80 (return) [ Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. xl. p. 55. Pacatus, from
the want of skill or of courage, omits this glorious
circumstance.]
81 (return) [ Pacat. in Panegyr. Vet. xii. 20.]
Yet the piercing eye of the founder of the republic must have
discerned two essential imperfections, which might, perhaps, have
abated his recent love of despostism. The virtuous mind of
Theodosius was often relaxed by indolence, 82 and it was
sometimes inflamed by passion. 83 In the pursuit of an important
object, his active courage was capable of the most vigorous
exertions; but, as soon as the design was accomplished, or the
danger was surmounted, the hero sunk into inglorious repose; and,
forgetful that the time of a prince is the property of his
people, resigned himself to the enjoyment of the innocent, but
trifling, pleasures of a luxurious court. The natural disposition
of Theodosius was hasty and choleric; and, in a station where
none could resist, and few would dissuade, the fatal consequence
of his resentment, the humane monarch was justly alarmed by the
consciousness of his infirmity and of his power. It was the
constant study of his life to suppress, or regulate, the
intemperate sallies of passion and the success of his efforts
enhanced the merit of his clemency. But the painful virtue which
claims the merit of victory, is exposed to the danger of defeat;
and the reign of a wise and merciful prince was polluted by an
act of cruelty which would stain the annals of Nero or Domitian.
Within the space of three years, the inconsistent historian of
Theodosius must relate the generous pardon of the citizens of
Antioch, and the inhuman massacre of the people of Thessalonica.
82 (return) [ Zosimus, l. iv. p. 271, 272. His partial evidence
is marked by an air of candor and truth. He observes these
vicissitudes of sloth and activity, not as a vice, but as a
singularity in the character of Theodosius.]
83 (return) [ This choleric temper is acknowledged and excused by
Victor Sed habes (says Ambrose, in decent and many language, to
his sovereign) nature impetum, quem si quis lenire velit, cito
vertes ad misericordiam: si quis stimulet, in magis exsuscitas,
ut eum revocare vix possis, (tom. ii. Epist. li. p. 998.)
Theodosius (Claud. in iv. Hon. 266, &c.) exhorts his son to
moderate his anger.]
The lively impatience of the inhabitants of Antioch was never
satisfied with their own situation, or with the character and
conduct of their successive sovereigns. The Arian subjects of
Theodosius deplored the loss of their churches; and as three
rival bishops disputed the throne of Antioch, the sentence which
decided their pretensions excited the murmurs of the two
unsuccessful congregations. The exigencies of the Gothic war, and
the inevitable expense that accompanied the conclusion of the
peace, had constrained the emperor to aggravate the weight of the
public impositions; and the provinces of Asia, as they had not
been involved in the distress were the less inclined to
contribute to the relief, of Europe. The auspicious period now
approached of the tenth year of his reign; a festival more
grateful to the soldiers, who received a liberal donative, than
to the subjects, whose voluntary offerings had been long since
converted into an extraordinary and oppressive burden. The edicts
of taxation interrupted the repose, and pleasures, of Antioch;
and the tribunal of the magistrate was besieged by a suppliant
crowd; who, in pathetic, but, at first, in respectful language,
solicited the redress of their grievances. They were gradually
incensed by the pride of their haughty rulers, who treated their
complaints as a criminal resistance; their satirical wit
degenerated into sharp and angry invectives; and, from the
subordinate powers of government, the invectives of the people
insensibly rose to attack the sacred character of the emperor
himself. Their fury, provoked by a feeble opposition, discharged
itself on the images of the Imperial family, which were erected,
as objects of public veneration, in the most conspicuous places
of the city. The statues of Theodosius, of his father, of his
wife Flaccilla, of his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius, were
insolently thrown down from their pedestals, broken in pieces, or
dragged with contempt through the streets; and the indignities
which were offered to the representations of Imperial majesty,
sufficiently declared the impious and treasonable wishes of the
populace. The tumult was almost immediately suppressed by the
arrival of a body of archers: and Antioch had leisure to reflect
on the nature and consequences of her crime. 84 According to the
duty of his office, the governor of the province despatched a
faithful narrative of the whole transaction: while the trembling
citizens intrusted the confession of their crime, and the
assurances of their repentance, to the zeal of Flavian, their
bishop, and to the eloquence of the senator Hilarius, the friend,
and most probably the disciple, of Libanius; whose genius, on
this melancholy occasion, was not useless to his country. 85 But
the two capitals, Antioch and Constantinople, were separated by
the distance of eight hundred miles; and, notwithstanding the
diligence of the Imperial posts, the guilty city was severely
punished by a long and dreadful interval of suspense. Every rumor
agitated the hopes and fears of the Antiochians, and they heard
with terror, that their sovereign, exasperated by the insult
which had been offered to his own statues, and more especially,
to those of his beloved wife, had resolved to level with the
ground the offending city; and to massacre, without distinction
of age or sex, the criminal inhabitants; 86 many of whom were
actually driven, by their apprehensions, to seek a refuge in the
mountains of Syria, and the adjacent desert. At length,
twenty-four days after the sedition, the general Hellebicus and
Caesarius, master of the offices, declared the will of the
emperor, and the sentence of Antioch. That proud capital was
degraded from the rank of a city; and the metropolis of the East,
stripped of its lands, its privileges, and its revenues, was
subjected, under the humiliating denomination of a village, to
the jurisdiction of Laodicea. 87 The baths, the Circus, and the
theatres were shut: and, that every source of plenty and pleasure
might at the same time be intercepted, the distribution of corn
was abolished, by the severe instructions of Theodosius. His
commissioners then proceeded to inquire into the guilt of
individuals; of those who had perpetrated, and of those who had
not prevented, the destruction of the sacred statues. The
tribunal of Hellebicus and Caesarius, encompassed with armed
soldiers, was erected in the midst of the Forum. The noblest, and
most wealthy, of the citizens of Antioch appeared before them in
chains; the examination was assisted by the use of torture, and
their sentence was pronounced or suspended, according to the
judgment of these extraordinary magistrates. The houses of the
criminals were exposed to sale, their wives and children were
suddenly reduced, from affluence and luxury, to the most abject
distress; and a bloody execution was expected to conclude the
horrors of the day, 88 which the preacher of Antioch, the
eloquent Chrysostom, has represented as a lively image of the
last and universal judgment of the world. But the ministers of
Theodosius performed, with reluctance, the cruel task which had
been assigned them; they dropped a gentle tear over the
calamities of the people; and they listened with reverence to the
pressing solicitations of the monks and hermits, who descended in
swarms from the mountains. 89 Hellebicus and Caesarius were
persuaded to suspend the execution of their sentence; and it was
agreed that the former should remain at Antioch, while the latter
returned, with all possible speed, to Constantinople; and
presumed once more to consult the will of his sovereign. The
resentment of Theodosius had already subsided; the deputies of
the people, both the bishop and the orator, had obtained a
favorable audience; and the reproaches of the emperor were the
complaints of injured friendship, rather than the stern menaces
of pride and power. A free and general pardon was granted to the
city and citizens of Antioch; the prison doors were thrown open;
the senators, who despaired of their lives, recovered the
possession of their houses and estates; and the capital of the
East was restored to the enjoyment of her ancient dignity and
splendor. Theodosius condescended to praise the senate of
Constantinople, who had generously interceded for their
distressed brethren: he rewarded the eloquence of Hilarius with
the government of Palestine; and dismissed the bishop of Antioch
with the warmest expressions of his respect and gratitude. A
thousand new statues arose to the clemency of Theodosius; the
applause of his subjects was ratified by the approbation of his
own heart; and the emperor confessed, that, if the exercise of
justice is the most important duty, the indulgence of mercy is
the most exquisite pleasure, of a sovereign. 90
84 (return) [ The Christians and Pagans agreed in believing that
the sedition of Antioch was excited by the daemons. A gigantic
woman (says Sozomen, l. vii. c. 23) paraded the streets with a
scourge in her hand. An old man, says Libanius, (Orat. xii. p.
396,) transformed himself into a youth, then a boy, &c.]
85 (return) [ Zosimus, in his short and disingenuous account, (l.
iv. p. 258, 259,) is certainly mistaken in sending Libanius
himself to Constantinople. His own orations fix him at Antioch.]
86 (return) [ Libanius (Orat. i. p. 6, edit. Venet.) declares,
that under such a reign the fear of a massacre was groundless and
absurd, especially in the emperor’s absence, for his presence,
according to the eloquent slave, might have given a sanction to
the most bloody acts.]
87 (return) [ Laodicea, on the sea-coast, sixty-five miles from
Antioch, (see Noris Epoch. Syro-Maced. Dissert. iii. p. 230.) The
Antiochians were offended, that the dependent city of Seleucia
should presume to intercede for them.]
88 (return) [ As the days of the tumult depend on the movable
festival of Easter, they can only be determined by the previous
determination of the year. The year 387 has been preferred, after
a laborious inquiry, by Tillemont (Hist. des. Emp. tom. v. p.
741-744) and Montfaucon, (Chrysostom, tom. xiii. p. 105-110.)]
89 (return) [ Chrysostom opposes their courage, which was not
attended with much risk, to the cowardly flight of the Cynics.]
90 (return) [ The sedition of Antioch is represented in a lively,
and almost dramatic, manner by two orators, who had their
respective shares of interest and merit. See Libanius (Orat. xiv.
xv. p. 389-420, edit. Morel. Orat. i. p. 1-14, Venet. 1754) and
the twenty orations of St. John Chrysostom, de Statuis, (tom. ii.
p. 1-225, edit. Montfaucon.) I do not pretend to much personal
acquaintance with Chrysostom but Tillemont (Hist. des. Empereurs,
tom. v. p. 263-283) and Hermant (Vie de St. Chrysostome, tom. i.
p. 137-224) had read him with pious curiosity and diligence.]
The sedition of Thessalonica is ascribed to a more shameful
cause, and was productive of much more dreadful consequences.
That great city, the metropolis of all the Illyrian provinces,
had been protected from the dangers of the Gothic war by strong
fortifications and a numerous garrison. Botheric, the general of
those troops, and, as it should seem from his name, a Barbarian,
had among his slaves a beautiful boy, who excited the impure
desires of one of the charioteers of the Circus. The insolent and
brutal lover was thrown into prison by the order of Botheric; and
he sternly rejected the importunate clamors of the multitude,
who, on the day of the public games, lamented the absence of
their favorite; and considered the skill of a charioteer as an
object of more importance than his virtue. The resentment of the
people was imbittered by some previous disputes; and, as the
strength of the garrison had been drawn away for the service of
the Italian war, the feeble remnant, whose numbers were reduced
by desertion, could not save the unhappy general from their
licentious fury. Botheric, and several of his principal officers,
were inhumanly murdered; their mangled bodies were dragged about
the streets; and the emperor, who then resided at Milan, was
surprised by the intelligence of the audacious and wanton cruelty
of the people of Thessalonica. The sentence of a dispassionate
judge would have inflicted a severe punishment on the authors of
the crime; and the merit of Botheric might contribute to
exasperate the grief and indignation of his master.
The fiery and choleric temper of Theodosius was impatient of the
dilatory forms of a judicial inquiry; and he hastily resolved,
that the blood of his lieutenant should be expiated by the blood
of the guilty people. Yet his mind still fluctuated between the
counsels of clemency and of revenge; the zeal of the bishops had
almost extorted from the reluctant emperor the promise of a
general pardon; his passion was again inflamed by the flattering
suggestions of his minister Rufinus; and, after Theodosius had
despatched the messengers of death, he attempted, when it was too
late, to prevent the execution of his orders. The punishment of a
Roman city was blindly committed to the undistinguishing sword of
the Barbarians; and the hostile preparations were concerted with
the dark and perfidious artifice of an illegal conspiracy. The
people of Thessalonica were treacherously invited, in the name of
their sovereign, to the games of the Circus; and such was their
insatiate avidity for those amusements, that every consideration
of fear, or suspicion, was disregarded by the numerous
spectators. As soon as the assembly was complete, the soldiers,
who had secretly been posted round the Circus, received the
signal, not of the races, but of a general massacre. The
promiscuous carnage continued three hours, without discrimination
of strangers or natives, of age or sex, of innocence or guilt;
the most moderate accounts state the number of the slain at seven
thousand; and it is affirmed by some writers that more than
fifteen thousand victims were sacrificed to the names of
Botheric. A foreign merchant, who had probably no concern in his
murder, offered his own life, and all his wealth, to supply the
place of one of his two sons; but, while the father hesitated
with equal tenderness, while he was doubtful to choose, and
unwilling to condemn, the soldiers determined his suspense, by
plunging their daggers at the same moment into the breasts of the
defenceless youths. The apology of the assassins, that they were
obliged to produce the prescribed number of heads, serves only to
increase, by an appearance of order and design, the horrors of
the massacre, which was executed by the commands of Theodosius.
The guilt of the emperor is aggravated by his long and frequent
residence at Thessalonica. The situation of the unfortunate city,
the aspect of the streets and buildings, the dress and faces of
the inhabitants, were familiar, and even present, to his
imagination; and Theodosius possessed a quick and lively sense of
the existence of the people whom he destroyed. 91
91 (return) [ The original evidence of Ambrose, (tom. ii. Epist.
li. p. 998.) Augustin, (de Civitat. Dei, v. 26,) and Paulinus,
(in Vit. Ambros. c. 24,) is delivered in vague expressions of
horror and pity. It is illustrated by the subsequent and unequal
testimonies of Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 25,) Theodoret, (l. v. c.
17,) Theophanes, (Chronograph. p. 62,) Cedrenus, (p. 317,) and
Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiii. p. 34.) Zosimus alone, the partial
enemy of Theodosius, most unaccountably passes over in silence
the worst of his actions.]
The respectful attachment of the emperor for the orthodox clergy,
had disposed him to love and admire the character of Ambrose; who
united all the episcopal virtues in the most eminent degree. The
friends and ministers of Theodosius imitated the example of their
sovereign; and he observed, with more surprise than displeasure,
that all his secret counsels were immediately communicated to the
archbishop; who acted from the laudable persuasion, that every
measure of civil government may have some connection with the
glory of God, and the interest of the true religion. The monks
and populace of Callinicum, 9111 an obscure town on the frontier
of Persia, excited by their own fanaticism, and by that of their
bishop, had tumultuously burnt a conventicle of the Valentinians,
and a synagogue of the Jews. The seditious prelate was condemned,
by the magistrate of the province, either to rebuild the
synagogue, or to repay the damage; and this moderate sentence was
confirmed by the emperor. But it was not confirmed by the
archbishop of Milan. 92 He dictated an epistle of censure and
reproach, more suitable, perhaps, if the emperor had received the
mark of circumcision, and renounced the faith of his baptism.
Ambrose considers the toleration of the Jewish, as the
persecution of the Christian, religion; boldly declares that he
himself, and every true believer, would eagerly dispute with the
bishop of Callinicum the merit of the deed, and the crown of
martyrdom; and laments, in the most pathetic terms, that the
execution of the sentence would be fatal to the fame and
salvation of Theodosius. As this private admonition did not
produce an immediate effect, the archbishop, from his pulpit, 93
publicly addressed the emperor on his throne; 94 nor would he
consent to offer the oblation of the altar, till he had obtained
from Theodosius a solemn and positive declaration, which secured
the impunity of the bishop and monks of Callinicum. The
recantation of Theodosius was sincere; 95 and, during the term of
his residence at Milan, his affection for Ambrose was continually
increased by the habits of pious and familiar conversation.
9111 (return) [ Raeca, on the Euphrates—M.]
92 (return) [ See the whole transaction in Ambrose, (tom. ii.
Epist. xl. xli. p. 950-956,) and his biographer Paulinus, (c.
23.) Bayle and Barbeyrac (Morales des Peres, c. xvii. p. 325,
&c.) have justly condemned the archbishop.]
93 (return) [ His sermon is a strange allegory of Jeremiah’s rod,
of an almond tree, of the woman who washed and anointed the feet
of Christ. But the peroration is direct and personal.]
94 (return) [ Hodie, Episcope, de me proposuisti. Ambrose
modestly confessed it; but he sternly reprimanded Timasius,
general of the horse and foot, who had presumed to say that the
monks of Callinicum deserved punishment.]
95 (return) [ Yet, five years afterwards, when Theodosius was
absent from his spiritual guide, he tolerated the Jews, and
condemned the destruction of their synagogues. Cod. Theodos. l.
xvi. tit. viii. leg. 9, with Godefroy’s Commentary, tom. vi. p.
225.]
When Ambrose was informed of the massacre of Thessalonica, his
mind was filled with horror and anguish. He retired into the
country to indulge his grief, and to avoid the presence of
Theodosius. But as the archbishop was satisfied that a timid
silence would render him the accomplice of his guilt, he
represented, in a private letter, the enormity of the crime;
which could only be effaced by the tears of penitence. The
episcopal vigor of Ambrose was tempered by prudence; and he
contented himself with signifying 96 an indirect sort of
excommunication, by the assurance, that he had been warned in a
vision not to offer the oblation in the name, or in the presence,
of Theodosius; and by the advice, that he would confine himself
to the use of prayer, without presuming to approach the altar of
Christ, or to receive the holy eucharist with those hands that
were still polluted with the blood of an innocent people. The
emperor was deeply affected by his own reproaches, and by those
of his spiritual father; and after he had bewailed the
mischievous and irreparable consequences of his rash fury, he
proceeded, in the accustomed manner, to perform his devotions in
the great church of Milan. He was stopped in the porch by the
archbishop; who, in the tone and language of an ambassador of
Heaven, declared to his sovereign, that private contrition was
not sufficient to atone for a public fault, or to appease the
justice of the offended Deity. Theodosius humbly represented,
that if he had contracted the guilt of homicide, David, the man
after God’s own heart, had been guilty, not only of murder, but
of adultery. “You have imitated David in his crime, imitate then
his repentance,” was the reply of the undaunted Ambrose. The
rigorous conditions of peace and pardon were accepted; and the
public penance of the emperor Theodosius has been recorded as one
of the most honorable events in the annals of the church.
According to the mildest rules of ecclesiastical discipline,
which were established in the fourth century, the crime of
homicide was expiated by the penitence of twenty years: 97 and as
it was impossible, in the period of human life, to purge the
accumulated guilt of the massacre of Thessalonica, the murderer
should have been excluded from the holy communion till the hour
of his death. But the archbishop, consulting the maxims of
religious policy, granted some indulgence to the rank of his
illustrious penitent, who humbled in the dust the pride of the
diadem; and the public edification might be admitted as a weighty
reason to abridge the duration of his punishment. It was
sufficient, that the emperor of the Romans, stripped of the
ensigns of royalty, should appear in a mournful and suppliant
posture; and that, in the midst of the church of Milan, he should
humbly solicit, with sighs and tears, the pardon of his sins. 98
In this spiritual cure, Ambrose employed the various methods of
mildness and severity. After a delay of about eight months,
Theodosius was restored to the communion of the faithful; and the
edict which interposes a salutary interval of thirty days between
the sentence and the execution, may be accepted as the worthy
fruits of his repentance. 99 Posterity has applauded the virtuous
firmness of the archbishop; and the example of Theodosius may
prove the beneficial influence of those principles, which could
force a monarch, exalted above the apprehension of human
punishment, to respect the laws, and ministers, of an invisible
Judge. “The prince,” says Montesquieu, “who is actuated by the
hopes and fears of religion, may be compared to a lion, docile
only to the voice, and tractable to the hand, of his keeper.” 100
The motions of the royal animal will therefore depend on the
inclination, and interest, of the man who has acquired such
dangerous authority over him; and the priest, who holds in his
hands the conscience of a king, may inflame, or moderate, his
sanguinary passions. The cause of humanity, and that of
persecution, have been asserted, by the same Ambrose, with equal
energy, and with equal success.
96 (return) [ Ambros. tom. ii. Epist. li. p. 997-1001. His
epistle is a miserable rhapsody on a noble subject. Ambrose could
act better than he could write. His compositions are destitute of
taste, or genius; without the spirit of Tertullian, the copious
elegance of Lactantius the lively wit of Jerom, or the grave
energy of Augustin.]
97 (return) [ According to the discipline of St. Basil, (Canon
lvi.,) the voluntary homicide was four years a mourner; five a
hearer; seven in a prostrate state; and four in a standing
posture. I have the original (Beveridge, Pandect. tom. ii. p.
47-151) and a translation (Chardon, Hist. des Sacremens, tom. iv.
p. 219-277) of the Canonical Epistles of St. Basil.]
98 (return) [ The penance of Theodosius is authenticated by
Ambrose, (tom. vi. de Obit. Theodos. c. 34, p. 1207,) Augustin,
(de Civitat. Dei, v. 26,) and Paulinus, (in Vit. Ambros. c. 24.)
Socrates is ignorant; Sozomen (l. vii. c. 25) concise; and the
copious narrative of Theodoret (l. v. c. 18) must be used with
precaution.]
99 (return) [ Codex Theodos. l. ix. tit. xl. leg. 13. The date
and circumstances of this law are perplexed with difficulties;
but I feel myself inclined to favor the honest efforts of
Tillemont (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 721) and Pagi, (Critica,
tom. i. p. 578.)]
100 (return) [ Un prince qui aime la religion, et qui la craint,
est un lion qui cede a la main qui le flatte, ou a la voix qui
l’appaise. Esprit des Loix, l. xxiv. c. 2.]
Chapter XXVII: Civil Wars, Reign Of Theodosius.—Part V.
After the defeat and death of the tyrant of Gaul, the Roman world
was in the possession of Theodosius. He derived from the choice
of Gratian his honorable title to the provinces of the East: he
had acquired the West by the right of conquest; and the three
years which he spent in Italy were usefully employed to restore
the authority of the laws, and to correct the abuses which had
prevailed with impunity under the usurpation of Maximus, and the
minority of Valentinian. The name of Valentinian was regularly
inserted in the public acts: but the tender age, and doubtful
faith, of the son of Justina, appeared to require the prudent
care of an orthodox guardian; and his specious ambition might
have excluded the unfortunate youth, without a struggle, and
almost without a murmur, from the administration, and even from
the inheritance, of the empire. If Theodosius had consulted the
rigid maxims of interest and policy, his conduct would have been
justified by his friends; but the generosity of his behavior on
this memorable occasion has extorted the applause of his most
inveterate enemies. He seated Valentinian on the throne of Milan;
and, without stipulating any present or future advantages,
restored him to the absolute dominion of all the provinces, from
which he had been driven by the arms of Maximus. To the
restitution of his ample patrimony, Theodosius added the free and
generous gift of the countries beyond the Alps, which his
successful valor had recovered from the assassin of Gratian. 101
Satisfied with the glory which he had acquired, by revenging the
death of his benefactor, and delivering the West from the yoke of
tyranny, the emperor returned from Milan to Constantinople; and,
in the peaceful possession of the East, insensibly relapsed into
his former habits of luxury and indolence. Theodosius discharged
his obligation to the brother, he indulged his conjugal
tenderness to the sister, of Valentinian; and posterity, which
admires the pure and singular glory of his elevation, must
applaud his unrivalled generosity in the use of victory.
101 (return) [ It is the niggard praise of Zosimus himself, (l.
iv. p. 267.) Augustin says, with some happiness of expression,
Valentinianum.... misericordissima veneratione restituit.]
The empress Justina did not long survive her return to Italy;
and, though she beheld the triumph of Theodosius, she was not
allowed to influence the government of her son. 102 The
pernicious attachment to the Arian sect, which Valentinian had
imbibed from her example and instructions, was soon erased by the
lessons of a more orthodox education. His growing zeal for the
faith of Nice, and his filial reverence for the character and
authority of Ambrose, disposed the Catholics to entertain the
most favorable opinion of the virtues of the young emperor of the
West. 103 They applauded his chastity and temperance, his
contempt of pleasure, his application to business, and his tender
affection for his two sisters; which could not, however, seduce
his impartial equity to pronounce an unjust sentence against the
meanest of his subjects. But this amiable youth, before he had
accomplished the twentieth year of his age, was oppressed by
domestic treason; and the empire was again involved in the
horrors of a civil war. Arbogastes, 104 a gallant soldier of the
nation of the Franks, held the second rank in the service of
Gratian. On the death of his master he joined the standard of
Theodosius; contributed, by his valor and military conduct, to
the destruction of the tyrant; and was appointed, after the
victory, master-general of the armies of Gaul. His real merit,
and apparent fidelity, had gained the confidence both of the
prince and people; his boundless liberality corrupted the
allegiance of the troops; and, whilst he was universally esteemed
as the pillar of the state, the bold and crafty Barbarian was
secretly determined either to rule, or to ruin, the empire of the
West. The important commands of the army were distributed among
the Franks; the creatures of Arbogastes were promoted to all the
honors and offices of the civil government; the progress of the
conspiracy removed every faithful servant from the presence of
Valentinian; and the emperor, without power and without
intelligence, insensibly sunk into the precarious and dependent
condition of a captive. 105 The indignation which he expressed,
though it might arise only from the rash and impatient temper of
youth, may be candidly ascribed to the generous spirit of a
prince, who felt that he was not unworthy to reign. He secretly
invited the archbishop of Milan to undertake the office of a
mediator; as the pledge of his sincerity, and the guardian of his
safety. He contrived to apprise the emperor of the East of his
helpless situation, and he declared, that, unless Theodosius
could speedily march to his assistance, he must attempt to escape
from the palace, or rather prison, of Vienna in Gaul, where he
had imprudently fixed his residence in the midst of the hostile
faction. But the hopes of relief were distant, and doubtful: and,
as every day furnished some new provocation, the emperor, without
strength or counsel, too hastily resolved to risk an immediate
contest with his powerful general. He received Arbogastes on the
throne; and, as the count approached with some appearance of
respect, delivered to him a paper, which dismissed him from all
his employments. “My authority,” replied Arbogastes, with
insulting coolness, “does not depend on the smile or the frown of
a monarch;” and he contemptuously threw the paper on the ground.
The indignant monarch snatched at the sword of one of the guards,
which he struggled to draw from its scabbard; and it was not
without some degree of violence that he was prevented from using
the deadly weapon against his enemy, or against himself. A few
days after this extraordinary quarrel, in which he had exposed
his resentment and his weakness, the unfortunate Valentinian was
found strangled in his apartment; and some pains were employed to
disguise the manifest guilt of Arbogastes, and to persuade the
world, that the death of the young emperor had been the voluntary
effect of his own despair. 106 His body was conducted with decent
pomp to the sepulchre of Milan; and the archbishop pronounced a
funeral oration to commemorate his virtues and his misfortunes.
107 On this occasion the humanity of Ambrose tempted him to make
a singular breach in his theological system; and to comfort the
weeping sisters of Valentinian, by the firm assurance, that their
pious brother, though he had not received the sacrament of
baptism, was introduced, without difficulty, into the mansions of
eternal bliss. 108
102 (return) [ Sozomen, l. vii. c. 14. His chronology is very
irregular.]
103 (return) [ See Ambrose, (tom. ii. de Obit. Valentinian. c.
15, &c. p. 1178. c. 36, &c. p. 1184.) When the young emperor gave
an entertainment, he fasted himself; he refused to see a handsome
actress, &c. Since he ordered his wild beasts to to be killed, it
is ungenerous in Philostor (l. xi. c. 1) to reproach him with the
love of that amusement.]
104 (return) [ Zosimus (l. iv. p. 275) praises the enemy of
Theodosius. But he is detested by Socrates (l. v. c. 25) and
Orosius, (l. vii. c. 35.)]
105 (return) [ Gregory of Tours (l. ii. c. 9, p. 165, in the
second volume of the Historians of France) has preserved a
curious fragment of Sulpicius Alexander, an historian far more
valuable than himself.]
106 (return) [ Godefroy (Dissertat. ad. Philostorg. p. 429-434)
has diligently collected all the circumstances of the death of
Valentinian II. The variations, and the ignorance, of
contemporary writers, prove that it was secret.]
107 (return) [ De Obitu Valentinian. tom. ii. p. 1173-1196. He is
forced to speak a discreet and obscure language: yet he is much
bolder than any layman, or perhaps any other ecclesiastic, would
have dared to be.]
108 (return) [ See c. 51, p. 1188, c. 75, p. 1193. Dom Chardon,
(Hist. des Sacramens, tom. i. p. 86,) who owns that St. Ambrose
most strenuously maintains the indispensable necessity of
baptism, labors to reconcile the contradiction.]
The prudence of Arbogastes had prepared the success of his
ambitious designs: and the provincials, in whose breast every
sentiment of patriotism or loyalty was extinguished, expected,
with tame resignation, the unknown master, whom the choice of a
Frank might place on the Imperial throne. But some remains of
pride and prejudice still opposed the elevation of Arbogastes
himself; and the judicious Barbarian thought it more advisable to
reign under the name of some dependent Roman. He bestowed the
purple on the rhetorician Eugenius; 109 whom he had already
raised from the place of his domestic secretary to the rank of
master of the offices. In the course, both of his private and
public service, the count had always approved the attachment and
abilities of Eugenius; his learning and eloquence, supported by
the gravity of his manners, recommended him to the esteem of the
people; and the reluctance with which he seemed to ascend the
throne, may inspire a favorable prejudice of his virtue and
moderation. The ambassadors of the new emperor were immediately
despatched to the court of Theodosius, to communicate, with
affected grief, the unfortunate accident of the death of
Valentinian; and, without mentioning the name of Arbogastes, to
request, that the monarch of the East would embrace, as his
lawful colleague, the respectable citizen, who had obtained the
unanimous suffrage of the armies and provinces of the West. 110
Theodosius was justly provoked, that the perfidy of a Barbarian,
should have destroyed, in a moment, the labors, and the fruit, of
his former victory; and he was excited by the tears of his
beloved wife, 111 to revenge the fate of her unhappy brother, and
once more to assert by arms the violated majesty of the throne.
But as the second conquest of the West was a task of difficulty
and danger, he dismissed, with splendid presents, and an
ambiguous answer, the ambassadors of Eugenius; and almost two
years were consumed in the preparations of the civil war. Before
he formed any decisive resolution, the pious emperor was anxious
to discover the will of Heaven; and as the progress of
Christianity had silenced the oracles of Delphi and Dodona, he
consulted an Egyptian monk, who possessed, in the opinion of the
age, the gift of miracles, and the knowledge of futurity.
Eutropius, one of the favorite eunuchs of the palace of
Constantinople, embarked for Alexandria, from whence he sailed up
the Nile, as far as the city of Lycopolis, or of Wolves, in the
remote province of Thebais. 112 In the neighborhood of that city,
and on the summit of a lofty mountain, the holy John 113 had
constructed, with his own hands, an humble cell, in which he had
dwelt above fifty years, without opening his door, without seeing
the face of a woman, and without tasting any food that had been
prepared by fire, or any human art. Five days of the week he
spent in prayer and meditation; but on Saturdays and Sundays he
regularly opened a small window, and gave audience to the crowd
of suppliants who successively flowed from every part of the
Christian world. The eunuch of Theodosius approached the window
with respectful steps, proposed his questions concerning the
event of the civil war, and soon returned with a favorable
oracle, which animated the courage of the emperor by the
assurance of a bloody, but infallible victory. 114 The
accomplishment of the prediction was forwarded by all the means
that human prudence could supply. The industry of the two
master-generals, Stilicho and Timasius, was directed to recruit
the numbers, and to revive the discipline of the Roman legions.
The formidable troops of Barbarians marched under the ensigns of
their national chieftains. The Iberian, the Arab, and the Goth,
who gazed on each other with mutual astonishment, were enlisted
in the service of the same prince; 1141 and the renowned Alaric
acquired, in the school of Theodosius, the knowledge of the art
of war, which he afterwards so fatally exerted for the
destruction of Rome. 115
109 (return) [ Quem sibi Germanus famulam delegerat exul, is the
contemptuous expression of Claudian, (iv. Cons. Hon. 74.)
Eugenius professed Christianity; but his secret attachment to
Paganism (Sozomen, l. vii. c. 22, Philostorg. l. xi. c. 2) is
probable in a grammarian, and would secure the friendship of
Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 276, 277.)]
110 (return) [ Zosimus (l. iv. p. 278) mentions this embassy; but
he is diverted by another story from relating the event.]
111 (return) [ Zosim. l. iv. p. 277. He afterwards says (p. 280)
that Galla died in childbed; and intimates, that the affliction
of her husband was extreme but short.]
112 (return) [ Lycopolis is the modern Siut, or Osiot, a town of
Said, about the size of St. Denys, which drives a profitable
trade with the kingdom of Senaar, and has a very convenient
fountain, “cujus potu signa virgini tatis eripiuntur.” See
D’Anville, Description de l’Egypte, p. 181 Abulfeda, Descript.
Egypt. p. 14, and the curious Annotations, p. 25, 92, of his
editor Michaelis.]
113 (return) [ The Life of John of Lycopolis is described by his
two friends, Rufinus (l. ii. c. i. p. 449) and Palladius, (Hist.
Lausiac. c. 43, p. 738,) in Rosweyde’s great Collection of the
Vitae Patrum. Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. x. p. 718, 720) has
settled the chronology.]
114 (return) [ Sozomen, l. vii. c. 22. Claudian (in Eutrop. l. i.
312) mentions the eunuch’s journey; but he most contemptuously
derides the Egyptian dreams, and the oracles of the Nile.]
1141 (return) [ Gibbon has embodied the picturesque verses of
Claudian:—
.... Nec tantis dissona linguis Turba, nec armorum cultu diversion
unquam]
115 (return) [ Zosimus, l. iv. p. 280. Socrates, l. vii. 10.
Alaric himself (de Bell. Getico, 524) dwells with more
complacency on his early exploits against the Romans.
... Tot Augustos Hebro qui teste fugavi.
Yet his vanity could scarcely have proved this plurality of
flying emperors.]
The emperor of the West, or, to speak more properly, his general
Arbogastes, was instructed by the misconduct and misfortune of
Maximus, how dangerous it might prove to extend the line of
defence against a skilful antagonist, who was free to press, or
to suspend, to contract, or to multiply, his various methods of
attack. 116 Arbogastes fixed his station on the confines of
Italy; the troops of Theodosius were permitted to occupy, without
resistance, the provinces of Pannonia, as far as the foot of the
Julian Alps; and even the passes of the mountains were
negligently, or perhaps artfully, abandoned to the bold invader.
He descended from the hills, and beheld, with some astonishment,
the formidable camp of the Gauls and Germans, that covered with
arms and tents the open country which extends to the walls of
Aquileia, and the banks of the Frigidus, 117 or Cold River. 118
This narrow theatre of the war, circumscribed by the Alps and the
Adriatic, did not allow much room for the operations of military
skill; the spirit of Arbogastes would have disdained a pardon;
his guilt extinguished the hope of a negotiation; and Theodosius
was impatient to satisfy his glory and revenge, by the
chastisement of the assassins of Valentinian. Without weighing
the natural and artificial obstacles that opposed his efforts,
the emperor of the East immediately attacked the fortifications
of his rivals, assigned the post of honorable danger to the
Goths, and cherished a secret wish, that the bloody conflict
might diminish the pride and numbers of the conquerors. Ten
thousand of those auxiliaries, and Bacurius, general of the
Iberians, died bravely on the field of battle. But the victory
was not purchased by their blood; the Gauls maintained their
advantage; and the approach of night protected the disorderly
flight, or retreat, of the troops of Theodosius. The emperor
retired to the adjacent hills; where he passed a disconsolate
night, without sleep, without provisions, and without hopes; 119
except that strong assurance, which, under the most desperate
circumstances, the independent mind may derive from the contempt
of fortune and of life. The triumph of Eugenius was celebrated by
the insolent and dissolute joy of his camp; whilst the active and
vigilant Arbogastes secretly detached a considerable body of
troops to occupy the passes of the mountains, and to encompass
the rear of the Eastern army. The dawn of day discovered to the
eyes of Theodosius the extent and the extremity of his danger;
but his apprehensions were soon dispelled, by a friendly message
from the leaders of those troops who expressed their inclination
to desert the standard of the tyrant. The honorable and lucrative
rewards, which they stipulated as the price of their perfidy,
were granted without hesitation; and as ink and paper could not
easily be procured, the emperor subscribed, on his own tablets,
the ratification of the treaty. The spirit of his soldiers was
revived by this seasonable reenforcement; and they again marched,
with confidence, to surprise the camp of a tyrant, whose
principal officers appeared to distrust, either the justice or
the success of his arms. In the heat of the battle, a violent
tempest, 120 such as is often felt among the Alps, suddenly arose
from the East. The army of Theodosius was sheltered by their
position from the impetuosity of the wind, which blew a cloud of
dust in the faces of the enemy, disordered their ranks, wrested
their weapons from their hands, and diverted, or repelled, their
ineffectual javelins. This accidental advantage was skilfully
improved, the violence of the storm was magnified by the
superstitious terrors of the Gauls; and they yielded without
shame to the invisible powers of heaven, who seemed to militate
on the side of the pious emperor. His victory was decisive; and
the deaths of his two rivals were distinguished only by the
difference of their characters. The rhetorician Eugenius, who had
almost acquired the dominion of the world, was reduced to implore
the mercy of the conqueror; and the unrelenting soldiers
separated his head from his body as he lay prostrate at the feet
of Theodosius. Arbogastes, after the loss of a battle, in which
he had discharged the duties of a soldier and a general, wandered
several days among the mountains. But when he was convinced that
his cause was desperate, and his escape impracticable, the
intrepid Barbarian imitated the example of the ancient Romans,
and turned his sword against his own breast. The fate of the
empire was determined in a narrow corner of Italy; and the
legitimate successor of the house of Valentinian embraced the
archbishop of Milan, and graciously received the submission of
the provinces of the West. Those provinces were involved in the
guilt of rebellion; while the inflexible courage of Ambrose alone
had resisted the claims of successful usurpation. With a manly
freedom, which might have been fatal to any other subject, the
archbishop rejected the gifts of Eugenius, 1201 declined his
correspondence, and withdrew himself from Milan, to avoid the
odious presence of a tyrant, whose downfall he predicted in
discreet and ambiguous language. The merit of Ambrose was
applauded by the conqueror, who secured the attachment of the
people by his alliance with the church; and the clemency of
Theodosius is ascribed to the humane intercession of the
archbishop of Milan. 121
116 (return) [ Claudian (in iv. Cons. Honor. 77, &c.) contrasts
the military plans of the two usurpers:—
.... Novitas audere priorem Suadebat; cautumque dabant exempla
sequentem. Hic nova moliri praeceps: hic quaerere tuta Providus.
Hic fusis; colectis viribus ille. Hic vagus excurrens; hic
claustra reductus Dissimiles, sed morte pares......]
117 (return) [ The Frigidus, a small, though memorable, stream in
the country of Goretz, now called the Vipao, falls into the
Sontius, or Lisonzo, above Aquileia, some miles from the
Adriatic. See D’Anville’s ancient and modern maps, and the Italia
Antiqua of Cluverius, (tom. i. c. 188.)]
118 (return) [ Claudian’s wit is intolerable: the snow was dyed
red; the cold ver smoked; and the channel must have been choked
with carcasses the current had not been swelled with blood.
Confluxit populus: totam pater undique secum Moverat Aurorem;
mixtis hic Colchus Iberis, Hic mitra velatus Arabs, hic crine
decoro Armenius, hic picta Saces, fucataque Medus, Hic gemmata
tiger tentoria fixerat Indus.—De Laud. Stil. l. 145.—M.]
119 (return) [ Theodoret affirms, that St. John, and St. Philip,
appeared to the waking, or sleeping, emperor, on horseback, &c.
This is the first instance of apostolic chivalry, which
afterwards became so popular in Spain, and in the Crusades.]
120 (return) [ Te propter, gelidis Aquilo de monte procellis
Obruit adversas acies; revolutaque tela Vertit in auctores, et
turbine reppulit hastas
O nimium dilecte Deo, cui fundit ab antris Aeolus armatas hyemes;
cui militat Aether, Et conjurati veniunt ad classica venti.
These famous lines of Claudian (in iii. Cons. Honor. 93, &c. A.D.
396) are alleged by his contemporaries, Augustin and Orosius; who
suppress the Pagan deity of Aeolus, and add some circumstances
from the information of eye-witnesses. Within four months after
the victory, it was compared by Ambrose to the miraculous
victories of Moses and Joshua.]
1201 (return) [ Arbogastes and his emperor had openly espoused
the Pagan party, according to Ambrose and Augustin. See Le Beau,
v. 40. Beugnot (Histoire de la Destruction du Paganisme) is more
full, and perhaps somewhat fanciful, on this remarkable reaction
in favor of Paganism, but compare p 116.—M.]
121 (return) [ The events of this civil war are gathered from
Ambrose, (tom. ii. Epist. lxii. p. 1022,) Paulinus, (in Vit.
Ambros. c. 26-34,) Augustin, (de Civitat. Dei, v. 26,) Orosius,
(l. vii. c. 35,) Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 24,) Theodoret, (l. v. c.
24,) Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 281, 282,) Claudian, (in iii. Cons. Hon.
63-105, in iv. Cons. Hon. 70-117,) and the Chronicles published
by Scaliger.]
After the defeat of Eugenius, the merit, as well as the
authority, of Theodosius was cheerfully acknowledged by all the
inhabitants of the Roman world. The experience of his past
conduct encouraged the most pleasing expectations of his future
reign; and the age of the emperor, which did not exceed fifty
years, seemed to extend the prospect of the public felicity. His
death, only four months after his victory, was considered by the
people as an unforeseen and fatal event, which destroyed, in a
moment, the hopes of the rising generation. But the indulgence of
ease and luxury had secretly nourished the principles of disease.
122 The strength of Theodosius was unable to support the sudden
and violent transition from the palace to the camp; and the
increasing symptoms of a dropsy announced the speedy dissolution
of the emperor. The opinion, and perhaps the interest, of the
public had confirmed the division of the Eastern and Western
empires; and the two royal youths, Arcadius and Honorius, who had
already obtained, from the tenderness of their father, the title
of Augustus, were destined to fill the thrones of Constantinople
and of Rome. Those princes were not permitted to share the danger
and glory of the civil war; 123 but as soon as Theodosius had
triumphed over his unworthy rivals, he called his younger son,
Honorius, to enjoy the fruits of the victory, and to receive the
sceptre of the West from the hands of his dying father. The
arrival of Honorius at Milan was welcomed by a splendid
exhibition of the games of the Circus; and the emperor, though he
was oppressed by the weight of his disorder, contributed by his
presence to the public joy. But the remains of his strength were
exhausted by the painful effort which he made to assist at the
spectacles of the morning. Honorius supplied, during the rest of
the day, the place of his father; and the great Theodosius
expired in the ensuing night. Notwithstanding the recent
animosities of a civil war, his death was universally lamented.
The Barbarians, whom he had vanquished and the churchmen, by whom
he had been subdued, celebrated, with loud and sincere applause,
the qualities of the deceased emperor, which appeared the most
valuable in their eyes. The Romans were terrified by the
impending dangers of a feeble and divided administration, and
every disgraceful moment of the unfortunate reigns of Arcadius
and Honorius revived the memory of their irreparable loss.
122 (return) [ This disease, ascribed by Socrates (l. v. c. 26)
to the fatigues of war, is represented by Philostorgius (l. xi.
c. 2) as the effect of sloth and intemperance; for which Photius
calls him an impudent liar, (Godefroy, Dissert. p. 438.)]
123 (return) [ Zosimus supposes, that the boy Honorius
accompanied his father, (l. iv. p. 280.) Yet the quanto
flagrabrant pectora voto is all that flattery would allow to a
contemporary poet; who clearly describes the emperor’s refusal,
and the journey of Honorius, after the victory (Claudian in iii.
Cons. 78-125.)]
In the faithful picture of the virtues of Theodosius, his
imperfections have not been dissembled; the act of cruelty, and
the habits of indolence, which tarnished the glory of one of the
greatest of the Roman princes. An historian, perpetually adverse
to the fame of Theodosius, has exaggerated his vices, and their
pernicious effects; he boldly asserts, that every rank of
subjects imitated the effeminate manners of their sovereign; and
that every species of corruption polluted the course of public
and private life; and that the feeble restraints of order and
decency were insufficient to resist the progress of that
degenerate spirit, which sacrifices, without a blush, the
consideration of duty and interest to the base indulgence of
sloth and appetite. 124 The complaints of contemporary writers,
who deplore the increase of luxury, and depravation of manners,
are commonly expressive of their peculiar temper and situation.
There are few observers, who possess a clear and comprehensive
view of the revolutions of society; and who are capable of
discovering the nice and secret springs of action, which impel,
in the same uniform direction, the blind and capricious passions
of a multitude of individuals. If it can be affirmed, with any
degree of truth, that the luxury of the Romans was more shameless
and dissolute in the reign of Theodosius than in the age of
Constantine, perhaps, or of Augustus, the alteration cannot be
ascribed to any beneficial improvements, which had gradually
increased the stock of national riches. A long period of calamity
or decay must have checked the industry, and diminished the
wealth, of the people; and their profuse luxury must have been
the result of that indolent despair, which enjoys the present
hour, and declines the thoughts of futurity. The uncertain
condition of their property discouraged the subjects of
Theodosius from engaging in those useful and laborious
undertakings which require an immediate expense, and promise a
slow and distant advantage. The frequent examples of ruin and
desolation tempted them not to spare the remains of a patrimony,
which might, every hour, become the prey of the rapacious Goth.
And the mad prodigality which prevails in the confusion of a
shipwreck, or a siege, may serve to explain the progress of
luxury amidst the misfortunes and terrors of a sinking nation.
124 (return) [ Zosimus, l. iv. p. 244.]
The effeminate luxury, which infected the manners of courts and
cities, had instilled a secret and destructive poison into the
camps of the legions; and their degeneracy has been marked by the
pen of a military writer, who had accurately studied the genuine
and ancient principles of Roman discipline. It is the just and
important observation of Vegetius, that the infantry was
invariably covered with defensive armor, from the foundation of
the city, to the reign of the emperor Gratian. The relaxation of
discipline, and the disuse of exercise, rendered the soldiers
less able, and less willing, to support the fatigues of the
service; they complained of the weight of the armor, which they
seldom wore; and they successively obtained the permission of
laying aside both their cuirasses and their helmets. The heavy
weapons of their ancestors, the short sword, and the formidable
pilum, which had subdued the world, insensibly dropped from their
feeble hands. As the use of the shield is incompatible with that
of the bow, they reluctantly marched into the field; condemned to
suffer either the pain of wounds, or the ignominy of flight, and
always disposed to prefer the more shameful alternative. The
cavalry of the Goths, the Huns, and the Alani, had felt the
benefits, and adopted the use, of defensive armor; and, as they
excelled in the management of missile weapons, they easily
overwhelmed the naked and trembling legions, whose heads and
breasts were exposed, without defence, to the arrows of the
Barbarians. The loss of armies, the destruction of cities, and
the dishonor of the Roman name, ineffectually solicited the
successors of Gratian to restore the helmets and the cuirasses of
the infantry. The enervated soldiers abandoned their own and the
public defence; and their pusillanimous indolence may be
considered as the immediate cause of the downfall of the empire.
125
125 (return) [ Vegetius, de Re Militari, l. i. c. 10. The series
of calamities which he marks, compel us to believe, that the
Hero, to whom he dedicates his book, is the last and most
inglorious of the Valentinians.]
Chapter XXVIII: Destruction Of Paganism.—Part I.
Final Destruction Of Paganism.—Introduction Of The Worship Of
Saints, And Relics, Among The Christians.
The ruin of Paganism, in the age of Theodosius, is perhaps the
only example of the total extirpation of any ancient and popular
superstition; and may therefore deserve to be considered as a
singular event in the history of the human mind. The Christians,
more especially the clergy, had impatiently supported the prudent
delays of Constantine, and the equal toleration of the elder
Valentinian; nor could they deem their conquest perfect or
secure, as long as their adversaries were permitted to exist. The
influence which Ambrose and his brethren had acquired over the
youth of Gratian, and the piety of Theodosius, was employed to
infuse the maxims of persecution into the breasts of their
Imperial proselytes. Two specious principles of religious
jurisprudence were established, from whence they deduced a direct
and rigorous conclusion, against the subjects of the empire who
still adhered to the ceremonies of their ancestors: that the
magistrate is, in some measure, guilty of the crimes which he
neglects to prohibit, or to punish; and, that the idolatrous
worship of fabulous deities, and real daemons, is the most
abominable crime against the supreme majesty of the Creator. The
laws of Moses, and the examples of Jewish history, 1 were
hastily, perhaps erroneously, applied, by the clergy, to the mild
and universal reign of Christianity. 2 The zeal of the emperors
was excited to vindicate their own honor, and that of the Deity:
and the temples of the Roman world were subverted, about sixty
years after the conversion of Constantine.
1 (return) [ St. Ambrose (tom. ii. de Obit. Theodos. p. 1208)
expressly praises and recommends the zeal of Josiah in the
destruction of idolatry The language of Julius Firmicus Maternus
on the same subject (de Errore Profan. Relig. p. 467, edit.
Gronov.) is piously inhuman. Nec filio jubet (the Mosaic Law)
parci, nec fratri, et per amatam conjugera gladium vindicem
ducit, &c.]
2 (return) [ Bayle (tom. ii. p. 406, in his Commentaire
Philosophique) justifies, and limits, these intolerant laws by
the temporal reign of Jehovah over the Jews. The attempt is
laudable.]
From the age of Numa to the reign of Gratian, the Romans
preserved the regular succession of the several colleges of the
sacerdotal order. 3 Fifteen Pontiffs exercised their supreme
jurisdiction over all things, and persons, that were consecrated
to the service of the gods; and the various questions which
perpetually arose in a loose and traditionary system, were
submitted to the judgment of their holy tribunal. Fifteen grave
and learned Augurs observed the face of the heavens, and
prescribed the actions of heroes, according to the flight of
birds. Fifteen keepers of the Sibylline books (their name of
Quindecemvirs was derived from their number) occasionally
consulted the history of future, and, as it should seem, of
contingent, events. Six Vestals devoted their virginity to the
guard of the sacred fire, and of the unknown pledges of the
duration of Rome; which no mortal had been suffered to behold
with impunity. 4 Seven Epulos prepared the table of the gods,
conducted the solemn procession, and regulated the ceremonies of
the annual festival. The three Flamens of Jupiter, of Mars, and
of Quirinus, were considered as the peculiar ministers of the
three most powerful deities, who watched over the fate of Rome
and of the universe. The King of the Sacrifices represented the
person of Numa, and of his successors, in the religious
functions, which could be performed only by royal hands. The
confraternities of the Salians, the Lupercals, &c., practised
such rites as might extort a smile of contempt from every
reasonable man, with a lively confidence of recommending
themselves to the favor of the immortal gods. The authority,
which the Roman priests had formerly obtained in the counsels of
the republic, was gradually abolished by the establishment of
monarchy, and the removal of the seat of empire. But the dignity
of their sacred character was still protected by the laws, and
manners of their country; and they still continued, more
especially the college of pontiffs, to exercise in the capital,
and sometimes in the provinces, the rights of their
ecclesiastical and civil jurisdiction. Their robes of purple,
chariotz of state, and sumptuous entertainments, attracted the
admiration of the people; and they received, from the consecrated
lands, and the public revenue, an ample stipend, which liberally
supported the splendor of the priesthood, and all the expenses of
the religious worship of the state. As the service of the altar
was not incompatible with the command of armies, the Romans,
after their consulships and triumphs, aspired to the place of
pontiff, or of augur; the seats of Cicero 5 and Pompey were
filled, in the fourth century, by the most illustrious members of
the senate; and the dignity of their birth reflected additional
splendor on their sacerdotal character. The fifteen priests, who
composed the college of pontiffs, enjoyed a more distinguished
rank as the companions of their sovereign; and the Christian
emperors condescended to accept the robe and ensigns, which were
appropriated to the office of supreme pontiff. But when Gratian
ascended the throne, more scrupulous or more enlightened, he
sternly rejected those profane symbols; 6 applied to the service
of the state, or of the church, the revenues of the priests and
vestals; abolished their honors and immunities; and dissolved the
ancient fabric of Roman superstition, which was supported by the
opinions and habits of eleven hundred years. Paganism was still
the constitutional religion of the senate. The hall, or temple,
in which they assembled, was adorned by the statue and altar of
Victory; 7 a majestic female standing on a globe, with flowing
garments, expanded wings, and a crown of laurel in her
outstretched hand. 8 The senators were sworn on the altar of the
goddess to observe the laws of the emperor and of the empire: and
a solemn offering of wine and incense was the ordinary prelude of
their public deliberations. 9 The removal of this ancient
monument was the only injury which Constantius had offered to the
superstition of the Romans. The altar of Victory was again
restored by Julian, tolerated by Valentinian, and once more
banished from the senate by the zeal of Gratian. 10 But the
emperor yet spared the statues of the gods which were exposed to
the public veneration: four hundred and twenty-four temples, or
chapels, still remained to satisfy the devotion of the people;
and in every quarter of Rome the delicacy of the Christians was
offended by the fumes of idolatrous sacrifice. 11
3 (return) [ See the outlines of the Roman hierarchy in Cicero,
(de Legibus, ii. 7, 8,) Livy, (i. 20,) Dionysius
Halicarnassensis, (l. ii. p. 119-129, edit. Hudson,) Beaufort,
(Republique Romaine, tom. i. p. 1-90,) and Moyle, (vol. i. p.
10-55.) The last is the work of an English whig, as well as of a
Roman antiquary.]
4 (return) [ These mystic, and perhaps imaginary, symbols have
given birth to various fables and conjectures. It seems probable,
that the Palladium was a small statue (three cubits and a half
high) of Minerva, with a lance and distaff; that it was usually
enclosed in a seria, or barrel; and that a similar barrel was
placed by its side to disconcert curiosity, or sacrilege. See
Mezeriac (Comment. sur les Epitres d’Ovide, tom i. p. 60—66) and
Lipsius, (tom. iii. p. 610 de Vesta, &c. c 10.)]
5 (return) [ Cicero frankly (ad Atticum, l. ii. Epist. 5) or
indirectly (ad Familiar. l. xv. Epist. 4) confesses that the
Augurate is the supreme object of his wishes. Pliny is proud to
tread in the footsteps of Cicero, (l. iv. Epist. 8,) and the
chain of tradition might be continued from history and marbles.]
6 (return) [ Zosimus, l. iv. p. 249, 250. I have suppressed the
foolish pun about Pontifex and Maximus.]
7 (return) [ This statue was transported from Tarentum to Rome,
placed in the Curia Julia by Caesar, and decorated by Augustus
with the spoils of Egypt.]
8 (return) [ Prudentius (l. ii. in initio) has drawn a very
awkward portrait of Victory; but the curious reader will obtain
more satisfaction from Montfaucon’s Antiquities, (tom. i. p.
341.)]
9 (return) [ See Suetonius (in August. c. 35) and the Exordium of
Pliny’s Panegyric.]
10 (return) [ These facts are mutually allowed by the two
advocates, Symmachus and Ambrose.]
11 (return) [ The Notitia Urbis, more recent than Constantine,
does not find one Christian church worthy to be named among the
edifices of the city. Ambrose (tom. ii. Epist. xvii. p. 825)
deplores the public scandals of Rome, which continually offended
the eyes, the ears, and the nostrils of the faithful.]
But the Christians formed the least numerous party in the senate
of Rome: 12 and it was only by their absence, that they could
express their dissent from the legal, though profane, acts of a
Pagan majority. In that assembly, the dying embers of freedom
were, for a moment, revived and inflamed by the breath of
fanaticism. Four respectable deputations were successively voted
to the Imperial court, 13 to represent the grievances of the
priesthood and the senate, and to solicit the restoration of the
altar of Victory. The conduct of this important business was
intrusted to the eloquent Symmachus, 14 a wealthy and noble
senator, who united the sacred characters of pontiff and augur
with the civil dignities of proconsul of Africa and præfect of
the city. The breast of Symmachus was animated by the warmest
zeal for the cause of expiring Paganism; and his religious
antagonists lamented the abuse of his genius, and the inefficacy
of his moral virtues. 15 The orator, whose petition is extant to
the emperor Valentinian, was conscious of the difficulty and
danger of the office which he had assumed. He cautiously avoids
every topic which might appear to reflect on the religion of his
sovereign; humbly declares, that prayers and entreaties are his
only arms; and artfully draws his arguments from the schools of
rhetoric, rather than from those of philosophy. Symmachus
endeavors to seduce the imagination of a young prince, by
displaying the attributes of the goddess of victory; he
insinuates, that the confiscation of the revenues, which were
consecrated to the service of the gods, was a measure unworthy of
his liberal and disinterested character; and he maintains, that
the Roman sacrifices would be deprived of their force and energy,
if they were no longer celebrated at the expense, as well as in
the name, of the republic. Even scepticism is made to supply an
apology for superstition. The great and incomprehensible secret
of the universe eludes the inquiry of man. Where reason cannot
instruct, custom may be permitted to guide; and every nation
seems to consult the dictates of prudence, by a faithful
attachment to those rites and opinions, which have received the
sanction of ages. If those ages have been crowned with glory and
prosperity, if the devout people have frequently obtained the
blessings which they have solicited at the altars of the gods, it
must appear still more advisable to persist in the same salutary
practice; and not to risk the unknown perils that may attend any
rash innovations. The test of antiquity and success was applied
with singular advantage to the religion of Numa; and Rome
herself, the celestial genius that presided over the fates of the
city, is introduced by the orator to plead her own cause before
the tribunal of the emperors. “Most excellent princes,” says the
venerable matron, “fathers of your country! pity and respect my
age, which has hitherto flowed in an uninterrupted course of
piety. Since I do not repent, permit me to continue in the
practice of my ancient rites. Since I am born free, allow me to
enjoy my domestic institutions. This religion has reduced the
world under my laws. These rites have repelled Hannibal from the
city, and the Gauls from the Capitol. Were my gray hairs reserved
for such intolerable disgrace? I am ignorant of the new system
that I am required to adopt; but I am well assured, that the
correction of old age is always an ungrateful and ignominious
office.” 16 The fears of the people supplied what the discretion
of the orator had suppressed; and the calamities, which
afflicted, or threatened, the declining empire, were unanimously
imputed, by the Pagans, to the new religion of Christ and of
Constantine.
12 (return) [ Ambrose repeatedly affirms, in contradiction to
common sense (Moyle’s Works, vol. ii. p. 147,) that the
Christians had a majority in the senate.]
13 (return) [ The first (A.D. 382) to Gratian, who refused them
audience; the second (A.D. 384) to Valentinian, when the field
was disputed by Symmachus and Ambrose; the third (A.D. 388) to
Theodosius; and the fourth (A.D. 392) to Valentinian. Lardner
(Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 372-399) fairly represents the
whole transaction.]
14 (return) [ Symmachus, who was invested with all the civil and
sacerdotal honors, represented the emperor under the two
characters of Pontifex Maximus, and Princeps Senatus. See the
proud inscription at the head of his works. * Note: Mr. Beugnot
has made it doubtful whether Symmachus was more than Pontifex
Major. Destruction du Paganisme, vol. i. p. 459.—M.]
15 (return) [ As if any one, says Prudentius (in Symmach. i. 639)
should dig in the mud with an instrument of gold and ivory. Even
saints, and polemic saints, treat this adversary with respect and
civility.]
16 (return) [ See the fifty-fourth Epistle of the tenth book of
Symmachus. In the form and disposition of his ten books of
Epistles, he imitated the younger Pliny; whose rich and florid
style he was supposed, by his friends, to equal or excel,
(Macrob. Saturnal. l. v. c. i.) But the luxcriancy of Symmachus
consists of barren leaves, without fruits, and even without
flowers. Few facts, and few sentiments, can be extracted from his
verbose correspondence.]
But the hopes of Symmachus were repeatedly baffled by the firm
and dexterous opposition of the archbishop of Milan, who
fortified the emperors against the fallacious eloquence of the
advocate of Rome. In this controversy, Ambrose condescends to
speak the language of a philosopher, and to ask, with some
contempt, why it should be thought necessary to introduce an
imaginary and invisible power, as the cause of those victories,
which were sufficiently explained by the valor and discipline of
the legions. He justly derides the absurd reverence for
antiquity, which could only tend to discourage the improvements
of art, and to replunge the human race into their original
barbarism. From thence, gradually rising to a more lofty and
theological tone, he pronounces, that Christianity alone is the
doctrine of truth and salvation; and that every mode of
Polytheism conducts its deluded votaries, through the paths of
error, to the abyss of eternal perdition. 17 Arguments like
these, when they were suggested by a favorite bishop, had power
to prevent the restoration of the altar of Victory; but the same
arguments fell, with much more energy and effect, from the mouth
of a conqueror; and the gods of antiquity were dragged in triumph
at the chariot-wheels of Theodosius. 18 In a full meeting of the
senate, the emperor proposed, according to the forms of the
republic, the important question, Whether the worship of Jupiter,
or that of Christ, should be the religion of the Romans. 1811 The
liberty of suffrages, which he affected to allow, was destroyed
by the hopes and fears that his presence inspired; and the
arbitrary exile of Symmachus was a recent admonition, that it
might be dangerous to oppose the wishes of the monarch. On a
regular division of the senate, Jupiter was condemned and
degraded by the sense of a very large majority; and it is rather
surprising, that any members should be found bold enough to
declare, by their speeches and votes, that they were still
attached to the interest of an abdicated deity. 19 The hasty
conversion of the senate must be attributed either to
supernatural or to sordid motives; and many of these reluctant
proselytes betrayed, on every favorable occasion, their secret
disposition to throw aside the mask of odious dissimulation. But
they were gradually fixed in the new religion, as the cause of
the ancient became more hopeless; they yielded to the authority
of the emperor, to the fashion of the times, and to the
entreaties of their wives and children, 20 who were instigated
and governed by the clergy of Rome and the monks of the East. The
edifying example of the Anician family was soon imitated by the
rest of the nobility: the Bassi, the Paullini, the Gracchi,
embraced the Christian religion; and “the luminaries of the
world, the venerable assembly of Catos (such are the high-flown
expressions of Prudentius) were impatient to strip themselves of
their pontifical garment; to cast the skin of the old serpent; to
assume the snowy robes of baptismal innocence, and to humble the
pride of the consular fasces before tombs of the martyrs.” 21 The
citizens, who subsisted by their own industry, and the populace,
who were supported by the public liberality, filled the churches
of the Lateran, and Vatican, with an incessant throng of devout
proselytes. The decrees of the senate, which proscribed the
worship of idols, were ratified by the general consent of the
Romans; 22 the splendor of the Capitol was defaced, and the
solitary temples were abandoned to ruin and contempt. 23 Rome
submitted to the yoke of the Gospel; and the vanquished provinces
had not yet lost their reverence for the name and authority of
Rome. 2311
17 (return) [ See Ambrose, (tom. ii. Epist. xvii. xviii. p.
825-833.) The former of these epistles is a short caution; the
latter is a formal reply of the petition or libel of Symmachus.
The same ideas are more copiously expressed in the poetry, if it
may deserve that name, of Prudentius; who composed his two books
against Symmachus (A.D. 404) while that senator was still alive.
It is whimsical enough that Montesquieu (Considerations, &c. c.
xix. tom. iii. p. 487) should overlook the two professed
antagonists of Symmachus, and amuse himself with descanting on
the more remote and indirect confutations of Orosius, St.
Augustin, and Salvian.]
18 (return) [ See Prudentius (in Symmach. l. i. 545, &c.) The
Christian agrees with the Pagan Zosimus (l. iv. p. 283) in
placing this visit of Theodosius after the second civil war,
gemini bis victor caede Tyranni, (l. i. 410.) But the time and
circumstances are better suited to his first triumph.]
1811 (return) [ M. Beugnot (in his Histoire de la Destruction du
Paganisme en Occident, i. p. 483-488) questions, altogether, the
truth of this statement. It is very remarkable that Zosimus and
Prudentius concur in asserting the fact of the question being
solemnly deliberated by the senate, though with directly opposite
results. Zosimus declares that the majority of the assembly
adhered to the ancient religion of Rome; Gibbon has adopted the
authority of Prudentius, who, as a Latin writer, though a poet,
deserves more credit than the Greek historian. Both concur in
placing this scene after the second triumph of Theodosius; but it
has been almost demonstrated (and Gibbon—see the preceding
note—seems to have acknowledged this) by Pagi and Tillemont, that
Theodosius did not visit Rome after the defeat of Eugenius. M.
Beugnot urges, with much force, the improbability that the
Christian emperor would submit such a question to the senate,
whose authority was nearly obsolete, except on one occasion,
which was almost hailed as an epoch in the restoration of her
ancient privileges. The silence of Ambrose and of Jerom on an
event so striking, and redounding so much to the honor of
Christianity, is of considerable weight. M. Beugnot would ascribe
the whole scene to the poetic imagination of Prudentius; but I
must observe, that, however Prudentius is sometimes elevated by
the grandeur of his subject to vivid and eloquent language, this
flight of invention would be so much bolder and more vigorous
than usual with this poet, that I cannot but suppose there must
have been some foundation for the story, though it may have been
exaggerated by the poet, or misrepresented by the historian.—M]
19 (return) [ Prudentius, after proving that the sense of the
senate is declared by a legal majority, proceeds to say, (609,
&c.)—
Adspice quam pleno subsellia nostra Senatu Decernant infame Jovis
pulvinar, et omne Idolum longe purgata ex urbe fugandum, Qua vocat
egregii sententia Principis, illuc Libera, cum pedibus, tum corde,
frequentia transit.
Zosimus ascribes to the conscript fathers a heathenish courage,
which few of them are found to possess.]
20 (return) [ Jerom specifies the pontiff Albinus, who was
surrounded with such a believing family of children and
grandchildren, as would have been sufficient to convert even
Jupiter himself; an extraordinary proselyted (tom. i. ad Laetam,
p. 54.)]
21 (return) [
Exultare Patres videas, pulcherrima mundi Lumina; Conciliumque
senum gestire Catonum Candidiore toga niveum pietatis amictum
Sumere; et exuvias deponere pontificales.
The fancy of Prudentius is warmed and elevated by victory]
22 (return) [ Prudentius, after he has described the conversion
of the senate and people, asks, with some truth and confidence,
Et dubitamus adhuc Romam, tibi, Christe, dicatam In leges transisse
tuas?]
23 (return) [ Jerom exults in the desolation of the Capitol, and
the other temples of Rome, (tom. i. p. 54, tom. ii. p. 95.)]
2311 (return) [ M. Beugnot is more correct in his general
estimate of the measures enforced by Theodosius for the abolition
of Paganism. He seized (according to Zosimus) the funds bestowed
by the public for the expense of sacrifices. The public
sacrifices ceased, not because they were positively prohibited,
but because the public treasury would no longer bear the expense.
The public and the private sacrifices in the provinces, which
were not under the same regulations with those of the capital,
continued to take place. In Rome itself, many pagan ceremonies,
which were without sacrifice, remained in full force. The gods,
therefore, were invoked, the temples were frequented, the
pontificates inscribed, according to ancient usage, among the
family titles of honor; and it cannot be asserted that idolatry
was completely destroyed by Theodosius. See Beugnot, p. 491.—M.]
Chapter XXVIII: Destruction Of Paganism.—Part II.
The filial piety of the emperors themselves engaged them to
proceed, with some caution and tenderness, in the reformation of
the eternal city. Those absolute monarchs acted with less regard
to the prejudices of the provincials. The pious labor which had
been suspended near twenty years since the death of Constantius,
24 was vigorously resumed, and finally accomplished, by the zeal
of Theodosius. Whilst that warlike prince yet struggled with the
Goths, not for the glory, but for the safety, of the republic, he
ventured to offend a considerable party of his subjects, by some
acts which might perhaps secure the protection of Heaven, but
which must seem rash and unseasonable in the eye of human
prudence. The success of his first experiments against the Pagans
encouraged the pious emperor to reiterate and enforce his edicts
of proscription: the same laws which had been originally
published in the provinces of the East, were applied, after the
defeat of Maximus, to the whole extent of the Western empire; and
every victory of the orthodox Theodosius contributed to the
triumph of the Christian and Catholic faith. 25 He attacked
superstition in her most vital part, by prohibiting the use of
sacrifices, which he declared to be criminal as well as infamous;
and if the terms of his edicts more strictly condemned the
impious curiosity which examined the entrails of the victim, 26
every subsequent explanation tended to involve in the same guilt
the general practice of immolation, which essentially constituted
the religion of the Pagans. As the temples had been erected for
the purpose of sacrifice, it was the duty of a benevolent prince
to remove from his subjects the dangerous temptation of offending
against the laws which he had enacted. A special commission was
granted to Cynegius, the Prætorian præfect of the East, and
afterwards to the counts Jovius and Gaudentius, two officers of
distinguished rank in the West; by which they were directed to
shut the temples, to seize or destroy the instruments of
idolatry, to abolish the privileges of the priests, and to
confiscate the consecrated property for the benefit of the
emperor, of the church, or of the army. 27 Here the desolation
might have stopped: and the naked edifices, which were no longer
employed in the service of idolatry, might have been protected
from the destructive rage of fanaticism. Many of those temples
were the most splendid and beautiful monuments of Grecian
architecture; and the emperor himself was interested not to
deface the splendor of his own cities, or to diminish the value
of his own possessions. Those stately edifices might be suffered
to remain, as so many lasting trophies of the victory of Christ.
In the decline of the arts they might be usefully converted into
magazines, manufactures, or places of public assembly: and
perhaps, when the walls of the temple had been sufficiently
purified by holy rites, the worship of the true Deity might be
allowed to expiate the ancient guilt of idolatry. But as long as
they subsisted, the Pagans fondly cherished the secret hope, that
an auspicious revolution, a second Julian, might again restore
the altars of the gods: and the earnestness with which they
addressed their unavailing prayers to the throne, 28 increased
the zeal of the Christian reformers to extirpate, without mercy,
the root of superstition. The laws of the emperors exhibit some
symptoms of a milder disposition: 29 but their cold and languid
efforts were insufficient to stem the torrent of enthusiasm and
rapine, which was conducted, or rather impelled, by the spiritual
rulers of the church. In Gaul, the holy Martin, bishop of Tours,
30 marched at the head of his faithful monks to destroy the
idols, the temples, and the consecrated trees of his extensive
diocese; and, in the execution of this arduous task, the prudent
reader will judge whether Martin was supported by the aid of
miraculous powers, or of carnal weapons. In Syria, the divine and
excellent Marcellus, 31 as he is styled by Theodoret, a bishop
animated with apostolic fervor, resolved to level with the ground
the stately temples within the diocese of Apamea. His attack was
resisted by the skill and solidity with which the temple of
Jupiter had been constructed. The building was seated on an
eminence: on each of the four sides, the lofty roof was supported
by fifteen massy columns, sixteen feet in circumference; and the
large stone, of which they were composed, were firmly cemented
with lead and iron. The force of the strongest and sharpest tools
had been tried without effect. It was found necessary to
undermine the foundations of the columns, which fell down as soon
as the temporary wooden props had been consumed with fire; and
the difficulties of the enterprise are described under the
allegory of a black daemon, who retarded, though he could not
defeat, the operations of the Christian engineers. Elated with
victory, Marcellus took the field in person against the powers of
darkness; a numerous troop of soldiers and gladiators marched
under the episcopal banner, and he successively attacked the
villages and country temples of the diocese of Apamea. Whenever
any resistance or danger was apprehended, the champion of the
faith, whose lameness would not allow him either to fight or fly,
placed himself at a convenient distance, beyond the reach of
darts. But this prudence was the occasion of his death: he was
surprised and slain by a body of exasperated rustics; and the
synod of the province pronounced, without hesitation, that the
holy Marcellus had sacrificed his life in the cause of God. In
the support of this cause, the monks, who rushed with tumultuous
fury from the desert, distinguished themselves by their zeal and
diligence. They deserved the enmity of the Pagans; and some of
them might deserve the reproaches of avarice and intemperance; of
avarice, which they gratified with holy plunder, and of
intemperance, which they indulged at the expense of the people,
who foolishly admired their tattered garments, loud psalmody, and
artificial paleness. 32 A small number of temples was protected
by the fears, the venality, the taste, or the prudence, of the
civil and ecclesiastical governors. The temple of the Celestial
Venus at Carthage, whose sacred precincts formed a circumference
of two miles, was judiciously converted into a Christian church;
33 and a similar consecration has preserved inviolate the
majestic dome of the Pantheon at Rome. 34 But in almost every
province of the Roman world, an army of fanatics, without
authority, and without discipline, invaded the peaceful
inhabitants; and the ruin of the fairest structures of antiquity
still displays the ravages of those Barbarians, who alone had
time and inclination to execute such laborious destruction.
24 (return) [ Libanius (Orat. pro Templis, p. 10, Genev. 1634,
published by James Godefroy, and now extremely scarce) accuses
Valentinian and Valens of prohibiting sacrifices. Some partial
order may have been issued by the Eastern emperor; but the idea
of any general law is contradicted by the silence of the Code,
and the evidence of ecclesiastical history. Note: See in Reiske’s
edition of Libanius, tom. ii. p. 155. Sacrific was prohibited by
Valens, but not the offering of incense.—M.]
25 (return) [ See his laws in the Theodosian Code, l. xvi. tit.
x. leg. 7-11.]
26 (return) [ Homer’s sacrifices are not accompanied with any
inquisition of entrails, (see Feithius, Antiquitat. Homer. l. i.
c. 10, 16.) The Tuscans, who produced the first Haruspices,
subdued both the Greeks and the Romans, (Cicero de Divinatione,
ii. 23.)]
27 (return) [ Zosimus, l. iv. p. 245, 249. Theodoret. l. v. c.
21. Idatius in Chron. Prosper. Aquitan. l. iii. c. 38, apud
Baronium, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 389, No. 52. Libanius (pro Templis,
p. 10) labors to prove that the commands of Theodosius were not
direct and positive. * Note: Libanius appears to be the best
authority for the East, where, under Theodosius, the work of
devastation was carried on with very different degrees of
violence, according to the temper of the local authorities and of
the clergy; and more especially the neighborhood of the more
fanatican monks. Neander well observes, that the prohibition of
sacrifice would be easily misinterpreted into an authority for
the destruction of the buildings in which sacrifices were
performed. (Geschichte der Christlichen religion ii. p. 156.) An
abuse of this kind led to this remarkable oration of Libanius.
Neander, however, justly doubts whether this bold vindication or
at least exculpation, of Paganism was ever delivered before, or
even placed in the hands of the Christian emperor.—M.]
28 (return) [ Cod. Theodos, l. xvi. tit. x. leg. 8, 18. There is
room to believe, that this temple of Edessa, which Theodosius
wished to save for civil uses, was soon afterwards a heap of
ruins, (Libanius pro Templis, p. 26, 27, and Godefroy’s notes, p.
59.)]
29 (return) [ See this curious oration of Libanius pro Templis,
pronounced, or rather composed, about the year 390. I have
consulted, with advantage, Dr. Lardner’s version and remarks,
(Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 135-163.)]
30 (return) [ See the Life of Martin by Sulpicius Severus, c.
9-14. The saint once mistook (as Don Quixote might have done) a
harmless funeral for an idolatrous procession, and imprudently
committed a miracle.]
31 (return) [ Compare Sozomen, (l. vii. c. 15) with Theodoret,
(l. v. c. 21.) Between them, they relate the crusade and death of
Marcellus.]
32 (return) [ Libanius, pro Templis, p. 10-13. He rails at these
black-garbed men, the Christian monks, who eat more than
elephants. Poor elephants! they are temperate animals.]
33 (return) [ Prosper. Aquitan. l. iii. c. 38, apud Baronium;
Annal. Eccles. A.D. 389, No. 58, &c. The temple had been shut
some time, and the access to it was overgrown with brambles.]
34 (return) [ Donatus, Roma Antiqua et Nova, l. iv. c. 4, p. 468.
This consecration was performed by Pope Boniface IV. I am
ignorant of the favorable circumstances which had preserved the
Pantheon above two hundred years after the reign of Theodosius.]
In this wide and various prospect of devastation, the spectator
may distinguish the ruins of the temple of Serapis, at
Alexandria. 35 Serapis does not appear to have been one of the
native gods, or monsters, who sprung from the fruitful soil of
superstitious Egypt. 36 The first of the Ptolemies had been
commanded, by a dream, to import the mysterious stranger from the
coast of Pontus, where he had been long adored by the inhabitants
of Sinope; but his attributes and his reign were so imperfectly
understood, that it became a subject of dispute, whether he
represented the bright orb of day, or the gloomy monarch of the
subterraneous regions. 37 The Egyptians, who were obstinately
devoted to the religion of their fathers, refused to admit this
foreign deity within the walls of their cities. 38 But the
obsequious priests, who were seduced by the liberality of the
Ptolemies, submitted, without resistance, to the power of the god
of Pontus: an honorable and domestic genealogy was provided; and
this fortunate usurper was introduced into the throne and bed of
Osiris, 39 the husband of Isis, and the celestial monarch of
Egypt. Alexandria, which claimed his peculiar protection, gloried
in the name of the city of Serapis. His temple, 40 which rivalled
the pride and magnificence of the Capitol, was erected on the
spacious summit of an artificial mount, raised one hundred steps
above the level of the adjacent parts of the city; and the
interior cavity was strongly supported by arches, and distributed
into vaults and subterraneous apartments. The consecrated
buildings were surrounded by a quadrangular portico; the stately
halls, and exquisite statues, displayed the triumph of the arts;
and the treasures of ancient learning were preserved in the
famous Alexandrian library, which had arisen with new splendor
from its ashes. 41 After the edicts of Theodosius had severely
prohibited the sacrifices of the Pagans, they were still
tolerated in the city and temple of Serapis; and this singular
indulgence was imprudently ascribed to the superstitious terrors
of the Christians themselves; as if they had feared to abolish
those ancient rites, which could alone secure the inundations of
the Nile, the harvests of Egypt, and the subsistence of
Constantinople. 42
35 (return) [ Sophronius composed a recent and separate history,
(Jerom, in Script. Eccles. tom. i. p. 303,) which has furnished
materials to Socrates, (l. v. c. 16.) Theodoret, (l. v. c. 22,)
and Rufinus, (l. ii. c. 22.) Yet the last, who had been at
Alexandria before and after the event, may deserve the credit of
an original witness.]
36 (return) [ Gerard Vossius (Opera, tom. v. p. 80, and de
Idoloaltria, l. i. c. 29) strives to support the strange notion
of the Fathers; that the patriarch Joseph was adored in Egypt, as
the bull Apis, and the god Serapis. * Note: Consult du Dieu
Serapis et son Origine, par J D. Guigniaut, (the translator of
Creuzer’s Symbolique,) Paris, 1828; and in the fifth volume of
Bournouf’s translation of Tacitus.—M.]
37 (return) [ Origo dei nondum nostris celebrata. Aegyptiorum
antistites sic memorant, &c., Tacit. Hist. iv. 83. The Greeks,
who had travelled into Egypt, were alike ignorant of this new
deity.]
38 (return) [ Macrobius, Saturnal, l. i. c. 7. Such a living fact
decisively proves his foreign extraction.]
39 (return) [ At Rome, Isis and Serapis were united in the same
temple. The precedency which the queen assumed, may seem to
betray her unequal alliance with the stranger of Pontus. But the
superiority of the female sex was established in Egypt as a civil
and religious institution, (Diodor. Sicul. tom. i. l. i. p. 31,
edit. Wesseling,) and the same order is observed in Plutarch’s
Treatise of Isis and Osiris; whom he identifies with Serapis.]
40 (return) [ Ammianus, (xxii. 16.) The Expositio totius Mundi,
(p. 8, in Hudson’s Geograph. Minor. tom. iii.,) and Rufinus, (l.
ii. c. 22,) celebrate the Serapeum, as one of the wonders of the
world.]
41 (return) [ See Mémoires de l’Acad. des Inscriptions, tom. ix.
p. 397-416. The old library of the Ptolemies was totally consumed
in Caesar’s Alexandrian war. Marc Antony gave the whole
collection of Pergamus (200,000 volumes) to Cleopatra, as the
foundation of the new library of Alexandria.]
42 (return) [ Libanius (pro Templis, p. 21) indiscreetly provokes
his Christian masters by this insulting remark.]
At that time 43 the archiepiscopal throne of Alexandria was
filled by Theophilus, 44 the perpetual enemy of peace and virtue;
a bold, bad man, whose hands were alternately polluted with gold
and with blood. His pious indignation was excited by the honors
of Serapis; and the insults which he offered to an ancient temple
of Bacchus, 4411 convinced the Pagans that he meditated a more
important and dangerous enterprise. In the tumultuous capital of
Egypt, the slightest provocation was sufficient to inflame a
civil war. The votaries of Serapis, whose strength and numbers
were much inferior to those of their antagonists, rose in arms at
the instigation of the philosopher Olympius, 45 who exhorted them
to die in the defence of the altars of the gods. These Pagan
fanatics fortified themselves in the temple, or rather fortress,
of Serapis; repelled the besiegers by daring sallies, and a
resolute defence; and, by the inhuman cruelties which they
exercised on their Christian prisoners, obtained the last
consolation of despair. The efforts of the prudent magistrate
were usefully exerted for the establishment of a truce, till the
answer of Theodosius should determine the fate of Serapis. The
two parties assembled, without arms, in the principal square; and
the Imperial rescript was publicly read. But when a sentence of
destruction against the idols of Alexandria was pronounced, the
Christians set up a shout of joy and exultation, whilst the
unfortunate Pagans, whose fury had given way to consternation,
retired with hasty and silent steps, and eluded, by their flight
or obscurity, the resentment of their enemies. Theophilus
proceeded to demolish the temple of Serapis, without any other
difficulties, than those which he found in the weight and
solidity of the materials: but these obstacles proved so
insuperable, that he was obliged to leave the foundations; and to
content himself with reducing the edifice itself to a heap of
rubbish, a part of which was soon afterwards cleared away, to
make room for a church, erected in honor of the Christian
martyrs. The valuable library of Alexandria was pillaged or
destroyed; and near twenty years afterwards, the appearance of
the empty shelves excited the regret and indignation of every
spectator, whose mind was not totally darkened by religious
prejudice. 46 The compositions of ancient genius, so many of
which have irretrievably perished, might surely have been
excepted from the wreck of idolatry, for the amusement and
instruction of succeeding ages; and either the zeal or the
avarice of the archbishop, 47 might have been satiated with the
rich spoils, which were the reward of his victory. While the
images and vases of gold and silver were carefully melted, and
those of a less valuable metal were contemptuously broken, and
cast into the streets, Theophilus labored to expose the frauds
and vices of the ministers of the idols; their dexterity in the
management of the loadstone; their secret methods of introducing
a human actor into a hollow statue; 4711 and their scandalous
abuse of the confidence of devout husbands and unsuspecting
females. 48 Charges like these may seem to deserve some degree of
credit, as they are not repugnant to the crafty and interested
spirit of superstition. But the same spirit is equally prone to
the base practice of insulting and calumniating a fallen enemy;
and our belief is naturally checked by the reflection, that it is
much less difficult to invent a fictitious story, than to support
a practical fraud. The colossal statue of Serapis 49 was involved
in the ruin of his temple and religion. A great number of plates
of different metals, artificially joined together, composed the
majestic figure of the deity, who touched on either side the
walls of the sanctuary. The aspect of Serapis, his sitting
posture, and the sceptre, which he bore in his left hand, were
extremely similar to the ordinary representations of Jupiter. He
was distinguished from Jupiter by the basket, or bushel, which
was placed on his head; and by the emblematic monster which he
held in his right hand; the head and body of a serpent branching
into three tails, which were again terminated by the triple heads
of a dog, a lion, and a wolf. It was confidently affirmed, that
if any impious hand should dare to violate the majesty of the
god, the heavens and the earth would instantly return to their
original chaos. An intrepid soldier, animated by zeal, and armed
with a weighty battle-axe, ascended the ladder; and even the
Christian multitude expected, with some anxiety, the event of the
combat. 50 He aimed a vigorous stroke against the cheek of
Serapis; the cheek fell to the ground; the thunder was still
silent, and both the heavens and the earth continued to preserve
their accustomed order and tranquillity. The victorious soldier
repeated his blows: the huge idol was overthrown, and broken in
pieces; and the limbs of Serapis were ignominiously dragged
through the streets of Alexandria. His mangled carcass was burnt
in the Amphitheatre, amidst the shouts of the populace; and many
persons attributed their conversion to this discovery of the
impotence of their tutelar deity. The popular modes of religion,
that propose any visible and material objects of worship, have
the advantage of adapting and familiarizing themselves to the
senses of mankind: but this advantage is counterbalanced by the
various and inevitable accidents to which the faith of the
idolater is exposed. It is scarcely possible, that, in every
disposition of mind, he should preserve his implicit reverence
for the idols, or the relics, which the naked eye, and the
profane hand, are unable to distinguish from the most common
productions of art or nature; and if, in the hour of danger,
their secret and miraculous virtue does not operate for their own
preservation, he scorns the vain apologies of his priests, and
justly derides the object, and the folly, of his superstitious
attachment. 51 After the fall of Serapis, some hopes were still
entertained by the Pagans, that the Nile would refuse his annual
supply to the impious masters of Egypt; and the extraordinary
delay of the inundation seemed to announce the displeasure of the
river-god. But this delay was soon compensated by the rapid swell
of the waters. They suddenly rose to such an unusual height, as
to comfort the discontented party with the pleasing expectation
of a deluge; till the peaceful river again subsided to the
well-known and fertilizing level of sixteen cubits, or about
thirty English feet. 52
43 (return) [ We may choose between the date of Marcellinus (A.D.
389) or that of Prosper, ( A.D. 391.) Tillemont (Hist. des Emp.
tom. v. p. 310, 756) prefers the former, and Pagi the latter.]
44 (return) [ Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xi. p. 441-500. The
ambiguous situation of Theophilus—a saint, as the friend of Jerom
a devil, as the enemy of Chrysostom—produces a sort of
impartiality; yet, upon the whole, the balance is justly inclined
against him.]
4411 (return) [ No doubt a temple of Osiris. St. Martin, iv
398-M.]
45 (return) [ Lardner (Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 411) has
alleged beautiful passage from Suidas, or rather from Damascius,
which show the devout and virtuous Olympius, not in the light of
a warrior, but of a prophet.]
46 (return) [ Nos vidimus armaria librorum, quibus direptis,
exinanita ea a nostris hominibus, nostris temporibus memorant.
Orosius, l. vi. c. 15, p. 421, edit. Havercamp. Though a bigot,
and a controversial writer. Orosius seems to blush.]
47 (return) [ Eunapius, in the Lives of Antoninus and Aedesius,
execrates the sacrilegious rapine of Theophilus. Tillemont (Mem.
Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 453) quotes an epistle of Isidore of
Pelusium, which reproaches the primate with the idolatrous
worship of gold, the auri sacra fames.]
4711 (return) [ An English traveller, Mr. Wilkinson, has
discovered the secret of the vocal Memnon. There was a cavity in
which a person was concealed, and struck a stone, which gave a
ringing sound like brass. The Arabs, who stood below when Mr.
Wilkinson performed the miracle, described sound just as the
author of the epigram.—M.]
48 (return) [ Rufinus names the priest of Saturn, who, in the
character of the god, familiarly conversed with many pious ladies
of quality, till he betrayed himself, in a moment of transport,
when he could not disguise the tone of his voice. The authentic
and impartial narrative of Aeschines, (see Bayle, Dictionnaire
Critique, Scamandre,) and the adventure of Mudus, (Joseph.
Antiquitat. Judaic. l. xviii. c. 3, p. 877 edit. Havercamp,) may
prove that such amorous frauds have been practised with success.]
49 (return) [ See the images of Serapis, in Montfaucon, (tom. ii.
p. 297:) but the description of Macrobius (Saturnal. l. i. c. 20)
is much more picturesque and satisfactory.]
50 (return) [
Sed fortes tremuere manus, motique verenda Majestate loci, si
robora sacra ferirent In sua credebant redituras membra secures.
(Lucan. iii. 429.) “Is it true,” (said Augustus to a veteran of
Italy, at whose house he supped) “that the man who gave the first
blow to the golden statue of Anaitis, was instantly deprived of
his eyes, and of his life?”—“I was that man, (replied the
clear-sighted veteran,) and you now sup on one of the legs of the
goddess.” (Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 24)]
51 (return) [ The history of the reformation affords frequent
examples of the sudden change from superstition to contempt.]
52 (return) [ Sozomen, l. vii. c. 20. I have supplied the
measure. The same standard, of the inundation, and consequently
of the cubit, has uniformly subsisted since the time of
Herodotus. See Freret, in the Mem. de l’Academie des
Inscriptions, tom. xvi. p. 344-353. Greaves’s Miscellaneous
Works, vol. i. p. 233. The Egyptian cubit is about twenty-two
inches of the English measure. * Note: Compare Wilkinson’s Thebes
and Egypt, p. 313.—M.]
The temples of the Roman empire were deserted, or destroyed; but
the ingenious superstition of the Pagans still attempted to elude
the laws of Theodosius, by which all sacrifices had been severely
prohibited. The inhabitants of the country, whose conduct was
less opposed to the eye of malicious curiosity, disguised their
religious, under the appearance of convivial, meetings. On the
days of solemn festivals, they assembled in great numbers under
the spreading shade of some consecrated trees; sheep and oxen
were slaughtered and roasted; and this rural entertainment was
sanctified by the use of incense, and by the hymns which were
sung in honor of the gods. But it was alleged, that, as no part
of the animal was made a burnt-offering, as no altar was provided
to receive the blood, and as the previous oblation of salt cakes,
and the concluding ceremony of libations, were carefully omitted,
these festal meetings did not involve the guests in the guilt, or
penalty, of an illegal sacrifice. 53 Whatever might be the truth
of the facts, or the merit of the distinction, 54 these vain
pretences were swept away by the last edict of Theodosius, which
inflicted a deadly wound on the superstition of the Pagans. 55
5511 This prohibitory law is expressed in the most absolute and
comprehensive terms. “It is our will and pleasure,” says the
emperor, “that none of our subjects, whether magistrates or
private citizens, however exalted or however humble may be their
rank and condition, shall presume, in any city or in any place,
to worship an inanimate idol, by the sacrifice of a guiltless
victim.” The act of sacrificing, and the practice of divination
by the entrails of the victim, are declared (without any regard
to the object of the inquiry) a crime of high treason against the
state, which can be expiated only by the death of the guilty. The
rites of Pagan superstition, which might seem less bloody and
atrocious, are abolished, as highly injurious to the truth and
honor of religion; luminaries, garlands, frankincense, and
libations of wine, are specially enumerated and condemned; and
the harmless claims of the domestic genius, of the household
gods, are included in this rigorous proscription. The use of any
of these profane and illegal ceremonies, subjects the offender to
the forfeiture of the house or estate, where they have been
performed; and if he has artfully chosen the property of another
for the scene of his impiety, he is compelled to discharge,
without delay, a heavy fine of twenty-five pounds of gold, or
more than one thousand pounds sterling. A fine, not less
considerable, is imposed on the connivance of the secret enemies
of religion, who shall neglect the duty of their respective
stations, either to reveal, or to punish, the guilt of idolatry.
Such was the persecuting spirit of the laws of Theodosius, which
were repeatedly enforced by his sons and grandsons, with the loud
and unanimous applause of the Christian world. 56
53 (return) [ Libanius (pro Templis, p. 15, 16, 17) pleads their
cause with gentle and insinuating rhetoric. From the earliest
age, such feasts had enlivened the country: and those of Bacchus
(Georgic. ii. 380) had produced the theatre of Athens. See
Godefroy, ad loc. Liban. and Codex Theodos. tom. vi. p. 284.]
54 (return) [ Honorius tolerated these rustic festivals, (A.D.
399.) “Absque ullo sacrificio, atque ulla superstitione
damnabili.” But nine years afterwards he found it necessary to
reiterate and enforce the same proviso, (Codex Theodos. l. xvi.
tit. x. leg. 17, 19.)]
55 (return) [ Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. x. leg. 12. Jortin
(Remarks on Eccles. History, vol. iv. p. 134) censures, with
becoming asperity, the style and sentiments of this intolerant
law.]
5511 (return) [ Paganism maintained its ground for a considerable
time in the rural districts. Endelechius, a poet who lived at the
beginning of the fifth century, speaks of the cross as Signum
quod perhibent esse crucis Dei, Magnis qui colitur solus
inurbibus. In the middle of the same century, Maximus, bishop of
Turin, writes against the heathen deities as if their worship was
still in full vigor in the neighborhood of his city. Augustine
complains of the encouragement of the Pagan rites by heathen
landowners; and Zeno of Verona, still later, reproves the apathy
of the Christian proprietors in conniving at this abuse. (Compare
Neander, ii. p. 169.) M. Beugnot shows that this was the case
throughout the north and centre of Italy and in Sicily. But
neither of these authors has adverted to one fact, which must
have tended greatly to retard the progress of Christianity in
these quarters. It was still chiefly a slave population which
cultivated the soil; and however, in the towns, the better class
of Christians might be eager to communicate “the blessed liberty
of the gospel” to this class of mankind; however their condition
could not but be silently ameliorated by the humanizing influence
of Christianity; yet, on the whole, no doubt the servile class
would be the least fitted to receive the gospel; and its general
propagation among them would be embarrassed by many peculiar
difficulties. The rural population was probably not entirely
converted before the general establishment of the monastic
institutions. Compare Quarterly Review of Beugnot. vol lvii. p.
52—M.]
56 (return) [ Such a charge should not be lightly made; but it
may surely be justified by the authority of St. Augustin, who
thus addresses the Donatists: “Quis nostrum, quis vestrum non
laudat leges ab Imperatoribus datas adversus sacrificia
Paganorum? Et certe longe ibi poera severior constituta est;
illius quippe impietatis capitale supplicium est.” Epist. xciii.
No. 10, quoted by Le Clerc, (Bibliothèque Choisie, tom. viii. p.
277,) who adds some judicious reflections on the intolerance of
the victorious Christians. * Note: Yet Augustine, with laudable
inconsistency, disapproved of the forcible demolition of the
temples. “Let us first extirpate the idolatry of the hearts of
the heathen, and they will either themselves invite us or
anticipate us in the execution of this good work,” tom. v. p. 62.
Compare Neander, ii. 169, and, in p. 155, a beautiful passage
from Chrysostom against all violent means of propagating
Christianity.—M.]
Chapter XXVIII: Destruction Of Paganism.—Part III.
In the cruel reigns of Decius and Diocletian, Christianity had
been proscribed, as a revolt from the ancient and hereditary
religion of the empire; and the unjust suspicions which were
entertained of a dark and dangerous faction, were, in some
measure, countenanced by the inseparable union and rapid
conquests of the Catholic church. But the same excuses of fear
and ignorance cannot be applied to the Christian emperors who
violated the precepts of humanity and of the Gospel. The
experience of ages had betrayed the weakness, as well as folly,
of Paganism; the light of reason and of faith had already
exposed, to the greatest part of mankind, the vanity of idols;
and the declining sect, which still adhered to their worship,
might have been permitted to enjoy, in peace and obscurity, the
religious costumes of their ancestors. Had the Pagans been
animated by the undaunted zeal which possessed the minds of the
primitive believers, the triumph of the Church must have been
stained with blood; and the martyrs of Jupiter and Apollo might
have embraced the glorious opportunity of devoting their lives
and fortunes at the foot of their altars. But such obstinate zeal
was not congenial to the loose and careless temper of Polytheism.
The violent and repeated strokes of the orthodox princes were
broken by the soft and yielding substance against which they were
directed; and the ready obedience of the Pagans protected them
from the pains and penalties of the Theodosian Code. 57 Instead
of asserting, that the authority of the gods was superior to that
of the emperor, they desisted, with a plaintive murmur, from the
use of those sacred rites which their sovereign had condemned. If
they were sometimes tempted by a sally of passion, or by the
hopes of concealment, to indulge their favorite superstition,
their humble repentance disarmed the severity of the Christian
magistrate, and they seldom refused to atone for their rashness,
by submitting, with some secret reluctance, to the yoke of the
Gospel. The churches were filled with the increasing multitude of
these unworthy proselytes, who had conformed, from temporal
motives, to the reigning religion; and whilst they devoutly
imitated the postures, and recited the prayers, of the faithful,
they satisfied their conscience by the silent and sincere
invocation of the gods of antiquity. 58 If the Pagans wanted
patience to suffer they wanted spirit to resist; and the
scattered myriads, who deplored the ruin of the temples, yielded,
without a contest, to the fortune of their adversaries. The
disorderly opposition 59 of the peasants of Syria, and the
populace of Alexandria, to the rage of private fanaticism, was
silenced by the name and authority of the emperor. The Pagans of
the West, without contributing to the elevation of Eugenius,
disgraced, by their partial attachment, the cause and character
of the usurper. The clergy vehemently exclaimed, that he
aggravated the crime of rebellion by the guilt of apostasy; that,
by his permission, the altar of victory was again restored; and
that the idolatrous symbols of Jupiter and Hercules were
displayed in the field, against the invincible standard of the
cross. But the vain hopes of the Pagans were soon annihilated by
the defeat of Eugenius; and they were left exposed to the
resentment of the conqueror, who labored to deserve the favor of
Heaven by the extirpation of idolatry. 60
57 (return) [ Orosius, l. vii. c. 28, p. 537. Augustin (Enarrat.
in Psalm cxl apud Lardner, Heathen Testimonies, vol. iv. p. 458)
insults their cowardice. “Quis eorum comprehensus est in
sacrificio (cum his legibus sta prohiberentur) et non negavit?”]
58 (return) [ Libanius (pro Templis, p. 17, 18) mentions, without
censure the occasional conformity, and as it were theatrical
play, of these hypocrites.]
59 (return) [ Libanius concludes his apology (p. 32) by declaring
to the emperor, that unless he expressly warrants the destruction
of the temples, the proprietors will defend themselves and the
laws.]
60 (return) [ Paulinus, in Vit. Ambros. c. 26. Augustin de
Civitat. Dei, l. v. c. 26. Theodoret, l. v. c. 24.]
A nation of slaves is always prepared to applaud the clemency of
their master, who, in the abuse of absolute power, does not
proceed to the last extremes of injustice and oppression.
Theodosius might undoubtedly have proposed to his Pagan subjects
the alternative of baptism or of death; and the eloquent Libanius
has praised the moderation of a prince, who never enacted, by any
positive law, that all his subjects should immediately embrace
and practise the religion of their sovereign. 61 The profession
of Christianity was not made an essential qualification for the
enjoyment of the civil rights of society, nor were any peculiar
hardships imposed on the sectaries, who credulously received the
fables of Ovid, and obstinately rejected the miracles of the
Gospel. The palace, the schools, the army, and the senate, were
filled with declared and devout Pagans; they obtained, without
distinction, the civil and military honors of the empire. 6111
Theodosius distinguished his liberal regard for virtue and genius
by the consular dignity, which he bestowed on Symmachus; 62 and
by the personal friendship which he expressed to Libanius; 63 and
the two eloquent apologists of Paganism were never required
either to change or to dissemble their religious opinions. The
Pagans were indulged in the most licentious freedom of speech and
writing; the historical and philosophic remains of Eunapius,
Zosimus, 64 and the fanatic teachers of the school of Plato,
betray the most furious animosity, and contain the sharpest
invectives, against the sentiments and conduct of their
victorious adversaries. If these audacious libels were publicly
known, we must applaud the good sense of the Christian princes,
who viewed, with a smile of contempt, the last struggles of
superstition and despair. 65 But the Imperial laws, which
prohibited the sacrifices and ceremonies of Paganism, were
rigidly executed; and every hour contributed to destroy the
influence of a religion, which was supported by custom, rather
than by argument. The devotion or the poet, or the philosopher,
may be secretly nourished by prayer, meditation, and study; but
the exercise of public worship appears to be the only solid
foundation of the religious sentiments of the people, which
derive their force from imitation and habit. The interruption of
that public exercise may consummate, in the period of a few
years, the important work of a national revolution. The memory of
theological opinions cannot long be preserved, without the
artificial helps of priests, of temples, and of books. 66 The
ignorant vulgar, whose minds are still agitated by the blind
hopes and terrors of superstition, will be soon persuaded by
their superiors to direct their vows to the reigning deities of
the age; and will insensibly imbibe an ardent zeal for the
support and propagation of the new doctrine, which spiritual
hunger at first compelled them to accept. The generation that
arose in the world after the promulgation of the Imperial laws,
was attracted within the pale of the Catholic church: and so
rapid, yet so gentle, was the fall of Paganism, that only
twenty-eight years after the death of Theodosius, the faint and
minute vestiges were no longer visible to the eye of the
legislator. 67
61 (return) [ Libanius suggests the form of a persecuting edict,
which Theodosius might enact, (pro Templis, p. 32;) a rash joke,
and a dangerous experiment. Some princes would have taken his
advice.]
6111 (return) [ The most remarkable instance of this, at a much
later period, occurs in the person of Merobaudes, a general and a
poet, who flourished in the first half of the fifth century. A
statue in honor of Merobaudes was placed in the Forum of Trajan,
of which the inscription is still extant. Fragments of his poems
have been recovered by the industry and sagacity of Niebuhr. In
one passage, Merobaudes, in the genuine heathen spirit,
attributes the ruin of the empire to the abolition of Paganism,
and almost renews the old accusation of Atheism against
Christianity. He impersonates some deity, probably Discord, who
summons Bellona to take arms for the destruction of Rome; and in
a strain of fierce irony recommends to her other fatal measures,
to extirpate the gods of Rome:—
Roma, ipsique tremant furialia murmura reges. Jam superos terris
atque hospita numina pelle: Romanos populare Deos, et nullus in
aris Vestoe exoratoe fotus strue palleat ignis. Ilis instructa
dolis palatia celsa subibo; Majorum mores, et pectora prisca
fugabo Funditus; atque simul, nullo discrimine rerum, Spernantur
fortes, nec sic reverentia justis. Attica neglecto pereat facundia
Phoebo: Indignis contingat honos, et pondera rerum; Non virtus sed
casus agat; tristique cupido; Pectoribus saevi demens furor
aestuet aevi; Omniaque hoec sine mente Jovis, sine numine sumimo.
Merobaudes in Niebuhr’s edit. of the Byzantines, p. 14.—M.]
62 (return) [ Denique pro meritis terrestribus aequa rependens
Munera, sacricolis summos impertit honores.
Dux bonus, et certare sinit cum laude suorum, Nec pago implicitos
per debita culmina mundi Ire viros prohibet. Ipse magistratum tibi
consulis, ipse tribunal
Contulit. Prudent. in Symmach. i. 617, &c.
Note: I have inserted some lines omitted by Gibbon.—M.]
63 (return) [ Libanius (pro Templis, p. 32) is proud that
Theodosius should thus distinguish a man, who even in his
presence would swear by Jupiter. Yet this presence seems to be no
more than a figure of rhetoric.]
64 (return) [ Zosimus, who styles himself Count and Ex-advocate
of the Treasury, reviles, with partial and indecent bigotry, the
Christian princes, and even the father of his sovereign. His work
must have been privately circulated, since it escaped the
invectives of the ecclesiastical historians prior to Evagrius,
(l. iii. c. 40-42,) who lived towards the end of the sixth
century. * Note: Heyne in his Disquisitio in Zosimum Ejusque
Fidem. places Zosimum towards the close of the fifth century.
Zosim. Heynii, p. xvii.—M.]
65 (return) [ Yet the Pagans of Africa complained, that the times
would not allow them to answer with freedom the City of God; nor
does St. Augustin (v. 26) deny the charge.]
66 (return) [ The Moors of Spain, who secretly preserved the
Mahometan religion above a century, under the tyranny of the
Inquisition, possessed the Koran, with the peculiar use of the
Arabic tongue. See the curious and honest story of their
expulsion in Geddes, (Miscellanies, vol. i. p. 1-198.)]
67 (return) [ Paganos qui supersunt, quanquam jam nullos esse
credamus, &c. Cod. Theodos. l. xvi. tit. x. leg. 22, A.D. 423.
The younger Theodosius was afterwards satisfied, that his
judgment had been somewhat premature. Note: The statement of
Gibbon is much too strongly worded. M. Beugnot has traced the
vestiges of Paganism in the West, after this period, in monuments
and inscriptions with curious industry. Compare likewise note, p.
112, on the more tardy progress of Christianity in the rural
districts.—M.]
The ruin of the Pagan religion is described by the sophists as a
dreadful and amazing prodigy, which covered the earth with
darkness, and restored the ancient dominion of chaos and of
night. They relate, in solemn and pathetic strains, that the
temples were converted into sepulchres, and that the holy places,
which had been adorned by the statues of the gods, were basely
polluted by the relics of Christian martyrs. “The monks” (a race
of filthy animals, to whom Eunapius is tempted to refuse the name
of men) “are the authors of the new worship, which, in the place
of those deities who are conceived by the understanding, has
substituted the meanest and most contemptible slaves. The heads,
salted and pickled, of those infamous malefactors, who for the
multitude of their crimes have suffered a just and ignominious
death; their bodies still marked by the impression of the lash,
and the scars of those tortures which were inflicted by the
sentence of the magistrate; such” (continues Eunapius) “are the
gods which the earth produces in our days; such are the martyrs,
the supreme arbitrators of our prayers and petitions to the
Deity, whose tombs are now consecrated as the objects of the
veneration of the people.” 68 Without approving the malice, it is
natural enough to share the surprise of the sophist, the
spectator of a revolution, which raised those obscure victims of
the laws of Rome to the rank of celestial and invisible
protectors of the Roman empire. The grateful respect of the
Christians for the martyrs of the faith, was exalted, by time and
victory, into religious adoration; and the most illustrious of
the saints and prophets were deservedly associated to the honors
of the martyrs. One hundred and fifty years after the glorious
deaths of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Vatican and the Ostian road
were distinguished by the tombs, or rather by the trophies, of
those spiritual heroes. 69 In the age which followed the
conversion of Constantine, the emperors, the consuls, and the
generals of armies, devoutly visited the sepulchres of a
tentmaker and a fisherman; 70 and their venerable bones were
deposited under the altars of Christ, on which the bishops of the
royal city continually offered the unbloody sacrifice. 71 The new
capital of the Eastern world, unable to produce any ancient and
domestic trophies, was enriched by the spoils of dependent
provinces. The bodies of St. Andrew, St. Luke, and St. Timothy,
had reposed near three hundred years in the obscure graves, from
whence they were transported, in solemn pomp, to the church of
the apostles, which the magnificence of Constantine had founded
on the banks of the Thracian Bosphorus. 72 About fifty years
afterwards, the same banks were honored by the presence of
Samuel, the judge and prophet of the people of Israel. His ashes,
deposited in a golden vase, and covered with a silken veil, were
delivered by the bishops into each other’s hands. The relics of
Samuel were received by the people with the same joy and
reverence which they would have shown to the living prophet; the
highways, from Palestine to the gates of Constantinople, were
filled with an uninterrupted procession; and the emperor Arcadius
himself, at the head of the most illustrious members of the
clergy and senate, advanced to meet his extraordinary guest, who
had always deserved and claimed the homage of kings. 73 The
example of Rome and Constantinople confirmed the faith and
discipline of the Catholic world. The honors of the saints and
martyrs, after a feeble and ineffectual murmur of profane reason,
74 were universally established; and in the age of Ambrose and
Jerom, something was still deemed wanting to the sanctity of a
Christian church, till it had been consecrated by some portion of
holy relics, which fixed and inflamed the devotion of the
faithful.
68 (return) [ See Eunapius, in the Life of the sophist Aedesius;
in that of Eustathius he foretells the ruin of Paganism.]
69 (return) [ Caius, (apud Euseb. Hist. Eccles. l. ii. c. 25,) a
Roman presbyter, who lived in the time of Zephyrinus, (A.D.
202-219,) is an early witness of this superstitious practice.]
70 (return) [ Chrysostom. Quod Christus sit Deus. Tom. i. nov.
edit. No. 9. I am indebted for this quotation to Benedict the
XIVth’s pastoral letter on the Jubilee of the year 1759. See the
curious and entertaining letters of M. Chais, tom. iii.]
71 (return) [ Male facit ergo Romanus episcopus? qui, super
mortuorum hominum, Petri & Pauli, secundum nos, ossa veneranda
... offeri Domino sacrificia, et tumulos eorum, Christi
arbitratur altaria. Jerom. tom. ii. advers. Vigilant. p. 183.]
72 (return) [ Jerom (tom. ii. p. 122) bears witness to these
translations, which are neglected by the ecclesiastical
historians. The passion of St. Andrew at Patrae is described in
an epistle from the clergy of Achaia, which Baronius (Annal.
Eccles. A.D. 60, No. 34) wishes to believe, and Tillemont is
forced to reject. St. Andrew was adopted as the spiritual founder
of Constantinople, (Mem. Eccles. tom. i. p. 317-323, 588-594.)]
73 (return) [ Jerom (tom. ii. p. 122) pompously describes the
translation of Samuel, which is noticed in all the chronicles of
the times.]
74 (return) [ The presbyter Vigilantius, the Protestant of his
age, firmly, though ineffectually, withstood the superstition of
monks, relics, saints, fasts, &c., for which Jerom compares him
to the Hydra, Cerberus, the Centaurs, &c., and considers him only
as the organ of the Daemon, (tom. ii. p. 120-126.) Whoever will
peruse the controversy of St. Jerom and Vigilantius, and St.
Augustin’s account of the miracles of St. Stephen, may speedily
gain some idea of the spirit of the Fathers.]
In the long period of twelve hundred years, which elapsed between
the reign of Constantine and the reformation of Luther, the
worship of saints and relics corrupted the pure and perfect
simplicity of the Christian model: and some symptoms of
degeneracy may be observed even in the first generations which
adopted and cherished this pernicious innovation.
I. The satisfactory experience, that the relics of saints were
more valuable than gold or precious stones, 75 stimulated the
clergy to multiply the treasures of the church. Without much
regard for truth or probability, they invented names for
skeletons, and actions for names. The fame of the apostles, and
of the holy men who had imitated their virtues, was darkened by
religious fiction. To the invincible band of genuine and
primitive martyrs, they added myriads of imaginary heroes, who
had never existed, except in the fancy of crafty or credulous
legendaries; and there is reason to suspect, that Tours might not
be the only diocese in which the bones of a malefactor were
adored, instead of those of a saint. 76 A superstitious practice,
which tended to increase the temptations of fraud, and credulity,
insensibly extinguished the light of history, and of reason, in
the Christian world.
75 (return) [ M. de Beausobre (Hist. du Manicheisme, tom. ii. p.
648) has applied a worldly sense to the pious observation of the
clergy of Smyrna, who carefully preserved the relics of St.
Polycarp the martyr.]
76 (return) [ Martin of Tours (see his Life, c. 8, by Sulpicius
Severus) extorted this confession from the mouth of the dead man.
The error is allowed to be natural; the discovery is supposed to
be miraculous. Which of the two was likely to happen most
frequently?]
II. But the progress of superstition would have been much less
rapid and victorious, if the faith of the people had not been
assisted by the seasonable aid of visions and miracles, to
ascertain the authenticity and virtue of the most suspicious
relics. In the reign of the younger Theodosius, Lucian, 77 a
presbyter of Jerusalem, and the ecclesiastical minister of the
village of Caphargamala, about twenty miles from the city,
related a very singular dream, which, to remove his doubts, had
been repeated on three successive Saturdays. A venerable figure
stood before him, in the silence of the night, with a long beard,
a white robe, and a gold rod; announced himself by the name of
Gamaliel, and revealed to the astonished presbyter, that his own
corpse, with the bodies of his son Abibas, his friend Nicodemus,
and the illustrious Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian
faith, were secretly buried in the adjacent field. He added, with
some impatience, that it was time to release himself and his
companions from their obscure prison; that their appearance would
be salutary to a distressed world; and that they had made choice
of Lucian to inform the bishop of Jerusalem of their situation
and their wishes. The doubts and difficulties which still
retarded this important discovery were successively removed by
new visions; and the ground was opened by the bishop, in the
presence of an innumerable multitude. The coffins of Gamaliel, of
his son, and of his friend, were found in regular order; but when
the fourth coffin, which contained the remains of Stephen, was
shown to the light, the earth trembled, and an odor, such as that
of paradise, was smelt, which instantly cured the various
diseases of seventy-three of the assistants. The companions of
Stephen were left in their peaceful residence of Caphargamala:
but the relics of the first martyr were transported, in solemn
procession, to a church constructed in their honor on Mount Sion;
and the minute particles of those relics, a drop of blood, 78 or
the scrapings of a bone, were acknowledged, in almost every
province of the Roman world, to possess a divine and miraculous
virtue. The grave and learned Augustin, 79 whose understanding
scarcely admits the excuse of credulity, has attested the
innumerable prodigies which were performed in Africa by the
relics of St. Stephen; and this marvellous narrative is inserted
in the elaborate work of the City of God, which the bishop of
Hippo designed as a solid and immortal proof of the truth of
Christianity. Augustin solemnly declares, that he has selected
those miracles only which were publicly certified by the persons
who were either the objects, or the spectators, of the power of
the martyr. Many prodigies were omitted, or forgotten; and Hippo
had been less favorably treated than the other cities of the
province. And yet the bishop enumerates above seventy miracles,
of which three were resurrections from the dead, in the space of
two years, and within the limits of his own diocese. 80 If we
enlarge our view to all the dioceses, and all the saints, of the
Christian world, it will not be easy to calculate the fables, and
the errors, which issued from this inexhaustible source. But we
may surely be allowed to observe, that a miracle, in that age of
superstition and credulity, lost its name and its merit, since it
could scarcely be considered as a deviation from the ordinary and
established laws of nature.
77 (return) [ Lucian composed in Greek his original narrative,
which has been translated by Avitus, and published by Baronius,
(Annal. Eccles. A.D. 415, No. 7-16.) The Benedictine editors of
St. Augustin have given (at the end of the work de Civitate Dei)
two several copies, with many various readings. It is the
character of falsehood to be loose and inconsistent. The most
incredible parts of the legend are smoothed and softened by
Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. ii. p. 9, &c.)]
78 (return) [ A phial of St. Stephen’s blood was annually
liquefied at Naples, till he was superseded by St. Jamarius,
(Ruinart. Hist. Persecut. Vandal p. 529.)]
79 (return) [ Augustin composed the two-and-twenty books de
Civitate Dei in the space of thirteen years, A.D. 413-426.
Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 608, &c.) His learning is
too often borrowed, and his arguments are too often his own; but
the whole work claims the merit of a magnificent design,
vigorously, and not unskilfully, executed.]
80 (return) [ See Augustin de Civitat. Dei, l. xxii. c. 22, and
the Appendix, which contains two books of St. Stephen’s miracles,
by Evodius, bishop of Uzalis. Freculphus (apud Basnage, Hist. des
Juifs, tom. vii. p. 249) has preserved a Gallic or a Spanish
proverb, “Whoever pretends to have read all the miracles of St.
Stephen, he lies.”]
III. The innumerable miracles, of which the tombs of the martyrs
were the perpetual theatre, revealed to the pious believer the
actual state and constitution of the invisible world; and his
religious speculations appeared to be founded on the firm basis
of fact and experience. Whatever might be the condition of vulgar
souls, in the long interval between the dissolution and the
resurrection of their bodies, it was evident that the superior
spirits of the saints and martyrs did not consume that portion of
their existence in silent and inglorious sleep. 81 It was evident
(without presuming to determine the place of their habitation, or
the nature of their felicity) that they enjoyed the lively and
active consciousness of their happiness, their virtue, and their
powers; and that they had already secured the possession of their
eternal reward. The enlargement of their intellectual faculties
surpassed the measure of the human imagination; since it was
proved by experience, that they were capable of hearing and
understanding the various petitions of their numerous votaries;
who, in the same moment of time, but in the most distant parts of
the world, invoked the name and assistance of Stephen or of
Martin. 82 The confidence of their petitioners was founded on the
persuasion, that the saints, who reigned with Christ, cast an eye
of pity upon earth; that they were warmly interested in the
prosperity of the Catholic Church; and that the individuals, who
imitated the example of their faith and piety, were the peculiar
and favorite objects of their most tender regard. Sometimes,
indeed, their friendship might be influenced by considerations of
a less exalted kind: they viewed with partial affection the
places which had been consecrated by their birth, their
residence, their death, their burial, or the possession of their
relics. The meaner passions of pride, avarice, and revenge, may
be deemed unworthy of a celestial breast; yet the saints
themselves condescended to testify their grateful approbation of
the liberality of their votaries; and the sharpest bolts of
punishment were hurled against those impious wretches, who
violated their magnificent shrines, or disbelieved their
supernatural power. 83 Atrocious, indeed, must have been the
guilt, and strange would have been the scepticism, of those men,
if they had obstinately resisted the proofs of a divine agency,
which the elements, the whole range of the animal creation, and
even the subtle and invisible operations of the human mind, were
compelled to obey. 84 The immediate, and almost instantaneous,
effects that were supposed to follow the prayer, or the offence,
satisfied the Christians of the ample measure of favor and
authority which the saints enjoyed in the presence of the Supreme
God; and it seemed almost superfluous to inquire whether they
were continually obliged to intercede before the throne of grace;
or whether they might not be permitted to exercise, according to
the dictates of their benevolence and justice, the delegated
powers of their subordinate ministry. The imagination, which had
been raised by a painful effort to the contemplation and worship
of the Universal Cause, eagerly embraced such inferior objects of
adoration as were more proportioned to its gross conceptions and
imperfect faculties. The sublime and simple theology of the
primitive Christians was gradually corrupted; and the Monarchy of
heaven, already clouded by metaphysical subtleties, was degraded
by the introduction of a popular mythology, which tended to
restore the reign of polytheism. 85
81 (return) [ Burnet (de Statu Mortuorum, p. 56-84) collects the
opinions of the Fathers, as far as they assert the sleep, or
repose, of human souls till the day of judgment. He afterwards
exposes (p. 91, &c.) the inconveniences which must arise, if they
possessed a more active and sensible existence.]
82 (return) [ Vigilantius placed the souls of the prophets and
martyrs, either in the bosom of Abraham, (in loco refrigerii,) or
else under the altar of God. Nec posse suis tumulis et ubi
voluerunt adesse praesentes. But Jerom (tom. ii. p. 122) sternly
refutes this blasphemy. Tu Deo leges pones? Tu apostolis vincula
injicies, ut usque ad diem judicii teneantur custodia, nec sint
cum Domino suo; de quibus scriptum est, Sequuntur Agnum quocunque
vadit. Si Agnus ubique, ergo, et hi, qui cum Agno sunt, ubique
esse credendi sunt. Et cum diabolus et daemones tote vagentur in
orbe, &c.]
83 (return) [ Fleury Discours sur l’Hist. Ecclesiastique, iii p.
80.]
84 (return) [ At Minorca, the relics of St. Stephen converted, in
eight days, 540 Jews; with the help, indeed, of some wholesome
severities, such as burning the synagogue, driving the obstinate
infidels to starve among the rocks, &c. See the original letter
of Severus, bishop of Minorca (ad calcem St. Augustin. de Civ.
Dei,) and the judicious remarks of Basnage, (tom. viii. p.
245-251.)]
85 (return) [ Mr. Hume (Essays, vol. ii. p. 434) observes, like a
philosopher, the natural flux and reflux of polytheism and
theism.]
IV. As the objects of religion were gradually reduced to the
standard of the imagination, the rites and ceremonies were
introduced that seemed most powerfully to affect the senses of
the vulgar. If, in the beginning of the fifth century, 86
Tertullian, or Lactantius, 87 had been suddenly raised from the
dead, to assist at the festival of some popular saint, or martyr,
88 they would have gazed with astonishment, and indignation, on
the profane spectacle, which had succeeded to the pure and
spiritual worship of a Christian congregation. As soon as the
doors of the church were thrown open, they must have been
offended by the smoke of incense, the perfume of flowers, and the
glare of lamps and tapers, which diffused, at noonday, a gaudy,
superfluous, and, in their opinion, a sacrilegious light. If they
approached the balustrade of the altar, they made their way
through the prostrate crowd, consisting, for the most part, of
strangers and pilgrims, who resorted to the city on the vigil of
the feast; and who already felt the strong intoxication of
fanaticism, and, perhaps, of wine. Their devout kisses were
imprinted on the walls and pavement of the sacred edifice; and
their fervent prayers were directed, whatever might be the
language of their church, to the bones, the blood, or the ashes
of the saint, which were usually concealed, by a linen or silken
veil, from the eyes of the vulgar. The Christians frequented the
tombs of the martyrs, in the hope of obtaining, from their
powerful intercession, every sort of spiritual, but more
especially of temporal, blessings. They implored the preservation
of their health, or the cure of their infirmities; the
fruitfulness of their barren wives, or the safety and happiness
of their children. Whenever they undertook any distant or
dangerous journey, they requested, that the holy martyrs would be
their guides and protectors on the road; and if they returned
without having experienced any misfortune, they again hastened to
the tombs of the martyrs, to celebrate, with grateful
thanksgivings, their obligations to the memory and relics of
those heavenly patrons. The walls were hung round with symbols of
the favors which they had received; eyes, and hands, and feet, of
gold and silver: and edifying pictures, which could not long
escape the abuse of indiscreet or idolatrous devotion,
represented the image, the attributes, and the miracles of the
tutelar saint. The same uniform original spirit of superstition
might suggest, in the most distant ages and countries, the same
methods of deceiving the credulity, and of affecting the senses
of mankind: 89 but it must ingenuously be confessed, that the
ministers of the Catholic church imitated the profane model,
which they were impatient to destroy. The most respectable
bishops had persuaded themselves that the ignorant rustics would
more cheerfully renounce the superstitions of Paganism, if they
found some resemblance, some compensation, in the bosom of
Christianity. The religion of Constantine achieved, in less than
a century, the final conquest of the Roman empire: but the
victors themselves were insensibly subdued by the arts of their
vanquished rivals. 90 9011
86 (return) [ D’Aubigne (see his own Mémoires, p. 156-160)
frankly offered, with the consent of the Huguenot ministers, to
allow the first 400 years as the rule of faith. The Cardinal du
Perron haggled for forty years more, which were indiscreetly
given. Yet neither party would have found their account in this
foolish bargain.]
87 (return) [ The worship practised and inculcated by Tertullian,
Lactantius Arnobius, &c., is so extremely pure and spiritual,
that their declamations against the Pagan sometimes glance
against the Jewish, ceremonies.]
88 (return) [ Faustus the Manichaean accuses the Catholics of
idolatry. Vertitis idola in martyres.... quos votis similibus
colitis. M. de Beausobre, (Hist. Critique du Manicheisme, tom.
ii. p. 629-700,) a Protestant, but a philosopher, has
represented, with candor and learning, the introduction of
Christian idolatry in the fourth and fifth centuries.]
89 (return) [ The resemblance of superstition, which could not be
imitated, might be traced from Japan to Mexico. Warburton has
seized this idea, which he distorts, by rendering it too general
and absolute, (Divine Legation, vol. iv. p. 126, &c.)]
90 (return) [ The imitation of Paganism is the subject of Dr.
Middleton’s agreeable letter from Rome. Warburton’s
animadversions obliged him to connect (vol. iii. p. 120-132,) the
history of the two religions, and to prove the antiquity of the
Christian copy.]
9011 (return) [ But there was always this important difference
between Christian and heathen Polytheism. In Paganism this was
the whole religion; in the darkest ages of Christianity, some,
however obscure and vague, Christian notions of future
retribution, of the life after death, lurked at the bottom, and
operated, to a certain extent, on the thoughts and feelings,
sometimes on the actions.—M.]
Chapter XXIX: Division Of Roman Empire Between Sons Of
Theodosius.—Part I.
Final Division Of The Roman Empire Between The Sons Of
Theodosius.—Reign Of Arcadius And Honorius—Administration Of
Rufinus And Stilicho.—Revolt And Defeat Of Gildo In Africa.
The genius of Rome expired with Theodosius; the last of the
successors of Augustus and Constantine, who appeared in the field
at the head of their armies, and whose authority was universally
acknowledged throughout the whole extent of the empire. The
memory of his virtues still continued, however, to protect the
feeble and inexperienced youth of his two sons. After the death
of their father, Arcadius and Honorius were saluted, by the
unanimous consent of mankind, as the lawful emperors of the East,
and of the West; and the oath of fidelity was eagerly taken by
every order of the state; the senates of old and new Rome, the
clergy, the magistrates, the soldiers, and the people. Arcadius,
who was then about eighteen years of age, was born in Spain, in
the humble habitation of a private family. But he received a
princely education in the palace of Constantinople; and his
inglorious life was spent in that peaceful and splendid seat of
royalty, from whence he appeared to reign over the provinces of
Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, from the Lower Danube to
the confines of Persia and Æthiopia. His younger brother
Honorius, assumed, in the eleventh year of his age, the nominal
government of Italy, Africa, Gaul, Spain, and Britain; and the
troops, which guarded the frontiers of his kingdom, were opposed,
on one side, to the Caledonians, and on the other, to the Moors.
The great and martial præfecture of Illyricum was divided
between the two princes: the defence and possession of the
provinces of Noricum, Pannonia, and Dalmatia still belonged to
the Western empire; but the two large dioceses of Dacia and
Macedonia, which Gratian had intrusted to the valor of
Theodosius, were forever united to the empire of the East. The
boundary in Europe was not very different from the line which now
separates the Germans and the Turks; and the respective
advantages of territory, riches, populousness, and military
strength, were fairly balanced and compensated, in this final and
permanent division of the Roman empire. The hereditary sceptre of
the sons of Theodosius appeared to be the gift of nature, and of
their father; the generals and ministers had been accustomed to
adore the majesty of the royal infants; and the army and people
were not admonished of their rights, and of their power, by the
dangerous example of a recent election. The gradual discovery of
the weakness of Arcadius and Honorius, and the repeated
calamities of their reign, were not sufficient to obliterate the
deep and early impressions of loyalty. The subjects of Rome, who
still reverenced the persons, or rather the names, of their
sovereigns, beheld, with equal abhorrence, the rebels who
opposed, and the ministers who abused, the authority of the
throne.
Theodosius had tarnished the glory of his reign by the elevation
of Rufinus; an odious favorite, who, in an age of civil and
religious faction, has deserved, from every party, the imputation
of every crime. The strong impulse of ambition and avarice 1 had
urged Rufinus to abandon his native country, an obscure corner of
Gaul, 2 to advance his fortune in the capital of the East: the
talent of bold and ready elocution, 3 qualified him to succeed in
the lucrative profession of the law; and his success in that
profession was a regular step to the most honorable and important
employments of the state. He was raised, by just degrees, to the
station of master of the offices. In the exercise of his various
functions, so essentially connected with the whole system of
civil government, he acquired the confidence of a monarch, who
soon discovered his diligence and capacity in business, and who
long remained ignorant of the pride, the malice, and the
covetousness of his disposition. These vices were concealed
beneath the mask of profound dissimulation; 4 his passions were
subservient only to the passions of his master; yet in the horrid
massacre of Thessalonica, the cruel Rufinus inflamed the fury,
without imitating the repentance, of Theodosius. The minister,
who viewed with proud indifference the rest of mankind, never
forgave the appearance of an injury; and his personal enemies had
forfeited, in his opinion, the merit of all public services.
Promotus, the master-general of the infantry, had saved the
empire from the invasion of the Ostrogoths; but he indignantly
supported the preeminence of a rival, whose character and
profession he despised; and in the midst of a public council, the
impatient soldier was provoked to chastise with a blow the
indecent pride of the favorite. This act of violence was
represented to the emperor as an insult, which it was incumbent
on his dignity to resent. The disgrace and exile of Promotus were
signified by a peremptory order, to repair, without delay, to a
military station on the banks of the Danube; and the death of
that general (though he was slain in a skirmish with the
Barbarians) was imputed to the perfidious arts of Rufinus. 5 The
sacrifice of a hero gratified his revenge; the honors of the
consulship elated his vanity; but his power was still imperfect
and precarious, as long as the important posts of præfect of the
East, and of præfect of Constantinople, were filled by Tatian, 6
and his son Proculus; whose united authority balanced, for some
time, the ambition and favor of the master of the offices. The
two præfects were accused of rapine and corruption in the
administration of the laws and finances. For the trial of these
illustrious offenders, the emperor constituted a special
commission: several judges were named to share the guilt and
reproach of injustice; but the right of pronouncing sentence was
reserved to the president alone, and that president was Rufinus
himself. The father, stripped of the præfecture of the East, was
thrown into a dungeon; but the son, conscious that few ministers
can be found innocent, where an enemy is their judge, had
secretly escaped; and Rufinus must have been satisfied with the
least obnoxious victim, if despotism had not condescended to
employ the basest and most ungenerous artifice. The prosecution
was conducted with an appearance of equity and moderation, which
flattered Tatian with the hope of a favorable event: his
confidence was fortified by the solemn assurances, and perfidious
oaths, of the president, who presumed to interpose the sacred
name of Theodosius himself; and the unhappy father was at last
persuaded to recall, by a private letter, the fugitive Proculus.
He was instantly seized, examined, condemned, and beheaded, in
one of the suburbs of Constantinople, with a precipitation which
disappointed the clemency of the emperor. Without respecting the
misfortunes of a consular senator, the cruel judges of Tatian
compelled him to behold the execution of his son: the fatal cord
was fastened round his own neck; but in the moment when he
expected. and perhaps desired, the relief of a speedy death, he
was permitted to consume the miserable remnant of his old age in
poverty and exile. 7 The punishment of the two præfects might,
perhaps, be excused by the exceptionable parts of their own
conduct; the enmity of Rufinus might be palliated by the jealous
and unsociable nature of ambition. But he indulged a spirit of
revenge equally repugnant to prudence and to justice, when he
degraded their native country of Lycia from the rank of Roman
provinces; stigmatized a guiltless people with a mark of
ignominy; and declared, that the countrymen of Tatian and
Proculus should forever remain incapable of holding any
employment of honor or advantage under the Imperial government. 8
The new præfect of the East (for Rufinus instantly succeeded to
the vacant honors of his adversary) was not diverted, however, by
the most criminal pursuits, from the performance of the religious
duties, which in that age were considered as the most essential
to salvation. In the suburb of Chalcedon, surnamed the Oak, he
had built a magnificent villa; to which he devoutly added a
stately church, consecrated to the apostles St. Peter and St.
Paul, and continually sanctified by the prayers and penance of a
regular society of monks. A numerous, and almost general, synod
of the bishops of the Eastern empire, was summoned to celebrate,
at the same time, the dedication of the church, and the baptism
of the founder. This double ceremony was performed with
extraordinary pomp; and when Rufinus was purified, in the holy
font, from all the sins that he had hitherto committed, a
venerable hermit of Egypt rashly proposed himself as the sponsor
of a proud and ambitious statesman. 9
1 (return) [ Alecto, envious of the public felicity, convenes an
infernal synod Megaera recommends her pupil Rufinus, and excites
him to deeds of mischief, &c. But there is as much difference
between Claudian’s fury and that of Virgil, as between the
characters of Turnus and Rufinus.]
2 (return) [ It is evident, (Tillemont, Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p.
770,) though De Marca is ashamed of his countryman, that Rufinus
was born at Elusa, the metropolis of Novempopulania, now a small
village of Gassony, (D’Anville, Notice de l’Ancienne Gaule, p.
289.)]
3 (return) [ Philostorgius, l. xi c. 3, with Godefroy’s Dissert.
p. 440.]
4 (return) [ A passage of Suidas is expressive of his profound
dissimulation.]
5 (return) [ Zosimus, l. iv. p. 272, 273.]
6 (return) [ Zosimus, who describes the fall of Tatian and his
son, (l. iv. p. 273, 274,) asserts their innocence; and even his
testimony may outweigh the charges of their enemies, (Cod. Theod.
tom. iv. p. 489,) who accuse them of oppressing the Curiae. The
connection of Tatian with the Arians, while he was præfect of
Egypt, (A.D. 373,) inclines Tillemont to believe that he was
guilty of every crime, (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 360. Mem.
Eccles. tom vi. p. 589.)]
7 (return) [—Juvenum rorantia colla Ante patrum vultus stricta
cecidere securi.
Ibat grandaevus nato moriente superstes Post trabeas exsul. —-In
Rufin. i. 248.
The facts of Zosimus explain the allusions of Claudian; but his
classic interpreters were ignorant of the fourth century. The
fatal cord, I found, with the help of Tillemont, in a sermon of
St. Asterius of Amasea.]
8 (return) [ This odious law is recited and repealed by Arcadius,
(A.D. 296,) on the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. xxxviii. leg. 9.
The sense as it is explained by Claudian, (in Rufin. i. 234,) and
Godefroy, (tom. iii. p. 279,) is perfectly clear.
—-Exscindere cives Funditus; et nomen gentis delere laborat.
The scruples of Pagi and Tillemont can arise only from their zeal
for the glory of Theodosius.]
9 (return) [ Ammonius.... Rufinum propriis manibus suscepit sacro
fonte mundatum. See Rosweyde’s Vitae Patrum, p. 947. Sozomen (l.
viii. c. 17) mentions the church and monastery; and Tillemont
(Mem. Eccles. tom. ix. p. 593) records this synod, in which St.
Gregory of Nyssa performed a conspicuous part.]
The character of Theodosius imposed on his minister the task of
hypocrisy, which disguised, and sometimes restrained, the abuse
of power; and Rufinus was apprehensive of disturbing the indolent
slumber of a prince still capable of exerting the abilities and
the virtue, which had raised him to the throne. 10 But the
absence, and, soon afterwards, the death, of the emperor,
confirmed the absolute authority of Rufinus over the person and
dominions of Arcadius; a feeble youth, whom the imperious
præfect considered as his pupil, rather than his sovereign.
Regardless of the public opinion, he indulged his passions
without remorse, and without resistance; and his malignant and
rapacious spirit rejected every passion that might have
contributed to his own glory, or the happiness of the people. His
avarice, 11 which seems to have prevailed, in his corrupt mind,
over every other sentiment, attracted the wealth of the East, by
the various arts of partial and general extortion; oppressive
taxes, scandalous bribery, immoderate fines, unjust
confiscations, forced or fictitious testaments, by which the
tyrant despoiled of their lawful inheritance the children of
strangers, or enemies; and the public sale of justice, as well as
of favor, which he instituted in the palace of Constantinople.
The ambitious candidate eagerly solicited, at the expense of the
fairest part of his patrimony, the honors and emoluments of some
provincial government; the lives and fortunes of the unhappy
people were abandoned to the most liberal purchaser; and the
public discontent was sometimes appeased by the sacrifice of an
unpopular criminal, whose punishment was profitable only to the
præfect of the East, his accomplice and his judge. If avarice
were not the blindest of the human passions, the motives of
Rufinus might excite our curiosity; and we might be tempted to
inquire with what view he violated every principle of humanity
and justice, to accumulate those immense treasures, which he
could not spend without folly, nor possess without danger.
Perhaps he vainly imagined, that he labored for the interest of
an only daughter, on whom he intended to bestow his royal pupil,
and the august rank of Empress of the East. Perhaps he deceived
himself by the opinion, that his avarice was the instrument of
his ambition. He aspired to place his fortune on a secure and
independent basis, which should no longer depend on the caprice
of the young emperor; yet he neglected to conciliate the hearts
of the soldiers and people, by the liberal distribution of those
riches, which he had acquired with so much toil, and with so much
guilt. The extreme parsimony of Rufinus left him only the
reproach and envy of ill-gotten wealth; his dependants served him
without attachment; the universal hatred of mankind was repressed
only by the influence of servile fear. The fate of Lucian
proclaimed to the East, that the præfect, whose industry was
much abated in the despatch of ordinary business, was active and
indefatigable in the pursuit of revenge. Lucian, the son of the
præfect Florentius, the oppressor of Gaul, and the enemy of
Julian, had employed a considerable part of his inheritance, the
fruit of rapine and corruption, to purchase the friendship of
Rufinus, and the high office of Count of the East. But the new
magistrate imprudently departed from the maxims of the court, and
of the times; disgraced his benefactor by the contrast of a
virtuous and temperate administration; and presumed to refuse an
act of injustice, which might have tended to the profit of the
emperor’s uncle. Arcadius was easily persuaded to resent the
supposed insult; and the præfect of the East resolved to execute
in person the cruel vengeance, which he meditated against this
ungrateful delegate of his power. He performed with incessant
speed the journey of seven or eight hundred miles, from
Constantinople to Antioch, entered the capital of Syria at the
dead of night, and spread universal consternation among a people
ignorant of his design, but not ignorant of his character. The
Count of the fifteen provinces of the East was dragged, like the
vilest malefactor, before the arbitrary tribunal of Rufinus.
Notwithstanding the clearest evidence of his integrity, which was
not impeached even by the voice of an accuser, Lucian was
condemned, almost with out a trial, to suffer a cruel and
ignominious punishment. The ministers of the tyrant, by the
orders, and in the presence, of their master, beat him on the
neck with leather thongs armed at the extremities with lead; and
when he fainted under the violence of the pain, he was removed in
a close litter, to conceal his dying agonies from the eyes of the
indignant city. No sooner had Rufinus perpetrated this inhuman
act, the sole object of his expedition, than he returned, amidst
the deep and silent curses of a trembling people, from Antioch to
Constantinople; and his diligence was accelerated by the hope of
accomplishing, without delay, the nuptials of his daughter with
the emperor of the East. 12
10 (return) [ Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xii. c. 12)
praises one of the laws of Theodosius addressed to the præfect
Rufinus, (l. ix. tit. iv. leg. unic.,) to discourage the
prosecution of treasonable, or sacrilegious, words. A tyrannical
statute always proves the existence of tyranny; but a laudable
edict may only contain the specious professions, or ineffectual
wishes, of the prince, or his ministers. This, I am afraid, is a
just, though mortifying, canon of criticism.]
11 (return) [
—fluctibus auri Expleri sitis ista nequit— ***** Congestae
cumulantur opes; orbisque ruinas Accipit una domus.
This character (Claudian, in. Rufin. i. 184-220) is confirmed by
Jerom, a disinterested witness, (dedecus insatiabilis avaritiae,
tom. i. ad Heliodor. p. 26,) by Zosimus, (l. v. p. 286,) and by
Suidas, who copied the history of Eunapius.]
12 (return) [
—Caetera segnis; Ad facinus velox; penitus regione remotas Impiger
ire vias.
This allusion of Claudian (in Rufin. i. 241) is again explained
by the circumstantial narrative of Zosimus, (l. v. p. 288, 289.)]
But Rufinus soon experienced, that a prudent minister should
constantly secure his royal captive by the strong, though
invisible chain of habit; and that the merit, and much more
easily the favor, of the absent, are obliterated in a short time
from the mind of a weak and capricious sovereign. While the
præfect satiated his revenge at Antioch, a secret conspiracy of
the favorite eunuchs, directed by the great chamberlain
Eutropius, undermined his power in the palace of Constantinople.
They discovered that Arcadius was not inclined to love the
daughter of Rufinus, who had been chosen, without his consent,
for his bride; and they contrived to substitute in her place the
fair Eudoxia, the daughter of Bauto, 13 a general of the Franks
in the service of Rome; and who was educated, since the death of
her father, in the family of the sons of Promotus. The young
emperor, whose chastity had been strictly guarded by the pious
care of his tutor Arsenius, 14 eagerly listened to the artful and
flattering descriptions of the charms of Eudoxia: he gazed with
impatient ardor on her picture, and he understood the necessity
of concealing his amorous designs from the knowledge of a
minister who was so deeply interested to oppose the consummation
of his happiness. Soon after the return of Rufinus, the
approaching ceremony of the royal nuptials was announced to the
people of Constantinople, who prepared to celebrate, with false
and hollow acclamations, the fortune of his daughter. A splendid
train of eunuchs and officers issued, in hymeneal pomp, from the
gates of the palace; bearing aloft the diadem, the robes, and the
inestimable ornaments, of the future empress. The solemn
procession passed through the streets of the city, which were
adorned with garlands, and filled with spectators; but when it
reached the house of the sons of Promotus, the principal eunuch
respectfully entered the mansion, invested the fair Eudoxia with
the Imperial robes, and conducted her in triumph to the palace
and bed of Arcadius. 15 The secrecy and success with which this
conspiracy against Rufinus had been conducted, imprinted a mark
of indelible ridicule on the character of a minister, who had
suffered himself to be deceived, in a post where the arts of
deceit and dissimulation constitute the most distinguished merit.
He considered, with a mixture of indignation and fear, the
victory of an aspiring eunuch, who had secretly captivated the
favor of his sovereign; and the disgrace of his daughter, whose
interest was inseparably connected with his own, wounded the
tenderness, or, at least, the pride of Rufinus. At the moment
when he flattered himself that he should become the father of a
line of kings, a foreign maid, who had been educated in the house
of his implacable enemies, was introduced into the Imperial bed;
and Eudoxia soon displayed a superiority of sense and spirit, to
improve the ascendant which her beauty must acquire over the mind
of a fond and youthful husband. The emperor would soon be
instructed to hate, to fear, and to destroy the powerful subject,
whom he had injured; and the consciousness of guilt deprived
Rufinus of every hope, either of safety or comfort, in the
retirement of a private life. But he still possessed the most
effectual means of defending his dignity, and perhaps of
oppressing his enemies. The præfect still exercised an
uncontrolled authority over the civil and military government of
the East; and his treasures, if he could resolve to use them,
might be employed to procure proper instruments for the execution
of the blackest designs, that pride, ambition, and revenge could
suggest to a desperate statesman. The character of Rufinus seemed
to justify the accusations that he conspired against the person
of his sovereign, to seat himself on the vacant throne; and that
he had secretly invited the Huns and the Goths to invade the
provinces of the empire, and to increase the public confusion.
The subtle præfect, whose life had been spent in the intrigues
of the palace, opposed, with equal arms, the artful measures of
the eunuch Eutropius; but the timid soul of Rufinus was
astonished by the hostile approach of a more formidable rival, of
the great Stilicho, the general, or rather the master, of the
empire of the West. 16
13 (return) [ Zosimus (l. iv. p. 243) praises the valor,
prudence, and integrity of Bauto the Frank. See Tillemont, Hist.
des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 771.]
14 (return) [ Arsenius escaped from the palace of Constantinople,
and passed fifty-five years in rigid penance in the monasteries
of Egypt. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 676-702; and
Fleury, Hist Eccles. tom. v. p. 1, &c.; but the latter, for want
of authentic materials, has given too much credit to the legend
of Metaphrastes.]
15 (return) [ This story (Zosimus, l. v. p. 290) proves that the
hymeneal rites of antiquity were still practised, without
idolatry, by the Christians of the East; and the bride was
forcibly conducted from the house of her parents to that of her
husband. Our form of marriage requires, with less delicacy, the
express and public consent of a virgin.]
16 (return) [ Zosimus, (l. v. p. 290,) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 37,)
and the Chronicle of Marcellinus. Claudian (in Rufin. ii. 7-100)
paints, in lively colors, the distress and guilt of the
præfect.]
The celestial gift, which Achilles obtained, and Alexander
envied, of a poet worthy to celebrate the actions of heroes has
been enjoyed by Stilicho, in a much higher degree than might have
been expected from the declining state of genius, and of art. The
muse of Claudian, 17 devoted to his service, was always prepared
to stigmatize his adversaries, Rufinus, or Eutropius, with
eternal infamy; or to paint, in the most splendid colors, the
victories and virtues of a powerful benefactor. In the review of
a period indifferently supplied with authentic materials, we
cannot refuse to illustrate the annals of Honorius, from the
invectives, or the panegyrics, of a contemporary writer; but as
Claudian appears to have indulged the most ample privilege of a
poet and a courtier, some criticism will be requisite to
translate the language of fiction or exaggeration, into the truth
and simplicity of historic prose. His silence concerning the
family of Stilicho may be admitted as a proof, that his patron
was neither able, nor desirous, to boast of a long series of
illustrious progenitors; and the slight mention of his father, an
officer of Barbarian cavalry in the service of Valens, seems to
countenance the assertion, that the general, who so long
commanded the armies of Rome, was descended from the savage and
perfidious race of the Vandals. 18 If Stilicho had not possessed
the external advantages of strength and stature, the most
flattering bard, in the presence of so many thousand spectators,
would have hesitated to affirm, that he surpassed the measure of
the demi-gods of antiquity; and that whenever he moved, with
lofty steps, through the streets of the capital, the astonished
crowd made room for the stranger, who displayed, in a private
condition, the awful majesty of a hero. From his earliest youth
he embraced the profession of arms; his prudence and valor were
soon distinguished in the field; the horsemen and archers of the
East admired his superior dexterity; and in each degree of his
military promotions, the public judgment always prevented and
approved the choice of the sovereign. He was named, by
Theodosius, to ratify a solemn treaty with the monarch of Persia;
he supported, during that important embassy, the dignity of the
Roman name; and after he returned to Constantinople, his merit
was rewarded by an intimate and honorable alliance with the
Imperial family. Theodosius had been prompted, by a pious motive
of fraternal affection, to adopt, for his own, the daughter of
his brother Honorius; the beauty and accomplishments of Serena 19
were universally admired by the obsequious court; and Stilicho
obtained the preference over a crowd of rivals, who ambitiously
disputed the hand of the princess, and the favor of her adopted
father. 20 The assurance that the husband of Serena would be
faithful to the throne, which he was permitted to approach,
engaged the emperor to exalt the fortunes, and to employ the
abilities, of the sagacious and intrepid Stilicho. He rose,
through the successive steps of master of the horse, and count of
the domestics, to the supreme rank of master-general of all the
cavalry and infantry of the Roman, or at least of the Western,
empire; 21 and his enemies confessed, that he invariably
disdained to barter for gold the rewards of merit, or to defraud
the soldiers of the pay and gratifications which they deserved or
claimed, from the liberality of the state. 22 The valor and
conduct which he afterwards displayed, in the defence of Italy,
against the arms of Alaric and Radagaisus, may justify the fame
of his early achievements and in an age less attentive to the
laws of honor, or of pride, the Roman generals might yield the
preeminence of rank, to the ascendant of superior genius. 23 He
lamented, and revenged, the murder of Promotus, his rival and his
friend; and the massacre of many thousands of the flying
Bastarnae is represented by the poet as a bloody sacrifice, which
the Roman Achilles offered to the manes of another Patroclus. The
virtues and victories of Stilicho deserved the hatred of Rufinus:
and the arts of calumny might have been successful if the tender
and vigilant Serena had not protected her husband against his
domestic foes, whilst he vanquished in the field the enemies of
the empire. 24 Theodosius continued to support an unworthy
minister, to whose diligence he delegated the government of the
palace, and of the East; but when he marched against the tyrant
Eugenius, he associated his faithful general to the labors and
glories of the civil war; and in the last moments of his life,
the dying monarch recommended to Stilicho the care of his sons,
and of the republic. 25 The ambition and the abilities of
Stilicho were not unequal to the important trust; and he claimed
the guardianship of the two empires, during the minority of
Arcadius and Honorius. 26 The first measure of his
administration, or rather of his reign, displayed to the nations
the vigor and activity of a spirit worthy to command. He passed
the Alps in the depth of winter; descended the stream of the
Rhine, from the fortress of Basil to the marshes of Batavia;
reviewed the state of the garrisons; repressed the enterprises of
the Germans; and, after establishing along the banks a firm and
honorable peace, returned, with incredible speed, to the palace
of Milan. 27 The person and court of Honorius were subject to the
master-general of the West; and the armies and provinces of
Europe obeyed, without hesitation, a regular authority, which was
exercised in the name of their young sovereign. Two rivals only
remained to dispute the claims, and to provoke the vengeance, of
Stilicho. Within the limits of Africa, Gildo, the Moor,
maintained a proud and dangerous independence; and the minister
of Constantinople asserted his equal reign over the emperor, and
the empire, of the East.
17 (return) [ Stilicho, directly or indirectly, is the perpetual
theme of Claudian. The youth and private life of the hero are
vaguely expressed in the poem on his first consulship, 35-140.]
18 (return) [ Vandalorum, imbellis, avarae, perfidae, et dolosae,
gentis, genere editus. Orosius, l. vii. c. 38. Jerom (tom. i. ad
Gerontiam, p. 93) call him a Semi-Barbarian.]
19 (return) [ Claudian, in an imperfect poem, has drawn a fair,
perhaps a flattering, portrait of Serena. That favorite niece of
Theodosius was born, as well as here sister Thermantia, in Spain;
from whence, in their earliest youth, they were honorably
conducted to the palace of Constantinople.]
20 (return) [ Some doubt may be entertained, whether this
adoption was legal or only metaphorical, (see Ducange, Fam.
Byzant. p. 75.) An old inscription gives Stilicho the singular
title of Pro-gener Divi Theodosius]
21 (return) [ Claudian (Laus Serenae, 190, 193) expresses, in
poetic language “the dilectus equorum,” and the “gemino mox idem
culmine duxit agmina.” The inscription adds, “count of the
domestics,” an important command, which Stilicho, in the height
of his grandeur, might prudently retain.]
22 (return) [ The beautiful lines of Claudian (in i. Cons.
Stilich. ii. 113) displays his genius; but the integrity of
Stilicho (in the military administration) is much more firmly
established by the unwilling evidence of Zosimus, (l. v. p.
345.)]
23 (return) [—Si bellica moles Ingrueret, quamvis annis et jure
minori,
Cedere grandaevos equitum peditumque magistros
Adspiceres. Claudian, Laus Seren. p. 196, &c. A modern general
would deem their submission either heroic patriotism or abject
servility.]
24 (return) [ Compare the poem on the first consulship (i.
95-115) with the Laus Serenoe (227-237, where it unfortunately
breaks off.) We may perceive the deep, inveterate malice of
Rufinus.]
25 (return) [—Quem fratribus ipse Discedens, clypeum
defensoremque dedisti. Yet the nomination (iv. Cons. Hon. 432)
was private, (iii. Cons. Hon. 142,) cunctos discedere... jubet;
and may therefore be suspected. Zosimus and Suidas apply to
Stilicho and Rufinus the same equal title of guardians, or
procurators.]
26 (return) [ The Roman law distinguishes two sorts of minority,
which expired at the age of fourteen, and of twenty-five. The one
was subject to the tutor, or guardian, of the person; the other,
to the curator, or trustee, of the estate, (Heineccius,
Antiquitat. Rom. ad Jurisprudent. pertinent. l. i. tit. xxii.
xxiii. p. 218-232.) But these legal ideas were never accurately
transferred into the constitution of an elective monarchy.]
27 (return) [ See Claudian, (i. Cons. Stilich. i. 188-242;) but
he must allow more than fifteen days for the journey and return
between Milan and Leyden.]
Chapter XXIX: Division Of Roman Empire Between Sons Of
Theodosius.—Part II.
The impartiality which Stilicho affected, as the common guardian
of the royal brothers, engaged him to regulate the equal division
of the arms, the jewels, and the magnificent wardrobe and
furniture of the deceased emperor. 28 But the most important
object of the inheritance consisted of the numerous legions,
cohorts, and squadrons, of Romans, or Barbarians, whom the event
of the civil war had united under the standard of Theodosius. The
various multitudes of Europe and Asia, exasperated by recent
animosities, were overawed by the authority of a single man; and
the rigid discipline of Stilicho protected the lands of the
citizens from the rapine of the licentious soldier. 29 Anxious,
however, and impatient, to relieve Italy from the presence of
this formidable host, which could be useful only on the frontiers
of the empire, he listened to the just requisition of the
minister of Arcadius, declared his intention of reconducting in
person the troops of the East, and dexterously employed the rumor
of a Gothic tumult to conceal his private designs of ambition and
revenge. 30 The guilty soul of Rufinus was alarmed by the
approach of a warrior and a rival, whose enmity he deserved; he
computed, with increasing terror, the narrow space of his life
and greatness; and, as the last hope of safety, he interposed the
authority of the emperor Arcadius. Stilicho, who appears to have
directed his march along the sea-coast of the Adriatic, was not
far distant from the city of Thessalonica, when he received a
peremptory message, to recall the troops of the East, and to
declare, that his nearer approach would be considered, by the
Byzantine court, as an act of hostility. The prompt and
unexpected obedience of the general of the West, convinced the
vulgar of his loyalty and moderation; and, as he had already
engaged the affection of the Eastern troops, he recommended to
their zeal the execution of his bloody design, which might be
accomplished in his absence, with less danger, perhaps, and with
less reproach. Stilicho left the command of the troops of the
East to Gainas, the Goth, on whose fidelity he firmly relied,
with an assurance, at least, that the hardy Barbarians would
never be diverted from his purpose by any consideration of fear
or remorse. The soldiers were easily persuaded to punish the
enemy of Stilicho and of Rome; and such was the general hatred
which Rufinus had excited, that the fatal secret, communicated to
thousands, was faithfully preserved during the long march from
Thessalonica to the gates of Constantinople. As soon as they had
resolved his death, they condescended to flatter his pride; the
ambitious præfect was seduced to believe, that those powerful
auxiliaries might be tempted to place the diadem on his head; and
the treasures which he distributed, with a tardy and reluctant
hand, were accepted by the indignant multitude as an insult,
rather than as a gift. At the distance of a mile from the
capital, in the field of Mars, before the palace of Hebdomon, the
troops halted: and the emperor, as well as his minister,
advanced, according to ancient custom, respectfully to salute the
power which supported their throne. As Rufinus passed along the
ranks, and disguised, with studied courtesy, his innate
haughtiness, the wings insensibly wheeled from the right and
left, and enclosed the devoted victim within the circle of their
arms. Before he could reflect on the danger of his situation,
Gainas gave the signal of death; a daring and forward soldier
plunged his sword into the breast of the guilty præfect, and
Rufinus fell, groaned, and expired, at the feet of the affrighted
emperor. If the agonies of a moment could expiate the crimes of a
whole life, or if the outrages inflicted on a breathless corpse
could be the object of pity, our humanity might perhaps be
affected by the horrid circumstances which accompanied the murder
of Rufinus. His mangled body was abandoned to the brutal fury of
the populace of either sex, who hastened in crowds, from every
quarter of the city, to trample on the remains of the haughty
minister, at whose frown they had so lately trembled. His right
hand was cut off, and carried through the streets of
Constantinople, in cruel mockery, to extort contributions for the
avaricious tyrant, whose head was publicly exposed, borne aloft
on the point of a long lance. 31 According to the savage maxims
of the Greek republics, his innocent family would have shared the
punishment of his crimes. The wife and daughter of Rufinus were
indebted for their safety to the influence of religion. Her
sanctuary protected them from the raging madness of the people;
and they were permitted to spend the remainder of their lives in
the exercise of Christian devotions, in the peaceful retirement
of Jerusalem. 32
28 (return) [ I. Cons. Stilich. ii. 88-94. Not only the robes and
diadems of the deceased emperor, but even the helmets,
sword-hilts, belts, rasses, &c., were enriched with pearls,
emeralds, and diamonds.]
29 (return) [—Tantoque remoto Principe, mutatas orbis non sensit
habenas. This high commendation (i. Cons. Stil. i. 149) may be
justified by the fears of the dying emperor, (de Bell. Gildon.
292-301;) and the peace and good order which were enjoyed after
his death, (i. Cons. Stil i. 150-168.)]
30 (return) [ Stilicho’s march, and the death of Rufinus, are
described by Claudian, (in Rufin. l. ii. 101-453, Zosimus, l. v.
p. 296, 297,) Sozomen (l. viii. c. 1,) Socrates, l. vi. c. 1,)
Philostorgius, (l. xi c. 3, with Godefory, p. 441,) and the
Chronicle of Marcellinus.]
31 (return) [ The dissection of Rufinus, which Claudian performs
with the savage coolness of an anatomist, (in Rufin. ii.
405-415,) is likewise specified by Zosimus and Jerom, (tom. i. p.
26.)]
32 (return) [ The Pagan Zosimus mentions their sanctuary and
pilgrimage. The sister of Rufinus, Sylvania, who passed her life
at Jerusalem, is famous in monastic history. 1. The studious
virgin had diligently, and even repeatedly, perused the
commentators on the Bible, Origen, Gregory, Basil, &c., to the
amount of five millions of lines. 2. At the age of threescore,
she could boast, that she had never washed her hands, face, or
any part of her whole body, except the tips of her fingers to
receive the communion. See the Vitae Patrum, p. 779, 977.]
The servile poet of Stilicho applauds, with ferocious joy, this
horrid deed, which, in the execution, perhaps, of justice,
violated every law of nature and society, profaned the majesty of
the prince, and renewed the dangerous examples of military
license. The contemplation of the universal order and harmony had
satisfied Claudian of the existence of the Deity; but the
prosperous impunity of vice appeared to contradict his moral
attributes; and the fate of Rufinus was the only event which
could dispel the religious doubts of the poet. 33 Such an act
might vindicate the honor of Providence, but it did not much
contribute to the happiness of the people. In less than three
months they were informed of the maxims of the new
administration, by a singular edict, which established the
exclusive right of the treasury over the spoils of Rufinus; and
silenced, under heavy penalties, the presumptuous claims of the
subjects of the Eastern empire, who had been injured by his
rapacious tyranny. 34 Even Stilicho did not derive from the
murder of his rival the fruit which he had proposed; and though
he gratified his revenge, his ambition was disappointed. Under
the name of a favorite, the weakness of Arcadius required a
master, but he naturally preferred the obsequious arts of the
eunuch Eutropius, who had obtained his domestic confidence: and
the emperor contemplated, with terror and aversion, the stern
genius of a foreign warrior. Till they were divided by the
jealousy of power, the sword of Gainas, and the charms of
Eudoxia, supported the favor of the great chamberlain of the
palace: the perfidious Goth, who was appointed master-general of
the East, betrayed, without scruple, the interest of his
benefactor; and the same troops, who had so lately massacred the
enemy of Stilicho, were engaged to support, against him, the
independence of the throne of Constantinople. The favorites of
Arcadius fomented a secret and irreconcilable war against a
formidable hero, who aspired to govern, and to defend, the two
empires of Rome, and the two sons of Theodosius. They incessantly
labored, by dark and treacherous machinations, to deprive him of
the esteem of the prince, the respect of the people, and the
friendship of the Barbarians. The life of Stilicho was repeatedly
attempted by the dagger of hired assassins; and a decree was
obtained from the senate of Constantinople, to declare him an
enemy of the republic, and to confiscate his ample possessions in
the provinces of the East. At a time when the only hope of
delaying the ruin of the Roman name depended on the firm union,
and reciprocal aid, of all the nations to whom it had been
gradually communicated, the subjects of Arcadius and Honorius
were instructed, by their respective masters, to view each other
in a foreign, and even hostile, light; to rejoice in their mutual
calamities, and to embrace, as their faithful allies, the
Barbarians, whom they excited to invade the territories of their
countrymen. 35 The natives of Italy affected to despise the
servile and effeminate Greeks of Byzantium, who presumed to
imitate the dress, and to usurp the dignity, of Roman senators;
36 and the Greeks had not yet forgot the sentiments of hatred and
contempt, which their polished ancestors had so long entertained
for the rude inhabitants of the West. The distinction of two
governments, which soon produced the separation of two nations,
will justify my design of suspending the series of the Byzantine
history, to prosecute, without interruption, the disgraceful, but
memorable, reign of Honorius.
33 (return) [ See the beautiful exordium of his invective against
Rufinus, which is curiously discussed by the sceptic Bayle,
Dictionnaire Critique, Rufin. Not. E.]
34 (return) [ See the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. xlii. leg. 14,
15. The new ministers attempted, with inconsistent avarice, to
seize the spoils of their predecessor, and to provide for their
own future security.]
35 (return) [ See Claudian, (i. Cons. Stilich, l. i. 275, 292,
296, l. ii. 83,) and Zosimus, (l. v. p. 302.)]
36 (return) [ Claudian turns the consulship of the eunuch
Eutropius into a national reflection, (l. ii. 134):—
—-Plaudentem cerne senatum, Et Byzantinos proceres Graiosque
Quirites: O patribus plebes, O digni consule patres.
It is curious to observe the first symptoms of jealousy and
schism between old and new Rome, between the Greeks and Latins.]
The prudent Stilicho, instead of persisting to force the
inclinations of a prince, and people, who rejected his
government, wisely abandoned Arcadius to his unworthy favorites;
and his reluctance to involve the two empires in a civil war
displayed the moderation of a minister, who had so often
signalized his military spirit and abilities. But if Stilicho had
any longer endured the revolt of Africa, he would have betrayed
the security of the capital, and the majesty of the Western
emperor, to the capricious insolence of a Moorish rebel. Gildo,
37 the brother of the tyrant Firmus, had preserved and obtained,
as the reward of his apparent fidelity, the immense patrimony
which was forfeited by treason: long and meritorious service, in
the armies of Rome, raised him to the dignity of a military
count; the narrow policy of the court of Theodosius had adopted
the mischievous expedient of supporting a legal government by the
interest of a powerful family; and the brother of Firmus was
invested with the command of Africa. His ambition soon usurped
the administration of justice, and of the finances, without
account, and without control; and he maintained, during a reign
of twelve years, the possession of an office, from which it was
impossible to remove him, without the danger of a civil war.
During those twelve years, the provinces of Africa groaned under
the dominion of a tyrant, who seemed to unite the unfeeling
temper of a stranger with the partial resentments of domestic
faction. The forms of law were often superseded by the use of
poison; and if the trembling guests, who were invited to the
table of Gildo, presumed to express fears, the insolent suspicion
served only to excite his fury, and he loudly summoned the
ministers of death. Gildo alternately indulged the passions of
avarice and lust; 38 and if his days were terrible to the rich,
his nights were not less dreadful to husbands and parents. The
fairest of their wives and daughters were prostituted to the
embraces of the tyrant; and afterwards abandoned to a ferocious
troop of Barbarians and assassins, the black, or swarthy, natives
of the desert; whom Gildo considered as the only guardians of his
throne. In the civil war between Theodosius and Eugenius, the
count, or rather the sovereign, of Africa, maintained a haughty
and suspicious neutrality; refused to assist either of the
contending parties with troops or vessels, expected the
declaration of fortune, and reserved for the conqueror the vain
professions of his allegiance. Such professions would not have
satisfied the master of the Roman world; but the death of
Theodosius, and the weakness and discord of his sons, confirmed
the power of the Moor; who condescended, as a proof of his
moderation, to abstain from the use of the diadem, and to supply
Rome with the customary tribute, or rather subsidy, of corn. In
every division of the empire, the five provinces of Africa were
invariably assigned to the West; and Gildo had to govern that
extensive country in the name of Honorius, but his knowledge of
the character and designs of Stilicho soon engaged him to address
his homage to a more distant and feeble sovereign. The ministers
of Arcadius embraced the cause of a perfidious rebel; and the
delusive hope of adding the numerous cities of Africa to the
empire of the East, tempted them to assert a claim, which they
were incapable of supporting, either by reason or by arms. 39
37 (return) [ Claudian may have exaggerated the vices of Gildo;
but his Moorish extraction, his notorious actions, and the
complaints of St. Augustin, may justify the poet’s invectives.
Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 398, No. 35-56) has treated the
African rebellion with skill and learning.]
38 (return) [
Instat terribilis vivis, morientibus haeres, Virginibus raptor,
thalamis obscoenus adulter. Nulla quies: oritur praeda cessante
libido, Divitibusque dies, et nox metuenda maritis. Mauris
clarissima quaeque Fastidita datur. ——De Bello Gildonico, 165,
189.
Baronius condemns, still more severely, the licentiousness of
Gildo; as his wife, his daughter, and his sister, were examples
of perfect chastity. The adulteries of the African soldiers are
checked by one of the Imperial laws.]
39 (return) [ Inque tuam sortem numerosas transtulit urbes.
Claudian (de Bell. Gildonico, 230-324) has touched, with
political delicacy, the intrigues of the Byzantine court, which
are likewise mentioned by Zosimus, (l. v. p. 302.)]
When Stilicho had given a firm and decisive answer to the
pretensions of the Byzantine court, he solemnly accused the
tyrant of Africa before the tribunal, which had formerly judged
the kings and nations of the earth; and the image of the republic
was revived, after a long interval, under the reign of Honorius.
The emperor transmitted an accurate and ample detail of the
complaints of the provincials, and the crimes of Gildo, to the
Roman senate; and the members of that venerable assembly were
required to pronounce the condemnation of the rebel. Their
unanimous suffrage declared him the enemy of the republic; and
the decree of the senate added a sacred and legitimate sanction
to the Roman arms. 40 A people, who still remembered that their
ancestors had been the masters of the world, would have
applauded, with conscious pride, the representation of ancient
freedom; if they had not since been accustomed to prefer the
solid assurance of bread to the unsubstantial visions of liberty
and greatness. The subsistence of Rome depended on the harvests
of Africa; and it was evident, that a declaration of war would be
the signal of famine. The præfect Symmachus, who presided in the
deliberations of the senate, admonished the minister of his just
apprehension, that as soon as the revengeful Moor should prohibit
the exportation of corn, tranquility and perhaps the safety, of
the capital would be threatened by the hungry rage of a turbulent
multitude. 41 The prudence of Stilicho conceived and executed,
without delay, the most effectual measure for the relief of the
Roman people. A large and seasonable supply of corn, collected in
the inland provinces of Gaul, was embarked on the rapid stream of
the Rhone, and transported, by an easy navigation, from the Rhone
to the Tyber. During the whole term of the African war, the
granaries of Rome were continually filled, her dignity was
vindicated from the humiliating dependence, and the minds of an
immense people were quieted by the calm confidence of peace and
plenty. 42
40 (return) [ Symmachus (l. iv. epist. 4) expresses the judicial
forms of the senate; and Claudian (i. Cons. Stilich. l. i. 325,
&c.) seems to feel the spirit of a Roman.]
41 (return) [ Claudian finely displays these complaints of
Symmachus, in a speech of the goddess of Rome, before the throne
of Jupiter, (de Bell Gildon. 28-128.)]
42 (return) [ See Claudian (in Eutrop. l. i 401, &c. i. Cons.
Stil. l. i. 306, &c. i. Cons. Stilich. 91, &c.)]
The cause of Rome, and the conduct of the African war, were
intrusted by Stilicho to a general, active and ardent to avenge
his private injuries on the head of the tyrant. The spirit of
discord which prevailed in the house of Nabal, had excited a
deadly quarrel between two of his sons, Gildo and Mascezel. 43
The usurper pursued, with implacable rage, the life of his
younger brother, whose courage and abilities he feared; and
Mascezel, oppressed by superior power, took refuge in the court
of Milan, where he soon received the cruel intelligence that his
two innocent and helpless children had been murdered by their
inhuman uncle. The affliction of the father was suspended only by
the desire of revenge. The vigilant Stilicho already prepared to
collect the naval and military force of the Western empire; and
he had resolved, if the tyrant should be able to wage an equal
and doubtful war, to march against him in person. But as Italy
required his presence, and as it might be dangerous to weaken the
defence of the frontier, he judged it more advisable, that
Mascezel should attempt this arduous adventure at the head of a
chosen body of Gallic veterans, who had lately served under the
standard of Eugenius. These troops, who were exhorted to convince
the world that they could subvert, as well as defend the throne
of a usurper, consisted of the Jovian, the Herculian, and the
Augustan legions; of the Nervian auxiliaries; of the soldiers who
displayed in their banners the symbol of a lion, and of the
troops which were distinguished by the auspicious names of
Fortunate, and Invincible. Yet such was the smallness of their
establishments, or the difficulty of recruiting, that these seven
bands, 44 of high dignity and reputation in the service of Rome,
amounted to no more than five thousand effective men. 45 The
fleet of galleys and transports sailed in tempestuous weather
from the port of Pisa, in Tuscany, and steered their course to
the little island of Capraria; which had borrowed that name from
the wild goats, its original inhabitants, whose place was
occupied by a new colony of a strange and savage appearance. “The
whole island (says an ingenious traveller of those times) is
filled, or rather defiled, by men who fly from the light. They
call themselves Monks, or solitaries, because they choose to live
alone, without any witnesses of their actions. They fear the
gifts of fortune, from the apprehension of losing them; and, lest
they should be miserable, they embrace a life of voluntary
wretchedness. How absurd is their choice! how perverse their
understanding! to dread the evils, without being able to support
the blessings, of the human condition. Either this melancholy
madness is the effect of disease, or exercise on their own bodies
the tortures which are inflicted on fugitive slaves by the hand
of justice.” 46 Such was the contempt of a profane magistrate for
the monks as the chosen servants of God. 47 Some of them were
persuaded, by his entreaties, to embark on board the fleet; and
it is observed, to the praise of the Roman general, that his days
and nights were employed in prayer, fasting, and the occupation
of singing psalms. The devout leader, who, with such a
reenforcement, appeared confident of victory, avoided the
dangerous rocks of Corsica, coasted along the eastern side of
Sardinia, and secured his ships against the violence of the south
wind, by casting anchor in the and capacious harbor of Cagliari,
at the distance of one hundred and forty miles from the African
shores. 48
43 (return) [ He was of a mature age; since he had formerly (A.D.
373) served against his brother Firmus (Ammian. xxix. 5.)
Claudian, who understood the court of Milan, dwells on the
injuries, rather than the merits, of Mascezel, (de Bell. Gild.
389-414.) The Moorish war was not worthy of Honorius, or
Stilicho, &c.]
44 (return) [ Claudian, Bell. Gild. 415-423. The change of
discipline allowed him to use indifferently the names of Legio
Cohors, Manipulus. See Notitia Imperii, S. 38, 40.]
45 (return) [ Orosius (l. vii. c. 36, p. 565) qualifies this
account with an expression of doubt, (ut aiunt;) and it scarcely
coincides with Zosimus, (l. v. p. 303.) Yet Claudian, after some
declamation about Cadmus, soldiers, frankly owns that Stilicho
sent a small army lest the rebels should fly, ne timeare times,
(i. Cons. Stilich. l. i. 314 &c.)]
46 (return) [ Claud. Rutil. Numatian. Itinerar. i. 439-448. He
afterwards (515-526) mentions a religious madman on the Isle of
Gorgona. For such profane remarks, Rutilius and his accomplices
are styled, by his commentator, Barthius, rabiosi canes diaboli.
Tillemont (Mem. Eccles com. xii. p. 471) more calmly observes,
that the unbelieving poet praises where he means to censure.]
47 (return) [ Orosius, l. vii. c. 36, p. 564. Augustin commends
two of these savage saints of the Isle of Goats, (epist. lxxxi.
apud Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 317, and Baronius,
Annal Eccles. A.D. 398 No. 51.)]
48 (return) [ Here the first book of the Gildonic war is
terminated. The rest of Claudian’s poem has been lost; and we are
ignorant how or where the army made good their landing in Afica.]
Gildo was prepared to resist the invasion with all the forces of
Africa. By the liberality of his gifts and promises, he
endeavored to secure the doubtful allegiance of the Roman
soldiers, whilst he attracted to his standard the distant tribes
of Gaetulia and Æthiopia. He proudly reviewed an army of seventy
thousand men, and boasted, with the rash presumption which is the
forerunner of disgrace, that his numerous cavalry would trample
under their horses’ feet the troops of Mascezel, and involve, in
a cloud of burning sand, the natives of the cold regions of Gaul
and Germany. 49 But the Moor, who commanded the legions of
Honorius, was too well acquainted with the manners of his
countrymen, to entertain any serious apprehension of a naked and
disorderly host of Barbarians; whose left arm, instead of a
shield, was protected only by mantle; who were totally disarmed
as soon as they had darted their javelin from their right hand;
and whose horses had never been in combat. He fixed his camp of
five thousand veterans in the face of a superior enemy, and,
after the delay of three days, gave the signal of a general
engagement. 50 As Mascezel advanced before the front with fair
offers of peace and pardon, he encountered one of the foremost
standard-bearers of the Africans, and, on his refusal to yield,
struck him on the arm with his sword. The arm, and the standard,
sunk under the weight of the blow; and the imaginary act of
submission was hastily repeated by all the standards of the line.
At this the disaffected cohorts proclaimed the name of their
lawful sovereign; the Barbarians, astonished by the defection of
their Roman allies, dispersed, according to their custom, in
tumultuary flight; and Mascezel obtained honors the of an easy,
and almost bloodless, victory. 51 The tyrant escaped from the
field of battle to the sea-shore; and threw himself into a small
vessel, with the hope of reaching in safety some friendly port of
the empire of the East; but the obstinacy of the wind drove him
back into the harbor of Tabraca, 52 which had acknowledged, with
the rest of the province, the dominion of Honorius, and the
authority of his lieutenant. The inhabitants, as a proof of their
repentance and loyalty, seized and confined the person of Gildo
in a dungeon; and his own despair saved him from the intolerable
torture of supporting the presence of an injured and victorious
brother. 53 The captives and the spoils of Africa were laid at
the feet of the emperor; but Stilicho, whose moderation appeared
more conspicuous and more sincere, in the midst of prosperity,
still affected to consult the laws of the republic; and referred
to the senate and people of Rome the judgment of the most
illustrious criminals. 54 Their trial was public and solemn; but
the judges, in the exercise of this obsolete and precarious
jurisdiction, were impatient to punish the African magistrates,
who had intercepted the subsistence of the Roman people. The rich
and guilty province was oppressed by the Imperial ministers, who
had a visible interest to multiply the number of the accomplices
of Gildo; and if an edict of Honorius seems to check the
malicious industry of informers, a subsequent edict, at the
distance of ten years, continues and renews the prosecution of
the offences which had been committed in the time of the general
rebellion. 55 The adherents of the tyrant who escaped the first
fury of the soldiers, and the judges, might derive some
consolation from the tragic fate of his brother, who could never
obtain his pardon for the extraordinary services which he had
performed. After he had finished an important war in the space of
a single winter, Mascezel was received at the court of Milan with
loud applause, affected gratitude, and secret jealousy; 56 and
his death, which, perhaps, was the effect of passage of a bridge,
the Moorish prince, who accompanied the master-general of the
West, was suddenly thrown from his horse into the river; the
officious haste of the attendants was restrained by a cruel and
perfidious smile which they observed on the countenance of
Stilicho; and while they delayed the necessary assistance, the
unfortunate Mascezel was irrecoverably drowned. 57
49 (return) [ Orosius must be responsible for the account. The
presumption of Gildo and his various train of Barbarians is
celebrated by Claudian, Cons. Stil. l. i. 345-355.]
50 (return) [ St. Ambrose, who had been dead about a year,
revealed, in a vision, the time and place of the victory.
Mascezel afterwards related his dream to Paulinus, the original
biographer of the saint, from whom it might easily pass to
Orosius.]
51 (return) [ Zosimus (l. v. p. 303) supposes an obstinate
combat; but the narrative of Orosius appears to conceal a real
fact, under the disguise of a miracle.]
52 (return) [ Tabraca lay between the two Hippos, (Cellarius,
tom. ii. p. 112; D’Anville, tom. iii. p. 84.) Orosius has
distinctly named the field of battle, but our ignorance cannot
define the precise situation.]
53 (return) [ The death of Gildo is expressed by Claudian (i.
Cons. Stil. 357) and his best interpreters, Zosimus and Orosius.]
54 (return) [ Claudian (ii. Cons. Stilich. 99-119) describes
their trial (tremuit quos Africa nuper, cernunt rostra reos,) and
applauds the restoration of the ancient constitution. It is here
that he introduces the famous sentence, so familiar to the
friends of despotism:
—-Nunquam libertas gratior exstat, Quam sub rege pio.
But the freedom which depends on royal piety, scarcely deserves
appellation]
55 (return) [ See the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. xxxix. leg. 3,
tit. xl. leg. 19.]
56 (return) [ Stilicho, who claimed an equal share in all the
victories of Theodosius and his son, particularly asserts, that
Africa was recovered by the wisdom of his counsels, (see an
inscription produced by Baronius.)]
57 (return) [ I have softened the narrative of Zosimus, which, in
its crude simplicity, is almost incredible, (l. v. p. 303.)
Orosius damns the victorious general (p. 538) for violating the
right of sanctuary.]
The joy of the African triumph was happily connected with the
nuptials of the emperor Honorius, and of his cousin Maria, the
daughter of Stilicho: and this equal and honorable alliance
seemed to invest the powerful minister with the authority of a
parent over his submissive pupil. The muse of Claudian was not
silent on this propitious day; 58 he sung, in various and lively
strains, the happiness of the royal pair; and the glory of the
hero, who confirmed their union, and supported their throne. The
ancient fables of Greece, which had almost ceased to be the
object of religious faith, were saved from oblivion by the genius
of poetry. The picture of the Cyprian grove, the seat of harmony
and love; the triumphant progress of Venus over her native seas,
and the mild influence which her presence diffused in the palace
of Milan, express to every age the natural sentiments of the
heart, in the just and pleasing language of allegorical fiction.
But the amorous impatience which Claudian attributes to the young
prince, 59 must excite the smiles of the court; and his beauteous
spouse (if she deserved the praise of beauty) had not much to
fear or to hope from the passions of her lover. Honorius was only
in the fourteenth year of his age; Serena, the mother of his
bride, deferred, by art of persuasion, the consummation of the
royal nuptials; Maria died a virgin, after she had been ten years
a wife; and the chastity of the emperor was secured by the
coldness, or perhaps, the debility, of his constitution. 60 His
subjects, who attentively studied the character of their young
sovereign, discovered that Honorius was without passions, and
consequently without talents; and that his feeble and languid
disposition was alike incapable of discharging the duties of his
rank, or of enjoying the pleasures of his age. In his early youth
he made some progress in the exercises of riding and drawing the
bow: but he soon relinquished these fatiguing occupations, and
the amusement of feeding poultry became the serious and daily
care of the monarch of the West, 61 who resigned the reins of
empire to the firm and skilful hand of his guardian Stilicho. The
experience of history will countenance the suspicion that a
prince who was born in the purple, received a worse education
than the meanest peasant of his dominions; and that the ambitious
minister suffered him to attain the age of manhood, without
attempting to excite his courage, or to enlighten his
understanding. 62 The predecessors of Honorius were accustomed to
animate by their example, or at least by their presence, the
valor of the legions; and the dates of their laws attest the
perpetual activity of their motions through the provinces of the
Roman world. But the son of Theodosius passed the slumber of his
life, a captive in his palace, a stranger in his country, and the
patient, almost the indifferent, spectator of the ruin of the
Western empire, which was repeatedly attacked, and finally
subverted, by the arms of the Barbarians. In the eventful history
of a reign of twenty-eight years, it will seldom be necessary to
mention the name of the emperor Honorius.
58 (return) [ Claudian,as the poet laureate, composed a serious
and elaborate epithalamium of 340 lines; besides some gay
Fescennines, which were sung, in a more licentious tone, on the
wedding night.]
59 (return) [
Calet obvius ire Jam princeps, tardumque cupit discedere solem.
Nobilis haud aliter sonipes.
(De Nuptiis Honor. et Mariae, and more freely in the Fescennines
112-116)
Dices, O quoties,hoc mihi dulcius Quam flavos decics vincere
Sarmatas. .... Tum victor madido prosilias toro, Nocturni referens
vulnera proelii.]
60 (return) [ See Zosimus, l. v. p. 333.]
61 (return) [ Procopius de Bell. Gothico, l. i. c. 2. I have
borrowed the general practice of Honorius, without adopting the
singular, and indeed improbable tale, which is related by the
Greek historian.]
62 (return) [ The lessons of Theodosius, or rather Claudian, (iv.
Cons. Honor 214-418,) might compose a fine institution for the
future prince of a great and free nation. It was far above
Honorius, and his degenerate subjects.]
Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part I.
Revolt Of The Goths.—They Plunder Greece.—Two Great Invasions Of
Italy By Alaric And Radagaisus.—They Are Repulsed By Stilicho.—The
Germans Overrun Gaul.—Usurpation Of Constantine In The
West.—Disgrace And Death Of Stilicho.
If the subjects of Rome could be ignorant of their obligations to
the great Theodosius, they were too soon convinced, how painfully
the spirit and abilities of their deceased emperor had supported
the frail and mouldering edifice of the republic. He died in the
month of January; and before the end of the winter of the same
year, the Gothic nation was in arms. 1 The Barbarian auxiliaries
erected their independent standard; and boldly avowed the hostile
designs, which they had long cherished in their ferocious minds.
Their countrymen, who had been condemned, by the conditions of
the last treaty, to a life of tranquility and labor, deserted
their farms at the first sound of the trumpet; and eagerly
resumed the weapons which they had reluctantly laid down. The
barriers of the Danube were thrown open; the savage warriors of
Scythia issued from their forests; and the uncommon severity of
the winter allowed the poet to remark, “that they rolled their
ponderous wagons over the broad and icy back of the indignant
river.” 2 The unhappy natives of the provinces to the south of
the Danube submitted to the calamities, which, in the course of
twenty years, were almost grown familiar to their imagination;
and the various troops of Barbarians, who gloried in the Gothic
name, were irregularly spread from woody shores of Dalmatia, to
the walls of Constantinople. 3 The interruption, or at least the
diminution, of the subsidy, which the Goths had received from the
prudent liberality of Theodosius, was the specious pretence of
their revolt: the affront was imbittered by their contempt for
the unwarlike sons of Theodosius; and their resentment was
inflamed by the weakness, or treachery, of the minister of
Arcadius. The frequent visits of Rufinus to the camp of the
Barbarians whose arms and apparel he affected to imitate, were
considered as a sufficient evidence of his guilty correspondence,
and the public enemy, from a motive either of gratitude or of
policy, was attentive, amidst the general devastation, to spare
the private estates of the unpopular præfect. The Goths, instead
of being impelled by the blind and headstrong passions of their
chiefs, were now directed by the bold and artful genius of
Alaric. That renowned leader was descended from the noble race of
the Balti; 4 which yielded only to the royal dignity of the
Amali: he had solicited the command of the Roman armies; and the
Imperial court provoked him to demonstrate the folly of their
refusal, and the importance of their loss. Whatever hopes might
be entertained of the conquest of Constantinople, the judicious
general soon abandoned an impracticable enterprise. In the midst
of a divided court and a discontented people, the emperor
Arcadius was terrified by the aspect of the Gothic arms; but the
want of wisdom and valor was supplied by the strength of the
city; and the fortifications, both of the sea and land, might
securely brave the impotent and random darts of the Barbarians.
Alaric disdained to trample any longer on the prostrate and
ruined countries of Thrace and Dacia, and he resolved to seek a
plentiful harvest of fame and riches in a province which had
hitherto escaped the ravages of war. 5
1 (return) [ The revolt of the Goths, and the blockade of
Constantinople, are distinctly mentioned by Claudian, (in Rufin.
l. ii. 7-100,) Zosimus, (l. v. 292,) and Jornandes, (de Rebus
Geticis, c. 29.)]
2 (return) [—
Alii per toga ferocis Danubii solidata ruunt; expertaque remis
Frangunt stagna rotis.
Claudian and Ovid often amuse their fancy by interchanging the
metaphors and properties of liquid water, and solid ice. Much
false wit has been expended in this easy exercise.]
3 (return) [ Jerom, tom. i. p. 26. He endeavors to comfort his
friend Heliodorus, bishop of Altinum, for the loss of his nephew,
Nepotian, by a curious recapitulation of all the public and
private misfortunes of the times. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles.
tom. xii. p. 200, &c.]
4 (return) [ Baltha or bold: origo mirifica, says Jornandes, (c.
29.) This illustrious race long continued to flourish in France,
in the Gothic province of Septimania, or Languedoc; under the
corrupted appellation of Boax; and a branch of that family
afterwards settled in the kingdom of Naples (Grotius in Prolegom.
ad Hist. Gothic. p. 53.) The lords of Baux, near Arles, and of
seventy-nine subordinate places, were independent of the counts
of Provence, (Longuerue, Description de la France, tom. i. p.
357).]
5 (return) [ Zosimus (l. v. p. 293-295) is our best guide for the
conquest of Greece: but the hints and allusion of Claudian are so
many rays of historic light.]
The character of the civil and military officers, on whom Rufinus
had devolved the government of Greece, confirmed the public
suspicion, that he had betrayed the ancient seat of freedom and
learning to the Gothic invader. The proconsul Antiochus was the
unworthy son of a respectable father; and Gerontius, who
commanded the provincial troops, was much better qualified to
execute the oppressive orders of a tyrant, than to defend, with
courage and ability, a country most remarkably fortified by the
hand of nature. Alaric had traversed, without resistance, the
plains of Macedonia and Thessaly, as far as the foot of Mount
Oeta, a steep and woody range of hills, almost impervious to his
cavalry. They stretched from east to west, to the edge of the
sea-shore; and left, between the precipice and the Malian Gulf,
an interval of three hundred feet, which, in some places, was
contracted to a road capable of admitting only a single carriage.
6 In this narrow pass of Thermopylae, where Leonidas and the
three hundred Spartans had gloriously devoted their lives, the
Goths might have been stopped, or destroyed, by a skilful
general; and perhaps the view of that sacred spot might have
kindled some sparks of military ardor in the breasts of the
degenerate Greeks. The troops which had been posted to defend the
Straits of Thermopylae, retired, as they were directed, without
attempting to disturb the secure and rapid passage of Alaric; 7
and the fertile fields of Phocis and Boeotia were instantly
covered by a deluge of Barbarians who massacred the males of an
age to bear arms, and drove away the beautiful females, with the
spoil and cattle of the flaming villages. The travellers, who
visited Greece several years afterwards, could easily discover
the deep and bloody traces of the march of the Goths; and Thebes
was less indebted for her preservation to the strength of her
seven gates, than to the eager haste of Alaric, who advanced to
occupy the city of Athens, and the important harbor of the
Piraeus. The same impatience urged him to prevent the delay and
danger of a siege, by the offer of a capitulation; and as soon as
the Athenians heard the voice of the Gothic herald, they were
easily persuaded to deliver the greatest part of their wealth, as
the ransom of the city of Minerva and its inhabitants. The treaty
was ratified by solemn oaths, and observed with mutual fidelity.
The Gothic prince, with a small and select train, was admitted
within the walls; he indulged himself in the refreshment of the
bath, accepted a splendid banquet, which was provided by the
magistrate, and affected to show that he was not ignorant of the
manners of civilized nations. 8 But the whole territory of
Attica, from the promontory of Sunium to the town of Megara, was
blasted by his baleful presence; and, if we may use the
comparison of a contemporary philosopher, Athens itself resembled
the bleeding and empty skin of a slaughtered victim. The distance
between Megara and Corinth could not much exceed thirty miles;
but the bad road, an expressive name, which it still bears among
the Greeks, was, or might easily have been made, impassable for
the march of an enemy. The thick and gloomy woods of Mount
Cithaeron covered the inland country; the Scironian rocks
approached the water’s edge, and hung over the narrow and winding
path, which was confined above six miles along the sea-shore. 9
The passage of those rocks, so infamous in every age, was
terminated by the Isthmus of Corinth; and a small a body of firm
and intrepid soldiers might have successfully defended a
temporary intrenchment of five or six miles from the Ionian to
the Aegean Sea. The confidence of the cities of Peloponnesus in
their natural rampart, had tempted them to neglect the care of
their antique walls; and the avarice of the Roman governors had
exhausted and betrayed the unhappy province. 10 Corinth, Argos,
Sparta, yielded without resistance to the arms of the Goths; and
the most fortunate of the inhabitants were saved, by death, from
beholding the slavery of their families and the conflagration of
their cities. 11 The vases and statues were distributed among the
Barbarians, with more regard to the value of the materials, than
to the elegance of the workmanship; the female captives submitted
to the laws of war; the enjoyment of beauty was the reward of
valor; and the Greeks could not reasonably complain of an abuse
which was justified by the example of the heroic times. 12 The
descendants of that extraordinary people, who had considered
valor and discipline as the walls of Sparta, no longer remembered
the generous reply of their ancestors to an invader more
formidable than Alaric. “If thou art a god, thou wilt not hurt
those who have never injured thee; if thou art a man,
advance:—and thou wilt find men equal to thyself.” 13 From
Thermopylae to Sparta, the leader of the Goths pursued his
victorious march without encountering any mortal antagonists: but
one of the advocates of expiring Paganism has confidently
asserted, that the walls of Athens were guarded by the goddess
Minerva, with her formidable Aegis, and by the angry phantom of
Achilles; 14 and that the conqueror was dismayed by the presence
of the hostile deities of Greece. In an age of miracles, it would
perhaps be unjust to dispute the claim of the historian Zosimus
to the common benefit: yet it cannot be dissembled, that the mind
of Alaric was ill prepared to receive, either in sleeping or
waking visions, the impressions of Greek superstition. The songs
of Homer, and the fame of Achilles, had probably never reached
the ear of the illiterate Barbarian; and the Christian faith,
which he had devoutly embraced, taught him to despise the
imaginary deities of Rome and Athens. The invasion of the Goths,
instead of vindicating the honor, contributed, at least
accidentally, to extirpate the last remains of Paganism: and the
mysteries of Ceres, which had subsisted eighteen hundred years,
did not survive the destruction of Eleusis, and the calamities of
Greece. 15
6 (return) [ Compare Herodotus (l. vii. c. 176) and Livy, (xxxvi.
15.) The narrow entrance of Greece was probably enlarged by each
successive ravisher.]
7 (return) [ He passed, says Eunapius, (in Vit. Philosoph. p. 93,
edit. Commelin, 1596,) through the straits, of Thermopylae.]
8 (return) [ In obedience to Jerom and Claudian, (in Rufin. l.
ii. 191,) I have mixed some darker colors in the mild
representation of Zosimus, who wished to soften the calamities of
Athens.
Nec fera Cecropias traxissent vincula matres.
Synesius (Epist. clvi. p. 272, edit. Petav.) observes, that
Athens, whose sufferings he imputes to the proconsul’s avarice,
was at that time less famous for her schools of philosophy than
for her trade of honey.]
9 (return) [—
Vallata mari Scironia rupes, Et duo continuo connectens aequora
muro Isthmos. —Claudian de Bel. Getico, 188.
The Scironian rocks are described by Pausanias, (l. i. c. 44, p.
107, edit. Kuhn,) and our modern travellers, Wheeler (p. 436) and
Chandler, (p. 298.) Hadrian made the road passable for two
carriages.]
10 (return) [ Claudian (in Rufin. l. ii. 186, and de Bello
Getico, 611, &c.) vaguely, though forcibly, delineates the scene
of rapine and destruction.]
11 (return) [ These generous lines of Homer (Odyss. l. v. 306)
were transcribed by one of the captive youths of Corinth: and the
tears of Mummius may prove that the rude conqueror, though he was
ignorant of the value of an original picture, possessed the
purest source of good taste, a benevolent heart, (Plutarch,
Symposiac. l. ix. tom. ii. p. 737, edit. Wechel.)]
12 (return) [ Homer perpetually describes the exemplary patience
of those female captives, who gave their charms, and even their
hearts, to the murderers of their fathers, brothers, &c. Such a
passion (of Eriphile for Achilles) is touched with admirable
delicacy by Racine.]
13 (return) [ Plutarch (in Pyrrho, tom. ii. p. 474, edit. Brian)
gives the genuine answer in the Laconic dialect. Pyrrhus attacked
Sparta with 25,000 foot, 2000 horse, and 24 elephants, and the
defence of that open town is a fine comment on the laws of
Lycurgus, even in the last stage of decay.]
14 (return) [ Such, perhaps, as Homer (Iliad, xx. 164) had so
nobly painted him.]
15 (return) [ Eunapius (in Vit. Philosoph. p. 90-93) intimates
that a troop of monks betrayed Greece, and followed the Gothic
camp. * Note: The expression is curious: Vit. Max. t. i. p. 53,
edit. Boissonade.—M.]
The last hope of a people who could no longer depend on their
arms, their gods, or their sovereign, was placed in the powerful
assistance of the general of the West; and Stilicho, who had not
been permitted to repulse, advanced to chastise, the invaders of
Greece. 16 A numerous fleet was equipped in the ports of Italy;
and the troops, after a short and prosperous navigation over the
Ionian Sea, were safely disembarked on the isthmus, near the
ruins of Corinth. The woody and mountainous country of Arcadia,
the fabulous residence of Pan and the Dryads, became the scene of
a long and doubtful conflict between the two generals not
unworthy of each other. The skill and perseverance of the Roman
at length prevailed; and the Goths, after sustaining a
considerable loss from disease and desertion, gradually retreated
to the lofty mountain of Pholoe, near the sources of the Peneus,
and on the frontiers of Elis; a sacred country, which had
formerly been exempted from the calamities of war. 17 The camp of
the Barbarians was immediately besieged; the waters of the river
18 were diverted into another channel; and while they labored
under the intolerable pressure of thirst and hunger, a strong
line of circumvallation was formed to prevent their escape. After
these precautions, Stilicho, too confident of victory, retired to
enjoy his triumph, in the theatrical games, and lascivious
dances, of the Greeks; his soldiers, deserting their standards,
spread themselves over the country of their allies, which they
stripped of all that had been saved from the rapacious hands of
the enemy. Alaric appears to have seized the favorable moment to
execute one of those hardy enterprises, in which the abilities of
a general are displayed with more genuine lustre, than in the
tumult of a day of battle. To extricate himself from the prison
of Peloponnesus, it was necessary that he should pierce the
intrenchments which surrounded his camp; that he should perform a
difficult and dangerous march of thirty miles, as far as the Gulf
of Corinth; and that he should transport his troops, his
captives, and his spoil, over an arm of the sea, which, in the
narrow interval between Rhium and the opposite shore, is at least
half a mile in breadth. 19 The operations of Alaric must have
been secret, prudent, and rapid; since the Roman general was
confounded by the intelligence, that the Goths, who had eluded
his efforts, were in full possession of the important province of
Epirus. This unfortunate delay allowed Alaric sufficient time to
conclude the treaty, which he secretly negotiated, with the
ministers of Constantinople. The apprehension of a civil war
compelled Stilicho to retire, at the haughty mandate of his
rivals, from the dominions of Arcadius; and he respected, in the
enemy of Rome, the honorable character of the ally and servant of
the emperor of the East.
16 (return) [ For Stilicho’s Greek war, compare the honest
narrative of Zosimus (l. v. p. 295, 296) with the curious
circumstantial flattery of Claudian, (i. Cons. Stilich. l. i.
172-186, iv. Cons. Hon. 459-487.) As the event was not glorious,
it is artfully thrown into the shade.]
17 (return) [ The troops who marched through Elis delivered up
their arms. This security enriched the Eleans, who were lovers of
a rural life. Riches begat pride: they disdained their privilege,
and they suffered. Polybius advises them to retire once more
within their magic circle. See a learned and judicious discourse
on the Olympic games, which Mr. West has prefixed to his
translation of Pindar.]
18 (return) [ Claudian (in iv. Cons. Hon. 480) alludes to the
fact without naming the river; perhaps the Alpheus, (i. Cons.
Stil. l. i. 185.)
—-Et Alpheus Geticis angustus acervis Tardior ad Siculos etiamnum
pergit amores.
Yet I should prefer the Peneus, a shallow stream in a wide and
deep bed, which runs through Elis, and falls into the sea below
Cyllene. It had been joined with the Alpheus to cleanse the
Augean stable. (Cellarius, tom. i. p. 760. Chandler’s Travels, p.
286.)]
19 (return) [ Strabo, l. viii. p. 517. Plin. Hist. Natur. iv. 3.
Wheeler, p. 308. Chandler, p. 275. They measured from different
points the distance between the two lands.]
A Grecian philosopher, 20 who visited Constantinople soon after
the death of Theodosius, published his liberal opinions
concerning the duties of kings, and the state of the Roman
republic. Synesius observes, and deplores, the fatal abuse, which
the imprudent bounty of the late emperor had introduced into the
military service. The citizens and subjects had purchased an
exemption from the indispensable duty of defending their country;
which was supported by the arms of Barbarian mercenaries. The
fugitives of Scythia were permitted to disgrace the illustrious
dignities of the empire; their ferocious youth, who disdained the
salutary restraint of laws, were more anxious to acquire the
riches, than to imitate the arts, of a people, the object of
their contempt and hatred; and the power of the Goths was the
stone of Tantalus, perpetually suspended over the peace and
safety of the devoted state. The measures which Synesius
recommends, are the dictates of a bold and generous patriot. He
exhorts the emperor to revive the courage of his subjects, by the
example of manly virtue; to banish luxury from the court and from
the camp; to substitute, in the place of the Barbarian
mercenaries, an army of men, interested in the defence of their
laws and of their property; to force, in such a moment of public
danger, the mechanic from his shop, and the philosopher from his
school; to rouse the indolent citizen from his dream of pleasure,
and to arm, for the protection of agriculture, the hands of the
laborious husbandman. At the head of such troops, who might
deserve the name, and would display the spirit, of Romans, he
animates the son of Theodosius to encounter a race of Barbarians,
who were destitute of any real courage; and never to lay down his
arms, till he had chased them far away into the solitudes of
Scythia; or had reduced them to the state of ignominious
servitude, which the Lacedaemonians formerly imposed on the
captive Helots. 21 The court of Arcadius indulged the zeal,
applauded the eloquence, and neglected the advice, of Synesius.
Perhaps the philosopher who addresses the emperor of the East in
the language of reason and virtue, which he might have used to a
Spartan king, had not condescended to form a practicable scheme,
consistent with the temper, and circumstances, of a degenerate
age. Perhaps the pride of the ministers, whose business was
seldom interrupted by reflection, might reject, as wild and
visionary, every proposal, which exceeded the measure of their
capacity, and deviated from the forms and precedents of office.
While the oration of Synesius, and the downfall of the
Barbarians, were the topics of popular conversation, an edict was
published at Constantinople, which declared the promotion of
Alaric to the rank of master-general of the Eastern Illyricum.
The Roman provincials, and the allies, who had respected the
faith of treaties, were justly indignant, that the ruin of Greece
and Epirus should be so liberally rewarded. The Gothic conqueror
was received as a lawful magistrate, in the cities which he had
so lately besieged. The fathers, whose sons he had massacred, the
husbands, whose wives he had violated, were subject to his
authority; and the success of his rebellion encouraged the
ambition of every leader of the foreign mercenaries. The use to
which Alaric applied his new command, distinguishes the firm and
judicious character of his policy. He issued his orders to the
four magazines and manufactures of offensive and defensive arms,
Margus, Ratiaria, Naissus, and Thessalonica, to provide his
troops with an extraordinary supply of shields, helmets, swords,
and spears; the unhappy provincials were compelled to forge the
instruments of their own destruction; and the Barbarians removed
the only defect which had sometimes disappointed the efforts of
their courage. 22 The birth of Alaric, the glory of his past
exploits, and the confidence in his future designs, insensibly
united the body of the nation under his victorious standard; and,
with the unanimous consent of the Barbarian chieftains, the
master-general of Illyricum was elevated, according to ancient
custom, on a shield, and solemnly proclaimed king of the
Visigoths. 23 Armed with this double power, seated on the verge
of the two empires, he alternately sold his deceitful promises to
the courts of Arcadius and Honorius; till he declared and
executed his resolution of invading the dominions of the West.
The provinces of Europe which belonged to the Eastern emperor,
were already exhausted; those of Asia were inaccessible; and the
strength of Constantinople had resisted his attack. But he was
tempted by the fame, the beauty, the wealth of Italy, which he
had twice visited; and he secretly aspired to plant the Gothic
standard on the walls of Rome, and to enrich his army with the
accumulated spoils of three hundred triumphs. 25
20 (return) [ Synesius passed three years (A.D. 397-400) at
Constantinople, as deputy from Cyrene to the emperor Arcadius. He
presented him with a crown of gold, and pronounced before him the
instructive oration de Regno, (p. 1-32, edit. Petav. Paris,
1612.) The philosopher was made bishop of Ptolemais, A.D. 410,
and died about 430. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 490,
554, 683-685.]
21 (return) [ Synesius de Regno, p. 21-26.]
22 (return) [—qui foedera rumpit
Ditatur: qui servat, eget: vastator Achivae Gentis, et Epirum
nuper populatus inultam, Praesidet Illyrico: jam, quos obsedit,
amicos Ingreditur muros; illis responsa daturus, Quorum
conjugibus potitur, natosque peremit.
Claudian in Eutrop. l. ii. 212. Alaric applauds his own policy
(de Bell Getic. 533-543) in the use which he had made of this
Illyrian jurisdiction.]
23 (return) [ Jornandes, c. 29, p. 651. The Gothic historian
adds, with unusual spirit, Cum suis deliberans suasit suo labore
quaerere regna, quam alienis per otium subjacere.
Discors odiisque anceps civilibus orbis, Non sua vis tutata diu,
dum foedera fallax Ludit, et alternae perjuria venditat aulae.
—-Claudian de Bell. Get. 565]
25 (return) [ Alpibus Italiae ruptis penetrabis ad Urbem. This
authentic prediction was announced by Alaric, or at least by
Claudian, (de Bell. Getico, 547,) seven years before the event.
But as it was not accomplished within the term which has been
rashly fixed the interpreters escaped through an ambiguous
meaning.]
The scarcity of facts, 26 and the uncertainty of dates, 27 oppose
our attempts to describe the circumstances of the first invasion
of Italy by the arms of Alaric. His march, perhaps from
Thessalonica, through the warlike and hostile country of
Pannonia, as far as the foot of the Julian Alps; his passage of
those mountains, which were strongly guarded by troops and
intrenchments; the siege of Aquileia, and the conquest of the
provinces of Istria and Venetia, appear to have employed a
considerable time. Unless his operations were extremely cautious
and slow, the length of the interval would suggest a probable
suspicion, that the Gothic king retreated towards the banks of
the Danube; and reenforced his army with fresh swarms of
Barbarians, before he again attempted to penetrate into the heart
of Italy. Since the public and important events escape the
diligence of the historian, he may amuse himself with
contemplating, for a moment, the influence of the arms of Alaric
on the fortunes of two obscure individuals, a presbyter of
Aquileia and a husbandman of Verona. The learned Rufinus, who was
summoned by his enemies to appear before a Roman synod, 28 wisely
preferred the dangers of a besieged city; and the Barbarians, who
furiously shook the walls of Aquileia, might save him from the
cruel sentence of another heretic, who, at the request of the
same bishops, was severely whipped, and condemned to perpetual
exile on a desert island. 29 The old man, 30 who had passed his
simple and innocent life in the neighborhood of Verona, was a
stranger to the quarrels both of kings and of bishops; his
pleasures, his desires, his knowledge, were confined within the
little circle of his paternal farm; and a staff supported his
aged steps, on the same ground where he had sported in his
infancy. Yet even this humble and rustic felicity (which Claudian
describes with so much truth and feeling) was still exposed to
the undistinguishing rage of war. His trees, his old contemporary
trees, 31 must blaze in the conflagration of the whole country; a
detachment of Gothic cavalry might sweep away his cottage and his
family; and the power of Alaric could destroy this happiness,
which he was not able either to taste or to bestow. “Fame,” says
the poet, “encircling with terror her gloomy wings, proclaimed
the march of the Barbarian army, and filled Italy with
consternation:” the apprehensions of each individual were
increased in just proportion to the measure of his fortune: and
the most timid, who had already embarked their valuable effects,
meditated their escape to the Island of Sicily, or the African
coast. The public distress was aggravated by the fears and
reproaches of superstition. 32 Every hour produced some horrid
tale of strange and portentous accidents; the Pagans deplored the
neglect of omens, and the interruption of sacrifices; but the
Christians still derived some comfort from the powerful
intercession of the saints and martyrs. 33
26 (return) [ Our best materials are 970 verses of Claudian in
the poem on the Getic war, and the beginning of that which
celebrates the sixth consulship of Honorius. Zosimus is totally
silent; and we are reduced to such scraps, or rather crumbs, as
we can pick from Orosius and the Chronicles.]
27 (return) [ Notwithstanding the gross errors of Jornandes, who
confounds the Italian wars of Alaric, (c. 29,) his date of the
consulship of Stilicho and Aurelian (A.D. 400) is firm and
respectable. It is certain from Claudian (Tillemont, Hist. des
Emp. tom. v. p. 804) that the battle of Polentia was fought A.D.
403; but we cannot easily fill the interval.]
28 (return) [ Tantum Romanae urbis judicium fugis, ut magis
obsidionem barbaricam, quam pacatoe urbis judicium velis
sustinere. Jerom, tom. ii. p. 239. Rufinus understood his own
danger; the peaceful city was inflamed by the beldam Marcella,
and the rest of Jerom’s faction.]
29 (return) [ Jovinian, the enemy of fasts and of celibacy, who
was persecuted and insulted by the furious Jerom, (Jortin’s
Remarks, vol. iv. p. 104, &c.) See the original edict of
banishment in the Theodosian Code, xvi. tit. v. leg. 43.]
30 (return) [ This epigram (de Sene Veronensi qui suburbium
nusquam egres sus est) is one of the earliest and most pleasing
compositions of Claudian. Cowley’s imitation (Hurd’s edition,
vol. ii. p. 241) has some natural and happy strokes: but it is
much inferior to the original portrait, which is evidently drawn
from the life.]
31 (return) [
Ingentem meminit parvo qui germine quercum Aequaevumque videt
consenuisse nemus.
A neighboring wood born with himself he sees, And loves his old
contemporary trees.
In this passage, Cowley is perhaps superior to his original; and
the English poet, who was a good botanist, has concealed the oaks
under a more general expression.]
32 (return) [ Claudian de Bell. Get. 199-266. He may seem prolix:
but fear and superstition occupied as large a space in the minds
of the Italians.]
33 (return) [ From the passages of Paulinus, which Baronius has
produced, (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 403, No. 51,) it is manifest that
the general alarm had pervaded all Italy, as far as Nola in
Campania, where that famous penitent had fixed his abode.]
Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part II.
The emperor Honorius was distinguished, above his subjects, by
the preeminence of fear, as well as of rank. The pride and luxury
in which he was educated, had not allowed him to suspect, that
there existed on the earth any power presumptuous enough to
invade the repose of the successor of Augustus. The arts of
flattery concealed the impending danger, till Alaric approached
the palace of Milan. But when the sound of war had awakened the
young emperor, instead of flying to arms with the spirit, or even
the rashness, of his age, he eagerly listened to those timid
counsellors, who proposed to convey his sacred person, and his
faithful attendants, to some secure and distant station in the
provinces of Gaul. Stilicho alone 34 had courage and authority to
resist his disgraceful measure, which would have abandoned Rome
and Italy to the Barbarians; but as the troops of the palace had
been lately detached to the Rhaetian frontier, and as the
resource of new levies was slow and precarious, the general of
the West could only promise, that if the court of Milan would
maintain their ground during his absence, he would soon return
with an army equal to the encounter of the Gothic king. Without
losing a moment, (while each moment was so important to the
public safety,) Stilicho hastily embarked on the Larian Lake,
ascended the mountains of ice and snow, amidst the severity of an
Alpine winter, and suddenly repressed, by his unexpected
presence, the enemy, who had disturbed the tranquillity of
Rhaetia. 35 The Barbarians, perhaps some tribes of the Alemanni,
respected the firmness of a chief, who still assumed the language
of command; and the choice which he condescended to make, of a
select number of their bravest youth, was considered as a mark of
his esteem and favor. The cohorts, who were delivered from the
neighboring foe, diligently repaired to the Imperial standard;
and Stilicho issued his orders to the most remote troops of the
West, to advance, by rapid marches, to the defence of Honorius
and of Italy. The fortresses of the Rhine were abandoned; and the
safety of Gaul was protected only by the faith of the Germans,
and the ancient terror of the Roman name. Even the legion, which
had been stationed to guard the wall of Britain against the
Caledonians of the North, was hastily recalled; 36 and a numerous
body of the cavalry of the Alani was persuaded to engage in the
service of the emperor, who anxiously expected the return of his
general. The prudence and vigor of Stilicho were conspicuous on
this occasion, which revealed, at the same time, the weakness of
the falling empire. The legions of Rome, which had long since
languished in the gradual decay of discipline and courage, were
exterminated by the Gothic and civil wars; and it was found
impossible, without exhausting and exposing the provinces, to
assemble an army for the defence of Italy.
34 (return) [ Solus erat Stilicho, &c., is the exclusive
commendation which Claudian bestows, (del Bell. Get. 267,)
without condescending to except the emperor. How insignificant
must Honorius have appeared in his own court.]
35 (return) [ The face of the country, and the hardiness of
Stilicho, are finely described, (de Bell. Get. 340-363.)]
36 (return) [
Venit et extremis legio praetenta Britannis, Quae Scoto dat frena
truci. —-De Bell. Get. 416.
Yet the most rapid march from Edinburgh, or Newcastle, to Milan,
must have required a longer space of time than Claudian seems
willing to allow for the duration of the Gothic war.]
Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part III.
When Stilicho seemed to abandon his sovereign in the unguarded
palace of Milan, he had probably calculated the term of his
absence, the distance of the enemy, and the obstacles that might
retard their march. He principally depended on the rivers of
Italy, the Adige, the Mincius, the Oglio, and the Addua, which,
in the winter or spring, by the fall of rains, or by the melting
of the snows, are commonly swelled into broad and impetuous
torrents. 37 But the season happened to be remarkably dry: and
the Goths could traverse, without impediment, the wide and stony
beds, whose centre was faintly marked by the course of a shallow
stream. The bridge and passage of the Addua were secured by a
strong detachment of the Gothic army; and as Alaric approached
the walls, or rather the suburbs, of Milan, he enjoyed the proud
satisfaction of seeing the emperor of the Romans fly before him.
Honorius, accompanied by a feeble train of statesmen and eunuchs,
hastily retreated towards the Alps, with a design of securing his
person in the city of Arles, which had often been the royal
residence of his predecessors. 3711 But Honorius 38 had scarcely
passed the Po, before he was overtaken by the speed of the Gothic
cavalry; 39 since the urgency of the danger compelled him to seek
a temporary shelter within the fortifications of Asta, a town of
Liguria or Piemont, situate on the banks of the Tanarus. 40 The
siege of an obscure place, which contained so rich a prize, and
seemed incapable of a long resistance, was instantly formed, and
indefatigably pressed, by the king of the Goths; and the bold
declaration, which the emperor might afterwards make, that his
breast had never been susceptible of fear, did not probably
obtain much credit, even in his own court. 41 In the last, and
almost hopeless extremity, after the Barbarians had already
proposed the indignity of a capitulation, the Imperial captive
was suddenly relieved by the fame, the approach, and at length
the presence, of the hero, whom he had so long expected. At the
head of a chosen and intrepid vanguard, Stilicho swam the stream
of the Addua, to gain the time which he must have lost in the
attack of the bridge; the passage of the Po was an enterprise of
much less hazard and difficulty; and the successful action, in
which he cut his way through the Gothic camp under the walls of
Asta, revived the hopes, and vindicated the honor, of Rome.
Instead of grasping the fruit of his victory, the Barbarian was
gradually invested, on every side, by the troops of the West, who
successively issued through all the passes of the Alps; his
quarters were straitened; his convoys were intercepted; and the
vigilance of the Romans prepared to form a chain of
fortifications, and to besiege the lines of the besiegers. A
military council was assembled of the long-haired chiefs of the
Gothic nation; of aged warriors, whose bodies were wrapped in
furs, and whose stern countenances were marked with honorable
wounds. They weighed the glory of persisting in their attempt
against the advantage of securing their plunder; and they
recommended the prudent measure of a seasonable retreat. In this
important debate, Alaric displayed the spirit of the conqueror of
Rome; and after he had reminded his countrymen of their
achievements and of their designs, he concluded his animating
speech by the solemn and positive assurance that he was resolved
to find in Italy either a kingdom or a grave. 42
37 (return) [ Every traveller must recollect the face of
Lombardy, (see Fonvenelle, tom. v. p. 279,) which is often
tormented by the capricious and irregular abundance of waters.
The Austrians, before Genoa, were encamped in the dry bed of the
Polcevera. “Ne sarebbe” (says Muratori) “mai passato per mente a
que’ buoni Alemanni, che quel picciolo torrente potesse, per cosi
dire, in un instante cangiarsi in un terribil gigante.” (Annali
d’Italia, tom. xvi. p. 443, Milan, 1752, 8vo edit.)]
3711 (return) [ According to Le Beau and his commentator M. St.
Martin, Honorius did not attempt to fly. Settlements were offered
to the Goths in Lombardy, and they advanced from the Po towards
the Alps to take possession of them. But it was a treacherous
stratagem of Stilicho, who surprised them while they were
reposing on the faith of this treaty. Le Beau, v. x.]
38 (return) [ Claudian does not clearly answer our question,
Where was Honorius himself? Yet the flight is marked by the
pursuit; and my idea of the Gothic was is justified by the
Italian critics, Sigonius (tom. P, ii. p. 369, de Imp. Occident.
l. x.) and Muratori, (Annali d’Italia. tom. iv. p. 45.)]
39 (return) [ One of the roads may be traced in the Itineraries,
(p. 98, 288, 294, with Wesseling’s Notes.) Asta lay some miles on
the right hand.]
40 (return) [ Asta, or Asti, a Roman colony, is now the capital
of a pleasant country, which, in the sixteenth century, devolved
to the dukes of Savoy, (Leandro Alberti Descrizzione d’Italia, p.
382.)]
41 (return) [ Nec me timor impulit ullus. He might hold this
proud language the next year at Rome, five hundred miles from the
scene of danger (vi. Cons. Hon. 449.)]
42 (return) [ Hanc ego vel victor regno, vel morte tenebo Victus,
humum.——The speeches (de Bell. Get. 479-549) of the Gothic
Nestor, and Achilles, are strong, characteristic, adapted to the
circumstances; and possibly not less genuine than those of Livy.]
The loose discipline of the Barbarians always exposed them to the
danger of a surprise; but, instead of choosing the dissolute
hours of riot and intemperance, Stilicho resolved to attack the
Christian Goths, whilst they were devoutly employed in
celebrating the festival of Easter. 43 The execution of the
stratagem, or, as it was termed by the clergy of the sacrilege,
was intrusted to Saul, a Barbarian and a Pagan, who had served,
however, with distinguished reputation among the veteran generals
of Theodosius. The camp of the Goths, which Alaric had pitched in
the neighborhood of Pollentia, 44 was thrown into confusion by
the sudden and impetuous charge of the Imperial cavalry; but, in
a few moments, the undaunted genius of their leader gave them an
order, and a field of battle; and, as soon as they had recovered
from their astonishment, the pious confidence, that the God of
the Christians would assert their cause, added new strength to
their native valor. In this engagement, which was long maintained
with equal courage and success, the chief of the Alani, whose
diminutive and savage form concealed a magnanimous soul approved
his suspected loyalty, by the zeal with which he fought, and
fell, in the service of the republic; and the fame of this
gallant Barbarian has been imperfectly preserved in the verses of
Claudian, since the poet, who celebrates his virtue, has omitted
the mention of his name. His death was followed by the flight and
dismay of the squadrons which he commanded; and the defeat of the
wing of cavalry might have decided the victory of Alaric, if
Stilicho had not immediately led the Roman and Barbarian infantry
to the attack. The skill of the general, and the bravery of the
soldiers, surmounted every obstacle. In the evening of the bloody
day, the Goths retreated from the field of battle; the
intrenchments of their camp were forced, and the scene of rapine
and slaughter made some atonement for the calamities which they
had inflicted on the subjects of the empire. 45 The magnificent
spoils of Corinth and Argos enriched the veterans of the West;
the captive wife of Alaric, who had impatiently claimed his
promise of Roman jewels and Patrician handmaids, 46 was reduced
to implore the mercy of the insulting foe; and many thousand
prisoners, released from the Gothic chains, dispersed through the
provinces of Italy the praises of their heroic deliverer. The
triumph of Stilicho 47 was compared by the poet, and perhaps by
the public, to that of Marius; who, in the same part of Italy,
had encountered and destroyed another army of Northern
Barbarians. The huge bones, and the empty helmets, of the Cimbri
and of the Goths, would easily be confounded by succeeding
generations; and posterity might erect a common trophy to the
memory of the two most illustrious generals, who had vanquished,
on the same memorable ground, the two most formidable enemies of
Rome. 48
43 (return) [ Orosius (l. vii. c. 37) is shocked at the impiety
of the Romans, who attacked, on Easter Sunday, such pious
Christians. Yet, at the same time, public prayers were offered at
the shrine of St. Thomas of Edessa, for the destruction of the
Arian robber. See Tillemont (Hist des Emp. tom. v. p. 529) who
quotes a homily, which has been erroneously ascribed to St.
Chrysostom.]
44 (return) [ The vestiges of Pollentia are twenty-five miles to
the south-east of Turin. Urbs, in the same neighborhood, was a
royal chase of the kings of Lombardy, and a small river, which
excused the prediction, “penetrabis ad urbem,” (Cluver. Ital.
Antiq tom. i. p. 83-85.)]
45 (return) [ Orosius wishes, in doubtful words, to insinuate the
defeat of the Romans. “Pugnantes vicimus, victores victi sumus.”
Prosper (in Chron.) makes it an equal and bloody battle, but the
Gothic writers Cassiodorus (in Chron.) and Jornandes (de Reb.
Get. c. 29) claim a decisive victory.]
46 (return) [ Demens Ausonidum gemmata monilia matrum, Romanasque
alta famulas cervice petebat. De Bell. Get. 627.]
47 (return) [ Claudian (de Bell. Get. 580-647) and Prudentius (in
Symmach. n. 694-719) celebrate, without ambiguity, the Roman
victory of Pollentia. They are poetical and party writers; yet
some credit is due to the most suspicious witnesses, who are
checked by the recent notoriety of facts.]
48 (return) [ Claudian’s peroration is strong and elegant; but
the identity of the Cimbric and Gothic fields must be understood
(like Virgil’s Philippi, Georgic i. 490) according to the loose
geography of a poet. Verselle and Pollentia are sixty miles from
each other; and the latitude is still greater, if the Cimbri were
defeated in the wide and barren plain of Verona, (Maffei, Verona
Illustrata, P. i. p. 54-62.)]
The eloquence of Claudian 49 has celebrated, with lavish
applause, the victory of Pollentia, one of the most glorious days
in the life of his patron; but his reluctant and partial muse
bestows more genuine praise on the character of the Gothic king.
His name is, indeed, branded with the reproachful epithets of
pirate and robber, to which the conquerors of every age are so
justly entitled; but the poet of Stilicho is compelled to
acknowledge that Alaric possessed the invincible temper of mind,
which rises superior to every misfortune, and derives new
resources from adversity. After the total defeat of his infantry,
he escaped, or rather withdrew, from the field of battle, with
the greatest part of his cavalry entire and unbroken. Without
wasting a moment to lament the irreparable loss of so many brave
companions, he left his victorious enemy to bind in chains the
captive images of a Gothic king; 50 and boldly resolved to break
through the unguarded passes of the Apennine, to spread
desolation over the fruitful face of Tuscany, and to conquer or
die before the gates of Rome. The capital was saved by the active
and incessant diligence of Stilicho; but he respected the despair
of his enemy; and, instead of committing the fate of the republic
to the chance of another battle, he proposed to purchase the
absence of the Barbarians. The spirit of Alaric would have
rejected such terms, the permission of a retreat, and the offer
of a pension, with contempt and indignation; but he exercised a
limited and precarious authority over the independent chieftains
who had raised him, for their service, above the rank of his
equals; they were still less disposed to follow an unsuccessful
general, and many of them were tempted to consult their interest
by a private negotiation with the minister of Honorius. The king
submitted to the voice of his people, ratified the treaty with
the empire of the West, and repassed the Po with the remains of
the flourishing army which he had led into Italy. A considerable
part of the Roman forces still continued to attend his motions;
and Stilicho, who maintained a secret correspondence with some of
the Barbarian chiefs, was punctually apprised of the designs that
were formed in the camp and council of Alaric. The king of the
Goths, ambitious to signalize his retreat by some splendid
achievement, had resolved to occupy the important city of Verona,
which commands the principal passage of the Rhaetian Alps; and,
directing his march through the territories of those German
tribes, whose alliance would restore his exhausted strength, to
invade, on the side of the Rhine, the wealthy and unsuspecting
provinces of Gaul. Ignorant of the treason which had already
betrayed his bold and judicious enterprise, he advanced towards
the passes of the mountains, already possessed by the Imperial
troops; where he was exposed, almost at the same instant, to a
general attack in the front, on his flanks, and in the rear. In
this bloody action, at a small distance from the walls of Verona,
the loss of the Goths was not less heavy than that which they had
sustained in the defeat of Pollentia; and their valiant king, who
escaped by the swiftness of his horse, must either have been
slain or made prisoner, if the hasty rashness of the Alani had
not disappointed the measures of the Roman general. Alaric
secured the remains of his army on the adjacent rocks; and
prepared himself, with undaunted resolution, to maintain a siege
against the superior numbers of the enemy, who invested him on
all sides. But he could not oppose the destructive progress of
hunger and disease; nor was it possible for him to check the
continual desertion of his impatient and capricious Barbarians.
In this extremity he still found resources in his own courage, or
in the moderation of his adversary; and the retreat of the Gothic
king was considered as the deliverance of Italy. 51 Yet the
people, and even the clergy, incapable of forming any rational
judgment of the business of peace and war, presumed to arraign
the policy of Stilicho, who so often vanquished, so often
surrounded, and so often dismissed the implacable enemy of the
republic. The first momen of the public safety is devoted to
gratitude and joy; but the second is diligently occupied by envy
and calumny. 52
49 (return) [ Claudian and Prudentius must be strictly examined,
to reduce the figures, and extort the historic sense, of those
poets.]
50 (return) [
Et gravant en airain ses freles avantages De mes etats conquis
enchainer les images.
The practice of exposing in triumph the images of kings and
provinces was familiar to the Romans. The bust of Mithridates
himself was twelve feet high, of massy gold, (Freinshem.
Supplement. Livian. ciii. 47.)]
51 (return) [ The Getic war, and the sixth consulship of
Honorius, obscurely connect the events of Alaric’s retreat and
losses.]
52 (return) [ Taceo de Alarico... saepe visto, saepe concluso,
semperque dimisso. Orosius, l. vii. c. 37, p. 567. Claudian (vi.
Cons. Hon. 320) drops the curtain with a fine image.]
The citizens of Rome had been astonished by the approach of
Alaric; and the diligence with which they labored to restore the
walls of the capital, confessed their own fears, and the decline
of the empire. After the retreat of the Barbarians, Honorius was
directed to accept the dutiful invitation of the senate, and to
celebrate, in the Imperial city, the auspicious era of the
Gothic victory, and of his sixth consulship. 53 The suburbs and
the streets, from the Milvian bridge to the Palatine mount, were
filled by the Roman people, who, in the space of a hundred years,
had only thrice been honored with the presence of their
sovereigns. While their eyes were fixed on the chariot where
Stilicho was deservedly seated by the side of his royal pupil,
they applauded the pomp of a triumph, which was not stained, like
that of Constantine, or of Theodosius, with civil blood. The
procession passed under a lofty arch, which had been purposely
erected: but in less than seven years, the Gothic conquerors of
Rome might read, if they were able to read, the superb
inscription of that monument, which attested the total defeat and
destruction of their nation. 54 The emperor resided several
months in the capital, and every part of his behavior was
regulated with care to conciliate the affection of the clergy,
the senate, and the people of Rome. The clergy was edified by his
frequent visits and liberal gifts to the shrines of the apostles.
The senate, who, in the triumphal procession, had been excused
from the humiliating ceremony of preceding on foot the Imperial
chariot, was treated with the decent reverence which Stilicho
always affected for that assembly. The people was repeatedly
gratified by the attention and courtesy of Honorius in the public
games, which were celebrated on that occasion with a magnificence
not unworthy of the spectator. As soon as the appointed number of
chariot-races was concluded, the decoration of the Circus was
suddenly changed; the hunting of wild beasts afforded a various
and splendid entertainment; and the chase was succeeded by a
military dance, which seems, in the lively description of
Claudian, to present the image of a modern tournament.
53 (return) [ The remainder of Claudian’s poem on the sixth
consulship of Honorius, describes the journey, the triumph, and
the games, (330-660.)]
54 (return) [ See the inscription in Mascou’s History of the
Ancient Germans, viii. 12. The words are positive and indiscreet:
Getarum nationem in omne aevum domitam, &c.]
In these games of Honorius, the inhuman combats of gladiators 55
polluted, for the last time, the amphitheater of Rome. The first
Christian emperor may claim the honor of the first edict which
condemned the art and amusement of shedding human blood; 56 but
this benevolent law expressed the wishes of the prince, without
reforming an inveterate abuse, which degraded a civilized nation
below the condition of savage cannibals. Several hundred, perhaps
several thousand, victims were annually slaughtered in the great
cities of the empire; and the month of December, more peculiarly
devoted to the combats of gladiators, still exhibited to the eyes
of the Roman people a grateful spectacle of blood and cruelty.
Amidst the general joy of the victory of Pollentia, a Christian
poet exhorted the emperor to extirpate, by his authority, the
horrid custom which had so long resisted the voice of humanity
and religion. 57 The pathetic representations of Prudentius were
less effectual than the generous boldness of Telemachus, an
Asiatic monk, whose death was more useful to mankind than his
life. 58 The Romans were provoked by the interruption of their
pleasures; and the rash monk, who had descended into the arena to
separate the gladiators, was overwhelmed under a shower of
stones. But the madness of the people soon subsided; they
respected the memory of Telemachus, who had deserved the honors
of martyrdom; and they submitted, without a murmur, to the laws
of Honorius, which abolished forever the human sacrifices of the
amphitheater. 5811 The citizens, who adhered to the manners of
their ancestors, might perhaps insinuate that the last remains of
a martial spirit were preserved in this school of fortitude,
which accustomed the Romans to the sight of blood, and to the
contempt of death; a vain and cruel prejudice, so nobly confuted
by the valor of ancient Greece, and of modern Europe! 59
55 (return) [ On the curious, though horrid, subject of the
gladiators, consult the two books of the Saturnalia of Lipsius,
who, as an antiquarian, is inclined to excuse the practice of
antiquity, (tom. iii. p. 483-545.)]
56 (return) [ Cod. Theodos. l. xv. tit. xii. leg. i. The
Commentary of Godefroy affords large materials (tom. v. p. 396)
for the history of gladiators.]
57 (return) [ See the peroration of Prudentius (in Symmach. l.
ii. 1121-1131) who had doubtless read the eloquent invective of
Lactantius, (Divin. Institut. l. vi. c. 20.) The Christian
apologists have not spared these bloody games, which were
introduced in the religious festivals of Paganism.]
58 (return) [ Theodoret, l. v. c. 26. I wish to believe the story
of St. Telemachus. Yet no church has been dedicated, no altar has
been erected, to the only monk who died a martyr in the cause of
humanity.]
5811 (return) [ Muller, in his valuable Treatise, de Genio,
moribus et luxu aevi Theodosiani, is disposed to question the
effect produced by the heroic, or rather saintly, death of
Telemachus. No prohibitory law of Honorius is to be found in the
Theodosian Code, only the old and imperfect edict of Constantine.
But Muller has produced no evidence or allusion to gladiatorial
shows after this period. The combats with wild beasts certainly
lasted till the fall of the Western empire; but the gladiatorial
combats ceased either by common consent, or by Imperial
edict.—M.]
59 (return) [ Crudele gladiatorum spectaculum et inhumanum
nonnullis videri solet, et haud scio an ita sit, ut nunc fit.
Cicero Tusculan. ii. 17. He faintly censures the abuse, and
warmly defends the use, of these sports; oculis nulla poterat
esse fortior contra dolorem et mortem disciplina. Seneca (epist.
vii.) shows the feelings of a man.]
The recent danger, to which the person of the emperor had been
exposed in the defenceless palace of Milan, urged him to seek a
retreat in some inaccessible fortress of Italy, where he might
securely remain, while the open country was covered by a deluge
of Barbarians. On the coast of the Adriatic, about ten or twelve
miles from the most southern of the seven mouths of the Po, the
Thessalians had founded the ancient colony of Ravenna, 60 which
they afterwards resigned to the natives of Umbria. Augustus, who
had observed the opportunity of the place, prepared, at the
distance of three miles from the old town, a capacious harbor,
for the reception of two hundred and fifty ships of war. This
naval establishment, which included the arsenals and magazines,
the barracks of the troops, and the houses of the artificers,
derived its origin and name from the permanent station of the
Roman fleet; the intermediate space was soon filled with
buildings and inhabitants, and the three extensive and populous
quarters of Ravenna gradually contributed to form one of the most
important cities of Italy. The principal canal of Augustus poured
a copious stream of the waters of the Po through the midst of the
city, to the entrance of the harbor; the same waters were
introduced into the profound ditches that encompassed the walls;
they were distributed by a thousand subordinate canals, into
every part of the city, which they divided into a variety of
small islands; the communication was maintained only by the use
of boats and bridges; and the houses of Ravenna, whose appearance
may be compared to that of Venice, were raised on the foundation
of wooden piles. The adjacent country, to the distance of many
miles, was a deep and impassable morass; and the artificial
causeway, which connected Ravenna with the continent, might be
easily guarded or destroyed, on the approach of a hostile army
These morasses were interspersed, however, with vineyards: and
though the soil was exhausted by four or five crops, the town
enjoyed a more plentiful supply of wine than of fresh water. 61
The air, instead of receiving the sickly, and almost
pestilential, exhalations of low and marshy grounds, was
distinguished, like the neighborhood of Alexandria, as uncommonly
pure and salubrious; and this singular advantage was ascribed to
the regular tides of the Adriatic, which swept the canals,
interrupted the unwholesome stagnation of the waters, and
floated, every day, the vessels of the adjacent country into the
heart of Ravenna. The gradual retreat of the sea has left the
modern city at the distance of four miles from the Adriatic; and
as early as the fifth or sixth century of the Christian era, the
port of Augustus was converted into pleasant orchards; and a
lonely grove of pines covered the ground where the Roman fleet
once rode at anchor. 62 Even this alteration contributed to
increase the natural strength of the place, and the shallowness
of the water was a sufficient barrier against the large ships of
the enemy. This advantageous situation was fortified by art and
labor; and in the twentieth year of his age, the emperor of the
West, anxious only for his personal safety, retired to the
perpetual confinement of the walls and morasses of Ravenna. The
example of Honorius was imitated by his feeble successors, the
Gothic kings, and afterwards the Exarchs, who occupied the throne
and palace of the emperors; and till the middle of the eight
century, Ravenna was considered as the seat of government, and
the capital of Italy. 63
60 (return) [ This account of Ravenna is drawn from Strabo, (l.
v. p. 327,) Pliny, (iii. 20,) Stephen of Byzantium, (sub voce, p.
651, edit. Berkel,) Claudian, (in vi. Cons. Honor. 494, &c.,)
Sidonius Apollinaris, (l. i. epist. 5, 8,) Jornandes, (de Reb.
Get. c. 29,) Procopius (de Bell, (lothic, l. i. c. i. p. 309,
edit. Louvre,) and Cluverius, (Ital. Antiq tom i. p. 301-307.)
Yet I still want a local antiquarian and a good topographical
map.]
61 (return) [ Martial (Epigram iii. 56, 57) plays on the trick of
the knave, who had sold him wine instead of water; but he
seriously declares that a cistern at Ravenna is more valuable
than a vineyard. Sidonius complains that the town is destitute of
fountains and aqueducts; and ranks the want of fresh water among
the local evils, such as the croaking of frogs, the stinging of
gnats, &c.]
62 (return) [ The fable of Theodore and Honoria, which Dryden has
so admirably transplanted from Boccaccio, (Giornata iii. novell.
viii.,) was acted in the wood of Chiassi, a corrupt word from
Classis, the naval station which, with the intermediate road, or
suburb the Via Caesaris, constituted the triple city of Ravenna.]
63 (return) [ From the year 404, the dates of the Theodosian Code
become sedentary at Constantinople and Ravenna. See Godefroy’s
Chronology of the Laws, tom. i. p. cxlviii., &c.]
The fears of Honorius were not without foundation, nor were his
precautions without effect. While Italy rejoiced in her
deliverance from the Goths, a furious tempest was excited among
the nations of Germany, who yielded to the irresistible impulse
that appears to have been gradually communicated from the eastern
extremity of the continent of Asia. The Chinese annals, as they
have been interpreted by the learned industry of the present age,
may be usefully applied to reveal the secret and remote causes of
the fall of the Roman empire. The extensive territory to the
north of the great wall was possessed, after the flight of the
Huns, by the victorious Sienpi, who were sometimes broken into
independent tribes, and sometimes reunited under a supreme chief;
till at length, styling themselves Topa, or masters of the earth,
they acquired a more solid consistence, and a more formidable
power. The Topa soon compelled the pastoral nations of the
eastern desert to acknowledge the superiority of their arms; they
invaded China in a period of weakness and intestine discord; and
these fortunate Tartars, adopting the laws and manners of the
vanquished people, founded an Imperial dynasty, which reigned
near one hundred and sixty years over the northern provinces of
the monarchy. Some generations before they ascended the throne of
China, one of the Topa princes had enlisted in his cavalry a
slave of the name of Moko, renowned for his valor, but who was
tempted, by the fear of punishment, to desert his standard, and
to range the desert at the head of a hundred followers. This gang
of robbers and outlaws swelled into a camp, a tribe, a numerous
people, distinguished by the appellation of Geougen; and their
hereditary chieftains, the posterity of Moko the slave, assumed
their rank among the Scythian monarchs. The youth of Toulun, the
greatest of his descendants, was exercised by those misfortunes
which are the school of heroes. He bravely struggled with
adversity, broke the imperious yoke of the Topa, and became the
legislator of his nation, and the conqueror of Tartary. His
troops were distributed into regular bands of a hundred and of a
thousand men; cowards were stoned to death; the most splendid
honors were proposed as the reward of valor; and Toulun, who had
knowledge enough to despise the learning of China, adopted only
such arts and institutions as were favorable to the military
spirit of his government. His tents, which he removed in the
winter season to a more southern latitude, were pitched, during
the summer, on the fruitful banks of the Selinga. His conquests
stretched from Corea far beyond the River Irtish. He vanquished,
in the country to the north of the Caspian Sea, the nation of the
Huns; and the new title of Khan, or Cagan, expressed the fame and
power which he derived from this memorable victory. 64
64 (return) [ See M. de Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. i. p.
179-189, tom ii p. 295, 334-338.]
The chain of events is interrupted, or rather is concealed, as it
passes from the Volga to the Vistula, through the dark interval
which separates the extreme limits of the Chinese, and of the
Roman, geography. Yet the temper of the Barbarians, and the
experience of successive emigrations, sufficiently declare, that
the Huns, who were oppressed by the arms of the Geougen, soon
withdrew from the presence of an insulting victor. The countries
towards the Euxine were already occupied by their kindred tribes;
and their hasty flight, which they soon converted into a bold
attack, would more naturally be directed towards the rich and
level plains, through which the Vistula gently flows into the
Baltic Sea. The North must again have been alarmed, and agitated,
by the invasion of the Huns; 6411 and the nations who retreated
before them must have pressed with incumbent weight on the
confines of Germany. 65 The inhabitants of those regions, which
the ancients have assigned to the Suevi, the Vandals, and the
Burgundians, might embrace the resolution of abandoning to the
fugitives of Sarmatia their woods and morasses; or at least of
discharging their superfluous numbers on the provinces of the
Roman empire. 66 About four years after the victorious Toulun had
assumed the title of Khan of the Geougen, another Barbarian, the
haughty Rhodogast, or Radagaisus, 67 marched from the northern
extremities of Germany almost to the gates of Rome, and left the
remains of his army to achieve the destruction of the West. The
Vandals, the Suevi, and the Burgundians, formed the strength of
this mighty host; but the Alani, who had found a hospitable
reception in their new seats, added their active cavalry to the
heavy infantry of the Germans; and the Gothic adventurers crowded
so eagerly to the standard of Radagaisus, that by some
historians, he has been styled the King of the Goths. Twelve
thousand warriors, distinguished above the vulgar by their noble
birth, or their valiant deeds, glittered in the van; 68 and the
whole multitude, which was not less than two hundred thousand
fighting men, might be increased, by the accession of women, of
children, and of slaves, to the amount of four hundred thousand
persons. This formidable emigration issued from the same coast of
the Baltic, which had poured forth the myriads of the Cimbri and
Teutones, to assault Rome and Italy in the vigor of the republic.
After the departure of those Barbarians, their native country,
which was marked by the vestiges of their greatness, long
ramparts, and gigantic moles, 69 remained, during some ages, a
vast and dreary solitude; till the human species was renewed by
the powers of generation, and the vacancy was filled by the
influx of new inhabitants. The nations who now usurp an extent of
land which they are unable to cultivate, would soon be assisted
by the industrious poverty of their neighbors, if the government
of Europe did not protect the claims of dominion and property.
6411 (return) [ There is no authority which connects this inroad
of the Teutonic tribes with the movements of the Huns. The Huns
can hardly have reached the shores of the Baltic, and probably
the greater part of the forces of Radagaisus, particularly the
Vandals, had long occupied a more southern position.—M.]
65 (return) [ Procopius (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. iii. p. 182)
has observed an emigration from the Palus Maeotis to the north of
Germany, which he ascribes to famine. But his views of ancient
history are strangely darkened by ignorance and error.]
66 (return) [ Zosimus (l. v. p. 331) uses the general description
of the nations beyond the Danube and the Rhine. Their situation,
and consequently their names, are manifestly shown, even in the
various epithets which each ancient writer may have casually
added.]
67 (return) [ The name of Rhadagast was that of a local deity of
the Obotrites, (in Mecklenburg.) A hero might naturally assume
the appellation of his tutelar god; but it is not probable that
the Barbarians should worship an unsuccessful hero. See Mascou,
Hist. of the Germans, viii. 14. * Note: The god of war and of
hospitality with the Vends and all the Sclavonian races of
Germany bore the name of Radegast, apparently the same with
Rhadagaisus. His principal temple was at Rhetra in Mecklenburg.
It was adorned with great magnificence. The statue of the gold
was of gold. St. Martin, v. 255. A statue of Radegast, of much
coarser materials, and of the rudest workmanship, was discovered
between 1760 and 1770, with those of other Wendish deities, on
the supposed site of Rhetra. The names of the gods were cut upon
them in Runic characters. See the very curious volume on these
antiquities—Die Gottesdienstliche Alterthumer der Obotriter—Masch
and Wogen. Berlin, 1771.—M.]
68 (return) [ Olympiodorus (apud Photium, p. 180), uses the Greek
word which does not convey any precise idea. I suspect that they
were the princes and nobles with their faithful companions; the
knights with their squires, as they would have been styled some
centuries afterwards.]
69 (return) [ Tacit. de Moribus Germanorum, c. 37.]
Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part IV.
The correspondence of nations was, in that age, so imperfect and
precarious, that the revolutions of the North might escape the
knowledge of the court of Ravenna; till the dark cloud, which was
collected along the coast of the Baltic, burst in thunder upon
the banks of the Upper Danube. The emperor of the West, if his
ministers disturbed his amusements by the news of the impending
danger, was satisfied with being the occasion, and the spectator,
of the war. 70 The safety of Rome was intrusted to the counsels,
and the sword, of Stilicho; but such was the feeble and exhausted
state of the empire, that it was impossible to restore the
fortifications of the Danube, or to prevent, by a vigorous
effort, the invasion of the Germans. 71 The hopes of the vigilant
minister of Honorius were confined to the defence of Italy. He
once more abandoned the provinces, recalled the troops, pressed
the new levies, which were rigorously exacted, and
pusillanimously eluded; employed the most efficacious means to
arrest, or allure, the deserters; and offered the gift of
freedom, and of two pieces of gold, to all the slaves who would
enlist. 72 By these efforts he painfully collected, from the
subjects of a great empire, an army of thirty or forty thousand
men, which, in the days of Scipio or Camillus, would have been
instantly furnished by the free citizens of the territory of
Rome. 73 The thirty legions of Stilicho were reenforced by a
large body of Barbarian auxiliaries; the faithful Alani were
personally attached to his service; and the troops of Huns and of
Goths, who marched under the banners of their native princes,
Huldin and Sarus, were animated by interest and resentment to
oppose the ambition of Radagaisus. The king of the confederate
Germans passed, without resistance, the Alps, the Po, and the
Apennine; leaving on one hand the inaccessible palace of
Honorius, securely buried among the marshes of Ravenna; and, on
the other, the camp of Stilicho, who had fixed his head-quarters
at Ticinum, or Pavia, but who seems to have avoided a decisive
battle, till he had assembled his distant forces. Many cities of
Italy were pillaged, or destroyed; and the siege of Florence, 74
by Radagaisus, is one of the earliest events in the history of
that celebrated republic; whose firmness checked and delayed the
unskillful fury of the Barbarians. The senate and people trembled
at their approach within a hundred and eighty miles of Rome; and
anxiously compared the danger which they had escaped, with the
new perils to which they were exposed. Alaric was a Christian and
a soldier, the leader of a disciplined army; who understood the
laws of war, who respected the sanctity of treaties, and who had
familiarly conversed with the subjects of the empire in the same
camps, and the same churches. The savage Radagaisus was a
stranger to the manners, the religion, and even the language, of
the civilized nations of the South. The fierceness of his temper
was exasperated by cruel superstition; and it was universally
believed, that he had bound himself, by a solemn vow, to reduce
the city into a heap of stones and ashes, and to sacrifice the
most illustrious of the Roman senators on the altars of those
gods who were appeased by human blood. The public danger, which
should have reconciled all domestic animosities, displayed the
incurable madness of religious faction. The oppressed votaries of
Jupiter and Mercury respected, in the implacable enemy of Rome,
the character of a devout Pagan; loudly declared, that they were
more apprehensive of the sacrifices, than of the arms, of
Radagaisus; and secretly rejoiced in the calamities of their
country, which condemned the faith of their Christian
adversaries. 75 7511
70 (return) [
Cujus agendi Spectator vel causa fui, —-(Claudian, vi. Cons. Hon.
439,)
is the modest language of Honorius, in speaking of the Gothic
war, which he had seen somewhat nearer.]
71 (return) [ Zosimus (l. v. p. 331) transports the war, and the
victory of Stilisho, beyond the Danube. A strange error, which is
awkwardly and imperfectly cured (Tillemont, Hist. des Emp. tom.
v. p. 807.) In good policy, we must use the service of Zosimus,
without esteeming or trusting him.]
72 (return) [ Codex Theodos. l. vii. tit. xiii. leg. 16. The date
of this law A.D. 406. May 18 satisfies me, as it had done
Godefroy, (tom. ii. p. 387,) of the true year of the invasion of
Radagaisus. Tillemont, Pagi, and Muratori, prefer the preceding
year; but they are bound, by certain obligations of civility and
respect, to St. Paulinus of Nola.]
73 (return) [ Soon after Rome had been taken by the Gauls, the
senate, on a sudden emergency, armed ten legions, 3000 horse, and
42,000 foot; a force which the city could not have sent forth
under Augustus, (Livy, xi. 25.) This declaration may puzzle an
antiquary, but it is clearly explained by Montesquieu.]
74 (return) [ Machiavel has explained, at least as a philosopher,
the origin of Florence, which insensibly descended, for the
benefit of trade, from the rock of Faesulae to the banks of the
Arno, (Istoria Fiorentina, tom. i. p. 36. Londra, 1747.) The
triumvirs sent a colony to Florence, which, under Tiberius,
(Tacit. Annal. i. 79,) deserved the reputation and name of a
flourishing city. See Cluver. Ital. Antiq. tom. i. p. 507, &c.]
75 (return) [ Yet the Jupiter of Radagaisus, who worshipped Thor
and Woden, was very different from the Olympic or Capitoline
Jove. The accommodating temper of Polytheism might unite those
various and remote deities; but the genuine Romans ahhorred the
human sacrifices of Gaul and Germany.]
7511 (return) [ Gibbon has rather softened the language of
Augustine as to this threatened insurrection of the Pagans, in
order to restore the prohibited rites and ceremonies of Paganism;
and their treasonable hopes that the success of Radagaisus would
be the triumph of idolatry. Compare ii. 25—M.]
Florence was reduced to the last extremity; and the fainting
courage of the citizens was supported only by the authority of
St. Ambrose; who had communicated, in a dream, the promise of a
speedy deliverance. 76 On a sudden, they beheld, from their
walls, the banners of Stilicho, who advanced, with his united
force, to the relief of the faithful city; and who soon marked
that fatal spot for the grave of the Barbarian host. The apparent
contradictions of those writers who variously relate the defeat
of Radagaisus, may be reconciled without offering much violence
to their respective testimonies. Orosius and Augustin, who were
intimately connected by friendship and religion, ascribed this
miraculous victory to the providence of God, rather than to the
valor of man. 77 They strictly exclude every idea of chance, or
even of bloodshed; and positively affirm, that the Romans, whose
camp was the scene of plenty and idleness, enjoyed the distress
of the Barbarians, slowly expiring on the sharp and barren ridge
of the hills of Faesulae, which rise above the city of Florence.
Their extravagant assertion that not a single soldier of the
Christian army was killed, or even wounded, may be dismissed with
silent contempt; but the rest of the narrative of Augustin and
Orosius is consistent with the state of the war, and the
character of Stilicho. Conscious that he commanded the last army
of the republic, his prudence would not expose it, in the open
field, to the headstrong fury of the Germans. The method of
surrounding the enemy with strong lines of circumvallation, which
he had twice employed against the Gothic king, was repeated on a
larger scale, and with more considerable effect. The examples of
Caesar must have been familiar to the most illiterate of the
Roman warriors; and the fortifications of Dyrrachium, which
connected twenty-four castles, by a perpetual ditch and rampart
of fifteen miles, afforded the model of an intrenchment which
might confine, and starve, the most numerous host of Barbarians.
78 The Roman troops had less degenerated from the industry, than
from the valor, of their ancestors; and if their servile and
laborious work offended the pride of the soldiers, Tuscany could
supply many thousand peasants, who would labor, though, perhaps,
they would not fight, for the salvation of their native country.
The imprisoned multitude of horses and men 79 was gradually
destroyed, by famine rather than by the sword; but the Romans
were exposed, during the progress of such an extensive work, to
the frequent attacks of an impatient enemy. The despair of the
hungry Barbarians would precipitate them against the
fortifications of Stilicho; the general might sometimes indulge
the ardor of his brave auxiliaries, who eagerly pressed to
assault the camp of the Germans; and these various incidents
might produce the sharp and bloody conflicts which dignify the
narrative of Zosimus, and the Chronicles of Prosper and
Marcellinus. 80 A seasonable supply of men and provisions had
been introduced into the walls of Florence, and the famished host
of Radagaisus was in its turn besieged. The proud monarch of so
many warlike nations, after the loss of his bravest warriors, was
reduced to confide either in the faith of a capitulation, or in
the clemency of Stilicho. 81 But the death of the royal captive,
who was ignominiously beheaded, disgraced the triumph of Rome and
of Christianity; and the short delay of his execution was
sufficient to brand the conqueror with the guilt of cool and
deliberate cruelty. 82 The famished Germans, who escaped the fury
of the auxiliaries, were sold as slaves, at the contemptible
price of as many single pieces of gold; but the difference of
food and climate swept away great numbers of those unhappy
strangers; and it was observed, that the inhuman purchasers,
instead of reaping the fruits of their labor were soon obliged to
provide the expense of their interment. Stilicho informed the
emperor and the senate of his success; and deserved, a second
time, the glorious title of Deliverer of Italy. 83
76 (return) [ Paulinus (in Vit. Ambros c. 50) relates this story,
which he received from the mouth of Pansophia herself, a
religious matron of Florence. Yet the archbishop soon ceased to
take an active part in the business of the world, and never
became a popular saint.]
77 (return) [ Augustin de Civitat. Dei, v. 23. Orosius, l. vii.
c. 37, p. 567-571. The two friends wrote in Africa, ten or twelve
years after the victory; and their authority is implicitly
followed by Isidore of Seville, (in Chron. p. 713, edit. Grot.)
How many interesting facts might Orosius have inserted in the
vacant space which is devoted to pious nonsense!]
78 (return) [
Franguntur montes, planumque per ardua Caesar Ducit opus: pandit
fossas, turritaque summis Disponit castella jugis, magnoque
necessu Amplexus fines, saltus, memorosaque tesqua Et silvas,
vastaque feras indagine claudit.!
Yet the simplicity of truth (Caesar, de Bell. Civ. iii. 44) is
far greater than the amplifications of Lucan, (Pharsal. l. vi.
29-63.)]
79 (return) [ The rhetorical expressions of Orosius, “in arido et
aspero montis jugo;” “in unum ac parvum verticem,” are not very
suitable to the encampment of a great army. But Faesulae, only
three miles from Florence, might afford space for the
head-quarters of Radagaisus, and would be comprehended within the
circuit of the Roman lines.]
80 (return) [ See Zosimus, l. v. p. 331, and the Chronicles of
Prosper and Marcellinus.]
81 (return) [ Olympiodorus (apud Photium, p. 180) uses an
expression which would denote a strict and friendly alliance, and
render Stilicho still more criminal. The paulisper detentus,
deinde interfectus, of Orosius, is sufficiently odious. * Note:
Gibbon, by translating this passage of Olympiodorus, as if it had
been good Greek, has probably fallen into an error. The natural
order of the words is as Gibbon translates it; but it is almost
clear, refers to the Gothic chiefs, “whom Stilicho, after he had
defeated Radagaisus, attached to his army.” So in the version
corrected by Classen for Niebuhr’s edition of the Byzantines, p.
450.—M.]
82 (return) [ Orosius, piously inhuman, sacrifices the king and
people, Agag and the Amalekites, without a symptom of compassion.
The bloody actor is less detestable than the cool, unfeeling
historian.——Note: Considering the vow, which he was universally
believed to have made, to destroy Rome, and to sacrifice the
senators on the altars, and that he is said to have immolated his
prisoners to his gods, the execution of Radagaisus, if, as it
appears, he was taken in arms, cannot deserve Gibbon’s severe
condemnation. Mr. Herbert (notes to his poem of Attila, p. 317)
justly observes, that “Stilicho had probably authority for
hanging him on the first tree.” Marcellinus, adds Mr. Herbert,
attributes the execution to the Gothic chiefs Sarus.—M.]
83 (return) [ And Claudian’s muse, was she asleep? had she been
ill paid! Methinks the seventh consulship of Honorius (A.D. 407)
would have furnished the subject of a noble poem. Before it was
discovered that the state could no longer be saved, Stilicho
(after Romulus, Camillus and Marius) might have been worthily
surnamed the fourth founder of Rome.]
The fame of the victory, and more especially of the miracle, has
encouraged a vain persuasion, that the whole army, or rather
nation, of Germans, who migrated from the shores of the Baltic,
miserably perished under the walls of Florence. Such indeed was
the fate of Radagaisus himself, of his brave and faithful
companions, and of more than one third of the various multitude
of Sueves and Vandals, of Alani and Burgundians, who adhered to
the standard of their general. 84 The union of such an army might
excite our surprise, but the causes of separation are obvious and
forcible; the pride of birth, the insolence of valor, the
jealousy of command, the impatience of subordination, and the
obstinate conflict of opinions, of interests, and of passions,
among so many kings and warriors, who were untaught to yield, or
to obey. After the defeat of Radagaisus, two parts of the German
host, which must have exceeded the number of one hundred thousand
men, still remained in arms, between the Apennine and the Alps,
or between the Alps and the Danube. It is uncertain whether they
attempted to revenge the death of their general; but their
irregular fury was soon diverted by the prudence and firmness of
Stilicho, who opposed their march, and facilitated their retreat;
who considered the safety of Rome and Italy as the great object
of his care, and who sacrificed, with too much indifference, the
wealth and tranquillity of the distant provinces. 85 The
Barbarians acquired, from the junction of some Pannonian
deserters, the knowledge of the country, and of the roads; and
the invasion of Gaul, which Alaric had designed, was executed by
the remains of the great army of Radagaisus. 86
84 (return) [ A luminous passage of Prosper’s Chronicle, “In tres
partes, pes diversos principes, diversus exercitus,” reduces the
miracle of Florence and connects the history of Italy, Gaul, and
Germany.]
85 (return) [ Orosius and Jerom positively charge him with
instigating the in vasion. “Excitatae a Stilichone gentes,” &c.
They must mean a directly. He saved Italy at the expense of Gaul]
86 (return) [ The Count de Buat is satisfied, that the Germans
who invaded Gaul were the two thirds that yet remained of the
army of Radagaisus. See the Histoire Ancienne des Peuples de
l’Europe, (tom. vii. p. 87, 121. Paris, 1772;) an elaborate work,
which I had not the advantage of perusing till the year 1777. As
early as 1771, I find the same idea expressed in a rough draught
of the present History. I have since observed a similar
intimation in Mascou, (viii. 15.) Such agreement, without mutual
communication, may add some weight to our common sentiment.]
Yet if they expected to derive any assistance from the tribes of
Germany, who inhabited the banks of the Rhine, their hopes were
disappointed. The Alemanni preserved a state of inactive
neutrality; and the Franks distinguished their zeal and courage
in the defence of the of the empire. In the rapid progress down
the Rhine, which was the first act of the administration of
Stilicho, he had applied himself, with peculiar attention, to
secure the alliance of the warlike Franks, and to remove the
irreconcilable enemies of peace and of the republic. Marcomir,
one of their kings, was publicly convicted, before the tribunal
of the Roman magistrate, of violating the faith of treaties. He
was sentenced to a mild, but distant exile, in the province of
Tuscany; and this degradation of the regal dignity was so far
from exciting the resentment of his subjects, that they punished
with death the turbulent Sunno, who attempted to revenge his
brother; and maintained a dutiful allegiance to the princes, who
were established on the throne by the choice of Stilicho. 87 When
the limits of Gaul and Germany were shaken by the northern
emigration, the Franks bravely encountered the single force of
the Vandals; who, regardless of the lessons of adversity, had
again separated their troops from the standard of their Barbarian
allies. They paid the penalty of their rashness; and twenty
thousand Vandals, with their king Godigisclus, were slain in the
field of battle. The whole people must have been extirpated, if
the squadrons of the Alani, advancing to their relief, had not
trampled down the infantry of the Franks; who, after an honorable
resistance, were compelled to relinquish the unequal contest. The
victorious confederates pursued their march, and on the last day
of the year, in a season when the waters of the Rhine were most
probably frozen, they entered, without opposition, the
defenceless provinces of Gaul. This memorable passage of the
Suevi, the Vandals, the Alani, and the Burgundians, who never
afterwards retreated, may be considered as the fall of the Roman
empire in the countries beyond the Alps; and the barriers, which
had so long separated the savage and the civilized nations of the
earth, were from that fatal moment levelled with the ground. 88
87 (return) [
Provincia missos Expellet citius fasces, quam Francia reges Quos
dederis.
Claudian (i. Cons. Stil. l. i. 235, &c.) is clear and
satisfactory. These kings of France are unknown to Gregory of
Tours; but the author of the Gesta Francorum mentions both Sunno
and Marcomir, and names the latter as the father of Pharamond,
(in tom. ii. p. 543.) He seems to write from good materials,
which he did not understand.]
88 (return) [ See Zosimus, (l. vi. p. 373,) Orosius, (l. vii. c.
40, p. 576,) and the Chronicles. Gregory of Tours (l. ii. c. 9,
p. 165, in the second volume of the Historians of France) has
preserved a valuable fragment of Renatus Profuturus Frigeridus,
whose three names denote a Christian, a Roman subject, and a
Semi-Barbarian.]
While the peace of Germany was secured by the attachment of the
Franks, and the neutrality of the Alemanni, the subjects of Rome,
unconscious of their approaching calamities, enjoyed the state of
quiet and prosperity, which had seldom blessed the frontiers of
Gaul. Their flocks and herds were permitted to graze in the
pastures of the Barbarians; their huntsmen penetrated, without
fear or danger, into the darkest recesses of the Hercynian wood.
89 The banks of the Rhine were crowned, like those of the Tyber,
with elegant houses, and well-cultivated farms; and if a poet
descended the river, he might express his doubt, on which side
was situated the territory of the Romans. 90 This scene of peace
and plenty was suddenly changed into a desert; and the prospect
of the smoking ruins could alone distinguish the solitude of
nature from the desolation of man. The flourishing city of Mentz
was surprised and destroyed; and many thousand Christians were
inhumanly massacred in the church. Worms perished after a long
and obstinate siege; Strasburgh, Spires, Rheims, Tournay, Arras,
Amiens, experienced the cruel oppression of the German yoke; and
the consuming flames of war spread from the banks of the Rhine
over the greatest part of the seventeen provinces of Gaul. That
rich and extensive country, as far as the ocean, the Alps, and
the Pyrenees, was delivered to the Barbarians, who drove before
them, in a promiscuous crowd, the bishop, the senator, and the
virgin, laden with the spoils of their houses and altars. 91 The
ecclesiastics, to whom we are indebted for this vague description
of the public calamities, embraced the opportunity of exhorting
the Christians to repent of the sins which had provoked the
Divine Justice, and to renounce the perishable goods of a
wretched and deceitful world. But as the Pelagian controversy, 92
which attempts to sound the abyss of grace and predestination,
soon became the serious employment of the Latin clergy, the
Providence which had decreed, or foreseen, or permitted, such a
train of moral and natural evils, was rashly weighed in the
imperfect and fallacious balance of reason. The crimes, and the
misfortunes, of the suffering people, were presumptuously
compared with those of their ancestors; and they arraigned the
Divine Justice, which did not exempt from the common destruction
the feeble, the guiltless, the infant portion of the human
species. These idle disputants overlooked the invariable laws of
nature, which have connected peace with innocence, plenty with
industry, and safety with valor. The timid and selfish policy of
the court of Ravenna might recall the Palatine legions for the
protection of Italy; the remains of the stationary troops might
be unequal to the arduous task; and the Barbarian auxiliaries
might prefer the unbounded license of spoil to the benefits of a
moderate and regular stipend. But the provinces of Gaul were
filled with a numerous race of hardy and robust youth, who, in
the defence of their houses, their families, and their altars, if
they had dared to die, would have deserved to vanquish. The
knowledge of their native country would have enabled them to
oppose continual and insuperable obstacles to the progress of an
invader; and the deficiency of the Barbarians, in arms, as well
as in discipline, removed the only pretence which excuses the
submission of a populous country to the inferior numbers of a
veteran army. When France was invaded by Charles V., he inquired
of a prisoner, how many days Paris might be distant from the
frontier; “Perhaps twelve, but they will be days of battle:” 93
such was the gallant answer which checked the arrogance of that
ambitious prince. The subjects of Honorius, and those of Francis
I., were animated by a very different spirit; and in less than
two years, the divided troops of the savages of the Baltic, whose
numbers, were they fairly stated, would appear contemptible,
advanced, without a combat, to the foot of the Pyrenean
Mountains.
89 (return) [ Claudian (i. Cons. Stil. l. i. 221, &c., l. ii.
186) describes the peace and prosperity of the Gallic frontier.
The Abbe Dubos (Hist. Critique, &c., tom. i. p. 174) would read
Alba (a nameless rivulet of the Ardennes) instead of Albis; and
expatiates on the danger of the Gallic cattle grazing beyond the
Elbe. Foolish enough! In poetical geography, the Elbe, and the
Hercynian, signify any river, or any wood, in Germany. Claudian
is not prepared for the strict examination of our antiquaries.]
90 (return) [—Germinasque viator Cum videat ripas, quae sit
Romana requirat.]
91 (return) [ Jerom, tom. i. p. 93. See in the 1st vol. of the
Historians of France, p. 777, 782, the proper extracts from the
Carmen de Providentil Divina, and Salvian. The anonymous poet was
himself a captive, with his bishop and fellow-citizens.]
92 (return) [ The Pelagian doctrine, which was first agitated
A.D. 405, was condemned, in the space of ten years, at Rome and
Carthage. St Augustin fought and conquered; but the Greek church
was favorable to his adversaries; and (what is singular enough)
the people did not take any part in a dispute which they could
not understand.]
93 (return) [ See the Mémoires de Guillaume du Bellay, l. vi. In
French, the original reproof is less obvious, and more pointed,
from the double sense of the word journee, which alike signifies,
a day’s travel, or a battle.]
In the early part of the reign of Honorius, the vigilance of
Stilicho had successfully guarded the remote island of Britain
from her incessant enemies of the ocean, the mountains, and the
Irish coast. 94 But those restless Barbarians could not neglect
the fair opportunity of the Gothic war, when the walls and
stations of the province were stripped of the Roman troops. If
any of the legionaries were permitted to return from the Italian
expedition, their faithful report of the court and character of
Honorius must have tended to dissolve the bonds of allegiance,
and to exasperate the seditious temper of the British army. The
spirit of revolt, which had formerly disturbed the age of
Gallienus, was revived by the capricious violence of the
soldiers; and the unfortunate, perhaps the ambitious, candidates,
who were the objects of their choice, were the instruments, and
at length the victims, of their passion. 95 Marcus was the first
whom they placed on the throne, as the lawful emperor of Britain
and of the West. They violated, by the hasty murder of Marcus,
the oath of fidelity which they had imposed on themselves; and
their disapprobation of his manners may seem to inscribe an
honorable epitaph on his tomb. Gratian was the next whom they
adorned with the diadem and the purple; and, at the end of four
months, Gratian experienced the fate of his predecessor. The
memory of the great Constantine, whom the British legions had
given to the church and to the empire, suggested the singular
motive of their third choice. They discovered in the ranks a
private soldier of the name of Constantine, and their impetuous
levity had already seated him on the throne, before they
perceived his incapacity to sustain the weight of that glorious
appellation. 96 Yet the authority of Constantine was less
precarious, and his government was more successful, than the
transient reigns of Marcus and of Gratian. The danger of leaving
his inactive troops in those camps, which had been twice polluted
with blood and sedition, urged him to attempt the reduction of
the Western provinces. He landed at Boulogne with an
inconsiderable force; and after he had reposed himself some days,
he summoned the cities of Gaul, which had escaped the yoke of the
Barbarians, to acknowledge their lawful sovereign. They obeyed
the summons without reluctance. The neglect of the court of
Ravenna had absolved a deserted people from the duty of
allegiance; their actual distress encouraged them to accept any
circumstances of change, without apprehension, and, perhaps, with
some degree of hope; and they might flatter themselves, that the
troops, the authority, and even the name of a Roman emperor, who
fixed his residence in Gaul, would protect the unhappy country
from the rage of the Barbarians. The first successes of
Constantine against the detached parties of the Germans, were
magnified by the voice of adulation into splendid and decisive
victories; which the reunion and insolence of the enemy soon
reduced to their just value. His negotiations procured a short
and precarious truce; and if some tribes of the Barbarians were
engaged, by the liberality of his gifts and promises, to
undertake the defence of the Rhine, these expensive and uncertain
treaties, instead of restoring the pristine vigor of the Gallic
frontier, served only to disgrace the majesty of the prince, and
to exhaust what yet remained of the treasures of the republic.
Elated, however, with this imaginary triumph, the vain deliverer
of Gaul advanced into the provinces of the South, to encounter a
more pressing and personal danger. Sarus the Goth was ordered to
lay the head of the rebel at the feet of the emperor Honorius;
and the forces of Britain and Italy were unworthily consumed in
this domestic quarrel. After the loss of his two bravest
generals, Justinian and Nevigastes, the former of whom was slain
in the field of battle, the latter in a peaceful but treacherous
interview, Constantine fortified himself within the walls of
Vienna. The place was ineffectually attacked seven days; and the
Imperial army supported, in a precipitate retreat, the ignominy
of purchasing a secure passage from the freebooters and outlaws
of the Alps. 97 Those mountains now separated the dominions of
two rival monarchs; and the fortifications of the double frontier
were guarded by the troops of the empire, whose arms would have
been more usefully employed to maintain the Roman limits against
the Barbarians of Germany and Scythia.
94 (return) [ Claudian, (i. Cons. Stil. l. ii. 250.) It is
supposed that the Scots of Ireland invaded, by sea, the whole
western coast of Britain: and some slight credit may be given
even to Nennius and the Irish traditions, (Carte’s Hist. of
England, vol. i. p. 169.) Whitaker’s Genuine History of the
Britons, p. 199. The sixty-six lives of St. Patrick, which were
extant in the ninth century, must have contained as many thousand
lies; yet we may believe, that, in one of these Irish inroads the
future apostle was led away captive, (Usher, Antiquit. Eccles
Britann. p. 431, and Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xvi. p. 45 782,
&c.)]
95 (return) [ The British usurpers are taken from Zosimus, (l.
vi. p. 371-375,) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 40, p. 576, 577,)
Olympiodorus, (apud Photium, p. 180, 181,) the ecclesiastical
historians, and the Chronicles. The Latins are ignorant of
Marcus.]
96 (return) [ Cum in Constantino inconstantiam... execrarentur,
(Sidonius Apollinaris, l. v. epist. 9, p. 139, edit. secund.
Sirmond.) Yet Sidonius might be tempted, by so fair a pun, to
stigmatize a prince who had disgraced his grandfather.]
97 (return) [ Bagaudoe is the name which Zosimus applies to them;
perhaps they deserved a less odious character, (see Dubos, Hist.
Critique, tom. i. p. 203, and this History, vol. i. p. 407.) We
shall hear of them again.]
Chapter XXX: Revolt Of The Goths.—Part V.
On the side of the Pyrenees, the ambition of Constantine might be
justified by the proximity of danger; but his throne was soon
established by the conquest, or rather submission, of Spain;
which yielded to the influence of regular and habitual
subordination, and received the laws and magistrates of the
Gallic præfecture. The only opposition which was made to the
authority of Constantine proceeded not so much from the powers of
government, or the spirit of the people, as from the private zeal
and interest of the family of Theodosius. Four brothers 98 had
obtained, by the favor of their kinsman, the deceased emperor, an
honorable rank and ample possessions in their native country; and
the grateful youths resolved to risk those advantages in the
service of his son. After an unsuccessful effort to maintain
their ground at the head of the stationary troops of Lusitania,
they retired to their estates; where they armed and levied, at
their own expense, a considerable body of slaves and dependants,
and boldly marched to occupy the strong posts of the Pyrenean
Mountains. This domestic insurrection alarmed and perplexed the
sovereign of Gaul and Britain; and he was compelled to negotiate
with some troops of Barbarian auxiliaries, for the service of the
Spanish war. They were distinguished by the title of Honorians;
99 a name which might have reminded them of their fidelity to
their lawful sovereign; and if it should candidly be allowed that
the Scots were influenced by any partial affection for a British
prince, the Moors and the Marcomanni could be tempted only by the
profuse liberality of the usurper, who distributed among the
Barbarians the military, and even the civil, honors of Spain. The
nine bands of Honorians, which may be easily traced on the
establishment of the Western empire, could not exceed the number
of five thousand men: yet this inconsiderable force was
sufficient to terminate a war, which had threatened the power and
safety of Constantine. The rustic army of the Theodosian family
was surrounded and destroyed in the Pyrenees: two of the brothers
had the good fortune to escape by sea to Italy, or the East; the
other two, after an interval of suspense, were executed at Arles;
and if Honorius could remain insensible of the public disgrace,
he might perhaps be affected by the personal misfortunes of his
generous kinsmen. Such were the feeble arms which decided the
possession of the Western provinces of Europe, from the wall of
Antoninus to the columns of Hercules. The events of peace and war
have undoubtedly been diminished by the narrow and imperfect view
of the historians of the times, who were equally ignorant of the
causes, and of the effects, of the most important revolutions.
But the total decay of the national strength had annihilated even
the last resource of a despotic government; and the revenue of
exhausted provinces could no longer purchase the military service
of a discontented and pusillanimous people.
98 (return) [ Verinianus, Didymus, Theodosius, and Lagodius, who
in modern courts would be styled princes of the blood, were not
distinguished by any rank or privileges above the rest of their
fellow-subjects.]
99 (return) [ These Honoriani, or Honoriaci, consisted of two
bands of Scots, or Attacotti, two of Moors, two of Marcomanni,
the Victores, the Asca in, and the Gallicani, (Notitia Imperii,
sect. xxxiii. edit. Lab.) They were part of the sixty-five
Auxilia Palatina, and are properly styled by Zosimus, (l. vi.
374.)]
The poet, whose flattery has ascribed to the Roman eagle the
victories of Pollentia and Verona, pursues the hasty retreat of
Alaric, from the confines of Italy, with a horrid train of
imaginary spectres, such as might hover over an army of
Barbarians, which was almost exterminated by war, famine, and
disease. 100 In the course of this unfortunate expedition, the
king of the Goths must indeed have sustained a considerable loss;
and his harassed forces required an interval of repose, to
recruit their numbers and revive their confidence. Adversity had
exercised and displayed the genius of Alaric; and the fame of his
valor invited to the Gothic standard the bravest of the Barbarian
warriors; who, from the Euxine to the Rhine, were agitated by the
desire of rapine and conquest. He had deserved the esteem, and he
soon accepted the friendship, of Stilicho himself. Renouncing the
service of the emperor of the East, Alaric concluded, with the
court of Ravenna, a treaty of peace and alliance, by which he was
declared master-general of the Roman armies throughout the
præfecture of Illyricum; as it was claimed, according to the
true and ancient limits, by the minister of Honorius. 101 The
execution of the ambitious design, which was either stipulated,
or implied, in the articles of the treaty, appears to have been
suspended by the formidable irruption of Radagaisus; and the
neutrality of the Gothic king may perhaps be compared to the
indifference of Caesar, who, in the conspiracy of Catiline,
refused either to assist, or to oppose, the enemy of the
republic. After the defeat of the Vandals, Stilicho resumed his
pretensions to the provinces of the East; appointed civil
magistrates for the administration of justice, and of the
finances; and declared his impatience to lead to the gates of
Constantinople the united armies of the Romans and of the Goths.
The prudence, however, of Stilicho, his aversion to civil war,
and his perfect knowledge of the weakness of the state, may
countenance the suspicion, that domestic peace, rather than
foreign conquest, was the object of his policy; and that his
principal care was to employ the forces of Alaric at a distance
from Italy. This design could not long escape the penetration of
the Gothic king, who continued to hold a doubtful, and perhaps a
treacherous, correspondence with the rival courts; who
protracted, like a dissatisfied mercenary, his languid operations
in Thessaly and Epirus, and who soon returned to claim the
extravagant reward of his ineffectual services. From his camp
near Aemona, 102 on the confines of Italy, he transmitted to the
emperor of the West a long account of promises, of expenses, and
of demands; called for immediate satisfaction, and clearly
intimated the consequences of a refusal. Yet if his conduct was
hostile, his language was decent and dutiful. He humbly professed
himself the friend of Stilicho, and the soldier of Honorius;
offered his person and his troops to march, without delay,
against the usurper of Gaul; and solicited, as a permanent
retreat for the Gothic nation, the possession of some vacant
province of the Western empire.
100 (return) [
Comitatur euntem Pallor, et atra fames; et saucia lividus ora
Luctus; et inferno stridentes agmine morbi. —-Claudian in vi.
Cons. Hon. 821, &c.]
101 (return) [ These dark transactions are investigated by the
Count de Bual (Hist. des Peuples de l’Europe, tom. vii. c.
iii.—viii. p. 69-206,) whose laborious accuracy may sometimes
fatigue a superficial reader.]
102 (return) [ See Zosimus, l. v. p. 334, 335. He interrupts his
scanty narrative to relate the fable of Aemona, and of the ship
Argo; which was drawn overland from that place to the Adriatic.
Sozomen (l. viii. c. 25, l. ix. c. 4) and Socrates (l. vii. c.
10) cast a pale and doubtful light; and Orosius (l. vii. c. 38,
p. 571) is abominably partial.]
The political and secret transactions of two statesmen, who
labored to deceive each other and the world, must forever have
been concealed in the impenetrable darkness of the cabinet, if
the debates of a popular assembly had not thrown some rays of
light on the correspondence of Alaric and Stilicho. The necessity
of finding some artificial support for a government, which, from
a principle, not of moderation, but of weakness, was reduced to
negotiate with its own subjects, had insensibly revived the
authority of the Roman senate; and the minister of Honorius
respectfully consulted the legislative council of the republic.
Stilicho assembled the senate in the palace of the Caesars;
represented, in a studied oration, the actual state of affairs;
proposed the demands of the Gothic king, and submitted to their
consideration the choice of peace or war. The senators, as if
they had been suddenly awakened from a dream of four hundred
years, appeared, on this important occasion, to be inspired by
the courage, rather than by the wisdom, of their predecessors.
They loudly declared, in regular speeches, or in tumultuary
acclamations, that it was unworthy of the majesty of Rome to
purchase a precarious and disgraceful truce from a Barbarian
king; and that, in the judgment of a magnanimous people, the
chance of ruin was always preferable to the certainty of
dishonor. The minister, whose pacific intentions were seconded
only by the voice of a few servile and venal followers, attempted
to allay the general ferment, by an apology for his own conduct,
and even for the demands of the Gothic prince. “The payment of a
subsidy, which had excited the indignation of the Romans, ought
not (such was the language of Stilicho) to be considered in the
odious light, either of a tribute, or of a ransom, extorted by
the menaces of a Barbarian enemy. Alaric had faithfully asserted
the just pretensions of the republic to the provinces which were
usurped by the Greeks of Constantinople: he modestly required the
fair and stipulated recompense of his services; and if he had
desisted from the prosecution of his enterprise, he had obeyed,
in his retreat, the peremptory, though private, letters of the
emperor himself. These contradictory orders (he would not
dissemble the errors of his own family) had been procured by the
intercession of Serena. The tender piety of his wife had been too
deeply affected by the discord of the royal brothers, the sons of
her adopted father; and the sentiments of nature had too easily
prevailed over the stern dictates of the public welfare.” These
ostensible reasons, which faintly disguise the obscure intrigues
of the palace of Ravenna, were supported by the authority of
Stilicho; and obtained, after a warm debate, the reluctant
approbation of the senate. The tumult of virtue and freedom
subsided; and the sum of four thousand pounds of gold was
granted, under the name of a subsidy, to secure the peace of
Italy, and to conciliate the friendship of the king of the Goths.
Lampadius alone, one of the most illustrious members of the
assembly, still persisted in his dissent; exclaimed, with a loud
voice, “This is not a treaty of peace, but of servitude;” 103 and
escaped the danger of such bold opposition by immediately
retiring to the sanctuary of a Christian church. [See Palace Of
The Caesars]
103 (return) [ Zosimus, l. v. p. 338, 339. He repeats the words
of Lampadius, as they were spoke in Latin, “Non est ista pax, sed
pactio servi tutis,” and then translates them into Greek for the
benefit of his readers. * Note: From Cicero’s XIIth Philippic,
14.—M.]
But the reign of Stilicho drew towards its end; and the proud
minister might perceive the symptoms of his approaching disgrace.
The generous boldness of Lampadius had been applauded; and the
senate, so patiently resigned to a long servitude, rejected with
disdain the offer of invidious and imaginary freedom. The troops,
who still assumed the name and prerogatives of the Roman legions,
were exasperated by the partial affection of Stilicho for the
Barbarians: and the people imputed to the mischievous policy of
the minister the public misfortunes, which were the natural
consequence of their own degeneracy. Yet Stilicho might have
continued to brave the clamors of the people, and even of the
soldiers, if he could have maintained his dominion over the
feeble mind of his pupil. But the respectful attachment of
Honorius was converted into fear, suspicion, and hatred. The
crafty Olympius, 104 who concealed his vices under the mask of
Christian piety, had secretly undermined the benefactor, by whose
favor he was promoted to the honorable offices of the Imperial
palace. Olympius revealed to the unsuspecting emperor, who had
attained the twenty-fifth year of his age, that he was without
weight, or authority, in his own government; and artfully alarmed
his timid and indolent disposition by a lively picture of the
designs of Stilicho, who already meditated the death of his
sovereign, with the ambitious hope of placing the diadem on the
head of his son Eucherius. The emperor was instigated, by his new
favorite, to assume the tone of independent dignity; and the
minister was astonished to find, that secret resolutions were
formed in the court and council, which were repugnant to his
interest, or to his intentions. Instead of residing in the palace
of Rome, Honorius declared that it was his pleasure to return to
the secure fortress of Ravenna. On the first intelligence of the
death of his brother Arcadius, he prepared to visit
Constantinople, and to regulate, with the authority of a
guardian, the provinces of the infant Theodosius. 105 The
representation of the difficulty and expense of such a distant
expedition, checked this strange and sudden sally of active
diligence; but the dangerous project of showing the emperor to
the camp of Pavia, which was composed of the Roman troops, the
enemies of Stilicho, and his Barbarian auxiliaries, remained
fixed and unalterable. The minister was pressed, by the advice of
his confidant, Justinian, a Roman advocate, of a lively and
penetrating genius, to oppose a journey so prejudicial to his
reputation and safety. His strenuous but ineffectual efforts
confirmed the triumph of Olympius; and the prudent lawyer
withdrew himself from the impending ruin of his patron.
104 (return) [ He came from the coast of the Euxine, and
exercised a splendid office. His actions justify his character,
which Zosimus (l. v. p. 340) exposes with visible satisfaction.
Augustin revered the piety of Olympius, whom he styles a true son
of the church, (Baronius, Annal. Eccles, Eccles. A.D. 408, No.
19, &c. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 467, 468.) But
these praises, which the African saint so unworthily bestows,
might proceed as well from ignorance as from adulation.]
105 (return) [ Zosimus, l. v. p. 338, 339. Sozomen, l. ix. c. 4.
Stilicho offered to undertake the journey to Constantinople, that
he might divert Honorius from the vain attempt. The Eastern
empire would not have obeyed, and could not have been conquered.]
In the passage of the emperor through Bologna, a mutiny of the
guards was excited and appeased by the secret policy of Stilicho;
who announced his instructions to decimate the guilty, and
ascribed to his own intercession the merit of their pardon. After
this tumult, Honorius embraced, for the last time, the minister
whom he now considered as a tyrant, and proceeded on his way to
the camp of Pavia; where he was received by the loyal
acclamations of the troops who were assembled for the service of
the Gallic war. On the morning of the fourth day, he pronounced,
as he had been taught, a military oration in the presence of the
soldiers, whom the charitable visits, and artful discourses, of
Olympius had prepared to execute a dark and bloody conspiracy. At
the first signal, they massacred the friends of Stilicho, the
most illustrious officers of the empire; two Prætorian
præfects, of Gaul and of Italy; two masters-general of the
cavalry and infantry; the master of the offices; the quaestor,
the treasurer, and the count of the domestics. Many lives were
lost; many houses were plundered; the furious sedition continued
to rage till the close of the evening; and the trembling emperor,
who was seen in the streets of Pavia without his robes or diadem,
yielded to the persuasions of his favorite; condemned the memory
of the slain; and solemnly approved the innocence and fidelity of
their assassins. The intelligence of the massacre of Pavia filled
the mind of Stilicho with just and gloomy apprehensions; and he
instantly summoned, in the camp of Bologna, a council of the
confederate leaders, who were attached to his service, and would
be involved in his ruin. The impetuous voice of the assembly
called aloud for arms, and for revenge; to march, without a
moment’s delay, under the banners of a hero, whom they had so
often followed to victory; to surprise, to oppress, to extirpate
the guilty Olympius, and his degenerate Romans; and perhaps to
fix the diadem on the head of their injured general. Instead of
executing a resolution, which might have been justified by
success, Stilicho hesitated till he was irrecoverably lost. He
was still ignorant of the fate of the emperor; he distrusted the
fidelity of his own party; and he viewed with horror the fatal
consequences of arming a crowd of licentious Barbarians against
the soldiers and people of Italy. The confederates, impatient of
his timorous and doubtful delay, hastily retired, with fear and
indignation. At the hour of midnight, Sarus, a Gothic warrior,
renowned among the Barbarians themselves for his strength and
valor, suddenly invaded the camp of his benefactor, plundered the
baggage, cut in pieces the faithful Huns, who guarded his person,
and penetrated to the tent, where the minister, pensive and
sleepless, meditated on the dangers of his situation. Stilicho
escaped with difficulty from the sword of the Goths and, after
issuing a last and generous admonition to the cities of Italy, to
shut their gates against the Barbarians, his confidence, or his
despair, urged him to throw himself into Ravenna, which was
already in the absolute possession of his enemies. Olympius, who
had assumed the dominion of Honorius, was speedily informed, that
his rival had embraced, as a suppliant the altar of the Christian
church. The base and cruel disposition of the hypocrite was
incapable of pity or remorse; but he piously affected to elude,
rather than to violate, the privilege of the sanctuary. Count
Heraclian, with a troop of soldiers, appeared, at the dawn of
day, before the gates of the church of Ravenna. The bishop was
satisfied by a solemn oath, that the Imperial mandate only
directed them to secure the person of Stilicho: but as soon as
the unfortunate minister had been tempted beyond the holy
threshold, he produced the warrant for his instant execution.
Stilicho supported, with calm resignation, the injurious names of
traitor and parricide; repressed the unseasonable zeal of his
followers, who were ready to attempt an ineffectual rescue; and,
with a firmness not unworthy of the last of the Roman generals,
submitted his neck to the sword of Heraclian. 106
106 (return) [ Zosimus (l. v. p. 336-345) has copiously, though
not clearly, related the disgrace and death of Stilicho.
Olympiodorus, (apud Phot. p. 177.) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 38, p.
571, 572,) Sozomen, (l. ix. c. 4,) and Philostorgius, (l. xi. c.
3, l. xii. c. 2,) afford supplemental hints.]
The servile crowd of the palace, who had so long adored the
fortune of Stilicho, affected to insult his fall; and the most
distant connection with the master-general of the West, which had
so lately been a title to wealth and honors, was studiously
denied, and rigorously punished. His family, united by a triple
alliance with the family of Theodosius, might envy the condition
of the meanest peasant. The flight of his son Eucherius was
intercepted; and the death of that innocent youth soon followed
the divorce of Thermantia, who filled the place of her sister
Maria; and who, like Maria, had remained a virgin in the Imperial
bed. 107 The friends of Stilicho, who had escaped the massacre of
Pavia, were persecuted by the implacable revenge of Olympius; and
the most exquisite cruelty was employed to extort the confession
of a treasonable and sacrilegious conspiracy. They died in
silence: their firmness justified the choice, 108 and perhaps
absolved the innocence of their patron: and the despotic power,
which could take his life without a trial, and stigmatize his
memory without a proof, has no jurisdiction over the impartial
suffrage of posterity. 109 The services of Stilicho are great and
manifest; his crimes, as they are vaguely stated in the language
of flattery and hatred, are obscure at least, and improbable.
About four months after his death, an edict was published, in the
name of Honorius, to restore the free communication of the two
empires, which had been so long interrupted by the public enemy.
110 The minister, whose fame and fortune depended on the
prosperity of the state, was accused of betraying Italy to the
Barbarians; whom he repeatedly vanquished at Pollentia, at
Verona, and before the walls of Florence. His pretended design of
placing the diadem on the head of his son Eucherius, could not
have been conducted without preparations or accomplices; and the
ambitious father would not surely have left the future emperor,
till the twentieth year of his age, in the humble station of
tribune of the notaries. Even the religion of Stilicho was
arraigned by the malice of his rival. The seasonable, and almost
miraculous, deliverance was devoutly celebrated by the applause
of the clergy; who asserted, that the restoration of idols, and
the persecution of the church, would have been the first measure
of the reign of Eucherius. The son of Stilicho, however, was
educated in the bosom of Christianity, which his father had
uniformly professed, and zealously supported. 111 1111 Serena had
borrowed her magnificent necklace from the statue of Vesta; 112
and the Pagans execrated the memory of the sacrilegious minister,
by whose order the Sibylline books, the oracles of Rome, had been
committed to the flames. 113 The pride and power of Stilicho
constituted his real guilt. An honorable reluctance to shed the
blood of his countrymen appears to have contributed to the
success of his unworthy rival; and it is the last humiliation of
the character of Honorius, that posterity has not condescended to
reproach him with his base ingratitude to the guardian of his
youth, and the support of his empire.
107 (return) [ Zosimus, l. v. p. 333. The marriage of a Christian
with two sisters, scandalizes Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs,
tom. v. p. 557;) who expects, in vain, that Pope Innocent I.
should have done something in the way either of censure or of
dispensation.]
108 (return) [ Two of his friends are honorably mentioned,
(Zosimus, l. v. p. 346:) Peter, chief of the school of notaries,
and the great chamberlain Deuterius. Stilicho had secured the
bed-chamber; and it is surprising that, under a feeble prince,
the bed-chamber was not able to secure him.]
109 (return) [ Orosius (l. vii. c. 38, p. 571, 572) seems to copy
the false and furious manifestos, which were dispersed through
the provinces by the new administration.]
110 (return) [ See the Theodosian code, l. vii. tit. xvi. leg. 1,
l. ix. tit. xlii. leg. 22. Stilicho is branded with the name of
proedo publicus, who employed his wealth, ad omnem ditandam,
inquietandamque Barbariem.]
111 (return) [ Augustin himself is satisfied with the effectual
laws, which Stilicho had enacted against heretics and idolaters;
and which are still extant in the Code. He only applies to
Olympius for their confirmation, (Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A.D.
408, No. 19.)]
112 (return) [ Zosimus, l. v. p. 351. We may observe the bad
taste of the age, in dressing their statues with such awkward
finery.]
113 (return) [ See Rutilius Numatianus, (Itinerar. l. ii. 41-60,)
to whom religious enthusiasm has dictated some elegant and
forcible lines. Stilicho likewise stripped the gold plates from
the doors of the Capitol, and read a prophetic sentence which was
engraven under them, (Zosimus, l. v. p. 352.) These are foolish
stories: yet the charge of impiety adds weight and credit to the
praise which Zosimus reluctantly bestows on his virtues. Note:
One particular in the extorted praise of Zosimus, deserved the
notice of the historian, as strongly opposed to the former
imputations of Zosimus himself, and indicative of he corrupt
practices of a declining age. “He had never bartered promotion in
the army for bribes, nor peculated in the supplies of provisions
for the army.” l. v. c. xxxiv.—M.]
1111 (return) [ Hence, perhaps, the accusation of treachery is
countenanced by Hatilius:—
Quo magis est facinus diri Stilichonis iniquum Proditor arcani
quod fuit imperii. Romano generi dum nititur esse superstes,
Crudelis summis miscuit ima furor. Dumque timet, quicquid se
fecerat ipso timeri, Immisit Latiae barbara tela neci. Rutil.
Itin. II. 41.—M.] Among the train of dependants whose wealth and
dignity attracted the notice of their own times, our curiosity is
excited by the celebrated name of the poet Claudian, who enjoyed
the favor of Stilicho, and was overwhelmed in the ruin of his
patron.]
Among the train of dependants whose wealth and dignity attracted
the notice of their own times, _our_ curiosity is excited by the
celebrated name of the poet Claudian, who enjoyed the favor of
Stilicho, and was overwhelmed in the ruin of his patron. The
titular offices of tribune and notary fixed his rank in the
Imperial court: he was indebted to the powerful intercession of
Serena for his marriage with a very rich heiress of the province
of Africa; 114 and the statute of Claudian, erected in the forum
of Trajan, was a monument of the taste and liberality of the
Roman senate. 115 After the praises of Stilicho became offensive
and criminal, Claudian was exposed to the enmity of a powerful
and unforgiving courtier, whom he had provoked by the insolence
of wit. He had compared, in a lively epigram, the opposite
characters of two Prætorian præfects of Italy; he contrasts the
innocent repose of a philosopher, who sometimes resigned the
hours of business to slumber, perhaps to study, with the
interesting diligence of a rapacious minister, indefatigable in
the pursuit of unjust or sacrilegious, gain. “How happy,”
continues Claudian, “how happy might it be for the people of
Italy, if Mallius could be constantly awake, and if Hadrian would
always sleep!” 116 The repose of Mallius was not disturbed by
this friendly and gentle admonition; but the cruel vigilance of
Hadrian watched the opportunity of revenge, and easily obtained,
from the enemies of Stilicho, the trifling sacrifice of an
obnoxious poet. The poet concealed himself, however, during the
tumult of the revolution; and, consulting the dictates of
prudence rather than of honor, he addressed, in the form of an
epistle, a suppliant and humble recantation to the offended
præfect. He deplores, in mournful strains, the fatal
indiscretion into which he had been hurried by passion and folly;
submits to the imitation of his adversary the generous examples
of the clemency of gods, of heroes, and of lions; and expresses
his hope that the magnanimity of Hadrian will not trample on a
defenceless and contemptible foe, already humbled by disgrace and
poverty, and deeply wounded by the exile, the tortures, and the
death of his dearest friends. 117 Whatever might be the success
of his prayer, or the accidents of his future life, the period of
a few years levelled in the grave the minister and the poet: but
the name of Hadrian is almost sunk in oblivion, while Claudian is
read with pleasure in every country which has retained, or
acquired, the knowledge of the Latin language. If we fairly
balance his merits and his defects, we shall acknowledge that
Claudian does not either satisfy, or silence, our reason. It
would not be easy to produce a passage that deserves the epithet
of sublime or pathetic; to select a verse that melts the heart or
enlarges the imagination. We should vainly seek, in the poems of
Claudian, the happy invention, and artificial conduct, of an
interesting fable; or the just and lively representation of the
characters and situations of real life. For the service of his
patron, he published occasional panegyrics and invectives: and
the design of these slavish compositions encouraged his
propensity to exceed the limits of truth and nature. These
imperfections, however, are compensated in some degree by the
poetical virtues of Claudian. He was endowed with the rare and
precious talent of raising the meanest, of adorning the most
barren, and of diversifying the most similar, topics: his
coloring, more especially in descriptive poetry, is soft and
splendid; and he seldom fails to display, and even to abuse, the
advantages of a cultivated understanding, a copious fancy, an
easy, and sometimes forcible, expression; and a perpetual flow of
harmonious versification. To these commendations, independent of
any accidents of time and place, we must add the peculiar merit
which Claudian derived from the unfavorable circumstances of his
birth. In the decline of arts, and of empire, a native of Egypt,
118 who had received the education of a Greek, assumed, in a
mature age, the familiar use, and absolute command, of the Latin
language; 119 soared above the heads of his feeble
contemporaries; and placed himself, after an interval of three
hundred years, among the poets of ancient Rome. 120
114 (return) [ At the nuptials of Orpheus (a modest comparison!)
all the parts of animated nature contributed their various gifts;
and the gods themselves enriched their favorite. Claudian had
neither flocks, nor herds, nor vines, nor olives. His wealthy
bride was heiress to them all. But he carried to Africa a
recommendatory letter from Serena, his Juno, and was made happy,
(Epist. ii. ad Serenam.)]
115 (return) [ Claudian feels the honor like a man who deserved
it, (in praefat Bell. Get.) The original inscription, on marble,
was found at Rome, in the fifteenth century, in the house of
Pomponius Laetus. The statue of a poet, far superior to Claudian,
should have been erected, during his lifetime, by the men of
letters, his countrymen and contemporaries. It was a noble
design.]
116 (return) [ See Epigram xxx.
Mallius indulget somno noctesque diesque: Insomnis Pharius sacra,
profana, rapit. Omnibus, hoc, Italae gentes, exposcite votis;
Mallius ut vigilet, dormiat ut Pharius.
Hadrian was a Pharian, (of Alexandrian.) See his public life in
Godefroy, Cod. Theodos. tom. vi. p. 364. Mallius did not always
sleep. He composed some elegant dialogues on the Greek systems of
natural philosophy, (Claud, in Mall. Theodor. Cons. 61-112.)]
117 (return) [ See Claudian’s first Epistle. Yet, in some places,
an air of irony and indignation betrays his secret reluctance. *
Note: M. Beugnot has pointed out one remarkable characteristic of
Claudian’s poetry, and of the times—his extraordinary religious
indifference. Here is a poet writing at the actual crisis of the
complete triumph of the new religion, the visible extinction of
the old: if we may so speak, a strictly historical poet, whose
works, excepting his Mythological poem on the rape of Proserpine,
are confined to temporary subjects, and to the politics of his
own eventful day; yet, excepting in one or two small and
indifferent pieces, manifestly written by a Christian, and
interpolated among his poems, there is no allusion whatever to
the great religious strife. No one would know the existence of
Christianity at that period of the world, by reading the works of
Claudian. His panegyric and his satire preserve the same
religious impartiality; award their most lavish praise or their
bitterest invective on Christian or Pagan; he insults the fall of
Eugenius, and glories in the victories of Theodosius. Under the
child,—and Honorius never became more than a child,—Christianity
continued to inflict wounds more and more deadly on expiring
Paganism. Are the gods of Olympus agitated with apprehension at
the birth of this new enemy? They are introduced as rejoicing at
his appearance, and promising long years of glory. The whole
prophetic choir of Paganism, all the oracles throughout the
world, are summoned to predict the felicity of his reign. His
birth is compared to that of Apollo, but the narrow limits of an
island must not confine the new deity—
... Non littora nostro Sufficerent angusta Deo.
Augury and divination, the shrines of Ammon, and of Delphi, the
Persian Magi, and the Etruscan seers, the Chaldean astrologers,
the Sibyl herself, are described as still discharging their
prophetic functions, and celebrating the natal day of this
Christian prince. They are noble lines, as well as curious
illustrations of the times:
... Quae tunc documenta futuri? Quae voces avium? quanti per inane
volatus? Quis vatum discursus erat? Tibi corniger Ammon, Et dudum
taciti rupere silentia Delphi. Te Persae cecinere Magi, te sensit
Etruscus Augur, et inspectis Babylonius horruit astris; Chaldaei
stupuere senes, Cumanaque rursus Itonuit rupes, rabidae delubra
Sibyllae. —Claud. iv. Cons. Hon. 141.
From the Quarterly Review of Beugnot. Hist. de la Paganisme en
Occident, Q. R. v. lvii. p. 61.—M.]
118 (return) [ National vanity has made him a Florentine, or a
Spaniard. But the first Epistle of Claudian proves him a native
of Alexandria, (Fabricius, Bibliot. Latin. tom. iii. p. 191-202,
edit. Ernest.)]
119 (return) [ His first Latin verses were composed during the
consulship of Probinus, A.D. 395.
Romanos bibimus primum, te consule, fontes, Et Latiae cessit
Graia Thalia togae.
Besides some Greek epigrams, which are still extant, the Latin
poet had composed, in Greek, the Antiquities of Tarsus,
Anazarbus, Berytus, Nice, &c. It is more easy to supply the loss
of good poetry, than of authentic history.]
120 (return) [ Strada (Prolusion v. vi.) allows him to contend
with the five heroic poets, Lucretius, Virgil, Ovid, Lucan, and
Statius. His patron is the accomplished courtier Balthazar
Castiglione. His admirers are numerous and passionate. Yet the
rigid critics reproach the exotic weeds, or flowers, which spring
too luxuriantly in his Latian soil]
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part I.
Invasion Of Italy By Alaric.—Manners Of The Roman Senate And
People.—Rome Is Thrice Besieged, And At Length Pillaged, By The
Goths.—Death Of Alaric.—The Goths Evacuate Italy.—Fall Of
Constantine.—Gaul And Spain Are Occupied By The Barbarians.
—Independence Of Britain.
The incapacity of a weak and distracted government may often
assume the appearance, and produce the effects, of a treasonable
correspondence with the public enemy. If Alaric himself had been
introduced into the council of Ravenna, he would probably have
advised the same measures which were actually pursued by the
ministers of Honorius. 1 The king of the Goths would have
conspired, perhaps with some reluctance, to destroy the
formidable adversary, by whose arms, in Italy, as well as in
Greece, he had been twice overthrown. Their active and interested
hatred laboriously accomplished the disgrace and ruin of the
great Stilicho. The valor of Sarus, his fame in arms, and his
personal, or hereditary, influence over the confederate
Barbarians, could recommend him only to the friends of their
country, who despised, or detested, the worthless characters of
Turpilio, Varanes, and Vigilantius. By the pressing instances of
the new favorites, these generals, unworthy as they had shown
themselves of the names of soldiers, 2 were promoted to the
command of the cavalry, of the infantry, and of the domestic
troops. The Gothic prince would have subscribed with pleasure the
edict which the fanaticism of Olympius dictated to the simple and
devout emperor. Honorius excluded all persons, who were adverse
to the Catholic church, from holding any office in the state;
obstinately rejected the service of all those who dissented from
his religion; and rashly disqualified many of his bravest and
most skilful officers, who adhered to the Pagan worship, or who
had imbibed the opinions of Arianism. 3 These measures, so
advantageous to an enemy, Alaric would have approved, and might
perhaps have suggested; but it may seem doubtful, whether the
Barbarian would have promoted his interest at the expense of the
inhuman and absurd cruelty which was perpetrated by the
direction, or at least with the connivance of the Imperial
ministers. The foreign auxiliaries, who had been attached to the
person of Stilicho, lamented his death; but the desire of revenge
was checked by a natural apprehension for the safety of their
wives and children; who were detained as hostages in the strong
cities of Italy, where they had likewise deposited their most
valuable effects. At the same hour, and as if by a common signal,
the cities of Italy were polluted by the same horrid scenes of
universal massacre and pillage, which involved, in promiscuous
destruction, the families and fortunes of the Barbarians.
Exasperated by such an injury, which might have awakened the
tamest and most servile spirit, they cast a look of indignation
and hope towards the camp of Alaric, and unanimously swore to
pursue, with just and implacable war, the perfidious nation who
had so basely violated the laws of hospitality. By the imprudent
conduct of the ministers of Honorius, the republic lost the
assistance, and deserved the enmity, of thirty thousand of her
bravest soldiers; and the weight of that formidable army, which
alone might have determined the event of the war, was transferred
from the scale of the Romans into that of the Goths.
1 (return) [ The series of events, from the death of Stilicho to
the arrival of Alaric before Rome, can only be found in Zosimus,
l. v. p. 347-350.]
2 (return) [ The expression of Zosimus is strong and lively,
sufficient to excite the contempt of the enemy.]
3 (return) [ Eos qui catholicae sectae sunt inimici, intra
palatium militare pro hibemus. Nullus nobis sit aliqua ratione
conjunctus, qui a nobis fidest religione discordat. Cod. Theodos.
l. xvi. tit. v. leg. 42, and Godefroy’s Commentary, tom. vi. p.
164. This law was applied in the utmost latitude, and rigorously
executed. Zosimus, l. v. p. 364.]
In the arts of negotiation, as well as in those of war, the
Gothic king maintained his superior ascendant over an enemy,
whose seeming changes proceeded from the total want of counsel
and design. From his camp, on the confines of Italy, Alaric
attentively observed the revolutions of the palace, watched the
progress of faction and discontent, disguised the hostile aspect
of a Barbarian invader, and assumed the more popular appearance
of the friend and ally of the great Stilicho: to whose virtues,
when they were no longer formidable, he could pay a just tribute
of sincere praise and regret. The pressing invitation of the
malecontents, who urged the king of the Goths to invade Italy,
was enforced by a lively sense of his personal injuries; and he
might especially complain, that the Imperial ministers still
delayed and eluded the payment of the four thousand pounds of
gold which had been granted by the Roman senate, either to reward
his services, or to appease his fury. His decent firmness was
supported by an artful moderation, which contributed to the
success of his designs. He required a fair and reasonable
satisfaction; but he gave the strongest assurances, that, as soon
as he had obtained it, he would immediately retire. He refused to
trust the faith of the Romans, unless Ætius and Jason, the sons
of two great officers of state, were sent as hostages to his
camp; but he offered to deliver, in exchange, several of the
noblest youths of the Gothic nation. The modesty of Alaric was
interpreted, by the ministers of Ravenna, as a sure evidence of
his weakness and fear. They disdained either to negotiate a
treaty, or to assemble an army; and with a rash confidence,
derived only from their ignorance of the extreme danger,
irretrievably wasted the decisive moments of peace and war. While
they expected, in sullen silence, that the Barbarians would
evacuate the confines of Italy, Alaric, with bold and rapid
marches, passed the Alps and the Po; hastily pillaged the cities
of Aquileia, Altinum, Concordia, and Cremona, which yielded to
his arms; increased his forces by the accession of thirty
thousand auxiliaries; and, without meeting a single enemy in the
field, advanced as far as the edge of the morass which protected
the impregnable residence of the emperor of the West. Instead of
attempting the hopeless siege of Ravenna, the prudent leader of
the Goths proceeded to Rimini, stretched his ravages along the
sea-coast of the Hadriatic, and meditated the conquest of the
ancient mistress of the world. An Italian hermit, whose zeal and
sanctity were respected by the Barbarians themselves, encountered
the victorious monarch, and boldly denounced the indignation of
Heaven against the oppressors of the earth; but the saint himself
was confounded by the solemn asseveration of Alaric, that he felt
a secret and praeternatural impulse, which directed, and even
compelled, his march to the gates of Rome. He felt, that his
genius and his fortune were equal to the most arduous
enterprises; and the enthusiasm which he communicated to the
Goths, insensibly removed the popular, and almost superstitious,
reverence of the nations for the majesty of the Roman name. His
troops, animated by the hopes of spoil, followed the course of
the Flaminian way, occupied the unguarded passes of the Apennine,
4 descended into the rich plains of Umbria; and, as they lay
encamped on the banks of the Clitumnus, might wantonly slaughter
and devour the milk-white oxen, which had been so long reserved
for the use of Roman triumphs. A lofty situation, and a
seasonable tempest of thunder and lightning, preserved the little
city of Narni; but the king of the Goths, despising the ignoble
prey, still advanced with unabated vigor; and after he had passed
through the stately arches, adorned with the spoils of Barbaric
victories, he pitched his camp under the walls of Rome. 6
4 (return) [ Addison (see his Works, vol. ii. p. 54, edit.
Baskerville) has given a very picturesque description of the road
through the Apennine. The Goths were not at leisure to observe
the beauties of the prospect; but they were pleased to find that
the Saxa Intercisa, a narrow passage which Vespasian had cut
through the rock, (Cluver. Italia Antiq. tom. i. p. 168,) was
totally neglected.
Hine albi, Clitumne, greges, et maxima taurus Victima, saepe tuo
perfusi flumine sacro, Romanos ad templa Deum duxere triumphos.
—Georg. ii. 147.
Besides Virgil, most of the Latin poets, Propertius, Lucan,
Silius Italicus, Claudian, &c., whose passages may be found in
Cluverius and Addison, have celebrated the triumphal victims of
the Clitumnus.]
6 (return) [ Some ideas of the march of Alaric are borrowed from
the journey of Honorius over the same ground. (See Claudian in
vi. Cons. Hon. 494-522.) The measured distance between Ravenna
and Rome was 254 Roman miles. Itinerar. Wesseling, p. 126.]
During a period of six hundred and nineteen years, the seat of
empire had never been violated by the presence of a foreign
enemy. The unsuccessful expedition of Hannibal 7 served only to
display the character of the senate and people; of a senate
degraded, rather than ennobled, by the comparison of an assembly
of kings; and of a people, to whom the ambassador of Pyrrhus
ascribed the inexhaustible resources of the Hydra. 8 Each of the
senators, in the time of the Punic war, had accomplished his term
of the military service, either in a subordinate or a superior
station; and the decree, which invested with temporary command
all those who had been consuls, or censors, or dictators, gave
the republic the immediate assistance of many brave and
experienced generals. In the beginning of the war, the Roman
people consisted of two hundred and fifty thousand citizens of an
age to bear arms. 9 Fifty thousand had already died in the
defence of their country; and the twenty-three legions which were
employed in the different camps of Italy, Greece, Sardinia,
Sicily, and Spain, required about one hundred thousand men. But
there still remained an equal number in Rome, and the adjacent
territory, who were animated by the same intrepid courage; and
every citizen was trained, from his earliest youth, in the
discipline and exercises of a soldier. Hannibal was astonished by
the constancy of the senate, who, without raising the siege of
Capua, or recalling their scattered forces, expected his
approach. He encamped on the banks of the Anio, at the distance
of three miles from the city; and he was soon informed, that the
ground on which he had pitched his tent, was sold for an adequate
price at a public auction; 911 and that a body of troops was
dismissed by an opposite road, to reenforce the legions of Spain.
10 He led his Africans to the gates of Rome, where he found three
armies in order of battle, prepared to receive him; but Hannibal
dreaded the event of a combat, from which he could not hope to
escape, unless he destroyed the last of his enemies; and his
speedy retreat confessed the invincible courage of the Romans.
7 (return) [ The march and retreat of Hannibal are described by
Livy, l. xxvi. c. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11; and the reader is made a
spectator of the interesting scene.]
8 (return) [ These comparisons were used by Cyneas, the
counsellor of Pyrrhus, after his return from his embassy, in
which he had diligently studied the discipline and manners of
Rome. See Plutarch in Pyrrho. tom. ii. p. 459.]
9 (return) [ In the three census which were made of the Roman
people, about the time of the second Punic war, the numbers stand
as follows, (see Livy, Epitom. l. xx. Hist. l. xxvii. 36. xxix.
37:) 270,213, 137,108 214,000. The fall of the second, and the
rise of the third, appears so enormous, that several critics,
notwithstanding the unanimity of the Mss., have suspected some
corruption of the text of Livy. (See Drakenborch ad xxvii. 36,
and Beaufort, Republique Romaine, tom. i. p. 325.) They did not
consider that the second census was taken only at Rome, and that
the numbers were diminished, not only by the death, but likewise
by the absence, of many soldiers. In the third census, Livy
expressly affirms, that the legions were mustered by the care of
particular commissaries. From the numbers on the list we must
always deduct one twelfth above threescore, and incapable of
bearing arms. See Population de la France, p. 72.]
911 (return) [ Compare the remarkable transaction in Jeremiah
xxxii. 6, to 44, where the prophet purchases his uncle’s estate
at the approach of the Babylonian captivity, in his undoubting
confidence in the future restoration of the people. In the one
case it is the triumph of religious faith, in the other of
national pride.—M.]
10 (return) [ Livy considers these two incidents as the effects
only of chance and courage. I suspect that they were both managed
by the admirable policy of the senate.]
From the time of the Punic war, the uninterrupted succession of
senators had preserved the name and image of the republic; and
the degenerate subjects of Honorius ambitiously derived their
descent from the heroes who had repulsed the arms of Hannibal,
and subdued the nations of the earth. The temporal honors which
the devout Paula 11 inherited and despised, are carefully
recapitulated by Jerom, the guide of her conscience, and the
historian of her life. The genealogy of her father, Rogatus,
which ascended as high as Agamemnon, might seem to betray a
Grecian origin; but her mother, Blaesilla, numbered the Scipios,
Aemilius Paulus, and the Gracchi, in the list of her ancestors;
and Toxotius, the husband of Paula, deduced his royal lineage
from Aeneas, the father of the Julian line. The vanity of the
rich, who desired to be noble, was gratified by these lofty
pretensions. Encouraged by the applause of their parasites, they
easily imposed on the credulity of the vulgar; and were
countenanced, in some measure, by the custom of adopting the name
of their patron, which had always prevailed among the freedmen
and clients of illustrious families. Most of those families,
however, attacked by so many causes of external violence or
internal decay, were gradually extirpated; and it would be more
reasonable to seek for a lineal descent of twenty generations,
among the mountains of the Alps, or in the peaceful solitude of
Apulia, than on the theatre of Rome, the seat of fortune, of
danger, and of perpetual revolutions. Under each successive
reign, and from every province of the empire, a crowd of hardy
adventurers, rising to eminence by their talents or their vices,
usurped the wealth, the honors, and the palaces of Rome; and
oppressed, or protected, the poor and humble remains of consular
families; who were ignorant, perhaps, of the glory of their
ancestors. 12
11 (return) [ See Jerom, tom. i. p. 169, 170, ad Eustochium; he
bestows on Paula the splendid titles of Gracchorum stirps,
soboles Scipionum, Pauli haeres, cujus vocabulum trahit, Martiae
Papyriae Matris Africani vera et germana propago. This particular
description supposes a more solid title than the surname of
Julius, which Toxotius shared with a thousand families of the
western provinces. See the Index of Tacitus, of Gruter’s
Inscriptions, &c.]
12 (return) [ Tacitus (Annal. iii. 55) affirms, that between the
battle of Actium and the reign of Vespasian, the senate was
gradually filled with new families from the Municipia and
colonies of Italy.]
In the time of Jerom and Claudian, the senators unanimously
yielded the preeminence to the Anician line; and a slight view of
their history will serve to appreciate the rank and antiquity of
the noble families, which contended only for the second place. 13
During the five first ages of the city, the name of the Anicians
was unknown; they appear to have derived their origin from
Praeneste; and the ambition of those new citizens was long
satisfied with the Plebeian honors of tribunes of the people. 14
One hundred and sixty-eight years before the Christian era, the
family was ennobled by the Prætorship of Anicius, who gloriously
terminated the Illyrian war, by the conquest of the nation, and
the captivity of their king. 15 From the triumph of that general,
three consulships, in distant periods, mark the succession of the
Anician name. 16 From the reign of Diocletian to the final
extinction of the Western empire, that name shone with a lustre
which was not eclipsed, in the public estimation, by the majesty
of the Imperial purple. 17 The several branches, to whom it was
communicated, united, by marriage or inheritance, the wealth and
titles of the Annian, the Petronian, and the Olybrian houses; and
in each generation the number of consulships was multiplied by an
hereditary claim. 18 The Anician family excelled in faith and in
riches: they were the first of the Roman senate who embraced
Christianity; and it is probable that Anicius Julian, who was
afterwards consul and præfect of the city, atoned for his
attachment to the party of Maxentius, by the readiness with which
he accepted the religion of Constantine. 19 Their ample patrimony
was increased by the industry of Probus, the chief of the Anician
family; who shared with Gratian the honors of the consulship, and
exercised, four times, the high office of Prætorian præfect. 20
His immense estates were scattered over the wide extent of the
Roman world; and though the public might suspect or disapprove
the methods by which they had been acquired, the generosity and
magnificence of that fortunate statesman deserved the gratitude
of his clients, and the admiration of strangers. 21 Such was the
respect entertained for his memory, that the two sons of Probus,
in their earliest youth, and at the request of the senate, were
associated in the consular dignity; a memorable distinction,
without example, in the annals of Rome. 22
13 (return) [
Nec quisquam Procerum tentet (licet aere vetusto Floreat, et claro
cingatur Roma senatu) Se jactare parem; sed prima sede relicta
Aucheniis, de jure licet certare secundo. —-Claud. in Prob. et
Olybrii Coss. 18.
Such a compliment paid to the obscure name of the Auchenii has
amazed the critics; but they all agree, that whatever may be the
true reading, the sense of Claudian can be applied only to the
Anician family.]
14 (return) [ The earliest date in the annals of Pighius, is that
of M. Anicius Gallus. Trib. Pl. A. U. C. 506. Another tribune, Q.
Anicius, A. U. C. 508, is distinguished by the epithet of
Praenestinus. Livy (xlv. 43) places the Anicii below the great
families of Rome.]
15 (return) [ Livy, xliv. 30, 31, xlv. 3, 26, 43. He fairly
appreciates the merit of Anicius, and justly observes, that his
fame was clouded by the superior lustre of the Macedonian, which
preceded the Illyrian triumph.]
16 (return) [ The dates of the three consulships are, A. U. C.
593, 818, 967 the two last under the reigns of Nero and
Caracalla. The second of these consuls distinguished himself only
by his infamous flattery, (Tacit. Annal. xv. 74;) but even the
evidence of crimes, if they bear the stamp of greatness and
antiquity, is admitted, without reluctance, to prove the
genealogy of a noble house.]
17 (return) [ In the sixth century, the nobility of the Anician
name is mentioned (Cassiodor. Variar. l. x. Ep. 10, 12) with
singular respect by the minister of a Gothic king of Italy.]
18 (return) [
Fixus in omnes Cognatos procedit honos; quemcumque requiras Hac de
stirpe virum, certum est de Consule nasci. Per fasces numerantur
Avi, semperque renata Nobilitate virent, et prolem fata sequuntur.
(Claudian in Prob. et Olyb. Consulat. 12, &c.) The Annii, whose
name seems to have merged in the Anician, mark the Fasti with
many consulships, from the time of Vespasian to the fourth
century.]
19 (return) [ The title of first Christian senator may be
justified by the authority of Prudentius (in Symmach. i. 553) and
the dislike of the Pagans to the Anician family. See Tillemont,
Hist. des Empereurs, tom. iv. p. 183, v. p. 44. Baron. Annal.
A.D. 312, No. 78, A.D. 322, No. 2.]
20 (return) [ Probus... claritudine generis et potentia et opum
magnitudine, cognitus Orbi Romano, per quem universum poene
patrimonia sparsa possedit, juste an secus non judicioli est
nostri. Ammian Marcellin. xxvii. 11. His children and widow
erected for him a magnificent tomb in the Vatican, which was
demolished in the time of Pope Nicholas V. to make room for the
new church of St. Peter Baronius, who laments the ruin of this
Christian monument, has diligently preserved the inscriptions and
basso-relievos. See Annal. Eccles. A.D. 395, No. 5-17.]
21 (return) [ Two Persian satraps travelled to Milan and Rome, to
hear St. Ambrose, and to see Probus, (Paulin. in Vit. Ambros.)
Claudian (in Cons. Probin. et Olybr. 30-60) seems at a loss how
to express the glory of Probus.]
22 (return) [ See the poem which Claudian addressed to the two
noble youths.]
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part II.
“The marbles of the Anician palace,” were used as a proverbial
expression of opulence and splendor; 23 but the nobles and
senators of Rome aspired, in due gradation, to imitate that
illustrious family. The accurate description of the city, which
was composed in the Theodosian age, enumerates one thousand seven
hundred and eighty houses, the residence of wealthy and honorable
citizens. 24 Many of these stately mansions might almost excuse
the exaggeration of the poet; that Rome contained a multitude of
palaces, and that each palace was equal to a city: since it
included within its own precincts every thing which could be
subservient either to use or luxury; markets, hippodromes,
temples, fountains, baths, porticos, shady groves, and artificial
aviaries. 25 The historian Olympiodorus, who represents the state
of Rome when it was besieged by the Goths, 26 continues to
observe, that several of the richest senators received from their
estates an annual income of four thousand pounds of gold, above
one hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling; without computing
the stated provision of corn and wine, which, had they been sold,
might have equalled in value one third of the money. Compared to
this immoderate wealth, an ordinary revenue of a thousand or
fifteen hundred pounds of gold might be considered as no more
than adequate to the dignity of the senatorian rank, which
required many expenses of a public and ostentatious kind. Several
examples are recorded, in the age of Honorius, of vain and
popular nobles, who celebrated the year of their praetorship by a
festival, which lasted seven days, and cost above one hundred
thousand pounds sterling. 27 The estates of the Roman senators,
which so far exceeded the proportion of modern wealth, were not
confined to the limits of Italy. Their possessions extended far
beyond the Ionian and Aegean Seas, to the most distant provinces:
the city of Nicopolis, which Augustus had founded as an eternal
monument of the Actian victory, was the property of the devout
Paula; 28 and it is observed by Seneca, that the rivers, which
had divided hostile nations, now flowed through the lands of
private citizens. 29 According to their temper and circumstances,
the estates of the Romans were either cultivated by the labor of
their slaves, or granted, for a certain and stipulated rent, to
the industrious farmer. The economical writers of antiquity
strenuously recommend the former method, wherever it may be
practicable; but if the object should be removed, by its distance
or magnitude, from the immediate eye of the master, they prefer
the active care of an old hereditary tenant, attached to the
soil, and interested in the produce, to the mercenary
administration of a negligent, perhaps an unfaithful, steward. 30
23 (return) [ Secundinus, the Manichaean, ap. Baron. Annal.
Eccles. A.D. 390, No. 34.]
24 (return) [ See Nardini, Roma Antica, p. 89, 498, 500.]
25 (return) [
Quid loquar inclusas inter laquearia sylvas; Vernula queis vario
carmine ludit avis.
Claud. Rutil. Numatian. Itinerar. ver. 111. The poet lived at the
time of the Gothic invasion. A moderate palace would have covered
Cincinnatus’s farm of four acres (Val. Max. iv. 4.) In laxitatem
ruris excurrunt, says Seneca, Epist. 114. See a judicious note of
Mr. Hume, Essays, vol. i. p. 562, last 8vo edition.]
26 (return) [ This curious account of Rome, in the reign of
Honorius, is found in a fragment of the historian Olympiodorus,
ap. Photium, p. 197.]
27 (return) [ The sons of Alypius, of Symmachus, and of Maximus,
spent, during their respective praetorships, twelve, or twenty,
or forty, centenaries, (or hundred weight of gold.) See
Olympiodor. ap. Phot. p. 197. This popular estimation allows some
latitude; but it is difficult to explain a law in the Theodosian
Code, (l. vi. leg. 5,) which fixes the expense of the first
praetor at 25,000, of the second at 20,000, and of the third at
15,000 folles. The name of follis (see Mem. de l’Academie des
Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 727) was equally applied to a purse
of 125 pieces of silver, and to a small copper coin of the value
of 1/2625 part of that purse. In the former sense, the 25,000
folles would be equal to 150,000 L.; in the latter, to five or
six ponuds sterling The one appears extravagant, the other is
ridiculous. There must have existed some third and middle value,
which is here understood; but ambiguity is an excusable fault in
the language of laws.]
28 (return) [ Nicopolis...... in Actiaco littore sita
possessioris vestra nunc pars vel maxima est. Jerom. in Praefat.
Comment. ad Epistol. ad Titum, tom. ix. p. 243. M. D. Tillemont
supposes, strangely enough, that it was part of Agamemnon’s
inheritance. Mem. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 85.]
29 (return) [ Seneca, Epist. lxxxix. His language is of the
declamatory kind: but declamation could scarcely exaggerate the
avarice and luxury of the Romans. The philosopher himself
deserved some share of the reproach, if it be true that his
rigorous exaction of Quadringenties, above three hundred thousand
pounds which he had lent at high interest, provoked a rebellion
in Britain, (Dion Cassius, l. lxii. p. 1003.) According to the
conjecture of Gale (Antoninus’s Itinerary in Britain, p. 92,) the
same Faustinus possessed an estate near Bury, in Suffolk and
another in the kingdom of Naples.]
30 (return) [ Volusius, a wealthy senator, (Tacit. Annal. iii.
30,) always preferred tenants born on the estate. Columella, who
received this maxim from him, argues very judiciously on the
subject. De Re Rustica, l. i. c. 7, p. 408, edit. Gesner.
Leipsig, 1735.]
The opulent nobles of an immense capital, who were never excited
by the pursuit of military glory, and seldom engaged in the
occupations of civil government, naturally resigned their leisure
to the business and amusements of private life. At Rome, commerce
was always held in contempt: but the senators, from the first age
of the republic, increased their patrimony, and multiplied their
clients, by the lucrative practice of usury; and the obselete
laws were eluded, or violated, by the mutual inclinations and
interest of both parties. 31 A considerable mass of treasure must
always have existed at Rome, either in the current coin of the
empire, or in the form of gold and silver plate; and there were
many sideboards in the time of Pliny which contained more solid
silver, than had been transported by Scipio from vanquished
Carthage. 32 The greater part of the nobles, who dissipated their
fortunes in profuse luxury, found themselves poor in the midst of
wealth, and idle in a constant round of dissipation. Their
desires were continually gratified by the labor of a thousand
hands; of the numerous train of their domestic slaves, who were
actuated by the fear of punishment; and of the various
professions of artificers and merchants, who were more powerfully
impelled by the hopes of gain. The ancients were destitute of
many of the conveniences of life, which have been invented or
improved by the progress of industry; and the plenty of glass and
linen has diffused more real comforts among the modern nations of
Europe, than the senators of Rome could derive from all the
refinements of pompous or sensual luxury. 33 Their luxury, and
their manners, have been the subject of minute and laborious
disposition: but as such inquiries would divert me too long from
the design of the present work, I shall produce an authentic
state of Rome and its inhabitants, which is more peculiarly
applicable to the period of the Gothic invasion. Ammianus
Marcellinus, who prudently chose the capital of the empire as the
residence the best adapted to the historian of his own times, has
mixed with the narrative of public events a lively representation
of the scenes with which he was familiarly conversant. The
judicious reader will not always approve of the asperity of
censure, the choice of circumstances, or the style of expression;
he will perhaps detect the latent prejudices, and personal
resentments, which soured the temper of Ammianus himself; but he
will surely observe, with philosophic curiosity, the interesting
and original picture of the manners of Rome. 34
31 (return) [ Valesius (ad Ammian. xiv. 6) has proved, from
Chrysostom and Augustin, that the senators were not allowed to
lend money at usury. Yet it appears from the Theodosian Code,
(see Godefroy ad l. ii. tit. xxxiii. tom. i. p. 230-289,) that
they were permitted to take six percent., or one half of the
legal interest; and, what is more singular, this permission was
granted to the young senators.]
32 (return) [ Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 50. He states the silver
at only 4380 pounds, which is increased by Livy (xxx. 45) to
100,023: the former seems too little for an opulent city, the
latter too much for any private sideboard.]
33 (return) [ The learned Arbuthnot (Tables of Ancient Coins, &c.
p. 153) has observed with humor, and I believe with truth, that
Augustus had neither glass to his windows, nor a shirt to his
back. Under the lower empire, the use of linen and glass became
somewhat more common. * Note: The discovery of glass in such
common use at Pompeii, spoils the argument of Arbuthnot. See Sir
W. Gell. Pompeiana, 2d ser. p. 98.—M.]
34 (return) [ It is incumbent on me to explain the liberties
which I have taken with the text of Ammianus. 1. I have melted
down into one piece the sixth chapter of the fourteenth and the
fourth of the twenty-eighth book. 2. I have given order and
connection to the confused mass of materials. 3. I have softened
some extravagant hyperbeles, and pared away some superfluities of
the original. 4. I have developed some observations which were
insinuated rather than expressed. With these allowances, my
version will be found, not literal indeed, but faithful and
exact.]
“The greatness of Rome”—such is the language of the
historian—“was founded on the rare, and almost incredible,
alliance of virtue and of fortune. The long period of her infancy
was employed in a laborious struggle against the tribes of Italy,
the neighbors and enemies of the rising city. In the strength and
ardor of youth, she sustained the storms of war; carried her
victorious arms beyond the seas and the mountains; and brought
home triumphal laurels from every country of the globe. At
length, verging towards old age, and sometimes conquering by the
terror only of her name, she sought the blessings of ease and
tranquillity. The venerable city, which had trampled on the necks
of the fiercest nations, and established a system of laws, the
perpetual guardians of justice and freedom, was content, like a
wise and wealthy parent, to devolve on the Caesars, her favorite
sons, the care of governing her ample patrimony. 35 A secure and
profound peace, such as had been once enjoyed in the reign of
Numa, succeeded to the tumults of a republic; while Rome was
still adored as the queen of the earth; and the subject nations
still reverenced the name of the people, and the majesty of the
senate. But this native splendor,” continues Ammianus, “is
degraded, and sullied, by the conduct of some nobles, who,
unmindful of their own dignity, and of that of their country,
assume an unbounded license of vice and folly. They contend with
each other in the empty vanity of titles and surnames; and
curiously select, or invent, the most lofty and sonorous
appellations, Reburrus, or Fabunius, Pagonius, or Tarasius, 36
which may impress the ears of the vulgar with astonishment and
respect. From a vain ambition of perpetuating their memory, they
affect to multiply their likeness, in statues of bronze and
marble; nor are they satisfied, unless those statues are covered
with plates of gold; an honorable distinction, first granted to
Acilius the consul, after he had subdued, by his arms and
counsels, the power of King Antiochus. The ostentation of
displaying, of magnifying, perhaps, the rent-roll of the estates
which they possess in all the provinces, from the rising to the
setting sun, provokes the just resentment of every man, who
recollects, that their poor and invincible ancestors were not
distinguished from the meanest of the soldiers, by the delicacy
of their food, or the splendor of their apparel. But the modern
nobles measure their rank and consequence according to the
loftiness of their chariots, 37 and the weighty magnificence of
their dress. Their long robes of silk and purple float in the
wind; and as they are agitated, by art or accident, they
occasionally discover the under garments, the rich tunics,
embroidered with the figures of various animals. 38 Followed by a
train of fifty servants, and tearing up the pavement, they move
along the streets with the same impetuous speed as if they
travelled with post-horses; and the example of the senators is
boldly imitated by the matrons and ladies, whose covered
carriages are continually driving round the immense space of the
city and suburbs. Whenever these persons of high distinction
condescend to visit the public baths, they assume, on their
entrance, a tone of loud and insolent command, and appropriate to
their own use the conveniences which were designed for the Roman
people. If, in these places of mixed and general resort, they
meet any of the infamous ministers of their pleasures, they
express their affection by a tender embrace; while they proudly
decline the salutations of their fellow-citizens, who are not
permitted to aspire above the honor of kissing their hands, or
their knees. As soon as they have indulged themselves in the
refreshment of the bath, they resume their rings, and the other
ensigns of their dignity, select from their private wardrobe of
the finest linen, such as might suffice for a dozen persons, the
garments the most agreeable to their fancy, and maintain till
their departure the same haughty demeanor; which perhaps might
have been excused in the great Marcellus, after the conquest of
Syracuse. Sometimes, indeed, these heroes undertake more arduous
achievements; they visit their estates in Italy, and procure
themselves, by the toil of servile hands, the amusements of the
chase. 39 If at any time, but more especially on a hot day, they
have courage to sail, in their painted galleys, from the Lucrine
Lake 40 to their elegant villas on the seacoast of Puteoli and
Cayeta, 41 they compare their own expeditions to the marches of
Caesar and Alexander. Yet should a fly presume to settle on the
silken folds of their gilded umbrellas; should a sunbeam
penetrate through some unguarded and imperceptible chink, they
deplore their intolerable hardships, and lament, in affected
language, that they were not born in the land of the Cimmerians,
42 the regions of eternal darkness. In these journeys into the
country, 43 the whole body of the household marches with their
master. In the same manner as the cavalry and infantry, the heavy
and the light armed troops, the advanced guard and the rear, are
marshalled by the skill of their military leaders; so the
domestic officers, who bear a rod, as an ensign of authority,
distribute and arrange the numerous train of slaves and
attendants. The baggage and wardrobe move in the front; and are
immediately followed by a multitude of cooks, and inferior
ministers, employed in the service of the kitchens, and of the
table. The main body is composed of a promiscuous crowd of
slaves, increased by the accidental concourse of idle or
dependent plebeians. The rear is closed by the favorite band of
eunuchs, distributed from age to youth, according to the order of
seniority. Their numbers and their deformity excite the horror of
the indignant spectators, who are ready to execrate the memory of
Semiramis, for the cruel art which she invented, of frustrating
the purposes of nature, and of blasting in the bud the hopes of
future generations. In the exercise of domestic jurisdiction, the
nobles of Rome express an exquisite sensibility for any personal
injury, and a contemptuous indifference for the rest of the human
species. When they have called for warm water, if a slave has
been tardy in his obedience, he is instantly chastised with three
hundred lashes: but should the same slave commit a wilful murder,
the master will mildly observe, that he is a worthless fellow;
but that, if he repeats the offence, he shall not escape
punishment. Hospitality was formerly the virtue of the Romans;
and every stranger, who could plead either merit or misfortune,
was relieved, or rewarded by their generosity. At present, if a
foreigner, perhaps of no contemptible rank, is introduced to one
of the proud and wealthy senators, he is welcomed indeed in the
first audience, with such warm professions, and such kind
inquiries, that he retires, enchanted with the affability of his
illustrious friend, and full of regret that he had so long
delayed his journey to Rome, the active seat of manners, as well
as of empire. Secure of a favorable reception, he repeats his
visit the ensuing day, and is mortified by the discovery, that
his person, his name, and his country, are already forgotten. If
he still has resolution to persevere, he is gradually numbered in
the train of dependants, and obtains the permission to pay his
assiduous and unprofitable court to a haughty patron, incapable
of gratitude or friendship; who scarcely deigns to remark his
presence, his departure, or his return. Whenever the rich prepare
a solemn and popular entertainment; 44 whenever they celebrate,
with profuse and pernicious luxury, their private banquets; the
choice of the guests is the subject of anxious deliberation. The
modest, the sober, and the learned, are seldom preferred; and the
nomenclators, who are commonly swayed by interested motives, have
the address to insert, in the list of invitations, the obscure
names of the most worthless of mankind. But the frequent and
familiar companions of the great, are those parasites, who
practise the most useful of all arts, the art of flattery; who
eagerly applaud each word, and every action, of their immortal
patron; gaze with rapture on his marble columns and variegated
pavements; and strenuously praise the pomp and elegance which he
is taught to consider as a part of his personal merit. At the
Roman tables, the birds, the squirrels, 45 or the fish, which
appear of an uncommon size, are contemplated with curious
attention; a pair of scales is accurately applied, to ascertain
their real weight; and, while the more rational guests are
disgusted by the vain and tedious repetition, notaries are
summoned to attest, by an authentic record, the truth of such a
marvelous event. Another method of introduction into the houses
and society of the great, is derived from the profession of
gaming, or, as it is more politely styled, of play. The
confederates are united by a strict and indissoluble bond of
friendship, or rather of conspiracy; a superior degree of skill
in the Tesserarian art (which may be interpreted the game of dice
and tables) 46 is a sure road to wealth and reputation. A master
of that sublime science, who in a supper, or assembly, is placed
below a magistrate, displays in his countenance the surprise and
indignation which Cato might be supposed to feel, when he was
refused the praetorship by the votes of a capricious people. The
acquisition of knowledge seldom engages the curiosity of nobles,
who abhor the fatigue, and disdain the advantages, of study; and
the only books which they peruse are the Satires of Juvenal, and
the verbose and fabulous histories of Marius Maximus. 47 The
libraries, which they have inherited from their fathers, are
secluded, like dreary sepulchres, from the light of day. 48 But
the costly instruments of the theatre, flutes, and enormous
lyres, and hydraulic organs, are constructed for their use; and
the harmony of vocal and instrumental music is incessantly
repeated in the palaces of Rome. In those palaces, sound is
preferred to sense, and the care of the body to that of the
mind.”
It is allowed as a salutary maxim, that the light and frivolous
suspicion of a contagious malady, is of sufficient weight to
excuse the visits of the most intimate friends; and even the
servants, who are despatched to make the decent inquiries, are
not suffered to return home, till they have undergone the
ceremony of a previous ablution. Yet this selfish and unmanly
delicacy occasionally yields to the more imperious passion of
avarice. The prospect of gain will urge a rich and gouty senator
as far as Spoleto; every sentiment of arrogance and dignity is
subdued by the hopes of an inheritance, or even of a legacy; and
a wealthy childless citizen is the most powerful of the Romans.
The art of obtaining the signature of a favorable testament, and
sometimes of hastening the moment of its execution, is perfectly
understood; and it has happened, that in the same house, though
in different apartments, a husband and a wife, with the laudable
design of overreaching each other, have summoned their respective
lawyers, to declare, at the same time, their mutual, but
contradictory, intentions. The distress which follows and
chastises extravagant luxury, often reduces the great to the use
of the most humiliating expedients. When they desire to borrow,
they employ the base and supplicating style of the slave in the
comedy; but when they are called upon to pay, they assume the
royal and tragic declamation of the grandsons of Hercules. If the
demand is repeated, they readily procure some trusty sycophant,
instructed to maintain a charge of poison, or magic, against the
insolent creditor; who is seldom released from prison, till he
has signed a discharge of the whole debt. These vices, which
degrade the moral character of the Romans, are mixed with a
puerile superstition, that disgraces their understanding. They
listen with confidence to the predictions of haruspices, who
pretend to read, in the entrails of victims, the signs of future
greatness and prosperity; and there are many who do not presume
either to bathe, or to dine, or to appear in public, till they
have diligently consulted, according to the rules of astrology,
the situation of Mercury, and the aspect of the moon. 49 It is
singular enough, that this vain credulity may often be discovered
among the profane sceptics, who impiously doubt, or deny, the
existence of a celestial power.”
35 (return) [ Claudian, who seems to have read the history of
Ammianus, speaks of this great revolution in a much less courtly
style:—
Postquam jura ferox in se communia Caesar Transtulit; et lapsi
mores; desuetaque priscis Artibus, in gremium pacis servile
recessi. —De Be. Gildonico, p. 49.]
36 (return) [ The minute diligence of antiquarians has not been
able to verify these extraordinary names. I am of opinion that
they were invented by the historian himself, who was afraid of
any personal satire or application. It is certain, however, that
the simple denominations of the Romans were gradually lengthened
to the number of four, five, or even seven, pompous surnames; as,
for instance, Marcus Maecius Maemmius Furius Balburius
Caecilianus Placidus. See Noris Cenotaph Piran Dissert. iv. p.
438.]
37 (return) [ The or coaches of the romans, were often of solid
silver, curiously carved and engraved; and the trappings of the
mules, or horses, were embossed with gold. This magnificence
continued from the reign of Nero to that of Honorius; and the
Appian way was covered with the splendid equipages of the nobles,
who came out to meet St. Melania, when she returned to Rome, six
years before the Gothic siege, (Seneca, epist. lxxxvii. Plin.
Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 49. Paulin. Nolan. apud Baron. Annal.
Eccles. A.D. 397, No. 5.) Yet pomp is well exchange for
convenience; and a plain modern coach, that is hung upon springs,
is much preferable to the silver or gold carts of antiquity,
which rolled on the axle-tree, and were exposed, for the most
part, to the inclemency of the weather.]
38 (return) [ In a homily of Asterius, bishop of Amasia, M. de
Valois has discovered (ad Ammian. xiv. 6) that this was a new
fashion; that bears, wolves lions, and tigers, woods,
hunting-matches, &c., were represented in embroidery: and that
the more pious coxcombs substituted the figure or legend of some
favorite saint.]
39 (return) [ See Pliny’s Epistles, i. 6. Three large wild boars
were allured and taken in the toils without interrupting the
studies of the philosophic sportsman.]
40 (return) [ The change from the inauspicious word Avernus,
which stands in the text, is immaterial. The two lakes, Avernus
and Lucrinus, communicated with each other, and were fashioned by
the stupendous moles of Agrippa into the Julian port, which
opened, through a narrow entrance, into the Gulf of Puteoli.
Virgil, who resided on the spot, has described (Georgic ii. 161)
this work at the moment of its execution: and his commentators,
especially Catrou, have derived much light from Strabo,
Suetonius, and Dion. Earthquakes and volcanoes have changed the
face of the country, and turned the Lucrine Lake, since the year
1538, into the Monte Nuovo. See Camillo Pellegrino Discorsi della
Campania Felice, p. 239, 244, &c. Antonii Sanfelicii Campania, p.
13, 88—Note: Compare Lyell’s Geology, ii. 72.—M.]
41 (return) [ The regna Cumana et Puteolana; loca caetiroqui
valde expe tenda, interpellantium autem multitudine paene
fugienda. Cicero ad Attic. xvi. 17.]
42 (return) [ The proverbial expression of Cimmerian darkness was
originally borrowed from the description of Homer, (in the
eleventh book of the Odyssey,) which he applies to a remote and
fabulous country on the shores of the ocean. See Erasmi Adagia,
in his works, tom. ii. p. 593, the Leyden edition.]
43 (return) [ We may learn from Seneca (epist. cxxiii.) three
curious circumstances relative to the journeys of the Romans. 1.
They were preceded by a troop of Numidian light horse, who
announced, by a cloud of dust, the approach of a great man. 2.
Their baggage mules transported not only the precious vases, but
even the fragile vessels of crystal and murra, which last is
almost proved, by the learned French translator of Seneca, (tom.
iii. p. 402-422,) to mean the porcelain of China and Japan. 3.
The beautiful faces of the young slaves were covered with a
medicated crust, or ointment, which secured them against the
effects of the sun and frost.]
44 (return) [ Distributio solemnium sportularum. The sportuloe,
or sportelloe, were small baskets, supposed to contain a quantity
of hot provisions of the value of 100 quadrantes, or twelvepence
halfpenny, which were ranged in order in the hall, and
ostentatiously distributed to the hungry or servile crowd who
waited at the door. This indelicate custom is very frequently
mentioned in the epigrams of Martial, and the satires of Juvenal.
See likewise Suetonius, in Claud. c. 21, in Neron. c. 16, in
Domitian, c. 4, 7. These baskets of provisions were afterwards
converted into large pieces of gold and silver coin, or plate,
which were mutually given and accepted even by persons of the
highest rank, (see Symmach. epist. iv. 55, ix. 124, and Miscell.
p. 256,) on solemn occasions, of consulships, marriages, &c.]
45 (return) [ The want of an English name obliges me to refer to
the common genus of squirrels, the Latin glis, the French loir; a
little animal, who inhabits the woods, and remains torpid in cold
weather, (see Plin. Hist. Natur. viii. 82. Buffon, Hist.
Naturelle, tom. viii. 153. Pennant’s Synopsis of Quadrupeds, p.
289.) The art of rearing and fattening great numbers of glires
was practised in Roman villas as a profitable article of rural
economy, (Varro, de Re Rustica, iii. 15.) The excessive demand of
them for luxurious tables was increased by the foolish
prohibitions of the censors; and it is reported that they are
still esteemed in modern Rome, and are frequently sent as
presents by the Colonna princes, (see Brotier, the last editor of
Pliny tom. ii. p. 453. epud Barbou, 1779.)—Note: Is it not the
dormouse?—M.]
46 (return) [ This game, which might be translated by the more
familiar names of trictrac, or backgammon, was a favorite
amusement of the gravest Romans; and old Mucius Scaevola, the
lawyer, had the reputation of a very skilful player. It was
called ludus duodecim scriptorum, from the twelve scripta, or
lines, which equally divided the alvevolus or table. On these,
the two armies, the white and the black, each consisting of
fifteen men, or catculi, were regularly placed, and alternately
moved according to the laws of the game, and the chances of the
tesseroe, or dice. Dr. Hyde, who diligently traces the history
and varieties of the nerdiludium (a name of Persic etymology)
from Ireland to Japan, pours forth, on this trifling subject, a
copious torrent of classic and Oriental learning. See Syntagma
Dissertat. tom. ii. p. 217-405.]
47 (return) [ Marius Maximus, homo omnium verbosissimus, qui, et
mythistoricis se voluminibus implicavit. Vopiscus in Hist.
August. p. 242. He wrote the lives of the emperors, from Trajan
to Alexander Severus. See Gerard Vossius de Historicis Latin. l.
ii. c. 3, in his works, vol. iv. p. 47.]
48 (return) [ This satire is probably exaggerated. The Saturnalia
of Macrobius, and the epistles of Jerom, afford satisfactory
proofs, that Christian theology and classic literature were
studiously cultivated by several Romans, of both sexes, and of
the highest rank.]
49 (return) [ Macrobius, the friend of these Roman nobles,
considered the siara as the cause, or at least the signs, of
future events, (de Somn. Scipion l. i. c 19. p. 68.)]
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part III.
In populous cities, which are the seat of commerce and
manufactures, the middle ranks of inhabitants, who derive their
subsistence from the dexterity or labor of their hands, are
commonly the most prolific, the most useful, and, in that sense,
the most respectable part of the community. But the plebeians of
Rome, who disdained such sedentary and servile arts, had been
oppressed from the earliest times by the weight of debt and
usury; and the husbandman, during the term of his military
service, was obliged to abandon the cultivation of his farm. 50
The lands of Italy which had been originally divided among the
families of free and indigent proprietors, were insensibly
purchased or usurped by the avarice of the nobles; and in the age
which preceded the fall of the republic, it was computed that
only two thousand citizens were possessed of an independent
substance. 51 Yet as long as the people bestowed, by their
suffrages, the honors of the state, the command of the legions,
and the administration of wealthy provinces, their conscious
pride alleviated in some measure, the hardships of poverty; and
their wants were seasonably supplied by the ambitious liberality
of the candidates, who aspired to secure a venal majority in the
thirty-five tribes, or the hundred and ninety-three centuries, of
Rome. But when the prodigal commons had not only imprudently
alienated the use, but the inheritance of power, they sunk, under
the reign of the Caesars, into a vile and wretched populace,
which must, in a few generations, have been totally extinguished,
if it had not been continually recruited by the manumission of
slaves, and the influx of strangers. As early as the time of
Hadrian, it was the just complaint of the ingenuous natives, that
the capital had attracted the vices of the universe, and the
manners of the most opposite nations. The intemperance of the
Gauls, the cunning and levity of the Greeks, the savage obstinacy
of the Egyptians and Jews, the servile temper of the Asiatics,
and the dissolute, effeminate prostitution of the Syrians, were
mingled in the various multitude, which, under the proud and
false denomination of Romans, presumed to despise their
fellow-subjects, and even their sovereigns, who dwelt beyond the
precincts of the Eternal City. 52
50 (return) [ The histories of Livy (see particularly vi. 36) are
full of the extortions of the rich, and the sufferings of the
poor debtors. The melancholy story of a brave old soldier
(Dionys. Hal. l. vi. c. 26, p. 347, edit. Hudson, and Livy, ii.
23) must have been frequently repeated in those primitive times,
which have been so undeservedly praised.]
51 (return) [ Non esse in civitate duo millia hominum qui rem
habereni. Cicero. Offic. ii. 21, and Comment. Paul. Manut. in
edit. Graev. This vague computation was made A. U. C. 649, in a
speech of the tribune Philippus, and it was his object, as well
as that of the Gracchi, (see Plutarch,) to deplore, and perhaps
to exaggerate, the misery of the common people.]
52 (return) [ See the third Satire (60-125) of Juvenal, who
indignantly complains,
Quamvis quota portio faecis Achaei! Jampridem Syrus in Tiberem
defluxit Orontes; Et linguam et mores, &c.
Seneca, when he proposes to comfort his mother (Consolat. ad
Helv. c. 6) by the reflection, that a great part of mankind were
in a state of exile, reminds her how few of the inhabitants of
Rome were born in the city.]
Yet the name of that city was still pronounced with respect: the
frequent and capricious tumults of its inhabitants were indulged
with impunity; and the successors of Constantine, instead of
crushing the last remains of the democracy by the strong arm of
military power, embraced the mild policy of Augustus, and studied
to relieve the poverty, and to amuse the idleness, of an
innumerable people. 53 I. For the convenience of the lazy
plebeians, the monthly distributions of corn were converted into
a daily allowance of bread; a great number of ovens were
constructed and maintained at the public expense; and at the
appointed hour, each citizen, who was furnished with a ticket,
ascended the flight of steps, which had been assigned to his
peculiar quarter or division, and received, either as a gift, or
at a very low price, a loaf of bread of the weight of three
pounds, for the use of his family. II. The forest of Lucania,
whose acorns fattened large droves of wild hogs, 54 afforded, as
a species of tribute, a plentiful supply of cheap and wholesome
meat. During five months of the year, a regular allowance of
bacon was distributed to the poorer citizens; and the annual
consumption of the capital, at a time when it was much declined
from its former lustre, was ascertained, by an edict from
Valentinian the Third, at three millions six hundred and
twenty-eight thousand pounds. 55 III. In the manners of
antiquity, the use of oil was indispensable for the lamp, as well
as for the bath; and the annual tax, which was imposed on Africa
for the benefit of Rome, amounted to the weight of three millions
of pounds, to the measure, perhaps, of three hundred thousand
English gallons. IV. The anxiety of Augustus to provide the
metropolis with sufficient plenty of corn, was not extended
beyond that necessary article of human subsistence; and when the
popular clamor accused the dearness and scarcity of wine, a
proclamation was issued, by the grave reformer, to remind his
subjects that no man could reasonably complain of thirst, since
the aqueducts of Agrippa had introduced into the city so many
copious streams of pure and salubrious water. 56 This rigid
sobriety was insensibly relaxed; and, although the generous
design of Aurelian 57 does not appear to have been executed in
its full extent, the use of wine was allowed on very easy and
liberal terms. The administration of the public cellars was
delegated to a magistrate of honorable rank; and a considerable
part of the vintage of Campania was reserved for the fortunate
inhabitants of Rome.
53 (return) [ Almost all that is said of the bread, bacon, oil,
wine, &c., may be found in the fourteenth book of the Theodosian
Code; which expressly treats of the police of the great cities.
See particularly the titles iii. iv. xv. xvi. xvii. xxiv. The
collateral testimonies are produced in Godefroy’s Commentary, and
it is needless to transcribe them. According to a law of
Theodosius, which appreciates in money the military allowance, a
piece of gold (eleven shillings) was equivalent to eighty pounds
of bacon, or to eighty pounds of oil, or to twelve modii (or
pecks) of salt, (Cod. Theod. l. viii. tit. iv. leg. 17.) This
equation, compared with another of seventy pounds of bacon for an
amphora, (Cod. Theod. l. xiv. tit. iv. leg. 4,) fixes the price
of wine at about sixteenpence the gallon.]
54 (return) [ The anonymous author of the Description of the
World (p. 14. in tom. iii. Geograph. Minor. Hudson) observes of
Lucania, in his barbarous Latin, Regio optima, et ipsa omnibus
habundans, et lardum multum foras. Proptor quod est in montibus,
cujus aescam animalium rariam, &c.]
55 (return) [ See Novell. ad calcem Cod. Theod. D. Valent. l. i.
tit. xv. This law was published at Rome, June 29th, A.D. 452.]
56 (return) [ Sueton. in August. c. 42. The utmost debauch of the
emperor himself, in his favorite wine of Rhaetia, never exceeded
a sextarius, (an English pint.) Id. c. 77. Torrentius ad loc. and
Arbuthnot’s Tables, p. 86.]
57 (return) [ His design was to plant vineyards along the
sea-coast of Hetruria, (Vopiscus, in Hist. August. p. 225;) the
dreary, unwholesome, uncultivated Maremme of modern Tuscany]
The stupendous aqueducts, so justly celebrated by the praises of
Augustus himself, replenished the Thermoe, or baths, which had
been constructed in every part of the city, with Imperial
magnificence. The baths of Antoninus Caracalla, which were open,
at stated hours, for the indiscriminate service of the senators
and the people, contained above sixteen hundred seats of marble;
and more than three thousand were reckoned in the baths of
Diocletian. 58 The walls of the lofty apartments were covered
with curious mosaics, that imitated the art of the pencil in the
elegance of design, and the variety of colors. The Egyptian
granite was beautifully encrusted with the precious green marble
of Numidia; the perpetual stream of hot water was poured into the
capacious basins, through so many wide mouths of bright and massy
silver; and the meanest Roman could purchase, with a small copper
coin, the daily enjoyment of a scene of pomp and luxury, which
might excite the envy of the kings of Asia. 59 From these stately
palaces issued a swarm of dirty and ragged plebeians, without
shoes and without a mantle; who loitered away whole days in the
street of Forum, to hear news and to hold disputes; who
dissipated in extravagant gaming, the miserable pittance of their
wives and children; and spent the hours of the night in the
obscure taverns, and brothels, in the indulgence of gross and
vulgar sensuality. 60
58 (return) [ Olympiodor. apud Phot. p. 197.]
59 (return) [ Seneca (epistol. lxxxvi.) compares the baths of
Scipio Africanus, at his villa of Liternum, with the magnificence
(which was continually increasing) of the public baths of Rome,
long before the stately Thermae of Antoninus and Diocletian were
erected. The quadrans paid for admission was the quarter of the
as, about one eighth of an English penny.]
60 (return) [ Ammianus, (l. xiv. c. 6, and l. xxviii. c. 4,)
after describing the luxury and pride of the nobles of Rome,
exposes, with equal indignation, the vices and follies of the
common people.]
But the most lively and splendid amusement of the idle multitude,
depended on the frequent exhibition of public games and
spectacles. The piety of Christian princes had suppressed the
inhuman combats of gladiators; but the Roman people still
considered the Circus as their home, their temple, and the seat
of the republic. The impatient crowd rushed at the dawn of day to
secure their places, and there were many who passed a sleepless
and anxious night in the adjacent porticos. From the morning to
the evening, careless of the sun, or of the rain, the spectators,
who sometimes amounted to the number of four hundred thousand,
remained in eager attention; their eyes fixed on the horses and
charioteers, their minds agitated with hope and fear, for the
success of the colors which they espoused: and the happiness of
Rome appeared to hang on the event of a race. 61 The same
immoderate ardor inspired their clamors and their applause, as
often as they were entertained with the hunting of wild beasts,
and the various modes of theatrical representation. These
representations in modern capitals may deserve to be considered
as a pure and elegant school of taste, and perhaps of virtue. But
the Tragic and Comic Muse of the Romans, who seldom aspired
beyond the imitation of Attic genius, 62 had been almost totally
silent since the fall of the republic; 63 and their place was
unworthily occupied by licentious farce, effeminate music, and
splendid pageantry. The pantomimes, 64 who maintained their
reputation from the age of Augustus to the sixth century,
expressed, without the use of words, the various fables of the
gods and heroes of antiquity; and the perfection of their art,
which sometimes disarmed the gravity of the philosopher, always
excited the applause and wonder of the people. The vast and
magnificent theatres of Rome were filled by three thousand female
dancers, and by three thousand singers, with the masters of the
respective choruses. Such was the popular favor which they
enjoyed, that, in a time of scarcity, when all strangers were
banished from the city, the merit of contributing to the public
pleasures exempted them from a law, which was strictly executed
against the professors of the liberal arts. 65
61 (return) [ Juvenal. Satir. xi. 191, &c. The expressions of the
historian Ammianus are not less strong and animated than those of
the satirist and both the one and the other painted from the
life. The numbers which the great Circus was capable of receiving
are taken from the original Notitioe of the city. The differences
between them prove that they did not transcribe each other; but
the same may appear incredible, though the country on these
occasions flocked to the city.]
62 (return) [ Sometimes indeed they composed original pieces.
Vestigia Graeca Ausi deserere et celeb rare domestica facta.
Horat. Epistol. ad Pisones, 285, and the learned, though
perplexed note of Dacier, who might have allowed the name of
tragedies to the Brutus and the Decius of Pacuvius, or to the
Cato of Maternus. The Octavia, ascribed to one of the Senecas,
still remains a very unfavorable specimen of Roman tragedy.]
63 (return) [ In the time of Quintilian and Pliny, a tragic poet
was reduced to the imperfect method of hiring a great room, and
reading his play to the company, whom he invited for that
purpose. (See Dialog. de Oratoribus, c. 9, 11, and Plin. Epistol.
vii. 17.)]
64 (return) [ See the dialogue of Lucian, entitled the
Saltatione, tom. ii. p. 265-317, edit. Reitz. The pantomimes
obtained the honorable name; and it was required, that they
should be conversant with almost every art and science. Burette
(in the Mémoires de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. i. p. 127,
&c.) has given a short history of the art of pantomimes.]
65 (return) [ Ammianus, l. xiv. c. 6. He complains, with decent
indignation that the streets of Rome were filled with crowds of
females, who might have given children to the state, but whose
only occupation was to curl and dress their hair, and jactari
volubilibus gyris, dum experimunt innumera simulacra, quae
finxere fabulae theatrales.]
It is said, that the foolish curiosity of Elagabalus attempted to
discover, from the quantity of spiders’ webs, the number of the
inhabitants of Rome. A more rational method of inquiry might not
have been undeserving of the attention of the wisest princes, who
could easily have resolved a question so important for the Roman
government, and so interesting to succeeding ages. The births and
deaths of the citizens were duly registered; and if any writer of
antiquity had condescended to mention the annual amount, or the
common average, we might now produce some satisfactory
calculation, which would destroy the extravagant assertions of
critics, and perhaps confirm the modest and probable conjectures
of philosophers. 66 The most diligent researches have collected
only the following circumstances; which, slight and imperfect as
they are, may tend, in some degree, to illustrate the question of
the populousness of ancient Rome. I. When the capital of the
empire was besieged by the Goths, the circuit of the walls was
accurately measured, by Ammonius, the mathematician, who found it
equal to twenty-one miles. 67 It should not be forgotten that the
form of the city was almost that of a circle; the geometrical
figure which is known to contain the largest space within any
given circumference. II. The architect Vitruvius, who flourished
in the Augustan age, and whose evidence, on this occasion, has
peculiar weight and authority, observes, that the innumerable
habitations of the Roman people would have spread themselves far
beyond the narrow limits of the city; and that the want of
ground, which was probably contracted on every side by gardens
and villas, suggested the common, though inconvenient, practice
of raising the houses to a considerable height in the air. 68 But
the loftiness of these buildings, which often consisted of hasty
work and insufficient materials, was the cause of frequent and
fatal accidents; and it was repeatedly enacted by Augustus, as
well as by Nero, that the height of private edifices within the
walls of Rome, should not exceed the measure of seventy feet from
the ground. 69 III. Juvenal 70 laments, as it should seem from
his own experience, the hardships of the poorer citizens, to whom
he addresses the salutary advice of emigrating, without delay,
from the smoke of Rome, since they might purchase, in the little
towns of Italy, a cheerful commodious dwelling, at the same price
which they annually paid for a dark and miserable lodging.
House-rent was therefore immoderately dear: the rich acquired, at
an enormous expense, the ground, which they covered with palaces
and gardens; but the body of the Roman people was crowded into a
narrow space; and the different floors, and apartments, of the
same house, were divided, as it is still the custom of Paris, and
other cities, among several families of plebeians. IV. The total
number of houses in the fourteen regions of the city, is
accurately stated in the description of Rome, composed under the
reign of Theodosius, and they amount to forty-eight thousand
three hundred and eighty-two. 71 The two classes of domus and of
insulæ, into which they are divided, include all the habitations
of the capital, of every rank and condition from the marble
palace of the Anicii, with a numerous establishment of freedmen
and slaves, to the lofty and narrow lodging-house, where the poet
Codrus and his wife were permitted to hire a wretched garret
immediately under the tiles. If we adopt the same average, which,
under similar circumstances, has been found applicable to Paris,
72 and indifferently allow about twenty-five persons for each
house, of every degree, we may fairly estimate the inhabitants of
Rome at twelve hundred thousand: a number which cannot be thought
excessive for the capital of a mighty empire, though it exceeds
the populousness of the greatest cities of modern Europe. 73 7311
66 (return) [ Lipsius (tom. iii. p. 423, de Magnitud. Romana, l.
iii. c. 3) and Isaac Vossius (Observant. Var. p. 26-34) have
indulged strange dreams, of four, or eight, or fourteen, millions
in Rome. Mr. Hume, (Essays, vol. i. p. 450-457,) with admirable
good sense and scepticism betrays some secret disposition to
extenuate the populousness of ancient times.]
67 (return) [ Olympiodor. ap. Phot. p. 197. See Fabricius, Bibl.
Graec. tom. ix. p. 400.]
68 (return) [ In ea autem majestate urbis, et civium infinita
frequentia, innumerabiles habitationes opus fuit explicare. Ergo
cum recipero non posset area plana tantam multitudinem in urbe,
ad auxilium altitudinis aedificiorum res ipsa coegit devenire.
Vitruv. ii. 8. This passage, which I owe to Vossius, is clear,
strong, and comprehensive.]
69 (return) [ The successive testimonies of Pliny, Aristides,
Claudian, Rutilius, &c., prove the insufficiency of these
restrictive edicts. See Lipsius, de Magnitud. Romana, l. iii. c.
4.
Tabulata tibi jam tertia fumant; Tu nescis; nam si gradibus
trepidatur ab imis Ultimus ardebit, quem tegula sola tuetur A
pluvia. —-Juvenal. Satir. iii. 199]
70 (return) [ Read the whole third satire, but particularly 166,
223, &c. The description of a crowded insula, or lodging-house,
in Petronius, (c. 95, 97,) perfectly tallies with the complaints
of Juvenal; and we learn from legal authority, that, in the time
of Augustus, (Heineccius, Hist. Juris. Roman. c. iv. p. 181,) the
ordinary rent of the several coenacula, or apartments of an
insula, annually produced forty thousand sesterces, between three
and four hundred pounds sterling, (Pandect. l. xix. tit. ii. No.
30,) a sum which proves at once the large extent, and high value,
of those common buildings.]
71 (return) [ This sum total is composed of 1780 domus, or great
houses of 46,602 insulæ, or plebeian habitations, (see Nardini,
Roma Antica, l. iii. p. 88;) and these numbers are ascertained by
the agreement of the texts of the different Notitioe. Nardini, l.
viii. p. 498, 500.]
72 (return) [ See that accurate writer M. de Messance, Recherches
sur la Population, p. 175-187. From probable, or certain grounds,
he assigns to Paris 23,565 houses, 71,114 families, and 576,630
inhabitants.]
73 (return) [ This computation is not very different from that
which M. Brotier, the last editor of Tacitus, (tom. ii. p. 380,)
has assumed from similar principles; though he seems to aim at a
degree of precision which it is neither possible nor important to
obtain.]
7311 (return) [ M. Dureau de la Malle (Economic Politique des
Romaines, t. i. p. 369) quotes a passage from the xvth chapter of
Gibbon, in which he estimates the population of Rome at not less
than a million, and adds (omitting any reference to this
passage,) that he (Gibbon) could not have seriously studied the
question. M. Dureau de la Malle proceeds to argue that Rome, as
contained within the walls of Servius Tullius, occupying an area
only one fifth of that of Paris, could not have contained 300,000
inhabitants; within those of Aurelian not more than 560,000,
inclusive of soldiers and strangers. The suburbs, he endeavors to
show, both up to the time of Aurelian, and after his reign, were
neither so extensive, nor so populous, as generally supposed. M.
Dureau de la Malle has but imperfectly quoted the important
passage of Dionysius, that which proves that when he wrote (in
the time of Augustus) the walls of Servius no longer marked the
boundary of the city. In many places they were so built upon,
that it was impossible to trace them. There was no certain limit,
where the city ended and ceased to be the city; it stretched out
to so boundless an extent into the country. Ant. Rom. iv. 13.
None of M. de la Malle’s arguments appear to me to prove, against
this statement, that these irregular suburbs did not extend so
far in many parts, as to make it impossible to calculate
accurately the inhabited area of the city. Though no doubt the
city, as reconstructed by Nero, was much less closely built and
with many more open spaces for palaces, temples, and other public
edifices, yet many passages seem to prove that the laws
respecting the height of houses were not rigidly enforced. A
great part of the lower especially of the slave population, were
very densely crowded, and lived, even more than in our modern
towns, in cellars and subterranean dwellings under the public
edifices. Nor do M. de la Malle’s arguments, by which he would
explain the insulae insulae (of which the Notitiae Urbis give us
the number) as rows of shops, with a chamber or two within the
domus, or houses of the wealthy, satisfy me as to their soundness
of their scholarship. Some passages which he adduces directly
contradict his theory; none, as appears to me, distinctly prove
it. I must adhere to the old interpretation of the word, as
chiefly dwellings for the middling or lower classes, or clusters
of tenements, often perhaps, under the same roof. On this point,
Zumpt, in the Dissertation before quoted, entirely disagrees with
M. de la Malle. Zumpt has likewise detected the mistake of M. de
la Malle as to the “canon” of corn, mentioned in the life of
Septimius Severus by Spartianus. On this canon the French writer
calculates the inhabitants of Rome at that time. But the “canon”
was not the whole supply of Rome, but that quantity which the
state required for the public granaries to supply the gratuitous
distributions to the people, and the public officers and slaves;
no doubt likewise to keep down the general price. M. Zumpt
reckons the population of Rome at 2,000,000. After careful
consideration, I should conceive the number in the text,
1,200,000, to be nearest the truth—M. 1845.]
Such was the state of Rome under the reign of Honorius; at the
time when the Gothic army formed the siege, or rather the
blockade, of the city. 74 By a skilful disposition of his
numerous forces, who impatiently watched the moment of an
assault, Alaric encompassed the walls, commanded the twelve
principal gates, intercepted all communication with the adjacent
country, and vigilantly guarded the navigation of the Tyber, from
which the Romans derived the surest and most plentiful supply of
provisions. The first emotions of the nobles, and of the people,
were those of surprise and indignation, that a vile Barbarian
should dare to insult the capital of the world: but their
arrogance was soon humbled by misfortune; and their unmanly rage,
instead of being directed against an enemy in arms, was meanly
exercised on a defenceless and innocent victim. Perhaps in the
person of Serena, the Romans might have respected the niece of
Theodosius, the aunt, nay, even the adoptive mother, of the
reigning emperor: but they abhorred the widow of Stilicho; and
they listened with credulous passion to the tale of calumny,
which accused her of maintaining a secret and criminal
correspondence with the Gothic invader. Actuated, or overawed, by
the same popular frenzy, the senate, without requiring any
evidence of his guilt, pronounced the sentence of her death.
Serena was ignominiously strangled; and the infatuated multitude
were astonished to find, that this cruel act of injustice did not
immediately produce the retreat of the Barbarians, and the
deliverance of the city. That unfortunate city gradually
experienced the distress of scarcity, and at length the horrid
calamities of famine. The daily allowance of three pounds of
bread was reduced to one half, to one third, to nothing; and the
price of corn still continued to rise in a rapid and extravagant
proportion. The poorer citizens, who were unable to purchase the
necessaries of life, solicited the precarious charity of the
rich; and for a while the public misery was alleviated by the
humanity of Laeta, the widow of the emperor Gratian, who had
fixed her residence at Rome, and consecrated to the use of the
indigent the princely revenue which she annually received from
the grateful successors of her husband. 75 But these private and
temporary donatives were insufficient to appease the hunger of a
numerous people; and the progress of famine invaded the marble
palaces of the senators themselves. The persons of both sexes,
who had been educated in the enjoyment of ease and luxury,
discovered how little is requisite to supply the demands of
nature; and lavished their unavailing treasures of gold and
silver, to obtain the coarse and scanty sustenance which they
would formerly have rejected with disdain. The food the most
repugnant to sense or imagination, the aliments the most
unwholesome and pernicious to the constitution, were eagerly
devoured, and fiercely disputed, by the rage of hunger. A dark
suspicion was entertained, that some desperate wretches fed on
the bodies of their fellow-creatures, whom they had secretly
murdered; and even mothers, (such was the horrid conflict of the
two most powerful instincts implanted by nature in the human
breast,) even mothers are said to have tasted the flesh of their
slaughtered infants! 76 Many thousands of the inhabitants of Rome
expired in their houses, or in the streets, for want of
sustenance; and as the public sepulchres without the walls were
in the power of the enemy the stench, which arose from so many
putrid and unburied carcasses, infected the air; and the miseries
of famine were succeeded and aggravated by the contagion of a
pestilential disease. The assurances of speedy and effectual
relief, which were repeatedly transmitted from the court of
Ravenna, supported for some time, the fainting resolution of the
Romans, till at length the despair of any human aid tempted them
to accept the offers of a praeternatural deliverance. Pompeianus,
præfect of the city, had been persuaded, by the art or
fanaticism of some Tuscan diviners, that, by the mysterious force
of spells and sacrifices, they could extract the lightning from
the clouds, and point those celestial fires against the camp of
the Barbarians. 77 The important secret was communicated to
Innocent, the bishop of Rome; and the successor of St. Peter is
accused, perhaps without foundation, of preferring the safety of
the republic to the rigid severity of the Christian worship. But
when the question was agitated in the senate; when it was
proposed, as an essential condition, that those sacrifices should
be performed in the Capitol, by the authority, and in the
presence, of the magistrates, the majority of that respectable
assembly, apprehensive either of the Divine or of the Imperial
displeasure, refused to join in an act, which appeared almost
equivalent to the public restoration of Paganism. 78
74 (return) [ For the events of the first siege of Rome, which
are often confounded with those of the second and third, see
Zosimus, l. v. p. 350-354, Sozomen, l. ix. c. 6, Olympiodorus,
ap. Phot. p. 180, Philostorgius, l. xii. c. 3, and Godefroy,
Dissertat. p. 467-475.]
75 (return) [ The mother of Laeta was named Pissumena. Her
father, family, and country, are unknown. Ducange, Fam.
Byzantium, p. 59.]
76 (return) [ Ad nefandos cibos erupit esurientium rabies, et sua
invicem membra laniarunt, dum mater non parcit lactenti
infantiae; et recipit utero, quem paullo ante effuderat. Jerom.
ad Principiam, tom. i. p. 121. The same horrid circumstance is
likewise told of the sieges of Jerusalem and Paris. For the
latter, compare the tenth book of the Henriade, and the Journal
de Henri IV. tom. i. p. 47-83; and observe that a plain narrative
of facts is much more pathetic, than the most labored
descriptions of epic poetry]
77 (return) [ Zosimus (l. v. p. 355, 356) speaks of these
ceremonies like a Greek unacquainted with the national
superstition of Rome and Tuscany. I suspect, that they consisted
of two parts, the secret and the public; the former were probably
an imitation of the arts and spells, by which Numa had drawn down
Jupiter and his thunder on Mount Aventine.
Quid agant laqueis, quae carmine dicant, Quaque trahant superis
sedibus arte Jovem, Scire nefas homini.
The ancilia, or shields of Mars, the pignora Imperii, which were
carried in solemn procession on the calends of March, derived
their origin from this mysterious event, (Ovid. Fast. iii.
259-398.) It was probably designed to revive this ancient
festival, which had been suppressed by Theodosius. In that case,
we recover a chronological date (March the 1st, A.D. 409) which
has not hitherto been observed. * Note: On this curious question
of the knowledge of conducting lightning, processed by the
ancients, consult Eusebe Salverte, des Sciences Occultes, l.
xxiv. Paris, 1829.—M.]
78 (return) [ Sozomen (l. ix. c. 6) insinuates that the
experiment was actually, though unsuccessfully, made; but he does
not mention the name of Innocent: and Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles.
tom. x. p. 645) is determined not to believe, that a pope could
be guilty of such impious condescension.]
The last resource of the Romans was in the clemency, or at least
in the moderation, of the king of the Goths. The senate, who in
this emergency assumed the supreme powers of government,
appointed two ambassadors to negotiate with the enemy. This
important trust was delegated to Basilius, a senator, of Spanish
extraction, and already conspicuous in the administration of
provinces; and to John, the first tribune of the notaries, who
was peculiarly qualified, by his dexterity in business, as well
as by his former intimacy with the Gothic prince. When they were
introduced into his presence, they declared, perhaps in a more
lofty style than became their abject condition, that the Romans
were resolved to maintain their dignity, either in peace or war;
and that, if Alaric refused them a fair and honorable
capitulation, he might sound his trumpets, and prepare to give
battle to an innumerable people, exercised in arms, and animated
by despair. “The thicker the hay, the easier it is mowed,” was
the concise reply of the Barbarian; and this rustic metaphor was
accompanied by a loud and insulting laugh, expressive of his
contempt for the menaces of an unwarlike populace, enervated by
luxury before they were emaciated by famine. He then condescended
to fix the ransom, which he would accept as the price of his
retreat from the walls of Rome: all the gold and silver in the
city, whether it were the property of the state, or of
individuals; all the rich and precious movables; and all the
slaves that could prove their title to the name of Barbarians.
The ministers of the senate presumed to ask, in a modest and
suppliant tone, “If such, O king, are your demands, what do you
intend to leave us?” “Your Lives!” replied the haughty conqueror:
they trembled, and retired. Yet, before they retired, a short
suspension of arms was granted, which allowed some time for a
more temperate negotiation. The stern features of Alaric were
insensibly relaxed; he abated much of the rigor of his terms; and
at length consented to raise the siege, on the immediate payment
of five thousand pounds of gold, of thirty thousand pounds of
silver, of four thousand robes of silk, of three thousand pieces
of fine scarlet cloth, and of three thousand pounds weight of
pepper. 79 But the public treasury was exhausted; the annual
rents of the great estates in Italy and the provinces, had been
exchanged, during the famine, for the vilest sustenance; the
hoards of secret wealth were still concealed by the obstinacy of
avarice; and some remains of consecrated spoils afforded the only
resource that could avert the impending ruin of the city. As soon
as the Romans had satisfied the rapacious demands of Alaric, they
were restored, in some measure, to the enjoyment of peace and
plenty. Several of the gates were cautiously opened; the
importation of provisions from the river and the adjacent country
was no longer obstructed by the Goths; the citizens resorted in
crowds to the free market, which was held during three days in
the suburbs; and while the merchants who undertook this gainful
trade made a considerable profit, the future subsistence of the
city was secured by the ample magazines which were deposited in
the public and private granaries. A more regular discipline than
could have been expected, was maintained in the camp of Alaric;
and the wise Barbarian justified his regard for the faith of
treaties, by the just severity with which he chastised a party of
licentious Goths, who had insulted some Roman citizens on the
road to Ostia. His army, enriched by the contributions of the
capital, slowly advanced into the fair and fruitful province of
Tuscany, where he proposed to establish his winter quarters; and
the Gothic standard became the refuge of forty thousand Barbarian
slaves, who had broke their chains, and aspired, under the
command of their great deliverer, to revenge the injuries and the
disgrace of their cruel servitude. About the same time, he
received a more honorable reenforcement of Goths and Huns, whom
Adolphus, 80 the brother of his wife, had conducted, at his
pressing invitation, from the banks of the Danube to those of the
Tyber, and who had cut their way, with some difficulty and loss,
through the superior number of the Imperial troops. A victorious
leader, who united the daring spirit of a Barbarian with the art
and discipline of a Roman general, was at the head of a hundred
thousand fighting men; and Italy pronounced, with terror and
respect, the formidable name of Alaric. 81
79 (return) [ Pepper was a favorite ingredient of the most
expensive Roman cookery, and the best sort commonly sold for
fifteen denarii, or ten shillings, the pound. See Pliny, Hist.
Natur. xii. 14. It was brought from India; and the same country,
the coast of Malabar, still affords the greatest plenty: but the
improvement of trade and navigation has multiplied the quantity
and reduced the price. See Histoire Politique et Philosophique,
&c., tom. i. p. 457.]
80 (return) [ This Gothic chieftain is called by Jornandes and
Isidore, Athaulphus; by Zosimus and Orosius, Ataulphus; and by
Olympiodorus, Adaoulphus. I have used the celebrated name of
Adolphus, which seems to be authorized by the practice of the
Swedes, the sons or brothers of the ancient Goths.]
81 (return) [ The treaty between Alaric and the Romans, &c., is
taken from Zosimus, l. v. p. 354, 355, 358, 359, 362, 363. The
additional circumstances are too few and trifling to require any
other quotation.]
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part IV.
At the distance of fourteen centuries, we may be satisfied with
relating the military exploits of the conquerors of Rome, without
presuming to investigate the motives of their political conduct.
In the midst of his apparent prosperity, Alaric was conscious,
perhaps, of some secret weakness, some internal defect; or
perhaps the moderation which he displayed, was intended only to
deceive and disarm the easy credulity of the ministers of
Honorius. The king of the Goths repeatedly declared, that it was
his desire to be considered as the friend of peace, and of the
Romans. Three senators, at his earnest request, were sent
ambassadors to the court of Ravenna, to solicit the exchange of
hostages, and the conclusion of the treaty; and the proposals,
which he more clearly expressed during the course of the
negotiations, could only inspire a doubt of his sincerity, as
they might seem inadequate to the state of his fortune. The
Barbarian still aspired to the rank of master-general of the
armies of the West; he stipulated an annual subsidy of corn and
money; and he chose the provinces of Dalmatia, Noricum, and
Venetia, for the seat of his new kingdom, which would have
commanded the important communication between Italy and the
Danube. If these modest terms should be rejected, Alaric showed a
disposition to relinquish his pecuniary demands, and even to
content himself with the possession of Noricum; an exhausted and
impoverished country, perpetually exposed to the inroads of the
Barbarians of Germany. 82 But the hopes of peace were
disappointed by the weak obstinacy, or interested views, of the
minister Olympius. Without listening to the salutary
remonstrances of the senate, he dismissed their ambassadors under
the conduct of a military escort, too numerous for a retinue of
honor, and too feeble for any army of defence. Six thousand
Dalmatians, the flower of the Imperial legions, were ordered to
march from Ravenna to Rome, through an open country which was
occupied by the formidable myriads of the Barbarians. These brave
legionaries, encompassed and betrayed, fell a sacrifice to
ministerial folly; their general, Valens, with a hundred
soldiers, escaped from the field of battle; and one of the
ambassadors, who could no longer claim the protection of the law
of nations, was obliged to purchase his freedom with a ransom of
thirty thousand pieces of gold. Yet Alaric, instead of resenting
this act of impotent hostility, immediately renewed his proposals
of peace; and the second embassy of the Roman senate, which
derived weight and dignity from the presence of Innocent, bishop
of the city, was guarded from the dangers of the road by a
detachment of Gothic soldiers. 83
82 (return) [ Zosimus, l. v. p. 367 368, 369.]
83 (return) [ Zosimus, l. v. p. 360, 361, 362. The bishop, by
remaining at Ravenna, escaped the impending calamities of the
city. Orosius, l. vii. c. 39, p. 573.]
Olympius 84 might have continued to insult the just resentment of
a people who loudly accused him as the author of the public
calamities; but his power was undermined by the secret intrigues
of the palace. The favorite eunuchs transferred the government of
Honorius, and the empire, to Jovius, the Prætorian præfect; an
unworthy servant, who did not atone, by the merit of personal
attachment, for the errors and misfortunes of his administration.
The exile, or escape, of the guilty Olympius, reserved him for
more vicissitudes of fortune: he experienced the adventures of an
obscure and wandering life; he again rose to power; he fell a
second time into disgrace; his ears were cut off; he expired
under the lash; and his ignominious death afforded a grateful
spectacle to the friends of Stilicho. After the removal of
Olympius, whose character was deeply tainted with religious
fanaticism, the Pagans and heretics were delivered from the
impolitic proscription, which excluded them from the dignities of
the state. The brave Gennerid, 85 a soldier of Barbarian origin,
who still adhered to the worship of his ancestors, had been
obliged to lay aside the military belt: and though he was
repeatedly assured by the emperor himself, that laws were not
made for persons of his rank or merit, he refused to accept any
partial dispensation, and persevered in honorable disgrace, till
he had extorted a general act of justice from the distress of the
Roman government. The conduct of Gennerid in the important
station to which he was promoted or restored, of master-general
of Dalmatia, Pannonia, Noricum, and Rhaetia, seemed to revive the
discipline and spirit of the republic. From a life of idleness
and want, his troops were soon habituated to severe exercise and
plentiful subsistence; and his private generosity often supplied
the rewards, which were denied by the avarice, or poverty, of the
court of Ravenna. The valor of Gennerid, formidable to the
adjacent Barbarians, was the firmest bulwark of the Illyrian
frontier; and his vigilant care assisted the empire with a
reenforcement of ten thousand Huns, who arrived on the confines
of Italy, attended by such a convoy of provisions, and such a
numerous train of sheep and oxen, as might have been sufficient,
not only for the march of an army, but for the settlement of a
colony. But the court and councils of Honorius still remained a
scene of weakness and distraction, of corruption and anarchy.
Instigated by the præfect Jovius, the guards rose in furious
mutiny, and demanded the heads of two generals, and of the two
principal eunuchs. The generals, under a perfidious promise of
safety, were sent on shipboard, and privately executed; while the
favor of the eunuchs procured them a mild and secure exile at
Milan and Constantinople. Eusebius the eunuch, and the Barbarian
Allobich, succeeded to the command of the bed-chamber and of the
guards; and the mutual jealousy of these subordinate ministers
was the cause of their mutual destruction. By the insolent order
of the count of the domestics, the great chamberlain was
shamefully beaten to death with sticks, before the eyes of the
astonished emperor; and the subsequent assassination of Allobich,
in the midst of a public procession, is the only circumstance of
his life, in which Honorius discovered the faintest symptom of
courage or resentment. Yet before they fell, Eusebius and
Allobich had contributed their part to the ruin of the empire, by
opposing the conclusion of a treaty which Jovius, from a selfish,
and perhaps a criminal, motive, had negotiated with Alaric, in a
personal interview under the walls of Rimini. During the absence
of Jovius, the emperor was persuaded to assume a lofty tone of
inflexible dignity, such as neither his situation, nor his
character, could enable him to support; and a letter, signed with
the name of Honorius, was immediately despatched to the
Prætorian præfect, granting him a free permission to dispose of
the public money, but sternly refusing to prostitute the military
honors of Rome to the proud demands of a Barbarian. This letter
was imprudently communicated to Alaric himself; and the Goth, who
in the whole transaction had behaved with temper and decency,
expressed, in the most outrageous language, his lively sense of
the insult so wantonly offered to his person and to his nation.
The conference of Rimini was hastily interrupted; and the
præfect Jovius, on his return to Ravenna, was compelled to
adopt, and even to encourage, the fashionable opinions of the
court. By his advice and example, the principal officers of the
state and army were obliged to swear, that, without listening, in
any circumstances, to any conditions of peace, they would still
persevere in perpetual and implacable war against the enemy of
the republic. This rash engagement opposed an insuperable bar to
all future negotiation. The ministers of Honorius were heard to
declare, that, if they had only invoked the name of the Deity,
they would consult the public safety, and trust their souls to
the mercy of Heaven: but they had sworn by the sacred head of the
emperor himself; they had touched, in solemn ceremony, that
august seat of majesty and wisdom; and the violation of their
oath would expose them to the temporal penalties of sacrilege and
rebellion. 86
84 (return) [ For the adventures of Olympius, and his successors
in the ministry, see Zosimus, l. v. p. 363, 365, 366, and
Olympiodor. ap. Phot. p. 180, 181. ]
85 (return) [ Zosimus (l. v. p. 364) relates this circumstance
with visible complacency, and celebrates the character of
Gennerid as the last glory of expiring Paganism. Very different
were the sentiments of the council of Carthage, who deputed four
bishops to the court of Ravenna to complain of the law, which had
been just enacted, that all conversions to Christianity should be
free and voluntary. See Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 409, No.
12, A.D. 410, No. 47, 48.]
86 (return) [ Zosimus, l. v. p. 367, 368, 369. This custom of
swearing by the head, or life, or safety, or genius, of the
sovereign, was of the highest antiquity, both in Egypt (Genesis,
xlii. 15) and Scythia. It was soon transferred, by flattery, to
the Caesars; and Tertullian complains, that it was the only oath
which the Romans of his time affected to reverence. See an
elegant Dissertation of the Abbe Mossieu on the Oaths of the
Ancients, in the Mem de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. i. p.
208, 209.]
While the emperor and his court enjoyed, with sullen pride, the
security of the marches and fortifications of Ravenna, they
abandoned Rome, almost without defence, to the resentment of
Alaric. Yet such was the moderation which he still preserved, or
affected, that, as he moved with his army along the Flaminian
way, he successively despatched the bishops of the towns of Italy
to reiterate his offers of peace, and to conjure the
emperor, that he would save the city and its inhabitants from
hostile fire, and the sword of the Barbarians. 87 These impending
calamities were, however, averted, not indeed by the wisdom of
Honorius, but by the prudence or humanity of the Gothic king; who
employed a milder, though not less effectual, method of conquest.
Instead of assaulting the capital, he successfully directed his
efforts against the Port of Ostia, one of the boldest and most
stupendous works of Roman magnificence. 88 The accidents to which
the precarious subsistence of the city was continually exposed in
a winter navigation, and an open road, had suggested to the
genius of the first Caesar the useful design, which was executed
under the reign of Claudius. The artificial moles, which formed
the narrow entrance, advanced far into the sea, and firmly
repelled the fury of the waves, while the largest vessels
securely rode at anchor within three deep and capacious basins,
which received the northern branch of the Tyber, about two miles
from the ancient colony of Ostia. 89 The Roman Port insensibly
swelled to the size of an episcopal city, 90 where the corn of
Africa was deposited in spacious granaries for the use of the
capital. As soon as Alaric was in possession of that important
place, he summoned the city to surrender at discretion; and his
demands were enforced by the positive declaration, that a
refusal, or even a delay, should be instantly followed by the
destruction of the magazines, on which the life of the Roman
people depended. The clamors of that people, and the terror of
famine, subdued the pride of the senate; they listened, without
reluctance, to the proposal of placing a new emperor on the
throne of the unworthy Honorius; and the suffrage of the Gothic
conqueror bestowed the purple on Attalus, præfect of the city.
The grateful monarch immediately acknowledged his protector as
master-general of the armies of the West; Adolphus, with the rank
of count of the domestics, obtained the custody of the person of
Attalus; and the two hostile nations seemed to be united in the
closest bands of friendship and alliance. 91
87 (return) [ Zosimus, l. v. p. 368, 369. I have softened the
expressions of Alaric, who expatiates, in too florid a manner, on
the history of Rome]
88 (return) [ See Sueton. in Claud. c. 20. Dion Cassius, l. lx.
p. 949, edit Reimar, and the lively description of Juvenal,
Satir. xii. 75, &c. In the sixteenth century, when the remains of
this Augustan port were still visible, the antiquarians sketched
the plan, (see D’Anville, Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions,
tom. xxx. p. 198,) and declared, with enthusiasm, that all the
monarchs of Europe would be unable to execute so great a work,
(Bergier, Hist. des grands Chemins des Romains, tom. ii. p.
356.)]
89 (return) [ The Ostia Tyberina, (see Cluver. Italia Antiq. l.
iii. p. 870-879,) in the plural number, the two mouths of the
Tyber, were separated by the Holy Island, an equilateral
triangle, whose sides were each of them computed at about two
miles. The colony of Ostia was founded immediately beyond the
left, or southern, and the Port immediately beyond the right, or
northern, branch of hte river; and the distance between their
remains measures something more than two miles on Cingolani’s
map. In the time of Strabo, the sand and mud deposited by the
Tyber had choked the harbor of Ostia; the progress of the same
cause has added much to the size of the Holy Islands, and
gradually left both Ostia and the Port at a considerable distance
from the shore. The dry channels (fiumi morti) and the large
estuaries (stagno di Ponente, di Levante) mark the changes of the
river, and the efforts of the sea. Consult, for the present state
of this dreary and desolate tract, the excellent map of the
ecclesiastical state by the mathematicians of Benedict XIV.; an
actual survey of the Agro Romano, in six sheets, by Cingolani,
which contains 113,819 rubbia, (about 570,000 acres;) and the
large topographical map of Ameti, in eight sheets.]
90 (return) [ As early as the third, (Lardner’s Credibility of
the Gospel, part ii. vol. iii. p. 89-92,) or at least the fourth,
century, (Carol. a Sancta Paulo, Notit. Eccles. p. 47,) the Port
of Rome was an episcopal city, which was demolished, as it should
seem in the ninth century, by Pope Gregory IV., during the
incursions of the Arabs. It is now reduced to an inn, a church,
and the house, or palace, of the bishop; who ranks as one of six
cardinal-bishops of the Roman church. See Eschinard, Deserizione
di Roman et dell’ Agro Romano, p. 328. * Note: Compare Sir W.
Gell. Rome and its Vicinity vol. ii p. 134.—M.]
91 (return) [ For the elevation of Attalus, consult Zosimus, l.
vi. p. 377-380, Sozomen, l. ix. c. 8, 9, Olympiodor. ap. Phot. p.
180, 181, Philostorg. l. xii. c. 3, and Godefroy’s Dissertat. p.
470.]
The gates of the city were thrown open, and the new emperor of
the Romans, encompassed on every side by the Gothic arms, was
conducted, in tumultuous procession, to the palace of Augustus
and Trajan. After he had distributed the civil and military
dignities among his favorites and followers, Attalus convened an
assembly of the senate; before whom, in a formal and florid
speech, he asserted his resolution of restoring the majesty of
the republic, and of uniting to the empire the provinces of Egypt
and the East, which had once acknowledged the sovereignty of
Rome. Such extravagant promises inspired every reasonable citizen
with a just contempt for the character of an unwarlike usurper,
whose elevation was the deepest and most ignominious wound which
the republic had yet sustained from the insolence of the
Barbarians. But the populace, with their usual levity, applauded
the change of masters. The public discontent was favorable to the
rival of Honorius; and the sectaries, oppressed by his
persecuting edicts, expected some degree of countenance, or at
least of toleration, from a prince, who, in his native country of
Ionia, had been educated in the Pagan superstition, and who had
since received the sacrament of baptism from the hands of an
Arian bishop. 92 The first days of the reign of Attalus were fair
and prosperous. An officer of confidence was sent with an
inconsiderable body of troops to secure the obedience of Africa;
the greatest part of Italy submitted to the terror of the Gothic
powers; and though the city of Bologna made a vigorous and
effectual resistance, the people of Milan, dissatisfied perhaps
with the absence of Honorius, accepted, with loud acclamations,
the choice of the Roman senate. At the head of a formidable army,
Alaric conducted his royal captive almost to the gates of
Ravenna; and a solemn embassy of the principal ministers, of
Jovius, the Prætorian præfect, of Valens, master of the cavalry
and infantry, of the quaestor Potamius, and of Julian, the first
of the notaries, was introduced, with martial pomp, into the
Gothic camp. In the name of their sovereign, they consented to
acknowledge the lawful election of his competitor, and to divide
the provinces of Italy and the West between the two emperors.
Their proposals were rejected with disdain; and the refusal was
aggravated by the insulting clemency of Attalus, who condescended
to promise, that, if Honorius would instantly resign the purple,
he should be permitted to pass the remainder of his life in the
peaceful exile of some remote island. 93 So desperate indeed did
the situation of the son of Theodosius appear, to those who were
the best acquainted with his strength and resources, that Jovius
and Valens, his minister and his general, betrayed their trust,
infamously deserted the sinking cause of their benefactor, and
devoted their treacherous allegiance to the service of his more
fortunate rival. Astonished by such examples of domestic treason,
Honorius trembled at the approach of every servant, at the
arrival of every messenger. He dreaded the secret enemies, who
might lurk in his capital, his palace, his bed-chamber; and some
ships lay ready in the harbor of Ravenna, to transport the
abdicated monarch to the dominions of his infant nephew, the
emperor of the East.
92 (return) [ We may admit the evidence of Sozomen for the Arian
baptism, and that of Philostorgius for the Pagan education, of
Attalus. The visible joy of Zosimus, and the discontent which he
imputes to the Anician family, are very unfavorable to the
Christianity of the new emperor.]
93 (return) [ He carried his insolence so far, as to declare that
he should mutilate Honorius before he sent him into exile. But
this assertion of Zosimus is destroyed by the more impartial
testimony of Olympiodorus; who attributes the ungenerous proposal
(which was absolutely rejected by Attalus) to the baseness, and
perhaps the treachery, of Jovius.]
But there is a Providence (such at least was the opinion of the
historian Procopius) 94 that watches over innocence and folly;
and the pretensions of Honorius to its peculiar care cannot
reasonably be disputed. At the moment when his despair, incapable
of any wise or manly resolution, meditated a shameful flight, a
seasonable reenforcement of four thousand veterans unexpectedly
landed in the port of Ravenna. To these valiant strangers, whose
fidelity had not been corrupted by the factions of the court, he
committed the walls and gates of the city; and the slumbers of
the emperor were no longer disturbed by the apprehension of
imminent and internal danger. The favorable intelligence which
was received from Africa suddenly changed the opinions of men,
and the state of public affairs. The troops and officers, whom
Attalus had sent into that province, were defeated and slain; and
the active zeal of Heraclian maintained his own allegiance, and
that of his people. The faithful count of Africa transmitted a
large sum of money, which fixed the attachment of the Imperial
guards; and his vigilance, in preventing the exportation of corn
and oil, introduced famine, tumult, and discontent, into the
walls of Rome. The failure of the African expedition was the
source of mutual complaint and recrimination in the party of
Attalus; and the mind of his protector was insensibly alienated
from the interest of a prince, who wanted spirit to command, or
docility to obey. The most imprudent measures were adopted,
without the knowledge, or against the advice, of Alaric; and the
obstinate refusal of the senate, to allow, in the embarkation,
the mixture even of five hundred Goths, betrayed a suspicious and
distrustful temper, which, in their situation, was neither
generous nor prudent. The resentment of the Gothic king was
exasperated by the malicious arts of Jovius, who had been raised
to the rank of patrician, and who afterwards excused his double
perfidy, by declaring, without a blush, that he had only seemed
to abandon the service of Honorius, more effectually to ruin the
cause of the usurper. In a large plain near Rimini, and in the
presence of an innumerable multitude of Romans and Barbarians,
the wretched Attalus was publicly despoiled of the diadem and
purple; and those ensigns of royalty were sent by Alaric, as the
pledge of peace and friendship, to the son of Theodosius. 95 The
officers who returned to their duty, were reinstated in their
employments, and even the merit of a tardy repentance was
graciously allowed; but the degraded emperor of the Romans,
desirous of life, and insensible of disgrace, implored the
permission of following the Gothic camp, in the train of a
haughty and capricious Barbarian. 96
94 (return) [ Procop. de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 2.]
95 (return) [ See the cause and circumstances of the fall of
Attalus in Zosimus, l. vi. p. 380-383. Sozomen, l. ix. c. 8.
Philostorg. l. xii. c. 3. The two acts of indemnity in the
Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. xxxviii. leg. 11, 12, which were
published the 12th of February, and the 8th of August, A.D. 410,
evidently relate to this usurper.]
96 (return) [ In hoc, Alaricus, imperatore, facto, infecto,
refecto, ac defecto... Mimum risit, et ludum spectavit imperii.
Orosius, l. vii. c. 42, p. 582.]
The degradation of Attalus removed the only real obstacle to the
conclusion of the peace; and Alaric advanced within three miles
of Ravenna, to press the irresolution of the Imperial ministers,
whose insolence soon returned with the return of fortune. His
indignation was kindled by the report, that a rival chieftain,
that Sarus, the personal enemy of Adolphus, and the hereditary
foe of the house of Balti, had been received into the palace. At
the head of three hundred followers, that fearless Barbarian
immediately sallied from the gates of Ravenna; surprised, and cut
in pieces, a considerable body of Goths; reentered the city in
triumph; and was permitted to insult his adversary, by the voice
of a herald, who publicly declared that the guilt of Alaric had
forever excluded him from the friendship and alliance of the
emperor. 97 The crime and folly of the court of Ravenna was
expiated, a third time, by the calamities of Rome. The king of
the Goths, who no longer dissembled his appetite for plunder and
revenge, appeared in arms under the walls of the capital; and the
trembling senate, without any hopes of relief, prepared, by a
desperate resistance, to defray the ruin of their country. But
they were unable to guard against the secret conspiracy of their
slaves and domestics; who, either from birth or interest, were
attached to the cause of the enemy. At the hour of midnight, the
Salarian gate was silently opened, and the inhabitants were
awakened by the tremendous sound of the Gothic trumpet. Eleven
hundred and sixty-three years after the foundation of Rome, the
Imperial city, which had subdued and civilized so considerable a
part of mankind, was delivered to the licentious fury of the
tribes of Germany and Scythia. 98
97 (return) [ Zosimus, l. vi. p. 384. Sozomen, l. ix. c. 9.
Philostorgius, l. xii. c. 3. In this place the text of Zosimus is
mutilated, and we have lost the remainder of his sixth and last
book, which ended with the sack of Rome. Credulous and partial as
he is, we must take our leave of that historian with some
regret.]
98 (return) [ Adest Alaricus, trepidam Romam obsidet, turbat,
irrumpit. Orosius, l. vii. c. 39, p. 573. He despatches this
great event in seven words; but he employs whole pages in
celebrating the devotion of the Goths. I have extracted from an
improbable story of Procopius, the circumstances which had an air
of probability. Procop. de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 2. He supposes
that the city was surprised while the senators slept in the
afternoon; but Jerom, with more authority and more reason,
affirms, that it was in the night, nocte Moab capta est. nocte
cecidit murus ejus, tom. i. p. 121, ad Principiam.]
The proclamation of Alaric, when he forced his entrance into a
vanquished city, discovered, however, some regard for the laws of
humanity and religion. He encouraged his troops boldly to seize
the rewards of valor, and to enrich themselves with the spoils of
a wealthy and effeminate people: but he exhorted them, at the
same time, to spare the lives of the unresisting citizens, and to
respect the churches of the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, as
holy and inviolable sanctuaries. Amidst the horrors of a
nocturnal tumult, several of the Christian Goths displayed the
fervor of a recent conversion; and some instances of their
uncommon piety and moderation are related, and perhaps adorned,
by the zeal of ecclesiastical writers. 99 While the Barbarians
roamed through the city in quest of prey, the humble dwelling of
an aged virgin, who had devoted her life to the service of the
altar, was forced open by one of the powerful Goths. He
immediately demanded, though in civil language, all the gold and
silver in her possession; and was astonished at the readiness
with which she conducted him to a splendid hoard of massy plate,
of the richest materials, and the most curious workmanship. The
Barbarian viewed with wonder and delight this valuable
acquisition, till he was interrupted by a serious admonition,
addressed to him in the following words: “These,” said she, “are
the consecrated vessels belonging to St. Peter: if you presume to
touch them, the sacrilegious deed will remain on your conscience.
For my part, I dare not keep what I am unable to defend.” The
Gothic captain, struck with reverential awe, despatched a
messenger to inform the king of the treasure which he had
discovered; and received a peremptory order from Alaric, that all
the consecrated plate and ornaments should be transported,
without damage or delay, to the church of the apostle. From the
extremity, perhaps, of the Quirinal hill, to the distant quarter
of the Vatican, a numerous detachment of Goths, marching in order
of battle through the principal streets, protected, with
glittering arms, the long train of their devout companions, who
bore aloft, on their heads, the sacred vessels of gold and
silver; and the martial shouts of the Barbarians were mingled
with the sound of religious psalmody. From all the adjacent
houses, a crowd of Christians hastened to join this edifying
procession; and a multitude of fugitives, without distinction of
age, or rank, or even of sect, had the good fortune to escape to
the secure and hospitable sanctuary of the Vatican. The learned
work, concerning the City of God, was professedly composed by St.
Augustin, to justify the ways of Providence in the destruction of
the Roman greatness. He celebrates, with peculiar satisfaction,
this memorable triumph of Christ; and insults his adversaries, by
challenging them to produce some similar example of a town taken
by storm, in which the fabulous gods of antiquity had been able
to protect either themselves or their deluded votaries. 100
99 (return) [ Orosius (l. vii. c. 39, p. 573-576) applauds the
piety of the Christian Goths, without seeming to perceive that
the greatest part of them were Arian heretics. Jornandes (c. 30,
p. 653) and Isidore of Seville, (Chron. p. 417, edit. Grot.,) who
were both attached to the Gothic cause, have repeated and
embellished these edifying tales. According to Isidore, Alaric
himself was heard to say, that he waged war with the Romans, and
not with the apostles. Such was the style of the seventh century;
two hundred years before, the fame and merit had been ascribed,
not to the apostles, but to Christ.]
100 (return) [ See Augustin, de Civitat. Dei, l. i. c. 1-6. He
particularly appeals to the examples of Troy, Syracuse, and
Tarentum.]
In the sack of Rome, some rare and extraordinary examples of
Barbarian virtue have been deservedly applauded. But the holy
precincts of the Vatican, and the apostolic churches, could
receive a very small proportion of the Roman people; many
thousand warriors, more especially of the Huns, who served under
the standard of Alaric, were strangers to the name, or at least
to the faith, of Christ; and we may suspect, without any breach
of charity or candor, that in the hour of savage license, when
every passion was inflamed, and every restraint was removed, the
precepts of the Gospel seldom influenced the behavior of the
Gothic Christians. The writers, the best disposed to exaggerate
their clemency, have freely confessed, that a cruel slaughter was
made of the Romans; 101 and that the streets of the city were
filled with dead bodies, which remained without burial during the
general consternation. The despair of the citizens was sometimes
converted into fury: and whenever the Barbarians were provoked by
opposition, they extended the promiscuous massacre to the feeble,
the innocent, and the helpless. The private revenge of forty
thousand slaves was exercised without pity or remorse; and the
ignominious lashes, which they had formerly received, were washed
away in the blood of the guilty, or obnoxious, families. The
matrons and virgins of Rome were exposed to injuries more
dreadful, in the apprehension of chastity, than death itself; and
the ecclesiastical historian has selected an example of female
virtue, for the admiration of future ages. 102 A Roman lady, of
singular beauty and orthodox faith, had excited the impatient
desires of a young Goth, who, according to the sagacious remark
of Sozomen, was attached to the Arian heresy. Exasperated by her
obstinate resistance, he drew his sword, and, with the anger of a
lover, slightly wounded her neck. The bleeding heroine still
continued to brave his resentment, and to repel his love, till
the ravisher desisted from his unavailing efforts, respectfully
conducted her to the sanctuary of the Vatican, and gave six
pieces of gold to the guards of the church, on condition that
they should restore her inviolate to the arms of her husband.
Such instances of courage and generosity were not extremely
common. The brutal soldiers satisfied their sensual appetites,
without consulting either the inclination or the duties of their
female captives: and a nice question of casuistry was seriously
agitated, Whether those tender victims, who had inflexibly
refused their consent to the violation which they sustained, had
lost, by their misfortune, the glorious crown of virginity. 103
Their were other losses indeed of a more substantial kind, and
more general concern. It cannot be presumed, that all the
Barbarians were at all times capable of perpetrating such amorous
outrages; and the want of youth, or beauty, or chastity,
protected the greatest part of the Roman women from the danger of
a rape. But avarice is an insatiate and universal passion; since
the enjoyment of almost every object that can afford pleasure to
the different tastes and tempers of mankind may be procured by
the possession of wealth. In the pillage of Rome, a just
preference was given to gold and jewels, which contain the
greatest value in the smallest compass and weight: but, after
these portable riches had been removed by the more diligent
robbers, the palaces of Rome were rudely stripped of their
splendid and costly furniture. The sideboards of massy plate, and
the variegated wardrobes of silk and purple, were irregularly
piled in the wagons, that always followed the march of a Gothic
army. The most exquisite works of art were roughly handled, or
wantonly destroyed; many a statue was melted for the sake of the
precious materials; and many a vase, in the division of the
spoil, was shivered into fragments by the stroke of a battle-axe.
The acquisition of riches served only to stimulate the avarice of
the rapacious Barbarians, who proceeded, by threats, by blows,
and by tortures, to force from their prisoners the confession of
hidden treasure. 104 Visible splendor and expense were alleged as
the proof of a plentiful fortune; the appearance of poverty was
imputed to a parsimonious disposition; and the obstinacy of some
misers, who endured the most cruel torments before they would
discover the secret object of their affection, was fatal to many
unhappy wretches, who expired under the lash, for refusing to
reveal their imaginary treasures. The edifices of Rome, though
the damage has been much exaggerated, received some injury from
the violence of the Goths. At their entrance through the Salarian
gate, they fired the adjacent houses to guide their march, and to
distract the attention of the citizens; the flames, which
encountered no obstacle in the disorder of the night, consumed
many private and public buildings; and the ruins of the palace of
Sallust 105 remained, in the age of Justinian, a stately monument
of the Gothic conflagration. 106 Yet a contemporary historian has
observed, that fire could scarcely consume the enormous beams of
solid brass, and that the strength of man was insufficient to
subvert the foundations of ancient structures. Some truth may
possibly be concealed in his devout assertion, that the wrath of
Heaven supplied the imperfections of hostile rage; and that the
proud Forum of Rome, decorated with the statues of so many gods
and heroes, was levelled in the dust by the stroke of lightning.
107
101 (return) [ Jerom (tom. i. p. 121, ad Principiam) has applied
to the sack of Rome all the strong expressions of Virgil:—
Quis cladem illius noctis, quis funera fando, Explicet, &c.
Procopius (l. i. c. 2) positively affirms that great numbers were
slain by the Goths. Augustin (de Civ. Dei, l. i. c. 12, 13)
offers Christian comfort for the death of those whose bodies
(multa corpora) had remained (in tanta strage) unburied.
Baronius, from the different writings of the Fathers, has thrown
some light on the sack of Rome. Annal. Eccles. A.D. 410, No.
16-34.]
102 (return) [ Sozomen. l. ix. c. 10. Augustin (de Civitat. Dei,
l. i. c. 17) intimates, that some virgins or matrons actually
killed themselves to escape violation; and though he admires
their spirit, he is obliged, by his theology, to condemn their
rash presumption. Perhaps the good bishop of Hippo was too easy
in the belief, as well as too rigid in the censure, of this act
of female heroism. The twenty maidens (if they ever existed) who
threw themselves into the Elbe, when Magdeburgh was taken by
storm, have been multiplied to the number of twelve hundred. See
Harte’s History of Gustavus Adolphus, vol. i. p. 308.]
103 (return) [ See Augustin de Civitat. Dei, l. i. c. 16, 18. He
treats the subject with remarkable accuracy: and after admitting
that there cannot be any crime where there is no consent, he
adds, Sed quia non solum quod ad dolorem, verum etiam quod ad
libidinem, pertinet, in corpore alieno pepetrari potest; quicquid
tale factum fuerit, etsi retentam constantissimo animo pudicitiam
non excutit, pudorem tamen incutit, ne credatur factum cum mentis
etiam voluntate, quod fieri fortasse sine carnis aliqua voluptate
non potuit. In c. 18 he makes some curious distinctions between
moral and physical virginity.]
104 (return) [ Marcella, a Roman lady, equally respectable for
her rank, her age, and her piety, was thrown on the ground, and
cruelly beaten and whipped, caesam fustibus flagellisque, &c.
Jerom, tom. i. p. 121, ad Principiam. See Augustin, de Civ. Dei,
l. c. 10. The modern Sacco di Roma, p. 208, gives an idea of the
various methods of torturing prisoners for gold.]
105 (return) [ The historian Sallust, who usefully practiced the
vices which he has so eloquently censured, employed the plunder
of Numidia to adorn his palace and gardens on the Quirinal hill.
The spot where the house stood is now marked by the church of St.
Susanna, separated only by a street from the baths of Diocletian,
and not far distant from the Salarian gate. See Nardini, Roma
Antica, p. 192, 193, and the great I’lan of Modern Rome, by
Nolli.]
106 (return) [ The expressions of Procopius are distinct and
moderate, (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 2.) The Chronicle of
Marcellinus speaks too strongly partem urbis Romae cremavit; and
the words of Philostorgius (l. xii. c. 3) convey a false and
exaggerated idea. Bargaeus has composed a particular dissertation
(see tom. iv. Antiquit. Rom. Graev.) to prove that the edifices
of Rome were not subverted by the Goths and Vandals.]
107 (return) [ Orosius, l. ii. c. 19, p. 143. He speaks as if he
disapproved all statues; vel Deum vel hominem mentiuntur. They
consisted of the kings of Alba and Rome from Aeneas, the Romans,
illustrious either in arms or arts, and the deified Caesars. The
expression which he uses of Forum is somewhat ambiguous, since
there existed five principal Fora; but as they were all
contiguous and adjacent, in the plain which is surrounded by the
Capitoline, the Quirinal, the Esquiline, and the Palatine hills,
they might fairly be considered as one. See the Roma Antiqua of
Donatus, p. 162-201, and the Roma Antica of Nardini, p. 212-273.
The former is more useful for the ancient descriptions, the
latter for the actual topography.]
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part V.
Whatever might be the numbers of equestrian or plebeian rank, who
perished in the massacre of Rome, it is confidently affirmed that
only one senator lost his life by the sword of the enemy. 108 But
it was not easy to compute the multitudes, who, from an honorable
station and a prosperous fortune, were suddenly reduced to the
miserable condition of captives and exiles. As the Barbarians had
more occasion for money than for slaves, they fixed at a moderate
price the redemption of their indigent prisoners; and the ransom
was often paid by the benevolence of their friends, or the
charity of strangers. 109 The captives, who were regularly sold,
either in open market, or by private contract, would have legally
regained their native freedom, which it was impossible for a
citizen to lose, or to alienate. 110 But as it was soon
discovered that the vindication of their liberty would endanger
their lives; and that the Goths, unless they were tempted to
sell, might be provoked to murder, their useless prisoners; the
civil jurisprudence had been already qualified by a wise
regulation, that they should be obliged to serve the moderate
term of five years, till they had discharged by their labor the
price of their redemption. 111 The nations who invaded the Roman
empire, had driven before them, into Italy, whole troops of
hungry and affrighted provincials, less apprehensive of servitude
than of famine. The calamities of Rome and Italy dispersed the
inhabitants to the most lonely, the most secure, the most distant
places of refuge. While the Gothic cavalry spread terror and
desolation along the sea-coast of Campania and Tuscany, the
little island of Igilium, separated by a narrow channel from the
Argentarian promontory, repulsed, or eluded, their hostile
attempts; and at so small a distance from Rome, great numbers of
citizens were securely concealed in the thick woods of that
sequestered spot. 112 The ample patrimonies, which many
senatorian families possessed in Africa, invited them, if they
had time, and prudence, to escape from the ruin of their country,
to embrace the shelter of that hospitable province. The most
illustrious of these fugitives was the noble and pious Proba, 113
the widow of the præfect Petronius. After the death of her
husband, the most powerful subject of Rome, she had remained at
the head of the Anician family, and successively supplied, from
her private fortune, the expense of the consulships of her three
sons. When the city was besieged and taken by the Goths, Proba
supported, with Christian resignation, the loss of immense
riches; embarked in a small vessel, from whence she beheld, at
sea, the flames of her burning palace, and fled with her daughter
Laeta, and her granddaughter, the celebrated virgin, Demetrias,
to the coast of Africa. The benevolent profusion with which the
matron distributed the fruits, or the price, of her estates,
contributed to alleviate the misfortunes of exile and captivity.
But even the family of Proba herself was not exempt from the
rapacious oppression of Count Heraclian, who basely sold, in
matrimonial prostitution, the noblest maidens of Rome to the lust
or avarice of the Syrian merchants. The Italian fugitives were
dispersed through the provinces, along the coast of Egypt and
Asia, as far as Constantinople and Jerusalem; and the village of
Bethlem, the solitary residence of St. Jerom and his female
converts, was crowded with illustrious beggars of either sex, and
every age, who excited the public compassion by the remembrance
of their past fortune. 114 This awful catastrophe of Rome filled
the astonished empire with grief and terror. So interesting a
contrast of greatness and ruin, disposed the fond credulity of
the people to deplore, and even to exaggerate, the afflictions of
the queen of cities. The clergy, who applied to recent events the
lofty metaphors of oriental prophecy, were sometimes tempted to
confound the destruction of the capital and the dissolution of
the globe.
108 (return) [ Orosius (l. ii. c. 19, p. 142) compares the
cruelty of the Gauls and the clemency of the Goths. Ibi vix
quemquam inventum senatorem, qui vel absens evaserit; hic vix
quemquam requiri, qui forte ut latens perierit. But there is an
air of rhetoric, and perhaps of falsehood, in this antithesis;
and Socrates (l. vii. c. 10) affirms, perhaps by an opposite
exaggeration, that many senators were put to death with various
and exquisite tortures.]
109 (return) [ Multi... Christiani incaptivitatem ducti sunt.
Augustin, de Civ Dei, l. i. c. 14; and the Christians experienced
no peculiar hardships.]
110 (return) [ See Heineccius, Antiquitat. Juris Roman. tom. i.
p. 96.]
111 (return) [ Appendix Cod. Theodos. xvi. in Sirmond. Opera,
tom. i. p. 735. This edict was published on the 11th of December,
A.D. 408, and is more reasonable than properly belonged to the
ministers of Honorius.]
112 (return) [ Eminus Igilii sylvosa cacumina miror; Quem
fraudare nefas laudis honore suae.
Haec proprios nuper tutata est insula saltus;
Sive loci ingenio, seu Domini genio. Gurgite cum modico
victricibus obstitit armis, Tanquam longinquo dissociata mari.
Haec multos lacera suscepit ab urbe fugates,
Hic fessis posito certa timore salus. Plurima terreno populaverat
aequora bello,
Contra naturam classe timendus eques: Unum, mira fides, vario
discrimine portum!
Tam prope Romanis, tam procul esse Getis.
—-Rutilius, in Itinerar. l. i. 325
The island is now called Giglio. See Cluver. Ital. Antiq. l. ii.
]
113 (return) [ As the adventures of Proba and her family are
connected with the life of St. Augustin, they are diligently
illustrated by Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 620-635.
Some time after their arrival in Africa, Demetrias took the veil,
and made a vow of virginity; an event which was considered as of
the highest importance to Rome and to the world. All the Saints
wrote congratulatory letters to her; that of Jerom is still
extant, (tom. i. p. 62-73, ad Demetriad. de servand Virginitat.,)
and contains a mixture of absurd reasoning, spirited declamation,
and curious facts, some of which relate to the siege and sack of
Rome.]
114 (return) [ See the pathetic complaint of Jerom, (tom. v. p.
400,) in his preface to the second book of his Commentaries on
the Prophet Ezekiel.]
There exists in human nature a strong propensity to depreciate
the advantages, and to magnify the evils, of the present times.
Yet, when the first emotions had subsided, and a fair estimate
was made of the real damage, the more learned and judicious
contemporaries were forced to confess, that infant Rome had
formerly received more essential injury from the Gauls, than she
had now sustained from the Goths in her declining age. 115 The
experience of eleven centuries has enabled posterity to produce a
much more singular parallel; and to affirm with confidence, that
the ravages of the Barbarians, whom Alaric had led from the banks
of the Danube, were less destructive than the hostilities
exercised by the troops of Charles the Fifth, a Catholic prince,
who styled himself Emperor of the Romans. 116 The Goths evacuated
the city at the end of six days, but Rome remained above nine
months in the possession of the Imperialists; and every hour was
stained by some atrocious act of cruelty, lust, and rapine. The
authority of Alaric preserved some order and moderation among the
ferocious multitude which acknowledged him for their leader and
king; but the constable of Bourbon had gloriously fallen in the
attack of the walls; and the death of the general removed every
restraint of discipline from an army which consisted of three
independent nations, the Italians, the Spaniards, and the
Germans. In the beginning of the sixteenth century, the manners
of Italy exhibited a remarkable scene of the depravity of
mankind. They united the sanguinary crimes that prevail in an
unsettled state of society, with the polished vices which spring
from the abuse of art and luxury; and the loose adventurers, who
had violated every prejudice of patriotism and superstition to
assault the palace of the Roman pontiff, must deserve to be
considered as the most profligate of the Italians. At the same
era, the Spaniards were the terror both of the Old and New
World: but their high-spirited valor was disgraced by gloomy
pride, rapacious avarice, and unrelenting cruelty. Indefatigable
in the pursuit of fame and riches, they had improved, by repeated
practice, the most exquisite and effectual methods of torturing
their prisoners: many of the Castilians, who pillaged Rome, were
familiars of the holy inquisition; and some volunteers, perhaps,
were lately returned from the conquest of Mexico. The Germans were
less corrupt than the Italians, less cruel than the Spaniards;
and the rustic, or even savage, aspect of those Tramontane
warriors, often disguised a simple and merciful disposition. But
they had imbibed, in the first fervor of the reformation, the
spirit, as well as the principles, of Luther. It was their
favorite amusement to insult, or destroy, the consecrated objects
of Catholic superstition; they indulged, without pity or remorse,
a devout hatred against the clergy of every denomination and
degree, who form so considerable a part of the inhabitants of
modern Rome; and their fanatic zeal might aspire to subvert the
throne of Anti-christ, to purify, with blood and fire, the
abominations of the spiritual Babylon. 117
115 (return) [ Orosius, though with some theological partiality,
states this comparison, l. ii. c. 19, p. 142, l. vii. c. 39, p.
575. But, in the history of the taking of Rome by the Gauls,
every thing is uncertain, and perhaps fabulous. See Beaufort sur
l’Incertitude, &c., de l’Histoire Romaine, p. 356; and Melot, in
the Mem. de l’Academie des Inscript. tom. xv. p. 1-21.]
116 (return) [ The reader who wishes to inform himself of the
circumstances of his famous event, may peruse an admirable
narrative in Dr. Robertson’s History of Charles V. vol. ii. p.
283; or consult the Annali d’Italia of the learned Muratori, tom.
xiv. p. 230-244, octavo edition. If he is desirous of examining
the originals, he may have recourse to the eighteenth book of the
great, but unfinished, history of Guicciardini. But the account
which most truly deserves the name of authentic and original, is
a little book, entitled, Il Sacco di Roma, composed, within less
than a month after the assault of the city, by the brother of the
historian Guicciardini, who appears to have been an able
magistrate and a dispassionate writer.]
117 (return) [ The furious spirit of Luther, the effect of temper
and enthusiasm, has been forcibly attacked, (Bossuet, Hist. des
Variations des Eglises Protestantes, livre i. p. 20-36,) and
feebly defended, (Seckendorf. Comment. de Lutheranismo,
especially l. i. No. 78, p. 120, and l. iii. No. 122, p. 556.)]
The retreat of the victorious Goths, who evacuated Rome on the
sixth day, 118 might be the result of prudence; but it was not
surely the effect of fear. 119 At the head of an army encumbered
with rich and weighty spoils, their intrepid leader advanced
along the Appian way into the southern provinces of Italy,
destroying whatever dared to oppose his passage, and contenting
himself with the plunder of the unresisting country. The fate of
Capua, the proud and luxurious metropolis of Campania, and which
was respected, even in its decay, as the eighth city of the
empire, 120 is buried in oblivion; whilst the adjacent town of
Nola 121 has been illustrated, on this occasion, by the sanctity
of Paulinus, 122 who was successively a consul, a monk, and a
bishop. At the age of forty, he renounced the enjoyment of wealth
and honor, of society and literature, to embrace a life of
solitude and penance; and the loud applause of the clergy
encouraged him to despise the reproaches of his worldly friends,
who ascribed this desperate act to some disorder of the mind or
body. 123 An early and passionate attachment determined him to
fix his humble dwelling in one of the suburbs of Nola, near the
miraculous tomb of St. Faelix, which the public devotion had
already surrounded with five large and populous churches. The
remains of his fortune, and of his understanding, were dedicated
to the service of the glorious martyr; whose praise, on the day
of his festival, Paulinus never failed to celebrate by a solemn
hymn; and in whose name he erected a sixth church, of superior
elegance and beauty, which was decorated with many curious
pictures, from the history of the Old and New Testament. Such
assiduous zeal secured the favor of the saint, 124 or at least of
the people; and, after fifteen years’ retirement, the Roman
consul was compelled to accept the bishopric of Nola, a few
months before the city was invested by the Goths. During the
siege, some religious persons were satisfied that they had seen,
either in dreams or visions, the divine form of their tutelar
patron; yet it soon appeared by the event, that Faelix wanted
power, or inclination, to preserve the flock of which he had
formerly been the shepherd. Nola was not saved from the general
devastation; 125 and the captive bishop was protected only by the
general opinion of his innocence and poverty. Above four years
elapsed from the successful invasion of Italy by the arms of
Alaric, to the voluntary retreat of the Goths under the conduct
of his successor Adolphus; and, during the whole time, they
reigned without control over a country, which, in the opinion of
the ancients, had united all the various excellences of nature
and art. The prosperity, indeed, which Italy had attained in the
auspicious age of the Antonines, had gradually declined with the
decline of the empire.
The fruits of a long peace perished under the rude grasp of the
Barbarians; and they themselves were incapable of tasting the
more elegant refinements of luxury, which had been prepared for
the use of the soft and polished Italians. Each soldier, however,
claimed an ample portion of the substantial plenty, the corn and
cattle, oil and wine, that was daily collected and consumed in
the Gothic camp; and the principal warriors insulted the villas
and gardens, once inhabited by Lucullus and Cicero, along the
beauteous coast of Campania. Their trembling captives, the sons
and daughters of Roman senators, presented, in goblets of gold
and gems, large draughts of Falernian wine to the haughty
victors; who stretched their huge limbs under the shade of
plane-trees, 126 artificially disposed to exclude the scorching
rays, and to admit the genial warmth, of the sun. These delights
were enhanced by the memory of past hardships: the comparison of
their native soil, the bleak and barren hills of Scythia, and the
frozen banks of the Elbe and Danube, added new charms to the
felicity of the Italian climate. 127
118 (return) [ Marcellinus, in Chron. Orosius, (l. vii. c. 39, p.
575,) asserts, that he left Rome on the third day; but this
difference is easily reconciled by the successive motions of
great bodies of troops.]
119 (return) [ Socrates (l. vii. c. 10) pretends, without any
color of truth, or reason, that Alaric fled on the report that
the armies of the Eastern empire were in full march to attack
him.]
120 (return) [ Ausonius de Claris Urbibus, p. 233, edit. Toll.
The luxury of Capua had formerly surpassed that of Sybaris
itself. See Athenaeus Deipnosophist. l. xii. p. 528, edit.
Casaubon.]
121 (return) [ Forty-eight years before the foundation of Rome,
(about 800 before the Christian era,) the Tuscans built Capua
and Nola, at the distance of twenty-three miles from each other;
but the latter of the two cities never emerged from a state of
mediocrity.]
122 (return) [ Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 1-46) has
compiled, with his usual diligence, all that relates to the life
and writings of Paulinus, whose retreat is celebrated by his own
pen, and by the praises of St. Ambrose, St. Jerom, St. Augustin,
Sulpicius Severus, &c., his Christian friends and
contemporaries.]
123 (return) [ See the affectionate letters of Ausonius (epist.
xix.—xxv. p. 650-698, edit. Toll.) to his colleague, his friend,
and his disciple, Paulinus. The religion of Ausonius is still a
problem, (see Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xv. p.
123-138.) I believe that it was such in his own time, and,
consequently, that in his heart he was a Pagan.]
124 (return) [ The humble Paulinus once presumed to say, that he
believed St. Faelix did love him; at least, as a master loves his
little dog.]
125 (return) [ See Jornandes, de Reb. Get. c. 30, p. 653.
Philostorgius, l. xii. c. 3. Augustin. de Civ. Dei, l.i.c. 10.
Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 410, No. 45, 46.]
126 (return) [ The platanus, or plane-tree, was a favorite of the
ancients, by whom it was propagated, for the sake of shade, from
the East to Gaul. Plin. Hist. Natur. xii. 3, 4, 5. He mentions
several of an enormous size; one in the Imperial villa, at
Velitrae, which Caligula called his nest, as the branches were
capable of holding a large table, the proper attendants, and the
emperor himself, whom Pliny quaintly styles pars umbroe; an
expression which might, with equal reason, be applied to Alaric]
127 (return) [ The prostrate South to the destroyer yields
Her boasted titles, and her golden fields; With grim delight the
brood of winter view A brighter day, and skies of azure hue; Scent
the new fragrance of the opening rose, And quaff the pendent
vintage as it grows.
See Gray’s Poems, published by Mr. Mason, p. 197. Instead of
compiling tables of chronology and natural history, why did not
Mr. Gray apply the powers of his genius to finish the philosophic
poem, of which he has left such an exquisite specimen?]
Whether fame, or conquest, or riches, were the object or Alaric,
he pursued that object with an indefatigable ardor, which could
neither be quelled by adversity nor satiated by success. No
sooner had he reached the extreme land of Italy, than he was
attracted by the neighboring prospect of a fertile and peaceful
island. Yet even the possession of Sicily he considered only as
an intermediate step to the important expedition, which he
already meditated against the continent of Africa. The Straits of
Rhegium and Messina 128 are twelve miles in length, and, in the
narrowest passage, about one mile and a half broad; and the
fabulous monsters of the deep, the rocks of Scylla, and the
whirlpool of Charybdis, could terrify none but the most timid and
unskilful mariners. Yet as soon as the first division of the
Goths had embarked, a sudden tempest arose, which sunk, or
scattered, many of the transports; their courage was daunted by
the terrors of a new element; and the whole design was defeated
by the premature death of Alaric, which fixed, after a short
illness, the fatal term of his conquests. The ferocious character
of the Barbarians was displayed in the funeral of a hero whose
valor and fortune they celebrated with mournful applause. By the
labor of a captive multitude, they forcibly diverted the course
of the Busentinus, a small river that washes the walls of
Consentia. The royal sepulchre, adorned with the splendid spoils
and trophies of Rome, was constructed in the vacant bed; the
waters were then restored to their natural channel; and the
secret spot, where the remains of Alaric had been deposited, was
forever concealed by the inhuman massacre of the prisoners, who
had been employed to execute the work. 129
128 (return) [ For the perfect description of the Straits of
Messina, Scylla, Clarybdis, &c., see Cluverius, (Ital. Antiq. l.
iv. p. 1293, and Sicilia Antiq. l. i. p. 60-76), who had
diligently studied the ancients, and surveyed with a curious eye
the actual face of the country.]
129 (return) [ Jornandes, de Reb Get. c. 30, p. 654.]
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part VI.
The personal animosities and hereditary feuds of the Barbarians
were suspended by the strong necessity of their affairs; and the
brave Adolphus, the brother-in-law of the deceased monarch, was
unanimously elected to succeed to his throne. The character and
political system of the new king of the Goths may be best
understood from his own conversation with an illustrious citizen
of Narbonne; who afterwards, in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land,
related it to St. Jerom, in the presence of the historian
Orosius. “In the full confidence of valor and victory, I once
aspired (said Adolphus) to change the face of the universe; to
obliterate the name of Rome; to erect on its ruins the dominion
of the Goths; and to acquire, like Augustus, the immortal fame of
the founder of a new empire. By repeated experiments, I was
gradually convinced, that laws are essentially necessary to
maintain and regulate a well-constituted state; and that the
fierce, untractable humor of the Goths was incapable of bearing
the salutary yoke of laws and civil government. From that moment
I proposed to myself a different object of glory and ambition;
and it is now my sincere wish that the gratitude of future ages
should acknowledge the merit of a stranger, who employed the
sword of the Goths, not to subvert, but to restore and maintain,
the prosperity of the Roman empire.” 130 With these pacific
views, the successor of Alaric suspended the operations of war;
and seriously negotiated with the Imperial court a treaty of
friendship and alliance. It was the interest of the ministers of
Honorius, who were now released from the obligation of their
extravagant oath, to deliver Italy from the intolerable weight of
the Gothic powers; and they readily accepted their service
against the tyrants and Barbarians who infested the provinces
beyond the Alps. 131 Adolphus, assuming the character of a Roman
general, directed his march from the extremity of Campania to the
southern provinces of Gaul. His troops, either by force or
agreement, immediately occupied the cities of Narbonne,
Thoulouse, and Bordeaux; and though they were repulsed by Count
Boniface from the walls of Marseilles, they soon extended their
quarters from the Mediterranean to the Ocean.
The oppressed provincials might exclaim, that the miserable
remnant, which the enemy had spared, was cruelly ravished by
their pretended allies; yet some specious colors were not wanting
to palliate, or justify the violence of the Goths. The cities of
Gaul, which they attacked, might perhaps be considered as in a
state of rebellion against the government of Honorius: the
articles of the treaty, or the secret instructions of the court,
might sometimes be alleged in favor of the seeming usurpations of
Adolphus; and the guilt of any irregular, unsuccessful act of
hostility might always be imputed, with an appearance of truth,
to the ungovernable spirit of a Barbarian host, impatient of
peace or discipline. The luxury of Italy had been less effectual
to soften the temper, than to relax the courage, of the Goths;
and they had imbibed the vices, without imitating the arts and
institutions, of civilized society. 132
130 (return) [ Orosius, l. vii. c. 43, p. 584, 585. He was sent
by St. Augustin in the year 415, from Africa to Palestine, to
visit St. Jerom, and to consult with him on the subject of the
Pelagian controversy.]
131 (return) [ Jornandes supposes, without much probability, that
Adolphus visited and plundered Rome a second time, (more
locustarum erasit) Yet he agrees with Orosius in supposing that a
treaty of peace was concluded between the Gothic prince and
Honorius. See Oros. l. vii. c. 43 p. 584, 585. Jornandes, de Reb.
Geticis, c. 31, p. 654, 655.]
132 (return) [ The retreat of the Goths from Italy, and their
first transactions in Gaul, are dark and doubtful. I have derived
much assistance from Mascou, (Hist. of the Ancient Germans, l.
viii. c. 29, 35, 36, 37,) who has illustrated, and connected, the
broken chronicles and fragments of the times.]
The professions of Adolphus were probably sincere, and his
attachment to the cause of the republic was secured by the
ascendant which a Roman princess had acquired over the heart and
understanding of the Barbarian king. Placidia, 133 the daughter
of the great Theodosius, and of Galla, his second wife, had
received a royal education in the palace of Constantinople; but
the eventful story of her life is connected with the revolutions
which agitated the Western empire under the reign of her brother
Honorius. When Rome was first invested by the arms of Alaric,
Placidia, who was then about twenty years of age, resided in the
city; and her ready consent to the death of her cousin Serena has
a cruel and ungrateful appearance, which, according to the
circumstances of the action, may be aggravated, or excused, by
the consideration of her tender age. 134 The victorious
Barbarians detained, either as a hostage or a captive, 135 the
sister of Honorius; but, while she was exposed to the disgrace of
following round Italy the motions of a Gothic camp, she
experienced, however, a decent and respectful treatment. The
authority of Jornandes, who praises the beauty of Placidia, may
perhaps be counterbalanced by the silence, the expressive
silence, of her flatterers: yet the splendor of her birth, the
bloom of youth, the elegance of manners, and the dexterous
insinuation which she condescended to employ, made a deep
impression on the mind of Adolphus; and the Gothic king aspired
to call himself the brother of the emperor. The ministers of
Honorius rejected with disdain the proposal of an alliance so
injurious to every sentiment of Roman pride; and repeatedly urged
the restitution of Placidia, as an indispensable condition of the
treaty of peace. But the daughter of Theodosius submitted,
without reluctance, to the desires of the conqueror, a young and
valiant prince, who yielded to Alaric in loftiness of stature,
but who excelled in the more attractive qualities of grace and
beauty. The marriage of Adolphus and Placidia 136 was consummated
before the Goths retired from Italy; and the solemn, perhaps the
anniversary day of their nuptials was afterwards celebrated in
the house of Ingenuus, one of the most illustrious citizens of
Narbonne in Gaul. The bride, attired and adorned like a Roman
empress, was placed on a throne of state; and the king of the
Goths, who assumed, on this occasion, the Roman habit, contented
himself with a less honorable seat by her side. The nuptial gift,
which, according to the custom of his nation, 137 was offered to
Placidia, consisted of the rare and magnificent spoils of her
country. Fifty beautiful youths, in silken robes, carried a basin
in each hand; and one of these basins was filled with pieces of
gold, the other with precious stones of an inestimable value.
Attalus, so long the sport of fortune, and of the Goths, was
appointed to lead the chorus of the Hymeneal song; and the
degraded emperor might aspire to the praise of a skilful
musician. The Barbarians enjoyed the insolence of their triumph;
and the provincials rejoiced in this alliance, which tempered, by
the mild influence of love and reason, the fierce spirit of their
Gothic lord. 138
133 (return) [ See an account of Placidia in Ducange Fam. Byzant.
p. 72; and Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 260, 386,
&c. tom. vi. p. 240.]
134 (return) [ Zosim. l. v. p. 350.]
135 (return) [ Zosim. l. vi. p. 383. Orosius, (l. vii. c. 40, p.
576,) and the Chronicles of Marcellinus and Idatius, seem to
suppose, that the Goths did not carry away Placidia till after
the last siege of Rome.]
136 (return) [ See the pictures of Adolphus and Placidia, and the
account of their marriage, in Jornandes, de Reb. Geticis, c. 31,
p. 654, 655. With regard to the place where the nuptials were
stipulated, or consummated, or celebrated, the Mss. of Jornandes
vary between two neighboring cities, Forli and Imola, (Forum
Livii and Forum Cornelii.) It is fair and easy to reconcile the
Gothic historian with Olympiodorus, (see Mascou, l. viii. c. 46:)
but Tillemont grows peevish, and swears that it is not worth
while to try to conciliate Jornandes with any good authors.]
137 (return) [ The Visigoths (the subjects of Adolphus)
restrained by subsequent laws, the prodigality of conjugal love.
It was illegal for a husband to make any gift or settlement for
the benefit of his wife during the first year of their marriage;
and his liberality could not at any time exceed the tenth part of
his property. The Lombards were somewhat more indulgent: they
allowed the morgingcap immediately after the wedding night; and
this famous gift, the reward of virginity might equal the fourth
part of the husband’s substance. Some cautious maidens, indeed,
were wise enough to stipulate beforehand a present, which they
were too sure of not deserving. See Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix,
l. xix. c. 25. Muratori, delle Antichita Italiane, tom. i.
Dissertazion, xx. p. 243.]
138 (return) [ We owe the curious detail of this nuptial feast to
the historian Olympiodorus, ap. Photium, p. 185, 188.]
The hundred basins of gold and gems, presented to Placidia at her
nuptial feast, formed an inconsiderable portion of the Gothic
treasures; of which some extraordinary specimens may be selected
from the history of the successors of Adolphus. Many curious and
costly ornaments of pure gold, enriched with jewels, were found
in their palace of Narbonne, when it was pillaged, in the sixth
century, by the Franks: sixty cups, or chalices; fifteen patens,
or plates, for the use of the communion; twenty boxes, or cases,
to hold the books of the Gospels: this consecrated wealth 139 was
distributed by the son of Clovis among the churches of his
dominions, and his pious liberality seems to upbraid some former
sacrilege of the Goths. They possessed, with more security of
conscience, the famous missorium, or great dish for the service
of the table, of massy gold, of the weight of five hundred
pounds, and of far superior value, from the precious stones, the
exquisite workmanship, and the tradition, that it had been
presented by Ætius, the patrician, to Torismond, king of the
Goths. One of the successors of Torismond purchased the aid of
the French monarch by the promise of this magnificent gift. When
he was seated on the throne of Spain, he delivered it with
reluctance to the ambassadors of Dagobert; despoiled them on the
road; stipulated, after a long negotiation, the inadequate ransom
of two hundred thousand pieces of gold; and preserved the
missorium, as the pride of the Gothic treasury. 140 When that
treasury, after the conquest of Spain, was plundered by the
Arabs, they admired, and they have celebrated, another object
still more remarkable; a table of considerable size, of one
single piece of solid emerald, 141 encircled with three rows of
fine pearls, supported by three hundred and sixty-five feet of
gems and massy gold, and estimated at the price of five hundred
thousand pieces of gold. 142 Some portion of the Gothic treasures
might be the gift of friendship, or the tribute of obedience; but
the far greater part had been the fruits of war and rapine, the
spoils of the empire, and perhaps of Rome.
139 (return) [ See in the great collection of the Historians of
France by Dom Bouquet, tom. ii. Greg. Turonens. l. iii. c. 10, p.
191. Gesta Regum Francorum, c. 23, p. 557. The anonymous writer,
with an ignorance worthy of his times, supposes that these
instruments of Christian worship had belonged to the temple of
Solomon. If he has any meaning it must be, that they were found
in the sack of Rome.]
140 (return) [ Consult the following original testimonies in the
Historians of France, tom. ii. Fredegarii Scholastici Chron. c.
73, p. 441. Fredegar. Fragment. iii. p. 463. Gesta Regis
Dagobert, c. 29, p. 587. The accession of Sisenand to the throne
of Spain happened A.D. 631. The 200,000 pieces of gold were
appropriated by Dagobert to the foundation of the church of St.
Denys.]
141 (return) [ The president Goguet (Origine des Loix, &c., tom.
ii. p. 239) is of opinion, that the stupendous pieces of emerald,
the statues and columns which antiquity has placed in Egypt, at
Gades, at Constantinople, were in reality artificial compositions
of colored glass. The famous emerald dish, which is shown at
Genoa, is supposed to countenance the suspicion.]
142 (return) [ Elmacin. Hist. Saracenica, l. i. p. 85. Roderic.
Tolet. Hist. Arab. c. 9. Cardonne, Hist. de l’Afrique et de
l’Espagne sous les Arabes tom. i. p. 83. It was called the Table
of Solomon, according to the custom of the Orientals, who ascribe
to that prince every ancient work of knowledge or magnificence.]
After the deliverance of Italy from the oppression of the Goths,
some secret counsellor was permitted, amidst the factions of the
palace, to heal the wounds of that afflicted country. 143 By a
wise and humane regulation, the eight provinces which had been
the most deeply injured, Campania, Tuscany, Picenum, Samnium,
Apulia, Calabria, Bruttium, and Lucania, obtained an indulgence
of five years: the ordinary tribute was reduced to one fifth, and
even that fifth was destined to restore and support the useful
institution of the public posts. By another law, the lands which
had been left without inhabitants or cultivation, were granted,
with some diminution of taxes, to the neighbors who should
occupy, or the strangers who should solicit them; and the new
possessors were secured against the future claims of the fugitive
proprietors. About the same time a general amnesty was published
in the name of Honorius, to abolish the guilt and memory of all
the involuntary offences which had been committed by his unhappy
subjects, during the term of the public disorder and calamity. A
decent and respectful attention was paid to the restoration of
the capital; the citizens were encouraged to rebuild the edifices
which had been destroyed or damaged by hostile fire; and
extraordinary supplies of corn were imported from the coast of
Africa. The crowds that so lately fled before the sword of the
Barbarians, were soon recalled by the hopes of plenty and
pleasure; and Albinus, præfect of Rome, informed the court, with
some anxiety and surprise, that, in a single day, he had taken an
account of the arrival of fourteen thousand strangers. 144 In
less than seven years, the vestiges of the Gothic invasion were
almost obliterated; and the city appeared to resume its former
splendor and tranquillity. The venerable matron replaced her
crown of laurel, which had been ruffled by the storms of war; and
was still amused, in the last moment of her decay, with the
prophecies of revenge, of victory, and of eternal dominion. 145
143 (return) [ His three laws are inserted in the Theodosian
Code, l. xi. tit. xxviii. leg. 7. L. xiii. tit. xi. leg. 12. L.
xv. tit. xiv. leg. 14 The expressions of the last are very
remarkable; since they contain not only a pardon, but an
apology.]
144 (return) [ Olympiodorus ap. Phot. p. 188. Philostorgius (l.
xii. c. 5) observes, that when Honorius made his triumphal entry,
he encouraged the Romans, with his hand and voice, to rebuild
their city; and the Chronicle of Prosper commends Heraclian, qui
in Romanae urbis reparationem strenuum exhibuerat ministerium.]
145 (return) [ The date of the voyage of Claudius Rutilius
Numatianus is clogged with some difficulties; but Scaliger has
deduced from astronomical characters, that he left Rome the 24th
of September and embarked at Porto the 9th of October, A.D. 416.
See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom, v. p. 820. In this
poetical Itinerary, Rutilius (l. i. 115, &c.) addresses Rome in a
high strain of congratulation:—
Erige crinales lauros, seniumque sacrati Verticis in virides,
Roma, recinge comas, &c.]
This apparent tranquillity was soon disturbed by the approach of
a hostile armament from the country which afforded the daily
subsistence of the Roman people. Heraclian, count of Africa, who,
under the most difficult and distressful circumstances, had
supported, with active loyalty, the cause of Honorius, was
tempted, in the year of his consulship, to assume the character
of a rebel, and the title of emperor. The ports of Africa were
immediately filled with the naval forces, at the head of which he
prepared to invade Italy: and his fleet, when it cast anchor at
the mouth of the Tyber, indeed surpassed the fleets of Xerxes and
Alexander, if all the vessels, including the royal galley, and
the smallest boat, did actually amount to the incredible number
of three thousand two hundred. 146 Yet with such an armament,
which might have subverted, or restored, the greatest empires of
the earth, the African usurper made a very faint and feeble
impression on the provinces of his rival. As he marched from the
port, along the road which leads to the gates of Rome, he was
encountered, terrified, and routed, by one of the Imperial
captains; and the lord of this mighty host, deserting his fortune
and his friends, ignominiously fled with a single ship. 147 When
Heraclian landed in the harbor of Carthage, he found that the
whole province, disdaining such an unworthy ruler, had returned
to their allegiance. The rebel was beheaded in the ancient temple
of Memory; his consulship was abolished: 148 and the remains of
his private fortune, not exceeding the moderate sum of four
thousand pounds of gold, were granted to the brave Constantius,
who had already defended the throne, which he afterwards shared
with his feeble sovereign. Honorius viewed, with supine
indifference, the calamities of Rome and Italy; 149 but the
rebellious attempts of Attalus and Heraclian, against his
personal safety, awakened, for a moment, the torpid instinct of
his nature. He was probably ignorant of the causes and events
which preserved him from these impending dangers; and as Italy
was no longer invaded by any foreign or domestic enemies, he
peaceably existed in the palace of Ravenna, while the tyrants
beyond the Alps were repeatedly vanquished in the name, and by
the lieutenants, of the son of Theodosius. 150 In the course of a
busy and interesting narrative I might possibly forget to mention
the death of such a prince: and I shall therefore take the
precaution of observing, in this place, that he survived the last
siege of Rome about thirteen years.
146 (return) [ Orosius composed his history in Africa, only two
years after the event; yet his authority seems to be overbalanced
by the improbability of the fact. The Chronicle of Marcellinus
gives Heraclian 700 ships and 3000 men: the latter of these
numbers is ridiculously corrupt; but the former would please me
very much.]
147 (return) [ The Chronicle of Idatius affirms, without the
least appearance of truth, that he advanced as far as Otriculum,
in Umbria, where he was overthrown in a great battle, with the
loss of 50,000 men.]
148 (return) [ See Cod. Theod. l. xv. tit. xiv. leg. 13. The
legal acts performed in his name, even the manumission of slaves,
were declared invalid, till they had been formally repeated.]
149 (return) [ I have disdained to mention a very foolish, and
probably a false, report, (Procop. de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 2,)
that Honorius was alarmed by the loss of Rome, till he understood
that it was not a favorite chicken of that name, but only the
capital of the world, which had been lost. Yet even this story is
some evidence of the public opinion.]
150 (return) [ The materials for the lives of all these tyrants
are taken from six contemporary historians, two Latins and four
Greeks: Orosius, l. vii. c. 42, p. 581, 582, 583; Renatus
Profuturus Frigeridus, apud Gregor Turon. l. ii. c. 9, in the
Historians of France, tom. ii. p. 165, 166; Zosimus, l. v. p.
370, 371; Olympiodorus, apud Phot. p. 180, 181, 184, 185;
Sozomen, l. ix. c. 12, 13, 14, 15; and Philostorgius, l. xii. c.
5, 6, with Godefroy’s Dissertation, p. 477-481; besides the four
Chronicles of Prosper Tyro, Prosper of Aquitain, Idatius, and
Marcellinus.]
The usurpation of Constantine, who received the purple from the
legions of Britain, had been successful, and seemed to be secure.
His title was acknowledged, from the wall of Antoninus to the
columns of Hercules; and, in the midst of the public disorder he
shared the dominion, and the plunder, of Gaul and Spain, with the
tribes of Barbarians, whose destructive progress was no longer
checked by the Rhine or Pyrenees. Stained with the blood of the
kinsmen of Honorius, he extorted, from the court of Ravenna, with
which he secretly corresponded, the ratification of his
rebellious claims. Constantine engaged himself, by a solemn
promise, to deliver Italy from the Goths; advanced as far as the
banks of the Po; and after alarming, rather than assisting, his
pusillanimous ally, hastily returned to the palace of Arles, to
celebrate, with intemperate luxury, his vain and ostentatious
triumph. But this transient prosperity was soon interrupted and
destroyed by the revolt of Count Gerontius, the bravest of his
generals; who, during the absence of his son Constans, a prince
already invested with the Imperial purple, had been left to
command in the provinces of Spain. From some reason, of which we
are ignorant, Gerontius, instead of assuming the diadem, placed
it on the head of his friend Maximus, who fixed his residence at
Tarragona, while the active count pressed forwards, through the
Pyrenees, to surprise the two emperors, Constantine and Constans,
before they could prepare for their defence. The son was made
prisoner at Vienna, and immediately put to death: and the
unfortunate youth had scarcely leisure to deplore the elevation
of his family; which had tempted, or compelled him,
sacrilegiously to desert the peaceful obscurity of the monastic
life. The father maintained a siege within the walls of Arles;
but those walls must have yielded to the assailants, had not the
city been unexpectedly relieved by the approach of an Italian
army. The name of Honorius, the proclamation of a lawful emperor,
astonished the contending parties of the rebels. Gerontius,
abandoned by his own troops, escaped to the confines of Spain;
and rescued his name from oblivion, by the Roman courage which
appeared to animate the last moments of his life. In the middle
of the night, a great body of his perfidious soldiers surrounded
and attacked his house, which he had strongly barricaded. His
wife, a valiant friend of the nation of the Alani, and some
faithful slaves, were still attached to his person; and he used,
with so much skill and resolution, a large magazine of darts and
arrows, that above three hundred of the assailants lost their
lives in the attempt. His slaves when all the missile weapons
were spent, fled at the dawn of day; and Gerontius, if he had not
been restrained by conjugal tenderness, might have imitated their
example; till the soldiers, provoked by such obstinate
resistance, applied fire on all sides to the house. In this fatal
extremity, he complied with the request of his Barbarian friend,
and cut off his head. The wife of Gerontius, who conjured him not
to abandon her to a life of misery and disgrace, eagerly
presented her neck to his sword; and the tragic scene was
terminated by the death of the count himself, who, after three
ineffectual strokes, drew a short dagger, and sheathed it in his
heart. 151 The unprotected Maximus, whom he had invested with the
purple, was indebted for his life to the contempt that was
entertained of his power and abilities. The caprice of the
Barbarians, who ravaged Spain, once more seated this Imperial
phantom on the throne: but they soon resigned him to the justice
of Honorius; and the tyrant Maximus, after he had been shown to
the people of Ravenna and Rome, was publicly executed.
151 (return) [ The praises which Sozomen has bestowed on this act
of despair, appear strange and scandalous in the mouth of an
ecclesiastical historian. He observes (p. 379) that the wife of
Gerontius was a Christian; and that her death was worthy of her
religion, and of immortal fame.]
The general, (Constantius was his name,) who raised by his
approach the siege of Arles, and dissipated the troops of
Gerontius, was born a Roman; and this remarkable distinction is
strongly expressive of the decay of military spirit among the
subjects of the empire. The strength and majesty which were
conspicuous in the person of that general, 152 marked him, in the
popular opinion, as a candidate worthy of the throne, which he
afterwards ascended. In the familiar intercourse of private life,
his manners were cheerful and engaging; nor would he sometimes
disdain, in the license of convivial mirth, to vie with the
pantomimes themselves, in the exercises of their ridiculous
profession. But when the trumpet summoned him to arms; when he
mounted his horse, and, bending down (for such was his singular
practice) almost upon the neck, fiercely rolled his large
animated eyes round the field, Constantius then struck terror
into his foes, and inspired his soldiers with the assurance of
victory. He had received from the court of Ravenna the important
commission of extirpating rebellion in the provinces of the West;
and the pretended emperor Constantine, after enjoying a short and
anxious respite, was again besieged in his capital by the arms of
a more formidable enemy. Yet this interval allowed time for a
successful negotiation with the Franks and Alemanni and his
ambassador, Edobic, soon returned at the head of an army, to
disturb the operations of the siege of Arles. The Roman general,
instead of expecting the attack in his lines, boldly and perhaps
wisely, resolved to pass the Rhone, and to meet the Barbarians.
His measures were conducted with so much skill and secrecy, that,
while they engaged the infantry of Constantius in the front, they
were suddenly attacked, surrounded, and destroyed, by the cavalry
of his lieutenant Ulphilas, who had silently gained an
advantageous post in their rear. The remains of the army of
Edobic were preserved by flight or submission, and their leader
escaped from the field of battle to the house of a faithless
friend; who too clearly understood, that the head of his
obnoxious guest would be an acceptable and lucrative present for
the Imperial general. On this occasion, Constantius behaved with
the magnanimity of a genuine Roman. Subduing, or suppressing,
every sentiment of jealousy, he publicly acknowledged the merit
and services of Ulphilas; but he turned with horror from the
assassin of Edobic; and sternly intimated his commands, that the
camp should no longer be polluted by the presence of an
ungrateful wretch, who had violated the laws of friendship and
hospitality. The usurper, who beheld, from the walls of Arles,
the ruin of his last hopes, was tempted to place some confidence
in so generous a conqueror. He required a solemn promise for his
security; and after receiving, by the imposition of hands, the
sacred character of a Christian Presbyter, he ventured to open
the gates of the city. But he soon experienced that the
principles of honor and integrity, which might regulate the
ordinary conduct of Constantius, were superseded by the loose
doctrines of political morality. The Roman general, indeed,
refused to sully his laurels with the blood of Constantine; but
the abdicated emperor, and his son Julian, were sent under a
strong guard into Italy; and before they reached the palace of
Ravenna, they met the ministers of death.
152 (return) [ It is the expression of Olympiodorus, which he
seems to have borrowed from Aeolus, a tragedy of Euripides, of
which some fragments only are now extant, (Euripid. Barnes, tom.
ii. p. 443, ver 38.) This allusion may prove, that the ancient
tragic poets were still familiar to the Greeks of the fifth
century.]
At a time when it was universally confessed, that almost every
man in the empire was superior in personal merit to the princes
whom the accident of their birth had seated on the throne, a
rapid succession of usurpers, regardless of the fate of their
predecessors, still continued to arise. This mischief was
peculiarly felt in the provinces of Spain and Gaul, where the
principles of order and obedience had been extinguished by war
and rebellion. Before Constantine resigned the purple, and in the
fourth month of the siege of Arles, intelligence was received in
the Imperial camp, that Jovinus has assumed the diadem at Mentz,
in the Upper Germany, at the instigation of Goar, king of the
Alani, and of Guntiarius, king of the Burgundians; and that the
candidate, on whom they had bestowed the empire, advanced with a
formidable host of Barbarians, from the banks of the Rhine to
those of the Rhone. Every circumstance is dark and extraordinary
in the short history of the reign of Jovinus. It was natural to
expect, that a brave and skilful general, at the head of a
victorious army, would have asserted, in a field of battle, the
justice of the cause of Honorius. The hasty retreat of
Constantius might be justified by weighty reasons; but he
resigned, without a struggle, the possession of Gaul; and
Dardanus, the Prætorian præfect, is recorded as the only
magistrate who refused to yield obedience to the usurper. 153
When the Goths, two years after the siege of Rome, established
their quarters in Gaul, it was natural to suppose that their
inclinations could be divided only between the emperor Honorius,
with whom they had formed a recent alliance, and the degraded
Attalus, whom they reserved in their camp for the occasional
purpose of acting the part of a musician or a monarch. Yet in a
moment of disgust, (for which it is not easy to assign a cause,
or a date,) Adolphus connected himself with the usurper of Gaul;
and imposed on Attalus the ignominious task of negotiating the
treaty, which ratified his own disgrace. We are again surprised
to read, that, instead of considering the Gothic alliance as the
firmest support of his throne, Jovinus upbraided, in dark and
ambiguous language, the officious importunity of Attalus; that,
scorning the advice of his great ally, he invested with the
purple his brother Sebastian; and that he most imprudently
accepted the service of Sarus, when that gallant chief, the
soldier of Honorius, was provoked to desert the court of a
prince, who knew not how to reward or punish. Adolphus, educated
among a race of warriors, who esteemed the duty of revenge as the
most precious and sacred portion of their inheritance, advanced
with a body of ten thousand Goths to encounter the hereditary
enemy of the house of Balti. He attacked Sarus at an unguarded
moment, when he was accompanied only by eighteen or twenty of his
valiant followers. United by friendship, animated by despair, but
at length oppressed by multitudes, this band of heroes deserved
the esteem, without exciting the compassion, of their enemies;
and the lion was no sooner taken in the toils, 154 than he was
instantly despatched. The death of Sarus dissolved the loose
alliance which Adolphus still maintained with the usurpers of
Gaul. He again listened to the dictates of love and prudence; and
soon satisfied the brother of Placidia, by the assurance that he
would immediately transmit to the palace of Ravenna the heads of
the two tyrants, Jovinus and Sebastian. The king of the Goths
executed his promise without difficulty or delay; the helpless
brothers, unsupported by any personal merit, were abandoned by
their Barbarian auxiliaries; and the short opposition of Valentia
was expiated by the ruin of one of the noblest cities of Gaul.
The emperor, chosen by the Roman senate, who had been promoted,
degraded, insulted, restored, again degraded, and again insulted,
was finally abandoned to his fate; but when the Gothic king
withdrew his protection, he was restrained, by pity or contempt,
from offering any violence to the person of Attalus. The
unfortunate Attalus, who was left without subjects or allies,
embarked in one of the ports of Spain, in search of some secure
and solitary retreat: but he was intercepted at sea, conducted to
the presence of Honorius, led in triumph through the streets of
Rome or Ravenna, and publicly exposed to the gazing multitude, on
the second step of the throne of his invincible conqueror. The
same measure of punishment, with which, in the days of his
prosperity, he was accused of menacing his rival, was inflicted
on Attalus himself; he was condemned, after the amputation of two
fingers, to a perpetual exile in the Isle of Lipari, where he was
supplied with the decent necessaries of life. The remainder of
the reign of Honorius was undisturbed by rebellion; and it may be
observed, that, in the space of five years, seven usurpers had
yielded to the fortune of a prince, who was himself incapable
either of counsel or of action.
153 (return) [ Sidonius Apollinaris, (l. v. epist. 9, p. 139, and
Not. Sirmond. p. 58,) after stigmatizing the inconstancy of
Constantine, the facility of Jovinus, the perfidy of Gerontius,
continues to observe, that all the vices of these tyrants were
united in the person of Dardanus. Yet the præfect supported a
respectable character in the world, and even in the church; held
a devout correspondence with St. Augustin and St. Jerom; and was
complimented by the latter (tom. iii. p. 66) with the epithets of
Christianorum Nobilissime, and Nobilium Christianissime.]
154 (return) [ The expression may be understood almost literally:
Olympiodorus says a sack, or a loose garment; and this method of
entangling and catching an enemy, laciniis contortis, was much
practised by the Huns, (Ammian. xxxi. 2.) Il fut pris vif avec
des filets, is the translation of Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs,
tom. v. p. 608. * Note: Bekker in his Photius reads something,
but in the new edition of the Bysantines, he retains the old
version, which is translated Scutis, as if they protected him
with their shields, in order to take him alive. Photius, Bekker,
p. 58.—M]
Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By
Barbarians.—Part VII.
The situation of Spain, separated, on all sides, from the enemies
of Rome, by the sea, by the mountains, and by intermediate
provinces, had secured the long tranquillity of that remote and
sequestered country; and we may observe, as a sure symptom of
domestic happiness, that, in a period of four hundred years,
Spain furnished very few materials to the history of the Roman
empire. The footsteps of the Barbarians, who, in the reign of
Gallienus, had penetrated beyond the Pyrenees, were soon
obliterated by the return of peace; and in the fourth century of
the Christian era, the cities of Emerita, or Merida, of Corduba,
Seville, Bracara, and Tarragona, were numbered with the most
illustrious of the Roman world. The various plenty of the animal,
the vegetable, and the mineral kingdoms, was improved and
manufactured by the skill of an industrious people; and the
peculiar advantages of naval stores contributed to support an
extensive and profitable trade. 155 The arts and sciences
flourished under the protection of the emperors; and if the
character of the Spaniards was enfeebled by peace and servitude,
the hostile approach of the Germans, who had spread terror and
desolation from the Rhine to the Pyrenees, seemed to rekindle
some sparks of military ardor. As long as the defence of the
mountains was intrusted to the hardy and faithful militia of the
country, they successfully repelled the frequent attempts of the
Barbarians. But no sooner had the national troops been compelled
to resign their post to the Honorian bands, in the service of
Constantine, than the gates of Spain were treacherously betrayed
to the public enemy, about ten months before the sack of Rome by
the Goths. 156 The consciousness of guilt, and the thirst of
rapine, prompted the mercenary guards of the Pyrenees to desert
their station; to invite the arms of the Suevi, the Vandals, and
the Alani; and to swell the torrent which was poured with
irresistible violence from the frontiers of Gaul to the sea of
Africa. The misfortunes of Spain may be described in the language
of its most eloquent historian, who has concisely expressed the
passionate, and perhaps exaggerated, declamations of contemporary
writers. 157 “The irruption of these nations was followed by the
most dreadful calamities; as the Barbarians exercised their
indiscriminate cruelty on the fortunes of the Romans and the
Spaniards, and ravaged with equal fury the cities and the open
country. The progress of famine reduced the miserable inhabitants
to feed on the flesh of their fellow-creatures; and even the wild
beasts, who multiplied, without control, in the desert, were
exasperated, by the taste of blood, and the impatience of hunger,
boldly to attack and devour their human prey. Pestilence soon
appeared, the inseparable companion of famine; a large proportion
of the people was swept away; and the groans of the dying excited
only the envy of their surviving friends. At length the
Barbarians, satiated with carnage and rapine, and afflicted by
the contagious evils which they themselves had introduced, fixed
their permanent seats in the depopulated country. The ancient
Gallicia, whose limits included the kingdom of Old Castille, was
divided between the Suevi and the Vandals; the Alani were
scattered over the provinces of Carthagena and Lusitania, from
the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean; and the fruitful
territory of Boetica was allotted to the Silingi, another branch
of the Vandalic nation. After regulating this partition, the
conquerors contracted with their new subjects some reciprocal
engagements of protection and obedience: the lands were again
cultivated; and the towns and villages were again occupied by a
captive people. The greatest part of the Spaniards was even
disposed to prefer this new condition of poverty and barbarism,
to the severe oppressions of the Roman government; yet there were
many who still asserted their native freedom; and who refused,
more especially in the mountains of Gallicia, to submit to the
Barbarian yoke.” 158
155 (return) [ Without recurring to the more ancient writers, I
shall quote three respectable testimonies which belong to the
fourth and seventh centuries; the Expositio totius Mundi, (p. 16,
in the third volume of Hudson’s Minor Geographers,) Ausonius, (de
Claris Urbibus, p. 242, edit. Toll.,) and Isidore of Seville,
(Praefat. ad. Chron. ap. Grotium, Hist. Goth. 707.) Many
particulars relative to the fertility and trade of Spain may be
found in Nonnius, Hispania Illustrata; and in Huet, Hist. du
Commerce des Anciens, c. 40. p. 228-234.]
156 (return) [ The date is accurately fixed in the Fasti, and the
Chronicle of Idatius. Orosius (l. vii. c. 40, p. 578) imputes the
loss of Spain to the treachery of the Honorians; while Sozomen
(l. ix. c. 12) accuses only their negligence.]
157 (return) [ Idatius wishes to apply the prophecies of Daniel
to these national calamities; and is therefore obliged to
accommodate the circumstances of the event to the terms of the
prediction.]
158 (return) [ Mariana de Rebus Hispanicis, l. v. c. 1, tom. i.
p. 148. Comit. 1733. He had read, in Orosius, (l. vii. c. 41, p.
579,) that the Barbarians had turned their swords into
ploughshares; and that many of the Provincials had preferred
inter Barbaros pauperem libertatem, quam inter Romanos
tributariam solicitudinem, sustinere.]
The important present of the heads of Jovinus and Sebastian had
approved the friendship of Adolphus, and restored Gaul to the
obedience of his brother Honorius. Peace was incompatible with
the situation and temper of the king of the Goths. He readily
accepted the proposal of turning his victorious arms against the
Barbarians of Spain; the troops of Constantius intercepted his
communication with the seaports of Gaul, and gently pressed his
march towards the Pyrenees: 159 he passed the mountains, and
surprised, in the name of the emperor, the city of Barcelona. The
fondness of Adolphus for his Roman bride, was not abated by time
or possession: and the birth of a son, surnamed, from his
illustrious grandsire, Theodosius, appeared to fix him forever in
the interest of the republic. The loss of that infant, whose
remains were deposited in a silver coffin in one of the churches
near Barcelona, afflicted his parents; but the grief of the
Gothic king was suspended by the labors of the field; and the
course of his victories was soon interrupted by domestic treason.
He had imprudently received into his service one of the followers
of Sarus; a Barbarian of a daring spirit, but of a diminutive
stature; whose secret desire of revenging the death of his
beloved patron was continually irritated by the sarcasms of his
insolent master. Adolphus was assassinated in the palace of
Barcelona; the laws of the succession were violated by a
tumultuous faction; 160 and a stranger to the royal race,
Singeric, the brother of Sarus himself, was seated on the Gothic
throne. The first act of his reign was the inhuman murder of the
six children of Adolphus, the issue of a former marriage, whom he
tore, without pity, from the feeble arms of a venerable bishop.
161 The unfortunate Placidia, instead of the respectful
compassion, which she might have excited in the most savage
breasts, was treated with cruel and wanton insult. The daughter
of the emperor Theodosius, confounded among a crowd of vulgar
captives, was compelled to march on foot above twelve miles,
before the horse of a Barbarian, the assassin of a husband whom
Placidia loved and lamented. 162
159 (return) [ This mixture of force and persuasion may be fairly
inferred from comparing Orosius and Jornandes, the Roman and the
Gothic historian.]
160 (return) [ According to the system of Jornandes, (c. 33, p.
659,) the true hereditary right to the Gothic sceptre was vested
in the Amali; but those princes, who were the vassals of the
Huns, commanded the tribes of the Ostrogoths in some distant
parts of Germany or Scythia.]
161 (return) [ The murder is related by Olympiodorus: but the
number of the children is taken from an epitaph of suspected
authority.]
162 (return) [ The death of Adolphus was celebrated at
Constantinople with illuminations and Circensian games. (See
Chron. Alexandrin.) It may seem doubtful whether the Greeks were
actuated, on this occasion, be their hatred of the Barbarians, or
of the Latins.]
But Placidia soon obtained the pleasure of revenge, and the view
of her ignominious sufferings might rouse an indignant people
against the tyrant, who was assassinated on the seventh day of
his usurpation. After the death of Singeric, the free choice of
the nation bestowed the Gothic sceptre on Wallia; whose warlike
and ambitious temper appeared, in the beginning of his reign,
extremely hostile to the republic. He marched in arms from
Barcelona to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, which the ancients
revered and dreaded as the boundary of the world. But when he
reached the southern promontory of Spain, 163 and, from the rock
now covered by the fortress of Gibraltar, contemplated the
neighboring and fertile coast of Africa, Wallia resumed the
designs of conquest, which had been interrupted by the death of
Alaric. The winds and waves again disappointed the enterprise of
the Goths; and the minds of a superstitious people were deeply
affected by the repeated disasters of storms and shipwrecks. In
this disposition the successor of Adolphus no longer refused to
listen to a Roman ambassador, whose proposals were enforced by
the real, or supposed, approach of a numerous army, under the
conduct of the brave Constantius. A solemn treaty was stipulated
and observed; Placidia was honorably restored to her brother; six
hundred thousand measures of wheat were delivered to the hungry
Goths; 164 and Wallia engaged to draw his sword in the service of
the empire. A bloody war was instantly excited among the
Barbarians of Spain; and the contending princes are said to have
addressed their letters, their ambassadors, and their hostages,
to the throne of the Western emperor, exhorting him to remain a
tranquil spectator of their contest; the events of which must be
favorable to the Romans, by the mutual slaughter of their common
enemies. 165 The Spanish war was obstinately supported, during
three campaigns, with desperate valor, and various success; and
the martial achievements of Wallia diffused through the empire
the superior renown of the Gothic hero. He exterminated the
Silingi, who had irretrievably ruined the elegant plenty of the
province of Boetica. He slew, in battle, the king of the Alani;
and the remains of those Scythian wanderers, who escaped from the
field, instead of choosing a new leader, humbly sought a refuge
under the standard of the Vandals, with whom they were ever
afterwards confounded. The Vandals themselves, and the Suevi,
yielded to the efforts of the invincible Goths. The promiscuous
multitude of Barbarians, whose retreat had been intercepted, were
driven into the mountains of Gallicia; where they still
continued, in a narrow compass and on a barren soil, to exercise
their domestic and implacable hostilities. In the pride of
victory, Wallia was faithful to his engagements: he restored his
Spanish conquests to the obedience of Honorius; and the tyranny
of the Imperial officers soon reduced an oppressed people to
regret the time of their Barbarian servitude. While the event of
the war was still doubtful, the first advantages obtained by the
arms of Wallia had encouraged the court of Ravenna to decree the
honors of a triumph to their feeble sovereign. He entered Rome
like the ancient conquerors of nations; and if the monuments of
servile corruption had not long since met with the fate which
they deserved, we should probably find that a crowd of poets and
orators, of magistrates and bishops, applauded the fortune, the
wisdom, and the invincible courage, of the emperor Honorius. 166
163 (return) [
Quod Tartessiacis avus hujus Vallia terris Vandalicas turmas, et
juncti Martis Alanos Stravit, et occiduam texere cadavera Calpen.
Sidon. Apollinar. in Panegyr. Anthem. 363 p. 300, edit. Sirmond.]
164 (return) [ This supply was very acceptable: the Goths were
insulted by the Vandals of Spain with the epithet of Truli,
because in their extreme distress, they had given a piece of gold
for a trula, or about half a pound of flour. Olympiod. apud Phot.
p. 189.]
165 (return) [ Orosius inserts a copy of these pretended letters.
Tu cum omnibus pacem habe, omniumque obsides accipe; nos nobis
confligimus nobis perimus, tibi vincimus; immortalis vero
quaestus erit Reipublicae tuae, si utrique pereamus. The idea is
just; but I cannot persuade myself that it was entertained or
expressed by the Barbarians.]
166 (return) [ Roman triumphans ingreditur, is the formal
expression of Prosper’s Chronicle. The facts which relate to the
death of Adolphus, and the exploits of Wallia, are related from
Olympiodorus, (ap. Phot. p. 188,) Orosius, (l. vii. c. 43 p.
584-587,) Jornandes, (de Rebus p. 31, 32,) and the chronicles of
Idatius and Isidore.]
Such a triumph might have been justly claimed by the ally of
Rome, if Wallia, before he repassed the Pyrenees, had extirpated
the seeds of the Spanish war. His victorious Goths, forty-three
years after they had passed the Danube, were established,
according to the faith of treaties, in the possession of the
second Aquitain; a maritime province between the Garonne and the
Loire, under the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction of
Bourdeaux. That metropolis, advantageously situated for the trade
of the ocean, was built in a regular and elegant form; and its
numerous inhabitants were distinguished among the Gauls by their
wealth, their learning, and the politeness of their manners. The
adjacent province, which has been fondly compared to the garden
of Eden, is blessed with a fruitful soil, and a temperate
climate; the face of the country displayed the arts and the
rewards of industry; and the Goths, after their martial toils,
luxuriously exhausted the rich vineyards of Aquitain. 167 The
Gothic limits were enlarged by the additional gift of some
neighboring dioceses; and the successors of Alaric fixed their
royal residence at Thoulouse, which included five populous
quarters, or cities, within the spacious circuit of its walls.
About the same time, in the last years of the reign of Honorius,
the Goths, the Burgundians, and the Franks, obtained a permanent
seat and dominion in the provinces of Gaul. The liberal grant of
the usurper Jovinus to his Burgundian allies, was confirmed by
the lawful emperor; the lands of the First, or Upper, Germany,
were ceded to those formidable Barbarians; and they gradually
occupied, either by conquest or treaty, the two provinces which
still retain, with the titles of Duchy and County, the national
appellation of Burgundy. 168 The Franks, the valiant and faithful
allies of the Roman republic, were soon tempted to imitate the
invaders, whom they had so bravely resisted. Treves, the capital
of Gaul, was pillaged by their lawless bands; and the humble
colony, which they so long maintained in the district of
Toxandia, in Brabant, insensibly multiplied along the banks of
the Meuse and Scheld, till their independent power filled the
whole extent of the Second, or Lower Germany. These facts may be
sufficiently justified by historic evidence; but the foundation
of the French monarchy by Pharamond, the conquests, the laws, and
even the existence, of that hero, have been justly arraigned by
the impartial severity of modern criticism. 169
167 (return) [ Ausonius (de Claris Urbibus, p. 257-262)
celebrates Bourdeaux with the partial affection of a native. See
in Salvian (de Gubern. Dei, p. 228. Paris, 1608) a florid
description of the provinces of Aquitain and Novempopulania.]
168 (return) [ Orosius (l. vii. c. 32, p. 550) commends the
mildness and modesty of these Burgundians, who treated their
subjects of Gaul as their Christian brethren. Mascou has
illustrated the origin of their kingdom in the four first
annotations at the end of his laborious History of the Ancient
Germans, vol. ii. p. 555-572, of the English translation.]
169 (return) [ See Mascou, l. viii. c. 43, 44, 45. Except in a
short and suspicious line of the Chronicle of Prosper, (in tom.
i. p. 638,) the name of Pharamond is never mentioned before the
seventh century. The author of the Gesta Francorum (in tom. ii.
p. 543) suggests, probably enough, that the choice of Pharamond,
or at least of a king, was recommended to the Franks by his
father Marcomir, who was an exile in Tuscany. Note: The first
mention of Pharamond is in the Gesta Francorum, assigned to about
the year 720. St. Martin, iv. 469. The modern French writers in
general subscribe to the opinion of Thierry: Faramond fils de
Markomir, quo que son nom soit bien germanique, et son regne
possible, ne figure pas dans les histoires les plus dignes de
foi. A. Thierry, Lettres l’Histoire de France, p. 90.—M.]
The ruin of the opulent provinces of Gaul may be dated from the
establishment of these Barbarians, whose alliance was dangerous
and oppressive, and who were capriciously impelled, by interest
or passion, to violate the public peace. A heavy and partial
ransom was imposed on the surviving provincials, who had escaped
the calamities of war; the fairest and most fertile lands were
assigned to the rapacious strangers, for the use of their
families, their slaves, and their cattle; and the trembling
natives relinquished with a sigh the inheritance of their
fathers. Yet these domestic misfortunes, which are seldom the lot
of a vanquished people, had been felt and inflicted by the Romans
themselves, not only in the insolence of foreign conquest, but in
the madness of civil discord. The Triumvirs proscribed eighteen
of the most flourishing colonies of Italy; and distributed their
lands and houses to the veterans who revenged the death of
Caesar, and oppressed the liberty of their country. Two poets of
unequal fame have deplored, in similar circumstances, the loss of
their patrimony; but the legionaries of Augustus appear to have
surpassed, in violence and injustice, the Barbarians who invaded
Gaul under the reign of Honorius. It was not without the utmost
difficulty that Virgil escaped from the sword of the Centurion,
who had usurped his farm in the neighborhood of Mantua; 170 but
Paulinus of Bourdeaux received a sum of money from his Gothic
purchaser, which he accepted with pleasure and surprise; and
though it was much inferior to the real value of his estate, this
act of rapine was disguised by some colors of moderation and
equity. 171 The odious name of conquerors was softened into the
mild and friendly appellation of the guests of the Romans; and
the Barbarians of Gaul, more especially the Goths, repeatedly
declared, that they were bound to the people by the ties of
hospitality, and to the emperor by the duty of allegiance and
military service. The title of Honorius and his successors, their
laws, and their civil magistrates, were still respected in the
provinces of Gaul, of which they had resigned the possession to
the Barbarian allies; and the kings, who exercised a supreme and
independent authority over their native subjects, ambitiously
solicited the more honorable rank of master-generals of the
Imperial armies. 172 Such was the involuntary reverence which the
Roman name still impressed on the minds of those warriors, who
had borne away in triumph the spoils of the Capitol.
170 (return) [ O Lycida, vivi pervenimus: advena nostri (Quod
nunquam veriti sumus) ut possessor agelli Diseret: Haec mea sunt;
veteres migrate coloni. Nunc victi tristes, &c.——See the whole of
the ninth eclogue, with the useful Commentary of Servius. Fifteen
miles of the Mantuan territory were assigned to the veterans,
with a reservation, in favor of the inhabitants, of three miles
round the city. Even in this favor they were cheated by Alfenus
Varus, a famous lawyer, and one of the commissioners, who
measured eight hundred paces of water and morass.]
171 (return) [ See the remarkable passage of the Eucharisticon of
Paulinus, 575, apud Mascou, l. viii. c. 42.]
172 (return) [ This important truth is established by the
accuracy of Tillemont, (Hist. des Emp. tom. v. p. 641,) and by
the ingenuity of the Abbe Dubos, (Hist. de l’Etablissement de la
Monarchie Francoise dans les Gaules, tom. i. p. 259.)]
Whilst Italy was ravaged by the Goths, and a succession of feeble
tyrants oppressed the provinces beyond the Alps, the British
island separated itself from the body of the Roman empire. The
regular forces, which guarded that remote province, had been
gradually withdrawn; and Britain was abandoned without defence to
the Saxon pirates, and the savages of Ireland and Caledonia. The
Britons, reduced to this extremity, no longer relied on the tardy
and doubtful aid of a declining monarchy. They assembled in arms,
repelled the invaders, and rejoiced in the important discovery of
their own strength. 173 Afflicted by similar calamities, and
actuated by the same spirit, the Armorican provinces (a name
which comprehended the maritime countries of Gaul between the
Seine and the Loire 174 resolved to imitate the example of the
neighboring island. They expelled the Roman magistrates, who
acted under the authority of the usurper Constantine; and a free
government was established among a people who had so long been
subject to the arbitrary will of a master. The independence of
Britain and Armorica was soon confirmed by Honorius himself, the
lawful emperor of the West; and the letters, by which he
committed to the new states the care of their own safety, might
be interpreted as an absolute and perpetual abdication of the
exercise and rights of sovereignty. This interpretation was, in
some measure, justified by the event.
After the usurpers of Gaul had successively fallen, the maritime
provinces were restored to the empire. Yet their obedience was
imperfect and precarious: the vain, inconstant, rebellious
disposition of the people, was incompatible either with freedom
or servitude; 175 and Armorica, though it could not long maintain
the form of a republic, 176 was agitated by frequent and
destructive revolts. Britain was irrecoverably lost. 177 But as
the emperors wisely acquiesced in the independence of a remote
province, the separation was not imbittered by the reproach of
tyranny or rebellion; and the claims of allegiance and protection
were succeeded by the mutual and voluntary offices of national
friendship. 178
173 (return) [ Zosimus (l. vi. 376, 383) relates in a few words
the revolt of Britain and Armorica. Our antiquarians, even the
great Cambder himself, have been betrayed into many gross errors,
by their imperfect knowledge of the history of the continent.]
174 (return) [ The limits of Armorica are defined by two national
geographers, Messieurs De Valois and D’Anville, in their Notitias
of Ancient Gaul. The word had been used in a more extensive, and
was afterwards contracted to a much narrower, signification.]
175 (return) [ Gens inter geminos notissima clauditur amnes,
Armoricana prius veteri cognomine dicta. Torva, ferox, ventosa,
procax, incauta, rebellis; Inconstans, disparque sibi novitatis
amore; Prodiga verborum, sed non et prodiga facti.
Erricus, Monach. in Vit. St. Germani. l. v. apud Vales. Notit.
Galliarum, p. 43. Valesius alleges several testimonies to confirm
this character; to which I shall add the evidence of the
presbyter Constantine, (A.D. 488,) who, in the life of St.
Germain, calls the Armorican rebels mobilem et indisciplinatum
populum. See the Historians of France, tom. i. p. 643.]
176 (return) [ I thought it necessary to enter my protest against
this part of the system of the Abbe Dubos, which Montesquieu has
so vigorously opposed. See Esprit des Loix, l. xxx. c. 24. Note:
See Mémoires de Gallet sur l’Origine des Bretons, quoted by Daru
Histoire de Bretagne, i. p. 57. According to the opinion of these
authors, the government of Armorica was monarchical from the
period of its independence on the Roman empire.—M.]
177 (return) [ The words of Procopius (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c.
2, p. 181, Louvre edition) in a very important passage, which has
been too much neglected Even Bede (Hist. Gent. Anglican. l. i. c.
12, p. 50, edit. Smith) acknowledges that the Romans finally left
Britain in the reign of Honorius. Yet our modern historians and
antiquaries extend the term of their dominion; and there are some
who allow only the interval of a few months between their
departure and the arrival of the Saxons.]
178 (return) [ Bede has not forgotten the occasional aid of the
legions against the Scots and Picts; and more authentic proof
will hereafter be produced, that the independent Britons raised
12,000 men for the service of the emperor Anthemius, in Gaul.]
This revolution dissolved the artificial fabric of civil and
military government; and the independent country, during a period
of forty years, till the descent of the Saxons, was ruled by the
authority of the clergy, the nobles, and the municipal towns. 179
I. Zosimus, who alone has preserved the memory of this singular
transaction, very accurately observes, that the letters of
Honorius were addressed to the cities of Britain. 180 Under the
protection of the Romans, ninety-two considerable towns had
arisen in the several parts of that great province; and, among
these, thirty-three cities were distinguished above the rest by
their superior privileges and importance. 181 Each of these
cities, as in all the other provinces of the empire, formed a
legal corporation, for the purpose of regulating their domestic
policy; and the powers of municipal government were distributed
among annual magistrates, a select senate, and the assembly of
the people, according to the original model of the Roman
constitution. 182 The management of a common revenue, the
exercise of civil and criminal jurisdiction, and the habits of
public counsel and command, were inherent to these petty
republics; and when they asserted their independence, the youth
of the city, and of the adjacent districts, would naturally range
themselves under the standard of the magistrate. But the desire
of obtaining the advantages, and of escaping the burdens, of
political society, is a perpetual and inexhaustible source of
discord; nor can it reasonably be presumed, that the restoration
of British freedom was exempt from tumult and faction. The
preeminence of birth and fortune must have been frequently
violated by bold and popular citizens; and the haughty nobles,
who complained that they were become the subjects of their own
servants, 183 would sometimes regret the reign of an arbitrary
monarch.
II. The jurisdiction of each city over the adjacent country, was
supported by the patrimonial influence of the principal senators;
and the smaller towns, the villages, and the proprietors of land,
consulted their own safety by adhering to the shelter of these
rising republics. The sphere of their attraction was proportioned
to the respective degrees of their wealth and populousness; but
the hereditary lords of ample possessions, who were not oppressed
by the neighborhood of any powerful city, aspired to the rank of
independent princes, and boldly exercised the rights of peace and
war. The gardens and villas, which exhibited some faint imitation
of Italian elegance, would soon be converted into strong castles,
the refuge, in time of danger, of the adjacent country: 184 the
produce of the land was applied to purchase arms and horses; to
maintain a military force of slaves, of peasants, and of
licentious followers; and the chieftain might assume, within his
own domain, the powers of a civil magistrate. Several of these
British chiefs might be the genuine posterity of ancient kings;
and many more would be tempted to adopt this honorable genealogy,
and to vindicate their hereditary claims, which had been
suspended by the usurpation of the Caesars. 185 Their situation
and their hopes would dispose them to affect the dress, the
language, and the customs of their ancestors. If the princes of
Britain relapsed into barbarism, while the cities studiously
preserved the laws and manners of Rome, the whole island must
have been gradually divided by the distinction of two national
parties; again broken into a thousand subdivisions of war and
faction, by the various provocations of interest and resentment.
The public strength, instead of being united against a foreign
enemy, was consumed in obscure and intestine quarrels; and the
personal merit which had placed a successful leader at the head
of his equals, might enable him to subdue the freedom of some
neighboring cities; and to claim a rank among the tyrants, 186
who infested Britain after the dissolution of the Roman
government. III. The British church might be composed of thirty
or forty bishops, 187 with an adequate proportion of the inferior
clergy; and the want of riches (for they seem to have been poor
188) would compel them to deserve the public esteem, by a decent
and exemplary behavior.
The interest, as well as the temper of the clergy, was favorable
to the peace and union of their distracted country: those
salutary lessons might be frequently inculcated in their popular
discourses; and the episcopal synods were the only councils that
could pretend to the weight and authority of a national assembly.
In such councils, where the princes and magistrates sat
promiscuously with the bishops, the important affairs of the
state, as well as of the church, might be freely debated;
differences reconciled, alliances formed, contributions imposed,
wise resolutions often concerted, and sometimes executed; and
there is reason to believe, that, in moments of extreme danger, a
Pendragon, or Dictator, was elected by the general consent of the
Britons. These pastoral cares, so worthy of the episcopal
character, were interrupted, however, by zeal and superstition;
and the British clergy incessantly labored to eradicate the
Pelagian heresy, which they abhorred, as the peculiar disgrace of
their native country. 189
179 (return) [ I owe it to myself, and to historic truth, to
declare, that some circumstances in this paragraph are founded
only on conjecture and analogy. The stubbornness of our language
has sometimes forced me to deviate from the conditional into the
indicative mood.]
180 (return) [ Zosimus, l. vi. p. 383.]
181 (return) [ Two cities of Britain were municipia, nine
colonies, ten Latii jure donatoe, twelve stipendiarioe of eminent
note. This detail is taken from Richard of Cirencester, de Situ
Britanniae, p. 36; and though it may not seem probable that he
wrote from the Mss. of a Roman general, he shows a genuine
knowledge of antiquity, very extraordinary for a monk of the
fourteenth century.
Note: The names may be found in Whitaker’s Hist. of Manchester
vol. ii. 330, 379. Turner, Hist. Anglo-Saxons, i. 216.—M.]
182 (return) [ See Maffei Verona Illustrata, part i. l. v. p.
83-106.]
183 (return) [ Leges restituit, libertatemque reducit, Et servos
famulis non sinit esse suis. Itinerar. Rutil. l. i. 215.]
184 (return) [ An inscription (apud Sirmond, Not. ad Sidon.
Apollinar. p. 59) describes a castle, cum muris et portis,
tutioni omnium, erected by Dardanus on his own estate, near
Sisteron, in the second Narbonnese, and named by him Theopolis.]
185 (return) [ The establishment of their power would have been
easy indeed, if we could adopt the impracticable scheme of a
lively and learned antiquarian; who supposes that the British
monarchs of the several tribes continued to reign, though with
subordinate jurisdiction, from the time of Claudius to that of
Honorius. See Whitaker’s History of Manchester, vol. i. p.
247-257.]
186 (return) [ Procopius, de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 3, p. 181.
Britannia fertilis provincia tyrannorum, was the expression of
Jerom, in the year 415 (tom. ii. p. 255, ad Ctesiphont.) By the
pilgrims, who resorted every year to the Holy Land, the monk of
Bethlem received the earliest and most accurate intelligence.]
187 (return) [ See Bingham’s Eccles. Antiquities, vol. i. l. ix.
c. 6, p. 394.]
188 (return) [ It is reported of three British bishops who
assisted at the council of Rimini, A.D. 359, tam pauperes fuisse
ut nihil haberent. Sulpicius Severus, Hist. Sacra, l. ii. p. 420.
Some of their brethren however, were in better circumstances.]
189 (return) [ Consult Usher, de Antiq. Eccles. Britannicar. c.
8-12.]
It is somewhat remarkable, or rather it is extremely natural,
that the revolt of Britain and Armorica should have introduced an
appearance of liberty into the obedient provinces of Gaul. In a
solemn edict, 190 filled with the strongest assurances of that
paternal affection which princes so often express, and so seldom
feel, the emperor Honorius promulgated his intention of convening
an annual assembly of the seven provinces: a name peculiarly
appropriated to Aquitain and the ancient Narbonnese, which had
long since exchanged their Celtic rudeness for the useful and
elegant arts of Italy. 191 Arles, the seat of government and
commerce, was appointed for the place of the assembly; which
regularly continued twenty-eight days, from the fifteenth of
August to the thirteenth of September, of every year. It
consisted of the Prætorian præfect of the Gauls; of seven
provincial governors, one consular, and six presidents; of the
magistrates, and perhaps the bishops, of about sixty cities; and
of a competent, though indefinite, number of the most honorable
and opulent possessors of land, who might justly be considered as
the representatives of their country. They were empowered to
interpret and communicate the laws of their sovereign; to expose
the grievances and wishes of their constituents; to moderate the
excessive or unequal weight of taxes; and to deliberate on every
subject of local or national importance, that could tend to the
restoration of the peace and prosperity of the seven provinces.
If such an institution, which gave the people an interest in
their own government, had been universally established by Trajan
or the Antonines, the seeds of public wisdom and virtue might
have been cherished and propagated in the empire of Rome. The
privileges of the subject would have secured the throne of the
monarch; the abuses of an arbitrary administration might have
been prevented, in some degree, or corrected, by the
interposition of these representative assemblies; and the country
would have been defended against a foreign enemy by the arms of
natives and freemen. Under the mild and generous influence of
liberty, the Roman empire might have remained invincible and
immortal; or if its excessive magnitude, and the instability of
human affairs, had opposed such perpetual continuance, its vital
and constituent members might have separately preserved their
vigor and independence. But in the decline of the empire, when
every principle of health and life had been exhausted, the tardy
application of this partial remedy was incapable of producing any
important or salutary effects. The emperor Honorius expresses his
surprise, that he must compel the reluctant provinces to accept a
privilege which they should ardently have solicited. A fine of
three, or even five, pounds of gold, was imposed on the absent
representatives; who seem to have declined this imaginary gift of
a free constitution, as the last and most cruel insult of their
oppressors.
190 (return) [ See the correct text of this edict, as published
by Sirmond, (Not. ad Sidon. Apollin. p. 148.) Hincmar of Rheims,
who assigns a place to the bishops, had probably seen (in the
ninth century) a more perfect copy. Dubos, Hist. Critique de la
Monarchie Francoise, tom. i. p. 241-255]
191 (return) [ It is evident from the Notitia, that the seven
provinces were the Viennensis, the maritime Alps, the first and
second Narbonnese Novempopulania, and the first and second
Aquitain. In the room of the first Aquitain, the Abbe Dubos, on
the authority of Hincmar, desires to introduce the first
Lugdunensis, or Lyonnese.]
Chapter XXXII: Emperors Arcadius, Eutropius, Theodosius II.—Part
I.
Arcadius Emperor Of The East.—Administration And Disgrace Of
Eutropius.—Revolt Of Gainas.—Persecution Of St. John
Chrysostom.—Theodosius II. Emperor Of The East.—His Sister
Pulcheria.—His Wife Eudocia.—The Persian War, And Division Of
Armenia.
The division of the Roman world between the sons of Theodosius
marks the final establishment of the empire of the East, which,
from the reign of Arcadius to the taking of Constantinople by the
Turks, subsisted one thousand and fifty-eight years, in a state
of premature and perpetual decay. The sovereign of that empire
assumed, and obstinately retained, the vain, and at length
fictitious, title of Emperor of the Romans; and the hereditary
appellation of Caesar and Augustus continued to declare, that he
was the legitimate successor of the first of men, who had reigned
over the first of nations. The place of Constantinople rivalled,
and perhaps excelled, the magnificence of Persia; and the
eloquent sermons of St. Chrysostom 1 celebrate, while they
condemn, the pompous luxury of the reign of Arcadius. “The
emperor,” says he, “wears on his head either a diadem, or a crown
of gold, decorated with precious stones of inestimable value.
These ornaments, and his purple garments, are reserved for his
sacred person alone; and his robes of silk are embroidered with
the figures of golden dragons. His throne is of massy gold.
Whenever he appears in public, he is surrounded by his courtiers,
his guards, and his attendants. Their spears, their shields,
their cuirasses, the bridles and trappings of their horses, have
either the substance or the appearance of gold; and the large
splendid boss in the midst of their shield is encircled with
smaller bosses, which represent the shape of the human eye. The
two mules that drew the chariot of the monarch are perfectly
white, and shining all over with gold. The chariot itself, of
pure and solid gold, attracts the admiration of the spectators,
who contemplate the purple curtains, the snowy carpet, the size
of the precious stones, and the resplendent plates of gold, that
glitter as they are agitated by the motion of the carriage. The
Imperial pictures are white, on a blue ground; the emperor
appears seated on his throne, with his arms, his horses, and his
guards beside him; and his vanquished enemies in chains at his
feet.” The successors of Constantine established their perpetual
residence in the royal city, which he had erected on the verge of
Europe and Asia. Inaccessible to the menaces of their enemies,
and perhaps to the complaints of their people, they received,
with each wind, the tributary productions of every climate; while
the impregnable strength of their capital continued for ages to
defy the hostile attempts of the Barbarians. Their dominions were
bounded by the Adriatic and the Tigris; and the whole interval of
twenty-five days’ navigation, which separated the extreme cold of
Scythia from the torrid zone of Æthiopia, 2 was comprehended
within the limits of the empire of the East. The populous
countries of that empire were the seat of art and learning, of
luxury and wealth; and the inhabitants, who had assumed the
language and manners of Greeks, styled themselves, with some
appearance of truth, the most enlightened and civilized portion
of the human species. The form of government was a pure and
simple monarchy; the name of the Roman Republic, which so long
preserved a faint tradition of freedom, was confined to the Latin
provinces; and the princes of Constantinople measured their
greatness by the servile obedience of their people. They were
ignorant how much this passive disposition enervates and degrades
every faculty of the mind. The subjects, who had resigned their
will to the absolute commands of a master, were equally incapable
of guarding their lives and fortunes against the assaults of the
Barbarians, or of defending their reason from the terrors of
superstition.
1 (return) [ Father Montfaucon, who, by the command of his
Benedictine superiors, was compelled (see Longueruana, tom. i. p.
205) to execute the laborious edition of St. Chrysostom, in
thirteen volumes in folio, (Paris, 1738,) amused himself with
extracting from that immense collection of morals, some curious
antiquities, which illustrate the manners of the Theodosian age,
(see Chrysostom, Opera, tom. xiii. p. 192-196,) and his French
Dissertation, in the Mémoires de l’Acad. des Inscriptions, tom.
xiii. p. 474-490.]
2 (return) [ According to the loose reckoning, that a ship could
sail, with a fair wind, 1000 stadia, or 125 miles, in the
revolution of a day and night, Diodorus Siculus computes ten days
from the Palus Moeotis to Rhodes, and four days from Rhodes to
Alexandria. The navigation of the Nile from Alexandria to Syene,
under the tropic of Cancer, required, as it was against the
stream, ten days more. Diodor. Sicul. tom. i. l. iii. p. 200,
edit. Wesseling. He might, without much impropriety, measure the
extreme heat from the verge of the torrid zone; but he speaks of
the Moeotis in the 47th degree of northern latitude, as if it lay
within the polar circle.]
The first events of the reign of Arcadius and Honorius are so
intimately connected, that the rebellion of the Goths, and the
fall of Rufinus, have already claimed a place in the history of
the West. It has already been observed, that Eutropius, 3 one of
the principal eunuchs of the palace of Constantinople, succeeded
the haughty minister whose ruin he had accomplished, and whose
vices he soon imitated. Every order of the state bowed to the new
favorite; and their tame and obsequious submission encouraged him
to insult the laws, and, what is still more difficult and
dangerous, the manners of his country. Under the weakest of the
predecessors of Arcadius, the reign of the eunuchs had been
secret and almost invisible. They insinuated themselves into the
confidence of the prince; but their ostensible functions were
confined to the menial service of the wardrobe and Imperial
bed-chamber. They might direct, in a whisper, the public
counsels, and blast, by their malicious suggestions, the fame and
fortunes of the most illustrious citizens; but they never
presumed to stand forward in the front of empire, 4 or to profane
the public honors of the state. Eutropius was the first of his
artificial sex, who dared to assume the character of a Roman
magistrate and general. Sometimes, in the presence of the
blushing senate, he ascended the tribunal to pronounce judgment,
or to repeat elaborate harangues; and, sometimes, appeared on
horseback, at the head of his troops, in the dress and armor of a
hero. The disregard of custom and decency always betrays a weak
and ill-regulated mind; nor does Eutropius seem to have
compensated for the folly of the design by any superior merit or
ability in the execution. His former habits of life had not
introduced him to the study of the laws, or the exercises of the
field; his awkward and unsuccessful attempts provoked the secret
contempt of the spectators; the Goths expressed their wish that
such a general might always command the armies of Rome; and the
name of the minister was branded with ridicule, more pernicious,
perhaps, than hatred, to a public character. The subjects of
Arcadius were exasperated by the recollection, that this deformed
and decrepit eunuch, 6 who so perversely mimicked the actions of
a man, was born in the most abject condition of servitude; that
before he entered the Imperial palace, he had been successively
sold and purchased by a hundred masters, who had exhausted his
youthful strength in every mean and infamous office, and at
length dismissed him, in his old age, to freedom and poverty. 7
While these disgraceful stories were circulated, and perhaps
exaggerated, in private conversation, the vanity of the favorite
was flattered with the most extraordinary honors. In the senate,
in the capital, in the provinces, the statues of Eutropius were
erected, in brass, or marble, decorated with the symbols of his
civil and military virtues, and inscribed with the pompous title
of the third founder of Constantinople. He was promoted to the
rank of patrician, which began to signify in a popular, and even
legal, acceptation, the father of the emperor; and the last year
of the fourth century was polluted by the consulship of a eunuch
and a slave. This strange and inexpiable prodigy 8 awakened,
however, the prejudices of the Romans. The effeminate consul was
rejected by the West, as an indelible stain to the annals of the
republic; and without invoking the shades of Brutus and Camillus,
the colleague of Eutropius, a learned and respectable magistrate,
9 sufficiently represented the different maxims of the two
administrations.
3 (return) [ Barthius, who adored his author with the blind
superstition of a commentator, gives the preference to the two
books which Claudian composed against Eutropius, above all his
other productions, (Baillet Jugemens des Savans, tom. iv. p.
227.) They are indeed a very elegant and spirited satire; and
would be more valuable in an historical light, if the invective
were less vague and more temperate.]
4 (return) [ After lamenting the progress of the eunuchs in the
Roman palace, and defining their proper functions, Claudian adds,
A fronte recedant. Imperii. —-In Eutrop. i. 422.
Yet it does not appear that the eunuchs had assumed any of the
efficient offices of the empire, and he is styled only
Praepositun sacri cubiculi, in the edict of his banishment. See
Cod. Theod. l. leg 17.
Jamque oblita sui, nec sobria divitiis mens In miseras leges
hominumque negotia ludit Judicat eunuchus....... Arma etiam
violare parat......
Claudian, (i. 229-270,) with that mixture of indignation and
humor which always pleases in a satiric poet, describes the
insolent folly of the eunuch, the disgrace of the empire, and the
joy of the Goths.
Gaudet, cum viderit, hostis, Et sentit jam deesse viros.]
6 (return) [ The poet’s lively description of his deformity (i.
110-125) is confirmed by the authentic testimony of Chrysostom,
(tom. iii. p. 384, edit Montfaucon;) who observes, that when the
paint was washed away the face of Eutropius appeared more ugly
and wrinkled than that of an old woman. Claudian remarks, (i.
469,) and the remark must have been founded on experience, that
there was scarcely an interval between the youth and the decrepit
age of a eunuch.]
7 (return) [ Eutropius appears to have been a native of Armenia
or Assyria. His three services, which Claudian more particularly
describes, were these: 1. He spent many years as the catamite of
Ptolemy, a groom or soldier of the Imperial stables. 2. Ptolemy
gave him to the old general Arintheus, for whom he very skilfully
exercised the profession of a pimp. 3. He was given, on her
marriage, to the daughter of Arintheus; and the future consul was
employed to comb her hair, to present the silver ewer to wash and
to fan his mistress in hot weather. See l. i. 31-137.]
8 (return) [ Claudian, (l. i. in Eutrop. l.—22,) after
enumerating the various prodigies of monstrous births, speaking
animals, showers of blood or stones, double suns, &c., adds, with
some exaggeration,
Omnia cesserunt eunucho consule monstra.
The first book concludes with a noble speech of the goddess of
Rome to her favorite Honorius, deprecating the new ignominy to
which she was exposed.]
9 (return) [ Fl. Mallius Theodorus, whose civil honors, and
philosophical works, have been celebrated by Claudian in a very
elegant panegyric.]
The bold and vigorous mind of Rufinus seems to have been actuated
by a more sanguinary and revengeful spirit; but the avarice of
the eunuch was not less insatiate than that of the præfect. 10
As long as he despoiled the oppressors, who had enriched
themselves with the plunder of the people, Eutropius might
gratify his covetous disposition without much envy or injustice:
but the progress of his rapine soon invaded the wealth which had
been acquired by lawful inheritance, or laudable industry. The
usual methods of extortion were practised and improved; and
Claudian has sketched a lively and original picture of the public
auction of the state. “The impotence of the eunuch,” says that
agreeable satirist, “has served only to stimulate his avarice:
the same hand which in his servile condition, was exercised in
petty thefts, to unlock the coffers of his master, now grasps the
riches of the world; and this infamous broker of the empire
appreciates and divides the Roman provinces from Mount Haemus to
the Tigris. One man, at the expense of his villa, is made
proconsul of Asia; a second purchases Syria with his wife’s
jewels; and a third laments that he has exchanged his paternal
estate for the government of Bithynia. In the antechamber of
Eutropius, a large tablet is exposed to public view, which marks
the respective prices of the provinces. The different value of
Pontus, of Galatia, of Lydia, is accurately distinguished. Lycia
may be obtained for so many thousand pieces of gold; but the
opulence of Phrygia will require a more considerable sum. The
eunuch wishes to obliterate, by the general disgrace, his
personal ignominy; and as he has been sold himself, he is
desirous of selling the rest of mankind. In the eager contention,
the balance, which contains the fate and fortunes of the
province, often trembles on the beam; and till one of the scales
is inclined, by a superior weight, the mind of the impartial
judge remains in anxious suspense. Such,” continues the indignant
poet, “are the fruits of Roman valor, of the defeat of Antiochus,
and of the triumph of Pompey.” This venal prostitution of public
honors secured the impunity of future crimes; but the riches,
which Eutropius derived from confiscation, were already stained
with injustice; since it was decent to accuse, and to condemn,
the proprietors of the wealth, which he was impatient to
confiscate. Some noble blood was shed by the hand of the
executioner; and the most inhospitable extremities of the empire
were filled with innocent and illustrious exiles. Among the
generals and consuls of the East, Abundantius 12 had reason to
dread the first effects of the resentment of Eutropius. He had
been guilty of the unpardonable crime of introducing that abject
slave to the palace of Constantinople; and some degree of praise
must be allowed to a powerful and ungrateful favorite, who was
satisfied with the disgrace of his benefactor. Abundantius was
stripped of his ample fortunes by an Imperial rescript, and
banished to Pityus, on the Euxine, the last frontier of the Roman
world; where he subsisted by the precarious mercy of the
Barbarians, till he could obtain, after the fall of Eutropius, a
milder exile at Sidon, in Phoenicia. The destruction of Timasius
13 required a more serious and regular mode of attack. That great
officer, the master-general of the armies of Theodosius, had
signalized his valor by a decisive victory, which he obtained
over the Goths of Thessaly; but he was too prone, after the
example of his sovereign, to enjoy the luxury of peace, and to
abandon his confidence to wicked and designing flatterers.
Timasius had despised the public clamor, by promoting an infamous
dependant to the command of a cohort; and he deserved to feel the
ingratitude of Bargus, who was secretly instigated by the
favorite to accuse his patron of a treasonable conspiracy. The
general was arraigned before the tribunal of Arcadius himself;
and the principal eunuch stood by the side of the throne to
suggest the questions and answers of his sovereign. But as this
form of trial might be deemed partial and arbitrary, the further
inquiry into the crimes of Timasius was delegated to Saturninus
and Procopius; the former of consular rank, the latter still
respected as the father-in-law of the emperor Valens. The
appearances of a fair and legal proceeding were maintained by the
blunt honesty of Procopius; and he yielded with reluctance to the
obsequious dexterity of his colleague, who pronounced a sentence
of condemnation against the unfortunate Timasius. His immense
riches were confiscated in the name of the emperor, and for the
benefit of the favorite; and he was doomed to perpetual exile a
Oasis, a solitary spot in the midst of the sandy deserts of
Libya. 14 Secluded from all human converse, the master-general of
the Roman armies was lost forever to the world; but the
circumstances of his fate have been related in a various and
contradictory manner. It is insinuated that Eutropius despatched
a private order for his secret execution. 15 It was reported,
that, in attempting to escape from Oasis, he perished in the
desert, of thirst and hunger; and that his dead body was found on
the sands of Libya. 16 It has been asserted, with more
confidence, that his son Syagrius, after successfully eluding the
pursuit of the agents and emissaries of the court, collected a
band of African robbers; that he rescued Timasius from the place
of his exile; and that both the father and the son disappeared
from the knowledge of mankind. 17 But the ungrateful Bargus,
instead of being suffered to possess the reward of guilt was soon
after circumvented and destroyed, by the more powerful villany of
the minister himself, who retained sense and spirit enough to
abhor the instrument of his own crimes.
10 (return) [ Drunk with riches, is the forcible expression of
Zosimus, (l. v. p. 301;) and the avarice of Eutropius is equally
execrated in the Lexicon of Suidas and the Chronicle of
Marcellinus Chrysostom had often admonished the favorite of the
vanity and danger of immoderate wealth, tom. iii. p. 381.
-certantum saepe duorum Diversum suspendit onus: cum pondere
judex Vergit, et in geminas nutat provincia lances. Claudian (i.
192-209) so curiously distinguishes the circumstances of the
sale, that they all seem to allude to particular anecdotes.]
12 (return) [ Claudian (i. 154-170) mentions the guilt and exile
of Abundantius; nor could he fail to quote the example of the
artist, who made the first trial of the brazen bull, which he
presented to Phalaris. See Zosimus, l. v. p. 302. Jerom, tom. i.
p. 26. The difference of place is easily reconciled; but the
decisive authority of Asterius of Amasia (Orat. iv. p. 76, apud
Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 435) must turn the
scale in favor of Pityus.]
13 (return) [ Suidas (most probably from the history of Eunapius)
has given a very unfavorable picture of Timasius. The account of
his accuser, the judges, trial, &c., is perfectly agreeable to
the practice of ancient and modern courts. (See Zosimus, l. v. p.
298, 299, 300.) I am almost tempted to quote the romance of a
great master, (Fielding’s Works, vol. iv. p. 49, &c., 8vo.
edit.,) which may be considered as the history of human nature.]
14 (return) [ The great Oasis was one of the spots in the sands
of Libya, watered with springs, and capable of producing wheat,
barley, and palm-trees. It was about three days’ journey from
north to south, about half a day in breadth, and at the distance
of about five days’ march to the west of Abydus, on the Nile. See
D’Anville, Description de l’Egypte, p. 186, 187, 188. The barren
desert which encompasses Oasis (Zosimus, l. v. p. 300) has
suggested the idea of comparative fertility, and even the epithet
of the happy island ]
15 (return) [ The line of Claudian, in Eutrop. l. i. 180,
Marmaricus claris violatur caedibus Hammon,
evidently alludes to his persuasion of the death of Timasius. *
Note: A fragment of Eunapius confirms this account. “Thus having
deprived this great person of his life—a eunuch, a man, a slave,
a consul, a minister of the bed-chamber, one bred in camps.” Mai,
p. 283, in Niebuhr. 87—M.]
16 (return) [ Sozomen, l. viii. c. 7. He speaks from report.]
17 (return) [ Zosimus, l. v. p. 300. Yet he seems to suspect that
this rumor was spread by the friends of Eutropius.]
The public hatred, and the despair of individuals, continually
threatened, or seemed to threaten, the personal safety of
Eutropius; as well as of the numerous adherents, who were
attached to his fortune, and had been promoted by his venal
favor. For their mutual defence, he contrived the safeguard of a
law, which violated every principal of humanity and justice. 18
I. It is enacted, in the name, and by the authority of Arcadius,
that all those who should conspire, either with subjects or with
strangers, against the lives of any of the persons whom the
emperor considers as the members of his own body, shall be
punished with death and confiscation. This species of fictitious
and metaphorical treason is extended to protect, not only the
illustrious officers of the state and army, who were admitted
into the sacred consistory, but likewise the principal domestics
of the palace, the senators of Constantinople, the military
commanders, and the civil magistrates of the provinces; a vague
and indefinite list, which, under the successors of Constantine,
included an obscure and numerous train of subordinate ministers.
II. This extreme severity might perhaps be justified, had it been
only directed to secure the representatives of the sovereign from
any actual violence in the execution of their office. But the
whole body of Imperial dependants claimed a privilege, or rather
impunity, which screened them, in the loosest moments of their
lives, from the hasty, perhaps the justifiable, resentment of
their fellow-citizens; and, by a strange perversion of the laws,
the same degree of guilt and punishment was applied to a private
quarrel, and to a deliberate conspiracy against the emperor and
the empire. The edicts of Arcadius most positively and most
absurdly declares, that in such cases of treason, thoughts and
actions ought to be punished with equal severity; that the
knowledge of a mischievous intention, unless it be instantly
revealed, becomes equally criminal with the intention itself; 19
and that those rash men, who shall presume to solicit the pardon
of traitors, shall themselves be branded with public and
perpetual infamy. III. “With regard to the sons of the traitors,”
(continues the emperor,) “although they ought to share the
punishment, since they will probably imitate the guilt, of their
parents, yet, by the special effect of our Imperial lenity, we
grant them their lives; but, at the same time, we declare them
incapable of inheriting, either on the father’s or on the
mother’s side, or of receiving any gift or legacy, from the
testament either of kinsmen or of strangers. Stigmatized with
hereditary infamy, excluded from the hopes of honors or fortune,
let them endure the pangs of poverty and contempt, till they
shall consider life as a calamity, and death as a comfort and
relief.” In such words, so well adapted to insult the feelings of
mankind, did the emperor, or rather his favorite eunuch, applaud
the moderation of a law, which transferred the same unjust and
inhuman penalties to the children of all those who had seconded,
or who had not disclosed, their fictitious conspiracies. Some of
the noblest regulations of Roman jurisprudence have been suffered
to expire; but this edict, a convenient and forcible engine of
ministerial tyranny, was carefully inserted in the codes of
Theodosius and Justinian; and the same maxims have been revived
in modern ages, to protect the electors of Germany, and the
cardinals of the church of Rome. 20
18 (return) [ See the Theodosian Code, l. ix. tit. 14, ad legem
Corneliam de Sicariis, leg. 3, and the Code of Justinian, l. ix.
tit. viii, viii. ad legem Juliam de Majestate, leg. 5. The
alteration of the title, from murder to treason, was an
improvement of the subtle Tribonian. Godefroy, in a formal
dissertation, which he has inserted in his Commentary,
illustrates this law of Arcadius, and explains all the difficult
passages which had been perverted by the jurisconsults of the
darker ages. See tom. iii. p. 88-111.]
19 (return) [ Bartolus understands a simple and naked
consciousness, without any sign of approbation or concurrence.
For this opinion, says Baldus, he is now roasting in hell. For my
own part, continues the discreet Heineccius, (Element. Jur. Civil
l. iv. p. 411,) I must approve the theory of Bartolus; but in
practice I should incline to the sentiments of Baldus. Yet
Bartolus was gravely quoted by the lawyers of Cardinal Richelieu;
and Eutropius was indirectly guilty of the murder of the virtuous
De Thou.]
20 (return) [ Godefroy, tom. iii. p. 89. It is, however,
suspected, that this law, so repugnant to the maxims of Germanic
freedom, has been surreptitiously added to the golden bull.]
Yet these sanguinary laws, which spread terror among a disarmed
and dispirited people, were of too weak a texture to restrain the
bold enterprise of Tribigild 21 the Ostrogoth. The colony of that
warlike nation, which had been planted by Theodosius in one of
the most fertile districts of Phrygia, 22 impatiently compared
the slow returns of laborious husbandry with the successful
rapine and liberal rewards of Alaric; and their leader resented,
as a personal affront, his own ungracious reception in the palace
of Constantinople. A soft and wealthy province, in the heart of
the empire, was astonished by the sound of war; and the faithful
vassal who had been disregarded or oppressed, was again
respected, as soon as he resumed the hostile character of a
Barbarian. The vineyards and fruitful fields, between the rapid
Marsyas and the winding Maeander, 23 were consumed with fire; the
decayed walls of the cities crumbled into dust, at the first
stroke of an enemy; the trembling inhabitants escaped from a
bloody massacre to the shores of the Hellespont; and a
considerable part of Asia Minor was desolated by the rebellion of
Tribigild. His rapid progress was checked by the resistance of
the peasants of Pamphylia; and the Ostrogoths, attacked in a
narrow pass, between the city of Selgae, 24 a deep morass, and
the craggy cliffs of Mount Taurus, were defeated with the loss of
their bravest troops. But the spirit of their chief was not
daunted by misfortune; and his army was continually recruited by
swarms of Barbarians and outlaws, who were desirous of exercising
the profession of robbery, under the more honorable names of war
and conquest. The rumors of the success of Tribigild might for
some time be suppressed by fear, or disguised by flattery; yet
they gradually alarmed both the court and the capital. Every
misfortune was exaggerated in dark and doubtful hints; and the
future designs of the rebels became the subject of anxious
conjecture. Whenever Tribigild advanced into the inland country,
the Romans were inclined to suppose that he meditated the passage
of Mount Taurus, and the invasion of Syria. If he descended
towards the sea, they imputed, and perhaps suggested, to the
Gothic chief, the more dangerous project of arming a fleet in the
harbors of Ionia, and of extending his depredations along the
maritime coast, from the mouth of the Nile to the port of
Constantinople. The approach of danger, and the obstinacy of
Tribigild, who refused all terms of accommodation, compelled
Eutropius to summon a council of war. 25 After claiming for
himself the privilege of a veteran soldier, the eunuch intrusted
the guard of Thrace and the Hellespont to Gainas the Goth, and
the command of the Asiatic army to his favorite, Leo; two
generals, who differently, but effectually, promoted the cause of
the rebels. Leo, 26 who, from the bulk of his body, and the
dulness of his mind, was surnamed the Ajax of the East, had
deserted his original trade of a woolcomber, to exercise, with
much less skill and success, the military profession; and his
uncertain operations were capriciously framed and executed, with
an ignorance of real difficulties, and a timorous neglect of
every favorable opportunity. The rashness of the Ostrogoths had
drawn them into a disadvantageous position between the Rivers
Melas and Eurymedon, where they were almost besieged by the
peasants of Pamphylia; but the arrival of an Imperial army,
instead of completing their destruction, afforded the means of
safety and victory. Tribigild surprised the unguarded camp of the
Romans, in the darkness of the night; seduced the faith of the
greater part of the Barbarian auxiliaries, and dissipated,
without much effort, the troops, which had been corrupted by the
relaxation of discipline, and the luxury of the capital. The
discontent of Gainas, who had so boldly contrived and executed
the death of Rufinus, was irritated by the fortune of his
unworthy successor; he accused his own dishonorable patience
under the servile reign of a eunuch; and the ambitious Goth was
convicted, at least in the public opinion, of secretly fomenting
the revolt of Tribigild, with whom he was connected by a
domestic, as well as by a national alliance. 27 When Gainas
passed the Hellespont, to unite under his standard the remains of
the Asiatic troops, he skilfully adapted his motions to the
wishes of the Ostrogoths; abandoning, by his retreat, the country
which they desired to invade; or facilitating, by his approach,
the desertion of the Barbarian auxiliaries. To the Imperial court
he repeatedly magnified the valor, the genius, the inexhaustible
resources of Tribigild; confessed his own inability to prosecute
the war; and extorted the permission of negotiating with his
invincible adversary. The conditions of peace were dictated by
the haughty rebel; and the peremptory demand of the head of
Eutropius revealed the author and the design of this hostile
conspiracy.
21 (return) [ A copious and circumstantial narrative (which he
might have reserved for more important events) is bestowed by
Zosimus (l. v. p. 304-312) on the revolt of Tribigild and Gainas.
See likewise Socrates, l. vi. c. 6, and Sozomen, l. viii. c. 4.
The second book of Claudian against Eutropius, is a fine, though
imperfect, piece of history.]
22 (return) [ Claudian (in Eutrop. l. ii. 237-250) very
accurately observes, that the ancient name and nation of the
Phrygians extended very far on every side, till their limits were
contracted by the colonies of the Bithvnians of Thrace, of the
Greeks, and at last of the Gauls. His description (ii. 257-272)
of the fertility of Phrygia, and of the four rivers that produced
gold, is just and picturesque.]
23 (return) [ Xenophon, Anabasis, l. i. p. 11, 12, edit.
Hutchinson. Strabo, l. xii p. 865, edit. Amstel. Q. Curt. l. iii.
c. 1. Claudian compares the junction of the Marsyas and Maeander
to that of the Saone and the Rhone, with this difference,
however, that the smaller of the Phrygian rivers is not
accelerated, but retarded, by the larger.]
24 (return) [ Selgae, a colony of the Lacedaemonians, had
formerly numbered twenty thousand citizens; but in the age of
Zosimus it was reduced to a small town. See Cellarius, Geograph.
Antiq tom. ii. p. 117.]
25 (return) [ The council of Eutropius, in Claudian, may be
compared to that of Domitian in the fourth Satire of Juvenal. The
principal members of the former were juvenes protervi lascivique
senes; one of them had been a cook, a second a woolcomber. The
language of their original profession exposes their assumed
dignity; and their trifling conversation about tragedies,
dancers, &c., is made still more ridiculous by the importance of
the debate.]
26 (return) [ Claudian (l. ii. 376-461) has branded him with
infamy; and Zosimus, in more temperate language, confirms his
reproaches. L. v. p. 305.]
27 (return) [ The conspiracy of Gainas and Tribigild, which is
attested by the Greek historian, had not reached the ears of
Claudian, who attributes the revolt of the Ostrogoth to his own
martial spirit, and the advice of his wife.]
Chapter XXXII: Emperors Arcadius, Eutropius, Theodosius II.—Part
II.
The bold satirist, who has indulged his discontent by the partial
and passionate censure of the Christian emperors, violates the
dignity, rather than the truth, of history, by comparing the son
of Theodosius to one of those harmless and simple animals, who
scarcely feel that they are the property of their shepherd. Two
passions, however, fear and conjugal affection, awakened the
languid soul of Arcadius: he was terrified by the threats of a
victorious Barbarian; and he yielded to the tender eloquence of
his wife Eudoxia, who, with a flood of artificial tears,
presenting her infant children to their father, implored his
justice for some real or imaginary insult, which she imputed to
the audacious eunuch. 28 The emperor’s hand was directed to sign
the condemnation of Eutropius; the magic spell, which during four
years had bound the prince and the people, was instantly
dissolved; and the acclamations that so lately hailed the merit
and fortune of the favorite, were converted into the clamors of
the soldiers and people, who reproached his crimes, and pressed
his immediate execution. In this hour of distress and despair,
his only refuge was in the sanctuary of the church, whose
privileges he had wisely or profanely attempted to circumscribe;
and the most eloquent of the saints, John Chrysostom, enjoyed the
triumph of protecting a prostrate minister, whose choice had
raised him to the ecclesiastical throne of Constantinople. The
archbishop, ascending the pulpit of the cathedral, that he might
be distinctly seen and heard by an innumerable crowd of either
sex and of every age, pronounced a seasonable and pathetic
discourse on the forgiveness of injuries, and the instability of
human greatness. The agonies of the pale and affrighted wretch,
who lay grovelling under the table of the altar, exhibited a
solemn and instructive spectacle; and the orator, who was
afterwards accused of insulting the misfortunes of Eutropius,
labored to excite the contempt, that he might assuage the fury,
of the people. 29 The powers of humanity, of superstition, and of
eloquence, prevailed. The empress Eudoxia was restrained by her
own prejudices, or by those of her subjects, from violating the
sanctuary of the church; and Eutropius was tempted to capitulate,
by the milder arts of persuasion, and by an oath, that his life
should be spared. 30 Careless of the dignity of their sovereign,
the new ministers of the palace immediately published an edict to
declare, that his late favorite had disgraced the names of consul
and patrician, to abolish his statues, to confiscate his wealth,
and to inflict a perpetual exile in the Island of Cyprus. 31 A
despicable and decrepit eunuch could no longer alarm the fears of
his enemies; nor was he capable of enjoying what yet remained,
the comforts of peace, of solitude, and of a happy climate. But
their implacable revenge still envied him the last moments of a
miserable life, and Eutropius had no sooner touched the shores of
Cyprus, than he was hastily recalled. The vain hope of eluding,
by a change of place, the obligation of an oath, engaged the
empress to transfer the scene of his trial and execution from
Constantinople to the adjacent suburb of Chalcedon. The consul
Aurelian pronounced the sentence; and the motives of that
sentence expose the jurisprudence of a despotic government. The
crimes which Eutropius had committed against the people might
have justified his death; but he was found guilty of harnessing
to his chariot the sacred animals, who, from their breed or
color, were reserved for the use of the emperor alone. 32
28 (return) [ This anecdote, which Philostorgius alone has
preserved, (l xi. c. 6, and Gothofred. Dissertat. p. 451-456) is
curious and important; since it connects the revolt of the Goths
with the secret intrigues of the palace.]
29 (return) [ See the Homily of Chrysostom, tom. iii. p. 381-386,
which the exordium is particularly beautiful. Socrates, l. vi. c.
5. Sozomen, l. viii. c. 7. Montfaucon (in his Life of Chrysostom,
tom. xiii. p. 135) too hastily supposes that Tribigild was
actually in Constantinople; and that he commanded the soldiers
who were ordered to seize Eutropius Even Claudian, a Pagan poet,
(praefat. ad l. ii. in Eutrop. 27,) has mentioned the flight of
the eunuch to the sanctuary.
Suppliciterque pias humilis prostratus ad aras, Mitigat iratas
voce tremente nurus,]
30 (return) [ Chrysostom, in another homily, (tom. iii. p. 386,)
affects to declare that Eutropius would not have been taken, had
he not deserted the church. Zosimus, (l. v. p. 313,) on the
contrary, pretends, that his enemies forced him from the
sanctuary. Yet the promise is an evidence of some treaty; and the
strong assurance of Claudian, (Praefat. ad l. ii. 46,) Sed tamen
exemplo non feriere tuo, may be considered as an evidence of some
promise.]
31 (return) [ Cod. Theod. l. ix. tit. xi. leg. 14. The date of
that law (Jan. 17, A.D. 399) is erroneous and corrupt; since the
fall of Eutropius could not happen till the autumn of the same
year. See Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 780.]
32 (return) [ Zosimus, l. v. p. 313. Philostorgius, l. xi. c. 6.]
While this domestic revolution was transacted, Gainas 33 openly
revolted from his allegiance; united his forces at Thyatira in
Lydia, with those of Tribigild; and still maintained his superior
ascendant over the rebellious leader of the Ostrogoths. The
confederate armies advanced, without resistance, to the straits
of the Hellespont and the Bosphorus; and Arcadius was instructed
to prevent the loss of his Asiatic dominions, by resigning his
authority and his person to the faith of the Barbarians. The
church of the holy martyr Euphemia, situate on a lofty eminence
near Chalcedon, 34 was chosen for the place of the interview.
Gainas bowed with reverence at the feet of the emperor, whilst he
required the sacrifice of Aurelian and Saturninus, two ministers
of consular rank; and their naked necks were exposed, by the
haughty rebel, to the edge of the sword, till he condescended to
grant them a precarious and disgraceful respite. The Goths,
according to the terms of the agreement, were immediately
transported from Asia into Europe; and their victorious chief,
who accepted the title of master-general of the Roman armies,
soon filled Constantinople with his troops, and distributed among
his dependants the honors and rewards of the empire. In his early
youth, Gainas had passed the Danube as a suppliant and a
fugitive: his elevation had been the work of valor and fortune;
and his indiscreet or perfidious conduct was the cause of his
rapid downfall. Notwithstanding the vigorous opposition of the
archbishop, he importunately claimed for his Arian sectaries the
possession of a peculiar church; and the pride of the Catholics
was offended by the public toleration of heresy. 35 Every quarter
of Constantinople was filled with tumult and disorder; and the
Barbarians gazed with such ardor on the rich shops of the
jewellers, and the tables of the bankers, which were covered with
gold and silver, that it was judged prudent to remove those
dangerous temptations from their sight. They resented the
injurious precaution; and some alarming attempts were made,
during the night, to attack and destroy with fire the Imperial
palace. 36 In this state of mutual and suspicious hostility, the
guards and the people of Constantinople shut the gates, and rose
in arms to prevent or to punish the conspiracy of the Goths.
During the absence of Gainas, his troops were surprised and
oppressed; seven thousand Barbarians perished in this bloody
massacre. In the fury of the pursuit, the Catholics uncovered the
roof, and continued to throw down flaming logs of wood, till they
overwhelmed their adversaries, who had retreated to the church or
conventicle of the Arians. Gainas was either innocent of the
design, or too confident of his success; he was astonished by the
intelligence that the flower of his army had been ingloriously
destroyed; that he himself was declared a public enemy; and that
his countryman, Fravitta, a brave and loyal confederate, had
assumed the management of the war by sea and land. The
enterprises of the rebel, against the cities of Thrace, were
encountered by a firm and well-ordered defence; his hungry
soldiers were soon reduced to the grass that grew on the margin
of the fortifications; and Gainas, who vainly regretted the
wealth and luxury of Asia, embraced a desperate resolution of
forcing the passage of the Hellespont. He was destitute of
vessels; but the woods of the Chersonesus afforded materials for
rafts, and his intrepid Barbarians did not refuse to trust
themselves to the waves. But Fravitta attentively watched the
progress of their undertaking. As soon as they had gained the
middle of the stream, the Roman galleys, 37 impelled by the full
force of oars, of the current, and of a favorable wind, rushed
forwards in compact order, and with irresistible weight; and the
Hellespont was covered with the fragments of the Gothic
shipwreck. After the destruction of his hopes, and the loss of
many thousands of his bravest soldiers, Gainas, who could no
longer aspire to govern or to subdue the Romans, determined to
resume the independence of a savage life. A light and active body
of Barbarian horse, disengaged from their infantry and baggage,
might perform in eight or ten days a march of three hundred miles
from the Hellespont to the Danube; 38 the garrisons of that
important frontier had been gradually annihilated; the river, in
the month of December, would be deeply frozen; and the unbounded
prospect of Scythia was opened to the ambition of Gainas. This
design was secretly communicated to the national troops, who
devoted themselves to the fortunes of their leader; and before
the signal of departure was given, a great number of provincial
auxiliaries, whom he suspected of an attachment to their native
country, were perfidiously massacred. The Goths advanced, by
rapid marches, through the plains of Thrace; and they were soon
delivered from the fear of a pursuit, by the vanity of Fravitta,
3811 who, instead of extinguishing the war, hastened to enjoy the
popular applause, and to assume the peaceful honors of the
consulship. But a formidable ally appeared in arms to vindicate
the majesty of the empire, and to guard the peace and liberty of
Scythia. 39 The superior forces of Uldin, king of the Huns,
opposed the progress of Gainas; a hostile and ruined country
prohibited his retreat; he disdained to capitulate; and after
repeatedly attempting to cut his way through the ranks of the
enemy, he was slain, with his desperate followers, in the field
of battle. Eleven days after the naval victory of the Hellespont,
the head of Gainas, the inestimable gift of the conqueror, was
received at Constantinople with the most liberal expressions of
gratitude; and the public deliverance was celebrated by festivals
and illuminations. The triumphs of Arcadius became the subject of
epic poems; 40 and the monarch, no longer oppressed by any
hostile terrors, resigned himself to the mild and absolute
dominion of his wife, the fair and artful Eudoxia, who was
sullied her fame by the persecution of St. John Chrysostom.
33 (return) [ Zosimus, l. v. p. 313-323,) Socrates, (l. vi. c.
4,) Sozomen, (l. viii. c. 4,) and Theodoret, (l. v. c. 32, 33,)
represent, though with some various circumstances, the
conspiracy, defeat, and death of Gainas.]
34 (return) [ It is the expression of Zosimus himself, (l. v. p.
314,) who inadvertently uses the fashionable language of the
Christians. Evagrius describes (l. ii. c. 3) the situation,
architecture, relics, and miracles, of that celebrated church, in
which the general council of Chalcedon was afterwards held.]
35 (return) [ The pious remonstrances of Chrysostom, which do not
appear in his own writings, are strongly urged by Theodoret; but
his insinuation, that they were successful, is disproved by
facts. Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 383) has
discovered that the emperor, to satisfy the rapacious demands of
Gainas, was obliged to melt the plate of the church of the
apostles.]
36 (return) [ The ecclesiastical historians, who sometimes guide,
and sometimes follow, the public opinion, most confidently
assert, that the palace of Constantinople was guarded by legions
of angels.]
37 (return) [ Zosmius (l. v. p. 319) mentions these galleys by
the name of Liburnians, and observes that they were as swift
(without explaining the difference between them) as the vessels
with fifty oars; but that they were far inferior in speed to the
triremes, which had been long disused. Yet he reasonably
concludes, from the testimony of Polybius, that galleys of a
still larger size had been constructed in the Punic wars. Since
the establishment of the Roman empire over the Mediterranean, the
useless art of building large ships of war had probably been
neglected, and at length forgotten.]
38 (return) [ Chishull (Travels, p. 61-63, 72-76) proceeded from
Gallipoli, through Hadrianople to the Danube, in about fifteen
days. He was in the train of an English ambassador, whose baggage
consisted of seventy-one wagons. That learned traveller has the
merit of tracing a curious and unfrequented route.]
3811 (return) [ Fravitta, according to Zosimus, though a Pagan,
received the honors of the consulate. Zosim, v. c. 20. On
Fravitta, see a very imperfect fragment of Eunapius. Mai. ii.
290, in Niebuhr. 92.—M.]
39 (return) [ The narrative of Zosimus, who actually leads Gainas
beyond the Danube, must be corrected by the testimony of
Socrates, aud Sozomen, that he was killed in Thrace; and by the
precise and authentic dates of the Alexandrian, or Paschal,
Chronicle, p. 307. The naval victory of the Hellespont is fixed
to the month Apellaeus, the tenth of the Calends of January,
(December 23;) the head of Gainas was brought to Constantinople
the third of the nones of January, (January 3,) in the month
Audynaeus.]
40 (return) [ Eusebius Scholasticus acquired much fame by his
poem on the Gothic war, in which he had served. Near forty years
afterwards Ammonius recited another poem on the same subject, in
the presence of the emperor Theodosius. See Socrates, l. vi. c.
6.]
After the death of the indolent Nectarius, the successor of
Gregory Nazianzen, the church of Constantinople was distracted by
the ambition of rival candidates, who were not ashamed to
solicit, with gold or flattery, the suffrage of the people, or of
the favorite. On this occasion Eutropius seems to have deviated
from his ordinary maxims; and his uncorrupted judgment was
determined only by the superior merit of a stranger. In a late
journey into the East, he had admired the sermons of John, a
native and presbyter of Antioch, whose name has been
distinguished by the epithet of Chrysostom, or the Golden Mouth.
41 A private order was despatched to the governor of Syria; and
as the people might be unwilling to resign their favorite
preacher, he was transported, with speed and secrecy in a
post-chariot, from Antioch to Constantinople. The unanimous and
unsolicited consent of the court, the clergy, and the people,
ratified the choice of the minister; and, both as a saint and as
an orator, the new archbishop surpassed the sanguine expectations
of the public. Born of a noble and opulent family, in the capital
of Syria, Chrysostom had been educated, by the care of a tender
mother, under the tuition of the most skilful masters. He studied
the art of rhetoric in the school of Libanius; and that
celebrated sophist, who soon discovered the talents of his
disciple, ingenuously confessed that John would have deserved to
succeed him, had he not been stolen away by the Christians. His
piety soon disposed him to receive the sacrament of baptism; to
renounce the lucrative and honorable profession of the law; and
to bury himself in the adjacent desert, where he subdued the
lusts of the flesh by an austere penance of six years. His
infirmities compelled him to return to the society of mankind;
and the authority of Meletius devoted his talents to the service
of the church: but in the midst of his family, and afterwards on
the archiepiscopal throne, Chrysostom still persevered in the
practice of the monastic virtues. The ample revenues, which his
predecessors had consumed in pomp and luxury, he diligently
applied to the establishment of hospitals; and the multitudes,
who were supported by his charity, preferred the eloquent and
edifying discourses of their archbishop to the amusements of the
theatre or the circus. The monuments of that eloquence, which was
admired near twenty years at Antioch and Constantinople, have
been carefully preserved; and the possession of near one thousand
sermons, or homilies has authorized the critics 42 of succeeding
times to appreciate the genuine merit of Chrysostom. They
unanimously attribute to the Christian orator the free command of
an elegant and copious language; the judgment to conceal the
advantages which he derived from the knowledge of rhetoric and
philosophy; an inexhaustible fund of metaphors and similitudes of
ideas and images, to vary and illustrate the most familiar
topics; the happy art of engaging the passions in the service of
virtue; and of exposing the folly, as well as the turpitude, of
vice, almost with the truth and spirit of a dramatic
representation.
41 (return) [ The sixth book of Socrates, the eighth of Sozomen,
and the fifth of Theodoret, afford curious and authentic
materials for the life of John Chrysostom. Besides those general
historians, I have taken for my guides the four principal
biographers of the saint. 1. The author of a partial and
passionate Vindication of the archbishop of Constantinople,
composed in the form of a dialogue, and under the name of his
zealous partisan, Palladius, bishop of Helenopolis, (Tillemont,
Mem. Eccles. tom. xi. p. 500-533.) It is inserted among the works
of Chrysostom. tom. xiii. p. 1-90, edit. Montfaucon. 2. The
moderate Erasmus, (tom. iii. epist. Mcl. p. 1331-1347, edit.
Lugd. Bat.) His vivacity and good sense were his own; his errors,
in the uncultivated state of ecclesiastical antiquity, were
almost inevitable. 3. The learned Tillemont, (Mem.
Ecclesiastiques, tom. xi. p. 1-405, 547-626, &c. &c.,) who
compiles the lives of the saints with incredible patience and
religious accuracy. He has minutely searched the voluminous works
of Chrysostom himself. 4. Father Montfaucon, who has perused
those works with the curious diligence of an editor, discovered
several new homilies, and again reviewed and composed the Life of
Chrysostom, (Opera Chrysostom. tom. xiii. p. 91-177.)]
42 (return) [ As I am almost a stranger to the voluminous sermons
of Chrysostom, I have given my confidence to the two most
judicious and moderate of the ecclesiastical critics, Erasmus
(tom. iii. p. 1344) and Dupin, (Bibliothèque Ecclesiastique, tom.
iii. p. 38:) yet the good taste of the former is sometimes
vitiated by an excessive love of antiquity; and the good sense of
the latter is always restrained by prudential considerations.]
The pastoral labors of the archbishop of Constantinople provoked,
and gradually united against him, two sorts of enemies; the
aspiring clergy, who envied his success, and the obstinate
sinners, who were offended by his reproofs. When Chrysostom
thundered, from the pulpit of St. Sophia, against the degeneracy
of the Christians, his shafts were spent among the crowd, without
wounding, or even marking, the character of any individual. When
he declaimed against the peculiar vices of the rich, poverty
might obtain a transient consolation from his invectives; but the
guilty were still sheltered by their numbers; and the reproach
itself was dignified by some ideas of superiority and enjoyment.
But as the pyramid rose towards the summit, it insensibly
diminished to a point; and the magistrates, the ministers, the
favorite eunuchs, the ladies of the court, 43 the empress Eudoxia
herself, had a much larger share of guilt to divide among a
smaller proportion of criminals. The personal applications of the
audience were anticipated, or confirmed, by the testimony of
their own conscience; and the intrepid preacher assumed the
dangerous right of exposing both the offence and the offender to
the public abhorrence. The secret resentment of the court
encouraged the discontent of the clergy and monks of
Constantinople, who were too hastily reformed by the fervent zeal
of their archbishop. He had condemned, from the pulpit, the
domestic females of the clergy of Constantinople, who, under the
name of servants, or sisters, afforded a perpetual occasion
either of sin or of scandal. The silent and solitary ascetics,
who had secluded themselves from the world, were entitled to the
warmest approbation of Chrysostom; but he despised and
stigmatized, as the disgrace of their holy profession, the crowd
of degenerate monks, who, from some unworthy motives of pleasure
or profit, so frequently infested the streets of the capital. To
the voice of persuasion, the archbishop was obliged to add the
terrors of authority; and his ardor, in the exercise of
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, was not always exempt from passion;
nor was it always guided by prudence. Chrysostom was naturally of
a choleric disposition. 44 Although he struggled, according to
the precepts of the gospel, to love his private enemies, he
indulged himself in the privilege of hating the enemies of God
and of the church; and his sentiments were sometimes delivered
with too much energy of countenance and expression. He still
maintained, from some considerations of health or abstinence, his
former habits of taking his repasts alone; and this inhospitable
custom, 45 which his enemies imputed to pride, contributed, at
least, to nourish the infirmity of a morose and unsocial humor.
Separated from that familiar intercourse, which facilitates the
knowledge and the despatch of business, he reposed an
unsuspecting confidence in his deacon Serapion; and seldom
applied his speculative knowledge of human nature to the
particular character, either of his dependants, or of his equals.
Conscious of the purity of his intentions, and perhaps of the
superiority of his genius, the archbishop of Constantinople
extended the jurisdiction of the Imperial city, that he might
enlarge the sphere of his pastoral labors; and the conduct which
the profane imputed to an ambitious motive, appeared to
Chrysostom himself in the light of a sacred and indispensable
duty. In his visitation through the Asiatic provinces, he deposed
thirteen bishops of Lydia and Phrygia; and indiscreetly declared
that a deep corruption of simony and licentiousness had infected
the whole episcopal order. 46 If those bishops were innocent,
such a rash and unjust condemnation must excite a well-grounded
discontent. If they were guilty, the numerous associates of their
guilt would soon discover that their own safety depended on the
ruin of the archbishop; whom they studied to represent as the
tyrant of the Eastern church.
43 (return) [ The females of Constantinople distinguished
themselves by their enmity or their attachment to Chrysostom.
Three noble and opulent widows, Marsa, Castricia, and Eugraphia,
were the leaders of the persecution, (Pallad. Dialog. tom. xiii.
p. 14.) It was impossible that they should forgive a preacher who
reproached their affectation to conceal, by the ornaments of
dress, their age and ugliness, (Pallad p. 27.) Olympias, by equal
zeal, displayed in a more pious cause, has obtained the title of
saint. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xi p. 416-440.]
44 (return) [ Sozomen, and more especially Socrates, have defined
the real character of Chrysostom with a temperate and impartial
freedom, very offensive to his blind admirers. Those historians
lived in the next generation, when party violence was abated, and
had conversed with many persons intimately acquainted with the
virtues and imperfections of the saint.]
45 (return) [ Palladius (tom. xiii. p. 40, &c.) very seriously
defends the archbishop 1. He never tasted wine. 2. The weakness
of his stomach required a peculiar diet. 3. Business, or study,
or devotion, often kept him fasting till sunset. 4. He detested
the noise and levity of great dinners. 5. He saved the expense
for the use of the poor. 6. He was apprehensive, in a capital
like Constantinople, of the envy and reproach of partial
invitations.]
46 (return) [ Chrysostom declares his free opinion (tom. ix. hom.
iii in Act. Apostol. p. 29) that the number of bishops, who might
be saved, bore a very small proportion to those who would be
damned.]
This ecclesiastical conspiracy was managed by Theophilus, 47
archbishop of Alexandria, an active and ambitious prelate, who
displayed the fruits of rapine in monuments of ostentation. His
national dislike to the rising greatness of a city which degraded
him from the second to the third rank in the Christian world, was
exasperated by some personal dispute with Chrysostom himself. 48
By the private invitation of the empress, Theophilus landed at
Constantinople with a stou body of Egyptian mariners, to
encounter the populace; and a train of dependent bishops, to
secure, by their voices, the majority of a synod. The synod 49
was convened in the suburb of Chalcedon, surnamed the Oak, where
Rufinus had erected a stately church and monastery; and their
proceedings were continued during fourteen days, or sessions. A
bishop and a deacon accused the archbishop of Constantinople; but
the frivolous or improbable nature of the forty-seven articles
which they presented against him, may justly be considered as a
fair and unexceptional panegyric. Four successive summons were
signified to Chrysostom; but he still refused to trust either his
person or his reputation in the hands of his implacable enemies,
who, prudently declining the examination of any particular
charges, condemned his contumacious disobedience, and hastily
pronounced a sentence of deposition. The synod of the Oak
immediately addressed the emperor to ratify and execute their
judgment, and charitably insinuated, that the penalties of
treason might be inflicted on the audacious preacher, who had
reviled, under the name of Jezebel, the empress Eudoxia herself.
The archbishop was rudely arrested, and conducted through the
city, by one of the Imperial messengers, who landed him, after a
short navigation, near the entrance of the Euxine; from whence,
before the expiration of two days, he was gloriously recalled.
47 (return) [ See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xi. p. 441-500.]
48 (return) [ I have purposely omitted the controversy which
arose among the monks of Egypt, concerning Origenism and
Anthropomorphism; the dissimulation and violence of Theophilus;
his artful management of the simplicity of Epiphanius; the
persecution and flight of the long, or tall, brothers; the
ambiguous support which they received at Constantinople from
Chrysostom, &c. &c.]
49 (return) [ Photius (p. 53-60) has preserved the original acts
of the synod of the Oak; which destroys the false assertion, that
Chrysostom was condemned by no more than thirty-six bishops, of
whom twenty-nine were Egyptians. Forty-five bishops subscribed
his sentence. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xi. p. 595. *
Note: Tillemont argues strongly for the number of thirty-six—M]
The first astonishment of his faithful people had been mute and
passive: they suddenly rose with unanimous and irresistible fury.
Theophilus escaped, but the promiscuous crowd of monks and
Egyptian mariners was slaughtered without pity in the streets of
Constantinople. 50 A seasonable earthquake justified the
interposition of Heaven; the torrent of sedition rolled forwards
to the gates of the palace; and the empress, agitated by fear or
remorse, threw herself at the feet of Arcadius, and confessed
that the public safety could be purchased only by the restoration
of Chrysostom. The Bosphorus was covered with innumerable
vessels; the shores of Europe and Asia were profusely
illuminated; and the acclamations of a victorious people
accompanied, from the port to the cathedral, the triumph of the
archbishop; who, too easily, consented to resume the exercise of
his functions, before his sentence had been legally reversed by
the authority of an ecclesiastical synod. Ignorant, or careless,
of the impending danger, Chrysostom indulged his zeal, or perhaps
his resentment; declaimed with peculiar asperity against female
vices; and condemned the profane honors which were addressed,
almost in the precincts of St. Sophia, to the statue of the
empress. His imprudence tempted his enemies to inflame the
haughty spirit of Eudoxia, by reporting, or perhaps inventing,
the famous exordium of a sermon, “Herodias is again furious;
Herodias again dances; she once more requires the head of John;”
an insolent allusion, which, as a woman and a sovereign, it was
impossible for her to forgive. 51 The short interval of a
perfidious truce was employed to concert more effectual measures
for the disgrace and ruin of the archbishop. A numerous council
of the Eastern prelates, who were guided from a distance by the
advice of Theophilus, confirmed the validity, without examining
the justice, of the former sentence; and a detachment of
Barbarian troops was introduced into the city, to suppress the
emotions of the people. On the vigil of Easter, the solemn
administration of baptism was rudely interrupted by the soldiers,
who alarmed the modesty of the naked catechumens, and violated,
by their presence, the awful mysteries of the Christian worship.
Arsacius occupied the church of St. Sophia, and the
archiepiscopal throne. The Catholics retreated to the baths of
Constantine, and afterwards to the fields; where they were still
pursued and insulted by the guards, the bishops, and the
magistrates. The fatal day of the second and final exile of
Chrysostom was marked by the conflagration of the cathedral, of
the senate-house, and of the adjacent buildings; and this
calamity was imputed, without proof, but not without probability,
to the despair of a persecuted faction. 52
50 (return) [ Palladius owns (p. 30) that if the people of
Constantinople had found Theophilus, they would certainly have
thrown him into the sea. Socrates mentions (l. vi. c. 17) a
battle between the mob and the sailors of Alexandria, in which
many wounds were given, and some lives were lost. The massacre of
the monks is observed only by the Pagan Zosimus, (l. v. p. 324,)
who acknowledges that Chrysostom had a singular talent to lead
the illiterate multitude.]
51 (return) [ See Socrates, l. vi. c. 18. Sozomen, l. viii. c.
20. Zosimus (l. v. p 324, 327) mentions, in general terms, his
invectives against Eudoxia. The homily, which begins with those
famous words, is rejected as spurious. Montfaucon, tom. xiii. p.
151. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom xi. p. 603.]
52 (return) [ We might naturally expect such a charge from
Zosimus, (l. v. p. 327;) but it is remarkable enough, that it
should be confirmed by Socrates, (l. vi. c. 18,) and the Paschal
Chronicle, (p. 307.)]
Cicero might claim some merit, if his voluntary banishment
preserved the peace of the republic; 53 but the submission of
Chrysostom was the indispensable duty of a Christian and a
subject. Instead of listening to his humble prayer, that he might
be permitted to reside at Cyzicus, or Nicomedia, the inflexible
empress assigned for his exile the remote and desolate town of
Cucusus, among the ridges of Mount Taurus, in the Lesser Armenia.
A secret hope was entertained, that the archbishop might perish
in a difficult and dangerous march of seventy days, in the heat
of summer, through the provinces of Asia Minor, where he was
continually threatened by the hostile attacks of the Isaurians,
and the more implacable fury of the monks. Yet Chrysostom arrived
in safety at the place of his confinement; and the three years
which he spent at Cucusus, and the neighboring town of Arabissus,
were the last and most glorious of his life. His character was
consecrated by absence and persecution; the faults of his
administration were no longer remembered; but every tongue
repeated the praises of his genius and virtue: and the respectful
attention of the Christian world was fixed on a desert spot among
the mountains of Taurus. From that solitude the archbishop, whose
active mind was invigorated by misfortunes, maintained a strict
and frequent correspondence 54 with the most distant provinces;
exhorted the separate congregation of his faithful adherents to
persevere in their allegiance; urged the destruction of the
temples of Phoenicia, and the extirpation of heresy in the Isle
of Cyprus; extended his pastoral care to the missions of Persia
and Scythia; negotiated, by his ambassadors, with the Roman
pontiff and the emperor Honorius; and boldly appealed, from a
partial synod, to the supreme tribunal of a free and general
council. The mind of the illustrious exile was still independent;
but his captive body was exposed to the revenge of the
oppressors, who continued to abuse the name and authority of
Arcadius. 55 An order was despatched for the instant removal of
Chrysostom to the extreme desert of Pityus: and his guards so
faithfully obeyed their cruel instructions, that, before he
reached the sea-coast of the Euxine, he expired at Comana, in
Pontus, in the sixtieth year of his age. The succeeding
generation acknowledged his innocence and merit. The archbishops
of the East, who might blush that their predecessors had been the
enemies of Chrysostom, were gradually disposed, by the firmness
of the Roman pontiff, to restore the honors of that venerable
name. 56 At the pious solicitation of the clergy and people of
Constantinople, his relics, thirty years after his death, were
transported from their obscure sepulchre to the royal city. 57
The emperor Theodosius advanced to receive them as far as
Chalcedon; and, falling prostrate on the coffin, implored, in the
name of his guilty parents, Arcadius and Eudoxia, the forgiveness
of the injured saint. 58
53 (return) [ He displays those specious motives (Post Reditum,
c. 13, 14) in the language of an orator and a politician.]
54 (return) [ Two hundred and forty-two of the epistles of
Chrysostom are still extant, (Opera, tom. iii. p. 528-736.) They
are addressed to a great variety of persons, and show a firmness
of mind much superior to that of Cicero in his exile. The
fourteenth epistle contains a curious narrative of the dangers of
his journey.]
55 (return) [ After the exile of Chrysostom, Theophilus published
an enormous and horrible volume against him, in which he
perpetually repeats the polite expressions of hostem humanitatis,
sacrilegorum principem, immundum daemonem; he affirms, that John
Chrysostom had delivered his soul to be adulterated by the devil;
and wishes that some further punishment, adequate (if possible)
to the magnitude of his crimes, may be inflicted on him. St.
Jerom, at the request of his friend Theophilus, translated this
edifying performance from Greek into Latin. See Facundus Hermian.
Defens. pro iii. Capitul. l. vi. c. 5 published by Sirmond.
Opera, tom. ii. p. 595, 596, 597.]
56 (return) [ His name was inserted by his successor Atticus in
the Dyptics of the church of Constantinople, A.D. 418. Ten years
afterwards he was revered as a saint. Cyril, who inherited the
place, and the passions, of his uncle Theophilus, yielded with
much reluctance. See Facund. Hermian. l. 4, c. 1. Tillemont, Mem.
Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 277-283.]
57 (return) [ Socrates, l. vii. c. 45. Theodoret, l. v. c. 36.
This event reconciled the Joannites, who had hitherto refused to
acknowledge his successors. During his lifetime, the Joannites
were respected, by the Catholics, as the true and orthodox
communion of Constantinople. Their obstinacy gradually drove them
to the brink of schism.]
58 (return) [ According to some accounts, (Baronius, Annal.
Eccles. A.D. 438 No. 9, 10,) the emperor was forced to send a
letter of invitation and excuses, before the body of the
ceremonious saint could be moved from Comana.]
Chapter XXXII: Emperors Arcadius, Eutropius, Theodosius II.—Part
III.
Yet a reasonable doubt may be entertained, whether any stain of
hereditary guilt could be derived from Arcadius to his successor.
Eudoxia was a young and beautiful woman, who indulged her
passions, and despised her husband; Count John enjoyed, at least,
the familiar confidence of the empress; and the public named him
as the real father of Theodosius the younger. 59 The birth of a
son was accepted, however, by the pious husband, as an event the
most fortunate and honorable to himself, to his family, and to
the Eastern world: and the royal infant, by an unprecedented
favor, was invested with the titles of Caesar and Augustus. In
less than four years afterwards, Eudoxia, in the bloom of youth,
was destroyed by the consequences of a miscarriage; and this
untimely death confounded the prophecy of a holy bishop, 60 who,
amidst the universal joy, had ventured to foretell, that she
should behold the long and auspicious reign of her glorious son.
The Catholics applauded the justice of Heaven, which avenged the
persecution of St. Chrysostom; and perhaps the emperor was the
only person who sincerely bewailed the loss of the haughty and
rapacious Eudoxia. Such a domestic misfortune afflicted him more
deeply than the public calamities of the East; 61 the licentious
excursions, from Pontus to Palestine, of the Isaurian robbers,
whose impunity accused the weakness of the government; and the
earthquakes, the conflagrations, the famine, and the flights of
locusts, 62 which the popular discontent was equally disposed to
attribute to the incapacity of the monarch. At length, in the
thirty-first year of his age, after a reign (if we may abuse that
word) of thirteen years, three months, and fifteen days, Arcadius
expired in the palace of Constantinople. It is impossible to
delineate his character; since, in a period very copiously
furnished with historical materials, it has not been possible to
remark one action that properly belongs to the son of the great
Theodosius.
59 (return) [ Zosimus, l. v. p. 315. The chastity of an empress
should not be impeached without producing a witness; but it is
astonishing, that the witness should write and live under a
prince whose legitimacy he dared to attack. We must suppose that
his history was a party libel, privately read and circulated by
the Pagans. Tillemont (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 782) is
not averse to brand the reputation of Eudoxia.]
60 (return) [ Porphyry of Gaza. His zeal was transported by the
order which he had obtained for the destruction of eight Pagan
temples of that city. See the curious details of his life,
(Baronius, A.D. 401, No. 17-51,) originally written in Greek, or
perhaps in Syriac, by a monk, one of his favorite deacons.]
61 (return) [ Philostorg. l. xi. c. 8, and Godefroy, Dissertat.
p. 457.]
62 (return) [ Jerom (tom. vi. p. 73, 76) describes, in lively
colors, the regular and destructive march of the locusts, which
spread a dark cloud, between heaven and earth, over the land of
Palestine. Seasonable winds scattered them, partly into the Dead
Sea, and partly into the Mediterranean.]
The historian Procopius 63 has indeed illuminated the mind of the
dying emperor with a ray of human prudence, or celestial wisdom.
Arcadius considered, with anxious foresight, the helpless
condition of his son Theodosius, who was no more than seven years
of age, the dangerous factions of a minority, and the aspiring
spirit of Jezdegerd, the Persian monarch. Instead of tempting the
allegiance of an ambitious subject, by the participation of
supreme power, he boldly appealed to the magnanimity of a king;
and placed, by a solemn testament, the sceptre of the East in the
hands of Jezdegerd himself. The royal guardian accepted and
discharged this honorable trust with unexampled fidelity; and the
infancy of Theodosius was protected by the arms and councils of
Persia. Such is the singular narrative of Procopius; and his
veracity is not disputed by Agathias, 64 while he presumes to
dissent from his judgment, and to arraign the wisdom of a
Christian emperor, who, so rashly, though so fortunately,
committed his son and his dominions to the unknown faith of a
stranger, a rival, and a heathen. At the distance of one hundred
and fifty years, this political question might be debated in the
court of Justinian; but a prudent historian will refuse to
examine the propriety, till he has ascertained the truth, of the
testament of Arcadius. As it stands without a parallel in the
history of the world, we may justly require, that it should be
attested by the positive and unanimous evidence of
contemporaries. The strange novelty of the event, which excites
our distrust, must have attracted their notice; and their
universal silence annihilates the vain tradition of the
succeeding age.
63 (return) [ Procopius, de Bell. Persic. l. i. c. 2, p. 8, edit.
Louvre.]
64 (return) [ Agathias, l. iv. p. 136, 137. Although he confesses
the prevalence of the tradition, he asserts, that Procopius was
the first who had committed it to writing. Tillemont (Hist. des
Empereurs, tom. vi. p. 597) argues very sensibly on the merits of
this fable. His criticism was not warped by any ecclesiastical
authority: both Procopius and Agathias are half Pagans. * Note:
See St Martin’s article on Jezdegerd, in the Biographie
Universelle de Michand.—M.]
The maxims of Roman jurisprudence, if they could fairly be
transferred from private property to public dominion, would have
adjudged to the emperor Honorius the guardianship of his nephew,
till he had attained, at least, the fourteenth year of his age.
But the weakness of Honorius, and the calamities of his reign,
disqualified him from prosecuting this natural claim; and such
was the absolute separation of the two monarchies, both in
interest and affection, that Constantinople would have obeyed,
with less reluctance, the orders of the Persian, than those of
the Italian, court. Under a prince whose weakness is disguised by
the external signs of manhood and discretion, the most worthless
favorites may secretly dispute the empire of the palace; and
dictate to submissive provinces the commands of a master, whom
they direct and despise. But the ministers of a child, who is
incapable of arming them with the sanction of the royal name,
must acquire and exercise an independent authority. The great
officers of the state and army, who had been appointed before the
death of Arcadius, formed an aristocracy, which might have
inspired them with the idea of a free republic; and the
government of the Eastern empire was fortunately assumed by the
præfect Anthemius, 65 who obtained, by his superior abilities, a
lasting ascendant over the minds of his equals. The safety of the
young emperor proved the merit and integrity of Anthemius; and
his prudent firmness sustained the force and reputation of an
infant reign. Uldin, with a formidable host of Barbarians, was
encamped in the heart of Thrace; he proudly rejected all terms of
accommodation; and, pointing to the rising sun, declared to the
Roman ambassadors, that the course of that planet should alone
terminate the conquest of the Huns. But the desertion of his
confederates, who were privately convinced of the justice and
liberality of the Imperial ministers, obliged Uldin to repass the
Danube: the tribe of the Scyrri, which composed his rear-guard,
was almost extirpated; and many thousand captives were dispersed
to cultivate, with servile labor, the fields of Asia. 66 In the
midst of the public triumph, Constantinople was protected by a
strong enclosure of new and more extensive walls; the same
vigilant care was applied to restore the fortifications of the
Illyrian cities; and a plan was judiciously conceived, which, in
the space of seven years, would have secured the command of the
Danube, by establishing on that river a perpetual fleet of two
hundred and fifty armed vessels. 67
65 (return) [ Socrates, l. vii. c. l. Anthemius was the grandson
of Philip, one of the ministers of Constantius, and the
grandfather of the emperor Anthemius. After his return from the
Persian embassy, he was appointed consul and Prætorian præfect
of the East, in the year 405 and held the præfecture about ten
years. See his honors and praises in Godefroy, Cod. Theod. tom.
vi. p. 350. Tillemont, Hist. des Emptom. vi. p. 1. &c.]
66 (return) [ Sozomen, l. ix. c. 5. He saw some Scyrri at work
near Mount Olympus, in Bithynia, and cherished the vain hope that
those captives were the last of the nation.]
67 (return) [ Cod. Theod. l. vii. tit. xvi. l. xv. tit. i. leg.
49.]
But the Romans had so long been accustomed to the authority of a
monarch, that the first, even among the females, of the Imperial
family, who displayed any courage or capacity, was permitted to
ascend the vacant throne of Theodosius. His sister Pulcheria, 68
who was only two years older than himself, received, at the age
of sixteen, the title of Augusta; and though her favor might be
sometimes clouded by caprice or intrigue, she continued to govern
the Eastern empire near forty years; during the long minority of
her brother, and after his death, in her own name, and in the
name of Marcian, her nominal husband. From a motive either of
prudence or religion, she embraced a life of celibacy; and
notwithstanding some aspersions on the chastity of Pulcheria, 69
this resolution, which she communicated to her sisters Arcadia
and Marina, was celebrated by the Christian world, as the sublime
effort of heroic piety. In the presence of the clergy and people,
the three daughters of Arcadius 70 dedicated their virginity to
God; and the obligation of their solemn vow was inscribed on a
tablet of gold and gems; which they publicly offered in the great
church of Constantinople. Their palace was converted into a
monastery; and all males, except the guides of their conscience,
the saints who had forgotten the distinction of sexes, were
scrupulously excluded from the holy threshold. Pulcheria, her two
sisters, and a chosen train of favorite damsels, formed a
religious community: they denounced the vanity of dress;
interrupted, by frequent fasts, their simple and frugal diet;
allotted a portion of their time to works of embroidery; and
devoted several hours of the day and night to the exercises of
prayer and psalmody. The piety of a Christian virgin was adorned
by the zeal and liberality of an empress. Ecclesiastical history
describes the splendid churches, which were built at the expense
of Pulcheria, in all the provinces of the East; her charitable
foundations for the benefit of strangers and the poor; the ample
donations which she assigned for the perpetual maintenance of
monastic societies; and the active severity with which she
labored to suppress the opposite heresies of Nestorius and
Eutyches. Such virtues were supposed to deserve the peculiar
favor of the Deity: and the relics of martyrs, as well as the
knowledge of future events, were communicated in visions and
revelations to the Imperial saint. 71 Yet the devotion of
Pulcheria never diverted her indefatigable attention from
temporal affairs; and she alone, among all the descendants of the
great Theodosius, appears to have inherited any share of his
manly spirit and abilities. The elegant and familiar use which
she had acquired, both of the Greek and Latin languages, was
readily applied to the various occasions of speaking or writing,
on public business: her deliberations were maturely weighed; her
actions were prompt and decisive; and, while she moved, without
noise or ostentation, the wheel of government, she discreetly
attributed to the genius of the emperor the long tranquillity of
his reign. In the last years of his peaceful life, Europe was
indeed afflicted by the arms of war; but the more extensive
provinces of Asia still continued to enjoy a profound and
permanent repose. Theodosius the younger was never reduced to the
disgraceful necessity of encountering and punishing a rebellious
subject: and since we cannot applaud the vigor, some praise may
be due to the mildness and prosperity, of the administration of
Pulcheria.
68 (return) [ Sozomen has filled three chapters with a
magnificent panegyric of Pulcheria, (l. ix. c. 1, 2, 3;) and
Tillemont (Mémoires Eccles. tom. xv. p. 171-184) has dedicated a
separate article to the honor of St. Pulcheria, virgin and
empress. * Note: The heathen Eunapius gives a frightful picture
of the venality and a justice of the court of Pulcheria. Fragm.
Eunap. in Mai, ii. 293, in p. 97.—M.]
69 (return) [ Suidas, (Excerpta, p. 68, in Script. Byzant.)
pretends, on the credit of the Nestorians, that Pulcheria was
exasperated against their founder, because he censured her
connection with the beautiful Paulinus, and her incest with her
brother Theodosius.]
70 (return) [ See Ducange, Famil. Byzantin. p. 70. Flaccilla, the
eldest daughter, either died before Arcadius, or, if she lived
till the year 431, (Marcellin. Chron.,) some defect of mind or
body must have excluded her from the honors of her rank.]
71 (return) [ She was admonished, by repeated dreams, of the
place where the relics of the forty martyrs had been buried. The
ground had successively belonged to the house and garden of a
woman of Constantinople, to a monastery of Macedonian monks, and
to a church of St. Thyrsus, erected by Caesarius, who was consul
A.D. 397; and the memory of the relics was almost obliterated.
Notwithstanding the charitable wishes of Dr. Jortin, (Remarks,
tom. iv. p. 234,) it is not easy to acquit Pulcheria of some
share in the pious fraud; which must have been transacted when
she was more than five-and-thirty years of age.]
The Roman world was deeply interested in the education of its
master. A regular course of study and exercise was judiciously
instituted; of the military exercises of riding, and shooting
with the bow; of the liberal studies of grammar, rhetoric, and
philosophy: the most skilful masters of the East ambitiously
solicited the attention of their royal pupil; and several noble
youths were introduced into the palace, to animate his diligence
by the emulation of friendship. Pulcheria alone discharged the
important task of instructing her brother in the arts of
government; but her precepts may countenance some suspicions of
the extent of her capacity, or of the purity of her intentions.
She taught him to maintain a grave and majestic deportment; to
walk, to hold his robes, to seat himself on his throne, in a
manner worthy of a great prince; to abstain from laughter; to
listen with condescension; to return suitable answers; to assume,
by turns, a serious or a placid countenance: in a word, to
represent with grace and dignity the external figure of a Roman
emperor. But Theodosius 72 was never excited to support the
weight and glory of an illustrious name: and, instead of aspiring
to support his ancestors, he degenerated (if we may presume to
measure the degrees of incapacity) below the weakness of his
father and his uncle. Arcadius and Honorius had been assisted by
the guardian care of a parent, whose lessons were enforced by his
authority and example. But the unfortunate prince, who is born in
the purple, must remain a stranger to the voice of truth; and the
son of Arcadius was condemned to pass his perpetual infancy
encompassed only by a servile train of women and eunuchs. The
ample leisure which he acquired by neglecting the essential
duties of his high office, was filled by idle amusements and
unprofitable studies. Hunting was the only active pursuit that
could tempt him beyond the limits of the palace; but he most
assiduously labored, sometimes by the light of a midnight lamp,
in the mechanic occupations of painting and carving; and the
elegance with which he transcribed religious books entitled the
Roman emperor to the singular epithet of Calligraphes, or a fair
writer. Separated from the world by an impenetrable veil,
Theodosius trusted the persons whom he loved; he loved those who
were accustomed to amuse and flatter his indolence; and as he
never perused the papers that were presented for the royal
signature, the acts of injustice the most repugnant to his
character were frequently perpetrated in his name. The emperor
himself was chaste, temperate, liberal, and merciful; but these
qualities, which can only deserve the name of virtues when they
are supported by courage and regulated by discretion, were seldom
beneficial, and they sometimes proved mischievous, to mankind.
His mind, enervated by a royal education, was oppressed and
degraded by abject superstition: he fasted, he sung psalms, he
blindly accepted the miracles and doctrines with which his faith
was continually nourished. Theodosius devoutly worshipped the
dead and living saints of the Catholic church; and he once
refused to eat, till an insolent monk, who had cast an
excommunication on his sovereign, condescended to heal the
spiritual wound which he had inflicted. 73
72 (return) [ There is a remarkable difference between the two
ecclesiastical historians, who in general bear so close a
resemblance. Sozomen (l. ix. c. 1) ascribes to Pulcheria the
government of the empire, and the education of her brother, whom
he scarcely condescends to praise. Socrates, though he affectedly
disclaims all hopes of favor or fame, composes an elaborate
panegyric on the emperor, and cautiously suppresses the merits of
his sister, (l. vii. c. 22, 42.) Philostorgius (l. xii. c. 7)
expresses the influence of Pulcheria in gentle and courtly
language. Suidas (Excerpt. p. 53) gives a true character of
Theodosius; and I have followed the example of Tillemont (tom.
vi. p. 25) in borrowing some strokes from the modern Greeks.]
73 (return) [ Theodoret, l. v. c. 37. The bishop of Cyrrhus, one
of the first men of his age for his learning and piety, applauds
the obedience of Theodosius to the divine laws.]
The story of a fair and virtuous maiden, exalted from a private
condition to the Imperial throne, might be deemed an incredible
romance, if such a romance had not been verified in the marriage
of Theodosius. The celebrated Athenais 74 was educated by her
father Leontius in the religion and sciences of the Greeks; and
so advantageous was the opinion which the Athenian philosopher
entertained of his contemporaries, that he divided his patrimony
between his two sons, bequeathing to his daughter a small legacy
of one hundred pieces of gold, in the lively confidence that her
beauty and merit would be a sufficient portion. The jealousy and
avarice of her brothers soon compelled Athenais to seek a refuge
at Constantinople; and, with some hopes, either of justice or
favor, to throw herself at the feet of Pulcheria. That sagacious
princess listened to her eloquent complaint; and secretly
destined the daughter of the philosopher Leontius for the future
wife of the emperor of the East, who had now attained the
twentieth year of his age. She easily excited the curiosity of
her brother, by an interesting picture of the charms of Athenais;
large eyes, a well-proportioned nose, a fair complexion, golden
locks, a slender person, a graceful demeanor, an understanding
improved by study, and a virtue tried by distress. Theodosius,
concealed behind a curtain in the apartment of his sister, was
permitted to behold the Athenian virgin: the modest youth
immediately declared his pure and honorable love; and the royal
nuptials were celebrated amidst the acclamations of the capital
and the provinces. Athenais, who was easily persuaded to renounce
the errors of Paganism, received at her baptism the Christian
name of Eudocia; but the cautious Pulcheria withheld the title of
Augusta, till the wife of Theodosius had approved her
fruitfulness by the birth of a daughter, who espoused, fifteen
years afterwards, the emperor of the West. The brothers of
Eudocia obeyed, with some anxiety, her Imperial summons; but as
she could easily forgive their unfortunate unkindness, she
indulged the tenderness, or perhaps the vanity, of a sister, by
promoting them to the rank of consuls and præfects. In the
luxury of the palace, she still cultivated those ingenuous arts
which had contributed to her greatness; and wisely dedicated her
talents to the honor of religion, and of her husband. Eudocia
composed a poetical paraphrase of the first eight books of the
Old Testament, and of the prophecies of Daniel and Zechariah; a
cento of the verses of Homer, applied to the life and miracles of
Christ, the legend of St. Cyprian, and a panegyric on the Persian
victories of Theodosius; and her writings, which were applauded
by a servile and superstitious age, have not been disdained by
the candor of impartial criticism. 75 The fondness of the emperor
was not abated by time and possession; and Eudocia, after the
marriage of her daughter, was permitted to discharge her grateful
vows by a solemn pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Her ostentatious
progress through the East may seem inconsistent with the spirit
of Christian humility; she pronounced, from a throne of gold and
gems, an eloquent oration to the senate of Antioch, declared her
royal intention of enlarging the walls of the city, bestowed a
donative of two hundred pounds of gold to restore the public
baths, and accepted the statues, which were decreed by the
gratitude of Antioch. In the Holy Land, her alms and pious
foundations exceeded the munificence of the great Helena, and
though the public treasure might be impoverished by this
excessive liberality, she enjoyed the conscious satisfaction of
returning to Constantinople with the chains of St. Peter, the
right arm of St. Stephen, and an undoubted picture of the Virgin,
painted by St. Luke. 76 But this pilgrimage was the fatal term of
the glories of Eudocia. Satiated with empty pomp, and unmindful,
perhaps, of her obligations to Pulcheria, she ambitiously aspired
to the government of the Eastern empire; the palace was
distracted by female discord; but the victory was at last
decided, by the superior ascendant of the sister of Theodosius.
The execution of Paulinus, master of the offices, and the
disgrace of Cyrus, Prætorian præfect of the East, convinced the
public that the favor of Eudocia was insufficient to protect her
most faithful friends; and the uncommon beauty of Paulinus
encouraged the secret rumor, that his guilt was that of a
successful lover. 77 As soon as the empress perceived that the
affection of Theodosius was irretrievably lost, she requested the
permission of retiring to the distant solitude of Jerusalem. She
obtained her request; but the jealousy of Theodosius, or the
vindictive spirit of Pulcheria, pursued her in her last retreat;
and Saturninus, count of the domestics, was directed to punish
with death two ecclesiastics, her most favored servants. Eudocia
instantly revenged them by the assassination of the count; the
furious passions which she indulged on this suspicious occasion,
seemed to justify the severity of Theodosius; and the empress,
ignominiously stripped of the honors of her rank, 78 was
disgraced, perhaps unjustly, in the eyes of the world. The
remainder of the life of Eudocia, about sixteen years, was spent
in exile and devotion; and the approach of age, the death of
Theodosius, the misfortunes of her only daughter, who was led a
captive from Rome to Carthage, and the society of the Holy Monks
of Palestine, insensibly confirmed the religious temper of her
mind. After a full experience of the vicissitudes of human life,
the daughter of the philosopher Leontius expired, at Jerusalem,
in the sixty-seventh year of her age; protesting, with her dying
breath, that she had never transgressed the bounds of innocence
and friendship. 79
74 (return) [ Socrates (l. vii. c. 21) mentions her name,
(Athenais, the daughter of Leontius, an Athenian sophist,) her
baptism, marriage, and poetical genius. The most ancient account
of her history is in John Malala (part ii. p. 20, 21, edit.
Venet. 1743) and in the Paschal Chronicle, (p. 311, 312.) Those
authors had probably seen original pictures of the empress
Eudocia. The modern Greeks, Zonaras, Cedrenus, &c., have
displayed the love, rather than the talent of fiction. From
Nicephorus, indeed, I have ventured to assume her age. The writer
of a romance would not have imagined, that Athenais was near
twenty eight years old when she inflamed the heart of a young
emperor.]
75 (return) [ Socrates, l. vii. c. 21, Photius, p. 413-420. The
Homeric cento is still extant, and has been repeatedly printed:
but the claim of Eudocia to that insipid performance is disputed
by the critics. See Fabricius, Biblioth. Graec. tom. i. p. 357.
The Ionia, a miscellaneous dictionary of history and fable, was
compiled by another empress of the name of Eudocia, who lived in
the eleventh century: and the work is still extant in
manuscript.]
76 (return) [ Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D. 438, 439) is copious
and florid, but he is accused of placing the lies of different
ages on the same level of authenticity.]
77 (return) [ In this short view of the disgrace of Eudocia, I
have imitated the caution of Evagrius (l. i. c. 21) and Count
Marcellinus, (in Chron A.D. 440 and 444.) The two authentic dates
assigned by the latter, overturn a great part of the Greek
fictions; and the celebrated story of the apple, &c., is fit only
for the Arabian Nights, where something not very unlike it may be
found.]
78 (return) [ Priscus, (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 69,) a
contemporary, and a courtier, dryly mentions her Pagan and
Christian names, without adding any title of honor or respect.]
79 (return) [ For the two pilgrimages of Eudocia, and her long
residence at Jerusalem, her devotion, alms, &c., see Socrates (l.
vii. c. 47) and Evagrius, (l. i. c. 21, 22.) The Paschal
Chronicle may sometimes deserve regard; and in the domestic
history of Antioch, John Malala becomes a writer of good
authority. The Abbe Guenee, in a memoir on the fertility of
Palestine, of which I have only seen an extract, calculates the
gifts of Eudocia at 20,488 pounds of gold, above 800,000 pounds
sterling.]
The gentle mind of Theodosius was never inflamed by the ambition
of conquest, or military renown; and the slight alarm of a
Persian war scarcely interrupted the tranquillity of the East.
The motives of this war were just and honorable. In the last year
of the reign of Jezdegerd, the supposed guardian of Theodosius, a
bishop, who aspired to the crown of martyrdom, destroyed one of
the fire-temples of Susa. 80 His zeal and obstinacy were revenged
on his brethren: the Magi excited a cruel persecution; and the
intolerant zeal of Jezdegerd was imitated by his son Varanes, or
Bahram, who soon afterwards ascended the throne. Some Christian
fugitives, who escaped to the Roman frontier, were sternly
demanded, and generously refused; and the refusal, aggravated by
commercial disputes, soon kindled a war between the rival
monarchies. The mountains of Armenia, and the plains of
Mesopotamia, were filled with hostile armies; but the operations
of two successive campaigns were not productive of any decisive
or memorable events. Some engagements were fought, some towns
were besieged, with various and doubtful success: and if the
Romans failed in their attempt to recover the long-lost
possession of Nisibis, the Persians were repulsed from the walls
of a Mesopotamian city, by the valor of a martial bishop, who
pointed his thundering engine in the name of St. Thomas the
Apostle. Yet the splendid victories which the incredible speed of
the messenger Palladius repeatedly announced to the palace of
Constantinople, were celebrated with festivals and panegyrics.
From these panegyrics the historians 81 of the age might borrow
their extraordinary, and, perhaps, fabulous tales; of the proud
challenge of a Persian hero, who was entangled by the net, and
despatched by the sword, of Areobindus the Goth; of the ten
thousand Immortals, who were slain in the attack of the Roman
camp; and of the hundred thousand Arabs, or Saracens, who were
impelled by a panic terror to throw themselves headlong into the
Euphrates. Such events may be disbelieved or disregarded; but the
charity of a bishop, Acacius of Amida, whose name might have
dignified the saintly calendar, shall not be lost in oblivion.
Boldly declaring, that vases of gold and silver are useless to a
God who neither eats nor drinks, the generous prelate sold the
plate of the church of Amida; employed the price in the
redemption of seven thousand Persian captives; supplied their
wants with affectionate liberality; and dismissed them to their
native country, to inform their king of the true spirit of the
religion which he persecuted. The practice of benevolence in the
midst of war must always tend to assuage the animosity of
contending nations; and I wish to persuade myself, that Acacius
contributed to the restoration of peace. In the conference which
was held on the limits of the two empires, the Roman ambassadors
degraded the personal character of their sovereign, by a vain
attempt to magnify the extent of his power; when they seriously
advised the Persians to prevent, by a timely accommodation, the
wrath of a monarch, who was yet ignorant of this distant war. A
truce of one hundred years was solemnly ratified; and although
the revolutions of Armenia might threaten the public
tranquillity, the essential conditions of this treaty were
respected near fourscore years by the successors of Constantine
and Artaxerxes.
80 (return) [ Theodoret, l. v. c. 39 Tillemont. Mem. Eccles tom.
xii. 356-364. Assemanni, Bibliot. Oriental. tom. iii. p. 396,
tom. iv. p. 61. Theodoret blames the rashness of Abdas, but
extols the constancy of his martyrdom. Yet I do not clearly
understand the casuistry which prohibits our repairing the damage
which we have unlawfully committed.]
81 (return) [ Socrates (l. vii. c. 18, 19, 20, 21) is the best
author for the Persian war. We may likewise consult the three
Chronicles, the Paschal and those of Marcellinus and Malala.]
Since the Roman and Parthian standards first encountered on the
banks of the Euphrates, the kingdom of Armenia 82 was alternately
oppressed by its formidable protectors; and in the course of this
History, several events, which inclined the balance of peace and
war, have been already related. A disgraceful treaty had resigned
Armenia to the ambition of Sapor; and the scale of Persia
appeared to preponderate. But the royal race of Arsaces
impatiently submitted to the house of Sassan; the turbulent
nobles asserted, or betrayed, their hereditary independence; and
the nation was still attached to the Christian princes of
Constantinople. In the beginning of the fifth century, Armenia
was divided by the progress of war and faction; 83 and the
unnatural division precipitated the downfall of that ancient
monarchy. Chosroes, the Persian vassal, reigned over the Eastern
and most extensive portion of the country; while the Western
province acknowledged the jurisdiction of Arsaces, and the
supremacy of the emperor Arcadius. 8111 After the death of
Arsaces, the Romans suppressed the regal government, and imposed
on their allies the condition of subjects. The military command
was delegated to the count of the Armenian frontier; the city of
Theodosiopolis 84 was built and fortified in a strong situation,
on a fertile and lofty ground, near the sources of the Euphrates;
and the dependent territories were ruled by five satraps, whose
dignity was marked by a peculiar habit of gold and purple. The
less fortunate nobles, who lamented the loss of their king, and
envied the honors of their equals, were provoked to negotiate
their peace and pardon at the Persian court; and returning, with
their followers, to the palace of Artaxata, acknowledged Chosroes
8411 for their lawful sovereign. About thirty years afterwards,
Artasires, the nephew and successor of Chosroes, fell under the
displeasure of the haughty and capricious nobles of Armenia; and
they unanimously desired a Persian governor in the room of an
unworthy king. The answer of the archbishop Isaac, whose sanction
they earnestly solicited, is expressive of the character of a
superstitious people. He deplored the manifest and inexcusable
vices of Artasires; and declared, that he should not hesitate to
accuse him before the tribunal of a Christian emperor, who would
punish, without destroying, the sinner. “Our king,” continued
Isaac, “is too much addicted to licentious pleasures, but he has
been purified in the holy waters of baptism. He is a lover of
women, but he does not adore the fire or the elements. He may
deserve the reproach of lewdness, but he is an undoubted
Catholic; and his faith is pure, though his manners are
flagitious. I will never consent to abandon my sheep to the rage
of devouring wolves; and you would soon repent your rash exchange
of the infirmities of a believer, for the specious virtues of a
heathen.” 85 Exasperated by the firmness of Isaac, the factious
nobles accused both the king and the archbishop as the secret
adherents of the emperor; and absurdly rejoiced in the sentence
of condemnation, which, after a partial hearing, was solemnly
pronounced by Bahram himself. The descendants of Arsaces were
degraded from the royal dignity, 86 which they had possessed
above five hundred and sixty years; 87 and the dominions of the
unfortunate Artasires, 8711 under the new and significant
appellation of Persarmenia, were reduced into the form of a
province. This usurpation excited the jealousy of the Roman
government; but the rising disputes were soon terminated by an
amicable, though unequal, partition of the ancient kingdom of
Armenia: 8712 and a territorial acquisition, which Augustus might
have despised, reflected some lustre on the declining empire of
the younger Theodosius.
82 (return) [ This account of the ruin and division of the
kingdom of Armenia is taken from the third book of the Armenian
history of Moses of Chorene. Deficient as he is in every
qualification of a good historian, his local information, his
passions, and his prejudices are strongly expressive of a native
and contemporary. Procopius (de Edificiis, l. iii. c. 1, 5)
relates the same facts in a very different manner; but I have
extracted the circumstances the most probable in themselves, and
the least inconsistent with Moses of Chorene.]
83 (return) [ The western Armenians used the Greek language and
characters in their religious offices; but the use of that
hostile tongue was prohibited by the Persians in the Eastern
provinces, which were obliged to use the Syriac, till the
invention of the Armenian letters by Mesrobes, in the beginning
of the fifth century, and the subsequent version of the Bible
into the Armenian language; an event which relaxed to the
connection of the church and nation with Constantinople.]
84 (return) [ Moses Choren. l. iii. c. 59, p. 309, and p. 358.
Procopius, de Edificiis, l. iii. c. 5. Theodosiopolis stands, or
rather stood, about thirty-five miles to the east of Arzeroum,
the modern capital of Turkish Armenia. See D’Anville, Geographie
Ancienne, tom. ii. p. 99, 100.]
8111 (return) [ The division of Armenia, according to M. St.
Martin, took place much earlier, A. C. 390. The Eastern or
Persian division was four times as large as the Western or Roman.
This partition took place during the reigns of Theodosius the
First, and Varanes (Bahram) the Fourth. St. Martin, Sup. to Le
Beau, iv. 429. This partition was but imperfectly accomplished,
as both parts were afterwards reunited under Chosroes, who paid
tribute both to the Roman emperor and to the Persian king. v.
439.—M.]
8411 (return) [ Chosroes, according to Procopius (who calls him
Arsaces, the common name of the Armenian kings) and the Armenian
writers, bequeathed to his two sons, to Tigranes the Persian, to
Arsaces the Roman, division of Armenia, A. C. 416. With the
assistance of the discontented nobles the Persian king placed his
son Sapor on the throne of the Eastern division; the Western at
the same time was united to the Roman empire, and called the
Greater Armenia. It was then that Theodosiopolis was built. Sapor
abandoned the throne of Armenia to assert his rights to that of
Persia; he perished in the struggle, and after a period of
anarchy, Bahram V., who had ascended the throne of Persia, placed
the last native prince, Ardaschir, son of Bahram Schahpour, on
the throne of the Persian division of Armenia. St. Martin, v.
506. This Ardaschir was the Artasires of Gibbon. The archbishop
Isaac is called by the Armenians the Patriarch Schag. St. Martin,
vi. 29.—M.]
85 (return) [ Moses Choren, l. iii. c. 63, p. 316. According to
the institution of St. Gregory, the Apostle of Armenia, the
archbishop was always of the royal family; a circumstance which,
in some degree, corrected the influence of the sacerdotal
character, and united the mitre with the crown.]
86 (return) [ A branch of the royal house of Arsaces still
subsisted with the rank and possessions (as it should seem) of
Armenian satraps. See Moses Choren. l. iii. c. 65, p. 321.]
87 (return) [ Valarsaces was appointed king of Armenia by his
brother the Parthian monarch, immediately after the defeat of
Antiochus Sidetes, (Moses Choren. l. ii. c. 2, p. 85,) one
hundred and thirty years before Christ. Without depending on the
various and contradictory periods of the reigns of the last
kings, we may be assured, that the ruin of the Armenian kingdom
happened after the council of Chalcedon, A.D. 431, (l. iii. c.
61, p. 312;) and under Varamus, or Bahram, king of Persia, (l.
iii. c. 64, p. 317,) who reigned from A.D. 420 to 440. See
Assemanni, Bibliot. Oriental. tom. iii. p. 396. * Note: Five
hundred and eighty. St. Martin, ibid. He places this event A. C
429.—M.——Note: According to M. St. Martin, vi. 32, Vagharschah,
or Valarsaces, was appointed king by his brother Mithridates the
Great, king of Parthia.—M.]
8711 (return) [ Artasires or Ardaschir was probably sent to the
castle of Oblivion. St. Martin, vi. 31.—M.]
8712 (return) [ The duration of the Armenian kingdom according to
M. St. Martin, was 580 years.—M]
Chapter XXXIII: Conquest Of Africa By The Vandals.—Part I.
Death Of Honorius.—Valentinian III.—Emperor Of The East.
—Administration Of His Mother Placidia—Ætius And
Boniface.—Conquest Of Africa By The Vandals.
During a long and disgraceful reign of twenty-eight years,
Honorius, emperor of the West, was separated from the friendship
of his brother, and afterwards of his nephew, who reigned over
the East; and Constantinople beheld, with apparent indifference
and secret joy, the calamities of Rome. The strange adventures of
Placidia 1 gradually renewed and cemented the alliance of the two
empires. The daughter of the great Theodosius had been the
captive, and the queen, of the Goths; she lost an affectionate
husband; she was dragged in chains by his insulting assassin; she
tasted the pleasure of revenge, and was exchanged, in the treaty
of peace, for six hundred thousand measures of wheat. After her
return from Spain to Italy, Placidia experienced a new
persecution in the bosom of her family. She was averse to a
marriage, which had been stipulated without her consent; and the
brave Constantius, as a noble reward for the tyrants whom he had
vanquished, received, from the hand of Honorius himself, the
struggling and the reluctant hand of the widow of Adolphus. But
her resistance ended with the ceremony of the nuptials: nor did
Placidia refuse to become the mother of Honoria and Valentinian
the Third, or to assume and exercise an absolute dominion over
the mind of her grateful husband. The generous soldier, whose
time had hitherto been divided between social pleasure and
military service, was taught new lessons of avarice and ambition:
he extorted the title of Augustus: and the servant of Honorius
was associated to the empire of the West. The death of
Constantius, in the seventh month of his reign, instead of
diminishing, seemed to inerease the power of Placidia; and the
indecent familiarity 2 of her brother, which might be no more
than the symptoms of a childish affection, were universally
attributed to incestuous love. On a sudden, by some base
intrigues of a steward and a nurse, this excessive fondness was
converted into an irreconcilable quarrel: the debates of the
emperor and his sister were not long confined within the walls of
the palace; and as the Gothic soldiers adhered to their queen,
the city of Ravenna was agitated with bloody and dangerous
tumults, which could only be appeased by the forced or voluntary
retreat of Placidia and her children. The royal exiles landed at
Constantinople, soon after the marriage of Theodosius, during the
festival of the Persian victories. They were treated with
kindness and magnificence; but as the statues of the emperor
Constantius had been rejected by the Eastern court, the title of
Augusta could not decently be allowed to his widow. Within a few
months after the arrival of Placidia, a swift messenger announced
the death of Honorius, the consequence of a dropsy; but the
important secret was not divulged, till the necessary orders had
been despatched for the march of a large body of troops to the
sea-coast of Dalmatia. The shops and the gates of Constantinople
remained shut during seven days; and the loss of a foreign
prince, who could neither be esteemed nor regretted, was
celebrated with loud and affected demonstrations of the public
grief.
1 (return) [ See vol. iii. p. 296.]
2 (return) [ It is the expression of Olympiodorus (apud Phetium
p. 197;) who means, perhaps, to describe the same caresses which
Mahomet bestowed on his daughter Phatemah. Quando, (says the
prophet himself,) quando subit mihi desiderium Paradisi, osculor
eam, et ingero linguam meam in os ejus. But this sensual
indulgence was justified by miracle and mystery; and the anecdote
has been communicated to the public by the Reverend Father
Maracci in his Version and Confutation of the Koran, tom. i. p.
32.]
While the ministers of Constantinople deliberated, the vacant
throne of Honorius was usurped by the ambition of a stranger. The
name of the rebel was John; he filled the confidential office of
Primicerius, or principal secretary, and history has attributed
to his character more virtues, than can easily be reconciled with
the violation of the most sacred duty. Elated by the submission
of Italy, and the hope of an alliance with the Huns, John
presumed to insult, by an embassy, the majesty of the Eastern
emperor; but when he understood that his agents had been
banished, imprisoned, and at length chased away with deserved
ignominy, John prepared to assert, by arms, the injustice of his
claims. In such a cause, the grandson of the great Theodosius
should have marched in person: but the young emperor was easily
diverted, by his physicians, from so rash and hazardous a design;
and the conduct of the Italian expedition was prudently intrusted
to Ardaburius, and his son Aspar, who had already signalized
their valor against the Persians. It was resolved, that
Ardaburius should embark with the infantry; whilst Aspar, at the
head of the cavalry, conducted Placidia and her son Valentinian
along the sea-coast of the Adriatic. The march of the cavalry was
performed with such active diligence, that they surprised,
without resistance, the important city of Aquileia: when the
hopes of Aspar were unexpectedly confounded by the intelligence,
that a storm had dispersed the Imperial fleet; and that his
father, with only two galleys, was taken and carried a prisoner
into the port of Ravenna. Yet this incident, unfortunate as it
might seem, facilitated the conquest of Italy. Ardaburius
employed, or abused, the courteous freedom which he was permitted
to enjoy, to revive among the troops a sense of loyalty and
gratitude; and as soon as the conspiracy was ripe for execution,
he invited, by private messages, and pressed the approach of,
Aspar. A shepherd, whom the popular credulity transformed into an
angel, guided the eastern cavalry by a secret, and, it was
thought, an impassable road, through the morasses of the Po: the
gates of Ravenna, after a short struggle, were thrown open; and
the defenceless tyrant was delivered to the mercy, or rather to
the cruelty, of the conquerors. His right hand was first cut off;
and, after he had been exposed, mounted on an ass, to the public
derision, John was beheaded in the circus of Aquileia. The
emperor Theodosius, when he received the news of the victory,
interrupted the horse-races; and singing, as he marched through
the streets, a suitable psalm, conducted his people from the
Hippodrome to the church, where he spent the remainder of the day
in grateful devotion. 3
3 (return) [ For these revolutions of the Western empire, consult
Olympiodor, apud Phot. p. 192, 193, 196, 197, 200; Sozomen, l.
ix. c. 16; Socrates, l. vii. 23, 24; Philostorgius, l. xii. c.
10, 11, and Godefroy, Dissertat p. 486; Procopius, de Bell.
Vandal. l. i. c. 3, p. 182, 183, in Chronograph, p. 72, 73, and
the Chronicles.]
In a monarchy, which, according to various precedents, might be
considered as elective, or hereditary, or patrimonial, it was
impossible that the intricate claims of female and collateral
succession should be clearly defined; 4 and Theodosius, by the
right of consanguinity or conquest, might have reigned the sole
legitimate emperor of the Romans. For a moment, perhaps, his eyes
were dazzled by the prospect of unbounded sway; but his indolent
temper gradually acquiesced in the dictates of sound policy. He
contented himself with the possession of the East; and wisely
relinquished the laborious task of waging a distant and doubtful
war against the Barbarians beyond the Alps; or of securing the
obedience of the Italians and Africans, whose minds were
alienated by the irreconcilable difference of language and
interest. Instead of listening to the voice of ambition,
Theodosius resolved to imitate the moderation of his grandfather,
and to seat his cousin Valentinian on the throne of the West. The
royal infant was distinguished at Constantinople by the title of
Nobilissimus: he was promoted, before his departure from
Thessalonica, to the rank and dignity of Caesar; and after the
conquest of Italy, the patrician Helion, by the authority of
Theodosius, and in the presence of the senate, saluted
Valentinian the Third by the name of Augustus, and solemnly
invested him with the diadem and the Imperial purple. 5 By the
agreement of the three females who governed the Roman world, the
son of Placidia was betrothed to Eudoxia, the daughter of
Theodosius and Athenais; and as soon as the lover and his bride
had attained the age of puberty, this honorable alliance was
faithfully accomplished. At the same time, as a compensation,
perhaps, for the expenses of the war, the Western Illyricum was
detached from the Italian dominions, and yielded to the throne of
Constantinople. 6 The emperor of the East acquired the useful
dominion of the rich and maritime province of Dalmatia, and the
dangerous sovereignty of Pannonia and Noricum, which had been
filled and ravaged above twenty years by a promiscuous crowd of
Huns, Ostrogoths, Vandals, and Bavarians. Theodosius and
Valentinian continued to respect the obligations of their public
and domestic alliance; but the unity of the Roman government was
finally dissolved. By a positive declaration, the validity of all
future laws was limited to the dominions of their peculiar
author; unless he should think proper to communicate them,
subscribed with his own hand, for the approbation of his
independent colleague. 7
4 (return) [ See Grotius de Jure Belli et Pacis, l. ii. c. 7. He
has laboriously out vainly, attempted to form a reasonable system
of jurisprudence from the various and discordant modes of royal
succession, which have been introduced by fraud or force, by time
or accident.]
5 (return) [ The original writers are not agreed (see Muratori,
Annali d’Italia tom. iv. p. 139) whether Valentinian received the
Imperial diadem at Rome or Ravenna. In this uncertainty, I am
willing to believe, that some respect was shown to the senate.]
6 (return) [ The count de Buat (Hist. des Peup es de l’Europe,
tom. vii. p. 292-300) has established the reality, explained the
motives, and traced the consequences, of this remarkable
cession.]
7 (return) [ See the first Novel of Theodosius, by which he
ratifies and communicates (A.D. 438) the Theodosian Code. About
forty years before that time, the unity of legislation had been
proved by an exception. The Jews, who were numerous in the cities
of Apulia and Calabria, produced a law of the East to justify
their exemption from municipal offices, (Cod. Theod. l. xvi. tit.
viii. leg. 13;) and the Western emperor was obliged to
invalidate, by a special edict, the law, quam constat meis
partibus esse damnosam. Cod. Theod. l. xi. tit. i. leg. 158.]
Valentinian, when he received the title of Augustus, was no more
than six years of age; and his long minority was intrusted to the
guardian care of a mother, who might assert a female claim to the
succession of the Western empire. Placidia envied, but she could
not equal, the reputation and virtues of the wife and sister of
Theodosius, the elegant genius of Eudocia, the wise and
successful policy of Pulcheria. The mother of Valentinian was
jealous of the power which she was incapable of exercising; 8 she
reigned twenty-five years, in the name of her son; and the
character of that unworthy emperor gradually countenanced the
suspicion that Placidia had enervated his youth by a dissolute
education, and studiously diverted his attention from every manly
and honorable pursuit. Amidst the decay of military spirit, her
armies were commanded by two generals, Ætius 9 and Boniface, 10
who may be deservedly named as the last of the Romans. Their
union might have supported a sinking empire; their discord was
the fatal and immediate cause of the loss of Africa. The invasion
and defeat of Attila have immortalized the fame of Ætius; and
though time has thrown a shade over the exploits of his rival,
the defence of Marseilles, and the deliverance of Africa, attest
the military talents of Count Boniface. In the field of battle,
in partial encounters, in single combats, he was still the terror
of the Barbarians: the clergy, and particularly his friend
Augustin, were edified by the Christian piety which had once
tempted him to retire from the world; the people applauded his
spotless integrity; the army dreaded his equal and inexorable
justice, which may be displayed in a very singular example. A
peasant, who complained of the criminal intimacy between his wife
and a Gothic soldier, was directed to attend his tribunal the
following day: in the evening the count, who had diligently
informed himself of the time and place of the assignation,
mounted his horse, rode ten miles into the country, surprised the
guilty couple, punished the soldier with instant death, and
silenced the complaints of the husband by presenting him, the
next morning, with the head of the adulterer. The abilities of
Ætius and Boniface might have been usefully employed against the
public enemies, in separate and important commands; but the
experience of their past conduct should have decided the real
favor and confidence of the empress Placidia. In the melancholy
season of her exile and distress, Boniface alone had maintained
her cause with unshaken fidelity: and the troops and treasures of
Africa had essentially contributed to extinguish the rebellion.
The same rebellion had been supported by the zeal and activity of
Ætius, who brought an army of sixty thousand Huns from the
Danube to the confines of Italy, for the service of the usurper.
The untimely death of John compelled him to accept an
advantageous treaty; but he still continued, the subject and the
soldier of Valentinian, to entertain a secret, perhaps a
treasonable, correspondence with his Barbarian allies, whose
retreat had been purchased by liberal gifts, and more liberal
promises. But Ætius possessed an advantage of singular moment in
a female reign; he was present: he besieged, with artful and
assiduous flattery, the palace of Ravenna; disguised his dark
designs with the mask of loyalty and friendship; and at length
deceived both his mistress and his absent rival, by a subtle
conspiracy, which a weak woman and a brave man could not easily
suspect. He had secretly persuaded 11 Placidia to recall Boniface
from the government of Africa; he secretly advised Boniface to
disobey the Imperial summons: to the one, he represented the
order as a sentence of death; to the other, he stated the refusal
as a signal of revolt; and when the credulous and unsuspectful
count had armed the province in his defence, Ætius applauded his
sagacity in foreseeing the rebellion, which his own perfidy had
excited. A temperate inquiry into the real motives of Boniface
would have restored a faithful servant to his duty and to the
republic; but the arts of Ætius still continued to betray and to
inflame, and the count was urged, by persecution, to embrace the
most desperate counsels. The success with which he eluded or
repelled the first attacks, could not inspire a vain confidence,
that at the head of some loose, disorderly Africans, he should be
able to withstand the regular forces of the West, commanded by a
rival, whose military character it was impossible for him to
despise. After some hesitation, the last struggles of prudence
and loyalty, Boniface despatched a trusty friend to the court, or
rather to the camp, of Gonderic, king of the Vandals, with the
proposal of a strict alliance, and the offer of an advantageous
and perpetual settlement.
8 (return) [ Cassiodorus (Variar. l. xi. Epist. i. p. 238) has
compared the regencies of Placidia and Amalasuntha. He arraigns
the weakness of the mother of Valentinian, and praises the
virtues of his royal mistress. On this occasion, flattery seems
to have spoken the language of truth.]
9 (return) [ Philostorgius, l. xii. c. 12, and Godefroy’s
Dissertat. p. 493, &c.; and Renatus Frigeridus, apud Gregor.
Turon. l. ii. c. 8, in tom. ii. p. 163. The father of Ætius was
Gaudentius, an illustrious citizen of the province of Scythia,
and master-general of the cavalry; his mother was a rich and
noble Italian. From his earliest youth, Ætius, as a soldier and
a hostage, had conversed with the Barbarians.]
10 (return) [ For the character of Boniface, see Olympiodorus,
apud Phot. p. 196; and St. Augustin apud Tillemont, Mémoires
Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 712-715, 886. The bishop of Hippo at length
deplored the fall of his friend, who, after a solemn vow of
chastity, had married a second wife of the Arian sect, and who
was suspected of keeping several concubines in his house.]
11 (return) [ Procopius (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 3, 4, p.
182-186) relates the fraud of Ætius, the revolt of Boniface, and
the loss of Africa. This anecdote, which is supported by some
collateral testimony, (see Ruinart, Hist. Persecut. Vandal. p.
420, 421,) seems agreeable to the practice of ancient and modern
courts, and would be naturally revealed by the repentance of
Boniface.]
After the retreat of the Goths, the authority of Honorius had
obtained a precarious establishment in Spain; except only in the
province of Gallicia, where the Suevi and the Vandals had
fortified their camps, in mutual discord and hostile
independence. The Vandals prevailed; and their adversaries were
besieged in the Nervasian hills, between Leon and Oviedo, till
the approach of Count Asterius compelled, or rather provoked, the
victorious Barbarians to remove the scene of the war to the
plains of Boetica. The rapid progress of the Vandals soon
acquired a more effectual opposition; and the master-general
Castinus marched against them with a numerous army of Romans and
Goths. Vanquished in battle by an inferior army, Castinus fled
with dishonor to Tarragona; and this memorable defeat, which has
been represented as the punishment, was most probably the effect,
of his rash presumption. 12 Seville and Carthagena became the
reward, or rather the prey, of the ferocious conquerors; and the
vessels which they found in the harbor of Carthagena might easily
transport them to the Isles of Majorca and Minorca, where the
Spanish fugitives, as in a secure recess, had vainly concealed
their families and their fortunes. The experience of navigation,
and perhaps the prospect of Africa, encouraged the Vandals to
accept the invitation which they received from Count Boniface;
and the death of Gonderic served only to forward and animate the
bold enterprise. In the room of a prince not conspicuous for any
superior powers of the mind or body, they acquired his bastard
brother, the terrible Genseric; 13 a name, which, in the
destruction of the Roman empire, has deserved an equal rank with
the names of Alaric and Attila. The king of the Vandals is
described to have been of a middle stature, with a lameness in
one leg, which he had contracted by an accidental fall from his
horse. His slow and cautious speech seldom declared the deep
purposes of his soul; he disdained to imitate the luxury of the
vanquished; but he indulged the sterner passions of anger and
revenge. The ambition of Genseric was without bounds and without
scruples; and the warrior could dexterously employ the dark
engines of policy to solicit the allies who might be useful to
his success, or to scatter among his enemies the seeds of hatred
and contention. Almost in the moment of his departure he was
informed that Hermanric, king of the Suevi, had presumed to
ravage the Spanish territories, which he was resolved to abandon.
Impatient of the insult, Genseric pursued the hasty retreat of
the Suevi as far as Merida; precipitated the king and his army
into the River Anas, and calmly returned to the sea-shore to
embark his victorious troops. The vessels which transported the
Vandals over the modern Straits of Gibraltar, a channel only
twelve miles in breadth, were furnished by the Spaniards, who
anxiously wished their departure; and by the African general, who
had implored their formidable assistance. 14
12 (return) [ See the Chronicles of Prosper and Idatius. Salvian
(de Gubernat. Dei, l. vii. p. 246, Paris, 1608) ascribes the
victory of the Vandals to their superior piety. They fasted, they
prayed, they carried a Bible in the front of the Host, with the
design, perhaps, of reproaching the perfidy and sacrilege of
their enemies.]
13 (return) [ Gizericus (his name is variously expressed) statura
mediocris et equi casu claudicans, animo profundus, sermone
rarus, luxuriae contemptor, ira turbidus, habendi cupidus, ad
solicitandas gentes providentissimus, semina contentionum jacere,
odia miscere paratus. Jornandes, de Rebus Geticis, c. 33, p. 657.
This portrait, which is drawn with some skill, and a strong
likeness, must have been copied from the Gothic history of
Cassiodorus.]
14 (return) [ See the Chronicle of Idatius. That bishop, a
Spaniard and a contemporary, places the passage of the Vandals in
the month of May, of the year of Abraham, (which commences in
October,) 2444. This date, which coincides with A.D. 429, is
confirmed by Isidore, another Spanish bishop, and is justly
preferred to the opinion of those writers who have marked for
that event one of the two preceding years. See Pagi Critica, tom.
ii. p. 205, &c.]
Our fancy, so long accustomed to exaggerate and multiply the
martial swarms of Barbarians that seemed to issue from the North,
will perhaps be surprised by the account of the army which
Genseric mustered on the coast of Mauritania. The Vandals, who in
twenty years had penetrated from the Elbe to Mount Atlas, were
united under the command of their warlike king; and he reigned
with equal authority over the Alani, who had passed, within the
term of human life, from the cold of Scythia to the excessive
heat of an African climate. The hopes of the bold enterprise had
excited many brave adventurers of the Gothic nation; and many
desperate provincials were tempted to repair their fortunes by
the same means which had occasioned their ruin. Yet this various
multitude amounted only to fifty thousand effective men; and
though Genseric artfully magnified his apparent strength, by
appointing eighty chinarchs, or commanders of thousands, the
fallacious increase of old men, of children, and of slaves, would
scarcely have swelled his army to the number of four-score
thousand persons. 15 But his own dexterity, and the discontents
of Africa, soon fortified the Vandal powers, by the accession of
numerous and active allies. The parts of Mauritania which border
on the Great Desert and the Atlantic Ocean, were filled with a
fierce and untractable race of men, whose savage temper had been
exasperated, rather than reclaimed, by their dread of the Roman
arms. The wandering Moors, 16 as they gradually ventured to
approach the seashore, and the camp of the Vandals, must have
viewed with terror and astonishment the dress, the armor, the
martial pride and discipline of the unknown strangers who had
landed on their coast; and the fair complexions of the blue-eyed
warriors of Germany formed a very singular contrast with the
swarthy or olive hue which is derived from the neighborhood of
the torrid zone. After the first difficulties had in some measure
been removed, which arose from the mutual ignorance of their
respective language, the Moors, regardless of any future
consequence, embraced the alliance of the enemies of Rome; and a
crowd of naked savages rushed from the woods and valleys of Mount
Atlas, to satiate their revenge on the polished tyrants, who had
injuriously expelled them from the native sovereignty of the
land.
15 (return) [ Compare Procopius (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 5, p.
190) and Victor Vitensis, (de Persecutione Vandal. l. i. c. 1, p.
3, edit. Ruinart.) We are assured by Idatius, that Genseric
evacuated Spain, cum Vandalis omnibus eorumque familiis; and
Possidius (in Vit. Augustin. c. 28, apud Ruinart, p. 427)
describes his army as manus ingens immanium gentium Vandalorum et
Alanorum, commixtam secum babens Gothorum gentem, aliarumque
diversarum personas.]
16 (return) [ For the manners of the Moors, see Procopius, (de
Bell. Vandal. l. ii. c. 6, p. 249;) for their figure and
complexion, M. de Buffon, (Histoire Naturelle, tom. iii. p. 430.)
Procopius says in general, that the Moors had joined the Vandals
before the death of Valentinian, (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 5, p.
190;) and it is probable that the independent tribes did not
embrace any uniform system of policy.]
The persecution of the Donatists 17 was an event not less
favorable to the designs of Genseric. Seventeen years before he
landed in Africa, a public conference was held at Carthage, by
the order of the magistrate. The Catholics were satisfied, that,
after the invincible reasons which they had alleged, the
obstinacy of the schismatics must be inexcusable and voluntary;
and the emperor Honorius was persuaded to inflict the most
rigorous penalties on a faction which had so long abused his
patience and clemency. Three hundred bishops, 18 with many
thousands of the inferior clergy, were torn from their churches,
stripped of their ecclesiastical possessions, banished to the
islands, and proscribed by the laws, if they presumed to conceal
themselves in the provinces of Africa. Their numerous
congregations, both in cities and in the country, were deprived
of the rights of citizens, and of the exercise of religious
worship. A regular scale of fines, from ten to two hundred pounds
of silver, was curiously ascertained, according to the
distinction of rank and fortune, to punish the crime of assisting
at a schismatic conventicle; and if the fine had been levied five
times, without subduing the obstinacy of the offender, his future
punishment was referred to the discretion of the Imperial court.
19 By these severities, which obtained the warmest approbation of
St. Augustin, 20 great numbers of Donatists were reconciled to
the Catholic Church; but the fanatics, who still persevered in
their opposition, were provoked to madness and despair; the
distracted country was filled with tumult and bloodshed; the
armed troops of Circumcellions alternately pointed their rage
against themselves, or against their adversaries; and the
calendar of martyrs received on both sides a considerable
augmentation. 21 Under these circumstances, Genseric, a
Christian, but an enemy of the orthodox communion, showed himself
to the Donatists as a powerful deliverer, from whom they might
reasonably expect the repeal of the odious and oppressive edicts
of the Roman emperors. 22 The conquest of Africa was facilitated
by the active zeal, or the secret favor, of a domestic faction;
the wanton outrages against the churches and the clergy of which
the Vandals are accused, may be fairly imputed to the fanaticism
of their allies; and the intolerant spirit which disgraced the
triumph of Christianity, contributed to the loss of the most
important province of the West. 23
17 (return) [ See Tillemont, Mémoires Eccles. tom. xiii. p.
516-558; and the whole series of the persecution, in the original
monuments, published by Dupin at the end of Optatus, p. 323-515.]
18 (return) [ The Donatist Bishops, at the conference of
Carthage, amounted to 279; and they asserted that their whole
number was not less than 400. The Catholics had 286 present, 120
absent, besides sixty four vacant bishoprics.]
19 (return) [ The fifth title of the sixteenth book of the
Theodosian Code exhibits a series of the Imperial laws against
the Donatists, from the year 400 to the year 428. Of these the
54th law, promulgated by Honorius, A.D. 414, is the most severe
and effectual.]
20 (return) [ St. Augustin altered his opinion with regard tosthe
proper treatment of heretics. His pathetic declaration of pity
and indulgence for the Manichæans, has been inserted by Mr.
Locke (vol. iii. p. 469) among the choice specimens of his
common-place book. Another philosopher, the celebrated Bayle,
(tom. ii. p. 445-496,) has refuted, with superfluous diligence
and ingenuity, the arguments by which the bishop of Hippo
justified, in his old age, the persecution of the Donatists.]
21 (return) [ See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 586-592,
806. The Donatists boasted of thousands of these voluntary
martyrs. Augustin asserts, and probably with truth, that these
numbers were much exaggerated; but he sternly maintains, that it
was better that some should burn themselves in this world, than
that all should burn in hell flames.]
22 (return) [ According to St. Augustin and Theodoret, the
Donatists were inclined to the principles, or at least to the
party, of the Arians, which Genseric supported. Tillemont, Mem.
Eccles. tom. vi. p. 68.]
23 (return) [ See Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 428, No. 7, A.D.
439, No. 35. The cardinal, though more inclined to seek the cause
of great events in heaven than on the earth, has observed the
apparent connection of the Vandals and the Donatists. Under the
reign of the Barbarians, the schismatics of Africa enjoyed an
obscure peace of one hundred years; at the end of which we may
again trace them by the fight of the Imperial persecutions. See
Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 192. &c.]
The court and the people were astonished by the strange
intelligence, that a virtuous hero, after so many favors, and so
many services, had renounced his allegiance, and invited the
Barbarians to destroy the province intrusted to his command. The
friends of Boniface, who still believed that his criminal
behavior might be excused by some honorable motive, solicited,
during the absence of Ætius, a free conference with the Count of
Africa; and Darius, an officer of high distinction, was named for
the important embassy. 24 In their first interview at Carthage,
the imaginary provocations were mutually explained; the opposite
letters of Ætius were produced and compared; and the fraud was
easily detected. Placidia and Boniface lamented their fatal
error; and the count had sufficient magnanimity to confide in the
forgiveness of his sovereign, or to expose his head to her future
resentment. His repentance was fervent and sincere; but he soon
discovered that it was no longer in his power to restore the
edifice which he had shaken to its foundations. Carthage and the
Roman garrisons returned with their general to the allegiance of
Valentinian; but the rest of Africa was still distracted with war
and faction; and the inexorable king of the Vandals, disdaining
all terms of accommodation, sternly refused to relinquish the
possession of his prey. The band of veterans who marched under
the standard of Boniface, and his hasty levies of provincial
troops, were defeated with considerable loss; the victorious
Barbarians insulted the open country; and Carthage, Cirta, and
Hippo Regius, were the only cities that appeared to rise above
the general inundation.
24 (return) [ In a confidential letter to Count Boniface, St.
Augustin, without examining the grounds of the quarrel, piously
exhorts him to discharge the duties of a Christian and a subject:
to extricate himself without delay from his dangerous and guilty
situation; and even, if he could obtain the consent of his wife,
to embrace a life of celibacy and penance, (Tillemont, Mem.
Eccles. tom. xiii. p. 890.) The bishop was intimately connected
with Darius, the minister of peace, (Id. tom. xiii. p. 928.)]
The long and narrow tract of the African coast was filled with
frequent monuments of Roman art and magnificence; and the
respective degrees of improvement might be accurately measured by
the distance from Carthage and the Mediterranean. A simple
reflection will impress every thinking mind with the clearest
idea of fertility and cultivation: the country was extremely
populous; the inhabitants reserved a liberal subsistence for
their own use; and the annual exportation, particularly of wheat,
was so regular and plentiful, that Africa deserved the name of
the common granary of Rome and of mankind. On a sudden the seven
fruitful provinces, from Tangier to Tripoli, were overwhelmed by
the invasion of the Vandals; whose destructive rage has perhaps
been exaggerated by popular animosity, religious zeal, and
extravagant declamation. War, in its fairest form, implies a
perpetual violation of humanity and justice; and the hostilities
of Barbarians are inflamed by the fierce and lawless spirit which
incessantly disturbs their peaceful and domestic society. The
Vandals, where they found resistance, seldom gave quarter; and
the deaths of their valiant countrymen were expiated by the ruin
of the cities under whose walls they had fallen. Careless of the
distinctions of age, or sex, or rank, they employed every species
of indignity and torture, to force from the captives a discovery
of their hidden wealth. The stern policy of Genseric justified
his frequent examples of military execution: he was not always
the master of his own passions, or of those of his followers; and
the calamities of war were aggravated by the licentiousness of
the Moors, and the fanaticism of the Donatists. Yet I shall not
easily be persuaded, that it was the common practice of the
Vandals to extirpate the olives, and other fruit trees, of a
country where they intended to settle: nor can I believe that it
was a usual stratagem to slaughter great numbers of their
prisoners before the walls of a besieged city, for the sole
purpose of infecting the air, and producing a pestilence, of
which they themselves must have been the first victims. 25
25 (return) [ The original complaints of the desolation of Africa
are contained 1. In a letter from Capreolus, bishop of Carthage,
to excuse his absence from the council of Ephesus, (ap. Ruinart,
p. 427.) 2. In the life of St. Augustin, by his friend and
colleague Possidius, (ap. Ruinart, p. 427.) 3. In the history of
the Vandalic persecution, by Victor Vitensis, (l. i. c. 1, 2, 3,
edit. Ruinart.) The last picture, which was drawn sixty years
after the event, is more expressive of the author’s passions than
of the truth of facts.]
The generous mind of Count Boniface was tortured by the exquisite
distress of beholding the ruin which he had occasioned, and whose
rapid progress he was unable to check. After the loss of a battle
he retired into Hippo Regius; where he was immediately besieged
by an enemy, who considered him as the real bulwark of Africa.
The maritime colony of Hippo, 26 about two hundred miles westward
of Carthage, had formerly acquired the distinguishing epithet of
Regius, from the residence of Numidian kings; and some remains of
trade and populousness still adhere to the modern city, which is
known in Europe by the corrupted name of Bona. The military
labors, and anxious reflections, of Count Boniface, were
alleviated by the edifying conversation of his friend St.
Augustin; 27 till that bishop, the light and pillar of the
Catholic church, was gently released, in the third month of the
siege, and in the seventy-sixth year of his age, from the actual
and the impending calamities of his country. The youth of
Augustin had been stained by the vices and errors which he so
ingenuously confesses; but from the moment of his conversion to
that of his death, the manners of the bishop of Hippo were pure
and austere: and the most conspicuous of his virtues was an
ardent zeal against heretics of every denomination; the
Manichæans, the Donatists, and the Pelagians, against whom he
waged a perpetual controversy. When the city, some months after
his death, was burnt by the Vandals, the library was fortunately
saved, which contained his voluminous writings; two hundred and
thirty-two separate books or treatises on theological subjects,
besides a complete exposition of the psalter and the gospel, and
a copious magazine of epistles and homilies. 28 According to the
judgment of the most impartial critics, the superficial learning
of Augustin was confined to the Latin language; 29 and his style,
though sometimes animated by the eloquence of passion, is usually
clouded by false and affected rhetoric. But he possessed a
strong, capacious, argumentative mind; he boldly sounded the dark
abyss of grace, predestination, free will, and original sin; and
the rigid system of Christianity which he framed or restored, 30
has been entertained, with public applause, and secret
reluctance, by the Latin church. 31
26 (return) [ See Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. part ii.
p. 112. Leo African. in Ramusio, tom. i. fol. 70. L’Afrique de
Marmol, tom. ii. p. 434, 437. Shaw’s Travels, p. 46, 47. The old
Hippo Regius was finally destroyed by the Arabs in the seventh
century; but a new town, at the distance of two miles, was built
with the materials; and it contained, in the sixteenth century,
about three hundred families of industrious, but turbulent
manufacturers. The adjacent territory is renowned for a pure air,
a fertile soil, and plenty of exquisite fruits.]
27 (return) [ The life of St. Augustin, by Tillemont, fills a
quarto volume (Mem. Eccles. tom. xiii.) of more than one thousand
pages; and the diligence of that learned Jansenist was excited,
on this occasion, by factious and devout zeal for the founder of
his sect.]
28 (return) [ Such, at least, is the account of Victor Vitensis,
(de Persecut. Vandal. l. i. c. 3;) though Gennadius seems to
doubt whether any person had read, or even collected, all the
works of St. Augustin, (see Hieronym. Opera, tom. i. p. 319, in
Catalog. Scriptor. Eccles.) They have been repeatedly printed;
and Dupin (Bibliothèque Eccles. tom. iii. p. 158-257) has given a
large and satisfactory abstract of them as they stand in the last
edition of the Benedictines. My personal acquaintance with the
bishop of Hippo does not extend beyond the Confessions, and the
City of God.]
29 (return) [ In his early youth (Confess. i. 14) St. Augustin
disliked and neglected the study of Greek; and he frankly owns
that he read the Platonists in a Latin version, (Confes. vii. 9.)
Some modern critics have thought, that his ignorance of Greek
disqualified him from expounding the Scriptures; and Cicero or
Quintilian would have required the knowledge of that language in
a professor of rhetoric.]
30 (return) [ These questions were seldom agitated, from the time
of St. Paul to that of St. Augustin. I am informed that the Greek
fathers maintain the natural sentiments of the Semi-Pelagians;
and that the orthodoxy of St. Augustin was derived from the
Manichaean school.]
31 (return) [ The church of Rome has canonized Augustin, and
reprobated Calvin. Yet as the real difference between them is
invisible even to a theological microscope, the Molinists are
oppressed by the authority of the saint, and the Jansenists are
disgraced by their resemblance to the heretic. In the mean while,
the Protestant Arminians stand aloof, and deride the mutual
perplexity of the disputants, (see a curious Review of the
Controversy, by Le Clerc, Bibliothèque Universelle, tom. xiv. p.
144-398.) Perhaps a reasoner still more independent may smile in
his turn, when he peruses an Arminian Commentary on the Epistle
to the Romans.]
Chapter XXXIII: Conquest Of Africa By The Vandals.—Part II.
By the skill of Boniface, and perhaps by the ignorance of the
Vandals, the siege of Hippo was protracted above fourteen months:
the sea was continually open; and when the adjacent country had
been exhausted by irregular rapine, the besiegers themselves were
compelled by famine to relinquish their enterprise. The
importance and danger of Africa were deeply felt by the regent of
the West. Placidia implored the assistance of her eastern ally;
and the Italian fleet and army were reenforced by Asper, who
sailed from Constantinople with a powerful armament. As soon as
the force of the two empires was united under the command of
Boniface, he boldly marched against the Vandals; and the loss of
a second battle irretrievably decided the fate of Africa. He
embarked with the precipitation of despair; and the people of
Hippo were permitted, with their families and effects, to occupy
the vacant place of the soldiers, the greatest part of whom were
either slain or made prisoners by the Vandals. The count, whose
fatal credulity had wounded the vitals of the republic, might
enter the palace of Ravenna with some anxiety, which was soon
removed by the smiles of Placidia. Boniface accepted with
gratitude the rank of patrician, and the dignity of
master-general of the Roman armies; but he must have blushed at
the sight of those medals, in which he was represented with the
name and attributes of victory. 32 The discovery of his fraud,
the displeasure of the empress, and the distinguished favor of
his rival, exasperated the haughty and perfidious soul of Ætius.
He hastily returned from Gaul to Italy, with a retinue, or rather
with an army, of Barbarian followers; and such was the weakness
of the government, that the two generals decided their private
quarrel in a bloody battle. Boniface was successful; but he
received in the conflict a mortal wound from the spear of his
adversary, of which he expired within a few days, in such
Christian and charitable sentiments, that he exhorted his wife, a
rich heiress of Spain, to accept Ætius for her second husband.
But Ætius could not derive any immediate advantage from the
generosity of his dying enemy: he was proclaimed a rebel by the
justice of Placidia; and though he attempted to defend some
strong fortresses, erected on his patrimonial estate, the
Imperial power soon compelled him to retire into Pannonia, to the
tents of his faithful Huns. The republic was deprived, by their
mutual discord, of the service of her two most illustrious
champions. 33
32 (return) [ Ducange, Fam. Byzant. p. 67. On one side, the head
of Valentinian; on the reverse, Boniface, with a scourge in one
hand, and a palm in the other, standing in a triumphal car, which
is drawn by four horses, or, in another medal, by four stags; an
unlucky emblem! I should doubt whether another example can be
found of the head of a subject on the reverse of an Imperial
medal. See Science des Medailles, by the Pere Jobert, tom. i. p.
132-150, edit. of 1739, by the haron de la Bastie. * Note: Lord
Mahon, Life of Belisarius, p. 133, mentions one of Belisarius on
the authority of Cedrenus—M.]
33 (return) [ Procopius (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 3, p. 185)
continues the history of Boniface no further than his return to
Italy. His death is mentioned by Prosper and Marcellinus; the
expression of the latter, that Ætius, the day before, had
provided himself with a longer spear, implies something like a
regular duel.]
It might naturally be expected, after the retreat of Boniface,
that the Vandals would achieve, without resistance or delay, the
conquest of Africa. Eight years, however, elapsed, from the
evacuation of Hippo to the reduction of Carthage. In the midst of
that interval, the ambitious Genseric, in the full tide of
apparent prosperity, negotiated a treaty of peace, by which he
gave his son Hunneric for a hostage; and consented to leave the
Western emperor in the undisturbed possession of the three
Mauritanias. 34 This moderation, which cannot be imputed to the
justice, must be ascribed to the policy, of the conqueror.
His throne was encompassed with domestic enemies, who accused the
baseness of his birth, and asserted the legitimate claims of his
nephews, the sons of Gonderic. Those nephews, indeed, he
sacrificed to his safety; and their mother, the widow of the
deceased king, was precipitated, by his order, into the river
Ampsaga. But the public discontent burst forth in dangerous and
frequent conspiracies; and the warlike tyrant is supposed to have
shed more Vandal blood by the hand of the executioner, than in
the field of battle. 35 The convulsions of Africa, which had
favored his attack, opposed the firm establishment of his power;
and the various seditions of the Moors and Germans, the Donatists
and Catholics, continually disturbed, or threatened, the
unsettled reign of the conqueror. As he advanced towards
Carthage, he was forced to withdraw his troops from the Western
provinces; the sea-coast was exposed to the naval enterprises of
the Romans of Spain and Italy; and, in the heart of Numidia, the
strong inland city of Corta still persisted in obstinate
independence. 36 These difficulties were gradually subdued by the
spirit, the perseverance, and the cruelty of Genseric; who
alternately applied the arts of peace and war to the
establishment of his African kingdom. He subscribed a solemn
treaty, with the hope of deriving some advantage from the term of
its continuance, and the moment of its violation. The vigilance
of his enemies was relaxed by the protestations of friendship,
which concealed his hostile approach; and Carthage was at length
surprised by the Vandals, five hundred and eighty-five years
after the destruction of the city and republic by the younger
Scipio. 37
34 (return) [ See Procopius, de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 4, p. 186.
Valentinian published several humane laws, to relieve the
distress of his Numidian and Mauritanian subjects; he discharged
them, in a great measure, from the payment of their debts,
reduced their tribute to one eighth, and gave them a right of
appeal from their provincial magistrates to the præfect of Rome.
Cod. Theod. tom. vi. Novell. p. 11, 12.]
35 (return) [ Victor Vitensis, de Persecut. Vandal. l. ii. c. 5,
p. 26. The cruelties of Genseric towards his subjects are
strongly expressed in Prosper’s Chronicle, A.D. 442.]
36 (return) [ Possidius, in Vit. Augustin. c. 28, apud Ruinart,
p. 428.]
37 (return) [ See the Chronicles of Idatius, Isidore, Prosper,
and Marcellinus. They mark the same year, but different days, for
the surprisal of Carthage.]
A new city had arisen from its ruins, with the title of a colony;
and though Carthage might yield to the royal prerogatives of
Constantinople, and perhaps to the trade of Alexandria, or the
splendor of Antioch, she still maintained the second rank in the
West; as the Rome (if we may use the style of contemporaries) of
the African world. That wealthy and opulent metropolis 38
displayed, in a dependent condition, the image of a flourishing
republic. Carthage contained the manufactures, the arms, and the
treasures of the six provinces. A regular subordination of civil
honors gradually ascended from the procurators of the streets and
quarters of the city, to the tribunal of the supreme magistrate,
who, with the title of proconsul, represented the state and
dignity of a consul of ancient Rome. Schools and gymnasia were
instituted for the education of the African youth; and the
liberal arts and manners, grammar, rhetoric, and philosophy, were
publicly taught in the Greek and Latin languages. The buildings
of Carthage were uniform and magnificent; a shady grove was
planted in the midst of the capital; the new port, a secure and
capacious harbor, was subservient to the commercial industry of
citizens and strangers; and the splendid games of the circus and
theatre were exhibited almost in the presence of the Barbarians.
The reputation of the Carthaginians was not equal to that of
their country, and the reproach of Punic faith still adhered to
their subtle and faithless character. 39 The habits of trade, and
the abuse of luxury, had corrupted their manners; but their
impious contempt of monks, and the shameless practice of
unnatural lusts, are the two abominations which excite the pious
vehemence of Salvian, the preacher of the age. 40 The king of the
Vandals severely reformed the vices of a voluptuous people; and
the ancient, noble, ingenuous freedom of Carthage (these
expressions of Victor are not without energy) was reduced by
Genseric into a state of ignominious servitude. After he had
permitted his licentious troops to satiate their rage and
avarice, he instituted a more regular system of rapine and
oppression. An edict was promulgated, which enjoined all persons,
without fraud or delay, to deliver their gold, silver, jewels,
and valuable furniture or apparel, to the royal officers; and the
attempt to secrete any part of their patrimony was inexorably
punished with death and torture, as an act of treason against the
state. The lands of the proconsular province, which formed the
immediate district of Carthage, were accurately measured, and
divided among the Barbarians; and the conqueror reserved for his
peculiar domain the fertile territory of Byzacium, and the
adjacent parts of Numidia and Getulia. 41
38 (return) [ The picture of Carthage; as it flourished in the
fourth and fifth centuries, is taken from the Expositio totius
Mundi, p. 17, 18, in the third volume of Hudson’s Minor
Geographers, from Ausonius de Claris Urbibus, p. 228, 229; and
principally from Salvian, de Gubernatione Dei, l. vii. p. 257,
258.]
39 (return) [ The anonymous author of the Expositio totius Mundi
compares in his barbarous Latin, the country and the inhabitants;
and, after stigmatizing their want of faith, he coolly concludes,
Difficile autem inter eos invenitur bonus, tamen in multis pauci
boni esse possunt P. 18.]
40 (return) [ He declares, that the peculiar vices of each
country were collected in the sink of Carthage, (l. vii. p. 257.)
In the indulgence of vice, the Africans applauded their manly
virtue. Et illi se magis virilis fortitudinis esse crederent, qui
maxime vires foeminei usus probositate fregissent, (p. 268.) The
streets of Carthage were polluted by effeminate wretches, who
publicly assumed the countenance, the dress, and the character of
women, (p. 264.) If a monk appeared in the city, the holy man was
pursued with impious scorn and ridicule; de testantibus ridentium
cachinnis, (p. 289.)]
41 (return) [ Compare Procopius de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 5, p.
189, 190, and Victor Vitensis, de Persecut Vandal. l. i. c. 4.]
It was natural enough that Genseric should hate those whom he had
injured: the nobility and senators of Carthage were exposed to
his jealousy and resentment; and all those who refused the
ignominious terms, which their honor and religion forbade them to
accept, were compelled by the Arian tyrant to embrace the
condition of perpetual banishment. Rome, Italy, and the provinces
of the East, were filled with a crowd of exiles, of fugitives,
and of ingenuous captives, who solicited the public compassion;
and the benevolent epistles of Theodoret still preserve the
names and misfortunes of Cælestian and Maria. 42 The Syrian
bishop deplores the misfortunes of Cælestian, who, from the
state of a noble and opulent senator of Carthage, was reduced,
with his wife and family, and servants, to beg his bread in a
foreign country; but he applauds the resignation of the Christian
exile, and the philosophic temper, which, under the pressure of
such calamities, could enjoy more real happiness than was the
ordinary lot of wealth and prosperity. The story of Maria, the
daughter of the magnificent Eudaemon, is singular and
interesting. In the sack of Carthage, she was purchased from the
Vandals by some merchants of Syria, who afterwards sold her as a
slave in their native country. A female attendant, transported in
the same ship, and sold in the same family, still continued to
respect a mistress whom fortune had reduced to the common level
of servitude; and the daughter of Eudaemon received from her
grateful affection the domestic services which she had once
required from her obedience. This remarkable behavior divulged
the real condition of Maria, who, in the absence of the bishop of
Cyrrhus, was redeemed from slavery by the generosity of some
soldiers of the garrison. The liberality of Theodoret provided
for her decent maintenance; and she passed ten months among the
deaconesses of the church; till she was unexpectedly informed,
that her father, who had escaped from the ruin of Carthage,
exercised an honorable office in one of the Western provinces.
Her filial impatience was seconded by the pious bishop:
Theodoret, in a letter still extant, recommends Maria to the
bishop of Aegae, a maritime city of Cilicia, which was
frequented, during the annual fair, by the vessels of the West;
most earnestly requesting, that his colleague would use the
maiden with a tenderness suitable to her birth; and that he would
intrust her to the care of such faithful merchants, as would
esteem it a sufficient gain, if they restored a daughter, lost
beyond all human hope, to the arms of her afflicted parent.
42 (return) [ Ruinart (p. 441-457) has collected from Theodoret,
and other authors, the misfortunes, real and fabulous, of the
inhabitants of Carthage.]
Among the insipid legends of ecclesiastical history, I am tempted
to distinguish the memorable fable of the Seven Sleepers; 43
whose imaginary date corresponds with the reign of the younger
Theodosius, and the conquest of Africa by the Vandals. 44 When
the emperor Decius persecuted the Christians, seven noble youths
of Ephesus concealed themselves in a spacious cavern in the side
of an adjacent mountain; where they were doomed to perish by the
tyrant, who gave orders that the entrance should be firmly
secured by the a pile of huge stones. They immediately fell into
a deep slumber, which was miraculously prolonged without injuring
the powers of life, during a period of one hundred and
eighty-seven years. At the end of that time, the slaves of
Adolius, to whom the inheritance of the mountain had descended,
removed the stones to supply materials for some rustic edifice:
the light of the sun darted into the cavern, and the Seven
Sleepers were permitted to awake. After a slumber, as they
thought of a few hours, they were pressed by the calls of hunger;
and resolved that Jamblichus, one of their number, should
secretly return to the city to purchase bread for the use of his
companions. The youth (if we may still employ that appellation)
could no longer recognize the once familiar aspect of his native
country; and his surprise was increased by the appearance of a
large cross, triumphantly erected over the principal gate of
Ephesus. His singular dress, and obsolete language, confounded
the baker, to whom he offered an ancient medal of Decius as the
current coin of the empire; and Jamblichus, on the suspicion of a
secret treasure, was dragged before the judge. Their mutual
inquiries produced the amazing discovery, that two centuries were
almost elapsed since Jamblichus and his friends had escaped from
the rage of a Pagan tyrant. The bishop of Ephesus, the clergy,
the magistrates, the people, and, as it is said, the emperor
Theodosius himself, hastened to visit the cavern of the Seven
Sleepers; who bestowed their benediction, related their story,
and at the same instant peaceably expired. The origin of this
marvellous fable cannot be ascribed to the pious fraud and
credulity of the modern Greeks, since the authentic tradition may
be traced within half a century of the supposed miracle. James of
Sarug, a Syrian bishop, who was born only two years after the
death of the younger Theodosius, has devoted one of his two
hundred and thirty homilies to the praise of the young men of
Ephesus. 45 Their legend, before the end of the sixth century,
was translated from the Syriac into the Latin language, by the
care of Gregory of Tours. The hostile communions of the East
preserve their memory with equal reverence; and their names are
honorably inscribed in the Roman, the Abyssinian, and the Russian
calendar. 46 Nor has their reputation been confined to the
Christian world. This popular tale, which Mahomet might learn
when he drove his camels to the fairs of Syria, is introduced as
a divine revelation, into the Koran. 47 The story of the Seven
Sleepers has been adopted and adorned by the nations, from Bengal
to Africa, who profess the Mahometan religion; 48 and some
vestiges of a similar tradition have been discovered in the
remote extremities of Scandinavia. 49 This easy and universal
belief, so expressive of the sense of mankind, may be ascribed to
the genuine merit of the fable itself. We imperceptibly advance
from youth to age, without observing the gradual, but incessant,
change of human affairs; and even in our larger experience of
history, the imagination is accustomed, by a perpetual series of
causes and effects, to unite the most distant revolutions. But if
the interval between two memorable eras could be instantly
annihilated; if it were possible, after a momentary slumber of
two hundred years, to display the new world to the eyes of a
spectator, who still retained a lively and recent impression of
the old, his surprise and his reflections would furnish the
pleasing subject of a philosophical romance. The scene could not
be more advantageously placed, than in the two centuries which
elapsed between the reigns of Decius and of Theodosius the
Younger. During this period, the seat of government had been
transported from Rome to a new city on the banks of the Thracian
Bosphorus; and the abuse of military spirit had been suppressed
by an artificial system of tame and ceremonious servitude. The
throne of the persecuting Decius was filled by a succession of
Christian and orthodox princes, who had extirpated the fabulous
gods of antiquity: and the public devotion of the age was
impatient to exalt the saints and martyrs of the Catholic church,
on the altars of Diana and Hercules. The union of the Roman
empire was dissolved; its genius was humbled in the dust; and
armies of unknown Barbarians, issuing from the frozen regions of
the North, had established their victorious reign over the
fairest provinces of Europe and Africa.
43 (return) [ The choice of fabulous circumstances is of small
importance; yet I have confined myself to the narrative which was
translated from the Syriac by the care of Gregory of Tours, (de
Gloria Martyrum, l. i. c. 95, in Max. Bibliotheca Patrum, tom.
xi. p. 856,) to the Greek acts of their martyrdom (apud Photium,
p. 1400, 1401) and to the Annals of the Patriarch Eutychius,
(tom. i. p. 391, 531, 532, 535, Vers. Pocock.)]
44 (return) [ Two Syriac writers, as they are quoted by
Assemanni, (Bibliot. Oriental. tom. i. p. 336, 338,) place the
resurrection of the Seven Sleepers in the year 736 (A.D. 425) or
748, (A.D. 437,) of the era of the Seleucides. Their Greek acts,
which Photius had read, assign the date of the thirty-eighth year
of the reign of Theodosius, which may coincide either with A.D.
439, or 446. The period which had elapsed since the persecution
of Decius is easily ascertained; and nothing less than the
ignorance of Mahomet, or the legendaries, could suppose an
internal of three or four hundred years.]
45 (return) [ James, one of the orthodox fathers of the Syrian
church, was born A.D. 452; he began to compose his sermons A.D.
474; he was made bishop of Batnae, in the district of Sarug, and
province of Mesopotamia, A.D. 519, and died A.D. 521. (Assemanni,
tom. i. p. 288, 289.) For the homily de Pueris Ephesinis, see p.
335-339: though I could wish that Assemanni had translated the
text of James of Sarug, instead of answering the objections of
Baronius.]
46 (return) [ See the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists, Mensis
Julii, tom. vi. p. 375-397. This immense calendar of Saints, in
one hundred and twenty-six years, (1644-1770,) and in fifty
volumes in folio, has advanced no further than the 7th day of
October. The suppression of the Jesuits has most probably checked
an undertaking, which, through the medium of fable and
superstition, communicates much historical and philosophical
instruction.]
47 (return) [ See Maracci Alcoran. Sura xviii. tom. ii. p.
420-427, and tom. i. part iv. p. 103. With such an ample
privilege, Mahomet has not shown much taste or ingenuity. He has
invented the dog (Al Rakim) the Seven Sleepers; the respect of
the sun, who altered his course twice a day, that he might not
shine into the cavern; and the care of God himself, who preserved
their bodies from putrefaction, by turning them to the right and
left.]
48 (return) [ See D’Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, p. 139; and
Renaudot, Hist. Patriarch. Alexandrin. p. 39, 40.]
49 (return) [ Paul, the deacon of Aquileia, (de Gestis
Langobardorum, l. i. c. 4, p. 745, 746, edit. Grot.,) who lived
towards the end of the eight century, has placed in a cavern,
under a rock, on the shore of the ocean, the Seven Sleepers of
the North, whose long repose was respected by the Barbarians.
Their dress declared them to be Romans and the deacon
conjectures, that they were reserved by Providence as the future
apostles of those unbelieving countries.]
Chapter XXXIV: Attila.—Part I.
The Character, Conquests, And Court Of Attila, King Of The
Huns.—Death Of Theodosius The Younger.—Elevation Of Marcian To The
Empire Of The East.
The Western world was oppressed by the Goths and Vandals, who
fled before the Huns; but the achievements of the Huns themselves
were not adequate to their power and prosperity. Their victorious
hordes had spread from the Volga to the Danube; but the public
force was exhausted by the discord of independent chieftains;
their valor was idly consumed in obscure and predatory
excursions; and they often degraded their national dignity, by
condescending, for the hopes of spoil, to enlist under the
banners of their fugitive enemies. In the reign of Attila, 1 the
Huns again became the terror of the world; and I shall now
describe the character and actions of that formidable Barbarian;
who alternately insulted and invaded the East and the West, and
urged the rapid downfall of the Roman empire.
1 (return) [ The authentic materials for the history of Attila,
may be found in Jornandes (de Rebus Geticis, c. 34-50, p.
668-688, edit. Grot.) and Priscus (Excerpta de Legationibus, p.
33-76, Paris, 1648.) I have not seen the Lives of Attila,
composed by Juvencus Caelius Calanus Dalmatinus, in the twelfth
century, or by Nicholas Olahus, archbishop of Gran, in the
sixteenth. See Mascou’s History of the Germans, ix., and Maffei
Osservazioni Litterarie, tom. i. p. 88, 89. Whatever the modern
Hungarians have added must be fabulous; and they do not seem to
have excelled in the art of fiction. They suppose, that when
Attila invaded Gaul and Italy, married innumerable wives, &c., he
was one hundred and twenty years of age. Thewrocz Chron. c. i. p.
22, in Script. Hunger. tom. i. p. 76.]
In the tide of emigration which impetuously rolled from the
confines of China to those of Germany, the most powerful and
populous tribes may commonly be found on the verge of the Roman
provinces. The accumulated weight was sustained for a while by
artificial barriers; and the easy condescension of the emperors
invited, without satisfying, the insolent demands of the
Barbarians, who had acquired an eager appetite for the luxuries
of civilized life. The Hungarians, who ambitiously insert the
name of Attila among their native kings, may affirm with truth
that the hordes, which were subject to his uncle Roas, or
Rugilas, had formed their encampments within the limits of modern
Hungary, 2 in a fertile country, which liberally supplied the
wants of a nation of hunters and shepherds. In this advantageous
situation, Rugilas, and his valiant brothers, who continually
added to their power and reputation, commanded the alternative of
peace or war with the two empires. His alliance with the Romans
of the West was cemented by his personal friendship for the great
Ætius; who was always secure of finding, in the Barbarian camp,
a hospitable reception and a powerful support. At his
solicitation, and in the name of John the usurper, sixty thousand
Huns advanced to the confines of Italy; their march and their
retreat were alike expensive to the state; and the grateful
policy of Ætius abandoned the possession of Pannonia to his
faithful confederates. The Romans of the East were not less
apprehensive of the arms of Rugilas, which threatened the
provinces, or even the capital. Some ecclesiastical historians
have destroyed the Barbarians with lightning and pestilence; 3
but Theodosius was reduced to the more humble expedient of
stipulating an annual payment of three hundred and fifty pounds
of gold, and of disguising this dishonorable tribute by the title
of general, which the king of the Huns condescended to accept.
The public tranquillity was frequently interrupted by the fierce
impatience of the Barbarians, and the perfidious intrigues of the
Byzantine court. Four dependent nations, among whom we may
distinguish the Barbarians, disclaimed the sovereignty of the
Huns; and their revolt was encouraged and protected by a Roman
alliance; till the just claims, and formidable power, of Rugilas,
were effectually urged by the voice of Eslaw his ambassador.
Peace was the unanimous wish of the senate: their decree was
ratified by the emperor; and two ambassadors were named,
Plinthas, a general of Scythian extraction, but of consular rank;
and the quaestor Epigenes, a wise and experienced statesman, who
was recommended to that office by his ambitious colleague.
2 (return) [ Hungary has been successively occupied by three
Scythian colonies. 1. The Huns of Attila; 2. The Abares, in the
sixth century; and, 3. The Turks or Magiars, A.D. 889; the
immediate and genuine ancestors of the modern Hungarians, whose
connection with the two former is extremely faint and remote. The
Prodromus and Notitia of Matthew Belius appear to contain a rich
fund of information concerning ancient and modern Hungary. I have
seen the extracts in Bibliothèque Ancienne et Moderne, tom.
xxii. p. 1-51, and Bibliothèque Raisonnée, tom. xvi. p. 127-175.
* Note: Mailath (in his Geschichte der Magyaren) considers the
question of the origin of the Magyars as still undecided. The old
Hungarian chronicles unanimously derived them from the Huns of
Attila See note, vol. iv. pp. 341, 342. The later opinion,
adopted by Schlozer, Belnay, and Dankowsky, ascribes them, from
their language, to the Finnish race. Fessler, in his history of
Hungary, agrees with Gibbon in supposing them Turks. Mailath has
inserted an ingenious dissertation of Fejer, which attempts to
connect them with the Parthians. Vol. i. Ammerkungen p. 50—M.]
3 (return) [ Socrates, l. vii. c. 43. Theodoret, l. v. c. 36.
Tillemont, who always depends on the faith of his ecclesiastical
authors, strenuously contends (Hist. des Emp. tom. vi. p. 136,
607) that the wars and personages were not the same.]
The death of Rugilas suspended the progress of the treaty. His
two nephews, Attila and Bleda, who succeeded to the throne of
their uncle, consented to a personal interview with the
ambassadors of Constantinople; but as they proudly refused to
dismount, the business was transacted on horseback, in a spacious
plain near the city of Margus, in the Upper Maesia. The kings of
the Huns assumed the solid benefits, as well as the vain honors,
of the negotiation. They dictated the conditions of peace, and
each condition was an insult on the majesty of the empire.
Besides the freedom of a safe and plentiful market on the banks
of the Danube, they required that the annual contribution should
be augmented from three hundred and fifty to seven hundred pounds
of gold; that a fine or ransom of eight pieces of gold should be
paid for every Roman captive who had escaped from his Barbarian
master; that the emperor should renounce all treaties and
engagements with the enemies of the Huns; and that all the
fugitives who had taken refuge in the court or provinces of
Theodosius, should be delivered to the justice of their offended
sovereign. This justice was rigorously inflicted on some
unfortunate youths of a royal race. They were crucified on the
territories of the empire, by the command of Attila: and as soon
as the king of the Huns had impressed the Romans with the terror
of his name, he indulged them in a short and arbitrary respite,
whilst he subdued the rebellious or independent nations of
Scythia and Germany. 4
4 (return) [ See Priscus, p. 47, 48, and Hist. de Peuples de
l’Europe, tom. v. i. c. xii, xiii, xiv, xv.]
Attila, the son of Mundzuk, deduced his noble, perhaps his regal,
descent 5 from the ancient Huns, who had formerly contended with
the monarchs of China. His features, according to the observation
of a Gothic historian, bore the stamp of his national origin; and
the portrait of Attila exhibits the genuine deformity of a modern
Calmuk; 6 a large head, a swarthy complexion, small, deep-seated
eyes, a flat nose, a few hairs in the place of a beard, broad
shoulders, and a short square body, of nervous strength, though
of a disproportioned form. The haughty step and demeanor of the
king of the Huns expressed the consciousness of his superiority
above the rest of mankind; and he had a custom of fiercely
rolling his eyes, as if he wished to enjoy the terror which he
inspired. Yet this savage hero was not inaccessible to pity; his
suppliant enemies might confide in the assurance of peace or
pardon; and Attila was considered by his subjects as a just and
indulgent master. He delighted in war; but, after he had ascended
the throne in a mature age, his head, rather than his hand,
achieved the conquest of the North; and the fame of an
adventurous soldier was usefully exchanged for that of a prudent
and successful general. The effects of personal valor are so
inconsiderable, except in poetry or romance, that victory, even
among Barbarians, must depend on the degree of skill with which
the passions of the multitude are combined and guided for the
service of a single man. The Scythian conquerors, Attila and
Zingis, surpassed their rude countrymen in art rather than in
courage; and it may be observed that the monarchies, both of the
Huns and of the Moguls, were erected by their founders on the
basis of popular superstition. The miraculous conception, which
fraud and credulity ascribed to the virgin-mother of Zingis,
raised him above the level of human nature; and the naked
prophet, who in the name of the Deity invested him with the
empire of the earth, pointed the valor of the Moguls with
irresistible enthusiasm. 7 The religious arts of Attila were not
less skillfully adapted to the character of his age and country.
It was natural enough that the Scythians should adore, with
peculiar devotion, the god of war; but as they were incapable of
forming either an abstract idea, or a corporeal representation,
they worshipped their tutelar deity under the symbol of an iron
cimeter. 8 One of the shepherds of the Huns perceived, that a
heifer, who was grazing, had wounded herself in the foot, and
curiously followed the track of the blood, till he discovered,
among the long grass, the point of an ancient sword, which he dug
out of the ground and presented to Attila. That magnanimous, or
rather that artful, prince accepted, with pious gratitude, this
celestial favor; and, as the rightful possessor of the sword of
Mars, asserted his divine and indefeasible claim to the dominion
of the earth. 9 If the rites of Scythia were practised on this
solemn occasion, a lofty altar, or rather pile of fagots, three
hundred yards in length and in breadth, was raised in a spacious
plain; and the sword of Mars was placed erect on the summit of
this rustic altar, which was annually consecrated by the blood of
sheep, horses, and of the hundredth captive. 10 Whether human
sacrifices formed any part of the worship of Attila, or whether
he propitiated the god of war with the victims which he
continually offered in the field of battle, the favorite of Mars
soon acquired a sacred character, which rendered his conquests more
easy and more permanent; and the Barbarian princes confessed, in
the language of devotion or flattery, that they could not presume
to gaze, with a steady eye, on the divine majesty of the king of
the Huns. 11 His brother Bleda, who reigned over a considerable
part of the nation, was compelled to resign his sceptre and his
life. Yet even this cruel act was attributed to a supernatural
impulse; and the vigor with which Attila wielded the sword of
Mars, convinced the world that it had been reserved alone for his
invincible arm. 12 But the extent of his empire affords the only
remaining evidence of the number and importance of his victories;
and the Scythian monarch, however ignorant of the value of
science and philosophy, might perhaps lament that his illiterate
subjects were destitute of the art which could perpetuate the
memory of his exploits.
5 (return) [ Priscus, p. 39. The modern Hungarians have deduced
his genealogy, which ascends, in the thirty-fifth degree, to Ham,
the son of Noah; yet they are ignorant of his father’s real name.
(De Guignes, Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. p. 297.)]
6 (return) [ Compare Jornandes (c. 35, p. 661) with Buffon, Hist.
Naturelle, tom. iii. p. 380. The former had a right to observe,
originis suae sigua restituens. The character and portrait of
Attila are probably transcribed from Cassiodorus.]
7 (return) [ Abulpharag. Pocock, p. 281. Genealogical History of
the Tartars, by Abulghazi Bahader Khan, part iii c. 15, part iv
c. 3. Vie de Gengiscan, par Petit de la Croix, l. 1, c. 1, 6. The
relations of the missionaries, who visited Tartary in the
thirteenth century, (see the seventh volume of the Histoire des
Voyages,) express the popular language and opinions; Zingis is
styled the son of God, &c. &c.]
8 (return) [ Nec templum apud eos visitur, aut delubrum, ne
tugurium quidem culmo tectum cerni usquam potest; sed gladius
Barbarico ritu humi figitur nudus, eumque ut Martem regionum quas
circumcircant praesulem verecundius colunt. Ammian. Marcellin.
xxxi. 2, and the learned Notes of Lindenbrogius and Valesius.]
9 (return) [ Priscus relates this remarkable story, both in his
own text (p. 65) and in the quotation made by Jornandes, (c. 35,
p. 662.) He might have explained the tradition, or fable, which
characterized this famous sword, and the name, as well as
attributes, of the Scythian deity, whom he has translated into
the Mars of the Greeks and Romans.]
10 (return) [ Herodot. l. iv. c. 62. For the sake of economy, I
have calculated by the smallest stadium. In the human sacrifices,
they cut off the shoulder and arm of the victim, which they threw
up into the air, and drew omens and presages from the manner of
their falling on the pile]
11 (return) [ Priscus, p. 65. A more civilized hero, Augustus
himself, was pleased, if the person on whom he fixed his eyes
seemed unable to support their divine lustre. Sueton. in August.
c. 79.]
12 (return) [ The Count de Buat (Hist. des Peuples de l’Europe,
tom. vii. p. 428, 429) attempts to clear Attila from the murder
of his brother; and is almost inclined to reject the concurrent
testimony of Jornandes, and the contemporary Chronicles.]
If a line of separation were drawn between the civilized and the
savage climates of the globe; between the inhabitants of cities,
who cultivated the earth, and the hunters and shepherds, who
dwelt in tents, Attila might aspire to the title of supreme and
sole monarch of the Barbarians. 13 He alone, among the conquerors
of ancient and modern times, united the two mighty kingdoms of
Germany and Scythia; and those vague appellations, when they are
applied to his reign, may be understood with an ample latitude.
Thuringia, which stretched beyond its actual limits as far as the
Danube, was in the number of his provinces; he interposed, with
the weight of a powerful neighbor, in the domestic affairs of the
Franks; and one of his lieutenants chastised, and almost
exterminated, the Burgundians of the Rhine.
He subdued the islands of the ocean, the kingdoms of Scandinavia,
encompassed and divided by the waters of the Baltic; and the Huns
might derive a tribute of furs from that northern region, which
has been protected from all other conquerors by the severity of
the climate, and the courage of the natives. Towards the East, it
is difficult to circumscribe the dominion of Attila over the
Scythian deserts; yet we may be assured, that he reigned on the
banks of the Volga; that the king of the Huns was dreaded, not
only as a warrior, but as a magician; 14 that he insulted and
vanquished the khan of the formidable Geougen; and that he sent
ambassadors to negotiate an equal alliance with the empire of
China. In the proud review of the nations who acknowledged the
sovereignty of Attila, and who never entertained, during his
lifetime, the thought of a revolt, the Gepidae and the Ostrogoths
were distinguished by their numbers, their bravery, and the
personal merits of their chiefs. The renowned Ardaric, king of
the Gepidae, was the faithful and sagacious counsellor of the
monarch, who esteemed his intrepid genius, whilst he loved the
mild and discreet virtues of the noble Walamir, king of the
Ostrogoths. The crowd of vulgar kings, the leaders of so many
martial tribes, who served under the standard of Attila, were
ranged in the submissive order of guards and domestics round the
person of their master. They watched his nod; they trembled at
his frown; and at the first signal of his will, they executed,
without murmur or hesitation, his stern and absolute commands. In
time of peace, the dependent princes, with their national troops,
attended the royal camp in regular succession; but when Attila
collected his military force, he was able to bring into the field
an army of five, or, according to another account, of seven
hundred thousand Barbarians. 15
13 (return) [ Fortissimarum gentium dominus, qui inaudita ante se
potentia colus Scythica et Germanica regna possedit. Jornandes,
c. 49, p. 684. Priscus, p. 64, 65. M. de Guignes, by his
knowledge of the Chinese, has acquired (tom. ii. p. 295-301) an
adequate idea of the empire of Attila.]
14 (return) [ See Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. p. 296. The Geougen
believed that the Huns could excite, at pleasure, storms of wind
and rain. This phenomenon was produced by the stone Gezi; to
whose magic power the loss of a battle was ascribed by the
Mahometan Tartars of the fourteenth century. See Cherefeddin Ali,
Hist. de Timur Bec, tom. i. p. 82, 83.]
15 (return) [ Jornandes, c. 35, p. 661, c. 37, p. 667. See
Tillemont, Hist. dea Empereurs, tom. vi. p. 129, 138. Corneille
has represented the pride of Attila to his subject kings, and his
tragedy opens with these two ridiculous lines:—
Ils ne sont pas venus, nos deux rois! qu’on leur die Qu’ils se
font trop attendre, et qu’Attila s’ennuie.
The two kings of the Gepidae and the Ostrogoths are profound
politicians and sentimental lovers, and the whole piece exhibits
the defects without the genius, of the poet.]
The ambassadors of the Huns might awaken the attention of
Theodosius, by reminding him that they were his neighbors both in
Europe and Asia; since they touched the Danube on one hand, and
reached, with the other, as far as the Tanais. In the reign of
his father Arcadius, a band of adventurous Huns had ravaged the
provinces of the East; from whence they brought away rich spoils
and innumerable captives. 16 They advanced, by a secret path,
along the shores of the Caspian Sea; traversed the snowy
mountains of Armenia; passed the Tigris, the Euphrates, and the
Halys; recruited their weary cavalry with the generous breed of
Cappadocian horses; occupied the hilly country of Cilicia, and
disturbed the festal songs and dances of the citizens of Antioch.
Egypt trembled at their approach; and the monks and pilgrims of
the Holy Land prepared to escape their fury by a speedy
embarkation. The memory of this invasion was still recent in the
minds of the Orientals. The subjects of Attila might execute,
with superior forces, the design which these adventurers had so
boldly attempted; and it soon became the subject of anxious
conjecture, whether the tempest would fall on the dominions of
Rome, or of Persia. Some of the great vassals of the king of the
Huns, who were themselves in the rank of powerful princes, had
been sent to ratify an alliance and society of arms with the
emperor, or rather with the general of the West. They related,
during their residence at Rome, the circumstances of an
expedition, which they had lately made into the East. After
passing a desert and a morass, supposed by the Romans to be the
Lake Maeotis, they penetrated through the mountains, and arrived,
at the end of fifteen days’ march, on the confines of Media;
where they advanced as far as the unknown cities of Basic and
Cursic. 1611 They encountered the Persian army in the plains of
Media and the air, according to their own expression, was
darkened by a cloud of arrows. But the Huns were obliged to
retire before the numbers of the enemy. Their laborious retreat
was effected by a different road; they lost the greatest part of
their booty; and at length returned to the royal camp, with some
knowledge of the country, and an impatient desire of revenge. In
the free conversation of the Imperial ambassadors, who discussed,
at the court of Attila, the character and designs of their
formidable enemy, the ministers of Constantinople expressed their
hope, that his strength might be diverted and employed in a long
and doubtful contest with the princes of the house of Sassan. The
more sagacious Italians admonished their Eastern brethren of the
folly and danger of such a hope; and convinced them, that the
Medes and Persians were incapable of resisting the arms of the
Huns; and that the easy and important acquisition would exalt the
pride, as well as power, of the conqueror. Instead of contenting
himself with a moderate contribution, and a military title, which
equalled him only to the generals of Theodosius, Attila would
proceed to impose a disgraceful and intolerable yoke on the necks
of the prostrate and captive Romans, who would then be
encompassed, on all sides, by the empire of the Huns. 17
16 (return) [
Alii per Caspia claustra Armeniasque nives, inopino tramite ducti
Invadunt Orientis opes: jam pascua fumant Cappadocum, volucrumque
parens Argaeus equorum. Jam rubet altus Halys, nec se defendit
iniquo Monte Cilix; Syriae tractus vestantur amoeni Assuetumque
choris, et laeta plebe canorum, Proterit imbellem sonipes hostilis
Orontem. —-Claudian, in Rufin. l. ii. 28-35.
See likewise, in Eutrop. l. i. 243-251, and the strong
description of Jerom, who wrote from his feelings, tom. i. p. 26,
ad Heliodor. p. 200 ad Ocean. Philostorgius (l. ix. c. 8)
mentions this irruption.]
1611 (return) [ Gibbon has made a curious mistake; Basic and
Cursic were the names of the commanders of the Huns. Priscus,
edit. Bonn, p. 200.—M.]
17 (return) [ See the original conversation in Priscus, p. 64,
65.]
While the powers of Europe and Asia were solicitous to avert the
impending danger, the alliance of Attila maintained the Vandals
in the possession of Africa. An enterprise had been concerted
between the courts of Ravenna and Constantinople, for the
recovery of that valuable province; and the ports of Sicily were
already filled with the military and naval forces of Theodosius.
But the subtle Genseric, who spread his negotiations round the
world, prevented their designs, by exciting the king of the Huns
to invade the Eastern empire; and a trifling incident soon became
the motive, or pretence, of a destructive war. 18 Under the faith
of the treaty of Margus, a free market was held on the Northern
side of the Danube, which was protected by a Roman fortress
surnamed Constantia. A troop of Barbarians violated the
commercial security; killed, or dispersed, the unsuspecting
traders; and levelled the fortress with the ground. The Huns
justified this outrage as an act of reprisal; alleged, that the
bishop of Margus had entered their territories, to discover and
steal a secret treasure of their kings; and sternly demanded the
guilty prelate, the sacrilegious spoil, and the fugitive
subjects, who had escaped from the justice of Attila. The refusal
of the Byzantine court was the signal of war; and the Maesians at
first applauded the generous firmness of their sovereign. But
they were soon intimidated by the destruction of Viminiacum and
the adjacent towns; and the people was persuaded to adopt the
convenient maxim, that a private citizen, however innocent or
respectable, may be justly sacrificed to the safety of his
country. The bishop of Margus, who did not possess the spirit of
a martyr, resolved to prevent the designs which he suspected. He
boldly treated with the princes of the Huns: secured, by solemn
oaths, his pardon and reward; posted a numerous detachment of
Barbarians, in silent ambush, on the banks of the Danube; and, at
the appointed hour, opened, with his own hand, the gates of his
episcopal city. This advantage, which had been obtained by
treachery, served as a prelude to more honorable and decisive
victories. The Illyrian frontier was covered by a line of castles
and fortresses; and though the greatest part of them consisted
only of a single tower, with a small garrison, they were commonly
sufficient to repel, or to intercept, the inroads of an enemy,
who was ignorant of the art, and impatient of the delay, of a
regular siege. But these slight obstacles were instantly swept
away by the inundation of the Huns. 19 They destroyed, with fire
and sword, the populous cities of Sirmium and Singidunum, of
Ratiaria and Marcianopolis, of Naissus and Sardica; where every
circumstance of the discipline of the people, and the
construction of the buildings, had been gradually adapted to the
sole purpose of defence. The whole breadth of Europe, as it
extends above five hundred miles from the Euxine to the
Hadriatic, was at once invaded, and occupied, and desolated, by
the myriads of Barbarians whom Attila led into the field. The
public danger and distress could not, however, provoke Theodosius
to interrupt his amusements and devotion, or to appear in person
at the head of the Roman legions. But the troops, which had been
sent against Genseric, were hastily recalled from Sicily; the
garrisons, on the side of Persia, were exhausted; and a military
force was collected in Europe, formidable by their arms and
numbers, if the generals had understood the science of command,
and the soldiers the duty of obedience. The armies of the Eastern
empire were vanquished in three successive engagements; and the
progress of Attila may be traced by the fields of battle.
The two former, on the banks of the Utus, and under the walls of
Marcianopolis, were fought in the extensive plains between the
Danube and Mount Haemus. As the Romans were pressed by a
victorious enemy, they gradually, and unskilfully, retired
towards the Chersonesus of Thrace; and that narrow peninsula, the
last extremity of the land, was marked by their third, and
irreparable, defeat. By the destruction of this army, Attila
acquired the indisputable possession of the field. From the
Hellespont to Thermopylae, and the suburbs of Constantinople, he
ravaged, without resistance, and without mercy, the provinces of
Thrace and Macedonia. Heraclea and Hadrianople might, perhaps,
escape this dreadful irruption of the Huns; but the words, the
most expressive of total extirpation and erasure, are applied to
the calamities which they inflicted on seventy cities of the
Eastern empire. 20 Theodosius, his court, and the unwarlike
people, were protected by the walls of Constantinople; but those
walls had been shaken by a recent earthquake, and the fall of
fifty-eight towers had opened a large and tremendous breach. The
damage indeed was speedily repaired; but this accident was
aggravated by a superstitious fear, that Heaven itself had
delivered the Imperial city to the shepherds of Scythia, who were
strangers to the laws, the language, and the religion, of the
Romans. 21
18 (return) [ Priscus, p. 331. His history contained a copious
and elegant account of the war, (Evagrius, l. i. c. 17;) but the
extracts which relate to the embassies are the only parts that
have reached our times. The original work was accessible,
however, to the writers from whom we borrow our imperfect
knowledge, Jornandes, Theophanes, Count Marcellinus,
Prosper-Tyro, and the author of the Alexandrian, or Paschal,
Chronicle. M. de Buat (Hist. des Peuples de l’Europe, tom. vii.
c. xv.) has examined the cause, the circumstances, and the
duration of this war; and will not allow it to extend beyond the
year 44.]
19 (return) [ Procopius, de Edificiis, l. 4, c. 5. These
fortresses were afterwards restored, strengthened, and enlarged
by the emperor Justinian, but they were soon destroyed by the
Abares, who succeeded to the power and possessions of the Huns.]
20 (return) [ Septuaginta civitates (says Prosper-Tyro)
depredatione vastatoe. The language of Count Marcellinus is still
more forcible. Pene totam Europam, invasis excisisque civitatibus
atque castellis, conrasit.]
21 (return) [ Tillemont (Hist des Empereurs, tom. vi. p. 106,
107) has paid great attention to this memorable earthquake; which
was felt as far from Constantinople as Antioch and Alexandria,
and is celebrated by all the ecclesiastical writers. In the hands
of a popular preacher, an earthquake is an engine of admirable
effect.]
In all their invasions of the civilized empires of the South, the
Scythian shepherds have been uniformly actuated by a savage and
destructive spirit. The laws of war, that restrain the exercise
of national rapine and murder, are founded on two principles of
substantial interest: the knowledge of the permanent benefits
which may be obtained by a moderate use of conquest; and a just
apprehension, lest the desolation which we inflict on the enemy’s
country may be retaliated on our own. But these considerations of
hope and fear are almost unknown in the pastoral state of
nations. The Huns of Attila may, without injustice, be compared
to the Moguls and Tartars, before their primitive manners were
changed by religion and luxury; and the evidence of Oriental
history may reflect some light on the short and imperfect annals
of Rome. After the Moguls had subdued the northern provinces of
China, it was seriously proposed, not in the hour of victory and
passion, but in calm deliberate council, to exterminate all the
inhabitants of that populous country, that the vacant land might
be converted to the pasture of cattle. The firmness of a Chinese
mandarin, 22 who insinuated some principles of rational policy
into the mind of Zingis, diverted him from the execution of this
horrid design. But in the cities of Asia, which yielded to the
Moguls, the inhuman abuse of the rights of war was exercised with
a regular form of discipline, which may, with equal reason,
though not with equal authority, be imputed to the victorious
Huns. The inhabitants, who had submitted to their discretion,
were ordered to evacuate their houses, and to assemble in some
plain adjacent to the city; where a division was made of the
vanquished into three parts. The first class consisted of the
soldiers of the garrison, and of the young men capable of bearing
arms; and their fate was instantly decided: they were either
enlisted among the Moguls, or they were massacred on the spot by
the troops, who, with pointed spears and bended bows, had formed
a circle round the captive multitude. The second class, composed
of the young and beautiful women, of the artificers of every rank
and profession, and of the more wealthy or honorable citizens,
from whom a private ransom might be expected, was distributed in
equal or proportionable lots. The remainder, whose life or death
was alike useless to the conquerors, were permitted to return to
the city; which, in the mean while, had been stripped of its
valuable furniture; and a tax was imposed on those wretched
inhabitants for the indulgence of breathing their native air.
Such was the behavior of the Moguls, when they were not conscious
of any extraordinary rigor. 23 But the most casual provocation,
the slightest motive of caprice or convenience, often provoked
them to involve a whole people in an indiscriminate massacre; and
the ruin of some flourishing cities was executed with such
unrelenting perseverance, that, according to their own
expression, horses might run, without stumbling, over the ground
where they had once stood. The three great capitals of Khorasan,
Maru, Neisabour, and Herat, were destroyed by the armies of
Zingis; and the exact account which was taken of the slain
amounted to four millions three hundred and forty-seven thousand
persons. 24 Timur, or Tamerlane, was educated in a less barbarous
age, and in the profession of the Mahometan religion; yet, if
Attila equalled the hostile ravages of Tamerlane, 25 either the
Tartar or the Hun might deserve the epithet of the Scourge of
God. 26
22 (return) [ He represented to the emperor of the Moguls that
the four provinces, (Petcheli, Chantong, Chansi, and
Leaotong,)which he already possessed, might annually produce,
under a mild administration, 500,000 ounces of silver, 400,000
measures of rice, and 800,000 pieces of silk. Gaubil, Hist. de la
Dynastie des Mongous, p. 58, 59. Yelut chousay (such was the name
of the mandarin) was a wise and virtuous minister, who saved his
country, and civilized the conquerors. * Note: Compare the life
of this remarkable man, translated from the Chinese by M. Abel
Remusat. Nouveaux Melanges Asiatiques, t. ii. p. 64.—M]
23 (return) [ Particular instances would be endless; but the
curious reader may consult the life of Gengiscan, by Petit de la
Croix, the Histoire des Mongous, and the fifteenth book of the
History of the Huns.]
24 (return) [ At Maru, 1,300,000; at Herat, 1,600,000; at
Neisabour, 1,747,000. D’Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, p. 380,
381. I use the orthography of D’Anville’s maps. It must, however,
be allowed, that the Persians were disposed to exaggerate their
losses and the Moguls to magnify their exploits.]
25 (return) [ Cherefeddin Ali, his servile panegyrist, would
afford us many horrid examples. In his camp before Delhi, Timour
massacred 100,000 Indian prisoners, who had smiled when the army
of their countrymen appeared in sight, (Hist. de Timur Bec, tom.
iii. p. 90.) The people of Ispahan supplied 70,000 human skulls
for the structure of several lofty towers, (id. tom. i. p. 434.)
A similar tax was levied on the revolt of Bagdad, (tom. iii. p.
370;) and the exact account, which Cherefeddin was not able to
procure from the proper officers, is stated by another historian
(Ahmed Arabsiada, tom. ii. p. 175, vera Manger) at 90,000 heads.]
26 (return) [ The ancients, Jornandes, Priscus, &c., are ignorant
of this epithet. The modern Hungarians have imagined, that it was
applied, by a hermit of Gaul, to Attila, who was pleased to
insert it among the titles of his royal dignity. Mascou, ix. 23,
and Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. vi. p. 143.]
Chapter XXXIV: Attila.—Part II.
It may be affirmed, with bolder assurance, that the Huns
depopulated the provinces of the empire, by the number of Roman
subjects whom they led away into captivity. In the hands of a
wise legislator, such an industrious colony might have
contributed to diffuse through the deserts of Scythia the
rudiments of the useful and ornamental arts; but these captives,
who had been taken in war, were accidentally dispersed among the
hordes that obeyed the empire of Attila. The estimate of their
respective value was formed by the simple judgment of
unenlightened and unprejudiced Barbarians. Perhaps they might not
understand the merit of a theologian, profoundly skilled in the
controversies of the Trinity and the Incarnation; yet they
respected the ministers of every religion; and the active zeal of
the Christian missionaries, without approaching the person or the
palace of the monarch, successfully labored in the propagation of
the gospel. 27 The pastoral tribes, who were ignorant of the
distinction of landed property, must have disregarded the use, as
well as the abuse, of civil jurisprudence; and the skill of an
eloquent lawyer could excite only their contempt or their
abhorrence. 28 The perpetual intercourse of the Huns and the
Goths had communicated the familiar knowledge of the two national
dialects; and the Barbarians were ambitious of conversing in
Latin, the military idiom even of the Eastern empire. 29 But they
disdained the language and the sciences of the Greeks; and the
vain sophist, or grave philosopher, who had enjoyed the
flattering applause of the schools, was mortified to find that
his robust servant was a captive of more value and importance
than himself. The mechanic arts were encouraged and esteemed, as
they tended to satisfy the wants of the Huns. An architect in the
service of Onegesius, one of the favorites of Attila, was
employed to construct a bath; but this work was a rare example of
private luxury; and the trades of the smith, the carpenter, the
armorer, were much more adapted to supply a wandering people with
the useful instruments of peace and war. But the merit of the
physician was received with universal favor and respect: the
Barbarians, who despised death, might be apprehensive of disease;
and the haughty conqueror trembled in the presence of a captive,
to whom he ascribed, perhaps, an imaginary power of prolonging or
preserving his life. 30 The Huns might be provoked to insult the
misery of their slaves, over whom they exercised a despotic
command; 31 but their manners were not susceptible of a refined
system of oppression; and the efforts of courage and diligence
were often recompensed by the gift of freedom. The historian
Priscus, whose embassy is a source of curious instruction, was
accosted in the camp of Attila by a stranger, who saluted him in
the Greek language, but whose dress and figure displayed the
appearance of a wealthy Scythian. In the siege of Viminiacum, he
had lost, according to his own account, his fortune and liberty;
he became the slave of Onegesius; but his faithful services,
against the Romans and the Acatzires, had gradually raised him to
the rank of the native Huns; to whom he was attached by the
domestic pledges of a new wife and several children. The spoils
of war had restored and improved his private property; he was
admitted to the table of his former lord; and the apostate Greek
blessed the hour of his captivity, since it had been the
introduction to a happy and independent state; which he held by
the honorable tenure of military service. This reflection
naturally produced a dispute on the advantages and defects of the
Roman government, which was severely arraigned by the apostate,
and defended by Priscus in a prolix and feeble declamation. The
freedman of Onegesius exposed, in true and lively colors, the
vices of a declining empire, of which he had so long been the
victim; the cruel absurdity of the Roman princes, unable to
protect their subjects against the public enemy, unwilling to
trust them with arms for their own defence; the intolerable
weight of taxes, rendered still more oppressive by the intricate
or arbitrary modes of collection; the obscurity of numerous and
contradictory laws; the tedious and expensive forms of judicial
proceedings; the partial administration of justice; and the
universal corruption, which increased the influence of the rich,
and aggravated the misfortunes of the poor. A sentiment of
patriotic sympathy was at length revived in the breast of the
fortunate exile; and he lamented, with a flood of tears, the
guilt or weakness of those magistrates who had perverted the
wisest and most salutary institutions. 32
27 (return) [ The missionaries of St. Chrysostom had converted
great numbers of the Scythians, who dwelt beyond the Danube in
tents and wagons. Theodoret, l. v. c. 31. Photius, p. 1517. The
Mahometans, the Nestorians, and the Latin Christians, thought
themselves secure of gaining the sons and grandsons of Zingis,
who treated the rival missionaries with impartial favor.]
28 (return) [ The Germans, who exterminated Varus and his
legions, had been particularly offended with the Roman laws and
lawyers. One of the Barbarians, after the effectual precautions
of cutting out the tongue of an advocate, and sewing up his
mouth, observed, with much satisfaction, that the viper could no
longer hiss. Florus, iv. 12.]
29 (return) [ Priscus, p. 59. It should seem that the Huns
preferred the Gothic and Latin languages to their own; which was
probably a harsh and barren idiom.]
30 (return) [ Philip de Comines, in his admirable picture of the
last moments of Lewis XI., (Mémoires, l. vi. c. 12,) represents
the insolence of his physician, who, in five months, extorted
54,000 crowns, and a rich bishopric, from the stern, avaricious
tyrant.]
31 (return) [ Priscus (p. 61) extols the equity of the Roman
laws, which protected the life of a slave. Occidere solent (says
Tacitus of the Germans) non disciplina et severitate, sed impetu
et ira, ut inimicum, nisi quod impune. De Moribus Germ. c. 25.
The Heruli, who were the subjects of Attila, claimed, and
exercised, the power of life and death over their slaves. See a
remarkable instance in the second book of Agathias]
32 (return) [ See the whole conversation in Priscus, p. 59-62.]
The timid or selfish policy of the Western Romans had abandoned
the Eastern empire to the Huns. 33 The loss of armies, and the
want of discipline or virtue, were not supplied by the personal
character of the monarch. Theodosius might still affect the
style, as well as the title, of Invincible Augustus; but he was
reduced to solicit the clemency of Attila, who imperiously
dictated these harsh and humiliating conditions of peace. I. The
emperor of the East resigned, by an express or tacit convention,
an extensive and important territory, which stretched along the
southern banks of the Danube, from Singidunum, or Belgrade, as
far as Novae, in the diocese of Thrace. The breadth was defined
by the vague computation of fifteen 3311 days’ journey; but, from
the proposal of Attila to remove the situation of the national
market, it soon appeared, that he comprehended the ruined city of
Naissus within the limits of his dominions. II. The king of the
Huns required and obtained, that his tribute or subsidy should be
augmented from seven hundred pounds of gold to the annual sum of
two thousand one hundred; and he stipulated the immediate payment
of six thousand pounds of gold, to defray the expenses, or to
expiate the guilt, of the war. One might imagine, that such a
demand, which scarcely equalled the measure of private wealth,
would have been readily discharged by the opulent empire of the
East; and the public distress affords a remarkable proof of the
impoverished, or at least of the disorderly, state of the
finances. A large proportion of the taxes extorted from the
people was detained and intercepted in their passage, though the
foulest channels, to the treasury of Constantinople. The revenue
was dissipated by Theodosius and his favorites in wasteful and
profuse luxury; which was disguised by the names of Imperial
magnificence, or Christian charity. The immediate supplies had
been exhausted by the unforeseen necessity of military
preparations. A personal contribution, rigorously, but
capriciously, imposed on the members of the senatorian order, was
the only expedient that could disarm, without loss of time, the
impatient avarice of Attila; and the poverty of the nobles
compelled them to adopt the scandalous resource of exposing to
public auction the jewels of their wives, and the hereditary
ornaments of their palaces. 34 III. The king of the Huns appears
to have established, as a principle of national jurisprudence,
that he could never lose the property, which he had once
acquired, in the persons who had yielded either a voluntary, or
reluctant, submission to his authority. From this principle he
concluded, and the conclusions of Attila were irrevocable laws,
that the Huns, who had been taken prisoner in war, should be
released without delay, and without ransom; that every Roman
captive, who had presumed to escape, should purchase his right to
freedom at the price of twelve pieces of gold; and that all the
Barbarians, who had deserted the standard of Attila, should be
restored, without any promise or stipulation of pardon.
In the execution of this cruel and ignominious treaty, the
Imperial officers were forced to massacre several loyal and noble
deserters, who refused to devote themselves to certain death; and
the Romans forfeited all reasonable claims to the friendship of
any Scythian people, by this public confession, that they were
destitute either of faith, or power, to protect the suppliant,
who had embraced the throne of Theodosius. 35
33 (return) [ Nova iterum Orienti assurgit ruina... quum nulla ab
Cocidentalibus ferrentur auxilia. Prosper Tyro composed his
Chronicle in the West; and his observation implies a censure.]
3311 (return) [ Five in the last edition of Priscus. Niebuhr,
Byz. Hist. p 147—M]
34 (return) [ According to the description, or rather invective,
of Chrysostom, an auction of Byzantine luxury must have been very
productive. Every wealthy house possessed a semicircular table of
massy silver such as two men could scarcely lift, a vase of solid
gold of the weight of forty pounds, cups, dishes, of the same
metal, &c.]
35 (return) [ The articles of the treaty, expressed without much
order or precision, may be found in Priscus, (p. 34, 35, 36, 37,
53, &c.) Count Marcellinus dispenses some comfort, by observing,
1. That Attila himself solicited the peace and presents, which he
had formerly refused; and, 2dly, That, about the same time, the
ambassadors of India presented a fine large tame tiger to the
emperor Theodosius.]
The firmness of a single town, so obscure, that, except on this
occasion, it has never been mentioned by any historian or
geographer, exposed the disgrace of the emperor and empire.
Azimus, or Azimuntium, a small city of Thrace on the Illyrian
borders, 36 had been distinguished by the martial spirit of its
youth, the skill and reputation of the leaders whom they had
chosen, and their daring exploits against the innumerable host of
the Barbarians. Instead of tamely expecting their approach, the
Azimuntines attacked, in frequent and successful sallies, the
troops of the Huns, who gradually declined the dangerous
neighborhood, rescued from their hands the spoil and the
captives, and recruited their domestic force by the voluntary
association of fugitives and deserters. After the conclusion of
the treaty, Attila still menaced the empire with implacable war,
unless the Azimuntines were persuaded, or compelled, to comply
with the conditions which their sovereign had accepted. The
ministers of Theodosius confessed with shame, and with truth,
that they no longer possessed any authority over a society of
men, who so bravely asserted their natural independence; and the
king of the Huns condescended to negotiate an equal exchange with
the citizens of Azimus. They demanded the restitution of some
shepherds, who, with their cattle, had been accidentally
surprised. A strict, though fruitless, inquiry was allowed: but
the Huns were obliged to swear, that they did not detain any
prisoners belonging to the city, before they could recover two
surviving countrymen, whom the Azimuntines had reserved as
pledges for the safety of their lost companions. Attila, on his
side, was satisfied, and deceived, by their solemn asseveration,
that the rest of the captives had been put to the sword; and that
it was their constant practice, immediately to dismiss the Romans
and the deserters, who had obtained the security of the public
faith. This prudent and officious dissimulation may be condemned,
or excused, by the casuists, as they incline to the rigid decree
of St. Augustin, or to the milder sentiment of St. Jerom and St.
Chrysostom: but every soldier, every statesman, must acknowledge,
that, if the race of the Azimuntines had been encouraged and
multiplied, the Barbarians would have ceased to trample on the
majesty of the empire. 37
36 (return) [ Priscus, p. 35, 36. Among the hundred and
eighty-two forts, or castles, of Thrace, enumerated by Procopius,
(de Edificiis, l. iv. c. xi. tom. ii. p. 92, edit. Paris,) there
is one of the name of Esimontou, whose position is doubtfully
marked, in the neighborhood of Anchialus and the Euxine Sea. The
name and walls of Azimuntium might subsist till the reign of
Justinian; but the race of its brave defenders had been carefully
extirpated by the jealousy of the Roman princes]
37 (return) [ The peevish dispute of St. Jerom and St. Augustin,
who labored, by different expedients, to reconcile the seeming
quarrel of the two apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, depends on
the solution of an important question, (Middleton’s Works, vol.
ii. p. 5-20,) which has been frequently agitated by Catholic and
Protestant divines, and even by lawyers and philosophers of every
age.]
It would have been strange, indeed, if Theodosius had purchased,
by the loss of honor, a secure and solid tranquillity, or if his
tameness had not invited the repetition of injuries. The
Byzantine court was insulted by five or six successive embassies;
38 and the ministers of Attila were uniformly instructed to press
the tardy or imperfect execution of the last treaty; to produce
the names of fugitives and deserters, who were still protected by
the empire; and to declare, with seeming moderation, that, unless
their sovereign obtained complete and immediate satisfaction, it
would be impossible for him, were it even his wish, to check the
resentment of his warlike tribes. Besides the motives of pride
and interest, which might prompt the king of the Huns to continue
this train of negotiation, he was influenced by the less
honorable view of enriching his favorites at the expense of his
enemies. The Imperial treasury was exhausted, to procure the
friendly offices of the ambassadors and their principal
attendants, whose favorable report might conduce to the
maintenance of peace. The Barbarian monarch was flattered by the
liberal reception of his ministers; he computed, with pleasure,
the value and splendor of their gifts, rigorously exacted the
performance of every promise which would contribute to their
private emolument, and treated as an important business of state
the marriage of his secretary Constantius. 39 That Gallic
adventurer, who was recommended by Ætius to the king of the
Huns, had engaged his service to the ministers of Constantinople,
for the stipulated reward of a wealthy and noble wife; and the
daughter of Count Saturninus was chosen to discharge the
obligations of her country. The reluctance of the victim, some
domestic troubles, and the unjust confiscation of her fortune,
cooled the ardor of her interested lover; but he still demanded,
in the name of Attila, an equivalent alliance; and, after many
ambiguous delays and excuses, the Byzantine court was compelled
to sacrifice to this insolent stranger the widow of Armatius,
whose birth, opulence, and beauty, placed her in the most
illustrious rank of the Roman matrons. For these importunate and
oppressive embassies, Attila claimed a suitable return: he
weighed, with suspicious pride, the character and station of the
Imperial envoys; but he condescended to promise that he would
advance as far as Sardica to receive any ministers who had been
invested with the consular dignity. The council of Theodosius
eluded this proposal, by representing the desolate and ruined
condition of Sardica, and even ventured to insinuate that every
officer of the army or household was qualified to treat with the
most powerful princes of Scythia. Maximin, 40 a respectable
courtier, whose abilities had been long exercised in civil and
military employments, accepted, with reluctance, the troublesome,
and perhaps dangerous, commission of reconciling the angry spirit
of the king of the Huns. His friend, the historian Priscus, 41
embraced the opportunity of observing the Barbarian hero in the
peaceful and domestic scenes of life: but the secret of the
embassy, a fatal and guilty secret, was intrusted only to the
interpreter Vigilius. The two last ambassadors of the Huns,
Orestes, a noble subject of the Pannonian province, and Edecon, a
valiant chieftain of the tribe of the Scyrri, returned at the
same time from Constantinople to the royal camp. Their obscure
names were afterwards illustrated by the extraordinary fortune
and the contrast of their sons: the two servants of Attila became
the fathers of the last Roman emperor of the West, and of the
first Barbarian king of Italy.
38 (return) [ Montesquieu (Considerations sur la Grandeur, &c. c.
xix.) has delineated, with a bold and easy pencil, some of the
most striking circumstances of the pride of Attila, and the
disgrace of the Romans. He deserves the praise of having read the
Fragments of Priscus, which have been too much disregarded.]
39 (return) [ See Priscus, p. 69, 71, 72, &c. I would fain
believe, that this adventurer was afterwards crucified by the
order of Attila, on a suspicion of treasonable practices; but
Priscus (p. 57) has too plainly distinguished two persons of the
name of Constantius, who, from the similar events of their lives,
might have been easily confounded.]
40 (return) [ In the Persian treaty, concluded in the year 422,
the wise and eloquent Maximin had been the assessor of
Ardaburius, (Socrates, l. vii. c. 20.) When Marcian ascended the
throne, the office of Great Chamberlain was bestowed on Maximin,
who is ranked, in the public edict, among the four principal
ministers of state, (Novell. ad Calc. Cod. Theod. p. 31.) He
executed a civil and military commission in the Eastern
provinces; and his death was lamented by the savages of
Æthiopia, whose incursions he had repressed. See Priscus, p. 40,
41.]
41 (return) [ Priscus was a native of Panium in Thrace, and
deserved, by his eloquence, an honorable place among the sophists
of the age. His Byzantine history, which related to his own
times, was comprised in seven books. See Fabricius, Bibliot.
Graec. tom. vi. p. 235, 236. Notwithstanding the charitable
judgment of the critics, I suspect that Priscus was a Pagan. *
Note: Niebuhr concurs in this opinion. Life of Priscus in the new
edition of the Byzantine historians.—M]
The ambassadors, who were followed by a numerous train of men and
horses, made their first halt at Sardica, at the distance of
three hundred and fifty miles, or thirteen days’ journey, from
Constantinople. As the remains of Sardica were still included
within the limits of the empire, it was incumbent on the Romans
to exercise the duties of hospitality. They provided, with the
assistance of the provincials, a sufficient number of sheep and
oxen, and invited the Huns to a splendid, or at least, a
plentiful supper. But the harmony of the entertainment was soon
disturbed by mutual prejudice and indiscretion. The greatness of
the emperor and the empire was warmly maintained by their
ministers; the Huns, with equal ardor, asserted the superiority
of their victorious monarch: the dispute was inflamed by the rash
and unseasonable flattery of Vigilius, who passionately rejected
the comparison of a mere mortal with the divine Theodosius; and
it was with extreme difficulty that Maximin and Priscus were able
to divert the conversation, or to soothe the angry minds, of the
Barbarians. When they rose from table, the Imperial ambassador
presented Edecon and Orestes with rich gifts of silk robes and
Indian pearls, which they thankfully accepted. Yet Orestes could
not forbear insinuating that he had not always been treated with
such respect and liberality: and the offensive distinction which
was implied, between his civil office and the hereditary rank of
his colleague seems to have made Edecon a doubtful friend, and
Orestes an irreconcilable enemy. After this entertainment, they
travelled about one hundred miles from Sardica to Naissus. That
flourishing city, which has given birth to the great Constantine,
was levelled with the ground: the inhabitants were destroyed or
dispersed; and the appearance of some sick persons, who were
still permitted to exist among the ruins of the churches, served
only to increase the horror of the prospect. The surface of the
country was covered with the bones of the slain; and the
ambassadors, who directed their course to the north-west, were
obliged to pass the hills of modern Servia, before they descended
into the flat and marshy grounds which are terminated by the
Danube. The Huns were masters of the great river: their
navigation was performed in large canoes, hollowed out of the
trunk of a single tree; the ministers of Theodosius were safely
landed on the opposite bank; and their Barbarian associates
immediately hastened to the camp of Attila, which was equally
prepared for the amusements of hunting or of war. No sooner had
Maximin advanced about two miles 4111 from the Danube, than he
began to experience the fastidious insolence of the conqueror. He
was sternly forbid to pitch his tents in a pleasant valley, lest
he should infringe the distant awe that was due to the royal
mansion. 4112 The ministers of Attila pressed them to communicate
the business, and the instructions, which he reserved for the ear
of their sovereign. When Maximin temperately urged the contrary
practice of nations, he was still more confounded to find that
the resolutions of the Sacred Consistory, those secrets (says
Priscus) which should not be revealed to the gods themselves, had
been treacherously disclosed to the public enemy. On his refusal
to comply with such ignominious terms, the Imperial envoy was
commanded instantly to depart; the order was recalled; it was
again repeated; and the Huns renewed their ineffectual attempts
to subdue the patient firmness of Maximin. At length, by the
intercession of Scotta, the brother of Onegesius, whose
friendship had been purchased by a liberal gift, he was admitted
to the royal presence; but, instead of obtaining a decisive
answer, he was compelled to undertake a remote journey towards
the north, that Attila might enjoy the proud satisfaction of
receiving, in the same camp, the ambassadors of the Eastern and
Western empires. His journey was regulated by the guides, who
obliged him to halt, to hasten his march, or to deviate from the
common road, as it best suited the convenience of the king. The
Romans, who traversed the plains of Hungary, suppose that they
passed several navigable rivers, either in canoes or portable
boats; but there is reason to suspect that the winding stream of
the Teyss, or Tibiscus, might present itself in different places
under different names. From the contiguous villages they received
a plentiful and regular supply of provisions; mead instead of
wine, millet in the place of bread, and a certain liquor named
camus, which according to the report of Priscus, was distilled
from barley. 42 Such fare might appear coarse and indelicate to
men who had tasted the luxury of Constantinople; but, in their
accidental distress, they were relieved by the gentleness and
hospitality of the same Barbarians, so terrible and so merciless
in war. The ambassadors had encamped on the edge of a large
morass. A violent tempest of wind and rain, of thunder and
lightning, overturned their tents, immersed their baggage and
furniture in the water, and scattered their retinue, who wandered
in the darkness of the night, uncertain of their road, and
apprehensive of some unknown danger, till they awakened by their
cries the inhabitants of a neighboring village, the property of
the widow of Bleda. A bright illumination, and, in a few moments,
a comfortable fire of reeds, was kindled by their officious
benevolence; the wants, and even the desires, of the Romans were
liberally satisfied; and they seem to have been embarrassed by
the singular politeness of Bleda’s widow, who added to her other
favors the gift, or at least the loan, of a sufficient number of
beautiful and obsequious damsels. The sunshine of the succeeding
day was dedicated to repose, to collect and dry the baggage, and
to the refreshment of the men and horses: but, in the evening,
before they pursued their journey, the ambassadors expressed
their gratitude to the bounteous lady of the village, by a very
acceptable present of silver cups, red fleeces, dried fruits, and
Indian pepper. Soon after this adventure, they rejoined the march
of Attila, from whom they had been separated about six days, and
slowly proceeded to the capital of an empire, which did not
contain, in the space of several thousand miles, a single city.
4111 (return) [ 70 stadia. Priscus, 173.—M.]
4112 (return) [ He was forbidden to pitch his tents on an
eminence because Attila’s were below on the plain. Ibid.—M.]
42 (return) [ The Huns themselves still continued to despise the
labors of agriculture: they abused the privilege of a victorious
nation; and the Goths, their industrious subjects, who cultivated
the earth, dreaded their neighborhood, like that of so many
ravenous wolves, (Priscus, p. 45.) In the same manner the Sarts
and Tadgics provide for their own subsistence, and for that of
the Usbec Tartars, their lazy and rapacious sovereigns. See
Genealogical History of the Tartars, p. 423 455, &c.]
As far as we may ascertain the vague and obscure geography of
Priscus, this capital appears to have been seated between the
Danube, the Teyss, and the Carpathian hills, in the plains of
Upper Hungary, and most probably in the neighborhood of Jezberin,
Agria, or Tokay. 43 In its origin it could be no more than an
accidental camp, which, by the long and frequent residence of
Attila, had insensibly swelled into a huge village, for the
reception of his court, of the troops who followed his person,
and of the various multitude of idle or industrious slaves and
retainers. 44 The baths, constructed by Onegesius, were the only
edifice of stone; the materials had been transported from
Pannonia; and since the adjacent country was destitute even of
large timber, it may be presumed, that the meaner habitations of
the royal village consisted of straw, or mud, or of canvass. The
wooden houses of the more illustrious Huns were built and adorned
with rude magnificence, according to the rank, the fortune, or
the taste of the proprietors. They seem to have been distributed
with some degree of order and symmetry; and each spot became more
honorable as it approached the person of the sovereign. The
palace of Attila, which surpassed all other houses in his
dominions, was built entirely of wood, and covered an ample space
of ground. The outward enclosure was a lofty wall, or palisade,
of smooth square timber, intersected with high towers, but
intended rather for ornament than defence. This wall, which seems
to have encircled the declivity of a hill, comprehended a great
variety of wooden edifices, adapted to the uses of royalty.
A separate house was assigned to each of the numerous wives of
Attila; and, instead of the rigid and illiberal confinement
imposed by Asiatic jealousy they politely admitted the Roman
ambassadors to their presence, their table, and even to the
freedom of an innocent embrace. When Maximin offered his presents
to Cerca, 4411 the principal queen, he admired the singular
architecture on her mansion, the height of the round columns, the
size and beauty of the wood, which was curiously shaped or turned
or polished or carved; and his attentive eye was able to discover
some taste in the ornaments and some regularity in the
proportions. After passing through the guards, who watched before
the gate, the ambassadors were introduced into the private
apartment of Cerca. The wife of Attila received their visit
sitting, or rather lying, on a soft couch; the floor was covered
with a carpet; the domestics formed a circle round the queen; and
her damsels, seated on the ground, were employed in working the
variegated embroidery which adorned the dress of the Barbaric
warriors. The Huns were ambitious of displaying those riches
which were the fruit and evidence of their victories: the
trappings of their horses, their swords, and even their shoes,
were studded with gold and precious stones; and their tables were
profusely spread with plates, and goblets, and vases of gold and
silver, which had been fashioned by the labor of Grecian artists.
The monarch alone assumed the superior pride of still adhering to
the simplicity of his Scythian ancestors. 45 The dress of Attila,
his arms, and the furniture of his horse, were plain, without
ornament, and of a single color. The royal table was served in
wooden cups and platters; flesh was his only food; and the
conqueror of the North never tasted the luxury of bread.
43 (return) [ It is evident that Priscus passed the Danube and
the Teyss, and that he did not reach the foot of the Carpathian
hills. Agria, Tokay, and Jazberin, are situated in the plains
circumscribed by this definition. M. de Buat (Histoire des
Peuples, &c., tom. vii. p. 461) has chosen Tokay; Otrokosci, (p.
180, apud Mascou, ix. 23,) a learned Hungarian, has preferred
Jazberin, a place about thirty-six miles westward of Buda and the
Danube. * Note: M. St. Martin considers the narrative of Priscus,
the only authority of M. de Buat and of Gibbon, too vague to fix
the position of Attila’s camp. “It is worthy of remark, that in
the Hungarian traditions collected by Thwrocz, l. 2, c. 17,
precisely on the left branch of the Danube, where Attila’s
residence was situated, in the same parallel stands the present
city of Buda, in Hungarian Buduvur. It is for this reason that
this city has retained for a long time among the Germans of
Hungary the name of Etzelnburgh or Etzela-burgh, i. e., the city
of Attila. The distance of Buda from the place where Priscus
crossed the Danube, on his way from Naissus, is equal to that
which he traversed to reach the residence of the king of the
Huns. I see no good reason for not acceding to the relations of
the Hungarian historians.” St. Martin, vi. 191.—M]
44 (return) [ The royal village of Attila may be compared to the
city of Karacorum, the residence of the successors of Zingis;
which, though it appears to have been a more stable habitation,
did not equal the size or splendor of the town and abbey of St.
Denys, in the 13th century. (See Rubruquis, in the Histoire
Generale des Voyages, tom. vii p. 286.) The camp of Aurengzebe,
as it is so agreeably described by Bernier, (tom. ii. p.
217-235,) blended the manners of Scythia with the magnificence
and luxury of Hindostan.]
4411 (return) [ The name of this queen occurs three times in
Priscus, and always in a different form—Cerca, Creca, and Rheca.
The Scandinavian poets have preserved her memory under the name
of Herkia. St. Martin, vi. 192.—M.]
45 (return) [ When the Moguls displayed the spoils of Asia, in
the diet of Toncat, the throne of Zingis was still covered with
the original black felt carpet, on which he had been seated, when
he was raised to the command of his warlike countrymen. See Vie
de Gengiscan, v. c. 9.]
When Attila first gave audience to the Roman ambassadors on the
banks of the Danube, his tent was encompassed with a formidable
guard. The monarch himself was seated in a wooden chair. His
stern countenance, angry gestures, and impatient tone, astonished
the firmness of Maximin; but Vigilius had more reason to tremble,
since he distinctly understood the menace, that if Attila did not
respect the law of nations, he would nail the deceitful
interpreter to the cross. and leave his body to the vultures. The
Barbarian condescended, by producing an accurate list, to expose
the bold falsehood of Vigilius, who had affirmed that no more
than seventeen deserters could be found. But he arrogantly
declared, that he apprehended only the disgrace of contending
with his fugitive slaves; since he despised their impotent
efforts to defend the provinces which Theodosius had intrusted to
their arms: “For what fortress,” (added Attila,) “what city, in
the wide extent of the Roman empire, can hope to exist, secure
and impregnable, if it is our pleasure that it should be erased
from the earth?” He dismissed, however, the interpreter, who
returned to Constantinople with his peremptory demand of more
complete restitution, and a more splendid embassy.
His anger gradually subsided, and his domestic satisfaction in a
marriage which he celebrated on the road with the daughter of
Eslam, 4511 might perhaps contribute to mollify the native
fierceness of his temper. The entrance of Attila into the royal
village was marked by a very singular ceremony. A numerous troop
of women came out to meet their hero and their king. They marched
before him, distributed into long and regular files; the
intervals between the files were filled by white veils of thin
linen, which the women on either side bore aloft in their hands,
and which formed a canopy for a chorus of young virgins, who
chanted hymns and songs in the Scythian language. The wife of his
favorite Onegesius, with a train of female attendants, saluted
Attila at the door of her own house, on his way to the palace;
and offered, according to the custom of the country, her
respectful homage, by entreating him to taste the wine and meat
which she had prepared for his reception. As soon as the monarch
had graciously accepted her hospitable gift, his domestics lifted
a small silver table to a convenient height, as he sat on
horseback; and Attila, when he had touched the goblet with his
lips, again saluted the wife of Onegesius, and continued his
march. During his residence at the seat of empire, his hours were
not wasted in the recluse idleness of a seraglio; and the king of
the Huns could maintain his superior dignity, without concealing
his person from the public view. He frequently assembled his
council, and gave audience to the ambassadors of the nations; and
his people might appeal to the supreme tribunal, which he held at
stated times, and, according to the Eastern custom, before the
principal gate of his wooden palace. The Romans, both of the East
and of the West, were twice invited to the banquets, where Attila
feasted with the princes and nobles of Scythia. Maximin and his
colleagues were stopped on the threshold, till they had made a
devout libation to the health and prosperity of the king of the
Huns; and were conducted, after this ceremony, to their
respective seats in a spacious hall. The royal table and couch,
covered with carpets and fine linen, was raised by several steps
in the midst of the hall; and a son, an uncle, or perhaps a
favorite king, were admitted to share the simple and homely
repast of Attila. Two lines of small tables, each of which
contained three or four guests, were ranged in order on either
hand; the right was esteemed the most honorable, but the Romans
ingenuously confess, that they were placed on the left; and that
Beric, an unknown chieftain, most probably of the Gothic race,
preceded the representatives of Theodosius and Valentinian. The
Barbarian monarch received from his cup-bearer a goblet filled
with wine, and courteously drank to the health of the most
distinguished guest; who rose from his seat, and expressed, in
the same manner, his loyal and respectful vows. This ceremony was
successively performed for all, or at least for the illustrious
persons of the assembly; and a considerable time must have been
consumed, since it was thrice repeated as each course or service
was placed on the table. But the wine still remained after the
meat had been removed; and the Huns continued to indulge their
intemperance long after the sober and decent ambassadors of the
two empires had withdrawn themselves from the nocturnal banquet.
Yet before they retired, they enjoyed a singular opportunity of
observing the manners of the nation in their convivial
amusements. Two Scythians stood before the couch of Attila, and
recited the verses which they had composed, to celebrate his
valor and his victories. 4512 A profound silence prevailed in the
hall; and the attention of the guests was captivated by the vocal
harmony, which revived and perpetuated the memory of their own
exploits; a martial ardor flashed from the eyes of the warriors,
who were impatient for battle; and the tears of the old men
expressed their generous despair, that they could no longer
partake the danger and glory of the field. 46 This entertainment,
which might be considered as a school of military virtue, was
succeeded by a farce, that debased the dignity of human nature. A
Moorish and a Scythian buffoon successively excited the mirth of
the rude spectators, by their deformed figure, ridiculous dress,
antic gestures, absurd speeches, and the strange, unintelligible
confusion of the Latin, the Gothic, and the Hunnic languages; and
the hall resounded with loud and licentious peals of laughter. In
the midst of this intemperate riot, Attila alone, without a
change of countenance, maintained his steadfast and inflexible
gravity; which was never relaxed, except on the entrance of
Irnac, the youngest of his sons: he embraced the boy with a smile
of paternal tenderness, gently pinched him by the cheek, and
betrayed a partial affection, which was justified by the
assurance of his prophets, that Irnac would be the future support
of his family and empire. Two days afterwards, the ambassadors
received a second invitation; and they had reason to praise the
politeness, as well as the hospitality, of Attila. The king of
the Huns held a long and familiar conversation with Maximin; but
his civility was interrupted by rude expressions and haughty
reproaches; and he was provoked, by a motive of interest, to
support, with unbecoming zeal, the private claims of his
secretary Constantius.
“The emperor” (said Attila) “has long promised him a rich wife:
Constantius must not be disappointed; nor should a Roman emperor
deserve the name of liar.” On the third day, the ambassadors were
dismissed; the freedom of several captives was granted, for a
moderate ransom, to their pressing entreaties; and, besides the
royal presents, they were permitted to accept from each of the
Scythian nobles the honorable and useful gift of a horse. Maximin
returned, by the same road, to Constantinople; and though he was
involved in an accidental dispute with Beric, the new ambassador
of Attila, he flattered himself that he had contributed, by the
laborious journey, to confirm the peace and alliance of the two
nations.
4511 (return) [ Was this his own daughter, or the daughter of a
person named Escam? (Gibbon has written incorrectly Eslam, an
unknown name. The officer of Attila, called Eslas.) In either
case the construction is imperfect: a good Greek writer would
have introduced an article to determine the sense. Nor is it
quite clear, whether Scythian usage is adduced to excuse the
polygamy, or a marriage, which would be considered incestuous in
other countries. The Latin version has carefully preserved the
ambiguity, filiam Escam uxorem. I am not inclined to construe it
‘his own daughter’ though I have too little confidence in the
uniformity of the grammatical idioms of the Byzantines (though
Priscus is one of the best) to express myself without
hesitation.—M.]
4512 (return) [ This passage is remarkable from the connection of
the name of Attila with that extraordinary cycle of poetry, which
is found in different forms in almost all the Teutonic
languages.]
A Latin poem, de prima expeditione Attilæ, Regis Hunnorum, in
Gallias, was published in the year 1780, by Fischer at Leipsic.
It contains, with the continuation, 1452 lines. It abounds in
metrical faults, but is occasionally not without some rude spirit
and some copiousness of fancy in the variation of the
circumstances in the different combats of the hero Walther,
prince of Aquitania. It contains little which can be supposed
historical, and still less which is characteristic concerning
Attila. It relates to a first expedition of Attila into Europe
which cannot be traced in history, during which the kings of the
Franks, of the Burgundians, and of Aquitaine, submit themselves,
and give hostages to Attila: the king of the Franks, a personage
who seems the same with the Hagen of Teutonic romance; the king
of Burgundy, his daughter Heldgund; the king of Aquitaine, his
son Walther. The main subject of the poem is the escape of
Walther and Heldgund from the camp of Attila, and the combat
between Walther and Gunthar, king of the Franks. with his twelve
peers, among whom is Hagen. Walther had been betrayed while he
passed through Worms, the city of the Frankish king, by paying
for his ferry over the Rhine with some strange fish, which he had
caught during his flight, and which were unknown in the waters of
the Rhine. Gunthar was desirous of plundering him of the
treasure, which Walther had carried off from the camp of Attila.
The author of this poem is unknown, nor can I, on the vague and
rather doubtful allusion to Thule, as Iceland, venture to assign
its date. It was, evidently, recited in a monastery, as appears
by the first line; and no doubt composed there. The faults of
metre would point out a late date; and it may have been formed
upon some local tradition, as Walther, the hero, seems to have
turned monk.
This poem, however, in its character and its incidents, bears no
relation to the Teutonic cycle, of which the Nibelungen Lied is
the most complete form. In this, in the Heldenbuch, in some of
the Danish Sagas. in countess lays and ballads in all the
dialects of Scandinavia, appears King Etzel (Attila) in strife
with the Burgundians and the Franks. With these appears, by a
poetic anachronism, Dietrich of Berne. (Theodoric of Verona,) the
celebrated Ostrogothic king; and many other very singular
coincidences of historic names, which appear in the poems. (See
Lachman Kritik der Sage in his volume of various readings to the
Nibelungen; Berlin, 1836, p. 336.)
Chapter XXXIV: Attila.—Part III.
I must acknowledge myself unable to form any satisfactory theory
as to the connection of these poems with the history of the time,
or the period, from which they may date their origin;
notwithstanding the laborious investigations and critical
sagacity of the Schlegels, the Grimms, of P. E. Muller and
Lachman, and a whole host of German critics and antiquaries; not
to omit our own countryman, Mr. Herbert, whose theory concerning
Attila is certainly neither deficient in boldness nor
originality. I conceive the only way to obtain any thing like a
clear conception on this point would be what Lachman has begun,
(see above,) patiently to collect and compare the various forms
which the traditions have assumed, without any preconceived,
either mythical or poetical, theory, and, if possible, to
discover the original basis of the whole rich and fantastic
legend. One point, which to me is strongly in favor of the
antiquity of this poetic cycle, is, that the manners are so
clearly anterior to chivalry, and to the influence exercised on
the poetic literature of Europe by the chivalrous poems and
romances. I think I find some traces of that influence in the
Latin poem, though strained through the imagination of a monk.
The English reader will find an amusing account of the German
Nibelungen and Heldenbuch, and of some of the Scandinavian Sagas,
in the volume of Northern Antiquities published by Weber, the
friend of Sir Walter Scott. Scott himself contributed a
considerable, no doubt far the most valuable, part to the work.
4612 4712
See also the various German editions of the Nibelungen, to which
Lachman, with true German perseverance, has compiled a thick
volume of various readings; the Heldenbuch, the old Danish poems
by Grimm, the Eddas, &c. Herbert’s Attila, p. 510, et seq.—M.]
46 (return) [ If we may believe Plutarch, (in Demetrio, tom. v.
p. 24,) it was the custom of the Scythians, when they indulged in
the pleasures of the table, to awaken their languid courage by
the martial harmony of twanging their bow-strings.]
4612 (return) [ The Scythian was an idiot or lunatic; the Moor a
regular buffoon—M.]
4712 (return) [ The curious narrative of this embassy, which
required few observations, and was not susceptible of any
collateral evidence, may be found in Priscus, p. 49-70. But I
have not confined myself to the same order; and I had previously
extracted the historical circumstances, which were less
intimately connected with the journey, and business, of the Roman
ambassadors.]
But the Roman ambassador was ignorant of the treacherous design,
which had been concealed under the mask of the public faith. The
surprise and satisfaction of Edecon, when he contemplated the
splendor of Constantinople, had encouraged the interpreter
Vigilius to procure for him a secret interview with the eunuch
Chrysaphius, 48 who governed the emperor and the empire. After
some previous conversation, and a mutual oath of secrecy, the
eunuch, who had not, from his own feelings or experience, imbibed
any exalted notions of ministerial virtue, ventured to propose
the death of Attila, as an important service, by which Edecon
might deserve a liberal share of the wealth and luxury which he
admired. The ambassador of the Huns listened to the tempting
offer; and professed, with apparent zeal, his ability, as well as
readiness, to execute the bloody deed; the design was
communicated to the master of the offices, and the devout
Theodosius consented to the assassination of his invincible
enemy. But this perfidious conspiracy was defeated by the
dissimulation, or the repentance, of Edecon; and though he might
exaggerate his inward abhorrence for the treason, which he seemed
to approve, he dexterously assumed the merit of an early and
voluntary confession. If we now review the embassy of Maximin,
and the behavior of Attila, we must applaud the Barbarian, who
respected the laws of hospitality, and generously entertained and
dismissed the minister of a prince who had conspired against his
life. But the rashness of Vigilius will appear still more
extraordinary, since he returned, conscious of his guilt and
danger, to the royal camp, accompanied by his son, and carrying
with him a weighty purse of gold, which the favorite eunuch had
furnished, to satisfy the demands of Edecon, and to corrupt the
fidelity of the guards. The interpreter was instantly seized, and
dragged before the tribunal of Attila, where he asserted his
innocence with specious firmness, till the threat of inflicting
instant death on his son extorted from him a sincere discovery of
the criminal transaction. Under the name of ransom, or
confiscation, the rapacious king of the Huns accepted two hundred
pounds of gold for the life of a traitor, whom he disdained to
punish. He pointed his just indignation against a nobler object.
His ambassadors, Eslaw and Orestes, were immediately despatched
to Constantinople, with a peremptory instruction, which it was
much safer for them to execute than to disobey. They boldly
entered the Imperial presence, with the fatal purse hanging down
from the neck of Orestes; who interrogated the eunuch
Chrysaphius, as he stood beside the throne, whether he recognized
the evidence of his guilt. But the office of reproof was reserved
for the superior dignity of his colleague Eslaw, who gravely
addressed the emperor of the East in the following words:
“Theodosius is the son of an illustrious and respectable parent:
Attila likewise is descended from a noble race; and he has
supported, by his actions, the dignity which he inherited from
his father Mundzuk. But Theodosius has forfeited his paternal
honors, and, by consenting to pay tribute has degraded himself to
the condition of a slave. It is therefore just, that he should
reverence the man whom fortune and merit have placed above him;
instead of attempting, like a wicked slave, clandestinely to
conspire against his master.” The son of Arcadius, who was
accustomed only to the voice of flattery, heard with astonishment
the severe language of truth: he blushed and trembled; nor did he
presume directly to refuse the head of Chrysaphius, which Eslaw
and Orestes were instructed to demand. A solemn embassy, armed
with full powers and magnificent gifts, was hastily sent to
deprecate the wrath of Attila; and his pride was gratified by the
choice of Nomius and Anatolius, two ministers of consular or
patrician rank, of whom the one was great treasurer, and the
other was master-general of the armies of the East. He
condescended to meet these ambassadors on the banks of the River
Drenco; and though he at first affected a stern and haughty
demeanor, his anger was insensibly mollified by their eloquence
and liberality. He condescended to pardon the emperor, the
eunuch, and the interpreter; bound himself by an oath to observe
the conditions of peace; released a great number of captives;
abandoned the fugitives and deserters to their fate; and resigned
a large territory, to the south of the Danube, which he had
already exhausted of its wealth and inhabitants. But this treaty
was purchased at an expense which might have supported a vigorous
and successful war; and the subjects of Theodosius were compelled
to redeem the safety of a worthless favorite by oppressive taxes,
which they would more cheerfully have paid for his destruction.
49
48 (return) [ M. de Tillemont has very properly given the
succession of chamberlains, who reigned in the name of
Theodosius. Chrysaphius was the last, and, according to the
unanimous evidence of history, the worst of these favorites, (see
Hist. des Empereurs, tom. vi. p. 117-119. Mem. Eccles. tom. xv.
p. 438.) His partiality for his godfather the heresiarch
Eutyches, engaged him to persecute the orthodox party]
49 (return) [ This secret conspiracy and its important
consequences, may be traced in the fragments of Priscus, p. 37,
38, 39, 54, 70, 71, 72. The chronology of that historian is not
fixed by any precise date; but the series of negotiations between
Attila and the Eastern empire must be included within the three
or four years which are terminated, A.D. 450. by the death of
Theodosius.]
The emperor Theodosius did not long survive the most humiliating
circumstance of an inglorious life. As he was riding, or hunting,
in the neighborhood of Constantinople, he was thrown from his
horse into the River Lycus: the spine of the back was injured by
the fall; and he expired some days afterwards, in the fiftieth
year of his age, and the forty-third of his reign. 50 His sister
Pulcheria, whose authority had been controlled both in civil and
ecclesiastical affairs by the pernicious influence of the
eunuchs, was unanimously proclaimed Empress of the East; and the
Romans, for the first time, submitted to a female reign. No
sooner had Pulcheria ascended the throne, than she indulged her
own and the public resentment, by an act of popular justice.
Without any legal trial, the eunuch Chrysaphius was executed
before the gates of the city; and the immense riches which had
been accumulated by the rapacious favorite, served only to hasten
and to justify his punishment. 51 Amidst the general acclamations
of the clergy and people, the empress did not forget the
prejudice and disadvantage to which her sex was exposed; and she
wisely resolved to prevent their murmurs by the choice of a
colleague, who would always respect the superior rank and virgin
chastity of his wife. She gave her hand to Marcian, a senator,
about sixty years of age; and the nominal husband of Pulcheria
was solemnly invested with the Imperial purple. The zeal which he
displayed for the orthodox creed, as it was established by the
council of Chalcedon, would alone have inspired the grateful
eloquence of the Catholics. But the behavior of Marcian in a
private life, and afterwards on the throne, may support a more
rational belief, that he was qualified to restore and invigorate
an empire, which had been almost dissolved by the successive
weakness of two hereditary monarchs. He was born in Thrace, and
educated to the profession of arms; but Marcian’s youth had been
severely exercised by poverty and misfortune, since his only
resource, when he first arrived at Constantinople, consisted in
two hundred pieces of gold, which he had borrowed of a friend. He
passed nineteen years in the domestic and military service of
Aspar, and his son Ardaburius; followed those powerful generals
to the Persian and African wars; and obtained, by their
influence, the honorable rank of tribune and senator. His mild
disposition, and useful talents, without alarming the jealousy,
recommended Marcian to the esteem and favor of his patrons; he
had seen, perhaps he had felt, the abuses of a venal and
oppressive administration; and his own example gave weight and
energy to the laws, which he promulgated for the reformation of
manners. 52
50 (return) [ Theodorus the Reader, (see Vales. Hist. Eccles.
tom. iii. p. 563,) and the Paschal Chronicle, mention the fall,
without specifying the injury: but the consequence was so likely
to happen, and so unlikely to be invented, that we may safely
give credit to Nicephorus Callistus, a Greek of the fourteenth
century.]
51 (return) [ Pulcheriae nutu (says Count Marcellinus) sua cum
avaritia interemptus est. She abandoned the eunuch to the pious
revenge of a son, whose father had suffered at his instigation.
Note: Might not the execution of Chrysaphius have been a
sacrifice to avert the anger of Attila, whose assassination the
eunuch had attempted to contrive?—M.]
52 (return) [ de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 4. Evagrius, l. ii. c. 1.
Theophanes, p. 90, 91. Novell. ad Calcem. Cod. Theod. tom. vi. p.
30. The praises which St. Leo and the Catholics have bestowed on
Marcian, are diligently transcribed by Baronius, as an
encouragement for future princes.]
Chapter XXXV: Invasion By Attila.—Part I.
Invasion Of Gaul By Attila.—He Is Repulsed By Ætius And The
Visigoths.—Attila Invades And Evacuates Italy.—The Deaths Of
Attila, Ætius, And Valentinian The Third.
It was the opinion of Marcian, that war should be avoided, as
long as it is possible to preserve a secure and honorable peace;
but it was likewise his opinion, that peace cannot be honorable
or secure, if the sovereign betrays a pusillanimous aversion to
war. This temperate courage dictated his reply to the demands of
Attila, who insolently pressed the payment of the annual tribute.
The emperor signified to the Barbarians, that they must no longer
insult the majesty of Rome by the mention of a tribute; that he
was disposed to reward, with becoming liberality, the faithful
friendship of his allies; but that, if they presumed to violate
the public peace, they should feel that he possessed troops, and
arms, and resolution, to repel their attacks. The same language,
even in the camp of the Huns, was used by his ambassador
Apollonius, whose bold refusal to deliver the presents, till he
had been admitted to a personal interview, displayed a sense of
dignity, and a contempt of danger, which Attila was not prepared
to expect from the degenerate Romans. 1 He threatened to chastise
the rash successor of Theodosius; but he hesitated whether he
should first direct his invincible arms against the Eastern or
the Western empire. While mankind awaited his decision with awful
suspense, he sent an equal defiance to the courts of Ravenna and
Constantinople; and his ministers saluted the two emperors with
the same haughty declaration. “Attila, my lord, and thy lord,
commands thee to provide a palace for his immediate reception.” 2
But as the Barbarian despised, or affected to despise, the Romans
of the East, whom he had so often vanquished, he soon declared
his resolution of suspending the easy conquest, till he had
achieved a more glorious and important enterprise. In the
memorable invasions of Gaul and Italy, the Huns were naturally
attracted by the wealth and fertility of those provinces; but the
particular motives and provocations of Attila can only be
explained by the state of the Western empire under the reign of
Valentinian, or, to speak more correctly, under the
administration of Ætius. 3
1 (return) [ See Priscus, p. 39, 72.]
2 (return) [ The Alexandrian or Paschal Chronicle, which
introduces this haughty message, during the lifetime of
Theodosius, may have anticipated the date; but the dull annalist
was incapable of inventing the original and genuine style of
Attila.]
3 (return) [ The second book of the Histoire Critique de
l’Etablissement de la Monarchie Francoise tom. i. p. 189-424,
throws great light on the state of Gaul, when it was invaded by
Attila; but the ingenious author, the Abbe Dubos, too often
bewilders himself in system and conjecture.]
After the death of his rival Boniface, Ætius had prudently
retired to the tents of the Huns; and he was indebted to their
alliance for his safety and his restoration. Instead of the
suppliant language of a guilty exile, he solicited his pardon at
the head of sixty thousand Barbarians; and the empress Placidia
confessed, by a feeble resistance, that the condescension, which
might have been ascribed to clemency, was the effect of weakness
or fear. She delivered herself, her son Valentinian, and the
Western empire, into the hands of an insolent subject; nor could
Placidia protect the son-in-law of Boniface, the virtuous and
faithful Sebastian, 4 from the implacable persecution which urged
him from one kingdom to another, till he miserably perished in
the service of the Vandals. The fortunate Ætius, who was
immediately promoted to the rank of patrician, and thrice
invested with the honors of the consulship, assumed, with the
title of master of the cavalry and infantry, the whole military
power of the state; and he is sometimes styled, by contemporary
writers, the duke, or general, of the Romans of the West. His
prudence, rather than his virtue, engaged him to leave the
grandson of Theodosius in the possession of the purple; and
Valentinian was permitted to enjoy the peace and luxury of Italy,
while the patrician appeared in the glorious light of a hero and
a patriot, who supported near twenty years the ruins of the
Western empire. The Gothic historian ingenuously confesses, that
Ætius was born for the salvation of the Roman republic; 5 and
the following portrait, though it is drawn in the fairest colors,
must be allowed to contain a much larger proportion of truth than
of flattery. 411 “His mother was a wealthy and noble Italian, and
his father Gaudentius, who held a distinguished rank in the
province of Scythia, gradually rose from the station of a
military domestic, to the dignity of master of the cavalry. Their
son, who was enrolled almost in his infancy in the guards, was
given as a hostage, first to Alaric, and afterwards to the Huns;
412 and he successively obtained the civil and military honors of
the palace, for which he was equally qualified by superior merit.
The graceful figure of Ætius was not above the middle stature;
but his manly limbs were admirably formed for strength, beauty,
and agility; and he excelled in the martial exercises of managing
a horse, drawing the bow, and darting the javelin. He could
patiently endure the want of food, or of sleep; and his mind and
body were alike capable of the most laborious efforts. He
possessed the genuine courage that can despise not only dangers,
but injuries: and it was impossible either to corrupt, or
deceive, or intimidate the firm integrity of his soul.” 6 The
Barbarians, who had seated themselves in the Western provinces,
were insensibly taught to respect the faith and valor of the
patrician Ætius. He soothed their passions, consulted their
prejudices, balanced their interests, and checked their ambition.
611 A seasonable treaty, which he concluded with Genseric,
protected Italy from the depredations of the Vandals; the
independent Britons implored and acknowledged his salutary aid;
the Imperial authority was restored and maintained in Gaul and
Spain; and he compelled the Franks and the Suevi, whom he had
vanquished in the field, to become the useful confederates of the
republic.
4 (return) [ Victor Vitensis (de Persecut. Vandal. l. i. 6, p. 8,
edit. Ruinart) calls him, acer consilio et strenuus in bello: but
his courage, when he became unfortunate, was censured as
desperate rashness; and Sebastian deserved, or obtained, the
epithet of proeceps, (Sidon. Apollinar Carmen ix. 181.) His
adventures in Constantinople, in Sicily, Gaul, Spain, and Africa,
are faintly marked in the Chronicles of Marcellinus and Idatius.
In his distress he was always followed by a numerous train; since
he could ravage the Hellespont and Propontis, and seize the city
of Barcelona.]
5 (return) [ Reipublicae Romanae singulariter natus, qui
superbiam Suevorum, Francorumque barbariem immensis caedibus
servire Imperio Romano coegisset. Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c.
34, p. 660.]
411 (return) [ Some valuable fragments of a poetical panegyric on
Ætius by Merobaudes, a Spaniard, have been recovered from a
palimpsest MS. by the sagacity and industry of Niebuhr. They have
been reprinted in the new edition of the Byzantine Historians.
The poet speaks in glowing terms of the long (annosa) peace
enjoyed under the administration of Ætius. The verses are very
spirited. The poet was rewarded by a statue publicly dedicated to
his honor in Rome.
Danuvii cum pace redit, Tanaimque furore Exuit, et nigro candentes
aethere terras Marte suo caruisse jubet. Dedit otia ferro
Caucasus, et saevi condemnant praelia reges. Addidit hiberni
famulantia foedera Rhenus Orbis...... Lustrat Aremoricos jam
mitior incola saltus; Perdidit et mores tellus, adsuetaque saevo
Crimine quaesitas silvis celare rapinas, Discit inexpertis Cererem
committere campis; Caesareoque diu manus obluctata labori Sustinet
acceptas nostro sub consule leges; Et quamvis Geticis sulcum
confundat aratris, Barbara vicinae refugit consortia gentis.
—Merobaudes, p. 1]
412 (return) [—cum Scythicis succumberet ensibus orbis,
Telaque Tarpeias premerent Arctoa secures, Hostilem fregit rabiem,
pignus quesuperbi Foederis et mundi pretium fuit. Hinc modo voti
Rata fides, validis quod dux premat impiger armis Edomuit quos
pace puer; bellumque repressit Ignarus quid bella forent.
Stupuere feroces In tenero jam membra Getae. Rex ipse, verendum
Miratus pueri decus et prodentia fatum Lumina, primaevas dederat
gestare faretras, Laudabatque manus librantem et tela gerentem
Oblitus quod noster erat Pro nescia regis Corda, feris quanto
populis discrimine constet Quod Latium docet arma ducem.
—Merobaudes, Panegyr. p. 15.—M.]
6 (return) [ This portrait is drawn by Renetus Profuturus
Frigeridus, a contemporary historian, known only by some
extracts, which are preserved by Gregory of Tours, (l. ii. c. 8,
in tom. ii. p. 163.) It was probably the duty, or at least the
interest, of Renatus, to magnify the virtues of Ætius; but he
would have shown more dexterity if he had not insisted on his
patient, forgiving disposition.]
611 (return) [
Insessor Libyes, quamvis, fatalibus armis Ausus Elisaei solium
rescindere regni, Milibus Arctois Tyrias compleverat arces, Nunc
hostem exutus pactis proprioribus arsit
Romanam vincire fidem, Latiosque parentes Adnumerare sib,
sociamque intexere prolem. —-Merobaudes, p. 12.—M.]
From a principle of interest, as well as gratitude, Ætius
assiduously cultivated the alliance of the Huns. While he resided
in their tents as a hostage, or an exile, he had familiarly
conversed with Attila himself, the nephew of his benefactor; and
the two famous antagonists appeared to have been connected by a
personal and military friendship, which they afterwards confirmed
by mutual gifts, frequent embassies, and the education of
Carpilio, the son of Ætius, in the camp of Attila. By the
specious professions of gratitude and voluntary attachment, the
patrician might disguise his apprehensions of the Scythian
conqueror, who pressed the two empires with his innumerable
armies. His demands were obeyed or eluded. When he claimed the
spoils of a vanquished city, some vases of gold, which had been
fraudulently embezzled, the civil and military governors of
Noricum were immediately despatched to satisfy his complaints: 7
and it is evident, from their conversation with Maximin and
Priscus, in the royal village, that the valor and prudence of
Ætius had not saved the Western Romans from the common ignominy
of tribute. Yet his dexterous policy prolonged the advantages of
a salutary peace; and a numerous army of Huns and Alani, whom he
had attached to his person, was employed in the defence of Gaul.
Two colonies of these Barbarians were judiciously fixed in the
territories of Valens and Orleans; 8 and their active cavalry
secured the important passages of the Rhone and of the Loire.
These savage allies were not indeed less formidable to the
subjects than to the enemies of Rome. Their original settlement
was enforced with the licentious violence of conquest; and the
province through which they marched was exposed to all the
calamities of a hostile invasion. 9 Strangers to the emperor or
the republic, the Alani of Gaul were devoted to the ambition of
Ætius, and though he might suspect, that, in a contest with
Attila himself, they would revolt to the standard of their
national king, the patrician labored to restrain, rather than to
excite, their zeal and resentment against the Goths, the
Burgundians, and the Franks.
7 (return) [ The embassy consisted of Count Romulus; of Promotus,
president of Noricum; and of Romanus, the military duke. They
were accompanied by Tatullus, an illustrious citizen of Petovio,
in the same province, and father of Orestes, who had married the
daughter of Count Romulus. See Priscus, p. 57, 65. Cassiodorus
(Variar. i. 4) mentions another embassy, which was executed by
his father and Carpilio, the son of Ætius; and, as Attila was no
more, he could safely boast of their manly, intrepid behavior in
his presence.]
8 (return) [ Deserta Valentinae urbis rura Alanis partienda
traduntur. Prosper. Tyronis Chron. in Historiens de France, tom.
i. p. 639. A few lines afterwards, Prosper observes, that lands
in the ulterior Gaul were assigned to the Alani. Without
admitting the correction of Dubos, (tom. i. p. 300,) the
reasonable supposition of two colonies or garrisons of Alani will
confirm his arguments, and remove his objections.]
9 (return) [ See Prosper. Tyro, p. 639. Sidonius (Panegyr. Avit.
246) complains, in the name of Auvergne, his native country,
Litorius Scythicos equites tunc forte subacto Celsus Aremorico,
Geticum rapiebat in agmen Per terras, Averne, tuas, qui proxima
quaedue Discursu, flammis, ferro, feritate, rapinis, Delebant;
pacis fallentes nomen inane.
another poet, Paulinus of Perigord, confirms the complaint:—
Nam socium vix ferre queas, qui durior hoste. —-See Dubos, tom. i.
p. 330.]
The kingdom established by the Visigoths in the southern
provinces of Gaul, had gradually acquired strength and maturity;
and the conduct of those ambitious Barbarians, either in peace or
war, engaged the perpetual vigilance of Ætius. After the death
of Wallia, the Gothic sceptre devolved to Theodoric, the son of
the great Alaric; 10 and his prosperous reign of more than thirty
years, over a turbulent people, may be allowed to prove, that his
prudence was supported by uncommon vigor, both of mind and body.
Impatient of his narrow limits, Theodoric aspired to the
possession of Arles, the wealthy seat of government and commerce;
but the city was saved by the timely approach of Ætius; and the
Gothic king, who had raised the siege with some loss and
disgrace, was persuaded, for an adequate subsidy, to divert the
martial valor of his subjects in a Spanish war. Yet Theodoric
still watched, and eagerly seized, the favorable moment of
renewing his hostile attempts. The Goths besieged Narbonne, while
the Belgic provinces were invaded by the Burgundians; and the
public safety was threatened on every side by the apparent union
of the enemies of Rome. On every side, the activity of Ætius,
and his Scythian cavalry, opposed a firm and successful
resistance. Twenty thousand Burgundians were slain in battle; and
the remains of the nation humbly accepted a dependent seat in the
mountains of Savoy. 11 The walls of Narbonne had been shaken by
the battering engines, and the inhabitants had endured the last
extremities of famine, when Count Litorius, approaching in
silence, and directing each horseman to carry behind him two
sacks of flour, cut his way through the intrenchments of the
besiegers. The siege was immediately raised; and the more
decisive victory, which is ascribed to the personal conduct of
Ætius himself, was marked with the blood of eight thousand
Goths. But in the absence of the patrician, who was hastily
summoned to Italy by some public or private interest, Count
Litorius succeeded to the command; and his presumption soon
discovered that far different talents are required to lead a wing
of cavalry, or to direct the operations of an important war. At
the head of an army of Huns, he rashly advanced to the gates of
Thoulouse, full of careless contempt for an enemy whom his
misfortunes had rendered prudent, and his situation made
desperate. The predictions of the augurs had inspired Litorius
with the profane confidence that he should enter the Gothic
capital in triumph; and the trust which he reposed in his Pagan
allies, encouraged him to reject the fair conditions of peace,
which were repeatedly proposed by the bishops in the name of
Theodoric. The king of the Goths exhibited in his distress the
edifying contrast of Christian piety and moderation; nor did he
lay aside his sackcloth and ashes till he was prepared to arm for
the combat. His soldiers, animated with martial and religious
enthusiasm, assaulted the camp of Litorius. The conflict was
obstinate; the slaughter was mutual. The Roman general, after a
total defeat, which could be imputed only to his unskilful
rashness, was actually led through the streets of Thoulouse, not
in his own, but in a hostile triumph; and the misery which he
experienced, in a long and ignominious captivity, excited the
compassion of the Barbarians themselves. 12 Such a loss, in a
country whose spirit and finances were long since exhausted,
could not easily be repaired; and the Goths, assuming, in their
turn, the sentiments of ambition and revenge, would have planted
their victorious standards on the banks of the Rhone, if the
presence of Ætius had not restored strength and discipline to
the Romans. 13 The two armies expected the signal of a decisive
action; but the generals, who were conscious of each other’s
force, and doubtful of their own superiority, prudently sheathed
their swords in the field of battle; and their reconciliation was
permanent and sincere. Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, appears
to have deserved the love of his subjects, the confidence of his
allies, and the esteem of mankind. His throne was surrounded by
six valiant sons, who were educated with equal care in the
exercises of the Barbarian camp, and in those of the Gallic
schools: from the study of the Roman jurisprudence, they acquired
the theory, at least, of law and justice; and the harmonious
sense of Virgil contributed to soften the asperity of their
native manners. 14 The two daughters of the Gothic king were
given in marriage to the eldest sons of the kings of the Suevi
and of the Vandals, who reigned in Spain and Africa: but these
illustrious alliances were pregnant with guilt and discord. The
queen of the Suevi bewailed the death of a husband inhumanly
massacred by her brother. The princess of the Vandals was the
victim of a jealous tyrant, whom she called her father. The cruel
Genseric suspected that his son’s wife had conspired to poison
him; the supposed crime was punished by the amputation of her
nose and ears; and the unhappy daughter of Theodoric was
ignominiously returned to the court of Thoulouse in that deformed
and mutilated condition. This horrid act, which must seem
incredible to a civilized age drew tears from every spectator;
but Theodoric was urged, by the feelings of a parent and a king,
to revenge such irreparable injuries. The Imperial ministers, who
always cherished the discord of the Barbarians, would have
supplied the Goths with arms, and ships, and treasures, for the
African war; and the cruelty of Genseric might have been fatal to
himself, if the artful Vandal had not armed, in his cause, the
formidable power of the Huns. His rich gifts and pressing
solicitations inflamed the ambition of Attila; and the designs of
Ætius and Theodoric were prevented by the invasion of Gaul. 15
10 (return) [ Theodoric II., the son of Theodoric I., declares to
Avitus his resolution of repairing, or expiating, the faults
which his grandfather had committed,—
Quae noster peccavit avus, quem fuscat id unum, Quod te, Roma,
capit.
Sidon. Panegyric. Avit. 505.
This character, applicable only to the great Alaric, establishes
the genealogy of the Gothic kings, which has hitherto been
unnoticed.]
11 (return) [ The name of Sapaudia, the origin of Savoy, is first
mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus; and two military posts are
ascertained by the Notitia, within the limits of that province; a
cohort was stationed at Grenoble in Dauphine; and Ebredunum, or
Iverdun, sheltered a fleet of small vessels, which commanded the
Lake of Neufchatel. See Valesius, Notit. Galliarum, p. 503.
D’Anville, Notice de l’Ancienne Gaule, p. 284, 579.]
12 (return) [ Salvian has attempted to explain the moral
government of the Deity; a task which may be readily performed by
supposing that the calamities of the wicked are judgments, and
those of the righteous, trials.]
13 (return) [
—Capto terrarum damna patebant Litorio, in Rhodanum proprios
producere fines, Thendoridae fixum; nec erat pugnare necesse, Sed
migrare Getis; rabidam trux asperat iram Victor; quod sensit
Scythicum sub moenibus hostem Imputat, et nihil estgravius, si
forsitan unquam Vincerecontingat, trepido. —Panegyr. Avit. 300,
&c.
Sitionius then proceeds, according to the duty of a panegyrist,
to transfer the whole merit from Ætius to his minister Avitus.]
14 (return) [ Theodoric II. revered, in the person of Avitus, the
character of his preceptor.
Mihi Romula dudum Per te jura placent; parvumque ediscere jussit
Ad tua verba pater, docili quo prisca Maronis Carmine molliret
Scythicos mihi pagina mores. —-Sidon. Panegyr. Avit. 495 &c.]
15 (return) [ Our authorities for the reign of Theodoric I. are,
Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 34, 36, and the Chronicles of
Idatius, and the two Prospers, inserted in the historians of
France, tom. i. p. 612-640. To these we may add Salvian de
Gubernatione Dei, l. vii. p. 243, 244, 245, and the panegyric of
Avitus, by Sidonius.]
The Franks, whose monarchy was still confined to the neighborhood
of the Lower Rhine, had wisely established the right of
hereditary succession in the noble family of the Merovingians. 16
These princes were elevated on a buckler, the symbol of military
command; 17 and the royal fashion of long hair was the ensign of
their birth and dignity. Their flaxen locks, which they combed
and dressed with singular care, hung down in flowing ringlets on
their back and shoulders; while the rest of the nation were
obliged, either by law or custom, to shave the hinder part of
their head, to comb their hair over the forehead, and to content
themselves with the ornament of two small whiskers. 18 The lofty
stature of the Franks, and their blue eyes, denoted a Germanic
origin; their close apparel accurately expressed the figure of
their limbs; a weighty sword was suspended from a broad belt;
their bodies were protected by a large shield; and these warlike
Barbarians were trained, from their earliest youth, to run, to
leap, to swim; to dart the javelin, or battle-axe, with unerring
aim; to advance, without hesitation, against a superior enemy;
and to maintain, either in life or death, the invincible
reputation of their ancestors. 19 Clodion, the first of their
long-haired kings, whose name and actions are mentioned in
authentic history, held his residence at Dispargum, 20 a village
or fortress, whose place may be assigned between Louvain and
Brussels. From the report of his spies, the king of the Franks
was informed, that the defenceless state of the second Belgic
must yield, on the slightest attack, to the valor of his
subjects. He boldly penetrated through the thickets and morasses
of the Carbonarian forest; 21 occupied Tournay and Cambray, the
only cities which existed in the fifth century, and extended his
conquests as far as the River Somme, over a desolate country,
whose cultivation and populousness are the effects of more recent
industry. 22 While Clodion lay encamped in the plains of Artois,
23 and celebrated, with vain and ostentatious security, the
marriage, perhaps, of his son, the nuptial feast was interrupted
by the unexpected and unwelcome presence of Ætius, who had
passed the Somme at the head of his light cavalry. The tables,
which had been spread under the shelter of a hill, along the
banks of a pleasant stream, were rudely overturned; the Franks
were oppressed before they could recover their arms, or their
ranks; and their unavailing valor was fatal only to themselves.
The loaded wagons, which had followed their march, afforded a
rich booty; and the virgin-bride, with her female attendants,
submitted to the new lovers, who were imposed on them by the
chance of war. This advance, which had been obtained by the skill
and activity of Ætius, might reflect some disgrace on the
military prudence of Clodion; but the king of the Franks soon
regained his strength and reputation, and still maintained the
possession of his Gallic kingdom from the Rhine to the Somme. 24
Under his reign, and most probably from the enterprising spirit
of his subjects, his three capitals, Mentz, Treves, and Cologne,
experienced the effects of hostile cruelty and avarice. The
distress of Cologne was prolonged by the perpetual dominion of
the same Barbarians, who evacuated the ruins of Treves; and
Treves, which in the space of forty years had been four times
besieged and pillaged, was disposed to lose the memory of her
afflictions in the vain amusements of the Circus. 25 The death of
Clodion, after a reign of twenty years, exposed his kingdom to
the discord and ambition of his two sons. Meroveus, the younger,
26 was persuaded to implore the protection of Rome; he was
received at the Imperial court, as the ally of Valentinian, and
the adopted son of the patrician Ætius; and dismissed to his
native country, with splendid gifts, and the strongest assurances
of friendship and support. During his absence, his elder brother
had solicited, with equal ardor, the formidable aid of Attila;
and the king of the Huns embraced an alliance, which facilitated
the passage of the Rhine, and justified, by a specious and
honorable pretence, the invasion of Gaul. 27
16 (return) [ Reges Crinitos se creavisse de prima, et ut ita
dicam nobiliori suorum familia, (Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 9, p.
166, of the second volume of the Historians of France.) Gregory
himself does not mention the Merovingian name, which may be
traced, however, to the beginning of the seventh century, as the
distinctive appellation of the royal family, and even of the
French monarchy. An ingenious critic has deduced the Merovingians
from the great Maroboduus; and he has clearly proved, that the
prince, who gave his name to the first race, was more ancient
than the father of Childeric. See Mémoires de l’Academie des
Inscriptions, tom. xx. p. 52-90, tom. xxx. p. 557-587.]
17 (return) [ This German custom, which may be traced from
Tacitus to Gregory of Tours, was at length adopted by the
emperors of Constantinople. From a MS. of the tenth century,
Montfaucon has delineated the representation of a similar
ceremony, which the ignorance of the age had applied to King
David. See Monumens de la Monarchie Francoise, tom. i. Discours
Preliminaire.]
18 (return) [ Caesaries prolixa... crinium flagellis per terga
dimissis, &c. See the Preface to the third volume of the
Historians of France, and the Abbe Le Boeuf, (Dissertat. tom.
iii. p. 47-79.) This peculiar fashion of the Merovingians has
been remarked by natives and strangers; by Priscus, (tom. i. p.
608,) by Agathias, (tom. ii. p. 49,) and by Gregory of Tours, (l.
viii. 18, vi. 24, viii. 10, tom. ii. p. 196, 278, 316.)]
19 (return) [ See an original picture of the figure, dress, arms,
and temper of the ancient Franks, in Sidonius Apollinaris,
(Panegyr. Majorian. 238-254;) and such pictures, though coarsely
drawn, have a real and intrinsic value. Father Daniel (History de
la Milice Francoise, tom. i. p. 2-7) has illustrated the
description.]
20 (return) [ Dubos, Hist. Critique, &c., tom. i. p. 271, 272.
Some geographers have placed Dispargum on the German side of the
Rhine. See a note of the Benedictine Editors, to the Historians
of France, tom. ii p. 166.]
21 (return) [ The Carbonarian wood was that part of the great
forest of the Ardennes which lay between the Escaut, or Scheldt,
and the Meuse. Vales. Notit. Gall. p. 126.]
22 (return) [ Gregor. Turon. l. ii. c. 9, in tom. ii. p. 166,
167. Fredegar. Epitom. c. 9, p. 395. Gesta Reg. Francor. c. 5, in
tom. ii. p. 544. Vit St. Remig. ab Hincmar, in tom. iii. p. 373.]
23 (return) [
—Francus qua Cloio patentes Atrebatum terras pervaserat. —Panegyr.
Majorian 213
The precise spot was a town or village, called Vicus Helena; and
both the name and place are discovered by modern geographers at
Lens See Vales. Notit. Gall. p. 246. Longuerue, Description de la
France tom. ii. p. 88.]
24 (return) [ See a vague account of the action in Sidonius.
Panegyr. Majorian 212-230. The French critics, impatient to
establish their monarchy in Gaul, have drawn a strong argument
from the silence of Sidonius, who dares not insinuate, that the
vanquished Franks were compelled to repass the Rhine. Dubos, tom.
i. p. 322.]
25 (return) [ Salvian (de Gubernat. Dei, l. vi.) has expressed,
in vague and declamatory language, the misfortunes of these three
cities, which are distinctly ascertained by the learned Mascou,
Hist. of the Ancient Germans, ix. 21.]
26 (return) [ Priscus, in relating the contest, does not name the
two brothers; the second of whom he had seen at Rome, a beardless
youth, with long, flowing hair, (Historians of France, tom. i. p.
607, 608.) The Benedictine Editors are inclined to believe, that
they were the sons of some unknown king of the Franks, who
reigned on the banks of the Neckar; but the arguments of M. de
Foncemagne (Mem. de l’Academie, tom. viii. p. 464) seem to prove
that the succession of Clodion was disputed by his two sons, and
that the younger was Meroveus, the father of Childeric. * Note:
The relationship of Meroveus to Clodion is extremely doubtful.—By
some he is called an illegitimate son; by others merely of his
race. Tur ii. c. 9, in Sismondi, Hist. des Francais, i. 177. See
Mezeray.]
27 (return) [ Under the Merovingian race, the throne was
hereditary; but all the sons of the deceased monarch were equally
entitled to their share of his treasures and territories. See the
Dissertations of M. de Foncemagne, in the sixth and eighth
volumes of the Mémoires de l’Academie.]
Chapter XXXV: Invasion By Attila.—Part II.
When Attila declared his resolution of supporting the cause of
his allies, the Vandals and the Franks, at the same time, and
almost in the spirit of romantic chivalry, the savage monarch
professed himself the lover and the champion of the princess
Honoria. The sister of Valentinian was educated in the palace of
Ravenna; and as her marriage might be productive of some danger
to the state, she was raised, by the title of Augusta, 28 above
the hopes of the most presumptuous subject. But the fair Honoria
had no sooner attained the sixteenth year of her age, than she
detested the importunate greatness which must forever exclude her
from the comforts of honorable love; in the midst of vain and
unsatisfactory pomp, Honoria sighed, yielded to the impulse of
nature, and threw herself into the arms of her chamberlain
Eugenius. Her guilt and shame (such is the absurd language of
imperious man) were soon betrayed by the appearances of
pregnancy; but the disgrace of the royal family was published to
the world by the imprudence of the empress Placidia who dismissed
her daughter, after a strict and shameful confinement, to a
remote exile at Constantinople. The unhappy princess passed
twelve or fourteen years in the irksome society of the sisters of
Theodosius, and their chosen virgins; to whose crown Honoria
could no longer aspire, and whose monastic assiduity of prayer,
fasting, and vigils, she reluctantly imitated. Her impatience of
long and hopeless celibacy urged her to embrace a strange and
desperate resolution. The name of Attila was familiar and
formidable at Constantinople; and his frequent embassies
entertained a perpetual intercourse between his camp and the
Imperial palace. In the pursuit of love, or rather of revenge,
the daughter of Placidia sacrificed every duty and every
prejudice; and offered to deliver her person into the arms of a
Barbarian, of whose language she was ignorant, whose figure was
scarcely human, and whose religion and manners she abhorred. By
the ministry of a faithful eunuch, she transmitted to Attila a
ring, the pledge of her affection; and earnestly conjured him to
claim her as a lawful spouse, to whom he had been secretly
betrothed. These indecent advances were received, however, with
coldness and disdain; and the king of the Huns continued to
multiply the number of his wives, till his love was awakened by
the more forcible passions of ambition and avarice. The invasion
of Gaul was preceded, and justified, by a formal demand of the
princess Honoria, with a just and equal share of the Imperial
patrimony. His predecessors, the ancient Tanjous, had often
addressed, in the same hostile and peremptory manner, the
daughters of China; and the pretensions of Attila were not less
offensive to the majesty of Rome. A firm, but temperate, refusal
was communicated to his ambassadors. The right of female
succession, though it might derive a specious argument from the
recent examples of Placidia and Pulcheria, was strenuously
denied; and the indissoluble engagements of Honoria were opposed
to the claims of her Scythian lover. 29 On the discovery of her
connection with the king of the Huns, the guilty princess had
been sent away, as an object of horror, from Constantinople to
Italy: her life was spared; but the ceremony of her marriage was
performed with some obscure and nominal husband, before she was
immured in a perpetual prison, to bewail those crimes and
misfortunes, which Honoria might have escaped, had she not been
born the daughter of an emperor. 30
28 (return) [ A medal is still extant, which exhibits the
pleasing countenance of Honoria, with the title of Augusta; and
on the reverse, the improper legend of Salus Reipublicoe round
the monogram of Christ. See Ducange, Famil. Byzantin. p. 67, 73.]
29 (return) [ See Priscus, p, 39, 40. It might be fairly alleged,
that if females could succeed to the throne, Valentinian himself,
who had married the daughter and heiress of the younger
Theodosius, would have asserted her right to the Eastern empire.]
30 (return) [ The adventures of Honoria are imperfectly related
by Jornandes, de Successione Regn. c. 97, and de Reb. Get. c. 42,
p. 674; and in the Chronicles of Prosper and Marcellinus; but
they cannot be made consistent, or probable, unless we separate,
by an interval of time and place, her intrigue with Eugenius, and
her invitation of Attila.]
A native of Gaul, and a contemporary, the learned and eloquent
Sidonius, who was afterwards bishop of Clermont, had made a
promise to one of his friends, that he would compose a regular
history of the war of Attila. If the modesty of Sidonius had not
discouraged him from the prosecution of this interesting work, 31
the historian would have related, with the simplicity of truth,
those memorable events, to which the poet, in vague and doubtful
metaphors, has concisely alluded. 32 The kings and nations of
Germany and Scythia, from the Volga perhaps to the Danube, obeyed
the warlike summons of Attila. From the royal village, in the
plains of Hungary his standard moved towards the West; and after
a march of seven or eight hundred miles, he reached the conflux
of the Rhine and the Neckar, where he was joined by the Franks,
who adhered to his ally, the elder of the sons of Clodion. A
troop of light Barbarians, who roamed in quest of plunder, might
choose the winter for the convenience of passing the river on the
ice; but the innumerable cavalry of the Huns required such plenty
of forage and provisions, as could be procured only in a milder
season; the Hercynian forest supplied materials for a bridge of
boats; and the hostile myriads were poured, with resistless
violence, into the Belgic provinces. 33 The consternation of Gaul
was universal; and the various fortunes of its cities have been
adorned by tradition with martyrdoms and miracles. 34 Troyes was
saved by the merits of St. Lupus; St. Servatius was removed from
the world, that he might not behold the ruin of Tongres; and the
prayers of St. Genevieve diverted the march of Attila from the
neighborhood of Paris. But as the greatest part of the Gallic
cities were alike destitute of saints and soldiers, they were
besieged and stormed by the Huns; who practised, in the example
of Metz, 35 their customary maxims of war. They involved, in a
promiscuous massacre, the priests who served at the altar, and
the infants, who, in the hour of danger, had been providently
baptized by the bishop; the flourishing city was delivered to the
flames, and a solitary chapel of St. Stephen marked the place
where it formerly stood. From the Rhine and the Moselle, Attila
advanced into the heart of Gaul; crossed the Seine at Auxerre;
and, after a long and laborious march, fixed his camp under the
walls of Orleans. He was desirous of securing his conquests by
the possession of an advantageous post, which commanded the
passage of the Loire; and he depended on the secret invitation of
Sangiban, king of the Alani, who had promised to betray the city,
and to revolt from the service of the empire. But this
treacherous conspiracy was detected and disappointed: Orleans had
been strengthened with recent fortifications; and the assaults of
the Huns were vigorously repelled by the faithful valor of the
soldiers, or citizens, who defended the place. The pastoral
diligence of Anianus, a bishop of primitive sanctity and
consummate prudence, exhausted every art of religious policy to
support their courage, till the arrival of the expected succors.
After an obstinate siege, the walls were shaken by the battering
rams; the Huns had already occupied the suburbs; and the people,
who were incapable of bearing arms, lay prostrate in prayer.
Anianus, who anxiously counted the days and hours, despatched a
trusty messenger to observe, from the rampart, the face of the
distant country. He returned twice, without any intelligence that
could inspire hope or comfort; but, in his third report, he
mentioned a small cloud, which he had faintly descried at the
extremity of the horizon. “It is the aid of God!” exclaimed the
bishop, in a tone of pious confidence; and the whole multitude
repeated after him, “It is the aid of God.” The remote object, on
which every eye was fixed, became each moment larger, and more
distinct; the Roman and Gothic banners were gradually perceived;
and a favorable wind blowing aside the dust, discovered, in deep
array, the impatient squadrons of Ætius and Theodoric, who
pressed forwards to the relief of Orleans.
31 (return) [ Exegeras mihi, ut promitterem tibi, Attilæ bellum
stylo me posteris intimaturum.... coeperam scribere, sed operis
arrepti fasce perspecto, taeduit inchoasse. Sidon. Apoll. l.
viii. epist. 15, p. 235]
32 (return) [
Subito cum rupta tumultu Barbaries totas in te transfuderat
Arctos,
Gallia. Pugnacem Rugum comitante Gelono, Gepida trux sequitur;
Scyrum Burgundio cogit:
Chunus, Bellonotus, Neurus, Basterna, Toringus,
Bructerus, ulvosa vel quem Nicer abluit unda
Prorumpit Francus. Cecidit cito secta bipenni Hercynia in
lintres, et Rhenum texuit alno. Et jam terrificis diffuderat
Attila turmis In campos se, Belga, tuos. Panegyr. Avit.]
33 (return) [ The most authentic and circumstantial account of
this war is contained in Jornandes, (de Reb. Geticis, c. 36-41,
p. 662-672,) who has sometimes abridged, and sometimes
transcribed, the larger history of Cassiodorus. Jornandes, a
quotation which it would be superfluous to repeat, may be
corrected and illustrated by Gregory of Tours, l. ii. c. 5, 6, 7,
and the Chronicles of Idatius, Isidore, and the two Prospers. All
the ancient testimonies are collected and inserted in the
Historians of France; but the reader should be cautioned against
a supposed extract from the Chronicle of Idatius, (among the
fragments of Fredegarius, tom. ii. p. 462,) which often
contradicts the genuine text of the Gallician bishop.]
34 (return) [ The ancient legendaries deserve some regard, as
they are obliged to connect their fables with the real history of
their own times. See the lives of St. Lupus, St. Anianus, the
bishops of Metz, Ste. Genevieve, &c., in the Historians of
France, tom. i. p. 644, 645, 649, tom. iii. p. 369.]
35 (return) [ The scepticism of the count de Buat (Hist. des
Peuples, tom. vii. p. 539, 540) cannot be reconciled with any
principles of reason or criticism. Is not Gregory of Tours
precise and positive in his account of the destruction of Metz?
At the distance of no more than a hundred years, could he be
ignorant, could the people be ignorant of the fate of a city, the
actual residence of his sovereigns, the kings of Austrasia? The
learned count, who seems to have undertaken the apology of Attila
and the Barbarians, appeals to the false Idatius, parcens
Germaniae et Galliae, and forgets that the true Idatius had
explicitly affirmed, plurimae civitates effractoe, among which he
enumerates Metz.]
The facility with which Attila had penetrated into the heart of
Gaul, may be ascribed to his insidious policy, as well as to the
terror of his arms. His public declarations were skilfully
mitigated by his private assurances; he alternately soothed and
threatened the Romans and the Goths; and the courts of Ravenna
and Thoulouse, mutually suspicious of each other’s intentions,
beheld, with supine indifference, the approach of their common
enemy. Ætius was the sole guardian of the public safety; but his
wisest measures were embarrassed by a faction, which, since the
death of Placidia, infested the Imperial palace: the youth of
Italy trembled at the sound of the trumpet; and the Barbarians,
who, from fear or affection, were inclined to the cause of
Attila, awaited with doubtful and venal faith, the event of the
war. The patrician passed the Alps at the head of some troops,
whose strength and numbers scarcely deserved the name of an army.
36 But on his arrival at Arles, or Lyons, he was confounded by
the intelligence, that the Visigoths, refusing to embrace the
defence of Gaul, had determined to expect, within their own
territories, the formidable invader, whom they professed to
despise. The senator Avitus, who, after the honorable exercise of
the Prætorian præfecture, had retired to his estate in
Auvergne, was persuaded to accept the important embassy, which he
executed with ability and success. He represented to Theodoric,
that an ambitious conqueror, who aspired to the dominion of the
earth, could be resisted only by the firm and unanimous alliance
of the powers whom he labored to oppress. The lively eloquence of
Avitus inflamed the Gothic warriors, by the description of the
injuries which their ancestors had suffered from the Huns; whose
implacable fury still pursued them from the Danube to the foot of
the Pyrenees. He strenuously urged, that it was the duty of every
Christian to save, from sacrilegious violation, the churches of
God, and the relics of the saints: that it was the interest of
every Barbarian, who had acquired a settlement in Gaul, to defend
the fields and vineyards, which were cultivated for his use,
against the desolation of the Scythian shepherds. Theodoric
yielded to the evidence of truth; adopted the measure at once the
most prudent and the most honorable; and declared, that, as the
faithful ally of Ætius and the Romans, he was ready to expose
his life and kingdom for the common safety of Gaul. 37 The
Visigoths, who, at that time, were in the mature vigor of their
fame and power, obeyed with alacrity the signal of war; prepared
their arms and horses, and assembled under the standard of their
aged king, who was resolved, with his two eldest sons, Torismond
and Theodoric, to command in person his numerous and valiant
people. The example of the Goths determined several tribes or
nations, that seemed to fluctuate between the Huns and the
Romans. The indefatigable diligence of the patrician gradually
collected the troops of Gaul and Germany, who had formerly
acknowledged themselves the subjects, or soldiers, of the
republic, but who now claimed the rewards of voluntary service,
and the rank of independent allies; the Læti, the Armoricans,
the Breones, the Saxons, the Burgundians, the Sarmatians, or
Alani, the Ripuarians, and the Franks who followed Meroveus as
their lawful prince. Such was the various army, which, under the
conduct of Ætius and Theodoric, advanced, by rapid marches to
relieve Orleans, and to give battle to the innumerable host of
Attila. 38
36 (return) [
Vix liquerat Alpes Ætius, tenue, et rarum sine milite ducens
Robur, in auxiliis Geticum male credulus agmen Incassum propriis
praesumens adfore castris. —-Panegyr. Avit. 328, &c.]
37 (return) [ The policy of Attila, of Ætius, and of the
Visigoths, is imperfectly described in the Panegyric of Avitus,
and the thirty-sixth chapter of Jornandes. The poet and the
historian were both biased by personal or national prejudices.
The former exalts the merit and importance of Avitus; orbis,
Avite, salus, &c.! The latter is anxious to show the Goths in the
most favorable light. Yet their agreement when they are fairly
interpreted, is a proof of their veracity.]
38 (return) [ The review of the army of Ætius is made by
Jornandes, c. 36, p. 664, edit. Grot. tom. ii. p. 23, of the
Historians of France, with the notes of the Benedictine editor.
The Loeti were a promiscuous race of Barbarians, born or
naturalized in Gaul; and the Riparii, or Ripuarii, derived their
name from their post on the three rivers, the Rhine, the Meuse,
and the Moselle; the Armoricans possessed the independent cities
between the Seine and the Loire. A colony of Saxons had been
planted in the diocese of Bayeux; the Burgundians were settled in
Savoy; and the Breones were a warlike tribe of Rhaetians, to the
east of the Lake of Constance.]
On their approach the king of the Huns immediately raised the
siege, and sounded a retreat to recall the foremost of his troops
from the pillage of a city which they had already entered. 39 The
valor of Attila was always guided by his prudence; and as he
foresaw the fatal consequences of a defeat in the heart of Gaul,
he repassed the Seine, and expected the enemy in the plains of
Chalons, whose smooth and level surface was adapted to the
operations of his Scythian cavalry. But in this tumultuary
retreat, the vanguard of the Romans and their allies continually
pressed, and sometimes engaged, the troops whom Attila had posted
in the rear; the hostile columns, in the darkness of the night
and the perplexity of the roads, might encounter each other
without design; and the bloody conflict of the Franks and
Gepidae, in which fifteen thousand 40 Barbarians were slain, was
a prelude to a more general and decisive action. The Catalaunian
fields 41 spread themselves round Chalons, and extend, according
to the vague measurement of Jornandes, to the length of one
hundred and fifty, and the breadth of one hundred miles, over the
whole province, which is entitled to the appellation of a
champaign country. 42 This spacious plain was distinguished,
however, by some inequalities of ground; and the importance of a
height, which commanded the camp of Attila, was understood and
disputed by the two generals. The young and valiant Torismond
first occupied the summit; the Goths rushed with irresistible
weight on the Huns, who labored to ascend from the opposite side:
and the possession of this advantageous post inspired both the
troops and their leaders with a fair assurance of victory. The
anxiety of Attila prompted him to consult his priests and
haruspices. It was reported, that, after scrutinizing the
entrails of victims, and scraping their bones, they revealed, in
mysterious language, his own defeat, with the death of his
principal adversary; and that the Barbarians, by accepting the
equivalent, expressed his involuntary esteem for the superior
merit of Ætius. But the unusual despondency, which seemed to
prevail among the Huns, engaged Attila to use the expedient, so
familiar to the generals of antiquity, of animating his troops by
a military oration; and his language was that of a king, who had
often fought and conquered at their head. 43 He pressed them to
consider their past glory, their actual danger, and their future
hopes. The same fortune, which opened the deserts and morasses of
Scythia to their unarmed valor, which had laid so many warlike
nations prostrate at their feet, had reserved the joys of this
memorable field for the consummation of their victories. The
cautious steps of their enemies, their strict alliance, and their
advantageous posts, he artfully represented as the effects, not
of prudence, but of fear. The Visigoths alone were the strength
and nerves of the opposite army; and the Huns might securely
trample on the degenerate Romans, whose close and compact order
betrayed their apprehensions, and who were equally incapable of
supporting the dangers or the fatigues of a day of battle. The
doctrine of predestination, so favorable to martial virtue, was
carefully inculcated by the king of the Huns; who assured his
subjects, that the warriors, protected by Heaven, were safe and
invulnerable amidst the darts of the enemy; but that the unerring
Fates would strike their victims in the bosom of inglorious
peace. “I myself,” continued Attila, “will throw the first
javelin, and the wretch who refuses to imitate the example of his
sovereign, is devoted to inevitable death.” The spirit of the
Barbarians was rekindled by the presence, the voice, and the
example of their intrepid leader; and Attila, yielding to their
impatience, immediately formed his order of battle. At the head
of his brave and faithful Huns, he occupied in person the centre
of the line. The nations subject to his empire, the Rugians, the
Heruli, the Thuringians, the Franks, the Burgundians, were
extended on either hand, over the ample space of the Catalaunian
fields; the right wing was commanded by Ardaric, king of the
Gepidae; and the three valiant brothers, who reigned over the
Ostrogoths, were posted on the left to oppose the kindred tribes
of the Visigoths. The disposition of the allies was regulated by
a different principle. Sangiban, the faithless king of the Alani,
was placed in the centre, where his motions might be strictly
watched, and that the treachery might be instantly punished.
Ætius assumed the command of the left, and Theodoric of the
right wing; while Torismond still continued to occupy the heights
which appear to have stretched on the flank, and perhaps the
rear, of the Scythian army. The nations from the Volga to the
Atlantic were assembled on the plain of Chalons; but many of
these nations had been divided by faction, or conquest, or
emigration; and the appearance of similar arms and ensigns, which
threatened each other, presented the image of a civil war.
39 (return) [ Aurelianensis urbis obsidio, oppugnatio, irruptio,
nec direptio, l. v. Sidon. Apollin. l. viii. Epist. 15, p. 246.
The preservation of Orleans might easily be turned into a
miracle, obtained and foretold by the holy bishop.]
40 (return) [ The common editions read xcm but there is some
authority of manuscripts (and almost any authority is sufficient)
for the more reasonable number of xvm.]
41 (return) [ Chalons, or Duro-Catalaunum, afterwards Catalauni,
had formerly made a part of the territory of Rheims from whence
it is distant only twenty-seven miles. See Vales, Notit. Gall. p.
136. D’Anville, Notice de l’Ancienne Gaule, p. 212, 279.]
42 (return) [ The name of Campania, or Champagne, is frequently
mentioned by Gregory of Tours; and that great province, of which
Rheims was the capital, obeyed the command of a duke. Vales.
Notit. p. 120-123.]
43 (return) [ I am sensible that these military orations are
usually composed by the historian; yet the old Ostrogoths, who
had served under Attila, might repeat his discourse to
Cassiodorus; the ideas, and even the expressions, have an
original Scythian cast; and I doubt, whether an Italian of the
sixth century would have thought of the hujus certaminis gaudia.]
The discipline and tactics of the Greeks and Romans form an
interesting part of their national manners. The attentive study
of the military operations of Xenophon, or Caesar, or Frederic,
when they are described by the same genius which conceived and
executed them, may tend to improve (if such improvement can be
wished) the art of destroying the human species. But the battle
of Chalons can only excite our curiosity by the magnitude of the
object; since it was decided by the blind impetuosity of
Barbarians, and has been related by partial writers, whose civil
or ecclesiastical profession secluded them from the knowledge of
military affairs. Cassiolorus, however, had familiarly conversed
with many Gothic warriors, who served in that memorable
engagement; “a conflict,” as they informed him, “fierce, various,
obstinate, and bloody; such as could not be paralleled either in
the present or in past ages.” The number of the slain amounted to
one hundred and sixty-two thousand, or, according to another
account, three hundred thousand persons; 44 and these incredible
exaggerations suppose a real and effective loss sufficient to
justify the historian’s remark, that whole generations may be
swept away by the madness of kings, in the space of a single
hour. After the mutual and repeated discharge of missile weapons,
in which the archers of Scythia might signalize their superior
dexterity, the cavalry and infantry of the two armies were
furiously mingled in closer combat. The Huns, who fought under
the eyes of their king pierced through the feeble and doubtful
centre of the allies, separated their wings from each other, and
wheeling, with a rapid effort, to the left, directed their whole
force against the Visigoths. As Theodoric rode along the ranks,
to animate his troops, he received a mortal stroke from the
javelin of Andages, a noble Ostrogoth, and immediately fell from
his horse. The wounded king was oppressed in the general
disorder, and trampled under the feet of his own cavalry; and
this important death served to explain the ambiguous prophecy of
the haruspices. Attila already exulted in the confidence of
victory, when the valiant Torismond descended from the hills, and
verified the remainder of the prediction. The Visigoths, who had
been thrown into confusion by the flight or defection of the
Alani, gradually restored their order of battle; and the Huns
were undoubtedly vanquished, since Attila was compelled to
retreat. He had exposed his person with the rashness of a private
soldier; but the intrepid troops of the centre had pushed
forwards beyond the rest of the line; their attack was faintly
supported; their flanks were unguarded; and the conquerors of
Scythia and Germany were saved by the approach of the night from
a total defeat. They retired within the circle of wagons that
fortified their camp; and the dismounted squadrons prepared
themselves for a defence, to which neither their arms, nor their
temper, were adapted. The event was doubtful: but Attila had
secured a last and honorable resource. The saddles and rich
furniture of the cavalry were collected, by his order, into a
funeral pile; and the magnanimous Barbarian had resolved, if his
intrenchments should be forced, to rush headlong into the flames,
and to deprive his enemies of the glory which they might have
acquired, by the death or captivity of Attila. 45
44 (return) [ The expressions of Jornandes, or rather of
Cassiodorus, are extremely strong. Bellum atrox, multiplex,
immane, pertinax, cui simile nulla usquam narrat antiquitas: ubi
talia gesta referuntur, ut nihil esset quod in vita sua
conspicere potuisset egregius, qui hujus miraculi privaretur
aspectu. Dubos (Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 392, 393) attempts to
reconcile the 162,000 of Jornandes with the 300,000 of Idatius
and Isidore, by supposing that the larger number included the
total destruction of the war, the effects of disease, the
slaughter of the unarmed people, &c.]
45 (return) [ The count de Buat, (Hist. des Peuples, &c., tom.
vii. p. 554-573,) still depending on the false, and again
rejecting the true, Idatius, has divided the defeat of Attila
into two great battles; the former near Orleans, the latter in
Champagne: in the one, Theodoric was slain in the other, he was
revenged.]
But his enemies had passed the night in equal disorder and
anxiety. The inconsiderate courage of Torismond was tempted to
urge the pursuit, till he unexpectedly found himself, with a few
followers, in the midst of the Scythian wagons. In the confusion
of a nocturnal combat, he was thrown from his horse; and the
Gothic prince must have perished like his father, if his youthful
strength, and the intrepid zeal of his companions, had not
rescued him from this dangerous situation. In the same manner,
but on the left of the line, Ætius himself, separated from his
allies, ignorant of their victory, and anxious for their fate,
encountered and escaped the hostile troops that were scattered
over the plains of Chalons; and at length reached the camp of the
Goths, which he could only fortify with a slight rampart of
shields, till the dawn of day. The Imperial general was soon
satisfied of the defeat of Attila, who still remained inactive
within his intrenchments; and when he contemplated the bloody
scene, he observed, with secret satisfaction, that the loss had
principally fallen on the Barbarians. The body of Theodoric,
pierced with honorable wounds, was discovered under a heap of the
slain: his subjects bewailed the death of their king and father;
but their tears were mingled with songs and acclamations, and his
funeral rites were performed in the face of a vanquished enemy.
The Goths, clashing their arms, elevated on a buckler his eldest
son Torismond, to whom they justly ascribed the glory of their
success; and the new king accepted the obligation of revenge as a
sacred portion of his paternal inheritance. Yet the Goths
themselves were astonished by the fierce and undaunted aspect of
their formidable antagonist; and their historian has compared
Attila to a lion encompassed in his den, and threatening his
hunters with redoubled fury. The kings and nations who might have
deserted his standard in the hour of distress, were made sensible
that the displeasure of their monarch was the most imminent and
inevitable danger. All his instruments of martial music
incessantly sounded a loud and animating strain of defiance; and
the foremost troops who advanced to the assault were checked or
destroyed by showers of arrows from every side of the
intrenchments. It was determined, in a general council of war, to
besiege the king of the Huns in his camp, to intercept his
provisions, and to reduce him to the alternative of a disgraceful
treaty or an unequal combat. But the impatience of the Barbarians
soon disdained these cautious and dilatory measures; and the
mature policy of Ætius was apprehensive that, after the
extirpation of the Huns, the republic would be oppressed by the
pride and power of the Gothic nation. The patrician exerted the
superior ascendant of authority and reason to calm the passions,
which the son of Theodoric considered as a duty; represented,
with seeming affection and real truth, the dangers of absence and
delay and persuaded Torismond to disappoint, by his speedy
return, the ambitious designs of his brothers, who might occupy
the throne and treasures of Thoulouse. 46 After the departure of
the Goths, and the separation of the allied army, Attila was
surprised at the vast silence that reigned over the plains of
Chalons: the suspicion of some hostile stratagem detained him
several days within the circle of his wagons, and his retreat
beyond the Rhine confessed the last victory which was achieved in
the name of the Western empire. Meroveus and his Franks,
observing a prudent distance, and magnifying the opinion of their
strength by the numerous fires which they kindled every night,
continued to follow the rear of the Huns till they reached the
confines of Thuringia. The Thuringians served in the army of
Attila: they traversed, both in their march and in their return,
the territories of the Franks; and it was perhaps in this war
that they exercised the cruelties which, about fourscore years
afterwards, were revenged by the son of Clovis. They massacred
their hostages, as well as their captives: two hundred young
maidens were tortured with exquisite and unrelenting rage; their
bodies were torn asunder by wild horses, or their bones were
crushed under the weight of rolling wagons; and their unburied
limbs were abandoned on the public roads, as a prey to dogs and
vultures. Such were those savage ancestors, whose imaginary
virtues have sometimes excited the praise and envy of civilized
ages. 47
46 (return) [ Jornandes de Rebus Geticis, c. 41, p. 671. The
policy of Ætius, and the behavior of Torismond, are extremely
natural; and the patrician, according to Gregory of Tours, (l.
ii. c. 7, p. 163,) dismissed the prince of the Franks, by
suggesting to him a similar apprehension. The false Idatius
ridiculously pretends, that Ætius paid a clandestine nocturnal
visit to the kings of the Huns and of the Visigoths; from each of
whom he obtained a bribe of ten thousand pieces of gold, as the
price of an undisturbed retreat.]
47 (return) [ These cruelties, which are passionately deplored by
Theodoric, the son of Clovis, (Gregory of Tours, l. iii. c. 10,
p. 190,) suit the time and circumstances of the invasion of
Attila. His residence in Thuringia was long attested by popular
tradition; and he is supposed to have assembled a couroultai, or
diet, in the territory of Eisenach. See Mascou, ix. 30, who
settles with nice accuracy the extent of ancient Thuringia, and
derives its name from the Gothic tribe of the Therungi]
Chapter XXXV: Invasion By Attila.—Part III.
Neither the spirit, nor the forces, nor the reputation, of
Attila, were impaired by the failure of the Gallic expedition. In
the ensuing spring he repeated his demand of the princess
Honoria, and her patrimonial treasures. The demand was again
rejected, or eluded; and the indignant lover immediately took the
field, passed the Alps, invaded Italy, and besieged Aquileia with
an innumerable host of Barbarians. Those Barbarians were
unskilled in the methods of conducting a regular siege, which,
even among the ancients, required some knowledge, or at least
some practice, of the mechanic arts. But the labor of many
thousand provincials and captives, whose lives were sacrificed
without pity, might execute the most painful and dangerous work.
The skill of the Roman artists might be corrupted to the
destruction of their country. The walls of Aquileia were
assaulted by a formidable train of battering rams, movable
turrets, and engines, that threw stones, darts, and fire; 48 and
the monarch of the Huns employed the forcible impulse of hope,
fear, emulation, and interest, to subvert the only barrier which
delayed the conquest of Italy. Aquileia was at that period one of
the richest, the most populous, and the strongest of the maritime
cities of the Adriatic coast. The Gothic auxiliaries, who
appeared to have served under their native princes, Alaric and
Antala, communicated their intrepid spirit; and the citizens
still remembered the glorious and successful resistance which
their ancestors had opposed to a fierce, inexorable Barbarian,
who disgraced the majesty of the Roman purple. Three months were
consumed without effect in the siege of the Aquileia; till the
want of provisions, and the clamors of his army, compelled Attila
to relinquish the enterprise; and reluctantly to issue his
orders, that the troops should strike their tents the next
morning, and begin their retreat. But as he rode round the walls,
pensive, angry, and disappointed, he observed a stork preparing
to leave her nest, in one of the towers, and to fly with her
infant family towards the country. He seized, with the ready
penetration of a statesman, this trifling incident, which chance
had offered to superstition; and exclaimed, in a loud and
cheerful tone, that such a domestic bird, so constantly attached
to human society, would never have abandoned her ancient seats,
unless those towers had been devoted to impending ruin and
solitude. 49 The favorable omen inspired an assurance of victory;
the siege was renewed and prosecuted with fresh vigor; a large
breach was made in the part of the wall from whence the stork had
taken her flight; the Huns mounted to the assault with
irresistible fury; and the succeeding generation could scarcely
discover the ruins of Aquileia. 50 After this dreadful
chastisement, Attila pursued his march; and as he passed, the
cities of Altinum, Concordia, and Padua, were reduced into heaps
of stones and ashes. The inland towns, Vicenza, Verona, and
Bergamo, were exposed to the rapacious cruelty of the Huns. Milan
and Pavia submitted, without resistance, to the loss of their
wealth; and applauded the unusual clemency which preserved from
the flames the public, as well as private, buildings, and spared
the lives of the captive multitude. The popular traditions of
Comum, Turin, or Modena, may justly be suspected; yet they concur
with more authentic evidence to prove, that Attila spread his
ravages over the rich plains of modern Lombardy; which are
divided by the Po, and bounded by the Alps and Apennine. 51 When
he took possession of the royal palace of Milan, he was surprised
and offended at the sight of a picture which represented the
Caesars seated on their throne, and the princes of Scythia
prostrate at their feet. The revenge which Attila inflicted on
this monument of Roman vanity, was harmless and ingenious. He
commanded a painter to reverse the figures and the attitudes; and
the emperors were delineated on the same canvas, approaching in a
suppliant posture to empty their bags of tributary gold before
the throne of the Scythian monarch. 52 The spectators must have
confessed the truth and propriety of the alteration; and were
perhaps tempted to apply, on this singular occasion, the
well-known fable of the dispute between the lion and the man. 53
48 (return) [ Machinis constructis, omnibusque tormentorum
generibus adhibitis. Jornandes, c. 42, p. 673. In the thirteenth
century, the Moguls battered the cities of China with large
engines, constructed by the Mahometans or Christians in their
service, which threw stones from 150 to 300 pounds weight. In the
defence of their country, the Chinese used gunpowder, and even
bombs, above a hundred years before they were known in Europe;
yet even those celestial, or infernal, arms were insufficient to
protect a pusillanimous nation. See Gaubil. Hist. des Mongous, p.
70, 71, 155, 157, &c.]
49 (return) [ The same story is told by Jornandes, and by
Procopius, (de Bell Vandal. l. i. c. 4, p. 187, 188:) nor is it
easy to decide which is the original. But the Greek historian is
guilty of an inexcusable mistake, in placing the siege of
Aquileia after the death of Ætius.]
50 (return) [ Jornandes, about a hundred years afterwards,
affirms, that Aquileia was so completely ruined, ita ut vix ejus
vestigia, ut appareant, reliquerint. See Jornandes de Reb.
Geticis, c. 42, p. 673. Paul. Diacon. l. ii. c. 14, p. 785.
Liutprand, Hist. l. iii. c. 2. The name of Aquileia was sometimes
applied to Forum Julii, (Cividad del Friuli,) the more recent
capital of the Venetian province. * Note: Compare the curious
Latin poems on the destruction of Aquileia, published by M.
Endlicher in his valuable catalogue of Latin Mss. in the library
of Vienna, p. 298, &c.
Repleta quondam domibus sublimibus, ornatis mire, niveis, marmorels,
Nune ferax frugum metiris funiculo ruricolarum.
The monkish poet has his consolation in Attila’s sufferings in
soul and body.
Vindictam tamen non evasit impius destructor tuus Attila sevissimus,
Nunc igni simul gehennae et vermibus excruciatur—P. 290.—M.]
51 (return) [ In describing this war of Attila, a war so famous,
but so imperfectly known, I have taken for my guides two learned
Italians, who considered the subject with some peculiar
advantages; Sigonius, de Imperio Occidentali, l. xiii. in his
works, tom. i. p. 495-502; and Muratori, Annali d’Italia, tom.
iv. p. 229-236, 8vo. edition.]
52 (return) [ This anecdote may be found under two different
articles of the miscellaneous compilation of Suidas.]
53 (return) [
Leo respondit, humana, hoc pictum manu: Videres hominem dejectum,
si pingere Leones scirent. —Appendix ad Phaedrum, Fab. xxv.
The lion in Phaedrus very foolishly appeals from pictures to the
amphitheatre; and I am glad to observe, that the native taste of
La Fontaine (l. iii. fable x.) has omitted this most lame and
impotent conclusion.]
It is a saying worthy of the ferocious pride of Attila, that the
grass never grew on the spot where his horse had trod. Yet the
savage destroyer undesignedly laid the foundation of a republic,
which revived, in the feudal state of Europe, the art and spirit
of commercial industry. The celebrated name of Venice, or
Venetia, 54 was formerly diffused over a large and fertile
province of Italy, from the confines of Pannonia to the River
Addua, and from the Po to the Rhaetian and Julian Alps. Before
the irruption of the Barbarians, fifty Venetian cities flourished
in peace and prosperity: Aquileia was placed in the most
conspicuous station: but the ancient dignity of Padua was
supported by agriculture and manufactures; and the property of
five hundred citizens, who were entitled to the equestrian rank,
must have amounted, at the strictest computation, to one million
seven hundred thousand pounds. Many families of Aquileia, Padua,
and the adjacent towns, who fled from the sword of the Huns,
found a safe, though obscure, refuge in the neighboring islands.
55 At the extremity of the Gulf, where the Adriatic feebly
imitates the tides of the ocean, near a hundred small islands are
separated by shallow water from the continent, and protected from
the waves by several long slips of land, which admit the entrance
of vessels through some secret and narrow channels. 56 Till the
middle of the fifth century, these remote and sequestered spots
remained without cultivation, with few inhabitants, and almost
without a name. But the manners of the Venetian fugitives, their
arts and their government, were gradually formed by their new
situation; and one of the epistles of Cassiodorus, 57 which
describes their condition about seventy years afterwards, may be
considered as the primitive monument of the republic. 571 The
minister of Theodoric compares them, in his quaint declamatory
style, to water-fowl, who had fixed their nests on the bosom of
the waves; and though he allows, that the Venetian provinces had
formerly contained many noble families, he insinuates, that they
were now reduced by misfortune to the same level of humble
poverty. Fish was the common, and almost the universal, food of
every rank: their only treasure consisted in the plenty of salt,
which they extracted from the sea: and the exchange of that
commodity, so essential to human life, was substituted in the
neighboring markets to the currency of gold and silver. A people,
whose habitations might be doubtfully assigned to the earth or
water, soon became alike familiar with the two elements; and the
demands of avarice succeeded to those of necessity. The
islanders, who, from Grado to Chiozza, were intimately connected
with each other, penetrated into the heart of Italy, by the
secure, though laborious, navigation of the rivers and inland
canals. Their vessels, which were continually increasing in size
and number, visited all the harbors of the Gulf; and the marriage
which Venice annually celebrates with the Adriatic, was
contracted in her early infancy. The epistle of Cassiodorus, the
Prætorian præfect, is addressed to the maritime tribunes; and
he exhorts them, in a mild tone of authority, to animate the zeal
of their countrymen for the public service, which required their
assistance to transport the magazines of wine and oil from the
province of Istria to the royal city of Ravenna. The ambiguous
office of these magistrates is explained by the tradition, that,
in the twelve principal islands, twelve tribunes, or judges, were
created by an annual and popular election. The existence of the
Venetian republic under the Gothic kingdom of Italy, is attested
by the same authentic record, which annihilates their lofty claim
of original and perpetual independence. 58
54 (return) [ Paul the Deacon (de Gestis Langobard. l. ii. c. 14,
p. 784) describes the provinces of Italy about the end of the
eighth century Venetia non solum in paucis insulis quas nunc
Venetias dicimus, constat; sed ejus terminus a Pannoniae finibus
usque Adduam fluvium protelatur. The history of that province
till the age of Charlemagne forms the first and most interesting
part of the Verona (Illustrata, p. 1-388,) in which the marquis
Scipio Maffei has shown himself equally capable of enlarged views
and minute disquisitions.]
55 (return) [ This emigration is not attested by any contemporary
evidence; but the fact is proved by the event, and the
circumstances might be preserved by tradition. The citizens of
Aquileia retired to the Isle of Gradus, those of Padua to Rivus
Altus, or Rialto, where the city of Venice was afterwards built,
&c.]
56 (return) [ The topography and antiquities of the Venetian
islands, from Gradus to Clodia, or Chioggia, are accurately
stated in the Dissertatio Chorographica de Italia Medii Aevi. p.
151-155.]
57 (return) [ Cassiodor. Variar. l. xii. epist. 24. Maffei
(Verona Illustrata, part i. p. 240-254) has translated and
explained this curious letter, in the spirit of a learned
antiquarian and a faithful subject, who considered Venice as the
only legitimate offspring of the Roman republic. He fixes the
date of the epistle, and consequently the præfecture, of
Cassiodorus, A.D. 523; and the marquis’s authority has the more
weight, as he prepared an edition of his works, and actually
published a dissertation on the true orthography of his name. See
Osservazioni Letterarie, tom. ii. p. 290-339.]
571 (return) [ The learned count Figliasi has proved, in his
memoirs upon the Veneti (Memorie de’ Veneti primi e secondi del
conte Figliasi, t. vi. Veneziai, 796,) that from the most remote
period, this nation, which occupied the country which has since
been called the Venetian States or Terra Firma, likewise
inhabited the islands scattered upon the coast, and that from
thence arose the names of Venetia prima and secunda, of which the
first applied to the main land and the second to the islands and
lagunes. From the time of the Pelasgi and of the Etrurians, the
first Veneti, inhabiting a fertile and pleasant country, devoted
themselves to agriculture: the second, placed in the midst of
canals, at the mouth of several rivers, conveniently situated
with regard to the islands of Greece, as well as the fertile
plains of Italy, applied themselves to navigation and commerce.
Both submitted to the Romans a short time before the second Punic
war; yet it was not till after the victory of Marius over the
Cimbri, that their country was reduced to a Roman province. Under
the emperors, Venetia Prima obtained more than once, by its
calamities, a place in history. * * But the maritime province was
occupied in salt works, fisheries, and commerce. The Romans have
considered the inhabitants of this part as beneath the dignity of
history, and have left them in obscurity. * * * They dwelt there
until the period when their islands afforded a retreat to their
ruined and fugitive compatriots. Sismondi. Hist. des Rep.
Italiens, v. i. p. 313.—G. ——Compare, on the origin of Venice,
Daru, Hist. de Venise, vol. i. c. l.—M.]
58 (return) [ See, in the second volume of Amelot de la Houssaie,
Histoire du Gouvernement de Venise, a translation of the famous
Squittinio. This book, which has been exalted far above its
merits, is stained, in every line, with the disingenuous
malevolence of party: but the principal evidence, genuine and
apocryphal, is brought together and the reader will easily choose
the fair medium.]
The Italians, who had long since renounced the exercise of arms,
were surprised, after forty years’ peace, by the approach of a
formidable Barbarian, whom they abhorred, as the enemy of their
religion, as well as of their republic. Amidst the general
consternation, Ætius alone was incapable of fear; but it was
impossible that he should achieve, alone and unassisted, any
military exploits worthy of his former renown. The Barbarians who
had defended Gaul, refused to march to the relief of Italy; and
the succors promised by the Eastern emperor were distant and
doubtful. Since Ætius, at the head of his domestic troops, still
maintained the field, and harassed or retarded the march of
Attila, he never showed himself more truly great, than at the
time when his conduct was blamed by an ignorant and ungrateful
people. 59 If the mind of Valentinian had been susceptible of any
generous sentiments, he would have chosen such a general for his
example and his guide. But the timid grandson of Theodosius,
instead of sharing the dangers, escaped from the sound of war;
and his hasty retreat from Ravenna to Rome, from an impregnable
fortress to an open capital, betrayed his secret intention of
abandoning Italy, as soon as the danger should approach his
Imperial person. This shameful abdication was suspended, however,
by the spirit of doubt and delay, which commonly adheres to
pusillanimous counsels, and sometimes corrects their pernicious
tendency. The Western emperor, with the senate and people of
Rome, embraced the more salutary resolution of deprecating, by a
solemn and suppliant embassy, the wrath of Attila. This important
commission was accepted by Avienus, who, from his birth and
riches, his consular dignity, the numerous train of his clients,
and his personal abilities, held the first rank in the Roman
senate. The specious and artful character of Avienus 60 was
admirably qualified to conduct a negotiation either of public or
private interest: his colleague Trigetius had exercised the
Prætorian præfecture of Italy; and Leo, bishop of Rome,
consented to expose his life for the safety of his flock. The
genius of Leo 61 was exercised and displayed in the public
misfortunes; and he has deserved the appellation of Great, by the
successful zeal with which he labored to establish his opinions
and his authority, under the venerable names of orthodox faith
and ecclesiastical discipline. The Roman ambassadors were
introduced to the tent of Attila, as he lay encamped at the place
where the slow-winding Mincius is lost in the foaming waves of
the Lake Benacus, 62 and trampled, with his Scythian cavalry, the
farms of Catullus and Virgil. 63 The Barbarian monarch listened
with favorable, and even respectful, attention; and the
deliverance of Italy was purchased by the immense ransom, or
dowry, of the princess Honoria. The state of his army might
facilitate the treaty, and hasten his retreat. Their martial
spirit was relaxed by the wealth and idolence of a warm climate.
The shepherds of the North, whose ordinary food consisted of milk
and raw flesh, indulged themselves too freely in the use of
bread, of wine, and of meat, prepared and seasoned by the arts of
cookery; and the progress of disease revenged in some measure the
injuries of the Italians. 64 When Attila declared his resolution
of carrying his victorious arms to the gates of Rome, he was
admonished by his friends, as well as by his enemies, that Alaric
had not long survived the conquest of the eternal city. His mind,
superior to real danger, was assaulted by imaginary terrors; nor
could he escape the influence of superstition, which had so often
been subservient to his designs. 65 The pressing eloquence of
Leo, his majestic aspect and sacerdotal robes, excited the
veneration of Attila for the spiritual father of the Christians.
The apparition of the two apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul, who
menaced the Barbarian with instant death, if he rejected the
prayer of their successor, is one of the noblest legends of
ecclesiastical tradition. The safety of Rome might deserve the
interposition of celestial beings; and some indulgence is due to
a fable, which has been represented by the pencil of Raphael, and
the chisel of Algardi. 66
59 (return) [ Sirmond (Not. ad Sidon. Apollin. p. 19) has
published a curious passage from the Chronicle of Prosper.
Attila, redintegratis viribus, quas in Gallia amiserat, Italiam
ingredi per Pannonias intendit; nihil duce nostro Aetio secundum
prioris belli opera prospiciente, &c. He reproaches Ætius with
neglecting to guard the Alps, and with a design to abandon Italy;
but this rash censure may at least be counterbalanced by the
favorable testimonies of Idatius and Isidore.]
60 (return) [ See the original portraits of Avienus and his rival
Basilius, delineated and contrasted in the epistles (i. 9. p. 22)
of Sidonius. He had studied the characters of the two chiefs of
the senate; but he attached himself to Basilius, as the more
solid and disinterested friend.]
61 (return) [ The character and principles of Leo may be traced
in one hundred and forty-one original epistles, which illustrate
the ecclesiastical history of his long and busy pontificate, from
A.D. 440 to 461. See Dupin, Bibliothèque Ecclesiastique, tom.
iii. part ii p. 120-165.]
62 (return) [
Tardis ingens ubi flexibus errat Mincius, et tenera praetexit
arundine ripas ———- Anne lacus tantos, te Lari maxime, teque
Fluctibus, et fremitu assurgens Benace marino.]
63 (return) [ The marquis Maffei (Verona Illustrata, part i. p.
95, 129, 221, part ii. p. 2, 6) has illustrated with taste and
learning this interesting topography. He places the interview of
Attila and St. Leo near Ariolica, or Ardelica, now Peschiera, at
the conflux of the lake and river; ascertains the villa of
Catullus, in the delightful peninsula of Sirmio, and discovers
the Andes of Virgil, in the village of Bandes, precisely situate,
qua se subducere colles incipiunt, where the Veronese hills
imperceptibly slope down into the plain of Mantua. * Note: Gibbon
has made a singular mistake: the Mincius flows out of the Bonacus
at Peschiera, not into it. The interview is likewise placed at
Ponte Molino. and at Governolo, at the conflux of the Mincio and
the Gonzaga. bishop of Mantua, erected a tablet in the year 1616,
in the church of the latter place, commemorative of the event.
Descrizione di Verona a de la sua provincia. C. 11, p. 126.—M.]
64 (return) [ Si statim infesto agmine urbem petiissent, grande
discrimen esset: sed in Venetia quo fere tractu Italia mollissima
est, ipsa soli coelique clementia robur elanquit. Ad hoc panis
usu carnisque coctae, et dulcedine vini mitigatos, &c. This
passage of Florus (iii. 3) is still more applicable to the Huns
than to the Cimbri, and it may serve as a commentary on the
celestial plague, with which Idatius and Isidore have afflicted
the troops of Attila.]
65 (return) [ The historian Priscus had positively mentioned the
effect which this example produced on the mind of Attila.
Jornandes, c. 42, p. 673]
66 (return) [ The picture of Raphael is in the Vatican; the basso
(or perhaps the alto) relievo of Algardi, on one of the altars of
St. Peter, (see Dubos, Reflexions sur la Poesie et sur la
Peinture, tom. i. p. 519, 520.) Baronius (Annal. Eccles. A.D.
452, No. 57, 58) bravely sustains the truth of the apparition;
which is rejected, however, by the most learned and pious
Catholics.]
Before the king of the Huns evacuated Italy, he threatened to
return more dreadful, and more implacable, if his bride, the
princess Honoria, were not delivered to his ambassadors within
the term stipulated by the treaty. Yet, in the mean while, Attila
relieved his tender anxiety, by adding a beautiful maid, whose
name was Ildico, to the list of his innumerable wives. 67 Their
marriage was celebrated with barbaric pomp and festivity, at his
wooden palace beyond the Danube; and the monarch, oppressed with
wine and sleep, retired at a late hour from the banquet to the
nuptial bed. His attendants continued to respect his pleasures,
or his repose, the greatest part of the ensuing day, till the
unusual silence alarmed their fears and suspicions; and, after
attempting to awaken Attila by loud and repeated cries, they at
length broke into the royal apartment. They found the trembling
bride sitting by the bedside, hiding her face with her veil, and
lamenting her own danger, as well as the death of the king, who
had expired during the night. 68 An artery had suddenly burst:
and as Attila lay in a supine posture, he was suffocated by a
torrent of blood, which, instead of finding a passage through the
nostrils, regurgitated into the lungs and stomach. His body was
solemnly exposed in the midst of the plain, under a silken
pavilion; and the chosen squadrons of the Huns, wheeling round in
measured evolutions, chanted a funeral song to the memory of a
hero, glorious in his life, invincible in his death, the father
of his people, the scourge of his enemies, and the terror of the
world. According to their national custom, the Barbarians cut off
a part of their hair, gashed their faces with unseemly wounds,
and bewailed their valiant leader as he deserved, not with the
tears of women, but with the blood of warriors. The remains of
Attila were enclosed within three coffins, of gold, of silver,
and of iron, and privately buried in the night: the spoils of
nations were thrown into his grave; the captives who had opened
the ground were inhumanly massacred; and the same Huns, who had
indulged such excessive grief, feasted, with dissolute and
intemperate mirth, about the recent sepulchre of their king. It
was reported at Constantinople, that on the fortunate night on
which he expired, Marcian beheld in a dream the bow of Attila
broken asunder: and the report may be allowed to prove, how
seldom the image of that formidable Barbarian was absent from the
mind of a Roman emperor. 69
67 (return) [ Attila, ut Priscus historicus refert, extinctionis
suae tempore, puellam Ildico nomine, decoram, valde, sibi
matrimonium post innumerabiles uxores... socians. Jornandes, c.
49, p. 683, 684.
He afterwards adds, (c. 50, p. 686,) Filii Attilæ, quorum per
licentiam libidinis poene populus fuit. Polygamy has been
established among the Tartars of every age. The rank of plebeian
wives is regulated only by their personal charms; and the faded
matron prepares, without a murmur, the bed which is destined for
her blooming rival. But in royal families, the daughters of Khans
communicate to their sons a prior right. See Genealogical
History, p. 406, 407, 408.]
68 (return) [ The report of her guilt reached Constantinople,
where it obtained a very different name; and Marcellinus
observes, that the tyrant of Europe was slain in the night by the
hand, and the knife, of a woman Corneille, who has adapted the
genuine account to his tragedy, describes the irruption of blood
in forty bombast lines, and Attila exclaims, with ridiculous
fury,
S’il ne veut s’arreter, (his blood.) (Dit-il) on me payera ce qui
m’en va couter.]
69 (return) [ The curious circumstances of the death and funeral
of Attila are related by Jornandes, (c. 49, p. 683, 684, 685,)
and were probably transcribed from Priscus.]
The revolution which subverted the empire of the Huns,
established the fame of Attila, whose genius alone had sustained
the huge and disjointed fabric. After his death, the boldest
chieftains aspired to the rank of kings; the most powerful kings
refused to acknowledge a superior; and the numerous sons, whom so
many various mothers bore to the deceased monarch, divided and
disputed, like a private inheritance, the sovereign command of
the nations of Germany and Scythia. The bold Ardaric felt and
represented the disgrace of this servile partition; and his
subjects, the warlike Gepidae, with the Ostrogoths, under the
conduct of three valiant brothers, encouraged their allies to
vindicate the rights of freedom and royalty. In a bloody and
decisive conflict on the banks of the River Netad, in Pannonia,
the lance of the Gepidae, the sword of the Goths, the arrows of
the Huns, the Suevic infantry, the light arms of the Heruli, and
the heavy weapons of the Alani, encountered or supported each
other; and the victory of the Ardaric was accompanied with the
slaughter of thirty thousand of his enemies. Ellac, the eldest
son of Attila, lost his life and crown in the memorable battle of
Netad: his early valor had raised him to the throne of the
Acatzires, a Scythian people, whom he subdued; and his father,
who loved the superior merit, would have envied the death of
Ellac. 70 His brother, Dengisich, with an army of Huns, still
formidable in their flight and ruin, maintained his ground above
fifteen years on the banks of the Danube. The palace of Attila,
with the old country of Dacia, from the Carpathian hills to the
Euxine, became the seat of a new power, which was erected by
Ardaric, king of the Gepidae. The Pannonian conquests from Vienna
to Sirmium, were occupied by the Ostrogoths; and the settlements
of the tribes, who had so bravely asserted their native freedom,
were irregularly distributed, according to the measure of their
respective strength. Surrounded and oppressed by the multitude of
his father’s slaves, the kingdom of Dengisich was confined to the
circle of his wagons; his desperate courage urged him to invade
the Eastern empire: he fell in battle; and his head ignominiously
exposed in the Hippodrome, exhibited a grateful spectacle to the
people of Constantinople. Attila had fondly or superstitiously
believed, that Irnac, the youngest of his sons, was destined to
perpetuate the glories of his race. The character of that prince,
who attempted to moderate the rashness of his brother Dengisich,
was more suitable to the declining condition of the Huns; and
Irnac, with his subject hordes, retired into the heart of the
Lesser Scythia. They were soon overwhelmed by a torrent of new
Barbarians, who followed the same road which their own ancestors
had formerly discovered. The Geougen, or Avares, whose residence
is assigned by the Greek writers to the shores of the ocean,
impelled the adjacent tribes; till at length the Igours of the
North, issuing from the cold Siberian regions, which produce the
most valuable furs, spread themselves over the desert, as far as
the Borysthenes and the Caspian gates; and finally extinguished
the empire of the Huns. 71
70 (return) [ See Jornandes, de Rebus Geticis, c. 50, p. 685,
686, 687, 688. His distinction of the national arms is curious
and important. Nan ibi admirandum reor fuisse spectaculum, ubi
cernere erat cunctis, pugnantem Gothum ense furentem, Gepidam in
vulnere suorum cuncta tela frangentem, Suevum pede, Hunnum
sagitta praesumere, Alanum gravi Herulum levi, armatura, aciem
instruere. I am not precisely informed of the situation of the
River Netad.]
71 (return) [ Two modern historians have thrown much new light on
the ruin and division of the empire of Attila; M. de Buat, by his
laborious and minute diligence, (tom. viii. p. 3-31, 68-94,) and
M. de Guignes, by his extraordinary knowledge of the Chinese
language and writers. See Hist. des Huns, tom. ii. p. 315-319.]
Such an event might contribute to the safety of the Eastern
empire, under the reign of a prince who conciliated the
friendship, without forfeiting the esteem, of the Barbarians. But
the emperor of the West, the feeble and dissolute Valentinian,
who had reached his thirty-fifth year without attaining the age
of reason or courage, abused this apparent security, to undermine
the foundations of his own throne, by the murder of the patrician
Ætius. From the instinct of a base and jealous mind, he hated
the man who was universally celebrated as the terror of the
Barbarians, and the support of the republic; 711 and his new
favorite, the eunuch Heraclius, awakened the emperor from the
supine lethargy, which might be disguised, during the life of
Placidia, 72 by the excuse of filial piety. The fame of Ætius,
his wealth and dignity, the numerous and martial train of
Barbarian followers, his powerful dependants, who filled the
civil offices of the state, and the hopes of his son Gaudentius,
who was already contracted to Eudoxia, the emperor’s daughter,
had raised him above the rank of a subject. The ambitious
designs, of which he was secretly accused, excited the fears, as
well as the resentment, of Valentinian. Ætius himself, supported
by the consciousness of his merit, his services, and perhaps his
innocence, seems to have maintained a haughty and indiscreet
behavior. The patrician offended his sovereign by a hostile
declaration; he aggravated the offence, by compelling him to
ratify, with a solemn oath, a treaty of reconciliation and
alliance; he proclaimed his suspicions, he neglected his safety;
and from a vain confidence that the enemy, whom he despised, was
incapable even of a manly crime, he rashly ventured his person in
the palace of Rome. Whilst he urged, perhaps with intemperate
vehemence, the marriage of his son, Valentinian, drawing his
sword, the first sword he had ever drawn, plunged it in the
breast of a general who had saved his empire: his courtiers and
eunuchs ambitiously struggled to imitate their master; and
Ætius, pierced with a hundred wounds, fell dead in the royal
presence. Boethius, the Prætorian præfect, was killed at the
same moment, and before the event could be divulged, the
principal friends of the patrician were summoned to the palace,
and separately murdered. The horrid deed, palliated by the
specious names of justice and necessity, was immediately
communicated by the emperor to his soldiers, his subjects, and
his allies. The nations, who were strangers or enemies to Ætius,
generously deplored the unworthy fate of a hero: the Barbarians,
who had been attached to his service, dissembled their grief and
resentment: and the public contempt, which had been so long
entertained for Valentinian, was at once converted into deep and
universal abhorrence. Such sentiments seldom pervade the walls of
a palace; yet the emperor was confounded by the honest reply of a
Roman, whose approbation he had not disdained to solicit. “I am
ignorant, sir, of your motives or provocations; I only know, that
you have acted like a man who cuts off his right hand with his
left.” 73
711 (return) [ The praises awarded by Gibbon to the character of
Ætius have been animadverted upon with great severity. (See Mr.
Herbert’s Attila. p. 321.) I am not aware that Gibbon has
dissembled or palliated any of the crimes or treasons of Ætius:
but his position at the time of his murder was certainly that of
the preserver of the empire, the conqueror of the most dangerous
of the barbarians: it is by no means clear that he was not
“innocent” of any treasonable designs against Valentinian. If the
early acts of his life, the introduction of the Huns into Italy,
and of the Vandals into Africa, were among the proximate causes
of the ruin of the empire, his murder was the signal for its
almost immediate downfall.—M.]
72 (return) [ Placidia died at Rome, November 27, A.D. 450. She
was buried at Ravenna, where her sepulchre, and even her corpse,
seated in a chair of cypress wood, were preserved for ages. The
empress received many compliments from the orthodox clergy; and
St. Peter Chrysologus assured her, that her zeal for the Trinity
had been recompensed by an august trinity of children. See
Tillemont, Uist. Jer Emp. tom. vi. p. 240.]
73 (return) [ Aetium Placidus mactavit semivir amens, is the
expression of Sidonius, (Panegyr. Avit. 359.) The poet knew the
world, and was not inclined to flatter a minister who had injured
or disgraced Avitus and Majorian, the successive heroes of his
song.]
The luxury of Rome seems to have attracted the long and frequent
visits of Valentinian; who was consequently more despised at Rome
than in any other part of his dominions. A republican spirit was
insensibly revived in the senate, as their authority, and even
their supplies, became necessary for the support of his feeble
government. The stately demeanor of an hereditary monarch offended
their pride; and the pleasures of Valentinian were injurious to
the peace and honor of noble families. The birth of the empress
Eudoxia was equal to his own, and her charms and tender affection
deserved those testimonies of love which her inconstant husband
dissipated in vague and unlawful amours. Petronius Maximus, a
wealthy senator of the Anician family, who had been twice consul,
was possessed of a chaste and beautiful wife: her obstinate
resistance served only to irritate the desires of Valentinian;
and he resolved to accomplish them, either by stratagem or force.
Deep gaming was one of the vices of the court: the emperor, who,
by chance or contrivance, had gained from Maximus a considerable
sum, uncourteously exacted his ring as a security for the debt;
and sent it by a trusty messenger to his wife, with an order, in
her husband’s name, that she should immediately attend the
empress Eudoxia. The unsuspecting wife of Maximus was conveyed in
her litter to the Imperial palace; the emissaries of her
impatient lover conducted her to a remote and silent bed-chamber;
and Valentinian violated, without remorse, the laws of
hospitality. Her tears, when she returned home, her deep
affliction, and her bitter reproaches against a husband whom she
considered as the accomplice of his own shame, excited Maximus to
a just revenge; the desire of revenge was stimulated by ambition;
and he might reasonably aspire, by the free suffrage of the Roman
senate, to the throne of a detested and despicable rival.
Valentinian, who supposed that every human breast was devoid,
like his own, of friendship and gratitude, had imprudently
admitted among his guards several domestics and followers of
Ætius. Two of these, of Barbarian race were persuaded to execute
a sacred and honorable duty, by punishing with death the assassin
of their patron; and their intrepid courage did not long expect a
favorable moment. Whilst Valentinian amused himself, in the field
of Mars, with the spectacle of some military sports, they
suddenly rushed upon him with drawn weapons, despatched the
guilty Heraclius, and stabbed the emperor to the heart, without
the least opposition from his numerous train, who seemed to
rejoice in the tyrant’s death. Such was the fate of Valentinian
the Third, 74 the last Roman emperor of the family of Theodosius.
He faithfully imitated the hereditary weakness of his cousin and
his two uncles, without inheriting the gentleness, the purity,
the innocence, which alleviate, in their characters, the want of
spirit and ability. Valentinian was less excusable, since he had
passions, without virtues: even his religion was questionable;
and though he never deviated into the paths of heresy, he
scandalized the pious Christians by his attachment to the profane
arts of magic and divination.
74 (return) [ With regard to the cause and circumstances of the
deaths of Ætius and Valentinian, our information is dark and
imperfect. Procopius (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 4, p. 186, 187,
188) is a fabulous writer for the events which precede his own
memory. His narrative must therefore be supplied and corrected by
five or six Chronicles, none of which were composed in Rome or
Italy; and which can only express, in broken sentences, the
popular rumors, as they were conveyed to Gaul, Spain, Africa,
Constantinople, or Alexandria.]
As early as the time of Cicero and Varro, it was the opinion of
the Roman augurs, that the twelve vultures which Romulus had
seen, represented the twelve centuries, assigned for the fatal
period of his city. 75 This prophecy, disregarded perhaps in the
season of health and prosperity, inspired the people with gloomy
apprehensions, when the twelfth century, clouded with disgrace
and misfortune, was almost elapsed; 76 and even posterity must
acknowledge with some surprise, that the arbitrary interpretation
of an accidental or fabulous circumstance has been seriously
verified in the downfall of the Western empire. But its fall was
announced by a clearer omen than the flight of vultures: the
Roman government appeared every day less formidable to its
enemies, more odious and oppressive to its subjects. 77 The taxes
were multiplied with the public distress; economy was neglected
in proportion as it became necessary; and the injustice of the
rich shifted the unequal burden from themselves to the people,
whom they defrauded of the indulgences that might sometimes have
alleviated their misery. The severe inquisition which confiscated
their goods, and tortured their persons, compelled the subjects
of Valentinian to prefer the more simple tyranny of the
Barbarians, to fly to the woods and mountains, or to embrace the
vile and abject condition of mercenary servants. They abjured and
abhorred the name of Roman citizens, which had formerly excited
the ambition of mankind. The Armorican provinces of Gaul, and the
greatest part of Spain, were-thrown into a state of disorderly
independence, by the confederations of the Bagaudae; and the
Imperial ministers pursued with proscriptive laws, and
ineffectual arms, the rebels whom they had made. 78 If all the
Barbarian conquerors had been annihilated in the same hour, their
total destruction would not have restored the empire of the West:
and if Rome still survived, she survived the loss of freedom, of
virtue, and of honor.
75 (return) [ This interpretation of Vettius, a celebrated augur,
was quoted by Varro, in the xviiith book of his Antiquities.
Censorinus, de Die Natali, c. 17, p. 90, 91, edit. Havercamp.]
76 (return) [ According to Varro, the twelfth century would
expire A.D. 447, but the uncertainty of the true era of Rome
might allow some latitude of anticipation or delay. The poets of
the age, Claudian (de Bell Getico, 265) and Sidonius, (in
Panegyr. Avit. 357,) may be admitted as fair witnesses of the
popular opinion.
Jam reputant annos, interceptoque volatu Vulturis, incidunt
properatis saecula metis. ....... Jam prope fata tui bissenas
Vulturis alas Implebant; seis namque tuos, scis, Roma, labores.
—See Dubos, Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 340-346.]
77 (return) [ The fifth book of Salvian is filled with pathetic
lamentations and vehement invectives. His immoderate freedom
serves to prove the weakness, as well as the corruption, of the
Roman government. His book was published after the loss of
Africa, (A.D. 439,) and before Attila’s war, (A.D. 451.)]
78 (return) [ The Bagaudae of Spain, who fought pitched battles
with the Roman troops, are repeatedly mentioned in the Chronicle
of Idatius. Salvian has described their distress and rebellion in
very forcible language. Itaque nomen civium Romanorum... nunc
ultro repudiatur ac fugitur, nec vile tamen sed etiam abominabile
poene habetur... Et hinc est ut etiam hi quid ad Barbaros non
confugiunt, Barbari tamen esse coguntur, scilicet ut est pars
magna Hispanorum, et non minima Gallorum.... De Bagaudis nunc
mihi sermo est, qui per malos judices et cruentos spoliati,
afflicti, necati postquam jus Romanae libertatis amiserant, etiam
honorem Romani nominis perdiderunt.... Vocamus rabelles, vocamus
perditos quos esse compulimua criminosos. De Gubernat. Dei, l. v.
p. 158, 159.]
Chapter XXXVI: Total Extinction Of The Western Empire.—Part I.
Sack Of Rome By Genseric, King Of The Vandals.—His Naval
Depredations.—Succession Of The Last Emperors Of The West,
Maximus, Avitus, Majorian, Severus, Anthemius, Olybrius,
Glycerius, Nepos, Augustulus.—Total Extinction Of The Western
Empire.—Reign Of Odoacer, The First Barbarian King Of Italy.
The loss or desolation of the provinces, from the Ocean to the
Alps, impaired the glory and greatness of Rome: her internal
prosperity was irretrievably destroyed by the separation of
Africa. The rapacious Vandals confiscated the patrimonial estates
of the senators, and intercepted the regular subsidies, which
relieved the poverty and encouraged the idleness of the
plebeians. The distress of the Romans was soon aggravated by an
unexpected attack; and the province, so long cultivated for their
use by industrious and obedient subjects, was armed against them
by an ambitious Barbarian. The Vandals and Alani, who followed
the successful standard of Genseric, had acquired a rich and
fertile territory, which stretched along the coast above ninety
days’ journey from Tangier to Tripoli; but their narrow limits
were pressed and confined, on either side, by the sandy desert
and the Mediterranean. The discovery and conquest of the Black
nations, that might dwell beneath the torrid zone, could not
tempt the rational ambition of Genseric; but he cast his eyes
towards the sea; he resolved to create a naval power, and his
bold resolution was executed with steady and active perseverance.
The woods of Mount Atlas afforded an inexhaustible nursery of
timber: his new subjects were skilled in the arts of navigation
and ship-building; he animated his daring Vandals to embrace a
mode of warfare which would render every maritime country
accessible to their arms; the Moors and Africans were allured by
the hopes of plunder; and, after an interval of six centuries,
the fleets that issued from the port of Carthage again claimed
the empire of the Mediterranean. The success of the Vandals, the
conquest of Sicily, the sack of Palermo, and the frequent
descents on the coast of Lucania, awakened and alarmed the mother
of Valentinian, and the sister of Theodosius. Alliances were
formed; and armaments, expensive and ineffectual, were prepared,
for the destruction of the common enemy; who reserved his courage
to encounter those dangers which his policy could not prevent or
elude. The designs of the Roman government were repeatedly
baffled by his artful delays, ambiguous promises, and apparent
concessions; and the interposition of his formidable confederate,
the king of the Huns, recalled the emperors from the conquest of
Africa to the care of their domestic safety. The revolutions of
the palace, which left the Western empire without a defender, and
without a lawful prince, dispelled the apprehensions, and
stimulated the avarice, of Genseric. He immediately equipped a
numerous fleet of Vandals and Moors, and cast anchor at the mouth
of the Tyber, about three months after the death of Valentinian,
and the elevation of Maximus to the Imperial throne.
The private life of the senator Petronius Maximus 1 was often
alleged as a rare example of human felicity. His birth was noble
and illustrious, since he descended from the Anician family; his
dignity was supported by an adequate patrimony in land and money;
and these advantages of fortune were accompanied with liberal
arts and decent manners, which adorn or imitate the inestimable
gifts of genius and virtue. The luxury of his palace and table
was hospitable and elegant. Whenever Maximus appeared in public,
he was surrounded by a train of grateful and obsequious clients;
2 and it is possible that among these clients, he might deserve
and possess some real friends. His merit was rewarded by the
favor of the prince and senate: he thrice exercised the office of
Prætorian præfect of Italy; he was twice invested with the
consulship, and he obtained the rank of patrician. These civil
honors were not incompatible with the enjoyment of leisure and
tranquillity; his hours, according to the demands of pleasure or
reason, were accurately distributed by a water-clock; and this
avarice of time may be allowed to prove the sense which Maximus
entertained of his own happiness. The injury which he received
from the emperor Valentinian appears to excuse the most bloody
revenge. Yet a philosopher might have reflected, that, if the
resistance of his wife had been sincere, her chastity was still
inviolate, and that it could never be restored if she had
consented to the will of the adulterer. A patriot would have
hesitated before he plunged himself and his country into those
inevitable calamities which must follow the extinction of the
royal house of Theodosius. The imprudent Maximus disregarded
these salutary considerations; he gratified his resentment and
ambition; he saw the bleeding corpse of Valentinian at his feet;
and he heard himself saluted Emperor by the unanimous voice of
the senate and people. But the day of his inauguration was the
last day of his happiness. He was imprisoned (such is the lively
expression of Sidonius) in the palace; and after passing a
sleepless night, he sighed that he had attained the summit of his
wishes, and aspired only to descend from the dangerous elevation.
Oppressed by the weight of the diadem, he communicated his
anxious thoughts to his friend and quaestor Fulgentius; and when
he looked back with unavailing regret on the secure pleasures of
his former life, the emperor exclaimed, “O fortunate Damocles, 3
thy reign began and ended with the same dinner;” a well-known
allusion, which Fulgentius afterwards repeated as an instructive
lesson for princes and subjects.
1 (return) [ Sidonius Apollinaris composed the thirteenth epistle
of the second book, to refute the paradox of his friend Serranus,
who entertained a singular, though generous, enthusiasm for the
deceased emperor. This epistle, with some indulgence, may claim
the praise of an elegant composition; and it throws much light on
the character of Maximus.]
2 (return) [ Clientum, praevia, pedisequa, circumfusa,
populositas, is the train which Sidonius himself (l. i. epist. 9)
assigns to another senator of rank]
3 (return) [
Districtus ensis cui super impia Cervice pendet, non Siculoe dapes
Dulcem elaborabunt saporem: Non avium citharaeque cantus Somnum
reducent. —Horat. Carm. iii. 1.
Sidonius concludes his letter with the story of Damocles, which
Cicero (Tusculan. v. 20, 21) had so inimitably told.]
The reign of Maximus continued about three months. His hours, of
which he had lost the command, were disturbed by remorse, or
guilt, or terror, and his throne was shaken by the seditions of
the soldiers, the people, and the confederate Barbarians. The
marriage of his son Paladius with the eldest daughter of the late
emperor, might tend to establish the hereditary succession of his
family; but the violence which he offered to the empress Eudoxia,
could proceed only from the blind impulse of lust or revenge. His
own wife, the cause of these tragic events, had been seasonably
removed by death; and the widow of Valentinian was compelled to
violate her decent mourning, perhaps her real grief, and to
submit to the embraces of a presumptuous usurper, whom she
suspected as the assassin of her deceased husband. These
suspicions were soon justified by the indiscreet confession of
Maximus himself; and he wantonly provoked the hatred of his
reluctant bride, who was still conscious that she was descended
from a line of emperors. From the East, however, Eudoxia could
not hope to obtain any effectual assistance; her father and her
aunt Pulcheria were dead; her mother languished at Jerusalem in
disgrace and exile; and the sceptre of Constantinople was in the
hands of a stranger. She directed her eyes towards Carthage;
secretly implored the aid of the king of the Vandals; and
persuaded Genseric to improve the fair opportunity of disguising
his rapacious designs by the specious names of honor, justice,
and compassion. 4 Whatever abilities Maximus might have shown in
a subordinate station, he was found incapable of administering an
empire; and though he might easily have been informed of the
naval preparations which were made on the opposite shores of
Africa, he expected with supine indifference the approach of the
enemy, without adopting any measures of defence, of negotiation,
or of a timely retreat. When the Vandals disembarked at the mouth
of the Tyber, the emperor was suddenly roused from his lethargy
by the clamors of a trembling and exasperated multitude. The only
hope which presented itself to his astonished mind was that of a
precipitate flight, and he exhorted the senators to imitate the
example of their prince. But no sooner did Maximus appear in the
streets, than he was assaulted by a shower of stones; a Roman, or
a Burgundian soldier, claimed the honor of the first wound; his
mangled body was ignominiously cast into the Tyber; the Roman
people rejoiced in the punishment which they had inflicted on the
author of the public calamities; and the domestics of Eudoxia
signalized their zeal in the service of their mistress. 5
4 (return) [ Notwithstanding the evidence of Procopius, Evagrius,
Idatius Marcellinus, &c., the learned Muratori (Annali d’Italia,
tom. iv. p. 249) doubts the reality of this invitation, and
observes, with great truth, “Non si puo dir quanto sia facile il
popolo a sognare e spacciar voci false.” But his argument, from
the interval of time and place, is extremely feeble. The figs
which grew near Carthage were produced to the senate of Rome on
the third day.]
5 (return) [
Infidoque tibi Burgundio ductu Extorquet trepidas mactandi
principis iras. —-Sidon. in Panegyr. Avit. 442.
A remarkable line, which insinuates that Rome and Maximus were
betrayed by their Burgundian mercenaries.]
On the third day after the tumult, Genseric boldly advanced from
the port of Ostia to the gates of the defenceless city. Instead
of a sally of the Roman youth, there issued from the gates an
unarmed and venerable procession of the bishop at the head of his
clergy. 6 The fearless spirit of Leo, his authority and
eloquence, again mitigated the fierceness of a Barbarian
conqueror; the king of the Vandals promised to spare the
unresisting multitude, to protect the buildings from fire, and to
exempt the captives from torture; and although such orders were
neither seriously given, nor strictly obeyed, the mediation of
Leo was glorious to himself, and in some degree beneficial to his
country. But Rome and its inhabitants were delivered to the
licentiousness of the Vandals and Moors, whose blind passions
revenged the injuries of Carthage. The pillage lasted fourteen
days and nights; and all that yet remained of public or private
wealth, of sacred or profane treasure, was diligently transported
to the vessels of Genseric. Among the spoils, the splendid relics
of two temples, or rather of two religions, exhibited a memorable
example of the vicissitudes of human and divine things.
Since the abolition of Paganism, the Capitol had been violated
and abandoned; yet the statues of the gods and heroes were still
respected, and the curious roof of gilt bronze was reserved for
the rapacious hands of Genseric. 7 The holy instruments of the
Jewish worship, 8 the gold table, and the gold candlestick with
seven branches, originally framed according to the particular
instructions of God himself, and which were placed in the
sanctuary of his temple, had been ostentatiously displayed to the
Roman people in the triumph of Titus. They were afterwards
deposited in the temple of Peace; and at the end of four hundred
years, the spoils of Jerusalem were transferred from Rome to
Carthage, by a Barbarian who derived his origin from the shores
of the Baltic. These ancient monuments might attract the notice
of curiosity, as well as of avarice. But the Christian churches,
enriched and adorned by the prevailing superstition of the times,
afforded more plentiful materials for sacrilege; and the pious
liberality of Pope Leo, who melted six silver vases, the gift of
Constantine, each of a hundred pounds weight, is an evidence of
the damage which he attempted to repair. In the forty-five years
that had elapsed since the Gothic invasion, the pomp and luxury
of Rome were in some measure restored; and it was difficult
either to escape, or to satisfy, the avarice of a conqueror, who
possessed leisure to collect, and ships to transport, the wealth
of the capital. The Imperial ornaments of the palace, the
magnificent furniture and wardrobe, the sideboards of massy
plate, were accumulated with disorderly rapine; the gold and
silver amounted to several thousand talents; yet even the brass
and copper were laboriously removed. Eudoxia herself, who
advanced to meet her friend and deliverer, soon bewailed the
imprudence of her own conduct. She was rudely stripped of her
jewels; and the unfortunate empress, with her two daughters, the
only surviving remains of the great Theodosius, was compelled, as
a captive, to follow the haughty Vandal; who immediately hoisted
sail, and returned with a prosperous navigation to the port of
Carthage. 9 Many thousand Romans of both sexes, chosen for some
useful or agreeable qualifications, reluctantly embarked on board
the fleet of Genseric; and their distress was aggravated by the
unfeeling Barbarians, who, in the division of the booty,
separated the wives from their husbands, and the children from
their parents. The charity of Deogratias, bishop of Carthage, 10
was their only consolation and support. He generously sold the
gold and silver plate of the church to purchase the freedom of
some, to alleviate the slavery of others, and to assist the wants
and infirmities of a captive multitude, whose health was impaired
by the hardships which they had suffered in their passage from
Italy to Africa. By his order, two spacious churches were
converted into hospitals; the sick were distributed into
convenient beds, and liberally supplied with food and medicines;
and the aged prelate repeated his visits both in the day and
night, with an assiduity that surpassed his strength, and a
tender sympathy which enhanced the value of his services. Compare
this scene with the field of Cannae; and judge between Hannibal
and the successor of St. Cyprian. 11
6 (return) [The apparant success of Pope Leo may be justified by
Prosper, and the Historia Miscellan.; but the improbable notion
of Baronius A.D. 455, (No. 13) that Genseric spared the three
apostolical churches, is not countenanced even by the doubtful
testimony of the Liber Pontificalis.]
7 (return) [ The profusion of Catulus, the first who gilt the
roof of the Capitol, was not universally approved, (Plin. Hist.
Natur. xxxiii. 18;) but it was far exceeded by the emperor’s, and
the external gilding of the temple cost Domitian 12,000 talents,
(2,400,000 L.) The expressions of Claudian and Rutilius (luce
metalli oemula.... fastigia astris, and confunduntque vagos
delubra micantia visus) manifestly prove, that this splendid
covering was not removed either by the Christians or the Goths,
(see Donatus, Roma Antiqua, l. ii. c. 6, p. 125.) It should seem
that the roof of the Capitol was decorated with gilt statues, and
chariots drawn by four horses.]
8 (return) [ The curious reader may consult the learned and
accurate treatise of Hadrian Reland, de Spoliis Templi
Hierosolymitani in Arcu Titiano Romae conspicuis, in 12mo.
Trajecti ad Rhenum, 1716.]
9 (return) [ The vessel which transported the relics of the
Capitol was the only one of the whole fleet that suffered
shipwreck. If a bigoted sophist, a Pagan bigot, had mentioned the
accident, he might have rejoiced that this cargo of sacrilege was
lost in the sea.]
10 (return) [ See Victor Vitensis, de Persecut. Vandal. l. i. c.
8, p. 11, 12, edit. Ruinart. Deogratius governed the church of
Carthage only three years. If he had not been privately buried,
his corpse would have been torn piecemeal by the mad devotion of
the people.]
11 (return) [ The general evidence for the death of Maximus, and
the sack of Rome by the Vandals, is comprised in Sidonius,
(Panegyr. Avit. 441-450,) Procopius, (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c.
4, 5, p. 188, 189, and l. ii. c. 9, p. 255,) Evagrius, (l. ii. c.
7,) Jornandes, (de Reb. Geticis, c. 45, p. 677,) and the
Chronicles of Idatius, Prosper, Marcellinus, and Theophanes,
under the proper year.]
The deaths of Ætius and Valentinian had relaxed the ties which
held the Barbarians of Gaul in peace and subordination. The
sea-coast was infested by the Saxons; the Alemanni and the Franks
advanced from the Rhine to the Seine; and the ambition of the
Goths seemed to meditate more extensive and permanent conquests.
The emperor Maximus relieved himself, by a judicious choice, from
the weight of these distant cares; he silenced the solicitations
of his friends, listened to the voice of fame, and promoted a
stranger to the general command of the forces of Gaul.
Avitus, 12 the stranger, whose merit was so nobly rewarded,
descended from a wealthy and honorable family in the diocese of
Auvergne. The convulsions of the times urged him to embrace, with
the same ardor, the civil and military professions: and the
indefatigable youth blended the studies of literature and
jurisprudence with the exercise of arms and hunting. Thirty years
of his life were laudably spent in the public service; he
alternately displayed his talents in war and negotiation; and the
soldier of Ætius, after executing the most important embassies,
was raised to the station of Prætorian præfect of Gaul. Either
the merit of Avitus excited envy, or his moderation was desirous
of repose, since he calmly retired to an estate, which he
possessed in the neighborhood of Clermont. A copious stream,
issuing from the mountain, and falling headlong in many a loud
and foaming cascade, discharged its waters into a lake about two
miles in length, and the villa was pleasantly seated on the
margin of the lake. The baths, the porticos, the summer and
winter apartments, were adapted to the purposes of luxury and
use; and the adjacent country afforded the various prospects of
woods, pastures, and meadows. 13 In this retreat, where Avitus
amused his leisure with books, rural sports, the practice of
husbandry, and the society of his friends, 14 he received the
Imperial diploma, which constituted him master-general of the
cavalry and infantry of Gaul. He assumed the military command;
the Barbarians suspended their fury; and whatever means he might
employ, whatever concessions he might be forced to make, the
people enjoyed the benefits of actual tranquillity. But the fate
of Gaul depended on the Visigoths; and the Roman general, less
attentive to his dignity than to the public interest, did not
disdain to visit Thoulouse in the character of an ambassador. He
was received with courteous hospitality by Theodoric, the king of
the Goths; but while Avitus laid the foundations of a solid
alliance with that powerful nation, he was astonished by the
intelligence, that the emperor Maximus was slain, and that Rome
had been pillaged by the Vandals. A vacant throne, which he might
ascend without guilt or danger, tempted his ambition; 15 and the
Visigoths were easily persuaded to support his claim by their
irresistible suffrage. They loved the person of Avitus; they
respected his virtues; and they were not insensible of the
advantage, as well as honor, of giving an emperor to the West.
The season was now approaching, in which the annual assembly of
the seven provinces was held at Arles; their deliberations might
perhaps be influenced by the presence of Theodoric and his
martial brothers; but their choice would naturally incline to the
most illustrious of their countrymen. Avitus, after a decent
resistance, accepted the Imperial diadem from the representatives
of Gaul; and his election was ratified by the acclamations of the
Barbarians and provincials. The formal consent of Marcian,
emperor of the East, was solicited and obtained; but the senate,
Rome, and Italy, though humbled by their recent calamities,
submitted with a secret murmur to the presumption of the Gallic
usurper.
12 (return) [ The private life and elevation of Avitus must be
deduced, with becoming suspicion, from the panegyric pronounced
by Sidonius Apollinaris, his subject, and his son-in-law.]
13 (return) [ After the example of the younger Pliny, Sidonius
(l. ii. c. 2) has labored the florid, prolix, and obscure
description of his villa, which bore the name, (Avitacum,) and
had been the property of Avitus. The precise situation is not
ascertained. Consult, however, the notes of Savaron and Sirmond.]
14 (return) [ Sidonius (l. ii. epist. 9) has described the
country life of the Gallic nobles, in a visit which he made to
his friends, whose estates were in the neighborhood of Nismes.
The morning hours were spent in the sphoeristerium, or
tennis-court; or in the library, which was furnished with Latin
authors, profane and religious; the former for the men, the
latter for the ladies. The table was twice served, at dinner and
supper, with hot meat (boiled and roast) and wine. During the
intermediate time, the company slept, took the air on horseback,
and need the warm bath.]
15 (return) [ Seventy lines of panegyric (505-575) which describe
the importunity of Theodoric and of Gaul, struggling to overcome
the modest reluctance of Avitus, are blown away by three words of
an honest historian. Romanum ambisset Imperium, (Greg. Turon. l.
ii. c. 1l, in tom. ii. p. 168.)]
Theodoric, to whom Avitus was indebted for the purple, had
acquired the Gothic sceptre by the murder of his elder brother
Torismond; and he justified this atrocious deed by the design
which his predecessor had formed of violating his alliance with
the empire. 16 Such a crime might not be incompatible with the
virtues of a Barbarian; but the manners of Theodoric were gentle
and humane; and posterity may contemplate without terror the
original picture of a Gothic king, whom Sidonius had intimately
observed, in the hours of peace and of social intercourse. In an
epistle, dated from the court of Thoulouse, the orator satisfies
the curiosity of one of his friends, in the following
description: 17 “By the majesty of his appearance, Theodoric
would command the respect of those who are ignorant of his merit;
and although he is born a prince, his merit would dignify a
private station. He is of a middle stature, his body appears
rather plump than fat, and in his well-proportioned limbs agility
is united with muscular strength. 18 If you examine his
countenance, you will distinguish a high forehead, large shaggy
eyebrows, an aquiline nose, thin lips, a regular set of white
teeth, and a fair complexion, that blushes more frequently from
modesty than from anger. The ordinary distribution of his time,
as far as it is exposed to the public view, may be concisely
represented. Before daybreak, he repairs, with a small train, to
his domestic chapel, where the service is performed by the Arian
clergy; but those who presume to interpret his secret sentiments,
consider this assiduous devotion as the effect of habit and
policy. The rest of the morning is employed in the administration
of his kingdom. His chair is surrounded by some military officers
of decent aspect and behavior: the noisy crowd of his Barbarian
guards occupies the hall of audience; but they are not permitted
to stand within the veils or curtains that conceal the
council-chamber from vulgar eyes. The ambassadors of the nations
are successively introduced: Theodoric listens with attention,
answers them with discreet brevity, and either announces or
delays, according to the nature of their business, his final
resolution. About eight (the second hour) he rises from his
throne, and visits either his treasury or his stables. If he
chooses to hunt, or at least to exercise himself on horseback,
his bow is carried by a favorite youth; but when the game is
marked, he bends it with his own hand, and seldom misses the
object of his aim: as a king, he disdains to bear arms in such
ignoble warfare; but as a soldier, he would blush to accept any
military service which he could perform himself. On common days,
his dinner is not different from the repast of a private citizen,
but every Saturday, many honorable guests are invited to the
royal table, which, on these occasions, is served with the
elegance of Greece, the plenty of Gaul, and the order and
diligence of Italy. 19 The gold or silver plate is less
remarkable for its weight than for the brightness and curious
workmanship: the taste is gratified without the help of foreign
and costly luxury; the size and number of the cups of wine are
regulated with a strict regard to the laws of temperance; and the
respectful silence that prevails, is interrupted only by grave
and instructive conversation. After dinner, Theodoric sometimes
indulges himself in a short slumber; and as soon as he wakes, he
calls for the dice and tables, encourages his friends to forget
the royal majesty, and is delighted when they freely express the
passions which are excited by the incidents of play. At this
game, which he loves as the image of war, he alternately displays
his eagerness, his skill, his patience, and his cheerful temper.
If he loses, he laughs; he is modest and silent if he wins. Yet,
notwithstanding this seeming indifference, his courtiers choose
to solicit any favor in the moments of victory; and I myself, in
my applications to the king, have derived some benefit from my
losses. 20 About the ninth hour (three o’clock) the tide of
business again returns, and flows incessantly till after sunset,
when the signal of the royal supper dismisses the weary crowd of
suppliants and pleaders. At the supper, a more familiar repast,
buffoons and pantomimes are sometimes introduced, to divert, not
to offend, the company, by their ridiculous wit: but female
singers, and the soft, effeminate modes of music, are severely
banished, and such martial tunes as animate the soul to deeds of
valor are alone grateful to the ear of Theodoric. He retires from
table; and the nocturnal guards are immediately posted at the
entrance of the treasury, the palace, and the private
apartments.”
16 (return) [ Isidore, archbishop of Seville, who was himself of
the blood royal of the Goths, acknowledges, and almost justifies,
(Hist. Goth. p. 718,) the crime which their slave Jornandes had
basely dissembled, (c 43, p. 673.)]
17 (return) [ This elaborate description (l. i. ep. ii. p. 2-7)
was dictated by some political motive. It was designed for the
public eye, and had been shown by the friends of Sidonius, before
it was inserted in the collection of his epistles. The first book
was published separately. See Tillemont, Mémoires Eccles. tom.
xvi. p. 264.]
18 (return) [ I have suppressed, in this portrait of Theodoric,
several minute circumstances, and technical phrases, which could
be tolerable, or indeed intelligible, to those only who, like the
contemporaries of Sidonius, had frequented the markets where
naked slaves were exposed to sale, (Dubos, Hist. Critique, tom.
i. p. 404.)]
19 (return) [ Videas ibi elegantiam Græcam, abundantiam
Gallicanam; celeritatem Italam; publicam pompam, privatam
diligentiam, regiam disciplinam.]
20 (return) [ Tunc etiam ego aliquid obsecraturus feliciter
vincor, et mihi tabula perit ut causa salvetur. Sidonius of
Auvergne was not a subject of Theodoric; but he might be
compelled to solicit either justice or favor at the court of
Thoulouse.]
When the king of the Visigoths encouraged Avitus to assume the
purple, he offered his person and his forces, as a faithful
soldier of the republic. 21 The exploits of Theodoric soon
convinced the world that he had not degenerated from the warlike
virtues of his ancestors. After the establishment of the Goths in
Aquitain, and the passage of the Vandals into Africa, the Suevi,
who had fixed their kingdom in Gallicia, aspired to the conquest
of Spain, and threatened to extinguish the feeble remains of the
Roman dominion. The provincials of Carthagena and Tarragona,
afflicted by a hostile invasion, represented their injuries and
their apprehensions. Count Fronto was despatched, in the name of
the emperor Avitus, with advantageous offers of peace and
alliance; and Theodoric interposed his weighty mediation, to
declare, that, unless his brother-in-law, the king of the Suevi,
immediately retired, he should be obliged to arm in the cause of
justice and of Rome. “Tell him,” replied the haughty Rechiarius,
“that I despise his friendship and his arms; but that I shall
soon try whether he will dare to expect my arrival under the
walls of Thoulouse.” Such a challenge urged Theodoric to prevent
the bold designs of his enemy; he passed the Pyrenees at the head
of the Visigoths: the Franks and Burgundians served under his
standard; and though he professed himself the dutiful servant of
Avitus, he privately stipulated, for himself and his successors,
the absolute possession of his Spanish conquests. The two armies,
or rather the two nations, encountered each other on the banks of
the River Urbicus, about twelve miles from Astorga; and the
decisive victory of the Goths appeared for a while to have
extirpated the name and kingdom of the Suevi. From the field of
battle Theodoric advanced to Braga, their metropolis, which still
retained the splendid vestiges of its ancient commerce and
dignity. 22 His entrance was not polluted with blood; and the
Goths respected the chastity of their female captives, more
especially of the consecrated virgins: but the greatest part of
the clergy and people were made slaves, and even the churches and
altars were confounded in the universal pillage. The unfortunate
king of the Suevi had escaped to one of the ports of the ocean;
but the obstinacy of the winds opposed his flight: he was
delivered to his implacable rival; and Rechiarius, who neither
desired nor expected mercy, received, with manly constancy, the
death which he would probably have inflicted. After this bloody
sacrifice to policy or resentment, Theodoric carried his
victorious arms as far as Merida, the principal town of
Lusitania, without meeting any resistance, except from the
miraculous powers of St. Eulalia; but he was stopped in the full
career of success, and recalled from Spain before he could
provide for the security of his conquests. In his retreat towards
the Pyrenees, he revenged his disappointment on the country
through which he passed; and, in the sack of Pollentia and
Astorga, he showed himself a faithless ally, as well as a cruel
enemy. Whilst the king of the Visigoths fought and vanquished in
the name of Avitus, the reign of Avitus had expired; and both the
honor and the interest of Theodoric were deeply wounded by the
disgrace of a friend, whom he had seated on the throne of the
Western empire. 23
21 (return) [ Theodoric himself had given a solemn and voluntary
promise of fidelity, which was understood both in Gaul and Spain.
Romae sum, te duce, Amicus, Principe te, Miles. Sidon. Panegyr.
Avit. 511.]
22 (return) [ Quaeque sinu pelagi jactat se Bracara dives. Auson.
de Claris Urbibus, p. 245. ——From the design of the king of the
Suevi, it is evident that the navigation from the ports of
Gallicia to the Mediterranean was known and practised. The ships
of Bracara, or Braga, cautiously steered along the coast, without
daring to lose themselves in the Atlantic.]
23 (return) [ This Suevic war is the most authentic part of the
Chronicle of Idatius, who, as bishop of Iria Flavia, was himself
a spectator and a sufferer. Jornandes (c. 44, p. 675, 676, 677)
has expatiated, with pleasure, on the Gothic victory.]
Chapter XXXVI: Total Extinction Of The Western Empire.—Part II.
The pressing solicitations of the senate and people persuaded the
emperor Avitus to fix his residence at Rome, and to accept the
consulship for the ensuing year. On the first day of January, his
son-in-law, Sidonius Apollinaris, celebrated his praises in a
panegyric of six hundred verses; but this composition, though it
was rewarded with a brass statue, 24 seems to contain a very
moderate proportion, either of genius or of truth. The poet, if
we may degrade that sacred name, exaggerates the merit of a
sovereign and a father; and his prophecy of a long and glorious
reign was soon contradicted by the event. Avitus, at a time when
the Imperial dignity was reduced to a preeminence of toil and
danger, indulged himself in the pleasures of Italian luxury: age
had not extinguished his amorous inclinations; and he is accused
of insulting, with indiscreet and ungenerous raillery, the
husbands whose wives he had seduced or violated. 25 But the
Romans were not inclined either to excuse his faults or to
acknowledge his virtues. The several parts of the empire became
every day more alienated from each other; and the stranger of
Gaul was the object of popular hatred and contempt. The senate
asserted their legitimate claim in the election of an emperor;
and their authority, which had been originally derived from the
old constitution, was again fortified by the actual weakness of a
declining monarchy. Yet even such a monarchy might have resisted
the votes of an unarmed senate, if their discontent had not been
supported, or perhaps inflamed, by the Count Ricimer, one of the
principal commanders of the Barbarian troops, who formed the
military defence of Italy. The daughter of Wallia, king of the
Visigoths, was the mother of Ricimer; but he was descended, on
the father’s side, from the nation of the Suevi; 26 his pride or
patriotism might be exasperated by the misfortunes of his
countrymen; and he obeyed, with reluctance, an emperor in whose
elevation he had not been consulted. His faithful and important
services against the common enemy rendered him still more
formidable; 27 and, after destroying on the coast of Corsica a
fleet of Vandals, which consisted of sixty galleys, Ricimer
returned in triumph with the appellation of the Deliverer of
Italy. He chose that moment to signify to Avitus, that his reign
was at an end; and the feeble emperor, at a distance from his
Gothic allies, was compelled, after a short and unavailing
struggle to abdicate the purple. By the clemency, however, or the
contempt, of Ricimer, 28 he was permitted to descend from the
throne to the more desirable station of bishop of Placentia: but
the resentment of the senate was still unsatisfied; and their
inflexible severity pronounced the sentence of his death. He fled
towards the Alps, with the humble hope, not of arming the
Visigoths in his cause, but of securing his person and treasures
in the sanctuary of Julian, one of the tutelar saints of
Auvergne. 29 Disease, or the hand of the executioner, arrested
him on the road; yet his remains were decently transported to
Brivas, or Brioude, in his native province, and he reposed at the
feet of his holy patron. 30 Avitus left only one daughter, the
wife of Sidonius Apollinaris, who inherited the patrimony of his
father-in-law; lamenting, at the same time, the disappointment of
his public and private expectations. His resentment prompted him
to join, or at least to countenance, the measures of a rebellious
faction in Gaul; and the poet had contracted some guilt, which it
was incumbent on him to expiate, by a new tribute of flattery to
the succeeding emperor. 31
24 (return) [ In one of the porticos or galleries belonging to
Trajan’s library, among the statues of famous writers and
orators. Sidon. Apoll. l. ix. epist, 16, p. 284. Carm. viii. p.
350.]
25 (return) [ Luxuriose agere volens a senatoribus projectus est,
is the concise expression of Gregory of Tours, (l. ii. c. xi. in
tom. ii. p. 168.) An old Chronicle (in tom. ii. p. 649) mentions
an indecent jest of Avitus, which seems more applicable to Rome
than to Treves.]
26 (return) [ Sidonius (Panegyr. Anthem. 302, &c.) praises the
royal birth of Ricimer, the lawful heir, as he chooses to
insinuate, both of the Gothic and Suevic kingdoms.]
27 (return) [ See the Chronicle of Idatius. Jornandes (c. xliv.
p. 676) styles him, with some truth, virum egregium, et pene tune
in Italia ad ex ercitum singularem.]
28 (return) [ Parcens innocentiae Aviti, is the compassionate,
but contemptuous, language of Victor Tunnunensis, (in Chron. apud
Scaliger Euseb.) In another place, he calls him, vir totius
simplicitatis. This commendation is more humble, but it is more
solid and sincere, than the praises of Sidonius]
29 (return) [ He suffered, as it is supposed, in the persecution
of Diocletian, (Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. v. p. 279, 696.)
Gregory of Tours, his peculiar votary, has dedicated to the glory
of Julian the Martyr an entire book, (de Gloria Martyrum, l. ii.
in Max. Bibliot. Patrum, tom. xi. p. 861-871,) in which he
relates about fifty foolish miracles performed by his relics.]
30 (return) [ Gregory of Tours (l. ii. c. xi. p. 168) is concise,
but correct, in the reign of his countryman. The words of
Idatius, “cadet imperio, caret et vita,” seem to imply, that the
death of Avitus was violent; but it must have been secret, since
Evagrius (l. ii. c. 7) could suppose, that he died of the
plaque.]
31 (return) [ After a modest appeal to the examples of his
brethren, Virgil and Horace, Sidonius honestly confesses the
debt, and promises payment.
Sic mihi diverso nuper sub Marte cadenti Jussisti placido Victor
ut essem animo. Serviat ergo tibi servati lingua poetae, Atque
meae vitae laus tua sit pretium. —Sidon. Apoll. Carm. iv. p. 308
See Dubos, Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 448, &c.]
The successor of Avitus presents the welcome discovery of a great
and heroic character, such as sometimes arise, in a degenerate
age, to vindicate the honor of the human species. The emperor
Majorian has deserved the praises of his contemporaries, and of
posterity; and these praises may be strongly expressed in the
words of a judicious and disinterested historian: “That he was
gentle to his subjects; that he was terrible to his enemies; and
that he excelled, in every virtue, all his predecessors who had
reigned over the Romans.” 32 Such a testimony may justify at
least the panegyric of Sidonius; and we may acquiesce in the
assurance, that, although the obsequious orator would have
flattered, with equal zeal, the most worthless of princes, the
extraordinary merit of his object confined him, on this occasion,
within the bounds of truth. 33 Majorian derived his name from his
maternal grandfather, who, in the reign of the great Theodosius,
had commanded the troops of the Illyrian frontier. He gave his
daughter in marriage to the father of Majorian, a respectable
officer, who administered the revenues of Gaul with skill and
integrity; and generously preferred the friendship of Ætius to
the tempting offer of an insidious court. His son, the future
emperor, who was educated in the profession of arms, displayed,
from his early youth, intrepid courage, premature wisdom, and
unbounded liberality in a scanty fortune. He followed the
standard of Ætius, contributed to his success, shared, and
sometimes eclipsed, his glory, and at last excited the jealousy
of the patrician, or rather of his wife, who forced him to retire
from the service. 34 Majorian, after the death of Ætius, was
recalled and promoted; and his intimate connection with Count
Ricimer was the immediate step by which he ascended the throne of
the Western empire. During the vacancy that succeeded the
abdication of Avitus, the ambitious Barbarian, whose birth
excluded him from the Imperial dignity, governed Italy with the
title of Patrician; resigned to his friend the conspicuous
station of master-general of the cavalry and infantry; and, after
an interval of some months, consented to the unanimous wish of
the Romans, whose favor Majorian had solicited by a recent
victory over the Alemanni. 35 He was invested with the purple at
Ravenna: and the epistle which he addressed to the senate, will
best describe his situation and his sentiments. “Your election,
Conscript Fathers! and the ordinance of the most valiant army,
have made me your emperor. 36 May the propitious Deity direct and
prosper the counsels and events of my administration, to your
advantage and to the public welfare! For my own part, I did not
aspire, I have submitted to reign; nor should I have discharged
the obligations of a citizen if I had refused, with base and
selfish ingratitude, to support the weight of those labors, which
were imposed by the republic. Assist, therefore, the prince whom
you have made; partake the duties which you have enjoined; and
may our common endeavors promote the happiness of an empire,
which I have accepted from your hands. Be assured, that, in our
times, justice shall resume her ancient vigor, and that virtue
shall become, not only innocent, but meritorious. Let none,
except the authors themselves, be apprehensive of delations, 37
which, as a subject, I have always condemned, and, as a prince,
will severely punish. Our own vigilance, and that of our father,
the patrician Ricimer, shall regulate all military affairs, and
provide for the safety of the Roman world, which we have saved
from foreign and domestic enemies. 38 You now understand the
maxims of my government; you may confide in the faithful love and
sincere assurances of a prince who has formerly been the
companion of your life and dangers; who still glories in the name
of senator, and who is anxious that you should never repent the
judgment which you have pronounced in his favor.” The emperor,
who, amidst the ruins of the Roman world, revived the ancient
language of law and liberty, which Trajan would not have
disclaimed, must have derived those generous sentiments from his
own heart; since they were not suggested to his imitation by the
customs of his age, or the example of his predecessors. 39
32 (return) [ The words of Procopius deserve to be transcribed
(de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 7, p. 194;) a concise but
comprehensive definition of royal virtue.]
33 (return) [ The Panegyric was pronounced at Lyons before the
end of the year 458, while the emperor was still consul. It has
more art than genius, and more labor than art. The ornaments are
false and trivial; the expression is feeble and prolix; and
Sidonius wants the skill to exhibit the principal figure in a
strong and distinct light. The private life of Majorian occupies
about two hundred lines, 107-305.]
34 (return) [ She pressed his immediate death, and was scarcely
satisfied with his disgrace. It should seem that Ætius, like
Belisarius and Marlborough, was governed by his wife; whose
fervent piety, though it might work miracles, (Gregor. Turon. l.
ii. c. 7, p. 162,) was not incompatible with base and sanguinary
counsels.]
35 (return) [ The Alemanni had passed the Rhaetian Alps, and were
defeated in the Campi Canini, or Valley of Bellinzone, through
which the Tesin flows, in its descent from Mount Adula to the
Lago Maggiore, (Cluver Italia Antiq. tom. i. p. 100, 101.) This
boasted victory over nine hundred Barbarians (Panegyr. Majorian.
373, &c.) betrays the extreme weakness of Italy.]
36 (return) [ Imperatorem me factum, P.C. electionis vestrae
arbitrio, et fortissimi exercitus ordinatione agnoscite, (Novell.
Majorian. tit. iii. p. 34, ad Calcem. Cod. Theodos.) Sidonius
proclaims the unanimous voice of the empire:—
Postquam ordine vobis Ordo omnis regnum dederat; plebs, curia,
nules, —-Et collega simul. 386.
This language is ancient and constitutional; and we may observe,
that the clergy were not yet considered as a distinct order of
the state.]
37 (return) [ Either dilationes, or delationes would afford a
tolerable reading, but there is much more sense and spirit in the
latter, to which I have therefore given the preference.]
38 (return) [ Ab externo hoste et a domestica clade liberavimus:
by the latter, Majorian must understand the tyranny of Avitus;
whose death he consequently avowed as a meritorious act. On this
occasion, Sidonius is fearful and obscure; he describes the
twelve Caesars, the nations of Africa, &c., that he may escape
the dangerous name of Avitus (805-369.)]
39 (return) [ See the whole edict or epistle of Majorian to the
senate, (Novell. tit. iv. p. 34.) Yet the expression, regnum
nostrum, bears some taint of the age, and does not mix kindly
with the word respublica, which he frequently repeats.]
The private and public actions of Majorian are very imperfectly
known: but his laws, remarkable for an original cast of thought
and expression, faithfully represent the character of a sovereign
who loved his people, who sympathized in their distress, who had
studied the causes of the decline of the empire, and who was
capable of applying (as far as such reformation was practicable)
judicious and effectual remedies to the public disorders. 40 His
regulations concerning the finances manifestly tended to remove,
or at least to mitigate, the most intolerable grievances. I. From
the first hour of his reign, he was solicitous (I translate his
own words) to relieve the weary fortunes of the provincials,
oppressed by the accumulated weight of indictions and
superindictions. 41 With this view he granted a universal
amnesty, a final and absolute discharge of all arrears of
tribute, of all debts, which, under any pretence, the fiscal
officers might demand from the people. This wise dereliction of
obsolete, vexatious, and unprofitable claims, improved and
purified the sources of the public revenue; and the subject who
could now look back without despair, might labor with hope and
gratitude for himself and for his country. II. In the assessment
and collection of taxes, Majorian restored the ordinary
jurisdiction of the provincial magistrates; and suppressed the
extraordinary commissions which had been introduced, in the name
of the emperor himself, or of the Prætorian præfects. The
favorite servants, who obtained such irregular powers, were
insolent in their behavior, and arbitrary in their demands: they
affected to despise the subordinate tribunals, and they were
discontented, if their fees and profits did not twice exceed the
sum which they condescended to pay into the treasury. One
instance of their extortion would appear incredible, were it not
authenticated by the legislator himself. They exacted the whole
payment in gold: but they refused the current coin of the empire,
and would accept only such ancient pieces as were stamped with
the names of Faustina or the Antonines. The subject, who was
unprovided with these curious medals, had recourse to the
expedient of compounding with their rapacious demands; or if he
succeeded in the research, his imposition was doubled, according
to the weight and value of the money of former times. 42 III.
“The municipal corporations, (says the emperor,) the lesser
senates, (so antiquity has justly styled them,) deserve to be
considered as the heart of the cities, and the sinews of the
republic. And yet so low are they now reduced, by the injustice
of magistrates and the venality of collectors, that many of their
members, renouncing their dignity and their country, have taken
refuge in distant and obscure exile.” He urges, and even compels,
their return to their respective cities; but he removes the
grievance which had forced them to desert the exercise of their
municipal functions. They are directed, under the authority of
the provincial magistrates, to resume their office of levying the
tribute; but, instead of being made responsible for the whole sum
assessed on their district, they are only required to produce a
regular account of the payments which they have actually
received, and of the defaulters who are still indebted to the
public. IV. But Majorian was not ignorant that these corporate
bodies were too much inclined to retaliate the injustice and
oppression which they had suffered; and he therefore revives the
useful office of the defenders of cities. He exhorts the people
to elect, in a full and free assembly, some man of discretion and
integrity, who would dare to assert their privileges, to
represent their grievances, to protect the poor from the tyranny
of the rich, and to inform the emperor of the abuses that were
committed under the sanction of his name and authority.
40 (return) [ See the laws of Majorian (they are only nine in
number, but very long, and various) at the end of the Theodosian
Code, Novell. l. iv. p. 32-37. Godefroy has not given any
commentary on these additional pieces.]
41 (return) [ Fessas provincialium varia atque multiplici
tributorum exactione fortunas, et extraordinariis fiscalium
solutionum oneribus attritas, &c. Novell. Majorian. tit. iv. p.
34.]
42 (return) [ The learned Greaves (vol. i. p. 329, 330, 331) has
found, by a diligent inquiry, that aurei of the Antonines weighed
one hundred and eighteen, and those of the fifth century only
sixty-eight, English grains. Majorian gives currency to all gold
coin, excepting only the Gallic solidus, from its deficiency, not
in the weight, but in the standard.]
The spectator who casts a mournful view over the ruins of ancient
Rome, is tempted to accuse the memory of the Goths and Vandals,
for the mischief which they had neither leisure, nor power, nor
perhaps inclination, to perpetrate. The tempest of war might
strike some lofty turrets to the ground; but the destruction
which undermined the foundations of those massy fabrics was
prosecuted, slowly and silently, during a period of ten
centuries; and the motives of interest, that afterwards operated
without shame or control, were severely checked by the taste and
spirit of the emperor Majorian. The decay of the city had
gradually impaired the value of the public works. The circus and
theatres might still excite, but they seldom gratified, the
desires of the people: the temples, which had escaped the zeal of
the Christians, were no longer inhabited, either by gods or men;
the diminished crowds of the Romans were lost in the immense
space of their baths and porticos; and the stately libraries and
halls of justice became useless to an indolent generation, whose
repose was seldom disturbed, either by study or business. The
monuments of consular, or Imperial, greatness were no longer
revered, as the immortal glory of the capital: they were only
esteemed as an inexhaustible mine of materials, cheaper, and more
convenient than the distant quarry. Specious petitions were
continually addressed to the easy magistrates of Rome, which
stated the want of stones or bricks, for some necessary service:
the fairest forms of architecture were rudely defaced, for the
sake of some paltry, or pretended, repairs; and the degenerate
Romans, who converted the spoil to their own emolument,
demolished, with sacrilegious hands, the labors of their
ancestors. Majorian, who had often sighed over the desolation of
the city, applied a severe remedy to the growing evil. 43 He
reserved to the prince and senate the sole cognizance of the
extreme cases which might justify the destruction of an ancient
edifice; imposed a fine of fifty pounds of gold (two thousand
pounds sterling) on every magistrate who should presume to grant
such illegal and scandalous license, and threatened to chastise
the criminal obedience of their subordinate officers, by a severe
whipping, and the amputation of both their hands. In the last
instance, the legislator might seem to forget the proportion of
guilt and punishment; but his zeal arose from a generous
principle, and Majorian was anxious to protect the monuments of
those ages, in which he would have desired and deserved to live.
The emperor conceived, that it was his interest to increase the
number of his subjects; and that it was his duty to guard the
purity of the marriage-bed: but the means which he employed to
accomplish these salutary purposes are of an ambiguous, and
perhaps exceptionable, kind. The pious maids, who consecrated
their virginity to Christ, were restrained from taking the veil
till they had reached their fortieth year. Widows under that age
were compelled to form a second alliance within the term of five
years, by the forfeiture of half their wealth to their nearest
relations, or to the state. Unequal marriages were condemned or
annulled. The punishment of confiscation and exile was deemed so
inadequate to the guilt of adultery, that, if the criminal
returned to Italy, he might, by the express declaration of
Majorian, be slain with impunity. 44
43 (return) [ The whole edict (Novell. Majorian. tit. vi. p. 35)
is curious. “Antiquarum aedium dissipatur speciosa constructio;
et ut aliquid reparetur, magna diruuntur. Hinc jam occasio
nascitur, ut etiam unusquisque privatum aedificium construens,
per gratiam judicum..... praesumere de publicis locis necessaria,
et transferre non dubitet” &c. With equal zeal, but with less
power, Petrarch, in the fourteenth century, repeated the same
complaints. (Vie de Petrarque, tom. i. p. 326, 327.) If I
prosecute this history, I shall not be unmindful of the decline
and fall of the city of Rome; an interesting object to which any
plan was originally confined.]
44 (return) [ The emperor chides the lenity of Rogatian, consular
of Tuscany in a style of acrimonious reproof, which sounds almost
like personal resentment, (Novell. tit. ix. p. 47.) The law of
Majorian, which punished obstinate widows, was soon afterwards
repealed by his successor Severus, (Novell. Sever. tit. i. p.
37.)]
While the emperor Majorian assiduously labored to restore the
happiness and virtue of the Romans, he encountered the arms of
Genseric, from his character and situation their most formidable
enemy. A fleet of Vandals and Moors landed at the mouth of the
Liris, or Garigliano; but the Imperial troops surprised and
attacked the disorderly Barbarians, who were encumbered with the
spoils of Campania; they were chased with slaughter to their
ships, and their leader, the king’s brother-in-law, was found in
the number of the slain. 45 Such vigilance might announce the
character of the new reign; but the strictest vigilance, and the
most numerous forces, were insufficient to protect the
long-extended coast of Italy from the depredations of a naval
war. The public opinion had imposed a nobler and more arduous
task on the genius of Majorian. Rome expected from him alone the
restitution of Africa; and the design, which he formed, of
attacking the Vandals in their new settlements, was the result of
bold and judicious policy. If the intrepid emperor could have
infused his own spirit into the youth of Italy; if he could have
revived in the field of Mars, the manly exercises in which he had
always surpassed his equals; he might have marched against
Genseric at the head of a Roman army. Such a reformation of
national manners might be embraced by the rising generation; but
it is the misfortune of those princes who laboriously sustain a
declining monarchy, that, to obtain some immediate advantage, or
to avert some impending danger, they are forced to countenance,
and even to multiply, the most pernicious abuses. Majorian, like
the weakest of his predecessors, was reduced to the disgraceful
expedient of substituting Barbarian auxiliaries in the place of
his unwarlike subjects: and his superior abilities could only be
displayed in the vigor and dexterity with which he wielded a
dangerous instrument, so apt to recoil on the hand that used it.
Besides the confederates, who were already engaged in the service
of the empire, the fame of his liberality and valor attracted the
nations of the Danube, the Borysthenes, and perhaps of the
Tanais. Many thousands of the bravest subjects of Attila, the
Gepidae, the Ostrogoths, the Rugians, the Burgundians, the Suevi,
the Alani, assembled in the plains of Liguria; and their
formidable strength was balanced by their mutual animosities. 46
They passed the Alps in a severe winter. The emperor led the way,
on foot, and in complete armor; sounding, with his long staff,
the depth of the ice, or snow, and encouraging the Scythians, who
complained of the extreme cold, by the cheerful assurance, that
they should be satisfied with the heat of Africa. The citizens of
Lyons had presumed to shut their gates; they soon implored, and
experienced, the clemency of Majorian. He vanquished Theodoric in
the field; and admitted to his friendship and alliance a king
whom he had found not unworthy of his arms. The beneficial,
though precarious, reunion of the greater part of Gaul and Spain,
was the effect of persuasion, as well as of force; 47 and the
independent Bagaudae, who had escaped, or resisted, the
oppression, of former reigns, were disposed to confide in the
virtues of Majorian. His camp was filled with Barbarian allies;
his throne was supported by the zeal of an affectionate people;
but the emperor had foreseen, that it was impossible, without a
maritime power, to achieve the conquest of Africa. In the first
Punic war, the republic had exerted such incredible diligence,
that, within sixty days after the first stroke of the axe had
been given in the forest, a fleet of one hundred and sixty
galleys proudly rode at anchor in the sea. 48 Under circumstances
much less favorable, Majorian equalled the spirit and
perseverance of the ancient Romans. The woods of the Apennine
were felled; the arsenals and manufactures of Ravenna and Misenum
were restored; Italy and Gaul vied with each other in liberal
contributions to the public service; and the Imperial navy of
three hundred large galleys, with an adequate proportion of
transports and smaller vessels, was collected in the secure and
capacious harbor of Carthagena in Spain. 49 The intrepid
countenance of Majorian animated his troops with a confidence of
victory; and, if we might credit the historian Procopius, his
courage sometimes hurried him beyond the bounds of prudence.
Anxious to explore, with his own eyes, the state of the Vandals,
he ventured, after disguising the color of his hair, to visit
Carthage, in the character of his own ambassador: and Genseric
was afterwards mortified by the discovery, that he had
entertained and dismissed the emperor of the Romans. Such an
anecdote may be rejected as an improbable fiction; but it is a
fiction which would not have been imagined, unless in the life of
a hero. 50
45 (return) [ Sidon. Panegyr. Majorian, 385-440.]
46 (return) [ The review of the army, and passage of the Alps,
contain the most tolerable passages of the Panegyric, (470-552.)
M. de Buat (Hist. des Peuples, &c., tom. viii. p. 49-55) is a
more satisfactory commentator, than either Savaron or Sirmond.]
47 (return) [ It is the just and forcible distinction of Priscus,
(Excerpt. Legat. p. 42,) in a short fragment, which throws much
light on the history of Majorian. Jornandes has suppressed the
defeat and alliance of the Visigoths, which were solemnly
proclaimed in Gallicia; and are marked in the Chronicle of
Idatius.]
48 (return) [ Florus, l. ii. c. 2. He amuses himself with the
poetical fancy, that the trees had been transformed into ships;
and indeed the whole transaction, as it is related in the first
book of Polybius, deviates too much from the probable course of
human events.]
49 (return) [
Iterea duplici texis dum littore classem Inferno superoque mari,
cadit omnis in aequor Sylva tibi, &c. —-Sidon. Panegyr. Majorian,
441-461.
The number of ships, which Priscus fixed at 300, is magnified, by
an indefinite comparison with the fleets of Agamemnon, Xerxes,
and Augustus.]
50 (return) [ Procopius de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 8, p. 194. When
Genseric conducted his unknown guest into the arsenal of
Carthage, the arms clashed of their own accord. Majorian had
tinged his yellow locks with a black color.]
Chapter XXXVI: Total Extinction Of The Western Empire.—Part III.
Without the help of a personal interview, Genseric was
sufficiently acquainted with the genius and designs of his
adversary. He practiced his customary arts of fraud and delay,
but he practiced them without success. His applications for peace
became each hour more submissive, and perhaps more sincere; but
the inflexible Majorian had adopted the ancient maxim, that Rome
could not be safe, as long as Carthage existed in a hostile
state. The king of the Vandals distrusted the valor of his native
subjects, who were enervated by the luxury of the South; 51 he
suspected the fidelity of the vanquished people, who abhorred him
as an Arian tyrant; and the desperate measure, which he executed,
of reducing Mauritania into a desert, 52 could not defeat the
operations of the Roman emperor, who was at liberty to land his
troops on any part of the African coast. But Genseric was saved
from impending and inevitable ruin by the treachery of some
powerful subjects, envious, or apprehensive, of their master’s
success. Guided by their secret intelligence, he surprised the
unguarded fleet in the Bay of Carthagena: many of the ships were
sunk, or taken, or burnt; and the preparations of three years
were destroyed in a single day. 53 After this event, the behavior
of the two antagonists showed them superior to their fortune. The
Vandal, instead of being elated by this accidental victory,
immediately renewed his solicitations for peace. The emperor of
the West, who was capable of forming great designs, and of
supporting heavy disappointments, consented to a treaty, or
rather to a suspension of arms; in the full assurance that,
before he could restore his navy, he should be supplied with
provocations to justify a second war. Majorian returned to Italy,
to prosecute his labors for the public happiness; and, as he was
conscious of his own integrity, he might long remain ignorant of
the dark conspiracy which threatened his throne and his life. The
recent misfortune of Carthagena sullied the glory which had
dazzled the eyes of the multitude; almost every description of
civil and military officers were exasperated against the
Reformer, since they all derived some advantage from the abuses
which he endeavored to suppress; and the patrician Ricimer
impelled the inconstant passions of the Barbarians against a
prince whom he esteemed and hated. The virtues of Majorian could
not protect him from the impetuous sedition, which broke out in
the camp near Tortona, at the foot of the Alps. He was compelled
to abdicate the Imperial purple: five days after his abdication,
it was reported that he died of a dysentery; 54 and the humble
tomb, which covered his remains, was consecrated by the respect
and gratitude of succeeding generations. 55 The private character
of Majorian inspired love and respect. Malicious calumny and
satire excited his indignation, or, if he himself were the
object, his contempt; but he protected the freedom of wit, and,
in the hours which the emperor gave to the familiar society of
his friends, he could indulge his taste for pleasantry, without
degrading the majesty of his rank. 56
51 (return) [
Spoliisque potitus Immensis, robux luxu jam perdidit omne, Quo
valuit dum pauper erat. —Panegyr. Majorian, 330.
He afterwards applies to Genseric, unjustly, as it should seem,
the vices of his subjects.]
52 (return) [ He burnt the villages, and poisoned the springs,
(Priscus, p. 42.) Dubos (Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 475)
observes, that the magazines which the Moors buried in the earth
might escape his destructive search. Two or three hundred pits
are sometimes dug in the same place; and each pit contains at
least four hundred bushels of corn Shaw’s Travels, p. 139.]
53 (return) [ Idatius, who was safe in Gallicia from the power of
Recimer boldly and honestly declares, Vandali per proditeres
admoniti, &c: i. e. dissembles, however, the name of the
traitor.]
54 (return) [ Procop. de Bell. Vandal. l. i. i. c. 8, p. 194. The
testimony of Idatius is fair and impartial: “Majorianum de
Galliis Romam redeuntem, et Romano imperio vel nomini res
necessarias ordinantem; Richimer livore percitus, et invidorum
consilio fultus, fraude interficit circumventum.” Some read
Suevorum, and I am unwilling to efface either of the words, as
they express the different accomplices who united in the
conspiracy against Majorian.]
55 (return) [ See the Epigrams of Ennodius, No. cxxxv. inter
Sirmond. Opera, tom. i. p. 1903. It is flat and obscure; but
Ennodius was made bishop of Pavia fifty years after the death of
Majorian, and his praise deserves credit and regard.]
56 (return) [ Sidonius gives a tedious account (l. i. epist. xi.
p. 25-31) of a supper at Arles, to which he was invited by
Majorian, a short time before his death. He had no intention of
praising a deceased emperor: but a casual disinterested remark,
“Subrisit Augustus; ut erat, auctoritate servata, cum se
communioni dedisset, joci plenus,” outweighs the six hundred
lines of his venal panegyric.]
It was not, perhaps, without some regret, that Ricimer sacrificed
his friend to the interest of his ambition: but he resolved, in a
second choice, to avoid the imprudent preference of superior
virtue and merit. At his command, the obsequious senate of Rome
bestowed the Imperial title on Libius Severus, who ascended the
throne of the West without emerging from the obscurity of a
private condition. History has scarcely deigned to notice his
birth, his elevation, his character, or his death. Severus
expired, as soon as his life became inconvenient to his patron;
57 and it would be useless to discriminate his nominal reign in
the vacant interval of six years, between the death of Majorian
and the elevation of Anthemius. During that period, the
government was in the hands of Ricimer alone; and, although the
modest Barbarian disclaimed the name of king, he accumulated
treasures, formed a separate army, negotiated private alliances,
and ruled Italy with the same independent and despotic authority,
which was afterwards exercised by Odoacer and Theodoric. But his
dominions were bounded by the Alps; and two Roman generals,
Marcellinus and Aegidius, maintained their allegiance to the
republic, by rejecting, with disdain, the phantom which he styled
an emperor. Marcellinus still adhered to the old religion; and
the devout Pagans, who secretly disobeyed the laws of the church
and state, applauded his profound skill in the science of
divination. But he possessed the more valuable qualifications of
learning, virtue, and courage; 58 the study of the Latin
literature had improved his taste; and his military talents had
recommended him to the esteem and confidence of the great Ætius,
in whose ruin he was involved. By a timely flight, Marcellinus
escaped the rage of Valentinian, and boldly asserted his liberty
amidst the convulsions of the Western empire. His voluntary, or
reluctant, submission to the authority of Majorian, was rewarded
by the government of Sicily, and the command of an army,
stationed in that island to oppose, or to attack, the Vandals;
but his Barbarian mercenaries, after the emperor’s death, were
tempted to revolt by the artful liberality of Ricimer. At the
head of a band of faithful followers, the intrepid Marcellinus
occupied the province of Dalmatia, assumed the title of patrician
of the West, secured the love of his subjects by a mild and
equitable reign, built a fleet which claimed the dominion of the
Adriatic, and alternately alarmed the coasts of Italy and of
Africa. 59 Aegidius, the master-general of Gaul, who equalled, or
at least who imitated, the heroes of ancient Rome, 60 proclaimed
his immortal resentment against the assassins of his beloved
master. A brave and numerous army was attached to his standard:
and, though he was prevented by the arts of Ricimer, and the arms
of the Visigoths, from marching to the gates of Rome, he
maintained his independent sovereignty beyond the Alps, and
rendered the name of Aegidius, respectable both in peace and war.
The Franks, who had punished with exile the youthful follies of
Childeric, elected the Roman general for their king: his vanity,
rather than his ambition, was gratified by that singular honor;
and when the nation, at the end of four years, repented of the
injury which they had offered to the Merovingian family, he
patiently acquiesced in the restoration of the lawful prince. The
authority of Aegidius ended only with his life, and the
suspicions of poison and secret violence, which derived some
countenance from the character of Ricimer, were eagerly
entertained by the passionate credulity of the Gauls. 61
57 (return) [ Sidonius (Panegyr. Anthem. 317) dismisses him to
heaven:—Auxerat Augustus naturae lege Severus—Divorum numerum.
And an old list of the emperors, composed about the time of
Justinian, praises his piety, and fixes his residence at Rome,
(Sirmond. Not. ad Sidon. p. 111, 112.)]
58 (return) [ Tillemont, who is always scandalized by the virtues
of infidels, attributes this advantageous portrait of Marcellinus
(which Suidas has preserved) to the partial zeal of some Pagan
historian, (Hist. des Empereurs. tom. vi. p. 330.)]
59 (return) [ Procopius de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 6, p. 191. In
various circumstances of the life of Marcellinus, it is not easy
to reconcile the Greek historian with the Latin Chronicles of the
times.]
60 (return) [ I must apply to Aegidius the praises which Sidonius
(Panegyr Majorian, 553) bestows on a nameless master-general, who
commanded the rear-guard of Majorian. Idatius, from public
report, commends his Christian piety; and Priscus mentions (p.
42) his military virtues.]
61 (return) [ Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 168. The
Pere Daniel, whose ideas were superficial and modern, has started
some objections against the story of Childeric, (Hist. de France,
tom. i. Preface Historique, p. lxxvii., &c.:) but they have been
fairly satisfied by Dubos, (Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 460-510,)
and by two authors who disputed the prize of the Academy of
Soissons, (p. 131-177, 310-339.) With regard to the term of
Childeric’s exile, it is necessary either to prolong the life of
Aegidius beyond the date assigned by the Chronicle of Idatius or
to correct the text of Gregory, by reading quarto anno, instead
of octavo.]
The kingdom of Italy, a name to which the Western empire was
gradually reduced, was afflicted, under the reign of Ricimer, by
the incessant depredations of the Vandal pirates. 62 In the
spring of each year, they equipped a formidable navy in the port
of Carthage; and Genseric himself, though in a very advanced age,
still commanded in person the most important expeditions. His
designs were concealed with impenetrable secrecy, till the moment
that he hoisted sail. When he was asked, by his pilot, what
course he should steer, “Leave the determination to the winds,
(replied the Barbarian, with pious arrogance;) they will
transport us to the guilty coast, whose inhabitants have provoked
the divine justice;” but if Genseric himself deigned to issue
more precise orders, he judged the most wealthy to be the most
criminal. The Vandals repeatedly visited the coasts of Spain,
Liguria, Tuscany, Campania, Lucania, Bruttium, Apulia, Calabria,
Venetia, Dalmatia, Epirus, Greece, and Sicily: they were tempted
to subdue the Island of Sardinia, so advantageously placed in the
centre of the Mediterranean; and their arms spread desolation, or
terror, from the columns of Hercules to the mouth of the Nile. As
they were more ambitious of spoil than of glory, they seldom
attacked any fortified cities, or engaged any regular troops in
the open field. But the celerity of their motions enabled them,
almost at the same time, to threaten and to attack the most
distant objects, which attracted their desires; and as they
always embarked a sufficient number of horses, they had no sooner
landed, than they swept the dismayed country with a body of light
cavalry. Yet, notwithstanding the example of their king, the
native Vandals and Alani insensibly declined this toilsome and
perilous warfare; the hardy generation of the first conquerors
was almost extinguished, and their sons, who were born in Africa,
enjoyed the delicious baths and gardens which had been acquired
by the valor of their fathers. Their place was readily supplied
by a various multitude of Moors and Romans, of captives and
outlaws; and those desperate wretches, who had already violated
the laws of their country, were the most eager to promote the
atrocious acts which disgrace the victories of Genseric. In the
treatment of his unhappy prisoners, he sometimes consulted his
avarice, and sometimes indulged his cruelty; and the massacre of
five hundred noble citizens of Zant or Zacynthus, whose mangled
bodies he cast into the Ionian Sea, was imputed, by the public
indignation, to his latest posterity.
62 (return) [ The naval war of Genseric is described by Priscus,
(Excerpta Legation. p. 42,) Procopius, (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c.
5, p. 189, 190, and c. 22, p. 228,) Victor Vitensis, (de
Persecut. Vandal. l. i. c. 17, and Ruinart, p. 467-481,) and in
three panegyrics of Sidonius, whose chronological order is
absurdly transposed in the editions both of Savaron and Sirmond.
(Avit. Carm. vii. 441-451. Majorian. Carm. v. 327-350, 385-440.
Anthem. Carm. ii. 348-386) In one passage the poet seems inspired
by his subject, and expresses a strong idea by a lively image:—
Hinc Vandalus hostis Urget; et in nostrum numerosa classe
quotannis Militat excidium; conversoque ordine Fati Torrida
Caucaseos infert mihi Byrsa furores]
Such crimes could not be excused by any provocations; but the
war, which the king of the Vandals prosecuted against the Roman
empire was justified by a specious and reasonable motive. The
widow of Valentinian, Eudoxia, whom he had led captive from Rome
to Carthage, was the sole heiress of the Theodosian house; her
elder daughter, Eudocia, became the reluctant wife of Hunneric,
his eldest son; and the stern father, asserting a legal claim,
which could not easily be refuted or satisfied, demanded a just
proportion of the Imperial patrimony. An adequate, or at least a
valuable, compensation, was offered by the Eastern emperor, to
purchase a necessary peace. Eudoxia and her younger daughter,
Placidia, were honorably restored, and the fury of the Vandals
was confined to the limits of the Western empire. The Italians,
destitute of a naval force, which alone was capable of protecting
their coasts, implored the aid of the more fortunate nations of
the East; who had formerly acknowledged, in peace and war, the
supremacy of Rome. But the perpetual divisions of the two empires
had alienated their interest and their inclinations; the faith of
a recent treaty was alleged; and the Western Romans, instead of
arms and ships, could only obtain the assistance of a cold and
ineffectual mediation. The haughty Ricimer, who had long
struggled with the difficulties of his situation, was at length
reduced to address the throne of Constantinople, in the humble
language of a subject; and Italy submitted, as the price and
security of the alliance, to accept a master from the choice of
the emperor of the East. 63 It is not the purpose of the present
chapter, or even of the present volume, to continue the distinct
series of the Byzantine history; but a concise view of the reign
and character of the emperor Leo, may explain the last efforts
that were attempted to save the falling empire of the West. 64
63 (return) [ The poet himself is compelled to acknowledge the
distress of Ricimer:—
Præterea invictus Ricimer, quem publica fata Respiciunt, proprio
solas vix Marte repellit Piratam per rura vagum.
Italy addresses her complaint to the Tyber, and Rome, at the
solicitation of the river god, transports herself to
Constantinople, renounces her ancient claims, and implores the
friendship of Aurora, the goddess of the East. This fabulous
machinery, which the genius of Claudian had used and abused, is
the constant and miserable resource of the muse of Sidonius.]
64 (return) [ The original authors of the reigns of Marcian, Leo,
and Zeno, are reduced to some imperfect fragments, whose
deficiencies must be supplied from the more recent compilations
of Theophanes, Zonaras, and Cedrenus.]
Since the death of the younger Theodosius, the domestic repose of
Constantinople had never been interrupted by war or faction.
Pulcheria had bestowed her hand, and the sceptre of the East, on
the modest virtue of Marcian: he gratefully reverenced her august
rank and virgin chastity; and, after her death, he gave his
people the example of the religious worship that was due to the
memory of the Imperial saint. 65 Attentive to the prosperity of
his own dominions, Marcian seemed to behold, with indifference,
the misfortunes of Rome; and the obstinate refusal of a brave and
active prince, to draw his sword against the Vandals, was
ascribed to a secret promise, which had formerly been exacted
from him when he was a captive in the power of Genseric. 66 The
death of Marcian, after a reign of seven years, would have
exposed the East to the danger of a popular election; if the
superior weight of a single family had not been able to incline
the balance in favor of the candidate whose interest they
supported. The patrician Aspar might have placed the diadem on
his own head, if he would have subscribed the Nicene creed. 67
During three generations, the armies of the East were
successively commanded by his father, by himself, and by his son
Ardaburius; his Barbarian guards formed a military force that
overawed the palace and the capital; and the liberal distribution
of his immense treasures rendered Aspar as popular as he was
powerful. He recommended the obscure name of Leo of Thrace, a
military tribune, and the principal steward of his household. His
nomination was unanimously ratified by the senate; and the
servant of Aspar received the Imperial crown from the hands of
the patriarch or bishop, who was permitted to express, by this
unusual ceremony, the suffrage of the Deity. 68 This emperor, the
first of the name of Leo, has been distinguished by the title of
the Great; from a succession of princes, who gradually fixed in
the opinion of the Greeks a very humble standard of heroic, or at
least of royal, perfection. Yet the temperate firmness with which
Leo resisted the oppression of his benefactor, showed that he was
conscious of his duty and of his prerogative. Aspar was
astonished to find that his influence could no longer appoint a
præfect of Constantinople: he presumed to reproach his sovereign
with a breach of promise, and insolently shaking his purple, “It
is not proper, (said he,) that the man who is invested with this
garment, should be guilty of lying.” “Nor is it proper, (replied
Leo,) that a prince should be compelled to resign his own
judgment, and the public interest, to the will of a subject.”69
After this extraordinary scene, it was impossible that the
reconciliation of the emperor and the patrician could be sincere;
or, at least, that it could be solid and permanent. An army of
Isaurians 70 was secretly levied, and introduced into
Constantinople; and while Leo undermined the authority, and
prepared the disgrace, of the family of Aspar, his mild and
cautious behavior restrained them from any rash and desperate
attempts, which might have been fatal to themselves, or their
enemies. The measures of peace and war were affected by this
internal revolution. As long as Aspar degraded the majesty of the
throne, the secret correspondence of religion and interest
engaged him to favor the cause of Genseric. When Leo had
delivered himself from that ignominious servitude, he listened to
the complaints of the Italians; resolved to extirpate the tyranny
of the Vandals; and declared his alliance with his colleague,
Anthemius, whom he solemnly invested with the diadem and purple
of the West.
65 (return) [ St. Pulcheria died A.D. 453, four years before her
nominal husband; and her festival is celebrated on the 10th of
September by the modern Greeks: she bequeathed an immense
patrimony to pious, or, at least, to ecclesiastical, uses. See
Tillemont, Mémoires Eccles. tom. xv p. 181-184.]
66 (return) [ See Procopius, de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 4, p.
185.]
67 (return) [ From this disability of Aspar to ascend the throne,
it may be inferred that the stain of Heresy was perpetual and
indelible, while that of Barbarism disappeared in the second
generation.]
68 (return) [ Theophanes, p. 95. This appears to be the first
origin of a ceremony, which all the Christian princes of the
world have since adopted and from which the clergy have deduced
the most formidable consequences.]
69 (return) [ Cedrenus, (p. 345, 346,) who was conversant with
the writers of better days, has preserved the remarkable words of
Aspar.]
70 (return) [ The power of the Isaurians agitated the Eastern
empire in the two succeeding reigns of Zeno and Anastasius; but
it ended in the destruction of those Barbarians, who maintained
their fierce independences about two hundred and thirty years.]
The virtues of Anthemius have perhaps been magnified, since the
Imperial descent, which he could only deduce from the usurper
Procopius, has been swelled into a line of emperors. 71 But the
merit of his immediate parents, their honors, and their riches,
rendered Anthemius one of the most illustrious subjects of the
East. His father, Procopius, obtained, after his Persian embassy,
the rank of general and patrician; and the name of Anthemius was
derived from his maternal grandfather, the celebrated præfect,
who protected, with so much ability and success, the infant reign
of Theodosius. The grandson of the præfect was raised above the
condition of a private subject, by his marriage with Euphemia,
the daughter of the emperor Marcian. This splendid alliance,
which might supersede the necessity of merit, hastened the
promotion of Anthemius to the successive dignities of count, of
master-general, of consul, and of patrician; and his merit or
fortune claimed the honors of a victory, which was obtained on
the banks of the Danube, over the Huns. Without indulging an
extravagant ambition, the son-in-law of Marcian might hope to be
his successor; but Anthemius supported the disappointment with
courage and patience; and his subsequent elevation was
universally approved by the public, who esteemed him worthy to
reign, till he ascended the throne. 72 The emperor of the West
marched from Constantinople, attended by several counts of high
distinction, and a body of guards almost equal to the strength
and numbers of a regular army: he entered Rome in triumph, and
the choice of Leo was confirmed by the senate, the people, and
the Barbarian confederates of Italy. 73 The solemn inauguration
of Anthemius was followed by the nuptials of his daughter and the
patrician Ricimer; a fortunate event, which was considered as the
firmest security of the union and happiness of the state. The
wealth of two empires was ostentatiously displayed; and many
senators completed their ruin, by an expensive effort to disguise
their poverty. All serious business was suspended during this
festival; the courts of justice were shut; the streets of Rome,
the theatres, the places of public and private resort, resounded
with hymeneal songs and dances: and the royal bride, clothed in
silken robes, with a crown on her head, was conducted to the
palace of Ricimer, who had changed his military dress for the
habit of a consul and a senator. On this memorable occasion,
Sidonius, whose early ambition had been so fatally blasted,
appeared as the orator of Auvergne, among the provincial deputies
who addressed the throne with congratulations or complaints. 74
The calends of January were now approaching, and the venal poet,
who had loved Avitus, and esteemed Majorian, was persuaded by his
friends to celebrate, in heroic verse, the merit, the felicity,
the second consulship, and the future triumphs, of the emperor
Anthemius. Sidonius pronounced, with assurance and success, a
panegyric which is still extant; and whatever might be the
imperfections, either of the subject or of the composition, the
welcome flatterer was immediately rewarded with the præfecture
of Rome; a dignity which placed him among the illustrious
personages of the empire, till he wisely preferred the more
respectable character of a bishop and a saint. 75
71 (return) [
Tali tu civis ab urbe Procopio genitore micas; cui prisca propago
Augustis venit a proavis.
The poet (Sidon. Panegyr. Anthem. 67-306) then proceeds to relate
the private life and fortunes of the future emperor, with which
he must have been imperfectly acquainted.]
72 (return) [ Sidonius discovers, with tolerable ingenuity, that
this disappointment added new lustre to the virtues of Anthemius,
(210, &c.,) who declined one sceptre, and reluctantly accepted
another, (22, &c.)]
73 (return) [ The poet again celebrates the unanimity of all
orders of the state, (15-22;) and the Chronicle of Idatius
mentions the forces which attended his march.]
74 (return) [ Interveni autem nuptiis Patricii Ricimeris, cui
filia perennis Augusti in spem publicae securitatis copulabator.
The journey of Sidonius from Lyons, and the festival of Rome, are
described with some spirit. L. i. epist. 5, p. 9-13, epist. 9, p.
21.]
75 (return) [ Sidonius (l. i. epist. 9, p. 23, 24) very fairly
states his motive, his labor, and his reward. “Hic ipse
Panegyricus, si non judicium, certa eventum, boni operis,
accepit.” He was made bishop of Clermont, A.D. 471. Tillemont,
Mem. Eccles. tom. xvi. p. 750.]
The Greeks ambitiously commend the piety and catholic faith of
the emperor whom they gave to the West; nor do they forget to
observe, that when he left Constantinople, he converted his
palace into the pious foundation of a public bath, a church, and
a hospital for old men. 76 Yet some suspicious appearances are
found to sully the theological fame of Anthemius. From the
conversation of Philotheus, a Macedonian sectary, he had imbibed
the spirit of religious toleration; and the Heretics of Rome
would have assembled with impunity, if the bold and vehement
censure which Pope Hilary pronounced in the church of St. Peter,
had not obliged him to abjure the unpopular indulgence. 77 Even
the Pagans, a feeble and obscure remnant, conceived some vain
hopes, from the indifference, or partiality, of Anthemius; and
his singular friendship for the philosopher Severus, whom he
promoted to the consulship, was ascribed to a secret project, of
reviving the ancient worship of the gods. 78 These idols were
crumbled into dust: and the mythology which had once been the
creed of nations, was so universally disbelieved, that it might
be employed without scandal, or at least without suspicion, by
Christian poets. 79 Yet the vestiges of superstition were not
absolutely obliterated, and the festival of the Lupercalia, whose
origin had preceded the foundation of Rome, was still celebrated
under the reign of Anthemius. The savage and simple rites were
expressive of an early state of society before the invention of
arts and agriculture. The rustic deities who presided over the
toils and pleasures of the pastoral life, Pan, Faunus, and their
train of satyrs, were such as the fancy of shepherds might
create, sportive, petulant, and lascivious; whose power was
limited, and whose malice was inoffensive. A goat was the
offering the best adapted to their character and attributes; the
flesh of the victim was roasted on willow spits; and the riotous
youths, who crowded to the feast, ran naked about the fields,
with leather thongs in their hands, communicating, as it was
supposed, the blessing of fecundity to the women whom they
touched. 80 The altar of Pan was erected, perhaps by Evander the
Arcadian, in a dark recess in the side of the Palantine hill,
watered by a perpetual fountain, and shaded by a hanging grove. A
tradition, that, in the same place, Romulus and Remus were
suckled by the wolf, rendered it still more sacred and venerable
in the eyes of the Romans; and this sylvan spot was gradually
surrounded by the stately edifices of the Forum. 81 After the
conversion of the Imperial city, the Christians still continued,
in the month of February, the annual celebration of the
Lupercalia; to which they ascribed a secret and mysterious
influence on the genial powers of the animal and vegetable world.
The bishops of Rome were solicitous to abolish a profane custom,
so repugnant to the spirit of Christianity; but their zeal was
not supported by the authority of the civil magistrate: the
inveterate abuse subsisted till the end of the fifth century, and
Pope Gelasius, who purified the capital from the last stain of
idolatry, appeased by a formal apology, the murmurs of the senate
and people. 82
76 (return) [ The palace of Anthemius stood on the banks of the
Propontis. In the ninth century, Alexius, the son-in-law of the
emperor Theophilus, obtained permission to purchase the ground;
and ended his days in a monastery which he founded on that
delightful spot. Ducange Constantinopolis Christiana, p. 117,
152.]
77 (return) [ Papa Hilarius... apud beatum Petrum Apostolum,
palam ne id fieret, clara voce constrinxit, in tantum ut non ea
facienda cum interpositione juramenti idem promitteret Imperator.
Gelasius Epistol ad Andronicum, apud Baron. A.D. 467, No. 3. The
cardinal observes, with some complacency, that it was much easier
to plant heresies at Constantinople, than at Rome.]
78 (return) [ Damascius, in the life of the philosopher Isidore,
apud Photium, p. 1049. Damascius, who lived under Justinian,
composed another work, consisting of 570 praeternatural stories
of souls, daemons, apparitions, the dotage of Platonic Paganism.]
79 (return) [ In the poetical works of Sidonius, which he
afterwards condemned, (l. ix. epist. 16, p. 285,) the fabulous
deities are the principal actors. If Jerom was scourged by the
angels for only reading Virgil, the bishop of Clermont, for such
a vile imitation, deserved an additional whipping from the
Muses.]
80 (return) [ Ovid (Fast. l. ii. 267-452) has given an amusing
description of the follies of antiquity, which still inspired so
much respect, that a grave magistrate, running naked through the
streets, was not an object of astonishment or laughter.]
81 (return) [ See Dionys. Halicarn. l. i. p. 25, 65, edit.
Hudson. The Roman antiquaries Donatus (l. ii. c. 18, p. 173, 174)
and Nardini (p. 386, 387) have labored to ascertain the true
situation of the Lupercal.]
82 (return) [ Baronius published, from the MSS. of the Vatican,
this epistle of Pope Gelasius, (A.D. 496, No. 28-45,) which is
entitled Adversus Andromachum Senatorem, caeterosque Romanos, qui
Lupercalia secundum morem pristinum colenda constituebant.
Gelasius always supposes that his adversaries are nominal
Christians, and, that he may not yield to them in absurd
prejudice, he imputes to this harmless festival all the
calamities of the age.]
Chapter XXXVI: Total Extinction Of The Western Empire.—Part IV.
In all his public declarations, the emperor Leo assumes the
authority, and professes the affection, of a father, for his son
Anthemius, with whom he had divided the administration of the
universe. 83 The situation, and perhaps the character, of Leo,
dissuaded him from exposing his person to the toils and dangers
of an African war. But the powers of the Eastern empire were
strenuously exerted to deliver Italy and the Mediterranean from
the Vandals; and Genseric, who had so long oppressed both the
land and sea, was threatened from every side with a formidable
invasion. The campaign was opened by a bold and successful
enterprise of the præfect Heraclius. 84 The troops of Egypt,
Thebais, and Libya, were embarked, under his command; and the
Arabs, with a train of horses and camels, opened the roads of the
desert. Heraclius landed on the coast of Tripoli, surprised and
subdued the cities of that province, and prepared, by a laborious
march, which Cato had formerly executed, 85 to join the Imperial
army under the walls of Carthage. The intelligence of this loss
extorted from Genseric some insidious and ineffectual
propositions of peace; but he was still more seriously alarmed by
the reconciliation of Marcellinus with the two empires. The
independent patrician had been persuaded to acknowledge the
legitimate title of Anthemius, whom he accompanied in his journey
to Rome; the Dalmatian fleet was received into the harbors of
Italy; the active valor of Marcellinus expelled the Vandals from
the Island of Sardinia; and the languid efforts of the West added
some weight to the immense preparations of the Eastern Romans.
The expense of the naval armament, which Leo sent against the
Vandals, has been distinctly ascertained; and the curious and
instructive account displays the wealth of the declining empire.
The Royal demesnes, or private patrimony of the prince, supplied
seventeen thousand pounds of gold; forty-seven thousand pounds of
gold, and seven hundred thousand of silver, were levied and paid
into the treasury by the Prætorian præfects. But the cities
were reduced to extreme poverty; and the diligent calculation of
fines and forfeitures, as a valuable object of the revenue, does
not suggest the idea of a just or merciful administration. The
whole expense, by whatsoever means it was defrayed, of the
African campaign, amounted to the sum of one hundred and thirty
thousand pounds of gold, about five millions two hundred thousand
pounds sterling, at a time when the value of money appears, from
the comparative price of corn, to have been somewhat higher than
in the present age. 86 The fleet that sailed from Constantinople
to Carthage, consisted of eleven hundred and thirteen ships, and
the number of soldiers and mariners exceeded one hundred thousand
men. Basiliscus, the brother of the empress Vorina, was intrusted
with this important command. His sister, the wife of Leo, had
exaggerated the merit of his former exploits against the
Scythians. But the discovery of his guilt, or incapacity, was
reserved for the African war; and his friends could only save his
military reputation by asserting, that he had conspired with
Aspar to spare Genseric, and to betray the last hope of the
Western empire.
83 (return) [ Itaque nos quibus totius mundi regimen commisit
superna provisio.... Pius et triumphator semper Augustus filius
noster Anthemius, licet Divina Majestas et nostra creatio pietati
ejus plenam Imperii commiserit potestatem, &c..... Such is the
dignified style of Leo, whom Anthemius respectfully names,
Dominus et Pater meus Princeps sacratissimus Leo. See Novell.
Anthem. tit. ii. iii. p. 38, ad calcem Cod. Theod.]
84 (return) [ The expedition of Heraclius is clouded with
difficulties, (Tillemont, Hist. des Empereurs, tom. vi. p. 640,)
and it requires some dexterity to use the circumstances afforded
by Theophanes, without injury to the more respectable evidence of
Procopius.]
85 (return) [ The march of Cato from Berenice, in the province of
Cyrene, was much longer than that of Heraclius from Tripoli. He
passed the deep sandy desert in thirty days, and it was found
necessary to provide, besides the ordinary supplies, a great
number of skins filled with water, and several Psylli, who were
supposed to possess the art of sucking the wounds which had been
made by the serpents of their native country. See Plutarch in
Caton. Uticens. tom. iv. p. 275. Straben Geograph. l. xxii. p.
1193.]
86 (return) [ The principal sum is clearly expressed by
Procopius, (de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 6, p. 191;) the smaller
constituent parts, which Tillemont, (Hist. des Empereurs, tom.
vi. p. 396) has laboriously collected from the Byzantine writers,
are less certain, and less important. The historian Malchus
laments the public misery, (Excerpt. ex Suida in Corp. Hist.
Byzant. p. 58;) but he is surely unjust, when he charges Leo with
hoarding the treasures which he extorted from the people. * Note:
Compare likewise the newly-discovered work of Lydus, de
Magistratibus, ed. Hase, Paris, 1812, (and in the new collection
of the Byzantines,) l. iii. c. 43. Lydus states the expenditure
at 65,000 lbs. of gold, 700,000 of silver. But Lydus exaggerates
the fleet to the incredible number of 10,000 long ships,
(Liburnae,) and the troops to 400,000 men. Lydus describes this
fatal measure, of which he charges the blame on Basiliscus, as
the shipwreck of the state. From that time all the revenues of
the empire were anticipated; and the finances fell into
inextricable confusion.—M.]
Experience has shown, that the success of an invader most
commonly depends on the vigor and celerity of his operations. The
strength and sharpness of the first impression are blunted by
delay; the health and spirit of the troops insensibly languish in
a distant climate; the naval and military force, a mighty effort
which perhaps can never be repeated, is silently consumed; and
every hour that is wasted in negotiation, accustoms the enemy to
contemplate and examine those hostile terrors, which, on their
first appearance, he deemed irresistible. The formidable navy of
Basiliscus pursued its prosperous navigation from the Thracian
Bosphorus to the coast of Africa. He landed his troops at Cape
Bona, or the promontory of Mercury, about forty miles from
Carthage. 87 The army of Heraclius, and the fleet of Marcellinus,
either joined or seconded the Imperial lieutenant; and the
Vandals who opposed his progress by sea or land, were
successively vanquished. 88 If Basiliscus had seized the moment
of consternation, and boldly advanced to the capital, Carthage
must have surrendered, and the kingdom of the Vandals was
extinguished. Genseric beheld the danger with firmness, and
eluded it with his veteran dexterity. He protested, in the most
respectful language, that he was ready to submit his person, and
his dominions, to the will of the emperor; but he requested a
truce of five days to regulate the terms of his submission; and
it was universally believed, that his secret liberality
contributed to the success of this public negotiation. Instead of
obstinately refusing whatever indulgence his enemy so earnestly
solicited, the guilty, or the credulous, Basiliscus consented to
the fatal truce; and his imprudent security seemed to proclaim,
that he already considered himself as the conqueror of Africa.
During this short interval, the wind became favorable to the
designs of Genseric. He manned his largest ships of war with the
bravest of the Moors and Vandals; and they towed after them many
large barks, filled with combustible materials. In the obscurity
of the night, these destructive vessels were impelled against the
unguarded and unsuspecting fleet of the Romans, who were awakened
by the sense of their instant danger. Their close and crowded
order assisted the progress of the fire, which was communicated
with rapid and irresistible violence; and the noise of the wind,
the crackling of the flames, the dissonant cries of the soldiers
and mariners, who could neither command nor obey, increased the
horror of the nocturnal tumult. Whilst they labored to extricate
themselves from the fire-ships, and to save at least a part of
the navy, the galleys of Genseric assaulted them with temperate
and disciplined valor; and many of the Romans, who escaped the
fury of the flames, were destroyed or taken by the victorious
Vandals. Among the events of that disastrous night, the heroic,
or rather desperate, courage of John, one of the principal
officers of Basiliscus, has rescued his name from oblivion. When
the ship, which he had bravely defended, was almost consumed, he
threw himself in his armor into the sea, disdainfully rejected
the esteem and pity of Genso, the son of Genseric, who pressed
him to accept honorable quarter, and sunk under the waves;
exclaiming, with his last breath, that he would never fall alive
into the hands of those impious dogs. Actuated by a far different
spirit, Basiliscus, whose station was the most remote from
danger, disgracefully fled in the beginning of the engagement,
returned to Constantinople with the loss of more than half of his
fleet and army, and sheltered his guilty head in the sanctuary of
St. Sophia, till his sister, by her tears and entreaties, could
obtain his pardon from the indignant emperor. Heraclius effected
his retreat through the desert; Marcellinus retired to Sicily,
where he was assassinated, perhaps at the instigation of Ricimer,
by one of his own captains; and the king of the Vandals expressed
his surprise and satisfaction, that the Romans themselves should
remove from the world his most formidable antagonists. 89 After
the failure of this great expedition, 891 Genseric again became
the tyrant of the sea: the coasts of Italy, Greece, and Asia,
were again exposed to his revenge and avarice; Tripoli and
Sardinia returned to his obedience; he added Sicily to the number
of his provinces; and before he died, in the fulness of years and
of glory, he beheld the final extinction of the empire of the
West. 90
87 (return) [ This promontory is forty miles from Carthage,
(Procop. l. i. c. 6, p. 192,) and twenty leagues from Sicily,
(Shaw’s Travels, p. 89.) Scipio landed farther in the bay, at the
fair promontory; see the animated description of Livy, xxix. 26,
27.]
88 (return) [ Theophanes (p. 100) affirms that many ships of the
Vandals were sunk. The assertion of Jornandes, (de Successione
Regn.,) that Basiliscus attacked Carthage, must be understood in
a very qualified sense]
89 (return) [ Damascius in Vit. Isidor. apud Phot. p. 1048. It
will appear, by comparing the three short chronicles of the
times, that Marcellinus had fought near Carthage, and was killed
in Sicily.]
891 (return) [ According to Lydus, Leo, distracted by this and
the other calamities of his reign, particularly a dreadful fire
at Constantinople, abandoned the palace, like another Orestes,
and was preparing to quit Constantinople forever l iii. c. 44, p.
230.—M.]
90 (return) [ For the African war, see Procopius, de Bell.
(Vandal. l. i. c. 6, p. 191, 192, 193,) Theophanes, (p. 99, 100,
101,) Cedrenus, (p. 349, 350,) and Zonaras, (tom. ii. l. xiv. p.
50, 51.) Montesquieu (Considerations sur la Grandeur, &c., c. xx.
tom. iii. p. 497) has made a judicious observation on the failure
of these great naval armaments.]
During his long and active reign, the African monarch had
studiously cultivated the friendship of the Barbarians of Europe,
whose arms he might employ in a seasonable and effectual
diversion against the two empires. After the death of Attila, he
renewed his alliance with the Visigoths of Gaul; and the sons of
the elder Theodoric, who successively reigned over that warlike
nation, were easily persuaded, by the sense of interest, to
forget the cruel affront which Genseric had inflicted on their
sister. 91 The death of the emperor Majorian delivered Theodoric
the Second from the restraint of fear, and perhaps of honor; he
violated his recent treaty with the Romans; and the ample
territory of Narbonne, which he firmly united to his dominions,
became the immediate reward of his perfidy. The selfish policy of
Ricimer encouraged him to invade the provinces which were in the
possession of Aegidius, his rival; but the active count, by the
defence of Arles, and the victory of Orleans, saved Gaul, and
checked, during his lifetime, the progress of the Visigoths.
Their ambition was soon rekindled; and the design of
extinguishing the Roman empire in Spain and Gaul was conceived,
and almost completed, in the reign of Euric, who assassinated his
brother Theodoric, and displayed, with a more savage temper,
superior abilities, both in peace and war. He passed the Pyrenees
at the head of a numerous army, subdued the cities of Saragossa
and Pampeluna, vanquished in battle the martial nobles of the
Tarragonese province, carried his victorious arms into the heart
of Lusitania, and permitted the Suevi to hold the kingdom of
Gallicia under the Gothic monarchy of Spain. 92 The efforts of
Euric were not less vigorous, or less successful, in Gaul; and
throughout the country that extends from the Pyrenees to the
Rhone and the Loire, Berry and Auvergne were the only cities, or
dioceses, which refused to acknowledge him as their master. 93 In
the defence of Clermont, their principal town, the inhabitants of
Auvergne sustained, with inflexible resolution, the miseries of
war, pestilence, and famine; and the Visigoths, relinquishing the
fruitless siege, suspended the hopes of that important conquest.
The youth of the province were animated by the heroic, and almost
incredible, valor of Ecdicius, the son of the emperor Avitus, 94
who made a desperate sally with only eighteen horsemen, boldly
attacked the Gothic army, and, after maintaining a flying
skirmish, retired safe and victorious within the walls of
Clermont. His charity was equal to his courage: in a time of
extreme scarcity, four thousand poor were fed at his expense; and
his private influence levied an army of Burgundians for the
deliverance of Auvergne. From his virtues alone the faithful
citizens of Gaul derived any hopes of safety or freedom; and even
such virtues were insufficient to avert the impending ruin of
their country, since they were anxious to learn, from his
authority and example, whether they should prefer the alternative
of exile or servitude. 95 The public confidence was lost; the
resources of the state were exhausted; and the Gauls had too much
reason to believe, that Anthemius, who reigned in Italy, was
incapable of protecting his distressed subjects beyond the Alps.
The feeble emperor could only procure for their defence the
service of twelve thousand British auxiliaries. Riothamus, one of
the independent kings, or chieftains, of the island, was
persuaded to transport his troops to the continent of Gaul: he
sailed up the Loire, and established his quarters in Berry, where
the people complained of these oppressive allies, till they were
destroyed or dispersed by the arms of the Visigoths. 96
91 (return) [ Jornandes is our best guide through the reigns of
Theodoric II. and Euric, (de Rebus Geticis, c. 44, 45, 46, 47, p.
675-681.) Idatius ends too soon, and Isidore is too sparing of
the information which he might have given on the affairs of
Spain. The events that relate to Gaul are laboriously illustrated
in the third book of the Abbe Dubos, Hist. Critique, tom. i. p.
424-620.]
92 (return) [ See Mariana, Hist. Hispan. tom. i. l. v. c. 5. p.
162.]
93 (return) [ An imperfect, but original, picture of Gaul, more
especially of Auvergne, is shown by Sidonius; who, as a senator,
and afterwards as a bishop, was deeply interested in the fate of
his country. See l. v. epist. 1, 5, 9, &c.]
94 (return) [ Sidonius, l. iii. epist. 3, p. 65-68. Greg. Turon.
l. ii. c. 24, in tom. ii. p. 174. Jornandes, c. 45, p. 675.
Perhaps Ecdicius was only the son-in-law of Avitus, his wife’s
son by another husband.]
95 (return) [ Si nullae a republica vires, nulla praesidia; si
nullae, quantum rumor est, Anthemii principis opes; statuit, te
auctore, nobilitas, seu patriaca dimittere seu capillos, (Sidon.
l. ii. epist. 1, p. 33.) The last words Sirmond, (Not. p. 25) may
likewise denote the clerical tonsure, which was indeed the choice
of Sidonius himself.]
96 (return) [ The history of these Britons may be traced in
Jornandes, (c. 45, p. 678,) Sidonius, (l. iii. epistol. 9, p. 73,
74,) and Gregory of Tours, (l. ii. c. 18, in tom. ii. p. 170.)
Sidonius (who styles these mercenary troops argutos, armatos,
tumultuosos, virtute numero, contul ernio, contumaces) addresses
their general in a tone of friendship and familiarity.]
One of the last acts of jurisdiction, which the Roman senate
exercised over their subjects of Gaul, was the trial and
condemnation of Arvandus, the Prætorian præfect. Sidonius, who
rejoices that he lived under a reign in which he might pity and
assist a state criminal, has expressed, with tenderness and
freedom, the faults of his indiscreet and unfortunate friend. 97
From the perils which he had escaped, Arvandus imbibed confidence
rather than wisdom; and such was the various, though uniform,
imprudence of his behavior, that his prosperity must appear much
more surprising than his downfall. The second præfecture, which
he obtained within the term of five years, abolished the merit
and popularity of his preceding administration. His easy temper
was corrupted by flattery, and exasperated by opposition; he was
forced to satisfy his importunate creditors with the spoils of
the province; his capricious insolence offended the nobles of
Gaul, and he sunk under the weight of the public hatred. The
mandate of his disgrace summoned him to justify his conduct
before the senate; and he passed the Sea of Tuscany with a
favorable wind, the presage, as he vainly imagined, of his future
fortunes. A decent respect was still observed for the
Proefectorian rank; and on his arrival at Rome, Arvandus was
committed to the hospitality, rather than to the custody, of
Flavius Asellus, the count of the sacred largesses, who resided
in the Capitol. 98 He was eagerly pursued by his accusers, the
four deputies of Gaul, who were all distinguished by their birth,
their dignities, or their eloquence. In the name of a great
province, and according to the forms of Roman jurisprudence, they
instituted a civil and criminal action, requiring such
restitution as might compensate the losses of individuals, and
such punishment as might satisfy the justice of the state. Their
charges of corrupt oppression were numerous and weighty; but they
placed their secret dependence on a letter which they had
intercepted, and which they could prove, by the evidence of his
secretary, to have been dictated by Arvandus himself. The author
of this letter seemed to dissuade the king of the Goths from a
peace with the Greek emperor: he suggested the attack of the
Britons on the Loire; and he recommended a division of Gaul,
according to the law of nations, between the Visigoths and the
Burgundians. 99 These pernicious schemes, which a friend could
only palliate by the reproaches of vanity and indiscretion, were
susceptible of a treasonable interpretation; and the deputies had
artfully resolved not to produce their most formidable weapons
till the decisive moment of the contest. But their intentions
were discovered by the zeal of Sidonius. He immediately apprised
the unsuspecting criminal of his danger; and sincerely lamented,
without any mixture of anger, the haughty presumption of
Arvandus, who rejected, and even resented, the salutary advice of
his friends. Ignorant of his real situation, Arvandus showed
himself in the Capitol in the white robe of a candidate, accepted
indiscriminate salutations and offers of service, examined the
shops of the merchants, the silks and gems, sometimes with the
indifference of a spectator, and sometimes with the attention of
a purchaser; and complained of the times, of the senate, of the
prince, and of the delays of justice. His complaints were soon
removed. An early day was fixed for his trial; and Arvandus
appeared, with his accusers, before a numerous assembly of the
Roman senate. The mournful garb which they affected, excited the
compassion of the judges, who were scandalized by the gay and
splendid dress of their adversary: and when the præfect
Arvandus, with the first of the Gallic deputies, were directed to
take their places on the senatorial benches, the same contrast of
pride and modesty was observed in their behavior. In this
memorable judgment, which presented a lively image of the old
republic, the Gauls exposed, with force and freedom, the
grievances of the province; and as soon as the minds of the
audience were sufficiently inflamed, they recited the fatal
epistle. The obstinacy of Arvandus was founded on the strange
supposition, that a subject could not be convicted of treason,
unless he had actually conspired to assume the purple. As the
paper was read, he repeatedly, and with a loud voice,
acknowledged it for his genuine composition; and his astonishment
was equal to his dismay, when the unanimous voice of the senate
declared him guilty of a capital offence. By their decree, he was
degraded from the rank of a præfect to the obscure condition of
a plebeian, and ignominiously dragged by servile hands to the
public prison. After a fortnight’s adjournment, the senate was
again convened to pronounce the sentence of his death; but while
he expected, in the Island of Aesculapius, the expiration of the
thirty days allowed by an ancient law to the vilest malefactors,
100 his friends interposed, the emperor Anthemius relented, and
the præfect of Gaul obtained the milder punishment of exile and
confiscation. The faults of Arvandus might deserve compassion;
but the impunity of Seronatus accused the justice of the
republic, till he was condemned and executed, on the complaint of
the people of Auvergne. That flagitious minister, the Catiline of
his age and country, held a secret correspondence with the
Visigoths, to betray the province which he oppressed: his
industry was continually exercised in the discovery of new taxes
and obsolete offences; and his extravagant vices would have
inspired contempt, if they had not excited fear and abhorrence.
101
97 (return) [ See Sidonius, l. i. epist. 7, p. 15-20, with
Sirmond’s notes. This letter does honor to his heart, as well as
to his understanding. The prose of Sidonius, however vitiated by
a false and affected taste, is much superior to his insipid
verses.]
98 (return) [ When the Capitol ceased to be a temple, it was
appropriated to the use of the civil magistrate; and it is still
the residence of the Roman senator. The jewellers, &c., might be
allowed to expose then precious wares in the porticos.]
99 (return) [ Haec ad regem Gothorum, charta videbatur emitti,
pacem cum Graeco Imperatore dissuadens, Britannos super Ligerim
sitos impugnari oportere, demonstrans, cum Burgundionibus jure
gentium Gallias dividi debere confirmans.]
100 (return) [ Senatusconsultum Tiberianum, (Sirmond Not. p. 17;)
but that law allowed only ten days between the sentence and
execution; the remaining twenty were added in the reign of
Theodosius.]
101 (return) [ Catilina seculi nostri. Sidonius, l. ii. epist. 1,
p. 33; l. v. epist 13, p. 143; l. vii. epist. vii. p. 185. He
execrates the crimes, and applauds the punishment, of Seronatus,
perhaps with the indignation of a virtuous citizen, perhaps with
the resentment of a personal enemy.]
Such criminals were not beyond the reach of justice; but whatever
might be the guilt of Ricimer, that powerful Barbarian was able
to contend or to negotiate with the prince, whose alliance he had
condescended to accept. The peaceful and prosperous reign which
Anthemius had promised to the West, was soon clouded by
misfortune and discord. Ricimer, apprehensive, or impatient, of a
superior, retired from Rome, and fixed his residence at Milan; an
advantageous situation either to invite or to repel the warlike
tribes that were seated between the Alps and the Danube. 102
Italy was gradually divided into two independent and hostile
kingdoms; and the nobles of Liguria, who trembled at the near
approach of a civil war, fell prostrate at the feet of the
patrician, and conjured him to spare their unhappy country. “For
my own part,” replied Ricimer, in a tone of insolent moderation,
“I am still inclined to embrace the friendship of the Galatian;
103 but who will undertake to appease his anger, or to mitigate
the pride, which always rises in proportion to our submission?”
They informed him, that Epiphanius, bishop of Pavia, 104 united
the wisdom of the serpent with the innocence of the dove; and
appeared confident, that the eloquence of such an ambassador must
prevail against the strongest opposition, either of interest or
passion. Their recommendation was approved; and Epiphanius,
assuming the benevolent office of mediation, proceeded without
delay to Rome, where he was received with the honors due to his
merit and reputation. The oration of a bishop in favor of peace
may be easily supposed; he argued, that, in all possible
circumstances, the forgiveness of injuries must be an act of
mercy, or magnanimity, or prudence; and he seriously admonished
the emperor to avoid a contest with a fierce Barbarian, which
might be fatal to himself, and must be ruinous to his dominions.
Anthemius acknowledged the truth of his maxims; but he deeply
felt, with grief and indignation, the behavior of Ricimer, and
his passion gave eloquence and energy to his discourse. “What
favors,” he warmly exclaimed, “have we refused to this ungrateful
man? What provocations have we not endured! Regardless of the
majesty of the purple, I gave my daughter to a Goth; I sacrificed
my own blood to the safety of the republic. The liberality which
ought to have secured the eternal attachment of Ricimer has
exasperated him against his benefactor. What wars has he not
excited against the empire! How often has he instigated and
assisted the fury of hostile nations! Shall I now accept his
perfidious friendship? Can I hope that he will respect the
engagements of a treaty, who has already violated the duties of a
son?” But the anger of Anthemius evaporated in these passionate
exclamations: he insensibly yielded to the proposals of
Epiphanius; and the bishop returned to his diocese with the
satisfaction of restoring the peace of Italy, by a
reconciliation, 105 of which the sincerity and continuance might
be reasonably suspected. The clemency of the emperor was extorted
from his weakness; and Ricimer suspended his ambitious designs
till he had secretly prepared the engines with which he resolved
to subvert the throne of Anthemius. The mask of peace and
moderation was then thrown aside. The army of Ricimer was
fortified by a numerous reenforcement of Burgundians and Oriental
Suevi: he disclaimed all allegiance to the Greek emperor, marched
from Milan to the Gates of Rome, and fixing his camp on the banks
of the Anio, impatiently expected the arrival of Olybrius, his
Imperial candidate.
102 (return) [ Ricimer, under the reign of Anthemius, defeated
and slew in battle Beorgor, king of the Alani, (Jornandes, c. 45,
p. 678.) His sister had married the king of the Burgundians, and
he maintained an intimate connection with the Suevic colony
established in Pannonia and Noricum.]
103 (return) [ Galatam concitatum. Sirmond (in his notes to
Ennodius) applies this appellation to Anthemius himself. The
emperor was probably born in the province of Galatia, whose
inhabitants, the Gallo-Grecians, were supposed to unite the vices
of a savage and a corrupted people.]
104 (return) [ Epiphanius was thirty years bishop of Pavia, (A.D.
467-497;) see Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xvi. p. 788. His name
and actions would have been unknown to posterity, if Ennodius,
one of his successors, had not written his life; (Sirmond, Opera
tom. i. p. 1647-1692;) in which he represents him as one of the
greatest characters of the age]
105 (return) [ Ennodius (p. 1659-1664) has related this embassy
of Epiphanius; and his narrative, verbose and turgid as it must
appear, illustrates some curious passages in the fall of the
Western empire.]
The senator Olybrius, of the Anician family, might esteem himself
the lawful heir of the Western empire. He had married Placidia,
the younger daughter of Valentinian, after she was restored by
Genseric; who still detained her sister Eudoxia, as the wife, or
rather as the captive, of his son. The king of the Vandals
supported, by threats and solicitations, the fair pretensions of
his Roman ally; and assigned, as one of the motives of the war,
the refusal of the senate and people to acknowledge their lawful
prince, and the unworthy preference which they had given to a
stranger. 106 The friendship of the public enemy might render
Olybrius still more unpopular to the Italians; but when Ricimer
meditated the ruin of the emperor Anthemius, he tempted, with the
offer of a diadem, the candidate who could justify his rebellion
by an illustrious name and a royal alliance. The husband of
Placidia, who, like most of his ancestors, had been invested with
the consular dignity, might have continued to enjoy a secure and
splendid fortune in the peaceful residence of Constantinople; nor
does he appear to have been tormented by such a genius as cannot
be amused or occupied, unless by the administration of an empire.
Yet Olybrius yielded to the importunities of his friends, perhaps
of his wife; rashly plunged into the dangers and calamities of a
civil war; and, with the secret connivance of the emperor Leo,
accepted the Italian purple, which was bestowed, and resumed, at
the capricious will of a Barbarian. He landed without obstacle
(for Genseric was master of the sea) either at Ravenna, or the
port of Ostia, and immediately proceeded to the camp of Ricimer,
where he was received as the sovereign of the Western world. 107
106 (return) [ Priscus, Excerpt. Legation p. 74. Procopius de
Bell. Vandel l. i. c. 6, p. 191. Eudoxia and her daughter were
restored after the death of Majorian. Perhaps the consulship of
Olybrius (A.D. 464) was bestowed as a nuptial present.]
107 (return) [ The hostile appearance of Olybrius is fixed
(notwithstanding the opinion of Pagi) by the duration of his
reign. The secret connivance of Leo is acknowledged by Theophanes
and the Paschal Chronicle. We are ignorant of his motives; but in
this obscure period, our ignorance extends to the most public and
important facts.]
The patrician, who had extended his posts from the Anio to the
Melvian bridge, already possessed two quarters of Rome, the
Vatican and the Janiculum, which are separated by the Tyber from
the rest of the city; 108 and it may be conjectured, that an
assembly of seceding senators imitated, in the choice of
Olybrius, the forms of a legal election. But the body of the
senate and people firmly adhered to the cause of Anthemius; and
the more effectual support of a Gothic army enabled him to
prolong his reign, and the public distress, by a resistance of
three months, which produced the concomitant evils of famine and
pestilence. At length Ricimer made a furious assault on the
bridge of Hadrian, or St. Angelo; and the narrow pass was
defended with equal valor by the Goths, till the death of
Gilimer, their leader. The victorious troops, breaking down every
barrier, rushed with irresistible violence into the heart of the
city, and Rome (if we may use the language of a contemporary
pope) was subverted by the civil fury of Anthemius and Ricimer.
109 The unfortunate Anthemius was dragged from his concealment,
and inhumanly massacred by the command of his son-in-law; who
thus added a third, or perhaps a fourth, emperor to the number of
his victims. The soldiers, who united the rage of factious
citizens with the savage manners of Barbarians, were indulged,
without control, in the license of rapine and murder: the crowd
of slaves and plebeians, who were unconcerned in the event, could
only gain by the indiscriminate pillage; and the face of the city
exhibited the strange contrast of stern cruelty and dissolute
intemperance. 110 Forty days after this calamitous event, the
subject, not of glory, but of guilt, Italy was delivered, by a
painful disease, from the tyrant Ricimer, who bequeathed the
command of his army to his nephew Gundobald, one of the princes
of the Burgundians. In the same year all the principal actors in
this great revolution were removed from the stage; and the whole
reign of Olybrius, whose death does not betray any symptoms of
violence, is included within the term of seven months. He left
one daughter, the offspring of his marriage with Placidia; and
the family of the great Theodosius, transplanted from Spain to
Constantinople, was propagated in the female line as far as the
eighth generation. 111
108 (return) [ Of the fourteen regions, or quarters, into which
Rome was divided by Augustus, only one, the Janiculum, lay on the
Tuscan side of the Tyber. But, in the fifth century, the Vatican
suburb formed a considerable city; and in the ecclesiastical
distribution, which had been recently made by Simplicius, the
reigning pope, two of the seven regions, or parishes of Rome,
depended on the church of St. Peter. See Nardini Roma Antica, p.
67. It would require a tedious dissertation to mark the
circumstances, in which I am inclined to depart from the
topography of that learned Roman.]
109 (return) [ Nuper Anthemii et Ricimeris civili furore subversa
est. Gelasius in Epist. ad Andromach. apud Baron. A.D. 496, No.
42, Sigonius (tom. i. l. xiv. de Occidentali Imperio, p. 542,
543,) and Muratori (Annali d’Italia, tom. iv. p. 308, 309,) with
the aid of a less imperfect Ms. of the Historia Miscella., have
illustrated this dark and bloody transaction.]
110 (return) [ Such had been the saeva ac deformis urbe tota
facies, when Rome was assaulted and stormed by the troops of
Vespasian, (see Tacit. Hist. iii. 82, 83;) and every cause of
mischief had since acquired much additional energy. The
revolution of ages may bring round the same calamities; but ages
may revolve without producing a Tacitus to describe them.]
111 (return) [ See Ducange, Familiae Byzantin. p. 74, 75.
Areobindus, who appears to have married the niece of the emperor
Justinian, was the eighth descendant of the elder Theodosius.]
Chapter XXXVI: Total Extinction Of The Western Empire.—Part V.
Whilst the vacant throne of Italy was abandoned to lawless
Barbarians, 112 the election of a new colleague was seriously
agitated in the council of Leo. The empress Verina, studious to
promote the greatness of her own family, had married one of her
nieces to Julius Nepos, who succeeded his uncle Marcellinus in
the sovereignty of Dalmatia, a more solid possession than the
title which he was persuaded to accept, of Emperor of the West.
But the measures of the Byzantine court were so languid and
irresolute, that many months elapsed after the death of
Anthemius, and even of Olybrius, before their destined successor
could show himself, with a respectable force, to his Italian
subjects. During that interval, Glycerius, an obscure soldier,
was invested with the purple by his patron Gundobald; but the
Burgundian prince was unable, or unwilling, to support his
nomination by a civil war: the pursuits of domestic ambition
recalled him beyond the Alps, 113 and his client was permitted to
exchange the Roman sceptre for the bishopric of Salona. After
extinguishing such a competitor, the emperor Nepos was
acknowledged by the senate, by the Italians, and by the
provincials of Gaul; his moral virtues, and military talents,
were loudly celebrated; and those who derived any private benefit
from his government, announced, in prophetic strains, the
restoration of the public felicity. 114 Their hopes (if such
hopes had been entertained) were confounded within the term of a
single year, and the treaty of peace, which ceded Auvergue to the
Visigoths, is the only event of his short and inglorious reign.
The most faithful subjects of Gaul were sacrificed, by the
Italian emperor, to the hope of domestic security; 115 but his
repose was soon invaded by a furious sedition of the Barbarian
confederates, who, under the command of Orestes, their general,
were in full march from Rome to Ravenna. Nepos trembled at their
approach; and, instead of placing a just confidence in the
strength of Ravenna, he hastily escaped to his ships, and retired
to his Dalmatian principality, on the opposite coast of the
Adriatic. By this shameful abdication, he protracted his life
about five years, in a very ambiguous state, between an emperor
and an exile, till he was assassinated at Salona by the
ungrateful Glycerius, who was translated, perhaps as the reward
of his crime, to the archbishopric of Milan. 116
112 (return) [ The last revolutions of the Western empire are
faintly marked in Theophanes, (p. 102,) Jornandes, (c. 45, p.
679,) the Chronicle of Marcellinus, and the Fragments of an
anonymous writer, published by Valesius at the end of Ammianus,
(p. 716, 717.) If Photius had not been so wretchedly concise, we
should derive much information from the contemporary histories of
Malchus and Candidus. See his Extracts, p. 172-179.]
113 (return) [ See Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 28, in tom. ii. p. 175.
Dubos, Hist. Critique, tom. i. p. 613. By the murder or death of
his two brothers, Gundobald acquired the sole possession of the
kingdom of Burgundy, whose ruin was hastened by their discord.]
114 (return) [ Julius Nepos armis pariter summus Augustus ac
moribus. Sidonius, l. v. ep. 16, p. 146. Nepos had given to
Ecdicius the title of Patrician, which Anthemius had promised,
decessoris Anthemii fidem absolvit. See l. viii. ep. 7, p. 224.]
115 (return) [ Epiphanius was sent ambassador from Nepos to the
Visigoths, for the purpose of ascertaining the fines Imperii
Italici, (Ennodius in Sirmond, tom. i. p. 1665-1669.) His
pathetic discourse concealed the disgraceful secret which soon
excited the just and bitter complaints of the bishop of
Clermont.]
116 (return) [ Malchus, apud Phot. p. 172. Ennod. Epigram.
lxxxii. in Sirmond. Oper. tom. i. p. 1879. Some doubt may,
however, be raised on the identity of the emperor and the
archbishop.]
The nations who had asserted their independence after the death
of Attila, were established, by the right of possession or
conquest, in the boundless countries to the north of the Danube;
or in the Roman provinces between the river and the Alps. But the
bravest of their youth enlisted in the army of confederates, who
formed the defence and the terror of Italy; 117 and in this
promiscuous multitude, the names of the Heruli, the Scyrri, the
Alani, the Turcilingi, and the Rugians, appear to have
predominated. The example of these warriors was imitated by
Orestes, 118 the son of Tatullus, and the father of the last
Roman emperor of the West. Orestes, who has been already
mentioned in this History, had never deserted his country. His
birth and fortunes rendered him one of the most illustrious
subjects of Pannonia. When that province was ceded to the Huns,
he entered into the service of Attila, his lawful sovereign,
obtained the office of his secretary, and was repeatedly sent
ambassador to Constantinople, to represent the person, and
signify the commands, of the imperious monarch. The death of that
conqueror restored him to his freedom; and Orestes might
honorably refuse either to follow the sons of Attila into the
Scythian desert, or to obey the Ostrogoths, who had usurped the
dominion of Pannonia. He preferred the service of the Italian
princes, the successors of Valentinian; and as he possessed the
qualifications of courage, industry, and experience, he advanced
with rapid steps in the military profession, till he was
elevated, by the favor of Nepos himself, to the dignities of
patrician, and master-general of the troops. These troops had
been long accustomed to reverence the character and authority of
Orestes, who affected their manners, conversed with them in their
own language, and was intimately connected with their national
chieftains, by long habits of familiarity and friendship. At his
solicitation they rose in arms against the obscure Greek, who
presumed to claim their obedience; and when Orestes, from some
secret motive, declined the purple, they consented, with the same
facility, to acknowledge his son Augustulus as the emperor of the
West. By the abdication of Nepos, Orestes had now attained the
summit of his ambitious hopes; but he soon discovered, before the
end of the first year, that the lessons of perjury and
ingratitude, which a rebel must inculcate, will be resorted to
against himself; and that the precarious sovereign of Italy was
only permitted to choose, whether he would be the slave, or the
victim, of his Barbarian mercenaries. The dangerous alliance of
these strangers had oppressed and insulted the last remains of
Roman freedom and dignity. At each revolution, their pay and
privileges were augmented; but their insolence increased in a
still more extravagant degree; they envied the fortune of their
brethren in Gaul, Spain, and Africa, whose victorious arms had
acquired an independent and perpetual inheritance; and they
insisted on their peremptory demand, that a third part of the
lands of Italy should be immediately divided among them. Orestes,
with a spirit, which, in another situation, might be entitled to
our esteem, chose rather to encounter the rage of an armed
multitude, than to subscribe the ruin of an innocent people. He
rejected the audacious demand; and his refusal was favorable to
the ambition of Odoacer; a bold Barbarian, who assured his
fellow-soldiers, that, if they dared to associate under his
command, they might soon extort the justice which had been denied
to their dutiful petitions. From all the camps and garrisons of
Italy, the confederates, actuated by the same resentment and the
same hopes, impatiently flocked to the standard of this popular
leader; and the unfortunate patrician, overwhelmed by the
torrent, hastily retreated to the strong city of Pavia, the
episcopal seat of the holy Epiphanites. Pavia was immediately
besieged, the fortifications were stormed, the town was pillaged;
and although the bishop might labor, with much zeal and some
success, to save the property of the church, and the chastity of
female captives, the tumult could only be appeased by the
execution of Orestes. 119 His brother Paul was slain in an action
near Ravenna; and the helpless Augustulus, who could no longer
command the respect, was reduced to implore the clemency, of
Odoacer.
117 (return) [ Our knowledge of these mercenaries, who subverted
the Western empire, is derived from Procopius, (de Bell. Gothico,
l. i. c. i. p. 308.) The popular opinion, and the recent
historians, represent Odoacer in the false light of a stranger,
and a king, who invaded Italy with an army of foreigners, his
native subjects.]
118 (return) [ Orestes, qui eo tempore quando Attila ad Italiam
venit, se illi unxit, ejus notarius factus fuerat. Anonym. Vales.
p. 716. He is mistaken in the date; but we may credit his
assertion, that the secretary of Attila was the father of
Augustulus]
119 (return) [ See Ennodius, (in Vit. Epiphan. Sirmond, tom. i.
p. 1669, 1670.) He adds weight to the narrative of Procopius,
though we may doubt whether the devil actually contrived the
siege of Pavia, to distress the bishop and his flock.]
That successful Barbarian was the son of Edecon; who, in some
remarkable transactions, particularly described in a preceding
chapter, had been the colleague of Orestes himself. 1191 The
honor of an ambassador should be exempt from suspicion; and
Edecon had listened to a conspiracy against the life of his
sovereign. But this apparent guilt was expiated by his merit or
repentance; his rank was eminent and conspicuous; he enjoyed the
favor of Attila; and the troops under his command, who guarded,
in their turn, the royal village, consisted of a tribe of Scyrri,
his immediate and hereditary subjects. In the revolt of the
nations, they still adhered to the Huns; and more than twelve
years afterwards, the name of Edecon is honorably mentioned, in
their unequal contests with the Ostrogoths; which was terminated,
after two bloody battles, by the defeat and dispersion of the
Scyrri. 120 Their gallant leader, who did not survive this
national calamity, left two sons, Onulf and Odoacer, to struggle
with adversity, and to maintain as they might, by rapine or
service, the faithful followers of their exile. Onulf directed
his steps towards Constantinople, where he sullied, by the
assassination of a generous benefactor, the fame which he had
acquired in arms. His brother Odoacer led a wandering life among
the Barbarians of Noricum, with a mind and a fortune suited to
the most desperate adventures; and when he had fixed his choice,
he piously visited the cell of Severinus, the popular saint of
the country, to solicit his approbation and blessing. The lowness
of the door would not admit the lofty stature of Odoacer: he was
obliged to stoop; but in that humble attitude the saint could
discern the symptoms of his future greatness; and addressing him
in a prophetic tone, “Pursue” (said he) “your design; proceed to
Italy; you will soon cast away this coarse garment of skins; and
your wealth will be adequate to the liberality of your mind.” 121
The Barbarian, whose daring spirit accepted and ratified the
prediction, was admitted into the service of the Western empire,
and soon obtained an honorable rank in the guards. His manners
were gradually polished, his military skill was improved, and the
confederates of Italy would not have elected him for their
general, unless the exploits of Odoacer had established a high
opinion of his courage and capacity. 122 Their military
acclamations saluted him with the title of king; but he
abstained, during his whole reign, from the use of the purple and
diadem, 123 lest he should offend those princes, whose subjects,
by their accidental mixture, had formed the victorious army,
which time and policy might insensibly unite into a great nation.
1191 (return) [ Manso observes that the evidence which identifies
Edecon, the father of Odoacer, with the colleague of Orestes, is
not conclusive. Geschichte des Ost-Gothischen Reiches, p. 32. But
St. Martin inclines to agree with Gibbon, note, vi. 75.—M.]
120 (return) [ Jornandes, c. 53, 54, p. 692-695. M. de Buat
(Hist. des Peuples de l’Europe, tom. viii. p. 221-228) has
clearly explained the origin and adventures of Odoacer. I am
almost inclined to believe that he was the same who pillaged
Angers, and commanded a fleet of Saxon pirates on the ocean.
Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 18, in tom. ii. p. 170. 8 Note: According
to St. Martin there is no foundation for this conjecture, vii
5—M.]
121 (return) [ Vade ad Italiam, vade vilissimis nunc pellibus
coopertis: sed multis cito plurima largiturus. Anonym. Vales. p.
717. He quotes the life of St. Severinus, which is extant, and
contains much unknown and valuable history; it was composed by
his disciple Eugippius (A.D. 511) thirty years after his death.
See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xvi. p. 168-181.]
122 (return) [ Theophanes, who calls him a Goth, affirms, that he
was educated, aursed in Italy, (p. 102;) and as this strong
expression will not bear a literal interpretation, it must be
explained by long service in the Imperial guards.]
123 (return) [ Nomen regis Odoacer assumpsit, cum tamen neque
purpura nee regalibus uteretur insignibus. Cassiodor. in Chron.
A.D. 476. He seems to have assumed the abstract title of a king,
without applying it to any particular nation or country. 8 Note:
Manso observes that Odoacer never called himself king of Italy,
assume the purple, and no coins are extant with his name.
Gescnichte Osi Goth. Reiches, p. 36—M.]
Royalty was familiar to the Barbarians, and the submissive people
of Italy was prepared to obey, without a murmur, the authority
which he should condescend to exercise as the vicegerent of the
emperor of the West. But Odoacer had resolved to abolish that
useless and expensive office; and such is the weight of antique
prejudice, that it required some boldness and penetration to
discover the extreme facility of the enterprise. The unfortunate
Augustulus was made the instrument of his own disgrace: he
signified his resignation to the senate; and that assembly, in
their last act of obedience to a Roman prince, still affected the
spirit of freedom, and the forms of the constitution. An epistle
was addressed, by their unanimous decree, to the emperor Zeno,
the son-in-law and successor of Leo; who had lately been
restored, after a short rebellion, to the Byzantine throne. They
solemnly “disclaim the necessity, or even the wish, of continuing
any longer the Imperial succession in Italy; since, in their
opinion, the majesty of a sole monarch is sufficient to pervade
and protect, at the same time, both the East and the West. In
their own name, and in the name of the people, they consent that
the seat of universal empire shall be transferred from Rome to
Constantinople; and they basely renounce the right of choosing
their master, the only vestige that yet remained of the authority
which had given laws to the world. The republic (they repeat that
name without a blush) might safely confide in the civil and
military virtues of Odoacer; and they humbly request, that the
emperor would invest him with the title of Patrician, and the
administration of the diocese of Italy.” The deputies of the
senate were received at Constantinople with some marks of
displeasure and indignation: and when they were admitted to the
audience of Zeno, he sternly reproached them with their treatment
of the two emperors, Anthemius and Nepos, whom the East had
successively granted to the prayers of Italy. “The first”
(continued he) “you have murdered; the second you have expelled;
but the second is still alive, and whilst he lives he is your
lawful sovereign.” But the prudent Zeno soon deserted the
hopeless cause of his abdicated colleague. His vanity was
gratified by the title of sole emperor, and by the statues
erected to his honor in the several quarters of Rome; he
entertained a friendly, though ambiguous, correspondence with the
patrician Odoacer; and he gratefully accepted the Imperial
ensigns, the sacred ornaments of the throne and palace, which the
Barbarian was not unwilling to remove from the sight of the
people. 124
124 (return) [ Malchus, whose loss excites our regret, has
preserved (in Excerpt. Legat. p. 93) this extraordinary embassy
from the senate to Zeno. The anonymous fragment, (p. 717,) and
the extract from Candidus, (apud Phot. p. 176,) are likewise of
some use.]
In the space of twenty years since the death of Valentinian, nine
emperors had successively disappeared; and the son of Orestes, a
youth recommended only by his beauty, would be the least entitled
to the notice of posterity, if his reign, which was marked by the
extinction of the Roman empire in the West, did not leave a
memorable era in the history of mankind. 125 The patrician
Orestes had married the daughter of Count Romulus, of Petovio in
Noricum: the name of Augustus, notwithstanding the jealousy of
power, was known at Aquileia as a familiar surname; and the
appellations of the two great founders, of the city and of the
monarchy, were thus strangely united in the last of their
successors. 126 The son of Orestes assumed and disgraced the
names of Romulus Augustus; but the first was corrupted into
Momyllus, by the Greeks, and the second has been changed by the
Latins into the contemptible diminutive Augustulus. The life of
this inoffensive youth was spared by the generous clemency of
Odoacer; who dismissed him, with his whole family, from the
Imperial palace, fixed his annual allowance at six thousand
pieces of gold, and assigned the castle of Lucullus, in Campania,
for the place of his exile or retirement. 127 As soon as the
Romans breathed from the toils of the Punic war, they were
attracted by the beauties and the pleasures of Campania; and the
country-house of the elder Scipio at Liternum exhibited a lasting
model of their rustic simplicity. 128 The delicious shores of the
Bay of Naples were crowded with villas; and Sylla applauded the
masterly skill of his rival, who had seated himself on the lofty
promontory of Misenum, that commands, on every side, the sea and
land, as far as the boundaries of the horizon. 129 The villa of
Marius was purchased, within a few years, by Lucullus, and the
price had increased from two thousand five hundred, to more than
fourscore thousand, pounds sterling. 130 It was adorned by the
new proprietor with Grecian arts and Asiatic treasures; and the
houses and gardens of Lucullus obtained a distinguished rank in
the list of Imperial palaces. 131 When the Vandals became
formidable to the sea-coast, the Lucullan villa, on the
promontory of Misenum, gradually assumed the strength and
appellation of a strong castle, the obscure retreat of the last
emperor of the West. About twenty years after that great
revolution, it was converted into a church and monastery, to
receive the bones of St. Severinus. They securely reposed, amidst
the the broken trophies of Cimbric and Armenian victories,till
the beginning of the tenth century; when the fortifications,
which might afford a dangerous shelter to the Saracens, were
demolished by the people of Naples. 132
125 (return) [ The precise year in which the Western empire was
extinguished, is not positively ascertained. The vulgar era of
A.D. 476 appears to have the sanction of authentic chronicles.
But the two dates assigned by Jornandes (c. 46, p. 680) would
delay that great event to the year 479; and though M. de Buat has
overlooked his evidence, he produces (tom. viii. p. 261-288) many
collateral circumstances in support of the same opinion.]
126 (return) [ See his medals in Ducange, (Fam. Byzantin. p. 81,)
Priscus, (Excerpt. Legat. p. 56,) Maffei, (Osservazioni
Letterarie, tom. ii p. 314.) We may allege a famous and similar
case. The meanest subjects of the Roman empire assumed the
illustrious name of Patricius, which, by the conversion of
Ireland has been communicated to a whole nation.]
127 (return) [ Ingrediens autem Ravennam deposuit Augustulum de
regno, cujus infantiam misertus concessit ei sanguinem; et quia
pulcher erat, tamen donavit ei reditum sex millia solidos, et
misit eum intra Campaniam cum parentibus suis libere vivere.
Anonym. Vales. p. 716. Jornandes says, (c 46, p. 680,) in
Lucullano Campaniae castello exilii poena damnavit.]
128 (return) [ See the eloquent Declamation of Seneca, (Epist.
lxxxvi.) The philosopher might have recollected, that all luxury
is relative; and that the elder Scipio, whose manners were
polished by study and conversation, was himself accused of that
vice by his ruder contemporaries, (Livy, xxix. 19.)]
129 (return) [ Sylla, in the language of a soldier, praised his
peritia castrametandi, (Plin. Hist. Natur. xviii. 7.) Phaedrus,
who makes its shady walks (loeta viridia) the scene of an insipid
fable, (ii. 5,) has thus described the situation:—
Caesar Tiberius quum petens Neapolim, In Misenensem villam
venissit suam; Quae monte summo posita Luculli manu Prospectat
Siculum et prospicit Tuscum mare.]
130 (return) [ From seven myriads and a half to two hundred and
fifty myriads of drachmae. Yet even in the possession of Marius,
it was a luxurious retirement. The Romans derided his indolence;
they soon bewailed his activity. See Plutarch, in Mario, tom. ii.
p. 524.]
131 (return) [ Lucullus had other villa of equal, though various,
magnificence, at Baiae, Naples, Tusculum, &c., He boasted that he
changed his climate with the storks and cranes. Plutarch, in
Lucull. tom. iii. p. 193.]
132 (return) [ Severinus died in Noricum, A.D. 482. Six years
afterwards, his body, which scattered miracles as it passed, was
transported by his disciples into Italy. The devotion of a
Neapolitan lady invited the saint to the Lucullan villa, in the
place of Augustulus, who was probably no more. See Baronius
(Annal. Eccles. A.D. 496, No. 50, 51) and Tillemont, (Mem.
Eccles. tom. xvi. p. 178-181,) from the original life by
Eugippius. The narrative of the last migration of Severinus to
Naples is likewise an authentic piece.]
Odoacer was the first Barbarian who reigned in Italy, over a
people who had once asserted their just superiority above the
rest of mankind. The disgrace of the Romans still excites our
respectful compassion, and we fondly sympathize with the
imaginary grief and indignation of their degenerate posterity.
But the calamities of Italy had gradually subdued the proud
consciousness of freedom and glory. In the age of Roman virtue
the provinces were subject to the arms, and the citizens to the
laws, of the republic; till those laws were subverted by civil
discord, and both the city and the province became the servile
property of a tyrant. The forms of the constitution, which
alleviated or disguised their abject slavery, were abolished by
time and violence; the Italians alternately lamented the presence
or the absence of the sovereign, whom they detested or despised;
and the succession of five centuries inflicted the various evils
of military license, capricious despotism, and elaborate
oppression. During the same period, the Barbarians had emerged
from obscurity and contempt, and the warriors of Germany and
Scythia were introduced into the provinces, as the servants, the
allies, and at length the masters, of the Romans, whom they
insulted or protected. The hatred of the people was suppressed by
fear; they respected the spirit and splendor of the martial
chiefs who were invested with the honors of the empire; and the
fate of Rome had long depended on the sword of those formidable
strangers. The stern Ricimer, who trampled on the ruins of Italy,
had exercised the power, without assuming the title, of a king;
and the patient Romans were insensibly prepared to acknowledge
the royalty of Odoacer and his Barbaric successors. The king of
Italy was not unworthy of the high station to which his valor and
fortune had exalted him: his savage manners were polished by the
habits of conversation; and he respected, though a conqueror and
a Barbarian, the institutions, and even the prejudices, of his
subjects. After an interval of seven years, Odoacer restored the
consulship of the West. For himself, he modestly, or proudly,
declined an honor which was still accepted by the emperors of the
East; but the curule chair was successively filled by eleven of
the most illustrious senators; 133 and the list is adorned by the
respectable name of Basilius, whose virtues claimed the
friendship and grateful applause of Sidonius, his client. 134 The
laws of the emperors were strictly enforced, and the civil
administration of Italy was still exercised by the Prætorian
præfect and his subordinate officers. Odoacer devolved on the
Roman magistrates the odious and oppressive task of collecting
the public revenue; but he reserved for himself the merit of
seasonable and popular indulgence. 135 Like the rest of the
Barbarians, he had been instructed in the Arian heresy; but he
revered the monastic and episcopal characters; and the silence of
the Catholics attest the toleration which they enjoyed. The peace
of the city required the interposition of his præfect Basilius
in the choice of a Roman pontiff: the decree which restrained the
clergy from alienating their lands was ultimately designed for
the benefit of the people, whose devotions would have been taxed
to repair the dilapidations of the church. 136 Italy was
protected by the arms of its conqueror; and its frontiers were
respected by the Barbarians of Gaul and Germany, who had so long
insulted the feeble race of Theodosius. Odoacer passed the
Adriatic, to chastise the assassins of the emperor Nepos, and to
acquire the maritime province of Dalmatia. He passed the Alps, to
rescue the remains of Noricum from Fava, or Feletheus, king of
the Rugians, who held his residence beyond the Danube. The king
was vanquished in battle, and led away prisoner; a numerous
colony of captives and subjects was transplanted into Italy; and
Rome, after a long period of defeat and disgrace, might claim the
triumph of her Barbarian master. 137
133 (return) [ The consular Fasti may be found in Pagi or
Muratori. The consuls named by Odoacer, or perhaps by the Roman
senate, appear to have been acknowledged in the Eastern empire.]
134 (return) [ Sidonius Apollinaris (l. i. epist. 9, p. 22, edit.
Sirmond) has compared the two leading senators of his time, (A.D.
468,) Gennadius Avienus and Caecina Basilius. To the former he
assigns the specious, to the latter the solid, virtues of public
and private life. A Basilius junior, possibly his son, was consul
in the year 480.]
135 (return) [ Epiphanius interceded for the people of Pavia; and
the king first granted an indulgence of five years, and
afterwards relieved them from the oppression of Pelagius, the
Prætorian præfect, (Ennodius in Vit St. Epiphan., in Sirmond,
Oper. tom. i. p. 1670-1672.)]
136 (return) [ See Baronius, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 483, No. 10-15.
Sixteen years afterwards the irregular proceedings of Basilius
were condemned by Pope Symmachus in a Roman synod.]
137 (return) [ The wars of Odoacer are concisely mentioned by
Paul the Deacon, (de Gest. Langobard. l. i. c. 19, p. 757, edit.
Grot.,) and in the two Chronicles of Cassiodorus and Cuspinian.
The life of St. Severinus by Eugippius, which the count de Buat
(Hist. des Peuples, &c., tom. viii. c. 1, 4, 8, 9) has diligently
studied, illustrates the ruin of Noricum and the Bavarian
antiquities]
Notwithstanding the prudence and success of Odoacer, his kingdom
exhibited the sad prospect of misery and desolation. Since the
age of Tiberius, the decay of agriculture had been felt in Italy;
and it was a just subject of complaint, that the life of the
Roman people depended on the accidents of the winds and waves.
138 In the division and the decline of the empire, the tributary
harvests of Egypt and Africa were withdrawn; the numbers of the
inhabitants continually diminished with the means of subsistence;
and the country was exhausted by the irretrievable losses of war,
famine, 139 and pestilence. St. Ambrose has deplored the ruin of
a populous district, which had been once adorned with the
flourishing cities of Bologna, Modena, Regium, and Placentia. 140
Pope Gelasius was a subject of Odoacer; and he affirms, with
strong exaggeration, that in Aemilia, Tuscany, and the adjacent
provinces, the human species was almost extirpated. 141 The
plebeians of Rome, who were fed by the hand of their master,
perished or disappeared, as soon as his liberality was
suppressed; the decline of the arts reduced the industrious
mechanic to idleness and want; and the senators, who might
support with patience the ruin of their country, bewailed their
private loss of wealth and luxury. 1411 One third of those ample
estates, to which the ruin of Italy is originally imputed, 142
was extorted for the use of the conquerors. Injuries were
aggravated by insults; the sense of actual sufferings was
imbittered by the fear of more dreadful evils; and as new lands
were allotted to the new swarms of Barbarians, each senator was
apprehensive lest the arbitrary surveyors should approach his
favorite villa, or his most profitable farm. The least
unfortunate were those who submitted without a murmur to the
power which it was impossible to resist. Since they desired to
live, they owed some gratitude to the tyrant who had spared their
lives; and since he was the absolute master of their fortunes,
the portion which he left must be accepted as his pure and
voluntary gift. 143 The distress of Italy 1431 was mitigated by
the prudence and humanity of Odoacer, who had bound himself, as
the price of his elevation, to satisfy the demands of a
licentious and turbulent multitude. The kings of the Barbarians
were frequently resisted, deposed, or murdered, by their native
subjects, and the various bands of Italian mercenaries, who
associated under the standard of an elective general, claimed a
larger privilege of freedom and rapine. A monarchy destitute of
national union, and hereditary right, hastened to its
dissolution. After a reign of fourteen years, Odoacer was
oppressed by the superior genius of Theodoric, king of the
Ostrogoths; a hero alike excellent in the arts of war and of
government, who restored an age of peace and prosperity, and
whose name still excites and deserves the attention of mankind.
138 (return) [ Tacit. Annal. iii. 53. The Recherches sur
l’Administration des Terres chez les Romains (p. 351-361) clearly
state the progress of internal decay.]
139 (return) [ A famine, which afflicted Italy at the time of the
irruption of Odoacer, king of the Heruli, is eloquently
described, in prose and verse, by a French poet, (Les Mois, tom.
ii. p. 174, 205, edit. in 12 mo.) I am ignorant from whence he
derives his information; but I am well assured that he relates
some facts incompatible with the truth of history]
140 (return) [ See the xxxixth epistle of St. Ambrose, as it is
quoted by Muratori, sopra le Antichita Italiane, tom. i. Dissert.
xxi. p. 354.]
141 (return) [ Aemilia, Tuscia, ceteraeque provinciae in quibus
hominum propenullus exsistit. Gelasius, Epist. ad Andromachum,
ap. Baronium, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 496, No. 36.]
1411 (return) [ Denina supposes that the Barbarians were
compelled by necessity to turn their attention to agriculture.
Italy, either imperfectly cultivated, or not at all, by the
indolent or ruined proprietors, not only could not furnish the
imposts, on which the pay of the soldiery depended, but not even
a certain supply of the necessaries of life. The neighboring
countries were now occupied by warlike nations; the supplies of
corn from Africa were cut off; foreign commerce nearly destroyed;
they could not look for supplies beyond the limits of Italy,
throughout which the agriculture had been long in a state of
progressive but rapid depression. (Denina, Rev. d’Italia t. v. c.
i.)—M.]
142 (return) [ Verumque confitentibus, latifundia perdidere
Italiam. Plin. Hist. Natur. xviii. 7.]
143 (return) [ Such are the topics of consolation, or rather of
patience, which Cicero (ad Familiares, lib. ix. Epist. 17)
suggests to his friend Papirius Paetus, under the military
despotism of Caesar. The argument, however, of “vivere
pulcherrimum duxi,” is more forcibly addressed to a Roman
philosopher, who possessed the free alternative of life or death]
1431 (return) [ Compare, on the desolation and change of property
in Italy, Manno des Ost-Gothischen Reiches, Part ii. p. 73, et
seq.—M.]
Chapter XXXVII: Conversion Of The Barbarians To
Christianity.—Part I.
Origin Progress, And Effects Of The Monastic Life.— Conversion Of
The Barbarians To Christianity And Arianism.— Persecution Of The
Vandals In Africa.—Extinction Of Arianism Among The Barbarians.
The indissoluble connection of civil and ecclesiastical affairs
has compelled, and encouraged, me to relate the progress, the
persecutions, the establishment, the divisions, the final
triumph, and the gradual corruption, of Christianity. I have
purposely delayed the consideration of two religious events,
interesting in the study of human nature, and important in the
decline and fall of the Roman empire. I. The institution of the
monastic life; 1 and, II. The conversion of the northern
Barbarians.
1 (return) [ The origin of the monastic institution has been
laboriously discussed by Thomassin (Discipline de l’Eglise, tom.
i. p. 1119-1426) and Helyot, (Hist. des Ordres Monastiques, tom.
i. p. 1-66.) These authors are very learned, and tolerably
honest, and their difference of opinion shows the subject in its
full extent. Yet the cautious Protestant, who distrusts any
popish guides, may consult the seventh book of Bingham’s
Christian Antiquities.]
I. Prosperity and peace introduced the distinction of the vulgar
and the Ascetic Christians. 2 The loose and imperfect practice of
religion satisfied the conscience of the multitude. The prince or
magistrate, the soldier or merchant, reconciled their fervent
zeal, and implicit faith, with the exercise of their profession,
the pursuit of their interest, and the indulgence of their
passions: but the Ascetics, who obeyed and abused the rigid
precepts of the gospel, were inspired by the savage enthusiasm
which represents man as a criminal, and God as a tyrant. They
seriously renounced the business, and the pleasures, of the age;
abjured the use of wine, of flesh, and of marriage; chastised
their body, mortified their affections, and embraced a life of
misery, as the price of eternal happiness. In the reign of
Constantine, the Ascetics fled from a profane and degenerate
world, to perpetual solitude, or religious society. Like the
first Christians of Jerusalem, 3 311 they resigned the use, or
the property of their temporal possessions; established regular
communities of the same sex, and a similar disposition; and
assumed the names of Hermits, Monks, and Anachorets, expressive
of their lonely retreat in a natural or artificial desert. They
soon acquired the respect of the world, which they despised; and
the loudest applause was bestowed on this Divine Philosophy, 4
which surpassed, without the aid of science or reason, the
laborious virtues of the Grecian schools. The monks might indeed
contend with the Stoics, in the contempt of fortune, of pain, and
of death: the Pythagorean silence and submission were revived in
their servile discipline; and they disdained, as firmly as the
Cynics themselves, all the forms and decencies of civil society.
But the votaries of this Divine Philosophy aspired to imitate a
purer and more perfect model. They trod in the footsteps of the
prophets, who had retired to the desert; 5 and they restored the
devout and contemplative life, which had been instituted by the
Essenians, in Palestine and Egypt. The philosophic eye of Pliny
had surveyed with astonishment a solitary people, who dwelt among
the palm-trees near the Dead Sea; who subsisted without money,
who were propagated without women; and who derived from the
disgust and repentance of mankind a perpetual supply of voluntary
associates. 6
2 (return) [ See Euseb. Demonstrat. Evangel., (l. i. p. 20, 21,
edit. Graec. Rob. Stephani, Paris, 1545.) In his Ecclesiastical
History, published twelve years after the Demonstration, Eusebius
(l. ii. c. 17) asserts the Christianity of the Therapeutae; but
he appears ignorant that a similar institution was actually
revived in Egypt.]
3 (return) [ Cassian (Collat. xviii. 5.) claims this origin for
the institution of the Coenobites, which gradually decayed till
it was restored by Antony and his disciples.]
311 (return) [ It has before been shown that the first Christian
community was not strictly coenobitic. See vol. ii.—M.]
4 (return) [ These are the expressive words of Sozomen, who
copiously and agreeably describes (l. i. c. 12, 13, 14) the
origin and progress of this monkish philosophy, (see Suicer.
Thesau, Eccles., tom. ii. p. 1441.) Some modern writers, Lipsius
(tom. iv. p. 448. Manuduct. ad Philosoph. Stoic. iii. 13) and La
Mothe le Vayer, (tom. ix. de la Vertu des Payens, p. 228-262,)
have compared the Carmelites to the Pythagoreans, and the Cynics
to the Capucins.]
5 (return) [ The Carmelites derive their pedigree, in regular
succession, from the prophet Elijah, (see the Theses of Beziers,
A.D. 1682, in Bayle’s Nouvelles de la Republique des Lettres,
Oeuvres, tom. i. p. 82, &c., and the prolix irony of the Ordres
Monastiques, an anonymous work, tom. i. p. 1-433, Berlin, 1751.)
Rome, and the inquisition of Spain, silenced the profane
criticism of the Jesuits of Flanders, (Helyot, Hist. des Ordres
Monastiques, tom. i. p. 282-300,) and the statue of Elijah, the
Carmelite, has been erected in the church of St. Peter, (Voyages
du P. Labat tom. iii. p. 87.)]
6 (return) [ Plin. Hist. Natur. v. 15. Gens sola, et in toto orbe
praeter ceteras mira, sine ulla femina, omni venere abdicata,
sine pecunia, socia palmarum. Ita per seculorum millia
(incredibile dictu) gens aeterna est in qua nemo nascitur. Tam
foecunda illis aliorum vitae poenitentia est. He places them just
beyond the noxious influence of the lake, and names Engaddi and
Massada as the nearest towns. The Laura, and monastery of St.
Sabas, could not be far distant from this place. See Reland.
Palestin., tom. i. p. 295; tom. ii. p. 763, 874, 880, 890.]
Egypt, the fruitful parent of superstition, afforded the first
example of the monastic life. Antony, 7 an illiterate 8 youth of
the lower parts of Thebais, distributed his patrimony, 9 deserted
his family and native home, and executed his monastic penance
with original and intrepid fanaticism. After a long and painful
novitiate, among the tombs, and in a ruined tower, he boldly
advanced into the desert three days’ journey to the eastward of
the Nile; discovered a lonely spot, which possessed the
advantages of shade and water, and fixed his last residence on
Mount Colzim, near the Red Sea; where an ancient monastery still
preserves the name and memory of the saint. 10 The curious
devotion of the Christians pursued him to the desert; and when he
was obliged to appear at Alexandria, in the face of mankind, he
supported his fame with discretion and dignity. He enjoyed the
friendship of Athanasius, whose doctrine he approved; and the
Egyptian peasant respectfully declined a respectful invitation
from the emperor Constantine. The venerable patriarch (for Antony
attained the age of one hundred and five years) beheld the
numerous progeny which had been formed by his example and his
lessons. The prolific colonies of monks multiplied with rapid
increase on the sands of Libya, upon the rocks of Thebais, and in
the cities of the Nile. To the south of Alexandria, the mountain,
and adjacent desert, of Nitria, were peopled by five thousand
anachorets; and the traveller may still investigate the ruins of
fifty monasteries, which were planted in that barren soil by the
disciples of Antony. 11 In the Upper Thebais, the vacant island
of Tabenne, 12 was occupied by Pachomius and fourteen hundred of
his brethren. That holy abbot successively founded nine
monasteries of men, and one of women; and the festival of Easter
sometimes collected fifty thousand religious persons, who
followed his angelic rule of discipline. 13 The stately and
populous city of Oxyrinchus, the seat of Christian orthodoxy, had
devoted the temples, the public edifices, and even the ramparts,
to pious and charitable uses; and the bishop, who might preach in
twelve churches, computed ten thousand females and twenty
thousand males, of the monastic profession. 14 The Egyptians, who
gloried in this marvellous revolution, were disposed to hope, and
to believe, that the number of the monks was equal to the
remainder of the people; 15 and posterity might repeat the
saying, which had formerly been applied to the sacred animals of
the same country, That in Egypt it was less difficult to find a
god than a man.
7 (return) [ See Athanas. Op. tom. ii. p. 450-505, and the Vit.
Patrum, p. 26-74, with Rosweyde’s Annotations. The former is the
Greek original the latter, a very ancient Latin version by
Evagrius, the friend of St. Jerom.]
8 (return) [ Athanas. tom. ii. in Vit. St. Anton. p. 452; and the
assertion of his total ignorance has been received by many of the
ancients and moderns. But Tillemont (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii. p.
666) shows, by some probable arguments, that Antony could read
and write in the Coptic, his native tongue; and that he was only
a stranger to the Greek letters. The philosopher Synesius (p. 51)
acknowledges that the natural genius of Antony did not require
the aid of learning.]
9 (return) [ Aruroe autem erant ei trecentae uberes, et valde
optimae, (Vit. Patr. l. v. p. 36.) If the Arura be a square
measure, of a hundred Egyptian cubits, (Rosweyde, Onomasticon ad
Vit. Patrum, p. 1014, 1015,) and the Egyptian cubit of all ages
be equal to twenty-two English inches, (Greaves, vol. i. p. 233,)
the arura will consist of about three quarters of an English
acre.]
10 (return) [ The description of the monastery is given by Jerom
(tom. i. p. 248, 249, in Vit. Hilarion) and the P. Sicard,
(Missions du Levant tom. v. p. 122-200.) Their accounts cannot
always be reconciled the father painted from his fancy, and the
Jesuit from his experience.]
11 (return) [ Jerom, tom. i. p. 146, ad Eustochium. Hist.
Lausiac. c. 7, in Vit. Patrum, p. 712. The P. Sicard (Missions du
Levant, tom. ii. p. 29-79) visited and has described this desert,
which now contains four monasteries, and twenty or thirty monks.
See D’Anville, Description de l’Egypte, p. 74.]
12 (return) [ Tabenne is a small island in the Nile, in the
diocese of Tentyra or Dendera, between the modern town of Girge
and the ruins of ancient Thebes, (D’Anville, p. 194.) M. de
Tillemont doubts whether it was an isle; but I may conclude, from
his own facts, that the primitive name was afterwards transferred
to the great monastery of Bau or Pabau, (Mem. Eccles. tom. vii.
p. 678, 688.)]
13 (return) [ See in the Codex Regularum (published by Lucas
Holstenius, Rome, 1661) a preface of St. Jerom to his Latin
version of the Rule of Pachomius, tom. i. p. 61.]
14 (return) [ Rufin. c. 5, in Vit. Patrum, p. 459. He calls it
civitas ampla ralde et populosa, and reckons twelve churches.
Strabo (l. xvii. p. 1166) and Ammianus (xxii. 16) have made
honorable mention of Oxyrinchus, whose inhabitants adored a small
fish in a magnificent temple.]
15 (return) [ Quanti populi habentur in urbibus, tantae paene
habentur in desertis multitudines monachorum. Rufin. c. 7, in
Vit. Patrum, p. 461. He congratulates the fortunate change.]
Athanasius introduced into Rome the knowledge and practice of the
monastic life; and a school of this new philosophy was opened by
the disciples of Antony, who accompanied their primate to the
holy threshold of the Vatican. The strange and savage appearance
of these Egyptians excited, at first, horror and contempt, and,
at length, applause and zealous imitation. The senators, and more
especially the matrons, transformed their palaces and villas into
religious houses; and the narrow institution of six vestals was
eclipsed by the frequent monasteries, which were seated on the
ruins of ancient temples, and in the midst of the Roman forum. 16
Inflamed by the example of Antony, a Syrian youth, whose name was
Hilarion, 17 fixed his dreary abode on a sandy beach, between the
sea and a morass, about seven miles from Gaza. The austere
penance, in which he persisted forty-eight years, diffused a
similar enthusiasm; and the holy man was followed by a train of
two or three thousand anachorets, whenever he visited the
innumerable monasteries of Palestine. The fame of Basil 18 is
immortal in the monastic history of the East. With a mind that
had tasted the learning and eloquence of Athens; with an ambition
scarcely to be satisfied with the archbishopric of Caesarea,
Basil retired to a savage solitude in Pontus; and deigned, for a
while, to give laws to the spiritual colonies which he profusely
scattered along the coast of the Black Sea. In the West, Martin
of Tours, 19 a soldier, a hermit, a bishop, and a saint,
established the monasteries of Gaul; two thousand of his
disciples followed him to the grave; and his eloquent historian
challenges the deserts of Thebais to produce, in a more favorable
climate, a champion of equal virtue. The progress of the monks
was not less rapid, or universal, than that of Christianity
itself. Every province, and, at last, every city, of the empire,
was filled with their increasing multitudes; and the bleak and
barren isles, from Lerins to Lipari, that arose out of the Tuscan
Sea, were chosen by the anachorets for the place of their
voluntary exile. An easy and perpetual intercourse by sea and
land connected the provinces of the Roman world; and the life of
Hilarion displays the facility with which an indigent hermit of
Palestine might traverse Egypt, embark for Sicily, escape to
Epirus, and finally settle in the Island of Cyprus. 20 The Latin
Christians embraced the religious institutions of Rome. The
pilgrims, who visited Jerusalem, eagerly copied, in the most
distant climates of the earth, the faithful model of the monastic
life. The disciples of Antony spread themselves beyond the
tropic, over the Christian empire of Æthiopia. 21 The monastery
of Banchor, 22 in Flintshire, which contained above two thousand
brethren, dispersed a numerous colony among the Barbarians of
Ireland; 23 and Iona, one of the Hebrides, which was planted by
the Irish monks, diffused over the northern regions a doubtful
ray of science and superstition. 24
16 (return) [ The introduction of the monastic life into Rome and
Italy is occasionally mentioned by Jerom, tom. i. p. 119, 120,
199.]
17 (return) [ See the Life of Hilarion, by St. Jerom, (tom. i. p.
241, 252.) The stories of Paul, Hilarion, and Malchus, by the
same author, are admirably told: and the only defect of these
pleasing compositions is the want of truth and common sense.]
18 (return) [ His original retreat was in a small village on the
banks of the Iris, not far from Neo-Caesarea. The ten or twelve
years of his monastic life were disturbed by long and frequent
avocations. Some critics have disputed the authenticity of his
Ascetic rules; but the external evidence is weighty, and they can
only prove that it is the work of a real or affected enthusiast.
See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles tom. ix. p. 636-644. Helyot, Hist. des
Ordres Monastiques tom. i. p. 175-181]
19 (return) [ See his Life, and the three Dialogues by Sulpicius
Severus, who asserts (Dialog. i. 16) that the booksellers of Rome
were delighted with the quick and ready sale of his popular
work.]
20 (return) [ When Hilarion sailed from Paraetonium to Cape
Pachynus, he offered to pay his passage with a book of the
Gospels. Posthumian, a Gallic monk, who had visited Egypt, found
a merchant ship bound from Alexandria to Marseilles, and
performed the voyage in thirty days, (Sulp. Sever. Dialog. i. 1.)
Athanasius, who addressed his Life of St. Antony to the foreign
monks, was obliged to hasten the composition, that it might be
ready for the sailing of the fleets, (tom. ii. p. 451.)]
21 (return) [ See Jerom, (tom. i. p. 126,) Assemanni, Bibliot.
Orient. tom. iv. p. 92, p. 857-919, and Geddes, Church History of
Æthiopia, p. 29-31. The Abyssinian monks adhere very strictly to
the primitive institution.]
22 (return) [ Camden’s Britannia, vol. i. p. 666, 667.]
23 (return) [ All that learning can extract from the rubbish of
the dark ages is copiously stated by Archbishop Usher in his
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates, cap. xvi. p. 425-503.]
24 (return) [ This small, though not barren, spot, Iona, Hy, or
Columbkill, only two miles in length, aud one mile in breadth,
has been distinguished, 1. By the monastery of St. Columba,
founded A.D. 566; whose abbot exercised an extraordinary
jurisdiction over the bishops of Caledonia; 2. By a classic
library, which afforded some hopes of an entire Livy; and, 3. By
the tombs of sixty kings, Scots, Irish, and Norwegians, who
reposed in holy ground. See Usher (p. 311, 360-370) and Buchanan,
(Rer. Scot. l. ii. p. 15, edit. Ruddiman.)]
These unhappy exiles from social life were impelled by the dark
and implacable genius of superstition. Their mutual resolution
was supported by the example of millions, of either sex, of every
age, and of every rank; and each proselyte who entered the gates
of a monastery, was persuaded that he trod the steep and thorny
path of eternal happiness. 25 But the operation of these
religious motives was variously determined by the temper and
situation of mankind. Reason might subdue, or passion might
suspend, their influence: but they acted most forcibly on the
infirm minds of children and females; they were strengthened by
secret remorse, or accidental misfortune; and they might derive
some aid from the temporal considerations of vanity or interest.
It was naturally supposed, that the pious and humble monks, who
had renounced the world to accomplish the work of their
salvation, were the best qualified for the spiritual government
of the Christians. The reluctant hermit was torn from his cell,
and seated, amidst the acclamations of the people, on the
episcopal throne: the monasteries of Egypt, of Gaul, and of the
East, supplied a regular succession of saints and bishops; and
ambition soon discovered the secret road which led to the
possession of wealth and honors. 26 The popular monks, whose
reputation was connected with the fame and success of the order,
assiduously labored to multiply the number of their
fellow-captives. They insinuated themselves into noble and
opulent families; and the specious arts of flattery and seduction
were employed to secure those proselytes who might bestow wealth
or dignity on the monastic profession. The indignant father
bewailed the loss, perhaps, of an only son; 27 the credulous maid
was betrayed by vanity to violate the laws of nature; and the
matron aspired to imaginary perfection, by renouncing the virtues
of domestic life. Paula yielded to the persuasive eloquence of
Jerom; 28 and the profane title of mother-in-law of God 29
tempted that illustrious widow to consecrate the virginity of her
daughter Eustochium. By the advice, and in the company, of her
spiritual guide, Paula abandoned Rome and her infant son; retired
to the holy village of Bethlem; founded a hospital and four
monasteries; and acquired, by her alms and penance, an eminent
and conspicuous station in the Catholic church. Such rare and
illustrious penitents were celebrated as the glory and example of
their age; but the monasteries were filled by a crowd of obscure
and abject plebeians, 30 who gained in the cloister much more
than they had sacrificed in the world. Peasants, slaves, and
mechanics, might escape from poverty and contempt to a safe and
honorable profession; whose apparent hardships are mitigated by
custom, by popular applause, and by the secret relaxation of
discipline. 31 The subjects of Rome, whose persons and fortunes
were made responsible for unequal and exorbitant tributes,
retired from the oppression of the Imperial government; and the
pusillanimous youth preferred the penance of a monastic, to the
dangers of a military, life. The affrighted provincials of every
rank, who fled before the Barbarians, found shelter and
subsistence: whole legions were buried in these religious
sanctuaries; and the same cause, which relieved the distress of
individuals, impaired the strength and fortitude of the empire.
32
25 (return) [ Chrysostom (in the first tome of the Benedictine
edition) has consecrated three books to the praise and defence of
the monastic life. He is encouraged, by the example of the ark,
to presume that none but the elect (the monks) can possibly be
saved (l. i. p. 55, 56.) Elsewhere, indeed, he becomes more
merciful, (l. iii. p. 83, 84,) and allows different degrees of
glory, like the sun, moon, and stars. In his lively comparison of
a king and a monk, (l. iii. p. 116-121,) he supposes (what is
hardly fair) that the king will be more sparingly rewarded, and
more rigorously punished.]
26 (return) [ Thomassin (Discipline de l’Eglise tom. i. p.
1426-1469) and Mabillon, (Oeuvres Posthumes, tom. ii. p.
115-158.) The monks were gradually adopted as a part of the
ecclesiastical hierarchy.]
27 (return) [ Dr. Middleton (vol. i. p. 110) liberally censures
the conduct and writings of Chrysostom, one of the most eloquent
and successful advocates for the monastic life.]
28 (return) [ Jerom’s devout ladies form a very considerable
portion of his works: the particular treatise, which he styles
the Epitaph of Paula, (tom. i. p. 169-192,) is an elaborate and
extravagant panegyric. The exordium is ridiculously turgid: “If
all the members of my body were changed into tongues, and if all
my limbs resounded with a human voice, yet should I be
incapable,” &c.]
29 (return) [ Socrus Dei esse coepisti, (Jerom, tom. i. p. 140,
ad Eustochium.) Rufinus, (in Hieronym. Op. tom. iv. p. 223,) who
was justly scandalized, asks his adversary, from what Pagan poet
he had stolen an expression so impious and absurd.]
30 (return) [ Nunc autem veniunt plerumque ad hanc professionem
servitutis Dei, et ex conditione servili, vel etiam liberati, vel
propter hoc a Dominis liberati sive liberandi; et ex vita
rusticana et ex opificum exercitatione, et plebeio labore.
Augustin, de Oper. Monach. c. 22, ap. Thomassin, Discipline de
l’Eglise, tom. iii. p. 1094. The Egyptian, who blamed Arsenius,
owned that he led a more comfortable life as a monk than as a
shepherd. See Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom. xiv. p. 679.]
31 (return) [ A Dominican friar, (Voyages du P. Labat, tom. i. p.
10,) who lodged at Cadiz in a convent of his brethren, soon
understood that their repose was never interrupted by nocturnal
devotion; “quoiqu’on ne laisse pas de sonner pour l’edification
du peuple.”]
32 (return) [ See a very sensible preface of Lucas Holstenius to
the Codex Regularum. The emperors attempted to support the
obligation of public and private duties; but the feeble dikes
were swept away by the torrent of superstition; and Justinian
surpassed the most sanguine wishes of the monks, (Thomassin, tom.
i. p. 1782-1799, and Bingham, l. vii. c. iii. p. 253.) Note: The
emperor Valens, in particular, promulgates a law contra ignavise
quosdam sectatores, qui desertis civitatum muneribus, captant
solitudines secreta, et specie religionis cum coetibus monachorum
congregantur. Cad. Theod l. xii. tit. i. leg. 63.—G.]
The monastic profession of the ancients 33 was an act of
voluntary devotion. The inconstant fanatic was threatened with
the eternal vengeance of the God whom he deserted; but the doors
of the monastery were still open for repentance. Those monks,
whose conscience was fortified by reason or passion, were at
liberty to resume the character of men and citizens; and even the
spouses of Christ might accept the legal embraces of an earthly
lover. 34 The examples of scandal, and the progress of
superstition, suggested the propriety of more forcible
restraints. After a sufficient trial, the fidelity of the novice
was secured by a solemn and perpetual vow; and his irrevocable
engagement was ratified by the laws of the church and state. A
guilty fugitive was pursued, arrested, and restored to his
perpetual prison; and the interposition of the magistrate
oppressed the freedom and the merit, which had alleviated, in
some degree, the abject slavery of the monastic discipline. 35
The actions of a monk, his words, and even his thoughts, were
determined by an inflexible rule, 36 or a capricious superior:
the slightest offences were corrected by disgrace or confinement,
extraordinary fasts, or bloody flagellation; and disobedience,
murmur, or delay, were ranked in the catalogue of the most
heinous sins. 37 A blind submission to the commands of the abbot,
however absurd, or even criminal, they might seem, was the ruling
principle, the first virtue of the Egyptian monks; and their
patience was frequently exercised by the most extravagant trials.
They were directed to remove an enormous rock; assiduously to
water a barren staff, that was planted in the ground, till, at
the end of three years, it should vegetate and blossom like a
tree; to walk into a fiery furnace; or to cast their infant into
a deep pond: and several saints, or madmen, have been
immortalized in monastic story, by their thoughtless and fearless
obedience. 38 The freedom of the mind, the source of every
generous and rational sentiment, was destroyed by the habits of
credulity and submission; and the monk, contracting the vices of
a slave, devoutly followed the faith and passions of his
ecclesiastical tyrant. The peace of the Eastern church was
invaded by a swarm of fanatics, incapable of fear, or reason, or
humanity; and the Imperial troops acknowledged, without shame,
that they were much less apprehensive of an encounter with the
fiercest Barbarians. 39
33 (return) [ The monastic institutions, particularly those of
Egypt, about the year 400, are described by four curious and
devout travellers; Rufinus, (Vit. Patrum, l. ii. iii. p.
424-536,) Posthumian, (Sulp. Sever. Dialog. i.) Palladius, (Hist.
Lausiac. in Vit. Patrum, p. 709-863,) and Cassian, (see in tom.
vii. Bibliothec. Max. Patrum, his four first books of Institutes,
and the twenty-four Collations or Conferences.)]
34 (return) [ The example of Malchus, (Jerom, tom. i. p. 256,)
and the design of Cassian and his friend, (Collation. xxiv. 1,)
are incontestable proofs of their freedom; which is elegantly
described by Erasmus in his Life of St. Jerom. See Chardon, Hist.
des Sacremens, tom. vi. p. 279-300.]
35 (return) [ See the Laws of Justinian, (Novel. cxxiii. No. 42,)
and of Lewis the Pious, (in the Historians of France, tom vi. p.
427,) and the actual jurisprudence of France, in Denissart,
(Decisions, &c., tom. iv. p. 855,) &c.]
36 (return) [ The ancient Codex Regularum, collected by Benedict
Anianinus, the reformer of the monks in the beginning of the
ninth century, and published in the seventeenth, by Lucas
Holstenius, contains thirty different rules for men and women. Of
these, seven were composed in Egypt, one in the East, one in
Cappadocia, one in Italy, one in Africa, four in Spain, eight in
Gaul, or France, and one in England.]
37 (return) [ The rule of Columbanus, so prevalent in the West,
inflicts one hundred lashes for very slight offences, (Cod. Reg.
part ii. p. 174.) Before the time of Charlemagne, the abbots
indulged themselves in mutilating their monks, or putting out
their eyes; a punishment much less cruel than the tremendous vade
in pace (the subterraneous dungeon or sepulchre) which was
afterwards invented. See an admirable discourse of the learned
Mabillon, (Oeuvres Posthumes, tom. ii. p. 321-336,) who, on this
occasion, seems to be inspired by the genius of humanity. For
such an effort, I can forgive his defence of the holy tear of
Vendeme (p. 361-399.)]
38 (return) [ Sulp. Sever. Dialog. i. 12, 13, p. 532, &c.
Cassian. Institut. l. iv. c. 26, 27. “Praecipua ibi virtus et
prima est obedientia.” Among the Verba seniorum, (in Vit. Patrum,
l. v. p. 617,) the fourteenth libel or discourse is on the
subject of obedience; and the Jesuit Rosweyde, who published that
huge volume for the use of convents, has collected all the
scattered passages in his two copious indexes.]
39 (return) [ Dr. Jortin (Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol.
iv. p. 161) has observed the scandalous valor of the Cappadocian
monks, which was exemplified in the banishment of Chrysostom.]
Superstition has often framed and consecrated the fantastic
garments of the monks: 40 but their apparent singularity
sometimes proceeds from their uniform attachment to a simple and
primitive model, which the revolutions of fashion have made
ridiculous in the eyes of mankind. The father of the Benedictines
expressly disclaims all idea of choice of merit; and soberly
exhorts his disciples to adopt the coarse and convenient dress of
the countries which they may inhabit. 41 The monastic habits of
the ancients varied with the climate, and their mode of life; and
they assumed, with the same indifference, the sheep-skin of the
Egyptian peasants, or the cloak of the Grecian philosophers. They
allowed themselves the use of linen in Egypt, where it was a
cheap and domestic manufacture; but in the West they rejected
such an expensive article of foreign luxury. 42 It was the
practice of the monks either to cut or shave their hair; they
wrapped their heads in a cowl to escape the sight of profane
objects; their legs and feet were naked, except in the extreme
cold of winter; and their slow and feeble steps were supported by
a long staff. The aspect of a genuine anachoret was horrid and
disgusting: every sensation that is offensive to man was thought
acceptable to God; and the angelic rule of Tabenne condemned the
salutary custom of bathing the limbs in water, and of anointing
them with oil. 43 431 The austere monks slept on the ground, on a
hard mat, or a rough blanket; and the same bundle of palm-leaves
served them as a seat in the day, and a pillow in the night.
Their original cells were low, narrow huts, built of the
slightest materials; which formed, by the regular distribution of
the streets, a large and populous village, enclosing, within the
common wall, a church, a hospital, perhaps a library, some
necessary offices, a garden, and a fountain or reservoir of fresh
water. Thirty or forty brethren composed a family of separate
discipline and diet; and the great monasteries of Egypt consisted
of thirty or forty families.
40 (return) [ Cassian has simply, though copiously, described the
monastic habit of Egypt, (Institut. l. i.,) to which Sozomen (l.
iii. c. 14) attributes such allegorical meaning and virtue.]
41 (return) [ Regul. Benedict. No. 55, in Cod. Regul. part ii. p.
51.]
42 (return) [ See the rule of Ferreolus, bishop of Usez, (No. 31,
in Cod. Regul part ii. p. 136,) and of Isidore, bishop of
Seville, (No. 13, in Cod. Regul part ii. p. 214.)]
43 (return) [ Some partial indulgences were granted for the hands
and feet “Totum autem corpus nemo unguet nisi causa infirmitatis,
nec lavabitur aqua nudo corpore, nisi languor perspicuus sit,”
(Regul. Pachom xcii. part i. p. 78.)]
431 (return) [ Athanasius (Vit. Ant. c. 47) boasts of Antony’s
holy horror of clear water, by which his feet were uncontaminated
except under dire necessity—M.]
Chapter XXXVII: Conversion Of The Barbarians To
Christianity.—Part II.
Pleasure and guilt are synonymous terms in the language of the
monks, and they discovered, by experience, that rigid fasts, and
abstemious diet, are the most effectual preservatives against the
impure desires of the flesh. 44 The rules of abstinence which
they imposed, or practised, were not uniform or perpetual: the
cheerful festival of the Pentecost was balanced by the
extraordinary mortification of Lent; the fervor of new
monasteries was insensibly relaxed; and the voracious appetite of
the Gauls could not imitate the patient and temperate virtue of
the Egyptians. 45 The disciples of Antony and Pachomius were
satisfied with their daily pittance, 46 of twelve ounces of
bread, or rather biscuit, 47 which they divided into two frugal
repasts, of the afternoon and of the evening. It was esteemed a
merit, and almost a duty, to abstain from the boiled vegetables
which were provided for the refectory; but the extraordinary
bounty of the abbot sometimes indulged them with the luxury of
cheese, fruit, salad, and the small dried fish of the Nile. 48 A
more ample latitude of sea and river fish was gradually allowed
or assumed; but the use of flesh was long confined to the sick or
travellers; and when it gradually prevailed in the less rigid
monasteries of Europe, a singular distinction was introduced; as
if birds, whether wild or domestic, had been less profane than
the grosser animals of the field. Water was the pure and innocent
beverage of the primitive monks; and the founder of the
Benedictines regrets the daily portion of half a pint of wine,
which had been extorted from him by the intemperance of the age.
49 Such an allowance might be easily supplied by the vineyards of
Italy; and his victorious disciples, who passed the Alps, the
Rhine, and the Baltic, required, in the place of wine, an
adequate compensation of strong beer or cider.
44 (return) [ St. Jerom, in strong, but indiscreet, language,
expresses the most important use of fasting and abstinence: “Non
quod Deus universitatis Creator et Dominus, intestinorum
nostrorum rugitu, et inanitate ventris, pulmonisque ardore
delectetur, sed quod aliter pudicitia tuta esse non possit.” (Op.
tom. i. p. 32, ad Eustochium.) See the twelfth and twenty-second
Collations of Cassian, de Castitate and de Illusionibus
Nocturnis.]
45 (return) [ Edacitas in Graecis gula est, in Gallis natura,
(Dialog. i. c. 4 p. 521.) Cassian fairly owns, that the perfect
model of abstinence cannot be imitated in Gaul, on account of the
aerum temperies, and the qualitas nostrae fragilitatis,
(Institut. iv. 11.) Among the Western rules, that of Columbanus
is the most austere; he had been educated amidst the poverty of
Ireland, as rigid, perhaps, and inflexible as the abstemious
virtue of Egypt. The rule of Isidore of Seville is the mildest;
on holidays he allows the use of flesh.]
46 (return) [ “Those who drink only water, and have no nutritious
liquor, ought, at least, to have a pound and a half (twenty-four
ounces) of bread every day.” State of Prisons, p. 40, by Mr.
Howard.]
47 (return) [ See Cassian. Collat. l. ii. 19-21. The small
loaves, or biscuit, of six ounces each, had obtained the name of
Paximacia, (Rosweyde, Onomasticon, p. 1045.) Pachomius, however,
allowed his monks some latitude in the quantity of their food;
but he made them work in proportion as they ate, (Pallad. in
Hist. Lausiac. c. 38, 39, in Vit. Patrum, l. viii. p. 736, 737.)]
48 (return) [ See the banquet to which Cassian (Collation viii.
1) was invited by Serenus, an Egyptian abbot.]
49 (return) [ See the Rule of St. Benedict, No. 39, 40, (in Cod.
Reg. part ii. p. 41, 42.) Licet legamus vinum omnino monachorum
non esse, sed quia nostris temporibus id monachis persuaderi non
potest; he allows them a Roman hemina, a measure which may be
ascertained from Arbuthnot’s Tables.]
The candidate who aspired to the virtue of evangelical poverty,
abjured, at his first entrance into a regular community, the
idea, and even the name, of all separate or exclusive
possessions. 50 The brethren were supported by their manual
labor; and the duty of labor was strenuously recommended as a
penance, as an exercise, and as the most laudable means of
securing their daily subsistence. 51 The garden and fields, which
the industry of the monks had often rescued from the forest or
the morass, were diligently cultivated by their hands. They
performed, without reluctance, the menial offices of slaves and
domestics; and the several trades that were necessary to provide
their habits, their utensils, and their lodging, were exercised
within the precincts of the great monasteries. The monastic
studies have tended, for the most part, to darken, rather than to
dispel, the cloud of superstition. Yet the curiosity or zeal of
some learned solitaries has cultivated the ecclesiastical, and
even the profane, sciences; and posterity must gratefully
acknowledge, that the monuments of Greek and Roman literature
have been preserved and multiplied by their indefatigable pens.
52 But the more humble industry of the monks, especially in
Egypt, was contented with the silent, sedentary occupation of
making wooden sandals, or of twisting the leaves of the palm-tree
into mats and baskets. The superfluous stock, which was not
consumed in domestic use, supplied, by trade, the wants of the
community: the boats of Tabenne, and the other monasteries of
Thebais, descended the Nile as far as Alexandria; and, in a
Christian market, the sanctity of the workmen might enhance the
intrinsic value of the work.
50 (return) [ Such expressions as my book, my cloak, my shoes,
(Cassian Institut. l. iv. c. 13,) were not less severely
prohibited among the Western monks, (Cod. Regul. part ii. p. 174,
235, 288;) and the rule of Columbanus punished them with six
lashes. The ironical author of the Ordres Monastiques, who laughs
at the foolish nicety of modern convents, seems ignorant that the
ancients were equally absurd.]
51 (return) [ Two great masters of ecclesiastical science, the P.
Thomassin, (Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. iii. p. 1090-1139,) and
the P. Mabillon, (Etudes Monastiques, tom. i. p. 116-155,) have
seriously examined the manual labor of the monks, which the
former considers as a merit and the latter as a duty.]
52 (return) [ Mabillon (Etudes Monastiques, tom. i. p. 47-55) has
collected many curious facts to justify the literary labors of
his predecessors, both in the East and West. Books were copied in
the ancient monasteries of Egypt, (Cassian. Institut. l. iv. c.
12,) and by the disciples of St. Martin, (Sulp. Sever. in Vit.
Martin. c. 7, p. 473.) Cassiodorus has allowed an ample scope for
the studies of the monks; and we shall not be scandalized, if
their pens sometimes wandered from Chrysostom and Augustin to
Homer and Virgil. But the necessity of manual labor was
insensibly superseded.]
The novice was tempted to bestow his fortune on the saints, in
whose society he was resolved to spend the remainder of his life;
and the pernicious indulgence of the laws permitted him to
receive, for their use, any future accessions of legacy or
inheritance. 53 Melania contributed her plate, three hundred
pounds weight of silver; and Paula contracted an immense debt,
for the relief of their favorite monks; who kindly imparted the
merits of their prayers and penance to a rich and liberal sinner.
54 Time continually increased, and accidents could seldom
diminish, the estates of the popular monasteries, which spread
over the adjacent country and cities: and, in the first century
of their institution, the infidel Zosimus has maliciously
observed, that, for the benefit of the poor, the Christian monks
had reduced a great part of mankind to a state of beggary. 55 As
long as they maintained their original fervor, they approved
themselves, however, the faithful and benevolent stewards of the
charity, which was entrusted to their care. But their discipline
was corrupted by prosperity: they gradually assumed the pride of
wealth, and at last indulged the luxury of expense. Their public
luxury might be excused by the magnificence of religious worship,
and the decent motive of erecting durable habitations for an
immortal society. But every age of the church has accused the
licentiousness of the degenerate monks; who no longer remembered
the object of their institution, embraced the vain and sensual
pleasures of the world, which they had renounced, 56 and
scandalously abused the riches which had been acquired by the
austere virtues of their founders. 57 Their natural descent, from
such painful and dangerous virtue, to the common vices of
humanity, will not, perhaps, excite much grief or indignation in
the mind of a philosopher.
53 (return) [ Thomassin (Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. iii. p.
118, 145, 146, 171-179) has examined the revolution of the civil,
canon, and common law. Modern France confirms the death which
monks have inflicted on themselves, and justly deprives them of
all right of inheritance.]
54 (return) [ See Jerom, (tom. i. p. 176, 183.) The monk Pambo
made a sublime answer to Melania, who wished to specify the value
of her gift: “Do you offer it to me, or to God? If to God, He who
suspends the mountain in a balance, need not be informed of the
weight of your plate.” (Pallad. Hist. Lausiac. c. 10, in the Vit.
Patrum, l. viii. p. 715.)]
55 (return) [ Zosim. l. v. p. 325. Yet the wealth of the Eastern
monks was far surpassed by the princely greatness of the
Benedictines.]
56 (return) [ The sixth general council (the Quinisext in Trullo,
Canon xlvii in Beveridge, tom. i. p. 213) restrains women from
passing the night in a male, or men in a female, monastery. The
seventh general council (the second Nicene, Canon xx. in
Beveridge, tom. i. p. 325) prohibits the erection of double or
promiscuous monasteries of both sexes; but it appears from
Balsamon, that the prohibition was not effectual. On the
irregular pleasures and expenses of the clergy and monks, see
Thomassin, tom. iii. p. 1334-1368.]
57 (return) [ I have somewhere heard or read the frank confession
of a Benedictine abbot: “My vow of poverty has given me a hundred
thousand crowns a year; my vow of obedience has raised me to the
rank of a sovereign prince.”—I forget the consequences of his vow
of chastity.]
The lives of the primitive monks were consumed in penance and
solitude; undisturbed by the various occupations which fill the
time, and exercise the faculties, of reasonable, active, and
social beings. Whenever they were permitted to step beyond the
precincts of the monastery, two jealous companions were the
mutual guards and spies of each other’s actions; and, after their
return, they were condemned to forget, or, at least, to suppress,
whatever they had seen or heard in the world. Strangers, who
professed the orthodox faith, were hospitably entertained in a
separate apartment; but their dangerous conversation was
restricted to some chosen elders of approved discretion and
fidelity. Except in their presence, the monastic slave might not
receive the visits of his friends or kindred; and it was deemed
highly meritorious, if he afflicted a tender sister, or an aged
parent, by the obstinate refusal of a word or look. 58 The monks
themselves passed their lives, without personal attachments,
among a crowd which had been formed by accident, and was
detained, in the same prison, by force or prejudice. Recluse
fanatics have few ideas or sentiments to communicate: a special
license of the abbot regulated the time and duration of their
familiar visits; and, at their silent meals, they were enveloped
in their cowls, inaccessible, and almost invisible, to each
other. 59 Study is the resource of solitude: but education had
not prepared and qualified for any liberal studies the mechanics
and peasants who filled the monastic communities. They might
work: but the vanity of spiritual perfection was tempted to
disdain the exercise of manual labor; and the industry must be
faint and languid, which is not excited by the sense of personal
interest.
58 (return) [ Pior, an Egyptian monk, allowed his sister to see
him; but he shut his eyes during the whole visit. See Vit.
Patrum, l. iii. p. 504. Many such examples might be added.]
59 (return) [ The 7th, 8th, 29th, 30th, 31st, 34th, 57th, 60th,
86th, and 95th articles of the Rule of Pachomius, impose most
intolerable laws of silence and mortification.]
According to their faith and zeal, they might employ the day,
which they passed in their cells, either in vocal or mental
prayer: they assembled in the evening, and they were awakened in
the night, for the public worship of the monastery. The precise
moment was determined by the stars, which are seldom clouded in
the serene sky of Egypt; and a rustic horn, or trumpet, the
signal of devotion, twice interrupted the vast silence of the
desert. 60 Even sleep, the last refuge of the unhappy, was
rigorously measured: the vacant hours of the monk heavily rolled
along, without business or pleasure; and, before the close of
each day, he had repeatedly accused the tedious progress of the
sun. 61 In this comfortless state, superstition still pursued and
tormented her wretched votaries. 62 The repose which they had
sought in the cloister was disturbed by a tardy repentance,
profane doubts, and guilty desires; and, while they considered
each natural impulse as an unpardonable sin, they perpetually
trembled on the edge of a flaming and bottomless abyss. From the
painful struggles of disease and despair, these unhappy victims
were sometimes relieved by madness or death; and, in the sixth
century, a hospital was founded at Jerusalem for a small portion
of the austere penitents, who were deprived of their senses. 63
Their visions, before they attained this extreme and acknowledged
term of frenzy, have afforded ample materials of supernatural
history. It was their firm persuasion, that the air, which they
breathed, was peopled with invisible enemies; with innumerable
demons, who watched every occasion, and assumed every form, to
terrify, and above all to tempt, their unguarded virtue. The
imagination, and even the senses, were deceived by the illusions
of distempered fanaticism; and the hermit, whose midnight prayer
was oppressed by involuntary slumber, might easily confound the
phantoms of horror or delight, which had occupied his sleeping
and his waking dreams. 64
60 (return) [ The diurnal and nocturnal prayers of the monks are
copiously discussed by Cassian, in the third and fourth books of
his Institutions; and he constantly prefers the liturgy, which an
angel had dictated to the monasteries of Tebennoe.]
61 (return) [ Cassian, from his own experience, describes the
acedia, or listlessness of mind and body, to which a monk was
exposed, when he sighed to find himself alone. Saepiusque
egreditur et ingreditur cellam, et Solem velut ad occasum tardius
properantem crebrius intuetur, (Institut. x. l.)]
62 (return) [ The temptations and sufferings of Stagirius were
communicated by that unfortunate youth to his friend St.
Chrysostom. See Middleton’s Works, vol. i. p. 107-110. Something
similar introduces the life of every saint; and the famous Inigo,
or Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuits, (vide d’Inigo de
Guiposcoa, tom. i. p. 29-38,) may serve as a memorable example.]
63 (return) [ Fleury, Hist. Ecclesiastique, tom. vii. p. 46. I
have read somewhere, in the Vitae Patrum, but I cannot recover
the place that several, I believe many, of the monks, who did not
reveal their temptations to the abbot, became guilty of suicide.]
64 (return) [ See the seventh and eighth Collations of Cassian,
who gravely examines, why the demons were grown less active and
numerous since the time of St. Antony. Rosweyde’s copious index
to the Vitae Patrum will point out a variety of infernal scenes.
The devils were most formidable in a female shape.]
The monks were divided into two classes: the Coenobites, who
lived under a common and regular discipline; and the Anachorets,
who indulged their unsocial, independent fanaticism. 65 The most
devout, or the most ambitious, of the spiritual brethren,
renounced the convent, as they had renounced the world. The
fervent monasteries of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, were
surrounded by a Laura, 66 a distant circle of solitary cells; and
the extravagant penance of Hermits was stimulated by applause and
emulation. 67 They sunk under the painful weight of crosses and
chains; and their emaciated limbs were confined by collars,
bracelets, gauntlets, and greaves of massy and rigid iron. All
superfluous encumbrance of dress they contemptuously cast away;
and some savage saints of both sexes have been admired, whose
naked bodies were only covered by their long hair. They aspired
to reduce themselves to the rude and miserable state in which the
human brute is scarcely distinguishable above his kindred
animals; and the numerous sect of Anachorets derived their name
from their humble practice of grazing in the fields of
Mesopotamia with the common herd. 68 They often usurped the den
of some wild beast whom they affected to resemble; they buried
themselves in some gloomy cavern, which art or nature had scooped
out of the rock; and the marble quarries of Thebais are still
inscribed with the monuments of their penance. 69 The most
perfect Hermits are supposed to have passed many days without
food, many nights without sleep, and many years without speaking;
and glorious was the man ( I abuse that name) who contrived any
cell, or seat, of a peculiar construction, which might expose
him, in the most inconvenient posture, to the inclemency of the
seasons.
65 (return) [ For the distinction of the Coenobites and the
Hermits, especially in Egypt, see Jerom, (tom. i. p. 45, ad
Rusticum,) the first Dialogue of Sulpicius Severus, Rufinus, (c.
22, in Vit. Patrum, l. ii. p. 478,) Palladius, (c. 7, 69, in Vit.
Patrum, l. viii. p. 712, 758,) and, above all, the eighteenth and
nineteenth Collations of Cassian. These writers, who compare the
common and solitary life, reveal the abuse and danger of the
latter.]
66 (return) [ Suicer. Thesaur. Ecclesiast. tom. ii. p. 205, 218.
Thomassin (Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. i. p. 1501, 1502) gives a
good account of these cells. When Gerasimus founded his monastery
in the wilderness of Jordan, it was accompanied by a Laura of
seventy cells.]
67 (return) [ Theodoret, in a large volume, (the Philotheus in
Vit. Patrum, l. ix. p. 793-863,) has collected the lives and
miracles of thirty Anachorets. Evagrius (l. i. c. 12) more
briefly celebrates the monks and hermits of Palestine.]
68 (return) [ Sozomen, l. vi. c. 33. The great St. Ephrem
composed a panegyric on these or grazing monks, (Tillemont, Mem.
Eccles. tom. viii. p. 292.)]
69 (return) [ The P. Sicard (Missions du Levant, tom. ii. p.
217-233) examined the caverns of the Lower Thebais with wonder
and devotion. The inscriptions are in the old Syriac character,
which was used by the Christians of Abyssinia.]
Among these heroes of the monastic life, the name and genius of
Simeon Stylites 70 have been immortalized by the singular
invention of an aerial penance. At the age of thirteen, the young
Syrian deserted the profession of a shepherd, and threw himself
into an austere monastery. After a long and painful novitiate, in
which Simeon was repeatedly saved from pious suicide, he
established his residence on a mountain, about thirty or forty
miles to the east of Antioch. Within the space of a mandra, or
circle of stones, to which he had attached himself by a ponderous
chain, he ascended a column, which was successively raised from
the height of nine, to that of sixty, feet from the ground. 71 In
this last and lofty station, the Syrian Anachoret resisted the
heat of thirty summers, and the cold of as many winters. Habit
and exercise instructed him to maintain his dangerous situation
without fear or giddiness, and successively to assume the
different postures of devotion. He sometimes prayed in an erect
attitude, with his outstretched arms in the figure of a cross,
but his most familiar practice was that of bending his meagre
skeleton from the forehead to the feet; and a curious spectator,
after numbering twelve hundred and forty-four repetitions, at
length desisted from the endless account. The progress of an
ulcer in his thigh 72 might shorten, but it could not disturb,
this celestial life; and the patient Hermit expired, without
descending from his column. A prince, who should capriciously
inflict such tortures, would be deemed a tyrant; but it would
surpass the power of a tyrant to impose a long and miserable
existence on the reluctant victims of his cruelty. This voluntary
martyrdom must have gradually destroyed the sensibility both of
the mind and body; nor can it be presumed that the fanatics, who
torment themselves, are susceptible of any lively affection for
the rest of mankind. A cruel, unfeeling temper has distinguished
the monks of every age and country: their stern indifference,
which is seldom mollified by personal friendship, is inflamed by
religious hatred; and their merciless zeal has strenuously
administered the holy office of the Inquisition.
70 (return) [ See Theodoret (in Vit. Patrum, l. ix. p. 848-854,)
Antony, (in Vit. Patrum, l. i. p. 170-177,) Cosmas, (in Asseman.
Bibliot. Oriental tom. i. p. 239-253,) Evagrius, (l. i. c. 13,
14,) and Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. xv. p. 347-392.)]
71 (return) [ The narrow circumference of two cubits, or three
feet, which Evagrius assigns for the summit of the column is
inconsistent with reason, with facts, and with the rules of
architecture. The people who saw it from below might be easily
deceived.]
72 (return) [ I must not conceal a piece of ancient scandal
concerning the origin of this ulcer. It has been reported that
the Devil, assuming an angelic form, invited him to ascend, like
Elijah, into a fiery chariot. The saint too hastily raised his
foot, and Satan seized the moment of inflicting this chastisement
on his vanity.]
The monastic saints, who excite only the contempt and pity of a
philosopher, were respected, and almost adored, by the prince and
people. Successive crowds of pilgrims from Gaul and India saluted
the divine pillar of Simeon: the tribes of Saracens disputed in
arms the honor of his benediction; the queens of Arabia and
Persia gratefully confessed his supernatural virtue; and the
angelic Hermit was consulted by the younger Theodosius, in the
most important concerns of the church and state. His remains were
transported from the mountain of Telenissa, by a solemn
procession of the patriarch, the master-general of the East, six
bishops, twenty-one counts or tribunes, and six thousand
soldiers; and Antioch revered his bones, as her glorious ornament
and impregnable defence. The fame of the apostles and martyrs was
gradually eclipsed by these recent and popular Anachorets; the
Christian world fell prostrate before their shrines; and the
miracles ascribed to their relics exceeded, at least in number
and duration, the spiritual exploits of their lives. But the
golden legend of their lives 73 was embellished by the artful
credulity of their interested brethren; and a believing age was
easily persuaded, that the slightest caprice of an Egyptian or a
Syrian monk had been sufficient to interrupt the eternal laws of
the universe. The favorites of Heaven were accustomed to cure
inveterate diseases with a touch, a word, or a distant message;
and to expel the most obstinate demons from the souls or bodies
which they possessed. They familiarly accosted, or imperiously
commanded, the lions and serpents of the desert; infused
vegetation into a sapless trunk; suspended iron on the surface of
the water; passed the Nile on the back of a crocodile, and
refreshed themselves in a fiery furnace. These extravagant tales,
which display the fiction without the genius, of poetry, have
seriously affected the reason, the faith, and the morals, of the
Christians. Their credulity debased and vitiated the faculties of
the mind: they corrupted the evidence of history; and
superstition gradually extinguished the hostile light of
philosophy and science. Every mode of religious worship which had
been practised by the saints, every mysterious doctrine which
they believed, was fortified by the sanction of divine
revelation, and all the manly virtues were oppressed by the
servile and pusillanimous reign of the monks. If it be possible
to measure the interval between the philosophic writings of
Cicero and the sacred legend of Theodoret, between the character
of Cato and that of Simeon, we may appreciate the memorable
revolution which was accomplished in the Roman empire within a
period of five hundred years.
73 (return) [ I know not how to select or specify the miracles
contained in the Vitae Patrum of Rosweyde, as the number very
much exceeds the thousand pages of that voluminous work. An
elegant specimen may be found in the dialogues of Sulpicius
Severus, and his Life of St. Martin. He reveres the monks of
Egypt; yet he insults them with the remark, that they never
raised the dead; whereas the bishop of Tours had restored three
dead men to life.]
II. The progress of Christianity has been marked by two glorious
and decisive victories: over the learned and luxurious citizens
of the Roman empire; and over the warlike Barbarians of Scythia
and Germany, who subverted the empire, and embraced the religion,
of the Romans. The Goths were the foremost of these savage
proselytes; and the nation was indebted for its conversion to a
countryman, or, at least, to a subject, worthy to be ranked among
the inventors of useful arts, who have deserved the remembrance
and gratitude of posterity. A great number of Roman provincials
had been led away into captivity by the Gothic bands, who ravaged
Asia in the time of Gallienus; and of these captives, many were
Christians, and several belonged to the ecclesiastical order.
Those involuntary missionaries, dispersed as slaves in the
villages of Dacia, successively labored for the salvation of
their masters. The seeds which they planted, of the evangelic
doctrine, were gradually propagated; and before the end of a
century, the pious work was achieved by the labors of Ulphilas,
whose ancestors had been transported beyond the Danube from a
small town of Cappadocia.
Ulphilas, the bishop and apostle of the Goths, 74 acquired their
love and reverence by his blameless life and indefatigable zeal;
and they received, with implicit confidence, the doctrines of
truth and virtue which he preached and practised. He executed the
arduous task of translating the Scriptures into their native
tongue, a dialect of the German or Teutonic language; but he
prudently suppressed the four books of Kings, as they might tend
to irritate the fierce and sanguinary spirit of the Barbarians.
The rude, imperfect idiom of soldiers and shepherds, so ill
qualified to communicate any spiritual ideas, was improved and
modulated by his genius: and Ulphilas, before he could frame his
version, was obliged to compose a new alphabet of twenty-four
letters; 741 four of which he invented, to express the peculiar
sounds that were unknown to the Greek and Latin pronunciation. 75
But the prosperous state of the Gothic church was soon afflicted
by war and intestine discord, and the chieftains were divided by
religion as well as by interest. Fritigern, the friend of the
Romans, became the proselyte of Ulphilas; while the haughty soul
of Athanaric disdained the yoke of the empire and of the gospel.
The faith of the new converts was tried by the persecution which
he excited. A wagon, bearing aloft the shapeless image of Thor,
perhaps, or of Woden, was conducted in solemn procession through
the streets of the camp; and the rebels, who refused to worship
the god of their fathers, were immediately burnt, with their
tents and families. The character of Ulphilas recommended him to
the esteem of the Eastern court, where he twice appeared as the
minister of peace; he pleaded the cause of the distressed Goths,
who implored the protection of Valens; and the name of Moses was
applied to this spiritual guide, who conducted his people through
the deep waters of the Danube to the Land of Promise. 76 The
devout shepherds, who were attached to his person, and tractable
to his voice, acquiesced in their settlement, at the foot of the
Maesian mountains, in a country of woodlands and pastures, which
supported their flocks and herds, and enabled them to purchase
the corn and wine of the more plentiful provinces. These harmless
Barbarians multiplied in obscure peace and the profession of
Christianity. 77
74 (return) [ On the subject of Ulphilas, and the conversion of
the Goths, see Sozomen, l. vi. c. 37. Socrates, l. iv. c. 33.
Theodoret, l. iv. c. 37. Philostorg. l. ii. c. 5. The heresy of
Philostorgius appears to have given him superior means of
information.]
741 (return) [ This is the Moeso-Gothic alphabet of which many of
the letters are evidently formed from the Greek and Roman. M. St.
Martin, however contends, that it is impossible but that some
written alphabet must have been known long before among the
Goths. He supposes that their former letters were those inscribed
on the runes, which, being inseparably connected with the old
idolatrous superstitions, were proscribed by the Christian
missionaries. Everywhere the runes, so common among all the
German tribes, disappear after the propagation of Christianity.
S. Martin iv. p. 97, 98.—M.]
75 (return) [ A mutilated copy of the four Gospels, in the Gothic
version, was published A.D. 1665, and is esteemed the most
ancient monument of the Teutonic language, though Wetstein
attempts, by some frivolous conjectures, to deprive Ulphilas of
the honor of the work. Two of the four additional letters express
the W, and our own Th. See Simon, Hist. Critique du Nouveau
Testament, tom ii. p. 219-223. Mill. Prolegom p. 151, edit.
Kuster. Wetstein, Prolegom. tom. i. p. 114. * Note: The Codex
Argenteus, found in the sixteenth century at Wenden, near
Cologne, and now preserved at Upsal, contains almost the entire
four Gospels. The best edition is that of J. Christ. Zahn,
Weissenfels, 1805. In 1762 Knettel discovered and published from
a Palimpsest MS. four chapters of the Epistle to the Romans: they
were reprinted at Upsal, 1763. M. Mai has since that time
discovered further fragments, and other remains of Moeso-Gothic
literature, from a Palimpsest at Milan. See Ulphilae partium
inedi arum in Ambrosianis Palimpsestis ab Ang. Maio repertarum
specimen Milan. Ito. 1819.—M.]
76 (return) [ Philostorgius erroneously places this passage under
the reign of Constantine; but I am much inclined to believe that
it preceded the great emigration.]
77 (return) [ We are obliged to Jornandes (de Reb. Get. c. 51, p.
688) for a short and lively picture of these lesser Goths. Gothi
minores, populus immensus, cum suo Pontifice ipsoque primate
Wulfila. The last words, if they are not mere tautology, imply
some temporal jurisdiction.]
Their fiercer brethren, the formidable Visigoths, universally
adopted the religion of the Romans, with whom they maintained a
perpetual intercourse, of war, of friendship, or of conquest. In
their long and victorious march from the Danube to the Atlantic
Ocean, they converted their allies; they educated the rising
generation; and the devotion which reigned in the camp of Alaric,
or the court of Thoulouse, might edify or disgrace the palaces of
Rome and Constantinople. 78 During the same period, Christianity
was embraced by almost all the Barbarians, who established their
kingdoms on the ruins of the Western empire; the Burgundians in
Gaul, the Suevi in Spain, the Vandals in Africa, the Ostrogoths
in Pannonia, and the various bands of mercenaries, that raised
Odoacer to the throne of Italy. The Franks and the Saxons still
persevered in the errors of Paganism; but the Franks obtained the
monarchy of Gaul by their submission to the example of Clovis;
and the Saxon conquerors of Britain were reclaimed from their
savage superstition by the missionaries of Rome. These Barbarian
proselytes displayed an ardent and successful zeal in the
propagation of the faith. The Merovingian kings, and their
successors, Charlemagne and the Othos, extended, by their laws
and victories, the dominion of the cross. England produced the
apostle of Germany; and the evangelic light was gradually
diffused from the neighborhood of the Rhine, to the nations of
the Elbe, the Vistula, and the Baltic. 79
78 (return) [ At non ita Gothi non ita Vandali; malis licet
doctoribus instituti meliores tamen etiam in hac parte quam
nostri. Salvian, de Gubern, Dei, l. vii. p. 243.]
79 (return) [ Mosheim has slightly sketched the progress of
Christianity in the North, from the fourth to the fourteenth
century. The subject would afford materials for an ecclesiastical
and even philosophical, history]
Chapter XXXVII: Conversion Of The Barbarians To
Christianity.—Part III.
The different motives which influenced the reason, or the
passions, of the Barbarian converts, cannot easily be
ascertained. They were often capricious and accidental; a dream,
an omen, the report of a miracle, the example of some priest, or
hero, the charms of a believing wife, and, above all, the
fortunate event of a prayer, or vow, which, in a moment of
danger, they had addressed to the God of the Christians. 80 The
early prejudices of education were insensibly erased by the
habits of frequent and familiar society, the moral precepts of
the gospel were protected by the extravagant virtues of the
monks; and a spiritual theology was supported by the visible
power of relics, and the pomp of religious worship. But the
rational and ingenious mode of persuasion, which a Saxon bishop
81 suggested to a popular saint, might sometimes be employed by
the missionaries, who labored for the conversion of infidels.
“Admit,” says the sagacious disputant, “whatever they are pleased
to assert of the fabulous, and carnal, genealogy of their gods
and goddesses, who are propagated from each other. From this
principle deduce their imperfect nature, and human infirmities,
the assurance they were born, and the probability that they will
die. At what time, by what means, from what cause, were the
eldest of the gods or goddesses produced? Do they still continue,
or have they ceased, to propagate? If they have ceased, summon
your antagonists to declare the reason of this strange
alteration. If they still continue, the number of the gods must
become infinite; and shall we not risk, by the indiscreet worship
of some impotent deity, to excite the resentment of his jealous
superior? The visible heavens and earth, the whole system of the
universe, which may be conceived by the mind, is it created or
eternal? If created, how, or where, could the gods themselves
exist before creation? If eternal, how could they assume the
empire of an independent and preexisting world? Urge these
arguments with temper and moderation; insinuate, at seasonable
intervals, the truth and beauty of the Christian revelation; and
endeavor to make the unbelievers ashamed, without making them
angry.” This metaphysical reasoning, too refined, perhaps, for
the Barbarians of Germany, was fortified by the grosser weight of
authority and popular consent. The advantage of temporal
prosperity had deserted the Pagan cause, and passed over to the
service of Christianity. The Romans themselves, the most powerful
and enlightened nation of the globe, had renounced their ancient
superstition; and, if the ruin of their empire seemed to accuse
the efficacy of the new faith, the disgrace was already retrieved
by the conversion of the victorious Goths. The valiant and
fortunate Barbarians, who subdued the provinces of the West,
successively received, and reflected, the same edifying example.
Before the age of Charlemagne, the Christian nations of Europe
might exult in the exclusive possession of the temperate
climates, of the fertile lands, which produced corn, wine, and
oil; while the savage idolaters, and their helpless idols, were
confined to the extremities of the earth, the dark and frozen
regions of the North. 82
80 (return) [ To such a cause has Socrates (l. vii. c. 30)
ascribed the conversion of the Burgundians, whose Christian piety
is celebrated by Orosius, (l. vii. c. 19.)]
81 (return) [ See an original and curious epistle from Daniel,
the first bishop of Winchester, (Beda, Hist. Eccles. Anglorum, l.
v. c. 18, p. 203, edit Smith,) to St. Boniface, who preached the
gospel among the savages of Hesse and Thuringia. Epistol.
Bonifacii, lxvii., in the Maxima Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. xiii.
p. 93]
82 (return) [ The sword of Charlemagne added weight to the
argument; but when Daniel wrote this epistle, (A.D. 723,) the
Mahometans, who reigned from India to Spain, might have retorted
it against the Christians.]
Christianity, which opened the gates of Heaven to the Barbarians,
introduced an important change in their moral and political
condition. They received, at the same time, the use of letters,
so essential to a religion whose doctrines are contained in a
sacred book; and while they studied the divine truth, their minds
were insensibly enlarged by the distant view of history, of
nature, of the arts, and of society. The version of the
Scriptures into their native tongue, which had facilitated their
conversion, must excite among their clergy some curiosity to read
the original text, to understand the sacred liturgy of the
church, and to examine, in the writings of the fathers, the chain
of ecclesiastical tradition. These spiritual gifts were preserved
in the Greek and Latin languages, which concealed the inestimable
monuments of ancient learning. The immortal productions of
Virgil, Cicero, and Livy, which were accessible to the Christian
Barbarians, maintained a silent intercourse between the reign of
Augustus and the times of Clovis and Charlemagne. The emulation
of mankind was encouraged by the remembrance of a more perfect
state; and the flame of science was secretly kept alive, to warm
and enlighten the mature age of the Western world.
In the most corrupt state of Christianity, the Barbarians might
learn justice from the law, and mercy from the gospel; and if the
knowledge of their duty was insufficient to guide their actions,
or to regulate their passions, they were sometimes restrained by
conscience, and frequently punished by remorse. But the direct
authority of religion was less effectual than the holy communion,
which united them with their Christian brethren in spiritual
friendship. The influence of these sentiments contributed to
secure their fidelity in the service, or the alliance, of the
Romans, to alleviate the horrors of war, to moderate the
insolence of conquest, and to preserve, in the downfall of the
empire, a permanent respect for the name and institutions of
Rome. In the days of Paganism, the priests of Gaul and Germany
reigned over the people, and controlled the jurisdiction of the
magistrates; and the zealous proselytes transferred an equal, or
more ample, measure of devout obedience, to the pontiffs of the
Christian faith. The sacred character of the bishops was
supported by their temporal possessions; they obtained an
honorable seat in the legislative assemblies of soldiers and
freemen; and it was their interest, as well as their duty, to
mollify, by peaceful counsels, the fierce spirit of the
Barbarians. The perpetual correspondence of the Latin clergy, the
frequent pilgrimages to Rome and Jerusalem, and the growing
authority of the popes, cemented the union of the Christian
republic, and gradually produced the similar manners, and common
jurisprudence, which have distinguished, from the rest of
mankind, the independent, and even hostile, nations of modern
Europe.
But the operation of these causes was checked and retarded by the
unfortunate accident, which infused a deadly poison into the cup
of Salvation. Whatever might be the early sentiments of Ulphilas,
his connections with the empire and the church were formed during
the reign of Arianism. The apostle of the Goths subscribed the
creed of Rimini; professed with freedom, and perhaps with
sincerity, that the Son was not equal, or consubstantial to the
Father; 83 communicated these errors to the clergy and people;
and infected the Barbaric world with a heresy, 84 which the great
Theodosius proscribed and extinguished among the Romans. The
temper and understanding of the new proselytes were not adapted
to metaphysical subtilties; but they strenuously maintained, what
they had piously received, as the pure and genuine doctrines of
Christianity. The advantage of preaching and expounding the
Scriptures in the Teutonic language promoted the apostolic labors
of Ulphilas and his successors; and they ordained a competent
number of bishops and presbyters for the instruction of the
kindred tribes. The Ostrogoths, the Burgundians, the Suevi, and
the Vandals, who had listened to the eloquence of the Latin
clergy, 85 preferred the more intelligible lessons of their
domestic teachers; and Arianism was adopted as the national faith
of the warlike converts, who were seated on the ruins of the
Western empire. This irreconcilable difference of religion was a
perpetual source of jealousy and hatred; and the reproach of
Barbarian was imbittered by the more odious epithet of Heretic.
The heroes of the North, who had submitted, with some reluctance,
to believe that all their ancestors were in hell, 86 were
astonished and exasperated to learn, that they themselves had
only changed the mode of their eternal condemnation. Instead of
the smooth applause, which Christian kings are accustomed to
expect from their royal prelates, the orthodox bishops and their
clergy were in a state of opposition to the Arian courts; and
their indiscreet opposition frequently became criminal, and might
sometimes be dangerous. 87 The pulpit, that safe and sacred organ
of sedition, resounded with the names of Pharaoh and Holofernes;
88 the public discontent was inflamed by the hope or promise of a
glorious deliverance; and the seditious saints were tempted to
promote the accomplishment of their own predictions.
Notwithstanding these provocations, the Catholics of Gaul, Spain,
and Italy, enjoyed, under the reign of the Arians, the free and
peaceful exercise of their religion. Their haughty masters
respected the zeal of a numerous people, resolved to die at the
foot of their altars; and the example of their devout constancy
was admired and imitated by the Barbarians themselves. The
conquerors evaded, however, the disgraceful reproach, or
confession, of fear, by attributing their toleration to the
liberal motives of reason and humanity; and while they affected
the language, they imperceptiby imbibed the spirit, of genuine
Christianity.
83 (return) [ The opinions of Ulphilas and the Goths inclined to
semi-Arianism, since they would not say that the Son was a
creature, though they held communion with those who maintained
that heresy. Their apostle represented the whole controversy as a
question of trifling moment, which had been raised by the
passions of the clergy. Theodoret l. iv. c. 37.]
84 (return) [ The Arianism of the Goths has been imputed to the
emperor Valens: “Itaque justo Dei judicio ipsi eum vivum
incenderunt, qui propter eum etiam mortui, vitio erroris arsuri
sunt.” Orosius, l. vii. c. 33, p. 554. This cruel sentence is
confirmed by Tillemont, (Mem. Eccles. tom. vi. p. 604-610,) who
coolly observes, “un seul homme entraina dans l’enfer un nombre
infini de Septentrionaux, &c.” Salvian (de Gubern. Dei, l. v p.
150, 151) pities and excuses their involuntary error.]
85 (return) [ Orosius affirms, in the year 416, (l. vii. c. 41,
p. 580,) that the Churches of Christ (of the Catholics) were
filled with Huns, Suevi, Vandals, Burgundians.]
86 (return) [ Radbod, king of the Frisons, was so much
scandalized by this rash declaration of a missionary, that he
drew back his foot after he had entered the baptismal font. See
Fleury, Hist. Eccles. tom. ix p. 167.]
87 (return) [ The epistles of Sidonius, bishop of Clermont, under
the Visigotha, and of Avitus, bishop of Vienna, under the
Burgundians, explain sometimes in dark hints, the general
dispositions of the Catholics. The history of Clovis and
Theodoric will suggest some particular facts]
88 (return) [ Genseric confessed the resemblance, by the severity
with which he punished such indiscreet allusions. Victor
Vitensis, l. 7, p. 10.]
The peace of the church was sometimes interrupted. The Catholics
were indiscreet, the Barbarians were impatient; and the partial
acts of severity or injustice, which had been recommended by the
Arian clergy, were exaggerated by the orthodox writers. The guilt
of persecution may be imputed to Euric, king of the Visigoths;
who suspended the exercise of ecclesiastical, or, at least, of
episcopal functions; and punished the popular bishops of Aquitain
with imprisonment, exile, and confiscation. 89 But the cruel and
absurd enterprise of subduing the minds of a whole people was
undertaken by the Vandals alone. Genseric himself, in his early
youth, had renounced the orthodox communion; and the apostate
could neither grant, nor expect, a sincere forgiveness. He was
exasperated to find that the Africans, who had fled before him in
the field, still presumed to dispute his will in synods and
churches; and his ferocious mind was incapable of fear or of
compassion. His Catholic subjects were oppressed by intolerant
laws and arbitrary punishments. The language of Genseric was
furious and formidable; the knowledge of his intentions might
justify the most unfavorable interpretation of his actions; and
the Arians were reproached with the frequent executions which
stained the palace and the dominions of the tyrant. Arms and
ambition were, however, the ruling passions of the monarch of the
sea. But Hunneric, his inglorious son, who seemed to inherit only
his vices, tormented the Catholics with the same unrelenting fury
which had been fatal to his brother, his nephews, and the friends
and favorites of his father; and even to the Arian patriarch, who
was inhumanly burnt alive in the midst of Carthage. The religious
war was preceded and prepared by an insidious truce; persecution
was made the serious and important business of the Vandal court;
and the loathsome disease which hastened the death of Hunneric,
revenged the injuries, without contributing to the deliverance,
of the church. The throne of Africa was successively filled by
the two nephews of Hunneric; by Gundamund, who reigned about
twelve, and by Thrasimund, who governed the nation about
twenty-seven, years. Their administration was hostile and
oppressive to the orthodox party. Gundamund appeared to emulate,
or even to surpass, the cruelty of his uncle; and, if at length
he relented, if he recalled the bishops, and restored the freedom
of Athanasian worship, a premature death intercepted the benefits
of his tardy clemency. His brother, Thrasimund, was the greatest
and most accomplished of the Vandal kings, whom he excelled in
beauty, prudence, and magnanimity of soul. But this magnanimous
character was degraded by his intolerant zeal and deceitful
clemency. Instead of threats and tortures, he employed the
gentle, but efficacious, powers of seduction. Wealth, dignity,
and the royal favor, were the liberal rewards of apostasy; the
Catholics, who had violated the laws, might purchase their pardon
by the renunciation of their faith; and whenever Thrasimund
meditated any rigorous measure, he patiently waited till the
indiscretion of his adversaries furnished him with a specious
opportunity. Bigotry was his last sentiment in the hour of death;
and he exacted from his successor a solemn oath, that he would
never tolerate the sectaries of Athanasius. But his successor,
Hilderic, the gentle son of the savage Hunneric, preferred the
duties of humanity and justice to the vain obligation of an
impious oath; and his accession was gloriously marked by the
restoration of peace and universal freedom. The throne of that
virtuous, though feeble monarch, was usurped by his cousin
Gelimer, a zealous Arian: but the Vandal kingdom, before he could
enjoy or abuse his power, was subverted by the arms of
Belisarius; and the orthodox party retaliated the injuries which
they had endured. 90
89 (return) [ Such are the contemporary complaints of Sidonius,
bishop of Clermont (l. vii. c. 6, p. 182, &c., edit. Sirmond.)
Gregory of Tours who quotes this Epistle, (l. ii. c. 25, in tom.
ii. p. 174,) extorts an unwarrantable assertion, that of the nine
vacancies in Aquitain, some had been produced by episcopal
martyrdoms]
90 (return) [ The original monuments of the Vandal persecution
are preserved in the five books of the history of Victor
Vitensis, (de Persecutione Vandalica,) a bishop who was exiled by
Hunneric; in the life of St. Fulgentius, who was distinguished in
the persecution of Thrasimund (in Biblioth. Max. Patrum, tom. ix.
p. 4-16;) and in the first book of the Vandalic War, by the
impartial Procopius, (c. 7, 8, p. 196, 197, 198, 199.) Dom
Ruinart, the last editor of Victor, has illustrated the whole
subject with a copious and learned apparatus of notes and
supplement (Paris, 1694.)]
The passionate declamations of the Catholics, the sole historians
of this persecution, cannot afford any distinct series of causes
and events; any impartial view of the characters, or counsels;
but the most remarkable circumstances that deserve either credit
or notice, may be referred to the following heads; I. In the
original law, which is still extant, 91 Hunneric expressly
declares, (and the declaration appears to be correct,) that he
had faithfully transcribed the regulations and penalties of the
Imperial edicts, against the heretical congregations, the clergy,
and the people, who dissented from the established religion. If
the rights of conscience had been understood, the Catholics must
have condemned their past conduct or acquiesced in their actual
suffering. But they still persisted to refuse the indulgence
which they claimed. While they trembled under the lash of
persecution, they praised the laudable severity of Hunneric
himself, who burnt or banished great numbers of Manichæans; 92
and they rejected, with horror, the ignominious compromise, that
the disciples of Arius and of Athanasius should enjoy a
reciprocal and similar toleration in the territories of the
Romans, and in those of the Vandals. 93 II. The practice of a
conference, which the Catholics had so frequently used to insult
and punish their obstinate antagonists, was retorted against
themselves. 94 At the command of Hunneric, four hundred and
sixty-six orthodox bishops assembled at Carthage; but when they
were admitted into the hall of audience, they had the
mortification of beholding the Arian Cyrila exalted on the
patriarchal throne. The disputants were separated, after the
mutual and ordinary reproaches of noise and silence, of delay and
precipitation, of military force and of popular clamor. One
martyr and one confessor were selected among the Catholic
bishops; twenty-eight escaped by flight, and eighty-eight by
conformity; forty-six were sent into Corsica to cut timber for
the royal navy; and three hundred and two were banished to the
different parts of Africa, exposed to the insults of their
enemies, and carefully deprived of all the temporal and spiritual
comforts of life. 95 The hardships of ten years’ exile must have
reduced their numbers; and if they had complied with the law of
Thrasimund, which prohibited any episcopal consecrations, the
orthodox church of Africa must have expired with the lives of its
actual members. They disobeyed, and their disobedience was
punished by a second exile of two hundred and twenty bishops into
Sardinia; where they languished fifteen years, till the accession
of the gracious Hilderic. 96 The two islands were judiciously
chosen by the malice of their Arian tyrants. Seneca, from his own
experience, has deplored and exaggerated the miserable state of
Corsica, 97 and the plenty of Sardinia was overbalanced by the
unwholesome quality of the air. 98 III. The zeal of Genseric and
his successors, for the conversion of the Catholics, must have
rendered them still more jealous to guard the purity of the
Vandal faith. Before the churches were finally shut, it was a
crime to appear in a Barbarian dress; and those who presumed to
neglect the royal mandate were rudely dragged backwards by their
long hair. 99 The palatine officers, who refused to profess the
religion of their prince, were ignominiously stripped of their
honors and employments; banished to Sardinia and Sicily; or
condemned to the servile labors of slaves and peasants in the
fields of Utica. In the districts which had been peculiarly
allotted to the Vandals, the exercise of the Catholic worship was
more strictly prohibited; and severe penalties were denounced
against the guilt both of the missionary and the proselyte. By
these arts, the faith of the Barbarians was preserved, and their
zeal was inflamed: they discharged, with devout fury, the office
of spies, informers, or executioners; and whenever their cavalry
took the field, it was the favorite amusement of the march to
defile the churches, and to insult the clergy of the adverse
faction. 100 IV. The citizens who had been educated in the luxury
of the Roman province, were delivered, with exquisite cruelty, to
the Moors of the desert. A venerable train of bishops,
presbyters, and deacons, with a faithful crowd of four thousand
and ninety-six persons, whose guilt is not precisely ascertained,
were torn from their native homes, by the command of Hunneric.
During the night they were confined, like a herd of cattle,
amidst their own ordure: during the day they pursued their march
over the burning sands; and if they fainted under the heat and
fatigue, they were goaded, or dragged along, till they expired in
the hands of their tormentors. 101 These unhappy exiles, when
they reached the Moorish huts, might excite the compassion of a
people, whose native humanity was neither improved by reason, nor
corrupted by fanaticism: but if they escaped the dangers, they
were condemned to share the distress of a savage life. V. It is
incumbent on the authors of persecution previously to reflect,
whether they are determined to support it in the last extreme.
They excite the flame which they strive to extinguish; and it
soon becomes necessary to chastise the contumacy, as well as the
crime, of the offender. The fine, which he is unable or unwilling
to discharge, exposes his person to the severity of the law; and
his contempt of lighter penalties suggests the use and propriety
of capital punishment. Through the veil of fiction and
declamation we may clearly perceive, that the Catholics more
especially under the reign of Hunneric, endured the most cruel
and ignominious treatment. 102 Respectable citizens, noble
matrons, and consecrated virgins, were stripped naked, and raised
in the air by pulleys, with a weight suspended at their feet. In
this painful attitude their naked bodies were torn with scourges,
or burnt in the most tender parts with red-hot plates of iron.
The amputation of the ears the nose, the tongue, and the right
hand, was inflicted by the Arians; and although the precise
number cannot be defined, it is evident that many persons, among
whom a bishop 103 and a proconsul 104 may be named, were entitled
to the crown of martyrdom. The same honor has been ascribed to
the memory of Count Sebastian, who professed the Nicene creed
with unshaken constancy; and Genseric might detest, as a heretic,
the brave and ambitious fugitive whom he dreaded as a rival. 105
VI. A new mode of conversion, which might subdue the feeble, and
alarm the timorous, was employed by the Arian ministers. They
imposed, by fraud or violence, the rites of baptism; and punished
the apostasy of the Catholics, if they disclaimed this odious and
profane ceremony, which scandalously violated the freedom of the
will, and the unity of the sacrament. 106 The hostile sects had
formerly allowed the validity of each other’s baptism; and the
innovation, so fiercely maintained by the Vandals, can be imputed
only to the example and advice of the Donatists. VII. The Arian
clergy surpassed in religious cruelty the king and his Vandals;
but they were incapable of cultivating the spiritual vineyard,
which they were so desirous to possess. A patriarch 107 might
seat himself on the throne of Carthage; some bishops, in the
principal cities, might usurp the place of their rivals; but the
smallness of their numbers, and their ignorance of the Latin
language, 108 disqualified the Barbarians for the ecclesiastical
ministry of a great church; and the Africans, after the loss of
their orthodox pastors, were deprived of the public exercise of
Christianity. VIII. The emperors were the natural protectors of
the Homoousian doctrine; and the faithful people of Africa, both
as Romans and as Catholics, preferred their lawful sovereignty to
the usurpation of the Barbarous heretics. During an interval of
peace and friendship, Hunneric restored the cathedral of
Carthage; at the intercession of Zeno, who reigned in the East,
and of Placidia, the daughter and relict of emperors, and the
sister of the queen of the Vandals. 109 But this decent regard
was of short duration; and the haughty tyrant displayed his
contempt for the religion of the empire, by studiously arranging
the bloody images of persecution, in all the principal streets
through which the Roman ambassador must pass in his way to the
palace. 110 An oath was required from the bishops, who were
assembled at Carthage, that they would support the succession of
his son Hilderic, and that they would renounce all foreign or
transmarine correspondence. This engagement, consistent, as it
should seem, with their moral and religious duties, was refused
by the more sagacious members 111 of the assembly. Their refusal,
faintly colored by the pretence that it is unlawful for a
Christian to swear, must provoke the suspicions of a jealous
tyrant.
91 (return) [ Victor, iv. 2, p. 65. Hunneric refuses the name of
Catholics to the Homoousians. He describes, as the veri Divinae
Majestatis cultores, his own party, who professed the faith,
confirmed by more than a thousand bishops, in the synods of
Rimini and Seleucia.]
92 (return) [ Victor, ii, 1, p. 21, 22: Laudabilior... videbatur.
In the Mss which omit this word, the passage is unintelligible.
See Ruinart Not. p. 164.]
93 (return) [ Victor, ii. p. 22, 23. The clergy of Carthage
called these conditions periculosoe; and they seem, indeed, to
have been proposed as a snare to entrap the Catholic bishops.]
94 (return) [ See the narrative of this conference, and the
treatment of the bishops, in Victor, ii. 13-18, p. 35-42 and the
whole fourth book p. 63-171. The third book, p. 42-62, is
entirely filled by their apology or confession of faith.]
95 (return) [ See the list of the African bishops, in Victor, p.
117-140, and Ruinart’s notes, p. 215-397. The schismatic name of
Donatus frequently occurs, and they appear to have adopted (like
our fanatics of the last age) the pious appellations of Deodatus,
Deogratias, Quidvultdeus, Habetdeum, &c. Note: These names appear
to have been introduced by the Donatists.—M.]
96 (return) [ Fulgent. Vit. c. 16-29. Thrasimund affected the
praise of moderation and learning; and Fulgentius addressed three
books of controversy to the Arian tyrant, whom he styles piissime
Rex. Biblioth. Maxim. Patrum, tom. ix. p. 41. Only sixty bishops
are mentioned as exiles in the life of Fulgentius; they are
increased to one hundred and twenty by Victor Tunnunensis and
Isidore; but the number of two hundred and twenty is specified in
the Historia Miscella, and a short authentic chronicle of the
times. See Ruinart, p. 570, 571.]
97 (return) [ See the base and insipid epigrams of the Stoic, who
could not support exile with more fortitude than Ovid. Corsica
might not produce corn, wine, or oil; but it could not be
destitute of grass, water, and even fire.]
98 (return) [ Si ob gravitatem coeli interissent vile damnum.
Tacit. Annal. ii. 85. In this application, Thrasimund would have
adopted the reading of some critics, utile damnum.]
99 (return) [ See these preludes of a general persecution, in
Victor, ii. 3, 4, 7 and the two edicts of Hunneric, l. ii. p. 35,
l. iv. p. 64.]
100 (return) [ See Procopius de Bell. Vandal. l. i. c. 7, p. 197,
198. A Moorish prince endeavored to propitiate the God of the
Christians, by his diligence to erase the marks of the Vandal
sacrilege.]
101 (return) [ See this story in Victor. ii. 8-12, p. 30-34.
Victor describes the distress of these confessors as an
eye-witness.]
102 (return) [ See the fifth book of Victor. His passionate
complaints are confirmed by the sober testimony of Procopius, and
the public declaration of the emperor Justinian. Cod. l. i. tit.
xxvii.]
103 (return) [ Victor, ii. 18, p. 41.]
104 (return) [ Victor, v. 4, p. 74, 75. His name was Victorianus,
and he was a wealthy citizen of Adrumetum, who enjoyed the
confidence of the king; by whose favor he had obtained the
office, or at least the title, of proconsul of Africa.]
105 (return) [ Victor, i. 6, p. 8, 9. After relating the firm
resistance and dexterous reply of Count Sebastian, he adds, quare
alio generis argumento postea bellicosum virum eccidit.]
106 (return) [ Victor, v. 12, 13. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles. tom.
vi. p. 609.]
107 (return) [ Primate was more properly the title of the bishop
of Carthage; but the name of patriarch was given by the sects and
nations to their principal ecclesiastic. See Thomassin,
Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. i. p. 155, 158.]
108 (return) [ The patriarch Cyrila himself publicly declared,
that he did not understand Latin (Victor, ii. 18, p. 42:) Nescio
Latine; and he might converse with tolerable ease, without being
capable of disputing or preaching in that language. His Vandal
clergy were still more ignorant; and small confidence could be
placed in the Africans who had conformed.]
109 (return) [ Victor, ii. 1, 2, p. 22.]
110 (return) [ Victor, v. 7, p. 77. He appeals to the ambassador
himself, whose name was Uranius.]
111 (return) [ Astutiores, Victor, iv. 4, p. 70. He plainly
intimates that their quotation of the gospel “Non jurabitis in
toto,” was only meant to elude the obligation of an inconvenient
oath. The forty-six bishops who refused were banished to Corsica;
the three hundred and two who swore were distributed through the
provinces of Africa.]
Chapter XXXVII: Conversion Of The Barbarians To
Christianity.—Part IV.
The Catholics, oppressed by royal and military force, were far
superior to their adversaries in numbers and learning. With the
same weapons which the Greek 112 and Latin fathers had already
provided for the Arian controversy, they repeatedly silenced, or
vanquished, the fierce and illiterate successors of Ulphilas. The
consciousness of their own superiority might have raised them
above the arts and passions of religious warfare. Yet, instead of
assuming such honorable pride, the orthodox theologians were
tempted, by the assurance of impunity, to compose fictions, which
must be stigmatized with the epithets of fraud and forgery. They
ascribed their own polemical works to the most venerable names of
Christian antiquity; the characters of Athanasius and Augustin
were awkwardly personated by Vigilius and his disciples; 113 and
the famous creed, which so clearly expounds the mysteries of the
Trinity and the Incarnation, is deduced, with strong probability,
from this African school. 114 Even the Scriptures themselves were
profaned by their rash and sacrilegious hands. The memorable
text, which asserts the unity of the three who bear witness in
heaven, 115 is condemned by the universal silence of the orthodox
fathers, ancient versions, and authentic manuscripts. 116 It was
first alleged by the Catholic bishops whom Hunneric summoned to
the conference of Carthage. 117 An allegorical interpretation, in
the form, perhaps, of a marginal note, invaded the text of the
Latin Bibles, which were renewed and corrected in a dark period
of ten centuries. 118 After the invention of printing, 119 the
editors of the Greek Testament yielded to their own prejudices,
or those of the times; 120 and the pious fraud, which was
embraced with equal zeal at Rome and at Geneva, has been
infinitely multiplied in every country and every language of
modern Europe.
112 (return) [ Fulgentius, bishop of Ruspae, in the Byzacene
province, was of a senatorial family, and had received a liberal
education. He could repeat all Homer and Menander before he was
allowed to study Latin his native tongue, (Vit. Fulgent. c. l.)
Many African bishops might understand Greek, and many Greek
theologians were translated into Latin.]
113 (return) [ Compare the two prefaces to the Dialogue of
Vigilius of Thapsus, (p. 118, 119, edit. Chiflet.) He might amuse
his learned reader with an innocent fiction; but the subject was
too grave, and the Africans were too ignorant.]
114 (return) [ The P. Quesnel started this opinion, which has
been favorably received. But the three following truths, however
surprising they may seem, are now universally acknowledged,
(Gerard Vossius, tom. vi. p. 516-522. Tillemont, Mem. Eccles.
tom. viii. p. 667-671.) 1. St. Athanasius is not the author of
the creed which is so frequently read in our churches. 2. It does
not appear to have existed within a century after his death. 3.
It was originally composed in the Latin tongue, and, consequently
in the Western provinces. Gennadius patriarch of Constantinople,
was so much amazed by this extraordinary composition, that he
frankly pronounced it to be the work of a drunken man. Petav.
Dogmat. Theologica, tom. ii. l. vii. c. 8, p. 687.]
115 (return) [ 1 John, v. 7. See Simon, Hist. Critique du Nouveau
Testament, part i. c. xviii. p. 203-218; and part ii. c. ix. p.
99-121; and the elaborate Prolegomena and Annotations of Dr. Mill
and Wetstein to their editions of the Greek Testament. In 1689,
the papist Simon strove to be free; in 1707, the Protestant Mill
wished to be a slave; in 1751, the Armenian Wetstein used the
liberty of his times, and of his sect. * Note: This controversy
has continued to be agitated, but with declining interest even in
the more religious part of the community; and may now be
considered to have terminated in an almost general acquiescence
of the learned to the conclusions of Porson in his Letters to
Travis. See the pamphlets of the late Bishop of Salisbury and of
Crito Cantabrigiensis, Dr. Turton of Cambridge.—M.]
116 (return) [ Of all the Mss. now extant, above fourscore in
number, some of which are more than 1200 years old, (Wetstein ad
loc.) The orthodox copies of the Vatican, of the Complutensian
editors, of Robert Stephens, are become invisible; and the two
Mss. of Dublin and Berlin are unworthy to form an exception. See
Emlyn’s Works, vol. ii. p 227-255, 269-299; and M. de Missy’s
four ingenious letters, in tom. viii. and ix. of the Journal
Britannique.]
117 (return) [ Or, more properly, by the four bishops who
composed and published the profession of faith in the name of
their brethren. They styled this text, luce clarius, (Victor
Vitensis de Persecut. Vandal. l. iii. c. 11, p. 54.) It is quoted
soon afterwards by the African polemics, Vigilius and
Fulgentius.]
118 (return) [ In the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Bibles
were corrected by Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, and by
Nicholas, cardinal and librarian of the Roman church, secundum
orthodoxam fidem, (Wetstein, Prolegom. p. 84, 85.)
Notwithstanding these corrections, the passage is still wanting
in twenty-five Latin Mss., (Wetstein ad loc.,) the oldest and the
fairest; two qualities seldom united, except in manuscripts.]
119 (return) [ The art which the Germans had invented was applied
in Italy to the profane writers of Rome and Greece. The original
Greek of the New Testament was published about the same time
(A.D. 1514, 1516, 1520,) by the industry of Erasmus, and the
munificence of Cardinal Ximenes. The Complutensian Polyglot cost
the cardinal 50,000 ducats. See Mattaire, Annal. Typograph. tom.
ii. p. 2-8, 125-133; and Wetstein, Prolegomena, p. 116-127.]
120 (return) [ The three witnesses have been established in our
Greek Testaments by the prudence of Erasmus; the honest bigotry
of the Complutensian editors; the typographical fraud, or error,
of Robert Stephens, in the placing a crotchet; and the deliberate
falsehood, or strange misapprehension, of Theodore Beza.]
The example of fraud must excite suspicion: and the specious
miracles by which the African Catholics have defended the truth
and justice of their cause, may be ascribed, with more reason, to
their own industry, than to the visible protection of Heaven. Yet
the historian, who views this religious conflict with an
impartial eye, may condescend to mention one preternatural event,
which will edify the devout, and surprise the incredulous.
Tipasa, 121 a maritime colony of Mauritania, sixteen miles to the
east of Caesarea, had been distinguished, in every age, by the
orthodox zeal of its inhabitants. They had braved the fury of the
Donatists; 122 they resisted, or eluded, the tyranny of the
Arians. The town was deserted on the approach of an heretical
bishop: most of the inhabitants who could procure ships passed
over to the coast of Spain; and the unhappy remnant, refusing all
communion with the usurper, still presumed to hold their pious,
but illegal, assemblies. Their disobedience exasperated the
cruelty of Hunneric. A military count was despatched from
Carthage to Tipasa: he collected the Catholics in the Forum, and,
in the presence of the whole province, deprived the guilty of
their right hands and their tongues. But the holy confessors
continued to speak without tongues; and this miracle is attested
by Victor, an African bishop, who published a history of the
persecution within two years after the event. 123 “If any one,”
says Victor, “should doubt of the truth, let him repair to
Constantinople, and listen to the clear and perfect language of
Restitutus, the sub-deacon, one of these glorious sufferers, who
is now lodged in the palace of the emperor Zeno, and is respected
by the devout empress.” At Constantinople we are astonished to
find a cool, a learned, and unexceptionable witness, without
interest, and without passion. Aeneas of Gaza, a Platonic
philosopher, has accurately described his own observations on
these African sufferers. “I saw them myself: I heard them speak:
I diligently inquired by what means such an articulate voice
could be formed without any organ of speech: I used my eyes to
examine the report of my ears; I opened their mouth, and saw that
the whole tongue had been completely torn away by the roots; an
operation which the physicians generally suppose to be mortal.”
124 The testimony of Aeneas of Gaza might be confirmed by the
superfluous evidence of the emperor Justinian, in a perpetual
edict; of Count Marcellinus, in his Chronicle of the times; and
of Pope Gregory the First, who had resided at Constantinople, as
the minister of the Roman pontiff. 125 They all lived within the
compass of a century; and they all appeal to their personal
knowledge, or the public notoriety, for the truth of a miracle,
which was repeated in several instances, displayed on the
greatest theatre of the world, and submitted, during a series of
years, to the calm examination of the senses. This supernatural
gift of the African confessors, who spoke without tongues, will
command the assent of those, and of those only, who already
believe, that their language was pure and orthodox. But the
stubborn mind of an infidel, is guarded by secret, incurable
suspicion; and the Arian, or Socinian, who has seriously rejected
the doctrine of a Trinity, will not be shaken by the most
plausible evidence of an Athanasian miracle.
121 (return) [ Plin. Hist. Natural. v. 1. Itinerar. Wesseling, p.
15. Cellanius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. ii. part ii. p. 127. This
Tipasa (which must not be confounded with another in Numidia) was
a town of some note since Vespasian endowed it with the right of
Latium.]
122 (return) [ Optatus Milevitanus de Schism. Donatist. l. ii. p.
38.]
123 (return) [ Victor Vitensis, v. 6, p. 76. Ruinart, p.
483-487.]
124 (return) [ Aeneas Gazaeus in Theophrasto, in Biblioth.
Patrum, tom. viii. p. 664, 665. He was a Christian, and composed
this Dialogue (the Theophrastus) on the immortality of the soul,
and the resurrection of the body; besides twenty-five Epistles,
still extant. See Cave, (Hist. Litteraria, p. 297,) and
Fabricius, (Biblioth. Graec. tom. i. p. 422.)]
125 (return) [ Justinian. Codex. l. i. tit. xxvii. Marcellin. in
Chron. p. 45, in Thesaur. Temporum Scaliger. Procopius, de Bell.
Vandal. l. i. c. 7. p. 196. Gregor. Magnus, Dialog. iii. 32. None
of these witnesses have specified the number of the confessors,
which is fixed at sixty in an old menology, (apud Ruinart. p.
486.) Two of them lost their speech by fornication; but the
miracle is enhanced by the singular instance of a boy who had
never spoken before his tongue was cut out. ]
The Vandals and the Ostrogoths persevered in the profession of
Arianism till the final ruin of the kingdoms which they had
founded in Africa and Italy. The Barbarians of Gaul submitted to
the orthodox dominion of the Franks; and Spain was restored to
the Catholic church by the voluntary conversion of the Visigoths.
This salutary revolution 126 was hastened by the example of a
royal martyr, whom our calmer reason may style an ungrateful
rebel. Leovigild, the Gothic monarch of Spain, deserved the
respect of his enemies, and the love of his subjects; the
Catholics enjoyed a free toleration, and his Arian synods
attempted, without much success, to reconcile their scruples by
abolishing the unpopular rite of a second baptism. His eldest son
Hermenegild, who was invested by his father with the royal
diadem, and the fair principality of Boetica, contracted an
honorable and orthodox alliance with a Merovingian princess, the
daughter of Sigebert, king of Austrasia, and of the famous
Brunechild. The beauteous Ingundis, who was no more than thirteen
years of age, was received, beloved, and persecuted, in the Arian
court of Toledo; and her religious constancy was alternately
assaulted with blandishments and violence by Goisvintha, the
Gothic queen, who abused the double claim of maternal authority.
127 Incensed by her resistance, Goisvintha seized the Catholic
princess by her long hair, inhumanly dashed her against the
ground, kicked her till she was covered with blood, and at last
gave orders that she should be stripped, and thrown into a basin,
or fish-pond. 128 Love and honor might excite Hermenegild to
resent this injurious treatment of his bride; and he was
gradually persuaded that Ingundis suffered for the cause of
divine truth. Her tender complaints, and the weighty arguments of
Leander, archbishop of Seville, accomplished his conversion and
the heir of the Gothic monarchy was initiated in the Nicene faith
by the solemn rites of confirmation. 129 The rash youth, inflamed
by zeal, and perhaps by ambition, was tempted to violate the
duties of a son and a subject; and the Catholics of Spain,
although they could not complain of persecution, applauded his
pious rebellion against an heretical father. The civil war was
protracted by the long and obstinate sieges of Merida, Cordova,
and Seville, which had strenuously espoused the party of
Hermenegild. He invited the orthodox Barbarians, the Seuvi, and
the Franks, to the destruction of his native land; he solicited
the dangerous aid of the Romans, who possessed Africa, and a part
of the Spanish coast; and his holy ambassador, the archbishop
Leander, effectually negotiated in person with the Byzantine
court. But the hopes of the Catholics were crushed by the active
diligence of the monarch who commanded the troops and treasures
of Spain; and the guilty Hermenegild, after his vain attempts to
resist or to escape, was compelled to surrender himself into the
hands of an incensed father. Leovigild was still mindful of that
sacred character; and the rebel, despoiled of the regal
ornaments, was still permitted, in a decent exile, to profess the
Catholic religion. His repeated and unsuccessful treasons at
length provoked the indignation of the Gothic king; and the
sentence of death, which he pronounced with apparent reluctance,
was privately executed in the tower of Seville. The inflexible
constancy with which he refused to accept the Arian communion, as
the price of his safety, may excuse the honors that have been
paid to the memory of St. Hermenegild. His wife and infant son
were detained by the Romans in ignominious captivity; and this
domestic misfortune tarnished the glories of Leovigild, and
imbittered the last moments of his life.
126 (return) [ See the two general historians of Spain, Mariana
(Hist. de Rebus Hispaniae, tom. i. l. v. c. 12-15, p. 182-194)
and Ferreras, (French translation, tom. ii. p. 206-247.) Mariana
almost forgets that he is a Jesuit, to assume the style and
spirit of a Roman classic. Ferreras, an industrious compiler,
reviews his facts, and rectifies his chronology.]
127 (return) [ Goisvintha successively married two kings of the
Visigoths: Athanigild, to whom she bore Brunechild, the mother of
Ingundis; and Leovigild, whose two sons, Hermenegild and Recared,
were the issue of a former marriage.]
128 (return) [ Iracundiae furore succensa, adprehensam per comam
capitis puellam in terram conlidit, et diu calcibus verberatam,
ac sanguins cruentatam, jussit exspoliari, et piscinae immergi.
Greg. Turon. l. v. c. 39. in tom. ii. p. 255. Gregory is one of
our best originals for this portion of history.]
129 (return) [ The Catholics who admitted the baptism of heretics
repeated the rite, or, as it was afterwards styled, the
sacrament, of confirmation, to which they ascribed many mystic
and marvellous prerogatives both visible and invisible. See
Chardon. Hist. des Sacremens, tom. 1. p. 405-552.]
His son and successor, Recared, the first Catholic king of Spain,
had imbibed the faith of his unfortunate brother, which he
supported with more prudence and success. Instead of revolting
against his father, Recared patiently expected the hour of his
death. Instead of condemning his memory, he piously supposed,
that the dying monarch had abjured the errors of Arianism, and
recommended to his son the conversion of the Gothic nation. To
accomplish that salutary end, Recared convened an assembly of the
Arian clergy and nobles, declared himself a Catholic, and
exhorted them to imitate the example of their prince. The
laborious interpretation of doubtful texts, or the curious
pursuit of metaphysical arguments, would have excited an endless
controversy; and the monarch discreetly proposed to his
illiterate audience two substantial and visible arguments,—the
testimony of Earth, and of Heaven. The Earth had submitted to the
Nicene synod: the Romans, the Barbarians, and the inhabitants of
Spain, unanimously professed the same orthodox creed; and the
Visigoths resisted, almost alone, the consent of the Christian
world. A superstitious age was prepared to reverence, as the
testimony of Heaven, the preternatural cures, which were
performed by the skill or virtue of the Catholic clergy; the
baptismal fonts of Osset in Boetica, 130 which were spontaneously
replenished every year, on the vigil of Easter; 131 and the
miraculous shrine of St. Martin of Tours, which had already
converted the Suevic prince and people of Gallicia. 132 The
Catholic king encountered some difficulties on this important
change of the national religion. A conspiracy, secretly fomented
by the queen-dowager, was formed against his life; and two counts
excited a dangerous revolt in the Narbonnese Gaul. But Recared
disarmed the conspirators, defeated the rebels, and executed
severe justice; which the Arians, in their turn, might brand with
the reproach of persecution. Eight bishops, whose names betray
their Barbaric origin, abjured their errors; and all the books of
Arian theology were reduced to ashes, with the house in which
they had been purposely collected. The whole body of the
Visigoths and Suevi were allured or driven into the pale of the
Catholic communion; the faith, at least of the rising generation,
was fervent and sincere: and the devout liberality of the
Barbarians enriched the churches and monasteries of Spain.
Seventy bishops, assembled in the council of Toledo, received the
submission of their conquerors; and the zeal of the Spaniards
improved the Nicene creed, by declaring the procession of the
Holy Ghost from the Son, as well as from the Father; a weighty
point of doctrine, which produced, long afterwards, the schism of
the Greek and Latin churches. 133 The royal proselyte immediately
saluted and consulted Pope Gregory, surnamed the Great, a learned
and holy prelate, whose reign was distinguished by the conversion
of heretics and infidels. The ambassadors of Recared respectfully
offered on the threshold of the Vatican his rich presents of gold
and gems; they accepted, as a lucrative exchange, the hairs of
St. John the Baptist; a cross, which enclosed a small piece of
the true wood; and a key, that contained some particles of iron
which had been scraped from the chains of St. Peter. 134
130 (return) [ Osset, or Julia Constantia, was opposite to
Seville, on the northern side of the Boetis, (Plin. Hist. Natur.
iii. 3:) and the authentic reference of Gregory of Tours (Hist.
Francor. l. vi. c. 43, p. 288) deserves more credit than the name
of Lusitania, (de Gloria Martyr. c. 24,) which has been eagerly
embraced by the vain and superstitious Portuguese, (Ferreras,
Hist. d’Espagne, tom. ii. p. 166.)]
131 (return) [ This miracle was skilfully performed. An Arian
king sealed the doors, and dug a deep trench round the church,
without being able to intercept the Easter supply of baptismal
water.]
132 (return) [ Ferreras (tom. ii. p. 168-175, A.D. 550) has
illustrated the difficulties which regard the time and
circumstances of the conversion of the Suevi. They had been
recently united by Leovigild to the Gothic monarchy of Spain.]
133 (return) [ This addition to the Nicene, or rather the
Constantinopolitan creed, was first made in the eighth council of
Toledo, A.D. 653; but it was expressive of the popular doctrine,
(Gerard Vossius, tom. vi. p. 527, de tribus Symbolis.)]
134 (return) [ See Gregor. Magn. l. vii. epist. 126, apud
Baronium, Annal. Eccles. A.D. 559, No. 25, 26.]
The same Gregory, the spiritual conqueror of Britain, encouraged
the pious Theodelinda, queen of the Lombards, to propagate the
Nicene faith among the victorious savages, whose recent
Christianity was polluted by the Arian heresy. Her devout labors
still left room for the industry and success of future
missionaries; and many cities of Italy were still disputed by
hostile bishops. But the cause of Arianism was gradually
suppressed by the weight of truth, of interest, and of example;
and the controversy, which Egypt had derived from the Platonic
school, was terminated, after a war of three hundred years, by
the final conversion of the Lombards of Italy. 135
135 (return) [ Paul Warnefrid (de Gestis Langobard. l. iv. c. 44,
p. 153, edit Grot.) allows that Arianism still prevailed under
the reign of Rotharis, (A.D. 636-652.) The pious deacon does not
attempt to mark the precise era of the national conversion, which
was accomplished, however, before the end of the seventh
century.]
The first missionaries who preached the gospel to the Barbarians,
appealed to the evidence of reason, and claimed the benefit of
toleration. 136 But no sooner had they established their
spiritual dominion, than they exhorted the Christian kings to
extirpate, without mercy, the remains of Roman or Barbaric
superstition. The successors of Clovis inflicted one hundred
lashes on the peasants who refused to destroy their idols; the
crime of sacrificing to the demons was punished by the
Anglo-Saxon laws with the heavier penalties of imprisonment and
confiscation; and even the wise Alfred adopted, as an
indispensable duty, the extreme rigor of the Mosaic institutions.
137 But the punishment and the crime were gradually abolished
among a Christian people; the theological disputes of the schools
were suspended by propitious ignorance; and the intolerant spirit
which could find neither idolaters nor heretics, was reduced to
the persecution of the Jews. That exiled nation had founded some
synagogues in the cities of Gaul; but Spain, since the time of
Hadrian, was filled with their numerous colonies. 138 The wealth
which they accumulated by trade, and the management of the
finances, invited the pious avarice of their masters; and they
might be oppressed without danger, as they had lost the use, and
even the remembrance, of arms. Sisebut, a Gothic king, who
reigned in the beginning of the seventh century, proceeded at
once to the last extremes of persecution. 139 Ninety thousand
Jews were compelled to receive the sacrament of baptism; the
fortunes of the obstinate infidels were confiscated, their bodies
were tortured; and it seems doubtful whether they were permitted
to abandon their native country. The excessive zeal of the
Catholic king was moderated, even by the clergy of Spain, who
solemnly pronounced an inconsistent sentence: that the sacraments
should not be forcibly imposed; but that the Jews who had been
baptized should be constrained, for the honor of the church, to
persevere in the external practice of a religion which they
disbelieved and detested. Their frequent relapses provoked one of
the successors of Sisebut to banish the whole nation from his
dominions; and a council of Toledo published a decree, that every
Gothic king should swear to maintain this salutary edict. But the
tyrants were unwilling to dismiss the victims, whom they
delighted to torture, or to deprive themselves of the industrious
slaves, over whom they might exercise a lucrative oppression. The
Jews still continued in Spain, under the weight of the civil and
ecclesiastical laws, which in the same country have been
faithfully transcribed in the Code of the Inquisition. The Gothic
kings and bishops at length discovered, that injuries will
produce hatred, and that hatred will find the opportunity of
revenge. A nation, the secret or professed enemies of
Christianity, still multiplied in servitude and distress; and the
intrigues of the Jews promoted the rapid success of the Arabian
conquerors. 140
136 (return) [ Quorum fidei et conversioni ita congratulatus esse
rex perhibetur, ut nullum tamen cogeret ad Christianismum....
Didiceret enim a doctoribus auctoribusque suae salutis, servitium
Christi voluntarium non coactitium esse debere. Bedae Hist.
Ecclesiastic. l. i. c. 26, p. 62, edit. Smith.]
137 (return) [ See the Historians of France, tom. iv. p. 114; and
Wilkins, Leges Anglo-Saxonicae, p. 11, 31. Siquis sacrificium
immolaverit praeter Deo soli morte moriatur.]
138 (return) [ The Jews pretend that they were introduced into
Spain by the fleets of Solomon, and the arms of Nebuchadnezzar;
that Hadrian transported forty thousand families of the tribe of
Judah, and ten thousand of the tribe of Benjamin, &c. Basnage,
Hist. des Juifs, tom. vii. c. 9, p. 240-256.]
139 (return) [ Isidore, at that time archbishop of Seville,
mentions, disapproves and congratulates, the zeal of Sisebut
(Chron. Goth. p. 728.) Barosins (A.D. 614, No. 41) assigns the
number of the evidence of Almoin, (l. iv. c. 22;) but the
evidence is weak, and I have not been able to verify the
quotation, (Historians of France, tom. iii. p. 127.)]
140 (return) [ Basnage (tom. viii. c. 13, p. 388-400) faithfully
represents the state of the Jews; but he might have added from
the canons of the Spanish councils, and the laws of the
Visigoths, many curious circumstances, essential to his subject,
though they are foreign to mine. * Note: Compare Milman, Hist. of
Jews iii. 256—M]
As soon as the Barbarians withdrew their powerful support, the
unpopular heresy of Arius sunk into contempt and oblivion. But
the Greeks still retained their subtle and loquacious
disposition: the establishment of an obscure doctrine suggested
new questions, and new disputes; and it was always in the power
of an ambitious prelate, or a fanatic monk, to violate the peace
of the church, and, perhaps, of the empire. The historian of the
empire may overlook those disputes which were confined to the
obscurity of schools and synods. The Manichæans, who labored to
reconcile the religions of Christ and of Zoroaster, had secretly
introduced themselves into the provinces: but these foreign
sectaries were involved in the common disgrace of the Gnostics,
and the Imperial laws were executed by the public hatred. The
rational opinions of the Pelagians were propagated from Britain
to Rome, Africa, and Palestine, and silently expired in a
superstitious age. But the East was distracted by the Nestorian
and Eutychian controversies; which attempted to explain the
mystery of the incarnation, and hastened the ruin of Christianity
in her native land. These controversies were first agitated under
the reign of the younger Theodosius: but their important
consequences extend far beyond the limits of the present volume.
The metaphysical chain of argument, the contests of
ecclesiastical ambition, and their political influence on the
decline of the Byzantine empire, may afford an interesting and
instructive series of history, from the general councils of
Ephesus and Chalcedon, to the conquest of the East by the
successors of Mahomet.
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part I.
Reign And Conversion Of Clovis.—His Victories Over The Alemanni,
Burgundians, And Visigoths.—Establishment Of The French Monarchy
In Gaul.—Laws Of The Barbarians.—State Of The Romans.—The
Visigoths Of Spain.—Conquest Of Britain By The Saxons.
The Gauls, 1 who impatiently supported the Roman yoke, received a
memorable lesson from one of the lieutenants of Vespasian, whose
weighty sense has been refined and expressed by the genius of
Tacitus. 2 “The protection of the republic has delivered Gaul
from internal discord and foreign invasions. By the loss of
national independence, you have acquired the name and privileges
of Roman citizens. You enjoy, in common with yourselves, the
permanent benefits of civil government; and your remote situation
is less exposed to the accidental mischiefs of tyranny. Instead
of exercising the rights of conquest, we have been contented to
impose such tributes as are requisite for your own preservation.
Peace cannot be secured without armies; and armies must be
supported at the expense of the people. It is for your sake, not
for our own, that we guard the barrier of the Rhine against the
ferocious Germans, who have so often attempted, and who will
always desire, to exchange the solitude of their woods and
morasses for the wealth and fertility of Gaul. The fall of Rome
would be fatal to the provinces; and you would be buried in the
ruins of that mighty fabric, which has been raised by the valor
and wisdom of eight hundred years. Your imaginary freedom would
be insulted and oppressed by a savage master; and the expulsion
of the Romans would be succeeded by the eternal hostilities of
the Barbarian conquerors.” 3 This salutary advice was accepted,
and this strange prediction was accomplished. In the space of
four hundred years, the hardy Gauls, who had encountered the arms
of Caesar, were imperceptibly melted into the general mass of
citizens and subjects: the Western empire was dissolved; and the
Germans, who had passed the Rhine, fiercely contended for the
possession of Gaul, and excited the contempt, or abhorrence, of
its peaceful and polished inhabitants. With that conscious pride
which the preeminence of knowledge and luxury seldom fails to
inspire, they derided the hairy and gigantic savages of the
North; their rustic manners, dissonant joy, voracious appetite,
and their horrid appearance, equally disgusting to the sight and
to the smell. The liberal studies were still cultivated in the
schools of Autun and Bordeaux; and the language of Cicero and
Virgil was familiar to the Gallic youth. Their ears were
astonished by the harsh and unknown sounds of the Germanic
dialect, and they ingeniously lamented that the trembling muses
fled from the harmony of a Burgundian lyre. The Gauls were
endowed with all the advantages of art and nature; but as they
wanted courage to defend them, they were justly condemned to
obey, and even to flatter, the victorious Barbarians, by whose
clemency they held their precarious fortunes and their lives. 4
1 (return) [ In this chapter I shall draw my quotations from the
Recueil des Historiens des Gaules et de la France, Paris,
1738-1767, in eleven volumes in folio. By the labor of Dom
Bouquet, and the other Benedictines, all the original
testimonies, as far as A.D. 1060, are disposed in chronological
order, and illustrated with learned notes. Such a national work,
which will be continued to the year 1500, might provoke our
emulation.]
2 (return) [ Tacit. Hist. iv. 73, 74, in tom. i. p. 445. To
abridge Tacitus would indeed be presumptuous; but I may select
the general ideas which he applies to the present state and
future revelations of Gaul.]
3 (return) [ Eadem semper causa Germanis transcendendi in Gallias
libido atque avaritiae et mutandae sedis amor; ut relictis
paludibus et solitudinibus, suis, fecundissimum hoc solum vosque
ipsos possiderent.... Nam pulsis Romanis quid aliud quam bella
omnium inter se gentium exsistent?]
4 (return) [ Sidonius Apollinaris ridicules, with affected wit
and pleasantry, the hardships of his situation, (Carm. xii. in
tom. i. p. 811.)]
As soon as Odoacer had extinguished the Western empire, he sought
the friendship of the most powerful of the Barbarians. The new
sovereign of Italy resigned to Euric, king of the Visigoths, all
the Roman conquests beyond the Alps, as far as the Rhine and the
Ocean: 5 and the senate might confirm this liberal gift with some
ostentation of power, and without any real loss of revenue and
dominion. The lawful pretensions of Euric were justified by
ambition and success; and the Gothic nation might aspire, under
his command, to the monarchy of Spain and Gaul. Arles and
Marseilles surrendered to his arms: he oppressed the freedom of
Auvergne; and the bishop condescended to purchase his recall from
exile by a tribute of just, but reluctant praise. Sidonius waited
before the gates of the palace among a crowd of ambassadors and
suppliants; and their various business at the court of Bordeaux
attested the power, and the renown, of the king of the Visigoths.
The Heruli of the distant ocean, who painted their naked bodies
with its coerulean color, implored his protection; and the Saxons
respected the maritime provinces of a prince, who was destitute
of any naval force. The tall Burgundians submitted to his
authority; nor did he restore the captive Franks, till he had
imposed on that fierce nation the terms of an unequal peace. The
Vandals of Africa cultivated his useful friendship; and the
Ostrogoths of Pannonia were supported by his powerful aid against
the oppression of the neighboring Huns. The North (such are the
lofty strains of the poet) was agitated or appeased by the nod of
Euric; the great king of Persia consulted the oracle of the West;
and the aged god of the Tyber was protected by the swelling
genius of the Garonne. 6 The fortune of nations has often
depended on accidents; and France may ascribe her greatness to
the premature death of the Gothic king, at a time when his son
Alaric was a helpless infant, and his adversary Clovis 7 an
ambitious and valiant youth.
5 (return) [ See Procopius de Bell. Gothico, l. i. c. 12, in tom.
ii. p. 81. The character of Grotius inclines me to believe, that
he has not substituted the Rhine for the Rhone (Hist. Gothorum,
p. 175) without the authority of some Ms.]
6 (return) [ Sidonius, l. viii. epist. 3, 9, in tom. i. p. 800.
Jornandes (de Rebus Geticis, c. 47 p. 680) justifies, in some
measure, this portrait of the Gothic hero.]
7 (return) [ I use the familiar appellation of Clovis, from the
Latin Chlodovechus, or Chlodovoeus. But the Ch expresses only the
German aspiration, and the true name is not different from Lewis,
(Mem. de ‘Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xx. p. 68.)]
While Childeric, the father of Clovis, lived an exile in Germany,
he was hospitably entertained by the queen, as well as by the
king, of the Thuringians. After his restoration, Basina escaped
from her husband’s bed to the arms of her lover; freely
declaring, that if she had known a man wiser, stronger, or more
beautiful, than Childeric, that man should have been the object
of her preference. 8 9 Clovis was the offspring of this voluntary
union; and, when he was no more than fifteen years of age, he
succeeded, by his father’s death, to the command of the Salian
tribe. The narrow limits of his kingdom were confined to the
island of the Batavians, with the ancient dioceses of Tournay and
Arras; 10 and at the baptism of Clovis the number of his warriors
could not exceed five thousand. The kindred tribes of the Franks,
who had seated themselves along the Belgic rivers, the Scheld,
the Meuse, the Moselle, and the Rhine, were governed by their
independent kings, of the Merovingian race; the equals, the
allies, and sometimes the enemies of the Salic prince. But the
Germans, who obeyed, in peace, the hereditary jurisdiction of
their chiefs, were free to follow the standard of a popular and
victorious general; and the superior merit of Clovis attracted
the respect and allegiance of the national confederacy. When he
first took the field, he had neither gold and silver in his
coffers, nor wine and corn in his magazine; 11 but he imitated
the example of Caesar, who, in the same country, had acquired
wealth by the sword, and purchased soldiers with the fruits of
conquest. After each successful battle or expedition, the spoils
were accumulated in one common mass; every warrior received his
proportionable share; and the royal prerogative submitted to the
equal regulations of military law. The untamed spirit of the
Barbarians was taught to acknowledge the advantages of regular
discipline. 12 At the annual review of the month of March, their
arms were diligently inspected; and when they traversed a
peaceful territory, they were prohibited from touching a blade of
grass. The justice of Clovis was inexorable; and his careless or
disobedient soldiers were punished with instant death. It would
be superfluous to praise the valor of a Frank; but the valor of
Clovis was directed by cool and consummate prudence. 13 In all
his transactions with mankind, he calculated the weight of
interest, of passion, and of opinion; and his measures were
sometimes adapted to the sanguinary manners of the Germans, and
sometimes moderated by the milder genius of Rome, and
Christianity. He was intercepted in the career of victory, since
he died in the forty-fifth year of his age: but he had already
accomplished, in a reign of thirty years, the establishment of
the French monarchy in Gaul.
8 (return) [ Greg. l. ii. c. 12, in tom. i. p. 168. Basina speaks
the language of nature; the Franks, who had seen her in their
youth, might converse with Gregory in their old age; and the
bishop of Tours could not wish to defame the mother of the first
Christian king.]
9 (return) [ The Abbe Dubos (Hist. Critique de l’Etablissement de
la Monarchie Francoise dans les Gaules, tom. i. p. 630-650) has
the merit of defining the primitive kingdom of Clovis, and of
ascertaining the genuine number of his subjects.]
10 (return) [ Ecclesiam incultam ac negligentia civium Paganorum
praetermis sam, veprium densitate oppletam, &c. Vit. St. Vedasti,
in tom. iii. p. 372. This description supposes that Arras was
possessed by the Pagans many years before the baptism of Clovis.]
11 (return) [ Gregory of Tours (l v. c. i. tom. ii. p. 232)
contrasts the poverty of Clovis with the wealth of his grandsons.
Yet Remigius (in tom. iv. p. 52) mentions his paternas opes, as
sufficient for the redemption of captives.]
12 (return) [ See Gregory, (l. ii. c. 27, 37, in tom. ii. p. 175,
181, 182.) The famous story of the vase of Soissons explains both
the power and the character of Clovis. As a point of controversy,
it has been strangely tortured by Boulainvilliers Dubos, and the
other political antiquarians.]
13 (return) [ The duke of Nivernois, a noble statesman, who has
managed weighty and delicate negotiations, ingeniously
illustrates (Mem. de l’Acad. des Inscriptions, tom. xx. p.
147-184) the political system of Clovis.]
The first exploit of Clovis was the defeat of Syagrius, the son
of Aegidius; and the public quarrel might, on this occasion, be
inflamed by private resentment. The glory of the father still
insulted the Merovingian race; the power of the son might excite
the jealous ambition of the king of the Franks. Syagrius
inherited, as a patrimonial estate, the city and diocese of
Soissons: the desolate remnant of the second Belgic, Rheims and
Troyes, Beauvais and Amiens, would naturally submit to the count
or patrician: 14 and after the dissolution of the Western empire,
he might reign with the title, or at least with the authority, of
king of the Romans. 15 As a Roman, he had been educated in the
liberal studies of rhetoric and jurisprudence; but he was engaged
by accident and policy in the familiar use of the Germanic idiom.
The independent Barbarians resorted to the tribunal of a
stranger, who possessed the singular talent of explaining, in
their native tongue, the dictates of reason and equity. The
diligence and affability of their judge rendered him popular, the
impartial wisdom of his decrees obtained their voluntary
obedience, and the reign of Syagrius over the Franks and
Burgundians seemed to revive the original institution of civil
society. 16 In the midst of these peaceful occupations, Syagrius
received, and boldly accepted, the hostile defiance of Clovis;
who challenged his rival in the spirit, and almost in the
language, of chivalry, to appoint the day and the field 17 of
battle. In the time of Caesar Soissons would have poured forth a
body of fifty thousand horse and such an army might have been
plentifully supplied with shields, cuirasses, and military
engines, from the three arsenals or manufactures of the city. 18
But the courage and numbers of the Gallic youth were long since
exhausted; and the loose bands of volunteers, or mercenaries, who
marched under the standard of Syagrius, were incapable of
contending with the national valor of the Franks. It would be
ungenerous without some more accurate knowledge of his strength
and resources, to condemn the rapid flight of Syagrius, who
escaped, after the loss of a battle, to the distant court of
Thoulouse. The feeble minority of Alaric could not assist or
protect an unfortunate fugitive; the pusillanimous 19 Goths were
intimidated by the menaces of Clovis; and the Roman king, after a
short confinement, was delivered into the hands of the
executioner. The Belgic cities surrendered to the king of the
Franks; and his dominions were enlarged towards the East by the
ample diocese of Tongres 20 which Clovis subdued in the tenth
year of his reign.
14 (return) [ M. Biet (in a Dissertation which deserved the prize
of the Academy of Soissons, p. 178-226,) has accurately defined
the nature and extent of the kingdom of Syagrius and his father;
but he too readily allows the slight evidence of Dubos (tom. ii.
p. 54-57) to deprive him of Beauvais and Amiens.]
15 (return) [ I may observe that Fredegarius, in his epitome of
Gregory of Tours, (tom. ii. p. 398,) has prudently substituted
the name of Patricius for the incredible title of Rex Romanorum.]
16 (return) [ Sidonius, (l. v. Epist. 5, in tom. i. p. 794,) who
styles him the Solon, the Amphion, of the Barbarians, addresses
this imaginary king in the tone of friendship and equality. From
such offices of arbitration, the crafty Dejoces had raised
himself to the throne of the Medes, (Herodot. l. i. c. 96-100.)]
17 (return) [ Campum sibi praeparari jussit. M. Biet (p. 226-251)
has diligently ascertained this field of battle, at Nogent, a
Benedictine abbey, about ten miles to the north of Soissons. The
ground was marked by a circle of Pagan sepulchres; and Clovis
bestowed the adjacent lands of Leully and Coucy on the church of
Rheims.]
18 (return) [ See Caesar. Comment. de Bell. Gallic. ii. 4, in
tom. i. p. 220, and the Notitiae, tom. i. p. 126. The three
Fabricae of Soissons were, Seutaria, Balistaria, and Clinabaria.
The last supplied the complete armor of the heavy cuirassiers.]
19 (return) [ The epithet must be confined to the circumstances;
and history cannot justify the French prejudice of Gregory, (l.
ii. c. 27, in tom. ii. p. 175,) ut Gothorum pavere mos est.]
20 (return) [ Dubos has satisfied me (tom. i. p. 277-286) that
Gregory of Tours, his transcribers, or his readers, have
repeatedly confounded the German kingdom of Thuringia, beyond the
Rhine, and the Gallic city of Tongria, on the Meuse, which was
more anciently the country of the Eburones, and more recently the
diocese of Liege.]
The name of the Alemanni has been absurdly derived from their
imaginary settlement on the banks of the Leman Lake. 21 That
fortunate district, from the lake to the Avenche, and Mount Jura,
was occupied by the Burgundians. 22 The northern parts of
Helvetia had indeed been subdued by the ferocious Alemanni, who
destroyed with their own hands the fruits of their conquest. A
province, improved and adorned by the arts of Rome, was again
reduced to a savage wilderness; and some vestige of the stately
Vindonissa may still be discovered in the fertile and populous
valley of the Aar. 23 From the source of the Rhine to its conflux
with the Mein and the Moselle, the formidable swarms of the
Alemanni commanded either side of the river, by the right of
ancient possession, or recent victory. They had spread themselves
into Gaul, over the modern provinces of Alsace and Lorraine; and
their bold invasion of the kingdom of Cologne summoned the Salic
prince to the defence of his Ripuarian allies.
Clovis encountered the invaders of Gaul in the plain of Tolbiac,
about twenty-four miles from Cologne; and the two fiercest
nations of Germany were mutually animated by the memory of past
exploits, and the prospect of future greatness. The Franks, after
an obstinate struggle, gave way; and the Alemanni, raising a
shout of victory, impetuously pressed their retreat. But the
battle was restored by the valor, and the conduct, and perhaps by
the piety, of Clovis; and the event of the bloody day decided
forever the alternative of empire or servitude. The last king of
the Alemanni was slain in the field, and his people were
slaughtered or pursued, till they threw down their arms, and
yielded to the mercy of the conqueror. Without discipline it was
impossible for them to rally: they had contemptuously demolished
the walls and fortifications which might have protected their
distress; and they were followed into the heart of their forests
by an enemy not less active, or intrepid, than themselves. The
great Theodoric congratulated the victory of Clovis, whose sister
Albofleda the king of Italy had lately married; but he mildly
interceded with his brother in favor of the suppliants and
fugitives, who had implored his protection. The Gallic
territories, which were possessed by the Alemanni, became the
prize of their conqueror; and the haughty nation, invincible, or
rebellious, to the arms of Rome, acknowledged the sovereignty of
the Merovingian kings, who graciously permitted them to enjoy
their peculiar manners and institutions, under the government of
official, and, at length, of hereditary, dukes. After the
conquest of the Western provinces, the Franks alone maintained
their ancient habitations beyond the Rhine. They gradually
subdued, and civilized, the exhausted countries, as far as the
Elbe, and the mountains of Bohemia; and the peace of Europe was
secured by the obedience of Germany. 24
21 (return) [ Populi habitantes juxta Lemannum lacum, Alemanni
dicuntur. Servius, ad Virgil. Georgic. iv. 278. Don Bouquet (tom.
i. p. 817) has only alleged the more recent and corrupt text of
Isidore of Seville.]
22 (return) [ Gregory of Tours sends St. Lupicinus inter illa
Jurensis deserti secreta, quae, inter Burgundiam Alamanniamque
sita, Aventicae adja cent civitati, in tom. i. p. 648. M. de
Watteville (Hist. de la Confederation Helvetique, tom. i. p. 9,
10) has accurately defined the Helvetian limits of the Duchy of
Alemannia, and the Transjurane Burgundy. They were commensurate
with the dioceses of Constance and Avenche, or Lausanne, and are
still discriminated, in modern Switzerland, by the use of the
German, or French, language.]
23 (return) [ See Guilliman de Rebus Helveticis, l i. c. 3, p.
11, 12. Within the ancient walls of Vindonissa, the castle of
Hapsburgh, the abbey of Konigsfield, and the town of Bruck, have
successively risen. The philosophic traveller may compare the
monuments of Roman conquest of feudal or Austrian tyranny, of
monkish superstition, and of industrious freedom. If he be truly
a philosopher, he will applaud the merit and happiness of his own
times.]
24 (return) [ Gregory of Tours, (l. ii. 30, 37, in tom. ii. p.
176, 177, 182,) the Gesta Francorum, (in tom. ii. p. 551,) and
the epistle of Theodoric, (Cassiodor. Variar. l. ii. c. 41, in
tom. iv. p. 4,) represent the defeat of the Alemanni. Some of
their tribes settled in Rhaetia, under the protection of
Theodoric; whose successors ceded the colony and their country to
the grandson of Clovis. The state of the Alemanni under the
Merovingian kings may be seen in Mascou (Hist. of the Ancient
Germans, xi. 8, &c. Annotation xxxvi.) and Guilliman, (de Reb.
Helvet. l. ii. c. 10-12, p. 72-80.)]
Till the thirtieth year of his age, Clovis continued to worship
the gods of his ancestors. 25 His disbelief, or rather disregard,
of Christianity, might encourage him to pillage with less remorse
the churches of a hostile territory: but his subjects of Gaul
enjoyed the free exercise of religious worship; and the bishops
entertained a more favorable hope of the idolater, than of the
heretics. The Merovingian prince had contracted a fortunate
alliance with the fair Clotilda, the niece of the king of
Burgundy, who, in the midst of an Arian court, was educated in
the profession of the Catholic faith. It was her interest, as
well as her duty, to achieve the conversion 26 of a Pagan
husband; and Clovis insensibly listened to the voice of love and
religion. He consented (perhaps such terms had been previously
stipulated) to the baptism of his eldest son; and though the
sudden death of the infant excited some superstitious fears, he
was persuaded, a second time, to repeat the dangerous experiment.
In the distress of the battle of Tolbiac, Clovis loudly invoked
the God of Clotilda and the Christians; and victory disposed him
to hear, with respectful gratitude, the eloquent 27 Remigius, 28
bishop of Rheims, who forcibly displayed the temporal and
spiritual advantages of his conversion. The king declared himself
satisfied of the truth of the Catholic faith; and the political
reasons which might have suspended his public profession, were
removed by the devout or loyal acclamations of the Franks, who
showed themselves alike prepared to follow their heroic leader to
the field of battle, or to the baptismal font. The important
ceremony was performed in the cathedral of Rheims, with every
circumstance of magnificence and solemnity that could impress an
awful sense of religion on the minds of its rude proselytes. 29
The new Constantine was immediately baptized, with three thousand
of his warlike subjects; and their example was imitated by the
remainder of the gentle Barbarians, who, in obedience to the
victorious prelate, adored the cross which they had burnt, and
burnt the idols which they had formerly adored. 30 The mind of
Clovis was susceptible of transient fervor: he was exasperated by
the pathetic tale of the passion and death of Christ; and,
instead of weighing the salutary consequences of that mysterious
sacrifice, he exclaimed, with indiscreet fury, “Had I been
present at the head of my valiant Franks, I would have revenged
his injuries.” 31 But the savage conqueror of Gaul was incapable
of examining the proofs of a religion, which depends on the
laborious investigation of historic evidence and speculative
theology. He was still more incapable of feeling the mild
influence of the gospel, which persuades and purifies the heart
of a genuine convert. His ambitious reign was a perpetual
violation of moral and Christian duties: his hands were stained
with blood in peace as well as in war; and, as soon as Clovis had
dismissed a synod of the Gallican church, he calmly assassinated
all the princes of the Merovingian race. 32 Yet the king of the
Franks might sincerely worship the Christian God, as a Being more
excellent and powerful than his national deities; and the signal
deliverance and victory of Tolbiac encouraged Clovis to confide
in the future protection of the Lord of Hosts. Martin, the most
popular of the saints, had filled the Western world with the fame
of those miracles which were incessantly performed at his holy
sepulchre of Tours. His visible or invisible aid promoted the
cause of a liberal and orthodox prince; and the profane remark of
Clovis himself, that St.Martin was an expensive friend, 33 need
not be interpreted as the symptom of any permanent or rational
scepticism. But earth, as well as heaven, rejoiced in the
conversion of the Franks. On the memorable day when Clovis
ascended from the baptismal font, he alone, in the Christian
world, deserved the name and prerogatives of a Catholic king. The
emperor Anastasius entertained some dangerous errors concerning
the nature of the divine incarnation; and the Barbarians of
Italy, Africa, Spain, and Gaul, were involved in the Arian
heresy. The eldest, or rather the only, son of the church, was
acknowledged by the clergy as their lawful sovereign, or glorious
deliverer; and the armies of Clovis were strenuously supported by
the zeal and fervor of the Catholic faction. 34
25 (return) [ Clotilda, or rather Gregory, supposes that Clovis
worshipped the gods of Greece and Rome. The fact is incredible,
and the mistake only shows how completely, in less than a
century, the national religion of the Franks had been abolished
and even forgotten]
26 (return) [ Gregory of Tours relates the marriage and
conversion of Clovis, (l. ii. c. 28-31, in tom. ii. p. 175-178.)
Even Fredegarius, or the nameless Epitomizer, (in tom. ii. p.
398-400,) the author of the Gesta Francorum, (in tom. ii. p.
548-552,) and Aimoin himself, (l. i. c. 13, in tom. iii. p.
37-40,) may be heard without disdain. Tradition might long
preserve some curious circumstances of these important
transactions.]
27 (return) [ A traveller, who returned from Rheims to Auvergne,
had stolen a copy of his declamations from the secretary or
bookseller of the modest archbishop, (Sidonius Apollinar. l. ix.
epist. 7.) Four epistles of Remigius, which are still extant, (in
tom. iv. p. 51, 52, 53,) do not correspond with the splendid
praise of Sidonius.]
28 (return) [ Hincmar, one of the successors of Remigius, (A.D.
845-882,) had composed his life, (in tom. iii. p. 373-380.) The
authority of ancient MSS. of the church of Rheims might inspire
some confidence, which is destroyed, however, by the selfish and
audacious fictions of Hincmar. It is remarkable enough, that
Remigius, who was consecrated at the age of twenty-two, (A.D.
457,) filled the episcopal chair seventy-four years, (Pagi
Critica, in Baron tom. ii. p. 384, 572.)]
29 (return) [ A phial (the Sainte Ampoulle of holy, or rather
celestial, oil,) was brought down by a white dove, for the
baptism of Clovis; and it is still used and renewed, in the
coronation of the kings of France. Hincmar (he aspired to the
primacy of Gaul) is the first author of this fable, (in tom. iii.
p. 377,) whose slight foundations the Abbe de Vertot (Mémoires de
l’Academie des Inscriptions, tom. ii. p. 619-633) has undermined,
with profound respect and consummate dexterity.]
30 (return) [ Mitis depone colla, Sicamber: adora quod
incendisti, incende quod adorasti. Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 31, in
tom. ii. p. 177.]
31 (return) [ Si ego ibidem cum Francis meis fuissem, injurias
ejus vindicassem. This rash expression, which Gregory has
prudently concealed, is celebrated by Fredegarius, (Epitom. c.
21, in tom. ii. p. 400,) Ai moin, (l. i. c. 16, in tom. iii. p.
40,) and the Chroniques de St. Denys, (l. i. c. 20, in tom. iii.
p. 171,) as an admirable effusion of Christian zeal.]
32 (return) [ Gregory, (l. ii. c. 40-43, in tom. ii. p. 183-185,)
after coolly relating the repeated crimes, and affected remorse,
of Clovis, concludes, perhaps undesignedly, with a lesson, which
ambition will never hear. “His ita transactis obiit.”]
33 (return) [ After the Gothic victory, Clovis made rich
offerings to St. Martin of Tours. He wished to redeem his
war-horse by the gift of one hundred pieces of gold, but the
enchanted steed could not remove from the stable till the price
of his redemption had been doubled. This miracle provoked the
king to exclaim, Vere B. Martinus est bonus in auxilio, sed carus
in negotio. (Gesta Francorum, in tom. ii. p. 554, 555.)]
34 (return) [ See the epistle from Pope Anastasius to the royal
convert, (in Com. iv. p. 50, 51.) Avitus, bishop of Vienna,
addressed Clovis on the same subject, (p. 49;) and many of the
Latin bishops would assure him of their joy and attachment.]
Under the Roman empire, the wealth and jurisdiction of the
bishops, their sacred character, and perpetual office, their
numerous dependants, popular eloquence, and provincial
assemblies, had rendered them always respectable, and sometimes
dangerous. Their influence was augmented with the progress of
superstition; and the establishment of the French monarchy may,
in some degree, be ascribed to the firm alliance of a hundred
prelates, who reigned in the discontented, or independent, cities
of Gaul. The slight foundations of the Armorican republic had
been repeatedly shaken, or overthrown; but the same people still
guarded their domestic freedom; asserted the dignity of the Roman
name; and bravely resisted the predatory inroads, and regular
attacks, of Clovis, who labored to extend his conquests from the
Seine to the Loire. Their successful opposition introduced an
equal and honorable union. The Franks esteemed the valor of the
Armoricans 35 and the Armoricans were reconciled by the religion
of the Franks. The military force which had been stationed for
the defence of Gaul, consisted of one hundred different bands of
cavalry or infantry; and these troops, while they assumed the
title and privileges of Roman soldiers, were renewed by an
incessant supply of the Barbarian youth. The extreme
fortifications, and scattered fragments of the empire, were still
defended by their hopeless courage. But their retreat was
intercepted, and their communication was impracticable: they were
abandoned by the Greek princes of Constantinople, and they
piously disclaimed all connection with the Arian usurpers of
Gaul. They accepted, without shame or reluctance, the generous
capitulation, which was proposed by a Catholic hero; and this
spurious, or legitimate, progeny of the Roman legions, was
distinguished in the succeeding age by their arms, their ensigns,
and their peculiar dress and institutions. But the national
strength was increased by these powerful and voluntary
accessions; and the neighboring kingdoms dreaded the numbers, as
well as the spirit, of the Franks. The reduction of the Northern
provinces of Gaul, instead of being decided by the chance of a
single battle, appears to have been slowly effected by the
gradual operation of war and treaty and Clovis acquired each
object of his ambition, by such efforts, or such concessions, as
were adequate to its real value. His savage character, and the
virtues of Henry IV., suggest the most opposite ideas of human
nature; yet some resemblance may be found in the situation of two
princes, who conquered France by their valor, their policy, and
the merits of a seasonable conversion. 36
35 (return) [ Instead of an unknown people, who now appear on the
text of Procopious, Hadrian de Valois has restored the proper
name of the easy correction has been almost universally approved.
Yet an unprejudiced reader would naturally suppose, that
Procopius means to describe a tribe of Germans in the alliance of
Rome; and not a confederacy of Gallic cities, which had revolted
from the empire. * Note: Compare Hallam’s Europe during the
Middle Ages, vol i. p. 2, Daru, Hist. de Bretagne vol. i. p.
129—M.]
36 (return) [ This important digression of Procopius (de Bell.
Gothic. l. i. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 29-36) illustrates the origin
of the French monarchy. Yet I must observe, 1. That the Greek
historian betrays an inexcusable ignorance of the geography of
the West. 2. That these treaties and privileges, which should
leave some lasting traces, are totally invisible in Gregory of
Tours, the Salic laws, &c.]
The kingdom of the Burgundians, which was defined by the course
of two Gallic rivers, the Saone and the Rhone, extended from the
forest of Vosges to the Alps and the sea of Marscilles. 37 The
sceptre was in the hands of Gundobald. That valiant and ambitious
prince had reduced the number of royal candidates by the death of
two brothers, one of whom was the father of Clotilda; 38 but his
imperfect prudence still permitted Godegisel, the youngest of his
brothers, to possess the dependent principality of Geneva. The
Arian monarch was justly alarmed by the satisfaction, and the
hopes, which seemed to animate his clergy and people after the
conversion of Clovis; and Gundobald convened at Lyons an assembly
of his bishops, to reconcile, if it were possible, their
religious and political discontents. A vain conference was
agitated between the two factions. The Arians upbraided the
Catholics with the worship of three Gods: the Catholics defended
their cause by theological distinctions; and the usual arguments,
objections, and replies were reverberated with obstinate clamor;
till the king revealed his secret apprehensions, by an abrupt but
decisive question, which he addressed to the orthodox bishops.
“If you truly profess the Christian religion, why do you not
restrain the king of the Franks? He has declared war against me,
and forms alliances with my enemies for my destruction. A
sanguinary and covetous mind is not the symptom of a sincere
conversion: let him show his faith by his works.” The answer of
Avitus, bishop of Vienna, who spoke in the name of his brethren,
was delivered with the voice and countenance of an angel. “We are
ignorant of the motives and intentions of the king of the Franks:
but we are taught by Scripture, that the kingdoms which abandon
the divine law are frequently subverted; and that enemies will
arise on every side against those who have made God their enemy.
Return, with thy people, to the law of God, and he will give
peace and security to thy dominions.” The king of Burgundy, who
was not prepared to accept the condition which the Catholics
considered as essential to the treaty, delayed and dismissed the
ecclesiastical conference; after reproaching his bishops, that
Clovis, their friend and proselyte, had privately tempted the
allegiance of his brother. 39
37 (return) [ Regnum circa Rhodanum aut Ararim cum provincia
Massiliensi retinebant. Greg. Turon. l. ii. c. 32, in tom. ii. p.
178. The province of Marseilles, as far as the Durance, was
afterwards ceded to the Ostrogoths; and the signatures of
twenty-five bishops are supposed to represent the kingdom of
Burgundy, A.D. 519. (Concil. Epaon, in tom. iv. p. 104, 105.) Yet
I would except Vindonissa. The bishop, who lived under the Pagan
Alemanni, would naturally resort to the synods of the next
Christian kingdom. Mascou (in his four first annotations) has
explained many circumstances relative to the Burgundian
monarchy.]
38 (return) [ Mascou, (Hist. of the Germans, xi. 10,) who very
reasonably distracts the testimony of Gregory of Tours, has
produced a passage from Avitus (epist. v.) to prove that
Gundobald affected to deplore the tragic event, which his
subjects affected to applaud.]
39 (return) [ See the original conference, (in tom. iv. p.
99-102.) Avitus, the principal actor, and probably the secretary
of the meeting, was bishop of Vienna. A short account of his
person and works may be fouud in Dupin, (Bibliothèque
Ecclesiastique, tom. v. p. 5-10.)]
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part II.
The allegiance of his brother was already seduced; and the
obedience of Godegisel, who joined the royal standard with the
troops of Geneva, more effectually promoted the success of the
conspiracy. While the Franks and Burgundians contended with equal
valor, his seasonable desertion decided the event of the battle;
and as Gundobald was faintly supported by the disaffected Gauls,
he yielded to the arms of Clovis, and hastily retreated from the
field, which appears to have been situate between Langres and
Dijon. He distrusted the strength of Dijon, a quadrangular
fortress, encompassed by two rivers, and by a wall thirty feet
high, and fifteen thick, with four gates, and thirty-three
towers: 40 he abandoned to the pursuit of Clovis the important
cities of Lyons and Vienna; and Gundobald still fled with
precipitation, till he had reached Avignon, at the distance of
two hundred and fifty miles from the field of battle.
A long siege and an artful negotiation, admonished the king of
the Franks of the danger and difficulty of his enterprise. He
imposed a tribute on the Burgundian prince, compelled him to
pardon and reward his brother’s treachery, and proudly returned
to his own dominions, with the spoils and captives of the
southern provinces. This splendid triumph was soon clouded by the
intelligence, that Gundobald had violated his recent obligations,
and that the unfortunate Godegisel, who was left at Vienna with a
garrison of five thousand Franks, 41 had been besieged,
surprised, and massacred by his inhuman brother. Such an outrage
might have exasperated the patience of the most peaceful
sovereign; yet the conqueror of Gaul dissembled the injury,
released the tribute, and accepted the alliance, and military
service, of the king of Burgundy. Clovis no longer possessed
those advantages which had assured the success of the preceding
war; and his rival, instructed by adversity, had found new
resources in the affections of his people. The Gauls or Romans
applauded the mild and impartial laws of Gundobald, which almost
raised them to the same level with their conquerors. The bishops
were reconciled, and flattered, by the hopes, which he artfully
suggested, of his approaching conversion; and though he eluded
their accomplishment to the last moment of his life, his
moderation secured the peace, and suspended the ruin, of the
kingdom of Burgundy. 42
40 (return) [ Gregory of Tours (l. iii. c. 19, in tom. ii. p.
197) indulges his genius, or rather describes some more eloquent
writer, in the description of Dijon; a castle, which already
deserved the title of a city. It depended on the bishops of
Langres till the twelfth century, and afterwards became the
capital of the dukes of Burgundy Longuerue Description de la
France, part i. p. 280.]
41 (return) [ The Epitomizer of Gregory of Tours (in tom. ii. p.
401) has supplied this number of Franks; but he rashly supposes
that they were cut in pieces by Gundobald. The prudent Burgundian
spared the soldiers of Clovis, and sent these captives to the
king of the Visigoths, who settled them in the territory of
Thoulouse.]
42 (return) [ In this Burgundian war I have followed Gregory of
Tours, (l. ii. c. 32, 33, in tom. ii. p. 178, 179,) whose
narrative appears so incompatible with that of Procopius, (de
Bell. Goth. l. i. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 31, 32,) that some
critics have supposed two different wars. The Abbe Dubos (Hist.
Critique, &c., tom. ii. p. 126-162) has distinctly represented
the causes and the events.]
I am impatient to pursue the final ruin of that kingdom, which
was accomplished under the reign of Sigismond, the son of
Gundobald. The Catholic Sigismond has acquired the honors of a
saint and martyr; 43 but the hands of the royal saint were
stained with the blood of his innocent son, whom he inhumanly
sacrificed to the pride and resentment of a step-mother. He soon
discovered his error, and bewailed the irreparable loss. While
Sigismond embraced the corpse of the unfortunate youth, he
received a severe admonition from one of his attendants: “It is
not his situation, O king! it is thine which deserves pity and
lamentation.” The reproaches of a guilty conscience were
alleviated, however, by his liberal donations to the monastery of
Agaunum, or St. Maurice, in Vallais; which he himself had founded
in honor of the imaginary martyrs of the Thebaean legion. 44 A
full chorus of perpetual psalmody was instituted by the pious
king; he assiduously practised the austere devotion of the monks;
and it was his humble prayer, that Heaven would inflict in this
world the punishment of his sins. His prayer was heard: the
avengers were at hand: and the provinces of Burgundy were
overwhelmed by an army of victorious Franks. After the event of
an unsuccessful battle, Sigismond, who wished to protract his
life that he might prolong his penance, concealed himself in the
desert in a religious habit, till he was discovered and betrayed
by his subjects, who solicited the favor of their new masters.
The captive monarch, with his wife and two children, was
transported to Orleans, and buried alive in a deep well, by the
stern command of the sons of Clovis; whose cruelty might derive
some excuse from the maxims and examples of their barbarous age.
Their ambition, which urged them to achieve the conquest of
Burgundy, was inflamed, or disguised, by filial piety: and
Clotilda, whose sanctity did not consist in the forgiveness of
injuries, pressed them to revenge her father’s death on the
family of his assassin. The rebellious Burgundians (for they
attempted to break their chains) were still permitted to enjoy
their national laws under the obligation of tribute and military
service; and the Merovingian princes peaceably reigned over a
kingdom, whose glory and greatness had been first overthrown by
the arms of Clovis. 45
43 (return) [ See his life or legend, (in tom. iii. p. 402.) A
martyr! how strangely has that word been distorted from its
original sense of a common witness. St. Sigismond was remarkable
for the cure of fevers]
44 (return) [ Before the end of the fifth century, the church of
St. Maurice, and his Thebaean legion, had rendered Agaunum a
place of devout pilgrimage. A promiscuous community of both sexes
had introduced some deeds of darkness, which were abolished (A.D.
515) by the regular monastery of Sigismond. Within fifty years,
his angels of light made a nocturnal sally to murder their
bishop, and his clergy. See in the Bibliothèque Raisonnée (tom.
xxxvi. p. 435-438) the curious remarks of a learned librarian of
Geneva.]
45 (return) [ Marius, bishop of Avenche, (Chron. in tom. ii. p.
15,) has marked the authentic dates, and Gregory of Tours (l.
iii. c. 5, 6, in tom. ii. p. 188, 189) has expressed the
principal facts, of the life of Sigismond, and the conquest of
Burgundy. Procopius (in tom. ii. p. 34) and Agathias (in tom. ii.
p. 49) show their remote and imperfect knowledge.]
The first victory of Clovis had insulted the honor of the Goths.
They viewed his rapid progress with jealousy and terror; and the
youthful fame of Alaric was oppressed by the more potent genius
of his rival. Some disputes inevitably arose on the edge of their
contiguous dominions; and after the delays of fruitless
negotiation, a personal interview of the two kings was proposed
and accepted. The conference of Clovis and Alaric was held in a
small island of the Loire, near Amboise. They embraced,
familiarly conversed, and feasted together; and separated with
the warmest professions of peace and brotherly love. But their
apparent confidence concealed a dark suspicion of hostile and
treacherous designs; and their mutual complaints solicited,
eluded, and disclaimed, a final arbitration. At Paris, which he
already considered as his royal seat, Clovis declared to an
assembly of the princes and warriors, the pretence, and the
motive, of a Gothic war. “It grieves me to see that the Arians
still possess the fairest portion of Gaul. Let us march against
them with the aid of God; and, having vanquished the heretics, we
will possess and divide their fertile provinces.” 46 The Franks,
who were inspired by hereditary valor and recent zeal, applauded
the generous design of their monarch; expressed their resolution
to conquer or die, since death and conquest would be equally
profitable; and solemnly protested that they would never shave
their beards till victory should absolve them from that
inconvenient vow. The enterprise was promoted by the public or
private exhortations of Clotilda. She reminded her husband how
effectually some pious foundation would propitiate the Deity, and
his servants: and the Christian hero, darting his battle-axe with
a skilful and nervous band, “There, (said he,) on that spot where
my Francisca, 47 shall fall, will I erect a church in honor of
the holy apostles.” This ostentatious piety confirmed and
justified the attachment of the Catholics, with whom he secretly
corresponded; and their devout wishes were gradually ripened into
a formidable conspiracy. The people of Aquitain were alarmed by
the indiscreet reproaches of their Gothic tyrants, who justly
accused them of preferring the dominion of the Franks: and their
zealous adherent Quintianus, bishop of Rodez, 48 preached more
forcibly in his exile than in his diocese. To resist these
foreign and domestic enemies, who were fortified by the alliance
of the Burgundians, Alaric collected his troops, far more
numerous than the military powers of Clovis. The Visigoths
resumed the exercise of arms, which they had neglected in a long
and luxurious peace; 49 a select band of valiant and robust
slaves attended their masters to the field; 50 and the cities of
Gaul were compelled to furnish their doubtful and reluctant aid.
Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, who reigned in Italy, had
labored to maintain the tranquillity of Gaul; and he assumed, or
affected, for that purpose, the impartial character of a
mediator. But the sagacious monarch dreaded the rising empire of
Clovis, and he was firmly engaged to support the national and
religious cause of the Goths.
46 (return) [ Gregory of Tours (l. ii. c. 37, in tom. ii. p. 181)
inserts the short but persuasive speech of Clovis. Valde moleste
fero, quod hi Ariani partem teneant Galliarum, (the author of the
Gesta Francorum, in tom. ii. p. 553, adds the precious epithet of
optimam,) camus cum Dei adjutorio, et, superatis eis, redigamus
terram in ditionem nostram.]
47 (return) [ Tunc rex projecit a se in directum Bipennem suam
quod est Francisca, &c. (Gesta Franc. in tom. ii. p. 554.) The
form and use of this weapon are clearly described by Procopius,
(in tom. ii. p. 37.) Examples of its national appellation in
Latin and French may be found in the Glossary of Ducange, and the
large Dictionnaire de Trevoux.]
48 (return) [ It is singular enough that some important and
authentic facts should be found in a Life of Quintianus, composed
in rhyme in the old Patois of Rouergue, (Dubos, Hist. Critique,
&c., tom. ii. p. 179.)]
49 (return) [ Quamvis fortitudini vestrae confidentiam tribuat
parentum ves trorum innumerabilis multitudo; quamvis Attilam
potentem reminiscamini Visigotharum viribus inclinatum; tamen
quia populorum ferocia corda longa pace mollescunt, cavete subito
in alean aleam mittere, quos constat tantis temporibus exercitia
non habere. Such was the salutary, but fruitless, advice of peace
of reason, and of Theodoric, (Cassiodor. l. iii. ep. 2.)]
50 (return) [ Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xv. c. 14)
mentions and approves the law of the Visigoths, (l. ix. tit. 2,
in tom. iv. p. 425,) which obliged all masters to arm, and send,
or lead, into the field a tenth of their slaves.]
The accidental, or artificial, prodigies which adorned the
expedition of Clovis, were accepted by a superstitious age, as
the manifest declaration of the divine favor. He marched from
Paris; and as he proceeded with decent reverence through the holy
diocese of Tours, his anxiety tempted him to consult the shrine
of St. Martin, the sanctuary and the oracle of Gaul. His
messengers were instructed to remark the words of the Psalm which
should happen to be chanted at the precise moment when they
entered the church. Those words most fortunately expressed the
valor and victory of the champions of Heaven, and the application
was easily transferred to the new Joshua, the new Gideon, who
went forth to battle against the enemies of the Lord. 51 Orleans
secured to the Franks a bridge on the Loire; but, at the distance
of forty miles from Poitiers, their progress was intercepted by
an extraordinary swell of the River Vigenna or Vienne; and the
opposite banks were covered by the encampment of the Visigoths.
Delay must be always dangerous to Barbarians, who consume the
country through which they march; and had Clovis possessed
leisure and materials, it might have been impracticable to
construct a bridge, or to force a passage, in the face of a
superior enemy. But the affectionate peasants who were impatient
to welcome their deliverer, could easily betray some unknown or
unguarded ford: the merit of the discovery was enhanced by the
useful interposition of fraud or fiction; and a white hart, of
singular size and beauty, appeared to guide and animate the march
of the Catholic army. The counsels of the Visigoths were
irresolute and distracted. A crowd of impatient warriors,
presumptuous in their strength, and disdaining to fly before the
robbers of Germany, excited Alaric to assert in arms the name and
blood of the conquerors of Rome. The advice of the graver
chieftains pressed him to elude the first ardor of the Franks;
and to expect, in the southern provinces of Gaul, the veteran and
victorious Ostrogoths, whom the king of Italy had already sent to
his assistance. The decisive moments were wasted in idle
deliberation the Goths too hastily abandoned, perhaps, an
advantageous post; and the opportunity of a secure retreat was
lost by their slow and disorderly motions. After Clovis had
passed the ford, as it is still named, of the Hart, he advanced
with bold and hasty steps to prevent the escape of the enemy. His
nocturnal march was directed by a flaming meteor, suspended in
the air above the cathedral of Poitiers; and this signal, which
might be previously concerted with the orthodox successor of St.
Hilary, was compared to the column of fire that guided the
Israelites in the desert. At the third hour of the day, about ten
miles beyond Poitiers, Clovis overtook, and instantly attacked,
the Gothic army; whose defeat was already prepared by terror and
confusion. Yet they rallied in their extreme distress, and the
martial youths, who had clamorously demanded the battle, refused
to survive the ignominy of flight. The two kings encountered each
other in single combat. Alaric fell by the hand of his rival; and
the victorious Frank was saved by the goodness of his cuirass,
and the vigor of his horse, from the spears of two desperate
Goths, who furiously rode against him to revenge the death of
their sovereign. The vague expression of a mountain of the slain,
serves to indicate a cruel though indefinite slaughter; but
Gregory has carefully observed, that his valiant countryman
Apollinaris, the son of Sidonius, lost his life at the head of
the nobles of Auvergne. Perhaps these suspected Catholics had
been maliciously exposed to the blind assault of the enemy; and
perhaps the influence of religion was superseded by personal
attachment or military honor. 52
51 (return) [ This mode of divination, by accepting as an omen
the first sacred words, which in particular circumstances should
be presented to the eye or ear, was derived from the Pagans; and
the Psalter, or Bible, was substituted to the poems of Homer and
Virgil. From the fourth to the fourteenth century, these sortes
sanctorum, as they are styled, were repeatedly condemned by the
decrees of councils, and repeatedly practised by kings, bishops,
and saints. See a curious dissertation of the Abbe du Resnel, in
the Mémoires de l’Academie, tom. xix. p. 287-310]
52 (return) [ After correcting the text, or excusing the mistake,
of Procopius, who places the defeat of Alaric near Carcassone, we
may conclude, from the evidence of Gregory, Fortunatus, and the
author of the Gesta Francorum, that the battle was fought in
campo Vocladensi, on the banks of the Clain, about ten miles to
the south of Poitiers. Clovis overtook and attacked the Visigoths
near Vivonne, and the victory was decided near a village still
named Champagne St. Hilaire. See the Dissertations of the Abbe le
Boeuf, tom. i. p. 304-331.]
Such is the empire of Fortune, (if we may still disguise our
ignorance under that popular name,) that it is almost equally
difficult to foresee the events of war, or to explain their
various consequences. A bloody and complete victory has sometimes
yielded no more than the possession of the field; and the loss of
ten thousand men has sometimes been sufficient to destroy, in a
single day, the work of ages. The decisive battle of Poitiers was
followed by the conquest of Aquitain. Alaric had left behind him
an infant son, a bastard competitor, factious nobles, and a
disloyal people; and the remaining forces of the Goths were
oppressed by the general consternation, or opposed to each other
in civil discord. The victorious king of the Franks proceeded
without delay to the siege of Angoulême. At the sound of his
trumpets the walls of the city imitated the example of Jericho,
and instantly fell to the ground; a splendid miracle, which may
be reduced to the supposition, that some clerical engineers had
secretly undermined the foundations of the rampart. 53 At
Bordeaux, which had submitted without resistance, Clovis
established his winter quarters; and his prudent economy
transported from Thoulouse the royal treasures, which were
deposited in the capital of the monarchy. The conqueror
penetrated as far as the confines of Spain; 54 restored the
honors of the Catholic church; fixed in Aquitain a colony of
Franks; 55 and delegated to his lieutenants the easy task of
subduing, or extirpating, the nation of the Visigoths. But the
Visigoths were protected by the wise and powerful monarch of
Italy. While the balance was still equal, Theodoric had perhaps
delayed the march of the Ostrogoths; but their strenuous efforts
successfully resisted the ambition of Clovis; and the army of the
Franks, and their Burgundian allies, was compelled to raise the
siege of Arles, with the loss, as it is said, of thirty thousand
men. These vicissitudes inclined the fierce spirit of Clovis to
acquiesce in an advantageous treaty of peace. The Visigoths were
suffered to retain the possession of Septimania, a narrow tract
of sea-coast, from the Rhone to the Pyrenees; but the ample
province of Aquitain, from those mountains to the Loire, was
indissolubly united to the kingdom of France. 56
53 (return) [ Angoulême is in the road from Poitiers to Bordeaux;
and although Gregory delays the siege, I can more readily believe
that he confounded the order of history, than that Clovis
neglected the rules of war.]
54 (return) [ Pyrenaeos montes usque Perpinianum subjecit, is the
expression of Rorico, which betrays his recent date; since
Perpignan did not exist before the tenth century, (Marca
Hispanica, p. 458.) This florid and fabulous writer (perhaps a
monk of Amiens—see the Abbe le Boeuf, Mem. de l’Academie, tom.
xvii. p. 228-245) relates, in the allegorical character of a
shepherd, the general history of his countrymen the Franks; but
his narrative ends with the death of Clovis.]
55 (return) [ The author of the Gesta Francorum positively
affirms, that Clovis fixed a body of Franks in the Saintonge and
Bourdelois: and he is not injudiciously followed by Rorico,
electos milites, atque fortissimos, cum parvulis, atque
mulieribus. Yet it should seem that they soon mingled with the
Romans of Aquitain, till Charlemagne introduced a more numerous
and powerful colony, (Dubos, Hist. Critique, tom. ii. p. 215.)]
56 (return) [ In the composition of the Gothic war, I have used
the following materials, with due regard to their unequal value.
Four epistles from Theodoric, king of Italy, (Cassiodor l. iii.
epist. 1-4. in tom. iv p. 3-5;) Procopius, (de Bell. Goth. l. i.
c 12, in tom. ii. p. 32, 33;) Gregory of Tours, (l. ii. c. 35,
36, 37, in tom. ii. p. 181-183;) Jornandes, (de Reb. Geticis, c.
58, in tom. ii. p. 28;) Fortunatas, (in Vit. St. Hilarii, in tom.
iii. p. 380;) Isidore, (in Chron. Goth. in tom. ii. p. 702;) the
Epitome of Gregory of Tours, (in tom. ii. p. 401;) the author of
the Gesta Francorum, (in tom. ii. p. 553-555;) the Fragments of
Fredegarius, (in tom. ii. p. 463;) Aimoin, (l. i. c. 20, in tom.
iii. p. 41, 42,) and Rorico, (l. iv. in tom. iii. p. 14-19.)]
After the success of the Gothic war, Clovis accepted the honors
of the Roman consulship. The emperor Anastasius ambitiously
bestowed on the most powerful rival of Theodoric the title and
ensigns of that eminent dignity; yet, from some unknown cause,
the name of Clovis has not been inscribed in the Fasti either of
the East or West. 57 On the solemn day, the monarch of Gaul,
placing a diadem on his head, was invested, in the church of St.
Martin, with a purple tunic and mantle. From thence he proceeded
on horseback to the cathedral of Tours; and, as he passed through
the streets, profusely scattered, with his own hand, a donative
of gold and silver to the joyful multitude, who incessantly
repeated their acclamations of Consul and Augustus. The actual or
legal authority of Clovis could not receive any new accessions
from the consular dignity. It was a name, a shadow, an empty
pageant; and if the conqueror had been instructed to claim the
ancient prerogatives of that high office, they must have expired
with the period of its annual duration. But the Romans were
disposed to revere, in the person of their master, that antique
title which the emperors condescended to assume: the Barbarian
himself seemed to contract a sacred obligation to respect the
majesty of the republic; and the successors of Theodosius, by
soliciting his friendship, tacitly forgave, and almost ratified,
the usurpation of Gaul.
57 (return) [ The Fasti of Italy would naturally reject a consul,
the enemy of their sovereign; but any ingenious hypothesis that
might explain the silence of Constantinople and Egypt, (the
Chronicle of Marcellinus, and the Paschal,) is overturned by the
similar silence of Marius, bishop of Avenche, who composed his
Fasti in the kingdom of Burgundy. If the evidence of Gregory of
Tours were less weighty and positive, (l. ii. c. 38, in tom. ii.
p. 183,) I could believe that Clovis, like Odoacer, received the
lasting title and honors of Patrician, (Pagi Critica, tom. ii. p.
474, 492.)]
Twenty-five years after the death of Clovis this important
concession was more formally declared, in a treaty between his
sons and the emperor Justinian. The Ostrogoths of Italy, unable
to defend their distant acquisitions, had resigned to the Franks
the cities of Arles and Marseilles; of Arles, still adorned with
the seat of a Prætorian præfect, and of Marseilles, enriched by
the advantages of trade and navigation. 58 This transaction was
confirmed by the Imperial authority; and Justinian, generously
yielding to the Franks the sovereignty of the countries beyond
the Alps, which they already possessed, absolved the provincials
from their allegiance; and established on a more lawful, though
not more solid, foundation, the throne of the Merovingians. 59
From that era they enjoyed the right of celebrating at Arles the
games of the circus; and by a singular privilege, which was
denied even to the Persian monarch, the gold coin, impressed with
their name and image, obtained a legal currency in the empire. 60
A Greek historian of that age has praised the private and public
virtues of the Franks, with a partial enthusiasm, which cannot be
sufficiently justified by their domestic annals. 61 He celebrates
their politeness and urbanity, their regular government, and
orthodox religion; and boldly asserts, that these Barbarians
could be distinguished only by their dress and language from the
subjects of Rome. Perhaps the Franks already displayed the social
disposition, and lively graces, which, in every age, have
disguised their vices, and sometimes concealed their intrinsic
merit. Perhaps Agathias, and the Greeks, were dazzled by the
rapid progress of their arms, and the splendor of their empire.
Since the conquest of Burgundy, Gaul, except the Gothic province
of Septimania, was subject, in its whole extent, to the sons of
Clovis. They had extinguished the German kingdom of Thuringia,
and their vague dominion penetrated beyond the Rhine, into the
heart of their native forests. The Alemanni, and Bavarians, who
had occupied the Roman provinces of Rhaetia and Noricum, to the
south of the Danube, confessed themselves the humble vassals of
the Franks; and the feeble barrier of the Alps was incapable of
resisting their ambition. When the last survivor of the sons of
Clovis united the inheritance and conquests of the Merovingians,
his kingdom extended far beyond the limits of modern France. Yet
modern France, such has been the progress of arts and policy, far
surpasses, in wealth, populousness, and power, the spacious but
savage realms of Clotaire or Dagobert. 62
58 (return) [ Under the Merovingian kings, Marseilles still
imported from the East paper, wine, oil, linen, silk, precious
stones, spices, &c. The Gauls, or Franks, traded to Syria, and
the Syrians were established in Gaul. See M. de Guignes, Mem. de
l’Academie, tom. xxxvii. p. 471-475.]
59 (return) [ This strong declaration of Procopius (de Bell.
Gothic. l. iii. cap. 33, in tom. ii. p. 41) would almost suffice
to justify the Abbe Dubos.]
60 (return) [ The Franks, who probably used the mints of Treves,
Lyons, and Arles, imitated the coinage of the Roman emperors of
seventy-two solidi, or pieces, to the pound of gold. But as the
Franks established only a decuple proportion of gold and silver,
ten shillings will be a sufficient valuation of their solidus of
gold. It was the common standard of the Barbaric fines, and
contained forty denarii, or silver three pences. Twelve of these
denarii made a solidus, or shilling, the twentieth part of the
ponderal and numeral livre, or pound of silver, which has been so
strangely reduced in modern France. See La Blanc, Traite
Historique des Monnoyes de France, p. 36-43, &c.]
61 (return) [ Agathias, in tom. ii. p. 47. Gregory of Tours
exhibits a very different picture. Perhaps it would not be easy,
within the same historical space, to find more vice and less
virtue. We are continually shocked by the union of savage and
corrupt manners.]
62 (return) [ M. de Foncemagne has traced, in a correct and
elegant dissertation, (Mem. de l’Academie, tom. viii. p.
505-528,) the extent and limits of the French monarchy.]
The Franks, or French, are the only people of Europe who can
deduce a perpetual succession from the conquerors of the Western
empire. But their conquest of Gaul was followed by ten centuries
of anarchy and ignorance. On the revival of learning, the
students, who had been formed in the schools of Athens and Rome,
disdained their Barbarian ancestors; and a long period elapsed
before patient labor could provide the requisite materials to
satisfy, or rather to excite, the curiosity of more enlightened
times. 63 At length the eye of criticism and philosophy was
directed to the antiquities of France; but even philosophers have
been tainted by the contagion of prejudice and passion. The most
extreme and exclusive systems, of the personal servitude of the
Gauls, or of their voluntary and equal alliance with the Franks,
have been rashly conceived, and obstinately defended; and the
intemperate disputants have accused each other of conspiring
against the prerogative of the crown, the dignity of the nobles,
or the freedom of the people. Yet the sharp conflict has usefully
exercised the adverse powers of learning and genius; and each
antagonist, alternately vanquished and victorious has extirpated
some ancient errors, and established some interesting truths. An
impartial stranger, instructed by their discoveries, their
disputes, and even their faults, may describe, from the same
original materials, the state of the Roman provincials, after
Gaul had submitted to the arms and laws of the Merovingian kings.
64
63 (return) [ The Abbe Dubos (Histoire Critique, tom. i. p.
29-36) has truly and agreeably represented the slow progress of
these studies; and he observes, that Gregory of Tours was only
once printed before the year 1560. According to the complaint of
Heineccius, (Opera, tom. iii. Sylloge, iii. p. 248, &c.,) Germany
received with indifference and contempt the codes of Barbaric
laws, which were published by Heroldus, Lindenbrogius, &c. At
present those laws, (as far as they relate to Gaul,) the history
of Gregory of Tours, and all the monuments of the Merovingian
race, appear in a pure and perfect state, in the first four
volumes of the Historians of France.]
64 (return) [ In the space of [about] thirty years (1728-1765)
this interesting subject has been agitated by the free spirit of
the count de Boulainvilliers, (Mémoires Historiques sur l’Etat de
la France, particularly tom. i. p. 15-49;) the learned ingenuity
of the Abbe Dubos, (Histoire Critique de l’Etablissement de la
Monarchie Francoise dans les Gaules, 2 vols. in 4to;) the
comprehensive genius of the president de Montesquieu, (Esprit des
Loix, particularly l. xxviii. xxx. xxxi.;) and the good sense and
diligence of the Abbe de Mably, (Observations sur l’Histoire de
France, 2 vols. 12mo.)]
The rudest, or the most servile, condition of human society, is
regulated, however, by some fixed and general rules. When Tacitus
surveyed the primitive simplicity of the Germans, he discovered
some permanent maxims, or customs, of public and private life,
which were preserved by faithful tradition till the introduction
of the art of writing, and of the Latin tongue. 65 Before the
election of the Merovingian kings, the most powerful tribe, or
nation, of the Franks, appointed four venerable chieftains to
compose the Salic laws; 66 and their labors were examined and
approved in three successive assemblies of the people. After the
baptism of Clovis, he reformed several articles that appeared
incompatible with Christianity: the Salic law was again amended
by his sons; and at length, under the reign of Dagobert, the code
was revised and promulgated in its actual form, one hundred years
after the establishment of the French monarchy. Within the same
period, the customs of the Ripuarians were transcribed and
published; and Charlemagne himself, the legislator of his age and
country, had accurately studied the two national laws, which
still prevailed among the Franks. 67 The same care was extended
to their vassals; and the rude institutions of the Alemanni and
Bavarians were diligently compiled and ratified by the supreme
authority of the Merovingian kings. The Visigoths and
Burgundians, whose conquests in Gaul preceded those of the
Franks, showed less impatience to attain one of the principal
benefits of civilized society. Euric was the first of the Gothic
princes who expressed, in writing, the manners and customs of his
people; and the composition of the Burgundian laws was a measure
of policy rather than of justice; to alleviate the yoke, and
regain the affections, of their Gallic subjects. 68 Thus, by a
singular coincidence, the Germans framed their artless
institutions, at a time when the elaborate system of Roman
jurisprudence was finally consummated. In the Salic laws, and the
Pandects of Justinian, we may compare the first rudiments, and
the full maturity, of civil wisdom; and whatever prejudices may
be suggested in favor of Barbarism, our calmer reflections will
ascribe to the Romans the superior advantages, not only of
science and reason, but of humanity and justice. Yet the laws 681
of the Barbarians were adapted to their wants and desires, their
occupations and their capacity; and they all contributed to
preserve the peace, and promote the improvement, of the society
for whose use they were originally established. The Merovingians,
instead of imposing a uniform rule of conduct on their various
subjects, permitted each people, and each family, of their
empire, freely to enjoy their domestic institutions; 69 nor were
the Romans excluded from the common benefits of this legal
toleration. 70 The children embraced the law of their parents,
the wife that of her husband, the freedman that of his patron;
and in all causes where the parties were of different nations,
the plaintiff or accuser was obliged to follow the tribunal of
the defendant, who may always plead a judicial presumption of
right, or innocence. A more ample latitude was allowed, if every
citizen, in the presence of the judge, might declare the law
under which he desired to live, and the national society to which
he chose to belong. Such an indulgence would abolish the partial
distinctions of victory: and the Roman provincials might
patiently acquiesce in the hardships of their condition; since it
depended on themselves to assume the privilege, if they dared to
assert the character, of free and warlike Barbarians. 71
65 (return) [ I have derived much instruction from two learned
works of Heineccius, the History, and the Elements, of the
Germanic law. In a judicious preface to the Elements, he
considers, and tries to excuse the defects of that barbarous
jurisprudence.]
66 (return) [ Latin appears to have been the original language of
the Salic law. It was probably composed in the beginning of the
fifth century, before the era (A.D. 421) of the real or fabulous
Pharamond. The preface mentions the four cantons which produced
the four legislators; and many provinces, Franconia, Saxony,
Hanover, Brabant, &c., have claimed them as their own. See an
excellent Dissertation of Heinecties de Lege Salica, tom. iii.
Sylloge iii. p. 247-267. * Note: The relative antiquity of the
two copies of the Salic law has been contested with great
learning and ingenuity. The work of M. Wiarda, History and
Explanation of the Salic Law, Bremen, 1808, asserts that what is
called the Lex Antiqua, or Vetustior in which many German words
are mingled with the Latin, has no claim to superior antiquity,
and may be suspected to be more modern. M. Wiarda has been
opposed by M. Fuer bach, who maintains the higher age of the
“ancient” Code, which has been greatly corrupted by the
transcribers. See Guizot, Cours de l’Histoire Moderne, vol. i.
sect. 9: and the preface to the useful republication of five of
the different texts of the Salic law, with that of the Ripuarian
in parallel columns. By E. A. I. Laspeyres, Halle, 1833.—M.]
67 (return) [ Eginhard, in Vit. Caroli Magni, c. 29, in tom. v.
p. 100. By these two laws, most critics understand the Salic and
the Ripuarian. The former extended from the Carbonarian forest to
the Loire, (tom. iv. p. 151,) and the latter might be obeyed from
the same forest to the Rhine, (tom. iv. p. 222.)]
68 (return) [ Consult the ancient and modern prefaces of the
several codes, in the fourth volume of the Historians of France.
The original prologue to the Salic law expresses (though in a
foreign dialect) the genuine spirit of the Franks more forcibly
than the ten books of Gregory of Tours.]
69 (return) [ The Ripuarian law declares, and defines, this
indulgence in favor of the plaintiff, (tit. xxxi. in tom. iv. p.
240;) and the same toleration is understood, or expressed, in all
the codes, except that of the Visigoths of Spain. Tanta
diversitas legum (says Agobard in the ninth century) quanta non
solum in regionibus, aut civitatibus, sed etiam in multis domibus
habetur. Nam plerumque contingit ut simul eant aut sedeant
quinque homines, et nullus eorum communem legem cum altero
habeat, (in tom. vi. p. 356.) He foolishly proposes to introduce
a uniformity of law, as well as of faith. * Note: It is the
object of the important work of M. Savigny, Geschichte des
Romisches Rechts in Mittelalter, to show the perpetuity of the
Roman law from the 5th to the 12th century.—M.]
681 (return) [ The most complete collection of these codes is in
the “Barbarorum leges antiquae,” by P. Canciani, 5 vols. folio,
Venice, 1781-9.—M.]
70 (return) [ Inter Romanos negotia causarum Romanis legibus
praecipimus terminari. Such are the words of a general
constitution promulgated by Clotaire, the son of Clovis, the sole
monarch of the Franks (in tom. iv. p. 116) about the year 560.]
71 (return) [ This liberty of choice has been aptly deduced
(Esprit des Loix, l. xxviii. 2) from the constitution of Lothaire
I. (Leg. Langobard. l. ii. tit. lvii. in Codex Lindenbrog. p.
664;) though the example is too recent and partial. From a
various reading in the Salic law, (tit. xliv. not. xlv.) the Abbe
de Mably (tom. i. p. 290-293) has conjectured, that, at first, a
Barbarian only, and afterwards any man, (consequently a Roman,)
might live according to the law of the Franks. I am sorry to
offend this ingenious conjecture by observing, that the stricter
sense (Barbarum) is expressed in the reformed copy of
Charlemagne; which is confirmed by the Royal and Wolfenbuttle
MSS. The looser interpretation (hominem) is authorized only by
the MS. of Fulda, from from whence Heroldus published his
edition. See the four original texts of the Salic law in tom. iv.
p. 147, 173, 196, 220. * Note: Gibbon appears to have doubted the
evidence on which this “liberty of choice” rested. His doubts
have been confirmed by the researches of M. Savigny, who has not
only confuted but traced with convincing sagacity the origin and
progress of this error. As a general principle, though liable to
some exceptions, each lived according to his native law. Romische
Recht. vol. i. p. 123-138—M. * Note: This constitution of
Lothaire at first related only to the duchy of Rome; it
afterwards found its way into the Lombard code. Savigny. p.
138.—M.]
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part III.
When justice inexorably requires the death of a murderer, each
private citizen is fortified by the assurance, that the laws, the
magistrate, and the whole community, are the guardians of his
personal safety. But in the loose society of the Germans, revenge
was always honorable, and often meritorious: the independent
warrior chastised, or vindicated, with his own hand, the injuries
which he had offered or received; and he had only to dread the
resentment of the sons and kinsmen of the enemy, whom he had
sacrificed to his selfish or angry passions. The magistrate,
conscious of his weakness, interposed, not to punish, but to
reconcile; and he was satisfied if he could persuade or compel
the contending parties to pay and to accept the moderate fine
which had been ascertained as the price of blood. 72 The fierce
spirit of the Franks would have opposed a more rigorous sentence;
the same fierceness despised these ineffectual restraints; and,
when their simple manners had been corrupted by the wealth of
Gaul, the public peace was continually violated by acts of hasty
or deliberate guilt. In every just government the same penalty is
inflicted, or at least is imposed, for the murder of a peasant or
a prince. But the national inequality established by the Franks,
in their criminal proceedings, was the last insult and abuse of
conquest. 73 In the calm moments of legislation, they solemnly
pronounced, that the life of a Roman was of smaller value than
that of a Barbarian. The Antrustion, 74 a name expressive of the
most illustrious birth or dignity among the Franks, was
appreciated at the sum of six hundred pieces of gold; while the
noble provincial, who was admitted to the king’s table, might be
legally murdered at the expense of three hundred pieces.
Two hundred were deemed sufficient for a Frank of ordinary
condition; but the meaner Romans were exposed to disgrace and
danger by a trifling compensation of one hundred, or even fifty,
pieces of gold. Had these laws been regulated by any principle of
equity or reason, the public protection should have supplied, in
just proportion, the want of personal strength. But the
legislator had weighed in the scale, not of justice, but of
policy, the loss of a soldier against that of a slave: the head
of an insolent and rapacious Barbarian was guarded by a heavy
fine; and the slightest aid was afforded to the most defenceless
subjects. Time insensibly abated the pride of the conquerors and
the patience of the vanquished; and the boldest citizen was
taught, by experience, that he might suffer more injuries than he
could inflict. As the manners of the Franks became less
ferocious, their laws were rendered more severe; and the
Merovingian kings attempted to imitate the impartial rigor of the
Visigoths and Burgundians. 75 Under the empire of Charlemagne,
murder was universally punished with death; and the use of
capital punishments has been liberally multiplied in the
jurisprudence of modern Europe. 76
72 (return) [ In the heroic times of Greece, the guilt of murder
was expiated by a pecuniary satisfaction to the family of the
deceased, (Feithius Antiquitat. Homeric. l. ii. c. 8.)
Heineccius, in his preface to the Elements of Germanic Law,
favorably suggests, that at Rome and Athens homicide was only
punished with exile. It is true: but exile was a capital
punishment for a citizen of Rome or Athens.]
73 (return) [ This proportion is fixed by the Salic (tit. xliv.
in tom. iv. p. 147) and the Ripuarian (tit. vii. xi. xxxvi. in
tom. iv. p. 237, 241) laws: but the latter does not distinguish
any difference of Romans. Yet the orders of the clergy are placed
above the Franks themselves, and the Burgundians and Alemanni
between the Franks and the Romans.]
74 (return) [ The Antrustiones, qui in truste Dominica sunt,
leudi, fideles, undoubtedly represent the first order of Franks;
but it is a question whether their rank was personal or
hereditary. The Abbe de Mably (tom. i. p. 334-347) is not
displeased to mortify the pride of birth (Esprit, l. xxx. c. 25)
by dating the origin of the French nobility from the reign
Clotaire II. (A.D. 615.)]
75 (return) [ See the Burgundian laws, (tit. ii. in tom. iv. p.
257,) the code of the Visigoths, (l. vi. tit. v. in tom. p. 384,)
and the constitution of Childebert, not of Paris, but most
evidently of Austrasia, (in tom. iv. p. 112.) Their premature
severity was sometimes rash, and excessive. Childebert condemned
not only murderers but robbers; quomodo sine lege involavit, sine
lege moriatur; and even the negligent judge was involved in the
same sentence. The Visigoths abandoned an unsuccessful surgeon to
the family of his deceased patient, ut quod de eo facere
voluerint habeant potestatem, (l. xi. tit. i. in tom. iv. p.
435.)]
76 (return) [ See, in the sixth volume of the works of
Heineccius, the Elementa Juris Germanici, l. ii. p. 2, No. 261,
262, 280-283. Yet some vestiges of these pecuniary compositions
for murder have been traced in Germany as late as the sixteenth
century.]
The civil and military professions, which had been separated by
Constantine, were again united by the Barbarians. The harsh sound
of the Teutonic appellations was mollified into the Latin titles
of Duke, of Count, or of Praefect; and the same officer assumed,
within his district, the command of the troops, and the
administration of justice. 77 But the fierce and illiterate
chieftain was seldom qualified to discharge the duties of a
judge, which required all the faculties of a philosophic mind,
laboriously cultivated by experience and study; and his rude
ignorance was compelled to embrace some simple, and visible,
methods of ascertaining the cause of justice. In every religion,
the Deity has been invoked to confirm the truth, or to punish the
falsehood of human testimony; but this powerful instrument was
misapplied and abused by the simplicity of the German
legislators. The party accused might justify his innocence, by
producing before their tribunal a number of friendly witnesses,
who solemnly declared their belief, or assurance, that he was not
guilty. According to the weight of the charge, this legal number
of compurgators was multiplied; seventy-two voices were required
to absolve an incendiary or assassin: and when the chastity of a
queen of France was suspected, three hundred gallant nobles
swore, without hesitation, that the infant prince had been
actually begotten by her deceased husband. 78 The sin and scandal
of manifest and frequent perjuries engaged the magistrates to
remove these dangerous temptations; and to supply the defects of
human testimony by the famous experiments of fire and water.
These extraordinary trials were so capriciously contrived, that,
in some cases, guilt, and innocence in others, could not be
proved without the interposition of a miracle. Such miracles were
really provided by fraud and credulity; the most intricate causes
were determined by this easy and infallible method, and the
turbulent Barbarians, who might have disdained the sentence of
the magistrate, submissively acquiesced in the judgment of God.
79
77 (return) [ The whole subject of the Germanic judges, and their
jurisdiction, is copiously treated by Heineccius, (Element. Jur.
Germ. l. iii. No. 1-72.) I cannot find any proof that, under the
Merovingian race, the scabini, or assessors, were chosen by the
people. * Note: The question of the scabini is treated at
considerable length by Savigny. He questions the existence of the
scabini anterior to Charlemagne. Before this time the decision
was by an open court of the freemen, the boni Romische Recht,
vol. i. p. 195. et seq.—M.]
78 (return) [ Gregor. Turon. l. viii. c. 9, in tom. ii. p. 316.
Montesquieu observes, (Esprit des Loix. l. xxviii. c. 13,) that
the Salic law did not admit these negative proofs so universally
established in the Barbaric codes. Yet this obscure concubine
(Fredegundis,) who became the wife of the grandson of Clovis,
must have followed the Salic law.]
79 (return) [ Muratori, in the Antiquities of Italy, has given
two Dissertations (xxxvii. xxxix.) on the judgments of God. It
was expected that fire would not burn the innocent; and that the
pure element of water would not allow the guilty to sink into its
bosom.]
But the trials by single combat gradually obtained superior
credit and authority, among a warlike people, who could not
believe that a brave man deserved to suffer, or that a coward
deserved to live. 80 Both in civil and criminal proceedings, the
plaintiff, or accuser, the defendant, or even the witness, were
exposed to mortal challenge from the antagonist who was destitute
of legal proofs; and it was incumbent on them either to desert
their cause, or publicly to maintain their honor, in the lists of
battle. They fought either on foot, or on horseback, according to
the custom of their nation; 81 and the decision of the sword, or
lance, was ratified by the sanction of Heaven, of the judge, and
of the people. This sanguinary law was introduced into Gaul by
the Burgundians; and their legislator Gundobald 82 condescended
to answer the complaints and objections of his subject Avitus.
“Is it not true,” said the king of Burgundy to the bishop, “that
the event of national wars, and private combats, is directed by
the judgment of God; and that his providence awards the victory
to the juster cause?” By such prevailing arguments, the absurd
and cruel practice of judicial duels, which had been peculiar to
some tribes of Germany, was propagated and established in all the
monarchies of Europe, from Sicily to the Baltic. At the end of
ten centuries, the reign of legal violence was not totally
extinguished; and the ineffectual censures of saints, of popes,
and of synods, may seem to prove, that the influence of
superstition is weakened by its unnatural alliance with reason
and humanity. The tribunals were stained with the blood, perhaps,
of innocent and respectable citizens; the law, which now favors
the rich, then yielded to the strong; and the old, the feeble,
and the infirm, were condemned, either to renounce their fairest
claims and possessions, to sustain the dangers of an unequal
conflict, 83 or to trust the doubtful aid of a mercenary
champion. This oppressive jurisprudence was imposed on the
provincials of Gaul, who complained of any injuries in their
persons and property. Whatever might be the strength, or courage,
of individuals, the victorious Barbarians excelled in the love
and exercise of arms; and the vanquished Roman was unjustly
summoned to repeat, in his own person, the bloody contest which
had been already decided against his country. 84
80 (return) [ Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xxviii. c. 17) has
condescended to explain and excuse “la maniere de penser de nos
peres,” on the subject of judicial combats. He follows this
strange institution from the age of Gundobald to that of St.
Lewis; and the philosopher is some times lost in the legal
antiquarian.]
81 (return) [ In a memorable duel at Aix-la-Chapelle, (A.D. 820,)
before the emperor Lewis the Pious, his biographer observes,
secundum legem propriam, utpote quia uterque Gothus erat,
equestri pugna est, (Vit. Lud. Pii, c. 33, in tom. vi. p. 103.)
Ermoldus Nigellus, (l. iii. 543-628, in tom. vi. p. 48-50,) who
describes the duel, admires the ars nova of fighting on
horseback, which was unknown to the Franks.]
82 (return) [ In his original edict, published at Lyons, (A.D.
501,) establishes and justifies the use of judicial combat, (Les
Burgund. tit. xlv. in tom. ii. p. 267, 268.) Three hundred years
afterwards, Agobard, bishop of Lyons, solicited Lewis the Pious
to abolish the law of an Arian tyrant, (in tom. vi. p. 356-358.)
He relates the conversation of Gundobald and Avitus.]
83 (return) [ “Accidit, (says Agobard,) ut non solum valentes
viribus, sed etiam infirmi et senes lacessantur ad pugnam, etiam
pro vilissimis rebus. Quibus foralibus certaminibus contingunt
homicidia injusta; et crudeles ac perversi eventus judiciorum.”
Like a prudent rhetorician, he suppresses the legal privilege of
hiring champions.]
84 (return) [ Montesquieu, (Esprit des Loix, xxviii. c. 14,) who
understands why the judicial combat was admitted by the
Burgundians, Ripuarians, Alemanni, Bavarians, Lombards,
Thuringians, Frisons, and Saxons, is satisfied (and Agobard seems
to countenance the assertion) that it was not allowed by the
Salic law. Yet the same custom, at least in case of treason, is
mentioned by Ermoldus, Nigellus (l. iii. 543, in tom. vi. p. 48,)
and the anonymous biographer of Lewis the Pious, (c. 46, in tom.
vi. p. 112,) as the “mos antiquus Francorum, more Francis
solito,” &c., expressions too general to exclude the noblest of
their tribes.]
A devouring host of one hundred and twenty thousand Germans had
formerly passed the Rhine under the command of Ariovistus. One
third part of the fertile lands of the Sequani was appropriated
to their use; and the conqueror soon repeated his oppressive
demand of another third, for the accommodation of a new colony of
twenty-four thousand Barbarians, whom he had invited to share the
rich harvest of Gaul. 85 At the distance of five hundred years,
the Visigoths and Burgundians, who revenged the defeat of
Ariovistus, usurped the same unequal proportion of two thirds of
the subject lands. But this distribution, instead of spreading
over the province, may be reasonably confined to the peculiar
districts where the victorious people had been planted by their
own choice, or by the policy of their leader. In these districts,
each Barbarian was connected by the ties of hospitality with some
Roman provincial. To this unwelcome guest, the proprietor was
compelled to abandon two thirds of his patrimony, but the German,
a shepherd and a hunter, might sometimes content himself with a
spacious range of wood and pasture, and resign the smallest,
though most valuable, portion, to the toil of the industrious
husbandman. 86 The silence of ancient and authentic testimony has
encouraged an opinion, that the rapine of the Franks was not
moderated, or disguised, by the forms of a legal division; that
they dispersed themselves over the provinces of Gaul, without
order or control; and that each victorious robber, according to
his wants, his avarice, and his strength, measured with his sword
the extent of his new inheritance. At a distance from their
sovereign, the Barbarians might indeed be tempted to exercise
such arbitrary depredation; but the firm and artful policy of
Clovis must curb a licentious spirit, which would aggravate the
misery of the vanquished, whilst it corrupted the union and
discipline of the conquerors. 861 The memorable vase of Soissons
is a monument and a pledge of the regular distribution of the
Gallic spoils. It was the duty and the interest of Clovis to
provide rewards for a successful army, settlements for a numerous
people; without inflicting any wanton or superfluous injuries on
the loyal Catholics of Gaul. The ample fund, which he might
lawfully acquire, of the Imperial patrimony, vacant lands, and
Gothic usurpations, would diminish the cruel necessity of seizure
and confiscation, and the humble provincials would more patiently
acquiesce in the equal and regular distribution of their loss. 87
85 (return) [ Caesar de Bell. Gall. l. i. c. 31, in tom. i. p.
213.]
86 (return) [ The obscure hints of a division of lands
occasionally scattered in the laws of the Burgundians, (tit. liv.
No. 1, 2, in tom. iv. p. 271, 272,) and Visigoths, (l. x. tit. i.
No. 8, 9, 16, in tom. iv. p. 428, 429, 430,) are skillfully
explained by the president Montesquieu, (Esprit des Loix, l. xxx.
c. 7, 8, 9.) I shall only add, that among the Goths, the division
seems to have been ascertained by the judgment of the
neighborhood, that the Barbarians frequently usurped the
remaining third; and that the Romans might recover their right,
unless they were barred by a prescription of fifty years.]
861 (return) [ Sismondi (Hist des Francais, vol. i. p. 197)
observes, they were not a conquering people, who had emigrated
with their families, like the Goths or Burgundians. The women,
the children, the old, had not followed Clovis: they remained in
their ancient possessions on the Waal and the Rhine. The
adventurers alone had formed the invading force, and they always
considered themselves as an army, not as a colony. Hence their
laws retained no traces of the partition of the Roman properties.
It is curious to observe the recoil from the national vanity of
the French historians of the last century. M. Sismondi compares
the position of the Franks with regard to the conquered people
with that of the Dey of Algiers and his corsair troops to the
peaceful inhabitants of that province: M. Thierry (Lettres sur
l’Histoire de France, p. 117) with that of the Turks towards the
Raias or Phanariotes, the mass of the Greeks.—M.]
87 (return) [ It is singular enough that the president de
Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xxx. c. 7) and the Abbe de Mably
(Observations, tom i. p. 21, 22) agree in this strange
supposition of arbitrary and private rapine. The Count de
Boulainvilliers (Etat de la France, tom. i. p. 22, 23) shows a
strong understanding through a cloud of ignorance and prejudice.
Note: Sismondi supposes that the Barbarians, if a farm were
conveniently situated, would show no great respect for the laws
of property; but in general there would have been vacant land
enough for the lots assigned to old or worn-out warriors, (Hist.
des Francais, vol. i. p. 196.)—M.]
The wealth of the Merovingian princes consisted in their
extensive domain. After the conquest of Gaul, they still
delighted in the rustic simplicity of their ancestors; the cities
were abandoned to solitude and decay; and their coins, their
charters, and their synods, are still inscribed with the names of
the villas, or rural palaces, in which they successively resided.
One hundred and sixty of these palaces, a title which need not
excite any unseasonable ideas of art or luxury, were scattered
through the provinces of their kingdom; and if some might claim
the honors of a fortress, the far greater part could be esteemed
only in the light of profitable farms. The mansion of the
long-haired kings was surrounded with convenient yards and
stables, for the cattle and the poultry; the garden was planted
with useful vegetables; the various trades, the labors of
agriculture, and even the arts of hunting and fishing, were
exercised by servile hands for the emolument of the sovereign;
his magazines were filled with corn and wine, either for sale or
consumption; and the whole administration was conducted by the
strictest maxims of private economy. 88 This ample patrimony was
appropriated to supply the hospitable plenty of Clovis and his
successors; and to reward the fidelity of their brave companions
who, both in peace and war, were devoted to their personal
service. Instead of a horse, or a suit of armor, each companion,
according to his rank, or merit, or favor, was invested with a
benefice, the primitive name, and most simple form, of the feudal
possessions. These gifts might be resumed at the pleasure of the
sovereign; and his feeble prerogative derived some support from
the influence of his liberality. 881 But this dependent tenure
was gradually abolished 89 by the independent and rapacious
nobles of France, who established the perpetual property, and
hereditary succession, of their benefices; a revolution salutary
to the earth, which had been injured, or neglected, by its
precarious masters. 90 Besides these royal and beneficiary
estates, a large proportion had been assigned, in the division of
Gaul, of allodial and Salic lands: they were exempt from tribute,
and the Salic lands were equally shared among the male
descendants of the Franks. 91
88 (return) [ See the rustic edict, or rather code, of
Charlemagne, which contains seventy distinct and minute
regulations of that great monarch (in tom. v. p. 652-657.) He
requires an account of the horns and skins of the goats, allows
his fish to be sold, and carefully directs, that the larger
villas (Capitaneoe) shall maintain one hundred hens and thirty
geese; and the smaller (Mansionales) fifty hens and twelve geese.
Mabillon (de Re Diplomatica) has investigated the names, the
number, and the situation of the Merovingian villas.]
881 (return) [ The resumption of benefices at the pleasure of the
sovereign, (the general theory down to his time,) is ably
contested by Mr. Hallam; “for this resumption some delinquency
must be imputed to the vassal.” Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 162. The
reader will be interested by the singular analogies with the
beneficial and feudal system of Europe in a remote part of the
world, indicated by Col. Tod in his splendid work on Raja’sthan,
vol. ii p. 129, &c.—M.]
89 (return) [ From a passage of the Burgundian law (tit. i. No.
4, in tom. iv. p. 257) it is evident, that a deserving son might
expect to hold the lands which his father had received from the
royal bounty of Gundobald. The Burgundians would firmly maintain
their privilege, and their example might encourage the
Beneficiaries of France.]
90 (return) [ The revolutions of the benefices and fiefs are
clearly fixed by the Abbe de Mably. His accurate distinction of
times gives him a merit to which even Montesquieu is a stranger.]
91 (return) [ See the Salic law, (tit. lxii. in tom. iv. p. 156.)
The origin and nature of these Salic lands, which, in times of
ignorance, were perfectly understood, now perplex our most
learned and sagacious critics. * Note: No solution seems more
probable, than that the ancient lawgivers of the Salic Franks
prohibited females from inheriting the lands assigned to the
nation, upon its conquest of Gaul, both in compliance with their
ancient usages, and in order to secure the military service of
every proprietor. But lands subsequently acquired by purchase or
other means, though equally bound to the public defence, were
relieved from the severity of this rule, and presumed not to
belong to the class of Sallic. Hallam’s Middle Ages, vol. i. p.
145. Compare Sismondi, vol. i. p. 196.—M.]
In the bloody discord and silent decay of the Merovingian line, a
new order of tyrants arose in the provinces, who, under the
appellation of Seniors, or Lords, usurped a right to govern, and
a license to oppress, the subjects of their peculiar territory.
Their ambition might be checked by the hostile resistance of an
equal: but the laws were extinguished; and the sacrilegious
Barbarians, who dared to provoke the vengeance of a saint or
bishop, 92 would seldom respect the landmarks of a profane and
defenceless neighbor. The common or public rights of nature, such
as they had always been deemed by the Roman jurisprudence, 93
were severely restrained by the German conquerors, whose
amusement, or rather passion, was the exercise of hunting. The
vague dominion which Man has assumed over the wild inhabitants of
the earth, the air, and the waters, was confined to some
fortunate individuals of the human species. Gaul was again
overspread with woods; and the animals, who were reserved for the
use or pleasure of the lord, might ravage with impunity the
fields of his industrious vassals. The chase was the sacred
privilege of the nobles and their domestic servants. Plebeian
transgressors were legally chastised with stripes and
imprisonment; 94 but in an age which admitted a slight
composition for the life of a citizen, it was a capital crime to
destroy a stag or a wild bull within the precincts of the royal
forests. 95
92 (return) [ Many of the two hundred and six miracles of St.
Martin (Greg Turon. in Maxima Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. xi. p.
896-932) were repeatedly performed to punish sacrilege. Audite
haec omnes (exclaims the bishop of Tours) protestatem habentes,
after relating, how some horses ran mad, that had been turned
into a sacred meadow.]
93 (return) [ Heinec. Element. Jur. German. l. ii. p. 1, No. 8.]
94 (return) [ Jonas, bishop of Orleans, (A.D. 821-826. Cave,
Hist. Litteraria, p. 443,) censures the legal tyranny of the
nobles. Pro feris, quas cura hominum non aluit, sed Deus in
commune mortalibus ad utendum concessit, pauperes a potentioribus
spoliantur, flagellantur, ergastulis detruduntur, et multa alia
patiuntur. Hoc enim qui faciunt, lege mundi se facere juste posse
contendant. De Institutione Laicorum, l. ii. c. 23, apud
Thomassin, Discipline de l’Eglise, tom. iii. p. 1348.]
95 (return) [ On a mere suspicion, Chundo, a chamberlain of
Gontram, king of Burgundy, was stoned to death, (Greg. Turon. l.
x. c. 10, in tom. ii. p. 369.) John of Salisbury (Policrat. l. i.
c. 4) asserts the rights of nature, and exposes the cruel
practice of the twelfth century. See Heineccius, Elem. Jur. Germ.
l. ii. p. 1, No. 51-57.]
According to the maxims of ancient war, the conqueror became the
lawful master of the enemy whom he had subdued and spared: 96 and
the fruitful cause of personal slavery, which had been almost
suppressed by the peaceful sovereignty of Rome, was again revived
and multiplied by the perpetual hostilities of the independent
Barbarians. The Goth, the Burgundian, or the Frank, who returned
from a successful expedition, dragged after him a long train of
sheep, of oxen, and of human captives, whom he treated with the
same brutal contempt. The youths of an elegant form and an
ingenuous aspect were set apart for the domestic service; a
doubtful situation, which alternately exposed them to the
favorable or cruel impulse of passion. The useful mechanics and
servants (smiths, carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, cooks,
gardeners, dyers, and workmen in gold and silver, &c.) employed
their skill for the use, or profit, of their master. But the
Roman captives, who were destitute of art, but capable of labor,
were condemned, without regard to their former rank, to tend the
cattle and cultivate the lands of the Barbarians. The number of
the hereditary bondsmen, who were attached to the Gallic estates,
was continually increased by new supplies; and the servile
people, according to the situation and temper of their lords, was
sometimes raised by precarious indulgence, and more frequently
depressed by capricious despotism. 97 An absolute power of life
and death was exercised by these lords; and when they married
their daughters, a train of useful servants, chained on the
wagons to prevent their escape, was sent as a nuptial present
into a distant country. 98 The majesty of the Roman laws
protected the liberty of each citizen, against the rash effects
of his own distress or despair. But the subjects of the
Merovingian kings might alienate their personal freedom; and this
act of legal suicide, which was familiarly practised, is
expressed in terms most disgraceful and afflicting to the dignity
of human nature. 99 The example of the poor, who purchased life
by the sacrifice of all that can render life desirable, was
gradually imitated by the feeble and the devout, who, in times of
public disorder, pusillanimously crowded to shelter themselves
under the battlements of a powerful chief, and around the shrine
of a popular saint. Their submission was accepted by these
temporal or spiritual patrons; and the hasty transaction
irrecoverably fixed their own condition, and that of their latest
posterity. From the reign of Clovis, during five successive
centuries, the laws and manners of Gaul uniformly tended to
promote the increase, and to confirm the duration, of personal
servitude. Time and violence almost obliterated the intermediate
ranks of society; and left an obscure and narrow interval between
the noble and the slave. This arbitrary and recent division has
been transformed by pride and prejudice into a national
distinction, universally established by the arms and the laws of
the Merovingians. The nobles, who claimed their genuine or
fabulous descent from the independent and victorious Franks, have
asserted and abused the indefeasible right of conquest over a
prostrate crowd of slaves and plebeians, to whom they imputed the
imaginary disgrace of Gallic or Roman extraction.
96 (return) [ The custom of enslaving prisoners of war was
totally extinguished in the thirteenth century, by the prevailing
influence of Christianity; but it might be proved, from frequent
passages of Gregory of Tours, &c., that it was practised, without
censure, under the Merovingian race; and even Grotius himself,
(de Jure Belli et Pacis l. iii. c. 7,) as well as his commentator
Barbeyrac, have labored to reconcile it with the laws of nature
and reason.]
97 (return) [ The state, professions, &c., of the German,
Italian, and Gallic slaves, during the middle ages, are explained
by Heineccius, (Element Jur. Germ. l. i. No. 28-47,) Muratori,
(Dissertat. xiv. xv.,) Ducange, (Gloss. sub voce Servi,) and the
Abbe de Mably, (Observations, tom. ii. p. 3, &c., p. 237, &c.)
Note: Compare Hallam, vol. i. p. 216.—M.]
98 (return) [ Gregory of Tours (l. vi. c. 45, in tom. ii. p. 289)
relates a memorable example, in which Chilperic only abused the
private rights of a master. Many families which belonged to his
domus fiscales in the neighborhood of Paris, were forcibly sent
away into Spain.]
99 (return) [ Licentiam habeatis mihi qualemcunque volueritis
disciplinam ponere; vel venumdare, aut quod vobis placuerit de me
facere Marculf. Formul. l. ii. 28, in tom. iv. p. 497. The
Formula of Lindenbrogius, (p. 559,) and that of Anjou, (p. 565,)
are to the same effect Gregory of Tours (l. vii. c. 45, in tom.
ii. p. 311) speak of many person who sold themselves for bread,
in a great famine.]
The general state and revolutions of France, a name which was
imposed by the conquerors, may be illustrated by the particular
example of a province, a diocese, or a senatorial family.
Auvergne had formerly maintained a just preeminence among the
independent states and cities of Gaul. The brave and numerous
inhabitants displayed a singular trophy; the sword of Caesar
himself, which he had lost when he was repulsed before the walls
of Gergovia. 100 As the common offspring of Troy, they claimed a
fraternal alliance with the Romans; 101 and if each province had
imitated the courage and loyalty of Auvergne, the fall of the
Western empire might have been prevented or delayed. They firmly
maintained the fidelity which they had reluctantly sworn to the
Visigoths, out when their bravest nobles had fallen in the battle
of Poitiers, they accepted, without resistance, a victorious and
Catholic sovereign. This easy and valuable conquest was achieved
and possessed by Theodoric, the eldest son of Clovis: but the
remote province was separated from his Austrasian dominions, by
the intermediate kingdoms of Soissons, Paris, and Orleans, which
formed, after their father’s death, the inheritance of his three
brothers. The king of Paris, Childebert, was tempted by the
neighborhood and beauty of Auvergne. 102 The Upper country, which
rises towards the south into the mountains of the Cevennes,
presented a rich and various prospect of woods and pastures; the
sides of the hills were clothed with vines; and each eminence was
crowned with a villa or castle. In the Lower Auvergne, the River
Allier flows through the fair and spacious plain of Limagne; and
the inexhaustible fertility of the soil supplied, and still
supplies, without any interval of repose, the constant repetition
of the same harvests. 103 On the false report, that their lawful
sovereign had been slain in Germany, the city and diocese of
Auvergne were betrayed by the grandson of Sidonius Apollinaris.
Childebert enjoyed this clandestine victory; and the free
subjects of Theodoric threatened to desert his standard, if he
indulged his private resentment, while the nation was engaged in
the Burgundian war. But the Franks of Austrasia soon yielded to
the persuasive eloquence of their king. “Follow me,” said
Theodoric, “into Auvergne; I will lead you into a province, where
you may acquire gold, silver, slaves, cattle, and precious
apparel, to the full extent of your wishes. I repeat my promise;
I give you the people and their wealth as your prey; and you may
transport them at pleasure into your own country.” By the
execution of this promise, Theodoric justly forfeited the
allegiance of a people whom he devoted to destruction. His
troops, reenforced by the fiercest Barbarians of Germany, 104
spread desolation over the fruitful face of Auvergne; and two
places only, a strong castle and a holy shrine, were saved or
redeemed from their licentious fury. The castle of Meroliac 105
was seated on a lofty rock, which rose a hundred feet above the
surface of the plain; and a large reservoir of fresh water was
enclosed, with some arable lands, within the circle of its
fortifications. The Franks beheld with envy and despair this
impregnable fortress; but they surprised a party of fifty
stragglers; and, as they were oppressed by the number of their
captives, they fixed, at a trifling ransom, the alternative of
life or death for these wretched victims, whom the cruel
Barbarians were prepared to massacre on the refusal of the
garrison. Another detachment penetrated as far as Brivas, or
Brioude, where the inhabitants, with their valuable effects, had
taken refuge in the sanctuary of St. Julian. The doors of the
church resisted the assault; but a daring soldier entered through
a window of the choir, and opened a passage to his companions.
The clergy and people, the sacred and the profane spoils, were
rudely torn from the altar; and the sacrilegious division was
made at a small distance from the town of Brioude. But this act
of impiety was severely chastised by the devout son of Clovis. He
punished with death the most atrocious offenders; left their
secret accomplices to the vengeance of St. Julian; released the
captives; restored the plunder; and extended the rights of
sanctuary five miles round the sepulchre of the holy martyr. 106
100 (return) [ When Caesar saw it, he laughed, (Plutarch. in
Caesar. in tom. i. p. 409:) yet he relates his unsuccessful siege
of Gergovia with less frankness than we might expect from a great
man to whom victory was familiar. He acknowledges, however, that
in one attack he lost forty-six centurions and seven hundred men,
(de Bell. Gallico, l. vi. c. 44-53, in tom. i. p. 270-272.)]
101 (return) [ Audebant se quondam fatres Latio dicere, et
sanguine ab Iliaco populos computare, (Sidon. Apollinar. l. vii.
epist. 7, in tom i. p. 799.) I am not informed of the degrees and
circumstances of this fabulous pedigree.]
102 (return) [ Either the first, or second, partition among the
sons of Clovis, had given Berry to Childebert, (Greg. Turon. l.
iii. c. 12, in tom. ii. p. 192.) Velim (said he) Arvernam
Lemanem, quae tanta jocunditatis gratia refulgere dicitur, oculis
cernere, (l. iii. c. p. 191.) The face of the country was
concealed by a thick fog, when the king of Paris made his entry
into Clermen.]
103 (return) [ For the description of Auvergne, see Sidonius, (l.
iv. epist. 21, in tom. i. p. 703,) with the notes of Savaron and
Sirmond, (p. 279, and 51, of their respective editions.)
Boulainvilliers, (Etat de la France, tom. ii. p. 242-268,) and
the Abbe de la Longuerue, (Description de la France, part i. p.
132-139.)]
104 (return) [Furorem gentium, quae de ulteriore Rheni amnis
parte venerant, superare non poterat, (Greg. Turon. l. iv. c. 50,
in tom. ii. 229.) was the excuse of another king of Austrasia
(A.D. 574) for the ravages which his troops committed in the
neighborhood of Paris.]
105 (return) [ From the name and situation, the Benedictine
editors of Gregory of Tours (in tom. ii. p. 192) have fixed this
fortress at a place named Castel Merliac, two miles from Mauriac,
in the Upper Auvergne. In this description, I translate infra as
if I read intra; the two are perpetually confounded by Gregory,
or his transcribed and the sense must always decide.]
106 (return) [ See these revolutions, and wars, of Auvergne, in
Gregory of Tours, (l. ii. c. 37, in tom. ii. p. 183, and l. iii.
c. 9, 12, 13, p. 191, 192, de Miraculis St. Julian. c. 13, in
tom. ii. p. 466.) He frequently betrays his extraordinary
attention to his native country.]
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part IV.
Before the Austrasian army retreated from Auvergne, Theodoric
exacted some pledges of the future loyalty of a people, whose
just hatred could be restrained only by their fear. A select band
of noble youths, the sons of the principal senators, was
delivered to the conqueror, as the hostages of the faith of
Childebert, and of their countrymen. On the first rumor of war,
or conspiracy, these guiltless youths were reduced to a state of
servitude; and one of them, Attalus, 107 whose adventures are
more particularly related, kept his master’s horses in the
diocese of Treves. After a painful search, he was discovered, in
this unworthy occupation, by the emissaries of his grandfather,
Gregory bishop of Langres; but his offers of ransom were sternly
rejected by the avarice of the Barbarian, who required an
exorbitant sum of ten pounds of gold for the freedom of his noble
captive. His deliverance was effected by the hardy stratagem of
Leo, a slave belonging to the kitchens of the bishop of Langres.
108 An unknown agent easily introduced him into the same family.
The Barbarian purchased Leo for the price of twelve pieces of
gold; and was pleased to learn that he was deeply skilled in the
luxury of an episcopal table: “Next Sunday,” said the Frank, “I
shall invite my neighbors and kinsmen. Exert thy art, and force
them to confess, that they have never seen, or tasted, such an
entertainment, even in the king’s house.” Leo assured him, that
if he would provide a sufficient quantity of poultry, his wishes
should be satisfied. The master who already aspired to the merit
of elegant hospitality, assumed, as his own, the praise which the
voracious guests unanimously bestowed on his cook; and the
dexterous Leo insensibly acquired the trust and management of his
household. After the patient expectation of a whole year, he
cautiously whispered his design to Attalus, and exhorted him to
prepare for flight in the ensuing night. At the hour of midnight,
the intemperate guests retired from the table; and the Frank’s
son-in-law, whom Leo attended to his apartment with a nocturnal
potation, condescended to jest on the facility with which he
might betray his trust. The intrepid slave, after sustaining this
dangerous raillery, entered his master’s bedchamber; removed his
spear and shield; silently drew the fleetest horses from the
stable; unbarred the ponderous gates; and excited Attalus to save
his life and liberty by incessant diligence. Their apprehensions
urged them to leave their horses on the banks of the Meuse; 109
they swam the river, wandered three days in the adjacent forest,
and subsisted only by the accidental discovery of a wild
plum-tree. As they lay concealed in a dark thicket, they heard
the noise of horses; they were terrified by the angry countenance
of their master, and they anxiously listened to his declaration,
that, if he could seize the guilty fugitives, one of them he
would cut in pieces with his sword, and would expose the other on
a gibbet. A length, Attalus and his faithful Leo reached the
friendly habitation of a presbyter of Rheims, who recruited their
fainting strength with bread and wine, concealed them from the
search of their enemy, and safely conducted them beyond the
limits of the Austrasian kingdom, to the episcopal palace of
Langres. Gregory embraced his grandson with tears of joy,
gratefully delivered Leo, with his whole family, from the yoke of
servitude, and bestowed on him the property of a farm, where he
might end his days in happiness and freedom. Perhaps this
singular adventure, which is marked with so many circumstances of
truth and nature, was related by Attalus himself, to his cousin
or nephew, the first historian of the Franks. Gregory of Tours
110 was born about sixty years after the death of Sidonius
Apollinaris; and their situation was almost similar, since each
of them was a native of Auvergne, a senator, and a bishop. The
difference of their style and sentiments may, therefore, express
the decay of Gaul; and clearly ascertain how much, in so short a
space, the human mind had lost of its energy and refinement. 111
107 (return) [ The story of Attalus is related by Gregory of
Tours, (l. iii. c. 16, tom. ii. p. 193-195.) His editor, the P.
Ruinart, confounds this Attalus, who was a youth (puer) in the
year 532, with a friend of Silonius of the same name, who was
count of Autun, fifty or sixty years before. Such an error, which
cannot be imputed to ignorance, is excused, in some degree, by
its own magnitude.]
108 (return) [ This Gregory, the great grandfather of Gregory of
Tours, (in tom. ii. p. 197, 490,) lived ninety-two years; of
which he passed forty as count of Autun, and thirty-two as bishop
of Langres. According to the poet Fortunatus, he displayed equal
merit in these different stations. Nobilis antiqua decurrens
prole parentum, Nobilior gestis, nunc super astra manet. Arbiter
ante ferox, dein pius ipse sacerdos, Quos domuit judex, fovit
amore patris.]
109 (return) [ As M. de Valois, and the P. Ruinart, are
determined to change the Mosella of the text into Mosa, it
becomes me to acquiesce in the alteration. Yet, after some
examination of the topography. I could defend the common
reading.]
110 (return) [ The parents of Gregory (Gregorius Florentius
Georgius) were of noble extraction, (natalibus... illustres,) and
they possessed large estates (latifundia) both in Auvergne and
Burgundy. He was born in the year 539, was consecrated bishop of
Tours in 573, and died in 593 or 595, soon after he had
terminated his history. See his life by Odo, abbot of Clugny, (in
tom. ii. p. 129-135,) and a new Life in the Mémoires de
l’Academie, &c., tom. xxvi. p. 598-637.]
111 (return) [ Decedente atque immo potius pereunte ab urbibus
Gallicanis liberalium cultura literarum, &c., (in praefat. in
tom. ii. p. 137,) is the complaint of Gregory himself, which he
fully verifies by his own work. His style is equally devoid of
elegance and simplicity. In a conspicuous station, he still
remained a stranger to his own age and country; and in a prolific
work (the five last books contain ten years) he has omitted
almost every thing that posterity desires to learn. I have
tediously acquired, by a painful perusal, the right of
pronouncing this unfavorable sentence]
We are now qualified to despise the opposite, and, perhaps,
artful, misrepresentations, which have softened, or exaggerated,
the oppression of the Romans of Gaul under the reign of the
Merovingians. The conquerors never promulgated any universal
edict of servitude, or confiscation; but a degenerate people, who
excused their weakness by the specious names of politeness and
peace, was exposed to the arms and laws of the ferocious
Barbarians, who contemptuously insulted their possessions, their
freedom, and their safety. Their personal injuries were partial
and irregular; but the great body of the Romans survived the
revolution, and still preserved the property, and privileges, of
citizens. A large portion of their lands was exacted for the use
of the Franks: but they enjoyed the remainder, exempt from
tribute; 112 and the same irresistible violence which swept away
the arts and manufactures of Gaul, destroyed the elaborate and
expensive system of Imperial despotism. The Provincials must
frequently deplore the savage jurisprudence of the Salic or
Ripuarian laws; but their private life, in the important concerns
of marriage, testaments, or inheritance, was still regulated by
the Theodosian Code; and a discontented Roman might freely
aspire, or descend, to the title and character of a Barbarian.
The honors of the state were accessible to his ambition: the
education and temper of the Romans more peculiarly qualified them
for the offices of civil government; and, as soon as emulation
had rekindled their military ardor, they were permitted to march
in the ranks, or even at the head, of the victorious Germans. I
shall not attempt to enumerate the generals and magistrates,
whose names 113 attest the liberal policy of the Merovingians.
The supreme command of Burgundy, with the title of Patrician, was
successively intrusted to three Romans; and the last, and most
powerful, Mummolus, 114 who alternately saved and disturbed the
monarchy, had supplanted his father in the station of count of
Autun, and left a treasury of thirty talents of gold, and two
hundred and fifty talents of silver. The fierce and illiterate
Barbarians were excluded, during several generations, from the
dignities, and even from the orders, of the church. 115 The
clergy of Gaul consisted almost entirely of native provincials;
the haughty Franks fell at the feet of their subjects, who were
dignified with the episcopal character: and the power and riches
which had been lost in war, were insensibly recovered by
superstition. 116 In all temporal affairs, the Theodosian Code
was the universal law of the clergy; but the Barbaric
jurisprudence had liberally provided for their personal safety; a
sub-deacon was equivalent to two Franks; the antrustion, and
priest, were held in similar estimation: and the life of a bishop
was appreciated far above the common standard, at the price of
nine hundred pieces of gold. 117 The Romans communicated to their
conquerors the use of the Christian religion and Latin language;
118 but their language and their religion had alike degenerated
from the simple purity of the Augustan, and Apostolic age. The
progress of superstition and Barbarism was rapid and universal:
the worship of the saints concealed from vulgar eyes the God of
the Christians; and the rustic dialect of peasants and soldiers
was corrupted by a Teutonic idiom and pronunciation. Yet such
intercourse of sacred and social communion eradicated the
distinctions of birth and victory; and the nations of Gaul were
gradually confounded under the name and government of the Franks.
112 (return) [ The Abbe de Mably (tom. p. i. 247-267) has
diligently confirmed this opinion of the President de
Montesquieu, (Esprit des Loix, l. xxx. c. 13.)]
113 (return) [ See Dubos, Hist. Critique de la Monarchie
Francoise, tom. ii. l. vi. c. 9, 10. The French antiquarians
establish as a principle, that the Romans and Barbarians may be
distinguished by their names. Their names undoubtedly form a
reasonable presumption; yet in reading Gregory of Tours, I have
observed Gondulphus, of Senatorian, or Roman, extraction, (l. vi.
c. 11, in tom. ii. p. 273,) and Claudius, a Barbarian, (l. vii.
c. 29, p. 303.)]
114 (return) [ Eunius Mummolus is repeatedly mentioned by Gregory
of Tours, from the fourth (c. 42, p. 224) to the seventh (c. 40,
p. 310) book. The computation by talents is singular enough; but
if Gregory attached any meaning to that obsolete word, the
treasures of Mummolus must have exceeded 100,000 L. sterling.]
115 (return) [ See Fleury, Discours iii. sur l’Histoire
Ecclesiastique.]
116 (return) [ The bishop of Tours himself has recorded the
complaint of Chilperic, the grandson of Clovis. Ecce pauper
remansit Fiscus noster; ecce divitiae nostrae ad ecclesias sunt
translatae; nulli penitus nisi soli Episcopi regnant, (l. vi. c.
46, in tom. ii. p. 291.)]
117 (return) [ See the Ripuarian Code, (tit. xxxvi in tom. iv. p.
241.) The Salic law does not provide for the safety of the
clergy; and we might suppose, on the behalf of the more civilized
tribe, that they had not foreseen such an impious act as the
murder of a priest. Yet Praetextatus, archbishop of Rouen, was
assassinated by the order of Queen Fredegundis before the altar,
(Greg. Turon. l. viii. c. 31, in tom. ii. p. 326.)]
118 (return) [ M. Bonamy (Mem. de l’Academie des Inscriptions,
tom. xxiv. p. 582-670) has ascertained the Lingua Romana Rustica,
which, through the medium of the Romance, has gradually been
polished into the actual form of the French language. Under the
Carlovingian race, the kings and nobles of France still
understood the dialect of their German ancestors.]
The Franks, after they mingled with their Gallic subjects, might
have imparted the most valuable of human gifts, a spirit and
system of constitutional liberty. Under a king, hereditary, but
limited, the chiefs and counsellors might have debated at Paris,
in the palace of the Caesars: the adjacent field, where the
emperors reviewed their mercenary legions, would have admitted
the legislative assembly of freemen and warriors; and the rude
model, which had been sketched in the woods of Germany, 119 might
have been polished and improved by the civil wisdom of the
Romans. But the careless Barbarians, secure of their personal
independence, disdained the labor of government: the annual
assemblies of the month of March were silently abolished; and the
nation was separated, and almost dissolved, by the conquest of
Gaul. 120 The monarchy was left without any regular establishment
of justice, of arms, or of revenue. The successors of Clovis
wanted resolution to assume, or strength to exercise, the
legislative and executive powers, which the people had abdicated:
the royal prerogative was distinguished only by a more ample
privilege of rapine and murder; and the love of freedom, so often
invigorated and disgraced by private ambition, was reduced, among
the licentious Franks, to the contempt of order, and the desire
of impunity. Seventy-five years after the death of Clovis, his
grandson, Gontran, king of Burgundy, sent an army to invade the
Gothic possessions of Septimania, or Languedoc. The troops of
Burgundy, Berry, Auvergne, and the adjacent territories, were
excited by the hopes of spoil. They marched, without discipline,
under the banners of German, or Gallic, counts: their attack was
feeble and unsuccessful; but the friendly and hostile provinces
were desolated with indiscriminate rage. The cornfields, the
villages, the churches themselves, were consumed by fire: the
inhabitants were massacred, or dragged into captivity; and, in
the disorderly retreat, five thousand of these inhuman savages
were destroyed by hunger or intestine discord. When the pious
Gontran reproached the guilt or neglect of their leaders, and
threatened to inflict, not a legal sentence, but instant and
arbitrary execution, they accused the universal and incurable
corruption of the people. “No one,” they said, “any longer fears
or respects his king, his duke, or his count. Each man loves to
do evil, and freely indulges his criminal inclinations. The most
gentle correction provokes an immediate tumult, and the rash
magistrate, who presumes to censure or restrain his seditious
subjects, seldom escapes alive from their revenge.” 121 It has
been reserved for the same nation to expose, by their intemperate
vices, the most odious abuse of freedom; and to supply its loss
by the spirit of honor and humanity, which now alleviates and
dignifies their obedience to an absolute sovereign. 1211
119 (return) [ Ce beau systeme a ete trouve dans les bois.
Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix, l. xi. c. 6.]
120 (return) [ See the Abbe de Mably. Observations, &c., tom. i.
p. 34-56. It should seem that the institution of national
assemblies, which are with the French nation, has never been
congenial to its temper.]
121 (return) [ Gregory of Tours (l. viii. c. 30, in tom. ii. p.
325, 326) relates, with much indifference, the crimes, the
reproof, and the apology. Nullus Regem metuit, nullus Ducem,
nullus Comitem reveretur; et si fortassis alicui ista displicent,
et ea, pro longaevitate vitae vestrae, emendare conatur, statim
seditio in populo, statim tumultus exoritur, et in tantum
unusquisque contra seniorem saeva intentione grassatur, ut vix se
credat evadere, si tandem silere nequiverit.]
1211 (return) [ This remarkable passage was published in 1779—M.]
The Visigoths had resigned to Clovis the greatest part of their
Gallic possessions; but their loss was amply compensated by the
easy conquest, and secure enjoyment, of the provinces of Spain.
From the monarchy of the Goths, which soon involved the Suevic
kingdom of Gallicia, the modern Spaniards still derive some
national vanity; but the historian of the Roman empire is neither
invited, nor compelled, to pursue the obscure and barren series
of their annals. 122 The Goths of Spain were separated from the
rest of mankind by the lofty ridge of the Pyrenaean mountains:
their manners and institutions, as far as they were common to the
Germanic tribes, have been already explained. I have anticipated,
in the preceding chapter, the most important of their
ecclesiastical events, the fall of Arianism, and the persecution
of the Jews; and it only remains to observe some interesting
circumstances which relate to the civil and ecclesiastical
constitution of the Spanish kingdom.
122 (return) [ Spain, in these dark ages, has been peculiarly
unfortunate. The Franks had a Gregory of Tours; the Saxons, or
Angles, a Bede; the Lombards, a Paul Warnefrid, &c. But the
history of the Visigoths is contained in the short and imperfect
Chronicles of Isidore of Seville and John of Biclar]
After their conversion from idolatry or heresy, the Frank and the
Visigoths were disposed to embrace, with equal submission, the
inherent evils and the accidental benefits, of superstition. But
the prelates of France, long before the extinction of the
Merovingian race, had degenerated into fighting and hunting
Barbarians. They disdained the use of synods; forgot the laws of
temperance and chastity; and preferred the indulgence of private
ambition and luxury to the general interest of the sacerdotal
profession. 123 The bishops of Spain respected themselves, and
were respected by the public: their indissoluble union disguised
their vices, and confirmed their authority; and the regular
discipline of the church introduced peace, order, and stability,
into the government of the state. From the reign of Recared, the
first Catholic king, to that of Witiza, the immediate predecessor
of the unfortunate Roderic, sixteen national councils were
successively convened. The six metropolitans, Toledo, Seville,
Merida, Braga, Tarragona, and Narbonne, presided according to
their respective seniority; the assembly was composed of their
suffragan bishops, who appeared in person, or by their proxies;
and a place was assigned to the most holy, or opulent, of the
Spanish abbots. During the first three days of the convocation,
as long as they agitated the ecclesiastical question of doctrine
and discipline, the profane laity was excluded from their
debates; which were conducted, however, with decent solemnity.
But, on the morning of the fourth day, the doors were thrown open
for the entrance of the great officers of the palace, the dukes
and counts of the provinces, the judges of the cities, and the
Gothic nobles, and the decrees of Heaven were ratified by the
consent of the people.
The same rules were observed in the provincial assemblies, the
annual synods, which were empowered to hear complaints, and to
redress grievances; and a legal government was supported by the
prevailing influence of the Spanish clergy. The bishops, who, in
each revolution, were prepared to flatter the victorious, and to
insult the prostrate labored, with diligence and success, to
kindle the flames of persecution, and to exalt the mitre above
the crown. Yet the national councils of Toledo, in which the free
spirit of the Barbarians was tempered and guided by episcopal
policy, have established some prudent laws for the common benefit
of the king and people. The vacancy of the throne was supplied by
the choice of the bishops and palatines; and after the failure of
the line of Alaric, the regal dignity was still limited to the
pure and noble blood of the Goths. The clergy, who anointed their
lawful prince, always recommended, and sometimes practised, the
duty of allegiance; and the spiritual censures were denounced on
the heads of the impious subjects, who should resist his
authority, conspire against his life, or violate, by an indecent
union, the chastity even of his widow. But the monarch himself,
when he ascended the throne, was bound by a reciprocal oath to
God and his people, that he would faithfully execute this
important trust. The real or imaginary faults of his
administration were subject to the control of a powerful
aristocracy; and the bishops and palatines were guarded by a
fundamental privilege, that they should not be degraded,
imprisoned, tortured, nor punished with death, exile, or
confiscation, unless by the free and public judgment of their
peers. 124
123 (return) [ Such are the complaints of St. Boniface, the
apostle of Germany, and the reformer of Gaul, (in tom. iv. p.
94.) The fourscore years, which he deplores, of license and
corruption, would seem to insinuate that the Barbarians were
admitted into the clergy about the year 660.]
124 (return) [ The acts of the councils of Toledo are still the
most authentic records of the church and constitution of Spain.
The following passages are particularly important, (iii. 17, 18;
iv. 75; v. 2, 3, 4, 5, 8; vi. 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18; vii. 1;
xiii. 2 3 6.) I have found Mascou (Hist. of the Ancient Germans,
xv. 29, and Annotations, xxvi. and xxxiii.) and Ferreras (Hist.
Generale de l’Espagne, tom. ii.) very useful and accurate
guides.]
One of these legislative councils of Toledo examined and ratified
the code of laws which had been compiled by a succession of
Gothic kings, from the fierce Euric, to the devout Egica. As long
as the Visigoths themselves were satisfied with the rude customs
of their ancestors, they indulged their subjects of Aquitain and
Spain in the enjoyment of the Roman law. Their gradual
improvement in arts, in policy, and at length in religion,
encouraged them to imitate, and to supersede, these foreign
institutions; and to compose a code of civil and criminal
jurisprudence, for the use of a great and united people. The same
obligations, and the same privileges, were communicated to the
nations of the Spanish monarchy; and the conquerors, insensibly
renouncing the Teutonic idiom, submitted to the restraints of
equity, and exalted the Romans to the participation of freedom.
The merit of this impartial policy was enhanced by the situation
of Spain under the reign of the Visigoths. The provincials were
long separated from their Arian masters by the irreconcilable
difference of religion. After the conversion of Recared had
removed the prejudices of the Catholics, the coasts, both of the
Ocean and Mediterranean, were still possessed by the Eastern
emperors; who secretly excited a discontented people to reject
the yoke of the Barbarians, and to assert the name and dignity of
Roman citizens. The allegiance of doubtful subjects is indeed
most effectually secured by their own persuasion, that they
hazard more in a revolt, than they can hope to obtain by a
revolution; but it has appeared so natural to oppress those whom
we hate and fear, that the contrary system well deserves the
praise of wisdom and moderation. 125
125 (return) [ The Code of the Visigoths, regularly divided into
twelve books, has been correctly published by Dom Bouquet, (in
tom. iv. p. 273-460.) It has been treated by the President de
Montesquieu (Esprit des Loix, l. xxviii. c. 1) with excessive
severity. I dislike the style; I detest the superstition; but I
shall presume to think, that the civil jurisprudence displays a
more civilized and enlightened state of society, than that of the
Burgundians, or even of the Lombards.]
While the kingdom of the Franks and Visigoths were established in
Gaul and Spain, the Saxons achieved the conquest of Britain, the
third great diocese of the Praefecture of the West. Since Britain
was already separated from the Roman empire, I might, without
reproach, decline a story familiar to the most illiterate, and
obscure to the most learned, of my readers. The Saxons, who
excelled in the use of the oar, or the battle-axe, were ignorant
of the art which could alone perpetuate the fame of their
exploits; the Provincials, relapsing into barbarism, neglected to
describe the ruin of their country; and the doubtful tradition
was almost extinguished, before the missionaries of Rome restored
the light of science and Christianity. The declamations of
Gildas, the fragments, or fables, of Nennius, the obscure hints
of the Saxon laws and chronicles, and the ecclesiastical tales of
the venerable Bede, 126 have been illustrated by the diligence,
and sometimes embellished by the fancy, of succeeding writers,
whose works I am not ambitious either to censure or to
transcribe. 127 Yet the historian of the empire may be tempted to
pursue the revolutions of a Roman province, till it vanishes from
his sight; and an Englishman may curiously trace the
establishment of the Barbarians, from whom he derives his name,
his laws, and perhaps his origin.
126 (return) [ See Gildas de Excidio Britanniae, c. 11-25, p.
4-9, edit. Gale. Nennius, Hist. Britonum, c. 28, 35-65, p.
105-115, edit. Gale. Bede, Hist. Ecclesiast. Gentis Angloruml. i.
c. 12-16, p. 49-53. c. 22, p. 58, edit. Smith. Chron. Saxonicum,
p. 11-23, &c., edit. Gibson. The Anglo-Saxon laws were published
by Wilkins, London, 1731, in folio; and the Leges Wallicae, by
Wotton and Clarke, London, 1730, in folio.]
127 (return) [ The laborious Mr. Carte, and the ingenious Mr.
Whitaker, are the two modern writers to whom I am principally
indebted. The particular historian of Manchester embraces, under
that obscure title, a subject almost as extensive as the general
history of England. * Note: Add the Anglo-Saxon History of Mr. S.
Turner; and Sir F. Palgrave Sketch of the “Early History of
England.”—M.]
About forty years after the dissolution of the Roman government,
Vortigern appears to have obtained the supreme, though precarious
command of the princes and cities of Britain. That unfortunate
monarch has been almost unanimously condemned for the weak and
mischievous policy of inviting 128 a formidable stranger, to
repel the vexatious inroads of a domestic foe. His ambassadors
are despatched, by the gravest historians, to the coast of
Germany: they address a pathetic oration to the general assembly
of the Saxons, and those warlike Barbarians resolve to assist
with a fleet and army the suppliants of a distant and unknown
island. If Britain had indeed been unknown to the Saxons, the
measure of its calamities would have been less complete. But the
strength of the Roman government could not always guard the
maritime province against the pirates of Germany; the independent
and divided states were exposed to their attacks; and the Saxons
might sometimes join the Scots and the Picts, in a tacit, or
express, confederacy of rapine and destruction. Vortigern could
only balance the various perils, which assaulted on every side
his throne and his people; and his policy may deserve either
praise or excuse, if he preferred the alliance of those
Barbarians, whose naval power rendered them the most dangerous
enemies and the most serviceable allies. Hengist and Horsa, as
they ranged along the Eastern coast with three ships, were
engaged, by the promise of an ample stipend, to embrace the
defence of Britain; and their intrepid valor soon delivered the
country from the Caledonian invaders. The Isle of Thanet, a
secure and fertile district, was allotted for the residence of
these German auxiliaries, and they were supplied, according to
the treaty, with a plentiful allowance of clothing and
provisions. This favorable reception encouraged five thousand
warriors to embark with their families in seventeen vessels, and
the infant power of Hengist was fortified by this strong and
seasonable reenforcement. The crafty Barbarian suggested to
Vortigern the obvious advantage of fixing, in the neighborhood of
the Picts, a colony of faithful allies: a third fleet of forty
ships, under the command of his son and nephew, sailed from
Germany, ravaged the Orkneys, and disembarked a new army on the
coast of Northumberland, or Lothian, at the opposite extremity of
the devoted land. It was easy to foresee, but it was impossible
to prevent, the impending evils. The two nations were soon
divided and exasperated by mutual jealousies. The Saxons
magnified all that they had done and suffered in the cause of an
ungrateful people; while the Britons regretted the liberal
rewards which could not satisfy the avarice of those haughty
mercenaries. The causes of fear and hatred were inflamed into an
irreconcilable quarrel. The Saxons flew to arms; and if they
perpetrated a treacherous massacre during the security of a
feast, they destroyed the reciprocal confidence which sustains
the intercourse of peace and war. 129
128 (return) [ This invitation, which may derive some countenance
from the loose expressions of Gildas and Bede, is framed into a
regular story by Witikind, a Saxon monk of the tenth century,
(see Cousin, Hist. de l’Empire d’Occident, tom. ii. p. 356.)
Rapin, and even Hume, have too freely used this suspicious
evidence, without regarding the precise and probable testimony of
Tennius: Iterea venerunt tres Chinlae a exilio pulsoe, in quibus
erant Hors et Hengist.]
129 (return) [ Nennius imputes to the Saxons the murder of three
hundred British chiefs; a crime not unsuitable to their savage
manners. But we are not obliged to believe (see Jeffrey of
Monmouth, l. viii. c. 9-12) that Stonehenge is their monument,
which the giants had formerly transported from Africa to Ireland,
and which was removed to Britain by the order of Ambrosius, and
the art of Merlin. * Note: Sir f. Palgrave (Hist. of England, p.
36) is inclined to resolve the whole of these stories, as Niebuhr
the older Roman history, into poetry. To the editor they
appeared, in early youth, so essentially poetic, as to justify
the rash attempt to embody them in an Epic Poem, called Samor,
commenced at Eton, and finished before he had arrived at the
maturer taste of manhood.—M.]
Hengist, who boldly aspired to the conquest of Britain, exhorted
his countrymen to embrace the glorious opportunity: he painted in
lively colors the fertility of the soil, the wealth of the
cities, the pusillanimous temper of the natives, and the
convenient situation of a spacious solitary island, accessible on
all sides to the Saxon fleets. The successive colonies which
issued, in the period of a century, from the mouths of the Elbe,
the Weser, and the Rhine, were principally composed of three
valiant tribes or nations of Germany; the Jutes, the old Saxons,
and the Angles. The Jutes, who fought under the peculiar banner
of Hengist, assumed the merit of leading their countrymen in the
paths of glory, and of erecting, in Kent, the first independent
kingdom. The fame of the enterprise was attributed to the
primitive Saxons; and the common laws and language of the
conquerors are described by the national appellation of a people,
which, at the end of four hundred years, produced the first
monarchs of South Britain. The Angles were distinguished by their
numbers and their success; and they claimed the honor of fixing a
perpetual name on the country, of which they occupied the most
ample portion. The Barbarians, who followed the hopes of rapine
either on the land or sea, were insensibly blended with this
triple confederacy; the Frisians, who had been tempted by their
vicinity to the British shores, might balance, during a short
space, the strength and reputation of the native Saxons; the
Danes, the Prussians, the Rugians, are faintly described; and
some adventurous Huns, who had wandered as far as the Baltic,
might embark on board the German vessels, for the conquest of a
new world. 130 But this arduous achievement was not prepared or
executed by the union of national powers. Each intrepid
chieftain, according to the measure of his fame and fortunes,
assembled his followers; equipped a fleet of three, or perhaps of
sixty, vessels; chose the place of the attack; and conducted his
subsequent operations according to the events of the war, and the
dictates of his private interest. In the invasion of Britain many
heroes vanquished and fell; but only seven victorious leaders
assumed, or at least maintained, the title of kings. Seven
independent thrones, the Saxon Heptarchy, 1301 were founded by
the conquerors, and seven families, one of which has been
continued, by female succession, to our present sovereign,
derived their equal and sacred lineage from Woden, the god of
war. It has been pretended, that this republic of kings was
moderated by a general council and a supreme magistrate. But such
an artificial scheme of policy is repugnant to the rude and
turbulent spirit of the Saxons: their laws are silent; and their
imperfect annals afford only a dark and bloody prospect of
intestine discord. 131
130 (return) [ All these tribes are expressly enumerated by Bede,
(l. i. c. 15, p. 52, l. v. c. 9, p. 190;) and though I have
considered Mr. Whitaker’s remarks, (Hist. of Manchester, vol. ii.
p. 538-543,) I do not perceive the absurdity of supposing that
the Frisians, &c., were mingled with the Anglo-Saxons.]
1301 (return) [ This term (the Heptarchy) must be rejected
because an idea is conveyed thereby which is substantially wrong.
At no one period were there ever seven kingdoms independent of
each other. Palgrave, vol. i. p. 46. Mr. Sharon Turner has the
merit of having first confuted the popular notion on this
subject. Anglo-Saxon History, vol. i. p. 302.—M.]
131 (return) [ Bede has enumerated seven kings, two Saxons, a
Jute, and four Angles, who successively acquired in the heptarchy
an indefinite supremacy of power and renown. But their reign was
the effect, not of law, but of conquest; and he observes, in
similar terms, that one of them subdued the Isles of Man and
Anglesey; and that another imposed a tribute on the Scots and
Picts. (Hist. Eccles. l. ii. c. 5, p. 83.)]
A monk, who, in the profound ignorance of human life, has
presumed to exercise the office of historian, strangely
disfigures the state of Britain at the time of its separation
from the Western empire. Gildas 132 describes in florid language
the improvements of agriculture, the foreign trade which flowed
with every tide into the Thames and the Severn the solid and
lofty construction of public and private edifices; he accuses the
sinful luxury of the British people; of a people, according to
the same writer, ignorant of the most simple arts, and incapable,
without the aid of the Romans, of providing walls of stone, or
weapons of iron, for the defence of their native land. 133 Under
the long dominion of the emperors, Britain had been insensibly
moulded into the elegant and servile form of a Roman province,
whose safety was intrusted to a foreign power. The subjects of
Honorius contemplated their new freedom with surprise and terror;
they were left destitute of any civil or military constitution;
and their uncertain rulers wanted either skill, or courage, or
authority, to direct the public force against the common enemy.
The introduction of the Saxons betrayed their internal weakness,
and degraded the character both of the prince and people. Their
consternation magnified the danger; the want of union diminished
their resources; and the madness of civil factions was more
solicitous to accuse, than to remedy, the evils, which they
imputed to the misconduct of their adversaries.
Yet the Britons were not ignorant, they could not be ignorant, of
the manufacture or the use of arms; the successive and disorderly
attacks of the Saxons allowed them to recover from their
amazement, and the prosperous or adverse events of the war added
discipline and experience to their native valor.
132 (return) [ See Gildas de Excidio Britanniae, c. i. p. l.
edit. Gale.]
133 (return) [ Mr. Whitaker (Hist. of Manchester, vol. ii. p.
503, 516) has smartly exposed this glaring absurdity, which had
passed unnoticed by the general historians, as they were
hastening to more interesting and important events]
While the continent of Europe and Africa yielded, without
resistance, to the Barbarians, the British island, alone and
unaided, maintained a long, a vigorous, though an unsuccessful,
struggle, against the formidable pirates, who, almost at the same
instant, assaulted the Northern, the Eastern, and the Southern
coasts. The cities which had been fortified with skill, were
defended with resolution; the advantages of ground, hills,
forests, and morasses, were diligently improved by the
inhabitants; the conquest of each district was purchased with
blood; and the defeats of the Saxons are strongly attested by the
discreet silence of their annalist. Hengist might hope to achieve
the conquest of Britain; but his ambition, in an active reign of
thirty-five years, was confined to the possession of Kent; and
the numerous colony which he had planted in the North, was
extirpated by the sword of the Britons. The monarchy of the West
Saxons was laboriously founded by the persevering efforts of
three martial generations. The life of Cerdic, one of the bravest
of the children of Woden, was consumed in the conquest of
Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight; and the loss which he sustained
in the battle of Mount Badon, reduced him to a state of
inglorious repose. Kenric, his valiant son, advanced into
Wiltshire; besieged Salisbury, at that time seated on a
commanding eminence; and vanquished an army which advanced to the
relief of the city. In the subsequent battle of Marlborough, 134
his British enemies displayed their military science. Their
troops were formed in three lines; each line consisted of three
distinct bodies, and the cavalry, the archers, and the pikemen,
were distributed according to the principles of Roman tactics.
The Saxons charged in one weighty column, boldly encountered with
their shord swords the long lances of the Britons, and maintained
an equal conflict till the approach of night. Two decisive
victories, the death of three British kings, and the reduction of
Cirencester, Bath, and Gloucester, established the fame and power
of Ceaulin, the grandson of Cerdic, who carried his victorious
arms to the banks of the Severn.
134 (return) [ At Beran-birig, or Barbury-castle, near
Marlborough. The Saxon chronicle assigns the name and date.
Camden (Britannia, vol. i. p. 128) ascertains the place; and
Henry of Huntingdon (Scriptores pest Bedam, p. 314) relates the
circumstances of this battle. They are probable and
characteristic; and the historians of the twelfth century might
consult some materials that no longer exist.] After a war of a
hundred years, the independent Britons still occupied the whole
extent of the Western coast, from the wall of Antoninus to the
extreme promontory of Cornwall; and the principal cities of the
inland country still opposed the arms of the Barbarians.
Resistance became more languid, as the number and boldness of the
assailants continually increased. Winning their way by slow and
painful efforts, the Saxons, the Angles, and their various
confederates, advanced from the North, from the East, and from
the South, till their victorious banners were united in the
centre of the island. Beyond the Severn the Britons still
asserted their national freedom, which survived the heptarchy,
and even the monarchy, of the Saxons. The bravest warriors, who
preferred exile to slavery, found a secure refuge in the
mountains of Wales: the reluctant submission of Cornwall was
delayed for some ages; 135 and a band of fugitives acquired a
settlement in Gaul, by their own valor, or the liberality of the
Merovingian kings. 136 The Western angle of Armorica acquired the
new appellations of Cornwall, and the Lesser Britain; and the
vacant lands of the Osismii were filled by a strange people, who,
under the authority of their counts and bishops, preserved the
laws and language of their ancestors. To the feeble descendants
of Clovis and Charlemagne, the Britons of Armorica refused the
customary tribute, subdued the neighboring dioceses of Vannes,
Rennes, and Nantes, and formed a powerful, though vassal, state,
which has been united to the crown of France. 137
135 (return) [ Cornwall was finally subdued by Athelstan, (A.D.
927-941,) who planted an English colony at Exeter, and confined
the Britons beyond the River Tamar. See William of Malmsbury, l.
ii., in the Scriptores post Bedam, p. 50. The spirit of the
Cornish knights was degraded by servitude: and it should seem,
from the Romance of Sir Tristram, that their cowardice was almost
proverbial.]
136 (return) [ The establishment of the Britons in Gaul is proved
in the sixth century, by Procopius, Gregory of Tours, the second
council of Tours, (A.D. 567,) and the least suspicious of their
chronicles and lives of saints. The subscription of a bishop of
the Britons to the first council of Tours, (A.D. 461, or rather
481,) the army of Riothamus, and the loose declamation of Gildas,
(alii transmarinas petebant regiones, c. 25, p. 8,) may
countenance an emigration as early as the middle of the fifth
century. Beyond that era, the Britons of Armorica can be found
only in romance; and I am surprised that Mr. Whitaker (Genuine
History of the Britons, p. 214-221) should so faithfully
transcribe the gross ignorance of Carte, whose venial errors he
has so rigorously chastised.]
137 (return) [ The antiquities of Bretagne, which have been the
subject even of political controversy, are illustrated by Hadrian
Valesius, (Notitia Galliarum, sub voce Britannia Cismarina, p.
98-100.) M. D’Anville, (Notice de l’Ancienne Gaule, Corisopiti,
Curiosolites, Osismii, Vorganium, p. 248, 258, 508, 720, and
Etats de l’Europe, p. 76-80,) Longuerue, (Description de la
France, tom. i. p. 84-94,) and the Abbe de Vertot, (Hist.
Critique de l’Etablissement des Bretons dans les Gaules, 2 vols.
in 12 mo., Paris, 1720.) I may assume the merit of examining the
original evidence which they have produced. * Note: Compare
Gallet, Mémoires sur la Bretagne, and Daru, Histoire de Bretagne.
These authors appear to me to establish the point of the
independence of Bretagne at the time that the insular Britons
took refuge in their country, and that the greater part landed as
fugitives rather than as conquerors. I observe that M. Lappenberg
(Geschichte von England, vol. i. p. 56) supposes the settlement
of a military colony formed of British soldiers, (Milites
limitanei, laeti,) during the usurpation of Maximus, (381, 388,)
who gave their name and peculiar civilization to Bretagne. M.
Lappenberg expresses his surprise that Gibbon here rejects the
authority which he follows elsewhere.—M.]
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part V.
In a century of perpetual, or at least implacable, war, much
courage, and some skill, must have been exerted for the defence
of Britain. Yet if the memory of its champions is almost buried
in oblivion, we need not repine; since every age, however
destitute of science or virtue, sufficiently abounds with acts of
blood and military renown. The tomb of Vortimer, the son of
Vortigern, was erected on the margin of the sea-shore, as a
landmark formidable to the Saxons, whom he had thrice vanquished
in the fields of Kent. Ambrosius Aurelian was descended from a
noble family of Romans; 138 his modesty was equal to his valor,
and his valor, till the last fatal action, 139 was crowned with
splendid success. But every British name is effaced by the
illustrious name of Arthur, 140 the hereditary prince of the
Silures, in South Wales, and the elective king or general of the
nation. According to the most rational account, he defeated, in
twelve successive battles, the Angles of the North, and the
Saxons of the West; but the declining age of the hero was
imbittered by popular ingratitude and domestic misfortunes. The
events of his life are less interesting than the singular
revolutions of his fame. During a period of five hundred years
the tradition of his exploits was preserved, and rudely
embellished, by the obscure bards of Wales and Armorica, who were
odious to the Saxons, and unknown to the rest of mankind. The
pride and curiosity of the Norman conquerors prompted them to
inquire into the ancient history of Britain: they listened with
fond credulity to the tale of Arthur, and eagerly applauded the
merit of a prince who had triumphed over the Saxons, their common
enemies. His romance, transcribed in the Latin of Jeffrey of
Monmouth, and afterwards translated into the fashionable idiom of
the times, was enriched with the various, though incoherent,
ornaments which were familiar to the experience, the learning, or
the fancy, of the twelfth century. The progress of a Phrygian
colony, from the Tyber to the Thames, was easily ingrafted on the
fable of the Aeneid; and the royal ancestors of Arthur derived
their origin from Troy, and claimed their alliance with the
Caesars. His trophies were decorated with captive provinces and
Imperial titles; and his Danish victories avenged the recent
injuries of his country. The gallantry and superstition of the
British hero, his feasts and tournaments, and the memorable
institution of his Knights of the Round Table, were faithfully
copied from the reigning manners of chivalry; and the fabulous
exploits of Uther’s son appear less incredible than the
adventures which were achieved by the enterprising valor of the
Normans. Pilgrimage, and the holy wars, introduced into Europe
the specious miracles of Arabian magic. Fairies and giants,
flying dragons, and enchanted palaces, were blended with the more
simple fictions of the West; and the fate of Britain depended on
the art, or the predictions, of Merlin. Every nation embraced and
adorned the popular romance of Arthur, and the Knights of the
Round Table: their names were celebrated in Greece and Italy; and
the voluminous tales of Sir Lancelot and Sir Tristram were
devoutly studied by the princes and nobles, who disregarded the
genuine heroes and historians of antiquity. At length the light
of science and reason was rekindled; the talisman was broken; the
visionary fabric melted into air; and by a natural, though
unjust, reverse of the public opinion, the severity of the
present age is inclined to question the existence of Arthur. 141
138 (return) [ Bede, who in his chronicle (p. 28) places
Ambrosius under the reign of Zeno, (A.D. 474-491,) observes, that
his parents had been “purpura induti;” which he explains, in his
ecclesiastical history, by “regium nomen et insigne ferentibus,”
(l. i. c. 16, p. 53.) The expression of Nennius (c. 44, p. 110,
edit. Gale) is still more singular, “Unus de consulibus gentis
Romanicae est pater meus.”]
139 (return) [ By the unanimous, though doubtful, conjecture of
our antiquarians, Ambrosius is confounded with Natanleod, who
(A.D. 508) lost his own life, and five thousand of his subjects,
in a battle against Cerdic, the West Saxon, (Chron. Saxon. p. 17,
18.)]
140 (return) [ As I am a stranger to the Welsh bards, Myrdhin,
Llomarch, and Taliessin, my faith in the existence and exploits
of Arthur principally rests on the simple and circumstantial
testimony of Nennius. (Hist. Brit. c. 62, 63, p. 114.) Mr.
Whitaker, (Hist. of Manchester, vol. ii. p. 31-71) had framed an
interesting, and even probable, narrative of the wars of Arthur:
though it is impossible to allow the reality of the round table.
* Note: I presume that Gibbon means Llywarch Hen, or the
Aged.—The Elegies of this Welsh prince and bard have been
published by Mr. Owen; to whose works and in the Myvyrian
Archaeology, slumbers much curious information on the subject of
Welsh tradition and poetry. But the Welsh antiquarians have never
obtained a hearing from the public; they have had no Macpherson
to compensate for his corruption of their poetic legends by
forcing them into popularity.—See also Mr. Sharon Turner’s Essay
on the Welsh Bards.—M.]
141 (return) [ The progress of romance, and the state of
learning, in the middle ages, are illustrated by Mr. Thomas
Warton, with the taste of a poet, and the minute diligence of an
antiquarian. I have derived much instruction from the two learned
dissertations prefixed to the first volume of his History of
English Poetry. * Note: These valuable dissertations should not
now be read without the notes and preliminary essay of the late
editor, Mr. Price, which, in point of taste and fulness of
information, are worthy of accompanying and completing those of
Warton.—M.]
Resistance, if it cannot avert, must increase the miseries of
conquest; and conquest has never appeared more dreadful and
destructive than in the hands of the Saxons; who hated the valor
of their enemies, disdained the faith of treaties, and violated,
without remorse, the most sacred objects of the Christian
worship. The fields of battle might be traced, almost in every
district, by monuments of bones; the fragments of falling towers
were stained with blood; the last of the Britons, without
distinction of age or sex, was massacred, 142 in the ruins of
Anderida; 143 and the repetition of such calamities was frequent
and familiar under the Saxon heptarchy. The arts and religion,
the laws and language, which the Romans had so carefully planted
in Britain, were extirpated by their barbarous successors. After
the destruction of the principal churches, the bishops, who had
declined the crown of martyrdom, retired with the holy relics
into Wales and Armorica; the remains of their flocks were left
destitute of any spiritual food; the practice, and even the
remembrance, of Christianity were abolished; and the British
clergy might obtain some comfort from the damnation of the
idolatrous strangers. The kings of France maintained the
privileges of their Roman subjects; but the ferocious Saxons
trampled on the laws of Rome, and of the emperors. The
proceedings of civil and criminal jurisdiction, the titles of
honor, the forms of office, the ranks of society, and even the
domestic rights of marriage, testament, and inheritance, were
finally suppressed; and the indiscriminate crowd of noble and
plebeian slaves was governed by the traditionary customs, which
had been coarsely framed for the shepherds and pirates of
Germany. The language of science, of business, and of
conversation, which had been introduced by the Romans, was lost
in the general desolation. A sufficient number of Latin or Celtic
words might be assumed by the Germans, to express their new wants
and ideas; 144 but those illiterate Pagans preserved and
established the use of their national dialect. 145 Almost every
name, conspicuous either in the church or state, reveals its
Teutonic origin; 146 and the geography of England was universally
inscribed with foreign characters and appellations. The example
of a revolution, so rapid and so complete, may not easily be
found; but it will excite a probable suspicion, that the arts of
Rome were less deeply rooted in Britain than in Gaul or Spain;
and that the native rudeness of the country and its inhabitants
was covered by a thin varnish of Italian manners.
142 (return) [ Hoc anno (490) Aella et Cissa obsederunt
Andredes-Ceaster; et interfecerunt omnes qui id incoluerunt; adeo
ut ne unus Brito ibi superstes fuerit, (Chron. Saxon. p. 15;) an
expression more dreadful in its simplicity, than all the vague
and tedious lamentations of the British Jeremiah.]
143 (return) [ Andredes-Ceaster, or Anderida, is placed by Camden
(Britannia, vol. i. p. 258) at Newenden, in the marshy grounds of
Kent, which might be formerly covered by the sea, and on the edge
of the great forest (Anderida) which overspread so large a
portion of Hampshire and Sussex.]
144 (return) [ Dr. Johnson affirms, that few English words are of
British extraction. Mr. Whitaker, who understands the British
language, has discovered more than three thousand, and actually
produces a long and various catalogue, (vol. ii. p. 235-329.) It
is possible, indeed, that many of these words may have been
imported from the Latin or Saxon into the native idiom of
Britain. * Note: Dr. Prichard’s very curious researches, which
connect the Celtic, as well as the Teutonic languages with the
Indo-European class, make it still more difficult to decide
between the Celtic or Teutonic origin of English words.—See
Prichard on the Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations Oxford,
1831.—M.]
145 (return) [ In the beginning of the seventh century, the
Franks and the Anglo-Saxons mutually understood each other’s
language, which was derived from the same Teutonic root, (Bede,
l. i. c. 25, p. 60.)]
146 (return) [ After the first generation of Italian, or
Scottish, missionaries, the dignities of the church were filled
with Saxon proselytes.]
This strange alteration has persuaded historians, and even
philosophers, that the provincials of Britain were totally
exterminated; and that the vacant land was again peopled by the
perpetual influx, and rapid increase, of the German colonies.
Three hundred thousand Saxons are said to have obeyed the summons
of Hengist; 147 the entire emigation of the Angles was attested,
in the age of Bede, by the solitude of their native country; 148
and our experience has shown the free propagation of the human
race, if they are cast on a fruitful wilderness, where their
steps are unconfined, and their subsistence is plentiful. The
Saxon kingdoms displayed the face of recent discovery and
cultivation; the towns were small, the villages were distant; the
husbandry was languid and unskilful; four sheep were equivalent
to an acre of the best land; 149 an ample space of wood and
morass was resigned to the vague dominion of nature; and the
modern bishopric of Durham, the whole territory from the Tyne to
the Tees, had returned to its primitive state of a savage and
solitary forest. 150 Such imperfect population might have been
supplied, in some generations, by the English colonies; but
neither reason nor facts can justify the unnatural supposition,
that the Saxons of Britain remained alone in the desert which
they had subdued. After the sanguinary Barbarians had secured
their dominion, and gratified their revenge, it was their
interest to preserve the peasants as well as the cattle, of the
unresisting country. In each successive revolution, the patient
herd becomes the property of its new masters; and the salutary
compact of food and labor is silently ratified by their mutual
necessities. Wilfrid, the apostle of Sussex, 151 accepted from
his royal convert the gift of the peninsula of Selsey, near
Chichester, with the persons and property of its inhabitants, who
then amounted to eighty-seven families. He released them at once
from spiritual and temporal bondage; and two hundred and fifty
slaves of both sexes were baptized by their indulgent master. The
kingdom of Sussex, which spread from the sea to the Thames,
contained seven thousand families; twelve hundred were ascribed
to the Isle of Wight; and, if we multiply this vague computation,
it may seem probable, that England was cultivated by a million of
servants, or villains, who were attached to the estates of their
arbitrary landlords. The indigent Barbarians were often tempted
to sell their children, or themselves into perpetual, and even
foreign, bondage; 152 yet the special exemptions which were
granted to national slaves, 153 sufficiently declare that they
were much less numerous than the strangers and captives, who had
lost their liberty, or changed their masters, by the accidents of
war. When time and religion had mitigated the fierce spirit of
the Anglo-Saxons, the laws encouraged the frequent practice of
manumission; and their subjects, of Welsh or Cambrian extraction,
assumed the respectable station of inferior freemen, possessed of
lands, and entitled to the rights of civil society. 154 Such
gentle treatment might secure the allegiance of a fierce people,
who had been recently subdued on the confines of Wales and
Cornwall. The sage Ina, the legislator of Wessex, united the two
nations in the bands of domestic alliance; and four British lords
of Somersetshire may be honorably distinguished in the court of a
Saxon monarch. 155
147 (return) [ Carte’s History of England, vol. i. p. 195. He
quotes the British historians; but I much fear, that Jeffrey of
Monmouth (l. vi. c. 15) is his only witness.]
148 (return) [ Bede, Hist. Ecclesiast. l. i. c. 15, p. 52. The
fact is probable, and well attested: yet such was the loose
intermixture of the German tribes, that we find, in a subsequent
period, the law of the Angli and Warini of Germany, (Lindenbrog.
Codex, p. 479-486.)]
149 (return) [ See Dr. Henry’s useful and laborious History of
Great Britain, vol. ii. p. 388.]
150 (return) [ Quicquid (says John of Tinemouth) inter Tynam et
Tesam fluvios extitit, sola eremi vastitudo tunc temporis fuit,
et idcirco nullius ditioni servivit, eo quod sola indomitorum et
sylvestrium animalium spelunca et habitatio fuit, (apud Carte,
vol. i. p. 195.) From bishop Nicholson (English Historical
Library, p. 65, 98) I understand that fair copies of John of
Tinemouth’s ample collections are preserved in the libraries of
Oxford, Lambeth, &c.]
151 (return) [ See the mission of Wilfrid, &c., in Bede, Hist.
Eccles. l. iv. c. 13, 16, p. 155, 156, 159.]
152 (return) [ From the concurrent testimony of Bede (l. ii. c.
1, p. 78) and William of Malmsbury, (l. iii. p. 102,) it appears,
that the Anglo-Saxons, from the first to the last age, persisted
in this unnatural practice. Their youths were publicly sold in
the market of Rome.]
153 (return) [ According to the laws of Ina, they could not be
lawfully sold beyond the seas.]
154 (return) [ The life of a Wallus, or Cambricus, homo, who
possessed a hyde of land, is fixed at 120 shillings, by the same
laws (of Ina, tit. xxxii. in Leg. Anglo-Saxon. p. 20) which
allowed 200 shillings for a free Saxon, 1200 for a Thane, (see
likewise Leg. Anglo-Saxon. p. 71.) We may observe, that these
legislators, the West Saxons and Mercians, continued their
British conquests after they became Christians. The laws of the
four kings of Kent do not condescend to notice the existence of
any subject Britons.]
155 (return) [ See Carte’s Hist. of England, vol. i. p. 278.]
The independent Britons appear to have relapsed into the state of
original barbarism, from whence they had been imperfectly
reclaimed. Separated by their enemies from the rest of mankind,
they soon became an object of scandal and abhorrence to the
Catholic world. 156 Christianity was still professed in the
mountains of Wales; but the rude schismatics, in the form of the
clerical tonsure, and in the day of the celebration of Easter,
obstinately resisted the imperious mandates of the Roman
pontiffs. The use of the Latin language was insensibly abolished,
and the Britons were deprived of the art and learning which Italy
communicated to her Saxon proselytes. In Wales and Armorica, the
Celtic tongue, the native idiom of the West, was preserved and
propagated; and the Bards, who had been the companions of the
Druids, were still protected, in the sixteenth century, by the
laws of Elizabeth. Their chief, a respectable officer of the
courts of Pengwern, or Aberfraw, or Caermarthen, accompanied the
king’s servants to war: the monarchy of the Britons, which he
sung in the front of battle, excited their courage, and justified
their depredations; and the songster claimed for his legitimate
prize the fairest heifer of the spoil. His subordinate ministers,
the masters and disciples of vocal and instrumental music,
visited, in their respective circuits, the royal, the noble, and
the plebeian houses; and the public poverty, almost exhausted by
the clergy, was oppressed by the importunate demands of the
bards. Their rank and merit were ascertained by solemn trials,
and the strong belief of supernatural inspiration exalted the
fancy of the poet, and of his audience. 157 The last retreats of
Celtic freedom, the extreme territories of Gaul and Britain, were
less adapted to agriculture than to pasturage: the wealth of the
Britons consisted in their flocks and herds; milk and flesh were
their ordinary food; and bread was sometimes esteemed, or
rejected, as a foreign luxury. Liberty had peopled the mountains
of Wales and the morasses of Armorica; but their populousness has
been maliciously ascribed to the loose practice of polygamy; and
the houses of these licentious barbarians have been supposed to
contain ten wives, and perhaps fifty children. 158 Their
disposition was rash and choleric; they were bold in action and
in speech; 159 and as they were ignorant of the arts of peace,
they alternately indulged their passions in foreign and domestic
war. The cavalry of Armorica, the spearmen of Gwent, and the
archers of Merioneth, were equally formidable; but their poverty
could seldom procure either shields or helmets; and the
inconvenient weight would have retarded the speed and agility of
their desultory operations. One of the greatest of the English
monarchs was requested to satisfy the curiosity of a Greek
emperor concerning the state of Britain; and Henry II. could
assert, from his personal experience, that Wales was inhabited by
a race of naked warriors, who encountered, without fear, the
defensive armor of their enemies. 160
156 (return) [ At the conclusion of his history, (A.D. 731,) Bede
describes the ecclesiastical state of the island, and censures
the implacable, though impotent, hatred of the Britons against
the English nation, and the Catholic church, (l. v. c. 23, p.
219.)]
157 (return) [ Mr. Pennant’s Tour in Wales (p. 426-449) has
furnished me with a curious and interesting account of the Welsh
bards. In the year 1568, a session was held at Caerwys by the
special command of Queen Elizabeth, and regular degrees in vocal
and instrumental music were conferred on fifty-five minstrels.
The prize (a silver harp) was adjudged by the Mostyn family.]
158 (return) [ Regio longe lateque diffusa, milite, magis quam
credibile sit, referta. Partibus equidem in illis miles unus
quinquaginta generat, sortitus more barbaro denas aut amplius
uxores. This reproach of William of Poitiers (in the Historians
of France, tom. xi. p. 88) is disclaimed by the Benedictine
editors.]
159 (return) [ Giraldus Cambrensis confines this gift of bold and
ready eloquence to the Romans, the French, and the Britons. The
malicious Welshman insinuates that the English taciturnity might
possibly be the effect of their servitude under the Normans.]
160 (return) [ The picture of Welsh and Armorican manners is
drawn from Giraldus, (Descript. Cambriae, c. 6-15, inter Script.
Camden. p. 886-891,) and the authors quoted by the Abbe de
Vertot, (Hist. Critique tom. ii. p. 259-266.)]
By the revolution of Britain, the limits of science, as well as
of empire, were contracted. The dark cloud, which had been
cleared by the Phoenician discoveries, and finally dispelled by
the arms of Caesar, again settled on the shores of the Atlantic,
and a Roman province was again lost among the fabulous Islands of
the Ocean. One hundred and fifty years after the reign of
Honorius, the gravest historian of the times 161 describes the
wonders of a remote isle, whose eastern and western parts are
divided by an antique wall, the boundary of life and death, or,
more properly, of truth and fiction. The east is a fair country,
inhabited by a civilized people: the air is healthy, the waters
are pure and plentiful, and the earth yields her regular and
fruitful increase. In the west, beyond the wall, the air is
infectious and mortal; the ground is covered with serpents; and
this dreary solitude is the region of departed spirits, who are
transported from the opposite shores in substantial boats, and by
living rowers. Some families of fishermen, the subjects of the
Franks, are excused from tribute, in consideration of the
mysterious office which is performed by these Charons of the
ocean. Each in his turn is summoned, at the hour of midnight, to
hear the voices, and even the names, of the ghosts: he is
sensible of their weight, and he feels himself impelled by an
unknown, but irresistible power. After this dream of fancy, we
read with astonishment, that the name of this island is Brittia;
that it lies in the ocean, against the mouth of the Rhine, and
less than thirty miles from the continent; that it is possessed
by three nations, the Frisians, the Angles, and the Britons; and
that some Angles had appeared at Constantinople, in the train of
the French ambassadors. From these ambassadors Procopius might be
informed of a singular, though not improbable, adventure, which
announces the spirit, rather than the delicacy, of an English
heroine. She had been betrothed to Radiger, king of the Varni, a
tribe of Germans who touched the ocean and the Rhine; but the
perfidious lover was tempted, by motives of policy, to prefer his
father’s widow, the sister of Theodebert, king of the Franks. 162
The forsaken princess of the Angles, instead of bewailing,
revenged her disgrace. Her warlike subjects are said to have been
ignorant of the use, and even of the form, of a horse; but she
boldly sailed from Britain to the mouth of the Rhine, with a
fleet of four hundred ships, and an army of one hundred thousand
men. After the loss of a battle, the captive Radiger implored the
mercy of his victorious bride, who generously pardoned his
offence, dismissed her rival, and compelled the king of the Varni
to discharge with honor and fidelity the duties of a husband. 163
This gallant exploit appears to be the last naval enterprise of
the Anglo-Saxons. The arts of navigation, by which they acquired
the empire of Britain and of the sea, were soon neglected by the
indolent Barbarians, who supinely renounced all the commercial
advantages of their insular situation. Seven independent kingdoms
were agitated by perpetual discord; and the British world was
seldom connected, either in peace or war, with the nations of the
Continent. 164
161 (return) [ See Procopius de Bell. Gothic. l. iv. c. 20, p.
620-625. The Greek historian is himself so confounded by the
wonders which he relates, that he weakly attempts to distinguish
the islands of Britia and Britain, which he has identified by so
many inseparable circumstances.]
162 (return) [ Theodebert, grandson of Clovis, and king of
Austrasia, was the most powerful and warlike prince of the age;
and this remarkable adventure may be placed between the years 534
and 547, the extreme terms of his reign. His sister Theudechildis
retired to Sens, where she founded monasteries, and distributed
alms, (see the notes of the Benedictine editors, in tom. ii. p.
216.) If we may credit the praises of Fortunatus, (l. vi. carm.
5, in tom. ii. p. 507,) Radiger was deprived of a most valuable
wife.]
163 (return) [ Perhaps she was the sister of one of the princes
or chiefs of the Angles, who landed in 527, and the following
years, between the Humber and the Thames, and gradually founded
the kingdoms of East Anglia and Mercia. The English writers are
ignorant of her name and existence: but Procopius may have
suggested to Mr. Rowe the character and situation of Rodogune in
the tragedy of the Royal Convert.]
164 (return) [ In the copious history of Gregory of Tours, we
cannot find any traces of hostile or friendly intercourse between
France and England except in the marriage of the daughter of
Caribert, king of Paris, quam regis cujusdam in Cantia filius
matrimonio copulavit, (l. ix. c. 28, in tom. ii. p. 348.) The
bishop of Tours ended his history and his life almost immediately
before the conversion of Kent.]
I have now accomplished the laborious narrative of the decline
and fall of the Roman empire, from the fortunate age of Trajan
and the Antonines, to its total extinction in the West, about
five centuries after the Christian era. At that unhappy period,
the Saxons fiercely struggled with the natives for the possession
of Britain: Gaul and Spain were divided between the powerful
monarchies of the Franks and Visigoths, and the dependent
kingdoms of the Suevi and Burgundians: Africa was exposed to the
cruel persecution of the Vandals, and the savage insults of the
Moors: Rome and Italy, as far as the banks of the Danube, were
afflicted by an army of Barbarian mercenaries, whose lawless
tyranny was succeeded by the reign of Theodoric the Ostrogoth.
All the subjects of the empire, who, by the use of the Latin
language, more particularly deserved the name and privileges of
Romans, were oppressed by the disgrace and calamities of foreign
conquest; and the victorious nations of Germany established a new
system of manners and government in the western countries of
Europe. The majesty of Rome was faintly represented by the
princes of Constantinople, the feeble and imaginary successors of
Augustus. Yet they continued to reign over the East, from the
Danube to the Nile and Tigris; the Gothic and Vandal kingdoms of
Italy and Africa were subverted by the arms of Justinian; and the
history of the Greek emperors may still afford a long series of
instructive lessons, and interesting revolutions.
Chapter XXXVIII: Reign Of Clovis.—Part VI.
General Observations On The Fall Of The Roman Empire In The West.
The Greeks, after their country had been reduced into a province,
imputed the triumphs of Rome, not to the merit, but to the
fortune, of the republic. The inconstant goddess, who so blindly
distributes and resumes her favors, had now consented (such was
the language of envious flattery) to resign her wings, to descend
from her globe, and to fix her firm and immutable throne on the
banks of the Tyber. 1000 A wiser Greek, who has composed, with a
philosophic spirit, the memorable history of his own times,
deprived his countrymen of this vain and delusive comfort, by
opening to their view the deep foundations of the greatness of
Rome. 2000 The fidelity of the citizens to each other, and to the
state, was confirmed by the habits of education, and the
prejudices of religion. Honor, as well as virtue, was the
principle of the republic; the ambitious citizens labored to
deserve the solemn glories of a triumph; and the ardor of the
Roman youth was kindled into active emulation, as often as they
beheld the domestic images of their ancestors. 3000 The temperate
struggles of the patricians and plebeians had finally established
the firm and equal balance of the constitution; which united the
freedom of popular assemblies, with the authority and wisdom of a
senate, and the executive powers of a regal magistrate. When the
consul displayed the standard of the republic, each citizen bound
himself, by the obligation of an oath, to draw his sword in the
cause of his country, till he had discharged the sacred duty by a
military service of ten years. This wise institution continually
poured into the field the rising generations of freemen and
soldiers; and their numbers were reenforced by the warlike and
populous states of Italy, who, after a brave resistance, had
yielded to the valor and embraced the alliance, of the Romans.
The sage historian, who excited the virtue of the younger Scipio,
and beheld the ruin of Carthage, 4000 has accurately described
their military system; their levies, arms, exercises,
subordination, marches, encampments; and the invincible legion,
superior in active strength to the Macedonian phalanx of Philip
and Alexander. From these institutions of peace and war Polybius
has deduced the spirit and success of a people, incapable of
fear, and impatient of repose. The ambitious design of conquest,
which might have been defeated by the seasonable conspiracy of
mankind, was attempted and achieved; and the perpetual violation
of justice was maintained by the political virtues of prudence
and courage. The arms of the republic, sometimes vanquished in
battle, always victorious in war, advanced with rapid steps to
the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine, and the Ocean; and the
images of gold, or silver, or brass, that might serve to
represent the nations and their kings, were successively broken
by the iron monarchy of Rome. 5000
1000 (return) [ Such are the figurative expressions of Plutarch,
(Opera, tom. ii. p. 318, edit. Wechel,) to whom, on the faith of
his son Lamprias, (Fabricius, Bibliot. Graec. tom. iii. p. 341,)
I shall boldly impute the malicious declamation. The same
opinions had prevailed among the Greeks two hundred and fifty
years before Plutarch; and to confute them is the professed
intention of Polybius, (Hist. l. i. p. 90, edit. Gronov. Amstel.
1670.)]
2000 (return) [ See the inestimable remains of the sixth book of
Polybius, and many other parts of his general history,
particularly a digression in the seventeenth book, in which he
compares the phalanx and the legion.]
3000 (return) [ Sallust, de Bell. Jugurthin. c. 4. Such were the
generous professions of P. Scipio and Q. Maximus. The Latin
historian had read and most probably transcribes, Polybius, their
contemporary and friend.]
4000 (return) [ While Carthage was in flames, Scipio repeated two
lines of the Iliad, which express the destruction of Troy,
acknowledging to Polybius, his friend and preceptor, (Polyb. in
Excerpt. de Virtut. et Vit. tom. ii. p. 1455-1465,) that while he
recollected the vicissitudes of human affairs, he inwardly
applied them to the future calamities of Rome, (Appian. in
Libycis, p. 136, edit. Toll.)]
5000 (return) [ See Daniel, ii. 31-40. “And the fourth kingdom
shall be strong as iron; forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and
subdueth all things.” The remainder of the prophecy (the mixture
of iron and clay) was accomplished, according to St. Jerom, in
his own time. Sicut enim in principio nihil Romano Imperio
fortius et durius, ita in fine rerum nihil imbecillius; quum et
in bellis civilibus et adversus diversas nationes, aliarum
gentium barbararum auxilio indigemus, (Opera, tom. v. p. 572.)]
The rise of a city, which swelled into an empire, may deserve, as
a singular prodigy, the reflection of a philosophic mind. But the
decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of
immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay;
the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest;
and as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial
supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its
own weight. The story of its ruin is simple and obvious; and
instead of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we
should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long. The
victorious legions, who, in distant wars, acquired the vices of
strangers and mercenaries, first oppressed the freedom of the
republic, and afterwards violated the majesty of the purple. The
emperors, anxious for their personal safety and the public peace,
were reduced to the base expedient of corrupting the discipline
which rendered them alike formidable to their sovereign and to
the enemy; the vigor of the military government was relaxed, and
finally dissolved, by the partial institutions of Constantine;
and the Roman world was overwhelmed by a deluge of Barbarians.
The decay of Rome has been frequently ascribed to the translation
of the seat of empire; but this History has already shown, that
the powers of government were divided, rather than removed. The
throne of Constantinople was erected in the East; while the West
was still possessed by a series of emperors who held their
residence in Italy, and claimed their equal inheritance of the
legions and provinces. This dangerous novelty impaired the
strength, and fomented the vices, of a double reign: the
instruments of an oppressive and arbitrary system were
multiplied; and a vain emulation of luxury, not of merit, was
introduced and supported between the degenerate successors of
Theodosius. Extreme distress, which unites the virtue of a free
people, imbitters the factions of a declining monarchy. The
hostile favorites of Arcadius and Honorius betrayed the republic
to its common enemies; and the Byzantine court beheld with
indifference, perhaps with pleasure, the disgrace of Rome, the
misfortunes of Italy, and the loss of the West. Under the
succeeding reigns, the alliance of the two empires was restored;
but the aid of the Oriental Romans was tardy, doubtful, and
ineffectual; and the national schism of the Greeks and Latins was
enlarged by the perpetual difference of language and manners, of
interests, and even of religion. Yet the salutary event approved
in some measure the judgment of Constantine. During a long period
of decay, his impregnable city repelled the victorious armies of
Barbarians, protected the wealth of Asia, and commanded, both in
peace and war, the important straits which connect the Euxine and
Mediterranean Seas. The foundation of Constantinople more
essentially contributed to the preservation of the East, than to
the ruin of the West.
As the happiness of a future life is the great object of
religion, we may hear without surprise or scandal, that the
introduction or at least the abuse, of Christianity had some
influence on the decline and fall of the Roman empire. The clergy
successfully preached the doctrines of patience and
pusillanimity: the active virtues of society were discouraged;
and the last remains of military spirit were buried in the
cloister: a large portion of public and private wealth was
consecrated to the specious demands of charity and devotion; and
the soldiers’ pay was lavished on the useless multitudes of both
sexes, who could only plead the merits of abstinence and
chastity. 511 Faith, zeal, curiosity, and the more earthly
passions of malice and ambition, kindled the flame of theological
discord; the church, and even the state, were distracted by
religious factions, whose conflicts were sometimes bloody, and
always implacable; the attention of the emperors was diverted
from camps to synods; the Roman world was oppressed by a new
species of tyranny; and the persecuted sects became the secret
enemies of their country. Yet party spirit, however pernicious or
absurd, is a principle of union as well as of dissension. The
bishops, from eighteen hundred pulpits, inculcated the duty of
passive obedience to a lawful and orthodox sovereign; their
frequent assemblies, and perpetual correspondence, maintained the
communion of distant churches; and the benevolent temper of the
gospel was strengthened, though confined, by the spiritual
alliance of the Catholics. The sacred indolence of the monks was
devoutly embraced by a servile and effeminate age; but if
superstition had not afforded a decent retreat, the same vices
would have tempted the unworthy Romans to desert, from baser
motives, the standard of the republic. Religious precepts are
easily obeyed, which indulge and sanctify the natural
inclinations of their votaries; but the pure and genuine
influence of Christianity may be traced in its beneficial, though
imperfect, effects on the Barbarian proselytes of the North. If
the decline of the Roman empire was hastened by the conversion of
Constantine, his victorious religion broke the violence of the
fall, and mollified the ferocious temper of the conquerors.
511 (return) [ It might be a curious speculation, how far the
purer morals of the genuine and more active Christians may have
compensated, in the population of the Roman empire, for the
secession of such numbers into inactive and unproductive
celibacy.—M.]
This awful revolution may be usefully applied to the instruction
of the present age. It is the duty of a patriot to prefer and
promote the exclusive interest and glory of his native country:
but a philosopher may be permitted to enlarge his views, and to
consider Europe as one great republic whose various inhabitants
have obtained almost the same level of politeness and
cultivation. The balance of power will continue to fluctuate, and
the prosperity of our own, or the neighboring kingdoms, may be
alternately exalted or depressed; but these partial events cannot
essentially injure our general state of happiness, the system of
arts, and laws, and manners, which so advantageously distinguish,
above the rest of mankind, the Europeans and their colonies. The
savage nations of the globe are the common enemies of civilized
society; and we may inquire, with anxious curiosity, whether
Europe is still threatened with a repetition of those calamities,
which formerly oppressed the arms and institutions of Rome.
Perhaps the same reflections will illustrate the fall of that
mighty empire, and explain the probable causes of our actual
security.
I. The Romans were ignorant of the extent of their danger, and
the number of their enemies. Beyond the Rhine and Danube, the
Northern countries of Europe and Asia were filled with
innumerable tribes of hunters and shepherds, poor, voracious, and
turbulent; bold in arms, and impatient to ravish the fruits of
industry. The Barbarian world was agitated by the rapid impulse
of war; and the peace of Gaul or Italy was shaken by the distant
revolutions of China. The Huns, who fled before a victorious
enemy, directed their march towards the West; and the torrent was
swelled by the gradual accession of captives and allies. The
flying tribes who yielded to the Huns assumed in their turn the
spirit of conquest; the endless column of Barbarians pressed on
the Roman empire with accumulated weight; and, if the foremost
were destroyed, the vacant space was instantly replenished by new
assailants. Such formidable emigrations can no longer issue from
the North; and the long repose, which has been imputed to the
decrease of population, is the happy consequence of the progress
of arts and agriculture. Instead of some rude villages, thinly
scattered among its woods and morasses, Germany now produces a
list of two thousand three hundred walled towns: the Christian
kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Poland, have been successively
established; and the Hanse merchants, with the Teutonic knights,
have extended their colonies along the coast of the Baltic, as
far as the Gulf of Finland. From the Gulf of Finland to the
Eastern Ocean, Russia now assumes the form of a powerful and
civilized empire. The plough, the loom, and the forge, are
introduced on the banks of the Volga, the Oby, and the Lena; and
the fiercest of the Tartar hordes have been taught to tremble and
obey. The reign of independent Barbarism is now contracted to a
narrow span; and the remnant of Calmucks or Uzbecks, whose forces
may be almost numbered, cannot seriously excite the apprehensions
of the great republic of Europe. 6000 Yet this apparent security
should not tempt us to forget, that new enemies, and unknown
dangers, may possibly arise from some obscure people, scarcely
visible in the map of the world, The Arabs or Saracens, who
spread their conquests from India to Spain, had languished in
poverty and contempt, till Mahomet breathed into those savage
bodies the soul of enthusiasm.
6000 (return) [ The French and English editors of the
Genealogical History of the Tartars have subjoined a curious,
though imperfect, description, of their present state. We might
question the independence of the Calmucks, or Eluths, since they
have been recently vanquished by the Chinese, who, in the year
1759, subdued the Lesser Bucharia, and advanced into the country
of Badakshan, near the source of the Oxus, (Mémoires sur les
Chinois, tom. i. p. 325-400.) But these conquests are precarious,
nor will I venture to insure the safety of the Chinese empire.]
II. The empire of Rome was firmly established by the singular and
perfect coalition of its members. The subject nations, resigning
the hope, and even the wish, of independence, embraced the
character of Roman citizens; and the provinces of the West were
reluctantly torn by the Barbarians from the bosom of their mother
country. 7000 But this union was purchased by the loss of
national freedom and military spirit; and the servile provinces,
destitute of life and motion, expected their safety from the
mercenary troops and governors, who were directed by the orders
of a distant court. The happiness of a hundred millions depended
on the personal merit of one or two men, perhaps children, whose
minds were corrupted by education, luxury, and despotic power.
The deepest wounds were inflicted on the empire during the
minorities of the sons and grandsons of Theodosius; and, after
those incapable princes seemed to attain the age of manhood, they
abandoned the church to the bishops, the state to the eunuchs,
and the provinces to the Barbarians. Europe is now divided into
twelve powerful, though unequal kingdoms, three respectable
commonwealths, and a variety of smaller, though independent,
states: the chances of royal and ministerial talents are
multiplied, at least, with the number of its rulers; and a
Julian, or Semiramis, may reign in the North, while Arcadius and
Honorius again slumber on the thrones of the South. The abuses of
tyranny are restrained by the mutual influence of fear and shame;
republics have acquired order and stability; monarchies have
imbibed the principles of freedom, or, at least, of moderation;
and some sense of honor and justice is introduced into the most
defective constitutions by the general manners of the times. In
peace, the progress of knowledge and industry is accelerated by
the emulation of so many active rivals: in war, the European
forces are exercised by temperate and undecisive contests. If a
savage conqueror should issue from the deserts of Tartary, he
must repeatedly vanquish the robust peasants of Russia, the
numerous armies of Germany, the gallant nobles of France, and the
intrepid freemen of Britain; who, perhaps, might confederate for
their common defence. Should the victorious Barbarians carry
slavery and desolation as far as the Atlantic Ocean, ten thousand
vessels would transport beyond their pursuit the remains of
civilized society; and Europe would revive and flourish in the
American world, which is already filled with her colonies and
institutions. 8000
7000 (return) [ The prudent reader will determine how far this
general proposition is weakened by the revolt of the Isaurians,
the independence of Britain and Armorica, the Moorish tribes, or
the Bagaudae of Gaul and Spain, (vol. i. p. 328, vol. iii. p.
315, vol. iii. p. 372, 480.)]
8000 (return) [ America now contains about six millions of
European blood and descent; and their numbers, at least in the
North, are continually increasing. Whatever may be the changes of
their political situation, they must preserve the manners of
Europe; and we may reflect with some pleasure, that the English
language will probably be diffused ever an immense and populous
continent.]
III. Cold, poverty, and a life of danger and fatigue, fortify the
strength and courage of Barbarians. In every age they have
oppressed the polite and peaceful nations of China, India, and
Persia, who neglected, and still neglect, to counterbalance these
natural powers by the resources of military art. The warlike
states of antiquity, Greece, Macedonia, and Rome, educated a race
of soldiers; exercised their bodies, disciplined their courage,
multiplied their forces by regular evolutions, and converted the
iron, which they possessed, into strong and serviceable weapons.
But this superiority insensibly declined with their laws and
manners; and the feeble policy of Constantine and his successors
armed and instructed, for the ruin of the empire, the rude valor
of the Barbarian mercenaries. The military art has been changed
by the invention of gunpowder; which enables man to command the
two most powerful agents of nature, air and fire. Mathematics,
chemistry, mechanics, architecture, have been applied to the
service of war; and the adverse parties oppose to each other the
most elaborate modes of attack and of defence. Historians may
indignantly observe, that the preparations of a siege would found
and maintain a flourishing colony; 9000 yet we cannot be
displeased, that the subversion of a city should be a work of
cost and difficulty; or that an industrious people should be
protected by those arts, which survive and supply the decay of
military virtue. Cannon and fortifications now form an
impregnable barrier against the Tartar horse; and Europe is
secure from any future irruptions of Barbarians; since, before
they can conquer, they must cease to be barbarous. Their gradual
advances in the science of war would always be accompanied, as we
may learn from the example of Russia, with a proportionable
improvement in the arts of peace and civil policy; and they
themselves must deserve a place among the polished nations whom
they subdue.
9000 (return) [ On avoit fait venir (for the siege of Turin) 140
pieces de canon; et il est a remarquer que chaque gros canon
monte revient a environ ecus: il y avoit 100,000 boulets; 106,000
cartouches d’une facon, et 300,000 d’une autre; 21,000 bombes;
27,700 grenades, 15,000 sacs a terre, 30,000 instruments pour la
pionnage; 1,200,000 livres de poudre. Ajoutez a ces munitions, le
plomb, le fer, et le fer-blanc, les cordages, tout ce qui sert
aux mineurs, le souphre, le salpetre, les outils de toute espece.
Il est certain que les frais de tous ces preparatifs de
destruction suffiroient pour fonder et pour faire fleurir la plus
aombreuse colonie. Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XIV. c. xx. in his
Works. tom. xi. p. 391.]
Should these speculations be found doubtful or fallacious, there
still remains a more humble source of comfort and hope. The
discoveries of ancient and modern navigators, and the domestic
history, or tradition, of the most enlightened nations, represent
the human savage, naked both in body and mind and destitute of
laws, of arts, of ideas, and almost of language. 1001 From this
abject condition, perhaps the primitive and universal state of
man, he has gradually arisen to command the animals, to fertilize
the earth, to traverse the ocean and to measure the heavens. His
progress in the improvement and exercise of his mental and
corporeal faculties 1101 has been irregular and various;
infinitely slow in the beginning, and increasing by degrees with
redoubled velocity: ages of laborious ascent have been followed
by a moment of rapid downfall; and the several climates of the
globe have felt the vicissitudes of light and darkness. Yet the
experience of four thousand years should enlarge our hopes, and
diminish our apprehensions: we cannot determine to what height
the human species may aspire in their advances towards
perfection; but it may safely be presumed, that no people, unless
the face of nature is changed, will relapse into their original
barbarism. The improvements of society may be viewed under a
threefold aspect. 1. The poet or philosopher illustrates his age
and country by the efforts of a single mind; but those superior
powers of reason or fancy are rare and spontaneous productions;
and the genius of Homer, or Cicero, or Newton, would excite less
admiration, if they could be created by the will of a prince, or
the lessons of a preceptor. 2. The benefits of law and policy, of
trade and manufactures, of arts and sciences, are more solid and
permanent: and many individuals may be qualified, by education
and discipline, to promote, in their respective stations, the
interest of the community. But this general order is the effect
of skill and labor; and the complex machinery may be decayed by
time, or injured by violence.
3. Fortunately for mankind, the more useful, or, at least, more
necessary arts, can be performed without superior talents, or
national subordination: without the powers of one, or the union
of many. Each village, each family, each individual, must always
possess both ability and inclination to perpetuate the use of
fire 1201 and of metals; the propagation and service of domestic
animals; the methods of hunting and fishing; the rudiments of
navigation; the imperfect cultivation of corn, or other nutritive
grain; and the simple practice of the mechanic trades. Private
genius and public industry may be extirpated; but these hardy
plants survive the tempest, and strike an everlasting root into
the most unfavorable soil. The splendid days of Augustus and
Trajan were eclipsed by a cloud of ignorance; and the Barbarians
subverted the laws and palaces of Rome. But the scythe, the
invention or emblem of Saturn, 1302 still continued annually to
mow the harvests of Italy; and the human feasts of the
Laestrigons 1401 have never been renewed on the coast of
Campania.
1001 (return) [ It would be an easy, though tedious, task, to
produce the authorities of poets, philosophers, and historians. I
shall therefore content myself with appealing to the decisive and
authentic testimony of Diodorus Siculus, (tom. i. l. i. p. 11,
12, l. iii. p. 184, &c., edit. Wesseling.) The Icthyophagi, who
in his time wandered along the shores of the Red Sea, can only be
compared to the natives of New Holland, (Dampier’s Voyages, vol.
i. p. 464-469.) Fancy, or perhaps reason, may still suppose an
extreme and absolute state of nature far below the level of these
savages, who had acquired some arts and instruments.]
1101 (return) [ See the learned and rational work of the
president Goguet, de l’Origine des Loix, des Arts, et des
Sciences. He traces from facts, or conjectures, (tom. i. p.
147-337, edit. 12mo.,) the first and most difficult steps of
human invention.]
1201 (return) [ It is certain, however strange, that many nations
have been ignorant of the use of fire. Even the ingenious natives
of Otaheite, who are destitute of metals, have not invented any
earthen vessels capable of sustaining the action of fire, and of
communicating the heat to the liquids which they contain.]
1302 (return) [ Plutarch. Quaest. Rom. in tom. ii. p. 275.
Macrob. Saturnal. l. i. c. 8, p. 152, edit. London. The arrival
of Saturn (of his religious worship) in a ship, may indicate,
that the savage coast of Latium was first discovered and
civilized by the Phoenicians.]
1401 (return) [ In the ninth and tenth books of the Odyssey,
Homer has embellished the tales of fearful and credulous sailors,
who transformed the cannibals of Italy and Sicily into monstrous
giants.]
Since the first discovery of the arts, war, commerce, and
religious zeal have diffused, among the savages of the Old and
New World, these inestimable gifts: they have been successively
propagated; they can never be lost. We may therefore acquiesce in
the pleasing conclusion, that every age of the world has
increased, and still increases, the real wealth, the happiness,
the knowledge, and perhaps the virtue, of the human race. 1501
1501 (return) [ The merit of discovery has too often been stained
with avarice, cruelty, and fanaticism; and the intercourse of
nations has produced the communication of disease and prejudice.
A singular exception is due to the virtue of our own times and
country. The five great voyages, successively undertaken by the
command of his present Majesty, were inspired by the pure and
generous love of science and of mankind. The same prince,
adapting his benefactions to the different stages of society, has
founded his school of painting in his capital; and has introduced
into the islands of the South Sea the vegetables and animals most
useful to human life.]
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