<h2><SPAN name="chap31.6"></SPAN> Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By Barbarians.—Part VI. </h2>
<p>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.” <SPAN href="#linknote-31.130" name="linknoteref-31.130" id="linknoteref-31.130">130</SPAN>
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. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.131"
name="linknoteref-31.131" id="linknoteref-31.131">131</SPAN> 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.</p>
<p>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. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.132"
name="linknoteref-31.132" id="linknoteref-31.132">132</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.130" id="linknote-31.130">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
130 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.130">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.131" id="linknote-31.131">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
131 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.131">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.132" id="linknote-31.132">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
132 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.132">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p>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, <SPAN href="#linknote-31.133" name="linknoteref-31.133" id="linknoteref-31.133">133</SPAN> 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.134" name="linknoteref-31.134" id="linknoteref-31.134">134</SPAN> The victorious Barbarians detained, either
as a hostage or a captive, <SPAN href="#linknote-31.135"
name="linknoteref-31.135" id="linknoteref-31.135">135</SPAN> 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 <SPAN href="#linknote-31.136" name="linknoteref-31.136" id="linknoteref-31.136">136</SPAN> 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, <SPAN href="#linknote-31.137"
name="linknoteref-31.137" id="linknoteref-31.137">137</SPAN> 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.138" name="linknoteref-31.138" id="linknoteref-31.138">138</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.133" id="linknote-31.133">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
133 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.133">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.134" id="linknote-31.134">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
134 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.134">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ Zosim. l. v. p. 350.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.135" id="linknote-31.135">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
135 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.135">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.136" id="linknote-31.136">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
136 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.136">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.137" id="linknote-31.137">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
137 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.137">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.138" id="linknote-31.138">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
138 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.138">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ We owe the curious
detail of this nuptial feast to the historian Olympiodorus, ap. Photium,
p. 185, 188.]</p>
<p>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
<SPAN href="#linknote-31.139" name="linknoteref-31.139" id="linknoteref-31.139">139</SPAN>
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. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.140" name="linknoteref-31.140" id="linknoteref-31.140">140</SPAN>
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, <SPAN href="#linknote-31.141" name="linknoteref-31.141" id="linknoteref-31.141">141</SPAN> 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.142" name="linknoteref-31.142" id="linknoteref-31.142">142</SPAN>
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.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.139" id="linknote-31.139">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
139 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.139">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.140" id="linknote-31.140">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
140 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.140">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.141" id="linknote-31.141">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
141 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.141">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.142" id="linknote-31.142">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
142 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.142">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p>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. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.143"
name="linknoteref-31.143" id="linknoteref-31.143">143</SPAN> 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, praefect 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.144" name="linknoteref-31.144" id="linknoteref-31.144">144</SPAN> 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.145"
name="linknoteref-31.145" id="linknoteref-31.145">145</SPAN></p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.143" id="linknote-31.143">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
143 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.143">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.144" id="linknote-31.144">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
144 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.144">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.145" id="linknote-31.145">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
145 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.145">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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:—</p>
<p>Erige crinales lauros, seniumque sacrati Verticis in virides, Roma,
recinge comas, &c.]</p>
<p>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. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.146" name="linknoteref-31.146" id="linknoteref-31.146">146</SPAN>
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. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.147" name="linknoteref-31.147" id="linknoteref-31.147">147</SPAN> 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: <SPAN href="#linknote-31.148" name="linknoteref-31.148" id="linknoteref-31.148">148</SPAN>
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; <SPAN href="#linknote-31.149"
name="linknoteref-31.149" id="linknoteref-31.149">149</SPAN> 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. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.150" name="linknoteref-31.150" id="linknoteref-31.150">150</SPAN> 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.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.146" id="linknote-31.146">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
146 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.146">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.147" id="linknote-31.147">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
147 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.147">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.148" id="linknote-31.148">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
148 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.148">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.149" id="linknote-31.149">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
149 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.149">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.150" id="linknote-31.150">
<!-- Note --></SPAN></p>
<p class="foot">
150 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.150">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p>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. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.151"
name="linknoteref-31.151" id="linknoteref-31.151">151</SPAN> 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.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.151" id="linknote-31.151">
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<p class="foot">
151 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.151">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p>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, <SPAN href="#linknote-31.152" name="linknoteref-31.152" id="linknoteref-31.152">152</SPAN>
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.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.152" id="linknote-31.152">
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<p class="foot">
152 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.152">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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.]</p>
<p>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 praefect, is recorded as the only
magistrate who refused to yield obedience to the usurper. <SPAN href="#linknote-31.153" name="linknoteref-31.153" id="linknoteref-31.153">153</SPAN>
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, <SPAN href="#linknote-31.154"
name="linknoteref-31.154" id="linknoteref-31.154">154</SPAN> 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.</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.153" id="linknote-31.153">
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<p class="foot">
153 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.153">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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 praefect 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.]</p>
<p><SPAN name="linknote-31.154" id="linknote-31.154">
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<p class="foot">
154 (<SPAN href="#linknoteref-31.154">return</SPAN>)<br/> [ 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]</p>
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